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SUMMARY MINUTES <br /> Regular City Commission Meeting <br /> Thursday, June 18, 2015, 6:30 p.m. <br /> City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida <br /> ATTENTION ALL LOBBYISTS: CITY LAW REQUIRES YOUR REGISTRATION PRIOR TO ENGAGING IN <br /> LOBBYING ACTIVITIES BEFORE CITY STAFF,BOARDS,COMMITTEES OR THE CITY COMMISSION. <br /> PLEASE CONTACT THE CITY CLERK FOR FORMS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. <br /> AGENDA <br /> 1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS <br /> The meeting was called to order by Mayor Scholl at 6:30 p.m. with the following officials <br /> present: <br /> Mayor George "Bud" Scholl City Manager Christopher J. Russo <br /> Vice Mayor Jeanette Gatto City Attorney Hans Ottinot <br /> Commissioner Isaac Aelion [via conference call] City Clerk Jane A. Hines, MMC <br /> Commissioner Dana Goldman Deputy City Manager Stan Morris <br /> Commissioner Jennifer Levin Deputy City Attorney Fernando Amuchastegui <br /> 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE /INVOCATION <br /> Action: Fang Oliver led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, and Rabbi Alexander Kaller <br /> gave the invocation. The Rabbi's daughter went on the dais with a charity box and collected <br /> change. Mayor Scholl noted that the Rabbi is raising money for the new Community Center. <br /> Mayor Scholl gave opening remarks of decorum,and noted that Commissioner Aelion is here <br /> via conference call as he is in Israel. He also noted that our former Mayor Norman S.Edelcup <br /> is here in the audience tonight. Mayor Scholl gave a mini-State of the City as this is the six- <br /> month anniversary of the new Commission. He reviewed what has been achieved to date as <br /> the new Commission, and as a new Commission they hit the ground running. The most <br /> important thing is that we acquired the site next door for our school expansion,our City Hall <br /> expansion,and our Civic Senior Center which will all be housed there. Staff is working with <br /> our Planners and Architects to design that building, and we are also working with the School <br /> Board. As part of that project we are working on a pedestrian bridge design across Collins <br /> Avenue from City Hall to the other side so that the kids can come along Collins Avenue and <br /> potentially come across that bridge and not have to cross Collins Avenue to go to school. We <br /> were also able to acquire the piece of land on the south end of the City in front of the Arlen <br /> House,and so instead of having potential town houses or retail there,it will be a Park that will <br /> continue into the Intracoastal Park system. <br /> Mayor Scholl said he gave a speech this morning at the Aventura Marketing Council and the <br /> name of his speech was"The Ten Billion Dollar Sandbar"which is kind of a metaphor for our <br /> City. In talking about the good things, he also talked about some of the challenges. One of <br /> our biggest challenges as we all know is the erosion of the beach, it is very frustrating. He is <br /> happy to say that we have appropriated the money,and the engineers are hard at work looking <br /> at ways to mitigate our beach erosion. As we said, we are not really in a position to pay for <br /> renourishment out of City funds but what we were able to do is to potentially pay for some <br /> mitigation techniques that keep the sand from shifting so often. In conjunction with that, he <br />