Test test. Charlie Charlie I didn't do that. That's really Yeah. I couldn't remember. Yeah, probably. Good evening. The time is now 700 p.m. and I'll call to order the town council
meeting of Tuesday, May 6th. We'll begin with an invocation followed by a moment of silence and then a pledge of allegiance. If all those that are able, please join me in standing. Dear God, help us to be mindful of our
service to our community and allow us to see that strength of harmony and teamwork can overcome that divides us. Amen. Amen. Let's have a moment of silence. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance
of the standyice for all. May we have a roll call, please? Mayor Caresky here. Vice Mayor Delaney here. Councelor Choy here. Councelor Sunstrom here. Town manager Kitsro here. Town
attorney B here. So tonight we have a few proclamations we'll be going to be beginning our meeting with and then we'll we'll go on to the presentations um beginning with drop savers. And I just want to share on the behalf of the council, this is an
extraordinary gathering. We look forward to it every year. You know, the students that are here getting awards and the families. And I got to say this is was the most quiet group for a crowd that I
can ever recollect. So I think our kids children are much more behaved than us as adults. I'm just going to Would you not agree? Thank you very much. We start promptly at seven, but the first time I've ever heard a silence, you know, a couple
minutes before. I couldn't start early. Okay. Is that what it is? Okay, there it is. Everybody. Okay. Um begin with some proclamations. uh first one which I will be presenting to police chief Michael Barrera and this
is on national police week and police officers memorial day. So proclaiming May 11th through 17th, 2025 as National Police Week, whereas the Congress and the President of the United States have
designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which May 15th falls as National Police Week. And whereas the members of the Jupiter Police Department play an essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms
of the citizens of the town of Jupiter. And whereas it is important that all citizens know and understand the duties, responsibilities, hazards, and sacrifices of their law enforcement agency, and that members of our agency
recognize their duty to serve the people by safeguarding life and property, by protecting them against violence and disorder, and by protecting the innocent against the deception and the weak against oppression. And whereas the men and women of the town of Jupiter Police
Department unceasingly provide a vital public service. And whereas police officers are dedicated, well-trained, and highly responsible individuals who take their job seriously and are proud of their department and the local
government within which they serve. Now therefore, I, Jim Kitzky, mayor of the town of Jupiter, do hereby proclaim the week of May 11th through 17, 2025 as National Police Week in Jupiter, Florida, in accordance with the
nationwide observance of the same and encourage all citizens of Jupiter to join this council in expressing appreciation for the dedication and outstanding service provided by the individuals who serve as our police officers. I further call upon all
citizens of the town of Jupiter to observe May 15, 2025 as peace officers memorial day in honor of those law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their community or have
become disabled in performance of their duty. And let us recognize and pay respect to the survivors of our fallen fallen heroes. and witness thereof, I have here to set my hand and seal the sixth day of May, 2025.
First of all, So that'll be making a presentation or a proclamation that I'll be presenting to Natural Resources Division Ashley Reeves, Jeff Buck, and Stephanie Thoburn with the Arbor Day proclamation proclaiming May 17, 2025 as
Arbor Day. Whereas in 1872, Mr. J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. And whereas this day called Arbor Day, first observed with
the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska, is now observed throughout the nation and the world. Whereas trees are a renewable resource which can reduce the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water, reduce flooding, provide wind
protection, reduce energy costs, moderate the temperature, clean the air, produce oxygen, and provide habitat for wildlife. Whereas trees in our town increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and
beautify our community. And whereas trees, wherever they are planted, promote the well-being of present and future generations. And whereas the town has been a nationally rec nationally recognized and designated tree city for
28 years. Now therefore, I, Jim Kitsky, mayor of the town of Jupiter, do hereby proclaim May 17, 2025 as Arbor Day. The town of Jupiter urges all citizens to participate in the observance of planting trees in getting outside to
enjoy nature. In witness thereof, I have here to set my hand and seal this sixth day of May, 2025. I just wanted to thank uh Stephanie Thobber um with natural resources planning and zoning. Um thank you so
much for supporting trees and the environment um and supporting street trees in our in our um town. Um main thing is one we have a new senior natural resource coordinator uh Jeff Buck who's from South Florida Water Management District and Palm Beach
County Environmental Resource Management. So we're really happy to have him. Um he just started a few weeks ago. And then I want to put in a plug. We're having our Arbor Day on March 17th. Oh, I'm sorry. May 17th. Thank you. That's why Ashley's here. Um May
17th here at the town hall. Um, we are getting in and in celebration of the centennial, we took saplings from we took seedlings from the 300-year-old Cabbid oak and we gave them to the Jupiter High School ornamental horiculture group. So, they've been
growing them for us and we'll be giving those away as well as inviting the council and everyone. So, hope to see you Saturday here at the town hall at 1 o'clock. Okay. Now, I'll be doing uh the final proclamation tonight which I'll be presenting to uh Amanda Barnes, director
of utilities with the National Drinking Water Week proclamation, proclaiming May 4th through 10th, 2025 as N National Drinking Water Week. Whereas access to clean, safe drinking water is essential
for the health and well-being of individuals and communities. And whereas the water we drink, use, and share sustains life fosters prosperity and supports the overall quality of life for all people. And whereas sustainable water resources are vital to supplying
safe and reliable drinking water now and for future generations. And whereas the town of Jupiter has made significant investments over the years to develop alternative water supplies, upgrade drinking water facilities, and address storm water pollution for the
preservation and protection of its local water resources, including underground aquifers, Locks Hatche River, and its tributaries. And whereas the town of Jupiter is committed to continued production and delivery of safe and reliable drinking water, environmental
stewardship, and sustainable water supplies for future generations. And whereas National Drinking Water Week is a time to raise awareness about the importance of protecting our water resources, improving water systems, and educating the public about water
conservation and sustainability practices. And whereas dedicated men and women have made significant contributions and continue to play a vital role in role in planning, development, operations, and maintenance of the town's water supply, treatment,
and delivery systems. Now therefore, I, Jim Kuredky, mayor of the town of Jupiter, do hereby proclaim the week of May 4th through 10th, 2025 as National Drinking Water Week, encouraging all residents to recognize
the vital role of water in our lives, and to commit to actions that protect, conserve, and responsibly manage this precious resource. In witness thereof, I have here unto set my hand and seal the
sixth day of May, 2025. Thank you, mayor and town council. I wrote some words that I'd like to share. Um, and I I'm going to read them so I don't leave anything important out. But on behalf of the utility department, I'm honored to accept this proclamation. I
extend my sincere thanks to to you, each of you, for your support over the many years. Um, acknowledging the work that we do and also our mission to deliver safe and reliable drinking water. Um, I think safe and reliable drinking water is something that we take for granted,
especially here in our country, but it's the foundation um of healthy communities and thriving economies and a sustainable future. Behind every drop that comes from our faucets is a dedicated team of professionals, engineers, scientists, and public servants who work around the
clock to ensure that our water systems are safe and resilient. So, this isn't just a celebration. It's a reminder of the importance of protecting our water resources. investing in our infrastructure and educating the future generations about the stewardship of
water. So, I just um I thank you again for tonight and um for your support and um look forward to the future um policies and practices that we can continue to implement to provide safe and reliable drinking water to our customers. And now I would like to
invite Haley Johnson to come up and um recognize the award winners this year for our drop savers poster contest. And I'd like to ask our newest council member to join in presenting the awards. Good evening all and welcome to the town
of Jupiter's 2025 Drop Savers Water Conservation Poster Contest Awards Ceremony. Each year, the town of Jupiter participates in the Florida section of the American Waterworks Association's Drop Savers Water Conservation Poster
Contest during National Drinking Water Week. The contest gives students from kindergarten through high school the opportunity to showcase their creativity and design a poster about water conservation. This program is a fun way for our young students to learn about
the importance of conservation and care of this vital resource and serves as a reminder a good reminder for the community. Tonight we are honoring the winners selected from each age division. Unfortunately we did not have any high
school submissions this year. Um want to thank our sponsors. We are so appreciative appreciative of the participation from these local businesses who have made generous donations towards the awesome prize packs our students are about to
receive. Now, without further ado, let's celebrate these students. When I call your name, please come forward to be congratulated by counselor Choi um and receive your prize package. Afterward, please stay up here so we can take a group photo of all
the winners. So the first is division one kindergarten and first grade. Third place, Emma Mirs in first grade. Uh, next is second place, Laya Donham from kindergarten. know the prize packs are still heavy
this year. And first place, Elena Lee from first grade. Okay, next is division two, which is second and third grade. Third place, Ella Kissner from second grade. quick.
All right, in second place is Evelyn Foy from third grade. All right, first place is Samantha Sheen, third grade. All right, our next division three is fourth and fifth grade. Third place, Vivian Stenkevich,
fifth grade. Congratulations. Second place is Astred Vasquez, fourth grade. And first place for division three is Jocelyn Lee in fifth grade. All right. And then division 4 middle
school, third place, Alice Lynn. Unfortunately, she could not make it tonight, but we'll still honor her beautiful poster. Um, second place is Leona Low, sixth grade. And first place, Payton Laauo from
seventh grade. All right, congratulations to all our participants. Thank you so much for your submissions. All right, everyone look this way. Can we have the rest of the council come down as well for this photo? And I'm sure
We'll take a moment for those that want to recession. Thank you very much for the uh the students uh and their work. We really enjoy this. Thank you. And their families Cool. I can clear a room apparently. So now I want to welcome Miss Gina
Leesque, intake and compliance manager with the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics, who will be given an over annual overview of the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics presentation. Welcome. Thank you. I'm gonna start
getting a complex soon. I keep clearing rooms. Hello, my name is Gina Lec and I serve as the intake and compliance manager for the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics. Today, I'd like to share a little about who we are, what we do, and how we can be a resource for
you. The Commission on Ethics was established in 2010 following a 2009 grand jury recommendation for ethics reform in Palm Beach County. Our mission is simple but crucial to promote integrity in public
service, build public trust, and ensure that private interests do not insure with public duties. What sets our commission apart is its independence. We operate separately from other county or municipal governments and our five
volunteer members are appointed by independent organizations. This structure ensures fair and impartial oversight. We provide oversight, accountability, and transparency for more than 12,000 public
officials, employees, and advisory board members, as well as certain vendors and lobbyists throughout Palm Beach County. The code of ethics applies not only to county government but also to all 39 municipalities, ensuring that public
officials and employees act with integrity, independence, and impartiality and that a public office is never used for personal gain. But our role is not just about enforcement. It's
about prevention. We place a strong emphasis on education because we believe the best way to prevent ethical violations is to ensure that people understand the rules before they make decisions. That's why we provide ongoing
training and advisory opinions to help officials and employees navigate ethical concerns before they become an issue. In fact, we've issued nearly 560 advisory opinions to
date. While we do have authority to impose penalties such as reprimands and fines up to $500 per violation, our primary goal is to educate, guide, and prevent violations
before they occur. We also ensure transparency by making all advisory opinions, gift forms, voting conflict forms, and complaints publicly available on our website. At the Commission on Ethics, we encourage
everyone to remember one simple phrase, ask first, act later. If you ever have a question regarding the application of the code of ethics, please reach out to us before making a decision or taking an action. You can
find resources, request training, or contact us by visiting our website at palm beachythics.com or by calling 561-3551915. Thank you for your time and most importantly, thank you for your
commitment to ethical governance. If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I also left my business card with each of you in case you'd like to reach out after the meeting. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Okay, now we have uh we move on to citizen comments. This is a time for non-aggenda items and are limited to three minutes. Anyone wishing to speak is asked to state his or her name and address for the record prior to
addressing town council. Do we have public comments? Yes, mayor. First, we have Jennifer Ball. After Jennifer is going to be Linda Smith. Hi, everybody. No relation to Lucille Ball, unfortunately. Um, I'm Jennifer Ball. Uh, 6299 Chasewood Drive, Jupiter,
Florida 33458. Talking so fast. Um, I got three minutes. So, um, unfortunately the dog park opens really late in the morning at 7:30 and it used to open a little bit earlier and a lot of us have to work and
so a lot of people can't come. So, we would love if it could open earlier. Like we would even pay like some of us would pay a fee and have like a lockbox code as like a suggestion or comment. Um, and then another point also, they're doing the uh the fire department, but we
heard that they're cutting out 20 or 30 feet of the dog park, which wasn't in the original plan. So, is that a rumor? Okay, that is a rumor. I see shaking of heads. So, I I don't know what we can do, but it's dog park. Sorry, I didn't say that, but if we could open it earlier in the morning for the citizens
that have to work, um, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Um, on at this point, I don't know, we don't always speak up, but to the degree you, uh, brought up a topic, number one, rumors, uh, if the dog park
area is being adjusted, but it's actually adding ending up being a net increase in size. That's great. To make that clear. So, yeah, there's rumors and they're wrong. Okay. Want to get that clear. And then uh we'll refer to our staff to see if something can be done to to uh do an earlier open time. Thank
you. But appreciate I even offered to open it myself, but I guess I can't do that. So, I'm grateful you came to speak. I have heard that from others. So, thank you. Thank you, Linda Smith. Hello, Linda Smith. Uh Jupiter, Florida
Sierra Club Lockahi Group Executive Committee Chair. First, some good news. The Save Our Parks bill passed the Florida legislator legislation unanimously, so Jonathan Dickinson will be safe from golf courses. They even
close the loophole. Yay. So, Flidians have historically supported environmental issues and initiatives. Now, a couple of comments. Um, please work to try to provide commercial recycling in the town of Jupiter. Um, I
also would like to let you know that it is not too late to install solar on the new fire stations. As a retired architect, I know this is a simple thing. It's a change order. Yes, you're going to have to pay for it, but solar thermal has the quickest payback, less
than seven years. Firefighters can enjoy guilt-free hot showers every time they come in from a call. I put solar on my house after construction. It's not a big deal. I suggest Jupiter also work on storm
water diversion. As a volunteer that often walks up and down Center Street picking up trash. Yeah, that's what I do in my spare time. Um I know there's an awful lot of plastics and trash on the storm drains, right? Going into the wild and scenic river. Um but it's not just
trash. It's also the nutrients and the fertilizer and the pesticides that are going right down those same storm drains. The good news is, the great news is Jupiter has a landscape ordinance that states an application of fertilizer
containing nitrogen or phosphorus is banned between June 1st and September 30th. I don't think that gets publicized enough. I think homeowners don't know any better. Um, but I would also suggest this get
extended through the storm season all the way up to December 1st because you get a hurricane and everything just washes away. It it just does. Um, a question, has the sustainability plan been accepted and updated? And please
consider revising your contracts for vendors and eliminating single-use plastic on Jupiter properties during Jupiter events. I have multiple contract examples and ordinances and referendums from other communities that have already
done this. As reported this week, it's Jupiter Water. I got the email, Jupiter Water is safe and all that stuff to drink. We just had a whole presentation on that. So, no one ever needs to use a singleuse water bottle in the town of
Jupiter. At events, have a water refilling station. Everybody has one of these, right? And you can actually get water in an aluminum can. It's called liquid death. Poor marketing, but it's a great product. Um, so please consider
refilling stations at events. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Pat Connors after Pat Wayne Pausner. Good evening. Name is Pat Connors, 232
Jupiter uh cocktail drive. Um want to commend the uh town of Jupiter for the Sinz Park that uh that I had to unfortunately able to use with my dog and I've been using it for three years and I have to say it's one of the best
maintained parks in the area pretty much as far as I've seen in Florida. So that being said, uh my dog likes the park. People seem to be respectful of the grounds. They keep uh try to keep it neat and clean as much as they can. And also I commend the uh the town for
keeping uh the maintenance people come in there and keeping the bathrooms as well as they park in pristine condition as far as as far as the construction. Construction is going to is going to be over eventually. So we'll have to deal with that. But uh it also has a problem with uh the people trying to get into
the park earlier and if the council would consider opening a little bit earlier because people do have to go to work and some people have to just be in there and out in matter of minutes. It could uh it would really be a great thing if they could just have a little more time to spend and enjoy the park
like I do. And uh if you can do that, it'd be wonderful. Thank you very much. from New York. Wayne Pausner. After Wayne, it's Eric White. Good evening, council. Wayne Pausner, 315 Karina Drive, Jupiter, Florida. Nice
flowers. I don't know what they're for, but they're beautiful. Um, been here a while, 34 years. Not that that means anything more powerful than anybody else has been here six months. And when I first came here, I
heard a phrase, maybe some of you heard of it, that we are a drinking town with a fishing problem. So, I don't know if you've ever heard that before, but that's uh one of the phrases, one of the first phrases I heard when I moved here. Um, with that, I would like to talk
about the businesses in the town of Jupiter. Um, I'm not in favor, and you might be surprised, but not in favor of a project that may come to fruition someday at the uh bottom of the the uh Indian Town Road Bridge, which they're
talking about. That's I think it's the uh northwest corner. Um putting in a bar and a restaurant. And I don't think the town of Jupiter needs more bars and more restaurants. There's one restaurant I know that closed three or four times in the last three or four years and got
reoccupied. I think we need to start um supporting the businesses that are already here. And if I recall correctly when I was on the council um John Sichler referred to the Sim House as a restaurant. I know that there it's going
to be coming up shortly about an application for a liquor license. They've had a wine and beer license for at least 5 years now. No incidents that I'm aware of. And there's a lot of people that attend there. a lot of political people, powerful people that
go into that restaurant and it would be in their best interest to be able to serve regular liquor like every other restaurant in this community. And I think that's something that the council can approve without going to any kind of votes or anything. I think that's a
staff or a council approval. So, I'm in favor of letting the Sims House 1925, 100 years to have a liquor license. Um when I was on council, we approved many restaurants. Um when I was on planning
and zoning, we did um Utiki, uh council, Lucky Shucks. They all have liquor license. And I just to be fair to all the businessmen and especially a historic building like that. I think they we need to put them on an even plane. I have no financial connection to
Ernie Fedanza. I just think it would be a nice thing to put that place on an even keel. Thank you very much. Eric White. Good evening. Eric Whiter, Jupiter Ocean Grand, uh
2:30. Uh water was on the agenda today. I walk along the beach road twice a day and uh today I came past number 46 beach access and I've talked about this one before. That's uh where we have a design
that's good but it doesn't work. Uh you can't get a drink of water. You need a bottle of water to get the water to drink. And for the dog there's a bowl and the bowl some dogs come and put their feet in there and there's sand in there. So I got to let the water run to
let that thing clean out. So when I was there today, uh lady came over and said, you know, the township wants to replace more of these. So I looked online and I couldn't find anything. So uh I like the water stations, but just don't copy that
one. And if you need some suggestions as a dog owner, I'd be more than happy to help. But you can't just repeat that one. You got to have drinking water. with with a fountain. Um, I walk the dog without a water bottle. Oh, the other
great thing about that one is there's a drain there that really works well. The water doesn't come running across the road. Uh, perfect. Thank you very much. That was the last one. Okay. Uh
well, as we move on to beyond citizen comments, I think I'm going to exert my privilege as mayor to uh make a few comments. Uh tonight's meeting, and I'm
I'm doing this because people may not stick around to the end of the meeting. So tonight's meeting is bittersweet in that we say farewell to our town clerk, Laura Cahill. Laura began her journey with the town nearly a decade ago, joining us as
an administrative specialist three in the town clerk's office in August 2015. It didn't take long for her talent and work ethic to shine. Four years later, she was promoted to deputy town clerk and then to town clerk
in January 2021. Throughout her role, Laura has brought precision, consistency, and a deep sense of responsibility to her work. From managing public records to supporting town council meetings to overseeing elections to ensuring
transparency for residents, she's done it all with quiet confidence and unwavering commitment to doing things the right way. Laura, your contributions have helped build a stronger, more accessible, and
more accountable government. Your steady presence and institutional knowledge will be deeply missed, not just by your colleagues in the clerk's office, but by everyone who's had the privilege of working with you, certainly us on the council and many members of the public.
So, on behalf of the entire town, we thank you for your years of service. We wish you the very best and you will always be part of the Jupiter family. Thank you. And I'm sorry, Mr. Kitzer, because I know you were going to bring that up, but uh Summer is already saying what
flowers for and and the public will dwindle off and I didn't want them to miss out on that. Thank you very much. Okay. Um council, we have before us the uh April 15th town council meeting minutes. I don't see any corrections. If
there are none, I'll take a motion in a second. Motion to approve. Second. Motion in a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion carries unanimously. Moving on to the consent
agenda. This is items 7 through 14. Uh is there any member of the public that wish to pull a consent agenda item? No, mayor. Any member on the dis wish to pull an item? I just want to pull item nine for a
question. So I'll take a motion and a second on approving the amended consent agenda excluding item nine. So moved as amended. Have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion
carries unanimously. On item nine. Um you know I'm going to support this item. Uh but the reason I just pulled it um and I've heard from a number of this item is for annual striping an annual striping contract which
historically you know is looked at as we look at it and in the staff report there's criteria that's used to determine the priority of the road segments for restriping the striping condition the functional classification
of the roadway the average daily traffic counts and then whether there's schedule repaving. I think the one thing that I think is missing is uh pedestrian crosswalks by school
areas. Um and I you know this I've been meaning to follow up on this one. I I get a number of and you know we've really made an effort um you know with the crosswalk effort um in but in some cases it could be just uh you know doing markings and I've heard
let's just say from several about Jerry Thomas and I I can't give specific uh but I just want to ask or I just wanted to you know in approving this I didn't want to miss an annual cycle um if there's some you know school
crosswalk are that are need in need of uh you know getting addressed. Um so I just leave that as an action item. I'm going to support this one, but I didn't want to wait a year because I imagine if staff were to conclude that, you know,
you could had a change order, right? Correct. Okay. We'll take a look at all the crosswalks. Yeah, I appreciate that very much. But the specific I mean mostly you know certainly what do we have here tonight?
You know mostly uh you know I wanted to focus on you know p the uh uh elementary you know middle school um just to kind of put some focus on that. That should always always be a priority. Sometimes, you know, the marking, I mean, even though we have crossing guards,
sometimes uh the lack of or a faded marking makes it difficult for the crossing guard to give a direction, you know, stop there. Um so, um anyway, so with that, thank you. If you'll take that as just this generic
action item and uh you know, I'll take a motion um in a second to approve that resolution 4825. Sure. Countyoulevard microphone you microphone you weren't I'm sorry
there we go is Indian town and central particularly if someone's in a wheelchair um during the campaign we were there often in and visibly watch the difficulty people were having. And it just may be the navigation, but it may just need some adjustment. If you
wouldn't mind looking at it. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. I think the signalization was problematic, you know, for pedestrians. Yes, sir. Okay. Uh motion and a second on resolution 4825. Second. Motion a second. All in favor
signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries unanimously. Okay, moving on to the regular agenda. Uh item agenda item 15 uh approving the town's 20 25
neighborhood matching grant for Egret Cove at Maplewood. I don't think we uh have to uh get a presentation on that because I know it's coming back. I'm going to abstain because it's my neighborhood. So understand. So, you're going to abstain for your neighborhood. And we still have a quorum here with
three. Um, I'll take a motion and a second to approve that item. Motion to approve. I'll second. Motion in a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries unanimously with the vice mayor uh abstaining.
Glad we got that resolved after the awkwardness of four last time. Yeah. Okay. Moving on to the last item um on the agenda before reports is approving the employment contract renewal
with Mr. Frank Kitsero for the town manager position. Um, I'll just open this up, but then if the town attorney wants to add anything. So, you know, the contract that we entered into with the town
manager had uh was is expiring on May 17th. I thought it was the 20th, but it was the 17th and it didn't have a easy renewal provision. So, council may remember, but
uh I uh brought this up under coun uh council comments on March 18th. We gave a I was authorized to uh provide a letter of our intent to extend the contract. At that point, I kind I
thought since the contract didn't have provisions for renewal, it'd be a new contract. Uh we now you know legal opinion is we can do it with an amendment. Um so uh what was prepared is an amendment
um to his to the contract to extend the duration of the contract agreement. I also um in getting um some information with regard to
uh benchmarks with 12 11 other municipalities which I believe has been distributed. I I thought it was appropriate to uh you know make consider and make an adjustment in the base salary uh based on those benchmarking
results realizing by the way that uh we're obligated and we'll still do a performance review which goes through June 1, but my thought in dealing with the contract now is the time to make a salary adjustment. Um, but remember I
asked for and was authorized as we've done and knew at least two other times is the mayor takes the lead on working with the attorney to bring back a amended or new contract, you know, for a town manager. So, that's what's been
done here. Um I do had I did provide a recommended what I believe is a appropriate uh um annual number but I realize that's subject to discussion in a consensus agreement. With that I just want to
first give the opportunity for um our town attorney if he wants to add anything to what I just said and then I'd open it up for discussion about everything but salary and then we could talk about you know what salary to put. So, Mr. Bear, did you have anything you
want to add to what I said? I do not. Okay. Does anybody have any general comments about the um the amended contract that we have on the diet that we have tonight on the
agenda along with a resolution? I do. I just wanted to um remembering what we said on the dis before. I had mentioned the performance evaluation and somehow cottifying that the human resources department would notify us of
the deadline June 1st each year. Maybe they could do that the first week of May. But I'd love to add that in section 14 under performance evaluation that the town's human resources department shall notify council of the June 1st deadline
the first week of April May. Um but pretty common and we'll just make that you know um more formal. Um another potential option is we do have an informal discussion and council comments. Um, I like what we have
currently for our evaluation process and I think it should continue um and having that brief discussion for the purposes of bonus as part of this or um additional compensation as part of the budget program. We could just codify that by saying each June council will
have a regular agenda item to discuss, you know, the evaluation and that way the process stays the same. It just acknowledges it and keeps everything on schedule. Locked in on the schedule. Makes sense. Yeah, I think so. And then it just helps people not, you know,
understand it. So, I would recommend that language be added to section 14 just if you agree we could do I don't know how much notice you need. Maybe the first week of April just with schedules and we only have a few meetings, you know, before. So, maybe like the first
week of April, notify council of the June 1 deadline. We we perform our evaluation. We have our one-on- ones with the town manager. Um and then since June 1st is when it needs to be completed each year, then each June, we
just have a discussion and that's it. By the way, you know, you brought that comment up last time and I agree with you about HR having the lead. So there's no certainly, you know, I worked on this. Mr. Barrett wasn't here at the
meeting. you know, his uh uh backup was. Um, but I did I hadn't and I'm not objecting adding it now, but I wasn't sure whether it belonged in here because that's an internal town thing as opposed to, you know, they have to have the
contract. Um, so whether I don't know if uh our um assistant town manager wants to make any comment about where where would you memorialize that obligation and do you think putting it in the contract is the right place to do it? in
a month. We can conservatively do it, but it is a reasonable ask that our HR department and this is highly unusual because this the only thing we do that is outside of you know the town manager bas in our manager council form of government. So we want to navigate this
so we don't get surprised. Yeah. Well, I defer to the town attorney as to whether or not it belongs in the contract, but there could be opportunity as well for council to set a simple policy for contract management and evaluation. And I think to some degree,
uh, councelor Sunstrom did last meeting, we didn't maybe get precise about what date, but we said we wanted HR to give us a notification. Um Um, the town attorney had asked if it's appropriate to add that language to the contract.
I don't think it's a term uh for the contract. I think it's something that it's incumbent upon the town staff to prepare that item and notify council of it. Okay. So, can we agree? So, we'll agree then on that process more or less.
If I could get nods and then we'll just move that'll be the direction. I actually had it on my list. Yeah. The contract. Okay. Okay. That's all for that. On track. I just had one other comment I wanted to um run
by possibly extending it from a three three-year renewal to four years with the option of course as the town manager and I just think at this point in time particularly for the next
renewal four years might be more advantageous with a seasoned council. We do not know in 3 years the council and if if it all coincides at the same time, it's an unfair task to ask if in
fact it's a brand new council, which it possibly could be. So I'm recommending that we extend it to four years instead of three. Just a comment um and everybody can comment on that suggestion. You know, I
I mentioned this when we did the extension, you know, in three years coincides with three seats being up and I mentioned since I've have no intention of running again, I was worried about
there's enough time, you know, for the next council to react and was there enough notification. So, just even on that. So, I'm kind of I'm kind of inclined to be supportive of making it four years because uh uh for
that logistics, you know, new council comes in, the contract goes to May of, you know, that year, literally two months, they may not even know what what a contract is or what have you, you know? So, is there a consensus on that? I
agree. I asked about that privately as well, so I know it's on a lot of minds. It's kind of a heavy lift for new council. I I have one question just are you you good? Well, no. I just I was going down if you had a Go ahead. I'm okay with
that. That's fine. Okay. Just and uh in regards to the chart, it's helpful when when you're comparing uh you know other comps of other managers of different towns, the age of their contracts. Is it can we are we are we deciding anything tonight? Are we
just discussing? Well, I think we are if we can. We have a resolution and you know the contract expires before our next meeting. Right. Okay. So, we really would like to um and but I first wanted to make sure so we've covered I don't want to call it housekeeping because those are important items. We covered
everything but salary. You have anything else? Correct. It it was just the age of the No. Did you have anything else other than salary? No. Okay. So, now I'll let you kick off on it. It's just the age of the other contracts we're comparing to. I think that's a good suggestion to know. Yeah.
Um, and are they all three years or do we know and I don't want to get too in the weeds on this. So, but we did not collect that information. We could do that as a follow-up if council desires, but just want to clarify by age. Are you saying term length? Yeah.
Or or you know how like um like the town manager of Wellington is in his second year, third year or whatever. Just so we when you compare of their current contract, right? Yeah. Okay. Got it. Yeah. We can follow up with that. Thank you. But just with regard to that, I mean we ourselves have had contracts that had
automatic renewals and then when this first contract with the town manager uh Kitsro was developed um let's just say it came out with no renewal provision. So, it was three years, but I think it is more common
place to have a renewal that still is the prerogative of the but you know where it's not as heavy of a lift to uh and um and again I'll let Mr. Barrett weigh in on this but um you know I think there's provisions of notice and
whatever. Um so one can still provide notice um if one was if a council was inclined or the town manager was inclined to exit earlier that provision is covered in here but you know you were asking about
others I'm saying probably what we have is more standard that everybody has so therefore you know you have that provision that There was just an oversensitivity I believe on having a contract that had a
definite end. Right. I agree with that. I just I just But you wouldn't know. But most of those wouldn't have that in there. I wouldn't think. Right. Mr. Bear, do you want to comment about that at all on guidance? Just question. Well, there's a
notice provision in section one on 60 days written notice one party to the other. I wasn't questioning that. I was just it was just comparison other contracts how what stage you were in to to their term. That's all. I don't know. I don't know about other contracts.
Okay. I thought you were asking what is in a contract? Oh, no. No. I read the contract in their contract. No, in their contract. Oh, no. No. Okay. Okay. Any So, that's all you had on. So, you know, I went through this and our HR department gave us uh 11, you know, 12
municipalities including the towns. Um, and I think uniquely and then, you know, it had subsequently amended been amended to add additional information about um the number of employees and then the town
manager, city manager tenure in years. Um I I think what got filled in is the years with that government. Correct. So um I do I do think uniquely our town manager um you know if I'm the way I just tell
you how I evaluated this is you know he's he's really got much more leadership and what's important to us leadership in Palm Beach County local being in the town. So I I do think that we have a very um
long tenured leader even when he went to the school district you know for several years that was still relevant to knowing the landscape. I say this because having hired somebody that came in from outside the area you know that's you know it takes
it can take years to build the relationships to get things done. So I don't view him in comparing that the three years that are listed here, you know, let's say to Royal Palm Beach of 15, that there's a difference from actuality. So, and while
I appreciate this as an item, there's always other factors. And that's just my opinion. We all could differ on that opinion, but I just wanted to kind of share that. And I'm glad that got added. It does provide a perspective. I think that Mr. Kitser was
somewhat unique in the fact that you know he moved you know he was first police chief then he moved to the school district and you know and and took on expanded leadership roles which which is a benefit which is why when I looked at this I just kind of felt
um from a benchmarking he's not being comp compensated to the level um now that we he's been here for three years we've we haven't done this year's review But three of us on the dis have reviewed him twice and uh councelor four
before he left gave his kind of review on the dis um and my review of him although it's not complete because it's not due yet hasn't changed so again I came up with a number um it's for consideration but I
think somehow we have to coales about a number that a majority is comfortable with so I'll I'll let others speak if they wish. I I agree with your assessment of the you know his tenure is three years it's far beyond that you know he he was you know police chief for
many years left came back but you know he maintained all his contacts he he never really left so but he has such a familiar familiar familiarity with the town um and the operations so uh yeah we give him you know more uh leeway on the
uh just the three years of tenure so so I look at it as um I was looking you know at population budget um median mean um in terms of salary. Um I agree
completely that uh we should increase his base pay and really um look at this. Um I remember when we spoke about his compensation, it may have been last year, but there was the principal. So we have an executive, this is an executive
position, executive salary, but those are treated differently. And as part of that, you know, we gave a pretty healthy bonus last year because the focus was, you know, how do we structure compensation for an executive? And we
had spoken about the base pay um but also just performancebased pay in a bonus and that really speaks to the year that we went through the specific accomplishments of that year. And and we gave a really
significant bonus I think spoke volumes. And so I want to think about how we're going to structure compensation because if we do raise the base pay um I think you know for example if we go um to like a Wellington 261 but I also
want to notice that um or point out that a lot of these are going through their budgets this year right they're here now and they're going to be increasing this budget cycle. So these numbers are all going to be higher going forward. Um and
we're playing catchup. So, you know, my question is how do we structure it? Because I do, you know, I I think it would be appropriate to go for like a a 260, but even maybe even higher because
they would be going up um through their budget cycle. So like a 270 or 275. But then reserve look at the structure of it. so that you could provide a bonus that really speaks to the year and speaks to performance. We talked about wanting to
incentivize performance. So, I went into this looking at how do we want to structure this? What do we have to give um after that evaluation period June 1st and what's that going to look like down the line? Each year is going to be very different. Right now, we have a lot to
be grateful for with our town manager. we couldn't do fire without him and it's in his court now and he's executing beautifully and that should be rewarded in my opinion. Um but fire will be done one day and what will be the next challenge and how do we honor each year?
So that's just how I looked at it. I think I mean I think looking at this when you get over 300 you're getting to Boca Raton you know with a,700 plus employees. Um town of Palm Beach is obviously an outlier. its budget is more
than twice ours. Um, and so, you know, I just I think I want to keep it somewhat in line with like a Wellington. Um, maybe higher again because they're going into their budget process. So, I'd be comfortable with more than that. um and
then looking at providing the rest via a bonus um based on the evaluation so that that means something in that process um is discussed going forward. So that was just my thoughts um for everyone just I'll just kind of follow that and then
go down the DAS here. No, I appreciate that uh thought. Um, again, you know, my basis for having I recommended just for the record for the public a $300,000 salary. What I viewed is number one is
we're making an adjustment this close to his review. He's not going to get another adjustment this year. I'm just saying and when I'm coming up with a number is I view like here it is we're renewing a contract you know in
May middle of May and uh you know and the contract language now if you read it what it says you know it it it's up to us when you would renew. So in my mind, even though we're not at the performance
review, I was ready to take into that into account. So um number one is we'd be adjusting if we weren't rebench we weren't rebaselining. We'd be giving him some base salary increase. You know, we start
with what we were, for example, what we generally give the general, you know, population, you know, employee population. Um, and then I also kind of thought that yes, so last year we gave a
pretty significant bonus and and I was advocating that and we all kind of agreed to that. I think that I was viewing it that um you know the bar has been raised and the
opportunity for bonus would go down with um a higher base salary. I'm just I'm preparing it so no one thought gee whatever we do you know I had no intention of coming back and redo
the review because I already know what it is for recommending you know unless that was the will of the council right I mean this is we're deciding this and up in the contract but it's kind of we did a base adjustment and then we're going to come back in a month from now and and
do another salary adjustment so I was just trying to do it all at one time in fact that was one of the things I pondered about before I got with the town attorney to advance this to come back on the agenda. So right or wrong, we don't have to agree. We have to
coalesce, you know, a majority. But that was my logic. Um and um I do believe that um that adjustment um but you know and I generally agree with what you know
council Sunstrom said to some degree is I don't never feel the need to compete with the extremes at the higher end um because we're not um but nonetheless you know there's uh four that make more
than the number I was proposing and they're likely to go up. In fact, you know, town of Palm Beach, the earlier version I had, it got adjusted. So, either it was a uh correction in the number or realize a town manager's uh
renewal just like ours may not be per the budget cycle. It could be from the contract. So, uh, it, so it appeared that the town of Palm Beach one went up, you know, a significant amount from the first issue
that we had on this. Um, and I'm assuming that, but I don't know if if uh um, Miss Moredo, do you know if that was the case? I believe any adjustments that were made
were just corrections of the data. Okay. I don't have a verification of when their contract is, but there was this pretty specific number before there's a pretty specific number now. So to the degree it was higher and I already had the perception that these things any month when a
contract, you know, date on performance is up is when they would probably be getting it. So uh any event um so I just certainly want to share uh for specifically for councelor Sunstrom my intention was not to come back in a
month and be doing it and also my intention is somewhat as I reflect some of what we gave in the bonus last year we could have done in a salary because you know I think the performance is there it's been there for three years you know um I'm confident of that and the
challenges we have are not going to end with, you know, the startup of the fire department. Um, and our we have a town manager that, uh, takes on any challenge we give us and is delivering results. So I'll move on down to DAS on comments or
if you have a feeling about a salary level, please speak up as we Yeah, I agree with your methodology about um just upping it right now and forgoing a bonus down the road. It's cleaner, right? And then um I'd be open
to the fouryear, you know, instead of the three to the four year extension. I also look at it as, you know, we're um I've been through the town manager recruiting a few times. Um it's not easy. It's difficult finding a a competent manager. There's some
good you you go with the head hunters. You get a lot of it just there's a lot of re retreads with a lot of people out there. They bounce around. They get hired fired sort of like baseball managers. And I look at our town manager where the point in his career he's proven to be extremely talented.
Um, and I I look at it as we want to keep him and make it worth his while wealth to stay here. Not to simplify it too much, but I look at all these numbers. They're close, but they're all going to go up. I don't know the age. We don't know the age of the contracts, so I don't want to be negotiating against an expiring contract in that regard. So,
um, I' I'd be I'd be comfortable around the 300 range. And, um, and also open to looking at the four-year. And are you saying like like in baseball they call like a player's option for the last last or council's option or the or the um
manager's option for the last year of the contract? I don't know how we we report that. Well, it would be in the contract. So if if we put that in there, everything we put in there is subject to him signing it and accepting it. Of course. Right. Yeah. Okay. So, um I just look at it as we have a a proven leader.
Uh very competent, takes on all the tasks, gets them done. Um he makes I probably makes appropriate changes with staff and just you know tweaks the organization. Um I'd be comfortable with that. So it's
uh you know it's a sizable jump but again you know these everything else we're looking at is going to go up also. So, it's it's very competitive and to find an individual that is capable as uh Mr. Kitra was, it's um it's not um it
might be fairly unusual to have somebody like that. So, I'd be I'd be comfortable around that 300 range per year. So, I know with at least three of us, he does have a track record of performance. Now, a number of years we've provided evaluations. And speaking to the construction or the structure of the
compensation, then we are we are renewing this contract once. we're not doing it again for the next couple years. So, it would be just a one-time compensation bump after this awkward year where we have both a contract and bump. But are you saying then that the um the bonus would play a much smaller
role in it? Me or just generally I would think the bonus our discretion depending on what the circumst circumstances with the town were uh the workload and what was achieved or what wasn't achieved. So I think we could do the salary, you know,
the salary and then would there be a built-in like two and a half% increase or anything like that? Well, let's read what the compensation section says. Section 44A subject to any adjust this is the new language. Subject to any adjustment approved by the council, the
base salary of the town manager for the term agreement shall be, you know, and that's what's before us, blank peranom. Um but certainly so I've indicated no intention to make
an adjustment this time but I would expect a year from now when we're doing the performance review that we're going to have that discussion that discussion like any other time is going to be subject and you know to a majority of
the council right um and I guess uh I seems like the vice mayor said the same thing that I did that I'd be uh I'm making an adjustment realizing that the bonus piece may will be small likely
smaller but still every year it's a subject to what happens in that year right you never know I mean fires here who knows what comes after so so that's important to flag then because section four of the previous contract did say the initial base salary of in section A or section 4
A it said the initial base salary Sal of the manager shall be the amount peranom 225. So the new language says subject to any adjustment approved by the council. So there is that regular adjustment and that is a change in this contract compared to the previous ones. It's good
to state for the benefit of the public and those following. So yeah. So understood. Okay. The other one had more the earlier one had more specifics about you know saw adjustments and whatever but
that's pretty specific. It's up which it always is. Um let me move down the line to councelor uh Joy. Yeah, to me it's all in the structure. The number that we end up with is
probably a mood issue at this point. I think looking at what's in front of our town manager right now. And again, being new, I don't know when you gave a bonus in the past. Was that bonus considered part of
the overall picture of what the end result on the salary would be or was that just an arbitrarily here's a bonus for your performance last year bonuses? We might have done one the year before. So we've only done it in the history
that I'm aware of twice. Yeah, but it was done as a cons, you know, it turned out it was a consensus, but that's a joint decision. when we get done reviewing a year of achievements, we decide, you know, you know, there's all ways to look at the increase, whether it
goes into a a pension plan, is that important? Is it more important to have it in the monthly salary? Um, again, I think the number is it's not going to be a huge difference wherever we end up. I think the fact that what's in front of
our town manager right now to accomplish in the next two years is beyond any performance dollar we can hand to him. his experience that he's brought in again for being new and looking at it from the outside in. He's brought
multiple multiple professional backgrounds that has lent itself to being able to navigate and negotiate with so many leaders in the county. Um, and we still have more in front of us.
We understand that. Um, so from my perspective, I just look at that as an HR duty. Which way do you want to put it? Put it in the salary? Do you want to put it in more bonuses? Whatever the body looks at. Well, number
one, again, I'm doing I'm kind of directing you because my colleagues, two other colleagues have been there, done this. when we did the bonus, which we've only done twice, so whole time it both uh so the three of us have that
experience, but we were very specific. It doesn't go to the base. Okay. At the time, so it's over and above. Yeah. So, we made an adjustment in base and then we made it we made a one-time bonus. Now I'm reflecting
particularly what I'm seeing you know the other you know benchmark comparing it and I'm I'm inclined to move in retrospect I probably should have if I had to benchmark information I I probably would have uh been pushing for
more of a base salary in addition and lesser of especially last year last year but we didn't yeah yeah we didn't have this information and now when we had a contract the point is is We're going with an amendment and every contract has a
starting point. It could have stayed, but I thought it was kind of awkward to the original starting point. And so in doing a renewal, it just seemed to make sense. Remember, I was empowered by motion to at least bring something back. And I'm just explaining it is, you know,
how I thought it was appropriate based on, you know, the benchmarking. So, um, seems like, um, we can begin to bring this in. Um, did I mean, I would come up I I just have a
hard time with 300 only because the only four would be higher and they're all very very large um or have really are outliers in some way. I think um, you know, I I do think these will go
up. So, you know, if we did 275 or or 280, um, you're still above everyone else. And I don't know how much more they're going to go up, but I couldn't imagine it would be so dramatic, you know, that we wouldn't still be above a
significant number. So, and it is subject to annual adjustment. So, we could adjust. It's hard to adjust down, right? But you can adjust up. But this is the annual adjustment. So take for example Green Acres as an example. If
that one if that city manager is due for an annual rate and if an annual was you know just as an example 4% um it's a sizable increase and I also again we're going to just have to bring
this in but I look at these municipalities and put all the other side of stuff aside. I feel we're blessed with the town manager leadership we have. So I mind in my mind I'd put him up there against anybody here. Now he's
not we're not going to compensate him like the gardens does. But I think we got we got a town manager who's as good as the city manager is to the gardens in my opinion. I'm in the same train of thought. I mean, we we we can compare to all the other salaries, but I'm looking at Jupiter and I'm kind of Jupiter
centric and uh he he's performed so well and even even at the end of the day when when they renew their contracts, if if ours is still higher, good for him because I I don't I don't know all the workload they've been handling the last few years, but I know what he's done. So, I'm I'm willing and I want I want to
retain his services for as long as he wants to stay here, you know, within the three or four years. So, I I look at it as, you know, we're paying for talent. Uh it's not an easy search out there to get these folks in here to do what, you know, you'd be hard for us to find someone to do what Frank's done over the
last three years. So, um I I'm I'm I would really like to go with three and uh just keep it keep it simple and then um work on the length, I guess. So, I do want to reach consensus because we do have four and I do want to resolve this tonight. I don't want to continue it or
go forward. So, um, if we have two that are strongly in favor of that, then I mean, we are all looking at the same numbers. It's just how they're structured. If there is a provision in section 4 that does say subject to adjustment, which is a change, um, that
makes me more comfortable. What's difficult with this um, analysis that was given, the city budgets don't correlate with salaries. So, I think we need to independently look at what we have here in Jupiter.
um and make our decision based on that. And by the way, when you look at that, I some of these I didn't believe personally just looking at them because you look at and how could that be? But like West Palm, first of all, they got a strong mayor and a city administrator,
two different positions. These are not apples to apples. And that includes their CRA, which is a massive spending machine, you know. So it's it's different. Um I'm really surprised. So I'm I'm suspecting
somebody's included pretty intensive capital spending. It has to be you know it can't be um which you know ours got changed because we got the water utility that got added you know the first turn of this which I think everybody got. This
is a revision. So, we know what ours is, but some of the other ones um you know, it's uh you do they have a utility? If they have a utility, then they're going to have a higher number.
Now, Lake Worth Beach has an electric utility, you know, so that's why, you know, I can kind of somewhat see why some of these are higher, but but again, um then I'm getting off into stuff that really isn't as relevant
anyway. I just just a general perspective. I'd say our town manager has as much work challenges and is delivering as more achievements than any of these are in my opinion. So,
uh, Council Troy, did you want to weigh in to bring this in here your comfort or not? I'm sorry. No, I I just wanted to vice mayor was indicated he was comfortable with the 300. Are you
comfortable with that? I think we we should get to the point and just call this and see where we can get with it. Yeah, you're comfortable. Okay. Can uh to the degree uh councelor Sunstrom, you had words. You want to make the motion?
Would you mind to make sure your words or put them out there that we have? Oh, hold on. makes the motion to amend the I'm not adding my my which words no you were I thought you were asking for words to be
added earlier I had but we had said that that can be done outside both of them are outside okay well mine was the performance evaluation both of them can be done outside okay are we agreed on the term four years I think there was a consensus
four years okay change of term so motion to approve the sec this draft second amendment of the town manager's agreement uh with one change well with the 300 um as the base salary in this year and to extend
the term by a year to make it four years. Okay. So the the motion has to be to approve the resolution 6425 with the changes
noted. That's in the package. We had the resolution 6425, right? 6425. So, it wasn't on the agenda, but it's in the package. So, that that authorizes the mayor to execute the contract. Perfect. So, motion to approve resolution
6425 as amended. uh with the amendments to the amendments with the amendments to the con to the agreement to the agreement which as I understand it is a four-year
term. Um so it really only affects section one although I will say in section 14 uh that second sentence needs to be stricken because it's uh
oh yeah unless you want to I agree established performance. So, okay. So, motion to approve resolution 6425 with the amendment um to the contract of 300,000 base
salary striking the second sentence of section 14 and extending the term to four years. Okay, I have a motion. I have a second. Second. Motion and second. All in favor by by saying I. I motion
carries unanimously. Moving on to reports. Town attorney. Thank you, mayor. Uh, my report in large part is dedicated to Laura.
Um, I have had the pleasure of sitting next to her on the first and third Tuesday night for a number of years now. And
um you know it's I've told my wife, you know, I I get to spend the first and third Tuesday night with a very accomplished young woman sitting next to me every night.
And uh I hope you I hope you're not jealous about that. But Laura has for me been such a great resource. Uh there's a unique relationship that exists between town attorney and town
clerk and we town attorneys tend to be needy people. Uh we need documents and the clerk controls the documents and when we need those documents we often need them quickly
because something's happening quickly. And Laura's never let me down. She's always been there. She's always delivered. The uh the other unique
relationship that exists is that there are a lot of and increasingly over the years public records requests. These public request records requests are very have become very
challenging. And again, um, if we were in school and I was grading the clerk, she would get an A for outstanding work. And how she manages those requests and how she works with my office to make
sure that we are providing the public records that a requesttor is entitled to and nothing less and nothing more. Finally, uh I want to congratulate you
because you're embarking on the most important job of your career and that is raising a family and you can never replace these years that you're going to have.
Um so congratulations. I know you will do that job as well as you've done this job. Thank you, uh, town manager. Um, but thank you, mayor. A couple of announcements. Uh, last week, our community relations team attended the Florida Municipal Communication
Association annual conference. Uh, and I'm proud to share that they didn't just attend. They actually, um, came home with some hardware. Uh first uh the communication plan developed for our centennial celebration was recognized as best in state in that category. So they
earned the FMCA's outstanding award for communications plan. Uh and this honor is really a testament to the team's creativity, strategy, and the thoughtful way they engaged our community in the whole process of celebrating our hundth. And that wasn't all. For the second year in a row, every single member of the
community relations team uh received the FMCA certificate of excellence for local government communicators, as did the department and the town as a whole uh which earned the uh one of 16 municipalities across the entire state to be awarded the municipal certificate
of excellence in communications. So that's a recognition of the team's outstanding work in setting a standard for public communication. So very proud of them. This past week, the town also completed um construction of two more of our pedestrian activated crosswalks. So, uh
those are located on Main Street between University Boulevard and Avenue A and on University Boulevard between uh our Pico Lane and Innovation Way. So, this brings our total completed to 11 and a 12th location on Longore Drive is planned u
for June. Um we actually have identified four additional sites to be proposed for sort of phase two of this project which will be coming to you in the form of our upcoming CIP. So we're excited to continue uh the development of those pedestrian activated crosswalks for safety purposes. I wanted to recognize
also a few employees who recently um celebrated some milestones with the town. Gary Schultz, our water plant operator, uh, celebrated 20 years of service to our community last week, and Sergeant Andrew Burrows of the Jupiter Police Department, celebrated 15 years of service a couple of weeks ago. Also,
yesterday, we uh bid a fond farewell to Drew Sharp, who retired from our police department after nearly 18 years. And so, we were um excited for his next chapter to begin. Um, playing off of our earlier Drop Savers contest, just wanted to let
everybody know that our annual drinking water quality report is now available online and is also um to be mailed out to our customers and residents. um proud to share that once again the report confirms that our drinking water is excellent and meets and or exceeds all
state and federal quality standards and that printed copies of the report are available um either through the May water bills or um you can also come to town hall of community center and pick one up. We encourage residents to take a look and see the results of all the hard work of the team in our water uh and our
utility team and bringing them the highest quality of water. We're also excited to announce that the new town green project located just outside here will officially open next Friday. So, when we uh attend our next meeting here, we'll be able to enter through either entrance in the lobby uh
and have a lot more parking options as well, which is exciting. And finally, I'd like to just highlight a couple of exciting events coming up over the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow, we're hosting a groundbreaking ceremony at Indian Creek Park for the playground. So, we hope to see everybody
here, everybody there to see the um renderings of the new designs and to officially kick off that construction project. Thankful for the incredible input we've received from the community on that. So, it should be a really fun event. And on Thursday, as part of our Jupiter U program, we'll be having the
state of the town event. We're actually holding it at the Maltz Theater this year. A little bit of a different venue for us. Um and we're excited about that. It's a great opportunity for residents to hear updates on key initiatives. Next Wednesday, we'll break ground on yet another playground, uh the
playground renovations at Maplewood Park. So, we're excited to get that going as well. I'll have a productive summer bringing new playgrounds to the community. And on Saturday, May 17th, as part of the centennial celebration, we're hosting an Arbor Day celebration right here on the municipal campus
beginning at 1 PM. As part of the event, our planning and zoning team with students from Jupiter High School's Environmental Research and Field Studies Academy will distribute live oak seedlings grown from the Cabbat oak in Sawfish Bay Park. And for those of you that don't know, the Cabbat oak is a
very old and historic tree that's been a part of our community for many, many years. So, all of its seedlings will now be available for people to grow um all around the town. So, we hope to see you at one or more of these events as we continue to invest in our parks. And in closing, I
just wanted to say a thank you to Laura as well. It's been a pleasure working with her for almost a decade here at the town. Appreciate your friendship, your professionalism, and have enjoyed being your colleague for a decade. Hard to believe, but thank you.
Um, mayor, I would like to say a few words whenever is deemed appropriate, but I do just want to say that it has been a privilege to work um and serve the town throughout my roles working up the town clerk. This community has
welcomed me and provided me an incredible incredible opportunity of growth and for that I'm very thankful. I want to thank all of councils and staff that I've had the pleasure of working alongside, including your guidance and vision have
been inspiring. I've learned so much from each of you. Your dedication, hard work, and collaboration have been what made this town so special, and I value the friendships that I have made. I especially want to take thank my
team, Stephanie, Karen, and Maya, for all their hard work. camaraderie and for always rising to the occasion. I've been so fortunate to work with them and I've had a blast doing it. And then finally, I'd like to thank my
family for their unwavering love and support. They have always been my constant source of strength and encouragement throughout this journey. Thank you guys so much. session. Laura, we are going to miss you so much.
I think um I always I liked how council member four left and kind of spoke to each of us and I just wanted to speak to the fact that I so appreciate your infinite patience with all of us. I mean I can't imagine I yes public records
requests are going up but I mean with at 21 you became in 2021 you became the head clerk. So, I remember a couple of elections. I've been through a couple with you now, and they weren't just your average elections. They were pretty preheated. So, you've really um been
very busy, but you've done it with such grace and professionalism, as our assistant town manager said, and just again infinite patience. And I have to say, I quietly um appreciate just when we get up and say the prayer and say the
moment of silence. I think that's really a calming, grounding. there's something about your voice saying it. So, I just really appreciate that every meeting and it kind of settles me as I as I do my work and I'm so excited for your next chapter as a mom. Um, this was my first
job after stepping down to be a mom from my job and so you can absolutely come back whenever you want and um I know anyone would be happy to have you, but enjoy the time. You won't get it back. That's true. And you'll never regret it.
So congratulations and we'll miss you. Vice Mayor Laura, I've always during election process I've always marveled how you held all our hands with our finance reports and just in the past couple cycles the elections were just crazy and you really dealt with that
like a champ. I mean like I don't know how we're going to replace you. So when you told me you were leaving, I was kind of flabbergasted. But as Tom said, this is the best part of your career going and you know, raise your family and that's like you never get those years back. It's super important, but you'll always have a I'm sure there's always a
place here when you want to come back if you want to come back. So you may not want to. You might have too much fun. Anyway, thanks a lot. You helped me. You were always there whenever I need anything. So you're like a rock. So and you're a rock star. So thank you very much and good luck with everything. Thanks.
Thank you. I have to repeat what Tom said. When I made the decision to move forward with this election, I thought this is too overwhelming. And when I went into your office, and you literally held my hand through the process of
signing paperwork, going to the bank, coming back, and then starting it. I do not believe I could have made it through without your calm, collective, reassuring that I wasn't just this crazy
woman not comprehending. You made me feel like it was okay. This is a lot to absorb. Through these past five months, you have been amazing. You really and truly, you're wise beyond your years.
the amount of accreditations that you have earned so far is it's beyond what most women would do or men in that role. I congratulate you for that. But to repeat everybody, you're going into the
best chapter of your life. That calming voice will be what your daughter is going to hear every morning and every night. So enjoy it. You are going to be dearly missed. Um, and I'm privileged to have worked with you even for this short
period of time. Good luck. Thank you. Um, Ditto, even though I read some things, I want to just emphasize that u, you know, I've been here a long time. Um, but I certainly don't know everything. And I can tell you that
u, our town clerk has kept me straight. That is her job. Thank you very much. Including in the election, she gave every one of us. She could have been through it a number of times like I have, but she just gives the guidance
that we all need, the reminders. We're so grateful for that. Um, you know, you know, I'm glad that the town attorney brought this up because the amount of public records requests have skyrocketed and that's an
incredible amount of work has to be done very quickly. um you know by your sta you and your staff um and uh so I'm I'm grateful for your leadership your professionalism that staff you helped to
further develop that will still be here when you're not and you know for those that don't know I've had the pleasure of I have a daughter with two grand with uh two granddaughters that now lives four doors down from me have a two-year-old
and two plus week old and so from the time you know Laura came back from her maternity leave at the end of the meeting sometimes we would trade notes so I'm like six months ahead of her on the scale because I she's got an
18-month-old and you know we have a 24month-old who four doors down is at our house every day so uh I know you're making the right decision for your family But we really are going to miss
you and and thank you for doing better as a town for the time you were here and help, you know, to uh create the processes and and the leadership over your staff and whatever. So, I I'm
ever grateful for that. Thank you. Um just a couple other things. Um on the Cavidok, how many are available for distribution? Because that seemed like going to be a hot item. I don't know. I can follow up with you, mayor. Um, but I know it's quite a few.
Okay. Well, I'd be curious because oh my gosh, to get a a seedling from a 300 year old tree is really in in the uh 100y year anniversary. We probably we don't have enough, but uh I guess they could
continue to work on that. I'm told that appp propo of the whole event we're giving away a hundred. Okay, they're going to go quick. Uh but thank you um thank you for uh Jupiter, you know that it's those that group students to of doing that.
It's really special. And then you know the comment on community relations, you know, kudos for the recognition. Um that wasn't in report yet, right? You're going to put in a weekly report. No, not yet. It it would just h literally hot off the presses and no,
you know, that's incredible and you know to be number one in the state. I mean I know a couple years back we were we passport to Jupiter. That's incredible the number of you know local governments that exist. So that's a that's a testament. I mean in a way I'm
not surprised because we know the work that that group has done and um the how they uh are always trying to improve you know transparency and sharing with the public and that just um is is proof it's
even recognized at a state level. So not at all surprised but I don't want to miss the opportunity to let you know to celebrate that. um and you recognize it. So, I wasn't taking notes when you're saying it, but
perhaps you could follow up with me to make sure I understand. You know, how many It's pretty sounds pretty prestigious and welldeserved recognition. Well, do you know I think it maybe can be put into a more uh
noteworthy, you know, u bulletin that we really recognize how unique that is, right? governments that never get it can't get it with as many local governments as there are. So again, thank you to uh um
our department that does that. The entire staff, I mean, they're like um always working, engaged, energized to do their job. I'm thrilled. Thank you. And with that, the time is now 8:40. I I had one more thing to say. Go ahead. I I
want to jump on Mr. Poser's comment about the Sims House and their liquor license. So, um, you were here and we we got all that through. I think it was 2017. Pretty heavy lift, but we came up with a good template for adaptive reuse and it, um, took a property that was probably would have been purchased some
point and probably demolished and something else would be there, but a private individual came along, purchased it, renovated it, and made it into a successful restaurant. Um, but at this point in time, I I I've had some conversations with him over the years and he loses business because he he can't serve, you know, you know, the
full complement of liquor, you know, small wedding parties, events, things like that. So, and his customer base is, you know, it's a it's an overestablish over older established, you know, it's it's not like a nightclub type venue or anything like that. So, um I haven't
looked at the language of the um the code, like is he allowed to have that license, but I I was wondering if we could take a look at it and come up with some sort of um uh exception for not just his but other adapted, you know, reuse situations where if it's
applicable and appropriate, if we could get that done for him. Um I just think it's um because and I've I've I've been there several times. I know people to go there and it would be an added amenity for the people that that's that patronize the restaurant. So I I I would like to see um and my my colleagues have
any comments on it. Does anybody have Well, I'll just add that uh you know, I heard um there was an interest with that and at this moment in time, I'm educating myself with uh
what could be the I'll just say consequences. Consequences can be good and bad of that, right? Um so I I'm not yet ready to say, hey, let's move on that. because I I'm doing my due diligence by going back. I got a copy of
uh just got in fact just had it printed out to uh I got it from Stacy. Um so for councelor Chroy who doesn't have history with this. Why are they not allowed to have had a liquor license? Well, they didn't ask
for one. It wasn't in the agreement. So, So, it was not a moving forward. Yeah. And but there may be consequences of uh that could affect, you know, parking and other things. So, we have to just make sure that we are I'm just kind of throwing it out there. No, understand.
And um and so I'm just weighing in that I'm becoming informed about that. Um but I'm not ready to come out of this meeting saying that I'm lending support to it. I'm open to learn to see what the consequence would be because what's unique about that for councelor Troy is
that and again you know I'm forever indebted to uh Mr. Fredanza for doing what he did. That is an incredible venue and wouldn't be there that we wouldn't have had you know save that but for his
love and effort and significant financial so I could piggy back on that as a small business owner um if that would help and all of the components were in the right place I think it
behooves us to help a small business continue to thrive. I don't I think there's a consensus on that, but the consequences could be that was an adaptive reuse that maybe didn't we we made a lot of exceptions to begin with. I just want to understand that like with
parking um because it could increase, you know, the uh which is good for the business, but that's not it's not look where it's located. So, I would I'm doing due diligence and I'm just going to suggest that we all need to do that and then
then we can then we can talk about our feeling about it again if we can only talk about this, you know, on the record and so this is a good time. I agree. I'm doing due diligence. Um I learned about this a few days ago. Um and so I've
wanted to kind of understand the policy issues. And so one policy issue um is well one is you know do we want to be flexible for small businesses more flexible allow for more experimentation or whatever. It's something I think about. It's something I hear about from
other businesses. So I kind of look at trend lines across the town and this is something I've heard a lot about. Um another thing is adaptive reuse. Um, this ordinance didn't exist except for the fact that this individual and others
came together to really push the town to be flexible and create an adaptive reuse ordinance um that allowed for a historic home to be converted to not just a home, right, but to increase its intensity to become a restaurant or any other number
of businesses which is in the ordinance. Um, but that intensity is in a residential area. So typically restaurants are in commercial areas or commercial zones. So when you have single family homes all around you, it can be a different
um animal entirely. And um you know it's all over the country. So I'm I'm looking at all of those. Um this restaurant, the use is predominantly outdoors. It's not indoors. And so you have to look at the particulars of the use, the location,
the consequences, but then I just I'm very sensitive to um wanting to help small business and find flexibility where we can. So there the provision for adaptive reuse does specify it says only beer and wine for restaurants. So it
would be a code change. You'd have to change the code for all adaptive reuse. But there are only seven or eight, I think, or six to eight properties that would qualify for that. They're all, I think, mostly on Center Street. There were some meetings on this in 2017.
That's when the adaptive reuse ordinance came forward in October of 2017. And then that property and its use were approved in 2018, October 2018. So going back and looking at that history, there were meetings with residents in that
neighborhood with concerns and trying to address them. So just wanting to make sure that one adaptive reuse is successful in the town because we want everyone to look at that and want more of it and want that to be successful and we want small business to thrive. So
those are kind of my like operating principles, but I'm just looking at what we can do and how we can do it as a small government. Being here during that whole process, I think we were all sort of concerned. We were happy it was going on and you know,
saving the house and all that, but we were I was a little concerned how was this going to be received over time in the neighborhood with the neighbors. Yeah. Um there were a couple little uh things here and there, but they went away and but then and since then it's been very well received. So, it's it's sort of it's part it's part of the
fabric of the neighborhood and it's become very very popular, you know, especially with some of the state older stakeholders of the town and just locals and it's just so I think it's a good time to kind of revisit it and just take a look at it with fresh eyes. Yeah, that's all we hear is that um you know I
I've only I came on the scene later so I only hear great things about it and I only think great things about it but I agree it um it's going to require a bit of um research in terms of policy and there's a lot to understand that I'm still researching. Yeah.
And um again, not to be redundant, but but to emphasize, so when it did come through, we all had quite a bit of anxiety about you always are when you're changing something for the president. And I've said this to Mr. Fedanza since,
you know, in hindsight, he was just so he's been so incredible with what he did, um that, you know, in hindsight, I should have come aboard a lot quicker than I did. That having said, we just have to make
sure that another change doesn't now push it to where, you know, um, and so I'm I'm going through, like I said, I just got, you know, the staff report and package what we had approved to begin the process of refreshing
memory. That's why I happen to know what he asked for is what he got in the way of license. So, he would have to get an amendment. I know that's you know but then what are the consequences does that add you know parking requirements and whatever that's not any of ours forte
that's really staff right um but that's what was unique about that those type of use that type of adaptive use is it was already kind of known you're going to have parking issues and you when you do approve it
you under that set of circumstances you approve it but if you're going expand then it you know but again I'm not for I don't have any opinions I'm going to go down but I'm just not ready to underd I'm not either I just wanted no I understand but I just wanted to to the
degree people may listen to this after the fact right want to get this this right so y and then um I was going to adjourn but I just want to I'll say something very very brief here but you know interestingly when uh we had the
presentation earlier on agenda item five. Um, I had to bite my tongue not to say something uh because uh you know we heard enough from the public about some shortcomings in the code and and on
uh how they issued uh opinion letters that in my mind enabled the wrong actions to be taken. And so I just want to just share is you know I've I've gone down and I've asked some of us there had been some conversation about should we
have our own code of ethics or not and it'd be cleaner if that code was countywide. So I just wanted my colleagues to know that you know I did go down there and there was had some fruitful conversation after this past
election. Um and uh what they shared with me was right or wrong. What the code says is there's an exclusion for government. It does not recognize that that government can be a
contractor. So pointed right to what the issue has been is they're handcuffed staff by what the code says. So I've got to come up with some changes to that. That's wrong. We have a situation where someone's a contractor. So, um, and this
isn't towards any individual. This is more want to make sure the lesson learned. Is that at the state level? At the county level? No, that's the county level one. county level, but you know, if this was a private and she came here, I'd say, "Well, you know what? The perception in Jupiter is your part of
the county, you know, and she said she wasn't be and and I could get, but I just wanted to share I'm having some conversations to see if but it did create a little bit of understanding because I know we have one member of the audience still here and others came up and spoke how many times, right, about
that." Um, and at least I I at least got an explanation that well, I may not like it. I then understand it which means there's an opportunity to get it changed. There's an exclusion, you know, for government because it's viewed like that's just
normal. It's not. We have a contract. You're a contractor. It's different. But that's why I mean, use the example of, you know, the vice mayor's wife is a nurse for Jupiter Medical. He abstains himself all the time. My niece works for a contractor and I
abstain all the time. How that's even more. But he was given an opinion letter that says you don't have to worry about that because governments are okay, you know, but no, they're not when they're contractors. But that is not in the code right now.
So that would be the change that they have to make. I think it's a worthwhile effort, but if we can't make it, there is a rule that we are allowed to create our own code of ethics that's more stringent, can't be more relaxed, but we can be more stringent and there are municipalities out there that do it. So,
it is something to look at down the line, you know, if we have the interest um and it and it can be as long or as short, you know, as you want it to be. So, but opinion letters are enabling. Yes. So, that's why I think they need to correct your opinion letter. Uh but what
was explained to me was they wrote it based on the fact that anyway uh with that the time is now 9:00 p.m. and I'll adjourn the meeting.