City Commission Conference Meeting on 2025-08-19 1:30 PM - Aug 19, 2025

Okay, good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the City Commission conference meeting this 19th day of August, 2025. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for your patience and the delay of our meeting. I just want to announce that our Vice Mayor, John Herbst, has indicated he would not be attending the conference meeting this afternoon. So, let us begin our conference meeting, as we do always, with communications that we receive from the various advisory boards. And our first one is from the Parks, Recreation, and Beaches Advisory Board. And is there someone here on behalf of the board? Yes, come on up. Up to the podium over there, and press the button at the bottom of the speaker. Are you Vanessa? Good afternoon. I am Joy Oglesby. Okay, nice to meet you. District 4. Okay, nice to meet you. Nice meeting you, too. Thank you for having me. So, the letter is here. Please tell me, Commissioner, protocol. I don't intend to read the entire letter, or how do you want me to proceed? Well, give us the highlights. Okay. So, what is it that you're looking to accomplish here today? So, in May, the board got together and decided to write a letter to the commission advocating for retaining the basketball court on South Beach as is. And, in part, I will read, after discussion, the Parks Board strongly opposes removing the basketball courts from the existing location. There are big plans for a big site with big investors slated for that area. It stands to reason that they can provide an alternate space for pickleball on their property development. If the development property arrangements spill over into the public space, then pickleball courts should be considered in addition to the existing basketball courts. So, that's an excerpt from the letter that was presented. Okay. Is that the full content of the letter? That's not the entirety, but that is the gist of it. Well, continue then. Oh, well, okay. I was just reading. So, I'll start from the beginning. This was May 28, 2025, regarding South Beach basketball courts. To our esteemed City Commission, during our May 7, 2025 meeting for the Parks, Recreation, and Beaches Advisory Board, the discussion came up regarding the basketball court conversion in South Beach, Fort Lauderdale. The board recognizes the popularity of the growing sport and the need for more courts. We have supported repurposing courts in such popular places as George English Park, Holiday Park, and joint-use parks such as Sunrise Middle School. We even supported the massive endeavor to donate land at Snyder Park for a pickleball park that was very controversial. However, the City's agreement to remove the basketball courts and replace with pickleball have residents concerned. Board members agree that these iconic basketball courts have become a landmark and are part of the history of South Beach. After discussion, the board strongly opposes removing the basketball courts from the existing location. There are big plans for a big site with big investors slated for that area. It stands to reason that they can provide an alternate space for pickleball on their property development. If the development property arrangements spill over into public space, then pickleball courts should be considered in addition to the existing basketball courts. The communication to the city was unanimously approved by all attending members of the board during the meeting on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, and also communicated to Director Carl Williams. We hope that the City Commission will reconsider its proposal to remove the basketball courts in question for pickleball courts. Respectfully, Parks, Recreation, and the Beaches Advisory Board. Okay. Is that the full content of the letter? That is the full content. Okay. Very good. Very good. Is there anything else you'd like to add to your communication? Nothing additional. Okay. Does anyone would like to respond to the letter? I would. Okay. This is your district, right? Yes, it is my district. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you for your services, Chair of the Board. It's greatly appreciated. And I understand that this meeting was in May, right, that you wrote the letter? That is correct. So perhaps we got caught a little bit in a little bit of a time warp here because I wanted to make sure that you understood that I especially, and I'm sure the rest of my colleagues, have no intention of removing the basketball courts. The plan has been, and I'm hoping that maybe the city manager will weigh in at some point in time, either today or during her manager's report, that the intent is to move the basketball courts, but not remove them and not replace them. I was wondering, though, did your board ever have a discussion of this? I know you did in May, but what about the previous January of 2024 when this actually came to the city commission? Because this was something that was approved with the city commission and the Bahia Mara new community district, the taxing district that was established. That was there that they were going to, in that agreement, put pickleball courts where the basketball courts were. So I was wondering if there was any discussion back then in January of 2024 about this issue, or did this just come up this past May? So if I can address your first part, the board's direction and the board's belief is that the basketball courts should not be moved. Don't even move them from the bridge. They should stay there. If you want to add a pickleball court, add it in another location on the beach. That basketball court should remain exactly where it is as it is. For the second part, I don't recall. I'd have to defer to Carl. I don't know if he's here. If they can give me a reading of, was I at the meeting? How was that discussed? I think we need to bring up those 2024 meeting agenda notes. He is here, but let me go back to what you said about don't even move them. Please understand that the agreement between the city and Bahia Mara to have pickleball at that exact site where the basketball is located is in that agreement that can only be changed with the agreement between both parties. So the city would have to agree, and Bahia Mara, the community, the district, the special taxing district, would have to agree to change that. And we've already been told by the Bahia Mara development team that they have no intention of changing that. So that would be a very tough ask for us. We cannot, in other words, unilaterally just say we're not going to move the basketball court. I'm hoping that the basketball court will move within 100 yards of where it is located, so it is a win-win. Again, the Bahia Mara development team and that special taxing district has already said, and in the agreement, that they will pay for the four pickleball courts. They will pay for two brand-new basketball courts, probably within 100 yards of the existing basketball courts. And they will also pay for the removal of all of the waste in the storage areas. That's been done already. They will also be replacing all of the picnic benches and grills. And they will be replacing all of the fitness equipment. All of that will be at least a million dollars, and that will be paid for exclusively by the Bahia Mara development team and not one penny spent by the city. So I think that that train has left the station in terms of please don't move the basketball court because they have to be moved because there's not going to be any agreement from Bahia Mara to leave them in place. But the good news is that they will be moving very closely to where they're already located. So respectfully, I encourage the city to go back and negotiate in fairness for the public and our taxpayers. That's not what we want. We don't want it relocated, even 100 yards. If you're asking, because it should just be there. Otherwise, it becomes a public extension of use, public use for a private industry. That's not what we're supporting. What becomes a public use for private industry? That space that will then be converted to a pickleball court. So you're advising, thank you for giving me the explanation, Commissioner Glassman, but I think what I hear you saying is where the current basketball court is will be replaced with a pickleball court. Basketball court moved 100 yards. No, thank you. Okay. I don't really quite understand why no thank you. I think it's a great deal. I think we're getting a lot of improvements in that area for the public. This will all be open to the public, the four pickleball courts, the two brand-new basketball courts. By the way, the basketball courts are not, I don't think, in good shape. I recently visited them. So I'm excited about getting two brand-new basketball courts. I'm excited about getting four pickleball courts. I'm excited about getting new benches and grills. And I'm also very pleased that we're getting all brand-new fitness equipment. So I think it's a general improvement for that part of the beach. But, again, we can agree to disagree. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Any other questions or comments? I would like, Commissioner Glassman, you mentioned that maybe city manager could air in and give us some input as to where we are with this. Could you share at this point before the board moves from the podium? Sure. Thank you, Commissioner. So the last time the commission spoke about this topic, I think the direction that we got was that we wanted to have even more amenities at the beach and to expand the opportunity for public improvements at the beach through the Bahiamar Community Development District. So yesterday I attended the Bahiamar CDD meeting along with staff, and they discussed the interlocal agreement and confirmed that it is their intent to still have the pickleball courts positioned at the existing basketball court site. What they did do, however, was motion to allow the city to utilize the million dollars in funding identified in the interlocal agreement to provide for additional public improvements, including two basketball courts at another location, as well as picnic tables and grills. The interlocal calls for the replacement of exercise equipment, the relocation of operational equipment, and the two pickleball courts as discussed earlier, but we think that the CDD, they want to be good partners with the city, and I think that they are trying to find a happy medium or some sort of compromise to allow for both amenities to be included as part of those public improvements. So that's what's contemplated in the interlocal, and they're willing to pay for the interlocal, and they're willing to pay for it. Okay. Any other questions? Raquel, is that up to a million dollars? Yes. So it's not, it won't necessarily cover the entire cost? Well, the million dollars that's included now, we believe can cover the cost of these improvements. Through our Parks Bond program, we are going through the process of developing a concept plan for where we could potentially locate the basketball courts. But we think that the million dollars should be able to cover those improvements. In addition, we have about $1.3 million available through our Parks Bond program that we could leverage to augment the entire beach. Commissioner Beesley, go ahead, Pam. Okay. Thank you. Understanding that there has not been a location identified for the new basketball courts, is that what I'm hearing? So we have done some preliminary work on this, and we have a presentation available should the commission want to take a look. We've done some homework to identify some possible sites, but we would have to go through the regulatory and environmental permitting process in order to finalize the exact spot where the basketball courts could be repositioned. And what is that timeline, or what exactly do we anticipate in terms of those regulatory responsibilities? Well, I think once we have the direction from the commission, we can move forward in a more efficient manner. Right now we're asking AECOM, our consultant, to work with us on the concept plan. But if we have that definitive input from the commission as to moving forward with this relocation, I think that would expedite the process. We think in the next couple of months we'd be able to have that concept plan completed. Is this going to be an agenda? I mean, I'm ready to move forward. If you're looking for direction from the commission, I would hope that my colleagues would weigh in. But I am in favor of moving forward with everything that I've heard from the Bahiamar folks and what we've talked about. And I just think that it's a win-win if we're able to get all of that and practically paid for by Bahiamar, the taxing district, the CDD, as opposed to us. And maybe we might have to tap into a little bit of that $1.3 million that we have allocated in the bond for the beach. But I don't know. Are you ready to hear from us in terms of moving forward? Because I think we should be moving forward. If there's consensus today, we would prepare an agenda item to amend the interlocal agreement to include the basketball courts and the additional public improvements as motioned by the Bahiamar CDD yesterday. Because they already did move forward saying that they were willing to take on all of that responsibility yesterday, correct? Yes, that is how they voted yesterday. Well, then I'm all in favor of us concurring with that and just moving forward. I don't know why we wouldn't want to move forward with all of that. I don't see any downside. My question I'm trying to follow right now, as this is a communication from the board, is this the space where we would make that decision? No. Okay. So this is okay. I think the city manager is looking for some direction. Okay. That's what, you know, conference meetings are just that, just giving the city staff direction. Did you have any other questions? And just for clarity, so the board and maybe other neighbors that are out in the city that is listening to this particular conversation, our Commissioner Glassman did mention that the agreement is in place where both parties have to agree to move or not move the basketball courts. If we could just elaborate on that a little bit more, I don't know if it will be our lawyer, city manager, city attorney, excuse me, Dwayne Spence, but just for clarity for our neighbors. So the city has entered into an interlocal agreement with the BEMR Community Development District. They are a special purpose district that has their governing documents since their creation. That agreement, and through that agreement, both that CDD and the city are bound to the terms of that agreement. The terms that, or the term that you are presently discussing is that it provides for the replacement of the existing basketball courts with pickleball courts. That's set in the agreement, and from what I'm understanding from what the city manager reported, the inquiry went to the governing body of the CDD with regards to the basketball courts. And they are apparently fixed with keeping the provision with regards to the pickleball courts in place, but are open to agreeing with the city for a replacement location for the basketball courts. Under the current agreement, the basketball courts go away, but based on what I'm hearing in terms of the agreement, we can amend the agreement to provide for the new location for basketball courts. All right. Thank you for that clarity. Sure. Okay, so... Thank you to the chair for bringing your communications forward. Okay, so from what I'm hearing from Commissioner Glassman, there's an indication that we need to augment the interlocal agreement to include other recreational facilities there, because right now the interlocal agreement only contemplates removing the basketball courts and replacing them with pickleball, but nothing else. It contemplates the fitness equipment as well and the relocation of the operational equipment. Okay, but not... But not the... Not new basketball courts and not new grills and new picnic tables. Okay, so we can... So... All right, so let me... Commissioner Sorensen, did you want to say anything? Because I want to add it to this conversation. Yeah, I mean, just to boil it down, the only way to have basketball courts on the beach is to amend this agreement to move the basketball courts. So let me restate that point. Okay. So the CDD is authorized to fund certain improvements under the agreement. The city can request the substitution or replacement of certain improvements as may be reasonably necessary, but the CDD has to consent to that replacement. What would happen here is an action by the commission requesting the change to the improvement as already signaled by the CDD would be acceptable to them. Right. So, Joy, just going back to your concern, which is a concern of mine too, which is, if we're hearing this right, it's the only way to keep basketball courts on the beach is to amend the agreement to have new basketball courts built. As well as the other facilities. As well as additional facilities and largely or significantly funded by PMR. Yes. That's the only option. I just, yeah, I want to, if I'm understanding it right. I'm understanding too. Thank you, Commissioner Beasley Pittman for bringing that forward because as they read it, there were no basketball courts in the contract. So, respectfully, Commissioner Glassman, if you and the team, appropriate individuals can go back and have that conversation and make sure that we do keep a basketball court and courts. And also, if it's possible, there is a significant, I'm very sensitive to the sea turtles and all the other environmental concerns. So, I would prefer, if possible, that we assess what the feasibility is before agreeing to having this project move forward. I don't know how it complicates your process, but I think that's important to find out if we can even relocate the basketball courts. And just so you know, the sea turtles will only be able to play in the evening. With orange lights. Correct. I do understand. Correct. We'll carve out a special time for them. Okay, so, go ahead, Mayor. Now, so, if I understand everything correctly now, right now the interlocal agreement only contemplates the removal of the current basketball court area and makes no further mention of replacing. What we hear today is that the city staff needs direction from the commission as to whether or not the city goes back to the taxing authority and asks them to amend the agreement and asks them to amend the agreement so that it now contemplates their providing the funding for a replacement of the basketball courts. I think there are four hoops now. I think we talked about adding two more or four more. And to then also ask that the project include the replacement of the picnic tables and the grilling stations. And I think we have pretty much consensus on that. We would love to see that happen. Did you want to – yes, Mr. Rogers. Good afternoon, Mayor. Are you here on behalf of the sea turtles? I am here on behalf of the sea turtles. Okay, thank you. I just wanted to participate a little bit in the conversation. The current agreement has the three deliverables that the city manager said, but relocate the operational equipment, install fitness equipment, and install pickleball where the current basketball courts are. With that, there was a $1 million reimbursable amount that the BOMRCD would be willing to contribute. When we met with the board yesterday, they passed a motion that committed to work with the city manager to provide additional uses of that $1 million to include park improvements in the basketball courts. The CDD does not have an obligation to provide the basketball courts, but they're willing to take whatever excess funding is allowed or available after we expend the money to serve other purposes. So I just want to be very clear that the CDD is not responsible for replacing basketball courts or adding basketball courts. That would be a city obligation. Okay, so we can certainly make that ask. You know, if we go back to the table and say, hey, we want to add basketball courts and we want the taxing authority to pay for them in addition to the rest of the improvements, I don't think pickleball courts cost that much. We would want to memorialize all of that in the interlocal agreement. Yeah, we'd like to have that memorialized in the interlocal agreement. Yes, that's what we're saying. Go back to the table and say this is what is being requested by the commission. Now, let me just say something about these basketball courts. You know, everyone who's complained about the basketball courts I don't think plays basketball. And I don't think they play it. And if they do, they don't play it there. When I talk to the guys who do play there, or the ladies actually too, they could care less. They just want basketball courts. So the location of it has never been a material issue for the people that actually play there. You know, there's nothing iconic for them. They just love the idea that they can play on the beach. And I support that. So let's see if, as Commissioner Glassman says, let's see if we can make this a win-win, where we not only get pickleball on the beach, but we also get basketball courts. We also get new picnic tables and new barbecue pits and anything else that we can do to try to work with the Bahia Mar folks to make this an enhanced experience for those who visit the beach. Whether or not they go to Bahia Mar, it doesn't matter. The idea is to create an enhanced experience for those that have visited Fort Lauderdale Beach. And I think that's the goal here. And if we have an opportunity to do it at the expense of this third party, then we should be thankful for that. And I think we should move forward in trying to give the people of our community this opportunity. Mayor, just one thing that you said that was a little flag for me. You really generalized as far as who's using it, saying that they don't care. I don't know if you're not getting e-mails, but I'm getting e-mails where people are quite concerned about the movement of the basketball courts. I do think that we should... Removing or moving? Removing, moving. Well, there's a big difference. I understand that. But what they want to see is for them to stay. But I understand the agreement that we're in and what we are, the opportunity that we're facing to improve and provide new basketball courts. But what I'm sharing with you is it's not correct to say that people don't care. They just want to pay on a court. But there are some individuals who do have a preference or have a desire to keep it status quo. So just saying that, okay? Thank you. Because, like I said... Because the ones I talk to... The ones I talk to are talking different from you. Okay. So we've got two sets of conversations going on. And I have to be the voice also for those who I represent. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Mayor, I just wanted to clear something up. Because, Ben, something you said doesn't jive with what I heard happen yesterday. I thought that the CDD already said that they would replace the basketball with pickleball but also would take on the responsibility of paying for and constructing two basketball courts. It almost made it sound like they didn't contemplate that. But I think they said yesterday that they would. So if I can, there's... For the next steps, and then we can see if that answers your concerns. So from staff's perspective, the next steps, we have a parks bond project that has $1.3 million in it. And we have the CDD contribution of $1 million. And some of those scopes overlap. So right now we're working with the AECOM and we're expecting in the next six weeks to have a concept plan of what the park improvements would look like. That would include the relocation of basketball courts, the upgrade of the other amenities, ADA access, things like that. And we would come back to the commission at that point and understand the feedback or direction from the commission at that point. Then we would work with AECOM to go through all of the regulatory agencies out on the beach. As you're aware, the coastal construction line makes some of the improvements more challenging than a normal construction project. So then we would go through that process and inform the commission of what that timeline looks like for the actual improvements to be made. To your specific question about the improvements of the basketball court, the motion that they put forward yesterday was to allow additional uses of the $1 million contribution. Currently, it is restricted to those three uses. They were willing to modify the potential uses, which would include basketball courts and other park contributions. And so we need to work through that process with the city manager, with the CDD, to come up with an amendment that would address those uses and then also probably extend the timeline for the deliverables to be done by. Sorry. But they did express already their willingness to do all of this, correct? Yes, they did. They did. Very clearly yesterday. Okay, good. That's all I wanted to make sure, that they're willing to do everything it is that we need to see happen to retain basketball on the sand and also have the addition of the pickleball courts and the new benches and grills and the new fitness equipment. So, Mayor and Raquel, what I'd be interested in is having Raquel further explore all options to keep basketball on the beach, including updating the agreement with the EMR with an amendment. Is that fair, Mayor? Yes. Okay. I think that's exactly what we should be doing. Great. And I think that was a recommendation of the district commissioner also. Great. So, if you can take that direction and come back to us with hopefully an amendment to that agreement, that would be great. We'll work on that. Okay. Thank you. And when do you think we could see that? I haven't conferred with my esteemed colleague to my right, but I think we can bring that back in the fall. The fall. Yes. Any particular month in the fall? Well, we're not taking away the basketball courts. The basketball courts are still there. I understand. Okay. I just like to always keep the ball rolling, no pun intended. Well, you keep that ball rolling. I like to keep the ball rolling. Because I know what happens if you don't keep the ball rolling. We see CIP projects going on for five years. We just see everything just going on and on and on. I just want to see this happen sooner than later. We will expedite this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anything further? No. Thank you again to the parts of its board. Enjoyed for being with us today. Thank you, Mayor and Commissioners. I appreciate your time and consideration. Thank you. Thank you, Joy. You're welcome. Thanks. We have another communication from the Economic Development Advisory Board. Is there someone here from the board who is going to make a presentation? Daphne. Push the button at the bottom of the speaker. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, City Manager. On behalf of the Economic Development Advisory Board, there were certain recommendations that were made in particular to communications and tools that they wanted to see the City Commission utilize and with the Economic Development Office as well. One of them was to have a centralized online portal, which is in correlation to the size-up portal that we have when looking at local businesses, how to do market research, but also have a centralized portal for resources, downloadable forms, permitting information, step-by-step guides in how to start their business or become a vendor with the city. We do have step-by-step guides, but they are in finance, in procurement, they're found in economic development, they're found in different parts of the city's website, but they would like to see that more in a centralized way. A second recommendation is to have interactive checklists and tutorials that would guide entrepreneurs through various stages of business setup, from obtaining permits to complying with zoning regulations. And these tools help demystify the process and ensure that business owners are well-informed. Some of these checklists we do have when it comes to the startup FTL program that we have for entrepreneurs and small business owners, which is, oh my gosh, I just lost my train of thought. I apologize, I apologize, oh my gosh, size-up, size-up, size-up, sorry, which is also found in the size-up tool. The third recommendation that they have is more social media marketing. So continue leveraging our social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Nextdoor, X, to disseminate information about startup FTL, size-up FTL, other updates in regards to economic development, to engage the community, and provide valuable insights that we can only find on social media, or that most entrepreneurs use social media for information. The fourth was regular webinars and workshops. As you are aware, we have started ramping up our webinars and workshops. The most recent workshop or summit, you could say, is that CIS Strong Empowerment Summit, which is to revitalize stagnant areas throughout the community. The fourth is a feedback mechanism, so to establish a feedback mechanism, allowing business owners to share their experiences and suggestions for improving CIS business processes, and the feedback can be used to continuously refine and enhance the resources and support provided. And the last is to have a virtual assistance and chat support, which is to implement a virtual assistant or chat support feature on the city's website, providing real-time assistance to business owners, and the service can answer frequently asked questions, provide guidance on specific issues, and direct users to the appropriate resources. I believe the city has already implemented a virtual chat, virtual assistance program through strategic communications, and it could be tailored to answer more questions for business owners and entrepreneurs that we do have available on the website. So, some of these recommendations that the advisory board has recommended here, we have slowly been implementing, and we are ramping up that implementation as time goes by. But they did want to get commission support on ramping up these communication items. Does that complete your presentation? This completes my presentation. Okay, thank you. Yes, Commissioner Beasley-Bittman. This is great. I love all the recommendations. But also, is there currently a commitment in place that allows for face-to-face, hands-on, working an opportunity to navigate through this process with those who are still enjoying and love to touch paper and enjoy to see interaction with individuals? I know that we are in a technological age where we are doing things in this manner, but we still have many neighbors throughout the city who still are more comfortable with that opportunity to actually engage someone to navigate them through such a process. Yes. So, to answer your question, two-fold, Commissioner, we have our business assistance coordinators that are found in our development services department. Those business assistance coordinators walk any type of business through the process, whether it be the permitting process to do brick and mortar or guide them to finance for procurement, to establish themselves as a vendor. They're able to meet with them one-on-one. The second way to answer that question is through our Startup FTL program, where we have those business resources available online. I believe we are going through a transition phase where information is going to be migrated to a new website. So, some of that information may not be up now, but it will be up once that migration occurs. Thank you. And, again, this is going in a positive and in the right direction. I appreciate what I'm hearing and what the committee is putting together. Thank you. Oh, I did want to mention that. I'm sorry. With all that paper, if somebody wanted to come in and receive information, they are welcome to come to our offices or we could mail out that information to them as well. Okay. Any questions of Daphne? I do, Mayor. Thank you. So, Daphne, it was interesting to read the minutes of the board because the chair and the vice chair voted against sending this communication to the city commission. What was the issue? So, initially, this communication was discussed in the April meeting. I have my board liaison. Your virtual assistant. Yes. It was done at the April meeting and there was issues with the language when it first initially was proposed. So, they decided to defer that to their May-June meeting, which is where they initially, well, they still were not in agreement because we have already started implementing some of these recommendations. So, that's why they did not agree to send the communications because we had already started and they felt that it was a redundant communication due to partial implementation of each of these items. Okay. Oh, good. Thank you. I appreciate that because that meeting was like June 11th, so that wasn't... Too long ago. Yeah. Correct. So, it was just interesting to see normally you won't see a chair and a vice chair vote against sending a communication to the city commission. So, I just was wondering if there's any back story there. But, no. Thank you. What are we doing? I always wonder, how do we separate our economic development efforts from all of these other agencies that are out there that seem to do much more of a global Broward County reach like the Broward Alliance or even some of the focus of the workshop? What do we do specifically that separates ourselves and makes it so that we are going after economic development to come to our city as opposed to anywhere in Broward County? Versus the global city as a whole. How do we separate ourselves? I like to say we're very a la carte. When we reach out to companies that want to come to any part of Broward County, we ask them in particular what they're looking for. And then we work with not only the stakeholders, such as the Alliance or the Chamber, to find out what their offerings are, but also internally. So, we work with transportation and development services. Other cities don't have business assistance coordinators to walk an individual through the process. Our workforce is talented, is skilled. We're a hidden gem. And then, of course, because we are almost built out, we don't have that land offering, but we do have offerings for our A-class suites, so business suites, such as the Maine, that they can set up their headquarters. So, we differentiate ourselves with the smaller aspects of what the Alliance or the county or other cities are offering that these companies are looking for when it comes to bringing their families over. So, CEOs want to have a place where education is prominent, where the lifestyle is relaxed. And we like to advertise ourselves as business casual, right? We're not as business as West Palm Beach. We're not as casual as Miami. We're business casual here in Fort Lauderdale. We're privacy, education, a skilled workforce, and the fact that we like to reinvest within ourselves and our community. So, by pitching that to investors and to developers, to the community as a whole, is something that we pride ourselves here to say Fort Lauderdale is different than we live, work, play, and invest. We invest in where we live, invest in where we work, and invest in where we play. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Commissioner, if I could just add, we do plan that should the commission decide to approve the proposed budget, and that an economic development division is established as part of the community services department, that we would be recalibrating and curating the economic development function to be a little bit more Fort Lauderdale-focused. So, I appreciate everything that Daphne has shared. We want to turn it up a notch in terms of economic development. So, we look forward to having those discussions with the Economic Development Advisory Board in the near future. Great. No, I think it's really vital that we have those discussions and that we do separate ourselves a little bit from the others that are out there attracting industry to the county as a whole. Thanks. Yes. Just go ahead, Daphne. I'll add to what you're suggesting, Commissioner, is that I actually went to the Economic Advisory Board with Daphne, was it last week, I think? Yeah, last week. And so, one of the things we talked about was how we can do exactly what you're talking about, further reach out, and so engage some of our local businesses, one, to see what are we doing well as a city, what can we do better, and then how can we attract their peers here. So, I'm with you, and I think there's good work ahead. So, let us be clear, though. The Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, despite its name, is not really focused on Fort Lauderdale. It's focused on Greater Fort Lauderdale. So, to your point, Commissioner Glassman, yes, indeed, businesses that look to locate within our area are not necessarily directed to come to Fort Lauderdale, per se, because that's not the mission of the alliance. The alliance is to enhance business development within the greater area. So, I applaud the city manager for now wanting to take a proactive position in enhancing our economic development department, which, by the way, didn't exist eight years ago, and only recently has become more of a focus as we start to compete with other municipalities for businesses to locate within our city and to try to enhance employment opportunities. So, thank you so much for putting that in the new budget. But, you know, it's been a hard sell in all the years I've been on this commission. When I was a commissioner, it was difficult to get the management to agree that we needed an economic development department and a director to be more proactive, not just responding to business interests, but proactively going out. Now, I don't mean we should buy electronic billboards on Times Square and talk about, you know, Fort Lauderdale as Boca Raton has done, nor do I think we should be buying space on the sphere, you know, in Las Vegas saying, you know, come to Fort Lauderdale. But I do think that there are proactive methods in which we can reach out to certain companies that we know would add a wonderful synergy to all the components that Daphne talks about in terms of people wanting a family-friendly environment to come to Fort Lauderdale and still see business opportunity here, family-friendly in terms of education, in terms of recreation, in terms of employment opportunity, in terms of tapping into the skill set that many of our colleges are providing from the graduation classes. Tens of thousands of people every decade come, you know, come to Fort Lauderdale and graduate from the Fort Lauderdale area schools that provide the kind of skills that are necessary in the, you know, in the growing economic communities that we're now seeing materialize. So whether it be in healthcare, whether it be in construction, in real estate, whether it be in the marine industry or aeronautics, we need to be proactive in trying to attract businesses in seeing Fort Lauderdale as a welcoming opportunity for businesses to want to locate here. So going forward, I think this commission is totally on board with the recommendations, and I think the city manager has understood that and is now including that in the budget and with new personnel as we're trying to go forward on this. So thank you, Daphne. Here's one other idea, Mayor, and you might have been talking about this for years too, but I've touched base with Raquel as something that's brought this up as well, the idea of like a downtown business improvement district as well as something that I know other stakeholders downtown have been interested in as well. So I just wanted to share that as a possibility. I think it's a great idea. You know, we've talked about it. Yeah. What's been, Mayor, the history of that or feedback? Well, I mean, you know, a business improvement district is basically, for those who don't know, is where the stakeholders, the property owners, the business owners in a certain geographical area, they agree to contribute money into a fund which is used for purposes that they designate, whether it be creating business opportunities for entrepreneurs or companies looking to locate here. There are all kinds of approaches to how to spend money that would be collected. Like the DDA is sort of like a bid in a way because they all tax themselves to allow themselves to use this money for business enhancement. So we have one on the beach, as you know, and it's designed to advertise for Lauderdale as well as to enhance the tourist experience when people come here. They help fund festivals, they help fund various events, as well as any other aspects that they can consider that will enhance the experience when you come to Fort Lauderdale Beach. So you want to stay in one of their hotels, right? So we can talk about that at some time, how we might consider a bid in our downtown area in addition to what the DDA is doing and see what the stakeholders have to say on that because I think a lot of that's in your district. So certainly we can certainly entertain that. So is that something, can Raquel and I kind of just socialize that a little bit? Why don't you brainstorm that and bring it to the commission? I would like to see some brainstorming where it's not just pockets of areas that we're looking at. Let's look at the whole city. There's opportunities in District 3 that we can begin to build and have these conversations. What we've witnessed in our city for decades now, we kind of do the silo thing. We have the beach opportunity. Now you're talking about the downtown opportunity. When are we going to do an opportunity for the citywide where no one is left behind? Well, that's exactly what Invest Fort Lauderdale is supposed to do for that corridor. And that's part of our conversation later today. And that is a great direction. And when we have that whole conversation, I'm hoping that we as a commission agree that that's what we need to see. Because it's been too long where we just have pockets here, pockets there, and then we have empty pockets. Everybody's pockets should be a part of the revenue. Well, one could argue that the CRA has been fulfilling that role for many years now in terms of the Sistron corridor, both your district and my district. But, again, when we created Invest Fort Lauderdale, like, what, seven years ago, is it now? Yeah. That was the goal because Invest Fort Lauderdale, and I know we're going to talk about that later, that can do a lot of things that the CRA could not do. So I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to get that ball rolling. Again, that's been languishing for years now and can do a lot of the things that you're talking about, Commissioner. And I agree, and I believe that, you know, sometimes the train takes off a little slow, but it gets to the destination. So let's not derail it. Let's do what we need to do. Okay. Anything else you'd wish to add, Daphne? Not at this time, Mr. Ray. Okay, well, thank you for your presentation. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Our last communication is the Homeless Advisory Committee, and I see Paula Eukna is here. Paula, is there a presentation you'd like to make? Good afternoon, Mayor, Commissioners. As chair of the city's Homeless Advisory Committee, I want to first thank all of the city staff for all they are doing to make our homeless situation better. Carol Mitchell, Louisa Agathon from Neighborhoods of Sport, and especially Chris Cooper for coming to all our meetings and keeping us updated on what the city is doing to help our unsheltered population. I would like to read a motion that was unanimously passed at our July 10th meeting. We would like the city, we would like the city commission to review and revise the ordinance capping the number of people that can be served on any given night at the Central Hack to expand capacity to serve 300 individuals and families. Okay. Chris has also updated us on plans for a safe parking program. This is something I've been advocating for for a very long time, so I want to personally thank you for moving forward. The Homeless Advisory Committee is grateful for that, and we are recommending that you proceed with this program. Any questions? I do. Do you have any questions? What about the other motion that you sent to us unanimously about the GoFundMe page on the minutes? We never voted on that. We never. It says the motion passed unanimously. Not to my recollection. There was a discussion. Why don't we focus on the first one, then? Okay. So, Chris, are we allowed to, I know that right now the hack holds about 230 beds, so does code allow, does zoning allow us to go to the 300 that Paula has requested? Yeah, so, Commissioner, Chris Cooper, Assistant City Manager. So, when the central hack was established, it was established through an ordinance that the city adopted, and it set certain caps and limitations on things like how services could be provided to folks, whether it could be walk-up or if they had to be brought in through some type of referral service. It also set a max cap on the number of people that could be served at any given time. So, Broward Partnership has come to the city and expressed an interest in expanding that cap up to 300, so it's in line with what the Homeless Advisory Committee has communicated to you. So, staff with DSD is working with Broward Partnership to prepare that amendment to their ordinance that would eventually come back to you for consideration. Thank you. And although there's some discrepancy, even though it has been published, is that even kosher to set up a GoFundMe page? The city is setting up a GoFundMe page to deal with some of these issues. Would that even be permissible? So, one of the things that the Homeless Advisory Committee clarified at their meeting last week, last Thursday, was that that communication was to staff, more so to bring back some recommendations to the committee about whether or not that was a legal or permissible type of activity, if there's a way to do it, whether it's partnering with another group or entity to be the recipient of those funds. But it really all ties back to how we can kind of dissuade folks from giving at intersections because that's been a big problem in our city as an alternative to have a way for them to give through another means. So, we'll bring that back to the Homeless Advisory Committee. We'll do our research and homework on that. And if there's a way and a path forward, I'm sure the committee will communicate that back to you for us to take some action on. Great. No, thank you. And thank you, Paula, for your service and your chair of the committee as well. Thank you. Wait a minute, Paula. Paula, don't go away. Hang on. Ben? Go ahead, Mayor. No, no, go ahead. Okay. So, thanks for your work, Paula. We've been making great progress on the safe parking. We've been partnering with Patrice at the county. So, I'm sure Chris has probably updated you of the funding that we're now getting for the first time ever for that, which is amazing. And I think I'm coming to be with you all next month. So, I look forward to seeing you all. But thank you for your work. Appreciate it. That's a location. Yeah, there's a couple different providers we're working on, exploring it with. And so, locations to be determined. But it's looking good. It's going to be at not city facilities, city sites, or anything like that. It's going to be at provider sites. So, what are you working on, Ben? We're safe parking. Just talking about it. Oh, safe parking. Yeah. Okay. So, I just have an informal group that we've been, you know, along with probably many of you. And I know Commissioner Beesley Kidman. So, I was just thanking Paula for her work and the safe parking progress. Well, we still have the issue of, you know, finding a site to establish temporary housing, too. We've been dancing around that subject for a very long time. And we seem to be dancing back and we seem to be dancing in place. We're not going anywhere. Right. And, you know, Madam City Manager, you know, we need to push that conversation forward with the county because we, there are, I get weekly, you know, people commenting to us, you know, even today. Someone sent me a long text. I don't know how they got my phone number, but sent me a long text about how beautiful our city is, but what are we doing about our homeless population? And, you know, we keep talking about funding this and funding that, but, you know, there's still an unhoused population that we have yet been able to find solutions for. So, you know, I think safe parking is, you know, one component of that. But, you know, ultimately, you know, we have people, I have a person who's, who's head of a nonprofit who's willing to devote up to a million dollars to purchase shelter homes, pallet homes, or whatever we want to call them. And, and I said, great, where are we going to put them? Right. So we can't drop that all. We have to keep that conversation going. And we've got to put some measure of responsibility on a part of those that have the opportunity to give to us that space in order to be able to make sure that we are doing, fulfilling our role in finding housing for these people on a temporary basis for, to get them off the streets, give them shelter over their head. Especially, you know, we're in a storm season right now. God forbid we should be inundated with some catastrophic storm. You know, we have to help those people who can't help themselves. And, you know, and I think that, that, that conversation needs to keep going. Right. Absolutely. I mean, it's not getting better. It's not getting better. It's only getting worse. I know. Mayor, if I can add to that. Yeah, please do. Part of the group that I've been working with, we have a few developers and multiple service providers within the county. And we're really working on some, I think, some innovative solutions around exactly what you're talking about, which is some private entities purchasing, it could be older hotels, older apartment buildings in coordination with service providers. So that the service provider would operate, case manage, wraparound services, those affordable long-term housing, workforce housing solutions with the case management support to help those people get successful. So we've got some really good, even properties identified that these entities are kind of looking at now. Wonderful. So more, hopefully, to come, but there's some really good synergy being led by our fearless, Chris Cooper, in helping drive that together. And, Mayor, also, just we have the county, Brad County staff regularly part of these conversations. And let me just tell you, just very supportive, very engaged. They are putting dollars to this. So I think we're, you know, heading in good direction. We've got a lot more work to do, but I like where we're going. Well, thank you for heading that up and for your continued efforts in trying to see those efforts come to a successful conclusion. But we're still seeing people on the streets. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just want to let you know I wanted to say something as well. Go ahead. When you finish. Great efforts, right direction. And what I'm asking that we as a city, when I say we as a city, the neighbors, all of us, begin to do what we can do to assist in this process. Because there's so many times we have that conversation of not in my backyard. And this is something that is not a district issue. It's a city. It's a county. It's a nation. It's all over. And if we're going to see change, we have to be a part of the change. Mindsets need to change about what individuals, who they are, who are unsheltered. You know, many of us have bias of who they are and who they may be, but we have to be willing to be a part of an offered solution. So with that, what I am saying is let's do this. Let's do it across the city and see what we can do. And no area should be exempt. That's right. Being willing to have an opportunity to provide housing for anyone that at this day is without shelter. Yeah. I agree with you. And just, Mayor, if I could just emphasize, there's one other point about that, and I think we all understand and appreciate this. It costs us more as a community to keep someone unhoused on the streets than it does housed with case management support. So it's an economic, it's a value, and it's a community rationale why we need to keep driving and doing better. Thank you. Thanks. Ina, did you want to speak? You signed up to speak. Ina Lee, you signed up to speak. Oh, you didn't mark it down. So it was marked down homeless committee. So, okay, very good. Next item. Okay. Thank you, Paula. Thank you, Paula. Thanks, Paula. Thank you. Okay, moving on to old business, new business, business one, outdoor event ordinance presentation. Who we may, oh, Carl Williams. All right. Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners. Carl Williams, Parks and Recreation Director. As the presentation begins to load in, as you can recall in the previous budget review period, the Budget Advisory Board made a recommendation for city staff to look at a full cost recovery on our outdoor events for third-party individuals. At that time, city staff put together an impact fee matrix and then went to the Central Beach Alliance and the Business Improvement, Beach Improvement District for feedback on that impact fee matrix. And so once we've identified those two areas and got feedback, I came back in March of this year and spoke with you all to get some direction. And at that time, the direction provided was to get with the Parks and Recreation Beaches Advisory Board and get their input on the outdoor events impact matrix. For a bit of background here, we approve events on a two-pronged basis here. Administratively, we can approve them through the city manager. If the event is less than 500 people, no exemptions like alcohol, road closures, amplify music, those would be administratively approved. The second option, of course, is through city commission if there are exemptions to be requested and there's an attendance over 500. So currently, the process stands now is that we have an application process where the application, if it's submitted 90 days in advance, the applicant pays $200. And if it's less than 90 days, there is a $1,000 late fee. And then, of course, there's city services that is tacked onto that. Those are the only current fees that we have for outdoor events. And then there's the $500 beach fee. During the discussion that we had in March, there was some feedback from commission to provide a forward-facing tool for our community, the residents, and those who visit the barrier island and non-barrier island so that they can have a way to look at events in real time and also in the future to notice what kind of impacts those will be having. And thanks to our IT team, we've worked with them. And what you're viewing on your screen right now is the mobile version. And we're working through some of the kinks in this, and we anticipate this to be ready to go live at some point next month for use for the general public, which will be also attached to our event website as well. In addition to that conversation, we also added in the sand space usage spot as part of the metric system on the outdoor event matrix. And we also added in parking spots as part of the matrix that are all rolled into a point system to determine if it's minor, major, intermediate event. Now, as far as the events themselves, I thought it was relevant to list out and identify the various events that we have throughout the city so you kind of understand what level of impact. And to be honest, the main impacts that you would see are the walks and the runs that have the road closures associated with them. And so this gives you a good idea of the differentiation of events that we have throughout our city. And I was asked during our conversations with several of you all, what are the number of events that we have that have 500 or more events or attendance rather? And so on the barrier island in 2024, that's 105 events that have over 500 in attendance. And then non-barrier island for, I'm sorry, for the island this year, it is about 71 in total today. But that number will increase as we get closer to the end of the year. We're on pace right now to do the similar numbers that we have in 2024, as far as the number of permits that we've given out for events. Now, as we move into what we propose, as I mentioned earlier, the only fees that we have is the application fee and the city services fee, as well as a beach sand usage fee. What we're proposing here today for your consideration is a 90-day in advance. If you submit your application, the application fee will go from 200 to 500. But if the application is received less than 90 days, that will be a $1,000 late fee for a total fee of $1,500. Any applications that submitted less than 60 days in advance will only be approved with the city manager approval. The next areas here, you'll probably remember these here because we discussed these back in March. And these outline the differentiations of the impacts and where their scores land, as well as a park and beach impacts per day. Now, for context, there are some increases that will be provided if we were to move forward with the impact fee matrix. Applications, applications, and the fees enrolled into here, you'll kind of notice that there is a significant increase in some of these areas. And these are just some of the events that we kind of outlined to give you an idea of what some of those increases will be. Some events won't have some, but some will certainly have some increases in fees, but it's all based on what those events' impacts are. Now, getting back to March, the direction during that presentation was to get back to the parks board and to get an idea of how they wanted to move forward and get their feedback on the impact fee matrix, the restriction of the number of events, because I know that there was a lot of discussion on limiting the number of events that we wanted to have specifically on the barrier island. If there was an appetite to take the Central Beach Alliance's recommendation for a surcharge for ticketed events and also the fee reduction that the bid made for those events that provided economic benefit to the barrier island. Now, as part of that outreach, the parks board was very supportive of the impact fee matrix. They were not supportive of the surcharge for ticketed events, and they were not in support of the fee reduction for large events that provided economic impact to the barrier island. I also want to point out here that they also mentioned of not wanting to restrict or limit future events. So when asked about providing a specific number, they provided the number 400. For context, last year we did about 389, and this year we're on pace to do they're about the same. Now, one thing I also want to share with you here is that the Beach Improvement District also mentioned of wanting to provide a cap. Recognizing that the impact fee matrix is a method for us to be transparent and to assess events that do provide impact, the idea here is that for those events that provide a true economic benefit to the barrier island, there would be a cap so those particular events wouldn't be or have hardship in paying some of these fees. As we move on to the next slide here, this is a smorgasbord of various options of things for consideration for the commission here to kind of determine if we want to move forward with some of these. And also, another suggestion, I know that we do have several boards, but we do have the option to, if we wanted to have events go through the same process, but instead of it coming through commission, it would come through a board that would be established, and the only time it would come back to commission would be if there is a denial for commission to consider for reevaluation. For staff recommendations, we're proposing the following. We would like to move forward and put in place the impact fee matrix, and we can make that effective October 1. We could also establish a quiet weekend that would determine every weekend of, or one weekend a month to have the no activities take place whatsoever. As part of this, we could also have the Civic Association submit a special event form so that those third-party vendors who come in, they would have that engagement period with them. We would also look at approving no more than one road closure a month. For context, we had 19 previously road closures of events, and as I mentioned, most of those are your runs and walks. And then lastly here is to limit the certain amount of major impact events. Now, major impact events would be part of the impact fee matrix here that would be rolled up and determined based on the number figure, based on the actual event merits. Yes. When you said the 19 street closures, was that one month, or you mean for the year? That was for the year. That was for the year. Okay. All right. Now, in closing here, we're seeking feedback from commission on the following items, which is the, do we want to implement the event fee matrix? Do we want to ascertain the number of events, which was the recommendation of the parks board at 400? Do we want to reduce that more or less, leave it the same? Excuse me. Do we want to have barrier island event considerations? Do we want to have the ticketed surcharge? And do we want to go with the beach improvement district's recommendation of economic impact for the barrier island? And so with that, I will turn it over to you for feedback. Great. Thank you so much, Carl. We appreciate your presentation. How about we start with the district commissioner? Do you have any questions? Not necessarily questions, but first of all, thank you for all of the work. I know we've been having this conversation for a long time, and I hear about this a lot, both from the residents and also from the event folks themselves. There's a lot here to digest. Yes, it is. I mean, first of all, I wanted to ask you one question before I go into some comments. What was the rationale for the Parks, Recreation, Beaches Advisory Board to not support the fee on ticketed events and also not support a fee reduction for large-scale events? What was the rationale? So the Parks Board, so I'll get with the ticketed one first. So they felt that the additional fee would be a hindrance to the events that would host those, which are mainly your runs and walks. Those are the ones that have the ticketed events. And their thought was that it would be a bit cumbersome from that aspect. And then secondly, they inquired about the number of people who process our outdoor events as a department, and that is a total of three people. So that was their feedback on that. And as it relates to the Barrier Island question, I think it really remains to just be consistent. I don't know if it was anything more than that, of wanting it to be in a consistent effort across the board and not to have a specific entity or event that have certain allowances other than others. Okay, because I don't think that one size fits all here. So I think we have to consider the whole picture. So I'm not necessarily in agreement with that. I wanted to get to the pages that options to reduce events on Barrier Island, if we could just go back to that. So some of this is, to me, a little problematic because I don't know how you go and you start cutting and you start limiting, like Commissioner Beasley Pittman mentioned, was that annually or monthly? If we know that we have 19 a year and you are proposing perhaps just 12 a year that require those exceptions, how do we cut seven? Is it first come, first serve? Is it just arbitrary? So that, to me, is a difficult ask. And then I don't know if you decide you're going to have that one quiet weekend or that time when you're not going to have other events. I don't know, does that then make the other weekends even more intense because you're going to be just putting more at the same time? I don't know how that works. I wanted to tell you that I don't think an events review board is a good idea. I don't think we need another layer here of whatever you want to call it. But I think that we have enough. I think the events committee does a good job seeking input from the neighborhoods and then the process that it goes through and then getting to us. And with staff, I think that's good. I'm not interested in really looking at creating another board that would be another layer in this process. So now when we look at the actual cost that you're proposing with the matrix, I think some, because of that, it does become a little bit excessive. What I'm looking to find here is the balance. I understand the concerns of the residents in terms of quality of life issues. That's very clear. But I also understand the need to make sure that we are putting heads in beds, that we do recognize the economic impact of some of these well-established events over time. What I also find missing, and I would like this information before we make final decisions on this, I would like to see how we compare to other cities. That shouldn't be too hard. I'd like to see what is that process? What kind of fees are Miami collecting from an organization like Ultra? What are other fees being collected from West Palm Beach or any other cities, I would just say generally not just in the state but maybe even in South Florida? Just for a basis of comparison, I think that would be really helpful just to have that data, to know that information. I know that we do get – I guess we do get full cost recovery, correct me if I'm wrong, for police and fire from all of these events, which is a good thing. But I want to find the balance. I want to find a reasonable approach that doesn't scare away some of our well-established events. Because I actually look at a lot of these events, a lot of these folks, as almost long-term partners now of ours. We've established these kinds of relationships. Over the years, I've heard less and less complaints when it comes to some of the larger events on the Barrier Island. I don't know if that's because people are just used to it or they know what to expect or actually the events are doing a good job communicating with the neighborhood associations and making sure that we're not impeding too much on the quality of life so that traffic flow is good, ingress and egress off of the Barrier Island is better. We have more people stationed at intersections and streets to keep that moving. Road closures are kept to a minimum. So I think people have learned to live with this and understand that there is a very strong economic impact factor here. And I want to make sure that we as a city recognize that strong economic impact factor. When I look at some of the raw numbers from that chart that basically the fee comparison that shows us as a result of the matrix, I think some of them are a little out of line. I'm inclined to agree with a cap, but I'm not sure it's as low as being recommended. I think that there maybe is a balancing act there where we could go a little higher, but not as high, by all means, as what that matrix is producing in terms of going through that exercise. So, Mayor, those are my, you know, I'm sure I'll have more thoughts. But right now, I still think we need to do a little bit more work. Again, I want to be able to keep these relationships with these folks, especially a lot of these events that take place in what we call either the shoulder season or slow season for us, where we really actually do need this activity. We need things that are driving that economy for us in these slower months. And also, I think that if we get too, I would say not just restrictive, but too expensive for some of these smaller events, then what we would actually be doing was maybe chasing them away and perhaps creating even more larger events that the residents seem to have a difficult time with to begin with. So I don't want to, you know, I don't want to cut off our nose to spite our face here. I just want to, I want to, again, find the balance, find something that's acceptable and reasonable to all parties so that this is a win-win. And I think we can get there. I think this is a great, great work product. And I thank you and everyone that went, that participated in this. And I thank the bid and I thank the Central Beach Alliance and everyone else that had input. I think we're getting closer. I just think we have a little fine-tuning to do. That's it for me, Mayor. Okay. Any other questions or comments for Carl? There would be none? Yeah, Mayor. Go ahead. Yeah, and as you know, I represent part of the Barrier Island, too. And this is, you know, something that I feel strongly about. And, Carl, I think you're doing great on this. And thank you for the engagement with the community. I really like the direction we're heading. This is something, at least in the southern portion of the Barrier Island, I get a lot of concerns about, of traffic impact and so forth. And I agree we've got some great partners. And I think we do need to cap the number of events. I think we do need to limit some of the road closures that happen regularly on the Barrier Island. And maybe it's just the south part where you get kind of going around the turn to 17th and the bridge. And there's a bunch of complicating factors right there. So I like where we're heading, Mayor. And I'll turn it back over to you just for, I think I'd love to hear a public comment to further refine and look at what we want to do. Okay. Very good. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, is there anything you want to say? Yes. I'm just curious about the quiet weekend. Just monthly, how does that look? Because I don't, you know, if you don't go to the Barrier Islands, you don't realize the impact. But is it every weekend? Yeah. Yeah, so there's something going on in the Barrier Island essentially every weekend. Now, some of them are smaller nature because we do have our outdoor activation contractor who is, you know, hired to activate the Barrier Island. And there's your yoga, your farmer's markets, and your various little engagements that they have there. And so if this were something that commission was interested in or had the appetite for, we would work with our partners and to identify. And the quiet weekend could change every month because I want to be clear on this here, too, that this is just third-party activations. This isn't city-produced events. And so as part of that, there will have to be a balance and a discussion on how we would roll that out if we wanted to. But my thought is that it would be like a rolling one. And we wouldn't settle on just one specific weekend because that could impact other things with city-produced events. Okay. We have a number of people signed up to speak. There's quite a few people signed up to speak. So obviously, I just want people to know that this is still – we're not deciding anything today. This is just a discussion. And we asked city staff to go out and do some research and come back to the city commission with some metrics that we could use to make a future decision. I don't think we want to do anything to put any of the events at risk. I think what makes Fort Lauderdale so exciting is the fact that we have activities on the beach, especially a lot of free activities. And I think that's why a lot of people do move to the beach because they love to see all the activity taking place there. And a lot of it is very family-friendly and not exclusive. And I think that that's a hallmark of the legacy that we at Fort Lauderdale have tried so hard to burnish that image over the many, many years. And I think that having these events will continue to help us promote that goal and to keep Fort Lauderdale alive as it is today. Yes, Carl. Yes, sir. And one other thing I want to mention just before we get to the public comment to speak to some of Commissioner Glassman's comments. So we did reach out to the city of Miami, and we wanted to identify some of their larger events. We haven't received that information back, but once we get it, we'll certainly share that. But one thing I do want to bring to your attention is that based on their event process that they have, like, for 1,000 attendees and up, their fee is $250. And their events for over 1,000 attendees goes to $500. So I just wanted to kind of present that to you because that's the information that we have right now and that was present on their online application. Do they have also caps on the number of events a year? I am not certain on that. I've heard that, but I can't speak to that for certainty. Maybe if we could find that out as well. Now, I know that the one recommendation from the board was at $400, but don't we sort of roughly hang around that number every year anyway? Yes, sir. And I know that we've been talking about it. I know when new events come, we are scrutinizing because we're not so much in a rush to add new events, but we are pretty consistent with those 400 events, aren't we, almost every year? Yes, sir. We have a lot of returning events that we have that we administer annually. Thank you. Okay. Let me name the folks three at a time. I'll give you a couple minutes to speak. We'll start with Ina Lee, then Bill Brown, then Lori Johnson. All right. Well, we're not there yet, so when we get to Lisa, I'll be happy to bring you up after her. So the question of regards to the advisory board, they haven't been announced in terms of Sunshine Law, so I'd have to advise the members of that board that more than one member cannot speak on this item at this meeting. I'm sorry. I didn't hear what you said. Because you're a member of an advisory board, in order to comply with the Sunshine Law, only one person from the advisory board can speak on behalf of the advisory board. So it's either you or her. Lisa, I'm not speaking on behalf of the board. I'm speaking on behalf of myself. But unfortunately, you are who you are. I'm on the board, so I can't speak at all. Right. Bye. Sorry. Thank you. We love you. Mean it. Okay. All right. Lisa. Lisa Namor. Good afternoon, everybody. Hi, Lisa. Great to see you all. Yeah. So on behalf of the bid, I am the chairperson. And I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about how we got where we got in our decisions and kind of what brought them. You know, the bid has invested $685,000 of their owner's private money that they earned back. So that's what we do. We take that money and we fund different events, different opportunities, things of that nature, just for anybody that might not know that. So, again, as a general manager as well, it's very important to myself and my colleagues that are, you know, hoteliers that we continue to provide business that fills our hotels and our restaurants and things of that nature. The $685,000 in destination for 2025, the events, it drove $54 million in economic impact. Tortuga alone made up $40 million of that. If we did the math on the taxes and what they pay and what we provide them as their incentive to come to the city, you're going to see that that very much outweighs the proposed $68,000 that we're asking them to further pay, you know, if we were to move forward with the plan as it is right now. Without events like this, we stand the chance to lose both the overall impact and the taxes that are incurred as a result of them. For the new events, the cap would apply only if applicants can provide verifiable data. This was the position that the bid had taken, showing $10 million or more in economic impact, including confirmed hotel room blocks. This distinction ensures that we maintain high standards for new proposals while continuing to support proven events that drive substantial economic activity. The goal is simple but vital to avoid penalizing impactful events with rising costs to encourage their retention and to ensure a reasonable and sustainable fee structure that reflects both city resources, use, and economic return. The growing pressure from some community voices to limit events coupled with increasing fees and regulatory hurdles risk driving away the very events that fuel our local economy, especially on the beach area. We must not allow this to happen, especially with all the development and the improvements that are being made by the owners of these properties in these hotels. Events like Tortuga, the Panther Celebration, the Boat Show, and Air Show are not just entertainment. They are economic engines for us. They fill all of our hotels, energize our restaurants, boost retail, and reinforce Fort Lauderdale's reputation as a vibrant, world-class tourism destination. The bid would like to emphasize the importance of communicating these economic benefits clearly and consistently, while the Parks and Recreation Department are tasked with managing this delicate balance. And the Budget Advisory Board has recommended a cost recovery model to ensure fees reflect the true use of the city's resources. Keeping in mind the rising costs, let's take Tortuga, for example. Music festivals across the United States have closed 50 festivals over the last 24 months due to rising costs of talent, increased costs in production, and municipality costs. Just up the street from us, 37 years and counting, Sunfest was sunset last year. It took, with it, $10 million in economic impact. It also took 2,140 jobs, including temporary and seasonal employment, tied to the festival. 64% of non-resident attendees used paid lodging benefiting local hotels and short-term rentals. It generated $263,900 in local taxes alone, contributing to the county revenue. And trust me, they are looking at our vendors to move back up there. So they're looking to take some of these events back up there. Beyond the numbers, Sunfest also helped local non-profit raise $120,000 annually, donated tickets to community organizations, and engaged in over 2,000 volunteers each year. It was more than just a music. It was a community engine. Sadly, due to financial struggles and declining attendance, the 2025 festival was canceled, and organizers are now reimagining the future. And they're calling upon the different cities that have great events that are currently in place. If it returns, it may look different, but it's a legacy and an economic and cultural powerhouse. If you look at Tortuga, beyond the music and the memories, Tortuga and the rock have become powerful platforms for ocean conservation, community action. In 2024 alone, they hosted and sponsored 14 beach and reef cleanups, removing 1,200 pounds of trash. The annual Rock the Reef event, in partnership with the University of Miami Rescue and Reef Program, has planted 150 corals each year since 2023. At Conservation Village 2025, they proudly hosted 32 non-profit and university programs. They've helped raise over $6 million for ocean conservation organizations, including the Ocean Foundation, supporting local efforts that ripple far beyond the obvious impact. And then let's talk about events who promote their events through media, social media, and advertising plays a massive role in shaping the success and disability for Fort Lauderdale Beach, of which we'd never be able to afford ourselves. Just by being an extension of Fort Lauderdale's image and economy, here's how it all comes together. Am I done? Well, you were done a long time ago. But it was pretty interesting, right? I'll let you go on, but we get the point. You get the point? We get the point. Okay. As long as you get the point. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Bill Brown, followed by Jose Torres. Oh, you're on the board as well? Okay. Thank you for being here. Lori Johnson, are you all? No, Lori's from the hotel. Okay. Yeah. You on the bid as well? Mayor, members of the commission, Bill Brown, president of Central Beach Alliance. I'll be fairly quick. I agree, Commissioner Glassman, this is a starting point. We've still got work to do. But the CBA seems to be getting a bad rap here that we're anti-offense, and we're not. Okay? It goes beyond the CBA district. As Commissioner Sorensen, you're hearing it from Harbor Beach, Harbor Inlet. Even the Gold Ocean Mile had issues with some of the running events and closing of streets. So I think we have to work to figure this out and do it right and keep in mind that this will always be a work in progress. You know, when I said we're not opposed to events, we just met with the event promoter, this bringing back that had occurred in Hollywood prior to COVID, an international rugby game on the beach down there. They want to come to, in October, or no, I'm sorry, January, they bring about 500 people the first year, international from the Caribbean islands and Jamaica. We met with them. We're supportive of it. We suggested they, instead of doing it right in the Central Beach, move it further south down by Boe Ocean. They took that under advisement, went and looked at it and said, yeah, this is a better location. So that's happening. That's how we work together. As far as the ticket fee, I'm going to mention, it said the CBA suggested, it really came up at the Budget Advisory Board when we did this full cost recovery. It was discussed at the CBA meeting. I think there's the Budget Advisory Board, the Beach Improvement District, and Parks and Rec are all making decisions within their own little group. And I think I would suggest that we have a joint workshop somehow to bring those three boards together so that they understand the impact of ticket fees and how it could help the budget, especially as we move forward. When you mentioned, you know, it would be a $40,000 increase for Tatuga, well, they have an attendance of $40,000. That's a dollar a person, okay? If we don't start generating additional revenue somehow with some of the budget, that $1 for that guest coming out of town could be an increase of $25 to a property tax owner in District 3. So where's the balance here? So I think we all have to come together and try to figure it out and what's feasible for all parties. As far as separation of a ticket fee versus a registration fee for these runs and walks, like the turkey trot, okay, where you signed a registration fee, that's not a ticket fee. So we need to separate registration fees versus ticket fees. And hopefully we can all come together, work together, because, you know, the residents of Central Beach recognize that the hotels, along with the marine industry, but primarily the hotels, is the number one economic generator for this community. So I would, if there's a way that the Beach Improvement District, the Budget Advisory Board, and Parks and Rec, before we all just start digging our feet in the ground and saying, drawing that line, saying, no, we don't want this, don't want this, we all need to get together, sit at the table, and try to figure it out, what's best for everybody involved. Thank you. Okay, great. Thank you. Jeff Patterson, are you on the bid also? Okay. Okay. The count. We'll hear trumpets blaring. Three minutes. My first event on the beach was September 1945, before I think all of you were born. My first job on the beach was 1958 in the family marine business. If you look at some of the original loans in this town before 1924, it's got my family's name on it. Now, I agree with 99% of what Commissioner Glassman said. 99%. But I disagree with the idea of not having a cap on the amount of money, and I disagree with the $40,000 you're trying to get out of Tortuga, and I will explain why. Commissioner, you asked how other towns handle this. I have been to these kind of events from San Diego, California, to Wellington, New Zealand, to Montreal, to Keele, to Key West, to Sydney, Australia. Not having a family and having an income, I've traveled the world the last 70 years and the seven seas. The fact is that a bunch of sleazy nightclub owners convinced the Miami Beach City Commission in the 1990s that they should go after money with events on the beach. You had never seen so much sex, so many drugs, so much alcohol, and just bad behavior, which spilled over to breaking into people's apartments. And you know what happened on South Beach. You asked about Miami. Well, Miami sort of let things get out of control. And what did they get? They got drugs. They got prostitution. They got, you name it, they did it. Now, I'm going to say something that the members of this commission do not know. I'm going to say something the staff doesn't know. I'm going to say nothing that you wonderful people who are here attending this event don't know. Fort Lauderdale has more sex clubs than any other place on the planet Earth. We have a large sex tourism in this town. We don't talk about it because we don't participate in it. But the fact is you have to be very careful when you're trying to make money on beach events that you don't go the way that South Beach went, which ended up in chaos and debauchery. You don't want to go on the way of Miami into debauchery. Tampa, which is my hometown, had two events. One was a big event that's still going. It had a smaller event where the town started charging fees and it closed down. You have to be very careful. Fees on events on the beach and beach events have to be used with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. And not all and not the desire to grab money. Finish your thought. The desire to get money for the city should not blind people to the unintended consequences or where that money is coming from. You have to be very careful. Okay. Thank you. Von Freeman, followed by Chris Stacey, followed by Jim Reed, and followed by Ina. Hello. How are you? Very good. Well, I agree with what he just said. But the bottom line is I am here on behalf of Odyssey Communications. And we used to do Riptide. We had Riptide created. But the part of the reason that Riptide's not here, because of the P&L. So when a new company comes in and buys a big media company that's giving the city of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County all this media across the United States, they have to look at the entire big picture. And I just ask everybody here to look at the big picture, because I moved here 15 years ago from Los Angeles, and I didn't even know. When I landed in Fort Lauderdale Airport, I didn't know. I thought I didn't. I thought I wasn't in South Florida. I didn't know where I was at because things weren't promoted. Now I love Broward County. Now I love Fort Lauderdale. But I live in a bubble, too. So I'm just asking everybody, get outside the bubble. Tortuga is a great event. And it's fired, Riptide. And there's so many other great events. So just, yeah, don't. I agree with the count. You know, you've got to be very careful when you make these decisions. Because big corporations that give you millions of dollars and millions of media impressions, I'm talking millions, they will look at the P&L and just go, let's go to Miami. Let's go to West Palm. They won't give us a lot more money, and we'll get it for free. I'll leave it at that. Okay. Thank you. Chris. Hi, everybody. Chris Stacey here. I'm the founder of the Rock the Ocean Foundation as well as the Tortuga Music Festival. Today I'm going to speak on behalf of the Rock the Ocean Foundation. First of all, I just want to thank everybody that came out today in support of and sort of speaking about how important it is to kind of manage these impact fees. We want to be good neighbors. We want to be good partners. We've had great conversations with so many people on the commission, and I think that we can all work together to come to some happy solution. I think at the end of the day, if I were to just kind of boil this whole thing down, because I think many of the points have already been made, and I don't want to belabor them, let's not kill the golden goose. Tortuga has become a fantastic economic engine for the city. Festivals are dying all over the country, and I would like to not choke the golden goose. And I think that if we can come up with a way to measure the positive impacts of the event, and by the way, Carl and his team are amazing, and they've been great to work with on all of this, I just think that that matrix needs some tweaking to really measure the positive impacts that the event has, whether that be economic or climate or social or whatever it is. Those need to be measured equally to the negative impacts of the event. So thank you for all your support, and we look forward to working with you guys. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Jim Reed. Jim? Thank you all. I really appreciate you taking the time to let us chat a little bit about this, and I have tremendous value for the city of Fort Lauderdale and the folks we get to work with on this event every year. I didn't know this was born out of a cost recovery. If we're not paying the costs for the impacts that we have, if we're not leaving the beach in a better place than we found it, then we want to correct that. I truly didn't know that we're not leaving whole, if you will. I don't really have a great deal to say because Lisa said it all. She's brilliant in delivering kind of the message I have, the message Chris has as well. We really love being here. There is a challenge in the festival business right now, so we're trying to manage our costs as much as possible. If we have to pay another $54,000, our audience isn't going to take it as a, oh, they're just adding a couple of bucks here. They have price resistance as well, so we'll just take something away. So the shipwreck goes away or some shade goes away or something, but an audience recognizes that. They see that, oh, this felt different last year or whatever. We want to keep this thing as cool and fun, as fresh every year as we can, and again, added costs may get more challenging. I appreciate your time. Again, Lisa said it all. I'm just mumbling along here. Thanks very much. Okay. Thank you so much. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak on this item who's not a member of the Business Improvement District? All right. Very good. Carl, is there anything else you'd like to add before the commission speaks? No. Just I look forward to your comments. Okay. Great. Thank you. Commissioner Glassman, you already spoke. Is there anything else you'd like to add to your comments? No. Thank you. I'd just like to say thank you again, and let's continue the work and a few tweaks, and I think we heard some good comments today from everyone that spoke, and I think we'll get there. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. Anyone else wish to speak before I add to the conversation? Do you want to speak? I'll go after you, Mayor. Okay. Go ahead. Commissioner. No, I'm comfortable. Thank you. Okay. So to the point that's been made, yes, I think that one of the reasons why we wanted to take a second look at our fees that we were charging for these events was because of cost recovery. We see the impact on our bathrooms, our wave wall, you know, who's paying to have those repainted and the chips filled in with concrete. You know, these things happen to our beach, and people say, oh, well, look at the economic impact that's happening to your community. Well, it doesn't really come directly to the city. You know, I'm happy that the hotel rooms get filled, but I also know that the, for example, the bed tax, it doesn't come to us. It goes to the county. When we talk about sales tax, it doesn't come to the city. It goes to the state. And so, you know, the city is kind of having to foot the bill, and I know that the Tortuga folks have done an amazing job at keeping the beach clean and picking up after the event, and it's been an amazing partnership that we've been able to enjoy over these many years, and we don't want to see it go away. Now, I understand that ticket sales have plummeted, and so that economic reality is something we have to face. Maybe this was an important venture that we undertook in order to determine what the feasibility of seeking additional reimbursements from the event sponsors, but maybe this is not the year to entertain it because I understand that a lot of these festivals are going away. People are not spending the money, and we'd like to be able to maintain at least what we have. According to the numbers that I was shown yesterday, the numbers went from somewhere in the 30,000s to the 20,000s in terms of the number of people showing up at this event. That's a huge cut into the ability to put on an event like this because it costs the same whether you have 30,000 people or 20,000 people. It's still the same costs that are incurred. You have to pay for the talent. You have to pay for the security. You have to pay for so many other things that are a minimum, and the only way you make a profit is by adding more people to the event. So for that reason alone, I think this was an important exercise, but I personally don't want to take any further action on this because maybe this isn't the right time to be doing it. The matrix itself does bear some comment. As Commissioner Glassman said, I don't know if one size fits all. I think that each event will have a different amount of impact on the beach. For example, the events at the aquatic center are contained within the aquatic center. They never go on the beach. They never go anywhere else. They don't close down roads and things like that. And if there are 23 events in the aquatic center, they really don't have the same impact as 23 marathons on the beach, right? So no, we're not having 23 marathons on the beach. Don't worry. But the point is that I think it was an important exercise, but given today's economic conditions, I'm not sure if now is the time to implement any of this. That's my opinion. Anybody else wish to comment? Yeah, Mayor. Thanks. So, Mayor, I understand the economic strain. I think we as a city are under an economic strain as well. So I think we have to consider both sides of the equation a bit there. And maybe there's a middle ground. And so I'm completely understandable and support this idea of kind of the economic impact considerations for events. And so I completely support that being factored into the matrix. And I think it is fair to say that we should be charging more than what we're charging. So – and I think we can charge more as a city and still preserve the relationship and the economic health of these bigger events. So, for example, Mayor, going from – so I think Tortuga, which is fantastic, and Chris and Jim do a great job, going from $13,500 to $68,000, that's a big delta, completely understand. But I think it is fair to say what's a reasonable cap for that. And so I think the – for example, the – what was it? The bid was saying $15,000, I think. I think it was $15,000 as a cap. $15,000. Using the matrix but capping it at $15,000. Right. So I think they're – and I don't think we have to figure out what the cap is right now. But I think that's healthy to say what's – you know, what would be a reasonable cap for it so that we are, you know, providing some compensation for the impact we're having on the city. So let's get – let's get, like – or Chris, where'd you go? Come on. Chris, can you come on up, please? Yeah, yeah. Bring Jim up. Bring your partner in crime. So my – so a couple of questions, and maybe this will help inform the kind of Chris and Jim, this process of just kind of thinking through. So the idea of assessing the economic impact, which I think makes sense, what are some ways that staff could, like, easily do that, not just for your event, obviously, but other events? Like, what would we look at in your view? Well, we run an economic impact study every other year, I think. When was our most recent one? 25. We just did – yeah, 25. So we do that, and we share that information with, you know, stakeholders that need it. That'd be one way. Okay. I know the Visit Fort Lauderdale also runs their own economic impact studies based on the metrics that they're able to ascertain. I honestly don't know where that data comes from, but that's another source that I think we could use. BID obviously has a heads in beds situation where they can identify that, oh, this is a weekend that an event like ours is happening or an event like boat show is happening, and they know that most weekends our number of heads in beds looks like this, but the weekend that our events in town or the weekend some of these other large events are in town, they know the difference. They can follow that. Okay. So, in other words, what I'm hearing you say is have events provide to the city an economic impact assessment. Sure. And then the city would kind of evaluate that and say, okay, here's what we've got, here's analysis, and then that possibly could be part of the matrix as an idea. Okay. That's the idea. Great. I like that. What – and I know, you know, by event you're most likely to be – if there was no cap, you, Tortuga, would most likely be one of the highest kind of cost events in terms of if the matrix did not have a cap. Given that, what do you think is a fair cap and still reasonable to increase our fees to some degree? What's a sense there? I don't know that we can answer that here today, but I think that we could certainly work with you guys offline to come up with a number that makes everybody – we want to be good partners. Yeah. We don't want to have an impact and, you know, leave the beach. And I made a commitment when we started this event that we will leave the beach better than we found it every year, and I think we've been – And you do. In my experience, you do leave it better with Seagrass and everything. So, you know, given the partnership and the working relationships we have with Raquel and the rest of the folks in the city, I'm sure we can sit down and hammer something out that everybody feels comfortable with. So I'd like to do that if that's possible. Or, Mayor, is that okay? Sounds good to me. I mean, I don't need to do it, but I'd love for you all to work with Raquel on – and Carl, obviously. On those two can bid, obviously. You all be part of that however you like. But looking at the economic impact – and, again, I don't think that has to be that complicated. It's just getting an analysis and then staff could evaluate that. So the two things that I think need to be measured on the positive impact are economic and then also environmental. And, you know, we didn't talk much about it here today, but we hosted 18 beach cleanups last year on Fort Lauderdale Beach and probably donated somewhere in the half-a-million-dollar range back to various nonprofits throughout the community. And we get no credit for that, you know, sort of in the existing version of the matrix. So I think there's an environmental component and then I think there is an economic component. I like it. So if we can figure out how to measure those things, come out for a win for everybody. I like it. I'm completely, completely with that. And then, yeah, and then the cap idea, too. So that kind of figuring out what that is, obviously not just for you but for everyone so that we kind of have that built in. Okay. Great. So that sounds like a good next step for those components, if that's all right? Got it. Okay, great. Then, Mayor, I just want to keep going on some other components on this, if that's all right. Okay, good. I think you're – yeah, Jim, go ahead. Yeah, yeah, thank you. Carl, does that – is that making sense where we're kind of – that possibility? It does. And, you know, while we were kind of talking through this, I just had a jog of memory. So maybe it may make sense if we get all of the entities in a joint meeting and kind of have a conversation about all of this in a workshop because I think there's a lot of competing interests, but I also think that there's – the end goal is aligned to some point. So I think there may be some value in doing that. Yeah, I defer to you, Carl. Whatever you think and Raquel thinks helpful, great. I mean, I think what we just agreed to is a core component of this, but, yeah, whatever you want. Yeah, I think we can have that conversation and look at even the opportunity cost of not being able to access the sand or the beach for the public. I like weighing the environmental benefits as well as the economic impact, but I think there should be and could be a deeper conversation and we arrive at a reasonable cap. Great. Okay. Awesome. Next topic that we're kind of considering is page 14 if you want to pull it up on the PowerPoint. Thanks. The – just some of those components. So we've talked about the event fee matrix. We're going to kind of work on that some more. The quiet weekend monthly, just specifically on the barrier island, and then the approved no more than one event per month with a road closure on the barrier island. And currently we have 19 annually. So the road closure is just one of the big impacts, at least on the southern portion of the barrier island, where it really can be tough for neighbors. So I'm really interested in this limiting the road closure on the barrier island per month and trying to – I think one per month would be a great place to be. We can evaluate as we go through, but I think that matters from a traffic impact standpoint. So Commissioner, Mayor, is that idea of trying to limit it? I don't understand what a quiet weekend means. Well, I'm not doing a quiet weekend in the moment. I was just talking about the road closure, limiting road closure on the barrier island for events. I think the road closure – I think that's – honestly, I think that's the most annoying thing is – I agree. When people think about events, they really just think about road closures. And so how you figure that out – I don't know. As Commissioner Glassman said, how do you choose? You choose – I think you go first. First come, first serve. First come, first serve, and if it's a viable, appropriate – is that what you're thinking, first come, first serve? It has to be first come, first serve. It's only a fair way to really do it. Do we have 19 legacy events so far? No, not 19, but we do have reoccurring. But when we talk about legacy, you're talking events that have occurred five years plus. Right. I mean, if anything, I don't want to dissuade anyone who's been with us for a few years and say, oh, by the way, you can't do it now, especially if they've been doing it for all these years. So if there are – if you can come back to – you know, go back to your office and just, like, figure out who has – who have been here, like, legacy events, and those should have priority. And then on a first come, first serve basis. I would also like to see the entire list of the 19 just so that we're able to ascertain what it is we're talking about and then how that would work and, you know, what would be the best-case scenario, what would be a difficult-case scenario, just so, you know, we know what we're talking about. Okay. Yeah, Debbie, thank you. I think that's great. Does that sound all right, Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, this direction on the barrier? I'm sitting here adding up some times and weeks. I'm trying to figure out 19 out of 52 weeks a year is not a large number, but the impact, how close are they together? Are we talking about one month where there are three, four, and one month? I'm just trying to cycle this through my process. Yeah, so what really kind of happens is that – and we're about to get into that season now where a lot of the holiday runs and walks take place, and you'll start to see multiple of those take place within a month. So you might have a month where you have two and three road closures. And so from a resident standpoint, it does look like it's something every weekend that's taking place that's – Okay, because that's what I'm trying to understand, because when I just see 19 and you look at the 52, I know it's impactful, but how close together are they? So being able to balance that, because what is that percentage, the 19 out of 52? I'm not putting it back on the math. It's on the third. Yeah, but with that, is that even with what we're working with, is there somewhere to make a balance? So I think there is – there could be a balance made there. You know, we would have to, you know, go back to those organizations and event producers to see, you know, from a time standpoint, if we pushed your event later or earlier, you know, we could kind of work with that to see. But a lot of it is concentrated in the last few months of the year. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. So the suggestion of Civic Association Acknowledgement Form to be submitted by event promoter, if you maybe just share with folks again just what that means. Yes, sir. Please. So essentially, the promoters who are putting on the event, prior to the event being done, they would do the outreach to the Civic Associations, the homeowners associations in the impacted areas, just so that they fully understand the event themselves. When we have our outdoor events meetings, we have the HOA or Civic Association president. But this would encompass all those that may be impacted in the area as well. Yeah, I mean, so it's kind of a notice engagement process, which I think is helpful and healthy. And that's all right. Okay, so good, good with that. I agree, Commissioner Glassman, about the events review board. I think as long as you feel like staff has a bandwidth, can continue doing what they're doing. I think not having that is makes makes sense. So I think that's good. And I think the quiet weekend, I like that idea, but maybe let's just start with limiting the road closures first, and then we can kind of evaluate that, if that's all right, to kind of keep that rolling. The number of events, like capping the number of just total events in the city, that's something I'm interested in. I'm trying to think, Mayor and the Commissioners, of a way that you feel like would be helpful to kind of look at that number. Like is it would it be helpful to have like events categorized or I'm just trying to think because at least I don't think strict. When we're looking, when we're approving events, I don't think, okay, how many 5K walks do we have in this part of the city at this time? I mean, I'm just trying to think of a way if we wanted to think more strategically about the events. Yeah, that's a difficult one. But, you know, these eventually come to us anyway, right? Don't we approve or not approve of most events? Yes, any of these events that have attendance over 500, if there's a road closure, amplified music, all of them. So the Commission will always have that opportunity to weigh in when an event comes to the Commission. I mean, I don't know if it makes sense to just arbitrarily throw out a number and say that's it. I mean, why? What's the basis for that? Well, yeah, I mean, I just, I think we have too many events in the city. I think it just impacts overtime, police staffing it impacts, it impacts roads, traffic, and so forth. And so I don't know. We've been pretty consistent in the last few years, haven't we, with how many we have? As far as the number of events we have. Have we seen any real alleviation from that number? Odyssey has gone away, so that's one less. But we roughly are always like 400, right, small, medium, large. We haven't really, Commissioner, we haven't really seen a huge addition of events. I think 400 is too much. Sounds like you guys think it's just right. When they say 400, that's really nice. I think it's too many. So there's a couple of things I want to kind of touch on. So in 2024, we processed 389 total events. Yeah, but from what to what? I mean, from Flema, from, you know, from farmer's market to... Yeah, correct. Yeah, I mean, it's all of it. So it's unfair to equate farmer's market with Tortuga, you know? Agreed. Sure. So to say 400 events, we're not seeing street closures every day. We're not seeing, you know, it's not fair. I think in terms of major events, down to it, you can count on one hand. Well, look, look in front of us. Half of them are on the barrier island, and half of them are off the barrier island. I just think it's too many events. Yes, and we'll... Everywhere, barrier island, and not barrier island? 197 events on the barrier island in one year. That's more than the rest of the city combined. Okay, but look at them. Look at that. Look at what they are. Look at them. The farmer's market's 89. I'm looking at them. That's almost half of them are just related to the farmer's market. And that's probably right at La Sola Social Site Park, one spot. One site, sure. And the swimming hall up there. Right, the aquatics complex is swimming. I mean, so you're already up to, you know, 130 just with those two little... Yeah, it's... I mean, all good. It just... These events impact traffic on the South Barrier Island. Maybe not where you all are, or that impacts you all. It impacts us where we are. But all good. We'll take it with where we are right now, what we're agreeing on, and we'll kind of engage on this, you know, another time. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you, Carl. Appreciate it. It was my pleasure. Okay. Yep. All right. Thank you so much, Carl. Is there anyone else who wishes to comment on any of this? Okay, we'll move on. Folks on the commission, I just want to point out one thing. As time continues to pass, you know, we have still a lot going... We have still business two, business three, business four, business five with a closed door session. We'll see how this goes. We may have to take one of these agenda items and move it to another meeting. No one has signed up to speak on any of these other agenda items, so I'm just... I don't think anyone's come here and will be told to come back at another time. But let's just see how things are going. It's quarter to four right now. So business two, city produced events. Okay, we're back to that again. Carl? Carl. All right, I'm back again. I'll wait for the hospitality slide to be pulled up here. Okay. Unlike the previous presentation, this one speaks specifically to city produced events. And as a department in Parks and Recreation, we produce roughly 60 events annually. And we bifurcate these by signature events and community events. And we typically do this based on the attendance that we have at these particular events. If you'll recall, in March of this year as well, I came before you all and had a conversation about what direction do we want to move forward in, especially as it pertains to our events and how we're going to fund them in the long term. And part of that conversation was identifying a sponsor. And so we've been working with our procurement department, and we do anticipate the third-party sponsorship company or organization to come on board, and we anticipate them being on board at the top of the year. And this company would work on our behalf to source funding efforts for our events and programs and projects. As part of this as well, we discussed the city manager threshold. In March, the threshold was $50,000, and now it's $100,000. So I wanted to identify that and articulate that on this here slide so you kind of understand where we are today as far as it pertains to the presentation going forward. Now, there were two distinct things that commission wanted me to work through, which is identifying the standardized effort for how we want our hospitality events to be, and also identifying the events that we wanted to be a part of having a hospitality area. And of that conversation, you wanted me to get back to the Parks Board and solicit their feedback and recommendations to bring forth to you all. And that being said, the Parks Board did recommend a hospitality experience. They provided the standardization threshold of $1,500 per activation. And of course, that would include your tents, tables, and chairs. As a department, we have a tent that we provide, and then we would rent out the tables and chairs otherwise. And one thing of note that I do want to mention is that the board was pretty consistent with their thought process of for these hospitality areas that the alcohol should not be as part of it or should be a cash bar if a sponsor is not provided. The second identification here that we wanted to talk through was the number of events or identifying the events that we wanted to have as part of hospitality events. And as you'll see here, there was five that was identified. And those five include the New Year's Eve Downtown Countdown, the Sistrong Parade and Festival, St. Paddy's Day, Fourth of July, and Summer Jams. Now, as we move forward into some staff recommendations here, one of the reasons why you'll see a slight increase on our end is just that, you know, with the ever-rising costs and things, I felt that it may be beneficial to us to have a little wiggle room in there and to provide $2,000 threshold there, which we would apply throughout all of our hospitality events that we would produce. We'd also recommend adding the Great American Beach Party to add a sixth event that would have a hospitality area. And these would be funded and approved, of course, through you all as a governing body, as a city commission. Now, as we close this particular presentation, we'll be looking for feedback on how you want to proceed. Do we want to go with the Parks Board recommendation of the $1,500 and a cash bar option? Do we want to still stay with the five events? Or do you want to go with a mix mash of what you would with city staff recommendations with the $2,000 budget, cash bar, and then the additional event that you see? Here with the Great American Beach Party. And with that, it could be a combination of either of the two. And I'll turn it over to you all for discussion. Okay. Well, my opinion? Yes, sir. I like the city staff recommendations. I think we should enhance our experience when we invite people to these events. And I think these signature events certainly qualify for what are indeed associated with our city. To be honest with you, one of the things that I think we could do much better on is New Year's Eve. I know that we've been talking about changing the venue and working with Inter-Miami and maybe moving this year's event to the stadium because it is the sesquicentennial of the state of the country. So, but aside from that, you know, I've always, you know, in the past, we've always used the balcony of the Science Museum as a sort of, you know, VIP experience and no one ever shows up. The food is awful. We don't, it could be a ticketed item to cover the expenses. We don't really do what we could do to make that a true, you know, exclusive event, which I think, um, I think the city would, would definitely benefit from. So, but other than that, I think that, um, everything else that, that the staff recommended, I would, I would go along with. Anyone else have any comments or questions? Yes. Go ahead. Um, I agree. I like the staff recommendation, but I would like to know why, um, the recommendation for, um, the Great American Beach Party was not a part of the Parks and Board. Why did they cut it out? Yeah. So the, historically, the Great American Beach Party never had a hospitality area. And so it wasn't a part of the, that consideration. So I don't even think that party even crossed their minds. Thank you. But I like the staff recommendation. Yeah, I agree. Okay. Oh yeah. Oh, you have something to say? Yes. Thank you, ma'am. Okay. Um, so Carl, I agree, um, with Commissioner Busy Pittman and the mayor in terms of the staff versus the, uh, the board's recommendation. Um, but I would like to ask, is this also in addition to you still seeking outside sponsorships for these hospitality areas? Or is this what happens if we get no outside sponsorship hospitality? So this would be to standardize it across the board so that each hospitality area going forward would be at the $2,000 threshold limit and it would be those events only unless we got feedback from commission to add or remove an event. So going forward, whether you get a sponsor or not, we would have, uh, these here six events, $2,000 budgeted, which we'll work through with, uh, Laura and her team to kind of implement going forward into this fiscal year, um, for these events going forward. But are you seeking as a staff? So I think that if, if we set a budget at $2,000 and a sponsor wants to come in and say, Hey, I'll foot the bill, then it will be sponsored by that particular entity. If they want to spend more money, it's up to them. It's up to them too. Right. Okay. But the threshold is $2,000. Okay. I'm fine with that. And I just want to, I mean, my, and what I agree with most here is that we're going to look at some sort of uniformity because there, there really has not been a uniform approach to the hospitality areas for those six, uh, major, um, events. So I'm, I'm happy to see us working towards, uh, some uniformity. Thank you. And I think this will achieve that. You know, once we set this with your direction, um, our team will make sure that we identify that we'll kind of work with the budget that we have similar to the events that we have now and work within that budget. Thank you. So here's, did you want to add to that? Yeah. I mean, and here's my, um, thoughts on this is, uh, you know, I can understand the idea of a hospitality area. I don't think the city should be spending city dollars on hospitality areas. So I'm fine with this if sponsors are paying for it, but I don't think the city should be spending city taxpayer dollars on hospitality areas. If we don't have a sponsorship, if that can be. So do your best, Carl, make sure we get a sponsor for each of these events. Okay. Yeah. So, and I do. So with that also being said, I mean, that's kind of what we've adopted for the past couple of years is that we didn't have a hospitality unless we got a sponsor, but that also led to, uh, one event will be really nice. And then the next one, not so much nice. And so I think the effort of this would be to either we have them and we standardize it. So it's across the board and it's equitable or not. Why don't we make that decision on a case by case basis? You could come to us and say, I'm sorry, commission. We don't have a sponsor for this event. And then we can make a decision at that time, whether or not we want to allocate the money. Why don't we do it that way? Okay. All right. Okay. Great. Thank you, Carl. All right. Thank you, Carl. Did you want to say anything, Ben? You're so lugubrious tonight. Yeah. I just wanted to confirm. Uh, so as Carl said, we'll put $2,000 in for these six events in the budget. They'll be planned out. We'll be seeking sponsorship opportunities. Right. And if we fail to get a sponsorship opportunity, the commission is looking for us to come back before the event happens to inform you. Yeah. And then you'll make the decision to continue moving forward or not. Correct. I, the only concern I have with that is the timing of it. A lot of times we get sponsors a couple of weeks before and on the planning side, we might have to make orders and make commitments for things to be there through the planning process. So I just want to clarify the city commission's expectation on that. Well, okay. But now that, now that we have a, um, now that we have a protocol in place, why don't we try to get sponsors, you know, we can get sponsors a year in advance sometimes, you know, it's only $2,000. It's not a lot of money here. Yeah. We're not talking about the Superbowl, you know, we just agree. I just want to make sure as we standardize this approach that we don't have different expectations at the commission on what to expect. So right now the direction, I think the direction we hear is put, put it in the budget and then maybe a month before the event, the city manager during the city manager report can let you know if we've identified a sponsor or not, and we'll make a decision a month before the event. Correct. Thank you. Yep. Okay. And that is scheduled permitting. The commission may be on recess prior to a major event. So I think we'll have to use our discretion to some degree. Leave it up. You have, you have, you have authority. So thank you. Yeah. Oh, real quick, mayor. One other thing too, is cause we didn't really touch into the minutia of this, but, um, I know during our one-on-ones, I want to be clear about how you want to address the, the alcohol portion of it. Um, do we want to have a cash bar? I think the cash bar is the most, yeah, we can't give, be giving away, unless the sponsor wants to foot the bill for liquor. Yeah. It depends if the sponsor wants to, to fund the bar. Sure. And with that, that would make the sponsor responsible for any, um, drunkenness and disorderly conduct. No, you're putting it in words. I thought you weren't going to tell on me. But just trying to make sure where liability lies. Yeah. So for all of these, yeah, for all of these events, uh, we would. Hire a, a, a concessionaire to run the hospitality area within the budget. And then they would provide their, their spirits for a cash bar purposes. And if we had a sponsor, then they would pay for that component of it. And then they would have, but they would have to get the insurance for it. Yes. That's good. I'll drink to that. Thank you. You're welcome. And one other thing I, um, I know we kind of moved past this. We said a month, but why not a two month window? And that way we can say, and then if you get someone, you can always revert it back to that opportunity for sponsorship because a month, especially like summertime when we're on recess, that may cause a, um, a delay in getting that vote in or that conversation. And so I, I suggest if we, as a commission consider two months, it gives us a bigger window to work with. Well, it is what it is. I mean, if, if they don't have a sponsor two months out, are you suggesting we don't have a hospitality area? No, that's not what I'm suggesting. But we, I, what I was hearing, it would determine which direction we go in. Correct? Yes. It would have to come back to the commission. Correct. Right. So if we had that two month window, but they would still, if someone comes in at the ninth hour, we could still revert it back. Okay. Okay. Anything further? That's it. Okay. Thank you so much. Carl, you can go home now. You've earned your keep today. Okay. Business three review of the community development block grant disaster recovery needs assessment survey. Chris Cooper. It's a mouthful. Uh, good afternoon again, uh, mayor commissioners, Chris Cooper, assistant city manager. So we're bringing this item to you today, um, for a couple of reasons. One is this survey is related to the CDBGDR, which is the community development block grant disaster recovery, federal funding that the city received as a result of the 2023 flood event. And as part of the process to spend that money, the city has to go through a process to develop an action plan. And one of the key steps in that is the public engagement and participation process. And that is the point of the survey that is in your backup attached to this item today. So a couple things we want to achieve today. One is we want to get your thoughts on the survey questions and the survey itself to, we want to take this as an opportunity to promote the survey and let folks know that it's going to be available. And three, we want to talk about how that survey is going to be made available to folks who are interested in, in taking this survey and participating. So I have Rachel Williams here as well, our housing and community development manager. She can answer questions about how the survey was developed, what the questions mean, what the eventual outcome will be, and the opportunities that we'll have available for people to take the survey. Okay, I'm looking at the survey and, I mean, what are we trying to find out? Are we trying to limit the responses to only those who were impacted by the flood? Because we all have opinions about how money can be used and without being impacted. Go ahead. Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners and City Leadership. Rachel Williams, Housing and Community Development Manager. So as Assistant Manager Chris Cooper mentioned, the survey is a part of the citizen participation process, and the questions were developed and guided by the eligible uses of the grant funding. Okay. Did that answer your question? No, not really, because I'm looking at some of these questions, and it seems like you're looking to narrow the input you're seeking to only those who are affected? Yes, because the grant does have a tie back to those who were impacted by the 2023 flood. Is that how it works? Okay. That's how it works, yes. Okay, thank you, thank you. That explains it then. Okay, keep going. Yes, I wanted to also provide some additional information as to how the survey will get to residents. We're going to be sending the survey electronically. However, we're going to make in-person opportunities available to also complete the survey electronically. And I stress electronically because we're on a very narrow timeline, and the plan is due to HUD by October 21st, so we're on a very tight timeline. And so collecting it in a paper format will add to that timeline in assessing the results of those survey in a paper format. So what we intend to do to make sure that all our residents who are interested in participating is creating in-person opportunities where staff will be able to sit with those residents who are not as computer savvy to help them navigate this. How did you gather up these email addresses? How are you getting everybody involved here? Well, we're going to be publishing the survey via the city's social media platforms. It will be made available on the website. And we have also published a notice in the Sun Sentinel on the availability of this survey. All right. It's got to be – did we ever – when FEMA came into town, did they ever get names, addresses, email addresses? I wonder if we could tap into that. Everybody else seems to be tapping into the federal information data banks. Is there any way we can maybe tap into the recipients of any FEMA funding? Yes. So as part of the process, we are required by grant regulations to access that FEMA data. And we have already executed a joint HUD FEMA data sharing agreement. So we will have access to that data. We will. Okay. All right. And also data from the Small Business Association. Okay. Because, I mean, we can put it on social media. You know, you can put it on Facebook. The only person that I ever see who reads it is Ted and Sarah because he always has a comment about it. But other than that, I don't want to say we've reached out to the community when a lot of people are just not going to see it. So thank you for letting me know that we can probably use the data from the FEMA experience to be able to reach out to all the people that benefited from the impact of the storm. And I just also want to add, Mayor, that as staff and residents, we can also spread that word verbally. And the staff who are located in the Housing and Community Development Office will be available and ready to support any neighbor who has difficulty in accessing or filling out the survey. Okay. Great. Thank you. Yes. Pam? In an attempt to make sure we get the information out, written publications, you said on Sun Sentinel. Have you considered some of the other publications we have on West Side Gazette? I believe there's a Jewish publication as well. There's some other written publications that maybe we could. Some weeklies. Yeah, weekly that this could be added where someone may see it, where they may not see it in the Sun Sentinel. We can also look into those publications. In the past, we didn't engage the West Side Gazette because it was cost prohibitive, but we can also look into those opportunities. Another thing that we are doing, we have gathered all the email contacts for all the HOAs across the city, and it will also be sent out that way. Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Rachel, for doing this, and Ashley, for your help. Question number one, differentiating between a renter or property owner, why do we need to do that? Okay. So with property owners, we can go into direct agreement with property owners to do work or rehabilitate that property. But if it's a renter, we need to know, identify through that renter who is the correct party who would want to participate in any of the programs that we have stood up. Okay. So does that mean that with this survey, you're going to reach back out to the person who completes the survey? Or you're just saying in general? In general. In general so that we can know how to then develop that plan to meet the needs of the community. So in other words, you'll say, okay, 15% of the respondents were renters, 75%, you know, whatever, 85% were homeowners. So that's going to then shape kind of how we structure things. How we structure things, yes. Okay. Cool. Thank you. That makes sense. Let's go to question seven. So did you or your household receive any assistance for the 2023 flood recovery? Great. Then number eight, it says, were you or are you still displaced from your home? I think for many of the following questions, we should caveat the question by saying, as a result of the 2023 flood, right? So in other words, for eight, were you or are you still displaced from your home? You could be displaced for many reasons. But what we're trying to say, correct me if I'm wrong, Rachel, is were you or are you still displaced from your home due to the 2023 flood? That is correct. So a part of what is not on your survey is a little opening statement that will be available through SurveyMonkey, which is the tool that we're using explaining this grant and the why behind it. And so that will be included there. But that's a good observation that we could also add it to each question so that participants don't have to keep going back to the why. Exactly, yeah. And like number 10 is another just example. What's the most urgent, unmet need in your neighborhood? Neighbors might share many unmet needs as they tend to do, mayor. Right, right. So let's narrow it down. Exactly, with that language in there. So that's – and, you know, you can go through the rest of it, but that's just the one suggestion. Thank you. But this is great. And I love getting to see the survey in advance. So thank you, Raquel, Ashley, and Rachel, and Chris, so that we can kind of see what folks are going to be getting. Yes. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you so much. We appreciate all the hard work and really anticipate looking forward to the results that you get to. Did you want to say anything? Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners. Ashley Dussard, Strategic Communications Director. I just wanted to give a little bit more context around we're going to be working very closely with Rachel to make sure that we use all available avenues that we have to get this out to the community as widely as possible. Okay, great. Excellent. Thank you. All right. Moving on to Business 4, Invest Fort Lauderdale Overview and Next Steps. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, commissioners, city leadership. I am Clarence Woods. I'm the manager of the Fort Lauderdale CRAs. And what we have before you today is a discussion of Invest Fort Lauderdale, the nonprofit or the 501c3 that we're trying to get. And we want to talk about what is just an overview of what is Invest Fort Lauderdale, kind of where we came from, and then the mission core values, which is pretty much where we are today, mission core values, strategic priorities, measures, and goals, and then what we'll be asking of you after this particular presentation. So just to kind of give some background and some context, the inspiration for Invest Fort Lauderdale came from two issues, really. One was the impending sunset of the CRA at that time. Back in, what, 2019, we knew the CRA was going to be sunsetting at some point. So looking at where we were, we understood that there was still going to be a lot of work that needed to be done within the redevelopment area. But then the other inspiration behind it was as we worked with our development partners, we were given the directive to make sure that we didn't just get aspirational language on the community benefits, where they would provide jobs and contracting opportunities, and we just couldn't come to a meeting of the minds there. Understanding what their issues were, we agreed, along with developers, that what we would have them to do was just provide some of the funding that we provided for those development, give that money back, and then, well, some of the money, and then we would utilize that money to do some of those community benefits ourselves. So that was the inspiration behind creating a local CDC grassroots organization that would be a bottom-up approach, not top-down, but bottom-up grassroots organization. Clarence, let me help you out here. Okay. The commission's already, you know, they've already committed to Invest Fort Lauderdale. We know what it is. You know, we approved it back in 2019. So I don't think we need to go through an explanation of it. I think there's a point, though, that you brought this to our attention, and that has to do with comprising the members of Invest Fort Lauderdale board. Why don't we just jump to that? Okay. We can skip a lot of this. Let's skip a lot of that because we all kind of know what Invest Fort Lauderdale is. So let's just jump, cut to the chase here. I think we're looking for a methodology in which to establish a 501c3 board, one that's recognized and appropriate under the guidelines of the Internal Revenue Service so that we can move this effort forward, correct? You make it easy for me. Yeah, I want to make it easy for you. So where we are, where we are right now, we did apply for our 501c3. The Internal Revenue Service suggested that we reorganize because we couldn't be a city-led organization in order to get the 501c3. So now what we're looking at doing is adding additional members. It would be an additional six members to not exceed 11 members on the total board. The existing members, the five, they would actually make the appointments. Where those appointments would come from are neighborhood associations. The neighborhood associations are in District 2 and in District 3. District 2, you would have the Progreso Village Civic Association. You would have the Flagler Village Civic Association. They would proffer someone to sit on the board. The board members, the existing board members would confirm or appoint them to the board. The District 3 suggestions for appointments would come from Dorsey River Bend and Sweeting Estates. They would proffer membership on the board. Again, the original board members, the board members that are there now would confirm those appointments. So a maximum of 11 board members after the initial five board members who would have staggered terms after their terms ended, then the five that are appointed by the board of commissioners, this board, would only go to three appointments. So this board would only have three appointments after the initial term of the original five. Those three members would come from District 2 and District 3. The third member would either be mayor appointed or a consensus pick of the board that's on you guys. So that is how we're looking to reorganize and invest Fort Lauderdale in order that it would not be totally a city-controlled board. Okay. So we need to amend. Let me wait until he's finished. Sorry. We just wanted to clarify the representation on the board as stated in your backup and the restated articles. So the at-large board membership is two at-large board members with a preference for individuals in construction finance, affordable housing, small business lending, economic development, or a combination of the above. With regards to the community representatives, there's two individuals, and these are selected from slated nominees presented by community associations, the Flagler Village Association, Dorsey River Bend, Progressive Village Civic Association, and the Flagler Village Homeowners Association. Excuse me, Duane. I think there is a Scrivener's era there. It didn't include Sweden and Stasic. It included Flagler twice. So that would have to be amended in this item when it comes to the CRA for your vote. In terms of what the CRA board appoints, there are three. The actual language of the article does not designate which commissioner nominates those three nominations. Which commissioner from the city commission? Correct. So the thought is that the commissioners that represent the CRA would have some deference, but that's not codified in this at all. All right. Well, that makes sense. My only concern is, you know, it's a responsible task, and it's not easy finding people who have the background and the time and the willingness to do this. So I just want to make sure that if we do say that it should come from specific commission districts that, you know, we know we're going to be able to find the people to do it. It's not easy to find people to do some of this stuff. But anyway, I would certainly give preference to the district commissioners which are affected, which are District 2 and District 3. But if they can't find anybody, you know, it should be – the mayor should be able to appoint somebody from whatever district, as well as District 4, District 1 being able to appoint people. But right now we need to add six more people. That's the first task, correct? Yes. And, Mayor, before you move on from that, we identified historic Dorsey River Bend and Sweden Estate. But also in that CRA area, we have Doors, Homeowners Association, Home Beautiful, and I believe – that may be the four. But that may also afford an opportunity to be able to – Larger pool of people from which to draw from. Yes, so if we can include those other neighborhoods, I believe that would help me be able to identify individuals for the position. Okay. Lynn, did you want to say something? Lynn Solomon, Assistant City Attorney. So at the end of the day, this governing body, the CRA, will have the power to appoint three CRA board representatives, and that would be by a majority vote of the governing body. There is no specific appointment for any – Who's the governing body? You are. Okay. It's not the existing members on the board. Because I was told the existing members on the board are the ones that are going to be appointing these people. So the board of Invest Fort Lauderdale will have the power to appoint six new board members. Correct. So when you say governing body, I'm assuming it's the existing members of Invest Fort Lauderdale that are making these appointments. The six new appointments, correct. Correct. Okay. This body will have the power to appoint three new board members. This body? The CRA board of commissioners will have the power to appoint three. Right now you have the power to appoint five, but that's going to be reduced down to three. Okay. So, all right. After they turn them out. That is correct. But then also, Lynn, we need to also include the fact that if this board does not make an appointment after 90 days, when new appointments are needed, the board – Invest Fort Lauderdale will make those appointments. We'll get to after 90 days. Okay. Or if there are absentees, then Invest Fort Lauderdale. After notice to this board and you fail to make an appointment to replace them, they then have the power to appoint to serve out the remaining term of that particular seat. Okay. So, all right. So what are we doing here today then? So, your action will come at the CRA meeting later on. Okay. All right. To – So this is just an informational – Informational so you can have a conversation and talk about it. Okay. Okay. Very good. All right. So, because there's just a little bit of confusion, you'll guide us and let us know who we have to appoint and by when and all of that. Yes. Okay. Yes. No problem. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Clarence. Okay. We have a few minutes. Can I just say something? We're going to have a closed door right after this next item and traditionally we've had it downstairs while we're having our meal. So, I see the court reporter's here. Why don't – can I ask that you – you might want to make your way to that room? We can ask Joey to guide her there. I'm sorry? We'll ask Joey to help her set up. I just don't want anyone waiting here thinking that it's going to happen here. Okay. Business five, discussion, draft ordinance, method of procurement. Do we want to take a lot of – if we want to take a lot of time to discuss this, we may want to move this to another day because I frankly don't think – I mean, I studied it last night. I do have a number of questions, but I don't know if we were going to have time to discuss this today. What does the commission want to do? I don't see any hurry in this. It's not really time-sensitive, is it? It's not time-sensitive, is it? No. No, it's driven by the commission. Yeah. Go ahead. I support deferring it. Yeah, why don't we defer that if you don't mind? No one has signed up to speak. So why don't we move to the manager's report. So if I could, just for the record, request pursuant to Florida Statute Section 286.0118A, I'm seeking advice in the matter of the city of Fort Lloydale versus Pierce, Goodwin, Alexander, and Lethvale, Inc. Just for the record. Okay. Got it. Okay. City manager report. Thank you, Mayor. So I do want to report that on June 30th, the commission gave me authority to make certain purchases of goods and services and change orders during the recess. I did not utilize that authority. I will indicate that in writing via memorandum to the commission. I also want to take this opportunity to introduce two new staff members on our team. We have Director of Public Works, Brad Kane, and Director of Information Technology, Mr. Ronald McKenzie. If they could just make their way to the podium just to say hello. Come on down, gentlemen. So we can yell at you now. So we have taken the time to offer briefings or introductory meetings for each commissioner. We haven't gone through that process for every single commissioner as of yet, but since they are here and you're going to be engaging with them, I wanted you to see who they were. If you could come forward and just say hello. Thank you. Hello, Mayor, Commissioners. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Welcome. Welcome to the city of Fort Lauderdale. We appreciate your commitment to running these agencies and look forward to good things. My pleasure. Thank you. Brad Kane, Public Works Director, and it's a pleasure to meet all of you in person. And I look forward to working with all of you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. So on June 30th, you also gave direction on another personnel matter related to the city attorney search process. We did engage a search firm. Applications are due at the end of this week, so August 22nd. Our intention on September 3rd is to have our human resources department give you a presentation on the applicants that the search committee would be interviewing on September 5th. The search committee will hopefully make a recommendation, and we could possibly have those candidates presented to the city commission on the September 16th meeting. But we'll see how the September 5th meeting of the search committee will go. I also provided a memorandum sharing this information maybe a week or so ago. Moving on to- Raquel, hold on. Yes. Could I jump in there for a second? Thanks. Mayor, in this process, I think it's something we've talked about. What I just wanted to reiterate, if we're in agreement on this, is our thinking as a commission is once we get the final candidates from the citizens' advisory board, that our intention as a commission is to interview those candidates privately, right, versus in front of the whole commission kind of thing. I just wanted- I think we did that last time, right? We did that last time. I thought that worked well, so I just want to put that on the record just for this process as well. So, thank you. Raquel, back over to you. Thanks. Okay. On June 16th, I shared a memo with you related to the federal courthouse and the forthcoming disposition of the courthouse. We wanted to gauge your interest on acquiring that property. There is a process that the GSA arm of the federal government would go through to dispose of that property. There are certain qualified uses for the property. And if the city commission is interested, we could engage with GSA as soon as September to talk about options. I'm all for it. Yes. Very interested. Yeah. What are the date of that? June 16th, that was memo 25-092. Thank you. You're welcome. Holiday Park, in terms of the competition period for the unsolicited proposals, they are due this Friday, August 22nd. And we already have had a third proposal in addition to the original two. We have a third proposal to date. We will see what we have by the end of the week. We will share a memorandum with you no later than Monday next week. Moving on to the city hall unsolicited proposal process. That deadline has passed. We've shared with you that we received six proposals. We're going to be moving through the next phases of the evaluation process, where staff will develop an evaluation criteria, engage consultants as necessary, so that we can compare qualifications and experience utilizing our owner's rep. We also have a parallel process happening where the city attorney's office is engaging outside counsel that would be able to help us negotiate. And we also have our owner's rep doing a building, massing, or space plan to refine some of the information that we've already developed over the past couple of years. Our intention is to have a staff recommendation. Hopefully, the commission can shortlist two to three firms, and we would then request some additional information from those firms and a financial plan that we could also review in greater detail. Ultimately, we would then want to shift into a final portion of the project where the commission would receive presentations, rank an award, and then we would commence negotiations. Raquel, will we be getting any type of staff matrix before we do our shortlisting decision as a commission? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. On the New River Crossing project, many of you may recall that we shared a memorandum about our Industry Day event that happened on July 28th. We had a lot of participation, over 60 attendees and 15 development firms. And we also had area stakeholders and governmental agencies participating. We had a lot of opportunity to get feedback from those development firms. And I'm going to call Ben Rogers forward to provide a little bit more detail on our next steps. Good afternoon. So on New River Crossing, as the manager said, we had Industry Day, substantial turnout. I think we were expecting a handful of developers, and we interviewed 15. Since Industry Day, we've had two or three follow-up meetings with firms, again, continuing to show their interest in the project. Right now, staff is working on a request for information, which would then be a follow-up to Industry Day. It would be just going through a procurement process. It would go out and ask the firms their qualifications, their experience, their interest in the project, and, again, memorialize where we're at in the process and their desire to continue the project. Now, it's important to note that there have been some other factors that we've been made aware of in terms of federal and state funding opportunities. We know that Brightline and Florida East Coast Railway, they have, you know, some litigation matters that they're working through right now. So we just wanted to highlight that there are some external factors at play, and we wanted to just confirm that the City Commission still wants staff to move forward in prioritizing this project, knowing that some of these external factors, they either could be settled or, you know, we don't know how they will ultimately shake out. So we just wanted to check the pulse of the Commission and make sure that we're on the right track. Does the Commission want to move forward? Absolutely. Mayor, I want to keep moving forward, and I continue to have conversations with some Broward County commissioners as well, just individually, just to continue to express our desire to continue to move forward in the progress we've made. They also are tracking and aware of some of the challenges from a state funding standpoint and so forth, but they're very positive and think we're all heading in the right direction. So just to let you know that I had a meeting a few days ago in which Chip Lamarck, our representative, was there, and, you know, we brought all this out on the table, said, you know, what's going on with you? I understand the state is having second thoughts about participating, and so he said he was going to get back to us and find out what the story is. We also are concerned about what the opportunity is at the federal level, but that wasn't part of our conversation. But so I appreciate all the work that you're doing, and let's continue to work forward and, you know, and not let this get away from us. Yeah, thank you. Mayor, I just also want to highlight that we have that pending deadline that we committed to at the request of Broward County for October 1st, and there are certain deliverables, and I think it may be prudent for us to seek an extension at this time based on some of those external factors, and I was hoping that the commission might be open to that. I think we are, obviously. Definitely. Yep. And they've, in my conversations, they've individually expressed understanding and openness to that. But, yeah, if you want to do that formally. Okay. In regards to federal support with this, I'm reading an article from Miami-Dade, the Overtown area. They had, the federal government had an agreement with the commission there to fund a connecting community. And they pulled it. Yep. So, just for conversation, are we listening to the temple? Are we, you know, preparing for any type of a shift in what we, as a commission has said, we're moving forward with? Yes. We are, we are, we're very much aware of that, and that's all part, that's on our radar, and we have alerted our federal lobbyists to continue any conversations. And I know Commissioner Sorensen has made connections with some of the federal folks. But everything is very preliminary. We really have to, we have to get our act together here locally. No one at the federal level, no matter which administration is in there, is interested in talking to us until we are, we at the local level are in sync with one another in determining what the locally preferred alternative is going to be recommended. So, yes, to answer your question, please move forward. Thank you. That concludes the manager's report. Okay. We have commissioner's reports, but if we can, I think we should retire to have our, to have our closed door session. Yes. Just two items for me, if I could, please. Yes, go ahead. All right. One is, there is a bill, Senate Bill 180, that was passed that prohibits local governments from initiating ordinances that would impose more restrictive or burdensome comprehensive plan and land development regulations for a time period between August 1st of 2024 to October 1st of 2027. This would restrict some of the proactive land development regulation changes that the city would contemplate, including some of the potential impact in terms of what we're doing in the central city as well, in terms of that comprehensive rezoning. There is a, there is a effort led by Jamie Cole at Weiss-Rota to challenge the, to challenge the ordinance. Is this statute already in effect? It is. Okay. It is. And so we're looking to see if there's interest in the commission in joining this lawsuit. The, the impact so far, central Florida has been seeing a lot of movement in terms of challenges to regulations that were passed within this timeframe, because again, it's retroactive back to August of last year. How do you do that? I would definitely be in favor of participating in that challenge because it is really holding us back on a lot of changes that we're looking to accomplish, especially in the central city is main, actually is having just the opposite effect. We want to enhance and, and incentivize business development. So I would definitely be in favor of participating. Are we okay with that? I am too. I'm in favor. Okay. All right. So we can bring a resolution forward. Yep. Lastly, um, so I'm coming up on a year, uh, since my appointment as interim, uh, that will be in October. And listen, I really appreciated the opportunity and everything that, uh, the commission provided me in terms of, of serving in this capacity. And I expect to stay with the city a long time, but I think I, I've come to an agreement with, uh, some members of the commission in terms of, um, uh, the fit in, in this role. And so, uh, if the, uh, selection of the city attorney doesn't work out within that timeframe, as we approach that, that date, you know, I'd like to have some discussion, um, with you guys in terms of what the interim position looks like moving forward past that October date. Do you see any reason to make any changes if we have not selected a city attorney by then? I, I, I think having an interim past a year is, uh, moving past someone in a temporary state. Um, so what are you suggesting? Uh, there, there are a few very qualified individuals within my office. That I think would be, uh, eager to, well, eager, maybe too, too, saying too much, um, but capable of, of stepping up and, and occupying this position. Um, but again, I would have to have this kind of competition. You'd want to revert back to your deputy role? Yeah. Okay. All right. We'll take that up then. Well, I'm hoping that we'll be able to wrap this up at the second meeting in September. We may very well be. Okay. Okay. We'll see. Great. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, is it okay if the commission do that, do their reports later? Um, okay. Um, you okay with that, Pam? Okay. I am. Okay. Okay. All right. So at this time, the city commission shall meet privately to conduct discussions between the city manager, the city attorney, and the city commission relative to pending litigation pursuant to section 286.00 parentheses eight Florida statutes in connection with the following matter city of Fort Lauderdale versus Pierce, uh, Goodwin, Alexander, and Linville Inc. at all case number CACE two four zero zero zero zero six two five parentheses 12. Uh, present at the attorney client session will be myself, commissioner Steve, uh, Stephen Glassman, commissioner, Pamela Beasley-Pittman, commissioner, Ben Sorensen, city manager, Raquel Williams, interim city attorney, Dwayne Spence, senior assistant city attorney, Rhonda Hassan, uh, outside counsel, Robert Vaughn, uh, outside counsel, Kristen Palacio, uh, and certified court reporter from Bailey Enten court reporting. The estimated length of this concession will be approximately 20 minutes. So we'll retire to the break room downstairs and conclude this meeting at this point. Thank you.