Madam clerk, our meeting is not called to order. Roll
call madam clerk, please. Mayor edwards phillips mayor, vice mayor.
swell. Commissioner harrison.
commissioner maxwell williams.
here. Commissioner thomas,
acting city manager howard here. Assistant
city. Attorney morgan. Here.
madam mayor. Uh, commissioner thomas is present online. Thank you so much.
and so is commissioner harrison. Thank you so much.
item three, discussion review of the july 22nd, 2025 city commission
meeting agenda, madam,
a cm. Thank you madam mayor.
so we will move on to our city commission meeting agenda.
our first item is consideration of resolutions on consent, agenda resolution
2025 dash 0 8 7 awarding and authorizing the mayor and
the deputy city clerk to execute and attest respectfully that certain contract
number 25 dash 310 dash 13 r to kimley-horn
associates, inc. To provide professional engineering design services for the citywide traffic common
project in various locations within the city of lauderdale lakes in
the amount not to exceed $436,954
and 49 cents. And we do
have mr. Nasir, or I'm sorry mr. Ron, to
provide additional details on this item through you, madam mayor. Thank you mr. Ron,
senior attorney and the audience. Can you him madam mayor, can
you hear me? Yes. Yes. Uh, for the record, my name is r de bronze
director, uh, madam mayor. The before you is, uh, resolution awarding
or contract to, uh, kim leon and associate in the amount of,
uh, $436,000, 954049 cents
to provide, uh, professional engineering services
for the citywide traffic ing project. Uh, my mayor,
uh, this item was discussed in the last workshop and staff is
bringing it back, uh, as a formal resolution. Uh, this
project pretty much involve the installation of traffic calling
devices such as speed bump, roundabout and,
uh, various location throughout the city, uh, specifically and eastgate
northwest 24th street. There will be roundabout and speed
bump and northgate, uh, northwest, uh, 34th, uh, street,
northwest 35th avenue, and, uh, in oakland state, uh,
west of, uh, state was seven on northwest 41st street and also westgate
and, uh, northwest, uh, 33rd street. Again, it's all a combination of
roundabout and, uh, speed bump. Uh, this project
is funded by fdot. The entire design costs will, will be
covered. We approved an agreement. Uh, the city commission approved an agreement last
year, uh, to provide, uh, for funding services.
so kim lehan was selected to, uh, extensive an
extensive, uh, rfp process, which was monitored
by fdot, uh, reviewed by fdot and approved by
fdot. So we are moving forward with formal, uh, contract award
and which will, uh, be the last step before design process.
if you have any more questions for me, madam mayor or the board, be, uh, happy.
thank you. Any question? Max commissioner? No, madam mayor.
ms. Pav? Does commissioner thomas or commissioner harrison have the handout?
madam mayor? They do not. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Ron.
thank you madam mayor. Resolution 2025 dash 0 0 8 8
authorizing the mayor and the acton city manager to execute the third amendment to the transportation
system. Surtax interlocal planning agreement between broward county,
broward metropolitan planning organization and the municipalities
in broward county. And mr. Ron will be presenting that item through you,
madam mayor. Thank you mr. Ron. Yeah, political establishment mayor,
uh, the, this asylum is a resolution approving the third amendment to the tex,
uh, program, uh, with, uh, bro county o the
city. Again, this asylum was a workshop in the last, it was discussed in the
last workshop. We are going getting it forward for formal resolution.
uh, this is the third amendment to the, uh, transportation surtax pro, uh,
program, uh, madam mayor. And that amendment was
requested and, uh, by the be county, uh, city
manager association because there was some issues with, uh,
timely completion of project to the cex process. So
all the city managers around the county were concerned and they get together with weld
county to make some improvement. That, uh,
agreement. So it is a well, uh, approved
and executed, uh, item from that tournament met, which
will help, uh, the program going forward. And pretty
much well county, uh, county commissioner signed it on
june 10th, and as of today, more than 51% of the cities
around the county have already moved that
. Uh, again, it provides some fluidity to the process.
there are some key changes which really are good for cities. One
of them is the, the fact that before
the third amendment municipalities were not allowed to use surtax
funding or great match, and that amendment will
provide, uh, that possibility for, for cities, which is a
good loss. And also there's a formula based, uh, model where
they provide a certain amount, level of funding based on the, uh, cities
population every year. So, um, if you call last, uh, meaning
the vice mail receive a, a check from the certex that was in relation to that third amendment,
uh, the kind head of the, of the process. So now every year, every municipality
will receive certain amount of funds to help supplement
not sublet, but supplement their r and m, uh, uh, funding.
uh, if you have any more questions for me, madam mayor, be more than happy madam clerk. Acknowledge
the presence of commissioner harrison. Noted madam mayor. Thank you.
any questions, colleagues, any hand
raised madam ms. Palm? No questions from commissioner
thomas. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Thank you madam. A
item number nine c resolution 2025 dash 0 8 9 authorizing
the act in city manager to apply retroactively to july 1st, 2025
for the fiscal year 2025. Cops hiring program through the us
department of justice, office of community oriented policing
services for the purpose of funding two sworn law enforcement
officer positions. And we do have ms.
sue with ms. Heidi who will present that item through you. Madam mayor.
thank you, ms. Heidi.
good, good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor,
commissioner , acting city manager, deputy city clerk, colleagues.
residents. Um, at the june 9th, 2025 workshop, the
city commission reached consensus to apply for the fiscal year 2025
cops hiring program chp. The application was submitted
to the us department of justice cops office by the july 1st, 2025
deadline. And this resolution seeks to formally approve
the submission retroactively. So just to fund a quick funding summary
of the grant application the officers requested, or two,
the grand duration is three years plus one year for retention.
the federal share match, which is what cops will pay, is up to $250,000.
the city contribution is estimated at 866,314
over the three years. So that is a total estimated cost at 1,116,314.
as part of of the cops hiring program guidelines, grantees are
required to assume a progressively larger share of the cost over the three year grant
period. So it is estimated, as I said, that the
cost of one officer over the three years with the grant, 558,157,
and that is based on the highest salary and benefits for so
officer. So this approach ensures that full funded coverage
is insured and if you know, so there is a possibility, there
is a high likelihood that we will have a cost savings because we don't usually
hire cops officers at the highest rank. So
these savings would reduce the city's required local match and overall financial
obligation, uh, justification for the additional officers to
enhance police presence and response times, strengthen community
and engagement, and address rising public safety demands with federal posture.
so as I said, the action requested is to approve the fiscal year 2025
ops hiring grant program retroactive to july 1st, 2025.
I can entertain any questions. Commissioner max williams?
no question ms. Heidi, did I hear you say that $558,157,
is that for all of the office? I wrote one, but per officer
per officer mayor over the three year period, correct. Okay. That includes the
city match and the grant. All right. Thank you. And
raised. No madam mayor. Thank you ms. Heidi,
madam. A cm thank you madam mayor.
resolution 2025 dash nine
zero authorizing the acton city manager to submit
an application to the federal emergency management agency, fema for
the fiscal year 2024, staffing for adequate fire and emergency response
safer grant program retroactive to july 3rd, 2025.
and ms. Heidi will al will also present that item to you. Madam mayor. Ms. Hi.
thank you. Mad city manager protocol established. So at the
june 23rd workshop, the city commission reached consensus to apply
for the fiscal year 2024 safer grant program through
fema. So the grant application was successfully, um, submitted through
the fema gold portal, um, by july 3rd. And this resolution
seeks to formally, um, approve the grant application
retroactive. So funding summary of this grant application,
we did apply for 13, um, firefighter paramedics to staff
an additional rescue truck over three shifts. The grand duration
is three years, and the federal share is $3,337,370
and 40 cents over three years. The city contribution would
be $2,000,074, $581
over three years. So the hiring costs breakdown for fema is a
little different from cops. Year one and two, fema pays 75%
and in year three they pay 35%. So it still lets
us as the city atsu a greater responsibility. Um, there
is no retention, um, here for the safer grant versus
. There's that. Um, however, what is required
for this, the positions must be new full-time firefighters
grant. We must maintain the baseline staffing levels as when we
apply. So we cannot reduce the number of firefighters
that we have currently. So, and we have to do that for the full three years.
there is a condition that to accept this grant. So we have applied and this
resolution is to approve the application. However, I must, um,
say that grant acceptance is contingent on the acquisition
of an additional, uh, prior rescue truck to be
deployed with the 13 requesting officers. So, as I said, the resolution
is to formally approve the submission of the grant,
and as if the grant is approved and awarded, we would then have
to deal with the, um, acquisition of a private.
are there any questions for the ? Commissioner
maxwell williams, please. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
is there a deadline to purchase the truck? So we would know
by this, we may be awarded or we would know something
somewhere. Um, at the end of, I would say october-ish
this year, we would have some time to go through the grant agreement process
and all of that. I would say maybe around a year. Um, so we
would, but we would have to show that we would, you know, we would have to accept
the grant mm-hmm . To, in order to proceed with the grant agreement. So I would
definitely say by the end of this year we would need to make
a decision through you. Madam mayor, commissioner, are they, um,
providing funding to help us purchase this through you? Madam mayor? The grant
does not provide for equipment, um, purchase. It's just for the hiring
of the firefighters. So we would have to be at that cost as a city
to you, madam mayor? Yes, ma'am. Can we find grants that could help us purchase the
fire truck? Um, through you, madam mayor? We have looked, I have still searching
for, um, grants that do allow for purchase of equipment. Okay. No locks.
I haven't found anything yet. Not yet. Okay. Yeah, but we're still searching. Thank
you, ms. Heidi, what is the projected cost
of the fire truck? Madam mayor, I have chief packet
here. Oh. Who can provide additional information if that's okay? Yes.
thank you, chief.
good evening. Good evening, madam mayor, madam vice mayor, commissioners, mad
manager, residents and visitors of lauderdale lakes. For the record, my name is
chaz hackett. I'm your district chief of fire rescue bso. Uh,
the current price in today's dollars for a fire rescue vehicle, a rescue
truck is, is basically, uh, an ambulance. Uh, and we call it a rescue vehicle
because it's dual certified. Firefighters and paramedics, they respond
to fires as well as furnaces. The current cost
for a new rescue truck is approximately 650 to $670,000
in today's dollars. Now there are different, uh, avenues
to go ahead and, and purchase a vehicle after speaking to our fleet
division, um, getting a better understanding of it. It could be purchased outright and
they are trying to ascertain right now if there's like a fire engine, if
you were to purchase it outright, there's an additional savings percentage of savings
if you paid cash, that's option one. Option two
is a lease to purchase, uh, and that's through
an additional vendor. And then the third option is just to lease. Currently,
bso fire rescue does not lease to purchase, nor do we lease any of our own vehicles,
but that wouldn't stop us from entertaining, uh,
a municipality from doing so. Uh, so a city could either
lease with the vendor, lease to own with the vendor, or
we could be the leaser and coordinate that, and you would
just pay bso. We would pay them. Um, so today,
if we were to put a purchase order in for a rescue vehicle, we're looking at a
two to three year lag time to receive that vehicle. So
my understanding, if the city were to put a deposit down today, you wouldn't have to
fully fund that until delivery or acceptance of that vehicle. So you could be
looking at a two or three year timeframe. Now with that being said,
if the city agrees and applies for the safer grant and we receive a safer grant
via, so we'll put a spare rescue here so that staffing could automatically
go on that rescue with no additional charge to the city
and chief. Approximately what would the cost be of the put be?
the fire rescue vehicle? So the fire rescue vehicle in today's dollars is around
650,000 to $670,000. I would like to
add that historically, if you were to purchase a new vehicle after
five or seven years is, is your lifespan. So every five to seven years you have to
purchase a new vehicle. In today's environment, there's a company that we're
using that instead of repurchasing a vehicle at seven years,
say at $700,000, we're able to retrofit that, alright?
and it's generally half the cost of a new vehicle. So in seven
years from now, let's say the city today purchases a vehicle or $700,000
and seven years from now, instead of purchasing a new vehicle, we can retrofit that
vehicle, saving the city around 350,000. I am
speaking in today's dollar, so I don't know what inflation would be. Seven years. And we can do that up to
three times. So when we purchase a ci, the, if the city
purchases the vehicle and seven years from now you retrofit it, you
could do that three times. So instead of purchasing a new vehicle every seven
years, you're just retrofitting it every seven years for a total of three times.
so 21 years.
thank you chair. Thank you ms. Heidi. Madam .
thank you madam mayor. Resolution 2025. Madam mayor. Sorry. Um, commissioner
thomas just raised her hand. I'm back. Oh, thank you. Commissioner thomas.
thank you so much. Good evening. Thank you madam mayor. Um,
my question to the chief, I know he did say,
can everyone hear me all right? Yes. Uh, commissioner, thank you so much.
um, I know he did mention that, uh, if we applied
for, or, you know, uh, for this
grant and, um, it was awarded
and we did not have the, the fire rescue truck,
we could get something from, I guess, uh, the sheriff's
office or bso in order to fulfill the
grant until one is available two to three years from
now. Um, and that
would we have to pay, uh, for that
truck, that fire rescue truck that is provided? How would that
work? Please? Yes ma'am. Good evening. So we have
spear vehicles at our facility, so we would be able to facilitate
one of our spear vehicles, place it in the city at no additional cost to the
city of lauderdale lakes, commissioner thomas.
thank you madam mayor. Alright, so that would be no additional cost
until, um, that truck, which
is two to three years from now, is available for us.
so we, we in turn, if I'm understanding correctly,
would still be in contract with, uh,
if we choose to, whether lease or purchase to lease either
one lease to purchase. Um, we would still have to be in
contract to purchase that, um, fire rescue truck
while we have one currently from bso.
so ma'am, if I'm understanding you correctly, I think your, your question was we would
provide the, or would we provide the spare rescue vehicle
to the city of lauderdale lakes while lauderdale lakes is under contract to
purchase a new one? Right, because I understand,
um, that it is two to three years through you madam mayor. It's two
to three years that we have to wait for that fire rescue truck.
so the stipulation we could get the fire
rescue truck from bso, um, in fulfilling
what the emergency that submission of the grant is.
but after that, would we have to put forth
money in order during or afterwards
in order to receive the new truck? How would that work? So
the, sorry madam mayor threw you. So the spare truck that we would put here would
be free of charge for the two or three years that it would take in order,
ah, the new vehicle that the city of lauderdale lakes would be purchasing.
commissioner thomas. Thank you kindly. That's it, madam mayor. Thank you kindly.
thank you. Thank you chief. Thank you madam.
thank you madam mayor. Item number nine e resolution 2025
dash nine one authorizing the mayor and act city manager
to execute an agreement to florida resilient grant agreement with bnc diving
services. Llc free of the canal for rehabilitation project, as is
required per resilient florida program and mr. Nasir will present that
I item through you madam mayor. Thank you mr. Nasir,
honorable mayor and city commissions,
the city manager, the audience. This agreement,
uh, the amendment is to the agreement with our
awarded, uh, contractor, png or cannel
four. The location of cannel four is between 41st and 47th
street, uh, west of 35th avenue and east of 38
terra that's in oral estate. Uh, the project is done.
the contractor completed the kennel log. We, uh,
paid the contractor, then we submitted the reimbursement package to dep.
and dep actually, uh, gave us the comment that everything
is okay, except we need to include this additional requirement with the agreement
that we already have with the contractor. These are actually basic thing they're
asking us to include. As you saw in the exhibit, it includes,
uh, solid waste, uh, disposal act, clean air act, clean water
act, federal requirements, uh, additional requirement, um, made a product.
we complied with everything in terms of construction, but they wanted to
have this with the agreement with contractor. This is the first time we see this kind of
condition that we got from dep. If you have any question,
I can answer that. In fact, after the completion of the project,
we invited dep, they came, they inspected and they accepted
our construction work. That means the project work is already
approved by dep. Any questions, colleagues?
no. Mr. Naia, would you identify where canal for is please?
between 41st street and 42nd street.
west of 35th avenue. And, um, it's
in oil estate. Grace hill.
alright, just north of 41st street. Thank
you. Thank you mr. Adam. Thank you mr. Oh, you
next up too. Mr. Madam. A cm. Thank
you ms. No questions. Mr. De thank
item number nine f resolution 2025 dash 0 9 2
canceling the city commission workshop scheduled for august 11th, 2025 and august 25th, 2025,
and the regular city commission meeting scheduled for august 12th, 2025 and
august 26th, 2025. Are
there any questions regarding colleagues
none and raise no, no questions madam, mme. May see
item number 10, a consideration of resolutions on regular agenda resolution
2025 dash nine three, adopting a preliminary rate for storm water services
for fiscal year 2026 and setting a date for a public hearing to establish
the final rate and assessment role. And we do have ms. Susan
leor to present this item through you, madam mayor, susan.
good afternoon, madam mayor, commissioner, acting
city manager, city clerk, city staff, members of
the visiting audience. My name is susan gooding library and
I am acting as your financial services consultant in
the capacity of interim financial services.
and I will be presenting this item.
the process of this resolution is to establish a preliminary
form water assessment brief for collection through the broward county
property appraisers office, so that we are in compliance with
deadlines and public notice report. Just overview,
the monthly rate will be $6 and 25 cents at annual rate
of $75 per resident for a total revenue in our fy
26 budget of 355,725,000.
administrative action city staff will certify this,
um, preliminary role to the vpa by august 4th
and it will appear on the trim notice. The public hearing is
set for september 15th, 2025 at the city commission
meeting, and I would entertain any questions,
alex and raise
ms. Fox? No, madam mayor, no thank you. Thank you ms. Susan.
item number, item number 10 b resolution 20 25 5 dash
nine four adopting a preliminary rate for solid waste services for fiscal year 25 and
26. And ms. Susan will also present this item through you. Madam mayor susan,
all protocol have been observed and established value
waste assessment, which resolution is to establish the
preliminary salary rate service charge, which will be collected three
pa the proposed rate is $272
per resident. Also, there's no change from uh, 2026
to 2025. There's no change. Estimated revenue to collect
1,455,472.
it also will be appeared on the trim notice to all residents
commission approval. There will be september 15th I whole city
be I entertaining any questions? This
is an on your backup. Could you explain optional backyard surcharge of
$2 and 61 cents, please?
back, you said back charge. Back charge. It says optional backyard
surcharge $2 and 61 cents.
are we on solid waste? Yes.
for you madam mayor. Um, so the optional backyard sur uh, surcharge,
that is not something that's going to be on the trim notice per se, just the
residential, um, pickup. But that's something that, um, is billed
separately. Um, I believe through businesses if they choose to
contact, um, waste management, who's our solid waste, um, farmer,
what would the surcharge cover? What type of service? Well, everything that we
do in the stormwater, um, I'm sorry, in the solid waste is
for the solid waste enterprise funds. So it will cover operational costs
as well. The
2 72 would not cover operational costs. It should,
yes. Then I I'm not understanding the two we can do and,
and madam mayor, we can do also do some research and get back to you. Uh, tomorrow please.
um, madam mayor, commissioner thomas. Commissioner thomas.
thank you madam mayor. Um, not a comment. Not
a comment. Just wanted to ask ms. Susan to please speak up
more. Um, she kept drifting in her presentation to
speak directly into the mic, if I'm having that issue. Maybe
others are. Well, thank you. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you commissioner
madam. Mayor madam mac. I think some of those charges
also have to do with, um, if that area has a pool, maybe a
large patio deck, possibly rain garden
of some sort. Okay. But msid would bring us further information. Yeah.
thank you madam. A thank
you madam mayor. Resolution number 2025 dash nine five
adopting the preliminary fire rescue services assessment for rates for fiscal year 2026
and setting a date for a public hearing to establish the final rates for fire
rescue services and ms. Susan will also present that item through
you. Madam mayor, our protocol established and observed this
resolution ensure compliance with city code section 46 dash
2 8 8, chapter 46, and the florida statute 1 9 7
0.3 6 32. It serves to establish
the city intent to fund the fire rescue service through
a non-ad special assessment
estimated revenue for
we are setting the rate. Um, and this will be done
at our, the rate will be set at our september 15th, 2025
commission meeting. And we are also maintaining
the current rate structure. Um, I know there was a previous discussion about
fire trucks and all of those, um, different things, offices and the
safer. So this will, uh, become very important
in setting this fire rescue preliminary rate
for the fire services to bso. And this
will also appear on our trim notice that will be sent to
the bcpa on august 4th, 2021.
questions, colleagues raise hand.
ms. Pock no, madam mayor. No thank you ms. Susan mme. May
stand. Item number 10 d resolution 2025 dash 0 9 6
adopt a tentative millage rate for fiscal year 2026, established
in of a rollback rate and setting a date for a public hearing on the proposed operating
debt service millage rates. And ms. Susan will be presenting that item to you.
again, all protocol observe and establish
this resolution is to ensure compliance with section 2 0 0
0.065 of the florida statute, establishing
a proposed millage rate for 2026, certify the
rollback rate and notifying broward county property appraiser's
office. Our current millage rate is 8.6000,
no change. There is also a voted debt service millage
of 0.4910. There's
no change there. Um, total proposed millage is
9.0910, no change. The rollback
rate will be 8.04 to four.
the proposed operating millage exceeds the rollback rate
by 6.93% and this will be, um, appearing
on the trim notice to our residents revenue
estimated to collect from our proposed rate is
18,000,380 1002 68.
if the rollback rate is utilized, it'll be revenue collected
of 70 million 1 0 2 7 1 8
and will be entertained. Any questions? Correct.
raise hand. No questions. Mad. Thank you ms. Susan madam,
a madam mayor, we do have a time, certain 5:30 pm
that's for additional workshop items. Number five a. Would
you like to take that item now, madam mayor? Yes. Discussion regarding supporting the newly
formed chamber of commerce committee, future plans and needs in the establishment of the lauderdale lakes
chamber of commerce. And mr. Patrick green will present
that item green. And, um, actually I'll have ms. Vielka
come to the podium. First to introduce mr. Green through you, madam mayor vca.
good afternoon. Um, madam mayor, vice mayor, city commission,
city attorney, uh, acting city manager
or audience, virtual audience, colleagues and guests present for
the record. My name is vca buchanan. I'm the economic development manager.
this item pertains to a prior discussion with mr. Green,
a member of the economic development advisory board. Mr. Green
is leading the initiatives to establish the chamber of commerce here
in lauderdale lakes today. He's joined by several members of
the newly formed committee, which has been created to support incorporation
of the chamber. They're present to share updates on their progress and
outline the resources and support needed to move forward with the establishment.
um, with that being said, madam chair, if, if you allow, uh, mr. Green is
right here. Mr. Green,
thank you very much. Madam mayor, commissioners, city
manager, city the clerk, city attorney, members of the
audience, a very special to you.
my name is patrick green and on behalf of the business community,
madam mayor, want to extend a hartford thanks to you
and the commissioners, um, to the economic development advisory
board, as well as to the members of staff
of the city of florida lakes for your input and
contribution to the larger lauderdale lakes team
of commerce. It has not come to life. It is breathing
and it's living. Um, lemme share with you, um, madam mayor, some of the
progress that we have made since our meeting on june 25th that you
were in attendance. We have selected a, a very dynamic
board of nine members. Um, and these are
trailblazers who have given their time, um, and the expertise
to ensuring that the laws that the league stream of commerce is gonna become successful.
um, is a president, a vice president, secretary, treasurer,
events director, marketing director, government liaison, liaison officer,
and the director of large. And I'm happy to share with you that we have two or four members here
today. Uh, we have ms. Ann doza, who is our vice president,
and we also have mr. Borough, who's our marketing director. That
is ken over there at our first board meeting on july 8th.
um, madam mayor, we officially adopted the bylaws
as well as the article of in cooperation. Um, since that the
chamber has applied to for registration, um,
uh, to the state of florida. And we have also sought the
5 0 1 c3 designation, which we will do after we have gotten the approval from
the state. Um, once registration is completed, we'll open, of
course, a bank account, um, we're paying members
will be able to have, um, their membership dues, uh, deposited
and signal the full launch of the chamber. Uh, meanwhile,
our marketing events and membership teams, um, have already
started work, um, in making sure that the foundation
is is clearly set. Um, our marketing
efforts include creating a website. So we've started the process. Uh,
we've also started the creation of the social media accounts,
and of course there are promotional materials that we're looking at to ensure
that the awareness came created, uh, within the
only 650 active businesses that we have in our city.
um, the chain was present at the last financial educational,
uh, fear that was hosted, um, right here. Um,
at the event we got 19 businesses gave us
the information, um, and asked us to reach out to them
when things have gotten off so they can become members. The membership team
has created a very compelling value proposition,
um, that is structured to in different investment
tiers. So you'll have different tiers, different membership, um,
values that they will end up getting. We have from students,
uh, straight up to honorary levels.
we wanna make sure that, for example, if there's a student who is or still
in college who is, uh, business minded or business
orientated, then we can get them inside the chamber to kind
of start off the process of building the businesses. And,
um, taken on the entrepreneurial spirit that they have.
um, to build momentum, the chamber will host a monthly business
breakfast, um, which is going to be one of our signature event.
um, and in that, uh, breakfast will invite, you know,
as many members as we can get. Uh, our goal
is between now and the end of december, we are
looking to register at least 200 members
out of the over 650 that we have. We
do have the database, we do have the list, we have contact information.
and so the team is going to be working very, very hard to ensure
that we can achieve that goal. Um,
we know that this is ambitious, madam, madam mayor, um, but I, I
can guarantee you that the board and the team that we have working is gonna work,
um, as seriously to make sure that we achieve that goal.
we know madam mayor, that the city recognizes how valuable, um,
a vibrant chamber is. Strong chamber means
a more robust and compensative business community, increased tax revenues
and inviting environment for new businesses,
and of course, greater civic engagement in keeping our city clean.
green . There's job creation,
um, expanded access to state and federal grant opportunities through which
these goals. Um, madam mayor, we are asking for
modest investment from the city and it's modest because
we know that in other cities, the chambers that existed there,
they did get some help from the cities to start the process off.
we get the training wheel going until they're able to ride on, um,
the regular wheels. Specifically, we are requesting $5,000
to cover the cost of three monthly break fast.
so the state will look, become sponsor of those three break fast.
and then after that we will go ahead and use what the income
we have generated from membership and other activities fund
all our act activities going forward. Um,
this investment, madam chairman, will allow the chamber apart from all the
benefits that I outlined before, we'll also provide you with a banner at events,
um, on our website as well as so ones
to do at that point. We will make sure that we have that on it as well.
um, madam mayor, this is more than a sponsorship. It's a partnership
for growth chance of, so the seeds of a
more prosperous la the lakes business community.
madam mayor commissioners, we are standing at the threshold
of something special and extraordinary for thank you for
believing the vision and thank you for your support. Thank you in
advance for the contribution and sure that you will make ensure that
the city and the law ex chamber
questions. Commissioner thomas. Commissioner
thomas. Thank you madam mayor. Thank you mr. Green.
your presentation is always, um, you know,
top-notch and, um, I, I do look forward to
being engaged in the participation and I hope my colleagues
as well just want to clarify. You said, um,
the sponsorship would be for the first three
months of breakfast for the meet and greet. Is that what I
heard you, madam chairman? Madam mayor? Uh, yes. Commissioner.
that was commissioner. Pardon?
madam mayor. Yes, go ahead, commissioner thomas. And the total
amount, if I heard you correctly, is about $5,000 you're
looking at. So, uh, to you madam mayor. So the, the total
budget that we have is 9,600
and I believe $56 mm-hmm . And what we're looking to
do is we, and that will cover things like promotional
materials and everything that is needed, um, to get the breakfast going.
um, we didn't want to charge members, um, in the initial stages
because we want an incentive to get people in there, as many people as possible
so that we can try and convert them over to become members. Um, and so
we will use that as an incentive to invite as many people in there as possible
to be able to get them to become members. Now, once they become members, then after
that, after the third, after the third one, then we'll look at,
you know, other revenue, um, opportunities that we can use
to fund all the great class going forward. Okay. Through
you madam mayor, mr. Thomas. Thank you. Uh, mr. Green,
uh, also with that tier, I hope that nonprofits would
be included in that tier as well. You, madam
mayor. Um, that is the second tier, so we
wanna make sure that all the nonprofits who made such meaningful
contribution to the city, um, that they're involved in this as well.
thank you so much. Thank you madam mayor. It's
one question of the 19 businesses from the resource fair that we
had, have we contacted them any? And what has been the response as far
as membership? Alright, so what we're
looking to do, madam chairman, in addition to the list that we already have, we
did make some initial contact just to follow up. Um, but
in terms of the information that we can provide, we wanted to make sure that we
can give them the value that they will get when they become members,
um, and, and other pertinent information to allow them to become members.
so we haven't converted them as yet, but we have made just some initial,
you know, uh, contact just to say, hey, listen, thank you for stopping by the table.
um, and then we look forward to providing them with additional information. Thank
you. Mad mayor, mr. Harrison. Um, mr. Green,
thank you for the presentation. Um, as you know, the city wants to partner
with the newly formed chamber. Um, I'm in support of the chamber,
I think is gonna be, uh, needed for the business community here in lauderdale
lakes. Um, I actually think more businesses need to have a voice within city
hall, and we haven't been doing a good job at doing that. So thank you for your leadership on this.
um, the last discussion we had, you, you did come back and told us you would
be coming to asking for some support, some resources to help with the initial steps, um, which
is understandable. Uh, you mentioned some items create a website,
um, marketing for social media. Obviously this is gonna,
um, include creating flyers. Is there a cost associated with those items
as well? And, and, and do you currently, uh, have the funds for those items?
um, the funds for, sorry, through you madam mayor. Um, the
funds for social media, the website creation, um, is taken care of already.
um, we do have that covered. Um, and so, you know, this
is why we are not included in anything like that in or any requests to
be to this. Awesome. Um, have you already started?
thank you three madam mayor. Um, I did mention last time that we also want
to make sure we're, um, encouraging the businesses to invest as well. Have you
raised, uh, some type of funds from the business members that are currently a part of the chamber?
sue, you, madam mayor? Um, well, as I stated before, the
membership, uh, committee that we have, uh, in peace right now, we have
just about completed the value proposition that we
want bring forward to the business community. Um, and it
will be unfair to go to them and say, hey, listen, you know, this is what your investment
is going to be without proving value to them. And so now that we have
had that, um, I got the report this morning from, uh, our membership
director and we are gonna just look at it from a board level, ensure that
it is something that, um, is valuable to the members
as well as well as valuable to the chamber. When we have done that,
then that is when we start looking at getting investments from them
to be able to help to finance some of the activities and
functions that we're good having. Um, so to answer your question, no, not yet,
but it is important. Madam mayor. Yeah, mr. Green, I just feel like we're
kind of probably putting a cart before the horse on a, on a few things here. Um, I
think we should be having that discussions first, getting those commitments first,
setting up the membership process first. Um, those 19
businesses that was at the financial literacy fair, we, we could have had a process to funnel them,
get them engaged, pay membership, um,
I mean, I'm not against us putting something towards, uh, a breakfast, but to, to do that event
and then try to express the value at that time. You know, we've already
invested. There's no telling if they'll, uh, you know, see the value in that.
um, I just, I just think it's kind of, um, and, and my other question is how much would each
breakfast cost? I know you said that should cover the first three to 5,000. How much would each breakfast cost?
thank you. So I'll answer two questions to you management and I, um,
so I do, I can appreciate the, the sentiments that you share about the,
the, the cat before the the horse. Um, the thing is that
what we don't want to do is to rush through something and
then make errors in the process. It's a, it's a thought out process
that we are using, um, with the nine directors to ensure that
when we put something out there, it is real. So part of that process involves
argument c researching some of the, um, chambers of commerce around us.
they're gonna see what the market is, is charging for investment, what
value they're providing based on that, then we can coin something that
will fit and match what we have in our city. If we were to go to
a business, for example, the 19 business that we, um, saw a couple of weeks
ago and said to them, hey, listen, um, the cost for membership is going to be, uh, $50
or 300, what are you giving us for that?
well, we would need to have something to give to them. So I'm saying we have not lost them
and we have not lost anybody. What we want to do is to make sure that the process that
we use, um, it is proven, tested, has value for the
persons who are receiving it, and then we can deliver. Um, the second
question, uh, through you madam mayor, regarding the cost of the breakfast,
the, the food itself gonna cost us, uh, around $13
each.
you madam mayor, how much is each breakfast gonna cost? I'm saying it's 30
$13. $13 each breakfast is, no, no, sorry,
sorry, you're asking for three, madam mayor, you said there are three breakfast events, correct?
yeah. Okay. How much is each event going to cost?
so each event is gonna run us around a thousand dollars.
so do you mad mayor? Disagree. So the
cost of the breakfast, we are trying to get at least, uh, around a hundred persons,
uh, to each breakfast.
so you're talking about, um, you're talking about on, uh,
300 people over the course of the three months.
um, and so when we add in all the other stuff to promote and tools
and so on, um, that was where our cost comes up to .
mayor, thank you for that. Uh, mr. Green, um, again,
it's, it's, it's kind of vague. It is costing around 3000, but you're asking for five.
um, again, I support the chamber. I think we can, uh, put together a chamber. I think
it's gonna be beneficial. Um, I, I personally feel like I think we
have the network out there to somehow help with that $5,000. Uh,
I think the city more than likely would be committed to helping towards that. But I,
I think it has to be a partnership, like you say, where you can come back and say, here
are the businesses that are putting skin in the game willing to invest towards this. And we need
help from the city to help get the rest of this, uh, to reach the finish line.
uh, I, I don't want to get into the habit of, uh, the city being every time,
and I know we talked about this, uh, but again, we're,
we're not over the chamber officially, so we have to work with the chamber, but I, I personally
think you can, uh, especially if you keep network and raise some of
the funds from the members of, uh, to, to, to host these,
uh, breakfasts, you're looking to host disagree. Just for clarification,
um, just to make sure that we understand where the numbers are. I, I did say 3000, 5,000,
um, 5,000 includes the cost of the other stuff.
so it's not just providing breakfast. Uh, we need promotional stuff
to be able to get people there as well. Um, so the additional costs
above what the breakfast costs would include everything else to
get a hundred members into one, feed them, talk to them,
get them all motivated, excited to become part of the member. Um,
and, and, and we are not against having members having skin in the game as well.
um, that has to be the part because the chamber is not the city.
we are going to be having some friendly fights with
the city, I hope sometimes to be able to get things done for the
business community. So we don't want to feel as if the city owes us
and we can't go to the city and say, hey, listen, what you're doing is wrong. This is a better
way based on our own research. That's not what we're saying. But we, we think
it is prudent for the city to partner is the business community
to ensure that they can function. The
benefits of a chamber is proven that when
businesses do well in a city, the city will do well. And so
your investment here should not be looked at as
we are just given money. You be in a an atm, they're
providing money for, um, uh, a chamber is an investment
that has been made to ensure that the benefits
can come back to the city and its resident.
okay. And raise
michael williams. Thank you mr. Green for that presentation.
I think the chamber commerce is a great idea and
I hope my colleagues will jump on board and support him with the $5,000.
thank you. Thank you.
thank you for your presentations. Thank you madam chair, madam a cm.
thank you madam mayor. Thank you ms. Vca. We do have a time certain
of 6:00 pm it is 5:54 pm would
you like to go ahead and take the time? Certain now, madam mayor? Yes. Advi item number
five b advisory board presentation to the city commission.
we do have the budget advisory committee members and we
do have ms. Mattel, dr. Mattel stevenson, dr. Stevens.
good evening madam mayor. Our commissioner's, uh, c assistants,
I mean our act, city manager, our city attorney, and everyone else in our viewing
audience. I'm gonna ask the illustrious members of the budget advisory committee
to come up. Um, we have ms. Janine young, who is our vice chair, barbara smith,
who's our secretary, mr. Earl estelle, who is one of our members
at large and simone shepherd, who is not here. But we had
a very active budget advisory committee. We met and we wanna
say thank you for at least listen listening to one of the recommendations last year that we start earlier.
and so we stand tonight to present to you our 2026 budget
recommendations based off of the information that we had available during
our meeting times. One of the things we want to caution, I know that the finance department
put in deadlines for departments to enter budgets, but it's,
it's hard for us to completely do the work that you have set out to appoint
us to do if those budgets are not submitted in a timely manner.
I think that we had maybe one or two meetings that we were actually able to actually see budgets
to work with for the departments. So our recommendations are based on the information that we have,
we will number one, suggest that the city adopts the current millage
rate of 8.6000. We
also caution, and I know that we have a fire assessment that they just
received the results for. So our, our recommendation is that
when you get that fire assessment and that it is thoroughly reviewed with
the chief and budget that you look at that 'cause it is our belief that
any assessment, whether it's stormwater, water, fire, or
it's one more stormwater, the sanitation, that those assessments
fully support those services. Because what often happens is when
those assessments do not, I know no commissioner wants to say we are increasing your assessment,
but when those assessments do not support the services, you end up
taking it from another pot of money and eventually your reserves begin to dwindle.
so it is our thing that we support whatever the final results of the fire assessment
analysis will, will give you. Same thing with the storm water,
just to make sure that that's cost recovery in place so that I'm not talking
over anybody head. It's the whole thing that whatever you charge, it
takes care of all of those services. That's what we're recommending. So that means that if
what we're charging doesn't take care of the services that you strongly look at and assessment,
that will totally take care of the services themselves. Okay?
also that we really, um, look at a replacement plan for major equipment.
I know we've had so many conversations around equipment, but so that the city stays
fiscally sound that you have in place or ensure that the city
manager when you hire one put in place with those departments
that use major equipment, heavy equipment, a replacement plan
for all equipment. Because if you do not put a replacement plan in
place, you wake up with a surprise and sometimes that surprise can be to the tomb of
$300,000. So it is, it is, our recommendation is that
all major equipment has a replacement plan in place. Also,
I know that we've been working with a allow, um, with lost revenue, um, that covid
money that's lingering around. Our recommendation is that
we start looking honestly at those. I know a lot of that funding
went to towards minor home repair rent assistance,
and that we understand that we don't have our residents depending
on a pot of money that after 2026 will not be available.
and so we want to caution, um, the city on making sure that
we're easing our, whether it's minor home repair, whether it's hardening of
the homes, whether it's financial rent assistance, that that money that
we reallocated for lost revenue, that we all know by the end of, I know 12 20 26
is when some of it, all of it has to be done. That we don't depend on those
programs. Okay. Um, other budget considerations you can read,
but we just wanna make sure that our city is looking at the impact that tariffs
may have on some of the equipment or services that we purchase, that we look at the impact
even at a city of our size, that the big beautiful bill passage
will impact. How does that impact our city? Also, we
get the cops grants and we're all screaming about yes, you know, we do know that
there's a cost to the city and after the fourth year, just making sure we have a place
to do it. I know we're reapplying for those fundings, but we need to have a place since
public safety was something that each one of you when we met with you said was a
priority that we're looking at what is a way that we can maintain this level, even
if cops funding go away. So we wanted that to stay at your front forefront.
um, also wanna make sure we're creating programs that can ensure that our neighbors
are prepared and ready for emergency situations. Um,
one other one I wanna bring up is, oh, an analysis, right?
an ana a full analysis of all of your positions that we have because,
and a lot of the program modifications that we did see, a lot of it requested
additional staff. And so my thing is, if we're currently
not filling positions we have now, we're cre we're creating more. But that we really do
a full analysis of all of our departments, all of the staff and where we're
at, so that you can make sure that when things are presented to you that are for your power
to vote on, that we're making decisions based off facts, not off our
feelings. The other thing was to make sure that we review departmental level
budgets for opportunities to look at how we reduce costs. I think we said this
before, 'cause oftentimes when we have a changeover in staff, we don't know or you've
not been presented, hey, you're just presented with, hey, this is something we like, we wanna start this
new process. But you've gotta start asking the hard questions. What is the impact?
have we spent any money on, on things that we've not used? And
so we wanna just make sure that you're doing that. And so also explore
new revenue sources like cares act funding, medicaid economic and recovery
funding and public emergency medical transplant. So that is
our presentation that we wanted to make to you guys on the recommendations on the
information that we've had. Are there any questions, colleagues
hand raised? No. Madam.
yes, she does have her hand. Commissioner thomas. Thank you madam mayor. Thank
you dr. Stevens for that, uh, recommendation. All those recommendation
thoroughly, um, looked through because you had earlier
time in order to, you know, assess what was given
to you. Um, I thank
you for that. Even some of those, uh, recommendation that you gave
are to be taken, uh, thought wordly because
I do see each and every one of you on the board have the city
at heart. So thank you very much for that. Um,
all that you recommended and, and I'm, I'm also
in agreement with that, um, the
assessments to take a look at our assessment
when it comes to us for server service,
recovery and support of those services. We don't want to
maintain what we have if it's not covering
the services that we do provide. 'cause I know some of the services have
gone up over the years. So thank you very much for that recommendation,
those recommendation by the team.
thank you dr. Stevens and your team for the
hard work that you have put in. I also want to thank you for inviting the mayor and commission
to your meeting. It was a very informative meeting and a very sharing meeting and we
appreciated the opportunity to discuss with you all what the mayor and commission
would like to see as priorities in our city. And definitely the one that
I, all of them, but the analysis of staff positions is one that
really should be with that. But thank you so very, very much. I forgot to mention
one key thing we did talk about at our last meeting. Thank you. We talked about how to get the community.
madam mayor, we talked about how to get the community aboard. So next cycle, uh,
we do wanna host a meeting where all of the advisory boards
come to a budget workshop so that as they're making requests that they understand.
'cause sometimes we operate in silos and we only see our portion, but I think that if
we involve have one meeting we talked about with every advisory board
and the budget advisory board along with the commission, then I think that now we
are at least engaging more of our community members in the budget process.
yes. Thank you dr. Stevens and the board for, uh, presenting, uh, this
and the last, uh, discussion we had was great as well. Um,
I just had one thing I wanted to ask. Acting city manager, can we get all of her talking
points that she had in the backup so we can review? I didn't really, uh,
get a chance to read along. We don't have it in the backup, so, uh, if we could, uh, just get
that shared. Sure, no problem. Will do. Thank you. Thank you
dr. Stu. Thank you guys. Thanks. The ne
the next madam mayor's military advisory board. We have chairperson linda
huey and vice chairperson john davis.
mr. Davis.
good evening, uh, commissioners. Madam mayor,
city clerk. In the absence of, uh,
linda hughley, uh, board, uh, chair,
I'm gonna make our, our presentation. I'd like to first of
all thank the city for allowing us to exist
for supporting and caring about the veterans in your community and
people who have, have served for us
all to share the freedoms that we have. I'd like to thank,
uh, uh, commissioner,
uh, tacy for reappointed me. I've been on the board for, for a
number of years and we've done some great things in our community.
this time under the leadership of our liaison,
so the
military affairs board, our year in review and
our vision forward, the military affairs board
has made real progress in strengthening bonds between
our veterans and the lauderdale lakes community.
this is what we've achieved and where we're headed.
veterans brunch. We welcome over 60 guests, welcoming
new veterans into our community and into our, our
awareness of our existence, building connections and
appreciation. We participated in the community garage
sale, uh, we united residents and
veterans in a shared vibrant space. We'd
also like to make you aware of the veteran's parking spots.
uh, you notice I'm parked in one tonight, a couple
locations around the city. We'd like to thank the city very much
providing that to the veterans in our community,
a gesture that's truly va valued.
the lakes news features, this spotlights our
hometown veterans and, and heroes with plans
to keep their stories upfront and center
where we're going. Thanks to your past generosity,
we've laid a strong foundation. Now we're seeking funding
to power, uh, 2025 and
2026 initiatives. Uh,
we're planning on outreach popups, quarterly ga gatherings
where veterans feel herd and connected.
newsletter resource, page a did you know, column
sharing tips, benefits, and vital support information.
we'd also like you to consider a veteran's memorial
physical memorial in the city of lauderdale, lake lauderdale
lakes. As we drive through many cities in
our communities, I noticed in tamarack there's
a huge veterans memorial we would like for you to
consider sharing the largest
physical memorial in our community, the sam brown
memorial, and making it the sam brown
veterans memorial because it, it, it's one of
the most visible positions in, in the city,
and it would truly show that we honored our
veterans. We're planning other community events, luncheons,
town halls, and wellness gatherings to foster connections
and ease isolation, marketing and
recognition, outreach tools
and personalized acknowledgements that uplift
the veterans in our community. In
case you didn't know, lauderdale lakes has the highest
number of retired vietnam veterans in
broward county. Many live alone in field
disc disconnected. But together we can change that.
your support goes beyond funding. It's a promise
of visibility, respect, and consistent care.
let's keep showing up. Let's turn civic pride
into daily support for those who serve.
and again, thank you lauderdale lakes for your support
to the veterans. Any questions
henry raised? No, madam mayor. And mr. Davis, would you introduce
your gentleman that's one of the members of the advisory board standing behind you?
good evening. Uh, madam mayor, my name is, uh, jamal jenkins. Jenkins.
thank you so very much. Commissioner max williams. Thank you, madam mayor.
thank you for that presentation. And I totally agree with
making the monument, uh, veteran. I know I've been working
on it. We were talking about the park. We talked about so many different things. So
I spoke with linda, so I think the monument would be a great idea.
thank you, mr. Davis. Thank you, mr. Jake.
next we have the parks and recreation advisory board, and I believe secretary crystal,
crystal koman, and board member james humphrey and paul martin
are present. Who you? Madam mayor.
dr. Bass.
hello everyone. Um, hello. Hello. Okay,
how you doing? Um, I'm the chairperson. I'm gonna be presenting, um, I'm dr.
cullen bass on my, the other board members I would like to state is rudolph mcken,
vice chair. I have crystal, who's the
second execut? Paul martin is a member at large, and also james hump,
also a member at large. Being passed around is a list of
support that I'm gonna be giving. I'm gonna make it short and sweet. I'm not gonna talk
about everything, but I think I'm gonna just highlight certain things in this report that
I think would be pertinent. But you have any questions? You can also always ask me the question
again. I live in 38 21 north west 41st street, over in orio estate.
now, I would like to let you know, I also, I've been on this board five
long time on this park track for a long time. Wow.
too long, but it's long . Anyway, um, I would
like talk about the goal of the park. Most of the time people think parks is only sports,
but it's not. It's a, a little bit more than just parks. Just parks. It's, it, it draws
people to the community. You have a purified park. It brings a lot of people. So the goal
of the board is to one, uh, routinely visit parks and community centers
and report any safety programs and, or it concerns our
main goal in parks and recs. It's safety, safety first.
and we go out and visit the park and we see damage items or
things of that nature. We report it back to our liaison, which is vince mullen,
and he reports to you guys. And our one priority is safety first. No
matter what, it's always about safety. Therefore, we get safety outta the way. It
don't, e safety is our number one priority no matter what we do. The
safety is always our top goal. Uh, second thing is to be the voice of the
residents, because we all the residents, and as it relates to requests,
risk programs and facilitate any services, we give back
suggestions from the board. I've been doing this for years. Then we bring new projects on board.
it always get approved through. All we do is recommend. We just a advisory board. We
recommend it get approved through the commission. So that's the second thing. Activity,
uh, attendance and support. Support events. We go by different, um,
sporting events like basketball, football, whatever. It, it's, we have an event that we try to support as well,
uh, and administer. Throughout the parks and human services, we, uh, suggest new
programs, like I mentioned, and amenities and leisure of services to be
better. How to serve our residents. Our number one goal is residents. First,
it's all about the residents. If it's not the residents, I'm thinking it'll be anyone else. So we come
first as a resident, and I am a resident as well. And, uh, fourth, we
wanna encourage members of the community to participate as well as the support of our city
program. We try to get our flyers. Don't know how often they get it out. We su we recommend
it, it up to being part of policy and procedure. That's
number one. Through through parks and rec. We can't mandate anything. We just make
recommendation and they try to implement what we recommend or
get approval through the commission. That's what we try to do. Now, the other items
from the report activities, you guys can see that. Read it because it is all there in pretty
well filled out. Now, our current items that we are working on is
we do a lot of, um, we call 'em, we call 'em tour. I mean, we call 'em,
uh, um, um, tours. We go by different parks. We, we segregate
it because it's like six or seven parks. We go by three during one of our meetings. Days, month, we
do the other and we see what's going on and we present that back. And, um,
and I like to all, uh, leave that alone. But actually we stay breath on.
positive procedures, what you guys implement. We wanna make sure that we stay on task as one group.
I like what the guy said over here. Partnership. I love the word that he used. Partnership,
I like that word. So we try to be partners with all the advisory board, and we try to give our input
on what we can do and stay in our lane, not outside of our lane. Second,
we wanna provide continued support department through attendance and recommendation.
we always try to be on time and always want to be present through all of, we, we don't
have too many people missing any meeting. We love our board and everybody have input.
so we do have a lot of good attendance through our board. We want,
we do the clean. We wanna be part of the cleanup, um, project because a lot of those
parks that unmanned stipend preserve, but just, uh,
unmanned park. Um, and it
otis, otis gray, otis gray. So those parks that by people,
the uses of the park, a lot of trash and a lot of things are out there. Beautification
means a lot to the park. To me. It means a very lot. It attracts people. If you
have trash and stuff, I don't wanna go to that park and bring my kids or my grandkids. I got plenty of grandkids
and we wanna make sure that that stay clean. So we want to identify those
issues. And they also can be a hazardous because people, these kids or somebody might
pick up something and put it in their mouth. So once again, safety always come first. And
then, uh, survey the residents. We go by. I talk to a lot of people. I'm
a member of pine grove. I talk to people around, we all part of the city, and we find out what can
we do to improve the, um, the park, what can we
do? And finally, uh, I would like to mention, we, I just, we just had a short meeting
and I would like to, this is the last thing, my last item I wanna be short, is that we want to showcase
the park. So, um, it's not fully implemented, but
I just wanna say that this is how we make our recommendation that we
let it move forward as, as, and seeing can it work is
that we want to showcase really well about having, um, with the joint
venture, I'm also the president of the christian brotherhoodhood with piney grove. We wanna have
a joint venture. You have to have with the church, we have to have a, we gotta have a collaboration with
the community. We want to build from the church, not inward
only. We want to build outward. So with the, the blessing, um,
from the commission, always through the commission, I want, we want to have an
event where that, the community, which over there, under the period, because we
going through a lot this year with what's going on. We're going through a lot. And, um,
cambridge square, so willie webb is over there by cambridge square. That's one of the parks that we've been,
um, they've been targeting and they did beautiful renovation. The, the basketball, the basketball,
golden field, things like that. And show the community what we've did. So we want
to bring people out to show 'cause they don't come out if you don't have any type of event.
so we're going to present events, gonna present it,
and we like, would like to move forward. And, um, I would like to, uh, make
a recommendation right now. And, and we want to request that, uh, we want to
invite, uh, we, the mayor if possible,
if not the vice mayor, but we would like to have to show that we have, uh,
um, partnership with the commission and also
with pine grove. I will be speaking to the pastor and all the members over there, and
we will have some of the, uh, ministry and we will have the thing because they're going
back to school and we would like to, um, have a day out and they can enjoy
the park and see what it is. And then they can pass it back. And word of mouth is the best,
best advertisement. So with that said, are there
any, that concludes, that concludes our presentation.
are there any questions? Yes, commissioner harrison. Thank you. Uh, thank
you so much for your, uh, presentation and thank you to the, um, parks and recs board
for all that you do out there. Um, uh, you, you mentioned some key things about
beautification, which is a big thing for me. Uh, I had a chance to
actually tour the parks and recs, uh, parks and human services department
and been to some of the parks that you talked about, some of the parks you're talking about here in this report.
and I totally agree. Um, cyprus preserve preservation park
needs a lot of attention. Um, and I, I want to see exactly
what we can do out there to not only help the park, but re-engage the
community around the park so it gets utilized and it gets used. Amen. On that one
of, of course, of course. It is. I'm, I'm looking forward to, um, and I'm sure my colleagues would agree to partner
with you all on that. Um, also, um, you spoke about unmanned
parks. I think that's very important, uh, to, to see how we can get
more coverage in our parks. And I also noticed, um, that having
internal maintenance staff could also be of a help with our parks as well, instead
of always just waiting on public works to come over and do things when needed. If the
parks department had their own internal staff to kind of rectify, take care of things, uh,
I think that could be of help. So just a few observations I made in the years. I said,
I've been here over 20 something years. We had that at some point. Dr. Oh,
I'm sorry. I apologize. Go ahead. I didn't know. I don't apologize.
go ahead. Go ahead. No speak or
no? Yes, go ahead. Oh, okay. I apologize madam mayor,
it wasn't my intention to be disrespectful. I go ahead dr. May. It's not my intention.
go back, dr. Bass. Yes, ma'am. Okay.
what you were saying is we had that in the past. I've been here, you went through a different
kind of, the turnover on commission. It turns over quicker than
the residents turnover. And I've been on the board, you, so if things change, not nothing bad,
you have to go in the times as times go. But in the past that
we did have that, that would be something that we will, uh, make a recommendation
to probably revisit. But I, I definitely see where you're going.
and I, I, you and I on the same page. Awesome. Thank you.
raise hand. No, madam mayor. Thank you mr. Maxwell williams.
thank you for the presentation. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. And once again, I apologize,
but if you, if you would please dr. Bass, introduce your committee.
both. I thought I did at the beginning. They're calling names we don't know.
oh, good.
good evening. Good evening, everyone. I'm crystal cotman. I'm the secretary on
the, uh, parks and .
good evening. Good morning. My name is james humphrey. I'm one of the new members.
mayor, commissioner. Yes. Paul martin. Just
the, the declaration.
good afternoon everyone. Commissioner. Hi mayor.
mayor. Well, I think
it was a nice presentation, mr. Ek concern in the fox.
I don't mean to take up much time, but I'm glad that you
would see what we're talking about and hope everything will
be taken care of. Thank you. Thank you all so much. Thank you, dr.
I'm sorry. Um, I'm vice mayor, vice president of the
welcome recreation vice chair. So much,
and thank you ms. Events once again, let's conclude the parks and rec advisory
board presentation. Y'all enjoy your day. Thank you so much. Mad
a cm. Now we have planning and zoning board chairperson
nicole hall. So
good evening, mayor, commissioner, staff and residents. Thank you
for the opportunity to speak before you. On behalf of the planning and zoning
board, it's going to be very brief as the commission
directly receives all the things that the planning
and zoning board see. And once it comes to the
planning and zoning board, it then goes to the commission. Uh, I'll just go
over briefly more so for the residents than anyone else. Um,
I'm so happy to see everyone in the chambers today about the
florida statute chapter 1 6 3 planning,
um, community planning act. That's the purpose for the planning and zoning board. It
is a mandated board. Um,
it's very important that our residents understand that
with the planning and zoning board, that is a place for them to come
to first before they come to city hall, uh, before they even call
commissioners to be able to take care and ask
about everyday need, uh, parking, any type
of zoning issues, you know, that they may have. Um,
basically our board is tasked with following the statutory
and municipal responsibilities of reviewing and recommending amendments
to the comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan is a live-in document.
um, it's a live-in plan that we change and we work on continuously.
um, that dictates evaluation and making recommendations
on zoning map changes to the land development regulations,
ensuring orderly growth, acquit, excuse me,
adequate infrastructure and environmental stewardship, maintaining
consistency with the florida growth management act and local
planning policies. So basically, we're just smart stewards, um,
for development and balance and innovation with preservation and growth
within our city. These are the most recent ordinances. So a lot of
the ordinances that you all see that come to the commission
typically goes to the planning and zoning board. First. Uh, the
adoption of the mixed use overlay zoning, district ordinance, which
encourages walkable integrated development combined in residential and
retail office uses. Another thing, enhancing
redevelopment potential along key corridors like oakland park boulevard
and state road seven, updating the signage, one of
the ordinances that was most recently passed. Um, simplifying
signs permitting while preserving the aesthetics of the
city. Improving business visibility.
one other thing, uh, short term rental regulation
ordinances. That's something that we just had, um, establishing clear
guidelines and registration requirements for rental
within our city. That's something that we recently did. Uh,
creating green infrastructure and sustainable code amendments within
the city, which promotes environmentally friendly development practices within
our city. And we align ourselves with, uh, regional climate resilience,
uh, strategies that has been out there. The comprehensive
plan amendment for future land use. So typically, I like to talk
just to the residents. Typically what happens is everything,
yes, typically in the residents. Typically, uh,
whatever use is done in the city, it is
very, very important that residents understand that. Every first
tuesday at 6:00 pm we meet . It
is very important that you all come out, um, in order to
voice your complaints, concerns regarding what we are doing within the
city. Um, affordable
housing strategies, uh, anything having to do with
anything having to do. Uh, for example, we had a resident come out most recently
that wants to look at food trucks within
our city. So these are the type of things that we want the residents to understand.
again, it's very important that, uh, we encourage the residents to come out. We're
also on zoom, um, every first tuesday, 6:00 pm
planning and zoning board. Um, another addition. One of the things that
we did that was excellent this year, we did an
internal document for our policies and procedures, similar to what the budget
advisory board, um, mentioned in having the board
go to the budget process during the budget season to do
our requests. Thank you all. Any questions?
grace? No, madam mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Hall, madam a sim
for the school advisory board. We have ms. Joel mccray. Mccray.
good evening. Good evening commissioner and madam
mayor. The report
is going to be given, updated
to you now, and
I'm just going to highlight a few things that we've done.
so this year for teacher appreciation, we, we,
we had a partnership and an official letter of
appreciation from the mayor and city commissioners. And acting city
manager was distributed alongside with a breakfast
reinforcing the city's commitment to supporting education.
so that was given during teacher appreciation and staff
as well as teachers were able to enjoy. And we appreciate
the partnership with the city and dunking donuts.
and as well, we wanted to ask that
we want to honor dunking donuts for matching our contribution
and continue partnership with the school advisory board. And
we want to extend a formal invitation to the mayor and commission to join us
in a special plaque presentation ceremony scheduled for monday,
august 4th at 2:00 pm this recognition will
underscore the importance of celebrating community partners who support
educational excellence.
also in the report, and I'm going not trying to read it
verbatim, you can see we included a budget analysis.
and our reason for being here. After careful
consideration and upcoming initiatives in the growth scope
of board's work, we respectfully request a $2,000
increase to our current annual budget. This additional
funding will enable the board to expand its impact
through enhance teacher appreciation events, increase community
outreach and acquisition of necessary identification
materials such as personalized name tags, additional search for
improve for improved visibility in the public
functions and school events.
and also help with our strategic vision for the 20 25 20 26
year. We're looking at, um, to be able to help
principal engagement, um, parent engagement
initiatives, a career day mentorship, along with
our teacher appreciation expansion. And when, let me explain.
when we go to the schools, they think the board is there. We can buy furniture. They're
asking for those things. When we are meeting with them, we
know we have to tell them, you get a budget from the school board. So we're,
we are at, we can only do what we can. So with our partnership,
we did see a need. They sometimes ask for us if
we could, um, give student incentives because
they're not always able to buy ice cream for if, for honor
roll or different things they want to award students.
so that's why we are asking for the additional money so that we could
sort of help, um, assist in those
manners. And
we are, we think we are, are appreciative to being
a partnership. The school advisory board is honored to serve as a
liaison between the city and its schools. Our effort reflects
a shared commitment to excellence, equity, and engagement in education.
together we can continue to ensure that our students and schools
thrive. And thank you.
yes, madam ma'am. Mr. Uh, just wanted to say thank you so much
for all you guys do, and thank you for your, uh, wonderful and beautifully presented
report. Um, and just wanted to say thank you. I'm in full favor of the
increase, uh, just because of the type of work that you all do. And I'm sure you've
heard of the great news that, uh, we have a few new schools that are now
a's and b's within the city. So you give a round of applause for that. Yes,
yes, yes. So I would like to think that the work that
you guys were doing was, um, a, a nudge in the right direction to help make that
possible. So we'd be more than happy to reinvest and invest some more in what you guys are doing. I know
a lot of schools wanna do more for teacher appreciation with staff morale,
especially right now in the district. Uh, the, that's the key part to helping us
maintain aid schools. So thank you so much.
commissioner thomas. Commissioner thomas.
commissioner thomas. Yes. Thank
you madam mayor. Um, thank you very much for your presentation, ms. Mccray.
I sincerely appreciate that. In depth, um, outline
of what you guys have done. I'm also in agreement with my colleague
of support of that increase. But I would also
ask you, when I worked in the school board, um, further out
west, there's something called donors choose and,
um, perhaps a recommendation to the teachers,
um, to research that in order to get supplies
as well as those additional things that are needed for
their classroom. Um, there are things out there that
teachers I know that did in order to get, um,
you know, the things they weren't able to supply, whether or not they
received it from the school board, but they made sure their,
um, their classroom was, you know, maintained
properly to assist the students. So that's just one, one of my
recommendation as well that donors choose.
ms. Mccray. For the board members, are they assigned to school? These
board members assigned to school? Yes. We, we all are
assigned to different schools. Um, I am assigned to oreo
elementary, um,
jennifer chambers. Condi is assigned to lauderdale lakes middle
school. Lanita dawkins is assigned
to park lakes elementary school. George rich
and roosevelt mcclary, they have a, they work
together between first, um, first baptist
honey grove academy, as well as central charter and,
and boy anderson. I'm sorry, richard. Thank you. Um, are there any vacancies
on the board currently? No. Thank you.
thank you ms. Mccray. Thank you so much. And I too am in agreement
with increased to help support the resources that in our schools,
who you very proud of them, max williams. And you guys know
how much I support you, so words cannot you guys know that. So
I'm totally in agreement with the, with the increase. And thank you for
this wonderful presentation. Thank you.
thank you, ms. Ree, mme. Mason. Thank you madam mayor.
we do have another time. Certain, yep. Item number five
c. Discussion regarding florida department of transportation consultants
for mpoc slip five. And this is for citywalk
sidewalk improvements project. And mr. Nasir will present you
madam mayor. Mr. Nasir,
evening honorable mayor, city commission,
city attorney, acting city manager, city deputy city clerk, and the
audience. C-m-p-o-c sleep cycle five.
uh, this is citywide side of project.
it is, it was awarded by mpo as a number on ranked
in broward county. Now it is in the implementation phase. Initially
this was estimated or designed by 2027,
but, uh, dot informed us that the design will start
by 2026 for this
project. It is federally funded project and it has federal requirements.
a lab certified project project is specific lab
certification is required. They are giving
us more than $300,000 for the design. And we can do
an in-house design for this project. Based on our conversation with
dot staff, we have to have consultant and dot
already did procurement to select their consultant
for district four to do the design or
c sleep project that requires lab certification.
and based on the meeting we had with dot,
uh, we are actually approaching to you to, uh,
inform that do t's preference. We use their consultant
to avoid the complexities of reimbursement
and other approval issues. Whatever we do, everything must be approved by
dot. And in this case, if we use their procured consultant,
they will allow us to do the negotiation with the consultant, though
they'll be part of the negotiation. We will come to you for your, uh,
for the approval. That means you are going to approve the dollar amount for the
design services. But if we do our own procurement,
uh, even then we have to have their approval. And the list of consultants we
already have through our procurement cannot be used. It
has to be standalone procurement. That must include federal
requirements. But dot already did their procurement with
the federal requirements, uh, for
lab certified projects. And, uh, I would like to,
uh, inform you that. And also I will come back with the agenda
once we do the negotiation with their consultant. And if
you are okay with the design fee, then you can approve it. If you don't
approve it, maybe then we may need to go for the, uh, procurement,
but it still will be the same without their approval. We cannot award
the project without their approval. We cannot approve the dollar amount
without their approval, we cannot do the construction. This project has around
more than 300, uh, thousand dollars for the design. More than a hundred thousand dollars
for cei though I requested that we want to conduct
cei in house. Uh, we, I could not get the confirmation
yet because the construction phase of this project will start in
2029. So basically there is three years time period they want
to spend on design. And from our side, we are going to manage the project,
but still we have to report to dt. It has some restriction, it
has federal requirements. I would like to get any course
inq, uh, prefer us to get, uh, with dot to
use their consultant for the negotiation or not.
question colleagues.
mr. Nir, you use the letter.
cei. What is, what does cei stand? Instruction engineering and inspection.
that is the engineering during construction and also conducting inspections.
and for the citywide improvement. This is just for side dog side
ally, this is for the new side dog. We have some side dog gaps
where we don't have side dock. We are going to put new side dog. This is solely
for that for new side in different locations of the city. If
you see any missing sidewalk, that means the, it will be covered under this project.
well indirectly, since you're here, can you give us an update on what is happening with the
sidewalks that we're repairing? Okay, this on, say for example, 52nd avenue,
we don't have any sidewalk. Uh, I cannot
just, if you cross, uh, c 13 canal south of that, you will see there is
no sidewalk where we have a wall. So there
is a missing, um, piece over there for 52nd avenue.
and on 29th street where we have the school, you'll see if you walk over
there, you will see on the north side there is no side. So basically we are going to put sidewalk.
and also when you go to lio park, uh, there is
no sidewalk. There are other areas, but some of the areas where we have the right
of our issue, we cannot provide the sidewalk. As you know, some of the road,
we are missing sidewalk because of the right of
issue. We don't have an upper right of way to put the sidewalk. Those are the areas
will be excluded. We did not include that. Otherwise, we do
have right of way and we don't have sidewalk. We are going to put
sidewalk under this project. We joined about sidewalks in our
communities that are, have cracks or are raised and have stumps
in them. That is for maintenance. It's not our project. We are doing new
, not the maintenance part of it that will public works department.
when you talk about crack tipping hazard, that will be a public works maintenance.
thank you. Raise hand ms. Paul no
longer has her hand raised. Thank you. Thank you mr. Nasir.
madam . Thank you madam mayor. We would revert, we will revert
back to the city commission meeting agenda. I believe that ends our
time certain, correct? Correct. Thank you. Item number 10
d resolution 2025 dash 0 9 6 adopted a
tentative millage rate for fiscal year 26 establishment
of a rollback rate and setting a date. I think we did
that one. Yes we did. Yeah. We are on e. Sound familiar? We are on e resolution 2025
dash 0 9 7 authorizing a contract for the interim financial
services consultant. Um, madam mayor,
as you know, we're in need of a qualified individual or firm to provide
expert consulting and advisory services. City of lauderdale
lakes has procured ms. Susan gooding library, um,
as our interim financial services director and financial
services consultant. She'll be providing executive level decision making
and oversight of the financial services department at a rate
of $130 per hour. She will be working, um,
approximately four days each week.
question? Nope. Mad mayor.
thank you. Thank you madam. Thanks mayor. Thank you madam mayor.
item number 10 f resolution
2025 dash 0 9 8 authorizing a contract for
interim human resources and risk director.
um, madam mayor, we also are in the need for a human
resources and risk director. Currently
we do have tara williams, um, serving as our
fin, our human resources director and our consultant
at this time. Um, were just extended her contract
until december of 2025
while we go out in search of a permanent human
resources director. And her rate will be
the current rate as it is now of $6,000 each month.
no questions madam. No question. Thank you, madam. You're
quite welcome, madam mayor. Item number 10 g
resolution 20 25 99 ratifying the city manager's filing
of the city's fiscal year 2025 period eight may and period nine
june. Financial activity reports as prepared by the department of financial
services for the purpose of conforming to the city's adopted financial integrity principles
and financial policies. And ms. Susan will,
um, gooding library will present that item through you. Madam mayor, ms. Susan,
all protocol observed and established. I will be presenting may and
june of 2025. You hearing me? Well?
yes, as long as you don't.
so I will be, um, highlighting the month of june since that encompasses
the month of may. Also, the summary
has been provided to you. Yes. Could you do month by month, please? Sure, not
a problem.
may, um, 2025 financial report,
which represent, um, 67% of the fiscal year that has
lapsed. And the summary states that our general fund
revenue total was at 49%
received. With avalor being our largest revenue,
we are approximately 99% of all of that revenue coming in.
thank you to our residents. Um, the general fund revenue includes
franchise taxes, utility taxes, sales and use taxes,
revenue, I mean service revenue permits, license fines
and forfeiture and miscellaneous revenue as stated, um,
in each of the, um, bulleted item, some revenue are approximately
two months behind which it's our utility and our franchise taxes.
miscellaneous revenue, you know, that is, um, something that comes in all year
long. So at at 67% of
our fiscal year expanded, we have received 49% of
our revenue. The general fund expenditure is representing
40%. You always want your revenue to be more than your expenditure.
so that's a plus. When our expenditure are less than our revenue that
has been received commission, uh, mayor and the
city commission, um, we c we, they expanded 45%.
um, the city attorneys expanded at 84%. City clerk,
that 56% and city manager at 60%
at all of the other departments. Below that 67%.
there were two departments which I will highlight, um,
the city attorney and the human
resources. At in may, they were actually below the budgeted
amount. The city attorney, um, expenditure
was 84%, which represent, or we are at 67% of the fiscal
year. However, um, digging into the detail, we realize that
the attorney has some major litigation that they have been going through. So
they have been working that for the city. So that's why the, the, their budget,
um, exceeded the 67%. Nonetheless, their overall
budget, they're still within the overall budget for the year and we are hoping
that, um, those litigation expenses was earlier in the fiscal year
and not later in the fiscal.
so we also have, um, in your summary and
there's some numbers, they're very minute. I'm not sure that I will go over each minute
number. I can't see them at this point in time. And so I will
move on from may into june unless there's some questions regarding
the may presentation. Any questions? Colleagues regarding
may's furniture? No.
continue. Ms. Susan? Oh no, she does. She
came off. So the june 30th, 2025 represents 75%
of the fiscal year that has been extended. The revenue collected at that point
in time, it's 52%. Um, again, our at valor,
which is our major revenue, we are collecting almost 100% of that
general fund expenditure, um, was expanded at 49%,
although we are at 75% of the year expanded. That is a big,
that is great. You wanna be below where you're supposed to be in
expenditure. You definitely wanna make sure your revenue comes in and the
expenditure is below the revenue that has been collected. I
just wanna make sure I highlight that. In the month of june, um,
I talked about the, the city attorney and there was another department
that was a little over, which was human
resources. Um, there were 89% expend based on 75%
of the year already gone. And that expense was a result of,
there was a previous payout that we had to do for the past, um, director. So
that caused the expenditure lower. Nonetheless, I expect at the
end of the fiscal year, all of the departments will be below their
budget expanded. Um, d-s-o-e-m-s are you showing
that we are at 82% expanded and policed? 82%.
and that is because the city is, um, paying those expenses
in advance. So that ends my presentation
unless there is any questions that I can elaborate further.
any questions, colleagues? No. Raise hand? No. Madam
mayor. Thank you ms. Susan. Thank you. Thank
you madam mayor. Item number h resolution 20 25 100
approved and authorizing the establishment of a limited time amnesty program for
reduction of qualifying code enforcement liens. And we have ms.
tanja mccoy development services director to present this item
to you, madam mayor.
good evening, madam mayor, city attorney
commission city clerk. I am here to
present an item that will be heard tomorrow at tomorrow's meeting
and, uh, give a brief review of what this program
is about.
this, this res through you madam mayor. This resolution is for
a code enforcement lien reduction program.
I'm sorry. This resolution is for a code enforcement lien
amnesty program to address outstanding code enforcement liens. This initiative
is designed to encourage compliance, reduce financial burden
on property owners, and approve the city's ability to resolve longstanding
liens. The amnesty program will provide a temporary opportunity
for eligible homestead and non-homestead property owners to settle code
enforcement liens at a significantly reduced rate contingent
upon meeting compliance benchmarks. Program aims to be
equitable relief for property owners facing liens, incentivize
compliance with municipal codes, and expedite the settlement of delinquent
accounts and maintain, as well as
maintain the integrity and deter of deterrent effect
of the code of enforcement program as a whole.
were you madam mayor, did you have any questions? Colleagues? You have any questions for ms.
tja?
madam mayor, mr. Harrison? Thank you. Um, could
you explain how much the, um, what what you're asking for from residential
and commercial if they were to opt into the amnesty program?
sandra, through you, madam mayor, this program would,
um, allow for a residential homestead property
to, uh, receive a reduction up to 15%
of the total amount. And then the non-homestead property would
receive a 35% reduction. Well, 35%
of the total amount is what it would be reduced to madam mayor. Mr. Harrison.
thank you tanja. Um, the last, the last commission meeting we had, we, we discussed
a little bit about how we can work with our business community.
um, I know you drafted, uh, a proposal. You got
the proposal that I sent in correct? Through you madam mayor. Yes. I know
you did a side by through you madam mayor, I know you did a side by side comparison. What are the
main differences between what I submitted versus what you guys brought in a little
after the fact? The madam mayor. Um,
the program duration, uh, the program that you submitted
was from august 1st through may of 2026.
the program that I submitted was from august 1st through j january 30th, 2026.
the eligibility requirements is the second difference that, uh, the
side-by-side identified. And, um, for
those, the resolution would allow for current compliance
to come into play. As well as, um, a brief
review of that is, um, this a smaller application fee,
$150 plus $25 for each lien.
and it also include properties to be act active
in litigation and mandates full payment of all hard costs. That's
the program that you submitted, whereas the program that I submitted
requires a sub sustained compliance, um, feature,
which is asking that the homestead properties have
been in compliance for a period of three months and the non-homestead
properties be in compliance for a period of six months.
application fees are, are higher. Um, the
homestead property would pay $200 for a application fee
and the non-homestead properties would pay $1,500 for
an application fee. And my program particularly
requests additional documentation, um, a pre-inspection,
which I think is on both programs as well as a final inspection.
the pre-inspection, um, would be a free inspection
for my program, which would help the property owner to identify whether
or not they are eligible for the program or not. And then the final
inspection would come about once they, um, came
back to us and said we had a couple of things outta order, we fixed those
and now we would allow them to apply and do a final inspection.
the third thing would be the settlement, uh,
period, which was no, that was just the, what we just talked
about. The 15% for non-homestead under
your program and no, 10% for non-homestead, for
homestead under your program and 15% for non-homestead.
and then my uh, limits would be 15% for homestead
and 35% for non-homestead. The re
repayment period would be 30 days for my program. And I think
you wanted 60 days to make the payment.
thank you. Uh, I remember your feedback you gave me was commissioner our
two proposals like 90, 95% similar. And um, although
there are some similarities, the the last meeting there was something I honed in on,
which is tanja di director. I don't want us
to create it in a way to where majority of the people wouldn't qualify in the first
place. So you mentioned one thing about the
duration of how long they have to stay in compliance. You said that was six months,
correct? Through you madam mayor, that
that would be through the di duration of which they would have been in compliance.
yes. So, so how long is the amnesty program you're offering?
were you madam mayor? Six months. So before the,
at this point, are you discussing ms. Tanja the amnesty program or
the link? At this point I'm discussing only the amnesty
programs and I am, um, doing a side byside
comparison of the amnesty program that I
proposed to commission as well as the amnesty program that commissioner harris
proposed. Madam mayor? No. Commissioner harris, thank you. Just to be clear,
amnesty is regarding lien reduction. Is that correct? Through you madam
mayor? Yes. Okay. Amnesty is a, a form of lien
reduction. How many through you madam mayor, how many programs are you offering? One or two
through you madam mayor. There are two programs that I am looking
at. One is the amnesty program, which is a short term program,
six months, and then a lien reduction, comprehensive lien
reduction program, which is a long term program that
will continue on until someone tells me I can't
continue it anymore. Alright, mayor commissioner harrison, um, with you're
saying that they have to be in compliance for six months before
they can qualify for the program through you madam mayor?
yes. That's for the amnesty program. Understood. Now, if they wanted
to stay in compliance for six months for the amnesty program, but the amnesty
program is gonna be over in six months, wouldn't that disqualify 'em for them trying to
apply for that same program through you madam mayor?
at the end, this would be for, um, businesses or
homeowners who are already in compliance so that they would have
opportunity to participate in the amnesty program. However, when
the amnesty program comes to an end in six months, they will
still be able to participate in the comprehensive lien reduction program,
which would be an ongoing program. So madam mayor, what's
happening is you don't want 'em to be a part of the amnesty program, but the long-term program,
because if someone wants to be a part of the first program, the amnesty,
and they are in compliance for six months during that period of time the amnesty program is rolling
out, and by the time they're done doing what you want 'em to do after six
months, that amnesty program will no longer be available. Is that not correct?
through you madam mayor? I would like to correct that. What I want
is, uh, compliance with the code. So I am not looking to
eliminate anyone I am. I would like to see
a period of sustained compliance for all people that would
apply to the amnesty program and then as well as
the, um, but the comprehensive lien reduction
program would not have that requirement. Adam mayor, a moment.
thank you commissioner max. Thank you madam mayor. First of all, the
fact that he brought his own program commissioner maxwell williams. Oh, sorry. Sorry. My
bad. I'm I'm gimme a moment. Gimme a moment guys. Gimme a moment.
'cause I'm so upset. Okay. Um, that, let's talk about
what's on here and the comparison. I'm not understanding what comparison
you're talking about because I've not seen my colleague comparison.
I think this program that you have, we hire you to do a job.
that is what you're doing. And this program is a full
proof program because they are taking, they've been taken advantage of us
and now we have to nip that in the bud. I don't care about the other cities.
I don't care if city, lauder hill, sunrise, whatever they're
doing, who cares? We are ladale lakes. This is what we want
to do. And through you mada mayor, I'm very offended
by the fact that my colleague can be presenting
his side of the story. Like we don't have a voice. Like we don't have a
vote. So I don't even see what you, you guys are having this back and
forth conversation that I have not yet to see. What
his proposal, his and the, the, the fact that he brought in his
proposal to overcome your proposal, to have a conversation
with you back and forth and ignoring the other co people on
the desk is just disrespectful. Totally. And I'm
p****d. So let's focus on what you're talking about
here, and this is what where we are going and I hope my other colleagues
will look into this and make sure we are presenting it and
enforce what you recommended because that's what we hire you to do. And
if we can respect the person we hire to do a job
that I think is here to better our city, then why do we have her?
maybe we should not get where we should get her in a position, right? No,
this is, we should, why, why are we fighting with her if that's
what she's doing? So we need to stick to her thing. And again,
the fact don't, the conversation with you going back and forth with
something I don't even see in front of me is having his own is like his, his
own day is own little group .
I'm mother mayor. Really?
you need just continue on mr. Max wood.
anyway, ms. Sandra, go ahead
with your pre we are talking about this, the side by side and what
she said to you and what you get to him that needs to stop. Totally.
now, when we go to his agenda on the item that is, I think it's
coming up on the workshop and then you wanna cross notes, we'll address
it then let's talk about this item that we have here on the resume
and not this back and forth thing that you guys are, have these little sidebar
that we are not privy to. Thank you madam mayor,
raise hand. Ms. Bond. No, madam mayor,
mr. Harris. Well thank you madam mayor. Her hand is raised now.
commissioner thomas. Thank you madam mayor. I do appreciate
it. I'm, I'm in agree, I'm in agreement with, um, my colleague,
commissioner carlene maxwell williams. If we're on
item, uh, h at this time dealing,
uh, to have the comparison now, which was not in
our backup, we should be dealing with this particular
item that's on hand and not to jump the gun. So I'm
in agreement with that, that we stick to what has been presented
by ms. Tanja and then move forward, um, accordingly
when it, the other presentation that has to be given.
thank you madam mayor harrison. Thank you madam mayor. So
sticking to the, uh, what we were talking about tanja, and I just wanted to just uh, say this
for education for not just, I know you know this, but to the audience,
these commissioners are the legislative arm of this city.
we write the policy or we're at least supposed to write the policy. Now what
we do is we hire staff to give input on said policy. But where a lot of the o'lakes
has gone off the rails is we've allowed you guys staff to write the rules for us.
so I wanna be very clear, the question that they tried to jump in and
stop you from answering was this, the six months
that you have for the length of the program, the first program is the same amount of
time, the six months that you're asking them to stay in compliance before they can get into
the program. You answered by saying, that is not my goal. That the
question is yes or no for this scenario. If there's somebody that wants to be a part of
that six month program and they are non-residential,
if they comply with six months and that is over, will they yes or no be
able to apply for that lien amnesty program?
do you madam mayor? Yes sir. If a non-residential
property is in compliance as of today, they will
be eligible to apply for the amnesty program.
madam mayor barry on what I'm asking madam
mayor technology. Thank you. Thank you ma'am. On
august 1st, you're gonna go in and do an inspection and make
sure that these folks are in compliance from that point on, you're asking them
to stay in compliance for six months before they qualify for the program.
your program runs from august 1st to january 30th. In that scenario
from when you inspect from august 1st going on and they stick to the six months,
will they be able to qualify for that lien amnesty program?
no, they will not. Okay. Madam mayor, you just
proved my suspicion. I specifically asked you and this commission
was in consensus of that to not come back with anything that would cut out
the businesses. So let's talk about some other background things. Now
you want to go after the businesses, you have a lean amnesty
reduction of 35%, even if you took them to court, that's what you're gonna be settled with anyways. More
than likely we're not discussing lien right now. Commissioner, I understand we're talking about the amnesty program
that deals with liens. We're not discussing liens specifically right now we're talking about
the amnesty program. Okay, commissioner, the lean amnesty program. Is that correct? Yes.
I wanna make sure I'm correct. Are we discussing the lien amnesty program? Let's seen
limited time amnesty program for reduction of qualifying code enforcement
liens. Okay, with the amnesty but not the lean amnesty program. With this
six month program, what's going
on is that there are cities, not majority of them in broad 'cause majority of the cities
in broad actually wanna work with the business community. We are the only city right
now. We ask ourselves why we're behind, we're the only city right now that's
fighting with our businesses and try to hem them up and take them to court.
you wrote policy for a arm that does not, that that's
supposed to be right in policy and you specifically came back with something that would disqualify
them. And that's just one thing. You also, I'm sure business tax receipts
as well is gonna be something included in that. If a property owner has over a hundred
properties, you know it's gonna be a hassle for them to qualify for this.
I asked you, could you please come back with something that would not cut out
majority of the businesses and you, we know
you consult with uh, I don't know what other city staff or if it's the city attorney you consult with
to put together this, but what was brought back to us is not the will of the commission.
now I want to say one more thing. If we decide to, to take them to court,
if they decide to fight us back, all the businesses that have liens out there,
we already are paying our city attorney way above target.
this is not a revenue source. You have businesses
in this city that want to go across the street, literally to lauderhill because they're willing
to break their lease to leave because of the things that we're doing here right now.
this is not cleaning up our city. This is not what you say as far as getting stuff
in compliance. And I want to say one more thing to people who don't understand how the process works.
we are the legislative arm of the body. We write the policy.
all I was doing by bringing my own policy was my damn job.
number one. You madam mayor.
you madam mayor. Number one. You need to take a base outta your voice.
'cause I don't know who you're talking to. Commissioner. Commissioner me,
I will get to you. Commissioner tanja. I'm disappointed. Commissioner body, disappointed
to when tanja comes here, spell williams.
you may just the moment I'm
disappointed madam mayor, if I may finish please. I'm disappointed.
are we done? We are not here. Excuse me madam mayor, may I please go? Pardon?
am I I acknowledged still. I'm here. Interruption. Sorry.
we are asking for a program that I, that is here to help our
businesses and not only do you know that they won't qualify for the said program, not
only do you know that, but out of the 100 and plus businesses that some
of our people may have, they have to hustle and hassle to go get these stuff. This is not us
helping them. When you look at the other cities, we care about our other cities. When
we talk about a new city hall, we care about our other cities. When we look at their tax
base, all the great stuff they do, we care about our cities then. And we don't understand. The main reason
why other cities can do that is because they have a thriving business community.
not because they have a development services director and a firm that's
going after people in in courts and stuff. That's not what it's about.
and you know what's funny? When things go sideways, you won't take the blame. I will. So
I have to make sure I do my job. I have to. You could just find another city
to work for. I'm owed to the residents. I have one more point, madam mayor, if I may
thank you. One more point, my last point right now I will be back to you. Thank
you. Thank you commissioner max williams. Thank you madam mayor.
I'm so happy that number one, when re and
led to the audience, she's not running and doing things on her
own. She come to us, she has had conversation with us
several times and we all had a consensus and brought it back
and she brought back the information to us. Isn't that correct? Through your madam mayor
sandra? Absolutely. And I specifically set the
term based on a com, a comment from commissioner harrison that
said to make sure it was a short term amnesty program because I originally
requested it to be all year or longer,
right? Right. So every thank you madam mayor, every conversation
and, and through the audience here and all of you that's clapping,
um, she's not making it on her own. She comes to
us every meeting and she talks to every, all five of us
and we all agree and that's why she put this resolution together
for us to vote on it tomorrow. It wasn't that she went in her office and
just write it down and then come to throw it down her throat and said, here you go.
we all had a vote, including our commission here is
on the days. And we all had a consensus. And I agree with what she
was. So we spoke, she put it all together and that's why we are here voting tomorrow.
so no, she's not doing it on her own. So I don't know what that, um, remark
is. I think it's a good plan and I think, uh, my colleagues should
stick with it and, and hopefully we'll have the consensus votes
tomorrow period. Mayor hand raised ms. Ma.
no, madam mayor chair. Thank you madam mayor. Uh, you're right. She doesn't do it on her own.
um, I want to defer to the assistant city attorney. Does your
office assist with the publication and the creation of said resolutions with the development
services director? Do you madam mayor,
our office assist with the, um, drafting of all
resolutions? So that would be correct. Thank you. Uh, second correction that was made.
uh, so, uh, right, she doesn't do it on her own. Uh, second correction that needs to be made.
um, we did not vote in a workshop discussion.
what you guys did was, you guys make it seem like you had consensus, but
that wasn't true consensus. You guys took, you heard what everybody said. You
looked up and you said okay, and took notes and then you went to the office with
every other thing we do to take consensus. Madam mayor looks, do we have
consensus? Yeah. How you guys feel? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And we take a clear
consensus. We took a vague consensus that time. So
my question to you, tanja, did you work with the city attorney and the
firm to draft this resolution? If not, who did you work with through
you, madam mayor, ms. Hand. I worked with the commission. I brought this, uh,
resolution, this, uh, policy agenda to the commission
on two different occasions as a workshop item. And
I listened to all of the commissioners and I prepared a
document that in my understanding, had the information
that came from the commission. Madam mayor doesn't answer my question,
did you? She just said that she works with all resolutions being formed. It's a
question that requires the answer. Did you work with the city attorney
and the firm to help draft this said resolution that we are looking at?
do you madam mayor? Yes. Thank you. It's my duty to work with our city
attorney to make sure that any document that I draft is legally
reviewed. Madam mayor. No, it's your duty to do what the commission asks of
the city manager to do and then tells you to do. We write the policy
and you make sure it's legally sound. You guys always
spoonfeed us policy and get us to nod our heads. And
what I'm telling you is that this time, certain things I let happen this time, you're
coming with a resolution that's going to hurt. So here's my next question,
mr. Harrison. Thank you, madam mayor. Through the pre-inspection and the whole inspection of
cf, they qualify. Is business tax receipts included
in that said qualification? Were you madam mayor
standard? Yes, madam mayor, do you ha are, aren't
you? Do you think of someone? All right. If if there's someone,
a property owner that has multiple businesses, individual businesses under their purview,
does each of those businesses have to come in compliance with said paperwork of business, tax reviews,
et cetera. So business tax receipts through
you, madam mayor, sandra, all businesses operating in the city of
lauderdale lakes should have a business tax receipt. Madam mayor, the question,
here's a question. If you have an individual who has multiple individual
businesses in his plaza, in his purview, his or her, do
each of those in that scenario, do each of those require to have uptodate,
business tax receipts and all paperwork in order to qualify for said program?
I'm going to through you, madam mayor, I'm going to, I thought I answered
that. All businesses in the city of lauderdale lakes
operating, which would be all businesses in any plaza
homebased businesses, uh, yes or no. Please do not interrupt.
I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'm just saying it's that, just an answer. All businesses in the city of lauderdale
is required to have a business tax receipt.
madam mayor harrison, do you think it's fair for someone to have
hundreds of people there over to go and do it? Do you think that kind of decreases
the likelihood they may qualify
through you? Madam mayor sandra? I do not. Okay. I
believe that the businesses are responsible to make sure that
all parties that's operating a business on their
property has the proper code compliance
as well as the business tax receipt. Commissioner maxwell williams.
thank you madam mayor. It feels like, um, through you
madam mayor, that someone has some personal thing going on because
I'm, I can't understand what is happening here. It sounds
personal. So unless somebody knows somebody trying to help some other
business in the city, something is happening because this cannot be this
passion and all this for all the businesses in the city, a lot of their
lakes. So it's so there is something and whatever is in the dark
will come to light because something is happening. Okay? Something
is happening. Why my colleague is taking such a big
stand to this. Because when we were talking along the way,
this wasn't the stand before, but now the stand getting stronger,
the base and the voice getting harder, but, um, something is
going on. Okay? And we are here. You talk enough, uh,
uhuh, that's for me to determine. Listen, let me talk 'cause I'm,
I'm gonna interrupt you. Okay? But he's re interrupting me. Go ahead, commissioner max williams. So we
are going to stick to this. Um, I think we should have a
consensus to stick to this regardless of all the stumbles
that he's saying this, some, this is a personal thing that he's making personal
whatever he knows whatever is going on, I don't know, but it's personal. I think
this was a good plan we for, for, for ms for this young lady to be
standing here with a resolution is because she came to us several times,
again, as I said, and had the conversation, and even though
was the mayor go around and said, do we have a consensus? Whatever, how she did it, it
was said. And that's why she's bringing it forward. And I think that it is
a good, um, plan and we should stick
with it. Do not let anyone try to intimidate and try to
change it, period. Okay? Now keep in mind, let me just one
more minute. I want, I have a thought. Go ahead. You know, you, let's put example.
this, this was like association
when you, when they assess and said, I, I'm going to assess a million dollars
to our association, and now you have to pay $2,000 a month and you ain't
got no job. They don't care. They just go ahead and they foreclose on your house. They don't have
no sympathy, no understanding, and there's nothing you can do. So we
are gonna be hardcore here. They, these businesses have been
taking advantage of us for so long for you to have a violation in
the thousands of dollars. I think how much we had on the, the,
the, the plaza across the street was in the millions, the disrespect
of you ignoring, ignoring every single violation
over and over and over. Like it doesn't matter. Like we, you have no respect
for us. And I know they can't go. They talk about leaving the city. Go where?
go to plantation, go to homes, go, go to wilton, manus and do that. No, you
can't go there and do that. So if you feel like you wanna leave and go to
the city, go ahead because maybe we'll get some other business people in
here that will have respect for a city and follow the codes
and follow our regulations. That's all. That's it. Madam mayor,
hand raised. Ms five. No madam mayor, mr. Harrison. Thank you madam mayor.
um, I'm on the side of all of the businesses in lauderdale lakes. The reason why you're hearing the
base and the voice now and not before is because we tried to work with you.
we asked you to go back and you took notes, went and came back with
stuff that was still unattractive on the front end. What's in
the dark is that they are trying to disqualify commercial businesses
because these people that owe so many liens, it's gonna be a payday.
and this is not a revenue source for the city. I said it last time,
I tried not to be rude and so open about it, but now what you guys have done
is you try to make it seem like you've workshopped it twice. So now it's a resolution. Just
get us to nod heads on something and you came back with something. Again, we're
on the front end. Most of said businesses will be disqualified.
they will be disqualified. And you also know that it is likely they are
gonna be disqualified. You also know that if you take them to court, you're more than likely gonna win.
we need to work with our business community. There's
nothing in the dark on my end. What I'm trying to tell you is that for all of our businesses here, how are we making it
more attractive? Um, as far as people owing liens,
majority of these other cities, these, um, cities have put forth programs that's
way more lenient than even what I'm saying. And they have thrive, thriving
businesses. Why are we going after these folks? Why are we trying to
turn this into a revenue stream? Why are we trying to make it convenient for
inconvenient for our businesses? That's the real question.
what was put forth? Uh, ms. Tanja was not in the best
interest of the businesses in the city. I spoke with you individually.
I spoke with you as a group in the commission. I sent an example to help serve
as some type of guideline. And then you told me it was 90%
the same. And by the way, it is in the backup. It's just on the other side
of the agenda, but it is in the backup. All commissioners have it and it's not 95%
the same. It is gonna cut out majority of commercial owned businesses
because what is going on is that there are some cities out there that
allows the, and I'm sorry, I know mr. Callaway isn't here today, but I, that allows
their legal counsel to take people to court.
that allows the development services director to partner with that.
that's what's in the dark. If people are wondering, and without making any
accusations, I gave one or two chances to allow you guys to clear it up, come
back with something. You didn't take proper consensus. You could watch your review.
and also you came back. I specifically said, I said, we want to give out. It's like we
wanna make it attractive and incentive. You got the mayor, fort
lauder o dean tran is posting on his instagram, hey, you guys
be a part of this amnesty program. We have businesses are loving it. They're
going to come to us instead of having us chase them down
just for you guys to send emails to these people, for our attorney to send emails
to these people. We get charged for that. That's not a part of what we're paying him,
them, sorry, the firm. We, every time you guys send them an email,
we have to pay for that. And we don't want to pay for that.
we want our businesses to see a lot of their lakes as a home where they can
thrive. We want that to happen. This is not political
for me. The political thing is when you ask someone a question, they give you lawyer language. This is not political for me.
yes or no? Is this an amnesty program? At least 70%
similar to what 90% of broward county is doing? The answer is no. And
tanja, we're gonna remember that you brought forward something like this that was not inconsistent
with how majority of cities are doing it. We're going to remember that.
commissioner, commissioner max williams, you know, thank
you madam mayor. I, I understand the passion. I get it.
um, but there's a way, and, and, and this is a bit sidebar
in what we are talking about. The, and, and I think the mayor, you should address
that. The way how you speak to the staff is
off the chain. The no, no, but it's true.
I don't, I I, no, mr. Williams don't address the audience. Okay? I'm sorry. But it's
true. You're talking to this young lady. Yes, you may not agree with what she's
doing, but she's a, she's, she's a person and you're speaking to her in a
very rude manner. And I don't, and you do that a lot.
and that, sorry, and that you need to address that. You could, there's
a, you can bring your point across, but you don't have to put that base and getting loud and
talking down and to them. And that's not cool. And that's just a sidebar.
anyway, with that said, I think this is a great program and we need to
move forward with it. Madam mayor, just a moment. Ms. Tanja, I have a couple of
questions. , if I may. Ms. Tanja,
the six month compliance for
non-homestead properties. Talk a little bit more about that please.
through you, madam mayor. So if a non-homestead property is in
compliance as of today or anytime before today, they will be
eligible to apply for the amnesty program. If that property is
not in compliance, then they would have to apply for the lien
reduction program, which gives similar amounts off
as the amnesty program. It's just a little bit more of
a process in terms of review. It includes, could
be the magistrate or bringing it back to the city commission
for review through the lie reduction program. Whereas the
amnesty program is, um, we've talked about in the
past, is a program that's designed to cut all of the red tape
and for you to go straight to a 35%
reduction in the cost of your lien. Ms. Ms. Tja,
for the non-homestead
properties, they have to be in compliance at least six months
prior to make an application for the program.
through you madam mayor? Yes. So,
so if the commission approves this on
tomorrow evening, when does that window open
the, through you madam mayor? The window opens on august 1st.
so august 1st if approved,
a non-homestead business must have been
in compliance six months prior to
august 1st through you madam mayor, no, six months prior
to application. Six months prior to application. So
if they make application august 2nd, then
they must have been in compliance six months prior to august 2nd.
through you madam mayor. Yes. Correct.
and to you madam mayor, commissioner, master williams. And you had it for a longer time. You
said you had it for a year. You started a year right
through you madam mayor? Yes. My original, um, I think it was,
might have been 18 months. 18 months. But after,
uh, the workshop, I reduced the timeframe based
on the comments that I received and sure. You might have made and under the
comments that you, based upon our commissioner here
about reducing the time. Yes.
alright. Mad mayor, ms. Harrison. Thank you. Um,
listen, we have room to negotiate on the timelines. We have the room to negotiate. My main
thing to drive home was on the front end. Let's not put anything in there that's gonna disqualify
most businesses. Let's make it fair to get into the program. If
they don't make the program timeline within the said program, and
those liens go back to the same amount we go after them. Hard.
that was my proposal. Not to make the liens go away. If you're gonna do a amnesty program, make it a
fair shot for people to get in and on the front end specifically asked
to not make it more difficult for people to get in. The language was just changed to do exactly
that. That's where my issue is. Um, the second thing I wanted
to say of as far as speaking to staff, I know that was mentioned, tanja, you had the
pleasure of inviting me to come speak to your staff. We had a wonderful conversation.
um, I'm just passionate about this city that I grew up in, that I was born in
and you know that, and we had a wonderful conversation before and after
and, uh, public, uh, development
services in speaking to the staff, they were happy that comm
a commissioner actually came by and had a chance to hear them out. It was like a breath of fresh air.
some people only applaud staff for political points. I'm gonna go check in
with you. I'm gonna go hear that they need another ac unit over there.
I'm gonna go hear that. They want paintings on the wall. They want to improve the work of life. I'm gonna go listen to
them about that. And they had some great ideas. And a lot of those people actually do work,
do live in the city of lauderdale lakes that I did not know. So now I could put a face to that.
but, uh, director of development services, when we up here,
being commissioners, being directors, we gotta take heat.
the heat I bring on you, if I don't do that, I let things pass. I get
heat from the residents and you'll be looking at somebody else this time next year, maybe, you
know? So, um, please don't take it as disrespect, take it as passion.
I just felt like we kind of missed the mark in doing what's in the best interest for the community, particularly
our business community. And it's sensitive to me because where we're looking to
go, we need a strong commercial base. Our residential base is
not gonna do it enough. We need a strong commercial base, particularly people that have all of these tenants.
and I wanna be very clear, you talk to a city attorney in another city,
ask them, so what do you guys do for oh, amnesty
program, man, they're gonna come running to you. That was
the goal. And I'm afraid that we won't be able to do that. And we're gonna be the only city
that's gonna be able to look up and say, hey, when they say, who was it? Because you,
I'm on record, it won't be 'cause of commissioner harrison.
what was asked for was not brought on the front
end. It was squeezed to where majority of these targeted businesses
that I suspect people are looking to take 'em to court. We are not gonna
let staff run the city. Madam mayor, we're not gonna let staff run the city,
not gonna let staff run the city. We need strong leadership. Nah,
I first met you. I was very impressed. Still am. I think you are
what the city needs, but this particular issue, I think you got it wrong.
we're not gonna let staff from the city. You see, we don't have we, so I'm gonna just leave
it there. That goes for all staff. Thank your commissioner
harrison. Thank you. Questions hand raised? No, madam mayor.
all right, thank you. Thank you ms. San madam.
a cm thank you madam mayor.
next we have item number 10
j aye aye, resolution 20 25 1 0 1
approving and authorizing the establishment of a comprehensive lien reduction program
to address code enforcement through structured review pathways.
and that is gonna be presented by ms. Tanja as well. Ms. Tanja,
through you madam mayor. This is a resolution for
a code enforcement lien reduction program to address code enforcement liens
as they come about moving forward. This initiative is designed to
encourage code compliance while reducing the financial burden on
property owners to and improve the city's ability to resolve
new as well as longstanding liens. The comprehensive lien
reduction program will establish a formal process for reviewing and
adjusting liens based on compliance status,
property condition, and other qualifying factors for homestead
and non-homestead property owners. This program
aims to provide a procedural framework that will provide equitable
relief for property owners facing liens instead of by compliance
with the municipal codes, expedite the settlement of delinquent
accounts and maintain the integrity and deterrent
effect of the code enforcement program. I
as, when I came into this position as the director of development
services, I had several, uh,
business owner as well as property owners come to me and request
a process for reducing their, as I reviewed our process
and the previous director's process, I identified some
gaps in the process. And this, uh, these two programs,
the amnesty program, as well as this comprehensive
lien reduction program, will fill those gaps,
judge, colleagues, hand raised madam
mayor. Thank you, ms. Hunter
madam. Thank you, madam mayor. Item number 10 j
resolution 2025 dash zero two proven in authorizing the mayor and deputy
city clerk to execute and attest respectively that certain code enforcement
lien reduction in settlement agreement between the city of lauderdale lakes and marketplace
plaza, llc and ms. Tanja mccoy will present this item through you.
madam mayor. Thank you ms. Tanja.
apologies through you madam mayor. Uh, this is a,
uh, lien reduction request, an agreement
that has been brought to us by the marketplace plaza,
in which they would like to, um, request that their liens be reduced.
and, um, they brought this to us in that request.
they would like to get this completed as soon as possible.
and the request is ms. Ms. Hunter,
I'm sorry. And the request is, the request is for a lien reduction
from $943,000 to 330,000.
any other supporting information on that ms. Hunter? Yes, I do. Thank you.
true you, madam mayor, commissioner max.
so what's, what's the percentage for you, madam mayor? This
is 35% reduction.
thank tender andres
ms. Staff? No, madam mayor.
thank you ms. Tanja. Oh, she, she raised her hand. Yes.
commissioner thomas. Thank you madam mayor. Um, with regards
to this, um, reduction here, I, I
know that the marketplace,
they were supposed to, uh, I was inquiring whether they painted
the building or not. Thought that was a part of the packet.
just wanted to know if the building was painted
through you, madam mayor. I am just learning about their request for painting the
building. Specifically. I know that they have come into compliance
with all of their code enforcement violations as of this time.
that was a, um, stipulation for them to even
bring this forward to commission. Thank
you, mr. Madam through you, madam mayor. Thank you.
I hope you'll find that out for me. Thank you. Thank
you madam mayor. That ends the city commission meeting agenda. So
we will transfer back over to our workshop,
and we left off on item five d discussion
regarding the city of lauderdale lakes healthcare benefits analysis.
and we do have ms. Tara to present this
item. Thank you, ms. Tara.
good evening, madam mayor, vice mayor, commissioners act
city, um, manager and act city clerk for
the record. My name is tara williams. I am the interim hr director for the city of
lauderdale lakes. In preparation for our upcoming op open enrollment,
our broker, the galls benefits group, is here to present to the
commission a comprehensive review of healthcare renewal market
trends and historical data.
mr. Again, good evening, madam. Good evening, madam mayor.
uh, commissioners, city attorney, city manager and city clerk. I think there's a powerpoint
presentation. Uh, mike yellen
with the gellan benefits group. Thank you.
alright, so mike galland with the galland benefits group, and we are here to talk about the,
um, our plan and strategy as we head into open enrollment. Uh,
we do have the renewal from florida blue. Uh, we're gonna shop the
insurance among other carriers and then come back, uh, with some recommendations.
uh, next slide.
so the first thing I want to talk about is the fact that, as we all know, healthcare
increases happen every single year. So even if you had great claims
experience, uh, you would still experience an increase just because the cost
of of, of insurance goes up every year. There's healthcare inflation,
there's hospital consolidation, there are a lot of factors that go into why insurance costs
go every year. And then when you add the fact that you may have an unhealthy population,
which may include some employees and some, some of the dependents or on the plan,
that leads to the, uh, increase in the cost of, of healthcare. Uh, next slide.
uh, so this is just a few, um, uh, national healthcare trend
organizations. So I just wanna show a few of what those trends are. Next slide.
alright, and so, uh, these, I just talked about this. Some, some factors that are
influencing trend, uh, provided consolidation. So, uh, there are
hospitals all over the country that are consolidating. There's a chance that broward
health may actually consolidate with, um, memorial healthcare. Um,
so you have hospitals that have contracts with insurance companies. Uh, right
now you're contracted with florida blue, uh, florida blue and broward health
health are at a, uh, a stalling point with their contract negotiations.
um, according to florida blue, broward health is asking for a 60%
increase. Uh, and florida blue is saying, no, we can't agree to a 60%
increase because then we have to pass that cost on, uh, to members. And so there's
a stall right now. Uh, in addition, there's, um, healthcare, uh,
carrier consolidation. So there's some mergers and acquisitions of, uh, health insurance
companies, uh, and some health insurance companies have, have moved out of the, uh, industry including
humana. So now as we shop the insurance, you have, um, I met
aetna, cigna, and united healthcare. Uh, so the, the pool of,
of carriers that we can go to has been shrinking advanced technologies. There's
newer medications. People are living longer, um, even if they may
be living unhealthy or living longer, that costs money. And then there's still some, uh, effects
of the, uh, pandemic. Next slide.
uh, so just some more, uh, information about healthcare entry and cost increases
as it relates to medical ppo plans, hmo plans, dental plans,
and, uh, pharmacy inflation. Next slide.
uh, factors including, uh, influencing pharmacy trends. So, specialty medications,
specialty medications are what they call coc, high technology drugs or
cocktail drugs. You normally have to go to an outpatient center to get, uh, the treatment
or it, it's a drug that have to be a refrigerated. Those are very expensive
drugs. Um, they're covered under a lot of healthcare plans so that,
um, it contributes to the cost of, uh, healthcare, insurance and drugs,
as does, um, uh, price inflation on, uh, pharmaceutical drugs.
next slide. And so this is
a list, uh, I'm sure most of you know, you've seen commercials, uh,
uh, diabetes or weight loss drugs are just super popular,
super expensive. Uh, you can't watch tv without hearing
a fan, a, a familiar jingle about some of these song, about some of these drugs like
will gobi or ozempic. Um, and even though insurance companies have put
restrictions on these drugs, so for example, there was a time where
you can get these drugs just for weight loss or for diabetes. Now, insurance
companies have said, only if you have diabetes can you qualify for these drugs. But
they're still very expensive and it's really driving the cost of, uh, medical care
and, uh, pharmacy costs. Next slide.
uh, just another graphical display of some of the glp one,
uh, drugs and the, uh, increases. Next slide.
uh, so now we're gonna take a look at, uh, the city of lauder lakes. And your
overview, just wanted to give you some background information. So we'll talk about the demographics, uh, the
current plant structure, and then some budget considerations as we go forward. Next
slide.
so this is just a historical display of where we were in terms
of the carriers that we worked with and the cost of the insurance. So the top
is the hmo plan where more employees are on the hmo plan. There's only about
10 or 12 employees on the ppo plan, or the, the pos plan has out of network benefits.
as you can see, we've consistently tried to keep costs as low as possible.
um, when you look at the, the cost of insurance now
compared to the 20 22, 20 23 year, I'm sorry, the 23, 24 year when
we were last with admin, we actually reduced costs. Um, so this
just gives you a, a, a, a display of what you've been paying going
back to 2019 when we start first started working, uh, with the city of dale lakes. Next
slide. And then this chart
shows that when we transitioned from humana to abed,
we increased the value of your insurance. So, for example, um,
the co-insurance amount was 50%. So if you had to go to the
hospital under humana, you would have to meet your deductible of $2,000,
and then you would be responsible for 50% of the cost after your deductible.
so if the cost was $10,000, you pay 50% of $5,000.
so by moving the admin, we lowered the co-insurance percentage from 50% to 20%.
uh, we reduced the out-of-pocket maximum. So in a worst case scenario, the amount
that you paid went lower. Uh, we decreased the, um, the
cost, uh, and lower copayments for items like mris. So
we wedu we increased the level your benefits while reducing costs. Next
slide. Then when we transition from
admin to florida blue, we did the same thing. We lowered your deductibles,
uh, to less than 2000, down to 1000. Um, we lowered
your copayments. We lowered the copayments for your pharmacy services. So again,
we, we increased the value of your insurance while decreasing costs.
uh, next slide. Uh,
some of the benefits of transitioning from admin to florida. Blue advent is a florida,
uh, based, uh, insurance carrier, whereas florida blue is part of
the blue cross blue shield network. National insurance, we enhanced the benefits, reduce
your costs, um, expanded access, um, and, uh,
there was a $10,000, um, fund for wellness dedicated
to wellness to help build a culture of wellness here in the city of lauderdale
lakes. And then, uh, florida blue has a florida blue foundation. They wanted
to be a great business partner to the city of lauderdale lakes, and they donated $100,000
to the city of lauderdale lakes to help improvements and your, um, senior
care and alzheimer's center. So they try to be an overall, uh, good
business partner. Next slide. Uh,
so this slide is, uh, part of your renewal from florida blue. Just some demographic
information just showing that the majority of your employees are in the employee only
category and the incurred period and the paid period
that the insurance company used to evaluate, uh, and determine what your renewal
will be for next year. Next slide.
so here we'll talk about the, uh, claims distribution, uh, next slide.
so, uh, every, every, uh, insurance, every group that's covered
under insurance, typically, um, 80% of
the cost comes from 20% of the group. So the majority of any given
population will be generally healthy, but then you'll always have approximately
20% of a group that will generate the bulk of the cost. Someone has diabetes,
somebody has cancer, somebody has some rare disease that will drive, you
know, the, the majority of the cost. So the reason why you have group health insurance
is 'cause the majority of the group should cover, uh, the one or two people that
has, uh, large claims. Next slide.
uh, in this particular case, um, there's potentially 26
large claims, um, coming from the, uh, city of lauderdale lake.
so, um, the last, uh, the third column to the left shows
what the total amount paid is so far. And the last two columns shows
what the estimated costs will be or, or potentially could be for
these large claims. So 26 is large for a group of about 140
employees and about 85 90 on the health plan. Uh, next slide is a continuation
of, uh, some of those conditions. So again, 26, uh, potential
large claims. That's really what's driving, uh, the cost of the insurance. Next slide.
uh, and if you look here, these are the chronic conditions in every
single category, coronary heart disease, uh, congestive heart failure,
diabetes, hiv, we are above the average for the
book of business of florida blue. So we're, we're, we're
very much exceeding what they see as normal for their book of
business. So again, that's what's driving, uh, the cost of insurance for this particular
renewal this year. Next slide.
and then this is, uh, a financial calculation that most of
the insurance companies use to arrive at their renewal numbers. So
by september 30th of this year, the, the, the plan year
when it ends florida blue expects to collect, um, about
$1 million in premium from, um, the city of lord o'lakes.
they expect to pay out $1.3 million. And so the, the
required re renewal, uh, is about 34%, but
they're only requesting a premium of 1.239 million.
so they expect next year to pay out $1.3 million. That's a projection for the next
plan year period. But they are, um, requesting 1.239
or a 23% increase. Now, the 23% increase is not their final offer.
they're willing to negotiate, come down, um, something that's reasonable
that will fit your budget, but based on the claims, that's what it's, what's being called for as
of today. Our next slide.
um, so this is the renewal. You're, again, the majority of your employees are on the hmo plan,
about 95, 98 employees. And that plan is
expecting a 22% increase. Um, there are eight employees
on the pos plan, which has out-of-network benefits. That is a, uh, 37%
increase of overall, uh, the increase is about 23%. And, and
if you look at these numbers, um, for the hmo plan, even though it's 22%
above this year, it's only 8% above the year before last.
and for the pos plan, it's only 13% above the year before last, because
we received a significant dis discount or decrease last year when we transitioned
from advent to florida to blue. Next slide.
uh, so this is, uh, this is the, uh, a graphical display of how much
year over year. Um, so you'll see that we had a little bit of a dip when we
went, went to florida blue. So we did save money about 14% last year.
and, and now again, we're going, uh, about 8% above the year before last, next slide.
and the next slide is a graphical display of the pos plan. So, again, a dip.
so we went down and kind of matched, uh, the 22, 23 numbers
last year. And then now we're going back up and again, there's room to negotiate
with, uh, florida blue. Next slide. So
this is just, uh, a project timeline. So the activities we plan
on, uh, doing as we lead up to open enrollment. So we did issue an rfp,
it's in the hands of the insurance carriers. I've, me, uh, aetna, cigna,
uh, and unitedhealthcare. Uh, when we did shop the insurance a couple of years
ago, both, uh, cigna and, um, uh,
aetna declined the quote. So they received your renewal, they received the data, they said, nope,
we're not interested, we didn't want your business. Um, so there is a chance that that could happen
with any of the carriers. Uh, that leaves us with less leverage than to negotiate
with florida blue. But again, they, they wanna be a good business partner and work with us. But what
we wanna do is make sure that we get all the information and the results back to you in a
timely manner so that everything happens in time for successful,
uh, open enrollment. Uh, next slide. So
this is just a graphical display of the, uh, of the process. So
right now we're just waiting on getting the results back, uh, from the carrier market.
we'll summarize it, work with hr, work with your staff, and then we should be able to bring something
to you, uh, by the time you come back for your first meeting, um,
in, uh, september. Uh, that concludes
the presentation, and we're here to answer any questions.
henry? No, madam mayor, I have one question, mr. Galen. Yes.
you said that the projected increase would be about 23% this year, but it
may be negotiable. Yeah, so that's the should be used to negotiate.
uh, so just the fact that, um, we've only been with, um, florida
blue for one year, so there's no, there's no advantage to them
to lose, um, city of lauder o'lakes as a client after the first year.
uh, they won't, they certainly don't make any money. It takes about three to five years for a carry to make money
once there a change. Uh, number two, they know that they're at a disadvantage since they're
no longer contracted with, uh, broward health. So they are still in negotiations
with, with, uh, broward health, and they're try trying to get them back in the network. They're gonna do
whatever they can to keep their current clients, including the city of lloyd lakes. Also, you know, they, they
do have a concern for the city. They did that, uh, donate a hundred thousand dollars,
uh, to your senior center. So they want to continue to be a good business partner. Another benefit,
um, a distinguishing factor of florida blue versus the other insurance
companies. Cigna, aetna, and united healthcare are all publicly traded company.
they're driven by the, the profit margin. Uh, florida blue is
a not-for-profit company, so it's not the driving, obviously, they wanna make a
profit, but they're not, uh, they're not accountable to wall street like
these other, uh, areas.
madam mayor, commissioner thomas. Commissioner thomas. Thank you madam
mayor. Um, thank you for that presentation, mr. Gillum.
um, you know, you did show, and as
you said, a couple of the other insurance carriers
are not as robust or not as, um,
accommodating to the city of lauderdale lakes because they did not,
um, come on last year. Um, so I don't know, in
terms of them coming on this year, I, I'm not
on the plan, but from what I see, um,
I do see the benefits of, um, florida blue, but
I've heard, also heard complaints and that deals with one of
my biggest concern when you presented was
some of the health issues that are going on amongst
our community that really needs to be addressed from
not only personal but citywide, you know, with the heart
disease and all of that. Um, so thank you for the presentation
and awakening me to even some of the, um, crucial
needs that with our health issues that are going on here.
and, and that's a big issue all around with getting carriers to
really take on, um, those, those issues
that we have, especially when it comes to how much they
have to pay out. Uh, and I did not know that florida blue was
nonprofit. So thank you so much for your presentation,
your elaborate presentation. You're welcome. Thank you,
commissioner. Thank you, commissioner thomas. I just wanted to say something, uh, briefly.
mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, um, shahi, jar galen with galen benefits
group. Um, just kind of the historical outlook. Um, and
kind of speaking to, uh, commissioner thomas' comments. That's why when we,
um, you know, engage these different, uh, insurance carriers, we talk
about wellness programs, it's very important that we not only talk about the
cost of insurance, um, but we kind of work and negotiate wellness,
um, benefits when you all were, were with humana. Humana before they, um,
in essence, um, left the market. Um, and we had that 63%
increase before they exited the market. That's why we moved you to, to avmed
after looking in the market and kind of understanding the cost and benefit
analysis that, um, mr. Galen just went through. So these weren't arbitrary moves with
humana. You all had, um, a wellness platform. Obviously
no city could absorb a 63% increase, so we moved you to avmed at
that time. Um, and they didn't have, um, you know,
a wellness program per se. And so in, and kind of making the move to blue cross,
blue, florida, blue, rather, we wanted to ensure that you all had that wellness
option and that's why we negotiated those dollars. So they could be that culture
of wellness that's developed with incentives, et cetera, um,
so that the employees are incentivized to take better care of themselves.
and we've been working with hr to, um, put together a health fair as well as bio
biometrics day. Um, we've discussed in the last couple months, um, to encourage
folks to be, um, empowered to understand their own health, um,
you know, status so they can actually take action. So I just
wanted to kind of bring that, uh, forward that we, we weren't happy when we saw the
statistics, and that's why we are very active and engaged in negotiating the wellness
additional benefits. Thank you.
thank you. Mad . Thank you madam mayor.
thank you. Thank you, mr. Power. Item number five,
e discussion regarding approving the adoption of trailhead park by the
kiwanis club of lauderdale lakes under the city's adopt a park program to
be administered by the parks and human services department. And that item is
being sponsored by commissioner carlene maxwell williams, commissioner maxwell williams.
thank, oh, yes, ms. . So this program been going on
for thank you madam mayor. Um, a long time since
we start, since I started here in 2021 or something,
right? What year?
sarah had a mayor, erica, since 2022. 22.
and the park was still under grounds. And we put the application on the
website, um, asked, and we did a call out for would,
who would like to adopt a park, and we had the qantas club of lauderdale lakes
was the only application that was submitted. And now that the park
is completely done, we are now wanna move forward
in, um, getting them inducted and, um, having them,
um, taking care of the park. So pass it over to ms.
, ms. Erica, miss erica.
good evening, madam mayor. Um, commissioners, acting city manager.
um, city clerk, um, madam mayor, commissioner maxwell williams pretty
much said everything. I was gonna say, . Um, so we're just seeking authorization
to move forward with the adopt a park with kiwanis club, adopting a,
the trailhead park. Um, as the commissioner
said, gowanus club of lauderdale lake submitted an application
in 2022. They have since expressed their continued
interest and resubmitted a an an application in may. Um,
this item went through the cra board in june for approval.
we spoke to our parks advisory board, so now we're here, um,
bringing it to the commission for us to bring it back for approval.
commissioner harrison, um, I'm in full support
of this, uh, project we're looking to do. I'm actually excited
with some base. I'm actually excited for this project. I, and, and I think,
uh, this is our first time we're actually, um, having somebody adopt
one of our parks. Is that correct? Are you madam mayor erica? Yes. I'm
so excited, uh, for the kiwanis club. In doing so, kudos to them. I'm also a, a proud
member of the kiwanis club, um, and, and serve on their community outreach committee.
so, uh, I, I just, uh, want to give kudos to the club and
kudos to you, erica, for facilitating this process and making this happen in
the city. So thank you. And
joys, ms. F? No, madam mayor. Alright, thank you. Thank
you, ms. Erica. Thank you. Um, a
thank you madam mayor. Item number five f discussion regarding
utilizing the dentist project for the continuation of the
steam program in accordance with the city's procurement code section 82 dash
3 58, a 11 educational
or academic programs in an amount not to exceed $30,000 for
fiscal year 2026. And ms. Lockett will present that item
for you. Madam mayor. Ms. Erica protocol established for the record, erica
lockett, director of parks and human services. So madam mayor commissioned
the city of lauderdale lakes, launched a pilots, um, stem program
in october of 2024 to march of 2025,
and we utilized less rev lost revenue funding.
um, this was a successful program. It had a positive impact on the community.
a total of $24,000 was utilized for the pilot program.
so I'm before you today to ask that we continue the program from
october, 2025 to may of 2026.
that would take us through the majority of the school year. Um,
and the total cost of the project is $29,000.
so we just wanted to come to the mayor, come before the mayor and commission, because
we know it's over the city manager's threshold to ask could we
utilize the program? Mad mayor.
thank you. Uh, I'm in support of this program. I've had the pleasure of following
what the, um, the dentist project has been doing.
so they have a strong social media presence. So I see the robotics they work with and the steam,
um, science, technology, engineering, arts and math. So I,
I appreciate the fact that they, um, are in including
all five of those things within that. So, um, I'm in support of this, I
think $30,000 if that helps us reach more kids and sustain the project and the program.
I'm in favor. Thank you.
thank you erica. Madam mayor, now? Yes. Yes. Commissioner thomas.
yes. Thank you so much, madam mayor. Um, I'm also in favor of
this, and I'd like that added a, the arts
included into this program. Um, I, I would also
love for us to even meet some of the, the prior
steam, uh, participant that has benefit
from this program, if that can be arranged.
erica, you madam mayor? Yes. Yes, ma'am. We'll, we'll make
it happen. Thank you, miss erica. Thank
you ms. A c thank you, madam mayor.
next we have item 5g, discussion regarding the process and procedure for
hiring a new city manager. And this item is being sponsored by mayor
veronica edwards phillips, thank you so much. As you know, we are in the process of
hiring a new, we are in the process of seeking a firm
to assist us with hiring a city manager. And it's a methodical process, and
we need an update as ms. Oh, mr. Za. Mr.
zam? Yes, madam.
good afternoon, madam mayor. Uh, commissioners, uh, acting city manager,
a city clerk, uh, members of the audience and colleagues. My name za pepper.
I'm the procurement administrator for the city of lauderdale lakes. Um, madam
mayor and commissioners, just to give an update on this item, um, through
direction from the city commission, uh, staff did go out on our
platform demand star, uh, issue solicitation for an executive firm
to select a firm so that they, that firm will assist us in selecting a city manager.
um, we did go out and bids did close earlier in july.
um, we sent it out to 867
vendors. Um, out of those vendors, 11 vendors would've
quoted, we did publish, um, an
an evaluation on the platform that did not include figures, and
that was done intentionally. We did not want to misguide anyone. Reason for that
is that we received bids as low as 10,000
and as high as 39,000. We didn't want to give false hope at the end
of this process. The vendor that we select must be lowest
costs, responsible and responsive. We have already determined
costs. We have determined responsibility already. Now we responsiveness,
sorry. Now we want to make sure that they're responsible, that they're capable of meeting
our scope, meeting our requirements, and we are ensuring that, you know, the
firm that we select is the firm that we wanna work with. We have also indicated prior
that before bringing to commission, we will bring our shortlist to the city
attorney for guidance as well to make sure that we've made that selection correct
and that we are comfortable with the selection that we have made available for any
questions and raise no
questions, madam mayor, madam mayor. Mayor, I just wanna say thank you. Was, um, you,
you always present very well and you, you come pretty on point. So thank you for your presentation as
well, madam mayor, we just wanna put on point, again, a note to the commission.
this is going to be a very long process. Um, we wanna make sure that the commission is
aware of that because, uh, I have asked, um, hr to
sit with me. So we are individually going through every single proposal
page by page, whether it be 50 or a hundred, whatever. We are going through each
page to make sure that we see every proposal in detail. And
it is gonna be a lengthy process and we just wanna make sure that the commission is aware of that. Thank you for
that, mr. Um, this is a very methodical process and we appreciate
all the due diligence that you ought. Thank you so much, madam.
thank you madam mayor. Item number five h discussion regarding the
purchase of software subscriptions from shy international corporation
using the naspa alternate contract. Source number
4 3 2 3 0 0
dash two three dash npo dash a cs and executed
contract number ctr 0 6 0 0 2 8 competitively
procured by the state of arizona for software value added
reseller, products and services provided by the applicable software publishes and manufacturers
in an amount not to exceed $40,000 per fiscal year for software
subscriptions and contingency of 5% for any upcoming increases
for a final amount of $42,000. And mr. Zam
will be presenting this item. Good afternoon again,
um, protocols, established members commission.
um, this item, it's an item regarding a discussion
that was held, uh, about a month ago regarding shai international,
uh, or rather dell, uh, software. Shai international is that
like walmart of softwares and they also do hardware programming as well.
um, hardware products. Shai international is a vendor that
the city has, um, purchased from, uh, multiple times in
the past as well. Uh, they have a competitively bid cooperative contract
where the city enjoys premium pricing, not just regular pricing, but discounted pricing,
um, from this vendor for various software. Over time,
the city purchases software to protect our equipment
and our data that we store regularly, uh, over time as well.
these subscriptions may be a one year subscription, two year, or sometime three years.
it's just so happens that in fiscal 26 these
subscriptions will all come to an end. Around the same time, uh, staff
is bringing to the commission a request for approval that when this happens, we
have your approval to go ahead not using the city manager's approval limit,
but rather coming to you for permission that we can go ahead and procure these software
programmings from this particular vendor, uh, at the prices that they gave
us. Now, because we are a little bit away from the
end time, we are unable to get prices right now from the vendor.
some subscriptions will expire a couple months lower down, but we want
to be ready in 2026, uh, in october that we can start these negotiations
with the vendor, making sure that we get the prices. We are anticipating
a 5% increase from what we have right now, and what we pay now
will cover us as, as stated there. Some will go for one year, two year, and
three years. Um, uh, I'm available for any other
questions. I do also have with me online, um, kurt or it manager if there
are any additional questions as well.
any questions? Commissioner thomas.
thank you madam mayor. Um, mr. Assam, thank you for that.
I'm just looking at on the backup, um, your total
says 32,000. Uh, what is current
$346 and 99 cents
and you are requesting 40, 42%. Is
that in anticipation of an increase?
agree, madam chair. That is correct. Uh, we are anticipating a 5%,
uh, we are going to 40,000 because we know what it might be,
but again, we are not sure, uh, vendors are unable to give us a solid quotation
at this time. But because of the timeframe and we want to make sure that we don't
have any lapse with delayed meetings or, or this meet, this item being pushed from
agendas because of other items as well. We want to make sure that our software, that our
systems are up to date, uh, that it is protected. Uh, that's why we are bringing it now.
thank you madam mayor.
I'm sorry, questions? No. Any other questions? No,
that's madam city manager. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, anne.
thank you. Number five I discussion regarding
authorizing the purchase of additional licenses in accordance with the terms and conditions of the interlocal
purchasing system tips cooperative program, contract number two one zero three zero three,
telephone and communications data systems and solutions from ringcentral, inc. And amount
not to exceed $30,000 for the, the annual cost of the licenses
and services. And mr. Za will present this item to
you. Commissioner, go ahead. Good afternoon. Once again, protocols established,
um, members of the commission and audience as well.
uh, this item is regarding our telephone system. Uh, a couple, a couple
years ago, the ct moved away from our regular phone system and moved into ringcentral.
ringcentral is not that regular phone system where we can pick up transfer calls, but
it does a multiple, does multiple other features with it. Uh, that helps staff
in multiple functions as well. Um, at the time this
resolution was done long before I was here. Uh, it was an agreement in
place for an annual subscription to maintain the services, which
was below the city manager's limit, and that was all well and fine. Over
time, the city has increased in staff. Um, increasing
in staff means that we had to purchase additional licenses. Licensing meaning
for new staff, they need new phones, they need a new number, and that's why now
the licenses increased. We do have to involve staff at times, but in
pr at this point in time, there is an invoice pending, approved pending approval
that we need to pay, which has in gone over the city manager's limit by a little bit
in anticipation of what may happen before the agreement, the 60 month term
that we have with this vendor, which expires in 2027. We want
to make sure that we have that covered limit from the commission as well as permission. Uh,
the commission knows, uh, what your, uh, what you have in sight. As for
staff increases as well, we want to have that approval limit not exceeding
$30,000. If we need to increase in more licenses, uh,
for more staff members that may come on, we have that approval. So it's twofold.
we can say one, to pay what we have now, which has exceeded the city manager's limit. It's
at, uh, 26,000 thereabout, but we want to have that allowance as well.
if we need to increase. Again, the vendor doesn't have to wait for us to come to commission
for approval, but maxing at 30,000, it doesn't go beyond 2027,
just around the time before it expires. We will be negotiating with the vendor again,
once more for terms and conditions as well. Any questions?
madame? My hand raised?
no, madam mayor, thank you. Thank you mr. Za. Thank you. Adam
. Thank you madam mayor. Item number five j. Discussion regarding
first baptist church, piney grove, back to school bash use of the city's logo
sponsored by mayor edwards phillips. Thank you sir, very, very much. Good evening colleagues.
before I start my discussion, I would like to say that I do
worship at first baptist church, piney grove, but this is not a, a
personal request that I am making. The first baptist church, piney
grove is asking to utilize and partner with the city of
lauderdale lakes for its back to school bash, which will be held
on august 4th from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm
they're asking for the city to have a resource table
at the back to school bash so that they can receive information those who are
participating, the community, the students, the parents. So they're
asking for use of the logo, of course, also to have
a resource table there. And they're also asking for sponsorships
in the discussion of sponsorships. I am not asking the city to provide
the resources for sponsorship that I will provide the resource sponsorship
out of my funds. Any questions about madam
mayor? I just wanna say I'm support of this back to school
bash. I think they should be able to use our logo. They've done so much for the city
and, um, I live right across the street, so I'll be looking forward to walking over when they have it.
thank you andre, to you, madam mayor.
mayor, I am all for it. And race?
no, madam mayor. Thank you. Thank you madam.
you're welcome. Madam mayor. Item number,
um, adam ac. Thank you.
item number 5k. Discussion regarding hosting a florida
licensing on wheels, also known as flow event as a commissioner initiative
and is sponsored by commissioner maxwell williams. Commissioner maxwell williams. Thank
you madam mayor. So I had this idea about, uh,
I found out about the flow van and I wish, I think it's a great idea
to, um, what flow van is, is with the florida license, um,
the florida highway safety and motor vehicles. They have this big bus
where they go from different cities and, um, provide
the outreach that you can get your driver's license renewed and
other things that you can do at the dmv, which, you know, that long
line and that long waiting that's been going on. So this will really
help in our city and help our residents, um, to get their
license, renew their license, and other things that comes along with, with
the program. Any questions?
colleagues? How often would they be hand raise? Um, no,
no matter ma'am, how often would they be? Our, um, I am have not worked out the logistics
with them. We are still in the process of negotiating how
and when and how, how often. So once I, uh, get that
together, I'll bring it back to the commission to address. I think this is a great
idea. If you've ever had to go to the dmv for any reason,
you know how long it takes. Even if you have an appointment, it seems
as if about 30, 40, 50 other people have the same appointment time that you do.
so this is great. Thank you. Commissioner max. Madam a sin.
thank you, madam mayor. Item number five
l discussion regarding use of vacant green space at
bella vista community for lake space as a commissioner in initiative.
and this is sponsored by commissioner harrison. Commissioner harrison. Thank you, madam mayor.
so this event, um, that I'm looking to, um, host and bring to the community
is called lake space, which is supposed to be a space
where the community can come out and showcase their talent, uh, but also have
a, a business pitch competition where individuals can pitch their businesses and
get support from the community on what it is they're looking to do. Um, this
is in partnership with, um, the bella vista apartment complex.
they have a beautiful green space lawn in the middle of their community. And this just
goes back to the theme. I'm trying to bring events to the community. Um, we have
a great strategy bringing people to our parks, but making it more intimate I think would be great.
um, they love the idea and they, uh, looking forward to working with us.
um, I told him, of course, you've gotta follow protocol, go through commission, but, um,
that's the sum of the event. We're looking to have the event on november 8th, which is a
saturday. That gives us enough time to promote recruit talent,
also get sponsorships for, um, set event lake space.
that's it. Commissioner, uh, thomas has her commissioner.
thomas, thank you so much. I had raised my hand
for the last, um, the, I think item,
item, what is it? Item the one, commissioner carlene. But I'll move
on. Um, could you tell me just a little bit more
about this initiative? Um, commissioner harrison.
thank you. Of course. So what we're looking to do is, um, bring the show mobile
over onto this lawn. And, uh, that is gonna work as
a stage. We're gonna do outreach to the different communities in lauderdale lakes between
now and november to see who has any specific talent, whether it be singing,
drawing, um, et cetera. Um, as well as people who have small
businesses, uh, that's looking to pitch their, um, business to the community.
uh, we'll assemble a panel of judges, which are residents of the community, as
well as it's a big, beautiful field in the middle of the community. So we also want
to have, um, a lot of vendors and tents. Uh, there's also gonna be a kids
corner where a corner of the field is gonna be specifically for kids activities.
and we're also gonna be seeking a partnership from several nonprofits to,
uh, be a part of, uh, this, whether it's by tabling
or however they'd like to contribute. Uh, this would be an initiative, uh,
by me as a commissioner. Uh, and I hope that answers
your question, commissioner thomas. Thomas. Thank you, madam mayor.
um, I, I'm trying to get a picture of where exactly I know
where bella vista is. Where exactly is this
open field that you would have this stage?
thank you. So if you're at bella vista, imagine being in
front of the library. There's a gazebo, like a covering where
people sit down. It's a circular sitting down thing. There's a whole field
between the library and the leasing office of bella vista apartments.
okay. I, I thank you madam mayor. Um,
I, I'm just trying to see the traffic
in that area, because I know that when we do have,
uh, something at the ecc, there is no parking space
or anything, and that's in that same vicinity. I, I'm
just trying to picture, I know you're trying to get engagement
from the others within that location, but I don't know
the logistics of, um, that location
for the, what, the crowd you're trying to draw. If you're only,
um, directing it towards the general
vicinity of where they are, then perhaps yes, it would work.
but, um, that's just my view in seeing where it's being located.
yes. Yeah, no, that's a great point. Um, and bella vista, of
course, um, would think the same thing along those lines. And we're working with them. They feel like
they can make it happen. Uh, we feel like we can make it happen. And yes, it will
be marketed, um, first and foremost to that bella vista community. This is an added
thing for, for their residents as well. Um, so ideally,
most people attending would just have to walk downstairs and, um, join
the event. Thank
you, madam. Uh, through you, madam mayor. Sorry,
commissioner carlene through you, madam mayor. I, it, it's a great idea,
but I would ask you to look at the, um,
area space because you said recently you're looking for,
um, to showcase talents from all around. So
if people are being showcased, obviously they're gonna bring,
um, along family members, friends,
whatever with them. I'm just, my concern is the
capacity to house all of those different people there
as opposed to a vincent tous park. 'cause it, it's
a small area, even though you have a gazebo and all
of that, it's still a small area. So that's just my,
uh, my thought, especially when we have events
by the ecc. There's no parking at all.
mayor? Yes, thank you. No, uh, commissioner thomas, you make a great point.
um, there, there's actually an ample amount of parking spaces within bella
vista. And like I said, we're working with the, um, community, the residential
community, the leasing office, and they're looking at the same thing. They believe it's
feasible. Uh, when we do events at the ecc, there's parking specifically
for the ecc, but bella vista is saying they will work with us to actually help
designate parking for what we're trying to do. So, uh, some of the concerns you're
saying is, is, is valid, but it's also been looked at. And, um, I do agree
it will be a great event for the community. Thank you. Thank you, madam mayor
jackson williams. Thank you.
thank you, madam mayor. Sam, madam mayor. I can say one more thing. I just wanted to
add it in. This is also a added benefit to what the city's trying to do. 'cause
bella vista is actually located within the cra district. So, um,
I think this is along the lines for the goals of the cra as well. Just wanted to add it in.
uh, sorry, one more thing. If I may, uh, this, I, I also wanted to request
this as well be a golden rod, uh, for tomorrow, being that it'll
give us, uh, enough time to not only consider it, but also to, um, promote
to you madam mayor. Commissioner max williams. When is this event
for november 8th, if we wait until the next time we meet in
september, my concern is that we won't have enough time to recruit the talent and, um,
also, uh, do the event the best way possible. So, requesting a golden rod for
tomorrow to you, madam mayor, what are you asking for
from the city to use the logo? What, what are what are we asking for
that it need to be a golden rod? Are we asking for something from the city?
thank you, madam mayor. This is gonna be a com uh, commissioner initiative. So the logo would
already be on there. Um, as well as this will allow the city permission
to be able to promote the event from now, like any other initiatives. So instead
of wait till september to do that, um, this will give us enough time to do that from now,
mayor. So you, you would like a golden rod to approve
it as your initiative and that's it. Yes, ma'am.
are you, may I ask that question again, commissioner
master williams, to make sure that I understood what your question is?
mm-hmm . Was your question. Commissioner maxwell williams
to commissioner harrison's request for a golden
tomorrow just to approve that as his initiative or to
approve the, not approve because we cannot vote. But to
you are in favor of the initiative. I'm not in favor, I'm, I just
wanted to answer questions. The clarification, just if that, so he's,
I just wanted to understand if you, you want us to do a golden rod just to
say, oh, this is his initiative and just add it on? No, no. This his
initiative mr. Harrison, right. Commissioner harris?
no. Oh, we all have initiatives. I did the swim to commissioner initiative
that has to be promoted to be done the right way
for this to be, uh, waiting until the next meeting in september and we approve it
again. The city cannot put it out that, hey, we're doing something in the bella vista community.
so I'm asking for a golden rod so we can approve it tomorrow instead of waiting to approve
it in september. So we have enough time to promote the event
again. And I, I do apologize. You know, I gotta
understand this. When is the event again? When is it? October,
november 8th. So november 8th. If we, if say this comes in
on, in september, the first meeting in september, you
have all of october to promote it. So end of half
of september, a month and a half. So I'm not sure why we need to do
a golden rod tomorrow. Madam mayor, thank you. I I don't want
to belabor the point too much. Um, we usually need a month and a half to plan events.
it's just a consideration of being able to promote this in time.
the more time you have to promote an event, the more successful the event is gonna be.
if you feel like we could do it a month and a half, I don't think that's the right way to
make sure this event is gonna be its most successful. So there was
a golden rod request a little earlier before. I'm making a golden rod request as well for this
item to see if we can consider, um, approving it now so we have enough time
to promote for this event. My thoughts is I do not have a concern
about the goldenrod request. My concern is about the space
and the numerous activities. I'm in favor of the event,
but my concern also is about the space. But I have no problem with the goal. Thank
you, madam mayor.
thank you. Very hand raised, ms. P, so make sure we don't yeah, no, madam
mayor mme. May soon. Thank you so much. Um, item
number five m discussion regarding diaper bank distribution
for national diaper dis distribution week, sponsored by commissioner
harrison, ms. Harrison. Thank you madam mayor. So the fort, the greater fort
lauderdale diaper bank has a wonderful initiative where, um, they set up
shopping, give out diapers for free. Um, I think this would be an amazing thing to bring
to our community. Um, people are
spending a bunch of money on diapers and there's currently no
state funding to cover exclusively diapers for infants. So we have a huge gap,
um, and I believe our community could benefit from this. I'm looking to do this to
kick it off during, uh, national diaper week, which is
between september the week of that week of september, I think 13th to 21st.
I'm looking to do it that saturday, september 20th. This isn't gonna cost
the city anything. Uh, the greater fort lauro diaper bank is gonna come and set up,
and this will be something that we're looking to do on a recurring basis.
commissioner, colleagues, henrys,
no matter mayor, is this a golden rod also? Commissioner, do you have a comment,
commissioner? Yeah, I'm asking is this is a golden rod also? He did not request a golden oh, okay.
just asking. I just want to comment. Commissioner harrison, I think this is
a great, great event. My sorority
has participated in the event before here in lauderdale lakes. As a matter of fact,
we met at northgate park, all of the
sorority chapters came together, donated diapers,
we put them and organized them into bags, and then we gave them to the diaper bank. So that thinks
a great, awesome. Thank you. Through you matter. Mayor, I just wanna say I would love to partner with, uh,
them and you all as well, if they're open to it. Um, but I, I think it would be a great
thing looking at the statistics and the disparities. Thank you, madam mayor. Commissioner thomas. Commissioner
thomas. Thank you madam mayor. Just wanna say I'm in favor of it.
thank you madam. A thank
you madam mayor. Item number five
n discussion regarding an amnesty program sponsored by commissioner
harrison harrison. Thank you, madam mayor. Uh, there was some discussion earlier
about, uh, a previous plan. We're talking about this one. This is just a draft
proposal that I wanted to submit, um, in a good spirit of
exercising the powers that we do have as, uh, legislators being
the policy arm of municipal government. Um, it's just a
draft, uh, but the main core pieces of it is kind
of what's key, uh, which I think is gonna be beneficial to how we move about,
um, any type of lean amnesty program. Now, I
think we can always debate as to how much the application fee is gonna be. I think
there was a another, um, suggestion of $1,500. I think that's okay.
um, however, going back to my previous comments on the front
end, there is very little to stop people from being able
to participate in this program. Also, this program, um,
was aiming to be in line with what, not just the surrounding cities, but
numerous cities throughout broward is doing at the moment. Um, we want to
work with a program that can be, uh, valuable to our community.
um, another part here, it says 10% of the liens face value
for residential and 15% of the lean value for
commercial. That's obviously negotiable. Again, this is just a draft, but I think
this is a good place to start. Um, looking at 35% for commercial
businesses and anything different from that, that's just not consistent with what other cities are
doing. And we have to be mindful. A lot of our business owners here in the city have
businesses in other cities, and they feel the disparity. So I think 35%
is a little too high. Um, what's proof that 35% might be too
high is that it was discussed that there's a settlement
agreement and that agreement is at 35%. So
we're willing to settle for that. How is that a amnesty program amount? But,
uh, 35% is just a little too high for, um, for any lean amnesty
program. I encourage my colleagues instead of belaboring the point. I think we had great discussion
and debate earlier, um, to just read the backup, read
the backup, and just kind of just in your human mind, ask
yourself, is this a human thing to do that, um, the city of lauderdale lakes is
trying to do, uh, when people wanna do business in the city of lauderdale lakes, we have
to ask ourselves, are we business friendly? Not just in how
we say it, not just in where we put our faces or what we choose to spotlight, but
what are we doing when we create policy? And
I think that's key. So, uh, I won't belabor to point too much, but, uh, it's in the backup and
I encourage your colleagues to, um, glean over it whenever you get a chance. Thank you, madam mayor. Colleagues,
any questions or any discussion and raise?
thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you madam. Thank you madam mayor.
and that completes the workshop agenda. Thank you so much. Thank
you everyone. Goodnight.