City Commission - Regular Meeting - Jun 02, 2026

Mr. City Manager, City Attorney, ready to go? I think so. Okay. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the regular commission meeting this June 2nd, 2026 of the Delray Beach City Commission. If the clerk could please call the roll. Deputy Vice Mayor Marker. Here. Commissioner Mollica. Here. Commissioner Casale. Here. Vice Mayor Burns. Here. Mayor Carney. Here. We have a quorum. Thank you very much. If you could all rise, please, for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Great. Thank you very much. Okay. We're looking for agenda approval. I understand that there's an item you're removing from the agenda? Yes, sir. That would be item 7G, the nominations for the Delray Beach Housing Authority. There's some criteria reflection we need to get squared away, so we're looking to bring that back for the first meeting in July. 7G, is it? Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. 7G. Okay. Got it. Are there any other additions, subtractions to the agenda? Motion. Hearing none, I need a motion to. I'm sorry. Motion to approve as amended. Second. All in favor. Aye. Any opposed? It is so adopted. The first is a presentation of the Recognition of the Colony Hotel 100 Years. I know John Miller is here, but I am supposed to be reading this proclamation, but Commissioner Mollica insisted because of her long close friendship with the owner of the hotel. So, Ms. Mollica, would you please read the proclamation? Colony Hotel celebrating 100 years. Located at the heart of Atlantic Avenue, the Colony Hotel has stood witness to the evolution of Delray Beach. The hotel debuted as the Altrip Hotel in 1926 after a group of investors led by Albert T. Repp spent some $350,000 to finance its construction. Repp and his colleagues built such a magnificent structure due to Delray Beach's growth as a prestigious resort community during the Roaring Twenties. Designed by architect Martin Luther Hampton, the Altrip Hotel was perhaps the greatest structure built within the city in the 1920s. Standing three stories tall, its brilliant Spanish colonial revival style architecture brilliantly commemorated the state's Hispanic heritage. The resort's gorgeous stucco walls and iconic domed towers made it incredibly unique when compared to many of its fellow local destinations. Despite its grand character, the Altrip Hotel struggled to generate business and during the Great Depression caused Rep to foreclose. Salvation arrived in 1935 when the newlyweds, George and Agnes Bouton, purchased the ailing resort for $50,000 and renamed it the Colony Hotel. Their stewardship saw the resort become Delray Beach's hottest attraction with lavish interior details, including a Spanish galleon carved into the lobby mantle, terrazzo floors, terrazzo floors, wrought iron chandeliers, antique lamps, and Otis & Company elevator, and fixed reed wicker furniture, which still exists today. In 1948, George Bouton acquired another historic resort in Maine, rebranding at the Colony Hotel. In 1949, he developed the Cabana Club, featuring heated saltwater pool, private beach, tropical fauna, and complementary cabanas. After George's, after George's death in 1986, and Agnes' in 1994, their daughter, Justina Bouton, and niece, Hilary Roche, assumed control. In 1999, the hotel joined the historic Hotels of America, and in 2001, the Bouton family completed extensive renovations, adding air conditionings in hallways and preserving the historic character. All 70 guest rooms feature original furniture, tropic fabrics, hardwood floors, unique appointments, Florida artwork, and dreamy beds with organic cotton sheets. The Colony Cabana Club, two miles from the hotel, continues to offer a heated saltwater pool, beach cabanas, and spectacular ocean views for events and daily lunches. The Colony Hotel and Cabana Club is among Florida's most historic holiday destinations, hailed as a timeless masterpiece, and the best-known landmark in Delray Beach, presented this second day of June, 2026. Yay, we have a little softener. Thank you. Do you want to also have a little photo of that? No, let's just go. You go. You get the presentation. John, would you want to get up to the lectern and give your remarks? Thank you, everybody. This is Kaylee Howell, our archivist. She's going to help with the presentation here. We have the clicker. There's one on the table there. All right. We're going to just take a few minutes. We'll rip through this pretty quick. But Kaylee was great enough to pull together a lot of historic information that's in our archives over there at the Historical Society. So we have a lot more. It was honestly hard to decide what not to put in. So obviously the numbers were a little fuzzy back then, $250,000, $300,000 for the hotel. Ended up being, I think, close to $500,000. But it was incorporated in 1924 and after Alfred T. Repp. Here we have an original stock certificate of the hotel, and there's still a bunch of these floating around. So this was a newspaper article from June 14, 1925, and it talked about a building boom here in Delray. So there was a lot of things going on at that time. The colony is in the lower left there, and this was a close-up of that image. And it talked about the Alta Rep Hotel and what it was going to cost and how much it had from the rooms, if you want to. Yes, and so Martin Luther Hampton, who is the architect who ultimately designed the hotel, was very well known mostly in the Miami area and the Coral Gables area. He designed many of the kind of historic structures that are still in Coral Gables. He's also sort of known for constructing and designing the Whitehall Hotel, which was the hotel addition on the back of Henry Flagler's mansion in Palm Beach, which was Whitehall. And so it was because of this building boom that was happening at the time and a lot of technological innovations that were happening in the 1920s, it was fireproofed. You had automatic sprinklers. This was a very big deal. If you know anything about the history of hotels in Florida, a lot of them caught fire. So this was a very big deal. And so it included a ladies' parlor, a writing area, and so it had all the kind of hallmarks of a major resort at the time. So these were some of the articles about the opening of the hotel, which was March 1, 1926, so just about 100 years ago. Over here on the right was a menu of a couple of weeks later, but it included Filet of Soul, Virginia ham with champagne sauce, native fowl, native fowl, not sure what that was with cranberry sauce, pigeon, muscovy duck, prime rib, and then assorted side salads, desserts, after dinner mints, but no alcohol. This was during prohibition. So I'm guessing there was some around, but it wasn't on the menu, and the cost was $2. So this is a close-up of the previous newspaper article, and that shows Alfred T. Rep right there in the upper left. So then these were a couple of historic postcards from when it was the Alta Rep. And yes, and so Alta Rep, or Albert Rep, if I could talk today, it'd be a miracle. Albert Rep was a big part of, again, a part of the sort of post-boom, the bubble bursting, and he was sort of the victim of that, especially in 1926. We had back-to-back hurricanes in 1926, which really brought on the kind of end to the land boom. And so this was a big sort of part of that. And in 1932, it was listed for sale by, you know, a different trust company, and so the Casa Del Rey was also a part of this kind of downturn in Del Rey's hotels at the time. But then in 1935, again, as, you know, as Commissioner Malika mentioned, we get kind of a, you know, a savior comes in to Del Rey in the form of George and Agnes Boughton and Charles Boughton as well, who was his father. And they really came in, purchased the Colony Hotel, and turned it around and created what we know today as the Beloved Colony Hotel. These are a couple of postcards when it switched over to the Colony in the early days. Really was a center of civic life here in Del Rey. Yeah, it features in a number of photographs and oral histories and stories throughout kind of the Del Rey Beach community. A lot of people talk about either staying at the Colony, you know, dining at the Colony, working at the Colony. Lots of people kind of talk about being just at the Colony and how important it was to them over time. And then again, in the 48, in 1948, they opened up the Sister Hotel up in Kennebunkport. So these are just a couple of, I'm going to go back one. These are a couple of images, historic images, of just how central it was to life in Del Rey at the time. That's an old Boy Scout troop with a fire truck. Meetings, gatherings, social affairs, you name it. The Colony was at the center of it. The Colony was also at the center of, you know, of hurricane salvage as well, or you're helping during hurricanes. So it served as a hurricane shelter during the 19, at least we know the 1949 hurricane, and likely other hurricanes as well. So today, the Boughton family still owns it. And it is one of the most important examples of historic preservation, not just in Del Rey Beach, but all of South Florida. And the Colony Hotel in Commandant Club is a proud member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, as well as Historic Hotels of America. So happy centennial of Colony. Thank you very much. Really, and thank you. You're a great part of the city right there. I've been going to it for years. I'm not going to say how long. I think I was at the – I could have been at the opening. I'm not bothered. But anyway. But thank you both. Thank you both. Hillary, thank you. And thank you, of course, Justine. Could I just quickly say as well thank you. This is so exciting, and I do appreciate, you know, that you are the most important example of historic preservation. And every time I walk by the colony, I have to stop and just stare because it's just amazingly beautiful. And I really want to thank Kaylee Howell, the archivist, for just preserving Del Rey's history for our future. Thank you so much. I've heard amazing things about you. Great. Thank you. Thank you all very much. All right. Now we have a presentation for Gun Violence Awareness Day Proclamation. John Harris is somewhere. There you are, John Harris. Okay. I'm going to be, I guess, presenting this to you, right? Okay. Well, there we go. Let me read the proclamation. Okay. Whereas this proclamation declares the first Friday in June to be the National Gun Violence Awareness Day in the city of Del Rey Beach, to honor and remember all victims and survivors of gun violence, and to declare that we as a country must do more to end public health crisis. Whereas every day, 130 people in the United States are killed by gun violence, and more than 200 are shot and wounded, with an average of more than 19,000 gun homicides every year. Whereas support for the Second Amendment rights of law and biding citizens goes hand in hand with keeping guns away from people with dangerous histories. And whereas in partnership with local violence intervention activists who are most familiar with the local criminal activity and how to address it are best positioned to understand how to keep citizens safe. And whereas gun violence prevention is more important than ever, as we see gun violence continue to impact communities across the country. Whereas in January 2013, Hydea Pendleton was tragically shot and killed at the age of 15, and on June 5, 2026, to recognize the 20th birthday of Hydea Pendleton, people across the United States will recognize National Gun Violence Awareness Day and wear orange in tribute to the victims of gun violence and their loved ones. And whereas the idea was inspired by a group of Hydea's friends who asked their classmates to commemorate her life by wearing orange, they chose this color because hunters wear orange to announce themselves to other hunters when out in the woods, and orange is a color that symbolizes the value of human life. And whereas by wearing orange on June 5, 2026, people across the United States will raise awareness about gun violence and continue the lives of gun violence victims and survivors. Whereas we renew our commitment to reduce gun violence and to pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the hands of people who should not have access to them and encourage responsible gun ownership to help our families and keep our families and communities safe. Now, therefore, I, Thomas F. Kearney, Jr., Mayor of Delray Beach, Florida, on behalf of the City Commission, do hereby declare June 5, 2026, to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day and encourage all citizens to support their local community's efforts to prevent tragic effects of gun violence and to honor and value human life. Thank you. So, John, do you want to come up? Yes. I will ensure myself that I wear orange on June. Oh, thank you. No problem. Thank you. There you go. Here, don't take a picture. Oh, sure. No, right here. That's it. There you go. Thank you. Yeah? Thank you. Thank you, John. Okay. We are now at the portion of the meeting where we're going to have comments and inquiries on agenda and non-agenda items from the public. First, we have the City Manager's response to inquiries and highlights. Yes, sir. I have one item, actually, and that is simply a reiteration of what we talked about during the meeting two weeks ago, and that is Palm Beach County initiated infrastructure improvements to the George Boulevard Bridge. And there is some sense of hope, if you will, that this is to be accomplished before the Independence Day holiday because, of course, the robust presence and vehicular traffic anticipated during that time. So we are doing our best as a city to work closely with Palm Beach County to encourage an outcome to that effect. While that may be a possibility, we are still thinking of other arrangements logistically in preparation for the work to continue beyond the Independence Day holiday. So we're hopeful that that will be, in fact, accomplished by then. But in the event that that is not the case, we will be offering public information and other updates in terms of detours and other logistical arrangements that need to be made so that people can, in fact, enjoy the holiday season coming up. Because, as I recall, Atlantic Avenue is going to be closed. Correct. Correct. So that means they're going to either have to come across Wilbright Road or Linton? Or Linton. Linton would be the focus in that regard. And that's a good observation, Mr. Mayor, because that's part of the consideration. But don't we close that section of A1A, though? How are people going to get to Linton? We do. And that's part of logistics we need to continue to work on. So additional information will be forthcoming as soon as it's assembled. But there is a collaborative dialogue with Palm Beach County to get to the absolute best place possible. Right, because that's not scheduled to actually conclude until the 20th of July. So the likelihood, based on the schedule, starting June 1st and going to July 20th. Is there any chance they can just drop the bridge for one day? I mean, I've seen them do it before. The bridges are in repair. It depends on. I think there's structural issues, though, and I don't think it's going to be possible. So, again, because it was initiated yesterday and the schedule that's having just been mentioned by Commissioner Costello, Do you keep us informed as you go along as this? Because this is... This is important to us all. Which is why I bring it up at this time. That is the direction, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you. Otherwise, I yield at this time. Okay, very good. Do you have any other comments? No? Then we are ready to hear from comments from the public. So let me read the rules briefly. Meeting is now open to public comment from anyone wishing to speak on any topic or agenda item other than a quasi-judicial item and a public hearing item. The public will have an opportunity to speak on quasi-judicial and public hearing items later in the meeting as those agenda items are called. For public comment, please sign in, state your name, and give your zip code for the record. You will each have three minutes. Please come to the lectern. Hi, everybody. How are you? My name is Patrick Lamb, 33480. I live in Palm Beach. And it's an honor to be here celebrating the colony. And I didn't know that I was going to be here during that day. I just want to add a quick little bit to that, which is going to tie into my presentation. And I'll try to keep it short because I know I've got three minutes. So during the nearly two decades, it has to do with Rob Russell. He's a dear friend of mine. During the two decades founding and running the Royal Room Cabaret at the Colony Hotel, starting in 2001, Rob Russell booked and performed with a wide range of Broadway, jazz, and great American songbook stars at the Colony. And this includes Steve Tyrell, Dave Foster, Regis, some of the largest people on the planet in entertainment. And I guess where I'm going with that is that obviously you might be able to tell I'm pro-entertainment. And I think that the entertainment and music adds a lot to the signature and definition of a community and the way it's perceived across the state, the earth, the planet. And, I mean, they said that the Royal Room was hailed as the best place for a cabaret on the planet. So anyway, just wanted to add that, celebrate the music that was added to that. So, Mayor, Commissioners, a member of the council, it's been wonderful becoming part of this community. I'm a relatively new resident, me and my wife. And thank you for championing a few successful events that I've co-produced, with your permission, from our Charlie Brown Christmas to the Tribute to Earth, Wind, and Fire, which had the largest turnout, one of the largest turnouts. So, anyway, today I'd like to propose, I'll keep it short, I know my time's limited. I want to propose two new annual events and ask for your kind support. So, both would be held at Old School Square. Both are designed to pull Delray Beach even more signatoryly onto the map, if that's a word. I don't know how I invented it. But the first would be Delray Tribute Festival, Thanksgiving weekend, November 27th, 28th. So, if you can imagine my Earth, Wind, and Fire tribute times 10. So, we had like, I think we had close to 3,000 people there. So, imagine that, except times, you know, exponential, organized, and set up. But, so we'd have like, Billy Joel, Steely Dan, Prince, Queen, Journey, Earth, Wind, and Fire. So, that's the first event. I've already done the website and proposal for DDA. And you can see the website at delraytributefestival.com. It's already done. The second is Florida Jazz Festival. We have huge, massive jazz festival up. Seabreeze Jazz Festival, thousands of people. So, anyway, thank you for your time. That's, but I would love for you to consider that and having that here. I was looking at Boca, like at the Misner Amphitheater. But I have a particular community here, you know, an affinity for working with you guys. So, I'm hoping you guys will approve it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Could I just say your concert was lovely. I attended. Very good. Thank you very much. Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, City Manager, City Attorney. I'm here about the property tax amendment the legislature gave final passage to. As you know, the House passed it 75 to 26. The Senate passed it 30 to 9. And now it goes before Florida voters in November, where it needs 60% to take effect. So, this is no longer hypothetical. And I'm hoping the city is getting ready. The bill raises the homestead exemption from $150,000 in 2027 and to $250,000 in 2028 on everything but school taxes. Excuse me. With a framework towards full exemption over time. It also tightens the assessment cap on non-homestead property, commercial rental and second homes from 10% down to 5% a year. That second piece matters here. Using the state's 2024 tax roll compiled by the Florida League of Cities, homesteaded property is about 32% of Doha Ray's taxable value, roughly $5.8 billion, of an $18 billion base. Our median homestead home is assessed below $250,000, so most would owe little or no city property tax. At full exemption, the municipal revenue at risk is on the order of $34 million a year, close to a third of our property tax revenue. And property taxes are nearly 90% of the city's flexible dollars. And the commercial and rental base we'd lean on to backfill now grows more slowly under that 5% cap. None of this counts the CRA, where falling values could shrink the increment that funds redevelopment and its debt. The amendment guarantees no replacement revenue. So my questions are simple. Has staff modelled the impact at each phase, including the 5% cap on the CRA? And if voters approve this in November, what's the plan? Service reductions? Higher rates on commercial or rental property that's left? Sales tax? Assessments? I'm not here with the answers. I defer that to you. But I'm asking the city to share its analysis publicly and bring residents into this conversation early. So thank you for your time and for your service. In the few seconds I have left, I would like to add one more thing, if I may. The National Education Association, one of the largest trade unions in the country for representing educators, has just awarded Emmanuel Dupree Jackson the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Award because of his work with EJS Project. I'd like to give Dupree an enormous shout-out for the incredible work that he does. Thank you. Thank you for bringing that up. Good evening. Daniel Rose, 33444. I've got a couple of things. I want to talk about gender items 6B, the Vatican Tattoo Studios in Del Rey. I was actually on the CRA when they opened because it was brought up to us about our approval or consent. It's a small business, and I continue to support them. I think tattoos are art, and they've become more mainstream in society, definitely in the last 10 years since they've been open, more specifically major recording artists, athletes, entertainers. Oh, can we reset the comment? It's a quasi-judicial item later in the agenda. This is crazy on judicial. Tina Carter, you're amazing back there. Thank you, Anthea. So I've got to reset on that. I'll wait for it. No problem. Yes, you have to do it. You've got to reset. Okay. Because it said agenda and non-agenda items. That's where I gave it to you. Except quasi-judicial. I didn't want to say quasi-judicial. Okay. All right. I'm ready to go. Part two. Okay. Thank you. Sorry about that. I'm also in regards to the subculture situation. We're 60 days into this 90-day period. Apparently, nothing's been done, and there's 30 more days. Okay? Despite the fault letter being sent out for the in-loop parking that was due, the fourth payment, or third payment, was due in April. He got a default letter. May 20th, I was informed that that almost $30,000 in-loop parking hasn't been paid. That's according to your financial department. Special events, despite the mayor getting yelled at at March 31st meeting that this book fair was supposed to be in West Palm Beach and not Delray. It happened in Delray. In fact, they did another one on, I think it was May 9th, they did another book fair. And then on April, okay, so April 4th was the first book fair. April 26th, they did a pop-up jewelry flea market. So that's three events they've had since March 31st when they said we were not doing any more events. Parking. Nothing changed. So Mr. McLaren moved all the box trucks because they were complaining about that. So they supposedly have 11 spaces. And for about three days, they did a video, hey, park, park, park. Three days later, it's the same old, same old. Yesterday, there were four cars parked in the no parking combined. Today, there was a Tesla that was backed into the no parking. So when you made a left turn, all you'd hear is people honking horns thinking someone was backing out. They were parked on the road. On Sunday, Albert's bike shop, two customers moved cones, I got pictures of everything, and made it off-site parking. So nothing has changed. It's gotten worse. And then apparently the employees are still parking there. And then, you know, it goes to their social media, just so you guys know. One of their followers, Michael, his name is, says, just so you guys know, talking in their dialect, that these city commissioners have public addresses and tires that aren't run flats. So the vitriol is directed at you because apparently rather than spend time and they've got 30 more days to start fixing the problem and come back in a month, I expect the same 30 kids to come again, scream and cry that they're being victimized, it's just me. And at the end of the day, they're threatening you guys. I mean, I would take a threat like that pretty seriously, especially some of you that don't live in gated communities. Sometimes it's wrong. So I have pictures here of all the pop-ups, some illegally parked cars. I'm tired of it. I'm just really tired of it. It's getting tired. Just so you know, my office was vandalized twice in the last five days. And good job by the police department. We have fingerprints. We suspect people, and hopefully there will be arrests. But this is where we've gotten to, the doxing, the harassment, the false narrative that I'm the only person complaining. And then they take things that I say out of context to prove and just make some horrible allegations. And, again, no one should have to deal with this. So I'm here because they've got 30 more days. And if they come back in 30 days and nothing's done, it's an unpopular decision. But if you don't do something and put this to bed, every bad actor in this town is going to come back and bring this up again. Like, we've had issues with people doing things that we don't like. And they're going to come and say, well, hey, I get 90 days like subculture did. So it's just time. It's enough. Help us. Thank you very much. Good. Yep. Good evening, Mayor, Vice, Mayor, Commissioners. My name is Alyssa Franklin. I'm here as the Executive Director of the Delray Beach Drug Task Force. I'm here on a non-agenda item. I was not able to make it to the presentation a couple weeks ago. This is about the opioid settlement dollars. As this commission considers how to allocate the opioid settlement funds, I'd like to emphasize that these dollars are not just ordinary grant funds. They're restitution. And they represent lives lost, families shattered, and a community, our community, that paid an unbearable price during the opioid epidemic. Because these funds are limited, they must be invested where they will have the greatest measurable, evidence-based impact. A few months ago when the Delray Beach Opioid Committee tasked the Delray Beach Drug Task Force to come up with a plan, we convened our members and identified the most urgent service gaps in our community, prioritized those gaps, and recommended solutions to the opioid community that are both practical and impactful. Through that process, we identified that the Fire Rescue Paramedicine Program is the first priority with the largest potential community impact. This program meets people where they are, quite literally. It reaches individuals who are overdosing, cycling through emergency services, living with untreated substance use disorder, or simply falling through the cracks between crisis response and long-term care. It creates a bridge between emergency response, treatment access, recovery support, and stabilization. And this is exactly the type of gap the opioid settlement dollars were intended to address. This program is currently operational in many jurisdictions across the country, and evidence shows there's a 4-to-1 return on investment. I understand the numbers presented during the presentation were shocking. They were shocking to all of us that heard them, but I also understand that they're going to be clarified next week during the presentation. I also want to be crystal clear and squash any rumors that we are not opposed to prevention. In fact, the Delray Beach Drug Task Force is the longest-standing prevention-based organization serving Delray Beach. Prevention is part of our mission, but school-based prevention is already adequately funded through appropriate channels. It's also limited to a specific subset of population. At the height of the opioid epidemic, the largest population dying and overdosing from opioids was Medicare recipients. That reminds us that this crisis does not belong to one age, one group, one school system, or one demographic. The settlement funds must respect the full scope of who was harmed. School-based prevention has value, but it cannot be the primary answer when the most immediate gaps involve overdose response, post-overdose follow-up, access to care, and support for adults and families already in crisis. I respectfully urge this commission to prioritize the paramedicine program as the most effective, immediate, and community-wide use of Delray Beach opioid settlement funds. These dollars should not simply fund good ideas. They should fund the most urgent needs, largest gaps, and solutions to save lives. Thank you very much. Good evening. I apologize in advance if this is quasi-judicial. Just cut me off. Which item are you talking about? I'm here regarding the DDA appointments. No. Good to go? Yep. There are no DDA appointments. Okay. It's next month. It's next week. Next week. Perfect. So I'm here to introduce myself. My name is Jason Lacow, and I appreciate the opportunity to introduce myself and be considered for an appointment to the DDA board for Delray Beach. I am a local small business owner and entrepreneur. Over the past decade, I've built and operated several hospitality businesses in Palm Beach County, including Tropical Smokehouse, which just opened in January of 2026 on Atlantic Avenue. My career has been spent creating jobs, navigating regulations, investing in commercial districts, and working through the real-world challenges that business owners face every day. What has always attracted me to Delray Beach is that it has something many communities struggle to create, a downtown with a genuine sense of place. People don't come here because it feels manufactured. They come because it feels authentic. The businesses, residents, visitors, and community organizations all contribute to that character, and I believe preserving and strengthening that identity is one of the DDA's most important responsibilities. Beyond my business experience, I care deeply about community involvement. I grew up in Palm Beach County. My wife and I are raising our son in Palm Beach County. Through my work, I've had the opportunity to collaborate with local non-profits, first responders, churches, civic organizations, and municipal leaders. Those relationships have reinforced my belief that successful communities are built through partnership and service. If given the opportunity to join the Delray DDA board, I would bring the perspective of someone who has invested his own time, energy, and resources into building businesses and creating opportunities for others. I understand how decisions related to infrastructure, parking, events, marketing, public spaces, and redevelopment can impact both the businesses and the residents in a community. I also understand that the best outcomes come from listening, asking questions, and finding practical solutions that serve the broader community. Most importantly, I would approach this role with humility. I would approach this role with humility. That was the end of the sentence. I don't claim to have all the answers, but I'm eager to learn, contribute, and work collaboratively with fellow board members and city stakeholders to help ensure that Delray Beach remains one of the most vibrant and successful downtowns in Florida. I grew up in this county. I live here full time. And I'm raising my family here. I'm committed to the continuity and preserving this wonderful city that we all share. Thank you for your time, your service to our community, and your consideration. Thank you for Tropical Smokehouse. I enjoy it a lot. All my favorite restaurants are showing up tonight. This is great. I'm getting standing weight just sitting here. Yeah. My son, Marjorie Waldo Arts Garage, my son graduated from college, and we enjoyed Tropical Smokehouse food for his party. It was amazing. So, good job. Anyway, so I want to represent Arts Garage and say hello to all of you illustrious, beautiful mayor, vice mayor, commissioner, city attorney, city manager when he's back, and city clerk. So, thank you all for everything you do, especially for coming to our ribbon cutting. It meant the world to hear your kind words and to see you there celebrating with us. It was pretty amazing to have celebrated 15 years for Arts Garage. Nearly 300 people attended that night, and it was super exciting to have county vice mayor Woodward's proclamation read by her that evening. We've come a long way since I started 10 years ago, and I remember very different conversations. And it's wonderful, and I'm grateful for the time you've given us to thrive. In relation to our 15th, I'd like you to have a copy, and there's one for you, a copy of our 2025 annual report. So, you can see some of our milestones. The board, our staff and volunteer team, and myself are full of gratitude to all of you for the ongoing support. I just have a couple of short updates. Recently, very recently, within the last couple of weeks, Discover the Palm Beaches reported that they welcomed, the Palm Beaches have welcomed a record 3.3 million visitors from January to March of 2026, which is a 9.4% increase from the same period last year. I'd like to think that Arts Garage is part of the reason we welcome them, that and our beautiful award-winning beaches. June and July, the dry summer months. Check us out. Tito Puente, Jr., some jazz, Latin jazz. Guy Davis, blues. French Swing Collective. A Bob Marley tribute. The Motowners. And Moonflower, which is a Santana tribute. And that's just June and July. So, come check us out and help us make it through the hot, steamy months of July and August. Thank you for everything you do, and thanks for showing up for us the other night. Thank you very much. Marjorie, tonight I follow you. Good evening, Pamela Williams, 29574 is the zip code of record. I want to start off by first saying I've got the best mayor this week in the world. In the world. He's been very attentive to me. When I call, he answers or calls back. As for most point, all of you are very attentive to we taxpayers, but Tammy in particular, everyone seems to get back to me, everybody. With the exception of Marker, he doesn't really communicate with me very much. But thank you all. Favorite mayor. Move on. Now, I want to start off with all of the warm and fuzzies. I want to thank you all for the agreement approval of the 2.5% COLA increase for the retirees of Delray Beach for quite a while. And I'm one of the newer ones, but I just got the bigger mouth. For a while, we felt as if we have been forgotten about. It felt great to be included and to be acknowledged and, most ultimately, for the increase. Now, I also want to give out accolades and thanks for the moving on of the Pompeii Park project. I'm so ready for shovel to ground. You wouldn't even believe it. I am for a new concession stand, not a refurbished one, and I am not in favor of the competition size pool. I don't think the very near community would get the best usage and frequent usage out of that if we were to add that element. Now, let's get to what I'm best known for, my complaints. I'll start it off good. I am happy to say that there is a young lady who attends the elders' meeting and all other community meetings that she can make, Ms. Taisha Knight. She was recently promoted. I'm happy to see that from within, we are promoting and acknowledging. I had my eyebrow up on this Martin dude when he couldn't seem to make it work with Dean Charles, but she had a better place now, and she's still with Delray, so I'll let him slide on that. Deputy Chief Franco, thank you for standing there with the bullseye for your boss, Martin, but no, not a fan. Also, I also want to bring up the freebie. I love the usage of it. Until I'm able to afford my pimped-out golf cart, I will continue utilizing that. I've had nothing but a great success with it. I'm in the main corridor of where they transport to and from, so I am getting a lot of usage out of it. I would love for you all to continue that and include to try well, because you're forcing me to get an Uber. I want to catch a 4 a.m. flight, trying to save $20. As well as that, oh, thank you all very much. Thank you, Ms. Williams. Thank you, favorite mayor, this week. Look, I know you can't rest on your laurels with you, so there you go. I plead the fifth. Yvonne Odom, 33445, mayor, commissioners. I got four quick little things. First of all, concession stand, those of us who use it, we don't want it torn down if you don't have a plan in place. Right now, it's serving our needs. We have toilets. You know, we have ice. We have a press box. Elevator does not work, hasn't worked in years. But do not tear it down, because you say you can demolish it, but no plan in place. So leave it alone. Maybe you could paint it or do something like that. But do not tear it down. It will have a disservice to those of us who's used it all these years. Y'all, fix it up. Do the PA system, anything. Now, as far as the Olympic-sized pool, I was at every one of those meetings, and the public decided that's what they wanted. And to me, you should go back to the public and ask them what it is they like. That was not my thing. You know, baseball is our thing, so we wanted to make sure we kept the fields there that's been there forever. But the community meeting was held for those who used that park. And the people that facilitated those meetings, they went out of their way to find out what the people wanted. That was one of the things they wanted. Also, they said this, and I always say that. This is the only building that they came to build that they already had programs. You just sit and build a building and then try to fill it up. Pompey has all of that that you said is going out there. We want to just keep it there. The other thing I wanted to say about the nonprofits, I hear we're going to forgive some and not others. Either you forgive them all or forgive none of them. Do not pick and choose. It's not fair. I just like being fair. And my other last thing, and I'll say this, and I'm all for, you know, helping people who've fallen, but I'm on the side of prevention. Everybody know that? Because I use the vase and the vase analogy, when you protect somebody in the beginning by education, because I was educated. I didn't know about the disease concept of alcohol and drug abuse. But the more you educate people, and they may not fall into it, and then we may not have to spend millions of dollars to help them when we could have prevented in the first place. So my time is up. Thank you very much. I enjoy myself. You enjoy yours. Good evening. Andrea Bruton, 334445. Before I start, I just would like to take a moment to congratulate our vice mayor and our police chief on their Grammy Award performances at the play CSI Delray at St. John Church this past Saturday. Great work. You two. My bad. It's on record. We have filmed at 11. So, to the honorable members of the City Commission, from concerned residents and supporters of the sick community. And before I start, and based on earlier comments, let me just remind you that we've already turned in, on record, a petition with over 120 residential signatures supporting the extension of the entertainment district west to I-95. So, we the people stand united in urging the city commission to extend the boundaries of the city's entertainment district westward to I-95 to ensure equitable access to entertainment, cultural resources, and economic opportunities for the set. One of Delray's most historic and culturally rich communities. For too long, the residents of the set have been excluded from the benefits of nightlife, live music, and cultural expression that are readily available east of Swinton. Selective enforcement of Nora's ordinances, largely based on complaints from individuals who knowingly moved into areas that has a history of restaurants and nightclubs and entertainment, and has unfairly silenced a community that has always been vibrant. We believe the redevelopment of the set includes economic opportunities that reflect the community's heritage and meet the needs of its residents. Noise concerns must be addressed with balance, not by erasing cultural expression, but by using the same metrics the current district uses creating downtown. Extending the entertainment district to I-95 will help create jobs, support local businesses, encourage tourism, and bring vibrant life to an area long overdue to revitalization. We call on the city commission to take bold and fair action extending the entertainment district to I-95 as a part of the city's commitment to equity, redevelopment, and cultural inclusion. Let us dance. Let us gather. Let us gather. Let us thrive. Just like every other part of this city. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good evening. My name is Cynthia Ridley. I live at 210 Northwest 2nd Avenue, Derry Beach. I'm here today to, first I thought the mayor was going to show up to my Get Your Green On event. Didn't see you. I'm sorry? On last Thursday I had my Get Your Green On event. Yes. You say, Cynthia, I thought you were going to show up at least for some coffee. Each one of them you received a flyer. So I'm not your favorite mayor this week. Okay, good. You're going to always be, listen, you're going to always be my favorite mayor. Don't get it twisted. You're going to be my favorite mayor, but I'm just calling you out this time so you can continue to. Well, we had a great event at the Drug Abuse Foundation. We had over 120 people that attended this event. We were able to have Ms. Oldham as one of our speakers for that day. And most of the people that was on the speakers, they were actually right here from Delray Beach. We had a great time. We spread information about mental health. We talked about drugs. We talked about everything in our breakout session. So I hope next year that you would think it's important to at least show up. At least have a cup of coffee at your Get Your Green On event. So thank you. It was a wonderful event. You know, I was there last month with the Kiwanis. We visited the whole thing with your daughter running the place. But it might be, ma'am, ma'am. We talked about Get Your Green On, not Kiwanis. All right. All right. All I'm saying, it ain't about Kiwanis today. Your daughter invited us there. We all went. We had a very informative morning. Okay. So it was at the Elder's Table, not Kiwanis. And the coffee was delicious, by the way. Absolutely. I'm quite sure it was. But we brought our own. That's what we do at the Elder's Table. So thank you for next year. I hope you add us to your list, commissioners, and do that for us, because we want you there. And see what's going on in our community. So thanks again. At Drug Abuse Foundation, you'll hear from me again, Mayor. Yes, ma'am. Have a great day. Yes, ma'am. Good evening. Benjamin R. Sally, 33444. I'm going to keep it short because I just lost my voice. The phone light's coming back. I'd like to be considered for the DDA position. I'm a property owner in the downtown development district. I was born and raised in the area. I went to middle school, high school here, undergraduate as well. My background is construction management. So if you all have any specific questions or anything, please let me know. I know it was originally going to be for this evening. Unfortunately, next week I'm going to be out of town. But I figured I'd introduce myself and my resume. Everything is there. So thank you so much. And again, I apologize for it. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming. Would you repeat your name for the record? Benjamin R. Sally. Thank you, everyone. Hi, Hillary Roach, the Colony Hotel. I just wanted to say thank you to the mayor and commissioners for acknowledging the importance of the Colony Hotel in Delray Beach. We very much appreciate it. I also wanted to give a call out to the governors of the Delray Beach Historical Society. Many of them were here tonight. They do an amazing job. They're a leader in historic preservation. And I wanted to thank them for the important work they do in the city. We'll have a 100-year celebration in the fall. And we hope you will join us. And in the meantime, stop by and say hello if you come by. I'm there all the time. Thank you. Thank you very much. My name is Chuck Ridley. I 33444. If there's something that we do not get right often enough, particularly from this commission, is that we allow ourselves to get in these binary kinds of positions on real important conversations that are nuanced. I'm going to mention two. One is as a recovering addict for 36 years, whether it's better to go with prevention or the continuum. That's too nuanced to put it in those two categories. I do want to share with you that the opioid dollars are bared on the lives of my colleagues who lost the battle on the war against drugs. The second is on the development of West Atlantic Avenue. This cannot come down to whether it is about the residents that show up or whether we have business owners. That's too nuanced. Both are critically important. We have to talk through more than is it a good idea for it to happen on Monday through Thursday and stop at 10 o'clock. Because I've seen businessmen who've lost their investment trying to make things happen on West Atlantic Avenue. And I don't want to hear about the business, the homes that got built because those homes, all but those that are in the Caruso's locations, was already there. And we had the paradise. We had the Elks Club. We had Tropicana. We had Georgiatown, Tampa. We had all kind of nightlife. And we enjoyed it. Now ask us how often we go downtown. Because we don't. That's too daggone hot. And I wanted to say something else. It is too expensive. And we do want a nightlife as adults. So do not, do not put it in this binary kind of container. Lastly, if you want to get the best feedback from this community, you got good staff. So you already got good staff. You got good staff in your neighborhood improvement. But your best organizer sits right up there with you all. You want to find out what the community wants, come to one of our burning conversations. Allow your colleague to call the meeting and you'll get the information you want. Now when you start getting information, don't start playing games of only wanting the information when you disagree with the messenger. Thank you for letting me share. Thank you, sir. Are there any other members of the public wishing to speak? Seeing none. Public comment is closed. Okay. What do we have now? The approval of the consent agenda. So moved. I need a motion to approve the consent agenda. I have a motion. I have a second. All in favor? Any opposed? It is approved. Great. Now on to 7A. 7A. I was going to say, should you kindly read the resolution? Resolution number 81-26, a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, authorizing the city manager to accept a one-time payment of $320,000 in lieu of providing two on-site workforce housing units for the project formerly known as Bliss on 4th. As more particularly described herein, providing for an effective date and for other purposes. Thank you very much. Thea? Do you have a... He's right behind you. Mr. Lin? Yeah. Mr. Lin is coming up. Oh, I see you there. Good to see you. And I'll enter the file. Good to see you, Jeff. How are you? Thank you. Hold on. I don't know. You guys, all of a sudden you went really fast. You haven't? Also, we haven't been sworn in. This is not quasi-judicial. This is not quasi-judicial. Oh. The next one is. This one is not. You can swear at me, but... That comes with the job. If I don't need to enter the file then, either. Especially me, right? Okay. That's fine. Then I don't need to enter the file either. I was with you. I thought I was. Yeah, no. I'll do whatever you want. So is it our presentation to make? Yes. Great. Okay. Perfect. Hi. Nice to meet some of the new faces. My name is Jeffrey Lynn from the Cohen Norris firm. We have offices in North Palm and Boca Raton. I'd like to introduce you to my client, Mr. Frank Belger. If you need to come up. And I'm just going to jump. Is this the... This will move it? Oh, perfect. Okay. So we're talking about a project that was before the commission, I think in 2023. And Thea, please correct me at any time. A different developer came forward in wanting to develop this spot, which is right next to the police station, right off Atlantic, right in the West Atlantic corridor. It's right behind that corner building. And the project as approved is this beautiful four-story structure with nine residential units and ground floor commercial. Mr. Belgiovini was not the original developer, was bought the project. And as he got into the project and started looking at the economic metrics of it, it became an issue and he'll explain its entire situation. But in short, we're before you this evening, the prior developer was able to take advantage of the workforce housing initiative to get more density on the site. The... I don't remember the actual site, but the site is entitled as a right for three dwelling units and was able to get that to a higher dwelling unit, ultimately to nine dwelling units where there's seven regular units and two workforce housing units. After Mr. Belgiovini came in and didn't, he'll talk, went through all the financials and whatever, realized it's just not cost effective in any way, shape or form to build those two units, having nothing to do with workforce housing or residents. It just came down to actual being able to build this at this location as is. So we went forward and asked if we could pay the code fee rate, which is $160,000 per unit for two units. And we're before you this evening respectfully asking if you'll agree to that so this project can be built. I'd like to introduce again my client, Mr. Frank Belgiovini, who will explain his situation and hopefully we can maybe get this project this close to permits. We're on inches from permits right now. Frank? Thank you. He pronounced my last name correctly, so I'm ready to go. Your name for the record? Yes. Frank Belgiovini. Belgiovini. Okay. I can spell it. Oh, that's fine. I purchased this property back in February of last year. From that time on until today, I started putting the plans out for bid to see what the financial issue was going to be with the project. And as it turned out, all in is an estimated cost of $900 to $1 million a unit. It took me a while to find out what the sales price would be for, I think one of them has to be low income and the other one has to be moderate income. The low income, I believe, was $208,000. The moderate income was $400 and plus, and I can't remember the exact number. So as you can see with the numbers at a cost of roughly $1 million each, I can't spread the deficit for those two across the other seven units. So that's where my dilemma is. My lenders, which I do have lenders involved, they want to know what is happening here tonight because unless I'm able to do it at a market rate and paid $160,000 per unit, which the $160,000 we can spread over the nine units. And financially, it makes a project work and gives us a little bit of fluff if the construction goes past the 18 months and there's additional interest or additional cost for contingencies that we have very low contingencies with construction and financial contingencies. From the beginning, when I got the plans, I started looking at them and I had to pay to bring them up to the 2023 code because when they came in for the approvals on the 23, it was a prior code. So I had to redo the drawings for that. We did some changes to make it from a rental type design. I had to make it for a condominium type design where I redid all the kitchen layouts. It took us a good eight to nine months to get all the drawings changed. I hired a plan reviewer, expediter, and inspection company all in one so that way it would take the burden off the town. And the plans for the permits are already in. I already paid half the permit fee to move ahead. But right now, unless I know that I can do this, I'm actually stuck. My line just won't proceed with me. Have you concluded your remarks? Unless you have questions. No, no. Now it's the city's turn. I see if there's any questions. Okay. Thank you. So now the city's presentation? Yes, please. Okay. So the way that the densities work in the downtown is that we're structured with a base density and then we have incentives that can be offered. And right now, the only way to raise the density is through the workforce housing program. So here's the project site. It's in Central Business District in the West Atlantic neighborhood. It was approved June 13, 2023, via resolution 110-23. It was a four-story mixed-use building with 1,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor. As part of that approval, which the board, when it comes to the commission via recommendation from the lower board, and you're doing a full evaluation of all of the performance standards for development of the site plan at the time, the approval increased the density from 12 units per acre, which would have been three units on the site, to nine. So they got six extra units, four that could be market rate, and two that had to be limited in addition to the other three that were allowed by right. That is the project. We agree with that. So this incentive, as you can imagine, increased this potentially from, you know, a two-story or three-story building into a four to put those extra units in there, resulting in a project with seven market rate units, one moderate and one low. Again, this is the incentive to encourage a variety of unit types and income ranges within the downtown area. Opportunities to increase density are offered in the CBD. This is the only way to increase density for the properties. So that's the math. And the income ranges are 80 to 120, 60 to 80. I have the rental sheet. I didn't know whether it was going to be condo or rental. Honestly, for a planning perspective, it doesn't matter. It's residential and fair housing doesn't want you to worry too much about that. But so now the proposal is to utilize the $160,000 in lieu of payment, which this board has directed us to look at raising, considering that it is too low. Pretty recently. It was before Commissioner Malika, to be fair. So, and I do want to point out in terms of the due diligence, this is the approval letter that was sent to a different lawyer. Biskel Backman was representing them, which says that the workforce housing covenant is due at the time of permit. So we don't do that at the entitlement stage. But when it comes in, basically, the approval letter says that you used this and that you were equally just required to do a low and a moderate income level and that the workforce housing covenant needed to be recorded at the time of permit. So what do we do now? It is completely up to you and your sole discretion because the way that the incentive works is that it's being reviewed and approved at the time of site plan review. At the time of site plan review, you're looking at all of the comprehensive plan and performance standards in the code and deciding whether or not to approve a project, including, you know, performance standard 323G, which states that development shall provide a variety of housing types that accommodates the city's growing and social economically diverse population to meet the goals, objectives in the housing elements. So as part of that resolution that was approved, for example, that is one of the overall performance standards that were reviewed. So now you can decide to accept the payment in lieu of. You can you're not obligated to take the money in exchange for instead of having two units, you can direct the developer to come up with another option, including create off site. So like the code of development that is on the south side at the time they came in with the density. They worked with the trust and they built houses, physical off site units. So it's payment off site or on site. That's ultimately the way this works. So if you approve with the developers requested, all nine units would be marketed at market rate units. $320,000 would go into the housing trust fund and the neighborhood and community improvement department uses that money to increase access to housing, workforce housing and using other techniques like down payment, downtown, downtown, down payment assistance. Some of the other, you know, programs that we have to improve housing for qualifying families. If you don't approve the request, then there are choices. They can record the restrictive covenant and move forward with two on site workforce units for sale. That is, that is, the sale is then the, the buyers are qualified. They go through the neighborhood and community improvement department to prove they're qualified buyers and it's tracked over time for affordability. They could do a site plan amendment and build a much smaller project with only three market rate rentals. They would have to do a site plan amendment to bring that back through. Or they could submit a different request to modify their proposal. So those are sort of the choices today. And that's it. Okay. To the commission. Do they have any counter? Sorry? Do they have anything to add? Is there anything you'd like to add to the, any rebuttal or anything from this? I mean, technically it's not quasi judicial. Oh, that's right. It's not quasi judicial. You made your presentation. That's correct. Do you want me to go? If you'd like to go, who would like to go first? I'll go. So you may go first. Sure. Thank you. So I met with Mr. Lynn and Mr. Belgiovani. Did I say that correctly? Belgiovani. Belgiovani. Pardon me. I apologize. Lovely gentlemen. And, but you know, as I had indicated in the meeting, I don't feel like it's, we should be flexible on and take the money. First of all, the money doesn't provide, will not amount to the amount of money that will provide us two units elsewhere. What I did suggest is that they do it offsite. I'd be willing to do that, but I don't exactly know how they could necessarily work that out or drop it back down to the three units as you would get if you're not getting workforce. And I do feel for you. I, you're a lovely gentleman and I think you're in a unfortunate situation, but we see this time and time again where people get an exception to our rule in exchange for something and then later on things change. And it's not your fault. You weren't the original applicant. But I think we need to understand that that exception was given to provide two units and they're not going to be provided with a $320,000 payment. I'm sorry, gentlemen. Okay. Commissioner Burns. Sure. I am in agreement with that. I, you know, the only reason that the property received that approval was to include those affordable units. And I just don't think that it's fair to put in nine units and not include two affordable units there. So I would not be in favor of accepting the $320,000 for those units. And I would be amenable to an offsite of units if possible, if they can work that out. Thank you. Mr. Markert. Yeah, echo that. I'm not in favor of this either. And I met with both gentlemen. I think you're both great. And I would hope that maybe you could rethink this and go back and modify plans and see if there's something else you can come back to us that would meet us where we need to be. Did you want to comment or do we? All right. Well, we have consensus for three to deny. So do we need a motion to deny or how do we have? So it would be a motion to deny resolution number 8126. What about the option of making one not at the low and making them both moderate? So I don't... You can't do that? The request that came before you was to delete that. Just asking because... They would have to come back. I understand, but I just... Choice three. They're going to come back with a different proposal. Right. So I have a motion. Yes? So moved. Second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Thank you, gentlemen. Okay. 7B. Thank you for meeting with us. Thank you. I'm sorry? He said thank you for meeting with us. Thank you. Yes. You're welcome. This is a quasi-judicial hearing, so let me read you the quasi-judicial rules for those of you who have been waiting patiently. I'm trying to find where they are. Here we go. I have tons of them lower here. This is item 7B, and this is going to be on Resolution 9726. The hearing shall be conducted in accordance with quasi-judicial rules. The applicant and the city shall be allowed 15 minutes each to present their case. The public shall be allowed to speak for three minutes each or a maximum of six minutes if the person represents an organization or group of people who are present but agree not to speak. The city commission and staff and the applicant may be allowed to cross-examine a witness. The city or the applicant will be allowed to offer rebuttal testimony. The decision to approve or deny an application or appeal may not be legally made upon personal views as to whether a project is a good project or not, nor may a decision be based on the numbers of citizens who support or oppose a particular project. The law requires that all decisions must be made on the basis of whether the project meets the requirements of law, the comprehensive plan, and the land development regulations. Anybody wishing to speak on this item, if you could please stand and be sworn by the clerk. By the authority vested in me, as a notary of the State of Florida, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yes, I do. Thank you all very much. If the city could please enter the record, project file number. PZ000632-2026. Thank you. Can I read the caption? Go ahead and read the caption. Resolution number 9726, a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, granting a waiver request of Section 433ZB6 of the Land Development Regulations, approving a waiver to allow a tattoo establishment to operate within 750 feet of another tattoo establishment for the property located at 271 Northeast 6th Avenue, as more particularly described herein, providing for an effective date and further purposes. Thank you very much. Do we have the project file? I did. Is that it? We're considering that? Okay. I didn't know if you had a separate number, because it's not on my list here, so I don't know what I'm supposed to ask for. Since this is a quite a judicial hearing, did anybody have any ex parte communications? None for me. No. No? No, just drove by the site. Yeah. If there was anything on the server, I'm going to include that. But otherwise, I've had no direct communication with anyone. So, sir, your name? Good evening, everybody. My name is Jeff Kozan. I own and operate Vatican Tattoo Studio on 2nd Avenue in Pineapple Grove, right next to the Coffee District. I'm sure many of you have seen us over the years. I'm a Palm Beach County native, born and raised. I need your address for the record. Oh, I'm sorry. 3309-155. No, no. The address. Full address. Full address of the studio or personal address? It's either one. Any address you want to give me is fine. 8809-155th Place North, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, 33418. It's personal address. Continue. Please start. My name is Jeff Kozan. I own and operate Vatican Tattoo. We've been there for a little over 10 years. I'm a Palm Beach County native, born and raised. Lived most of my life here in Delray Beach. I opened my first studio in 2007 in Fort Lauderdale with the dreams and aspirations of eventually opening here. And after quite the journey in 2016, going through the DDA, the CRA, the Pineapple Grove Board, and then commission, I finally had my studio approved downtown in late 2016. It's been a great 10 years. It's been a great 10 years. And the only reason for this waiver is because business is good and I'm hoping to move to a new location that I think will better fit us and better suit us for the future. On top of just being kind of like your friendly neighborhood tattoo shop, we try to be a part of the neighborhood and be a part of Delray for years. We've done the St. Patrick's Day Parade. The Delray Affair, we've had a booth many times. We've been at Atlantic Ave Magazine several times. I even had my face plastered on one of those banners in Pineapple Grove for years as the I Am Pineapple Grove initiative. We do plenty of charity work. We sponsor Cruz and Palooza every year. We did a cruise bogle tattoo day at our studio some years back to help him out. We give money every year to Chuck Halberg for the firefighters for Thanksgiving. Recently, we did a ukulele art show where we donated and we auctioned off ukuleles. We've raised over $9,000 for a local charity that puts on surf camps with children with special needs. And most recently, our annual Toys for Tats event, we raised $2,500 in toys that we then gave directly to the Delray Beach Police Department to have given out here locally. So on top of just being a small business, we try to give back where we can. And again, 10 years ago when we were here, there was a lot of fear and concern of what would happen with tattoo shops and being open. There goes the neighborhood, so to speak. So being downtown, I wanted to make sure that being the first one downtown, that we did everything right and we kept our nose to the ground. We were just a quiet business and we just did what we did. We made tattoos. We made people happy. And we, you know, we didn't cause any negative impact to the community. There was a lot of fear of blight in the neighborhood or impacting property values and things like that. And we feel like, you know, we've been a pretty good tenant there. We've been a good business downtown. We've tried to, you know, prove that, you know, we're just another small business just like anyone else. So the reason for this waiver is the location that we are trying to move to. The building is at 271 Northeast 6th Avenue. It's about almost three blocks north of Atlantic Ave going northbound on Federal Highway. It's a building that I have been obsessed with for years. I like old stuff. I like old cars. I've got a 54 Chevy. I like old music. I like old architecture. And growing up here, seeing a lot of those old buildings kind of slowly diminish. This one, when it was refurbished in the late 90s, early 2000s, they kept that very neat mid-century art deco look to the building. And I've always been in love with it. So every time I drive by, I always point at it and say, that's eventually going to be my tattoo shop. And everything's kind of come to fruition, you know, the plaintiffs have aligned and the buildings for lease. It's a little bit bigger than what we have now, so it's suitable for us to grow. It's got ample parking. I know that that block has been a lot going on right now with parking issues. It's got plenty of ample parking for our clients and for our artists. And it has Federal Highway frontage, which we don't have right now in Pineapple Grove. So the issue at hand being the LDRs that were put into effect back when we first opened. Again, stating that there was the fear and the concern of what would happen if there's a tattoo shop in every corner. Since we've opened up, there's been plenty of other shops that have opened up around town. One of them being located on 4th Avenue, which is a little bit outside of that 750-foot zone because of the train tracks. Again, we've cohabitated for many years now, being two blocks away from each other. And in the future, if we were to move from our studio on 2nd Avenue to 6th Avenue, we'll still be two blocks away. It's a little bit closer, two blocks, but still going to be ample distance away from the other studio. PNZ will say that, you know, show that the distance. So the rule was 750 feet as the crow flies, lot line to lot line. When they showed us, when they said to me the distance, I was a little bit off. I thought it was closer to about 500 or 600 feet. The lot line to the building of the studio on 4th Avenue, they actually own the property behind it. The property owners own the lot behind it, which is like a parking lot that faces Federal Highway, 5th Avenue. So it was a little bit deceiving on the distance. So technically, lot line to lot line is 365. If we look at as the crow flies, maybe door to door, it's about 600 feet. But we have yet to get the ability to fly as a crow. If we were to walk it or drive it from one location to the other, if you were to go from their studio to ours, it's well over 1,000 feet walking distance. If you were to go from our proposed studio to theirs, we're closer to 1,500 feet. So I feel like there really is ample distance apart. And again, we have cohabitated two blocks away from each other for many years, and there's been no negative impact to the neighborhood. It's just kind of like a salon or a barbershop or a pizza shop. Just because there is the same service going on, there's a variable difference in services and styles and aesthetics and vibes of studios. Again, we like to kind of consider ourselves like the friendly neighborhood tattoo shop. We tattoo all walks of life, tons of Delray firefighters and paramedics and police force. And some studios are more of like a private gallery kind of setting and very, you know, only appointments. We tattoo from the little stuff to the big stuff, you name it. But again, I feel like this is more than an ample distance apart. If we were looking to open up across the street or a block away or within walking, like within visible distance of them, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have applied for this waiver. I wouldn't be asking. I wouldn't waste your time or mine. Again, I think this is more than a reasonable ask. Another thing, a side note that I actually was that I didn't put in the presentation is that the building of the studio that's located on 4th Avenue is currently for sale. So hypothetical, if, for instance, their building does sell here in the near future and you have a new property owner that decides they want to redevelop that building, there's a strong possibility that those guys are going to have to relocate. So, and if that was the case, there would be a non-issue here. I mean, the building we're looking at is in the CBD. We're not near a church or a school. The only thing that's really kind of standing in the way is those LDRs that were put into effect 10 years ago. And again, I do understand the concern and I understand why they were put into place, but I don't make things easy on myself. I always seem to kind of put up the fight to kind of get what I think is right. So again, we've had 10 years downtown. We've had a great reputation. Next year will be our 20 year anniversary of when I open my studio in Lauderdale. So I would love to be able to celebrate our 20 year anniversary in this new building. And I ask you to approve this waiver. Great. Thank you very much to the city. Okay. So these are, I would agree with the characterization that we do tend to pass new rules very cautiously to make sure that there isn't going to be a problem when we open up a new use. And so this is what happened with tattoo establishments. We were kind of unsure whether they would end up having a negative impact and so they were very carefully regulated when they came in. So the proposed location is here 271 North East 6th Avenue on the northbound federal. This is the little building. You can see why the applicant is charmed by it. It's a small building in the commercial corner, small property. Um, we do have, um, separation requirements and there, there are different separation requirements for tattoo establishments. The separation between the existing, between the studios is as the crow flies, there's another separation to churches and schools, which is your walk route. So it was, it was pretty heavily, you know, regulated out of the gate. Let's put it that way. Um, the LDR, uh, acknowledges, um, that, um, tattooing is an expressive art, um, protected by the US Constitution, other things like that. Um, and the concern with regulating the frequency of them is to make sure that, um, we are maintaining our family friendly historic, uh, beach resort community. All of that is in the lead in as to what we're concerned about with, um, these businesses. Um, so this is a, so this is the, uh, competing store or establishment. And I think it's important also to recognize that the weight, because it's lot line to lot line. Oh, I thought I had a thing. Um, the actual establishment is here. This is a parking lot. So we're measuring it, but a straight line this way. I think I have it in slide in a minute. Um, and that's closer than 750 feet. But if the issue with the regulation is to ensure that, you know, we're not getting a cluster of them or we're having a whole block that turns into this district, you can understand that this property on the east side of the northbound federal isn't even visible from this property where the establishment itself is located on northeast 4th. Um, so again, just the purpose of this is not to have them, um, you know, clustering together in a way that starts to, I guess, establish some type of, um, you know, changes the character. Let's put it that way of downtown. So that's really what you're looking for with these requirements is, is the impact going to be that you're somehow changing the character. This is an established business that has been downtown for 10 years that is seeking to move. Um, the, uh, there are a lot of other rules related to this business that are not, you know, being subject to this, this request. The only waiver that's being sought is this distance to be, you know, there's a block in between the blocks that they're located on. Um, and they will follow all the other rules or even limited with their hours of operations and things like that. So if you're considering the waiver, you have to look at two sets of findings. Um, you see these a lot, but that allowing the waiver to have these specific, you know, the specific distance in this configuration in the city where they're located, that it's not going to negatively affect the area. That it's not going to affect public facilities, create an unsafe situation or grant a special privilege. And then because it's in the downtown, you also have to consider whether it's going to result in any kind of inferior pedestrian experience. North East six is a primary. So that's, you're looking, thinking it that way, but the building itself structurally, I think is, is not, you know, you don't have to worry about large expanses of blank walls. Um, the waiver, um, is not going to create a significant incompatibility with other uses. That's the thing you should be looking at with that too, or erode any connectivity or reduce the quality of civic open space. Uh, three and four don't apply at all to the request. So I'm going to go back to the distance here and I think it's in the behind it, but, um, it's closer than 750 feet. So we measured it at the current location is about 954. The proposed location is 366. Um, if you were doing it door to door, it's, it's even further. But again, the way that you would access this one from this one means you are going to walk up the sidewalk, cross the street, go over and down. So the perception of seeing the other establishment is, is the question of whether it's an issue with this type of configuration. And I'm here if you have any questions. Great. Thank you very much. Um, this is a, but this is a portion of the meeting. It's a public hearing. Any members of the public wishing to, uh, address the commission on this application, please come to the lectern, give your name. Address. And you each have three minutes. Hi, Daniel Rose, 323 Northeast 6th Avenue, Delray Beach. Um, I've never met this gentleman. I support him wholeheartedly. I, I found out about this because I got a letter letting me know what's going on. And it's, it's welcoming to me. Um, to talk about the agenda. And so I was on the CRA when this issue came up, because as I said, he had to go through every committee. He's done everything right. He's followed the rules. He didn't just sign a lease move in and say, Hey, you know, I'm a few feet. You know, I'm a few feet because it's argumentative about the measurement. Um, the reason I came today initially was because I wanted to show support for him. Not a customer. Don't know him. Just the first time I've seen this guy. But when it comes to tattoos and art, I think the issue is in the last 10 years, since I was on the CRA and this issue came up, I think society's attitude towards tattoos have changed. You can see recording artists, a lot of them movie actors. Um, I even saw a lawyer from California the other day, a criminal lawyer has tattoos on his neck of like, uh, scales of justice. So it's, it's more acceptable to people. I think, um, a lot of people like to do sleeves now to tell life stories like the rock. And I can tell you like from the wrestling side, I have clients that are pro wrestlers. Uh, many years ago, tattoos were a deal breaker. You could not get a contract if you had a tattoo. Now, basically, if you go to any wrestling show, I think 90% of the talent, even female talent have tattoos everywhere. So it's, it's more culturally acceptable. So why I'm here, number one is to support this project. I think it's great. Um, I didn't even know the other tattoo shop existed by me. That's how quiet these are. They're just simple places. Cause you have to understand from the people I know that have tattoos and that's a lot of them is that it's like salons. They go to their style. So you're going to go see this guy directly and he's going to work on your sleeve. You know, it's going to take a few months, a few years. They come back and forth. So it's almost like how many, you know, there's so many salons. I'm sure they're not 750 feet from each other. So the other reason I'm here is I'm hoping that after this, I'm hoping that you decide to go with this. Cause I support it. I'm sure everyone in my area is rooting for this guy is that maybe we can review the LDR. Cause here's the thing. He's, he's less than seven or 50 feet away. I can guarantee you. And I know tattoo artists, no one's going to open up across the street from him. This isn't like a, a vape shop where people go in and buy vapes or, you know, a convenience store where everyone sells, you know, Celsius energy drinks or whatever. It's not like that. What we have here is he's really a destination location for people who, you know, most of his clientele, I can assure you. And then not even knowing him or his customers throughout the years that are just continuously, let's say building their sleeves or whatever they're working on. Cause you just don't do a whole tattoo project in one session. So I'm hoping, I'm excited to have a new neighbor. We've had some, we've had a pizza shop in there. I think we had a soap store in there. Nothing's worked. So it'd be nice to have that little area next to that motel be a business that I know will be there for a long time based on what he said today. Cause like I said, I don't know him. So please consider supporting and then please on top of it, consider reviewing the regulations. Cause like I said, it's a little antiquated these days. I don't think anyone, I'm sure you know people that have tattoos at this point in life. So that's why I'm here. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much, sir. Yes, ma'am. Name and address for the record, please. Nancy Reagan, 815 George Bush Boulevard, Delray, 33483. I've been in Delray almost 30 years as a business owner. I've known Jeff probably 2015, right before he started having everything that was going on, getting approval. And at the time we, he was doing a lot with trying to get us involved with the chamber and getting a lot of support. He is from a business standpoint, very, very, as far as integrity, as far as doing what he says he's going to do. It's remarkable what he's done and remarkable for the longevity. I guess you guys know most businesses don't last a year. So to be there for 10 years and to be where he is and operating an established, wonderful tattoo parlor, which is very similar to my spa kind of business because now you guys let spas on every corner too. So if we had that rule, we might have less competition. But it actually is, I just want to say what a wonderful person he is as far as a company. And I know it's a little bit that you guys are giving a little leeway, but I think it's very well deserved. And where the other, if you drive by where the other place is, it's close to Delray Camera. And that is a whole nother area. You really have to go around to actually see that place. So thank you very much. Are there any other members of the public wishing to speak? Seeing none, public comment is closed. Is there any rebuttal to the city? Does the city have any additional information or rebuttals? You do not. Okay, great. Then to the commission. Commissioner, you wish to be recognized. You wish to be recognized. You do, yes. Thank you very much. I would be in favor of granting this waiver. You are in favor. Oh, my God. I made a rhyme. There you go. That's good. Anyone else? Do we approve? No, I am too. And just for the public, those rules, they do have a place. We use them in other instances, and they serve the city well. But in this case, I absolutely feel like you meet the findings and I support this. I'm in favor. Okay. So I need a motion to approve. I need a motion to approve resolution number 97-26. Second. Clerk, please call the roll. Deputy Vice Mayor Margaret. Yes. Commissioner Mullica. Yes. Commissioner Cassell. Yes. Vice Mayor Burns. Yes. Mayor Carney. I'm going to get to the list, but there's no way this could have ever looked like a cluster effect. When you go on fourth and you go there, just no way. So we should really look at, yeah, well, that's why I'm saying to you, we have all talked about doing this, because I know you're not doing anything over at development services. You can just, you know. You have nothing. You have free time. You have all that free time. Anyway, thank you very much for, thank you very much, and good luck to you. Good luck to you. Can I see if I get three votes and move it on? Well then, just speak. You can't beat my rhyme, though. Good. So now you're shy? Right. Oh, you couldn't. She said you can't beat her rhyme, though. Sorry. What? Mayor? Yes, go ahead. Can I do 7C and 7D together, since they're related? Okay. Yes, they are. 8C is Resolution No. 90-26, a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, approving an impact event known as Muscle on the Beach Car Show, to be held March 6, 2027, in and around the Old School Square campus, authorizing the City Manager to take all actions necessary to effectuate the intent of this resolution, providing an effective date and further purposes. And then Resolution No. 9126, a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, authorizing a special event sponsorship in an amount not to exceed $8,000 for the special event known as Muscle on the Beach Car Show, to be held March 6, 2027, authorizing the City Manager to take all actions necessary to effectuate the intent of this resolution in providing for an effective date and for other purposes. Resolution No. 90-26 would typically have gone on the consent agenda, because they haven't made any changes to the footprint of the special event. The reason why it's on regular is because of 7D, which requires a discussion by the Commission for the sponsorship. I got it. Okay. Good evening. Can we just fast into the motion to approve this, though? What? We all know what this is. We do this every year. Can we just fast into the motion to approve it? Excuse me. Would you like to... I'm all in favor. Yes. Okay. Just checking. Everybody, can I just make a motion to approve resolution No. 90-26? Motion to approve. Motion to approve. I mean, does anybody else... I just think... No, I mean, I think we're all in... Okay. I'm just saying. He just got them. Did we get a second on that? Second. Thank you. do you want me to do this thank you motion to approve resolution number 91 dash two six second all in favor opposed thank you moving on to seven good job resolution number one oh three dash twenty six a resolution of the city commission of the city of Debra Beach Florida establishing a budget financial review committee to review and provide recommendations to the city commission regarding concerning the city's budget financial and budgetary systems and procedures technology improvements and all other matters as may be directed by the city commission providing an effective date I apologize there is a typo in this resolution section section 5 which discusses the number of members that would constitute a quorum it should be five members because it's the the committee would be comprised of nine members seven by profession two at large so I initially had a 12 and then I I was I made a change based on reviewing the record and Commissioner Malika confirming so it should if when you approve this if you could just prove it as amended that would be helpful okay can I make a motion to approve could I just add one thing when we when I first started talking about this I visualized it having a broader purview and potentially eventually maybe if you're doing an audit and you want some audit review this really strictly limits to budget and I think we should expand it a little bit more I can absolutely concur my I have several comments on it if you want me to go through I can go through my comments because I was kind of I was pushing this okay we probably have mostly the same so go ahead first of all as originally contemplated when this committee was formed in the old days the the the the committee would task this the the commission would task them to say could you look at this this department look at this contract or look at this and that wider than just looking at the budget I'm not suggesting the budget is not important but it was to give them some flexibility for the commission to kind of direct them to look at certain things to try to get done that's in there I did put that in there all right okay so if you look at section 2 subsection f it states any other duties as may be directed by a majority of the city commission okay well I I I I I know I can get first but but when you talk about whereas you talk about establishes aside a committee profession to review the city's budget I'd like to also say and departments because I mean I just I want I want the scope of this to be what we thought it was and I I'll be honest with you to to I I kind of racked my brain I even went on chat jeep to whatever the one with the AI thing the kinds of people you want to have on these boards no one actually asked for an insurance professional and investment about I mean I'm so I'm just curious how we came up with those were on the original that's where we go I know I know but we talked about it then too so yeah I mean no I know we can I'm just I'm throwing it out there to the group just the four I mean I certainly understand why we want an MPA uh you're sort of a county professional finance professional whether we need a certified financial planner I'm not sure that that what about an attorney you know I don't know that we need I don't know I mean I think an attorney would be helpful but I don't you know I would I would I would take an attorney before I would take a certified financial planner which doesn't seem to kind of not that I do have finance professional so a financial planner could fall under that category it's sort of like you're have to yeah finance if you if you decide you want yeah why don't we leave financial professional an insurance professional I guess if you're going to be looking at the various insurance programs and stuff that would be helpful but I I don't think that you need to think of we have to fill each one of these positions this is the background that we wish to have on the advisory committee we can have three accounting professionals and five financial planners I mean it doesn't I'd like to try to cover I'd like to try to cover one of each I think you're going to need diversity diversity is the key for this so I think that should be our goal and I think we should put maybe lawyer in there um as well we can add lawyer because I understand this is just a list of of you know there it's it's like a so let's button this up and amend it we're not requiring none of these are requiring that we have a certified public account although we should so you're taking out insurance and putting an attorney we're taking out uh well I would say certified financial planner and take them out attorney um because while that would be valuable when you're using a you know in looking at your pension funds and things like that the management of those on this kind of a project I don't see where it would so we're scratching down to municipal we're scratching d and putting lawyer in is that right do you want to qualify what kind of lawyer yes I think it's maybe qualified business or municipal attorney I think yeah yeah yeah I mean we don't want to someone with a business background business you know a corporate corporate type lawyer that would be it there would know what like contracting with with looks like with people what about corporate attorney perfect yeah that's fine that's scratching d and putting corporate so instead of certified financial planner it'll say corporate attorney right yeah but again I'm not just I'm just adding I had that too so we're changing whereas uh uh resolution number 50 i'm just trying to broaden that whereas clause to talk about the city the whereas they and then we're changing it to five seven five members i'm sorry just i'm sorry one person mayor what you wanted to add to the whereas clause about reviewing departments i just wanted to add to the scope because i wanted to ensure that we know that the scope of the thing is just not just to look at the departments but city departments okay but do you want that in the whereas because it's it's listed in in below oh let me see where it just said it's really i just want to put it in there it's you know it just says recommendations why don't i put it in section two so okay put it in section two it's a task it's an actual i just want to include the scope review city departments got it that when we all kind of talked about it a hundred years ago maybe take budget out of the top and just have city system procedures technology improvement and then put the budget part in the bottom where it already is to alleviate the mayor's concern what was the concern take the budget part out of the whereas and just have city systems procedures technology etc because you have city's budget under he's already got a is to perform review of the city's budget so i don't know why we need to take out b no take it out at the top of whereas and just have review the city's take the whereas clause out above the whereas clause stays it says whereas resolution number 5809 establish the financial review board and tasks the same with reviewing the city's systems procedures technology improvements making recommendations regarding revenues and other items blah blah blah because down below you have budget financial and budgetary systems technology improvements uh and you can put audits in there somehow if you want to use that term does anybody else have any suggestions and you're right there's a coverall because it says any any duties right so are we going to adopt this now with the modification we just did i think i think we should because this is the third rendition but i'm sorry back to the whereas clause i mean i'm just going to say because the whereas clauses they don't necessarily bind you it's within the in the so i'll make sure that they're just making recommendations throughout the fiscal year for the commission that's fine i just wanted to max the flexibility that the commission can direct them to do it that's all i want okay right because any other duties just sort of gets everything motion to 103 26 okay i need a i need a motion then to approve resolution 103-26 as amended so moved second all in favor aye any opposed we are finished so then mayor the next process the next step in the process is i'll amend this tomorrow present it for your signature that you're going to ask the city clerk i'm assuming to start advertising this committee when do you when would you like to see it back because we are in the budget process well i'll have it signed tomorrow if you give it to well noemio calls me first thing in the morning says you know yeah i mean it'll be done tomorrow okay so do you want this back in july with application you want the applications open for 30 days i feel like we need to give it a little more time we need to advertise it yeah the summertime is i would recommend waiting until the fall the budget process ensuing we have a workshop meeting we'll talk about some various analysis and that whole bit i see this as a fiscal year 2026 2027 endeavor and take your time to secure the right individuals to serve in this important function until september anyway no really the new fiscal year because again we'll think about staff resources and other alignment to make this a productive endeavor okay so we're we're fine okay adopted fine cut the rules okay 7f of the city resolution number 8726 a resolution of the city commission of the city of delvary beach florida to award an agreement to yc group llc for construction services related to the seawater replacement and repair project pursuant to invitation to bid construction itbc number 2026-021 in the amount of two million seven hundred forty thousand one hundred seventy six dollars and 73 cents thank you very much miss barletta good evening again mayor and commissioners missy barletto um public works director and my partner tonight is all nurses uh chief procurement officer so normally this would be on um on the consent agenda but we wanted to take this opportunity to give you a little bit of education about seawall's our seawall ordinance and where the city is in the process with complying with our ordinance so the purpose of this project is to repair replace various city owned and maintain seawalls we have um just over a mile of seawall in the city and a lot of those are very small in caps at roadways that lead down to the intracoastal where parks and recreation department has made pocket parks and places for people to sit and relax and be able to take a look at the water and a lot of those older seawalls are low and in poor condition as you'll see later on in the in the um presentation so the importance of having seawalls in a proper state of repair and at a proper height is that we can put all of the stormwater pumping stations in the world out into the community but if we cannot seal the outer edges of the system we're just pumping water in a circle it doesn't help to actually take water off of the individual properties so that's the importance of having seawalls at a proper height the ordinance that we adopted back in 21 is that we require seawalls to be at a minimum elevation of 4.2 in a vd 88 that is a measurement above sea level sea level that is not it's 4.2 feet above the ground it's a measurement above sea level and then you can extend the height extension up to a minimum elevation of 5 feet in a vd 88 when we've done improvements at veterans park which was really the first seawall improvement that we did we put the seawall at 4.2 and then we have it designed so that should water levels continue to rise and they become an even greater problem at veterans park it's designed to accept another 18 inches of concrete as a cap on top of what's there now so that you don't have to rebuild the entire seawall in order to accommodate the higher water levels so um this map shows where all of the sea walls that are going to be constructed as a part of this project are there are as many sea walls on the west side of the intracoastal waterway as there are on the east side and they go all the way from the mangrove park boat ramp up to island drive so it it takes in a good distance of the city's waterfront along the the intracoastal waterway yeah nobody can see it i mean they're great well you are you are that's not but yeah but it's also happens yeah there's a big screen right here we'll have carrots for you next time when you come out it's been blurry all night oh it's blurry yeah okay i thought you were just it was just too small i couldn't read island drive beach drive i mean i know what they are but the words are just not comprehensible they're all okay sorry all right so this you can probably read this one this is exactly the the locations that they're going to be done fuller partial replacements are happening on beach drive waterway lane lowry street sea spray avenue basin drive southeast 10th street which is where knolls park is mangrove park southeast 3rd street southeast 7th street and then there are two in tropic isle neighborhood that will be done in advance of the tropic isle neighborhood improvement project those that we're going to repair and enhance are those at northeast 2nd street northeast 5th street island drive where we're working on the southwest abutment which will complete that one that we started a few years ago and buceta which is a larger seawall and everybody knows that gets over top during king tide as well as northwest 4th street or northeast 4th street so here's some pictures of what the existing conditions that we're going to be addressing are you can see the spalling in the concrete there's there's rust coming through there are cracks on the seaward face and along the top of the seawall so we'll be replacing piles that are severely deteriorated cracked and spalled and also fixing the the seawall caps here's another here's an example of where the seawall is not at an appropriate height and just on a regular sunny day the intracoastal is overtopping the seawall this is actually at knolls park and there are for the public who's listening in it's very important not to plant trees very close to your seawall for a couple of reasons in this particular instance the roots are growing through the seawall and creating large cracks but the trees will also tend to lean out over the top of the water and and will threaten the integrity of the structure itself with toppling over if the tree gets to be too heavy and pushes it out these are some of the things that our um our code division will will visit you for and ask you to to fix your seawalls so i was going to let paul do his first uh commission presentation to talk about the the um procurement procedure oh thank you missy um so again this project was done prior to me but uh just going back and reviewing the steps for um how the team worked very closely with uh public works um everything seemed pretty much buttoned up for your normal itbc so on february 23rd it was issued um the uh on the 8th it came back with three bids the lowest bid and yc group um llc submitted the lowest bid and they they were deemed responsive the staff in general um i got to tell you missy and her team she didn't pay me for this we do a fantastic job in working with our team and planning and and ensuring that we always have the right procurement methods in place so this was this was actually done very very well so um our recommendation is to award the construction contract to yc group llc in the base bid price of two million seven hundred and forty eight thousand dollars one hundred seven hundred i do this wrong every single time seven hundred and forty eight thousand one hundred and seventy six dollars and seventy three cents and not a penny more thank you both very much to the commission any discussion commissioner burns would you like anything i have no discussion thank you for the presentation thank you commissioner molika and seeing that i could use a motion to approve motion to approve resolution number eight seven dash two six second all in favor aye opposed it is adopted great seven seven g is gone canceled we now go on to to um comments and inquiries on non-agenda items mr city manager i yield at this time thank you thank you uh city attorney good evening um i had sent an email last night a little bit late um basically providing a just a road map on the parks bond issue i do have um interns that are starting tomorrow and they're very excited and as i've indicated the the part of their assignment would be to review all past meetings agendas minutes to compile the list and then my recommendation in the email last night was to secure an opinion from bond council based on all that information and it's really twofold um more importantly in my opinion that opinion will direct will give guidance to staff in order to ensure that the park uh bond monies are being properly expended and so from my standpoint and you know mr mitot he's not here but he'll tell you we battle back and forth about this all the time so i feel if we have an opinion that says you can use it for this you can't use it for this i just think it'll just settle a lot of the dust and um you know help us uh navigate those bonds so um i don't know if you had an opportunity to read it you don't have to if you didn't read it and you want to just defer this till next week i would just want consensus from the commission that you think that's an appropriate course of action i do okay is that everybody agree yes yes yes perfect great all right so anything else that's it thank you okay um commissioner comments who would like to go first commissioner cassell sure i'll start um i don't know if you all received an email from a woman named miss hampton tony durant reached out to me about the woman and i spoke to mr haja mary she had a very large water bill but it it seems that someone uh she has she has a walker she didn't turn on the water she thinks people using working in her neighbor's yard turned it on and left it on she also had some kind of incident something was broken so bottom line is they she was basically told we'll just get a letter and say it's a leak but she didn't want to lie so she's asking for some kind of uh consideration i don't know what we offer she's elderly i'm not really into writing things off as you well know but she did file a police report for the incident um because um she felt that it was kind of like that because she felt that it was uh what's the word when someone goes in your yard and uses your things like just stealing no it wasn't stealing anyway i can't remember the word she used but at any rate i think it's something mr moore perhaps could you look into if there wasn't actually a police report and maybe reach back out to us it's a pretty big bill and she's a senior how big is the bill i'm not familiar with this at all i did not receive it it's over a thousand dollars i think it's a little bit over a thousand close to eleven hundred yeah it's either a break they're ruling out a break i think they ruled out a break and they think it was because it's only one month it's low low low low right month and then it pops up one month and then it goes down so what i'll do is of course mr hudger mayor and i had a chance to touch base about this briefly so i anticipate offering an update next week since it's being brought up here i'll be happy to oblige yeah and then maybe we can figure out i you know i don't know um we talked about the two bridges but you're going to keep us informed on that i was speaking to um our city attorney because boca implemented uh lobbying certification and disclosure rules i think we should do this here as well in delray beach basically it's an ordinance that was um established a clear and consistent framework for disclosure of lobbying participation in cities development review process i think it would be a good idea for delray beach to have that so don't we used to have a lobbying there's one for palm beach county this is a little bit more specific specific to our city i will um i will email it to everybody and we can discuss it on our one of us used to register as a lobbyist i think it's through the county though isn't it no when i did it back in 2008 it was at the branch shutt's office is it stronger than what the county were yes yeah they said the local one is much stronger um i'm happy to send this to everyone thank you please go ahead i think it's a good idea okay thank you maybe you can send it out and then we can start working on that if that's everybody's saying it's a good idea um the police gala was great fun thank you gentlemen i really enjoyed myself um i want special recognition to officer adam whiting sergeant uh troy bear lieutenant eddie mccabe and our very own chief rodney stevenson that was a really good night and um our next run with the chief is saturday june 27 that 8 a.m 8 not 9 and also i wanted to point out something to the residents that you said at that uh gala that really impressed me well first i love the skit about how when you first got in office you were trying to pull retirees and anyone off the street to work for you but also at the conclusion you said you are no longer hiring recruits so presumably we have we are at where we need to be with recruits i attribute that to you and all your efforts and i want to thank you very much and i think the residents should know that because people are still telling me we need more police so thank you very much um mr cannon got up and talked about this tax situation lynn i think you emailed us at the at the beginning of the meeting but i didn't get to go through that but i got a document from the um from the county and according to this document it's a spreadsheet it says 8 350 residents in delray qualify under the 250 000. is there a way we can try to figure out what the ramifications might be of this to us broadly to figure out where we're going with this one million two hundred and twenty five thousand seven seven hundred ninety nine dollars and that would have been as all based on last year's numbers ladies and gentlemen can you say that number would you say it again 21 here take it thank you 21 million bucks just to shine that's what if it were in if it were imposed this year based on our last year's revenues we'd be we'd have a 21 million dollar lesson lesson lesson so are we planning some cities have written in and i feel like maybe we should we need to write to say we object to this there's a form letter online i can give it to you and we can just can we get a consensus to do that i mean i don't know the timing of it because both both the house and the senate i still think we have to tell them we don't i mean i i think it's just about making a statement because i have to tell you i don't know what we're doing with our budget going forward i know this isn't going to affect us till potentially the following year but at this point then we need to like bank cash mr mayor ladies and gentlemen to respond making the collections it'd be effective with january one so it's coming up it's coming up faster than you think mr moore i think we really need to do some research into the ramifications of this on our taxpayers ladies and gentlemen i'm already ahead of you because next week's workshop meeting which will focus on proposed budget scenarios and the understanding is for the coming fiscal year 2026 2027 it would not be that impact in that regard it would be the following so just to be clear in that regard but number two that's what i understand a more thorough presentation or a a an analysis in terms of what the impacts that dairy beach will be will be offered as part of next week's budget workshop exercise so excellent considerations for 2026 27 and we'll conclude it by talking a little bit about what this means for the city of dairy beach so we're working to get that squared away and material will be available to you by this weekend great thank you mr moore um thank you two more things uh maybe or three wayfinding signs someone informed me that they had spoken to you and that you indicated that we are lacking the funding to remove the old wayfinding signs so in some instances there's an old sign and a new sign is that the case it's a continuous process so i'm not sure sure so the initial funding was the implementation of the new wayfinding signage and of course over the next fiscal year two fiscal years we'll remove existing older ones but some of them have been removed signs with the new signs because we haven't put the money to remove them that seems nutty to have two sets of signs the old signs it's not an attractive look where i'm seeing it we will be executing that and we'll be bringing back the tails as part of the capital improvement program in terms of the rest of the continuation so more to come like maybe we need to look at a budget amendment on this one does miss no she doesn't want to speak no it's fine i i think the quicker we remove the old signs that are basically sitting very close to the new signs the better the city will look that's my opinion uh on that one and could you give us all an email update on subculture just email shoot us an email and let us know what is going on we are whatever 60 days into the 90 i have no idea where we're at but i would kind of like to know where we're at and the last thing and this is uncomfortable and i'm sorry but i think everybody saw this unfortunate article in the sun sentinel an ethical caution flag for delray beaches mayor um you know as a city commission we should ask for i believe a review of the ethics allegations involving our mayor not as a judgment mayor but as a commitment to our transparency and accountability to our taxpayers if you acted appropriately an independent review will restore public confidence and i can tell you i'm getting a lot of calls and questions and if concerns are identified i think we deserve clear guidance as how to move forward you know allegations involving any member of our commission affect the credibility of the entire governing body and the city as a whole which is why i think it's very important that these matters are addressed openly professionally and in the best interest of our delray beach residents because we did take an oath to them and i know you i read the article and i know you relied on a 2012 decision but i have the decision and it's not nothing like what you actually did it's a very different set of circumstances and it very clearly says as it concludes you must take great care not to use your official position or title in any way to influence members of or of staff or sitting advisory board resulting in a special financial benefit to yourself your outside business your customers your client and it's your family so i um have concerns about this this the city has in the past been directed by the commission to request a commission on ethics review uh investigation i don't like calling it that but i'll call it review and i think that this city commission should do that so we have a clear understanding if there was actually a violation here which there appears to be based on rhonda geiger's three prongs that she identified to us when she was here and the three prongs are prohibited entity it's it's a prohibited entity financial benefit there was a financial benefit to your brother and it's a special entity because it's a smaller group than 100 so i have serious concerns and i hope my colleagues will support me in a recommendation for the city to ask for a review thank you thank you you finished okay yeah i'm not sure that's our position it would be our position to review an opinion from the county ethics board if somebody opened that investigation up but i'm not sure it's our position to command one no one asked for it but why not get an opinion in advance he could have done that right if somebody if if if an opinion is rendered it would absolutely be our position to review it did you review the 2012 opinion i did and so you think that supports what the mayor did i think that is not my position to decide that would be the commission on ethics to decide right but someone has to report it they don't just go ahead so you'd like me to do that personally i'm not directing anything okay thank you commissioner nobody told me nothing i have no idea what you're talking about so i would like to get a copy of the um the article if you don't mind it's concerning yes i have no idea so i need to um get myself up to speed on that before i can make a decision thank you and then the only other thing i wanted to say was um congratulations to the um police officers that were the awardees at the banquet it was a great time and then i wanted to uh express my condolences to the family of um the employee that um recently passed away um at the um recently passed away so that is it mr marford yeah i one one easy thing one harder thing uh chief i want to say congratulations on the gala as well that was a really really well done event and i i thought it was so cool that you brought back some of the former chiefs and the retirees and i thought it was one of the classiest events i've been to in a long time and uh you know it just shows the stewardship that you're you're lending to our uh our police department i'm very very thankful for that um i i think we took an oath up here and i i think we have to call for a professional evaluation on on conduct um otherwise this this is going to be a cloud hanging over our heads uh i i hope the evaluation comes back and it shows everything was a-okay i don't know um but i i think we i think it's our duty to make sure that we're looking out for the the folks that live in our city that voted for us and put us up here and i i think we have to get a professional evaluation we're not in a position to do that um there are bodies that do that and if it comes back with a green light that's great if it doesn't we'll deal with that but i i you know it's been in the newspaper i've had dozens of calls um and i i think the right thing to do to get the cloud out from under the commission up here is to get a professional evaluation done so that's my position um i have some comments let me finish all my comments all everything is noted but let me go to my comments here first i wanted to um i don't see members of the we don't have the fire department but they they started the junior lifeguard program by the way this past week tremendous success tremendous success so i want to congratulate the fire department and the chief and everybody who did it the beach crew um for for a program which is really great um the and i was going to mention about the budget item the the issue that i have with us letting people buy off their um requirement for low you know for the housing that they get increased density and all of a sudden you know they buy off well i mean six additional units is a lot of units and you know three hundred thousand dollars to be able to sell six additional units i'll take that deal all day long i'll take that deal all day long um i think that you have a one of one of the problems that we have and i've had this chat with with anthea is we have no to our follow-up we have a really difficult time in following up to see whether or not someone is and this is the flip side of it why you take the money because two years from now you don't know whether it's really they're really going to do it or not we need to figure out a better way to have a continuing certification process that when we grant these increases in densities that they're required to have one or two whatever the amount of of of preferred units whether it's low income moderate income workforce whatever the standard is there needs to be some kind of a continuing certification process so that we know those units at least for the first 10 years you know that there's got to be reporting right yes they they're they're still workforce this stuff because two years down the road we don't know what these people are doing and we just don't because we have we have nothing we have nothing in in process to try to do that so i'm i'm uh i'm i'm you know so i believe neighborhood and community services does that um you do but i mean i've had those we've actually had situations where they've um they've had to to um not go after but you know really enforce the rules because people were trying to essentially get out of what the commission approved um ferlene mesador was was in charge of that and so i'd like to learn a little bit more about that program because i really because i'm hearing from people that i was given a specific situation where the person and they two years later they sold the unit and it was you know at market and i am there's always slippage but yes you know and what happens if the property goes into foreclosure then we've seen it where you know somehow we don't find out about it because we have a right of first refusal so that that's actually very accurate so i just i want to just i think we don't we just can't give away our workforce housing and and we really need to make sure that if we're giving someone three extra units i mean six extra units that they're at least complying with the the toll charge to get to the get to the extra units can we have a discussion at some point about the value of a you don't have to allow people to buy out we can just take that out of the code and they can either do on-site or off-site right and then we can you know provide options for the off-site make a deal with the cra you know help the you know community trust so you don't have to have that number in there i think we all agree that that number is way too low you cannot build anything for 160 000 so you can either increase it if you want to if you want to maintain it you can just remove the option if if there's a concern that you know you don't want people buying up because especially in this case tonight there was a huge benefit received i mean to go from three to nine and you know essentially that's a very large that's that's that's that's a six units it's double you're talking selling a million dollars a unit that's six million bucks i got right that's so i just i think we should have that discussion at some point because we keep talking about it and it's either if you're i mean my it might just be easier to just remove the option and i think we remove it and just have people either do off-site through the cra or through one of our land trusts i just right we'll have compliance um so do you want to just have a discussion at some point yeah i do i think i would like to discuss increasing it increasing it significantly or removing we have to show what our parameters almost even make a detriment you don't have no parameters yeah we can make it a million dollars okay we have to show the community that we're serious about that we're going to give an increase in density that we're going to hold people's feet to the fire agreed that's just a simple thing you can make the number so high that it's it's not productive to go that route and then either they don't ask for the density or they come up with something on-site or off-site so i'm going to bring something up we haven't done this in delray this is my next comment if you look at taxing if you look at tax bills from other communities fort lauderdale i had briefly discussed this with with mr moore um and and and we have not not as a discussion point but just something i was thinking about um and he was aware of how they do how they do it um they it's called municipal services taxing msqs and what they've done is you know boca has them for example their their parks district is one and then they have fire under one and then you know fort lauderdale has if you go to their fort lauderdale tax bill they got them all for different things because in delray we are accustomed to the our our community is accustomed to getting one tax bill and it covers a a a the the the chicken soup every you know everything in the bucket so fire police parks and rec everything it's very difficult for the average taxpayer to understand what they're paying for each service right if you did an mstu you do two things first of all you because one of the threats that the governor did which didn't make it this time was that they were going to freeze that municipalities could no longer lower um the rates on on certain industries public service was one of them and that may be a good idea or a bad idea but the point was if it gets locked into our the way we do our budget we lose control of a lot of stuff where if we had an mstu people would know exactly what they're paying for police for fire you could do parks and rec if you want you could do you can choose the ones you want to do because then we look at our millage and we have now control over our millage with our personnel costs and things such as that because right now we don't have a lot of control over our own costs because we have so many that are already built into the system so my point was to try and just explore it i'm not saying i mean we don't have to do it now but but you know as we get into the system of how we want to start approaching our millage effort on a year by year basis right we're being trapped into raising things to cover costs that we have no control over if i may i i spoke to mr dakwitz when he first came on board about this because i think and it has bet more function than just that it also shows the residents so when they look at they know what they're paying they're like oh you know this is how much our safety costs this is how much you know police costs this is how much our parks cost so they understand where their money is going and how i would like how it's spread out about how to start looking i'm totally in favor of our tax bill so that our taxpayers know yeah how much they're paying for each item i think it's a great idea very well all right so can we just back up and miss uh burns has now read that i'd like a consensus on uh forwarding this to the commission on ethics ms malica said no mr margaret you're yes your comments are over no my comments aren't over i asked for a consensus she read it you're not going to have her answer i like a consensus i don't think it's unreasonable to ask for that you're talking about this one this committee where it says as you're the lawyer for the applicant not the brother of the investor excuse me there's a big difference excuse me yes and i checked with that and the difference is you did check with who i asked if you okay there's two other opinions i mean who gave you that are you saying the city attorney gave you an opinion i don't do things willy-nilly the two other opinions i have a copy of them and one of them says absolutely you should not have done this okay well that's right and the other one is allison turner you say i violate the sunshine law you say every week it's a new let's just figure it out no that's not true and you know it why don't you file the report i'd like miss burns to answer if she wants to do it you want cover no i don't need cover i'll file it mayor good miss burns but i would like her to answer i asked for a consensus it's fair you are not prohibited with meetings this is what it says it says in summary based on the facts that you are not prohibited from representing a client or appearing it's not your client it's your brother excuse me when you read what it's for it's personal benefit whether it's i think oh why don't you just go get an opinion if you're so confident the client means that i'm being paid it's even a higher standard i don't want to go back and forth on this because i'm not i'm not an expert i think we need you need a um commission consensus to do this yes she does no to get the city to file it i don't need to file it the city should file it it affects everybody this meeting's over we should know you can't just adjourn the meeting wow yes i can no you can't