One, two, three. Is Kevin here? Yep. >> All right. If everybody's present, we will try to bring this meeting to order. We're going to have the invocation done by Pastor Steve Ferris. >> Please stand.
>> I'd like your assistant. >> Father, we thank you for your goodness and grace. We just thank you for this great place we live, the beautiful weather we're having, and Lord, thank you that the hurricanes have not been through here this year, and we just want to give you praise for that. Lord, I just pray your blessings on this
meeting. Lord, it's hard to please everybody, but I know they do the best they can. And Lord, we thank you for serving. We ask for you. Give them wisdom tonight. Bless this nation, bless this country, and thank you for all the people that watch over us in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen.
>> Well, we don't have our regular pledge of allegiance person. So, if you'll follow me, your hand over your heart. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. If we could have a motion to approve the >> So move, sir. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Second by Miss Treml. We'll do a roll call vote. Kevin,
>> yes sir. >> Tori here. >> I'll vote yes. >> Traml, yes. >> Yes. >> And that passes unanimously. Now we're going to have a presentation from the Chaktachi Basin Alliance on the
annual NPDES water quality. Thanks. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Um, my name is Kayla Wingard. I'm the monitoring program manager for the Chakahachi Basin Alliance and I am back again this year to give an update on our
collaboration with City of Destin for the MPDEES program. All right. And also for this presentation, I'm going to kind of go quickly through the things that I say every year. You know, the who CBA is because I think we all
are familiar by now. So just really quickly reminder, uh the Chakahachi Basin Alliance CBA is a nonprofit organization. Um our mission and our vision is to protect and sustain healthy waterways throughout the watershed. And we do this through four program areas.
Uh monitoring, education, restoration, and research. Next slide. >> Oh, over there. No worries. And if I go through anything too quickly, feel free to email me or ask questions after the
presentation if I go too quickly. Well, while we're waiting, I'll just say that we are um housed within the Northwest Florida State College. We are about nine paid staff members and we have thousands of volunteers who help us
get our work done. >> We can see it as well. Oh, >> well. Okay. super excited to receive your Oh, good. Thank you for coming to our
friends and family to receive that. >> Well, while we get to it, I want to thank you for coming. And I remember when there was no Chalkaw Basin Alliance and times were tough and you all have made a tremendous difference on the quality of the bay and we appreciate it
and I don't know if people understand for a while we didn't have anybody taking care of the bay so >> Right. Yeah, >> we appreciate it. >> Well, thank you so much. We really appreciate working with you. We did get our slides back up, but uh like Tamara
was saying, we just um awarded City of Dustin our personal, you know, CBA uh uh friend of the watershed award because we are so happy to partner with y'all in all the ways that we do. So up on this slide um is kind of focusing on the way that we partner with y'all through the
MPDES program. So that's the EPA's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System. And our role as CBA is doing uh our part through public education and outreach, public involvement and participation and pollution and
prevention. So all of those areas are focused with the uh mission of reducing pollution that is discharged to this area. So now I'll go into each of those areas that we partner through and uh go through the updates for this past year.
So for public education and outreach, we have a glass grasses and classes program and over the past year we partnered with Dustin Middle School. So these were fifth grade students about eight classes that totaled almost 200 students and this is a curriculum where the students
grow salt marsh grasses at their schools. um they have modules that focus on environmental education um water quality and at the end of the year we all go to a field trip where they prepare the plants for planting on a living shoreline and that's what that
picture is there. So this past year was almost 200 students with Dustin Middle School and we were uh very happy to get to continue that program with them. We also for our um education and presentations we go to uh community
groups. So we always each year go with the Destin Florida leadership class for their waterways day. Um we also have returned to the Rotary Club of Destin and our Salt Strong Fishing Club here locally. So, at these presentations, you
know, we're covering who CBA is, what we do, and the ways that our community, you know, groups or individuals themselves can get involved with um environmental stewardship through restoration or things they can do on their own with pollution prevention.
Okay. And so, one of the ways that our communities can get involved are through these cleanups. So, CBA has helped been um assisting with various cleanups that happen throughout the year. Each year, this is Earth Day at the beach cleanup at Norago Point as well as our international coastal cleanup. So, over
those two cleanups, we um logged about 100 pounds of trash being collected. And then outside of these, we always encourage uh community members to conduct cleanups wherever they are, whenever, and log them through the Clean Swell app, and that's how we keep track
of what and how much of marine debris is collected. All right. So we also encourage everyone to participate to uh to the CBA watershed biodiversity project on I naturalist and this is just another way
that anybody you know individuals kids adults can get involved by contributing to biodiversity observations in this area. These observations through a series of quality in assurance steps can be research grade and used by scientists
and ecologists to learn more about um the biology and ecology of this area. So that's something that we always promote as well. And then our water quality monitoring program. And this is really what I focus most of my time on um
personally is a monthly sampling program that we have throughout the wershed because CBA works watershed wide. But here in city of Dustin we have six different stations. And so these are four in the Destin Harbor and um I'm sorry two in the Destin Harbor and four
outside of the Destin Harbor uh around Joe's Bayou Indian Bayou. So at these different stations, we are collecting water samples that get sent off to the lab and collecting in the field uh measurements and we are very happy to partner with Lucer's pontoon as you can
see there to help get that monitoring in the Destin Harbor done because that can be really tricky with boat traffic sometimes. All right, so this is just a map of where those six stations are located. Next slide.
And again, these are just uh on paper the parameters that we are looking for monthly and that we send off to the lab and the results that we get back from the lab. So for now, we'll um focus on that bottom half that we work with our partners at Lakewatch for nutrients.
That's total phosphorus and nitrogen and chlorophyll. And we'll be looking at some of those results uh up next. Before we look at those results, this what this uh slide is showing us is the numeric nutrient criteria that FD sets. So these are the numbers, the values of what
concentration of these nutrients is um acceptable to have in your water. These are averages um annually and these are criteria. These are values that you don't want to surpass more than once in a three-year period. So that's kind of relative how we're going to look at
these results, how they compare to that criteria there. So on this map, everything that is a green dot is a station of ours. and green means it did not surpass that criteria. So what we're looking at right now is the um western part of the bay
and it's also showing stations that do not you know are not within the city of Dustin limits but you can see that everything that is in city of Dustin in the harbor there for total phosphorus nitrogen and chlorophyll did not at any time pass or on average did not pass
that criteria. So that's all good good news there. this next slide. Uh now we're moving over a little bit to get the rest of the stations that are um in the city of Dustin limits there. And there's just one station um in Indian Bayou that did
exceed you can see in the bottom left for chlorophyll. There's just one station where it did exceed that criteria that threshold um for chlorophyll that we wanted to see. In general, these uh um criteria are looked at for the region as a whole. So for the
region as a whole it did not surpass but that one station um did exceed for 2024 data. That's how we get our data is in yearly chunks. So the most recent yearly chunk is that 2024. Okay. And then these are just other ways that you can look at the data through
our annual reports that we release. So these are all available um on our website. So in addition to you know your phosphorus, nitrogen and chlorophyll, we also have salinity, pH and dissolved oxygen on there. And you can see how our readings are changing or trending over
time. The this slide is brand new. I haven't presented this before because we just upgraded our water quality dashboard online. So now you can look at the results of water quality by region al together by station individually. You
can select multiple parameters to look at at the same time. Say you wanted to look at um how the levels of nitrogen correspond to the levels of chlorophyll that you're seeing or local precipitation data because that influences your water quality greatly too. Those are all things that you can
see on this new um water quality dashboard that we have online. Okay. And then the last part of our um MPDes uh program area is our pollution prevention. So that's our monofilament
recycling program. In the last year, we had 25 miles collected from our city of Dustin station. So there's five monofilament bins. Um four in the Dustin harbor and then one at Joe's Bayou uh boat ramp. So we have one local
volunteer who helps us collect and clean and process to then be have this monofilament line recycled out of the landfill out of you know harm's way and recycled into um something new. And we also work with our oyster core staff that's a conservation core group to help
us maintain those bins and oyster shell recycling. We are also taking oyster shells out of the landfill and recycling those into restoration projects. We work with four cityestine restaurants. back porch, boat house, brulis and johniglies. And in the last year, we had almost 90
tons of oyster shell prevented from going into the landfill and put into our oyster shell staging area, which is used for restoration events and also our oyster gardening program. And on the next slide, oh yeah, we're talking about what we're do what we're doing looking forward. So, our
oyster shell uh gardening program, we work with homeowners who have properties on the bay, but we have also been working with local businesses, again, Luther's Pontoon. Um we have several vertical oyster gardens hanging from the docks there, and we're looking forward to expanding that project um hopefully
to a million oyster project um and looking working with other organizations in the Dustin Harbor. Also looking forward, we want to expand our education into Dustin High School with our Scholes program that has a seaggrass restoration focus for that curriculum.
All right, and that's all that I have for you and that's our contact if you have any questions. >> Thank you. Question. >> Um, do you know why the chlorophyll level went so high in Indian Bayou? >> Um, so I don't know if y'all have been keeping up with FD's
blue green. They have a blue green algae tracker and um so th those that station map is you know all the stations that we have but there have been elevated levels and Keller Lake um that have been
tracked over the last couple months. Um as to the causes that's not something that our report addresses. Um but we just have yeah that elevated level. I will say that that area there were two stations that surpassed it last year and
this year it's just the one station instead of the the two that are back in Indian Bayou. So it has changed a little bit. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any Mr. Braden this end Kevin? >> Uh thank you for coming again. I always
love it every year. Um the vertical oyster. Can you please send the easiest way to Tamara of how people can sign up for that? >> Yes. >> I'm sure I could have reached out the
past year, but you know, >> because that should be distributed. We have so many people that I see I know see John's information and they're like, I want to do that and then we all just forget. >> And now that we've gone to the vertical oyster garden, it's so easy. >> Right. That's what I've heard. So if you could please whatever the easiest form
to get that to Tamara then we can share that with the city that may >> that will be through Tucker Reynolds. He coordinates that program and I will give his email to Tamara so that she can >> Yeah. >> Thank you. You have one >> Yes, sir. >> I appreciate it.
>> One I wanted to say thank you. I did go with uh the crew one year out there with John on John's pontoon. It was a >> it was a a nice experience. I I do have a question. Uh and maybe you can help me answer this. Are are you all funded by the state?
>> Um so we have various funding sources sources and grants that we apply for. Um it depends on the project. We do work with D on several projects as well as EPA and Okaloosa and Walton counties. Um so depends.
>> Okay. Well, then maybe you can help me with this because I'm trying to understand who would be responsible for this because I don't really think it's your organization, but maybe you can guide me in the right direction. Um, Florida statute 514 says that we're supposed to be monitoring these
waterways for veform bi-weekly. Do you know if anybody's out there doing that or what organization I can be? Yeah, the Department of Health through their healthy beaches doing that. >> All right. Because I it's hard for me to believe during the summer with all those pontoons, we're not exceeding that 126
counties per th 100 milliliters >> of water. I'm just trying to figure out if >> who's tracking it, if we're tracking it, >> and uh I truly appreciate your help with that. Thank you so much. >> Of course. And there's a there's a link to that dashboard and that information
on our dashboard in additional resources tab if you want to go through that route, but it's healthy beaches. >> Yeah. >> Thank you so much. Mhm. >> And thank you for coming. I would uh support Kevin's >> Kevin's talking about the gardens. Um
you know, it's no coincidence that when the oyster beds were thick in Chache Bay, Chache Bay was very clean. The amount of water that a single oyster filters every day is pretty astounding. And so, uh, the more people we can get to put those out, then we're taking
steps, positive steps toward cleaning the bay up. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, now is the time for public comment. Um, we will start on this side of the room. Anybody that has public comment,
please come up. You have three minutes. >> Okay, >> she's coming. She just raised her hand. She wasn't sure the process. >> Please state your name and address and tell us what we need to know. >> Can you hit the gray button? >> Hit the hit the button so the thing
comes on. >> There you go. >> Good evening. My name is Frost Jones. Live at 725 uh Gulf Shore Drive, Harbor Landing. Uh and I'm here with my friend Fay who
she's also a a Holiday Isle resident. Um I'm standing here as very little person um with a bit of concern uh about the land grab uh at Noriega Point the 83 million everyone knows about it. Um
my understanding is a fundamental constitutional principle is that taxpayer funds meaning the taxpayer has a say in how the funds are spent. And so again my understanding is the the state purchases
the land um rather I'll use the word uh secretly or behind closed doors without public input. And originally that uh parcel was purchased uh for 10 million 7 years ago
and now has an exorbitant price of over 20 million per acre. The it's been touted as perhaps it would be um uh for conservation purposes uh only because it was it didn't pass the perk test uh for a condominium um
building there. but as a homeowner on Hollis that perhaps that 8 acre uh 4 acre parcel would then marry to the um current 8 acre. So making it either 12
or 16 acres collectively. Um traffic comes to mind if it's going to be a a a state park there with a 100 parking spaces uh going up and down a a two-lane road. uh uh you know as you enter and exit
holiday I'll I'm getting to my question um what if anything can be done my understanding is the uh this was rather a contentious uh effort uh a rather communication or
non-communication with the mayor's office and he characterized it as a bittersweet transaction um because he was persona non grata uh and not welcome in those meetings in fact banned or even had a gag order
where he he was not allowed to be in those meetings. So my question is if at anything at this late juncture and the property's not closed won't close for 3 months what can the public do if if anything some adisements what I'm hoping
for um would like to understand uh how this was um not not uh it certainly is a public interest but we were not invited uh and so any um recommendations would be uh welcome.
Thank you for your comment. We're just here to listen during this session, but I think there will be opportunity for public input um before anything happens. So, we look forward to your participation >> and uh will there'll be notification of that on the website or
>> at the moment? No. The there hasn't been that I know of. >> Okay. So, just hang tight. >> I'm sorry. >> I said just we should just hang hang tight. >> Well, stand by. >> Stand by. All right. Me, too. >> Thank you.
>> Anybody else? >> All right. I need to leave that thing on all the time, don't I? >> Okay. We're going to move into the consent agenda. We would entertain a motion. >> I Rodney made the motion. and I'll second it. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any
discussion? Okay, then in that case, we will vote. Mr. Braden, >> yes, >> Mr. Traml. >> Traml. Yes. >> I vote yes. >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay, that passes unanimously. Now we will go into the city manager
report. City manager. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First item is 4A is through our projects and grants manager. This is the uh FDOT state funed grant agreement for the uh $2 million
trip grant for Cross Town Connector. Um this is the grant agreement that we need to take action on. And upon your approval, we will return it to the DOT for their uh sign off. And once that's done, they will issue a notice to
proceed, at which time we will be ready to move forward with the procurement process for the construction phase of the cross town connector. We anticipate having the procurement documents ready for your next meeting. Um, and regardless of whether we have the notice to proceed back from DOT or
not, we'll bring that to you and ask for your approval uh pending their notification and as soon as we get that, we will put it on the street. So tonight's action will be to approve uh in u the uh grant agreement. >> Absolutely.
>> Move to approve the grant agreement. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion by M. Raml, second by Tori. Any discussion? >> I see it. >> Kevin. >> No, there's just another motion that we have to make addition to. So we'll do that next.
>> Okay. Well, in that case, we'll vote on this motion. >> Kevin. Yes. >> Yes. >> I vote yes. >> Yes. >> That passes unanimously. >> Um so the other one says I will
city council adopt amendment of the FY26 budget to increase capital grant revenues and expenditures by the $2 million. >> Second. >> Okay. Discussion on that one.
And then is that associated with the uh >> So just for clarity, what what we're asking y'all to do is to approve the resolution that's attached to the agenda packet and that is a requirement of FDOT to accept the grant. >> All right. Well, it doesn't sound like we have any discussion.
>> Mr. Braden, >> yes. >> Mr. RML, >> yes. >> I vote yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> That one passes unanimously also. city manager. >> Thank you, sir. Next item is 4B. This is regarding the Florida retirement system.
Um, in your packet, there is a a chronology of events that have taken place over the last few months leading to tonight. At the last meeting, a motion was made by Mr. Braden to place on this agenda a motion to resend uh the
previous action on ordinance 2519cc. So, that's what's before you tonight. Uh, you have you can certainly take no action if you so desire. Um, move to resend council's previous action regarding that ordinance. Um, and if
that happens, then the next order of business would be a motion to direct staff to advertise the ordinance um for first reading on the next meeting. Okay, city manager, just so I make sure that we all understand, the motion to
resend tonight would place the item on the next agenda with the motion you just spoke of. >> I'll I'll ask council would that take two motions. Yeah. So, first motion be resend. The second motion would be to if
that motion passes to move to have staff bring it back for first reading at the next agenda. >> All right. Well, in that case, I would entertain a motion on this issue. >> I'll make that. Mayor, I move to resend the council's previous action regarding
ordinance 25-9-C. >> All right. Do we have a second? >> Second. Can I second? Wait a minute. Can I second? Yes, I can. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Discussion, >> Tori. I'll say that originally uh I voted
against this but I have met with several staff members and I will change my original opinion and and adopt this. >> Thank you Tori Kevin. Any comment? >> In that case we will call the vote. Mr. Braden
>> yes. >> I vote yes. >> Yes. No. >> All right that motion passes forward to one with Mr. Schmidt dissenting. >> I'll make that second motion. Uh, mayor, uh, move to direct staff to advertise ordinance 25-19-C
on first reading. >> Second. >> Second. >> Okay. Motion in a second. Any discussion on this one? >> All right. We will call the vote. Uh, Mr. Schmidt, >> no, sir. >> Mr. G. >> Yes. >> I vote yes. M.
>> Yes. >> All right. That one also passes. 44 one. No. >> On that one, do you mind if I just clarify? Is the legislative sponsor going to be Rodney since you made the motion or did somebody else want to be the sponsor? >> Mr. Braden, are you the sponsor?
>> That's fine with me. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Next item, city manager. >> Thank you, sir. The next item is 4C and this is regarding the short-term rental software RFP results. Uh if you recall
some time back, we went out for in August, we went out to uh bids for proposals to manage or at least help manage the uh process of short-term rental registrations, particularly now that we are imposing those on condominiums. We had five responses but
only one of those uh we deemed responsive uh as they uh offered all the required services but the cost that they quoted was um way beyond what we think is reasonable. So we are moving that uh we reject all of those bids. I will say
that there were some components of it that at some point may become beneficial and if we see that we will bring that back to council. But also along those lines, we've made some significant progress on identifying those condominium units that are short-term
rentals. Our IT staff, Andy and his crew have done a lot of good work. Uh that's whittleled it down. So we think we'll have a good database in fairly short order to begin moving that process forward. >> Mayor, can I make a motion?
>> Yes, ma'am. We I'd like to make the motion that uh we have staff go ahead and reject all the bids. >> We have a second on that. >> Mr. G, >> can I make an amendment to that motion that although we reject we make sure
city staff is still looking for viable options during the interim? >> I thought I thought that was kind of understood. Is that not what we're doing? I think that it is understood, but also I would add that in the future if this
new program brings in sufficient um funding, we may be able to revisit this a contract like this um in the future. >> In the future >> once those funds come in. >> Very good. >> That's that's fine with me. >> Okay.
>> Okay. Mr. Schmidt. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Albo. Yes. >> Yes. Yes. Okay, that one passes unanimously. And I'd like to thank the staff for uh stepping forward and attempting this
job, which I'm sure is going to be another added load for them. >> Glad to do it, sir. >> All right. Next update. >> Next item is regarding uh the parking at Threadgill Park. uh specifically the uh
spaces that were identified in the rightway along Calhoun and Hickory. Um so we were asked to bring back a proposed cost for those and so we've put together with our consulting engineer kind of the
the best scenario that we can. So the the surface work for the 30 parking spots will cost somewhere around 2 thou $200,000. So that's if we had nothing else to do. Uh there are some delineated weapons on the property which would require us to
do a phase one environmental and by virtue of there being delineated wetlands is going to trigger a phase two environment environmental. So the phase one would add another $5,000 or so. The phase two could be 20 to 50,000 depending on how extensive it turned
into. there is a storm water conveyance structure associated with that property that'll either have to be redesigned, reconfigured, there'll be a cost associated to that. Um, and that could be 40 to $50,000. Um,
having all that said and done, there will be some mitigation of wetland property. We would anticipate uh which would rely on a permit from the Army Corps. So, assuming we got an Army Corps permit, uh, first of all, that's going to take probably two years based on
their current workload, maybe even longer, as we've seen some of the other projects we've got going. But that mitigation, because there is not a mitigation bank in this watershed, uh, could be very expensive and the consulting engineer floated out a number
of between two and $300,000 just for that part of it. So all in uh these spots would probably be somewhere between 15,000 and $20,000 each and two to three years out. So that was the report we were asked to bring back
tonight. So that's what's uh for your consideration. >> Well, wish we had a better report. >> I understand. >> Um discussion on the issue, Kevin. Anybody else?
Okay. Do we we have a motion at all on this issue. >> I'll make a motion to reject. Take no action in this direction. >> I I think we don't need a motion to reject. Just >> no action is being requested and no
action would leave us at the status quo and that's we're not doing anything with it until you tell us otherwise. >> Sounds good. >> This is just for the right away. >> Yeah. >> And you were asking just for further clarification, right? >> Right. I just wanted to make sure we were doing our due diligence just to make sure there wasn't another option.
>> That's what we're rejecting >> just for that one. >> No action for that one section. >> That's it. And we are still moving, however, slowly toward the uh 70 plus parking spaces on the other piece of property. City attorney, any any word on that at all?
I've been in discussions with the representative of the property owner and um they have some concerns about um the city's level of interest in the property. Now um given the comments at the last meeting, they rejected our counter offer for a longer time period.
I did increase um based on council's directive the earnest money um which would have become non-refundable um during the period of time where we were looking at the reasonzoning and future land use. So as of now there's no contract on the table. Um if you all
want me to go back with something else and continue to try to negotiate I'd be happy to. Council, >> what are we what are we um where are we at? Go back to the table. What do you mean? >> We started out with a 30-day closing,
which is something that the seller liked. Um a purchase price of 400,000. And we did not initially have a period of time to review the parking. That due diligence period was not there. that
contingency was not there and um and the contingency for the future land use and reasonzoning. Um so I I did not at any point try to increase the purchase price >> but then at the last meeting we asked
for 60 days or 45 days or something. What do you >> We're down to we went up to um 45 with the seller >> and they're saying >> they said no. We were at 30. They liked 30. We went up to 45. We actually started at 75. They said no. Came down
to 45 and no again. >> And we increase the uh money down. >> We did from $3 to $10,000. Um we're still within the appraisal. I have a little bit of room if council wants me to go up a little bit over 400
or we can not. Well, I know that we previously discussed at that meeting >> being able to make that offer to the appraised value. So, you do have that room from the council already, right? >> Yes. But there were two appraisals and
we are in line with one and slightly under the other. So, >> the city's appraisal though. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, is there room? >> There's a little bit of room. Um, but like I said, the seller had some concerns about the city's level of interest >> based on the comments, you know, and I I
informed them that we had sent the letter out to the neighbors and we asked for any concerns to be brought to the city council. I don't see anybody here tonight for that. So, um, Daniel, has staff received any concerns or responses to the letter we sent out?
>> Let me confirm, but I have not seen any come through. >> No, ma'am. We have not received any comment from the letter we sent out. And just on that note, we notified the same uh adjoining property owners that we would via a development order per the
code. So we reached out to the same ones that would be notified were at 300 ft >> were it going through the development order process. I I mean for me I I would go back to what the council I guess approved which was a little bit more room to the
appraised city's appraised value and okay >> I would try to keep it at 30 days if we can get that future land use >> I don't so so I guess that's my concern the 30 days I don't know that we can complete a future land use amendment and resoning in 30 days it's actually
probably impossible with the reviews that need to take place Um, but I mean if council knows what they want to do about the resoning and the future land use, then you are
the deciding body on that. >> When was the notice sent to the neighbors? Just curious. >> Right after right after the last meeting. Yeah. >> Within days. >> Gotcha. Well, I can ask the seller. I mean, I don't know what else to really say. I mean, I I think it's a need. There's a
problem with parking. Uh, if we can't do it in 30 days and the seller doesn't want to give us more than 30 days, I I think we're in a tough position. What do you think? >> Well, if you go up to the appraised value, there is a little more wiggle room. >> I will try to go up a little bit. I'd authorize that, but we have to have the
time because after all, we can't say we're going to >> approve a zoning >> change before we even have a hearing. That's not quite legal. So, >> no, but you could know what you're going to hear back from the public. >> No, we can know that, but we still have
to have a public hearing. You have to have two public hearings and a LPA meeting and you have to have state review of the comp plan amendment which is why I'm saying I agree it's impossible within 30 days but you can at least have you know that the property owners within 300 ft are aware of it.
>> Yeah. >> At least >> that's the only that's the only choice we have is to is to go up on the purchase price because it sounds like the other two are the ones that are hanging us up and I don't know how we can do that any >> Okay. Well, I'll stay within the
appraised value and see if we can go up a little bit and keep it at 45 days and I will report back to you at the next meeting. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Okay, city manager. What else do we have here? >> Item 4E is just your quarterly report on
the attendance of the volunteer committees and your appointees to those committees. No action needed or requested. Um 4F is for just our announcements. I just uh tie up two or three and then Dr. Young has some u
update on Joe's bio. We are we've probably gotten a dozen uh responses back to our inquiry as to uh evidence base of silly things going on in the bayou for lack of a better way to put it. Uh so
we're collecting those via a number of channels and uh we'll have you a better roll up and uh of that at the next meeting give you a little more detailed of what's coming in but um over the next couple weeks we probably will get some more. So we're pleased that the public is helping us with that.
We were notified late last or mid last week that the uh legislative delegation meeting that was scheduled to be here on October the 30th had to be rescheduled. And it wasn't until after we published our agenda that we were notified that
the only date they can reschedu it is December the 15th. Of course, we immediately said, "Well, we have a council meeting December the 15th." and uh absent the uh action by council, you know, the chambers would
not be available. We asked them to allow us to get through tonight's meeting and ask council if you would like to either move the meeting or I think it's been a practice in the past only have one meeting in December, but to make the facility here available and they were
not willing to give us that time frame. So the meeting now is scheduled for December the 15th at the county commission chambers in Shalomar. So our question to council night is do you have any desire to move our December
15th meeting or to only have one meeting in December to accommodate the ability for uh each of you and staff to attend that legislative delegation meeting? >> Council opinions on that? Um,
okay. I think >> Go ahead, Sandy. >> I'll make a motion that we move it to the Tuesday the 16th. >> Okay. So, to be clear, we would have two meetings in December. The regular meeting on December 1st, and then we would switch the regular meeting on the 15th to the 16th. >> Correct.
>> That's it. >> So, Tuesday, 6 p.m. >> We have a second to that. >> I'll second that. >> Okay. Motion to second. Any discussion? Kevin? >> Yes. >> Tori? Yes. >> I'll vote yes. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Okay, that one passes. 5. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The only other announcement I have is Lisa Gunderson, who is going to be doing our visioning session, um is asking to meet with each of you individually. Sherry from my
office will be reaching out to you to schedule that time. And we'll have conversation between now and then and look at some dates and hopefully by our next meeting we'll have some suggested dates to hold that uh visioning session in early next year. But glad to get in front of it and have time to prepare and
uh have a good session. >> Sounds good. >> Good evening council. I do have just a number of announcements. Our city manager referenced the Joe's Bayou responses that we're seeking from the public. For those that would like to
send in anecdotal information or videos, please email that to public info@ cityofestton.com. And again, we'll work to get all of that information out to the city manager and the city attorney who will share with you. We have our annual open house this
Wednesday, October 22nd, and that's from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. It is our opportunity to say thank you to the community with a free lunch and music and just a really nice opportunity to talk about the progress we have in a number of projects. So, the entire
community is invited to that and it's at the community center. We received a grant from the USDA Forest Service in cooperation with the Florida Forest Service. Uh thanks to this we were able to plant 12 trees. It was a mix of live oak, willow, holly, and maple. And those
were planted at Kell Air Nature Walk in the Nancy Widenhammer Dog Park. We have a link to a QR code up on our website homepage that goes to our latest parks and recck survey. For those people that would like to fill that out that haven't had an opportunity to do so, we
do encourage you to go check that out. We'll close out the survey at the end of the first week of November. So, you still have a little bit of time to fill that out. This Thursday, October 23rd, we have a very busy night. We've got the Harbor and Waterways Board um meeting at
5:30 p.m. And at the conclusion of that meeting, or at the beginning at 6:15 p.m., whichever is later, there will be a combined Harbor CRA, Harbor Waterways Board, and Public Works safety meeting for the purpose of discussing the Marlor Bridge design.
Mr. Bradley Touchstone of Touchstone Architecture will be in attendance to share his input and ideas regarding the bridge with the committees and both meetings are open to the public and the public is encouraged to come and that's all I have. >> All right. Thank you. All right. We're
going to move into public hearings. Uh city attorney please proceed. >> Uh thank you Mayor Prom. The first uh public hearing is for the Destin Elementary School edition. This is a major development order uh number 001522
2025. And here on behalf of Okaloosa County School Board, we do have um a couple of individ individuals. They are requesting approval of 75,000 square feet of classroom space, offices, and a teachers lounge. And as you know, the proposed project is at 633 Kelly Street.
So here, the council is basically just looking at whether the development meets the comprehensive plan. The school board uh via statute is exempt from a lot of our land development code regulations and they have their own building permitting and inspections. So we are basically looking at comp plan and staff
has determined that the development order is consistent with the comp plan. So we're recommending approval. >> All right. I think we need a motion to approve. >> Motion. I move that the city council approve the Destin Elementary School addition a major development order as
presented. Second. >> Hey, we have a motion to second. Any discussion? >> The only only other thing I would say is just quickly open up for the public hearing. >> Minor minor detail there. Yeah. Oh, public, anyone who would like to speak on this issue, this is your opportunity.
All right. Seeing none, we now have the motion. Any discussion by anyone? >> It's about time. >> Yeah. And I want to thank I want to thank the school board. That is quite an impressive amount of construction that's going on over there. Uh, it looks good.
>> All right, Mr. Braden. >> Yes, >> Mr. >> I vote yes. Mr. Pow. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> All right, that passes unanimously. Next one up. >> Thank you, Mayor Prom. So, the next one up is the shores at Crystal Beach. This
is another major development order number 0016552025. The proposed project scope includes the expansion to the existing parking lot and the construction of an additional parking lot for the shores at Crystal Beach Access. This will consist of expanding the existing western parking
lot to include 19 standard parking spaces, one ADA accessible spot while adding 34 LSV parking spaces in the new eastern lot along with a restroom facility, dune walkover, and the associated infrastructure. Uh, the city's technically the applicant here,
but we also have our partners at the county here, Mr. Craig Coffee and Commissioner Drew Palmer. If you have any questions, you can let us know, but otherwise, we recommend approval. >> All right. Well, we'll open it up to the public at this time. Any public comment? >> Well, yep, when there's no comment. I
did that backwards last time. >> All right. Now, we will entertain a motion. I move the city council approve the shores at Crystal Beach, a major development order as presented. >> Second by Mr. Braden. Discussion.
I see none other than I'm going to just have to say that this is a wonderful example of how we can get things accomplished when we work together with the county. This is a very, very good project. >> Mr. Schmidt, >> yes. >> Tori,
>> yes. I vote yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay, that passes unanimously. All right, now we are to comments and presentations from the mayor and council. >> Kevin, we can start with you.
>> Sure. Couple things. Um there was a uh >> I guess we're supposed to start as the agenda says, huh? >> What else you like, Mr. >> Okay. Well, we'll we'll start with Mr. Braden and go through the agenda and
it's present order. >> Snooze, you lose, buddy. >> He's He's got a time yet. >> Right. Um, now I was speaking with the attorney earlier. Um, I'd like to be the legislative sponsor on I'd like to bring
back this uh code for this >> freeboard >> freeboard height on the the FEMA hold deal. So, what we talked about um was amending the code to remove the city's additional two-foot
freeboard requirement beyond what FEMA requires for homes that are existing and that are having an addition put on or a remodel um if the cost of the improvements or the square footage of their house are less than 50% of the
current value or size of the house. So, if if you want to be the legislative sponsor to that based on our conversation, um I would bring back that ordinance at a future meeting. >> All right. That that'd be great. We need to have that in a motion or no.
>> I'm good with consensus if um everyone understands what the ordinance is and is not voicing any objection. >> I have a question. >> Yes, sir. >> Are we not bringing back the ways to get the points? these two
different things. >> That's infrastructure. >> Yeah, >> I just clarification. >> Yes, we are. And they are kind of two different things. Uh what my understanding is we'll only lose about three points. Okay. >> In in this process. Um so that's what
we'll look to make up. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. because even though the points were, you know, hundred at a time, we were only going to move down three into the next category. So, it wasn't as bad as previously expected and staff is
working on that. >> All right. >> But that would be for all new and existing construction. The what the ordinance we're talking about would be for existing homes that are being remodeled. >> Any other discussion? Okay. Mr. Braden, you have anything
else? Uh yeah, I mean I just want to bring that back because I think you know one of our homeowners said that their flood insurance was $900 and that this whole 2 ft of freeboards increase in 5% was $45 a year. So if you're living on
the water and you can't afford $45 a year, maybe you need to get off the water. >> So it's not that and and you get your property rights back and as you know, Mr. Dustin, I don't know what it would cost you. you, you know, property on the water as well, but I think you want your property rights, you know, not to build your house 15 ft up in the air just to
save $100 a year. I wouldn't. So, that's the whole reason. Um, and to the lady's comment that came up earlier, um, about the $84 million piece of property that the state's buying out of Nora Point,
um, you might want to go to your county commissioners meeting and express your opinion on that. >> I was talking about your um, that $84 million piece of property talking about that the state's wanting to buy. Um, it's kind of out of our hands, but I
know you might want to go to the county commissioner's meeting and speak to them. Um, I know your county commissioner, Drew Palmer, is here tonight and he's wanting to put a commercial marina out there and big commercial project. So, you might want to go talk to them. That's that's where
it's going. Yeah. Um, that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Tran. >> Uh, I just wanted to update you on the parks foundation tonight. Uh we had our meeting last Friday and we are looking
into fundraising to redo the pavilion at Clement Taylor Park. So look forward to that. And uh if anybody would like to donate any money, we're looking for that. We've got an estimate of about uh $200,000 to redo it the way we want to redo it and make it the size
of the schoolhouse that was originally there and u some rendering of the schoolhouse. We're not enclosing it, but um anyway, uh we are now at Post Office Box 9. >> Well, that's a good reason.
>> So, that's the Parks Foundation Post Office Box 9. Just send your money because we don't have $200,000 right now, but we want to raise it. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um Mr. Gile, >> I'm just very grateful that uh
Councilman Bagby is on vacation so that we can get out of here at a decent hour tonight. Thank you all very much. All right. Um, Councilman Schmidt, on that note, >> yeah, a few things. Um, Captain Fulgum, there was some sort of accident hit and run in Beach and Kelly the other day,
school morning. Do you are you able to speak to anything that that happened? >> So, deputy made a traffic stop on a vehicle for doing 30 in the school zone. when he approached the side of the ve uh when he approached the driver's side of
the vehicle, his sergeant was positioned next to the vehicle as well. When he asked the driver for his driver's license, registration, insurance, the uh driver took off. He hit the deputy and the sergeant and the a short pursuit ensued after that that they canled
almost immediately because there was so much pedestrian traffic and so much vehicle traffic. Uh they did strike a um a vehicle in the area and obviously left because they were running from us. Uh that person has been identified and a
warrant for their arrest is pending. Thank you. Um I had some folks asking me, they saw that we were putting up some new rope along the rideway on the elementary school and also
close to the duck pond area. There's some barriers in the rideway, but they were asking me after that happened on the north side, every morning there's between 20 and 30 cars parked on the
rideway. And they were concerned that morning after high I don't high speed chase but they they took note of that and they were concerned that with what happened that maybe we should look at the parking on that side as well as a
possible safety issue each morning. Um not sure if that's sheriff or us but we don't mind. >> We'll be glad to talk to Captain Sheriff's office and Okay. And um >> glad nobody was hurt because Yeah, absolutely. Safety will be the biggest
thing. >> Thank you. Um did we ever get anywhere with the uh Lee property on Indian Trail? The the the G the Lee LE property? >> Not that I'm aware of. I know that Mr. Bagby, I think, was having some conversation with that and parks
foundation. So, Miss Traml may have a better word, but I have not heard anything of late on it. Um, we could not talk them into donating it and they want a lot of money for it is what I can tell you. Um, it's not it's
not buildable right now. It truly is not buildable. There's so many easements on it you can't build anything on it. So, um, they were not interested in selling at this particular point. >> Who did a um who did an analysis on the easements? Did that something that city did?
>> Uh, you can look it up. Uh Destin Water users has a big one going down through there. Um and the parks foundation when they surveyed the prop we didn't survey it when we looked at it the property down at the end there there's exposed uh
water pipes that go into Indian Bayou. So that was not even feasible to look at for a park cuz that part. So we came up to where Indian Bayou Trail comes, you know, dead ends right there to the street. And uh
>> is there actual access to the bayou though? >> No, it's a stream. It's like six feet wide and it's muddy and it's it's the storm runoff from all the houses on Indian Trail. >> But then that stream goes into the bike. that stream go. That's why I was asking her about the chloroform count because
that stream goes into that bayou, but it's stagnant right now. When you go down there, unless we have a heavy rain, it doesn't move. >> Okay. >> Um, >> Larry, do you mind reaching out and finding out what the purchase price is, what he's wanting to >> and report that back to us because I think somehow or another it got mixed up
where y'all were supposed to go talk to Mr. Lee about buying it >> and then the parks foundation took it over, Mr. Bagby or something. Something happened. >> He brought it to the parks foundation. Yes. I mean, I previously talked to Mr. Lee and got a price about a year ago. >> Can you show that this later or? >> Yeah, I can. Um,
>> he gave us he gave us 345 >> was the price amount, but that was not for the whole piece. >> It wasn't for the whole piece. >> No. >> So, he doesn't want to sell. Okay. >> Well, the the reason is to buy the whole piece, you would have to block off half of it, and it is considered a storm
water drainage. Gotcha. >> So when you when you when that subdivision was developed, >> that piece at the end is is storm water drainage. >> Okay. >> So that was the problem. >> Gotcha. Thank you. Um
under my name charter review committee. The uh our charter that we have that dictates how we operate. Right. I think uh Mr. Destin and many others were uh very you wrote it, right? You were one of the
one of the authors. >> Yep. >> Yeah. Um I've I've spoken with many people over the years of different heard about it at meetings and uh I think it would be beneficial to have an opportunity to look at ways to update
it. Uh maybe make some tweaks in it. uh you know we do LDC rewrites, we do comp stuff and I think based upon the age of that charter without having I don't think we've had an amendment to the charter in
>> 20 years or more maybe >> or so do >> we have we have amended the charter within the past five years >> five years doing we did the >> the height of the >> we did the building height and we also did the transferability of parks and waterfront Um,
>> but we haven't had a charter review committee that I'm aware of. Maybe. Have we ever? I don't know that we ever have. >> Oh, yes, we have. >> Okay. So, a couple decades ago, >> that's when the mayor became the mayor and was allowed to vote in uh >> cases of ties before that. >> Okay.
>> None of that was his authority or their authority. >> And that was about >> maybe 20 years ago. >> So, we've done it a couple times for specific things, I guess, that have come up. I know maybe Ronnie you were here with others in that time, but I I
believe it'd be beneficial if we could form a committee. And for me to say form a committee, right? I think that's pretty big deal, right? >> Uh and I take note of uh Fort Walton
recently did this and unfortunately I didn't ask for it early enough, but we now have a a copy of their resolution that they did. Um, and it kind of seems very uh I think Kim wrote it, so she
could probably speak to the legality of it, but it it's very well written and articulated about how the committees are formed, uh, the purpose of them, uh, what they're doing. It's just advisory. Um, but the ultimate goal that I'd like
to see is we have Kim bring us back a resolution at the next meeting. uh to review possibly approve that spells out the charter review committee process. Um and reading through Fort
Walton's I mean there's like six bullets that spells out how it's formed. We each represent somebody nominate somebody have to be a citizen have to be a uh live here for a year a voting citizen. things like uh
um the quorum. The committee will choose a chair person and then within six months they will bring us back recommendations to consider. We have the ability also to send them items that we think would be
beneficial for them to review. That's our way of providing input on some of our thoughts. Uh but then they would bring it back within six months. uh which then allows us if we want to take action, we would then uh according to our rules have to go to two public
hearings and then put it on the general election ballot in November of 2026 is my thought. So almost basically a year away but I think because it takes about six months then we have to get it to Paul is it Paul Lux? >> Yes
>> Paul Lux we have to get him anything uh that gives us time. So that's the background. The char was in your agenda packet. So I'm basically going to make the motion to have Miss Cop provide us with a draft resolution at the next meeting to look at like Fort
Walton's and allow us to make a decision at that meeting if we want to go forward. >> Sure. >> Whatever. Instead of forming another committee, my suggestion is you give it to all the committees we already have because many
of them haven't even read the charter and they need to be reading the charter as part of their committee requirement. You'd have them looking at it from a different angle from the angle for which committee they form and they would also have other opportunities to look at it
in a different way as well. That way there wouldn't be uh trying to get seven new people and staff having to attend another meeting. We could still reach out and make it general to all those committees.
>> I I respect it, but I'm not really in favor of of at doing that. Um I really feel like it should be individualized. people that are going to be specifically looking at a certain way and they can focus just on this one task at hand. Um
I think our committees are already overworked or missing meetings and things like that already. So, um I think it'd be better to just find seven new members. Maybe some of them can be on this committee that are on those committees, but >> they're only allowed to be on two, so that's the whole point, Kevin.
>> Well, if they're on two, then they can't. But maybe if they're on one, they they could do it. But also I think the way that Fort Walton did um it was city attorney clerk not many staff members had to participate I don't think so that would solve that maybe as well
but just but anyways that's a motion not sure if there's another second or not. >> We have a second >> we have to have a second for discussion. >> Yes. >> So let me second for discussion since discussion already happened. How's that?
>> There you go. Good job. >> All right. Um I have just a couple of comments and and I remember an old adage is don't fix something that's not broken. And uh the other issues I have with it
is we're talking about forming a committee of unelected folks to make probably the most important decision that that can be made about how the city
of Destin runs. I feel much more comfortable leaving it up to those of us that have been elected and any charter amendment can be put forward as long as uh four members agree on it or a majority at the so we have the ability
and the opportunity to re to change the charter anytime we want when a majority of the council thinks the change should be made and we go forward and vote. And uh having witnessed the last time we had a
committee, it you you get a group that gets together and they come up with ideas that they like and then we're pretty much obliged to put it on the ballot because they've worked for months and months and uh you know often times
it uh comes up with conclusions that I think are contrary to the the the benefits being made by appointed rather than elected people. So, I would not vote to support it, but as I say, any amendment that any member thinks is
appropriate can be put on the ballot with four votes on this council. And, you know, we can entertain and discuss any such changes at any time. No. >> No.
>> I'll just say yes to make it. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. I don't have anything tonight. I wouldn't want to mess up our rapid approach to adjournment.
>> Kevin almost. >> Yep. Uh was that everything you had, Kevin? >> The city attorney. Huh? >> Yes, sir. >> City attorney. >> Uh council, pursuant to section 286.118 118 Florida statutes. This I desire the
advice of council at an executive session to be held on December 1st, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. in the following litigation F129 versus city of Destin. It's case number 2023 CA 3643 in the circuit court
of Okaloosa County, Florida. Present at the litigation will be myself, uh, our litigation council, William Warner, the city manager, Larry Jones, the mayor, and all members of the city council. And again, that we're talking about December 1st, so we'll be skipping a month.
>> All right. Anything else? >> The only other thing I wanted to say was congratulations to uh, Dr. Larry Jones over here who just graduated this past weekend. >> Very good. Okay, then we have another section of public comments. Anybody missed the
first round? Looks like we don't have a public comment. In that case, we will adjourn the meeting.