me in order. It needs to be auto. Um, vice mayor, allegiance, please. Stand algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We have Pastor Keith Cape of Club Zion to do the invocation. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, bless you for the privilege and the honor to gather together to seek the instructions and the purpose and the future of our
community. Lord, thank you that we can seek your wisdom to guide us and direct us. I pray for our commissioners tonight. You give them extreme wisdom that they get uh the job done. Thank you for those who serve, our city manager and all those uh who assist in this time
tonight. and pray that all things be done decently in order. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, city clerk roll call. Commissioner Jackson here. Commissioner Hutcherson here. Commissioner Tolty here. Vice Mayor Williams here. Mayor Capzy
here. I want to make a motion for the agenda. Move to approve the agenda as published. Second. Motion second. All in favor? I I I All right, motion passes 50. Um, we have a special presentation for
the uh proclamation celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the Space Coast Communities Association. Uh, we have Representative Terry Kroger here and uh Mary Coffold. Uh, I'm going to read the proclamation
now. Whereas on June 17th, 1975, Richard T. Angel, George E. Harrington, Lewis C. RH, and Leslie E. Shamway founded what is now known as Space Coast Communities Association. And whereas the association
established their home in Cocoa Beach, Florida. And whereas the goals of the organization are to foster and promote the interests of individuals, partnerships, firms, associations, and corporations who own residential condominium units or residential
apartments in a cooperative and individual homeowners. To cooperate the improvement of all conditions relating to such interest. to regulate and correct abuse relative. Thereto
secure and maintain freedom from unjust and unlawful exactions. Uh to secure and interchange accurate and reliable information for the associations and organizations of the unit owners as well as the unit owners
themselves. And whereas the organization is currently celebrating their 50th year anniversary. And whereas the city of Cocoa Beach wishes to recognize and commemorate the 50-year anniversary of Space Coast Communities Association on
June 17th, 2025. And now therefore, I, Keith Capey, by authority vested in me as mayor of the city of Cocoa Beach, Florida, do hereby join in the celebration of the 50-year anniversary of the Space Coast Communities Association, and extend best
wishes and congratulations to the board of directors and their members. A witness thereof, I have hereto set my hand on the caused the seal of the city of Cocoa Beach to so affix this 21st day
of August, 2025. If anybody here uh with that association wants to say anything or wants to grab the proclamation, you're you're welcome to come forward. Thank you very much. We appreciate your recogition. We invite you to our meeting.
Thank you. I went to your 50. Yep. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh we have a Main Street uh presentation with uh Kenny Wells, executive director
of Cocoa Beach Main Street. I'm [Music] Helloers, Mayor Kenny Wells with Cocoa Beach Main Street and I'm here to give you a little midyear report from Main Street as to what's going on and what's
coming up and what has in [Music] fighting. We are. That's it. I'm done. Appreciate that. Good. Nice to meet you way too.
[Music] [Music] You understand? I wish I'd have brought a joke or two. Yeah, I'm right here. I didn't say that.
[Music] Thank you. Great job. [Music] Are we good? Let's go again. Round two. Huh? Round two.
Okay, here we go. So, our mission, vision, and values. This is a statement of what we believe in and what our efforts are. And they're very much the same and shared with the city of Cocoa Beach. Our core values also align with a
community being first and foremost preserving and celebrating in the authenticity of what makes Cocoa Beach special and strategic strategic strategies for economic growth and revitalization for the downtown district.
our partnership benefits again they align with each other um which makes it a nice unified partnership. Uh what's not up here which I will add is the current volunteer hours. I know
Commissioner Hutcherson you were um you like those numbers from last year so I wanted to make sure you had them again. For this first six months, we have documented 1,189 volunteer hours.
Main Street America, it's a value of $3161 per volunteer hour. And that equals $37,584 in volunteer time that we're accredited. And that's just for the first six months. Uh
this is a city money and how it's used. Our contract with the city uh includes 12 Friday fest. So the inind services that we receive for doing those events are listed there. We did receive a
$15,000 um line item on the budget for last year and then received $25,000 from a CRA grant. Our uh average cost of a Friday fest is there and the average net profit as you
can see they're they're very close. And this again are the figures for the first six months. Go ahead. Did you have a question? I go back one. I How was the profit exceed the cost? I'm not tracking that.
Well, the cost we hope we have a little profit. Profit's 25,000 on a cost of 21,000. It's okay. Yeah. Yes. Yes. [Music]
our community impact. These figures and um words of encouragement from a few businesses were generated from a survey that we did. Just wanting to recognize the events and the things that we're doing make a difference to the
businesses and helping the e economic vitality by bringing in additional people. could be community, visitors, tourist, but where it does show an impact. And a lot of times people don't
understand that we give back and we give back a lot and we're constantly doing that to the community. Um, we work with the schools through our Friday fest and our beverage bucks. Uh we've made a donation to Drown Zero Surfside
Playhouse where all the time um making space for them, giving them a space to advertise an upcoming play or things like that. And Marlene White, um she's on speed dial. I think I'm on her speed dial because that's become a
really good hub when she's doing her races to pass out the packets or get run runners to sign up and things. Um we also work with the police department uh make a space for them. They have a new community outreach uh program that
they're doing. Kowanas club and also students and young entrepreneurs. The pink team, I don't know if you're aware of it, but they they are really active and they're just trying to get the word out there and show all these cool things that we're doing and we're providing a space for them.
Our current projects um are really really exciting. I've got two big boards in my office which I invite you guys to stop by anyone to stop by any time and see me in the parking garage. Um right now the design
team is working on the the planters that are up in Down Man in Orlando to have them repainted and um the plants refreshed and repotted in there. So, they've been out there, the ones now,
like 10 or 11 years. So, it's time that they've been redone. And when I'm out and about, I always see people like with their phones looking trying to find the beach or a business or something. So once we get the pots done, we want to
take the next step and working with the city on design, do some wayfinding signs on the corner, you know, showing the beach this way, tiny turtle this way, you know, beachside candy this way, just to help the the tourists and the
visitors find their way. Um, what else do we have? We're working on a mural walk and map. So that will encourage people to walk through the downtown which will also encourage, you know, help with the economic vitality
for the businesses, hoping they'll stop and shop and eat and drink along the way. Uh we're doing a shop local campaign for the holiday season and we're increasing our volunteer database with a new recruitment strategy and we're going to launch a signature
fundraising event or two in 2026 to help with our um with our income and and money. There's also a traveling Smithsonian exhibit that we're hoping that we'll get a grant for to bring that to Cocoa Beach also and in hopes we'll
be working with the library if we get that grant and make that possible. [Music] It's not doing anything. Karen, [Music] our strength, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats. And I I think you all have a print out of this. I don't need to read everyone. They're we have Okay. And then these are some grants. The
grants that we have available to us are vast because we are under the umbrella of the historical preservation um society with the government. So with Main Street like oh sorry like most organizations
they do a reimbursement but with Main Street it's not a reimbursement. We don't have to do that. We get the full grant without having to do a reimbursement application with that. So, it gives us kind of a leg up on others that are getting the grants. Uh, we just
were awarded $12,500 from Space Coast Office of Tourism. We are working on um a historical grant because Cocoa Beach is a historical town. So, it's $50,000 and that
basically pays for the historical appraisal. And that appraisal itself takes almost a year to do because they start with day one all the way forward. So it's really exciting to be able to go through that. And when we're approved
and we start that process, it's going to be cool because the markers, there's all kind of stuff that comes with that historical recognition. Um, and there again, the Americans, that's the Florida Humanities, the traveling museum that um, we're trying
to get that. And then next year, 250 years, the nation celebrates and we applied for a grant to have a Memorial Day weekend event working with Suride to do a performance on the high school kids
and the VFW. And then that's our team. I think you know us or should know us or most of us. Um and then our partners, we've got some uh larger partners there and then our
regular um business partners, just a regular membership there. And that's it. Thank you. Any questions? When does your contract come up on in September?
The end of September. Okay. I've got a meeting scheduled with the city manager September 3rd, I believe. Okay. And we're going to be going over that. And then I guess once we do that, then it will be submitted to you for approval.
Is it in the budget right now? I I'm I'm not sure. Um I I think I think we did put in uh what was in last year for 15,000. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to,
you know, you know my stance on this. Um, and I don't understand it, but yes, I know it. But, but I'm going to tell you that I I fully support Main Street with um police, fire, safety, barricades, um, rent for your office. Um, you should have that stage. You should have those
bathrooms downstairs, the power that you need, everything that you need to run your your nonprofit. Um, the the parties for the city. I love it. I love it. Um, I I stand that I think you should have all that included um for at least 12
events a year and I think we should fully support that. Um, I'm just not in favor of giving you monetary on top of that. So, but I love what you do. I love the community that it brings together. Uh, regardless whatever we come up with on on that, I want to make sure that you
have the stage. I want to make sure that you have the electric to make sure that you have those bathrooms for your vent because in my opinion the bathrooms down there is a safety concern because I don't want little kids running across the street to use the bathroom. We need to figure it out. I want to make sure that you have everything you need so that you can um do what you need to
do. I appreciate that. Yeah, I I do appreciate that. And it and it's not just me Main Street. We're a whole team of people that love this community and we're very proud of our community. And that's what main Cocoa Beach Main Street is. Yeah. Thank you for your
words. Anyone else? Go ahead. Go ahead. No, go ahead. J on, if I recall, I'm I'm going off memory here, but wasn't the brick sales a significant portion of your revenue last year? Have you guys figured out a hole for that? I want to say it was like 40% of your revenue.
Yeah, it saved our life last year. So without that this year, is there a plan, a recovery plan or what's the Well, we do have the brick sales going this year. And we think it'll get a similar 60k. I hope so. Yeah. Well, yeah. Hopefully in some of the
grants that you you spoke of as well. Right. The grants that we go after typically go towards something. It's just not monetary. So, Right. Typically, the grants you get are for something. It's not for um operations. Yeah. Which operations which you know
this is a full-time job. Um the events are done professionally. You know I was involved with Main Street. I was the president of Main Street for six or seven years and um I unfortunately didn't document my hours.
Holy cow. Um yeah. Uh it's very consistent by you running that. It's very consistent. the uh the vend the uh vendors all know what they're there for. They know what they're getting. Um they love it. And I know you have a backlog of folks that
want to come in. There there's limited space. Um the businesses in the community if it rains they are upset because they expect a big night on Friday night Friday. uh every week I you know you see it especially you know the folks right out
here on front that some of them don't keep their businesses open for some reason but uh the ones that do um do do very well um you have it's not just Friday fest but you also have other um events um they're different innovative
uh we had mural um the mural fest and and kitefest and and other things the cookie crawl cookie crawl you got the sip and stroll that's going on It's It's pretty awesome. Um, and you know, I I support Main Street obviously 100%. It's it's uh
to me it's the best dollar we spend. Um, it because the return is is just awesome for everybody. It's awesome for the residents, the businesses, um, the entire community. Thank you. Um, yeah. And I thank you, Kenny, for for stepping up and being, you know, the
the executive director. Um, I do want to have a a give a shout out to the pink team. The pink team is actually a robotics team and they go to state, national, and world championships. And so they they generate uh quite a bit of
money at at on Friday fest. And something we started when when uh when I was on the uh with president of the uh Main Street. I think it was your idea though um to give what we call beverage bucks or beer bucks or however you want
to say it because it's beverage because you could buy you can get a soda from it. Um but we give 200 coupons free to an organization to sell and that coupon's good for a um a drink
at the at our drink tent and they can sell them for whatever they want. can sell for $5, they can sell them for $20. But we don't take any money for those tickets. We just accept the tickets or Main Street does, excuse me. We give them a free space also. Right. And a free space um and and as
well for a lot of the um um groups at the high school, whether the sports groups or um you know, anytime any type of group up there. Appreciate it. Yeah, it's pretty funny. It's pretty good though, isn't it, Commissioner? Thank you. I appreciate
it. Thank you, Kenny. That's all I got. Thanks. Comments or questions for Kenny, thank you for the the information. I actually meant to reach out to you about an idea. I've been working with uh Thomas and JP to kind of bat around on the the low season that we
have in Coco Beach and how it affects lot of the the hotel and restaurant staff. Um, so I just sent it to you. Okay. I should have done that before, but uh would love to get your feedback on the idea. Okay. Something Main Street could
potentially spearhead and very Okay. Yeah, I'll take a look at it. Is that it? Yes. Did he have any? I don't know. You good? Commissioner Hutcherson, did you have something? No, I'm good. Thank you. Okay. Thanks. Thank you.
Thank you, Kenny. You really do an excellent job and you did an amazing job on the uh the hundredyear. It was It was the best ever. So, thank you. All right. Um, public comments about items that are not on the agenda.
We'll start off with uh Noel Hicks. Is it Hicks or Hikes? It's Hikes. Hikes. But that's okay. You can call me Zoe's mom. I'm I'm Capriy. I'm Capzy. Whatever. Okay. Um, hello commissioners and mayor.
I am Noel Hikes. I'm the co-owner of Cosmic Tiki of Cocoa Beach. I own this local business along with my husband, retired Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Key, who is a disabled combat veteran. Two years ago, we bought a run-down and flooded unproductive property on the
First Street North Beach Access. In coordination with Cocoa Beach City Planning, we built Cosmic Tiki into a beautiful beachfront family fun center complete with a swimming pool, arcade, and adventure space for kids. Not only do we provide recreation, food, and
drinks, but we also provide clean restrooms and showers, three indoor and four outdoor, to service beachgoers, both local and visiting. We employ a staff of Cocoa Beach residents, some of whom are here from our m mothership today.
Okay, so Cosmic Tiki has grown in its short months of operation to service thousands of customers from the Space Coast and tourists from all over the world. Families love to use our space as a downtown beach hub where they can go to the beach and shower off and get refreshed before enjoying everything
else that Cocoa Beach has to offer, boutiques, restaurants, etc. This month we started a water aerobics classes and school programs at our facility to support the Space Coast community. For the tourism business, we are launching excursions from Port Canaveral, bringing
groups and families from cruise ships to Cosmic Tiki, our beach and the downtown area. For our local and out of town guests, we are providing seating and shade on the beach at the First Street North beach access. We put forward a proposal to city staff for a beach
vending contract so that we can rent beach chairs and umbrellas as well as beautify our side of the access point which at first street is in sore need of it. We've also proposed beach cleanups that we would sponsor with keepard beautiful Main Street and other
volunteer organizations. We have waited two years for a request for bids for beach vending contracts from the city so we could be considered and we never saw one posted. This week we learned that the city signed all available beach vending contracts. Only
a few of those beach vendors are linked to brickandmortar upland businesses. Two of them are mobile carts, not stationary businesses. And some of these beach vendors don't even live in the state of Florida. Meanwhile, Cocoa Beach's very
own Cosmic Tiki provides all the services beachgoers would need at the First Street North Beach Access. We are an embedded part of the Cocoa Beach community. We employ city residents and we deliver tens of thousands of taxable revenue dollars to the city. Help us
grow this business and deliver even more for this community. We are asking the commission to direct staff to amend the code so Cosmic Tiki can operate beach vending business on the first street north beach access point. Thank you very much for your consideration.
That's right. Thank you every time. Thank you. Any other Oh yeah, we got Caroline Willis. Yay. Carolyn, can I still go? Yes. Yeah, I'll let I'll allow it.
Thank you. I'm Carolyn Wallace, 100 Daily Owner Road, Cooper Beach. Um, I wanted to speak in support of Noel Hikes request to acquire a beach vending license at First Street North. Um, when I was a sitting commissioner, I was never too keen on breaking the beach
license quantity cap. But in cases like this, where the Wester is proposing to improve the area around the location using their own funds and has already improved this area by building their family oriented communitycentric business on First Street North. Then how
can we turn down this opportunity? Um, by granting this request, it not only expands Cosmic Tiki's ability to even better serve and improve our community in Koko Beach, but also will upgrade the entire beach access location, which is currently an eyesore. It is a win-win
for everyone. I know that Cosmic T will also work well with existing beach vendor holders, vendor license holders to help better serve our visitors and residents alike on our beach. Please strongly consider granting Noel Heights request and acquiring a beach vendor license. Thank you for your time.
Thank you, Caroline. Um, city manager, do we already have we already have a beach fender for First Street? Is that is that correct? I thought we did. Yes, there is one there. Um, okay. And, uh, we're we're capped out
according to the code. Mhm. Uh and we have a waiting list of about 10. Uh but the speaker makes a good point about the brick and mortar issue. Um so um it it's kind of up to the commission to
give us some guidance on how we should address the list of 10 and if should if we if we should give precedence to uh the the brickandmortar operations.
Okay. I'd suggest that we have uh our city attorney maul that over so that if we end up I don't know is is are they one of the 10. City attorney if you'd like to respond.
Yes. I think they were just added. Okay. So, so, um, yeah, just look at the I would just ask the city attorney to look at any repercussions we may face or if we need
to, uh, to doctor or ordinance to say that precedence is given to people that have certain things, brick and mortar, however you want to say it. before we uh move forward to to to alleviate
ourselves from having repercussions from the other businesses. And just like uh Minute Man, you have two beach vendors on the same street. So, there's plenty of traffic on First Street North to have two vendors, I
would think. But but if I I I would just recommend to the commission we give our city attorney an opportunity to, you know, mull it over before we make any direction forward. Um I've actually um looked at it because
I was contacted by the community development department. Um and I think with just a couple tweaks to our ordinance, we could do it. And I don't think that there would be, you know, a problem. I guess you're concerned with
other people on the list of suing us or something. I mean, you can't ever stop somebody from suing us, but with my arrangement with the city, I defend at no cost. So, uh, at no additional cost. So, I I could bring back a tweaked
ordinance just to see what you thought of it. I think that would be the next step. So clarification question on 10 list of 10 are they applying for a specific site or they'll take any site and then it gets assigned by the city as availability comes up. It's not sight specific.
Okay. My concern is that we we've got a problem where we have multiple beach vendors in one site and it it's creates a an issue of of a back and forth. Um I love your business. I think you do
great. I I hope and I think you're allowed to rent your boards and your and everything from your place right there, your umbrellas and all that. I think 100% you should be able to do that. Um, as far as setting up on the beach next to another beach, I do have concerns about about conflicts. So, that that's
one thing that we need to we need to think about. I'm all over. Um, but um you guys have beautified it. you you've made it nice and uh my thing is we I just want to make sure that we're fair to our current vendors as well. So that's my only concern is I want to be
fair. Um and you just kind of putting in now uh I just want to make sure that we're fair. But I I love your business and I I have no doubt that you would do an amazing job um should something go forward. One thing that we would need to
look at is the exact location of the current vendor because they are given an exact location. So I don't know if theirs is off to one side. I I just don't know. And the concern of the upland owner, it's not the direct upland owner. So I don't even really understand. I don't
know if that really counts because it's not the direct upland owner. It's a it's set in. So that's another concern of mine as well. But whatever we can come up with that's fair for everybody, I'm all in favor of. Okay, I'll I'll bring back something.
Thank you. Thank you. Um JB, for those of you who don't know, this is my my former captain when we worked on uh tugboats for many many uh many many decades.
He taught me everything I know. hardly. Um anyway, uh good evening, commissioners, mayor, crowd, locals. I've got um an idea that I've been kicking around and it didn't gain much traction, but there was some interest
and it is to get a spent SpaceX first stage booster put right out here in the front yard. As you know, a lot of people pass through town, they're not sure in Cocoa Beach. They get up to about First Street, Second Street, they turn. Is this the place? Kind of. They're not
sure. We don't really have a nice definite spot except for this building at the moment, but kind of set back and people just kind of come past the Slater statue and nothing really much stands out. As you know, with us being the kind
of the beach town of the Space Coast, I think it would be an ideal fit. However, um didn't seem to get anywhere. And during the air show, I met a guy um that was in town and I mentioned it to him and he said, "Well, that's funny you say that." He goes, "There's actually four
other first stage SpaceX rocket boosters displayed elsewhere around the country." And I went, "Oo, really?" So, they're doing it. So, I kind of got excited again about, well, if they're doing it for other places, I think we would be a shoe in if we were to propose it to
SpaceX, our, you know, biggest neighbor. Everybody's here for them to begin with. Um, there's one actually at the Space Center in Houston. There's one at the SpaceX headquarters right now in Hawthorne, California. Uh, KSC actually has one indoors in a building out at the
space center, but nobody really sees it unless they go to the space center. And Dish headquarters in Littleton, Cal, Colorado has one because of their communication connection with the space program. Some of them had them vertical, some of them have them horizontal, so
they're suspended. You can walk underneath the whole length of it. The other ones obviously are impressive either way. But it was something that u I bumped into Kenny and mentioned it too. And she says, "We'll come to the meeting and kick it, you know, mention it and see if anybody um finds any
interest in it at all." I thought it would be a something fantastic due to the loss of the missile display we used to have down at Patrick. We really don't have anything here that's that impressive. And it would certainly be impressive. I talked to my neighbor
about it today and he said, "Well, we've got some uh um crew cabin uh mockups that they do training with when the boats, you know, pick up the crew that lands offshore when they come back from the space station. And maybe even get one of those set up out there by chance." That's that was a second
thought just happened today. But the main one was uh to see if we couldn't get a booster out front. I think it would be an instant draw when people are like, "Holy cows, pull over. Let's get a picture." You know, instead of not having anything to pull over for except
bars and restaurants. Anyway, thank you, JB. I would I would love it. I would love it. I would love it. I mean, if you if you look back, like you said, when I was a kid, we had rockets everywhere over here. I mean, we had them uh down the road over here. We had them in
Canaveral. We had them in at um the well I guess it's the the space the space force base which is the air force base back then lined up. Um this is our Centennial Square celebrating you know the history of of Cocoa Beach. I mean if we could set something like that up and
it was donated to us um I'd be all for trying to figure out if we could make it happen. I don't know about the rest of you guys but I'm 100% supported. Boosters are rather large. We may have to scale it down or take a component of it. But I think three aerospace engineers up here. We can figure out a way to get it done.
Well, speaking of three aerospace engineers up here, um I've seen uh we had a Saturn 5 in front of the VAB for a couple of decades. I think we
spent uh over a4 million dollars to refurb it and put it in indoors air conditioned to be able to maintain it at the Saturn 5 center. So even if it was given to us free, there's uh some significant
engineering that would be required to uh create a foundation that could stand that racket up either either vertical or horizontal. And then there's um maintenance that's
going to have to be performed or just like anything else on the beach. It's metal. It's going to deteriorate. You know, if we get a used one that doesn't even have a fresh coat of paint on it, you know, it's going to deteriorate that much faster. I don't
know, maybe the soot like the old mud on your bicycle wheels kept them from rusting. But uh and those are considerations we have to look at for the long term and you know to actually get it and the foundations are going to
be a cost and then we have to think about the long-term maintenance for the future people in the city of Cook Beach that are going to have to pay for it. Otherwise, I think it's a great idea. I think it's I think it's a great idea.
Also, um, as far as scaling it down, I don't think scaling it down is not an option. It's it's the size of it is what's the the thing, right? Um, and unfortunately, we don't have I don't believe we have enough space here in in
the Centennial Square a lot for that, but we have a lot of parks that are uh with a lot of space that aren't being used at all, whether it's part of Lorie Wilson Park or Fiser Park. And um yeah, it would be an expense. Um but I I think
the draw of people um for that would would more than compensate. Um yeah, it's going to deteriorate. Um but then we just ask Elon to get a new one every, you know, every 10 years. Um go from there. Maybe maybe Starship, the next uh
the next one will we'll move it up a little little higher than that. Right. Oh, there's Yeah, that's maybe too big. It might not fit in Cocoa Beach. Yeah. Maybe we could just have them. I tell you what, it would make it a lot cheaper for transportation. We just have them land it here.
Speaking of landing ones landing at midnight tonight and store it here when they need it. They'll just fly it up again. Fortunately, we'd have to we could only do that like after we'd have to time it perfect after a hurricane when we've evacuated. Think we could do that? All right. Thanks, Jeff.
No, they've been very good at hitting the spot. We just I know they are. Oh, they're very good. We'd have to do it after hours at city hall if we're going to land it out here. Like I said, one's landing midnight tonight, so keep your ears open. There's a launch tonight. That's right. Um, have we four hours?
Have we got to the Do you want to have Do you have any history on that? Um, Skip, no. Um, okay, let's move on. Uh, thank you JB. That it's a very cool idea and you know, who knows? Um, maybe in the future we could look into that a little
further. Uh, Gabriel Hensley. [Music] Gentlemen, um, I'm Gabe Hensley. I'm a local resident here. I recently applied to the, uh, city manager job. Uh, but in
doing so, I spent about two months since July, mid July time frame digging deep into the books here. Uh, looking at some of the, uh, different things that we have going on. I'm not as I don't have as anything cool to talk about like putting rockets unless we use the AT&T tower and we put the rocket around that.
Um but uh some of the things reviewed uh were just like the gateway master plan. Man, I was amazed at what that document had in. I think uh uh Skip and Tim were here when they we put that together if I'm not mistaken. Um that thing's in incredibly packed with a lot of stuff.
Uh, also the strategic plan, those five core things that the city's always trying to do, you know, the city charter, and then I sat last, you know, a couple days ago, I guess, for the um budget uh review for 26. In doing so, I was um you know, I picked up some some
different things and and my reason for coming up here is not because I'm trying to say, "Hey, you guys should have been picked up for the the interview," but really as a resident and what I found out and reviewing these documents and then sitting and you know, dedicating a month kind of digging in and what I
observed. Um, ultimately, uh, you know, I've heard a lot of talk about, you know, the golf carts, the ebikes, you standard maintenance things of the city, uh, state road 520 improvements, new police vehicles, fire trucks, property
acquisitions, and what I heard was, um, there wasn't continuity. Like this this document that I read, this um, uh, gateway master plan directly associated a lot of these topics. And it's like it's not tied back like our conversations aren't tied back to what
we're trying to do. So it's like a lot of peacemailing. Like we all are doing the same thing. We got a story that we're trying to achieve. We're all trying to achieve the same thing, but it's like we're not doing it in unison in harmony like an orchestra. Like the document's there, the ambition's there,
but it's when and where. It's like what's our vision? Um so, you know, the one I got is just a consistent connection back to a clear overarching vision. And it's like where are we going and why? Like I should be able as a city member like I remember when we did downtown that the um I got 44 seconds
left but that that time was there was you know we went downstairs not in this building I guess the old building but you you saw that plan and so as a resident I came in got my parking pass I took some time looked at I said okay we're going to do this I could get behind the initiatives as far as that's concerned.
Um I sense some frustration about that the progress pace and um the clear priorities and timelines and I just think that if we can get a vision and something I think we can do to rectify that is that if we have a dashboard like so when one is a good city manager you're going to get this professional
manager uh is he going to be a professional manager or is he going to be a leader? I would suggest that as you guys uh approach these different gentlemen or ladies that you would look for the leader not just the uh professional manager. And I know that you're due do due diligence. I talked
I have like one more minute. Uh I'll give you 30 more seconds. Okay. Um big thing is just uh you know as far as what I saw and and reading all this I I you know kind of thought of an idea. One is we have
outsized impact as Cocoa Beach. You guys know the you guys know what influences this community. Orlando, the space center, uh, Ron John, the beaches, but I call it all American coastal legacy. I think that speaks to everybody. I think that speaks to the tourists. I think it speaks to our
residents, and I think it speaks to um, the staff and what we're trying to do. Um, in closing, that's just all I have to say is just that we look for a leader, not just a professional manager. and that um if we can come up with a dashboard where we can see some uh task
and purpose and then timeline, I think it would help some of the residents understand where the money is going and why we're spending in certain places. Thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. Thanks. Dan Scott, good evening everyone. Um, I wanted to take the opportunity since uh it's
budget season and one doesn't often get to comment on uh reminding the public and you all about the um awesome taxing authority you have as one of your powers in your elected position and how you can
spend any money for a valid public purpose, whatever you deem it to be. Now, I really appreciated the Main Street presentation because they did show a lot more than we've seen in recent times of uh what's going on with that 501c3.
Uh had a lot of detail in it and it revealed what is one of my pet peeves over the years is how much is inind? What is that? Is there a dollar value attached to it? So, it was nice to see that and hear that discussed a bit. So,
you may not know, but among one of my advocacies is taxing authority and so forth. And you may not know that there are 26 other 501c3s in this 3 plus square mile area of Cocoa Beach that pay
no taxes, do not pay for services. um I forget the number of religious organizations in the city that are these are things out of your control that are controlled by the uh IRS code federal
IRS but um this year when we did a little study I mentioned it previously 52% of the taxes of Bvard County are off the tax roles for exemptions which uh or maybe fix 56 somewhere around there But
at least 48% of us when you want to complain about your county taxes or your city taxes, you need to look at all these exemptions, who is not paying and what the municipalities are exempting, what they consider a valid public
purpose because I recall when I was elected, people would come and want us to donate to this worthy cause or that worthy cause. And personally I feel that the public if they believe it's a worthy cause they should write the check then they get the
money directly they don't get it through some administrative process. Thank you. Thank you Janice. All right. Any other public comment? All right. Um staff reports. Okay. Um,
mayor, commissioners, uh, you all were at the Space Coast League of Cities. Um, and, uh, for those of the public that weren't there, uh, we witnessed a remarkable event. Um, we had 80 to 90,
uh, uh, uh, guests in our city from the very the 13 different municipalities in the county. uh they showed up at 5:30 and the one party that did show up was uh
the the caterer. Um, so our, uh, our Cocoa Beach Country Club kitchen, uh, beverage manager and kitchen manager, Rory Huff, in 90 minutes. Uh, he put
together a banquet for n for 80 to 100 people. Uh, and the the consensus of the people who were there said it was the best catered event that they had been to in a long time. So, uh, my hat goes off
to, uh, Rory Huff and Ed Thinger, uh, out at the country club. They did an outstanding job and I am very proud of them. And the rest of the goings on, uh, earlier in the week, we had coffee with the city manager uh, out at the country
club. Uh the staff has been preparing for the budget over the past two uh two weeks. We had the budget workshop two days ago. Uh and now we're putting the final touches on the budget. Uh the HR department is continuing union negotiations with the police and the
fire unions. Uh we worked long and hard on the towing ordinance. uh Dave Sticky, Brian Palmer, um Wes Mullins, and of course our terrific city attorney um uh helped
craft a an ordinance that you have before you later on this evening. Um staff attended a meeting in Vieier with the county's transportation impact committee and funds may be available for trans transportation related capital
projects and we'll be digging into that. We had two meetings with the lobbyist James Steele. Uh uh we had at one of the um uh teams meeting we had a representative from uh Governor
DeSantis's office uh on the phone with us and we received pointers on u how we how how we can move our funding requests forward more effectively uh focusing on uh life safety issues and
shovel ready projects. We met with the surfing centers Santa organizers. They uh want to do the coconut location again this year. Uh the staff uh is a little iffy on the
location uh due to uh the the traffic and parking problems, but we're working with uh the organizers for for surfing santaas to make the plan work in the downtown area in Coconuts. And finally, the last thing is um staff
has been working on uh coordinating the activities for the city manager interview process. Each one of you has a packet in front of you uh to go through and explains uh what the process we next week. Um that's the end of my report.
I had one question on that last subject on everybody has this sheet. Karen, do you have it in front of you? [Music] So um we have that Friday interview sessions
in the morning. Then there's the light lunch and then there's at 1:10 there's a special meeting with interviews with the commission as a whole and we go through all the candidates up
to uh 3:55 to 4:00 and the sheet doesn't say where that's going to be held and I think that those need to be part of public record when we interview them individ as a commission
individually them individually but us collectively as a commission. So would it be uh prudent to reconvene here after the lunch to to do the afternoon session?
Yes, that would be ideal to reconvene here as the group versus doing it at the country club not having any recording capability or having to move. You're going to do your first interviews here as well. Yeah, that first half of the day is going to be here where we have an off we have offices set off and coordinated. So
you'll be you will be rotating through the city hall through the day and the candidates will be sit place. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say it's at city hall. Okay. Yes. I didn't know if it was here or at the country club. There's a sheet. There's another sheet. Yeah, there you go.
At city hall, but I agree. So we're here all day in this individually in the morning as a group in the afternoon. Correct. Okay. Yeah. It's commission as a whole was safe. Okay. But they didn't say that for the and usually we have the breakfast out
there at the country club. So no, we're have there we're having a little light something. It's all going to be that clarified my my question. All right. Just a comment on that. the the the staff did an amazing job and and I I
heard uh I went I just got back from the uh League of Cities convention this last week and they were still talking about it. So yeah, we we we knocked it out of the park and I knew I knew they would. So that's great. As far as surfing the Santaas, we have to make that work downtown in my opinion. Uh the the
businesses wait all year for that. That's it's a huge booster for them and it's just it's just um you know tradition. We got to have it. So, try to make it work. All right. Um, city attorney. Oh, nothing today. Thank you.
All right. Uh, city commission. Nothing. Yeah. Um, just to uh report on the school situation. Last meeting, I I made a comment that there um there be no phones for students cannot use phones at the
school. And we thought, "Oh, this is going to be uh something to see." Right? It is amazing. The kids are not using their phones. You're gonna see one or two once in a while. They try to sneak it out, but it basically say, "Hey, put your phone away." They put it away. The
biggest change I I saw um the first week and and it's continued on is the uh cafeteria. It is very loud in the cafeteria. Kids are actually talking to each other, looking at each other. It's just it's awesome, you know,
instead of, you know, you would see, you know, four, five, maybe even eight seventh and eighth grade boys sitting in a booth all of with their phones last year playing a game and once in a while they talk to each other, but they were it was always on the phone. Now they're
talking, their hand gestures, hand gestures, just just talking away. It's pretty awesome. Uh, so we're back to hopefully back to kind of a normal society at that level. I know it's it's just as difficult for uh for adults to
put their phones down even more so. Uh so uh I'll keep keep you up to date on that, but it's uh it's going well. The school everything's going well at the school. We've got some testing going on this uh next week and um yeah, that's that's about it. I know
we're going to have next month the the ebike uh uh on the agenda that that ordinance. Looking forward to that. Um, but the the kids are all aware of that that it's coming. Um, because uh, Officer Shiner has been out there promoting it and talking to all the kids
on their bikes. So, um, all good stuff. That's all I got. I I just wanted to echo because I don't think it can be said enough what the team did, what Rory did, and and we had a number of folks staying late. They worked a ton extra. Uh, but what they did was
remarkable in that short amount of time, and and it just reflected so well on Beach. So, uh, wanted to say thank you to them again. Um, also, and we'll hear a lot more discussion on this tonight. Uh, but wanted to say thank you to the, uh, the ABC store and the Bales family
for some of what has been going on in Cocoa Beach, just that they stepped forward and were peacemakers in a tough situation, offering their parking lot and allowing employees who were kind of stuck in the middle of a tough spot uh, some relief. So, just thank you to the bales.
Just quick comment, property owners in Cocoa Beach. probably got one of these this week, the trim notice. So, I'm happy to report for the first time in 12 years, we have a rate reduction and the second time in 20 years. So, I appreciate Hannah. We've got some conservative leadership with AJ and
Hannah just totally crushed it. I have full confidence in her ability financially for the city and I appreciate Commissioner Jackson helping me out getting that ceiling lowered down. So, thank you. But I will always fight for the residents to pay less.
Anything skip? I could mention something from the general employee pension board today, but it's all public record and if you guys are bored, you can read it. I cured for there is a significant there was a significant change.
Okay. All right. Thank you everybody. Um I've already pretty much said my piece but um moving forward uh consent agenda. Okay. This is the consent agenda. Item one, ratify the wage reopener for the Laborers International Union of North
America. Leona local 630 union contract for wages beginning October 1, 2025 between the city of Cocoa Beach and Leyona. Staff representative Cindy Deina, human resources director. Recommendation approved. Item two,
approve CRA special meeting for budget 9:18 2025 at 6:30 p.m. regular commission meeting to follow at 7 p.m. Representative Devin Tally, deputy finance director recommendation approve. Make a motion to accept the consent
agenda. Second. All right, we got a motion in a second. Let me just check right here. All right. Um, all in favor? I. All opposed? Motion passes 50. Uh unfinished unfinishness or new new
business. Sorry. Okay. This is new business. Item one, adopt resolution 2025-25, a resolution of city commission of the city of Cocoa Beach, Bvard County, Florida, authorizing the city to make application to the Florida Commerce for a Rebuild Florida Infrastructure Repair
Program Grant for recovery due to damages sustained to the city storm water infrastructure in 2024 during Hurricane Milton, providing for an effective date. Staff Representative Brahza, public works and water reclamation director Morgan Zulie, storm
water utility manager. Recommendation adopt. Move to adopt resolution 2025-25. Second. Motion in a second. Any public comment? All right. All in favor? I.
All opposed. Motion passes 50. Number two. Okay. Emergency Ordinance 1701, an emergency ordinance of the city of Cocoa Beach, Florida, regulating tow truck operations within the city, providing for finds of emergency, providing
definitions, establishing requirements for tow operations and signage in accordance with state law, providing for enforcement and penalties, providing for conflicts, non-convification, severability, and effective date and ending date. Staff representative David Dicki, development services director.
Recommendation approved. Move to adopt ordinance 1701 as read at first reading. Second motion and a second. There's only one reading. This is an emergency ordinance. Emergency orders. Only one reading. Okay. A roll call on this one.
Motion in a second. Um public comment. Roll call, please. Commissioner Jackson. I. Commissioner Hutcherson. I. Commissioner Tamalty. Hi. Vice Mayor Williams. Hi. Mayor Kabzy. Hi. Number three. Okay. Resolution 2025-27,
a resolution of the city commission of the city of Cocoa Beach, Florida, adopting a fine schedule applicable to violations of emergency ordinance 1701 relating to the regulation of non-consent towing of vehicles in city. Making findings adopting fine schedule for non-consent towing of vehicles
requiring posting of fine amounts on city website and implementation of new fines and providing an effective date. Staff Representative David Dicki, development services director. Recommendation approved. Move to adopt resolution 2025-27 as read.
Second. Motion a second. Any public comment? All in favor? I. Number four, ordinance 1702, an ordinance of the city of Cocoa Beach, Florida, creating a new article 3 towing
of vehicles from private property of chapter 13, licenses and business taxes of the code of ordinances of the city of Koka Beach, regulating tow truck operations within the city, providing for findings and definitions, establishing requirements for towing operations and signage, requiring
permits and insurance, and providing for revocation of permits, providing for enforcement and penalties providing for conflicts codification severability and an effective date. Staff representative David Dicki, development services director recommendation approved. I will
tell you that in the printed agenda there is a typo in the title of the ordinance but in what was published actually on the ordinance the typo is not there. Move to approve uh adopt ordinance 1702
as read second on the first reading. Motion and second. Any public comment? All in favor? I. All opposed? Motion passes 5. The meeting is adjourned.