Okay, good evening, everybody. I'd like to conclude the closed-door session. The executive closed-door session of the City Commission is now terminated, and the public meeting is now reopened. It doesn't matter. I'm just saying what I should be saying. Okay, good evening, everybody, and welcome to the City Commission meeting this December 16, 2025. Thank you all for being here. I can't make myself any louder. It has to be our audio folks. Can you raise the level of my microphone? Okay. Is that better? A little better? Okay. So thank you all for being here. For those of you who are here for the first time, welcome, and I want to thank you all for your patience. I'm sorry we had a delayed start because we had a very lengthy conference meeting this afternoon. So for those of you who have not been here before, we begin our meetings with a pledge and a moment of silence, and then there are various housekeeping rules that we'll take care of, and then we start with presentations. What are presentations? Presentations are opportunities for the commission and the community to recognize individuals, events, things like that, and tonight we have three of them, and we're very proud to invite a member of this commission to make each presentation tonight. Having said that, I invite you all to please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. She hasn't shown up. Yeah. Yeah. I asked, and they said she wasn't here. Now, this has been a very – well, anyway, she's not – yes, we can. Is Courtney McCoy here? Oh, now you're telling me she's here? Where's Courtney? Courtney, come on up here. Courtney was supposed to join us in the pledge and lead us in the pledge tonight, and I was told she wasn't here, and now I'm told she is here. So let's give a round of applause to Courtney. Yes. No. That's beautiful. Thank you. So she's from Parkway Middle School Carter Park Trip Teen Program. Oh, no. Thank you, Courtney, for being here tonight, and we have a little gift for you. Thank you. Thank you. I apologize for the mishap. Okay. Okay. Thank you. I'll run the meeting. Thank you so much. So this has been a very difficult week for every community and those around the world, and a lot of unfortunate mishaps and tragic events occurred, and I'd like everyone to join me in a moment of silence. Okay. Thank you so much. I'd also like to take a moment and recognize a couple of employees who are now going to be leaving the city after a number of years of service to us. First is Ernest Thiem, who has been a lead facilities worker in public works, has been with us for 25 years. Congratulations and thank you. And I also understand Clarence from CRA. Clarence, where are you? Clarence Woods? I think he's already left. I guess he left already. He's already left. Wherever you are, Clarence, thank you. This would be his last meeting. He's been with us many, many years, and I want to thank him for his service and his contribution to working with us on the Community Redevelopment Agency Board. Having said that, I'd like to now ask the clerk to please call the roll. Vice Mayor Herbst? Commissioner Glossman? Here. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Here. Commissioner Sorensen? Here. Mayor Trentals? Here. We have a few agenda announcements. We're going to ask that R4 and R6 be deferred. R4 is regarding the conceptual design regarding the Las Olas Mobility Project, and R6 is referring to the parking garage at Holiday Park. We had a lengthy discussion this afternoon on that, but because of the need to find out more specific information on that, the commission decided to move it over to the first meeting in January. Mayor, along with that deferral for Las Olas Mobility, so I got a phone call from Mr. Weymouth while we were on break, and both he and Mr. Hudson are going to be out of the country. I think being that they're the two principal property owners on Las Olas, we may want to consider pushing it back one more meeting to allow them to have the opportunity to participate. Sounds fine to me. What about the rest of the commission? Are we good with that? Yes. Sounds good. I'm in agreement. January 20. So that would be the second commission meeting in January. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for bringing that to our attention. Walk-on motion approving an increase in the contract coast capacity for talent booking agent pre-qualified pool. That will be brought up as a walk-on. And we have a couple of agenda items. A correction. CM4, page 1, the last paragraph of the CAM, was revised to correct the year from 2028 to what it should be, which is 2025. So do I hear a motion to approve the agenda for tonight as amended? Moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trantos? Yes. And that agenda for tonight is now approved. So now let me begin with the presentations. I'd first like to ask Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, who will be presenting a proclamation regarding the 60th anniversary of the Alpha Rho Boulay of Sigma Pi Phi fraternity in the city of Fort Lauderdale. Did I get that right? Yes. Is Tim Hogan's here? Good job. Is Tim Hogan's here? Come on, Tim. Tim. Is Alpha Rho, is Boulay another Greek letter that I'm not familiar with? What is that? Okay. Get a truth. I forgot to push the button, y'all. Thank you. Good evening, everyone, and happy holidays. Good evening, everyone, and happy holidays. Good evening, David. Oh, come on. It's a joyful time of the year, right? Okay. It is my honor tonight to be able to present this proclamation from the office of the mayor, the city of Fort Lauderdale, in recognition of the Alpha Rho Boulay Sigma Pi Phi fraternity. Whereas, Sigma Pi Phi fraternity, known as the Boulay, is recognized as the oldest existing Greek letter postgraduate fraternity. Whereas, established on May 15th, 1904 in Philadelphia, and Philadelphia, excuse me, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Boulay was found by the black professional men. Whereas, Alpha Rho Boulay, a Sigma Pi Phi fraternity, was founded on December 3rd in 1965 in Miami, Florida, under the direction of Grand Sire Archon Oliver W. Hill, was assistant with the Alpha Zeta Boulay of Tallahassee and the Phi Boulay of Tuskegee. And whereas, the development of the Alpha Rho Boulay was influenced by 10 charter members, such as Ira P. Davis, Clifton G. Dyson, James L. Bass, Samuel O. Coyne, also G. Brenton Sells, David M. Dulles, John O. Brown, Elmer A. Ward, Warren W. Cooley, and Robert L. Smith, who were active in medicine, business, and education across South Florida. Whereas, among these charter members, Dr. James Linwood Bass, a Fort Lauderdale's first black American dentist in 1939, and played a pivotal role in establishing the Provident Hospital Broward County's first hospital serving the black community. And whereas, over the decades, members of Alpha Rho Boulay has been instrumental in advancing access to public accommodations, educations, employment for black Americans in South Florida, contributing a numerous social and civic achievement. Whereas, Alpha Rho Boulay continues to serve the region through scholarships at Florida Memorial University and Florida International University, and through its sponsorship of the Black Health Summit. Whereas, the city of Fort Lauderdale recognizes Alpha Rho Boulay's 60th dedication, achievement, and services to the community across South Florida, and appreciates its continuous commitment to serving and supporting residents and advancing education and strengthening civic lives. Now, therefore, as the city of, the city commissioners of the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, we do hereby proclaim December 3rd, 2025, as the 60th anniversary of Alpha Rho Boulay Day in the city of Fort Lauderdale. And this was dated on December 1st of 2025 by the Honorable Mayor, Dean Trantellis. If you can all, let's give us a hand. And we're going to ask Mr. Hogan if you would like to say something at this time. I'd like to recognize my colleague, Mayor Wayne Messam, who's traveled all the way from the other side of the county, from Miramar, to join us tonight. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. To the mayor, commission, city manager, entire staff, we are so humbled for this moment. My name is Tim Hogan. I serve as the president of Alpha Rho Boulay, as mentioned here, based in Miami and Broward counties. It's an honor to have served for so many years in the community, various boards, and different organizations. So it's good to see a lot of friendly faces in the room tonight. But specifically, we want to say thank you again. We really appreciate it. Sixty years of hard work, dedication. Within Sigma Pi Phi fraternity, there's only 5,000 members throughout the world, with most of our chapters, if you would, in the United States, one being in London and one being in Nassau. But I'll conclude there by thanking my colleagues for being here as well, the mayor, Wayne Messam, and Joseph Gay as well. There are 60 active archons within South Florida, if you would, and we're just really happy to be here. Mayor, thank you again for all you're doing and the entire commission. Thank you. Thank you. And congratulations. Mayor, you want to say a few words? Never to be shy. Well, it's good to be here in Fort Lauderdale, in your temporary commission chambers. Rub it in, rub it in. But on behalf of Sigma Pi Phi, Fort Lauderdale is part of our service area, and our cons far and near enjoy coming to South Florida. And whenever we have an opportunity to be of support and service in our community, it is our charge. We mentor young men and young ladies as well, and our members are in various leadership positions throughout South Florida. So thanks so much for opening up your home and presenting our Alpha Row Boulay, which is our local chapter here, with such a recognition. Thank you so much. Thank you. Great. Now I'd like to invite Commissioner Sorensen, who will be presenting a proclamation as Rick Case Bike for Kids Day in the city of Fort Lauderdale. Thank you, Mayor. Mrs. Case, you want to come on up? Did you bring anybody else with you? You have other people with you? Rita's mother is here with her. Okay. Andrew, do you want to come on up? Sure. Okay. All right. Rita, thank you for being here. Thank you for being such a stalwart advocate for the community and helping so many. It's just amazing. We were talking, Mayor, about all that Rita does across the community and the whole team across the community with Boys and Girls Club, the bike program, helping fund students going to vocational schools. I mean, it's just awesome. So, Rita, I have a little proclamation I'll read and then turn it over to you. I'd love to hear some words for you. So, from you. This is in recognition of Rick Case Bikes for Kids program, whereas the Rick Case Bikes for Kids program began in 1982 by Rita and Rick Case and the Rick Case Automotive Group in Ohio, and whereas the Rick Case Bikes for Kids program works in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Club, local charities, churches, and schools to collect donated bicycles and share them with deserving children in time for the holidays. And whereas hundreds of bicycles were distributed to children last year, and more than 122,000 bikes have been provided since 1982. And whereas in celebration of the program's 43rd anniversary, we encourage Fort Lauderdale residents to donate unused bicycles and invite their friends and families to join in, helping fulfill children's holiday wishes. And whereas the delighted recipients are children whose holidays are brightened by the generous benevolence of the community and everyone engaged in the Rick Case Bikes for Kids program. Now, therefore, we as city commissioners hereby proclaim December 16th as Rick Case Bike for Kids Day here in the city of Fort Lauderdale, dated the 16th of December by your mayor, Mayor Dean J. Trantelis. Yes. Well, every year I come, and I really appreciate the city always, you know, recognizing the program that we started in Ohio when we had 14 bicycle and moped stores. We are now celebrating 40 years here in Broward County. We moved here when we opened the first Acura and the first Hyundai dealership in the United States, and we felt Fort Lauderdale would be a great place to, you know, expose that brand to the country. And with that, we brought our Bikes for Kids program that we started in Ohio. And I just wanted to clarify, it's used bikes, not unused. We're looking for the bikes that are in your garage you no longer need, you've outgrown, your kids have outgrown, and, you know, they just sit over there in the garage to go to the maybe next homeowner. We'd like them to come down, just drop them off at any one of our dealerships. Between October 1st is when it starts each year up until December 22nd. It gives us a chance to get them to all those children in time for the holidays that wouldn't have an opportunity to have that bicycle. We all remember our first bicycle, that sense of freedom, get away from mom and dad, get away from the siblings, you know. And so there's a lot of children that cannot have a bicycle. And this is a way for us to take bikes that you're no longer using, match them up with a child that could use them. And it's not just the Boys and Girls Club, though. That was the first organization that we learned we could give the bikes to. Since then, after 40 years of doing it here in Broward County, we have so many organizations, churches, even the public school system asks for bikes because they know children that need them. So thank you very much. We're honored to be here in Broward County. You guys have done a great job helping us build our business, and we want to do just as much to give back to this community because it's a great place. Thank you so much. Thank you, Rita. Thank you. Love a photo. Thank you, Rita, for all the good work you do with our community. Our last presentation, I'd like to invite Juan Carlos Samuel, who's the ASCE Broward President and Public Works Department employee, Lauren Johnson, Carla Jimenez, Elias Guevara, as well as Brad Kane, Mark Rhodes, and Brandi Layton. Are they all here? Any of them here? Yes, Mayor. We also have Todd Hichu, our Deputy Director of Public Works. And this will be the presentation of the Small Project of the Year Award to the Public Works Department by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Broward County Branch. Who would like to introduce this? Can you push the button at the bottom of the speaker? Great. Good evening, everyone. Again, my name is... Go ahead. We can hear you. Okay. Again, good evening, everyone. My name is Juan Carlos Samuel. And on behalf of ASCE Broward Branch, which is represented tonight by myself, which I do currently work with the City for Lauderdale, our past president, Elias, our president-elect, Lauren, and Secretary Carla Jimenez would like to present the 2024-2025 Small Project of the Year Award to the City of Fort Lauderdale's Public Works Department for the 48-inch product water main infrastructure project. This project was designed by Chen Warren Associates and constructed by David Mancini-Suns. Congratulations. Thank you. Can I suggest you all kind of move in front of the screen so we get the whole picture of Fort Lauderdale on there? You want to do it here? Yeah. Okay. That way I get to be in the picture? Come on, folks. Anybody else? Thank you. Congratulations. Yeah, go right on. Go on, go on. Way to go. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to thank our entire engineering team who worked on this. As someone who sits as the vice chair of the American Public Works Association for Broward County and my professional organization, ASCE is an outstanding organization. So for our team to be able to obtain an award like that, it's just an unbelievable dedication and commitment that I'm so proud of, and I just wanted to thank Brandy personally, Mark, Todd, and all of our team in Public Works Engineering for this outstanding achievement. Thank you. And this is just part of a continuing effort as we continue to invest in our infrastructure throughout the city, and we appreciate your efforts in heading up that challenge. Thank you so much. And, Mayor, along with that award, Brandy Layton was named Engineer of the Year by the same organization. So we're really proud of the entire Public Works team for everything that they're doing and the light that they're shining on Fort Lauderdale. Okay. Commissioner Beasley Pittman would like to take a moment of personal privilege here, and she has a special presentation that she would like to make. Okay. I'm back. And this presentation is really on behalf of all of us from the commission and also from the city. If I could ask at this time, Dwayne Spence, if you could come and join me at the podium, please. Yeah, she said Dwayne Spence. Come on, Mr. Spence. Yes, let us give him a little bit more claps there. On behalf of the city of Fort Lauderdale, we would like to present this award to Dwayne Spence. In appreciation for your outstanding service as our interim city attorney, not once, but twice. So we thank you for your service and your leadership and dedication during a critical time in our city's history. You will never be forgotten, and we are surely, truly just have a heart for what you have done for us in this interim of time. Thank you for standing in the gap in this community. We thank you. God bless you. Would you like to say something? To the mayor and city commissioners, I am, and staff and residents and neighbors of the city, appreciated the opportunity to have served in this capacity in the city. I've shared with the commission that I felt like I grew up as a lawyer in the city of Fort Lauderdale, came here in 2010 and was an assistant city attorney one, and this organization has truly nurtured me and allowed me to grow and develop and gave me an opportunity to serve as its city attorney on an interim basis, and I really appreciate that confidence that was shown. So I appreciate this token of appreciation from you all for the opportunity. Thank you again. It's quite a trophy there. Okay. That concludes our presentations. Thank you, Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, for that special recognition. And at this point, we have what we call the consent agenda, and the consent agenda is where the commission has the opportunity to vote on all the items at once, unless, of course, a member of the commission chooses to ask to pull one of the items, and we'll discuss and vote on that separately. So let me begin by asking the Vice Mayor, do you have any items you wish to pull? I do not. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? None. Commissioner Glassman? None. Commissioner Sorensen? None. Okay. I have none as well. So do I hear a motion to approve all the consent agenda items? So moved. Second. Do I hear? Okay. Moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trentals? Yes. And all the consent agenda items have now been approved. If you are here on any of them, you're welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting. Otherwise, your item has been approved. We move on to M1. This is a motion approving a memorandum of understanding with the North Broward Hospital District, DBA, Broward Health, to implement a whole blood exchange program. We have several members who have asked to speak. Is the fire chief here? Yeah. Do you want to come up and tell us a little bit about this program? Absolutely. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioners. This evening, I'm honored to present a partnership with Broward Health that represents a leap forward in pre-hospital trauma care. This is a program that will undoubtedly save lives in our community, and it's the gift of whole blood. Now, this motion this evening will have a partnership, a bond with Broward Health, that will bring whole blood to the community at no cost to the taxpayers. This makes us unique than any other whole blood program that is currently out there in Broward County, and shows survivability when you look at medical journals across the country, increasing survivability in traumatic patients up to 80%. That's truly unbelievable when you're giving someone an 80% better shot at life by this simple administration of blood. So I have the team here tonight, and I also have Shane Strom from Broward Health who made all of this possible. Without this partnership with Broward Health, we wouldn't be able to increase survivability by 80%. So, Mr. Strom, would you like to step forward and share a few words with us? All right. Well, good evening, Mayor. Vice Mayor, Commissioner. Commissioner, it's good to see you again. We're doing a lot together. Broward Health and the City of Fort Lauderdale, both kind of goes on the same theme, right? It's about collaboration, coordination, working together, partnerships. This is a spectacular partnership that the Board of Commissioners is actually allowing us to enter into being able to do something that's great for our community. I really look at this as an additional trauma bay, right? The stories that you're going to hear tonight is actually addressing the patient in the field and giving them a high probability of survival. The story you'll hear this evening will really encourage you to make sure that we're going to we can do everything we can. We feel like this is a Broward Health and a City of Fort Lauderdale gift to your residents, to all the people here in the room, to make sure that they not only have speedy access when they're at Broward Health, but when they're having field trauma, they're being taken care of with whole blood immediately. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Next, I'd like to invite the Livingston family up real quick. I see we have Michelle Livingston, Andrew Livingston, and Stephen Livingston. Absolutely. Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Andrew Livingston. Stephen Livingston's my son. I'm going to tell you a little story. So this happened back at March 17th. 2.02 a.m. We're fast asleep. Stephen's not home. I get a knock on the door. Dog's startled. I'm startled. 2.02 a.m. As I walk past the kitchen to see the time on the microwave, two Fort Lauderdale officers at the front door open the door. They ask us a few questions. It was who owns a black Honda Accord. Michelle said she does. Instantly, she said someone was involved in an accident. I know my time's limited, but you guys got to hear me out. The moment I looked at the officers' eyes, Officer Taylor and Becca from the city of Fort Lauderdale, understand we live in plantation. So it's kind of odd to see them here. And I said, you came here. Instead of making a phone call, he said, yes, we want to come and tell you in person that you guys need to go to the hospital. I said, okay, we can go. I'll probably go to Unbroward because he explained the accident that occurred on Broward Boulevard by the BSO and the Chequers. So we got in the car. We went there. We got to the hospital at 3 a.m., about 3 a.m. Come to find out, our son's name, Stephen, is named Trauma Childhood. So the Trauma One Hospital at Broward General, Broward Health. And upon sitting in the waiting room, we're escorted to a conference room in the back. Doctor comes out, tells us what happened, scanned Stephen a few times, one, two, three times, internal bleeding. Femur, left femur is broken, compound fracture. Right knee had a laceration deep to the bone. Right tibia and fibula fractured above the ankle. A chunk of the bone was missing, flesh bleeding out. So we sat there. They wouldn't allow us to see him. They had to go in surgery to stop the bleeding on his spleen. We went home, came back around 9.30 that morning. Come to find out, talking with the doctors there, the neurosurgeons, the trauma team at Broward Health, that upon admission at 12.07 a.m., he was transfused whole blood on the way to the hospital. Paramedics, firefighters, Stephen played baseball, so all of his parents, friends, or paramedics reached out to me and said he was non-responsive when they got there. So this is a story that brings Fort Lauderdale PD, Broward Fire Rescue, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Station. I was 42, and number two responded because there was one other person in another vehicle that was injured. And when I tell you, when I see the paramedics talk to me and tell me what happened, and the eyes, with the thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment on their trucks, what does a pint, a unit of blood, really cost, right? And that's what was transfused to him on the way to the hospital by BSO Captain Jennifer Areola. And that's when he said, when he got there, he's going to be okay. I said, why? He goes, he started pulling this stuff out of his throat. From being non-responsive at the scene, I've got to also mention, sorry, the tactical unit that responded. I found that out when we met the firefighters at the station house. Stephen wanted to cook some barbecue for them. So we did that, and I met, and that's how I got the story. And let me tell you, if you guys don't believe that there's somebody up there, there is somebody up there watching over this kid. Doesn't deserve it. And the reason I say that is the tactical captain on the unit, it's over by Federal Highway. He was getting gas for his vehicle heading back to the station. He heard on the radio what happened. He didn't have to go or respond. He made a U-turn on Broward, went over the turnpike, not turnpike, 95, saw the flashing lights. He was the first paramedic that was there. And that's when he called the tactical unit to remove Stephen, extract him from the car, cutting the roof off. The whole side of the car was cut off. So this year is a good year. It's still ongoing. He still has a long journey to go. And I want to thank BSO for the blood and the whole blood that our Christmas card this year will have five members of our family and not four. And that's a story that it's real. I want to say God bless and thank you guys for the time. Good evening. Good evening. Luckily, I can say that I am the living, breathing reason that whole blood should be everywhere. But if you're not going to do it for me, do it for the many people who bled out and died before Broward Sheriff's office could get there with the whole blood. And when I had the reunion with the first responders who saved my life, first of all, thank you again. But I received challenge coins and my favorite challenge coin I received from the Broward Sheriff's office from Dr. James Roach. And it says do it for Taylor on it. And every time I look at it, I think of all the people who bled out and died and didn't have the opportunity to get whole blood like myself. I was able to stay alive long enough until Broward Sheriff's office could arrive with the whole blood. So if you're not going to do it for me, do it for all the people who bled out and died before whole blood was able to get there. Or if not, do it for Taylor like the coin says. Clarify one thing. Taylor is Dr. Roach's niece who was in an accident in Naples. Similar situation. Bled out. And so bringing it to Fort Lauderdale, to me, it's a no-brainer. Thank you so much. So since 2020, we've been relying on Broward Sheriff's office to provide this whole blood. This partnership this evening will allow us to administer the blood ourselves and we'll take it further into the community. Before we were relying on Broward Sheriff's not being on another call and being available, this means that we will have it on three units in the city of Fort Lauderdale. And it will always be available to every citizen in Fort Lauderdale. Thank you so much. Happy holidays. Thank you. And again, we want to thank Broward Health for their partnership in this effort. Okay. Moving on to R1 resolutions, appointment of board and committee members. Mr. Clerk. We still have to do the motion to approve that one? I can't hear you. We need to do the motion to approve M1. Oh, I beg your pardon. I'm sorry. Do I hear a motion to approve M1? Been moved. Do I hear a second? Second. Been moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trent-Hals? Yes. And M1 is now approved. Now moving on to R1. Please read the names as the record. Thank you, Mayor. For the January 6, 2026 resolution, Citizens Committee of Recognition, Mary Pelequin nominated. It's a consensus position for the Council of Fort Lauderdale Civic Association president or designee. Code Enforcement Board, August Puyos, nominated by Vice Mayor Herbst. General Employees Retirement System Board of Trustees, Jill Prisley. Consensus elected employee. And Paul Vandenberg, also consensus elected employee. Insurance Advisory Board, Jonathan Perillo, nominated by Commissioner Sorensen. Mark Schwartz, nominated by Commissioner Sorensen. Ted Hess Sr., nominated by Commissioner Sorensen. And Joseph Petura Sr., nominated by Commissioner Sorensen. Police and Firefighters Retirement System Board of Trustees. Susan Grant, nominated by Mayor Trenthalus. Derek Joseph, that's consensus elected employee's police officer. Keith Costas, elected employee firefighter. Public Art and Placement Advisory Board. Phoenix Lynn Marks, nominated by Commissioner Sorensen. Walk of Fame Induction Committee 2026. Eugenia Ellis, nominated by Mayor Trenthalus. Ina Lee, nominated by Mayor Trenthalus. And for tonight's resolution, Beach Business Improvement District Advisory Board. Alvaro Hernandez, alternate member for representing the Beocean Resort, Fort Lauderdale. Budget Advisory Board. Jason Jeffress, nominated by Mayor Trenthalus. Central City Redevelopment Advisory Board. Juan Carlos Guerrero, nominated by Mayor Trenthalus. Code Enforcement Board. Donald Ray Carney III, nominated by Commissioner Glassman. Community Appearance Board. Matthew Till, nominated by Vice Mayor Herbst. Community Service Board. Shelly Gorin, nominated by Vice Mayor Herbst. And Wismy Sias, nominated by Commissioner Glassman. Insurance Advisory Board. Steve Botkin, nominated by Mayor Trenthalus. And Parks, Recreation, and Beaches Board. Actually, that one is not going. So that rounds it out. Okay. Are there any modifications or additions to that list? Okay, there being none. Would someone like to introduce the resolution? Introduced. The resolution has been introduced. Please call the roll. A resolution of City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, appointing or nominating, if applicable, Boarding Committee members as a fourth in the exhibit attached here to and made a part hereof. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trenthalus? Yes. And R1 is now approved. I want to thank all those individuals for your volunteerism and your commitment to our community. R2, resolution accepting the 2025 State Housing Initiatives Partnership Program. That's the SHIP program. As approved and prepared by the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee and authorizing its submission to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. Two people have signed up to speak. Susan, are you here? Susan Sprague? You don't want to talk? Okay. And Chris Nelson, you signed up to speak. Hello, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. Merry Christmas, everybody. Merry Christmas. All right. Chris Nelson. And I signed up to speak for this one because any time I see affordable housing, I think about all these projects where it's this social engineering type thing or taking money from here and putting it over here, stuff like that. And really, the best way to give people affordable housing is through a property tax cut. So when you're doing your budget every year, affordable housing for middle class, regular people like myself would be to give us a break on our property taxes. And, you know, that makes things a lot less complicated, a lot less bureaucracy involved with everything. And, you know, it's just the most simple way to do it. And I do hope that the FAFO office or the Florida Department of Financial Accountability or FAFO, yeah, that they do audit Fort Lauderdale and do one of those audits. It's the office of the chief financial officer, Blazing Golia, because I think it would be good to see, you know, how much government here has grown and how much it could be pared down for next year. And that's how it relates to affordable housing, because then a property tax cut would mean a lot more affordability for the good people of Fort Lauderdale. So thanks for letting me share. Okay, thank you. Anyone else wish to speak on this item? There being nobody else, would someone like to introduce the resolution? Introduced. Resolution has been introduced. Please call the roll. A resolution of the city commission of the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, accepting the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee's 2025 Affordable Housing Incentive Strategies Report and authorizing the city manager to submit the AHAC report to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, delegating authority to the city manager to execute all documents necessary or associated therewith and providing for defective date. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trent Halls? Yes. And R2 is now approved. R3, resolution approving and ratifying a memorandum of understanding between the city of Fort Lauderdale and the Teamsters Local Union 769. This is regarding collective bargaining agreement, providing for additional compensation for employees assigned to operate a personal rescue watercraft. No one has signed up to speak. Would someone like to introduce the resolution? Introduced. The resolution has been introduced. Any questions? There being none, please call the roll. A resolution of the city commission of the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, approving and ratifying a memorandum of understanding between the city of Fort Lauderdale and Teamsters Local Union No. 769, affiliated with International Brotherhood of Teamsters and authorizing the city manager to execute the memorandum of understanding. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trent Halls? Yes, and R3 is now approved. R4 has been deferred to the second meeting in January. I think we want to do a motion to defer. I just want to double check. Do we have to do a motion to do that? I didn't hear you. I didn't say that again. It's sufficient what you did. That was sufficient? Okay. Just a quick question. The second meeting in January is the day after Martin Luther King Day. Do you folks need to bump that over to Wednesday because you have your agenda review meetings usually the night before? You're good? Okay. All right. R5. This is a resolution authorizing the city manager or designee to proceed with the site plan alternative 1A for the Fort Lauderdale Beach Park project and approved parks bond improvement project. A number of people have signed up to speak on this. Before I go to that, I was just given a couple more. Brian, did you want to speak on the Eden Care? Okay. And Jarrus, that's all I have his name, Jarrus. Is Jarrus here? Okay. Those are people that wanted to speak on R4, but they were mixed in with something else. Okay. R5. This is regarding the site plan alternative 1A. A number of people have signed up to speak. I'm going to call your names three at a time, but does the city staff want to make any sort of presentation before we begin to explain what we're doing tonight? Thank you, Mayor. So we've discussed this item with the commission in the past during conference meetings, and we've gotten feedback. And I believe at one of our recent meetings, it was requested that we bring this item forward for discussion and for a vote. We just really need some clear direction on the alternatives and the site plan that's being proposed so that we can move forward with the design and permitting process. We do have certain obligations tied to the interlocal agreement with the Bahiamar Community Development District with certain deadlines. We also have parks bond funding that we want to utilize and maximize in a timely fashion. So we're hoping that this discussion will allow staff to have that clear direction on how to proceed with the improvements at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park. Okay, so to bring this into context, for those that did not understand everything that you just said, about a year ago, the city commission approved an agreement with the developers of the Bahiamar to allow for the construction of pickleball courts at a certain site where currently there are now basketball courts. And the idea was to transfer the location of the basketball courts to a different location on the beach and allow for, I believe it was two pickleball courts that we're obligated for, right? That's correct. The interlocal agreement called for placing two pickleball courts at the site of the existing basketball courts, adding fitness equipment, and relocating some operational equipment. And also, okay, but did we also discuss relocating the picnic tables in the barbecue area and building new ones and better ones? We have talked about enhancing the amenities at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park, utilizing the funding available through the Park Spawn program. We have talked about consolidating the funding sources, both through the Bahiamar CDD as well as through the Park Spawn program to augment the amenities at the park holistically, including the picnic tables and the grills. We've also had discussions with the commission and shared communications with the commission related to relocating the basketball courts to the southern end of Fort Lauderdale Beach Park. And that's what the 1A alternative talks about, correct? Yes, Mayor. So we're looking at Exhibit 1, which is the site plan, and it shows the basketball courts at the southern end of the parking lot, which is sort of right near the Beocean Hotel. Is that correct? Yes, Mayor. Okay. And so, all right, so that's basically what we're voting on tonight. I know we've had a lengthy discussion of this in previous meetings, and so let us begin the public comment. We have about a dozen people who have signed up to speak, and I'll call your names, and you'll have a couple minutes to speak. So let's begin with Tracy Powell, followed by Dan Santoro, followed by Sally Allshouse. Are those folks here? Is Tracy here? Come on up. I'd like to submit for the public. I can't hear a word you're saying. You have to pull that close, too. Oh, that's it. Okay, there you go. I also have some paperwork I'd like to submit for the public record. All right, give that to the clerk, please. Who's the clerk? All righty, you're on. Great. No problem. All right, good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Tracy Powell. I'm a Fort Lauderdale native, and I live in the district directly affected by this decision. I grew up on this beach, and the basketball courts across from VHMR are part of the fabric that has always been a part of this place. They're visible, active, and open to everyone. They work where they are. The plans before you show the existing basketball courts, beachfront basketball courts, being removed from their current location and rebuilt elsewhere in the park. That is a relocation, not an in-place improvement. Nothing in the funding or reimbursement framework requires the courts to be moved. Relocation is a designed decision and choice. And for location-based public amenities, location is the value. I grew up here. My father always told me, location, location, location. I think everyone in Fort Lauderdale understands that. Once those courts are gone from this spot, there's no practical way to bring them back. This makes tonight a one-way decision. I'm asking you to pause this plan and direct staff to return with a revised site plan that keeps the basketball courts not where they are. This does not cancel the project. It simply improves the park without erasing something that already works. Thanks, Francis. Actually, I'm looking for a side. So, please state clearly tonight whether you support keeping the basketball courts in their historic beachfront location. Yes or no? All right. Thank you so much. Dan Santoro. Is Dan Santoro here? You want to go first? Okay. Let her go first? Okay. Are you Sally? I'm not Dan. Yes, sir. Are you Sally? Okay. There you go. Thank you very much. And good evening. My name is Sally Allshouse. I'm here to address agenda item R5 and in opposition to the resolution. I am a lifetime member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, an organization that is proud to support historic preservation. The beach is and always will be a spiritual place and the location of the original fort built in 1838 by Major William Lauderdale and his troops during the Second Seminole War, hence the name of our city, Fort Lauderdale. In 1929, the Hemershee chapter of NSDAR placed a marker commemorating the fort and replaced the marker in 2005. In my view, changing the basketball court could lead to Bahia Mars' new owners removing all historic elements. Thank you for your time and consideration. Okay. Thank you. Dan Santoro, followed by Chris Nelson, followed by Vicky Mowry. Yes, sir. Good evening, everybody. Thank you for having me, Mayor Trent Talos. My name is Dan Santoro. I first came down here on spring break 1979. And you still have the T-shirt. And I still do. I'm serious about this. It's time to change your wardrobe. So I got out the dress black T-shirt because I'm serious about this. Okay, okay. In 1979, I came down on my first spring break. And the second day I was here, I was overwhelmed. Bikinis, beer, beach. I'm walking towards the Swimming Hall of Fame. Belly flop contest, yes. Yep. I'm walking towards the Swimming Hall of Fame because I wanted to see it. And as I'm getting down to D.C. Alexander Park, I see kids with a basketball. And I look around them and I see other kids playing basketball. I'm like, wait a minute, the heck with the Swimming Hall of Fame. There's a basketball court here. So I go down there and there's like a fraternity from Maryland playing against a bunch of kids from Michigan. And on the other court, there's a bunch of kids from Massachusetts against some guys from Rutgers. I'm like, wow, this is great. Not just, you know, drinking, but working some of the drink off. And the next year, I got all my friends together. We played a few games, got from my team in Connecticut. And we got together. And I never forgot the basketball courts. I moved down here in 1986. And one of my first jobs was at the button. So we would go play basketball before we would go to work and build up a sweat and get people to come to the button and all that. The basketball courts are not a big draw. They were back then. Things have changed. People have changed. They're not a big draw. They could be a bigger draw. But the thing is, they have been there for decades. Mayor Trentales, as you know, I wrote this book about the history of Fort Lauderdale Beach. I could not find information as to where or when the basketball courts were originally put in in the 1940s or 50s. I believe it has something to do with what was the Yankee Clipper at the time, George Gill and those people. They put the courts out there for something for their customers. But from what I understand, going back to Nikki Grossman in the 1990s, when she tried to give some of the beach away to a developer, Hugh Taylor Birch in 1904 and John McGregor Adams, they donated the entire strip of the beach to the city of Fort Lauderdale with the caveat that no commercial enterprises be built east of A1A. And if you're going to put pickleball courts connected to Bahia Mar or anybody else, that violates that, I believe. The lawyers are going to have to look into that. But the basketball courts are good where they are. I live in Pompano. Thank you for calling me, allowing me to speak here. But I tell everybody I live in Fort Lauderdale. Why? Because Fort Lauderdale Beach is still the best beach in America. And the basketball courts are part of it. All right. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes your comments. Thank you. Thank you. Chris Nelson, followed by Vicki Mowry, followed by whoever JARUS is, is only using one word, one name. And you're from Loxahatchee. Are you here tonight? Is that you? And you're from Loxahatchee? I can't hear a word. Okay. Chris. Hello, Chris Nelson and mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. You need to keep those basketball courts exactly where they are. Okay? Let me remind you something. Let me remind you something. The people of Fort Lauderdale elected you, not the developers that put tens of thousands of dollars into your kitties and their overpaid lawyers and mouthpieces. Remember who you represent. You're here to protect us from people who are trying to encroach on our rights, on our public beach. And I want to point out something to you, this video that I came across that made my skin crawl. And I want to call them out by name. These were two realtors. One, Ekaterina Brozda from Brozda and Bentley. And the other one was, I know, I can't remember her name, but it was another one. And they were there, they're there on a video for Bahia Mar realtors and the St. Regis saying, oh, okay, you see all this right here? Now, all the citizens, all the little plebs, they can still walk along the water because it's a public beach, you know. But these amenities over here, the pickleball court and all this stuff, that's our, our the basketball courts, this is all going to be gone. And then the amenities are going to be yours exclusively to use. Did any of you see that video? Who are these people? And are, and are, is, are these the people that have, that have buttered you up in your, uh, in your super packs? Are these, are these the people that you represent or do you represent us? You don't represent them. You represent us. Now I got to also think when I look at these basketball courts, I was just down there and, uh, commissioner Glassman actually gave a great speech for why it should be a, uh, please conclude your remarks for why it should be a, a, um, historic landmark before he was commissioner. That was a very good speech. Hey folks, come on. I don't know what happened to you, but I can't help, but think that there is also a racial element to this because I'm looking at who's playing basketball and I look at who plays pickleball. Do you play basketball? I don't play basketball on those courts. No, but I think that we've got a situation where you're, we're trying to move the people, the young people of Fort Lauderdale off of our beach and put them down in a corner. So rich, wealthy tourists or, um, people that only come here, maybe a couple of months out of the year can come and take over that area. I'm all for redoing the grills. Uh, my wife and I love going down there, redoing the grills, redoing the playground, all that stuff, but keep the basketball courts where they are. Tell these two realtors here to slow their roll. The beach doesn't belong to them. It's a public beach and keep those basketball courts where they are. Thank you very much. Thank you. You brought your fan club with you tonight, Chris. Good evening and happy holidays. Whatever you celebrate at this really fun, wonderful time of the year. Tonight, all of you have an opportunity to represent and serve the people who put their trust and their faith in you when you were elected by us. You can take a stand for the citizens of Fort Lauderdale and don't give away any public beach to any developers or private entities, anyone. The beach isn't yours to give away, even though you are part of Fort Lauderdale. So you, yes, it's yours like it is all of ours. Leave the court where it is. Preserve the historical marker that is there and protect the dunes and the sea oats. And I'm sure you know what I'm talking about because something's definitely going on with the sea down right there in the very spot where we're going to supposedly, possibly put pickleball courts. You might want to go take a look if you haven't paid attention to the pictures that have been floating around. Acknowledge that you erred previously on just this matter is all I'm talking about. You never had any public outreach on this. The public didn't know anything about what was going to supposedly transpire. You can stop this and you can change it and you know you can. It might take a little bit of courage. I don't know. Do you all have it or not? We're counting on you to do the right thing, to vote no, go back to the drawing board, so tomorrow morning you could face yourself in the mirror knowing you have served the citizens as you were elected to do. Lastly, I want to thank whoever put up the signs at the basketball court and alerted us all to something going on. And that was months ago because that lit the flame and started this fire. Thank you. All right. Jaris. Could you tell us your full name, please? I'm Jaris. Baccaro is my maiden name. Goss is my last name. What's your last name again? I'm Jaris. Jaris Goss. Okay, because we need it for the record. Okay. Okay, thank you. Yes. All right. Good evening. I'm here as an individual community member engaged in environmental, historical, and community issues. Thank you for having me from Loxahatchee now. I was born and raised down here. Under site plan, Alternative 1A includes new earthwork and soil disturbances. I understand that through prior hearings and staff review that these were heard already. The project has gone through. From my perspective, it's not clear where the evaluation of alternatives were done, particularly rehabilitation versus new construction. It's not documented per what I can see or how environmental impacts from repeated groundwork and soil disturbances were considered, including long-term safety and public health in the area. I'm sorry. Excuse me. Public health in an area with significant historical community use. So my question to you, can you clarify for myself and a few others who carries that long-term burden if something were to happen? And who was, and how was this decision considered? Well, this isn't a question and answer period. This is, do you have an opportunity to speak? And so, please conclude your remarks. I'm sorry. I believe in it. I'm just understanding for the public to understand how we just keep moving soil and, you know, taking trees out and replanting them and not considering the ramifications of that. So, I do apologize if it's not a question you can handle. Okay. Thank you. Michaela Conka. Michaela, followed by Nancy Thomas, followed by Sandra McCarthy. Is Michaela here? Nancy? Good evening. Good evening. I'm here to talk about what is insufficient, meaningful public notice regarding major proposed projects, particularly those on public property. First, in 2023, the committee, the commission voted in favor of replacing the beach basketball courts with pickleball courts as requested by the Bahia Mar St. Regis developers. While this request likely was part of the commission meeting agenda and backup for that day's meeting, there was no public response until a small sign was erected at the basketball courts by the city earlier this year. That single sign informed hundreds of citizens, rising to thousands, who were alarmed and upset about this decision, generating significant public backlash. That's one example. Then, on December 16th, the four selected contenders for building a new city hall presented their renderings and cost estimates at the afternoon conference meeting. At the evening meeting, the commission chose a top and secondary choice. Only three community members spoke against the design and lack of public notice, very likely because the agenda item had more than 1,000 pages of backup and was published on the city's website the night before the Thanksgiving holiday and just five days before the meeting. Nancy, can I just interrupt you for a second and I'll stop the clock. This is going to take more than a couple of minutes to read. Okay, I'll skip through. Yeah, and try to stay on message because you're talking about many other things other than what's on the agenda. I understand. Okay. I understand. But I signed up to talk about this is an example of not enough public input, insufficient public input. Okay. Okay, so in the case of the city hall, as soon as Sun Sentinel published a photo, you got tons of response. The point is that the city has defended the process used for these public projects on public property, stating that all the information is available on websites. However, Commissioner Herbst admitted that was true, but the information was difficult to find. Meeting agendas are clearly not an effective way to advise the public of important issues to be voted upon, including the basketball court issue, the 1A. Tonight, I'm asking that a majority of the city commission vote to pause in the case of city hall and in case of the beach basketball relocation and schedule effective, well-advertised opportunities for the public to weigh in. Also, that the city modify its public outreach process going forward. It just isn't working by putting things on the website or putting things in meeting agendas, including the basketball court relocation. All right. Thank you. Nancy, just to give an example, with regard to the city hall thing, we brought that up in August of this year, and we posted all four designs on the website, and we got over 6,000 hits. So apparently 6,000 people were aware of it. Maybe you weren't. But there were a lot of people who were. And not only that, but there were subsequent meetings in which the subject came up again and again. And so unless we go knocking on your door to let you know what's happening, you know, the city makes an effort, I think a significant effort, to try to make the public aware of what's going on, whether it be the basketball courts, whether it be any issue. So I know you brought up a lot of different issues, and I know tonight we're just focusing on the basketball courts. And I think there's still more to be said on that, so we'll wait to see what the rest of the folks that have signed up to speak have to say. And I think there are members of the commission who also want to add their point of view on this. So thank you for coming tonight. Sandra McCarthy. Sandra, are you here? No. Greg Bruton. Greg. Followed by Christine DeMarco and then Barbara Stern. Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners. Greg Bruton. I'm generally not here to speak on with so many people saying that in opposition to something, but I do want to bring a different perspective of this entire initiative, as you've heard it tonight. For one, I don't think there's an issue that's on the table to removing the basketball courts entirely and that there will be no public access for basketball on the beach. And so I think that's an inaccurate description of what's a relocation. So, but they're still on the beach and they'll still be public. Take it from someone who grew up here in Fort Lauderdale. And the one issue that I do want to have a conversation with you about, a gentleman talked about, he saw a video about some realtors talking about what was going to happen on the beach. I also saw a video that described the basketball courts as having a significant role in the desegregation of the beach. I took exception to that. I lived that. Those people who made that video didn't live that. Fort Lauderdale Beach was segregated. Nothing on the beach about basketball had nothing to do with the desegregation of that beach. I take exception to that. I think that's wrong. I think that's inappropriate. And for people like myself who had to live through that era, you talk about it being something that the community enjoyed. There was also a movie made where the boys are. I suggested a few years ago, it should have been another movie where the other boys were. That was Fort Lauderdale back then. This is Fort Lauderdale today. Changes happen. It is not historic. Thank you very much. Thank you. Are you Christine? I certainly am. And I'm my own person. I'm not Chris Nelson's part of his PAC, just so you know. Okay. I oppose R525-1215. And the reason I oppose it, number one and foremost, are two reasons. They are public lands. Your mission statement in Fort Lauderdale as a commission and mayor clearly state the mission is to serve the public, not the developers. You are serving the developers by changing the basketball courts to pickleball courts. Send the pickleball players over to the fort. They have plenty of space. We have plenty of pickleball. I know, Steve, you love the pickleball. I say enough. Secondly, there are environmental issues that have not been disclosed nor settled on with moving the basketball courts. They'll never get built because if the EPA comes in and sees where some of the alternatives might be, they may never, like I said, get built because of the environmental issues. Tate also stated that he'd be happy to concede to the basketball courts if he had not printed marketing material and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. And I heard this live. Take that million dollars and let them print new marketing materials. I just say no. I hope you all will say no, too, because it's the right thing to do for your residents. Thank you. Barbara, before you speak, I just want to ask staff a question. With regard to these pickleball courts, they're not privatized. They're open to the public. Is that not correct? That's correct. They will be public amenities available to the public. To the public. Okay. Well, I just – okay. Please don't scream from the audience. Well, I just want to make sure that when we speak and we make decisions that everybody's making decisions based on facts and not just rumor. So the suggestion tonight was that we're privatizing the beach for the sake of developers, but what we are in fact understanding is that the pickleball courts are open to the public and they're not being privatized for anybody. So please go ahead. Well, on that note, Barbara Stern, proud resident of Fort Lauderdale. And Mr. Mayor, you might be interested in hearing this description from the St. Regis Bahiamar. Residents will enjoy the unparalleled luxury of having their very own pickleball court for spirited matches, leisure play, and wellness-focused recreation. I'm very upset that Jimmy Tate is not here tonight to explain his own marketing and advertising. They have advertised as an amenity beach basketball courts, not nearby amenity. They declare it as their own amenity. So I think the public has – You mean pickleball courts. You said basketball. Excuse me. Pickleball. Pickleball courts. They have advertised it as their own amenity. It doesn't advertise as a nearby amenity, their own. Mr. Mayor, you do real estate. One cannot convey a greater interest than he or she owns. They don't own that land. They cannot advertise it as theirs. I'm not disagreeing with you. You're 100% correct. Well, Mr. Tate should be able to answer his advertising. And that's why I wanted to clarify it before you spoke that this is a public amenity. It's not – Can we – do I get my time paused? Don't worry. You'll get your time. Go ahead. Well, that is where a lot of this outrage is coming from, Mr. Mayor, because you sat here and just said just minutes ago that there's public outreach even for the basketball courts. Would it surprise you that after a meeting a couple months ago when we had to hear from Commissioner Glassman that there wasn't enough outreach about Melrose Park for 10 years, I did a public records request for the outreach that was done about converting the basketball courts to pickleball courts. The answer from staff, in response to your request, staff advised that there are no responsive records. There was no public outreach. You yourself admitted that on the record, January 9, 2024. Bill Brown stated it on the record. John Burns stated it on the record. There was no outreach before this decision was made. The vote that was at issue on January 9, 2024, was about the air rights. That's what people were concerned about. Nobody was focused on the basketball courts, which were improperly described in the interlocal agreement anyway. Mr. Mayor, you guys have a chance to do the right thing. The interlocal agreement specifically states that the city possesses the authority to substitute and replace certain improvements as may be reasonably necessary based upon certain costs, permitting, and other factors. Any substitution or replacement of improvements requires consent of the CDD, which shall not be unreasonably withheld. It is unreasonable to ask us to now come back and keep the basketball courts, but just move them, spend money to move them, and then to also spend money to convert the basketball courts to pickleball courts. It doesn't make sense. Keep the basketball courts where they are. Relocate the pickleball courts further south on the beach. It is a cost savings to the city. It makes more sense. You're not disrupting the environment. And it is unreasonable to say that the people of the Bahia Mar cannot walk less than a quarter of a mile to a public pickleball court. They are not theirs. They are not exclusive to them. It is not their very own. They are there for the public. And if the public can walk to them, so can the people from the Bahia Mar. Okay. Thank you. And I would like... Devin Thomas, followed by John Rodstrom, Chris Stokowski, and then finally Susan Peterson. Are you Devin? Yes. Yes. Good evening, Devin. Hi, good evening. Good evening to the mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, general public, both those here for preserving the courts and those in opposition, because God is love, so we love everybody. That's the first principle. So I want to get that understood before I convey my message. So first and foremost, I want to be thankful for this opportunity during the holiday season, everybody getting ready to be around their family. Everybody loves to be around their family around this time of year, whether you've been through good or bad, because it allows you to be able to reflect on the ups and the downs. I remember times during Fourth and July, during Memorial Day, when I've been out by the courts, been able to have time with family, friends, loved ones, and be out there, and really just have a good time. I don't know if any of you guys play sports, not even basketball or pickleball, just any sports, if you have athletic exercise, because it's great for your health. And there's an acronym TEAM, T-E-A-M, taking exercise as medicine, which is what I employ, and a lot of people use those holistic practices through methods like basketball and other methods as well. So I just think that as far as the public land is conserved, again, it is public. So through the public process, we have to make sure that the whole public is in agreement with it. And I think the overwhelming majority is not in agreeance with this. And I personally, through my studying of law, am willing to, as a public resident, be able to take what legal action I need to if the proper justifiable action is not taken on behalf of the people. And I know there are people that are with me. So we will go as far as it takes to make sure, if it is voted against, that we can make sure that the proper legal actions are justified on the environmental end and for the rights of the people. I had a lot more I want to say, but I'm going to keep it short, because actions speak louder than words. So I just want my actions, if the right actions are not taken on your end, because you all have a conscience, you all know in your inner compass what's right. And I think I don't need to say too much more. You have a great evening. Thank you. Is John Rostrum here? Oh, John, okay. Mayor, commissioners, vice mayor. I come here as a third generation resident of Fort Waterdale. I grew up about a quarter mile away from the basketball courts. What are we doing here? I mean, seriously, what are we doing here? What we're doing is giving a developer who has already gotten so much from our community even more. Ten years ago, we gave them a piece of land, a public piece of land for almost nothing. And for years, I've been told, well, we're going to get all these tax revenue from the development, which hasn't really happened yet. It's the buildings haven't started. We're still kind of waiting. And then we gave them the air rights. And now we're giving them part of the beach. And, you know, when does it stop, right? So Barbara Stern read an out for you guys in the contract, and it talked about the authority the city has to substitute or replace certain improvements. One of those things is costs. This project is costing much more than you all originally contemplated when this happened, even though we didn't really contemplate this at all. Most of you didn't even know this was part of the interlocal agreement. But it also says other factors. Do you know what an other factor is? Our community, the people in this room. That's an other factor, right? So you look at that. You have the absolute ability to change this contract, right? Public land, guys. I mean, how many times do I have to come here and beg you, please, just take care of our public land? You ask why people don't want the basketball courts moved. There's so many reasons. But another reason I'll give you, the basketball courts right now are about 150 feet away from the water. They're going to be moved to over 400 feet away. It's a totally different area. It's further down the beach. It's not where it's been for over 80 years. Leave it alone. I'm going to come back to a statement my father said. At City Hall at the time. And I believe, Mr. Mayor, you were the only one on the commission when he said it to you. But it was the vote when we gave Bahia Mar away. You are public stewards of public lands. Shame on you. Mr. Stokowski. Followed by Susan Peterson. Is Susan here? Yeah, there you are. So how did we get here? We got here because we didn't know anything about this until a little yellow sign was put on the beach, which shows lack of transparency on your part. You, the people we elected, to protect and serve us, not the developers. This is getting really crazy how every time we turn around, there's another land deal going on in favor of developers. Why? Why do it? It's fiscally irresponsible to spend more money to move what is iconic desegregation-era basketball courts. They've been there for decades. I'm fifth generation Fort Lauderdale native. You don't need to spend the money to build more basketball courts. Leave them where they are. Move the basketball courts down, around the corner, across the street. You know, currently, Behemar has pickleball courts. Anybody knows that, right? They're empty. There's plenty of land over there for Mr. Tate, and his $2 billion project will not be blown because of his pickleball courts. What will happen is we will not be in support of any of this stuff. Your lack of transparency has caused all this. Each and every one of you that voted to go ahead and keep pushing this along and deferring it and deferring it and deferring it, it's ridiculous. We don't deserve this. We didn't elect you for this. And if you're not going to represent us, I've got one word for you, all of you, recall. Good evening, commissioners. I'm Susan Peterson from River Oaks, and I'm a local history writer. And here is the ad that was in the Sunday New York Times magazine on December 7th. Exquisite, where a beach meets bay. Here's the picture. There's a very pale lady's legs, her head's on the head. She's lying in a hammock. There's nobody there, no children, no families, nobody else. It looks like Little Palm Island or something. And there's a man, I guess that's her servant, in white clothes with sunglasses, and he's got a tray in his hand with a drink. So this is the image they're projecting. Who is they? That's not our Fort Lauderdale. Our fun, sexy, sporty city with opportunities for everybody. And right now, last night I went to the Saver Cinema. They had a special program, and it was about desegregating an amusement park right outside of Washington, D.C. And how they did it was students from Howard University and members of the Jewish community. And one leading lady had five children, and her husband was a union organizer. So they organized picketing for almost a year, and he succeeded in getting it desegregated. I've heard some talk about this St. Regis is supposed to be like Monaco and Fort Lauderdale. My Monaco connection is my swimming coach, Mary Freeman Kelly, was Princess Grace's sister-in-law. She was married to John B. Kelly, Jr., who was, at one time before he died, president of the Hall of Fame and head of the U.S. Olympic Committee. These were wealthy people who gave back to the community. They did not live a life of luxury or they could have. And I was watching on TV before I came here. There was the wonderful Rita Case receiving the award for donating over 100,000 bicycles to children. How can you not recognize that this is a treasure of a city, one of four beach basketball courts in the whole country? How can you, before Christmas, even consider taking away this amenity, which has been here since the mid-'60s? I first came here in 62, and I did not know the beach was segregated. But my first national championships, I had a taste of segregation when I flew through Nashville to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to the headquarters of Phillips 66 Oil Company that had a swimming pool in their corporate headquarters. And there in Nashville, I saw for the first time colored and white bathrooms and drinking fountains. My coach was a black prison guard, Navy veteran. We used to meet him in a pool in Harlem. Ma'am, we're not talking about desegregation tonight. We're just talking about pick-up all courts. Well, I'm talking about it because it's a very important issue that we should look at this as a community. I know, but your time is up. My last remark is going to be, I can just imagine the salespeople saying, we've got to get those people out of here. We can't have them opposite our sales office. That's my impression. Okay, thank you. Is Dana Coronado here? You just signed up. Anybody else wish to speak on this? Come on up. Anyone else wish to speak on this item? Okay, did you sign up? You have to sign up. Go out in the front and sign up. Oh, the picture. Thank you so much for letting me speak. I appreciate it. Good evening, everyone. We've heard a lot of different stories here tonight. Opposing 25-1215, relocation of the basketball courts. Number one, obviously, I just, as an ROI, I'm a business mind. It doesn't make sense to me. Seems like we would want them. People here, we're all speaking up. We all like where they are now. I know that there's a lot of regulations in moving this, doing land use and development law. And, you know, I just am not confident that they'll actually be able to be pulled off and relocated. And that's a community issue to me. So, as we're doing this, and the reason why I even say this is because when this agreement was first discussed, the interlocking agreement, you guys posted it. But all the appendices of where the pickleball courts were going to go were not correct. In fact, it said in the agreement that they were going to be located south of the Behia Mara Bridge. Well, the basketball courts are north of the Behia Mara Bridge. And they also don't say anything about replacing a basketball court anywhere. So, you know, there's always this joke, like, you know, there's only two jobs that you can do completely wrong and still get paid. A kicker in the NFL, you know, he can miss the goal and he still gets paid. And, you know, the weatherman, you can predict the weather wrong, he still gets paid. And also the Fort Lauderdale surveyor because he didn't put anything in the right places and yet he still gets paid. And who pays that cost, right? The people. We're all paying that cost. And, you know, listen, you could have got 6,000 clicks, but those clicks didn't see the right appendix. They didn't show the right agreement. So that's concerning to me because did the people really know? So once the people did find out, the signs were put up, posted up, we started contacting. We started organizing. And it was beautiful. What a beautiful community we have that stood up for this. And I'm proud to be part of it. My last point would be is basketball, as a citizen here, I grew up playing basketball in those courts. I went and played in college. That led to a great business career. I not only, you know, went to law school, got my MBA, and I stepped out on those courts. And every single time, those men, those boys I'm playing with, you take that shot. You hit that basket. You deserve to be out here. You deserve to crush it. And what do I do? I go out in business. I crush it. I speak up. I come to a meeting and I stand up. I learned that from my community. And you know what? I don't know. They don't give NCAA pickleball scholarships yet. So that would be my thought. Let's get our kids paid. That mill money, that's real money. And that could give them back into the community. And we wouldn't have to wrangle over a million dollars. Those kids are making millions. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Greg Risley. My name is Greg Risley. Pretty much born and raised on this beach, Fort Lauderdale. I've seen that this is the first time I actually got up to speak. I can't believe that you guys are even contemplating with the public of what the outreach is. But there is one thing that you guys did with this situation is you brought our community together. All walks of life of people. The people I saw at the Historic Society, there was at least 70 to 80 people speaking on behalf of this, which they wouldn't let us speak. They said there was too many people to speak. They were going to deter us until the next month, the next month. So how can we vote tonight on something that the Historic Society said we have to wait two months now or January to speak? It's something that, Commissioner Glassman, you spoke heavily of in 2017. I didn't know you then. I campaigned for you after hearing that speech at City Hall at 2 in the morning. And at that time frame, all that was talking about was the public, I guess, the public land. I don't know if everyone understands it, but he and Mar, we own that land. At that time frame, it was how could they sell condos on public land because it would be technically a co-op. And would we have access to walk around the marina or a bike ride like we do? They wouldn't give us an answer at that time frame. The developers actually then later on said, oh, yeah, we're going to have this area that will do this for the public to go. That was 2017. Now it's 2025, and we're fighting. No one's even talking about that. We're talking about the beach. I rented beach chairs on the beach for Mr. and Mrs. Perry for 25 years. I was blessed every day to go to that beach. I saw hotels come down, hotels build up. I saw the Ocean Club next to the beach place get tore down where the candy store was. You were talking about belly flop contest. The first time that something was going in that hotel wasn't the Ritz Carlton. It was the St. Regis that was built as the St. Regis, and it got something happened later on, and they went bankrupt and Four Seasons bought. So what happens when this happens to St. Regis now? No, Ritz Carlton. Or Ritz Carlton. Ritz Carlton. And it didn't go bankrupt. They just rebranded it. They were taking deposits as the St. Regis condos as the St. Regis, and then they rebranded. What's it say? They don't do that now. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, it's the public wants the beach. We're talking about basketball courts here. Now we're talking about hotels. The public, it seems, really wants their beach. And it's not pickleball versus basketball. It's the public beach. Okay. Versus our developers. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak on this item? Okay. There being none, do I hear a motion to close public hearing? So moved. Second. They're moved and seconded. Please call the roll on the motion to close public hearing. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trentals? Yes. The public hearing on R5 is now closed. So what's the pleasure? District Commissioner, would you like to begin this conversation? Sure. Thank you, Mayor. First of all, thank you, everyone, for showing off. I think it's incredible when we get so much input, and it's very valuable, and I wanted to say thank you. I have some questions for the city attorney and for the city manager. There were some references made, by the way, just to correct the record, because I know, Nancy, you wrote 2023. The commission actually entered into that agreement in January of 2024 with the BMR district, correct? That's correct. Help me understand, because it was brought up several times tonight, and I want to be really clear on this, that according to some of the speakers, we have the ability to go back and revisit, and the development side, which in this case is the district, I believe, the taxing district, the community district, they cannot withhold that agreement unreasonably, whatever the language was. I think it was, they cannot be unreasonably withheld. So from our legal perspective, can you please just talk to me about that? I really need to understand that really clearly, because what I've heard from that district, the BMR community district, is that they have no intention of acquiescing to any change from that agreement that we did in January of 2024. So I need to hear the legal opinion. A little closer. You can pull it closer. You can pull it closer to you. Yeah, just move the whole machine. Yeah, I know. Just keep talking. I know. It's hard. I'll speak up. The paragraph 3.3 of the interlocal agreement reads, this possesses the authority to substitute and replace certain improvements as may be reasonably necessary based upon certain costs, permitting, and other factors. Any substitution or replacement of improvements requires consent of a CPD, which will not be unreasonably withheld. I understand. That's exactly what I did here. But I need you to explain to me the unreasonably withheld part. And I guess what I'm saying is, if we were to renege on that agreement, what would be the legal consequences or what would be the grounds that we would have to do that in dealing with that language that you just read? And suggesting that the basketball courts are? Exactly, because that is what we agreed to in January of 2024. But what about the unreasonably withheld part? Well, that would be their entitlement, right? They cannot unreasonably withhold our request to make a change. And help define that for me, because that to me is very important to this. Because what I'm getting at is, I don't want to get into a legal conflict over this, because I'm... Excuse me, folks. Please, let the... Everyone had a right to speak tonight, and now the commissioner has a right to speak. Right. I didn't groan or moan when anyone spoke at the podium. Just keep going. So can you please help me understand that? Because I think that's really crucial to this. Are you speaking to their rejection of any change, and whether they would, in fact, pay for the replacement of the basketball courts at another location? No, I'm not. Well, and I'm going to get to that in a little bit, because I need to just correct some of the things that were said about that as well. No, I want to know what that exactly means, that if we went to the table, and we went to the taxing district, the community development district, and we said, we do not... We do not want to replace the basketball in that location. I'm not talking about the basketball further south. But if we decided that we did not want to do that, what would be the response? If they said, absolutely not, how do we hold someone accountable to those words, unreasonably withheld? I need a little bit more clarity about those words. Well, would it burden the project? So would it be unreasonable to agree or disagree to do that? An aspect would be whether it would burden the project. They would have an opportunity to say that we don't concur, and then you would say that their objection is not reasonable because it would burden the project. Okay. So what, for instance, and I've heard this because I've asked this question, and I definitely have had this conversation with the Behemar Community Development District, but I'm told things like, well, more than 30 units have been sold. We have offered that. It's on our model. It's in our, you know, it's in our materials. Is that a good enough reason to say that you would put those sales in jeopardy? Is that an excuse, if you would, that the developer could actually say? The term unreasonably withheld requires sort of an interpretation of good faith and fair dealing. So we would analyze it in terms of whether it was good faith or fair dealing, and some of that would be subjective, Commissioner. But we certainly would expect them to assent to a reasonable condition. And unfortunately, words like unreasonable and reasonably held are very subjective. And so that's when we get into difficulty because these things aren't specifically defined. Right. And that, to me, is something that I'm having a little bit of difficulty with on this. I also wanted to mention, and I know that people have talked about the history. I will tell you that when I, and this has been referenced several times, so let me just address this, but when I did speak in 2017, that was a night that went almost till 3 a.m. And our main objective that night was to make sure that that site plan did not get approved. And then when the commission came back, the next commission came back, the mayor and I worked with the development team to make sure that that project was scaled way back, that we had a lot more public space, including a two-acre park on the western end of the peninsula, and that we were able to get the boat show out of a garage and give them that space. Those were the main objectives of what was addressed in 2017 when we fought that site plan. We lost, but then the next commission, we were able to actually go back to the drawing board. So I just wanted to correct that record as well. The original basketball courts, because this has been mentioned as well, and several people, I know that the author is gone for the evening, but I want you to know that the original basketball courts were much closer to Las Olas and A1A. I have photos. I've gone to the Historical Society to view that information. They were much closer to Las Olas and A1A, actually the site of the wait-in, where we have the monument sign right there commemorating the wait-in. That's where the courts were in the 60s. The courts that we're referencing now, across from Behemar, did not come until the mid-80s. So I know I also heard someone say they've been there for 80 years. That's not true. They've been there for about 40 years. So I just wanted to make sure people understood. Please don't yell back and forth. Thank you. Thank you very much. I would also want to just mention that I wanted to clear the record also because it was a little confusing. The original agreement with the developer in January of 2024 contemplated the replacement of the basketball court with the pickleball court. It was not contemplated at that time that we would actually be saying, okay, hey, we still want to keep basketball. Let's find another site. It actually called for the elimination of the basketball courts and with the replacement of the pickleball. When this commission did hear from folks that there was a big concern about eliminating the basketball courts, that's when we went back to the drawing board and said, can we please figure out if we can do both? Because we didn't want to get into a legal entanglement over the replacement and that site of the basketball with the pickleball. But we also heard the public saying we still want basketball on the beach. So what we did was we asked the city manager to come back with us and please show us how we could accomplish that, making sure that we were staying east of the, I'm sorry, west of the coastal construction line, making sure that we'd be able to get to a point where we would be able to have that. This is all done in conjunction with also cleaning up the area under the pedestrian bridge, getting rid of all of our storage areas and bins, replacing all of the fitness equipment, and also replacing the picnic tables and the grills. So all of that is the amenity package, correct me if I'm wrong, that we're talking about in terms of how we're going to improve the park, the beach park. All of those amenities would still be accessed by the same parking lot, correct me if I'm wrong, the beach parking lot from the north to the south, that same length of beach. So this commission did hear and did listen to the fact that people wanted to still be able to play basketball on the sand. But again, because of that legal obligation from January of 2024, we tried to come up with a plan that would work for everyone and still have all of those amenities on the beach and to the tune of a million dollars, right? I think that's what we said from the development team. They were still doing a million dollars for those improvements. Plus, we had funds also allocated from the parks bond for the beach, correct? So there's a million dollars that is available for eligible improvements as specified in the interlocal agreement, and we cannot exceed the million dollars based on those improvements that have been listed. I just wanted to add to your comments, we are also contemplating replacing the playground at the beach as one of the improvements. Are you talking about the one north around Sebastian, that playground? Which playground? By the bathrooms. Oh, by the bathrooms. Yes, and so that would be under the parks bond funding, separate and apart from the interlocal agreement funding. Okay, thank you. So that is part of it as well. Yes. I understand. Okay, so I just wanted to clear up those issues because those are just things that I've been hearing tonight, and I wanted to make sure that everybody understood. So thank you for that. It helps, and I appreciate the clarity. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. There's a couple of other things I want to make sure we are all dealing with the same set of facts. You mentioned the million dollars. I believe that was what the developers agreed to pay for the relocation of the basketball site, no? I could clarify that, Mayor. Would you do that for us? The million dollars would be available. And I apologize. Let's be precise on this because we've had a lot of conversations between developer and CDD. Of course. Be very, very precise. You know how I like precision in the language. Which entities we're talking about. Which entity we're talking about? Because I think it's very important in this conversation to know who's offering to pay for work. Absolutely. So the interlocal agreement that the city has with the Bahiamar CDD calls for up to a million dollars to be provided to the city for eligible improvements. In addition, the developer, which is separate from the CDD, has offered to contribute $500,000 toward the relocation of the basketball courts. Could I interrupt on this? Because I had a conversation earlier today, and that's not the takeaway that I have. The takeaway that I have is that the developer has offered to advance funds to the CDD because the CDD, at its inception, has no money. So what they've offered to do is advance funds to the CDD to the tune of $500,000. So I do think it's very important. In addition to the million dollars? No, no, no. So the million dollars is coming from the CDD as part of our interlocal agreement. The CDD has no money to fund any improvements at this time. It's my understanding, and I really want to make sure we confirm this because I'm getting conflicting messaging around this, and I think it's important we're all on the same page, is that the developer has agreed to advance funds to the CDD in order for all of this to take place now. That doesn't mean that we're getting a million plus $500,000 for a total of $1.5 million. I will say that I believe that the first portion of what you're saying is accurate. I do believe that the developer is under the impression, and this impression was given by the city that the eligible improvements pursuant to the interlocal agreement would amount to about $500,000 and not reach that million-dollar threshold. Correct. I also believe that the developer is willing to contribute a separate $500,000 toward the relocation of the basketball court for a combined contribution between the CDD and the developer to a million dollars, so not $1.5 million. All right. So I think we're all getting different information. Right. So what I think, Mayor, if I may, so what I think the suggestion is is that the CDD has agreed to fund up to $1 million. What we're saying now is that the totality of the enumerated improvements at the beach are only going to be $500,000. The eligible improvements are sold to the interlocal agreement. So we're not going to be getting $1 million from the CDD. We're getting $500,000 from the CDD. That's what we're estimating at the moment. If those costs go up, we have up to the million dollars. I think we need to get something in writing that clarifies all this, because what I'm hearing is my belief, my understanding. This is not a criticism. Please don't take it this way. But when I hear my belief, my understanding, this is what I think we're going to get, that's very problematic for me, because I'm hearing multiple conversations that don't seem to be saying the same thing. And again, specificity, transparency, and clarity on an issue is imperative. It's of the utmost importance. I would like something in writing at some point from the CDD, from the developers, from everybody, so I know what we're getting and what we're obligated for, because the city is going to be stepping up and covering whatever shortfall there may be outside of these agreements. Okay. So to continue, so it's going to be important that we have more specificity with regard to the obligations that have been represented to us. It was my understanding from the beginning that somebody from the developers team, or whether it be the taxing entity, that the city was going to have up to a million dollars to spend to relocate the basketball courts and also to contribute to the other amenities that we spoke of on the beach, and that we could use it any way we want, as long as it provided assistance for the payment of these amenities on the beach, which would include the barbecue grills, the picnic tables, the playground equipment, anything else that was on the beach, and that our parks bond money would be used to augment any project that we have within that discussion. So because there's no clarity there, we need to make sure we've firmed that up, number one. Number two, there seems to be a misunderstanding about what the salespeople for the St. Regis are saying, and if there are people doing videos that are saying that the St. Regis has dedicated private pickleball courts and so forth, yes, that's true, but they're not the ones on the beach. The brochures are referencing the pickleball courts that are on the main site of the property. And the reason why I know that is because during this discussion tonight, can I just finish? Do not yell, all right? Let's understand that. I'm speaking. You all had a chance to speak. Please don't interrupt. So during this discussion, the broker for the project has texted to me a copy of the brochure, which specifically references the pickleball courts on the site, not the ones on the beach. So if you folks have a different brochure, I'd like to see it, but right now they're referencing just the ones on the site, not on the beach. Anyway, so we'll get clarity on that too, all right? There seems to be a misunderstanding about that. Thirdly, building pickleball courts on the beach east of the coastal construction line is going to be an issue because right now those basketball courts are built east of the coastal construction line. If we tear them up, we have to go back all over again and get the state's approval to build east of the coastal construction line. That's always a challenge. So there's no guarantee that we'd be able to build pickleball courts, even if we wanted to, east of the coastal construction line in place of where the basketball courts are currently. So we have to have clarity on that before we go anywhere further. And just to reiterate what has been said on the commission, we have been talking about this for a long time, and there are people who have said to us throughout the year that they're very happy to have the basketball courts remain where they are. But some people have come to me and said, as long as we have basketball courts on the beach, it didn't matter to them. So there's going to be a difference of opinion. Well, I'm just letting you know what other people, you're not the only people that have opinions on this. There are other people who have come to me. There are other people that have come to me and have had difference of opinions, all right? So I'm not saying that who has the most opinion and who's in the majority, who's in the minority. I'm just letting you know that there are other people that have other opinions besides the ones that you've expressed tonight. So, you know, I'm not sure that this issue is right for a decision tonight because we have some matters that really need to be cleared up, especially the issue of whether or not the state would even permit the building of pickleball courts east of the coastal construction line. So, and how much money is going to be dedicated towards the improvements that we have contemplated here. So that's my point of view. I don't, I don't think we're prepared to do it. And frankly, I'm not even sure it's even necessary to go forward on this. I think let's just leave the pick the basketball courts where they are. And, and, uh, but anyway, um, uh, let's, let's just get some clarity on some of these issues and then we'll make it, we can make a decision whether or not to go forward. For the city manager, can you do us a favor? I believe there is a timeline in that agreement that we're obligated to meet. So I want to just make sure that we don't get into trouble with that as well, because it will take time for permits. It will take time to do whatever we need to do. Um, but I believe there is a deadline. There is a deadline. Yes. It's based on the effective date of the agreement and it is January, 20, 27. That they have to be completed. Uh, yes. And we also have the cost breakdown for the proposed improvements in the exhibit. Uh, it's page one of five of exhibit number two. So it provides an estimate of what we think it may cost. We've worked with a calm on that, uh, in order to fully assess whether we will be able to get this project permitted, uh, we wanted to get feedback on the number of pickleball courts. Uh, there was a discussion about two and three and four. What's the original agreement contemplate? Two pickleball courts are what are required based on that agreement. Uh, but in order to really advance the discussions and exploration of the permitting, we would need to know which direction we should be headed in. So that's part of the reason why we wanted to get the clarification because we won't be able to fully understand whether a permit is feasible if we don't know the extent of the scope. Have we reached out at all to the state to find out if that's even feasible then to take the footprint of the basketball court now, replace that with pickleball, even though it is, as the mayor said, east of the coastal construction line, have we been able to ascertain if that is even doable, um, or because of the fact that we're not building anything new? Is that site being that it's already got pavement, et cetera, et cetera, is it grandfathered in or not? We've begun that process of exploration with the state, but we do not have a definitive answer at this time. We have not submitted for a permit. We've just had some preliminary outreach to the state. What does that mean exactly? Preliminary outreach? I'm going to call Ben Rogers, assistant city manager, to share more on the conversations with the state. While we wait for Ben, so just so I'm clear, if we stay on the same footprint, right, so if we do three pickleball courts, right, we could do three pickleball courts on the basketball courts. We're staying on the same footprint. We're not expanding the footprint of the concrete that is already in place. I'm assuming that that is feasible. But, John, it might be a legal nonconforming use, which means the rules may have changed since the basketball courts were first installed. So I don't want to use that as a false premise that we can go forward with pickleball using the same footprint. Fair point. They always change the rules, right? Fair point. Yeah. Just like crosswalks. Anyway, I don't mean to bring up another sore subject, but go ahead. So good evening. To answer the question, I think that there's varying levels of permitting that goes through on this process. So AECOM has started having some initial conversations with FDEP on what that looks and feels like. To Vice Mayor's point, you know, if you take the existing asphalt that's there, repaint it, it's probably an easy ask for the state because you're not impacting the usable space of the beach. You're not changing any of the factors. However, once you start installing four-foot fence, six-foot fence, eight-foot fence, if you're going to put screening on those fences, there's different breakaway conditions for the requirements. And so, as the city manager indicated, one of the things that we're seeking from the commission is a site plan concept that we can then go and have these conversations with the Department of Environmental Protection, because based off of each one of these different conditions, there might be a different path to get to the answer that we need to get for the commission to make a final decision on this. All right. Ben, I haven't heard from you tonight. What are your thoughts? Thanks, Mayor. Appreciate it. So, Mayor, I think we need to keep the basketball courts exactly where they are. And as, you know, the city attorney mentioned, I think the next step is we need to work with the CDD to assent to a reasonable condition to keep the basketball courts exactly where they are. I think we can do that. I think we should add two more, don't you? Anyway, what about Pam? What are your thoughts? I want to try to get a little bit of a consensus here on what direction we should go. And before we ask staff to commit any more time and expense on moving them to a different location, what are your thoughts? Well, I agree where the basketball courts are, they're there, they're where the community utilize them and that they're familiar with. So if that's the case and they're able to stay there without us breaching the agreement that's in place, because there's still that agreement that we haven't discussed. It was read by our attorney, but before when we discussed this, it appeared to my understanding that we both would have to be in agreement in order to let them stay or move them, whatever the situation comes down to. So the way I sit, let them stay where they are, but also understanding that we are in an agreement that we have to abide by as well. Commissioner, you're making an excellent point. It will potentially come down to that. You may wish to keep things as they are, but you have to deal with the language in the agreement that you've already signed. It does require that they give consent, but that it cannot be unreasonably withheld. So we have a little back and forth there. Perhaps there is some room for that, but that would have to be addressed. Can we go back to that for a second? I know Commissioner Glassman brought that up, but I just want to kind of touch base on that a little bit. So we have certain enumerated positions within the agreement. One of the things we've talked about is if there were leftover funds, could we add additional amenities to the beach? So when I think about consent not being unreasonably withheld, I think of it more in the context of if we wanted to add more barbecue grills, more picnic tables, more things of that nature, it doesn't impact the substance and nature of the agreement itself. It's merely expanding what we have. But if you're talking a complete replacement of one of the enumerated features of the agreement and they object to that, it would seem to me that there's more of a basis for them rejecting that request than something that's somewhat more innocuous. So when you talk about unreasonably withheld, where does that come in to specifically enumerated features of an agreement? Well, you're substituting or replacing certain improvements. The improvements are identified specifically. And so they would have to agree to those major changes. I think to your point, the identified items are very specific, and those are the ones to which they would have to give consent. And that would include the pickleball. It would? It would, yeah. It would. So is it more reasonable then to, is it more reasonable then for them to object to specifically listed items in the agreement than it would be for us to add additional items? I'm just trying to get a sense of where that unreasonably withheld comes into play. If it goes to exceed the intent, right, the intent of the agreement is to come together for the benefit of the public and this property and to put specific amenities, which we call improvements. It goes to that intent. And that intent is to have at least two pickleball courts where the existing basketball courts are. Those are the identified amenities and some other things, the fitness part, those things. And the CDD will provide up to $1 million to assist with that. That's what the language is. So the intent is to have these specific items. The city, it's addressed here, has the opportunity to come along and say, well, you know, we want to make a couple of changes in these amenities. We don't particularly want these. What say you? And so your question then is, well, what would it matter to them? What would be the threshold? What would be reasonable to object to and not to object to? Within that context, then, would we have to articulate a reasonable basis for the substitution? Or do they have to dictate a reasonable basis to deny the burdens on them? Correct. Well, I'm wondering if it has to go both ways. I mean, so... I had to read it that way, Vice Mayor. So we don't have to articulate a reason as to why we want to do a substitution. No. We can just simply ask for it. We can simply ask for it. And they can accept or reject that. And from that point, next step is mediation, litigation? No, no. They can accept it. Or if they don't. I want to understand the process, Mayor. If you don't, do you hope that you could come to some reasonable, you know, resolution or head in another direction? So that's what I'm trying to understand, though, is lay out the steps for me if they choose not to, as they have suggested, that they are not amenable to what we are suggesting. What are the steps? So I know we're dealing now with another governmental entity. And I know having gone through this before, what is it, 164? Yeah. Proceeding? It's... Go through mediation? Yeah. Right. That would be a process. At first, you're still going to have to have some discussion with them about, you know, what is reason what they would object to. I don't know that that is the case. I don't know that anyone does, whether they would object to that. It would be such an entanglement to then have to proceed and to unrest that and still comport with your other obligations under the agreement, because you're obligated to complete the project within three years. And now you're getting mired in some disagreement, which would prevent you from completing the project, which creates other problems. Okay. City Manager, don't we have some preliminary indication from the CDD that they were not receptive to the idea of a substitution or an abandonment of the pickleball? Yes. I did attend a CDD meeting over the summer or early fall, and that was what was indicated at that time. I do also want to highlight in the agreement what might be somewhat of a caveat as to what is reasonably necessary. So the city possesses the authority to substitute and replace certain improvements as may be necessary based upon certain costs, permitting, and other factors. Other factors. So we don't have any specificity on what the other factors are, but I think that was an attempt to qualify what would be reasonable or not, or what would be the basis for a substitution or replacement. And to your point, I do think that... So it's like beauty. It's in the eye of the beholder? Yes. I think the other factors could be the public opinion. But thank you. Actually, Mayor, I appreciate you bringing that up, because I want to know if that's the basis for another factor. And Mayor, you were here back in 2003 when a city commission decided to undo a previous approval that the CRA had done at the beach, and we were in litigation and tied up that parcel of land over there for the better part of 10 years. What was the name of that parcel? What was that? Something started with a P. What was it? It was at the La Solis Marina. It was... It was just on the other side, that bacon lawn over there. Yeah. Well, and we won. We did. We won. It took us a decade, though. I held out for 10 years. So, Mayor, can I make a suggestion? I think it had, like, a name of a city in Italy or something. It did. It did. Palazzo. Palazzo. Palazzo. Thank you. Palazzo. Palazzo. Not a city, but that's whatever. I love when we've got a bunch of old people up here. Palazzo. Palazzo stuff from years ago. Palazzo. Yeah, the Palazzo case. Well, so when the public speaks up, you know, we need to listen. And I think that that's a justifiable basis. I think, Mayor, I think that going forward, you know, we should try to work with the developer and see what other alternative methods of trying to find recreational facilities on the beach that suits their expectations and, at the same time, suits the community's expectations. So there's an opportunity here to compromise. And, Ben, did you want to say something? Yeah. No, thanks, Mayor. Completely agree with you, Mayor. And my suggestion would be that if I think it might be helpful to have a single point of engagement and dialogue with the CDD, I think that should be you, Mayor, and with the city attorney to start the dialogue, exploring the possibilities, and then let us know how it's going. Okay. And city manager and city attorney, I really, again, I know I've made this point before. I'm just concerned about the timeline in these agreements. I'm concerned about one thing leading to another and pushing things back, back, back. I'm just concerned about any bit of risk that we might be facing. That's why it's so important for you and also my colleagues. We just need to figure out what we're doing here, but we're going to need information from you because we really need to understand the whole picture. Again, it said three years from that agreement to get all of this done. Correct. And now we only have 12 months left. So, and we know what happens with litigation and we know what happens with mediation and we know. So, does that add another problem for us? I just want to understand the entire picture here and what we are facing, what we could be facing, so that we can make a decision that benefits the whole city. I just, I really need to have it. Let's see what we can work out. My experience with the developers is that they're reasonable people and I'm sure we'll come up with some solution that will be, that will work for everybody. So, so let me take, let me, let me take the responsibility of meeting with them at the city manager and the city attorney and we'll figure something out. In the meantime. Thank you. All right. So, in the meantime, with regard to R5, can, why don't we, why don't we just defer this or do we want to just vote it down? I think we need more information from our city attorney and our city manager. I think we just defer this like we've been deferring everything all day. All right. So, I mean, I don't want to be sarcastic. I want to be, I want to be correct. So, uh, city attorney, what, if it's your wish to pursue some more information before you act on this, then I recommend that you move to defer it. Let's just defer this indefinitely. Okay. Well, that would be your choice. Uh, indefinitely might not be the best option, but we'll defer it until we don't. Okay. Mindful of your obligations and other contract and timeliness. Do we need to vote on that or just defer it? Yeah, please. All right. Move to defer. Okay. Second. Okay. It moves and seconded. Please call the roll. So, anyone else wish to speak? No. Uh, um, please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen. Again, move to defer, right? Now we're deferring this indefinitely. Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst. Yes. Commissioner Glossman. Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman. Yes. Mayor Trinthals. Yes. Okay. Don't you want to stay for the rest of the meeting? Okay. Moving R6. Shh. R6, uh, also is to be deferred. Um, do we need a, do we need a vote on that? Yes. Yes, please. Okay. Move to defer. Second. To January 6th. 20th. 20th. No. We moved it to the 20th, didn't we? Oh, this one. Okay, I'm sorry. Yes. No, no. This is the 6th. This is the 6th. Okay. It's hard to remember which is the 6th. Okay. Motion to defer to 6th. So, January 6th. Do I hear a second? Second. Thank you, Greg, for being here. Do I hear, was there a second? Second. Second. Okay. Please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen. Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst. Yes. Commissioner Glossman. Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman. Yes. Mayor Trent Halls. Yes. And R6 is now deferred to January 6th. R7, this is a quasi-judicial, excuse me, judicial resolution, an amendment to a site plan level 2 development alternative design requests from dependable equities. This is the OMBEL project on 3rd Avenue. Anyone wishing to speak must be sworn in, and the commissioner will announce any site visits, communications, or expert opinions received, and make them a part of the record. Vice Mayor, do you have any disclosures, communication with Ms. Toothaker? Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? With Toothaker as well. I also had a communication with Mrs. Toothaker. Commissioner Glossman? Yes, same. Met with Stephanie Toothaker December 15th. Just yesterday? Just yesterday. Wow. Mayor, may I suggest for the record, when you identify the person with whom you spoke, you identify their relationship to the project? Their relationship to the project? Yes. The person, the counsel for the... Counsel for the principal, yeah. Yes. Counsel, same thing. Counsel for the principal, Stephanie Toothaker, Zoom meeting yesterday, December 15th. Ditto. Counsel for the principal. Okay. Let's see. Only Stephanie has signed up to speak. I assume it's just to answer questions. Where are you? Oh, there you are. Anyone have any questions? There being none, someone moved to close public hearing? Moved. Second. Been moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trent House? Yes. And public hearing is now closed. R-7, someone would like to introduce the resolution? Introduced. So we introduce, please call the roll. And Commissioner, that's for approval? Yes. Thank you. A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, approving an amendment to Site Plan Level 2 Development Permit and an alternative design that meets the overall intent of the Downtown Master Plan for the project known as Umbel, located at 300 Northeast 3rd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the Downtown Regional Activity Center City Center Zoning District. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trent House? Yes. And R-7 is now approved. Moving on to PH-1, public hearing. This is the second public hearing, a resolution regarding the designation of real property located at 3100 Northeast 32nd Avenue as a brownfield area for rehabilitation and redevelopment pursuant to Florida's Brownfields Redevelopment Act. One person decided to speak, Nectaria, but that's just to answer questions, right? Are you still here, Nectaria? Oh, there you go. She is still here. So quiet. Anyone have any questions? Do I hear a motion to close public hearing? Move. Do I hear a second? Second. It moves a second to close public hearing on PH-1. Please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trent House? Yes. The public hearing on PH-1 is now closed. Would someone like to introduce a resolution? Introduced. Resolution has been introduced. Please call the roll. A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, making certain findings and designating the real property located at 3100 Northeast 32nd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33308, folio number 4943-300-31320 as a brownfield area pursuant to Section 376.80, parens 2, parens C, Florida Statutes for the Purpose of Rehabilitation, Job Creation, Promoting Economic Redevelopment, authorizing the City of Fort Lauderdale to notify the Florida Department of Environmental Protection of said designation, providing an effective date. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trent House? Yes. And that is now passed. PH2, public hearing, request to defer to January 6th. Do I hear a motion to defer this to January 6th? Wait. There was a script for that one? There's a script. Yeah. I'll give you mine. I have it. I have it. I have it. Is that where Mayor says? Okay. This item was previously set to be heard today by a previous resolution approved by the City Commission as required by the Charter. However, the staff advised the 12-day required newspaper notice was not timely provided as additionally required by the Charter. Our legal staff has advised that no testimony and action should be taken on the merits of this item until it is deferred so notice can be perfected. I will entertain a motion to defer item 25-1192 to the City Commission regular meeting on January 6th starting at 6 p.m. Do I hear a motion to defer? So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? There being none, please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trentos? Yes. So the motion passes and the item is continued to the City Commission regular meeting January 6th at 6 p.m. Did I do that okay? Thank you. You have the part. Thank you. You're welcome. PH3, public hearing and ordinance amending policy FLU 1.1.12 of the City of Fort Lauderdale Comprehensive Plan. I'm not going to read the whole thing. Only one person to sign up to speak. Nectaria. Just for questions. Anyone have any questions or comments? Someone like to move to close public hearing? So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trentos? Yes. And public hearing on PH3 is now closed. Would someone like to introduce the ordinance? Introduce for approval. It's been introduced for approval. Please call the roll. In ordinance of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, amending policy FLU 1.1.12 of the City of Fort Lauderdale Comprehensive Plan, Future Land Use Element, Uptown Urban Village Transit-Oriented Development, Future Land Use Designation to delete comment seven, which provides that residential uses are only permitted in portions of the Uptown TOD located east of Powerline Road and north of Cypress Creek Road and east of North Andrews Avenue, south of Cypress Creek Road, providing for severability, repeal of conflicting ordinance provisions transmittal to the applicable reviewing agencies and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trentos? Yes. And PH3 is now approved. Moving on to PH4, this is a public hearing quasi-judicial resolution approving an after-the-fact waiver of limitations at 100 Hendricks Isle for one boat lift extending a maximum distance of 31 plus or minus feet measured from the property line into the adjacent waterway of the Rio Grande Canal. Anyone wishing to speak must be sworn in, and the Commission will announce any site visits, communications, or expert opinions received and make them a part of the record. We have a couple people who signed up to speak, Steve Witten and Jenna Robbins. Steve, are you still here? Yes, Steve, you're here. Is Jenna here? There. Are you here to speak in favor or against it? In favor? I'm sorry? Okay. And Steve, you're here in favor or just to answer questions? Okay. Other than that, no one else has signed up to speak. Someone would like to move to close public hearing? So moved. Second. If it moves and seconded, please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trintals? Yes. In public hearing on PH4 is now closed. Would someone like to introduce the resolution? Introduced. The resolution has been introduced in favor, correct? In favor, yes. All right. Anyone have any questions? Commission? None? Okay. Please call the roll. I just – this one was quasi, and I don't know. I don't think – yeah, I don't think we did disclosures yet. Yeah. Oh, I didn't – didn't we say – You mentioned it, but you didn't ask it. I'm sorry. It's okay. Before we vote, Vice Mayor, do you have any disclosures? My only disclosure is Mr. Whitten. Okay. By Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? None. I don't believe we spoke on this, Steve, did we? No. Commissioner Glassman? I received a communication from Steve Whitten, chair of the MAB. Okay. Mr. Whitten. Okay. Okay. Those are our disclosures, and I had no disclosures, so now you may proceed to vote. And that introduction was for approval? For approval, correct. Thank you. A resolution of the City Commission in the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, pursuant to Section 47-19.3 of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida Unified Land Development Regulations, granting an after-the-fact waiver of the limitations of ULDR Section 47-19.3C to permit James G. Mueller, a single-man installation of one boat lift extending a maximum distance of 31 feet plus or minus into the waters of the adjacent Rio Grande Canal, such property being located at 100 Hedrick's Isle, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33301, and more particularly described below subject to certain terms and conditions repealing any and all parts of resolutions in conflict herewith and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trentals? Yes. Yes. And PH-4 is now approved. PH-5, public hearing, quasi-judicial resolution approving an after-the-fact waiver of limitations at 102 Hendrick's Isle for one boat lift extending a maximum distance of 31 plus or minus feet as measured from the property line into the adjacent waterway of the Rio Grande Canal. Anyone wishing to speak must be sworn in, and the Commission will announce any site visits, communications, or expert opinions received, and make them a part of the record. Vice Mayor, do you have any disclosures? Only disclosures, Mr. Witten. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? None. I have none. Commissioner Glassman? Same as the previous one. Does that mean you had a communication with Mr. Witten? Communication with Mr. Witten, yes. Okay. Mr. Witten. Okay. As a member of the Marine Advisory Board? Yes. Yes. Okay. I think that makes him an expert. Okay. Again, Mr. Witten and Jenna Robbins have signed up to speak, but just in support of the issue. Okay. Anyone else wish to speak on this item? There being none, would someone please move to close public hearing? So moved. Second. If you move and seconded, please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Mr. Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trentos? Yes. And public hearing is now closed. Would someone like to introduce the resolution? Introduce for approval? Introduce for approval? Please call the roll. A. Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida pursuant to Section 47-19.3E of the City of Fort Lauderdale Unified Land Development Regulations granting an after-the-fact waiver of the limitations of ULDR Section 47-19.3C to permit Daniel Kraninger, a married man, installation of one boat lift extending a maximum distance of 31 feet plus or minus into the waters of the adjacent Rio Grande Canal. Now, such property being located at 102 Hendricks Island, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33301, and more particularly described below, subject to certain terms and conditions repealing any and all parts of resolutions in conflict herewith and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trentos? Yes. Sorensen PH-5 is now approved. Moving on to OFR-1. This is a first reading ordinance amending Chapter 8 of the Code of Ordinances regarding the sales service and consumption of food and alcoholic beverages and to create administrative review, procedure for license renewal applications, and increase the license application fees. We have one person to sign up to speak, Marilyn Momano. Anyone else wish to speak on this item? Okay. Good evening. Well, wait, I can't hear you. Microphone, microphone, microphone. The whole world wants to hear the constructive ways. Please push the button. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Marilyn Momano, and I'm here reading the testimony for Lauderdale tomorrow regarding this ordinance modification, and as I said, coming up, listening to what was going on this evening, I'm here to actually offer you some constructive comments on how you can avoid the perception of the public that we're giving away public land on the beach. I will read this very, very quickly, and then I'll be happy to answer any questions. While Lauderdale tomorrow supports streamlining the licensing process in general, we have several concerns as well as suggestions for necessary amendments. Number one has to do with the process of streamlining the license renewal as it relates to the charter and whether or not the charter provides for the delegation of authority to the staff in these matters. That's a legal question that we don't have to answer tonight. We just bring it up as a concern. And the second one is that any changes to the ordinance should provide for streamlining the process will include a 30-day commission call-up, allowed in the event that things are not going as hoped. This provision protects both the licensee as well as the public. The licensee can appeal a non-renewal to the commission that's in the proposal. So, too, should the public be able to appeal a renewal to the commission. Number three, there should be an escalator clause in the application fee and the permit costs. And number four, and this is very pertinent to the discussion that you had this evening with the public, we believe that there should be language in the ordinance that prohibits the license holder from representing that he, she, by virtue of this license, has exclusive rights to the beach or in any or in some way is operating an exclusive private club. So, as we speak, the St. Regis Hotel is representing on its website that they have an exclusive St. Regis Beach Club on beach. Go ahead. Why is that beeping? Because you used up your time. I did not. I couldn't possibly have. Can I just finish this, please? Go ahead. Thank you. Okay. This is really very important. There's no reason why you can't have some language in the ordinance that, you know, prohibits him from saying that. Five, we are also concerned that the hotel licensee should pre-rent all of the beach chairs for hotel guests so that none would be available for the general public. There should be language included in the ordinance to prevent that from happening. And number six, and very, very important here, we object to the size of the beach area allocated to the BMR license. It goes from lot line to lot line, including the marketplace and the marina. It should be significantly reduced. The license should only apply to the beach chairs in front of the hotel, just like it does for all the other hotels. Thank you for your attention to these concerns, and hopefully you will instruct the staff to incorporate them into the ordinance on second reading. We are always available to work with them on improving the ordinance. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you. I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else wish to speak on this item? Okay. There's nobody else. Do I have to move to close public hearing? I don't think so. No. Okay. All right. Someone would like to introduce the ordinance? Maybe just a couple of comments before. Oh, yeah. Go ahead. That's all right. So, see, Raquel, number two of Maryland's suggestions, which I think makes sense. I mean, the idea of allowing for a commissioner call-up, I was talking with, I think, Ben Rogers, were you and I, or were you and I talking about this? Yeah. So, one of the suggestions, Mayor, to this is to adjust this number two suggestion, which I think makes sense, is, Raquel, what I'm thinking is, could we allow for a call-up, but during that call-up period, Raquel, the existing agreement remain in place so that a hotel does not have to cease operations during that call-up, if that makes sense. See if I'm articulating that the right way. Does that make sense? I think that would be beneficial to both sides, considering that if the call-up led to the license being maintained, then the city would not have to go through another process to approve a new license, and the business could continue to operate and generate revenue that would impact our amenity on the beach. Yep. All right. But, hold on a second. Yep. Go ahead, Matt. I'm not quite sure where the request for a 30-day commission call-up comes into play. Is this at the end of the- I don't have Marilyn's list. No, no. It's very- I'm just- any changes to the ordinance to provide for streamlining the process should include a 30-day commission call-up allowed in the event things are not going as well as hoped. I'm not quite sure what that means. Does that mean we can cancel the license during the, say, it's a 12-month period? Let me just say this. The charter says that we shall not sell, transfer, or lease for more than one year in the public area. Well, a license is not a transfer, a sell, or a lease. It's a use. It's not- a transfer, a sell, or a lease has to do with transferring interest in property. A license is just a use of property. So the charter doesn't really apply to giving these hotels the right to serve liquor and food on the beach. The St. Regis Beach Club, the exclusive St. Regis Beach Club, is not referring to anything that the St. Regis Hotel has exclusive use on the beach. It means that there's an exclusive right to belong to this beach club, which has certain amenities, and it has nothing to do with creating a border on the sand that's only available to the folks that are visitors at the St. Regis Beach Club. If they decide to rent all the beach chairs for hotel guests, you know, I don't know how we can stop that or why we would stop that. That's their choice, and frankly, I don't see how that's any of our business. But in any case, I'm not sure what the 30-day commission call-up is about. I know that the commission must vote on the renewal then every single year that it comes up. It's not like it's automatic. No, but that's what this is taking away. This changes that. We, as a commission, we requested a while ago that instead of seeing these all every single year, we requested that it be handled administratively as a renewal. So that's what this is, and the ordinance, but Maryland's proposed these extra items. But what I would say to that is, Raquel, first of all, we have nine such licenses, correct, right now? Yes. At the hotels? They're all in District 2, correct? Yes. Yes. So what I would say is I have not heard any complaints at all from anyone. I go regularly to the beach meetings. I go, you know, I speak to a lot of folks along that stretch. Have you ever received a complaint about any of these licenses? Not during my tenure. No, and I have never received one ever since we initiated this project. But what I would say to you, rather than a 30-day call-up, I would hope that while you were looking at a renewal or not, you would at least talk to us or in our meetings that we all have with you to see if we've heard any problems, to see if there are any issues that we should be, right? I mean, I don't think you would just immediately just renew something without talking to all of us, right? I think we would want to have conversations with the various impacted stakeholders, including the commissioners, and, you know, there's the Beach Improvement District, and there's the Central Beach Alliance. We would want to definitely have conversations with the hotels, you know, about any potential issues or anything that was brought to our attention. There are certain provisions in the ordinance right now that allow us to temporarily suspend or, I think, permanently as well, based on certain situations. And so I think that this process would allow both staff and the commission to just have a more efficient administration of this license. And I'm comfortable with all of that. Thank you. Does Marriott Harbor Beach have a license? Pardon? Does Marriott Harbor Beach have a license? I don't have the list in front of me. Maybe Carl does. No. They just do it. They have that whole beach. But that's not private beach, though. They have the beach. Do they? They don't own the beach. Is it? That's private beach. So I don't have the list of that in front of me, but I believe that area is not a part of this. Huh. So it's private there? Okay. Because they serve there. Okay. Okay. So to provide a 30-day call-up, I mean, there's nothing obnoxious about it. I mean, it just gives the – this is on an annualized basis. You have to give us notice, I guess, that there's a renewal pending, and then we have a 30-day option. Is that kind of what we're looking at here? That's a suggestion. For clarity, this would be in alignment with what we do if there's a – when we're looking at – when we have the choice to look at building permits, or – I may be saying the wrong thing, but there's an opportunity where we get to choose if we want to bring up an item. Yes, exactly. Correct. This is the same process. If we don't agree, necessarily, with the administrative decision, the commission has the right to bring it before the commission to vote on it. All right. So same process. I like that process. It's an option. Yeah, I don't think that's an option. I don't see where that's – you know, should cause any problem. I think we – I think we should – I think that should be okay. It's not – it's not – yeah. All right. We can include that. And then I think for number three, and Raquel and Ben, we talked about this, but I think the increasing fees and so forth, that's something we want to have flexibility, so the city's going to be negotiating that. We don't want to put too narrow a limitation on that, I think, Mayor, so just – Because we may have – we may want to reduce it. We may reduce it, go up, go up more, go up – yeah. Okay. We definitely saw an opportunity here to look at the market and to see what other cities are doing, and this is in line with one of our strategies to generate revenue for this year. Great. So I'm good. That's it, Mayor. Thanks. All right. So is that an amendment then? Yeah. Could we have that amendment of the 30-day call-up with – Upon notice to the commission – Yeah. So between first and second reading, I think we could make that change. Okay. Thank you. But the notice has to be given, I would say, 60 days before the end of the term. Right. Yeah. That would work. Yeah. Okay. Another unfunded mandate on the city commission's – on the city manager's office. Does that work, Sherry? Is that – are you – Yeah, we're going to work out the timing, detail, and how to put it in the ordinance between first and second week. Okay. Thanks. Okay. So would someone like to introduce the ordinance? Introduce. The ordinance has been introduced. I have been introduced. Well, we – Oh, that's right. We haven't done that yet. Yeah. We will. Next time. Okay. Please call the roll. An ordinance of the city of Fort Lardo, Florida, amending Chapter 8, Article 3 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, titled Public Beaches by Amending Section 8-55.4, titled Sales, Service, and Consumption of Food and Alcoholic Beverages to Create an Administrative Review Procedure for License Renewal Applications for the Sales Service and Consumption of Food and Alcoholic Beverages on the Public Beach after the first license term is approved by the City Commission, provided the license was not revoked by the city during the immediate license term, providing for an increase in license application fees, providing for definitions, providing for severability, providing for conflicts and repeal, providing for correction of Scrivener's errors, and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trantals? Yes, and OFR 1 is now approved on second reading, first reading. OFR 2, first reading, Ordinance Amending Chapter 2, Section 2-43, Restrictions on Employment of Relatives. Okay. No one signed up to speak. Anyone have any questions on this? There being none, would someone like to introduce the ordinance? Introduce. The ordinance has been introduced. Please call the roll. In Ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Amending Chapter 2, Article 3 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, by Amending Section 2-43, Titled Restrictions on Employment of Relatives, to remove the restriction that relatives cannot work in the same department, adding a restriction on supervising relatives, providing for severability, providing for repeal of conflicting ordinance provisions, providing for correction of Scrivener's errors, and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Trantals? Yes. And OFR 2 is now approved on first reading. OFR 3, a first reading, an ordinance amending Chapter 27 of the Code of Ordinances to establish an administrative application process, associated fees, and define vehicle for higher services and operating standards. We have three people who have signed up to speak. Are you all in favor of this? David Hadlin, Paul Minhoff, and Alex Villamil? You're all in favor? Can you squeeze your comments in two minutes? Please come up. Please come up. David, good evening. Here we go. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and the Commissioners. Thank you for having me this evening, and Merry Christmas to all of you. My name is David Hadlin. A lot of people know me here as Dallas. I'm the founder of Sunrise Shuttles. I grew up here in Fort Lauderdale. I attended Harbordale Elementary, Bethany Christian, growing up. And I'm here simply tonight to introduce myself and our business here. I also currently serve right now in the United States Air Force, which is part of why I care deeply about the safety and accountability in serving the community I call home. Sunrise Shuttles is a locally built transportation platform designed specifically for low-speed vehicles, such as golf carts focusing on short local trips and dense areas like downtown, beach corridors, and entertainment districts. The goal is to help reduce parking and demand unnecessary vehicle circulation. During high-volume periods, such as the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, spring breaks, and other major events, the independent golf cart community already plays an important role right now in helping moving people efficiently when traditional systems are stretched. Sunrise's role is to provide structure and coordination for the existing activities so it operates more smoothly and predictably. The city already works with strong transportation partners, including public transit, ride-share services, and programs like Circuit with dedicated fleets. Sunrise complements those efforts by focusing on independent operators rather than adding new vehicles to the streets. Through features like geofencing, pickup zones, trip coordination, and digital permit uploads, our platform creates an e-permit system that provides and improves accountability and makes compliance and enforcement easier for the city. Sunride is a free program for cart operators to use, which helps bring participation into a regulated framework rather than creating barriers. We're also developing discounted ride programs for residents and service industry employees or anything like that in the area. I'm here because I care about Fort Lauderdale and I want to see the city to continue to grow and to stay organized and supportive of local businesses and residents. We view Sunride as a program. The cities can use to complement existing transportation efforts and manage congestion more effectively. Thank you for your time and I appreciate the opportunity to speak this evening. Great. Great. Thank you, David. Thank you for your service. David, thanks. Are you in the Air Force Reserve? Where are you stationed? I'm stationed down here in Homestead right now. Nice. Yes, sir. Okay, great. Navy Reserve, so don't hold it against me. Thank you for your service. How many years? Right now I'm going on, too. Nice. Awesome. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. You need a ride in the air or on the sea. Okay, Paul, and is Alex here? Okay. You're from Tavares? Okay. Good evening. All right, what's on? Okay. Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, thank you very much. My name is Paul Minhoff. I'm an attorney here in Fort Lauderdale, excuse me, with the law firm of Tripp Scott. I've been down here in Fort Lauderdale for 25 years practicing law. I am here on behalf of myself as somebody who frequents the city a lot. Surrounded by Tripp Scotters here. It's a great place to be. As well as my colleague, Monica Blankenshain, who owns Cart Concierge, LLC. She is one of the very few permitted carts here in Fort Lauderdale. I read all the materials. The city report, I think the city, what you're trying to do is a great thing. I think that there is more that needs to be clarified in the statute or the ordinance. There are a lot of definitions that aren't, a lot of things that aren't defined. There are some definitions that don't seem to fit. And I think what the city is starting to do is a great idea. But I think there's, I need, I think you all need to go out and spend a day out and ride the golf carts. Because there's a lot of what's the problem here in the city of Fort Lauderdale. And there are lots of problems. We're talking about eight people on a four-person cart. People dancing on the carts. First of all, it's embarrassing. Someone who lives and works here. That's all the fun about it. Right, you know, until someone gets hurt and then sues the city saying, you're not enforcing your laws. There are, some of these people, I don't know if they have driver's license. They definitely don't have insurance. There are drug dealing going on. I've seen drinking on the carts by the drivers. So a lot of stuff that the Fort Lauderdale police could clean up. A lot of what you're trying to do is a great thing. I could spend 10 minutes, which I don't have, to go through some of the comments. Is there a way that I can convey some of this? Talk to her. I will do that. Okay, great. I happen to use... We'll talk. Do you know each other? We may have met once or twice. But I do... I will say this. I was walking down A1A the other night, and I had to go to a destination that was just... I couldn't walk anymore. And one of the golf cart people took pity on me and said, do you need a ride? And hopefully you didn't charge you $200 for the 40 feet you were going. $5. Well, part of the problem that we've actually discussed, that there have been some public speaking, is that there are... And one of the things we're trying to cure is the fact that there's no regulation of rates, which is part of the problem the way they're defined. But there's a lot of... Yeah, but he probably didn't even have a rate. He just, you know... No, because he doesn't have a permit. That's the problem. He probably doesn't have a permit either. Yeah. But you know what? He had four wheels, and I needed them that night. Well, no, listen, I think it is... I needed a... But the point... Your points are well taken. We agree with you. No, I think it's great, and I think we need the golf carts. We definitely need the golf carts, because we don't want all those cars. No. And they can easily navigate, but it's a free-for-all out there, and there's a lot of stuff, and it's especially late at night, and not that I'm generally out late at night. I'll tell you where it's a free-for-all. I'll tell you where it's a free-for-all. In Rio Vista, in Victoria Park, in Coral Ridge, where people drive aimlessly and without really concern with the other drivers and other golf cart people and children on the street. Oh, yeah. That's the concern. The people that ride the commercial corridors, those people are far more careful than the dads and the moms that ride those carts in the neighborhoods. I don't disagree, but I disagree in the sense that the shenanigans that I see going on with the golf carts, they are cutting U-turns in the middle of traffic. They are blowing lights. It's rampant. I know. And who's the driver? The problem is the city doesn't know, because these people don't have ... We can't regulate the mom and dad who have a cart, but the people who are bringing people on board for money and who are doing shuttles, we do have to make sure that those people aren't putting people in harm's way, that they do have proper insurance, that they are licensed, and that if they don't, that the city is going to get them off the streets somehow. And that's what this attempt is to do. Right. And it's a good start. Okay. And I will be happy to get with your city attorney and go over my comments with her. Okay, great. But thank you for the opportunity to speak, Mr. Mayor. Thank you so much. Thank you. Oh, and by the way, Merry Christmas and also Happy Hanukkah. As one of the fellow Jewish folks here, I like to hear that once in a while. Well, we lit the second candle today up in my office, so thank you. Thank you all. Alex. She's the happiest lady in this whole room. 14, 15, 16. Yeah, yeah. Mayor, it should have been the ... You should have lit the third candle. Yeah, I should ... Well, if this meeting lasts long enough, we may have ... No, I think it was the third candle you lit today, not the second. It's okay. Well, it's the second candle. We had the Shamas candle, and then the second day's the second day. Tonight's the third night. Right, but this was the second day. It's the third candle. This was the second day. That's okay. We can continue. Well, God. Please go ahead, Alex. Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, and City staff. My name is Alex Villamil. Yes, I do live in Tavares, but I grew up in Miami. I spent a lot of time here. We won't hold either of those against you. Thank you. Thank you. Basically, I operate a professional pedicab transportation business, similar to kind of like golf carts, in multiple cities all over the state, and I do special event environments. I do appreciate the city's efforts to update Chapter 27, to streamline applications, clarify requirements, and align with Florida state statutes. I would like to respectfully highlight an important distinction. Pedicabs, including modern pedal-assist pedicabs, operate very differently from golf carts and other motorized vehicles for higher services. Even with pedal-assist pedicabs, they remain low-speed, lightweight, and pedestrian-adjacent, with operational characteristics closer to bicycles than motor vehicles. When pedicabs are grounded under a broader vehicle-for-hire regulations, without clear permit caps, cities often experience oversaturation, which brings in an influx of a whole bunch of golf carts, pedicabs, and it causes a huge issue. It makes it very difficult for enforcement to, you know, that this makes enforcement difficult and allows unpermitted operators to enter the market, especially during peak tourism periods and special events. The absence of a cap and clear pedicab-specific enforcement also leads to inconsistent pricing and price gouging, which creates consumer complaints and damages the visitor experience. There are not failures of pedicabs as a service, but symptoms of not having pedicab-specific rules. I encourage the commission to consider a separate, clearly defined pedicab ordinance or subsection within Chapters 27 that includes reasonable permit caps, clear enforcement, authority against unpermitted operators, and transparency requiring requirements for pricing. So do you support this ordinance then? I do. I do support it. Yeah, definitely. Like the gentleman was saying, just people are charging absurd amounts. They come from all different cities from all over the country. Tortuga, the boat show, I mean, those are huge, huge events. You're talking about people doing crazy, crazy things that it's dangerous. And he's right. If something does happen and they're not insured with the city or the city doesn't have record of them having, you know, VIN numbers or whatever the case might be, they're not going to sue the person that injured them. They're going to come and they're going to sue the city. It's going to be huge liability with a lot of money spent out. All right, so that, can you wrap, can you conclude your remarks? Yep, yep. This approach approves safety, reduces complaints, strengthens enforcement, and supports Fort Lauderdale tourism economy. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you so much. Have a, okay, anyone else wish to speak on this item? Someone please move to close public hearing. Moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen. Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst. Yes. Commissioner Glassman. Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman. Yes. Mayor Trent-Hollis. Yes. The public hearing is now closed on OFR 3. Would someone like to introduce OFR 3? Introduce for approval. It's been introduced. Please call the roll. In the ordinance of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, amending Chapter 27 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, titled Vehicles for Hire by amending Article 1 in general, repealing and replacing Article 2 taxicabs with Article 2 rental cars with chauffeurs and sightseeing vehicles and Article 3 motel or hotel courtesy cars with Article 3 non-motorized vehicles for hire and repealing Article 4 rental cars, Article 5 rental cars with chauffeurs and sightseeing vehicles, and Article 6 non-motorized vehicles for hire, thereby removing references to certificates of public convenience and necessity and implementing an administrator review and permitting process for the operation of vehicles for hire, amending certain definitions, defining a low-speed vehicle, and revising insurance provisions and providing for severability, repeal of conflicting ordinance provisions, providing for a correction of Scrivener's errors, and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Chantals? Yes. And OFR 3 is approved on first reading. We now have a walk-on. It's a motion approving an increase in contract cost capacity for a talent booking agency. Um, is this a motion? Yeah, this is a motion. Um, you all had a copy of the, uh, walk-on? Someone please move the item. Anyone interested in moving the item? Okay. It's been moved. Do I hear a second? Second. Been moved and seconded. Um, okay. Any questions? Please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Mayor Chantals? Yes. And, uh, that walk-on motion is now approved. Is there any further business at the City Commission evening meeting? There being none. This meeting is now concluded. Before we go into the conference meeting, uh, we need to, uh, let's go into the CRA board meeting. And, um, um, please call the roll. Vice Chair Herbst? Meeting now? Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Here. Chair Chantals? Yes, here. I'm here. M1, motion approving minutes for the December 2nd, 2025, uh, Community Redevelopment Agency Board meeting. Someone please move the item. So moved. Second. If you move and second it, please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Chair Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Chair Chantals? Yes. And M1 is now approved. M2, motion approving a second lease amendment with FPA 2, LLC, um, to extend the, uh, CRA's current office space. Someone like to move the item? So moved. Second. We moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Chair Herbst? Yes. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Chair Chantals? Yes. Uh, is there any further business of the CRA? No, ma'am. I just want to thank, uh, Clarence again for all the great work he's done. Uh, not you, Rufus, uh, Clarence. Yeah. Uh, and, uh, and appreciate all the work he's done to improve the quality of life in this, in the CRA, uh, all these years. So, um, all right. So that meeting's now concluded. What? I want to echo those sentiments, and the commission will be receiving a memorandum related to personnel updates for the CRA. Okay, great. Thank you. That meeting's now concluded. Let's resume to the conference meeting, and I think we're back on commission reports. Vice Mayor, do you have any reports to make? I do not. Um, Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Um, yes, I do. Um, I want to give thank yous to Parks and Rec, um, during this season that we've been in. They've been doing an amazing job with all the light-ups that we have been able to enjoy. Thank you for Light Up Sixth Street. They have been great. They didn't find out. Light Up Sixth Trunk. Um, Light Up, um, Carter Park. Um, the memorial, um, the menorah lighting at the Loop. I was able to attend all of these, really enjoy the opportunity. Um, also attended the groundbreaking for the YMCA, along with my co-partners here on the dais. Um, also, um, if I can read my own handwriting. Okay. Um, the groundbreaking, yes, for New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, the new development that's going up for, with workforce, workforce housing. Um, um, that was a great opportunity. Um, also, um, went out with Susan Leon over to, help me, Mayor, with the name of that. Um, um, yes, at the airport. Um, it's a, it's a, um, opportunity for a flying classroom that's being, um, worked out with Barrington Irving and also the partners. Um, I'm sorry. Forgive me for the name of the airport company that has partnered with us in the city. Shelton. No, it wasn't Shelton. It was Amber. I'll tell you in a second. Help me. I'll tell you in a second. No, I hear some voices. Rufus is coming up. Okay. Thank you, Rufus. Help, help me. Save this for me because it's a great, um, program that's coming forth and, um, you know, it's, it's getting late. You all forgive me, but we were able to, through Susan Leon's, um, collaboration and work with this, we brought in Fort Lauderdale. Aviation. The day at Embraer. Yes. Yes. Um, it was Fort Lauderdale. No, don't, don't move. Thank you, Rufus. Don't move. Don't move. Stay. Please stay. I beat you. So, um, Fort Lauderdale High School and Dillard High School scholars were in the room and great opportunity, but please elaborate on that so we could, um, save, uh, so you can save face for her. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. Yes, uh, this is Embraer Aviation and, uh, they're a, uh, aircraft manufacturer based in Fort Lauderdale, as well as in, uh, Melbourne. So, uh, Barrington, uh, Irving essentially has partnered with them to entice young high schoolers, even middle schoolers, to pursue a career in aviation. And so throughout the, uh, day while we were at Embraer, they had hands-on training for them to get the experience of what it's like to be a mechanic or even using virtual equipment to get accustomed to what the, uh, life of, uh, a mechanic, a pilot, or even a, uh, line service individual would have to do at the airport. Uh, one of the highlights of the event that day was, uh, Embraer donating $75,000 to the Barrington-Irving, um, Techno Training School. So we're really looking forward to having, uh, the program start up at FXE and, uh, hopefully to grow more programs, uh, through aviation and, uh, into the high schools here in Fort Lauderdale. Thank you, Rufus, for saving that for me. Well said. You're welcome. Um, I'm really excited about that. You all know, those who know me, you know that I, um, love to skydive and always trying to jump out of a plane and, um, had an opportunity, had an opportunity for a simulated flight, um, using the, the software and the computer that was there. So that was fun for me. So maybe now, instead of jumping out, maybe I'll stay in the plane and, and be a pilot instead. Yeah, this was a, this was a great program for high school students and there's a separate school for crazy people who want to jump out of the plane. But listen, the mayor told me he was going to go with my next jump. So in January, I'll watch you in January, we're going to show that footage. Okay. All right. Thank you, mayor. That's all that I have. Good luck. I'll be there to catch you. Yeah. Commissioner Glassman. Yeah. Don't trust the mayor. Commissioner. I'm just going to tell you right now. Good luck with that. Okay. Thank you, mayor. Um, December 3rd. Thank you to the Victoria Park Civic Association. It was great to be with you for your meeting and also celebrate 100 years old Victoria Park. So that's an amazing milestone. They had 75 people show up for that meeting. It was really a great, a great turnout. Uh, the next night, uh, we had the Lake Ridge Civic Association's holiday party and also the Central Beach Alliance's holiday party. Uh, two great events. Uh, December 5th. Uh, it was wonderful. Thank you to staff and everyone who had anything to do, uh, with the celebration of life for Hal Barnes at the Women's Club. Um, I was glad I had a chance to get over there and, uh, and just spend some time and, uh, a real loss for the city. So thank you to anyone who had anything to do with putting that together. Uh, December 8th, uh, a terrific, terrific event. Um, as we reopened the Jimmy Everett Tennis Center in Holiday Park. Uh, Chrissy Everett was there. The, the main stadium court was named after her. Uh, a really great turnout. Also, what was really exciting was to see, uh, more than 600 young athletes from around the world, uh, participating in the Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships. Uh, Orange Bowl has relocated that event to Fort Lauderdale, which is wonderful for us. Um, and it was just great to meet these guys and girls that were here from all over the world, um, and all of their impressions of our city. Uh, it was really nice to hear, um, all of the positive, uh, remarks and, uh, Chrissy Everett was like, you know, she just said, it's amazing what I see happening, um, in Fort Lauderdale from the days when she first played, um, as a, as a young person in Holiday Park. Uh, the next night, as Commissioner Beasley Pittman mentioned, uh, we did have the groundbreaking for the Holiday Park, uh, YMCA in conjunction with the health facility from Broward Health. Um, that also is going to be a tremendous asset, um, in the park. Um, also that evening, um, the Council of Fort Lauderdale Civic Associations held its annual, um, holiday event, nicely attended. Uh, it was really nice spending time with everyone that evening as well. Uh, December 10th, I want to thank the Nurmi Isles Civic Association for its police roll call lunch, um, it's really always great to do these police roll calls, um, and spend time with the residents who show how appreciative they are of what our police, and also, I would say, fire do for us on a daily basis. Um, I would say we had over 30 officers there, uh, at the home, uh, of the hosts, and a really nice, a nice representation from the neighborhood. So, everyone that was in attendance had a really nice box lunch to take with them, a couple of different shifts, uh, came in and out, um, and it's really very heartwarming to see the relationship, um, that the police have, uh, with these neighborhood associations, and I always enjoy, uh, those roll call events. So, again, thank you to everyone involved, uh, with that. December 11th, um, at the Galleria Mall, we had the, uh, Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce Holiday Social, uh, again, very well attended. Also, that night, we had the Fort Lauderdale, uh, FOP Holiday Party at Tap 42. Both events were terrific, um, a lot of laughs, a lot of good time. Uh, again, a great spirit, um, in our city throughout all of these, uh, all of these events. Um, thank you to staff. Thank you to Parks and Rec. Thank you to everyone from Winterfest, uh, for the Winterfest Boat Parade, December 13th. Um, as Commissioner Beasley Pittman mentioned, on the 14th, we had the first night of Hanukkah celebration, um, at La Silla's Oceanside Park. Very well attended, um, so thank you to all, again, Parks and Rec, for helping put all of that together. Um, it was really a nice event. Uh, December 17th, uh, that's tomorrow, I guess, we have the Topping Off Ceremony, uh, at the International Swimming Hall of Fame for the Ocean Rescue Building. So I'm looking forward to being there, uh, tomorrow, and then tomorrow evening. I believe it's going to be the last holiday party in District 2, I'm not sure, for the whole city. Um, but the Flagler Village Civic Association will be celebrating, uh, tomorrow evening. Uh, always another greatly attended event, a lot of fun. Uh, just a couple of comments, Mayor. I was just wondering, um, City Manager, are we getting going on our talks, uh, with the team that we selected for City Hall? I'm hoping that that will move quickly and, um, get that back to us in terms of a comprehensive agreement. Is that all scheduled and happening? We have scheduled a kickoff meeting for January 8th. So we will keep the commission apprised of our progress. And before we have that kickoff meeting with the developer, we'll have some internal staff meetings, uh, and bring on our outside counsel to discuss, you know, some of the strategy so that once we do have that kickoff meeting, that we're off to a great start. So thankful to the City Attorney for being engaged on this, and we look forward to coming back with something hopefully soon. Excellent. Love to see that move as quickly as possible. Um, I will tell you that last week I also spoke to a lot of folks that had mentioned to me how they were very impressed with how Fort Lauderdale is becoming, uh, a sports town. Uh, I mean, I will tell you that in the last week, week and a half, two weeks maybe out, the most, uh, we had at Lockhart, we had the MLS cup with into Miami winning the championship. We had, as I mentioned earlier, the orange bowl international tennis championships here. At the same time, we had the APP. Uh, that's the association for professional pickleball folks over at, uh, at the fort. We had that tournament. Uh, and then we also had the world sevens. Uh, that is a women's soccer organization that had their U.S. debut, uh, for their tournament, um, right here, uh, in Fort Lauderdale. All of that within a week and a half, two week span. So, uh, again, I, I just think it's really great all of these events that are happening, uh, gaining a lot of international attention, uh, for Fort Lauderdale. So, uh, congratulations to everyone involved with that. Um, Chief Golan, I wanted to say congratulations to you, uh, for being selected, the Fire Chief of the Year. And, uh, I think that's an amazing accomplishment. Congratulations to you for that. I think we already said that. Did we already bring that up at the last meeting? That, did we, I'm sorry, the mayor was telling me that we already brought that up. He's such a party pooper. Did we bring that up at the last meeting? The last meeting. We did? I'm so sorry if I'm repeating it, but again, it's worth repeating, uh, again, that's from the Fire Chiefs Association of Broward County. But you can call it up if you want. I'm not going to call it up. Um, but I will sort of say congratulations. That's, that's a great accomplishment. Um, so thank you for that and for representing our city so well. Um, and lastly, I would just say to everyone, have a, a very happy and a safe Hanukkah, uh, a very Merry Christmas and a happy Kwanzaa. Uh, and here's to a very happy and healthy, uh, and safe new year for all of us. Um, and I guess that's it. It's amazing that our next meeting is in 2026. Thank you, mayor. You're welcome. Commissioner Sorensen. Thank you, mayor. Uh, great couple of weeks. We, many of us served as waiters at the breakfast of champions. Yes, that was great. Right. That was awesome. Um, we should thank, uh, Katerina. Oh yeah. Sophia. Yeah. And my friend, uh, Trevor, who decorated the table and we won the prize. So yeah, that was awesome. That was awesome. Great fundraising event for, uh, those experiencing homelessness. So that was just awesome. Um, also really grateful for the dedication of Abiyaka Park in Riverside Park, which was fantastic. We had the chairman of the Miccosukee tribe there. Um, and, and that was really special. So great, uh, more green space in the city. Uh, again, Hal, um, just left such an indelible mark on so many of us. So, so grateful for Hal and his legacy. Um, also, uh, I got thankful to Fire Rescue. I got to hang out with Shift B at Fire Station 2, uh, for the day, riding along, which was just great. Um, also, uh, Commissioner Beeson-Pittman, thanks for having us at New Hope's, uh, affordable housing groundbreaking. That was great. Winterfest Boat Parade. Thank you, uh, especially PD, Chief Schultz. Um, another safe, positive event. And, and Fire Rescue and Raquel, thanks for the whole team for making that all work. Um, let's see, uh, Mayor wanted to just get a gauge. I think it would be, we've talked a little bit about this, but e-bikes, um, I, there's more we can do in terms of better regulation. Um, there's greater kind of limitations we can have on, you know, uh, city property, sidewalks. There's, there's a lot we can kind of do there, um, that I'd like to explore. Um, I've been talking with the city attorney's office about that. There's, um, some, uh, uh, there's, uh, ways to identify kind of the, um, age requirements and a whole host of things. So could we kind of have the city attorney look at some options for us on that, Mayor, for a better ordinance? We've got, it's a major problem in, in our parks, in my neighborhoods, in District 4. Yes, I agree with you. All right. How could you do that, Commissioner? Sure. Is that, okay. Is that enough feedback? Okay. Great. Thank you, Sherry. Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate that. Um, let's see. Next up, um, single use plastics. This is something we've, you know, I think done a good job of in the city. I think we can go further. So we could, um, like many cities, Mayor Broward County. For example, they ban single use plastics at county events, um, and on county property. So I'd love to explore that possibility of. Didn't the state co-opt our right to do that? On that? I believe that so. I will follow up and find out. Would you follow up on that? But I think that might actually be true, Mayor. Yeah. Okay. If you can follow up, I don't think that's what I've heard, but okay. Commissioner, I'll look at it right away. Okay. Thanks. That sounds great. Thank you. Thank you. Um, let's see, um, Mayor, we've also talked about drones versus fireworks. And I, if I remember right, I think we had good, um, sense of, of exploring using drones instead of fireworks for the fourth of July. Yeah. So for fourth of July and then for new year's. So I just wanted to get a gauge of kind of what were new year's is kind of a lame fireworks display. I mean, we don't, it's not like a big spectacular thing. What's, what did you, what did you find out? We do have a four minute firework show planned for new year's. Oh, we do. Okay. Uh, to the tune of about $6,000. Yeah. It's pretty lame. Um, but the, uh, we also have, we also have a drone show planned. I'm sorry, but it's, it's, it's not even, it's like something you do in your backyard. Right. We also have a drone show planned for new year's, so the intent was to do both, but we could amend the plan should. I'd love to just do, uh, drones and see how it goes. I don't know if we have time to engage a drone. We have a drone. We have, we do. Yeah. Okay. We've already planned for a drone show for new year's for new year's. It would be earlier in the evening, but maybe we could have a discussion about the, the best timeline if we are not going to have fireworks. As long as we don't defer that till January, we'll, we'll save you. Always a comedian. Okay, great. So we'll just explore just drones for. If that's the consensus, we're happy to do that. We can try it out. See what it sounds like. Usually drone shows come with music though. They don't just like, you don't just see them floating in the air. There's usually a musical accompaniment. So are we prepared to do that? Carl looks like he wants to share something. Tell us how you're going to entertain us, entertain you. We will, uh, just real quick. Just if there is a desire to only do drone shows, I believe there is a penalty that we will have to pay for the fireworks that we currently have ready. So I want to say 5,000 or $6,000 or so. Well, let's do fireworks for new year's. Can we do both? Absolutely. Our intention was to do both. Okay. I'd like to see what quality of drones we do. Because if it's lame also, then I hate to, I hate to have Fort Lauderdale be known for having such, you know, weak entertainment for these events. We're the, we're the, we're the happening place. Okay. Okay. Yes. And, and, you know, in fairness, you know, the, the lameness of it is, of course, you don't have the extravagant 4th of July kind of set up, but this is like, Hey, new year. Here we go. I've seen what they've done in China and it's amazing what drone, uh, capabilities they have. And there's no reason why we can't do it here in America. I agree with you. We open up that pocketbook. We'll make it happen. Talk to that lady. We will have live entertainment as well. So it promises to be a very magical night. Okay. So what you're saying is the anchor drop December 31st is what we're announcing. Also make sure everybody knows about that. That is correct. And we have, um, a special, uh, entertainment that we typically don't have in, uh, Philip Phillips that we have an executed agreement with. So that'll also be a part. Wow. Of American idol fame. Yes. Wow. What does he come? What is he coming? All right. Just ignore him. Ignore him. Did he come in second to Kelly Clarkson? Oh, that was Justin. Then please continue. Thank you, man. Thank you. One last thing. One last thing. And Raquel, I don't know the right way to kind of, um, share this information with the commission. So I just figured, um, so, um, growing up, I, I was lucky enough to have different internships that helped me think about jobs and professions and careers. And so, um, I've been talking with the boys and girls club of Broward County about having a, I call it a one day internship program, which is going to, um, working with kids who might not normally have access to opportunities like that. And basically saying, Hey, um, what, if you could pick one job, Mr. And Mrs. High school student, what's one job you'd be interested in doing and whatever that job is. And then we would match them with that profession for a day. So they can kind of live, feel it, experience it, ask questions and kind of see what their, what a future could be if they're interested in it, or even figure out they don't want to do that. And then, you know, great cross it off the list. And next time, um, so it's, it's with boys and girls club. And so it'll involve, you know, some students from, I think maybe my district and maybe commissioner Beasley, put me yours. So I just want to, um, kind of share that. And then I'd love to, um, just as we're doing that, make sure that lines of communication are open and anyone that wants to participate from a commission could help or be part or not. So is this like a, um, real time junior achiever type opportunity? Exactly. Yeah. Just like a one day, you know, um, start in the morning, you know, thank them all for being there. And then they would go with the boys and girls club transportation to these job sites, do it for the day and then come back for a debrief and celebration. So the open throughout anywhere in the city. We'd have to get sponsors. We'd want to invite, uh, kids to come to their places of work. That's a big, that's a chore. Exactly. Yeah. No, and I'd, I'd do that. I mean, or, you know, I'd be one of them. And again, anyone that, so in other words, if someone says, Hey, I want to be a lawyer. Great. We're all, or, or others can reach out to lawyer and match that person with a lawyer through the boys and girls club or I, I want to be a, you know, a chef or whatever that case may be. I like the idea. Yeah. But could I suggest that maybe we do it within the city and maybe we can begin to plant a seed for those individuals to consider, um, career opportunities with us? Yeah, absolutely. Like love to do it. And I want to, so yeah, so I've done that before and we did like, so some people want to be firefighters or police. So they did. Yeah. So that would be a big component of it. Absolutely. Okay. So, yes, we, we could work on that commissioner, uh, in conjunction with, uh, Susan Leon, our chief education officer. And I, I agree that, you know, our primary or initial focus could be on the city and our various departments. Maybe we can create a recruitment pipeline. I don't know. So it sounds good. Okay. Cool. Thank you. That's it, Mayor. Thanks. Okay. I need a motion to extend the meeting 15 minutes. We still have business to do. Move to extend to 1030. No, just 15 minutes. 1015. 1015. 1012. Well, if you people will suck all the oxygen out of these. How much business do we have left? Well, we got my report. We got city manager's report. Oh, okay. Can you hurry up? Yeah. Uh, has there been a second? No. No. Hurry up. A second. Oh. I'll defer to the city manager. Do you have any, you have a city manager's report? You all announced everything that I wanted to announce just about, but the only thing that was missing is that, uh, driver engineer, Alexander Pritchard was awarded the firefighter of the year from the fire chiefs association of Broward County. So it's the same association that awarded chief goal and the chief of the year award. Oh, congratulations. So I just want to highlight him as well. Does that complete your report? Okay. So I'm going to, I'm going to talk right now. So, um, uh, there are a number of events that, that took place. And I just want to recognize again, uh, Lisa Scott founds for an amazing year of Winterfest events, the black tie ball, the, uh, the grand Marshall event, uh, uh, everything that she did this month just brought the holiday season to a, to a peak that everyone really loved the idea of what goes on in our city. So my hat out to my hats off to her, her committee, uh, the people that worked on the event, everybody did an amazing job to make that make the whole year and the whole, the whole program such a success. Um, I also want to, uh, uh, uh, announce that, uh, on Thursday there's the grand opening of the Omni hotel at the port and everybody on the commission's invited that's at 2 PM. Um, and, uh, again, to remind the, the community and visitors about our anchor drop on New Year's Eve, that's over on Himershey street, uh, festivities begin at what? At two o'clock in the afternoon. Carl, when do the, where's Carl? Did he leave? No, he's back there. When did, when did, when does the music start for the anchor drop? Yeah. 7. 7. 7 PM. What time does Phillip Phillips take the stage? Anyway, he's already talked, so he's not allowed to talk anymore. He's trying to take over my time. Okay. Uh, and again, I want to thank Jack Seiler and the entire Orange Bowl committee for what they were able to do to bring the, uh, the Orange Bowl event to Fort Lauderdale, uh, taking it away from other very worthy cities. And now Fort Lauderdale is the site for this, uh, annual event and for the effort that, that board made in enhancing our already great Jimmy Everett tennis center by creating the Chris Everett, uh, stadium and, and, and, uh, improving all the other courts. We really are very blessed to have, uh, great people in our community that, uh, look to do, to do great, uh, things in it, uh, for the, for kids and families. Um, so that's pretty much it. I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year. I want to thank everybody on our staff throughout this year who have been so absolutely great. All the assistant city managers, boy, that table keeps getting longer and longer. I want to thank our police chief, our fire chief, everybody who have, who've really served our community so well throughout the year. We are a very, very lucky, lucky community to have such great people who, uh, who work for the city and work on behalf of the city. And I also want to extend a, a, a one great welcome to our new city attorney, Sherry McCartney. Sherry, do you have any thoughts you'd like to share tonight before we conclude the meeting? Thank you, Mayor. That was a very fun evening, wasn't it? Yeah. Yes, you got, you got your feet wet. I got my feet wet. And, uh, I'm, I'm really, uh, we've hit the ground running, uh, with my team and working with the city manager and, and, uh, we're moving right along. Thank you for being part of our city. We appreciate it. Mayor, you mentioned all the assistant city managers, so forgive me, but, uh, we also must congratulate Susan Grant, who just yesterday was recognized with the Excellence in Leadership Award by the Broward County City Managers Association, correct? Wow, nice. Wow, good. Congratulations. Awesome. Thank you. And, okay. Mayor, one other thing that, uh, I want to thank Raquel. Raquel, and Raquel's, uh, came up with this idea as the, um, tell us about, I forget what it's called, the employee holiday party, which I just think is great. So that's Thursday, right? Yeah. Yes. That is Thursday employees only who have RSVP'd and, you know, we have certain provisions for additional guests. So because we're talking about this right now, I just want you to know, we'll be sending out some information to you about, uh, a time for you to, it's 10.01, to attend and parking and all those details so that if you do plan to attend, uh, you come at the right time. It's great. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Meeting adjourned. Happy New Year.