All right, good evening everyone. Thank you for being here. We're going to call this Dustin City Council meeting to order and up first we'll do the invocation by Pastor David J. Butler Faith Assembly Christian Church. Thanks for being here, sir. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Would you pray
with me, please? Heavenly Father, thank you for the privilege of gathering gathering together in this meeting tonight. Thank you for our beautiful city, our community, our waterways. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have blessed us with your beautiful
creation. We pray that you bless all the citizens and those who visit us. Father, we just ask that your will be done. And now the blessing found in Numbers chapter 6 is this. Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May his face shine towards you and be gracious to
you. May he give you his peace. Amen. >> Thank you for that. And Councilwoman Aber with the pledge, please. >> Please join me with your hand over your heart. I pledge allegiance 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. Thank you both for that. Getting into it, we have the approval of the agenda. If anyone has any
substitutions or modifications, >> I'll make a motion to approve as is. >> All right. Motion. Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> I have a second. >> Uh oh. Okay. We got possible discussion. >> No, no discussion. I just don't have my password.
>> Oh, okay. >> I thought you had some notes. >> He's resetting mine anyway, Chad. Okay. >> All right. I got a f motion in a second. Uh, Councilman Schmidt, we'll do a verbal roll call. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Councilman Bagby, >> y'all can just do a verbal.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> All right. Lace, you good with that? All right. Eyes have it 70. So moved unanimously. All right. With that, we'll get into the proclamation. Uh, we have a speaker request from Webly, Mr. Pool.
Oh, yes. I've lived here since 1982. I'm an old-timer. When I came here, Dest was a quaint little fishing village. Not anymore.
I I went to the blessing of the fleet and on my way to get to 98 to cross it, the walkway dropped down and I had a bad bad wreck.
It's a shame we don't have a hospital in Destin, but I've gone twice. They x-rayed my head. and found nothing. Okay.
But but I drive uh my bike a lot and uh it's a wonder I didn't have a wreck earlier with the condition of the walkways.
All right. I'm go down go down the list of what you might walk if you know you see if you walked the walkways they are cracked, busted or missing.
We got sand on the walkways. We got decapitation wires holding up the poles. Sometimes they have plastic so you can see them. And we have unreved anchors
that was once holding up the wires to uh we have rocks, river rocks, granite chips. I don't think we have any slag, but they'll throw you off.
All right. We have storm water drains. The old Golden Corral, they've patched it up many times. They ain't never fixed it.
And it's uh the Mi building, but we got sharp edges of the boxes, aluminum boxes. I don't know what is in them, but sometimes they squeeze you
down. All right. We have rusty nail heads in the wooden poles. You know, a lost cat. They don't drive the nails into the pole. They just leave the the rusty nail
head sticking out. We have bushes dragging over the pedestrian rideway. We have tree limbs.
All right. We have construction work as as y'all know. Y'all seen them digging and but you reckon we going to get a AI center? All the the wire they laying down.
All right. As you walking along the walkways, you got to watch out for the two cycle dust blowers and the trimmers.
I don't know if it's worse the fumes or the dust. We got lights. shining up as like on the destin city hall annex.
We have popcorn trees, cherry laurel trees, and China berry trees taking over. All right. US98 is a serious
road. I mean, it's a US98 and calling it Harbor Lane or a Harbor Boulevard don't really help. You got tankers
hauling mostly petroleum as per the fourdigit number. You got to have you got to know what the code is to know what what it is. Uh
we have bike lane sprinkled in there which is very dangerous. I'm going to give you one more minute, but your five minutes is up. So, I just want to allow you some time to wrap up here. >> All right. We need to slow down growth somewhat.
We can't just keep growing because Bloody 98 up uh Emerald Coast Parkway Miracle Strip Harbor Lane Guff Breeze Parkway. That's euphemistic.
All right. The TDC needs to quit advertising and the tourists walk on the walkways. and I'm I'm through unless y'all have any questions. >> Yep. Please.
>> Mr. P, thank you for being here. The first part of your uh comments, I appreciate it. And I would ask because you do ride your bike a lot around town. I see you often. >> I used to ride it. I >> know. If you could if you don't mind notating some of these areas that you mentioned and dropping them off with our
city staff and getting them to our public works department because then they would be able to then go do that and you being out there really helps. So, if you could drop those out, that would be great. >> I have a better answer to your question. >> That would help. >> Get some of the city staff doge them
>> and let put them inspecting. >> I mean, I appreciate >> getting volunteers, but >> All right. All right. With that, we'll move into public comments. The only thing I will
want to request is for uh the 4B which is going to be the update of the state acquired land. I wanted to create and have those public comments. Uh anyone speaking on that if we could have that time. Uh I'll give you public comments before we get into 4B. But we wanted to
keep that all consolidated for our records. Um you're more than willing to speak whenever you'd like, but that's just a request that I have. So with that, anyone from the public comment who wishes to speak, please do so. >> Please let them know they don't get speak.
>> Yeah. >> My name is Ricky Lynn Grant Jr. 175 Main Street, Justin, Florida, 32541. And uh I thought about what you said about helping people, and I've been trying to help people because I am a very selfish and greedy person.
My grandparents are from New York and that's how we are in New York. We're greedy people and I support you if you're greedy. But I've been thinking about what you said and I do want to help people and I've been getting into I know Saturday they had a cleanup day and I missed it and I wanted to go cuz I put
50 cents in the the little thing where you feed the fish on the harbor and I was just exploring and I found a way to get involved and help people and they were having a cleanup on May 30th but I missed it. I wanted to go and help and
be involved. So, I'm not so I don't look so greedy because I am greedy. I'm very greedy. But, uh, and also I was reading about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and I want to be a part of that to protect the environment and to
clean up the planet and like they were saying about the streets and stuff, maybe I could help in with public works. You know, I do the artificial intelligent like cuz I'm trying to relax, you know, so I don't like to move if I don't have
to. But if I feel called to move, then that's when I move. I hope everything goes well with my uh my deal. I left Beach Terror, so I'm not doing the Beach Teres anymore. So, I'm now just Ricky Lynn Grant Jr., the sole proprietor. I'm I'm trying to get a job
with a wholesale company. So catch me on indeed. Knowledge is power. So I'm trying to get a hold of the right information. I live out of my gorilla cart. So I have to think about how to live now like camping
and living off the land and backwoods survival guide. I was reading that magazine at uh Barnes & Noble because I think so much how to buy a house. And I know how to buy a house. I know how to fly around with all my investor friends, but I don't know how
to use my Swiss Army knife, you know, or power drill or or how to live off the land or how to, you know, pickle cucumbers. So, I'm trying to think about practical knowledge on how I can camp better
and stay out of the way. You know, I try to navigate past business owners. People know that I live on my gorilla, Cardo, you can't sleep here. So, I try to sleep in very legal ways until I can get home. I'm trying to go back to Nashville. They
got hot tubs, jacuzzi's, steam rooms at the at the lot at the YMCA. You can take a shower. I take two showers in 2025. I haven't taken a shower in 7 years. So, maybe I can grow.
Thanks. Appreciate you being here. Anyone else? Yes, sir. I >> supposed to give my name? >> Yes, I was about to bring that back up. Name and address, sir. >> Yeah, my name is Dave Clawson and I live at 224 Mast's Court, Santa Rosa Beach.
And, uh, as you can probably see from my shirt, uh, I'm the president of the Chakahhatche Ottabon Society, uh, which covers Okaloos and Walton counties. And I'll be speaking about the drone versus fireworks issue. And I think obviously
uh you can anticipate what I'm going to say uh that I'm very much for the birds and speaking for both our uh local Ottabbon chapter and for Ottabon Florida. Uh we are uh very much against a Fourth of July fireworks show in
Destin and strongly support a drone show. Uh, historically, I've read old-timer reports that 50 years or more ago, there was extensive use of Norgo Point and Holiday Isle by nesting shorebirds. These birds were driven away
by all the subsequent development and human activity in in this area. The same thing has happened all along Florida's hundreds hundreds of miles of shoreline. The result has been a precipitous decline in the abundance of several
species. So they're now considered threatened by Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Threatened is just one step down from endangered. The truth the two uh threatened species that I'm going to be focusing on here are lease turns in black skimmers. In
the in the past decade, uh some lease turns did nest on Holiday Island near the jetty going into the Gulf, but they abandoned this site. However, Destin's new Norgo Park has provided an important new nesting opportunity for lease turns
and black skimmers. The park has a fenced area in the middle of the point that provides a nesting area for the birds so they're safe from human interference and predators such as raccoons. Uh researchers this past year counted at leastund
last week counted at least 111 uh nesting lease turns and 20 nesting black skimmers. This year, Norgo Point has become one of the most important nesting sites for lease turns in the Florida panhandle. Florida sherbirds are very
finicky when it comes to nesting. It doesn't take much to dry them off their nests and leave their chicks unprotected, a loose dog, someone walking through the nesting area, or very loud noises. Sometimes the adult birds abandon the nesting site completely. I hope this uh the um city
council agrees that Norgo Point can have both a recreational and conservation component. By having a drone show to protect the birds rather than fireworks, Destin would be favoring conservation and setting an important precedent for other seaside communities in Florida to
move away from the u fireworks during shorebird nesting seasons. It would also have a president encouraging Harborwalk Village to start have stop having weekly fireworks shows during during the summer. I'd also like to note that Destin had a drone show in August 20 uh4
2024 to celebrate its 40th anniversary as a city. I invite anyone in the audience to watch the YouTube recording of this drone show if you did not witness witness it in person. People were ooing and owing just like at a fireworks display and I've heard the
show was very well received. In conclusion, to protect the birds on Norgo Point and set an important conservation precedent in Florida, I urge the city council to support a drone show for this 4th of July. >> Thank you, sir. >> Yeah.
>> Right. Good evening, council members and mayor. I am Misty Pounders. I'm at 21 Comet Street, Fort Walton Beach, but I'm here as a member also of the Chahache Autoband Society that covers Okaloosa County and Walton County. And I am here to support the replacing of the city's
fireworks show with the drone display for this Fourth of July and to urge you to make this permanent. The research is clear and there's going to be some redundancies here. I apologize. Fireworks are generally harmful to the nesting shorebirds that make Dustin's coastline so special. After each fireworks explosions, birds panic and
fly from their nests, scattering their chicks and exposing them to predators and heat until their parents return. We have black skimmers and lease turns that are currently nesting on these beaches right here, right now during our celebration window. During the Fourth of July holiday, many birds may be reesting
and will have their final opportunity to successfully raise young this season. And a failed nesting attempt isn't just sad. It's a conservation setback that compounds year after year. The harm doesn't end with the noise. So, the debris left from the fireworks litters our beaches and nearshore waters and can
be easily mistaken for food by sea turtles and other marine animals with hungry chicks even nibbling on plastic refues. The good news is that a beautiful crowd-pleasing alternative already exists. Communities across the United States are increasingly replacing and supplementing traditional Fourth of
July fireworks with drone shows, citing the environmental concerns, noise sensitivity, and lower cleanup cost. Joan drone shows produce almost no noise, allowing pets and veterans with PTSD to enjoy aerial entertainment. And as as an aside, personally, not related to the Ottabon Society, I worked with
the military uh treatment facility, both Eglund and Hbert for eight years and experienced some of the comments from those folks that have PTSD with our fireworks. Also, they these drones shows produce less pollution compared to fireworks, which can release smoke and chemicals
into the air. And I understand while some drones may fail during normal operations, the overall reduction in their noise and environmental pollution is far less concerning than explosive fireworks. I am a longtime resident over 30 years of this area and appreciate the desire to celebrate our country,
especially during the 250th of our nation. For me, living here so long has brought wisdom and a deeper appreciation of how we are the stewards and caretakers of our God-given natural resources. Destin is known for its emerald waters and abundant wildlife.
And let's celebrate our nation's independence in a way that reflects those values. I urge you to finalize the drone show contract and make this a lasting tradition. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Anyone else? All right. Yep.
Oh. >> Hello, city council members and mayor. My name is Penelopey Maine and I'm also an Ottabon member and my address is 148 Courtyard Circle, Santa Rose Beach through um but I work in Okaloosa County
and I have been a volunteer uh shorebird steward for the last three years and I um have witnessed how um sensitive birds are and how they will fly away when people walk or run through their where they are nesting. And I uh first uh saw
black skimmers for the first time because I thought, "Wow, what an unusual looking bird. It kind of reminds me of Danny DeVito, you know, short legs and black and white and long beak and the bottom beak is a little longer." But I I wanted to go see them. So I went and volunteered in Pensacola and I saw the
remnants. It was after July 4th. It was like at the end of July and I saw the remnants of fireworks in the um black skimmer uh roped off nesting area. So, remnants of fireworks had landed in their nesting area. And um I remember
the uh biologists shared with me that hopefully those young will survive because there was just barely a few more weeks left for them to learn how to fly and migrate. So, the birds are trying to nest and create as many brute uh fledglings as possible in the short
amount of window of time they have between May and August. And any kind of disturbance like fireworks or people walking through um will uh uh inhibit that from happening. And um uh we have
according to the coastal birding report um let me see if I can find it. coastal boarding report. Uh we have uh like um our president Dave Clawson said uh one of the most important nesting sites in
the area um right there at Noriega Point and there are an estimated 13,000 breeding least turns in the state of Florida. Um and there's at least 2,658 right here in the panhandle. So we are a
very important spot for them. So, um, bird watchers, uh, people come, there was a rare bird that was here a few years ago, the grey gall. People were coming from as far away as Maine, uh, to take a picture of it. Arizona, Chicago, uh, Atlanta, Orlando to take a picture
of that gray gall because it was the first time it had been spotted in North America. Destin can be a rare ecoourism site in addition to, you know, you know, entertainment. uh it has a unique opportunity to become a ecoourism
uh mecca for people to come and they will come. They came for that great all they will come to see the lease turns. Thank you very much for your time and I would appreciate you voting in favor of a drone show. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, Alan.
For the record, Alan Osborne, uh, I will say that all the Holiday Aisle people still have the same bird for Mr. Mixon and all them. We're still we're still preserving the ones and we're making sure that they're leaving the nest as often as we can see them. Okay, I'm
going to move on. I was out there uh pompo fishing at the finger jetty a couple weeks ago and I looked up and thought somebody was having an emergency and I don't know what the real name of it but I call it Bos Beach now because it's always got a skiff over there. Some
dude landed a sea plane and taxied into there with a turning rotor system and coasted up there and got out and picked up some passengers and took off in a blue sea plane and I think it was experimental. So if we've got somebody
running tours pulling up and landing in the east pass, I was a pilot a long time. I've done a lot of stupid [ __ ] Never that stupid. I mean, come on. I mean, that's dangerous. He was still turning rotors to win 20 ft of coasting
into the or propeller, excuse me, turning his propellers 20 feet from coming in there. And I thought all that's going to take is one of those and we'll be on the front page of everything. So just well just when you think you don't have to write something
in an ordinance, think again cuz somebody out there is screaming hold my beer or cranking engines. I don't know. The second thing I want to talk about is the Crab Island takeover. Uh that was a disgrace what they did to Bruce's
funeral. and and and I I I was appalled by the twerking and the driving of jet skis between the funeral procession and all the profanity that was yelled at the boats and the overloaded pontoons that were there weren't enough FWC to deal
with all that. So I don't know. We need to put out a official bulletin that we don't want the crap here. That was ridiculous. I mean I don't know. Bruce, one of the first people I ever met when I came here and I was young at, you know, at the rodeo. And and I just
thought it was, you know, it was clearly anybody uh that had oxygen going to their brain, no matter where they were from, could have looked at that with a preacher up there and flowers and 35, 40 boats, hundreds and hundreds of people.
and they're playing, you know, himinal music and talking psalms and verses pulling out and we got and we had people stopping making Tik Toks in the middle of our dang funeral. I was appalled. Anyway, that's what so just I don't
know. They're planning another one for Father's Day and I wanted to have the great poop out and just nobody pumped their holding tanks till that day and then cruise crab island, but that's illegal. But what's not illegal is chumming for sharks. So if we save all
the carcasses for two weeks and then when on the incoming tide, remember when the hammerheads got out there and cleaned out all all that naturally and we use natural selection. So if we sponsor a fishing tournament as part of the sub rodeo and we go up there on the ingoing tide and we got plenty of
sharks, we can ch them up >> and all that crap will stop. >> We put out a notice. Okay. Just just ideas throwing it out there how to stop it. No, they won't argue with the shot sharks. They won't be rude to them. I'll talk to y'all later. >> All right.
>> Name and address and the floor is yours. >> Hey, council members, Mayor Danny Davis, 619 Calhoun Avenue, Dustin, Florida. All right. And I'm not a for a drone show, but I'm not opposed to one. But I don't know where the Ottabbon Society was when
y'all decided to pass a permit for that building. It's not there. Where was the birds at that point? Anybody got a qu, you know, answer to, well, we'll sign a permit to have this building built. Where was Ottabbon when
the when that when the the condo was going to be built? So, uh, in the whole safety point of a drone versus a firework, uh, when the drone hits the water, I'm pretty sure drones plastic. I've crashed several of them,
uh, and they go down into our ecosystem. How long does it take for that drone to biodegrade or the lithium battery that carries in it? What is it doing to our atmosphere or to our ecosystem?
And if one of those drones happens to land in the bird sanctuary, what happens then? That's another problem. Last I know, fireworks are, you know, they're shell casing in paper.
I don't know how many birds in that shelf looked at, but there's paper in their nest. Don't know if it's those type of birds. The next thing is if you block off an area people can't walk through that they've been walking through for I've been in distance in '
89. Yeah. You block it off, things are going to cohabitate there. Birds, snakes, rats, things like that. So, um, yeah, I think we figure out the Fourth of July firework deal and maybe
we work in a drone if we can figure out, you know, what a drone's made out of, what's their safety rating and things of that nature. Uh, I'm an air captain. Uh, Saturday was a catastrophe. If that's how Destin wants to go down in national
news and affect every single Dewey and all the rest of us that own businesses here. That's what you we want to see on national news. You want to let that money keep going to 3A cuz that it's going there. It's been going there. We got to get a handle on this. The
sheriff's department national seashore they should have been out there a number one to protect it. So it is a federal piece of property. So, I appreciate Joel's time. Thank you for being here, sir. >> All right, ma'am.
>> My name is >> Just hit that gray button on the on the base there of the speaker. Yeah, there you go. Name and address. >> Okay. My name is Holly Labar. I live at 212 Harbor Boulevard in Destin. Um, my husband and I run the Big John charter boat and the Harbor Girl here in town.
and I'm here to talk about the fireworks on the 4th of July. Everyone is coming to Destin for fireworks for the 4th of July. We've already been having them weekly. I've watched Noriega Point get rebuilt. I walk over there regularly myself. What they did over there and the
birds came back. I don't think a couple firework shows once a week is going to affect their relocation because they came after we did all that work out there. We also have airplanes that go over all the time that are extremely loud and we're never going to change that. So if people have PTSD from
fireworks, what are we going to do about our military bases around here? We're not going to have the plane stop flying, are we? Anyway, I think we need a fireworks show. And I think we should go all out with a fireworks show. The biggest best one we ever had. And maybe a bonfire and maybe some cannons
somewhere. Not just the pirate ship. >> You're talking. >> Possibly like somebody that comes and sings. uh while that fireworks show is going on, you could play it, coordinate some music to it, like I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy type type of thing, you know, back in the day. Just some suggestions. >> Thank you.
>> That's all I have to say. >> All right. >> Uh good evening. Joe Fitzpatrick, 3879 Indian Trail. uh here tonight for the nighttime discussing the drainage issue affecting my parcel. Uh we are halfway through a study four weeks in and at the
last meeting I walked through a pretty good deep dive of the system uh the infrastructure the outfalls the piping the nodes and all the records behind them. Rather than spend that time tonight to talk about that issue I thought it might be informative to see what's actually happening on the property during a rain event and
something you don't see if you go out there on a sunny day. You know it's the reality. So, uh, so this is a quick reference map talked about last week. I do want to go ahead and just take a picture. We talked about the records. I want to walk through some pics of videos of the infrastructure in
action. So, this is two of the drainage that are contributing to the corer coming out of Indian Woods. Once you're out of Indian wood, you basically come down to Indian Trail and you have an inlet that is directed to the corer.
Rainy day, sunny day. All that water is directed down from what we just saw and discharged to the carter. Rainy day, sunny day. Let's head over to Indian Trail Estates. Multiple pipe drains, roadway grading,
all to a central outlet. Routed to the carter. Let's take that outlet. Let's put it to the conveyance ditch. Route it down to the carter. Let's take all that upstream conveyance and let's put it to two 24-in culverts
on the south side of Indian Trail. Let's take all that upstream. Let's take it to the north side Indian trail. Take it high velocity direct to private property. Then let's look at the impact of Carter, my private property.
Now, let's take it to the final outfall to the bay. Node 168, peak of 18,000 gallons per minute per the city's own documentation. So, that's a lot in three minutes. I hope it's useful context as you walk through the study continues. I'll be
honest, haven't seen anybody out on the property so far. Uh, no questions, no real communication. Um, you know, this is my these meetings seem to be my one chance to sort of share information and get updates. So, I appreciate an update this evening, progress to date, what's
left to do, and make sure that we're still on track. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. >> Anyone else? Good evening. My name is Andrea Ansley, 624 Seats Drive, Dest. I am a member of the parks and rec committee and was I'm
here today on behalf of our committee regarding the fireworks. Uh at our meeting on May 26, we made a motion for the council to move forward with the fireworks as planned for the 4th of July and supplement with a drone show. Um so
I just wanted to relate that that was our recommendation. >> Thank you. >> I'm sorry. Did you say proceed with the fireworks as planned? >> Yes. Well, as previously planned. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And then to supplement with the drone show.
Um, one of the concerns that our committee did have was at the previous drone show, Norya Point was, I guess, blocked off. And so, one of our concerns was whether or not that would take place with the drone show for the 4th of July,
which would be a big issue for the tourist. So, >> awesome. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> All right. Anyone else? Yep. Good evening. My name is Alan Meyers, 150 Bent Arrow Drive. I am the executive director over at the Village of Baytown
Wararf. I contract with both companies that have provided a proposal for drones and fireworks. Both are professional. Both are punctual. Both will do a good job. Both bring a lot of people. But if you are celebrating the nation's 250th anniversary, it's fireworks for me. I
watch it every week and I can tell you if you want something antilimactic, not saying it's a bad show, the drones are awesome, but it is more of a symphony where the fireworks are more rock and roll. In addition to that, if you don't give the community an outlet to watch a
professional fireworks show, they will go to uh Walmart, they will go to Billy Bobs in Alabama, and they will buy a truckload of fireworks and they will shoot them all night long. So, when you talk about PTSD running till 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m. in the morning, that's all you will hear. Thank you.
>> Appreciate you being here. >> Anyone else? All right, we'll close public comments and we'll get into the consent agenda. Thank you everyone for your your input. >> Move to approve. >> Second. >> All right. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion on consent?
Seeing none, we'll call the vote. Pick up the computers. I don't I don't know. >> All right. Eyes have it. 8 Z. I don't know why I was able to vote on that, but strike my yes from the record.
All right. So, consents pushed. Thank you. Uh, city manager. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. Item 4A is regarding uh fireworks, drone show or drone show slash fireworks. As you uh recall at the last meeting, we were
asked to bring you back a a proposed contract regarding a drone show in lie of fireworks. So we have that before you tonight. Uh Mr. Braden had asked that the fireworks be put under his name for perhaps a reconsideration. So, we wanted
to address both of these at the same time so that we could uh get to where council would like to be. So, we've uh engaged with a the local drone show producer and he's given us two options.
One is a standalone drone show drone show would cost $50,000. Or if we u combine a drone show which would be a a very similar show that we would get
for 50,000. Uh he would do that for 20,000 but would provide u $10,000 in sponsorship. So it would only be $10,000 of cash out from the city. Um, again, the fireworks is uh would be a $39,000
contract with a $9,000 expenditure for an incidental tape permit for a total of 38,000. So, roughly you can get a drone show standalone for 50,000, the drone show and the fireworks together for 58,000.
And I believe we have funds available to do uh either one that you would so desire. So those three options are there for your consideration. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Councilman Bagby. >> Mayor, I'll make the motion that we approve option number three with the
caveat that the Destin Parks Foundation come up with the $10,000 for the drone show. And just like I did for the dog park, uh, Miss Jenny and I will donate I was going to say the first $100, but I didn't leave the house with $100, so I
brought 50 for you, Andrea. and we'll donate the first $50 for the drone show. >> Point of order. Mayor, we need a motion to reconsider. >> Oh, we do. >> How? >> No. Hold up. Hold up. >> I can't make that motion. >> Jim, hold up. How so? Please explain. >> I'm sorry.
>> Reconsider. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. You need We made a decision on this issue at the last meeting under Robert's rules. We need a motion to reconsider. Otherwise, we've made the decision twice and the staff won't know which decision to actually go forward with. So, we need a motion to reconsider. >> I mean, I'm not against it. I mean, from
my understanding, the motion was to bring back a contract, which they've done. So, they've >> That's not my understanding. So, >> that's what the motion read through the motion in the minutes. >> I've got it right here and be glad to read it. >> Yeah, if you can read that, please. >> Council member Schmidt made a motion seconded by council member Traml to
initiate a contract for council's consideration for a drone show in lie of a fireworks show for the Fourth of July celebration. Motion passed four to three with council members Abear, Schmidt, Braden, and Traml voting yes and council members Destin, Bagby, and Morgan voting
no. >> Yeah, I guess read the consideration >> is in lie of >> No, the key word is consideration. >> Mayor Robert's rules are quite clear on this and we follow them or >> I mean I'm okay either way. I mean, I'm I like where this is going. I'm just >> I think the best thing to do would clean the record and just someone can make a
motion to reconsider. Would anyone like to make that? >> I'll make the motion to reconsider. Uh, per Robert's rules, it's got to be from the prevailing party, >> right? And I wasn't. >> Council Braden, would you like to do the honors of pulling back? Oh, >> yes, she was. She said >> you're on the prevail. Oh, I'm sorry.
>> All right. If you if we think we need to pull this back. All right. So, I have a motion and second to claw back the motion that we've just completed. Uh, any further discussion? >> Yeah. All right, Captain. >> So, sorry. I'm gonna apologize.
>> Councilwoman Honorable Morgan, >> um, >> it's it's your Cadam. I keep reading Chadam as >> Yeah. All right. I have a motion to second considerations. Uh, we'll pass the vote. Call the vote for reconsideration. >> Consideration.
>> Yeah. All right, with that motion stricken off even though I don't believe we needed it, but I appreciate the uh redundance. >> Um, it worked out well. >> With that, I'll reception. Mayor, I'll make and just for clarity, I
will make the motion that we have the fireworks, the and the drone show and pay for the permit, which is all three of the things the staff presented to us with the caveat that the Destin Parks
Foundation provide the $10,000 for the drone show. >> All right. I have a motion. Do I hear a second? >> I'll second. Um, >> all right. Honorable Chattam Morgan. >> Thank you. >> Uh, yeah, I would just mention I know
the parks foundations currently raising money for the uh schoolhouse replica at Calhoun Park. Um, so I would I would like to see it contingent before you enter a contract with the drone company that the parks foundation
votes to approve that money first. Um because my understanding was it was going to be sort of a pass through organization and some of the donors were lined up, but I would hate for us to commit to the drone show and then fail the vote with the foundation.
>> All right, Councilman Dustin. >> Um just a couple questions. >> Just a couple of questions. U our company that we're talking to, there was more than one company we talked to about drone. I know the mayor had talked to
>> a national one reached out to us as well and he propo his proposal seemed very copy and paste it was like 60k um a lot of them I guess right now for 4th of July are 60 to 80 uh for the 200 since it's their biggest day of the year other than New Year's uh most of them
kind of are 20 to 35 um so I I believe I passed that along but I don't think it made it in >> to it just because it was so absorbent and they were not having any deals with us. >> Miss Miss Cop, state law requires us to bid on certain
things or to have committees consider these choices when we passing out the public's money. Um, are we running a foul of any problems with bids or making decisions unilaterally? >> It will depend on the cost of the contract. At 60,000 it would, but not
under 30. It's 35. Correct, Crystal? >> Between five and $35,000. We require three written quotes >> if it's under I'm sorry I couldn't hear >> between 5,000 and 35,000 we require um three written quotes and then over 35,000 we would start the procurement
typical RFP uh or RFQ process. >> Okay. So if it's 10,000 then we're all right. >> Yes sir. >> Okay. And the other question I have is on the permit that we're going to buy for 9,000. I finally read through the uh the
details of that application. This firing of the fireworks appears to take place completely out of the city limits over on federal property. Um how do we pay for a permit for activity that's not taking place in our city
limits at all? And I make the point because I think we would spend our money more wisely to actually hire whoever is going to do the monitoring to monitor the nesting area at Norga Point because if you look at the permit application,
they're monitoring over there. And it says for a 300 square area, 300 ft square area around over on the federal property, which has no impact at all or no connection to our concerns about Nora Point. I think we have had the fireworks
um from different locations over the years and certainly when they're on federal property, I don't believe we would need the permit. Um but we have had them in other locations. Um Lisa, do you want to explain that one? >> Well, just just to clarify, I looked at the permit itself and it specifically
says it's being fired over there. >> It is. It is. Um it has they have always well they have been fired over there for years and years and years. Um with Eglund um Egglund's uh Jackson Guard
their fish and wildlife has always taken care of that for us. But um the federal uh fish and wildlife came in about four years ago and said we needed this extra protection.
>> And so the federal government is requiring us to get this permit. >> That is correct. >> And they turned it over to Fish and Wildlife to adjudicate or to collect. >> I'm sorry. They what? >> It it appears it's a fish and wildlife permit. >> Yes, it goes to Fish and Wildlife.
Correct. It's a permit with fish and wildlife. >> I'm I'm a little confused on what we're doing and it sounds like they are too. The point I would make is I'd rather spend 9,000 or 5,000 or whatever it takes to monitor what's going on in Norga Point which is within our city
limits and which is the area we're trying to complaint to trying to to protect rather than spend the money to monitor and protect an area over on the federal property. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me for the city of Destin to do that when Nora Point is what we're worried about. And these fireworks are
not being fired from Nora Point. In fact, are being fired from probably a,000 ft away on federal property. So, I have some deep questions about that. I'd rather spend money on the nesting ground they're talking about because they're right. When I was young, that place was
covered with skimmers. >> It's not now. I'd like to see it go back to having them, but spending $9,000 to monitor property that's not even in the corporate limits seems like a fool's errand to me. >> I'll um get with uh Lisa about that and
look into what's going on with the federal I'm sorry, what >> do >> Yeah, we'll we'll um we will not pay for it if we do not need to. We will review >> and the next meeting we have a report Do we have a report? >> We can certainly. >> Oh, of course. At the next council
meeting. Yes, sir. >> All right, Councilman Braden. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I'm fine with the fireworks and a drone show. I just don't I don't know if we have the drone show first and then the fireworks. Needs to be heavily
advertised that we're having fireworks. Um um our local guy, he's the only one I've been in contact with uh that does Sand Destin. Um when we brought this up or when you guys brought that up from the foundation, in my head it was always
American flag, drones, fireworks behind, happy 250, fireworks going on behind. Um and he said that, you know, as long as we map out the radius, especially if we're shooting off over there in the pass, the drones would be much closer to the harbor. Um there's there's no reason
why you couldn't delegate the airspace. >> Sounds perfect. >> Yeah. >> All right. Uh Councilman Bagby. >> Yeah. A couple of thing on on the permit. I think the where the impacts are is where you have to have the monitoring, but I don't disagree that we
need to monitor particularly based on our ongoing conversation with the county. I'll try to be nice here. Uh and and y'all are right about burning. Uh one of the things people don't realize is that
burers spend a lot of money and I agree, but like y'all said uh we had record numbers uh last year and or this year and last year we had fireworks 4th of July fireworks every
Thursday. So it it it's kind of not uh in concert those those observations because we've been doing fireworks for a while. My thing as I said at the last meeting this is 250th birthday of the of
the nation. You know I wouldn't have voted to have fireworks last time except this year we need to do fireworks and we need to celebrate. And so I'm that's why I'm making the motion. But I I agree. Burers travel and they spend a lot of
money and all those people that are railing against the current types of tourists that we have. Those are actually the types of tourists we want because they're very low impact and they spend out the wazoo and they go out to eat and they do a lot of other things.
>> Right. Councilwoman Traml. >> Uh yes. I just wanted to clarify as far as the motion goes. Um, in the past we have agreed, the Destin Parks Foundation has agreed to be the holder of those donations that Lisa is getting. We are
not donating $10,000. We will donate up to whatever Lisa can get in because it's a tax write off for the person making the donation. And so, we're just the holder of the money. So, I want to make sure that that's understood and clearly identified in our motion that we will
not be committing $10,000 because it may be 12 or maybe eight. I don't know what it's going to be. So, we'll see. >> So, but I mean I I want all of it, but your 50 bucks is not going to get us to 10,000. So, you're going to have to Annie up a little bit more than that.
>> It'll be 100 once I get my wife. >> No, no, no. I I I want a hundred for the fireworks. >> Hey, it is it is 50 a drone. For 200 drones at a thousand, it's 50 a drone. >> Yeah. >> All right. We're chipping in a a pixel.
>> I bought a drone. We're >> Yeah. All right. Uh Councilman Schmidt, >> thank you. Just for clarification, uh, one, um, I I want to make sure we're not saying that the parks foundation has to
raise the $10,000. >> It sounds like >> because if they don't, then what happens based on your motion? We just don't do the drone show, >> I guess. Well, and that and thank you for raising that issue because from a motion
>> constructual standpoint, you know, if we wait till the next council meeting, we're only less than three weeks out. Yes. From 4th of July and I don't know whether the drone will even be show would even be available still at that point. So, one thing to consider in your motion and then two, do we need to also
besides just saying option three, don't we have to pass the resolution for the fireworks or is that just not required? >> We would we would need to uh extend that agreement for this year. >> So, we would need to actually approve the resolution.
>> Well, it's just contract. It's just it's just a an extension. the the contract's in place and it has annual extensions that you take action to execute that. >> So the actual agenda item at the May 16th 18th meeting was to approve a
resolution and to initiate a contract with Pyro. >> I'd have to go back and look. >> I just want to make sure if y'all if you want to do it the right way. I want >> if if a resolution is appropriate then certainly. But >> I don't know. It was that's what the agenda item was.
>> Okay. The contract's in place for pyro and >> if we don't need it, then why the heck was it on the May 18th agenda to approve resolution 2608? >> Mayor, may I answer his question? >> Just consider that for all the motion makers. >> Can I answer your question for you? >> Sure. >> The resolution was the general resolution between the parks foundation
and the city of Destively on projects like this in now and in the future. And that resolution was passed. So that resolution is basically >> Yeah. Unfortunately, I think you're not no disrespect, but resolution 2608 was
specifically to execute a contract with Pyro shows, Inc. >> Nothing to do with the parks foundation. So I just want to make sure we're keep in mind >> nothing to do with the parks foundation. >> All right. Thank you. We we did both of them at the same time. So that's
>> things. All right. Anything further? All right. Councilwoman Aber >> huge. Really? >> Thanks, Mayor. Um, I just wanted to make sure that, you know, everyone that's listening and everyone that's here, the bottom line is is we're going to have fireworks and if we get the money raised, we'll have the drone show on the
side as the fireworks are going off. But it is the 250th and it does mean a lot. And with their fireworks being twice a week in the in the harbor, why would we cancel the 4th of July? We were just trying to add on a drone show and bring that back. So, for clarification, our
goal is to have a huge, beautiful 250th fireworks show, and if we get the 10,000, we'll add in the the drones, right? >> Okay. >> Council member, honorable Morgan.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, we're getting better. Uh so Lisa on the uh on the take permit for FWC the parcel number it lists it as as the authorized location within Destala County Florida but the
parcel number is the NCO club or the federal property. So it's not actually in Destin. So I I do kind of understand where Dewy's coming from with it. But we've paid it three years in a row now. >> This will be um the fourth year. Is there anyone from FWC you can reach out
to? And I know we've got a public records request, but I would be curious if all parties shooting fireworks within the bird nesting sites are paying take permits as well and if they aren't, why not?
>> We've had that conversation and uh to date they have not. Okay. But they've been put on notice that they need to make sure that if it's required, they do participate just like the city does in in acquiring those permits. Got it. Did I convey that right, Miss C? >> Yes. >> Thank you.
>> Yep. Thank you for that, Councilman Dustin. >> Um, just some clarification because I don't want us to get in trouble. We can't tell the park for we can't tell the park foundation to do things through motion that would strip away or cause their tax exempt status to be
questioned. So, I would suggest we would take that out of any motion. And uh the other thing I wanted to ask is the show, the drone show before, after in the middle, every 20 minutes. Uh there's no clarification on what we're doing.
>> I'm sorry. Say that again. >> Okay. I'm confused about the drone show. Is it going to be at the beginning, at the end, in the middle? We don't know. >> The goal is not a 13-minute show. Yeah, that's one time. One at a time, guys. >> But would they be simultaneous? Is that
what you were saying, Mayor? That's what they done. So, it was up to us. He just wanted >> We can do it either way. >> Yeah. He's open to our our direction. >> Know there was some in comments that if we did it post fireworks, there'd be smoke and it may inhibit the ability to
see some of the drones. I don't know. >> So, it would be at the beginning. I mean, I'm I'm beginning to get a little concerned about how this is being negotiated and what we're getting and what we're voting to do. Um, if it's at the beginning and we avoid the smoke, probably a good idea. But
generally, I I need to know what I'm voting to approve and it sounds like we don't really know. You're voting for what should be a $30,000 uh production that I begged and pleaded and he's luckily a local dude and uh helped out with the Coast Guard for 16
years and felt very patriotic and wanted to get involved. So, we weasled him all the way down to 10 and he's giving us a full 13-minute show and he wants to be as flexible as possible. >> Very, very good reasons to do it. I agree with you. Yeah, >> I still need to know what we're doing
and we're going to be told later. Is that the way this is going to work? Maybe at the next meeting. >> I I think we can tell him how we wanted to >> think for the or fireworks. We can certainly >> You'll bring a report back at the next meeting, which is really all we have left. >> He just needed to know. Yes. And then
he'll follow. >> Yep. Okay. That's what I needed to know. So, we would at least know what we're doing. >> Yeah. >> Yes, sir. >> Sounds like we'll do that with uh the the bird murder permit. >> All right. Councilman Bagley. >> Yeah. So I will I will change my motion
to approve option two which is the fireworks and the permit direct staff to apply for the permit and it's already budgeted and to extend the contract one year which would is how we're going to get the fireworks show and then I will
have another motion after we vote on this motion to direct the staff to bring back the plan invite the foundation and invite the drone guy so that we can hash all this so everybody understands because I agree it's we're just kind of
flying by the seat of our pants and it's five weeks from today. Okay, it's July 4th. So let's or five weeks minus a day, whatever. So I will just limit my initial motion to approving the extension of the contract for the
fireworks for one year and the payment of the FW the permit take permit. >> All right, >> council just so you know the permit has been had to be put in in
April. So that is ongoing. It's on hold right now until you all make a decision. >> That's what I'm trying to do is make a decision. >> Right. So, I just want you to know that permit is ongoing right now.
>> Yep. And the FAA has approved his flight pattern for the drones if we chose to move forward. If we Yeah, that's what I'm saying. If we everything's in place, you guys are getting a little worried. So, I'm just reassuring there has been logistical effort on the back end. And
the only the only caveat I would ask is that that we get some clarification on the permit because if we're going to spend $9,000, I'd like to do it protecting Nora rather than the area over by the NCO club. >> That's not our property. It's not in the city limits.
>> All right, Councilman Schmidt, >> I just want to make sure everybody saw the proposal from the drone show company because they're all confused on what he's going to provide it. It is in It is in the agenda, right? This is what he's going to provide. >> Yep. >> I'm sorry. What?
>> Well, y'all were asking, you're confused on what the the drone show will be. >> And there's a agenda item >> that it spells out what he's going to provide. >> It's a 13minute show, right? >> Right. 12 minutes in link, patriotic animations, custom sky imagery, spelling
a brain 250th birthday, >> before designs of American flag. I mean, are you wanting to get into the micro details of exactly how somebody's going to do their job, like how they're going to turn it on, turn it off, and things like that? >> No, but I agree with Mr. Destin. You going to do it before or after the fireworks? You going to do it to the
side of the Do we know what time they're going to >> be blocked by the the smoke because the fireworks? It's in there though, Jim. Like, it's in there. >> It's not to that deal of specificity. And I think Mr. Dustin is correct. I'd like to know those details. >> All right. Well,
>> Councilwoman Traml, >> I was just going to say I liked your idea of of doing simultaneous having the flag and the whatever you're going to do up there. >> Um, while the fireworks are going off and if the drones are here, then the fireworks can be up there and they
shouldn't interfere with each other. >> I think that would be a wonderful spectacular thing to do. >> So, do we need to vote on that tonight? >> Yeah, >> in a minute we will. All right. >> Okay. >> All right. So, no further discussion.
We'll call the vote. >> Uh, yeah. And then Jim, what was B again? I apologize. >> Just the fireworks. >> Just the fireworks. >> This is just on the fireworks and the permit. Pay for the permit. >> All right. So, >> do we want to make a separate motion to
have >> We want to make a separate motion, direct staff to bring back to us at the very next meeting the integration plan between the fireworks and the drone show and invite the foundation to brief if if they are going to be part of that. I
want to know the funding scheme, city manager. I don't care if the foundation is paying or you want us to take it out of council contingency, but I want to know how we're going to pay that $10,000. Crystal, what what did you have planned? I'm assuming you you never come here without a plan.
>> Yeah. No, there were some savings from uh the Christmas decorating this year and so we were going to use the savings towards the ex the additional $10,000 cost of drones in case the park uh foundation was not able to um come up with the funds. >> All right. Thank you. All right. And
then it kind of seems like we have a uh a majority for doing the drones in line with the fireworks. So with that, um, is that what we want to go towards? So would they have some guidance or would you like them to bring
back a different proposal that it's not in the agenda? >> That that's fine, but I think the drone show lasts 13 minutes and I think the fireworks are like 18 or 20 minutes. So you know, I just trying to figure out >> I'd just kind of like to know the concept of the integration. So that's
what I bring back the concept of integration and the recommended payment methodology. And if the foundation can step up, I'm going to pull back my $50 until y'all figure it out. >> Well, and and with that symbolic pulling back of the $50, should we start
advertising and trying to get donations now or do we want to wait another two weeks and >> get closer to the fourth? >> I'm going to second the motion so we can debate. >> All right. All right. Any further discussion? >> All right, seeing no further discussion,
I'll call the vote. >> Yeah, hopefully he doesn't get booked. All right, eyes have a 61. So moved. >> Right. >> Item uh 4B is the update on the state uh park property. and Miss Cop will lead us
in that. >> Thank you, Dr. Jones. Uh council, this item is regarding the state acquired park property in Holiday Isle, City of Dest. And um please bear with me because this item is going to take a few minutes
to go through the latest. Uh on May 19th, members of the city council, the mayor, city manager, myself, and residents attended the Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners meeting. The mayor formally requested the county support protection of the shorebirds in
and around Noriego Point and the state property, but the county took no action on that request. Instead, near the very conclusion of the meeting during his commissioner reports, Commissioner Palmer stated that he had submitted a request for a legal opinion
regarding the park to the state's attorney general, who of course is a member of the cabinet that approved this land purchase. Notwithstanding the BCC's prior motion that the city and county approach the state together, no input was solicited from the city at all, and
the city was not informed until after the request was mailed to the attorney general. In fact, the city had to do a public records request to even get a copy of the correspondence. And frankly, shame on the county for that. The county's decision to proceed without
consulting the city is inconsistent with the collaborative approach it has publicly advocated. The city has repeatedly been placed in the position of learning about significant developments after the fact rather than through direct communication from what should have been its governmental
partner. This pattern of conduct raises serious concerns regarding transparency and goodfaith collaboration. But what is most concerning is that each discussion involving this property seems to begin with the assumption that our
established legal requirements are obstacles to be overcome rather than laws to be followed. And case in point, the AGO request is phrased such that the county assumes management responsibility for the park, questions the city's land
use and permitting authorities at the park, questions to what extent the city would have any oversight at all if the county manages the property, and inquires as to whether the Holiday Isle Improvement Association's covenants and restrictions apply at the property. But
council, there is not a lack of legal guidance as to these questions. The problem is not that we do not have an answer. The problem is that some parties do not like the answer they have already received. This property is located entirely within the city. And under
Florida law, the city is required to adopt a comprehensive plan and that plan is adopted through extensive public participation and reviewed and approved by the state. That plan along with the city's land development code governs what can and cannot occur on this
property per state law. And absent an express statutory exemption or preeemption, local land use regulations apply even to state-owned property. The law does not become optional simply because a proposed use is inconsistent
with the comprehensive plan. Additionally, the county already asked the Department of Environmental Protection to disregard city zoning and permitting, and DP said no. Once again, the question was posed by a representative of the county without the
city's prior knowledge and was only discovered by the city due to a public records request made by a county resident that was shared by the with the city. D has already informed the county in writing that city zoning and permitting applies. This request by
Commissioner Palmer for an attorney general opinion left out this vital information and looks less like a search for legal clarity and a lot more like a forum shop for a different answer. If this was truly an attempt to prepare for a future meeting between the city,
state, and county as the county now claims, then the city would have been involved with the county in the preparations. The city's position remains straightforward. The city is interested in leasing and managing the park consistently with the city-owned adjacent 14 acres of conservation land.
Even if the county obtains the lease for the state's 4 acres, the city is not attempting to prevent lawful use of the property. The city is insisting that any proposed use comply with applicable law, including the city's state required comp plan and land use regulations. The city
is happy to work with the state and if the county obtains a legal interest then with the county as well to that end. Council, we also have a second issue to review. I've learned that a resident of the county obtained again via a public
records request an email from the county attorney to county management and commissioner Mixon regarding the deed restrictions applicable to the Norgo Park property. The email is dated December 12th, 2025, 2 days after the closing on the state property. In that
email, the county attorney outlined the conditions governing the property from when the county deeded it to the city in 2010 and advised that these that any violations of those conditions could result in the property reverting to the county. At the request of a council
member, I am going to read these restrictions into the record. One, the use of the property is solely and exclusively for public park and recreational purposes. Two, any sale or lease of any interest in the property to a non-governmental person or
organization is prohibited. Three, the operation of any concession on the property by a non-governmental person or organization is prohibited. Four, any sales contract or option to buy or sell things attached to the property to be severed from the property with a
non-governmental person or organization is prohibited. Five, a management contract except contracts for maintenance of the property is prohibited. And finally, six, the harbor side shoreline of this property shall remain accessible for the use and enjoyment of Boers unless the city's
coastal engineers determine armoring is necessary to protect the side of the property. It is clear that the city has faithfully complied with the deed restrictions, but council, the timing and substance of these county communications speak for
themselves, and the council may draw whatever conclusions it deems appropriate regarding the county's objectives in pursuing this matter. The city has spent the past 16 years since 2010 insisting that the property remain devoted to park purposes. And if the
county now wants to even question what it would take to attempt to take the city's property away so that the county may do what it prohibited the city from doing, that would be not merely ironic. It would turn the original purpose of the deed on its head. And one last point I want to bring up, and that is that it
has been stated by various county representatives that this park is not a priority for the county the way it is for the city. However, the actions taken in pursuing this matter suggest a level of engagement and effort that is difficult to reconcile with that
characterization. The extent of the county's desire to circumvent city authorities appears atypical and merits additional transparency regarding its underlying rationale. Thank you, council, and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> All right. Thank you for that, Council.
Uh, Councilman Braden, >> thank you. Um, I mean, we all know that Drew Palmer does not work for the citizens of DSON that elected him for that seat. Um, like we it was said earlier, we don't know what payroll he's
on, but he's on somebody's. Um, I mean, I would I would make the motion tonight to start the investigation into the maybe the county and the state, the purchase of this property, the what they spent on it. Um,
but I feel like I wouldn't have the support. Maybe one or two. Um, but it it desperately needs to be done. I mean, the we know who's who's bought and paid for. Channel 3 is one of them. They won't cover it. They won't say anything about it. Um,
so it's I mean it's been all over social media. You know, we've talked about it. We've had standing room only meetings with the county. you know, the one one or two workshops or maybe the one workshop, nobody will report on it. So, um
anyway, I I just hope that, you know, maybe one day and it it like we all know this is coming down, this is going to court whether you want to or not or want to admit it or like it, it's going to court. Um because we we tried to work with the county, seemed like we was
getting that way, you know, we was working together, making some progress, and all of a sudden, lo and behold, the crook Drew Palmer showed his real colors again, and it went back the other direction. So, um I
guess we'll just sit sit around, wait till that day comes where we take our $2 million out of our parking fund and start piling attorneys. Yep. Councilman Bagby. >> Uh, I believe we owed the public an
opportunity to do public comment. We told them at the beginning I I would defer until after public comment. >> Thank you, sir. I wanted to make sure she got her novel on the record. If anyone >> I appreciate it. >> Yeah, it was a good novel. >> More like a timeline. Uh so yeah, as I
requested earlier, if anyone from the public wishes to speak on this topic specifically, uh this would be your time to do so. We'd open up the floor. >> All right. Don't start my time yet. I don't want to talk about this. the uh just so you know
if you ever want to know I can give you anybody in this staff or any of you a class about any of the airspace any of the explosive requirements what permit you got to have if somebody transported those over to the Egglund they've got an explosive transportation permit even if
you don't require one that's the law so there's there's a set of rules of what you can shoot where and it all starts about the West Getty and shoreline and there's a whole everything out here it's the reason they can shut down your pass if they have a range. They own it. Don't think they can't. They just try to stay
out of your way cuz we're being good neighbors. >> For clarification, you're talking about >> all those explosive rules and anybody ever want any questions or what you got to have, where you got to fly, what you got to report, what goes in the water, what FWC does. >> Unfortunately, I know all that crap. So,
I'm gonna get back to this. Okay. Please start my time. This is This is ridiculous. It really is. I hope y'all watch my show and and that's where we're at and it's an election year and people are doubling
down now. We Don Gats, please listen to me. You and Paul Manny buck up and if the attorney general don't want to investigate it, then tell us tell us the people. Y'all find out why they don't want to. You got two women over there,
two councilmen over there. They're fed up with the with the treasonous tree over there that's doubling down on us. Okay? You know, they couldn't have a meeting after session, but they all showed up here to gab and endorse somebody for an election. You think about that. They couldn't show
up for what was important. We had to delay delay. And now there's a backup plan to buy a marina possibly in a place that anybody lived here during Opal knows is going to rip that thing out like toothpicks. And that's just a subsidized place to put the business that now that they promised can't be
over here. It's going to go over there and then drive here. Okay, we have to take a stand against corruption. We do because the appearance of this is a is a loss of, as Jim said, it's a loss
of trust in the military when a commander loses people's trust. Whether he's wrong or not, just the loss of trust is such a tragic event that the person in charge and sometime the senior enlisted person must be removed just to
establish for the good of order. And what's happened here is a loss for the good of order. For the good of order, we have a comp plan. For the good of order, we have city rule. And for the good of order, by the right of election, we became a city at one point before I even
lived here. And now you have people who would seek to derail the good of order at the local level. And what you're seeing is where you don't matter. You too, you're just you'll pay taxes just like me. You don't matter as much as
that damn political pack. You don't. You think you do. You watch. They just showed you you don't. So if we are a conservative city, if we are a city that cares about ourselves, we will demand that those elected and I know you
voted one time, but you now have different information. You now have people. Dang it. If we can investigate the spraying by a helicopter, we can investigate 84 million. Dewey, you don't have to worry if they're coming after you for an
investigation on 10 grand. All y'all, that's not going to happen. We can't get an investigation on $5 million for a parking lot we didn't own. So if y'all break procedure, ain't nobody going to Katy bar the door. Look at them. No, look at you.
So buck up on them. Drew, I hope you're listening. I'm coming. You and Paul and Trey, I'll see y'all. All right. Anyone else? Peneli Mainine 148 Courtyard Circle. I
lived in Dest in the 70s. I went to Dest Elementary and I also went to Oakland Heights Elementary, but I we moved to Dest. My dad was in the Air Force stationed at Eglund Air Force Base and he was a pilot in the Vietnam War. Um until tragically in 1981 after
vacationing here in Dest. We were traveling back to New Jersey where he worked for the FAA. We were hit by a drunken driver on April 19th, 1981, Easter Sunday. And so the reason why I'm back here, I didn't I went to live in Indiana um is because they bought
property here and my husband and I hope to build on it someday. And so we came back. My husband's retired and I'm very active with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Ottabon. And I would just like to say I wrote a letter about not spending that much money on 4 acres of
sandy beach even though there's nesting birds there because so much of that money could have been spent towards a larger amount of land. But since it was spent um I just wanted to state that the information I gave about um the turns
was from 2024. There's probably fewer turns. As Dave Clawson said, 111 breeding nesting turns. So, my data was from two years old. They're just getting fewer and fewer. So, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for listening. And um
yeah, I I I believe um we're here for a purpose and um my purpose here is to do the best I can. And I thank you for your service and appreciate your time. And um I just wanted to correct my data. lease
turns 2,658 was from 2024, so there's probably fewer. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. Anyone else? All right, seeing none. All right, Councilman Bagley, do you had a motion or you want to discuss? >> I'll defer to Mr. D. I think he's number
one. >> All right, Councilman Dustin. >> Thank you, Mayor. I have suggested to our friends on the commission that there's a real easy way to get out of this terrible glimmer that we are placed in because of their actions and that's for them to simply
make a motion, make an announcement that they have no intention to violate city's comp plan or land development code and they look forward to working with us to have the park. Uh, so far that's not happened and I'm hoping that they will
consider that because if they take a pledge to not violate our land development code or our comp plan, well then the controversy is mainly over. Um, I would I don't understand why they haven't. I I think two of our commission
members would be happy to. I'm hoping they will take something up along those lines, but uh that's the crux of this matter and and the and the tone of the letter to the attorney general, which is what our problem is, was all wrong. what
what it should have been was how do we work together to accomplish the goals and uh I'm hoping that we will be able to modify that tone but even I'm beginning to get a little disappointed and just you know
I'm afraid that it doesn't appear that we're moving very quickly toward the kind of compromise the kind of uh result that we want out there something has to change on the other side. I keep hoping that it will.
And as to uh Mr. Braden's u desire to go ahead and institute legal steps, the problem is they don't have a lease and they have not submitted a plan. So at this point, >> I'll just say to that when when the time
comes, we will discuss that. >> Yes. Okay. So, that's a little premature at the moment. And, uh, we certainly have that option when we find out that we're not going to be able to accomplish what we all want, which is to have a a decent facility that is not overly
commercialized. >> All right. Thank you, sir. Councilman Bagby. >> Thank you, Mayor. And just in case there's any doubt, yes, I was the council member that requested that those six items be read into because those are the restrictions that the county placed
on us for the management of the larger portion of Noriego Point. And I am a firm believer in what is good for the goose is good for the gander. And they need to follow the same rules that they put on us in the management and our
management of our part because ideally these two parcels would be conjoined and complement each other. Not one managed as a commercial entity and one managed
as a bird sanctuary, which is what we've tried to do with limited um access to it. but as a a true park, a true uh place where people and nature can coexist. They haven't done that. And and I'm I'm
very disappointed. And this probably be the last meeting that I I just say I'm really disappointed in our county commission, three of our county commissioners, two in particular. uh
you you can do better and the citizens of this county deserve better and I'm just going to ask you to do the right thing. Uh you know, in their initial letter, they were afraid that they would get hamstrung
uh if they had to follow our, you know, our little city of 14,000's rules and regulations and it would hold them up. You haven't seen anything like the hold up you're fixing to find because a the
attorney general even if he does issue an opinion is probably 3 to 6 months from now and then once he issues an opinion and you try to go down then you know as long as you're requesting an attorney general opinion you probably
won't get a management contract and you won't develop a plan and it'll be a year from now when you're submitting your management plan and the state is looking to award you uh if they do the authority to manage that parcel and then that's
when the lawsuits will begin and you're looking probably 3 to five years worth of lawsuits because you'll have Holiday Association suing you'll have the city of Destin suing you'll have individuals who live in this city suing you and
h heck I'm you may even have me suing and you individually if I can figure out a way to do it because you you can do better and you should do better now and you know which three commissioners I'm talking. >> Councilman Schmidt.
>> Thank you, sir. >> Yeah, I'll just echo some of the comments of uh the disappointment of trying to track us down on where we have failed so they can potentially take back the park. I think that that that alone
is a very uh low blow uh for people who are supposed to be partners with us. Uh which I'm very happy that Lisa and the staff and the city and everybody for all these years does exactly what we're supposed to do
there, which is great. Um, Kim, in recent months, we've talked about pursuing our own lease, and I think we requested, we went to D. We We did something. What What are What are our options
besides some of the comments that have been said here tonight? Right. Didn't we do that? We told them we were interested. What do we do? >> We did. We did go to D and told them we were interested. Um, I was specifically told by DP actually in writing um that
the lease was going to the county unless uh the county and the city worked it out. Um, that was what one in one individual told me. Um, and so we started working with the county. We passed our resolution. We indicated we would match their five million. We would
uh we wanted to lease the property and manage it. And that's how we got sort of drifted to now we're going to go meet with the state and see what the state thinks. If you recall, we went to a BCC meeting and and multiple council members um asked the county commission to
support the city's request and that resolution, which I believe was number 20265. the there were two county commissioners which were um Commissioner Ketchel and Cox that were in full support of the city taking over but the other three voted the other way and outvoted them.
So what what can we do then right now? Can we officially now go back to the D contact that you spoke with and now again tell them the actions that
we have attempted to take and that we are officially wanting to apply for the lease of >> we can we can certainly continue conversations with D. I know >> what actions can we take besides sitting on our butt >> and waiting for the county to possibly
come back and help us. What we were trying to do was get um the secretary of DP was going to meet with council member Destin and commissioner um Palmer and uh >> cancelled >> twice. Cancelled twice. >> Um and now they're in session. So I
believe we were thinking after session they might try to meet. We can certainly go to D in the meantime, but I'll tell you the person I spoke to was the deputy secretary and the person that Commissioner Palmer and Council Member Destin were going to meet with was his
boss. So, um, you know, but I'm happy to do whatever the other, you know, our legal options will increase when a decision gets made. Things are a little bit premature right now, but once a decision gets made, I can give you a host of legal options to consider. And
believe me, I will. >> Yeah. I guess I'm just always one of trying to take action and trying to do stuff versus sitting on our butts. Like, you know, for many months, we were told, "Don't bring up the public's parcel. Don't bring up the public's parcel." And then next thing you know, public's bought it and we didn't get a chance to.
Um, I mean, I'd like to at least make the motion to direct you and and to to go straight back to the D to tell them the actions that we have taken and that we again are requesting for the city to be
the lease of this property. >> I would be happy to. >> All right. >> So, I'll put that in motion form because I want to take action on doing something. >> All right. Thank you. I got to have a motion on the floor. Do I hear a second? for city attorney to go back to the D
contact to lay out the actions that we have taken to be working with the county in coordination to go to the state that have completed the failed. >> I'll second >> that. We are now trying to again respectfully ask them to make us the lease of the property.
>> All right. I have >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Abear with the second. Um, Councilman Braden and do you want to speak to this or do you want to do the motion and come back to you guys? You guys were on the >> All right. Any further discussion on on
the motion on the floor? All right. Seeing none, we'll call the vote. >> All right. Eyes have it 70. So moved. >> Appreciate it. and and and that's basically it. I just I don't think we should continue just to wait for some of
the same people that are in relations and tied in one way or another with people that used to be property owners of this property who sold it for an substantial amount of money. I I just think it's it's not right for us to just keep waiting and hoping these
relationships are going to come out and help us. They're not doing it. >> So, we can't do it. It's ridiculous. >> All right, with that, uh, we did have two cleared before the the same set. So, Councilman Braden and then I believe
Traml. Okay. Oh, okay. >> All right. Councilman Braden, anything? >> Thanks. Um, yeah, we've uh we've got a a lot better shot of Iran agreeing 100% to all of Trump's demands
in the next 24 hours than we do of those three commissioners doing the right thing. I mean, they're in too deep. They've took it so far, you know, they done with. So, yeah, I'm like Kevin, we need we got to do
something. We just can't sit here and just keep taking people's word for it because we saw how they they turned on us. >> Councilwoman Abear and then we'll jump back into this. >> Thank you, Mayor. And uh I was going to go down the same request as uh Councilman Schmidt. I wanted to let's
push forward, quit waiting to see what they're going to do because every time we give them the benefit of the doubt, they've pretty much treated us as, you know, the red-headed stepchildren. They don't care about, they don't want to talk to, they don't want to work with. and uh and I'm really glad that Kevin
made the motion and we can go ahead and see if we can't make things happen on our own. So, thank you. >> All right, Councilman Morgan. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, yeah, in 2017, uh, Okaloosa County, the TDC didn't give
us like $25,000 for extra spring break protection for the sheriff's deputy. And as a result of that, Prebble Ramsell made a motion to uh exploring leaving Okaloosa County. And that was over $25,000.
And and what ensued after that was well, we dug into the TDC and the misuse of funds and Mark Bellinger spending $700,000 on a yacht and the convention center, a subsidized government building, uh losing $2 million a year.
They were hosting these like uh these events. They wasted $55,000 on a country music concert that nobody went to. There was, and pardon my the term, but it was they were hosting [ __ ] mud wrestling there. And that was what it
was advertised as in a government building and probably the most conservative county in the state which was just an extra level of government an extra level of taxation. Since then the TDC I think has done a really good job and I haven't been up
here for the but I think Jennifer Adams has done a wonderful job. Alex Fog does really good stuff and I think they contributed to buying the city helping us with beachfront property and uh deputy enforcement and that was as a
result of that something positive came which was reform in the TDC the branch of Okaloosa County that but I was really disappointed to see this happen. Um the the public records requests indicate what on the surface might appear to be
good faith. We're going to send Mr. Destin over to Tallahassee and have a meeting and then the public records requests come out and they indicate anything but good faith. And um yeah, I'm incredibly disappointed u in
Okaloosa County's um stance towards this. Before I got on this council, people would come and ask me how the council feels about this park. And I didn't even have to talk to any of y'all to know that y'all were lock step
against it. Um, nobody in Destin wants to see that par parcel commercialized. Um, I think Okaloosa County is trying to see if they can circumvent our comp plan and our LDC so they can commercialize the park against the wishes of literally
everybody that lives in Destin. Nobody wants to see Holiday developed commercially. It's a neighborhood. Um it has enough traffic as it stands just through general overdevelopment over the past 20 30 years but there there's not a
very few destined residents a a a very small percentage want to see commercial activity out there and to see Okaloosa County try to circumvent that through the public records request is uh insulting. So, thanks,
>> Councilman Bagby. >> Yeah. And Kim, I I think you know this, but uh in your conversations with D, if you would ask the process because I believe a D can't overturn the
cabinet. So, it doesn't m we can talk D all day, but until the cabinet changes its decision, I believe its decision is what its decision is. And so I would just ask them the exact process about going and getting on the cabinet's
agenda to reconsider this motion. >> I have asked that question more than once because they did tell me um that it would have to go back to the cabinet and that's when we decided to have you know
to ask the county to join us in that request and that's how it drifted off. But we we will drift back to where we were. I will reconvene those conversations and I'll report back to you at the next meeting. >> And my only two cents to give a
contrast, I was at the Okaloosa County League of Cities uh meeting this uh this afternoon and it was funny enough that uh Commissioner Mixon was there and at the end they go around, hey, as cities, what do we need to know? not necessarily
for him, but for us. He's a non- voting member. And I couldn't help but notice um Mayor Marks from Shalomar thanking the county for their interlocal agreement and this awesome u bay parcel that they're getting and they're going to work together on. Going to help Mayor
Hood thank uh the county for working together to get their um boat launch going, another wa water access park. And I just uh politely looked around the room and said, "Is it only is it only
convenient to have home rule unless there's home cooking involved or or when do we care about home rule versus helping our friends out?" and um didn't really get an answer, but individually, I believe even outside the city limits, the majority of elected officials uh and
the mayors that I'm speaking to across Okaloosa County uh agree that we're in the right, they are in the wrong. And so I'll be seeking their approval on a resolution at our next meeting uh to support us and support home rule and support uh local land ordinances and
land zoning codes. Uh hopefully adding one more layer of pressure that I doubt they care about because I guess their their friends are more important than the the locals. >> Uh mayor, do you want me to prepare a resolution for you and >> Oh, that'd be great. So we can share it around to the different cities.
>> Do we have a legislative sponsor? >> I'll be glad to meet that legislative sponsor. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> All right. And that's all I had to share. All right, Dr. Jones. >> So Mr. Mr. Morgan, just to expand on
your comment about folks in Destiny not wanting that, we surveyed the entirety of the county and 90% said no thank you. So, it's more than the insignificant 14,000 people that live in Dest, it's the entire population of the county and
that was done by commission district to make sure that folks in Baker and Laurel Hill County just like Mary Esther and Destin and Niceville. Don't commissioners win or lose elections on less than 14,000 votes in Okaloosa County? I'm just asking. >> Yeah, they do, but I I mean I would
think so. They need challengers. But um I I would say that the uh deputy county administrator saying a small city of 14,000 people. Well, that small city funds about 40% of the entire county. So, I don't think our contribution to
Okaloosa County's coffers are small within our city limits, but you know. >> All right, everyone got the everything off the chest? >> A good good venting sesh. All right, I'll make sure to clip this together. We'll get some replays going. >> All right, let's have some fun now. What
do you say? Um, item 4 C is regarding the underground utility update. Um, if you recall in November 4th of 2024, we issued a notice to proceed for uh, Accurate Drilling Systems to begin the undergrounding of the utilities. Um,
that was a 560-day contract which had a substantial completion date of May 18th of this year. Uh, we were had a meeting on May 13th of this year and informed that uh, that date was not going to happen. in fact that the the day the
14th we received a letter from ads uh requesting a 115day extension to that agreement. um that was caused by some events earlier u in or in late 2025
where FPNL had um realized that there was some flaws in the design that had been bid out and that ads had bid on and give had given the city uh the contract price on that was agreed to. Um so at that point they asked that uh JM
Underground who is a sister company to ads be allowed to join them to facilitate getting this work done in a more timely manner. Certainly from the city perspective we agreed to that in in conjunction with ADS and FPNL. So
since then number of things have happened. uh there was some uh material that needed to be in place in order to get this work completed. Um some of those uh that material came in, it was decided it was the wrong size, it had to be replaced. So a number of things that
have happened, but at the end of the day, May 18th has come and gone and uh the contractor is not substantially complete with the project. Um, by contract, there are $1,500 a day liquidated damages um that you can
invoke for any delay on the project. From a staff standpoint, that's been our position. May 18th was substantial completion. You didn't deliver. The 115day extension would be subject to those liquidated damages except if the council wished to give some relief from
it. So, that's been our position. So tonight, Mark Porter and Stephanie Lindseay from our uh utility consultants of Florida are here and Bernard Johnson from FPNL's here. So um I know they have some comments to make and I think Mark may have a couple of slides to show you
to kind of give you a flavor of how we got where we are and what it involves. >> All right, good evening. Thank you for having us here. I've just got a couple of slides um just to tag on to that. So we've also got the uh contractor with us and then like he said, Bernard. So we're here to maybe answer any questions. What
I wanted to do is kind of take an opportunity real quick and kind of differentiate where we are with the the project. So, I've just got three quick slides um to share with you. Does this work or >> It should. >> Okay. So, as you guys probably know, um originally we had set up the project in
seven sections. The first one that we took on phase one that we're currently working on is by far probably the most challenging section that you're going to have. It has the most restrictive rideway and the utilities are saturated in that corridor. as you move a little bit further to the east, you get in the residential sections, you'll see a lot
of those issues and just kind of go through there a little a little quicker. But I just put some numbers down there, but just to kind of give you the magnitude of the project um as a whole, it's also worth noting that at the um shortly after we initiated this contract
and got the contract going with the NTP, if you guys recall, we had two additional carriers that came on late in the game and said, "Hey, by the way, we'd like to expand our infrastructure during this time." We went ahead and took that on. Um and at that time we really didn't kind of we kind of felt
collectively as a team we can get it to the finish line without coming to ask for time. Um and then of course through the course of a project you have a lot of anomalies and things that you're chasing throughout there. So I think um all considered where we're landing is is pretty you know it's a very tight
confined um time frame to begin with. So I feel like we've gotten a good point to get that. With that being said, the original section, the part of the um 560 days that we're talking about, segment one, all the infrastructure for that is complete with the exception of some
remaining feeder wire that still has to be pulled. So, you have a threem corridor that was the original project from end to end both sides of the road as part of the feeder, and I'll talk to it in the next slide, is basically that express feeder is a mile and a half. So, you're basically about half the project
um to to expand that. So that's kind of where we are. So in phase one, all work's complete. You have that feeder wire that's still left. And then this is just basically giving you a summary of what was actually involved as far as footages and stuff like that. As far as the carriers, all their infrastructures
and that's been complete for a while. They've already initiated. A lot of them have already pulled through their coax, their fiber. They're working through the switch order. So you'll start seeing businesses get notified of certain outages um and things like that'll be coming up. What that does allows it to go ahead and most of the system. So
there's cold and there's hot fiber. All the cold fibers in splice, you'll start seeing them switch over. That'll allow them to come in over the next couple of months and you'll start seeing some of that stuff get wrecked out. So just wanted to kind of give you an update on that first segment. The express feeder, I don't know um you
know how how familiar you guys are with that. I know there's a couple of few faces, but basically FPL went in and when we get closer to the switching, there's a differential of a load capacity where you have to ba basically have enough to, you know, transfer the load when you're going through the switch and you're going to make some of
the sections hot. So basically FPL realized that the design section is going to require additional conduit and feed to support that during the switching. So that's part of what you hear the express feeder. That's basically what it was. So back in October, FPL approached us and said, "Hey, this is the need for the project."
So like we did with the carers, we just kind of um you know took that on. I think we um got close with getting a lot of that work done by that May 18th. We do have about 85% of that conduit infrastructure in play which is I think
we got the um April 22nd was the so the permit was issued by the state April 22nd. So, that's a pretty significant amount in a short amount of time, but basically we're about 85% done with that. To the city manager's point, we
did get an order a few weeks ago that we were supposed to get some handholes. They were the wrong size. So, we had to go back out and ask FPL to give us the smaller ones that'll fit within the corridor. So, we're waiting on that. Hence, that's what that um additional time is part of is to allow for those
materials to come in, get them placed, get us to the finish line. Part of the next slide is basically I just wanted to kind of emphasize the you know outside of the 560 days we have what we call the switching that's something that we've never put a specific time or allocation
to and that's because that's dependent on several different factors meaning that you have FPL the co-op centers that basically issue switches to the contractor that allows them to basically make the connections to the meters themselves energize the lines you do that in segments it also requires so
your constituents residents businesses are all going to have to go in and basically allow us to come in the businesses and do that. So, we'll work with restaurant owners, businesses, and say, "Hey, these are the windows. We've got the ticket from FPL. We're ready to switch over all that conduit." Then though from the transformers, the all
the infrastructure that's been placed to those meters is all set, the wires there. It's just basically the connections. So, it's not anything that you'll see physically construction-wise outside of that express meter. That'll just be making connections to those individual meters as the system gets hot. When all of that's said and done,
they'll basically be able to come in at that part and you'll start that's when you start seeing the wires and the poles coming out. So, just kind of do what I maybe asked Larry, we would like to do just so that there's full transparency. We can keep you up to date through that process is maybe either come here on a
monthly basis, a quarterly basis, every other month and just give you an update as to that status. But there'll be a lot of variations in that. It'll be dependent on when a business will allow us to do those switches. It's um not uncommon for us to do a lot of those through the middle of the night. So, we work with the community um to try to
make those as simple as process. But the outages are very usually very short, brief, and minimal, but nonetheless, they'll need to be made to get that final switch. So, that's really what I wanted to share, but I thought more importantly just see if I'm sure you guys have some questions. We wanted to be here. So, I'm here with with
Stephanie, the project manager. Bernard's here with FPL and we got the contractor as well. So, if we can answer any questions or talk through anything, we just wanted to be here tonight for that. >> All right. Well, thank you for the presentation. Thank you all for your time. We appreciate you being here. Uh, Councilman Braden, >> you on?
>> Um, yeah, I'll go first. Um, what why are we just now finding this out? I mean, it seems like it it's down to the to the 11th hour and it's it's fixing to get into somebody's wallet. So, we better go to screaming and looking for some help. So why are we
just finding out this about this now and what have you done before coming to the city council though? So so I personally apologize for the short notice. I think like I said before we had a couple of you know different things like getting that carry work. So we always kind of you know rather than
come in each time and say hey we need additional time for this. We've collectively as a team kind of worked together to say hey we can get this thing. So we from from you know personally and and from the project team I can tell you that we've constantly tried to come here and avoid this asking for any additional time no change
orders. So so I'm saying for the level of complexity for this project we've tried to do everything we did think so we had a couple of things that you know same thing on the 11th hour that we came so the war created some logistic issues there were not immediately but shortly after that and then we got some of the
deliveries from F. So all the materials come from FPL. As the contractor, they're installing it. The materials come in from FPL. We get them, we install them. We had the material. So at that time, everything was looking like we're still going to we might be a little bit tight, but we still felt we could get to the finish line. As we as
soon as we knew that the materials were not going to be here, we knew then we're going to have a problem. The only issue with that is we didn't know how much time we're going to need. We're still trying to get some of that information. So again, I apologize. I know it's unacceptable um to do that. I hope you guys can accept that and understand that. But hopefully, you know, through
the project, we've we've tried to mitigate all the concerns and, you know, get it to the finish line without having to ask for time. And I think we thought we could get it there by that time. Um, so unfortunately, we're just off getting it to the finish line. >> How many rain days is your contractor
claimed and any other days off that they claim? >> I don't have an exact amount, but that's a good question. So, we do have rain days. We do have um you know there were certain things that I can give you there's a hundred reasons of why but like I said we didn't ever want to come for that time because we just didn't
feel we would need it. I think if we hadn't had a couple of these issues of recent we'd still be pretty close to hitting that. So um you know we we like the carriers that there we basically built over seven miles of infrastructure for the carriers. It was never part of that 570 days. We didn't want to come
ask for time because we kind of felt we could get it to the finish line and we did. We actually finished the original part of the project was finished about 30 days before that 18th date. So we really finished the job with the exception of that feeder wire. The
reason that the wire is not in is because if you put it in and you're still boring, you potentially could hit it. So then it has to be ripped out and replaced. So we just kind of held off on that. Hindsight, maybe we could have pulled it. That would have finished that original 570. So that's kind of what happened. and we were logistically
trying to figure out a way to get it to the finish line. Um, and outside of those calendar days, so we've got the time for the cares, the time, it's all tracked, but we were just trying to avoid asking for any time. What what I'm having a hard time swallowing is it's
almost four months, not 30 days, you know, it's it's almost four months. Um, and this what we have six more to go, six more sections of undergrounding to go and we're coming
out with this now. I mean, what what are we going to be dealing with or ask for, you know, from here on? That's to me, it's just a huge ask in my opinion for for that amount of time. Um, like I say, wish wish you'd come earlier for me anyway and say, "Look, you know, not sure if we're going to make it or not,
but we're trying, you know, to get there." Um, oh, and I and I still got a sore spot for the way the whole contract agreement that we did a few years ago
with Gulf Power, how that all played out. Um, still got a a sore spot for that that whole action. Um, so I'm going to um I'm going to quit there and pass it on. Thank you, Mayor.
>> Right. Council Dustin. >> Thank you, Mayor. So, basically tonight, the question is whether we will give you the extension and and not collect on the late fees. Is that where we're at? >> I think we're at the, you know, at the
mercy of council, whatever you guys decide. I mean, the contract's the contract. I just wanted to let you, you know, give you a little bit of background. FBL is here. They could, you know, I don't want to speak to their specific work of the contract. I could just tell you from a project management side what we encountered and what we faced during the project and um you know
the the magnitude and the size of the project um but yeah we you know feel like unfortunately we just want to be here asking for any time or that's kind of our thing. I think the contractor agreed as well. We just don't like change orders. We don't like to ask for
additional time. Hopefully that's merited by the course of the project. So you're you're right. I mean we we probably should have raised the flag sooner. So, I take responsibility for that. I just felt collectively as a team, we were still going to get it to the to the finish line in time. And we just kind of had a couple of
unfortunate, you know, three or four weeks up until that point to realize that we're not going to make it. So, let's, you know, bring bring it to the attention of the >> My understanding is the damages could be 175,000 if we go another 100 days at 1500.
>> I think it's approximately about 170 something,000 if you use the full 115, >> right? 1725. >> 175 >> 1725. >> All right, that's pretty close. Um, >> you know, >> I like working with you guys and trying
to come out with a compromise that everybody can say, "Hey, you know, we we did better than I expected." We I have personally, and I think the city's been trying to talk about getting some outlets on some polls so we could have Christmas decorations.
Um, poor Walton seems to have accomplished that somehow and and I see no reason why we couldn't. Also, I'm not sure what it would cost to put some. And they don't have to be on every pole. That would be extravagantly expensive. >> We don't have poles anymore after this. >> We will have poles when you put them
back supposedly, right? >> Light poles with street lights on them. >> Believe it or not, those street lights are powered and so there are powers to those poles already. And so, how much does it cost? How much would it cost to put in some? How much does it cost per
pole so that we could have some ability to have uh Christmas decorations on Harper Boulevard, which I think would be quite nice. So, if you all can figure out how to make that happen at a reasonable price, I'd be willing to
forgive on a 5050 basis the fines that you might have to pay. And so, we both come out winners. And I don't know um if that's something you can figure out, but I don't see how difficult it would be because it's not uncommon to have power
outlets on the light poles, the poles that have street lights on them in most cities in the United States. So, you know, personally, as one council person, I'd be willing to work with you guys to try to reduce that fine in exchange for
some help on trying to get some power on those uh street lights poles. >> We are putting all brand new poles out there. So, let me I'm more than happy to go back to FPL Street Light Department and say, "Hey, can we get that with the polls?" So, the poles haven't been delivered yet, but they're already in
process. The infrastructure is built. All the hand holes are ready to be installed. I can check with FP. I don't know if Bernard that's something Bernard can talk about. >> I've spoken to Bernard about it and he's just enthused to do it. I can just tell. >> Um >> probably different department but nonetheless.
>> So the the other uh the other question is you know we're going to have to give you an extension because you have to finish. The question is the the money at the end. And so I think we have time to come up with a solution where we can both benefit. And that's,
you know, that's where I'd like to see this go. But, you know, we certainly can't stop you. But at the end of the process, however many days you went over at $1,500 a day is what we're owed. And I'd like to work with you and FPL to to come out with a solution where everybody comes out at least not quite so bruised
up. >> Okay. I can tell you this, we've been between our our team, city manager and everybody, we we've been on the phone relentlessly with Bernard for probably the last three weeks to try to, you know, come in here and kind of have a clear answer. Even to where when we pres
presented originally the 115 days, we've already gotten receipt of some materials. I think that um we're expected within a few more weeks from now. Actually, they're coming in this week. So, we're getting a little better movement um already. So, there's been some positive things, but um I'm more than happy to go to the team and see if
we can't get something and see what they're willing to do. >> I love that you brought that up because that was the first thing I thought of. They they slapped a big number in front of me. I'm like, "But what about Christmas lights?" >> I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking we could use a little bit more holiday cheer on the harbor.
>> It's not a bad idea. >> I went f I went even further. You're you were nice. I was like, man, well, they got the boring team. What about the the medians? you know, can we just trade services instead of dollars is where I was headed. But with that, Councilwoman Abear. >> Thanks, Mayor. I'm in conjunction with
uh what Dewey was saying, you know, giving you guys sort of like not a break, but you know, certainly not breaking the bank, but it is summer and we were trying to get some of that major work that would be less chaotic for our tourists that are here. Just trying to
keep things moving. But um I'd be willing to work with y'all to make it to uh something that it's not quite as painful, but yet we as a city benefit. And um jokingly, I had told Bernard, I think Christmas lights would be a great idea. So I think, you know, we want to
do more for our our causeway, not just undergrounding, but in the holidays, make it beautiful. And I think if we could figure out a way to do that, we could help offset some of the costs, but also benefit from the end of it as well. and our residents would benefit. And that's kind of what we need is we want
those that are suffering, the ones that live here day in and day out, the residents are the ones that are dealing with this. The tourists see it, but the deal, you know, it it it's impacting our residents. So, >> perfect. >> I'd be willing to work with you like Dewey said.
>> Okay. Councilman Bagby. >> Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I fall in between probably where Mr. Dest is and Councilman Braden is. You know, y'all knew in October you had a change and you were going to do something different. Anytime you do a change, it's going to
take more time. You know, you you had a duty in my mind in October to come to the city and say, "Hey, just so you're aware, we're going to put additional conduit in here. We're going to have to do some different wiring. We're going to have to do some different stuff." And
that's probably going to impact, you know, the completion date. We're going to try to get it finished by the scheduled completion date, but just know that conditions have changed as part of this contract, and you didn't do that. So, that that's kind of where I am with
Mr. Braden. Having having said that, I think y'all have made an an effort to try to do it. Uh I the Christmas lights are nice. I'm not sure, you know, it makes us feel good or whatever. and we can do Easter lights or we can do Fourth
of July lights or drones hooked up to them or recharge cars or whatever. My my my point is at some point uh you all need to sit down with city manager and you need to to work something out
and we probably won't get $172,500 worth of value. you know, it your cost or FPL's cost or whoever's cost will probably be $85,000 and then we'll all be happy and we'll say yes, everybody got what they wanted or everybody got something and everybody
got a win-win and we'll go down the primrose path. But the question tonight is real simple. Are we going to impose liquidated damages and then direct the city manager to get with y'all to work
out a solution to mitigate, attenuate, whatever word you want to use those liquidated damages. So, I'm going to make the motion. Uh, I'm going to recommend that the city council impose liquidated damages until the project is
substantially completed and withhold collection of those liquidated liquidated damages until you or until the city manager brings us back a plan for execution and final approval
of those damages. But we we have to impose them to give him the direction to negotiate on those. And so that's that's my motion. All >> right. I have a motion on the floor. Do I hear a second? >> I'll second. >> All right. Councilman Dustin with the second. Oh, and I don't know who was up.
Who was up? All right. Council, >> you are now. >> Mark, thank you so much. Um, I appreciate you being here. You know, y'all and ads. I mean, they've been I feel like y'all been class acts since day one, since y'all first came. I I think we I was here when y'all first came.
>> And um I I've always I've always appreciated that and y'all were always big on no change orders, no delay, you know, you know, and and that was a big big thing. Uh and I respect you taking personal um ownership towards whatever
slipped in October, November, December, whatever, right? you know, the fact that um I think, you know, we've had other uh utility providers causing lots of problems undergrounding things around our town over the past 6 to 12 months.
Um I don't necessarily see here, you know, there was fears about y'all closing down 98 all the time and I remember that >> traffic and blocking the road and how are we going to pull into our restaurant or how are we gonna, you know what I mean? like and it has in my opinion, in
my eyes, people that I've have heard from been pretty seamless. I mean, it's amazing. So, the job is great. Um, and I appreciate that. You know, I think a lot of people do and I know it's going to come back looking beautiful soon. Um, and I think, you know, I think it's
okay. I think what Mr. bag be saying right now. You know, you said you could potentially start coming. So maybe the next in the next 30 days we would potentially have that answer and it wouldn't be, >> you know, we could then update that decision, you know. So I appreciate it.
I respect it. I do want to stand with what he's saying tonight. Um, but I think we will still find a way to not have 115 days of $172,000 of fees. Councilman Bagby >> got two two points that I wanted to
make. Number one, the the switching, you know, this is what we were trying to avoid is switching during the 100 days of summer. So that and some of the businesses are open late at night, early in the morning, whatever. So that we don't have to go, you know, somebody
that closes at 10 or 11. Yeah, you can work from 11 and get them switched over by 2:00 a.m. But not every business, particularly this time of year, is able to do that. And that that's one of the reasons I'm I'm disappointed to say the least. the
and I I know what you're saying, but I will tell you this isn't the hardest segment because for the most part, not entirely, most of the underground stuff, we knew about where it was between Destin Water users and we and y'all did
a great job finding things. When you get in those neighborhoods, as Live Oak Fiber found out and some of these other fiber companies have found out, there is not an asbuilt one in any of these neighborhoods. And when you start going
putting utilities underground, you're going to cut people's water, people's sewer, people's cable, people's fiber, people and so, you know, be be careful when you say, "Oh, this is the hardest segment." No, it it's it's probably got
the biggest pipes in it, but it's not going to be the hardest segment. Trust me. >> With all due respect, I think we're going to surprise you when we go through the neighborhoods. Um we we do a lot of them. Um and I think that I'm not saying that the carriers were negligent in any way. I just think that we um you know,
we don't rely on the the asbuilts or the actual locates because we know that they're mostly not accurate. So, I think the contractor's done a good job of actually physically tapping them, locating them, taking the responsibility above and beyond. And that's why you've seen a lot of um delays or not not
delays, but minimal um impacts of any. I mean, for that corridor, I mean, there's a ton of water services and laterals to have avoided that. I just, you know, the magnitude of it is pretty significant. But I hope to I hope you come back in a couple years say you surprised me. I think we'll go through the neighborhoods, you'll be pleasantly surprised that you won't see a lot of
damages. And then I I just want to make sure before I end the the switching process is that is there anything that we can do to kind of I know that that's probably one of the hardest things for municipality city agencies understanding the switching process there's there's no way of putting a time to that. It's a
FPL, the op center storms. There's so many variables. Business owners, they'll dictate us moving forward as to when. But what I can promise you is that we'll go through that expeditiously. We'll work with them closely and you won't hear, we don't expect to have residents or businesses coming in here saying that they were missed or that they didn't
know. I think we're going to, you know, I can assure you that we're going to go above and beyond to make sure that that's a seamless process as it can be. But I'm personally or Stephanie, we can come here on a monthly, you know, every whatever you're comfortable with or even just a report to the city manager
letting you know where we are in the progress, which is just so you know what's going on. So if your constituents come or businesses or residents, you'll have an idea of what what they may expect, but we want to be as transparent as possible during that period because we know it's a period that's kind of lot of lot of uncertainty. So
>> All right. Thank you for that. Uh Councilman Morgan. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Um I am saying the other utility providers were negligent based on last summer. Um but the work y'all have done on 98 has been um you've been working with really tight
right ofways and uh it it's been impressive to watch and with minimal disruptions to those businesses um unlike mine on Holiday Isle last summer. But um yeah, I support Mr. Bagaby's motion and working with you guys. I
wouldn't take the credit the contractors that they're they're the ones responsible. We're just managing it. But it's been a you know collective effort, but they have done a phenomenal job on our h on our side. >> I'm just glad Councilman Bagby said we're going to do a residential neighborhood next. >> Is that what you said? That's what I
heard. That's what I heard. I know. I'm glad I wasn't the only one hearing that. >> All right. >> All right. Without getting too farther derailed, we'll get back on the motion. >> All right. We got the uh motion and second on the floor. We'll call the
vote. >> All right. Eyes have it 70. So moved. Thank you guys for being here. >> Thank you for having us. >> Thanks. >> All right. Boss man Jones. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh 4D is just an update on the property tax reform and all that's going on there. As you know,
the special session started today that the U. Senate began their deliberation over their proposals at 3:00 this afternoon Eastern time in the House at 4. They have made some changes and been some amendments. Certainly won't try to
cover all of those tonight because there's a lot of moving parts. Uh we expect maybe tomorrow uh that they will pass it all out, but it looks like that something's going to leave both houses to um potentially end up on the ballot.
However, it does have to go to the Supreme Court for them to verify the language and make sure all of the moving parts are done. Um, interestingly, I just got a message a moment ago that the president has appointed Speaker Daniel Perez as the ambassador to Brazil. So,
he is one of our advocates that was looking out for us and he has been taken out. Whether that was strategically or not, I don't know. But, um, interesting. Um so so what we provided to you late last week was the information we had uh
at that time. Um we have done a little more calculation and we think the impacts will be probably about half of what we're was presented from the property appraiser last week. So while it's still painful it may not be quite as bad as what those numbers were shown
to you in in his workup. So, we're we're probably looking at over a two-year period probably a million dollars as opposed to um you know a million dollars um in the first year. So, so really uh no action needed. I mean,
uh we certainly if you want to send some message to the legislators, we could fire it off to them in the morning. Whether it be timely or not, I don't know. Uh but uh I think probably most of those eggs are scrambled and we're going to see what they come out like. >> So all I took is uh if you get in
someone's way, you get promoted. >> Okay, good to know. Art of politics. Councilman Dustin. >> Yeah, I I know that our mayor sent a a letter of support for the position that all of us folks who will be cut dramatically on our revenues. And I just want to make a a motion that we support
and approve that letter so that we put the the uh approval of the council behind the letter, which is probably a good thing to do. >> Yes. Thank you for that. Yeah, I have is that a motion? >> I'll second that. >> All right. Thank you. I got a second. Yeah. And I'll just add just a quick two seconds on there. Yeah. I appreciate um
they reached out to me Friday, I believe. Um and it got it was last minute and so I told them, well, I have a council meeting Monday. We'll I'll put it on the agenda. Sorry, it was Thursday night. Uh Monday morning, they're like, "We can't wait." Um we all are able to
authorize it. So, I appreciate everyone um being okay with me kind of taking that liberty, understanding that it's well within our scope and our values, and I appreciate us going back to do the housekeeping. So, with that, I have the motion to second. Any further discussion? All right. With that, we'll
call the vote. All right. So moved. It's all about the processes. >> Well, no. >> You don't have to. >> We're going to lose around 3% and it'll probably be less this year uh in our
advorum tax. And so is I understand how Crest View it's going to be a huge hit. Not not as much because our property demographics are a lot different than anybody else in this county. Uh >> it's impressive. Yeah. We're 22%
homestead, but 51% are under $250,000 in homestead assessed value, >> right? >> Yeah. Which means we got some old-timers been around the block a few times. >> Hasn't been upgraded. >> No. No. In a good way. No, they have that the home. No, that's Hey, it's a
>> all >> I appreciate. Hey, mine's right at 300. All right. I I got in right at the bubble. All right. >> For er minutes for standing boards and committees for information. Uh couple of announcements. Um parking at Noriega
Point. Uh the last particularly over the I'm >> sorry, Councilwoman Tram. I'm so sorry. >> Minutes of the standing boards and committees. Um the public works and safety committee does roads very well. I would like to make a motion uh in light
of what we heard tonight and what we have heard in the past meetings that uh public works and safety also as they're making their rounds of the roads make their rounds of the sidewalks and report those to our public works committee. >> Second. >> All right. Motion and a second. Uh for
clarification, what is the best way to report? >> Michael, I don't I want to like bombard you with emails. I got a run club that I could sick on you real quick. We do a couple miles a week >> a couple different ways. Uh city help desk is always a good uh avenue and if
you want to contact our office directly feel free to 850 837-6869 >> help desk it is >> or you can email me directly. >> No no. >> All right. Councilman Bagby. >> Yeah. Michael, don't doesn't the public works public safety committee still have
the they're broken out in seven little different things and they drive their neighborhoods or their assigned areas, sidewalks, roads, and street lights and turn in a report. I mean, that's what we used to, but I know it's been quite a few years since I was on public works
public safety. >> You are correct. And we actually talked about that internally this morning, kind of revisiting that. >> All right. I got a motion and a second. Is that true? Who was the second? >> All right, Counc Dustin. All right. Thank you for that. All right. Seeing no
further discussions, we'll call the vote. >> All right. Dr. Jones, sorry to cut you off. >> Thank you, sir. Um, Norgo Point and parking. Um, Memorial Day weekend was a interesting
situation for parking there in the new parking lot and this weekend was not a lot better. So, we kind of wanted to see what a non holiday weekend looked like and there were still a lot of conflicts, a lot of folks that probably didn't weren't on their best behavior. um our
parking enforcement officer actually called for some help that it was probably more than um first of all he had to go to some other areas as well but I think we had some code and even had to call the sheriff's office out um but uh I talked to um
Captain Fuldram and there's the ability for us to bring on part-time deputies on these weekends. Um it's it's reasonable. It's cost us about 350 bucks a day to get eight hours of coverage. And Miss
Cop and I have looked at the resolution. We certainly feel that that's within the um what's allowed in the language of the resolution to spend those funds. So I would recommend that we man that at least um
either all day Friday or Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday uh through the season and let's get a handle on it before it gets out of hand. Uh so um I don't I think we can do that without a motion unless there's any objection. >> I'll make that motion that we
>> we'll take a motion. >> I'll second it. >> All right. And Councilman Des anything further? >> That's why I was going to make a motion. >> Thank you, sir. >> All right. With that, see, >> Crystal, I know we can't make decisions at the budget hearing, but can you tell us where all that money is going to come
from? >> Is she still here? >> Um >> no, no, at at the budget hearing. I don't want to put you on the spot. I didn't I didn't ask that question in my pre-brief. >> Normally, it would come out of the the parking fees. >> All right. I got a motion by
Councilwoman Avery, seconded by Dustin. Seeing no further discussions, we'll call the vote. >> All right. I have it. So moved. Thank you. >> Um just reminder that we have our first budget workshop next Monday at 5:30 here. Uh and if any of you wish to have
a briefing, uh we'll be more than happy to uh to sit down with you and go over what we'll be presenting. Uh if you want a time other if you want your standard briefing time for council meetings, we can honor that. If you want a different time, just let us know. But if you would, uh I'll get Sherry to reach out
tomorrow and if you want to have that, just let her know and we'll get it scheduled. >> Thank you, sir. And that's all I have. Public hearings. >> Dr. T. >> Dr. T, I'm sorry. >> That's all right. Good evening. I have three announcements. Crystal Stricken
was voted in as the board president for the panhandle chapter of the Florida Government Finance Officers Association, which covers the territory from Escambia County to Gulf County. So, congratulations to our director of finance. Our
annual Independence Day bike parade will be at the Dest Elementary track Wednesday, July 1st at 4 PM. There'll be food trucks and live music and then the parade will kick off at 6:00 p.m. And lastly, we have entered hurricane season and we have our annual hurricane guide
uploaded onto our website for people to access. And then next week, we'll have hard copies available in city hall, community center, uh, annex, and public works for any residents or visitors that want to swing by and pick those up. And that's it. Thank you.
>> All right. All right, Miss Scott. >> Thank you, mayor. Um, this is ordinance number 2606LC, an ordinance of the city of Dest, Florida, renumbering the existing article 11 of the land development code as article 7. Changing the name of existing article 11, coastal management
and conservation to article 7, resource conservation, protection, resiliency, and sustainability. Adding the following existing sections of the land development code to article 7, resource conservation, protection, resiliency, and sustainability. Section 7050O, Protection and Preservation of
Archaeological and Historic Resources. Section 71704, Outdoor Lighting Standards for the Marine Turtle Conservation Zone. And section 720, smallcale alternative energy generation regulations, providing for authority, providing for findings of fact,
providing for incorporation into the land development code, providing for conflicting provisions, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Uh council, this is second reading of the ordinance. There are no changes um since first reading
other than did we add sa Sandy's language, Tina? >> Yes. And the other change that was made is that the ordinance was uh rewritten to reflect that the MPE fee is to be assessed using the current process
that's in effect now, the 25% of the construction cost valuation. >> That's why I said no change because that's what's in the current code. But you're right, it is a change from the actual other draft of the ordinance. >> All right, thank you for that. Seeing this is a public hearing, if you wish to speak on this topic, this is your time
for public input. Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing and I'll entertain a motion at this time. >> I'll move that we approve the order. >> Second. >> All right. I have a motion by Dustin, seconded by Councilwoman Abear. Just move to adopt.
>> And with that, I will call >> Yeah. Move to adopt. >> All right. We'll call the vote. All right. Eyes have it. 70. So moved. >> Cool. >> All right. Is that everything everything you got? We're >> on council member reports.
>> Awesome. All right. Council member Braden. Council member Braden. >> Good. Mayor, thank you. >> All right. Councilwoman Draml. >> Oh, tonight. >> Yes. >> Tonight, right? >> Now, >> I just wanted to say that I really liked what we did tonight when we actually had
citizen input right before the item we were to discuss because by the time they they get up here, I mean, I've been on both sides of this, you don't really know what's going to be said. you don't really know how council is looking at it or leaning toward it or whatever to to
be able to make your comments appropriate. I personally would like to see us change and do that >> from now on. >> Okay. >> Um I do I need to make a motion to that effect or can you the mayor who controls
the agenda? So, and I have gone back and watched because we've we've moved around the order of the agenda a lot, but that would be more of a policy of how we conduct the meetings and then it would be set for out and then we would amend it as it became >> I would make a motion if you want to go
that way. >> Yeah. To your point. >> All right. I'll make a motion to that point >> and I'll second it. >> All right. Any discussions? >> That's to bring back the updated policy based upon her recommendation. >> We we have a resolution that contains meeting procedures that contains those
policies. So, we would bring it back and we would modify it to say there would be public input at each item. >> Okay, that's that's fine. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Can we add that we all can speak twice on any topic and that's it? Not four or five times.
>> So, we're not here till >> I try to do two bites at the apple. >> Your rules of are under your control. So, yes, you could. >> Yeah. I'll I'll try to keep us locked in a little bit more. Councilman Dustin, >> just so I'm clear on what we're trying to do, we're going to change from having
the public comment at the beginning to having it on every item. Is that correct? >> Um because I I was going to ask for a little bit of clarification on how we >> If the way I look at it is if the item is on the agenda, not the consent agenda, but the regular agenda, then
have the people speak at that time. Anything else they want to bring up, they can they can bring up anything else they want to bring up. But if it's if it's an item like we did tonight, the fireworks, we brought people up. U the acquisition in Norga Point, we brought people up. The utilities, we brought
people up. So if there's anybody that wants to speak on that, they can wait until that time to speak simply like we do with our ordinances. >> Okay. >> Um >> Okay. Just for clarifications, or we're going to get rid of the public comment at the beginning and have it at each
item. >> I think we need both. because public No, the reason I'm saying that is public comment may not address any one of the items on our agenda. >> I I understand all >> it would be public input at the beginning. If you want to speak to
something not on the agenda or public input at at the item when it comes up on the issue. >> Yeah. So I then would be describing it as anything on the agenda, you'd wait for that item. If if this is a >> with a caveat >> what we do for quasi judicial land use development applications
>> with the caveat though that the first >> the first period that we have is to make comments on things that are not on the agenda. Correct. Otherwise we're doubling our time that we're going to sit here. >> That's right. That's what that's what we're saying. >> Okay. >> Yeah.
>> Okie dokie. Councilman Bagby. >> Yeah. I was just going to say it's required by statute that we allow them to speak uh in the public comment period in the beginning. And I agree with Mr. Dustin, it the wording needs to be very clear that you can't prevent them from
speaking on an agenda item at the beginning, but what you can tell them is if you speak on that agenda item at the beginning, you don't get another bite of the pie when the agenda item comes up. >> Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, it it's almost a public hearing without the the
legals that's bound on us. We're putting it on ourselves. Councilman Schmidt. >> Yeah, we'll have Allan make his own podcast up here next, you know, next thing we know. Councilman Schmidt. >> Yeah, I I just I would think I mean, we're going to obviously have it brought
to us. I think we need to think about this a little more, a little clear, a little bit more clarity. Um I believe Mr. Osborne has said in the past that he wants to hear us speak and then have a public comment so he knows what we're
thinking. It what you're proposing it it doesn't in my opinion it it doesn't really change anything. They're speaking before us. They could speak at the beginning of the meeting too. I think what's going to happen is the
number of uh public comments are going to increase now because the next person's going to want to say something that wasn't already going to say something at the beginning of the meeting. And and uh I I I think it's going to have a negative impact on the
length of the meeting. Um if people want to speak on an agenda item, they have the beginning of the meeting to speak on it. If we want to modify to allow people after us for some reason, then we have to do a better job of preparing a motion, getting a second for discussion
and having a discussion, which we have a lot of flexibility up here 98% of the time, unless somebody doesn't want to hear somebody say something, then they want to pull the Robert's rules of orders rules. But, um, I would just, you know, I think we just need to think about this a little bit more. Uh before
that, I couldn't support having a public comment before every single agenda item. I it just it just seems worthless, too repetitive. >> All right, Honorable Morgan.
>> Thank you. I encourage uh public input. We don't these meetings aren't generally well attended. Um so, anything to encourage better attendance is good. But we had this discussion when uh Gary Jarvis ran for mayor based on he was going to part of his campaign pledge was
shorter meetings which he didn't achieve. But it's not his fault and I love Gary. I think he was a good mayor. But um but we were in the middle of discussing it and I didn't say anything and about 30 minutes into this discussion I got the microphone and I said I think one of the reasons our
meetings take so long is the fact that we can talk for 30 minutes about why they take so long. So, I'll leave you with that. >> Councilman Bagley. >> Yeah. Just to address Kevin's point, a a technique, I'm not saying this what we have to adopt, but is there has to be a
motion and a second and then it's open for public comment. It's not we don't talk and then they get to hear. They get to talk and we get to go, "Oh, I didn't think about that or that's a good point." But there has to if there's not a motion and there's not a second
there's no public input because there is no decision being made by the council and that is normally in accordance with Robert's rules. Uh so if we're just giving direction or whatever the there there is no input but if we make a
motion we make a second then you can open just like a public hearing you know we except we're making the motion in the second. >> All right good deal with that. Uh, Councilwoman Traml with the motion. Uh, did Councilman Des, were you the second? >> I second.
>> Okay. All right. >> Yeah, I saw your eyes. >> All right. Councilwoman Abear is going to dig our grave. Uh, and with that, no more discussion. We'll call the vote. No count to the new.
>> All right. 61. So moved. Uh, anything else? Who was up for that? Uh, >> that was all I had. >> Okay. Thank you. Councilman Dustin, >> I don't have any. >> All right. Councilman Bagby, >> I look forward to a robust discussion on the proposed budget next Monday night.
How how do I need to buy a new belt because we're out of straps and now we got to like or we got a whole >> punch first public hearing. You want to have a robust discussion? All right. >> I like that. >> That's a change. >> I've already punched a hole through my belt. We're going to like punch another hole through my belt cuz we got to tighten it even more. Is that what
you're saying? >> All right, Councilwoman Abear. >> Nothing tonight, Mayor. >> All right, Councilman Chadam Morgan. >> Thank you. >> Councilman Schmidt. >> Yes, sir. I do have something. I wanted to follow up on the Crab Island takeover situation that occurred. Um I did see
>> the one this year or the one 3 years ago, >> the vision, >> the one this past weekend where there was a lot of potential drownings, a lot of people saving people and that weren't law enforcement that were saving people. But I just was curious with the announcement that happened, did did we
take any action this past weekend with authority from any any any agencies this past weekend? Was there anything taken to help stop that? >> To help stop the drownings? >> Help stop the promotion of the crab island takeover that took place?
>> We do the same thing each year that we get every time one of the crab island promotion or takeover uh gets posted. Um we have the National Park Service and us reach out to the promoter, let them know that they have to have a permit otherwise it's u not a legal event. They
have to have a permit through the National Park Service and then the National Park Service follows up. If they can prove that the U coordinator violated their their uh park policies, they'll find them. >> Do you know if that took place for this
past weekend? >> I know they reached out to them. I don't know what they're doing with the followup. >> Okay. >> Uh I know the National Park Service was out there this weekend. they were on some of our vessels and they were making contact trying to determine um if the promoters were were actually there.
>> And then now for the next one that's promoting for Father's Day weekend. Are we taking actions already for that? >> We do the same we've done the same thing for the for the takeovers that we've been been doing all along. We reach out to the to the promoters. We tell them that everyone's welcome to come.
However, our expectations are are for them to abide by our laws and our ordinances. And then the National Park Service reaches out to them, tells them that they have to be permitted in order to organize an event on Crab Island uh
or anywhere inside the National Park. And if they violate that, the National Park Service follows up with finding them. What you run into is the what's organizing an event. So, if you put out a flyer to people that you have are
Facebook friends with and you say, "Hey, I'm going to be out on Crab Island this weekend. Come join me." That's not a violation of park rules. If you put out a flyer saying, "Hey, give me $5
and I'll tell you where to meet me on Crab Island. I'm paying for a DJ." and you know we're we're charging for this that and the other then that is a violation of park rules and they'll follow up with um with finding them if they can prove that's what's taking place.
>> So if the advertisement and the image did not specify paying anybody, does that mean that y'all are not taking that as a serious action that they're taking over Crab Island and going to potentially destroy? And >> you asked me what they were doing about the promoters on there. We go out there
and force every weekend. understand this weekend there was one fight on Crab Island. Every one of the videos that I've seen online that my guys have seen online or previous years other than the one video that you saw where our boat pulled
up next to the pontoon boat that had the ladies fighting on it. >> That was the one fight that took place. >> Yeah. I'm not speaking really about the videos. I just spoke to business owners and operators that were out there. >> Um I think there's even one here that made a post. I believe he's in the back.
Um, so it was not a good situation out there. And from my understanding, it didn't seem like there was um very more law enforcement than normal. Maybe that's maybe that's just because the holiday is over. I don't know. But
as long as they're they're taking action to try to reach out, that's good. >> We put additional people out on Crab Island when we have the takeovers. >> Okay. Um, you know, depending on what we get from from the booking folks when up from the pontoon rental companies when
they tell us how many people have booked >> has a large impact on how many people we put out there, >> right? >> But understand a lot of the activities that people keep posting about that people mention >> previous years >> are not illegal activities, >> right? I just feel like if if uh if the
actions that were taking place were happening um on a parking lot on land, there would be a swarm of sheriff deputies cars breaking up that type of action. Whether it be on a park property, whether it's
state, county, or federal, or whether it be on a private property, because then I imagine the private property owners would be calling. But I just feel like there's a there's a different approach. So maybe >> I'm I'm confused. I'm confused about what you're asking >> because if you're saying that you feel
like there would be a swarm of deputies showing up to people who were in a park or in a landbased place not breaking the law, that's not going to happen. If someone's breaking the law on shore, we're going to send the appropriate
number of deputies to handle the situation. >> Right. the investigation of breaking the law. >> If you have somebody if you have somebody breaking the law on Crab Island, we're gonna send the appropriate number of law enforcement officers to deal with it. >> That's fine. I I just, you know, just for the record, the city of Destin does not have any jurisdiction over the Crab
Island, right? >> That's correct. >> So, when unfortunately there's a lot of bad uh press that gets out there that the city of Dest needs to do something. So, we can't do anything for Crab Island from my understanding.
>> That's correct. >> For what it's worth, in 2025 when I asked for um some figures, the both the Okaloosa County, our friends in Okaloosa County, they they collect um
approximately between $400 to $1,200 per month per vessel, commercial vessel, depending on what they're doing, right? The figures uh back a couple years ago were estimated about $4.5 million of gross receipts are brought in. They also
figured that that's probably 50% under reportported. Right. In 2019, Oklusy County collected $52,000 in money. 2020 52,000. 2021 104,000. 200 2022
205,000. 2023 262,000 in 2024 was approximately 262,000 as the county the national parks which I think it's a national park in crab island I think they collect 3%
from these same vendors pretty much same vendors right so let's assume $4.5 million is accurate we're talking $135,000 so between the county and the federal government. There's nearly a half a
million dollars being collected out there. I don't know what the last year's numbers were because I haven't asked for them yet. From my understanding over the years, the only thing that I have seen or heard of that was done was to put buoys by the
Coast Guard, I think, to do a safe channel through Crab Island. Then they decided to take those out because it was too costly to maintain. So when the city of Destin cannot do anything,
maybe we can figure out how to put a fee out there, too. If everybody else is going to collect a half million dollars and not do anything, maybe we could just put a fee out there would be one thought, but I don't want to do that. Obviously, that's a joke. Um I I just feel like we might need to look at
supporting our business owners that I hear from in the city of Destin that are business owners. There's obviously ones in Fort Walton and Niceville and Santa Rosa Beach as well that struggle with certain things and one being where's the safety and where's the
additional support out here in Crab Island um if we're paying nearly all this money out there. So, um I get it's a potential controversial thing, but business owners and operators said specifically how bad it was this
weekend and and and the lack of uh federal or county or whatever support that was out there. And I just hope that I hope we can take that in consideration to make sure we're we're taking that extra step or effort to work with those
business owners even more so than we might already be to just continue to try to promote what Crab Island hopefully is and what the city of Destin is and and a familyoriented place. >> I think I'm more understand what you're asking about it. You're asking about manpower that we had on Crab Island this
Saturday. We had three vessels uh fully staffed for the sheriff's office. We had two vessels that were staffed by the FWC. Uh, and then there was Coast Guard assets and there was National Park Service assets all on Crab Island for
the takeover event. Uh, and that that's how many folks that we had out there for that event, which if you want to contrast that to other areas, uh, I mean, you know what you have in your in the contract for the city. We actually had more disturbances take place on land
than what we had on Crab Island. Now, I'm not saying what's taking place on Crab Island that I agree with at all, but we're there to enforce criminal act, you know, we're there to address criminal activity and a lot of the stuff that that people are complaining about
are not criminal. It's not criminal, so we can't do anything about it. >> I understand. I appreciate it. I appreciate the discussion. I also just wanted to make sure that people both here or online also got the facts about the numbers and the fees and the money that's being collected by the county and by the national parks. So, I don't think
some people even really understand that sometimes because it was specifically stated that that money goes straight to the general fund and there's no line items allocated towards what they're going to do with that money, you know, and and I think that people need to understand that. Another another
little quick trick from the county there. So that's all I have, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. >> Nope. Good point. I have nothing as well, Miss Cop. >> Um, real quick update on 222 Cybert, Mr. Gregory Marlor's property. We had a um motion for summary judgement hearing in
the foreclosure case on Friday the 22nd and did prevail. So that will be set for sale. Um Mr. Marlor does not want to lose his non-homestead property, so he um indicated that he's going to clean it up. We'll see if that happens. I did
agree to a pushed back sale date for a couple of months to give them one more time at at at that point. I mean, the sale is going to be set. Council will be the only entity that can cancel it or not. And right now, I haven't seen it, um, come into compliance as of today. So, we'll keep an eye on it and keep you
posted. Also, Monday, um, Kyle will cover the budget workshop for me because my daughters are turning 17. I am taking them to New York. Got to go see the World Trade Center every couple of years and then we'll be back. >> Awesome. All right, with that public
comments. >> You might as well. Surely you don't have a home life if you're here with us. Okay, this Crab Island thing, y'all take it serious because what people saw this weekend, a lot of them people ain't bringing their families back here. You
think they are, they're not. And I don't care what the the captain says, all due respect. Overwhelmed. Law enforcement was overwhelmed. Just during the funeral, I took pictures of four or five crimes going on. Jello shots, pontoon motor
trimmed half out, shooting water on somebody else, twerking with a g-string. Nobody wants stereos that were too loud. Eric Aiden's video was nothing more than a mall cop thing saying stop or we'll yell stop again. There's nothing going
on with that. It's got no teeth. You put some constables out there, start arresting people, get jurisdiction over the harbor. You can't control what you don't own, but you get jurisdiction on the harbor, you can absolutely seize control of it and and and enforce
standards. The other thing is, uh, Dewey, I need to get on your mailing list. So, when you have those when you're going to have those Allen Osborne fan club meetings and have a guest speaker like Rick Scott, I need to attend or they won't know what's going on. So, I don't want them to miss my
presence. So, please keep me in on that. All right. I'm getting need to get dist distribution on that. So, you know that that's a that's an issue. And the last issue is this. Y'all have argued to death the damn fireworks. But what's
really important is this is 250. Who is Destin's honorary representative of the 250th anniversary? Be who is it? We are talking about
>> and and here's my point >> 250. Well, you know, Crest View C and that's my point. Crest View and maybe Fort Walton has decided to pick 500 pounds of chewed bubble gum and
political feces as the representative for that. And I'm sure that somewhere in the city of Destin because 250 years ago, somebody was at Valley Forge and that person was probably in the army. Most likely
somebody in Destini either living or postumously should be the honorary representative for Destin. I bet we've got a silver star winner. We've got retired special forces here. We might have a We've had several Medal of Honors beside Bud of people that were very
quiet. This is a 250th anniversary about seizing freedom. And I'm sure that we should have somebody as our representative of the 250 years that
embodies all the things that America is. I feel like we should hurry up and find somebody either alive or somebody who is from Destin and might have been on Ewima. I don't know where they were, but surely we have somebody that represents
what we're proud of at 250 years. Think about it besides the fireworks. Thank you. >> Anyone else? Danny Davis, 619 Calhoun Avenue, Dustin, Florida. Um, I've known Mr. Captain
Bulgium for probably 35 years. Yeah. Okay. Um, I was on Crab Island on Saturday all day. Um, the I think I'd address the illegal activity aspect first and still be respectful.
Um, marijuana as far as I know in federal government is illegal and last I know I think a national park is federally controlled. I don't know if anybody else was out there this weekend, >> but I'm pretty sure you could have stood
at the end of the pass and smelled more marijuana than anywhere in the whole county. So, some of that needs to be addressed. Um, I didn't I personally did not see the National Park Service out there. And if they were out there, were they there
to ticket vendors for whatever or were because obviously they didn't pick up all the dope smoking that was going on. I have plenty of videos. If any of y'all would like me to send y'all this documentation, I'll be happy to.
I'm hoping that in some way we're talking about getting more deputies to be out on parking lots and things like that that maybe we get down on the harbor with some canines, start controlling some of this input on these. From what I understand is they knew that
this takeover was here a week ago, but I didn't see any any extra deputies out there. I see the same ones. Um Saturday a young lady come to our vessel uh needing a ride to Fort Walton because she was left.
I was on channel 16 with the Okaloos County Sheriff's Department for an hour in their smallest boat to come pick her up. You know what their excuse was to me? It's too shallow. The same boat I've watched for years
cross the island, right? too shallow because they had a film crew on their boat. So, I'm hoping y'all reach out to the sheriff and say, "Hey, you know what? We
got some real problems." Cuz that lip service he gave today, obviously, you can go on social media and see nobody buys it. Um, the next thing, 30 seconds. What are we doing with navigational aids?
It's great to stand on a heel and fight about this Norgo Point Park. And I'm glad you do it. But the luckiest fishing village and we got the worst navigational aids in the whole state. Why ain't we beating on that horse?
So, that's my concern, y'all. Thank you. >> Thank you for being here. Anyone else? Just one quick comment. Um, I asked for an update. I don't think it's unreasonable without Joe Fitzpatrick 3879. Um, I don't think it's unreasonable. I mean, I've been here, like I said, 9th
council meeting. We're four weeks into a study. You know, I think, you know, as a business owner, having run businesses, I think transparency is important. um you know fought for a study worked with the adjacent parcel to get the study agreement the easement agreement delivered it four weeks ago I work at
home from my office my office window looks directly out on the property I haven't seen anybody you know come out on the property so makes me wonder what the purpose of the easements for you know from study so I just uh you know look forward looking to work through here uh I've had two additional prospective buyers over the last since
last council meeting looking at the property this is a question that's an issue that needs to be resolved and looking for council to just take this serious as you have four weeks. Thank you. Thank you, Jim. Right. >> We have a status report.
>> We have a status report on the study. >> I know we've uh talked to um engineer this morning and it's in progress. Um I think by the next meeting we should have something substantial to present. >> Yes sir. Um,
we should have something uh by next meeting. And no, we have not officially been out there to the site yet. Um, my surveyor has been on vacation for the past couple weeks. So, we have not had
the opportunity to come out there. >> So, you will have something at the next meeting. >> You'll have something for us at the next meeting. It >> it it won't be a final report, but we will have something by the next meeting. Well, at that time, we'll set a schedule
for a final report, hopefully. Right. Anyone else? Seeing none, we'll close the close the meeting.