Hey, good evening, everybody, and welcome to the City Commission meeting this October 7, 2025. Thank you all for being here tonight. We have some exciting things happening with our presentations tonight. I want to thank you all for being here. For those of you who are here for the first time, we welcome you, and we thank you for participating in this wonderful opportunity to see your government at work. And as with every meeting, we start out with our Pledge of Allegiance, and then we have a few housekeeping things, and then we move into our presentations. Presentations are when we recognize individuals, events, or organizations that have a special interest to our community, and tonight we have five. So if I could ask you all to please rise and join me. Join me and Michael Cunningham and Denico Cepeda. And Denico is with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department Explorer Program, so that's exciting. So if you can please join me at the podium and saying the pledge together. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Very good. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I don't want to tell me for you. I just realized. Here you can stand over here. Are your families with you here? Yes. Why don't they come up, too, and have your picture taken? Where are they? Hold on, my teeth. Okay, that was great. Thank you, gentlemen. They are part of the trip program at Carter Park, so I want to thank you for participating and thank your parents for allowing you to come this afternoon. Now I'd like you all to please join me in a moment of silence. Thank you very much. A new tradition that we've begun is announcing folks who have served more than 20 years for the city of Fort Lauderdale and are now retiring, so it's my honor and privilege to recognize five people tonight who have served a significant number of years with us. First, there's Mabel's Lacona, who's been a facilities worker with Parks and Recreation. Congratulations. Thank you so much, Mabel's. We have Rodrigo Carnival, who's been a recreation program supervisor in our Parks and Recreation Department. He's been with us 20.5 years. Congratulations, Rodrigo. Matthew Adams, a captain in the fire rescue division of our city. He's been with us 32 years. Wow. Congratulations, and thank you for your service. And Donna Samuda, who is Senior Administrative Assistant to the Office of Management and Budget. She's now retiring after 20 years, so congratulations. Oh, my God. Kimberly Moss, captain with the police department. 32 years. Thank you so much, Kimberly. So, thank you for your service, and we appreciate all the years that you've contributed to our community to make it safe and better for everybody. Now I'd ask the clerk to please call the roll. Vice Mayor Herbst. Commissioner Glassman. Here. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman. Here. Commissioner Sorensen. Here. Mayor Trantel. Here. We have one walk-on motion tonight to add to the agenda, which is a motion to advance four proposers for the City Hall project. They are Balfour Beatty. They are Balfour Beatty, Fort Lauderdale Civic Partners, FTL Beacon Collaborative, and FTL City Hall Partners. So, having said that, oh, and also Exhibit 1 to CR 3, although we're going to, that Riverwalk District area map was revised to correct the boundaries of the Riverwalk District. So, would someone like to please move to adopt the minutes and the agenda as amended? So moved. It's been moved. Do I hear a second? Second. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman. Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman. Yes. Commissioner Sorensen. Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst. Yes. Mayor Trantel. Yes. And the minutes and the agenda as amended have now been approved. So, now, I'd like to invite the Director General. Where is he? There you are. Hey. This is Director General Chiyu Chow, who is the Director General from the country of Taiwan, who's here tonight. And tonight, it's my honor to present a proclamation recognizing the 114th National Day of Republic of China, Taiwan, here in the city of Fort Lauderdale. Please join me. Cookies. Oh, you brought everybody with you. Wow. Oh, well, why don't you all stand behind here? Stand behind here. There's even one for you, Commissioner Glassman. Thank you. Thank you. Well, it is my honor, from the office of the Mayor of the City of Fort Lauderdale, to present this proclamation in recognition of the 114th National Day of the Republic of China, Taiwan. Whereas the Republic of China celebrates its 114th National Day on October 10, 2025. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, established in Miami in 1988, continues to strengthen the ties between Taiwan and Florida, fostering sister city partnerships and enhancing the alliance shared between our regions. The friendship between the United States and Taiwan, established under the Taiwan's Relations Act of 1979, continues to advance cooperation in trade, education, innovation, and cultural exchange. Taiwan and the United States have strengthened economic cooperation through key milestones, including the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Bilateral Trade on January 8, 2025, and the passage of the United States-Taiwan Expedited Double Tax Relief Act by the U.S. House of Representatives on January 15, 2025. Taiwan is the United States' seventh-largest trading partner and Florida's fourth-largest bilateral merchandise trade market in the Asia-Pacific region, reflecting Fort Lauderdale's sister city connection with Kaohsiung and the city's shared role as a hub for maritime trade and tourism. In November of 2024, the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce of North America held its annual meeting here in Fort Lauderdale for the first time, bringing together more than 500 global delegates and highlighting the city's growing prominence as a destination for international business and investment. Finally, the City of Fort Lauderdale values its sister city relationship with Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, and joins in recognizing Taiwan National Day, honoring the cultural, education, and economic exchanges that continue to strengthen friendship, cooperation, and goodwill between our communities. Now, therefore, as City Commissioners of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to hereby recognize October 10, 2025, as the Republic of China, Taiwan Day. Here in the City of Fort Lauderdale, extend sincere congratulations and best wishes to the people of Taiwan for continued peace and prosperity. Signed today, October 7, 2025, by myself, Mayor Dean Trantalus, congratulations. Thank you. Thank you, Your Honorable. Thank you. You want to say a few words? Honorable Mayor Trantalus, Honorable Commissioners, and also Honorable City Managers, and all dear friends of Fort Lauderdale, the beautiful, great city. All good evening. My name is Chi Yu-Chiu. I'm a Council General of Taiwan in Florida. I must say today, I'm so, so happy to come together with our community leader to attending this evening commission meeting. All of them, actually, they live either in Fort Lauderdale or in Broward County. They have come here for a long, long time. On behalf of my office and also the Taiwan government, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for the city of Fort Lauderdale to give this recognition, this proclamation. Because this proclamation means a lot for us. It's not only to show the strong support to us, but also show the two cities we have a special bound with each other. Just now, the mayor also mentioned that Taiwan and U.S., Taiwan and the state of Florida, we enjoy very close cultural relations with each other. On the city level, city of Fort Lauderdale and the city of Kaohsiung, actually, it's my hometown. Kaohsiung is a port, it's a harbor city as well, just like Fort Lauderdale. They built up the sister city relationship in 2008. During the past 17 years, the relationship is actually getting stronger and stronger. Before I came here, one of the community leaders told me that Tina Wong, he just came back from Taiwan. He told me that the city, Kaohsiung city, is going to send their swimming team to here to get the advanced training program in this beautiful city. Because they know the city of Fort Lauderdale, you have a world-class, high-class, aqua facility to train the swimmers. So we hope in the near future, the swimmer can come here to get more training here. We always think that building the sister city relationship, of course, very important, is good for the cultural exchange. But the most important thing is that our citizens from the both cities, they can benefit from each other. I believe when our swimmer come here, they can benefit a lot from this beautiful city. Not only, they also will be overwhelmed by the hospitality of this beautiful city as well. Before I end today's remark, I also would like to extend our invitation to the mayor and also to the commissioners to visit Taiwan. Because every year, around March, we will host an event. We call it Smart City Expo. I think there will be great opportunity for the mayor to visit Taiwan. Not only to call upon his sister city in Taiwan, in Kaohsiung, but also extend the Smart City Expo. Because we know, for a lot of sales, it's a beautiful city. The mayor runs this successful, it's a smart city. I think if you can attend the Smart City Expo in Taiwan, in Kaohsiung, you also can share how you run this beautiful city with us. We also can learn from your experience. Another thing is that... One more thing, because the Kaohsiung is also important for Yard Builder. Every year, during November or October, there's a boat show in here. The Taiwan Yard Builder always come here to participate for the boat show. I think it's also a good opportunity to visit the Yard Builder Company in Kaohsiung. So once again, thank you so much. This proclamation means a lot to us and also to our community, to our government, to our people as well. Thank you once again. Thank you. Thank you. What do you have here? Oh, I'm going to say something. Oh, you're going to say something. Okay. Step aside. Step aside. Please go ahead. Please go ahead. Okay. Hi, everyone. I am Tina Weng Kodan. I'm currently the chairwoman of Greater Fort Adderdale, Sister Cities International, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. As you know, Taiwan is not only famous for making world-class semiconductor chips, but also good at making amazing food. So at this time of the year, when Mayor Tran Teller issued a proclamation recognizing our national day, it's also a time for us to celebrate Moon Festival, a time of reunion, a time of sharing. So today, on such a special occasion, we have prepared 10 boxes of moon cakes we'd like to share with everybody. It's a small token from our friendship and goodwill from Taiwan. And I hope you guys enjoy it. Thank you. Actually, when I visited, I did visit Kaohsiung back in 2018, right now, during this time period, and we sampled the moon cookies. They're delicious. Absolutely. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. And may I have our picture taken? Yep. Great. Thank you. Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For the mayor. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's hard to put it through the screen. Sometimes you just make that. Moon cakes for everybody. You can say mine. Thank you, Commissioner Glassman. I appreciate it. You're welcome, Ben. We tried to put it through the screen for you, Ben. But we couldn't do it. I'm sorry. Sorry, Ben. Sorry, Ben. Yeah. Thanks for Trump. If we were magicians, we could do that. Right. Thank you. Yeah, so when I first became mayor in 2018, I attended a conference in Kaohsiung and saw how they are very active participants in our boat show. Several yacht manufacturers have exhibits, and they actually have permanent showrooms here in Fort Lauderdale. So we have a very strong connection with our sister city economically as well as culturally. So we're very pleased to continue that relationship. I see Russ Weaver back in the back of the room. Thank you so much for being here from Sister Cities, Fort Lauderdale. Did you want to say anything, Russ? I just wanted to thank all the city commissioners and the citizens of Fort Lauderdale for the support to the greater Fort Lauderdale Sister Cities program. Kaohsiung, Taiwan, has always been very special to my heart because I was in there from the very beginning from 2008, and it was an honor to travel there with Mayor Turntelis and visit the actual boat yards and yacht building yards in Kaohsiung. And several times I've seen them actually bring them in to Port Everglades on the ships. And we have an awesome relationship. It's active. It's fantastic. And I just wanted to thank all of y'all for everything y'all do. All right. Thank you, Russell, for everything you do. So our next presentation, I would like to invite Sharon Hughes and also Commissioner Beasley Pittman. The YMCA, we'd like to present an award to the commission and specifically to Commissioner Beasley Pittman. If you can please come to the podium. Is Sharon here? But this is not my idea. It's there. So I'm stepping back. Go ahead. Hi. Thank you for always believing us and supporting us. And I just want to say thank you for being there when we needed you the most. So wait a minute. Wait a minute. What are your names? You can't be here anonymously. I'm Tania Moore. I'm Andrew Nae Ware. Very nice to meet you. So what do you have with you today? A gift from me. A gift from me. Very nice. What does it say? It says, okay, it says, Dr. Pittman, heart of service and leadership. Award, an appreciation for you, unwearing support, unwearing support, dedication to our youth from college free community conversations to broadcasting team Broadway productions or simply giving fishing and having a conversation. You have showed up, encouraged, and inspired us at every step. Thank you for reminding us that your commission seat never kept you from sitting with us. But whatever we call. Very nice. How did you get all that written on that item? Congratulations. I had just said to the mayor, I said, they have me on to read a proclamation. No one gave me a proclamation for the YMCA. This blesses my heart. I thank you all. And ladies, you know I love you all. And Sharon, what you're doing at the Y is amazing. And I am just honored that you all include me to be a part of taking this generation to the next level. Thank you for accepting me. Thank you. Yes. So I just wanted to say it wasn't my idea, the girls, all the other kids from the community wanted to say thank you because you always, especially with the ones behind us, when they go through something and they call you, you answer, you come by, you stop, and you talk, and they just wanted to say thank you. So they had me to spend my money to get you a gift. But, okay, it was worth it. So I just want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's, it's, Sharon, Sharon, it's tax deductible. Why don't you get a little closer so you can avoid the podium in your picture? Congratulations, Commissioner. Now I'd like to invite Commissioner Glassman to present a proclamation regarding Lily Gonzalez Day in the city of Fort Lauderdale. Is Lily here? Come on up, Lily. Thank you. Good evening. Very pleased to present this proclamation for a constituent at a wonderful high school. This is from the Office of the Mayor, City of Fort Lauderdale, proclamation in recognition of Lily Gonzalez. Whereas the city of Fort Lauderdale proudly recognizes outstanding young leaders whose dedication and service exemplify the values of citizenship, community, and innovation. And whereas Lily Gonzalez joined the Girl Scouts as a daisy in kindergarten at Virginia Schumann Young Elementary School and has remained an active member ever since, volunteering, leading, and serving her community through the Orange Blossom Service Unit. And whereas Lily's commitment to excellence and perseverance have earned her the coveted Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouting, recognizes projects that create lasting, sustainable change in local communities. And whereas through her Gold Award project, Garden of Growth, Lily addressed the issue of food waste and its environmental impact by building a self-sustaining compost bin at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Fort Lauderdale. She led interactive workshops for preschoolers and trained kitchen volunteers on composting and food donation practices. And whereas Lily's innovative approach inspired her church community to adopt sustainable practices and establish an ongoing partnership with Feeding South Florida to promote food redistribution. And whereas Lily's leadership extends beyond her project, she was a core values winner on the Fort Lauderdale High School robotics team that won the first Lego League State Championship, has been the top cookie seller in her service unit for three consecutive years, yes, and continues to inspire others through her passion for science and service. And whereas Lily's dedication and curiosity have taken her from meeting beloved author Judy Blume in Key West to visiting Harvard University, where she met renowned genesis Dr. George Church, fueling her dream to one day pursue a career in medicine. And whereas Lily Gonzalez embodies the courage, confidence, and character of a true Girl Scout and represents the best of Fort Lauderdale's next generation of leaders, now therefore we, as city commissioners of the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, do hereby proclaim October 7, 2025, as Lily Gonzalez Day in the city of Fort Lauderdale, and dated this the 7th day of October, 2025, and signed by our Mayor, the Honorable Dean J. Trentalis. Congratulations. You're welcome. Say a few words. Thank you so much. I just want to say thank you to Commissioner Zorrenton up there. Commissioner Glassman, thank you so much. Mayor D. Trentalis, Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, thank you to everyone here. I just want to say thank you. As someone who grew up in Fort Lauderdale and goes to Fort Lauderdale High School, I love this community. I love this city. That's right, go well. And with the challenges of being a high schooler, this is such a wonderful surprise and such an amazing thing. So thank you so much. I know you guys are plenty of stocked on cookies, but if you need Girl Scout cookies, I am your girl. So thank you. Call me in January. Thank you so much. Year four, year four. Lily, did you bring any samples? No. Congratulations. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Have a bad view. Hold on, hold on. Oh, we're going to do it now? Come on. Let's get Mom in the picture. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. It's beautiful. It's good. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Commissioner. Now I'd like to invite Commissioner Pamela Beasley-Pittman to present a proclamation regarding National Hispanic Heritage Month here in the city of Fort Lauderdale. And I'd like to invite Marisol Gonzalez, who's president and CEO of the members of the Hispanic Heritage Chamber of Commerce. Is Marisol here? Who invited him? How are you here? Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Good evening. I have the pleasure tonight to present the proclamation. This is in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month. From the office of the mayor, city of Fort Lauderdale, proclamation and recognition of National Hispanic Historic Month, excuse me, Heritage Month, whereas generations of immigrants from across the globe has helped build the foundation of our nation, shaping its spirit and enduring character. And whereas each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month by celebrating the histories, the culture, and the contributions of American citizens who ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. And whereas this national celebration began in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan to encompass a full month beginning September 15th, a date that coincides with the independence anniversary of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Galamala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and also closely by Mexico and Chile. And whereas the city of Fort Lauderdale is home to more than 30,000 Hispanic residents, representing a wide array of nationalities and traditions that enrich and easily, give diversity to our city. And whereas since its founding of July 31st, 2017, the Hispanic Heritage Chamber of Commerce has been a vital source of empowerment, entrepreneurship, my tongue is tying up, and cultural pride across Broward, Palm Beach counties, and providing resources, training, and networking, advocacy, and uplifting Hispanic businesses, owners, and strengthening the culture and economic landscape across South Florida. And whereas the HHCC amplifies the inspiration of leadership and achievement of the Hispanic community, promoting exclusivity, business growth, and development while strengthening social and economic fiber to our region. And whereas during Hispanic Heritage Month, and the city of Fort Lauderdale joins communities across the country and celebrating Hispanic Americans throughout history whose contributions have strengthened both our city and our nation. Now, therefore, we, the city commission of the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, do hereby recognize September 15th through October 15th as National Hispanic Heritage Month in the city of Fort Lauderdale. Dated this the 7th day of October, 2025, signed by our Mayor Dean J. Trentellis. I want to ask you to forgive me for bumbling a little bit. I realize I don't have my glasses on. So, yes, who's going to be our speaker tonight? Well, first of all, thank you so much. My name is Carolina Veira. I'm the chair of the ward of this wonderful chamber, Hispanic Heritage Chamber of Commerce. Mayor Tentrellis, the commissioners, everyone here, all the citizens of this wonderful city, as well as the city of Fort Lauderdale departments, different departments here. We could not be prouder, happier, in the words of our ex-president, LBJ, Lyndon B. Johnson. We have to do all the good we can in all the forms we can everywhere we are. So that's our mission here at the chamber where we try to do our best to empower businesses and provide the tools and the resources so they can be better and do better, not only for our communities but for the whole country because Hispanics are part of this America, wonderful country, and we're here to do more, be more, be better. And we cannot do this alone. We thank you for your support, for all the businesses out there that are counting on you. And, yeah, thank you so much for thinking of us. We're proud. We're happy. We could not ask for more. Thank you so much. Thank you. Juan, do you want to say a few words? Hello, everyone. It feels good to be back home, Commissioner Mayor. Jefe, ¿cómo está? Todo bien. Gracias. Felicidades. I just want to say this is also very, very personal to us because despite the challenges that our communities are facing these days, Florida has been always welcoming, has been always that community that has, you know, embraced our diversity because our contributions, you know, that our contributions really, you know, embrace and make our community better. So thank you so very much. Yeah, let's keep moving forward. Okay, great. Thank you. One last thing. We did not bring cookies. We cannot offer a trip to Taiwan, but we do have events, and you're welcome to attend and to join us. Thank you. Thank you. You could have brought empanadas, but that's okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, and thank you for your continued good work in our community. Now I'd like to invite Vice Mayor John Herbst to present a proclamation regarding Fire Prevention Week here in the city of Fort Lauderdale, and I'd like to invite Deputy Fire Chief Chantel Bodding and Fire Marshal Miller to please join the Vice Mayor at the podium. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you. So it's my pleasure to read a proclamation in recognition of National Fire Prevention Week. Whereas fire prevention and safety are shared responsibilities that protect every household, and as new technologies become part of daily life, it is essential to raise awareness about evolving fire risks and promote safe practices. And whereas the National Fire Protection Association reports an increase in battery-related fires underscoring the need for public education on the safe use of lithium-ion batteries, and whereas the city of Fort Lauderdale is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all who live in and visit our community, recognizing that fire remains a serious public safety concern both locally and nationally, and that the widespread use of lithium-ion batteries in household devices introduces unique risks. And whereas many electronics used daily, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, power tools, e-bikes, e-scooters, and toys, are powered by lithium-ion batteries, which, if misused, damaged, or improperly charged can overheat, catch fire, or explode. And whereas the 2025 Fire Prevention Week theme, Charge into Fire Safety, Lithium-ion Batteries in Your Home, serves to remind us of the importance of using charging and recycling lithium-ion batteries safely to reduce the risk of fires. And whereas Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue demonstrates its commitment to fire prevention through proactive education and outreach, and this year proudly partnered with Broward County Schools to host the inaugural Fire Prevention Poster Contest in Fort Lauderdale, an important initiative to engage and educate students about fire safety. And whereas residents are urged to keep Fort Lauderdale safe by purchasing listed products, charging batteries properly, and recycling them responsibly to prevent fires and protect both our city and the environment. Now, therefore, we, as City Commissioners of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, do hereby proclaim the week of October 5th through October 11th, 2025, as National Fire Prevention Week in the City of Fort Lauderdale, dated the 7th day of October, 2025, by your Mayor, Dean J. Trantalis. So thank you. Good evening, Mayors, Commission, City Manager. This year's Fire Prevention Week initiative was spearheaded by Fire Marshal Jason Miller, and it is focused on the critical topic of the lithium-ion battery safety education. Through a targeted social media campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, we reached more than 54,000 followers with daily safety messages, reinforcing the theme, buy, charge, recycle. Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue is conducting community outreach in eight schools, where nearly 800, or excuse me, 900 elementary students will receive fire safety education and various materials. At the center of these efforts is Fire Marshal Jason Miller, whose leadership and coordination brought these initiatives together to maximize community impact. Together, we are proud to recognize the winners of our lithium-ion battery safety contest and present them with their trophies. And Fire Marshal Miller will share some additional information about the initiative as he introduces the contest winners. Chief Bodding, this year, in addition to the Fire Prevention Week activities that Chief Bodding stated, the Fire Prevention Bureau conducted the first annual poster and digital art and essay contest, which is to depict lithium-ion battery safety in the home. I'd like to thank Susan Leon for assisting with promoting the contest, as well as PIO Frank Guzman for the social media outreach. The winners from each school were voted on by members of the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, and now for the winners. First place in digital, Sophia Fatma. What's up, Sophia? As you close your name, please come up to the podium. Great. Come on, come on, come on, come on. Oh, Simona. I'm sorry, Simona. He doesn't bite, I swear. Yeah. First place poster, Mikola Selnikoff. Did I get it right? Place poster, Jacob Balsam. Finally, first place essay, Lily Zeman. Is that a proud father with her? Thank you. Why don't you get a little closer? Congratulations, all of you. And thank you all, families and friends who participated in these presentations tonight. It's truly a great honor to have you all here. Now, at this point in our meeting, we have the opportunity to, as soon as my computer, okay. We have a number of items which are called consent agenda items. The consent agenda is an opportunity for the commission to vote on all these items at once. And if there's any one item that a commissioner wishes to pull and discuss and vote on separately, now would be the opportunity to do so. Vice Mayor, do you have any items you wish to pull? You do not. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes, CR1, please. CR1. And Commissioner Glassman? CM9. CM9, okay. Commissioner Sorensen, do you have any items you wish to pull? Yes, CR4, please. CR4. And CR1, correct? Mayor, CR3, I'm requesting that that's pulled. Yes, you wanted that pulled, too. I was just going to, yeah, I'll get into it. CR3. Okay, so, except for CR1, CR4, CR3, and CM9. Hold on, let me make sure you vote. There are some people who have signed up to speak with regard to items that had not been pulled. Peter Heckenbleichner, are you here? You want to come up and speak about that? From the Sunrise East Condo Association. What's your name? Yes. CR2. There's a button at the bottom of the speaker. At the bottom of the speaker. Got it. Not good on technology. I just want to thank the city manager and the commission, and particularly Commissioner Glassman, for advancing the Sunrise Lane project through the budget amendment, Sunrise Lane is a sort of hidden jewel that you all pass by, but that's part of the problem is you're all passing by it. It's the place where the Parrot is, where Pramante Brothers is. It's off of Sunrise Boulevard and A1A, and it is an architectural jewel and has tremendous potential, but it needs some help. And so hopefully with this investment by the city and some of the public infrastructure, it will get the boost that it needs. We had three charrettes on this project and very well attended, a lot by my neighbors at Sunrise East Condo, but a lot of others and a lot of other stakeholders. And the proposal or the project included in the budget is the consensus project from that process. So it has local support and is very much needed, and we're really looking forward to having that happen. Thank you very much. Thank you. And CR7, Caitlin McAuliffe-Lecter. Caitlin, are you here? Caitlin is not here. Oh, there you are. This is regarding, it's a resolution adopting an amendment to the Citizens' Participation Plan to include the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program. Good evening, Caitlin. Good evening. Mayor and Commissioner, I just came out to speak just about a week ago as well when we were talking about the $88 billion that the city has received. Million, million, not billion. $88 million, yeah, but it still is a good amount, but it's a lot of work to be done. And so I came out because I wanted to make sure that Melrose Park is not overlooked. As you know, we experienced the first flood in 2020, and again in 2023, as did other neighborhoods. So my concern is that I've seen, I mean, my own family, we weren't hit as bad as some, but we still had a lot of work, and it set us back very much both times. There are neighbors that have gutted their homes. They've lost all of their belongings. They have had to rip out their floor, their wall. I personally had to cut out drywall. This is Melrose Park? Melrose Park, yes. So I wanted to speak because I see that many times we're confused with Melrose Manors, and I know Melrose Manors was on the stormwater plan, you know, and they have been getting some attention. I know Melrose Park, we have some kind of a, we have a ditches and exfiltration trenches. I've learned a lot more than I ever wanted to know about drainage, but I have not seen any real solutions, and what I saw that was proposed was for 2034 to have a pump station. Now, our first flood was in 2020, and people have had to gut their homes and rebuild mainly on their own, and that's 14 years later. I don't think that's acceptable, and so I really plead that Melrose Park will be remembered and prioritized for real drainage solutions. I know the whole city is dealing with climate change, but it is, you know, it is very needed in Melrose Park. All right. Well, half your neighborhood is here with you. Sorry? Half your neighborhood is here with you tonight. Yes, thank you. Mayor? All right, I was just going to have Chris. Yeah, go ahead. I just want to share that Melrose Park is ranked and prioritized as number one for Phase 2 of the Fortify Lauderdale program. It will go into design early next calendar year. It will take about 18 months to get through the design process, so I just wanted to share that. Did you hear that, Caitlin? Did you hear that, Caitlin? I did hear that Melrose Park overall. Okay. Is there anything you'd like to add to that, Chris? Yeah, quickly. So later tonight we have PH1, which is the item to review the action plan for the CDBGDR funds that we were given to respond to the April 2023 flood. So, Caitlin, I believe, Rachel Williams, if she's back in that corner, raise your hand. That would be a good point of contact to learn more about those programs and what we might offer once those funds are here and we are able to start programming those out to the community. Great. Thank you so much, Chris. Okay, so except for CR1, CR3, and CR4, and CM9, do I hear a motion to approve all the consent agenda items? So moved. Do I hear a second? Second. I moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trantals? Yes. And all those consent agenda items, except the ones I mentioned, have now been approved. Moving on to CM9, this is a motion rejecting all proposals for the P25 radio communication system refresh replacement. That was Commissioner Glossman. Thank you, Mayor. So I pulled this for a couple of reasons. First, I would like to get a little bit more information with what happened here in terms of procurement for this agenda item. First of all, let me say that I can't think of anything more important than public safety and all of the work that the first responders do. And that's why I'm also very concerned about this particular agenda item and what are we doing, because if we're not able to communicate efficiently, our first responders cannot communicate with each other and with anyone else if they have to, especially when they are in buildings. That is a real concern to me. I guess we're going to have to redo this and do another RFP. But I really want to know exactly what happened. And that leads me into Part 2 of why I'm concerned about this. So this past January, I started hearing from condominium buildings. As you know, District 2 has many condominium buildings, both on the barrier island and off the barrier. And all of a sudden, they were getting notices in these buildings that first responders were not able to communicate in these buildings. These were buildings that had never had an issue with communication. These are buildings that had passed all of their fire inspections every single year. Never an issue. But there's something out there, and I learned a lot about this very quickly since January, called BDA. And it's tied in. I'm not going to get into the weeds on this, but I do want to hear about what we're planning to do. Because what I will tell you is that I was hearing from buildings in my district that were being told that the radio signals were not strong enough. And when they asked, well, what is this? Because we have had no education from the city or anyone about what this issue is. They were told, well, it's part of a state statute, and we have to make sure that our first responders can communicate with each other. And then when they would ask the question, well, we've never had an issue before, 5, 10, 15 years, all of a sudden now. The answer that they were given, well, there's a lot more development in our city. Signals are getting blocked. The tower strength is not good enough. And then I would be asked the question, well, why is the onus on these condominium owners to make sure that others are able to communicate with each other? In other words, why is that not the city's responsibility to make sure that we have the tower strength and that we have the signal capacity so that these buildings can have communication when first responders enter the buildings for whatever reason? So that aside, they were then told, well, you need to communicate with these companies that are out there that will test in your buildings. And they'll tell you what the problem is with the signal strength, and they'll tell you why you are either not meeting that minimal strength or what's going on and what you can do. And lo and behold, it almost became, according to the buildings that were reporting to me, almost like this little cottage industry that has developed out there to deal with this BDA system and to tell these buildings that they're able to now have the signal strength that they've needed. That sounds good, but then, believe it or not, after some of these buildings, that might be one of those BDA signals. Anyway, what I'm telling you now is that these buildings were then told, after you go find out from these vendors what it's going to take, the buildings were getting these estimates somewhere upwards in the $200,000 range to install these systems in a building that never had a problem from day one, from day one. So what are we doing? I want to remind everyone the pressure and the stress that is on a condominium building these days with regards to mandates from the state, with regards to structural integrity reserve studies, with regards to property insurance premiums, with regards to special assessments. So why are we piling on with no education, people just scratching their heads saying, what is this? I'd never heard of BDA before. And why is this our responsibility, especially if all of a sudden they're just being told, well, your floor is 8 through 12 are fine, but this one stairwell has a problem, so you have to go ahead and take care of that. What I'm saying is that there's something wrong here. Also, the way this was carried out by the city is not good. People would just show up in buildings unannounced. They would just sort of dovetail in with the fire inspections. Managers of buildings had no idea who these people were. Managers of these buildings had no idea what the problem was. Managers of these buildings never even heard of BDA. And they were really at a loss. But I've also heard of buildings that have actually spent thousands and thousands of dollars to install a system, and then guess what? The next year they're told they fail. So, like, what is going on? And you cannot blame construction around the city for failure for us as a city to provide the proper communication strength for our first responders. I'm just not going to accept that because I've been told of instances where a building has passed and then a building right next to it has failed. It makes no sense. There are so many questions here, but we have got to do a better job with this. We've got to educate the citizens about this, and we've got to figure out a way to make sure that these buildings are not getting ripped off. Who are all of these people that are already part of this brand-new industry that's out there that goes ahead and gives you a boost or gives you a new system or allows your building to all of a sudden pass a minimum radio signal strength? There are just too many questions. Too many buildings are just scratching their heads. This is a real issue, and I think it ties in very much so to this particular agenda item. So I have lots of questions. I want to know, though, why are we looking at this agenda item? What happened here? And I want to know then how we are going to help everyone that's in a building that, in my opinion, is not getting the full story, is not getting educated. And to a certain extent, I actually will say this, I believe they're being ripped off. So if someone can help me with all of this, that would be great. Thanks. We have a bunch of people who are here with answers. Yes. Mayor, Glenn, before you start, I just want to share that when this matter came to my attention and to the attention of our leadership team, we began taking steps to address this issue from multiple angles with multiple departments included. We do have an outreach and educational plan that we've developed and are ready to roll out. We do have our procurement team ready to go back out to bid and have an expeditious process that would get this back in front of the commission in a timely manner. So I'm going to turn it over first to Chris Cooper and then Glenn Marcos, if you could talk about the procurement process. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. Chris Cooper, Assistant City Manager. So what the commissioner said is accurate in terms of the reason for the two-way radio communication inspections and also the responsibilities and mandates to the building owners as a result of a state statute that was adopted a couple years ago that required that buildings of a certain size, a certain structure type, maintain and upkeep adequate two-way radio communication within their buildings. This could include the installation of a bidirectional amplifier to essentially amplify the signal strength inside the building. So what the city has been tasked with or what we have done is that as part of our annual fire inspections, we have notified a building when our fire inspectors didn't have radio strength sufficient enough to carry a signal inside the building. That test for radio strength at that point is really just the difference between a radio working in a section of that building versus a radio not working in that building. Our staff isn't equipped to go into those buildings and do a full assessment to verify the exact signal strength and deficiencies, which is why the end result is that the building would hire somebody to come in and fully test the signal strength and make recommendations for improvements to meet that state statute. So understanding that... Chris, I'm going to interrupt you one second. Chris, and I apologize for interrupting you, but so here's an issue, and I'm going to take these as you present your information. Some buildings have told me that they're being told of certain vendors to contact us. They're clueless when it comes to this. But then people that are doing the testing are also people that are, quote, giving you the solution, which I find to be a real conflict of interest because how can you go into a building and say, okay, here's where you're deficient, but, you know, for $200,000, I'm going to take care of that. People are not being given the options of, hey, maybe you just need a booster in this stairwell. Maybe you need this. Maybe you need that. There's just so much lacking. So I would agree that as a city and as an organization, we should be careful about providing recommendations on outside entities to come in and do any work on behalf of somebody else. You know, that's something we have looked into to make sure that that's not occurring and that's not part of our practices when we go and deal with these situations. The state has really put the onus on the building owners to make sure these things are functional. So I think the best advice we could give just with what we have now based on the state requirement is to refer people to folks that are licensed and have whatever credentials are required to do the work for them, and not necessarily suggest a certain business or entity to come in and do that work on their behalf. And I've had this conversation with State Representative Chip Lamarco because I know that this all emanates from state statute, but I think we need to, as a city, also work with our state representatives, our state. God knows we have enough state lobbyists. We should be able to just bring a few of them together and deal with this issue on a state level because this is a real burden to condominium associations. I mean, a real burden in the face of everything else that they're dealing with in this day and age. Right, and we have, you know, I think in our legislative program we do discuss our reaction and our efforts towards relieving some of the pressure with some of the condo reform legislation that was recently adopted. So, you know, if the commission, either tonight with the information they have or if we need to provide further information for the commission to form an opinion on whether or not we should add this to our agenda and further that conversation in Tallahassee, we could, you know, certainly have that conversation. And I hope that we can. I hope Dathanie, if she's not in the room, is listening in terms of our state legislative agenda. But I think it's that important. Again, I'm sorry for interrupting. Go ahead. No, so in the meantime, understanding that we're enforcing a state mandate and we're communicating this with our neighbors who live here in Fort Lauderdale, we did recognize that there were gaps in the information we were providing folks and the way that we were going about engaging with building managers and building owners and folks that live in those buildings in terms of what the requirement is and how to go about resolving the issue if there is one present. So what we've done is we've worked very closely with our STRATCOM department to create, we're going to release an informational webinar. We've created a brochure, updated our city's webpage, added information on our website about BDA inspections. And we also, through our records we have through our Lauderbill system, we provided a report on email addresses so that we can directly communicate with those who may be affected. They may not have an issue now, but we at least want to make sure that they have the information about what the state's requiring, what they may need to do, what the system's all about, and the reason why the system's in place, that they have an awareness of everything that you described earlier. I think all of that is really welcome. And sooner than later, I mean, most recently I heard from a building on the Las Olas Isles, a four-story building with six units that failed. They're scratching their heads. Six units, and you're telling me that we can't have a communication system in a four-story building with six apartments. It just doesn't even make any sense at all. Commissioner, just to add to what Chris said, about two months ago our fire department updated its template. The letter that we send to buildings when we're going to do a fire inspection now includes more information about the state statute and what the requirements are. Thank you. Glenn Marcos, Chief Procurement Officer. Just to answer the commissioner's question in regards to what happened here from a procurement standpoint, we did receive three responses. The three respondents either failed to submit accordingly to the solicitation requirements or submission requirements. So we had no other choice but to deem all of them non-responsive. As of today, we are sanitizing the documents, making it easier for the respondents to conform to the future solicitation that will be issued. Did we recently approve an agenda item where we were going to construct a new cell tower because of our own communications issues and signal? Or do we have that coming up where we're actually going to construct a new tower? I think that is a future solicitation that will be coming up. And why are we doing that? I'm going to turn it over to Jason Swift. Jason Swift, Interim Assistant Director, IT. So, as you mentioned with the tower, we are currently located on the state of Florida tower, which is outside of 1300 West Broward. That tower is going to be demolished at some point in the not-too-distant future. So we have partnered with the state of Florida via an MOU to construct a new tower, which is going to be going in front of the Juvenile Justice Center. Do we expect that this tower will make any difference at all with regards to what these buildings are going through in terms of this BDA issue? Well, as part and parcel to the RFP, we've also asked the respondents to come up with a total coverage solution. Yeah, I cannot stress enough how important I think it is. Again, I don't really believe that this responsibility should be on these individual condominium owners and these associations. I believe it should be our responsibility to make sure that our first responders are able to communicate effectively and safely in these issues. We hear your concerns, Commissioner, and we will do our best to facilitate that. Thank you. Can I ask you a question? Yes, sir. Does the construction of a building, the materials used in the construction, impact the ability of these radios to work within a building? Yes, Mr. Mayor, they most certainly will. The LEED Energy Star buildings are extremely difficult to penetrate because they are radiation-proof. And that's solar radiation, which is basically one and the same as radio radiation. So I'm concerned now, you know, is it the burden of the city or is it the responsibility of the building that they have a building that doesn't allow these radio waves to penetrate? So I'm just trying to understand how does the burden shift here and why is it our responsibility if their building has been built in such a way to prevent our systems from working? That is the reason the BDAs were invented was to penetrate those types of buildings. We can do the best we can with putting a signal outside. If the building is impenetrable in terms of radio signals, it's going to be very difficult. But the thing is, Mayor, there are buildings there that have never had an issue for 10, 15 years, and now all of a sudden they're being told there's an issue. That building hasn't changed in 10 or 15 years. In fact, I'm going to give you an example that I find one of the most incredible examples I've heard since January when I've been dealing with this more and more and more and more. So there is a building in my district on the Barrier Island, an older building, like from the 60s. They've done everything they can to make sure that their building is more and more resilient. So last year they actually went ahead and replaced all of their windows so that they would have hurricane-resistant windows. You would think that that's a good thing, right? Right. Well, guess what that is? So they were told that now they have failed this system and have to spend several hundred thousand dollars to upgrade this system, where you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. They replaced all of their windows to do something really good, but now they're in a catch-22. That's the issue that I'm talking about here. I understand that, but I'm just wondering how does the burden shift onto the city for something that the building itself took it upon itself to structurally impede the radio signals from going in and about the building? Because they did not do anything to purposely interfere with a radio signal. Most buildings, if they're going to try and become more resilient and switch out bad windows for hurricane-resistant windows, they're not going to think, oh, my God, now I'm not going to be able to have a signal from a first responder. And, again, I'm saying that if we don't have the proper cell towers, if we don't have the proper way to make sure that our first responders are communicating effectively and safely, that's on us. And if our cell towers are just not cutting it, it's not like we're going to have less development in the future. So this is an issue that we have to deal with, and we have to figure out a way to assist all of these condominium associations that are increasingly finding this burden placed upon them. That's all. Okay. Anyone want to add any other comments to that? We need to be mayor, commissioners, fire marshal Jason Miller. I just want to state that I was a high-rise captain before I became the fire marshal. So I've been on almost every high-rise times four or five or six times. We've done the best we can do with the code that was out there. Again, I've had discussions with Commissioner Glassman about this as well, is that the lead buildings, the green buildings create issues for the radio signal. The code states for us that we have to enforce the minimum radio signal strength, which is can you hear me now. So it leaves us with we're in a position where the state statute says that. There's a couple exceptions. And the state statute also says if during the time that we're out in the building, if we have a problem with our radio, then we need to cite them with a violation. That's outside of an annual inspection. So we have revamped our, as Manager Williams stated, we revamped our high-rise notice, and we also revamped the citation for minimum radio signal strength, which is the violation that occurs when we have a problem with our radios. And it just states that you need to secure a system integrator of your choice to make sure there's no interference with the current systems and to make sure that you're following the codes. So is a new tower or a new technology going to be able to, you know, not accommodate, but, well, accommodate the situation that we're dealing with now? I'm not a technical expert, but I can tell you this example. We had experience, a building that did a BDA system, brand-new building. They passed. They got a CO. The following year for their annual inspection, they failed. I know. That's what I said. I was the person. I was the inspector on that building, and they were upset. And, as a matter of fact, the attorney called, and there was a big issue with the developer. But I said it didn't pass. I brought the manager around, and they could hear the radios just drop out. So, Annette, I couldn't explain why. I understand that. But is a new tower or is there new available technology that's going to overcome those obstacles? That would be something for IT to answer that. Does IT want to weigh in on this? Yes. Obviously, the more towers that we have out, the better the signal environment is going to be. And, again, our current system has three towers, three sites, if you will. We're looking to increase that number to a minimum of four. We're looking at putting one on the southeast corner of the barrier island, which we believe will help with the coverage on the south end of the barrier island. Again, we're kind of restricted. We're kind of limited by the construction of the buildings themselves. The e-glass is definitely a problem. But if we can put more signal on the street, it's going to help a good number of buildings. So it's the nature of the building itself, not so much the intensity of the system. It's a little bit of both. And in our current situation, we recognize that we do not have the kind of radio coverage, particularly on the south end of the barrier island, that we would like to have. Okay. So we're working to resolve that. All righty. And I really hope that we can. And I also want to point out, and I want to thank Fire Marshal Miller. He's been really exceptional in his communication with this issue. I know it's been tough. I know there's been a lot of frustration out there. But I really think that we need to do a better job of just helping the citizens because if there's an option out there where they can just do a booster of some sort, like in a stairwell or on a certain floor where the communication system is not working, then let's encourage that or let's educate them that they can do that. I'm concerned with the buildings that are not being treated in a way that's transparent and probably to help them as much economically. I'm concerned that they're being taken advantage of. Because they just don't know better. That's all. Okay. All right. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, John. Yes, Ben. Can I jump in here? Thanks. So, yeah, Commissioner Glossom, thanks. We can't hear you, Commissioner. You can't hear me? They're going to turn you up. Okay. Thank you. Let me know if you can hear me. You're at 100 now. I'm at 100. All right. Beautiful. Beautiful. Just mute me if you feel like it. And great. Great. Thank you. So, thanks for bringing this up. This is something that's really important. And Commissioner Glassman, you know, 100% in some of these condos. I'm hearing some of the same thing. And additionally, this is a problem in our schools, Mayor. So, I brought this up before, but there are many of our schools where our police and fire go into those schools. And because they do not have good signal strength within the school and do not have bi-directional amplifiers, BDAs, the signal transmission is weak to non-existent. So, this impacts the safety of our students. And also, Mayor, this impacts the safety of first responders. If there's a threat in a building that does not have strong signals and or BDA allowing for a strong signal, then the increased risk, there's an increased risk to our first responders. So, it's something I've been working on with Broward County Public Schools and the superintendent, who I, as recently as this weekend, I had a good conversation with. And I just wanted to update you all on their work on this, because this impacts schools in all of the city. So, they're doing an analysis currently of the high schools, the public high schools in the city of Fort Lauderdale, and identifying needs and the needs for BDAs in those schools and are going to begin with the high schools. Then, they're going to go to the middle schools and elementary schools. So, that's kind of the progression. And I emphasize to the superintendent my view of what I'm hearing from our chief police and fire chief, that this is very, very important. So, they've allocated, Broward County Schools have allocated dollars for this. And I'll just keep you updated as I get updates on this. Mayor. May I ask, Chief, can I ask you a question about communication, Chief Schultz? I just want to ask you a question. Because I want to know why we can't have better either cell phone. Now, didn't you guys switch out some cell phones? You did something where you knew you were having a problem with communication. But wasn't there a solution, an easy solution, in terms of either upgrading the phones or hotspots or something? Isn't there something that we could be doing as an interim step? All right. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, Bill Schultz, Chief of Police. I think what you're referring to is we have experimented with utilizing the cellular portion of our personal radios in schools to see if that can strengthen the signal. That's one of the things we've done. How's that work? It is not as good as a BDA, for sure. The BDAs are the strongest signal that you can get in any structure, including schools. What about not including schools? Have you noticed any kind of improvement in terms of communication or signal strength when just in other locations? In other structures or in other locations in the city? Both. So they're two different, kind of two different issues. What Jason Swift touched on was, especially in the outskirts of the city, especially in the south-southwest, on the beach and in the northwest, there are areas that this RFP is meant to correct the outdoor and even indoor, say, signal family, smaller structures. That's what this RFP will assist with improving. The BDAs are really meant for the larger structures, hospitals, schools, condo towers, such as that. You say larger structures, but I'm aware of a four-story building with six apartments that failed. Yeah. Is that a larger structure? It can be. It depends on what the structure is constructed out of and what the obstacles are in the transmission of the portable radios. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, Mayor. Commissioner, Mayor, so just brainstorming, but it would seem, and maybe police already knows, and fire already know this, Mayor, but it would seem like it'd be helpful to know what buildings do not have good signal strength inside so that we can work with them or collaborate to try to improve this, because, again, it's a risk to the residents and to our first responders. Well, that's a good point. Are we there yet? So we do have known structures and known areas of the city, like I mentioned, that we are focusing on. These tests assist, the fire marshal's tests assist us in compiling those lists. And keep in mind, as it was mentioned previously, as the city continues to develop, the large towers, just the downtown area especially, but even on the beach, the large towers are going to impact our transmission ability. So each time a new large tower is constructed, it goes online, that can continue to impact our abilities. But, Mayor, we also just heard how a large tower, a brand-new building, can get its seal, can pass, and then the next year until it's failed. That's the conundrum here. All right. I think we've made our point. Yes. So let us move on. And are you – okay, go ahead, then. Mayor, sorry, just one more question. I just wanted to hear from Glenn. Glenn, just one quick question. In terms of the RFP getting back out, I think that's going to happen soon. I forget what you said, timeline. Sorry about that. That is correct, Commissioner Sorensen. We are looking into sanitizing the document. And before the end of the calendar year, it should be out. Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks, Mayor. You're welcome. Okay. Are there any further questions of these gentlemen? There being none. Commissioner, what would you like to do with this item? Well, again, I – Sorry. We have to do something. I know we have to do something. I mean, obviously, we're being asked to reject, you know, all of the proposals and get this going out again. I mean, what else, you know, what else can we do? Is there anyone here from Motorola or is there anyone here from Communications International, Inc., CI? Is there anyone here from EF Johnson? No? Well, again, I don't feel that we got a total answer in terms of what exactly happened here, why this is being rejected. But if we have to go out again – Well, they gave the reasons why it's being rejected. It's in the cam. Yeah. But is that good enough? Well, what would you like to do on this item? You pulled it. What would you like to do? I pulled it to discuss all of these other issues. I'm fine. I will move that we reject all proposals. Second. So how is that to be phrased, Duane? It says – CM9 says motion rejecting all proposals. So the commissioner made a motion to reject all proposals. Yes. So if you vote yes, that's rejecting, correct? That's correct. And I think I heard Commissioner Sorensen second the motion. Okay. Yes. Okay. Great. So the motion has been made and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trentals? Yes. And CM9 is now approved to reject all proposals. Thank you, folks. Okay. Moving on to CR1. You know what? Pass CR1 for a moment, if you don't mind, because we'll have 30 people signed up to speak. They just – We – I'm sorry? I would prefer if we go ahead because – They're leaving. They're leaving. They're leaving. There's people that are leaving. I have CR4 and CR3. Let me just quickly take care of CR3. CR3, City Manager, you just want to enlarge the scope of the boundaries? No. I just wanted to clarify that Huizinga Park would not be part of the scope for Riverwalk because the city has a separate agreement with the Downtown Development Authority for management, operation, and programming of Huizinga Park. Okay. So – I just want to ask if the commission would approve as amended to exclude Huizinga Park. Okay. So would someone like to introduce the resolution as amended? Introduced. It's been introduced. Please call the roll. CR3, right? Okay. That was CR3. As amended. CR3 as amended. Thank you. Come on. Let's go. A resolution to the City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, approving a City of Fort Lauderdale fiscal year 2026 not-for-profit service agreement with Riverwalk Fort Lauderdale, Inc., authorizing execution of the not-for-profit service agreement and providing for severability on an effective date. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trantels? Yes. And that is approved. CR4. Commissioner Sorensen? Mayor, I defer to Commissioner Beasley-Pittman because I want to have a little discussion on this. Thank you. Because CR1, we're going to be there at least two hours. That's fine. That's fine, Mayor. He's fine. So, well, we have to get the consent items completed, and I'd like to finish CR4 before we go to CR1. So, what is it you'd like to say regarding CR4? Yeah. So, Gina and I had a good talk about this. So, it's, you know, we've been helping subsidize the Riverwalk magazine. This one's for $50,000. We have an additional city magazine. So, I just wanted a discussion if, you know, I don't know how duplicative this is of our existing print efforts and get y'all's feedback. First of all, I'm finding it difficult to hear you because the sound system is really defective for some reason. And I'm not quite sure what the question was. Okay. Can you hear me now? I can hear you much better now. Okay, great. So, CR4, so we've been supporting Riverwalk magazine. This is for $50,000 for Riverwalk magazine. Right. We have our own city magazine that we publish in addition. I just, I'm not, and I had a good talk with Gina about this, but I just don't know if continuing to fund a couple different magazines makes sense from the city. I want to get y'all's feedback. So, what are you recommending? I just don't know. We already have a city magazine, so do we need to continue to support another magazine? Well, okay. So, let's compare the two. The city magazine comes out quarterly, correct? This comes out monthly. The city magazine is twice per year. I'm sorry? The city magazine is twice per year. Oh, it's twice per year. Excuse me. And we spend about $95,000 per year, and our distribution is about $100,000. That's for the two issues. Correct. Okay. And the Riverwalk magazine comes out 12 months out of the year? Yes. I believe? Yeah. So, and they cover completely different things, I think, but it's up to you. Anybody on the commission have any thoughts about it? I'm fine with the way it is. Okay. All right. Would someone like to introduce a resolution one way or the other regarding CR4? Okay. I mean, so, if you guys want to keep doing it, okay. Then I'll introduce to continue doing it. Okay. Introduce for approval? Yep. Okay. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. All right. It's been introduced. Please call the roll. A resolution of the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida approving the city of Fort Lauderdale fiscal year 2026 not-for-profit service agreement with Riverwalk Fort Lauderdale, Inc., authorizing execution of the not-for-profit service agreement and providing for severability and an effective date. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trentals? Yes. And that concludes our consent agenda items, except for CR1, which we'll now talk about. CR1 is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement and subsequent renewals with Florida Power and Light for light-emitting diode street lighting in the Melrose Park neighborhood. I have about two dozen people who sign up to speak, but maybe Donna, Donna Guthrie, where are you? Right here. Hey, Donna. Mayor, as Donna's coming, I just want to say why I did ask for it to be pulled. We've been having this discussion and out in the community advocating for the lights as the community has requested. And understanding that there is mixed comments and emotions about the lights, I wanted to make sure that the community had a full opportunity to express themselves. So that's why I pulled it so it wouldn't be just under the overall consent agenda. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. All right. So, yeah, there have been conflicting opinions about the extent of this street lighting program. And so I'd like to invite Donna Guthrie, who's the president of the Melrose Park Homeowners Association, to speak first. Good evening. Good evening. Do I press something? You're good. You're good. I'm good? You're good. Good evening, Mayor and City Commissioners. I'm so tired of this issue. So I wrote down, so I don't forget anything, and I'll ad lib. So the last time I attended this commission meeting, Commissioner Beza Pittman left the podium. She walked out. She asked me for my phone number. She said, oh, we have to stop meeting like this. We have to get together, come by and talk. She never called me. And here we are. This is the fourth time this Melrose Park lighting issue is on the agenda. Number four. So it was voted on this exact thing, was voted on twice before, and it was pulled by a previous city commissioner. And it was pulled because of a poisoned pen, so to speak. The initial survey, because when you have, when you come into a neighborhood and you want to put stuff in your neighborhood, the property owners of that neighborhood has to agree that we want this. And a survey was done in, I think, 2016, and it was flawed because it went out to people that did not live in Melrose Park, which is why it was voted on twice before and pulled another time. The last time I think it was here was last year, I think October or February. And it was voted no by all three commissioners. And it was told to Commissioner, Mr. Pittman, to do a proper survey before coming, bringing the item back. And she said she would, and that wasn't done. Instead, what she did was she had several meetings, not in Melrose Park. She had meetings in Melrose Manors. So the first meeting she had in Melrose Manors, Pastor Johnson was there. We were all there. And at the end of the meeting, Pastor Johnson said, why do we have a meeting here? Why don't you have them in Melrose Park at the community center? And she said, if Ms. Cutter will let you meet. And I said, yes, come. We welcome you. She never did. So she had two more meetings, and she had a third. And the audacity, the third meeting that she had in Melrose Manors was at the same night that we had our HOA meeting. So she could have easily said, hey, I'm having this meeting. Can we join your HOA? She didn't do that. Another thing that made me very, very... Do you know if the meetings that were in Melrose Manors had residents of Melrose Park? And that's another issue, because there was a lot of people in attendance. There were Juliet Rolock from FPL, and I think Judith Stern was there. Why is a lobbyist and FPL people at Melrose Park lighting meeting where the community, the property owners, are deciding on light? Why are these two people there? And also, I think, because we didn't recognize a lot of the people there, I think it was from other neighborhoods were there. When you have the meeting inside of Melrose Park, we know our neighbors. When you have it in Melrose Manors, we don't know who's signing in to say they want lights. We don't, because half the people we don't know. Because we were sitting there, and we were saying, who's this person? Who's this person? We didn't know. So we just think they put people in there just to say yes. That's our opinion. Another thing, this meeting here, this agenda item, as an entryway president, nobody notified us. The commissioner didn't reach out to us. We didn't get an email from the commissioner or the city manager. The city manager, we had a meeting on October, no, last month, a Thursday, one Thursday, two Thursdays ago. And the city manager's office was represented. Chris Cooper was at that meeting. They could have said, hey, we're having the lighting on the agenda. Nobody told us. I had to find out other ways that this was here, because I scoured the agenda item. So let me ask you a question. I understand that when we first started talking about this, the concern was the amount of lighting that was being proposed by the city. And the neighborhood was pushing back and saying, we don't want all this lighting here. We want a much more ambient environment. We don't want to seem like we're a crime zone. We are a very quiet, safe neighborhood. We want some lighting. You know, and I understand the proposal now is to actually change the lighting to more decorative light fixtures. So is there, are you coming here saying on behalf of the association that you want no lighting or just a more abbreviated program? No lighting. Zero. No lighting. Because if you have to put lighting into the... Well, you're going to all have a chance to talk. You're all going to have a chance to talk. If you have to put lighting in the community, you have to get the permission of the community. Okay. So that wasn't done. That's the process. Okay. You couldn't go to Victoria Park and say, we're going to put XYZ in Victoria Park and not ask the homeowners, the property owners. So why do it to Melrose Park? Okay. So you have SEL coming in there. Who's going to pay for this? So it's going to cost the city thousands of dollars per month that we don't want. We don't want you to pay this. We just don't want it. Okay. There are other things that we could do in the city that there are other things that the city could do for us. We don't want to fill the pockets of FPL or any lobbyists on our back. Okay. And another thing that people do not understand, and this is proven by all our police reports, lack of lighting in Melrose Park, keep us safer. We don't have none of the crimes that's on the Northwest. We don't have all the break-ins that's on the, you go on the app. We don't have those because people do not come into Melrose Park because it's dark and we're a circle. We're a circle. They stay out. It makes us safe. All right. Let's see what's going on. I have a question. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before? Have you finished? Have you completed your comments? I have not finished. Okay. All right. I'll give you one more minute because she's the president. Okay, so what we're saying is in order to get lighting, I'm not saying it's my opinion, in order to get lighting, a proper survey has to be done, and the people agree to the lighting. Then we get lighting. Why can't we do a proper survey? What's so difficult about doing a proper survey to say, okay, we sent out this? It's not impossible. Other neighborhoods do it. And based on that, based on that, this same thing was voted down twice and pulled once. And the fixes, the backup that was sent with this item, it didn't include any of, it was whitewashed. It didn't include any of the previous issues with it. And it should have for everybody to have a clear understanding of the issue. It should have. So we're just trying to say, treat us fairly, treat us like the rest of the community, and don't just bullshit us all the time. Don't do that because we don't want that. Okay. Okay. I heard you. All right. Mayor, if I may, there was a couple things that were said that I would like. Have you completed your remarks? Okay. Thank you, Donna. All right. The last time you were here, Mr. Galtrey, the conversation was about an appointee for the board. It was not about the lighting. I didn't interrupt you one time. I surely appreciate it if you allow me to speak. I have much respect for you. I was a homeowner of President, and I understand what you do and your goal. So I'm not a challenge to you. I'm not an enemy to you. So I want to put that out first, okay, because I'm a commissioner for everyone, including you, okay? Now, what I would like to say is, once again, the last time you were here, the conversation was not about the lights. The conversation was about an appointee that you did not agree with, and we did go in a different direction, even to the point that you shared individuals to appoint, which one of those two was appointed. So I'm working with our community. Point two with that, I did say, let's talk. I called you that same night. No, you did not. I knew you were going to say that. You say that every time. No, you did not. You always say that. And you know one thing? I am not, Ms. Donna. I am not a liar. You did not call me. Madam, I did. I came back to this place, and I doubted you, and I said, hi. I texted you, and I said, hello. It's okay. It's okay. All right, all right, all right. But this is what I want you to understand. I am not the enemy, my dear, okay? I have much respect for you. I was raised in a home where I respect my elders, and you are my elder. Because I want to work with you, okay? I want to work with you. I want to work with Melrose Parks in its entirety. The other part that I want to talk to you about, the indication about the crime in the community that it's low because of the lights, I dispute that. The unique design of Melrose Park, day or night, no one can get out of there. So it's not the darkness. It's the design of that Melrose Street development. That's what's helping to keep the crime down, because people won't go over there. Yes, ma'am. My other comment I want to make with you is let's work together. This community, you have, from my understanding, a unique number of people who come to your meetings. The individuals who do not come to the meetings are the ones that you did not recognize at those four meetings. You don't know everyone. And they have made a decision not to be a part of HOA, but yet they want representation, so they're reaching out to the office of the commissioner. So let's work together to do what we need to do, and that is move forward with the lights. A proper survey was done. No, it wasn't. It was done. No, it wasn't. It was done. We can also have staff come up and validate that it was done. Now, it's your opinion that only homeowners are allowed to give information as to what they want in a neighborhood. But let me help you out. Anyone who lives in the city of Fort Lauderdale, registered with their driver's license number with an address in your community, is able to participate, give their opinion, and work through whatever conversation they have about the neighborhood they live in. And, Mayor, if we could go on, I believe Ms. Donna had all her time. Thank you. So that's not what I was told by the city commission office, that when you do a survey, it's the property owners in the community that they send these surveys out to, and the property owners respond. That's what I was told. And the property owners did not get a survey, and you did not do a survey. Okay. So there. All right. Thank you very much, Ms. Donna. May I ask? I need to ask you a question. I'm sorry. I need to ask you a question of the president of the neighborhood. So I remember that in 2022 the commission voted no on this agenda item. I remember that. But I also remember before that your neighborhood actually had a community improvement project, a capital improvement project that you guys designed for the way you wanted your lighting. Yes, we did. The way you wanted your lighting. Yes, we did. That it was solar lighting. Help me understand why that went away. Where did your plan go? Okay. So Linda Dawkins is going to address that because she has all the backup to that. Because both of us, what we did with that, we worked with Hal and what's the lady's name? Hal and Cher. We took time off from work. Okay. We did all the backup work. We took like two or three months, and we were approved for the grant, which include lighting in Melrose Park. Okay. And the city tossed it. I don't know what happened to it, but Linda has all that backup for you. And you still have. Yes, we still have. You still have that plan. Yes, we do. Okay. Yes, we do. You've mentioned something in your remarks, and I just want to clarify that this is what you said. So you're telling me that you first found out about this agenda item when the agendas were published? Yes. Yes. You were not given a heads up as the president of the Neighborhood Association that this was coming? No. Neither from the commissioner or from the city manager's office, which I think is rude. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Donna. Do you want to say something? Or are you just standing there looking pretty? Thank you. I'm sorry? Go for your list. She doesn't tell us. Well, I have a list of people. So let me, all right. Let me, let me, let me run the meeting. Let me run the meeting. All right. Rosemary Green. Is Rosemary here? All right. Claudia O'Connor. Is Claudia here? Oh, there you are. Good evening, Commissioner. Okay. Dr. Pittman. My name is Claudia O'Connor. I live in Melrose Park since 1995. Now, the lights. We do not want any lights. Now, the question I have here, we've been having flooding issues. No, no, no, Ms. Pittman, please. If we have two inches of rain, my yard flood. So my purpose here tonight is to ask the question, instead of lighting, why can't we get drainage? Because if it rains two, three, four inches, my backyard flooded, my front was flooded. So why not? You're going to get both. We can't get both? You're going to get both. You're going to get both. Okay. That's the point. You're going to get both. City Manager just explained. If you would share again with us where Merrill Park is on that second phase. And we will be getting drained our ditches because I live right next to the ditch. Okay. And whenever it rains, I'm telling you, it's a river. You've lived there how many years? Since 1995. And 2023 was the worst. Yeah, it was for everybody. But let me ask you something. In the 90s, did you have the same kind of flooding? No. What? In 1996, we had a lot of rain. I'll never forget that. It's working all in there. But we never flood like this. What do you suppose, because I'm curious about this. There's a lot of neighborhoods, the swale system. You have a swale system, right? We do. Yeah. I heard. I wasn't educated about it that much. No, no. But when I first ran for mayor, I walked your neighborhood. And I saw it. It was like an enormous swale system. And apparently that has worked to prevent flooding in the past. But what's happened since? I'm not sure what's happening. They came out and they put gravel in the back of my yard. Yeah. And I saw them cleaning the drain. But even day to day, it rained and they were puddled. Okay. Mayor, if I may add to that, if we can get public works or someone to elaborate on this. What I learned from the floods of 2023, the outflow from Merrill's Park runs along 34th Avenue across Broward. That now belongs to Lotta Hill. It's my understanding that that floodgate was not opened. And there's been a conversation to make sure that that floodgate is open during this season. Whatever the breakdown in that conversation is, it needs to be remedied. But that's my opinion of what's causing the standing water in Melrose. There's no way for the water to flow out of the neighborhood, which you were accustomed to in the 90s. No, I've never seen it that by Ms. Spittman. Exactly. Never. And I agree with you. But because of that jurisdiction, before you were county, before 1995, before the annexation, you were with the county. Before the annexation of Lotta Hill, where that 34th Avenue flow, that outflow, that was the county. Now it belongs to Lotta Hill, if you understand what I'm saying. Why did they close it? I can't answer that, but that used to be also a canal that ran along 34th. No longer. It is a walking path. Okay. So what you're saying, we'll be getting drains and lights. You're getting drains and lights. Okay. I think you guys should get the drains going first before the lights, though. Well, I'm just curious. Why are you opposed to the lights? I'm just curious. I like my neighborhood, and I work with the district, the school board district. And the shooting, 2018, I had to go to Parkland one morning to assist with the other schools, and there was no lights up there. It was beautiful. No lights. It was pitch black. So why do you want to come into our community to put up all these lights? First, I heard 750 lights. We're going to find out tonight from these other people. 750 lights, Ms. Pittman, no. We don't need that. All right. Let us continue. Thank you so much for coming. Michael Chambers, I'm going to call three at a time so you're prepared to come up. Michael Chambers, followed by Carmen Palmer, followed by Chris Perceau had to leave, so followed by Linda Dawkins. Michael? Yes. Two minutes. First of all, thank you, Mayor and Commissioners, for having this opportunity. First of all, to Director Pittman, Commissioner Pittman, the problem is not just the Lauder Hill. The problem is that initially, in 1999, there was a flood. That was the first time there was water standing, standing water in the neighborhood about three inches or four inches. That was not a lot. When was this? Ninety-nine. Ninety-nine. In 1999. Oh, 99. Okay. Right. That was the first standing water in the area. After that, it was in 2020. That was the first time since. So we're talking about a progression. The problem was that when Burrell County did a beautification project, they put in excultation pipes. That's not a proper drainage system. It doesn't go anywhere. The whole initial thing was basically a soak-away system. I asked the Director of Public Works which neighborhood has that method in place now today. She couldn't answer the question because nobody builds with soak-away systems anymore because you cannot move stormwater. It's not moving. It's not going anywhere. So rather than put the glorified excultation pipes, put solid stormwater pipes in place. There is no problem with having a pump station built to move the water out of the area. That should be also a priority, not just excultation pipes. All right. Let's focus on the issue. Okay. That's one thing. I was just addressing Dr. Pittman's issue about that. But the lighting situation, though, if everyone does the research as to how much it would cost to put lighting in your house, FPL would only put lights where it's appropriate for them and convenient. It may not be exactly where you want it to begin with. You can use Hollywood as the example that happened years ago in the 90s, in the early 20s, when Hollywood wanted lights, FPL came in and said, yes, we put in lights. They were upset the lights were not put in the places they want them, because they were eventually charged for the lights per month. Between FPL and between the city, they were being charged every month. So what is going to stop us from paying that on a monthly basis? The city doesn't have a sustainable budget to pay for FPL for these lights every year. Actually, we do. It'd be part of the budget. It may be part of the budget, no. But when it comes to increases, eventually, maintenance and everything else, I'm sure it's going to rest on our household at some point. Also, it costs much less each homeowner put a light in front of your house. You'll be amazed how much lighting you would have on the whole street. That is more practical and more affordable. It does not impact on your light bill. Not significantly. We have lights around the house for years now. We haven't seen an increase in our light bill since we installed them. The initial cost is just to get the electrician to put the lights in. That's it. The dusted-down lights, they are very inexpensive. They do not cost a lot in terms of power or power usage. So that's not a solution. I think that's the most advantageous solution. Okay. Thank you so much. Is Carmen Palmer here, followed by Linda Dawkins, followed by Ronnie Young? Good evening. Good evening. My name is Carmen Palmer. Good evening, Commissioners. I'm here to talk about the light. I live in Meadows Park for 31 years. I have no problems, no crime on my street. I do a survey. We don't have a lot of crime there. And I don't think light has solved the problem for us in this thing. Because, number one, when I first came there 31 years ago, it was voted for light to be in there. But when we realized that, our lights around the street, harbor, what do you call it, people hanging out in the street. We didn't want anyone to hang out on the street because there was a lot of crime. And over in the other side, which is Broward, Broward Estate, where the street light is, there's a lot of crime. People hang out on the street, you in your house, people broken. Because I used to live over there before I went over Meadows Park. So, therefore, light on the street, if you go to Pembroke Pines and all those places, there's no light. The light is on the outside. It's not in the community. I know because I work there. I'm a realtor. And I'm all over the place. And I can survey everywhere to tell you that. Light in the street converts young people to hang out. No light converts young people not to hang out. If they hang out in front of their house or their friend's house, it's more monitored by the parents. Me, when I have my children then at that time, all their friends hang out in front of my house, I can monitor them. If they're at the street corner, you can't monitor them. So, I vote no light. Okay. Thank you. Linda Dawkins, followed by Ronnie Young, followed by Yolanda Spence. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Linda Dawkins, and I have lived in Merrill's Park since 1976. Wow. I bought my house when I was 22 years old. I have completed NTIP grants for Merrill's Park for 2011, 2012, and 2013. Those grants were approved. They had solar lighting in Merrill's Park and our green areas. To this day, those grants have not been implemented into Merrill's Park, and I have no idea why not. We had the meetings with the city. We had Hal Barnes. I think his name is Louis Lucia. He's an engineer. We had everybody design everything we needed for Merrill's Park. That's 14 years ago. Those three grants have not been implemented yet, and I have brought information for you all to look at to prove that I had those grants approved. So, if you can tell me why we don't have them, I would appreciate it. So, what did it cover? How many? Did it cover the whole neighborhood? How many lives? No, no. What did it cover? It covered the green spaces that we have because we have the circles. Right. And we have about eight or nine circles. And those areas where the green circles are, they're very dark. So, they had solar light in there. It had improved landscaping. It had improved entrance ways into Merrill's Park. They came out and did studies and showed us different lights to put in, you know, the decorative lights. They came out and, you know, put lights everywhere, like in four different areas. They said, do you all like these lights? So, we selected the lights for the project to put in those green areas. Well, unfortunately, the public works director only started here like two weeks ago. So, I don't think he's going to have the answer to that. But it's an interesting question you ask as to what happened to that grant program. So, we'll have to get back to you on that. Laura's coming. Laura, did you know? Okay. The NIP, that was the program that was through the, like, the neighborhood support and glean your routine. Is that the same program, Laura, if you would come up and explain? Laura's going to explain. Could you step aside for a second so she can? Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. Laura Reese, Director of Office of Management and Budget. So, the NCIP-BCIP program was sunset probably eight years ago, seven or eight years ago. But at the time that the program was in operation, each year the commission would appropriate $500,000. And what it would fund is the communities would request projects. And they could be up to $25,000. And there was a $25,000 required match from the community. The community could earn that through doing community service work in points. Or they could come with a cash match to the table. So, the projects that this, I forgot your name, Linda. Linda is talking about would have been smaller in nature because they would have been $25,000 from the community and $25,000 from the city. The program was sunset because we transitioned using the money to maintaining some of the projects because they were being left in disrepair by the communities. So, the city invested instead in maintaining the neighborhoods and the right-of-ways. So, that was the end of that program. Okay. So, that's why they never materialized. Okay. All right. So, Linda, and I appreciate the information and your record-keeping. Thank you for that. Were you participating in subsequent meetings after this didn't happen? In other words, I know that we had this item before us in 2022. But all of these surveys that I'm reading about in the backup, these meetings that I'm reading about in the backup, these selections that I'm reading about in the backup, were you participating? I was there. Right now, I have a copy of the Merrill's Park Proposed Street Lighting Project. Here, it tells us they mailed out on September 15, 2016, 1,961 total mailings. Merrill's Park only has 1,860 houses. That's all we have. But they mailed out 1,961. They said they had 454 responses, and they received a 23% response rate. They had 367 yeses, and they said that was 81% in favor of having lights. They said they had 83 no's. That was 18% not in favor. But if you do the math, that's only 19% of Merrill's Park. So on 19%, you're telling us we've got to have lights? That's not fair. All right, all right, stop, stop, stop, stop. Okay, but after that, you're going back a little bit, but in our backup today, we have information about recent meetings, a lot of recent meetings and selections and choices. I was at the one in Merrill's Manor's at the school. Okay. I was not at any of the other ones because I was at our homeowners meeting. Okay, thank you. All right, thank you. Ronnie, followed by Yolanda, followed by Clarice McKenzie. Good afternoon, Mayor. Good afternoon, Commissioners. Good evening. We're already in the evening. Good evening. My name is Ronnie. I'm owner of a house in Merrill's Park since the early 80s. I moved from New York. The reason for buying my house there is because of the way the quietness of the neighborhood, especially at night. Now, everyone has a choice. If you're going to buy a house in a neighborhood, you go buy it there. You don't buy a house and then you want to change the neighborhood to your lightning. I'm hearing people yelling, yeah, yeah, yeah, for lights. They came into Merrill's Park. They came into Merrill's Park and before buying their house, they knew there were no lights there. I'm comfortable. We've been comfortable with lights since the 80s. Now, you don't go to another neighborhood and make a decision for my neighborhood. I've never attended a meeting in Merrill's Park with anyone saying it's about lights. I used to be the president of the association in the 80s, okay, when we were with Broadwood County. And this lighting business came up several times and it was always no, 50 plus 1% for lights. Whatever survey, I've never received a survey at my house. I'm a taxpayer. Every day, I have the rights just like anyone else. I'm a voter. Okay. So I have a strong feeling that the survey was never done right because I've never received one. And I'm home every day. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Yolanda, followed by Clarice, followed by Maritza Pagan. Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Yolanda. I've lived in Merrill's Park for 38 years. I'm hearing about this. People don't move, do they? It's a nice neighborhood. It's a nice neighborhood. They're never going anywhere. They like it. And I'm hearing that in 2016, surveys were sent out. I never received a survey. The last time I was here in regards to the lighting, I was told, oh, it came up that another survey was going to be sent out. I haven't received that yet. I'm here to oppose lighting. And the idea of having 750 lights in Merrill's Park is ridiculous. The last homeowners meeting we had was September 25th. And from the month of May through September, we've only had 30 incidents. Prior to that, it was 18 or 20. And this is Melrose Park without lights. The minute we put lights in the neighborhood, it's going to be worse. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Ms. McKenzie, followed by Ms. Pagan, followed by, you signed up twice. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioner. Nice to meet you. Ladies and gentlemen, I've been living in Melrose Park for 38 years. And I am opposing the lights because our neighborhood is beautiful. Not to mention I have a big cinnamon tree in the backyard. I have a jewelry mango, jackfruit. You name it, I have it. And I think if they put up a big old light pole in front of my yard, it's going to take away from all my beautiful trees. And the reason is this. We are not having any thieves or anyone logging around or hiding in the bushes. We have been safe and everything has been beautiful. And I'm enjoying my life there. Another thing I would like to bring to your attention, My sons are in the military and they put up a nice fence in their own, shadow box fence and a new gate. FPNL came here and kicked it down one night because the neighbor has a, he's meant to let in FPNL. And they put up a building, whatever it is, a dog house or whatever, and blocked them out. So they chopped down my avocados, my jewelry mango, my East Indian that I've had from Jamaica in like 36 years. And they were barren. And I wrote to them and asked them to come and see what's going on here. They told me they will definitely pay me. And it's five years now and I don't see anybody. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you. Hold on. Hold on. Mayor. Yes. What's that young lady's name? Miss McKenzie. Miss McKenzie. Can you come back here? Thank you for your family service. What branch of the military are your sons in? I had three in the Air Force and two in the 82nd Division. You have five children all in the military? My daughter who was in the medical, in the Air Force, she passed away two years ago. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. So a favor to ask. Mayor, if I could just have Sabrina or Vicki wave their hand. And can you get, Sabrina or Vicki, could you get Miss McKenzie's phone number, please? Thank you. Okay. We'll get it for you. Did you hear that, Mayor? Is that all right? We'll get her your, we'll get you her phone number. We'll get that. Thank you, Mayor. They're not in the room, so we'll have to get that for you. Ben, whatever it is that you are thinking, please include me. It is my district. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. I want to talk to her about the military and see what's going on. But, yeah. That's wonderful, and I agree with you. I'm thanking her, her family, for the service. But I wasn't sure which direction you were going when you asked your team to get numbers to talk to her. Yeah. Thank you. No, I'll include you. I want to know more about why all those trees were destroyed. And we have FPNL here tonight, and I'm sure that they will be willing to talk to you, Miss McKenzie, regarding that. Okay. Maritza Pagan, followed by Roberta McWhite, followed by Trudy Love. Good evening. I'm a homeowner at Melrose Park since 2011, and it is very dark. I feel that if we have more lights, it's a bit safer. I mean, I've been there, and I've never experienced any kind of crime, really, but I do have a neighbor a few blocks who's also my co-worker who, like, two weeks ago, somebody went in her yard, and because it was so dark, they literally waited for the, like, her floodlights to go off. And the darkness actually helped, you know, the thief just, you know, do whatever he wanted in the backyard. We also see the kids, like, in the mornings walking to the bus stops, and it's still dark, so, you know, that doesn't, that's a little bit, you know, that worries. I do have kids, too, and it is dark. I wouldn't dare walk at night there, even though, you know, it is safe. I've never had any bad things happen, but I think I would feel more safer with lighting. Okay. Thank you. Roberta McWhite, followed by Trudy Love, followed by Cheryl McRae. Good evening, everyone. Mayor, Commissioner. I'm here to speak on behalf of the lights for Melrose. I am for it. I have some friends that have kids that catch us, the bus, in the mornings. It's dark, and they could really use the lights, and they don't go walking either. They want to, but it's too dark, and there are no lights. But I'm here to stand with them for the lights. Okay. Thank you. Are you Trudy? Yes, I am. Trudy Love, Commissioner and the Mayor. My name is Trudy Love. I have a brother who lives in Merrill's Park. I'm here to represent him, Ricky Moore, and I will say that it is very dark in that neighborhood, and I don't know where to get these statistics from to say that you're safer in a dark area versus a lighted area. It's a common knowledge. That's why police officers in a lot of places, they use lighting to deter people from coming to certain areas for crime. In addition, it's dark. Time is getting ready to change. The little kid's going to have to be walking in the dark, and I go to my brother's house. Sometimes I get lost. Can't even find it sometimes because it's so dark in the area, and I'm very much supportive of the fact that they should have lighting in their neighborhood. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Cheryl McRae, followed by David Nelson, followed by Sylvette Smith. Good evening. Good evening, Commission. Good evening, residents. My name is Cheryl McRae. I'm a resident of the Melrose Park neighborhood, and I am advocating for lights. Now, I've lived in the neighborhood for quite some time. I believe that we moved there in 2002, and quite honestly, someone mentioned knowing where you're moving to. If I had realized at the time when I was buying my home that there weren't any lights, I've learned a lot. When you're buying a home, go morning, noon, and night, so you'll understand exactly what you're buying into. Now, I love my neighborhood, but I can see where I feel sometimes like that Melrose Park is being left behind. I respect my elders who have been in the community for 30-something years or even more. I appreciate what you have shared, but understand that there are young families in the neighborhood that need the safety of their kids, right? We have kids going back and forth daily. My daughter, I remember one particular evening, she was coming home off the bus. There was a man that followed her in, and she had to basically run home, not being able to even identify what he looked like. So, please, I'm asking everyone to be considerate, and don't just think about your own self. We have young families in the neighborhood. We need to protect our children, okay? When you're talking about what happened back in the 80s and what have you, this is 2025, and I understand we have concerns about the cost, and we want to talk about the survey. We are beyond that. We have met with SPL on three occasions. They've gone through showing us the designs. We've picked the designs. You can keep laughing. Ms. Guthrie, you are disruptive. Please be quiet, okay? We have picked the designs, and we would like to proceed with the plan. I guess that's time up. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. David Nelson, followed by Ms. Smith, Mary Ann Lockhart. Good afternoon to the mayor, the commissions, the board, the community. Thank you all for being out. I'm at every meeting. First, I want to be going to say, when I moved in the park in 1979, we was unincorporated. It had nothing to do with this city, the board, or anything. We had huge floods then in 79. Our water, we were always thinking it ran across the street, you know, Davey. Learned later that it runs to the swap shop. Well, they took the canal out there. We're not unincorporated anymore. That's a lot of hill. Now we're owned by the city. So it's a lot of reconstruction. Didn't know that water never went anywhere. So if people say they were there all this time, if you've been coming to the meetings, I invited the mayor and this whole board, Mayor Rose Park. They walked with me. They came in my backyard. FP&L came and offered us underground power. I was the one that initiated that. And people was telling the people, oh, don't do that because it'll cost you more money. Well, I'm proud my lights don't go off no more when the trees fall on the power line. And I coached at South Plantation in St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Had kids running up and down there with nice cars through the park. I advocated for speed bumps. Thank God we got them. We need safety, you know, in the park. Lights won't hurt. It won't hurt at all. It really would help. It'll value your property. Well, I've been there since the 70s. So, I mean, lights won't hurt your property. It'll help your property. Just like underground power, it won't hurt your property. It'll help your property. We're going to go up on our light bill. It's going to happen anyway. So, you can't say, hey, look, if we get lights, it's going to cost us more. It's going to cost you more anyway. This is common sense. But we need to come together as a community because I don't have any more children. My youngest one is 40. But there's people with babies out there that's still going to school. Okay, man, I'm out of your way. But they might need lights. So, let's be accountable for the other people that might and won't lights, you know. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Sylvette Smith, followed by Corrine Porter, and then Marianne Lockhart. Take your time. Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, City Manager, and everyone in the building. Good evening. My name is Marianne Lockhart, and this is my mother, Corrine Porter. We've been in Merrill's Park for 40 years. And since we've been in Merrill's Park, it was nice when we moved in there about the lights. But as time passed, it's time for us to have lights in Merrill's Park. And the reason I say that because my kids, when my kids was young, I used to have to walk them to the bus stop. It was really dark in the community. I used to have to take a flashlight with my kids and walk down the sidewalk. And then when the cars used to come, when it was time for us to cross, they couldn't see the children. I used to take the flashlight and make sure the cars stopped so our children can go to the bus stop safely. The reason I'm here tonight because I am for the lights, and like I said, we've been in Merrill's Park for 40 years, and we need to come to 2025. It's time for us to, like I said in the past, we enjoyed when the lights were, when it was soft and there was no lights in the community. But now it's time for us to have the lights. Our families can't come in and see us like they should because it's too dark and they can't find their way. My mom's been there, like I said, we've been there for 40 years, and it's time for us to have the lights. I had a little notes here, but I went over it. But we're addressing the commissioners, District 1, 2, and 4. When you want your residents to have lights in their community, when you want your residents to have lights in their community, if they feel unsafe, if they feel that it's dark and they can't see, and they feel that it's time for a change, in Merrill's Park. I am for the lights. Mom, what do you say? For the lights, too. Thank you. Arma Gilead, followed by Juliet, who did not sign her last name. Oh, this Juliet, yeah. Is she still here? Oh, there you are. Did you want to talk? Alex Acosta is from FPNL also. Okay. Arma? Good evening. Good evening, everyone. I'm commissioner. I'm here to support the lights. I've been there 2011, and every time you walk outside and throw your garbage out, there's no light. It's so dark. You don't know who's hiding. You don't know who's coming after you. Sometimes I'm driving at night, coming from work. It's so dark that you can't even see the signs, even if you've got great vision. So I'm just saying, we need lights. We need to get with the times, and we need lights, and everybody needs to come together, and we need to have lights. It's just as simple as that. We've got to have lights. I had to put more lights around my house so I could feel safe, because I don't know who's lurking around. When you've got lights, you don't have people hiding and trying to steal stuff, because one day I got up in the morning, and I saw all my car doors open, and, you know, maybe we forgot to lock them, but mine was locked. The rest of everybody else was. You mean like the doors? But they opened all the doors, and, you know, ransacked, trying to steal something. So what I'm saying, we need lights. We need to feel safe. Even walking in the neighborhood, sometimes we exercise and the sun go down. We need to feel safe. That's why you have to go in groups, because you don't know who's out there to bother you. People bother you for no reason. So we need to have the lights, everybody. We need to come together as a family, and we need to have lights in our neighborhood. You write about young people. I can still see myself young, you know? So we need to have the lights, and we need to stop arguing, and we need to get together, and we need to put lights in all communities, not just male roles. All communities need to have them. Can I ask you a question? Yes, sir. Have you ever attended a meeting of the Homeowners Association? Yes, I have. In which this subject was discussed? Yes, I have. Not all the time, but I have come to different meetings. Right, yeah. And it has been discussed? Yes. And what did the people at the meeting, what did they conclude? Do you recall? Well, you know, you're going to have bickering, and people not making... So were there mixed opinions there? Mixed opinions, but that's okay. We're going to have that every day anyway, but we need lights. Okay. It's time for us to get together and put lights there. We worked so hard to put our tax dollars, and nobody can't speak about mine, because I want my lights. But everybody here, we've got to have lights. Okay. It's really dark there. Have anybody visited yet? Yes. Okay, so it's dark. Thank you. You know? You might can't see me, because I'm a little dark, but you know what I'm talking about. Yeah. I'll let you get away with that. I come in the daytime. Can you see me? Gilbert, followed by Pauline Horton. Are they here? Nope. Okay. Godfrey Johnson. Is Godfrey here? Oh, there you are. And Jelena Pittman. What was your name, ma'am? Oh, after him. After him. Yes. No, you're next. Good evening. My name is Godfrey Johnson. Not only a resident, but also the pastor of Melrose Park, Assembly of God Church. I've been living there for about 33 years. We bought our house 35 years. And also, I have a second house in Melrose Park. And I love it without lights. That's my own choice. One of my main issues is principle. Number one, for the years I've been living there, I remember walking the neighborhood trying to get signature for lights or for people who do not want lights. And we never got the number of them, the amount to surpass where we can have people who decide to have lights. And this has been going on for over 30-something years. And over the years, we have commissioners that came and bypassed us time and time again. My issue is principle. Unity is strength. I have an issue when we were told that the survey went out and many, many people never got a survey. The last time we were here, 2022, it was discussed that we're going to go back and do a survey. As of now, we never got a survey. We had three meetings at the school. And promises were made beyond that. None ever came to fruition, whereby our commissioner was going to come, Ms. Pittman, to come over and talk with our residents. My own decision about not having lights has nothing to do with principle. That's my own choice. But please give everybody a chance to vote so that people can make their decision. And that's all we are asking for. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Ms. Pittman? Which one? Wait a minute. Pauline Houghton. What is your name, ma'am? Pauline Houghton. Oh, Pauline Houghton. Yes. Yes. Hi. Good evening, Mayor, Chairman, Commissioners. And the community. I do oppose lights for Melrose. I've been in the community since 2001. I'm sorry. You haven't been there 30 years, so you can't come up there. No, I haven't. I'm a baby. Go sit down. I've got 25 years. So I'm coming up in the world. You're a newbie. To back up on some of the things that a couple of people at the beginning said, you know, given the choice, and you did say that we're going to have both, I would much rather we got our drainage system first. Well, let's not go there. I know we're not going to go there, but I'm just saying that, you know, whatever. But I am opposed to lights. I like the community. I do actually walk in the dark. I go out walking. Some people might know me. I used to have two dogs. Everybody knows me for my dogs. And I feel pretty safe. But, you know, that's really what I have to say. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Jelena Pittman. I am not a resident of Merrill's, but I've grown up in the city for years, and I do recall being younger, driving through, and always wondering why it was so dark in the area. I do want to just make this short and sweet. They have a really tough job up here. How are you going to decide between those who live in the area versus those who visit the area? I know it's a very tough position to be in, and I can imagine when you're in the area, you're thinking, this is my neighborhood. I want to speak for my neighbor. I want to be the loudest one there. The other side of that, however, is it's not only your neighborhood that is impacted by it. So you have visitors. You have your family. You have people coming into the neighborhood. And I am, when I started this, I was in favor of life. So I'm still on the fence right now, but I do enjoy just hearing those different points and understand where you're coming from with the fact that you are in that neighborhood. And I live in Dorsey River Bend, and to have someone tell me what I can and can't have can kind of feel like you're not being hurt. So I just want to say that. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you for being here. Caitlin Lecter, are you still here? Yeah, she is. Followed by Jessica Brown. Anyone else wish to speak on this item? Did I not call your name? All right. I'll call you up after. All right. Long walk. Hello again. Let's see. I've heard a lot of the points that I was going to make, and I am very tired of this issue as well. When my family moved in, we're newbies. We came in 12 years ago. And I remember that was immediately a question I had for our homeowners association president, and she assured me that she was working on getting lights for our neighborhood. So I was quite shocked when I came to a homeowners meeting, and the police were there and speaking about how they can't find homes. And then I saw that she was not in favor of the lights. I also canvassed for this person twice when she was running for office. And we had spoken, and she told me that the residents who have been there for a long time did not want lights. So I didn't want to come in as a newbie and change things. I respected that. But then when I canvassed, I talked to so many people. And one of the things I love about Melrose is how diverse it is. And I spoke to new residents, old residents of all different ethnicities and backgrounds, some young with families that they're raising right now, and some whose families are grown and are respected elders in the community. And overall, I heard the opposite of what Pastor Johnson said. I heard more people, including those who had been around for a long time, saying, where are my lights, when I was campaigning, or not campaigning, but canvassing to get the vote out for someone who I did respect and support in. So I just want to say that I appreciated Coach Nelson. He told me he was not in favor of lights, but he respects that we're of all different background situations. And there are some people that live on parts that are darker than others. But overall, it's very dark. If you live close to one of the outside streets, it's brighter. So I appreciated that he said we need to think about each other and be one community. And so that's why I'm here. Also, I do appreciate the arguments that I've heard about nature. I love nature, too, and I'm glad that FBNL has gone and taken the feedback and decreased the number of lights and the style of lighting. I also appreciate that it will not be affecting our taxes directly. As I've heard someone else point out, our taxes are always going up, and mainly we're paying for improvements in other communities. So I think it's time that we start to see them in ours. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Cassandra Weston, she went home. Okay. Jessica? Jessica Brown? Did you fill out one of these? Okay. Good afternoon. Thank you. My name is Jessica Brown. I'm a homeowner in Melrose Park. The children that they're talking about walking in the dark, those are my children. Those are your children. My children take the bus to go to our local Broward County schools. They're in pitch darkness. It's 6.30 in the morning, and it's so dark. I have to flash my lights to shine on other children so they can feel comfortable and safe. We have to start thinking about the children. It's not about us. Because the elderly, you know, the elders are, you know, the new generation is coming in. It's time. It's time to think about our kids. And I'm very passionate about it because those are my kids standing in the dark. It's not safe. It is not safe at all. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Come on up. Please introduce yourself. I've been in Melrose Park. Oh, I have a Donna, but there was no last name. Oh, I'm sorry. So I thought it was a joke. No. What's your last name? Taylor. I've been in Melrose Park for like 25 years. 25 years. I, too, have small kids. I have a 14-year-old son, and I am also in health care, so I understand the brevity when it comes to safety. That's something that's very, very important to me. And living in Melrose, I do not feel unsafe. I do not get a false sense of security or the idiotic notion that because I get streetlights, the kids are going to be safe. Melrose Park is considered far safer. Dorsey has lights, Dorsey Park. Their crime rate is ridiculously high. They have lights in their neighborhood. Look at it. Just Google it. Research. Melrose Park is considered very family-friendly and safer than most of the communities in the area that has lights. Okay? Do research, and you can find information. It's there. And this is so important for you to really study and research and get evidence-based information and not sensationalism or how you feel. So, in the morning, it's dark. I've never had any issues with the darkness. Melrose Park was started in what? The community was built in 1950s. It's a mid-century community. It's been around a long time. And the crime rate has not gotten higher because we don't have lights. Show me the evidence that we have higher crime rates. Show me the evidence that there are more break-ins. Show me the evidence. No one has brought evidence. I have the evidence in my notes. We have far less crime than a lot of other places. 0.1-something percentage of crimes in Melrose Park. You're afraid of the dark? I am so sorry. I'm sorry. I mean, it's like I'm hearing people are afraid of the dark. You know, what I am afraid of is the outskirts in Broward County where we have a high infestation of drug use. And those individuals are now coming into the community. High infestation. They're on the bus stops preventing people from getting on the bus. Okay? So, but I'm not worried about the lights. So, show me the evidence where crime has gotten up because no lights and where you're unsafe. Get me the research, the statistics. You don't have it. And another thing, most, some of the people who are here are defending lights. Do you live in Melrose Park? Are you your own owner of Melrose Park? Where's your address? Where do you live? Some of you don't live here. And you're having voices. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Wayne Pittman, followed by Mrs. Nelson. Is there a Mrs. Nelson here? She says she's coming. Commissioner, Vice Mayor, everybody. I come to the meeting every time we have it. I bring this young man. He's a resident in that area. And he's lived there. And when I take him back home at night, it's too dark for him to find his way back at home. And right there, you live in that area, right? So, I'm going to let you all know, I vote for the, to have the lights come in. And then for the kids, you know, we look out for the kids. We understand the older people there understand their lights there. But for the kids to come out and play, they've got to be able to see it. And I bring another guy, Mr. Sapp. He's the older guy. He lived in the neighborhood. He couldn't come that night. Let me find, what's this fellow's name? Tell him, Darius. All right, Jadarius Taylor. You've seen him with me a couple times. Wait, wait, wait. Come to the mic. Come close to the mic. Yes. All right, Jadarius Taylor. What's the address? Do I get it? Okay. No one, Mayor. Yeah. What do you got to do with that? He can, I would say this, Mayor. Allow him to say what street he lives on. No one has come up here and given their address to him. Yeah, I don't, and that's not fair. I don't, I don't, I don't want to identify where he lives. Especially, he's a young man. Come on, you all. Let's be fair. I don't want. He's a minor. He is a minor. Okay. I don't want. Tell him what avenue you live on. Go to right, Mayor. No, you don't have to say where you live. You live in Melrose Park, right? Yeah, I live on Alabama Avenue. Okay. And so, do you have, do you want to share some thoughts about what the issue is tonight? I'll say, when you come in at nighttime, it's like very dark. You can't really see like the street names or anything like that. Okay. All right. All right. Thank you for coming in tonight. Appreciate it. Thank you. My name is Mrs. Nelson, Evening Commissioner Mayor. I do live in Melrose Park, and it's quite dark. I didn't say we need a light on every house, and in the front, we don't need to flood it. Well, we do need light. If you put lights in certain spots, that's fine. There's too many kids in their neighborhood that has to walk to school, that passes our house, going to the bus stop. You never know what may happen. Give us some light. We appreciate it. God bless you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak on this item? Okay. There being none, Commissioner Beasley Pittman, you pulled it. Yes, I did pull it. Do we need to close public hearing? No. No? Okay. All right. What I would like to do at this time, first, I want to thank this community for coming out and voicing your concerns and your desires. Those who oppose, those who are in agreement, again, I am your commissioner. I want to do what the majority of the community wants. I am not your enemy. Okay? I want to say that again. What I would like to do right now, Mayor, I do have two clips that I would like to show. David, they're going to show the first one, and then we'll show the second one. Okay. But if you would cue that up and play that for us, please. Okay. Thank you. We'll say this. The community seems very conflicted, at least based on the testimony tonight. Yes. But also in that there are many people who couldn't be here tonight, and we'll go into that with those meetings that we had, but they were very well attended. Okay. The reason I had this video played, and I want to say this, I edited as much as I could. It was part of my campaign, and we edited as much as we could. It's not about the campaign. What I wanted to show, if we can go back, the darkness that was on that corner, and I wanted the neighbors, and I wanted everyone in here to see what's being experienced. The lights that you're seeing are actually coming from the individual's house. When you're standing on the sidewalk, that's darkness, and this is after we were walking through the neighborhood, speaking to the neighbors. So this was about 8 o'clock at night. Okay? So that was one point I wanted to show. The second clip that we're going to show is from one of the community meetings outreach events that we had at Westwood Heights Elementary. Westwood Heights is in District 3. It's approximately 500 yards from Merrill's Park. The reason we selected that location is because of the capacity to hold and entertain more of the neighbors of the community. Merrill's Park, the location where they have their monthly HOA meetings, it's a smaller facility, and we were having upwards of 50-plus members, neighbors from the community, and trying to provide an opportunity for everyone to be comfortable and have a capacity that we weren't even violating the fire law. Okay? So if we could show this second video of one of the meetings that we have. If we can get more volume, please. And as we look at this video, you can see some of the people that are here tonight are actually on this video, they attended this meeting, so the outreach, I believe it was a job with the outreach. I can't have what they want. The neighborhood was able to select the lighting that they preferred, the decorative poles that they preferred. The original lights that were suggested before I became commissioner, they were upward of 20 feet, concrete poles. The lights that are being, and have been voted on by those neighbors in those buildings, we can cut that, please. Thank you. They're 16 feet. The lights that they, of P&L, they came in, I'm going to have Alex come and share a little information regarding them. The lights are being projected to shine only on the roadway, not on the neighbors' homes. So there's no back light pollution onto the homes. We, I believe, have done a great opportunity in presenting what the majority of the neighbors want in this community. I am a little confused by one thing. It's been said that I agreed to do a second survey. I don't remember saying doing a second survey, if someone can validate that, if that's necessary for the community. I do recall saying we'll go back and look at that survey to have and see how it came about, and even go back and validate the numbers as it was given to us from our staff. Now, with that being said, I'm hoping that Alex could come from FPNL, and he would share with us again the type of lights that was chosen, also the shade, or I call it soft lighting. He'll use his terminology to share with us about the lights that are being offered to our community overall. And with that, also as Alex is coming, 750 lights has been tremendously reduced from the number that was originally suggested for the area. And also, there was a conversation regarding the cost of this project overall. The last price that came in is also cheaper than what was initially discussed. And then we'll let Ingrid come forward if necessary. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Alex Acosta, Florida Power and Light. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Honorable Deus for the consideration. Just for a few points of clarification, you know, it is FPL's service to provide street lighting. We are not responsible for making the selections or determining the locations or the number of units that is determined by our customers. And that's obviously the city. But before I start, I do want to say that I appreciate and respect the neighbors for the passion that I've heard here this evening. You know, I myself was born and raised in 1975. I was born and raised in the house, in the very same house. I bought the house across the street from my parents. So I've lived on the same corner for 50 years. So I can appreciate what it means to have a sense of parochial, you know, feeling and desire to do what's best for your neighborhood. So I do respect that very much so. And I applaud you. And I applaud the city for investing in its community. Right. I live in unincorporated Miami-Dade County. So if we want street lights, we would have to pay for them ourselves. So I do appreciate the city's consideration to invest into street lighting that is dark sky compliant. And I do want to add that, you know, aside from them being dark sky compliant, as the commissioner pointed out, LED lighting is able to be manipulated. And that is what allows us to keep the street light and the illumination on the roadway. If, in fact, there is light pollution into the residential space, please know that we're able to add shields to the units, front and rear shields. And that is free of charge. We will come out and install shields on all 555 units if necessary. How it works now is that we install the street lights. If the resident is not satisfied with, you know, the light pollution that if, in fact, there is any, then they'll notify the city. The city notifies us. We'll send a truck out within a few days and we'll install a shield on that roadway light or, in this case, decorative lighting. Uh, but the, I know there's been a few numbers thrown around the, the, the current number is 555, uh, decorative units, uh, which, which are our most beautiful street lights that, that we have available. This is rarely used in, in, um, in, in the government space. It's used when cities really want to invest in its communities, but it's primarily utilized by high-end developers. Uh, that's who implements this in new communities to attract, um, uh, to attract buyers. That, that's just a fact. Um, so I, I, again, applaud the, the cities for its commitment to invest in, in its community and beautifying the street space and, uh, above all, enhancing what is known as security and safety when the genesis and, and the, the actual purpose of a street light is to, you know, illuminate the roadway. Uh, but I'll pause there for, for any feedback or questions that there may be. I do actually, and I thank you for your work on this. So I, I have a question because I, I heard the district commissioner mentioned 750 lights. You mentioned 555, which is it? That's what the current agreement, that's what the current design is. It's 555. We have gone through four designs of this. The, the very first one is, was in August of 2021. Uh, the latest design based on the, the residents feedback, uh, to the city, uh, is 555 units, uh, within, um, you know, the, the, the, the space of, of the Melrose Park. And who designed the, uh, where the 555 lights are going? So the FPL is not responsible for designing the, the, this space. So who did the spacing, uh, the city does that. And from what I understand, they leveraged, uh, uh, they've leveraged, um, the manufacturers to help with the design of, of the system. So who in the city designed this for 555 lights? So I think there was a collaborative effort, uh, between staff based on the feedback received at those community meetings and FPL. Okay. Any of these community meetings take place in the community center, in the neighborhood in which we're talking about Melrose Park? I believe the community center has a capacity of a hundred. Any meetings take place in the neighborhood in which we're talking about? No. And, and, and also towards that, um, Commissioner Glassman. Um, Ms. Dollar has indicated that she's been extending opportunities for me to come to her meetings. That's not correct. I have not been welcomed to the center. And I'm not the type of person who just shows up. So what I did, as I said before, I identified a location that was, um, in my opinion, um, comfortable enough for everyone to attend. Um, with that being said, I don't know. So I still don't know, and maybe Ms. Um, maybe moving forward before we leave here tonight, I can get a commitment from Ms. Donna to allow me to come to a meeting verbally, verbally, and say it on here. Because we have, um... I'm going to let you guys work all this out yourselves. Yes, you let us work that out. But to answer your question... I have 24 neighborhoods in my district. Understood. I have 15. And I'm not going to worry about you guys having a little thing going on here. But what I, what I am saying, please, our mares, if you can control the room, please. I, I just, and I'll get into this when we have our remarks. I, I kept score. This is a very split room in terms of yes and no. We have work to do still. This, we're not, this is not ready for prime time yet. We have work to do, um, because there's just too much dissension. I know that, I know that if I had, someone asked at the podium tonight, don't you want lights in all of your neighborhoods in District 1, you know, 2 and 4? But I will tell you that if I ever had an agenda item affecting one of my neighborhoods and my neighborhood president was unaware of that agenda item, I would be, I would be run out of town. Run out of town. Uh, that, as simple as that. We have to communicate better. And the communicator who you're trying to communicate with have to be receptive. Okay? Well. And, and that, well, and, and that, I'm not, I have to, I'm sorry. How about, how about. I'm sorry. Well, I'm sorry. Let me say this. You can send an email. You can send an email. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Let me, let me say this. We shouldn't interfere with each other. Exactly. I'm trying to talk. I thought I was talking about that. And that's the point. Because you are insinuating that we have not done that. There's been something said that we have not approached. We have not sent emails. We have not called. And it has been denied by that individual. But that does not make it true. I understand. Okay. So let's not, I prefer, I prefer if you would not elaborate on that, not telling you what to talk about. I don't want to. But I do expect. I'm not into arguing. I'm just stating some facts. It's not an argument. I'm not, I'm not arguing, sir. I heard from a speaker that city staff came to a late September meeting in Melrose Park. That was two weeks ago. So city staff did not even mention at the neighborhood association meeting that this was going to be an agenda item. I'm just simply stating that there's a lack of communication here. There's, there's a way that either city staff should have said something, whoever was at that meeting at Melrose Park should have said something, or somehow an email. No, I'm not done, mayor. Or something should have been communicated. That's all I'm saying. And I'll have more to say, but I want to ask you also a question, because in the cam, it says that this cost to the city is $865,887.87. So that's for the 555 light poles? Yes, that's the charge. Okay, what does the, and we're also looking at a $35,939 monthly charge, what does that cover to the city? I'm assuming the city pays that. Yes, the city pays for that. And what does that $35,939 a month cover? That's for the energy, the maintenance, the fixture, the pole, the bracket, and the entire system. So that $35,939 is monthly in perpetuity once the systems are installed? Correct. Okay. And again, you don't know who designed this layout of the 555 lights? The city provided us with... Just the city. The city designed this layout with no input from the affected neighborhood association? So at... Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Stop. Quiet, quiet. Commissioner Glassman. To whom are you addressing your question? Right, this one will be to Raquel. You don't address it to the crowd. You address it to the... No, he didn't know, so I'm asking Raquel. So say to Raquel. Raquel, thank you. Did you have any contact with the president or the board of the affected neighborhood association? I did not have any contact prior to the publication of this agenda with the president of the neighborhood association. And what about the layout of where the 555 lights are going? Any contact from city staff with the president or the board of directors of the affected neighborhood association? At the community meetings that were held, the participants at those meetings were able to provide input on the location or the proposed location of the location. That's not answering the question. I'm asking you, as the city manager, if you are staffed at input from the president or the board of directors of the recognized neighborhood association about where the design is going to be, where the 555 lights are going to go. At those meetings, I believe I saw the president on the video at one of those community outreach meetings. I cannot say personally whether members of the board or the president of the HOA participated in that part of the community meeting where members of the community were asked to showcase where they would like to see the lights. I think there was a board that staff had and neighbors put stickers to identify the locations on a map to show where the locations were desired. So that's all I can speak to. I don't know their level of participation for those particular members of the HOA. And I'm very familiar with that process. Those kinds of charrettes happen in my district all the time. But then that's always followed up with a conversation with the recognized neighborhood association. That's all. And, Mayor, if I could respond on the end of that, because Raquel was not a part of that process. She was not the city manager at that time. And each one of the meetings that we had, the first meeting, we came back at the second meeting, and we had conversations about the information and data that was captured, and we gave an update as to what was being done. At that last meeting, it should have been November of 2024, that was discussed as to where lights was going. That grid, I'm calling it a grid, but that design was shared with the community overall. And if I'm not incorrect, that meeting that we showed was also that last meeting, and Ms. Donna was in the room. May I ask for staff? Ingrid was there. She facilitated these meetings as well. If you would just stay for a little bit, Alex. Sure. We're going to have Ingrid come forward. Evening. I'm Ingrid Kinboom with Public Works, and it's nice to be here. So, do you have a question for Ingrid? Yes. In regards to the meetings that we had bringing forth to the community, the last meeting where we brought back the design that the community had discussed the prior meeting, if you could share with the room how that meeting went about and how we got to that design that's being presented tonight. Okay. Yeah, we had the, I think it was the second meeting when it was indicated by the participants where they felt it was important to have lights. It was in certain intersections, bus stops, but, of course, that was based on I want a light here and I want a light there. We went back, then we worked with FPL, and we looked at our master plan, what would be a reasonable lighting level, and that's where we developed with them with a photometric layout where the lights should be in order to have even light throughout the neighborhoods. Okay, thank you. Ingrid, have you been working on this since the beginning, this project in the last, well, since we voted it down in 2022? No, I started working on this when we started with a neighborhood outreach in 2020. Okay. In your neighborhood outreach, have you had any direct conversation with either the neighborhood president or the board of directors of the neighborhood in which we're discussing? No. No. Did that seem strange to you? So, she participated, the neighborhood president participated in at least one that I can't remember of the neighborhood meetings, but I spoke to a lot of people, but I did not speak to her directly. Now, I've been working with you and you've been working with neighborhoods in my district regarding the undergrounding. Have you been dealing with neighborhood presidents and boards of directors of the affected neighborhoods? In other projects, yes. Okay. That's exactly my point. That's why this is so strange to me, that this just did not happen in this situation. Commissioner, I'm going to take offense to that. Please don't. Well, I have because, you know, please, please, everybody, please, please, please, please. Because this is, this is, this is what the community wants. No, it's not. It is. It's not for you. Okay, okay. Please don't interrupt her. And this is what, this is what I've been, um. It's so split. Okay. All right. Um, I'm not going to be baited tonight. I will not be baited tonight. I will not be baited tonight. Don't be baited. But I will be, I will say this, sir. I have much respect for you. There's many times you have presented, um, items that I didn't necessarily feel was, um, handled or presented in a proper manner. And I may not have voted in a direction for it to go forward, but I would never sit on this dais and then go down a checklist. What I thought you did was not up to your standards. So please do not do that to me. I respect you. I want to respect you. And as you always say, I want to be the Kumbaya Commissioner. I'm, I'm trying very hard tonight, sir. Very hard. All right. So, so, am I allowed to respond? No, I'm not allowed to respond. No, let's just stop. Stop. Okay. This is like, I don't want, this is not the way we conduct meetings. So, um, is, uh, the gentleman. I do want to say something that's a fact, if I could, please. I'm sorry? So, so, I do want to say something that, that is a fact. What is that? So, I, I, I'm responsible for, for government, uh, for LED streetlight sales. Right. Within Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach County. Okay. Um, I've been in this space since 2017, and, um, I believe I have participated in two community outreach, at least three, for, for this project. I, I have, I have, I have never participated in a community outreach program with any other of my cities or counties. Um, and, and, and, and, and, and I have not participated in community outreach. Um, and, and, and, and, and, and, and I have not participated in community outreach. Um, and, again, with the exception of the city of Fort Lauderdale, where I have participated in, in three community outreach events. So those are facts that I think need to be stated. Okay. Well, I appreciate your – have you concluded your presentation? Yeah. Okay. I was just – All right. Very good. Thank you so much. So this is where we're at. We have an item on the agenda to approve the lighting system that has been designated for the Melrose Park neighborhood. There seems to be, you know, conflict on this, and I think ultimately we're going to see some sort of lighting system there. There's no doubt about that. The question is, you know, how it's going to be designed and where it's going to be allocated. I did notice that the original proposal back in 2015 was going to cost $11 million. Okay. This proposal is for under $1 million. So obviously it's for fewer lights. It's about half as many lights, but it's one-tenth the cost. So, you know, not everyone is going to agree on whether they want lighting or don't want lighting. But to the extent that there are enough people who want lighting, I think that there has to be some deference towards those folks. Now, can we remove the lighting from the people here tonight who said they don't want lighting? Hey, we don't have to put it on your street. But the point is that we have to come to some reasonable conclusion here, not necessarily tonight, but we have to come to a reasonable conclusion here to allow this project to go forward. And to the extent that it goes forward, in what direction and how it's ultimately designated from street to street, I do think that we should show deference to the neighborhood association to identify where the lighting system should be located. Now, you're saying you participated in three neighborhood outreach. No, you, you, sir. You participated in three neighborhood outreach meetings. And, you know, I appreciate your taking the time out of your personal life to make that happen and for you to witness what went on. But, you know, in speaking with the neighborhood association president who somehow feels left out of the process, I think that we at least should show some deference to those folks who have been part of their neighborhood for many, many, many years. So I would ask the district commissioner if you would be so kind as to allow us to defer this item and to let city staff work with the neighborhood association to see where we should designate the lighting, where this particular lighting pole should go, and let there be neighborhood participation in that decision. Does that make sense to you? Before we say that, Commissioner. Mayor, I've been very distressed by this. You know, once upon a time, we used to show deference to the district commissioner. The district commissioner knows their district. I think, you know, I think it's very important. I've had debates with some of my HOA presidents, and I tell them, you know, I've got 1,400 homes in the neighborhood. I've got 400 that pay to be part of it, and I've got 40 that show up to a meeting. I represent all 1,400 homes, not just the 40 people that show up to a meeting. You know, again, we used to show deference and respect to the district commissioner. They go out there. They walk the streets. They knock on doors. They talk to people constantly. They get e-mails and phone calls and text messages seven days a week, 24 hours a day. And I think it's time that we started embracing the fact that, you know, the district commissioner knows their constituents better than anybody else does. I don't want to sit up here and second-guess that. So I make a motion to approve. So may I... I've made a motion to approve. Okay, so may I... There's a motion on the floor. There is. I heard that. I have to just address the irony in the room when Vice Mayor Herbst just mentioned the deference to the district commissioner. Because at our very last meeting, I have been advocating, and so has the mayor, to repair and replace the... Here it goes. The lighting on the Las Olas garage that has been broken and not working for years. And guess what, at the last meeting, you talk about deference to the district commissioner, both Vice Mayor Herbst and Commissioner Beasley Pittman voted no on repairing the lights. So is this payback? Is this on Las Olas garage? So this is payback. Got it. So please don't talk to me about deference to the district commissioner and be serious about that. So I can talk about deference after what you did to Lockhart. So come on. We're going to go tit for tat all night long? Wow. We have a lot of issues with that. Oh, don't we? Wow. Light up. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. Pents up. Stop. Yeah. Pents up. Pents up. Go ahead. All right. Pam? There's a motion on the floor. Well, the resolution's been introduced. Yes. Okay. All right. Let's second that motion, the resolution. And if I could say again, this is what the people want. It's what the people want. You can shake your head. There's people here. There's people at home who are watching who could not be here. There's people who have voiced their opinion. My district is different from your district, sir. And we communicate a little differently. You may not have gotten emails from others. And I always tell you about the situation we have with broadband connectivity. It's an issue. It's real. And what I'm asking for us to do is vote for these lights for this community. In regards to deferring it, we've been talking about this how long? 2016. Someone here may have had their baby 16 years ago, and they're still trying to get lights in their community. Is that fair to them? And to me, I do not believe, and I'm recommending that we do move forward with these lights. It's an opportunity for the community overall. Again, I don't know about you saying, going back to the HOA, letting them spearhead this. There is a breakdown with the relationship with the majority of the neighbors and the HOA. There needs to be a bridge. I can't be that bridge. So the HOA needs to figure out how to make that bridge come about. But in the meantime, does that mean because of that breakdown there should be no lights? This community needs to remain in the dark. So with that motion going forward, I am asking this commission to think about the community, and let's make this work for the community. It's not a tit for tat, okay? I do not make my votes based on emotions. I do vote on items that I recommend or think that is not beneficial. Now, when you talk about the lights on the garage, I just have a problem with the cost of the lights. No one has been able to tell us that they can replace the lights and assure us that we would not have the same issue. That's my only reason. Glassman is not personal. I don't come here to be personal. I come to be about the business for the city and the community. And I hope that comes over, okay? The cost was on that agenda item. That's okay. I'm not really here to argue. But I am very much concerned about the process. I'm just concerned about the process. I'm concerned about how we heard a very split, very split community this evening, one neighborhood, very split. I agree with the mayor. It's not that I am opposed to any lights at all, but I just believe that the entire neighborhood has to be a part of this discussion. Let the whole neighborhood come together. It's okay. We don't need to applaud. We don't need to yell at each other. I'm just saying that it's quite obvious, Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, that you need to bring this neighborhood together. You need to figure this out so that everyone in this neighborhood feels that they're being listened to, especially the city's recognized president and board of directors. We have a neighborhood recognition system where we have neighborhoods that are officially recognized. Each one of those neighborhoods, almost 50 of them recognized by the city, deserve a certain level of courtesy and respect. And do I not? Do I not? I said several times that Ms. Gautry refuses to have a conversation. I have Coach Nelson in the room who has been an advocate. He was willing to. He said to me, are you willing to sit down with the president? I said, yes, I will. He went back to the president. She said, no, thank you. So how am I with I? Listen, no but, no but, no but, no but, no but. No but. She said that. No. I don't want you defending anyone. This is my time now. You don't let me. Go ahead. You have told me what you think I ought to do. No, I haven't. Yes, you have. No, I haven't. Several times. No, I haven't. Now, we're not going word for word. The motion is on the floor. And I'm hoping that I have the support of some of these members on this commission to do what is right by this community. And I want to remind you all. I want to remind you all. These are your constituents as well. Many of you are planning to ram for mayor. And let me tell you something. There's people in here who has rammed for this position that I'm sitting in. Four times. And has not met the minimum to be recognized as the commissioner from their own community. So, when you think about those numbers, think about what you're voting for. Because you know what you're going to do. You're going to lose the whole community. I am not. No, thank you. This is not about, for me, this is not about politics. This is not about your, you're going to make this about politics. It's not about politics. All I'm saying is we need more time. This has to, I have the floor. I still interrupt. I have the floor. I deserve the floor as much. I call the question. I believe that we need to give this a little bit more time. I'm not opposed to lights. I'm just saying that I'm opposed to the process. The process needs to be better for us to be able to come together and decide as a neighborhood and as a city what's going to happen here. That's all. Mayor, I made the motion. I call the question. Okay, Commissioner Sorensen, you've been quiet this whole time. Do you have any comments you'd like to make on this? Yeah. Yeah, I do. Thanks, Mayor. Can you hear me all right? No, we can't. Speak up louder, please. How about now? Can you hear me? That's better. Is that better? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So, Mayor, first thing I'd like to do is I'd like to get the neighborhood president up. I'd like to talk to the neighborhood president. No. No. Come on, Ben. Come on. Is Donna here? Yes. Excuse me? Where? Donna, come up here, please. Mayor, once we call the question, shouldn't we take a vote? I have not been able to participate. Excuse me. I've called the question. I've called the question. Can you wait? Can you please speak to this? I think Commissioner Sorensen has a right to speak. Yes, why not? So, Paula mentioned. Yes, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Vote. Go ahead. No, no, no. No, no, no. Happy to vote right now. Ben, Ben, there's one mayor in this room, and the one person who's going to run this meeting, and I don't need the interference of anybody else. So please go ahead. Great. Well, it sounded like the vice mayor was not wanting me to speak. No, go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. Everyone's okay with me speaking. Thank you. So, let's see. Donna, are you at the microphone? She's at the podium. Thank you. Okay. So, Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, you shared there hasn't been good engagement or reciprocity. So, Donna, what possibilities do you see that you can take to improve the dialogue relationship discussion? Donna? Well, I gave the commissioner my number, and she did say she called me. She didn't. I also have an email. And last meeting we had, we had numerous city staff there. We had the acting city manager. We had folks from, we had all the city staff. I don't prevent anyone from coming. When Carlton Moore was the commissioner, we never invited, Carlton just came in. We just knew Carlton was there because we heard his bike. He would come in and sit down and listen, and we'd engage. So, I don't have to, you know. Donna, let's not talk about the past. The commissioner has asked, how are we going to be able to move forward on this and be able to work together to come to some resolution? Because clearly, clearly there's a community out there that wants lighting. So, how can we make this, how can we move forward in a way that tries to seek a compromise in terms of moving this issue forward? Well, we have to do it the right way where everyone is included. Okay. So, that's the question that Mr. Sorensen is asking. How is that, what recommendation do you have to establish a path forward? So, at the last meeting that we had at the HOA, it was brought up and it said, we have to have a proper survey. And Pastor Johnson said it. Without everybody included. Well, it is clearly enough owners here or residents here who are interested in having lighting. So, doing a survey is just going to show percentages, but it doesn't mean we should deny the rights of some people versus another. I think that if some, I heard a lot of people tonight who said they don't want any lights. And I've heard a lot of people tonight who said they do want lights. So, obviously, we've got to come to some measure of compromise where we can allocate the lighting system in a way that can best benefit the community in answer to as many voices as we can. But the only way that's going to happen is not just voting on things. We've got to have a method of talking to one another. Okay. So, how would you propose, you know, because Commissioner Beasley Pittman said she's not been able to connect with you, right? Which is not true. Well, have you connected? I can call me. I don't have her number. I never have. I don't have her number. No, but you both have not connected with each other. This is the point. This is the point. This is the point. So, wait a minute. No, no, no, no. You wait a minute. Because, again, you're calling me a liar. Okay? But prove that you called me. Show me in your form where you called me. All right, but it doesn't matter. I don't have to do that. We're not talking about the past. I don't have to do that. But this is what I'm asking. This is what I'm asking. Because this is what, again, happened when we first started. We reached out via email. Those emails we could add to the record if you want. You invited me to a May meeting. Well, we called in May. And you said we can come in June. Then we got a note in June saying the June meeting was canceled. So, my staff tried after the summer to get back on your calendar to allow us in, to allow us in. How did they try? Email and phone call. Yes, ma'am. That's not true. Maybe, you know, just, ma'am, I'm sorry. No, go ahead. Go ahead. This is, this is. Go ahead. Let me ask you this. Let's do this then. So, you said. Wait, wait. Let her finish. Send me an email. Send me an email. Because before you told me I work for you. Okay? So, if I work for you, send me an email and tell me the date that you want me to come. And I'll come up. I'll come to work. How about that? So, here's the thing. How about that? Let's say yes to that. You have someone in your office, Ms. Walker. She called me several times. Ms. Walker called me, but she didn't call me for a meeting. She called when we had the flooding to say if we needed signs to say this area is flooded. She called me when you had a survey. But she never called me any time. Okay. But that's not. Okay. Let me ask you this. The same number she called is the number that I call. So, why are you saying we're not calling? She is me. She is my office. So, how can you say we're not calling? But she didn't. Mayor. Mayor. Can I get back my time? Yeah. I was talking. Let me just try this. Sorry, Ben. I don't slide on. Let me try this. It's all good. And in regards to this. One second, Ben. We have a quarterly meeting with the presidents. We reach out to you regarding that, email and phone calls. No, you don't get it. I'm sorry you don't get it. Everybody else gets it. We have 15 communities. Out of those meetings, I have at least eight presidents. I have presidents that are in this room tonight that show up to those meetings. And we're using the phone number and the email that showed that you are a registered HOA for the city. All right, Ms. Donna? So, let's say. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're not getting it. Not true. I'm sorry. All right, go ahead, Ben. Okay, go ahead, Ben. The question is how I would speak to you. Ben. Okay, go ahead. Thank you. Donna. Yes. Okay. So, I'd like your help, please. Right. Donna. Okay. So, here's what would be very helpful to me, and I think all of us, but I'm just speaking for myself. So, if you could please reach out to Commissioner Beasley Pittman. Okay? She asked via email. So, if you could do that, please. Donna, can you do that tomorrow? Mm-hmm. Okay. Then, Donna, please try to get a time where you and the Commissioner can get together, whether it's the two of you or more or at a meeting, and could you please work with the Commissioner and keep an open mind, Donna, as I know you can, to explore possibilities and have a good-faith discussion on this, Donna. Okay. Is that fair? That's fair. Okay. Now, Donna, here's where else I need your help is I'm going to ask you to be the one who's proactive, and if you aren't, you know, if the Commissioner doesn't get back to you, please, you know, reach out again and make sure we're just getting good communication. That would really help me in particular, and I think all of us, to try to support the community on this. So, Donna, is that fair? Because I'd like to just check in with you a little bit here and there on this to make sure that I'm being able to. Sure. Okay. Let's have a problem with that. Donna, when's your next meeting? My next meeting is November. What day? The third Thursday, November, because... The third Thursday, November? So, we have meetings on the fourth Thursday, but the fourth Thursday is Thanksgiving, so our next meeting is the third... So, it's the third Thursday, November? Mm-hmm. No, I'll be National League of City that week. Right. We'll be in Salt Lake City. We'll be in Salt Lake City. Do you have a meeting this month? No. Well, can you call... Donna. Yeah, go ahead, man. Go, Ben. I was going to say, can you call a meeting this month? No, you go ahead. Can you call a meeting this month? No. Why? Because I'm not here. We have meetings every other month. Oh, every other month. Yeah. All right, so... Can I make a suggestion, Mayor? Go ahead, Ben. Donna, here's an idea. How about, would you be willing for you and some of your, you know, board members or leaders meet with the commissioner? Sure. Okay. Commissioner, would that be, something like that be okay? Commissioner? Ben, I appreciate what you're doing. And the answer is yes. But I have a problem with this approach because I am, I am a full commissioner. I am a full adult. And then what my situation, I'm looking at a woman that looks just like me. And we should not have this divide. You died the last time, too. I just died. I didn't do anything to you. The only thing I did was I won the seat. That's it. Okay? So I don't know. Let me be this. Ms. Donna, if there's anything that I did that offended you, I apologize to you. But what I want to do is, from this point forward, move in a direction where Marrow's Park community can unify. Because my whole initiative and agenda for District 3 is for the whole district to unify. And I don't need one community being a silo. We can't have that. So if you would, I'm asking you, accept my apology, and let's move forward. Whatever it is, I'm sorry. Okay? Let's move forward. Because I don't need Ben advocating for me. Okay? You know, I understand what he's trying to do. But look at us. Look at us. Look at us, Ms. Donna. Black woman. Black woman. In a culture where we are being erased. And you're sitting here playing into that role. I don't buy into the erasure culture. Well, then don't buy into it. I'm not being erased. Okay, then let's back this out. You're a woman. I'm a woman. Let's be cordial to one another. I'm a mother. You're a mother. Let's show our children how to interact with one another. We have a passion for this city. Let's have this passion together and watch it grow and watch our communities be even better. That's what I'm asking of you. That's all. I'm willing to work with us. It breaks my heart to sit here and hear you tell me in my face that I'm lying. But you are. I am not, madam. I am not. All right. I am not lying. Donna, that's not fair, Donna. You can call me a lot of things. I am not a lot of things. All right, all right. Can we move forward on this? So, Ben, do you have any more questions of Donna? No, I think Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, thank you. And that all sounds good. So, Mayor, my just view is I think there needs to be a little bit more time for discussions. I agree. I agree, Mayor. With Donna is just my hope. And Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, I'm not saying I'm good delaying it like two weeks or three. You know, it doesn't have to be months away is my view. Well, the delay has not been on my end. Again, we're still talking about that opportunity to have a great conversation. And it's not fair to the community. The community is ready to move forward. And I'm hoping, I'm understanding you have declared that you don't think it's enough time. Glassman has decided it's not enough time. You all are telling me how to interact with my community, with my district. Mayor, I'm hoping that you're going to take a stand and say let's move this forward. Hold on. I'm not telling you how to behave, Commissioner. I don't agree with that assessment at all. That's not what we're doing here. But, Mayor, I think Vice Mayor had a motion on the floor. The resolution has been introduced and is for approval. And is there anyone else who wishes to speak? There is none? I disagree that we need more time. That's all. Okay. All right. Thank you, Donna. Okay. You know, I have tremendous respect for everyone who's participated in this discussion. I understand the competing interests. I would like to, I just, you know, it's always bothered me that the head of the homeowners association has not connected with the commissioner who, regardless, I'm not asking to find fault. I don't think there's any fault on anyone's side. It's just that it didn't happen. So, and I would just like to see it happen before we make a decision here. So, Mayor, can I ask one question? Yep. So, it appears to me that there's not support for passing this tonight. So, what I would ask is, what's going to happen in two weeks? So, Commissioner Sorensen suggested we push this back for two weeks. What is the expectation that's going to happen in that two-week period that would somehow change the dynamic? I'm just curious. I want to understand, particularly from Commissioner Sorensen, who made the recommendation. So, Commissioner Sorensen, help me understand what you think would motivate, you know, a decision on this issue. Sure. Absolutely. What Commissioner Beasley-Pittman said. And what she said. She's offered to meet with. Hold on, I'm answering. Can you just ask me a question? Okay, yeah, no, I'm sorry. Can you hear me? No, I didn't understand what Commissioner Beasley-Pittman said. I was trying to get clarity on that. That's all. Oh, yeah. So, what I heard her say was that Commissioner Beasley-Pittman wants to work with Donna and to show great respect and collaboration. And so, that's what I think could happen in a short period of time, Vice Mayor, is my thinking. But I thought I heard Donna say that she wasn't interested or able to meet. So, I'm sorry. That wasn't what I heard, Vice Mayor. Yeah, but I could be wrong. I heard, and Donna can come back up, but I heard Donna's willing to meet with Commissioner. All right. So, do you have anything else to say, Vice Mayor? Before that, the... I withdraw my motion. All right. What I would like to do is make a motion to... Proceed. Yes. Sorry to interrupt, but procedurally, we have a resolution that's introduced. So, you're... He's withdrawing the resolution. He's withdrawing his resolution. Okay. Okay. Not my motion. I apologize. Thank you, Mr. City Attorney. With what's transpired in the bottom part of this conversation, understanding that what I want to do, I want to take advantage of the two weeks to come back, and this way we can continue this conversation, because if it goes in a different direction, this will be the end of the discussion. So, what we need to do, I'm going to make a motion that we take two weeks, take an opportunity to speak with Ms. Donna Gertrude. She's made on the record that she is willing to meet with us in a time period to have a conversation, to get to a medium where we can move forward in the direction. So, that's my motion. Okay. So, you want to... Your motion is to defer this item for the next meeting. For the next meeting. Okay. Okay. Do we need to vote on that? We can just defer it, right? Sir, we've closed discussion. Yeah, we need to close it. Okay. Do we need to vote on that? Yes, I would prefer that you... Okay. There's a motion on the floor to defer CR1 to the next meeting. Second. Second. Second. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trentals? Yes. And so, CR1 is deferred to the next scheduled meeting. And if I may, one other thing, Mayor. The action that I took so everybody understands, the direction that this vote was going tonight would have killed the opportunity for the lights. This allowed us the opportunity to talk again about this, putting on the floor this conversation that they said we did not have. We'll prove it, that this is what we want. So I voted in this way to preserve the opportunity to continue moving forward. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Is Adam Fast still here? Okay. I really would like to take a break. All right. It's 20 to 10. Can we finish this? I doubt it. So, Mayor, I'll move to an extended meeting. All right. Let's extend the meeting until 11 o'clock? Yep. Do I hear a second? Second. Second. If it moves and seconded, please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman? Yeah. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trent Hollis? Yes. And the meeting is extended until 11 o'clock. M1, motion approving an agreement for requests for proposals regarding mobile parking payment service. How are you doing? All right. Okay. All right. If you don't help me, you sign up to make up the name of the presentation, then you get like three, five minutes to do your thing. Okay. Or you can also, or you can also call my office. I'll be happy to meet with you in my office. Okay. That's actually good. Okay. Okay. Give my office a call. Yeah. All right. Okay. Very good. Okay. This meeting is still in session, so this isn't a free-for-all. Should we take a five-minute break until the week? I wanted to take a break. I'm with you. I submit it. Let's take it. All right. Let's take a 10-minute break. Let's resume our meeting. All right. Tell Ben to come back on. Yeah. I'm here, Mayor. Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay. I'm here. Ben, are you there? Yeah. Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay. All right. The meeting, we're back in order. The meeting is going to continue. We're now on M1. It's a motion approving an agreement for request for proposals regarding the mobile parking payment service. Anyone have any questions? $30 million. You have any questions, Mayor? Yeah. Okay. There being none, would someone like to move the item? Yeah, I know. I'm just kidding. So moved. Do I hear a second? Do I hear a second? Second. Thank you. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trantala? Yes. And M1 is now approved. Before we continue, I failed to close the executive close-door session, so let me officially do that. The executive close-door session of the City Commission is now terminated, and we'll continue with the public meeting. Are we still playing a court reporter? Yeah. Everything you said tonight has been transcribed. All right. Yeah. M2, motion approving the final ranking of firm's negotiated fee schedule and agreement for requests for qualifications regarding the triplex pump station rehabilitation construction, engineering, and inspection services. No one is signed up to speak. Would someone like to move the item? So moved. It's been moved. Do I hear a second? Commissioner Sorensen has seconded it. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trantellis? Yes. And M2 is now approved. M3, motion approving agreements for invitation to bid annual construction of general stormwater infrastructure, various contractors. No one is signed up to speak. Any questions? There being none, would someone like to move the item? Moved. It's been moved. Do I hear a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trantellis? Yes. Moving on to M4, motion approving of proprietary purchases for water distribution, wastewater collection and treatment facilities, and stormwater system infrastructures. No one is signed up to speak. Would someone like to move the item? So moved. It's been moved. Do I hear a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trantellis? Yes. And M4 is now approved. Moving on. You don't stop, do you? Okay. Moving on to M5, motion terminating the comprehensive agreement and rejecting the counteroffer. This is just the formal doing this of the termination? Yes. And it authorizes you to issue the letter that's also attached as an exhibit. Right. Okay. Very good. So moved. I'm sorry. I just had a question. Go ahead. After we submit that letter, what's next? Well, that's something we have to discuss. That will have to be an agenda item. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Do I hear a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Two people have signed up to speak. Barbara Stern and followed by Chris Zikowski. Good evening. Barbara Stern. Back here again on One Stop. At our last commission meeting when this topic came up, I believe I said it was February 15, 2022, at a conference meeting when this issue was discussed. And I was wrong. It was actually a special workshop on One Stop. And it was a time when, Commissioner Glassman, you disrespected John Herbst, told him basically you lost faith in him as he tried to warn the city about this project. At that last, maybe two meetings ago, you disrespected the city auditor, Pat Riley, when he raised concerns. You said, you didn't raise this before. We have the waiver. Where were you before? And he came up here, and he stood up here later on, and he gave responses, and he raised concerns and issues, and ultimately this project was killed. Throughout the process, Larry Foreman came to speak out against this project. Commissioner Glassman, you disrespected him and said, you don't speak for anybody. You had Ms. Merrill come out and speak. Robin Merrill speak out. You disrespected her. You had Leanne Barber speak out against this project. You disrespected her. Everybody tried to speak out against this project. They were disrespected. And here we are now, killing off a project that was a bad deal everybody tried to warn us about. Commissioner Glassman, I know you won't do it. You owe a lot of people an apology for coming out and raising their concerns and speaking out against this project and how you treated them. But not only do you owe those people an apology, you owe Commissioner Beasley Pittman an apology for how you treated her tonight. It is not up to you to decide how she runs meetings in her district. Ben, it's not up to you to get involved. Tonight we watched three white men tell the only woman of color how to do her job. I'm not going to say what that is. I'll let voters decide what that is in 2028. But if the two of you think you're going to run for mayor and treat a woman of color that way, I've got news for you. That's not the way to win this race. I would just like to say, conception to everything you just said, your assessment is incorrect. And you know what else? I think a lot of people are really tired of your divisiveness and your politics and everything you do. And I will tell you, you've done it with every kind of issue there is. So I'm glad you're having a good time with your politics, but you are way too divisive for this city. And your assessments are wrong. And I know that you're just so full of yourself, but guess what? Every approach you take is bad for this city. And I see what you're doing now with the basketball and the pickleball and fighting with Jimmy Tate about that. And everything you do is really destructive to our city. And I take exception. And there is no apology necessary. You're the one who should apologize to the city for the way you treat the city. I'm done, Mayor. Thanks. All right. All right. Chris? Yeah, and I'll take offense to the green button. Ben, Ben, did you want to say something? Yeah. I couldn't hear quite everything she said, but completely inappropriate. And I was not telling anyone how to do their job. Thank you very much for your comments. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. Green button. Correct. Thank you. First off, I'd like to congratulate the mayor. I just heard that you're engaged and you're moving forward with some stuff. And that's fantastic. Most of it. And best of luck with all that stuff. Moving forward, I've never witnessed, and having been fourth generation, now five generations in my family, what's going on here with the way these meetings are being conducted. I'm not going to get away from the topic at hand. Yeah, let's stick to the topic. Correct. Thank you very much, Mayor. Still freedom of speech here. But frankly, this whole one-stop thing was a fiasco. It really was. We've all been well attended. So what's the matter? Well, it has it. Aren't we being sued? That's what it says, motion, terminating, comprehensive agreement. Okay. The whole thing was a mess. Fort Lauderdale Beach and what's going on down there is a mess. In 2016, you were against things that were happening. Now it's changed. Do not interrupt me, sir. Please do not. You're real good at doing that. And I do not appreciate how you vacate yourself to what happened here earlier with our other commissioner. The one-stop thing and the deal is over with and fine and done. What do we do now? Where do we move forward? You guys are in a bit of a pinch as to what's going to happen with taxes. And if you don't have any money to spend, where's it going to go? What are you going to do next? What's your solution? We know what the problem is. Where's the solution? And going after Ms. Stern is really small. It's really beneath everybody. If you don't agree with her and you think she's playing politics, fine, so be it. The one-stop deal was a mess. The Behe-Amar deal is a mess. Not protecting our basketball courts. Our iconic desegregation area basketball courts is a mess. You'll protect the streets, but you won't protect the basketball courts. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Don't just let's just not go there. Misinformation is a dangerous thing. That's all I'm going to say. Okay, okay. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak on this item? Okay, there being none, there's a motion and it's been seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trent Halls? Yes. And that item's been approved. R-1, appointment of board and committee members. Mr. Clerk, could you please read the names into the record? For the October 23rd, 2025 resolution for the Central City Redevelopment Advisory Board, Thomas Manos, nominated by Commissioner Glassman. And for tonight's resolution, Beach Business Improvement District Advisory Board, Malie Caro, primary member, and Jenna Borajan, alternate member representing the Four Seasons. Budget Advisory Board, David Ortolani, nominated by Commissioner Sorensen. Central City Redevelopment Advisory Board, Kimber White, nominated by Commissioner Glassman. And Invest Fort Lauderdale, Inc. Board of Directors, Bernadette Norris Weeks, nominated by Mayor Trent Halls, and that rounds it out. Wow, that was quick. Okay. What's that? Is there someone you wanted to add? I need to ask the question. Go ahead, go ahead. I don't have a problem with the person that's being nominated, but did we not say no more lobbyists or attorneys? Did we vote on something? Help me remember. Because I believe that one of these people are a... Which one is that? Isn't Miss Norris Weeks a lawyer in the city as a lobbyist? Is she a lobbyist? Is she a registered lobbyist with us? I have much respect for her, but if we pass, I can't... No, it's a good question. I didn't think she... I've never been lobbied by her, so, I mean, not recently. Let me... Can you check that? Yeah, I can check it. Okay. Now, just to confirm, is the Invest Fort Lauderdale Board of Directors... No, we just said that. Is that one of the ones that was carved out as not being one of them? I have to look. No, Invest Fort Lauderdale is not a city board. Okay. So that would eliminate that conversation. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Again, it's not anything against the person, but I just went back to that vote. That we had about... We need to be consistent. Yes. I get it. Okay. But I think we did carve that out, so... Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. We can move forward. Someone would like to introduce the resolution? Introduce. The resolution has been introduced. Please call the roll. A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, appointing or nominating, if applicable, board and committee members as set forth in the exhibit attached to or two and made a part hereof. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trontales? Yes. And our one's now approved. I'm going to thank all those folks for volunteering to be part of the board or committee that you've now joined. And thank you for your dedication to our city. PH1 is a public hearing to approve the City of Fort Lauderdale's Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Action Plan. A number of people have signed up to speak. This is, City Manager, this is the result of the outreach that we undertook with regard to the money that we were given by FEMA in connection with the April 23 flood. Is that correct? Yes, Mayor. And we are on a tight timeline to have this action plan submitted. Right. So Chris Cooper is here as well as Rachel Williams to answer any questions. Very good. Chris, did you want to make any sort of presentation or are you just here to answer questions? Just answer questions. And as you asked, this was the result of an unmet needs assessment as well as a robust community outreach including a survey and multiple public meetings to get to the point that we are today. I'll tell you, this report is really amazing. Very comprehensive. You and your staff did an amazing job putting this together in such a short period of time especially. So, all right, let me call the people that have signed up to speak. Pauline Houghton, is she still here? No. Trish Halliday, followed by Marilyn Mamano, followed by Ted and Sarah, and then Ray Jordan. Hi, good evening. I am reading Susie Bailey's letter. She couldn't be here this evening, so I hope you don't mind. As long as you do it in two minutes, you're welcome to read anything. Can you up it up a little bit? It's actually for, I'm speaking for residents for resilience. Does that give me an extra minute or two? No. No. I'm just being mean. I mean, come on. Just say what you have to say. Okay, okay, okay, okay. It's getting late. All right, I know, I know, I know, and you guys have been here a long time. Did you want to say something, Dwayne? Generally, we advise the commission against allowing individuals from representing letters and representing statements of other individuals. Usually, we keep that strict with regards to quasi-judicial matters, but... Right, but this is not quasi-judicial. It's not, right. I mean, it's Susie. What does she have to say? Well, she starts out by saying first she wants to thank the Housing and Community Developmental Manager, Rachel Williams, and the Public Works Team for the outstanding work that they've done on the $88 million CDBGDR disaster recovery fund action plan, excuse me, especially their commitment to transparency and public outreach. And she also wants to thank all of you and your continued leadership in the disaster recovery action plan. These federal funds represent a rare and vital opportunity to help residents recover from the devastating April 2023 floods and to strengthen Fort Lauderdale's long-term resilience. R for R, that's Residence for Resilience, respectfully urges the city to commit that no portion of this $88 million will be used to rebuild or repair the city hall. These funds should be prioritized for households and the most flood-prone neighborhoods, not municipal facilities. We understand that any city hall use would require a HUD waiver and demonstration that unmet community needs are addressed. And our position is that resident needs must come first. And as you finalize the plan, we respectfully ask the Commission to, one, increase the per-household allotment for residents still struggling with repeated flooding and costly home repairs so that they can elevate, retrofit, or flood-proof their homes within HUD's allowable units and then prioritize low-income homes consistent with HUD's allowable units and then plan to expand the eligibility once that threshold is met to middle-income homeowners who continue to face this repeatable flooding because a lot of these people, as you know, have spent a lot of money and they need to be repaid first. Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. I think she's already sent this to you as well, but I wanted to get it on the record. Okay. Thank you. Marilyn, followed by Ted. Are you going to read something, too? Okay. This is my double duty tonight. You do this all the time. I only have to do it once or twice. Congratulations. And thank you for the work you do. My name is Marilyn Romano, and I'm testifying on behalf of Lauderdale Tomorrow. Lauderdale Tomorrow has been following the public outreach effort regarding the allocation of funds from the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, and I also want to shout out to the staff and the people involved the wonderful job they have done. We, along with other groups like Residents for Resiliency, community leaders and residents believe that one of the primary goals of the act was to provide relief for those struggling to recover from the catastrophic flood in 2023. Priority should go to resident relief. While residents everywhere may have been affected, the brunt of the floods was borne by the residents of Western District 4 and District 3. They need help as soon as possible. Exhibit 1 of the Fort Lauderdale's CDBG-DR Action Draft Plan, which is in your packet, includes a proposed allocation of the $88 million allocated to the city. 46% of the funds are proposed to be allocated to housing, including repair and reconstruction, reimbursement, and affordable housing. We support this allocation. While other allocations for infrastructure, economic revitalization, public services, and mitigation are all important, helping the residents recover is the priority. We would not support allocating any of the other funds to other planned municipal projects, as worthy as they may be. We suggest that you adopt the plan, and let's get going on developing the programs, accepting applications for relief from the residents. They have suffered long enough. Thank you. You're welcome. Ted and Sarah, followed by Ray Jordan. Hello, everybody. My name is Ted and Sarah. I'm the president of the River Oaks Civic Association. I was at all of the public outreach meetings that were given by this group, and they were very, very good. I really like what she had to say about the breakdown of how this money should be spent in her package. I know I was right in the middle of it. I remember that night. I was getting buckets of water out of my house, pouring it down the bathtub all night long. The very next morning, I was at the Southland Shopping Center on State Road 84 when all the high-water trucks were coming over from Edgewood and the western parts of River Oaks. I was kind of watching a lot of the animals and the pets that people were bringing over in these things. And we're not 100% even. We were the first ones done on the stormwater drainage product, but we are still not 100% where we should be. So I agree with what Marilyn and what Patricia said about the money needs to go to the neighborhoods. It needs to go for mitigation. And I am strongly against trying to spend some of it. I heard you mention this on your State of the City address, Mayor, about some of this money. You were listening to me? Oh, yeah. Oh, I was taking notes. Okay. Didn't you read it the next day when I was on my... No, I don't read your posts. Oh, well, you sure know a lot about them. Somebody isn't telling you, though, because you quoted me quite eloquently. I'm sure. I'm sure. But I think let's not spend it towards City Hall. Let's spend it, give it to the people who are out of pocket, a lot of money. Neighborhoods still need help. And we need to figure out how this is not going to happen again. I mean, like another person said from Melrose Park, I've lived in River Oaks for 60 years, and we never flooded before, not in this past, like, eight, nine years. Never growing up. We never had it. Flood insurance was a waste of money. But let's get it to the residents. Let's get it to the neighborhoods. And I'm sure you can figure out other ways to pay for a City Hall. Okay. Thank you. Ray? Excuse me. Yeah, this is me. Hi, Mr. Tristair. How are you doing, sir? Good. And I'm Mr. Glassman, Steve. I thank you, Mr. Glassman, for all your information and, you know, everything that you do for Dillard Park. Sometimes I get kind of lost with our District 3 commissioner, and you help us out a bit there. Speaking about this $88 million grant, I would like to thank Mr. Tristair for coming out to the recovery on April 23rd of 2023. April 13th. April 13th. You know exact dates. I was there. You were there, and you were right there with us, and I appreciate that. You came over, and you, not only did you come over on that time, you came over and you gave us a re-up, a revamp on what was going on as well. And you were there when we filled out applications with the FEMA. You did a great job on that. But the only thing is... You hear that, Ted? Yes, you did a great job. And a lot of things were done with the FEMA and the applications during that process. But the only thing is, with this $88 million, what I think would allocate a more, give a more reliance to the normals, we have these swales. That was really, that was typing up a lot of the water. So now, over years, the swales have come back up to the surface. You know, I guess the water or whatever, or the parking, whatever. The sediment. Yes, sediment back down. So I think that with this $88 million, I think, you know, you could come back out and revamp those swales, you know, in the area. I don't know if it can be used for that, but certainly we'll figure out, you know, how best to apply for it. I just want you to also understand that the amount of money that FEMA gave to the city included remediation as a result of the city hall destruction. So I know people are saying tonight, let's not give anything towards city hall, and we could make that decision. But I'm just saying part of the money that was determined appropriate for the city included the damage that was done to city hall. So I just want everyone to understand that ultimately the decision will be the city commission. But factoring in the city hall destruction was how we got to that number. Right, and we still have a lot of, you know, work to do in that area because there's still a lot of homes that are still, you know, under construction from that. Well, have you seen the site of the city hall? Oh, yeah. The city hall there. Oh, yeah. I've seen that. I've seen that. But, you know, I hope that a lot of the money goes to the residents. No, you're right. You know, there's a lot of merit to that. Right. There's a lot of merit to that. Right, and I just hope that we, you know, get a fair share. You've been pretty good with us. Thank you. And I thank you, Mr. Trudeau. Thank you, sir. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak on this item? There being none, do I hear a motion to close public? Oh, did you sign up? You did not sign up. But would you like to come speak? Come on. You'll have to sign up after you speak, though. Could you raise your right hand? It's not qualified. It's the public hearing? It's not a qualified. Oh, okay. Never mind. You don't have to tell the truth. I'll always tell the truth. I'm good. I'm good. Go ahead, sir. All right. Good night, Mayor. What is your name? Tasina Martin. I am the Merrill's Manor's HOA president, and I just have a few questions in regards to the CDBG. Number one, reading from the exhibit online, document number 250955, which was listed for the regular meeting. On page two, under resource impact, I wanted to ask a question. It says, there's no long-term fiscal impact to the general fund. The CDBGRDR grant will reimburse the city for the funding expended on eligible activities. So I have two questions for that part. One is, has separate funding been assigned for the city, and what is the reimbursement to the city, and how will that affect the community funding, if at all? I don't know the answer to that question, but there's a lady standing behind you who has much more knowledge about, so she'll be able to tell you right now. Okay. Should I go forward, or should I let her come forward? Well, why don't I stop the clock and let her answer your question. Okay. Good night, Mayor and Commissioner and City Leadership. My name is Rachel Williams, Housing and Community Development Manager. So let me just bring some clarity to the question that our neighbor is asking. So grants awarded by the federal government are not given to us in hard cash. What that means is that the city has to front the cost, and then we draw the money down based on eligible expenditures, and that's why that resource impact is written that way. All right, and then my second question is under this strategic connections, where it says, under the housing element, goal one, comprehensive plan shall support the provision of adequate sites for future housing, including affordable workforce housing, housing for low income, very low income, and moderate income families, mobile homes, and group home facilities, and foster care facilities with supporting infrastructure and public facilities. And my question to that is, does this refer to households outlined in the CDBGDR action plan inside of the 80-page booklet, or is that something just specific to Agenda 250955? Can you answer that? Okay. So what our neighbor is asking is if the strategies of the comprehensive plan is specific to the annual, the action plan that is being developed for CDBG. No, it's not specific to that, but it's an overall strategy that the city has in its comprehensive plan to move affordability forward. And so because the CDBG funds allow us, under the housing category, to develop affordable housing in relation to the flood event, then it aligns with the city's comprehensive plan, and that's why that's identified that. Then my last question. Last question. That's it. Three as promised. Three as promised. So the city can assign staff or assist or provide resources. So my question is, how do we get someone assigned to Melrose Manor specifically so we can start outlining the requirements for this program so I can get my community ahead of this so when it comes out we can be first in line? I'm sure there are a lot of people who like to be first in line, but I don't know how you answer that question. So a part of this process is transparency, so we have several ways that community members can engage. Number one, we have a City of Fort Lauderdale CDBGDR website, a page dedicated just for transparency where residents and stakeholders can visit that site just by typing in your search engine, City of Fort Lauderdale CDBGDR. Just typing those words in your search engine will take you to that page. That page will be updated on a monthly or a quarterly basis depending on the type of information that's being presented there so that residents can know in real time what's going on with this grant. Secondly, you can always call the Housing and Community Development Office at 954-828-4527 to speak with any member of staff if you have a question or concern. Another way to engage is that on the website we also have housing assistance at fortlauderdale.gov, which is where you can send a written request for information or comments and someone will respond to it. That still didn't answer my question. How do we get someone assigned? Okay, can I just ask a question? Why don't you speak with her separately now because your time for public comment is over. Okay. And if you want to get the specific information, I'm sure she'll be happy to help you out. Thank you, ma'am. All right. I appreciate that. Thank you, guys. No problem. Thank you. Good evening. My name is April Young, and I'm from Lake Eyre area, Commissioner Mayor in my district, Pam Beasley. Thank you for this evening. I just wanted to actually share that inside of our area during the flood that we actually experience flooding without a lot of rain. And this is something that has been going on for a long period of time. In Lake Eyre? In Lake Eyre. We actually received some Tallahassee visitors back in 2020, 2022. However, you can literally come into your swell of the road and the swell of the sidewalk and literally take a birdbath. The water is not sustaining as much as it was previously, but because we do know that there is an issue, so when it does actually flood, there was a lot of residential, and me actually being one, that did not receive any assistance because my water did not resonate up to my outlet. So I have experienced the Irma storm, and Mayor, I think we brought that to your attention inside of a Rock Island meeting. So it is very vital and detrimental to the residents to come with a resolution because if you're not finding yourself inside a zone that is actually considered a flood zone, and you do not receive adequate or you do not need that insurance, well, what is actually happening is that I did a claim, and the insurance did not declare my home, even though that we would declare it in the state of Florida. So I've experienced major issues when it comes down to renovating my home two times within a short period of time, and then having a pipe rupture at the same time. So it's like devastation repetitively repeating the cycle. So I'm not going to say that just because of some of the storm, we have water issues in the area, whether it be by nature of water, rain, or the fact that we have some other issues that's going on, piping or so forth. So I'm going to say that as for the city, and as for you guys being our mouthpiece, that we really need to consider that we resolve the issues so that it does not actually become something that's coexisting for a long period of a time, that people are still yet being devastated by horrific incidents that have transpired, 2017, 18, and repetitive offenders when we have something such as this. Okay, all right. Okay. All right, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, do I hear a motion to close public hearing? Do I hear a second? Move and second it. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Hurst? Yes. Mayor Trentals? Yes. And public hearing on PH1 is now closed. Would someone like to, is that a resolution? Yes. Resolution. 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, approving the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Action Plan and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Hurst? Mayor Trentals? Yes. And PH1 is now approved. PH2? Mr. Mayor. Public hearing. Mr. Mayor, if I may real quick, I know it's late, but you heard some really kind words from members of our community about our staff and the transparency and the way this process was carried out. But I do want to acknowledge them a little bit more because this was something that was achieved in a very short amount of time on a very tight schedule that we had to meet with HUD and Rachel Williams and her team at HCD, our consultant IEM, and a lot of other city staff really made it happen. So it's very momentous that we got here tonight. We'll submit this to HUD by October 21st and get those funds flowing into our community. But I just don't want to let the moment go without acknowledging that hard work. Again, Rachel Williams, her team at HCD, our consultant IEM, Portia Garcia, our Director of Community Support Community Services Department. It's going to take a minute to get used to. You know, our STRATCOM group who really helped with that transparency and getting the word out about our surveys and our public participation, Public Works TAM. It was really all of the organization's effort. I actually don't know how you get it. I have to be honest with you. At the beginning of this, I even commented. I said it's amazing how much, what short a period of time you had to all do this in. The report you submitted, the comprehensive nature of it, and your ability to go out in the public and reach out and seek community, community feedback. I think we all recognize that. And, you know, thank you so much, Chris. Job well done. So I'll be happier when you show me the check. But thank you. Yeah, we just have a tremendous team, and they do a lot of great work every day, and I just want to make sure they get the credit. Thank you, Chris. Thank you. And thank you for your leadership in that area. Okay. On to PH2. Public hearing resolution approving the reallocation and transfer of funds from interest earnings generated from the general obligation bonds. No one has signed up to speak. Someone would like to introduce the resolution? Do we have to close public hearing when no one has signed up to speak? Yes. Okay. Someone would like to move to close public hearing? Move. I hear a second. It's been a second by Commissioner Sorensen. Please call the roll with regard to closing public hearing on PH2. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trent Hollis? Yes. The public hearing is now closed on PH2. Would someone like to introduce the resolution? Introduced. Resolution's been introduced. Please call the roll. A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, approving the reallocation and transfer of funds from interest earnings generated from the General Obligation Bond Series 2020A and 2022A in a combined total amount of $1,100,000 to assist with financing the planning and design phase for seven parks bond improvement projects, Cliff Lake Park, Gore Betts Park, Marshall Point Park, Poinciana Park, Smoker Park, Snyder Park, and Stranahan Park, pursuant to Fort Lauderdale resolution number 18-261, resolution number 20-08, and resolution number 22-259, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, providing for correction of Scrivener's errors, and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trent Hollis? Yes. And PH2 is now approved. Moving on to ordinances of first reading. This is OFR1, an ordinance amending the City of Fort Lauderdale's Unified Land Development Regulations. No one has signed up to speak. Anyone have any questions? There being none, would someone like to introduce the ordinance? Introduced. The ordinance has been introduced. Please call the roll. In the ordinance of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, amending subsection 47-27.7, Historic Designation of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Unified Land Development Regulations by revising the notice requirements for public hearings related to historic designations and providing for correction of Scrivener's errors, severability, repeal of conflicting ordinance provisions, and an effective date. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trent Hollis? Yes. And OFR1 is now approved on first reading. OFR2 on first reading, an ordinance amending the City of Fort Lauderdale Unified Land Development Regulations. I'll let you read that. No one has signed up to speak. Anyone have any questions? Mayor? Yes. If I may, thank you. So TDR, Transfer of Development Rights, is a very complicated issue, and I've been having a lot of discussions with folks that are in this field and also want very much for this to be an ordinance that makes a lot of sense for everyone, both receivers and senders. I think we need to do this the right way when we do this, and I'm going to ask for a deferral on this. I had this conversation with staff. I've had this conversation with people that have given a lot of input on this topic over the last bunch of months, especially when it went through staff, when it went through planning and zoning board. But I think that we just need a little bit of tweaking, and I'm asking for a deferral on this because it's that important, and it really could be a benefit to us in terms of basically preserving our historic resources. But we need to do this right, and we're really close, but if we could just have a little more time. Well, wait a minute. We've been dealing with this for years, and we're finally bringing forward an ordinance that is going to encapsulate the many discussions that we've been having and the analyses that have been undertaken in order to get us to this point. So if you say we need to defer to, like, the next meeting, I mean, how much longer are we going to delay this? Well, again, I'm not doing this just for myself. I'm doing this because folks that are going to be using this transfer development rights have asked for just a little bit more time to meet with staff and me together. Again, if staff thinks we can do this before the holidays, that's great. Which holidays? Which holidays are coming up? I guess Thanksgiving's coming up, Columbus Day's coming up. What else? Well, that's what I want to know. Do you want this one meeting from now or two meetings from now? We have to have a time certain. Okay. Well, I would ask staff what they feel comfortable with in terms of just having a meeting or two. Does staff know what questions you're going to be asking? Because they seem pretty resolute when I spoke with them. Well, I have met with staff. Well, I have a long list of questions if you want me to go through them all. No, I don't want you to go through them. Okay. I had a feeling you didn't. So then I would just ask staff if we can meet with the people that are going to be most impacted by this. Yeah. We can be flexible and meet at a time that's convenient for everybody. I was concerned that your schedule... Can we meet in November? We could meet in November. Okay. So what's the second meeting in November? I think it's the... No, no. You mean to have this deferred until the second meeting in November? Well, I want to make sure that we have enough time for people to meet, for them to add on to what we have in front of us, the other questions, the other concerns. I'm looking at about four pages of notes. The second meeting in November is the 18th. Is that okay? But I don't think we're meeting on the 18th. Hold on. Yeah, we are. Okay. Oh, we're meeting? The 18th. Yep. Is that okay? I think we could make that timeline. If we have to extend it, we could just come for another deferral, but we could target the 18th. Okay. Well, then I would just request that we defer this to November 18th to give everyone in the community a chance to still be heard and to give us their input in terms of how they want to see this tweaked a bit. Again, I think we're really close. I think staff's done an amazing job. But, again, I'm getting questions from people in the community that have just asked for a little bit more time. Okay. Do we have to have a motion for this, Dwayne? Yes, please. So there's a motion on the floor to defer this to November 18th. Do I hear a second? Is there a second? Is that Sorensen? Second. It's been seconded. Please call the roll. Does it defer to November 18th? Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trenthalos. Yes. And so OFR 2 is now deferred until November 18th. Thank you. OFR 3, first reading of an ordinance amending the city of Fort Lauderdale, Unified Land Development Regulations. Is there anyone here from the Board of Adjustment? Just you, though, right? Okay. You're just here to answer questions, right? Okay. Anyone else? Anyone have any questions? There being none? Yeah, I do, Mayor. Oh, you do? Okay. Yeah. Thanks. Go ahead. Raquel, could Chris Cooper come up there? I just want to talk through a couple things he and I have been talking about. So, Chris, if you can... So, Mayor, I'm suggesting two changes to this, two minor changes. Um, Chris, can you, can you, um, maybe highlight the year, uh, change that, going from two to one year, um, that, maybe start with that, if you can... Sure. So, currently the ULDR requires that if somebody wants to come back to the Board of Adjustment for, for a request that was denied, they have to wait two years before they can make that request to the Board of Adjustment again. One thing that this amendment does is it allows for somebody to return to the Board of Adjustment earlier than that if there's, uh, new information or something that wasn't considered the first time by the Board. So, what the Commissioner is asking is if, if there's, if we can, instead of having a two-year period between requests, if that can be shortened to one year, um, from a staff's perspective, that's not something we feel strongly about either way. So, if that's the will of the Commission, you know, that's an amendment that, you know, we're comfortable with as well. So, Chris, and also Commissioner Sorensen, are you intending to do that for OFR 3? And I'm fine with it, don't get me wrong, but would we also then do that for OFR 4, which also still has the same two years versus the one year that you're talking about? Yes, I'd like to do it for both. I'd like to do it for both. I agree with that, Mayor. Okay, well, this is just the first, this is just the first reading. So, between now and the next reading, we can make those changes. Are there any other suggestions you have, Commissioner Sorensen? Yeah, one other one, Mayor, and Chris, you provided some recent analysis, but the 3B6, just eliminating that, Chris, can you speak to that? Yes, so that section has been added as part of the Administrative Variance Amendment, which would allow folks to apply to staff for, you know, what's considered more of a de minimis request, and within that section the Commissioner referenced, it states that if a neighbor who is affected or directly next to a person making one of those administrative-level requests sends a letter to the city objecting to that request, that rather than being administrative, that would require that to go to Board of Adjustment. And so, D. Wayne has some comments. Yes, so the reason why that language is placed there, the variance request is a quasi-judicial matter. It requires a presenting of a case before a finder of fact and the determination as to whether or not an individual has met the criteria for the variance. With regards to administrative variances, the procedure that we've put into place allows for the approval of what's considered de minimis variances. However, if there is someone that objects to it, they are entitled to due process and a hearing. That we can accommodate in terms of having a hearing with a zoning administrator who is the the personnel assigned for approving these. And so the mechanism that we chose, instead of having a quasi-judicial hearing in front of a zoning administrator, is to forward the requests that are challenged back to the Board of Adjustment, which is the proper entity for hearing variance requests. Other municipalities like Plantation that have the administrative variance process also have a similar means of dealing with denials. In those cases, if the reviewer, administrative reviewer, seeks to deny the variance, it is forwarded to the Board of Adjustment for consideration. So, Dwayne, just the adjacent property owner can just challenge it, you know, any of these, and they get, that goes right to the Board of Adjustment. So, you don't think you can change that? You have to keep that in there? No, it's an absolute right for anyone to challenge a variance request because it's a quasi-judicial process. Right, so that's what I'm saying. You're saying you have to keep it in there? Huh? Yes. Okay, so we can't remove that. Got it. Okay, thank you. Sure. Yeah, thanks. Then, Mayor, just that one addition of going from two to one year. Chris, am I covering everything we talked about? Yes, Commissioner. Okay, thanks. Thanks, Mayor. Where do we stand on this? Do we have a, I'm sorry, do we have a motion on this one? I'm sorry, was this introduced? It hasn't been introduced yet. It was just a discussion on terms of the changes. Commissioner, are you introducing it as amended? Yeah, thanks, Dwayne, and Vice Mayor. Yeah, I'll introduce it as amended, please. Okay, the item's been introduced. City clerk? Okay, call the roll. Dwayne, just to clarify, it's the first reading's going to be as amended, or are we just amending it on the second reading? We'll amend it for second reading. So it's being... So it can just be introduced with the understanding that we'll change it between readings? Okay. So the two-to-one is going to be second reading. Okay. Yes. Okay. All right. In ordinance of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, amending the subsection 47-24.1, generally, subsection 47-24.2, variances, special exceptions, and interpretation of Unified Land Development Regulations, subsection 47-26, B.1, procedures, subsection 47-29.3, Zoning Administrator, subsection 47-33.2, powers and duties of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Unified Land Development Regulations by changing the appeal process for decisions made by the Board of Adjustments by providing for administrative review for de minimis variances and providing for correction of scrivener's errors, severability, repeal of conflicting ordinance provisions, and an effective date. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trantels? Yes. And that item is now approved. Moving on to OFR 4, first reading of an ordinance amending the City of Fort Lauderdale, Unified Land Development Regulations, to revise the Board of Adjustment voting requirements. No one has signed up to speak. Anyone have any questions? There being none, would someone like to introduce the ordinance? Mayor, before we do that, I just want to make sure that we're being consistent, and we're also going to amend for the second reading, the two years to one year. So the amendment in the prior ordinance will take care of the amendment of this section. They're separate ordinances because they're dealing with separate subject matters, but the code section will be amended by the prior ordinance. Thank you. Would someone like to introduce the ordinance? Introduced. The ordinance has been introduced. Please call the roll. In ordinance of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, amending subsection 47-33.7 quorum, subsection 47-24.12 variances, special exceptions, and interpretation of Unified Land Development Regulations, and subsection 47-24.1 generally of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Unified Land Development Regulations by revising the Board of Adjustments voting requirement from a majority plus one of member present to a simple majority for final orders and all motions in providing for correction of scrivener's errors, severability, repeal of conflicting ordinance provisions, and an effective date. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trentos? Yes. Vice Mayor, do you have any additional disclosures? As previously disclosed, I met with Mr. Crush. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, do you have any additional disclosures? No additional. I have none. Commissioner Glossman? No additional. Commissioner Sorensen? No additional. No one has signed up to speak. Do we have to move to close public hearing since it's quasi-judicial? Yes, please. That's what I thought. Does someone please move to close public hearing? So moved. Second. The move is seconded. Please call the roll on closing public hearing on OSR 1. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? No. Commissioner Sorensen? You don't want to close public hearing? Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Please. Yes. Yes. It's late. Yes. I'm ready to close it. I think Commissioner Sorensen. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trentos? Yes. The public hearing is now closed on OSR 1. Would someone like to introduce the ordinance? Introduced. The ordinance has been introduced. Please call the roll. In ordinance amending section 47-1.6.B of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida Unified Land Development Regulations to the revision of the official zoning map of the City of Fort Lauderdale Schedule A revised compilation attached there to by reference made a part thereof so as to rezone from residential multifamily mid-rise medium high-density district to northwest regional activity center mixed-use east district all of lots 12 through 19 inclusive and lots 30 through 41 inclusive block 261 progressive according plot thereof as recorded in plot book 2 page 18 of the public records. Dade County, Florida located south of northwest 9th Street, east of northwest 3rd Avenue, west of northwest 2nd Avenue, and north of northwest 8th Street, all said lands being in the City of Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. I want to pay deference to the district commissioner on vote yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? No. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trinthalus? Yes. And OSR 1 is now approved on second reading. OSR 2, second reading and ordinance amending chapter 20, sections 20-107 definitions regarding retirement benefits. No one has signed up to speak. Someone would like to introduce the ordinance? You can go home now. Introduced. The ordinance has been introduced. Please call the roll. In ordinance of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, admitting sections 20-107 and 20-110 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, by extending the period during which an actively employed member of the General Employee's Retirement Plan may participate in the Deferred Retirement Option Program from 36 months to 60 months, providing for correction of scrivener's errors, and providing for severability, repeal of conflicting ordinance provisions, and an effective date. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trentiles? Yes. And OSR 2 has now been approved on second reading. OSR 3, second reading, an ordinance regarding the pay plan of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. No one has signed up to speak. Someone would like to introduce the ordinance? Introduced. The ordinance has been introduced. Any questions? There being none, please call the roll. In order to the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, amending the pay plan of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, by replacing the non-bargaining unit compensation tables with a consolidated revised non-bargaining unit compensation table, replacing Schedule 6 of special employees with revised Schedule 6 special employees, providing a 3% general wage increase to all non-bargaining unit employees and all Schedule 6 special employees, changing the titles of two job classifications, and creating and adding one new job classification, and providing for severability, repeal of conflicting ordinance revisions, and an effective date. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trentiles? Yes. And OSR 3 is now approved on second reading. We have the walk-on. This is a motion to advance four proposers for the City Hall project, Balfour Beatty, Fort Lauderdale Civic Partners, FTL Beacon Collaborative, and FTL City Hall Partners. So I would like to make a motion approving these four proposers. So moved. Do I hear a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Any further questions on this? There being none, please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trentiles? Yes. And that walk-on item is now approved. Is there any further business of the meeting? Wow. Finished. But now we go back to the conference meeting. I know. Can I ask you all to suspend your commission report? Yes. Okay. But the City Manager has something she'd like to announce. Thank you, Mayor. Just want to take a moment to acknowledge our new director appointments for the new departments that were approved as part of the fiscal year 2026 budget. So that's Ashley Dessard, director of the new strategic communications department. Rufus James, director of the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. Glenn Marcos, director of our procurement services department. And Ms. Portia Garcia, director of our community services department.