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Mayor Sortal's Plantation Update - June 2, 2023 |
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Asian Market opens, staff recognized, budget talk and a solar discussion.
You are around the corner from celebrating all your hard work this school year. Be proud of this moment and embrace your accomplishments. You've made it to the end of this chapter and the beginning of a new one. Remember, there’s no limit to what you can do if you keep believing in yourself.
ConGRADulations Class of 2023!
Enson Market specializing in Asian foods has opened. It’s located at 7720 Peters Road, the former site for Lucky’s and Whole Foods grocers.
The market is one of four nationwide and has foods of all kinds. But to me, the most impressive part of the store is the fish market, which carries such items as fresh shark.
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I took a stroll through the market on Saturday.
Enson Market caters to a particular Asian and other immigrant groups who do not have easy access to their country's origin. It also sells quintessential general merchandise, goods, and services related to their communities.
Go to www.ensonmarket.com.
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Plantation Building Inspector David Claus has been named the state’s inspector of the year. The Building Officials Association of Florida will present Claus with the award during their annual conference in Orlando on June 12.
David was also presented with a service pin for reaching five years with the City at the May 24 Council meeting.
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Our Public Works employees are always out and about taking care of the community. For Public Works appreciation week, last Thursday, Public Works Director Matt Thompson organized a couple of hours of activities to celebrate their hard work. The Public Works campus became the site to show off the skills that these hard-working employees deploy every day. This included competitions operating Bobcats, lawnmowers and even an excavator.
The city’s Parks and Recreation and Human Resource Departments helped set up the event, which was enjoyed by approximately 75 Public Works employees.
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 I raced our CAO, Jason Nunemaker, in a lawnmower obstacle course – it is harder than our experienced employees make it look! While I crossed the finish line ahead of him, I hit three cones, which meant time penalties for me. Thompson declined to state how much the penalty time was, so we were unable to declare a winner. Needless to say, Public Works employees earned all the first, second and third place medals, with some winning multiple competitions.
May was a month for highlighting the work of many City departments as we promoted the Building Safety Month, Municipal Clerk’s week, National Police week, American Water Works Association’s Drinking Water Week, and National EMS week.
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Budget Talk
This is the time of year the Mayor’s office works on budgets and determining what requests to fill from department heads. Departments presented their preliminary budgets to the City Council last Wednesday, May 24. We will be refining the proposed budget as we receive the updated revenue data from the Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office.
There are several important dates to follow. On July 19 the City Council will set the maximum millage. I am proposing to keep the millage rate the same as the last four years.
There will be a proposed budget approval with the City Council, in two public hearings on Sept.13 and Sept. 20.
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Roofs and Solar
Deicke Auditorium and Fire Station 2 need new roofs. We had to retain architectural engineering services to design the replacement projects. City Council approved such services on May 24, after securing commitment from Administration that we will look into the feasibility of evaluating if we can incorporate solar. Longer- term, Administration is looking at the possibility of doing a comprehensive assessment of whether and how we can harness opportunities to add solar to our buildings.
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Jill Fiorentino
Jill Fiorentino, a long-time assistant principal at Seminole Middle School, was lauded by the City Council at the May 24 meeting. Fiorentino, who also taught at Seagull Alternative High School and served as Assistant Principal at Indian Ridge Middle School, is retiring.
She brought in more than $750,000 via partnerships for the schools she served, managed school wide safety and security programs, coordinated professional development efforts, and administered project-based learning sites.
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National Gun Awareness Day
The City Council approved a proclamation declaring the first Friday in June to be National Gun Awareness Day. Moms Demand Action members filled about two rows of council chambers. Everyone is invited to wear orange today, June 2, to raise awareness about gun violence and honor the lives lost.
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The City Council approved a banquet hall for Island Space Caribbean Museum to enable them to expand their cultural programming offerings.
Island Space is currently located at the Broward Mall, on the northeast corner.
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June 7: Broward School Board member Dr. Jeff Holness will speak at the City Council meeting. Holness’ district covers portions of Plantation that include Peters Elementary, Plantation Elementary, Mirror Lake Elementary, Plantation Middle and Plantation High schools.
June 8: Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller will host a Town Hall meeting at 6:30 pm at City Hall. For more information, please call 954-357-7005 or email SGeller@broward.org.
June 19: Quick reminder: City Hall offices are closed to celebrate Juneteenth. Learn about Juneteenth at Plantation Historical museum's event on June 17, where kids’ activities and crafts will be offered from 11 am – 3 pm.
June 21: Dr. Valerie Wanza, Broward County Public Schools Chief of Staff is booked to appear at the City Council meeting. She will provide an update on Broward County public schools located in Plantation. Council members have asked for a top administrator in the Broward school system to appear and address the challenges with our schools after discovering the contaminated soil issue on the campus of Peters Elementary school. The soil remediation project on school campus is expected to begin on June 12.
June 21: There will be a presentation on PREMO, the County’s proposed mass transit plan during the City Council meeting.
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