October 23, 2025, uh, Town of Indian River Shores regularly scheduled council meeting. Uh, we will call the meeting to order. Uh, welcome to all our guests. If you could put your phones on silent or off, that would be greatly appreciated. Uh we're going to start with the invocation and
before we do uh like to ask everyone to keep Councilman Dayne in your thoughts and prayers. He's uh not feeling very well. So we we hope he has a speedy recovery and uh wish him well. Uh if you could kindly do the invocation. Uh
Councilman Carol, >> we're thankful for this town and its residents. We're grateful for all who work for the betterment of our community and all who serve on its behalf. that 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 in issues of our times. The ability to work together in harmony even when there is honest disagreement, 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 allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> All right, terrific. If you can call the role, please. >> Mayor Foley, >> here. >> Vice Mayor Alwater >> here. >> Council member Carroll, >> here. >> Council member Alieri >> here. Let the record show all members present with the exception of council member Dean. >> All right. Thank you. Are there any
requests to reorder the agenda? Any deletions or emergency additions? All right. There being none, is there a motion to approve? >> So move second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Thank you. Uh we're going to start with proclamations.
3A presentation of Dr. David K. more Indian River County Superintendent of Schools. And I think we'll just say at all. Um uh you have a a distinguished group of people it looks like with you and uh I presume you're going to update
us on things we've all read which is the uh stellar performance of the school district and uh the good news that keeps coming and keeps coming and it's nice to have good news in our times. So thank you. Take it away. And that is our our goal. And we will be quick and brief because as Bob says, we got a school
system to run. But the last time I was here, I was honored to receive a proclamation for being uh selected as the state superintendent of the year. Uh and that reign is coming to an end in December. So my my pageant waving days will be coming to a close. But that last
time I was here, we we hadn't had our outcomes for the last school year, which we now have in the books and are working diligently to continue to move forward. So, we've been able to go from 46% um A schools, which were literally just the magnet schools in Beachland to uh 95% of
our schools being an A. We eliminated C schools in our school system. We now uh we only have three B schools and we're working hard to ensure at the end of this year we will deliver on the promise that I made coming in is that every single school in this district should be an A. Um and we are very proud of the
progress of having all ex with the exception of three being an A and those three being a B. Um but there's still a lot of work to be done. You know, some points of of that we're really really proud of is our graduation rate continues to maintain at 96% among um
one of the top five scores in the state. Uh this year, this data hasn't been released yet. won't be released until uh later this this year. But about 90% of last year's graduates um who received the diploma graduated with either passing an a a advanced placement
course, a dual enrollment course or having a career industry certification. That is absolutely amazing. That will be tops in the state. Our middle school acceleration continues to be uh number 2, three, four, five in the state where we allow middle school students the opportunity uh to participate in high
school courses which creates this problem in high school because we have to accelerate the coursework for those students. And then our third grade scores, we were able to celebrate uh being number two in the state. That was also at 38 5 years ago. So, we've done all this work to get to this space and
over the next couple months, you're going to continue to hear about the work the school system is doing and that work is going to be around innovation. Um, the landscape for public education continues to change. Uh, and the levers are being pulled to ensure that change
continues to happen. So, what public education was even 5 years ago, e 20 years ago, and what it will be in 10 years will be significantly different. and the public education systems that are still around um and being able to provide quality service to their
communities will be the ones that absolutely adapt and adapt not in 5 years from now but now. So we're looking at how we use our facilities, how we are locating uh configurations of schools. It is clear we need to add and grow K8s
because our parents are demanding and saying I need K8s. I want my child to be in a safe space uh through the first nine years of their education. We need to build and increase pipelines from kind middle school, elementary, middle schools to high schools. Uh we need to
provide offerings to all of those community members who are participating whether it be homeschool or micro school. Uh taking the vouchers to educate their children in the environment that they feel comfortable with. We know there's services that they need to have provided to them. They can't do it all. they've acknowledged
that they can't do it all. We want to begin uh begin to provide services whether it's some advanced courses, whether it's enrichment courses. Uh there's a connection and relationship where we can use some of our facilities uh to reconnect with with those parents and make sure that the education that
they are providing is quality by being able to supplement some of the great things that are happening in our school district. No one likes change. Um but change has to happen and we are going to engage in a conversation uh over the next several months year really to evaluate how we use each facility uh
what is in the best interest of the community and that surrounding school uh in order to ensure when you drive into any river county you're in a place that has worldclass quality public education. And that is my update. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. Uh is there
anything anybody would like to say to Dr. Moore? getting back to work. No, good. >> All All I want to say is a compliment you and just as important, if not more important, your your team for way things
have have turned around. This county, you know, particularly this community has a lot of, shall we say, elderly people like uh like myself. And I, you know, always say that we really have to build up that pipeline behind us to keep
this county growing socially, economically, and so forth. And you, you folks are doing a great job. So, thank you. >> They are. >> Uh, yes, Councilman Carol, >> Dr. Moore. It was recently uh publicized that the
state of Mississippi has made uh enormous strides in improving reading competency uh elementary school and higher. Um I think that I read that the uh they attribute it primarily to teaching
reading uh a phonics approach. um what is the approach taken in the state of Florida, more particularly Indian River County? >> Let's let's talk specifically Indian River County because when you look at our academic outcomes um in comparison
to the state, there's a significant gap. Uh we drastically outperform the state. We have set a one of the things that was attracted me to Indian River County was the learning allianc's uh stake in the ground saying let's we believe 90% uh is
something that can absolutely be done meaning 90% of third graders are reading at or above grade level. Um we are now number two in the state in in that score. We had uh one school at 91% beachland this year. One school uh Liberty at 89%.
Uh we had V VO Beach Elementary School which was 38% of its students scoring at proficiency two years. Uh it's one of it was our second lowest performing school now at 71. Our curriculum is grounded in the in the science of reading. Uh we have done a lot of work to ensure that
that phonics is embedded into what we're doing in our lower grade levels. Uh created a a structure that ensures that we are scaffolding instruction from kindergarten all the way through third grade. Just yesterday we met with uh uh Aaron Aaron Gro Robbie Brackett at our
legislative request and one of our requests is we want to be in charge of of VPK for our community because we the earlier that we can have the students in front of us the better that we can do. So we have districts two districts here yesterday one district last week two districts the week before coming in to
look at what we're doing around uh our reading uh embedding the science of reading and embedding partnerships uh in order to ensure that we continue to grow. Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you, Dr. Moore. Uh, greatly appreciated. We look forward to next year's update. Of course, when you
achieve the things that the district has achieved, it gets a little bit more difficult each year because the expectations keep rising higher and higher. But, um, you know, as as the vice mayor pointed out, we don't have too many school age children uh, in this district. But, uh, the nature of this
council and the town here is we pay very close attention to what goes on around us. And I think the last time I checked the numbers, we're about 2.7% of the population of the county. We account for rounding up about 18% of the revenue that's uh that's generated. So uh we
have a stake in the game, not just financially, but also uh culturally, socially, and creating the pipeline as was referred to by the vi vice mayor. So thank you so much for doing such an excellent job. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay, see you next year. >> Absolutely. All right, moving on to item 3B. We have
a proclamation of October 2025 as cyber security awareness month. I'm looking over at our cyber security guy. Uh you're taking this down, I hope. Right. So, um okay. Um all right. So, the
proclamation is simply this. Uh and I will dispense with the whereas clauses. Is anybody here on behalf of cyber security month? Okay, they're here. They could tell us, but then they'd have to kill us. Is that how it's going to work? So, all right. So we're going to dispense with the whereases and we'll just go right to the nature of the
proclamation which is now therefore the town council of the town of Indian River Shores hereby recognize the month of October 2025 as cyber security awareness month and encourages all residents, businesses and institutions to actively engage in initiatives that promote a
safer digital environment recognizing that cyber security is a shared responsibility vital to the well-being of our community. Thank you. So, uh there there endeth the proclamation. I know our public safety department is always pretty good about
um actually not just pretty good, excellent about getting information concerning uh the latest scams communicated to the community. Uh we we we've seen some newer ones at this time of year. For some reason, they they they seem to pop up around October, November,
December. So, um thank you for the work you do on that. and um let's all be careful with our cyber security. >> Mr. Mayor, >> yes. >> On that topic, if I may, just a little foreshadowing. Uh as you noted, we have a uh new uh chief technology officer,
Mike Latinsky, and we are paying very close attention to the cyber security piece. We did have a um shade meeting last year, early 2024. Um as we proceed through our domain name change and some other technology items we have here,
again, just a little foreshadowing. I'll uh in coming meetings I'll either be uh seeking advice from the council as to whether or not they would like another uh shade meeting on cyber security or whether they would want to defer to an individual council member to meet with us uh to evaluate the uh the current
status and where we are. So I just a little foreshadowing moving forward on that. Mr. Mayor, >> terrific. Thank you. Uh yes, and um uh I'm sure it's a topic of interest for all of us and we'll we'll figure out a way uh either through a shady meeting or consistent with the sunshine law to uh
to keep everybody up to date on that. You know, particularly with, you know, Florida passed a statute that really makes it illegal for, you know, us to pay ransomware. So, we've got to we've got to nip it at the source because, uh, you know, paying paying money for the ransomware is currently illegal in the
state of Florida. Fortunately, we have not had that u that experience and so let's uh let's be diligent. All right. Item four, comments from the public regarding the agenda items. This is the public's time to comment on any agenda items.
General comments are at the end of the meeting. All right. Um we have item number five, the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Is there a second? >> Second.
>> Um, we have a resolution. So, we do need two resolutions. So, we need a roll call vote. >> Mayor Foley. >> I. >> Vice Mayor Outwwater. >> I. >> Council member Carroll. >> I. >> Council member Alieri. >> I. >> Let the record show. The motion passes unanimously. 4 Z. >> All right. Thank you everyone. Um,
mayor's report. I have I have more items than >> m Mr. Mayor, just before we move the consent agenda. Uh, item 5E, just want to recognize Danette Defbach. Did I pronounce your name correctly? My apologies. Thank you for stepping up to
the plate on the MO bicycle pedestrian advisory committee. So, I just wanted to point that out. >> My apologies, Miss Diffenback. Uh, this usually happened at discussion with possible or probable action. It moved to the consent agenda. That's my fault. Thank you so much for for doing it. And
thank you, Vice Mayor, for uh picking that up for me. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, mayor's report. As I said, a couple more items than usual. Um, waste update. So, we we saw some articles in
the press about the transition to waste management, which frankly I didn't didn't really understand and didn't resonate with me because I think it's fair to say that I've received far fewer complaints than I anticipated. I thought we were going to have uh a much more uh
tumultuous time moving it over. I check with our staff. I think it's fair to say that there are fewer complaints than you anticipated. We had some bumps in the road. Of course, you're always going to. Um, you know, I I don't like to comment
on things that are in the press, but I am going to comment on this that unfortunately I don't think there was very accurate information about the experience most of the folks in the town have had. Um, for the time being, I think it it makes the best sense if anybody has an issue, do what you're
doing, which is to call the call the front office and let them know your uh your issues with waste management. And our facilities coordinator has done a yman's job better than a yman's job of really dealing with this. So, you know, a lot of the a lot of the transitional issues I think were focused around no
matter how many mailers you send out, people don't quite focus on when they're supposed to put their old bin out and get their new bin in. And you know, we had that giant brown bin for lawn collection that not many people need if you use a lawn service. So, uh I I've not had u an experience or heard
feedback of uh widespread uh discontent with uh with waste management, nor have I seen even moderate. So, I just throw that out for council's consideration. If anybody has a different uh different conclusion, you can let me know. >> Mr. Mayor, if I may, the biggest issue
had to do with um Republican billing. Um we great cooperation with waste management but um we've uh I just echo your comments. >> Okay. So I was going to get to the old. We started with the new um you know there's there's an old trick. You go with the good news first and then go
with the bad news. So we we did we did have um reports of people seeing some account discrepancies from Republic uh in the nature of asking for billings and you know that was addressed u there was there was a uh a memo that was circulated among council that waste uh
Republic excuse me believes that they've accomplished what they needed to accomplish and refunds are in the mail either to your account or refund checks. Uh, I've not since the last council meeting, I've not heard additional reports of people being dunned by Republic. Um, so, um,
>> I I have >> You have? Okay. Yes. >> All right. Care to comment? >> I I've I've gotten uh uh in early October, I got uh statements saying that uh you know, they were charging me a deadbeat fee for not paying my bill on time, and my neighbors have gotten those
as well. I think we're finally getting past that that point. But uh even uh two days ago uh I had neighbors come up to me and saying Republic Services have not picked up the old cart yet and that they've called multiple times.
>> Okay. Um again, I think we can work that through facilities coordination. >> I I asked them to contact Lucy and Lucy's been great on as as well as Janice. So, >> right. Okay. So, we have the new. We still have some issues with the old. Uh,
but just to be clear, we're not going to sue Republic. Uh, there was some suggestion in the paper that, you know, that's that's not how the council works. You know, you have to uh council has to consider whether or not to file a lawsuit. We've got to make a formal complaint. At least at this point, it's
not risen to the level that we need to do that. Uh, it's it's uh it's certainly not acceptable. It's annoying. It's also one of the reasons why Republic is no longer our um our vendor. But um >> well ju just one thing on they have they had a quote that was out of the
discussion at the previous uh council meeting that I I made that comment. That was not a comment that I made to the reporter after the meeting. So I want to I want to put that on the record. >> Oh, I appreciate that. And I I wasn't um I wasn't directing my comment at you. I
was directing my comment that um an attempt to take a a comment that uh discusses options in a public meeting and a reporter that doesn't understand how things work and then trying to sensationalize it. So uh for accurate
information, I can only suggest that uh our taxpayers contact us through the uh through the front office and they will give the accurate information on on what's occurring. Uh hopefully at the next meeting we don't have to hear further reports of Republic you know dunning continuing to dun people and I'm
I'm sorry that you're having that experience but uh I I've received no reports myself and people are usually pretty pretty vocal in in letting me know when they have an issue. So thank you for bringing it to our attention though and we'll we'll continue with it. All right
if we're done with garbage. We've got enough garbage. Okay. uh real estate property tax proposals. There was a memorandum from the legislative leadership out of Tallahassee that I circulated to council which has
uh well we'll we'll summarize it and basically my my message is let's not panic. Um these this memorandum issued uh to um for public dissemination basically gave about eight options as I
recall in terms of what the legislature intends to move forward in order to have the taxpayers review and then vote as best I can tell on some type of referendum. So they're not spo uh proposing anything
specific to be on the ballot, but it's going to be a menu of items for voters to give preference to how they would like to see ad valerent property taxes uh changed, modified going forward. So among those proposals, uh there are two
key provisions that are the same for all of them. Number one, it cannot affect public safety budgets. Number two, it cannot affect educational budgets. So those two those two items are are let's call it exempt. It's not an exact word. And I can't be more
precise because the directive from the legislative leadership is not precise itself. Um but those are the two the two common denominators in all of the proposals. So we are you know in personally I'm you know I'm in favor of
u real estate tax relief. As I said, you know, we're, you know, we're 2.7% of the population. Our taxpayers pay about, let's call it 18% of the admirer revenue raised. So, uh, is there is there room for reform? Is there room for tax relief? I believe there always is. And
that it's a useful exercise for us always to take a look at, you know, how our revenues are being raised, but more importantly, how they're being spent. So, we have a number of proposals that were set forth in this memo um to have to have a just a look at how they would
affect our ability to raise revenue. Uh we I asked staff to run some scenarios which I had presented to council today. Uh it's available. It's a public record now since we're talking about it. And basically there are only only three that
can really be calculated with any kind of even back of the envelope certainty because most of the proposals really depend on unknowns. Who's going to move in? Who's going to move out? Who may homestead? Who may not homestead. So for the you know for the uh uh
current proposals that may or may not be included in this referendum if it goes forward in the legislature um we have some items of interest that just show how the um how the impact will be on on adalarum uh revenues raised by the town. Uh
probably the one that's I think of most interest to people in our town given our demographic is a proposal that would basically uh zero out any real property taxes for people over 65 that are homesteaded. Uh
and there are other variations that do this over time. And you'll see that we have a um let's call it an educated guesstimate as to how it would affect the uh the mill rate. Now, I don't intend to give everybody a headache going over numbers,
but I give it to council uh for their for their benefit, you know, just to see how it would impact. So, let's take HH HDR 205, the senior homestead full exemption. I'm I'm guessing we all would qualify for that up here that that that are elected officials. So, we're over
65. We're homesteaded uh since we're members of council. And you would see that if we our town treasurer said if if we were to adjust the millage rate to maintain our current revenue uh we would go from our current 1.28 I think we are
to 2.5. Now remember that 2.5 mil rate would only go against what we estimate would be the non-exempt which are the six non65 and over folks who claim a homestead exemption. Um, okay. So, here
here are the unknowns. Uh, we're not allowed to to cut public safety. So, would we be able to create a special taxing district in order to fund, you know, public safety? Um, I'm looking at you only because we we we talked about
it. Uh, you know, like like most of these proposals, you know, the not just the devil, but the devil in all of hell is in the details. So, the concept's great. Um, and why am I not panicking? I'm not panicking because there's so much more work to be done here. Uh,
particularly, you know, when you look at the steps that this is going to take. First, it's going to go to the public and the public is under this proposal is going to be able to identify which which one or two or three we don't really know they're most interested in. I can I can
guess that, you know, like mo most things when you ask people do they want to pay taxes, it's it's going to easily get the twothirds threshold that's going to be needed. Um, so that's step one. If they get that on the ballot in 2026,
uh, kudos to them. I think it's going to be I think it's going to be a hard push to work through all of this and all the all the permutations and revenue uh alternatives that would have to replace ad valerent taxes uh in order to get you know some intelligent sense of what's
going to happen in in the referendum uh language proposed on the ballot. Uh as I again as I understand it then after that it would then go back to the house and and the legislature in order to determine well how do we want to do this? Do we want to propose a
constitutional amendment? Do we want to do it by legislation? Um, again, that's that's a detail that could take almost the entirety of a legislative session in my in my opinion uh going forward. Uh, most importantly, there's no implementing legislation involved in
this first step, which is basically I'm going to call the polling the voters and taxpayers of Florida and saying, you know, what would you like to see in the nature of real property tax reform? So, there's a long long way to go here. Um,
and there there are many questions that are going to have to be addressed and answered, I think, before, you know, this even gets on uh a referendum ballot. Uh, so that's the long and drawn out reason why I'm not panicking yet.
Um, I think we have a lot of time to have some feedback and I think, you know, the legislaturator's got a lot more work to do. Uh but they certainly are making good on the promise to to bring real property tax reform uh before the voters. Um as it relates to the town
and an initiative we talked about the last meeting and I believe the meeting before uh having real property tax reform without simultaneously adjusting other potential sources of increasing burden on taxpayers such as utility rates would
be playing whack-a-ole. It' just be a useless game. So, we are continuing to work with uh N uh state taxpayer association and um with our legislators to generally bring this point to them that particularly with enterprise
utilities in in our area um special taxing districts that if they're exempted from this uh there's there's going to be a massive shift from tax burdens from real estate taxes to uh special taxing districts which also are are based on a valerum taxes. So bottom
line here is we're going to continue um unless council thinks otherwise with our our push to uh to make sure that our utility rates remain reasonable and that it's included in this uh let's call this this bandwidth of of reform. Um so
that's my comment on that. I know it's an awful mouthful. Are there any comments or questions on that before we go to the next item? >> I just have a question for um Mr. Sweeney. Um, can you just brief me quickly on the critical path of
legislation? Like I know it's start this is starting in the House of Representatives. I'm assuming that it has to find its way either through conference or separate enactments in the Senate. How can you just quickly walk us through that? >> Absolutely. Mayor, council, mayor, you
did an excellent job giving me a nice road map. You know, step one is assuming there's a referendum and that's a not, you know, arguably nonbidening. It's just a pulse of the arguably elected of the state of Florida and we'll see what that happens and just to butress what
you had mentioned this would affect everybody in Florida arguably so towns you know million plus in our large metropolitan areas to there's 412 cities some as small as three and 400 or smaller um so you'd have a vote come
back assuming it says yes as maybe there's an inclination for anything to vote reducing taxes I then would suggest either the House follows through with some version of our next step and whether they suggest a constitutional amendment which then would have to be
put back to a vote of the electorate or uh immediately just go straight to some version of legislation. It would initiate I assume in the House um be sent over to the Senate. There'd probably be a companion based on what is introduced. If they're not exactly the
same, of course, then they'd have to go through conference committee and if it were voted on and approved by both houses, it would go to the governor ultimately for approval, could be vetoed, and then could come back. All of which would take at the very least, I think, one very lengthy session and most
likely based on all these steps be maybe multiple sessions over multiple years. Um, I do believe that the legislature could enact this through state legislation, not going all the way to a constitutional amendment, but again, how permanent do they want to make it? And
if they did it by a constitutional amendment, they still would have to have enacting legislation. We saw this several years ago with the approval of medical marijuana. And there was no enacting legislation. And for many years, there was attempts at trying to create state legislation on on all of those enacting provisions. So I think
the mayor's correct on his foresight. This is probably a 6 to 12 month litmus test and then we would be looking at a my estimation 12 to 24month possible interpretation or implementation. Excuse me. >> How do you get to a referendum? Is that
come out of the house? It it could again it it could be introduced uh based on a suggestion from either side of the house to get out or um it could be introduced by a grassroots effort that then takes this up based on what it is. So could come in several ways. As as I read what
they're doing, they you know the HR is anticipating that they'll get uh a joint resolution by both the the House and the Senate and put it on the ballot as a referendum that way. And it's non-binding. So it doesn't have to, at least my reading, you correct me, it does not have to conform with all the constitutional requirements for a
constitutional amendment. >> Correct. It's not enacting and even if they did propose, you could propose an actual legislative proposal, a new statute by referendum, but it would be exactly the wording of whatever. Instead, I think this is much more of a um poll, if you were an electorate poll,
and so we'll have to see where that goes to start with. >> Mr. Mayor, thank you for the update. uh very informative. I have a very simple question. If someone at the podium could in what is the problem that they're
trying to solve? >> The state of Florida is flourishing. >> Well, no, >> in every regard. What is the problem that Tallahassee is trying to solve? >> Well, let let me address I was going to address this in in the next time. So,
the mayor did a good start on I'm on the Florida League of Cities uh legislative uh advisory policy advisory committee on finance and taxation. We've had two meetings so far. It is the uh belief coming out of the mayor's uh
uh excuse me, coming out of the governor's uh office that uh property taxes are too are too high, that it's a second rent on your property and also there's implications that people are
losing their homes as a result of that. that is complete and other nonsense on that second one because excuse me I had uh Wesley Davis do some our property appraiser do some work on the number of
properties that actually go to tax sale. There's not been a single homestead of property in the last 5 years go to tax sales. Now that's due to some nuance in terms of the amount of money that can be bid on it but >> in our county. >> In our county. Yes, we're correct. Sorry. >> Our county our
>> our county our county in terms of single family residential properties that are not homesteaded they've averaged five a year that's it so they're they're the numbers that Wesley gave me and uh we we've talked to it there so there was a
big discussion on this you know at at at these uh meetings and the question was if the property uh tax is reduced or eliminated in how do people make up the fees? And
there's talk about the possibly having a a a set of different options, sales taxes and things of of that nature. And I pushed back pretty hard in the meeting because frankly I think and this is going to be, you know, give give my personal opinion and maybe it's a little
bit of a social opinion. I think it's blatantly unfair that the burden should be shifted on property taxes to from people say one example are over 65 to those who are renters, young people
trying to establish households and so forth. It's tough enough for for them uh as as it is. And I I think that just does damage to the economy uh overall. But, uh, one idea that came out and frankly this was pushed by, uh, Ed Dodd,
Councilman of Sebastian. They said, "Well, our property taxes as a percentage of our revenues are substantially less than, say, our town." And, you know, let's have these series of of options take place. And I went up to the gentleman from the Florida League
of Cities who was running this meeting, and I went up to him afterwards. I said, "That puts us in a very difficult uhh position." and uh are I don't want to be in a situation where the FLC plays off one set of municipalities against the other and he promised that was not going
going to be done. One thing I brought up in the meeting is let's say the set of options get out there as as a constitutional amendment for voters to vote on. What happens if they vote for three different ones to reduce their taxes? They're in conflict with each
other. Nobody can answer that question to me. What happens? how how are the courts going to uh uh deal uh with that? So, you know, other things that were brought up is uh you you're probably going to have a substantial increase in homestead fraud, people claiming that
they have a homestead. Uh uh there was a question raised about u uh police uh you know, paying for that. My understanding from this meeting is the town cannot charge a fee for police protection because it covers uh people. We can
charge a uh for fire department services. That's that's that's what uh I was told. So uh it's it's it's going to be uh you know interesting to see what you know what goes on. So that was main thing that I was going to cover. You covered a lot of the points that I
planned to cover. So you're spot on when it comes to that. So, >> okay. Thank you. Um, yeah. So, uh, this is, you know, a very interesting topic. Uh, Councilman Carol, you know, I I think I would add to what the vice mayor
said in terms of the motivation for this is that it probably has less to do with us in our location here and more to do with other locations where uh there's a concern over uh well, I won't I won't name the uh the county, but $200 million is tossed
around as, you know, revenue that's, you know, quote unquote missing or unaccounted for um up north close to the Georgia line. I won't mention that one, but even even that >> county begins with a D. >> Yes, even that one has uh you know,
hundreds of millions of dollars of um what the uh state authorities would say is questionable spending. So, I think I think there's a a policy concern here that uh people are taxed too much, not
too little. um the uh uh the ability uh there was a budget director in in uh the first Bush administration who said uh starving the beast is the best way to get budgets under control um by restricting the the amount of tax dollars and then people can really
prioritize. So um in my view I think you know giving it the most charitable look it's uh it's an extension of a desire to try to root out fraud weight waste and abuse but handling it from the revenue side not the spend side first and saying okay well let's get your priorities in
order but again my my uh my happy note here is uh after looking at this uh this memor for the first time uh I was astonished and I thought oh my gosh you know this uh this could be really really bad. And then if you if you read it
carefully and you see what what the process is actually going to bring us, it's going to bring us, you know, basically um a voters's poll on what they would like to be what they would like to see done. I I think by necessity, and everybody's
welcome to disagree with me, until until you answer that fundamental question, you really can't even get to the heavy lifting of, you know, how are we going to replace this revenue? Is it going to be increasing the gas tax? Is it going to be uh tourism tax increases? You know, there's not not enough dollars to
go around to to compensate for that revenue. Uh the vice mayor is right. You know, you're not allowed to charge for police services, but uh is there going to be a statutory uh structure that allows uh an add-on to the ad valerum to compensate some or all of police
services? Uh is there going to be a modification to what we can charge for building services? Uh so you know these these the ledger of you can't use ad valerum taxes is going to have to be counterbalanced by some thoughtful process of how do you raise revenue on
the other side and in a way that's that's fair. So I'm not panicking yet. Um Sam, you and I will be off the council before time to panic probably. But uh uh I think we're in a wait and see kind of position here. I think the
best we can do as a municipality is to keep uh our state- elected officials and I am in touch with them um on how this would how these various scenarios would look to us as best we can. As I said earlier, some we can't even it's not even worth making a prediction because
how are we going to figure out how many people are going to come in and come out and uh who may homestead who may not. So, um there you have it. Uh if we're done with that, then we can move on. Any more thoughts on this? >> I know you're going to address something further.
>> No, Ju just just one other thing on it. From what I heard up in Orlando at this meeting, there's been dead silence out of the Senate leadership on this. So, that's a good thing. So, >> okay. Um, the last item in my longer than usual
mayor's report is going to be um for council. Uh it's that time of year where we're going to give Jim Harpering his feedback at the next meeting hopefully provided everybody thinks that November is enough time to give Jim a review and uh as part of that review uh we would
like a comprehensive summary on what you think the tax policy is going to be going forward. Um we fully expect Republic's issues to be resolved and all sorts of easy stuff. So uh uh is that okay? Everybody have enough time to give Jim informal feedback in I'm sorry, formal feedback
in November. >> All right. Item seven, Council Member uh I'm sorry, Vice Mayor Outwarter, you have uh two items you want to bring up. >> Okay. >> So, uh the review we covered, so we can jump past that.
>> Okay. I just want to give you a update on what's going on with the water and uh sewer plant. There was a finance committee uh meeting over at the Vero Beach there or finance commission meeting where they went went through
things. Uh I previously I had reached out to Rob Bolton the utilities director and said you know I'd be willing to help in terms of uh giving my opinion on financing options given my experience in the bond market over a third of a
century. You know this this thing has ballooned in price. It was $82 million uh back uh 2022 and they say because of inflation it's gone up to 164.8
inflation on these materials and labor hasn't gone up that much but what's what's the point of spending spending time fighting something we can't do anything about. So what what I'm reached out to them is to try to get us
most effective execution on the financing so our citizens don't pay even more in rates than the jump that is going to occur. So, they handed this sheet out here, and I I know if somebody's watching on TV, they'll
probably have to blow it up, but uh this this is what they project is the sort of the timetable as to how things are going to occur. So, they're not going to do a bond issue all at once. And by the way, I think it and and you know, the town
manager has lived here much longer than I have. correctly if I'm wronged. I think this is probably at least on a nominal basis the biggest uh municipal uh project in the history of this county at at 164 million. Do you think anything would be Yeah. Okay. So, they're they're
going to do uh the financing in in two stages. Uh if you look at the green on the right under borrowing 55 million they're to get get themselves started and then they're going to do a financing of uh 70 million in September 2026. The
thought process is on the 55 million they do a short-term financing. I think they're going to roll it into the 70 million and issue you know a total bond of roughly of $125 million. So, what I'm hoping to do is to weigh in on the best
way that they can uh execute this. Could you flip to the next page, please? Okay. So, this uh this is sort of the the the timeline on uh on how things are are going to uh work. You know what what
what troubles me somewhat although it really doesn't have that much impact is utilities commission doesn't get to see any of this even though I think it's under the purview of the utilities commission. If you look at the resolution they passed on the objectives
of the utility commission that it covers rates and certainly financing impacts rates but it's like beating a dead horse in terms of talking about this and at the end of the day it's an advisory committee and it doesn't have that much impact anyway. So I'm not going to go
through all these but they're they're in the record here. So could you flip the next page? Uh okay. So th again, this is sort of the uh a lot of detail on the cost of work and uh at the mayor if you get out your Hubble telescope, I'm sure
you're going to read cell 17F there, but I since they provided it, I just wanted to have it on on the on the record. So flip the next page for So the last one again is very small. This is my spreadsheet and uh you you have it in in
in front of you. So, so this is a model I created to try to track what could be the potential interest rate cost under different options. So, I'll go through this very very quickly. Uh, box A uh shows uh the $125 million that they're
going to be potentially borrowing based on the current projected cost of the plant and the grants they've gotten so far. Hopefully, they'll get some more grants. the uh the box B indicate it looks at where interest rates are at any
point in time. So I'm assuming that this water uh utility will issue revenue bonds that'll get a credit rating of a single A from the credit rating services that might be Fitch Moody's andor standard and pores and based on that I
pull down from a major uh dealer they update on a monthly basis what municipal single A rated bonds are at any point in time. So the items in blue you put in what is known as a yield curve. So what a yield curve is is the at any single
point in time the rates for bonds of a particular class in this case a single a r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r rating uh that uh you could execute two years of the 275 all the way out to 30 years of the 491. And then what I did was I put different
options in uh option C was they issue one bond with 30-year maturity just to have that there. You wouldn't do that. um options D and E would be either issuing bonds with six equal principal payments or five equal principal
payments and then I calculate based on those rates above what the total interest cost would be for that different debt structure. The idea behind issuing bonds with different maturities is you try to match up the service life of the bonds uh I'm sorry
excuse me the service life of the water plant you know which you know depreciates over time relative to the uh uh uh bond uh service. So you don't want to have a situation where the bonds all get paid down in say 20 years or 25
years and those rateayers that happen to be in the system that point in time have to pay all that and basically uh the people earlier essentially get somewhat of a free ride. So that that's what you're trying to do is is to uh
match things up. So, I've been working with Rob Bolton, kind of giving him a crash course in the bond market, explaining what has been going on. And uh I, you know, I think it, you know, the end of the day, I sort of went back and forth on
on on helping out on this, but I think at the end of the day, although they may turn around and say, well, the town is endorsing everything we're doing on the water and sewer plant. Obviously, we're not. I'm just one person. But at the end of the day, if I can help them get better execution, that might save us a
few dollars at the end. So, that's just a quick rundown. Happy to move on or or answer any questions. >> Anything for the vice mayor? >> The only thing for me is thank you. Um, thank you for working with them. Um, yeah, we're we're in a position here
where whether whether we like it or not, I think your your expert assistance is in the best interest of the town. Uh obviously, you know, we we had a long-standing public disagreement, but here we are. Um last question. Uh and I
know it's a guess, but let's say the 160 million approximately in construction costs, is that a light number in your estimation or is should that be just about right? >> I I think it's pretty close because they supposedly have a price not to exceed
all though. I think there's some wiggle room, but Mr. Alieri who's been on in those meetings may have a different perspective than me. >> No, I don't have a different perspective, but I my memory of the agreements were that it has a
contingency and also a um there was another provision that uh held open the possibility that the 164 could go up um significantly. Um, and as I read your memo, um, Vice Mayor, uh, what in the
fullness of time, it turns $164 million project into a $223 million project when you consider financing. So, it's it's right. I agree with you that I uh I don't have a long memory in Indian River County and Indian River Shores or Vero
Beach, but um I'd be surprised to learn that there was another project done that gets close to this and its magnitude. >> Well, you know what I what I find troubling is they never put any money aside. They knew this plant was going to have to be replaced. You would never run
a private business like this, turn around and finance a new project, 100% uh financing other than other than grants. And uh but we all know they took the money and threw it into the general fund and also took cost allocations. Uh
for example, just so people in our town know, there's a portion of the city council pay that is allocated to the uh water and sewer plant. So, uh, we as rateayers get to to pay that. And there's other cost allocations, which
I've argued with them over and over again violate, uh, government, uh, accounting standard board, uh, rules. Uh, Heather and I have talked about this with different Gazsby principles, but it's like talking to a brick wall. Yeah.
The other question I had about was about your suggestion that there's a program which pursuant to which they would make six equal principal payowns. Um those payowns are over $20 million. And I'm just wondering whether or not on their balance sheet >> well they
>> first of all whether on their balance sheet they have the ability to do that and second whether or not they would have the discipline to do it five years in a row. >> They they'll build into their rate base. So we will pay them. So that'll that if you look at an accounting ledger that
they would build in depreciation that should equal the principal payown as as we go along. So we're we're all going to pay for it. That's not coming down to general fund. >> Well, I agree we all but there's also the potential for a search charge on at a district folks or rather
out of municipality folks. So, South Island customers, Indian River Shores customers, we could see a 25% search charge up to 50% on current statutes. So, um >> well, they they they claimed they're not going to do it. >> They claimed that they were going to
match the rates for the county, too. So, uh we just have to be diligent, watch carefully, and you know, we'll continue to push for legislation that gives us uh some protection uh going forward. All right. Thank you very much for as usual the very excellent detailed report. I
appreciate all your efforts. And uh we'll move to item 8A which is the approval of ordinance number 582 which is a second reading. Uh that's the 5-year capital improvement plan. Uh don't worry, Mr. Town attorney. I'm going to turn it over to you so you can read the title so that we're in
compliance. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is ordinance number 582, an ordinance of the town of Indian new resource Florida to adopt the 5-year capital improvement program 2026-2030 as part of the town's comprehensive plan in accordance with mandates set forth in chapter 163 Florida statutes providing a
business impact estimate providing for severability providing for codification providing for conflicts providing for scriveners errors and providing for an effective date. This is the second reading. >> All right. Uh is there a motion to approve the second reading? So move.
>> Second. Roll call vote. >> Mayor Foley. >> I. >> Vice Mayor Atwater. >> I. >> Council member Carroll. >> I. >> Council member Alieri. >> I. >> Let the record show. The motion passes 40. >> All right. Item 8 B. This was uh deferred to this meeting. Uh there was a
question about uh some of the language. I trust that's been resolved to everyone's satisfaction. And if it is, yes, sir. >> Yes. Do you have a comment? >> Um, I had a comment that the last meeting uh in the interim I have, um,
gone back over SP 180. I've gone back over the FEMA firm, um, maps. Um, I continue to have a concern about um, ordinance 558, which is under review today, but um, a lot of my concerns
about all of that has been assuaged by, um, I think a deeper understanding of the FEMA maps and, um, the profile of our community. Um, in large part because the way the FEMA map is dri is is
written, um, just about every residential plat west of A1A is in the X zone and would not be burdened by the SISD provisions. Uh, and that being the case, it leaves
the um the the east side of A1A and we're basically talking about the ocean from homes there, which I think are in add uh and they have a different issue there. And I think that the SISD
provisions there are literally less um the impact of those is is less when you consider what they're designed to do. Um so I I I wanted to take a pause on this last month. I've done a lot of work
looking into it. Um and I'm comfortable now that um I'm prepared to go forward with it. >> All right. Thank you very much, Councilman Alteri. Um, you know, I also went back and found it a useful exercise to delve into it. Um, so with that, is
there a motion to approve? >> So move second. >> Roll call vote. >> Mr. Mayor, may I just very briefly >> I'm sorry. Yes, you have after all of that. I'm sorry about that. Yes. This is ordinance number 584, an ordinance of the town of Indian Resource, Florida, a municipal corporation, amending section
165.16, building and structures C, Florida building code technical amendments one, providing for a business impact estimate, providing for severability, providing for codification, providing for conflicts, providing for scrum reserves, and providing for an effective date. This is the first reading. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
>> Thank you, Mr. Town attorney. Uh, roll call vote, please. >> Mayor Foley, >> I. >> Vice Mayor Atwater, >> I. >> Council member Carroll, >> I. Council member Altieri. >> I >> let the record show. The motion passes 40. >> Thank you very much. Uh just as an aside, I was discussing briefly with the
town attorney and the town manager before the meeting that uh 180 is creating all sorts of problems. There's some jurisdictions that are facing some pretty intense scrutiny for not um amending their ordinances to be in compliance. And uh to my knowledge, they
didn't even try to enforce the ordinance that was against it, but they're still being uh reviewed by the state authorities for that. So we we we get these unfunded mandates from time to time and we have to pay attention to them and um comply. So thank you for
being diligent on that. Uh down there at the end of the podium, uh staff updates 9A, building official reports and statistics. Mr. Held, you've been busy. >> Yes, sir. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council. I do not have
anything to add um in addition to the monthly report that was submitted for last month, but I am open for any questions. >> Any questions for Mr. Held? Uh just I notice a pretty sharp drop off
and uh we're down permits issued year-to- date u additions all 14% per 16% inspections 19 uh% any comments on that other than the
numbers anything any scuttlebut you're hearing >> no nothing regarding okay no I don't have any comment for that vice Fair enough. >> Great. >> All right. Terrific. Thank you very much. >> Great. Thank you.
>> 9B code enforcement report. Inspector Mike. >> Good morning. >> That sounds very British by the way. Inspector Mike. >> Um, I have no further updates on the report. Have any questions? Happy to answer them.
None for me. Any any questions for our code enforcement? >> Uh just just that I like the format with the graphs and everything. I you as I I said to town manager, you know, there's a lot of stuff going on that this report
really talks about that there's a robust compliance and inspection regimen. So that's uh that's all I had to say there. >> Thank you. Anything else? All right. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Public works department. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council, um public works and facilities are always busy. As everyone knows, we have a fairly large uh campus here. Uh we have Max Wilas, who's our public works employee. Just want to make sure everyone uh knows him and knows his
face. He's working pretty hard out there in a variety of things because he does all of our MS4 inspections for storm water, storm water compliance, uh and the like. And we're uh working right now also on um essentially trying to tidy up the entrance uh north and south entrance to the town. Uh Max has been helping
coordinate the uh painting at the columns and clearing out that area a little bit and uh and working with us in those areas. Uh and he's also a great set of eyes and hands in the field. That's what we have. >> Terrific. Thank you. Yeah, I see you popping up all over town. So, uh keep up
the good work. Thank you. >> Anything for public works? Any public works related things? All right. Terrific. Uh, town treasurer report. Ms. Christmas. >> Um, I only have one additional item to
report is you'll be seeing a new face in my office. Um, Erica Ma just started working as my bookkeeper. So, if you stop by, you can meet her there and she's been with us about two weeks now. >> And as a heads up, she'll also um uh you may see her in the postal center uh as
well assisting in that role, which is analogous to before. So, thank you for that, Heather. >> I have no other further updates beyond what's in my report, but I'm available for questions. >> Is the audit done yet? >> I wish, but no, it should be the second
week in December, >> right? But all joking aside, we're we're well on uh well on in compliance with our required filings and uh yes, >> we don't have to worry about any of that. >> Thank you very much, Heather. Appreciate it. Um, item 9E, public safety
department report and statistics. Uh, spoiler alert for council. Um, I had some questions from members of the public that I asked uh to be addressed so we don't uh blindside people when they come up on items that they can
prepare on. Um, I got questions on about ebikes. Are ebikes allow allowed on the sidewalk? The ones that go zooming by? Um, and then the, uh, uh, the next one was, um, I'm trying to
read my own notes here. Uh, generally golf carts, you know, golf cart regulations, are they allowed, not allowed? Um, I was walking along A1A and a bicyclist was, uh, particularly upset that there was a golf cart that, um, um,
was in the bicycle lane. And, uh, I thought we'd get some clarification for anybody who's listening or watching this. and you know potentially we if it continues to be a problem we can put out a notice to the public uh as a friendly reminder. So let's start with the ebikes. >> Yes. Good morning Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice
Mayor, members of council. Um Edward Ryer, I'm Edward Ryer, assistant chief of police operations for the public safety department on behalf of Chief Stone and the public safety department. So the ebikes in short uh the electric bicycles in Florida by state law um they
are afforded all the rights and privileges and are subject to all the duties as the operator of a regular bicycle would be. Uh what that means and I'll read uh word for word from the Florida state statute 316.20655 which is actually titled electric
bicycle regul regulations. Paragraph 7 states that quote, "An operator may ride an electric bicycle where bicycles are allowed, including but not limited to streets, highways, roadways, shoulders, bicycle lanes, and bicycle or multi-use
paths." End quote. Um the definition of a multi-use path from stat the same statute uh is a shared use path is a paved physically separated facility for use by pedestrians, bicyclists, skaters and
others. So that would include the sidewalks as it stands right now. Uh, regarding the golf carts, sir. Um, in Florida, golf carts are not allowed to operate on sidewalks unless they're approved by the
local government. So, that's as it stands right now. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, what about uh bicycle lanes and you know on on A1A? I thought uh >> there's some regulation about that. So, >> you're referring to the golf carts. I'm
sorry. So they are prohibited on from traveling on highway A1A as they're only allowed to operate on roadways with speed limits of 30 uh 30 miles an hour or less. >> Um the lowest speed we have on Highway A uh A1A is uh 35 mph which runs from Fred
Turk south to the town line. So they are not allowed to be on the roadway on Highway 81A. >> Okay. And certainly not in the bicycle lane. So correct. Okay. >> All right. Thank you. uh as president, we have our our new representative uh to the bicycle committee here. So, um you
can tell we're we're up on the issues for bicycles, especially with the vice mayor's interest in cycling and u Councilman Carol, too, I know, is a a cyclist and I think you are too, right? I'm going to have to get a bicycle. Um all right. U actually I have one. I just don't think the tires have air in it.
So, well, thank you very much. I really greatly appreciate that. And um yes, please go ahead. So that there's a speed limit on the roads that I don't Is there a speed limit on a bike path? These these ebikes can go very very fast. So there is not a speed limit on the path.
However, um by Florida law, there's three classifications of ebikes. And the highest they're limited to a motor of 750 watts or less and they're not
allowed to go over 28 mph. >> 28 mph on a bike path is scary. >> Yes. >> Really? >> It is. >> Is there anything we can do about that? Vice Mayor, you have a particular interest in these issues.
I I don't I don't know what the what the Well, I I was my understanding maybe wrong that Vero Beach lets golf carts go on A1A and the speed limits 35 there that they had they carved out some exemption
and does that apply to the ebikes as well or am I incorrect on that? >> No, you are correct. They did make provisions. Vero Beach did make provisions for golf carts. I don't know where they are with ebikes right now because it is new. Mr. uh Mr. Vice Mayor, if I may, um in that regard,
there's an area, but it's not on A1A. Um and actually, uh the it begins 45 on A1A in the city of Vero Beach, just past uh Quail Valley Country Club, so 45 south from there. Um however the area I believe they've designated uh
is the area associated with um uh club drive the golf course because the golf course um uh there's a crossing path to get across A1A which which is authorized but it's very narrow and it's very limited in that area and I believe the
speed limit is >> 25 or 30 back in the Club Drive Ocean Drive um area and they they do have a narrow um carveout. I'm not sure when that happened. I believe some time ago, but it's only for that particular area. >> So, it's not on not on a A1A then. >> No, sir. >> Okay.
>> They they don't have jurisdiction on that either. >> No, sir. >> Yeah. Um All right. Thank you. What else do you have for us? >> So, the only other things I have to add to the report. Um last Saturday, our department, five of our officers participated in a uh countywide active
shooter drill that took place at the Mueller campus of the Indian River State College. Um that was very successful. Uh earlier this week, two of our officers traveled to Ocala uh to work on building our new fire uh engine. Yearly firearms
training in our department was recently completed in the last two weeks. And currently basic and advanced life support reertification is underway. That should be done within another week. And we do currently have on loan to us a ambulance from Indian River County due
to one of our ambulances being out for body work and the other one for mechanical work. >> So that's all I have unless there's any questions. >> Any questions? Thank you. Keep up the good work. Stay safe. We greatly appreciate our public safety department and all they do for
us. So, and then I know this is the exciting time of year for you with car carriers coming in and turning around and people coming back and forth. So, uh, you know, again, stay safe and thank you for all you do for us. >> Thank you all. >> Town attorney,
>> Mr. Mayor, I don't have anything additional to report today. Always happy to answer any questions and um available at any time. >> Anything for our town attorney? Remember, he charges by the word. Okay. Um, town manager, Mr. Harper.
>> Uh, though I'm on salary, I'll be brief. Um uh I we covered the substance of what I would have during the course of the meeting. I don't have anything additional uh for the council uh at this time other than to express my thanks for the great team. I know that council sees it all the time and you're here in town,
but we just have an amazing team at uh you know in our town hall area public safety and uh I think the residents should be very grateful for uh you know for the council's support of our team here and I'm appreciative of that too. So just want to mention that >> spoken like a man is going to be
reviewed next month. So, um, no, thank you for the for the hard work you do. All right, council committee reports or non-action items. So, do we have any reports starting from right to left? >> Uh, no report. We will not have a meeting of the utilities commission
until the first week of December. >> Okay. Thank you, Councilman Alieri. Um, Treasure Coast Council of Local Governments October meeting. We initially didn't have a quorum, then we did have a quorum. So, we were able to do quorum related items. Lots of
discussions about uh SB80, which we briefly alluded to, and the lawsuits that have been filed to um uh overturn it. Um we did not uh join in it, but um of course, if there's any relief that, you know, finds it u unconstitutional on
any grounds or uninforceable, uh we will benefit because uh it would it would have statewide application. much like form 9, form one, that litigation. Um, there was a presentation by Career Source, which I'll take a couple of minutes just to talk about. Um,
and you know, I I think it's it's it's amazing that this is a um a resource that's available for our county. So, anybody who knows anybody who could be interested, uh, it it outsources talent and employment for specific jobs and
general jobs. Uh, and you know, they'll they'll really work with businesses to find to find local talent. And I'm hearing from the community that um, good people are hard to find even with unemployment rates kind of creeping up in in our area. So, uh, they're worth giving a call. And, um, they'll even go
so far as if an employer, you know, has a specific job specification that they would like to have filled, they'll they'll do the omen's work for you. kind of like having a search firm, you know, for uh for your tax dollars, state tax dollars, not local dollars. So, um um it
also extends to municipalities. So, now I know we're we're lean and mean and we're staffed up, but for any municipalities that have a need for, you know, particular talent, Career Source has worked with them to find qualified folks. So, um that's it for Treasure Coast Council local governments. the uh
I think the rest of the intergovernmental committees will be ramping up again after taking the usual breaks over the summer. So that's my report. Vice Mayor. >> Okay. Uh two meetings. There was the Treasure Coast Regional League of Cities. They met here in Vero Beach. So
I didn't have to drive very far. All the discussion was the tax situation. So we've covered that. I had a beach and shurers preservation advisory committee uh meeting this uh past uh Monday. Uh, a couple things of note. First of all, we had an unprecedented green sea turtle
nesting season. Uh, normally what happens with uh, green sea turtle nest, you you have a cycle where you have a strong uh, year and then it and then it drops off, but we've pretty much had close to backtoback uh, years. So, we
had uh nesting activity uh peaked in July with 4,310 nests and I think I believe there was a total of 4,515. So, shows that things are are are doing well in spite of the uh the recent
storms really beating up sector 4 quite a bit, but the sand did its job in terms of uh protecting us. Hopefully, they'll start to come back. Uh speaking of uh sand, uh the beach restoration's going to start for uh sector 5. That is the
very uh south end of town past uh range monument 72. So it's a relatively small stretch, but it'll uh down just a little bit uh north of tracking station park and it'll continue down into the city
and that'll become occur on November 1st. The interesting thing about that was when there were bids uh put out for sector 4 for sand, we only had one firm bid. This time there were uh five or
might have been six. So that's good that we're we're seeing uh more companies bidding because of course you have better chance for uh better price execution. So >> is that bidding for delivery or for quaries? That that's that's putting taking the
sand from the quarry, moving it here, and putting it on the beach, the whole the whole nine yards like like they did in in sector 4. So they >> But it's still likely coming from Steuarts, the sand. >> I I didn't recognize the name of the It's It's coming from inland. Yeah, it's
not coming from all the ocean. So So that's it for me. So I Bob, I noticed um uh the beach where I go is obviously sector 4, but the beach profile looks fine, but the erosion got to the top of
the burm so that we are now at an escarment just before the dunes. >> Sure. And I I I'm with you that the hopefully the sands come back, but I don't know how it gets comes back to the point where we're getting up beyond the BMS and
>> No, it my understanding it won't do that. But it'll build the the sand in between out to the low water mark. But yeah, you're you're correct that will there's there's nothing to get it up in air like that. >> It's like an 8ft escortment right there.
It's it's rough. >> Thank you. All right. Any comments from the public? No comments from the public. All right. Um, we are adjourned until our November meeting, which will be earlier than usual because of Thanksgiving. So,
everybody have a great day, a great rest of the month, and we'll see you in November.