County Commission on 2026-04-14 10:00 AM - Apr 14, 2026

is not permitted. Thank you for joining us. The meeting will begin shortly. We're good. We're good. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Excuse me. Monica, you guys ready? Okay, we got a big meeting today. Want to get started? Good morning, everybody. Good morning. If I can have a little quiet, appreciate it. Good morning, everyone. Today is April 14, 2026. Welcome to the Broward County Commission. I'd like to ask you to please rise for our Pledge of Allegiance and ask Commissioner Fisher to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Can you please remain standing? Ladies and gentlemen, it's customary that we observe a moment of silence in honor of notable persons from our community who have recently passed. And what I normally do is go around the dais. But today, I'm going to start first to talk about two individuals, if I can. First, I'd like to talk about briefly the passing of our Coral Springs Vice Mayor, Nancy Mateer-Bowen. Coral Springs has been represented at this dais by Commissioner Udine and myself. And briefly, in 2020, she made history as the first black and Haitian American woman to be elected as a Coral Springs City Commissioner. In 2025, she was appointed to serve as Vice Mayor of the City of Coral Springs. Before she was elected, she served many internships. One notable was at the White House internship with Barack Obama. She was a dedicated public servant who cared about the people she represented. We offer our condolences to her family and friends and ask that we keep them in our prayers. And also, on behalf of the county commission, at the end, we'll be doing an expression of sympathy and ask Commissioner Rogers. We'll be reading it on our behalf. Secondly, I'd like to also note that on April 5th, less than 10 days ago, Broward County lost one of its heroes. Broward Sheriff's Office Firefighter Paramedic Stephen Lepselter suffered a medical emergency while working at the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport. And he passed away that day at Broward Medical Center at the age of 34 years old, leaving a wife and two kids. Firefighter Paramedic Lepselter served in various specialized divisions during his 19-year career with BSO, including airport, seaport, hazardous materials, and air rescue. And again, I ask everyone to keep his family in our thoughts and prayers. And what I also like to also point out is that three years ago, this commission voted to approve a $50,000 budget item to be given to any law enforcement firefighter who passes while serving in our community. And because of that item, our county will be providing death benefits to Mr. Lepselter's family as a first responder to his family. And with that, I'm going to go around the dais. Start with Commissioner Rogers. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everyone. And I too would like to just say Nancy was truly a blessing. She was, you know, we hug and we felt each other because she was the first. You know, whenever you're the first, you kind of have a little bond going on there. And she was a respectful young lady. And we would always say gone too soon. And the same for the firefighter, thanks for mentioning both, Mayor. We all can feel the pain because he too was a young man with a family. So when you need to go to the doctors, take time. Because I should blame myself for not taking that special time to do what we need to do for self. So I just wanted to add my comments to the family. We feel your pain. We understand your pain. And I'm glad we had something. We were visionaries in deciding to put aside that budget item for things such as this. Thank you very much. I'll save any remarks about Commissioner Mateo until we discuss her. Just two items. Really, you know, I just wanted to follow up. If anybody is facing domestic violence, ladies and gentlemen, please reach out to a family member, a friend, elected official, whoever you can get to. Just don't tolerate it and please reach out. It's most important. Lastly, I want to mention Nora Powell. Nora was the significant other to Mayor Scott Newton of Wilton Manors. She passed a few days ago, and she was also a personal friend to myself and my family. So I just want to prayers for Scott and for Nora's son, Patrick, who needs our prayers. Thank you. I'll just add to her thoughts about Nancy. Very courageous woman, as well as very smart, a scientist. And I had a chance to work with her on a number of committees, particularly the Solid Waste. She's on the executive board and on the Climate Change Task Force. And both places, she brought an enormous amount of knowledge, persuasion, all those things. And what was amazing was when she learned something, sometimes she wasn't afraid to change her mind when she saw that, you know, facts weren't the way that she might have thought they were. And she would tell people that. She said, you know, I've learned something and I think you need to know this. And end up changing everybody else's minds. So that kind of capacity for learning and then persuasion is rare. And she is really going to be missed in this county. I'll be real quick. Jacob Green, former principal of the year, former teacher of the year, former HOA president for St. George community, family man, still a lot for this community. But most of all, anyone who's lost anybody since the last time we did this, my prayers go out to you and your families. Yeah. Thank you. I just would like to add a few thoughts about Nancy. She was a fierce force for women, the environment, and for our community. I also know her from the climate change task force. But when it happened, I got a call from Dr. Harato with something I didn't know, that she had actually been an intern here in our own county in the environmental area. She was an environmental scientist. She served on our county commission for the status of women. She was honored a couple of years ago by them and by us. She was a leader. And she was a leader for all people. And that's something that I think stands out about her. It didn't matter who you were, what your background was, what your religion, your race, it didn't matter. She cared about all people in this community. And she loved the community. And she will be sorely missed by us. Thank you, Mayor. It's been a tough couple of weeks for Northwest Broward County. And I echo the comments of Vice Mayor Mateer. And we should keep her in our prayers. Also, former Mayor Vince Bocardt of Coral Springs, his son, unfortunately, was killed in a wrong way accident on Sample Road on April 11th. His son Nicholas, and everyone knows Vince and Terry, have been very active in the community as far as a lot of charitable things within the city of Coral Springs. And we hold them close in our prayers on the loss of their son Nicholas. And lastly, unfortunately, we lost former state rep and former city commissioner in the city of Parkland, Mark Weissman, who I had the pleasure of serving with. And he was a very interesting person. If you were a developer in the city of Parkland, you got to know Mark Weissman very well. And he invented the term voluntary extractions to all of our planning people. And a lot of what happened in Parkland as a result of Mark's vision and Mark's foresight, he had moved away a while ago. And I think he was a commissioner in South Palm Beach or one of the small places up there. But he lost a his battle with with stomach cancer. So we'll miss Mark and keep him in our prayers. Thank you. I certainly would like to echo the sentiments regarding Vice Mayor Nancy Mateo. I did serve with her also on the executive board of the Solid Waste Authority and, you know, knew her brilliant mind. And just this past month, which was Women's History Month, I set about asking staff to research moving this initiative that I started in Miramar called the Safe House Initiative. This initiative is for fire stations to be safe houses for women, anybody fleeing domestic violence, an opportunity for them, a safe place for them to go and then get the help that they need. And so I'm looking forward for this to be rolled out in the county. There's a lot of work to be done. We simply can't throw up our hands and say, you know, condolences. This is another incident. We have to take action. And that's what I'm hoping to do in Broward County. Thank you. Especially what's going on in the world today. I'd like to also honor all the brave men and women who have served and continue to serve in our armed forces, both here and abroad, and thank them for our service. And I'd like to pause for a moment of silence. Thank you. Would you please have seats? Our breakfast of music provided today by Commissioner Davis in the middle by Isaac Kerry and My Truth by Jonathan McReynolds. Thank you, Commissioner Davis. Before we start on our proclamations, I just wanted to briefly mention an individual that works here, that's worked here for 12 years. You may have known him. He worked for this commissioner named Mark Bogan. His name is Ron Lickman. Ron went through five back surgeries and finally is recovered and his 70th birthday. And he's actually finally back. He's working here part time. Ron, where are you? There he is, Ronnie. Ron, just don't trip and fall, okay? We have a bunch of proclamations today, but I think the first thing we're going to be doing is our Omni Hotel in Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance presentation. Monica, who's doing that? So we're going to ask our representatives from Omni and our chief business officer, Alex Bugala, will kick this off really quickly. So for those of you who have not visited the Omni Hotel off 17th Street, our convention center, brand new, five-star, beautiful hotel that county actually owns, and take it away. Today is exactly two weeks ago. March 31st marked the first full operating quarter for the county's beautiful headquartered convention center hotel, which is obviously operated by Omni. So with me today, to provide you with a brief overview and highlight what really has transpired since opening the doors on December 18th, I am joined by Gayla Geis, who's the general manager of the Omni Fort Lauderdale Hotel, and Robert Stanfield, regional vice president for Omni. Good morning. We are honored to be here to talk about this beautiful hotel. My name again is Gayla Geis, and we have been open since December 18th and had our ribbon cutting that day that we shared with all of you. Here's some pictures of that day and how exciting it was. We had almost 400 people in attendance with community leaders, partners, visionaries that brought this project to life. We had lots of exposure in the media and started to welcome our first guest that day. Next, this is Mayor Bogan talking at our grand opening, and the commissioners came up and we had a wonderful grand opening event, and we'll talk about the media impressions and the impact that's had in our community. Couldn't you get out the other commissioners and just have me there? I don't understand what's going on. You did get your own picture on the right. No, but it was a great night full of celebration, but full of networking and moving business forward in greater Fort Lauderdale and Broward County. And then Robert's going to talk to you a little bit more about our offerings at the hotel and Omni Hotels. Good morning everybody, Robert Stanfield. Just wanted to introduce some of the activations that we have in the hotel. It just turned out to be incredible so far this year. Looking at my top left is our lobby bar, which is right next to Leeward Market, which is not shown here. We have some incredible Panther coffee that we serve there. Top middle is Fair Catch Everglades theme, upscale sports bar with all the South Florida sports. Sports has been incredibly popular, getting locals into the sports bar as well, but the conventioneers as well have been incredibly popular as well. On my top right is our pool. This is one of the best views in the city. In my opinion, it flanks an incredible poolside restaurant there that we call Tides Coastal there, but just an incredible spot for the hotel guest. Only to be topped by what's there on the bottom left is Ibis, the rooftop lounge. If you haven't been there, I recommend it to everybody even just to go get a glimpse of the view and what everything Broward County has to offer. It's just been amazing for guests to go up there, locals to go up there. In the bottom middle is a sample of our lobby. Hidden Key is a lobby bar there. Again, very attractive for our conventioneers. And then not to be missed is a spa there on the bottom right. This has been incredible for locals, much more popular than even we were expecting. Uh, so we're incredibly pleased by, by the demands that the locals have gone there to, uh, just treat themselves, practice themselves, self care. And I'll pass it on to Gaila. Okay. Now we're going to share a little bit of information with you. Um, so again, we opened the doors ribbon cutting December 18th. Then we had our grand opening event, which was a three day event. Uh, we had the debut on the first evening with, uh, local business partners, uh, uh, seaport airport, our cruise partners, uh, very productive. Um, that we, that was the first night. The second two nights were, uh, represented, uh, $300 billion of potential business from top, uh, Forbes companies and beyond that do business here in great greater Fort Lauderdale in South Florida. Um, and those events, uh, earned a PR traction of 17 media placements and 11 and a half million impressions, um, with publications, uh, highlighted of Southern living and travel and leisure. So we were definitely on the map, uh, lots of traction, um, social media reach. We had 508 earned mentions and 606 million users to our site. Um, group business, those three day events earned us on the spot, $5 million of bookings. So it was very, uh, successful, um, Q1 financials through Q1. Um, we are tracking to be over 8% to budget through first quarter and $2 million up in revenues. Um, the hotel remains well positioned throughout the year to reach and achieve our budget. Um, things are going very well and our leads are still abundant. Um, since opening the hotel has a positive impact on ADR, rev part demand and revenue for the greater Fort Lauderdale area. And there's year over your growth, January through March for the entire area. And those, um, those reports can be found at visit Lauderdale. Um, and then for future outlook, we're obviously strategically positioned, uh, to open Barchetta. That's our seventh restaurant concept. It's our, uh, fine dining Italian chop house. It's going on the plaza. It's well underway and, uh, nearing completion on construction. Uh, so that will be opening, uh, in early summer, midsummer. And then we're positioned to welcome and elevate our guests and our, uh, business partners globally through IPW. That's obviously, uh, a big demand generator and will bring us more business to the greater Fort Lauderdale area. And then developing throughout the summer activations, what a better place to spend America's 250th than on the beaches in Broward County. So, um, we are welcoming, uh, both local drive traffic, regional traffic, and people from all over to come in. And we've got lots of programming scheduled this summer for celebrating America's 250th. Okay. And then some feedback that we're getting from customers. I'm not going to read these to you, but, uh, the first one is talking about, uh, a person who came in for a cruise and had such an incredible time and the, the close proximity to the cruise port. And just as a reminder, we do offer free transportation to all the cruise ports. That's been a game changer. So we've picked up a lot of cruise business. We've transported fun fact, 2036 cruisers, January through March to their, to their cruise ship to embark. And then, uh, the second one is, uh, is speaking about a group meeting, a conventioneer that was there and what warm hospitality they had and delicious food offerings. And then the one on the right is from, uh, Southern, uh, Southeast Toyota, which is a big customer and a big partner here in the state of Florida. And they, they highlight the service and the attention to detail and the meetings and, uh, how well that we took care of them. Uh, we're currently number one in the convention collection in Omni hotels and resorts, uh, in our customer feedback. So we're proud of that. Uh, and we continue to refine our service and, uh, look forward to welcoming many more guests, groups, cruisers, and conventioneers to Broward County. And with that, I'll turn it over to close with Robert. Thank you, Gayla. Um, and then lastly, a sincere thank you on behalf of Omni hotels and the Omni Fort Lauderdale hotel. We'd like to extend a huge thank you to the Broward County Board of County commissioners for your leadership, your vision, all of your support and collaboration in bringing this hotel to life. We're so grateful the day-to-day effort, guidance, collaboration, and cooperation for the county administration and staff. Uh, your commitment to elevating this destination has created a foundation for a very long lasting impact. We're so proud to stand alongside of you as partners in shape reshaping the future of Broward County. Thank you for all of your support. Robert, I just wanted to thank, uh, you know, you can't have a good hotel unless you have a great general manager and Gayla. Thank you for everything you do and, and your whole team. Um, you know, you're the best and, uh, appreciate you. Thank you. You bet. Thank you. Okay. We're going to start our proclamations. And first up would be commissioner Udine, um, the 9-1-1 education month, Tom Gallagher awards. Next up will be Senator Rich. Good morning. Um, as a, as a point of personal privilege before I start, I just want to mention since it's 9-1-1 and, uh, we, we had one of the biggest public safety procurements in our history in Broward County when we did the radio with P25 system over the last 10 years in, in Broward. Uh, last week was the grand opening of the Motorola Solutions new plant implantation, which I was there with Tracy, uh, Jackson and Brett from E9-1-1 and about a thousand team members and community members from Motorola. I have to tell you virtually every radio that you see in this country is being made in Broward County. Uh, from top to bottom, testing the right implantation, testing, um, everything that's done there. And if you ever have a chance to get out there in plantation, it's a, uh, fantastic, uh, facility to take a look at and see what they're doing. And we made definitely the right decision. I know it was a big battle for years between Motorola and Harris and thank God this commission, and we all came to the right decision because it's an unbelievable, uh, setup that we have in Broward County now with public safety. Okay. With that, um, this is, uh, E9-1-1 month and it is time for the Tom Gallagher Memorial Public Safety Awards. I would like to invite up with me, uh, Natasha Garcia. Uh, she's one of our, is she here? Come on up. Also dispatcher Shanice Gordon. And finally, communications operator, Sandra Bailey. Is she here? So I have pages and pages and pages on all the amazing things that these, uh, different public safety professionals did for their respective agencies and E9-1-1 dispatch centers. And if I read all of it, we would be here until tomorrow. So I'm just going to stick to the proclamation and, uh, we'll give them copies of everything so that they have it. Whereas 9-1-1 stands as a universally acknowledged lifeline in times of crisis, emphasizing the critical need to educate the public on proper 9-1-1 usage. Whereas each day unfolds with unwavering commitment from devoted public safety telecommunicators tirelessly responding to emergency calls within Broward County. These consummate professionals serve as the essential bridge connecting the first responders to those in need in their time of time when they need help. We observe 9-1-1 education month. We take a moment to pay tribute and remember public safety telecommunicator Thomas W Gallagher, Jr., a Broward County native who's who dedicated his career to the noble cause of public safety. His outstanding leadership and compassionate service as an emergency dispatcher progressing to the esteemed rank of communications chief and public information officer. Whereas the sudden and unexpected passing of Mr. Gallagher in 2012 after an illustrious 28-year career in public service prompts us to celebrate his memory and service through the annual Tom Gallagher Memorial Public Safety Award. Whereas the 13th Annual Tom Gallagher Memorial Public Safety Award rightfully honors Sandra Bailey, Natasha Garcia, and Shanice Gordon for their exceptional leadership and distinguished service reflecting the spirit of dedication embodied by Mr. Gallagher in their noteworthy contributions to the community, now therefore be it proclaimed by the Board of County Commissioners that the Board hereby designates April 2026 as national 9-1-1 month in Broward County as we honor all 9-1-1 telecommunicators for their dedication, ability to keep calm under pressure, and their life-saving service that they provide the county and especially these three, Sandra Bailey, Natasha Garcia, and Shanice Gordon. Thank you. Good morning everyone. My name is Deborah Gallagher and I am Tom Gallagher's wife. We are here today to thank three hard-working, dedicated communications operators. That is BSO's Sandra Bailey, dispatcher from Plantation, Shanice Gordon, and Coral Springs' Natasha Garcia. Thank you for your hard work and your dedication to public service. We are very proud Tom would be excited to have you all on his team and we hope that you will go on and continue your careers and helping others. Happy National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. Thank you again for your service. Awesome and we also have Tom's son Chris is here in the audience, I'm told. We'll do a quick photo. Awesome. In the front. No problem. I'm right behind you. And I'm right behind you. Next, our next presentation will be by Senator Nan Ridge on the National Child Abuse Prevention Month Volunteer Appreciation Week. Good morning. It is always an honor for me to present this proclamation because of my history with the guardian ad litem program and I'd like to call up a number of people to whom this proclamation will be presented and I'll give you a little history in a minute. We have two areas. It's going to be presented to Lisa Joseph with the Department of Children and Families and then all of these wonderful people. Well, some are staff from the guardian ad litem program, but I'm going to tell you the names of the of the guardian ad litem volunteers who are here. Lenicia Radcliffe, Justin Brooks, Steve Higgins, Daniel Molinari, Vanessa Chin, Sandra Ordinola, Radika Lutchman, Sharon Jewell, and Kelly Brosnahan. And then they are joined by guardian ad litem staff, Susan Ellberg, Patricia Jones, and Carrie Ann Brown, who kind of puts everything together. She's right there. Okay. So before I read the proclamation, maybe, and if you and Lisa would like to join me over here. Yeah. Okay. But I just wanted to mention that whenever I do this, I always go back and look at the history. And one of the things I look at is this 35th anniversary booklet that was created in Tallahassee for the guardian ad litem program on the 35th anniversary. It started in 1980. And I got started in it before that. And one of the things that I notice here, which I think I want everybody to recognize, and it says it somewhat in the proclamation. But there's a quote from me in here, which still is the essence of the program today. And this was from me as a sponsor of the 2003 bill, which created the statewide office of the guardian ad litem program. And it says, the guardian ad litem program has a special place in my heart and always will. That's because of the dedicated volunteers who give their heart and soul to the program and to the children they protect and nurture. In fact, the guardian ad litem is the only one in the courtroom who is there solely to protect the best interests of the child. And that's one of the reasons why, to me, it's such a special program. So I will read the proclamation. Whereas April is recognized nationally as National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and National Volunteer Week is observed annually during the month of April. And whereas the Florida guardian ad litem office provides legal representation for abused, abandoned, and neglected children in dependency court proceedings throughout the state. And whereas pursuant to Florida law, the Florida guardian ad litem office utilizes a multidisciplinary team approach to provide legal representation for abused, abandoned, and neglected children, including a guardian ad litem attorney, a child welfare professional, and a trained volunteer or pro bono attorney from the child's community. And whereas during this last fiscal year, for the first time in Florida history, 100% of children were represented, and each child had a lawyer. Whereas the Florida guardian ad litem office achieved a 97% appellate success rate, underscoring the strength and quality of the legal representation of children. Whereas the Florida guardian ad litem office is supported by more than 8,000 volunteers statewide who collectively donated over 194,000 hours of service and traveled more than 1.1 million miles during the last fiscal year to support Florida's children. And whereas the Florida guardian ad litem office circuit 17 serving Broward County is supported by dedicated local GAL volunteers who are valued members of the multidisciplinary team and who explicitly represent, as I said, the best interest of the child in the dependency court. And whereas research consistently demonstrates that children with the guardian ad litem are more likely to achieve permanency, less likely to re-enter foster care, and more likely to experience improved long-term outcomes. Whereas the theme of child abuse prevention month is powered by hope, strengthened by prevention, acknowledging that when families have the right support, they can build a brighter future. And whereas the Florida Department of Children and Families mission is to strengthen Florida's families and has continuously supported prevention and awareness campaigns. And whereas Broward County proudly recognizes and supports the dedicated organizations, community partners, and volunteers whose efforts help prevent child abuse and neglect, strengthen families, and promote the safety and well-being of children throughout the community. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Board of County Commissioners of Broward County, Florida that the Board hereby designates April 2026 as Child Abuse Prevention and Volunteer Appreciation Month in Broward County and urges all residents to support efforts to help promote awareness and the prevention of child abuse in our community and become a guardian ad litem if you'd like. Is she here? No, do you see her? Oh, that's what I'm asking? No, she is. No, okay, fine. Okay, okay. I'll just do it. What? No, okay. This is what I'm asking. Oh, there she is. Right? Okay. All right, that's what I was asking. So we're going to take a picture with presenting the proclamation to both of you. Okay. No, you're going to take one up here, too, if it's okay. We're good. I'm going to say a few words. Yes. This is Carrie Ann Brown, Staff of the Garden of Life Program. Good morning, Mayor Bowden, Commissioners, Nan, Commissioner Rich. I want to thank you so much for recognizing in Broward County Child Abuse Prevention Month and also especially Volunteer Appreciation Week, which is this week. So for those of you that are watching, any volunteer that you know, it doesn't have to be with the guardian ad litem. Just tell them thank you for the good work that they're doing out in the community. I'm just going to do a shameless PSA. Our children need you. Thank you. So if you are interested in becoming a mentor, if there are attorneys out there, you have pro bono opportunity, and most importantly, our volunteers, we need you. So just visit our website at guardianadlitem.org and join us in becoming that person in the community that ensures that our children thrive and not just survive. Thank you. Good morning to the mayor, vice mayor, county commissioners, county administration, and a special thank you to Nancy J. Cotterman Center. Thank you for recognizing the hard work and dedication of the Department of Children and Families Child Protective Investigation Team. We appreciate the acknowledgement. Thank you. I'm just going to leave this here. I want to take a picture. My side. Right here. Right here. All right. Me. Yep. Sure. I'm ready. I'm ready. Okay. Next, we're going to be doing a proclamation for animal care and adoption. And we should note that animal care in Broward County, we led with 3,894 adoptions. It's the most ever in a year that we did. And we reunited 568 lost animals with their missing, you know, missing pets with their owners. Also a record year. Beam, please take it away. Now that you've taken, used all my lines. Thank you. Next proclamation. We're done then, right? All done. Okay. If Doug Brightwell, Elisa Dazza, Philip Ghosn, Jennifer Glover, and Chris Cook. Come on down. Let me see you at the podium. Come on down. Great group. This is always a fun one to do. And I, and I, we're doing, uh, animal care and adoption appreciation week. But I don't think anybody is more appreciative than the nine of us up here. Because most of the time that I've been here, I've been here almost 12 years. The first eight or nine years was constant problems there. And I think ever since you've been there, Doug, pulled it all together, it's like I'm, I'm knocking on wood on this one. Because, because he's just done a fantastic job. And this is also, this also is not only appreciation for staff, but all the volunteers that we have. And, and all the rescue organizations. Because it's a, it is a team effort. And I will tell you that this commission is very appreciative of that. And, uh, Mark's already read all my good lines here, but, um, I'm going to, I'm going to reemphasize. Almost 4,000 adoptions this year. And a record from, by far. So this has been a very good year. With that, I'll, I'll read the proclamation. Whereas National Animal Care and Control Officer Appreciation Week is observed annually during the second full week of April to recognize the dedicated service and critical contributions of animal control officers and animal care professionals across the nation. And whereas Broward County Animal Care's Field Services Division plays a vital role in protecting public safety, safeguarding animal welfare, and strengthening community trust through responsive, compassionate, and professional service. And whereas over the past year, Broward County Animal Care Field Services, services responded to more than 13,100 calls for service countywide, including over 800 animal bite investigations, more than 900 responses involving sick or injured animals, and more than 1100 animal cruelty investigations, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to both people and pets. And whereas these efforts also include proactive outreach, enforcement, and life-saving, and life-saving interventions that ensure responsible pet ownership, reduce public health risks, and promote humane treatment of animals throughout Broward County. And whereas Broward County Animal Care's Field Services team works in close partnership with local law enforcement and municipal agencies, including the Fort Lauderdale Police Department's Animal Crimes Response Team, Broward Sheriff's Office and Special Victims Unit, and police and animal control units in Hollandale Beach, Lauderdale, Sunrise, Hollywood, Davie, Coral Springs, Margate, and Pompano Beach. And whereas animal control officers and field services staff often serve on the front lines, responding to emergencies, investigating cruelty, educating residents, and protecting vulnerable animals, frequently under challenging and high-risk conditions, now therefore be it proclaimed by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners that the board hereby designates April 12th to the 18th, 2026, as National Animal Care and Control Officer Appreciation Week in Broward County, Florida, as we commend Broward County Animal Care's Animal Control Officer Division and Field Services team for their dedication, professionalism, and invaluable service to our community and support all the efforts to promote responsible pet ownership and humane treatment of animals signed by our Mayor, Mark Bogan. And thank you. On behalf of my five dogs, thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Commissioners. It's an honor to serve Broward County, and our field staff, our animal control officers work tirelessly seven days a week, 24 hours a day, answering emergency calls, working with law enforcement, and we greatly appreciate their service. Doug, if you don't mind, 10 years ago, Beam and I got in here about 12 years ago, and 10 years ago, we had these people come regularly talk about how horrible the conditions were for animals at the animal shelter, and we didn't really know what to believe. At least I felt that way, and it took, I finally, I had a lady from Chicago who took care of an animal shelter for 30 years. She retired. She came down. Nobody knew who she was. She went through our animal shelter at that time, and there were just horrible things, the way the dirt and the way things were handled. And thank God we learned the truth. We got rid of that person. And fast forward to you being here and your team, and what a great job you do now, and thank you. Thanks, sir. You bet. Okay, I guess, Commissioner Davis, where are you? Next would be Autism Acceptance Month with Commissioner Davis. Take it, take it from here. Thank you. All right. We'd like to call up Melissa from Children's Diagnostic and Treatment Center, also Nikki from JAFCO Children's Ability Center, and Sean Preston from Art Broward, and anyone else who should be up here as we recognize Autism Awareness Month. Come on. I'd also like to really recognize the work that Broward County is doing with regards to autism and the acceptance around the county. I was recently at a park in Merrimar, and Dan West had had the communication board installed there, and they're putting those communication boards throughout the county in our parks so that our children can actually point those who need to do that and express themselves through the communication board. So I think that's a great thing, and we obviously can do more, and we're looking to do more. All right. Whereas Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD, well, let me put on my glasses. Let me do that. It's a neurodevelopmental condition that affects communication, behavior, and social interaction, and is often identified in early childhood. And whereas Autism Acceptance Month is observed each April to increase understanding of autism, promote early screening and intervention, and support children with autism and their families. And whereas according to the 2025 surveillance data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, that approximately 1 in 31 children in the United States has been identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder, underscoring the importance of early identification, sorry, educational support and community awareness. Whereas according to data from the 2022 National Survey on Children's Health, 5.2% of children statewide have ASD. Whereas according to Broward County Public Schools, as of this current year, over 8,100 students receive services under Autism Spectrum Disorder eligibility, highlighting the significant presence of autism within our local school age population and the responsibility of the community to ensure inclusive and supportive environments. Whereas children with autism possess unique strengths and abilities and benefit from inclusive education, evidence-based interventions, and supportive communities that promote understanding, acceptance, and opportunity. Whereas the Board of County Commissioners recognizes the vital work of families, educators, service providers, and community organizations in fostering the success of children with autism and supporting them in reaching their potential, now therefore be proclaimed by the Board of County Commissioners of Broward County, Florida, that April 2026 is hereby designated as Autism Acceptance Month in Broward County. So thank you so much for all you do. Who is going to speak? Is it you, Art Broward, someone? Hello, I'm Julie Price with Art Broward. So good morning, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, dedicated employees, and community members. On behalf of Art Broward, thank you for this proclamation recognizing Autism Awareness Month. This moment means more than words can fully capture. It tells our families, our students, and our community that they are seen, they are valued, and that they belong. For many individuals with autism and their loved ones, the journey can come with challenges, but it also filled with incredible strength, resilience, and unique gifts. Your recognition today shines a light on those gifts that helps us move closer to a community where differences are not just accepted, but embraced and celebrated. It also gives hope, most importantly, to young people who deserve to grow up knowing that there is a place for them right here in Broward County. As community partners, all of us here are deeply grateful for your continued funding support for our enrichment workforce and respite programs, which create meaningful and impactful opportunities for those we serve. I have the privilege of introducing someone who embodies that hope. Noah is a student in our School of Hire program. His voice matters and his future is bright. He represents exactly why this work is so important. Noah, do you want to say something? Lucas. I mean, Lucas. Hello, I'm Lucas here. Hello, I'm Lucas Winchrone. My brains are different. I have autism because my brains are different. I talk to different people in the job, but sometimes it's them because I use the ball to help me squeeze and help me to calm down when I was a great worker. Thank you. Sorry about that. Sorry about that, Lucas. Lucas, you got it? We're going to take some pictures, and then do you want to say anything? No, we're good. You're good? All right. All right, we'll go over here. Okay, let's take one here first, and then we'll go this way. Let's come together. Lucas, come on. We'll take this for our lady. Let's go. Okay, Commissioner Davis, do you want to go? We're all going to go down. You can read it and call Mayor Scott Brook. Where's Scott? Yeah, well, let's all go down and see Scott. I will ask Commissioner Hazel Rogers to read this along with me. We are both Caribbean-American, and we do know that Nancy Mateo was a fellow Caribbean-American elected official. So Commissioner Hazel or Hasley? No, I made a mistake. Yeah, no problem. All right, so I'll do the first unit. Whereas Broward County, this is an expression of sympathy requested by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners. Whereas Broward County mourns the profound and tragic loss of Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Mateo, a visionary leader, a dedicated public servant, and a shining star in the hearts of all who knew her. Whereas she will be remembered not only as a leader, but as a warm and engaging person, an elected official who led with authenticity and brought both heart and human humanity to public service. All right. Whereas Nancy Mateo made history in 2020 as the first black and Haitian-American woman elected to the Coral Springs City Commission, she will be re-elected in 2024 and appointed to serve as Vice Mayor in 2024 and 2025. And whereas she served the residents of Coral Springs with integrity and purpose, working tirelessly to uplift neighborhoods, support families, and create opportunities for city residents. Whereas her professional background as an environmental scientist and her experience as a White House intern shaped her knowledgeable and compassionate approach to public service. And whereas after graduating from John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, she gained early experience in federal government through internships with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, former Senator Bill Nelson, and President Barack Obama's administration. And whereas Nancy Mateo's tireless advocacy extended beyond the walls of City Hall, inspiring countless individuals through her mentorship of volunteerism and participation in government committees and civic organizations. Whereas the untimely loss of Nancy Mateo has left a void in the city of Coral Springs and the Broward County community as a whole. Yet her legacy will live on through the many policies that she championed and the countless lives that she touched. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners that the the board hereby designates Tuesday, April 14, 2026 as Nancy Mateo Remembrance Day in Broward County, Florida, while we offer our deepest condolences to her family, friends, and all who mourn her passing. And here today we have the mayor of Coral Springs. Mayor Brooks, if you could say a few words. Thank you. Yeah, our hearts are very heavy in our city of Coral Springs. And I want to thank the mayor and the vice mayor and all of the commissioners for honoring this beautiful soul. Nancy was not just a vice mayor. She was a dear friend. She always showed up. She always did her homework. She showed up with love, with compassion, with empathy. She is sorely missed. And I appreciate the love that you're sharing on her behalf today. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Geller, I know you said you wanted to wait. Are you going to wait till non-agenda? Okay. Before we go on, I'm looking for a yes, no. I'm going to go around the dais looking for a yes or no. We had a rule before I became mayor that only we were going to entertain three proclamations a meeting. So I want to know whether you want me to enforce that or not, because we have a lot more of it occasionally. Start with you, Commissioner Rogers. Yes or no? Should I enforce that rule? Yes or no? Yes. Yes. Three yeses. Absolutely. Yes. Yes. So, okay. I'll be, I just want to make sure I'm acting the way you commissioners want me to act. Next, we're going to start by reading the Tuesday morning memo. Would the reading clerk please read the memo? Broward County Board of County Commissioners, April 14th, 2026, Tuesday Agenda Memorandum. The following are submitted for your consideration. Consent items are one through 46. Public hearing items are 47 through 53. Regular items are 54 through 70. I request the following withdrawals or other modifications to the agenda and note the following additional information. Withdrawals. Presentation from Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance is being moved to the April 28th, 2026 commission meeting. Item 19, this item is being withdrawn for further staff review. Item 26, this item is being withdrawn for further staff review. Other modifications. Item 16, the board's consideration of this item is based upon the item as modified by additional material 16A submitted by the purchasing division which includes amendments to the summary background of the agenda item and to the proposed agreement. Exhibit two. Item 41, the board's consideration of exhibit one is based upon the substitute exhibit one in the additional material 41A submitted by county administration. Scrivener's errors. Item 12, the board's consideration of this item is based upon the item with the correction shown in the attached page. Attachment A of Scrivener's errors. Move to consent. Item 60, 69, and 70 be moved to consent. Time certain. Item 65, time certain at the earlier of 1 30 or the end of the commission meeting. Additional material. Item 16A, memo to the board and revised exhibit two submitted by purchasing division. Item 41A, revised exhibit one submitted by county administration. Item 48. Item 48A, email correspondence from Roger Zoltoff and Shundrika Taylor submitted by planning council. Item 61A, memo to the board and analysis of evaluation committee scoring submitted by office of the county auditor. Item 65A, memo to the board and FIFA World Cup 2026 proposed schedule of events submitted by Commissioner Hazel B. Rogers. Item 66A, revised project dashboard submitted by county administration. Okay, with that said, I'm going to go around the dais to see if there's any polls. I'll start with Commissioner Davis and go this way. No. Mr. Mayor, none. Okay, we're going for none. 46. Oh, you ruined it. Okay, I'm going to ask our county attorney, uh, noting that 46 was pulled by Commissioner Furrer to create the motion. Yeah, may or may I just ask if there are any audience polls as well? Item 40. Item 40 by the audience? Yes. Thank you. And Mayor, and I'm not even sure I've ever done this, but I'm going to pull item 16 just to ask that something be added to the motion statement just in an abundance of caution. Okay, so the consent agenda consists of items 1 through 46 minus the following items. Item 16, which is pulled by me. Item 19 was withdrawn. Item 26, uh, was withdrawn. Uh, item 40, I think was pulled by the public, and item 46 was pulled by Commissioner Furrer. So those are the subtractions and added to the agenda, uh, to the consent agenda are items 60, 69, and 70. I have a motion and second to approve. All in favor? Any opposed? Show that passing unanimously. Let's go to item 16. Our county attorney, uh, please, uh, thank you, Mayor. Uh, so, uh, on item 16, additional information came out late yesterday that amended the contract, and it's, it's probably fine, but we've gone back and forth a bit this morning, so I'd ask for the motion, please be amended as follows, and an abundance of caution. Part A would remain unchanged, and part B, after the language authorizing execution of the agreement, please add, quote, and substantially the form attached to the agenda item, as revised by additional material 16-A, authorizing the county administrator to revise the agreement, provided the revisions do not increase cost or financial risk or modify the scope, and subject to review and approval as the legal sufficiency by the county attorney's office. Move the amendment as read by the county attorney. So we're moving 16-A and B. Uh, B is amended to what you just stated. Yes, sir. Uh, Senator Geller has moved it. Do I have a second? I'll second it. Vice Mayor, second it. All in favor? Any opposed? Show 16 passes unanimously. Let's go to item 40. Uh, can you read who in the public, uh, person who pulled it? Item 40 is a motion to approve participation agreement regarding opioid litigation and substantially the same form as exhibit one. One member of the public has signed up to speak on the item. Rick Riccardi. Um, go ahead. My name is Rick Riccardi. I'm going to read so I don't run over the three minutes. Um, I'm with Fellowship Recovery Community, and, um, I just wanted to start by recognizing the significance of these opioid settlement funds. Um, they exist because we lost a lot of lives, like over half a million people through opioid over deduction, and, uh, and because we now have the opportunity to build something better. Um, to date, Broward County's received approximately 46 million dollars in opioid settlement funds, from what I understand, uh, of which only 6 million have been utilized, leaving 40 million unappropriated. Um, and then we have over, over the next 15 years, an estimated 120 million coming into the county for this purpose to help us. Um, these funds were not designed for a narrow response. They're intended to support full continuum of care. That is prevention, treatment, harm reduction, recovery support services, housing, peer services, outreach, and long-term stability. Without recovery support, without housing, peer engagement, and community, people cycle right back through the emergency rooms and jails and detoxes, and just, this is repetition over and over. So, uh, the bigger issue is that the decisions around these funds are being made at a level that's removed from the day-to-day realities of addiction and recovery. Uh, that's not a criticism, it's just reality. Unless we're on the ground working with individuals every day, it's really impossible to fully see where these funds belong, what they're supposed to be dealing with. And so, with these gaps every day, we see people come out of treatment with nothing, no money, no resources, no real way to get started. So, we see individuals fall through the cracks. They come, don't, that they don't, it's not that they don't want help, but, uh, they, the system just isn't set up for full recovery. So, here's what I'm asking. Uh, not just funding decisions, but a process, a formal, intentional process, where the county administration engages directly with the full recovery community, providers, peer organizations, outreach teams, housing programs, that people doing the work every single day, organizations like, that we set up, like CRT, or Community Solutions, or, or Provider Solutions Council. A process where we can sit down together, identify the real gaps, align the funding and actual need, not just assume need. Right now, without the connection, we're risking building a system that looks complete on paper, but leaves critical holes in practice. These holes cost lives. Commissioners, we have the ability to bridge that gap. You can direct, recommend, or require that the county staff engage with stakeholders before finalizing funding strategies. You can ensure that the voices of those on the front lines are not just heard, but integrated into the decision-making process. This is not about any one organization. It's about building a system where we can all work together. So, just asking you to consider that process. Thank you. Sir, one moment, please, before I go to Senator Rich. I want to ask counsel, um, he, are his numbers accurate? Uh, we have, uh, Daniel French here, Deputy County Attorney Daniel French, who could speak to probably the amount of the total recovery in terms of expenditures, administration. Is this from the class action firms we hired years ago? Yes. Was that, was that, I was, uh, is it the firms that I kind of was talking to you about? You, uh, Leif Cabraser, I know you had mentioned they are lead, one of the lead firms, Rodman Geller. Okay, now I remember what that is. Can we have just, just to get accurate numbers before we go any further? Yeah, yeah, and probably on expenditures, yeah, probably to the administration. Yeah. Where's counsel? Sorry. Uh, yeah, go ahead, Danielle. Yeah. Excuse me, sir. How much money have we received? How much we have we allocated? What's the scoop? We have received about 46 million. Okay. And, um, for the expenditures, I would have to defer to, um, county administration. Okay. Monica. Thank you. Thank you, Danielle. Um, so my team's got all the numbers and they have been either spent or allocated already. And so we've got all of that list and as well as all of the backup on all of the community members we have been actively meeting with. So everything that was requested has been happening. Senator Rich? I just wanted to comment and ask maybe Sandy, uh, to comment, um, because I have been talking with them about this, uh, so that we can build something better. And some of the ideas that Mr. Riccardi mentioned obviously are the things that were exactly the things we're looking at, having meetings with stakeholders, not just doing it ourselves, but put up an RFP out there that responds to the needs of the community. So I, I just would like Sandy to maybe have a thank you. And yes, so, um, either Mr. McDonald, I think Ms. Williams, um, is actually prepared to go through all of the lists of all the meetings and all the stakeholders we've been meeting with. Um, in fact, in the last couple of days and weeks and even meetings, I believe today, tomorrow, and the rest of this week with stakeholders for this very purpose. Thank you. Do we want to do that now? Or do you want to do that as a separate item for next meeting or? No, I, I, I personally would just like everybody to know what we are doing right now. Okay. Shoot away. Thank you. Uh, quickly. Thank you, Ms. Williams. Yep. Good morning, Mayor and Vice Mayor, Commissioners. So, um, we absolutely do believe that the, um, it's incredibly important to use these funds to support community, um, programs, initiatives. And so our staff is currently engaging with United Way, uh, Broward's coalition on behavioral health and drug prevention. And that's our community response team that we're using. So this coalition is a cross systems task force that has membership representation from a variety of fields and communities, including medical, addiction treatment, education, law enforcement, judicial, business, faith-based government and recovery communities. And the coalition advises plans and provides for programs relating to the abatement of opioid use and other substance abuse throughout Broward County. So the coalition is currently engaged in doing their 2026, 2029 opioid action plan, uh, using a rather comprehensive, uh, research-based methodical approach that includes working with the epidemiologist from NSU who's doing data collection and information gathering on trends on opioid use and treatment. They're doing public surveys. They're having community conversations in town halls, including a youth town hall this week. And tomorrow, uh, we're meeting with BBHC's recovery-oriented system of care committee. Uh, we recently convened, the coalition recently convened the Addiction Prevention and Solutions Summit. And they also are hosting the upcoming 11th annual South Florida Behavioral Health Conference. And finally, they have a very active public policy committee that focuses specifically on, uh, behavioral health. So this info-gathering stage focuses on three key areas, uh, prevention, environmental conditions, and treatment and recovery systems. So this creative plan will help us determine what other community-based programs and projects we will bring to this board for consideration. Is that, is that good? So, so, um, Monica, excuse me. So the gentleman said out of the 46 million in Solomon fund, only six have been appropriated. Are you saying that it all has been appropriate already? So we has either been expended or it has been appropriate and allocated for services to be expended. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Commissioner, you need, um, I believe that the county is doing a lot of this, but I would encourage them to reach out with operators like Fellowship and some of the other operators in the community that are actually doing the boots on the ground work with a lot of this, uh, dollars that are coming in. I think they, because I've met with them. I know Rick for a long time. I think they'd add a valuable voice to how these dollars are being spent in the future. Commissioner Fisher and then Commissioner Rogers. Yeah. Commissioner, I want to echo that, but I want to talk about Mr. Riccardi because his program and his outreach has been extraordinary in Broward County. Um, and it goes beyond his addiction recovery center. It goes with his public service and community service with Rotary. We're talking about a bus that takes care of folks and, and all sorts of programs that he has implemented himself. And so, Rick, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart of what you do for Broward County. And, and again, encourage you, Tara, to, to get him engaged because he's making such a difference now. He can make such a bigger difference. Thank you. Commissioner Rogers. Mayor, my concern is just a question. Do you know the amount we received? I heard 40 plus million or whatever. When did we receive our first allocation? Okay. Do you have a count of the homeless community that you have identified as opioid recipients and all of that? I just wanted those type of information. When I'm making my decisions or recommendations, I need to know the population that we're dealing with and to know that there's a population that we received over 50 million or whatever that amount is. That's, that's money that we don't have to spend. And we need to differentiate and have it a breakout so we can see how those dollars are being allocated. Right? So homelessness and housing, of course, want to see what we're doing towards helping to create new homes or whatever it is. Just want to see and know what we're doing. Thank you for what you're doing also. Um, you know, um, Monica, you know what I was wondering if since Commissioner Fisher is talking very highly of his programs, if money has not all been allocated, you know, maybe this board wants to determine whether there is something that some service that he provides that might be a value commissioner. Um, you know, uh, that if we do have money to allocate. So, so the, the challenge, um, has been that what we've been doing is to make sure we're doing an RFP to make sure we're put all the dollars out for the community and whoever wants to submit an application for the services. That's how we've been doing that. Done. Sure. I would just, you know, like to, uh, compliment Rick, uh, and Gary Smythe and their team. I was out on the rotary connection bus. It's an amazing, uh, operation, uh, going throughout the whole community, stopping at many of our homeless programs. And, um, but I, I, I think this is, this was the idea that everybody should have input into this and then the RFP goes out and people respond to the RFP. Got it. Got it. Okay. We number 40, uh, do I have a motion? Move it. Second. I have a motion. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Show 40 passing unanimously. Let's go to commissioner for item 46. Thank you. Um, this is a, an item using some of the leftover affordable housing money for a small development, which is needed because most of the time we do, uh, our, our projects that is for the, the Florida housing finance has a threshold of 70 or more. So this is, this is interesting, but what I, I'm not sure where the target is on this. And I don't know if we're looking to for rental or for ownership. I don't, there's nothing in the backup that's showing anything on that, that I would like to see. So I think, um, there was kind of criteria. So we know where, where this money or, or what the target is at senior housing. Um, is it a particular band of, you know, or where the thresholds are for 30, 30% to 60, 60 to 80, 80 to 120. I didn't, I just didn't know where the target was. So commissioner Davis, I know this is yours, so I'm asking yours. Yeah. Um, well really what this is to do is to fill a need that currently is not being met. I know the last time we were here, um, many of you voiced, uh, as far as our churches and the land that they possess and how they could contribute to our housing shortage. And many of those properties cannot hold the over the 70 unit threshold. And so this is just a way that we'd have an opportunity for folks doing smaller units on smaller, um, parcels of land to be able to also, um, uh, you know, obtain some funding, uh, out of that 1 million, which is a very small amount. Uh, staff will, I'm sure, uh, create a program and put out the RF, uh, Q I believe it is, or RFA, sorry. And, um, come up with the criteria. I'm not sure if anyone is here currently from the housing department who could speak to that. Okay. If you could, Mr. Stone. Thank you. Yeah. Good morning, commissioners. Uh, we have in the past had a small under 70 unit RFAs. In fact, we had 5 million last year and we, we approved four projects that ended up totaling about 128 units. So we would use that same RFA. It's just a smaller amount of funding. Now last year we capped it at two and a half million, but we had 5 million to deal with. So with a million dollars, we would probably put an RFA out and just see who applied. Uh, you know, if it was under several, under, under a million dollars and we could do two would be two. If it wasn't, we would do as much as we could. So, uh, these would be rental, rental and not home ownership because the board this year allocated 5 million for home ownership. And we're in the process of talking to all the board members about a strategy to get that out on the street. So we've, we've handled home ownership this year. Uh, this would be for rentals. Ralph, the, the parts that, you know, when we do that, when I think a lot of us wanted the home ownership part of this, of our affordable housing trust on put in there, most of that from our, our discussion sounds like that goes to like, if somebody's buying a condo for 150,000 and, or something like that. So it's more individually. We don't have any multifamily homeownership projects, correct? Well, to the extent that the condominiums can be considered multifamily, we do purchase assistance for, for, for, for condominiums, but, uh, um, you know, And, and I, and I, and I guess the other, the other part of that question is, is, is that, is that not a sweet spot enough? Is that not enough money to be able to build something like that where we actually build a multifamily facility that would be ownership? Because I know many to the churches, um, that, that want this, they're also looking for a home ownership. So there's kind of, the, the churches that have the land that are looking to do this kind of stuff. They've said to me, they are looking to do this and they're looking to do home ownership, but it looks like, it looks to me like we're doing the same RFA that we're doing with what would be normally, uh, for the, for the bigger projects. You know what I mean? In terms of the strategy, uh, rental versus home ownership, you're right. And if the board's direction is to, to use this million dollars to do both rental and home ownership, that's how we would structure the RFA. And it could be either one and it would, you know, whoever scored highest would win, whether it's one, two or three, it just be depending on what they're asking for. Okay. But so we, we want that direction from the board this morning. If you want to do both home ownership and rental, we can do that, but we need direction on that. I mean, we might not get anything back, but I, but, uh, commissioner Davis, I wonder if you would be open to on this, having that RFA be open to ownership as well. Um, but there is another item that's going to come before us. And then we could look at that. There's a bigger pot of money. This is only a million dollars and most of these small, um, churches that they're not looking, they're not going to get, um, builders to, to build for home ownership. There's just no, um, I guess, profit margin enough for that. So I think this one, this item should remain for rental. And there's another item that's coming up. We can discuss that's a bigger pot of money that could do that. And I'm willing to look at that for that item. It's item 64 where there's like 12 million. Well, with, with regard to that money, I'm, I'm going to have a lot to say on that one. So I'm going to, I'm going to, I want to wait on that. Um, and I think, I think I've, I imagine a lot of people have a lot to say on that one. So I, that's why I wanted this to at least have the opportunity to be both. I don't know if that's, I don't know because I haven't seen the margins on that. If it's impossible to build for homeownership on that or, and if it's not economically feasible. Commissioner, the only, only comment I would have, and I think it's consistent with what Commissioner Davis was indicating is that for, for a million dollars, our, our thinking was, this is going to be gap financing and we're going to be leveraging a lot of other equity. So we'll get more units. For example, if someone wants to do a 40 unit project and they need a million dollars to fill the gap, we'll get 40 units. Okay. You know, out of a million dollars at home ownership, you're lucky to get one or two, two units. Okay. All right. Okay. Hold on. Uh, Senator Geller. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I, I agree with what Commissioner Furr was saying and would just raise the issue. At some point in time, we've had discussions on this. We really need to adopt a policy on rental and or home ownership and how we do the two. Senator Rich has pointed out repeatedly. We get a lot more units when we're doing rental than when we're doing home ownership. On the other hand, the home ownership builds generational wealth that rental doesn't. I could argue effectively on either side, but I'm just saying that we've had this discussion a lot. And at some point in time, I think the commission needs to try and adopt the comprehensive policy. Uh, I know Commissioner Furr, when I was mayor and I'd asked you and you were going to take the lead on, we were looking at how much of the money that we're putting should go for rental, how much should go for home ownership, how much should go for rehabbing homes to keep people in their existing housing. And I don't know that this commission has ever really adopted. I know Mr. Stone has, but I don't know that we as a commission have ever really adopted a policy on this. And I really think we've been discussing it for years and years. And I really think that it's important that we should try and come up with a firm policy on this, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. One second. Mr. Rogers. Mr. Mayor, thank you. I am so pleased that we are having a discussion around home ownership options. All right. That was not on the table. We were just trying to make sure we fill a gap that we had. Okay. Limited housing. And we were going and yes, the numbers are in rentals, but that does not create that wealth and the pride of ownership. All right. So I am glad that we're having that discussion at this time. And also diversity in housing is critical to everything. One size does not fit all. And everyone wants to participate. You can't ask the churches. We were out there with all of the churches in my district having conversation. And yes, they have some land, but to have that million dollar for a project in with a church that is incentivizing others to look at what we're doing and hopefully fall in line because they see another way of participating and helping their residents. So I would like to see us adopt policies that gives clear direction to staff. So when they start making recommendations back to us, what we are seeing in our communities, what we know the needs are in the communities, how we solve some of the problems. It's not just purchasing and rental. There's assessments that folks cannot afford right now. And if you want to keep them in their homes, we have to think of a way of doing that. And I know, yes, we got the money from the community redevelopment block grant program that is expiring, and we have all of this money. But we need to know how we're going to spend it. And I think that is critical what my senator is saying, that we need a policy that all of us can agree to so we know where the dollars are going to be going and not rely on staff to tell us where to spend the money. We have the issues in our district. We know where the problems are. We know what the needs are. And we would like to be included in what you're going to recommend on behalf of all of us. So I'm looking forward to that discussion, Steve. I'm right with you. And Commissioner, I support the project and what you're trying to achieve with that million dollars. Easily spent, you know that. I think with the limited funds, just focus everything on District 2. Forget everybody else. Nan, did you want to speak? No, nine and two. But I do too. Am I right? Oh, I'm sorry. Please, please. You're probably going to say what I'm going to say. I don't know. First of all, I do want to say there is an excellent project, probably a first of its kind in our community that the Urban League is doing, where they're having a rental and home ownership. There'll be 100 home ownership units in there. So that's a really new concept. And, you know, we haven't had that before. So that's great. Of course. Right. So that's great. But I just, I think we've lost sight again of what the difference is between the need out here. And maybe Ralph, you could address it. We did research. We have studies that show in every single city, the amount of affordable housing we need for multifamily units. And it's way beyond anything we can even do. It's just so, you know, unbelievably high. It's been 75,000. I don't know if we're still close to that amount, but units. So we need to focus on that before we make any decisions, because we still have the gap in the rental. And the other thing I want to say is, yes, I think I agree with you. It's very, it's excellent when we do have projects that have home ownership. But there are a lot of people who work in this community in areas that are somewhat transient and jobs, and they don't want to, they don't want to have that. And they still can't afford house, you know, their apartments. So we need to stick to, I think, our focus has to be, in addition to doing some of these other things, our focus needs to be on the largest number of people who are in that gap. So I don't know if you want to respond to what the need is still. We're coming up. I think we have a new study going to come forward that'll give us the information again. Madam Commissioner, I may just make two quick, really quick points. One is that we've had this conversation many times in the past. And one of the things that we've mentioned from a staff perspective to balance, make sure that you understand that we're balancing home ownership, is the federal grants that the community gets collectively, there's 15 entitlement cities that get home and block grant money and ship money, including the county. Collectively, the amount of money that we and those communities put into home ownership equals what we're doing with the gap financing, about 20, 25 million every year. So there's been a good balance. And kind of piggybacking on what Commissioner Rich said, is we know that half of the workforce in Broward County is earning 60% of our median income. They're all renters. We're dead last in the state of Florida for homes for that population with less than 25 homes for every 100. So that's our workforce. You know, we're a service economy. So that's where the gap program evolved. Prior to the gap program, we never did rental. We had no source for it. And it was all home ownership. Now we have, I think, a pretty good balance. So just to be mindful that we're not, we haven't foregone home ownership. We've been doing home ownership for like probably 40 years. How many years? Over 40. Say that again? 40. 4-0. I know what it is. I've been with it for 35. Yeah. So it's my item, but go ahead. I just want to stay focused to the item. And I think you hit it on the head earlier when you said that this is going to help with some of the other tools you have in the toolbox to get to smaller projects over the finish line. And then I asked staff yesterday, you know, to name some of those projects. And you've gotten some from me when I was a city commissioner that was smaller that couldn't get entertained by this group at all because you're saying larger units. But I think in respect to districts, we're all different. This won't work in Western. This won't work in other parts of this county. But I know it works in my district. And I'm sure that you, the commissioner that's put it on the agenda today has realized this crack there that could be filled. And that's what this small amount is. It's not the big amount. And we do anticipate larger amounts based on the early investing of this commission and the entitled cities that participated in the CRA programs. That money is now coming home. And as we build it and we incentivize other cities to take their 25% and give it back to us, we can do larger projects. But there's six projects I think Monica named yesterday that have been on the books in this city for about eight years. And they were small projects, probably less than 40 units, I believe. And because we talk about bigger projects, we say, well, you know, this number changed this year because construction costs and the economy. Imagine the devastation to someone trying to do 40 or 25 units. And Lamar sees it up in his district. You see it too, Mr. Furr. But I see it all the time. And some of those smaller projects that we have in the Harper, you have helped two of them over the finish line. We approved one of them, I think. Lamar was one of them. Am I correct? Correct. And we all just raved about that project right across from the sheriff's station. But without this, and now this, it won't happen. So the other big stuff is going to happen, whether you like it or not. And that's based on what a developer's desires of it. When someone stoops down to this level to do a small project, we need to do everything in our power to make it happen. And I think that this is what this item is talking about today. So we can't mix the two. And the other items coming up next is $12 billion. Have at it. Thank you. My sentiment, exactly. Commissioner Furr, you wanted to... Yeah, one last thing. And this goes back to when you were mayor and you asked me to try to get some money for Homer. He was mayor. When he was mayor, yes. And I think Habitat for Human... I know. I think Habitat had come through with a lot of that. Habitat, for the first time, what mine are saying is they're thinking about doing multifamily. Correct? They are, yes. Yeah. That is a game changer there. And that's something we need to be thinking about. Because if they're willing to do multifamily, that's been out of their... They've always done single-family. They've done single-family. People who are building it or are going to live there help build it the whole bit. But they haven't had the multifamily one. I guess what I'm saying is I don't want to see that get excluded. Because there's not really a place for them. Because they're not... It's not going to be big enough for the big project. I understand that. But think about this. You're talking about a million dollars. This is... We deal with billions here. And we're going to just beat this little item up over a million dollars that might, may or may not help someone. But it all depends on the person that's going to take this bait. If they don't take the bait, the million is sitting there. And we said ourselves, this is why we told the churches in this whole lockbox thing that we're not going to lock it down for 30 years. We're going to revisit it every year because things change. We think differently. We might have another tool to put in the toolkit to adjust to different projects that are developing. Because you're right. 40 years of what they were doing. Now, the demand is affordable housing. We don't even have any housing that's affordable. But the one thing, what you're talking about taking the bait though, Habitat for Humanity can't take this bait. Well, we're not talking about Habitat. No, I know. But I'm talking about a multi-family... We're talking about one million dollars. But they're all small projects. For Mr. Wright's project, where's Stone? He's over there. Where do you go? Ralph. But he's got a list of projects that this is going to help right now, that we've been working on for six or seven years. It's going to help them put those 22 units, 22 apartments out there. But we're going to beat this up of a million dollars? No, no, I'm not. I think there's a real need for small projects. There's going to be all kinds of these. But if you walk in my shoes one day, you would change your mind. Because I have a different demographic of what I represent. We have districts. And I don't come here saying I got the next 15-story, 155 units. Most of my units might be three-stories, might be 22 apartments. That's the same where I live. But this is going to help that. We've already helped this town grow. Look at Hollywood. Look at... This place has grown. I mean, I don't recognize it. Because we have been doing our jobs, inviting folks here to build the units, to build a good workplace, a safe place for people. Fisher and I just, we tore down a hotel in Pompano that no one wanted. But now we've got an affordable housing project going, not because of Fisher, not because of me, because of this deus. Yes. I think what all I'm saying is that we don't have an RFA. What we don't have an RFA that would target under 70 units for home ownership. We don't have one right now. Am I correct? No, sir. But we could. We did have a targeted RFA a couple years ago. All right, let's bring this in for a landing, okay? So this year, the $5 million went for purchase assistance. That's going to be about 50 homes. Okay. I'm happy to support this the way it is. But I do think that we do need to be thinking in terms of home ownership for multifamily. Okay. Okay. Um, with that said, let's, uh, do I have anybody want to move this? I move the item. Commissioner Davis. Thank you. I move the item. I know her voice better. She's got a better voice. And you're seconding. I have a motion to second all in favor on number 46? Aye. Any opposed? Show that passes unanimously. Um, before we go, I'm going to go out of order. But before we do, I just wanted to point out, uh, something that we all approved on consent. Uh, something that I am proud that I brought three years ago, and that is a $50,000, dollar. We, we're now refunding that $50,000 pool for any first responder, law enforcement, um, firefighter that gets killed in the line of duty. We have money, at least something to give to the family for, uh, you know, help right away, which we're doing right now to that firefighter. With that said, I'm going to say something about that. Sure. As long as you say you loved it. When you said it, we had a debate about whether or not we should do it. You saw it. You had a vision. And a year later, you put it into action this morning. So a lot of times, you know, your ideas aren't dumb ideas or ideas that won't work. Not, not you. No, no, but one in 10 good ideas. I mean, if I got one, that's what you saw something. And when, so when someone comes up with an idea here, I mean, we're talking about $50,000 and we spent countless hours on it. We're going to spend countless hours on $25,000 in a minute. These are just things that we think of along the way, while we're trying to build this beautiful County. And in some, a lot of times it doesn't need all of this, this, this, this verbiage, but even your heart machine, I sat there when I wasn't a commissioner, I thought you were out of your mind, but the statistics, the return on investment, the lives that we have saved, you know, but I was looking at it with a different set of lenses back there. So the million dollars, I talked about, uh, some of these smaller projects when I first got here, this commissioner saw another angle and we just keep adding to our vision and our successes. It's not about, so, but we see things differently, but we got to sit here and talk about your $50,000. But this morning, your $50,000 was a true testament to our men and women that serve. I'll pay you later for saying that. I move the motion. No, I'm just kidding. I know I'm messing with him. All right. We're going to go out of order. We're going to start with number 63, and I wanted to just tell everybody here why I brought 63. I met with Helene O'Brien, who's here today, and basically, we have security guards performing work at our property that are told that you're not working Christmas, you're not working Thanksgiving, you're not working on 11 holidays, and they don't get paid while others do, and I just felt like it's not fair. But since then, I've been told that there are people who are working Christmas and Thanksgiving, they're getting paid, and is it fair that those who are working get paid, and those who are not working still get paid? And so I said, well, let's just bring it now to a motion to discuss. And I didn't know if Helene, you wanted to start first to talk, and then we'll bring it back to the dais. But it just hit me. I'm not talking about 11 holidays, but you know, when you tell somebody, hey, you can't work on Christmas, and you can't work on Thanksgiving, and these are people who don't make a fortune of money, and can use the money. And so anyway, with that said, take it away. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and County Commissioners. Good morning. So my name is Helene O'Brien, and I lead 32BJ SEIU in Florida, the Union of Security Officers, Airport Workers, and Janitors. And I'm here today to ask you to add some paid federal holidays to the contract with security companies guarding buildings such as this one courthouses libraries. The reason we're asking for that is currently the government buildings close for federal holidays at least 11 times. Some of the buildings close 13 times a year. And while most of those other people who work in those buildings do get paid, the security officers don't get paid for those days. So that's basically an economic punishment, and we think that that's wrong. We're asking that at the very least, this commission act to add funding for the security officers for this contract, which is government buildings, courthouses, libraries, and a few other smaller community office sites, are paid for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Fourth of July. It is not the same at the airport. The airport and the port never close. So those officers get to work. And when they work on a holiday, they get paid time and a half. We're talking about people who don't have the opportunity to work on that holiday. They're still going to be missing out on eight to 10 holidays a year. But we're asking for at least three. It's important, we think, that upcoming changes in the state legislature, or what the state legislature has wrought, puts a harder deadline to getting this done in the more traditional way. And so we really hope we can count on you to support these security officers getting Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and Fourth of July. Thank you. We have a second. Okay, folks, folks, we please appreciate if you don't applause. Appreciate it. We have a second speaker. If you can come on up, state your name, and please. I'm sorry, what name? Good afternoon. No. So everyone, I'm Laster Wilson. Let me get my notes here. I'm a security officer who works for the Broward County contractor here. And I'm here to ask to vote for paid federal holidays for the security officers who protect Broward County's critical public infrastructure such as courthouses, the county buildings, libraries, and parks. Broward County observes at least 11 paid holidays that usually mean the buildings are closed. But we security officers who work at those sites of these holidays feel like a pay cut because we don't receive paid federal holidays. Instead, our paycheck is for only four days instead of five days. During the Thanksgiving week, we only get paid three days instead of five days. We can lose nearly $2,500 a year because of missed holiday pay. Our wage with the health care differential is $22.47 per hour. We are already living on a tight budget, not to mention the current economy. Getting 11 to 13 days cut from our paycheck each year takes a tremendous toll, yet a subjective toll. We hope this commission can bring to remedy this matter today by moving forward to add Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July, at least to the county contract so that the government centers and courthouses and libraries, when they close, will have a significant and positive effect on our lives as well. And we hope to count on you for your support. Thank you again. Thank you, sir. Let's bring it back to the dais, and I'd like to go around and see who would like to speak on this, if anybody. Ann, would you want to sit on Rich? Yeah, I was thinking this was a motion to direct, which is what I would like to do. Well, it is a motion to discuss and provide appropriate direction. Provide appropriate, okay. So I believe we should move it to motion to direct. I think it's unfair, and these people are critical to our organizations, and the fact that they are not getting a fair shake here is not right. And we're only going to end up doing three of the holidays, but I understand, you know, this is incremental probably. But, you know, hopefully we should start somewhere. If the, you know, the buildings are closed and they should get their pay. To think that the Thanksgiving weekend, the gentleman just said they get paid three days, other people get off two days and get the pay. So that is just not right. So I'd like to, I don't know if you're ready for a motion, but I certainly would like to make a motion to direct, to do that. You make your motion any time you want. Okay. I'm going to make it now. Okay. Why don't you make a full motion, please? Okay. What's your motion, Senator Rich? My motion is to move this item to a motion to direct, rather than a motion to discuss. Direct county attorney to prepare an item to come back. Exactly. He can award it himself, but he can come back to us for those three holidays. So there's a second motion, but let's go around this to discuss. Commissioner Geller? Senator Geller? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I will be, uh, admit that I'm torn on this and I'm going to give some pros and cons and, you know, why I'm explain why I'm, I'm a little torn on this. First of all, we do need to recognize that there is a difference between our county employees and county contractors. When we hire companies, they're not county employees. Now, one of the issues that, that leads to is sometimes I think we give too much emphasis in the selection committee only on cost. Because I, I'm a firm believer in collective bargaining and believe that the unions need to be doing collective bargaining. That's one of the things the unions do. If they know that our criteria are always going to be to go to the lowest cost. Um, then that gives the companies that are using less qualified employees in edge. It's giving companies that are, uh, uh, not only less qualified, but newer employees because it traditionally, the longer you're with the company, you get salary increases. We, we, we saw this on our cranes. This is the exact same issue where, you know, you can give too much emphasis on costs and result in less qualified workers. But again, on the other hand, that's a collective bargaining issue and one that not necessarily we should be involved with because they're not our employees. I am concerned also, um, that although right now we're talking about three days, philosophically, if you agree that it's three days, there is no philosophical difference between three and 11. And I think ultimately we can get to 11. And although right now we're dealing with only security guards, I don't know philosophically if you say on security guards that this isn't going to become all of our contract employees. And I would not be willing to support this without seeing what the fiscal is. We haven't seen any proposed fiscal impact and we need to know what the fiscal impact is as part of that. Um, and again, do support the collective bargaining process. Think that we need to pay attention. The last thing is we're doing it. Well, two things we're doing it this year where we're talking about what could be a substantial increase in what we're paying without having any idea what our income is going to be because we still don't know what's going to be happening on property tax. If we end up losing arbitrarily 20% of the county's income, increasing costs at a time where our income is going down, maybe something we simply don't have the ability to do. And last question is that West County attorney, I know that the legislature much to my dismay has been continuously interfering with local government's ability to, uh, set our own conditions, which I find appalling that the legislature continues to think that what works in Bradford County works in Broward County just because they both start with BR and Bradford County with their under 20,000 population and Broward County with are 2 million are different counties, but the legislature has passed legislation. I think that limits our ability to give instructions on contracts. So can I ask you what that limitation is? Yes. And, uh, deputy county attorney, Adam Kotzman is here who can speak, uh, to that issue in greater detail, but, uh, essentially starting October 1st of this year, uh, the county, uh, cannot require, you know, in solicitation and its contracts, uh, private employers, uh, to pay certain wages, uh, living wage, uh, to provide certain conditions of benefits of employment, such as state holidays. Uh, Adam, I don't want to run, uh, outside of my expertise here, so maybe come up for a second, and make sure I'm not misstating anything. Thank you. Good morning. Adam Kotzman, Broward County attorney's office. Uh, it'll be really quick. What Mr. Meyers said is accurate. Hold on, hold on. But there is nothing that in that, that if we take out or don't give us much priority to cost in the RFP process, that would not be covered by this. Is that correct? We're, we're, we're analyzing that, Senator. The legislation is restrictive. Uh, we have to be, and go ahead. Correct. And also, if you have a contract before September 30th, 2026, then those provisions may be in that contract, because the law doesn't preempt current contracts. So, with, with the impact being, if the board takes action on this today, or takes action on anything similar to this before September 30th, it can apply to out years. But starting October 1st, it can't, we can't have these terms and conditions and agreements. What about renewals? Uh, it's, so it's, it's something that we need to discuss. Uh, and, uh, we have, I think, had private briefings, uh, with folks on that. But, uh, we should, it's better to discuss and have a continued. I withdraw the question. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Renewal of contracts. And he said he didn't want to discuss it publicly. So basically what he's saying is that if you can enforce it now, but, but if there's a renewal of a contract, you may not be able to do it later. And a renewal contract, even if you're doing it now. And, um, yeah, and, and, and may or certainly any contract, if, if a security guard contract, a new one comes up after October 1st, it's not going to have any of these things in there. So, okay. You know, you're creating a, you know, okay. Let me go run this. Commissioner Fisher. Yeah. I just wanted to ask Ms. Shapiro. I know we've dealt with these issues in the past. What has been the past history of the board? And how do we address these matters? Uh, thank you, uh, commissioner. If I'm, if I may, I'm going to ask Mr. Kelleher to, to, um, fill you in on, on the background. No, he's not recognized. Sure. He's recognized. Mr. Kelleher. Uh, thank you for recognizing me. The, uh, you know, and, and the board may recall back in 2022, we had a major living wage, um, rewrite and there was two major things that came out of that's relevant to today's discussion. The first one is, is you had a higher salary rate that you started, uh, security guards at than you had during the, uh, during any other living wage, um, non-security, uh, jobs there. And then the second thing that you did at that time is you required 40 hours of PTO, um, for, uh, for, uh, uh, living wage, um, contracts. And, and, and that was in part of the discussion back then, as you may recall, had to deal with, you know, them being able to, uh, sick holiday attended a children's event. And so it was 40 hours per year that, uh, is required, um, for any living wage contract. Um, the other thing I, I do want to point out here is, um, and, uh, Mr. Myers indicated that, you know, there's different levels of disparity that could happen by doing just this one item, because what, what's being requested here is just for one contract. And that's for security guards that are at this building, the courthouse parks and, and libraries. Um, now, most of the time when there's a holiday, there, there's a reduced staff. So this building, we don't go down to zero staff. It's, but it's, it's heavily reduced. So on, uh, on a holiday when we normally have eight folks, we go down to two. So there are, there are some security guards that do work in these buildings, but it is not the full complement. So now you will have one level of disparity is, is you may have some people sitting home and getting paid a day's pay. And then some people working to get the days paid, they would get time and a half, but they're not getting the benefit of that day off. Uh, likewise, you have that same issue when, when you talk to other security groups, um, you know, at, at the port and the airport. And as you know, my background in, in dealing with labor, if, if one group has it and they feel that they don't have the same benefit as another, they're going to be asking for it as well too. And again, there, they have to work to get that day's pay where there's another group that's getting it without the, without having to work. And then you, if by, you can also extend that to, it also goes to disparity, um, to other job, job groups like janitorial, transportation, parking. Again, these are all living wage contracts that, that don't have, uh, they don't, they don't get paid holidays. And we, we did a survey, we did a survey of, um, of other local counties, um, and you know, Miami Dade, Palm Beach, Orange, and from, from our research, none, none of them pay for holidays for time not worked. And, you know, and that's, you know, important because in this realm, we pay a loaded rate. So for each security guard hour, we paying a, a company, um, like $30 for that because that, that includes the, the salary of that employee as well as profit and overhead. So that's another consideration. I'm just pointing this stuff out that, you know, for, for consideration for the board. Thank you. I would like to go around the dais. Um, you finished? Anything? Anything? Anything? Anything? I want to just throw this out, uh, also for your consideration that instead of three days of paid holiday, you give, uh, the eight, 16, 24 hours of PTO, which gives the employee the same pay, but more flexibility with those hours. So instead of, you know, it's, it's the same pay, but it gives them more flexibility to use those 24 hours. Just a thought to throw it out might be a bad idea. Great compromise. Discussion. It's not, it's not even a compromise. Discussion, great. It's a better, it's actually the same pay, but a better benefit for the employee if you're considering it. Anybody want to go ahead. I'm okay with what you said. I mean, I, but I have a, I have an issue and I support getting these people paid for these three days. It's just like the right thing to do to somehow make that happen. But I agree with what Kevin says. It's, it's kind of hard philosophically to pay somebody for not working when you're asking other people to work to get paid. So it's complicated. So when you talk about parks, this building goes from eight to two and, and, and some other areas, let them work on those days or reverse, reverse bid like you do certain things. So give them the ability to work. All of our parks are open on fourth of July. All of our parks are open on Christmas, aren't they? Cause families go out there, let them work. And this way there's an opportunity. They can work. They don't lose a paycheck. And they're, and, and we're quote unquote overstaffed for those three days, but you have more people. Yeah. So the parks are protected a little better on fourth of July, Christmas, whatever. And, and, and, uh, everyone goes with God and they get paid. Mr. Davis. Thank you. I'm in agreement with, uh, staff, um, the, um, security guards getting paid some of the holidays that we have the ability to get paid for how it's done. Uh, that's something that maybe could be worked out, whether it's PTO or the actual three days. The fact of the matter is I can't talk about what other people are going to do if they're going to come before us or not. These folks are before us and you have to deal with that situation that's presented to you. In addition to that, it shows that this commission is concerned about the wellbeing and welfare of not just our own employees, but the contractors that we, you know, the contracted employees. And in future, when somebody, I guess, wants to get the contract, they'll look around and see what this commission is looking for them to do. They may not do it, but they may say, you know what, if I come in this law, I won't be able to do this. Maybe I should include some of these other benefits that I see that the commission wants to, uh, agree to. So even though you can't force them, if they see the trends, maybe on that next contract, then include some of these things. But if you flat out say no, then they're just going to have the barest minimum and not be concerned about what our values are. And so I think it's important that we recognize that we do want to support our employees as well as those who are contracted. Commissioner Furr. Thank you. Um, I think, I think what, what was bringing all this up, it tells me we kind of need a strategy for after, um, September 30th. Um, and so I guess I'm asking, um, county attorney when this comes back, give us, I think we're going to need some strategies and how to deal with some of these things. And, you know, with living wage, what are, what are our options here? When you've analyzed all what that new legislation is, what are, what are our ways not around it, but what are the ways that we can provide while we've been providing and continue to do that and do, and do, you know, and make the kind of contracts that, you know, I think the show the values that we, that we have shown for the last 20, 25 years with a living wage that we want to continue that. How do we do that? So I'd like, I'd like to, I'd like to see that when that comes back. Mr. Mayor. Yes. Um, Commissioner Furr, the, a lot of what we want to do and our values, the legislature has simply preempted us on, but that's why I raised the issue of minimum of having cost as a factor, but giving more discretion, because what we don't want to have happen is, you know, again, everybody come in, race to the bottom in what they're paying their employees, uh, what their, what benefits they're offering. That I think we can do by take, by still considering cost. Cost is always going to be a factor, but instead of making this up 50%, making it five or 10% so that we can give more discretion to the committees to evaluate the entire criteria of a proposal, because we can't just tell the legislature, we disagree with you. So we're going to ignore you, but we can look at the overall benefit and give more, more discretion, more points to the qualifications of the employees. No, yeah, I appreciated your argument. That's why I said if you can come back with strategies that can represent that. And, and mayor, if I may, and I know, uh, Renee was, was part of the, uh, team. I mean, uh, okay. Uh, yeah, we, we've had preliminary discussions. We've flagged the issue because it is coming up to a deadline. That's an important deadline. Uh, Commissioner Ferro, as Senator Geller said, we're not going to be able to do things with the type of discretion that we've done in the past, but there are things that we can do. And I think that Renee is leading an effort on from the, the lawyer side to coordinate with OESBD, with county administration. We've, we, Renee, go ahead. If your mic's there, just, uh, we are having these discussions because we are approaching a deadline and we can discuss that further with you. Unions at the table, when you're having these discussion, you OBSD and all of those, are we, we including? No, no. And, and, and, uh, yeah, these are just internal discussions, commissioner. And what we're, we're trying to do is we know that the board has had a lot of priorities on these issues and we know that the legislature has also said that can't continue beyond a certain date. So there's a certain, uh, creativity and discretion that we might be able to exercise. What we're trying to do is, is be able to present options. The board can make those decisions and we'll circle back on that. Mr. Mayor, there's a motion to direct and there's not six no votes. So clearly it carries. Hold on a second. Okay. Yes. Vice Mayor. Um, if we move this forward today with it, what would that do to what you just said was so complicated in your collective agreement behind closed doors? Uh, well, uh, discussions among lawyers and staff as well. So, so, uh, no, it wouldn't do anything. I would want to find out what your intention is with this motion. Is it to bring you something back on this or is it to have a freestanding motion that, I mean, an amendment could be drafted to effectuate this, uh, empowering the administrator to do it. And, and then, you know, you can see what else happens on other contracts. Uh, but, uh, it won't impact those, those discussions, whatever, uh, creativity, whatever options might be available would not impact whatever your proposed option. All right. So haven't heard that before. Let me finish. I know, but you, you're saying something that's, it's, my attention is real short. I didn't say it. Vice Mayor, are you done talking? No, I'm not, sir. Okay. Uh, but I have a different perspective too, when it comes to collective bargaining. Um, and you don't want to hear that today, but I think the key here is what's before us. And if we're talking about a different, um, group of folks that protect and serve, uh, we're not talking about, you know, someone who's, um, doing other things. And I think it's important enough to move forward to direct, to make this happen. And we deal with what comes later, later, because we're talking about protecting and serving right now, uh, on this issue. And it's, it's changed my heart. All right. So we have a motion in a second. And the motion is to direct council. Uh, are we having a motion to direct them to bring back? Are we having a motion to direct the move this entire thing forward to, to move forward? So, so these, this group of people would be paid three holidays. The ones designated, no, no, no, excuse me. Um, you know, uh, if, if that was not the motion, we'll make sure what the correct motion is. Can she make that motion by changing the motion discussed to a motion to approve and direct that this move, uh, forward if she has a second on that? Uh, Senator Rich can do that. Uh, but I've, scoped out a motion that I think if you're looking for this to be effectuated without coming back, it's easy enough to do. If you want it to come back, it's far easier. She doesn't want it to come back. I want to fix it. I can, I can read something into the record when you're ready. I want to do something. So, okay. Let me, let me run with it. Let me run with it. Okay. What do you want to do? Would you please read the motion that she wants to do? That would be a neat trick, mayor. Uh, and, uh, Adam and Renee, please raise the motion. So, uh, it would be a motion to direct the county administrator to negotiate an amendment with the applicable vendor or vendors to provide for the county, uh, to reimburse the vendors for providing pay for the employees under the circumstances, uh, addressed in the item subject to observance of all applicable collective bargaining requirements, authorizing the county administrator to sign that amendment or those amendments. I'm not sure if it's multiple contracts and it's all subject to review and approval as to legal sufficiency for the county attorney's office. Hold on. Now, there's a motion. Is there a second to that motion? Okay. I have a motion to second. Let's hold it. And now, you know, Senator Geller, you can speak on it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was all in favor of the motion to direct so that we could come back and have a motion in front of us. I hate drafting things from the dais because we have no idea of the intricacies here. Does anybody know how much this is going to cost? Staff gave that number to us yesterday? I have not been told, you know, do we know what this is? It depends on what group we were talking about here. As the motion is read, it's not limited to the certain contract that was referenced in the motion to discuss. It is, Kevin. It's under the circumstance and limited to the contract addressed. Okay, so if you're just talking about that contract, you're talking about a quarter of a million dollars for the three holidays. Okay. If you're talking about the larger... No, we're not talking about the larger. We're just talking about this contract, period. End of story. So, Mr. Mayor, I think it's a very bad idea to adopt, to draft something from the dais. Okay, just so you're against it. I'm explaining why I'm against it. And, you know, I was all in favor of having this come back, letting him draft something properly that we can do, but I don't think I've ever supported something where we're drafting from the dais and don't have the details in place when we're going to vote on it. That's just not a good idea in general. Mr. Fisher. I just want to focus on the 250. Is that for a year cost? That is for three holidays. For the year, right? Because we have to deal with this back in September now again, right? Mr. Myers, we deal with it back in September again or no? This would just be effective, so we don't have to readdress it. It would just be approximately 250 of your recurring costs, right? The provision would apply for the duration of the contract because we couldn't do it after September 30th. I don't know if the 250 is an annual cost or if it's the for the remainder of the term. That would be three holidays, you know, prospectively. I mean, you know, so the next three. For the 12 months or for the remainder of the contract? That would be for the 12-month period. For three holidays. That's what I'm saying. So it would be a yearly cost of 250. Correct. We would look at for reoccurring. Correct. Okay. So I just wonder what the cost was or was it just 250 for me to September? I wasn't sure. Commissioner Dean? Rather than redoing all our contracts and everything, can we just have management send a memo to our security company that we want the same level of staffing on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and Fourth of July that we've had the day before? Is another way of accomplishing your... And they work. Some of them will come in. Right. To accomplish the same goal. Accomplish is the same goal. That would cost you more money. That would cost you this time and a half for those days. Can I... Well... I know. Okay. That's in our contract that we pay time and a half on those holidays? Yes. Well, next time we look at those contracts, we should probably reverse bid those days because you might not have to pay time and a half in the future, but it's going to cost more to get them paid, but... Okay. Commissioner, wait. I got people here who want to speak. Commissioner Furr? Your idea of the PTO is interesting, but I don't think we're going to have a chance to hear that. It's always a good idea. It was interesting, but I have no idea of how that would work. It's the same. It should be the same amount of money because you're paid eight hours a day, 8, 16, 24. So instead of getting paid three holidays, you're giving the employee 24 hours of PTO they can use if they're sick, they can use for vacation, they can use... It's the same, should be the same fiscal impact, but it gives the employees actually a little more flexibility. That's what I thought. That, you know, it gives them the same... So they get paid, but they can use those hours at a different time. But wouldn't that be for everybody, not just the ones that don't work that day? This is just for the... Because some of them do work. I know, but this is just for those contracts where they don't work, correct? Can you... But even in the contracts where they don't work, they're still... We have reduced staffing. Like in this building, we go from eight to two. So there's still people under that same contract that are working. I understand, Kevin. Right. Okay. Thank you. And then to... He's just trying to run and drive his point home. No, no. I'm just trying to make sure all the information's out there. I got you guys. But to Commissioner Fisher's point, there's... The contract ends January of 2028. So if you do it prospectively, you will have three holidays for 26, three holidays for 27. So it'd be, it's, you know... It's 250 annual on the budget. That's if you do it prospectively. If you do it retroactively... It's 250,000 annual hit on the budget. Okay. Do we want to finally come to a vote on this? Yes, we do. We only have two holidays left for this year, right? So it wouldn't be 250. Or is it going to be 250? It crosses... Two left for this calendar year. But yeah, but it crosses over fiscal year. So the motion that was read by council, it was seconded by Vice Mayor McKenzie. We have a motion and a second on that motion. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? So we have eight yeses, one no. It's passed. There you go, guys. Mr. Mayor... And thank Colleen O'Brien for your, for that, for you guys. Right. Right. Mr. Mayor, just to clarify, we want to make sure as we're effectuating this change, that it's prospectively. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, respectively, to what? This contract. So, yeah. Oh, no. Mr. Mayor, Dean. Accomplished. We're going to go again out of order, because we have some commissioners that may have to leave early. Right, Nan? Okay. So we're now going to go to number, we were just 60. Let's go to number 59. That's what you wanted. Number two, number 59. You want to wait till they leave? You want to wait 30 seconds? We're going to be at number 59. No. Okay. Um, uh, you want me to read it? Or you want to read it? I'll read it. Go ahead. Give it a shot. Item 59 is a motion to discuss potential changes to the cultural divisions arts and cultural festival and special events sponsorship form guidelines to obtain brow board direction as to its interest in permitting county commissioners and their offices to apply for funds for events through the program. No member of the public has signed up to speak on this item. Um, it doesn't say whose item this is. It's my item. Okay. Um, it's your item. Take it away. I think it's, yeah. Yeah. Just, just to clarify, technically it's, it's county administration, but no, no, but it was at the request of, um, the changes that have been requested by Commissioner Davis. So do you want to introduce it, Commissioner? Yeah, I have some talking points. Um, basically the, each commission office would be allocated up to 25,000. Doesn't have to be the total amount. Um, and this program would be requested by the commission or their office. It's no new funding. It's already allocated, um, in the cultural division amount that we do every year. And we wouldn't have to manage how it's being spent. And so this would again come under the direction of the cultural division, just like other municipalities apply for grant funding, nonprofit supply, the commission could apply also. Um, this would be for, to support events throughout the county, um, whether it be cultural, it could be sports related and, and things of that nature. Different, obviously different districts operate differently. There's some, uh, amount of engagement that I find that's done more by certain municipalities than others. And so this would help to add to that as well. Um, again, I've talked about this in the past and I've known it's been brought up at various budget workshops. And the, what I've heard is that most folks don't want to have to have it under their coffers, but it's already under the coffers of the cultural division who managed the program that managed that program quite successfully. And, um, this is just another tool that we could use to support events in our districts. If you choose to do so, some people may not choose to do so others may choose to do so. And I think it's a, especially now when, uh, we're looking at making sure that the county is involved. We don't just say, well, that municipality is doing something. What is the county doing? You know, you never, it's like you don't have any engagement with your district outside of the municipality. And I think it's due time that the county itself does more in their districts, does more in, in, in, uh, the unincorporated areas and has the ability to do so through their elected commission office. So that's, that's my take on this. And staff may have more information that they could share, but I'm curious to see how my colleagues think, because this is a certainly different approach and it's already again funded and be managed by the cultural division. Thank you, commissioner. Uh, before we go around this, I'm just going to ask, uh, both our legal council and our admin to, since admin put it on, you'll start first and, uh, give us your perspective. And then we go to legal and just see if we, as commissioners, what any risk or anything we have with that money? Go ahead. So thank you, uh, Mr. Mayor. So, um, as, uh, commissioner Davis described the changes, those are things that over the course of a couple of, um, I guess over the last year or two, you all have, um, had these conversations both on the dais and as well as during budget workshop. And I committed, I'm sorry, we've had what conversations about having allocated different funds for commission districts for this type of activity, right? So you guys have had these conversations. And so during the June budget workshop, I shared that I would bring something back and that's why the item was under county administration under cultural divisions name. Um, and, and we worked with commissioner Davis to outline the request that she was asking for, for these dollars. So that is why the item, you know, is, is drafted that way. I I've shared that with all of you, um, during briefings. And so our, our position is, is that this is a strict policy decision and we are able to effectuate the change. If that is something that will, the board, because of my age, I don't remember what did we decide in June to do? So, well, in June, there was discussion in the budget workshop. There was not consensus at that time and the way that, but it was a different discussion. I'm sorry, not consensus on what to move forward with the $50,000 allocation. This is a different request. So this is for 25,000. So, but I did commit to bring an item back and that is what you have before you based on the conversation and the request of the commissioner council. Any issues legally with this? Well, first of all, I don't fully understand the item because I, I, the way that it's written, I have concerns. Of course, the, the devil's in the detail, we can draft something and we can bring it back to you, uh, for your consideration that maybe would address those concerns. But the way I see the item written, even before you get to legal concerns, I, I see some policy things that I thought maybe the county administrator would tee up, but I'll at least mention them publicly because I did mention them privately, uh, as well. Uh, first of all, the item again, as written, uh, would lead to potentially an expansion of this cultural program into allowing expenditures for non-cultural purposes, uh, things that are not expressly or explicitly cultural. That's legal to do. It is a policy determination that the board should make, uh, one way or another. Uh, secondly, uh, I, I hear comment about things going through maybe normal channels and this being all subject to fill and, and, and, uh, cultural, uh, oversight or supervision. And certainly, we would want to draft things if we're instructed to draft something that would provide by that, uh, for that. But when I'm looking at the item, it talks about each commission office is allocated up to a certain amount, talks about discretion of request, requesting commissioner. Uh, so it could be argued that what this is seeking, uh, is some sort of a delegation of, I guess, programmatic responsibility in a sense, uh, to individual commissioners. That's also legal, but it's not something that I'm aware of the board, uh, really doing. So that's a policy decision that I think the board ought to determine whether it wants to, to make. What did you, what it had to do with Phil and who's Phil? Well, it was, it was, I'm sorry. Yeah, Phil. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So how does Phil come into play? Well, if, wait, let me finish my question. If, if we're able to get allocated $25,000 each, how does Phil come into play? Well, so I want to understand the process and how this is, is normally done because we, we would obviously have to draft it and we want, we would want to draft it consistently with what, uh, the board direction is. But, uh, for reasons I'll explain in a second, uh, I would have extra legal comfort if things went through ordinary channels, uh, and that it went through a, you know, the regular approval process. Let me, let me, let me explain that. You mean the board? Well, it, you, you delegate authority to, to staff, uh, on occasion you do to Monica, uh, you do some other authority to, to senior staff members. Occasionally you delegate authority to me. Uh, but in terms of programmatic decision-making and, and others can correct me, I'm just not recalling instances where, uh, that that's been, uh, basically delegated to a single commissioner, which, which again is legal. If, if a commissioner wanted to make a decision, we're going to spend up to the $25,000 on this event. That can be done legally. I just want to point out legal concerns, uh, that I would have if that were done. The first legal concern, which I think is relatively easy to navigate, uh, is sunshine law. If the board delegates, uh, the, the authority of the collegial body in an individual commissioner, sunshine law responsibilities can attach to even actions of that individual commissioner. Again, I think we can navigate that relatively easily through drafting. The second and far bigger concern, and I did raise this during briefings, uh, is, uh, under, uh, which hasn't been signed yet, but I expect it will be Senate bill 1134. Uh, and under that, as we know, we're going to have, if that becomes law, uh, uh, real difficult conversations because we're going to have to look at a lot of what we do funding solicitations, programmatic issues to make sure that we don't run afoul of that law. And under that law, counties may not fund or promote directly or indirectly, or take other official action related to, uh, to DEI. What I'm concerned about is when we're dealing with cultural issues, the law is kind of murky as to what may spill over into being considered DEI or not being considered DEI. I would want to make sure that there's a full and careful analysis of all expenditures by this board. And when I see things in an agenda item about something coming up, uh, not observing 90 day deadlines or any deadlines, I think it says, sorry, I've taken off my glasses and putting it back on. It may come up at any time prior to the start of a proposed event. I would want to make sure that there's very significant legal analysis that's done that any contract for funding an event contains the necessary provisions because my concern is that through, uh, it being on a short fuse, uh, missing something, failing to include something in, in an agreement, we may have funding or programming that violates this, this law. And, and, and mayor, if I'll wrap up right now, uh, I promise the law talks about it being a violation directly or indirectly, the violation belongs to the board, not to any individual commissioner. And the law uses buzzwords, misfeasance and malfeasance. And as we know, uh, our language, that's language that comes from the constitution, uh, that deals with the governor's, uh, yes, authority to just play it out. Let's say this approves and I, and I decide to fund something council that is considered by the state, uh, DEI in some way. What, what's the bottom line? Well, I do if, if, well, they, they suspend. Yes. Yeah. Suspend. And, and, and my concern is, and we're wrestling with these issues now that, and this is why I want to make sure it goes, we be responsible for other commissioners actions. It's the, yeah, there, there are grounds that I have, I have a concern that the, uh, the obligation to comply is the County's obligation. If this board were to delegate an authority and I'm not suggesting that it would happen under this item, I'm just telling you why I feel strongly that certain protections are needed. I would want to make sure that through inadvertence, my, me making a mistake, my office, making a mistake, something not being disclosed, especially if it comes up on a short fuse, I would want to make sure that none of this went forward unless my office signed off on it as to legal sufficiency. If we did all of that, and we were really careful and we put inadequate timeframes and things went through normal channels, and all you want to do is give commission offices the authority to select some event, that's purely policy. Uh, I, I'm concerned about the risks and at least as the items written, uh, I, I couldn't tell you that I would recommend the item. Okay. Let's go around the dais and let's go. Can I just address something right quick on, um, the, the policy that hasn't been signed by the governor that would affect the whole cultural division? Would it not? Oh, it's, it's going to have effects even beyond the cultural division. Right. So, so it's not just what we're doing here. We're talking about the overall cultural items. So we may have to change the whole thing, but we don't know yet. And so we need to prepare, but I wouldn't just attack this item because there's a whole cultural division that you need to make sure. We may have to attack. We may have to look at the entire, the entire thing of what we, so are you going to be bringing something to us looking at what we're funding and what the problem areas might be besides this item? So, so, so mayor, we sent to the board, uh, comprehensive memo, uh, that I know Joe Gironi is in here and Brandon Butterworth from my office did to me that I forwarded to the board, uh, on September, on, uh, excuse me, April 7th, uh, that talks about Florida Senate bill 1134, that it kicks in January 1st of 2027, assuming it becomes law. And it talks about a proposed plan working with administration. Monica told me they're already doing things independently with OESBD, with cultural soup to nuts at the County to try to flag issues and address them before. So admin is going to be looking at every expenditure we have for, for cultural right now. And you're going to, with your office to determine whether this might pose a problem. Oh, I mean, I, yes, that's our recommendation done by. Yes. Well, we, we, we proposed, we proposed, we sent this memo and we proposed a plan. We're going to be meeting with administration and other agencies and it's starting immediately. This is, well, I mean, when will we be presented estimated date of when we will be presented with, Hey, here's about 20, 30, 10, with our items that we're funding that may present a problem. When do you think we can get that? I suspect that it won't be completed before summer recess. And I suspect that action will be ready to be taken, uh, immediately after I suspect immediately after summer recess. When will that happen? Well, so, so let's say August 20th or August 22nd might be the date of an agenda item where we get direction. And then we're going to have to go through our code programs, solicitations. We're going to have to go through everything. And we're going to need, when would the bill take effect? Uh, January 1st. So we would have, we're not like, okay. So we got some time. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Can we go around the desk and just get, uh, any comments? Do you want to start anybody? Okay. Senator Geller. Hi, me again. Um, enough. Thank you. No, um, the, the way that this is worded, it's impossible to understand what is being asked for. And which is one of my concerns. Oh, I have to interrupt you. I have a motion to extend the meeting. I have a motion to extend the meeting. Go have a second. All in favor. Any opposed? I oppose. Let's show that eight to one. Okay. Okay. We extended the meeting. Go ahead, Senator Geller. Um, you can't, it is not clear based on this, what uses these funds can actually go for. It says they can go for funding for events that are not cultural, for example, sports related events. But just cause it lists one example, I don't know what else it can be used for. Can it be used for, uh, printing, um, literature or giveaways is, is this, are we creating a $25,000 per commission slush fund that each commissioner can spend however they want? It doesn't say here. If we're talking, I want everybody to remember we had complained that there was too much, um, going on with through the cultural only in downtown Fort Lauderdale. So I had asked for, um, this was discussed spreading that money around, which we have already done. We've already adopted that. So I'm not sure what this is. If this is giving $25,000 to each commissioner that we're saying it's going through the cultural council, but each commissioner has complete and unilateral authority on where that money goes, I am absolutely opposed to that. Um, it doesn't say, um, the, it, if this is also, all of you know, I always push every year for more money for cultural council. If there's nine of us at 25,000 each, that's actually reducing the funding for the cultural council by 225,000 said each commissioner can have 25,000 to spend however they want. I would again oppose that it says not subject to the 90 day deadline. I'm not even clear that under this, uh, the county attorney was referring to, would we have enough time to review contracts? I'm not sure under this that there have to be any contracts for that 25,000. Um, the, would this require a contract? If we were directed to draft it, we would want it to be a subject contract. Okay. Yes. But it doesn't say that Senator. Okay. Right now the cultural division and Mr. Mayor, you were asking about this again, I served there, the county, the, the administrator, Phil, where are you? Okay. Oh, you're hiding behind Drew. Okay. Um, the, um, from my, okay, now I can see you. Um, he already understands that he has to comply with all state laws and therefore the first step before it would get to Monica or to Drew, the administrator of the cultural division would review things to make sure that he's compliant with the non-DEI thing. So we have that as long as Phil is in charge of the money. If each commissioner has the unilateral ability to determine where it's going, then I don't know whether or not he has the ability under this to say to commissioner Smith, commissioner Smith, I'm sorry, but I can't approve your 25,000 requests. It says they can apply for funding anytime. Does that mean that if they apply, they have to receive it? I can, this is so vague that I don't know right now, whether I can support it or not, but we need to try and narrow it down. If it is arbitrary that each commissioner gets 25 to spend however they want, I'm opposed to that. If it's that each commissioner can say, I want two cultural events in my district. I thought that's what we've already done, but I would be prepared to discuss that if it's limited to cultural events. Thank you. Commissioner Fisher? Yeah, Senator Gillard said a lot, but I just want to kind of just look at it because I looked at my notes and the $225,000 that this would obviously come off the million dollars that is designed for this program. So right now, you would definitely be taken away from that million dollar program that would not afford the dollars basically would be cut out for something else. So you're automatically shaving that back that might be committed to my district or your district or whatever. But I do believe that the circumstances of several components of the program that others are required to adhere to, but we're not, right? And Senator talked about the 90-day deadline. What happens if we ask, you know, one week prior to the event and no time to go through the qualifying process? And I thought the qualifying process was with the cultural staff, the director, and Visit Lauderdale, I think, was made up this committee, I thought, to review these applications. So you don't have time to go through that process. If I say a week later, you know, a week before my event, hey, I want $25,000 for this, again, not adhering to the rules that everybody else has to go through. They may use the funds not explicitly cultural, and yet these funds are coming directly from the cultural division of funds. So again, you're violating the dollars that these grants are for. A commissioner can use county-owned facilities, which is great. Would there be a cost absorption on the county for these facilities to open up and staff and so forth? And if so, would other organizations or municipalities have that same right to use them for no cost and so forth? Also, as a commissioner, I make a request, and in my opinion, now the cultural arts staff, the director, and Visit Lauderdale, do they feel obligated to approve it, right? Because I'm a commissioner, so I'm, okay, here I am to approve it. And I think it becomes very prejudicial. I think it becomes subjective, and it becomes favoritism at that point. Because again, you have to look at the entire program, what it was designed to do, and what if they deny? Do they, you know, they deny me as the applicant. Now, do they fear their job? Do they fear that I go to Monica and say, Monica, they turned me down, but I want you to approve it. It puts you in a position at that particular time, which you don't want to be in as well. And does the accountability rest on the staff? Is it my staff here? Is it your staff that I have to do the accountability to? And then lastly, what Drew was talking about, the whole legal issue of it scares the dickens out of me. I don't want to get into a scenario where I want to try to do the right thing. And all of a sudden, the governor says, you know, Commissioner Fisher, you know, you did the wrong thing. And therefore, you're out. I'm not going to put my position in there for 25 grand or $5. It doesn't really matter the money. It doesn't really matter. It's just why you put yourself in a position to make this happen. It just doesn't make sense. And then if you look at District 4, I have nine municipalities. If you divide the $25,000, which I said before, that's $2,778 per city. So if I give $10,000 to Wilton Manors, is Pompano Beach going to be upset because I don't have enough money for theirs? So it just becomes such a convoluted thing for such small money. I just don't want to put myself in a position in any way, shape or form to get engaged with this program. And I understand the philosophy of it, Commissioner. I understand 100%. But at the end of the day, it's just so convoluted. I don't even want to touch it. Thank you. You know, I was talking to the Vice Mayor before we go on, and we had to listen to Geller. Where is he? And he left. So I think we should all get him back here so he can be forced to listen to us, you know? Or else we can use it. Right. Okay. You know, this argument's been kind of going back and forth for all the time we've been here a little bit. 12 years. Yeah. But it finally kind of, we finally got to a process that I thought was actually a good process that I thought was working pretty well. And in the fact that there's a pot of money there, if you want your city or organizations that you like to be able to access that money, you encourage them to apply, which is what the minute this was available last year, I went to every city in my district. I said, go apply now. I said, as fast as you can. Go apply now as fast as you can, because it's a limited amount. And, you know, and they all did. And they were able to, and I said, what that has done has leveraged our money. That's the best part about it, because it requires a match. So we're putting in $25,000 or $50,000. The cities are putting in money. That may not be necessarily part of this, but what we're doing is almost doubling the money that we're putting in. That's a good thing. So the second part is, I actually trust our art and cultural staff. You know, they are art professionals. They've all been in, you know, they've all been in school for all this stuff. Some of the stuff requires that kind of an eye. It requires that professionalism. It requires being able to kind of jury what projects are coming. You don't want projects that don't match up to what it needs to be. So I appreciate what those are. As Commissioner Fisher said, I'm afraid that this would be taking money from the larger pot and not being able to leverage that money. And lastly, I think it does put the cultural division in an awkward position of having to say no to a commissioner. I don't think that, I think that's a pretty difficult position. So I actually think, I mean, I think we've only been doing this process for a year or two or two, something like that. It hadn't been long. But I actually have seen success on that. So I don't really want to see that changed. It's taken us a long time to get there. I think we should keep going with what we're doing. And, you know, I see a lot of pitfalls in having the money in our own office. And that accountability, though it may, you know, it may be one commissioner, all of us would be responsible. And I think that's something we should be careful of. That's all. You bet. The better side. Okay. Commissioner Rogers. I'll tell you where I'm going. I heard it before and I'm hearing it again. When I came to this position, I made my statements and my comments around everything that the county sponsored was not in Central Broward. I made those comments. And I'm tired of busing my seniors or folks everywhere. So I'm hearing here that things have changed. And the county is hosting events in our cities. So I would like for someone to tell me when something was hosted in the city of Plantation. I named my cities. And you can tell me if we have done so in my district, in my cities. I would like to know. Because that was said. That things are now in our communities that the county is doing. Because we realized that everything was on the beach side. Everything was on cities that could afford to do it. And I love going to Miramar, but I hate going to Miramar on their dime all the time. So it's good to know that the county is doing stuff. In addition to what the cities are doing in the district that the county commissioner can say, yes, I supported that event being in my district. I don't know of those type of events. So if they're out there, very good. I like where it is right now with the cultural division. I have the same fears as all my commissioners here. We don't want to do anything outside of the law. So for it to go to the county attorney and for him to do his thing, I'm all for that. None of us are here trying to be removed from the position that the constituents elected us to be here, to be their voices. They don't come to our meetings. I always say you don't go to Tallahassee. They don't even come to Broad County Commission meetings. All right. So they expect for us to speak on their behalf. And that's what we're doing. And you're adding things to it. Sometimes it scares me what you add because that was not part of my thinking. But I know it's things that we need to put talk about and come up with solutions. So as we continue to talk, I need to know that my district benefits from me sitting here. And I know some of the things that they want. And everything will not come through the city commission. It's by nonprofits that are doing great things in our city and our business communities that are doing great things in our communities. And they need some help. And that's where it comes in. And I don't mind going through the process. And I don't believe anyone is saying for us to avoid the process. We believe in the process that protects all of us. Thank you. So I'm sorry. Are you saying you're you? What's your position on this? I am supportive of the process that you're going through right now. Okay. Okay. You're against it, right? I'm not sure they're clear on Hazel. That's what you're saying. Pardon me? Say that again. I'm not sure that we're clear of what you just said. I know you said you support the process now, but you do support going forward if the process remains as is, as far as this item. I mean, we're here to discuss. We're not here to say direct. Yes. It's a discussion that can be brought back with tweaks and differences. So I don't know why it's like it's a direction. It seems like that's what's been, oh, you're going to do this, this, that, and the other. This is a simple discussion. I'm sure I think everybody's discussing their own feelings about it. Right, but I just didn't understand what she was saying. Yeah. Okay. Vice Mayor. Okay. Talking to her. I'm messing with you again. Anyway, um, I can't believe we're still here. I'm in my fourth year and I, and Hazel Lee, or Commissioner Hazel, uh, um, echoed some of my sentiments, um, early on. And even, um, the, the, the former Senator, uh, Geller and I, uh, agreed that we need to do more in the cultural division. And he made a comment about it should not just be on the east side. It should be here. And he so, um, diplomatically just spoke and a million dollars appeared. And then I spoke and we had another million, but each year we've been trying to address the elephant in the room. And I I think the elephant in the room is, um, our districts and how that works. But what's more troubling to me is how much time we spent on this 25,000. And he was able to speak a million into the air, a million into the air. And we did it. And Mr. Dunlap does a great job with culture. And maybe we need to look at what culture is. What is culture? What is the definition of culture? I've said it before, from my own perspective, from my own district right here. And now I'm going to read the definition. Culture is the shared set of beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that define a group, society, or an organization. It acts as a pattern of human behavior, including language, art, and rituals that is learned and passed down, influencing how members view and interact with the world. But we say this bill's coming out in September that's going to prohibit us from doing certain things. Um, we deal with that in September, but that bill has told us, and the perspective of that bill has been telling us since I've been here, there's certain things we're not going to do here. And we have advocated against what the bill is saying. And when the bill is passed, we're going to have to act accordingly and behavior will be monitored and you will be removed if you deal with those things. I don't like to participate with any of that stuff. But the way I read culture, it could be a sporting event. It could be the Pompano Jazz Fest that's coming up. It could be Tortuga that has passed. It could be Sis Trunk Festival. It could be Juve. It could be whatever the behaviors or the culture defines or has evolved into in these demographic or geographical locations in our county. That's a melting pot. So I don't use that word. And I try to stay with them. But someone said up here today, it could be viewed as prejudice. I'm going to say something that you'll never hear me say. I said it once before City of Fort Lauderdale. No, but because of how we view culture coming from my district or another person's district, this is discriminatory in perspectives of what you think a cultural activity is. We're talking about $25,000 here. We did two $1 million addition to, and I want to ask Monica, I want to ask Phil, what is the budget for the culture division? The entire budget? I'll have to pull it. I don't know it off the top of my head. Just give me something. $4 million, $2 million, $3 million. Phil, do you have that easy? About $9 million in total. Roughly. It's my fourth year. I'll just use last year, for example. Including staff. Just, I want to clarify. I don't need an exact number. We're not going to court. But did we expend all those dollars last year? The grant dollars, yes. Not grant. Did we? But we keep giving more money to the culture. Yes. Well, all the money is expended in addition to. The grant dollars, I believe, were, maybe there was some vacancy dollars that were not utilized. No. I don't think it was expended last year, because for the full amount. Yeah, but all I'm saying here is that. The first year of the program, sorry. The first year of that grant program, no. So if I need $25,000, yeah, the million dollars was all spent. Currently it is, but I don't believe it was for last year. Is that correct? Phil, Phil, please come up. Thank you. And I apologize. I wasn't prepared for that question, but I will get it. But I don't care. Just roughly. Last year, when we launched the sponsorship program, not all the dollars were spent. We launched in January. And so that's part of the reason. But currently, all the dollars for the FY26 sponsorship program have been allocated. Thank you. Through the end of the fiscal year. Thank you. And you hear all of us talking about we need more in our districts, because we only see more in the east, on the east side. So this is the opportunity to do those small lifts. And we didn't necessarily have to be at my discretion. I just want to know that I have $25,000 to give to the junk and new, or the three boys night, or the three girls night, whatever it is that needs this measly $25,000. I do agree that the legal part should be tightened up. But I just sit here, I feel so discriminated against in terms of what my culture looks like in my district. Now, you see me at almost everything that goes on in Broward County. I don't care if it's Western, I don't care what it is, because I believe in Broward County. I believe that the taxpayers, should have events and cultural things to go to and participate in. It builds community. It builds family. It builds what we're supposed to be about. And we want to sit here and talk about $25,000 that I'm sure that Commissioner McKenzie, or Vice Mayor McKenzie, won't be the one writing a check around here. I would just probably direct that this should go. And if it doesn't meet the timeline, it doesn't meet criteria, then someone between the administration and the great legal department we have here are going to say, hey, you can't do that. And I don't see anybody up here that's going to go against that, or use behavior that would get us all in trouble. We have gotten here thus far with administration and legal. So I think if we get it, seal tight. We're moving forward, but for three years we've been talking about this. And now we've diluted it to $25,000 and we're going to have this conversation about $25,000. There's a person that uses this word all the time, Mike Tyson. This is ludicrous. I support it. Thank you. Senator Rich. Okay. So I'll start by saying that, you know, I actually think that Phil does an amazing job of respecting all cultures in our community. And these projects go all across the county. I think it's up to us, really. We need to be proactive in our cities to let them know what's going on when the RFP goes out or whatever you're titling it, so that they know what's available. I know in my own city of Weston, I worked very closely with Weston Music Society that was wanting to apply. And I went through the whole process with them and wrote a letter, which I think is perfectly legitimate to do in support of it. And they happened to receive it. I don't really care how much money it was. And I think Commissioner Fisher said that. I don't want to be responsible for doing this. I believe that we have to go through the process that we have right now in the county that is, I think, doing a great job. The cultural division, the qualifying process and the way it all ends up being allocated. And I assure you, I guess, Phil, maybe you could send out a list of all the different cultural events that were supported. I know I get what's in my district, but maybe everyone should see them all to see how broad it is and how it serves all people in our different kinds of people in our community and in different types of events. The part for me is, I don't want the liability on us. I don't want it on me. And I don't think that this is the way we should be going. I think we should do it within our county process. And certainly the county is hosting things in cities all across this county. So I don't think that that is really the issue. And I don't want to be responsible at this point, especially with the bill that's coming forward and will be signed to deal with this. And you know, if anybody wants to do anything DEI, I have to tell you, I'll remind you that it has to be done with private dollars and not with public dollars. You can do it in your communities, but you can't use county or city dollars. So that's horrible. But that's the way we are. That's where we are today until we get a different legislature. But I just think, as I said, there's just so many pitfalls to this, to doing it the other way. And I like the fact that we have professionals that are doing this and they're covering all our communities. And it's up to us, as I said, to, you know, let people know in our communities that funds are available. And I support what Commissioner Geller is doing, is trying to get more money into the cultural pot every year. So all of these cultures all over our community can be recognized. And we can assist as many as we possibly can. Thank you. But not with us. Commissioner Udine? Trying to get my hands around understanding what this whole issue is even really about. So can I just ask Phil, for a point of information, is when we went, a couple of us went to that event in Hollywood a few weeks ago, which was a cultural grant recipient, you know, kind of like thank you that we did in Hollywood. Is that these dollars that we're talking about? Those are the recipients of these dollars? Mr. Dunlap. I just call him Phillip, usually. Well, you could call him Mr. Dunlap. Okay, I got you. Maybe you're mad at him. Yeah. Good afternoon. Yes, to answer your question, that event was in celebration of any artist or cultural organization or even municipality that has received either a grant or sponsorship from us. From this program? Well, this particular, your discussion is about the sponsorship program specifically, which is separate from our grant-making program. Okay. My only comments are, I was at that event. I think the process that we have in place is working well now, so I would support the process that we have. Any comments before we close on it? Yeah. Again, this was up for discussion. This was nothing hard and fast. And, you know, I take everybody's, you know, discussion into consideration. Clearly, we all want to do things legally. Clearly, we could all be subject to removal based on the cultural division. So it's not just this item. I just want to make it clear because Drew made it seem like this item here as a problem. We should have a problem with the whole cultural division once this gets approved by the governor. So I'm concerned about the whole thing, which is my job to be concerned. However, this basically was a discussion item, and it was to be able to utilize. I like what Commissioner McKenzie said, is that, you know, as long as everybody follows the guidelines, legal and otherwise, you can extend it where you have to do the 90 days, just like everybody else. Go through the process like everybody else. But then there is that discretion. There are some people that will never approach Phil for that money. There are small organizations. Maybe they work with the cities. Maybe they don't. And the commissioner involved would know them more intimately than others. In addition, it is not something that you have to take. If your community doesn't do events or not interested or you're not interested in promoting anything or doing anything in your particular district, you don't have to. If nobody's ever approached you for any funding, for anything, then you don't have to take it. And so this is not a forced issue. But I'm going to continue bringing this up. Because at the end of the day, we have term limits for a reason. And I'm glad for them. I really am glad for term limits. Because then you have different mindsets that come on in here and have different thought processes. And we're not stuck in the same old, same old year after year. So if it doesn't pass now, it's going to pass. They're the same in Jamaica. Time longer than I will. And I'll be here. Yes, Councillor. Just very quickly, because I certainly didn't want to be perceived as misspeaking on it. No, it's not just this item. This is the item we were asked to discuss today. I just want to point out one thing in my memo at the end. It talks about our office to coordinate with the purchasing division, cultural division, visit Lauderdale, film, housing finance, human services, and other agencies. So this is a comprehensive task we have. It's just my concern is the way this is written. It would make it even more difficult because it's creating or standing up something new while we're trying to get a grasp on everything we have to do already. That said, if we're directed by more than this takes six objectors, if we're directed, we'll draft what we can and bring back something we think is sufficiently protective. Wait, wait, wait. I haven't spoken. I want to just address something. The vice chair recognizes you. Thank you. I think we've had a long history of where if a commissioner has a need for money, like, you know, I was thinking of Commissioner Rogers when you had the interest for cricket. We get, we approved that. There's been a, okay, we approved it. But the point is, is that you came forward. We, and then we, we, I had needs for what I wanted to do in the healthcare or whatever it is. We all had our different needs and interests. Senator Rich with affordable housing or whatever it is, we've always had the ability to come forward and say, hey, this is important to me and I think this will be good for my, the community and it's worked. And, and I don't, um, the only fear I have and there's only one fear I have is what council's talking about as much as I've disagreed with you council or agreed with you. Um, I, I, I don't want to, you know, if commissioner, you know, if each of us want to do something, that's great. We stand on our own to do that. Um, I just am concerned about the bigger picture as commissioner Davis talked about, about this whole bigger picture with a good old Phil Dunlap's thing, you know, uh, our, our today, if that bill went in effect today, would you be saying to us, hey, you better stop funding this, this, this, this, because the governor, if that's the case, uh, that, if that's, if you're saying yes, uh, you're, you know, and, and, you know, uh, I would be cease funding and I would be not doing anything. And so I don't want to do anything that on one hand, that's going to come back at me, but on the other hand, I'm willing to accommodate any commissioner, just like we did with all the other commissioners. When you need something, we put an agenda item on. If you need something, I think even before this thing, you could put an agenda item on and come say, hey, this is important to me. This is my district. This is what I want to do. Please approve it. And, um, so I had my say. Yes, commissioner. We're where we're going. We're asking the attorney to draft wording that will keep us out of the eyes of everybody else to include the governor. That's what we're trying to avoid. This, this is a discussion item, but if we're to be directed, it would be drafting change to code. That would proceed unless there are six objectors. That doesn't need five affirmative votes. Okay. Well, um, motion to discuss. It's a motion to discuss right now. Are we saying we're not allowing the attorney to put what he thinks would be good for all of us, protecting all of us? We're not giving directions for that. We don't have. We can give direction to anything you want. No, he's you don't know what you have because we didn't, we didn't do a consensus. That's why I was trying to get a consensus when I asked you what your position was. I was trying to get a consensus, but, uh, commissioner Udine. Thank you. So I, I just want to understand because we have some shaded, which is, I assume the differences of what our current policy is to what our proposed policy would be. So here's what I'm thinking. Don't we do this already? If you're, if the commissioner that's sponsoring that said, said she'd get rid of the 90 day provision. So each commissioner's office is allocated up to 25,000 hours. Why will it be allocated? I can ask for Phil to do something for more than 25,000. If it passes muster through his group, they get to do it. And then it says it doesn't make sense. Commissioners may apply. I'm not applying for anything. I'm not filling any of these out. I'm just telling the group, this group should apply. I mean, if it's chance, I don't think we're the ones that are, are we applying for this? I don't know how that works. We never apply for anything as a commissioner. Mr. Mayor, may I? I want to. Are you done? So, no, I'm asking, maybe that's, someone's got to explain. Are we supposed to, is this, this would pretend a commissioner signing an application to apply for it? Mr. Mayor? Well, we'd have a say so into what it goes for. Right now, we really don't. They apply to Phil and Phil has control. This way, we would say, okay, we have 25,000. I would like that to go to that organization who's going to do this event, and then he would take a look at it. Right now, we have no say so. I mean, you may have, and you can try, but he doesn't have to listen to you. Okay, but like, I don't, but I'm, I can only go by what I've done and like seen done, and I'm probably a good example because I'm the one who got dinged by the governor because we did the metaverse thing a few years ago, and Phil did it. He, that was a big thing that they wanted to do. I thought it was good. I'm sure those events cost more than $25,000, and I think they were right. I think they were cultural. I think the whole, what, what we did on that, I think the, the nick we took when they did this review was wrong, but I just don't understand how this is written like this. I've, if we see something. Commissioner, you didn't remember this goes beyond, right now, you're all talking cultural. This specifically says non-cultural events as well. Commissioners may apply for funding support events that are not explicitly cultural. But the commissioner, commissioners may apply. Explain that to me. I've never applied for any grant money since I've ever been. This is new. You're right. Oh, so I have to fill out an application? It's not, no, I'm not filling out an application, but I'd like to recommend a group in my, in my district. You can do that right now. Right. That's what we can do. Okay. You can recommend, but they don't have to get the funding. Excuse me. Whereas if you allocate the 25, then you have some control over that. I'm a delayed, I'm going to be a delayed person here. I'm going to pick up a comment. I didn't understand for a second. I want to make sure I got this clear. You're talking about term limits with this thing. What, what, what, what are you saying? No, that was just my own personal opinion on term limits because I find that we keep going over this year after year and getting nowhere. So everybody has a different- What do you mean we're getting nowhere? You mean what you want to achieve is not happening or- Well, the mindset is just not there for it. It's like the mindset is just locked into, no, we don't need this. We don't, it just, it's just not open. People are not open-minded. But wait a second. We don't need this. I think we are doing cultural events. What, what, what, what are we saying? We, what are you saying? We don't- What I'm saying we're not doing is allowing, and not everybody has to do it. It's optional. Allowing commissioners? If a commissioner has an allocation of their own allocation, they can now say, I would like for that to go to that, that to go to that, that to go to that. Currently, you can ask, but it's not going to necessarily happen because it's under Phil only to make that decision. So forget Phil, but I didn't, I just gave examples how each commissioner- If you want to do an event? In the past, since when we wanted something to do and we brought it forward, a lot of times it's approved. Sometimes it's not approved. I mean, so I- So you want us to bring every- Huh? Well, if I have an event that I want to get approved, not to go through Phil, but to come before the sport and ask for it? Right. Either they'll say yes or no. I mean, that's what, I'll go around the- I think what came quickly was your, the sports event that you did. You know, I mean, not guarantee that, I'm not speaking for anybody here, but what you're saying is that the mindset, I think that we've been, anybody that needs something can put something on the agenda. There's no chance, there's not a guarantee anyone's going to approve it. But, and there may be discussion and you said it was difficult, but it got passed or whatever, or Nan, you've been arguing all this time for more affordable housing and you didn't like, we, she didn't like my health program from day one. And, and you know, we, we debated- But it could be a very small amount. It could be a $500. I mean, I didn't have to come to you for spent expenditures like that. This is not something that we just keep coming before the board. A major project like your heart month. I can understand that's millions of dollars. I fought like crazy with, with this lady here. And, you know, I've had arguments with these guys, you know, when, when it was untested and stuff, but I, I think everyone, you know, listens and, and, and, you know, but, you know, I think we've been a collegial group. And, um- Mayor, I just want to, it sounds like now, this was a specific item to do a specific thing through the cultural arts division, have an application, just like everybody else. What I'm hearing now is what Commissioner Davis is saying. Really, she's just kind of looking for that pot of money to spend where she wants it to be spent. That's what I think I'm hearing. The $25,000, she wants to give $500 here, $500 there. She has the ability to do so. And she said she could be turned down here if, if, if it's applied. I think that's what I'm hearing. Maybe I'm not. I don't know. So it looks like it's going up for a second. I'm going to be a little creative. Second. Council, let's say we decide to allocate $25,000, just to Commissioner Davis's district, and we don't, for, for expenses related to education in her community. And she decides to do a DEI. Whatever she decides to do, she decides to do. Are we responsible, if we allocate the money to her district, her, her account, and it's for, uh, community services, social services, and, and she decides to use it for whatever she decides to use it, does that protect us more than, than doing this cultural, quote unquote, cultural, uh, money? That's a Drew question, not a Phil question. I'm sorry. I'm asking Drew. Oh, I thought you were asking Drew. I wouldn't, I wouldn't recommend that, Mayor. Uh, first of all, the liability belongs to the county, not to any individual commissioner. Secondly, uh, I don't know how this law is going to be interpreted, but it's written very broadly. It, it uses the words misfeasance and malfeasance for a reason, talks about direct or indirect violations. There's also under the constitution, you know, the, this category of dereliction of, of duty or neglect of duty or whatever. So, I mean, you can't, so, so we don't have a bill. There's no built in defense. In other words, by saying, uh, I wasn't sure how the money was going to be used. I assumed it would be used legally. Turned out it was not used properly. And is Anika here? Hi, Anika. Where's Anika? Anika, I'm sorry. My eyesight's bad. Anika, can I ask you a question? Oh, no. Watch this, Anika. You know, you know, she can't contradict me. You know that. She, she might disagree with me, but she can't contradict me. Anika, I'm, I'm, I'm being serious. Do you agree with council's interpretation? You're going to be our county attorney. I want to know, do you agree with his interpretation, his comments? Yes. As to, as to this, as to this issue, there's tremendous potential liability to the county. And I think all of us across the state of Florida are really working through. Is there anything different that you would add? No. I take my support back. Okay. Well done. Let's forget our item on the agenda. That's an answer. Oh, gosh. She's all in your votes. But again, Mr. Mayor, all of it is, it's open to interpretation. We're not there yet. Whether it's Phil's department or us, whatever we do, we're all liable. That's what he's saying. So, we expect everything to be vetted. All right. Well, what do you want to do with this item? It's a motion to discuss. I'll let, I'll entertain whatever, uh, is there a motion or anything, or are we just leaving it as motion to discuss? I would do a motion to direct, come back with the right language that I have the, so I'm voting on something that I know what is already there. I think we did a good job coming out saying, let's deal with it. But motion to direct with the legal jargon that would help us move forward because DEI is going to be here and we'll deal with that then. But even now, even now, if I say it's something related to DEI, they're going to say something. I don't bother those folks in Tallahassee and in DC. But here in my, in my, in my county, I can do a cultural event. Problem is, we don't know what cultural means based on the Webster's Dictionary. Culture can be perceived as a lot of things. But we can take an application through this process now and have it decline because you may not see that event as a cultural event in my district. I'm talking. I'm trying to. But that's the problem. The problem is, she wouldn't be bringing this up, but Monica's staff wouldn't be working on it, if we thought it was a process that was working equitably. Every time. I hate to use that word because of what's going on in the atmosphere, but it's $25,000. Done. I, I, for, I will. I second the motion. Excuse me. I'm going to go with Commissioner, Commissioner Fisher, and then Commissioner for, and then Senator. Mr. Melton, do you have an opinion on this? Mr. Melton is the auditor. Commissioner, do you have any words? I'm not recognized. You speak too long. Go ahead. Well, it is a policy decision. There are, there's a lot of legal implications. As you said, uh, the 25,000 is not a lot of money, but on the other hand, uh, and on the other hand, you know, this board's role is to set policy and get in and to handle policy matters. When the board starts directing individual operational decisions, I get a little bit uncomfortable, but it's well within your authority to make that decision. Whether it's 25,000 or a million dollars, it goes back to Drew. That issue is if it's something's wrong, you can be removed from office. That's the whole point. I don't care if it's like, as I said, $5 or 25,000 or a hundred thousand. Vice mayor, with all due respect, can I talk? Absolutely. And I apologize. Okay. All right. So I just want to recreate that just to make sure. Okay. Thank you. Is that correct? I could get removed from office and for some reason, it's not properly corrected, done, right? Yes, commissioner. But let me just add one thing to it. What commissioner Davis said is also true. If staff messes it up, it, you know, eventually whether the lawyers miss it or something or anyone else, it could end up being a problem. So there's going to be a comprehensive effort. This is, this would just add another wrinkle to it. We could try to draft this in a way that, that protects if the board directs. Thank you. Okay. Um, I know I had commissioner for Senator Ridge, Senator Geller, and then we'll be here till 12 o'clock tonight. Go ahead. We'll be at eight because you guys can't stop talking. Let's go. I'll be real quick on this. I think the main thing on this, and there's a, there's a fine line here is that we are the ones who implement or decide policy. We, we do policy. We decide where and how this money is supposed to be spent. We're not supposed to be the ones who administrate this. That is a, and yeah, I've been here a long time and yeah, I'm term limited, but you know what? When you've been here a long time, you learn this stuff and you know where that fine line is. And that fine line is we do policy. We don't administer and we're not supposed to. And, and by putting it in, putting money in our hands to do that, we suddenly are administering. We're not supposed to be doing that. It's against the charter. And if people don't understand that, it's not against the charter. They need to read the charter. Senator Rich. I'm going to pass and just say, I agree 100% with what my colleague. Thank you. Senator, Senator Geller, you agree too? Yeah, I would be a no vote. Let me just say from listening to the debate, it's been very clear that the motion would give the request or the ability to say, I want the money here. And I don't think that admit that staff has the ability to say, no, if they are requesting, that is the purpose that they want to be able to say, I'm directing the money here. We should not be doing that. And I will, please count me among the six objectors. Okay. Do we have a, are we, uh, I had a motion from the vice mayor to direct the county administration to come back with a more clearly defined, um, motion. Uh, do I have a second on that? Yes. Second. Second. Uh, any other discussion? Sure. Okay. Let's vote on his motion motion. Uh, all in favor. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? I got, uh, I got five, five no's. You missed. You had three yeses and nine total. So the mayor, I don't mind coming back with a motion. I'm going to vote yes, but, uh, we got the motion loses. No, no. If it's a motion to direct, it depends on what it is. If it's a motion to direct drafting so you could see the program, then it takes six objectors. It's a motion to direct. Is it, may, may, may I ask just for clarity because I, I wasn't sure I, I understood. As, as the rest of us have said, legal, be directing administration to clean up all the language, bring me something back that I can really put out there and say yes or no, that we can do this or not. We spent all this time on hypothetical miswritten. Your first words was, it's not written well. Write it well, bring it back. Let us look at it. It doesn't say we do it or not do it. It just says, bring us something back clear. So, so I can, with that clarification, I can answer it. That's not a motion to direct the drafting of code. That's the motion to basically bring you an amended item to discuss that requires five affirmative votes to pass. So yeah. And so there were not, there were five. Is our motion to come back and discuss this again in the future with cleared up? I want to come back. I mean, I have no problem stopping somebody from discussing something in the future. So I have no problem discussing this again in the future. What I do have a problem is I don't think commissioners should sign applications. And I think he'll address that. Just let him bring something back clearer than what we have. And then we make a decision. Vice mayor, the administrator or commissioner Davis, I could bring this back on for a discussion item at any point. Yes. Okay. So who's in, let's see by hands who's in favor of his motion to, which will be brought back. They all will know how many people in favor? I've got one. This isn't a motion to direct. This is a motion to bring a discussion item, which anybody could bring anyone. Right. It's a motion to bring it clear, clear it up to clear it up. That's all. Yeah. I don't think he needs a vote. He doesn't even bring back an agenda item for the next meeting. I think we're done. I think he could bring back an agenda item. He doesn't need a vote. My administrator is going to bring back an agenda item. Clear, clearer. I want to make sure I'm clear because there's a lot of things thrown on the table. Drew will give you the motion with you. They'll be working with the vice mayor and it's on the commissioner's item. Just clean it up. Yeah. Clean it up. So it's, it's, you understand what he's talking about. He'll talk to the council and it'll bring back an agenda item. Okay. We'll bring something back clean. You want to hear the precise proposal in there and then you want to just discuss that next time and you may provide directions. That's all we want to do. So it would be a motion to discuss with the concerns that we've heard today and I'd work with Drew to make sure that the next discussion item comes back with those parameters so that you're more clearly understanding what that proposal could be. That is correct. So, and in the backup, can you include where this pot of money is right now, what we spend it on, show us what we did in the last couple of years so we can see where it's coming from and where the budget. It's okay. I understand what you're saying. It's not the budget. The budget's like $500. It's $1 million. We will, we'll clarify that in the item. That's why I asked those questions. All right. Now, Ms. Shapiro, I need to see it legally. I need to see the legal ramifications or the legal pass it, how you can do it or not do it. That has to be very specific because I am not going to put myself in a position to be threatened by any way, shape or form on an item like this. And, Commissioner, it's a very fair point because we would not want to see it drafted legally that any commissioner can direct where the expenditure's going. Obviously, we're going to have to make sure there's full compliance with 1134. We're going to need to make sure we're not violating Commissioner Furr. Thank you for raising it. The charter is non-interference provision. So, any dealings between the, with the commissioner, probably have to be through the the administrator. Yeah. But we can look at all that. I don't know that that's going to be ready to print. That's exactly what I was just going to suggest. We start, Mr. Mayor and Mr. Vice Mayor and Commissioner Davis, since it's related to this discussion and your item, the, we start printing tomorrow for the next agenda. So, to Drew's point. We'll do a supplemental. It's okay. We can do it. But I just want to make sure that... Or for the following night. Clean a sheet of paper. Let's do it for the following, not this month because it's, yeah, let's give it time. And then you can understand it better. We're dealing with a supplemental item that you don't have enough time to write. We'll come back in the May meeting. Okay. I just want to end this by, so Commissioner Furr's brought up that in the charter, are you saying that a commissioner, whether it be me or any commissioner, we are not allowed to direct spending on funds? We're only allowed to give policy? You're not allowed to basically order subordinate employees in terms of directing them and telling them what to do. Under the charter, you have to go through the county administrator. We're policymakers. You've been county administrator. Yeah, yes. I work for the board. County administrator works for the board. Mr. Melton does. You can direct us. By the way, the county attorney's office doesn't have a non-interference provision in the charter, so you can speak with other folks. Okay. We have a 1.30 special set. Before we do that, I'm wondering if we should order, like, lunch in, since we're not going to lunch. What? Oh, really? I'm coming to your office. Did they order our lunch? Did they order our lunch, too? You cheap bastard. You're not leaving me. All right, we're going to take, we're going to, can we, can we take a 15-minute break? We have a special set at 1.30? Yes. And, Mayor, just to confirm, so there's no vote on that, that's just going to come back, that last item. Right, it was just a motion to discuss. We'll bring something back in May. You got it. 15-minute recess, Mayor? 15-minute recess, 1.45, guys, on time. What? Oh, my God. No. I wanted to, but I wanted to. I wanted to provide to the cemetery policies, maintenance problems, including broken or difficult to operate gate locks, broken glass and headstones, sanitation issues such as overflowing garbage cans without lids that cause pests, delays in the marker replacements and record inconsistencies that impact families. I have submitted multiple formal complaints and spoken at city meetings, but I have support the county can provide when residents are unable to get resolutions at a municipal level. My goal is not to have conflict. It is just to ensure dignity, safety, and respect for families visiting their loved ones. I also have photos and videos documenting these issues. I can provide them to any appropriate official that needs them requested. And since I have one more minute, I am also requesting that a clear written cemetery policy be made available to the public. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Counsel wanted to make a comment. Yes, Mayor. And I just wanted to point out that just as the speaker had asked, the county doesn't have substantive jurisdiction over this. It's not something that the county commission can direct anything on or exercise oversight regarding. So really, and it was a mistake on the staff side, uh, this really isn't, uh, consistent with the delegation request policy. So I just wanted to let you know. Sure. That, that said, um, I represent Hollendale. I will talk with Mayor Cooper. Okay. Okay. Uh, we had a one 30 special set that we need to go to. It's number 65. Um, the reading clerk want to read that item 65 is a motion to discuss status of the $20 million sponsorship agreement for the FIFA World Cup 2026. One member of the public has, um, submitted to speak on this item and that is Justin Porter. Okay. Uh, let's, we want to first, we'll have the, um, uh, Commissioner Rogers have the public speaker first and then we'll bring it back to the dance. Okay. I would like to hear from Monica or staff as to where we are with the $2 million. Sure. Then I will. Okay. Monica, would you please, uh, address Commissioner Rogers concern? Yes. And, and thank you. Um, as, as you know, we have been engaged with, uh, the FIFA, um, uh, host committee and, uh, Mr. Kelleher has been the point person on those negotiations and he is prepared to give the commission an update now. Good afternoon, uh, mayor, vice mayor and commissioners. Um, since this past two weeks ago, um, we've had, uh, we've had two meetings with the, uh, FIFA host committee, uh, as well as had numerous conversations with them. Um, I'm happy to report that while not finalized, but we're, we're clear on, uh, certain, um, deliverables that we can get, that we'd be receiving, uh, for the, uh, the sponsorship. Um, and I'm just going to go in, in the order that it's here, there's no order of priority, but, you know, on the communication side, the county would be an official, they would be able to identify themselves as an official promotional partner, um, and also be able to use the host committee logo design. Um, we, we would get advertisement on their website and, and be able to link with our website. Um, we have print digital and social media support, so we'll have a social media presence. Uh, in addition, uh, to that, they will allow us to use to promote the, uh, when they were here, they described the, the one game, one passion and be able to put it with Broward County at the bottom of it. But they've also, we've also, um, have that where we could put any, the name of any municipality in the county as well. Um, on the signage front, again, this is all on the marketing side, um, electronic signage, um, in, you know, anywhere where the county controls and, uh, also included municipal locations on that. Um, uh, a big part about this is Broward County hotels. Um, they have, uh, contracted for over 13,000 room nights and, and the county, Broward County will be the host of the two team hotels. So, um, um, and we have the two training sites here. So that's, uh, a big thing that apparently, um, Miami-Dade didn't get because they're, they're staying in Broward County, uh, prior to the, the, uh, the practice. So what happens is before the game, because the games are set over a number of weeks, uh, teams come in for a few days ahead of time. They do training and they will be staying at, at, uh, at the team hotel. Um, on the, on the FIFA watch, uh, cup watch parties, um, they've committed to three watch parties with Miami-Dade County. With Broward County, they've committed to four, uh, watch parties at the county-owned Amart Bank Arena. Um, also, um, on the municipality front, if, if, if a miss out, a municipality is looking, is not a, uh, funding partner, they can, they're going to be providing them a FIFA community toolkit. Um, and if a municipality has a plan to host a watch party that is fully funded and acceptable to the host committee, the host committee will assist the municipality in obtaining a viewing license by prior, prioritizing it with FIFA. Uh, the, the big thing to realize with, with how this works is, um, you know, this is at, at this stage of the game, uh, the, we're, we're dealing with the host committee. The host committee is only 20 individuals. They're completely resourced out. Um, so a lot of this is coming up at the end here. So they're, they're stretched, they're stretched thin. Plus they, this is not FIFA. This is the host committee. So they are bound by FIFA's, uh, restrictions and, and requirements. Um, and I meant to start with that. Um, on the legacy program sites, they're going to use their best efforts to pursue partners, to design two small sided soccer fields, um, to a place to be determined in the county. And, um, they've agreed to the planning, production and management of one soccer clinic with a, uh, a minimum of 360 children. Um, they're, they're agreed to be the official park and ride location from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and, uh, local business engagement there. Um, they've, they've met with, with the local businesses, but they're willing to push out more materials so the local businesses can register and sign up, uh, to be part of the local business, uh, directory. And that's, uh, again, we've, we've had two sessions. There's still some fine tuning of this, but that's seems to be the, uh, you know, the, the high points of, uh, of the deliverables. Um, where's Commissioner Rogers? Right there. Did he answer your questions? Okay. Did you want me to let the speaker come up now? Yes. Would you give me the name of the speaker? We have three speakers. Actually, Justin Porter is first and then Richard Campbell and Easton Harrison. Great. Hi. Can you state your name, please? Yes. Justin Porter, uh, city of Lauderhill. My address is 581 Laver Circle, Delray Beach, Florida 33444. Um, and if you don't mind before I begin, I'd like to pass this ball around. It's excuse me. I post. 581 Laver Circle, Delray Beach, Florida. Let's see your throw. Let's see how good you are. All right. Are we going to throw it around the dais? Can you take a look at that, Mr. Mayor? You can't use your hand. There you go. You see how much fun we're having? Broad Welcomes the World is having fun already, and that's the type of fun that we're looking to bring around the, around the county as you pass the ball around. That's literally what we're looking to do. We have events programmed countywide in over 10, between 10 to 15 cities where we'll be doing events, and at each event we'll be bringing that, that's a mock soccer ball, we'll be bringing the true Broad Welcomes the World soccer ball, um, you know, for, uh, you know, additional excitement and engagement. But again, my name is Justin Porter, and I'm here today on behalf of the City of Lauderhill and the Broad Welcomes the World Steering Committee. Our steering committee is made up of municipal liaisons from across Broward County working collaboratively to ensure that the global spotlight of the 2026 World Cup translate into meaningful, measurable impact at the local level. Broward County is uniquely positioned as a gateway destination, expected to welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors during the tournament, with millions more engaging through regional activations and media exposure. While matches will be played at Miami Stadium, we know the true opportunity extends far beyond the stadium footprint. Broward County has activation-ready public venues, such as Broward Regional Park, Fort Lauderdale Beach, Lauderhill Sports Park, and Deerfield Beach, spaces that are not only capable of hosting large-scale events immediately, but are already programmed and actively used by our communities. In fact, programming tied to this initiative is already underway. We have events on the calendar, including our Global Youth Institute kickoff, youth soccer clinics, and international friendly matches. Cities like Lauderhill already have strong youth soccer programming, established community leagues, and families deeply engaged in the sport. We are not only building interest from start from scratch, we are building upon an existing passionate audience that is ready to participate. Today, alongside our municipal partners, such as Lauderdale Lakes, we respectfully request that one million dollars of the Broward County's World Cup sponsorship investment be reinvested directly into municipalities through the Broward Welcomes the World Initiative. As outlined in our presentation, this initiative will, one, drive tourism beyond primary venues into our neighborhoods and commercial corridors, two, support small and local businesses through targeted promotions and increased foot traffic, three, celebrate Broward's cultural diversity through curated programming and events, and four, create safe, accessible, and engaging experiences for residents and visitors alike. Through coordinated fan zones, watch parties, youth programming, cultural events, and business engagement campaigns. We will deliver a uniform unified county-wide experience. Funding will support critical needs including public safety and security, marketing and promotion, event logistics and infrastructure, and required licensing and branding. I need you to close please. Yes. Most importantly, municipalities are essential to the success of this effort that the World Cup is bringing, and thank you for your leadership and consideration. I'll be happy to answer any. I have one clarification. We have a two million sponsorship for the World Cup. Are you suggesting that we will not live up to that agreement and divert out of the two one million dollars for what you just suggested? Well, I'm advocating for the entity that you gave the two million dollars to to work with us. There's no better partner than working directly with the cities. Why don't you why aren't you talking to that entity? We're not that entity. Well, uh, from my understanding, you guys, uh, administered the funds and are working with. No, we don't administer those funds. We give them the funds, and they're the ones that administer. That's that's correct. Yeah, we do not administer. We gave them the money. It's there's a sponsorship. We have an agreement for the stuff. Yeah, it's gone. It's done, right? Am I wrong? It's it's it's a sponsorship agreement, meaning we paid the money to the We pay the money to the World Cup the host committee the Miami host committee. I think you need to talk to Miami host committee They're the ones with all the money. However, isn't that county administration already speaking having ongoing conversations with the host committee? So I mean, uh prior when this when this agenda item was brought up at the prior meeting It was already acknowledged that we were having activations and events throughout the county So we want to be a part of we want to be at the table to Participate in what the World Cup is bringing to Broward County through the sponsor. I think saying I think saying that hey We got ideas of events. We could do is one thing But you were saying something else you're saying we should divert the million out of the two million And not keep our agreement with the World Cup to something else Well, no what we're saying if you look through the packet there they're considering watch parties fan zones and activations That's the same thing that we're looking to do We are looking more so as a partnership because like I said, there's no other partner That they put in their application that they're looking for partners. There's no better partner than working directly for the cities Okay, anybody else get any questions? Um, so Oh, go ahead. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Mayor I would like for us to hear from the group before All of us started having Conversations, okay I mean does anyone have any more questions for this gentleman before we let him go? I would think so. He is the lead person on behalf of the group here. Oh, okay I didn't know that. Okay, sir. Hang out Who's next? The next spinker is Richard Campbell followed by Easton Harrison Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon, sir. And to the committee Thanks for having us here today. My name is Richard Campbell, the vice mayor of the city of Florida Hill Uh, twelve months ago Um, the host in fact, let me clarify You have fifa as the organization that will be having the tournament There will be eleven cities in the united states three in mexico and two in canada Each city has a host committee The host committee is volunteers That within each city that is mobilizing and reaching out to the community to prepare for the games They had reached out to us Twelve months ago saying they're reaching out to broad and to palm beach Since this is a south florida experience We have been working with them for the past 12 months We also Were in fact chartered to Make sure we have our own events in broad county because did by itself Is a lot of work for the community so they were unable to do the activities here in broad county I Think that We probably should have had this discussion before The funds were approved However, we did not have the chance to do so So where we are now is that I I know that you all represent the the county and it's unfortunate that The cities within the county needs cannot be met unless there are other dollars in the county That will add to this two million dollars to make sure that we are as prepared as date county We know they have got they were able to receive funds from date county They were also able to receive monies from fifa itself and sponsorship elsewhere in bay county We're just saying that broad is now left without anything and it's only reasonable for us to be here to appeal to you To say now there are some funds How is best able to deal with those funds and to ensure that the cities The the cities within broad county and the residents the recreation department Benefits from this experience. Thank you, sir. Mr. Mayor. Yes. Nice question of administration Wait one second any questions for this gentleman or we're gonna go. Oh you want? Next one. Yes. Thank you, sir. You have to have a seat, please. Thank you, sir All right next who's next person please read his name The final speaker is easton harrison. Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon. Mr. Mayor. How you doing today? Good welcome Vice mayor county commissioners. Hello everybody. Good afternoon. My name is commissioner easton harrison I'm with the wonderful week here city of lauderdale lakes And i'm here to speak in support of this item here because it's very simple This is the largest Sports event in the world that's happening and we've been blessed to have this blessed to come into our south florida community And we need to make sure that broward county is taking full advantage of this economic opportunity We have a bunch of businesses. We have a bunch of entities within south florida that could benefit from this And like always we need to make sure that broward county is not the little brother The red-headed stepdaughter that's not being left out of the conversation All right miami is a great place to be however We want to let them know that broward also can contribute value to this The biggest scope is this when people hear about an event like this They automatically tell themselves that they cannot afford these ticket prices to go and enjoy the game in miami uh, also There probably aren't no tickets available if they could afford it. So instead of being able to have to drive to miami Why not create an experience here in broward county where people can enjoy the fifa games here in broward county? And uh, I know you we have some clarity around how the initial agreement was made the sponsorship agreement However, mr. Mayor, we feel like broward county can do a lot more with advocating to help us out with that All right, we know you're a strong leader and we have the right leaders in place to do that Uh, so, uh, the matches are going to be in miami, but economic opportunity economic opportunity should not stop at the county line Broward deserves these tourism dollars as well Broward deserves business activation broward deserves youth programming and also community investment connected to fifa 2026 Cities like lauderdale lakes are ready now with diverse communities engaged families and programming capacity To convert this global event into local participation and economic return. This is not conceptual It's activation ready and immediate opportunity for broward county And my city of lauderdale lakes to benefit from one of the world's largest events Uh, we definitely urge your support We already have a bunch of residents and businesses that want to be a part of making this happen to host watch parties And just for you nine members just to be advocates of that would be a huge Impact to help us reach our goal. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, one more thing I have a few more seconds left if I could take the pleasure I just wanted to first of all thank all of you guys for your leadership, but particularly my county commissioner Madam county commissioner hazel rogers for Extended the invite. Thank you. Thank you. I can't leave you out mackenzie. I know you'll beat me up if I do man Thank you Good to see you man. Good to see you Okay, colleagues Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mayor for allowing Our residents to have a voice here at this meeting. Thank you And let me say colleagues this moment is a is about more than heads in beds It is about who gets to engage in our region's biggest Moment the world cup will bring global attention and economic Activities to south florida, but the reality is that most of our residents will not be able to afford the tickets All right, I believe setting aside funds is a deliberate strategy To support international events coming here to broward county because they will continue to come And we should not have to Every time there's an event just like when we had cricket We broward county had to come to ask the commissioners for funding to support our local communities They are looking for partnerships and partnerships like with any other Activity needs funding and it is time that we look at things differently And this is what is being brought before us They miss the opportunity Because not understanding the process But if we have a process in place that includes some funding and we can always find non taxpayers dollars to help us We all can find that But we have to agree that What is being proposed is beneficial to our county or residents or small businesses and those who will never be able to To participate and that's what you're seeing here an organized Group of elected officials. I think we have over 10 cities already signed up to Participate engaging their communities and this is what they're asking for how can broward county Help with those activities outside of the zone of the Tourist development council outside of the zone of the hotels that will make Booker box What about the rest of broward county? All right, so Broward is a host community. Let's use the presence for public benefit You talked about return on your investments I would like to hear after you've listened to this group Tell me if that could fit into the category of return investments to our local community That is one of the reasons I am supporting the request And i'm asking us in addition to the request for just this event That we come up with a policy So we're not coming here every time an international game is being hosted here in broward county or in our region That we are not prepared to make it spread Outside of the actual city. We also know the scale of hotel commitments But heads in bed should not be the only return on your investment Those nights represent people who will be in our community Impacting our roadways and creating havoc on our law enforcement team Hello Where the money's coming from for all of that if we do not plan for public engagement now Those visitors will be spending time elsewhere and not into our communities We will not See the benefit of having and hosting these world events We should convert team presence into into community activities Fan festival youth clinics as you heard And vendor mark is timed and ready because our communities need it These are challenging times so whatever we can do wherever they can Create opportunities for their businesses they're willing to do so I just those are my comments colleagues as you Look at opportunities And I thank you for listening and thanks to Those that are here advocating On behalf of world cup soccer here in broward county and in your communities Thank you. Uh, thank you a commissioner for yeah I guess i'm I'm asking wondering Is there is it possible to be able to steer some of that money through the host committee to Some of these 10 cities so so what i'm going to do is is share Let kevin uh share The conversations and the requests that have been made of those committee Um and see what because we can't make them do anything, but it's part of that negotiation And so um and what I believe what kevin went through the list Earlier but you can share a little bit more detail on how those conversations have gone and and and Honestly, you know to the extent that it seems like you know Against what miami-dade had given 26 million dollars and we've given two Um, and and and what they have given to miami-dade And over a longer period of time I I think that what kevin has been able to successfully at least appear to final here in these final stages of the negotiations Get very significant return for the county on those dollars So but because it does I guess i'm just thinking it does look like there's some possibilities for synergy here Without without a doubt and I and I think and kevin can elaborate some more but about also the funding partners that That that that we had seen in miami-dade County with municipalities and also when there are our partnerships that are not necessarily Um with cities that have um given money But non-funding partners and there's um uh sponsorship or or I guess what's the proper terminology the the community Packet uh resource Community toolkit toolkit toolkit that that they are offering and have given to other Municipalities when they're not bringing money to be a funding partner Um at this stage if there's going to be dollars that are Given to Municipalities, I think it would be a different conversation for the board to either Outside of what's they've been willing to Authorize if you will or negotiate with us. It would be either to Reconsideration of of the total dollars and and giving dollars Different than which has already been allocated or Um authorize additional dollars that would go to Different municipalities if this board chooses to do so Again, this is all up to to you all but I believe the value and the return on investment that We have been successful or that kevin has been successful in discussing um and negotiating with the The host committee I I believe you will see their significant value on to the county But again, this is a policy discussion Um, and I believe um, kevin if you can elaborate a little bit more or go through that list again I think you'll see the value before kevin starts. I just want to interject because he said 10 cities I've received an email from coconut creek. I've heard from cities in my district. I don't know how they heard They said hey, if you're going to be doing stuff in certain cities, don't forget us So I just want to make sure that that I already I have an email and I got phone calls already But anyway, um, before he did you want to let him proceed or did you want to talk first? Oh, uh, I'm sure you didn't I was like the first person I'm sorry. Well, are we doing in order or go? No, I Commission coming commissioner you dean said to me wanted to talk for a second, but I you know Mr. Keller her why don't you finish and then we'll go around this It might help to clarify what has been negotiated so that if there's any questions, but it's it's the will of the board Yeah, and again, we are we are looking at activating Broward county being part of this. We're not going to be Left behind there's the our two million dollar commitment We've we've worked with the host committee and we've negotiated Um, you know multiple events here as I mentioned before there's Four watch parties and and I don't want to you know sell that short because miami-dade is only getting three So, you know, there's four watch parties at our arena, which can host you know can hold up to You know 19 000 folks in there plus it has the plaza that could be Areas for activations we haven't gotten to that level of planning yet, and that's where I could see the you know the cities if they want to um mobilize that's that's an that's an area for that The other thing too is we're working we haven't we don't have plans yet again. This is two weeks old for us But we're working with transportation in our transportation to to get us some transportation That takes us from other parts of the county to get us to our arena So that's that's the the big part about that as far as the watch parties You know from the host committee standpoint, you know You know they look at it if if you're a funding partner, they'll work they work with you one way if you're a non-funding partner They give you the community toolkit We also had them Go one step further on that and that is if if a city or municipality has everything in order has a plan and has all their funding in place And all they need is the license They they would agree to You know request prioritization from fifa because that's how it works is they don't even have these licenses to give out They have to go request them of of fifa, but their their requests carry some weight And that's you know, so that's what they're offering to us And then the other stuff that we're activating that's going to be around is we have the one soccer clinic And we haven't decided what location that that that would be at it's uh, we're looking at uh, you know various county parks that would hold that You know, they want to put a minimum of of of You know 300 uh children to do it, right? Um, you know, we did 360 Because that gives each district a minimum of 40 if that's the way we want to do that Um, so everybody this whole county could take a part of that and then also While they weren't able to commit at this time they're working on something they feel pretty confident But they couldn't guarantee it but to have the two small sided Soccer fields to they call them mini pitches Um, and and again, we would we would look at that at some county park and that would be the legacy program that would stay behind from uh, from the uh, the county um, and on the local business side again They've they've they've met with the local business community We're going to do another push to get that out there to have them um work uh, you know to have uh employment opportunities here um, and That's what I Okay, you done. Yes. Oh, okay. Commissioner Davis you're next. Thank you Um, I I would like to see the involvement of our municipalities Um, those that have expressed interest as the mayor said several of expressed interest I know in my district There's at least one city that's expressed an interest and to to gather all that information as a county That we need to gather that information Of those who want to participate and have things ready or they may not have it ready, but they're willing Maybe to put some skin in the game. Maybe it's their park. Maybe it's their staff. It's their police You know, so I think we need to have that um Uh ready so that we could utilize that in any kind of negotiations or If this will of this commission to allocate additional dollars, I don't know where it stands right now um, but I think to leave out The municipalities input and anything that we're doing Is not is not the best thing to do because They want to participate they want to have a say so They are part of the county now the four events that you mentioned the four watch parties I'm, not certain who's conducting those How does that work because they're all in one place? It's a it's a huge county. Why wouldn't we have them in different locations? Part part of that is because the the production value you you're going to a location that already has The screens set up. They already have the sound system. They have the seating there. They have the parking So and and that's quite frankly, that's how we were able to get four Instead of the the two that they were pushing for is that if we have it At the location where they don't have to have those extra costs in there and so be working between the host committee and the uh, our Arena operator, um, you know, we're able to put it on Who is benefiting from that is there a production company that is local? Is do we have any input in the staffing? Uh the vendors all of that stuff How is how do we get Our folks to benefit when you have it at the arena because if you had it spread out in the various Maybe four different locations, which I believe miami-dade is not just in one location There are at least four or five different locations And and again, you know, we're we're running through our arena operator company, which is is the same company it does is the panthers And so they they run it, but there's also the the plaza area that could be fully activated We haven't gotten to that level of detail part of this is us trying to get some deliverables down So we can start getting our name associated with all the marketing and get this deal done as quick as we can But there's still a lot more planning and and we have I think less than 70 days before this starts coming Uh to to town, but that whole plaza area we can do that with activations I can envision, you know, and and again, we'd have to work with the the panther as our arena operator You know, uh making you know, making that activate that whole plaza area or maybe even part of the of the parking lot I mean, we haven't gotten to that level It's premature part of it is just let's try to get as much as we can and then we can work and get all this together But but I I you know with all Respect if we're going to have to Go talk to 31 cities and try to get if they're interested and whatnot and should then try to negotiate a deal We're going to be here weeks and we're going to we're going to miss valuable time. I mean, uh, you know Yeah, I understand that but I I do want them to be part There's several cities that have not been engaged Even if it's outside of your negotiation We've got to find a way to get them engaged and to get their input In terms of this the licensing For um, you know, you're saying there's somebody that they can talk to the cities To be able to get if they want to do their own watch party Um, can we assist with that because many people don't know who to call who to talk to? They i've heard that there's watch parties set up at different places already But they're going to need the licensing and all of that How can we assist them with that because not everybody's going to go to the arena? Yeah, and and and how how that was the how that was addressed in here is they have this community toolkit But I not the toolkit i'm talking about For them to get the official Licensing right, but that's that's how it's done is they have this toolkit that's for the watch party for anybody who's interested in To do a watch party they go through they they give them a toolkit here But we went one step further than that. How and so you're asking how how we can assist is that if If a municipality has a plan and they have everything in place the funding and everything and all they need is that License that you know They can go to the host committee and the host committee would would request prioritization from fifa That would give them a better chance of getting the license. Are you going to assist with that? Excuse me. Would you assist with that the connection and then I'd be happy to I'd be happy to connect them. All right, and in terms of these um, the The soccer clinics and so on you haven't designated where the soccer clinics are going to go yet Just to be clear. There's only one because there's only so many weekends left. They're all booked up Right now. So they they only have you know, where's that going to be? They can only could be commit the specifics of that when where that hasn't been determined yet They just they're just committing to to do one for us. Okay Um In terms of the in summer internships for students and and others how and jobs how we you know You have the pan you have the you have the four Four watch parties. We need student engagement. We need internships I mean, sorry to say the panthers, but We need to they're the ones who were not that they were not the negotiation table and I love them. They're great partners But we need to engage our community At these watch parties Jobs summer internships all those things that would be involved. How are we handling that? Yeah, and that's something that we can discuss with the uh panther organization if they're going to need additional Assistance and it's perfect over the summer months because you know that their season unfortunately ends tomorrow Um, but you know, so This is I know but it's not enough Remember we have cost sharing. Thank you Revenue sharing And that would also come into play here too because any money that would be made in concessions goes back to that full cost share Revenue sharing Other than the concept of of of working with them and and And and having the panthers being uh amenable to to do this We haven't gotten to those level of details. So the plaza is is a discussion item having summer internships Is is another discussion on volunteers how that's gonna this is all You know, I I just don't want it sound like this. It's all in miami-dade county There's there's gonna be a brow. There's gonna be brow county and what better place than to do it at brow county's arena Or doing the clinic at a brow county park That's you know, so we're going to do that and and we will invite You know, we'll invite the the cities who want to be part of that and and we'll we'll get a steering committee I will not probably be leading that but I will Sorry, but unless I'm asked to but you know, but we'll get a team together and and and how to to best Utilize the assets that we are getting from them. Okay. I'll hold off now. Um, I I I got to interject real quickly Um color. I think you said something that really isn't Accurate, you know commissioners saying what about this? What about this? What about this? And you say well, I got to check here No, you don't have to check with the panthers You got to check with this board because this board is is going to decide and I got to tell you I I disagree Respectfully disagree. I think having it at the arena when it's a hundred degrees outside You have an air-conditioned site with bathrooms people be able to get water and soda It's comfortable seating. You don't have much time to do this. I've been involved in production I produced an event in vegas. I used to be a part owner of a soccer team in chicago This is a huge undertaking And so if I don't care if any commissioner here including myself says you should do this This is your answer should not be okay. I'll go do it It should be I need the consensus the board because it's great to get the the cities involved But the time involvement you're gonna better you better go mail everything to every city tell them We have a date come on in give us if you want to be involved next week You better show up because you don't have much time these games start in less than two months Okay, so I don't know what you're talking about sitting there telling count the commissioner. Yeah, I'm gonna go to the city I go talk to here and do this and it'll be a total flop You got a great indoor air-conditioned venue that has all the facilities in case someone's ADA if somebody is senior if somebody is young you got all the facilities and it's the best place to do it It's centrally located as compared to whatever else could be out there And so I think what with what we should be discussing is people want to get involved cities want to get involved What are we gonna do to let them know? Hey, we're gonna get them involved how we get involved Let's have a meeting. Let's set a date of a meeting invite anybody companies cities anybody. That's my suggestion now Maybe I'm full of it and maybe the commissioners wouldn't agree on that But I think you need to get a consensus of this board of what we want to do because we voted already for the two million on FIFA FIFA We gave you the authority to to negotiate Nobody here objected that I recall objected saying you know Monica, you know When you negotiate make sure you do this and this and this and this and this I don't remember that happening So to come back now later, but I think it's fair what she's saying We need to get people involved people have an opportunity to get involved cities have an opportunity to get involved But you but you know, I think you need to Narrow it down because if I can clarify because I I and and if I misspoke I thought I said exactly what you just said I I said what I can't do is go talk to 31 cities here But what we can do is and you can if you said one meeting invite everybody Participate in one place, but but it's an activation what I what I was trying to get at is is that there may be opera There are opportunities for us to activate areas where it allow people to participate And and the arena at the arena is a great location because you have the plaza you have the parking lot so that so Actually mayor what what you said? I really was trying to articulate apparently I did not do a good job of that But that's exactly what I was saying is with there'll be opportunities For those partnerships or those to come activate for those who want to and your idea of Having the one meeting is is is a great idea and we will we will set that up once we have This put to bed Once we have the panthers Okay, with how it's going to be done and what they can and can We're willing to do and then we can have that active discussion. So I I hear you Okay, and and to further clarify the the will of the board is exactly what we're obviously the objective is here So if there is a major concern With four watch parties at the arena that we need to hear that and then you guys need to tell us exactly what you want So that as he's finalizing this so that we can actually start getting our presence on social media because the longer this takes We're not Receiving the value and we're losing return on investment. Thank you, sir um, so We when we did this sponsorship to for two million dollars at the last meeting We delegated the authority to kevin. He gave us and and monica They they gave they gave us a report. I have to say I'm incredibly Pleasantly surprised with what we're getting back in deliverables for two million dollars Um, and I think that we're taking this way farther than we need to take it I agree with what commissioner bogan had said about Organizing this meeting and these meetings they've already been happening these meetings have been happening for two years already On how our businesses are going to get involved with fifa on what's going to happen And I think that that was the way that it would do this these these actual soccer games are not really being played in miami They're being played on the border of broward county And miami-dade county half the people that park at those games will be parked to the north and you're in broward county Half the people will be parked in miami-dade county I think this is a huge win for broward county. We have the team staying here We have multiple watch parties that they're letting us have in broward county I personally with no disrespect to any of the groups If you want to have a watch party in your individual municipality go for it work with kevin get some of the official licensing Which they said they'll give you at your ancillary watch party? But I don't want to see local businesses crowded out in your communities because the city's doing a watch party I want every local restaurant in town to be able to do their own little watch party when we have this year And that's how these small businesses are going to make money I've sent some articles that i've seen on some of this stuff to county administration The private sector on this is going to knock it out of the park when fifa comes here I really hope that the city's 31 municipalities and broward county does not get in the way And jeopardize what is going to be a huge payday for the private companies in broward county They're going to make money. I don't want to crowd them out take coral springs If they wanted to do something at the city center, that would be great. They could do something They would work with kevin. They would get the logo that they need They would get the community toolkit, which they said they would give them they would do all these things They'd have tvs all over and they could do something and they can have a coral springs fifa watch party I'd rather see all the restaurants in coral springs have their own little watch parties Because that's where they're going to make the dollars and that's where these businesses and our constituents are going to make the dollars So I think you guys did an excellent job getting the teams to stay in broward county. That's like a home run We had that with the orange bowl. I remember going to a couple of the kickoffs before and everybody likes that It's a winner for everything. Thank you. You guys did a good job And i'm not even sure what else we need to talk about since we already delegated the authority to you Thank you, but just for clarity I will connect the city with with the host committee or or to help them try to get the license I won't be personally doing filling anything out. I know they're going to fill it out If they want to write a check to get a licensing, they're going to be able to do that, right? They're going to not going to turn down money. Are they probably not place where I'll be brief When we first started here two weeks ago to prove the money the host committee is supposed to reach out to Those couple of cities that inquired and agreed to host Watch parties and I made a comment That day that this is a professional outfit. We've been here before when they come to town They're going to dictate the outcomes. I don't think this group is here today. It's here for the amrit experience I think they're here to see if They can not participate but partake in the economics. So um Because you definitely can can can participate in what's being offered and what I knew was going to be offered But if there's a money asked right now You need to be clear in which in what you're asking of us because right now the Plan that's laid out uh through fifa Um, it's okay with me, but I probably wouldn't go to a watch party. I probably wouldn't do that If it was at our county park on 441 and sunrise I may come out and say hello and kick it off and be on my merry way But even with the amherst center, I just think I think we might be missing the boat. This is air condition But the folks in here and we're all talking about these clinics for the kids Where is the grass to kick the ball at the amherst center? Are they gonna let us use the floor and grass it? I mean how are the kids going to participate in those? We're going to take those events to parks to do and will fifa be um Organizing and and and um, you know Engaging the kids like they do with the nfl experience and things of that nature The clinic the clinic could be at a local level being a part of what we what we're trying to do I get the big picture. I think this group wants to know what can we do in a lot of their lakes? What can we do in in lord of hill? What can we do a miramar and and they all have facilities that could they can accommodate what I think they're trying to do But what what they need to understand is what what are they gonna leave out of here with today? What what understanding? Because you could present all day long. I know professional sports. Um, I negotiated with uh, uh, into miami And uh, I knew five years later that they would be gone It was a temporary thing, but they dictated everything in that stadium to us. We had this experience with um, um, cricket They dictated everything to us. We had watch parties. We we even went off the beaten path And funded some some watch parties, um, but they had control of what we could and could not do So I want to make sure that this group leaves here three the three calls you got You know, um, understand what they're going to get and not get clearly Um, and how that works You left when I was talking Commissioner Fisher. Thank you Hold on. He wasn't here. I got to start over. Oh, did you want to say something? Commissioner Fisher? Senator Geller. Thank you. Yes. Hi Can you make it quick? No Okay, couple questions first out of curiosity. I would like to know I believe I heard 11 cities Um, do you know, can you tell me which ones they are? I want to see if any of them were in my district Mr. Mayor, they're willing to come to the podium and answer questions And they do have one question, which was you said 11 that it was a group of 11 cities Can you tell me which 11 they are? Coconut Creek, Deerfield Currently, we have the city of Lauderdale Lakes, the city of Lauderhill, the city of Fort Lauderdale, the city of Oakland Park The city of Miramar, the city of Margate, the city of Plantation, the city of Tamarack, the city of North Lauderdale, and the city of Deerfield Beach Okay, just checking. I represent most of the plantations Those are two of my cities. All right Okay, um, the that that was my only question for you Um, I am a little confused, but you can see the what it sounds I think they were here asking for a million dollars, which we don't have Because we've already given the two million and I don't think we're getting a million of it back So, um, then the question is In terms of our deliverables, where are they? You're going to put the sock the one soccer clinic in a county park somewhere in the county Wherever it is. I'm fine with that um, I like the idea of Having it at the amaran center Because it's either four parties there or two parties elsewhere As you the way you described it based on the cost of setting things up So if we're going to have two parties elsewhere in the county and two specific cities or four parties at the amaran center, which Again, because of all the things that you've described sounds like a better option I think i'm in favor of the going with the uh, four four at the amaran center I think you're doing a great job and whatever you guys decide on let me know But mr. Mayor my city said told me the same thing they told you which is If you're starting to go into specific cities, don't forget about davy. Don't forget about soup Cooper city about those southwest branches didn't say anything good. We won't include them. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you, mr Mayor, and I will be yielding my time at this moment Because there are some points that we like to have clarified statements that were made That i'm not comfortable with neither is the group Michelle you don't have to yield anything you can always get it back I mean, let them do come on up gentlemen. She would like you to come on up We're sitting here and The things we're hearing and we are in broad county It's to me a bit unfortunate that committee indeed is making major plan for us without even telling us about it They know exactly the locations in broad county that will benefit our residents um I I I see the discussion is also going to Watch parties based on the presentation that was made in order for the monies to be approved It it was much wider than just watch parties how the city's Recreation department Will benefit from this experience We have in broad county More than the ability to organize our clinics. In fact, we have done twice Two clinics so far. We do have A major major clinic at the regional park on the 6th on the 7th of June We don't hear any presentation about that What we're hearing is that miami Decide where we ought to be having our parties Is our kids going to be involved in this thing? I've had the opportunity of Being in Dade County for three activities and it's all about Dade and I respect that In the sense that they know what they need and they organize what they need For them to say they're organizing things In Broward County without even reaching out to The cities in Broward County This is the first time i'm hearing about these proposed event We do have clinics coming up. It's not included in that Our kids have not been invited to any of those presentations that were made and i'm just appealing to The various members here who represent the various cities here, please include us This experience is not just for Dade But it's for Broward and initially when they met with us They said to us they are focusing on Dade They want Palm Beach County and Broward to organize themselves and make sure they're a part of this experience For 12 months we have been meeting We have been reaching out to as many cities as possible including the recreation departments And it is so sad that at this point in time and The question was asked are we asking to take back that two million dollars from them? We're not in a position to say so what we're saying that we Have activities and it's important for those activities to be successful to be funded And whether we get a part of this two million dollars or Possible monies to be provided to help this county these cities I don't think it's unreasonable for us to to be asking for that and I think all of us here Our interest should be in Broward Not FIFA, not just the World Cup, but the experience that is coming At this point in time How our community Or our kids Or our cities will benefit It is one World Cup probably for every three decades That will happen if we do not seize this moment and ensure That we're a part of it. We will wait another 30 years Before we get this experience, so I'm not here to Dismantle what Dade is doing I'm saying please allow us to be part of this experience Sir, can I can I just respond real quickly to you? You make great point, but whether it be the World Cup, the World Series, the Super Bowl, March Madness, which just got done in Indianapolis Or the Stanley Cup, the organizations that control it They say to the city to the county or to the location Listen, we're willing to bring our event there and give you international publicity But this is what we want to do that and either you agree to it or bye-bye They'll be happy to go to a hundred other cities that want the event there Because they know by having the event Here in in Dade, they know that the economic activity is going to be huge For Dade and Broward. They could care less about the cities. They could care less about the kids They all they come to is if you control A county or a city or a venue and i'm the world cup or i'm a super bowl I said sir. We'll bring the super bowl to your city. Okay, guess what the hard rock name on the stadium? Do you know that has to come down? Yes I'm aware I mean they say look at that name comes down We control all the tickets. You don't control the tickets even though it's your stadium. We control all the tickets We sell all the tickets. We sell all the sponsorships. We do this we do that We will if you want our event at your place Then you're gonna have to agree to all of this And and then if you then you know, what we're doing is is investing out of miami D I think we were investing 2 million out of 40 something million miami. Dade's vending 40 something So we're now trying to see what we're they're willing to give us right and and but otherwise There's a million other places that would love to have this And they look at as they're doing us the favor I believe by coming here because they're going to give our Our south florida international publicity and all this economic activity And and so you know Even if we got nothing from them except the tv exposure and all the Thousands of people that come here stay at our hotels eat at our restaurants shop at our shops Which gives people economic activity. That's a blessing for us That's a blessing for us So I just want to make sure you look at the other side of it You know there is the side you're talking about hey the cities would like to somehow Captured something here and look at I I'm I'm elected in five cities. I agree on two of the cities He has on the deer field and Margate and and he'd love something to happen there But just so you know that they're doing us favor by having an event here And the acts we are having today is not to take away from that experience However, we are here appealing to you to try to ensure That we get some funds that we can have a local experience because this is once for lifetimes So do you have a present do you do you have a a sheet to show hey for one dollar two thousand dollars? This is what we'd like to do for one for I'm making this up for a thousand bucks We want to put on a clinic for kids here for a thousand bucks We'd like to put on a clinic here. Do you have some type of detail? We did present a lot of information to The the county however if you're asking us to give more detail we're willing to do so What I've heard so far is the ability to meet with the host committee in miami and they had a chance to make a presentation We are willing to sit at any time to make a presentation of our needs As I just mentioned to you, we have a major activity coming up at the regional park It's not a city. It's a combination of all the city which includes a major Um clinic for hundreds of youngsters. I heard I got you. I got you. Okay. I just uh hazel I'm, I'm sorry. I wanted to just uh to address You know the positive side of it is We're not asking to take away anything. No, I know you're not. Yeah, no, no, no I know you're not We're just here asking can you help us right you're just looking for fun some funds to put on some clinics Yeah, and I'm and local to me is as important as the folks who are coming How much you how much are you looking for to put on clinics family? How much are you looking for to put on some clinics? Well, it's it's much more than just clinics Um, you know, we need promotion and we need marketing. We need marketing for our businesses as well Because this is a collaborative event not only just in terms of sports Yeah, sure sure Listen everything that you want that you need to pull this off Give us a roundabout figure what that would be. That's all we ask you mean I didn't know Right now if you want to do all the things that you're asking for a million dollars How much a million dollars a million dollars will take care of all the things you're coming to do Okay, yes with all the cities that we have and all the uh, businesses that we need to reach out to and promote uh, correct Yeah, that's that's a lot of money You did ask so we gave you a figure Let me just say this I don't know what what are what are Why are we promoting the businesses? Shouldn't they be promoting themselves? No, no, that's not what he's saying No, that's not what he's saying I can if you don't mind For example, right We we we have encouraged all the cities to sell themselves for this opportunity Because the world is looking on South Florida, right And therefore cities are making packages so that the county hopefully will help us to Promote the city. That's just one aspect of it promotion We do as I mentioned on the 7th of June We're kicking off our excitement here in Broward County at the regional park. I love it There's a lot of acts to make that work We are also going to be having hundreds of our local kids Right there. We're going to make them feel as special as the ones in Dade County And therefore we need to provide whatever it takes to do that Right, they're going to do soccer clinics here in Broward We're going to do soccer clinics in Miami And entertainment And entertainment the whole kit and caboodle We've actually had this experience as a county when the Panthers won the Stanley Cup There were cities that wanted sunrise wanted the parade in sunrise, but it had to go in Fort Lauderdale There's we like when when the away games for the Stanley Cup took place and you had the watch parties We did this at the Amaran Bank Arena They had the screens going they had the fake hockey up on the screens We've we've we've promoted these type of events Year after year in Broward County and the way that we're trying to promote it this time Is a way for the entire county to get a benefit No, we're regardless of where the city municipal boundary lines are We do have teams coming in for that event We into Miami will be participating So we do have a plan What we we have not been able to do is find the fun of the same opportunity as the host committee in in in Um, did I don't understand why not well can you have teams come you have inter-miami coming into a soccer clinic done Pardon me? You said you had inter-miami coming to do a soccer clinic Compete in a soccer tournament Yeah, compete we have six teams that will be playing on the seventh Which includes inter-miami let me let me just say this sir 11 cities if each city put up 90 grand You'd have your money if each city put up 90 grand You'd have your money just so you know, I don't know if you went to them Yeah, but but anyway, I'm gonna let commission rogers close this out, please Oh, can I you would like to yeah? Oh, i'm sorry. Yes. Thank you. Um, I know we talked about one clinic That clinic i'm assuming would be at a park. You've already got a date Is that something that we have to do or is something that's been brought to you by them? Because maybe they could coordinate and and have the clinic where they're having it on june 7. Oh Dangerous people around you. Is that what i'm saying? So maybe that's That's where we can help there. Maybe if that's the one clinic That's ready to go and you have a clinic that they said they'll support and they don't have much time Can that be done? If if they have a if they have a plan of what the The clinic would be and they have what their funding needs would be I have no problem Asking bringing that to the host committee. I can't guarantee you because we're we're trying to get this wrapped up But I I have no problem bringing that forward Yeah, that would be something what what park is that at your park Regional central region our our park, okay? We need to start talking about our This is it's a county park a county park so Centered broward regional, so we already have a date They seem to be good to go. They can tell me what the itinerary is two clinics Excuse me one on the sixth and one on the seventh. Yeah, I I I have a problem asking the mayor Colleagues, we can't solve the all the problems here We're looking for an open mind to see whether or not there's anything that we can do. I remember for cricket I got fifty thousand dollars and bob got fifty thousand dollars Robert mckenzie I'm trying to do now because that's why I asked you what do you what do you need from us? And we can stop all this I know that no, no, I talked him into that. We can't give a million, but this right now if we did it hypothetically I'm, not saying we do this Hypothetically if lauderdale is getting putting up 20 grand right now and lauderdale is doing 20 grand and Miramar's doing 20 grand. Why can't we just match you match you with a 60? But a million dollars at this Stage and this is not what we do, but but so What are you guys investing right now? What is lauderdale lakes and a lot of he'll invest in? What's your investment right now? We are putting together the package in terms of We have looked at 50 thousand dollars, but may I say something in in regards to that um is Pull off what we did with cricket because I think everyone's willing to do something But a million dollar ask at this point is just it's too I think you read the room wrong. I don't know if everyone's willing to do something. No, no I'm saying this is what I think that they came here to ask for I think this is what the commissioners want to do something With those cities that indicated they wanted to do something So if it's a ten dollar ask or twelve dollar ask for we just need to know what that ask is They need a proposal. They need a written proposal. I agree. I got that part, but they need to we need to know what it is You need from us today. Yeah, but may I suggest something is that we made our ask and What we would like is the county to respond to us What funds are available and what in practical terms that the the county can do to assist the city? No doubt that each city will be looking at their budget to determine what they can do But what I am aware is that we need some help So if there's some part of it If there are money's available already out of this two million and there are additional possible funds understand that we we probably can understand Let me just somewhere in the middle. Let me yeah, I understand. Kevin color Kevin Yes, commissioner. Are there any funds available of our two million dollar sponsorship dollars that we gave to fifa? Are there any monies that come back to us in any way shape or form? Do we do we have the control over giving one dollar? Or a million dollars or ten thousand dollars to anybody now that we've given the two million No, there's there's nothing in in there. No, just say no we're done. Okay, so I'm just saying if there's no money we can't give these the cities any money right now at all right of the two We can't we don't have control of any of the monies. We can only Do what you can what you had said you would do through the mayor Is that you would get the cities available? Have a meeting and see how they can participate with the committee. I think that's pretty simple I think that's where we're at mayor mayor. I think that's where we're at. Thank you Commissioner. I mean senator gallery You want to quick thing? I heard some some discussion about matching You know, maybe we can discuss Small amount of matching funds. I would not be prepared to do anything To the cities unless it's some sort of match number one and number two If we are you probably need to open this give a one week and say to any of the cities in broward Uh, you know, of course, we're now talking about something new if you want to do something Give us a proposal Uh show the match and we'll give We'll we'll give 50 000 or whatever it is 100 but at 10 whatever the number is we'll give priority to whoever comes in with the biggest match Okay, and you Rogers could we bring this in for a landing please I'm taking you there right now. Mr. Mayor Okay, I know there we asked staff to negotiate They have not finished that negotiation It is still open. Is that true? Kevin still open the negotiating? Okay, and this is the first time anyone from the broader community have been engaged in this FIFA event Broward county be real. This is the community that is talking to you not staff Your community that we represent and I thank you for listening, but I know the agreement is not closed And if we are telling them that the community would like for them to Help in some of the activities and you identify the ones that's critical to you Maybe we can't do everything and then we move from that point But we have to close. Yes. Thank you so much commissioner And thank you all for your consideration and to the mayor and vice mayor's points regarding city funding You know at this point we would be And we would be open to entertaining some kind of matching program With the cap amongst amongst all the participating cities. Thank you gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you his help. Okay Mr. Mayor, yes, if you're wrapping up this item and i'm not wrapping up the okay, sorry It's done. Okay. Well, then to clarify because as mr. Kelleher is finalizing this negotiation Um, I did hear at least one commissioner and maybe another that might Consider a matching money or something as well as what you heard from the individual that spoke If that is the intention and you guys had talked about the soccer clinic or clinics We know that fifa host committee was authorizing at least in the negotiations one clinic If we're looking at the two-day clinic as one of the options Then I believe there might be Need for an additional little bit of money now if you want to Entertain that then and there's additional Money that would be needed from like skin in the game so to speak from from the cities as well And we could host it at potentially central broward regional park Um, then then maybe that's something you guys may want to consider and maybe do you know Up to fifty thousand dollars and they match fifty thousand they could have the second day clinic or something to that effect or That's just something I want to pose to you all so we could bring in The negotiation for landing and as well as try to you know assist in and bringing whatever you do just get a consensus It's a suggestion. I mean we're doing this on the fly, but I want we it's very important that we bring this negotiation To conclusion so that we can get max start maximizing the benefit of the The logos and the marketing and everything else that we need to do Where would the money come from? I think that field would be a good place to do it Yeah So down there to you Well, it said to use it But there are other cities that could utilize a match so You know, it's not just Central regional park There are other cities that have plans as well And if you said that it's a good idea to match i'm a i'm a you know, commissioner keller mentioned that How do we get that done my recommend Are we done or we're still talking on this? Or my recommendation would be you guys give me direction if the if Do we need a part? Do we need to pick a park? Pardon? Do we need to pick a park for this? Not just one part there other There are three up to three county parks that we up to but it's only one clinic So that's what I thought so we have to pick There's one clinic that is part of that with there are three county parks by which that we can choose from One of them is that I think each commissioner can talk to you guys. We can't talk amongst ourselves and then excuse me We could give our feelings to them and then you could get a consensus talking each individually What do you know you you yeah, you've you've delegated authority. They already have that authority Essentially if you have something some direction you'd like to provide you should provide it at a public meeting only to my district Thank you as it relates to financing Is what we would like to hear right how we're going to fund it if 10 part 10 cities She said he said there are 11 cities that have things ready to go and there may be others So I would need direction from the board what the will of the board is for how much money up to that You would be willing to allocate and if you wanted to do that would it come from the 2 million? And we'd make the request to fifa And if not if there is if they do not agree to that then we would need to know Um that we could either authorize Commission reserves would be my recommendation because I just don't know the nature of the events if they would be eligible for tdt funding So that would be my recommendation. It's really quick and simple Do you want the clinic at center at which part mayor? I'll run the meeting and and I'll go around the dais and ask and I'm going to start by saying I don't want one penny from our reserves or from general funds We spent two million dollars on public tax dollars on this event So if we can get something from that great i'm i'm going to go around and you know My feeling is that whatever we we gave already, but i'm not agreeing to spending any more tax dollars For anything like this. I think we have a lot more needs in our people commissioner davis I i'm in agreement with us trying to incorporate the cities in the negotiation like the clinic They said they'll do a clinic. They have two ready so we can do one And any of the other projects that they're willing or we can negotiate into the negotiation of the two million Is fine if there's any other monies that monica can identify without going to reserves Fine, I would prefer us not to spend reserves on this But I would prefer our parks and rec department to put on soccer clinics during the weekends when there's fifa games If they're not official fifa events, there would still be soccer clinics. We have soccer departments in every one of the parks I'd like to see dan west put on a little clinic in each one and call it whatever you want But the kids can play soccer the same weekend as fifa and everyone will think it's the same exact thing I've said what I had to say, but monica just said something that's important I don't think we're listening if we touch the two million. We can't touch the two million Am I correct? We can make a request. I wouldn't recommend Reducing the amount because at that point then Then then you reopen what you guys had already. So why don't we direct you to Ask for 50 grand request And if it fails you stay at the two million and keep moving if it come back and figure out something else just but We have to close the negotiations is the most most important part to even have uh the other events to take place here sponsored by fifa so Negotiate some dollars out of that and if you can't get there that's at your discretion And then we then we look at something else if something else can be done The the challenge with that uh vice mayor is if You are requesting that I come back to you now. I don't know. I'm giving you the discretion. Okay, I understand what I would like to do And you're gonna come back to us anyway and tell us it worked or it didn't work. It's 50 grand You starting with 50? No, I'm just using a number to start to start So but no one's talking see what the problem is. No one's telling them tell us what they really want So if she goes back now, if it's 100 grand, I don't think if I put out there right if if I I mean not I We put out right now matching grants matching, whatever. I don't think we're gonna get 31 cities saying they want to do 90 000 worth of worth of events I can almost tell you what areas are going to want to do this soccer Um engagement, but that's not my job But what i'm saying is just give her some tools or some negotiating powers to go and negotiate a dollar amount Whatever that is I said 250 000 as a minimum Out of that money, I don't even know what a fee I don't even know the money. I want to see us do soccer clinics. I don't know what a fee. I was talking about the money No, one wants to go outside. Okay, does anybody here want to go outside the two million? I don't okay So now we're talking within the two. That's what I said. I got you now. I understand No, I Put me down as a person that I do not want to go to the FIFA and the host committee and say Broward county wants some of their money back now because we want more soccer clinics Ask for more soccer clinics, but our two millions already we committed with that at the last vote Are we gonna pay for the soccer clinics? No, but no disrespect when when I talked to those host folks, they said We're willing to do and they're willing to talk to people So when you're negotiating, yes Negotiate that so that they can participate in it as opposed to now We're hearing that you've already negotiated and FIFA said a b c d I want to hear that they really really included it in the negotiations and they might do the 250 or the 150 I don't think anyone any one of these groups Has 250 dollar worth of events ready to go That's just me, but I don't know that we don't you do No, no, sir. Hold on. I'm not Commissioner Rodgers. I'm not having any more people Not gonna have anybody else. My hand just went out. Okay It's out of control. Okay, I'm going around the day. I was trying to get this thing done Excuse me. Commissioner for the only thing i'm i'm kind of interested in us is us having Consensus as to which park we use because I think that's important The cricket one yeah, cricket park that makes sense to me. Yeah, me too. Yeah, and then everybody and then everybody Consolidate around that all the cities know about that you start to to go with that I think uh, the idea of having the parks do little things cities can do that, too Restaurants can do all this stuff. So that's you know, I think the main thing is find a park because they're gonna They are going to support that correct. Yeah, they're supporting that there's money there to support clinic. Yes for a clinic So that's that's where that money is going to be coming from we use that We advertise the heck out of it and we and we get all the kids over there And I said and so many people don't even know where that cricket park is So this is a chance to kind of advertise it Which one but working with what's already in place? Mr. Piero, um, i'm agreeing with central park if we have an event. I'm agreeing with central park, which is a cricket park, correct? Did you when you say event did you mean a clinic? Okay, thank you. Apparently, we're allowed to do a clinic Is that correct? So within our two million dollars, correct? I'm for us doing a clinic at our central park in the story and Kevin if you could put together a Meeting with the cities and listen to them to see what they would like to have or not have or how they could participate with volunteers I'm all into that Do not want to spend any more taxpayer dollars on this minor at all we focus on the clinic and somebody said advertise the dickens out of it Yes, let's do that. That's my vote. Thank you. I believe we're limited to 360 people at the clinic uh, you said 40 people per district. Is that correct? The three to 360 is what they've committed a minimum 360 what they committed to And a minimum or a maximum a minimum. Okay, great. So all right, so you got that was I I think a lot of people aren't listening because what they're talking Many of you have discussed soccer clinics and that's not What the committee was talking about for most of the thing Yeah, but they're also talking about a lot more than just the soccer clinics So I don't believe I think we're fully committed on the 2 million I don't think we're getting any of it back if we are able to get some of it back great We can do something with the cities, but I would insist that there be matching Money from the cities and candidly it should probably You do an auction and say hey you want to give two to one We'll give you priority over a city that's offering one-to-one Maximize our dollars I don't I normally don't mind if cities are putting in a lot if we are putting in a small amount also That's okay. I don't want us just to be paying for things for the cities And again, I don't think you're going to get any money back at all from the 2 million anyhow. Thank you Yes, I believe if we ask we will get and I hear a commissioner who sits on a certain board Is saying that we need to ask and i'm trusting that we go in there with a genuine heart and truly acts on behalf of The county there's no county without cities Okay, just remember local home rule local control, but it's partnership And that's the way we're looking at it. That's the way this group is looking at it And you have given them a reason to go back out to your cities and do what you can But we will continue to Talk to staff and hopefully they will take from this conversation that Most of us agree that the county need to do something and after cricket we got a hundred thousand for cricket Really? We can do something with soccer We got a hundred thousand for cricket from this commission. We can do something with cops with soccer Thank you. Thank you. Let's move on to our public hearing council public hearing. Okay, um, you want reading clerk? Thank you gentlemen for coming in the public hearing on item 47 is now open Item 47 is a motion to enact ordinance adopting a small scale amendment to the county land use plan map PC 25 dash 6 located in the city of oakland park No member of the public has signed up to speak on this item. I will move it mayor. I have a I have a motion I have a motion and a second all in favor. All right Senator geller are you in favor? Yes, okay Any opposed and show no opposed that's one two three four five six Uh, commissioner rogers. Are you voting? Yes. That's seven. Those got Not there. So show approval of seven seven zero Okay, next the public hearing on item 48 is now open item 48 is a motion to enact ordinance amending the county comprehensive plan to adopt county land use map amendment Pc 26 dash 1 located in the city of lauder hill one member of the public has signed up to speak on this item Hope calhoun Is hope here? All right questions only I'll bring it back to today's Commissioner fisher moves it second by senator geller all in favor any opposed Show that passing seven zero Next the public hearing on item 49 is now open item 49 is a motion to enact ordinance adopting county land use Plan text amendment p c t 26 dash 1 amending policy 2.2 3.2 regarding environmentally sensitive lands No member of the public has signed up to speak on this item I got a motion by senator geller a second by uh commissioner fur all in favor Any opposed show that seven zero next public hearing item 50 is now open item 50 is a motion to adopt Resolution authorizing the submission of a grant application to the florida department of transportation for federal and state Grant program funds for state fiscal year 2025 pursuant to 49 usc section 5 3 1 0 to be used in conjunction with a 10 percent local match for the purchase of ada accessible transit vehicles For paratransit services. No member of the public has signed up to speak on this item Moved moved by senator geller second by commissioner fur all in favor aye aye any opposed Show that passing eight zero Item 51 is a motion to i'm excuse me the public hearing item 51 is now open item 51 is a motion to enact ordinance pertaining To the landlord Registration minimum standards and residential rental rental property inspections program amending section Thirty-nine dash one one eight of the county code of ordinances No member of the public has signed up to speak on this item Moved by senator geller second by commissioner rogers all in favor aye any opposed Show that passing eight zero the public hearing on item 52 is now open item 52 is a motion to enact ordinance pertaining to motor carriers amending section 22 and a half dash nine b of the county code of ordinances No member of the public has signed up to speak on this item Moved by uh senator geller second by commissioner fisher Okay, all in favor aye any opposed show the passing eight zero our final public hearing item is item 53 item 53 The meeting of the kokomar water control district is now open item 53 is a motion to approve reappointment of Paul de young to the kokomar water control district advisory board for a two-year term from april 25 2026 through april 24 2028 a member of the public has signed up to speak on this item I have a motion by senator geller second second by commissioner fer all in favor aye any opposed Show that passing eight zero we're done with public hearing closed Yeah, the meeting of the governing board of the kokomar water control district is now closed is there such a district Do they actually do they actually work? Right, and you know, they're full of pfas. That's all I know. Anyway, let's move it on. What what's what's next? Stay focused brother 55 55 is a motion to approve third amendment to the agreement between broward county and sp plus llc for the management and operation of the public and employee parking facilities at broward counties Fort laudale hollywood international airport to extend the term of the agreement no member of the public has signed up to speak on this item I'll move it. Is mr. Gale here? Yeah, mr. Gale Senor Gale is in the back. You'll still like sp plus you do. Okay, if you like sp plus. I'll move it Commit sure your dean moves it on a month to month Second by commissioner for all in favor aye Any opposed show passing eight zero. That's the guy that attacked me from sp plus. That's okay. I'm over it I'm serious too. They're gonna bar you from this airport number Fly out of palm beach number 56 Item 56 is a motion to approve fifth amendment to the agreement between broward county and sp plus curbside management joint venture for ground transportation management services at broward county's fort lauderdale hollywood international airport to extend the term of the agreement No member of the public has signed up to speak on this item. I have a motion to move second second by commissioner Refer I'm going to defer on the uh, on that So I have a motion to second all in favor in 56 Any opposed show the passing eight zero item 57 is a motion to approve ninth amendment to the agreement between Broward county and keolis transit services llc for shuttle bus and other transportation services at broward county's fort lauderdale hollywood international airport To among other things extend the term of the agreement. No member of the public has signed up to speak on this item Moved by senator geller second by Commissioner you Dean all in favor Any opposed show passing eight zero item 58 is a motion to discuss appointments of broward county commissioners to serve on the Board of directors of the broward league of cities in the following categories one director two alternate three second alternate No member of the public has signed up to speak on this item. Oh, what do we do with this monica? Who wants to who There are three the three commissioners that are currently serving in those roles are Commissioner for commissioner you dean and commissioner fisher in that order of those three um Categories and I believe it's just annually you guys do this and you just you go The mayor will ask if those individuals are still interested about gracefully, okay get the hell out of here Who's who's who's who wants to be director on this and I'll see as an alternate, too So so I I make a motion that okay, I make a motion I'll do it that uh, commissioner davis sir as a director That uh, commissioner dean serves an alternate and i'll be the second alternate. Okay. Okay, that's fine. I bow out about No, I bow out. No, I want to bow out Listen, you're not even in this is started Commissioner davis is the is the commissioner davis is the director Commissioner rogers is an alternate and commission You dean is a second alternate second. Okay So commissioner davis is gonna be the director and commissioner rogers is gonna be the first alternate and who's the second alternate Commissioner you dean do I have a motion on that? Okay, do I second we motion a second all in favor of that order They're all also asking us just so you know for their gala. They want us to do a table Just letting you know sure they do you're buying you're buying I already have that budget. Okay, good all in favor. All right any opposed Okay, showing past unanimously eight zero fifty eight sixty one. That's what I was saying A motion discuss subjectivity of evaluation committee scoring Um, I just wanted to bring um to light. Uh, monica. Who's the head of uh, head of uh purchasing Bob gleason and he's here and prepared to answer any questions or can you come on down for a quick minute? He's here. He's coming. Okay. Mr. Gleason Do you guys know why this is on here? We had a Company there were two that we voted on before Bob Where they came in second and once and then identical identical presentations They come in sixth and then you're going to tell me because one was less than You know one was uh, what is the word i'm looking for? Compressed one the other wasn't compressed, but I my concern is still Um, you got somebody coming in second. We voted them to get a contract But in the other one they got sixth and i'm i'm concerned on the subjectivity Uh versus objectivity does that make sense it it does mayor and and thank you uh good afternoon mayor Vice mayor monica county auditor County attorney and thank you county auditor for the supplemental material which I think was helpful in looking some some of the numeric variations within this but yes By their nature evaluation committees are subjective Our code and I would defer to the attorneys to discuss the sort of the underlying principles behind this, but I'm going to interrupt you. I'm sorry when you say they're subjective what percent of the decisions In hiring companies are subjective versus objective is it probably um Anything having to do with a committee based or request for proposals or allies Those are all based on the competitive sealed process And according to the code there's a subjective it's it's based on the judgmental assessment of the evaluation committee members and that's similar That's exactly what the american bar association model that doesn't answer my question i'm sorry What percentage of eat we hire hundreds or thousands of companies right what percentage do evaluations committees? Would you say is the decision based on subjectivity versus a hundred percent? I think we got a big problem. I think it's a big problem because I we get obvious Evaluation committee and we know you're good, but he's our bud. We know them. We've been dealing with him for years We've been dealing with kevin keller for years, but you might be more experienced and you might be Smarter and better, but we know him we like him. Yeah, he had a good presentation I don't think that's if you're saying it's a hundred percent. I think we have a big problem. Yes mayor There's such a thing known as positive bias and in that Perspective the evaluation committee members are selected chosen and put on the committees Based on the professional experience their skills their knowledge and the expertise in the relative areas in which the evaluation committee Is judging the different proposals that these contractors these these I understand that aren't there questions that can give points With total objectivity like if you're hiring let me give you my sample you commissioner you dean and i are attorneys okay And and and so let's say I have 40 years experience and he's got 30 depending he might be smarter or whatever But i'm just saying but but more your more years Okay More years experience would give me more points more years of trials would give me more points more years of of certain things Yeah, there might be some subjectivity But by what i'm talking about it throws in objectivity you're sitting there telling this commission It's a hundred percent subjectivity and that's a huge problem price is not objective Meeting the ordinance requirements for cbe and it's not objective. No, that's objective. The prices are is objective right It's not a judgmental right exercise So so mayor it's not it's not a hundred percent. I mean So it's not a hundred percent In terms of the application of the evaluation committee's members of their assessment of the proposals that are given to them That's a judgmental that's a judgmental assessment as as the every rfp process In 30,000 cities towns towns villages states counties Those are all meant to be a subjective Assessment of the proposals that are given to the committee It's a deliberation of the subject matter experts that are on that committee that render their Render their judgment as designed through the committee based or the Competitive seal proposal process you're telling me like an example with attorneys years experience years of trials Has the lawyer been doctor lawyer been sued in the past for male practice? Have how many bar complaints do they get? I mean, there's so many things I'm, just looking in my profession that you could give at least there's objective criteria that can be used I got to believe that there's got to be a There has to be a certain amount of objective besides price objective criteria that can be used in selecting somebody So yes in in the sense that if it's not going to be subjective If it's going to be completely objective Then we do a bid because then the specifications and the requirements and everything that the county needs Is specifically delineated within the bid document itself? And then and then you just you just award on the basis of the lowest price As long as you meet all the requirements. Yeah, I counsel Chime in yeah, I know I I mean, I think what what Bob saying I just want to make sure there's no disconnect on it the hard bid purely objective Or a lie might be very subjective because then you're just ranking firms In between the two is an RFP Because they're still gonna you're still gonna subjectively apply things you bring your mindset and as Bob mentioned biases into it You can't eliminate that but you're trying to design criteria That provide standards so that you're subjectively applying those standards But the standards themselves are objective So it's not just a free-for-all that you know You just say i'm going to put 80 points to experience and 10 percent 10 points to bar complaints They'll say for you know professional discipline bar complaints this points Now you decide up to 20 points. How many did you get? So there's some subjectivity some object So It's interesting because the process what he's saying is a hundred percent correct is that there's certain things that have certain numerical values Then everything is subjective if we've we've sat as this You're talking about when it goes when a presentation is made before the three or four people And they rank how they want to rank it We've done that ourselves on this And I can tell you once you get past the first few of these You know if we were ranking something and someone came today at 10 in the morning versus someone that came today at 4 in the afternoon When we've been sitting here all day There's different This is all I would never do this in the real world But this is the way government works when you put these things out for All I know is that everyone here we We're presented with contracts to approve of a company that we first were told they were second in the one evaluation And then they were sixth in the second valuation and it just seems like something screwed up, but you're saying that it's not The way the vice mayor said it earlier is everyone here is different every committee is different every evaluation committee is member is different every procurement is different even if it's the same Procurement for the same thing done another time. There's going to be variations I think the auditor's report explained the variations Uh in in a very good way, and I agreed with that and thank you But uh, yes, there there is subjectivity It's intended to exercise judgment and we go to great lengths to select a very limited pool of evaluation committee members in this county to serve on these evaluation committees and they're Selected purposefully, which is by design based on their experience and their professional knowledge and their skills who selects them Monica We so we make recommendations. Yeah, so so there's a process that the purchasing committee Purchasing division will look at each solicitation and we mind you how many do we do a year? Thirty-five rfps a year. We have 250 formal procurements that are over So, how do you how do you have the time to select that monica? So they give me the recommendations based on their analysis of the purchasing division It's a collaboration between the using agency and the purchasing division So who at your department actually says to monica? We recommend this who's that person me? Okay, so who I mean, I know this sounds awful who Determines that that the people that you're putting down are not but are not Biased in a way that makes it fair to that company The reason I ask so I had a couple years ago an insurance company They wanted to do business with the county and they said you know It's the same company year after year after year no matter who no matter what our proposal is It's the same good old boy Same thing but this before you were here Bob is same old thing same same same and this is a billion dollar company out based in California Um, I forgot who are the insurance company that we use is hey No, no, no, it's uh, it's uh, Gallagher Gallagher's been here gallagher's been here gallagher's been here same good old boy network We can't we shouldn't even be bidding because we're never going to get it and that really bothered me It's very difficult for a vendor to put the resources in On a on a percentage chance that they're going to get a contract I love our vendors especially our small ones because they put forth a lot of effort in doing that So to them, it's it's a risk until whether they're going to do it or not And if there is an incumbent and I know that there's a problem with incumbency But on the other hand if they know the business they can they can put their proposals together better They they know the skills of their people Sometimes incumbency has has has an edge but on the other hand it doesn't always apply Because sometimes the incumbent doesn't so the new commissioners here you're talking about getting young companies to come here new companies to come here You want companies that can maybe get a piece of the pie here and and It makes it harder for those companies because you're going against incumbents A lot of times that what you're saying and in the new companies could have the same skill set or better and it's kind of you know So kind of geared against them one one positive thing. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Steve Mr. Mayor like you said we're both lawyers and You know and I know that you can take the exact same case to two different juries and get two different results where the exact same case prepared by you or me Present to two different judges and you'd get different ruling sometimes so It is objective theoretically, but there is subjectivity In when you're looking at well, how good of a job did they do some well, you know good versus very good? Well, and some people will give If they think they somebody did great, they'll give Ninety-nine points. Well, some I got he won't give more than 94. I understand. I I don't have any more to say Bob, I hear you. I you don't need to just I just You know just you know, I would say too that for for our vendors We briefed the the fact that we created a vendor management office And we're hiring a supplier relationship managers several years ago And we're helping with outreach opportunities for our suppliers to be able to prepare them to compete It's it's a hard effort That they have to go against to get a contract, but we want to do everything we can to help them Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Gleason and then the end result of your question after having looked on this Is what you think happens happens all the time. There are people that tank some of these all over the country. It happens Okay, what number we next does 62 62 Motion to discuss. Uh, do you want to read? Item 62 has two motions motion a is a motion to discuss mayor's nomination of a county commissioner to the broward regional emergency Medical services council motion B is a motion to appoint county commissioner nominated by the mayor To the ems council no member of the public has signed up to speak on the item Okay, so this is my nomination. This is something new And um, I received a few phone calls from people in the community that are on this thing And um, they actually recommended unfortunately senator geller But um, but then I found out that two other commissioners would also like to serve Uh, uh, commissioner davis and commissioner udine If commissioner geller wants it you can take it No, no, no, so what I was going to do What I was going to do is say Make a motion to amend this And come back to where we can appoint two or three people on here It doesn't have to be just one And and we we can point two or three people and uh council tell me you told me I could get that done How do you do that? Yeah, you you can do that if you want I'm not sure if Yeah, if there's two there's an alternative there's two I'll be willing You want to do you be an alternative instead you want to be an alternate if there's two So if there's that's allowable so so so mayor today since it would be senator geller You can go ahead with this item you could also give us direction To come back to modify the code which we could bring back skip the set for public hearing do it in two weeks And why can't I just amend b I appoint? Then senator geller to be served and also appoint commissioner davis is the alternate I'll mend it Right here. I'll get a second to my amendment and vote from there. Yeah, we need to look at at the code But as a backup as a backup to senator geller Sure, you can do that and if we need to clean up the code. We'll come back to you. Okay. Okay, great. I'll make that motion Okay, all in favor all right any opposed show that passing 8-0 I'd like we're gonna have to go over a bunch of the other items before we leave. I'm joking What else we got here? 64 item 64 is a motion to discuss use of funds from broward county's community development block grant disaster recovery to Support small-scale multi-family avoidable affordable housing programs No member of the public has signed up to speak on the item. I got a motion We got a motion Yeah, okay. Who's once who put this on I put it on great lead away so In april 2025 the beat the broward county border commissioners adopted the administrative action plan for for funding this allocation The Grant agreement was signed in january 2026 Funds have to be spent by august 5th 20 31 Um And the part of the money the total amount of money that we've gotten Is 29 million 222 thousand Of that 12 million nine hundred and sixty seven Thousand is for multi-family affordable housing new construction And 4 million five hundred and sixty six is for multi-family rental Reconstruction and rehabilitation So I would like to see how we can utilize the 12 million 967 for affordable housing Now i've heard some of the discussion About rental versus new construction versus home ownership So i'd like to amend to see how we can include Not just rental but um home ownership In this 12 million and to allow for That some of that money to go towards fewer than 70 units Which is not happening currently and i'm just trying to figure who's is uh our housing Director what i got your name Look look over here and i'll help you Ralph stone Ralph stone to explain it better because i'm not explaining it right You just think of a stone house Ralph stone Ralph can you Ralph stone mr stone Could you explain it better for me please Ralph wake up Ralph i fall asleep i was listening to this meeting too don't worry about it Yes sir whoever Yeah, so could you explain The cdbg money And what it's currently allocated for in terms of the housing portion The housing portion can go to ownership and go to rental It can be used anywhere in the county But can you explain where the where the money came from how it can be utilized I mean there's different things we're utilizing it for But there's rehab reconstruction and new construction So I guess i'm into the 12 million and what is it currently being assigned for Nothing is just there so the uh Funding came from a one-time only grant associated with flooding Like a couple years ago Only the county when the city of fort lauderdale received funding and our Our amount was 29 million and in the the previous Action that the board took in looking at the plan that was recommended to us Uh including the consultants that we hired Defined a number of different strategies for the use of the 29 million dollars The the largest portion of that was 12 million nine hundred sixty seven thousand dollars For multi-family new construction rental construction And then in addition to that you have multi-family rental construction and rehab single-family mitigation and rehab Uh and uh infrastructure Uh as other strategies that have been funded and currently we haven't utilized any of this money No, ma'am none of the money has been spent and in terms of Allowing for some of that money to be utilized you need direction. Is that it the board has the discretion to to To reprioritize and reallocate the funds among these strategies or new strategies Well in terms of the housing the 12 million You have no current plans on how to spend it whether it's rental um home ownership It's just there Is that what you're saying the intent of the 12 million was to issue a request for applications like we do for the gap financing At the same level which would be for large projects over 70 units And we would cap it at probably the same level we did this year, which would be no more than seven million per project Uh, but that's uh up to the board's discretion if they want to continue with that proposal uh Okay, and so And that proposal came from where the staff staff Yeah, from administration Right, and so what i'd like to see is some of that money go for Units that are under 70 understand and Also, as was mentioned previously by another commissioner to include Home ownership, okay, we can do that what I would I would make this recommendation Because we know that on the large projects We want them to have access to bond allocation because That's free money that we leverage with the gap so uh My recommendation if you if you wanted to set aside money for small projects that you Have a minimum of seven million for large projects and then the remainder for the small projects Okay, so that would be five million for small projects And coincidentally last year when we did small projects it was five million and we capped the individual awards at 2.5 So if it was split this way again, we would suggest doing that That exact cap on the split Um, i'm done with the questions that I have for for ralph well commissioner fur was next and then That's fine Want to say something though? Yes, mr DeSalle is actually the one that oversees the cdbg Grants and and darby I'd just like to make sure that whichever the appropriate staff person that has the the more relevant information I know ralph you're our housing expert, but I know darby the the grant dollars and This award is actually in your division, so I want to make sure that you guys feel free to to you know Speak up when you need to darby, please I just want to add one piece to what you're asking because one of the things we have we do have that About four and a half million and it's identified on the chart as a rental rehab But that also actually can be used for new constructions for the 70 Units and under so I didn't you know, I just want to let you know that we do have that on there Again, you know how that mix works With regard to the action plan that's that's entirely up to the the commission how they want to do that But we do have that money set aside for that particular purpose today So the question is it says for rental reconstruction That's right and rehabilitation That's right. What about new projects right in the the title? There is a bit of a mislead or when we look closer into the actual action plan It actually specifies that you can do the new construction for the 70 and under as well Okay, and what about the rehab and reconstruction? How much would you use for that right? That's that's the the 4.566 million That's the portion that you can use for either the reconstruction or for the 70 and under So I just wanted to lay that out that there is some of that in there already again However, all of you decide to redistribute it is up to you, of course But I just wanted to make sure that the board knew that we did have the 4.6 in there Well, but that's okay. So the rehabilitation and reconstruction. What were you planning to do there? How is that going to be utilized for example? So so keep in mind that we just got the award Confirmed with us in january So we haven't really begun to initiate any of the the rfas that we would normally do for this type of purchase particularly since on On route side of the shop. We're trying to finish up a big 20 22 million dollar 21 million dollar rfa now So the intent is that we would go back out We don't necessarily have a particular project identified yet at this time But we could do rfas on all of that So in terms of rehab you're talking about somebody that may need Impact windows or is that something what's the rehab part? So so this would really be related to Those types of projects that would harden properties Against flooding so that's really where this goes so You know like doesn't do windows so it may mean that we're going to do Corrections on the swale to be able to retain water or Maybe we'll do something to harden the walls so that water can't flood underneath it, but it doesn't it doesn't go to roofing the homes itself I'm, sorry, it doesn't go to the home itself It could if there was if there was some type of hardening to the base of the structure to make sure that if that property did flood That water wouldn't get in okay Yeah, so so again, uh, I think I stick with what I because you may need that money for that So the 12 million is what i'd like to see the under 70 units come from and also The new construction in terms of home ownership understood Commissioner for thank you. Welcome. Um, this is this is all disaster relief money. Is that what it's called disaster relief? Yes, that is correct. Okay Uh, that that came with from the flood of april 24 and three It was it was 23 23. That's right. That's right That's right Um, what what concerns me on this when I see How this money is being spent is I see Only about 10 percent of it going into infrastructure that keeps this from happening again Obviously, there's nothing you can do for a thousand year flood But the city the the areas that got really slammed here like edgewood Dania parts of fort lauderdale Those areas We know that now those are low-lying every areas and that they need Some resiliency. This is actually an opportunity we to actually put money into resiliency Where we've been not not had the money to do it putting putting Housing back there, you know, for those houses that need what you said to be hardened That that's for sure Because those those people are for the most part of the ones that didn't have insurance correct often For the most part. Yeah I don't think we want to put any more housing there yet Until we know that that there's that is flood more flood proof I see us I would like to see way more money being put into infrastructure And I know that we can change this But when you were looking when you were looking for resiliency money still am still am This is a good place to be looking because you've got 30 million dollars here That you know can be used this. There's way too much money in here for planning That I see you've got 15 percent for planning Um, that that's taking way too much money on the on the multifamily rental reconstruction That's problematic because if you've got a multifamily area or like 100 units You have to make sure that every who how many are Qualified by need which means only a few you know only a few are going to be able to do it How do you do a roof when only a few people qualify that gets problematic? This is I think this is a really good opportunity. We've been looking for a place where we can find money To put a lot of to to work on our resiliency plan. I see Dr. Horato in the in the audience. She might be able to help us on that But you know that part that We've been at that we're that we've got at the With the feds right now there's that they're taking care of that big water part The other part is a part we have to take care of right. Hopefully hopefully but even even still we We this is a An opportunity Presented to us and it's what it's for. This is for mitigation. This is for infrastructure I'm not sure why this suddenly became more of an affordable housing it you know Yeah, it may have been when when they were putting the plan together You know, we did do public outreach and we we were speaking to different folks and so What you see in that plan in some regard is a reflection of that, but again, okay, you know We we can we can move these numbers around and reprioritize and that is as you Okay, and then and then this thing that I see with the projects Where projects would be going none of them in the areas that got really hit hard like edgewood That whole area nothing dania when they were floating nothing. This really needs to be reexamined This is like and I think the place where we look at is looking at where those um You know within our own resiliency plan Where are those places that that this could be done and leverage this money the way we've been doing? And I think last time we leveraged it almost five times Five times of what it is. Yeah, seven times. So my my suggestion on this take this money Leverage it work on our resiliency plan We can put a little bit into housing, but I don't think this is the money to be done doing that was Thank you, senator geller. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, um, I agree with what a lot of what commissioner for was saying The way you also have a question for elf stone The fact I was concerned darby before you go. I was concerned that this was flood money disaster money I know we are permitted to use it for housing But I I don't know i'm seeking information with this question If we spend it on housing next time we apply for flood uh damages or are the feds going to look and say hey last time they had flooding uh We gave them money and they used it in other areas to build affordable housing instead of uh on flood mitigation or repairing the areas that were damaged Is that something that the feds would consider as a factor? Well, you know the the money and the way it's it's allocated currently in the action plan does conform With what they would allow us to use the money for so there's a difference between allowing and optimal and just so you know and to the question you Had asked earlier about some of these locations we can go back and take a look at that And work with some of our partners to understand maybe where some of the stuff was some of this information that we derived was Probably primarily located on you know some of our jurisdictional roadways We can work with the cities keep in mind fort lauderdale got their own piece They had about 80 million, so we can't spend any of our money there But we can certainly look to our other neighbors that are that are participating in this and find out where Those thank you for pointing that out. That's important. I mean we can be looking at our own plan right our own resiliency plan Yeah, but but we can't spend in the cities correct. Okay, so that's an important issue. So the um mr. Stone one other question in terms of course again, I am interested in doing um home ownership funding as well Because of the generational wealth argument you had said that it would cost us about five hundred thousand for each Uh unit I maybe I thought I heard you say that I don't that can't really be an accurate number because we're not just giving people homes I mean, I presume that it's home assistance And you know under most of the home ownership programs, which I would like you to describe They have to if they sell it within 10 years or something that they have to pay back some or all of the money Uh, you know, there's all sorts of ways of doing that shared appreciation diminishing uh payback based on the number of years um You know putting up the 20 or 25 percent Down payment with the people responsible for the mortgage for the rest So how much when you consider all of those? How much? Actually, would it be costing us per home ownership unit if you're building? Let's say townhouses or condos but look I heard commissioner rogers talking about townhouses And since she's not here, I'll raise it in her absence Sure, I understand and I can understand how how a little confusion can come into this our normal Homeownership programs is a purchase assistance program, right? So the potential owner finds the home gets the first mortgage lender and we come in and and do Basically down payment assistance, so it's usually eighty thousand hundred thousand dollars. Okay, but when we're doing home ownership projects uh, like we allocate five million dollars when we go out to an rfa We'll have a small builder to come in that came in we had one in commissioner davis's district last year And got 2.2 million dollars and built 63 homes. Well, that was gap financing It wasn't down payment assistance So that's I think when you're when you start talking about oh, it could be 500,000 That would be a small gap project a very okay So I when I heard you say 500,000. That's not per home. No That's what was confusing. That would be a project basis. Yes, sir. Okay, and so you think it's about 80,000, maybe Is that what you were saying? For purchase assistance, yes. Okay, so I agree with Commissioner Furr that the bulk of this money or perhaps all of this money should be used for the Resilience However, to the extent if it gets split up, I'd like to see a portion of that go towards home ownership um And I i'm going to trust that the way you're doing it Is the best way of doing it at some point in time you and I should sit down and chat but 80,000 or so sounds like a reasonable amount um And again, you get more bang for the buck with rental But I agree with commissioner rogers that we need all forms including the um By building homes for rental, but also some money that going towards home ownership. Thank you. Mr. Mayor mayor mayor. Yes Thank you mayor and and I obviously agree with both of my colleagues some I left the right Um, I was fortunate unfortunate to be a mayor in 2023 when we had the wonderful rains and When melrose and vice mayor's not here melrose and edgewood was devastated I mean literally devastated folks had water In their house two and three feet deep and so I i'm i'm all into the resilience component Especially for our neighborhoods because those are desperately needed. Uh, I know that Florida is doing a good project on Issues dealing there with the uh with the flooding and obviously the airport. I think Mr. Gale We did our part underneath I-595 there too to help out But the point is you know, you're talking billions of dollars that Dr. Arado was talking about dealing with resiliency. This can be a part of it mayor Uh that really can make a difference So i'm all in for that and and it wouldn't be opposed to home ownership I think that's part of it too, but I don't want the federal government to come back to us and say hey You know, we gave you disaster relief funds and you did this with it We just don't need that as well. So I like both plans and that's where i'm staying before we go any further I just wanted to point out to anika So just so you understand the reason drew stands up. He's not stretching He's getting nervous because there's only five of us here. So I just wanted you to know his his mo Okay, he's if one of us get up to go to the bathroom. He's sitting us down. Okay, just No, it's not over. We just can't continue it until you're back. Um, any other questions? Um, can I sure please my item? Um, and so I agree with the resiliency Portions that you know, they could be increased but also the home ownership I believe if that's Some of the criteria that we're utilizing and it's legal to do Then we should be doing that because at the end of the day people need to live somewhere They they do need to live somewhere um, and so You came up with these categories you said because you went out to the park I mean, you didn't just pop these out of the sky So you came up with them. You said you had some kind of um, I don't know who did you get these these categories from These are the categories that were available to us and like I said, we did go out to the community and try to get some feedback as to Where they are and in part of the challenges that we have Like you know, for instance you talked about the resiliency piece of it We know that there are certain areas that are flooded. We we know that this money can only be used in neighborhoods that that meet the 80% AMI rule And so when we kind of started having conversations and recognizing, you know, a flood that occurred in 2023 oftentimes Particularly when we're dealing with you know people's homes that needed some kind of repair A lot of these things had already been done and taken care of because so much time had gone by and so now We're looking at how do we shape this how do you put this together and at least at that time what would Give us the bank you know the biggest bang for the buck It doesn't mean that that's what we have to continue doing Like I said, there's an alternative solution You know where you're you all are looking at how you split that between some infrastructure and maybe the 70 and unders whatever that might be That's fine. But that's just kind of how we got there. So in order to reshape Um, what i've proposed and maybe I can give it to monica since it's your staff that came up with This criteria will you are you able to go back? And based on what we've discussed because this is a motion to discuss to come back with something else Yes So I was literally just thinking the same thing and so what I was going to offer is that our our team We can we can go back and our team can look back based on the feedback We've heard today to go back and Um, look at a different distribution Of those dollars by percentage and bring back to the board a new recommendation based on the feedback today I was just talking with my team about that very thing. Okay. Yeah, great minds think alike. I think that's a good idea I'll recognize you No, i'm good. Um, my question is and based on how you started commissioner davis and you guys can correct me If we don't spend this money time certain we lose it. Is that is that what I heard you got till 31 to 31? Okay, thank you. It's reimbursable. It's based on a reimbursable Yeah, i'm just saying so if it's 31 we're in 26, right when you look at some of the uh, uh recommendations, I mean to do a Resilient project, I mean we can't even Do resilient in the next 40 years and how we want to do it But uh building a new house Now comes it at a different elevation So that house will be preserved in in that neighborhood And i'm not saying don't do any of the things that are recommended here today But I think whatever we do it needs to be something that we can do in 30 in the 30 in One two three what five years or four years five years. So whatever it is that we decide Okay, um, I believe Um, dr Is going to be presenting or some bringing something back to us We have a we have a workshop. Okay, so some I I want The meeting we have something. Yeah Yeah, and I and I get and i'm asking that because I I would like to hear from Yeah, her department where it it makes sense to be able to do this Where are those opportunities that could be done quickly? But I just want to let you know four years ago Senator geller told me in five years we'll be on the water. So I bought an ark We've all got a bunch of arcs We've all got a bunch of arcs So anyway, so that that so that can inform us a little bit of how to do this Mr. Mayor and what I suggested is that and and the administrator said she Concurs with what I suggested and since Dr. Geraldo falls under the administrator. She hasn't you know, she doesn't operate on her own The administrator is her boss So She said she would look at this what we've discussed and bring something back and i'm sure she's going to talk to dr Heraldo and bring something back so it's really not up to dr Heraldo only she has a boss who should know what dr Heraldo is doing so if they could look at everything that we've spoke about resiliency New home construction and bring something back. I think that would just that would suffice Yes, sir Can I make a motion or do we have to make a motion for that? Okay Um, I want to wait till I want to wait till our administrators done talking I want to tell you guys what's coming Especially you know about atlanta. I talked about it. So I just want you know next week You're going to bring us back something very very good. I just wanted to let everybody get an idea of of um If you know, I use the atlanta Airport, there's a hundred planes going there's six screens and so So so to keep track of everything we're doing and so nothing falls through the cracks. I asked monica to put together a a comprehensive type of list so it'll be a Always moving list on every project every one of the most 100 most relevant projects All of our projects in one location Computerized so we can see the what's going on if it's timely if it's not timely and just want to let everybody know what's coming Right, monica. Yes. Thank you. Let's move on. What else we got Yeah, true We're done with no that that's it The dashboard this gives me expanded to we're going to talk 100 projects everything go the top 100 projects of the county What's the status when it's supposed to be done? Who's responsible? Notes on everything and so it'll be available to all the commissioners and everybody It'll look like an automated dashboard just so it'll be easier to kind of see and if you need to click on it You can expand and and things like that Before we go on, you know when we have long meetings, I would hope that next time I'm not the one buying the pizzas, but we have people who are working here that need to eat We will be happy to reimburse you as well Yeah, but you know you've got guards and people working here that just need to eat and stuff besides my donuts as well I'm not asking to be paid back for the pizza. All right. Anyway, let's go around the dais in here very short Non-agenda items. I'm sure we're gonna have very short ones or we're gonna be very vocal Let's start with Commissioner Rogers. Oh, you're done. Thank you Senator Geller you're next one item only mr. Mayor the You and I had had some discussion on resiliency and What further investigation shown is we were both correct it I was talking about the larger project you're talking about the small About a few meetings ago, right and I've spoken with dr. Vrata when we are submitting our budget Requests we all have till I think it's May 1st Uh one of the three or four items. I'll be submitting is May 4th May 4th exactly what you were talking about. I'm going to be asking for five million dollars for um To continue the program that we had a million and a half for this year. Let me let me just if you don't mind just let everybody know uh, we have 1800 miles of of What do you call it of the smaller canals of canals that goes through everyone's neighborhoods, right? And unless we do something in less than 10 years We're going to see massive flooding right dr. Vrata said based on on that project It's a billion dollars, but because she can leverage 20 million a year and she's going to come back not five But we're going to need 20 million a year That could be leveraged into a billion according to her and with the cities and the water districts Um, we're going to see how we can get that funded and um, so you say five I'll be adding another 15 to that excellent. I just you know I just want to tell you i'm agreeing with you and Uh, that's what one of my top priorities and that's all I wanted thank you commissioner fisher I feel like getting rock and roll Let's go Not beat up to beat up today You can just do quick things Yeah, come on only numbers, but not not talk Do it Uh Oh, man, how did we get to now three all right? So we got uh tuesday april the 21st Um, i'll be joining a broward county transit. I don't see our wonderful folks here from the city. Wilt manors at Hagan park uh for the transit forward 2040 vision plan presentation, which will be nice So residents are welcome to come and learn about The near mid and long term changes that will modernize our transit network for information send me an email I'll contact you back lastly happy birthday to michael and to kevin recently It's a little bit of birthdays. Uh, thank you for hanging around another year with us. Okay. We appreciate you on that. All right I'm putting up with monica I really All right. God bless. Thank you. I love you, too. Mr. Mayor Commissioner Okay, uh first I want to congratulate the broward county library for being florida library of the year That's incredible. That's a big honor and well-deserved. They've done a lot of great stuff It came from santas i know well there's a part of the reason of reason of getting that award Is an intellectual courage award and our and our our library deserves it and they and was recognized throughout the united states for that So this was this is a big honor Second uh this friday the governing board of the solid waste authority will be hopefully passing the master plan that will then and and the facilities amendment that will then go out to all of the cities um Yeah, I know Let's hope hopefully it passes Um, and then my next move is back Um, through the greater fort lauderdale alliance of some I started a long time ago Broward public schools took it over and the alliance doing great And glad to see it all back and that's all I got. Thanks. Thank you. Vice mayor. Why'd you do that? What the facial expression with me like i'm gonna hold you up or something. I would never give you it was you read my face wrong. Gee whiz Uh in my district today Um where the walmart is located on briar boulevard on 27th avenue. There's a um Um ice cream ben and jerry's and we're giving away free ice cream I invite you all to come out after this long meeting and have ice cream with me Are you treating it's free it's free it's free but i'll buy you a double scoop why don't you pretend you're treating whatever you want man You got it good as long as it clears the legal department Make sure you wait. Um, but there's one other thing Being for that kind of we kind of operate on On the same cylinder and it's a charter. I think a lot of the things that we get bogged down with Is because of the charter of something that we train we get stuck on we we refer to the charter um, I would like to see us Revisit the charter at some point so You'll understand some of the things that we can and cannot do and I don't need to turn to him and say can I do it? Um, I know I can do it because the charter says I can do it Um, but I don't see us exercising that operationally and policy wise all the time So at some point we just visit it and I think we'll feel more comfortable when we say, you know Kevin needs to leave or whatever just a joke, but you understand what what we can't kind of always Deal with my charter officers. I mean, that's that's my thing I've did it in my past life That's the safest route and But there's other things you can do there to get to the Ideas and the things that we really want to do So at some point I'd like us to be workshop Not with five other things, but with just that we just talk about it. Thank you senator rich. Oh, thank you senator So, um, just wanted to I gave put in every one of your offices the six pillars report to the community That was wrapped up last week. I was co-chair with kathleen cannon It was a holdover from last year when I was the alliance rep It brought in stakeholders from throughout the community to talk about what we were doing right in broward where we needed to improve Um, and it broke it down into sections and the report is out. I encourage everyone to read it Uh, it's interesting and it shows some of our successes and some of our areas where we could do better probably As we look through the next 40 years Um, just wanted to mention and they always do such a great job at fll when we have honor flight come to town They were there this weekend. I was there with commissioner davis. We uh, welcome troops back from the korean war this go around they hit all the uh memorials we were joined by uh uh, uh four star general francis donovan the head of southern command And uh, the lieutenant governor so there was a big turnout at the airport and it's always the best part about honor flight when they come back It's not all of us that go there to see the people It's the regular normal traveler that's sitting at their gate and then sees what's going on And the whole airport stops and and and kind of funnels around to watch So today the airport gets it who knows maybe next meeting the port will get a shout out But for now i'm going with the airport. Mr. Davis. Thank you. Um, I just had a question and it's it's to do with the heart project Maybe you could give me the answer sure is it available to all employees? It's available to any brower resident Over the age of 45 period Uh, they it's ideal if they have one of five conditions either a high blood pressure high cholesterol smoker Um diabetes or family history if they don't have any of that they still can take it, but it's open to any broward uh resident Obviously if the employee's a resident It's open to any brow resident over the age of 45 So what i'd like to see Is it possible that it can be eligible for employees? It is as a benefit regardless of where they live Because it is it's not a requirement to be an employee to live in Broward county some places Miami-Dade they had that at one point So we give benefits to our employees that are not given to the rest of the county Our employees work here and it will be I think it will be great If this could be an added benefit for employees Regardless as a benefit for them totally agree with you But you know, there'd be any employee over the age of 45 But today they they can get it But you're saying when the money runs out for the public It would still be available for the employee But i'm saying many employees don't live in broward county And so as an employee benefit i'm happy look at a human's a human I don't care if they're in broward day palm beach or wherever I you know I'm i'm good with it. It's up to the board It's it's taxpayer dollars. I I don't know how that works, but Okay, I don't care where the person comes from So i'd like to propose that employees in particular not Do an agenda item for the next meeting. Thank you. Okay, counselor. Can we do that? Yeah, i'd like to discuss it You know renee actually had a flight renee would be perfect to ask right now, but she's out So yes, we can put together an agenda item to discuss it Is she at the airport? Maybe we can page her She's she's in an uber I think there's I think your voice is already through the airport It's pummeling people I'm very happy. I tell it's every 15 20 minutes Mayor we we will work though through an e cup and renee will make sure we get that item for commissioner davis if she wants it I mean commissioner davis I want to let you know that you weren't here this gentleman and and he's over wasn't here You know, I wanted to do this where we could give it your round to everybody And one day actually at that time one day get like a half a penny on the ballot and most everybody here said let's prove it Let's make sure it's provable because that time it wasn't I didn't prove it anything. It has been proven I have not brought it back For even a quarter penny because these guys are so damn stubborn And it's not for us to erase it was to put on the ballot. Let the people decide but it would save Thousands and thousands of lives ideas were added. I'd also add cancer testing to that But if you've got an appetite for that a couple I'm willing to bring it back on an agenda item if you guys would talk about a quarter penny You never did your your thing that with the hospitals that you see you're gonna have to vote for it anyway now Yeah, well, yeah, right, okay Do I get your vote on that one quarter penny one two three how about you Okay, you know what and then gave me your process. Well, Nan is always going to be in it. Just Nan Nan's always a guest Yeah Yeah, no, you can order no, I I think for that's her tax. It could be any fraction For for that one. Yes be a quarter and then and then if we need to do a tax I was told for something else that would have to go away fine. Anyway I'm going to put a gen item for the employees and I'm going to put a gen item to bring back things to you That other thing because look at I had I listen I got lucky I I caught cancer thing early And and you know you a bunch of us here have caught stuff and in one through it and And in the most of the public does not have access to this So I'm all about saving lives. I love it I'm sorry, mr. Melton You're gonna pass you know, you normally you talk so long, but I appreciate you giving us a break Um, uh Ms. Sparrow three things number one First meeting we've had um in April and I want to take the opportunity to recognize that this is national county government month So I want to thank all the county employees For everything they do each and every day to make us successful to make and provide We're telling them right now. Thank you and and we appreciate your support. I think secondly, I'd like to congratulate Mark Darman in enterprise director for operations for water and wastewater division for the county He was recognized as the 2025 water wastewater plant operations excellence award From the um, the florida department of environmental protection is that for having the most peat fast in the water And and lastly, I'd really like to congratulate anika Um, we look forward to working with you in your new capacity. Congratulations. Well deserved All right, um, kevin you anything drew come on you got it before you yeah, I was I was monica stole my thunder I just uh, I know what passed on consent It was a long meeting, so it's great that we didn't spend extra time on it But I do want to recognize that you guys made a fantastic choice and uh, just congratulate her. You paid You paid us well. I'm done. Are you guys done? Thank you everybody Mr. Mayor you're adjourned. Yes, thank you. I haven't been adjourned yet. Okay. Well we're adjourned. Thank you