Okay, good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the City Commission conference meeting this 21st day of April 2026.

Thank you.

Um I want to thank you all for being here today.

Um we're gonna jump right into the uh agenda.

Uh normally we have communications, but I don't see any communications today, so we're gonna go right to the uh says mayor's report.

I have nothing to report on just yet.

Uh I'll reserve my comments for later.

We have the uh manager's report, city manager.

I think commission reports come before mine.

Oh I forgot that one.

Okay.

Uh city city commission's report.

Commissioner Herbst.

Thank you, Mayor.

So I just want to let everybody know that we're going to be doing our workshop for Lockhart Park tomorrow night.

Um I hope everybody has an opportunity that wants to participate.

Comes on out.

Can I come?

Yes, please.

Oh, I can hope you do.

It's uh we'll we'll we'll notice it.

You can come on up and share your thoughts about the uh mediation and the redesign of the park.

You know more about it than I do, so please.

Am I allowed to go, city attorney?

I can sunshine it.

If we notice it.

Yes, Mayor, and just obviously it would be communicating with each other about the project or anything that you would come before you.

Okay, maybe I'll try to do that.

What time is it at?

It's at six o'clock up at the Kaplan building.

Uh uh where the police headquarters were.

Yes.

Okay, great.

Let's notice it just to be sure.

Um, yeah, let's let's go ahead and notice it.

And it's uh so we're gonna have city staff up there, rebroadcast.

The city manager will be there.

We'll have Joe Webb from AECOM to talk about it.

So uh we'll go to hopefully get some community input and talk about the redesign and see what the community has to say.

So thank you.

Got it.

Just gonna ask the clerk to assist with that notice.

Thank you.

Commissioner Beasley Pittman.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, good afternoon to everyone.

Um I would like to um bring notice to the city that um Mr.

Levi Henry, the founder, CEO Um of the West Side Gazette.

He transitioned and we had a memorial service for him.

Oh, really?

Yes.

Um we as a city we did send an expression of sympathy.

But I'm asking at the beginning of our meeting tonight if we could also um give a moment of silence in regards to him.

Um we know that Mr.

Henry um established the West Side Gazette in 1971, and his son Bobby Henry is now um the editor and chief of the newspaper.

But um uh uh a tremendous loss to the city and to the state.

So um if we would do that, I would appreciate it.

Um also sharing some um opportunities that I had over the last um seemed like this has been like one long month, but sharing some opportunities that we've had um over the several past days.

Um on Thursday, April the 9th.

I had a great opportunity alongside with um Chris Cooper, um Vanessa Martin with our CA CRA Tiffany Bain.

Um we had a joint um city meeting with the plantation um CRA.

Um on 441 south of Broward to Davy Boulevard, the city of Fort Lauderdale and plantation.

We are a budding cities, and we've been having conversations to see um how we can be in harmony as we bring forth um projects on that that quarter there on the 441 area.

So um we had the pleasure of sitting with um the mayor Nick Sartel and also the CRA um director for plantation, which is Clinton Hall, and that was a great uh meeting, and we do look forward to having additional conversations with them.

On Thursday um the 14th.

Oh, yes, it was a good day on the 14th, Thursday the 14th.

Um I was honored um to host the um Pomp Station Pump Station um ribbon cutting and historic and historic Dorsey River Bend.

Excuse me, I'm a little tired this morning.

Um, but we did have the opportunity of hosting the post the Pomps Station ribbon cutting.

Um a great event um uh that was celebrating the completion of the final storm work storm water infrastructure that was in the historic Dorsey River Bend indoors community.

Um that project has nearly 10 miles of new pipe and drainage structure being um fed through the the new and modern pump station in that area.

So that project, as we know, um the total investment was 67.8 million dollars for stormwater improvement across the neighborhood.

So thank you to our public works, also to Stratcom for their opportunity where they made it possible for us to have that ribbon cutting and bringing that awareness to our city and and to everyone that we are looking forward and making progress with our um infrastructure regarding our flooding and stormwater improvement.

Okay.

Also, I would like to share that.

Okay, give me one moment here.

All right.

See like something else I wanted to share.

You know I do this often, Mayor.

I'm gonna pause here and then I'm gonna ask if he would allow me to come back.

But um with that being said, we've really had um an opportunity um to uh bring that information about the pump station that was very exciting for the community.

The community was there.

And when I tell you that they are at a moment where they're feeling that we are truly ready for this hurricane season along with the flood and the rainy season, we are trusting that this pump station will be a great impact for the community.

So with that being said, at this time, I'm gonna end my response here.

Okay, Commissioner Glassman.

Yes, thank you, Mayor.

Uh good afternoon, everyone.

Um April 9th had the pleasure of speaking uh at the Birch Park Beach Finger Street Neighborhood Association.

That was their annual meeting.

Um always a good meeting, uh very engaged group of folks, and uh we again talked about that celebration they had a few months ago for their hundredth anniversary as a neighborhood.

Uh a great milestone.

Uh April 10th, um, it was a lot of fun uh doing the ribbon cutting for Schmorgus Berg, Fort Lauderdale.

Uh that's at 536 Northeast 2nd Street in Flagler Village.

What's it called?

Schmorgasburg.

Uh not Schmogus Borg, Schmogusburg, and I'll tell you why.

Okay.

Uh the concept actually began in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, um, as a really fun, fun outdoor market area, uh, food, crafts, arts, you name it.

Um, it became very successful.

Uh then they opened in uh Miami in the Winwood area.

Um, and now they're on the site of where the Viceroy residences will go, uh, right at uh federal and second.

Is it as is it an assemblage of food trucks?

It's it's everything.

It's it's booths, it's food trucks, it's a DJ, it's it's music, it's a bar, it's it's it's a real outdoor fun uh market.

Um I think it's already been very successful.

Uh it just opened, uh they operate Saturdays and Sundays from noon till 8 p.m.

Uh and they do this on sites that are vacant, waiting for development.

Uh, and then when the development comes, that's it's sort of like a long-term pop-up.

Um, but uh it's really a very cool spot.

They did a good job.

Uh I wish them all the best.

But I think what I saw even just in the first couple of weekends, um, I think it will do very well.

Um, I'm looking forward uh tomorrow, I guess is the 22nd.

I'll be part of a panel discussion at Pier 66, hosted by uh one Sotheby's, uh including their CEO.

We're going to talk about uh development in Broward County and specifically uh the influx of folks to the city of Fort Lauderdale and why.

It should be a very good panel discussion.

I'm looking forward to that tomorrow.

I will also be part of a panel discussion for the Realtors Association uh at the Tower Club on April 29th.

Uh much of that is going to be focused around neighborhoods.

It will be focused about our community character, uh, and then they're going to get into a discussion of uh historic preservation and development and redevelopment and property value.

So I'm looking forward to those two uh panel discussions.

Both of them have a large attendance of folks uh already signed up for uh for that.

Uh we have in Holiday Park in District 2, we have a meeting with neighbors to talk about water billing information.

That's also on April 29th at 6 o'clock.

Um April 29th through May 2nd, our city is hosting the Fort Lauderdale Open.

That is a very large uh gathering of swimmers uh at our aquatics complex.

I think they're expecting more than 25 Olympians uh to be participating in the Fort Lauderdale open again.

That's April 29th through May 2nd.

Um April 30th, uh there's going to be a good discussion with the neighbors on the beach about moving forward with Sunrise Lane.

Uh, as you know, we have in the budget for uh reimagining uh really cleaning up, which could be a very very, very special little corner uh at Sunrise and A1A.

So we're going to have that discussion.

Uh that will be over at the Beach Community Center for how we're moving forward now that the funds are in the budget.

Uh, and I look forward to seeing that project.

It hopefully will not will not take too long.

Uh we also have an upcoming meeting for the Las Olas Isles Neighborhood Association that will be their annual meeting as well.

Um May 2nd uh over at Holiday Park for the YMCA.

Uh uh they're going to be hosting what's called a Little Builders Fund Fest.

Uh a lot of hands-on experiences for young young children.

Uh, and it should be a really nice event on May 2nd uh for folks to see what's going to be coming uh with the YMCA in that spot.

Um then May 6th, we have the FOP uh police department fallen office memorial ceremony at Esplanade Park, always a very moving ceremony.

It's uh I I think the first time I ever attended, and I I think I probably have made all of them, it I was just really so impressed with the solemnity of that event uh and and just the the spirit and the dedication as we remember uh our officers who gave their lives uh in service to the city of Fort Lauderdale.

Um that's about it for me, Mayor.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um just a couple celebrations to start off.

River Walk, named number eight river walk in the country.

Uh so congratulations to Genia and the whole team.

Uh so that's fantastic.

Uh give them a hand.

Great job.

Um give her a brick.

Give her a break, yeah.

Or two.

You got it.

Um so that's that's great news.

Tortuga festival.

I thought we had a great Tortuga festival this year.

Well, maybe Chris will share a little more about how it went, but from my vantage point, uh, I think uh fantastic and continue to be great partners with the community working together, make sure that all works together.

And uh I was excited to see Ice Cube mayor perform, one of my favorite rappers of all time.

So that was it was a good day.

You know it.

That's what he ended with, Commissioner Beasley Pittman ended with it was a good day.

It was spot on.

So just great, great uh celebration, great folks that uh come there and and and just great uh led effort by by Chris and Jim.

Um couple other things.

Uh Commissioner Beasley Pittman and I were just at Hattie Curley's hundredth birthday, so Hattie turned 100 uh here in the city, and just a wonderful celebration.

So that was that was great.

She was uh she was more interested in the cake than taking pictures, which I don't blame her.

So it was great being with her for that.

And thanks, Commissioner, for being there for that.

Um mayor and commissioners, I went to the or I participated virtually in the Solid Waste Authority meeting uh this past Friday.

So uh voted electronically and the master plan was passed unanimously.

And so I'll turn over to City Manager to describe more about whether the next steps, but it's just the framework by passing it, it means that framework is now going to all the municipalities in Broward County for each municipality to decide is this a framework that they would like to participate in or not.

So no obligation, but as a city, that's something we'll evaluate.

I think it's next month, city manager.

Maybe you can provide more details.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Staff intends to bring a presentation forward at the May 19th conference meeting to talk about the city's options, and ultimately the Solid Waste Authority would need to know by August whether or not the City of Fort Lauderdale intends to participate.

So we have a lot more to discuss and share with you going forward, and we're preparing those materials at this time.

Great.

Thanks, City Manager.

Next uh Mayor, you allowed me to uh participate on your behalf for the annual mayor's breakfast panel.

So I was uh a stand-in for you.

I don't think I embarrassed you too much.

Uh but it was Mayor Levy of Hollywood, Mayor Hardin and Pompano Beach, and crew Fort Lauderdale, which is um focused on women in commercial real estate.

So good discussion.

You're talking about what we're doing in the city of Fort Lauderal and the exciting things, and so that was I thought a positive conversation, so thanks for that opportunity.

I also went to the Council of Fort Lauderal Civic Association meeting this past week.

Um of the topics that came up there, and I mentioned this city manager, is the idea of lean amnesty.

So lean amnesty.

So mayor commissioners of y'all are probably very familiar.

We allow for a high percent of amnesty for penalties incurred as a result of not being in compliance code wise, code or otherwise.

So one of those categories is up to like 85 percent.

So in other words, if you have a 100 uh fine, you can seek amnesty reducing that payment from 100 to 15, right?

85 percent minus 100.

And so the feedback that was just overwhelming from the council for Laura Civic Associations was basically this is too high.

That it it takes out some of the teeth of the enforcement and the penalty.

And as a city, we always want people to comply and don't want to have to uh submit fines, but the council's argument was there's a there's a middle ground there that we're probably way too far on the other side of too higher percentage of amnesty.

So I just is wondering if we could just evaluate that a little bit as the city manager to see if we could have a more uh a better model for this uh for to enforce and possibly reduce amnesty, but also still have some components when there is a real hardship, what might be available.

Is that an automatic 85 percent?

Because I know other cities it's much less.

Yeah, that's a good question.

In Fort Lauderdale, we do have somewhat of an ongoing amnesty period, and I know in other cities, amnesty is sometimes at a certain time of year or may not even occur every single year automatically, and so there is certainly a balance between uh encouraging compliance and and penalizing those who are are not in compliance, and so we're definitely open to having that discussion to see uh where we want to be as a city, and we could put that on as a conference item if that's what the commission would desire.

Well, it would be good to know what it is, what is the policy, and uh and you I agree with the vice mayor that the whole point of it is to encourage compliance.

Uh once they do comply, uh then we can consider you know reduction.

I know for like one of our neighboring cities like Wilson Manors, it's an you can uh get a 50 percent reduction.

Uh and then if you want more, you have to come before their commission.

So um I don't know how we how we want to implement uh a policy here, but I do think an automatic 85 percent makes no sense.

I remembered uh when Lee Felvin was the city manager and I was a city commissioner, um, there were a number of um code violations that were discounted 99 percent, and that was when uh during the recession um during the recession, the um a lot of banks took back uh houses in foreclosure, and they were not uh hooking up to the city services.

They the uh the homes were still um uh using septic tanks and they weren't they weren't using the city uh effluent system.

And sometimes that would go two, three, four years, and the fines would go 50, 60, 80,000, and the city manager would reduce that to a couple thousand dollars.

And and I said, well, this is a complete disincentive.

They they need to be hooked up to city services, right?

But my voice was not heard, and that policy continued.

So I don't think we should be bending over backwards to encourage people to violate the law if they think that ultimate ultimately they're gonna be forgiven, you know.

I know it's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is for permission.

And I think that's how some might be gaming the system a little bit, Mayor, on this is exactly what you're saying.

Mayor Portia Garcia is at the podium to provide any details that you may need.

Go ahead, Portia.

Thank you, manager Williams.

Portia, hello.

Good afternoon, Mayor, good afternoon, Vice Mayor and Commissioners.

I wanted to share some changes that we made to our current program.

Our current program does allow the 85 percent reduction.

However, we made some modifications around September of last year, so that there are reductions that only receive a 50 percent reduction.

Those violation types are nuisance violations.

We define that as anything that threatens the life, safety, or welfare of the public, those are things such as overgrown lots, graffiti, um, derelict vehicles, anything that we cite under Chapter 18 of our code.

We also have repeat violations, that is, any time a property owner has the same violation within a five-year period, it does not matter if it is at different properties that they own within the city, those only receive 50 percent.

Noise violations only receive a 50 percent reduction and vacation rental violations only receive a 50 per percent reduction under our current program.

Our current program is set to expire on September 30th.

What we have done and built into our current resolution is a presentation in June that would give a recommendation on whether or not we should continue lien amnesty under the current guidelines, at which point we would also ask the city commission for direction if there is modifications to the program.

Thank thank you.

That really helps, Portia.

And for the lien amnesty to take effect, how many citations do you have to have before it gets to that point?

So anyone with a complied violation can apply for lien amnesty.

A criteria is that their property must be in full compliance, that is any property that they own within Fort Lauderdale, so it can be one violation or it can be multiple violations.

And they've accrued that penalty over time though, right?

I mean, it is it do we give that on the first violation in another?

We do give it on a first violation.

Um considering that they meet the other program criteria.

However, if it becomes a dynamic of a repeat violation, so they have the same violation multiple times, that is where the 50 percent reduction kicks in instead of the 85 percent reduction.

Okay, thanks.

So, Mayor, I just I think that's still too high, but if if we can talk about it in June, it sounds like city manager.

That's that's great.

Yeah, okay.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Portia, appreciate that.

Um, next topic, city manager, is the living seawall ordinance is that coming before us next month?

Is that do I have that right or Chris or Ben?

I see Todd Heich from public works coming forward.

Thanks.

Good afternoon, Todd High G deputy public works director.

There is a budget amendment on the May 5th to fund the program.

Okay.

And then the resolution is coming on the second meeting.

Second meeting in May.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

That's sounds great.

Um, this has come up in in some neighborhoods in my district, and I'm guessing it happens citywide.

Is FPNL doing work, which is great, to underground utilities.

So FPNL through their analysis chooses neighborhoods to underground.

Um do we are we engaged with FPL around that um analysis, decision making, encouraging them to look at certain neighborhoods that may have greater needs, or are we involved in that process, or is that solely siloed from us?

FPL conducts that evaluation on its own, and they have a program in place for hardening neighborhoods or areas that have not performed well during storm incidents, and so they do let us know that they're intending to do some undergrounding work, uh, but we are not a part of the decision making process uh when it comes to their procedures for determining which neighborhoods when and how, but we do coordinate with them, we have very good relationships with them, uh, but we are not part of the decision making process.

So this is confusing there because there are some neighborhoods that that take it upon themselves to do underground.

So is FPNL just coming in on their own and paying for it on their own?

When FPL determines that an area needs to be hardened, it is essentially them looking at their own business model and their operational needs, and they determine that it makes more sense for them financially to cover the cost of undergrounding for those areas.

For those neighborhoods that are seeking to do it on their own or electing to do it, it may not be that there's a need.

There may be more of an aesthetic uh desire to have those lines undergrounded.

And so there that's the distinction.

FPL is largely doing it out of uh a need to upgrade their system or to ensure that their operations are consistent throughout a rain or stormy that is another distinction though.

The other distinction being that when the neighborhoods choose to do this themselves, it's not just FPL, it's all utilities.

It's ATT, you name it.

Anything that's on a power line is buried.

So that's also a very big difference.

So FPL, if they initiate a program, they don't remove the polls, they keep the polls up there for the other utilities for the cable and so forth.

That's correct.

Got it.

So I I thank you.

That all helps.

And what I'm wondering is could we have a little bit more of an advocacy role in that?

In other words, just the communication of um, okay, if you know what are you, what neighborhoods are you looking at in the city of Fort Lauderhill in the next year, two years, and could we provide some feedback in terms of where we're seeing challenges just from our you know vantage point?

I I think we can step that up.

Okay.

Okay, great.

That'd be great.

Thank you.

Let's see.

This came up and this is maybe a Chris Cooper question manager is the scheduling of our inspectors.

So our inspectors and and inspectors that are issuing permits or evaluating is a renovation project as an installation complete.

So Chris, the the question that I've had a couple folks raise is can we get to a more technologically advanced system of deploying um code officers and inspectors.

In other words if I'm installing a new um electrical box in my house right or the um you know the general contractor is or electrician I think how it works right now is we call up that day of right and say are they can they come out today there could we look at exploring to a more um where we can schedule appointments online we can then track where that inspector is virtually through you know app based GIS like there's got to be a faster more effective way for this.

And I don't know if we've explored that.

Good afternoon uh Anthony Fardo Director of development services so we are consistently looking at upgrades to our current systems right now we've been interviewing several companies who have offered expanded services I will say recently we were talking about one of our options that that you kind of mentioned which is a text version of that so that people can text in exactly we're not having a big take rate on that it's actually costing us a lot of money to have that service and no one's really using it.

I think last time we checked we had maybe for a year like maybe 60 people utilize that service and we tried marketing it and pushing it and you know during phone calls and and things like that.

So a little bit of of it is the industry itself and and the willingness to accept new technologies but we do look at those options one of the things that you mentioned was the ability to track you know where somebody is we are actively looking at that as well.

Right.

So we we want to upgrade the system and continue to refine it.

Okay.

Yeah I mean I just think there's a technological solution to this that we we can get there and and maybe it's hey this is how it's gonna be and so folks need to adapt to it to to be more efficient for ourselves in terms of resources and okay all right so thank you that you're welcome that helps um great thanks mayor that's that's all I have thank you okay great just a few things um so a couple Saturdays ago um I welcomed the 2026 Battle of the paddles pickleball tournament at the fort um place was jam-packed with people a great day and uh and the cause of course was great because it was uh a fundraiser for mental illness and uh um and I think that uh uh the message was well well received and certainly uh it was a great event for everybody who attended and uh the fort seems to continue to thrive in a very robust way many people from all over the city and throughout the South Florida continue to come and visit there.

Um on April 15th I was uh panelist uh that was sponsored by um uh Bloom Bloomberg Philanthropies and others it's called Smart City Expo went up to West Palm Beach and sat with the mayor of Ottawa Canada and the mayor of Tempe Arizona as we discussed projects in particular I was able to uh feature our waterworks project I shouldn't say waterworks fortify Lauderdale um and uh and the initiatives we've taken and accomplished so far and um uh I think people were pretty amazed at the uh amount that we would be able been able to accomplish um in such a little uh amount of time on April nineteenth I was at the aquatic center and uh I was there to uh uh watch the end of the four days of competition for the American Cup is the American Cup diving championship it's been 14 years I heard them say 14 years 13 years since they've been back to Fort Lauderdale uh so they're very happy to be back and they're very pleased and I was able to present the medals to the winners there was the men's diving team and the women's diving team and uh the these very enthusiastic young kids have much more energy than I will ever have and uh it was a great event and and uh all the families and friends who came to participate and and witness um we're back we're back on our game and I'm very happy to see the aquatic center thriving the way it is um I also want to uh mention the Tortuga festival you know um you have over twenty thousand people a day attending this event and um you know to get twenty thousand people and in just a matter of a qu of a you know an acre of land or whatever the amount of land is there and to have it function so efficiently um one of one of our constituents who lives on holiday drive who's a a very vocal person on almost any subject uh text me one

Um I also want to uh mention the Tortuga Festival.

You know, um you have over 20,000 people a day attending this event, and um you know, to get 20,000 people and in just a matter of a qu of uh you know an acre of land or whatever the amount of land is there, and to have it function so efficiently.

Um one of our constituents who lives on Holiday Drive, who's a a very vocal person on almost any subject, uh, texted me one afternoon and she said, I cannot believe how beautiful the city is handling the traffic here.

There's no problem people getting in and out.

Uh it's uh it's just amazing and everyone's respectful.

There's no no fights happening, everyone is having a good time, and uh she said it was just an um such a great thing for us to be able to host that.

So uh um my hats off to the to our police department, our fire department, as well as the promoters of the event.

Thank you so much for continuing to bring that to our city.

But we'll talk about that later.

Uh upcoming uh on April 30th, which is a week from Thursday, I'll be attending the Harvey Milk uh Heart Honors Award.

Uh they they are now having it here in our community.

It's uh going to be held at the Hard Rock.

Over 800 people are attending, and the the featured um uh honoree is going to be Jacob Tierney.

That name may not sound sound too familiar to you, but he was the creator and producer of heated rivalry, and so he'll be here uh that evening.

Um let's see.

Um I'll be participating and speaking regarding Brower development at the four seasons in Miami that uh same day at the Bills and uh Sunburg Annual Development Conference.

Oh boy.

May 2nd, the mayor's annual student chess challenge.

Those eight-year-olds are very intimidating.

If I were you, I would send the vice mayor.

Yeah, the vice mayor.

I'll check my capital.

Check it out.

I'll enter the pit and hopefully I survive.

That's all I can do.

You can do it.

Yeah.

Um and I believe the vice mayor mentioned the Tarpon Rivers party in the park at Lewis Landing.

That's also May 2nd.

Um, and the uh Outshine Film Festival, May 3rd uh at the Saver Cinema.

Uh that's the closing night event.

It'll be happening all that week.

And uh I hope to be attending uh there at the uh at the evening's event.

So um other than that, I have nothing further.

Okay, city manager, do you have any report?

Thank you, Mayor.

I do want to highlight Daphne St.

Ville in the city manager's office, our intergovernmental affairs manager who was recently awarded the Home Rule Hero Award from the Florida League of Cities.

Uh, this is the second year in a row that Daphne has been identified for this award, so congratulations to her for all the work that she does on behalf of our city and the state in advocating uh for cities to maintain home rule.

I also want to highlight Assistant Chief Lynette Falzone on her leadership role serving as president of the National Association of Law Enforcement Executives.

Uh, this is an extremely prestigious uh opportunity for her to serve in this capacity and to be a positive reflection of our city and women in law enforcement.

I do want to highlight for you letter to the Commission 26109 related to school resource officers.

We were provided with information from Brower County Public Schools as it relates to the current engagement that we have uh with them to provide uh protection services at schools in the city of Fort Lauderdale on August 10th.

Uh they have indicated that they will no longer utilize a school resource officer at the Seagull School, which will be closing.

They've also indicated that on January 31st, 2027, the remainder of our SRO team will no longer be required as they are going to be transitioning to their own independent uh police agency.

And so we are making plans as we go through the budget process.

We want to ensure that we retain all of the sworn officers that we have, uh whether or not they're going to be serving in that capacity or or not.

And so we're going through the process of identifying opportunities to fill vacancies or to augment resources.

So stay tuned for more on that.

So to that to that uh issue um how many officers is that free up for us to be able to use in other capacities?

We have a total of 12 school resource officers.

We currently have a budget of about 2.4 million for the program, of which 1.2 million is reimbursed by the school board.

So we're looking at a shortfall of 1.2 million in order to maintain those sworn personnel, but we're looking to identify opportunities whether to fill vacancies or to look for uh some augmented uh tasks or bureaus or teams that could help us in promoting public safety.

Right.

So that gives us 12 more officers.

Yes.

Okay.

And um uh and we're not we're not at the full complement of officers, are we?

We currently have about 22, 23 vacancies uh for sworn positions.

Right.

So those so when we budget um the we budget for a full complement of police officers, right?

That is correct.

So when you say that we're gonna we have a uh we have a short flow of 1.2 million, that's not really completely accurate because those officers that are coming from school resource officer positions to uh uh other full-time roles, they in fact are just um filling those empty slots that we've already budgeted for.

Well, what what I've shared is that we can look at opportunities to fill vacancies.

Of course, vacancies are being uh recruited for at this time, and so the impact that would happen in January of 2027, we would need to determine how many vacancies we have at that time.

So we want to plan for that.

But in addition, our police chief has shared with me some requests and opportunities to augment staffing for various purposes, and so we're considering that in the overall picture.

So there could be a fiscal impact uh beyond uh that would be required for just filling those positions.

So wait a minute.

You you're saying that we're gonna go ahead and try to fill the 35 positions uh above and apart the 12 positions that we already have that are coming off the school school resource officer list?

What I'm sharing is that we currently have 23 vacancies for sworn personnel.

Eleven of the school resource officers will no longer be functioning in that capacity in January of 2027.

Right.

Between now and then, we are working to fill the vacant positions that we have.

It could be that when we get to January, we may have filled enough of those vacancies to then still have school resource officers uh no longer have the capacity of working as a school resource officer, and then we would need to identify uh as a city what we would like to do with those positions.

Well, uh I'm trying to understand this thinking now.

If we know they're coming back to us, why are we spending the money to recruit and train people that we know that we already have 12 coming our way?

What's the point of that?

Well, one of the things not currently contemplated by the commission is a request for additional staffing through the budget process by FLPD.

That has not yet been fully vetted by me and has not been presented to the commission as a recommendation at this time, as we're in the preliminary phases of the budget development process.

And so it could be that by reducing the number of sworn personnel by only allowing the school resource officers to fill the existing vacancies.

We could still be looking at a request for additional officers.

I get that.

But I mean, but the additional the vacancies that we have now, anticipating that we're going to be getting 12 resource officers by the end of the year.

I mean, I'm not understanding why you're continuing to recruit and train when you know that we're going to also have these folks available to us to do regular duty.

Understood, Mayor.

That is our initial approach.

We do want to look at filling the vacancies with the school resource officers once their duties are no longer required by the school board.

That that is the number one uh option in in my book.

However, I just want to share that uh I have been in discussions with our police chief about staffing uh beyond the vacancies that we have today.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

Is that complete your report?

That concludes my report.

Okay, and the city attorney uh stepped out.

So okay.

So let us uh uh move on to um business one, the international swimming hall of fame project update, city manager.

So at this time I'd like to invite Ben Rogers, Assistant City Manager, as well as the project team for the International Swimming Hall of Fame to provide an update.

In March of this year, you were provided with a letter to the Commission updating you on uh the fact that I signed or executed closing documents related to phase two of this project.

And since then, the team has been working together, and today you'll see a presentation on the future plans as it relates to the aquarium and other improvements at the site.

Thank you.

Uh thank you, Manager Williams.

Ben Rogers, Assistant City Manager.

Uh as the manager indicated, this is part of the Hall of Fame Partners Project for the uh International Swimming Hall of Fame.

To remind the commission, this project was uh split up into four different phases.

The first phase is uh the complete the construction of the ocean rescue building and the seawall.

I'm happy to report that's uh moving forward, it's on time, and we're looking to open that up later this summer.

Uh phase two uh is the west building improvements, phase three is the east building improvements, phase four is other improvements in the public dock.

And so today, what you're gonna hear um in the in the recent you've you uh recently you uh passed a first amendment that moved forward with phase two, as manager indicated in a march they closed on financing.

A lot of the focus has been on the construction, the size of the building.

Um, and so what we asked the the developer to do today is to come back and re-engage with the city commission and share the vision of what the programming looks like.

So the uh user experience and and the amenities that will be offered as part of the phase two West Building.

And so, on behalf of the development team, Mario Camprini and Rich Walter will be uh leading that conversation.

Thank you, Ben.

Okay.

Um Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, uh, thank you for this opportunity.

Did I lose weight?

I did.

Thank you for knowing.

Okay.

I hope we didn't take away your appetite.

Okay, thank you.

Um, now I lost my train of time.

I was gonna say uh maybe you two can have a drink after the meeting.

That's it.

Discuss that.

Uh I want to introduce Rich Walter, who really was is the CEO and president of the aquarium, who really was the instigator of this new idea.

So I want to thank him for that.

Creator, creator, instigator, anybody who knows Rich.

The creative talent.

Well, thank uh thank you, Mario.

I appreciate it.

Uh mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, uh, city manager, thank you so much.

Uh appreciate your time and everyone here.

The aquarium, it was a dream of mine, and it's actually finally come true.

I really want to thank uh Commissioner Herbs for really helping me make this happen with the previous city manager, uh finding the site and getting it to where it is, and really want to uh also extend my gratitude uh to our district one commissioner, Mr.

Glassman.

I mean, I'm sorry, Commissioner uh District 2 Commissioner, but I like Commissioner also in District One, uh, but supporting this project.

It's a great project.

We got a lot of great programming.

Uh we have an amazing uh gentleman, uh John Whitehead, who's gonna explain what the programming is and all the different features that we're going to be able to apply to this great project for the community and all the tourists.

John.

Are you gonna follow the uh the backup presentation?

Is that what is that what you're gonna do?

Are you gonna okay?

Yes, all 64 pages.

Uh Vice May Commissioners, uh ladies and gentlemen, thanks for the opportunity.

Yeah, Ben Rogers told me I had 90 minutes for this, so you might want to just kind of settle in a little bit.

Oh, okay.

And I told them they had 15.

Move the desktop point over one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Uh as Rich mentioned, you know, this this is we're in a year three of this project.

We were invited to um to build an aquarium at the International Swimming Hall of Fame site uh back in 2023.

And at the time there was a second uh design and operation with the International Swimming Hall of Fame itself.

Um after many months of conversations with the International Swimming Hall of Fame Board, and just kind of understanding the realities of the difficulties of sport in Hall of Fames across the country.

They're all they all struggle financially.

Um and the International Swimming Hall of Fame was um, you know, kind of in the same boat.

So uh they had 10,000, sorry, five thousand visitors for the last 10 years of of opening.

Uh so we discussed the need to kind of partner up with um you know the aquarium to be able to create a joint attraction.

So I think what we have today is a much more financially sustainable model to be able to support um the International Swimming Hall of Fame and Every Child the Swimmer, which is its program, every child a swimmer.

Their mandate is to kind of create um swimming lessons for underprivileged kids and to promote state legislature for uh uh drowning prevention.

So a noble cause.

And uh I used to have a slide in my presentation which used to say no margin, no mission.

So if they're not making any money, the mission kind of suffers because of that.

So we feel like we've created a joint attraction with a financially sustainable model.

Um we just finished meeting with uh visit Lauderdale um and discuss the fact that Fort Lauderdale is unique in the sense that it is a loyalty destination.

Um my father-in-law has been coming here for the past 30 years, he stays at the same hotel, goes to the same bars and restaurants, meets with the same people.

So I'm not I'm quite sure that that's not uh you know dissimilar to a lot of visitors who come here.

So there's a sense of ownership uh and home away from home for the people who come here.

And so we wanted to feature uh local uh environments uh in the aquarium.

So this aquarium is solely based on the Florida Reef.

Now I'm sure everybody knows the Florida Reef is 350 miles long from Fort Pierce to dry tortugas, 6,000 different species of animals.

It creates recreational opportunities, it creates commercial opportunities, the centerpiece of the blue economy here in South Florida.

Um, and so that's what we wanted to feature.

So here is an overview of the attraction.

You have eight different galleries, so you start off um with being in Fort Lauderdale, so you're gonna see references to the elbow room and this and the beach front, but you're quickly going to transition into the shallow areas.

You're gonna go through what's called the coastal hammock, which is essentially the vegetative layer that existed here for millions of years that protected the intercoastal and the cup those the communities between the the ocean and the intercoastal.

Um so that's a representation.

Um the entire experience is designed to be highly interactive.

You pick up an RFID bracelet as you come through the door, which enables you to get your information in different languages, at different education levels, at different ages, things like that.

So you're able to customize your whole experience.

It's a very hands-on opportunity.

Um, and you know, myself and my partner James Paulin over there, we spent many years in the entertainment business.

We we worked for Merlin Entertainment, so are the second largest visitor attraction company in the world, and through that process, we built six aquariums.

I built another aquarium in Louisiana, so this will be aquarium number eight.

So we are pretty familiar with how aquariums operate, how they appeal to the public and things like that.

But we are by far the experts in South Florida Flora and Fauna.

So for that, we reached out to multiple agencies.

So we currently have a memorandum of understanding with Nova Southeastern, we have a memorandum of understanding with Florida International University, and we're in active talks with many, many other agencies uh to be able to support the extra layer of this whole experience is the programming.

The programming needs to reach out into the community and support efforts that are already going on in the community right now.

So that's that's the whole kind of uh vision that we have for the aquarium.

Um obviously these are some of the marine species, but those will be uh refined and fine-tuned when we understand from the folks at NSU and FIU.

What are the people what are the what are the species we need to be looking at?

Is it staghorn coral?

Is it like something that's endangered?

You know, what are the things that we really should be focusing on?

Um I think the second part of this as well is we're engaged.

The county has a whole batch of that waiting for you at the when they start digging up the port.

Yeah, yeah, I heard about that.

Yeah.

Um obviously there's a career um pathway to this as well.

So most people think that if you work in an aquarium, then you need a degree in marine biology, and that's not actually the case.

You need a degree in aquarium science.

Um within the business that we have, the business model, we have about 150 different employees.

We have people who look after the animals, we have people who look after the staff in HR, we have accountants, we have financial people, we have marketing people.

So there's a lot of different roles that you can play within the business.

Um I hear that living seawalls are on the agenda for the meeting next time around.

So this is a representation of um we're working with kind designs who do living seawalls in the community to again represent something that's going on in the South Florida region.

Um, this will be an interactive seawall where you can build your own seawall and then you plug different animals that live in there, which will activate your RFID bracelet, which will give you information through a projector in your own language telling you about the animal on the screen.

Um, your entire experience is gonna be narrated by our character Finn, who is our turtle, um, enables us to kind of reach the younger crowd and provide a mascot for the entire experience.

Um shallow reef is where we're kind of interacting with more of the animals.

We've got touch tanks, we've got um, you know, all of this is under the auspices of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.

So touch tanks are a very visceral way of getting information across to people.

Um, if I give you a sea star and put it in your hand, you can tell how it moves across the bottom of the ocean, whether you're deaf, blind, ageless.

It's a perfect transfer of information.

So we find that delivering information through touch experiences and human interactions is the way to get your message across.

Um here's the main tank.

So we have our ocean tank, um, which is going to be full of all the larger species that we have here in South Florida.

So you sort of walk through the tank.

Yeah, you walk through the tunnel.

Um again, here's Finn, kind of uh as he's getting a little bit older, you're following his whole life cycle through the entire experience.

Again, here's Finn, kind of uh as he's getting a little bit older, you're following his whole life cycle through the entire experience.

Uh the mid reef, again, lots of different interactives.

This is our coral nursery area, so we'll be working, you know, with NSU on how to represent all of that.

Um, and also, like I said, you know, you you're trying to roll in all of these different careers.

There's robotics, there's engineering, there's a lot of different things that we can overlay on the top of this.

Um play equipment because our primary audience is families with kids, kids get a little rambunctious, so they have a little play area with lots of different little discoveries within that to be able to let off a little steam.

The deep reef is where we start to kind of get a little bit deeper, obviously.

We've got jellyfish, we've got bioluminescence, we've got migration, we got ocean currents, lots and lots of different stories to tell in there.

Um, and then we finalize we we finish in our research station, a lot of citizen science going on here, people looking at samples from the intercoastal or the ocean, underwater, uh cameras, things like that.

Um, lots of different ways to kind of engage with the public again.

And then the ice off experience.

So when when we when we started meet meeting with um the ice off board, we were introduced to Bruce Weiger, who was the CEO for ice show for many years, and he's the resident historian, probably knows more about competitive swimming than just about anybody else on the planet.

Um, so he was a real mine of information, and it's really his inspiration that kind of drove what we wanted to do with the ice off experience.

Like I said, traditional halls of fame struggle financially.

The Olympic Hall of Fame, which opened in 2021, uh tune of a hundred million dollars, gets roughly 25 to 30 percent of its anticipated volume, does less than 100,000 people a year.

It's a tough model to base everything on.

So we decided that we wanted to kind of represent what the true Hall of Fame mission was, which was about man's experience in the water and not necessarily just about competitive aquatics.

Um, to be able to get between floors, so you start off on the ocean, you're gonna get the lift experience, which is going to take you from the depths all the way up to the surface, which is when you're gonna start understanding what the human experience is as a swimmer.

So we have 10 galleries in the Hall of Fame experience.

Uh the first gallery represents uh the earliest representations of swimming, which is Neolithic picka cave drawings from 10,000 years ago.

Um, the first time there's a representation of swimming being drawn out, and then you move through forward, you have Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci created the first aqua lung, created the first mechanism for being able to breathe underwater, also created swim flippers.

So this is this area is dedicated to man's kind of ingenuity and their um, you know how how they harness water.

The Peloponnesians use swimming for war because they would swim across rivers instead of building bridges and kind of catch everybody flat footed.

Um then you're talking about swimming as leisure.

You've got the baths, the uh the Romans, the Greeks, uh, and then you come in into the competitive side with the first Olympics.

Um the hall of fame is represent to represent here.

We've got um wax figures and the memorabilia starts to come in.

Um, there's a tremendous amount of memorabilia, um, and we're trying to focus on like how much that the most important pieces.

This will be interchangeable as new people, you know.

Some of these guys are not in the hall of fame currently, but they will be.

So there's former Hall of Fame people, you know, we're able to change this gallery out continually.

Can I ask a quick question?

The slide before.

Oh, how do I go back?

There we go.

Right there.

Um, are those is that just wallpaper or those projections?

So there's a there's there's those are projections, so you're kind of in the crowd and the ticker tape and the ribbons and the whole thing.

And they're all moving, they're all moving.

Yeah, everything's gonna be moving.

So all those people will be cheering.

So this you know, this is a very um interactive, very dynamic space.

It doesn't, it's kind of difficult to see it through this right now.

Right, that's why I asked.

I just figured it might be, but I just no absolutely you're gonna be standing on the pedestal getting your gold medal, you know.

The Hall of Fame has 112 gold medals in its collection, so maybe you actually get to wear a real one.

And everybody starts in the same place.

So, one of the things that we've talked about with the Hall of Fame is diversifying into what what happens when you become a swimmer.

Obviously, swimming is a life skill, but it can lead you in a lot of different directions, not just competitive swimming, but everybody starts in the same place.

Everybody starts in a changing room with the smell of chlorine up your nostrils, um, and you know, learning to swim in this environment.

So, here we're gonna represent a lot of different stories.

When I went to the induction ceremony several years ago, one of the things that really struck me was how much effort it takes to become a professional athlete or an athlete at that level.

These guys are getting up at like five o'clock in the morning in the rain in the snow, swimming before school in coal pools, and then going to school and then doing it all over again.

So the amount of sacrifice.

So we wanted to tell some of those stories, and we wanted to bring it down.

You'll see images of some of these athletes as kids.

You should just move to Florida.

We have no ice, we have no coal.

I know, but five o'clock is five o'clock in anybody's language.

That's something else.

Um, so yeah, you know, obviously we're we're we're trying to inspire people, we're trying to inspire kids to do, you know, to follow these different pathways.

So showing people as kids and showing the challenges that they went through is very important.

So you open the lockers, you're gonna see interactives that could be memorabilia in there, they could be different things that you kind of interface with.

Turn the shower on, you have a swimmer, should shows up, you know, video of a swimmer.

A little strange, but you know, we think it's kind of a function.

So it's a fun area, and this and this is where you pick up so the RFID that you picked up at the beginning now is activated on the second floor.

And what we do is um there are different activities where you can track your time and you can track your uh kind of input, um compare it like I'm a faster swimmer than my brother, and things like that.

Uh so this is where this kind of comes in, and it's recorded through what we call these lap logs.

Um, so you're able to um interface.

First splash is uh a very, very dynamic gallery.

It's almost like you're at the bottom of the pool looking up, so you're gonna see swimmers overhead, you're gonna see um you know images of uh synchronized swimming, but really it's the home of the swim vaults.

So the International Swimming Hall of Fame has got a tremendous amount of digitized archives that we're trying to get as much of that information as possible.

So if you, for whatever reason, want to know who won the bronze medal for water polo in the 1926 Olympics, you're gonna be able to find it here.

And so it's a way of capturing all the information that we can get from that digital archive and having it available to the public.

Endurance and elements, this is where we start to kind of diversify a little bit away from like you learn to swim.

What else can you do?

Not just in competitive swimmer.

So this represents endurance and elements.

You know, we're talking about Navy SEALs, you're talking about Coast Guards, you're talking about other things.

Like they call them Coast Guard swimmers, right?

They're swimmers, they're swimmers first.

Um, but it shows a different direction of what you can do when you learn to swim.

You'll see the little kids kind of behind the screen, and and that's that's confidence drill.

So that's a water confidence drill that the Navy SEALs do.

Essentially, they tie your hands behind your back and throw you in a pool and you bounce off the bottom until you pass out or ring the bell or whatever your next move is.

Um, but it just kind of showcases a different level of commitment and expertise, and you know, the places that swimming can take you if you want to.

And here are the catch-up drills, so there are different activities throughout the whole place, hang bars, how long can you last, and those are all recorded on the swim log.

Uh, precision and power, this is where we're talking about like you know, um, coordination and wing span, you know.

So wings of a champion is basically like an interactive um uh screen that you put yourself against, but it also will show like Michael Phelps obviously has like a nine-foot wingspan, which is a bit intimidating for a five-year-old.

But when he was five-year-old, he probably had the same wingspan as the five-year-old standing next to him.

So we're trying to like create that um, you know, that vision that somebody can look at and say, like, wow, I can just be like this guy, you know.

Um, and obviously, lots of different interactives here.

You have a batek wall, which is kind of showing you testing your reflexes as a water polo player or a volleyball player.

This is my favorite gallery.

So we about two years ago, when whenever we did the groundbreaking, we we approached uh Chief Gollin and Chief Bagwell about the idea of putting a gallery and feature in the work of the lifeguards.

So, again, what can you do when you learn to swim?

Be a lifeguard.

Um, and so we got with them and we said, like, what are the like if if we have 15, 60 million visitors who come to Fort Lauderdale every year?

What are the three or four things that you would love them to know?

Like, what's what makes for a safer beach day?

And they said, learn the flags for one.

And they said, What's the most important thing?

He said, They said, Swim in front of a lifeguard tower.

The lifeguard towers, I think, are 400 yards apart.

If you swim in the middle of them and you get caught in a rip current at seven miles an hour, you're 300 feet off the beach, possibly before they can even see you.

So swim in front of a lifeguard tower.

Sounds a bit intuitive, but it obviously it is.

Um, we've got raise the flag, which is everybody goes on the beach.

If you go to the beach today, if you go past the lifeguard towers, if you go to like Las Olas Beach, there's a red flag, obviously, because it's angry as anything right now, the ocean.

Um, to quote George Costanza.

Um, and also there's a purple flag, which is you know, some kind of marine life.

Could be a shark, could be a Portuguese man of war.

Um, and I think that there's a there's there's the opportunity to create more educational opportunities for you know, swimming in a pool and then swimming in the ocean are two very different things.

And rip currents here are not always as obvious as they are in other parts of the country.

Um Michael Phelps swims at six miles an hour, and we have current rip currents that go to six to eight miles an hour, so you you don't need to do the math to figure out you can't swim against them.

Um and then obviously all the different things that lifeguards do, they don't just do rescues, they do first aid, they do jellyfish things, they do a lot of different things.

Um and they saw this as a great opportunity for you know promoting their junior lifeguard program, and also um you know, for future recruitment of lifeguards.

There's a huge lifeguard shortage.

I mean, two people drowned in Brevard County last week, and that was the main point of the whole newspaper article was they were 45 45 lifeguards short for that county.

So the the were there were lifeguards the where they were swimming, the lifeguard tower was not manned, so it's it's pretty um topical.

Art and flow is when we're kind of getting into the more artistic things, synchronized swimming, how water behaves, so how uh light behaves underwater, how sound behaves underwater, uh how people communicate underwater.

So synchronized swimmers have a different system than divers have.

Um so there's uh again lots of different interactives and lots of ways, lots of different ways of learning.

In of the blue kind of ties a knot around the whole thing.

When we're born, we have something called the divers reflex.

If you put a three-month-old directly into the pool, they're not gonna inhale the water because they have the divers reflex.

So the point is like you're almost born a swimmer.

You're born a swimmer, then you forget to swim, and then you've got to learn it all over again.

So this kind of ties it all, ties a knot in it.

Life begins in water, everything in the aquarium um leads up to this moment, right?

So you're looking at how water is represented in different cultures and how water and life are represented in different cultures, and then you have the opportunity to leave your message or leave your hand print to kind of say, like, what is what is your role going to be in the future of everything?

Um we have a 4D theater as well, so that storyline is going to be two small babies learning to swim at the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Your first scene is underwater, four D is just like it sounds you have a 3D movie, and then you have rain, fog, wind, rain, all water, all that kind of stuff.

Um it'll be a Pixar style movie like this, um, and it will track their journey from being small children all the way through to where they kind of branch off.

One of them becomes an Olympic diver, the other one becomes a Navy SEAL, and their stories kind of uh unfold.

The final part of this whole attraction um trio um is frameless.

Frameless is an immersive art experience.

Um the the main uh unit is in London on uh close to Oxford Street.

They do about 450,000 visitors a year.

It's the number one art experience in London, it's the number 12 thing to do in London.

Um, very, very highly regarded from the public and from other agencies, and essentially they take modern art, they take um classic art, and then they animate it.

So each painting becomes a two-minute vignette or mini movie that appears on all six sides, ceiling wall, six-sided projection, um, with interactivity as well.

So this is gonna be um will the themes be changing over time because there are pop-up experiences like this, like the galleria now, there's a pop-up experience.

Right.

Uh, and I've been in New York and other places around the world, yeah, where these they're like a pop-up experience.

But this is gonna so it's gonna be it's gonna be stationary, obviously, but you're gonna have changing themes.

Correct.

Yeah, constantly evolving, constantly new content coming in, and also the opportunity to even tie in, like you know, underwater photography.

We have a gallery where we're able to do changing exhibits and feature local artists and feature local sculptures and things like that.

So it's gonna be constantly moving.

Um, but it's very interactive, you know.

We we we went and we had uh um a little five, six-year-old with us, and as soon as we opened the door, he was off, and all he was doing was interacting with the actual movement on the ground.

He didn't care about the you know climped artwork or anything like that.

He was more interested in kicking leaves up the wall, just like he is here.

Um, and so there's there's there's different ways of approaching it.

I'm not an art guy.

I tell people all the time you put me in front of the Mona Lisa, I'm not even probably gonna get my phone out.

It's not not my thing, but like what was I really appreciated?

Was like the technology and the fact that it's constantly engaging and it's constantly moving, and every two minutes there's something new, and you're like, What's next?

What's next?

But even the small kids, we watched the field trip of I don't know, a hundred different like kids, and they all behave differently.

Everybody takes a different approach to this, but it's really pretty spectacular.

Um, this is their main gallery.

I mean, I uh it's about 65 feet long, it's 25 feet tall, it's just hugely impressive.

This is the Sea of Galilee.

So this is just a classic Rembrandt pin, and that is now activated with water on the floor and clouds and sea and lightning and great sound system is really really quite something.

Um I've been to the Sea of Galilee, it doesn't look like that.

It did look like that, right?

Maybe in a stormy moment.

And uh and that's it, appreciate it.

Right.

Well, great.

Well, thank you.

Uh that's amazing.

I can't wait for it to happen.

When does construction begin?

Um July of this year.

And just so you know that this is also a gallery that is in London, and that was the inspiration, and we're working with them.

It's it's pretty amazing.

Hi there, Matt Christalik with Hensel Phelps.

So with uh part A going through uh with Raquel and Ben uh Ben's help, that means that's the uh deep foundation work.

Um, and we're set to June, July to start kicking off some of that deep foundation.

Uh it's all going through the permit process, so you know that takes a little bit of time, but we are on track.

So the flip side of that, right?

You're about to ask about ocean rescue, it's on time.

Um so uh remember that deadline was July one.

Except for the staircase.

Yeah, we're doing good.

We um so it's getting the conditioning and everything else running, and uh they've gotten an opportunity a couple times to come out, walk it, and and go through it.

So yeah, it's all coming together.

The seawalls at the very last leg of it, too.

I know the uh uh adjacent residents will be excited to hear that that's just about done.

Okay, any other questions?

What so what is the ribbon cutting on the aquarium?

We are uh targeting um the uh end of 28 because you'll still still be in that sea, right?

I hope so.

Yeah.

All right, great.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

Thank you, Mayor.

All right, moving on to uh business two, prospect lake clean water center progress update utility services department.

We have Albert Carbon, Utility Services Director.

Thank you, Mayor, City Commissioner Albert Carbon Utility Service Director.

I'm here to introduce Joey Patron who leads our construction and operations team to give you an update on the prospect lake clean water center.

When are we gonna turn on the tap?

That's the one of them.

Soon, Mayor, soon.

Thank you, Avi.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, City Manager.

Uh, it's great to see you again.

I was last year in October of last year.

Um, some great progress has happened since then, so looking forward to sharing that with you in a very short uh presentation this afternoon.

So this is uh a typical uh picture we've been showing you since since I've been giving these updates from a drone that we take about weekly.

Uh the one milestone that that we're very proud of is if you notice in the center, there used to be a tower crane uh that was used to bring in all of the heavy equipment.

That tower crane is gone.

Uh signaling construction has been winding down as we enter our commissioning phase of the project.

I'll go through some pictures here and then I'll I'll update the the commission and then I've got a video at the end.

But this first picture is a flyover of our pre-treatment filters and our our uh ion exchange uh vessels to the right.

Um the main purpose of the ion uh exchange is for that color removal that's so important uh to the residents.

Here's a great picture of our nanofiltration uh skids.

Uh there's six skids in total.

Uh we've already begun to commission uh them a couple several weeks ago.

We are on we've commissioned skid one and skid two, and we're beginning to commission skid three, so we are well well on our way uh to commercial operation uh on schedule.

What's a skid?

They can operate independently.

There's six of them, so we have redundancy.

We can operate if one goes down.

We typically need around four to five to operate, and we have six.

Well, what is a skid?

It's it's the actual membrane uh inlet and outlet with all the membranes uh stacked in those in those in those plastic pipes that you see.

Uh-huh.

So we open up those plastic pipes, insert the membranes one by one into them until they're filled.

And so if you count nine uh blue squares, that's one skid.

And there's six of those in that building.

Got it.

So they can operate independently of each other.

This is a great picture of the 54-inch pipe coming into the facility from the city well field.

This is where it all begins.

It gets distributed from here to the nanofiltration building uh through its pretreatment and on to the inn also as well as the ion exchange portion of the plant.

So this is where it all begins coming from the city well field.

This is this is I I wanted to show this picture.

This is most of this equipment have been on site uh since last year.

But the bulk of the work since since I came last year is really been tying a lot of this equipment together, and you can see all of the intricate piping work that's required to connect all of these vessels together, and that's kind of why I wanted to show this picture.

All of that that fiberglass piping there on the floor takes time to connect, and really that's been the bulk of our of our priorities since I last came in October of last year.

Uh we've been connecting all of the equipment that's been on site.

So just a quick update overall on the project.

Uh our plant manager and maintenance manager arrived on site uh late last year.

Uh they have been busy uh getting uh ready for the arrival of the operations team, uh getting ready for their training uh as we prepare for commercial operation.

Uh some good news on the injection wells.

Uh we have been given authorization by FDEP uh to begin operational testing on injection well two, and I believe earlier this week we got authorization for injection well one.

So the picture that you see to the right is an aerial picture of that injection wall number two.

We also have the same exact authorization now on injection well one, which is gonna be fantastic as we continue to commission uh the facility.

As we get into startup and commissioning, which is the real phase that we're in right now, construction is winding down.

Uh, we continue to to perform our startup activities, including uh the nanofiltration and the IX portion of the plant.

Uh 10 city employees arrived in January.

Uh they've been uh been integrating into the commissioning part to learn how the plant works.

Uh so they've been great to have on site.

They're getting acclimated to the site and how it works.

It's been great having them.

The next set, and they're typically in the next set of May uh arrives or the operators that arrive.

So really by then we'll start beginning our operations training in May and continuing through the summer as we get ready for commercial operation.

We still on schedule for September 2026 for commercial operation.

The picture you see to the right uh below the the injection well is a picture of our our corrosion treatment pilot.

Uh that is fully operational and gathering data uh so we can uh understand fully uh how to protect that distribution system uh uh for the city.

Uh of course, this is this is a a pilot that the city asked us to to operate on their behalf.

Uh we'll give you the results so you can make the appropriate uh determinations for your distribution system.

The pilot for the PFOS is also fully in operation and gathering data.

We're hoping to have some preliminary results this summer that we can share uh with the city.

So just as a as a small surprise, I wanted to show a quick video um while I answer any questions.

This is a drone uh flyover of the site.

They're gonna put it up on the screen now.

It's uh it's a great uh view of the site as we go.

But if there's any questions while you're looking at that, I'm glad to answer them.

Okay, thank you so much.

Anyone have any questions?

Comments, okay, great.

Keep up the good work.

Thank you.

Looking forward to uh when we finally get to open that.

What are we talking about?

September?

September, sir, yeah.

May, June, July, August.

We're in the home stretch.

Five months, right?

We're in the home stretch.

All right, great.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thanks for good work.

Okay, uh moving on to business three.

This is the water and wastewater consent orders update and inflow and infiltration program development utilities services department.

Alright, thank you, Mayor.

Uh again, Mayor, City Commission Albert Carbon Utility Service Director.

Yeah, that's an update on the consent orders this year by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and then uh uh I and I program, which which is the pending uh consent order that we have going.

So why do we have to extend the time frame on these?

I notice in the backup we we are not keeping with the original time frame.

Why are we extending it?

Uh I will get into that, but the extension, uh you're talking about the existing wastewater consent order.

We have a wastewater consent order that's been amended once.

The termination date of that is March 27, 2027.

Inside that consent order, there's specific milestones for each project.

Right.

And so what we've asked is one of the projects specifically, the merching generators at the George T.

Lomaier wastewater treatment plant to be extended.

Its current date is for I think May of 2026.

We're asking that to be extended to December 2026 due to deliveries and some other construction related components.

So we have asked them to extend.

We are not asking them to extend the consent, the amendment consent order date of March 2027, just the internal schedule of one project.

Got it.

Okay.

So again, we have uh the two consent orders.

Uh we have a water consent order that was just approved by City Commission in January 2026, and then we have a wastewater consent order that's been amended once, and we have a pending one.

Uh second order we're negotiating with uh DEP right now.

Uh the water consent order has to do with uh some problems we had in September of 2023 and April of 2025.

Uh and that consent again was approved in January, signed by DEP and February 5th, and so we have some specific timelines associated with that now.

Uh the consent order, uh the first milestone as we're trying to, we're getting uh some assistance from a consultant, the RFQ is out on the street and due to uh be submitted here in the next week or so.

Uh that uh would be uh just determining what the process we have due to to uh comply with uh a consent order, the next milestones is implementing that that plan.

The third is developing a strategic plan, a CIP program to implement, and how to monitor that program.

So if we go through those dates, uh this is another summary of that conditional assessment, July 2027, the certification assessment report, which is being done by a certified engineer in October 2027, and then the asset management, the tracking system, the CIP, and how we're gonna track our success of implementing those programs, and that's May 2028.

The cohole consent order is a three-year window.

Wastewater consent order, uh this is the the uh one that would this is the original one and the uh that was originally submitted in 2027 or 2017.

It was the amendment number one was issued in 2020 2020 with the date extended to March 22nd, 2027.

Uh we are in the midst of that, and we are about uh the second amendment is due.

We've submitted the last set of comments to DEP in February of this year.

We have yet to hear from DEP about those comments.

So we do expect that to come to commission sometime before their summer break.

Uh seventy-two of the 76 projects that were identified in the amendment number one have been completed.

Four projects are ongoing, as the mayor pointed out.

We're going to go through a couple of those.

The 38th Street uh force main project and 50th court, which is the northeast portion of the city.

It's in the final start-up phase.

We expect that to be done sometime in June, July of this year.

Same with the southeast portion of the area, the area just near GTL, south of 17th Street.

That's being done 54-inch storm main, and that's in the again the final stages of completion.

Uh the Fluent Force Main at the GTL Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Uh the force main is complete.

We're going through the uh rehabilitation of the five injection wells.

We're currently doing one injective well.

Each injection will takes about a month, so we'll be done late summer, early fall of this year.

And as we talked about the one extension that we're asking for, the internal extension of the emergency generators at GTL.

Uh, those are four full-size backup generators for GTL that those will be installed.

But we're looking to gain those installed in September, but we asked DEP to give an extension through December 2026, still making that that March 2027 date.

Al, question.

Yes.

Thanks.

Thanks for your work on this.

Um the odor suppression efforts at GTL, how's that progressing?

I I don't have a current update on that.

Let me get back with you.

That's not part of the consent order.

It's an independent project.

I know we did give you Senate Commission update a couple months, a month or so ago, but I'm not quite sure.

It's on schedule, but it's got a two-year window.

Okay.

Great.

Thanks.

Uh so uh uh pending the second amendment to the consent order, this has to do with I and I.

Uh and we are working our way through that, talk about the what I and I is uh explained here, but really the I and I is saves costs, reduced flow.

We don't want to treat stormwater, we do not want to treat groundwater.

We have to tighten up our system, so reduce the flows to GFTL, which in tune uh increases our capacity and saves us money.

Right.

But uh so we've been hearing about this for a long time, and what progress has been made, especially on the infiltration portion uh to our system.

Where are we on that?

We've got a few slides, and I'll get to the three project that we have ongoing.

We have three getting ready to bid right now.

Okay, but and at the end of the ongoing ones, do we have a percentage as to what amount of our uh infrastructure is now been um addressed in order to prevent the continuation of the infiltration?

I I can't give you a percentage.

So we're talking about some flows uh and how we measure that flows.

That's part of the I and I study that a consultant is how do you measure those flows?

Because we always have increased development, so we have increased flows coming in.

I know about the flows.

I'm talking about the infiltration.

Well, that how do we measure infiltration?

We have to measure how much flow we have coming out of each individual home, and then we have to measure that.

We have measure the flow going in, the water coming in, and the wastewater going out.

I guess I'm not making let me try to explain myself.

So infiltration is a product of of uh deteriorated uh system, correct?

The pipes are allowing seepage into the into the system and it goes to the treatment plant, even if it's if it's a heavy rainstorm, uh that that fresh water is being uh pushed into the treatment plant and is and is uh overwhelming it sometimes, and we're we're finding ourselves processing fresh water when it really is intended just for um effluent discharge, correct?

So, what are we doing to to tighten up our our pipe systems that so we're no longer uh allowing infiltration into the system?

Are we lining them?

What are we doing?

Because we have been hearing about this for years, I never get a straight answer.

Yes, we have sorry, go ahead.

Yeah, we have uh several projects.

Uh projects are specifically in some of the areas we will talk about.

It's it's a lining.

There's there are several techniques.

We have a lining project where you go from manhole to manhole, where you line that pipe to make it secure, and while doing that, you're taking in the laterals on the city side of the laterals from the city street to the private property.

So you're tightening up our system.

The second of all is point repair.

So if we don't think if the we do some C V we do TVing of the lines and we see a hot spot, just so really a point repair, we can go down and seal that point point repair, which is cost-effective way, non-destructive, it's still linear thing.

So those are two ways to do it.

And the third way is the manholes themselves.

The manholes are concrete structure with bricktops to meet the concrete, meet the paving surface.

Those get leaking, so we look at lining the manholes.

So the three techniques line the pipe, point repairs, and then lining the manholes, which is the projects we are working on right now.

Okay, so when it's when all these projects are done, do we have some idea as to um how much of the city we have covered then in terms of trying to deal with the infiltration?

Uh two measuring points.

One is geographic and one was the severity of the thing.

So I don't I don't have that information with me today, but we can definitely get you a map of where some of those projects have done, and then also what we think the percentage of those that flow we've reduced.

Okay, at some point we would like to see that that's all.

Yeah.

And that's part of what the DEP is going to be looking at as part of the consent order, too.

So we're well beyond, even though we haven't got the consent order signed, we are well beyond complying with that consent order.

Okay.

Thank you.

How come my there we go?

Cause of inflow, we kind of went over this.

Cause of inflow, deterioration by now.

Uh inflow is the water coming from the surface.

That's rainwater or groundwater rainwater or um or stormwater or lakes or something coming from the surface, anything coming to the surface, or when somebody opens up a uh manhole or opens up the the uh any opening in the system, a clean out, excuse me.

And then infiltration is the stuff that comes the groundwater coming in, whether it's rainwater coming in or in something that our pipes are gravity system using groundwater, so we have infiltration coming into those.

So the pending second uh consent order, reduce excessive flow, measure it, be in compliance, and show what we're doing to make our to increase our system capacity.

Uh these are the different phases of those.

We don't know what those specific dates are.

We have evaluation plan, we have a development of the re the plan with the schedule and the compliance timeline.

I'm going quickly over this because the next slide shows what we are already doing right now.

We have an early assessment.

We've already started this.

And so that's the the consent or phase one, the readiness evaluation, we're doing that.

We're established a baseline flow.

Mayor, that's going.

We're establishing our baseline flow so we can measure what successes we have.

We've identified the basins and defects.

We're already starting to repair those.

We have real rehabilitation underway again, phase two.

And then we have data collecting our data so we can again show our successes when DEP and get into that final phase of DP.

We get into our compliance situations.

Projects completed.

Projects completed today.

Flagger Village, we did repairs.

We've evaluated Lauderdale Beach, but also in construction, there's evaluation we completed, but in construction, we have some of those projects in construction of again additional some uh C C T V evaluations of that to know where we're gonna go next, and then in construction continued smoke testing, the sewer repairs again in Charper Riven and the Downtown Four Lyre Association.

Actually, those repairs, mayor, we talk about the lining, the manholes, and the point repairs.

Projects that are pending for bid.

We have the sewer repairs, we have the Coral Ridge and the Harbor Beach area area.

Those are those are pending release for bidding, and those will actually do that lining and manhole repairs.

And then again, some then that point repair that we're talking about.

We have some citywide contract for inflow and infiltration repairs.

Those are those severe things when we do C C T V, we see a hot spot, we can get to those right away.

Uh that concludes my presentation.

Should you have any questions?

Okay, great.

Does anyone have any questions of Mr.

Carbon?

Okay, there being a question.

Yes.

In regard to the lining, um, is it this is the goal to every pipe, or is it just the pipes that are identified?

Uh we try to to TV the line.

We do we run a camera down motion line.

Okay, we see it that it needs it.

We will we will line it.

And we go from manhole to manhole.

So we can only if we see it leaks in that section, which is usually 200 three 200 to 300 feet, block to block, if you will, we will line that.

The other ones feel good, we won't line that one.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Okay, great.

Thank you so much, Al.

Our last item is uh business four, which is an outdoor event ordinance presentation, parks and recreation.

Carl Williams director parks and recreation.

Okay, Mr.

Williams.

You can proceed.

Okay.

Uh good afternoon, Commissioners.

Carl Williams, Parks and Recreation Director.

I am here before you to present the information and feedback regarding our outdoor ordinance.

Just as a historical perspective, in August of last year, we came to you all before and shared a little bit of information.

We introduced uh the impact fee matrix and a couple fee increases associated with that.

And the direction at the time was then to uh reach out, do a little bit more outreach, and come back to you all uh with some recommendations at that point.

As such, we conducted several meetings uh with uh stakeholder group, which some are in the audience today.

Um during that time we we met, we spoke and had very poignant conversations regarding this, and I truly appreciate their assistance because they were very, very helpful in this process.

And in addition to that, we also met with our promoters and event organizers as well to get their perspective on this potential uh change in our fees and structure.

As such, and part of that conversation, we introduced and came to a consensus with fee recommendations, which I will share shortly.

Uh we also came to a consistence regarding our support for the impact fee matrix, and we also established uh two new uh designations that we are presenting to you all today, which is the signature event designation that has a maximum fee cap and also the legacy event designation, which has a maximum cap fee for run walk events only.

So as we kind of talk through our application fees here and structure, we are proposing going from $200 fee to $500.

If the event is 90 days or more in advance, if the event is 89 days and to 60 days, we're proposing an increase of 500 to 1500.

And if the event is less than 60 days, we are recommending a new fee, which would be $2,000.

Not off to hand.

I know we have a few, but typically when we have them, we essentially just advise them that we don't we can't move forward with your event because it doesn't meet our standard.

Okay, that was kind of the understanding I thought that we really didn't take on something that was less than the 60-day window.

That's correct.

Now there's uh circumstances that sometimes we we'd have to revisit that, and um and I would get with the city manager to to get her direction on how we would move forward.

Thank you.

Now as we include the impact fee matrix, and you all have uh seen portions of this, um we talk about how events and the different criteria where we want to uh essentially have a limited impact, moderate impact or major impact on events.

And these these fees right here would replace what we have now, which is our beach sand use fee.

Um so as part of the direction we receive to not only increase fees but also have something very direct as it pertains to the actual events impact.

And also uh, as I mentioned in my uh introduction here, we also included the signature and legacy event designations, and those caps for a signature event would be at 25,000 if you are appointed that designation.

And if you are a run-walk event and you have the designation of a legacy event, you would have a maximum fee of 2500, and these are per day.

Now, to get as far as a definition, when we talk about signature events, we want something that's of course very unique, something that the general public has a brand recognition to.

Uh, we also want to have something that's consistent that is something that the community and our residents look forward to on an annual basis or quarterly basis.

And then, of course, we want to integrate within this a positive impact, whether that's a significant attendance, whether it's a cultural participational value, and or an economic impact that is very positive for the city.

And some of those examples I have noted here, which is uh our Tortuzo Tortuga Music Festival, which we just concluded last week, and Lauderdale Air Show, which will be coming up here soon, and of course our Fort Lauderdale and National Bo Show.

Procedural-wise, we are looking at if an event organizer is requesting a designation of this sort from a signature perspective, they would advise my office.

And if that particular designation includes uh the barrier island, if it's taking place on the barrier island, we will share it with the beach business improvement district for their recommendation.

If it is at a city park outside of the barrier island, we will share with our parks and recreation board.

And sometimes there may be uh multiple, like that we'll have to bring to the uh parks board as well as the barrier uh the bid, but um we would get their recommendation and then we would present to commission for final approval for that designation.

Now, as I kind of mentioned earlier, when we talk about Tortuga and the air show, this kind of illustrates kind of the the change in the fees that we've been established currently.

And so right now, when we talk about the event fees, uh Tortuga Music Festival would go from 13,500.

Of course, this doesn't include city expenses and that we are reimbursed, but um it would go from 13,500 and with the designation, they would be paying 25,000.

And as you see here with the air show, similar to the Tortuga, is that with this designation though, they would go up to 750.

As we discuss the legacy event designation, uh this particular designation provides a priority of long-standing events that we have in the city on dates.

And so if uh event is in good standing with the city, if they are uh they they receive eligibility priority over any events, and as I mentioned a couple of times already, if it is a run or walk event, they would have a maximum fee cap.

Any uh events that are outside of a run or walk, they would their fee would still increase.

But for those specific run walk events, many of those are nonprofits and they don't really have that uh well to kind of dig in there.

We thought that it made sense for them to have a maximum cafe for run walks.

Well, isn't isn't Tortuga a considered uh charity event?

So when you talk about charity, I do they do have a charity that they have, but in this particular case that they wouldn't receive this kind of level because there would be considered a signature event, and so theirs would be solely for the 25,000 cow.

Right.

Okay, all right, thank you.

Now to kind of look a little bit more here as we look at some of our events that we do have here throughout the year.

Uh you know, we we produce um somewhere any between 340 to 400 events annually.

And when we look at the rates here, I wanted to articulate kind of the changes that you would see based off of not only the event makeup but also the application fee and how that's supported by the event.

Now we've also had conversations as well to what can we do to limit events?

I know that has been a topic of a desire to maybe cut down on the number of events that we have on an annual basis, and as part of that, um we could establish having no more than one event per month that has a road closure on the barrier island.

Uh we could implement a civic association acknowledgement form that each organizer would complete.

Um we we kind of do this now for events on the barrier island, but we would now expand it citywide.

Uh and also we could establish a quiet weekend where uh a weekend per month there would be no event taking place on the barrier island, and then of course, um the last here as a recommendation, we could also place uh seasonal restrictions on events that we have that have whether it's a major holiday or um uh spring break or similar to that effect that has some kind of city uh resource heavy there where we would put restrictions on specific road closures as well.

Now is in in as I begin to kind of close through this here presentation, uh kind of identified a few options here for consideration.

Um we did provide the increased fee, we did share share the impact fee matrix, and then we also introduced the signature and legacy event designations, and then I also share the uh how we could also limit our events here going forward if that is your desire.

As potential next steps here, uh we can bring this ordinance back based on the feedback that I received from you today uh this spring, and then we can advise our event promoters going forward that there's a new fee and implementation going forward, and we can provide that this summer, and then we can move forward and implement this in the fall of this year as well.

Does that complete your presentation?

Yes, sir, it does.

Okay, does anyone have any questions or comments for Carl?

Um, I do, Carl.

Um, just for clarity, so I can have a visual.

Um, when we're talking about um no more approvals in one event per month with road closures, what what are we looking at now?

How many um events are happening monthly in Iberia Islands?

Very good.

So that's actually a good question.

We have roughly about 19 events that we have right now for a period of uh time.

And actually, let me kind of back up some more because I want to make sure that I'm providing you with good detail here.

So in uh 2025, we've had a total of 183 events on the barrier island.

Of those, of those 183 events, we had nine runs and walks, and several of those have road closures associated with it.

Okay.

And if you look at page 12 of the backup in that first bubble, there's a little asterisk with a note that there are currently 19 of those events annually that result in a road closure on the barrier island.

Right.

As I was just trying to get it a little closer, like per month, since we're saying it's suggested only one per month.

Yeah, and that's more of kind of like a way because it when I did the previous presentation, we had a smorgasbord board.

I want to say we probably had maybe six or eight different options of how we could potentially limit events.

And so we kind of boiled those down to those four options that we believe are probably the most feasible that we could implement.

Thank you for the clarity.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Ben, did you have any questions of Carl?

Thanks, Mayor.

Um, Carl, thank you for your work on this.

Really appreciate it.

Um I guess I have some comments for Carl, but Mayor, is there is anyone signed up to speak?

I want to defer that.

Okay, great.

Um go, yeah.

So here thanks.

Okay.

Go ahead.

It's alright.

Okay, anyway, go ahead.

She did you want to say no one is signed up to speak.

Okay.

Um okay.

So from a guidance standpoint, Carl, walk us through again what you would like um us to to give feedback on.

So ultimately, I'd be looking for direction on if we want to move forward with the increase in fee, the application fee, if we want to implement this uh impact fee matrix, which really provides a great detail of assigning point value system to the implications or the impact, if you would, of a particular event.

And then also to if there is a desire for the commission to move forward with the designations of signature and legacy, that does provide uh some leeway to limit our maximum cap fee on those particular events that meet that designation requirement.

Exactly.

And so thank you.

And go back to the designation requirement, the kind of evaluation this slide, or are you referring to the previous where what was the the yeah?

So yeah, thanks.

So this is um great.

So this is signature definition, which one of the things I like about this is it just allows for a little bit of subjective kind of evaluation and analysis.

So that's signature, and then go to legacy.

Do we have a definition of legacy in this presentation?

Yes, sir.

Thanks.

Yeah, let me just check this again.

Yep.

Great.

Yeah, so I think that makes sense as well where we're heading.

So I I like it all.

Um and I like where ahead in Mayor.

I just wanted to just review that.

But yeah, I think that's great.

All right, very good.

Thank you for thanking.

So yes, we're good.

All right, very good.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

I have one question, Carl.

I'm sorry.

Sorry, Mayor.

Did you sign up?

No, I didn't sign up.

But thank you.

I'll fill out a card after.

Okay.

Um I I want us to have further conversation about the limiting event considerations.

Um, because I'm still fleshing out with a lot of the neighborhoods that are impacted the most by um all of these events.

But I like where we're headed, and I like I like the um capping of those amounts.

Uh, and I have heard pretty much unanimous support for those as well.

But I do want us to have a little bit more further conversation about the limiting event considerations.

Yes, sir.

And I think too that moving forward with this, I think we'll be able to get a a reduction, because I believe that's the overall goal is to get a reduction in some of the events that we have.

And this is definitely a vehicle to initiate that process.

Okay, thank you.

Thanks for the work.

Yes, sir.

So what so sorry, so go back to the limiting, so what's your suggestion, Commissioner?

You well, I'm not I'm not making a suggestion right now.

I I just want to be able to have a little bit more further conversation with folks about it and just flesh them out a little bit more because I'm hearing a little bit of both on all of these, and I I just want to be able to have that discussion a little bit more with all of you as well.

Um, just to see what everyone thinks about this.

So maybe if everyone can just take a look at this for future conversation and you know, see what we think.

Okay.

So when do you want to bring this back?

So what's your what's your timeline for wanting to come back?

So I believe we can probably have this back in front of you by the summer.

And so if that's the case, then I can we can put this as an item and then we can include this and then we can share which components so that you're comfortable with it.

So the issue you're speaking of is the number of events.

Well, no, actually, there's four items here.

So it's the number of events per month that have a road closure associated with that.

Right.

Um, also implementing a civic association acknowledgement form for each event to complete, which I like because that just also guarantees the communication.

Right.

And um the quiet weekend is interesting that you would have one quiet weekend each month on the barrier island and then implement seasonal restrictions on road closures, such as you know, spring break or major holidays.

There's some there's some good points there, some that might need a little bit more, you know, as I said, fleshing out.

But if so, if you're planning on coming back to us like before the July 2nd, I think is our last meeting.

Before the break, you're thinking like the end of June or maybe even July 2nd.

If I can make a suggestion, uh so we were planning to come back to the commission with a draft of an ordinance amendment.

So if we are intending to make additional changes based on feedback on limiting event considerations, I would suggest that staff comes back maybe at the May 19th meeting or at the latest the first meeting in June, so that we can package the feedback into the first reading of the ordinance.

And feel free to be able to talk with our staff in between uh as you confer with your neighborhood uh folks at during your meetings that you attend.

Yes.

Okay, so that sounds like a good timeline.

And I do have one other question.

So when we look at a lot of these events, some of these events happen basically just for the benefit of of the event.

We're not actually technically much of a partner.

But so if I look at an event like the boat show, I mean that has an incredible economic impact for the city, and in many ways we do partner with them.

Are we ever thinking of any kind of consideration for events like that that I would consider the city to be more of a partner than we are?

Well, our name our name is in it.

Our name is in it.

Well Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

Well, that's what I'm saying here.

What do you mean how do you mean by a partner?

What do you mean by part?

A lot of these events.

The the event is, as I said, specifically for the event.

Right.

And whatever that event is.

And we're not really that involved.

We collect the fee, but we don't partner, we don't we don't get any kind of you know, revenue.

It's not like uh to me, the Fort L'Oreal International Boat Show is I mean, we're a big partner in that actually.

It's not that we're just h it's not just an event is coming to town.

So like what would their fees be?

25,000.

Yeah, so they would I we need to run the numbers, but they'd essentially be capped out at 25,000 because they would qualify for the signature designation.

Right.

Yeah.

Again, I I just think that maybe we should have a conversation about events that are different in the way that we're much more heavily partnered with them than any other, you know, than any of the other events.

Just a thought.

Well, I it's uh it's the words are interesting, but I don't know how I don't know what that means in in like implementing it.

I mean partnered, you mean like sharing in the revenue?

Um what does that mean?

Um well I mean I just consider that event much more of a of a joint effort with the city and the and the event, the show, um where we're just much more involved in that event.

Well, to the extent that we provide police and fire protection, which they pay for.

Well, we do that for a lot of all the events.

They they pay every all the events pay for that.

But I well, as you said, even our name is in it.

But again, I I'm I'm just thinking out loud here about.

I think I think maybe you're on the right track, but uh just see if you can put in some sort of concrete terms.

I will.

Okay.

So one thing I do want to kind of chime in here on is so that we we currently have a uh agreement with them that expires on the in 2029.

So we certainly could, if we want to, and we have uh I believe four agreements, we can add in additional information in those agreements if you all deem appropriate.

Okay, I think it's worth a conversation.

Okay.

So in synopsis here, I want to make sure we're that I'm clear here is that we're good to move forward with two through five, and we can start drafting the ordinance accordingly, and then we're coming back, I believe, in May, just to touch base on the limitation of those events.

Very good.

Um one question.

Um regards to the um legacy designation.

Um, how many events are considered that have been five years or more in existence now?

Because I'm thinking if we have 19, how do we meet that quota of only having one per month or 19 events?

Yes, so there would be some movement.

Uh some uh events we probably wouldn't be able to have.

Um and I think that's part of how we're trying to limit them.

Um if we did move forward with the limitating limitation of some of those events, the those events um if you have the legacy designation, you would have that priority over a newer event or uh the events that are less established than it.

And so if we're talking about moving forward with some of those limitations, that would be a cause that would come from there.

Thank you.

Okay, great.

Thank you, Carl.

My pleasure.

Um that's it on the agenda, but I do want to bring something up before we leave.

Um during our uh budget workshop this morning, there was a press conference that was held by the NAACP uh in which I understand that there were uh some very serious allegations being made against our police department.

And uh Raquel, were you aware of this uh conference going to take place uh today?

And do you know anything about what was what was said and uh w what are we gonna do to respond to this?

Thank you, Mayor.

I got a call from police chief Bill Schultz this morning informing me of the press conference, which apparently was publicized on local radio station Hot 105.

I subsequently shared with each member of the commission that this conference was scheduled to take place at 11 a.m.

Uh the allegations are concerning um hostile work environment as it pertains to black and Hispanic officers.

We have drafted a statement via strategic communications in conjunction with the police department and the city attorney's office in response to media inquiries.

I do not know anything further at this time.

So so the NAACP has not approached you prior to this event today to talk to you about allegations.

They just I mean, did this just come out of uh out of the left ear left field here?

I don't understand.

I learned of the press conference this morning with the call from the police chief.

But the claims, it's the first time you're hearing about them?

Claims related to hostile work environment, yes.

I believe this stems from a a situation that has been ongoing for about a week now related to a a sergeant's exam, which I was made aware of and have had discussions with human resources as well as the city attorney's office and FLPD command staff.

All right.

So if should anything materialize, would you please report back to us?

I will certainly do so, Mayor.

Okay, great, thank you.

All right, is there any further business to the conference meeting?

There being none, we'll resume at 6 p.m.