call this meeting to order. This is the regular town council meeting of the town of Indian River Shores, May 22, 2025. We will start with the invocation. Uh, Council Member Carol, we're thankful for this town and its residents. We are grateful for all who work for the
betterment of our community and all who serve on its behalf. Let those who work here and those who serve here be ever mindful of the town's vision and mission statement. Grant this council the wisdom to govern amid the conflicting interest and issues of our times, the ability to
work together in harmony even when there is honest disagreement, a sense of the welfare and true needs of our people, personal peace in our lives, and joy in our task. Amen. Amen. Mayor Foley here. Vice Mayor Awart here. Council member Carroll here. Council
member Alieri here. Council member Dayne here. Let the record show all members are present. Welcome everyone. Uh item number two. Are there any requests to reorder the agenda? Any deletion requests or emergency additions?
Uh seeing none, is there a motion and a second to approve? So move. Second. All in favor? I. Terrific. Thank you. Uh item number three, we have a a very special presentation today. uh municipal
clerk's week and I is anybody from the association here? It's um all right. Well, you're gonna our own clerk Janice Rutam will will be taking the uh the proclamation
and uh when when one gets involved in uh the decision to run, the first thing you learn is how important the clerk is because they tell you how to run. They tell you what you need to file. uh they work you through all the processes that um uh you know that uh that involve the
uh uh the perfection of your your paperwork. Uh you keep us uh you being the collective clerks keep us uh apprised of uh developments that we need to have. Uh the the paperwork that uh that goes into the into the job is is
manifest. It's very obvious uh u to uh elected officials. And the thing that that I always notice is that uh politicians can disagree and you know it's in our nature to kind of disagree about everything and nothing at all. Uh clerks get along. So uh if if non-coms
run the army, clerks run government and it's uh it's it's amazing how you share information in a very collaborative and wonderful way. Uh you have periodic periodic lunchons that um actually work for the betterment of uh of government
for us. So, so this proclamation um is a general uh proclamation for municipal clerk's week, but it's a specific proclamation at least on my behalf and I'm sure the rest of council agrees uh thanking you for the job you do for us and make us better elected
officials and and the town better. So the uh proclamation is that this is the 56th annual professional municipal clerk's week and we'll get right to the guts of it which is now therefore at the town council of the town of Indian River Shores to recognize professional
municipal clerks week and further extend appreciation to our professional municipal clerk Janice C. Tan and to all professional municipal clerks for the vital services they perform and their exemplary dedication to the communities that they represent dated this 22nd day
of May 2025 on behalf of the Indian River Town Council. So uh if anybody else would like to say a few words feel free. We can start down there. Um it's the newest folk here. I've had it's sometimes difficult to move into a
new position and not you know you don't have all of the information that you need or as to protocol and what what's coming up. So I rely heavily on Janice and she's does a wonderful job and bes besides that she accompanies me to the
uh League of City meetings and which we did yesterday and I'll I'll address that later. Uh, and I can also attest that she's a a very good driver. So, so anyway, thank you. Thank you,
Janice. Thank you very much. Um, our our our town council and our town are blessed to have a dynamic duo that's the the glue here. Um, Lucy, who we all know and love, and Janice, who really keep the trains running on time.
Um, they do a wonderful job. They're a wonderful face to our community uh and could be n more helpful to our constituents and to every member of the council. So Janice, thank you very very much. Uh Mr. Mayor, I think your comment about
the the non-coms non-coms, excuse me, is uh uh completely appropriate. they they they keep the army going and and Janice certainly uh does that and we're also particularly blessed that in her past life she was a uh a town manager as well
so she brings that expertise uh for free so does a great job all the time really appreciate you being here Janice I knew 10 minutes into our interview uh that you were the right person for
the job um you came across Ross in such a professional manner. Your background and skill set speak for themselves and I'm happy to say that um your job performance uh over the course of your
period of time here has exceeded my wildest expectations. So congratulations. We're lucky to have you and um it's it's great having you being a part of our team. Thank you very much. So, we've just turned municipal clerk's week into municipal clerk's year, but
that's okay. We'll we'll deal with that. Uh, item number four, are there any comments from the public? That is anything on the agenda? General comments we say for the end of the meeting. Okay. Uh, we can move on to the
consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So, move second. All right. Moved by council member Carol, seconded by the vice mayor. Um, we need a roll call vote because we do have two resolutions. Um, can you call the role, please? Mayor
Foley, I. Vice Mayor Atwater, I. Council member Carroll, I. Council member Alieri, I. Council member Dayne, I. That the record show the motion passes unanimously. All right. Thank you very much. Moving on to the mayor's report. Um, just a couple of brief items today.
And uh I'll start by saying when you know if if there's a school for mayors that the Florida League of Mayors does, they tell you don't ever respond to articles you see in the newspaper even if you even if you really want to. Um unless there's there's a real compelling
need to and in this instance there is. Uh I just want to reassure the members of the public that contacted me that uh contrary to a report that was in our local uh local paper uh Indian River Shores is not falling into the ocean. Um
the report has a fairly alarming headline that says shores is vulnerable to severe flooding. Um it it did alarm some folks that uh you know perhaps we were not doing all that we should be doing in order to prevent uh severe flooding. Uh the the article came from
uh a routine vulnerability assessment. I call it routine. We kind of do these because we have to do it. Uh anybody who wants further information on the details of that can can talk to the town manager and um also resort to uh reading the minutes of the meeting where we have our
consultant show up. Um so we're we're okay. uh when you get to when you get to the you know the the important aspect of the article um you'll see that the the headline is misleading at best. Uh it
basically takes out of context some snippets in the vulnerability assessment which is designed to pretty much show worst case scenarios and then you find out that well it's a category 3 hurricane that resulted in some of the
comments from from the author of the uh the article. So just to remind everybody we live on the ocean, we live in the tropics. If a category 3 hurricane has a direct hit, there's going to be flooding. Okay? So, you know, that's um
you know, that's just a you know, a fact of living in paradise here. Uh but it is not anything to be alarmed about. It's not like uh you know, the council has not done everything that it should do uh to prepare uh for um you know, for weather events and we certainly do it.
Um, I think it was probably uh an article later in the paper which was a reprint from the Washington Post which also had some alarming things about insurance rates and things like that. But um, you know, there's there's there's room for debate on some of these
issues. But, you know, the the the prediction of sea level rise that was given 30 40 years ago has proven to be grossly overestimated. Um and NOAA just recently published a report conceding that and they're kind of on the other
other side of this issue. Um so uh we're going to do fine. Uh we we will certainly have some problems if we ever get a category 3 or worse hurricane that's going to hit here and you know but that's that's just common sense. So, um, don't worry, we're going to be fine. And, you know, we take all necessary
precautions. And I I think this council and past councils that I've been on have taken more actions than, uh, any of the other surrounding communities. And in fact, uh, our rating, as the town manager can can tell you, if you ever anyone cares to talk to him about it,
is, you know, the best, if one of the best, if not the best in the area. So, we're we're going to be fine. We're in good shape. Um slow season has hit item number two. Um there's less traffic. Uh but it's
still important to be to be careful. Um we don't um we don't see a huge amount of traffic um emanating from where the new development is by the 7-Eleven. But you can see that there are construction vehicles going in and out of there. Um, and there will be more of that over the
summer is my understanding as they begin to pave those roads and do finishing touches on some of those buildings. So, um, to all of our to all of our, uh, year- round residents, let's let's still be careful out there. Um, item number three, I going to do this now instead of
when uh, Chief Stone gives his re report later on, and that is that you you probably noticed a number of, uh, recent items in the press that highlighted the the excellent work that our public safety department did in investigating a fatal accident. Um,
uh, I I think it was referred to as a murder for hire. So, uh, this this department and our, um, our our wonderful village by the sea is, uh, doing an excellent job in keeping the citizens safe on on so many fronts, uh, and including traffic safety. Um, I've
noticed that, uh, even with the reduction in in, um, uh, vehicular traffic, uh, uh, the road patrols are still very diligent. So, thank you. And, uh, it's great to, to see our, our department so well touted. Uh, that's it.
Um, I will be happy to take any questions if any members of council have questions on any of the items I addressed. And if not, uh, we can move to council member items. All right, let's move to council member items. Does anybody have an item that they wish to
u, Vice Mayor? Yeah. Uh I've been attempting to get a pedestrian activated uh crosswalk at the southern end of uh town roughly in the CVS 7-Eleven area.
Actually would be a little bit north of that that has gotten stalled by FDOT. I am bringing that up again because FDOT just hired a new pedestrian bicycle pedestrian coordinator for the FDOT district for her name is Martha Morales.
They previously had a consultant in there and as as a backup and anytime you have a consultant there, nothing gets done. Uh I originally started this in January of 2024 and Mark Shaw assisted me on it. We had a a followup call uh
right at the pretty much close to the beginning of the year and it stalled. I I had a discussion with uh Brian Freeman, the MO uh staff director over at the county and we're going to reinitiate. I resent all all the material that I had put together. I put
an analysis together with uh Google satellite maps, annotated maps, description and so forth. So, um you know, I I don't give up on these things and the more they try to slow me down, the more I go go after it. Uh you know,
I I don't know if Mr. out here. He's going to talk on the on the you know what what he's going to discuss in utility stuff. But I just have a couple uh quick items. I put out a piece on the deis that says White Lake Township tries
MUN sale again after hackers stole deal proceeds. What happened was there was a small township in the state of Michigan. They did a bond deal for about $30 million and someone hacked into their email system, sent an email, and it's
not exactly clear, I believe, sent an email to the bond underwriter when the bonds were done and redirected the money. So, I have brought this up to one council person over at Bureau Beach since they're going to be doing a deal and giving a massive disarray, and
that's a kind word, in their finance department. I want them to be thinking about stuff like this. Now, I worked in the bond business from uh 1978 until I retired in 2014. This is the first time I ever came across this.
So, but uh they roughly $79 million has not been recovered at at this point. So, uh I going to bring that to their attention. Uh the the last thing I that you have on on the table here and again Mr. throughout the area may have uh
additional comments than I do is a memoranda for their water reclamation facility, the guaranteed maximum price uh award. So, this was a project that started uh initially they were talking about $52
million went to 177. It's somewhat lower uh than that right now. And I I highlighted some of the uh things in the in the document, the description. But here here is my my greater concern. Well, actually before I get that, you go
to the last page, you'll see that uh now the price instead of being 177 supposedly is approximately 164, they have approximately 38 million in grants.
And so it's a total of $126 million. So this contract is and I'll just I'll just read the the paragraph. It's pretty short. A guaranteed maximum price GMP is
a construction manager at risk delivery contract means the highest amount an owner will be required to pay a contractor for a project regardless of the actual cost incurred during construction. Essentially, it sets a ceiling price beyond which the contractor absorbs any additional cost,
effectively transferring the risk of cost overruns to construction manager. That sounds great. Here's my problem. If you go I'm sorry, these pages are are un unnumbered by the original. If you go to the section where
there is the table, [Music] uh I just have to read this to you. Furthermore, the contingency amount 11.4 4 million was mutually agreed upon during our discussions with water and sewer staff at the GMP3 draft review. A
contingency amount is a sum of money set aside to cover unforeseen costs or charges or changes, excuse me, that may occur during the project's lifeline. These include unexpected site conditions, design errors, material shortages or changes requested by the
owner. The contingency acts as a risk mitigation against potential risk and uncertainty, especially in large complex project. Now, here's the sentence that really disturbs me. Furthermore, the contingency amount will be re-evaluated at different milestones of the project and adjusted accordingly. So, is the
guaranteed maximum price or isn't it? So, uh I have a feeling, you correct me if I'm wrong, Jim, that you guys probably won't have a utility commission meeting before council votes for this. there will not be another. Yeah. Okay.
So, I I think I'm going to have to go down to the meeting in in which they approve this and say, is it truly a contingency? Because as we all know, dealing with the city of Euro Beach and you know, even when a contract is written, well, they don't abide by it.
uh you know what what exactly that means cuz that really disturbs me that you know that now there could be a situation where the the owner meaning the city of Bureau Beach makes a huge change and I could get that but I'm worried about other things they going to talk about
tariffs they you know you know uh you know a lightning strike nearby you you can just imagine the things there so given that we we're the ones that going to pay for this monstrosity I'm I'm really quite concerned about well the one entry to the benefit
and I'm not quite sure how to construe this is that the when we last met the commission last met there was not only the um contingency but there was an escalator and the escalator was 5.5
million that was as of January 2025 now in May that has been zeroed Yeah. Uh and I'm not quite sure why it's been zeroed, but um that's a okay a significant difference in the in the
calculation. Um but bottom line is that the the the project now is it's probably going to be well north of $163 million and when it was first proposed in 2021, my memory is that it was $51
million. So the escalation that's occurred over a period of four years is to say the least stunning. Um so hopefully they'll try to I I I agree with your comments about the GMP, but there are some obviously trap doors here
and we'll see how significantly they fall through them. That's it. All right. Well, thank you. Um just two observations. Thank you for bringing that to the attention. questions I would have are that the you know the contingencies seem to be
swallowing up the um the guarantee uh not to exceed construction price. I mean the uh um the language against potential risk and uncertainties um you know you know any unexpected site
conditions um where there was a a sewage treatment plant next to a a diesel operated plant for so many years. I mean, my goodness. Um, and then the other question I would have, u, and again, this is a subject I stayed away from in law school was, well, it sounds all great, but what if the contractor is
on the hook for the for the, uh, overrun cost and they go bankrupt? Um, who's on the hook? We just have a hole in the ground, or um, I can't imagine that the bond would be sufficient to cover substantial overruns. Mr. Sweeney, do you have a thought on that?
Mr. Mayor, um this is a very sophisticated area of the law and over the last 20 years has continued to develop on large projects, not just in Florida, but throughout the country, but typically they try to bond and protect as much as possible. But it's impossible, as my colleagues that are
attorneys know, you could write a thousand page contract and there's always going to be an exception. So, the reality is this is um the best it sounds like they can do. Okay. Um All right. Well, thank you for bringing that to our attention. Again,
we're um we're we're kind of passengers in the back seat without a seat belt on this ride. Um so, we we we are in a I think we're in the trunk, but possible. Yeah. But, um you know, we just we just have to, you know, do the best we can to
point things out in a constructive way. Uh hopefully they'll um you know the city will see our our comments as um in the spirit of cooperation and con constructive comments so that u you know it's the benefit not just for us but all the rateayers in the city of Vero Beach
too. So um you know they're going to be on the hook for this as well. All right. Thank you very much. Uh anything else from council? Okay. Um we have discussion with possible or probable action item 8 which is an ordinance uh number 579
mandatory structural inspections for condominium and cooperative buildings. Uh this is a first first reading uh just by way of background. Uh this is what we call an unfunded mandate. So the legislature passed
u uh a statute which has not been presented to the governor for signature yet. uh but it does have an effective date of July 1. So if we are to comply with this unfunded mandate uh we need to
uh have a um an ordinance in place specifying you know what we're going to do uh to comply with the statute. Uh and essentially um uh an unfunded mandate is something the legislature tells us to do pursuant to a state statute that we we
get all the responsibility before but none of the money. So, uh this will fall in the building department to comply with uh what are called structural integrity reserve study compliance matters which is that um if there's a structural problem in a condominium uh
covered by uh state statute uh that the condominium associations have undertaken the necessary repairs. So, uh thank you Mr. Held. I don't want to overstate this. I I don't think we have many of these here. maybe maybe one or two um
condominium associations that may have um may may have filed reports where they have to do something. Yes, Mr. Mayor. That's correct. The two condos Did you push the button?
Two condos at this point, Mr. Mayor, um have submitted phase two inspection reports, milestone inspection reports. All right. And you know, I I know I went through this with with our town manager, but uh fortunately because of the low
number of uh you know, one or two entities, we you don't really see this as a huge administrative burden so long as uh we have um no additional mandates put on us in this regard. It's basically just checking to make sure that they did what they were supposed to do. Yes, sir. That's correct. Okay. Terrific. Thank
you. How many how many condominiums? So the statute applies to condominiums or cooperatives that exceed three stories currently. That is correct. And and I I heard you say there are two associations. How many condominiums in
the shores exceed three stories? 46 total fall under the condo co-op and exceed our three stories or more in height and fall under the condo co-op
statute and would require a milestone inspection. Okay. So, fortunately, most don't have a don't have a structural integrity issue. It's just one or two. So, yeah, the the two that had to file and we received the
phase 2 milestone inspection reports. They're the issues that we have with the two condos. They're not life safety issues. Again, they're not significant structural damage that exists to those
two buildings, but the pees that inspected the buildings felt that there's a substantial evidence that they need to go ahead and and fix the issues that exist. Great. Okay. Thank you. So,
you know, I guess my bottom line here is that we, you know, we and we'll get to the formal reading of the statute. um the proposed ordinance rather. Uh we need to be prepared to do this just for compliance and hopefully the legislature won't next session start piling on more
and more responsibilities on local building departments to do this because um again we don't get compensation from the state to do this and it adds to our workload. So uh thank you for taking on the ed of responsibility and thank you to the 44 associations that don't have
uh structural integrity problems because otherwise it would be you know an administrative nightmare and I can just imagine you know how this is going to impact other municipalities that um fall within the purview of of the statute. So um before we get to the reading and discussion from council is while he's up
does anybody have a question additional question for Mr. held those six buildings that you refer to. Um the statute also indicates that it it only applies to those that are 30 years old or older. That's correct. But because
we're so close to the coastline, it falls within the 25 year span. 25 standard, right? Yes, sir. And each of those 46 is more than 25 years since their certificate certificate of occupancy. Out of the 46 buildings,
there are two that are that are less than the the 25 year old that that are less than 25 years old. Put it that way. Thanks. for you, Pete, which is
um the the original statute 553 and section 11 said a board of county commissioners or municipal governing body may adopt an ordinance. And I haven't seen the amendment. Does the amendment make that shall? Yes, sir.
That's exactly right. It's in page uh I apologize. It's in section well it's in the actual statute but again we're in compliance with falling that mandatory language that the statute will make it shall which would
be an imposition on us as a municipality and so that's the purpose of this. Okay move to it. Okay thank you. Um you know we'll we'll we'll try to have your six. Okay. We'll, you know, we'll continue to do what we can in discussions with, uh, you know, our
local legislators to, uh, you know, let them know that these things continue to take its toll on on manpower. But, uh, you know, we're not in the best position to do it, fortunately. Um, unfortunately, other municipalities that are really going to be burdened by this have, but the the trend that's happening
is, you know, they're they're finding ways to tighten up this stuff and, you know, throw it back to the local local building departments to uh to to enforce these things. So, thank you. Thank you for all you do for us. So, all right. Mr. Sweeney, do you want to read unless there's anything else from council, do
you want to do the magic magic read of the uh uh ordinance? Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, mayor, town council, this is ordinance number 579, an ordinance of the town of Indian River Shores, Florida, amending the town of Indian River Shores code of ordinances by amending chapter 150 building regulations by adding section 150.077
077 milestone inspections to provide for activity relating to mandatory structural inspections for condominium and cooperative buildings, providing for severability, providing for codification, providing for conflicts, providing for scrier's errors, and providing for an effective date. This is the first reading. Thank you, mayor. All
right. Is there any discussion, further discussion from council on this? No. No. Um I have uh two points of clarification. Um, and that is just, you know, I know the answers to these questions just to
let everybody know, but I want to make sure, you know, it's uh out for the public. Uh, in the event that the governor issues a memorandum saying he's not going to sign this between now and the next meeting um or it's not presented to the governor for signature by July 1, we can dispense with the
second reading and um uh we don't have an ordinance on the books that um that we don't need. Correct. That is correct, Mr. Mayor. Okay. um if um if no action is taken before the June meeting uh the governor you know because there's no time frame in
which the governor has to have a bill presented or sign it uh we we can adopt it but then by simple resolution we can repeal it if um u before the next legislative session there's no action on the bill Mr. Mayor, in section 7, page
two of it, uh you will see um the forethought. This is based on the statute becoming effective, but it also says the saving language subject to the governor signing HB 913 into law. All right. So, you've anticipated it. Terrific. Thank you. Um All right. I
guess we need a roll call vote on this. Oh, I'm sorry. Is there anybody from the public who wants to have a discussion on this? Uh Mr. Held, you don't count. I know you don't like this, but uh you know, unfortunately, you don't get a say in this, so nothing. Mr. Mayor, you just need a
motion and Okay. All right. Nothing. All right. Is there a motion and a second? So move. Second. Uh roll call vote, please. Mayor Foley, I. Vice Mayor Atwater. I. Council member Carroll. I. Council member Altieri. Hi. Council member Dayne. I. Let the motion Let the
record show. The motion passed unanimously. Uh we have staff updates uh building official report and statistics. Welcome back up, Mr. Held. Yes, sir. I do not have anything
additional to add for the monthly report. Terrific. Uh take the rest of the day off. All right. So, thank you, sir. All right. Just kidding on that. So, um code enforcement report, please.
Good morning. Uh the only update I have is to item seven, which is regarding the second lighting survey for the sea turtles. Um that was completed on May 13th with only four properties being in
violation and two are of those are repeat. Um notices will be sent to them saying they are in violation and it needs to be rectified. Other than that, I have no other updates. All right. Terrific. Thank you for keeping our our
community uh pristine, as they say. So, uh your work was appreciated. Anything for Mr. Mike Rans? No. Okay. Uh public works department report. You want to do that, Mr. Harper? Okay.
Um, council, other than uh what's on the report, uh just want to uh note that it is in the report, but we did uh have hurricane uh preparation meeting. Uh we're all uh very fortunate to have a lot of very experienced people here um in this regard. So, we're all uh we're
all squared away there. Um other than that, there's nothing additional for for public works. Unless there's any questions, I'll be happy to take them. Anything for Mr. Harper uh wearing the hat of public works? I I should know the answer to this, but I don't. What's the
work that's going on on A1A on North A1A? Um they're uh redoing the um uh I want to say rumble strips. Yeah, I'll defer to you. Uh uh only because I
was involved with this bike in the river county. There was a test on the part of FDOT to place uh AVT audio vibratory uh I forget what the T stands for uh on the
roads to alert a motorist if they went off the road. The problem was they put them in the wrong spot. So there's like a double white line that goes up the side of the road. It was supposed to be placed right in the mi in the middle there. Instead, they moved it off to the
right. So it actually had the effect of narrowing the bike length. That was the first problem. Problem number two was when they did them, they were very inconsistent. So if your bike tire hits it, you get an incredible vibration and people have actually fallen over and so
forth. So FOT decided to not put them in. They they are in the process of rem not removing them, but basically putting asphalt in to smooth it out so you can't see. So, it's a problem up by John's Island and then they did a bunch down in
St. Lucy County along A1A that they've been working on. So, it's a a total snafu. The contractor made a huge uh mistake and it may put the contractor out of business as a result. But, are they going to put those vibrator things back in? No, they just they have given
up at least in this area at this point. All right. Thank you. um town treasurer report. Just as an update to stuff that's not in my report, unless you have any questions regarding my report,
um we are currently just we went live on May 15th with our ambulance billing with our new our contractor. I haven't seen we're working out some kinks, but I think we're doing pretty well with that. And then we're also, as you can tell, testing our new AV system. So, I'm the
sound I can hear it pretty well from the audience. And as a final update, I am working on trying to finalize the budget. There's a couple more assumptions I'm making, including this budget resolution that you just approved that I want to include. We have a finance committee meeting on June 5th, and I hope to get it to them late next
week so that there's time to review it. And that's all I have. Thank you. Uh, anything for a town treasurer? Thank you very much. No, thank you. Uh public safety department. Uh chief,
good morning. Um it is the season for us to go through a number of evaluations in on the services we provide. Um we have an ISO evaluation that's going to take place um next week. Um and the ISO actually um is an agency that
establishes the insurance rates for the gives you a community rating. Um, it's only done once every 10 years. Um, and I believe we're going to be able to maintain our current rating without any difficulty. We have been pulling together all the information for that, sending it in advance. Um, and they had
some conversations with the inspector that's going to be coming down to do that evaluation. Um, we have a state EMS audit that's going to take place next month. Um, and don't anticipate any issues with that. It's basically checking equipment run reports, um,
certifications of personnel, those types of things. Um, we recently, this past month, we've had a uniform traffic citation audit, the first time that the agency has ever had that done. Um, they found no discrepancies and no issues in that audit, and we went through that
without any difficulty at all. Um, as uh, Miss Christmas uh, indicated, we uh, the EMS building went live on the 15th. There's some minor catchup things that we're trying to get straightened out, but uh the reports are being transferred over in the appropriate manner. Um we
received notification that we had some duplicate reports, so we're going back to double check those. And that was as of Wednesday of this week. Um and construction has slowed over at the over at the building, but um we do have some activity that's going on. The canopy
area by public works is about at 95%. So that should be uh buttoned up here shortly. Um the security equipment installs, the door passes, those types of things and cameras are proceeding this this past week and moving forward with that. Um we've identified a couple
of issues um that we need to get uh straightened out. One is with the new AC system that was put in and our ability to have um the AC maintenance contractors be able to get to the unit and be able to to fix that. So they're going to make a mod modification to
that. and the hood and the s and sensors that are in the kitchen area have been going back and forth between contractors between the general contractor and the electricians and the and the alarm companies trying to get that get all that straightened out. I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Starting with uh Councilman Dne, anything? Councilman Elteri, Vice Mayor, I just want to make a general comment about all these reports with the statistics or code enforcement violations. Uh I don't know if you folks
in the DAS are aware, but uh the Doge office has been asking some municipalities for how do you measure services are being done and so forth. I think we're probably so far ahead of the curve on this compared to uh other uh communities. Uh I was at the uh beach
and shores meeting the other day and I was a discussion with a council person from Sebastian. They're trying to scramble and put these things together and we've had we've had them for years. So I think that serves us well because there's a theory out there which I think
makes a lot of sense particularly because my wife came up with it is that uh uh the what might be behind this is we all know that certain legislators and other people up in Tallahassee want to
eliminate or substantially reduce the property tax. And you know, she thought, well, maybe they're collecting this information and say, well, you guys really aren't doing that much in these municipalities and look, here's the results because, you know, they they they know how many reports showing what
they're doing every each and every single month. So, I think it's good that we have that. So, that's all that comment. Thank you. No, excellent, excellent point. And I, you know, I agree. I I think uh most of us are interested in what other
municipalities are doing as part of our jobs. Um and whether large or small, they don't have the let's call it granular granular data that that we have. And um we're we're in terrific shape for that. And uh also on our business impact studies for everything we do. So we can thank our town attorney
for that. We're uh um we're we're in great shape. So thank you for that comment, Vice Mayor, and u point well taken. Uh item number 10, town attorney report. Mr. Sweeney, I understand you have a multimedia presentation. Should last no more than an hour. And
uh uh Mr. Mayor, Council, if that happens and uh the world has ended. Um uh if we could queue up, I have a very brief uh PowerPoint uh just to go over the status of where we are for the 2025 legislative session. Um as we talked
about at our last meeting, um it and we can go to the next slide. Um it began on May 2nd. Uh there were 1951 bills introduced this year. That's about on par for a standard year for a legislative session. It was supposed to end uh I'm sorry, end on May 2nd, which
we talked about at our last meeting. However, the only thing the legislature is required to do is pass a budget, which they did not do within that time frame. As a result of that, a joint resolution was approved extending the session until June 6. As part of that, um the only thing they are addressing in
this joint session through June 6 is budget items and a very select reserved amount of about 10 to 15 other bills that are arguably related to the budget such as um state employee benefits, health insurance for state employees. Um
they do have to pass one by the 30th. If they do not um then we would most likely have a government shutdown in Florida. We've never had one in Florida. The closest we ever got at the state level was in 1992. A couple years ago in 2015, uh it became very close, but we've never
had one. Um if we did have one, it would much like the federal shutdowns stop all non-essential services, essential services, you know, law enforcement, Department of Corrections would continue. Um again, Mr. Harping is well aware of it. There's nothing we can do about it other than be aware and track
it. Um on the legislative side, if we can move to the next slide, uh of the 1951, only 217 bills were passed on both houses. Um and even that's a little bit misleading. Some of those are most of those are local bills
such as a claims bill or a bill that would only affect say Kier County or Pasco County. Of those 217 that have passed both the Senate and the House side requirement, um only 65 so far have been presented to
the governor and signed by the governor. And again, probably 98% of those are local in nature. There is such as the fluoride removal and water. There's a handful, but none of which really direct the operations of the town of Indian
River Shores. many uh are waiting to be presented and as the mayor said there is no time frame for presentation to the governor so they could present them uh a month from now 6 months from now um when they are presented to the governor uh assuming we are out of session he would
then have 15 days to either sign it or allow it if he doesn't sign it to become law of its own valition he of course can veto it and then there would be an opportunity if the legislature wanted to come back and sign it um they could override the veto with a v a vote of the
uh requirement under the statute in the constitution. But in short um there are 100 as of this morning as of right now there are60 I believe eight uh still ready to be presented to the governor. Currently
there are 28 sitting on his desk within the last 7 days going back to the 16th. As you've seen over the last couple years our governor typically will sign these in batches. he will often have a public relations type stop in a different part of the state when he's introducing them. Um, but as was mentioned earlier, he has not even been
presented with 913, which was the substance of the ordinance we did a first reading on. And there are a lot more that have effective dates coming up, even retroactive effective dates that just simply have not been presented to him yet. Um, as a correlary to all of that, the summary of what could be
signed by the governor has been held back by the Florida uh, Municipal Attorneys Association, correlary to the Florida League of Cities. Um, they're following it, but almost all of them say waiting for final execution or not. Um,
so I continue to stay on top of this. So, I'm happy to answer any questions that would come up, but again, we're doing our best to track all of these nearly 200 different pieces of legislation. So, questions one. Yes.
Lability. It died. It died. Yes, sir. Addition insurance. been very expensive for us. So, thank you. Okay. Thank you very much, Mr. Sweeney. Town, Mr. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council, I don't have anything, excuse me, additional uh for the meeting
about which to uh inform the council of the public. But I would like to note um uh you know, personally my great uh thanks and appreciation for Janice uh and all of her all of her work to continue the town clerk party. uh she's just just such a integral part of of
everything that goes on around here with everyone and and brought with her so much uh institutional knowledge uh you know from her past experience. Uh we're just grateful for it and and thank you Janice. That's all I ask. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And thank you uh Janice. Any any
items for Mr. Harping? Okay. Uh you're off the hook easy today. Uh item 12, council committee reports and non-action items. Uh let's start with Council Member Dayne. Um we'll move from right to left on your committees. I got it. Yeah. Janice and I
attended the Florida League of Cities, Pardon the Voice, yesterday. uh they they talked we had a great presentation by a fellow named Paul Gray from the Ottabon Society regarding water
discharge all three directions from Lake Okachchobee. The fact the effect of which um they claim could be devastating to whichever report you read, you you'll
get a uh different take on it maybe. Uh but it was a very very nice uh presentation which maybe we could get him to come up here sometime and and and make it for us. They were very
concerned about four legislative issues that did not pass this time and and I think it's just a followup here on what was mentioned before. Um that would all pretty much uh eliminate advalorum tax income to cities and towns. uh most of
the or especially the smaller towns uh feel that would be economically disastrous for them because that's usually uh amounts to over 90% of their income.
So I don't unless they've got some some type of an alternative they say that they're going to uh have trouble. Um I listened to their uh reasoning and and uh frankly it was difficult to
follow it and then buy it totally. Um they said that neither none of the four made it um this this term, but they're going to come loaded for bear next term to get it through. So they feel like they've made made strides.
The one thing they're frightened of if if one of them ends up on the ballot because not too many taxpayers are going to vote against a a proposed statute that's entitled, you know, less taxes.
They, you know, they want to cut taxes. So, if that's the gist of it, they're afraid that would pass easily. Um, so I'm going to keep an eye on it. um they're texting me the four uh statutes in their entirety and the and I'm going
to file the the the line of that that they took through the legislature. I'll if anything further develops I'll I'll report it. Uh the big thing fellows is uh and all of our people. Uh July the
16th at the First United Methodist Church in Okachobee is the annual barbecue for elected officials. Um, I haven't been, but before I was took the bench, uh, Mayor Foley told me that's
one of the best perks of this position that it's one of the one of the best uh, places. I asked yesterday being July 16th, I said, and they call it a picnic. I said, "Is this outside? It could be a little." They said, "No, it's air conditioned." Uh, but um, they did want
to say they when you get a an your invitation, I whoever it may be um to make your meat selection at the time so they don't have to run it down at the last minute. I guess they need to know
how many pigs need to meet their demise and how many cows and you know chickens. So please make your make your meat selection. I thought that was not just a menu selection, a meat selection. So uh
all in all when we come to some of a lot of the issues that that the uh League of City discusses and comes to I find myself personally a little on the other side of the table from uh most of the
other uh representatives. In fact I I think the first time that they took a vote and it's normal that you know that's just all eyes. Well, when they came to mine and they got an A, uh, I saw heads jerk around and like, well,
you're not supposed to do that. Uh but I I think it's just the unique situation that Indian River Shores finds itself in. The way we run our city, the the the the very good uh uh and efficient
um way we fund everything and the way uh Miss Christmas runs that department. I I find some counties in little or in the towns and small cities
um they aren't as nearly as well-run as we are. So, uh I find myself, like I said, on the other side of the table on some of those issues, but uh that's my personal opinion. I try to look at what is best for uh for our
community, and if I feel it isn't the best thing for our community, I vote against it. But u I'm sort of outnumbered and it it and and then on the record again I want to say that Janice has been really nice to to drive
me. I've had an issue where I was haven't been driving for a couple of months and she's taken me to the to the out of town thing. So thanks Janice. I appreciate that. And gives her an opportunity to sit the way they have it seated. the board members sit separately
from the uh from other uh town council PE or town um managers and and and clerks and and and so she gets an opportunity to have one-on-one with other communities and I think it's a a really good take she gets I think
she gets more out of it than maybe maybe I did but uh thank you again and uh that's my report. My pleasure. Thank you. Yeah. Uh there was no utilities commission uh meeting in the month of May. Uh so the next action will actually
be at city council on the 27th. All right. Um first of all, Council Councilman Dayne, um I have also voted no at the League of Cities, which is, you know, why I thank you for uh taking over that responsibility because it does not go
over well. I don't know if you were on League of Cities, anybody else, but uh they they do have agenda items that are driven for larger municipalities that are contrary to our interests. And u um I did raise the notion of maybe we
should have a you know uh smaller municipality section because it seems that our interests are more aligned than larger ones. You can imagine how that went over. Um so thank you. Thank you for doing it. And that's our responsibility is to vote against things that are uh primarily against the
taxpayers's interest. Um which if we're running the town properly is consistent with what the town is doing. Uh Treasure Coast Council of Local Government's May meeting. It was mental health aware awareness month and that was noted um when it was mentioned it was mental
health awareness month. Um all elected officials started looking at each other like is it you? Is it you? Uh but um you know we have a um we have a lot of local resources that um you know we can rely on if uh us or a loved ones or family
members or neighbors um look to be having issues. Uh the live local statute which um was alluded to I believe earlier uh is going to be a challenge not necessarily for us but other communities. Uh basically it's a super
preeemption of local municipalities ability to adopt zoning laws uh restricting um things all the way up to height. Uh and in our community uh we have height restrictions that have kept us very different and I believe more
desirable than other other municipalities and uh uh counties. So we need to keep an eye on that. Um the um there's a bill to suspend what is referred to as ZIP. I don't think that passed. I think that failed. And that's
zoning in progress, which um you know basically allows flexibility to do things before they happen. Um there's a uh um there was a presentation by the Farm Bureau of Florida. Uh fun facts you
learn at these meetings. Uh farming is a $200 billion dollar industry in Florida. That's pretty staggering. Um the reference was made to the to the best beef at the Florida um in Florida at the League of Cities thing. And um I think I
didn't write it down, but I think Florida's in the top five now in terms of u cattle producing states, which is pretty interesting. Um you would think it'd be too hot for cows, but apparently not. Um, so, um, that's about it. Uh, we have, um,
uh, there was one item. I'm just trying to look at my notes. Bear with me. Um, so there is a uh um Oh, yeah. There's a uh we we can pass on that. there was a uh a pending
bill that was going to limit the uh ability of tourist tourism taxes and uh that failed. So, we don't need to worry about that. So, that's it for my report. Vice Mayor, uh just one quick thing from the beach and shores uh committee. The sector 4
sand, the final cost came back was originally projected to be about approximately $6.6 million. there was some contingency build in and it ended up coming in about roughly a million and a half dollars lower. So that was some good news and that was it. Terrific.
Councilman Car. Yes, I attended the Economic Development Council meeting on the 20th. Um it was a relatively short meeting. Uh two primary items on the agenda. Uh the first was a presentation
um uh given um by one of the members of the committee uh of of the of the planning staff for the county about new businesses that um are on the verge of coming here. Uh, I found it to be
interesting and a big tease because they described these businesses uh so eloquently um major impact uh to the county uh in both cases. Uh but they wouldn't even disclose the nature of the
business much less the name of the company. So um um there was a veil of secrecy there which I thought was um I didn't quite understand. Uh the second was a roundt
discussion about how to improve uh the meeting uh these um uh these meetings and um uh suffice to say that there were no recommendations made uh by any member of the committee to improve
on what is very close to perfection from that uh austere group. So that completes my report. Um time for call to the audience. Does anybody have any comments or corrections to our collective patting ourselves on
the back uh for such a good job that we do? No. Uh if there's nothing, thank you. We'll adjourn the meeting and we will see you all in June. So, thank you.