meeting time is 6:00 uh please rise for a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by uh vice mayor Ashcraft okay please join me for the pledge I pledge alance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you I call to order the I call the order uh the city
Commission meeting uh the date is 2:20 uh 2005 the time is 6 o' uh do we have a a quorum M yes mayor okay proper notice proper notice yes has proper
notice been given yes mayor okay thank you so much uh do we have an agenda update time no sir okay thank you uh Commissioners can we have approval of minutes uh the meetings February 11th 2025 special City
commission meeting so moved second gooll call call vice mayor Ashcraft I commissioner ASB body I commissioner Lee I commissioner Holland hi mayor Hawkins I okay next we'll have
presentations chief presentation uh check to the eustus Community Alliance Alliance we appreciate what the using Alliance does if you don't know they provide a lot of services in
the community feeding kids tutoring anything the community needs to do a great job so every year we like to Res a check and today we're Che you guys get involved in this picture to please $1,000 check on behalf of the city of us and US Police Department
before we move on before we move on to the next one uh like to give them 45 seconds to address the uh 45 seconds and I'm counting come on um okay I can tell you a little bit what we've been doing
lately we have of course the food program we have a summer camp we're planning um this year for the kids in neighborhood we um guided um programs for them to do build trips Etc um we
also are um enhancing the um ECA is growing thanks to the community and you guys um we also have a mentorship for girls get ready to start computer classes for seniors and we also open up the building for a hood career sources
there for the people of the community instead of them going to lesburg they able to come there the Department churches family service and we also got volunteers now that um ECA will be open on a regular basis okay great thank thank you 44 seconds very good thank you
so [Applause] much offes guys uh real quick officer Torres been a couple of years and he just completed SWAT school all right he's on
the midor SWAT members of squat and this school is in very uh intensive hard two we training physically demanded 12 14 hour days at night in the middle of
swamps uh lifting heavy logs the physical part then you got the mental part that goes into the play then you got the tactics then you got the shooting skills so SWAT school not everybody that gets to go to swat School passes believe it or not it's very hard and very competitive and I'm proud to
say pass that flying colors did a great job and now we have another tactical sound officer here in the city and uses to protect all our citizens more importantly who cop call their in trouble they call SWAT and we have a great team here with great equipment thanks to the commission city manager
everything they do they give us whatever we needy here's a blank check what do we got to do to protect our citizens it's real easy when you got a team like that so thank you congratulations
[Applause] thank you [Applause] offler is our 2024 officer of the year
so we we have a uh process you have to get nominated by one of your peers and then there's Awards commit thats you know I'd like to make everybody officer the year everybody's officer year but in our inner circles we try to acknowledge one person year go above
Beyond also Fe does a lot not only as a law enforcement officer and supervisor but in the community whether it be working with uh special needs proms that we have sparkle and shine the Timbo Foundation working with uh love extensions helping the uh deliver food the senior citizens in need uh you name
it working with youth so he does a phenomenal job we lucky to have him here and we just want to acknowledge we got a nice basket here with a bunch of Swag we don't go Che we got mug nice little FAS for your [Music]
wife thank you hang on Chris congratulations go CHR thank you sir can't do it all we need a good support a team soy
employ Jesse tal Jesse come on up I to tell you a couple years ago I came to you all and said hey we got to fight crime when I came to eustus crime fighting was the last thing on anybody's mind around here to be honest with you and then I said we're going to need some certain things to do that and we need to
get timely Intel and analyze that Intel and benefit and doing it by ourselves pretty much stupid we have a great sheriff's office here that does above and beyond that I could ever imagine coming here so why don't we partner with the sheriff's office and put an analyst in there and then we'll have coverage
and we'll know what the hell's going on so it worked out really we hired Jesse and I got to tell you from Intel reports the following up on suspects to identifying people off videos to face with recognition that we would never be able to identify suspects and clear
clear cases and make arrests it's because of him he does phenomenal job uh analyzing social media data crime data our part one crimes are fining crime is really non-existant here in eustus and it's because not by luck it's because the hard work of men and women not only
in E do but our Sheriff's Office and our surrounding agencies everybody here works very well together and we have a very safe County but our prob say the city of EAS Man Down 70% in burglaries I mean quality of life issues we're solving those we're tackling we're getting people help and we're using
Intel real time information to do that that's no good to get a report and wait two weeks and look at it and say what happened we need it now so whether it be two in the morning or two in the afternoon we can reach out to our partners and Jesse and we're fighting CRI we're solving problem and who benefits the citizens here so Jesse
thank you for the great job you [Applause] do this is money well spent trust me yes it is force multipli and I want to thank the
sheriff's office for letting us partner with them on this thank you for all J and that's his sister you [Laughter] know thank you chess thank you thank you con oh stay stand I
know please let me tell you about Steve was ined to me by uh one of our parttime officers Tony M who I worked with in Daytona back in the early 90s who then went to Orange County became a captain flying helicopters rning the whole place and I ran to him to the gym one day and he said he was bored I said
I got a job for you so on part time and he he introduced me to Steve and Steve is like one of these guys that you know we want to start our own drone program here we're working on it but Steve's got one of these drones that I'm not not the one you go buy at Walmart it's it's A40 $50,000 piece of equip wow and and and
he likes so he's like let me help you guys out let me go out and go around the city and and get some some footage of all the infrastructure uh the water plants the downtown uh City buildings so we could have a record of that not only before the Hurricanes because when the
Hurricanes were coming we want to make claims we have to make claims we want footage but also for from a Homeland Security standpoint that we know what's going on what weakness is we have our over infrastructure keep City saf he volunteered his own time to do that his own equipment and everything so uh great
citizen uh military guy great guy allaround guy I wanted he didn't want any recognition but I said we're going to recognize him because U I want to get some more free [Laughter] stuff I want to read this plaque real quick it says Sten malose in recognition
of your invaluable dedication and time spent on the infrastructure drone work for the cuses police department your commitment has made a lasting impact on our community and continues to support the safety and advancement of our work thank you for your exceptional service February 20th 2025
thank you thank you we got a great City here we got great leers and I can tell you it's only going to get better only to get better thank you thank you thank thank you Chief next we'll come into audience to be
heard uh please if you have anything to uh to say you want to address the commission uh come to the uh the microphone to our left well our left your right uh state your name and if you're a
citizen of Eustace and speak clearly Tom do you have any yes uh Carolyn Douglas yes um my name is Carolyn Douglas and I'm not actually a citizen of the city of usess although I've lived
in Lake County all my life uh one of my first jobs is where the current um police station is it was an IGA back then um I'm representing however the US Church of the Nazarene which has been here for about 75 years first uh
building was on Mill Street now we're out on 449 and the reason that I am here today is to have the commission to um consider a
proposal the community that we live in there on uh 44 and 19 there's several old established residences there varied kind of living um places there's
Rosemont Devonshire Lyn Terrace uh centry Oaks which is single home uh families and you know they're getting ready to put a new building a new complex there so that area has quite a few uh Eustace citizens that have been
there for a period of time but they really don't have an opportunity to have a park Park and the church would like to have a community play area put put there we don't want it fenced we don't like want it locked just for the church's
benefit it's for the community we have already put up a basketball court but um the to get what's required for a park is going to take more than what I can do um there's some real good advantages for the city I think that's an opportunity
for those citizens um it's very diverse uh we have handicapp people coming through there uh people with um children two sides of that road already are um Public Access their their sidewalks already there the
church has a entrance and exit that's already paved um and the city would not have to purchase any land for that what I need however from the city is the expertise as far as obtaining a grant I
don't know how to write a grant I don't have that kind of expertise and I would really like to see the city partner with us to see if we can't get some kind of a pocket park there um and that really is my pitch I'm
not sure if I need to start here I actually called the recreation and they said that they had really never had that request before and it probably have to go before the commission so that's what I'm here for Mr Mayor could we hook her
up with Sam with Parks and Recreation uh and see what they could bring back to us I think it's a great area uh for a park um and there's a lot of children in that area um so if they could hook up and maybe bring us back a proposal where we could take a look at something okay
great all right Miranda can you handle that please okay am I good you're good thank you so much for consideration uh Blake Griswald good evening all my name is Blake grizzel I live on Hazelton Street in Eustace uh for transparency reasons I
just want to know that I'm a proud father of a eustus fire department guy I'm speaking about fire department now uh I am concerned about the ongoing negotiations between the city and the professional firefighters uh of Eustace the last several meetings I've attended there seems to be GR discontent between
the city's negotiating team and the firefighters negotiating team both of them um it almost seems if the cities now I'm not saying all the representatives of the city are taking it a little bit personal that they can't quite come to numbers together uh with
the cost of living over the past three years up at 177% uh inflation at average about 5% it's total 22.8% uh that's coming out of our pockets everybody's Pockets firefight ERS included uh they are asking for a
20% increase in pay over the next 3 years a 776 structure the city is offering 15% over the next three years at 55 and five for a broad comparison Mount dor is given a 20% increase Groveland at 28% even Governor Des sis has given a 25% increase to the
firefighters of Eustace uh and eustus PD just got a significant increase of about 24% in their pay uh with today's economy housing and trying to raise family is it really worth losing our good employees to other cities and departments for a few dollars uh one of the most
disconcerting observances noted was that the city's negotiating team put their 15% proposal on the table with the Cil that retray will only be honored if they signed the contract within two days so they're holding retropay Hostage to try to get the firefighters to sign a
contract that they don't agree to uh the city has stepped up in starting salaries for new employees but it completes creates a compression issue uh with the employees so a new firefighter starting on is almost equal to a five-year firefighter you know so that compression is down some way or another we have to
address that for the past several years I've been coming to these meetings and sitting here and listening to the city commission tout how they support Public Safety and I see that wholeheartedly with the eustus police department I don't see it with the rank and file of the eustus firefighters
no no no no we will not have that do your we will not have that let go uh the city has stepped up with their starting salaries I did that part for the past several years did that part uh but there's a definite disconnect
between the city and the fire department you know uh as eustus continues its uncontrolled growth with a thousand plus homes going in North eustus the demands for Public Safety grows the city's needs for professional and experienced fire department is Paramount as a committee
as the communities around us build their departments with better pay and benefits do we really want to see our experienced firefighters leave and this brings up a a great point about the eustus police department who do they call when they're in trouble they call SWAT who do the firefighters call when they're in
trouble they have to rely on their own internal experienced firefighters to take care of those issues um really to wrap this up you know I don't feel that I stand alone and wanting to see our eust fire department
become either the best Fire Department in the county even of all Central Florida and I think it's a very doable thing we've got a great chief he does a great job with what he does we just need some backing uh I believe the citizens the majority of the citizens used to feel the same and would agree to the firefighter stance on waiting wanting a
fair wage to get them through this time that's all I got to say thank you thank you thanks uh Sonia white good evening my name is Sonia white I am not a citizen of usus however
I'm am a teacher at usus high school and I represent the students of us high school that live in your in this city I first of all I would like to say congratulations to the new elected officials and also I want to say thank you to the elected officials
everyone that has helped usus High School FBA in the past I come to you with great news and also come to you to ask for your help this year we had an increase of students that competed at the district that came in first place
and came in second place and I would like to thank Mega place for giving them the opportunity to practice and they gave great feedback and the results was phenomenal I would like to ask if you would be so kind our students have raised money and I would like to thank the citizens
of eace that have purchased popcorn from any F student they were very very good with their sales and marketing skills and I greatly appreciate it however we are falling short and we have seven days to come up with it we had a budget of $3,300 that we had to come up with and
we are short $1,263 and I am confident that the citizens of usus will make sure that our children get that and it is my desire desire for them to look sharp they are sharp and they are standing on business
and I need your help to help that thank you Mr Mayor I think I'm kind of inv uh spent a lot of time around that program with those kids and they've come to Million Cups and they've come to the mega workplace and everything and I tell you it is so
impactful um to see those kids grow and what they're doing in in the lives that we're changing just by those out there so um I'd sure like us to think about helping to make sure every one of those kids gets out there I don't know
what uh how exactly that is but uh I think we all would love to see that so I I I I hopefully we can do something I don't know what our budget allows or what's what's in there but this is our future our high school doesn't get any doesn't get any more
than that okay good oh I agree do we have in our budget money for stuff like that so maybe if I may make a suggestion do you think uh if you do you think $1,000 uh would help and you had
mentioned 200 and change if we were to do $1,000 we can certainly find that in the budget if that's the will of the commission okay all right and I'll do the other 200 oh you beat me I was going to do it I'll split it with you guys okay 30 100 each okay we'll do 100 each
I'm here I was getting ready oh you want to take it all yeah I'll take it all okay I'll do another I'll do 250 out of M I'll do another 100 okay so you got 1500 thank you so very much okay all right okay let's go with oh yeah that I
knew anyone else Tom uh that's it as far as cards okay is there anyone should we get your checks before you guys leave just kidding know where yeah uh is there anyone else in the audience that that W wishes to address
the commission sorry okay hearing none okay okay next uh next we go on to ordinance public hearings resolution 25-13 thank you Mr Mayor resolution
number 25-13 a resolution by the city Commission of the City of eustus Lake County Florida approving the Duke Energy audit closing agreement repealing all resolutions or parts of resolutions in Conflict here with and providing for an effective date Miss Carr and Mr Shephard
hi Miss car is not going to say anything she is not nearly as familiar as Mr Sheard okay I'm this U this is a Final Approach to finish
the we h we've had numerous discussions last few months that person from TR or not TR Tri was there too Duke was there and our our
staff attorney were there the real issue I think was that our our agreement doesn't have anything there's no exemption foran for anybody doesn't matter if you're public
entity but the way they were calculated has been calculated that throughout the state and it's I believe it's that it's Blessing by the auditor the Attorney General's opinions that they're
not doing anything different or wrong so we've we've agreed and they have this this settlement $74,000 is adequate and represents
Fair return a years and years ago we hady called spy they AED the peripheral areas of City at that time to see that make sure that the Duke and
SE put those individual annexations into system properly and I I can't remember that I think I don't remember what the that's what I thought this was going
to end up being another dire yeah that that's great Tom do you want to speak on this so I can speak briefly uh we do have representatives of Duke Energy here if you have any specific questions of them um but I think generally speaking the um the
approximately $74,000 amount um includes things like uh properties that were annexed that didn't immediately get charged the proper amount I think there was also and and if necessary Duke can speak to this
but I believe there was a transition to a new uh system uh and so there were uh there was some lag in properties h uh the appropriate figures and so uh the the amount you have in the agreement um
is uh an amount we've agreed to that uh really it's about uh properties that just weren't accounted for uh properly right away but that are now um being accounted for properly uh and so again I'd be happy to try to answer any
questions uh and representatives of Duke Energy are here to answer questions if you have any okay are there any questions questions from the commission yeah I I I started looking into some of this and and and talk to some different people and um I don't
think we have all the answers yet that I and the answerers to some of the questions I have and some of the unknown I I need to feel 110% sure that we're not leaving any money on the table and I'm hearing some scenarios that go into
the millions and millions but we don't know because we haven't completed all the audits the way uh I think we should and and the way some people do so uh I'd like to see us just hold off on this and
engage a professional to go through a thoral audit of what we have and see where we are uh we have a financial responsibility whether it's 17 million or or or or 74,000 we have a financial
obligation to remove any possibility of any error and that money needs to be count it belongs to our citizens so I would like to see us dive back in I guess we had somebody doing some uh auditing on it and we we terminated our contract with them that's fine if you're
not happy with them but we need a thorough beyond the exclusion of any mathematical formula is my opinion so if I may very quickly mayor um pleas one thing I want to point out is that
um there is not we can discuss more um who is subject to franchise fees and how they're calculated there is no there is no money owed in aers I guess is an important
part of this um Duke Energy has Duke Energy has not collected money that they did not appropriately forward to us if I I'm I don't know if I'm saying that correctly but um what I'm trying to say is there were no franchise
fees that were withheld inappropriately anything that we'd be looking at would be moving forward uh are franchise fees being charged appropriately moving forward uh but there is no I think what you have in the settlement agreement is
there are monies going back that weren't forwarded or remitted to the city properly and that's what the 74,000 represents um but the uh looking at franchise fees moving forward uh that would be different there are no money
owed in aers whereas this 74,000 is is money that wasn't uh that was collected but wasn't remitted to us properly if that makes sense now was the 74,000 was that a figure that was agreed upon with Duke and the independent auditor
I don't think he was terminated from what I understand we ended our contract with him right we did we did so the contract ended in in January of this year so it was not renewed it was not renewed um
the I was very involved um as far as the discussion when it came to the franchise fees as well as the municipal tax utility tax collection and they the the fact is that the um tron's representative did not agree
with Duke's position however he is not an attorney and when we were looking at the law with Duke's Council we were able to um understand what was being done based on prior Audits and there's no money that do collect it because they
have been transparent as far as the franchise fees that have not been remitted to the city so we were satisfied with everything that was represented and it's the legality of the same that's the that's the only issue you know when you read something on its face but you don't understand the application of the law it's a little bit
difficult to to um I guess change your view if you're heart set on a particular um outcome based on the financial benefit of that but Duke was very transparent provided all the information and we worked through with the attorneys we worked all of the prior Audits and it
was done appropriately based on the historical analysis and how far back did the audit go well this we had a prior audit I think in I think it was in 2016 the last one okay right back to0 had another one
somewhere there that we Duke were involved in and system okay it it was similar to Dollar am I think seeing here right and I think um
the agreement allows for an audit to go back up to 5 years if I'm not mistaken um and the original agreement for the franchise uh for electric services were that agreement was drafted with um Florida power so it wasn't so Duke ended
up taking over that later on but they were not an initial party so basically it's an they're honoring an agreement that was entered into with a prior company okay mayor if I may you asked about the uh contract being terminated even though
we've terminated that contract they did find us these savings so they will still get their per share of the savings okay okay I think what I'm hearing is perhaps you're saying which was the first time I'm hearing it I'm not really sure but that they didn't collect money
perhaps they should have and therefore they don't owe us any money perhaps and then whoever we had adding it the the Tryon uh didn't finish what they wanted to finish so just make sense let us have
just a little bit time whatever we're signing off we're giving up any pass I think I think Duke's a great company I think they're a great partner I don't want it to be construed as them not being a great partner but we have the financial obligation to our community to to check that it's not going to prolong
anything that we're doing have it all properly audited looked at I know Sasha's looked at it uh but I I I don't I don't want to I I can't vote for something that will close the door when there is some big numbers lingering out there I just want are you
saying Tron is saying that it's not up toart is it Tron who's saying it I I had I did have communications to to be transparent with with Chuck who's in here and then I went off on my own did some did some looking at I understand
what Sasha's saying but the argument of hey we didn't collect it so we don't have to worry about paying you is a isn't what I want to hear um I just feel like we need to have like we do with Master we need to have a professional look at it for us everything else still
goes on we're not losing any anything and uh if this number is in the multi multi-millions I I I can't I don't think I took an O for that I got an O beyond the doubt how long did it take to try on to
come up with this figure how long was the audit with Tron they engaged in January of 23 so they've had two years did they come up with the 74 sir I don't think they came no the entire
audit has SP that course of time okay so Tron was involved in that Tron was partners with that or was TRON Tri was hired to do the A and when was TRON hired to do the audit January of 202 so
they had two years okay all right and what did they come back with did they give you a 74 they indicated Millions well that wasi to the meeting we had and
number so what so Duke is saying this is what we think we might owe the consultant is saying it's in the millions the state agrees with d was basically and the gentleman who was out
of cnia doing the wouldn't AC I guess right yeah I don't think we doubt how they did the audit in the the sense of what they considered was due but that's that's a little complicated you got to
look more into that's like saying well I don't think we should have dealt with this so we take it off the table of Tron saying no that belongs on the table just I think we need to with Tron the more that they get the more they get also of course and whoever we use it doesn't have to be okay Gary goad I was going
say so this this really comes down to a legal opinion of the law correct it's it's an interpretation of the application of of franchise fees and the municipal tax but that component as far as the taxes are concerned I think that that was ironed out I mean what what
other what other parts of this audit did they do where they think they owe us or it's Millions yeah Millions I don't well Duke's here so if they wanted to uh before we call Duke laor there's actually two issues here the 74,000
represents um annexations that were missed by Duke for what ever reason implementing a new system or just oversight whatever the case may be that's one issue and that that is everybody is comfortable for the most part on that issue the other issue is
that this firm that came in out of California believes that Duke should be collecting on governments ourselves and nonprofits whereas the opinion of our attorney and Duke's attorney where we have met and maybe it's a different
interpretation from California but tron's position is that they should be charging and collecting and then remitting to us but Duke's position is they're not charging based on the language in the contract for nonprofits and government so they would collect it
and bring it back to this that makes no sense but the state and the attorneys all agree right so the again because the original agreement wasn't with duke it was a Florida Power agreement and um they basically took it over they
done the calculations how it's been historically they've collected the fees for franchises and remitted what they've collected and the only subgroup I believe had to do with a particular segment within government as to whether or not the fees would apply so um the
way the contract is written it's subject to interpretation in various ways is it something that would succeed in court you know that's you know are we going to litigate with Duke over of you know something that they've been doing for years and all these other audits that
they've been subjected to throughout the last 20 well however long they took over the contract um came back adequate and it was also using the same method those are are factors that have been considered it it it well I'm I'm going
to ask Duke to Y please come up if you could please come up good evening I'm Nancy DOD I'm the government community relations manager for Duke energ um this is Kim Graves and she is our subject matter expert she works with our
tax team and um so we're going to kind of go into these these answers well and and and please I I didn't mean but please please try to tell us is in in in the most simplistic way possible because we don't understand you know all the all
the taxes and on on on what trion's position is and your position is well I'm definitely not a tax expert I mean is it is it all just because of the nonprofits um no so basically the
interpretation if they were to if we were to interpretate the trions way it would basically be collecting you know more money from the the customers and less money revenue for you do that's that's their reputation so we would be
collecting money from nonprofits and governmental okay all right has has that been done historically I can say is there any other is there other municipalities that are doing that
at all no okay have you dealt with Triad in the past I have I okay all right okay and again I just want to point out again we can have a discussion with Duke Energy on how do we move forward and if
we want to charge if we we feel that those customer customers should be charged accordingly but there there was no money collected on our behalf and owed to us in aers related to this method of collection and
so the point would be if we feel strongly about it and we want to work with them into the future to collect from these customers those would be would be franchise fees that would be remitted to us in the future yeah to go ahead to me it defies common sense that
there will be millions of dollars that are over to us and we don't hear about it until we cancel the contract so it just defies common sense and currently and currently we're not collecting franchise fees from anyone that has utilities that is a nonprofit
is that correct does anybody any other city or does any other utility provider you know do that no I'm aware that I'm aware of this is in our franchise agreement and your franchise agreement it
covers the majority of the State of Florida a good portion of the State of Florida cover yeah okay but our agreement was with Florida Power somebody different they assumed it but you assumed quite a bit of Florida Power
in the past correct okay Mr Mayor this franchise agreement was I think 1997 so it's been 30 years so I mean if there was an issues there there was time to to sit down and talk during that time I I
wasn't here but during that time there was time for the city to address this yeah yeah I'm I I'm always a little concerned on why it takes us so so long to update anything we're talking 30 years from I I mean I believe if we want
to change things moving forward we could do that but I believe this has been this has been done and I think it should be put to rest Mr M um today sorry I'm sorry go ahead I just wanted you might be able to stop me okay no I just wanted to say that um in full transparency I
requested that Duke share with me prior uh agreements with other municipalities and uh their method of calculation for that as well and it's it's the same across the board for the state because I wanted also to since I was not representing the city at the time I
wanted to ensure that it was also um being applied uniformly with other municipalities that have the same contract that we have um or S very very similar at least that provision so they did Supply that and it it was consistent if we want to change things um to move
forward I think we should definitely uh have a discussion on that but I I I think we've done this enough right yeah and vice mayor and mayor most cities because I've been with a few they the Agreements are all 30 years they've
all been turned over and it's really no different than our cell towers from Prime co and Verizon and everybody else but they're all very very similar they're different contracts with each municipality but the contracts themselves are extremely similar from
municipality and municipality okay I spent about four hours today calling some of the Le of city folks that we that we deal with um and they are been in the same boat we are the Agreements are the same they're Universal across the the board
um I would love to find millions of dollars we've got a community center that if really you were there with me last night it was overrun with people it is not big enough I'd love to tell Duke we need that money so we can build a new community center um at the end of the day this
agreement that we have right now um we're not going to collect anything from the bags but we do need to work with something to go forward um if that's the will of this commission um you know with the federal government looking through all of its records right now find
money we may need to get an auditor to come in and start looking at our books a little differently um and let's see if we're spending in a wrong direction now we have such a small budget in the city of Eustace and I think we have done a good job over the years managing the
money that we do have okay um so it's something we need to look at but we may need to look at a good outside auditor just to come in and take a good look at all of our books all the way around but I think at this point what Duke Energy and Duke is a great partner with the
city of Eustace um I I think that anything in the rears we're done but let's look at something going forward so and I think Nancy and and her partners are willing to sit down with us and work that out um as I talked to the league of cities folks today their attorneys were
telling me the same thing I was able to get a couple of them on the phone as well and um everything looks in order because I question it I don't want our citizens to leave something on the table if if if that money was there I did not
want it left on the table so that's where I am okay sorry but we don't know that's the problem and and and to answer the vice mayor's question from what I when I spoke um it is a 27 30-year contract whatever it was but the audit
ended about a year ago so they were two years into it doing their audit they F they suspected the high numbers they gave us that information and we talked ourselves out of it being owned and I'm not at that point yet and
I don't want to get into litigation with Duke and I'm not saying and they are a great partner and I and I'm sorry that I'm speaking against per se your your your thoughts I'm saying let's sit down let's sit across the table from each other let's work on this a little bit
more that's all I'm asking just let's work on this a little bit more been done already uh it has no we didn't bring we didn't bring we we have we have a legal expert here that sat down with their legal expert and everyone came together and they talked and they negotiated and
everyone was fine with the um with the result except for triton am I wrong yeah think you're if I may we also have had audits in the past by other firms and they have never no I mean and I and and I know I know Tron
has found us a lot of other money too so they've done us a good service I just think in this particular inance I don't believe based on everything that we've heard here tonight that there's going to be any more money in rear now if we want to start charging nonprofits which I I I
don't think we should but or they should then that's something for us to decide but right now I don't think we're going to we're going to really find any more any more money my concern is that uh the results that figure is based on how
audits are being done on the other side of the country and not here that's that's my concern um okay an audit is an audit is an audit California I mean cforia was he licensed
to do that here I I I don't I guess I didn't ask that question but well the State of Florida if I'm not mistaken they have rules correct so they have guidelines for for us and our rules are totally different than the guidelines in California
okay in California I'm sure all government municipalities are probably subject to it and just like you said like you have the option the five every five years to order our books we also do our own
internal auditing um so with Just In Parallel with Tom Kino asking for the audit we did our own due diligence and we're also audited by the PSC the P Public Service Commission I'm sorry okay oh PSC anything further from the
commission do we have any cards Tom I do not okay would anyone in the audience like to speak on this item saying none we will close public comment Mr Mayor I move for approval of resolution 25-13 and I will second
it call vice mayor Ashcraft I commissioner ASB no commissioner Lee I commissioner Holland I mayor Hawkins I thank you thank you next we have
resolution number 25-17 a resolution by the city Commission of the city of Eustace Lake County Florida approving a franchise agreement between the city of eus and Waste Management Inc of Florida repealing all resolutions or parts of resolutions in Conflict here withth and
providing for an effective date Tom yes I have a brief presentation for you brief is it that time no so uh we the city issued uh an RFP request for proposal related to waste
hauling Services we had a staff Review Committee uh we did get three respondents uh three great respondents I think any of them would have served the city of eustus well um and waste management submitted two Alternatives
one was traditional service and one was uh waste to energy um so staff recommended to the city commission uh Waste Management waste to energy proposal if the commission was comfortable with the concept of waste to
energy um the uh the folks from reworld and waste management did a presentation uh at that meeting the commission directed staff to negotiate a franchise agreement with Waste Management so what are the terms uh it's a five-year term with up to three five-year extensions so
in effect it is potentially a 20-year agreement uh waste management will be the exclusive waste hauler within city of Eustace the one exception to that is uh construction debris uh folks can use their own hauler uh specifically for construction debris but other than that
Waste Management would be the exclusive hauler uh they are looking to do a waste to energy uh Service delivery uh the agreement uh so I'll talk a little bit about waste to energy and uh new rates uh in the next slides uh but other
Provisions include um Waste Management continuing to support the city through community cleanups and our special events providing the yellow recycling dumpsters and then one thing that's new at the request of Public Works uh and I
want to make this clear this is not uh it is a a dumpster for for tire disposal it is not open to the public uh but it is for our public works department to collect a tire say on the side of the road uh it goes back to Public Works and
uh waste management will uh eliminate at no cost to us so again we're not opening a Tire Depot necessarily but uh they are taking our tires uh so waste to energy uh you had a presentation uh from
reworld in okah humka um all Residential Waste under this system will go into either toer uh it is more environmentally friendly it's more coste effective uh and we are uh going to do a joint education campaign with Waste
Management that includes decals on the toter mailers social media and uh website to inform the public on the service change a little bit about rates uh there will be a monthly increase from
$192 to $21.80 that is a $2 78 cents per month residential increase I do want to point out though that $248 of that is a tributable to disposal fees which really uh is just a pass
through from Waste Management on the cost of disposing of that waste and the waste to energy is actually a way to keep that cost down as much as possible so the $278 per 78 cents per month increase
equates to about 9 cents a day to our our residents um similar to the current agreement uh those rates can be adjusted annually on January first and it is based on the garbage and trash index uh and waste management has some dates by
which they need to get us the information on that and then comparatively you can see um we will be lower continue to be lower than taries and Mount Dora um who use Waste Management in varying uh capacities uh and then leberg will be a little bit
higher than lesburg but they do uh Service inhouse uh our recommendation is uh due to the positive relationship and uh past performance of Waste Management because of the environmentally friendly service that they're offering uh because we've
worked together to attempt to control rates uh staff's recommending approval of resol resolution 257 and that's all I have is it typical for us to do the uh the three fiveyear
extensions ye yes we've had waste management for quite some time I don't it's been a long time the old the old agreement was an interesting agreement it was an auto renewing agreement that every two years it would Auto renew for
five years and so we were always four to five years out um and it was again it was Auto renewing whereas this uh has a more definite time frame um being a 5year plus a three up to three
additional 5ye terms okay up to three for a total of 20 up to a total of 20 correct five plus 5 plus five plus five is that may I question is that option at our option or at their option
I think it's mutual so we have to mutually agree to extend it yeah so if one of us doesn't agree it dies correct okay okay goes to theage any other questions the Comm garbage any other questions from the
commission Noe okay would anyone in the audience like to comment on resolution number 25-17 okay just one question you Sasha what I just asked about the option from both sides are you yes good that that's in the agreement I prepared the
agreement that's pretty good I like that okay um all right so there's no public input we we will close public comment Mr Mayor I approve for approval of resolution 25-17 second can we have a roll call please vice mayor Ashcraft hi
commissioner ASB hi commissioner Lee hi commissioner Holland hi mayor Hawkins I and mayor if I may just briefly I want to thank Waste Management um Doug and Jose have been really flexible really great to work with um they have been for
years but through this negotiating process a lot of flexibility some canel meetings here and there uh dates have been moving so we really want to thank them for everything another another great partner for the city yes I agree thank you okay and next we have
ordinance number 2501 an ordinance of the city Commission of the city of Eustace Florida amending the Land Development regulations Section 102-111 B community meeting and section 10 19.4 use regulations table providing for codification separability and an
effective date sorry Mr Lane for the record Mike Lane development services director um I'll make this quick you have before you tonight a uh proposed changes to the Land Development
code related to community meetings and uh Community meetings basically are for pre-application uh Community meetings they will have the meetings before they come to staff proposing their projects you also have before you the table of
uses basically adding the hookah Vapor Bar and taverns and that's in all the uh commercial districts but they will be conditional uses they will have to come to you guys for approval for that there's also the self-service storage
facilities in there originally they were permitted outright in The General commercial General industrial mixed commercial residential and mixed commercial industrial districts um outright but now they're being to put
into theit industrial as conditional uses so they will be coming any projects that want to do those in the in the future will be coming to the city commission to seek that conditional use question one one question Mike how how do they prove they had the community
meeting they're actually there's several ways they're going to have to provide us with the list of attendees they will provide us with the actual minutes of the meeting and then they will sign an affidavit and bring it to us okay and they're going to be the ones responsible for notifying the residents of the
meeting correct okay all right I have a question when we're talking about um the ordinance with the hookah um bars and all of that I was wondering why we didn't have like tattoos smoke shops drug paraphernalia kind of shops why
those are not included in that ordinance well um if you guys would like us to make that consideration we were certainly prepared to to take that under advisement and bring it back to you yeah I see them being in the same category as
the um hookah bars and stuff so I know that some communities have actually removed them the the tattoo parlers outside of those table abuses because the cultural change you more and more people seem to to to be comfortable with
with them in the The General commercial districts now uh I think as far as our code goes I think they are allowed in that General commercial category to consider it and I'm sorry I jumped in um we would not be able to
make that change tonight correct because it was not advertised in the ordinance and so if it's the will of the if you're comfortable with the ordinance tonight we can move forward with that if you want add other uses or changes to the table of uses we
can do that but we would have to advertise and bring it back to you separately well you know commissioner um Lee actually makes a good point What's the difference between a hookah bar and a smoke showell yeah George with you also owning buildings in town what do you feel that
um tattoo parlors and other things like that what do you think we need to I I tell you I've been I've been complaining about it for a while um are they a protected class Mike are they considered a protected class I know Kimberly uh horn was
talking about protected classes and everything so assuming hoping that they're not a protected class they just it's not where I want to see our city going it's not what I want to to do and and I think it puts some landlords in a
bad situation and and we get threats and we get you know so I would love to see the city um you know narrow down the cone of where where those go definitely don't want to see them in the downtown and we just and that just happened and it's either that or go into litigation
and I don't have to be right to go into litigation I just got to be able to withstand the the the paying and and going through it so I I I personally uh commissioner Holland I would love to see that what really what is the difference between a hookah a hookah bar and a
smoke shop a a smoke shop will also sell tobacco products um they but then they also sell the paraphernalia that's uh contiguous with the use of of some
illegal drugs some now allow drugs so I think it you know if if if recreational marijuana comes along one day and it passes maybe we'll have to look at things a little bit differently but we don't want to get we don't want to be the community that these people think we
can come in here and just fit right in so uh so me as as as a landlord uh I I don't want to see that in my city yeah if I'm and I'm I don't we can
have a discussion about the use and where it belongs but I think an answer to the specific question what's the difference I see a hookah bar as on-site consumption I see a smoke shop as retail sales and off-site consumption would be
how I would now I think we can have the larger discussion on what belongs where but I would say that's the difference between the two but nothing restricts somebody from consuming it in a smoke shop so if you go to there's one in tar
right next to um the tire place there and they're consuming it on site as well I mean I don't or clarify that I don't patronize either one so I really don't understand the difference but Mr Mayor if I may with uh smoke shops and
some hookah lounges if there is a tobacco product being sold I know that the tobacco is regulated by the state so we would have to confirm that we're not doing anything in contravention of what has already been established by Tallahasse right and then we could take
it to a whole another level and add marijana dispensaries to there do we know if if tattoos is protected C protected uh well um arguably the a you know depending as far as location I mean
uh that is that would be separate but um I I mean I don't think that that would apply I mean as far as having the the actual shops we that is a form of expression so we really can't yeah um restrict we can't we can't change sorry Sasha I'm
sorry we can't change anything that's that's been advertised so we can vote on this and if we want to add things later we can so why don't we why don't we go down that road right now and I was going to make a motion uh to table ordinance 251 until staff can bring back to us
more information on smoke shops and tattoo parlors and then go from there well can we just add that later I mean Mike you spent so much time on this and we're trying to get we had two specific things we were trying to do do we need to and these are
two new things we're trying to do I mean can we add the other ones later I think it would be more sensible to look into these concerns and then add it all at one time but that's my will as far as the time frame it's going to be
the same um vice mayor because if we if this goes through we have to do a new ordinance so it's it's still going to be another two readings so in effect we would actually be saving one reading if we ended up with this just tabling this
and going back back and possibly bring it back for the next Commission meeting that way it won't be four readings instead of three I I understand what you're saying thank you I I I make my motion then to table this until we get more information back about smoke shops
and tattoo parlors and marijuana just vent I mean if we're going to if we're going to go go all the way I mean why why we just want to stop with I think that becomes protected from the state I think there's I think state law says they have to be regulated likees
phes is that correct Sasha I believe so I I'm happy to work with with my there was actually a brief window for the communities that actually had adopted specific ordinances prohibit them before the state actually you know clamp down
and and that date is probably probably four or five years ago now so you know there was a window that that you could have actually prohibited them in certain areas but now they're they're pretty much reg like a drug stores yeah okay
and then if we were to regulate pharmacies obviously we get into Bay Pharmacy Lake pharmacy Walgreens CVS it gets very complicated Mr Mayor you got a motion on the floor my friend I'll second is well before we do that I just want to make sure since it was
advertised if there's anyone in the audience that wanted to comment on this item okay thank you to table right yes yes G Gary second second a roll call vice mayor Ashcraft hi commissioner
ASB body the motion is to Second them to bring it back and give us update on table it table yeah we're table you'll be revisiting it yeah yes commissioner Lee I commissioner Holland
hi mayor Hawkins hi that's it Mr Mayor thank you uh next up Commissioners any uh future agenda items or comments just hope everybody comes out for George Fest and to save time uh we've got a great lineup
coming up so that's it from me okay great I wanted to say last weekend was really great um on on having the um lifeo church and and um um the grace what is it Point of Grace they were awesome it was really good and we had a
good turnout the best part for me was on Sunday um helping to judge at the pageant um I was just in awe of the young ladies who came forth their Poise their confidence and it it was just amazing I know at at my age at that time I would never have been able to do what
they did and I think that I really give all the kudos to the parents and also I think we always have to um compliment our our our events team Miranda and her crew does an incredible job and it takes a lot of work and a lot of effort on
their part but they did a wonderful job as they have done uh last week and now this week for George Fest so I hope everybody comes out and enjoy it and be warm done yeah vice mayor yeah and um
you know this weekend was very busy with African America hers parade the carnival um you know all the things that were going on downtown I don't know if anyone knew there was actually a Sailing Club event uh this
weekend um you know what and it was nice to see the city that busy it really was I remember during the first day of the uh Master planning sessions uh the consultant asked me what what vibrant meant to me and that was it seeing that much activity in the town all those all
the people in town um I've met a few people from out of town that said that wow this is really nice for Eustace to have all this activity um so it was it was really nice seeing it was really nice seeing how busy the city was and I wish it was that busy more often that's
it for me George sir I have I have two things one um I've had some discussions um with a c plane um with a c plane company and there was some discussions about hey it would be great if a c plane
can land here in our downtown and activate our Waterfront even further to to to what Vice mayor was saying so I would like to ask that uh that we make some time at a sooncoming meeting to maybe let them come and uh tell us what
they got on their mind and just see if it's something we want to pursue or not it's basically uh you know a a landing hub for apparently these guys they bounce around in the planes they they're higher income generally uh people and and they will visit our downtown and
it's part of activating our downtown are they not allowed the lane her now they wanted to U the we do not have a dedicated approved uh landing area that's required okay soort a cport yes yeah so that that they'll teach us about
it it's it's basically let's have a discussion about it and see if if uh if that's there so I was hoping to just get a vibe that from you guys that that's something you'd like to think about and then I was going to ask Tom uh as a future agenda item I'll work with him to
get a time when they can come in here and do a you know minute something actually um thanks for actually bringing that up CU that actually reminded me of one thing I wanted I'm sorry I know um Tom can I get an update on the event boat in the dock that's what I was going to ask about too yes yeah they see that
would go hand in hand try yeah yeah so uh we are um Public Works has engaged a uh design and engineering firm to kind of put together uh a a plan to to design what
we need um and so uh I don't know if we've been in touch with Fred at all uh but I actually saw I forget the young man's name who's partnering with Fred I saw him about two weeks ago and uh told him that we are working on the design
and engineering and he said you it was great and they're still working on their end and so we're moving forward okay that's all Asing forward we we it's it's in the works we got clear direction from commission to get on work it all together sorry I didn't mean to take you
any time can somebody tell us about this we're going to take a group picture at the end they'll explain it make sure yeah just one just one more thing um I just want to thank everybody for um
the overwhelming support that uh that I received over the past week um at the loss of my mom um we had a beautiful celebration um with some unbelievable turnup from from the city and and and the staff and the commission and uh my
mom lived 98 years and uh she's a winner we can all Only Hope for that and uh I I am beyond um humbled by by everything from flowers from the city that were just absolutely gorgeous flowers and from
every commissioner and and from so many people I it would be I would be ashamed not to just take a second to say there's no words to tell you how grateful and thankful I am of the people who showed up who I would have never thought and
the people who did show up who I can always count on so thank you all right okay um Tom yeah just uh briefly um I sent an email to the city commission uh moving forward with uh
working on the downtown project moving forward with Consultants moving forward uh on master plan uh so more to come on that uh and then just briefly um it's been incredibly busy lots going on uh
we're in the midst of georgefest I just want to thank not just the events team for everything they do but every Department George Fest touches just about every Department in some way so just want to thank everybody for everything they do uh and uh it's going
to be busy a busy weekend um but uh thank you to everyone for everything they do that's it thank you Tom Madam attorney nothing for me today okay uh I'd like to thank everyone that uh uh that came out to Panther pride in
the park uh the high school booster event uh for those of you that don't know we were were able to recognize the 1968 uh Bates Avenue uh High School state champions um who for whatever reason
were never recognized in 1968 so we were able to recognize them uh and I appreciate everyone that came out in support of that uh the Heritage you know as vice mayor said uh it's probably the longest
parade that uh that we've ever had uh over 250 uh vehicle spaces I guess you call it um uh it was outstanding the uh the festival was
great um tonight uh well it started 15 minutes ago hustus High School uh the basketball team there uh they are playing regionals uh so if they win regionals they go to State uh in Lakeland so uh
I'm going to try and get over there by 7:45 so if anyone wants to go with me uh please do uh George Fest busy busy busy uh thank you to everyone uh on the team that's working
uh to make it a success uh I have to give huge kudos to Miranda and her team who would have thought a big yellow duck uh would get so much
attention uh I was at Mount Dora high school and the kids over there they're all talking about it uh every news channel is talking about it so Kudos uh that brings us to the tricorns all right uh on Saturday
morning we are looking to break the record George Washington's University 3000 3000 we're looking to break the record uh 3500 so during the parade 3500 is it during the parade or prior
to okay great now um I I think everyone should look to our right uh your left we have two young ladies that uh I am beyond impressed
with um when they came on I thought yeah they can't handle they can't stick with us every time I turn around they're there uh and I want to publicly thank them both for what they're doing uh great job job you've taken us to another
level where really they made us look good and that was a lot of work that was a lot of work you know we're we're we're on TV we're in print uh social media I mean
they are checking all the boxes so thank you both for what you're doing so okay uh anything else all right meetings adjourn for