SRHA General Meeting Minutes January 31, 2024
President Christina Brownlow called the meeting to order via a Zoom call at 7:05 pm and welcomed all the residents. She asked Mayor Steve Breitkreuz to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chris started the meeting with some updates regarding our HOA Board elections, which will be held in March, and advised that there will be some changes on our board, since there are some folks that will not be running for office this year: Jason Halberg will not be running for Treasurer again. On the slate will be Jonathan Pirie for Treasurer and Mailin Beckman for Board. Another change is that Isolde Cahill will be stepping down as Editor and Chris will fill her shoes. Chris also reminded people that the Waste Management mailer came out. She also gave some updates about our board members. Jason’s uncle and his mom are both in assisted living facilities. Also, DaNell is in the hospital for 2 days for severe dehydration. And she also announced that Dennis Hugdahl, long-time resident of Mustang Trail, passed away on January 30. She also shared some happy news about some of our residents: Bob Parker turned 90 years old, Lori Parrish’s granddaughter got married, and Tommy Crivello gave us a check for $2500 for the Scholarship fund.
Detective Eddie Velazquez from Davie Police provided his monthly report. From December to January, we had 3 vehicle burglaries and 1stolen equipment vehicle, which is an improvement over the past. In District 4, DP spent almost 11 hours doing traffic enforcement. There were 34 traffic citations in January and 29 in December. He has not seen one mail theft in our area. Ed Gonzalez advised that we are going to start up the public safety board again in February, and one of the requested items will be a report by each Officer on the cases they’re working on, including citations written.
Chris then turned it over to the Council members, and Mayor Steve gave his update first. He said that we had a great presentation at the end of January about the FPL underground wiring, and he was very pleased by how they are moving forward. A large chunk of our town will be done by the end of this calendar year 2024, which is very encouraging. He also talked about the Vince Falletta canal dedication, which was such a great way to recognize Vince’s contribution to the Ranches. This was spearheaded by Councilmember Bob Hartmann and will take place on February 24. He gave Bob full credit for this great idea. So much of our drainage works so well because of the great work that Vince did for our Town. Steve also said he met with the South Florida Wildlife Center and got a tour of this amazing facility; we are in the process of working out the details for their move from their current location to the Ranches at the school board property on the west part of our town. Chris echoed in on the praises for the SFWC!
Councilmember Jim Allbritton spoke about the Safety and Traffic Board, which is back together and tentatively plans to meet on February 15. Many of the 12 ideas presented last year were implemented, and we will plan to continue to work to control traffic issues in our area. Griffin Road and Dykes are the busiest areas, and Jim is very interested in also controlling the speeding in the areas where the speed limit is 25 MPH due to the residents walking, riding their golf carts, etc. If anyone is interested in joining, please reach out to him directly.
Councilman Gary gave various updates about construction and events. He also talked about the recognition we gave to Laura Warren for her efforts in doing the mural. President Chris asked for clarification about who is responsible for filling in the residents’ swales.
Councilman Bob Hartmann talked about the Annual Davie Police and Fire Expo, which is a free family friendly event, as well as the canal dedication for Vince Falletta.
Vice Mayor David Kuczenski asked for the other Councilmembers to drop off because he had to discuss items which were subject to votes; hence, he asked the others to step away for 20 minutes. He also gave updates regarding important items: the removal of the anonymous code enforcement, which was really good for us. David clarified that the Governor signed a law that removed the anonymous code enforcement; so now, if someone has to make a complaint, they have to put in the complaint or go to their Councilmember, and we need to be in agreement in all districts on this matter. Another issue is related to the number of commercial vehicles allowed on a resident’s property (currently, 2). Other issues are related to the swales, storage containers, building/construction without a permit, tree removal without a permit, dark-sky ordinance, roundabout in Volunteer Rd. and other road issues. And he also talked about the Next Zero Waste Broward Task Force which Debbie Green is heading up, and about his recommendation to the administration to get a new magistrate. Finally, we discussed the speeding flashing signs and where they should be located.
Councilman Gary then confirmed (after having clarified during the meeting with a phone call) that Waste Management is responsible for repairing any damage to our swales.
Chris then opened it up for public comment and questions. One was related to helipads, and it was clarified that it is illegal for helipads to be in SW Ranches residences. There was also a rich conversation about providing more awareness to residents about Zero Waste initiative to help combat the Incinerator issue and recommendations on how to get the word out to our folks.
Next meeting will be at Lori Parrish and Geoff Cohen’s house on February 28, 2024. We will honor both Jason Halberg and Isolde Cahill at this meeting.