City Council - Sep 16, 2026

All right, good evening and welcome to September 16th, 2026 City Plantation City Council meeting is now called to order at 531. Ms. Figueroa, would you please call the roll? Council Member Anderson, in route. Council Member Andreu? Here. Council Member Fadgen? Here. Council Member Horland? Here. Council Member Reinstein? Here. Mayor Sortel? Here. City Attorney Ezra? Here. Thank you. Thank you very much. Opening remarks and invocation Pledge of Allegiance will be provided by Council Member Fadgen this evening, sir. Thank you, Council President Horland. If we could stand to pray and remain standing for the pledge. Lord, we thank you for your continued blessings upon our great city, this state, this nation, and all your people. We ask your blessing upon these proceedings and upon all who appear before the Council tonight as we deliberate on the important business of our city. Bestow clear thinking and wise discernment upon the City Council, the Mayor, and all gathered here that their participation and decisions may serve this city well. Inspire cooperation and open-minded dialogue that even in disagreement, we may treat one another with respect and seek that what is just and good for all. We pray for peace to prevail, for suffering to be eased, and for conflicts to be resolved with justice and compassion. We honor those who give of themselves for the good of others, first responders, our city employees, educators, caregivers, and all who strengthen our community throughout faithful service. We hold in prayer those who are in sorrow, family and friends alike. Grant them comfort and healing in their grief. We pray for all who are suffering in body, mind, or spirit, that they may find relief, strength, and renewed hope. May health return to the sick, and may your light lead those in despair toward comfort, renewal, and peace. God, grant us the strength to meet whatever comes our way with cheerfulness, kindness, courage, patience, and tenderness, seeking in all things to honor you. For all of this, we ask in your holy name, amen. Now the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the United States of the One Nation, indivisible. Thank you, Council Member Fadgen. And at this time, we will recess the City Council Member at 534 and call to order the final public budget hearing. Ms. Beggarro, please call the roll. Council Member Anderson. Here. Council Member Andreu. Here. Council Member Fadgen. Here. Council Member Horland. Yes, here. Council Member Reisdeen. Here. Council Member... Mayor Sortle. Here. City Attorney Ezra. Here. Thank you. Good evening, Ms. Otaniano. How are you? I think we can dispense with the presentation, which we usually do on the second reading of the budget. So we have items one through seven on the budget. Mr. Ezra, would you like to read the summary on item number one, which is FY 2027, final millage rate resolution for the Plantation Gateway Development District? Before we read those, can I just read into record the rollback rates and the proposed rates? Please. Go ahead. Okay. The City of Plantation fiscal year 2027 proposed budget is based on the general fund operating millage of 5.7000 mills. This is an increase of 3.87% from the rollback millage rate of 5.4878 mills. The voter debt millage rate for fiscal year 2027 is 0.2637 mills. This is the millage rate required to fund the voter-approved debt. The Plantation Gateway Development District fiscal year 2027 proposed budget is based on the operating millage of 1.6364 mills. This is a zero increase from the rollback millage rate of 1.6364 mills. The Plantation Midtown Development District fiscal year 2027 proposed budget is based on the operating millage of 0.9662 mills. This is an increase of 2.06% from the rollback millage rate of 0.9467 mills. The City of Plantation Aggregate Fiscal Year 2027 proposed budget is based on the aggregate millage rate of 5.9221 mills. This is an increase of 3.84% from the aggregate rollback millage rate of 5.70.31 mills. The increase in ad valorem revenue for the operating fund is to fund personnel costs, increase in capital costs, and fund operations. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Ezra, would you like to go ahead and read that item, please? Sure. This is the item number one is a resolution adopting the final millage rate for Plantation Gateway Development District of 1.6364 mills for the operating fiscal year October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, identifying the computed rollback millage rate, providing findings, a savings clause, and an effective date. Thank you very much. Council members, do we have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve item one. And do we have a second? Second. Okay, and Mr. Conklin, good evening, sir. Did you wish to speak on each item, or would you like to come up and make your – okay. Welcome. Dennis Conklin, 4581 Northwest Sixth Court. Heavenly hosts, protect you. And all of your families. Yes, unified comments. Thank you for a bit of a rollback on the Gateway 7 District, Development District, and I wish you could have done rollbacks for the whole city. And I normally don't comment on Midtown, so I'll yield back. Thank you. So you don't want to come back up for general. You'll come back on stair, right? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Conklin. We have a motion and a second. Ms. Beggarow, could you please call the roll on item number one? Council Member Fajan? Yes. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Horland? Yes. Item number two is the FY 2027 final millage resolution for the Plantation Midtown Development District. Mr. Ezra. Resolution adopting final millage rate for Plantation Midtown Development District of 0.9662 mills for the operating fiscal year October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, identifying the computed rolled back millage rate, providing findings, a savings clause, and an effective date. Thank you. Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing no other public comment, Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Council Member Fajan? Yes. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Horland? Yes. Item number three is fiscal year 2027 final voted debt millage resolution for the City of Plantation. It's Resolve. Resolution of the City of Plantation, Florida, adopting the proposed finalized voted debt millage of 0.2637 mills, which the City of Plantation shall assess during the next ensuing tax year as required by voted debt, known as the City of Plantation ad valorem bond series 2017, providing findings, a savings clause, and an effective date. Thank you very much. Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. And a second? Second. Thank you. No discussion, no public comment. Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Fajan and me. Council Member Fajan? Yes. Council Member Einstein? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Horland? Yes. Item number four is fiscal year 2027 final millage resolution for the City of Plantation consolidated. Mr. Ezra. A resolution adopting the final millage rate for the City of Plantation of 5.7000 mills for the operating fiscal year October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, identifying the City-only millage rate, the City-only rollback rate, the aggregate millage and aggregate rollback rate, and the percentage increase from the aggregate rollback rate, providing findings, a savings clause, and an effective date. Thank you very much. I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a second? I would like to make a comment, a motion, before. Sure. If that's okay. Absolutely. I'm going to kind of restate my case again, requesting the rollback. I think the time is now. I think it would be wise in anticipation of the potential of Amendment 3 coming through that we take action now. And like I've said in my past comments, the revenue has increased since fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2027 by 49.95%. Some of these, at least three of those seven years, we've had 9% year-over-year revenue increases, which is extraordinary, which I really believe is a really complement to our residents who have created these vibrant neighborhoods and communities, and our businesses and our commercial property owners who are creating a great marketplace for people to want to come to the plantation and utilize the businesses and services that we have. Now, I know that, Council Member, Council President Horland, you did mention that it is more difficult to raise the millage, I guess because it's a supermajority. But I regularly have a 4-1 vote. So I really don't think it will be that difficult. We won't always be sitting here, sir. What's that? We won't always be sitting here. That's fine, but the history has shown in the last 25 years that we've raised the millage 14 times, we've reduced it three times, and we've kept it the same the rest of the time. And my point being is that when it's necessary to raise it, we are. And Davie is right now the only city that is, or town, my apologies to our neighbors to the south, that they're implementing a rollback this year. So I think we would be in good company if we did the same thing. So I will make the motion to implement the rollback, which I believe was 5.4878. Thank you. And we often disagree at this time of year. We rarely disagree, but we disagree on this one. I will continue to maintain that. I feel, in my opinion, that it would be fiscally irresponsible to cut $4 million out of our budget. It's 3.2. Okay, but close to 4. But thank you for the correction. When we do have Amendment 3 hanging over our heads, and as I said, it is much more difficult with the supermajority now to raise the millage rate. And that is a concern because, again, we won't always be sitting here, and I would hate to put another council in that position. You brought up Davie tonight and brought up the other night. I would venture to say, and I apologize because I did not do my due diligence on it, but Davie's had an awful lot of development going on in their community, and I think if you talk to the mayor or any of the commissioners there, council members, that that development has helped to offset a lot of the tax base, and I would not want to be in a position to encourage more development than we are already approving here to offset our tax base. So that would be my argument on that. May I reply to that? Absolutely. Because I did talk to one of their council members about it. And she didn't bring up anything regarding development in the city of town of Davie, but she talked about giving a break to their residents and their property tax owners, and that's how they framed it in their discussion, and it passed 5-0. Okay. Very good. Thank you. I heard your argument. Council Member Einstein. Yeah. As much as I enjoy hearing the two of you back and forth with me sitting here in the middle, Well, you know, the question that is raised every time the budget is before us about a rollback, I'd like to see a rollback, too. I'd like to see what my family pays to be decreased as well. The concern that I have is that when the argument is being made, whether it's by yourself, Council Member Fagin, or anybody in terms of reducing the millage rate, I don't hear the accompanying, what should we reduce in terms of the services to our public? And, you know, that's the balance that I find and I believe is worth stating clearly is that in order to maintain the customer service that we do in our city, that we need to maintain the revenue, and we need to make sure that we can afford the services. And, you know, I would always listen that if, when we're discussing the budget, that there is a very clear discussion of what 3 million or more can be taken out of our budget. Let's talk about the real numbers in terms of what would be reduced from our customer service beyond just talking about the mills. I think we've had some residents that have very aptly stated that when we talk about the millage rate, we're talking about real numbers in terms of what the public is going to pay. And that public includes me, who also uses our services, and my family uses our services. And so, you know, I will always listen to a motion or a consideration and may even make it myself if I feel that we can stomach it to reduce the millage rate, but not without hurting our residents and how we serve them. Thanks. All right. Thank you, Council Member Weinstein. Council Member Andrea and then Council Member Anderson. Thank you, Council Member, President Horland. I didn't do a lot of research, but I did see from one of the commissioners in Sunrise that they're actually increasing their millage rate. So talk about being sandwiched in the middle. So, you know, we do have a city that's increasing to the north and decreasing, I guess, to the south of us. But I, too, I'm not sure exactly, especially this late in the journey, how we could cut $3.2 million from our current budget. And I do think it's prudent just to wait and see how the Amendment 3 vote pans out. Thank you, Council Member Andrea. Council Member Anderson? I hear all of my colleagues' comments. Council Member Fadja and I, when you say it from 2021 to 2027, it sounds very high. However, you see all these appropriations come past our desk about how much fire trucks cost and how much just redoing a bathroom is $100,000. And you see the costs far exceeding CPI. And you see the raises in insurance far exceeding CPI. So, to Council Member Reinstein's point, it would be very hard to find these cuts. I wish we could somewhere in between. If we didn't have Amendment 3 hanging over our heads, I would be fighting for something in between rollback and the current rate. Bless you. Thanks. I just, Amendment 3 is a big hole out there, an unresolved hole, and it would be very difficult. So, I have a pledge to myself, I make it public, that I want to work very hard, depending on the outcome of Amendment 3, for next year that we do something. But I don't think this is the time right now. And I just have one response. Thank you for that. And I just want to say, and that is an exercise that we will all be going through when we have strategic planning, and we've talked to administration about that in January. You know, it's interesting, as I'm going out, and I did another presentation on Amendment 3 last night out in Park East, I created a poster board with some of the items from our budget and what the prices are. $24,000 for a police dog. You know, people don't think about that. You know, the price of a hydraulic stretcher in one of our rescue units. So, it's interesting for people to just look at that graphic and put a price tag on it, because we do see that. You know, I often talk about my tour through utilities with Danny Polio, and he's like, that needs to be replaced, and it's $14 million, and that's $12 million over there. And, you know, I'm generalizing, but there are a lot of needs in this city with infrastructure and, you know, the items that our staff needs to do their job every day. So, thank you for that. Council Member Fajan, I'll let you wrap up. Just one response. I lost one of my thoughts. I don't think there's many households in that same period of time had a 49.95% increase in their household income. And I relay what we do here on this dais and what the mayor does upstairs with the administering of the budget is that it's kitchen table politics. You have so much that comes in, and that's all that can go out. So, there's a lot of tough decisions. And I'm not saying that we don't make tough decisions already. I'm thinking it just should be more difficult. And there was another comment, but I can't remember what it is, but that's all I have. Thank you. And I think we all respect that, and we're sensitive to what our residents and what we're all going through. I know that my bills have gone up, but I think to Council Member Reinstein's point, a better exercise would be for us to come to the table and talk about – you found your thought – talk about the things that you wanted to cut in order to make that change. I remember very, very briefly. Sure. And it's not late in the process. This is part of the process. There's two readings for us to make this final decision. So, it's right on time if we decide to do it. Okay. Thank you very much. So, you've got a motion on the floor. I did not hear a second. Do we have a second on the motion? What was the motion? To roll back, right? All the way to the roll back? Mm-hmm. I know, but it's too much. Okay. Give me something a lot higher than that, but less than the – Okay. Or details of what you want to cut. So, okay. So, we have a motion on the floor for the roll back. I do not hear a second. Okay. The motion dies. Do I have a motion on the proposal, which is item number four, maintaining the millage rate of 5.7? I'll make the motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. Okay. And Ms. Sword, you wanted to come up. We've got a motion and a second. We'll take public comment. Good evening again. Good evening. Gerald Sword, 1621 Northwest 82nd Avenue. I'm speaking in support of the roll back. Otherwise, our property taxes will be increased. I have neighbors in my community who are having to spend over two-thirds of their Social Security just on HOA fees and utilities and phones and so forth. So, they have very little left just to go buy groceries, much less any form of entertainment. So, again, I support the roll back. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Sword. I just wanted to get those numbers because you were not here for the last presentation. But we do have numbers for Lauderdale West for an average of what it would go up. And it's not negating that it goes up, but it's really pennies and dollars. All right. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? No other public comment? Ms. Beggar, will you please call the roll on item number four? Council Member Fajan? No. Council Member Einstein? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andre? Yes. Council Member Ronan? Yes. Thank you very much. Item number five is fiscal year 2027. Final budget resolution for the Plantation Gateway Development District. Mr. Ezreal, please. This is a resolution providing for the adoption and approval of the final revenue and appropriation budgets of the Dependent Taxing District of Plantation Gateway Development District for the operating fiscal year October 1, 2026 through September 30th, 2027, providing findings, a savings clause, and an effective date. Thank you very much. Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. Second. We have a motion and a second. No public. Would you like to speak on that one? I thought you were coming back up for CRA. You wanted to speak on Gateway Budget? I thought I was going back up for you. Okay. Apologies. Welcome to the podium, Mr. Conklin. Dennis Conklin, 4581 Northwest 6th Court. I found my notes. That's why I was yielding before. I was checking the CAFR because I mentioned that there was about 10 million bucks in the Gateway and CRA overlay districts and everything. So I said, I think I low-balled that. So what I did was I went back and read the CAFR for 2025 and found that the Gateway Development District special fund is at 3.8 million bucks. The CRA Capital Improvement Fund is at 20 million bucks. The Gateway Capital Projects Fund is at $373,000. The CRA Endowment Service Fund is at $390,000. And this year, this projected budget is for, excuse me, this year the tax windfall would be one million bucks to the Gateway. And I can see a cause and a case by the numbers to zero out the millage rate for the Gateway. The budget was at $300,000 or something like that, $300,000. But I wanted to see what the pile of money was sitting on that district. So you can feel comfortable in knowing that there's money there to provide for this year's projects and budgets without any fear of cutting services. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Conklin. We have a motion and a second. Hearing no other discussion, Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll on item number five. Council Member Fadgen? Yes. Council Member Einstein? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andrew? Yes. Council Member Horland? Yes. Item number six, fiscal year 2027, final budget resolution for the Plantation Midtown Development District. Mr. Ezra. This is a resolution providing for the adoption and approval of the final revenue and appropriation budgets of the dependent taxing district of Plantation Midtown Development District for the operating fiscal year October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, providing findings, a savings clause, and an effective date. Thank you. I'll make a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Okay. Any discussion, public comment? No? Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Council Member Fadgen? Yes. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andrew? Yes. Council Member Horland? Yes. Item number seven, fiscal year 2027, final budget resolution for the City of Plantation Consolidated. Mr. Ezra. Resolution providing for the adoption and approval of the final consolidated revenue and appropriation budget of the City of Plantation for the operating fiscal year October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, providing findings, budgeted compensation, of elected officials, providing a savings clause, and an effective date. Thank you very much. Do we have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. A second? Anyone for a second? Second. Thank you very much. Any discussion? No public comment? Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Council Member Fadgen? Yes. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andrew? Yes. Council Member Horland? Yes. Thank you very much. And Council Member Fadgen, I always enjoy the discussions this time of year. So, yes, I do. So, at this point, we're going to adjourn the final public budget hearing at 555, and we will call to order the CRA final public budget hearing. Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Please don't. Commissioner Anderson? Here. Commissioner Andrew? Here. Commissioner Fadgen? Here. Commissioner Horland? Here. Commissioner Reinstein? Here. Commissioner Sortel? Here. City Attorney Ezra? Here. All right. CRA budget legislative item number one is the fiscal year 2027 final budget resolution for the Plantation Community Redevelopment Agency. Mr. Ezra? Is there a final, is there a public comment before? Yeah, I was going to call Mr. Conklin. You don't want to come up? Okay. Thank you. No, you're okay on the CRA. Okay. Thank you. So this is a resolution providing for the adoption and approval of the final revenue and appropriation budget of the Plantation Community Redevelopment Agency for the fiscal year 2027 operating fiscal year October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, providing findings, a savings clause, and an effective date. Thank you, Mr. Ezra. Do we have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Anyone? Second. Thank you very much. Any public comment on that? No, Mr. Conklin? He said no and no further discussion. So, Ms. Biggerow, please call the roll. Commissioner Anderson? Commissioner Andre? Yes. Commissioner Pagin? Yes. Commissioner Horland? Yes. Commissioner Reinstein? Yes. Commissioner Sortel? Yes. Thank you. And at that time, this time we will adjourn the CRA final public budget hearing and call the CRA meeting to order. And I just want to thank, before we do that, I want to thank finance again for all your hard work. I know this wasn't an easy budget. So, thank you for everything that you've done. CRA meeting called to order at 557. Ms. Biggerow, do you need to call the roll again? I think we're all still here. Fortunately, I can split these off, so it works. Commissioner Anderson? Here. Commissioner Andre? Here. Commissioner Fagin? Here. Commissioner Horland? Here. Commissioner Reinstein? Here. Commissioner Sortel? Here. City Attorney Ezra? Here. All right. CRA Consent Agenda this evening has four items, and they may be passed with one motion. Does any member of the commission wish to pull an item? None? Any member of the public? Mr. Conklin, did you – you didn't want to pull anything, just comments? Okay. All right. Do we have a motion on the four consent items? Motion to approve items one through four, Consent Agenda. Okay. We have a second? Second. Thank you. Ms. Beggro, please call the roll. Commissioner Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Andrew? Yes. Commissioner Fagin? Yes. Commissioner Horland? Yes. Commissioner Reinstein? Yes. Commissioner Sortel? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Conklin, if you want to make your way up, I'm going to make a comment before you start. Since we didn't pull the item, I just want to commend Mr. Glendon Hall, and I know that Mr. Conklin has done it publicly, but an article, and I'm not sure if Council has seen this article, the ULI article. Did you send that out to everybody? Urban Land? Okay. Okay. Sorry to preempt on that, but I'm really proud of it. So, okay, because I took it to Park East last night. Okay. So the Urban Land Institute magazine, Urban Land, published an article, How Plantation Florida Turned a Vacant Hospital into a $140 Million Investment. And I urge everybody to read this because I'm incredibly proud of what was started with Mr. Glendon Hall and ULI study. And you've heard me say it before when we were trying to kill that CRA bill a couple of years ago in the legislature. Our success in that CRA was instrumental in killing that bill because I was able to speak and tell our story and what we've accomplished there with the bill sponsor. And I know we played a small part in that, but it was an important part. And that ULI study was really the catalyst for so much that's gone on. I'm incredibly proud of what you've done over there, but it's also with the support of our CAO, Jason Nunnemaker, and the mayor and its council that we've had a forward vision. And I'm just so proud of what's happening out there. And with the purchase of these two additional properties, I wasn't sure you were going to be able to get that one done. We talked about that. But to be able to build affordable townhomes out there for our first responders and health care workers and teachers is also going to be transformational out there. I took this article to the Park East HOA. I missed you last night, Mr. Conklin. I know you were elsewhere. To show what we've done in that area and how that makes the Park East community safer and more vibrant. So I just want to publicly thank you again. And I think we should all be really proud of what's happening in that Gateway District. So thank you. Mr. Conklin, please. Dennis Conklin, 4581 Northwest 6th Court. Some of the ushers from St. Gregory had dinner last night together. So couldn't make the – You can't be everywhere. Plantation Park East Homeowners Association. Yes, I apologize. Not just plantation. No abbreviation. You kind of stole my thunder there because I was able to read the – I guess it's going to be, what, a magazine article or a professional publication? It's – the urban – when we had the Urban Land Institute come in and Mr. Hall brought them in and they did the free study of that area, they published an article. So they interviewed, you know, several of the principals in the city. But they specifically talk about that study and the investment that's been made, the publics, and what it's meant for the Plantation Park East community. Right, and they did it better than I, and I always ask from a request from the commissioners to please give all kudos and praise to the department head, Glendon Hall. So just to recap what I mentioned in the earlier budget meeting, that total money that is already there in the district, CRA, and the Gateway 7 overlapping districts, 24.8 million bucks, and that basically comes year in and year out because when you look at this year, it's going to take in on the millage rate a little over a million bucks, but the budget is a third of that. So you can see just in a small – what did you say? A microscope of a small district in the city. There's money there that's been building up over the years so that you can see through a telescope the whole city with $388 million in the mountain of money that you would not have to fear a rollback in the city's general millage rate. But, again, all kudos. I mean, this is incredible. So I'm a little bit nervous about 400 units, but that's an awfully big piece of land, so I'm hoping they won't go over three stories tall. Yield back. Thank you, Mr. Conklin. And with that, it is 6.03. I will adjourn the CRA meeting and call the city council meeting back to order. We will start with items submitted by the mayor. Mayor, we have a special guest tonight, do we not? Yes, we do. We have County Commissioner Hazel P. Rogers. She represents a big part of the northern part of Plantation. Commissioner, always a pleasure to have you in our chamber. She's holding six sheets of paper. You're not going to read all that, are you? You could be here for a while. It is always a pleasure to come here. I tell you, come in here, put a smile on my face. And I said, are they having the kids today? Because I look forward to that, too. So I did not check the dates to see if you have it. But we have our first responders, and that's just as good. All right, now, how are you guys doing? We love you, and we appreciate all that you do. And 9-11, I spend more time just trying to remember not to forget the sacrifices you and your family make. So it's good to see everyone. And to my colleagues, let me start officially and behave myself. My staff keep telling me, you know, you get off talking, so here I go again. Let me get to, it's good to see you all. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members, Madam Clerk, city attorney, friends, neighbors, staff, and the viewing public. I am glad to have the opportunity to share some of the things that we have been doing, what's happening in your cities. You know, what I've been keeping a little eye on. You know, when you say plantation, I try my best. All right, I have five cities, so I try my best. Okay, let me start with the county's budget. The fiscal year 2020-22 recommended, okay, don't forget I said that, because we have not approved our budget as of yet. Recommended budget is approximately $9.23 billion across all funds. Okay, think about that. That is a very significant number. But what matters to me is what that number represents. It represents the services all residents depend on. The recommended budget is about $492.5 million higher than the revised 2026 budget. With the increase driven largely by non-property tax-supported areas such as transportation, water and wastewater, and other enterprise and special funds. You know we have airports, seaport, everything that we do in addition to what we do. All right, at the same time, the county is being disciplined and cautious. The recommended budget reduces the number of funded county positions by 21, while county general fund agency budgets are increasing by a modest 3.4%. I know my colleagues understand fully what we're trying to balance here. So to me, the story is not simple that we have a $9.23 billion recommended budget. The story is that we are trying to balance investments with responsibility. We must invest in our community, but we also have to protect the taxpayers and make sure we are getting the greatest possible value and returns on every dollar that we receive. The proposed countywide millage rate for fiscal year 2027 is 5.6658 mils. And we're proud of that also. That is the same rate as last year. And I always add, we know property value is different than your face value and all those values, but we are used the same millage rate. Your taxes might have gone up, but it's not because of anything we've done on the county. The millage did not go up, but your property value could have gone up. And that because the millage time to upgrade in property value creates that increase, not because your county, or maybe not because your city did anything. The county also continues to maintain a triple-A credit rating for all three major agencies, and we have no general obligation bond debt. That is something we should be proud of because we are strong. Financial management is our key, and we stay focused on that. Priorities for me, the numbers are important, but the priorities behind those numbers are even more important for this commissioner. My priorities continue to be housing and homeownership, not rentals, not for me. Okay? If you have enough, you can do multifamily homeownership. It doesn't have to always be rentals. Negotiate with these developers so we can get the necessary properties we need. Okay? We have our purchase assistance program, the minor home repair, and different cities do it differently based on your population. It comes to you directly. Some we take care of because they're financial capacity fortification, $3 million. Neighborhood stabilization. Keeping residents in their home, $2 million. Support for vulnerable residents. And I'll go there again, $2 million for senior housing insecurity. We have to take that into consideration because our seniors are losing their homes. Homelessness prevention, $5 million. We continue to support, wherein we have attorneys through coast-to-coast legal aid services that helps our seniors. So if you know of any seniors, those that are behind me watching right now, we have some funding that can scare away the landlords even for another year or so. Okay, so I am one of the supporters I've supported and was able to secure for a small business, a small, we call it the micro-grant because it's not for the big guys. It's for the little ones that need help with the mortgage or have a piece of equipment they would like to purchase, and we can assist in that. So if you know of a business that needs that program, go ahead and please let us know and share that information. I can tell you I have everything on our website, but I wanted to share one other thing, and that's our paratransit program. Here in Broward County, you know our seniors need that more than anyone else. And we are trying to improve our transit system, so we're hoping that those that are taking our public transportation will share how clean it is, how you can time it, what time it's going to come so you don't have to wait. Or we're trying to make sure that we keep them safe and clean, because some of our bus shelters and our bus stops have become challenging for those that are using our public transportation. So I want to share with you that we have that on our radar. Whatever we can do, however we can partner with cities to improve that, we are willing to do that. I looked at the application process and asked a very simple question. When it was 20 pages and I was confused trying to get through it to respond to one of my constituents. 20 pages, and I'm more confused than when I started. So I got it down to five pages. And when you read it, you can fully understand it. So tell everybody to go back and see how they get from the doctor to the other appointment and to your supermarket and all of that. For me, those minor things to others are very, very important to me. And if it's impacting those in need that the project was created for, then we have to speak up. So your commission is on top of that. So that is where I would like to close off and to say, your district commissioner is always working. I meet your mayor and commissioners at different events. Some of them are shaking legs. So those of you who don't believe that we are just like you. I think that video is online. Oh, dear. We do go to events in our various municipalities, and I know who the dancer is in this place. Okay? Just I won't call any names today. Louis, how are you today, sir? Commissioner, we want to thank you and Dwight for the constant communication, for keeping us informed, but also for asking for information. And I don't know if you heard when you walked in, but we passed on consent agenda on our CRA because you mentioned housing. I'm awfully proud of this city and this administration and this council for what we're doing in our CRA. And we have now assembled three empty parcels that have been emptied since 1969, and we're going to be offering those as townhomes for our first responders and health care workers. And so we're incredibly proud of some of the work we're doing out there. We've also approved affordable senior housing out there. So we're really doing some incredible work out there, and I knew you'd be proud of us if I shared that, but I'm proud of what we're doing there. Well, I'm proud of you, too. And thank you for the projects with MAP. Okay. I thought you would like that also. Yes, that's terrific. Okay? And it's just for me, whenever I see anything that impacts the cities that I represent, I share it with the commissioners. I don't share it with staff. Right. All right. What I've learned is I'm the one that was missing information. Staff was well prepared. And, of course, the legislatures pass. I don't know how you're going to get around this because you're a green city or a tree city or all that good stuff that do with how we breathe. But if you're allowed to substitute live plants for artificial planters, most people don't know. All right? So you need to determine. When I go walking now and I see these artificial plants, then I'm saying hot sun and plastic. I don't understand it. So I just know I'm going to go sick, so I have not been walking for about two weeks, but I have to get back out there. But I don't believe the government is taking care of my health if you're going to give developers an opportunity not to plant. But guess what? The county has no jurisdiction, but local control home rule. While we still have it. Use it. While we still have it, yes. Looking forward to watching our plantation deals with artificial plants over the next couple of years. Council members, do we have any questions for Commissioner Rogers this evening? No, they don't. Thank you. See you around. It's so good to see you. Thank you very much. Mayor, we've got a proclamation. Yes. Council Member Reinstein is driving the bus on this one. Thank you. Good evening. I'd like to call up Bethann Krimsky and Peter Krimsky for this proclamation, please, on behalf of I Care, I Cure. And Alex has lemonade. Hi there. Whereas childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among children in the United States, with thousands of children diagnosed each year. And whereas the city of Plantation is committed to supporting these brave children and their families, raising awareness about childhood cancers, and honoring the memory of the young lives lost too soon. And whereas the I Care, I Cure Childhood Cancer Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 2006 in South Florida by Beth and Brad Besner after they lost their 11-year-old son, Ian, who lived in Plantation, where he was born, to leukemia. Their goal was to raise awareness and funding research for targeted, less toxic therapies so that children can cure with care. And whereas Alex's lemonade stand foundation for childhood cancer emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of four-year-old Alexandra Alex Scott while she was being treated for cancer. Although Alex passed away at the age of eight in August of 2024, she already knew that, with the help of others, she had raised more than $1 million to help find a cure for the disease that eventually took her life. From her lemonade stand evolved a national movement that has raised millions of dollars to fund impactful research, raise awareness, and support families fighting childhood cancer. And whereas I Care, I Cure joined forces with Alex's lemonade stand foundation, who matched all of their fundraising to fund targeted, less toxic childhood cancer research, and eventually merged to continue to work together. Whereas September is nationally recognized as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a time to emphasize the critical need for advanced research, safer treatments, and community-wide support for all families affected by pediatric cancer. And we would like to recognize both of these foundations here. Now, therefore, the mayor of the City of Plantation and the City Council do hereby proclaim September 26th is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in the City of Plantation. And we urge all residents to recognize the vital contributions of the I Care, I Cure Childhood Cancer Foundation, and Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, and to join in the fight against pediatric cancer that unfortunately impacts so many children in our country, including in our own community. So here in our city, the month of September is now Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Thank you. I would love to. My husband and I ran I Care, I Cure Childhood Cancer Foundation for many, many years. And with the help of many of you on this dais, we really made a difference in moving the needle on research. And so I thank you all. The word targeted therapies may be commonplace today, but at the time that Ian Besner was being treated, it didn't exist. So I appreciate this acknowledgement. Council Member Reinstein, thank you for doing that. And I want people to know in the audience tonight, there are a few people who have contributed to the community the way that Beth Ann and Peter Grimsky have. They're also plantation residents, small business owner here. But what you've done to help find better treatments for childhood cancer has just been incredible. And we really appreciate your contributions. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So we are on to service awards, and we have some good honorees this evening, celebrating five years. And we would like to congratulate Greg Jackson of Administration. I wonder what you were doing here. Thanks, Mayor. Congratulations. Thank you. Mr. Jackson, do you want to say a few words? Sure. Good evening, Council Members. Nice to see everyone today. It's been a great five years. You know, I can't believe that it has been five years. I remember my first day coming in. I was so very nervous. But I had a very special lady with a big, giant smile on her face that just gave me the most fantastic welcome, and that was Nan Bowen. And so I just want to acknowledge her tonight because she's really very special, and she was a great welcome. But it's been fantastic. My colleagues, the mayor, council members, everyone. And I also want to give a special recognition to my boss, Jason Unemaker, who has been the most amazing boss. I love him so much, and also to Carol Morris, who has been fantastic in allowing me to be her assistant, and I love her as well. Thank you, Carol. Greg, we passed the budget. There's no raises tonight. Congratulations. Thank you. Those of you who don't know, this is the month we do evaluations. Five years. Carlos Silva, Public Works. Carlito. Carlito is not here. Ten years. Sylvia Aret, she's here. No, just thank you. It's been great. Great ten years, and I hope it's another ten years. They're 20 years, so thank you guys so much. Is your title assistant director of utility building? No, assistant utility customer service manager. You heard that. Assistant utility customer service manager. 20 years. Jeff Beauregard, police. You're going to sing to us in the microphone. No, singing today. Thank you. October. October we were singing. I just want to say thank you. We have been blessed. We have my chief here. Thank you. And with the support from the city, we've been blessed with an amazing department. So thank you, guys. Thank you for all you do. For those of you who don't know, Officer Beauregard is one of the mainstays of our band, The Fuzz. And so I appreciate what they do, and they build a lot of goodwill in the city. 20 years, fire. William Regera. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you very much. Oh, great. Three photographers. Yeah. Traveling on the rest. You good? Yep. Okay. I'm not very good at public speaking, but 20 years has flown by. I work with a great bunch of people at the fire department. They've made it easy for me. I'm here with my wife and my kids today, and thank you very much. Thank you for everything you do. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Bring your family up. Take a picture. Yeah. Take a picture. Yeah. You don't get away that fast. Yeah. Hi. Stay here. Hi. This should be your Christmas present. If you can. I'm not sure how it works. The lens has gone. This way? Oh, yeah. That's a good start. Is it on? Oh. Is it on? Come to the next one. Next time, call the parole. Oh. I just call it. All right. It is on. Oh, I try. You look nice. Yeah. I want to give one. Thank you. We're now up to 25 years. 25 years. Shaquilla Robinson. Thank you. Do this part here. You can go with your hand. Thank you. Thank you. Hi. Good evening. Mayor Sortle, council members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. This service pin of 25 years represents more than just the number of years I have worked for the city of Plantation. It represents my personal growth over 25 years. I was hired in 2001 as a crime scene technician for which I served in that position for 70 years before transitioning to the code enforcement department. I have been, at different moments in time, the youngest person in the room, I have been the only black person in the room, and the only female manager in the room. These experiences not only shaped who I am, but shows the growth of the city. In these last 25 years, I have become a wife and a mother. For my children, I am showing what perseverance looks like. For my husband, it's all about health insurance. I look forward to seeing how the city continues to grow over the next 25 years. Thank you. You know she does a heck of a job. And 30 years, fire. Alago Corbello. Thank you. Good evening. Members of the council, Mr. Mayor, and to my chief, Don Todd. Just wanted to take a few minutes to say thank you very much for allowing me to have the privilege to treat the citizens of Plantation, to be able to practice my craft, and do what I do. I've been doing this for a long time, 30 years here in Plantation. I've moved up the ranks, which I'm very proud of. Started as an EMT, paramedic, lieutenant, captain, battalion chief, division chief, and now I'm the deputy chief of administration. Along with that, I've seen these men and women just grow right along with me. I'm very proud of them. I want to say thank you to my family, my wife, Teresa, my son, Chris, who's here, with his lovely wife, Janelle, my daughter, who's also a volunteer, Alyssa, and, of course, my lovely grandkids, love of my life, Audrey and Nicholas is talking more than I am. Again, thank you very much. It's been a pleasure, hopefully a couple more years, health permitting. And I also want to just say thank you to my second family, which is the fire department. You grew up with them 30 years. In 24-hour shifts, you live with them. So proud of all of them. Thank you very much. Please bring your family up, Chief. We're going to double back. We have one five-year. He made it now. Carlos? Carlos Silva. Thanks for that. That's all I know. Everybody likes working for the city. And I'm telling you to want to be here five more years at least. All right. I'm sorry I wasn't prepared. Appreciate the opportunity to grow my career. Five years here. And hope to grow. Thank you so much. Remember your panel. Thank you so much. All right. Big night tonight because we have four retirements. So when they get one of these lovely plaques. First up is Frank DiLoretto, IT. I have a picture with the key there. And I hope these words are right because they're engraved onto here. Okay. All right. Whereas Frank was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1970, Frank, his mom, dad, and sister moved to Patterson, New Jersey, where Frank was raised. Frank moved to South Florida shortly after 9-11 in 2002. Whereas Frank began working for City of Plantation in 2010 as fire IT support. Whereas Frank is married to his beautiful wife, Betty. They met in Patterson, New Jersey. Started dating in 83 and were married in 87. Frank has two children, a daughter named Danielle and a son named Jonathan. Frank is expecting his first grandson in mid-October from his daughter. Whereas Frank's proudest accomplishments with the city is joining the fire service as a volunteer here in 2013, it's an honor to serve alongside the department and support the community. After 16 years of service to the city of Plantation, Frank announced his retirement effective October 2026. Now, therefore, I, Nick Soto, Mayor of City Council of Plantation, hereby express our gratitude and appreciation to Frank DiLoreto. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor, council members, co-workers, staff, friends, I'm incredibly grateful for the memories, friendships, and experiences that have been part of my journey. Here's to closing one wonderful chapter and embracing all that the next one is in store. Thank you so much. And more IT. Mei Li, 20 years. That's good. And another key. Oh, nice. Whereas Mei was born and raised in Taiwan? Taiwan. Taiwan, Shenzhen Province, China. Mei moved to Florida in 1994 and started working for the city plantation in 2006. Mei is most proud of her mission-critical support of the police record system, which directly impacts public safety and ensures our law enforcement teams have 24-7 access to vital data. In addition, Mei helped develop our lobbyist and vendor tracking systems to improve city transparency. Whereas Mei met her husband of 32 years, and Mei has two children, Sunny and Derek, both software engineers. Mei and her husband established a charitable fund supporting local health care. Mei also belongs to the Boys and Girls Club, PACE Center for Girls, and the American Association of Caregiving Youth. Mei looks forward to expanding her involvement in community service. Whereas after 20 years in plantation, Mei announced her retirement effective October 30, 2026. Therefore, I, Nick Soto Mayor, City Council Plantation, do hereby express our gratitude and appreciation to Mei Li. Thank you, thank you, Mayor, and the members of Council, City Council. It has been a wonderful journey past 20 years working here. So I'm really grateful for the opportunities and the friendship and memories and the experience I have made along the way. So thanks for our IT director, John, and my manager, you know, Nancy, for their guidance and the leadership. And also my IT team, you know, so it's been truly a pleasure working with them. And finally for my husband. So thanks, thanks to him for, you know, supporting me all these years. So thank you and good night. And, oh, oh my goodness, 20 years, Nancy Paul, IT. Is there going to be anybody left in IT? Yeah, no. I don't think Nancy and Mei should have been allowed to retire at the same time, is my opinion. Don't call the help desk tomorrow, right? Okay. All right. Whereas Nancy was born in Chicago, raised in Brooklyn, moved to Florida in 1991. And whereas Nancy started working for a city plantation in March 2006, Nancy's proud that her technical career allowed her to implement technologies that directly support the safety of the city and its residents while building meaningful relationships with police department personnel. Whereas Nancy met her husband, Vernon, in Brooklyn, and they were married for 39 years before he passed away last year, 2025. Nancy has three adult children, Valerie Paul, Vernon Paul III, and Phillip Paul. Nancy has one granddaughter named Amira Spruill. And whereas after 20 years of service, Nancy announced her retirement effective October 2nd, Nancy will be enjoying a well-deserved break during her first year of retirement and will spend more time gardening, event planning, and eventually giving back to the community by volunteering as a youth mentor. Therefore, I, Nick Sortle, and City Council Plantation, express our gratitude and appreciation to Nancy Paul. While families making their way up here, I just want to say thank you to council members and thank you to Mayor Sortle. I came here in 2006, as he said, and I was driving by on my way to work, and I said, man, it would be nice to work two blocks away from home. So, that's what kept me, no, I lie. What kept me is I made some wonderful friends here and learned a lot. Hubby's up there, proud of me. So, I knew I was going to cry. Anyway, thank you so much for everything. Thank you also to all my chiefs, Chief Schlegel, and prior chiefs, of course. But, like I've said, I've made lifelong friends here. I've gained a great deal of experience, and I did have the opportunity to step on and work with you shortly. Jump back to public safety, which is where I belong. So, I thank you very much from my heart. You take care of yourself. Thank you. Enjoy your retirement. All right. Class, Jacob Steele, 24 years. He is not in IT. And a plaque here. So, whereas Jacob was born and raised in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, moved to Florida in 2002, whereas Jacob started working for Plantation PD on September 9, 2002, and is most proud of his 17 years as a crisis response member hostage negotiator, and has two tours for the U.S. Army in support of Iraqi freedom, whereas Jacob has been married to his wife Kelly for 23 years, Jacob and Kelly met while attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Jacob has two adult children, Casey, 22, who's earning her law degree, Ryan, 19, who's earning his undergrad while participating in Air Force ROTC, and whereas Jacob plans to volunteer during his retirement, Jacob and his wife are moving to Morris, Alabama, on a 27-and-a-half-acre property, where they will continue to support their children as they navigate life and build on the love he and his wife have for each other, praying that God will guide them. Now, therefore, I, Nix Soto Mayor and City Council Plantation, hereby express our gratitude and appreciation to Jacob Steele. Thank you, Mayor, Chief, City Council. 24 years, came down here from upstate New York, where I worked for the Poughkeepsie City Police Department during 9-11, and then shortly came down here after that while I was up there. I've had the pleasure of spending all 24 years of my career living right here in Plantation, 10 of which was in Park East. In the other 14 years, I live right here just north of the police department on Plantation Road, raising both of my children, both being born here in Plantation, and raising them all the way up to where they're now finishing law school and college. In that time, I've had the opportunity, like you said, to do two tours where this city was and will always be indebted to them through everything they did. Mayor Armstrong at the time, I had to leave in a hurry and a short notice of just a few weeks. My wife was pregnant. The city took care of her for the year that I was gone, then subsequently for a year and a half on my second deployment over there, the city took care of them the whole time, making sure they had the health insurance, everything they needed. The whole time while I was gone, I couldn't be there. So in saying that this season of my life, I've been blessed. My family's been blessed. And I've always had a great opportunity working with wonderful police officers and with wonderful citizens of the city. And I pray for them every day and will continue to pray for all of my first responders. And I am hopefully blessed on this second season as we take this next journey in life. Thank you for your service. Thank you. If you would step in. All right. I'm going to wait until everyone that's leaving departs, and then we will move on to Parks and Recreation. I know it is sad to say goodbye. Parks and Recreation. I don't know why you guys are leaving. We're having so much fun. We're moving to Parks and Recreation upcoming events with Director O'Toole. Got great things coming up. Don't take it personally. Good evening, Ms. O'Toole. Good evening. A couple of upcoming events as we are approaching our busier time of year. This Saturday, September 19th, we have our annual volunteer orientation for ages 14 and over at Central Park. That will be held in the gymnasium from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Also Saturday, the 19th, we have our family fit fest from 10 to 1 at Central Park on the multipurpose field in the middle of the track. That's free entry and all ages are welcome. On Monday, September 21st, we have a kids' day off camp at Jim Ward Community Center from 7.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. And Saturday, September 26th, we have a nature bio blitz from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Plantation Preserve Trail. In our aquatics division, this weekend, Friday the 18th through Sunday the 20th, Red Cross lifeguarding course. Friday, October 2nd through the 3rd, we have Central Park Series swim meet. In our tennis division, Saturday the 26th through 27th, boys and girls 12 to 18 level 6 tennis tournament. In our equestrian center, Saturday the 19th, a Plantation Acre Saddle Club show and the 26th Heritage Horse show at 8 a.m. Athletics, this weekend we're hosting the United Soccer Cup Tournament at Sunset Park, and we're currently registering for PAL Fall Baseball. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you so much. I think we'll see you a little later in the agenda, perhaps. All right, we will now move on to public requests of the council regarding municipal affairs. To those who wish to speak, we request that you complete a speaker form. If you've not done so already, please do so. When you are called, please approach the podium and make sure the green light is on the microphone. You will have three minutes to make your request to council. Please state your name and address, and please address your comments to the council president, not the mayor nor the individual members of the council. Please keep your remarks to the allotted three minutes, and please use your time efficiently. If extra time will be needed to conclude your remarks, please ask for it as your time is expiring and not prior to beginning your remarks. Mr. Conklin, did you want to come up on public comment? All right, please come up, sir. You're the only one I have signed up for public comment. Dennis Conklin, 4581 Northwest Sixth Court, if I may approach. Yes, you may. You're always bringing us gifts, Mr. Conklin. The original charter for the city? Thank you. Thank you. It's beautiful, Mr. Conklin. I've only done this once before, but I thought this being the 250th year of our nation's birth, we've got a long way to go because it is the Jewish New Year of 5787, if I'm correct. My wife, being Chinese, I know that this year is 4724, so we've got a long way to go. The declaration is in the mayor's hands. You have to keep those. The Constitution are in the first four of the city council people's hands, and the Bill of Rights, which allowed the Constitution to be put into effect, as in the other council persons. 239 years as a republic. We tried under Articles of Confederation. It didn't work out so well. And my request is that we pray for the United States of America. What I heard reported from the New York Post and happened to see, the enemy is inside the wire. And one of them is the mayor of New York, and the other is a congressman representing the metropolitan area. I owe you back my time. Thank you very much, Mr. Conklin. And again, thank you for the gifts. We have no one else signed up for public comments, so we will move on to the council consent agenda, which consists of items 1 through 10 this evening. Does any member of the council wish to pull an item? One. One for Council Member Fadgen. No one else. And Ms. Bernardi, you asked to pull item number 7 on the consent agenda. Okay. So we have 1 and 7. Do we have a motion for the remaining items? Motion to approve items 2 through 6 and 8 through 10. Thank you. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you very much. Ms. Spagaro, please call the roll. Council Member Fadgen. Yes. Council Member Reinstein. Yes. Council Member Anderson. Yes. Council Member Andrean. Yes. Council Member Orland. Yes. Item number 1 is the Fourth Amendment to Independent Contractor Professional Service Agreements for Legal Services, Gorin, Charif, Doody, and Ezra P.A. Council Member Fadgen. Thank you, Council President Corlin. In the memo, I saw what the increase was for partners, 275 to 295, but what was the increase of associates, law clerks, and paralegals? Partners and associates receive the same hourly rate. There has been no increase requested for law clerks or paralegals. Okay. Why do associates get the same rate? I wish I could do that in my office. Well, I mean, our rates are pretty low. They're pretty low. You chose this life. I know. And I'm not complaining about it. And we appreciate the relationship, and I appreciate the public service, but my private client hourly rate and the hourly rate of our associates for private clients is significantly higher. That's why I can't come to your office. You can. It was there in Exhibit A. What's that? The rates are in Exhibit A. I didn't see it. It was going to ask. I had one other question. When was the last time we changed the rates? How long was this? Two years ago. Okay. Motion to approve. Thank you. And I just like to say, Mr. Ezra, it really has been a pleasure working with you and Mr. Morgan and your firm, so we appreciate the reduced rate. Thank you. The professional partnership has been superb, so thank you. And I appreciate that, and it's amazing how quickly time goes by since 2019. And please remember that it's not only Mr. Morgan and myself. You have a team of about 25 people. Yes, and we appreciate the legal memos with the legislative updates. Do you need to read that summary? No. Okay. All right. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you. Any further discussion, public comment? No. Ms. Beggarro, please call the roll. Council Member Fajan? Yes. Council Member Einstein? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andrew? Yes. And thank you. Yes. An enthusiastic yes. Thank you very much. Item number seven is agreement number 056-23, aquatic, weed, and algae management services term contract. Ms. Bernardi, welcome. Good evening. Lori Bernardi, 11681 Northwest 6th Street, Plantation. As being one of the voters that voted to dissolve paid, I would like to come up here and thank all of you for the transition that you so far have made, and seeing that this number seven is on there already before the October 1st transition, I would like to thank you for considering and putting it into effect already that you are taking into consideration and adding us to jobs that are already being put into place and applications that are going through, and thank you for the transition that you apparently are doing very smoothly so far. So thank you, and we do appreciate it, and we are glad you are on board with us, and that's all I came up to say. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. And I will second it. No further discussion. Ms. Beggarro, please call the roll. Council Member Fadgen? Yes. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Horland? Yes. Thank you. Moving on to legislative items. Number 11 is amending the Parks and Recreation Fee Schedule. Ms. O'Toole, thank you for your work. I know we sent you and your staff back to come back with some new numbers, so we appreciate that. Yes, ma'am. So just to recap, I presented our proposed fees at the August 26th Council Meeting, and after some discussion, I was asked to bring back several other options to present to you, which is what we did. Obviously, I am presenting, again, the original proposal, as well as two others, based on the feedback that I received on the 26th. I also wanted to provide some additional context as to the department's cost recovery ratio and how all the different options would affect our operations. So these are before you tonight for discussion. I believe option A was the original proposal. Option B took out any increases for the senior fitness and some of our camp programming. And then option C presents with no increases for plantation residents, solely increases for non-residents. So questions, comments? Thank you very much for that. And I do appreciate, as I said to you in the last meeting, for taking that into consideration because we have talked about it during this budget cycle, that we are sensitive to the fact that costs are going up for all of us and for our residents. And this seemed like a simple way. While we don't want to cut into parks and rec-reations, cost recovery, that we might be able to give, especially from my point, some of our seniors and our working families a little bit of relief. So I'm going to allow Council Member Reinstein and then Council Member Andreo, because I know that he had had an additional request. So Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Thank you very much for bringing this back to us. I believe it was my suggestion or request, along with others, to go back and bring this back to us. I'm looking at the numbers, and I know the way that you brought it back to us with the no increase to residents, as was requested. When you were looking at that option, which is the option C, was there a reason why you decided not to seek to raise the non-residents even further, in order to try and recoup additional costs? And recoup additional revenue? Yes. So after the 26th meeting, I met with my leadership staff. We looked at some of the numbers, and we really felt that if we increased in some of those areas more, we would price out the non-residents. So we really didn't want to shoot ourselves in the foot, if you will, by eliminating the possibility for non-residents to enjoy some of our programs and facility rentals. So some of them remained higher. I know the tennis and aquatics division are a bit higher than some of the other programs, and that's something that we're going to start looking at. You'll hear a bit more about it at strategic planning of trying to increase that cost-recovery ratio with some of the more specialized programming while keeping it lower for some of the events and programs or playgrounds and parks that we have that are more passive in nature. Yeah, I obviously need to rely on you and your leadership and your team in terms of the research that you did in regards to what you are telling us could price out the non-residents that do enjoy our facilities. It did seem to me that there could have been a slight additional increase to the non-residents in order to help bring in additional revenue and, I think, also make option C more attractive so that the benefit was clearly received by our residents. But I appreciate the work that you did in presenting this to us. Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My first question is regarding the memorandum. I was, and I know you returned my call yesterday. I'm sorry that we did not get an opportunity to connect. That's okay. So the no fee changes in option C, what is the difference between those two? Um, $107,000. But if, so they're only, for option C, the only increase is, are for the non-residents. Yes. And that total is $107,000. Yes. And then even, okay. So I'm, I was leaning to option, towards option B, um, but I did want to ask about some of the camp prices and also some of the team sports. So why isn't there, and I'm, I'm sure you have a reason, I just am not aware of it, the sports that involve the team sports, like basketball is so much more than kickball. Is there a reason? Yep. So basketball, we do, um, supply uniforms to the, those are our adult leagues. Right. So we provide uniforms, um, their referees are a bit more expensive than a kickball or a softball. So there's different, um, items we provide to those participants and that's why they vary across the sports. Okay. That makes perfect sense. Okay. So kickball, they don't get any uniforms and the same thing with some of the camp prices and I'm trying to get there, but I tried to color code it so it wasn't so confusing. It, no, it was very helpful and it's a lot of information and prices, but, um, if there's someone else who has a question, you can come back to me so I can find the camp fee. Was it the, can I ask, was it the difference in some of the, uh, spring versus winter camp? Correct. Correct. And I know like some are more days. Correct. That's, yep. But do you have a set daily rate? I guess that's really the, the gist of it. It's probably indicated in the kid's day off camp. Uh, I don't remember off the top of my head, is it about 30 or 35? I don't have that in front of me. So. And then, yeah, I think it just varies by the number of days that those camps are. That's what I could. So if a kid's day off, which is one day is $30, right? Yes. But then the week, and I'm assuming you mean a five day week is 85. So that's why I couldn't kind of square those. What is this? Was it, um, a winter camp or a, cause I know we do have holidays and some of those like Christmas day and new year's day. We don't have camp. It just said one week, like Jim Ward camp. Oh, okay. So I said, if one day is 30, wouldn't, why wouldn't one week be, you know, 150? Yep. So Jim Ward's a little different. We don't, um, offer field trips and things of those nature. Uh, those are added, uh, fees for the parents and the participants. So that could be one of the differences. Why that one's a little bit less. It, and the spring break is, is that five days, six days? Usually that's five days. Yes. And winter break. It just. Winter can be about two weeks and then the holidays are sprinkled in. Okay. It just seemed very, I couldn't follow. Okay. Fair enough. Because if there was just a daily rate and then I knew how many days and it's consistent. Understood. But it doesn't seem like a consistent daily rate amongst the kids. There may be a reason that I just not aware of at this moment. Maybe they include a uniform. Because I think you do include like t-shirts in some of them. And I don't know if everyone gets a camp shirt. Some field trips. So it's probably a difference between some of those. Yes. I will say on the field trips, and I think we had this discussion during budget. Um, that's why we are upside down, if you will, part of the reason why too. Yes. I think that we're not charging enough for the field trip itself. And then also. Yep. And we talked about the buses and that's why you see some of these increases to try to get to at least close to a hundred percent cost recovery. And I feel like we're still very far from that. And look, this is only scratching the surface to what may be to come with property tax reform. So it's going to be a lot more work to be done. There, I can't think of anywhere where you can, especially when you talk about early childhood and daycares, where you could have an entire day for $30. Like you can't even hire a teenage babysitter all day. That's a bargain. Right? Yeah. My daughter babysits and she's charging at least $10 an hour. So, I mean, I just want, again, as we talk about, you know, our tax stream. Yes. Like this is part of that. We don't want to see those programs go away. Yeah. We don't want to see those programs go away. Right. Absolutely. And we don't want to see them increase and increase drastically. But these are the conversations, I think, again, it goes to your point that you made, President Hoyland, earlier about showing the prices to residents in Park East yesterday. It's important. Telling our story. These are the things that people don't realize. Yes. Agreed. So, okay. But thank you. I'm leaning towards Option B. Okay. We've got Council Member Fadgen, Reinstein, and then Anderson. Go ahead, Council Member Fadgen. Thank you. When was the last time we raised the rates? 2024. Okay. Okay. I'm leaning towards Option B. Thank you. Council Member Reinstein. So, I just wanted to get back to, you know, my preference is still Option C with no increase to residents. And it's not because I don't think that we need to increase the cost of some of these programs. I just don't feel that we should be doing it right now, this year. And I do think that the cost to those that are not our residents should be higher. And what I would ask, obviously not for this vote for tonight, but for maybe next year, that we can receive more of a sense as to the number of residents versus non-residents that are utilizing these programs, especially those that have waiting lists. Because I know that some of our camps do have waiting lists and there are some people who I've heard complain that they were not able to make it, were not able to be included for whatever the reason in terms of not because there was a cap. And so, you know, if we're looking at that, especially in those situations where, you know, non-residents are able to enjoy the programs and residents aren't, because they are reaching maximum capacity, that that may be more of a reason and basis for us to raise the fees. Where, as opposed to the idea of pricing them out altogether, but keeping it more reasonable or keeping the price down for our residents, that being the priority, not seeing it from the other perspective. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And Councilmember Anderson? MR. Did I actually click it? I reached out. MS. You did. Do you want to rescind that? MR. No, I wanted to say, Councilmember Andre, Broward Schools, before and after care, we charge $3.50 an hour. So a 10-hour program is $35. That's how cheap we do it for it. MS. Wow. Okay. MR. If there's field trips, we do assess separately for a field trip, though. MS. Okay. What? MR. After care is not in the hole. We generate money. That's not being charged. MS. The B is no increase to the seniors and some camps, and C is just no increases to residents. MS. Correct. MR. When we've raised it in the past, to your knowledge, because I don't know how involved you were in the past with it, have we done it across the board, or have you done it where we've bifurcated them? MS. MR. Yeah. Maybe not every program. MR. We're starting to get a big gap where you said we might disenfranchise. MS. Yes. MR. I don't mind it one or two times off, but if we get so much off, if a resident wanted to bring a friend, they're going to be like, that's way too much just to go to. MS. Okay. That's all. I just want to make that comment and ask that question. MS. Okay. Thank you, Councilmember Anderson. I don't know why it didn't pop in my mind earlier, but the original option, the $225,000 in additional revenue represents a 15% departmental cost recovery ratio, and then option B, the $220,000 represents 14.8%, but then in option C, $107,200 represents a 14% cost ratio. Is that the right percentage? MS. According to my math, it is. MR. I guess I don't understand, like the $220,000 is like 14.8%, and then it's basically cut in half, and it's still 14%? MS. Yep. That's what I have department-wide. MS. Is it not based specifically on the numbers by the services that are provided in those? MS. Yep. So I take all the divisions. Okay. MS. Each division has its own cost recovery ratio, and then I get the average between the whole department. Okay. MS. Anything else? All right. I will state again for the record, you know, I feel about the PAL contract, and if you ever bring them to the table on the contract, I would like that conversation to happen because, again, when they're sitting with that much money in their accounts, they should be giving some of that back to the residents who are paying to pay recreational sports. Nobody should be carrying $100,000 as a 501 . MS. Understood and agree. MS. So, again, I want them to know loud and clear that we've talked about it on this day, so I appreciate that. MS. Yes. MS. I'll make a motion. MS. Okay. MS. Make a motion that we move with option C, no increase to residents. MS. Do we have a second on option C? MS. Okay. Hearing none, that was a deafening silence. I'm sorry. MS. I heard the consensus, but it's still what I was thinking. MS. That's okay. No, you fight for it. So I'm going to make a motion for option B. And again, I really don't want to cut into your cost recovery too much, but I think this would be the year to do it and not next year, and we'll be facing different circumstances. So do we have a motion for a second for option B? MS. Second. MS. Okay. Thank you. Any further discussion? Public comment? Ms. Spigaro, please call the roll. MS. Councilmember Fadgen? Yes. MS. Councilmember Anderson? Yes. MS. Councilmember Horland? Yes. And thank you again to you and your team, Ms. O'Toole. Item number 12, codifying the Plantation Acres Improvement District. This is the second reading. Mr. Ezra, do you need to read that one? MR. This is public hearing. Second reading of an ordinance of the City of Plantation, Florida, codifying the Plantation Acres Improvement District Special Acts as ordinances of the City of Plantation, pursuant to Chapter 2026-215, Laws of Florida, amending the language from the Special Acts to conform to the provisions of the Special Acts and to the District now being a dependent district of the City of Plantation, Florida, as reflected on Exhibit A, providing for severability, codification, conflicts, and an effective date. MS. Thank you, Mr. Ezra. Councilmember, is there any discussion? MR. Motion to approve. MS. All right. Do we have a second? MR. Second. MS. All right. And I don't have anyone signed up for the public. Ms. I would like to state on the record. MS. Okay. MS. On page one of three of the ordinance, line 18, we would propose to change the reference to landowners to qualified electors, which is the terminology actually used in the Special Act. MS. Okay. MR. And then there's a typo. And both of these were brought to my attention by a resident member of the public. MS. Okay. And then on subparagraph F under 29-1, we need to correct a typo. It should be from instead of form. MS. Okay. MR. I amend my motion to include that. Thank you. MS. Thank you. So everyone's okay with that. MS. Accepted. MS. All right. Great. MS. MS. MS. MS. MS. MS. The City Clerk will swear in all witnesses. And Mr. Ezra, will you please read the rules? MR. Yes, I will, Council President. Thank you. MR. Please state your name and whether you have been administered an oath. Any speaker may be cross-examined. If you refuse to be cross-examined, your testimony may not be considered. Cross-examination shall be conducted in a courteous manner. The material in the City Clerk's agenda packet will be made part of the record. Excuse me. City staff will make the first presentation, followed by presentations from the applicant. Any affected parties, and the public. The elected officials may set reasonable time limits for speakers. The hearing will then be closed and the matter decided. City Council's decision will be delineated in its motion and rendered in writing by way of a development order, resolution, or ordinance evidencing its decision. The City Council may also decide to continue the matter to a designated time to allow for additional research or review. MS. Thank you, Mr. Ezra. Ms. Begrove? MS. Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the evidence you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? MS. Thank you very much. Moving on to item number 13, which is PP26-003, consideration of a request for conditional use approval for Sizzle Restaurant and Lounge. The property is located at 9763 West Broward Boulevard in Zone B-2P Central Business. Mr. Alpert, good evening. MR. Good evening, Council. Mayor, City Attorney, City Clerk, Michael Alpert, Interim Director, Planning, Zoning, and Economic Development. I would like to present items 13 and 14 together. MS. Yes. The request is to allow the change of ownership of an existing 4,500-square-foot restaurant bar, what used to be Vivace, Cormet Pizza and Pasta, to now Sizzle Restaurant and Lounge within an existing building in a B-2P Zoning District. So there's a consideration for a request for conditional use to allow the restaurant bar and one waiver from Chapter 3, Section 3-3 of the City Code, which is the proximity of the establishment to schools, parks, and child daycare centers when there's a sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages. The property is located here, just east of Knob Hill Road on the north side of Broward Boulevard. And it has residential properties surrounding it. The applicant is Melvin Foster, who is here tonight. And so, as I said, there's residential properties, including Chelsea 1 and Chelsea 2, Somerset of Jacaranda, the Fountains at Jacaranda, and Chatham Townhomes. There was a 500-foot notification boundary, and 297 properties were noticed for this application. This is in your backup, but here's a floor plan for the restaurant. The primary entrance is located right there. There are two sets of stools for the bar, as you can see on the floor plan. So the waivers from Section 3-3 of the City Code of Ordinances, which requires restaurant bars serving alcohol, be located 500 feet away from daycare centers. And they are asking to reduce the distance requirement from 500 feet to 320 feet, which is a 36% reduction. Obviously, it's an existing shopping center. They can't change the location if they were to locate in here. So staff finds this warranted. And just to show you where we're talking about, Sizzle's located over here, and I'm sorry, Kitty Academy over on the other side of the parking area, and it's a distance of 320 feet. There were not any comments received by staff or any objections, and there aren't any open code violations on the property. Staff finds, with regard to the criteria, that it meets the compatibility, compliance, and consistency standards. Okay. And we recommend approval. Thank you, Mr. Alperton. Applicant is here. Mr. Reinstein. Mr. Reinstein. Mr. Councilmember Reinstein, you've buzzed in. Yeah, I'll wait until after, if the applicant wants to speak. Okay. Otherwise, I'll... What about you, Councilmember Fadgen? Do you want to wait until the applicant comes up? I have one question. Is that waiver regarding the distance from a bar to a daycare? Is that the same waiver Vivace got? Yes. Okay. Thank you. That's all. So, Councilmember, would you like the applicant to come up? Mr. Foster is here? Good evening, sir. Good evening. Okay. Do you have questions specifically for him? Yes. Go ahead. Welcome, Mr. Foster. My question for you is in terms of your letter of intent states that dining will primarily be indoors with limited outdoor seating available for patrons. And I think that's fantastic. I want to see the outdoor seating. I appreciate outdoor seating. Especially this restaurant is right around the corner from where I live. And so, I think people enjoy having that opportunity. But my question for you is that while I see that in the letter of intent, I don't see it in the application. And in number seven of the staff comments, the staff specifically says that, well, if you want outdoor seating, you'll have to apply for that separately. So, just wanted to ask what your intention was. And I'm hoping you're going to say that you are going to seek outdoor seating. Well, I'm going to seek outdoor seating. But what happened is because of what was already there, that's the reason why I just replicated what I saw. So, that being said, I wanted to make sure to hear that on the record and also ask Mr. Alpert if he could state for the record as to what would be required in order for that next step so that you can easily move through the process to seek outdoor seating. So, there is an administrative review process where they submit a seating plan. And we check for ADA compliance, for egress, and that type of thing. But it's administrative. And just also to be clear is that the prior restaurant that was there did have outdoor seating. And so, it should be an easy process since there was previously outdoor seating that was there as well. Would that be fair to say? My understanding is that was during COVID and a lot of restaurants did it. And I don't think the city really enforced that. So, I don't have a record of that being approved by the city. Fair enough. Although, I will comfortably say that until the last day of that restaurant, they had outdoor seating there. So, whether we were enforcing it properly or not, it would seem that, Mr. Foster, that it should be an easy request. And I hope that you'll make that request. I did want to ask one more question in that regard. Is that in terms of the process, is there a fee for that process? Yes. That's a minor development, $250. Okay. Since I'm stating this on the record, I would also be comfortable adding into the motion to waive that fee in order to speed that process up even further. Since it was there before, and I hate to see when a, you know, it sounds like in this situation where the business didn't include it because the prior restaurant didn't properly seek to have it permanent. Although, it was there, and it's unfortunate that Mr. Foster wasn't permitted to include it in this application. So, thank you. Mr. Foster, I apologize. I got caught up in my colleague's questions. But for the record, could you please state your name and address? My name is Melvin Foster, and the address to the location is 97683 West Broward Boulevard. Okay, great. I think we've got a couple of other questions. Yes. Thank you, President Horland. Mr. Foster, I was very excited to have you here in plantation, but I was also very concerned that you opened prior to getting this conditional use approval and particularly not having your local business tax receipt. So, that is problematic. Okay, the answer to the question, when the state came in and did the inspection, I asked him, I said, okay, what else do I need? And he said, no, you can go ahead and open now and deal with city. That's what he told me. That's, I mean, that's exactly what happened. I don't know. Okay. The state of Florida, when they came in and did the inspection for… Okay. Well, I'm glad you're here now. But, yes, you were supposed to come before us before opening. Yeah, I wasn't aware of that. Okay. I don't think there'll be any penalty, Mr. Alpert. Okay. And your hours that you're… I was wondering what time you were closed. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, President Horland. Thank you, Councilmember Andreu. And I think, Mr. Foster, we're thrilled that you're investing in our city. I think the concern was we just want to make sure that our rules and regulations are complied with. Absolutely. So, as you go through the process. Councilmember Fajan. Yeah. Thank you, Council President. I'm not really in agreement with waiving that fee because I think we need to assess that fee equally. And if someone doesn't apply for the outdoor seating properly, we need to go on for it. If we want to have a consideration as to removing that fee from that application, that's different. But to give it… to not assess the fee for one applicant and then the next applicant might be going through the process properly and earnestly, they might not get the benefit of us waiving it from this thing. So, for consistency purpose, I do not think we should waive the fee. If we want to have a discussion about removing the fee for everybody, that's another benefit. And that's another meeting. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Anderson. Just a couple quick questions. What kind of menu are you going to serve? It's American and Caribbean foods. Yeah. Very good. I agree with Councilmember Fajan's comments about the fee. If Vivace had paid the fee and just didn't include it in the paperwork, I could have maybe seen that. But since it was never paid, it should be paid once. So, I agree with Councilmember Fajan. And I highly encourage you to join our Chamber of Commerce. Absolutely. Get your name out there and get our residents and our businesses patronizing each other and patronizing you. Absolutely. And if you have another B-side mixer, you'll invite us to come out and hear the music? Yes, absolutely. I look forward to seeing you guys. Okay, good. We all live right nearby. Right. Okay. Councilmember Einstein. Well, it was open this week and I wasn't invited. So, now I'm thinking differently. But I just want to be clear that my reason for suggesting the waiver is because while it may not have been the practice of our department to suggest to you or to take a different position, I'm not in favor of putting extra roadblocks in front of our small businesses. And, you know, the fact that we may have failed previously to remove the outdoor seating from the prior restaurant doesn't change the fact that it was there. And it was there for a long period of time. And, you know, the idea that you have to submit a separate application, I would like to see that process to be maybe reconsidered and revised. And this is not directed to you, sir, it's really directed to the department and to the administration, is that, you know, there may be things that our applicants and small businesses aren't thinking of when they are coming to our city to start their business and to start their journey here. But this may be something that our departments can bring up and say, based on experience, you know, you've mentioned that there's an intent for outdoor seating. Let's see what we can do to wrap it in, to include it. Let's see what existed prior. And, you know, $250, you know, it may be a lot to you or it may not be a lot to you. But to me, it's more about the process that I think our city can do better to assist our small businesses. And so, you know, it's not suggesting that this will become the rule, but it is based on this particular situation and your particular request. You've stated in your backup documents that that was your intent. And that's why I would have liked to have seen it rolled into this application. And that would be appreciated. Mr. Alpert, is that something, given the request from Councilmember Reinstein, that you feel can be easily adapted? Yes. I believe it could be part of whatever other process they might be going through, whether it's a BTR or conditional use. If that becomes a question and a desire, then we can work through it that way. I think if we can make it easier on the applicant and streamline the process, which would also streamline the process for your staff. I think any attempt to do that would be appreciated. Sure. And should you get the conditional use tonight, the next step is the BTR and the approval of the alcohol license, and then we could work on the outdoor seating. Okay. So we just met, and we're going to work together. Sure. Okay. Councilmember Fadgen. Thank you, Council President. I'm not for roadblocks of our small businesses either, and I agree, but this isn't where we should be having the discussion about waiving a fee. We don't know if someone's coming in tomorrow. I expect our code to be followed unless we decide to change it. So I don't think it would be fair just because we haven't been doing it properly in the past. That's an issue that we're aware of now that I think we're addressing it. So I am still not for the waiver at this point in time. That's a different discussion. So I just want to say not up for roadblocks, but that's what's in our code right now. Right. I think it's all of our desire to make sure that we're making it easier on our businesses. Councilmember Reinstein, would you accept that staff will try to work with Mr. Foster on these issues and not make it part of the motion? Or would you just include your comments? Or how would you like to proceed? Thank you, and I appreciate that. And I appreciate, Council President Horland, your follow-up with Mr. Alpert is that, and I spoke to Mr. Alpert previously about this, so I know that it is something that he's willing to look at and to be thoughtful in the future process based on this discussion. And so I'm okay with excluding it from our decision here at this time, knowing that the application will come directly to the department and for outdoor seating. It won't even come before us. It could be administratively done. And so that decision is how to handle it. I will leave it at your discretion, Mr. Alpert. I think that's a fair way to proceed. Thank you. With that, can I make the motion? You absolutely may. I will then make the motion to approve Item 13. Second. Any further discussion? Any public comment? All right. Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Councilmember Fadgen? Yes. Councilmember Reinstein? Yes. Councilmember Anderson? Yes. Councilmember Andrew? Yes. Councilmember Horland? Yes. And we look forward to coming to visit you. Yes. Yes. Moving on to Item Number 14, which is PP 26-003, which is a consideration of a request to approve a waiver for Sizzle Restaurant and Lounge. The property is located in 97-63. We're not done. Don't leave, Mr. Roster. You've got one more, sir. West Breyer Boulevard in Zone B-2P. Motion to approve. All right. I'll second it. Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. I'm trying to get you done. Councilmember Fadgen? Yes. Councilmember Reinstein? Yes. Councilmember Anderson? Yes. Councilmember Andrew? We look forward to coming to visit you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Councilmember's Item Number 15 is PP-26-0036, consideration of request to approve a signed special exception for 1250 South Pine Island Road, Glades Bank and Trust. The property is located, again, at 1250 South Pine Island Road in Zone B-7Q Plan Commercial Development. Does anyone desire the presentation on this? Do you need it? Anybody? Motion to approve. Okay. I'll second it. Any public comment? Any further discussion? Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Councilmember Fadgen? Yes. Councilmember Reinstein? Yes. Councilmember Anderson? Yes. Councilmember Horland? Yes. Councilmember Andrew? Yes. Councilmember Horland? Yes. Councilmember Horland? Yes. Councilmember Horland? Yes. Councilmember Horland? Yes. Councilmember Horland? Yes. Councilmember Horland? Yes. Councilmember Horland? Yes. Thank you very much, everyone. Item Number 17 is appointment of a student represented to Sustainability and Resiliency Advisory Board. And I just wanted to read something in the record, if I may. I know that we had only had one applicant, and when I read her resume, I realized that on read her resume, I realized that on her resume was my neighbor's, let me get it, she's a member of my neighbor's dance studio, and she had worked there. So I asked her if this was a young lady who was diligent and that she would recommend, and I'd just like to read into the record what she wrote. She said, yes, I would say she's very driven, diligent, and goal-focused. She's also a student at my dance studio. I've known her since she was four years old. She's an exceptional student, very involved with DECA at South Plantation High. She's also a member of my competition team, and has been for many years, and I think she would work well for your city. And so I just wanted to read that. If we were going to consider appointing that young lady tonight, then we had a glowing recommendation. Motion to approve Natalia Gonzalez-Gomez. Thank you very much. I'll second that. Any further discussion? No? All right. Ms. Biggerow, please call the roll. Councilmember Fadgen? Yes. Councilmember Reinstein? Yes. Councilmember Anderson? Yes. Councilmember Andreu? Yes. Councilmember Horland? Yes. Thank you. Wonderful. And I think the Sustainability Board was anxious to get that team representative on there. So we will start with Council comments, and we'll start, actually, we'll go to Mayor, and then we'll go to Councilmember Fadgen. Excuse me, could I just interrupt for one second? I know you've all been discussing with Ms. Morris scheduling a shade session. I believe it's tentatively scheduled for October 21st at 5 p.m., but that is, I guess, subject to change. But for purposes of complying with the Statute 286, I want to announce on the record that we are asking for a shade session. In the case of 12,000, Northwest 6th Street, LLC, et al. versus the City of Plantation, pending in United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, case number 26-CV-62300JTK. And that will be for purposes of discussing a potential settlement. Great. Thank you, Mr. Osdon. Mayor? Thank you very much. First off, Yom Kippur begins Sunday night, which means a lot of people Monday morning is the hard service, so not everybody will be reachable Monday morning. Okay. So plan according. We got two regular lunches coming up, and we didn't send out invites, but I wondered if you guys want tickets, the Fort Lauderdale Alliance and the MPO. I think in the past we bought a table, this time we haven't, but if people have interest. I do not. Thank you. I'll check with you on the Fort Lauderdale Alliance, so I just can't check the date. So our methodology then would be we would pick up your ticket. Since we're not buying a table, if you're going, then the City should pick up your ticket. I'll take a look at that. Thank you. Okay. Cool. That's all I got? That's it. Thanks, Mayor. Council Member Fajlum. Thank you, Council President. I know you're going to get tired of this. Speed cameras. I spoke with Chief Schlegel, and I'd like to have him come up. I just want to go through the process a little bit, and I asked for clarity on the report that he presented to us, and I'll talk about what I want out there. But I just want to go step by step. So correct me where I'm wrong. Someone goes 11 miles over the speed limit, whether it's flashing the school zone speed, so 26, wherever the posted speed, 11. They get their picture taken. It goes to red speed for validation, and then after they validate it, it comes to us to approve it. Is that correct? I know it's a matter of semantics, but the photograph taken is of the tag of the vehicle and the rear of the vehicle. But yes, so far the flow is correct, sir. Okay. So after we approve it, a notice of violation is processed and mailed to the person who got their plate caught. And then at that point, they can either pay it, they can register to go to their magistrate, or they can let that time lapse, and then it turns into a UTC. Correct. Of the options that they have, there was also another option of completing the affidavit in case they weren't the driver. Okay. But yes, sir. Okay. Regarding the UTC, so if the time lapses, is there another authorization point by our department or by them to initiate that, or is it just automatic because it's already been approved? No. So after the 30 days, once it becomes UTC eligible, then we have to... There's another manual step. We have to then say, yes, this will become a UTC. Okay. So I think one of the things you told me over the phone, and if you had an opportunity to confirm that, so there's a year for us to approve that in order to issue the UTC, or is it a shorter period of time? I think for the sake of discussion, most of the time people say it's a year. The statute, 775.15. Sorry, can you say the statute again? Yes, 775.15. Okay. Subsection 2D says a prosecution for a misdemeanor of the second degree or a non-criminal violation, which this would be, must be commenced within one year after it is committed. Okay. So it is really saying the prosecution is commenced, so I would say that while it's not specifically defined, it's probably just shy of a year. So hypothetically, they could issue it on the last day, but then the prosecution probably wouldn't have time to prosecute it. Right. Okay. What is our practice to converting it to a UTC? So right after the 30 days, again, that's when it becomes UTC eligible, and that is what we have done. Right now, on one of the reports, I know that there's a lot of the reports. On one of the reports, it has a column or a category that says UTC eligible, and it listed 8,000, I don't remember the exact number, 8,000 plus UTC eligible violations. The whole as to why that they're not UTCs yet is because there's a technological, let me see how I put this, a technological link between the vendor, Red Speed Florida, and the Broward clerk of the courts. We have sent test, or they have sent a test file to the Broward clerk. They are awaiting the second test file to be sent tomorrow, we're hopeful, and dare I say it on the record, but we are hopeful for next week for that link to be active. The question I had, what drove this, is when I saw that report last week, it wasn't clear, and I've asked for you to make request edits from Red Speed to say, to add an as-of date to that report, because that report was, I don't remember exactly, I'm just going to make this up, but ballpark, April to the last day of school, and then the report that you told me, that we talked about that you forwarded to me this morning, was as of Monday, and so we have all of these notice of violations, there's only been 12 UTCs, and let's just say the most recent one from that time period, the end of the school year, it's been like three months, because of a technological problem. So to me, if we, until we know that that system is fixed, I really think that we need to turn the cameras off, so that people don't realize that we got a glitch, and you're probably not getting your UTC, and I've got to be honest with you, at this point in time, so much time has elapsed, that is really not fair for someone to defend themselves three months after the fact, whereas if you were on road patrol, and you pulled them over, they're going to remember all the facts of that. I'm not going to remember where I was driving in June, if I got one of these tickets, and I decided to let it turn into UTC, and when I didn't get it, I'm going to be thinking that I'm going to be told, I forgot about it, or maybe it's going to turn into UTC, because I just throw out my mail, and people throw out very important things. Like, just a little professional advice, if you get a letter from the IRS, don't throw that away. You won't believe how many people throw those things away. And if you get a text from the IRS, don't answer it, call us. Yes, delete that immediately. So until we have the glitch fixed, and maybe it'll be fixed tomorrow, I would say if it's not fixed tomorrow, I think we really should be turning the thing off until the glitch is fixed. And then I think we should really think about getting rid of any of the pending UTCs for that period of time. And we really should consider about refunding the NOVs, because they really didn't get a fair process, because they didn't know, had they just ignored it, that they would have been getting out of it. So I think we need to talk about that again. I would really appreciate to hear what the, if the glitch is fixed tomorrow. Right. So to the point about them not getting the notification for the UTC, I would argue that they have, they originally got the notice of violation and then disregarded it. I understand. And then part of that is some people willfully ignored it because they read it and they said, okay, I'm going to wait for the UTC and I'm going to take it up in court. And some people didn't see it, so they still don't know that they have it. Because like I said, they throw away, they throw away their mail. I'm just saying that I just, I just don't feel this is fair. So I can appreciate that. Again, I really, for the, for the record, we are obviously statutorily compliant. I'm not, I'm not arguing that. And I'm not necessarily, I don't necessarily think that's actually true with the signage issues that are in the school zones. So, but if we're going to do it, I think we need to be a hundred percent in compliance signage, um, reasonable amount of time of, I think we should have an internal policy that's stricter than the state saying that if we can't get it out the door within X amount of days, then we're not going to issue it because this has to do about fairness, about someone to be able to defend themselves in a reasonable amount of time. And this is not quick and fast justice, you know, so, um, or they're right to a speedy trial. So, um, that's my thoughts on it. And you'll probably keep hearing from me about it. Okay. Also real quick, uh, but I'll respond. Uh, you had asked about the date and time stamp, which I agree with you. So the NOV, no, on the report, when the reports run, knowing when it's, when it's update. Yes, sir. Okay. Um, we agree with that wholeheartedly. Uh, and the one I sent earlier today, it is, uh, I said it doesn't have the date and time stamp, but I said that it was run today. We have put the request in to, uh, on their side and the vendor sides for the, whenever we run any report, it comes up with a date and time. So it'll be the activity through that date. Correct. Okay. And I think that's great. And I appreciate that you made that request. Thank you. Thank you for raising the concerns. I am not in favor of turning off the cameras. Um, I still think that we've got a severe speeding problem in this city when people are going 11 miles over the, uh, limit. So I'm hoping that you can get the technology straightened out chief with your request to them and, uh, go ahead and proceed. So thank you. Thank you. Council member Fadgen. Council member Reinstein. Uh, I just want to wish, uh, everybody who may be celebrating the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur a meaningful fast. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, council member Anderson, I'm going on the record that I wore a mask here Monday night. So I did not get you sick. Do you don't have anything? Okay. Uh, council member Andrea, I hope you don't. Thank you. Uh, just that plantation six through 12 school will be having an alumni breakfast to reconnect and network with, uh, past, um, students of plantation high. And that's being held on Tuesday, September 29th at 9am at the school. So all alumni and community members are invited to help build the future of plantation six 12, even paladins will take you even the paladins finally. Um, and Hispanic heritage month began yesterday, September 15th, and will run until October 15th. And I love the theme this year. Unidos Somos Mas together. We are more. Right. It highlights our collective power and connections. Thank you, president. Thank you very much. And it's been a while, but we're back on track for getting out before eight o'clock. Uh, we will not see everyone, uh, back here for another few weeks. We'll see you in October. And again, we hope everyone has a, uh, safe and healthy break fast and seven 41 meeting is adjourned.