He's just prancing all the We're ready. I'm going to go ahead. I'm going to call this special meeting um to order. This is our final budget meeting and it is September 25th of 2025.
The time is 6:06 p.m. I'm going to start with Madam Clerk. Can you please do a roll call? Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Lisa Kavito present. Commissioner William BJ Lorie present. Commissioner Littlemore
here. Commissioner Cynthia Burton here. City Manager Derek Martin here. A city attorney and I'm going to try and pronounce this. Leo here. Okay. Good evening. Assistant city
manager. CRA manager Christina Marie here. Cutland County Sheriff's Office Major Dary here. County Sheriff's Office Attorney Alex Sher here. Finance Director Steven Conlin
here. Payroll accounts payable department Shayla Walker. code enforcement officer Pamela Taylor present works director Keith Harris he will be here
city natural gas director David Frank here city fire chief Joe Razer here city manager Derek Martin here again okay I just want to make sure I called you I didn't recall that and Mayor Meyers here present thank you very much and
with that um Commissioner Moore if you would please lead in our invocation this evening. If please stand if you are able to bow our heads. Dear heavenly father, once again we want to thank you for allowing us to come together. We thank you for your grace and your mercy. We thank you for waking us up to a brand
new day. One we've never seen before. We won't see again. We give you honor and praise. And Lord, we ask that you be with us tonight as we make those decisions that are needed for our city. We ask that you help us to agree and disagree in unity and love because we
know that with unity there is strength. So we ask you ask you to be with us, guide us, continue to give us knowledge and understanding that we might be able to do thy will. All these blessings we do ask in your Jesus name. Amen. Amen. And the pledge of allegiance. I pledge
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. Thank you. Please be seated.
I don't think that we um have no announcements for this evening, unless anybody has an announcement. I know we've got the Rotary members here, several Rotary members, and I bet you are still trying to sell tickets to Swan and Y.
Um, y'all can race to whichever one. I don't know if it's a competition that you have for that, but please, but if it is, um, you're all free game. Um, you have one. Yes, ma'am. Um, I'll make it for the concerned citizens, the princess city will be
doing a fundraiser on Saturday. Um, they'll be selling the chicken and ribs for all on Saturday. Um, it's going to be out there in Okay. So, that's going to be part of our vintage market. So, that is one thing the partnership is doing the two-day
vintage market this weekend. You can see I'm starting to get ready. Um, I've seen um one one tent already pop up and and get their stuff out there. They've decorated the windows. They look great. So, it should be a beautiful weekend. me hope that, you know, that storm that's
out there that it just kind of goes um and that everybody has a great time. And the hours are from 9 to 4 3 9 to 3 both days. 9 to 3 both days. So, please come out if you can. Okay. Any anything else?
Well, I just noted uh the Turner's building there's um a big furniture sale as part of the vintage market. Yes. down the hill at Central and what? Prospect. Yeah. So,
she's at there at Central and Prospect. They have a big blue tenant and that's that's part of it. Um Yes. And they've been working on that. Um I know for at least a week now. So, and they're going to open up early.
They're open up early tomorrow. Early bird gets some work. Okay. With that, um I'm going to open up if it's okay. We've got public comments at this time. Um I do have one speaker. This is for Elizabeth Gomez. Um if you
would please come forward, state your name, your address if you will. Um I'm not going to read you all the 19 Sier Street. I want to say congratulations to Mayor
Ulyses. I never can say his last name, but um mayor, while you were going up the ladder, I was getting in trouble on Cedar Street. I got no trespassing. I got um sheriff telling me not to
bother people at the park, you know, when they staying there during the day. I didn't know anything about it. This week when I got up to walk the trail at 8:00 a.m., somebody pinched a tent at the arborary, the Bird Arbor, and I was
pretty upset to say the least. So, I called the sheriff and I told them in the past I was told not to bother anybody because they had the right to enjoy the trail like I enjoy it, but come on. At 8 in the morning, they sleepy. I not Hey, good morning. you're
not supposed to be there, you know, is part of of public policy, not sleeping at the park. I try to be nice to them. And in the past, I was told to come back at night. I don't want to be a vigilante for this town. I want these people to be
my friends. So, I don't want to be after them. And since you are the mayor and now you're gonna head the whole Putnham County, I'm just giving you words of advice that I I learned from a store manager that I worked for Walmart for 25
years. The grounds of your town are part of how your town is perceived. I don't know how you can do this if task or maybe when sheriffs come on duty. Why don't you police these places that are
known to be a problem for homelessness? That way I don't get in trouble or other people get in trouble and just make it part of your routine. My store manager used to police the grounds of the store before he came in the store at 700 a.m.
because the grounds were part of his job. He would check if they were empty, if there were trash, if there were cargos, anything like that. And um thank you for all your help, Mayor Commissioner Lisa Deito, because I was
so upset I, you know, reach out to the two of you and Captain Ulyses, I know you have tried to help me in the past, but I knew things were going well for you. I tried calling you before I got in trouble and there was no answer. Thank you. Thank you.
Um Captain US, I think she was referring to you as as it sounded as mayor, but it was major. major major. So I didn't know if you I didn't know I when she said that I'm like did I get a different did I get a different title though
I understand and thank you Liz and Liz did have pictures of that and they did have a tent. I went by there last night um I guess probably about 7:30 and they were not there but there were a lot of families I was pleased to see on
Lake Stella um on the trail there were several families with children um there was one gentleman he was sleeping on the park bench on one of the picnic he wasn't sleeping I apologize he was laid out that he wasn't sleeping in but it was it was um I was just pleased to see
a lot of family there So that was um but Liz, thank you so much and and um Liz is very good about patrolling that area and keeping people in check and um as long as she stays safe. But it sounds like she really doesn't want that job.
She doesn't. That's what it sounds like to me. She doesn't. She would really like I think for a sheriff's office to um have that job. And um and again this is something that we the commission we talked about back and forth. We do know that we have in our ordinance there
should be no sleeping in the parks. Um we did do that overnight sleeping. We can't do anything with them during the day but overnight sleeping. We did put that in an ordinance. I thought we did. I know we got the language from um
the land and that was several years ago. I thought well it was several years ago but I do not recall us actually enacting anything. Okay. Well, we need to look at that because I thought we did when I read through it. So, I'll ask Well, I guess we can. We have uni code
now. It should be on code. Um, but actually that came to my mind and um after Miss Gomez contacted me with photos, I contacted the sheriff's dispatch and then deputy mccrainy
contacted me. He said they would patrol more and I forwarded that information to our city manager because I will just share with y'all there are a significant number of people sleeping in various public places here and there's really two issues um and I shared this with the
city manager. Several people have told me in the past few weeks that they were aware of people sleeping at Eagle Lion Park and that they knew who they were and they told me to lock their doors and I told the neighbors because they were apparently people known to have criminal
background which is scary. So um and the the second issue is and you may have heard me speak about this at the delegation meeting as an individual um we do have a problem in South Pna because the resources from the state
level and the continuum of care are not reaching South and we can't fix that right now. But it's a it's a serious issue and the the churches absolutely do not have the resources to handle that. Well, and and a lot of some quite a few
of these states there because they want to be there. I mean, that's that's something, too. That's a problem that we can't um Well, so let's not we're not going to that. Let's not get into that tonight. We've got, you know, we've got other things, but Liz, we do appreciate you bringing that to our attention.
We're sorry you had to go through that. And um just be safe out there, please. Just just be safe. Mayor, may I just want to clear the record there? It is in our media code. We do have it in our in our meeting code. I can see it right here. Yes, maybe not. I can forward it to you.
I thought we did. I thought that we language. Yeah, it's under section 2042 uh in our mini code under um under section I for disorderly conduct is shall be unlawful for any person in a
park to sleep or proactively proactively lounge on seats or benches in vehicles or other areas. Right. But I mean, now it's state law. Well, it is state law. So, okay. Do we have um anybody else that would like to speak at this time? Please
come forward. Seeing no come forward, I'm going to close public comments and we're going to go to our public hearing. Um I'm going to turn this over to you. This is our second and final reading of resolution 20256.
Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Um so, I gave you all a cover letter. Um, the proposed millage rate of course is 8.7164 mills per 10,000 in taxable value, which represents a 0% increase over the roll back rate of 8.7164 mills. Hard copies of the city's
proposed budget have been made available in the city hall and on the city website. Copies have also been distributed to the city commission. Furthermore, work sessions that we've held go over the operating budget capital improvement program. These work sessions provided an opportunity for the city commission and the public to have
open discussion on what's being proposed and uh and to recommend changes. Staff recommends the adoption of resolution 2025 06 setting the village rate for FY26 so we can move forward with adoption. Okay. Can I have some of the titles? Leah, do you want to or
I can read it. Yes, ma'am. Resolution 202506, a resolution of the city commission of the city of Crescent City, Putham County, Florida, adopting final operating millage rate for the purpose of levying uh of adalorum taxes for the city of Crescent City, Putnham County
for fiscal year 2025 26 and providing for scrier's errors. Okay. Do I have a entertain motion? I move that we approve resolution 2025-06. I'll second. Okay. So we have a proper
motion and a second. Do we have any um any discussion? Um mayor um was in the second whereas clause there was still in my version the typo in the third line that says again
Crescent City resolution number 205404 is we talked about that. Is that your second line? Um, it's the third line of the second word as clause. I have the revised uh resolution. Yes, ma'am. Okay.
Commissioner veto. Okay. All right. Cuz that was that was just a persistent word processing thing. Okay, that's done. Good. Okay. No, I smell it. I hear a smoke detector. I heard it, too.
Yeah. Does someone need No, it was just the battery. Oh, low battery. Okay. All right. Um, any other discussion, commissioners? Okay. Um, I'm going to open it up for public comment. Do we have any public
comment on this? Please come forward. I do want to um also state that this was advertised in the paper as it was um required. So we had a proper advertisement in the paper. I believe it was Saturday's
Saturday's this past Saturday's paper. So it fell within the guidelines of the statute. Okay. Seeing none. Um Madam Clerk, if you do a roll call for us, please. Commissioner Burton. I Commissioner Moore. I Commissioner Lori
I commissioner nayers I think so approved. All right. Next we have our second and final reading of ordinance 202510
amending the budget for fiscal year 2425. An ordinance of the city of Crescent City, Florida, amending the budget for fiscal year 24 20 uh 2024, 2025, providing for administrative action, providing for severability, and
providing for an effective date. Okay. Does that have a motion? Um, I move that we adopt um, ordinance 2025-10, the budget amendment for the fiscal year
202425 general fund. Do I have a second? A second. We have a proper motion and a second. Do we have any discussion? Um, mayor, I I just have two comments. Um, one, just to make sure that the
clerk has it. Um, I think, um, I mentioned to the city manager that the rolled up attachment did not actually say schedule A. The ordinance says we're adopting a schedule A. And so hopefully the clerk has the schedule A version
that we're going to vote on. Um, and my main my main observation, um, I think we discussed this in a budget workshop, but it did not jump out at me the way it did when we have this on second reading. And I I think that
our staff has done a fine job, but there's one thing here that concerns me, just the way it is presented. Um when you look at the excess deficit column um
there's a deficit for every section of the budget in the general fund and the total of that those budget section deficits comes out to 2022 2000,2,825 which is $30,000 more than the carrier
carryover amount that we're adding to the budget 173,000. So, um the city manager explained to us verbally that the whole budget is not in that much deficit because there are other line
items that um that balance that out that can be used that that is not just like the one above it for the um building repair. I know that we've reduced we've reduced the amount that we would be using in building repair. So, right. So there are some amounts
elsewhere, but what I just want to share my thoughts with all of you and with the city manager. To me, something like this when members of the public see it, this is all they have. So it really does call
for a narrative to go with it, to explain it. Um, we want people to be confident in what they're seeing. And um you know I I think it would be helpful if we have a memo that goes out. I don't
know if we want to put it in the water bill or where um but you know just something like this needs more explanation than than just verbal in a meeting. It really needs to be well even if they wanted to um I I do
agree. I agree with you to have some verbiage so that we have some some explanation for transparency purposes, right? Because they're making a balance. That's good. And they told us about it. But not everyone is going to, you know, look, in fact, not all of our meeting
actually was recorded because of the had a had a cold or something. But anyway, it just it needs it needs a narrative. It needs an explanation. Um so that people get have as you said for transparency. And if I if I may also
commissioner and thank you for pointing that out um to me in the rush of it of course digital version and what went online has that narrative in a cover letter. I was not able to print it in time for you before tonight and I apologize about that but I will give you
a copy. The public does have a copy. The current budget surplus if you were to go in the entire general budget uh is at $219,27. the um the unfavorable budget variance if you add all of the pole budget together is actually at at a negative or
28,000 um and $57 of unfavorable variance. So your total amount in your in favorability or a surplus would actually be $191,150. The the 202 that you see is actually the total deficits if you were to add up
each line item, but it doesn't encompass the entirety of the budget. I put that information in a spreadsheet or in a in a in a u um a cover letter and I also include it in a in the spreadsheet that you have that you have in front of you. Right. But does matter if I just kind of
follow up. My concern is that when you have something like this posted online, somebody can look at this and print it out. If you don't have an asterisk or a footnote that says please see, you know, this is not there is not a total general
fund deficit. Correct. just you you do not want people to get the wrong impression and you want them to know where to go for all of the information. Yes, ma'am. I know this is a surprise, but there will be some that will use this on
Facebook without anything attached to it. Okay. And so like sometimes you get a portion of the truth. And so that's why I think Commissioner Devito is being so cautious about this. Well, just because we don't want that because it could be spun a certain way
and it's it's not even so much spinning. People who are not on staff don't have a lot of time. They see, you know, it's just like you skim the newspaper. Correct. Um, and you just want to make sure that they have comfort that they're not
calling city hall or calling, you know, you just want to make sure that it's easy for them to have the whole picture. Yes, ma'am. Okay. And certainly you don't want people attacking. Yes. Yes. Okay. So you might want to do um can I have the updated one
the final document on the internet as well? So we have the narrative and the spreadsheet that's updated digitally. Is it is it on this actual is it attached I mean is it part of this page? It it is yes it is part of that page and there's a cover letter to go with it.
Do we have any other discussion? down here. Everybody good? Okay, I'm g open it up for public comment this time. If there's anyone that would like to come and speak on this, please step forward, state your name, your address.
Okay, seeing no one come forward. I'm going to close public comment. Um, madame clerk. Yes, ma'am. If you would please do a roll call. Commissioner, I. Commissioner Ry, hi. Commissioner Moore. Hi,
Commissioner Burton. I carers I so adopted on the second reading. So now we're going to move on to the second final reading of ordinance 202511 which is our amended fee schedule if you would please.
Yes ma'am. Uh second final reading of ordinance 202511 amending the fee schedule in the ordinance of the city of Crescent City, Florida. Amending the schedule fees to be charged by the city of Crescent City for noise, natural gas, general reproduction services, um
business tax receipts, planning and zoning, special events, parks, code enforcement, water, wastewater providing for repeal of prior feed uh ordinances and resolutions and conflict severability and effective date. Okay.
motion. I move that we approve ordinance 2025-11 on the second. I'll second it. We have a proper motion and a second. Commissioners, do we have any discussion on this?
Um I just have one comment if I may. Yes. Um I know that some fees in here with the utility fees we really do not have a choice um in raising. we have to our utilities
have to be self-supporting. Um I do wish that we were not raising the um business tax and it's a difference of opinion. Um obviously we have expenses in the city to keep up
with it but it is a tax on you know on businesses especially um soul propritors but generally good job any other comments
I don't know how many of you watch local news um I get all the flesh from here to as far south as it can it can travel and when you watch it um especially in the evenings it's all
communities it seems as if they're going through a lot of what we've gone through this year and with their enterprise funds they've had to raise them there's a lot of outcry from residents um but at the same time in order to keep those services going and staying strong they've had to
do this but it just seems like every municipality Even last night it was talking about those that had to go through and were having to actually we're fortunate to be able to accept our roll back um because so many of the communities around this area um have not
been so fortunate. Um but we're not alone out there. I know we feel like we are, but I think um all all leaders in communities right now are facing a lot of what we're facing. That's hard decision. It's it's it's a difficult decision. Um but in order to provide the
services at the level that you know our residents deserve. So and thank you all for doing this. I do have one more thing that I just want to say again since we are voting on the the um utility increases. Um it I
think that it will be very helpful to our utility customers particularly within city limits if we could do an evaluation of how many um lots and homes we have that are served
by utilities. These are buildable lots that are ready to go for um probably most of the gas and water, many of them for sewer. And um other cities have developed strategies to address problems like that. If we had more customers,
then we would be spreading the cost over more people. It wouldn't help our utilities greatly. And I think we could do I think we could help ourselves by developing some strategies there to get unoccupied
residential lots. Of course, the businesses are whole another issue occupied and then we would have people contributing to the shared cost. Well, and that it's that's a it's a it's a big picture, too. So, as you as you do that, you have development. So, your ad
form taxes go up as well. So we get there would be more there'd be more ethylum there. Well that you mean that would be positive. Yes that would be positive. So that's what I'm saying is that's that so it shares that cost also. Absolutely. So that's why I say it's a big picture
would affect all of this budget. Absolutely. And you can drive down the street in any given neighborhood and just see a lot where a house used to be. And there could be there could and some have been filled in, but there's many more.
With that, I'm going to open up public comment. If the commission has no other comments at this time, open up public comment. Please come forward. State your name and your address if you will. Elizabeth Gomez, 19 Street and um I'm part of the public and I just want to
say that since I moved here almost four years ago and have come to the town hall meetings, I see where the predicament that all of you go through and all the races are represented. I think I'm the
minority here, Puerto Rican. Maybe there's 2% of us here, but I don't mind and and I'm poor. I am, but I am very happy because I live here and you can live, you know, very nice in this little town with, you know, if you are good
with money, but I appreciate everything you guys do. Thank you. And I don't mind paying more taxes. I don't mind paying, you know, for the security that you guys give us. Uh I'm willing to pay whatever it takes. And I hope other citizens feel
the same way because it's true what the mayor said that the mayor what the mayor said that a lot of towns are going through the same problem we are. If we if you we unite and being a small little town, you know, we all know each other
and we know how hard it is. We all know everybody's background. So we know you guys are doing the best you can. Thank you. Anybody else come forward? Seeing no one come forward, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to close public comment at
this time. We currently have a proper motion on ordinance 2025-11. Um, Madam Cler, if you would please do a roll call. Commissioner Burton, I. Commissioner Moore, hi. Commissioner Lorie, hi. Commissioner Devito.
Nay. Myers. I so adopted on the second reading. Okay, we're going to go to our second and final reading of ordinance number 2025-09, approving and fixing the budget. Then turn it over to you. Yes, ma'am. Ma'am. All right, second and
final reading of ordinance number 202509, approving and fixing the budget. Ordinance providing for, approving, and fixing the budget. Setting the mill levy at 8.7164. Allowing for general operations of the city and its various departments. approving and fixing budgets for special
funds and debt service for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2025 and ending September 30th, 2026. Motion. I move that we approve the second reading ordinance number 2025-09.
I'll second. Okay. So, we have a proper motion and a second. Commissioners, do we have um do we have any discussion? I just have a couple of comments. Okay, ma'am. Um, I think there's a lot of good
things in this budget. I thought we had a good debate over the budget. Um, but there are a lot of reasons to increase it. Um, and I particularly think that our new city manager, um, who came in in June when the budget really should have
been pretty much done, um, did a remarkable job getting up to speed and giving us a budget with millage choices. So, I want to thank him for that. Um I do think that going forward we need to
um make sure that our budget as we develop it as we go forward that we align it with our strategic plan and or vision because I think in many places in this budget we are well rarely in the
development of the budget do we take out our strategic plan and look at it and now the budget in some ways as amended is not aligned with our strategic plan and generally that's how budget should be is
aligned. Um we have added 1.5 positions in administration and when you look at the pie charts and I calculated this before um our administrative costs are now as much as our law enforcement costs. Um,
I think that we have not done ourselves a favor by making very large mid-year budget adjustments because that I this is something I've said before. It keeps us from looking at the big picture. And one thing I hope we will keep track of
as the year goes along um is setting goals and priorities and doing some forecasting, asking our staff to forecast for us um where are we going with the um the personnel expenses and
other very fixed expenses in future years. I think we need to keep that in front of us so that you know we can do well in do well in the future and not get caught in a pinch. So that's just my comments, but I I thought we thought we
had some great budget discussions and I appreciate everyone's work. Okay, you have any other comments? Um, Commissioner Veto, thank you for that. But I I will say this. I I I disagree with you on I disagree with you
on that with our personnel because we we must have good people in order to run the city. And I agree and and so we have to and I think as we move forward and we lose certain people that we're going to have
to really look at this even more so. But um you know, you're only as good as the people that you know that are working here and operating everything. And so I I I feel like we're doing the best we can to try to take care of our employees
and um and I'm very proud of what we've done in the last couple of years to try to bring them up to where um they can have a a decent a decent living. So anyway, I'm not I'm not speaking just to
raise this, but I think um and our staff can help us with this. We need to look at um the position descriptions. We we never did approve those. We started that. Of course, we've had um city manager turnover. We had interim for
quite a long time. Um just we need a 60,000 foot level to see what is it we want to accomplish and what's the best way to do it. And I agree, you have you have to um pay people. They work very hard. They do. So they do. A lot is expected
of them. Um you know, just like this evening, I did give um our city manager I I tested his heart just to see how it was. He he made it. He survived. He survived. Um just in, you know, with some of the
numbers, but um but he did. And so, um, uh, but they do work very hard. They're very dedicated. And, you know, anytime I talk to them, that is the one thing they say is that they care about the city, just like our sheriff's office. And I will say, you know, I'm very proud of two of what we've done with our law
enforcement here. Um, I wasn't bi to the bar, in case anybody saw me standing there. I was trying to pay a bill at Three Bananas and some ladies were sitting there and they were they were eating and and talking and I just was
standing there and I overheard them say they live here in Crescent City and she said to her the other one that I guess her husband had died and but she says you know I don't even lock my door at night and she says I feel so safe living here. I didn't say where they they were
because the city, but she said, "I feel so safe living here in this town. I'm so happy we move, my husband moved us here before, you know, and um and I just, you know, that just that just gave me just such a sense of pride that and and we
here at the commission, we we need to, you know, recognize that that that's because, you know, we made sure that public safety is is our number one is our number one." and um you know I just listened and paid my bill and went about my way. So, but if anybody saw me
standing there, I was not belly up there. I was just waiting to pay a bill with that. So, we have no further discussion on this. May I add one thing here? Yes. Um Commissioner Devito brought up about the aligning the budget with our overall, you know, plan, our master plan, our our
strategic plan, our vision. Um the deputy city manager and myself are actually going to be working together in the next couple of weeks to come up with a a actual year out schedule to show you how we are going to be aligning with that plan and how we are going to be
tackling things within the CRA as well as our better place dates and times and cost of what we're going to be doing and what our goals are going to be. So you'll be getting that probably sometime in in October or November at the latest. Okay, thank you. Um, the one thing I
will say that I that I did I did question with this and that is over in our CRA. Um, we had made some notes to move some some to move some of the dollars around and I'm not sure that they were moved. Um, so
as we go forward with this, we just need to make sure that in case those were and that was in the um improvement projects, there's still the 29,000 in there. I thought we were taking that down to 15,000. Okay. Um
and and then and then taking that I see that you increased over that when you went into that that you increased over into the housing rehabilitation grants by a little bit. Um but it's it's there and it's into the rehabilitative grant
development grants too. So if we have to later on um just keep an eye on that please. the numbers to change. It just I I thought that based on my notes, it was supposed to come down to 15,000.
Thank you for that because that was an important goal. I think our CRA manager said that um the monies that we propose moving could be well used. So, um we want to get with that. Would we have to
actually um can we move the money by resolution or do we have to do an um amendment to the budget ordinance? We would have to um I believe we'd have to do an amendment to the budget ordinance. I'm not sure. We'll have to find out. I don't know if we'd have to
do it through resolution or amendment, but as we go forward, if she finds would that fund just keep an eye on that. Um the same thing is in the north um the improvement project we still have 18,000 in there. Um she did we did raise
it up to the 25 because I we talked about that raising that back up to the 50,000 in the housing rehabilitation because there are several houses there. um the 212,435 we need to keep in mind that we've
already obligated 17.5 that's going to come out of that next year because it's not coming out this year. So that's just as we go forward we just need to make sure that we you know keep an eye on that. And to answer your question, as long as the number that's in the fund
stays the same, the city commission can write a motion to change those. But mayor, thank you so much. Because that north CRA, the housing area, we talked about how important it would be to
um do some rehabilitation and bring that area up. That is that is um with that I'm going to go ahead and open it up for public comment. If you have any public comment, please come forward. Seeing no one um
comes forward, I'm going to close public comment. Commission um this is it. This is our final budget. So no other comments. I'm going to do a roll call. Do you have anything? No. Okay. Do a roll call. Commissioner Burton I.
Commissioner War. number 2025-12, the sexual offender and sexual predator act, an ordinance of the city of Crescent City, Florida, creating section 18-9 in the code of ordinance of
Crescent City, Florida to be known as the Crescent City Sexual Offender and Sexual Predator Act, providing findings, intent, definitions, and residency requirements, authorizing collection of registration fees, prohibiting presence, lording, or prowling within child safety
zones with exceptions, restricting participation in Halloween activities with with an exception prohibiting cohabitation of offenders, establishing accountability and property uh for property owners, landlords and lessers,
requiring notice for temporary emergency shelters, providing penalties for violations, providing applicability and severability, and providing for an effective date. Um, I gave you all the revised version um that Mr. Alex Sharp
provided before this meeting. So, what's in your book is not going to be updated and what's uh what's in your digital file will not be updated. The paper is is the latest and greatest. And we actually have Mr. Alex Sharp here to discuss any questions that you may have.
Do you want to before we um I entertain a motion, do you want to go ahead and just give a a briefing on this and what we're doing here? I would love to. And welcome and welcome Mr. Sharp. Thank you. It's always a pleasure. Thank you. Alex Sharp, uh general
counsel Sheriff's Office, 130 Ory Griffin Boulevard, Black of Florida. Um, this is a continuation of an effort on the sheriff's office and the sheriff's uh project to ensure that we don't
become an area where it attracts people that are sexual offenders and sexual predators. I don't know if you guys remember, there was an incident u a few months back. Uh we discovered a trailer park that was basically almost all
inhabited by sexual offenders or sexual predators, which is against statute. A little more uh research into that, we discovered that most of our registered sex offenders in Putham County are not local. I would say fairly accurately
over 50 to 60% of them are coming from out of areas, other counties and so forth. Uh Putham right now was or was before we passed the ordinance uh one of the only counties in North Florida that had no uh restrictions on sexual
offenders. um as a since it's a state statute for them to register and have certain uh restrictions on where they can live like near schools and everything like that. This is a statute that the state put out that's not preempted. It actually allows the county
or the municipality to enact a more stricter guideline and that's what we've done here. Clay, St. John's, Flaggler, Marian, they all have stricter guidelines uh around us. So you can see what would happen as somebody is shopping for a residence. Uh we would
like the county's ordinance to become Crescent City's ordinance, not just your municipality, but all the municipalities. So it's easier for uh we we're in charge of them. They have to come register with the sheriff's office. But this would enable us to have one
uniform set of rules across the entire county that we could enforce. Otherwise, um you know, depending on which municip if the municipality doesn't adopt it, then we've got to go back and look at the statute and figure and we just want one set of rules for the deputies out
there and our enforcement to be able to address issues and for the general population and the sex offenders as well. So, that's that's my uh that's my pitch to you and I'm here to answer any questions.
Um, I'll entertain a motion. I think Can I ask a question? Uh, what other municipalities have have signed on to this so far? You are my first. I am on however I am on the agenda um for Interlockan and
Pomona Park and City of Palaca is also in the works. Uh, it's supposed they're supposed to have a first reading at City of Palaca. Um, so I'm trying to do this as fast and peaceful. I don't want to do too fast, but I want it to get done so that we're not left hanging out there.
Thank you for coming here and sharing this with us. You are most welcome, sir. I I move that we approve ordinance number 2025-12. I'll second that. We have a proper motion and a second.
So, do we have some questions? Do we have any discussion? Commissioners, I I do have a question, your honor, if that's all right. You uh you attached um the number 12 to this as section 12.
I wasn't sure where you wanted to put it into the scheme of your uh of your ordinances. Is does that fit in where it's at? Because there is language in here. I had it in section 18, I believe. Correct. No, that that part's fine. What they're saying is it's our ordinance 2020. I'm
sorry, mayor. I didn't ask you that. Go ahead. No, that's okay. Okay. It's our ordinances are numbered sequentially. Ah, there we go. So, we're adopting the sequential ordinance here. The 12th ordinance um number 12, right? And um by number,
right? But I I looked um we we don't have anything in section 18-9. I think ultimately it's up to MUN code. Isn't that right? Like I don't know. Well, I tried to pick something that would would be in accordance. That's where you had your criminal ordinances. There was no
18.9. There was an 18.8. So, I said, "Well, naturally, let's make it 18.9." Right. But I I think MUN code is the final word. We we send it we send if we had no code whatsoever, M code would find it. But, thank you for doing that.
Um, mayor, I have a couple of observations. Um there's still a couple of um typos I understand from uh Mr. Sharp that this is basically um just adapted to Crescent
City from the county ordinance. There are still a couple places um where we need to make sure it doesn't say board that it says commission. I think one, two, three in the fourth whereas clause and then in the very first whereas
clause um that says whereas the city commissioners of the city Florida maybe that should be commissioned. Yeah, there's there's a few little things and then I think on the very back
let's go ahead and do that now while we're here so we can get this done. So we're doing I I knew about the the fourth one you were talking about Mr. Devito. actually have it highlighted in my copy. I miss it. Did I miss some other sections? Um I I think so. I'm just going through in the order I originally did it and the
city manager gave me a revised copy of the very first clause says the city commissioners of Crescent City, Florida. So I think that should be city commission. Would that be right? And then one uh going down to the fourth whereas clause um the very first line it
says the board believes would that not be the commission? I I am open to have whatever you want. Would it be quicker and more expedient if you just simply took the the d the word document and highlighted the changes you wanted? Well, I mean, we're about to pass an
ordinance, so we have to say what the changes are. I mean, our clerk is in charge of this now, correct? Is it correct? Right. Mayor, don't we just have to go through and make our changes that we have to agree on and then we'll we're going to have to amend our our original motion the
changes and so the um and if anybody else has anything I thought the one two three four five six I mean these aren't really six it says where the registration process consumes county resources I
think county is correct because in the fifth whereas clause 26 whereas logs. I think it's appropriate to have county resources there because the sheriff's department as a whole is the one that polices this. Um I'm
going to assume that well they're the ones that have to do the fees and right that's what I'm saying. They they do the registration. So I think county is the right word there. Um then in on the second page under recital um the city of present city
commissioners I think that should be commission again hereby adopts the above recital um and probably our clerk is going to have to go through I would just as an amendment I I should would say you know they would just make sure that it reads
grammatically. Um and then also on the very very last page it still says um in section four effective date and this would be a question for our city attorney park. Um
u Mr. Sharp said we don't need that line about the ordinance shall take effect on being filed with the department of state because as a municipality we don't do that. So we would just take that out. No, I've actually amended it and presented an amended language in there.
The amended language should have this ordinance shall take effect upon its final passage having been signed by the mayor of the city of Crescent City, Florida and duly recorded by the city clerk in a book designated for such purposes. There's a specific statute. You're different than a county.
Apologies. You're under 12. You're under 166. They're under 11 126. Right. So by way of amendment, could we just say to insert the appropriate language in section four for enactment? that
okay and um um has and I I don't know has been enacted whatever that says city president city board of commissioners of county and it okay I don't know something needs to be
done um with the form of that past and enacted sentence as well because there's no space for the Yeah. And anyway, so those were yeah on this. So it would be on
commission this day. Um I think yes. So we can just take care of that language. I think the the passed and enacted clause um just needs to be revised by our court to be the appropriate clause.
Um Michelle is one L on the last page. I know. I can't believe you didn't touch that. I'm just taking notes because I'm gonna have to get these with the four other municipalities as well. I was just going to ask you guys. They're going to get the same language. And I see I should have put just
commission, not commissioners. This is all new. I don't know. I think Don handles one and then George Young handles another. and then I think Mr. blocker is Laca and then Jane West is city of Laca
and then Matt Little's um no I've taken Matt off there per the statute your city clerk just needs to attest to right I just want to make sure so I need some if you would amend your motion please I I would amend my motion to include the changes that we've discussed
okay second yes um I'll second that and then um just that those for just technical corrections. And mayor, I do think we should send Mr. Sharp the bill since we've helped him prepare for the other.
Well, if I can base it on what the sheriff pays me, I would be happy to uh give you that. You might not get lunch at McDonald's, though. Well, well, that's a thought. You can treat us to pizza. But anyway, pretty quick correction there. It was It was a lot of work, but I I did
look at this. I had some questions that were sent to Mr. sharp and I just kind of wanted to bring that forward. Um so one of my concerns was um we're state law right now as I understand it says
that there's a prohibition of living within 1,000 ft of certain locations where children are like schools and we're upping it to 2500 ft which is not quite half a mile and Crescent City is very small and my main concern was um
what happens to people who are already living within 2,500 ft. of a prohibited location. And um I'm looking at the responses in writing that were provided to all of us by Mr. chart and it says um the people who already
live within the further distance we would be studying would be grandfather and that's important because um well right now um I looked I found in the 32112 the code I found about 12 11
or 12 people and there was one person um looked like an older person living in the Gumby Court Apartments which of course is near um that's well within um 2,500 ft of Harry Banks Park. We have a lot of parks across the city.
Yes, we do. We'll need to make sure that when we pass this that for all of those property managers that we have Yes. that they are given a copy of this. So, I don't know Derek if that's maybe with code enforcement that they could get that to those property managers. Each one of
those has a different property manager. Um, so that in our apartment over here also um off of Palmetto. That's something. And um just mayor publicity because we have a lot of individual private landlords. Now I learned
something I did not know. Mr. Sharp says that um currently landlords are supposed to check. Correct. They are. They are supposed to check. But um we are you know we are more than doubling
the distance. Um so and also um Mr. Sharp said that the sheriff's office will have maps available. We will we do the registration. So when just to walk you through it, if a sexual offender comes to our county and wants to live in
our county, the first thing they must do within 24 hours is change that address and it'll be going to the tax collectors which runs our driver's license now. And we've already reached out to the tax collector and their attorney, Patrick Kennedy, and we've created flyers that
addresses this and tells them that they need to check with us. We'll have maps available when they come. They have to register within 24 hours with us as well. So, we'll have maps to show them where they can stay and if the location that they're trying to pick is within
the uh restricted area. Um, one caveat on that. While they all are grandfathered in, any new law violation uh, going forward would exempt them. So, if you're a gentleman is living in Gumby Park and he violates a restriction not
to the living the the living where he's at now, but some other restriction, state statute or something related to his sexual offender status, he's he's then he does fall under this ordinance. Right. Well, and the and the thinking behind that is that the current law applies.
Yes, it absolutely. Okay. Right. But mayor, the thing that concerns me the most, well, one, um, it's important to protect our children. It's also important that we don't create unintended consequences. Um, you know,
Mr. Mr. Sharp said he doesn't have sympathy for um sexual offenders, but I I certainly would not want to create a whole class of homeless sexual offenders that you can't keep up with very well. Um I mean sometimes there just
unintended consequences, but also as I understand it, there are the penalties for a landlord. It's a criminal penalty. Is that right? That's correct. Right. So, I do want to make I think your point about sharing this information um because when you say a landlord, when you're talking about a
leasing agent for some of these apartment complexes, does that apply to you know the employee leasing agent who process? Well, I mean, I can't give you it would depend on the facts and the circumstances, right? I mean, it would depend. They're they're supposed to check before they move. the
person that is a registered sexual offender should be disclosing that when they're looking for residence and uh as far as a homeless sexual offender, right? But the law doesn't make any distinction. They have to give us an address. If they're not they're not going to disappear in the wind. They'll
give us an address and when we go to check there, they better be there or they're in violation. And I I'm sorry, Mr. Deito, but I do not have a lot of sympathy for people that pray on children. Well, you mentioned it and I just want to get that out. No, it it's not a matter of sympathy. Just we want
things to be done in an orderly manner and you don't want to create any unintended problems and I'm not very familiar with this area of the law. So, um your answer is very helpful. Thank you, ma'am. I have a question. How often do you check these creditors and where they are
and what they're doing? And well, the the statute has certain uh I I believe we have to check. Don't quote me on this, but it's on a fairly regular basis. We have to go out and physically ensure that they're in the incidents where they're supposed to be inland county. What's the percentage of
people that are sexual offenders based on the population or based on the population? I think if we went online right now, there'd be uh several hundred of them. Help me out here, major. There's only three. Three in Crescent City.
There's three in Crescent City, but I I think we have several hundred that are scattered across the county. And again, the majority of those are people that didn't commit crimes here. They're not local people. They they've moved here from other areas, South Florida or so forth, and and made
residents here in our county. So, there's only about 100 people that are sexual predators here in the county. Well, there's a distinction. You can be a sexual offender, which is a lighter designation, or you could be a sexual predator. I'd be happy to get that.
Sexual predator are the worst of the worst. Yeah, those are the ones that are under the most heaviest restrictions. Okay, but I I can get you those stats. I just didn't come prepared to the only stat I had in my in my quiver to throw at you was they're all out county.
Okay, thank you. I just have one question. Yeah. Is there a way that you could generate a map so that we could see it? Yes, we're already doing it for the county. So, I can make that available to you and get it to your city manager so you can see the map. I'm just interested to see how
you can go on FDL's website and you can you can check anything from your house. You can look at it. You can expand your search out. You can see the county. You'll see where every one of them are. But I'm just wondering for the the new restrictions to be able to show where in
the city that isn't. It's going to be pretty restrictive. I'm not going to I'm not going to You have a lot of parks and a lot of schools and they're very well and you know they maybe they I mean it's it it is it is an issue. There's a big
recidicism rate among sexual offenders and more even more so under sexual predators. So these are people that we want to watch and monitor and not let it get out of hand. And and again we're not looking we thought about making this retroactive for one. I don't think that
would have passed the legal test. And uh most of what you see before you I didn't create. I took this from other uh counties. Uh Miami date has one of the most restrict Miami date does the 2500 ft down there and they've survived
several federal challenges to it. And then I took bits and pieces from the surrounding counties as well. Um, and so this is a kind of a mi mix mismatch of everything across the state of Florida. I'm glad that you're doing it and I'm
glad that I appreciate that. I think all of our citizens appreciate knowing that we're protected. Well, the sheriff is very passionate about this and children. He has two small children himself. I have a small child. I I just cannot fathom people that um
that do this. I I just one one quick story. Uh when I first came here, we did the traveling sex cases. I don't know if y'all are familiar with them. IAT is the International Childh Protection Association. They go onto these chat rooms and they invite they pose as small
children, 12y olds, 13-year-old girls, boys, and a local real estate agent gave us a vacant house in Palaca in the city of Pala over by the golf course. And we set up shop for the weekend. And on Sunday, everybody was supposed to show
up. We staggered that 18 people from as far as Kentucky, Tennessee, even locals came to have sex with a small child. And uh I I was just floored that in a that in a couple of days of chatting online,
these people would get in a car and drive down here to do that to a child. So, sorry. No, no, I I um and that's um just for clarification for anybody watching or anybody in the audience, it's my understanding and correct me if
if I'm wrong. Um when there is a law, a state law, we cannot lessen, we cannot weaken that law, we can strengthen that law. We have the ability to strengthen that law. And that's what we're doing here with the Yes. Unless it's preempted by the state, such as firearms. The state does not
allow you to have stricter guidelines on firearms. However, the sexual offender registration statutes are fair game. It does. Um, and the sheriff's office is doing um I don't know if any of you have followed have followed them, but on Saturday and Sundays, they have been you
have been identifying those and and making people aware of who they are and and where they are and and that's the one thing, Commissioner Devito, when you said 32112, we have that's outside of Crescent City also. And I've been as I've watched that I've been very pleased
to see that seldom does one pop up that is Crescent City. I might have seen maybe one. So well mayor that's said I found I looked at all the addresses and they the only address I found one. Yeah. Um the others appear to be Crescent City
zip code but not within the city limit. And that's probably based on the fact that you have so many parks already. Even with the thousand foot uh space buffer, they weren't able to find something that was in compliance. I I think of that as a good thing that you have no sexual offenders within your city limits.
Of course. Right. Because um and mayor, if I could, it's just I think people forget that they can check the website like when families move and you know when your children are walking around town. We're a very walkable town. Um it's it's a good thing I think for
everyone that they can check on the the sheriff's website and my personal observation is I think that the reason we are having people move to Puth County it's not just because we don't have the
2500 foot larger B boundary. It's our our housing costs are less. A lot of people are moving here because housing costs are dramatically less. And then of course they're leaving places that have the more difficult the
more challenging standard. So this this will bring us up to to the higher standing. We always want to be to the higher stand. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Thank you absolutely for doing this and for encouraging all of the municipalities to adopt this as well.
Now, you you modeled this. I guess it's different from the county. Is that correct? The only difference in all of the same restrictions that the county has, you will have within this. The only difference is as as Commissioner Deio point out, is you are not a you're not a county commissioner. You are a city
commissioner. And a little bit of different language on how it is actually passed. The minute under the statute, it's 166 something or something like that. uh at the final reading when you sign off on it, your honor, and the clerk attests to it, you should have a
book somewhere that you keep all these in. Correct. That's right. And uh it becomes it it becomes enacted uh on that final reading and signature of yourself. Okay. We do that. We've got a proper motion in a second. I'm going to open it up for public hear
for public comments. Do we have anybody from the audience that would like to come forward and speak? Okay. Seeing no one come forward and speak. I'm going to close public comments. Commissioner, do we have anything else? Commissioner Moore. Commissioner Good. Thank you. Okay. Madam Clerk, you do a
roll call for us, please. Commissioner Devito. I. Commissioner. I. Commissioner War. I. Commissioner Burton. I Myers. I. Okay. Approved on the first reading to go to the second reading for adoption. Um, I believe that will be at
the next at our October meeting. Yes, ma'am. Again, Mr. Sharp, thank you so much and for your presentation and for the time that you spent on this. Yes, ma'am. 400 in the county. Okay. 400 in the county.
Yes, ma'am. And for keeping us safe. So, thank you. Okay. With that, we're going to close our public hearing portion of this meeting. We're going to go into our business items. I'm going to go ahead. Um, you want to start up?
Yes, Mayor. If I may, I have an item that is not on the agenda that's an emergency that needs to be uh discussed if that's okay. Yes. All right. Keith, if you could come up. Well, I'm commission is commission good with that. I need to run that by the commission. Okay. Okay. Make sure.
Thank you, mayor. Appreciate that. Um, as you all know, we have a project that's commencing with the county coming through 308 doing a paving project. Um, Keith and team of course with our deputy city manager been working a long time on making sure that we get this water extension project. CDBG uh acted and
moving forward. The issue is that the county ended up um moving their schedule uh to the to uh to start pretty rapidly. Um our schedule has fallen a little bit behind that and we need to get the water extension across the street. I have
Keith, our public works director here. I would like for you to come up and just explain what we've done and where we're at with that if you could, please, sir. Looking mighty sharp, I I might say as well. look and that's not Keith. Where's Keith?
It's me. Uh yeah, as he said, the county come up and uh speeded the process up. We really wasn't sure. I kept trying and trying to find out and uh
they called me last Friday. Mr. Stout called and said, "By the way, we're starting Monday." I said, "That's not good." He said once we paid the road, you got to do a road bore. He said, 'You can't cut the road. I still got to cut the road if we do a
road bore. So, I made a couple phone calls. Um I did call DB Civil and they were the only ones that could get here Monday. We got to have it in Monday. Um they'll
start Monday morning first thing. Um, they should be done by Wednesday, which will work out real good because the best I know of right now, the paving crew is, from what I found out today, they're out
there by the dump. So, we should have it. They've moved that far already. Yes, ma'am. So, they'll milk. They're going to start milling back at 17 tomorrow going towards Fruitland again. Okay. And then um the paving contractor
is going to help me out a little bit as far as they didn't take their milling far enough. So he in the morning we got a meeting. He's going to mill to where I need to get access to the water line. Okay. And then they will start putting the
water line in. They should have everything done by he's the guy said Wednesday. It might be Thursday, but we'll still be ahead of schedule. It is going to, you know, going to cost the city a little extra money. $18,744. Um, but
I'm sorry, mayor. I didn't hear the amount. The door was shut. If you would repeat that, how much? $108,744. Um, we are going to try to get that down some by using some of the material we have in stock. They told me we could.
Uh, and that's really about it. I mean, this this is part of the CDBG. That has taken a while. It is all permitted, ready to go. Jason Shepler said it's no problem. He said we can start a project. We're just either going to have to take
it out of repair and replace or either out of um a replace plan to be reimbured. To be reimbured? Yes, ma'am. It'll be reimbursed once we start the project or once CDG starts. We'll get our money back and that way
we'll be able to put it into the repair in place which if we have the money in there that's where I think we should pull it from uh that way we don't mess with the um better place plan money in case we need it starting
yes next Wednesday. Hopefully we don't. You never know. with Crescent City. I know, but that's what we got to do. Okay. And by doing it this way, it's my understanding this will keep us from having to go into residence.
Yes. If we don't do it, then we're going to have to slow the project down, apply for easements from the property owners cuz when they originally wire uh widen the road in the 50s
in the 50s they made it, you know, two lane with parking. Um they took all the rideway away. There's not much. 68 68 Okay. in 68 is when they did it. So we have
about this much on one side and then maybe this much on the other side. So and that would prolong everything. Okay. Yes, Commissioner. And I just wanted to so that everybody really knows what we're talking about. The CDBG grant is to do the water main
from Central Avenue to freeway, but then there's a portion of it that goes down freeway running tight. Yes sir. goes from Oakwood to Highway 17. We will stub a line out on Main Street for the future to go as far as we
can with the money we got. Um, we're going to go we're actually going to start at Main Street when we actually get the money. That way, we'll go as far as we can. That way, if we decide to build the fire station at the fire the property, we'll
be able to hook in and have the uh water we need. So, so this is just getting part of that done sooner because and then I think we actually didn't we put the rest of the because the CDBG
wasn't high enough that we put part of it in this coming appropriation. Correct. Okay. We'll be able to get it finished. So, this will just be getting that part done though. So, before the the pavement contractor gets here. Yes, sir. So, we don't have a big old patch and
they're not going to let us do it anyway. If we if we did alternative, you know, which which honestly if we did have to do that, that would actually increase the contract cost versus doing what we're doing right now. And then and of course, the county
basically said that they were not going to let me cut the rate, right, once they paid it. Okay. Um, you're gonna need a you're going to need a approve a motion from us. Yes, Commissioner Dita, if I could um Commissioner Lori
clarified part of my question. He got the project described, but where ex could I get from Mr. Harris? Where are we starting and ending the this is under the road drilling on 308? Well, it won't be now. We are going to
open cut. Okay. Because even if we were to directional drill, I still got to cut the new asphalt if they paved it before we get the line in. Okay. What I'm saying is where you you're cutting oak wood to 17 and then where we put the new lift
station in. They're going to stub a line across the street for future for that commercial property. They're going to stub a line across the road and then we'll stub a line down Main Street for when the CDBDG actually starts.
So, it's just like it's approximately 800 800 linear feet. This is 800 ft roughly 800 ft of pipe from Oakwood to Highway 17. Correct. From Oakwood, but the pipe is going down the middle of 308.
No, it's going to go in the parking lane. Okay. It has to We have parking on 308 and we're going to they're probably going to hug about 2 foot 3T off the curb. Okay. So, you say you're going to start at Oakwood and then go to 17 where the
blinking light is. No, where the kangaroo is. There's a fire hydrant right there in front of the kangaroo. Yes. And we're going to tie in right there. That way it'll be a loop system. Okay. Okay. And then so we're approving
$108,000 for you to open up 308 and run pipe down it. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Are you running the pipe down Main Street also? We're just going to stub out. Not at this time, but this Yeah, we're going to stub out maybe 25, 50 ft. We're going to cap the line with
a valve. That way when the project actually starts, right, they can pick up from there and take off because you're going to have to do you're going to have to do you're going have to put a bid out bid bids out for that project. Correct. Yes. But this one is an emergency
with the companies you reached out to. There was only one that could do it in this time frame. Y we we got a a no they couldn't make it and we had a a company that did not respond and the only one that responded was able to be there starting on Monday and and gave us a quote to do the work
which is part of the overall contract. It's not an additional cost to the city. No, we'll get reimbured once the CDBG starts. We will get that 100 jump start project right start you say that. So this is an emergency. But what
I what I don't know is um for the project as a whole, there are supposed to be protections for the heritage trees for the work that done. There is there is no heritage trees. There's no heritage trees here. Okay.
There's few rain trees. Uh cuz if you're talking about Main Street, there are heritage trees on and they are working around all them part the actual projects. That's okay. Yeah. Just want to make sure we
That's different. That's different from this. Nothing to do with trees. We're just trying to get this line put in. But if we don't, then I'm not sure how we're going to get this line put in that they won't let me cut the road. Yeah.
And I really don't want to cut a brand new asphalt road because I've been waiting for it like everybody else has. Well, thank you very much. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. I'm glad and thank him also for reaching out to us to let us know. So, commissioners, um so we need a motion
we um we need a motion to um authorize the expenditure of what do we want? $18,000 $744. Yes, ma'am.
Okay. Do you want to round them out of $110,000? Yeah, we can do that just to be on the safe side, right? Can I Before we get started, um, as part of that motion, um, can you amend the agenda just that for this emergency
item? Oh, okay. Um, I move that we amend our agenda for the evening under business items to entertain um a motion concerning emergency expenditure for the
CDBG um water main project preparation. We have a proper motion and second. Commissioners, do we have any? Madam Clerk, if you would do a roll call for us, please. Commissioner Burton. Hi. Commissioner Moore. I Commissioner Hory.
Hi, Commissioner Dvito. Hi, Mayor Myers. Hi. Okay, thank you all. So, wait, we're not done. That was just the That was just the agenda. So that if there was ever any question that we have with this large, especially with this large of amount that we've
we've made it an emergency item on the agenda. We So now I'll entertain a motion. Okay. Well, I'm going to make stab at it. So, I'm moved that we authorize um the expenditure of $110,000
up to $110,000 from our This is our water repair and replace fund. Yes, ma'am. Okay. the water repair and replace fund um to
um I guess to on an emergency basis de blade pipe for the CDBG water main project for North Main um under um 308 from
Oakwood to Highway 17 um and hopefully to be reimbursed um from the CDG funds when that project as a whole cuts. I'll second that. We have a proper motion in the second. Commissioners, do we have any
discussion? My my only question is we do have that. That was my question. Do we have that for sure the funds? Do we need to add in there that anything between between that and better place? Yes, I would just I was just thinking that. So,
Commissioner De I would amend my motion to say $110,000 um as far as possible from the water repair and replace fund um with any um deficiency to be taken from the better
place. I'll second that. We second that. Okay. Commissioners, if there's no we have any public comment on this. Seeing no public comment, if you would please do a roll call. Commissioner Devito. I. Commissioner Lorie. Hi. Commissioner Moore.
Hi. Commissioner Burton. Hi. Myers. Hi. So approved. Thank you. Thank you for doing that. Thank you for taking care of that. Thank you, Keith. Next line of business um is going to be uh we're going to just have a
discussion. Mr. Mr. Dave Frank, our director of the Crescent City um gas department is here um to talk about Florida Grass Transmission owned uh.9 mile section of gas main. Um we discussed this a while back. The
commission had voted to allow me to uh entertain or at least move move forward in this process to investigate if there was an actual um cost if if there was a value to that easement um and to negotiate if so. um with FPNL
um for the purchase of the entire easement. Um in discussions with them, they only wanted a section of the easement. Um I spoke to the FPNL um representative along with Mr. Frank and we told him that we needed him to take the entire easement if they wanted a
part or a section of that. Um and that that easement also had a gas line, an existing utility line that was in there that had been abandoned for a number of years. Um there's a liability in there as well which is the removal of that gas line. We haven't been ordered by the DOT
at this point, but we will and that could be up to around $60,000 removal of pipe going through wetlands. U people have built out into that easement over years and time. So we'll be basically dealing with residents and taking fences down and all kinds of things. So um with
that being said, um Dave, if you can pick it up, I'd like you to fill in on where we're at with that. Sure. Um, as you said, this section of pipe was originally built in the early 60s when they were building our gas system. wasn't called at that
time, but now it's Florida Gas Transmission. They own that section of pipe. It was our gas that was in it, but they own the pipe back in oh early about 1993 somewhere in that area. That section of pipe had what was called
a rectifier on it that kept the corrosion off of it. FPL their fuel tanks, if you remember, they used to have all those huge oil tanks in there. It had a rectifier on it, too. And what the rectifiers did was it kept corrosion off of our pipe. Kept corrosion off the bottom of their steel
tanks. Well, there was some conflicts between those two. You don't want two pipes, the rectifiers get close to each other because it it'll actually destroy steel. So there was an issue. So for some reason approached the city and said, "We'll
sell that section of Maine for $10." You know, because it's your gas. That's their pipe. They wanted to unload it. Well, the city went for it. So for $10, we purchased it in 1993. But then back in 1997 when we put in the
new gas man across the highway on the other side, the one that y'all complain about because we're still paying for that pipe, we therefore then abandoned this section of pipeline. There's no gas in it. It's abandoned, but it's still sitting there. So I talked with
talked with them about this problem and everything. Talked with FGU. I sent over what FPL sent over to me as far as their legal documentation of what they're proposing, their legal writeups. I sent it over to FGU and their legal
department do not like how it's read. So, they're going to implement stronger words wording. also the fact that this pipeline is there because as Tom told me with FGU, okay, you're selling the easement, but
basically you still own the property. I don't see really how that's legal because if they bought the property, it's on it. You're selling it. But he said, "No, doesn't work that way because FD do DOT could come in or the environmentalist or whoever and say, "Hey, that pipe needs to be removed."
And as Derek was saying, that could cost as much as $60,000. Now, in conversation with FPL, they did state if they had to, they would remove the pipe. They had no problem with that. They would they would pull it, but their paperwork does not state that. So, they
want stronger wording in all this. Now, as far as how I came up with this amount of money, the strip is a little bit over 9/10en of a mile long, and it varies on average, I'd say 25 feet wide, which is basically useless because a lot of it's
in swamp. As as Derek said, a lot of customers have built their fences out out across this easement. So, there's going to be a legal battle there if the pipe ever has to come out of the ground. Oh, you're destroying my yard, whatever. Well, it's not really your property, but
it's just it's a future, you know, lawsuit waiting to happen. So, uh, I came up with a square footage of it, and then I divide it by the square footage of an acre and it ends up coming up to just a little bit under the three acres. So, I proposed a price to them of
$28,000 plus all the legal fees and filing. I was also also told them that you the commission would have to approve that. I just wanted to get the ball rolling because the budget's ending. We still
owe FGU $9,500 for tree clearing. I had had to have another $4,000 worth of emergency tree clearing done here two weeks ago because we discovered about a 60ft pine tree growing directly on top
of our highpressure gas. So, you know, it it had to be done for public safety. I told Jacob's Tree Service the budget's ending. I don't have the money right now. He proposed to do it anyway, but he says when they got to pay me, but I understand that money's tight. So, he
worked with us. The job has already been done. We have the bill and everything. But, um, there's certain things that I just I need more money and I know the budget's tight. It's ending. So, this is more way of getting the money to clear this year's budget before I drag this
money into next year's budget, you know, in the deficit. I don't want that. But but once again, y'all have, you know, it it'll be up to y'all to approve this price, but we were going to try and have this, you know, easement evaluated.
FTU went out there and we're trying to get someone to evaluate the property, but the cheapest price he could come up was about $8,000 for them to appraise the property. Once again, we're at the end of the budget. The money's not there. What are we going to do? He never
could find anybody to do it any cheaper. So that's when I just came up with what I did, figuring out the square footage and everything and throwing a number at them. But as I say, it's strictly up to y'all. So basically, uh, FPL is willing to
purchase that for 28K. They take all liability and responsibility for that pipe. And um and you're saying out of that 28k that'll pay for the 9500 that'll pay for the 4,000. Uh did we
have to have this thing um did we have to have not an appraiser but did we have to have a surveyor or something come out and that was $8,000? Well, that was just to have an appraise, but that's why I told FDL, I was given the price of $28,000 plus all legal and
filing fees because they have a monster staff. And like I said, we have a an hourby- hour lawyer, not knocking you or anything, but I said, you have a a major legal staff. They do this all the time. So, I said, I'm putting all that on y'all. I don't want anything to do with it. They said, no problem. We'd handle
it. Okay. Okay. So, they're handling that. But basically, the purchase price is 28K if y'all approve that price. Yes. 28,000 plus. All the things that I just mentioned and we'll still leave the money. All right. And and they will take
responsibility of the up to $60,000 or more for that that liability. They were they will pay full expense to have it removed. Correct. If if if an entity D or somebody says it has to come out or a future lawsuit in the future,
they will pay a habit. Okay, so that's a good deal. This kind of grew. It changed and we were constrained with time and then of course we had the other issues with the unknown. Um originally when we first talked about it, we were under the impression from our discussions that
there was zero cost to give us a price on this. When Dave started digging in there and getting more emails and having that conversation, they came back and said $8,000. I told Dave, "No way." You know, we're not going to pay $8,000. So, let's let's look and see what what land goes for, what things are going for, and
and be fair, but and be honest with them. And, you know, this is a $90,000 turnaround for the city. That's the way I see it. And this easement, I mean, square footage wise, it's a lot of property, but it's so narrow,
right? It's notable to not marketable. So, it's not marketable. A lot of it is in a swamp area. I'm sure they would have major Well, I won't say that, but anyway, it's in a swamp area. I mean, the point is they're building a battery.
They are storage. They are and they really need the space. They need to be able to go through there. They only want a very small section of it, but I said if you want, you got to take the whole thing. It's always been on my mind for years. Yes. If I could um for a motion, how do
we describe this property? I'm trying to look in the city manager report, but we're selling to Florida Power and Light. What is it? 0.9 acres.9 miles, sorry, 0.9 miles. And we're How
would you identify that? We I believe we have coordinates, but yes, we have the full legal description of the property and everything miles of our easement that goes along Highway 17. It starts where the old power plant used to be. And are you
familiar where the old cemeter used to be? That's where it ends. Okay. Well, let's just keep it Let's just keep it very simple. It's our n mile that goes along Highway 17 that's no longer used. My my main
concern here is um I thought Commissioner Burton got to the heart of the matter and expressed it beautifully, but my main concern is that um if they're paying the full legal expense, I mean, if they're doing the paperwork and
the filing fees to me, we need to make sure that that contract says that they are taking all liability for removal of pipe without question because Korea It's not so much the money we get as the exposure liability
and the liability that we are transferring. We had to review the original because they we did put it on them to go ahead and create the information document and when we got it of course after you reviewed it said it needs to be stronger once we get the finalized. We're going to run it also by our legal counsel as
well. Well, and and Tom wanted me to to make sure that y'all aware that you he says there is no charge to you for them to send it to their law group, get it all written up. That's all part of being a member of this.
We just need to make sure. Yeah. Because we're professionals here. Any other questions? Okay. All right. Please. Okay. I do. So, um I move that we authorize our gas
department um to sell the 9 miles of unused easement that we have along Highway 17 to Florida Power and Light for the amount of $28,000.
um provided that FPNL also pays for all legal and filing fees and as well that um the agreement includes FPNL will assume full expense um for any liability and
removal of the gas pipe. I'll second that. Okay, we have a proper motion and a second. Commissioners, do we have any any other discussion? Okay, we have no other discussion. Um, Commissioner
Burton, we're voting. Okay, I was going to say I The last thing I heard was, do we have anything? We're doing a roll call. I, Commissioner Moore. I, Commissioner Lori. I, Commissioner Devito. Hi,
Mayor Myers. I Okay, so approved. Thank you, Dave. All right. We also need to, this is something else, while you're here. Um, we we really need to go ahead and and all of us, we need to pin down a
workshop. Yes. A workshop on um gas with Katie and Tom, just like we had said we were going to do. We keep we've put that off. I know trying to get through budget, but I think it's it's time. It's time and and it's necessary. So,
um, if you would work on that. Um, sure. And I also today I received uh the race study. Tommy sent me his numbers and I've asked him for a little bit more information cuz some of our commercials, the numbers he's wanting to throw at our
commercial customers. You have commercial customers. You think of big. Then you have a church. It's a commercial. They don't use hardly any gas. So I said, "We need to come up with some middle rate commercial charges." just any system we can do that with no
problem sending the rest of the numbers I needed and give him about a week he'll send the rest of that but the preliminary numbers I have them all and we're not too far off what we just proposed and passed okay all right thank you
thank you so we need to this might this might take a little a little while we need a breaker do you need a break are you okay so if that's Okay, I'm going to take a probably at least meeting. Um, just want to explain
something um, real fast that we're working on. So, there was a little bit of a hiccup um with and and Don has been in in conversation with Leo on this um with the with the way our Palaca Daily
News runs um if we had done this as an ordinance, our budget, our final budget as an ordinance, and she got it in, it would have had to gone in the day of our our last hearing, our first hearing. did not
happen. Has to run for 10 days if it's an ordinance. Um, we did run it. It has ran for five days in the Palaca Daily News and Don brought it to our attention that it as an ordinance and he thought it was as a resolution that we were
adopting our budget um that it had to run for that at least that five days. We have met that we have met that we have met that requirement. So his recommendation is that the final budget that we accepted tonight in order to
find fall within the statutory guidelines for a resolution we need to adopt that budget as a resolution and not an ordinance. Correct Leah? Right. So in order to properly uh pass an ordinance uh it would have to be
advertised in the newspaper 10 days before it adoption. Uh I believe these were published on the 20th of September making it only five days. So it doesn't mean statuto uh
but for a resolution but for resolution that would be the solution changing it to a resolution changing the language uh and the ordinances in order to meet the statuto guideline. Okay, I have a question.
Doesn't our charter require us to adopt a budget ordinance? I saw and that's what we were looking at and and Commissioner Lori if you could find it because we just went through the charter. Um because I or is it charter law?
No state law. It can be ordinance or resolution. Resolution. Okay. And I just looked up the other. So what's the bottom line? So the bottom line is is they are right now changing our titles to resolution and we're going
to adopt our budget as a resolution. Okay. So when do we adopt it as the resolution is fine? Yes. According to Don, the resolution is fine. And we will have met our advertising our advertising requirement.
And it'll be that we just No, I think everything else should be ordinances. Three ordinances. Oh, there three ordinances. One resolution. Yeah. So it's all the ordinances that
we've all the second ordinances that we have. Is that correct? 09 10 11 and 11. Well, the first one, the 06 is resolution, right?
10 11. I don't think so. They all have to be changed resolutions. Do we have to retake the vote? Let's get this done. This is Well, they're trying, Commissioner Burton. They are trying to adjust the countless chief.
Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna make sure see where they are and if not, I'm going to ask Chief to go ahead and get started. He's got to travel, too. Right. [Music] You know, it's difficult to do [Music]
three days very diffic Okay, going to turn it over again. All right, let's get it. service. That has to be ordinance. All right, let's go. Let's uh keep going.
Commissioner Burton, I'm going to ask you please just be patient that nobody did this. We we're trying to we got to work through this a little bit. It also says to provide for the appropriation of funds or to amend an appropriation already made has to be done by or
charter. I was pretty sure it's the fees any the fees and appropriation of so Leo if you would step out and talk to Don about that with that language. Um I
thought that that that's why we had probably done that. That's why they were looking at the charter. Um so if you would um say that again it's Can you give them a site PJ? Yeah. I mean it's an unmun for
section 217 which is the part about ordinances resolutions and motions 2.17 and that's and that's in our charter correct. Yes. 2.17 of our charter clause D and it's under clause D number
D4 and seven yes D4 use of these appropriation of funds okay so 2.17 D4 and seven yes D4 and seven yes
And I'm still pulling up, but what does that say? Um, it says um that by by ordinance you have to you have to by ordinance set service or user fees user charges for municipal services or crane
administrative authority such charges. And then seven is to provide for the appropriation of funds or to amend an appropriation already made. And that's our budget. So, yeah. Okay. So, if you would just if you could
step out and talk to Don about that. Um Okay. Go ahead. [Music] We always keep it real here in city. That's for sure. Um, in short, um, the city manager said that he had sent a message basically
outlining what I'm here trying to do with the department. U, for those of you who may or may not know, we did have department protocols that were dated back in 2011. They're extremely out of date. So, he ted us to make a new protocol, which I've done. In the
process of doing that, uh, my assistant chief has also retired, um, as everyone here knows. So tonight I'm here to go over the assistant chief protocol and the protocol on promotions because the existing protocol that's dated 2011 has nothing stating anything
about protocols whatsoever or promotions whatsoever. So I have an outline on that. Um I'm not exactly sure. I know that um Commissioner Dut had a couple of questions about the protocols but basically in short I'm trying to get my protocols approved so I can fill a
position. And that is that's you're trying to fill the assistant chief position, correct? Okay. Does everybody has that in front of you? Do you have any any questions on this? Commissioner Devito, you said you had some questions.
Um, I did and I think that the chief provided answers, but I didn't get them on my email. So, but they're most of them are quick. So, it's my understanding the assistant chief is an important position, but this is an NA position. Yes, ma'am. The reason it's
written, so it's chapter six and chapter 21 of my protocols. The reason it is written that way is because I have day staff that are currently paid. Got it. So, if one of the day personnel were to qualify for the assistant chief position, they would still be paid what they are currently paid. So, it's more
of a reclassification for them. If the volunteer was to qualify for that position, they would not be paid. It's okay. But we're not creating a new position. Correct. that I asked that during the budget process when this first came up um because I just wanted to make sure I understood what was going on.
Um I got that they would not be paid as a volunteer but they still would be paid as a volunteer with their current volunteer pay. Like so basically assistant chief is more responsibility but you're paid
whatever it was you worked otherwise to correct which it is it's a it's a title it's a title basically someone if I'm on vacation sick something happened to someone to leave the department like yes no we we remember um we remember and
then um the chief explained to me just what the um the term knockdown meant. I had a question about that and he explained that. Um that was really all I had. And I did notice in there um that
in the um to hire a chief or an assistant chief um they had the mayor as part of the committee before it came. So have we always done it like that? Um I don't know. I know that we did it that way this time. I know that was how
they did it. So I guess that's probably the last one they hired was Chief Highel and and Highfield. So that's been some time ago. So I guess that's how they've done it because that's how this one was done. Correct. That's the way I understood it. I carried it over
and I and I did sit in on the interviews, but I was not part of the selection. I didn't I we did that here as a commission and I allowed the um allowed them to take care of that. And but cuz I was going to say it's otherwise a staff committee. Yeah.
Um okay, that was all that was all had and I made sure that they did that when they when they decided that I wasn't part of that decision that I did sit in on the interviews. Um on 6.4 I would say that if nobody else has any at this time
that it says he Yeah. And so I I think to be consistent it's the assistant chief because it might be a sheep. Um, yes ma'am. And so I have the rest of the protocols in the beginning of the protocol that outlines that he or she
basically is this base filler but I can address that. It's no problem. Yeah. Go ahead. Yes ma'am. And then u again down in 6.6 the same thing. I think just to keep it consistent the assistant chief. Yes ma'am. Do y'all have anything commissioner for
commissioner bur? No. Okay. Um, so do we have promotions? Yeah, I volunteer promotion go. I had that I had a question right there. Um,
and chief appointed to the position with current standards and Florida state minimum qualifications as listed below. Um, so chapter 21 on promotions. I had to word this very carefully. We are governed by four state statute 633 and
administrative code 64 and J. Correction, I'm sorry. 69A and J. So, I have to make sure that everything's written to meet the administrative code and the statutes and Florida law. There's like a threeway
um law battle there. So everything written in 21 comes directly from those um basically from what I decided from Florida administrative code from state. So I just transfer that over from there
on one. Let me ask you this. It just I don't know if there's a way to to um redo I guess reward this. It says chief appointed. So volunteer promotion will go as follows. Chief appointed to position. So, chief appoints to position. Yes, ma'am.
Is that how it should read or appointed? Yes, ma'am. For volunteers, the chief appoints to position. Okay. So, rather than appointed, it should be appoints. Correct. Yes, ma'am. Okay. That's where I think that that's where I was. Okay. And I apologize about typos. That's okay. It's just a rough correct.
That's okay. Um, but we're we're going to approve it, I guess, with just any technical corrections. Yeah. That are needed. No. Okay, we have um I'll say I'm I'm relying on the chief.
Are we ready for a motion? I'm ready for a motion. We all Okay. Well, I move um that at the request of Chief Razer that we approve um his policy. What What are What is the
whole title of your policy? Just a personel policy. This would be chapter six. just chapter six and chapter of the current fire um fire department policy. Is that correct? Yes, the whole policy. Like I said, I have the whole policy right now. I'm
just trying to get 6 and 21 so that I can make the promotion. Okay. So, it's chapter 6 and 21. Yes, ma'am. Okay. So my motion is that uh at the request of Chief Razer, we approve um
chapter 6 and chapter 21 of his proposed departmental policies um allowing him to correct any typographical or scrier's errors and um substituting instead of using he
or she um using the appropriate Okay. Do I have a second? Second. Have a proper motion in a second. Um, any further discussion? Any public comment? Um,
I'm going to ask, can you do a roll call for us, please? Sure. Commissioner Devito. Hi, Commissioner Lori. Hi, Commissioner Burton. All right, Commissioner Mo.
I Myers. Okay, so approved. Thank you. I'm going to um I think our next one is um are you want to continue? Yes, ma'am. Okay, go ahead. Um Oh, I was going to go on the next
with the appropriations and locations. Yes. Um we do with a with um Christina also. She can probably help out with that in Dererick's absence. Yeah, sure. Go ahead. Um, so we got the appropriations for the fire station and the total amount of
three million. We've had a meeting um and the state does allow us to put all that money together. So, um, I am proposing that we find a different location to build the fire station. Um,
the reason being so is that the current location where the fire station sits is fairly small. I walked it out multiple ways. Um what we are in need of for a fire department for Crescent City is a fire station with roughly 5 to six bays that house all the equipment that we
have. So bays are drive-thru garages basically. Uh roughly 70 to 74t deep and it'll be roughly 96 to 103 or 106t in length just for the bay areas and then
another 50t for the living quarters. But that being done on the current lot that we have, no matter how we turn the station, set it out, there's physically no way to operate a fire station and build a fire station at that same location. Um I found or have been
looking um there's four spots that um in the city that would be ideal. Um I don't know how we could get these, not get these. at least wanted to bring it up for thought. Uh, one position, one spot would be on the corner of 17 junction,
the the land of Mr. Irwin owns down there. To me, that would be the most ideal spot. It's on the south end of the city, which we need because the response times. It would help with insurance purposes. It would help with a lot of things, and it puts it right on 17 where we can go north south. We can hit junction and take a back road and go
anywhere we need to go from that location. Um, another location is basically just a little south of that on the opposite side of the road where there was once upon a time a proposed RV site that's now vacant land. I I don't know much about that. I know
there was some expenditures put there. Um, I haven't contacted anyone about that. Another site would be the current uh school off of 308. Building 15 on the corner is the newest structure at that location. It already has fire alarm
sprinkler system. The only thing that we would have to do there is build up on the existing building and add base to it or build back and add base to it to fit all the equipment in there. Um, but I would have to double check the footage. And then the last location would be off
of junction where the city already owns property. Um, but I don't know how that would play out with the EAP and the water um services and everything that we currently have in place there. Um I haven't been able to find any other locations big enough. We roughly need
two acres of land to fit this facility um that we have funding for. So um that is my thoughts on locations. Um I think they would best fit for the city and as well as response times getting apparatus in and out with least amount of uh
chance of having an accident like apparatus pulling out and turning directions. anything to add to that? Dina, do you want to you want to brief the commission on where we are? Okay. So, as you all know, we've been in the
design phase of our fire uh fire station expansion. And uh you also know that we were um awarded another $2 million in appropriations for the state for our building of this fire department. So being that we have the original 1 million, the additional 2 million, now
we have 3 million to build a brand new fire department. So why not instead of building onto the existing one and piece piecing it together in multiple phases, why not build one state-of-the-art facility um for for our station. Um so
now we're um in the midst of still we're still working with the architect. he's aware, you know, we've been having continual meetings. So, now we're basically at the point where, as chief um described that we need to um identify a parcel if that's, you know, the desire
of the commission and um and move forward with those funds um collectively and and build a a brand new station. Two questions. So, I noticed um for the September 10th meeting there was a copy of the legislative appropriation request
in um the packet. I don't think I've ever seen the legislative appropriation request for the fire station. Um personally, I would like to know more about this. Um it seems like the train
or fire truck has kind of already left the station. Oh, no, not at all. But um so I see here it says schedule a workshop. Um to me I think that's what we need to do is schedule a workshop. Um things
that I think are important are um number one seeing a copy of the legislative appropriation number two having the timetable for the expenditure and then the cost breakdown. Um because obviously if you're buying land that's going to
take a chunk of the $3 million. The last time we heard from the architect that I recall um the 1 million was barely making it and we had to take money from other sources to pay part of
the um architect's fees. So I I guess schedule the workshop and gather together all the information we need to get the whole financial picture um and what's being planned for future versus the plans that we saw when we last saw.
So, it's my understanding that currently um because typically you have that 18-month window in order to get your engineering plans in and everything and everything rolling and then you've got five years to appropriate the full amount to build out. Okay. What happened
is because we got this additional 2 million and they haven't met with us first yet on the first million, the time clock has started. So it's just started um for the for the entire for the entire for the entire um amount of money. So
we have more time rather than less. Exactly. Exactly. And so it started on the engineering. The good thing about that is we're already kind of ahead of schedule because we've identified um in that first phase. The concern I think
that I heard was that if we it's going to be more efficient, more costefficient, more efficient to build one station than to peacemeal the two stations, the two pieces together. And if we do that, that means we would take
down by doing that, we would end up taking down our fire service here in town. Um, so with that said, um, we also know that in order to purchase land, so when you you put everything out there, we've got
to put we have to give them everything that we need for this. That's part of our part is that we've got to list every single thing. If we're going to have three refrigerators, we've got to list three refrigerators. If we're going to have three toilets, we've got to list
three toilets. I mean, everything has to be listed. Okay. When they do that, um, land is not part of that. However, given where we are and one community has done this, we could go back and petition them and ask them if
we can use um a portion of that 3 million to purchase land. Okay. The only other option we might have, and this is as we this is just something for everybody to think about before we come to a workshop about it. Um, and then to identify those those
spaces. I I know I've spoken to you. I've spoken to um former Chief Highfield. And while we do own the property over here on Junction, Junction's a narrow road. It's still off the It's off the main road. Absolutely. We're already moving an ambulance off
the main road to the to the main road. So, um, so we're going to really have to try to find possibly a site. And even if we had to go in and we had to possibly purchase a site, they didn't approve it, we had to purchase a site, we also have
the ability when we're done to sell the current fire department. Correct. And so I mean I would just point out we we have not so far had success. We have not had success. And as well,
the one thing I want to bring up is this is really planning our city. A fire a fire station is an important um it's a it's a very important facility and it's it needs to relate wherever we
put it. It needs to relate well not only for service but to everything else in the city. We we're you know there are certain goals that we want to achieve that we've talked about before. where we describe ourselves as walkable and there's just a lot that goes into it and
maybe um I don't know I mean I would like to hear from the architect maybe from Mark Tourett in terms of planning you know we're not exactly planners um but I I just think you know you've got a great deal of the information there mayor but the rest of us have really not
seen a lot of this and we need we need numbers and that's why with the workshop that's why they said with the workshop that we would have that um I think that's necessary there is the the county is just building one um almost built one out and I think it's like 1.7 um that they've got on that one and
they've talked about the plans could possibly be used and then we could alter whatever we need you know Mr. Taylor could alter you know however he needs um so I think we've got and then also I think as we go forward we might want to enjoin with the um sheriff's office
might want to come into the conversation because we could also this could be our emergency you know, station and and they could also I mean, I don't know, that's something that we could possibly talk about. And a couple other things, if you don't mind, um, just to kind of help ease your
mind a little bit, the way it's currently set up, if we were to build a building in the parking lot and it was to connect to the current building. The current building would have to be brought up completely to co to code fire alarm. You've had a description of that building several times, correct? But also to ease your mind in
the process of getting repairs done to the station. There are multiple people interested in purchasing the station. Yes. Um so that is something that has come to light recently. So and that's the reason um the whole talks of possibly moving it
and getting a better location and keeping it on the main drag where everyone can still see it um as part of the the city would be a great idea. Well, see, my my problem though is when you purchase a piece of property right on the corner there of a junction and 17
or you purchase a piece of property across the street that one time is going to be RVs for but these are properties that could actually be developed into something that would bring tax dollars in. Um, and I think that we have to keep
that in mind. Now, the school that's already there in 308 brings the tax dollars in already. So, it's Well, that's a whole another issue. But I'm just saying, you know, I think we we need to as we
plan, we also need to plan to hopefully bring in um more people for a larger tax base. You know, we're only two square miles, right? So if you just keep chunking away and taking all this property away for areas that don't pay any taxes, I don't
think it really helps the tax base. But anyway, we'll bring stuff like um and I guess Commissioner Lori, you're the mayor. Yes. Now I'd be recognized to respond to Commissioner Burton. Um, that's one reason I thought, um, we might want to
hear from Mark Carrot, the planner, because you're, you know, we're talking about space and, you know, you use it for one thing and then what do you do with the rest? If you're using part of a space, what do you do with the rest of it? How does that impact what the rest
of that could be used for? So, um, lot a lot to consider and thank you for bringing up. There is a lot. I mean there's more than just we want to build building where we where we going to really be planned
so that and one thing that you said that we have not had good luck selling you know our parcels and things that I you know they just kind of sit there. So, so something we got to keep in mind, right? And so,
yeah, just to kind of wind things up, obviously, we need to have a workshop. Um, my my my one question that I would ask is that I I know this just from looking at it recently having a conversation with a citizen that's.9 miles south of where we
currently are, where the where the the station is. How does that change your time, your response time? I mean because when I look at it and you look at the city, the fire department is in the dead center basically of the developed part
of town. Now I know the south there's a lot of land there that would will probably be developed in the future, but how does that really change your response time? Is that like a minute more or is it It does it does a couple of things. So and this is what I was going to bring up
to keep in mind as well. Our trucks are 8 foot wide and there's 68,000 lbs on the line plus less 1,000 gallons of water 8.33 lbs per gallon. So we got a lot of weight we're trying to move. So that's why I was trying to keep it on the main road. It's it's nice to have
back road of that truck trying to get that's problem number one. To answer your question from where the station sits to the county line is roughly six miles and beyond that we got to wait for the county to come up. So if we get pulled out of the city, there is zero
fire rescue help from Georgetown. That seemed like our next closest response time. I understand that the city limits are here, but I can't help but feel the people south of us. We are the only hope and help they have and it's our job to protect them as well. That.9 miles um
it's minute. It's 25 seconds if that. Um response time from here there, especially if we stay on the main road, right? we just pull it off and accelerate. There's no curves, there's no stop signs, there's no, you know, shifting of the trucks. It's just so
time response is really So, I think it's as we go forward, we'll do um we'll schedule this, we'll get this scheduled as a workshop as soon as we all possibly can. I know we've got some several of us have some travel issues. Commissioner Burton, I know you're traveling. I'm traveling next
week. When are you traveling? I'm I I leave on the uh the 10th of October and I'm not back until the 24th. Who is who is available the the the week of um the 6th through the
the second week of October? Well, there's um I don't know. I was hoping to go for two days to the redevelopment conference which is the second week of October. Is that is that a week meeting?
6 to the 10th. Yes, we have our commission meeting on that Thursday the 9th. So I know everybody will probably be here for that. Um Mike could even do it earlier that earlier that day. Um to me
Wednesday the 8th Well, but I cannot I cannot do Wednesday the 8th. I can do Monday the 6th or Tuesday the seventh. And then you said Commissioner Burton's leaving um she's trying to sit down on Friday the 10th.
Well, I don't and I I don't know. To me, this may take more than one workshop. I mean, we're out of room. Commissioner Lori um facilitated more discussion. Yeah. Um I'm thinking we should have comment from um Mark Karen because we're
I mean we're talking about planning issues here. Yeah. Let's say December to start. I'm good on December. That Tuesday that Tuesday I I could that afternoon. I could not that morning but I'm available that afternoon.
Is that on the seventh? Yeah. Thank you. So, we want to do something about 1:00. Would one o'clock be good for everybody? What about you, Chief? At one o'clock, um Christina, um seven.
Yes. Okay. Do we Is the room open? Yes. Okay. [Music] Okay. So, we're going to do we'll schedule it for one o'clock and we'll just make sure we reach out to Mr. Taylor and ask him to be here and
possibly Mark and if Mark can't be here, we can zoom him in maybe. Okay. Um and go from there. This is exciting, I think, for our city and and I'm I'm in agreement. I think, you know, we don't if this is going to be our emergency
center and we don't want to tuck it. So, I agree. Um and we're actually going to have a helicopter. That's that's something else. Um that'd be cool. I can't help but feel it's a necessity. Um, being stationed down here, driving someone to the
hospital roughly an hour to keep someone alive for an hour is extremely difficult, especially depending on the state of which they're in. Um, to have an access to a helicopter pad that we control, not have to worry about construction or what I don't know what's on it. I don't know if they're
getting something that we actually control and can and you know, set up, move people in and out. I think it would be a necessity. That's cool. Yes, ma'am. In the meantime, um Christina, can you and I guess you and Keith and and Officer Taylor and Chief and and Derek
start pulling together any any vacant property that this would be suitable on. Yes. And so that we have that for the workshop. Got it. Because I think, you know, the ball's rolling now and so we really need to um figure out because the other thing is is when we put in, we've got to give a
physical address. That is the one thing I know with appropriations when you're doing this by physical address for where something's going to be located has to be part of it. So we h and we have to show ownership. We have to show some sort of ownership. So I don't mean a physical address but I know you always have to show ownership when you're doing
these do these appropriations. So um anyway so one more question with Mr. property. You would envision the base opening on 17. Yes, sir. Basically, we would come in on
junction which would give us time to to turn the station. I know that's an issue that we've had with this very much. Yes. Um I have one more thing that um I feel I'm sorry. Go ahead. One more thing I feel commission should be aware of and I'm sorry I'm not going
to take your time. No, that's okay. The state has set a mandate where we changed our reporting for calls that we run. On every call that we run, we have to send a report to the state which gives accountability for our fire station. Um we have ran on a system called niffers for year. It's the north or it's basically it's four
quarter reporting system. Effective um January they're changing to what's called a nearer system starting in January. The state of Florida has been put on schedule to start that October 1st. I've taken four weeks to work with this
uh Florida State Fire Marshall and get our department set up. We are now set up to report to nearers. The reason I'm bringing it up is now that we are set up through mirrors, there is a way, which I'm just now learning, for every call we run, we should be able to get reimbursement from the state as well. Um
I'm not exactly sure the ins and outs of it yet because the program doesn't take effect for another week. Um but once the program takes effect, I'll have more updates for that. So we should get additional funding from the state off and it also um allows us to put money
toward education classes. Just wanted to commission one more question. Okay. So, is it possible um chief that you what you just said to us about the new system
um because I'm just hearing like an acronym. Could you write that down for us in a little memo? Sure. I can send you the emails. Send it to the city manager and he can share with us. So, um we'll have a more clear idea.
But the bottom line is it means more funding that comes through the state. As far as I understand, like I said, it's a it's a state mandate. Um, it's actually a national mandate because the way it was before is California would report to a system in Florida report. They all had their own systems. They basically all
the states got together and said, "We're going to report to a single system. So, we can track near misses. We can track structure fires. We can track track track." So, they agreed to a new system. on that system. It allows us to say that we've ran x amount of calls to where we
didn't get funding, say that people didn't have Medicaid, Medicare, there was no paid to state reimburse for the calls that we've ran. Um, like I said, I'm still trying to figure out how it all works because it's not running yet. We won't let you, right? But yeah, if you to me if you could just
update the city manager that you could share with us the actual name of it and that way the next time we see it, we'll know what it is. Thank and I don't know if you have a copy of the station. They had copy in the back. I don't know if it's all consumed before
you head out. No, I'm good. Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay. Have a good Thanks for waiting. Yes, ma'am. No problem. And after that, I guess the next thing on the agenda is special magistrate update. I guess Pam, you're on.
[Music] Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Special magistrate held a meeting on September 23rd and I guess everyone knows the treaty was trimmed out here
um without a permit. The special magistrate ordered the Wild Green Solutions, which is the company that actually did the cutting, a fine of $750, which they paid Tuesday after the
meeting. Um, the Landware construction, which is people that wanted to move the equipment through our town, the special magistrate find them $5,000 and they'll be sending a check next week.
And that was her cutting the two limbs off on September 14th, which was a Sunday, right? Without a permit. Right. So, um, but good work.
Thank you. Thank you. And I I didn't know how other people found out about this, but I was on site. I got a text about it and it's my understanding that they had to be tracked down from my
photograph of the license plate. Mhm. They were being sneaky about it and they they didn't tell any of us actually who they were. Right. I don't think they did. Uh the licensed tag came back to an outdoor
outdoor which Right. They were they were totally apparently they told another citizen we found out at the Rotary meeting they told them that they had a permit. They told several people they had a permit and they did not. So anyway, thank you for tracking them down.
I've been in contact with u the Florida Department of Transportation uh uh Kenneth Cheek and he stated that he's checked with everyone in the district and no one called permit, right?
Uh but you can see how you know a bunch of people can come in and cut a tree without something saying that somebody said you could do this. There's something there. Something sounds fishy to me, but you know, I guess,
you know, I don't know. Well, that's probably why they did it on Sunday. Well, the I mean, the analogy is that the subcontractor was just trying to get away. They were trying to do it quick and dirty, take their feed, not get the permits. Just like um you know, if you
call the the plumber or the air conditioning person and they tell you that you know the contract says we'll do the job and we'll get the permit, but they leave out the permit part. But these people did apparently that they just left out the permit. But
fortunately, our code still says you need a permit not just to cut down a tree, but to prune a heritage tree. If it only said cut, they would not have been subject to a fine um for chopping a
huge limb off. But anyway, um y'all did a great job. And it turns out we never really would have known about this if Miss Trisha Bratton had not been out walking her dog Poppy because she she saw something and she said something.
And um I'm hoping that the city manager will give a certificate to Bobby because he was an integral part of this effort. He was the start of the chain. He was he was our watchdog. Yes. She was at the meeting on Tuesday and did
testify, right? Because she actually spoke to people on top. Yeah. But there was Yes. Bobby watch. [Music] Other questions about the special magistrate. We appreciate your work and Jen has been
and then we were making lots of phone calls and everybody was working very hard on this. So we appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Well, and you know, people do not think they can come to Crescent City and just do whatever they want.
Exactly. Especially when it comes to our trees or just, you know, drive over our curbs, you name it. Yes. Okay. Well, be looking out. So, now what's
left on the agenda? city manager. What's that? I'll check in with team and see where we are. The only thing that's on here is my legal fees. I don't have to recuse myself.
It's the last one though. Okay. So, I had a question about that. I asked to me if that's given the legal fees that should have been under business items. The city manager wasn't really clear what mayor I wasn't sure whether we were paying fee or not.
Are we on your legal fees? Okay. You finished everything else. Good job. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. My pleasure. Okay. Great job. Okay. So, we've got right now. So, we have
your legal fees and this is this your final legal fees? I'm not sure because it was my understanding as of yesterday. Have they filed with the Supreme Court? I know. Um Okay. So, it might not be your It might not be
your final, but it's where you are right now. This was everything that I Okay. Do we have a Do we have a um motion on this? Can I get a motion? a motion to approve
payment. I'll make a motion to approve payment. I don't have it in front of me. That's what I'm trying to find. $140 for Commissioner um what is it for
Bailey versus I have a request for Commissioner B if she could add this to her motion. Okay, hold on everybody. Yes. What? Right. If she could add this to her motion. It's just it's invoice 26477
dated September 1st, 2025. And I say add that because there have been so many and a very similar amount. So, let me review this since it's mounted. I mean, I know what you're talking So, uh,
go ahead. Um, I'd like to make a motion to pay invoice number 26477. It's a uh bill. Let me see. Chrysler group.
[Music] Oh, okay. a a bill from the uh Chrysler group um to pay for uh uh what you're saying cost of client litigation fees for
Bailey versus Dantis and Lord of $140. Okay. Do I have a second? We have proper motion and a second. Do we have any further discussion? And then where is this coming out of the current fiscal year? And if so, what line item
do we have funds available to pay that? It should come out of the current fiscal year. And so, um, I believe we still have, where are we on? I don't have it in front of me. Where are we right now in our in our legal
we have we do to cover this? Okay. So we come out of that. Okay. Okay. Have a motion and a second. Um can I have a roll call, please? Commissioner Devito.
I recusing myself. And finally for AB with you. Thank you. Commissioner Mo I. Commissioner Burton. I Okay. So approved. Thank you. Um, I'm
going to give if it's okay at this time, Commissioner, I'm going to give us a little update on this. Um, so what we So we um based on our charter, we do
everything um our budget through an ordinance. The uh Florida statute allows municipalities to do it through either a resolution or an ordinance. Um our charter though requires an ordinance. um what we're going to need to do tonight
when um we are going to need to do a reconsideration of our budget um as the ordinance and I just want to go through a couple of things with you. So first if we can I can get a motion for reconsideration first.
I move that we reconsider our budget ordinance 2025-10 25-10 or 25-11. We got three of them. So, why don't we just add three of those? It's going to be um you're going to do
2025-9. 2025. Okay. And so, yes, Leah. No, go ahead. Sorry. Okay. Um, do I have a second? Motion to reconsider.
Yeah, a motion to reconsider. Thank you. A motion in a second. Um, I'm going to do a roll call. What are we're reconsidering this for? What purpose? The end point. If we can So, we can approve it. So, we can approve it after
I've explained why why we're going to approve it, how how we're going to approve it, but we need a reconsideration. Correct, Leo? Correct. Correct. So, we need a reconsideration first. You have this. Okay. So, I have a motion and a second. Um, I need I need a roll call if we can,
please. Commissioner Burton. I Commissioner Moore. I Commissioner Lorie. Hi. Commissioner Dvito. Hi. Myers. Hi. Okay. Um, with our current with our current ordinance as we have, um, as we
all know, the statute speaks to a a typical ordinance as a 10-day advertisement. Okay? It does not say that that 10 days must be um before the first reading or the second reading. It's not specific on that. We have met
that requirement um as far as a 10day with our budget because it h it was advertised prior to this um time. We've also had at least a fiveday advertisement that we have now. So in
order for us to pass it um I'm being told that we need a 2/3 majority vote. Correct Leo? Correct. Um and I think we So we should be okay. We should be okay. So as we reconsider, is there any
language? This isn't making sense. Yeah, it Well, it kind of is. Do you want to It's It's more of kind of um under So what we have to do is uh can Leo speak into the mic, please? I'm sorry. There you go. So what we have to
do essentially is an emergency procedure just to avoid any um just to make sure that we follow the the Florida statutory guidelines. Um an emergency procedure to pass an ordinance requires a twoth3 vote which is what
we're asking. But we've already done that. Yeah, we're going to reconsider it because we didn't meet we don't we we meet we meet the requirements as a from an ordinance standpoint because we have advertised it. Um there's just
differing opinions as far as as do we need to do it the the two to five days is it 10 days and you have to excuse me I haven't been here since June but I believe the first uh advertisement was the 10th September
correct before that before that it was before that it was 10 days before that it was before that okay so and the budget has remained the same yes So, but there was an amendment, right?
No, that's the amendment's different. That was amendment on our current that was amendment on our current. So, according to Don that we do this that we did a reconsideration of our vote that we explain that this from a from a um a
publication standpoint and and that we um that we reconsider it and have a new vote. I don't understand what that is accomplishing.
Are we enacting it as an ordinance once again? Oh, it's going to stay an ordinance because by charter we have to keep it as an ordinance. Well, exactly. Because that was my question that we had to have an ordinance. We couldn't do a resolution. But are we adopting an emergency
ordinance? That does that cure the shorter publication time? It does. It does. It circumvents the publication time. Okay. So, what you're saying is we're going to reconsider the original adoption of the ordinance. We're going to declare an emergency and we are going
to adopt our budget resolution on second reading as an emergency ordinance and that shortens the required publication and that shortens it and the only time it eliminates the advertising. It eliminates it. The only time you
cannot do an emergency ordinance is on zoning issues, land use and zoning issues. So, we meet that requirement. So, do we also have this problem with the second reading of the fee ordinance? We would have we'd have to do three of them. But
wait a minute. Wait a minute. The the millillage is a resolution. No, I'm sorry. You're right. No, we have but we also have we amended this year's budget, too. And so, that is under a second reading also. Okay. That All right. So, we have Wait a
minute. We have the Okay, we have the budget. That's 259. Right. Right. Okay. Then we have the the fee schedule. The fee schedule. That's 2511.
And then we have Okay. Then we have 256, right? So you're saying each of those we need to reconsider. We're going to have to reconsider. And 256 is the resolution. That's not not 256. So what we need to reconsider is
2025-10. 2025-11 and 2025-09. Okay. Thank you. And we're working on 259 right now. 2025. Okay. So, if we can and we've already we've already we've already reconsidered that. I think
what we should do though is we should start from the beginning and do another reconsideration and move through it with amending our our our original budget. Okay. So, I need a reconsideration on that one also. Okay. Because mayor, I was going to say,
did we did um did we not do this in a particular order? Like we did the fee schedule before we did the budget. That's why I'm saying it from the top. We need to take it from the top. So, I need a reconsideration of 2025-10. If I
can get a motion to reconsider 2025-10. I move that we reconsider ordinance 2025-10. Second. Okay. We have a proper motion in a second. Madam clerk, if you do a roll call for us, please. Commissioner Devito. I.
Commissioner Lori. Hi. Commissioner Moore. I. Commissioner Burton. Hi. Myers. I. Okay. And now if we can with that same ordinance if we can get a new motion. We just
No, let's go ahead and we can let's do this one first. And but the new motion has to declare. Do we need a motion just declaring an emergency and then an an emergency motion? No. But it the so but we at least need an emergency motion. We can't
just make the same motion. Right. Right. So we just motion to reconsider. Yeah. We did recons, right? But it has So the next motion needs to be an emergency motion to adopt ordinance 202510.
Yes. Okay. If I can get a if I can get a motion on that. Like to move that we adopt emergency ordinance 2025-10 for fiscal year 2042. Okay. Do I have a second? Second.
Does it have to be read by title again? Um you can title. Yes. Second and final reading of ordinance 202510 amending the budget for fiscal year 2024 2025. An ordinance of the city of Crescent City, Florida amending the
budget for fiscal year 2024 2025, providing for administrative action, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Okay. Um, we have any further discussion on this before I roll call? I have one question. Oh, no. I voted
yes. Okay. No, I'll ask it the next time. Can I do a roll? Can we do a roll call, Madam Clerk? Wait a second. Wait a second. Um, do we have any public comments? Thank you. Okay, everybody got this? I, Commissioner Moore.
Hi, Commissioner Lorie. Hi, Commissioner Devito. I may. Okay. So, approved and adopted. So, we're going to go. I need a reconsideration of ordinance 2025-11, which is our feed schedule. I move to
reconsider ordinance 2025-1 amending amending the fee schedule. I'll second it. We So we have a motion in a second. Madam clerk, Commissioner Devito. I Commissioner Lorie.
Hi. Commissioner War. Hi. Commissioner Burton. Hi. Myers. I. Okay. So, um I now I'm going to need a motion on ordinance 2025-11. I move that we consider emergency motion
emergency ordinance 2025-11. Okay. Can I have a proper reading, please? Yes. Second and final reading of ordinance uh 2025-10 amending Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Second and final reading of ordinance
2025-11 amending the federal uh schedule fee or the fee schedule an ordinance of the city of Crescent City, Florida, amending the fe the schedule fees to be charged by the city of Crescent City for noise, natural gas, general reproduction services, business tax receipts, planning and zoning, special events,
parks, code enforcement, water, wastewater providing for repeal of prior fee ordinances and resolutions and conflict severability and an effective I have a proper motion and I have a um second. Um do we have any comments?
I have one question. Um my vote on this was nay. So that would if I vote nay again that would make it four fifths. That that still meets a twoth3 v. We have to have supermajority, right? But four fists is you need a four fifths. Yes.
What? So, four vista sufficient, right? Sufficient. Yes. Okay. Yes. Um, do we have any public comment on this? Okay. Seeing none. Mad cler, please do a roll call. Commissioner Devito. Nay. Commissioner Lorie. I.
Commissioner Moore. I. Commissioner Burton. Hi. Mayor Myers. I. Okay. So, approved and adopted on the final reading of ordinance 202511. So, now I need a motion. Um on the final
reading of ordinance 2025-09 which is the approving and fixing the budget. Um I move that we reconsider our vote on ordinance number 20259. We already did that.
Um I I move that be passed on second final reading and emergency ordinance number 20259. Okay. Can I have a second? I'll second. Okay. Which one? Which one got it? Was it Commissioner Moore? Commissioner
Moore, can I please have a proper reading? Can I have a proper reading? Yes, ma'am. 202509. Yes, ma'am. Second and final reading of ordinance number 202509 approving and fixing the budget. An ordinance providing for approving and fixing the
budget setting the millillage levy at 8.7164 allowing for general operations of the city and its various departments approving and fixing budgets for special funds and debt service for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2025 and ending September 30th, 2026.
Okay. Um Leo, are we we okay? We're good. We're good. You sure? Was that the last one? Yeah. Oh, yeah. We haven't I haven't We haven't taken it to a vote yet. I just want to make sure the last that we're good. Um, do we have
any comments here? If not, I'm going to open it up for public comment. Uh, public comment. Seeing no one come forward. Madam clerk, if you would please do a roll call on the second and final reading of ordinance 20250. Commissioner Burton.
I. Commissioner Moore I. Commissioner Lori I. Commissioner Devito. Nay. Mayor Myers. I. Okay. So, uh, so approved and adopted on the second reading of
ordinance 2025-12. Okay. Thank you all for this. Um, you know, this has been kind of messy. Thank you for your patience with everyone. Thank you for your patience with this. Um, Leo, thank you for Hey,
we just threw you right in right in the in the pot of boiling water. Nothing like it. Nothing like it. That's how you learn though, right? You know, I have a question on 251. I want to understand what the general
reproduction services are that we do here. Okay. I just want to know general that's where we are. Um I know we're all ready to go. I do want to give just a real quick update if you'll allow me that courtesy. Is that
okay? Um I know um I just want you to know that um I I finally um was contacted by um a Windixie representative. Yes. Um
they Aldi is still currently working on 224 stores that they're looking to format. Um we still don't know anything. He is sending it up the flag pole. Um I I did
speak to um Representative um South about this when he was here and um he said that if we needed to that he possibly could could sit him on a meeting. Um I've asked them for that if they could at least give us a meeting.
Not sure they're going to. Um I I do know that that Crescent City has been on the radar that they know that we're very concerned Southeastern Grocerers. Um Monttoello and I don't know if any of you are familiar with Monttoello. It's in
Jefferson County right outside of Tallahassee. Monestello just went through the same exercise and their leaders also did exactly what we have done um and reached out um unfortunately
um and I spoke to their mayor about this at length and she said they've done pretty much everything that we have done and um unfortunately they are now in the process of closing theirs down by the end of this month and
all these is looking to close down for about at least three months there to do the conversion in Monteello. She said they were not successful. She also did state that Aldi's um never did as they have with us that they never did reach out. Um the way you heard from Wind
Dixie or Aldi Aldi I heard from No, not from Aldi. From Windixie Southeastern Groceries, right? Because the way I understand this works and earlier in their process in Monaceel um I contacted their chamber person who
was the one who did the publicity um which I shared with y'all some months ago. What is the status of the petitions that we collected? So, and I have shared with Wind Dixie that our Southeastern Grocery, I shouldn't say Wind Dixie, um,
Southeastern Grocerers that we do have that I believe we are maybe too short and somebody asked me about it today as a matter of fact, um, at least on our online petitions and then we've got quite a few that are in writing. So, he
is aware, Southeastern Grocerers is aware that we have that. I mean, short of just picking outside of the industry, I don't know. Um, I guess we'll just wait and hear as he sends this up the flag pole. But she said Monaceel is
having the same concern with them rather than employing a lot of their high school students. They employ a lot of their elderly their elderly employees and then Dixie did there. So, okay. So, I'm gonna I just wanted to give y'all an update. We're going to wait and see. Um, like I said, he's sending it up
the flag pole with Southeastern to see if they would at least contact us and be more in um in in contact with us. Okay. So, may I circle back to something I recommended when we first brought this up? Um
I think in the event that they would give us a meeting, it would be helpful to be prepared. Um the um chamber I think it's chamber is the chamber president or executive director or she's director.
She's the executive director. Um she suggested that we put together any proposal or economic incentives that we could have. Um I think that should do that. But we can we can have um economic
incentives and she can advise us. She said she could advise us. I think um if you have an actual proposal that would be better because as I understand it um to remain in Dixie Southeastern would
have to agree to take us back. Exactly. Right. So we need a proposal. We need um a pitch to Aldi as to why it's not in their best interest. And we need a pitch to stop grocerers as
to why it is good for them to keep us and potentially and Laura from the chamber can help us um put this together. We have to give them some actual reasons including potential economic incentives.
Um, it's my understanding and that's fine and we can do that and we'll have to do we'll have to do a workshop and we'll have to see what we can do and we're going to have to pull some information together. Um, it's my understanding is is not up to Southeastern Gers
right now. This is this is it's in Aldi's hands gers have to agree to take us back. The other thing we could do, um, when we had this item on the agenda, some people who spoke said, "Could you please have a
meeting on this after work hours?" We could have a community meeting, right? Um, but also we could um, which I think is a good idea because interested and we have the petitions. Um, we could add
this as we could meet on this. We could do it in the evening. How about if we did in the planned on if we were going to do it, we're going to do it in the evening. One thing to do to talk about um any pitch to Aldi's or Southeastern Grocerers that would involve advice from
our chamber. Um would October 7th be a day where we could discuss um possible strategies, whatever we could, if everyone wants to do that. um at that that workshop you could we could definitely add that into the
workshop um you know or basically put that I would want to be excused from that be excused from that so we would do it after the fact so we do it after the other I don't agree with this what you're doing so okay
well I mean you can't come she wants to come as a commission so therefore you be excluded So at the end of that, so at the end of the workshop on the fire department, right, then Commissioner Burton could be excused. Um it's also retail strategy. So that's
basically what Laura said is to reach out to retail strategies. We've spoken to retail strategies and so we would probably pull them back into it um also if we needed to. So anyway, I just wanted to give an update. I know that everybody's been asking about it and um
you know it's uh um and I had a couple issues I wanted to ask about but it is very late and I think three of us are supposed to be in um Orlando for the So with that if we have nothing else can
I get a motion to adjurnn Ijourn okay do I have a second okay all in favor say I Okay, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you all very much for your patience, your time, staff. Thank you, Leo.
Thank you, Leo. Yeah, thank you Leo. Thanks, Leo. And what is this? What is this?