19 uh 2025. The time is 6:12 p.m. I'm sorry. 6:12 p.m. Thank you. That's what I was looking.
Uh please please join us for a moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance led by Commissioner Lee. Amen. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. 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. Speak it up. Wow. Good job. Wow.
Jeez. Jeez. You know that was nice. Yeah. Hear them yelling out like that. and they shall lead us. Uh Christine, a quorum and proper notice been given. Yes, mayor. Okay. Thank you.
Is there an agenda update, Tom? Yes, sir. Um I uh I would like to add a brief presentation by Joseé Muskan from Waste Management. Uh if I could add that after Eustace Jr. Panthers. So, item 3.15.
3.15. Um, I would appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right. Commissioners before us. Uh, approval of minutes for our May 15th, 2025 city commission workshop on Eastern utilities
and our June 5th, 2025. Move approval. Second. All right. Roll call, please. Commissioner Azotti. Hi. Vice Mayor Ashcraft. Hi. Commissioner Holland. Hi. Commissioner Lee. Hi. Mayor Hawkins. Hi.
Okay. Tom, coming up to presentations. Yes, sir. Chief. Yep. We got a presentation tonight for the US Junior Panthers. I brought the happy Gilmore check. Actually, can't cash this one. The real
um you junior Panthers, Coach Johnny, Coach Kyle, do a great job with these young kids. We gave him $10,000. This year we g them $10,000 to help fund the youth football program that they're doing here in Eustace. Doing a phenomenal job with these kids. And uh
uh I got to tell you uh it's first class, man. The city, we couldn't do it without the support of the city commission and everything that they do uh uh supporting us with the field and everything that prove they do with the field. We got a state of the art facility uh right here on B Avenue.
With that being said, further ado, do the check presentation. You guys want [Applause] We have a senior here moment here.
who had surgery, but she's recovering. She's a warrior. That's the type of commissioners you got here dedicated injured still. I want to take this time on behalf of the US Junior Panthers Youth Football Organization once again to say thanks to
each and every member of this council for continuously supporting this young program. And and I mean that I'm not running for uh any officers. design grandstanding. I mean that uh since 1993 uh this is his first class as it gets.
I've been around the world. I know a six and I know a nine and it now feels like we're getting a nine and I really appreciate being a part of this. Thank you all so much. Thank you, Chief. Everybody hates the police until they need. You
think so? Yeah, I know. That's good to know. I I just want you to understand that this is a lot of pressure. I'm very honored to have our boys and girls wearing us
police department logo. You guys don't see this here, but abroad these kids walk into another arena. They look in the back of the sponsor and this ain't the local pick and go. This is the city of Houston Police Department and that
comes in the back. At the same time, that comes with a lot of pressure to guys like me. I have to uphold this pro ways respective in this community. I want to appreciate y'all for just now just
thanks for just even having us right here on the front street. You know, when folks can see these kids, make a loop around. Hey, what's this? How can I get my kid involved? It's been first class. Thank you so much. Houston is a great city and it's all because of people like you and the community and what you do to
support these kids and support programs and I can't thank you enough what you're doing for these kids and these kids one day are going to come back and be standing up here maybe as police officers or coaches or commissioners or mayor or maybe even president of the United States and they're going to come back and remember this. So thank you. We'll continue to support you any way we
can. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Yes. Thanks, Kyle. Good seeing you, Kyle. Okay. U next up, presentation from Jose. Where did he go? Oh, there he is. Okay.
Mayors, commissioner, uh I'm Jose Bosan representing Waste Management. Uh I wanted to give a quick report on the first three months that we've had the new services. Uh everything has gone really well. Very few uh complaints or
any comments. Uh we address anything that your cons customers would would require and uh and we're happy just thank you for that continuing uh relationship that we have with the city. So, uh, I just wanted to come and thank you for that. Also, I'll take a a moment
and just say whenever you hear that we're not the greatest country in the world, those kids showed we are, right? The way to say pledge of allegiance, you know, that's something. So, you know, from an immigrant coming to this country and becoming an American, this is it just it gets to you, you know. So, but
uh and and the great city of Eustace, what the police department is doing is everything. you know, we all are part of this community and we just be very proud. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] Uh, next up we have Optimus Energies.
No, I'm sorry. Uh, Chief, there you are. All right. Thank you. Yes. All right. So, we'll get through this pretty quick. We have quite a few presentations today. U fire department. We've been waiting for this for a while. We have a lot of people to get pinned. Some of them
aren't necessarily coming out of probation, been out of probation for a while. So, I'm going to go ahead and call up five of our firefighters that are going to get in today as firefighters. They've been firefighters with us for over a year. So, that's why they're
getting off firefighters. Gage, can I get you to come up? Come up, John. Alexis. Alexis just made a year. Yeah, I think she's been around here forever.
You go through a task. You go through a a series of trainings. All these all five of these individuals have completed that. They're off of probation and they're fully they're getting the overtime. Unfortunately, they're getting the mandatory overtime, too. With that, I'm going to go ahead and
square you guys. Are you ready? Okay. As I read this, we already went through this, right? We're good. Okay. You guys kind of a half circle and hand on the Bible. I believe in the Bible. And another hand up in the air, please.
All right. Repeat after me. I state your name. I having been appointed to the rank of Having been appointed to the rank of firefighter in the useless fire department. Fire and the US Fire Department do solemnly swear that I will
do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Florida of the State of Florida and that I will faithfully discharge and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of such
rank the duties of such rank according to the laws according to the laws regulations and orders regulations and orders governing the US Fire Department governing use as fire department and that I will obey the orders and that I will obey the orders and directions of
and the directions of my superiors my superiors to the best of my ability to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. years ago. I did this over 35 years ago. So, um,
with that, this is the emotional part. So, I'm going to have all all five of you move over. And the first one I'm going to have come up is Gage Whitaker's dad, Paul Wicker. If you could come up. This is the fun part. So, one of the traditions we have in the fire service
is every firefighter gets to pick somebody to put his badge on his shirt. So, in this case, we have a legacy firefighter. He should be pretty good at that. [Applause]
You're the next one up. And I believe he has his father pinning him. All I have is dad here. [Applause] When we're done, can you come up front, please? He's a
unique individual. He is going to have please come up to them. Oh, Mr. is actually [Applause]
a long time coming, right? A long time. Yes. Don't stick her Darius. We have a bunch of paramedics in here. [Applause]
And I believe you have your family out. But I did. She's so do it. [Applause]
Come on over here. We're going to take a big picture. You get in cheap shape your shirt right up front. I do that all the time. I actually as
the book ends. That's a lot of people. [Applause] I think we're done. Got another Is that it, Chief? Okay. I hate to tell you, but I got
three more sets. Okay. We get paid by the hour. We get paid by the hour. Engineer. We have engineer promotion that could I get Garrett Griswalt to come up
[Applause] and Mr. BB [Applause] congratulations. These individuals have been with the department for a few years
now and they have reached all the qualifications that we have to be driving our big trucks out there. The last truck we just paid about$1.5 million for so it's a big deal. So pretty important. Can you guys kind of form a little half circle
please after me? I state your name. I have been have you been appointed to the rank? I have been appointed to the rank of engineer in the Houston Fire Department. of engineer in the Houston Fire Department. Do solemnly
swear that I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Florida and the Constitution of the State of Florida. And that I will faithfully discharge the duties of And that I will
faithfully discharge the duties of such rank such rank. According to the laws and regulations according to the laws and regulations orders orders governing the US fire department
governing the US fire department and that I will obey the orders and that I will obey the orders and direct directives of my superiors and directions of my superiors to the best of my ability to the best of my ability.
So help me God. So help me God. All right. And we have people coming up to 10 emerald. Eric Griswald, you have Lauren coming up. Yes. Fiance. His lovely fiance.
You're in for a treat. David Whitaker. Your dad. Where's he at? There he is. another legacy firefighter. You notice that with the Whiters and your
coming up, Mr. So, we're going to [Applause] Thank you gentlemen. Congratulations. I'll just get this.
Put a lot of bodies in here. 17 years, I believe. So, for kind of the at least I've been here at least 10 years. Um you're a great addition to our organization and we're excited for the things that you're going to bring forward to us. Are you ready for this?
Let's do it. Repeat after me. I state your name. Having been appointed to the rank of captain of captain's fire department, do you swear that I will support? swear that I will support the
Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Florida, and the Constitution of Florida, and that I will faithfully discharge I will faithfully discharge the duty the duties of such rank that I will faithfully discharge the duties of
such rank according to the laws according to the laws, regulations, and orders regulations, and orders governing the use of fire department governing the useless fire department. and that I will obey the orders and that I will obey the orders and directions of my superiors
and the directions of my superiors to the best of my ability. to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Come on up. He's gonna be by his lovely wife. I am I am a blessed person.
can come up. So, I want to point out this is actually my command staff, Deputy Chief Hiller, Captain, myself, the fire chief, and this is our fire support coordinator. So, this is really our first picture together.
[Applause] Next one. We're actually these are paramedic promotions. Uh if I could bring uh firefighter Z up. Firefighter Lorenzo. Is he here? I don't recall seeing him.
And firefighter Carol. I know Z is here. So, it's really important to point this out. So, we have a program where people become engineers and it takes them two years to do so. It's pretty big pretty big deal. But the the the bigger deal is when they become paramedics, they go
through two years of schooling to get this certification. We have three new paramedics. today. Uh you're the only one here, but I just want to present him with a certificate and recognize him for achieving that and a job well done.
[Applause] Picture work. Where's your stand? We have one special word we just want to recognize real quick. Also, if you can
come up well, Lieutenant Williamson. Um, it's not very often that we get to do this. Uh, I'm usually the old guy in the department. He had 25 years with us, which is outstanding. He's been an officer since I've been been around. Um,
a pillar in our department and we appreciate that. I just wanted to thank you, congratulate you achieving 25 years. Now, now the last one. This is This is pretty cool. Now that I have a really strong command staff, we
have a captain. So, we save a life uh so we have a uh situation that happened back in March uh on 1600 South South Bay, which is uh Somebody was enjoying their lunch there.
They had a full-blown heart attack. The engine showed up. The crews worked them. Um, and they're declared dead on site. They put the monitor on them. They were dead. They brought them back to life. Uh, the person a couple days later walked home from the hospital is living
a great life. So, when we get this award out, there's a criteria they have to meet. I don't want you to think we've only saved one life. It's only one life that we have that actually met the criteria. Uh these guys are making differences every day out there, but this is just one that we can actually
capture and record. So I'd like uh I don't think Lieutenant Shore is here. Gage Whitaker, we just pinned him if he can come up. Nicholas Z, our new paramedic, if he can come up. Jordan Bholder. Jordan Bholder is actually one of our lead trainers paramedics and he's
also lieutenant. And then uh engineering, where you at? Come on up. And then Jacob Bluffstone. He's going to be uh he's one of our newest firefighters. Uh I mean, you're like really new, right?
It was his first call ever. So you got a heck of a you got a heck of a career ahead of you. So with that, I can't find my actual. So this was this happened on March 24th
and it was at lunchtime. So, thank you for that. We're going to get a picture and I'm going to get out your pins real quick. Okay. So, they're going to get a Now, the first pin I'm going to give out goes to Bolder. This is a different from
everybody else's because he has multiple saves. So, we we actually upgraded the the more you say. So everybody else now I think I know this is your first congratulations
And with that, if you give us a couple minutes, maybe we get a group picture and then we'll get them out of here. We can start with the rest of the meeting. That's good. Okay. Everybody can come up real quick and let's get a photo. I know. Chad, the OG. Come on. We have
another one of these. I'm gonna get Okay. By the way, we have we have I think about 20 people here from our department. We have two of the department here. This is pretty good. And this the first time I've been on it
so much today. This the first day I've had [Applause] And while they while they're clearing out, I just want to say uh thank you for uh for letting us do this. This is a really big deal for the firefighters. It's a really great opportunity for us
to uh let the public know that we're here. And thank you for the support, Commission. Okay. Thank you. We could we couldn't do things like this without without the support of our commissioners and city manager and staff. Uh we'll give a couple of minutes for everyone to to clear the commission
room. Did she need to use my wheelchair? Some ice packs on. She's really scrolling up. Oh, really? Yeah. Good. Are you going to bait a steak? This is going to help pressure.
Yes. Stick your legs around. The more you can elevate it, the better. Higher you can you want to put the second pillow there. That's a lot. But the more you put that there. That's it. Higher you get, fluids will flow. Thank you so much. My
son taught me. Well, you could be his assistant. I was. I paid all the bills. edification. Okay. All right. We'll get started. Uh next presentation will be Optimus Energy
Solutions. Ben either one. Good evening. Are we Yeah, we're on. I do quite a lot of these, but this is the first time we've had to transition from life-saving pins to my stuff. Energy saving. Yeah, exactly. Uh Ben Poon, uh
owner of Optimus Energy Solutions based in Mount Dora, Florida. Local business. My kids, my wife and our kids go to school here in Eustace. And uh I will try to be brief. We had nice presentation there. I know you have a lot on the agenda. Uh but I I'll I'll try to be brief, complete, leave as much
for questions uh either here or offline that that that commit you as a commission would like. Uh the reason I'm here is I I deeply believe in the value of public private partnerships across many facets of society. In this case, our company has a program that we have been rolling out throughout principally
the Southeast United States at the moment. Um it just so happens that that we are neighbors. Uh I am I I've tried to back my belief in public private partnerships. I'm the uh outgoing or immediate past chair of Lake Economic Area Development. Um that I was very
fortunate and grateful to pass on to uh the CEO over at Waterman who's probably better suited and um and certainly I was happy to pass that on. Um we we were part of the group that brought 1 million cups to the city of Eustace amongst other things. And so just trying to show
our um engagement with the community as all. Uh we try to be aligned with our partners by providing a nocost service to our municipal and county partners. And what we do to to be succinct um is
we provide dedicated nocost electric vehicle charging amenities to cities, counties, states. And uh we do this through through a partnership in this case with Eustace. There's some unique qualities that I think make it somewhat straightforward discussion. Uh
principally, one of the things that one of the first things we are always asked is is what about parking? What about parking? What about parking? Um because I know it's a hot button issue for many cities. In this case, that's somewhat of an easy answer because as part of this program,
what we would be proposing is or what we are proposing is to bring high-powered uh fastpaced charging much like you would see at say a Waw Wa into the downtown area in this case Fen Park and at the same time removing the existing
slow chargers that are scattered throughout town actually capturing a little bit more parking capac I would say I would call it universal parking capacity. than currently exists while upgrading the amenity. And as part of that
exercise, the currently the city of Eustace makes an annual lease payment for those assets to take they did that to take the maintenance responsibility off of the city because they're a hassle to maintain. Trust me, I do it every day. Um and and part of this if the city
chose to move forward, whether it be tonight or or in con discussion with with attorney and we have a city approved um a municipal approved template agreement would be that those payments would go away for the the payments that the city of Eustace currently pays for their chargers. So
the city would gain a world-class asset amenity. They would recapture a few parking spots that are currently allocated for this scattered about the city and they would do away with the the payment that's currently
hits the P&L every year uh for the city. So I think the easiest thing is this is just a mockup. It doesn't have to be final. Of course, we work in conjunctions with utility companies all throughout the the country. We're actually in the process of taking over Duke Energy, North Carolina's portfolio
in North and South Carolina of these chargers. And obviously, this is a Duke territory uh as as we heard in the meeting preceding this. Um and so we would be proposing putting two uh fast charging stalls for for relevance, for
comparison, these would charge cars about 25 to 30 times faster than your chargers do now. So people are in and out of there. You're taking up less parking spots. It's a higher quality met. Yes, sir. How long does it take to charge them now? Uh to go to an entire right now you charge at about six,
seven, let's say 10 miles an hour and these charge at like let's say 300 400 miles an hour and and it really so it serves people that live in apartment communities, people that visit parks and recreation. That's a big one for us because you go down, you spend 45 minutes at the park with your kids. A
massive segment that this amenity helps cities with also is serving ride share which is a bigger and bigger uh utilization because almost all of these companies in particular Uber Orlando has massive incentives to electrify their fleets cheaper to operate etc. And so by
having this type of fast charging it brings more ride share object you know statistically quantifiably to the area because then now they have the amenity. Um and so it's it's something that people would use. We try to match the amenity to the use case. There's a lot of multif family around, a lot more
multif family coming. A lot of people use Fairen Park, my my family included. And so people would come and spend 20, 30, 40 minutes there and be gone versus now they might take up a parking spot for a day. So the ones that we have now, Ben, how long does it take to charge
from empty to full? About roughly 20 hours. 20 hours. Yeah. Okay. And if we do the new ones, 45 minutes. Yeah. 40 max. Yeah. 45 minutes. Yes, sir. Yeah. Okay. How are you able to provide it free of charge to the city? Yes. So, what we do is we enter into generally
they're 10-year agreements with an entity, oftentimes public in this case, sometimes private entities. And so, we bear all of the cost. We do all of the utility work. We put the utility meter in our name. We pay for the electricity. And then we uh we capture the revenue
from the stations. So, it's a pay for use. Yeah. Yes. And and would the cost be more than we're currently charging? The the cost the city charges now I I don't actually know what the city charges because that's not been part of our purview. But
but gen I think a direct answer to your question is slower charging is build at a slightly lower rate. Fast charging is build slightly higher. But in every one of our agreements, we have to be in line with market rate. And there's a Florida hybrid average and that's basically what
we what we charge. Okay. Yes, ma'am. I I I think this is a great complement to what um we're doing in in uh in promoting our city and in uh activating our parks and getting people to to charge up and come take a walk in there.
Um this is just another great step for us and it saves us money. Yeah. How many spaces are you thinking in the park right now? Right now, we're we would only take we would actually end up taking three parking spaces because most code requires them to be ADA, not dedicated, but just accessible with the
aisle. Um, so we would take up three parking spaces for two chargers, but remove the six spots that are currently used for charging in the city. and and I'd like to see him uh work with whatever development we end up doing,
especially on a hotel side, uh to provide those services to make it attractive for a place to stop to in in in use. If we you can have that conversation when the time comes. Sure. And Ben, this
once you put these in, these come up on the map for chargers. That's correct. It's integrated in almost every dashboard. It's integrated into Google Maps and Apple Maps automatically just through the backend APIs. Uh and so any driver that has those and use those
tools, which is how they find them. It would drive them to our downtown. That is correct. It it meaningfully drives traffic. Yes, that's the best part. I you know, I've I I've seen projects that Ben's done and um very very up to date with what he's doing and I'm I'm proud
to have him wanting to be a partner with us as a city. So been an optimist that I think they're a great company. I also appreciate his leadership in Lake County. Um and those are the folks we need to be doing business with. And he lives in the city. Absolutely. Amen.
Okay. So I don't know what we need to do, but I would motion to ask for we we uh we direct Tom to get it. Are you good with him? Emily? Yes. So, are we are we doing a contract with him? So, that
would be up to Thomas and Sasha. I wouldn't I would just like to know what the charge is for him as opposed to what we're paying now. Right now, I think I'm pretty sure we're paying 250 an hour. And I and I know there's, you know, there are some towns that that actually don't charge anything for residents to come come
charge cars. I don't Well, we've been there and done that. Yeah, we've tried and we we've worked with a ton of cities and we've tried Sorry. Sorry, mayor. We've tried to advise them all against that. That was interesting 12 years ago when most of these were funded with grants and there was and and they were
trying to drive those folks to spend the money downtown. But I mean that's you know you're giving away fuel really at that and and I think that one of the things that we've had is you know we've had pe people to come before us and they say well why why are we paying why are
you paying for their you know the gas in their car essentially. So, but I I I live and and you can and you can only do do those in Fairen Park. You can't do one downtown anywhere. The the the the big cost of these is the
electrical infrastructure. And so clustering them, for example, we just put two downtown Ocala and we're putting seven downtown Winter Park and all of those are I guess my answer would be we have never done an agreement with multiple locations because it becomes
cost prohibitive. Okay. Thank you. All right. I'm fine. Let's go with it. I'm fine. I said go for it. Thanks, man. And we we'll we'll work on that. I did want to uh answer your question. I don't know if the commission remembers, but we
were uh we charge per uh hour uh for charging, but then we were debating how much to charge once a vehicle is charged to promote turnover. And so what we're charging right now is $ 250 an hour to
charge and then $10 an hour once you've charged. So if you fully charge and you kind of hang in the spot, we're in effect penalizing you at $10 an hour. I think you brought that up. Do That's a good thing. What do you you do for that, Ben? Yeah. If there's an overstate.
Yeah, we we give a grace period. Usually it's about 20 minutes because then people can wrap up, pay their bill if they're eating a restaurant or whatever. And then it and then we go at about $25 an hour, I think, is is is the penal rate. Yeah. Okay. All right. Talk about motivation. Really, Sasha? Anything?
Okay. All right. Tom, you want to So, we uh Sasha and I uh will work with Ben to put together. You said you have a template. Yeah, we have what what I would I'm not speaking over you. What if if you're okay, I will send you a word version of our current municipally
approved because it has the insurance taken out, you know, the Florida statute stuff and then you guys could redline anything that you see. Is that okay? Good. Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks, man. Okay. Next up, we have a presentation uh
G3C2. Mr. Derek Good evening. Evening. Uh, basically I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to present what I consider my plan for developing the central business district. I'm Derek
Wallace. principal G3C2. What I want to talk about the central business district is larger than three blocks. It's expanded area. This is basically our major master plan scope and I'll talk about more of that
in detail as we proceed. I'm excited about being here because I've been working with this project for over three years. It was a day that I got a call from Pam Revas invite me over to to talk to her and George about how to develop
the three blocks. And basically I said, "Well, let me go back and think about it." And I went back and I came back to Pam and I wrote him a 19page uh letter to say, "You can't just develop three blocks. You got to develop the downtown
district and produce a master plan. And basically the master plan has been done and we're basically uh indicating or driving the development based on the master plan one block parking garage and and mixed
use town houses or block mixed use and mixed use and family development. a hotel. And I got that idea because it was bought the last time that it might be better in a hotel beat down by the community center. And I did some
research and it showed it should be. And then I looked at the community center. Uh the community center I like to convert that to the event center just expand. I I'll show you how we save uh to cook over a million dollars because
we just expanded the facility rather than just tearing it down. And then we have proposed to take the the Clifford House Museum and relocate it. We have not made a decision. That's your decision. But this is how trying to
bring ambiance to to to that particular thing. Our development team was in the packet. I know I'm not trying to go through everything because you had a packet. I don't even know if you had a chance to to read everything. We did. We tried to be thorough because I think you
deserve that and and we we as a firm had not given you the things that you should have got. But this is my take. The heron is the parking garage in mix and that's my name. I just named it that. It doesn't mean anything be called in. But
you got 250 parking spaces 150 available to be paid use. Ground level retail 7500 square ft. modern apartments. These are just pictures or renderings to show you it
won't look like a garage. It is a mixeduse facility about $36 million. And this these are the ways that you obtain the financing. Uh based on based on my schedule, maybe 20 30 will be when it be completed in
January. Block two, we're talking about 20 or 35 town houses. Again, this is what what what we have. Now, we did a a uh feasibility study for this and basically
it said it's good. It can work. December uh 20 or 27th will be the completion date for that. We go forward uh mixed use and family block three. Uh basically is a market rate far street level commercial
space and retail a community audience space and parking structure with 120 uh true level parking structure within the facility. Again showing you the picture and we did a feasibility for that and that feasibility study which was in the
packet says this can be done about $40 million and again just showing how it possibly can be financed. Can you go back to that last one, please? Yes. Yeah. Okay.
Okay. All right. Okay. Uh so we projected maybe February 2029 uh community center. This is the area where I got the idea from from one of the council people that it should be on the water about the
water and we did that and and and this is this is a where you took the left hand top building is what was there and the one on the bottom right is what it look like. So you've taken a old
building and because the money was not there to just build a to building but you had square feet we save a million dollar because they were able to do it in tranches. We're talking about possibly relocating
uh the uh Clifford House Museum render of the event center 7500 ft expansion rather than just tearing down same site that we located September 2026.
The hotel it could go back anything. This is just rem or I don't like the hotel and you know as a part of what we're we're doing we are not trying to to do everything.
Okay. I have never wanted to have have exclusive rights to doing everything within central business district. Now I have a chance to say I did not do a study for the hotel about $9
million to build a hotel May of 20 2028 restaurant really trying to out think and make the best of what our uses could be 5,000 square feet
again renderings showing what could possibly be there. Here we have one vendor was interested in doing the restaurant. So we will build the facility at this particular company. But there no
commitments to any anybody or anything or anything because that is something has to be worked out with the city and the develop September 2028 also for the restaurant park. Now this this is one of the most import things that I want to really
bring to your attention. Fair and part is your catalyst for growth. You got to concentrate on fair part. I know you are doing some things. I hear a lot of stuff about uh marinas and stuff like that. But this is your catalyst.
This is the draw for people to come uh to use. And that's what we got we got focus on is fair. Uh we're talking about prominades, uh, secondary walkways,
active railways, making it a place that people want to come come to. But most important also is marketing, branding. And as we were doing the studies and stuff like that, I volunteered to to pay some money for
marketing and branding because I know how important it is. It's essential to shaping the public. It drives economic development and creates a steep uh identity for downtown. That's what you got to have. You got to have something that's going to drive defines
who we are as a community, captures unique uh strengths and values, creates a positive image and and and and what what I did is I went out to several firms to get a proposal because I thought it was important you guys knowing what it would
cost to market. It's about $300,000 for three years and they do marketing branding for for the for uses, but you need money uh also to do some of the things that they recommend. And I know you don't have money just sitting there
waiting to market downtown. So through talking with the firm that we talked to which I included at this proposal in the bar also uh they are being paid by CRA funds that's just
something for you to consider very important understand the real estate master developer they are the ones who responsible for blinding the vision financing infrastructure and stakeholder interest
to deliver a cohesive high quality and community aligned development. A master developer is the one who basically control what I'm scared of right now is that we approach a silo
type approach. There's no focus on the goal of developing downtown just building one here. You got to work the the waterfront the the marketing and and and
controlling the process. What I recommend is the umbrella approach. Everything comes under the master developer. You bring in other developers who want nothing that I have proposed today says
I have to do it if it's just someone who build a hotel which I've been told. There is, you know, we don't deal a hotel. We work with to do it. But you got to oversee who's going to oversee the construction and coordination stuff
for the development. So that's what a master developer does. They set visions. They understand feasibility and risk communication capital structuring and financing. And basically
that that's more the report. Uh didn't want to go through all the details because I'm sure you read all all the information that we had. But I want to point out, you know, I've been involved with this project from day one. And even through uh the uh time that we were
doing the master plan, uh it took a lot for me. Everybody heard that, you know, there was a system and there was and and we got got through that. When I stayed there, our business models were different, but I stayed there because I
didn't want uh used to city to be embarrassed by G3C2. So I stayed and I talked to your staff
and indicated I would to make sure it continues and I still believe I believe wholeheartedly in this particular project you had confidence in me uh first to order plan I'm I'm saying still
have that confidence because Derek Wallace believes in this particular project and he wants to have to partner closely with you the community and other state other developers and stakeholders
This is a project that I I see as opportunity to really take us to another level and make it place that it wants to be. I now like to open it up for question answers, but I'd
like to ask you to really consider going forward G3. Thank you, Derek. Questions? I don't have any questions, but I I just want to say Derek, I know that you're committed
and um and I appreciate all you've done. I wanted to show the public the work that you've done. That book contains everything that he just condensed and it shows the work that Derek has worked hard on. Um not only have you done that,
you put a lot of your own personal money into this project so far. So, I just want to tell you I appreciate it. no matter what the commission decides to do. Thank you uh for your dedication to Eustace and to Central Florida. I know you've done a lot over the years and I
do appreciate that. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, I have I have to echo that. I uh when I when I got that book, I was like, "Wow, that that that's something." Uh, and I appreciate the work that you put into it
and and I I I think what I appreciate it wasn't a hard sale. Um, which it's like, okay, you you gave me the opportunity to read it and just kind of take it in. So, I appreciate that.
Well, I I don't want to walk in here tonight with that book. We appreciate it. We appreciate that. I can see you walking here with that book and And so we try to get it out Friday and give you a chance to uh uh again I want to thank
thank George because if I've never been called over to talk about this I would be standing here tonight. So I want to thank you George for doing that. U but you're not going to find anybody anybody more committed to wanting to see this
happen and I'll work as hard as I can. If you go forward with me, if you go forward with me, I'll show you that we because I'm looking at other things. People are looking at just build. I'm saying you've got to do these
other things. You got to to develop, expand fair. You've got to to market and brand the city. You got to have controls in place and not just have all these things. the city I don't think has the
capacity to be managing you know all these different uh entities but I think the door is open uh I am not looking to say I got to do all all the things what I'm presenting to you uh today was
basically what I could possibly do but if there's other opportunities deals that the city you make those decisions but I I was trying to convince you that I have the capability of doing what you asked me to do, but at the same time,
I'm I'm very open. Uh it's it's your it's your mist. So, um Derek, we do uh really appreciate all the work you put in. Is But is Jerry still involved or No, no, he's not. No. Okay.
And I walked into and he walked the next day. I got everything signed. The person that's running
that place gives you my commitment to stay with your project and work as hard as it is to get it done. Derek, what's the largest project you've done? 7 million. How much? 70 million. 70 million. And what was that?
Development of student housing and family. Okay. All right. How long did it take you to do it? Well, let's see. It took took about nine months uh to to do the due diligence and and the drawing
and stuff like that. And then it took about 20 months to actually build of the facility included dorms and included a dining hall you call it a hub.
Okay. All right. Have you done anything locally? No, sir. Okay. The facilities. Bam. You were beautiful. Yeah. I think up there. Yes. Okay. All right. I think that there is a lot that we've
been presented tonight because we had at our meeting at four o'clock we had a great presentation. We've heard from Derek. I think we have got to now put us and refocus us back onto a page and I think that's going to be something that's going to take a lot longer than
me giving a commitment than I'm I'm comfortable with going with tonight. That is my opinion. I think we're going to have to sit down and talk again as a commission and refocus ourselves. Yeah. Yeah. I think we need to to kind of give Tom how to
give him some direction and come up with a timeline of when we want to do it. Um, sounds like a workshop. No. July 19th. I'm gone. Just kidding. Oh.
It's a it's a lot to consider. So, you know, we need to we need to do what's best for Eustace. So, you know, and as you know, there's a possibility to do a hybrid. Yeah. I mean, I I'll I'm go ahead and say this because I said it before. I don't I don't know if having one one
person do everything is probably the be the best. I think I think every lot of development should be should be opened up for bid and and have a little more competition. Things have changed since we started all this. So, you know,
you and you you're right and and my concern is is if everyone's building at the same time, I think we have to identify what do we want first. Um, I think we talk about a
garage. That's probably the most eminent concern that we have and kind we we I think we as commissioners need to decide what do we want to do? What's the most important thing that we should start on because building all at one time will just blow up the D. Well, I mean, we we we could be in charge of when we put out
the RFPs when we want to stage stage the development. So, we would be in charge of that. I think um we could we could do a logical progression of from here to here to here and just you know but once again we have to do that as individual pieces not as a large not as a large
development and and maybe that's a conversation that we need to have. Do we do do we do each block? So but how are we going to do that? I think we got to be driven by the if I could throw my two cents in. I think we have
to be driven by the project at hand in front of us. A perfect example is what we heard earlier. That's that's uh something that definitely should get our attention. So that's a project I'd like to see us move forward on. Um
you know I as Derek said and and thank you for the compliment. He you know he he came when we called him. Um I think uh I think the partnership could have been better. But uh uh at this point I I am in agreement that we need to look at
each project as it comes forward. I think I see him more as a um and just to explain myself as a almost a consultant driver of giving us a vision but I read his agreement twice and it took me two
and a half days and uh I've got about 180 questions on it. Uh there is some deep deep things in there that we would need I we would need a good long workshop to just even understand. I don't think we're in the business of operating hotels. I would love to be the
charter boat captain for the hotel and I think Michael will make a great front desk manager, but I that's that's not where we need to go. So, the proposal for us to own the hotel, for us to operate it, it's just it's not I mean, it's funny, but it's it's not because
this is this is the most important thing in in my world right now, other than my family, obviously. But, uh um I I think I'm I'm with you guys on each project, opportunity, what makes sense, what our
community is, um uh you know, and and following through. We don't want to shut down downtown and that package. It's an all at one all at one. We definitely don't want to do that. Um so parking's back on the center line. I'm not going to go down my 100 and whatever. But um thank you. I appreci I appreciate
everything and the time and the effort that he puts in and and there very well still could be a place, but it's not going to be in my if if it was up to me and I'm just one of five on a grand everything to one person kind of
scenario. Well and well and I think that's what he's saying. fine with that. But I and and and I agree with Mike. He, you know, he he's he's he's stuck with us. Uh he's put his own money into it
more than some. And uh I me personally, I think there there is a place for it. Uh and and I want to I'm just putting that out front. No. And I and I agree, but I think I agree. But I think we need we need to take a step back. We got to
take a step back now and you know uh we've presented a few other things. I think we need to take take a step back and and look at what we think is best for everybody. There may be other residents of Eustace. Yeah, there may be other work for I'm sorry. No, go ahead.
No, I'm done. Yeah, I was going to say there may be other proposals out proposals out there that we might consider. Um, you know, even in Daniel talking about what he wants to do and there may be other people who might be interested. I think we need to um get all of that so we can have a better idea of where we're going and what we're
doing, but we need to we need to come together on that soon. Well, I think uh Go ahead, Derek before I Well, I understand what what you guys are saying, but uh one thing that um I think
somebody has control what you're doing. Okay. Well, hopefully that's us. you uh have all these different projects. You don't have a capacity. Well, I don't think you have a capacity
within the city to oversee all these projects. Okay. All I'm saying is you know u I think um you thought that I wanted to do every project. What I what I presented was a plan because you asked
us to develop downtown and basically present a plan and I've also said that you know if somebody else has idea as the slide indicated if there's another developer it comes up for us to
work together somebody has to control it and and I guess uh you don't really understand the marketing and and the uh putting together the expansion of u
part. Somebody's got to over So Derek, are you saying you're that somebody who can help coordinate all this? Is this what you're saying? That's that's what I'm saying. You come on, somebody has to control it. Somebody So if you got another
they come to the developer city, y'all still make decision. If you don't work in marketing and and park, you know, at the same time, you're not going to have people here to to to
go to the hotel. You're not going to have people here to utilize the restaurants and stuff like that. You know, all trying to get you focus on that it has to be some kind of control. And if it's not me, it's just going to
work out this way. But it doesn't make sense to to do all these type of projects and expect the city to to oversee the construction. I don't I don't I don't think we would oversee it anyway. Yeah. We would like just for
example, we would put out an RFP and say do this one lot. Then we then we let people come in then then you're then the developers in charge of it, not us. We have to oversee the developers. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's why we have developers agreements. I think it's important Tom I had a conversation with
Tom which I know is would be we we are shifting a little bit with with uh Rick in his position to oversee somewhat some of the stuff where we need some guidance and then we have GMAN that we're paying for as well. Um, it seems like we got
another another consult. Hang on. Let me Hang on. We Okay, fine. I I I think it's different. Yeah, I think it's different. I know. And I don't think Just be respectful. Let's all be And I don't think I don't
think that Rick um Rick has the time to oversee the construction of downtown. I I I think I think the goal of the reorganization was that Rick would be managing city projects and the city's capital
improvement program. Um that said, uh public works and engineering would certainly be involved in what's going on in downtown. Um, but I don't I don't see
I don't see Rick as being a development manager, managing the development in downtown. Certainly involved. We're not developing say we're not developers either. We're we're right now we're property owners that we're trying to develop. The developers do do that.
Anyway, Derek, I I know there's been there's been a lot of changes since we started all this and honestly for me it's it's taking a step back and regrouping. That's that's all it is. And and we want you to be part of the conversation down the road. We really do. I just I just don't know what that is right now because, you know, once
again, we've we've been presented more more information that we need to we need to get through. That's fair. Yeah. I mean, we we really do want you to be part of the part of the conversation down the road. That's fair. Yeah. I think that uh we have, you know, because we know how long it takes us to get
together to do anything. Uh we've got to figure out when we're going to get together. And at this point, our direction for Tom is to find a date for us to sit down and talk
talk this through. Yeah, we you agree. We can work on that. Okay. I I will say that it's it's probably not I mean July 17th is our next commission meeting. I don't anticipate a workshop with
vacation schedules and work schedules. I don't see something happening before July 17th. No. No. No. I if you if there's availability, we'll pull it together, but I don't I don't think it's going to happen. I mean, but what would that workshop look like? I mean, what what's the goal of that workshop?
You know, we're telling a couple of different people that we're going to get back to them. Okay. And and you know, Emily brought up, we we got to figure it out. And it all comes back to we have to sit down and we've got to
figure it out. And we can't we can't just do it health or in these kind of meetings. I mean everybody said it's only two meetings a month. We know that's a lot. Okay. So we need to go forth and buckle down and get it done
because if we don't we don't make anything done. Exactly. I agree. and and we have to decide if if we want to do the block, you know, everyone to do a block. We have to decide if we want a
master developer. Uh yeah, I think those are conversations and I think we're going to have conversations quite a bit more than some of us want to have over this development being one of the biggest the biggest things we've ever done in our history of our city. So, we are going to be we got one chance to do
it. We have to do it well. Look at how we look back at other commissioners and said, "Look what they did and they what they didn't do or how they didn't do it right." So, we've got to we don't want to be those talked about. We want them to say that commission really did it well. And we can't do it unless we get
together and really search this out and pour into it. And my challenge to this commission is let's get it done. Yes. And I think we've done more than than we've done a lot to be proud of in what we're doing and how we're focusing on
the water uh activation and and uh what we're doing uh with community interaction and everything. We're we're we're doing we're doing some great things we got to be proud of. But yeah, I I think u we got a big job ahead of us. Uh so Tom, as soon as you can get
everyone's calendar, let's I I would think that for me it's probably going to have to be in August. I think August is probably good. Mike, when you pass around, we don't want anyone to know when to break into our house. I'm good. Once I'm back from DC
on the 6th, I'm good. Okay. Mr. Mayor, if I may just briefly something that I wanted to point out um earlier we had the presentation um from Center Green and the the proposal itself uh at the end
mentioned a conveyance of of property that was would be within the CRA. It's owned by you know it's it's city property. um statutoily even though it was an unsolicited proposal we would need to open that up for competing or other submissions proposals from other
parties because it is conveyance of city property. Um taking that into account and the potential uh waterman site involvement plus what we have going on here uh with G3C2 and additional proposals for that. I mean, we're looking at needing to open open this up
uh for advertising and have a notice period there, be able to do internal reviews, presentations to commission, etc. So, just kind of want to bring that up and factor that in that if that's the direction um that the commission wants to go in, I mean, we're going to need to
put this out there and it may be beneficial to get the notices out while the scheduling happens because if if we wait for the workshop to then end up having to advertise, there's we really I mean the minimum would be 30 days, but we're going to need more than that. So, it's just something to consider. I don't
know if Tom, if you have something to add to that. Is that necessary in unsolicited? I didn't think it was. It is necessary. It does not um a private public partnership uh even if it's if it's uh unsolicited
does not in any way remove the requirements of 163 380. So it's it's absolutely mandatory that we do that and there may be other unsolicited that comes forward. Right. Well, we know who there is. There's going to be I think Daniel has told us he's come forward. So hopefully Mr.
Mayor. Oh, I'm sorry. That's what I'm trying to explain to you as as because I would have a master developers agreement. All of those will not have to go through us in the city process. You can bring
them right in under the under the master developer and you can decide what you want to do. That's as simple as I can put it of how this can be done. It would avoid doing the unsolicited offers. You're just bringing that ect that
agency or that company or whatever in and cutting the deal because you won't have to go through that list. If you when you go unsolicited, you have the choice of not a choice but you could possibly have somebody else to come in
or whatever. So, it's not guaranteed you're going to get that person if it's fairly done. Okay. But as a master developer stand right here, you choose what projects and you won't have to go
through that because as me developer I guess you could select projects but I would select them based on what you want. So I just like to think that when that's why why you have your meeting. So you're thinking more of not so much of us thinking you're bringing a proposal
to develop everything but you're seeing yourself as the master developer and the other as we go things you're overseeing it and keeping everything on track. You have you have a control uh environment where you're doing all
the things that are necessary for this to be successful. You know uh I'm sorry that that what happened in the past. Uh I've never wanted to say do everything, but I had to put together uh a plan that
showed what I could do. And that's where I present. Not to say that, you know, I got to do this. I got to do that project. You know, like you say, I've heard there's different things that George wants.
So all you have to do is bring that into the end and that's where you want to do it. You negotiate work overse [Music] um we are under no obligation at this point to pursue that avenue and just
based on all the feedback that I'm I've heard u it may be better to decide what kind of RFP you would want. I mean, are we looking at proposals for each parcel, for the entire uh view, something encompassing other areas? Because it's
it's kind of murky right now, and I think that that would is actually instruction that Tom is going to need in order to put that out there. Um the control aspect of it is something that the commission wanted to retain. So, I'm unclear as to what the the format of that is going to look like. And of
course, you do have um Gman York that's here to serve as your consultant to give you kind of that guidance. So perhaps with um some of that feedback from him, we can kind of tailor a better RFP as far as what the commission is willing to do and how to move forward. I I I think
I'd like to see us um if I can talk in general, I'd like to see us put out an RFP for that community center um against what uh the Hoffers uh put forth if that's what we have to do and pick the
best best for Eustace and And in Willy's words, let's let's get that segment going because the famous line chewing and walking. Let's get that going over there and we're going to meet maybe in August and decide the next pattern, but let's get something going.
Well, I think that there's definitely additional conversations that we need to have regarding that site. So, there's definitely additional conversations that that that we have to have. I kind of felt like we had a consensus
on that, but I I guess I was wrong. One of the things I I wondered about what will we do that community center is used a lot and and the community needs conversation. So what what are they going to use? How are we going to do it? How are we going to provide services until that's done? That's a long time.
And so I think what in response to that um that is a very big question to be answered. It does get a lot of use. you saw uh the file that Sam put together uh there were 200 entries over the course of a year. So it was it was booked or m
or used 200 times. That said uh I want I want to be clear that is our responsibility to figure out meaning uh the um the hoofers have come forward with their uh proposal. Uh it is not their responsibility to provide a
community center. that is our responsibility. Uh that said, I think we have that responsibility and we need to have some conversation as to what we're going to do there. Um it's it's all um there are a lot of moving parts and one
of those moving parts is if we're committed to providing that reasonably priced event space, then we need to figure that out, right? Uh but it is our responsibility. It is our it's definitely our responsibility. I think we need that and I think we have a target idea where that's going to go.
So, um, we do. No, we don't. We don't. No, we don't. I know. Okay. Um, so the direction um I guess we will
I don't know what the heck we're going to do. Uh what I guess we will just I mean do we do we just need to we need to say how we feel? I mean I I mean Derek like I said for me it's going to be I'm not going to continue the agreement the
agreement right now until we take a step back and look at all this and then we want you part and we want you part of the conversation down the road. That's that's me. Well I accept it. I'm just trying to that's just me. I mean if that's what if that's the direction that Tom needs I'm I'm that's that's where I'm at. I think Sasha was bringing up
what we have to do if on that side and I had suggested that we go out with an RFP for that limited project and I guess that's something we got to decide. I it doesn't sound like the mayor's in favor of that but No, I think there's
additional conversations we need to have about the community center. Yeah. No, I think we need an alternate place. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think that's something even to address with them and go through in a development agreement. And we have, I think, some other options. But I'm not going to give the
go ahead to do that until we have our conversations. I I can they overlap because an RFP isn't a commitment on a binding commitment. It's let's get them in. Let's take a look at them. We see something we like, we pursue it. We don't, we pursue with them. We see
something better. All this is happening simultaneously to what you're talking about. at any point we can pull the plug on either one of them. What if we decide we don't want to use that site and you've done an RFP for so what we've done tons of RFPs that we don't you know
we got to know we'll make that decision if you see something you like and you know five of us like or we move we just get us stuff keep the pipeline coming in but no we're not yeah we're dating we're not we're not getting well and and and we still got to have the parking
conversation let's not forget about that along along with along with all this I Let's move on. Yeah. So, uh, any want to say anything? I'm We did meet with FinFrock. I don't know if you're interested in a quick update on
that. Uh, yeah, please. So, public works set up a meeting with Finnfrock. Uh, they've updated the construction numbers on a uh ground plus two levels at the uh the site uh east of Atlantic Coast. Uh,
and uh, $6.9 uh, million dollar for a very basic garage. How many cars? Uh, it's about 260. Mhm. 280. Um, and then it goes up to about 7.4 if
you want uh, facades and uh, the brick veneer. So depending on what you depending on what you want it to look like, it's somewhere between 6.9 and about 7.5. How do we and thank you for that, but how do we know that's the right spot for the parking garage if we
do something different in downtown? I agree. It needs to be part of something. How are we going to take care of that? How are we going to know where we need to put all the And who knows, we might have enough surface parking. Maybe we don't need a parking garage. Don't forget there's service parking on the other side of uh Grove Street where
people used to park when the hospital was here. Do we even need a parking garage? How are we going to figure that out based on everything else that we're doing too? a parking study. That's how government works. I mean, I'm not kind of hate to tell you, do can
does friend Frock do that or uh No, others would do that, but I guess I I know it's c it's chicken and egg, but I I guess I would like more direct. I would like to know more about where
we're going with some of these downtown projects. I mean, we we can break the three blocks up. Uh, but I'd like to know more about what's happening on the three blocks before I commit to a 7 million parking bill. And I and I think
that may be part right now, we're only thinking one big project. And maybe we do need to sit down as part of our our workshop and go block by block.
That's I'm definitely for that. Go block by block. Open it up. When we're ready to open it up, open it up and develop it in a logical way that doesn't stifle the downtown, that has plenty of parking still available, that has parking for uh
construction workers, that has room for drop dropping materials. I mean, we are we are we are smart people. We we can do this if we if we do it the right way. And I think we should be in control of when we do what and and and how we do
it. But we are going to have to have a talk about parking if we decide to do anything. And we don't know if a parking garage is the best spot on. I know the master plan said it was uh but they were thinking a hotel was going to be on the
uh lot facing uh Bay Street. If we do something different, how's that change where the parking should be? And do we even need a parking garage? We there's there we have a lot of I think we have a lot of surface parking here that people don't realize. So, but Mr. Mayor, um it's getting late already and I I this
is a workshop discussion. So, can we please move on? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, do we want to answer her question and do we want to put out an RFP, let it come back, at
least get that technicality out of the way and we'll make a decision. We're not And it's nonbinding. It's Well, it doesn't sound like we have a consensus for an RFP to go out. Um for exactly what the terms of that would be or
so there'll have to be a workshop and and then yeah, would it be possible for us? We're always thinking about like a workshop in the evening. Would it be possible to have a early morning breakfast workshop and then try to get some things done? Um and then I'm okay
with that. I'm good with that. I think that would be a good thing because we're always trying to do evening or whatever and everybody's busy and if we and then we could do it sooner. We did mornings. We did Saturday mornings. We did. Okay, let's let's look at that time and we could probably do that before. Yes. What
do you think? I in a couple of the doodle polls I've done, I've thrown out some early morning meetings and there was not a lot availability, but I I will I will send another one out with some morning hours and see if it approp.
Let's go. I think 7 a.m. would be appropriate. And and I'm good with that. So, we have four of the five. Okay. All right, Tom. Let's look for it. 7 a.m. I think it's our travel schedules in the summer and all that that's created the problem. In one extra
sentence I want to throw in, I would ask that Tom consider soon as some of the dust settles to go ahead and schedule us for workshops in 2026 so that when we make our arrangements, we we put the city first. We um we've talked about that with the finance department and the
budget work the uh budget process. We do need to get budget workshops on your calendar early 2026. Okay. Um I I don't want us to I just I'll end with this is my last statement. That's what you say. I don't Well, this is this is dead serious. I don't want us
to miss out on people who might be willing to come into our city and drop 40 million bucks because that's a that's an honor. Well, you know, and and and I'll say this, I agree. Uh, I appreciate people coming
in, but I'm not going to rush for the sake of we are working for the people and there are things that I want to make sure that we take care of there. There uh answers to questions that I have and I'm not going to rush. Uh, I'm
going to quote you on that. Okay. You've been rushing us all along. I want to quote you on that. I'm I'm not I'm not going to rush. No one's gonna paint in haste. Uh, and uh, I want to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. No, no, we we can do that, but I think this
is too important to make this decision tonight. Okay. Thank you. So, can we get to the rest of it? Uh, I think that um, uh, Derek, we're going to have a workshop. We're going to talk things over, but I just want to thank you for
the opportunity. Okay. Thank you. We appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Uh, next up, are you all still here? Um, let's see. The appointments, the housing authority. The housing
authority. Have you got the audience? Yes. Okay, Tom. Uh, yes. I'm sorry. Uh, I don't have anything prepared for uh Eustace Housing Authority. Uh we have um one applicant
for this position and sorry I don't have my glasses on. Reverend Brockington. Yes. Um is currently serving and has requested to continue to serve and he is the only applicant for the position. I'd make a motion that we approve him.
Okay. Why does it say one commission? I figured that time I think that's what they called. They called them. They call it. Oh, yeah. Mhm. Okay. So, okay. Second. Was there a motion? Yeah. George did.
Oh, I'll second. Okay. All right. Roll call. Commissioner Ashbody. Yes. Vice Mayor Ashcraft. Hi. Commissioner Holland. Hi. Commissioner Lee. Hi. Mayor Hawkins. Hi. Uh Mr. Brochington, thank
you for uh uh continuing to serve. Uh we appreciate it. Uh anything you'd like to say for like 30 seconds? Yes, sir. Okay, 30 seconds. I'm count that side. Fine. Good evening, uh mayor,
vice mayor, and commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. been serving on the board for Eustace Housing Authority since January 1st, 2017. It's been a pleasure working with the other board members and staff as well as we continue to strive to achieve great
goals of providing safe, decent, and affordable housing opportunities for residents. I'm proud to announce that the housing authority is pursuing some unique and exciting development initiatives this year. And I'd like to know that we I like for you to know that we're looking forward to working
collaboratively with the board as we begin planning and implementing new development projects. Thank you for your consideration. Thank Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Okay. Next up, audience to be heard. Uh Tom, do you have any
cards? I do. Um I have uh George Warren is representing both the Lake Community Foundation this evening as well as Bay Pharmacy. Did you want to speak under audience to be heard or just in case there are any questions on the lease?
Okay. I um and I have a card from Cindy Newton uh at the time of the item. So I do not have anything for audience to be heard. Lily George, do you have an update on Tom Hoffmeister?
It's not good. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Okay. Keep them in our prayers. A massive heart attack. Okay. And he's not not well at all. Okay. Thank you.
Okay. U is there anyone in the audience uh that would like to be heard? And all right. Thank you. Okay. Uh next up, uh consent agenda. Is there anything that they won't want pulled?
Mr. Mr. Mayor, I move approval of the consent agenda. Second. Okay. Roll call. Commissioner Ozbody. I. Vice Mayor Ashcraft. I. Commissioner Holland. Hi. Commissioner Lee. I. Mayor Hawkins. I.
Okay. Next up, uh, resolutions. Uh, madam attorney. Yes. Thank you. Uh we have resolution number 25-48, a resolution of the city commission of the city of Eustace Lake County, Florida, authorizing the temporary donation of vacant municipal office space to US
House representative for district 6 for official legislative use, providing for conditions of use, findings of valid municipal public purpose, retention of city access and compliance with law, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date.
Tom, did you want to speak on this or I I have not prepared. Okay. Well, I did a staff report. So, Representative Fine, um, he's has provided us with a the proper documentation, uh, from Congress in order to comply with any, uh, ethical
issues as far as having space and, um, it would allow him to be able to hold meetings with constituents uh, on a nonpartisan basis as well as conduct official duties. And I believe the space will be part um, there's an office uh,
just for him and and staff. And um it would be in the police department. Okay. Are there any questions for me on that? No. In for the the online search of him, does it show the police department as his address?
I don't have that information. Should. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Should do we know that, Tom? Okay. Not yet. Okay. All right. Okay. But it would be by appointment only and it has to be during business hours. So it's not constant um Okay, perfect. And
almost all the meetings are with staff. Am I right, Mike? What's that? Most of all the meetings are with staff. Absolutely. Okay. Okay. No questions. Okay. Okay. Any questions? Do we have any cards on the No, no cards. Um anyone in the audience would like to speak on resolution 25-48?
Okay. Seeing none, I will close public hearing. Okay. I I move uh approval of resolution number 25-48. First and properly second. Roll call. Commissioner Asbody. I. Vice Mayor Ashcraft. I. Commissioner Holland. Hi.
Commissioner Lee. I. Mayor Hawkins. Hi. Next we have resolution number 25-49. A resolution of the city commission of the city of Eustace, Florida, approving and authorizing the execution of a subreient agreement with the semino county sheriff's office related to the central
central Florida highintensity drug trafficking areas HITA program grant number HID0325G0478-00 chief. No, I'm just kidding. It's all right. I assisted with this preparation. Essentially, um the police department
participates in uh this program which is uh a program that assists in avoiding or trying to reduce uh drug trafficking in the area. And um the Seino County Sheriff's Office received a grant that they're in charge of basically
administering. So they're acting in a fiduciary capacity. were one of the of the members of that um group and as a result for participation there are certain expenses that are eligible for reimbursement and um that is what this
agreement outlines and it provides for the instructions of how to submit the receipts and all of that so that the city can receive funds uh to be reimbursed for those expenses and uh it would be obviously a benefit to the city. So, the police department is asking for approval uh to enter into
that agreement and give the chief the authority to sign it. And it's only reimbursible funds, right? That's reimburseable. Yeah, it's a federal uh grant. What? One second. Any questions? Any questions? I'd like to say that Sheriff Le's one of the finest men that I know
and the Simol County Sheriff's Department is just a phenomenal organization. So, anyone in the audience like to speak on resolution number 25-49? Seeing none, I'll close public input. Mr. Mayor, now I can move. Okay. Second.
Move it properly. Second, Christine. Commissioner As I, Vice Mayor Ashcraftoft. Hi, Commissioner Holland. Hi, Commissioner Lee. Hi, Mayor Hawkins. I All right. Please bear with me for
this one. Uh, ordinance number 25-09, an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Eustus, Lake County, Florida, amending the city's land development regulations, amending section 109.4 use regulations table to classify concrete aggregate shredder/crusher
as an industrial use and to specify the land use categories in which the use is permitted by right or subject to conditional use approval. Amending sections 115-3.1 urban districts, 115-3.2 suburban districts, and 115-3.3
rural districts relating to district regulations. Amending sections 109-5.4 urban, 109-5.6 suburban, and 109-5.8 rural to update performance standards. Amending section 110-3 regarding
development pattern and design districts. Adding a new section to one to section 110-4 building lot types to establish a single family detached lot type which may be renumbered as necessary. Adding section
115-4.1B3 to establish open space requirements for single family subdivisions, multif family, mixeduse, and town home developments. Adding sections 115-4.9D to allow store storm water facilities to function as amenities. Amending section
115-7.3 to require street trees and to prohibit on street parking on residential streets unless designated parking spaces are provided. Amending section 102-21 regarding site plans and preliminary plats providing for legislative findings
providing for codification severability conflicts scriveners errors and an effective date. Mr. Can I just say ditto? Okay. As we talked about earlier, uh based on the the Kimley Horn workshop,
uh you know, we we do have uh draft uh architectural guidelines and development standards. now and uh you know we need to change our land development code just so that we can roll out this particular program as um as Sasha pointed out in in the
lengthy discussion you can tell that there are a lot of nuances that that have to get plugged into the land develops real quick. Uh again as was pointed out there is a a new building type that will be the single family uh detached
building uh lot type and it's basically 100 foot wide and in essence it's 100 foot deep maximum type sizes. That's in essence 10,000 square feet. Uh in in reality that would in essence require developers who are building uh
subdivisions over 10 lots to basically have four units an acre. That's all that they can have. A builder acre is basically 40,000 square feet. 10,000 square feet per lot. Uh that in essence gives them four units an acre. Uh we we
recognize that not all developers or very few of them are going to be interested in that. So in essence, how are we going to get them to uh to follow our our new guidelines? uh basically by having uh them come before the community or the city com commission u and ask for
waivers and in essence uh by using that u the waiver process they will ask uh for um the the building lot type whether it be the house lot type the the homestead the cottage um or um I think
there was the estate size lots uh and of course the the estate size lots are really in essence what the 100 by 100 are. But uh they will be coming to you guys and asking for waiverss upon uh I guess the uh uh the process where
they're they're trying to to move forward with the subdivision. Uh so uh in essence um we uh we are requiring them to u to follow a couple of other things. Uh we've got the culde-sacs. We're going to try to discourage the the
use of culde-sacs. We're going to try to to to promote more interconnectivity uh between subdivisions. If they choose to go culde-sacs, then in essence, we're going to make them have those as private streets. Uh but if they choose to at least allow stubouts uh to adjacent
properties. Uh then in essence, we will accept those as as city uh type streets. Uh we also are trying to discourage double frontage lots. uh in essence trying to uh to prevent uh you know so much crowding um and allow a little bit
more open space on those intersections. Um as part of this we're also looking at at street trees. Uh and of course this uh was a a discussion that that we had early on
before we ever had uh the Kimley Horn guys uh involved. Uh we we basically were we're interested in trying to have more trees in the subdivision. A typical lot right now requires three trees. Uh in the past, what we've required is for them to have one in the front and two in
the back. Uh with this requirement, uh they're supposed the the subdivision developer himself is supposed to be able to come in for every 40 foot of the uh the frontage on the lot, uh he is required to put in a street tree. Now he
also may come to the city and ask for a waiver of the uh the street tree or or a quantity uh to be decided by the commission if there are some unique circumstances particularly related to driveways and and things like that. You
know Mike, can I stop you for a second? Yeah. I actually took a picture of my neighborhood. It has a example of that. Okay. See how see how nice that looks? That's what I'm thinking it'll look like once it's Well, and again, as part of as part of the ask, we're we're trying to
get them to to basically look at doing the the variable setbacks and and that's really what this is all about is trying to to vary uh or encourage them to do the uh the variable side, rear, and front setbacks and including porches.
Sorry, just a second. Okay. If you could please text this to Christine or email it to her so that we have it as part of the record. Yes, absolutely. As we talked about earlier with the the open space uh issue. Uh I think Tom alluded to this the fact that uh we're
we're trying to get them more the open space areas more centrally located particularly when it comes to town home developments or multifamily or mixeduse type developments. At least that way they're more centralized. Um again if if there are unique circumstances you know
obviously we can make provisions and you know right now um we haven't really had any major issues with uh the uh the recreational facilities not being centralized. But uh we're also talking about storm water. We
talked about the the storm water ponds. Uh we're trying to get more recreational activities around those storm water ponds and them utilizing them. And again, we're also trying to encourage them to do more landscaping around those type facilities. The the uh on off streetet on street
parking is is another area that we're pretty much uh making adjustments to. We're trying to to limit that on these type of streets. the the street uh the the street types uh primarily are are
the um residential streets, the residential roads and the alleys when it comes to these type of subdivisions. Um one of the things that we did encounter early on was was basically some concerns from uh some large property owners. And
so what we decided to include in this uh revision was that all the the the the large properties that are in that suburban residential category that are over 300 acres uh that they be uh responsible for doing a master planning
effort before they're ever able to develop on those properties. and and we have uh feedback from uh one large developer that he he's good with uh with doing uh you know best practices and uh
and and requirements that include um you know having sharet process have uh development standards within the subdivision covenants and restrictions and uh and other things that basically
um I guess lend itself to the the better planning practices. Are we still going to have PUDs? Yes. How's that How's that differ than what we're doing with this? Well, you know that the PU PUDs are pretty much master
plan, too. That's true. Now, PUDs are generally are going to wind up or or they can actually pop up in in other districts. I mean, you can have them in urban residential districts. You can have them in the uh suburban um I guess uh well not suburban
residential that's what this is but you could have them in even the rural residential areas other districts like MCR and districts like that. Yes. Okay. Thank you. I like this one ma'am. I said I like this one. I don't know anybody else but I just wanted to
point it out. Okay. And then of course we've got basically the u I guess the the time to challenge. And in essence, each of the sections that that are we're trying to make adjustments to, we're basically allowing those who want to challenge us uh to
have a 90 a 90day uh I guess notice that when whenever this ordinance is passed, they have a 90-day period to to contest or or take the city uh to court in a court of competent uh or or the court of
competent jurisdiction. to uh in essence uh challenge us on on these particular ordinances. So u why 90 is 90 normal? It's actually short. Exactly. It is. We
went on the uh longer side just to provide sufficient notice. Um, typically it could be 30 days, but we wanted to make sure that everyone had an opportunity to think of their options, maybe come to the city and get clarification as to how it could possibly impact them, if any
impact actually exists for them in case they don't understand exactly what's going on. I thought it would it's just better to give them a bit more time. And Sasha, correct me if I'm wrong, but you if you are interested in annexing into the city, you do not get the 90day.
It is only people who are currently in the city and currently have SR have 90 days to to challenge this. Correct. I mean, if you're not, this is only for those that are within city limits as as of the moment the ordinance is passed. Okay. So the last item that we included
involved the the table of uses or the use regulation table and this was associated with the last annex not maybe not the last annexation but this was involving the sangster property and basically in essence what we're proposing here is to include that that concrete aggregate shredder/crusher
uh and basically allow it to be a permitted use in the general industrial and the the public institutional as a permitted use and basically as a conditional type use in that mixed commercial or mixed commercial industrial category that MCR district
that Mr. Sangster was trying to to to work on or trying to annex. We we did notice this in the newspaper first and second readings and at this point staff is recommending approval of this.
Any questions on this item? Uh just just one thing, Mike. Um the 25% that that Cindy was talking about uh in the earlier meeting. Uh
are we good with what we're doing? Correct. At this point, I mean, I guess it depends on who you ask. I mean, 25% it was 25% right. It is an open space requirement in our code. It's mandatory that they set aside that the subdivision
developers have to set aside 25% of that development for open space. I mean and and that's and they can make that like between the houses and all that stuff or in front of the house. Is that considered part of their open space? No, it really isn't. No, I mean a lot of it
is just uh some of the the uh the perimeter property. A lot of them have buffers back there where that they tend to become walking trails or walking paths. Um you know the uh the recreational areas I mean those are included as open space and um you know
again at the end of the day uh 25% off the top is is our requirement. So I mean it it is a you know it is mandatory. So, um, I'm being told that that's not accurate,
but irregardless of of the accuracy, uh, I mean, you know, we get criticized for basically how we interpret the code, but I'm here to tell you that basically you can look at the site plans and they will show you, you know, they they normally
will put on the the site data table that the 25% open space is there and and you know, in the development review committee. I'm just saying I'm confused. I I mean, you know, again, that this a lot of and this goes back to trying to
explain what our code says. I mean, it it it is in there as a mandatory requirement to to include that and and the developers or those who develop here, they do include those numbers on their their plans. And and you know, for
instance, like Hidden Cove, I mean, they they had a a significant area around that that eastern edge there that that where they tried to to save a number of the trees. And then they had, you know, the little area that um that included
the the actual park itself. And again um you know the u that amounted to about 25% of that whole entire parcel. And so again it is uh it in some people's mind
you know they may prefer us to go 30 and 40% but at the present we have a 25% open space requirement there. Okay. All right. Any further questions? Do we have any cards on the item? Uh, I don't Cindy,
did you want to speak on this? Thank you. Cindy Newton uninccorporated Eustace. Excuse me, I'm losing my voice. Um, I would still ask that the Wakiva study area
be looked at more closely. actually look at the statutes at the recommendations that came down and what your code was at the beginning. And actually the recommendation for the
Makiva study area was 60% open space when it first opened up for discussion and Eustace wanted to be the city of open space and also as far as the impervious
surface being restricted to 25% in the in the Wakiva study area when it is high recharge. That has nothing to do with the the scrub, any of the
vegetation. It states high recharge. The high recharge soil is type A soil. It's really easy to determine. And please take a look at that. We're losing our recharge. Currently, we are overpumping
40% for the Vikiva area. And we're losing our river. We're losing our springs. We're overpumping. We're under recharging. We've got nutrients
flowing into it. So, please take a look at it. Thank you. Anyone else like to speak on this item? If you could please come up and state your name. Good evening, commissioners. Uh, my name
is Jane Hepting. I live at 206 Magnolia Circle Eustace. I live within the city limits. I'm just kind of shocked that the city is thinking about taking on or annexing, I guess, properties with over 300 acres. You
know, smart towns came and told us we need to be building up and not out. I don't understand the whole purpose of this new ordinance if we already have planned unit development regulations on the books. I just think it needs more
study. What what's going on here? What's the uh motivation? Who who wants these rules put into effect? Open space 25% is not very much. And if you're trying to count um the retention ponds, I think
that goes against the wisdom in other planning documents. The retention ponds are not supposed to be part of the open space. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else like to speak on this item? Okay, seeing none, I'm going to close
public input. Back to you, Mr. Mayor. Commissioners, I just have one quick question. Mike, is is a retention pond? I got to keep it simple, but is a retention pond supposed to be counted in that 25%.
Should it is it does the statute say it does? The ordinance rather, the the ordinance doesn't say that it it has to be. No, it doesn't say that it doesn't have to be either. So, it's vague. No, but what's interesting though is a lot of the and this is part of what we were talking about earlier. When you wind up
with a big uh storm water pond in your subdivision that looks like it's a football field, it in essence becomes a playground for the kids, particularly those who want to play football, baseball, basketball, uh you know, that sort of thing. Uh volleyball, soccer, I
mean it the kids will find a way to use it uh if if they don't have any other places to play. uh in in essence uh you know they so it's not clear whether it should be counted or in your opinion no not counted but but again uh what we're
proposing is that the the open space area uh it may not be true open space or counted as open space but it is in essence uh has been underutilized in a lot of the subdivisions u I mean what
we're trying to encourage is the the at least the the aesthetics around the the whole entire neighborhood by at least beautifying it. I'm all for that asset instead of a liability. I'm just on the technicality of that. And I I might correct me if I'm wrong, but the
language we're adopting tonight says if you're a developer and you want to use a retention pond at towards your open space, you have to add amenities. You have to make it active recreation to use it as open space. So the language you're
adopting tonight actually actually makes the developer do more if they want to use retention as open space. So we're adding protections and we are adding amenities to subdivisions.
Okay. Anyone else? Okay. Mr. Mayor, I move approval of uh ordinance number 25-09. Second. Okay. Uh, roll call, please. Commissioner Obott, I. Vice Mayor
Ashcraftoft. Hi. Commissioner Holland. Hi. Commissioner Lee. Hi. Mayor Hawkins. Hi. Next. Oh, sorry. Uh, we are past our two uh two hours. How do you all feel about continuing or do you want to There's
only three more things to do. Okay. Okay. All right. Okay. All right. Uh we'll have presentation on uh ordinance numbers 25-10, 111, and 12. The first ordinance is ordinance 2510,
an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Eustace, Florida, voluntarily annexing approximately60 acres of real property at Lake County Property Appraisers alternate key numbers 3977568 3957567 and 3450680
located on the west side of State Road 19 along Ruth Avenue. Mr. Richardson, this is a request for annexation, future land use, and district assignment for uh property owned by Greywell LLC. Guy
Graford is the applicant. This is approximately 610 of an acre in size. Um it will bring that 610 of an acre in from Lake County urban low to suburban residential and suburban corridor as the
design district. property is located just west of State Route 19 along Ruth Avenue which is an undeveloped a basically a dirt gravel road. Um and it is just north of the
auto zone. Uh they're just above the 104 intersection. Aerial view there as you can see there's single family residential along the state route 19 frontage. I think there's I think there are four houses from the north of Ruth Avenue coming south. So
there's I think one one or two vacant parcels in between this parcel to be annexed um and and the nearest single family at least along Ruth Avenue and then there are single family residences across
to the west. Um property is in Lake County uh joint plan or in the planning area with Eustace and Lake County. Um, it does meet the requirements for voluntary annexation. Uh, it is directly
contiguous on the south side of the property to current city limits. Um, original notice was provided to Lake County on May 16th, 2025. Um, newspaper advertisements ran on June 19th and on
June 16th. Um, the requested does meet chapter 163 of the Florida statutes as well as our own land development regulations and comprehensive plan regarding the annexation of segment of land use.
Again, currently Lake County urban low which allows up to four dwelling units per acre. Um going to suburban residential within the city which is our basically our lowest typical suburb or residential land use district that we
assign to properties. um at five dwelling units per acre. Actually, as you can see to the east, that is all suburban residential. Um the future land use element is consistent with the surrounding area. It
is the closest um land use designation to the current existing Lake County designation. um that for our Cy 44 State Route 19 intersection is urbanizing, has been urbanizing for the
last several years. Um that one essentially pointing this out, boiling it down, these properties are not impacted by wetland. They're generally not impacted by 100-year flood. They are not within the study
area and they are in a low recharge um potential for low recharge area. I say potential because the maps are generalizing. Uh the requested design district again is suburban corridor that's kind of keeping along with the um with the rest
of the surrounding area. Uh again this is the util generalized utilities water line is available on the east side of the property. Um so basically would be the back property line. Um and then at the intersection of Hazelton Road/
Ruth A um is where the looks like a sewer stub out is there may be additional sewer out there. The maps that I have possibly are a little bit old as well. Okay. Uh again not really impacted by the flood. does touch the front property
line out along Ruth Avenue. Um wetland it is not does is not impacted by wetlands. Uh generalized potential recharge again is in that 0 to 4 in range per year. Just again reiteration that yes, it is
directly contiguous with current municipal limits and staff is recommending approval for actually all three ordinances 2510, 251, 2512 for annexation. Thank you. Any questions for chat? Any
questions? Do we have any cards? Tom, anyone in the audience like to speak on ordinance number 25-10? Okay. Seeing none, we will close public input. Mr. Mayor, I move approval of ordinance 25-10. Second. Do we want to
wait for commission? He's locked out. It's a good thing. Uh, roll call, please. Commissioner Ozbody. Hi. Vice Mayor Ashcraft. Hi. Commissioner Holland. Hi. Commissioner Lee. Hi. Mayor Hawkins. Hi.
Next is ordinance number 25-11, an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Eustace, Lake County, Florida, amending the city of Eustace comprehensive plan pursuant to Florida statute 163.3187, changing the future land use designation of approximately60 acres of recently
annexed real property at alternate key numbers 395,7568, 395,7567, and 345680. generally located on the west side of state road 19 along Ruth Avenue from urban low in Lake County to suburban
residential in the city of Eustace. We've had presentation. Are there any questions on this item for Jeff from the commission? Okay. Anyone in the audience wishing to comment on ordinance number 25-11? Okay. Seeing none, I will close public
input. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, I move approval of ordinance number 25-11. Second. Okay. Motion properly second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Ozbody. I. Vice Mayor Ashcraft. I. Commissioner Holland. I. Commissioner Lee. Hi. Mayor
Hawkins. Hi. And last is ordinance number 25-12. An ordinance of the city commission of the city of Eustace Lake County, Florida, assigning the suburban corridor design district designation to approximately 60 acres of recently annexed real property
at alternate key numbers 397568, 3957567, and 3450680, generally located on the west side of State Road 19 along Ruth Avenue. Any questions on this item from the commission? Anyone in the audience wishing to speak
on ordinance 25-12? Seeing none, we'll close public input. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, I move approval of ordinance number 25-12. Second. Okay, it's been moved properly seconded. Commissioner Asody, I. Vice Mayor Ashcraft, I. Commissioner Holland, I.
Commissioner Lee, I. Mayor Hawkins, I. Thank you. Thank you, Sasha. Okay, next up, future agenda items and comments. Uh, Mike, just uh thank staff. Um, happy 4th to everybody. Um, also, um, Miss Florida
is next week and we have, uh, our Miss George Fest, Jada Carter, uh, in that competition and we wish her the best of luck. Some of us will be traveling down, uh, every night to to watch her compete in Miss Florida and hopefully bring back that crown this year. Hope. All right,
that's it. Thank you, sir. Okay, Emily. Yes, I'm I hope you can hear me. Um I would like to um express my gratitude and thanks to the American Bloom um advisors who were here. They um received
a tour. They were very impressed at all the new activities that we've accomplished and um the next time we see them will be in September at our conference and hopefully we will come back with some good hardware because of the success of
the things that we've done. They're very imp. They were very impressed with with everything that we've done. I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to the city staff, merchants, the library, trout lake, public works department, park and wreck and events department. Um, without all
of them, it could not have happened as well as it did. We also had a a butterfly photo contest and uh that was at the library and the library has whole wall put up. people were very creative in how they um posed in front of the
butterflies. I encourage you to take a peek at it if you can and I thank the library for all that they've done to support us and the different programs. That's another thing I wish more people would take advantage of. They do so much in their u workshops and and um teaching
um possibilities. So, uh, I thank you again, Ann, for all that you've done for us and, um, in, um, promoting American bloom. It's going to get better and it's going to get bigger. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, George.
I I was also had the privilege that that uh, Emily invited me to be around with America and Bloom. And uh the more I meet with them, the more I see and the more I see the responses from our residents and our constituents, the more I realize what a great great program it
is. Um Pam and I were had the honor to be at the manufacturers of uh in Central Florida's um convention and get together on uh Tuesday and uh we met we met with quite a few manufacturers
uh from the uh area and some from outside and and uh we've got a couple really good leads and a couple good meetings uh coming up. So uh I wanted to share that with you. uh when people are hearing about Eustace, I was approached by Seminal County's uh uh people in uh
they were surprised uh by our advancement and how well we were doing and and that we competed against them for uh for Opticon who who chose uh to come here overseola. So, I think that's some a pat on the back that we all deserve as a community
that we're that we're doing what we're doing and especially a thanks to to Lake Tech for taking a big active role in in that as well. They are a resource that just continues to impress me uh by the minute. I got a letter like all of you
did from uh our county commissioner about getting together and chatting about JPA and and all of that. And um I've I've more as a civilian before I got up here had mixed thoughts about up and down on that. But I do think um we
should give each of us should give Tom some some opinion uh about some of the things that are that are on our mind for that. And and I think we should go to that June 3rd meeting and um I think there's a lot of things we need to talk about. Everything from enclaves to roads to monies to funding to all of those
things. June 30th. June 30th. I'm sorry. What did I say? Okay. Um, so I I think uh that's something for us to certainly think about. Um, other than that, thank you, sir. Okay. Thank you,
Tom. Yeah. Uh, so I was going to mention that we've been invited to participate. I think all the municipalities in Lake County have been invited to participate. Uh, so we'll be going to that uh June 30th meeting. um wanted to um we got
some good news this week and I wanted to thank Tristan for hanging in with us. Uh but also thank him for all his hard work and of course Representative Cobb uh for championing some uh appropriations projects. We got some good news this week and uh also want to thank
Continental Strategy, our lobby group uh who's done a lot of good work for us on that. uh they've asked to come and do a legislative update uh on July 17th. So, I've added them to the agenda. Uh but again, thank you, thank Representative Cobb's office for all her work in
Continental Strategy. Um budget, we are um continuing to work on the budget. I want to thank staff for all the hard work. Uh we do have a budget workshop scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Saturday the 21st. Um, you do not have your budget
document yet because, uh, we are still working on it. Uh, I don't know if you noticed, but um, Lori and Mary are not in this room because they are actually up in finance still working on the budget. Uh, but we are going to uh, get
you uh, your budget documents tomorrow. uh we'll bring them uh out to you uh deliver them to you um so that we can get started on that process uh with you on Saturday. I do want to point out that
um we are aiming for July 17th for a um um tenative millillage. Uh and so tomorrow, uh I don't want to say it's the beginning of the process because we've been hard at work, but it is the beginning of our process with you as far
as budget, but we do have about a month to continue to work with you individually uh answer questions uh and uh sharpen the pencil. And then approval will be in September. So we will continue to have some time to work with the commission on budget. Um but um
thank you to the staff and uh thank you to the commission in advance for all your hard work on that. Uh and then the only other thing we've already mentioned we'll be having a trails update uh from Mike Stevens on July 17th. Uh but I want to thank Miranda for all the hard work
she's put in related to trails. uh because this is a a multi-jurisdictional coordination with Lake County uh Umatillaa Tavveraries uh and then at some point the state uh potentially the railroad so it's a very complicated
transportation project but uh thank you to Miranda for all her hard work uh and that's all I have madam nothing for me this evening may I ask one question please does anybody when is that light on 44 going to be
activated? It's just been hanging there. Is it ever going to be activated? So, the update that I've seen is um DOT is working with Duke Energy to get the power to the light for it to be activated. That's what I've heard.
I think I saw an email to that effect. Thank you. All right. Thanks. Okay. I um uh I want to thank uh the vice mayor for sitting in for me while I was was gone. I Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I listened in and he did a great job. I may or may not
have uh uh uh let him know that I was listening, but yeah, I did. Uh I um speaking of Duke, um conversations are being had and and I probably shouldn't
say, you know, I came home, you know, on on Facebook. On Facebook, everyone complains about the polls. You got the biggest one. I got the biggest one in Eustace in front of my house. So when you complain, I don't
want to hear it because mine is bigger than yours. Um the um exactly uh but we are having conversations with with with Duke about
trying to pretty them up. So because and and because of America in Bloom, we're like, you know, we're doing all this downtown and then so we're we're we're working on
that. Um time uh we're trying to get downtown done. We're going to have to devote the time to get it done. And I I think we all feel the same way. It's taking us too long. So, I
just ask that everyone, you know, look at your calendars and I know it's going to be tough, but let's start kind of uh you know, uh buckling down and just getting getting our downtown figured
out. Uh I think we come back every uh after every other meeting and we put the same things. What are we going to do? Who we going to be? Let's let's finally put that to rest. and figure out who we are and what we want to be.
And um a reminder, we cancel the meeting on July 3rd. Our next uh commission meeting will be July 17th. Uh and as Tom said, we have a workshop starting at 900 a.m. on Saturday
morning. And I've requested that we stay and get it done. Hey, how long we stay and get it done? You see, Willie, I agree with you, but
the problem we have is that we we have made a lot of us have made very important family first arrangements. So, we're torn between two lovers. You're you know, you're right. I I agree
with you. But I'm torn between two lovers every time. sends that out. Well, that at my church, they always say family first. I mean, we can't we can't I agree with you. We can't Sorry. If we don't if we don't get it done, we can't
we can't have like maybe just one one backup because I can say I I know I've got family in town because I thought we wasn't having anything on Saturday. So, Jamie invited all her family down from South Carolina and Missouri and they're all at my house right now and I had to
give up all that time on Saturday. which I'm okay with. I'm just saying if we get to the point where it's maybe we can't have one one backup one backup day. Well, I I like what what Tom suggested until noon because I have family coming also and and they come on and they'll be
here Saturday. They leave Sunday and and actually what and what my worry is is we're not we're not getting the budget numbers probably what until tomorrow. That's my main concern. So then and and it's going to be just probably reactive. we're going to have a lot more questions and it's going to take us a little longer to get through everything. So, I
mean, we all we all we all do really put in a lot of time for the for the city and I and I don't mind putting in the time, but I I think we should have a backup day. I and and I put in just as much time as everyone else. Uh, no one
says you don't, but we we got a deadline that we're coming up to and we've got to get it done. So if I I'm sorry if I may the focus tomorrow will be the general fund because we do want to move forward towards a tenative millage rate on July
17th. So we will the plan for tomorrow is we will do a big picture overall budget presentation. then we will focus on the general fund and then uh if we can get through the general fund then I've asked that we
start on utilities uh and storm water and um um the road fund. So we are not planning to present uh CRA and CIP tomorrow. Uh we will have to do that uh
on another date. Okay. Let me ask you this. If if everyone's concerned about do we want to start earlier? I just How long do you think I'm sorry? How long do you think it's going to be up to us? We probably can't because it's
already been advertised. It has been. So true. Um I I guess what I'm saying is is that we will not be ready to present you everything tomorrow. We we need to so we won't get it all done anyway. So we need to we'll be
focusing on general fund. We review it. I just general fund we should be able to get through by one o' and and and it also allows us think about it. We're getting we're getting the book and then we've got to spend time on the book and then this and I
want to be prepared. I know that I'm glad we're only getting a segment of it. We get it done then. If we get it done, we get it done. If not, we going to get it done. Saturday, you're going to get it done. No. If I'm here approving it by
myself, I'll do that. Deal. Well, then I guess I I I guess we're here till we get it done. All right. Um, bring your handcuffs. Okay. Uh, anything else? Anything else?
Okay. All right. Ajourn.