All right, let's get it going. All right, good evening everyone. Today is May 5th. Happy Cinco de Mayo. And I'm going to call this city council meeting to order. Up first is going to be the invocation by Pastor David Butler with Faith Assembly Christian Church. Thank you as always for being here.
It's my honor, sir. Would you bow your heads? Heavenly Father, we thank you for our beautiful city. We thank you for our dedicated servants. Father, we just ask your blessings upon this meeting tonight. We thank you Lord for you being
the Lord over our city, for watching over our tourist, for keeping our uh people safe. We thank you for our beautiful harbor and our beautiful Gulf. We just have so many blessings this evening, Lord. Most of all, we pray that
everything we do and say would be pleasing to you and that we work for the best interest of its of this city's citizens. We give you the praise for that. And now the blessing is this. 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. Amen. Amen. Thank you for that. Councilwoman Abear with the pledge, please. Please join me with your hand over your heart. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. And as we get going, if everyone could please silence or silence their cell phones or put them on vibrate, please so we don't have any interruptions. That would be great. And we will move right along. Pledge. And
now the agenda approval. Do we have any amendments or anything to add or change from our current agenda? All right. Seeing none, I'll make a motion to approve. All right. Councilwoman Aber with the motion. Do I hear a second? Second. Second. Councilman Guile. Seeing no discussions,
we will call the vote for the approval of the agenda. All right, it passes 6. All right. Public com. Oh, pres proclamation or presentation. Captain Jason Fulgi, Moalis County Sheriff's Office. I appreciate y'all
allowing me to come up and speak to you all about our spring break activities this evening. Hope everybody's having a good evening. So, uh, spring break this year went very well, uh, as compared to what we've had in some of the years past. Uh it was 54 days long and we
utilized five deputies each day to uh enforce activities on the beach and some of the um communities that are around the beach that are more affected by the spring break activity. Uh in those 54 days, we ended up answering 1,180 calls
to service and made 664 arrests. Uh that's only six fewer arrests than what we had last year. But it it seemed to us just like it seemed to a lot of other people that I've had make comments that the crowd seemed to be a little more calm this year uh than they were in past years. And it it just seemed it overall
it seemed to be a nicer nicer group this year than what we've dealt with in the past. Uh couple of them were um repeat offenders and ended up going to the county jail uh because they didn't learn from the from the notice to appear that they were given. Uh most of those arrests were for possession alcohol
underage. There were a few for drugs, five, and then there was one DUI uh in that arrest group as well. Uh unlike years past, we had some personnel issues this year, and we did have to use one city of Destin contract person for 11 of
those days. Um which was the uh marine the city of Dest Marine Unit. Uh the water is typically slower during spring break than what we have in other other times of the year. So we pulled him and used some of the county guys to cover the um harbor and Joe's Bayou area while
he was doing it. Uh so out of those 664 arrests, 89% of them, 593 happened in the city limits of Destin. The uh the biggest concern that we had during that time period is that group uh the fraternity out of Atlanta that causes
all the problems in Panama City Beach did advertise on their social media page that they were coming here. Uh which obviously created as much concern for us as it did for everybody else. Uh we partnered up with with y'all. Um Dr.
Young in particular and myself put out a message on their social media page saying that Destin was a family-friendly beach, that we worked diligently to keep it that way and that while everyone was welcome, we were not going to tolerate nor were our businesses going to tolerate or the city going to tolerate
illegal behavior. Um once y'all can imagine the kind of responses that we got back on social media from that, but that's okay. They were forewarned. Uh after that, we partnered up with the business owners in the community and in the community itself to keep tabs on them. Um when we would find out where
they were going, um we would make pre-notice with the the bar owners or the the people around the beach and let them know, hey, whatever y'all need us to do, here's how to contact us. And we'd make sure that there was an additional um additional patrol units in that area during that those times being
visible. As a result of it, fortunately, knock on wood, we didn't have any incidences with that with that group. They were here for about 4 days, but we did not have any incidents, not near the problem that they had caused over in Panama City. That's all I have for y'all tonight. If anyone has any questions, I'd be more than welcome to answer them.
Yep. Uh, Councilwoman, thanks, Mayor. Um, I know you and I had discussed uh during that time frame what the actions were that y'all were going to take. And I just I wanted to let you know that I heard from a lot of people that they were thrilled to see that we didn't have anywhere what we
anticipated. And I know that Dr. Young worked really hard on our social media and took a lot of flack from those that did not appreciate us being honest with them. So, thank you for taking pie in the face many days of their uh trying to come visit us. But more importantly, thank you for your team. You did a great
job. really we're happy to keep Destin like it is and we don't we don't need their in interaction. So, thank you ma'am. Yeah, fortunately we had the benefit of developing after Panama City developed and everyone in our community uh law enforcement, business owners,
cities, everyone looked towards Panama City and said we don't want that. And everybody has made a a partnership and a concerted effort to keep that kind of activity away from Destin. And it really helps us a lot to have that kind of partnership. It was obvious this year that y'all would were very very diligent. So, thank you and thank your
team. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Council Schmidt. Thank you. Thanks, Captain Bulgum, for being here. Um, does the Okusa County Board of County Commissions, do they fund all those extra people during those times? The TDD
pays all the overtime expenses and in the past, the sheriff's office has paid all the onduty expenses. Like I was saying, this year we did have to use one of the city of Destin employees um for the regular hours. Any overtime that he incurred um would have been paid for by
the TDD. And then the marine unit I I've heard in the past we don't City of Dustin doesn't really have much jurisdiction on the waters. So how do we how do we utilize the marine unit? Y'all have got the uh the harbor. Um, y'all
have got Joe's Bayou, uh, and then a couple other smaller bayus. Um, when you say y'all got the city of Destin, it's inside the city of jurisdiction as jurisdiction on the water in in the harbor in Joe's bayou and several of the other smaller bayus. And he the the
marine unit patrols that area just like the other guys do in the rest of the county. uh targeting BUIS, targeting wake zone violations, any any type of navigation law violations, uh as well as working with the Coast Guard uh and the
city code enforcement to look at illegal charters. Okay. Thank you. Sure. All right. All right. That's all I got on the board. Appreciate it. Thank you all very much. You Thank you. All right. Public comments. If anyone here wishes to speak, this is your time to do so. The only thing on the agenda
that I would like for everyone to hold off on is 5A public hearings. Uh we will have a separate time for that specific item. So anything outside of that uh this is your time to speak on the dis. Does anyone here wish for public comments? Yes
sir. All I need is your name and address and then push the uh gray button down. It'll turn red. You don't have to hold it. There you go. Hi there. My name is Stan Croder. K R O D E R. I live in Santa Rosa Beach at 104 Hatton Court. I'm here on behalf of the Emerald Coast
Fitness Foundation. You guys may be familiar with the ECF. We've had talks in the past about pickle ball. I'm not here to talk about pickle ball. I just want to let you guys know this is just kind of a public service announcement for y'all is that uh we are celebrating our 10year anniversary of providing the city of Destin with an aquatic facility
which is right next to the high school. And we're excited about that. In celebration of the 10-year anniversary, we are having a big event on May 17th. We're calling it Splash of Gold. We have invited down from Indiana gold medal swimmer Cody Miller who has never been
to this part of the country. Uh Cody is a big big has a huge presence on YouTube. He's got over nearly 200,000 followers. He's never been to Destin. We're excited about him coming here. We're going to have swim clinics. We're also going to have a time for family swim. We're also going to have a
cocktail hour uh that we're at which we're going to have an auction. We've got a number of items. I want to say thank you to the mayor personally for buying a ticket. We're grateful for that and we look forward to entertaining you that night. And uh finally, I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the
Coast Fitness Foundation for the support that the city of Dest has given the foundation in the past. As you know, we are the only public operated aquatic facility in the city of Dest. And your support, your continued support is critical to allow us to continue to do what we do as a nonprofit. Thanks very
much. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. All right. All right. Anyone else public comments or shameless plugs? All right. Seeing none, I'm going to close the public comments. Uh Dr. T, could you help me with the Yep. Thank you so much. All right. Uh consent
agenda. Do I hear a motion? I'll make the motion to approve. Have a motion. Do I hear a second? Second. Second. And any discussions? Seeing none, Ray, sir, if you please call the vote. Unlock the vote. All right, eyes have it. So move 6.
Moving along, city manager, Mr. Bossman Jones Larry. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Item 4A is a lean reduction request for a property at 455 Woodwwind Drive. Um, and you have a history of that property in
your packet. On June 19th of 2018, the special magistrate uh found the subject property in violation of the applicable city codes for failure to register as a short-term rental. Uh the property owner was given until July 20th of 2018 to
come into compliance. Uh that did not happen and therefore the magistrate imposed a le a fine of $200 a day and a lean to follow. Uh the city's position up until the end of last week was that the property remained out of
compliance and that the $250 a day fine was still uh acrewing. But after publishing your agenda, the U requesttor did come and pay the uh short-term rental fees from 2018 through 2025 for the tune of about
$6,000. The current lean out is $618,500. And you certainly have at your discretion um the ability to amend that amount. So if you so choose to, there is a formula in your
um code that says what you can reduce it by. Um and a lean of more than five but up to 10 years can be reduced no more than 5% of the loan amount. Um, so I believe the requesttor are are here and
would like to address the council with come up maybe some more information and more of their request. All right. Same thing just gray button. Yep. And then name and address, please. Good evening. Mike Co, 8185 Gulf Boulevard, Navar, Florida. Uh, my wife and myself had
purchased the property in 2017, and I want to thank you for your time uh to address the Destin City Council. Um, our confusion, I guess, is the fact that we realistically got noticed uh when we had the property uh listed for sale and it's scheduled to actually be
sold in 5 days, you know, pending the outcome of this result. Um, there I guess there was a long history that they got emailed to us about what occurred throughout the property. The um the first notice of this really for us uh that we can recall is actually March
26th of this year when the title company found this lean um presented to us. Now obviously as people that uh everyone around here is obviously familiar with short-term rentals, we were unaware of this fine acrewing and we were unaware of this. Uh the property question has stopped being a short-term rental as of
November of 2018. Uh the signage was still left on the property. Um the the reason behind that is there were other multiple properties being done and and renovation at the time and there were a lot of other psychosocial issues and you know we had family living there and staying
there. So you know I think that for us to be reasonable we had we had noticed that this was fine is acrewing in some aspect we definitely would have taken care of. I don't think anyone who would clearly say that a fine of $250 a day of not taking care of something that's relatively inexpensive to do uh in in
consideration that this property has not functioned as a short-term rental other than I think November of 2018 was the last time it actually functioned as a short-term rental. So uh once we got notice of this in March 26th of this year, that's when we proceed to come and
figure out a a a course of action for us to take and that's why I'm here today. Um, what I'm saying is in the sense of reasonable, I understand the fine is very significant. $610,000 for a fine that's been acrewing, I believe, since uh July 21st of 2018 is something that
any normal person would have taken care of. And that's why I'm here saying that uh this the situation is the property was acquired in 2017 and functioned from 2017 and 2018 as a short-term rental ending in uh November of 2018. And so
for us, uh, the questions that I had for Mr. Morales, uh, specifically was, well, if we no longer function as short-term rental, then do we have to notify somebody of that? And I guess something got lost in the communication. Um, I that's the best I can recall of the
specifics of it. Like I said, I think any normal person who really truly got notice of this, of a fine acrewing of $250 per day would take care of it when it's a relatively simple thing to do. And that's why I'm here uh in front of the Destin City Council to say, you know, these are are our are this is the
information that I have in front of me and this is the to the best of our recollection dating back to 2018 uh moving forward. And that's why I'm here to answer any questions about the specifics. I mean, to me, a fine of $610,000 for a property that we have under contract to sell for $640,000 is
quite significant. All right. Well, I appreciate you being here. Up first, I have Councilman Bagley. Thank you, mayor. Uh, you know, part of me says I'm sorry, but the documents we have showed that it was delivered to
your house. Y'all accepted it at in the VAR. Okay. The lean notice. So, I don't know if you don't have those documents or access to those documents, but we can get you access to those documents because uh I agree it shouldn't have been that
hard to take care of, but you didn't take care of it. The uh the other thing I would say is, you know, you listed it last March, right, for sale for like 825,000 starting off. Okay. So, now we're down to 640. Do you remember the
occupancy status that your you and your realtor listed it under? I don't recall. Vacation rental. Okay. Okay. So, that was in 2024. Correct. March of 2024. So, you know, we have to balance that
with yes, we want we want the house to get sold and get fixed up and get repaired or whatever it needs to be done and become a product, you know, not a it's not an isore, but it just needs to be, you know, taken care of. A little
TLC. So, do you have a mortgage or anything on that? No, we do not have a mortgage on the propert. Okay. So at 640, you know, the staff's recommendation is to reduce it according to our rules by 5%. I'm willing to split the difference and just everybody move
on, you know, 320 and 320 and just call it a day because, you know, I agree with you because we're going to when we take you to court or when we go to sell it on the courthouse steps, we're going to incur costs. You're going to incur cost.
we probably won't get anything cuz our lean pretty much eats up the uh 640. Correct. Right there. So, I'm just trying to find something. So, I'll make a motion, Mr. Fair. In place of the recommended motion
that we reduce the lean uh to $320,000 and uh they've already paid all the things and that that be paid within the next 90 days. I second that. All right. I have a
motion and a second. Uh I got anything else further? Council Bagley. All right. Congo discussion. Yes. Thank you. I have a couple questions. Um I heard uh Mr. Bagby saying that his offer
is to split 50/50, but um and on your request, I see that you're asking for reduction, but I don't see the number you were asking to be reduced to. I did not have a number in mind because I understand that there was information that we received notice I guess on March 13th,
2018 at 1:16 p.m. that uh it was left and signed by somebody, but I don't have any documentation who would have signed it at that time. I at that time I know myself I was working as a physician in Mississippi, so there's no way I would be there on a Friday uh April 13th of
2018 at 1:16. and I'm I'm sure my my spouse would be out uh working on the different renovation projects. So that that that's the first question we have is I know that uh based upon this the first notice that it was left with somebody is u April 13th 2018 and again
uh I just didn't see anywhere in any of the documentations that they had that because obviously like I said from 2018 forward it'd be very easy to take care of this. This is not a significant amount of money and it's not a hard process to do. So I don't have a specific amount uh for the reduction
because I was told to just present the facts and then leave it up to yourself and then subsequently Miss Kimberly Cop I think sent us uh the administrative stuff saying that there was 5% or whatever reduction. That's why I'm coming here in front of uh the Dustin city council to say these are the facts. I was going to ask did the council
members receive the zero income? It has not been a short-term rental. I've sent evidence from Airbnb to show you my earnings have been zero. I we went through a long divorce, etc. Because you had mentioned that the house was rented as a vacation. Has not been rented at
all. And also the realer did reach out to you to let you know it has not been rented. You're saying that, but again on March 2024, your realtor listed it as a vacation rental, right? He has also sent you an email stating like that Asher has not let this house out at all. I'm not
sure why he listed it that way. I mean that's that's a that's something that the realtor discussed. Is it been a a occupied property as a homeowner occupant or a vacation rental? That's a simple It had no air conditioning and no gas. Okay. Um can I ask Steve a question? Steve,
um we're going through all this documentation. I see where several notifications have been made and identified. Uh he's claiming they haven't received any of these notifications. They haven't um nobody was there to sign for it. Um but but can
you verify that what we're saying here is truthful that Excuse me ma'am. I'm I'm having a conversation with it. Yeah, that's the documentation that we have that um because we have to send everything certified the so it it tracks all the action of that mail of that that
specific mail. Um, so this is what we received from the post service postal service confirming delivery and their notes. So the United States Postal Service is the one that's declared that somebody at that residence Yep. signed and received the package.
Okay. Um, again, our code states 5% reduction. I think Councilman Bagby is being unbelievably generous with the offer that he's made now. And um I'm going to give other council members a chance to to ask questions so that they can come
to their conclusion and then before I move on um just while you're here, can you get your name on on the record as well? Yes. Just put it up here for me. Absolutely. I'm the standing private. Yeah. Sorry. Hi. I'm the co-owner. I'm Asher Kayla. All right. Thank you so much. All right. Councilwoman Abear. Um,
I was just gonna You can sit down if you want. I just got general. I was going to ask you your your closing costs and your walk away from this. Say if you didn't have this lean holding over you, what what's your closing in five days? What is the closing cost? I don't have a
rough estimate of what the So, are you going to is it a $700,000 sale and you're going to have if you didn't have this lean on it, you're going to walk away with 700,000 because you don't have a mortgage? No. Yeah, you have to be on the mic. We
can't hear you and it won't publicize. Sorry, I'm I'm shy. Um, it's uh it's I think 30% closing cost and um something like that. Yeah, it's not
great. Y uh and it's going for what I I believe we actually settled at 625. I'm not I'm not familiar with the specifics of it. So roughly closing costs are what 6 to 10% or something like that. I also have a I think I gave
them a roof allowance. So you're just trying to get out of it and be done with it. Well, I I mean I'd like to get some of my money back. I did buy the home. Right. Well, and I agree with Mr. Vagby. I I'm okay with the 5050
split. You know, the fees were occuring. We have proof that somebody signed for it and that's something you should be aware of when you have property. It just it's hard to believe that there was nothing. I had no idea. If I if I had known there was a hearing, ma'am, I assure you I would have attended. Well,
I'll stay with my motion on Mr. Bagley's for 50/50. All right, Councilman Dustin. Thank you, Mayor. We've got verification that someone signed for the documents.
Yes, it's in the the packet underneath the Okay. Notice of hearing. Was it either one of these individuals assigned? No, it doesn't specifically indicate who. It just says your item was delivered to an individual at the address at 1:36 p.m. on May 21st, 2028
Navar. And then the next one was I think there were two notifications of delivery. I could be wrong. And additionally, it was posted on the actual house in Destin as well. Posted
where? On the door of the house in Dest. Did you guys live in the house? No, sir. You know, I've I've been through several instances where I got registered letters that nobody signed for. They were stuck on the door, fell off the door. You
know, it's pretty much a joke unless they signed for it. The ones I signed for, I got those. if they didn't sign for it, in my opinion, they didn't get it. And I'm, you know, I'm I'm pretty appalled by the donian nature of what we're doing with these people who are
foolish enough to own property in Destin 600,000 for their transgression of not having a license to do short-term rentals, which they've testified today they never did since November the 18th. Uh meanwhile, folks who don't own property
in Destin get to say that to us. Uh you know, we've got people venting on the beach every day. They were out there yesterday who are getting a $500 fine. 500 versus 600,000 to
me has a lot of, you know, a lot of equity problems. Um and we've got another one after this one. I see they paid the 6,000 for the licenses for something that they say they were not doing. You know, I and I I appreciate
Mr. Bagby's willing to to cut it in half. But so now they're paying $300,000 for doing what they say they didn't do in addition to the fact that we have no proof they ever actually received a notice at all. Something
about this just, you know, strikes me as draconian and and wrong. I'll make a substitute motion that we set their fine at 100,000. Second motion. I got a second by Councilman Schmidt. Uh, anything further, Councilman Dustin?
Nope. All right. Council Schmidt. Yep. What' you guys do with the property after you stopped your short-term rental for the past five years, six years? Well, it got flooded the um the air conditioning. My niece visited. She left the air conditioning on the in 2018.
Yes, sir. So, what's been happening for the past six, six years? Well, I gutted it in 2019. I put new floors in and I was ready to set it up as a rental again and then COVID hit and then we got divorced and neither of us could use the marital property. So, has the property
been vacant for five or six years? Yes. Gotcha. And what's Steve? What's our process for sending notices? Is it certified mail? Yeah, all official notices are certified mail. And doesn't certified mail require signatures and then we get back in the mail the signature card copy when you send
something certified. Yeah, usually. Yes. Right. And we don't have that um from 2018. Probably probably not. Okay. And if if they were they were cited for doing short-term rental registr short-term
rentals in 2018, correct? They didn't register. Correct. But then they stopped doing it. Correct. Well, that's theory. I guess the the the catch 22 here is we find them something every single day for years and they were never even
registered. They were never doing it. So, it's it's almost seems like it's like why do we keep finding them? Why do we keep doing this if they were not even actively doing? So, the way the process works under the statute is I'm going to go really quick to answer your question,
but there's a hearing to find them in violation. And at that hearing, no fines are imposed, but the special magistrate says, "Hey, you have this amount of time to come into compliance, usually 30 days." If they would have registered within those 30 days, everything would have been over with no fines. But because they didn't come into compliance
within those 30 days, there was a second hearing and a second set of notices sent out and put on the door. And there was a second hearing. At that hearing, the special magistrate said, "You didn't comply within the 30 days. I'm imposing a lean. It's going to be $250 a day until you register as a short-term
rental. They then never registered, never contacted the city and said, "We're not a short-term rental." And they've told you the reasons why. They're saying they didn't get the notices, but I'm just explaining why it happened. So, that means that the fine automatically occurs every day until they come into compliance. Did you guys go to those magistrate hearings? I
didn't even know they happened. Okay. So, you you weren't there. Can I just speak briefly about certified? I don't know how familiar. A certified letter means you just go pay the post office to certified. There is no signature required. You require the return receipt which is an additional fee that gets you a signature and then you get the return receipt whatever entity sent it showing
a signature of the person who signed it. Got it. And today we do do the signature cards, but I do not know if staff did them back in 2018. Yeah, I'm I'm fine. Thank you so much. All right, Councilman Bagby. Yeah, I just want to clarify. It
was certified that it was delivered to the address in Navar, not the short-term rental house on Woodwin. Correct. Yeah. Certified, sir. Official warnings go to the property owners. Yes. And the per the registered address per the Oklahoma
County Property Appraisers office. May May I point out we also have three sons. I mean, any of them could have signed. I'm sorry. Okay. You said they have three sons and any of the three sons could have signed. Right. A teenager could have signed and I never would have seen it. Councilman
Dustin, final shot. I just a question for the attorney. So, ceasing the illegal activity is not a cure. It is a cure. It is a cure, but only if you put the city on notice. Right. So right and then and then the code enforcement officer would verify the compliance,
make sure there was no ads and then if he confirmed then there would be an affidavit of compliance put in the file and the lean would stop acrewing at that time. So if I was speeding down Airport Boulevard and stopped six years from now I can still
get a ticket. No, I know that's not Apple that just just a common sense application. Thank you. All right. All right, Councilman G. Last bite. Yeah, I'm trying to contain myself here a little bit, but it's it's it's a little frustrating that we're claiming
that our code enforcement failed to do uh their job properly and that potentially um they never received a notice that went to their their primary residence. Whether their child accepted it or not, it was still accepted at their primary
residence. Um, and just because I say I didn't throw that pin doesn't mean I didn't throw that pin. Especially when I have a motive of $300,000 to say I didn't throw that pin. Um, I think we need to be realistic in
this. All right. With nothing else, I have a substitute motion on the floor. Does everyone understand what we're voting on? All right. Seeing that, I'll call the vote for the substitute motion. Do you have that right? Can I ask a question? Yes, sir. Mr. Destin, does your motion include to be paid within 90
days? Sure. Yes. Or prior to closing. Okay. You said 90 days in the recommendation just in case the closing got extended or didn't happen. But yeah. Oh, man. Okay.
Okay. All right. So, my logic today talking to council was and I I get where everyone's coming from. I I believe our code and I believe that you know there is procedures if I don't file my taxes. The federal government does not have this kind of authority that we have as a
city which I do appreciate. Um, if you guys are telling me the whole entire truth from from July to November is about 100 days. And if we were to just to do that, we're at 20,000. I think holding this out and extending it is
merit to the the five multiplier. So, uh, with that, I think the 100 is more than reasonable, and I really appreciate you guys uh, being here. So, thank you guys so much. Great. So, um, you know, the motion passed. So, you're at the $100,000. So now if you um can reach out tomorrow, staff will give you the
instructions on how to pay it and then if your title agency needs a satisfaction of lean before closing, we can do that after it's paid. So we'll figure that out. Can I please request you don't send it via certified mail? Sure. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Thank
you guys. Turn that off, sir. Thank Larry. Thank you. Uh lean reduction 2.0. Um this for B is a um property at 30 Marina
Point Road. On March 26, the special magistrate for code compliance found this property in violation of applicable uh city codes as an unsafe building that was constructed without permits. The property owner was given until May
3rd of 2019 to come to compliance and it was not brought into compliance by that date and the special magistrate imposed a lean fine of $250 per day. Um on February 5th, 2021,
um the property uh was brought into compliance and therefore the fines stopped acrewing at that time and that amount was at $161,000. Uh you've heard the discussion about what you're allowed by code or
permitted by code to reduce fine in this instance. uh it is um because it's between one and two years um 25% is the appropriate reduction per code but certainly you have latitude to do as you wish and I believe the uh requesttor in
their attorney is here for uh to present their case. All right, please join. All right. And then before we start, if you both can state your names and address. Oh, yep. Just push it down. Yep. There you go. Uh Mr. Mayor of City Council.
Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Brian Kefir. I'm a local real estate attorney. My office is at 6925 US Highway 98 in Santa Rosa Beach. I'm here with my client, Lennis Dawan, who is the property owner, 30 Marino Point Road, unit 302A, Dest, Florida. It's a condo
on Holiday Isle. Your name, sir? Uh, Lynn Darwin. And address? Uh, primary address is 4015 Brandon James Drive, Beluxy, Mississippi, 39532. Condo address is 30
Marino Point Road, unit 302A, Destin. Thank you, sir. All right. All right. Uh, thank you for this opportunity to be heard. I I'll try to be brief and to the point. Um, this case is a little unique compared to most code enforcement appeals, I suppose, that you hear. Uh,
Mr. Duran um bought this property in foreclosure back in 2020. The code enforcement lean went into effect on May 3rd of 2019, some 6 years ago. Um I will say for the record so Mr. Brown, he had no actual knowledge of the code
enforcement lean. Um bought the property for his own personal use for him and his wife Trish who's here with him. And uh now to the similar story, putting the property up for sale and uh the title search revealed this code enforcement lean. Uh I will say that I need to
accept some responsibility for being here today. Uh a year ago, Len asked me about the lean and if I thought it was still valid and uh I incorrectly told him no, that I thought that it was closed and resolved and I based that on the Compass website which indicated it
was closed and resolved in 2021. Uh, however, I know that was wrong and that was my fault and so we're here to try to make this right. Um, the basis of of the uh of the the code violation, I believe, started with
this condo smelled. The there was sort of a a sewage smell coming from it. So, the I believe the owners association contacted the city council, sent somebody out there who confirmed those conditions exist. And according to the lean u um basically dated June 16th, uh
it said that the $250 a day started on May 3rd. And then it also went on to say that uh that the conditions of the structure uh imminent of fire, failure, collapse that the building official is authorized um that if it's not fixed within 20 days that they should go out there and rectify it. To my knowledge,
that was not done. I almost wish it had because then it would have been resolved and we'd have a date certain. Um, Len can tell you that when he took possession of the property in July, he observed no code enforcement violations. Uh, the plumbing was working, the
toilets were working. He turned the electricity on the very next day without any issue. I believe that the violations were corrected by Mr. Parkhurst. Kind of what makes this a little different that the vi the lean is against the former
owner, Donald Parkhurst, who is actually now deceased. Uh, he passed last year. um when lent to possession um did an inspection, didn't see any violation. He even pulled permits to do a remodel uh immediately and nothing came up at that time. So now here we are um a couple
years later he's trying to sell the property and we have this issue. The uh city's position is that the violation was in existence for 659 days. Um I believe that that is not just excessive but but incorrect. Um, I'm
requesting that the uh the council consider that 20 days after June 16th um as the deadline for Mr. Parkhurst to correct it, which I believe he did, would take it to July 5th, or in other
words, 64 days of code violation. Uh we respectfully request that the council basically um issue a fine of 64 days, not 600 plus, but 64 days at $250 a day. That would still result in u Mr. Duran
paying a fine of $16,000. Um it's still a lot of money to him, but under the overall circumstances, we believe it's fair to both Mr. Don and to the city. We welcome your questions or comments. All right. Thank you for being here. first councilman go.
So when you purchased the property, your title company didn't do a title search for leans. It's foreclosure. Bought it bought it through the county. Okay. But so you didn't hire a title company to do a I did not. No, this is my fifth property I bought in foreclosure and I've had zero problems with the other
four and here in the area. And um this shock me the city lane really shocked me. I had no idea. I can confirm he did not do a title search. In fact, it was an HOA lean foreclosure. When he bought the property, there was then a second foreclosure case from the
mortgage holder that he had to deal with. So, um, that's hindsight at this point and we accept responsibility, but no, he he bought this property with knowledge of none of those events. Okay. But it was active when you purchased it. You just didn't do your due diligence and research. Yeah. Yeah. I did not do a
title search and I had no idea. Okay. So when that means when you purchase the property, you also assumed whatever leans were attached to the property legally. Correct. Taking title of the property, it is his responsibility. Sure. And in hindsight, we wish we had done a title search. Probably might not have even bought the property if he had
known. But again, we accept responsibility on this end. Council Schmidt, can staff talk about the compass issue, filing for permits and not being notified of ongoing leans, these comments that were just made.
What specifically do you want? Well, if if they came to to file to get permits for construction, should should we have been should we have known like there's leans on the property? Should we are we required to notify them of that at that time or is that separate office? I mean, I know it's separate.
I I don't I don't know how Compass would have been set up to identify that specifically. Um, as far as I know, the only way that people are notified of leans is if they either do a title search or if they come to the city and
ask before they buy the property, are there any open code enforcement cases or leans or open permits? That's what that's what people typically do in a foreclosure. Not so much. It is common that people don't do that step, but And why did you say that you said that the
the website said there was no code violations? What do you mean by that? I I have printed out the the web page basically and again not using this as an excuse. We accept responsibility but the basis of my poor advice that I gave Mr. Den was that when we looked it up it
said that the status was closed resolved for that for that case. Uh this this is of May of 2021 for that specific violation. Yes sir. It says closed. It says close resolved because at that time the property was in compliance and the
lean stopped acrewing. So the case was closed. That's correct. Okay. Okay. because the lean was paid in February of 20 I'm not paid the lean was stopped acrewing in February of 2021 and and it stopped acrewing based upon h how how
did that transpire if you they obtained their permits and inspections and when it passed inspection the property was in compliance and the case was closed and the lean stopped acrewing it wasn't paid but it stopped acrewing and if you want more specifics on the inspection Noel's
here so when you got the permits and then they came to inspect after You did the work. You You passed inspection, which is great that you did that. Thank you for actually getting permits and inspections. When they close those permits, that took care of the lean. Is that kind of what you're just saying?
Yeah. The lean occurs when the property's in violation. Once they comply, it stops. So, that that is a trigger to stop the leans acrewing. Correct. That's the some 600 uh days. Um, I I will say just in totality of of the facts that when he pulled the
permits and was approved, nothing was mentioned. The code enforcement wasn't called to his attention at that time. Did had no actual knowledge. Councilwoman Abear, I'm just going to make a motion that uh based on the facts and the fact this was not a short-term rental that we charge
you $25,000 and call it good. All right. I have a motion. I have a second. Councilman Dustin, any further discussions? What was the amount? 25 25,000. So that would be 25% of the lean, right? Because it was 100,000 just about and you're taking it down to 25.
Okay. All right. With that, I see no further discussions. Ray, open the vote. All right. Eyes have it 42. So moved. That's a settlement. All right. Thank you everyone for your time. Thank you. That was a question, Steve, for for you. Not on this case. I'm sorry. Please go ahead. Thank you. On on future, what do
we have to do? Blood samples, urine tests when we deliver things. I mean, what's it going to take to appease people here in your opinion to to to get certified mail or like notice? Yeah. I mean, nobody wants to accept that the United States Postal Service knows what they're doing. So, what's it going to
take, do you think, to appease people? There there's another thing under the state law that staff can do besides the certified mail. they can post the property in addition to it with signage. So, that is one way to get attention. I mean, if you follow the code, you would have a property manager that would tell
you that your property has a posting on it. But in addition to that, what Larry and I were talking about today um was following up when there is a lean on the property um within a certain amount of time. So, maybe every six months or every year or something, informing
people there's still a lean on this property. That's a small cost to the city, but a way that we can make sure people know what's going on if they claim they didn't get the notice. And you're saying that notice goes in the paper or it just goes it's still delivered certified mail. Uh the notice
goes by certified mail and additionally is posted on the property. They either leave a door hanger and or they can put a sign in the yard. Okay. But we just had a certified mail and a posting at their residence and for some reason that wasn't good enough. So, I'm trying to understand, but you didn't say it wasn't
good enough. It it was No, no, no. I mean, apparently this council doesn't feel it. So, one one additional step we contemplating taking is on an annual or semianual basis saying these properties have leans on them, have code leans. Let's let these folks know, hey, there's
a code lean on your property and hopefully that's exactly what we did in the past, though. Well, but that was only a one-time deal that we you've your property has been leaned and you're being fined 250 bucks a day until you satisfy it. Last notification and per
statute, that's all we're required to do. So, we're saying maybe there's a a better mechanism that says, let's annually review what the code lanes are in place and make sure we notify those folks that, hey, just a reminder, you've got a code lane. You might want to come
satisfy it. And okay, if I may, tomorrow code compliance has a meeting with MGO concerning the code side of their M of the MGO software that we're implementing soon. And I directed staff to create a
lean tracker um based on these two uh cases specifically. And we're also going to ask MGO to develop a basically a um a notification to staff saying, "Hey, this is this is the compliance date and
then backdating compliance uh notifications of staff saying, "Hey, 5 days out, 2 days out, that sort of stuff." With the we're going to implement something like that with the lean tracker as well, either, you know, quarterly reminder of staff to reach out. The problem is that we get into is
we only have the property appraiser information to go off of in the mailing address. We generally don't have, you know, unless unless they're maintaining their applications for short-term rentals or whatever. We don't have uh active email addresses for the property
owner. We don't have phone numbers for the property owner. So, we only have the the actual address. So, we can only really send out that mailer via certified mail. But if we do have a phone number, we do have an address, an email address, we can we can always try and reach out that way and we generally
do. Thank you, Councilwoman Abear. I was just going to say that especially since these were both back before the pandemic and in 2020, you know, there could very well be a lot of properties that people, you know, foreclosed on or sold. So
yeah, I think getting that information updated ASAP and getting anyone that's on that, you know, list, we don't want to keep getting these people coming in here and they're blindsided because it's not a very clear system as far as if
they've, you know, foreclosed and gotten this property on sale or whatever. So, anything we can do to prevent having this happen again to us, two properties back to back. Can you explain to me how you don't think it's a clear system? If they're getting something delivered
to their house in NVAR and they're not home and somebody else accepts it, but there's no signature. In other words, there's nothing that physically says this person signed for it and there's their driver's license. Like FedEx, you have to show your driver's license when you're signing for something and then they take a picture of it. So, it's
documented who signed for it, who got it. So, unless we have We don't do it the way we did in 2018 anymore. They now send the card, they attach the card to the certified mail and we get back the signature card so we can see who signed it. Back in 2018, I don't think staff did that, but there have been
improvements since then. It's these older leans before the changes were made. And that's what I want us to get a track of. I want us to find out how many more are sitting out there that are going to come to us in the next year or two when somebody's selling their property or passes away and it's foreclosed or, you know, the bank takes it back because the
family members passed away and there's nobody to pass it on to. So yeah, that's great. Thank you, Councilman Bagby. Yeah, I'm more with Tori on this one. The uh his clear system, you know, even if they we don't have a signature card,
we have the USPS. Yes, we we delivered it to that address and somebody accepted it. It's not like we just threw it under their rug or whatever and said, "Well, we hope they find it, you know, when they replace that rug in five years." My
concern is, and I know we fixed the system. I know we talked about going forward how to address some things. We're going to see more of these uh probably in the next two years just like we did in ' 08 and '09 where these people particularly on the condos are
going to they won't get upside down necessarily but all their equity will will be gone. Uh, and so they'll be coming in here and I need to sell this condo and you know you guys
and at at some point we either need to change our rules or we just need to follow our rules. And I get it. $600,000 that's that's too big a lean. I that that's insane. Uh but you know it's insane that they you got to take
responsibility for your properties. If you have 20 properties, you you got to take responsibility for 20 properties. So, I'm glad that we've got it cleared up, but we we need as a council to say, you know,
cuz every every meeting we're going to have people coming, well, y'all put a lean on my property and you know, I I applied for the per this will be the next one. I applied for the permit, so you should have stopped it right then. No, because that doesn't mean you corrected the problem. That just means
you applied for the permit or you got the permit. So there's we we have to have a standard and I thought we had a standard and I thought we were pretty clear in our standard but obviously we've decided that's not our standard. Councilman Dustin,
how much does it cost to have someone serve like a lawsuit? Someone comes to your door and they find you and they give it to you. They put it in your hand. How much does it cost to do that? And is that an option? If it's not terribly expensive, the sheriff's office usually charges like $20. Um, or if you
get a private process server, it can be closer to $100. I don't know if the sheriff's office would do code compliance service. Well, if they didn't, $100 is not terribly expensive to get rid of these kind of problems. Yeah. I've never worked in our civil side, so
I'm not sure, but I'll find out. I mean, I know it's $20 for service because we just served on a code enforcement lean to 222 cyber and I had the sheriff's office go out there for $20. So, I know
they do that, but I don't know if they would do it at the magistrate level because when we did that one, it was through the courts, right? I don't know if they would do for special magistrate code compliance, but a but a civil server would. I take it as you pay them. Yeah. For about $900. I would suggest
that will cure part of this problem. They can't say I didn't get it. And I second that we should go forward to explore that possibility. Yeah. And and the other comment I would make is I understand what Jim's saying. We had a standard, but we're sitting as
a judge up here when we hear these and every case is unique and you you can't it's very hard to put a standard that this will always be the fine because that takes away discretion and the fact that every case is unique.
So I you know I don't see how you can just write a rule that we're only going to give them 5% under any circumstance doesn't matter. Well then we don't need to sit here. Yeah. All right. We got some marching orders out of that. Larry, take us away.
Next item is 4C is a resolution 2510 schedule of fees. Um, back in February, you approved the a change to the building uh permit fees as well as the parks and recreational fees. And this
action will just codify those into the 2010 fees schedules schedule of fees. All right, with that move to adopt resolution 2510, schedule the fees. All right, I have a motion. Do I hear a second? Second. Second by
council woman. Uh, any discussion? Oh, here we go. Okay. Uh, Councilman Bagby. So, sorry, Treble. No, I left your name out. Yeah, y'all know what I'm going to ask you. So, you can go go ahead. I just want to make sure here's my point for
tonight. And it was part of my point on the uh the waving of the fees. Uh we're projections are for the next year or two years we will probably be flat on our property
valuations which means our revenues will be flat absent some gracious people at the state level or federal level or whatever which I don't see that coming from the federal level and probably not coming from the state level. In fact, the state level wants to take down
property taxes. And in a city that is limited to two mills, uh that is our known source of income, you know, we can generate billions in sales tax, but we don't get to see that
other than whatever percentage of the population we have of Okaloosa County. And so we have talked about and I and I I know this is just codifying but I just want to make sure we're all cognizant
because we've all said you know we want to take care of the parks and you know kind of subsidize those with the and I agree with that. But could y'all either Crystal, one of you, I don't even see Oh, there's Crystal. Uh,
tell us where we are on the cost of these facilities and versus the revenue that we think we will see on both the schedules. Lisa, Crystal, one of you.
Um, go ahead. I can uh well, Lisa's group calculated it the first time, so I'll let them uh continue with all of their details um to share with you. Okay, Noel or Lisa, one of you two. Um
I'm guess I'm a little confused. What would you like to know? If if you're asking from the new fees to the previous fees, uh if we used from the parks and recck side using last year's usage and applying these were
increasing revenue or decreasing revenue would have generated about $30,000 additional dollars. 30,000 additional dollars. And uh on the building we're the same, right? Or more. In the building, we're trying to balance the current building division's fund so
we don't go in the red. So in the typical community, what percentage is reclaimed in parks and wrecks phase? 25%. 25% and we are at this will put us
at what? Um 20%. I believe 20 or 12. Okay. What y'all told me three hours ago. I believe 20%. Yeah. Wow. It went from 12 to 20 in 3 hours. Okay. Y'all can't explain that tomorrow.
But we we need to the the point being we're going to have to make some hard decisions in the next six months because our revenue from our tax base is probably not going to increase that much. So, and our expenses are going to go up. Our employees are going to expect
raises. the price to fix things like the community center, you know, are not going down or to make improvements at Joe's Bayou or to do all these other things. So, when your expenses are going up and your revenues are flat, something isn't getting supported. And that's
that's kind of what what we need to do. I I mean, I'm going to support this, but I want to couch this as we're coming up on the budget. People need to be thinking what is it where where are we going to make those either increase charges or decrease
services or decrease support in some other level. Thank Councilman Dustin. Thank you, Mayor. Did I understand the numbers? We're at 20 and we need to be at 25. No, the Well, we were at 12 at
1:30 this afternoon. Yeah, I think we're probably close to 121 13. We'll find out where that is. Okay. So, let's say a compromise. We're at 15. We are proposing to up the fees by an average of 34%. Is that correct? That's on the building fees. Okay. What about
the other ones? The recreation. I I don't know that we calculated the percentage we we utilized the fee basis from Fort Walton. Some of them were relatively flat and some of them were a little more. So we do not have a handle on whether this is an increase, a
decrease or a level with these proposed fees. the fees that are in this schedule are going. So the um revenue that we brought in in 2024, we used all of these fees to see
what the revenue would have been and it would have been 30,000 more using these fees, not the fees that are presently in using the those fees that you're looking at right now that you guys adopted or that you approved
um that you're looking at right now. We took those fees and put them to what we all the revenue that we brought in in 2024. What those fees what the revenue would have been if we would have used
those fees. Can I ask? So without 30,000 on a total budget of how much? Yeah. A total budget recreational budget. How much did we bring in in 2020? Uh I don't have that right here. Okay. So, let's
just assume that's was all that was all brought all that information was brought to you when we um we're going through all the fees and that fee schedule. Sorry, I did not 30,000 on the budget is very minimal.
And that's the point I'm trying to get to. If it's a $300,000 budget, it's a 10% increase. If it's a $3 million budget, it's a 1% increase. What percent is it? Somewhere between 1 and 10%. I mean, we're going forward without the
numbers really to make a real good analysis on this, but at this point, I will not vehemently oppose 30,000 increase if that's what we're really doing. But we need to know because increasing fees is not the only way to
address shortfalls. It seems to be the only way that we do. But there are other methods and we have to look at those other methods if what Mr. Bagby predicts is going to come and I believe it probably is. I don't think the legislature is going to take away our
only source of revenue of property taxes. If they do, then God bless them. But property values probably are going to stagnate pretty badly, I would anticipate. So folks, let's figure out other ways than just raising taxes every
time or fees to address these shortfalls. We have to have a mix. Council Schmidt. Yeah. I just wanted to reiterate we we we've beaten this fee stuff like a dead horse multiple times
with staff. to their credit, these details and these questions and these exact things that you're talking about have been provided multiple times when we've discussed and vote on it. So, I guess tonight they don't have it, but we've gone over this. We've labored on
this specific thing for many many nights um in past meetings. So, I'm not sure there's you think we're missing something. But in that case, you remember what percentage that is? I don't. I just I'm just saying we we
we've done this many many hours. Well, this is a public hearing where the people listen, so they might need to know, too. And I ask if you remember what percentage it is. Well, I can't I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning, but I just don't like that we're like going after staff right now for something that we've that we've gone
over so many times. I feel like asking a question. asking a question that is pertinent to a decision is not going after the staff. And I do not criticize them. I just ask what percentage is it? Not an unreasonable request nor criticism of the staff. I just feel like
they've done the job many times for us. So I don't No. All right. Councilman G. Crystal, I have a question for you. Yes, sir. the $500,000 we just gave away, where would that have gone? Into the general fund. Into the general fund.
So, we're looking for re ways to keep financing and other than raising taxes, but the out ofstate investors to take advantage of us, we just keep giving $500,000 bonuses. Thank you very much for your time, Crystal. Councilman Bagby. Yeah. I don't want you to think we're
beating up on you, Lisa. That I'm not beating up on you. The the thing I'm highlighting is yes, we've gone over this and we've gone over it three or four. I've probably gone over it eight times with the staff. The the problem is we're going to go over it again in the budget because it you're right, we
shouldn't raise fees every time, but that is one of the components. We can lower services or we can lower, you know, maintenance costs that we do on the fields or whatever we decide to do, but we're going to have this debate between now and September 30th again. So
that that was the only point I was making in my All right. I see nothing else for discussion. One one other question. We're approving both the uh increases and the permitting fees and the recreational fees.
Should be they're both included in the uh fee schedule. And so it's in the fee resolution schedule. And now the so back to the question on those those are going up 34% on an average on the building component of the permit fee right and I
think we determined at that meeting that for a building permit it would be about a 20% increase in the overall permit. Yeah. Now the the problem I have with is mixing these two together because we have two separate sets of fees that
should have separate pros or cons. So I would say it's not appropriate but we are going down that path. Looks like to council point just to clarify we had uh council moved to adopt the uh
building fee uh these building fees in a prior meeting. Council also made a motion to adopt these new Fort Waltonbased uh fee schedule for the recreation fees. So, what this this is just bringing the resolution that's taking those two motions uh where
council already adopted these fees as they are and now we're putting them all in our one all comprehensive fee resolution so that they're in one place and I understand that concept. I also understand that if you're in favor of one and oppose the other, this does not
give you an opportunity to vote against one in in favor of another. But council already moved. I understand that if they already voted, then why are we voting on it again? This is just because this is where they're brought together into one comprehensive document. I get it.
He just doesn't want more taxes. All right, with that, I'll call the vote. All right, eyes have it so moved. 51. Next item, Mr. Mayor, is uh 4D. This is uh from through Jamie, our human
resource director. Uh this is an update to the employee um manual. Um converting uh sick leave, vacation leave, and uh other leave time except comp time to one comprehensive PTO plan
that says um your time off is now in one bucket. Whether it's sick leave, whether it's annual leave, vacation, whatever it may be, you get to pull out of one pot. Um, this is much easier on staff to maintain
and to manage um as opposed to having to have a doctor's excuse if I'm not feeling good today, but how do I figure out how to take that off? um uh the appropriate approving uh personnel will still have oversight over when folks take their time off. Uh but it's just a
matter of um it's kind of what's going on in the HR world around us and public sector um organizations are usually the last to get there. But we think this is a prudent move and'll be more efficient. U no one has been getting losing any
time off. Everybody's acrewing at the same rate they were acrewed. It just now it goes into one pot. All right. Thank you for that, Councilman Bagby. Mayor, I move to approve the 5.5.2025 revisions to the employee manual with an effective date of May
10th, 2025. Second. All right. I have a motion and a second. Seeing no further discussions, we'll call the vote. All right. All right. Eyes have it unanimously. So move 60. Yep. Council Bagby. Thank you. Uh I would like to make a motion that we
direct staff to bring us back an option of moving our employees to social security and the state retirement system as part of the 2026 budgeting cycle.
All right. Sounds like we got some support. We got a motion and a second. Any discussions on that? No. All right, seeing none, uh, let Ray put the custom motion up there, but we will call the vote. Got it right. from scratch.
All right, there we go. Calling the vote. All right, I just have it so moved. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Item 4E is the update on the exterior building condition for the uh Dest Community
Center. Um the good news is the doors are in pretty good shape and we can repaint those and recode them with some good painting and they'll be good. Bad news is the overall condition of that facility is uh poor with multiple
areas of water intrusion, material failure and visible structural degradation. Um this was the BC BECI um inspection that we had done on the envelope exterior envelope of the building. um broken down the roof
system. Their uh recommendation is a complete removal and replacement. Uh the storefront windows, they think their recommendation is replace those with thermally broken aluminum frame systems. The ephus um is cracked, daminated, and
missing mesh and have moisture risk in areas there was no moisture barrier protection at all. They recommend removing that existing ephus and installing some new drainable system uh with the appropriate coats and sealants. And again, the doors can clean and
recote and they'll be pretty good. So, the overall condition of the community center based on their assessment is um not real great. Um so, we're looking for direction. As uh you recall, there's 700 believe it's
717,000 in the current year budget for renovations. If we're inclined to consider these, I would suggest we do a uh request for proposals and uh do it in components from the roof system, the
windows, the exterior coating, uh and then the painting of the doors. But then we can break it down into how much each of those components will cost and if we have ability to use some of the 700,000 that's in the current year budget and perhaps look at budgeting
additional funds next year. But we'll have a complete um look at what those cost could or should be. I'll make the staff suggested motion to request proposals to obtain cost estimates for repairs and replacements. Second. All
right. have a motion in a second. Just going to throw it out there because I bugger all the time. My uh my vote would be to replace the whole thing and start over and I'm just going to put that on the record. All right, call the vote. I know if we duct tape it for five more years, we could have the money saved
up. We've been That's what we've been doing, duct taping it. Eyes have it so moved. Next item is 4F. uh for your consideration is a budget calendar um for the 2026 budget process. We're
probably running a little later than what we'd like to, but with the implementation of the new software and financial um it's been a a labor and Crystal and her shop have been working diligently to get us there. Uh but we believe these dates are attainable and
we'll be ready to move forward. Right. With that, do I hear move? Mayor, I move to change the date of the first regular council meeting in September from September 4th to September 2nd and to approve the recommended calendar. Second. All right.
Got a motion and second for the calendar. Just question on budget workshop one. It says operations and SRS findings discussion. Is that going to be our public workshop in combination with the budget? Well, actually it'll be two separate. We'll do the budget workshop
and have the the uh turn your back on. So, just so I understand, you're going to have our first budget workshop for maybe an hour or two and we're going to have an SRS public workshop on the vision. Correct. Yes, sir. Multi $40 million, $50 million plan for same
amount of time. Well, if we can get it done. Yes, sir. If we need to do which one would be scheduled first? Any idea? We It wouldn't matter to us. Gotcha. Y'all are okay with that? Having two separate workshops in the same night?
The way this rolls probably not, but Okay. All right, Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. The SRS workshop was approved for 5:30. Okay. 5:30. Yes. And we have already pushed that out to some media. Make
sure I got a motion. See no further discussions. Call the vote. All right, eyes have it so moved. 6 Larry, next item 4G is regarding the land development code approval process. Um, as you're aware, there are 11 uh
articles in the new land development code. Um, each of those need to come back for um finalization of the language we're looking for. Uh we would recommend that we do them in either one or two
article uh workshops. Um get the approval and we'll move them forward into one uh final um ordinance once we've got all the language that we're looking for in each of those components as opposed to hearing it all one night and trying to um wait our way through a
a very lengthy process and maybe not get all the things we want in it. Right. Um, how many chapters are there? Do we know? 11. 11. Um, I don't know. Without getting into sunshine, if we can pull
you guys, let us know which ones seem to not have hot topics. I'm sure there's a couple chapters that we need to flesh out. Yeah. I mean, if we're if we're going to follow ordinance reading um for for these, I we could follow the same schedule that we did with the workshops
um where we grouped, I think, one and two together. And then we did four, five, 6, 7, and 8 separately and then 9, 10, and 11. Uh six in the design manual together. Uh so 9, 10, and 11 were were all one. Um, so, um, yeah, we could we
could certainly follow that discussion under ordinance forms that you all that way you all can actual make make real motions and approve and all that sort of stuff. So, I know it depends on us and how much
back and forth we go in a realistic end of the year this is wrapped up or Yeah, there's there like it I'm really excited to be here first of all. at this at this you always are. This is a big project and it's um um and
and I'm trust me if I I know you all are frustrated that it's taken this long. I am I'm I am just as if not more frustrated that it's taken this long. Um but um ideally, yes, we could potentially get through everything and
have this depending on approval um adopted and ready for implementation the first of next year. For a clean date, we could go earlier if we finish earlier. Gotcha. And Kim, your recommendation would be to wait for all these to pass so there's no conflicting. We would take
them chapter by chapter, but at the end we would come together. I mean, I personally think they need to come part by part so that you because I think No, no, for sure. No, I'm saying because I think council wants to have a lot of input and needs to. So, I would just take them in personally and I don't know
that Steve and I agree, but I don't know. But I think they should come separately and just have an effective date in the future so that they all become effective at the same time. Okay, that was probably a better way of what I was trying to get at. Okay. So, I I I think Kim and I are are saying the same thing just differently. So, so I'll I'll
just say what I think is ideal, okay? And then Kim can retort and then then she can I she and I can go, you know, you beat each other up in the back room or something. But just kidding. Um, so ideally what I think what what I think
could work best for staff moving forward especially is if we do one ordinance and then we open it up for a first reading for a couple of or articles to discuss and then just continue the first reading or you just say hey we're going to
continue first reading or you know move to second reading or whatever and just we don't have to always have just one and two meetings for first and second reading. we can have multiple meetings, right? And so you have those discussions and you prove the articles as we move along and we can do that at individual
meetings or multiple meetings if we need for multi for for one article and at the end adopt one ordinance. So that way there's an effective date of just everything all at once. And then should there be an
amendment, what happens is we amend that ordinance and we readopt everything including what was amended so that that the original ordinance that we adopt for the new LDC has a beginning and an end date and then the new
ordinance is now everything. And I'll tell you why that helps staff. Right now, if someone comes in and say, "Hey, I want to know what the code was for my development when I came in." We have to go back to the building
code or the building um file to see when when it was approved. And then what we have to do is we have to look at what the what what supplements were active up to that date and then figure out which codes within the code was active. If
everything's all just one ordinance, there's a beginning and and an end date. Or if it's the active ordinance, whatever happened in between all of that, that's the one code that was that was available. And we only have to we can say, okay, this was the code from
January 1 to January 1, right? Um, and then that was the end date of first ordinance. And then January 1, 2027 is the beginning of the next ordinance. And then so on and so forth, right? or whenever the amendment is. Um, but as
far as approving the new LDC, we absolutely don't have to bring it all at once. We can bring them individually at multiple readings. So, all right, Council Schmid. I'm not sure if that was a modified option one, but I'm just going to go ahead and throw out there. I move the city council direct to draft
the LDC to be brought back for approval using option one with one ordinance for the entire land development code approval, which was the recommended motion. Yeah, it Well, I just read that straight from the staff report and Steve just my
words, so I'm not sure why we say that. What what I just described was okay. Thanks. Please. All right. It's right here in the motion. All right. I have the recommended motion on the floor. Do I hear a second for the recommended motion? I'll second it. All
right. Council, you good? Uh motion that I read. No, no. Are you anything further discussed? Oh, no. All right. Uh, Councilman Tramlin. I was just going to ask Kevin which motion he was going for because I didn't know what to second, but I don't agree
with coming all at one time. Um, we can have a date certain for each one of these. And I think we need to look at each one of these because we just do. There's some of those things in there I'm I'm not real sure we like. But anyway, that's all I have to say. I cannot support the
current motion. All right. Uh, Councilman Dustin, um, I'm I think I agree with Councilwoman Traml. There's nothing or very few things that are more important than the land development code. So, I lump it all together makes me very
concerned and not take the time to go through the elements. And I would I would defer to our city attorney who is going to be the one who would be uh defending this and is the one who would uh say whether we went through the procedure. I got very confused by our
staff members explanation of first reading, second reading, and I've never seen us proceed like that before. So, you know, I is Miss Cop what you were recommending. Is that one of those options? Which one is it? I mean, I was
recommending option two only because if we had separate ordinances, the council could look at each one one at a time. But the way Steve was saying it, I mean, we could do we could do one ordinance if that is what council wants to do. I am
good either way. My recommendation was option two, but I do think Steve was talking about option one. Yeah. Well, I was getting a little confused by that and I'll make a substitute motion that we go with option two since that is your recommendation is more traditional and we will get to examine the a little
closer. All right. I have a motion and a second for an alternate. Uh, anything else, Councilman Bagby? Yeah, we're all saying the same thing. Yeah. Okay. Look, we're going we're going to look at it chapter by chapter
or in groups of two or three chapters. We're going to say the date certain is January 1st, 2026. We will go through each of those so that it will come back to us
prior to January 1st, 2026 as one ordinance for a reading, but we will go through and approve or disapprove each of those chapters or groups of chapters separately. that that and whether we
call that option one or two it doesn't really m I understand why you're call yeah it's one ordinance but we only review a couple of chapters and then we can amend it we can re-review that chapter we're we're going to break it down so it doesn't really matter we call it option one or option two I think we
all know how we're going to do this and how we actually pass it and what option we call it really doesn't matter I'm I'm good all right with that I will call the vote on the substitute motion for option one.
Two. Two. My bad. Two. Two. Yeah, evidently it doesn't matter. It does matter. And five agree. All right. Good. Done. All right. 51. So moved. Larry. Anything else? Uh just a announcement.
Uh, a couple of meetings ago, it was requested that each of you bring back two or three of priorities for the strategic plan summary and update at the uh, second meeting in May. And just reminding you to wish to participate, we ask you to do that for the next
meeting. And with that, I'll yield to Dr. Young. Good evening. Starting May 13th, we'll be introducing my government online, also known as MGO. It's going to replace Compass and hopefully will be a really easy to use online system for all of our
permitting and our licensing, business tax receipts, short-term rentals, code compliance, and um number of other things. Um we'll go live uh May 13th, as I said, and at that time, Compass will stop accepting new applications, but
will remain accessible to complete existing requests. And we've been reaching out to our constituents in a number of ways. We've sent out over 10,000 emails. We have information on our website, pushed it on some social media and other ways. So hopefully we're
reaching everybody and it'll be a nice seamless transition. City offices will be closed on Friday, May 16th for half of a day, so starting at noon for an employee appreciation day. We'll still be available should any emergencies arise
and we'll be posting contact information on our website about that. Memorial Day is May 26th. The American Legion will host a celebration that day at 11:00 a.m. at the Dustin Memorial Cemetery. A Legionnaire and an auxiliary member will lay a wreath of remembrance
and have a few short speeches. And after the event, the public is invited to their post for refreshments. And city offices will be closed that day, May 26th. June 9th at 5:30 p.m., as you all have been discussing, will be a workshop regarding SRS and visioning. and the
public is encouraged to come out and share their thoughts and ideas. We did have a really good turnout for that survey that we put out last year about this and so we're hoping those people that took the time to respond to the surveys um participate in this
discussion as well. And finally, sea turtle nesting season be kicked off May 1st. It goes through October 31st. We do have the red flashlights, the special flashlights that are safer for uh nesting turtles available at city hall.
And this year when folks, whether it's locals or tourists, come to pick those up, we're just asking for a little bit more information about who they are, what city and state they're coming from so that we can track this a little bit better. And that's it. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much. Uh public
hearings, Mr. Cop. Ordinance 202508LC, an ordinance of the city of Dustin, Florida, relating to the imposition of mobility fees, providing for adoption of a mobility fee study and table of mobility fees, providing for mobility fee discounts, providing for city enforcement, 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 first reading. It seems this is first reading of a public hearing at this time. If anyone wishes to speak on this topic, this is your time to do
so. Seeing none, I will close the public comments of this public hearing and entertain a motion. You going to make it? I'll move that the city council adopt ordinance 258LC on first reading as presented with the discounts applied to long-term single
family uses and the full rate per the mobility fee study to all other uses. Second. All right. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussions on the mobility fees? No. Come on. It's not a tax. Councilman Dustin,
we're we're approving which option there were three options, right? No, there was an alternative motion. I'm sorry. What are we trying? We We're We're We're approving Kim. Go ahead. Yeah. I don't want to We're deciding whether to approve the ordinance on
first reading and Kevin's motion would have it with the increase fees other than the discounts for the long-term single uh for the long-term residential. No increases except for what now? No, those would be the discounts. all all of
the increases but the discounts on the long-term residential. Okay. And that of the options we were seeing that is one or is that a fourth option? It's it's not one of the options that was listed in the paper based on the
discussion at all the mobility work mobility fee workshops. There was discussion as to whether we are going to pick winners and losers, right? Um, and so what staff brought forward was there was a clear intent to want to reduce the impact fee on long-term single family
duplex uses. So we just applied the 50%. Um, and then everything else is at 100% per the mobility study. Okay. And off off on another question, I noticed in the uh summary that it talked about some of this money was going to be used to
pay for multimodal infrastructure. If we are dissolving and doing away with multimodal, what infrastructure would we be funding? So, we're getting away from the multimodal transportation district. Okay. But multimodal infrastructure just
refers to multiple modes of transportation. So not just vehicular but also bicycle and pedestrian. So that type of infrastructure. Now they were an integral part of multimmodal. You got discounts for those and they were
interwoven into the entire thing. Are they still going to be part of as we go forward? I'm not quite sure I follow that question. Can you repeat it? Sorry. Yeah. multimodal in the transportation district was used to get discounts and
was used to uh have maximum parking rather than minimum parking a number of things. Are those still part of the system as we go forward? So we in the new LDC we are getting rid of the the
maximum amount of parking. So um so that anything to do with the mult multimodal transportation district with the exception of the design standards which are being moved to the dust and design manual um are are
pretty much going away. So the the the regulations for street design for facade and all that stuff is staying. But as far as requiring the bike bicycle park, like the the the higher rate of bicycle parking, all that sort of stuff, and the
the maximum on the parking, that stuff's going away. Okay. Does that answer your question? It does, more or less. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Yes, sir. All right. Yep. Customer Bagby. So, what is the what are the fees on
long-term residential at 100%? Cuz I could find 50 and I could find the 93 92 91 chart, but I didn't see a chart that had 100% discount. So, that would basically mean they're staying exactly
the same. No, that the so 100% on all uses would be fee option number one in attachment four. Okay, I'm on which which option? Option one option
one has maximum fees for all uses. So, but we're doing a 100% discount on long-term residential. No, we're doing a 50% discount, which is which is too Okay, I thought that's
what's being proposed%. Okay, my bad. All right, that's it. All right, council. One more question. So, does that represent a increase for single family? Yes, it does. And by what
percentage? Um percentage or if you just want to give me a couple of comparisons. I see it starts at 500 ft and goes up as you go toward a larger house. So I have I have I have a breakdown for an average home right now at 2,00 to 3,000 square or 2,000 to
299,000 ft. Current fee is 1,425. Okay. 100% or the proposed fee is let me make sure this is correct. So the maximum fee would be $18,000. Um 50% discount would be
nine nine um I'm just trying to get to the to the actual number where I'm on the wrong stuff. 9389. Yeah. So, so it would be an increase of about 600%ish. Yes, I think you're correct. I kind of
skirted through that. And while we say this is only on new bills, that's true. But we all have children, grandchildren would like to live in Destin, I suppose. That kind of increase is totally unreasonable in my opinion. So, won't be able to vote for that. Well, when's the last time we've had the fee increase?
cuz I mean 600 does sound like a lot but that's because it's been zero year after year for decades at this point. So yes, it's Is that true? When was the last time we 04? I I believe it was be we had something done in 2008 or reduced them
or increased them minimally or there was some sort of adjustment about 2008. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We went backwards which I don't I get it. There was definitely a different time and different economic situation, but well, we were in the middle of a recession. No, that's what I'm saying. No,
absolutely. It makes sense. Maybe shortly, but this fee we are allowed to always reduce. We just can't add per the correct. You can you can you can add discounts all day long at whatever rate you all identify as long as it's tied
to, you know, your comprehensive plan, your strategic plan, all that sort of stuff, which I which I think the options provide for. Right. It almost reminds me like a mill, right? We can we can only go up so much, but we can always go down as much as we feel like it. Correct. Yeah. Correct. And especially in a free
state of Florida where from time to time we have larger developments that have the right to do so. I think this is one of our only tools to allow the quality of life to get something for the rights of development to happen. So whether it's a single family, I think we've
addressed it with the discount, but even a single family, I have a new family that came in and there's three kids and they ride their bike every day to school. So that money would go towards improving bicycle infrastructure per se with this
mobility plan. Correct. Okay. Just out of curiosity, the the the bottom tier, the 500 square feet, what was the price on that in the old plan? The 500? Yeah. Or did that even apply in the old plan? Um, it it did. Let me pull that up real quick.
So, for 500 square feet, it was $583. And it would be what? Under the new fe on the new one. Uh, sorry, I got too many tabs open. My apologies. Um, on the new one, it's 5,023.
So, that's actually more than the bigger house. slightly 10 than than the current fee, right? Yeah. Yes. Okay. Well, you know, I understand the need for new infrastructures and new roads, but to go
10 times the fee on folks that want to live in Destin and build a house, uh, it's very hard for me to justify that, but folks that vote get to justify it in their own mind. All right. And let me make sure the board's clear. Uh, Council
Bagby. Yeah. No, I I and I understand Mr. Dustin's point and it's very valid. The, uh, and if we do go into a slow construction, slow sales, um, you know, this probably won't help it at all. The
thing is is it does not apply to existing, right, construction. So, it's new and we don't have that many undeveloped. We'll we'll do some redevelopment and I get that. Uh so it only it mainly applies I mean
if you build a granny's quarters or whatever we've talked about you know that that would apply a new thing. The uh I just I just think in the total it's probably the best moving forward. I would just I have one question for the
attorney just so I make sure because you know we we're gonna adopt this or we're not going to adopt this. If we do adopt this and grandma comes up and goes you know I've been wanting to build a you know a little playhouse for my kids,
grandkids, great grandkids for you know 20 years saved up the money and can you wave these fees? Can we wave them on individual projects, i.e. spot zoning in my mind, or would we have to lower it for
all pieces in that category? Well, that was a leading question, but I agree with you. You got to treat everybody the same. Okay. I got you. Yeah, but I mean cuz I can see 800 people cut every person as a permit
coming up here just like they do for the waiver of the leans, you know. You know, well, help me out here. To that real point, uh Don Gates's bill for the ADUs by right has made it through the House and Senate. So, if the governor signs our land development code of ADUs goes
out the door and we don't even have to worry about it in our chapter. It's going to be by Florida right. And I agree with it from the standpoint of workforce housing or additional income um for our local residents. So this this would be our only way I guess that
thousand or less really square feet um give or take. I don't see it any going higher than that. But any additional dwelling units would still fall under this impact fee or mobility fee. Any any expansion of long-term residential use. Okay. So, if if you added 500 square f
feet to your home, right? Oh, we lost the house. It's over 7:30. Sorry, guys. If if if you added if you added, you know, whatever square footage to your home based on this chart, that's that's
the rate that you would be you'd be. That makes sense. All right. Councilwoman Neighbor. So, this would go into like the property on Main Street that's adding five bedrooms. They would be paying more money if this was already in effect. Correct. Correct.
Good point. All right. Seeing no further discussions, we will call the vote. All right. Eyes have it. So moved. 51. All right. That is the public hearings, public comments. Uh council member Traml. Nothing tonight. Thank you, Lisa, for um
Founders Day. I'm sorry I didn't make it, but I heard it was great. Thank you. Awesome. Uh Councilman Dustin, mayor, I just city back on our beach pending enforcement. I know we have a code officer that has
been dedicated and appears to be doing a pretty good job. How many warnings have we written or how many fines have we assessed? Do we know? I'm sorry. on the beach or on enforcing the ban on beach pending? I don't know. We've I know we've had a couple more in the last
couple of weeks. Yeah, we've had we've we've issued at least three, I believe, actual citations. Um I actually spoke to Riley about this and he he had he told me that essentially everybody but one
general operator has left. Um and so so the the cit the warning the the initial warning seemed to have worked. Um and there have been a few repeat offenders that have actually been able to be caught. Um but for the most part
he's recognized that that really just one operator is is the is the repeat offender right now. And that is probably the point we're going to have to address. Um it appears that we're not effectively deterring some of them. And so at the next motion,
I will put under my name a motion to shift some money over to legal to allow the city attorney to go forward and try to get a court injunction against those who are repeat offensers. Be it one, be it two, if we
start with one, I think the rest of them will get the message. So, it they're still out there every day and and it appears we have no other option unless and I would ask her to come forward with any other options, but it's uh I'm I'm told they're out
there every day. So, is that a motion or are you putting that under your name? I'll put on Okay, gotcha. Yep. Tell us what we need. A little more Yeah. Makes sense. Riley has observed them and he he the other day um he observed and
watched two pretty much for a few hours and they stayed in the water outside of our our ability to to really enforce. So, so yeah, they they are there and we recognize that there are in dry land.
Yeah. With someone who doesn't have property who can lean as we discussed in the prior issues and wants to pay the 500. So what? Yep. Right. Councilman Bagby. Thank you, mayor. I just want to update everybody
and we'll have a motion. uh met with the clerk's office and we thought we you know they could help us out and then they decided that they couldn't help us out and so it's time for plan C. Uh and plan C is to seek an attorney general's
opinion basically asking uh because what the statute says is that they can provide the information for official purposes. Well, we're we're only seeking the name of the property owner and their mailing address. You know, the clerk's
office shares this information or at least with their database uh with the property appraiser to make sure that those properties that are doing short-term rentals aren't homesteaded. Uh they share it with other people. Not we're not asking for any business
information, any monies involved or anything like that. just the name of the property owner and the mailing address so that we can mail them their notices that they owe us money for the fees in the city of Destin. So to do that uh our
next step would be to ask the attorney general if that in fact complies with the uh regulation or the uh statute that the clerk cited where they couldn't share information. So, I'd make a motion that we uh authorize
the city attorney to draft a request for an attorney general's opinion seeking whether or not uh we can get that information from the clerk of the courts. Second. Right. Got a motion and second for official business. Uh seeing
no further discussion, call the vote. All right. 6. So moved. That's all I have tonight. Mayor, thank you. Thank you, Council Member Aber. Thank you, Mayor. Uh just to give everybody a little heads up that um I went over to the SS United States today
for a tour of it with uh our Dr. Young. She was part of the crew of folks that were taking videos of my mother um as a story of somebody that traveled on it back in 1962. I was only three months old, so I don't remember it. and my two brothers
and she traveled with the three of us from New York back to London uh where my dad was on orders and they weren't allowing members to take their family with them. So her mom paid for her to ride that ship all the way over. So when I told Jennifer about it and Alex Fog,
they're running the whole cleanup of that before it gets uh sunk in November. That's their projected time frame. They wanted to do a little interview with her. So NPR came in from Al um Alabama and covered it and Tamara covered quite a bit of the the video of why my mom
spoke about the whole trip and it was funny to hear her talking about it and um then we got to go on the ship and tore it. Now she's 90 so she couldn't make the trip around it but um it was extremely fascinating and um I just Tamara can you add a little bit more to
it to um clarify exactly how cool it was because you were just doing all the filming. Well, sure. I'm just the size of the ship. It's just mammoth when you're there. It's incredible. And also to see the uh the changes from the photos and videos that the TDC has been pushing out um from where she what the
ship looked like to where she is now. So, they've made um immense progress on cleaning her up and cleaning her out. Um but just to see the divisions in the areas of it, it's pretty fascinating. And uh and your mother's story is incredible. And she remembered so many
details from years ago. So, you know, to be to be in her 90s uh and and have that recall was just tremendous. So, we're excited to push that little um local element of Destin out there to everybody. And she asked if um they were going to deploy it during her
lifetime. And you know, I said, you know, her mother lived till she was 92 and Alex said, "We're trying to shoot for the end of 2025, so we would love to have you come back over when we deploy it in uh 20 miles off a desk and whenever it's finished." So, pretty exciting. And it if you haven't had a
chance to at least even drive by it, it's just huge and it's it's fascinating. Some of the story behind it, I didn't realize why the stacks were tilted. Most stacks are straight up. They said because they wanted it when it was going across the ocean to look like
it was going faster than what it was. With the stacks being tilted back, it gave it that illusion. So, lots of fun facts about the ship itself. So, it was cool to see it. But that's all I have. Mayor, thank you. Nice. Very cool. Uh, Councilman Gile, I've got nothing.
Councilman Schmidt. Yes, sir. I do have a few questions and comments and updates. Did the parking lot RFP for the um city parking lot go out or R&B? Yeah, I was on vacation last week, so
no, it hasn't. But, uh, when will it be going out? Can you tell us specifically? By the next council meeting. By the next council meeting. Okay. Did the um foreclosure cyber property stuff did that get Yeah, I filed um
we've got a clerk's default against Mr. Marlor, which means we're ready to get a judgment against him. We also have a default entered against the clerk of courts which is a representative of the state, another defendant. These are because of various other interests in the property. We have to get them all.
There's only um then I have a consent from another um defendant to judgment. So all I need is one remaining defendant who is an outofstate individual that did file a response asking to be left out of the lawsuit, but she can't be because
she has a child support lean. Um so at the end of the day, we've got one more defendant to take care of, but it's okay in the judge's hands waiting on that one. Thank you. Um, Larry, the the pickle ball situation, TDC, I believe we're waiting for the TDC meeting, which
is um currently scheduled for May 28th. Could I ask you to contact um who's the county guy over there? Coffee. Craig coffee to see if they
would be willing to put it on the May 20th BOCC meeting in the case of the TDC not meeting on May 28th because I know we've already we've already delayed it one month because they cancel the TDC meeting and for some reason if they
cancel again I just would hate for something and I know it can go to the BOCC first before it comes to TDC. So appreciate it. Um would the utility boxes, we talked about that over different meetings. Could y'all bring us back two to three
of the next ideas and the cost of what that will be to to do the next reiteration of them? The wraps. Mhm. Just so the council can maybe make a decision if they want to do the next ones. Yes, ma'am. I just had a question about that. With all the fiber that's being undergrounded and all these boxes
that are going up, why couldn't we make it a requirement that they wrap it in a certain thing? I think all their stuff is underground. Their stuff's underground. I think more Gulf Power uh and some others, but Well, there I, you know, there's new ones going up all over
the place. But, but I think we need in the future come up with five or six designs and say do it. Sounds like that's part of that's part of the permit for getting it done. Sure. I like it. Yeah. Um, we talked about raising money in unique different ways, right? And
um, I know we we haven't kicked around many ideas, but there was a gentleman here within the past year talking about beach bonfires, and I'm sure that there's a lot of history in the city of Dustin and why y'all haven't done it before.
Um, what I would like to do though is have Mr. Larry and the staff look at Walton County and bring us back the numbers and what that would look like in the city of Destenerating to the city.
Um, the numbers that the gentleman threw out one time were pretty substantial if I recall. And um so I'd like to make a motion to have city manager work with staff to bring us back a proposal idea of what that looks like of doing beach bonfires in the city of Dest. I'll
second that. Awesome. All right. I got a motion in a second for that consideration. Any discussions? Yeah. Yep. When you all bring that back, bring back the amount of public beach where we could actually permit this. One of the problems that we have is most of the
beach in Dest is private and the largest well the largest beach is owned by the state which we don't control and the second largest public beach is controlled by the county which we don't control. So the places that we could put
it are even with our per recent purchases are fairly limited where it would occur to us. So, I I want to know how many linear feet of beach we actually control because I think what
we'll find is uh unless we work out something with the county with James Lee Park, we probably won't see a whole lot of revenue. Yeah, it's a great idea. Let's bring out any and all research that we could provide because all the facts would be great to have. Yeah. And
I I think I would I would like to think that the county would want to work with us. I think the Walton area has got a tremendous length of beach, but the numbers that I was just napkin mathing, I mean, it would definitely be substantial. And you know, they I got a nice little doge letter from the county,
so perhaps this is a way to help them offset their cost with us. So, Councilman Dustin, just out of curiosity, do we prohibit fires on private beaches? That's what that's where I was just going because we require permits on private property all the time for things. So, yeah, right now
we prohibit fires on private and public beaches. We actually have had at least one private property owner, which was the owners of parcel B um asking us to allow fires because they've been code enforced for them. Um so, that's one
example, but if we had the permitting process, it would be applicable to public and private. Okay. And and at the moment we have 300 ft at one beach and whatever we have at the one you just spoke of. So we do have some just not
nearly a lot. Mhm. All right. I got a motion in a second. I will call the vote. Raise bonfire. All right. As have it so moved. Anything else, sir? Um no, sir. That's it. All right. much.
Um, so I'm going to tie it into Councilman Schmidt's request for what we got um asked as a reminder as far as the priority list for I guess next year's fiscal year. Um, something that I've been uh for some reason really wrapped
up in because it's not even our beaches, but hopefully we can get something out of this in the end, which is the Walton County uh beach bill. And Senator Jay Trumbull did a great job. I evidently I guess he cashed in all his chips for the next seven years because I don't know how he got that through. U but it did
and the amendment really allows for uh renourishment of crit deemed critically eroded beach. Uh Holiday Isle, not our center but Crystal Beach are both also uh deemed critically eroded by 2024 FD's
uh report. So, I say all that in a as a background to say uh Walton County and D really seem they're going to be going after a beach reourishment sooner than later. And I would just like for us to if possible uh look at jumping on that
wagon as a little side cart and if they're going to do a huge Walton County renourishment, what is it to uh do a couple more miles to their east? And so that's just kind of a bit of information for everyone just to chew on as far as if we're interested in a beach reourishment. Uh it would set the ECL
line and basically we're really looking at a lot of public beach coming online because every inch past that ECL line would then become public beach. The private beach would stay private and everything we would create in southward of of that line would become public and
hopefully then even have more public beach for everyone. So, um, that's going to be my thing as a spoiler alert of something I would potentially like to throw out there, not really knowing the the cost feasibility of it all, but it'll be definitely something in the works and of course that would go through our TDC because they have reourishment dollars, so you know, all
that good stuff. Um, so that aside, again, we're kicking up for summer now. Um, so we're back at Joe's Bayou with the wake and a lot of just jet ski and a lot of uh action in Joe's Bayou, which is permittable right now, I believe,
because there isn't there's no there's no no weight sign out there. Sorry, I don't know how to not double negative that. It's missing. So, right now, Captain, do you know the the zoning? I know that's more of outside your league, but do we know what no wake is as far as
that Joe's Bayou zoning? There's a no wakeake zone at the mouth of Joe's Bayou. Okay. But once you get back to just about where uh the park is, it ends right in that area and they're able to go awake again. And there is no no wake
zone after that. I know, right? Yeah. Someone please tell me the better grammar. No preventing of wake. Um so with that, you know, if you guys uh is something that sounds right to you guys, I would love to see that changed. We have
jurisdiction as uh the captain told us earlier at the very beginning with our briefing and uh I think it just makes a lot of sense for both residential and the commercial uh I guess not commercial but the activity of Joe's Bayou ramp there. So uh if if there's any reasons not to I'd love to hear them but I
really think that area should just be no wake and call it a day and be done with it. So pros cons? So, you know, we talked about I can't remember I had for breakfast this morning, but there was a meeting where there was complaints about waveunner action and at that meeting we
talked about a sign that was missing and that there was action going to be taken from either staff or the sheriff's department to go pursue and put that back. So, maybe Rey or Larry or somebody can look back that up, but I think we've I think we did what you're wanting to do
and to make it safer and it just hasn't happened yet. Gotcha. Possibly. So, um, I agree with you. It needs to be a little bit slowed down over there. Councilman Bagby, this is Joe's Bayou. No, this is ECL Beach Nursery. Oh, back. Okay, gotcha. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm
sorry. Yeah, I wasn't looking at my screen. Um, let let's let me wrap up Joe's and we'll go back to ECL. Yeah. Anything else on the Joe's? Any further direction? Do you need any direction, sir? Um, we'll guess. Yeah, we can regroup on that. All right. Back to the ECL line. Beach nourishment. Councilman
Destin. Um, mayor, I was just wondering, are you asking us to endorse U going forward with Walton County? I would love that. I guess I didn't have enough information. I was just throwing that out there as as it's coming in now. Uh, it's waiting for the governor's signature. We don't see any reason why they wouldn't, but you know, this is my
first time going through nourishment. So, I'm all ears on what you suggest. And we've been there and done that before. And it is always quite controversial that we had a number of property owners who refused to participate because they would not accept public beach in front of their
private beach. And I anticipate that will happen again. No, because this the amendment to this bill foregoes their need for that uh construction agreement, the construction easement if the beach is deemed critically eroded, which all of ours is basically except Henderson
Beach and the resort area, that middle area from basically uh uh back porch to Henderson doesn't meet the list, but everything else east and west does. I understand what the bill says whether it's lawful or not. It'll be a question. Well, yeah. Oh, yeah. We'll see. That
may well be litigated if they go the same route they did before. Yeah. Because they're they're advocating that you can't simply take their beachfront property and turn it into beach view property. Pretty strong argument to make in front of the Supreme Court. So, we're going to we're
going to get into god knows what, but as far as renourishing the beaches, I'll I'll support that. Yeah. And I will make a motion that we authorize the mayor to uh advocate that position that we are in favor of joining together. All right, I'll second that. All right, I
appreciate that motion to second. Councilman Bagby, anything to discuss on that? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Uh, well, you know, a in Crystal Beach, we have an erosion control line. Uh, so I would ask our TDC rep is either Kevin or Okay. Uh,
if you could get Jennifer to provide us with a copy of the most recent survey of the beach because that will be one of the first things. I know Walton County just completed theirs in 24 and I've seen their pictures and because they have an ECL for the five miles, five
most western miles and we have a ECL for the two most eastern miles of our beaches. Um the and then how much money is in the reserves for a beach nourishment because
they have a penny that they are collecting just for beach nourishment. I think it's their third penny or fourth penny. I can't remember how their pennies are set up. Uh on the easements, interesting enough, I had a conversation with uh Matt and I
reached out to Brad Pickle. Um that applies to a state nourishment project, which is the most expensive for us because basically we split we and the county split with the state. uh in a
federal nourishment project, the feds usually pick up about half and I think the local is about 16% and the state picks up the other 24% or what 34% whatever that is. uh but it does not apply
necessarily the easement waving of the easement requirement does not apply in a federal nourishment because they go by their rules is what I'm told which means that would take us out of our most because in a federal project they come back every 10 years they measure your
beach and if it's not deep enough they automatically do a nourishment project and they just keep feeding your beach and that's what Panama City has and they've had I think five nourishment projects since I uh I've lived. So, but I I would like to
know what the countyy's doing to lean forward on a nourishment project because and specifically the TDC because that's where the lion share of the money comes from. Uh, and yes, I'm all all for a project, but they need that the first
step will be a survey because as it's stated in the or it states in the state statute, uh, that will become that mean high water line will become the ECL line. And so we need to know where the ECL or the meanh high water current
meanh high water line is. but they will survey it again before they do the project because it will take about five to seven years before we can get a nourishment project. And that's the thing we need to make sure our citizens know and Tamara you you can be prepared
because I guarantee you the day the governor signs that everybody will think the beaches are completely public and that is a lie. They are still privately owned either to the ECL or the meanhigh water line in the western twothirds of
Dustin. And those property owners will expect us to enforce their property rights. Yep. All right. And with that, those are my two things. Um, what we got, Miss Oh, yeah.
ECL endorsement. All right. So, the beach endourishment endorsement. Uh, so I'll call the vote. All right. I have it so moved. Thank you. And, uh, Miss Cup. I don't have anything. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Happy belated birthday. Happy
birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Cinco de Mayo. Kim's body. No, she she's a Star Wars. Third. Oh, dang. Double double whammy. Okay. All right. With that, uh, public
comments just for the fun. Just here for the fun. All right. All right. I'll close the public comments and adjourn this meeting.