Fort Lauderdale City Commission Conference Meeting - September 3, 2025
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Fort Lauderdale City Commission Conference Meeting - September 3, 2025
The Fort Lauderdale City Commission held a conference meeting on September 3, 2025, at 1:30 PM in the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. The meeting covered a wide range of topics including a performance audit of fuel consumption, proposed anchoring regulations, the Fortify Lauderdale stormwater management program, updates on the new police headquarters, a special obligation bond for infrastructure, the 2026 meeting calendar, the city attorney search, and a proposed ordinance governing public-private partnerships. Mayor Dean J. Trantalis presided.
Communications to City Commission
- Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC): Staff informed the commission that the AHAC is simply requesting an update on three topics from the June 30 quarterly meeting. The city manager's office is prepared to provide that update at the AHAC's September 8 meeting.
- Charter Review Board (CRB): Richard Weiss, representing the CRB, reported that the board is unanimous in its willingness to conduct a full charter review if directed by the commission, but noted it would require significant support from the city attorney's office. The board asked two specific questions: how much further the commission wants them to go, and how to handle new state law provisions on public-private partnerships. Mayor Trantalis suggested the commission first digest the CRB's existing recommendations before asking for more work, and proposed a commission discussion on charter topics at the October 7 conference meeting. Commissioner Herbst expressed disappointment that prior CRB work had stalled and stressed the need to support volunteer efforts. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman requested the CRB review human resources-related cleanup items. Staff confirmed the CRB would continue meeting on remaining topics (strong mayor and HR items) and that outreach to the public would be done in smaller, digestible pieces. The timeline for any ballot questions would be November 2026, with the commission needing to approve questions by May 2026.
Conference Reports
- CF-1: Performance Audit of Fuel Consumption and Billing: City Auditor Patrick Riley presented the audit, which focused on fiscal year 2024 (October 2023 – September 2024) fuel operations. Key findings included excessive vehicle idling, with 337,000 gallons of fuel (approximately $1.1 million) consumed by idling among 938 vehicles with Samsara devices. Extrapolating to all 1,271 eligible vehicles, the cost is about $1.4 million, representing roughly 35% of total fuel costs. The audit noted that some vehicles lack start-stop devices or have them disabled. Management concurred with findings and is implementing recommendations, including policy changes, exploring fuel-efficient vehicles, and increasing driver training. The police department developed an internal policy aimed at reducing idling. Commissioner Glassman questioned the culture of police vehicles idling, and Riley noted that while some idling is necessary for equipment, consecutive hours of idling is a key concern.
Discussion Items
- BUS-1: Proposed Anchoring Regulations: Chief Waterways Officer Marco Aguilera presented a proposed ordinance, authorized by House Bill 481, to restrict overnight anchoring to 30 days in any six-month period within city limits. The ordinance would apply citywide (vs. smaller anchorage limitation areas) and is intended to address derelict vessels, property damage, and illegal discharges in areas like Lake Sylvia, the Intracoastal Waterway north of Las Olas Marina, and Sunrise Bay. A public meeting on June 4, 2025, showed support from 27 attendees, and the Marine Advisory Board recommended approval (8-2) on July 8, 2025. The Fort Lauderdale Police Marine Patrol (6 officers) will enforce the rule. Commissioner Glassman noted a date discrepancy in the proposed ordinance (July 8, 2024 vs. 2025). The item was scheduled for first reading at the evening meeting.
- BUS-2: Fortify Lauderdale – Phase 2 Neighborhood Stormwater Improvements: Public Works Director Brad Kane and consultant Rob Taylor presented the ranking of 12 neighborhood stormwater projects for Phase 2, based on a quantitative analysis weighting level of service (75%) and neighborhood feedback (25%). The first three projects (Poinsettia Heights/Lake Ridge, Durrs/Croissant Park, and Beverly Heights) separated themselves from the pack. Combined cost for Phase 1 and Phase 2 is estimated at $1.5 billion. Staff noted that all projects cannot be done simultaneously due to funding and community disruption, and a 10-year timeline is anticipated based on funding availability. Commissioners expressed interest in exploring qualitative criteria (e.g., construction impacts, cost) and accelerating the timeline. Assistant City Manager Raquel Matthews noted P3s could be used for a portion (10-20%) of the program, but not the majority. James LeBree, representing Poinsettia Heights Civic Association, expressed disappointment that his neighborhood (ranked #5) did not make the first group and asked for a clear timeline. Ted Hinsara, River Oaks Civic Association president, urged caution in awarding contracts, citing a prior contractor that was fined $100,000 for environmental violations.
- BUS-3: Police Headquarters Phase 2 – Structural Peer Review: Anthony Fajardo, Director of Development Services, provided an update on the peer review by WJE of the new police headquarters. Of 16 items identified, five are fully resolved, two are conceptually resolved pending additional information, and one (masonry shear wall connections) remains under review. WJE (Brent Chancellor) explained that two paths exist: testing existing connections to justify capacity, or adding pre-qualified steel angles. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman expressed concern that the alternative may be a "band-aid" compared to the originally recommended shear wall, but Chancellor assured that any solution would meet stringent building code requirements. Phase 1 remediation (deflection work) is nearly complete, with fiber-reinforced polymer installation on the third floor taking about 30 days. AECOM (Tim Blair) confirmed ongoing discussions about financial resolution and a 57-month quarterly monitoring plan. Demolition of the old building is expected to start in 2 weeks (after asbestos abatement) and take about 60 days.
- BUS-4: Infrastructure Special Obligation Bond: Assistant City Manager Raquel Matthews presented a $105 million special obligation bond to convert $45.5 million in short-term financing for the police headquarters to long-term, with the remaining $59.5 million for infrastructure improvements (public safety communications, sidewalks, and roadways). The bond will invest $16.1 million in roadways (addressing all poor/very poor/serious/failed roads – about 10.1 miles) and $11.8 million in sidewalks (13.3 linear miles – all serious/failed sidewalks), plus $2 million per district for district-specific projects. The city will still invest $47.1 million over five years in roadways and sidewalks. Commissioner Glassman emphasized the need to engage neighborhoods before construction, as some residents may not want sidewalks. Milo Mijatovic, Transportation Director, confirmed that a sidewalk master plan includes gap analysis and that new sidewalk projects will be prioritized through the five-year CIP and CERTAX/SURTAX funding.
- BUS-5: Rescheduling City Commission Meeting Dates for 2026: The commission reviewed the 2026 holiday calendar and agreed to move the March 17 meeting to March 19 (due to the National League of Cities conference), and the July 7 meeting to July 2 (to comply with charter requirements for a 30-day recess). A proposal to move the April 7 meeting (conflicting with Passover) was withdrawn after discussion.
- BUS-6: City Attorney Search Update: Human Resources Director Jerome Post reported that 30 applicants were received, with five recommended for interview by the Citizens Committee on September 5: Paul Bangel (current city staff), Alan Boileau (former city attorney), Sherry McCartney (Trip Scott PA), Angela Rosenberg (local government attorney), and Ronald Tomasco (Collier County). Boileau's inclusion drew sharp criticism from multiple commissioners and public speakers, citing his termination for cause. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman moved to direct staff to remove Boileau from consideration, but the commission decided (4-1, with Beasley-Pittman dissenting) to let the committee process play out. The committee will send its recommendations to the commission for the September 16 meeting.
- BUS-7: Draft Ordinance – Public-Private Partnership (P3) Evaluation Process: Interim City Attorney D'Wayne Spence presented a draft ordinance creating local rules for implementing the P3 statute, including application fees, public notification (registered civic associations within 300 feet), and a four-phase review process. The commission discussed the importance of public transparency and staff evaluations. The item was not completed and will be continued at a future meeting.
Key Outcomes
- Anchoring Regulations: To be placed on first reading at the evening meeting.
- Fortify Lauderdale Phase 2: Staff was directed to apply qualitative criteria to the ranking and report back. The timeline is approximately 10 years, subject to funding.
- Police Headquarters Peer Review: A follow-up meeting with AECOM is scheduled for October 2025 to discuss financial resolution and monitoring.
- Infrastructure Bond: To be considered for approval at the evening meeting.
- 2026 Meeting Calendar: Changes approved (March 17 to March 19; July 7 to July 2).
- City Attorney Search: The Citizens Committee will interview five candidates on September 5; finalists will be presented to the commission on September 16.
- P3 Ordinance: Discussion continued to a future meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the City Commission conference meeting this September 3rd, 2025. Beautiful sunny afternoon, except when it's raining, but uh anyway, thank you all for being here today. We have a number of important topics to discuss this afternoon. We appreciate your patience in uh the beginning of our meeting. Uh Commissioner Herbst has indicated he'll be late. Uh and so um I waited a few minutes thinking he might arrive, but I guess he'll be a little bit longer. Um, we usually start out our um our meetings with the communications. So uh before uh we'll start with our communications. We'll start with the uh Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. The Charter Review Board, um, Mr. Weiss has indicated that he is going to be a few minutes late coming to this meeting. So if he is not here when we get to that, we'll kind of put put that off until uh he arrives. So starting with the um the affordable housing advisory committee, is there somebody here on the board that's gonna make a presentation? May I I almost I just want to ask staff about this. This almost seems a little bit out of at a step because they are talking about something in April here, but we met with them June 30th and sort of dealt with all these issues that they are asking us to talk about. So what is it so uh Chris? Good afternoon, Mayor Commissioner, Chris Cooper, Assistant City Manager. So the uh Affordable Housing Advisory Committee is just asking for an update on the three items that were the topics of your quarterly meeting with them in June. So we are prepared to share an update with them at their September 8th meeting, I believe, next week, and we will see if they want any follow-up past that. But we'll also be scheduling their next quarterly joint meeting with you uh soon. Okay, so there's really nothing to discuss today. Right. Okay, very good. Thank you. So we'll jump to the next agenda item and wait for Mr. Um uh wise to appear. So why don't we start with CF1 performance audit of fuel consumption and billing? Mr. Riley. Patrick Riley, City Auditor. Good afternoon, honorable mayor, vice, well, not the vice mayor yet, and uh commissioners. The city auditor's office completed a performance audit of fuel consumption and billing. This audit was part of our annual audit plan. This audit represents part two of the fuel operations audit. Part one, which was brought to you back in October, mainly dealt with uh internal evaluations of of the operation. This uh audit really focuses on substantive testing of fuel consumption and billing. The objective was to conduct a detailed examination of the city's fuel operations, which with an emphasis on verifying the accuracy of fuel consumption and fuel billing processes. Within the public works department is the sustainability division, which includes fleet services. They are responsible for the fuel operations and the technology. They have five fueling stations that they provide unlighted and diesel fuel to um the city's personnel. There's approximately 1,970 vehicles and other units. Fleet services uh utilizes two methods to control access to fuel, the canceiver device and the fuel fobs. The canceiver, just real quick, I don't want to get too too far into it, is is a device that's plugged into the vehicles onboard diagnostic port that uh provides information. And the the FOBs also do that uh with uh a different type of uh community electronic communication. In fiscal year 2024, the fleet services dispense approximately 1.3 million gallons of fuel at a cost of approximately four million dollars to the city's departments and other and authorized users. Fleet services rely on two primary systems to manage track fuel and vehicle performance. This is the EJ Ward uh view system and the Samsera software. EJ Ward enables precise control over fuel access by allowing users to set specific restrictions on the fueling asset level. For example, uh restricting the number of times you could fuel in a given day as a control. The Samsera uh provides fleet management with insight into vehicle performance, fuel consumption, idling, route efficiency, and uh driver behavior.
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