--------- Morning everyone. We're going to call the meeting to order. It is not 9:00. It is 8:30 and that's because we are having our budget workshop. Um, this is Thursday, July 23, 2026 in the town of Indian River Shores.
We will start with the call to order, beginning with the invocation from Councilman Carol. >> Before the invocation, please join me in a moment of silence in remembrance of Beverly Anne Foley, Mayor Foley's mom,
who passed away on July 16th, 2026. Thank you. We are grateful 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. If you'll join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Thank you everyone. Um, we'll have a roll call, please. >> Mayor [clears throat] Foley >> here. >> Vice Mayor Water >> here. >> Council member Carroll >> here. >> Let the record show a quorum is present. >> All right. Thank you very much. Uh we
have uh uh our required budget workshop. So we have a budget overview and discussion. Uh we're going to turn this over to our able treasurer uh Miss Christmas. Um but before that we we're operating under a different set of rules
now, aren't we, Mr. Sweeney? >> Uh generally speaking, yes, your honor. So I mean Mr. Mayor. Um [laughter] >> thank you for the promotion. And so let's not get mad. >> Mayor is an honorific. Uh but yes, Mr.
Mayor. Um but again, I think Heather is certainly prepared to provide and I can fill in >> an overview of that. Okay, great. And yeah, there's not much. There's some things if if we were to raise them, we have to have four votes as opposed to three and things like that. But um we're we're going we're going in the right
direction. We're lowering mill rates and, you know, keeping spending in line. So uh we don't we don't have to worry about the technicalities of that. we have to publish some some things so of course creates a little more work for you but um if you want to gripe now is the time to [laughter] do it because we
don't we don't want to hear it at at the meeting in September and if you could just do that and then give us an overview u that would be appreciated thank you >> well for this year um the new requirement I'll let Jim if he wants to inter inter uh say anything they changed
how you can raise the millage rate so you require to when you set the millage It requires a majority to set it to the roll back rate. You require for um supermajority if you're going about 10%
above the roll back rate and then you need unanimous for exceeding that. So that is effective this year. So in our case, we would need three to set it at a roll back rate, four to set it up 10% above or unanimous to go any above that.
So that was the new legislation that passed. >> Mr. Mayor, along lines with that, I just very briefly want to note, we won't go into it in great detail, but associated with that legislation uh were requirements to change the manner in which the budget was uh formatted.
Essentially, those are not effective until next year. Uh however, we went ahead and did that this year to get ahead of it and also to show essentially what it's going to look like moving forward. >> Yeah. So one one question currently we have three members out of five member
council present. If I'm just saying if I'm not expect that we get to the budget discussions and we still only have three out of five. What happens then? >> Our [snorts] millage rate would be 1.2059.
>> So it would move to the roll back rate. >> It would move to the roll back rate. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Great. So just when everybody gets used to doing things a certain way gets [laughter] changed and it says happens throughout your life doesn't it? So um okay if you could just give us an overview that would be terrific and I I
I was remiss I usually do this. Thank you to the finance committee for going through this and um you know providing the recommendations that they do and to staff >> um you know we have a we have a great staff and a great council. Council works very hard behind the scenes. uh the 15
20 minutes uh reflected in these meetings is just a fraction of the time that uh my colleagues take going going through the budget line by line. So uh with that, thank you very much and you can go ahead. >> I'll try to keep this as brief as possible. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Um our proposed
budget is set for 1.2402 per thousand. This is down 3.2% from our current mill rate of 1.2810. We are still expected to come in at $7.35 million in advarum revenue. This
is up about 3.5% from last year due to the increased property values. Total appropriations are about two $10,820,000,000. This is actually down about 19% due to capital projects that have been completed or expected to be completed.
And our protect our projected general fund reserves are set at 7.8. 86 million. This is up 684,000 primarily from increased capital outlay restricted reserves. Highlightwise in the budget personnel
costs are increasing between 4 to 7% based on classification of employment the CBA and evaluations. We have not budgeted any new positions. Health insurance was set at 15% which is what was approved. We are still
evaluating for future years health all the coverage options. Legal services is steady from this year. Um reserves again we have about 7.8 months of operating reserves which should provide us a stability in case of
emergencies. This is just kind of a chart showing how our millage rate and revenues have changed over the past five years, six years. So we are up a taxable growth value of 7.3, but we are reducing the
millage rate point by 3.2%. This is actually what we're proposing is the lowest millage rate in the last 40 over 40 years was what we're proposing. last year was this year was actually the
lowest prior to that. So [laughter] >> that's that's what I meant when we're trending in the right direction. So [laughter] >> um I did do a little just kind of a rough analysis for the impact on if the amendment passes related to homestead.
The first year we would lose about $226,000 at the 1.2402 and in year two $452,000. This is basically a 6% decrease in our revenues. There are ways we could absorb it. We
could do partial military adjustments. We could use reserves or we could tap into revenues that we have not i.e. franchise fees. But I know we prefer to be more transparent with our revenues
>> and and that's assuming um there is no additional uh as part of the if it passes and there's an implementation there has to be implementing legislation. That's assuming there isn't um a greater sharing of things like the gasoline tax
and you know sales tax discretionary increases and decreases. though we we've not seen nor will we until if and when it passes >> some of us would have done this a little differently um whether or not there would be revenue enhancements across the board and revenue enhancements for uh
distressed counties and um we're we're certainly not a distressed community. Um but this this is assuming without any kind of supplemental income from other state sources, right? >> This is solely if we have our current budget, current revenue streams. >> Okay. And and before you go off this
topic, [clears throat] franchise fees, let make sure everybody understands that's a sales tax. That's really, you know, they they call it franchise fees, but it's like a 6% sales tax on whatever you're you're you're paying on your gas
bill or your electric utility. So, I think it's important that people understand that's what that really is. The the [clears throat] term sort of mass the impact. So, >> okay. Uh let's see our reserves are as I showed you this is kind of showing where
our reserves we've been very stable trying to keep our reserves solid. These are unrestricted reserves. So we have about as I said earlier 7.8 months worth of unassigned operating reserves. As being a beachside community if we are hit by a hurricane we wanted to make
sure that we had strong reserves. I am and I've told Jim this. I'm comfortable with our reserves. Um, as I said, we we're going to take about $515,000 in capital outlay reserves. This is that discretionary sales, that 1% that 1 cent
sales tax that we pay. That's we use it for our capital projects. Appropriations the to, as I said before, our total appropriations are 10.83 million. And the other on the side, you see
appropriations and other uses. The other uses are increasing reserves. Um, that's usually what it is. That's all we really have is increasing like our infrastructure reserves, but you have to include that in the budget per for purposes. 60% of our public safety makes
up this these appropriations. That includes both our building department and our public safety department. It >> in the general fund. >> I'm sorry. >> Yes. Can ju just for somebody that's watching, can you discuss the debt service?
>> Oh, >> yeah. Because it's sort of a special accounting thing. It's not really debt in my opinion, but >> it the our debt consists of leases and our what we call I call speedas, which are softwarebased technology. So, anytime we enter into an extended
contract for software, even if it's one or two years, I have to treat it like a a capital lease. So, that's the old term. Capital leases don't exist. All leases that are more than one year have to be treated as debt for accounting. This is Gazsby Oh, I don't even remember the Gazsby number anymore. There's too
many of them. >> Yeah, Gazsby 96 did the speedas. Gazsby 87 did the leases, I believe. >> Okay. But the important point is debt in the traditional sense of municipal debt. We have zero. >> We have no bonds. We have notes payable.
We all we have is an is a line of credit which we have never used. So our total expenditures for the general fund operating budget as you can see 67% of our general expenditures are related to public safety. The next highest is
our facilities department and that is the entire maintenance of all the buildings and so we do try we are primarily a public safety town. budgeting for our expenditures. We also have a couple of capital improvements
that we have going on for next year that we have included which is includes $380,000 for roadway engineering. This is to cover Fred Turk and other roads that we are projected to try to get done in the future. We want to lump them together so that it doesn't cost as
much. Um we have the the cameras for the bulletproof vest and the incar cameras. We approved that lease, but it goes into effect October 1. Then we have one patrol vehicle and fixing the roof over at public safety.
And that's really all I have. I know it's a very general, but I am available for any questions you might have. >> Council, any questions? None. All right, we move to public comment. Does anybody wish to comment on the budget?
All right. recommendations. >> I I don't know if this requires a motion, but I I'd recommend accepting the uh budget as described with the uh proposed uh mill rate. >> Yeah, as part of the workshop, uh we can
do that. And of course, we we cannot formally approve the budget per statute until, uh September. Um you lost the Gatsby numbers. I've lost the uh the date of the next meeting, but um it's somewhere in September. U see you in September to for
final approval. Um is there a second on the motion? >> Second. >> All right. All in favor? >> Are there any opposed? >> Okay. We have a unanimous recommendation. Um and thank you everyone for your time and effort in including the uh uh the staff and
members of the public who may have weighed in outside the confines of the meeting. And uh we are going to adjourn until 9:00. So we'll reconvene in 15 minutes. >> Mr. Mayor, we actually noticed to start right away because we thought the the budget Part: 2
All in favor? >> I >> I. Any opposed? All right. Item three, presentations and proclamations. We uh have none today. And item four, we're going to ask for comments from the public regarding
agenda items. That's comments from the public regarding any item that's on the agenda. Uh including uh items uh 7, 8. Uh anybody? Yes. just please state your name and um u where you live. You don't
have to give your precise address, but uh the town where you are. >> Terresa Morgan, Beach, Cumberland Lane. Uh first, I want to thank you for putting uh this item on the agenda, the item regarding the shared costs for the current septic sewer construction
project. I also want to say I'm thankful to the town and the city that they've been proactive in coordinating a permanent solution to the septic sewer trans conversion alongside the road and storm water work. You already know the history, you
understand residents concerns, so I will rehash only to summarize that at the time of the 2024 public meeting, construction costs were much lower. There was a real hope for grant funding and an expectation among attendees that they would have the opportunity to weigh
in on the cost before the work began. Fast forward to today. Without fault on anyone's part, grants were denied and the lowest bid came in much higher than anticipated. This is where we are. The work is being done and it's being done well.
So, I'll just ask you to consider a couple of additional things. First, consider that the state has been offering grant money to actually fund this mandate for the last three years and just recently open another application period. Hopefully, they will continue to do so. The timing for this
round didn't work for Pebble and Beach Comr, but I'm encouraged that there may be money to help with the few remaining roads ahead of the 2030 deadline. Also, consider, please, that many of these residents previously paid for septic and drain field installation.
And finally, and most importantly, the shared costs being considered are between 133 and $147,000 across both lanes. Even if the town accepts these costs, it would still leave the residents paying upwards of
$756,000 of direct septic sewer costs for the permanent infrastructure that would be owned by the town should the franchise agreement terminate. Those same residents will also have to pay in the area of $300,000
to connect to that infrastructure. That's over a million dollar spread across 31 households. I know you are sensitive to fiscal responsibility, especially when it comes to taxpayer dollars. So am I. But I'm
equally sensitive to fair allocation. The town is financially strong and adding to reserves. the road and storm water work was already planned. These shared costs are a gray area and I hope you find that this is a case where the town's accepting them as related to the
roadway is simply the right thing to do. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um and in response to your comments, uh I think we've all followed uh this uh this process and um you know once again it's
an unfunded mandate from the state. Um it's not a town um town imposition. The state mandated this. So the um uh the other the other issue that's uh that's involved here is we don't operate our own water utility. We're pursuant to a
franchise agreement. So we're limited in terms of the direct applications for grants that we can make. We've done everything we can to encourage the city of Euro Beach to do that and we will continue to follow up on that. um regarding the fiscal condition of the
town. Um legally the town is prohibited from expending taxpayer funds pursuant to something called the public private doctrine. So it's not a situation where we can just say you know what we're going to use some of our reserves and
and pay people for the costs that are imposed on this. We're just we're constrained to do that. We couldn't do that any more than when the legislature passed u uh what I call the SERS act which is the strategic um integrity
reserve study that required at least one uh one complex here uh in town. There may have been more uh to upgrade certain um structural requirements of them that um that resulted in you know fairly heavy assessments to those to those
homeowners. um we would not be in a position to say, you know what, we'll cover the extra assessment for the reinforced rebar in your home. We're not uh we're not in that position. We just can't do it legally. So, um we have sympathy for you. We're doing we're
doing as much as we possibly can uh to uh defay these costs, but um you know, understand the constraints that we have. We can't wave a magic wand and say we're going to take us some some money out of reserves and then cover the cost of this or that. So moving forward, we will we
will continue to do what we've done. Um I don't know that I recall a more transparent process that we've had in this town. Um you know, transparency is a funny thing. People say it's not transparent when they don't like the result. Um so I would just ask that uh
that you you be patient. um that you understand that this is not a not a situation of our own making and that we'll do everything we can to to make it as painless as possible for you. We can't remove all the pain. We know that. So, thank you for your comments and thank you for your attention to the
issue. I mean the uh the bringing of these things to our attention, you know, definitely helps us u uh delve into it in greater detail. So, all right. Um that are there any other comments from the public regarding agenda items?
All right. Seeing none, uh the consent agenda. We have a resolution. So, we'll have to have a motion, a second, and a roll call vote. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So, move. >> Second.
>> Um let's have a roll call vote. >> Mayor Foley. >> I. >> Vice Mayor Atwater. >> I. >> Council member Carroll. >> I. >> Let the record show the motion passes unanimously. >> Okay. Uh mayor's report. We are going to have a very brief report today that's in
keeping with our typical July agenda. Uh don't forget to vote. We have a primary coming up on August 18. Um I think you have a little bit of time to request a mail-in ballot, but um our our able town clerk will have more about the election
uh when when it comes time for her to speak. Uh I received some comments about ebikes. Apparently, we see a number of ebikes flying around and uh we're going to defer to uh Chief Ryer, who will uh do that at the time of your report. You
don't need to do it now. We'll give you some time to look over your notes and uh refresh yourself. We um you know, we we're doing this primarily because of the the fact that the uh the legislature had a comprehensive legislative plan to kind of set statewide rules for ebikes.
Um it's it it it failed. So we don't have that. Uh we have some uh some room that uh is given to local municipalities to uh uh to impose legislation or regulation should we choose to do it. Uh I'm not proposing it. I'm just, you
know, setting out the table to remind us we're right back where we started from last year when you gave the terrific presentation that you gave. Um for what it's worth, personally, I do see the mischief in it from time to time. Uh ebikes in the bicycle lane. uh really
create some havoc for the people who ride bicycles. I've seen that with my own eyes. I've seen some fairly dangerous situations on sidewalks and uh I've seen some people on ebikes that you know riding in the vehicle lanes that think they're on Harley-Davidsons. So um
we uh we ought to give some thought to that in the upcoming months, but there's there's nothing pending right now. All right, with that, uh, I know we have a council member item from council member Alwater and, um, uh, Councilman Carol, do you have anything or >> No, I do not.
>> All right. The vice mayor Alwater, you have some an item. Yep. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. So over the last uh several days, the city of Vero Beach was doing their uh budget uh analysis workshop, whatever you might
call it, and the impact to the citizens of the town of Indian River Shores is through the water and sewer utility, which were customers of. So what I just want to walk through is to give everybody an update. basically as it
says here on the slide, how the city of Euro Beach uses water and sewer customers to pay for its general uh fund uh budget. So, it requires going through a fairly large uh budget book and which does have a lot of line uh items to it.
Uh for those of you who don't know, my my background in my former life was that uh uh I was a bond portfolio manager and a credit analyst. And in my lifetime, I bought literally billions with a B of
municipal uh bonds uh during my uh 30 odd year uh career. So I I come with a little bit of a uh expertise. So if you'd flip to the next slide, please. So there's
a couple different uh sources of water utility revenues that the city of Bureau Beach can transfer to their general fund budget. And just from an accounting perspective, what what's the general fund budget that that pays for all the
general government services such as uh public safety, city council, city manager, all all their u administrative things. So, uh there's two uh transfers that uh
occur out of the water and sewer fund which is paid for by all of us in this room who get water and flush their their toilets. The first one is a profit contribution from the
water and sewer fund that goes back to the general fund. Now, they don't use the word profit. a just a contribution from the water and and sewer uh fund. So, this literally is a a profit that we we
have to pay. Now, uh I don't know how you feel. I've always thought that government is not in the uh business of making profits. Now, maybe in my high school civics class, I I slept through when they discussed that there, but I don't think that's uh uh really really
the the uh the case. So that's the one thing. The second one that usually flies under the radar screen is is an accounting term called general fund administrative uh chargeback. And uh what that is is
basically charges expenses for general fund services that one can charge back to a water and sewer fund, an airport fund, a marina fund, and so forth. Now, there's supposed to be a
very uh systematic uh approach to that. And I've raised this question before with the uh city of Vera Beach when I sat on the utilities commission. And just so you know, utilities commission it sounds a very high fluting name. It's
completely advisory committee has zero power with regard to rates and I'll talk about that a little bit more. So what the city is on C cost of like city council, the city managers thing,
they're charging a portion of that back to the water and sewer customers. Now some of those chargebacks are legitimate. For example, if they have a warehouse and 10% of the square footage of that warehouse stores utility supplies, then it's legitimate that 10%
of the cost of that. But a lot a lot of it isn't under under Florida law. Florida agencies must maintain documented equitable cost allocation plans under Gazsby principle. Gazsby stands for the uh government accounting
standards board. These plans cannot arbitrarily transfer general overhead cost to restrictive funds like utility funds without clear documentation of benefits received. So I've asked for this analysis and before when I'm a utility commission I basically just go
well we just sort of do one one of the these things and as I'll show in a moment that's very important. One thing before we go through on the uh one other discussion on the uh profit uh contribution. There has been comments
made by the mayor down there and so forth that uh the taxpayers of the city of Vero Beach are just getting, you know, paid back for their investment. Well, >> they're they're mayor, not me. >> I'm sorry. They're mayor. They're mayor.
Thank you. No, mayor. Mayor Koutno. Uh, so I've looked back going back I've looked back over the years looking at transfers and investments and and things and so forth. As best as I can tell,
and I think it goes back further than this, but in this century, the city of Vero Beach has not invested any of their taxpayer money into their water and sewer utility. It's only been going uh one uh other way. So they're
and so any improvements are being paid for by the water and sewer customers. Now just think about they're getting ready to do a new plant which is skyrocketed in price. In 2022 was I was on utility commission was $82 million.
Now it's almost double that. I can tell you inflation instru and construction costs have not gone up that much. And I could show you all sorts of statistics but I don't want want to bore people. So again, they're not putting any money
into this utility. It would be like if you or I were buying a a new house, you know, or buying a house for the first time and we completely financed it with a mortgage. So that's basically what they're they're doing. And you and I as water and sewer customers are going to
uh pay that debt. Now, there's going to be some grants and so forth, but they come to the state of Florida and they come from the federal uh government. the city's not kicking any money in. So, I think that argument it's made about it's just paying back their investment is completely bogus. They've been yanking
money out of this fund uh forever. So, you flip the next page, please. So, these uh these transfers are not insignificant, particularly when and which I'll explain a little bit uh later, they have a $37 million uh
budget. You can see the profit transfer has gone up uh significantly of 27.7% over the last two years. Again, I'm assuming that the discussion they had yesterday was that the proposed uh budget will go through and the general
fund administrative charge is almost equal to that profit transfer. Again, I say most of the time that flies under the radar screen. So you the overall change is up 16.6. 6% way above the
inflation rate. So flip the next page please. So you have the total proposed water and sewer customer transfer as from the previous page 3.78 million. That assumes a 6% profit margin. There was talk in
yesterday's meeting and I don't know what it's going to occur or not that maybe move that up to eight or 9%. So think about it. They're raising uh rates substantially. I believe if you get reuse water, irrigation water, that's that's going up
way over 50%. Uh over and over the next two years, your water your water and sewer charge is going to go up roughly 45%. On top of that, there is a study being looked at. You're going to get increased profit transfer uh because those
revenues are going up on 6% and they want to raise the rate on top of it. So just literally piling on water and sewer customers to the benefit of uh city of Euro Beach uh uh taxpayers. So look look
at that total proposed budget 30 36.943 million. Property taxes make up just under 40% of the projected revenues on the general fund in the city of beach. Just under 40%.
you and I are and are paying and almost 10% of their budget, 10.2%. It's the second source of funding that the city of Vero Beach is. Now, I I I hear them, I'll use pl ter terms, complain all the time
about how the city of Vero Beach does all these things for the county. They don't get compensated for them. My god, you know, they're just they're just great people. This is nonsense. If you look back when they had an electric utility, we were paying some of the
highest rates in the state. I tracked them every single quarter, we were there was probably there was like 35 36 electric providers. They were anywhere from 32 to 34 worse. When we finally got
out from under them and got the Florida Florida Power and Light, our uh electric rates went down on average about close to 20%. And they were slamming all that money back the other other way. So if you look at the final bullet point, so
you got Indian River Shores and you have the unincorporated Indian River uh county customers which are mostly on the on the Barrier Island south of the of the city all the way down to the St. Lucy County uh uh uh pro
uh uh county line. So we're paying I think what's it I think those customer represent roughly about 40%. Is that 40? Yeah. Okay. So about 40% you know and then there are there are customers inside of Vera Beach. So uh
but here's the thing as the mayor our mayor has as as has talked about before we don't have a voice. So if you think about different customers of utilities first of all let's go back to utility uh regulation and you know government
regulation general. If you go back in your history book, the Interstate Commerce Commission was uh created, I believe, in the late 1800s because uh railroads which dominated transportation were arbitrarily discriminating against
certain set of customers. Now you have in in here in the state of Florida have a public service commission. In other places, it's called a public utility commission because utilities have monopoly power in terms of setting rates. Now with me, so we're Florida
Power and Light customers. If you we can argue in front of the public service commission about whether a rate that FPNL proposes is fair or or not. And so there's another body that makes that decision. FPNL cannot make that decision
arbitrarily on their own. When you look at municipal utilities, if you have a utility that only provides services to inside their borders, well, the the city or town council sets those rates, but as a voter, you can
vote them out of office. The same with electric cooperatives in the state of Florida. If you're a customer of an electric cooperative, you have a vote on the people that set the rates. We're in a unique situation here because we live
outside the city. We cannot vote those folks out of office if they put in a huge rate. We we just got to sit there on on the on the sidelines. That's why we've been working as as our mayor has said on HB1 1451
just got passed. It's just a first small step to try to at least bring to the states of Florida's eyes, you know, a lot of the stuff that's going on in municipal utilities
because they have flown under the under the uh radar screen. So, you know, it's unfortunately what they do down in that budget impacts our uh our paychecks and our bills. So, I just wanted to bring it to everybody's attention. So,
>> uh thank you, Vice Mayor. Um agree with everything you said. Uh and we'll just add the following observations in, uh the various bills leading up to the passage of 1451. some additional measures were included
in there that would um uh give comfort to jurisdictions like us that rely upon an unregulated municipal utility um in terms of imposing some fiscal restraint. Everything from limiting the amount of u money that could be transferred on
either on a percentage basis or um a capital need basis from the um enterprise fund to the general fund. um that would essentially eliminate the temptation of municipalities to use their utilities as a uh or enterprise
funds, airports as a piggy bank. Um so we we ought to really focus in on that. You know, the way legislation works is you may not get everything in the first year. Uh so in the second year, just keep going back um and and try to do this. We're not the only one. Um we're
not the only uh only uh area that has this as an issue. Uh, and believe it or not, it's worse in in some other places. So, I I will say in, you know, 7 8 or nine years sitting on this council, the one thing that I um I worry most about
in terms of not being able to control costs affordability for our residents is a utility. Because, as you point out, we have absolutely no control over that. And I I see a dangerous trend where um there's going to be uh rate increase
after rate increase after rate increase. And so we need to uh we need to stay vigilant in that. So thank you and keep it on our radar screen. All right. Thank you very much. Uh Mr. Carol, do you have anything to add on this or? >> No problem. >> Okay. Thank you.
All right. Item 8 8A, ordinance number 597, parking in residential areas, otherwise known as the pickup truck law. So, um, we had a last minute uh, edit. I think council was made aware of it. And Mr.
Harper, if you can, uh, just explain what this is about. Um, we're making again a minor change to our uh our general ordinance which um uh would reflect the realities of uh everyday life and the improving aesthetics and
nature of pickup trucks uh to allow people to park them in their own driveway. So, uh why don't you take it away? >> Um yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. That uh essentially summarizes it. The one note I would like to make uh on ordinance 597 relative to the change is that we uh
moved the definition uh or additional definition of pickup truck from 16208 up into 16207 sub6. There's no uh difference in substance. Uh it just read better. Uh we
also uh and just to note after the um first edition as it were we uh for practice uh discussed this with our uh uh or sent it out to our planning zoning and variance board uh members discussed it with our building official our code enforcement officer our town attorney and uh I think here everyone's uh
comfortable with the um with the brief clarity and what the town intends. >> Okay. Um I it interestingly enough since um there was an article or two in the paper about the parking residential areas and this
change that we're making. I received no opposition until after that that notice came out and is was there any public weighin that didn't get to council that um that you wish to report any any great opposition any great anything that we received we forwarded to council. So,
anything uh one way or the other that that we received, but since that we actually did not receive uh uh anything additional except for the one uh email that was forwarded to council. >> Okay. One resident that apparently doesn't like pickup trucks at all. Um all right, let's have discussion on
this. Um uh before we uh we ask for a motion, is there anything council wishes to add? Is there a motion to uh sorry, we have to have Mr. Sweeney do the read what I call the magic language which is statutory language required before any ordinance is passed and so Mr. Sweeney
if you could uh comply with the legal requirements. >> Yes sir Mr. Mayor Council this is ordinance number 597 an ordinance of the town of Indian River Shores amending section 162.07 parking residential areas amending section 1 162.08 08 other vehicles besides licensed automobiles,
providing for applicability and inclusion, providing for severability, providing for an economic impact estimate, providing for scrier errors, providing for conflicts, and providing for an effective date. This is the first reading. >> Thank you. >> All right. Is there a motion to approve? >> So move. >> Second.
>> Okay. We'll have a roll call vote. >> Mayor Foley, >> I. >> Vice Mayor Atwater, >> I. >> Council member Carroll. >> I. >> Let the record show. The motion passes unanimously. >> All right. Thank you very much. We'll move to item 8B which is ordinance
number 598. Uh these are amendments to sections 15 0.036 160.02 and 161.07 regarding utility easements. This sounds really complicated but it isn't. Um it's
just a um uh a cleanup of something we have to do from time to time based on new legislation and new regulations. So Mr. Mr. Hartbring, why don't you please explain what this is about? >> Um, in in brief, we had experienced
issues where um home homeowners were placing uh landscaping and other items like that in utility easements. Uh we wanted to have a process whereby uh the homeowner could seek a uh a release or a waiver uh from the actual uh possessor
of the utility easement FPL, City Bureau Beach, Florida City Gas, whatever it happened to be in order to put um uh non-permanent items, not structures, but to put landscaping and fencing and so on uh on those easements. So we would have record that there is a waiver of that easement. And of course it would require
the property owners to remove it at the request of the easement holder. >> Thank you. And this is a second reading. Is there any discussion from council between the first reading and the second? If there isn't, we'll have a motion to approve in a second, please. >> Second.
>> Mr. Mayor, may I just briefly read you have to read the language. No problem. This is ordinance number 598, an ordinance of the town of Indian River Shores amending section 150.036 036 construction within utility easement amending section 160.02 R1A single family residence districts amending section 161.07 encroachments in utility
easements providing for applicability and inclusion providing for severability providing for an economic impact estimate providing for scribers and providing for an effective date. This is the second reading. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you for catching that. Is there now a motion to approve? >> So move second. >> Uh roll call vote.
>> Mayor Foley >> I. >> Vice Mayor Atwater I. >> Council member Carroll. I >> let the record show. The motion passes unanimously. >> All right. Item uh 8C, ordinance number 599. This is a first reading. Building department permits. Um who wants to take
this? Heather or >> I'll I'll Jim. >> Okay. Uh mention um Mr. Mayor Council. Uh consistent with uh HB 803 legislation. We're just trying to clarify the time frames uh associated with permits and permit expirations. uh it's consistent with the the new
legislation and provides clarity in terms of the the permits when they have when they're open, how long they can be open, and so on. >> All right. Thank you. Yeah. And I I will note that uh this legislation is intended to to cover municipalities that
have building departments that uh have lengthy delays and um problems we don't have here. So, um happy to happy to have this ordinance, but it's kind of reaffirming what we already do. Um, Mr. Sweeney, uh, if you can please, uh, read the required language.
>> Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. Council, this is ordinance number 599, an ordinance of the town of Indian or shores, amending section 150.028 by adding C, permanent expiration to the code of ordinances of the town of Indian shores relating to the expiration of building permits, providing for applicability and inclusion, providing for severability,
providing for business impact statement, providing for scribers errors, providing for conflicts, providing for codification, and providing for an effective date. This is the first reading. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> All right. Thank you. Is there any discussion? If there is no discussion, a motion and a second would be appreciated. >> Second. >> Um, roll call vote.
>> Mayor Foley. >> I. >> Vice Mayor Atwater. >> Hi. >> Council member Carroll. >> Hi. >> Let the record show. The motion passes unanimously. >> All right. Uh, that ends the uh the u the motion and uh formal approval stuff. But we have an item 8D which is the
approval of uh auditor selection rankings and auditor selection. What I should say is it uh removes the requirement to read the uh the title in section. So >> yes sir. >> Um item 8D is um um we're approving our auditor. We had uh two I believe two
candidates. If you can explain um who we're selecting and why. What's the recommendation? >> Yes, we had an auditor, Mr. Mayor and council. We had an auditor um uh selection um committee and part of this particular uh item is the um approval of
the auditor selection rankings and then the followup uh approver of the auditor um selection. I know um auditing is near and dear to Heather's heart. If she has any other additional comments on the process or the selection or if there are any additional questions, we're happy to
answer them. >> You like them? Okay. Yeah. All right. Well, we'll go with you. It's It's worked so far. Um, is there a motion to approve? >> So, move. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay.
Moving to the next the approval of the tentative millage rate. Uh, as um was mentioned at the preceding budget meeting, uh we have a tentative budget budget mill rate of 1.2402 2402 uh for the fiscal year uh 2627.
U my recollection is that once we adopt this uh we cannot go above it. Uh so we're comfortable that this will be the uh you know the um the military going forward. Is there any discussion on this further? If not we can have a motion to approve and a second.
>> All right. All in favor? I >> I and uh any opposed just for the record? No. Okay. We have a unanimous approval of the tenative military item 8F which is the approval of the preliminary budget. Again, um incorporating the discussion earlier
today and the prior work that's gone into that. Um is there any further discussion? If not, we can have a motion to approve in a second. So move second. >> All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Okay, we've approved the preliminary
budget. Again, the permanent budget will be adopted in September at a date I can't remember right now, but it's in September. Uh item 8G, setting council meeting dates for November and December 2026.
Uh two of us won't be here. Um, and you know, I I my uh my preference would be to defer this uh to a meeting where the other members of council are present. Um, let's let's defer it to August >> and uh happy to do that. Uh, Mr. Mayor,
we just um we'll happy to do that. We're just trying to align them for the holidays which are probably static regardless of who's here, but we'll go ahead to first August. >> Um, >> yeah, generally we just move them up earlier in the month to get away from holiday. >> Exactly. But you know it's if we set the
date then we have to undo the date and why don't we just get uh Councilman Alter and Councilman Tedesco and see uh see what that comes to. Actually Councilman Tedesco it's only Councilman Alter would be all right. Um >> we'll set it for August. Mr. >> Yeah, I think that's a better way to do
it. So is there a motion to defer to table item uh 8F to the August meeting? >> So move second. >> Uh all in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Okay. Um item 8H the separate to sewer cost
allocation. Um Mr. Harping do you care to uh give a report on that and u uh if so please please proceed. >> I don't have much in addition to the memorandum that was provided to council
in terms of the request or the ask as it were from the residents of Beach Comr Lane and Pebble Lane. I'm happy to answer any additional questions. Uh I can only note that I know that the council has paid extremely close attention to this is very well-versed
and not only have you know we had individual meetings, the council is aware of all the other community meetings that we've recorded and provided. So I don't want to belabor it, but I'm I'm happy to answer any questions if there's um if there's nothing nothing further in this regard. >> Um I have no additional questions. Any
anybody else have any additional questions? >> I do not. >> Okay. Um, all right. We'll move to item 9A, which is the building department report. Mr. Held is not here. He is here. You're hiding back there. And if you're going to hide, sitting
next to the chief, chiefs of police is, you know, and public safety chief is a good place to hide. Yeah. >> Yes, sir. Good morning, everyone. I just have a quick activity summary for last month. Uh the building department activity continues to reflect a
substantial level of construction and permitting activity throughout the town. Uh the new construction activity increased compared with the prior fiscal year while additions and alterations continued to generate significant
construction activity. It looks like the commercial additions and alterations also showed increased activity as well. Miscellaneous permit activity increased
uh demonstrating continued activity in smaller construction and improvement projects. And although the the number of inspections and plan reviews was slightly lower than
the the prior fiscal year, uh the department continued to process a uh looks like a substantial volume of permits um plans and and inspections. um the fee revenue it increased compared
with the prior fiscal year and you know it's reflecting the continued level of the construction activity as well as the the current fee structure. Um the increase in inspection fees previously adopted by the town is also
reflected in the department's overall revenue performance. Um the department staff as well as uh the finance director will continue to monitor the operational impacts brought on by House Bill 803
and evaluate any any type of impacts that it has on the permit activity as well and in as the uh inspection procedures and um departmental revenues. Uh overall, the building department
continues to maintain a significant workload while supporting continued construction activity throughout the town. Are there any any questions? >> No. Uh I just want to express appreciation for the uh for the for the
extending work you do. I don't know of any other jurisdiction where elected officials get compliments for their building officials. Uh it's really remarkable. >> Uh anything else for uh Mr. Held? >> One question. What is the commercial project that is being undertaken?
>> The commercial project that is being undertaken currently would be the parking garage that is currently being undertaken. Now, um maybe the questions as much for you
or or or for Heather. When do you do you anticipate making any adjustment in permit fees before the close of this fiscal year? >> Okay. >> We will we will incorporate the fees that we just approved today effective
immediately, but I don't anticipate any more changes for this fiscal year. Maybe at the end of the calendar year needed. >> All right. Thank you very much. Keep up the good work. Thank >> uh code enforcement report
Jake Micrans. Thank you very much. >> Good morning. Other than the information listed on the report, I have no further updates. Be glad to answer any questions. >> Any questions on code report? Vice Mayor, I see you post.
>> Can you I I sent you an email on this and I know you responded, but just for the record, how how many violations were there at John's Island condo? Um there were approximately 36 violations and about half of those were major deficiencies.
>> Okay. >> Um the majority have been rectified and probably about two remain. >> Okay. Or Yeah. It just just jumped out at me
because anytime I I see a condo, you have just more people being around each other and I think a fire and so forth. So, okay. All right. Great. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I think that's it. Thank you. >> Uh facilities department report.
Lucy Shite. Thank you. >> Good morning, council. You have the report for the month. Um I didn't include this in it and I did want to mention it. um Indian River County Public Works Director Ronnie T. Jones. I
think he's been there since about the beginning of the year. He put together a consortium and he invited all the public works from town of Orchid, City of Felsmere, City of Sebastian, um if I'm forgetting somebody, I apologize, and us. And it was on June
25th, and it was wonderful. It was um you were allowed to bring people. Uh Max joined me. uh we made some nice connections. It's sort of a networking um and where maybe we can have some ILAs andUus to share resources.
Stemming from that, we already had the um traffic from Indian River County come out and replace the three of the four street lights at our corner. They turned them off at the breaker after that because we're working with the turtle
people to determine if they're going to be far enough distance where it doesn't affect the turtles, but the lights will um are now working. So, it was um a wonderful event for us to attend. There's going to be another one October
1st. City of Felsmere's hosting it and then there'll be one in January. We're hosting it. So, I just wanted to share that information. >> That's great. So, it it sounds like it's um it's it's an association much like the clerks have where uh you you kind of
share information and if somebody's done something that you're thinking of doing, you don't have to reinvent the wheel and you know promote efficiencies. And >> it was a very welcome invite for us. Um Ronnie T. Jones there he said uh he
didn't kind of understand why everyone's kind of doing their own thing and like you said sharing resources and knowledge. uh city of Sebastian brought their procurement manager. She bought a brought a lot of her um recent uh
procurement that we could piggyback off of for things like sidewalk repairs. We have those like small ones on Old Winter Beach Road. So, it was a really uh helpful event for us to go to. >> Well, thank you. Thank you for doing that and uh going above and beyond the call. Anything for facilities? Okay,
we'll move on. finance department. Do you have anything left to say after you know so I can't imagine you would but >> it's your time. >> I have nothing else to report on besides the report I gave you. So if you have any questions for me though I'll be glad to answer them.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Uh public safety department Chief Stone Assistant Chief Ryer. >> Welcome. Thank you. >> Unfortunately we're going to tag team you a little bit today. Um we've been uh doing a little bit of data mining um
with our with our call activity um primarily in the fire and EMS side and um as as we can the way the old system was was was they calculated the times and the way they looked at it was was an overall
broadreaching look at um what was happening in the system and just kind of that the computer system dumped dumped the number out at the end of the day. Um, we've in the past six months we changed to a new reporting system which was required for the federal reporting
requirements. We now have uh with with fire fire related calls. Uh we've also gone to a new building system and and new ESO system for the for the EMS. But what some of the interesting things that that we've started to actually dig down by hand and and take a hard look at over
the past six months is that um uh occasionally when we when we run the data, you'll get an outlier time uh which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So when you when you look at it, um you you may have a whole list of of data for a particular month that gives you the
actual response time for that particular call that occurred within the town. Um, and then you, so those run in the six to seven, eight minute time frames, and then all of a sudden you got a 15 minute one sitting out there for some reason. You're not sure why, why that is. So you actually have to go back and manually
dig entirely through that call and try to figure out what happened to it. And you may even have to go back and listen to the tapes and try to find out what what exactly happened. Did a dispatcher miss mislogging the time um that that came in? did our guys not tell them that
we arrived on scene because of so much activity going on throughout the entire county. So, that's some of the some of the things that we've kind of been looking at. But what what also came up interesting is that when I was as to to coin um uh council member Atwater's uh
uh statement uh in a previous life um when I was with the county uh we entered into an interlocal agreement with the town of Indian River Indian River Shores and that was a an automatic aid um agreement that we went into. So, if there is a call with inside the town of
Indian River Shores, um we automatically get a response from the county um especially for fire calls and fire alarm calls. So, if we have a we have a call, we've got probably two inches from the county coming in supporting our third our engine and our ambulance and our law enforcement officer sitting there. Um
so, that that pays off dividends. So, but when you go in and start removing in the past, we looked at all those mutual aid calls, too. That didn't happen. They don't happen in the town that we respond outside. So, we we went through and pulled all those. When you look at that
data, it almost runs parallel with the number of calls that we're having inside the town versus the number of calls that we're responding to outside in the county. Um so when you pull all of that um that that that can also have that that reduces has been reducing our our
response time remove the outliers and go back and take a look at them. You get a better picture of what's going on. Um so um anyway we've uh the the data uh we've given you an updated list. You had a chance hopefully you've had a chance to take a look at that. Um and we're going
to continue to dig. We're going to continue to to to sift through the data that we have. Um, and I'll be honest with you, it's it's not like I could run a crystal report on this thing and go through and pull the data out. Um, which which I would have normally done in in another jurisdiction. I can't do that
here because there's too many variables that are thrown in there. And there's when we enter to the new reporting system, the drop-own menu that you get, it may have 150 items on there on the dropown menu that you actually got to sort through and try to try to generate
the report. So, um that's just an update on uh where we're at with the run data. Um and you're going to we're going to s we're going to not going to send you um uh the graphs anymore. We're actually going to send you the raw data sheets so that you can actually see what's going
on in the system, what's going on in the town, how many times we responded outside the town um and and receive m received or granted or offered mutual aid to the county. Now, that mutual aid agreement also has has has paid some big
big dividends for us and and what's going on right now is is also true. Um, we've got two ambulances. One of them is on kind of its last leg and we've got a replacement for that. Hopefully, it will receive in January. And the other unit is which is become our primary unit. The
downside of that is is that both of those ambulances went down. So, we're actually running calls, running EMS calls in a county borrowed unit right now um to make sure that we can continue to provide services to to our citizens in town. So, works out very well for us
that mutual aid agreement. So, I uh I know Ed wants to talk to you about the electric bikes and some of the other things, but I'll be happy to answer. >> Sure. Just one question on the raw data. Um I I think I understand what you mean, raw data. You're not just going to give us the printout sheets. It'll be, you know, there will be some summary of the
raw data. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Got it. But no, no more of the, you know, Excel. Actually, I I I think that kind of gives you a false impression of actually what's going on. The the raw data will supply you. We'll we'll give you the actual number of calls, the number of
transports that we had. Um the uh >> average time. >> Yeah. Average response time, >> all the information we have currently, but it just be a different format. So, >> Yes, sir. Okay. >> I'm I'm I'm having trouble understanding this. >> Okay. You say you have the raw data.
>> Yep. >> So, >> well, I've got some raw data. >> Okay. Well, as much as you have. >> Yeah. >> Why can't that be dropped into a spreadsheet and a graph be be come out of that spreadsheet rather than grab and the impression you're giving me, correct
me if I'm wrong, the the the graph is coming from a third party source. I'm I'm I'm having cuz I was the one that pushed years ago for the graphs because we just got these huge tables of numbers and you sat there looking at trying to
figure out what the hell was going on and then we came up with this and you could see the the trends because there's a lot of seasonality. So, I'm I'm I'm sorry. I'm just having trouble understanding why you can't put a a a graph together.
I can't I I can certainly put one together from the raw data that we actually scrub. We can do that. The problem that you that that the data that you've been getting in the past is is a data dump out of the CAD system. >> Okay. That that that I get. Okay.
>> Okay. And not and not and not indicative of what the actual call volume is and what we're actually doing. So we're trying to provide you better data so you can actually get your arms wrapped around what we're actually doing. >> Right. And I I understand on a ro but again going back to you know I used to
look at these things and you you have to sit there and really stare because there was a lot of numbers and so forth and just clean it up. So my my my was suggestion was this better set of data that you have there's somebody over there uh I know I know Lucy can do it
dump dump that into a spreadsheet uh each month and create the graphs like you have here which are pretty good. Okay, we we can continue to do that. It's not a problem. >> Okay, >> but we're also going to provide you the raw data so you can dig deep into >> Right. Okay. So, sounds good. Sam, any
anything further on that? Okay, great. Thank you very much. Um All right. As alluded to earlier in the meeting, uh we had some comments from the public about ebikes. Um just to set the stage, the legislature was going to
take this up, make a statewide rule. um they uh they chose not to um or actually there's there's there's no uh no statewide rule in effect. Let's just leave it at that. And um you're going to give us you know an overview of where things stand now. And this is assuming
the town does not enact any regulation that it would be permitted to enact. Um which is a discussion for a whole another day. And I just wanted the members of the public who are interested in this to um to understand that it's on our radar screen and that we'll we'll
continue to monitor it and that a future council if um action is warranted um you know may be interested in taking it up. So with that introduction, thank you very much. Assistant Chief Ryer, you may take it away. >> Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, Council Member Carol. So as
you mentioned, uh Mr. Mayor, uh, Senate Bill 382, uh, was vetoed by our governor back on June 25th. That legislation would have mandated a 10 mph speed limit for ebikes within 50 ft of any pedestrian.
Um, so that was vetoed. As it stands right now in Florida, electric bicycles are afforded all of the same uh duties and responsibilities, rights, and privileges of a regular bicycle. What that means is
uh and the quote is up there from Florida State Statute 316.20655. An operator may ride an electric bicycle where bicycles are allowed including but not limited to streets, highways, roads, shoulders, bicycle lanes, and bicycle or
multi-use paths. The multi-use paths, for lack of a better term, is a shared use path, um, which would in this case be a sidewalk or a bike lane, uh, where you have pedestrians, bicyclists, skaters, and other people utilizing it.
Um, the next slide, uh, goes over state statute 316.008. Basically, in a nutshell, what this says is that local authorities can restrict or further regulate the use of vehicles such as electric bikes if they so
desire. The next slide, the three classifications of ebikes. Um, they must have a 750 watt or less motor. So, there's class one, two, and three. Um, you'll see up there that I'll just go
the class three, uh, pedal assist only. The motor assists up to 28 miles an hour. Uh, riders must be at least 16 years old to operate these. As you can imagine, 28 miles an hour on a sidewalk is pretty fast. So,
and currently our town of Indian River Shores has no ordinances effect with reference to any restrictions um on ebikes or bikes. Uh we do have a reminder on the town website that if you're riding a bike on the sidewalk,
Florida law does require bicyclists to yield the right of way to pedestrian and also to use an audible signal when they're overtaking or passing a pedestrian. Um that's basically it for the slideshow. Um does anybody have any questions?
>> Any questions? >> Yeah, >> you you had golf cart up there. I'm still confused. I've heard different things regarding golf carts either utilizing A1A or crossing A1A. Can you please
>> So the golf carts are not allowed to be out on A1A. It's a highway. It's classified as a highway. Uh they cannot be out there. Um and they are allowed to cross it. >> Okay. >> They are allowed to cross A1A. However, they are not allowed to utilize up and down on the highway.
>> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. Uh, excellent point, Vice Mayor. Um, it we do see some again some dangerous conditions and uh, unfortunately some parents who allow kids that um, well, everybody starts to
look younger when you get to our age, right? But um, there are some pretty young kids, you know, just being given golf carts and um, riding on sidewalks and in the bike lanes and on A1A. So, thank you for being vigilant in enforcing that and gently reminding people except for the repeat offenders
that uh this is not a good idea for for kids to be doing. Um, if I can take a point of personal privilege at this point, um, I wanted to thank uh you and the responders for the amazing job you did
uh for me personally. So, just wanted to thank that. >> Thank you, Mayor. We're here when you when you need us. Yeah, it was, you know, so Chief Ryer, um, Sergeant Bulmont, uh, Officer Gomez, uh, Fire Medic Blandon, Officer Stein, and, uh,
Specialist Bob Leno attended to a a personal a family member, um, last week. And, um, it it was astonishing the professionalism that you showed in a difficult time. And, um, I know it's not
just me. I know it's the same level that you give to everyone. And when when you when you com compliment these folks, they say, "We're just doing our job. You do more than your job." >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate that.
Uh again, as you said, the not so much me. I was there after the fact. It was the men that you uh men and well, there were no women on this call, but the men that you mentioned, they're the ones that did the >> phenomenal job. >> Okay. Well, thank you as well. So, um,
with with that, anything else for, uh, Chief Ryer? Okay, >> thank you, >> town clerk, you have an election update. >> I do have an election update. Um, as you had mentioned earlier, there is a primary on August 18th. We will be, um, we are a polling location here. The
polls will be open 7 a.m. to 700 p.m. Um, early voting will also take place August 8th through 15th through at several locations throughout the county. Sebastian City Hall, supervisor of elections office, the main library, and the inter uh generational recreation
center on that side of town. Uh mail ballot request deadline is August 6 by 5:00 p.m. Um Florida is a closed state primary, meaning if you have requested a ballot, um you must be registered with a party
to have received either a Democrat or Republic. There is um a nonpartisan race for school board. So, they are sending out um ballots for that as well. The um deadline to register to vote unfortunately has passed. Um but you can still request an absentee ballot. If you
want to be sure that you're registered by the uh for the uh November election, you must do so by I believe it's um October 5th. Other than that, we are also um in the midst of our qualification period here
for a local election. It closes tomorrow at noon. We have three seats open. Two for a 4-year term, one for a 2-year term. We have had qualifiers, uh, three qualifiers, one for the 2-year term, and two for the, uh, 4-year term. if nobody
else does qualify between now and tomorrow at noon. Those candidates will uh win by no contest and then we'll be sworn in at our November meeting and will have been determined to have won the election on November 3rd.
I don't know if anyone has questions. >> Any questions for the clerk? Okay. Thank you. Town attorney, Mr. Sweeney. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council. Um, just one quick followup. As we've talked about over the last couple of months, legislation continues to get signed in
waves and following up on the discussion Vice Mayor Water had earlier related to utilities. There is another utility bill which was passed. Um, and it also follows up on a prior discussion regarding POS. I just briefly wanted to mention this. Uh, it is HB House Bill uh
1019. it was signed and why it's relevant and pertinent to us is that now anybody that uh treats more than 25,000 gallons a day which I'm confident Bureau Beach as the utility provider for the town does is required to at least I
apologize uh sample for PAS and submit it to the department and that has to be done at least quarterly. Not only is that going to be again transparency as you indicated that we should be able to see as users but also there probably will be cost associated with monitoring
again from the utility. So I just wanted to make everybody aware that we have no ability to change this but the state mandate is requiring our utility provider to do these things and again who knows what that will mean as far as cost. There are still no federal standards and there is a provision at the end that until that happens at the
federal level. Um these will be for reporting requirements but again there's been discussion at the federal level too. So even with new legislation as you mentioned mayor there's implementation there's regulations. So continue to follow this um and and see where it goes. Happy to answer any other
questions anybody may have. >> Nope. Thank you Mr. Mayor. >> Okay we finally finished special sessions. So we don't have what do we have? Seven special sessions that we had to follow. I >> six >> six. Yeah. >> Yes, sir. >> Uh town manager, Mr. Harping.
>> Um thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um council, two items. I know that our building official, uh Fred Held, went back to work. Not that he wasn't working here, but as a f as a followup to um Lucy's comment about the coordination with the
uh county and the public works side, uh Fred has reached out uh and initiated the conversation with the county uh consistent with uh uh SB 180 and some other legislation uh regarding uh our plans and our backup uh for support and
intergovernmental cooperation regarding permitting during uh hurricanes into declared national uh or excuse me declared natural disasters. So uh I want to uh thank him for being aware of that, reaching out and initiating that. There'll be some further discussions about um locations and where we might be
able to be uh physically if we can't physically be uh you know here or set something up here at least in a shorter term. So I want to note that. Um, I have one other thing and uh I know this will not uh please our our chief of public safety, but if I could ask our our director of public safety, Chief Stone,
and um assistant chief Ryer, just to come up to the podium, please respectfully. >> This doesn't sound good. For the time being, I still outrank you. So, but I want I want to note that um uh Chief Stone is going to be retiring uh
on September 3rd. Uh uh and there'll be there'll be more on this, but uh since you're both here and we're here, I I do want to note um uh that I've had the the privilege to uh learn from and work with Chief Stone when I was at the sheriff's office and he was running emergency services for Indian River County. We uh
stood side by side and during a variety of um uh pretty tense and uh you know, potentially catastrophic situations in storms and otherwise. And uh there's not a person better that I would want to uh go through it with uh than you, Tad. So, thank you for that. Um, and I'm sorry
for making you stand up here like this. I know how much you enjoy it. Um, along those lines, I would like to note that um, we'll again do something a little more formally, but um, we're going to be uh, appointing and promoting Assistant Chief Ryer to the Director of
Public Safety. Um, and moving forward, I wanted to again just note that now. Uh, and, uh, congratulations uh, Chief on your third or fourth retirement. Please stay retired this time. And uh Ed, congratulations on the promotion. It's welld deserved and we look forward to
it. >> So So I was wrong. It was a mixed bag. Uh some sad news. We hate to see um Chief Stone go, but congratulations, Chief Ryer. Um I I think you know what I'm going to miss about uh Chief Stone the most is he's the only guy who
flunked retirement more than me. Um so uh uh it's well it's welld deserved and uh you've done amazing things for our department as both of you have but uh you've done amazing things for our department in a short period of time and uh there there's you know beyond
qualifications there's there's a a thing called wisdom and judgment and you you possess uh a plethora of both. So, uh, we we will miss you and I'm sure you passed some of that on to, uh, to Chief Ryer and, you know, hopefully we'll
we'll be seeing you more in the future in a more relaxed, u mechanism. So, don't be a stranger. Please start coming by and I know we've got till September. U, but, um, you're much appreciated. Anybody else wish to >> Yeah, congratulations, Chief Stone. You have a long and happy retirement and not
drive your wife nuts by being home all the time. And, uh, that was the issue I had. And uh congratulations on your promotion. Although be careful what you wish for cuz you have to deal with us. So but uh but seriously congratulations both of you. So
um Mr. Mayor, I'd like to offer an analogy. Uh Chief Stone came to uh the town uh at a sort of a difficult period. And the analogy is for you baseball fans. You remember
uh 13 14 years ago the Dodgers were in the World Series. Um uh their best hitter, Kirk Gibson, uh was sidelineed due to injuries. He could not play in the outfield, but the one thing that he
could do is bat. And uh as I recall, there were two occasions in that World Series where Gibson came to the plate in the bottom of the eighth or ninth inning, men on base, Dodgers behind, and on two occasions he hit a home run to
give the Dodgers a victory. So, you're the Kirk Gibson in my mind coming to the rescue of Indian River Shores at a uh time when we needed you most. Congratulations. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Councilman Carol. Thank you,
gentlemen. Uh I I repressed all that Kirk Gibson stuff as a Yankee fan. So, uh you know, thank thank you for reminding me of that. Um Mr. Harping, uh did you have more to complete in your report? >> Uh I have nothing further. Thank you, council. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh council committee
reports. Um >> uh I I have nothing nothing of significance to report. Again, this is the summer time. These are um kind of lean times for the intergovernmental committees. Uh the Treasure Coast Council of Local Governments is meeting
um the first week in August. Uh I'm I'm unable to attend due to a schedule conflict, but um um my alternates welcome to attend. It's a very light agenda. I don't think anything critical will be happening. Um Mr. Alward, do you have anything to report? >> No.
>> Mr. Carol, no. Okay, great. Um All right. We have the uh call to the audience. I see some people are here. Uh just the ground rules. You can speak about you know anything you really want. Um uh but there is a 3minut time limit. So anybody who wishes to come up to the
podium we're all ears if you could just state your name and you don't have to give your exact address but generally where you live. So thank you. >> Yes sir. >> Yes. Good morning. >> Morning. >> Uh my name is Paul Chatterton. Wife and I live on Pebble Lane. Uh we had been
led to understand that there was going to be a decision today or a vote uh on funding to help support the sewer uh the septic or septic to sewer uh system. Uh I take it that's been postponed or isn't happening or
>> No, there was an agenda item but uh but there's no vote. >> Okay. So >> is there is there uh an approval of that funding or what has happened there? >> Um Mr. Harping, do you wish to you know
we normally don't engage during public comment time but since you you came late. So >> Mr. Mayor Council um just for clarity it was noted as an agenda item uh as outlined in the in the you know public meeting uh information that was published and uh action was not taken on
it. So, uh, functionally no action is going to be taken on on that item. >> Okay. Is that a a final decision or is that held for the future or I >> I I infer that that is because the council chose not to take it up. So, it's not going to be taken up and we're going to move forward from there, but
there's going to be no further discussion or action on it uh for my part and I've not been directed to continue any action or discussion on it. So, it's uh it's a closed issue. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes sir.
>> Um last week I met with Mr. Harpering had a very good meeting um on this cost share issue. My question to you is I'm Steve Shurock Pebble Lane. Um why was there no discussion on this? Um you know
20% of the cost that the residents are going to be hit with is this cost share item. There was a group of people that I put together and they came up with this cost share definition. Um we have surf
road that was done um a couple years ago where there was no charges to any of the residents for that road. Now we're bringing in the revamp of the road and the sewer at the same time. And all of a sudden 20% of the cost that the
residents are going to be hit with on this sewer project is due to this cost share um issue that was all absorbed uh when Surf Road did it. I really believe there needs to be discussion and just not sweep this under the rug. This is 20% of
a big cost for people that are sitting there and I don't understand why that that 20% is still being applied to the to the residents. I really would ask you guys to to spend time look at this. I
think there's a way that that can be reduced. There is there is a substantial cost related to the cost share item. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Anyone else? >> Mr. Hart, >> Wilfford Hart County. Um, work for the
school district of Indian River County. And I just want to come up here and uh, mayor and and the rest of the, uh, town shores council. I just want y'all to be aware that for four years in a row now, we have been an a district and, uh, Mayor Foley and and Vice Mayor, y'all
played a major role in in the things that we do. and we're expecting to be a a district again next school term. There are some uh high expectations. So, I want to come here today to let the uh uh uh shores members, the residents of the
shores and this council know that we appreciate everything that y'all do for us. I know you don't have a lot of young folks that go to public schools, sister, but your encouragement, you keep us encouraged. you allow us to come over here and have our little workshops and
our little meetings and uh you know Mayor Fer we definitely have a personal relationship with you Mr. Harper I've known him about 30 years and you know we have a darn good and Mr. atwater. Excellent relationship. Miss Janice, I've gotten to know her
quite well and and so we want to continue this relationship. There are some things that we're going to be doing. Uh, I have built a relationship with the United States Tennis Association and we need new tennis courts at Vero Beach High School and uh,
like I told the superintendent of school, I said, you know, we have football field that we refurbish and we have trit lanes and predominant that the predominant participants are African-Americans. I said, "So, we need some track. We need some tennis courts
so we can get some of the rich white folks back to the public school system." And so, we definitely will definitely will need your help to help us. Uh, I just met with them uh two days ago from the state and national level. And we
want to build some new tennis courts. And uh I'm definitely uh Mayor Fo, you and I have already talked about you send me down and bringing a few people in the room that can help me out so that we can uh do these projects and uh I would
surely uh appreciate everything you can do for me. Again, from the superintendent school, we say thank you. >> You you bet. Thank you, Mr. Hart. Just to clarify, it's a private citizen. I'm I'm happy to uh work with you to find people that that are that are No, that's
okay. that are willing to uh uh work with that and I I thank you for your for your work in that. Okay. Uh do we have anything else? Anybody else have a comment they want to make? All right. We are adjourned until the August meeting. Thank you everyone for
your attention and attendance and have a