e all right good morning everyone happy St Patrick's Day today is Monday March 17th 2025 it is 9:00 a.m. all council members are present including Town attorney Town Clerk and town manager if you please rise for the followed by the Pledge of
Allegiance we thank you for being with us here this morning as we begin this meeting let us take a moment to express our gratitude for the opportunity to serve this community we are thankful for the people of Fort Meers Beach residents visitors and all who contribute to make our Island special may we approach
today's discussions with respect understanding and a shared commitment to making decisions that benefit everyone let us be grateful for the chance to work together for better future for our town amen amen Al to the flag of the United States
of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right now we have the approval of the final agenda there is one item um Town attorney would like to pull
per item the settlement agreement is that correct that is correct um we have some additional changes and uh when this one comes back to you we'll have a signed copy in the agenda so no more changes okay are there any other changes to the
agenda is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended so move second got a motion by councelor King second by councelor Safford any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed hearing none that carries unanimously
public comment M uh up first is Becky Knight following Becky will be Gary Knight hi good morning um I'm Becky Knight and I was here on a last council meeting back in uh let's see that was on February 18th so this whole thing is on
Miramar street we have a setback situation um I've been trying to communicate with Frankie and uh the zoning part and um I'm here to really honestly just tell you I'm just disappointed last time I was here on February 18th I was told by you guys
that I would be communicated back with and I have had zero communication until I emailed Jim on March 6 and said hey I've had no communication at all since my last meeting I was here and then he emailed uh Frankie and them guys and then he got a response back from Frankie
back to Jim then Jim fored me the email more or less just said the Builder can do it 12.6 feet the Builder can do it uh I for you all the email that I received and it was pretty just blank like really no questions answered no concerns or anything like that so um I'm
disappointed with uh again I was promised that I would be communicated with and I've had really no information at all my biggest thing is what I want is I want to know how you got to 12.6 setback I've asked for ordinances I've asked for all kinds of things exactly how did we get there how did we get to
the 12.6 this this Lots 100t long and they want to build 12.6 ft from the road 12.6 ft from the road um I just like I said if you look at um I've looked through all the diagrams that they have sent me um if you see
here on table 34.3 zoning districts talks about residential families it says you know sweat backs 25 ft lot size at 75,000 or less this is a $5,000 5,000 ft lot but it has nothing but parallelograms in here supposedly last July you guys created a
parallelogram uh ordinance to kind of help out a little bit of a swing just to be 17 feet it is right now drilled at 10 feet4 there was a mistake they they submitted two things to U the zoning at 104 and um I caught it and I'm like hey
hey come come take a look at this this wrong then they try to say well it's really 126 so we're going to make him move it back 2 feet um to 126 that's still the house is still when they when they did this the house is at um supposed to be 25 ft back right now it's at 23 because they did it at the
original Planet that they put submitted again I all I'm looking for is a communication with you guys I'm looking for somebody to sit down and talk to me about this um and that's all I mean I've emailed and emailed and asked and asked and that's all I'm asking and then one other quick thing
the building coverage is only supposed to be 40% or less if you look actually on the uh plans it'll say right here this one is at 41 here we go 4134 uh the building coverage you know
on a lot so again it just comes back to that we have small Lots 50 by 100 and we're building bigger homes then you can't almost build on a bigger lot because of these uh parallelogram rules I appreciate your time thank you
Gary Knight following Gary will be uh Philip miger everyone um it just boils down to this these plans were push through in my view in record Pace 6 weeks from putting them
in to getting it approved there are multiple issues with these plans the 40% uh there's two different measurements on the site plan the site plan is at 12.5 the drainage plan is at 10.4 which is where they drilled it just so happens it's the one that's bigger so they're
going to just beg for forgiveness I'm sure um you know you know how that happens you know um it just so happens uh that they went with the the bigger holes so less there's no driveway on
this place I mean if you're building that close to the road this is a four bedroomroom four bath house that's just for rental where are we going to put these cars they're not going in my yard they're not going in my neighbor's yard
like promise you that uh we stopped the work with on this ourselves realizing something was way off I mean just by looking at where they're drilling I'm like what are they doing and then you know obviously we would just they would have built it and
it said oops our bad you're just going to have to give us a variance now for this building that's right by the road um knowing how particular this town is with other people's plans and setbacks this just doesn't add up the 6 weeks all
the mistakes in fact I think it stinks a little bit it smells a little if I was a beton man I would put money on Everglades being the one asking for the new parallelogram rules I don't know I could get a lawyer and find out if I wanted to but there are no issues with
the old rules in fact three new buildings on our street and the fourth in the planning stage have managed to build big beautiful houses 17th at least 17 ft from the road with a parallelogram swing of 8 ft which is fine they can
park they can everyone can live um to my knowledge everglaze is the only Builder using these Neals because every new building on our street on just on Miramar they're not going with these new 12
foot5 uh things uh anyway back to our safe issues we haven't we haven't had a single answer on any of our safety concerns parking blocking the road of emergency vehicles being able to get down trash removal if
there's another hurricane any of those we've had silence these issues have not gone away um the town has not been transparent with what Everglades is going to do to correct the issues that we pointed out to him we do not know what Everglades is
doing right now it could be we go away for a week and they started building and it's tough whatever um what we really want is a couple of council members to come down the street and actually look at this lot
eyes on it will show you it is off uh we'd love another engineer to overlook these plans and um and see you know how did this get passed
um we'd love some kind of review to go over the findings of the new engineer we been meeting with all of us um so I want I'd love you to come to the site because as soon as you get there you'll know that's all I can say
thank you Gary uh Philip M mlea hi Philip mlea 100 Tarpon Road um thank you for your time I'm uh here to speak basically some of the same contents of these folks had
but at a different location 8211 Estero it's a vacant house it's been vac vacated since obviously Ian it was sold to an investor off Island investor who's bought several properties and he's been
doing uh for lack of better wordss Frankenstein Renovations on all these properties and now he's uh still hasn't touched 8211 I mean he hasn't lifted a finger okay uh I'm right next door to him the place is
disgusting uh iguanas rats uh the pool is a Cess pool there's no fence around it again okay um I've emailed several of you okay John is about the only one that regularly gets
back to me no disrespect I know everyone's busy okay but I know I've been included all of you in email before I've included Mr hayatt I've been told by Mr King uh that Mr kaeper cro
cro sorry Frankie I'm sorry um would get a hold of me nobody picks up the phone not an email my my phone is on every email okay you know where I live nobody's been there okay Mr aderholt you you've decided I guess maybe not to get
back to maybe a year busy okay I've emailed you several times I've asked for a meeting just explain to me what's going on we need the house knocked down it was already red tagged a year ago now I think last year it was on the red tag list the first one that came out and it
the guy ran in here probably and got it permit to re rehab it and you took him off of it six months went by nothing he did nothing physically nothing there he hasn't picked up a piece of garbage off the property I'm tired of picking it up out of my pool I'm tired of cleaning my
property to try to make it look nice nice okay and and get not getting anything okay so I don't know where to go okay it's the same problem that these folks have there's no communication I email you I email you I email you okay
you haven't you the last two emails you haven't even given me a courtesy to say I don't want to talk to you I'd be happy if you said you're you're a crack pot I don't want to talk to you okay but you you can't even email me back Mr ader hole okay so and you sit there and look at me like
I I I don't know why can't we just get them I can't can come down I'm sitting I'm I'm a calm person I can sit down at a desk and if you explain it to me and say we legally can't do it or there's other parameters
but we keep keep giving him extensions okay Mr Speck gave him another month to do it and he didn't like that he wanted four months well when do we stop when does it get knocked down and cleaned up that's all I have to
say thank you thank you that's all I have signed up Mr Mayor a point of personal privilege I I did respond to you and I I actually met with Frankie and I raised the issue I I I gave you his response it was unacceptable and I I I don't disagree with the other the situation is
unacceptable but I did respond to you and we had some correspondents and then you keep you you you're repeatedly reach out to me which is absolutely fine and i' I raised this with the town they've got a whole list of properties they're working on but but I was responsive to you I'm sorry that you feel that way but
it I the answer was the same I'm still we're still trying to get some some of these Property Owners to take action it's it's very frustrating and I I understand your frustration but I think it's a little disingenuous I did not only responded but I met with the town manager and Frankie about the property
and was very strongly advocating your position I can't I'm not the enforcement person but but but I'm sorry you you feel you have not been communicated with but we'll respond no but we'll stay on it I mean can I respond I don't I don't know it's up to the mayor but well you
you open it go ahead I certainly didn't mean any I emailed you Friday again yeah you emailed me Friday and I was gonna meet with Tom Yano our enforcement guy because I was coming to come to the meeting it actually I can't read your mind though Mr edle but simp I'll get
back to you yeah I know but we're we've got a lot going on well I have a lot going on too we all do but John was able to get back to me well that's wonderful I he's John's a much better person than I am no you're saying that we're doing the best we can when when do we get down
to an answer after two and a half years and you keep giving him extensions Frankie can you set up a meeting can't keep going back and forth can you set up a meeting so you you could sit down with these two guys and they can give you better answers then obviously yeah that's did the vice mayor's point we
aren't the code enforcement they are we have to make sure that they're communicating with you if they're not we can control that but they have to control the enforcement part these two great that's that's all I'm asking for but we can't and I'm sorry had to come to this
to make me come down here and take my time and your time okay it shouldn't happen Okay this should happen immediately whatever thank you communication everything that's all I can say all right sure who else that is all I have signed up uh we
have both members that are um anyone else like to speak during public comment seeing none we'll close public comment who needs coffee not me I have mine thank you yes be good
next is local achievements Rec and recognitions counc Safford start with you oh great um being the Irish kid on the council I want to give a great shout out to uh Barb Deb and Dawn of the Women's Club the St patri state parade
um Saturday was fantastic and it was the first time they've ever done a parade that group and it was it was really special to see the South End come alive again and uh the after the after event was fantastic too so I want to give a
big shout out to them happy St Patrick's Day thank you C Woodson well in the week before that we had the Shrimp Fest Parade and that was always fun it's always fun for that and huge crowds came
in I was kind of sad I was in the parade and we ran out of beads and everything else before we even got halfway through I mean knew they were so popular I had arms and Beads and yeah so next year we either have to plan better or we need to double the size of the Beats so and we
all know which way that goes yeah right is that it that's it all right ni I would just say ditto on the Women's Club what a what a shot in the arm for the santin Plaza in the South End that parade was just spectacular had a privilege of judging and great
participation by the community and I would also recognize this morning uh the Margaritaville folks for their new signage that encourages people to use The Pedestrian walkover uh right there in front of their building if if folks use that and we've talked about this a
lot but I know the locals know about it but if you could share with your friends and neighbors and guests who are visiting the island that if you just use that pedestrian walkover not only is it beautiful uh there sidewalk there's uh stairs and elevators to get you over there it's a good great view but you save your friends and neighbors a lot of
grief as we wrestle with these traffic issues and kudos to beach talk radio for highlighting the the walkover uh this past weekend and uh and so that's the more we use that walk over and encourage people not to push that little button to stop the traffic uh to cross the street
that it's a it's it's great for everybody that's all I've got thank you all right counc King well you know it was an extremely busy weekend and I'm grateful for this meeting this morning so I can catch up on my sleep uh just wake me up before you go go oh my a come
on no no George Michael Wham fans out there Wham yeah I'll just Echo a great job out of the for Myers Beach Women's Club for bringing back the St Patrick's Day Parade um so many participants and so many people were lining the route and the mayor did a great job as a
leprechaun I don't know what you did with your chele but uh also want to thank uh Deb Nelson and Barb mazeski for their their contribution and putting it on and and thanks to the Lee County Sheriff's Office they had a a tremendous presence on Saturday there and Commander
ler thanks uh along with the sheriff marcina for that uh it was great to welcome back to Fort Myers Beach Public Library yesterday another Well attended event uh thanks to Jen Fleming for all her hard work and putting together the festivities um I want to thank uh Andy
hayatt Nicole sheren Tracy Kohler um Jason SMY and Sarah propes for U being there Jason and Sarah their efforts to obtain resident feedback on the comp plan and the Land Development code appreciate that and also saw Mark Lefay from I think Public Works was
there as well so uh thank you everybody all right well you nailed them all you got the only one I was going to get after all that was women or was the library so it's nice that Jan Fleming and her team did a great job yesterday opening back up the library and if you haven't had a chance to get in there and
check it out it's it's a it's a nice community center community welcoming building to come back and and we're we're glad they're open finally better late than never so yeah and I can add U Jeff's staff and Frankie staff for helping with the parade as well with the cones and cleaning up afterwards
appreciate guys great thank you didn't know good job guys all right next is advisory committee items and Report Dave we start with Dave sorry Sam he he got here before you
did no go oh oh Chris was here I'm sorry Chris you're hiding behind CHR I'm sorry Chris uh good morning counselors Mr Mayor vice mayor Town Town staff uh Happy St Patty's Day it feels like we've
been doing it all week but so I'm Dave nbam I'm chairman of the murf advisory committee and I'm here to report on our March meeting um number one and I don't want to steal uh chairman King's Thunder she's coming up
here and she will reiterate The Joint meeting of captains for clean water and I am going to Echo exactly what she says so I'll let her tell you it'll keep my time short uh secondly at our meeting we had
Dr Chris daily from the uh uh Florida Gulf Coast University given up update on where we are where we are regarding the computer scenarios that are being run for Hurricane Ian and what would happen
if we had had solid structures burms and a combination of both along the island those will be due out in September he also said that because of hurricane Milton they had some additional input and they were going to run it he
categorized Milton as a once every 25e storm where Ian is a once every 100e storm I spoke on behalf of the entire Island I said we really hope we don't give you any more examples for your
computer exactly um so those should be out in September and we're anxiously awaiting the results of that thirdly we had two residents speak out and the murf committee didn't know what to do so I'm coming to the council asking for for
some guidance two residents came in and wanted to know what could be done as far as dredging the canals and we said we're not sure who has the responsibility whether
it's the owners on the canal whether it's the town uh combination there are several canals that are filled with sand after both storms and are almost impassible for boat traffic and they are
very concerned because they live on a canal and can't use a boat we kind of punted on that one because we didn't know what to do so I'm bringing that forward to the council asking for guidance we'll be more than happy to
investigate or do what we can finally the infamous murf award was given to uh Ben Deval and the tuna skin employees and their 400 plus volunteers on
February 16th tuna skin um organized 400 plus volunteers to comb the entire Island they picked up over three tons of
garbage um they had a $5,000 check that was provided by sponsors from local business businesses this was their 10th Annual cleanup and they donated the $5,000 to keep Lee County beautiful so
unanimously the committee voted that they should bend devolve the tuna skin employees and volunteers should get the murf award for this month and that's the end of my report are there any questions the only thing I could direct
you to with the canal dredging and I don't remember the years I want to see it was late 990s or early 2000s there was a group that started trying and they were close to getting a resolution maybe Jason could probably help you there was there was a plan they were working on to do a a
townwide uh plan of main maintaining the the canals and it kind I believe the people on Santos were the ones that were behind starting it and it it kind of fizzled out in the early 2000s if memory serves me right um maybe Jason can get you in contact I can't remember his name he lives right on the corner of poo
Circle in Santos he was one of the people that was very vocal about it I would suggest the MF starts there I believe sanabel also has a townwide or Citywide plan in place for the dredging that the that the city maintains it um
so we definitely have to have a plan in place because we don't get assistance from FEMA without it so right now there really isn't I hate to say it but there really isn't a plan I know that Keith was working on it and I think you guys have picked up and and tried to run with how we get that plan in place and what it looks like and we have had initial
discussions about it does it become an islandwide thing for all the taxpayers or just taxpayers on each Canal or you know how that works but that's where I would start if I was murf thank you Mr didn't we have some folks I'm sorry uh on the south end that
that actually paid into it and we had refund lagona Shores yeah that that had happened once before you they they had the our documents our research that we found internal documents from the town um was that they had homeowners contribute in and the town was going to
match the project fizzled out didn't happen and the home owners were returned their funds back just because it didn't happen Ian happened that's why exactly it was a 5050 split yeah I I would to just to Nuance this a little bit Dave I I I do believe and correct me if I'm
wrong Andy and Frankie there's there's two separate issues to the mayor's Point uh because the canal uh status was not measured appropriately prior to Ian it was difficult for us to get FEMA funds to help clean that out or at least to repair those and and as I understand it
we are currently going through that process of of of setting those measurements and parameters and we have funding for that so that's happening you are correct I think what we're wrestling with today Dave is to how to fund the actual uh dredging of the canals themselves so the so the measuring is
occurring so in case we have another storm we'll have something to to sort of bookmark it against but but the actual funds for the dredging is is I think the challenge that we're trying to fund both in DC and in at the state level right correct our our our female gentleman that we had here a year ago Daniel Tomac
when he left his project that he was doing he came back with another group through the R2 P2 uh group and they sent people out um townwide and took not only uh uh outfall measurements but also Canal mouth and Canal end measurements
uh sedimentation studies uh and what each Canal was originally dredged to uh starting out wide and so that that data is already there we have the metric all we have to do is find a solution to move that metric along but uh yeah we did it
they did a really thorough job of investigating the waterways and we know what we're up against and a lot of them okay anything else I think too Dave just and and there isn't any Turf for as
you and the chair of the Anchorage of ISU committee have a very good working relationship and that it manifested in that joint meeting we just had I think at some point we need to as a council delineate and maybe it's jointly and maybe there's aspects of the canals that
are are better suited for murf and there maybe there's aspects of the canals that are better suited for the Anchorage advisory committee we at some point we're going to particularly if we get some funding we're going to have to figure out as a council how to designate who has responsibility over those canals and how do we do that and and that would
be a great maybe another great joint meeting opportunity to kind of figure that all out we talked about it some time ago but I don't think we've had the opportunity because there's been a lot going on to figure out the jurisdictional dynamic of our advisory committees with these canals and and and again I don't think there's one easy
answer one way or the other but it's something to talk about and think about I can reach out to chairperson King and we can have a discussion and hopefully have another joint meeting Workshop once we get some additional information and I would like permission to get in touch
with fr Frink and the other people that have some information that can share with us regarding past plans so that we can at least gather the detail and then decide what the best plan should be to
jointly advise the council so be it thank you I think it sounds great thank thanks for taking this on all right Chris sorry I didn't see you hiding behind Joe over there we're going to tag team this okay
good morning everyone I'm Chris King and I am uh chair of the Anchorage advisory committee so I want to touch on a couple of things that you know Dave kind of left you hanging on so um one of them is that back in February we did have a joint meeting of murf and the AAC and we
invited in Captain Chris Captain Chris Whitman from captains for clean water and it was a very educational and informational session he gave us a lot of information about all of the efforts underway to make sure that one of our primary natural resources our water is
is clean and clear because we know that that is incredibly important for the Vitality of our community for economically for the beauty to continue so we jointly um murf and the AAC want to encourage the Town Council to
actively um Lobby for the continuation of the Everglades restoration project because that is going to help um elim not eliminate but mitigate the amount of fresh water that comes from the Kusa hatchee releases and uh does damage to
our environment fish kills it it helps with um red tide Bloom and this if we can eliminate or at least reduce the amount of water that is being released into our wonderful Waterway we're we're going to mitigate what the effects are
from Red Tide so I know you're going to Tallahassee soon so something to keep in mind if there's a way to put in a good word for uh the work that captains are doing and the Everglades restoration project we would appreciate that no problem all right um second thing uh
also talked about uh figuring out the duties of the different advisory committees and that is one thing that we're going to work on in the next few months on the Anchorage advisory committee our historian in Resident Sam lawell came across a number of different
documents and there sorry sorry did I say sam because I'm so excited about Sam coming up next okay Ted lawell he uh he has all of these documents at his disposal and has been I think with the committee very close to its Inception so
uh he came up with some things and there's there's a lack of synchronicity between the different documents so that's something that we're going to be working with Amy on to try to make sure that we understand okay Amy yes and Nancy we've had a conversation with Nancy
um to make sure that we have a source of Truth document about exactly what the aac's duties are in supporting the Harbor Master and supporting the town so that's going to be work in progress um but we do have something exciting that we want to ask you for permission um to
do and I'm going to bring up Vice chair Sam lorri and he is going to give you the details I know that was a test because you think I don't listen to you so I jumped in on that thank you Chris good morning Mr Mayor councel and staff I'm Sam lurry the vice
chair of the Anchorage advisory committee on my half here with me Chris King and Harbor Master Curtis lewig who will be after I read a a short report will join me for any questions and comments uh before I start I want to ask
our liazon vice mayor aderhold is there still a opening on the Anchorage advisory committee it's my understanding there is an opening and we'll be voting on the folks there's two people here today to uh to V for that uh that replacement spot and we may be voting this morning to uh affirm one of those
two candidates great we like to keep a full committee if possible um I come before you today to ask for approval to hold the 14th iteration of the Anchorage advisory committee Cruiser Appreciation Day event on April 27th from 1: to 3:30 p.m. at
Bayside Park the last time this event was held was March Mar 25th 2022 you should have a one-page overview of the event in your packet I'll call out a few details for the benefit of those who are watching the purpose of our event is to recognize and celebrate
the voters who use our moing field I'll also educating the public about how it operates the economic benefits to the town it provides and the environmental impacts it mitigates we are planning to make this event self-funding so we're asking for your approval to solicit individuals and
businesses for both inine donations and drawing prizes and perhaps food as well as monetary donations to cover other expenses Captain Curtis has offered to Harbor Master Captain Curtis has offered to cover the $400 or so for floating
keychains for participating voters from his budget but all extra funds generated through donations will be provided back to the town to support the Ming the moing field operations setup for the event will be 2 hours hours prior to and
30 minutes after the event time is 1:30 to to 3 I'm sorry yeah 1 to 3:30 1 to 3:30 thank you John um and the concert is scheduled to begin at from 4: to 7 so we will have the area cleared for the 4
to7 concert at bayai Park we hope to make this an annual event and add other events in the future this event is free and open to the public we urge the public to enjo to to uh come to the event it's a great time um we are
inviting select non-education or select educational nonprofits to set up tables um the moing field murf Coast Guard auxiliary captains for clean water keep Lee County beautiful uh voters currently
registration registered at the moing field at the time of the event will be invited to attend and will receive a free mail for up to four people that are associated with their vessel we also provide a free meal to invited Town staff and other
VIPs um committee chair Chris King will provide invitation information we'll promote the event through uh Town channels and the fort Meers Beach Chamber this is an opportunity for boers and town residents to visit mingle and enjoy the afternoon
leading up to the Sunday evening concert in summary we're asking for your approval to present the event and to solicit both in kind and monetary contributions to support it so that it's self-funding and this time I'd like to
ask Chris and Curtis to join me for any questions or comments just quick question for Nancy Nancy there's is there any legal road blocks in allowing them to solicit what they're asking for no because they're not soliciting it for their own personal benefit it's um being
a a request for the benefit of the Town um generally those things are handled through the um management or the town manager's office um as far as donations to the town they're just basically an arm of
the Town making that request there's no personal gain at all to them that money is going to be used to the town okay and you will see that we have changed our plan from doing a raffle to doing a drawing so we will not be we will not be selling tickets for anything but we will
be allowing people to have a ticket to participate in the drawing and if people want to make a monetary contribution that's fine but they don't have to I'm sorry what was the date again April 27th the last Sunday in
April 1 to 330 so could I just ask that um for the 501 c3s that would participate to consider um of Lovers Key For Lovers Key State Park with all of their beaches and
water and boating and I think they would be excellent a great compliment to that we want to have enough for people to see but we don't want it to be overwhelming in the I get the Bayside park space but that's other questions I have a quick
question and I'm not putting you on the spot because I know that this process is still uh in the planning stage do you have a ballpark um number as to the cost because the alternative would be that the town would provide them some uh some
money to to actually have the event yeah I think it all really depends on how much the food costs for the people that we're trying to provide the complimentary meal for so we have not had conversations with the downtown restaurants yet to see if we can get discounts on that or get some
contributions of that I'm really thinking to 2, to 2500 I mean it could push a little bit higher but I think that's a pretty good number so the additional benefit um I think is the marketing of of the town's moing fields
and making sure that those spaces are are occupied um and that is the public purpose of of having it um so that is an option if if the town wanted to allocate some money and I have to ask Joe because he knows where all the money is um if
that's another option that that is out there I would I would if I could Nancy I think that's an excellent point and I I think at a minimum I would ask the council to consider at least giving uh uh Curtis and the town staff the flexibility to utilize some funds if
necessary because to your point Nancy this the the uh the moing field is by by by by designation a revenue neutral entity for the town it doesn't make a profit and it doesn't we need to charge
fees that allow us to to break even and and obviously that that fluctuates back and forth and sometimes we need additional money for infrastructure improvements sometimes we get that through grants but what what they're what the what the the Anchorage advisor committee is doing not only is it a gracious gesture to those who are
regular uh customers but it's a tremendous marketing opportunity for the moing field and it's a it would be like running a couple newspaper ads I mean this but but but in this in this world a word of mouth is so important if they have a good experience in Fort Meers
Beach they tell all their friends and other neighbors and boater friends and that word just spreads and then and we already have a very high rating in Fort Meers speech but it's it's building Goodwill it's marketing and and Chris has a marketing background uh I mean it's a great investment for the town and
again it's not really the taxpayers that are that that would be sponsoring it it's the actual boers themselves who utilize the booring field so I think I I I I very uh uh confident in their fundraising capabilities but if they it is it is tough postan to raise dollars
and so if if the town has to help through the moing field fund that seems like a reasonable expense and again it's not taxpayer dollars it's those users of the moing field that support the moing field in in a in a perfect world what do you think Joe you are the gatekeeper of the funds
no I think that that's reasonable and so basically what we're talking about if there's any difference between what they're able to to raise um for the event themselves and the actual cost that would be absorbed by the mo field um
budget and if by chance there isn't enough in that budget to cover that small difference we also have a contingency budget outside of the moing field that could be tapped into if it became necessary for that okay I think you should also reach out I
don't know if you have to the San Carlos uh sail and Power squ Squadron San Carlos what sale and power Squad and Power Squadron okay they're the guys that help make sure all the you know they they do training for captains
they also uh for free help make sure that your your boat is safe and this great group they're they're office is right off Island but I can get you safety things too they do safety lessons all that great group um I can get you
the their contact info great thanks sure all right you got something to say he's like if I have you U mayor um just to U introduce myself I'm Curtis lewig I'm Harbor
Master for the town um May I don't have I think think these two two members um said everything unless unless y'all have any any questions for myself no I think just I I'm I'm okay with the suggestion
by vice mayor atal here I am I'm totally Scott on board with that absolutely this will that cover it or do we need an actual motion or I I think a motion would be appropriate um and basically you are uh
providing them uh the authority and the permission to proceed with with their event um that encompasses um some solicitation of income uh contri uh contributions or financial um for the benefit of the town for the
public purposes that have been discussed and authorizing the town manager to to execute as needed yes so before you make that motion vice mayor so those that would like to make in kind donations who do they make the donations to it should flow through the town manager and
finance um and not directly to the um Anchorage advisory committee if the Anchorage advisory committee uh receiv Lees any type of funds it should immediately be turned over to uh to town staff but again if someone is still writing checks who would they write the check to the town of Fort Meers Beach
okay and I'm assuming Chris you guys will get all that information yes absolutely we'll get the process down all right take it away and and and just point of order then we'd have to make a list of that bring to the council to accept the donations yes Mr Mayor I would move that we uh
allow the Anchorage advisory committee in an effort to uh to host the cruiser Appreciation Day on April 27th the ability to uh solicit and raise funds consistent with the
advice of the Town attorney and and we also would uh utilize the town's funds that that are raised by the the fees that we charge the weing field to support this event if needed if there's a shortage of fundraising uh and
the town has to fill that the town boing field has to fill that Gap I will second okay any discussion if I may yeah we also are not a nonprofit so it's not tax exempt all we can do is give a letter saying that they've made a
donation to the town what they do with their Auditors and finances their situation but we do not say that this is tax deductible okay and if for some reason we get an over of what you need then
that would go into the the fund okay any other discussion all those in favor sign by saying I hearing no Oppo opposition motion carries unanimously thanks guys thanks for the hard work thank you very much I
one closing comment I just wanted to Mayor always says how many interesting people there are in this beach Curtis will vouch for this if you want to show up at this event these people on the moing field are well traveled they're some of the most interesting people that ever came to this beach so encourage
everybody to atttend it's a good Keith Wilkins is part of that group now yeah he he just uh yeah he just anchored sealed into town he just showed up last night right yeah good luck with
that that'll be a party boote thanks not so much he's got some help all right uh Anchorage advisory committee appointment we have two members that have applied for the one open seat they're both here you want to come up first and You' like to say a few
words one is Terry Carlin Kelly who's up here now and the other is Ronald Fleming joh Fleming good morning all I am Terry Carlin Kelly and I'm playing to be on the Anchorage advisory committee I live on the island and I'm a voter all the time I'm very interested in what these guys just said I didn't realize that
they were going to be making a presentation this morning so that's exactly why I wanted to be on the the the committee for us to help them okay thank you sir Ron even got the green Crocs on look at
them go I love it my orange yeah good morning Ron Fleming staff counsel uh I'm here to also apply for the committee much as Terry said I'm very interested in the water I was Rec recently at the
mound house where I learned that the very first aquatic preserve is where our moring field is it it started in the 50s I was unaware of that I'm interested in current events and history I think I would be an asset to
the committee and I'd appreciate your support thank you all right we to do anything special just fill in your ballot our okay oh you wantet yeah right up on the thing all right ready in the back Scott
Safford uh Ron Fleming Karen Woodson is Ron Fleming Dan allers Ron Fleming John King Ron Fleming and Jim atol Ron Fleming so is this an accurate representation of
everyone's vote Yes yes so the winner is Ronald Fleming Ronald Fleming no we need a motion accept okay is there a motion to accept Ron Fleming and appoint and appoint Ron
Fleming is the final seat for the Anchorage advisory committee uh seat sorry it woke me up so moved I'll second motion by councelor King second by councelor Woodson any further discussion all those in favor signified by saying I
I motion carries unanimously congratulations Ron now get to gosh next is the approval of the minutes from the town council meeting on March 3rd 2025 is there a potion a motion to approve the minutes or any changes to
the minutes move for approval motion by councel King second seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed hearing none that motion carries unanimously we have nothing on the
consent agenda nothing to be removed and no public hearings so that takes us to our administrative agenda which is our first one it is a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida authorizing the town manager or designate to apply for execute upon award and administer a grant from
Florida Department of Environmental Protections clean vessel act for funds in the amount of $61,500 with a match from the town of Fort Meers Beach of $2,517 uh for a project total of 82,6 $9 for pump outs of the vessels within the
town's jurisdiction authorizing the town manager or designate to execute related documents and providing an effective P so this is just basically a a reup of the agreement that we have that provides us the funds to for the pump out boat
itself and for the actions that we use within the morning field an application um it's an application application yes any questions of staff is there a motion for resolution Joe is this budgeted it it yes it will
well this is for next year and it will be incorporated into next year's budget and this is something we've done on an annual basis okay thanks for clarification and it's in an assumption of getting that grant that we're apply okay and it looks like it's uh the match is funded by the pumpout fee
Revenue yes so basically that's what would cover that thank you any other questions is there a motion for resolution 25- 84 so moved second motion by councelor Woodson seconded by councelor Safford
any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I roll call sorry oh it's a resolution all right councelor Woodson I councelor Safford I vih I councelor King I m& as well that motion carries
unanimously next is a resolution of the Town Council the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida authorizing the town manager or is or design to apply for execute upon and administer a grant from West Coast Inland navigation districts Waterway development program for the funds in the amount of 35,000 with a
match from the town of Fort Meers Beach of 100 thou or 100% for a project total of 70,000 for Waterway law enforcement assistance authorizing the town manager or designate to execute related documents and providing an effective date and again this is similar to the
last item where it's been an annual type um situation and this is for lcso to provide law enforcement not only in the Back Bay the morning field but around the entire Island so a Cooperative agreement okay questions for Frankie or Joe uh this
comes out of the general fund or yes sir thank you and same thing this is for this would be for next year so it would be budgeted for yes for next year okay if there's no other questions is there a motion for resolution 2588 so moved second motion by councelor
Safford seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion I don't think you had the right motion uh right did should be 2587 oh I'm sorry resolution 2587 I jumped ahead my bad oops keep going D yeah right any further discussion on the
correct resolution 2587 councelor Safford all councelor Woodson hi vice mayor adol hi councelor King hi and I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously next is resolution 2588 it
is a resolution of the town of Fort Meers Beach approving agreement between the town of Fort Meers Beach and rellia financial consultants Inc to perform a water and storm water rate study providing an effective date Joe so Joe anzuk Finance director
the last water and storm water rat study was conducted from the for the town in July of 2020 and that's what was used to establish um the rates that are buil to um homeowners or residents on this
island um and those rates were in effect for the last five years they are they need now to be updated so that we can do it for the next five years going forward um it seems to be um in in
my opinion the best um path forward would be to use the same rate consultant that Lee County uses because they also um use them for their like for example their sew rates which Lee County provides to the island and so they're
already incorporating data from the to town of Fort Meers Beach into their study for Lee County purposes so this would um make use of that and their familiarity to develop the same similar rates and we'd at least be using consistent methodology that's used for
Lee County in the rate study and by also utilizing them we can quote unquote piggyback on the contract from Lee County and use the same rates that are charged to Lee County for their services um and it's for the storm water um study
it would be a not to exceed amount of 37,000 and also for the water rate study it would be not to exceed amount of 37,000 it the actual cost will depend on the amount of time that's um they actually put into the study um but
if they if if it's approved it could begin immediately and we would they would use the last five years worth of actual data to develop the rates going forward plus what were anything that were projecting to change going forward questions for
Joe face mayor Joe I understand why this makes practical sense I'm just want to challenge you a little bit in the sense that as a customer of Lee County and to use the same entity for a rate study
often called a cost of service study do you are you comfortable that our interests are aligned I understand the Practical piece of this but we're buying bulk water from them um and we're we're going to use the same entity uh
that Lee count is using do you you you do you have a sense from this particular vendor that they'll be representing our interests in these in this in this study I I think so it's hard to imagine where there would be a conflict because they're not they may be establishing the
rates that Lee County charges us for water but this is to help us charge the rates that will cover our expenses so it's it's really two two separate things excuse me and and I'm guessing if if if
because we buy the bulk water from them and we distribute it ourselves and we build it ourselves for the water side but on the sewer side we just bill for it I'm guessing that that rate study would be less for the sewer than it would be on the water is that your guess
it would not even incorporate sewer rates um we're talking about this it would be water rates to cover our administrative costs and then it would be the storm water not sewer storm water piece okay I just that that's a helpful
clarification and so uh yeah it just seems a little I just I just as long as you're comfortable that that's not I understand the economies here but having an an outside entity who would be an advocate for our Island
versus working with the entity of Lee County it just gives me a little bit of pause but but I do understand the economies here and and it certainly makes practical sense it's certainly a lot easier I just would encourage you as you go through this process to make sure these these folks are are somewhat
independent from Lee County and looking out for our interests as they go through this process is it is it your understanding that they're also going to do a cost of service study do we have are we going to have separate rates for residents and and then larger users for water on our Island do we currently have
that and is that how do we how do we deal with that at this point there are different rate classifications for commercial versus um residential and then then there's it dep depends on actually the rates are um
developed based on the amount of usage or the size of the connections as well so there there's a variety of rates involved between single family multif family commercial and then the size of the water L do we also have a volumetric
rate as well versus just a stable flat rate oh oh yes um yes so there there's a base rates and then there's the usage rate so it's per thousand gallons is is the usage rate basic on is to keep those policies the same in terms of how we allocate cost for a cost of service
studies just keep it consistent with what we've have been doing in terms of how they're how we allocate cost to larger users versus residential users well part of the study I mean I would think so but I mean part of the study may they may uncover something
that we may need to adjust just to make sure that we're covering our costs but um basically they're going to be taking that as a foundation and I you know and the goal is not to do anything dramatic nothing dramatic would just be to fine-tune the right so if one particular
customer group was a cost causer uh they would potentially be charged more based upon this the outcome of the study then that would be my understanding yeah okay I it's it's an actually it's a practical approach and it does make
sense I just I would hope you'll stay engaged in it and just kind of hold their feet to the fire a little bit to make sure they're they they're looking out for Fort Meers Beach and and just don't get caught up into that larger Lee County not that Lee count is doing anything nefarius or anything but I just
want to I just I'm glad you're you're there and I'm glad you'll be watching it well perhaps we could talk offline as to what your concerns might be because I'm I'm having a hard time envisioning what what could even possibly be a concern so maybe you have some insight
that I don't have that's fine that's fine no it's it's it's I think it's an interesting approach and certainly very efficient and probably will end up saving us some money yeah any other questions for Joe how will this be paid for this would be paid for out of the water fund and the storm
water fund thank you any other questions is there a motion for resolution 25- 88 so Move Motion by councelor King second by councelor Woodson any further
discussion councelor Kan hi counc Woodson I counc Safford hi Vice May hi I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously next is resolution 25- 86 a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida authorizing the First Amendment to the
professional service provider agreement dated October 1st 2024 with softrim LLC increasing the not to exceed amount for the first contract year by 350,000 to a total of $556 784 for addition services and items
related to the renovation of the town hall and providing for an effective date Joe or Andy I can kind of lead off and then turn it over to you obviously this is something that needed to be done uh with our town hall and we had them under contract so we just expanded their
contract um obviously it's everything for the new Chambers the building that we purchased was was cut up into a bunch of offices it wasn't there wasn't one system in there so we're creating one system uh security cameras traffic cameras for for the pedestrians out
front to be able to log into um sound um certain things that go to each floor with the the um computer cabling and and everything throughout the entire building so it's it's obviously something needed and it is paid for out of the insurance proceeds but I'll turn it over you yes and so um as Andy said
we already had soft trium under contract and they did provide their hourly rates um it did not necessarily include equipment and so in order to purchase equipment through them they provided us with quotes and then um Nicole did a
very good job of do independent quotes for every single um piece of equipment from different other sources just to make sure that their pric is provided by softer more competitive and in every single case they were and so by doing that independent evaluation we were able
to make sure that the cost of the equipment um was competitive and then along with the cost of installing the equipment so over the course of time the total cost came up to 30 343,000 so
far just to make sure that we only have to come before the council once I've added a contingency to bring it up of 21,000 and bring it up to total of 365,000 not to exceed amount to cover any other possible changes that they
they may do to finish things at for the building and by then doing this this would formally approve um an increase to their contract so does this contract cover everything as far as Wi-Fi TVs the speaker system sound system yes
microphones all encompassing yes all Encompass for and is it future proof I mean did they do fiber optics did they just use cat five cat I mean what it looks like they're I'm not a te but it looks like it's cat back here you just have to nod yes so they did use okay he
he knew what I was talking about I just wanted to make sure it wasn't we're putting in adequated stuff because if you look at what this contract was uh Vice mayal and I were on the council when we went through this exercise for the last town hall and it was fairly expensive a is not cheap but
this is in my opinion a fairly good deal for the size of the building I'm sorry no no it's if you look we did we've had some requests for traffic cameras we added those on the front you you can look when you go by there's a couple that that are there that that are on Estero just to people can log in and we're going to add more cameras we
already have that taken care of in other places when we get uh Newton Park back up there'll be another traffic camera put back up like before and so you know that included that U security cameras for the whole property it'll help secure the whole neighborhood actually in that area so it's really you know can we put
a sunset cam just curious not we might be able to we might be able to do that that's a good point that's a good point off the top of the building too that would be amazing we can add that he put in some money it's not essential I just didn't know if that would not be you might be
able to see it from one of the cameras see a lot of it yeah at least for now okay yeah could could is is is the IT person allowed to leave his post to come to the microphone or does it mess us up if he does that or maybe you guys could answer I don't want to put him on the
spot ask B I just want to ask you know obviously the obvious question and and I I know you guys are looking at this but Josh we uh we've had some real issues uh even prior to Andy and Frankie and prior to Ian with just streaming these
meetings and having being able to be available to the public without interruption technologically and I I the mayor is much more techsavvy than I am but can you just share a little bit about what kind of steps are being taken to make
sure that our meetings don't get interrupted by technological failures and that we can communicate with the public on a regular basis a consistent basis without all the interruptions and I know you can't prevent everything but I assume we're taking Technology's evolved and we're
taking some pretty aggressive steps to make sure that our sound and everything comes through on a consistent basis so yes there's a fully new system that's replacing what we have here that can handle the actual capacity that you guys
are trying to push out constantly so was a major issue that I saw when I first got here and trying to fix it get it back up and run to continue until we do move but yeah we're separating the whole entire that network from the main
business Network since that was also convoluting a lot of it so now it's just going to be nothing impeding it to go out so that should definitely help a lot and also being on a fiber Network you're not having to deal with the coax that you have for
currently for Comcast here so it's going to be much more throughput going out so it'll definitely be a lot better plus with the new sound system it'll be less static will happen throughout from time to time so
essentially what he's saying is you're getting a dedicated phone line correct for the we're GNA a static IP then yes everything is is it through Comcast yes okay that's very helpful thank you very much what what Josh as
long as you're there you might be the one to answer what's a tricaster just from my own personal know so that is what manages all the cameras in here and all the switching and streaming out everything that whole cabinet back there okay so yeah that's the upgraded version thank you be able to push all that out
um also I see I don't know if Josh needs to answer this or town manager but we have a a a separate line for wiring for the second floor but then we have wiring and accessories for the second floor help me with that we have a a another
meeting room up there we're going to put cameras we're going to put TVs we're going to put other things in there so you can have you can actually do committee meetings and other things from that we can also have overflow in that that room okay there needs to be more on that floor all right thank you microphones everything as you move away from the
microphone you heard me thanks apprciate the only sure thing about technology is it will give you a headache that is correct sir doesn't last not if but it's not a matter of yes any other questions for
staff is there a motion for resolution 25- 86 so moved second motion by councelor King second by councelor Stafford any further discussion counc King hi counc Safford hi counc Woodson I vice mayor ad n as
well that motion carries unanimously next is resolution 25- 82 this a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida ratifying the author authorization of sta number seven in the amount of $24,000 with drmp Inc for Value
engineering under RFQ d22 25- ad for bok's recreational campus Redevelopment project which when combined with previous sta number five for 55650 and sta number 6 for $6,650 for the same project total of
$86,500 and providing for an effective date uh Jeff hogi community service director um yeah so you had previously had we had to reject excuse me the the bid for the Redevelopment again it was too too much for our budget so we ended
up uh actually you all um ended up rejecting the bids for for that and then we're going a different direction as far as how we're we're building it um because the costs have risen um we're going to do a valued engineering which means the the cost will be a little
lower instead of you know having real expensive things you can do it under a smaller budget um so this is just for the redesign from drmp to incorporate our changes um you know a smaller parking lot those kind of things and
what is the goal Jeff to is this RFP gone out yet when is it going to go out when is that going to close when could we start to see this action happen this week we're going to have it at least advertised so it can go out and what's the timeline for that RFP is to when it closes yeah 30 days 30 days yep 30 days
and then hopefully we can start right away and uh drmp has has said if we get it out even by mid April they could get the the job done job done when because there's a tight deadline for AUST 31st by the deadline okay thank you August
31st that's pretty aggressive yeah um we're gonna do simp it's going to do yeah it's more of a simplified um plan than it was before you know we're not doing the baseball field we're just going to do grass um there'll be there won't be a building there obviously right now CU um we had to take that out
because of the funding um you know there'll be a walking path that probably be Crush shell or something like that so it's a it's a lower budgeted uh item but there's also more pickle ball courts and that type of thing too right potentially
yeah we're going to go from uh four to possibly six okay so so to that point uh Jeff and and councelor Woodson your comments have be welcome too on this where are we in the aggregate so so the community center is now off the
table is that right I I mean it's not off the table we haven't complet at least temporar yeah yeah it's it'll be phase two or three so in essence you're going to redo the whole campus do you want to just for folks who don't sit on Bard Camp just give us a thumbnail sketch of what what it would what it might look like is it going to look like
sort of like what it looked like before Ian or how would you how would you describe it the initial plans had a a new softball field back the the need just isn't isn't there the need is actually for Green Space on the island so we decided to do more of a multi-purpose field um and wasn't that a
requirement of the grant multipurpose field multi-purpose field which we could have done with the softball field you know you can play soccer on it that kind of thing but we figured uh maybe this with some walking walking trails maybe some picnic or we'll have picnic areas um you know pickle ball will be in there
but it'll be just a nice area where if you want to go kick around a soccer ball you certainly can if we need to line it for something for an event we certainly could too if you know if there was soccer lacrosse it's the area is big enough to do um two fullsize soccer fields if we needed to that's kind of
the placeholder you can imagine what it looks like um what is the name of that Park Jeff that's up in Tampa that's along the boardwalk there if people want to go look at an idea of kind of what it look kind of a concept of it is it Riverwalk River on the Riverwalk yeah it's the river I don't know if it's called Riverwalk Park but very similar
linear yeah just a place where you know people can go hang out um you know we can have concerts down there too uh that that that'd be nice to be down there big open area so um we just want to get it back to green space and get this project finally complete well and we did we took
out the amphitheater um and just thought we can set up stages if you know we can we can set it up however we want to for any kind of concerts that type of thing um for night right now with the new town hall coming in and just understanding
how will use all that extra space there's meeting rooms in the town hall for people to come in uh nonprofits to come in so the immediate need and funding of course because we don't have the funding for an administrative building but the immediate need was like
let's take a look at what we're doing now with our new town hall how we can utilize that maybe we don't need an administrative building maybe we need some other kind of thing as time goes on and we'll feel that out and also look for more funding because we don't have
it correct that's exactly what we want to do we want to get this done with a multi-purpose Park and some walking trails right um and then later down the line maybe we can apply for the grant again and do something else or maybe there's a loan in the future that we could do a building or something if I could point out just just Saturday with
the parade and they pulled into somebody's lot if that sells and somebody builds there the lots and the open space is going to be less and less and this will provide that for for destinations for events and things things of that type of thing so it we've see it as a win-win I mean I've looked
at that Park you and I been up there in Tampa and and it's it's yeah it's amazing concept and and it it can fill a lot of needs an open space that all makes perfect sense I just I did I just didn't know so that that's helpful and at some point maybe if I I don't know will there be
renderings at some point yeah we we'll have them we just had to get this that's okay money to yeah when those ready ings come it' be great to just to do maybe a presentation so folks can have a better sense of what the vision is at least short term that'd be great yeah of course yeah that's great we actually have more cab on on Wednesday so I'll
probably no a week from a week from Wednesday 26th okay all good thank you any other questions if not is there a motion for resolution 25- 82 so moved got a motion by councelor Woodson I'll
second any further discussion councelor Woodson hi I'm an I vice mayor hi councelor King hi councelor Safford I motion carries unanimously next is item F resolution 25- 85 this is a resolution of the Town
Council the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida ratifying action of the Town taken December 19th 2024 under the emergency procurement policy to contract with Andrew sitework LLC to take emergency protective measures to maintain po potable water pressure by
installing a gate valve at the South booster station for a not to exceed amount of $19,750 and providing for an effective date Joe um so this was um a repair or I
should say an improvement that was necessary for the reasons that you had just stated it will be funded from the water fund and possibly from um insurance proceeds we we may have some insurance proceeds remaining um that were given to
the down for the water distribution system so it's possible that there may be some of that remaining that we could apply towards this cost but it was something that was necessary and was able to be done by Andrew site work while they were here and so that is why
it's it was approved at the time as an emergency um and now we're coming to town Council for ratification okay questions for Joe all right is there a motion which one are we 25 85
25 motion by councelor King second second by councelor Woodson any further discussion councelor King hi councelor Woodson hi councelor Safford hi vice mayor Ed I'm an i as well that motion carries
unanimously next is item G this is a res resolution 25- 89 a resolution of the Town Council the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida ratifying actions of the Town taken January 10th 2025 and January 27th 2025 under the emergency procurement policy to approve the
purchase orders with Kirkwood Electric for electrical work related to the renovation of the new town hall the combined total of which is $ 76,6 62 and providing for an effective date Joe this is similar to the Soft Trim um
resolution where there were there are two phases of electrical work done by Kirkwood on the new town hall um and since the two um ended up being more than $75,000 it's necessary to bring to youth
to Town Council to ratify the the purchase questions for Joe funding this is part of the new town hall um funding plan that was proposed originally so this would be coming from
um insurance proceeds for the building thank you J any other questions is there a motion for resolution 25- 89 some moved motion by councelor wood second seconded by councelor Stafford
any further discussion councelor Woodson hi councelor Stafford hi Mar hi King all I as well that motion carries unanimously last is item Jade it's resolution 25- 92
this is a resolution of the Town Council the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida authorizing approval of the amendment number three to the agreement with Jacobs project management company and providing for an effective date Frankie so this is just a uh ongoing Services
contract that we have with Jacobs an adjusted price of roughly $53,000 that'll be added to the current contract it takes up uh added staff that we've had whether they be permit Tech uh in this case supplied as a new flood plane manager um in house um ongoing and just
kind of keeping that contract on track to was when we initially signed it so it's additional funds and they will be coming out of the general fund um to answer any questions you have regarding Jacobs we do have John dmer here so Jacobs comes out of the general fund not out of the building fund this particular
part does yes the permit text can go into the building fund corre but anything for Planning and Zoning zoning rather would have to come out of the general fund okay yes you want to come up just kind of give everybody that doesn't know who you are and just give a quick overview if you would John about
what it is your your firm is providing for us and when you kind of came on to the town good morning mayor and Council happy St Patrick's Day my name is John dolmer I am the project manager for Jacobs Engineering for the building department services so currently we have
are providing the building official three building inspectors blood plane manager and uh three permit technicians and uh as we have evolved I think we started a little over a year ago um we started talking about three years ago
almost right after the hurricane almost right after the hurricane and those Services have kind of evolved and developed since then so right now what's happened is as we also have projects in Bonita Springs and I know that we try to look for a little Synergy with some of the building inspectors so that way the
right inspector goes to the right inspection uh as quickly as possible and we have also kind of worked with trying to smooth out some of the the permit intake that we've had throughout the year so got a question for John uh good morning John uh first of
all thank you for your efforts you've made our life here on Fort Meers Beach easier I uh when you first came on one of the things I challenged you on was putting forth some metrics so people can
visually see the dramatic change uh and the elimination of of of significant backlog in the permitting process prior to your arrival and clearly I think I could speak for my colleagues just the amount of calls and complaints that we get has diminished greatly and we're
thankful for that thankful for that because it means the Island's progressing nicely as well but it seems It's all anecdotal and even though it's real I wonder because a lot of communities are kind of compete with each other and they try to get a sense
of how we're doing versus how someone else is doing and plus there's still a lot of Legacy anecdotal information about we're still way we're way behind just because that's the way it was and people haven't realized the changes that have been made is there a way for you
to metric how far permits are how quickly they're going through the process at least in a general sense and maybe have a dashboard so we can sort of see some numbers it's it's it's almost like an opportunity to tell your story because it's a pretty good story yes sir
so what you would have is the data exists it's all in your permit tracking software uh every permit that gets submitted versus every date that those permits are approved uh so it would really just be a matter of pulling that data out of that system and I'm not exactly sure exactly what the
capabilities are for I work in a public dashboard but those things are always uh something that can be done it's just a matter of of what's available and what needs to be done to pull it out and make it you know available on your website I don't want to I don't want to put
Frankie on the spot but in a meeting we had last week he told me that the average weit time permit is two and a half weeks average weight time does that sound right to you it does sound about right and it's it fluctuates some depends on the permit obviously larger commercial permits are not going to
process as quickly as a single family but uh two and a half weeks is give or take but that's a that's a pretty impressive number and if we could if we could document that to some extent and I know our software is not maybe that friendly to do that I think it'd be great to tell that story because I think
if you ask stop someone on the island and ask them how long they think a permit takes I don't think all the changes that have been made have caught up with the with the Coconut Telegraph necessarily and they might not say two and a half weeks right well and I and I think there's a there's some discrepancy
I had a conversation with a resident on one of the side streets that they have a community Dock and they're like it took an hour or it took a year and a half to get the permits and before I could even say anything she goes it wasn't the town D because anything in the water has to have D so the holdup was D but there there's some misunderstanding out there
that when someone says it's been a year and a half that's not necessarily all the information you're not it's not just the town's portion of it it's fdp that was taking forever not the as an island you don't have control over all the permits that's true almost every single permit is going to have an additional
layer either through the county or the state or the fire department or the fire department yes sir and and to John's of course we work fairly close to each other or with each other and in um it's documentation so when you're applying for a permit you talk to that Tech our
techs are very well trained um John is here on a weekly basis going through nuances not only with our regular Town techs but with ones they're providing uh through Jacobs which we always treat them everybody as a family anyway uh but always the new things coming up uh any
type of problems that he's seeing on other areas so they're constantly being educated on a weekly basis but it comes back to documentation they know what to say on the phone they know what to ask as for it's what they get in return determines how long that that sits in
review how long that sits maybe in a desk where it doesn't need to be because it's missing a key piece of information we're constantly talking about ways to mitigate that um again ey works is not the greatest vessel to use uh for permitting but it's what we have it's
what we had before Andy and I got here uh it works and we can prove it works franking since you have the mic and John has the mic if you were to give advice to the average person applying for a permit today what's the most common mistake that somebody makes today and that you'd advise them to say if I could
just talk to them before they hit that send button what what do you see out there I I I would just say try to be as as answer the questions that the peritech asks as clear as possible if they're asking uh we have one in front of us today owner Builder uh wanted to do some electrical work well they
submitted all the information correctly they signed all the affidavits they're from out of state but when it comes right down to it that wasn't the question that they're asking he put on his permit form that he wanted to do overhead electrical work well you can't do overhead electrical work without being a licensed Florida contractor come
to find out all they were looking for at the bottom line was to put up an electrical tree to have that so these are additional questions that they didn't ask and we can't tell them unless we know um another thing to John's with our flip plan manager that we have on
staff now Kelly um you know these are questions that that go back from Ian but every storm subsequent since then there's been new demands new types of ways of dealing with cost forms how to how to mitigate uh future forms and
future costs that arise versus a payout um and permited work so all those three components have to fit into that module somehow and sometimes people don't like hearing what they need to hear but that's the world that we're kind of living in and I think that's that's an
important thing to point out in in a bigger spectrum is it went from everybody having the same complaint to now you have some one-offs and what I said you know now every once in a while we'll get an email I try to look into them as much as I can because I know ey works is not the easiest thing especially if you don't know what you're
looking for or you've never been through and you want to be an owner Builder what I'm seeing now of the small one house and there's only a few that have come through have been people that had damage from Ian that went through one flood plane manager that was here at the time with the information had at the time and
what we had to do or not do and now we have a different flood plane manager and they're trying to go through the same process for Milton and it's now a little bit different because it's a different flood plane manager what they're being asked for and it's not because the requirements are different it's because
we've been given information that we have to require more information than maybe what we did at Ian correct and it's not it's not so much personalities do come into play to a certain extent but for most of the differences comes into the clarity that's been provided
since Ian uh right after Ian we didn't know what we know now uh we've been visited by FEMA enough where they provided some clarity that in areas that that were not as clear before at least where we thought we had options we don't have options uh and in that case those
items or what's required for documentation what's required for for approvals what the town is required to keep in terms of documentation is a little bit different than what it was before so those changes have evolved uh they're not night and day but they are a little bit different and again these are
these are one-offs this isn't a mass thing one that comes to mind was they had an issue with an accessory dwelling unit that was inside the home that after Ian was permitted based on information that came from Lee County because we still have to play with Lee County as far as some is these the information and
now it's kind of in a it's been held up for months because the information Lee County doesn't necessarily match what's there and it it gets very convoluted so what kind of information can you what's the best and this one that I'm refering ref to it's gone back and forth we've directed them to the county the County's
directed them back to us and they're kind of stuck in limbo when they just need a definitive AER tell us what we need to give you and they can't seem to get it correct now now that's kind of as you said a standalone item so if you're really looking as a general permitting question I'm coming in I'm still I
bought a house that was damaged during in I'm coming in for permits if you don't know the answer come in and ask the questions because one of the worst delays is if you leave an item blank or you guess and if you guess wrong because now all of a sudden you get a comment that comes back now you have to respond
to if you take a little bit of extra time come in make a phone call send an email saying I'm looking at item four on this page two what am I looking for this is a picture of my house how do I describe that in terms of uh this permit application John I'm going to stop you right there because there was a time
when times were diff much more difficult that people shouldn't call they should email they should come in versus email what is the priority in terms of what's the best way to reach out with questions to the town of Fort Meers Beach obviously if you come in the door
there's usually someone up at the front that can help you walk through or at least find the right answers for permits but phone calls or emails also work as well there's probably dozens of all three of those examples every day so you can get a human now when you call God willing unless you've got 15
people that have called right before you yes yeah but you just leave a voicemail some call you back correct but what what's the preference do you prefer people come in do you prefer them send an email you if if someone really has a question on the overall application
itself it's probably best to come in if you have a specific question on a specific portion of the application those might be best for either a phone call or an email uh but if you need someone to walk through a lot of of pieces of information or a lot of questions that you have that might be
easier in person just like anything else if it's it's more targeted or more more uh focused question that's probably appropriate for a quick email just send it to the to the permitting office and say what what do you do on on page two question three you still encourage people to look at the frequently Asked
question section obviously yes and I think we lot of questions doesn't it we're up to about six people that have looked at it so far so we're making progress yeah and to that point the owner Builder if if you're out there as an owner Builder and regardless of what you're doing with the exception of just changing door knobs on your house but
you wouldn't need a permit for um we have Jazelle up front we had Ashley Ashley's moved on um but jaella if she can't find an answer for you we have a whole trailer of people back here that can't and and that's kind of the way they work they don't assume that they
know everything they don't go on Google and try to look up your answer we have that wealth of knowledge sitting back in our community development trailer and and those are the people that we rely on every day so regardless of what what your question is we will find an answer and we will find find a solution I tell
you Frankie you you sent me back there the other day uh with your permission I went back there and to help an elderly person on the island who had some fraud issues with their contractor and the staff back there was excellent I mean they're just very helpful and so I mean it's it's a it's a it's a tremendous
turnaround and a credit to the town and to you John and your team and I'll I'll put you on the spot and it's very awkward because I know you represent Bonita Springs but his fort Meers beach one of the quickest places to get a permit in this region based on where you were you are you are are right where you need to be such a
diple well played I I think things are coming along perfectly when I come out now it's more for maintenance and it's more for just checking to make sure something hasn't come up early on it was what's the issue today how do we tackle the the big
elephant type questions those bigger issues don't exist right now we're so well thank you for that yes sir thank you well why we have you up here is there anything from St I mean we've constantly said anything you need when it comes to building you've you've had unanimous consent to
go ahead is there anything that we can do with John's firm to make it even more efficient than what we have now whether it be more permit techs whether it be I don't know if you can get a second flood plan you know not a second FL plane but a a building official to help you know I know Joe's pretty heavily busy so I
don't is there anything that we can do to encourage you or Empower you to be able to use their services if you have the manpower to do it to make it more I guess my answer would be always um and in a good I think permit Tech wise we we are there we're at where we need to be
we have to just the right mix of people uh we're handling that mix uh with the building official uh our biggest thing is he's also uh certified inspector in almost every category so my my ask would be inspectors um and and that's kind of
a conversation that John and I have on a regular basis they just don't grow on trees so as soon as you can find them and you kind of get them in the whole old he already knows just to kind of keep on you know it's like a big monster in in in Rocky Horror Picture Show just feed me swe more because we we just
can't get enough off pict show just keep moving I digress um anyway our building official really needs to be in the office where we can pick his brain his 40 Years of knowledge and whatnot and
also help out in the field but uh between the two communities we are kind of hand tied a bit and and if that's the direction we can have conversations to see what fits because it's not just inspectors it's inspectors with which type of license what matches up with what you need the key so there's no
sense in hiring inspectors that don't provide a service correct speaking of little chaah hores um thank you sir back before we brought Jacobs on board and we were still in Diamond Head I thought we' given direction to do something about ey
Works to look into replacing them and we have um it's just taken us a while to find the right fit um we had to have dominoes fall into place so to to to answer your question we had to make sure the clerk had this updated software that the town clerk needed and then from
there we had to go find the the HR piece to make sure that our HR was working most of all we had to make sure that Finance was moving the way that Joe wanted to and that that's the Cornerstone piece that just fell into a place a little while ago we have a couple of really nice choices that we'd
like to go down and and start looking between Judith uh and myself we've started interviewing and we've had a few uh demonstrations now uh on different types of software but before we commit we want to make sure it's a fit that works for us not just today but going into the future as well that's the one
thing I don't think I work's really provided it it plateaued and you could have seen it was going to Plateau right from the Geto yeah it's not customizable and it's correct if you've never had to do a permit before it's very cumbersome and it's not but at the time that we were talking about that John there was
it was also advised I think by John that you want to kind of pump the brakes because of where we were at at the time as far as the amount of permits that were coming in and not knowing what we didn't know so you didn't want to put another layer of uncertainty on top of it but we have kept moving hard yeah yeah it's a huge deal change changing
from one permit software to another system isn't just making the decision it's getting all of your existing historical data placed into a new data customizing that new program you're I mean just shooting from the hip you're probably going to want to have someone that devotes at least half
their time to maintaining whatever system it is just because all of these are a handful none of them out of the box match your system but they're not intended to they're intended to be customized who does that customization who maintains it where is it maintained all of those questions come into play at that point would you say it's safe to
say that I mean if you are out there and you're going to be hiring someone to build your home or commercial building or whatever it's very important to get someone that knows what they're what they're doing I mean we still have yeah we still have people who get misinformation that you know the town is holding up something when it's hasn't
been submitted or it all falls usually back on the contractor themselves and there are a plethora of good contractors out there that know the system know who who they need to talk to and make it very efficient so if you need more inspectors I'm I'm all on board to say do it if you can provide them and that
will help make it more efficient I'm all for it it would have a couple conversations we'll see what comes out of it and some people have to wait a week to get an inspection which just holds everything up for him so most inspections are done pretty much that
next day they don't tend to extend except for the outbound ones and we get the emails on if if they're scheduled they should they shouldn't be rolled over for more than a day or so if it's two days it's basically because it's March and spring break and name another
planetary alignment whatever uh but normally speaking they're done they're done within 24 hours if you hear hear of something that extends or somebody hasn't shown up or there's been an issue where it's gone longer than a couple of days those are the type of issues I would like to know because those are the things we're looking to make sure don't
happen and if there's not a reason or if there's not something that's on the contractor's side we need to make sure our side is is cleaned up and I can attest to that too Karen that there's been a few cases at least four in the last three months that I know of where people haven't they've gone through the portal to request that inspection but
haven't gone all the way to the final step so they think that they're there they think that they scheduled it and nothing happened okay so you know make sure that you're you're following that that bouncing ball all the way to the end uh in the portal and again it's not not the greatest tool in the world to
use it's the only tool we have right now uh and if there's ever a question you can call up front and schedule with jaella as well so what so with that b based on what you just said if there's a multi-step process or you don't go all the way to the end do they get a confirmation email that they've scheduled it or does any of that happen
they do on the back end if they they everything so if you didn't get a confirmation email saying that you have a scheduled time and here's what time it is you didn't go all the way through the process that is correct good to know okay because we've all done it you think you filled something out yeah I'm good then you're like three weeks later why
haven't I heard from anybody never all right any other questions for John no thank you thanks John aome thanks all right any further discussion not is there a motion for resolution 25- 92 so move second motion by councelor
King second by mayor allers any further discussion counc King I I'm and I vice mayor I counc wion hi and counc Safford hi motion carries unanimously final public comment I think but was here for that being addressed by John John's
handling it believe any other public comments okay we'll close public comment Tom manager items thank you mayor um probably the biggest thing elephant in the room is going to be Town Hall uh got a lot of things working all at the same
time obviously uh Contin it to work with um salt trim contining with the work with the um fire alarm company we're trying to get all that permit approved through the fire department so we got a rejection letter so I'm working through
that this week should hopefully have that solved in the next couple of days uh just just you know it's just a a process uh we're working still have um to close up the wall well to finish closing up the walls we're really close
the council's uh desk should arrive this week so we're really pushing forward so hopefully you know fingers across we get the D the D it's it's actually when we ordered they they refer to it as a council desk or commission desk but yes the D we've got the stage ready um we're
we're we're just so close you know we probably could tie up a lot of loose ends in two weeks if we can just get the fire alarm system wired that's the key getting it wired so hopefully this week Nicole and staff we're going to be working on that very very hard to get that done working on the parking lot getting that done Frankie is working
with that on the Storm U make sure we get the storm order and storm drainage done so we can progress with that and get all of our permits and you know everything we need to get for that to get that accomplished um the other thing is we are working with Comcast and probably should be to a point where we're going to have FMB TV set up so
we'll we we will have a a a the ability to go live with things to go um to show videos the one thing that they ask is that you do put programming with it you know so many hours a day so we'll we'll have to come up with a plan for replaying our committee meetings
replaying our Council meetings our LPA things of that nature that that will just be content that will always so people will just on there if they if they're a Comcast customer they can go to that channel and look at all all of our stuff so that'll be like a Community Access Channel that'll be the exactly the same thing they can submit that
people can nonprofits and and and certain people can submit to us to put things on there I think there's limitations on Advertising so we can't really do that kind of thing but we can announce certain things not birthdays and anniversaries and stuff like that all we will have a 247 yes sir and one
of you one of you will be the voice of that um I know you've asked so just hang on this is the first I've heard of it no but but we will it'll be just like any any other they by law they have to provide those yeah I remember and so we
have one think it's excellent and it's just never been utilized and I've asked Nicole and she's been working diligently to get that ready and set up and we'll we will probably move away from the YouTube stuff because we all everything will go there and it'll continually be shown um there'll be some ways to get to
that on our um website so if people don't have Comcast or they have a satellite or YouTube or something they can they can do that but we'll work with everybody on that we we'll figure some all those things out um I see a resurrection of the vice Mayors meet the staff and the
mayor walking around sta key questions for key staff oh I'm sorry I I I think I think when that comes in my script I'll be sure to read it correctly each one of you needs to come up with you know the mayor's minute the the vice mayor's key questions with key staff and
each one of you can have a a five to 30 minute program you know it could be cooking Taco cooking tacos with tacos with I mean it could be kind of but it will I really think it's a good way to communicate a good way for people to to
see and and figure out and of course I'm sure you can stream it on your computer if you're you have a an account here and you're somewhere else and and that type of thing so it's really going to be a unique thing it's going to you know we we we'll have to hire someone for makeup because all the lighting and things like
I'm kidding John I'm we're not going to do that y all look great naturally you look wonderful um on Monday's a face for radio I didn't say that I didn't say like I'd never heard that one before I used to say it so the town manager
process is is moving along we we had after we did some you know some background checks and things we kind of needed to to refocus to try to get some more candidates so I think tsa's reached out to you on dates I don't have that date it seemed like anything missing in the process anything
missing um not that I know of at this point so anyone out there that may not know the 25th special meeting has been cancelled or that is yeah would yes sir yes sir it it is yeah just be moved to April and a date to be determined to leas is out today uh with an illness so
we'll we'll get that and Jeff is going to give an update on the Bops Recreation Center yes we're moving forward we get the flooring um they're going to come for it uh first or second week in April um it should take two or three weeks and
that's kind of the final step with that um they ordered the package units for the air handlers those are going to be coming in within a week or two um so anybody watching we might have to shut down pickle ball for a couple days because there' be heavy machinery back there oh no yes so I know that's one of
the bigger issues um but we're going to do all epoxy flooring um looks nice yeah it'll be really nice and they're actually going to go up the wall about 6 in so if we have minor flooding you won't get the the cracks you know water going through the cracks or it'll really
hold in and be able to clean up real nice so the whole uh the whole Rec Center will be aoxy what they Thinking by sorry no I'm sorry they're thinking about miday will probably be open
J so we're pushing we're pushing have a question there I just uh Frankie just in a general sense uh after our public comment this morning did you have any anything you wanted to app about 8211 uh a stero boulev
yes I do um as as of this morning all permits were vacated by the building official um they've been in talks with Joe um because the building was a cinder block building they tried to push their case that it could be structurally sound it could be rebuilt uh he gave him time
to present uh to him an active plan to move forward um that did not happen in the allowed time uh so he vacated their their permit they will not be allowed to come in to rebuild that building that building will have to be demolished um and it it was in the red tag process it
was taken out we'll put it back in the red tag process and if we can speed it up by anything according to the law that we're allowed to do we're going to make sure that that happens so so just just just to be clear so it's about to be red tagged again it would go back into the
system for for red tag but it doesn't have let me ask the torney since it was basically told I mean can it just pick back up and and go and not just I mean I think eliminated because of the fact the permit was issued in July did we did2
did we notice the property owner that it was taken off or did or did we just leave it hanging there was a conversation that there was a conversation I don't believe it was hanging I believe it was taken off of the process when they were permitted to come in and try to find a solution so we would have to revisit that again but at
least knowing that they cannot come back in and and try this again uh but that was it and the building is going to come down at some date hopefully very soon is there is there a way to prevent this circumventing or this loophole process I
mean if you get you get red tagged and we know people are doing it they're coming in and they're getting a permit and they're going to squat on that permit and not do anything until that permit expires which is there anything that we can do to keep that from
happening depending on the extent of damage or repair that's being done I mean it's it's possible Within discretion of the building official to put some conditions on it um perhaps a phasing um that if depending on the size
of what needs to be done you know you should have this much done by this time to make sure that that process um goes forward it's been kind of difficult because there's a huge um goal to try to
get people to come into compliance voluntarily instead of coming down and just basically demolishing everybody's house um but but you do have the holdouts that um just keep pushing it and pushing it and pushing it um I just
wanted to add another comment uh to Frankie saying that it's going to be uh put back into the demolition process so the way that process works is the building official goes out he has a checklist um based on your code as to
what things at a minimum must be in working order and uh and then he makes a determination if any of those things are missing then it then the building is viewed as being unsafe there's a 30-day appeal period uh which runs concurrently
with a 60-day period to vacate so that's the process um technically it should move very quickly um however individuals have contacted um the building official once they get red
tagged and in a lot of cases they've actually taken down the building themselves um but then again there are some that are kind of working the process um as well I mean when is it you know some of these buildings we all know
there's a handful that we can all think of off the top of our head when has it become you know a life safety issue that you know putting up a orange snow fence around it is not something that's going to keep people out of that property is there anything we can do from that aspect
if if just for instance you you you've been red tagged you wait till the 30th day you come in you get your building permit and now you've got your building per or your de demolition permit and now you've got it for six months is there anything we can enact policy-wise to ensure that in order to get that permit
you have to show that you're going to secure the property because people are getting a permit and they're not securing the property or they're demoing a huge property with no fence around it which drives me nuts every time I go buy it and somebody's going to get hurt eventually so concurrent with the
Demolition process um your code also has a property maintenance section uh which basically goes through the same code enforcement process and those two could actually travel um together um going
into the uh code enforcement the special magistrate could order the immediate abatement um I.E the demolition of of properties that are so unsafe because of the fact that they haven't been maintained putting up a fence um to try
to secure it could be viewed as part of of trying to maintain it and keeping it safe so that is another process that could be um invoked at the same time and the two can travel together um the other thing that we've
heard um on some of the delays has been that um you can't take our building down because we're waiting on the insurance adjuster to come um and we need photographs and I really think that town staff has been trying to work with these individuals that find themselves in that
situation however there is a point where you can tell that some of it is just trying to delay delay delay taking a building down is not cheap um and so maybe you know the property owner doesn't have the money
yes the town can come in and demolish the property um after the completion of the process but then again that's money out of your budget so from a policy perspective it might be better to make to have that um property
owner take it down because even though we have the means to recover those monies getting your money back is a lot more difficult yeah and to that point you know the first 58 houses or 48 houses
that we had initially red tagged um almost 90% of those came in compliance on their own um there was a huge staggering number of people that have actually okay it's our property we'll take care of it there's a few of them that have fought us trying to find
loopholes and stretch it as long as they can and when I say fought us it's not like uh buting heads they knew what they could do under the law and they did that and and now you have to let the process play out um and then we have a few that are are just in moving along the chain
to either magistrate or to and this goes back to my thing when John was here about the resources do we have enough code enforcement resources to be a you I I don't disagree that when you start the process of the red tagging 90% of the people come into compliance that's what
you're hoping for right you're always going to have that few that are going to be bad actors but to me it seems that the pro problem is we're not doing enough of them you said 48 how many pass that have we done I think currently on our list we have another 15 properties that are
again borderline marginal moving along through the either the lane search process or still with the building official going down his checklist making sure that he's secure in his his findings because our goal is to get people ultimately to come into compliance do we have enough resources to be able to do it I don't know that we
do I'm asking do we have enough code enforcement do you need us to get more code enforcement can we find more code enforcement to be able to enforement and that is the issue so a lot of times what we do is our Rangers are Beach to Bay that was the the the whole reason to
make them the Rangers and with their new Mission so they've been helping code enforcement looking for stuff uh we just had another set of eyes go out and look for stuff um recently um I I I think that to have another two bodies another
two code enforcement officers that could work that 7 day a week currently we have people staff through Saturday but trying to find that Sunday person is just not conducive with the three that we actually have um on staff um I think that would be awesome because we'd be
able to have boots on the ground always dealing with this so basically yes I'll get with John and see if we can't get a couple more people just to kind of attack some stuff because I just and it rotated for seven days a week because everybody knows code is not here on Sunday the code so that's when all kind
well they do anyway I mean that's when all the yahoos take effect I I spent five hours yesterday going through the entire town myself with Tracy and Nicole writing addresses taking pictures doing everything we need to do and so we're we're we're going through that process
now I mean that yes it can be done and it's a lot easier to do on a Saturday morning or Sunday morning than during the week because it's a little less traffic so yes we'll we'll we'll ramp that up and see if we can't get some some more help in the code I I I believe that enforcement um now compliance is
where we were now I think we're in that enforcement phase we got we got to push that well if they my point is if they if they if if they haven't been started in the process whether it's red tagging whatever it is whether their grass hasn't been mowed whether you know you can still see the the refrigerator wide open with food still in it in their
house if they haven't been notified that they're not in compliance that's the issue right corre and if we don't have enough people to do that we need to get enough people in my opinion we need to get the people to do that that's I mean that's a top priority for people you can see how we've evolved since Ian and and
you know there's been enough time people need to know some people have just left their houses and have forgotten about it and and correct we haven't done what we can do I think to be as efficient as possible to be able to get them to be aware that they're not in compliance so that we can
get to that 90% rate on the island then we'll deal with the 10% how we have to deal with the 10% perfect so I have a question so this six Monon time frame on getting a demolition permit and everything is is six months a state
statute can we shorten that to 30 days 60 days what what can we do to shorten that up so that's not just uh no oh now I got more time I I don't think it's yeah I I don't think it's a state statute is it Nancy for time allotted uh
like the six months is that our ordinance I I'm not sure where the six months I I need a framework as to where that the building permit oration expiration um Can it expire in 30 days and expire in 60 days so that we
make people get moving on this like a building permit you know you get the six months because I mean obviously that makes perfect sense I'm talking more about the demo correct definitely well you know what's going to happen with the Bad actors they're going to find a way around it what they're going to do is you change it to 30 days they're going
to provide they're going to get a contract with someone at that 30-day Mark and then they're either not going to pay a deposit or they're not going to and they're going to stall it through the contractor side so it has to go further than just coming in with a contract saying I have a demolition contract and then a year from now they're still like we have a demolition
and the contractor is just going to say they haven't paid me to come do the work I'm not going to do the work until I get the money yeah I I'm willing to work with Frankie and try to come up with some some solutions um I didn't really know that that game was being played because that's what we just did with the
uh the Fresh Catch property we were ready to go and he came and got a permit and we've been allowing permit and that's the one we're talking about bottom line I'm ready to take it down down you just have to give me the go ahead okay we'll we'll talk about it can we vote on that I think it's I think
it's AAL it's a legal question um and and taking it down has the costs um I don't know Frank we budgeted we're ready to do that and that's the one we're going to put a lean on because it's just the way it is if people don't pay their taxes we're we're protected as a
town uh with the authority to to move forward because if once we take building down um it's irreparable harm and will end up in court so I've got to make sure that everything is correct having a magistrate order that the building comes
down is preferable um because that is a court order to take the building down good that's what we need anything else Andy uh I'll be U Le this afternoon
to travel to Tallahassee for a couple days so um mayor will be up there with me and we're knocking on doors again M let's let's cover that real quick because there has been a report out there that or a certain reporter that's asking that we've never discussed
this that correct council is aware that Andy and I are going to do these things what yeah what you talk to us all the time well I know this certain reporter seems to think that uh it has never been discussed at a council meeting that
we're up there lobbying on beh half of the town and who makes the decisions and U I just wanted to be clear that everybody's aware that we're doing this it's not we're just we're going up to Tallahasse or DC just because I actually remember get away the vice mayor distinctly saying good you guys go I
don't want to go so we have talked about this in public and you just got to pay attention fig backed on that as well let me let me add just a bit of color on that Andy having been a state legislature having worked for a member of Congress having been a lobbyist uh I
don't know if folks think this is some kind of a a pleasure trip or a junket it is it is not and it is brutal and it takes a lot of their time the mayor makes a whopping $199,200 a year and it those are huge uh
chunks of his time that he goes out there obviously Our Town staff is paid but it's they're working over the weekends they're doing a lot of prep time they're on the road it's not and you're sitting in a hallway most of the time waiting for your meeting to start and and your trans going between meeting
to meeting this is and and if you look at the uh return on on the investment that these folks have gotten for the town in terms of Appropriations in terms of potential help help with FEMA uh resolution I mean it the return on this
investment is is is about as good as you're going to get and so uh I don't have a lot of time for folks who denounce this effort we priority in we had minimal Presence at in at the state level and and minimal Presence at the DC
level and and after a catastrophe like Ian the investment of time in what these folks have been doing is is extremely uh uh there's a tremendous return on that investment and I'm I'm thankful that they're that they they're willing and have taken the time to do it and they've
done a great job well just just case in point uh what is it U 15 15 point something million dollars we've got for a town hall 7even 8 million for the town hall 7.7 in Revenue replacement really you know we we're not going up there for fun and I
watched Dan up there and it I got to keep prodding him let's go no I don't but but no we do it's it's the other way around he's like come on let's go no but it is I mean it I've been around a lot of towns and I've managed four towns in Florida and we do as good a job as any but they're all up there it's not us I
mean we try to beat the group we try to go a week before the rest of the group goes so you know i' said yeah and and we're waiting on next month should get a $7.7 million check basically for Revenue replacement I mean it's well worth in
you know small investment made by the town yeah I just wanted to make sure that we covered it so that someone can't say again we didn't talk about it in a meeting all right we that it Andy yes
sir thank you okay Nancy um I just gave give you the um before the meeting started you each received a copy of the final reading and public hearing agenda materials from June the 5th um this
talks about the uh parallel lot uh parallelogram lot and it's just to refresh your memory on the issue that's all well I think I think that that myar there was a couple of concerning things that they said in public comment
that were're not getting back to them if they're if they're I have I i' have not been to the site I've driven by it but I haven't specifically stopped at it that they're referring to if in fact it isn't supposed to be where it is have we have we been there to vet that has Joe
looked at it yes I don't know if John knows about this particular property after the meeting when they first expressed it that very day we had joose Beck go out there we had Jo Speck pull the building plans and go over the plans versus where they were proposing to
build um and we also brought in Judith and Sarah our planners to look at and find out if these allegations were true and and and whatnot um one we would not let a structure go being built in this
town currently uh without really looking at our and doing our due diligence every once in a while one does kind of catch up and smack you the side of the head this one here um we actually went out and looked at it and the proposed part that's sticking out what
seems to be the uh point of contention is part of the upper deck is uh sticking out roughly about eight feet past the property line onethird of that deck not the entire deck one corner because of the way it's situated on the lot would be over what the other houses on that
the sight line for the other houses on that road and I'm assuming it has a piling supporting that corner that is correct um and I'm confident in our building official going out there and our two Chief planners uh both from uh Sarah side and from Judith's side saying
that everything looks fine everything is according to plan that we're okay with it well if it's okay with my fellow council members I'd like to direct staff to set up a meeting definely with Joe spec with our planners if John needs to be there um to to let them know at least
it walk through because they seem to think the opposite and they haven't been told it sounds like again through through emails that we've we've supplied uh certain council members about what the findings SC between Judith and Sarah went into great detail as far as what
they were allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do and the Builder and Homeowner of that particular lot are going along in in a a a pace and plan that is accordance with the parallelogram lot that you can do and have they do do have they've got
their own independent inspectors on this or is the town inspecting it I believe they have their own private provider here we go yes we all feel the same way but by Florida law we can't really step on that toe now Joe can actually supersede and
say okay hey I I don't really agree with what you're saying or he can go out to that jobsite at any given time and and as a building official and say wait a minute here regardless of what you're doing this is not accordance to our code and and and so forth moving forward um he has done that he has been out to the
site he will continue to go out to the site as they continue construction when he went out there they basically had some well and again he he's the only one in staff that can make that determination but my bigger concern is we've worked very hard as a town to make communication a number one thing and
over the last month it seems we've been getting emails and people coming here saying they're not getting any follow through and that's concerning because I don't want to go backwards personally I don't want to go back to where we were so if it's something that we can make a change to make sure that we're getting back they were obviously very passionate they live on that street they're
concerned about safety if we have to involve the fire district to see the fire district have an issue I just want to make sure that their concerns are addressed that we are they are doing what they're supposed to be doing and because of whether it's a policy change that we made or we didn't make but as long as they're doing what they're
supposed to do they that should be communicated to them and to not get emails or phone calls back or a meeting scheduled that just can't happen I will personally reach out to them today and I'll set up a meeting with our building official our planners and I will reach
out to the fire district as well sir would you also email us that information and then a followup after the meeting please yes sir thank you you know one of the things I looked at this handout um you know originally homebound had bought
brought this to our attention um I'm not familiar at all with Everglades construction heard um but if you look at the one page sites affected by parallelogram shaped Lots the two
highest on here are fair weather and myar myar has 32 lots that are affected by this and I don't know how many of those 32 are being rebuilt but I do know when you drive down myamar there is I
mean there's barely room for two cars right now to pass each other it's a really really skinny Street and then he said he was out doing it I happen to be going down myar he was coming we could I had to get a drive I know so then when you talk about a house
not having a driveway not having parking you know maybe maybe we need to look at this and say Hey you know the width of the street has to be such and such feet in order for this to apply or something I don't know well that and
well what was concerning to me in their their their comment was the 40% is it in fact over the 40% so that I don't remember a specific one on mirar coming for the LPA and Council to ask I haven't seen anything haven't seen I mean that's
again this is where I think this could have been handled not in where we're handling it now but in a simple follow-up phone call saying have we addressed all of your issues if not let's figure them out because they obviously don't feel that they've been represented well and I want to make sure
that we don't have that continue to happen thank you anything else Nancy yes sir Okay C items uh councelor King uh those took care of the the Estero and the kns issues were taken care of with me thank
you than mayor nothing additional Woodson nothing for me St I have one qu quick question um based on the MMP me last week uh when are we going to notice the uh Charter review I'll work with Nicole early this
week and get it out okay and are we going to work out if I don't mind piggy back in on yours Scott because I was going to ask the same thing uh we've already had people reach out that are interested in applying for that are we going to have a form similar to the other committees that they can go online and get I know I directed one to
you already but person that was correct we're going to just adjust the committee application we have now just for that make sure the resume is attached because that's what you as a council directed us just like audit and LPA that includes a resume attached to it so okay we'll
just um change our form around just a little bit okay and that should follow your same appointment process um and as I think was pointed out at the M&P that you might have people serving on other committees that that want to also serve
on the charter review and then you would have to take a vote to allow that and we did say that that Charter committee is five people correct by right I think by Charter by Charter by Charter five
people Plus attorney Plus or a total of five a total of five committee members the attorneys usually or well will be there the clerk is usually an attendant and um a council leaon but they're not
part of the committee so what I'm saying corre no I'm what I'm saying is there's five people from the community that would will go on that committee correct okay anything else Scott no that's it thank you all mine was already covered
so with that is there a motion to adjourn Jitterbug let's go go move to adjourn all right I'll second any anybody opposed we are adjourned at 11:09 Wham