call this uh special meeting to order on Thursday February the 20th 2025 and I'll just the Kobe thank you mayor col Sten if y'all just come up we can kind of go through this quick um so
mayor if everyone recall the city back in October on October 17th of 2023 went out to bid for skada some skada around the city I think it was 35 or 36 units give or take yeah um those bids came
back I believe on if I'm not here November 1st and then the council approved uh Enlighten the company for $80,000 on November 13th and so that's how that's who we have that's how we got to where we're at and so that those started installing those and those were
I think finished in January of 24 or late February of 24 yes that's correct so it was going been working through that U and then later in 2024 I believe October maybe um Kyle know some things with the system that just didn't seem right didn't
settle with him and so he started doing investigation and digging they had the hydro service come out and kind of help us out and show us some things with the system provide some guidance they did that since then we've been working on it um on trying to identify what's going on out there what's going on our systems
where shortfalls are some issues and so if you'll look back also into your um uh October your September October reports from Jacobs and your November December report from Jacobs should have attached on there a spreadsheet that Kyle has put together showing all the systems ska
systems where they're at the issues and that Jacob's been working through fixing some of those so we met back in I think December yes um with Mike who was part of Jacobs they started going through replacing some parts that just really weren't adequate trying to make sure we had good stuff and so we worked through
that well over the last couple weeks um we've also had our project manager getting VT skada which is the software if I'm not mistaken yes this his license the license was under Enlighten name who's a company Who provided the system the hardware we been getting that into our name so we finally got that into our
name last week I believe um so we have that since that time I met with Kyle holder who is Kyle's boss for the city based our account rep we talked through some things about the city system he brought to me a serious concern that Jacobs had with Enlighten our provider
they must have other clients throughout Southeast they have used the same company they have the same problem so they were kind of being prevented with their clients and bringing this to their attention so we continue to work on it Kyle and Zach and I had a phone call I believe on Tuesday about this um and at that time we moved pretty quick to get a
meeting with Hydra service to talk about the situation see what could possibly be done Hydra service is in the conversation here because when those bids came in the city received two bids enlightened and Hydra service and we did not go to hydro service enlightened so um I thought it was probably the most appropriate to have that second bidder
or the next bidder here and so that's why they are here um since then today I have spoken to Bay County who Hydro service does support and provide the same service to and got a recommendation from them that they they had good responses and relationships with the company and the systems they put in place so I did that for kind of a
background little bit background so where we're at um really have two problems um one is the main priority which is the water system and then we have the sewer system which is also a priority but it's going to come second to the water I'll let Kyle kind of
explain the technical parts of it but the skada system in our water plant and operations is integrated that skada helps those pumps and those Towers put pressure in the system and move the water through the system so if that system goes down those pumps will stop and unfortunately we had that happen about an hour and a half ago that well
one and three those two Welles are currently down five and six is running five is on Walton Road six is on sunrise North and for him you know they're running in hand right now there you know the skada system on five and six is out you know the whole system on
the water is now down I have the capabilities to actually run five and six in hand do the way he wired it the way he wired one and three it's connected straight to the booster pump in the back 1000 the back 1000 is your vacuum loss alarm so if you do have a
chlorine leak or hole in a line it shuts it off so like I was telling Kobe a little bit ago I said I wasn't aware that it was wired in like that um so I'm G to have to do a little digging to figure out how in the world he wired it but I can get it to go back and run in
hand it's just going to take me a little bit of time to figure out how he wired it um so just so you know so the water is a priority because it's connected those thing we need to address that the Wastewater uh is not as connected so the plant and the lift Stations don't
operate off SC they will operate without it but if that goes down we won't have the secur we won't have the alarm system it won't be checking for the Overflow High flows or the spills we would have to manually go out and check those so we have something in place in case this happen with either one of them um but the water is really a priority for us
right now and so we have hydro service here and they can explain anything that you have questions about about the system they provide and the service they could provide to the city in this um so they they have offered to basically go in look at the city's system see what could be reused if something could reused they would leave it put some put
new components in and their uh system I think you probably need to explain hydr link a little bit in a minute um and that would get the city back up and running they would get everything connected they would give authorization passwords to on the city and we would own have ownership of that hydr link would no longer be involved at all
unlike a current provider um so they have yesterday talked to them if the number still good $35,000 not to exceed so not to exceed 35,000 to get all five Wells connected up and running and automated so you have any technical questions on that you can ask either one of them but that is that's where we're
at and that's cont what we got any obligations to the other group no I'm unaware of any contract City signed within lighten uh the bid was approved staff at the time moved forward um and had them install the system so we have
the system installed as of today um we have paid Enlighten $1 149,150 43 the difference between the 80 and that are is a monthly data plan that we have pay we pay on um and we didn't even see that for because he did not inform
the city of this until we received invoices back when was that February of 24 think when they started billing we didn't get them until like August correct so they didn't tell us we had that billing until we got them because they were sent them to the wrong people send them somewhere else never told he have that so we finally got the bills we went through that through our due
diligence seen that so there's there's certain things associated with that company that is uncommon I think hydr can probably speak to some of that in terms of the data plans and the annual recurring fee this uh we're not the only ones there we have at least one sister city to us that's in
the same position there's other cities in the Southeast and Central Florida and Georgia Alabama who have used the same company and have the same problems we have right now currently so I think we're a little bit ahead of the game in front of them but it's something definely needs to be addressed I think we need to address it now take action on
it um we sat down and talked uh yesterday I had actually our skada guy uh that handles this the director of the skada that that kind of explained how our system works U it's a different protocol than than what they use that uses what we call Internet of Things
type data um and the SIM cards uh whereas opposed to they charge the city a monthly fee uh we leave that up to the city and ours uses iot data uh you purchase those everything in our system
is not proprietary the city can purchase it if they want to use us fine if they don't want to use us that's fine but the amount of data that is used in a communication of these is between 30 cents to a dollar per month per site um
when they use a cloud-based system uh through Amazon to communicate is you got to communicate from the from the lift station or from the site back to VTC where your computer system is that runs about $38 a month but that handles the entire system doesn't it's not per site
so that's how the communication Works um the the $35,000 that we discussed is to get the5 well sites up and running and communicating um and then after that um however we want to handle the uh the
live stations now while Kyle and I were talking a while ago trying to figure out because you're kind of in a jam because it's gone uh we do have call out boxes that we rent with our diesel pumps when they're mobile and out on field sites uh they run about $500 a month but they a s
or service high low float you can throw it off in the lift station and if it hits that float it's going to send a a a text to whoever whomever you have on call and it can be multiple people not just one so that would bail you out in the meantime on your lift stations but
as far as your I feel did you get his name no sir I'm sorry Steven kickler with hydr service um anyhow but that's uh that would get you out of a jam on the LIF stations and then however you wanted to move forward with that if you wanted to
go with the hydr link system if you needed more information on it um we had um um a study done by carollo engineering um back um I think a year or so ago uh for Avo Florida and they they
uh looked at several different SCA systems and that was the one they went with if you would like to take a look at that that particular bid we can provide that to you um and of course Bay County here locally not too far away they have uh gone with that system also so couple
question questions uh the 35,000 that you're proposing will that include rewiring the wells that are currently we're unable to manually control so will it include swapping those over to some sort of manual control okay um can you
explain a little bit if we if we're in possession of the VT skada software then what is what is hydr link within that stack I'm assuming there's a you know like a so so DT skate is what you see in the
office your hydr link is what is out in the field at your stations giving the information back to so you can you can get it so the stuff is encrypted and all that because you don't want anybody getting into your system and hydr Link is what or BT SK is what breaks that
apart and gives it a usable information and he also uses the BT skada software yes along with what we already have is compatible the hydr link is compatible with the VT skate ass so hydr link is basically your Hardware interface yes
okay um I just want to make a comment that years ago I had seen being in the field that I'm in I had seen some uh headlines about um ska systems being compromised at water plants um and i' actually had a specific conversation
with steuart Duncan at the time um and he actually handed me a binder you know with a report and I was assured repeatedly that our SC system was basically a monitor only skater system that there was no way for you know the skater system to become compromised and
then them take control of the plant but from what I'm hearing today if our skada system was compromised they would actually control our our portable water system so that that alarms me because that's not what I was told um is there
is there a way to to separate those two again or what are what are our options there our technical guy on the phone to explain that um I can try and get him if if you'd like get him on speaker please let me let me see if I
can is Jess your Michael back there there Michael can you come and dial off of this phone up here while we're waiting can I ask uh clay what some of our remedies uh I understand there's 43
other cities in the Statewide so is somebody like contact uh the authorities at the state level or is there something that we can do like an injunction or give well I mean seeking an seeking an hold on
let's he's calling to see if get seeking an injunction doesn't really stop them if they don't work I mean the court tell them to Works what they're already obligated to do so I don't think injunctive relief is where we need to go um I have spoke with Mr Townson I know he is in communication with um m Mr
Martin City manager in Freeport Freeport does not have the water system on the same system but they do have their lift stations and Sewer so they're in the similar boat um I am going because we are in a public meeting I think um
referencing the advice I've given to Mr Martin and that Mr Townson and I are going to have further discussions on regarding exactly what they should do is probably imprudent but I would say I am concerned based on what I know about Dunc and Freeport that this is beyond
mere civil misconduct I do believe it should be investigated by proper authorities and um is that like at the State Attorney General's level like well the Attorney General the Attorney General may handle that the Attorney General doesn't initiate prosecutions that would start at a local law
enforcement level so do we need to contact Hurley's office to file some kind of complaint um Mr Townson would be the one to do that um and I believe based on um other local jurisdictions it may rise to the
level of going above just our local city police department and may reach may be able to jump straight to the state attorney's office again I don't want to lay out everything that I've offered guidance um over the past six hours on but you are correct and I do think if
this evolves you will see the State Attorney General getting into fair trade and deceptive trade practices but I have my concerns at this point that this at this point is is a fraudulent activity and could be even an organized scheme to Def fraud scenario is that like an
executive session you would have with us I I can't say it I can talk to each of you individually because it wouldn't be a lawsuit we're in it would be a separate action brought against them for criminal offenses but I do believe that needs to be exploded but we as a group would be
the victim the the city as an entity would be the victim um so is this something that I can go ahead I didn't mean to necessarily throw the meeting in I'll talk to each of you I'll talk to each of you afterwards I don't want to put comments on the record that
may tip off where this is going that's why I didn't understand unfor well it was just the statement about that I was led to believe years ago and and I understand that that the
ska system was a monitor only so understand it's been integrated now and maybe even asking to separate it out at this point may be the point of no return but I I think it's worth having a conversation about that I'm not saying that we that I'm throwing the boat anchor out we need to turn around and go
the other way but I think it's worth a conversation so is the risk worth worth the reward of being able to and I don't know that's different maybe if we separate the skated system we suddenly have to monitor it to the point that it's it's not feasible from a an
employee standpoint to do this maybe we've gone too far for that but I think we we as a council I think need to be fully aware of that because to me that that's a factor I to this day I think Josh you can attest because you're you're in the same field I am we see those headlines on a regular basis where
hackers are compromising skaus systems that those are the new hot Target when it comes to hackers so it it alarms me that that we have a portion of our SC system technically available now I understand that there's probably firewalls and different things but you
there there's one of the lift stations out in front of my house and one day it was left wide open to the world and I walked around there and looked at it and sure enough there's a peplink modem in it like and I I don't want to say too much more because I can reveal sensitive information but it's we need to kind of
think this through this is not something to to go flippantly on this is uh Jim moris he's the branch manager there in Robert still with Hydro service um still trying to get our skated Tech on the phone so he can answer some of those concerns that you
have okay with it so um I don't know if you have anything to add to that gy all I can um so far as the the what you were talking about about being hacked um the difference between hydrolink and other
skada systems is we're on the Internet of Things iot uh and it's the the way that we communicate um I can't divulge a lot of those details uh for proprietary reasons
obviously um however the way that our information is packaged and it is on a a um subscribe system between your server and each site uh
only um and the way that it communicates as far as the compression of information makes that your concern uh virtually non-existent um and I say virtually non-existent because I'm sure sooner or
later somebody out there will come up with something however this is the same protocol that's used by oil and gas this is the same protocol that's used by CSX Railway this is the same protocol used by
Amazon um and many others as far as how they track their products back back and forth across the nation and hasn't been hacked yet in any one of them into ex unfortunately no but I would highly
recommend we need to um you take time to speak with and unfortunately we can't for security measures were prohibited um I'd highly ask you to get with um any of the council members that want to talk to you but you have two very experienced it
Professionals in their own rights that serve on our city council so absolutely um you probably need to speak to them and any other members of the council that are so interested um because I think that is a concern but I I do recall those conversations it was absolutely represented to us that there
was no outside access there was even there was not even connected in that situation right right I I've always been taught for years and and I'm talking about going back to my teens that SC Systems were typically offline and isolated systems to ensure the Integrity
of what they were trying to protect or monitor or gauge and that's typically just critical infrastructure so since Patriot acting in 911 that's absolutely been a requirement yeah so then it's like up our wells sites monitoring I'm I'm fine with control is something
different because now you are opening that up to I'm gonna go away from the term hacking and just say to um to um it's unauthorized access of systems just no so this is monitoring only that we're
speaking about yeah what we have currently for the wells it runs off of a pressure I don't even think we altitude valve there it's not tied into the chlorine system other than the back 1 there is no way to adjust dosage for
chlorine or turn it on and off the only control that it has to the functionality is the well Auto or off you know so there is that sense of security there and that's currently what we have now and they would be basically mimicking what we have now unless we you know in the future you
wanted to expand yeah you can expand as much as you want but I don't need it you know I don't need to sit at my house and adjust you know chlorine because I'm right there with you that's just opens the door for hackers to be able to do that so H how how is if I'm if I'm understanding you correctly you're
saying that for two of the wells the skating system is somehow involved in the control of those Motors that then pump pump the tanks up and down but in other Wells it's not so my my question is can we take those two Wells and make them operate like the rest of them so
that is truly I think originally it was supposed to be set up like that and he just never did it because because from what I'm hearing they the skaa system has to be involved in those two Wells otherwise they don't operate if they and if someone takes our ska system out that's effectively a denial service attack
right so we could suddenly have parts of this the city where fire hydrants don't work you know there's no pable water etc etc so to me that's that's the concern we need to take these two Wells and make sure that these two Wells can function completely independent of the skating
system and the skating systems truly monitor only and what I and what I recently just found out about that is that instead of putting new equipment that y'all paid for he tied it into the old radio system because now right before I got here the radio like the
tower system is directly connected straight to that antenna and now it is affected lift station two I have nothing at two anymore and seven I don't have anything at seven because they still have the towers and he just connected to them so we got radio and cellular yeah
we pay them for both and then some of our lift stations throughout all the process instead of HE piggybacked off the crystal balls what the Old Mission units or Crystal the ball units instead of putting new in he piggy backed off them and that's where we've been working
for almost a year now frud trying to figure all this stuff out and it's little things like this and it's like holy cow you know this just isn't right so is y'all system going to address their concerns about being separate it'll be monitoring all yes
okay so yes this is something that's like KY said that spreadsheet sure he's updated we can get an updated one he's he's went through found every single LIF station it needs what it doesn't have is if it's reporting or not reporting it's got data or not and they've been going through his Jacobs is going through and fixing them as as they can as we go
through they replacing parts or do whatever they need to do but this 35,000 to get water this is just water wells so what are we looking at with the lift station so I'm gonna have I'm G to bring that back to you hope we can have Monday or we're to communicate more that's a much bigger price tag so that's why it
needs a little more time to think um the reason I say it's the number two priority is because it's not as connected as this one is water is and so if those skaters go down Jacobs will just have to go on a manual monitoring on a routine which by the way is what Freeport does right now that's why
they're in a slightly different boat they just go monitor all theirs on a routine basis so the Wastewater Plant will not was not affected At All by ska so this lift stations it's just the alarms on there that will be affected and we will have a plan in place if something wants to happen so I'll bring
that back at a later time for us to really talk because it's going to be a much more expensive undertaking I'm not want to stop any questions I just want to clarify your your recommendation the recommendation is a not to exceed a 35,000 for hydro service to come in and get our five Wells put on
the systems that are going to they're going to put the system together G to give it to Kyle and the city the city will have ownership of it and we won't have to worry about this anymore and that includes some sort of training for for the system and can we can we make sure that as part of that that city employees are trained as well I think
that's a great idea okay and a source of funding so uh you all remember uh in this budget Danielle and I separate so when the city receives capacity fees it gets busted up 25% operating 75% Reserve in the past it had just been cooked into the operating budget so you didn't see
what the number was um so this year we separated and created a 25% operating line item um and so you could actually see the funds in there we did that for if there were specific projects Council wanted to see or we needed to do that we had not foreseen or an emergency so for this right here and so today as of
yesterday there's 37,200 and some change in that 25% operating line out in the water in the water in the water in the water and this is water Mr Mayor so so on the on the capacity fees clay the 75% Reserve what
are our restrictions that we you can use either bucket for this let's just be clear you can use either one of these buckets okay so I know that this is on the water side but maybe maybe for the the next meeeting when you bring the sewers side back I think we need to understand what's in the other the reserve and the operating
for yeah she has it she so there's the 25 and here's 75 so in the sewer the 25% is $2,596 and10 okay and then 75% is $
64,8 125 so right at 100,000 well no I'm sorry $85,000 has collected for capacity fees for sewer at from October one to today okay and there is significant balance
had from years past motion to approve as recommended okay second I have motion second any other questions for anyone R are you good what uh what's the turnaround on this the turnaround we could probably
get all of it completed inside of the next two weeks but we can get started probably immediately immediately okay okay you mind if I ask Randle a question I ask Randall have you got any concerns that haven't been talked about or is there anything that you're concerned
about that we need to know not really what I heard okay that satisfies me thank you call I with clay said I don't yeah
why don't you let get him their numbers and tell them that councilman that a couple council members are going to be giving him a call okay specifically beer bomb and scur and anybody else go and put your name have the cler can the clerk just
take his number that'll be if this motion passes is there anything specific that we need is just going to be invoiced from the company when services are completed or have them s an invoice and service completed pay them they within the prom Pay Act we're going to have a contct and y'all are
under y'all I understanding 35,000 not to exceed you going to do a contract with them okay did I hear you say to be paid upon completion upon completion So within within the terms of promt pay within the terms of the local government promt pay
for statute the training is part of the completion yes so is it y'all is it your intent to um to do all the work and then build the city at at the end or to build us that's we'll we'll be yall at the end what kind of timeline are we looking at probably
within the next two weeks we can be completed we can start all right hi hi car thank you very much fore Le any other business uh that that's it for me my all right thank you guys appreciate it man if y'all have any any
other questions don't feel you feel fre call meting thank you I do to