--------- last meeting. I was I was absent from the last meeting. >> I'm pretty sure he did last time. >> Okay. >> Y >> All right. >> We'll go ahead. >> We want to call this meeting to order. Today is Monday, April 13, 2026.
And we would ask you to stand with us as we do the invocation and pledge of allegiance. Heavenly Father, we thank you and we love you, God. We thank you for your love towards us, Father. We ask for your help tonight, Lord. in all that we do simple or complex whatever God we want
your direction your leadership and so Father we thank you for your love for this city this community and God help us to make it a better place to live to serve and to work in Jesus name we pray amen 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 right. Well, we're going to again, Kobe, I guess you want to bring up our employee of the quarter. So, thank you, mayor. Uh, council this quarter, our
employee of the quarter, which we changed up a little bit this time and moving forward, we'll continue to do it. We allowed uh you know any member of city staff or whoever in that city email uh to put make submission on an employee maybe their counterpart or someone in different division and uh this
individual we got multiple and it was very well received doing a great job. Um they may know that he saved see a lot of money in his work um helping out all various departments and so Mr. Brian Irvin, our welder, how Brother Works, um is employee of the quarter and again his
staff couldn't be more appreciative of his work. Um Christian Bolton, our fleet maintenance foreman, uh said he's doing a great job. Rest work staff, his ability to weld fabricate and he's working to bring some pretty unique and new things to Christmas as well. So
appreciate that. >> Let me ask U did we bring his >> It's right here. >> You okay? All right. Scared me there for a minute. All right. Make sure we had his certificate. All right. You want to go ahead and do a photo with him? >> Yes, sir. >> All right. Brian, if you would come on up, please. >> Yes, sir.
>> I'm sorry. I'm not really sure what to do. >> Appcate. Come on, Andrew. >> All right. How we doing? >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> All right.
Yeah, I've seen some of Brian's work as a a former welder. He does a fantastic job. Okay, we're going to go ahead and begin to approve as written. >> Motion to approve.
>> Motion second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Thank you very much. One motion second question. >> All in favor say I. >> I.
>> I. Thank you very much. We're trying to be easy on first meeting. Okay. Hopefully. It doesn't look $35. The other Are you
I emphasis. Part: 2
an analysis of the cashflow cuz I'm hearing you say that it's similar the same. Even though we're going from a flat rate to a from a varied rate to a flat rate. Where can I get that since this is a draft and we're going to have time to analyze and look at these? Mhm.
Are either one of them here in the audience that they can No, but could you just ask them to email it I I don't want to wait until the last minute to look at it, but I actually visited one of their meetings so that I could see that you know, because I had questions. So, the volume what I'm
hearing basically is there must not be very many that have the square footage retail space that are paying those larger sums in order for this to equal itself out. Um but I just want to I I you know, that's where I like to look to
see is anything else we can do. So, were there other were there other rates other than the flat Would you say you set the flat 75 cuz right now it's 35 right? Mhm. And I appreciate all the hard work that all the participants did for this. So, I
appreciate that. Thank you. Is that what the problem >> [laughter] >> It could be even though they make sound it could be that. We we have had difficulty with it so we've had a company come out and they could get that come back out Okay. to fix it. So, that may be one of the issues, but it should be running now. So, so we should be
Should we be up or down? >> should be up. Oh, there you go. All right. Where? There. Um number two is airport project management services. So, Council you know, over the last few months and
working on the project projects in the airport particularly the runway 927 extension widening, the hangar development project and the terminal apron expansion. Liberty's been very involved in those and assisting staff and also bringing information to the council and
being contacts with agencies at the council's request. And so, we would uh There are Um We we got with them on this about their efforts and want to ensure that their efforts are compensated for what they're
doing for the city and helping us in that. And so, uh we would look we're looking at an agreement with them based off of grant funding. Uh the fee out of the 1.1 million dollar CPF terminal apron runway expansion
funds that you recall a secured the Congressman Dunn's office through the FAA. Uh so, fee in the to the 5% so, $2,291 per month over 24 month period to assist us in the services that you see listed which they've been doing for
a while now and to do. So, we just ask for approval of uh the contract addendum. Motion to approve. Second. All right, we have motion and second. Comments? Questions? I believe that figure is the industry standard.
Okay. Anyone else? Comments on that? Take the vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Eyes carry. Thank you very much. Colby, we'll go to C3. Thank you, Mayor. Uh Council, RFQ
202502AP uh terminal apron expansion project. You would recall you all awarded this to Garver a few months back. Since then we've been working closely with the FAA and Liberty and staff on getting this brought forward. Um we had to based off FAA guidance we
had to have independent fee estimate conducted by third party firm to verify the rate with our contracted amount by to [snorts] us. Uh the FAA last week approved that IFE in uh the amount submitted by Garver. And so, we're asking for approval of the
contract in the amount $274,228. >> [cough] >> So moved. Second. Um and that contract is to do that particularly that grant we just spoke about 1.1 million dollar grant uh for that apron terminal expansion secured by Congressman Dunn's office uh
which will expand the apron around the new terminal. Um so, again uh we are continuing to work with uh the FAA and Liberty uh and uh Garver on this so we'll be tracking that, but we'll look for approval to get this thing started as soon as possible.
Okay. Any questions? Comments? This is all grant money, correct? Correct. The city >> I ask this at every meeting when something comes up about the airport is because inevitably [snorts] I'm always asked on the street why y'all putting so much money in the airport. This is grant
money and I just want to keep this out there that this is not coming out of the Phoenix Springs the citizens taxpayer pocket. I'm asked every meeting when the airport comes up. So, this is just for clarification.
City does have a 5% match on the grant which we will we have to be funding. We'll be able to cover out of airport funding. What's that equate to? Uh 55,000. Oh, you said Oh, this one's the 1.1? Yes, ma'am. Okay.
Any other questions? All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Eyes carry. Thank you very much. We'll go to 4 C4. Thank you, Mayor. Uh Council, you will recall when you all awarded uh the runway 927 extension widening project to uh the
contractor based on our bids, we shared with you that we would be bringing back some additional uh alternatives for the project as well. And so, Garver has provided to us what it cost for them to design those. Um in essence those are those three things
would be right here. Realignment of Gene Hurley Road to the west. So, you all already agreed and awarded to move Gene Hurley from Gene Hurley to the south. This would move the the end around the runway to the west which would have us coming into
compliance for a long time with the air with the airport runway. The second one would be the mill and overlay uh the existing runway pavement. You will recall during the bidding process we were going to do a seal coat, but now uh we would like them to do an
overlay uh the existing portion of that. And then the third one was to is to replace uh existing taxiway edge lighting signage electrical, all that uh because again part of the original bid was only going to replace the taxiway lighting on the runway. So, this would give us one
cohesive unit out there with LED lights which is going to reduce maintenance and reduce utility costs. Uh for them to perform these services on design those three components [clears throat] would be $221,368. Um and we're looking at roughly 45 days for
them to design that and get it to the contractor for them to provide us a change order. >> [snorts] >> So, I'm looking for approval of amendment number three in the amount of $221,368. So moved. Second. I have motion and second. Any questions?
Go ahead. Um Colby, on that with the mill and overlay of the runway, can we ask Garver to give us options on what this what the overlay would be and then what it would be to strengthen the
runway to support the next category of of air airplanes that we you know, probably so we we support I can't remember what category it is right now off the top of my head, but to get to that next category of support for weight on that. If we're going to go ahead and mobilize them, is it the difference
between two passes, four passes of of asphalt to to strengthen the runway? Because the reason why I asked that is staff had a meeting with FDOT at the airport in within the last month in
which they were very explicit the amount of FAA dollars as well as FDOT dollars going to our airports is actually going to shrink. They do not predict it to expand at all. So, if [clears throat] we have people out there who are paving and we have the money, now is the time to pull the
trigger on that. It's like if we pass this opportunity up, we're we're going to be kicking ourselves whenever it's time to to take that next step. So, I'm I'm in I'm in support of it, but I do want to ask the question of what it would take for us to go to that that
next category of weight support. Yes, there's a 5,000-ft capital improvement uh accommodate weight that class of plane. It's still there. Yes. Yes. You want to Yeah.
So, I believe the grading is like on a scale from 1 to 135 as far as thickness of the runway and the weight of airplanes that can come in. I think ours is somewhere around a five, which is 10,000 lb and under. Um and that's not giving us any room for
growth. Um I If we've got the money, the grant money that won't be taken away from infrastructure, uh we need to up our game as far as the size of aircraft that can come in. Um I remember when we had a
uh a Marvel flight a few years back and a a World War II B-17 came in. It exceeded the runway, and you can get away with it once or twice, but if that if something that heavy comes in on a regular basis, um it's going to do a lot of premature damage and wear and tear on our existing
runway. So, yeah, I'm for growth. Um you know, back again, if it's grant money, let's do it. Mayor, I just want to very quickly add to the conversation. I had a conversation with somebody, and and let me preface this with if I could
count how many times I've had these kind of conversations and nothing ever comes to fruition, I'd be counting really, really high. However, I had a conversation with someone within the last month that is in the industry and that said that if if we could support
a certain C-130 type of aircraft, >> That would be me. then there are But I you and I didn't have this conversation. There's I said that at the docks. I I I know, but I had a conversation with someone that is in the industry working for a very, very
large aerospace firm that said that if we could have a hangar and a runway that supported that, for defense contractors and bring that money into the DeFuniak Springs, I'm all about that. >> They would be lining up from what I was told. That's the point. But moving forward, this is uh
cuz this information you really don't have tonight. All right. Correct. And so, Correct. We would We can approve this, we would communicate or we would communicate with them tomorrow or the next day. We can ask them any questions, all right. All right. So, in any way would this create any
kind of delay? Cuz we're we're getting tight here, right? No, we So, we had asked that question. The design like if Garver would design it off the meeting, they're looking at about 45 days to design it once they get notice to proceed. They will ask them any questions to see if it would I highly doubt it. You're still the same
width, same area volume. It may We said it may be another lift on the right. We'll bring that back to you where it looks like. Because then if you get you were to get into actually changing the base by nature, then yeah, you guys can have a conversation. Right. Okay. Okay. All right.
We have a question the second. We need to move forward. Any other questions, comments? All in favor say aye. Nay. All right. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. It's carried. Thank you very much. All right, Colby, we'll go to five, C5.
Mayor, this is discussion direction on the city slogan survey results. We talked about it last meeting. Council had a 2-2. We need to bring it back when we have a full board. Councilman Hedden's here. Her and I discussed it. So, again, this is up for the board for the council. If you decide to move
forward with something, great. If you don't, that's fine as well. We can we can pause it, get through get through budget, come back to it whenever you like. So, totally up to the council how we move forward. Okay. You want to update us from how we left it? Uh well, I believe last time it was a
2-2. Two council members were in favor of the top ranked, which is Historic Uptown. Two council members were in favor of Everyone's Hometown. It failed for 2-2. Got you. Okay. So, we need a motion to discuss I guess that way.
>> [laughter] >> Um I'm I'll make a motion that we uh adopt what the public uh survey showed the most popular. Um and that was uh Historic Uptown. Tony.
I'll second that. I motion second. Questions, comments? From anyone? All in favor say aye. I have a discussion, Mayor. I'm just Sorry. Uh so, when you need to hear the motion again?
No, I heard it, but you know, I thought about this. Colby brought this up to me on Thursday, and I said, Colby, we spent all that time in February doing that five-year Rep Teless plan, and Mr. Harrison and I actually were tasked with coming up with a vision statement. So, I
looked at all of these and thought, "Oh, I want one that aligns with the vision statement." Because if we adopt something different, then why are we always doing something opposite of what we say our vi- you know, if it's if we've set our vision, and our vision we
said, "Building a city to live, work, worship, and play." That was the smaller version. It was uh a little bit bigger. So, I kind of went through these, and I narrowed it down to two. Um the one I thought really fully captured the spirit, the values, and the
identity that what we did with that five-year plan was Small Town Big Heart, and it doesn't sound like that's where either one of these were. It was on the list. I think it actually was the number two vote-getter. But would you all re- even consider something like that?
Um and I'm going to tell you why I thought that, because our history isn't just founded in our buildings. It's about the people and the generations of people. The city's been defined by neighbors helping our neighbors, uh strong families, faith, and a shared
sense of uh our community. So, that's kind of why I went to that Small Town Big Heart. I thought, "Okay, remember how I kept saying during that when we were doing that planning session, we need something that grabs everybody that's small enough that I was embarrassed. I didn't even know we had a previous
vision statement. So, that's kind of where I was at. So, I would recommend would we all consider it's on the list. It is what the public has put forth, but would you all consider Small Town Big Heart? She can do a substitute I guess, Clay.
Uh I will say this, cuz one thing that I mentioned and I have a lot of historic friends. Some of them are here tonight. And and they've uh of course, one of the things that as I became mayor, I thought I appreciated the history of this city,
but I had no idea uh you know, how valuable it was. But the thing I walk away with is I love fact that we were trying to preserve, save, and restore artifacts, art,
building, architectural structure. But the thing that I think [clears throat] about more than any and all that is what was going on between the ears of the people who built all this. Uh these were some very cutting-edge, progressive
entrepreneurs. Uh now we look back now and say, "Oh, that's old Tommy." Well, there were no Tommy when they were here. They were cutting-edge. And they were very industrial-minded. And so, when you you need the mixture of artifacts
and the mentality, I believe, you know, if you ever want to see the real picture of DeFuniak Springs. I mean, the you look back on this biggest part of this downtown burned to the ground. They rebuilt it without Allstate and without the little
you know, lizard and and uh and all those different insurance companies, you know. Uh it's some incredible, incredible people and things that happened here. And so, Mr. Mayor, was it Geico? >> [laughter] >> All right, Geico.
My cats love them. But anyway, uh so, I just want to all that if there's some way that could be inclusive in our statement, I I'd love to see that happen. And so, um you want to make a substitute motion? Amy?
I'd like to try, but I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to pin us down. If we want to walk away and think about it and bring it back, I just I don't want to Go ahead, Glenn. I just I just said, you know, I I I remember us doing that work.
But, you know, I look at there were 409 survey responses from the public. And our staff put [clears throat] the work in, and you know, I I look at this agenda item form. Look at the bottom of it at recommendation staff recommendation.
And they they made the recommendation that we follow what the public wishes wanted. And that that kind of leaned me towards it. And I did vote for this. We had a 2-2 in the last meeting. And there were several good good ones there, you know. Um
But I I just if if we if we ask for the public's input, and then we don't we don't follow it, we I wonder I wonder what happens the next time we ask for public input, you know. That That's only that that's that's what made me
uh finally decide to make a motion if I if I have to. So, that's all I said. Any response to that, Amy? Y- You know, I think the one that you're recommending and the one that the staff recommended it did take in the most and I want to
acknowledge that it received the highest number of public votes and actually it was my number two on uh you know, I just chose small town big heart because I thought it reflected the people more so than the historic beauty
quiet charm. I felt like that that too identifies and reflects what our city looks like. It just to me it wasn't the people and to me it's more about the people than it was for the the looks but um I I will support historic beauty quiet
charm if we want to go that route. We all have different opinions. Um everybody's everybody's hometown that resonates. All inclusive if I've ever heard it and it rolls off the tongue and you don't have to remember that what's our motto
is everybody's hometown. But at this point with everybody having a difference of opinion I really don't care. So, let's just uh let's just pick one and get All right, so we we have a motion and a second on the table. I'll go ahead Todd,
you have something? Okay. All right, so I'll go ahead and call it for a vote. Uh So, what is the what is the motion? The motion's for the historic beauty quiet charm. That was the first and the second? Okay. Just a follow up with the public and so
Well, Todd, I know everybody here has an opinion so [clears throat] we'll we'll allow for the public if y'all want to couple of you want to come in and make comments uh before we vote. I would distinguish between Henderson versus the city. One of the suggestions
made was that we put out the top three and if we could put out the top three with explanations and then let the public choose. That that might get us somewhere. What do you think? I kind of need to know what your purpose is.
Are you just looking for something that is soothing? Are you looking for something that's going to market the town? There's a distinct historic quiet charm. It's very sweet. It doesn't really tell you anything. It
doesn't grab people and make them want to move to Defuniak. So, you need to decide what is your purpose in doing this logo. Thank you. Anyone else before we go to vote or
So, you want to take the top three and come back? Well, that would take uh All we have to do here Clay since we do have a motion and we don't have a second somebody withdraw. >> So, the motion is withdrawn. Okay, so do you want to kick this can down the road or do you
want to All right, let's go ahead and let her speak and we'll see what the council wants. Um when I had asked a couple on the street if they thought historic beauty quiet charm
captured Defuniak and they were from the bar. And they without a doubt said, "Oh, absolutely. That totally encapsulates the value of Defuniak Springs. It's not just a small town. It is a small town but it's got such a historic
value to it and there's not a lot of history that's um I can say are things here and important. So, the fact that we have these old buildings and we do have that quiet charm and um I think the community as you guys have
seen does value that. But whatever the council decides, I think it's wonderful. Thank you very much. Can I ask her Miss Jaden, are you guys already using that logo to market certain things for downtown events? So, as far as it comes
with any event that we are advertising for the downtown event, we we do. Yes, ma'am. Okay. >> Marketing any money that we used to spend on marketing that, yes, ma'am. Thank you. Okay so
uh we want to reconsider to give it You already vote? What about the rest of All right, let's do it. Okay, here we go. [clears throat] All in favor say I. I. I. I. I. I. All right. >> [laughter]
>> All right. Okay, we're going to move to 4-6 4-C-6. Toby. Uh council, this is the historic district design standards. We talked about this a little bit last time. Uh we're bringing this forward. Uh CRA has
completed this. The packet you see in there uh presented to me and uh at the time told me to do it what we like with. So, I need the council direction on how we'd like to go forward. Ultimately, I think we have three choices. One is to uh
file in a special volume cabinet. Two is to tell us to use it as a reference or guide of our existing ordinance. Not to alter our ordinance but something that the staff could use and people to understand what we're looking for and how they can try to comply with our existing ordinance. Uh and three is if you want to go further than that, we
take it and we implement update our ordinance to meet it and its requirements. So, ultimately, I think those are your three options and we're just looking for direction on what you'd like us to do. Well, Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to
make the historic district design standards optional and something that staff can recommend or guess as they come up rather than uh rather than a standard for them to to have to abide by. Second it. The more of the guidelines you want to use. Yes, we
got them. Uh yes, ma'am. Is what you guys are saying your first and second not to formally adopt this that nobody has to comply with it. Is that what I'm hearing you say because I don't want it I understand his position is we're going
to have this in city hall to give people who come in the historic the in the historic district offer them the opportunity to use these if they want but it's not a requirement and they cannot be penalized for not doing it. Okay. >> Not adopting it as an ordinance, it's just a
white Let me ask you a kind of a simple question, I think. Is that if they come in here and they fall under these guys which would be agreed on by the council uh they're good to go. If they're not they're probably going to have to come back to us. No, if this motion passes,
they can come in here and say, "Thank you." and hand them right back to Mr. Wall and say I don't want it. And they don't have to fill out any application or anything like that. >> go through all the state the certificate of appropriateness is still the ordinance. I'm not changing our rules. I'm just saying all his motion does is say, "Hey, here's
a recommended set of guidelines to follow." but it doesn't mean that But you're not bound to them. Okay. Give me a talk here first, okay. So, so I have two I have two things that I would like to request that come out of this motion. How how we can stylize that if there's
if there's consensus on it. Number one is there's at least 26 instances in these guides of shall. There's a same amount of occurrences for will. Shall and will. Shall and will. If these are guidelines that help people
get to or get through the COA process, I think that those terms need to be examined by staff and either pulled out or rewritten because shall and will should not be in a guideline type of document. Because then it implies that that is an >> that it's a mandatory. Yeah.
>> my that's my first thing. The second thing is um I recently attended a an event um hosted by um for Defuniak on historic preservation. And for the second time I experienced [snorts] someone saying that they were
not aware as a real estate professional of the requirements that have been in our code since 1992 and that is that when a house is bought or sold in the historic district, there's a required disclosure that is in our ordinance that should be handed to the purchaser of
that property. So, I would also like to formalize formally ask staff that we on a yearly basis notice anybody that is doing business as a real estate agent within Defuniak Springs that this is in the ordinance and that they're required
to do this disclosure. Mr. Mayor, I think I'd go ahead. So, if we were looking for a synonym to describe what we're fixing to vote on the word would be suggestion. Correct. I can go with that. Can I ask one question because I think
it may end some of this. So, should do you feel and and I do at this point that we should give staff direction to take this back, take out the shall statements and all and then bring it back to us so we pass the current version rather than That would if you want to make sure that
what staff is handing out is the same thing you saw, yes, that's what you should do. Then I would like to withdraw my motion. Or you want to modify it? Modify. Well, if he if he withdraws the motion and gives staff direction, we would come back with what the suggested
what the suggestion document would look like. Yes, so everybody can see it. Okay. Did you have something else to say? The city would probably prefer to put it on the website than print the documents. [clears throat] So, maybe it's something we can just scroll through down the street. We'll bring it back to structure 301.
Don't don't control anything. Okay. Yeah, um you know, the historic beauty thing, you know, to to try to tell people what to do with their home just is tough. And and and that's tough on code enforcement and what have you. A lot of work has went into
creating this. Um and and I I think as a guideline of some sort is okay, but I think if we want to maintain these homes and and that historic beauty, we have to have a way to do it. And um Kobe, I don't know if we talked about
this not in our our our draft agenda meeting but you know, I I'd rather incentivize people in some way than than than I had threatening them with code violations and fines and what have you to to treat these homes with the respect they deserve. But that's very expensive. But
that's going to take that would take some thought, you know, for us and we could always come back and you know, change something at a later date, but I would like us to to to think about is if uh if there's a way to incentivize, whether it's I I I don't know. I don't know. We'll just have to explore that.
People that do follow these and follow it, keep these homes in top-notch shape. That's that beauty we're talking about, right? And and and it keeps property values up. Uh I couldn't think anything worse than having one of nice homes on Circle Drive or anywhere in this historic district and then you have one
on either side of you that is going downhill and not following the historic guidelines and what have you. And you can't make them it unless we have but but we could possibly incentivize people to do that in some way. And That's but but our ordinance, doesn't it
already kind of address like the minimum standards uh to get the COA you're talking about? So I just want to understand what Mr. Harrison's asking or or his concern is. So you want something over and above
what we already have or maybe just modify what we have to or you're saying to incentivize them if they would follow these suggestions. Um enforcement might be tough, uh but
incentivizing in in some practical way that is is is fair way to do. It's just something to explore, that's all. I I don't know what that looks like. I I'd like to add to that. I I completely agree with that. I've I've had my my fair share of
of dealing with ordinances that we've had to unwind in the past. And and what that's like in the master plan and what that entails. So I'm I'm wholeheartedly agreeing with you that I would much rather create pathways that help people do the right thing. And and very much incentivize them. So that could come in the form of expedited
approval processes. If you follow the guideline, you get an expedited approval process. If you don't follow the guideline, you go through a standard approval process. You could also do stuff with the CRA. CRA actually already has some of these programs and we could we could tweak and tune those those
programs to continue offer incentives for preservation. The one thing I do want to add to is there's there's a distinction. Even if you go back and read the master file from 91 92, there's a distinction between a contributing structure and a
non-contributing structure. And we never can add any more additional contributing structures. We're we're locked in. So anything that we do in the future needs to focus on that and that needs to be kind of the the the main lens that this is looked through. If
you're not a contributing structure, then it just needs to be appropriate. That's my thought. And if you are a contributing structure, then maybe you you look at some sort of expedited approval or incentives to to do the right thing or do or to go above and beyond. So that that's just my thoughts.
Yeah. Um and and that's a good point because the the the properties that are not contributing structures have been changed at at some point in time in the past. So we certainly wouldn't want to lose any that are contributing
by people not following the guidelines. Okay well so I agree. I think and I think also as part of the strategic plan, we bring that back for final you know, there's some stuff there that council talked about [snorts] doing to start working toward that. And then cross my
opportunity like I said earlier I'm saying CRA partner with local local partners So how long you think it'll be before we bring back after I'll have to go through it. I will think I'll bring it back by next week, but at the latest probably the first meeting.
Okay, that's okay. We can get it done in 30 days. Okay. All right. We'll we'll bring it back then. Okay, so that's 6B and that's with Swanburg. No, that'll be under 6B. This is four. This is 4C C6. More than I'm ready to handle. Don't
jump way down there. Okay. All right. C4. Mhm. You're you're We're on C6. Okay. All right. Well, then C6. So 6CB.
Okay. All right. What up? My bad. I'm putting under C6. Okay. All right. Good enough. All right. So this time we uh we'll go to Wayne Charles, is that correct? All right. Pretty up.
Good evening, Mr. Mayor. My name is not Wayne Charles. It's Rick Rule and I'm vice president of the group. And I understand you have some questions. So how may I help you? >> [laughter]
>> Or may I help you? >> [clears throat] >> But what is it, Kobe? Uh there's So this is the application and questions that came up and I know code enforcement officer Charles about it for him. I thought that's fine. We appreciate that. Uh you know, this is the same application as last year except
for with the one change is street closure from 7th to 9th. Well, actually there are a couple changes, but yes, that's the main one. Um and so you have a problem with that on the Baldwin? Let me ask you a question. I know I know you uh
uh probably more of a competitive issue than it is a space issue. I don't know, but uh uh if I didn't know if you talked to Main Street or any of them about you having they they still want to have a
Oh, for this next year? I have not spoken with them. Okay. Yeah, because I know that in the past it typically hasn't been a farmer's market on that day. That's correct. And uh it is a usually a really cold time of year.
But uh I didn't know if y'all had had that conversation or if it's something y'all willing to have. We had the conversation for this year, the 13th, uh process that we had. Um and the conversation went well. >> [clears throat]
>> We decided to give it a try. They wanted to put the marketplace up there on Baldwin. Yeah. We as you know have vendors that come on the circle and count on us and a little bit of privacy there. Um so what happened was um we said, "Sure, go ahead and let's give it a
try." They put a float in the parade, which is always great when you have somebody that, you know, wants to participate. Um and it was amicable and not a problem at all. After the fact, for 12 years, our vendors would come and they would
park up after they got set up. They would go through park on Baldwin in those couple of blocks dressed up. This time there was no place for them to go. That with the fact that there was now another event that was almost directly
competitive with some of the vendors in our group. They were not pleased with that. Quite frankly, we were a little surprised that somebody was even allowed to have an event. We actually captured the amphitheater to prevent that from
happening with our event. We put a band in there. So um anyway, we would prefer um to have Baldwin blocked off from 7:00 until we're filled, which is probably going to be about 9:00. We'll
open it all up. It's in the in the permit application. That's how we want to deal with that. So there'll be no parking issues as far as anybody else is concerned. It'll be the same that we've done 12 years before. So we hadn't seen a problem with that, but if [clears throat] you do, please let's talk about it.
Willing to go wherever that issue is. Now, is that picture clear you guys? What their desire? Go ahead. It it's it sounds like it's it's clear, but uh you know, city has
Lakefest and city doesn't block off Baldwin Avenue to hold Lakefest, which is on this this year's information for the vendors and what have you. They anticipate about 5,000 people. I think you all anticipate
12, 1,500 or 2,000 or something. >> we'll probably be closer to 5,000 this year. Right. So so the city doesn't block off Baldwin. There are businesses open on Saturdays. There are. And your your your event is all day event. Um and
4th of July the DBP, the Downtown Business Professional Association 4th of July celebration, they don't close off Baldwin Avenue. Um and so, you know, for the Mardi Gras vendors to park even when they have a farmers market downtown, those vendors are asked to park away from
uh Baldwin. And so to to close two blocks down uh for for parking for Mardi Gras on a on a business Saturday, we have dealt with that before. Um
so that's that's kind of different. And I will say the farmers market, you know, they they did expand. They used to end the farmers market in November. Uh mid-November typically because then Mistletoe Market, Merry Main Street started. Small Business Saturday, which
usually is last Saturday of November. Um and so this past year they expanded farmers market into the into December as well. So it wasn't just February on the Mardi Gras all day. But that one that
one day was kind of special, you know, and then the farmers market didn't really kick off officially till March. So I see your point there. Um so I'm not sure. I I I don't I have no idea what the um ask will be this year for the farmers market, whether
it's going to be extended year round or what. I haven't heard that. But that's just my concern is closing downtown uh for vendor parking. That's not what we're trying to do. on a business We didn't know how to state this, okay? We had a little bit of help with putting
this together. The idea is that Okay, farmers market blocks it off for two blocks from 8:00 till noon. So what's the difference? We block the whole thing off. Can't get through one way or the other. All we're asking is for the same thing
that we've asked and had without asking for the 12 previous years, nothing up there. We also have vendors that won't come back if they have competition with that. And quite honestly, we're a small group. That's part of our income.
But honestly, we don't charge to have you in our parade. We do all sorts of work with the city. We do all sorts of giving with different organizations in the city. And we've been here a long time. We started in 2009. Our first parade was in 2013.
And we've been here every single year doing everything we can. And all of a sudden now we've got vendors that are complaining because we have direct competition across the tracks. Those people can come in sign up with us. It's not that expensive to be a vendor with us.
>> [clears throat] >> They're welcome to do that. So I really don't see a need to block off something that we've been having for 13 years going on 14 just to appease a couple blocks on Baldwin that would have been just the same.
Like I said, when those people are done signing in and moving their cars, which is just whoever they are, everything is open back up again. So it's not going to hurt. We actually have >> [clears throat] >> seen businesses open on Saturday because we had a parade
that weren't open before on Saturday. So I'm thinking that we're helping them more than hurting them. Thought. So for my entire tenure on the council, and this this is not the first time something like this situation's come up. My opinion has always been
that it's one sandbox and we all have to work together and we all have to play together in that sandbox. There have been instances in the past and I'll just go and say it. Peddler's Alley was was a prime example of that. Uh the gentleman that originally organized Peddler's Alley in the middle of our
council meeting said, "If you approve any other event while my Peddler's Alley is going on then I'm I'm out." He he canceled the event right there in the middle of council meeting. It is my opinion that when you do an event in this city, you don't have
exclusivity over this entire city. There have been other conversations that I've been privy to to some of these conversations about some of the other events. Uh some of the other events that were named were Lake Fest, 4th of July, Christmas Reflections, Mistletoe Market.
If someone's having an event, they they request whatever area that they want, that does not give them exclusivity over the rest of the city or even the rest of downtown. I do want to to be clear that this
council, including myself, changed the rules in good faith to help Cru the Act because originally it was a 90-day limit on the parking permits. So in in good faith, we actually changed
the rules to support Cru the Act. We appreciate that. However, to to stand here even tonight and say, "Well, we didn't like the way someone did something, so we're going to basically try to maneuver them and shut them down." To me, that's not good faith. That's not
our point. Our point is that Main Street and we're still there. Yes. So I'm in support of this application minus the closure of Baldwin. If you're going to have vendors, just like it was mentioned earlier,
it it is standard practice to look at those vendors and say, "You need to park away from where the event is occurring." But I also disagree with telling those vendors to go occupy Baldwin Avenue where we have businesses that are open and and serve
serve customers 365 days a year that are permanent brick-and-mortar businesses. So I'm in support of this application minus the the the Baldwin closure. There's plenty of room around the lake yard for people to park. There's plenty of
room along the railroad tracks all the way down to South Second Street for people to park on either side of the railroad tracks as an example. There's plenty of room uh on the other side of Knight Street where um CenturyLink just took down the cell tower for people to park that need additional
parking. So I I also disagree with the way it was shaped of the the farmers market that day operated in the morning and did not compete with Cru the Act in the afternoon. No, that's true.
Also, the farmers market only closes down with one block. They do not close down multiple blocks of Baldwin Avenue. So taking all that into consideration, I'm in support of this because again, the city's operating in good faith and we've even bent the rules and changed
the rules to support Cru the Act. So I'm in support of this, but not with the closure of Baldwin. Go ahead. Okay, so as far as parades go, you guys are the best. You guys got the best music. You got the best outfits. You got you got the best festivity, the
atmosphere, everything going on. And uh I really look forward to y'all coming every every year. Um I hope you don't ever decide to take your ball and go home because something that you request is denied.
But in simple terms, um if it's not broke, don't fix it. And you got a really good thing going on right now. You're doing a great service to our city. And as far as having multiple um festivities and and multiple
uh events going on simultaneously, to use a military term, that's a a force multiplier as far as to our businesses, you know, in capitalism, you know, and you know, everybody getting together and spending money and having a good time.
Um that's a force multiplier. So to cut something out, I think y'all got a good thing going on right now. And it's not broke. Well, I would agree with you. This was just a surprise for us and the
reaction that we got from people that come enjoying us. Like I said, I we have no issue with other events taking place. We just have an issue with a competitive event that upsets the people that are coming to join our
event. That I don't think is quite fair, but you are the council and you guys are going to do what you do. So that's okay. We will do whatever it is that you decide for us to do. Would it help if we said
open you know, close Baldwin from and just that portion from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. as a guarantee? Would that help? I'm not a business person on this uh as far as down at the affected area, but we do have business people on this uh dais that are more qualified for that answer
than me. I'm a I'm a subject matter expert >> Yeah. So what what I'm saying is for 12 years that this was the standard and no business ever complained. Okay. We never had an issue with that. And I'm just saying that the vendors that come,
they like to park right across the tracks because they leave things in their cars. It's easy back and forth. It's just something that they got used to. We never got faced with a situation like that before. So anyway, we looked at it and we took a you know,
took action accordingly and it just wasn't working correctly for us, but it's not going to stop us. We work really hard to do something for the city. We bring other crews here with floats and things that some people have never seen.
We bring some enjoyment. We do Halloween and we do Christmas and we really try to give back and And you you you succeeded. Well, thank you for that. We appreciate that and we worked really hard and it's just not necessarily really easy to do. But,
we will abide by your decision. No question. Thank you. Well, I think you know, some things, particularly if it's competition between farmers market and uh Mardi Gras be something you guys could work out
without you know, getting us in the fix. You know what I'm saying? We're not trying to do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand. I understand. And so, you know, I don't want to you know, you got to see what what what what what are the others going to gain that day, you know. The others?
Your competition. I don't know what they're going to gain. Yeah. And so, that would be a question I would ask them, but that's that's for you to do, not me. And uh but anyway, um if we get involved, I think the street closures
probably not real popular, you know. Yeah. Mr. Mayor. Yeah. I'd like to make a motion to approve the special event permit without the closure of Baldwin. Second. I have motion second. Questions? Anyone?
What what does the application have? What what from what time from what time is he wanting Baldwin closed? The same the same as the rest of the roads. With the exception of there a caveat. With the caveat that I'm reading, it says if this is a space that's not needed, barricades will be removed to restore
public parking access. My only concern with that is that we have that if you were to approve that, we have to work that out. Is who's going to remove and what time is when they're available park? That would be cuz we don't want to take them all bring them back tail. It's one of those deals once you set them, they're there and whenever they're moved, they're moved. So, that if they were to approve that, that's
something you'd have to work out. But, So, So, your application is asking us to close Baldwin down from what time to what time? >> 7:00 a.m. to 4:30. Well, oh, and but you just now offered from 7:00 to 9:00 would make you satisfied. The only thing is in the morning when the vendors come in,
they come around and they park there. That's the only thing that's ever happened in 12 years. But, then they would move they would move by 9:00 a.m. so that the businesses could operate. No, you're thinking not. I think once the vendors park, they're probably parked for the day.
Oh, the vendors? Yes. They park track side. So, the other side's completely open and usually it's right across from where they are. That's what they've done. We've never had a complaint from the business. We've never had any issue with other parking or anything like that. The only thing that we had, we had this car
show going on. We had traffic that runs back and forth through there and it just created a lot of confusion. I wanted to ask if so, is the parking for the two blocks for patrons of Mardi Gras? Two blocks. But, it's closed off. So, how is it for
patrons? Because they don't even start coming until about 11:00. We're all there like at 7:00 in the morning to get things started. I'm I'm good with the closure of the circle and the space you're wanting to occupy there. Um much like Councilman
Beerbaum, I I question the 7th to 9th street closure there. Um I would feel more comfortable with staff notifying us that, hey, an event's already been scheduled for this time frame when anything else comes forward or them working with other parties that
may have another event during that time frame to try and get them to a different date. Um but I I agree with Councilman Beerbaum. I'm comfortable with everything but the Baldwin Avenue closure. See, we only have one event and it moves with Mardi Gras.
So, it moves 30 days one way or the other depending. This year it's very early. Well, it's coming here it's very early. It's on the 16th, so that's going to be goodness knows what kind of weather we got here with the Christmas decorations, you know.
But, no, we will we will do whatever you decide to do. We're just asking for a little help with this and like I said, we had feedback from our own vendors and the market you know, they the marketplace vendors there, they were invited to come and
join ours. We have room. So. It's taking me this long to kind of get the real picture here. >> [laughter] >> Sorry. No, that's fine. That's fine. That's my fault. Uh all right, we have a motion second.
Uh is there any public comment? Anyone in the audience? Well, if somebody comes, you >> [laughter] >> Is anybody anybody coming? I think he is. Hi, Cindy. You're here. Jason and Amy are here. Of course. So, Rick and I had a long talk last year
trying to get things figured out and I don't know who all came, but that was such an incredible event. So, if you guys didn't come last year, please come. We had a great time. I thank you to Rick for sharing his festivities with Main Street. The vendors were incredibly thrilled to be
able to celebrate Mardi Gras alongside them. Community does bring community. Uh Main Street likes to have a community mindset. We don't have a scarcity mindset. Community does build community. Um and as part of our conversation that we ended up
uh dealing out after an hour long discussion was we were going to have a a float in the parade, which we did. We had a great time. Ran out of candy too fast. We will not be making that mistake again. Um I did buy him a beer, so I hope he
enjoyed it. >> [laughter] >> Um but, we really looked forward to having that and I think the more community events that we have, the better. We do have cooperative events. The DDA Halloween happening. We joined with them had fantastic outcomes.
Um and also with the Breakfast, we'll be having a float in the parade as well. Um anything that Main Street can do to help build the community, we are absolutely all here for. Um and we really hope that we can collaborate and have a fantastic uh event for Mardi Gras. And as far as the
vendors come, we did have a discussion on getting some more vendors in. I sent an application out to 230 vendors that we had access to plus 65 food truck vendors and I encouraged them to reach out to him and to apply at his event
because community does build community. So, anything that Main Street can do to help that, um we are definitely here for. Thank you very much. Anyone else? All in favor say aye. Aye. And this is to approve without the
parking. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. That's carried. Thank you very much and looking forward to a great event. All right. Uh well, at this time we'll open the floor for citizen comments. Go ahead. Kim. Kim.
Oh no mercy. >> [laughter] >> I've been trying my best to get you up here and now I'm going to pass you over. All right, go ahead, Kim. Thank you all for adding this to the agenda. We really appreciate it. I'm here just as a spokesperson. I'm not I'm I'm the connector in the bunch. I'm
the I'm the we have other people working behind the scenes. You [clears throat] have Kelly Meisner with Iron and Grace, Tim Jackson Tim Jackson. Yeah, talk a little faster. is also working with us. For those of you who know and love Candy Morgan at King's House,
she had a very unfortunate diagnosis last week of colon cancer and we want to support her financially as best we can by hosting a fundraiser. And we're it's still coming together a little bit.
We don't have all of the answers, but as you'll see on the application that we submitted today, what we're requesting is Circle Drive closure from 7th over to Live Oak. So, essentially around the amphitheater.
We're going to have some bands come in and perform. This event would be from 4:00 to 7:00 to 8:00-ish. Um and and we'll have three food vendors. We would like to be able to
serve wine, beer and spirits so that we'll be able to increase the amount that we'll be able to give back to Candy. I've spoken with James Hurley and he and his staff are willing to work with us
for the security piece of it. And we are just open to any questions you may have. Motion to approve. Second. All right. Any questions? Comments? From dice? There's no other comments on that table, right? There's not.
Yeah. Anyone else? Yeah, go ahead, Amy. No, I didn't have any. Anyone else? All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. That's carried. Thank you very much. >> [laughter] >> Mhm. All right, now we'll go to citizen comments
>> [clears throat] >> and uh I you to hold it to 3 minutes or less. Please state your name. If you're representing an organization, please state that as well. Thank you. I'm Dr. Henderson, resident of the city, representing Forward DeFuniak.
I'd like to remind the council that Mr. Wallace wanted some help and better guidelines when he had to face the certificate of appropriateness that might be questioned. And Forward DeFuniak tried to survey
other towns to find out what they had done, and we were going to produce a set for your consideration. However, while we were doing that, you got three historic districts instead of one, and that was beyond our capabilities. And that's when uh CRA hired the
consultants. They came, they had a number of public meetings, and they took the public's suggestions. Uh I'd like to say that um they went away from you will
to these are the best practices. That doesn't say you absolutely have to do it, but that gives Mr. Wallace something to go by. In the future, if we ever get to have a review board, it would be their job
to help people meet the best practices. And it won't be the same for everybody, you know, there'll be different based on their property. An incentive that might be offered uh would be for those who are restoring
um historic homes. It's very costly, but it puts them also into a bigger tax bracket. If you y'all could give some tax incentive, and you could prorate that in some way that would make it fair based on
how much they put into it for a certain number of years, that might be a pretty incentive. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes ma'am. Well, I've enjoyed all the discussions tonight. Uh [laughter] and I appreciate the courtesy between the members of council.
I agree with everything that Lenny has said. You know, I'm pretty big on historic preservation. You may recognize that. Mhm. Uh I have a question that I just want to put to you at the moment. We talk a lot about our buildings and our history and so forth and how
critical it is. But, we're not doing everything we can to preserve that. You notice that I've talked a lot about blight recently. Yeah. And we need to take some action on that kind of thing cuz it's getting worse, not better.
That needs to be part of the code enforcement, and that person needs to have some help. Uh the other question I want to put to you is just something to think about. You know, we have a wonderful Chautauqua building down in the start Everybody knows where it is.
But, we can't do a whole lot with it because it is so small. Now, I've got a four-day event coming up that is bringing a lot of very positive press to DeFuniak, called the Summit on the Circle. I would like to expand that, but there's
no place else to do it. I think you're finishing the second floor soon, are you not? Mhm. Are you thinking about doing anything to put the auditorium on the back of that building so we could have a bigger venue? And Todd's real good about letting us use
the theater when it's available. But, like everything else, it's it's pretty busy. Mhm. So, trying to get into that venue is an issue. I can't grow unless I have space. Right. Are you talking about or thinking about any kind of grant to restore that
auditorium? We haven't in quite a while. We used to talk about >> Well, get busy. >> [laughter] >> What are you waiting for? I'm I'm curious. What are you waiting for? >> Yeah. Well, it's not the things The skids are not greased. In other words, it's not an easy thing,
you know, when you start trying to get money. And uh >> But, if you don't try, you don't get it. Well, it's your Yeah. Well, that's not my That's not my full-time job. I feel like it's not mine. Yeah. It's just not full-time job together. >> [laughter] >> But, if I could encourage you to really
think about Yeah. trying to get some grant money [clears throat] to put that auditorium in the back, that would make a huge difference for this community. And thank you for your attention to this matter. Thank you. >> [laughter]
>> Yes, sir, Dan. Um I would like to point out that um big partner in helping us uh get as far as we've gotten with uh the Chautauqua Hall of Brotherhood is Liberty Partners, and they have come through in time and time and time again, and we wouldn't be working on the second
floor right now if it wasn't for their grants. Mhm. And when the second floor is finished, we're not done with that because the group from Tallahassee, I took it all the way up into the cupola, and and That's good enough for now. That's good enough for now.
>> [laughter] >> And and they looked at it, and they were like, "So, there's more work to be done here." And I said, "Yes." And I When we got up to the very, very top, there was a wasp nest in there, and they said, "Well, how do these wasps get in? You need to get in here." And I showed them all the air holes, and you could
see daylight coming in from the outside around the tundra. And uh they were like, "Okay, so y'all got more work here to do." And I said, "We sure do." So, uh we've kind of got the historic preservation on the state level on our side. We've got Liberty Partners on our side. So, it's uh it's
going to happen. It's not going to happen >> it might not be that quick. Well, unfortunately, that not might not be the case, you know, >> [laughter] >> so or mine, you know, it's uh one of the most frustrating things about sitting at this dais is that things just don't move at the pace that
we would like them to. Yeah, I mean, it's just paperwork after paperwork. So, that's why it's my job to push it. Yes, ma'am, and you do an outstanding job of that. >> [laughter] >> All right. Quick question, Mayor. I know with the library, we were talking recently about the the the addition to
the library. Does it qualify if the What you have to do with the roof? It had to It had something different because it wasn't part of the historic original. the original building, so and and adding on to the auditorium would be a wonderful thing, but we would
encounter the same kind of deal. Oh, no. No, it was original. No, ma'am. No. The front part would not be considered the historic part of it. >> Yes, it would. Yes, it would. But, the new There are guidelines for what you need to do to add on. Oh. We could not
restore it exactly as it was, but we can make a difference by pulling it in, putting different siding on, maybe painting it a light ivory instead of a different kind of board, so that people looking at it could know right away, "This is
historic. This is an addition." They do it all over the country. Good. Okay. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> All right. Anyone else? Yes sir. Hello, I'm Tim Scott, I'm all the way from Joplin, Missouri. All right. So, I
just had something to say. Todd Bierbaum is my son-in-law. Mhm. And I've read some really bad press all the way in Joplin, Missouri. So, I'm just here to honor him Mhm. and thank him for for his service. The city's lucky to have him.
And if everybody knew how much he carried on his shoulders for this town, Mhm. you would appreciate him more. Yeah, thank you very much. How much did you pay him to say that? >> [laughter] >> He is staying at my house tonight. Oh, my lord. Anyone else?
All right, we're going to close the floor for public comments. Somebody else have Mr. Mayor. >> sorry, who was that? Yes, sir, come on. Didn't want to interrupt you. Sure. Um I'm John Joiner. I live over here on West Orange. Yeah.
And I got a couple of subjects I want to talk about, and the first one is my water [clears throat] bill. The I mean, the dis- it's just so inconsistent. I brought this um Give it 3 minutes. I paid my water bill, and had no balance
after zero. And this was on March 16th. Zero balance, and a couple days later, I get a bill, and it's $296 and 99 cents. What they tell you?
>> So, they can't tell me. I've I mean, and it and this is not like the first time, [clears throat] you know, I've been up there quite a few times with discrepancies. Um it's me, my wife, and my daughter
that live in the house. Mhm. I've done construction all my life. I've I've ran a new line from the meter Mhm. all through my house. I have my All my fixtures are 3 years old or newer. So,
um one of the discrepancies was last July. I went I went in, and they said I had a $423 water bill where I used 11,400 gallons in the month of July.
And there's there was no way. Mhm. I mean, you usually I could see you around 3, 4,000. Yeah. And and we all work, and and I don't have any leaks, Mhm. but I had to pay that.
And there was nothing I could do about it. Right. You know, and like I said, and that wasn't the first time, but I I just let it go and let it go, and You know, I I I've not had a balance due, balance forward, whatever they they want to call it.
But, I mean, that's black and white, zero, and a couple of days later I get $296.99. How How is that even possible? And then the service period is from January 25th through March 10th.
How did I have a balance zero on March 16th? Tell me what we can do there. Uh I'm with the whole utility staff. I'm This is the first I'm hearing about this. Yeah, okay. Uh I mean, the bill dates they they vary based on because there's a certain
number of days, but they vary between the time it gets it gets read and when you pay things like that. Yes, yes. Again, I I don't I can't give you an answer right now. I don't know. This is the first I'm hearing about it, so I'll have to talk to the staff. Sure. And I mean, you don't have I mean, you can have somebody go ahead and investigate. Yeah, get with them and see. I mean, ultimately if there's something that
occurred. And I'm not the only one, there's there's been quite a few that I've I've seen on Facebook that will throw that out there. Sure. Well, you've got And so there's quite a few You have a considerable amount of evidence there, so we can work with you, and if they
have similar evidence, then we'll start to work with them as well. Yeah, and one of the things that she said up there a couple weeks ago when I went and talked to them after I got this bill was my meter my ID number on my meter
was connected to somebody else's. I don't know if she meant to tell me that or not, but I'm like, >> [laughter] >> "Oh, I'm not paying for somebody else's water." You know? I don't know. And I I never knew that, you know, the city went to the digital meters. I don't know how it works, so I don't know. You know, and
then I looked at it and I was like, "Where is that little dial at?" Yeah, if you if you'll work with our guys and give them all the information you can, show us physically where everything's at uh we'll try and find the answer to this and
and if we owe you a rebate, we'll try and work with that as well. Yeah, I mean, I I don't I pay my bills, and but it's just like Come on, man. I'm not crazy. I I got it right here. You know, how is this happening? Okay, and so Another subject
I wanted to discuss was I live on Orange Avenue right before 25th. Mhm. And you know, we've got the school up there. My daughter is attending the school here. My last one graduated last year. And I understand
I understand that, you know, people cut off and run down through there, but there's not one stop sign between 19th and 25th. And it's like a racetrack. When they come by my house they're doing at least 50 or 60 before
they hit that stop sign. And so somebody's going to get hurt down that road. Mhm. And I'd like to see a stop sign or two down through there to deter that. Mhm. You know, people come off of 331. Mhm.
The traffic is heavy in the evenings. And it one West Orange and shoot down in 25th and there's back and forth. >> Well, I want you to get some some results on both these matters. If you would give our clerk all your personal
information. Yes, sir. And then also uh you can bring this thing back about the the speed on the street. And it can be an address in the future meeting. And I'm not talking about a year or two down the road, okay? Uh so if you'll give those to her,
uh we will try to tend to Okay, not a problem. Okay. Like I said, that's why, you know, and the thing about that, you know, there's people going to I mean, there's kids all down that street. Yeah. There's There's waiting on the school bus. I'm very familiar with that. And they still just They have no
I try to keep everybody to 3-minute limit, but we fudged for you a little bit. >> All right, thank you. I appreciate that. >> [laughter] >> All right, go ahead. Sir, sir, real quick. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. When when you had the large bill last year, were you
advised at that time that you are able to receive a once every 5-year credit? You know what I'm saying? Forgiveness policy. Right. Can we Can we make sure that that our staff was Yeah, we've had some new people up there so
Well, the new people have done pretty good, you know. Sure. Yeah, well, I don't know who was there whenever he's talking about, but you know, that Yeah, I've used it before, so you know. Anyway. >> I I had no idea, and nobody even mentioned it. >> well.
Add that to your list of matters. Thank you all. I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. All right, uh now I have a real quick for the quick announcement. A real quick announcement. On the 21st, we'll have the historic
presentation 101 meeting again at 5:00 to 7:00 in the City Hall building. Um the subject is uh construction and remodeling first steps. Chris Wallace will speak about permitting and a certificate of appropriateness, and
Anthony um um Valley will speak about architectural concerns. Second announcement. The triathlon is coming up. Last time I challenged you to race. This time I'm challenging you to come at least as a
spectator. Thank you. All right. All right, and that date That date That's May the 3rd, May the 2nd. May the 2nd, all right. All right, we'll go to Mr. Coaster with the legislative Well, do you have anything to add? No, sir. All right, Mr.
Coaster with the legislative request. Okay, so um during the pre-council meeting uh was informed by Kobe that uh they're going to really look into this um asbestos water pipes and the and other
utilities that's under Twin Lakes Drive. And that uh they're going to do a core samples, and as a result and what we're trying to do is do it right and not patchwork, so that when we do uh go through there and pave it, we won't
be digging things up. So um the bad news is for the people that's on Twin Lakes Drive is it's this is going to delay paving. How long, Kirby? About a year? No, I don't I mean, we don't know the date yet, but we we're getting the grant extended because we
will not meet the June 30th deadline to have it paved. Okay. But I'm we're going to anticipate it to be a year, but the extension will be Okay, so um one of the things that I'm glad to see that's uh my colleagues are paying more attention to and and taking a lot more serious is
the replacement of these asbestos pipes. Um I was told that until the pipe that's your compromise and there's been a breakage, that there's really not a serious health concern, but when there is a breakage and you start getting those um
um asbestos particulates coming through our water system and into our homes, then that's when it becomes a problem. Well, uh Mr. Mike Nowlin, I don't know if y'all know where he lives or not, but there was a major asbestos water pipe breach at his house. It flooded out his
yard and everything, so uh those pipes are starting to decay. And uh this is a perfect opportunity to replace every one of them uh on Twin Lakes Drive. And while you're at it, I believe the water line
is uh is 2 and 1/2 inches. And um does that ring a bell? I have to look it up. Sir, sir, my question would be um with the water line and the um
and the sewer lines, would they be able to accommodate all the new houses that's going on uh right at the street on the north side of Walker Road. And to find that out while we're replacing the lines, do we
need to increase the the volume of the pipes to accommodate more development. Now is the time to do it. So I'm not an engineer. I knew nobody at this uh at this diocese, but I'd like to hear
your thoughts on it. Well, Matt, I would say that obviously I mean, I don't I don't know about the break you're talking about, um so I'm not sure. It was our public works that went out and fixed it. Well, utilities. So I mean, I'm I'm I'm saying they would have put a notice out or required by DEP to notice and file a report and all those things. Okay, well.
So I'm saying I don't I don't know the answer to the question. I've never heard about this one. Um assuming it occurred. But as far as the pipe, again, that's what the water notice is for. Um I know about that happening. Um and on top of that, we have a meeting later this week to talk about utilities to look at the size, look at the line of
it. I'll tell you again what I have mentioned this previously. We are not the only city in the United States with this problem. There There's There's other There's thousands of them. Okay. Um so I would say we're addressing it as fast as possible. Um you're in design right now to replace all AC water mains in the city.
Um it's about a 8 9 million dollar project. It's going to take phases. It's going to take time. So I think we've been on to that for the last year and a half now. We've been moving forward with it. Um so ultimately, it is what it is at the moment. We we grew to design to get to that point. Now
we as a council, we're going to have to make some hard decisions on prioritizing where our money's going. For example, I'm just going to I'm just going to make this up as a hypothetical situation. Uh let's say
we wanted to turn the old armory into um a youth center, a city park, basketball courts. They're already in there. It's not going to it's it's it's not a huge stretch to uh add that to our city's park, you know,
for our youth. And it's an admirable thing to do uh on so many fronts as far as keeping them off the streets, getting them in a positive uh direction to expend their energy or energy etc. etc. But
as much as I'd like to see projects like that go forward, I would rather put those projects on pause and shift any and all available money to our infrastructure. And when I say infrastructure, this I
know that that is a big umbrella. It's not just asbestos pipes. It's not just the clay terra-cotta pipes. It's not just the old um gas lines. It's sidewalks. It's street lights. It's huge.
So, when we start getting into our budget season, I'm just going to ask my colleagues that when these nice-to-have projects start surfacing, we keep in mind that we're going to have to make up for lost time due to people who have sat in these
chairs and have kicked the can down to us. So, just please keep that in mind. Thank you. All right. Colby? Thank you, Mayor. Um Council, we had a kickoff meeting with a contractor for the top building the
other day. So, uh they hope to start next week or two on that the second floor. Um they're estimated about 4 months. We have five, so you know, hopefully we'll be done in time. Uh the ultimate goal is to be done before the end of the fiscal year. Um so, hopefully we get that started and get that project done.
Uh secondly, the uh police and fire impact fee study, Mr. Atkinson approved my bid documents today. So, we'll be getting those on the street next week and stuff and get some uh bids in here by the middle of May, late May for you all to review. Review in late May and we get that process moving in the next few months.
That's all. That's it? All right. Okay, then we will go to Miss Amy with final comments. I just want to say uh Madison, welcome. We're glad to have you. And then um I came to City Hall last week and I observed staff working very
hard on Lake Fest and I don't know who the organizers are, but I just wanted to thank all of them because they are putting some really uh heavy lift into to getting Lake Fest up uh for this year. So, thank you to all of them. And then um this of course this is my busy
season and I'm starting to wrap up, but uh Colby, I noticed that your evaluation, is it earlier than expected? I'm I saw that where comments and stuff were coming through, but is there can I push mine back some or I think I think Miss Chance has got that out there.
Everybody have time. We get part of the contract we have it done in two council for uh the public being about before the fiscal year. We uh Before June 1. Okay, is it but you didn't take over as the city manager until when? Like October or something or
November huh? Based on your original hire date or something or what? Based on the employment agreement in there, my evaluation is due before June 1st every year. Okay, so if mine falls over into May, you're you're going to be fine. By June 1, we're fine.
>> And just so you just so the council recalls, the reason that it's been done historically and the reason Mr. Townson's contract refers to that is that most of prior meetings of council have discussed your salary being adjusted only at budget time.
Well, if you do the evaluation in June, you have that opportunity at budget time. If you do it in November, you're already locked in the budget for another 10 months, 11 months back. That's why we do it around June, July to give you all All right, thank you. All right. Have a good night, Mayor.
Thank you. Yeah. All right, Colby, help refresh my memory. Did you tell me that Twin Lakes was uh going to do uh core samples on >> [clears throat] >> Twin Lakes to be able to determine if the uh hard pan, the base under the
asphalt was uh deteriorated or if it was still satisfactory? That'll be part of our conversation on Thursday. I think ultimately if we do that, probably going to require to the contract for their design services to get that done. It's been pretty
expensive to core sample. Ultimately, it's right. So, that was required. It would come back for you, but that's part of our conversation Thursday in line with the details. Thank you. Mr. Beerbaum? None, sir. Mr. Townson? All right. Well, we'll call this meeting adjourned.
No.