that the following task force members will be excused from today's meeting. Senator Alexis Calatayud, Stephanie Daniels, Eric Eichenberg, Rafael Granado, Jose Jimenez, and Vice Chairman Michael Redondo. Mayor Joshua Dieguez, Iris Ascara, Robert Henry Fernandez, Mayor Steven Lassner, Commissioner Dennis Moss, Mayor Andre Pierre, Mayor Crystal Wager, Rebecca Wakefield, and Chairman Dennis Kerbell. Eight members present. We have a quorum. Good morning. This final meeting of the Charter Review Task Force is called to order, and we'll start with the reasonable opportunity for the public to be heard. With the Chair's permission. Please. Thank you. My name is Orrin Rosenthal. I'm the General Counsel of the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections, 2700 Northwest 87th Avenue, Doral, Florida. I'd first off like to thank the members of the task force for their diligent work on this item. Being a member of a task force like this is a very time-consuming and difficult thing, particularly because you don't get paid. At best, you get a couple of glasses of water when you attend the meeting, so thank you for your time and your effort and your attendance. I appreciate it. I appreciate it when I work for the county. All these members that always showed up to all these meetings to do the work. So thank you. I do have two comments on the final report, however. The first comment is on page six. On page six, it discusses some of the work that the task force members have done, and in the last sentence of one of the paragraphs, I think it improperly implies that all of the recommendations of the county constitutional officers were accepted and incorporated into recommendation number one. I think that language should be changed to make it explicit that only some of the recommendations from the county constitutional officers, more specifically those that were required by law, were incorporated into recommendation number one with a few others, and that a number of the recommendations were not accepted by the task force, respectfully. The second comment is a general comment about the report in general. In the last few task force reports, the descriptions of the final report included reasons why things were accepted and things were rejected and descriptions of what was rejected. In fact, in the 2008 task force, there was a dissent report discussing some of the rejected recommendations. This task force recommendation, at least the draft before you, does not have any of those descriptions, so that a board or a reviewing party would not have a fulsome understanding of the good work that this task force did in discussing these issues and understand why some issues were rejected and why the accepted issues were accepted. And I think asking the public and the commission to simply go through the clerk's minutes on this may be a disservice. So while I thank you for your work, and I think the work has been incredible and a good job and a necessary job, I think there's still a little bit more to do. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else from the public wish to be heard? Good morning, members of the task force. Naomi Levy-Garcia, general counsel for the Miami-Dade County Tax Collector's Office. I'd like to relay the tax collector's gratitude to you all for the wonderful work you've done on the task force. We noticed one minor additional revision that we think could be included in your report. In Section 504E, we'd like to clarify that all tax revenues collected for any municipality shall be returned monthly by the tax collector rather than by the county. Chair? Yeah. Can you repeat that, please? Sure. Section 504E, there's a reference to all tax revenues collected for any municipality being returned monthly by the county. We'd prefer for that clarification to be returned monthly by the tax collector, as specific to ad valorem property tax revenues. So again, thank you for your good work. If you have any questions, I'm happy to address them. Thank you. Anybody else from the public that wants to come forward and be heard? Okay. Seeing none, the reasonable opportunity is concluded. And now it looks like we have a couple of special presentations on our agenda. I guess, is it Chief Edwards? Good morning. Good morning to the entire task force. I'm Carla Denise Armbrister Edwards. I'm the Chief Administrative Officer for Mayor Daniela Levine Cava. And on behalf of our esteemed mayor, I just want to congratulate you all for making it to the end of this critical process of reviewing Miami-Dade's Home Rule Charter. What you've done is made this document suitable to serving the future needs of our residents and this entire community. And the mayor really wanted to be here to thank you for your dedication, for updating the charter, to making it a better document. It is really our constitution. It's what helps us serve the community every day and every night. And what you've done has not gone unnoticed. This is a very diverse and impressive group. And I know your thoughtful insights and perspectives will make our public service much stronger. In fact, when the mayor served as commissioner, she sponsored charter reform and bringing it forward in an item that was created in 2017. When drafting that legislation for a charter review task force, the mayor placed an emphasis on public input and the creation of a task force that was dynamic in its membership, much like this group today. Miami-Dade's Home Rule Charter is incredibly important. It is essential to helping us establish our rules of the road. It ensures our residents have a bill of rights, and it outlines the essential structure and values of our government. Everything we do from handling elections, as you just heard, to tax collection, and even the official name of the county. So I know each of you stepped up to this task with the utmost sense of responsibility, and your recommendations will result in necessary updates that are intended to make government more efficient. At the same time, these updates will help shape the future of the county and the lives of our residents for generations to come. Since the last charter review task force, we've seen some very significant changes and shifts in local government, including the establishment of the five constitutional offices, as well as growing state involvement in local matters, everything from land use to transportation, wages to local business contracting. These changes in how the county operates underscore the importance of reviewing the charter, and it's created this unique opportunity for us to ensure, through your leadership, that we elevate the voices, and we ensure our community has had strong input. So again, on behalf of the mayor, thank you for your respective involvement. Thank you for involving the community and engaging them the way that you have. And most importantly, the mayor would like to thank the departmental staff, the county attorney's office, and all of those who helped make these meetings possible, transparent, and incredibly impactful. So we look forward to your recommendations. This is a huge responsibility that's been entrusted to you, and the mayor did not want that to go unnoticed. She regrets not being here, but I'm honored that I had the opportunity to speak on her behalf. Thank you. Thank you very much. Do we have any other presentations? No, Mr. Chair. All right. Thank you. Then let's move on to the last couple of items of business. First, do we have a motion on the minutes? Move it. Anyone wish to be recorded? No. Okay. Seeing none. The minutes that we have in our package are approved. And I think at this point, since we have some missing minutes that will have to be approved after this meeting, and this is our final meeting, would the board be open to giving me a delegation of authority to approve the minutes on behalf of the task force once they're ready? Second. Second. Anyone, what should be recorded? No? Okay. Motion carries. And so now comes, of course, the meat of the business for today, which is the approval of the final report. We heard some comments from the public. I think the attorney has some changes to read out, so let's take up the changes from Mr. Valdez. Mr. Chair, in going through the recommendations and then reviewing the minutes that were attached, I realized that there was one omission from the recommendations that was provided, in part because it had been a discussion by this task force, but no formal item had ever been drafted. It was Mayor Lossner's proposal from a few meetings ago to increase the length of residency that was required for a commission candidate to reside in the district from six months to a year. I've drafted what that recommendation would look like so that if, with your indulgence, we can add it to the final report, and I'll have staff distribute it now. And that would be, I think we should put it around recommendations four and five, and then, or around five and six, and then renumber. That was going to be my exact recommendation on that. Okay, where do you think it should go? In between four and five. Okay. And then we would renumber accordingly. Okay, anyone will make a motion? Anyone want to make a motion for that correction? All right, we have a motion. Motion in a second. Anyone wish to be recorded? No. All right, that motion carries. The report will be amended to incorporate the length of residency and district recommendation as, I guess it would be new recommendation number five. That'd be correct, and we would change the numbers accordingly, and you'd have a motion to give you the delegated authority to make any necessary technical changes to that impact numbering or reordering to approve that final report. Oh, yeah, that makes sense, actually. So moved. Second. Okay, anyone wish to be recorded? No. All right, motion carries. Thank you. And what other changes did you have? There was one other recommendation in the draft final report that had been provided in the agenda kit. The formatting for recommendations one, two, and three, I believe, weren't the same as the remainder with the highlights and everything else. You can see what the changes are, but they weren't as brought to kind of highlight exactly what the changes were. Where there are other versions of those recommendations that have highlighted changes, it would be a recommendation or a motion to swap out the versions that are on this agenda with the versions of recommendations one, two, and three that have the highlighting just to bring out exactly what the changes are for anyone that wants to kind of read through this quickly. Is there a motion? Move it. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Anyone wish to be recorded? No. Motion carries. Mr. Attorney, do you have any other recommendations? No, Mr. Chair. The floor is yours. Okay, let me take up then on behalf of the supervisor of elections modification to the description on page six of the consideration of the constitutional officer suggestions and to revise that paragraph to not make it appear that we had accepted all their recommendations. Does anyone want to make a motion on that or make any changes? And any proposed language? So on page seven, top of the page, where it says all of those recommendations, technical changes, have been grouped together in a single recommendation, I think that is the sentence that should be expanded to say that some of them have been incorporated. Well, I think that's for the second one for the – that's not the constitutional officers. It starts on page six, but it kind of – Yeah, it ends with which informed recommendation one. It's the second full paragraph. The recommendations including removing obsolete references to align with state law and other suggested changes, which informed recommendation one. So it would be adding a sentence into the second paragraph? Yeah, I think it would go there, or to break up that last sentence. I don't know, rather than doing this on the – maybe instead of doing this on the floor. Mike, do you need a lot of direction to break this up and make it clear? I have two suggestions. Okay. The first would just be which partially informed recommendation one, to indicate that it was part. The other one, as you had alluded to, Mr. Chair, would be to break it up. So to say, these recommendations included removing obsolete references to align with state law and other suggested changes, period. Some of those recommendations were incorporated or were accepted as part of recommendation number one. I'd like the second option. Okay. Is that your motion? Yes. All right. Second. We have a motion and a second. Anyone wish to be recorded? No. All right. Motion carries. The report will be revised accordingly. Then let me – let's take up first the tax collectors requested change on 5.04. I thought we had discussed that when we did the global changes, and I think maybe we left it because the tax revenues is – there are multiple tax revenues that are collected by the county. But does anyone specifically recall, or Mike, can you inform us? I believe the discussion related to the changes in 5.04C, where we added the words ad valorem. When we were saying that all county and municipal taxes shall be collected by the tax collector, we added the words ad valorem because there are other taxes that can be collected by, for instance, I believe RER collects some of the taxes. Because the – for item E, we can – and if – with tax collectors' councils, we can put all the ad valorem tax revenues collected shall be returned monthly by the tax collector. So we can add the words ad valorem to E as well just so that we don't – so that we're consistent with the changes that we had made in C. Well, are there other tax revenues that the county collects for municipalities that are returned by the county to municipalities beyond ad valorem? We'll leave – I would defer to staff on that question or to the tax collector's office. Not that I'm aware of, but your suggested change would be satisfactory to the tax collector's office. Alternatively, you could even delete D and E and just leave it at consistent with – or in accordance with state law, the change you made in C. I don't think I want to do that one on the fly, but on E – Couldn't it be or a municipality – I'm sorry, the tax collector or the county, as it may apply? That was one – that was one thought. Or what do you think about just striking by the county? Because what really I think matters about E is that if something's collected for the municipality, the charter said it's – it's to be returned monthly, and then whoever returns it, returns it. Any thoughts on that? We have no issue with that. That's – that would – that would work as well. Just – if – if you leave it blank, then it would be whoever state law dictates provides that responsibility. Okay. Can I get a motion on that? Motion to remove by the county. Yes. Yes, quickly. For example, I see some cities have, like, their sanitation included into their ad valorem taxes. Would that be included in that amendment, or is that a separate collection? That's a good question. But I think the change wouldn't – whatever it is, it is. This is really just changing. Whoever is actually collecting it would end up being responsible for returning it. Okay. Yeah, it was – for that sort of reason that I was concerned about making too great of a change that we hadn't gotten a full – a full discussion on. Yeah, because there could be other things on the bill, like CDD fees, the garbage fees. Some municipalities have specifics. Right. So, there are assessments included on the Uniform Tax Bill. They're not taxes, they're assessments, so they should not be implicated by this change. But, again, if you, you know, want to go with the recommendation of the chair, that's fine with the Tax Collector's Office. Does that address your concern? Okay. Any other questions? Is there a motion? So, the motion is in 5.04e to remove by the county from that sentence. Right. That was my proposal. Second. Okay. So, we have a motion. We have a second. Anyone wish to be recorded now? Motion carries. Okay. So, then the last comment from the supervisor, which might be a longer discussion, the idea of a dissent report or a report of items that we took up but then ultimately rejected. I guess the first question is to staff. Is that something that can be easily compiled and added to the report? Yes, Mr. Chair. We can go through that effort. We did go through the previous final reports, and there is some variation in how this has been handled. In the 2017 report, there was a section that included failed recommendations but not dissenting and concurring opinions from the task force members. But in the 2012 and 2008 reports, there was a section from the task force members that included any dissenting and concurring opinions. So, it could be handled either way at the direction of this task force. Yeah, I guess I used dissent very, very loosely there because we didn't really have – Correct. We didn't have much in the way of controversy. I think we may have had a couple of ideas that were floated but then not taken up ultimately by the board. So, and I think those were in the election area, right? So, perhaps if we could add a section that just says the task force considered but ultimately did not recommend the following. Anyone have – I'll open that up for discussion. Well, Mr. Chair, even if there were a section that said, you know, for example, Mayor Lossner suggested, floated the idea, however you want to phrase it, of reconfiguring districts but no further discussion was held. I mean, there was – I guess you – There was never even a motion on the table. Right. A declination to even hold the discussion further. And there were others brought by other members. Yeah, I think that's the tricky part, and I guess this will fall under things that I have delegated authority to finalize for the report. But, yeah, I guess if someone floated a proposal or an idea, which is hopefully reflected in the minutes, even if we didn't take it up, I think it should – I think the report should reflect that the idea or the possible change was referenced, but then ultimately not – No action on it was taken by the task force, if we can do that, if we can do that, I think that would be – I think that would be helpful. And Commissioner Moss? Thank you, Mr. Chair. The only thing that I would say is that not to name that section failed, you know, I like your wording a lot better, again, because people came forward with, you know, their suggestions and recommendations and, you know, the task force either accepted them or not. And I would not want – because I think you said in 2017 there was a section that said failed, I would not want that to be a part of the report. I think it may – yeah, maybe something like other amendments that were considered but not ultimately adopted. Anyone else? All right, is there a motion on that? Move it. All right, we have a motion and we have a second. Anyone wish to be recorded? No. All right, motion carries. Any other matters to be discussed with the final report? This is our last hurrah. This is Karen. On recommendation seven on page four, the establishment of the boundary commission, to me, this is one that we did establish a boundary commission, but there was also already, I think, the planning board, if I recall correctly, kind of served in this capacity. And what we said is that we should establish a commission for it. But I think it should reflect that the county already had a process in place and what we did was just enhance the process by establishing this specific commission from the planning board and it's not like a brand new concept. So here it appears like it would be like a brand new concept. So it's just wordsmithing on how it's explained. But what do you think about to replace the planning advisory board with a boundary commission? Correct. Correct. Of independent parties and stuff like that. I think that clarifies what we – Anyone else? Is that a motion? Move it. I can't. Second. Motion in a second. Anyone who wishes to be recorded, no. Okay. Motion carries. Any other changes or discussions? Ms. Henderson. Through the chair, this is not related to the final report, but I wanted to alert you that I've just been advised that we do have a representative present from Commissioner Cohen Higgins' office. Deldra Owens is here. So at the proper time, if we could recognize her. Okay. Well, why don't we do that now? Please come forward. Good morning, Chairman. Chairman Kerbal, members of the Charter Review Task Force, county staff, and members of the public. My name is Deldra Owens, and I'm the legislative director for Commissioner Danielle Cohen-Higgins. Commissioner Cohen-Higgins sends her sincere regrets that she's unable to attend in person today, and I have been asked to share her appreciation for all of your hard work on this task force. As sponsor of the legislation, reestablishing the charter review task force, Commissioner Cohen-Higgins believed it's critical that Miami-Dade County undertake deliberate and transparent review of the Home Rule Charter, particularly following the reestablishment of the constitutional officers under Amendment 10, and growing policy challenges surrounding annexation, incorporation, and preservation of the UDB. The Home Rule Charter serves as the foundation of Miami-Dade County government, and because of that, recommendations for amendment must be approached with seriousness, strong public engagement, and a long-term view of how these decisions affect the residents of Miami-Dade County. Commissioner Cohen-Higgins appreciates the leadership of Chairman Dennis Kerbell, who is our appointee, and the hard work of each and every task force member who's helped to implement this process and move it forward. Thank you. Thank you. And I think I can speak for the task force to thank Commissioner Cohen-Higgins and Mayor Lubin Kava for their support throughout this process. And I want to take a moment, and I think you'll all share with me, a thank you to our excellent staff support, George, Demetria, Tivia, and for the attorney's office, Mike, Jose, and Sophie, the clerk's office. And our ex-officio counsel, Mr. Rosenthal, who attended every meeting. No, in all seriousness, and to all of the representatives of the county departments who came forward and provided us with information and answered our questions and came back with even fuller reports than perhaps we even anticipated getting. So I want to thank you all for your efforts throughout this process. It was, I think, very educational for everyone involved. And we could not have done the work without the excellent staff support. So thank you again. All right, any other board business? When does this report go to, which BCC meeting will it be on, when will it be on the agenda? I believe it will be the second meeting in May. So is that May 19th? Assuming they don't move it for some other reason. Yes. And there's no committee review, right? Let's go straight to the board? Straight to the BCC. Okay, perfect. Okay, any other? Ms. Wakefield. I just wanted to thank all of you. I've enjoyed it immensely. Your thoughtfulness, your detail-orientedness, your feistiness. And it's just been a real privilege, and I would also like to thank the staff. So that's it. Thank you. Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, want to thank the mayor for her support. And also to Commissioner Cohen-Higgins, who brought forward this very important issue that we take up in this county. We've been doing it for decades now. Certainly want to thank all of the staff. Thank you so much to the county attorney's office. Demetria is a taskmaster. And let's give her a round of applause. Yes. She kept everything on task. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank all of the members. It's been an honor and a real pleasure to serve with all of you. And, again, Miami-Dade County is a county that is very close to my heart, a county that I love. And I'll do whatever I can to try and make it better. And I want to thank this task force for, you know, its deliberation, looking at all of the issues, and coming up with, I think, some good recommendations for the Board of County Commissioners to consider. These are just recommendations. I want to be clear on that. And, again, it's been an honor, you know, serving with each of you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Mayor Lozner. Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I need to reiterate my thanks and appreciation to my Senator, Ana Maria Rodriguez, who, in her capacity as the chair of the Miami-Dade delegation, appointed me as only one of two members of this body that were not directly appointed by commissioners. And to you, Mr. Chair, my hat's off to your very adept and delicate handling of a very diverse group of board members and threading those very small needles through some of these issues where, in the early days, I think a lot of our eyes were glazing over. Thank you, Mr. Rosenthal. And other constitutional officers. It's been interesting. It's been fun. It's been very enlightening, and I appreciate the work of each and every one of my fellow board members. And certainly I want to say that I have been in awe of the off-the-top-of-their-head knowledge that the attorneys possess through these very arcane conversations that the constitutional provisions and state statutes and existing charter provisions that all come together, that is quite commendable and, for me, very awe-inspiring of the knowledge and advice that the attorneys have been able to provide, not from the seat of their pants, but for many years of experience, to help guide us through this process. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wish to be heard? Of course. I mean, first and foremost, I want to say thank you to my county commissioner, District 2 representative, Marlon Bassien, for pointing me to this board. Thank you to the board, and thank you to the mayor for living cover for supporting this board. I remember 20 years ago, and I'll never forget that experience. I used to serve on another board with, you know, professionals all over Miami-Dade County, and I never thought that I would be on another board like this, you know, in the county. And 20 years later, I'm here sitting with professionals that are constantly looking for better ways to, you know, build our community, help our community, educate our community. And thank you, Mr. Chair, for leading that world. We truly appreciate the work that you put in. And to the staff, oh, my God, man, Demetria calling me, texting me late at night, and my wife is asking me, who's that, you know, texting you and calling you late at night. You know, last night she said, make sure you come to the meeting because we need you. And my wife is saying, who's that girl, you know, texting you? So thank you so much for the work that you do in this area and the lawyer. And I want to take a personal second to recognize my youngest son, Andre Pierre. Andre, please stand up and be recognized. Okay. Welcome. Recently graduated from FIU. He just took the LSAT, so he's waiting for his bar resort before he could head out to law school. And right now he used to work for the city of Miami in a dream department. And recently now he's working for me in my office as an assistant registered lobbyist. So thank you so much for having me on this board 20 years later. Commissioner Moss. I, too, want to thank the Vice Chair, Vice Chair McGee, for appointing me to the task force. Anyone else? Mrs. Carroll. I wanted to thank Commissioner Regalado for appointing me. Commissioner Regalado is an attorney and I'm an attorney. We went to law school together. So these deep, deep conversations about charters and the establishment of government have always been a hot topic. So I appreciate the privilege and the honor she bestowed on me to actually serve here and learn more. I sat on the City of Miami Charter Review years ago. And it's so interesting to see the dynamic of the two and how they interact. So to me, while this was a voluntary position, it was actually very educational for me as well. And I want to thank the chairman and the legal team. Really amazing work that's been done here because you guided us through this. And we really appreciate that sort of guidance and honesty and knowledge. Really made our work a lot easier, having your background. And to the county staff that kept us going, I want to let you know, Oren, we've had donuts. We've had sandwiches. We've had croissants. It was more than just water. It was a lot of love up here. A lot of love up here. Thank you to the mayor and Commissioner Cohen Higgins for establishing this and guiding this process through. And we hope that these recommendations are considered and adopted at the will of the commission. Thank you. All right. Yeah, I want to thank Commissioner. Give me a minute. I want to thank Commissioner Kian Hardiman. Thank you. I'm having a senior moment right now. I want to thank Commissioner Kian Hardiman for also appointing me to this board. I know the type of work that goes into this. And I appreciate the intellect of my colleagues that have been sitting up here with me devising this language. I also appreciate the diversity of thought and intellect that's sitting on this dais. And so I appreciate it. I appreciate staff. And I do appreciate the consistency of reaching out and making sure we're here at the meetings. That takes dedication. So thank you for everyone for your participation and your service to Miami-Dade County. I am grateful and appreciative to be sitting up here with all of you. Thank you. Mr. Fernandez. Last but not least, I want to thank the Chair for your leadership throughout the entire period of time. It's been an honor to serve with all of you. I want to thank my Commissioner, Natalie Orbis, for appointing me. It's been an honor to serve on her behalf. Thank you to all the staff. Obviously, it's already been said. And, Demetria, I would get those texts also. Thank you for keeping us on task. So thank you all very much. All right, now, even though I started it, I'm going to close it out, first of all, by expressing my gratitude to Commissioner Cohen-Higgins for establishing the task force and then for placing her trust in me to be her appointee on the board. And I've already given my appreciation to staff and the attorneys, but that can't be echoed enough. And we really did throw some hard questions on the fly. So Mike and Jose and Sophie's not here, but Mike, you bore the brunt of it. So, excellent job. And it's been an honor to serve with all of you. I think what was most interesting is I think most of you, and even the ones who weren't here, I know, in other contexts. And so it was great to come together on this. We all have different perspectives on things, different experiences. And I think we did our best to come up with some, I think, very good recommendations on changes for the future of the county. And I'm hopeful that the commission will receive them warmly. But we've done our best. And I'm proud of us as a group. And I think that we should keep this going forward and sort of freelance as a group for other municipalities that are undergoing charter review. We can just helicopter in and make some recommendations. But, no, it's been a real pleasure and an honor. And I thank you all for placing your trust in me as your chair. And I think it's been a good run. So unless there is anybody else? One last thing I neglected to mention, Eileen Higgins, who appointed me, I am thankful for her doing that. That's an important one. Any other matters of board business for our last meeting? Motion to adjourn. That almost takes priority. Second. Anyone wish to be recorded now? Adopted the report, have we? Commissioner Moss, one last time. Moving. We have to adopt the report, don't we? Oh. Actually, I thought we, no, you're right. I guess we didn't. Motion to adopt the report. Well, yeah, we had given me, yes. Sorry. Motion to adopt the report. Wait, who moved it? Motion was here. Oh, that was his. Okay, motion in a second. Anyone wish to be recorded no? Sure. Yes. And just to make sure that it's full and for you to have the delegated authority to make any necessary changes to that final report as has been discussed thus far. Right, we had done that before, so yes, this incorporates that. Okay, which is why I thought we had done the approval. All right, anyone wish to be recorded no on the final report? Motion carries. Now I think we can adjourn. Thank you. So, see if we all, right? All right.