--------- I'd like to call this CRA board to um 5:30 beginning. Call to order. Verbal roll call. We'll start with you, Mr. Braden. >> I'm here. >> Traml here. >> Dustin here. >> Bagby here.
>> Hey, Bear here. >> I'm here. All right. We like to stand do the pledge of allegiance. So we didn't want to do it with all >> we wait till the council meeting. >> Wait till the council starts. Let's do that. Okay. We'll save that. Thanks. Let Ray. I need a motion for the agenda approval,
please. >> I'll make the motion to approve the CRA agenda. >> Got a second. >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Thank you. Passes. like to get an approval of the minutes. Uh,
can I get a motion? >> Make a motion approve the minutes. >> Move to approve the minutes. >> All right. All those in favor say I. >> Anyone opposed? All right. They pass. >> So now we come to the public comments
part. Anybody here want to speak publicly? John, that's you. >> All right. We're going to close that portion. All right. Now for current business, we need to discuss the seaw wall at one harbor exploration of
funding options with the tourism development council. >> Go ahead, John. >> Hi. Good evening, uh, CRA board. Uh, John Stevens, chairman of the Harbor CRA. Um, so with the Harbor uh Boulevard Seaw wall uh TDC status, uh, really all
I'm we're looking for is a status check. Um, previously we uh uh asked to see if uh our representative to the TDC board uh could see if there was potential funding for the seaw wall repair. So I was just seeing if anyone was able to
give us a status report on that. >> With the TDC member, uh, Mr. Schmidt's not here tonight. We could probably run that by him. We'll find out. Okay. >> Okay. Do you think um staff might be able to um provide us uh with an update for our next meeting so that we we can
plan? >> Can I get you to put that on your roster of stuff to do for finding out if that works? All right. Next item. >> All right. Next item is the uh uh clarification of the CRA uh role after
board approval of work plans. So, uh, with these, uh, work plans when when they get approved, I guess there's a lot of confusion of what's expected of staff or of the, uh, uh, of the, uh, work plan, uh, owner. Um, I mean, we've heard
stuff where we have to go pursue grants to recruit engineers and consultants to ask professionals to help us to develop cost um, estimates on behalf of the city. And a lot of us don't know how to do that. Um, so pretty much what I did
was I created a a work plan flow and I don't know, uh, I mean, this isn't like set in stone. All this is just a guideline of my thoughts and if y'all want to just kind of take it and maybe have staff kind of review it and see if we can come out with some kind of
standard of what happens after uh it's approved here such as um finding the financing part uh finding um grants um the engineering part and all that. So I'm going to hand these out real quick. >> Okay, great. Thank you.
>> Madam Chair. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Can I add to this, please? Go right ahead, Mr. >> I've already spoken with uh David and we are going to get the CRA chairs together to discuss this >> because >> and bring a plan back to us for the city to work with these
>> it it's very hard to do a plan because every goal and objective is different and so it's easier to work with the specific committee when they have their goals and objectives and then we can sit down and develop the plan. Do you have a schedule already set in
mind or are you setting one up now? >> We're setting it up now. I've I've spoken with uh David and spoken with John, but we just haven't gotten our calendars coordinated yet because we had a meeting to start. >> Okay. So, with that in So, with looking
at C, work plan breakwater, D work plan for harbor moing, E work plan for camera systems, and F work plan for implementation of Christmas lighting. Are we talking about getting all of those as a committee CRA lead to find out who would be the process to make
these happen? Is that what you're trying to do now? >> Correct. And even because in in the CRA predicament that they're in right now, there has not been a staff member that's been on the CRA when we ever did these before. And there hasn't been a volunteer on any of the committees when
we've done this before. So this is we're slowly leading all of them in the same direction. So before I didn't bring up what you're supposed to do afterwards because it was too hard to talk about how to get the goal written. So we got the goal written now. Now now we're going to talk about
what to do afterwards. >> Do we need to make a motion tonight to have this um coordinated and then bring it back to council for approval as a CRA giving you like the opportunity to make these? I don't know that there is a need of approval. If we find out we need
approval, we'll certain I'll certainly bring it back up. >> All right. >> Um but John, does that satisfy what you're asking? It >> it does. My only concern is I I feel like when when one council member is telling me one thing, I have another council member telling me another thing. For instance, uh at the last CRA
meeting, um um Mr. Bagby mentioned about the funding aspect. And unfortunately, like learning how the process works is we're not even at that point yet because it hasn't been approved by the CRA board. So, I I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page cuz uh I
I feel like everyone is kind of at a different step uh throughout this whole process. >> And it may mean that we just need to coordinate and as Miss Traml said, get the timing right to schedule the full meetings for each work plan so we can coordinate with the staff and have the
right part of our staff helping pursue what needs to be done for these items. >> Correct. as as long as there's um a process like because without having step by step what happens next, I just worry that these work plans have become zombie work plans and nothing will ever get done.
>> Well, I feel pretty confident Miss Traml's looking at setting up um coordinated meetings. I feel like that might work. >> I can almost guarantee you they won't be zombie plants. >> Does anyone on council have any comments? Um yes. Do we
>> um just make sure I'm clear on where we're going. The work plans have to be approved by the CRA board. >> Correct. >> Have we done that? >> Not yet. >> This is what he's here tonight to do. >> Okay. And is am I hearing correctly that at this point we're not supposed to do
that tonight? >> Um we're still going to um go through um each work plan for approval to where we can continue working. But what the the packet that I provided you guys is just a guideline of what I hope happens next because a lot of stuff that um that was
requested beforehand we can't work on until it's approved by the CRA board. >> Okay. But we are in fact going to approve it >> tonight. >> Tonight. So that now you should be good to go. >> Yes. As long as we have guidance what what happens next because like there's
still confusion in what should happen next. it. >> What do you think, Mr. Traml? >> Yes, we need to approve the plans tonight. And and what um Mr. Stevens is talking about is basically if you will look at his plans, you'll see the first
one was ex No, not that one. The one that that we got on our on our um agenda, the first one was extremely thorough because John had done a lot of that. And I said he didn't have to do that. All he had to do was fill out the preliminary one sheet thing and then go
do that. So there was a miscommunication there. Uh and again staff were all new so they didn't know to tell him you don't need to do all this first. Does that make sense? So he did it. The second one he didn't do you know he did it correctly. Well, all three of me did
correctly, so I don't mean to imply that he didn't. But um now when you take it back to the committee, if the volunteer or the CRA committee approved these plans, it's their responsibility to see these plans forward. That means not one
person on that committee, but every person on that committee. And and that needs to be reiterated to them again because when the training was done, they didn't even have a goal and objective to look at. thought they didn't know, you know, it was kind of like out there. Um,
so yes, we we are going to be doing that. I am going to be attending the CRA committees to explain that to them and how they get to that point. Um, Mr. Warnett that for the town center was here when we did these before and he's experienced at that. So I don't know if
we'll need that much instruction in that particular committee. But in this particular committee, every member of staff and the committee is brand new. And they've changed three times >> as I say and there's been shifting in some staff as well as members. So now you're at the point where everyone is
kind of on the same sheet of music. So tonight we can approve these. >> Yes. And we will take it from there. >> These work plans. So do we need to do these like A, B, C, D, E, and F or do we have to authorize them? >> Well, and and I spoke to staff today.
There's one approval for all of these different plans. Each plan doesn't need a separate approval unless we want to tweak something and then we just take it out right now at the meeting or put it in or add or subtract right here. But they don't need to be separate that
because it's all one giant plan. >> Okay? >> And when you get the annual report which will come a year from now, you will see the results of all those plans and where they are in each step. And that's what that is. But we haven't had for the
Harbor CRA, we haven't had an annual report or a work plan in over three years. >> So they're playing catch-up, >> which is tough. >> Yeah, >> it's tough. >> Well, with that, uh, Mr. Bagley, did you have something? Do you wanted to say, were you done? Do we have something else?
>> Going to make a comment that the harbor and the various CRA committees, they are not like our regularly city formed committees. They actually function under state statute. So we need to make sure that they can and will comply with those
guidelines. >> Thanks. Uh so these are uh think of it like this what you've given us and you've done a lot of hard work. I mean I read all of them and these are chapters in a book. The work
plan is actually the book, which is probably why Sandy told you you just have to present the one-page thing for the work plan. >> Agreed. But the um Sandy didn't see it until I did all these work plans because they never made it to >> Yeah. >> No, you you didn't.
>> We're commending you on how much work you've done. >> Yeah. I'm not criticizing. I'm saying thank you for doing all this hard work, but >> you you didn't have to do that for the work plan. you what you've done is you know the work plan is the agenda or the and then
>> the each agenda item just like we have whether it's CRA or council meeting you know it's got all this backup documentation which is what you provided and that's great now we're going to discuss some of these in detail because there's some challenges to some of them
uh but the main thing you guys are appointed as the experts in the harbor CR CRA, not the Harbor and Waterways Board, but the Harbor CRA. So to Mr. Destin's point, you you have to follow a
prescribed, you know, we have to p follow a prescribed, i.e. the funding and things like that, you have to follow a prescribed uh law. The main thing, at least from my perspective, is y'all are the experts. You tell me what where do
we get the biggest bang for our buck in the harbor. So that amounts to prioritization because there's a hundred things we could do in the harbor at least. What what's the what's number one?
>> What's number two? What's it? Because in your list tonight, what I think you have is number one and number two is 6D which is the muring field and 6 which is the cameras. Why do I think that? Because
those are the two that you checked as important you know. So there is critical there's important for those people who don't understand the form that John uh filled out or I assume you gave the input to fill out. But I don't know if you or
Jesse filled it out, but you know there's critical, there's important, and then there's not nice to have, but whatever the third one is, >> right? >> Okay. But you only marked two as important. You didn't mark any as critical. So you've you've taken step
one of you tell me what your priorities are. >> And I I think what needs to happen next, unfortunately, is it's hard for us to to figure out what what priority is if not all of them are approved yet. So I think what happens is we need to have them approved first and then we need to take
it back to the harbor CR where we can discuss it as a board figure out our priority and then we can come back to you guys in the next quarter when we present. >> See I and and Sy's correct in we haven't done this for three years so we're kind of starting really from scratch
>> because to me no it's a symbiotic relationship. You tell us what your priorities are. We say, "Okay, well, we can probably fund that one. You I got a I got 20 questions on a couple of these, so you might need to take that back, but
you've identified your two priorities. I think we can do one of them this year." >> Well, then if if that's the case, then my two priorities would be the >> No, you've already told us. >> So, >> you've already told us in your documentation what your priorities are. >> Okay. See, so that I mean you can come back
later and say, "Okay, you know, >> change. >> We we want to change." Okay. >> Which you're allowed to do that, but you may not get it in this year's budget. >> You see what I'm saying? >> Yep. >> So, it's it's kind of a we keep back in
there. There is a discussion. It is not a A to B conversation. It is a dialogue, a continuing dialogue. if you think of it like that. So, you tell us your priorities, you tell us, you know, if
you have ideas, uh because you know, as our experts in that area, y'all know more about harbors, moing fields, probably not than Mr. Dustin, but definitely more than I know. Uh because y'all done all the research and all the
reading and you know, we got to do this and we got to have upland structures and we got to have this and we got to have that. Okay. I will ask a bunch of questions, but it's it's a it's a dialogue and then we say, "Okay, boom. So, we agree with your
priorities in your work plan, uh, but we can only fund number one and number four. Okay. So, two and three and five and six and seven, you know, we're going to put those on a deferred list or we
can ask the staff to go out and find grants." And I I agree with that logic perfectly with with only working on a couple at a time. >> Okay. >> So I think we're all saying the same thing. So because what what I wrote for 6B, which is clarification,
is we want you to prioritize. We want you to help us identify funding sources. So, if you've read in all your discussions or you talked to Allison or somebody and said, "Hey, there's this federal grant that, you know, such and such county got or such and Naples got,
you know, down there, maybe we could use that to fund >> and and and I agree with you, but if if we're required to do a one pager, there's no way that we can figure this out on that one pager." So I think it it needs to I I think this is a special case where these work plans have been
brought to to this level >> but for all I mean really what needs to happen is it should be approved by the CRA and then we can start building on it >> and then you start doing these work plans >> uh management plans I'm sorry go >> I was going to say that's why the one
pager is the overview of each thing as you dig into it you come back >> right >> that starts the discussion and then the dialogue picks up from there So, uh, funding sources other than advalorum, management plans, partnerships, estimated costs. I don't expect you to
go out and get six engineering firms to give you an estimate for a moing field or for oyster beds or whatever. But, you know, staff can help with that. And Larry and I had a long discussion or the staff and I I guess had a longer discussion earlier today about, you
know, they have a role in this whole process and they need to do their role. >> They need to help you >> and help us. >> It's we're we're all we just need working together. >> So, >> okay. >> Exactly. So, those are some of the uh the things and then at the strategic
planning session, we'll we'll talk about a couple other things or we may talk about them here later tonight. But that that's how I envision the process, which I think we're we're all on the same thing. My my big issue always is the funding because that's what I focus on,
you know, >> but up about boats, you know, like Mr. Destin or even Miss Traml to >> But we do agree the funding part doesn't happen until it's approved. Stage one. Exactly. Okay. As long as I'm I just want to make sure that's the clear point. So >> Okay.
>> Okay. Cool. >> All right. So, we all in agreement. Do we want to do Oh, go ahead, Rodney. You got something? >> Yeah. Thanks. Um during my agenda briefing um there was pot of money that was
brought to our attention that could be spent and I don't know why some of this couldn't it couldn't be spent on some of these items. I don't if you want to go look for grants or whatever. Um but I'd get with staff and find out if there's some funds available that the council can use for this to get the ball
rolling. >> Cool. >> Thanks. >> Anyone else? Go ahead. Sandy, go ahead. >> Um, I was just going to make the motion to uh approve the plans, >> right? Go ahead. >> As written, and if they if they get into hot water, they get into an issue that they can't solve, then just bring it
back to us. That's all that's all I'm asking. But, um, >> I do have another question after that. >> You want to get a second on that? >> Yes, >> I'll second it. >> All right. With that, um, do we need to take a vote and then you can ask questions or you need to ask questions now?
>> We need to discuss the last specific. >> All right. Go ahead, Sandy. you had something else too. Let Miss Traml go. >> So, we got the motion now. >> Okay. So, do we just want to start on the breakwater oyster gardening one first since it's the next item? Um, so I did bring Alison McDow here um who is
with the CVA. She's my specialist on this topic. Um, the plus side is a lot of the funding for this one, all the oysters, she actually has possession of those. So, a lot of the vertical oyster gardens, as long as we can build them,
won't cost us a dime. Um, some of the other elements, um, there there's definitely some cost, but there's definitely some grant opportunities with those. Um, and really what it is is using a pilot project, um, at Clement Taylor Park to to use to build a living
shoreline there first with our mature vertical oyster gardens after a year and relocating them there. So, >> that sounds wonderful. That's great. That's awesome to hear. >> Alison, if you want to come up here and I >> You want to come up at least get on the record that you're part of this team so we can acknowledge the the help that
you're helping. >> Allison McDow, executive director, Totachi Basin Alliance and I'm always here for as a resource and support and anything we could do for local waterways and so we have this is a project we've talked about for a while. >> Well, we appreciate it. That's awesome.
>> Answer any questions if you have any. >> Anyone? What locations are we anticipating this is going to take place at? >> Um w with this specific one it would be uh Clement Taylor Park. Um um pretty much uh where that swim area is maybe a
little bit past that is these breakers to provide some protection for the swim areas. Um protection for erosion. Um, also, um, eventually turning this into an area where we can actually have beginner snorkelers to learn to snorkel
because having our our beginner snorkelers learn at the jetties is not the right place to do it. And I think this could be a good opportunity right here. >> Are we going to build breakwateraters? >> Correct. Yeah, we we would have to build those. And uh um I know um was it
operate? Is it code blue or or the what's that organization? Um, breakwaters. This is things that you'll need to be discussed in the design phase like do you actually want them to break water? Do you want it to be underwater? They can be built out of limestone, big piles, you know, giant limestone. They
can be built out of modular units, reef style units. I think there's some examples that John included in the in the work plan. But um that's where your cost is going to come in is in the design, the permitting and the um uh and
depending on how it's built. You can there are John was I think referencing force blue which is a crew of volunteer um ex Navy Seals and stuff that come out and do marine work. So that mean there's the the design is going to determine the
cost. >> And that was what one of the things I was going to point out is the title action there is still pretty strong when it's going out in the neighborhood of four knots. Depending on how you break water, you can cause how you build your breakwaters and it's going to take some
pretty good engineering. you could cause very significant erosion downstream >> and all of that will have to be figured out and guaranteed that we're not going to in fact erode the property next door which of course is uh the park I think
>> so that it's going to take a lot of engineering on that >> also we oh 15 20 years ago have attempted to uh have some oyster gardens along there and the the salenity was to the point that It wasn't quite working
out. If you'll notice, most oysters are coming from the waters that are not as high in salinity. So, all of those things need to be looked at to make sure we're going to get it right. >> Agreed. >> Thank you. Now, Jim, you got some more questions?
>> I was just going to I don't know if you saw the picture, but where they had one of the breakers was right where the kids go in um it's not at the seaw wall. It's where the kids go in and swim. And I made a suggestion to John earlier today that uh
maybe that breakwater could be put under the fire department's dock right there and not impact young children near oyster shells. That's all. >> That's a good idea. >> Okay. So, few questions. I think it's a great
idea. Thank you for the work. Great plan. Do we still do the cardboard boat race or does the middle The Parks Foundation wants to reinstate it. >> Okay. Well, that's good. >> That's That's great. And I helped somebody And I helped somebody build a
boat. I I I'm sorry. We help supervise people build boats, little people. >> Okay. But the problem is is right where you want to put that breakwater is right where we used to have that race. So now I'm envisioning kids who have cardboard
boats in various dilapidated shape trying to navigate in oyster beds in between that and that's probably not what we want. >> That drawing was just an example. It's like Allison said, we have to have that engineer to really work on. That was
just something I just threw together just to show visualization. >> Then is giving an okay, >> but but this is the kind of things I I need y'all to make sure the committee is looking at because now you got to put the oyster bed further out. Well, guess what? >> The the current is worse, you know, than
it is right there by the the shore. So, and one thing that I did not think of in our uh read ahead, how far north does the Harbor CRA go over there?
>> It's like right there. >> Do you know what the distance is? How far it is? >> Answer to that. >> I bet he does know how the answer it goes to the property. >> Turn your mic on. It goes to the property that is before the Leonard Dustin Park.
>> Okay. So, and we're going to have this conversation on the Moringfield. And >> so, that was actually a conversation that we had afterwards is not knowing where these work plans would fall into. >> Okay. >> And and I think that was one of the
reasons why we end up going to all the committees to talk to all the committees because we didn't know. >> Yeah. >> So, >> no, that's fine. I I think this might be a Harbor Waterways >> Agreed. Yep. >> Uh board issue, not a Harbor CRA
uh committee issue. The other thing that you might consider other than I want to protect future endeavors by the parks foundation is there may there exists the possibility that there may be some money
left over from the Maddie Kelly outfall redo and that I've asked staff to look and see if that is a funding possibility because I believe we have to build breakwaters there or somebody has to do
breakwaters there so that we could say instead of us trying to figure out where we're coming up with this money, we can say, "Hey, can we use this extra $300,000 that we didn't use in the Matty Kelly outfall improvements to help build an additional improvement
of the oyster reefs, >> right? And honestly, it's one of them things too where we could transfer this to the Harbor and Waterways and maybe go to Joe's Bayou with this idea. I I I like the idea. This is just >> all ideas, which is great. Great.
>> Yeah, we're we're just trying. But I wanted to make sure that you considered that. And >> yeah, can we go to the Mandy Kelly outfall and use the D savings? So, uh, just something to think about. I think Larry and and the team have and will be
able to help you and maybe this is one that we say uh let's move this to harbor and waterways but don't give up the the dream of the project. >> Agreed. >> All right. >> All right. Any other discussion before we vote?
>> Yes. That's just on that one. >> Well, all right. Do we need to add more time to our CR meeting? >> Keep going. Okay. Uh on 6D. Okay. The Harbor Moringfield, which was not one of your two top pri priorities.
Um a couple of issues that I have. Number one, I don't believe we own the waters off of Harbor One.
And we would have to go to the county to get who I believe controls those waters. You might know, but I'm pretty sure west of uh >> which which side are you talking about? Gulf side or harbor side?
>> Well, it's not the it's it's the inlet side. It's there is no it's not in the harbor. So, they're talking >> right >> between Crab Island and our land, >> right, >> is not controlled by us. And it looked like there was pilings there at one
point. So I don't know if that >> that's debatable. >> Yeah, that's debatable because I know we had a long conversation that whether the seashore whether the federal government controlled it or the county government controlled that water >> or the national seashore. >> Well, that's the federal control it out
to 200 feet which is where the original shoreline was and the city can claim it. Yeah, that's >> because if we have to get county approval, we're probably not going to be the county's favorite children here shortly.
And >> they like me, okay? They like one of us but not and so anything that would hinge on county's approval
um I I would say we need at at a minimum a backup plan. So either the harbor uh could be a moing field Jose Bayou over by the old concrete plant uh even Marlor by you. >> Are are you talking about for upland
facilities because the moring field is going to be really up to wherever y'all decide and right >> and currently u there's three listed free harbors. So, >> right. So, uh probably the old concrete plant is the most uh
>> so I worry about the residents over there not being happy of having a moing field that close to their residents. That's my only fear with the concrete plan. >> Okay. And see, I worry about the harbor, you know, putting more traffic in there. >> And and my argument with that is
currently in the harbor, there's already 10 boats in there that we can't do anything about that's already there. So, if we pit f the same amount or less, then we're at least controlling what's in the harbor as opposed to them just doing whatever they want. >> With that, hang on, Jim. What did you need to you need to insert?
>> I was just going to say, Madam Chair, I I think what I heard Jim say and and I agree with you is that the mooring field needs to be part of the Harbor and Waterways Board project, which he's also a member of. Yeah. >> And they have not brought their plan to
us. So, can we wait on that and then hit all the other spots that would be part of the harbor CRA tonight? >> Yep. >> Okay. So, let me just read >> Let's do that. Keep going. >> Yeah. Let me just read you my notes or concerns and then you can address these as you see like or Sandy can get them to
the appropriate committee. >> Uh so 6D is the harbor ming field. Why not in the harbor or uh even Marlor Bayou or the old concrete plant?
We need to know for certain who controls the water west of One Harbor if you if you want to keep it there in the harbor CRA. And we also need to know uh the potential landing area of the new bridge
because that will impact the upland facilities that we say that would be required if we put the moing field at one harbor because >> the last thing we want to do is put bathrooms and stuff and then say sorry this is >> oh the bridge is coming in we need to
move all this the footers are going and then we lose >> well hang on a minute Jim Larry do you have anything to add to that because you do have some info on it, right? >> I do. Um, we got an email late last week that I was going to share in my announcements, but we'll be it's probably appropriate to share. >> You got to talk louder or closer to your
mic. >> Yes, ma'am. My bad. >> And so, I'll just read the email. It was to our engineer Robert. It said, "Hi, Robert." Uh, this is from um >> Who's Robert? >> Hi, Robert. Brandon Bruce with DOT. >> Okay.
>> So, hi Robert. Sorry for the delayed response. The department has halted the east pass bridge replacement PDN study a couple of months back and all future phases for replacement remain unfunded. The department is
currently performing a study slashdesign to rehabilitate the ex existing bridge in its place and increase its use for life. I will forward your request to appropriate DOT staff for awareness. So thank you DOT for letting us know that. So, they're basically going to leave
what we got and just try and fix it, make it better. >> Correct. >> So, >> well, we need to ask our representative, who I think is the chair, right, of the TPO. >> Yes. >> How did you let that fall out of
priority? >> Uh, nothing's changed. The director has changed and he hasn't brought this in front of the board. This has been an internal staff decision that I made got made aware of uh without any for board approval or direction.
>> Okay. So, it may or may not be done. Okay. >> I think if uh we we have a solid message for them that would sure as well help me in my case. So, it's not Bobby's wishes. >> Well, I I'll I'll push that message to the ECR >> ECRC. Yes. >> Yeah. Okay. Uh
>> go on, Jim. So, the impact in the new bridge and then, uh, on 6E, the camera system, uh, since it's going to be linked to the sheriff's, uh, one picture, universal picture,
whatever the heck we call that, instant crime following facility. Will the and it will assist the sheriff in the function of their duty. Will they help fund it? And I asked Larry to find that out. So that that's not for the Harbor CRA
AC to find out, but you know, the sheriff should help us fund part of that because if he does, we should be able to find the money to do that this year. And I that's one of your top two priorities. So then we could just go check. >> And then um
I think that was the the work plan for the Christmas lights. Are are you wanting the Harbor CRA to fund that or are you want the businesses >> I was hoping the business was would
actually fund it and it's just more or less to help start the idea going and and getting more community involvement with that one. >> Okay. Because when I was discussing with staff, you know, that may require moving irrigation lines. That definitely will
require in a couple of those medians putting power to those meetings, which is a cost then that the city would incur. And as as good a man as Mr. Destin is, he's probably not going to pay to do the medians down by the bridge. If he's going to contribute to
medians, he probably wants the ones right in front of his business, right? >> And so, you know, something we kind of need to flesh that out on. Are we gonna start at the end and maybe as part of this undergrounding we could feed off of something that uh not Golf Power they
now >> is doing? >> Jim, can you hold tight? Miss Traml, did you want to insert into this Christmas lights? >> Yes. Um, one of the things that, um, Parks and Wreck has asked for and, uh, the Harbor CRA asked for previously was
that they make sure that there were electrical outlets at each one of the light poles that go down 98 so that if we decided to put banners or whatever we decided to put up there that needed lights would have those. And I think they need to look into how many of those
have been done and is it in any kind of situation or you know have two been done and then they skip five or you know whatever the configuration is on that one. Um and that's that's basically what they'd be looking at. But again if they need our help they can come back to us
and ask. >> Absolutely. All right Jim next. >> Okay that that was all my questions. You know your priorities that I read were 6D and 6E. I think if we can get the sheriff to help us out, I think we could probably do 6E, 6D. I got just a
boatload of questions and and I'm sure I'll think of more. This was just in one sitting. >> Agreed. >> Well, with that, is there any other discussion on this before we take the vote to move forward? >> We're going to vote on all of them at once. >> Yes. It's going to be a vote for all. If
if uh you ready to take the vote, we'll start with you, Rodney. >> Yes. >> Yes. Uh vote. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. Thank you, John, for the feedback. You gave us a lot of information and you've done a lot of work.
>> You've done a lot of work on it. We appreciate everything you've done. That was less painless than I thought it was going to be. >> Thank you. Did you have something you wanted to add, Mr. T? I >> I had another motion that I'd like to add. Um because we are the CRA board, I think we need to take this to council
for final approval. Um >> I agree. But at this particular point, I would like to add a resolution that any fundraising that they do for the Harbor CRA remain as a Harbor CRA project item
and not go into the general fund to to pay for the whatever we've allocated for the millions coming up. So, they get to keep the money is what I'm saying. >> So, that money stays within their >> Yes. stays within the Harbor CRA but does not go to debt service. >> Okay. Do we need to make a motion for
that? >> I want to talk about that right now. >> I comments. >> No, if they get if they get a grant, if they get u someone to donate something, I don't want that monetarily going to the debt service that they're we've
already allocated in the future. That should stay for that project is what I'm talking about. >> Mr. Destin, go ahead. I was just going to say that's probably required by state law right now. >> Yeah. >> So, but it can't hurt this. >> Say it out loud. >> Go ahead, Jim.
>> Yeah. As long as long as we're talking about non uh appropriated funding because the appropriated funding is for the debt service relief and that's how we got that loan to buy that property. So, I I don't want to do anything that would get
us in trouble on those covenants. the but if we're talking about people volunteering to donate or what >> fundraising for keep every penny they project yes that's what I'm talking about not for not for the >> pressure button doing >> shall we shall we say as allowed by state law in our resolution >> yes in our resolution is allowed by
state law and we got the nod from our >> yes >> yeah so my only issue with the motion is this really isn't the work plan this >> it's not >> and so to to send it straight to council
in its incomplete form. I I would say we don't have to have a special CRA meeting. We just need a an actual work plan that's present because that was one of my other points that I didn't belabor is we don't we don't have their actual
work plan. We have the chapters but we don't have you know here's our priorities list. >> We have the task list. Exactly. We have the tactical level, a little bit of the operational. We don't have the strategic operational in input, which is what the
work plan is. And so, is this all that they're going to propose? Is this all y'all? >> They're going to flesh it out. Correct, John? >> We have to flesh it out now. >> They needed to get this started and approved to start the flesh out to make this all come into fruition.
>> Okay. Cuz if council approves this, this is what we're stuck with. So, we don't want to make it because you already mentioned once or twice, well, we want to change or we want to take it. Do you want to change or do you want this to be your approved work plan for the coming
year >> is my question I guess. >> Come on up, John. >> Okay. The way I look at it is we said our count us the board said that we were going to meet every quarter >> and every quarter if they have a change they can bring it to us. >> That works. >> If they can if they have more details,
they can bring it to us. They can do any of that every quarter and that's already on a quarterly schedule. I unless it's an emergency, I don't see a need for them to come in between quarters, but they can always ask for a meeting. You know, if something comes up and they need, you know, time relevant, something
like that. Yeah, >> that's doable. I have no problems with that. >> If they want to apply for a grant and it has to be in by next month, then come next week, you know, that kind of thing, they can do that. >> Okay. >> All right. Anything else? as as long as we understand it because my concern is
once we get this input into the budget that that's in the you know it's not like we can't we can just say oh well we really didn't mean to approve that we're going to get rid of that and we're going to go approve this other great idea that you had six months after you know
we discussed it >> they they haven't brought us anything to be included in the budget yet so >> this is just the start This is the start of their investigation, >> so we need to move it forward. >> Okay. >> All right. With that, uh, take a vote,
Mr. Rodney. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. Thank you very much. Um, one last thing, John. Apparently, do you want to come up and see it >> real quick? I'm going to pass these
around. These are actually virgin oyster um a vertical oyster gardens. So, this is what they start out with. a year later they're gonna be full with oysters and then this is what we would actually relocate to whatever new location we want to. >> That's fantastic. Thanks for bringing those John. Um the next item is uh next
meeting date will be April 6th, 2026. Um I will still be out of the country. Uh who is the alternate that will run this meeting? >> Does someone want to make an alternate date? >> Yeah, let's change that. because I am in full support of you becoming the mayor
pro Tim on whatever that item number is. >> Yes. >> But I would ask that >> tree for Christmas >> to to do that that we if not if Sandy will accept it that we make her the CRA board chair and move you to the mayor
pro Tim. That way we still have a division of labor. >> How's that sound to you? Would you uh make that motion, Jim? I'll make that motion that uh and that way that solves the next meeting chair issue. >> And I'll second that motion. Everyone in uh Rodney, how do you feel about that?
>> Good. >> All right. What's your vote, Sandy? You vote yes. >> Yes, I vote. >> Okay. >> We're voting. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Sure. >> With Matt. Motion passes. You got that,
Ray? >> You are it. All right. So with that, the next meeting date will be April 6, unless our current and new CRA chair has a change that she wants to make. Is there any changes you want to make before we adjourn? >> Fine with me.
>> Okay, with that, uh, last thing on the agenda is public comments with the CRA board. Anybody in the audience that wanted to make any comments, come on up, press the button, give us your name, and three minutes, and I think you know what all that means. Thank you, sir.
>> Thank you. My name is Lance Johnson. uh 624 CO drive. I'm the vice chair of the CRA committee. I just wanted to thank the council for giving me the chance to serve on this committee and I really thank John for the effort he's put in. Um we have not missed a meeting due to
lack of quorum since John took over. So I mean that's that's pretty huge. Um there were was a time frame when this committee wasn't meeting because they couldn't get the folks in there. So I just want to thank him for that. I appreciate council bringing up the fact that some of these are overlapping with
other committees because that's a big challenge for us and by you approving it I think that gives us the permission to work with the other committees too and to engage staff if we need to for money or grants or things like that. So thank you thank you very much.
>> Thank you sir. We appreciate John being in charge because he makes the calls to everybody to make sure they can make it to the meeting so that it's going to have a quorum. So well done, John. All right, with that this meeting is adjourned. Part: 2
We can get everyone back to their >> I'm going to call this city council meeting to order. >> There we go. Got to use the oysters. >> The oysters. There's the oysters. >> Those are baby mama oysters.
>> That's the beginning of my garden. >> Don't get in between a woman in her garden. >> A little too much information. >> All righty. With that, I appreciate the CRA meeting. You guys did a great job. We'll call this meeting to order. Invocation by our one and only Pastor
David J. Butler. Yes. >> Would you bow your heads with me, please? Heavenly Father, we thank you for the outstanding city council that we have assembled here tonight. We thank
you for the interest being that of the citizens of our community and no self-interest. We thank you Lord for the beauty that you have created. We thank you for the beautiful sunsets that we are witnessing each evening. beautiful
sunrises. Father, we just thank you and ask that your protection be upon each one who come and visit our beautiful city as well as our citizens who have chosen to live here. And now we do the blessing Lord found in Numbers chapter 6
and it is this. Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he give you his peace. May you be blessed in your coming in and going out. This we pray in Christ Jesus our Lord's name.
Amen. >> Amen. Thank you, sir, for that. Councilwoman Abear with the pledge, please. >> Thank you, mayor. Everyone, 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 guys for that. Uh before we get into the agenda approval, do we have any substitutions, amendments, reconsiderations? >> Yes.
>> Uh I'd like to remove the uh nomination uh from under my name. >> Okay. >> All right. Anything else? >> I'd like to um I don't know if we need it or not, but I want to pull 3A, please. >> 3A. All right. The testifier. Thank you, sir. Anything else?
All right. Seeing none with those amendments, can I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> Motion to approve. >> I have a motion. I have my second. All right. Seeing no further discussion, we'll call the vote. >> Take a verbal. >> Oh, verbal. >> Oh, okay. right here.
>> Which one are you on? >> I'm just going to let Andy fix it. >> All right, we'll go for a while. >> No, while Annie's knocking it out. Uh, council. >> Oh, you're up. >> All right, we'll start on our side over here. Council McG. >> Yes.
>> A Bear. Yes, >> Councilman Bagley. >> Yes. >> Oh, yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you for that. Seven or 60. So moved. >> All right. With that, up first without any proclamations, we'll get into public comments. If anyone here has wished to
speak. Yes, sir. Just need your name and address. Uh push that gray button. The light will stay on, so you don't need to hold it. >> Right. >> Yep. >> Oh, I can see it works. Okay. My name is Cameron. I'm from Indian Bayou North. Just kind of came here to say that uh
well, it's actually a shout out for the DSA members or Pensacola DSA. They come make a public comment when they're making observations at city council and county council meetings. And shout out to Chiara for organizing was it a city council watch?
And yeah, I also want to make comment. I did go to Pensacola city council meeting to comment on the Baptist Hospital and stand in solidarity for the working class of Pensacola. I mean, that was actually hard. I had to get my nerves up just to public speak there, too.
Um, I guess uh the last thing I'll probably just touch on is I want the city council to consider doing a tool library which is just like a regular library but for tools and that the city or the citizens of Destin can uh rent out tools that
they can just use for like one time or one time use instead of having to go to Lowe's and buy and all. >> Yeah. And I'll just say thank you for your time. >> All right. Hey, cool idea. All right, anyone else? See none.
>> Hi, my name is Ricky Lrand Jr., 175 Main Street, Dustin, Florida, 32541, General Delivery. And uh it seems I'm I'm famous on C-SPAN now, so I kind of like doing this. Uh hopefully it uh
metamorphosizes into all of my dreams coming true and everybody in the community being lifted by uh the spirit of uh goodness. So, I wish you guys all well and uh I've really enjoyed my time
here with with the council and uh I hope I find my place, you know, in Destin, you know, on the sea, I guess, fishing and uh can spend my time, you know, making dreams come true. I look forward to to working with people. I'm
trying to get my license back so I can drive my big truck, you know. Or I don't know what what they had a land yacht in the magazine. I might try to drive that or maybe a chopper counts custom. Uh but no, I I I
I hope that people can work with me because I think everybody is a tremendous help and everybody works really hard and I hope that uh you know everybody keep kind of keeps their vision to uh the sky.
Um, with that being said, I kind of just, you know, kind of wait my turn and I shouldn't, you know, I feel like, you know, everybody does a good job. So hopefully they can, you know, accomplish their what they're trying to accomplish
and then I can just move on. I'm trying to fit into the backdrop of the sunset, I guess, and all that horizon. Uh but yeah, I guess I got a $7,800 ticket in Lyon County that I'm trying to pay and get my license. And uh I don't know. I'm trying to, you
know, be involved with the community, I guess, to get back. And I uh I took some notes here, I guess, with the state law and the council and the division of labor. But, uh I guess I got 48 seconds left.
Uh, I I don't know what to say, you know? I I just I'm going to keep trying to, I guess, spread my wings and fly around out there. There really ain't nothing else to do but fly around. And I wish I could sit up there or something with y'all or I I don't know. I got a
lot to do, I guess, with the boat or whatever and the $10 million boat. And then I talked to my bankers. So, I'm trying to get all my bankers in place with the FHA and conventional loans, cash, the cash money deals. I just want all my people to kind of just be happy
so they can continue focusing on what they got. People can't get along. I don't want nobody to get hurt. So, I'm always like, you go, you go, you do it. And I will support you. I will give you the shirt off my back. So, you get what you need, then y'all
can give me what I need. I guess I don't know. >> As always, appreciate you being here. >> Yes, sir. I may stick around for a little while, too. Maybe just >> Yeah, come on. >> All right. Anyone else? >> Hello, John Stevens 425 Indian Trail.
Um, I just wanted to let you all know this upcoming Thursday um is the Oakloo County's annual water safety meeting. Um, it's going to be at the uh Dustin Fort Beach uh convention center uh from 12:30 to uh 4:30. Um, I I'm asking if
council can uh see if uh code compliance can email all of the livery operators in Destin to make sure that they attend this um because we're um since we have our own ordinance. We're not required to attend
it. So that's all I ask. Thanks. >> Thank you so much. All right. With seeing no other public comments, we'll close that and we'll get into the consent agenda. Uh we got A. We'll we'll do A first and then we'll run into uh B.
So uh Councilman Braden, anything particularly you want to bring to the floor for polling it? >> Yeah, I just wanted a little uh clarification. I know we we fund money give money to the fire department. I don't know was 100,000 a year. I don't know what it is now, maybe more.
Um for the lifeguards out there on the beach. Um, and I guess we off we also play paid for the sheriff's department to be out there. Um, and my question is is if we're paying for lifeguards to be
there and the fire sheriff's department to be there when somebody's drowning or in trouble, they go out into that water to assist them. Um
then how is it I mean that that seems to be okay but how is it when people are out there vending in that water in ankle deep water we have no jurisdiction we can't do anything about it I mean it just seems like if somebody's drowning we need to call the state and
say hey you got somebody down here drowning you might want to send somebody why are we paying for that to go out into that water to protect people seems like it's we're picking and choosing so can some anybody explain that. >> Yeah,
>> go ahead. >> Yeah, Larry, if you want to address >> I don't have a good answer because I mean it's a valid point, I suppose, if it's their jurisdiction, but I think we probably have a responsibility to our citizens to offer the protections what
we can and certainly at council's discretion whether to fund these operations or not. I know that historically you have and whether you continue to do so in the future is certainly at your discretion. >> I I understand I hear what you're saying
about we have a a duty to save these people, but we had the lady that was up here selling ice cream and we told her she needed to be in the water and she was in the ankle deep water and got stung by stingray. And then we hear on the news that ankle
deep water can sweep people off their feet. You know, we got rough water, whatever they can't be in it. So, again, are we are we luring these kids out into the water to buy ice cream now? And then when they get swept off their
feet or get stung, are we liable for that? Or I mean, it just seems like we're picking and choosing or so maybe Jim's got a better answer. >> Yep. That's where we're going next. Cagby. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh
we are a brand and our brand is Destin and when we say when people say Destin whether they are in Atlanta or Washington DC >> Jim I'm I'm sorry buddy I I appreciate
it but that's not my question. And I understand what you're saying that we're bringing them all here and spending much money we have to protect these people, but we're not protecting them when we're luring them out into the water >> to either get shark bit, step on a jellyfish, whatever. So that's my
question is why aren't we saving these people drowning, but we're luring it's okay for us to lure them out into the water to sell ice cream or or whatever they're selling. >> So where where's the where's the difference? >> Two separate issues. The the ice cream and the luring them out in the water, two separate issues in my mind. And I I
would ask you to go back to our vision. This is our vision. This is what we approved. Destin is a familyoriented beach and fishing community. So if we want you to come here for the beach,
that includes the beach activities. And the beach activities include walking along the beach, playing in the water, swimming in the water. Probably not surfing. We don't have big waves like some places, but beach and fishing community where people want to live,
work, and play and where visitors are welcome to respectfully enjoy our community and its resources. And that is one of our resources. That is our vision. That's what we that's what we say we want to be what we and we want
people to come here to go play in the Gulf or to go fishing or to you know that's what we say. So it we try to make that uh safe as safe as we can. And so we you
know when you go to our strategic goals number two enhance quality of life and safety for families that direct those expenditures and it's 282,000. We raised it last year or year before last, I
can't remember. Um cuz it was 100,000 for like 17 years or something. The uh so that's why we encourage them. Now to your point on the ice cream, I agree with you and I I will
even make the motion that we pull this for one meeting to allow the staff to go back because what I asked them today, two things. Was it two things, guys, or three things? Number one, can we use the lifeguards as scouts? And what I
explained to the staff was, I don't want them going out there saying to vendors, "Hey, you can't sell here." Or to people digging holes, "Hey, you can't dig this hole or you have to fill it in before you leave." I don't want them saying, "You can't walk your dog on the beach."
What I want them to do is call our code enforcement or whatever number or person that Larry designates and say, "Hey, I'm down at June Decker and I got somebody pulling a
wagon along with ice cream that I don't think should be here. I don't want them to be the bad guy. The lifeguards are the good good folks." And then I want that person, our code person or our whatever person to go there and go,
"Yep, that's sir, you can't sell ice cream on this beach." Or, "Hey kids, just remember, make sure you fill in that hole before you go home tonight." Somebody with, you know, some aura of authority. I want them to say, "Hey, you
can't." Now, if they're out, if it's double red and they're out in the water and they're not tethered to the surfboard, you can call Larry's person, but Larry's person better be calling the sheriff's deputy because that's not our job. That's the sheriff's deputy to go out there and say the water is closed. State
law says the water is closed. Get out or I will haul your rear end to jail. So, there are different things. So I want them to be the see if they can be the scouts, not to be the bad people, but to help us out and help us enforce our stuff. And then I ask them to check and
see if we have a force majour incident that is longer than seven days where the beach is closed longer than seven days. Can we get a prata reimbursement for that period of time? Not, oh gosh, it rained two days in a row and nobody was out on the beach and
lifeguards didn't even go out there. I'm talking about the beach is closed cuz we had a storm come through. We got debris everywhere. Why are we paying these people to be out there? Now, we probably won't get that one, but I think we can get the first one. And so, they will help us
hopefully do what we say we want to do. >> Okay. >> I agree that we bring people here for the beach and we need to protect them, you know, if they drown. But if your grandchild
walks out in knee deep water to buy a net or whatever they're selling on that cart and trips and falls and drowns or anybody has cramps up because they're dehydrated, falls in the water and drowns, why why is our lifeguards
responsible for that person then? I mean, somebody else lured them out into the water. We we've allowed or not we've allowed but people to get in the water and sell stuff. We found out that
>> tell me if I need to quit. >> Maybe maybe I'm going to jump in. >> Yeah. >> First, some of these issues are the subject of litigation when you're dealing with the vending. So, we probably >> need to think about that. And and the other thing that I'll just add is we
aren't telling we aren't luring anybody into the water. We're saying there there is no vending on the beaches in Destin. You are prohibited from vending on the beach and then some people or entities
try to circumvent that rule. So they try to go outside of our jurisdiction. But um other than that, I'll just say this is the subject of litigation. So maybe we can talk about it outside of the meeting if you don't mind.
>> With that, Was that a motion that you were calling? >> Yes, I I will make the motion that we uh put this on the agenda. This item on the agenda at the next regularly scheduled meeting. Give staff the time to go see if
>> they >> Which item exactly? >> 3A. That's the one we're talking about. contract. We're >> talking about some sub items, so I didn't know what you meant. Just three A getting the lifeguards to help us with three areas. >> Scouts. Yeah. >> Help us >> be our scouts or be our our lookers or
report just a reporting authority. >> And >> we can do that. Yes. Okay. Possibly some >> That's my motion. >> All right. There's a motion. Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> Further discussions? Final thoughts? >> Okay. I've usually agree with Mr. bagby on
this one. Those are employees of the Dustin Fire Control District, not ours. We are giving the money to help defay the cost. And just so we all understand, I think it's 288,000 instead of the 100 we usually give. What?
>> 282. >> Close. And so it is it is more money, but I think the district fire district people would tell you that they want those people's soul attention to be out in that water watching for folks who are trying to
drown. And I just don't think it's appropriate for us to ask them to do another task that will distract them from that job. >> All right. Thank you for that. Any other discussions? All right. Seeing none, we'll call the vote.
All right. As I have it, 51. So moved. All right. And then uh with that, the following consent agenda is only B. But with that, >> I move to approve the consent agenda item B. >> All right. Second. >> Any discussions? Seeing none, we'll vote on the following
consent. Right. You got that >> roll call. >> All right. Councilman Braden. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> All right. Eyes have it. So moved unanimously. 60 on 3B. With that, boss
man Larry Jones >> and I'm going to defer to council on 4A the Hayes request for lane reduction at 3861 Indian Trail number 102. >> Thank you. Uh city manager, uh Mr. Hayes, are you present in the room with
for the lean reduction? >> Okay. um if you would like to come up here so that you can speak in just a moment. I'll just introduce this to council uh really quick. So, I'm going to pass out to you council um our
ordinance relating to lean reduction requests. As you know, it's in section 1486 and 1487 of the code. Thank you, mayor. So, this request comes from the property
owners at 3861 Indian Trail number 102. Um, this case involves a lean on the Hayes home and residence. As of January 12th, 2026, code compliance staff informed the
property owner that the lean in the case was outstanding in the amount of $17,700 for 334 days approximately of non-compliance at $50 a day and $1,000 of administrative fines. Those fines are
the result of code enforcement hearings. There were two hearings for this case at $500 a piece. Um, as I understand it from the property owner, they are preparing for sale of the subject property, which is their
home. I believe the closing is set for February 2nd, but they can correct me if I'm wrong. Um, Miss Hayes, do you want to come up and make your request formally to the city council? Okay. And I'll also just note that the email we received um for the
request is also in your packet. If you could just push >> hit that gray button. Yep. All right. Thank you. >> Good evening. Um I'm here tonight to ask you all to um relieve the fines that were imposed upon us. Um let me give you a little bit of background. Uh back in early or late 23, early 24, my
grandmother who lived in Kentucky, we had to bring her down here to move in the home with us. Um the townhouse that we live in is currently is three three stories. We were going to have to put on the third story. That's just where the other bedroom was. Um my husband should have looked into it more. He didn't.
Well, he needed a staircase on the back of the house for egress from my grandmother. Long story short, um neighbors complained. Um they turned us into the city because he did not obtain a a permit. He did try to um at the time the system is um I think it's your current system have. It's very confusing
and it's hard for a common person like us to try to figure out. He did come to city hall and try to get it figured out. I think with Noel, um we just couldn't get it together and um they ended up having a special meeting. the the magistrate asked us to take it down and we did. We were given 60 days to do
that. Within the 60-day time frame, the stairs were down and was and everything was brought back to whole again as we were asked to do. We did not know that. We knew they opposed the the two $500 um fees to us, but we didn't know that not paying those at the time that we were
going to occur $50 a day for 360ome days. We didn't know that or I didn't know that as my husband says he didn't he didn't see that anywhere in the paperwork. Um, in the meantime, my grandmother did pass away. Um, and this is now early 24. Me and my husband both
lost our jobs within two months of each other. So, financially we were ruined. We had to file bankruptcy. So, we wouldn't couldn't have paid the fine even if we wanted to. We just didn't have it. We were trying to, you know, make our way to get um food on the table for our family. Um, the good Lord above
has restored us. Um, he is putting us, we're climbing our way back up to the top. Um, we're trying to sell our home. Um, and if this if we can't get the fees taken care of, we're going to owe money, which we can't pay when we sell the home, and that we're at risk for the
home going into foreclosure. Sorry, I'm get upset. I just ask that you all please take in consideration to take some of those fees off or at least the fine of the $50 so that we can sell our home and then we can move on and um and restore ourselves and get back to where we were when all this first started. I
thank you for your time. Thank you for being here. Appreciate that. Right. With that, does anyone have anything they like to jump in with? >> I'd like to make a motion we ask the plaintiff to pay just the administrative fees, maybe a 10% of what the 17,000
make it 1,700 and call it. >> So, is your motion uh 1,700 total or 7 10% plus the,000 fee? >> 1,700 total. >> Total. Thank you for clarifying. >> All right. So, that is a motion. Do I have a second?
I'll second it so we have a discussion. >> All right. Thank you, Councilman Dustin. Uh with that, we have our motion in second. Do you want to continue discussion? >> I did. >> Okay. Yes. Go ahead. >> The last time we had one of these in front of us, we gave direction that these continuing fines
uh should there should be some notice and we we suggested the notice should be by uh the way you are noticed on a a court hearing. uh by special service. Did that happen in this case?
>> This was before that happened. So, no. >> Okay. Well, then the facts are the same as the last one. There was no real notice that we know for sure. >> There was there were hearings with notice. In fact, the respondents did attend. So,
they had notice. However, one of the issues that was articulated by the property owner is that it wasn't clear to them. They're saying that in the order compliance didn't just mean getting the permit. It also meant you
had to pay the fees. And so, since the fees weren't paid, part of the reason the lean kept acrewing was that technically they weren't in full compliance. So, the $50 a day kept going. Um, and if I've misstated anything, Miss Hayes, please feel free
to correct me, but um, that was part of the issue, and I don't know why staff didn't reach out about the thousands or if they even did. Um, but it was prior to your directive. How many more of these do we have
hanging out that >> I'm not this isn't an exact number but I believe it's around 20 older leans >> and should we notify >> we actually met about it and we are working on those notifications and in fact there's a couple of hearings coming
up where we talked about calling the property owners before they even came in for a hearing to make sure they understood the process and things like that. So um changes are underway. Okay. Uh, Councilman Braden,
>> thanks. Um, in my agenda briefing, I was told a completely different story than what I just heard. Um, that there was a structure built and the structure wasn't taken down and there was another structure built and the structure is still there today. And they had hired a contractor or talked to
a contractor about taking a structure down or getting in compliance. So, >> that's a separate issue, but that is relevant. Um, so there's a lean and what we talked about is what's relevant to the lean case. There's a separate case
from that that has nothing to do with the lean because it wasn't a part of that case. It happened subsequently. So now there there was another violation which they are working with staff to comply with, but it's not in compliance yet. That's the one we talked about at your agenda briefing as being a separate
but relevant issue. So there is another unpermitted structure on the site. It's the second story balcony that was enclosed in um with a roof. The building official has said this is a problem because there's not emergency access. Plus, it wasn't built to code. So, to
comply, they can remove that. Um that hasn't gone to a hearing at the magistrate yet because I'm told they're in the process of taking it down before they sell the property. We've also notified um the title company so that the buyer would be aware of potentially
purchasing property with that issue, but hopefully it's resolved within the next few days. And they also had some junk in the yard that they're in the process of cleaning up, which was a part of that separate violation. >> So there was multiple violations, not just this one, a set of stairs that was built and that was taken down and that
was it. So, in the magistrate, does the magistrate, when you go to the magistrate, do they I mean, I know you paid the $500, do they not make it perfectly clear that you're if it's not cleaned up or whatever by certain date, you're going to start receiving a $50 day, $100 a day penalties?
>> Yes, they do. So, me as a homeowner, if I was told that and I thought I was in compliance, I think I would call the city and make sure and get something in writing that I'm in compliance and these fees are no
longer acrewing on my property. But, I don't know. I I got a real hard time with this one because there's there just multiple violations and they seem like they got one and then they just did another one. And um and we've
got these I mean we since I've been up here we we might as well do away with this. Just throw this in the garbage cuz it's I mean we never use it. We find people and then they come here and they sing a story and I I mean people tell me you
know we need to have compassion. But using somebody's death, I that's just a pet peeve of mine. Don't come up here and tell me that somebody's died. This is why this has all happened. You know, please don't, you know, take all these fees away. So, if that's what we're
going to continue to do, which we've been doing, we might as well throw this whole whole thing in the garbage and and not find people, not even take them to magistrate, get rid of the magistrate all together because we're not using it. We just we spend that time with staff spends their time going to it. We pay
the attorney to show up at these things and then to come to council and give us a sub story and weren't just, you know, throw it all away. I mean, we did what was it? $600,000 and council agreed for $30,000 or 50,000 or something crazy.
But I don't know if we're going to continue to do it, let's just do away with the whole magistrate system and all that all together. Yeah, Councilman Bagby. So, um, three things. I agree with Mr.
Braden. If if this process doesn't work, then let's change this process because we have we we went through a lot of work to come up with a process and we have not followed it a single solitary time. So
if you want to say give them 90%, I don't care. But we need to come to an agreement that we have rules because the staff is the one that has to advise these folks. Hey, you you can come to council. This is what our pro this is what our process is. This is what you
know they have done in the past. They have said you get 30% reduction if it's less than a year, which would be $5,000 or something for for this case. uh there there is an additional violation and I
understand that and uh I I would like just to make sure that we're clear that you're committing that that additional violation will be removed and corrected prior to closing on February 2nd.
>> Yes. Actually the current violation that you're speaking of the roof that's over the deck. Okay. that was actually done before the staircase was done and we were trying to get a permit for it as well. Um, like I said, the system that's used um to get the permit is so
confusing. Um, I couldn't figure it out. So, my husband tried to figure it out. He came down and talked to I believe it's Noel. I don't remember know what her last name is. I apologize. Um, and tried to get that worked out with her as well. Basically, what has happened is with everything that's gone on, and I
think we have some neighboring people that are around us that are in other people's ear because they don't like the look of it or or whatever the the case was. But it when we come down here to to city hall for the permits, we feel we don't feel welcomed. We feel um like
we're looked upon as if we're, you know, idiots. Um Noel actually even tore up one of the applications that my husband brought in. Um, she said it was just it was bad. You know, this is not going to work. So, we're intimidated even to even come down here anymore now. But the stair the staircase was built after
that. And respectfully to you, sir, I would never come in here and use someone's death as um an to try to get sympathy for someone. I was just letting you all know that my grandmother is not in the home with us anymore. She did pass away. Um but respectively, we just um my husband made some bad choices. He
should have looked into it more. he should have figured out what needed to be done and and do it the right way. We were in a time crunch. You know, we had my grandmother there. I didn't want to leave her upstairs, you know, without a way to get out. >> Um anyway, um as far as what we thought, I didn't come to the actual magistrate
meeting. My husband had to come. I had to work. >> But what we the understanding we had was yes, we were fined the two $500 fines, $1,000. And we were told we had to take down the staircase within a certain time frame. I believe it was 60 days. I'm not for sure. It was either 30 or 60, but we
met the 30-day timeline. The stairs were down and we restored the the balcony and to everything to the original the way it was supposed to be. We thought we were in compliance then. We didn't know that there would be $50 um charges because we didn't pay the thousand fine. And like I
said, at the time we were scrambling to to to get food for our family and to keep our electricity on. We couldn't have paid the fine anyway, but we did not know but not paying the fine that that was keeping us out of compliance that we were still going to be charged the $50 a day. >> But what I didn't hear in all that I'm
sorry, >> was you telling me >> that that roof or that structure that has not been properly permitted will be removed by February 2nd. Because what I don't want to see is the new owner of
that town home come, well, we bought it that way and nobody ever told us that it wasn't allowed. I I want it brought into compliance before February 2nd and I want your commitment on the record that that's going to happen. >> Yes. Um so we had someone come out from
the um um co code co- violations. They came out u when we were moving, which was last weekend. Um and they looked at the structure and he started to na name off probably 10 violations and we told him that there was no need he could just stop there that we're just going to take
the structure down before February the 2nd before the sale. Um we don't want the new owners to have to take on that responsibility. Um especially if it's not in code and and we'd have to take it down anyway to get it into code. So the structure is coming down. Okay. >> We'll start it on this weekend.
>> Okay. So, with that being said, uh you originally said it came down within 60 days. >> No, I'm talking the staircase. I'm sorry. >> Yeah, the staircase. That's what you originally you said within 60 days. >> I believe it was whatever timeline they gave us. It was either 30 or 60. >> So, 60 days at $50 a day would be
$3,000. >> So, I'm going to make a substitute motion >> that we do the $1,000 fine. $3,000 because it was corrected after 60 days. So that would be 4,000 total. And that
we direct that the current item be removed and not go before the magistrate and not get another administrative fine and not get another penalty. So that this whole thing is $4,000
and you're out the door and everything's wiped out as soon as that structure is brought into compliance. >> I'll second that. All right. With that, uh, Councilman Braden, >> I think we can do withdraw. >> I'll withdraw my motion so I can second
that one. >> Keeping us on the up and up. Councilman Braden. >> Thank you, Mayor. I don't know if it it just seems like these these cases that come before the council,
they're in violation. And we had the one gentleman that was in violation for several years. And I guess when he passed away, then the kids wanted to sell the house and found out there was this $300,000 lean or $600,000 or whatever. But anyway, the last three or four cases come before us,
the individual knew they were in violation and didn't fix it. Now, the last several their houses, their property was being sold and they had to. They got to do
something now. that could care less before, but now it's a it's it's do or die. They got to do something. So, I'm like Jim, it's it's not working. So, we need to do change change it or or
something because we're just wasting staff's time. We're wasting code compliance, code enforcement time. You know, we're on their back all the time. They're doing their job. And another thing is every case that's come before us, I've told staff that if staff at the
city of Dustin hasn't dotted all their eyes, crossed all their tees, done everything, if they posted it on the door, I want proof of it, make sure they've done their job, everything they had to do. If they miss one step, then the whole thing, in my opinion, the
whole thing's thrown out from from where it start go. But that hasn't happened. They they've done their job. They've done everything, you know, we've asked them to do and now we're
we just want to throw everything out the window. So anyway, that's that's all I got. I'm done. >> Council G, >> I kind of agree with Rodney on this one, especially when it's uh not a resident. But I do have a question on uh the process and I I don't see anything in
here and I realize that's probably our fault, but do we have an amen humanitarian clause in any of these ordinances that state if they can come in and provide proof of that we can suspend the the fine dates for some period of time?
>> Not exactly. No, you you don't have something where you can suspend the fine dates. But for the lean reduction, you do have criteria in the code. It's actually in the staff report, but I handed out a second copy of it as well.
Those criteria are in 1487, and that's for the lean reduction, and that includes kind of what you're talking about because it's any relevant information, any demonstrated financial hardship, any mitigating circumstances, and and there's a list of of the things.
So, that's how we address it currently. Now, your percentages are the part that I think some council members are saying you're not following. It's not those criteria because you are following those, but then you're frequently giving more of a percentage
reduction than what the code provides right now. >> Yeah, I I understand that portion. Like I said, I was just curious if there was a and you you answered that question as well, if there was a humanitarian application that would allow you to suspend from a certain period of date.
No, because we're governed by state law on that process >> and that doesn't allow it. Okay. No, thank you very much. That's what I need to know. >> All right. Anyone else? Any discussions, comments, concerns? >> All right. Seeing none, we have a withdrawal motion to a new motion for 4,000 on the table contingent on
everything coming up to code. Is that correct? >> Prior to February 2nd. >> Prior. Okay. All right. So, with anything else, I'll call the motion on on the question. All right. All right. So, the motion passes for the four. Any any questions while you're here with us? All right.
Thank you. Thank you for being here. >> All right. Item 4B is regarding >> I I would like this item put on the agenda for the next meeting to discuss. I don't care what we do with this policy, but we've got a policy. We got
to fix it. So, I just want it on the agenda and everybody, I don't care what percentages we end up on at this point, but we got to do something that we will that we will enforce so that this we don't leave the staff
hanging out there of >> what do we do? >> What do you know? Well, you know, go to council and if you're lucky, you'll get $900,000 wiped away table. >> But Kim, you said there's about 20 and you're making efforts or there is a current effort to acknowledge to all of
these current ones. There is a process you need to come in compliance or you're going to be held accountable. >> Yeah, we're working on it. We're meeting about it and we're trying to go through that. Yes. Well, they've got two weeks >> before the next meeting so that we can either stick with our guns on we created
this for a reason. You need to come in compliance because we don't care what your s story is. You're going to owe what you owe. >> Council G, >> I just heard uh Councilman Bagby say uh come back with something that we'll all agree on. We all agreed on this. We all
sat right here and voted on this and agreed on this. This is the standard. This is the one we set in place. If you don't have a backbone to follow through with it after you're the one that dedicated it and followed through or approved it, then that's on you. That has nothing to do with staff or anybody else on this council.
>> Great point. All right, man. Jones. >> Okay. Uh Codes, anything? See you. >> Putting percentages in here in a hard and fast rules was a mistake in my opinion. it uh we listen. We're sitting here as a judge when these things come
in front of us and to predetermine what we can do irregardless of the circumstances of each unique case is not a good idea in my opinion. Um and staff is doing what they're supposed to do. They're they're assessing the fines as
they are in the ordinance. Whether or not we think a case is made to uh reduce them is not a reflection on the job that they've done. They've done their job. Reduce or not reduce, that's our job.
So, I look forward to uh getting rid of this myself. >> I like the spin. All right. With that, uh do you have a motion in second? Was that was that a direction or a motion? >> Direction. >> Okay. All right.
Loud and clear. >> Action shall be taken. My motion. So I will second that. >> Okay. >> There we go. Got to stay stay to our guns here. >> All right. I don't see any further discussion. So >> can can I ask for clarity? Are you
looking for a revised plan or just to have this plan back before council for discussion and then whatever action you wish to take to amend or do away with? Yeah, I think we need to know a how many
people are outstanding and and just to address uh Councilman G's point, you're absolutely right. Uh the problem is is I have felt in the last four or
five cases that we have that we had some uh ownership of the problem that the staff did not go out there and say, you know, every 60 days or every 90 days or ever, hey, it got corrected. I can take
this off my list. Yes, the owners had skin in the game because they should have contacted us, but we did not do what I expected and I after talking with David this afternoon, we have fixed that problem. And so after we get these 20 or
15 or how many ever there are, hopefully that part of the problem will be fixed and we will have this. And yes, we have had problems with people getting permits. Uh I had a problem. You've probably had a problem. probably everybody in this city that's pulled a
permit in the last 5 years has had challenges with the old system. So, we own part of the problem, but I think we've fixed most of that stuff. And I would like to see something, some policy that we can actually follow.
And if we want to say there are no percentages, you just come and roll your dice, that that's fine. At least that's a policy we can all live with. Did that answer your question? >> Yeah. >> No, I'm not. >> That answer I want to know how many how
many are out there. I want to know the value of all of them. Okay? And I want to know that we have followed up on all of them. And if you have a good idea for a better policy, please by all means put it in front of us.
>> All right. C. >> Yeah. I'm just a little curious is how we have ownership when uh we have UPS document that states that somebody signed for it and the homeowner that just doesn't want to lose a half million dollars can conveniently say, "Oh, that must have been my kid. That's not my
problem." Showed up at your house. You signed for it. There's no ownership here, but you guys gave that money right back. I mean, >> yep, Braden. I mean, how do you They tried to get the the application online, fill it out. They came to the city to try to get a permit to fill out the
application. They gave help. I've never heard anybody say that the staff didn't help them when they come up here on a computer get a permit. And then they just said, "Screw it. I'm going to do it anyway." They went and build it. Not only one, two, or if not even the sound
like three now. >> Yeah. >> I mean, how how do you how do you just say, "Well, we'll just we'll cut it in half for you." your fines or whatever, you know, we just we'll just reduce it by what really I mean I I'm living in a different world cuz that
never happens to me. >> All right, >> that's it. >> Any further direction? >> Think we're clear. Thank you. Don't lie to me. >> All right, calling the vote. >> All right. 51. Tori's protesting. >> That's okay.
>> Yep. All right. Uh 4B. >> 4B is regarding the mayor pro Tim discussion and I think we may have resolved that. Was there anything further we needed to do there? >> Yeah. I'll make >> button. >> Oh, go ahead. You want to make the motion? That's fine.
>> It went back to No, I wanted to make a comment, but it went back to yes, no, and abstain. So, I can't do anything. >> Rave. Yeah, if we can cancel that and then uh >> I'll make a motion that we appoint uh
Councilwoman Terrace Teresa Abear as our mayor pro Tim. >> Second. >> All right. With a motion and second uh pro >> uh >> by the current mayor pro. >> Councilwoman, >> uh I'll bring up another motion after this one.
>> Gotcha. All right. Any other discussions? All right. Seeing none, we'll call the vote for through 4B. >> You thinking about it, >> he's still in protest? >> Yeah, I'm thinking about waste my time
up here. >> Yeah. All right. Congratulations. Uh >> appreciate it, >> Councilwoman Traml. >> Yes. I I'd like to for the council's consideration. Um it's come to my attention that we have uh council members who are sitting on committees
right now that cannot attend due to work schedules and other things and they're not attending the meetings that they're on committees for. So I'd like to bring up the discussion not not tonight but at our visioning session about whether or not you still want to be on that
committee. And if you don't, we can play switch around uh if if the situation is not working out for you. And that way we can bring it all up at one meeting and make all the switches at one time if there are more than one. >> I'll resign from TPO ultimate right now.
Anybody wants to >> and Mr. Pram, I'll call your attention to there's a agenda for the visioning session in front of each of you. There's an item under 6C uh entitled individual leadership commitments. That would probably be an appropriate time to have
that conversation if you wish to have it at the visioning session. >> Okay. That that's all I wanted. I just wanted to see if that's was something we wanted to go forward with. Yes. 6C to add it to 6C. >> It's on there. >> I know. >> That's where it would go.
>> Yes. Um thank you. Thank you. Do I need to make a motion for that? >> No. >> No. We'll be there. >> That'll be about 3 in the afternoon. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Item 4 C is regarding the uh pavement
marking and road striping continuing services authorization uh agreement and authorization to execute contract. Uh this was with our current um incumbent. Um they we went out to bid. We had one respondent in Mako striping. So we
recommend we continue utilizing their services for this u road stropping and marking. >> Sorry, Jim. >> All right. December 31st, 2028. >> Yes.
>> All right. So I have my motion and second. Uh any further discussions? Seeing none, we'll call the vote. >> All right. Eyes have it unanimously. So moved. >> Item 4 D is a U in response to RFB 2514
for fire equipment, alarm monitoring, and life safety systems. Uh again asking you to authorize execution of a contract. Uh we again went out for bid for those services. BNC fire safety was the only respondent, but I would let you know that in the past the alarm
monitoring had been provided by another vendor, but now BNC has rolled that into uh their um options and they bid on that and they were the low bidder because they were the only bidder, but it was uh we felt they were reasonable in their
ask and so we would recommend approval. >> Right. Thank you for that. With that, do I hear a motion? Mayor, I move to forward RFB25-14-PW, Fire Equipment Alarm Monitoring and Life Safety Systems Services to BNC Fire
Safety, Inc., and authorize the city manager to negotiate a continuing services contract for a three-year term with two adopt with two optional one-year renewals and to bring the contract back for council approval at the first meeting in February 2026.
>> Second. >> All right. Thank you for that motion in a second. Seeing no further discussions, we'll call the vote on 4 D. >> All right. I have it so moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. The next item 4 E and following are
forformational subject to any questions you may have. 4E are the capital project status report. 4F are is the TDC monthly report. 4G is the operations financial report
and 4 H is the quarterly investment report. >> For I go ahead. I'm sorry. >> I'd like Are you going to discuss the investment the quarterly investment report? >> Miss Crystal will if you'd be
>> question. I have a request actually. Yes, ma'am. Um, I was talking to Crystal earlier and um, it looks like it's time for us to go out for another RFP to look at our investments. So, I would like to make that motion that we uh, look at an
RFP to review our investments at this time. >> Right. >> I'll second that. >> Motion and second. Any further discussions? All right. Seeing none, Ray will take a second for a custom vote, but we'll call that vote.
>> Oh, we can get the sergeant-at-arms following Robert's rules. All right. So moved, eyes have it. >> Item four I is the minutes for the standing boards and committees and then we move to 4J. Um are the
announcements u shared with you the announcement regarding the Marlor Bridge earlier. Um but I want to bring you up to date on some things that are going on in Tallahassee um legislative wise. um some interesting things going on. They um working hard to take home away from
local governments. So just share some thoughts or some not some actions that are over there. First property tax, a lot of things moving around. Uh they've not really landed anywhere, but as soon as we know what that looks like, we will certainly apprise you of it. Uh I
suspect it will have something to do with uh homesteaded properties, homestead exemptions um and how they move forward uh with um some um 100% exemption for homestead of properties, but we're not there yet. So we'll keep
that in front of you. But um just for information, uh House Bill 103 and Senate Bill 122 deals with local business taxes. Uh what we know is our BTR. Uh but this bill takes away the
city's ability to charge most local business taxes, eliminates it. Uh the bill removes the authority statewide. Uh it offers very limited exceptions uh that generally do not apply to the city of Dest. So, uh, that's there's some
appetite to move that forward. Uh, what it means to Destin, it per permanently removes that local source of revenue. It reduces the city's ability to match revenues with demand services in some instances. Um, it limits future budget flexibility and it represents another
step to take away local financial control. So, thank you, legislature. Senate Bill 548 and House Bill 1139. This bill makes it much harder for cities to raise impact fees. Um, as you
know, those fees are paid by new development to help fund roads, utilities, public utilities, and such. Uh, while the bill is promoted as a way to reduce housing cost, it also limits the city's ability to make growth pay for itself. Uh, so it makes it harder to
adjust impact fees. It limits how much these fees can increase uh even when growth sustains um the infrastructure. Um and the cost would not offset those growths. It uh shifts costs from new development to
existing residents, creates higher legal risk if fees are challenged. It reduces funding options for capital improvements. Senate Bill 1138 and House Bill 927 deals with qualified contractors. This
one's kind of interesting. This bill allows private contractors to certify that development projects meet city requirements and requires the city to accept those certifications. So city of our size, we would have to certifi certify six qualified
contractors that any developer could engage to approve their developments and hand off to the city and say, "Guess what city? You don't have any discretion but to give the thumbs up because these guys have already approved it. So
get some of that. Ace Bill 1049 deals with building permit requirements. U this bill expands the types of home improvement projects that do not require a building permit and limits how cities can tailor permit
rules to local conditions. Basically any item costing less than $7,500 uh you don't have to have a permit for. U and and so so $7,499
projects become real interesting real fast. Um, H bill 803 uh is dealing another building permit. Uh, this bill uh and and Senate Bill 1234 set more uniform rules across the state to for how
quickly permits must be issued and inspections completed um and expand the use of private inspectors. Again, uh while this can speed up approval, it reduces flexibility for cities dealing with complex sites such as coastal and floodprone areas.
And then last, uh, Senate Bill 840. Uh, this is kind of the Senate Bill 180 fix. Uh, exactly how much it fixes, we're not sure. Uh, but we do know it it it contracts the affected areas from 100 miles to 50 miles. And so, it'll give us
some relief. And then it collapses the time that instead of the clock running until I think it was October of 27, it runs through July 1 of this year. So there's some good things there. Uh so is some effort and that was the same
sponsor sponsored u SB 180. So there's some synergies there that maybe get some things done. So just wanted to share those with you. Um um any actions council would like to take to um send Tallahass way, we'll be more than happy
to deliver them, but we'll keep you apprised of these things as they move forward. on the bridge comment um from some of the staff from ECRC. Uh here's exactly what we know. Okay, so it appears the PDNE is on hold simply until
the rehab versus replacement study is completed. There's no other reasons. Uh suggest it is suggested that city of Destin reach out to FDOT leadership uh Tim Smith and Rodney Chamberlain on the continued position of the city and logical reasons why replacement is
advantageous. safety, ice route, level of service, um inter coastal connectivity, height limitation, military support, land use, uh consistency. Um with so with that, if the council is interested, I would like to request you guys to uh direct the
city manager and myself to go meet with FDOT and um let them know your guys's position on replacement versus bandage uh project. I'll make that motion that we do what you just asked us to do.
Sorry, I couldn't say that. Move it forward. >> I'll second. >> All right. Uh, any discussions? Any kind of point of clarification on how we should address? Yeah, >> discussion. I may be on the wrong end of this again, but we've not had real robust discussion on
the bridge being replaced. I think they're proposing a six lane. A six lane that will go back into a four lane. >> Correct. At intersection. is a disaster for that part of town. Um
it'll just make and aggravate our congestion that we have there. So, if it can't go six lane into a six lane, I'm not sure that we should even be in favor of the bridge being replaced anytime soon because it's going to make another
big bottleneck there. And uh not even taking into fact what it would do to our park our Harbor One property, you know, personally, unless they can show us that they're going to make a six lane bridge and then it's going to be six lane. so
we don't cause a a traffic jam right there at the foot of the bridge. Again, I I don't think it's a grand idea really. >> Okay. Uh and he said this only in person to me after the TPO meeting that he was uh welcomed and introduced to uh new
director uh Rodney Chamberlain uh for F3. He seems very uh interested and driven to find a way to six lane West Dest. Um, I don't know if that has anything to do with the bridge or if those are opposite, but just kind of for information for all of you to
understand. Uh, what he's told me in casual talks right after the TPO meeting of, you know, we can do lane reductions, we can take out the medians in landscaping and if there's a will, there's a way for six laning. I I would be staunchly against that.
>> Well, we can make it into a racetrack. We certainly can't. >> Yeah. I mean, right now we could turn and that's going to be extremely unpopular. So I I hesitate for us to take positions on any of that. Yeah. >> Until we've talked to the public and see what they think. >> Okay. All right. Um so I do have uh
Councilwoman Traml. >> Uh yes. When uh when I discussed this today in my briefing um we were also talking about the uh volunteer committee that we appointed to look at that would no longer meet.
>> So I've been talking to uh Touchstone uh Mr. touchdown here who's chairing at and some of them agree that even if the the bridge is shelved and it's going to be a sometimes there seems to be a lot of capable people on there
for us to create that vision without a time pressure situation and shove it for later might not be a bad idea since we have some very in in the business people that could really help us guide what we'd want there if and when that ever
came. Um, so that was their position of they they felt very confident that we could catch up to the PD&E study with the committee and create those design standards. If the urgency goes away, they're still willing to see the the mission through, complete it, wrap it
up, and we at least have something a little bit more proactive than when it next comes around, we might not have the talent in the community to articulate it correctly with the with the State Department. So if if the desire is still there to finish the project that they've
started, can they not still meet? >> Yes. And I know the last time the last thing they were waiting on was they wanted to uh invite the PD study consultant to that committee so that they could get a line because it seemed like they had their first meeting. They kind of put their heads together and
they had suggested or maybe even made a motion on that. All right, the next meeting we can't just talk about this again. We need to have some uh you know boots on the ground from their side as far as a consultant to really help drive our direction so that we're not just wishfully thinking of where they might
be or could be but really kind of start integrating with them in their plan. Because if this goes the next direction then I guess the question then is if the PD&E study consultant is irrelevant then we just go back to
what I guess is Well, I don't see it as irrelevant just because we can have someone who does PD and all the time and go ahead and get that and be proactive with that because, you know, it's going to happen eventually. >> And I agree with you, we do have a lot of people on there that have expertise
>> that are willing to volunteer. >> Yeah. So to me, do we need to grant them permission to go ahead and to reach out and to get someone who can do a or or discuss with them how they do a PDE and what they look at and all of that kind of stuff?
>> Uh I kind of pass that to you. Is that something we can invite their consultant in even at our own >> if they still have a consultant? Um and if that be the case, yes. But I would think that our engineer could give the framework of what a PD&E looks like and
what they would be considering. So yeah, I mean if the committee if it's your desire for the med committee to continue, I don't think that takes any action. So I think we just press on if that's what you direction we want to go in. >> Okay.
>> I'd like them to continue. >> Okay. Uh Councilwoman Abear. Well, I was pretty much on the same sheet of music as Sandy, so she's pretty much I agree. I think we need to put our heads together, get with them, and let's get this thing figured out, not just sit
back and wait for them to do something. >> Okay. Um, Councilman Bagy. >> Yeah, I'll I'll support the the motion, but to Mr. Justin's point, if they want to build a bridge that's six or two spans that's six lanes wide,
but they only put in four lanes, similar to the Pensacola Bridge if you've driven across it. there's enough room to add at least one more travel lane because I think that would help with contraflow uh
during a storm or would help if one of the spans got damaged because some boat that thought they could get through there didn't quite get through there. >> Um so I I'm willing to go ahead but I don't want to see it be more lanes than what it lands into. So,
>> and me not being an engineer, my selfish desire would from what the plans are even from the other bridges is the amount of pedestrian widening of the bridge. I know that's not justification for a massive bridge, but to your point, I do agree. I would be afraid of the bottlenecking in the six laning, but if we can
>> create that new structure that has the emergency capacity, I think that's still a viable product. All right. Uh, Councilman Dustin, >> that's a modification that would be a good idea, but I I still want us to be very careful about what we're endorsing.
>> Mhm. >> And as far as the six lane through Destin way back >> before you were born, maybe the the Sasaki plan, >> yeah, >> proposed two one-way pairs, three >> I've heard of that. >> That is a better idea than trying to put
a six-lane racetrack through West H. So, we need to be very careful about what we're endorsing >> because I'm not in favor, nor do I think the majority of the people in Destin would endorse >> no >> any of that. >> Even as a past uh tree planting
nonprofit executive director, I've never felt the need to tie myself to a tree, but I would tie myself to the medians of these trees for multiple reasons above. >> We'll get a whole lot of that. So, >> let's be very careful about what we're endorsing. >> Okay. No, that's a great point. Thank you for the guidance. >> All right. Uh that was a motion and
second on that. >> Yeah, >> it's okay. So, and and to be clear, that was more for uh the committee than anything. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Right. Do you got that in what you need? We've been a little over. >> May I have you uh repeat that, Miss Uber? And who seconded it?
>> He said it back. >> Yes. >> Said what he said. >> But to be clear to what Dustin, Councilman Dustin said, I don't want to construed versus kind of what seems like where we ended. So, I just want to make sure we're all on the same page. My my request was for us to go to Chipley and
let them know uh what the council's um objectives are for the bridge and uh >> yeah I guess for for the bridge and the leadership of this >> and the visioning of where should be to be involved with this >> but please
>> and the objectives of course are to look forward to to try to make it happen with that without the six laning coming to the four lane and and the six landing through Destin. We definitely don't endorse those things, but we would be like like to be part of the discussion
to where it goes from here. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you for that. >> Would it perhaps be better timing to go kind of find out what they've got in mind, >> what what you know? >> Yeah. >> So, but and then we can come back. We'll have time to develop what strategies we
want. But if we make that visit, let's just go in a factf finding effort of saying, you know, what are you trying to deliver? What what is your goal objective? >> Y >> then we'll know what to bring back to council >> now. Did you get it? >> All right. Good. >> We're we're authorizing the mayor and the city manager to go to Chipley and
meet with FDOT to discuss the >> Mar Bridge. Yes. >> Thank you, Jim. Councilman Bagby. All right, I will call the vote. I don't see any further discussions. >> We're going. >> That was a very unplanned motion. So, thank you guys for hanging in there with
me. Yeah, because I would pref Thank you guys. So motion passes 6. Um yeah, because I think we like first first seek to understand first principles. All right, I like that. Thank you, sir. Any further announcements?
>> Took your jam. >> Yeah. Good evening. We'll have our visioning session on Friday at 9:00 a.m. We already had several partners that said yes to coming. Dustin Fire, Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office, Chamber, and such. So, we appreciate them sending representatives and the
public is of course welcome. So, 9:00 a.m. here at the annex. We also want to say a huge thanks to Congressman Petronis, Senator Scott, uh their offices, the Coast Guard, FWC, and all the citizens who helped with our letterw writing campaign in relation to
the navigational aids. out of the past, we have had some baby step movement with lights being put out there, but we of course now have commitment from the Coast Guard on funding for that for the infrastructure change. So, we're awaiting the timeline for that
>> and thank you for your work on that. That was a lot of bureaucracy. >> Appreciate that. Uh and uh lastly, we had our closure today of our annexation survey. We had 151 survey respondents
and the consultant sent us the raw data. So, we're going to compile that into some pie charts for some nice easy clear reading for you all and get that to you soon. >> So, we're done with the They're not calling anymore. We got all the numbers.
>> Correct. Today was the last day for that. >> When are we going to have this? >> Next couple days. >> Absolutely. out to council to for us to look at. I'm I'm just excited. >> Good. >> Okay. Awesome.
>> Yeah. Filter it out. Okay. >> Yeah. I've got a couple more pie charts to share and and as boss man was saying, we're going to meet tomorrow and good. >> Then have that for you. >> Excited. >> All right. Oh, that's it. All right. Moving right along. Uh we'll go right
into public hearing. Miss Kimberly Cop. >> Thank you, Mayor. Just a second here. Where did it go? All right. This is Can I have the
because our documents are missing. So give us one sec. This is ordinance 2526LC, an ordinance of the city of Dustin, Florida, deleting section 71300, non-conforming uses and structures, and section 16800, non-conforming signs of
the land development code, and creating a new article 3 nonconformities. Amending and updating regulations relating to nonconformities. creating an exception for structures located within the South Harbor mixeduse District SHMU that are damaged by natural disasters or
certain other forces major by greater than 50% as set forth herein 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. This is another first
reading. Um, you did look at this at the last council meeting and the changes you directed have been put into the ordinance. >> All right. Thank you for that. And with that being a public hearing, if anyone wishes to speak on this specific item at
this time, this is your time to do so. All right. Seeing no public comments, I'll close the public comment portion. And do we have an applicant to come up or are we going for motion? You did you do the public hearing? >> Yep.
>> Okay, then you're good for a motion. >> All right. Yep. So, with that, uh, if anyone from council wishes to make a motion, this is your time to do so. >> Move that city council approve ordinance 25-26-LC with the following change in paragraph 3.06
that billboards may not be improved. Uh, David has that language and he can read you the exact sentence as he modified it during our premeating. Okay. Currently, it reads, "Offsite signs, billboards, or permanent outdoor
advertising sign structures or portions thereof which require building permit shall not be repaired or replaced." We'll modify that by adding improved before uh repaired or replaced. And it will now read, "Offsite signs, billboards, or permanent outdoor
advertising sign structures or portions thereof which require building permit shall not be improved, repaired, or replaced. And I asked for that change because repair or replace doesn't mean they can't put solar panels on and lights on
and they make it and just continue on forever. >> All right. So I have a motion and a second. Council Braden. >> Thank you, mayor. Um again, like I said last time, I know this we're doing this to I guess preserve uh heritage, our
heritage or places that are heritage on the harbor. Um, but I've yet had anybody tell me of a building down there that has anything to do with our heritage. Um, there's several buildings down there that need to be tore down. And if they are tore down, they need the building tore down
because a hurricane comes through. They get to rebuild it like it is. And I mean, there's some changes, they got to bring it up. But again, we're doing this to preserve our heritage, heritage building. So, what are we preserving? Nothing.
But we're going to pass it anyway. >> Council Dustin, >> I suppose that's the premise that we have no heritage. >> Yeah. I don't know what I don't know what we got. >> We lost that 30 years ago. >> Clarify the issue.
>> All right. With that, um I guess I'll wait till this motion's through. I have a motion to say any other further discussions, comments, points of contention. All right, seeing none, we'll we'll call the vote.
All right, eyes have it three, I'm sorry, 42. So moved. Uh David, no need to put you on blast. So not really necessarily an answer. I know um I should have asked this during our meeting, but I forgot. the billboards. We were kind of gonna we're going to
look into is there a way to do any kind of site surveillance or any kind of spot checking to see if they are now nonstructural or insufficiently structured and report uh some of them are pretty
nasty and I've gotten some citizen complaints in the past of, you know, seeing rust and other debris from some of the older ones around town that they've noticed material on the ground. Um, so I don't know if any uh I guess empowerment from the building official
or uh city development to at least spot check the safety and welfare of of making sure that these things don't collapse on anyone. >> So, and I'll defer to the attorney, but I think if we have evidence or a report of there's an unsafe structure, then by all means the building official can look
into it. Um, but as far as I don't know, um, the city attorney may be able to weigh in. I don't know if we could just do random periodic checks on them without a >> cause issue. Last time I talked to Noel about that, she and she's not here, right? But she had said she doesn't have
the qualifications to make that determination anyway. So, we do not currently have somebody on staff that could look at the structural integrity of billboards >> structures. >> Okay. Do we have any subcontractors that would have those?
>> Not to my knowledge right now. That's a question for Dave, but I don't think so. >> Okay. All right. >> We would have to find somebody to then do that work for us. We would contract them to do that. >> I'm happy to volunteer my drone so we don't have to get on anyone's personal property. Uh, Councilwoman Draml.
>> Well, it was my understanding if they needed repaired or maintenance that they were to be taken down. >> And so, um, if they need paint, they should be taken down. if they, you know, any of that
which is drastically obvious that they are in need of repair, they should be removed. >> Yep. And uh Councilwoman Abear, >> um and to speak to what Mr. Traml was saying, they whenever Lamar's representatives were here, they said that, you know, they would be looking at
them throughout the years because as they were put up, the amount of years that were left, it wasn't like they all went up at the same time. That's why the one on One Harbor was deteriorating pretty fast because it was one of the first ones that went up. That's why it was easy for them to say, "Okay, yeah,
you got to take it down because we didn't want them to fix it." So, so I think it's pretty much already in place that the big billboards for sure that are owned by Lamar, they have like a ticking time on when those have to come down. >> I would hope so because it's their
private property and if they injure somebody with them, they'll be the ones that are liable. So, And and that was my fear, not to necessarily play gotcha games with them, but it kind of behooves them to expand that life as long as possible for a larger ROI of the of the
material that they purchased. So, as the undergrounding happens, that'll probably be our next biggest eyesore outside of um what we just passed. So, with that, um thank you guys. >> All right. Um moving right along, Councilman Braden, comments, presentations.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, any new updates for the purchase of the $84 million piece property that we don't like? Any from the state? Nothing. Nothing new. >> We've had some conversations um that are
continuing. Um probably are we're probably going to end up uh with whatever disagreements we have with the county. Um, and we we're certainly having some more conversation with state folks in the process, but um, if they
move forward with a lease, uh, which we've asked them to make sure we're in that loop and what that loop looks like, we haven't got any clarity yet, but if they do end up leasing to the county, which was would be kind of the first step in the process, and that lease
would be subject to a management agreement, which we all know what that looks like at this point. and we've gone on record as as stating our objections to that. Um that if it does end up being leased to the county then then the rub we're going to have is going to be
between us and the county and ever how we seek to best resolve that would be the course of action we need to take. Is that reasonable from what you understand as cop? >> Yes. For now um go ahead. Sorry. Um,
>> yeah, that that's all. I'm I'm done. I think >> the only thing I'll add to that, uh, um, Commissioner Palmer and I were at the Holiday Isle Association, their annual meeting, and, um, he was presenting on it. I was just kind of there. I I said a couple words and and asked answer some
questions um that basically just summarize what you guys had talked about up here. um one of the things he keeps leaning on and whether it's political coverage or um at the end of the day it's their direction he keeps uh leaning on the sit uh the stipulations in the
contract that was approved at the governor's cabinet meeting. So you know they bought the land with these contingencies or with these stipulations. he keeps uh informing people that you know at the end of the day there's multiple issues that whether we have the issue of or the private
residents do that their hands are tied because of that document and so I haven't gone and done a super thorough read of that all but just so you all know and just kind of passing information along to you guys um that seems to be what they keep saying oh
well we can't because of this and I haven't gotten into all the details but that seems to be where they're coming from is >> just for clarification. I think he's saying the staff report, not a contract. >> Oh, okay. >> As far as as I've heard, >> whatever the governor, >> they're talking about a staff report that went to the governor's cabinet is
not, as far as I know, contractual. >> Okay. Cuz Yeah. Okay. So, I might have my notes wrong. I might have my my nonofficial minutes wrong. Uh I my takeaway was whatever they agreed at the cabinet meeting had some things in it and thus
we can't do anything about it unless we want to go back to the state go back to the cabinet and revise this those those stipulations u was my takeaway from his and he could have >> I'm just saying that I think they're referring to a staff report. Yeah. And there's not currently any contract that
I'm aware of between the county and the state. However, Larry and I are still talking with the state and we will be giving you updates. >> Thank you for that clarification. >> I just don't want it to be construed that there's a contract for anything specific between the county and the state right now because I don't think
there is. >> No, I believe he was Yeah, I believe he was speaking to the state per the purchase and what their expectations were. And again, I don't know if that was contractual or not, but it was my assumption of what how he presented it that um that was what they were going
by. So, all right. So, with that, I just wanted to throw that out there since you guys weren't there and it was just an invite. So, um >> Mayor, one other thing, um please >> Dewey said he was there. Is there anything you can share with us? Is I mean, were you there when the deal was done or >> at the cabinet meeting? >> Cabinet meeting. did any say anything at
the cabinet meeting of any >> and I think Miss Cop was there and and our city manager I don't recall any contractual discussion about >> so we had heard that the county was attending and we heard about the cabinet meeting kind of last minute so since the
county was attending the city manager myself and council member Destin went to make sure we knew what was going on because the county was not communicating with us so we did not participate in any way in the cabinet meeting or anything before that, but we were there to hear what the county and the state were
discussing with each other without us. >> And there was there was almost no discussion whatsoever at the cabinet meeting as I recall. >> No, just >> and certainly nothing. The county didn't get up and say anything and nor did the cabinet refer to the county in any manner. So, >> not so much.
>> That's why we were there, but then it never there was never any discussion. >> So, it was best hush hush and there was a motion made or something and they passed it or is that how it worked? They're also not >> a motion made that grouped several properties and this was one of them. >> And um my recollection was that the CFO
had a question about this specific property and uh the governor said they are grouped. So we can't pull one out. So you have to make a decision on the group. And so with that being said, they all voted for the group of properties unanimously including the CFO including
>> including the CFO. All of them unanimously. So, all the properties, it was a a kind of a hurry up thing with all the properties or just one or >> just a chunk >> all grouped together? >> All grouped together. We got to get this done right now. >> It was apparent. It was apparent from the get-go that they were going to pass.
>> I got you. Okay, cool. Thank you. >> But, you know, we were left out of all these conversations, if there were any, between the county and the state, and we were trying to figure out what conversations were happening, but there was no dialogue between them at that meeting. But the three that is why the three of us went.
>> All right. Appreciate you bringing that up. All right. Councilwoman Dram, >> I just had one question. Well, I have two things to bring up tonight, but one was uh we keep getting a letter and I cannot remember from where asking us to support no drilling in the Gulf. Have we
written anything about that? >> I feel like we're one of the first. >> Okay. And we and we did that. Okay, good. I just wanted to make sure because they keep saying you haven't done your resolution yet. And I kept saying, "Yeah, what planet were we on? >> Did we get it sent?" That maybe that's the problem, >> right? Did we do a resolution for no
drilling in the Gulf? >> I'll follow up with >> If we didn't, we will get one to you at the next meeting. >> Okay. Um, >> so >> uh I gave I gave all the council members and Rey, uh, a picture. This is just a
rendering. This is um from the parks foundation. Um and this is something that we're going to have our first fundraiser on Friday the 13th of February at um uh LeaZ and local market. And this is a
rendering of what the pavilion at Clement Taylor Park right now. We would like to as a uh foundation make it and our heritage because that's where
the original schoolhouse was. So we had this rendering done to make it look a little more schoolhouseish. So just so you have seen the picture, nothing has been nothing has come before the city for permitting or any of that stuff, but uh we're going to begin our fundraising
to do something with that pavilion >> to to make it look like this. Um, and council members, you will be getting an invitation to that event on Monday. >> So, you're telling me you're asking for a lean reduction? >> I'm asking I'm asking for you to buy a
brick. >> Oh, I'd like to buy the brick. All right. >> Buy a brick. Do you see you see where the bricks are right here? The original schoolhouse on the inside was ways coated. Okay. So, you can't do that in an open air building. But if we get enough bricks, we can put enough little
brick foundations around all those and make it look like Wayne's Cody. Anyway, that's what we're working toward at this point. >> Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you for that. Uh, Councilman Dustin, >> thank you, Mayor. Um, tagging on to what Mr. Braden was speaking about. We seem
to be kind of dead in water on the park issue over there. And since our county is so so adamant about following the directions they got from the cabinet and I believe I remember in the written language itself it said the park shall
be managed in conjun in conjunction with the city of destin park. So, I think um we need to ask direct the mayor to work with the city manager and the city attorney to go
to a commission meeting and tell them we are ready to participate in their efforts to comply with what the state told them to do and let's get together and get an interlocal agreement. Um
if we can do that and if they are really truly trying to find the rule follow the rules and regulations then they should tell us let's get together sometime between now and June and work out this interlocal agreement and how we're going
to work together to further $84 million worth of park >> and so um I will make that motion. Now the question is does the county commission do they meet once a month or twice a month? >> So I would move that we send the mayor
to make a presentation at the public meeting on the second meeting in February. second. >> Appreciate that. >> To uh >> it's done >> to show to show that they understand how enthusiastic we are about working with them.
and uh the mayor and and the city attorney and the uh and the city manager can get together a script. And I would further move that we forward that attempt to work with them
to the D and other affected state officials so that they will know we are trying to do what they directed all of us to do. And now I'll make that in a motion. I think I have a second. Yeah, Council Braden for the second. Uh, any other
>> points about six seconds. >> Yeah. All right. Seeing no further discussions, thank you for the honor. I'll call the vote. >> All right. Looking forward to >> for me. >> Thank you for that. Looking forward to a collaborative win-win solution.
>> All right. Councilman Bagby. >> Yeah. Good cop. Bad cop. Okay. Fun cop. >> Fun cop. My god. So, I'm going to make a motion to direct staff to draw up a resolution
with a cover letter to the secretary of the D and courtesy copy the cabinet and our legislative delegation requesting that we be made be named or
that the city of Destin, not we individually be named. in the lease agreement to become the managing entity of the 4 acre park based on our ownership of the road
through that park and our adjoining parcel that we already manage. >> Second >> and I I don't want it sent. I want to come back to council. Should the mayor's
and city manager's overwhelming presentation before the county commissioners >> I'm gonna cry >> fall on deaf ears. Then I will make a motion that it be sent >> because >> perfect timing. >> We're going to let the good cop do his thing. But you know sometimes good cops
don't work. >> You guys both work but you know other cops. Yeah. The only thing I want to point out is while the management plan wouldn't get approved before June, the lease could be app could be approved faster and I don't know where that's at.
So >> saying I if he comes back from the second meeting in February of the board of county commissioners and goes I don't think we're they didn't vote to approve that. Then I'm going to make a
motion to to send it to the secretary of the D. >> Are you ready? >> I will vote for it. >> Do you want me to go to the first meeting in February? >> I don't have >> I mean that's your direction. So I don't want to >> cop's direction. Your top >> give them time. >> Second meeting.
>> Second meeting. >> The second meeting that gives us time to contemplate a number of other >> questions. >> Perfect. All right. Just letting you know I'm willing and able >> since you spent your birthday at the
Holiday Isisle meeting. I'm sure you >> My my birthday was uh I brought I brought popcorn while they booed the the county plans. Not Not the people, the plans. >> Um so with that, uh I do have a motion. Do I have a second just for who?
>> Okay. I don't Sorry, I didn't know I didn't catch it. Just in case for the minutes. >> I All right. >> I did it. >> All right. All right, with that I'll call the vote. >> There you go. All right. 6. So moved. All right. Anything further? >> Yep. I make a motion that we approve the
Harbor CRA work plan as presented by the Harbor CRA board uh to us earlier this evening. >> I'll second that. >> All right. >> Any further discussion? >> Thanks, Jim. about that. >> Yeah, I know y'all did. Y'all
>> would have been would have been a meeting for nothing. Would have been the first of its kind. All right, seeing no further discussions, we'll call the vote. All right, eyes have it 6. So moved. Anything further? And finally, while I
was uh firmly in Miss Cop's camp supporting the University of Miami last night, they fell short. And I want to congratulate Tamara
and the victory of the IU H who hooers on their national championship. >> It was a good game. I'll throw out uh Lockwood Warnett who was the past director for Destin Water User is also a
huer and so I'll throw that out there if he even cares about these meetings anymore. I doubt that. >> With that, Councilwoman Abear. >> Thanks, Mayor. Well, thank you, Jim, for taking care of our CRA work plan. That was what I was going to do.
>> So, thank you for making that happen. And I, too, want to congratulate both teams. Played exceptionally well last night. And I was crying for Kim, but I was laughing for Tamara cuz she was like had that picture of the field behind her like she was physically there. I was like, "You go girl with your $4,500
ticket." That was a great game. So, but anyway, thanks to to the staff though. I know you guys have been working really hard trying to get everything ready, especially for our meeting on Friday. Crystal, as always, keep the finances squared away. Thank you for working hard on all of that. And our engineer
grinning and bearing it every day. and say David, thank you as well. Just want to make sure you as the staff realize we know you guys have tedious things you have to deal with, but we up here do appreciate you. And Lisa, I want you to know the people that come to that uh um
the community center. I've seen them as they're all grinning going back to their cars down on that lower parking lot. Whatever you're doing up there, all the programs and everything you're hosting our snowbirds, your team is doing a great job. Parks and Recre commending all of your team for all the work they're doing to keep those folks that
are visiting during these offseason months happy and wanting to come back every year. So well done. Thank you, >> Council McG. >> Thank you. I'm going to hand this thing out real quick. Will you pass one of you down? >> Where'd you go?
>> Back. Oh, I like that. >> All right. So, uh, Adventure Development Bob Black came to me about a development order. His, uh, project is to put a 16 foot by
37 ft canopy over an existing paved parking area. So, he's not changing the impervious. He's not changing anything. He's just putting a canopy because Destin Water users wants to preserve their golf cart seats. They want them out of the sun. In doing this,
the way we have dictated the LDC 3.00.01, we've hand tied community development to where they can't make really decisions on things like this. And they are calling this a minor
development order, which means he has to pay $2,500 in order to install a canopy that the materials alone probably cost $2,500. And when you look at the development order paperwork that I just handed you,
the only questions in this entire application that would apply to his development order are the very first page that asks for his name, business, and contact information. He is not adding any impervious. He is not changing the use. He's not changing
the intensity. He's there's absolutely nothing going on there where he's changing anything on that property. But by definition, we've dictated he has to fill out this paper, submit it, and pay a $2,500
application fee. >> You want a motion to vote that he get a waiver? >> So, what I would like to do is one, motion that he get the waiver, but two, that we change some of the wording. And
I I've talked to David Pashard about this because he has been in this role a lot longer than I have and knows a lot more than I do. And that we could potentially change the verbiage to read projects that involve a change of use, change of intensity, and an increased
impervious surface area, or increase in building gross floor area would require either a minor development order. Something that qualifies in that that realm, not something that we're putting a canopy
over, >> an amenity. >> Yeah. an amenity or or anything like that just to preserve >> functional equipment. >> Would that not require anything or would that require a permit? >> It would still require a permit and the permit office would review and and verify compliance. So, it would still be
a permit, >> but it wouldn't have to pay a $2500 fee. Correct. >> Right. And it wouldn't require it wouldn't fall under minor development or major development because it's not really altering anything that's significant. >> So, it's just a tent. just basically a
permanent tent. >> So, what is your motion and I'll second it. >> My motion is to wave this project uh wave the fees on this project first and then I'll have another motion after that.
>> I'll second that. >> Do we need to go ahead and vote on that before I go? >> Yeah, we'll get into discussions on >> discussion. >> Yes. Uh Councilman Dustin, I got you up first here. >> Well, that's easy question. And I'll direct to the city attorney. Do we have the authority to wave something like
this? And if we do, where is it in the code? I I agree with Tori that this is an issue that needs to be addressed by a change in the ordinance probably, but do we have any authority to wave? >> There is a development order exemption
process already in the code. It doesn't go to council. So, I'm not really sure why this came to council tonight. If we had talked about it, I would have said this is a staff level thing because we have a DO exemption process. I'm not sure what went on here, but I don't it's
not council that would give this waiver. >> Right. Okay. I apologize then because >> I went through the meeting. >> Still got a question though. >> How do we go about addressing the fundamental underlying problem that >> I think the LDC rewrite should be addressing this? If something is not
meant to be for a development order process, then staff can revise the code. That's what we've been working on. >> And we would direct them to do that. >> I I mean >> or direct the LDC or whoever it is we we direct to do things. >> Correct. Exactly. Yes.
>> A motion. >> Well, if that motion is to direct them to address this issue, then I can support that. >> I'll second that. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Hold on. I'm sorry. Yeah. Okay. follow the order. >> Yeah. So, right now, if it's a staff
level, are you okay either directing staff to to look into that specifically with urgency and a date or would you want to retain retract that motion and go more procedural so this doesn't happen to the next person? >> Well, a little bit of both because this has already been before staff. I sat
before staff with the applicant and staff said their hands are tied until we make a change up here. >> There's 2.0502 0502 of the LDC which talks about exemptions. And so there are exemptions for various things. There's a
whole list. Clearing and grading is one. Very minor alterations to existing properties is another one. So I mean there's an exemption process where you don't have to do a development order. Well, then can I please go back to staff because maybe I'm I'm misunderstanding
something and I want to make sure that >> I mean I don't want I don't want to waste your time if I just misunderstood something and >> and there's a way that they can resolve it on their own. >> I think there's two questions. One is the issue at hand and I would agree 100%
if there's a method in in the code for us to grant that exemption. I would agree 100% that that would be an opportunity to do that and would assure you that would get done. The second being the broader question of how are these handled moving forward and that would be an amendment to the land development code and we can certainly
bring that back to you in our rewrite um and make sure that it's addressed. >> All right. I think you all did a great job by the way. I sat in the meeting with y'all and you were very thorough and you showed me exactly in the LDC where it stated exactly what you need to do and why you needed to do it and I was absolutely convinced. But are you
comfortable with reviewing this and and finding what what Miss Cop just stated? >> Yes. So the difference on here we we were talking about we looked to see whether or not that we could exempt or you know wave a deviation. We I couldn't
find any language on the deviation and just talking to staff. The that language applies to if there's not been a development order already issued, but in this case, there had been a development order issued to uh Destined Water users. And so the way the code we we
interpreted the code that we didn't have any latitude because there already was a development order and then the way it was written, the deviation didn't give us any latitude. >> That's an interpretation issue. Then if that's how they're inter, it doesn't say that, but it could be interpreted that
way. Regardless, the bigger issue is if you don't want it interpreted that way, change the LDC. Right now, it just says this is an exemption to the requirement for a development order. So, you could interpret that to say it doesn't apply to amendments. I would have said it
does. That's the point of it, but I understand the interpretation. >> All right. Then if we can all agree that the new interpret or the way it should be interpreted is that regardless of previous development order or not then I'll go with the motion that uh Mr.
Dustin presented earlier is my new motion. >> Just for one more thing, just for clarity, if there was a condition in the development order that was to address whatever you were changing, you wouldn't be able to use the exemption obviously. But if there's not a condition in the
existing DOU relevant to taking down a tree or whatever minor alteration it is, you should not have to get an amendment. You should be able to go with the exemption process. That was the point of that code. So, just for clarity. >> Yeah. And I just want to make sure staff's comfortable and everybody's comfortable because what I don't want to do is get over here and just be a
jackass trying to bully through or push through anything. I just want to make sure everybody's happy and on the same page and we're all agreeable and we can move forward. >> Yeah, it's easier for us. I I agree it if we weren't interpreting it correctly or fully, then it's easier for us to
understand the proper interpretation. >> Wonderful. Thank you. And then I adopt the motion that >> was made by Councilman Dustin. staff or the LDC whoever it is >> to uh look at this issue and come back with some solutions.
>> Yeah, please. That's that's >> but for this particular I mean that's going to be a couple of month process this particular issue and the ultimate interpreter of the codes is
the city attorney. Now, if if they can get together and come to an interpretation they all agree on, that may be a short-term >> solution to this particular issue. But the big idea in the big term is if we want to get in there and try to fix some
of this. >> All right, motion and second. So, I do have a motion second. Uh, with that, Councilman Bagby. >> Yeah. I I just want to make sure I'm clear because my question is what
led us to the interpretation that it required a minor development order? >> Well, the it already had a major development order and this was deemed by the language in the code as a minor
deviation to a major development order. >> Okay. So, and that was deemed by you or one one of the members of your team, right? >> Correct. >> Okay. Because I don't want us to get in
and I think we're all in agreement up here. Uh we we don't want to be directing changes, approval of changes or whatever to interpretations. We I just want to make sure I understand because to me a cover for six golf carts
does doesn't seem like a minor deviation, but I don't know. It may have been the size of a football field and they only had six golf carts in there. So >> what is there some fact that we're missing?
>> Well, it it's so yeah, we're we we felt the same way. If you look at a minor deviation is defined in the code as a deviation from a final development plan that does not meet the definition of a major deviation. So now I got to go to major deviation. >> Right.
>> Okay. Major deviation is a deviation from a final development plan including any change to a condition in the final development order that was expressly imposed by the city council or any change that adversely affects the compatibility of the proposed project or
any change that the city manager or his designate determined should be reviewed by the city council due to the community impact of the proposed change. So it was this it kind of fell through the cracks by the way you know it seemed unreasonable for something of this
magnitude to have to be treated as a deviation but the way it's written there was no other recourse in in the staff's mind. >> It's not like you're building a guard shack with water and electricity and all this other stuff. You're just putting up a cover. So I'm trying to figure out,
you know, I understand that would be a minor deviation to the major development order. But if I want to put up a shade umbrella out there because I want my employees eating outside and I want to put a couple of picnic tables,
what you're saying to what I hear you saying is then I would need a minor deviation to their development order to put a couple of picnic tables for lunch. >> Yeah, it doesn't seem we agree we agree that it seems like that's not what the
intent would be, but that's Yeah. >> And the motion is to try to address that problem. >> Yeah. And part of the issue part of the issue where there were columns or supports that were going to penetrate the the earth. >> So in that >> I was just asking Tori if there were
because I could understand why staff we have other projects where there's cement pillars going in and we have required a minor doo. They're also removing or changing uses. And so that was a little different than what I was understanding from Tori. But here's the thing. It's hard for us up here to give an answer
when staff is sitting in a preapp and getting all the details that we don't have. So, I don't, you know, I want to give credence to what they did. I we don't know all the facts, but generally there is a process for development order exemptions that may or may not apply depending on the facts. >> And just so I'm clear, they will still
have to get a permit and pay a permit fee to do whatever it is they're doing. >> Correct. So, >> I'm fine. >> Yep. Exactly. >> All right. C. They did their due diligence. I want to make sure everybody knows because I sat in the meeting. I asked a million questions and they
pulled up on the LDC verbatim why they had these questions, why had they had these issues and why it was compliant. So, the only thing we weren't absolutely sure of until uh Miss Cop here clarified was the uh the uh waiver
or what did you call it? I apologize. >> Section 2.0502 DO exemption. >> Doo exemption. Councilwoman Abear. >> All right. Because I was kind of confused, too, because I thought if we're tying your hands with verbiage
that's an interpretation issue on a minor or major development order change. I mean, if that's with just this one, what's to say that there's a trickle effect on other folks coming in with development orders, whether it's major or minor, are we going to tie your hands with verbiage that's like interpreted
incorrectly? But we want to make sure we stay on track for anyone coming in. So >> correct. So I think the best thing I think we understand the intent now and but I think the best thing to do is add some clarifying language to the LDC. >> Perfect. I'm good with this. Thank you.
>> Uh Council Member Braden. >> Thanks. This just seems like another example of why people don't want to get a permit. >> Why they don't like government in general, all of us. >> And it's and I know it's it's
>> we're we're I know I was told previously a few months ago that we're not doing a rewrite of the LDC, but we are doing a rewrite of the LDC and I'm this is the reason I'm hoping that we are doing a rewrite of the LDC to make it so if I read it or if the staff reads
it or anybody else homeowner reads it, it's, you know, it's not up to >> Yeah, it's not up to, you know, different people's interpretation. Um because it's a little disturbing that the staff all you know determined it was what they did
determined on a minor deviation or whatever minor development order and then the attorney comes up with a whole another avenue that they didn't take. Um cuz I know Mr. Bob Black, I I know he's >> very good. >> He has exhausted all avenues and he's
probably met with the staff and then the his final straw was coming to the council saying, "Look, this this is just ridiculous." You know, I' I've tried and tried and tried and it's just not not happening. So, I'm hoping with the rewrite of LDC, this, you know, staff or
whoever reads it, it's it's not up for interpretation of, you know, well, I read it this way, I could read it that way. I thought that was one of the big reasons we're we're doing the the LDC. So, um I don't know. I I hope we get it fixed. Um because it should have never come this far at all.
>> Shouldn't have had to come to council. >> No, >> it should have never never get this far. >> And with all agreements, we'll call the vote. >> All right, let's do it. Thank you. Get out of here past 8:00. All right. Eyes have it. So moved. Councilman go. >> Yeah. I just want to follow up by saying
I think you guys did an amazing job. I sat in the meeting. I watched how thorough you were with going through the definitions, explaining the definitions, going back through the LDC to show where you're getting your interpretation. So I I hope you don't take this as a jab. I just think it's us tying your hands, and it's our chance to untie your hands and
do your job a little bit better. >> That's all I got. >> Amen. All right. I got nothing because Indiana was already recognized. Kim, >> this is what I got. This is the U. Okay. Congratulations to Indiana. Congratulations. But the University of Ma Miami had a fabulous season, a
fabulous game. It was very close. So, that's what I have to say to y'all. Okay. So, but but in all seriousness, well, that was serious. But also, the city manager uh contract, he is up for his annual what I will call a bonus. We
pushed it to this meeting from the last meeting. so that you all could have more time to think. Also, I think it was because the last meeting was very long. Um, so he is entitled to up to 4% based on merit and retention. And what say you?
>> Uh, Councilman Braden. >> Yeah, I'll make the motion that u give a 3%. >> All right. I have a motion. >> I'll make I'll second that motion. Uh motion for three. >> Jim, you make substitute motion. >> Yeah, I am. I'm going to make substitute
motion that we uh do 4%. >> I have three. I hear four. Do I hear five? Do I hear? Do I have five? Five six. Six and a half. >> Go up. >> Okay. I tried. I tried. >> There's permission for the drink. >> All right. In serious, we got the motion in second from the original. I got a
substitute motion for four. Do I hear a second for the four? >> I'll second that. >> Okay. Uh and then with that, uh Councilman Bagby, do you have anything discussion-wise? >> Yeah, the I like this methodology and we talk about this every time we talk about
the staff raises in the budget and stuff because this doesn't roll into his salary. So it doesn't increase his salary by 7% which next year gets increased by 7% which this is a one-time shot and this is 4% is I think $10,000
or somewhere around there. If you don't think that he hasn't earned a $10,000 uh appreciation, the I don't know where where we've been for the last year because even though we
talk a lot and we run a lot, the staff uh is he's recruited a team, he's built a team, he's trained a team. Everything that we ask a city manager to do, he's done. I think in an exemplary fashion
because that that's what we asked the city manager to do. Not you know did planning department not approve you know somebody for money it is did he recruit retain is an important part and he has
retained you know our best people and recruited some of our best people in the last year and I just think he he's earned 4%. I I I'll be honest with you. I don't like going the max, but in this case, I think it's deserved.
>> Hey, if I made the motion to give city manager a bonus. >> Yeah, >> that's saying something. >> Yeah. >> True statement. >> I think that's fair. >> Um, yeah. Uh, the board got cleared, so I just want to double check. Everyone good? Any discussions?
>> Yeah. Yeah. I don't know who cleared it. So, yeah. Go ahead, Councilman Dustin. He just think he said he's >> Oh, you're good. >> He said he's good. >> Okay, you're good. Okay. You don't want to talk. Okay. If I may before you vote. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Just go ahead. Yeah, it got cleared. >> You have to lead and touch your
>> Yes. Yes. It said I was number two. So, >> it got clear. >> Never never believe everything you read, right? >> Um, >> raise over there magically clearing. >> We voted for cost of living for all employees. Is that correct? >> Yeah. Yes. >> And how much was that?
>> 2.67%. 27 >> 2.67 >> 2.67. >> Okay. So, this would be an addition to that 2.67. Is that correct? >> No. >> No. This is And that's the beauty of >> this is one. If if that is the case,
then I can vote for it. But if we were going to get up almost to seven or that was going to be too much. >> Boom. Done. Close the vote. That's it. >> Okay. >> All right. >> There we go. >> All right. Any other discussions? Just for the sake of that board getting cleared. All right. Seeing none, we'll
call the vote. >> Yep. >> All right. Max them out. >> Thank you, council. I I want to tell you it's a pleasure coming to work every day. Uh I appreciate you allowing me this opportunity. We got a great staff. Uh they make this job considerably
easier than it could be. But uh I appreciate your support and look forward to another productive year. Anything we can ever do, don't hesitate to reach out. If >> you would have said how easy it was before I voted, I would have went back to the 3%. >> Yeah. >> I was just going to tell you, Larry, I
honestly have been extremely pleased. You've done some great work and there's been some things you and I have talked about and then when you'll call me like a couple weeks later and say, "Man, what? I I got that." And I was like, "I'm so happy. Thank you." So, your team that you've got, I've I'm very pleased
with what you've taken care of. So, thank you. Thank you for being our manager and keep doing it. Keep our staff happy. Do whatever they need to to keep them happy because we don't want to have any more turnovers. We like what we got going on, right, y'all? Everybody knows what they got to do. Thanks.
>> All right. All right. With that, public comments made it to the end. You got anything? >> One and only. >> Come on. >> How many we got online? >> Zero. >> 24. >> 24. All right, that's not too shabby. >> Those are mine watching.
>> Okay. All right. With nothing else, uh, she's gotten rid of my oyster shell, so I'm back to my my destabl here. So, uh, with that, uh, city council meeting adjourned. >> Bye.