e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e testing e [Music] testing testing one two 3 Justin e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening the time is now 6:30 p.m. and I'll call the order the town of juper community re Redevelopment agency meeting of April 2nd uh can we have a roll call please chair kety here Vice chair Delaney commissioner for commissioner May here commissioner sunstrom here executive director Kito here commission attorney be here okay um just try to move it along here since we have a council meeting in in a half an hour so do we have any citizen comments no mayor seeing none uh commission we have before us the minutes of the December 11th Redevelopment agency meeting if there's no Corrections I'll take a motion in a second to uh approve them motion to approve second Motion in second all in favor signify by saying I I motion carries unanimously moving on to the consent agenda this is items two and three on the agenda um do we have any members of the public wants to pull a consent agenda item no mayor anybody on the Das want to pull a consent agenda item seeing none um I'll take a motion in a second on approving CRA resolutions 124 and 1 and 224 motion to approve second Motion in second all in favor signify by saying I I hi I the motion carries 30 moving on to the regular agenda um this is public business item number four and Jupiter Dive Center um is there somebody from staff to make a presentation good evening uh for the record Thatcher Hart planning and zoning department uh the request before the CR tonight is to authorize the Jupiter Dive Center to submit a development application that would require Town Council approval uh that would utilize 24 daytime parking spaces within the C parking lot that is within the inlet Village pursuant to section 27266 within that first table a statement of authority is required for development applications with the town um and typically these are provided by private property owners um however because the C C owns the parking lot where the proposed 24 daytime parking spaces will be the applicant is requesting CRA Authority for that this request does not deal with any of the specifics with regard to site design rather just the permission required for the applicant to file an application with the town um that submitted application as previous stated will be required to go back through the typical review process and then appear before the Planning and Zoning commission for a recommendation and then before Town Council for approval or did not after an application has been submitted all aspects of The Proposal will be evaluated for consistency with the comprehensive plan Land Development regulations as well as the CRA plan be glad to take any questions any U member of the commission have any questions I have a couple questions uh the first question is uh I see it's 24 spaces what percentage of the spaces for any proposed projects is this town lot addressing is this 100% of the spaces for the site plan that will go before the council or um there are two parking spots within the love Street development for the uh parking slips or excuse me the boat slips within the uh Marina okay but other than that this is the remaining 22 okay um and the hours will not overlap with nighttime use so this is daytime use correct I see 6: a.m. to 4:30 p.m. okay and then the number of spaces I just um I'm not sure if you can answer but we had spoke about it briefly uh it said the crew members there 21 to 28 crew members um and there's one space per employee plus one per two seats so with 28 crew members are they all going to be will those all 28 employees be expected to be at that site and I understand that the site plan is a is a separate matter but I'm just trying to understand kind of the concept of of how this will be so maybe the applicant can speak to how many would be required how many will be on the boat itself is what we be thank you and thank you for coming thank you um council member um so Gerald carollyn the owner along my wife Lisa here of C Dive Center when we mentioned 28 um crew that involves the retail side as long as well as with the boat so overall we're currently employing 28 staff members um so each boat will have a crew of three um and those numbers are factored into the 24 parking spots per boat sorry 24 total which in essence is 12 and 12 per boat okay thank you [Music] yeah I don't have any questions any questions I had one question um so it said that you're losing your retail location where you relocating to we're relocating to the shops at can you come up to the mic please you can come to this one if you'd like so if all goes well um we're relocating to the shops of Jupiter okay and we're still waiting on a uh some legal issues with a lease but uh town is actually staff has been super helpful with getting us um with Town issues resolved so now we're just waiting on legal issues okay thank you y any other questions no questions thank you okay do we have any public comment no mayor okay um moving back to the commission um any comments or I'll take a motion in a second motion to approve second motion is second um all in favor signified by saying I I I motion carries unanimously um moving on to reports uh commission attorney no report executive director no report any member of the commission have comments just had a really good public CRA session here at the council chambers so I want to just thank um staff and thank Kim Delaney for coming out to help us from Regional planning and uh really good public session I see people here who attended that as well so good to see okay um with that the time is now 6:37 and we'll adjourn the meeting for the public Our Town council meeting starts at 700 pm. e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening the time is now 7 p.m. and I'll call the order the town council meeting of April 2nd 2024 uh we'll begin um with an invocation followed by a moment of silence and in the pledge those are able please join me in standing dear God enable us to add our skills and strength to all who serve for the common good of our community amen let's have a moment of silence pleas joining pledge flag may have a roll call please mayor kety here vice mayor Delaney here councelor for here councelor may here councelor sunstrom here Town manager Kito here Town attorney beard here okay we begin with public comments um citizen comments this is uh for non-agenda items and is limited to three minutes each anyone wishing to speak is asked to State his or her name an address for the record prior to addressing the Town Council and with that do we have uh public comments citizen comments yes first we have Penny Payne after Penny Payne is Carrie Flynn and both the podiums are usable good evening thank you mayor Town Council Mr attorney um we just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the art committee for allowing us the opportunity to uh choose and make recommendations for the art that you see out in the hallways and throughout the town hall here we certainly enjoyed it we enjoyed the process it would gave us a chance to bond with the staff and really understand your expectations hopefully we met them and exceeded them um we look forward to another opportunity very soon hoping for a round table to discuss the future and just wanted to say thanks thank you you exceeded our expectation Carrie Flynn after Carrie is Linda mcdermit good evening uhu my name is I'm short my name is Carrie Flynn I live at 298 Caravel Drive in Jupiter in the um neighborhood of martinque and I'm here because I'm very concerned with um the uh proposal to change the zoning in the downtown area of ab a COA the three green Spaces by the stadium okay right now like we I've lived there for three and a half years and you know I moved there because I love the neighborhood you can walk you can ride your bike um it's very friendly for family and Community it's a very mixed neighborhood as far as young and old old people like me but anyway I'm very very concerned because the traffic already has gotten bad enough where people cut are cutting through from Donald Ross down to Indian Creek zooming down the road and I know the police try to get there some but you know it's 20 mil an hour they're already going 30 um we had someone killed by the um and a bike accident last this past year I've already almost gotten run over twice even on the sidewalk and to increase the traffic I'm very very concerned about that also with the units the proposed units supposedly there's only going to be one parking space per unit and most people there they need at least two and then if they're going to have teenagers so I'm concerned about the parking because even right now when they have special events it's you can't find a parking spot um I'm also very concerned about the impact that'll have on the schools um you've got the um Middle School there you've got some elementary schools nearby and I just think it's going to impact the community way too much I think you should stick to the I think it's like 104 units that were originally uh zoned for but to put in four buildings five stories high with 300 and something units is just Way Beyond what we can handle in Abacoa so I do hope when this zoning and looking into changing it I hope you will support the community because the majority of us in all the neighborhoods are not in favor of this at all thank you for your time thank you Linda mcder after Linda it's Connor Wallace good evening Linda mcdermit 107 chadrick Drive I want there to be no mistake that I am here because I'm supporting Palm Beach County fire rescue I'm not wearing a t-shirt because I come straight from work as a government professional and subject manner expert so please take heed this is why I'm here I know you like to take note of what we do who has a sign who has a t-shirt so I know that you know that this is my fight uh please take note I'm here to tell you that the passion in this fight started with residents it wasn't the money from the iff and the pack they helped us residents after they saw the passion the will that the public wants we've never said that there's anything wrong with forming a fire department if it was needed what we did is we wanted to get together subject matter experts we wanted to to prove the budget which I have told you many have told you you did not provide sufficient budget the numbers that the company gave you were old numbers from before covid you've chosen not to take action to change finances to give us the truth and I'm here to tell you how disappointed I am on this matter I'm not saying that the Town Council has not made good decisions on other things please don't misinterpret that I don't like Council because I do I just don't like what's going on on this I want pal Beach County fire rescue it should not have taken lawsuits from anybody the Pat has passion they want my neighbor my relatives my business associates the nursing homes everybody who steps foot into Jupiter deserves good medical care and I believe pomes County fire rescue is worth paying you negotiated you led us to believe in July 2023 that you were going to sign an agreement that's when this fight started not over 10 meetings that you are saying to the public it wasn't it was after July when you decided not to have a second hearing to say yes and it wasn't until after that that my passion and my hair got redder and I don't like what the town is doing how dare you see to a resident don't misinterpret my anger thank you Connor Wallace after Connor is Lisa veland Conor Wallace 107 Janette Way Jupiter Florida so I have any notes I me to say so I apologize I'm a bit scatterbrain with this but um did see recently at the Town decided to uh post a recruiting video um find that a little concerning because that's due to be in 2025 if I recall looking at the chart that you guys provided so find that kind of concerning also based off the fact that we still don't know how much we're actually paying these employees and the fact that there's a mentioned floating day but it seems like you guys are scared to use Kelly day which is kind of an industry standard at this point so I really like to know kind of the facts and figures behind like how much we're actually paying these employees and if we're actually doing a Kelly day or not because that impacts the overall cost of the fire department greatly so if that could ever be supplied it'd be greatly appreciated I know we do leave our contact information on the comment cards but I don't think I've received a single email from the town on any follow up information about anything I've asked or any other citizens have asked about finances another point I know C made last meeting was about the finances for the fire department and the interest rates that they were regarded with um I know he calculated the interest rates to be less than 1% being 46% to be exact um I know the lowest interest rate he was able to find was 2. 67% which is based in Miami would also like to know the town's actual monetary figure with what they're going to get financing why is not an estimate because at this point the ball is rolling I like to know an actual figure not just a estimate and then lastly one other note I just wanted to touch on is um response times it seems like the town also still doesn't have a definitive location for all the stations um I feel like the station the west side of town has changed locations about three times it started off at the dog park then it was Indian Creek Park and then now I think it's I heard some rumor about it being uh negotiating a contract with lock statue River District it seems like we're kind of moving along but we still don't have the Baseline of where stations are going which is a very large impact in your Fire Rescue Services because it affects response times greatly and even depending on your station location what units you're able to even store there CU some spots are smaller you may not be able to have a ladder truck or depending on the size of your engine it's going to affect what trucks you actually order so a lot of unanswered questions unfortunately I'd like to get some feedback and what you guys have established or already know if you know something but haven't released it it'd be greatly appreciated thank you thank you Lisa Freeland then Cindy Luth good evening my name is Lisa Brean and I live in the Heights I'm not a firefighter I don't work for pom County fire rescue I'm not a member of the Union I'm not a paid volunteer nobody is forcing me to say anything I can think for myself I'm a concerned citizen about the actions of our local town government it's sad that I feel like I have to put a disclaimer up for my comments but since you feel the need to try and intimidate people with your interrogatories here we are the latest attack on residents now include what t-shirts we are wearing and where we get them from are you serious let me make myself absolutely clear here I will wear what I want when I want I've been a Jupiter resident longer than any of you for you to try to intimidate me and my fellow neighbors by asking who has Coalition shirts is an all-time low even for you but hey I guess it's okay if people wear your campaign shirts it's it's okay if it supports what you want in your latest reactionary email you apologize to residents on behalf of the pack for the apparent misinformation in the email know your place the only apology that should be issued is from the council to the residents for making decisions for us regarding our safety without our input or our consent you doing this for the park so why wasn't this done for a service that impacts everyone you also mention that the pack is taking out their anger on the residents you couldn't be more wrong but I guess you aren't listening when residents come up here time and time again telling you how angry we are with your forc decisions it's really sad that you are so blind to it again in your email you insult residents by stating people just blindly signed a petition not knowing what they were signing again do you really think that 5,000 plus people are that stupid and can't think for themselves the language was perfectly clear is it that hard to believe that there are more verified signatures on the petition than those who voted in 2022 you continue to miss the glaring point over and over and over again 5,000 people plus are against this except that people are educated except that people are angry except that many disagree with you stop the retaliation and do the right thing and stop spending our tax funds on a service we don't want or need thank you Cindy L after Cindy it's Christen Henry hi my name is Cindy Lo I'm Jupiter can you hear me okay yes Jupiter Farms resident um I wanted to talk about my arrest on May 24th but more about my personal experience and we're going to start when I'm in the back of a police car I was confused couldn't understand what was happening um I felt like I was in the middle of a um Twilight Zone episode being arrested by the Keystone police um when that gentleman said that he was arresting me for for fleing and looting I took a moment sat back and said someone needs to check on my daughter she had a stroke she's home alone there's chicken in the front seat seven times no one checked on my daughter my daughter had her fifth seizure um 3 weeks ago um and the time that I have been able to spend with her after that incident um I wasn't able to take care of her um I had been her sole support um I watched her learn all over again after having her stroke and at with when I was a I have a lot of police officers friends they don't like that I call it assault I feel like I was assaulted that night um and it affected me mentally physically spiritually and I don't want to see that happen to anyone ever again I'm not to be the sacrificial lamb as I've told that I am I would was for my daughter I made the decision to take a diversion plan so that I could pay for my daughter's medical expenses and little of paying for the actions or the inactions of the Jupiter Police Department as I said before had there been dash cams it would have reiterated that I did nothing wrong that night um I missed two weeks ago I went to go visit my daughter who lives in Washington state she's at the University of Washington she won a $180,000 scholarship as she was a Jupiter residence Jupiter High School it's like she is something to be proud of I have four children to be proud of um and you attacked a single mom and no one could tell me still what I should have done differently I recently yesterday closed my house sold my house cuz I don't feel safe in a town that was supposed to be the safest town in Palm Beach county in my opinion and I'm very saddened by the fact that no one has done anything to rectify a wrong thank you for your time thank you Kristen Henry [Music] good evening Council mayor Kristen Henry 109 myor away I am a proud keep Palm Beach County fire rescue t-shirt wearer I am a Jupiter resident and not a paid actress by the local 2928 to stand before you tonight I have attended and spoke at nearly a dozen Town Council meetings since getting wind of this change I have been here asking my local resident elected government among many others like me to afford US the right to put this Monumental multi-million dollar citizen affecting change to a vote but since Jupiter fire department is still pressing on I have some questions that I have chosen not to generalize but to respectfully direct them to random council members hoping for answers so councelor 4 You among others approve spending to purchase Vehicles due to time restrictions sighing we could always sell since then the town has approved approved adding three figure salaries approved site plan Architects among other expenses knowing there are pre-trial and trial dates set for June to August timeline what happens to the tax money spent the new hires and their families that may have left their old jobs if the judge sides in the other direction for the town manager or Finance director can you share with the public where the money we've already spent comes from in the budget speaking of fire engines and ambulances is my it is my understanding that there is a further delay in production counselor May since your colleagues should have been advising rather than pointing fingers at you at your knowledgeable expertise I wondering if you have happened to hear about these delays you might should light on if the vehicles are not ready for service by your presumed inaugural date vice mayor Delaney what does the town have planned if they are without their vehicles how will the employees train and be ready for the 9,7 calls Palm Beach County fire rescue responded to in Jupiter this past fiscal year which by the way is up 636 since the previous year and up 1,653 in the last four years while also decreasing response time so staff please update those numbers in your presentation councelor sunstrom with this rapid call increase why is this logical time why is this a logical time to break away from the Department that this year has brought a heartbeat back to 30 4.9% of the 43 cardiac arrests in Jupiter when the state average is just 23.3% all for the sake of local control starting from scratch and moving backwards in offered services to presumably save a little money only to rely on maybe leasing land and mutual aid from other departments anyway lastly mayor kety why is this avoidable Witch Hunt come so eagerly for blood from the only support that will give the opposing residents a fighting chance to be heard it feels like a distraction to sway others into thinking that the people like myself a non-union resident do not actually exist it is in hopes that they will forget our council is denying the residents the right to vote to allow for complete transparency maybe the town's email headline should have read implementation of Jupiter fire rescue pushes on despite outside money influence and every resident that has been silenced voicing opposition thank you thank you that was it that's it okay um moving on to the minutes uh Council we have before us the the uh meeting minutes from March 19th with some revisions on the Das uh if there's any no other revisions I'll take a motion in a second to adopt the approve the amended minutes so moved second Motion in second all in favor signify by saying I I I motion carries unanimously moving on to the consent agenda this is items uh 2 through 9 on the agenda is there any members of the public wishing to pull a consent agenda item no mayor any member of the on any member on the Das here want to pull a consent agenda item no seeing none I'll take a motion in a second on uh the consent agenda motion to approve consent agenda second Motion in a second um all in favor signify by saying I I I motion carries unanimously okay U moving on to the regular agenda um this is uh item number 10 approving the 2024 appointments to the towns board and committees and countywide organizations are there any citizen comments no ma'am okay um [Music] we're going through the uh list of committees um first one is the art committee we have uh uh two vacant members and three vacant alternate members in uh consistent with past practice the art committee has provided us with recommendations uh to fill the regular member vacancies in the alternate member vacancies I would uh take a motion in the second unless there's some changes so moved second Motion in the second all in favor signify by saying I I I motion carries unanimously moving on to the audit committee um we have uh one vacant Committee Member uh consistent with past practices we do have a recommendation uh from our finance department um Finance director um if we have agreement on that recommendation I'll take a motion in a second so move second discussion discussion um I just I have a problem with appointing a former CFO of the town and also on a personal note for me someone who recently filed a state ethics complaint against me sitting on the audit committee for the town of Jupiter so I'll be opposing this okay um there's a motion in a second all in favor signify by saying I I I I opposed no motion carries 4 to one with the councelor May dissenting okay moving on to the beach committee um we have uh appointments to be made uh for an at large member and two alternate members and I believe um oh do we have any uh oh staff staff recommended appoint reappointing the current members who wish to be reappointed didn't have any recommendations for new appointments yeah it seemed like all just signed up it again okay motion to approve second motion and second all in favor signify by saying I I I I motion carries unanimously moving put on the construction board um it's being a unique board that has to have certain uh specific qualifications not sure what decade they last met in um so we generally go with the uh recommendations of our building official um if we're in agreement with those recommendations I'll take a motion in a second second motion second and this is just them wanting reappointment again so yeah Motion in second all in favor signify by saying I I I motion carries unanimously okay the environmental uh task force we have uh two vacant task members and one vacant alternate member I think uh first of all um both uh the vice mayor and Council of four have vacancies uh is there any appointments you wish to make tonight um there were two I mean nobody reached out to me does staff have any recommendations on this know there hasn't been any request for staff to be engaged in making recommendations okay so let's see I was looking at is anybody any of the applicants here I always appreciate they're here to show some interest but I guess not um it was it was down to two I was I'm going to go with Elizabeth Summers I'm sorry who is that Elizabeth Summers if she's still interested okay El four um I have no I have one member um of the applicants that had applied um and that that's uh Jill Watson but we also have an alternate to uh the fill as well no uh they all look like strong candidates to me I mean what's that they all look like strong candidates to me so I'm open don't have a strong preference um Council for do you wish to uh you can continue to decide about uh who you want to appoint or hold okay not had anybody approach me okay so um vice mayor has appointed Elizabeth summer and U I believe there is potentially a consensus to uh appoint Jill Watson on for the alternate term can I take a have a motion in a second on that so move second motion a second all in favor signify by saying I I motion carries unanimously moving on to the historic Resource Board we do have a uh staff recommendation um in the package that all existing qualified members be reappointed and I think we had uh you know four members that had U indicated an interest for reappointment so um I think we have one vacancy they're recommending that they hold the vacancy until a later date this the um the requirements for hrb are very stringent um in terms of background needed um typically they need a degree or professional experience in archaeology so that can be hard to find so they were recommending hold it and until potentially someone comes forward with that expertise and we also need to stay in compliance with the recommendations correct to be what is it a certified um local government so yeah I guess we could take action just moving up uh the second alternate to first because that would be normally our practice anyway want to get a motion for that okay I agree so moved second Motion in second all in favor signify by saying I I I motion carries unanimously moving on to Planning and Zoning um Council May has a vacancy um you know as well as each one of us if we want to continue appointing who we currently have I believe all have expressed an interest in uh reappointment and we have uh you know one vacancy to fill I would recommend be Beth Kelo for that vacancy I agree with that recommendation I agree I agree I agree but I do have a change for um for my pick I chose Dr Michael cassatly the ass he's been a um Jupiter resident for 30 years now at a maxal facial practice in town for 20 plus years somebody I've personally known for a long time good good citizen great b&z okay um and I guess councelor mayor are you going to hold up or yeah I'm going to select uh Karen [Music] Vincent okay uh I'll take a motion in a second on those uh appointments move second Motion in a second all in favor signify by saying I I I motion carries unanimously okay moving on to uh countywide organizations we have um well one uh you know the first we have the lock Sai River Management Council uh coordinate management coordinating Council where councelor Schneider had been uh the uh representative with Vice mayor Delaney being the alternate um transportation planning agency I'm the appointee with vice mayor Delaney being the alternate League of cities was a rotation of member council members School Board District Layon was councelor sunstrom with councelor may as an alternate the bioscience land protection Advisory board has been uh terminated um so that's no longer one to act on and then the issues Forum which is quarterly um that's one that I have uh have covered uh is there anybody that uh well one we would need to take action on the locky River Management coordinating Council and ask if anybody was interested in changing from I'm interested in just staying on that taking that spot you want to take the main spot yeah okay I've I've attended the last two so I attended the last two okay because I think they still have me as the person so oh which L River M yeah oh so okay if you it's fine if you wanted I just I just been doing it so I don't I don't mind keeping doing it if you want to keep it keep it instead of councelor Schneider I'll just go and so I've been at the last two that's fine yeah I I didn't know anybody was going yeah I don't know if it was because I was on it the year before and then when she resigned if it kicked back to me but they've had I've been getting the emails and going to the meeting I didn't hear that so okay I I don't know if anybody was attending or not yeah I've been so that's fine okay so that I guess that would be you want to continue as the alternate on that sure any other changes no okay um okay that uh that completes the appointments um moving on oh now on to the selection of the Jupiter vice mayor I'd like to motion for councelor sunstrom for vice mayor I second that motion a second U all in favor signify by saying I I I motion carries unanimously okay uh moving on to reports Town attorney uh just to note that the uh mediation continues in the uh SP environmental lands uh discussion brought by the um Moda llc's and um it's been a slow process but uh some progress has been made and uh we continue to study some proposals that may resolve it anything else uh Town manager thank you mayor just a couple of things for us um The Parks and Recreation facili master plan survey opened yesterday April 1st survey allows residents to provide input about current Parks and Recreation facilities and to make suggestions about the future of our Park facilities survey is going to be open through April 30th and remarkably in the first day we have already received more than 400 responses so that that's a pretty significant amount uh a link to the survey can be found on the town's homepage at www. jupiter.fl us under news and trending topics um Jupiter U kicks off tomorrow and uh this year's um we'll be doing the welcome session at the community center tomorrow morning from 10: a.m. until noon um councelor May is going to be there in the morning um and we invite any other council members who may want to attend you're welcome to attend as well this year's session has eight tours scheduled between now and May 1st um you should have all received email uh about earlier today with the schedule of Tours if any of you would like to join any of the tours please let Stacy or Shan know uh and they will set that up for you uh the veteran bricks program the second round of orders for the veteran PR bricks program closed on Sunday the bricks order this time will be installed on Memorial Day May 27th we will re we will reopen orders in May for those that wish to still purchase a brick and then finally the next openhouse event for connect with council is scheduled for next week we're going to have nine departments including jfrd HR engineering pnz business Community layers on PD Finance utilities and Parks and Recreation will be taken uh part in this event the Bureau of Land Management will also be there to talk about J and the Jupiter Branch Library will be on hand obviously we invite everyone to come out and interact with the Town Council and town staff uh at this informal event uh focused on connecting our residents in the town that's my report mayor thank you um Council four um I was asked a specific question during public comments and I think I'd like to respond to that um Christine asked a very pertinent question I did approve the vehicle expenditure um with the understanding that we could eventually sell that vehicle if this didn't work and now we've gone ahead and approved other expenditures as well that I have agreed with um one point that she brought up is what are we going to do with these firefighters that choose a career with us and then we have to shut this down because it didn't work um I think we're going into this um fairly good faith with anybody we're offering a job to that they understand what's going on we're not um hiding it from any perspective uh job applicants so I think there's going to be the knowledge that they're taking forward that there would be that risk um I'd hate to see somebody that would had accepted a position and then have that position pulled away but that is a risk and I don't see how we can get around that um the other expenditures that I've been approving are those that we had to do at this point to be ready to take over this service when it happens um there's no bifurcating this and we can say well I'm not going to approve any of these budgets because I don't go along with how we're doing this this is occurring this is happening so we have to make certain expenditures at this point so we're ready when this transition happens and if it doesn't happen it will be a terrible loss of money that anything we've lost our money on but I can't uh responsibly not approve budget expenses now for something that needs needs to take place so we have a fire department if and when the Jupiter fire department comes to fruition so that's my my um justification for that it's not particularly palatable but I think it's something I needed to do I I believe we have to fund as though we are going to be doing this or are we going to be caught unprepared and that's the last thing I want everybody in the audience and everybody in the town to know we are doing everything we can do to make sure we have excellent service when we take this over um I have nothing bad to say about palach County Fire Department not at all I've known several firefighters nothing wrong with the existing service this is strictly a contract issue and in no way do I want any of our actions to decrease the quality of our service um I don't believe just by by virtue of us doing this we're going to necessarily be worse off I think we could produce a very high quality award-winning service here just like we did with the police department and we've heard a couple of sessions ago from Chief England where we've achieved a remarkable rating for such a small city and police force uh we're we're in a very exclusive Club exclusivity for quality so I'd like to see and hope that that will transfer over into our fire department and I have every belief we will produce a worldclass fire department and I believe all of us are going to do everything we can possibly do to ensure that but I just want to respond to that one comment also I wanted to apologize to each one of you as well as the public for me missing the last Town council meeting I'm going to go ahead and disclose a health problem I was in the hospital I have a deep vein thrombosis in my left leg and I almost came my wife had to restrain me to keep me from coming I wanted to come so badly but I apologize for that and just want to let everybody know um if you've got a pain in the back of your knee if you've been traveling a lot if you've been flying or driving long distances you find a pain in the back of your knee go get it checked out it's an ultrasound not unlike what you would have during a pregnancy to look at new uh your your baby to be so it's an easy painless process go to it thank you counc yeah uh two things um regarding um the um I think it was Miss Flynn's comment about the potential proposed development of the apartments on out in downtown Abacoa I I I read things on uh social media and I get emails and people discuss it as uh open space or Green Space it's not it's um that's private owned land by um the randina family I forget the name of their company but um you know we've dealt with that property over the years about four or five years ago that got approved become the cineol which is a bowling alley you know family activity Venture and and that um never came to fruition and you know under the the master plan of the Abacoa drri which means uh development with regional implications that land was I believe was zoned as uh mixed used commercial so it's not Town sanctioned open space or Green Space just you know I I think people misinterpret that as you know they're taken away our you know open environmental areas and they're not we haven't seen that application it may or may not come forward I have no idea what we looked at it months ago and it got sent back so I have no idea what's coming up next so but anyway I just want people to think that green space is being um diluted from our inventory of uh environmental space and secondly uh the question from I believe it was uh Miss Henry about the fire trucks delivery dates um I know we already own the chassis for the ambulances and the boxes will be made uh probably in the coming months and as far as I've heard everything's on schedule Town manager is if I am I mistaken on that we've not been notified of any um delay or changes in the schedule okay and so I'm very confident everything will be delivered um before you know the October 1 kickoff of 26 thank you coun may no comment vice mayor that's a strange sound um get used to it I um I also just want to answer some of the public comment uh I've made it a tradition to kind of answer public comment uh and Council comment at the end of the meeting so for those of you who might be new if you do give public comment we don't answer when they're given but we do answer or we try to answer to the best of our ability um at the end of the meeting or we ask staff to follow up with residents so uh I've done that for the last several meetings and I'll do it again um I do want to say I did see the pack the union back Pack's email that went out um and you know I I wasn't aware uh specifically of what was happening with litigation so that was kind of the first sense I had I had seen what was filed um but what that led to was my actually speaking with um our town attorney and just asking for an update on what was happening um and asking for some of the documents that were requested and going forward so these interrogatories are questions the town is asking questions of of the pack um interrogation interrogatories questions um so he I asked for the documents I read the documents and I found one in particular that I think will help answer a number of questions it certainly answered some of mine um but you know I wondered because it was tied to litigation I just want to ask our town attorney um are we allowed to read anything that um is involved in this is this privilege confidential is this can can we share can I share a document that you shared with me or the attorney is shared none of the documents that have been produced are uh privileged Communications any privileged communication would not be produced and in fact there have been a number of communications that the pack is withholding because they believe they're attorney client privileged um the records that have been produced including those that um you requested are public records they're filed in the court with the court and um they're available for inspection like any other document that's in a court file okay so these are public records um so you know I received a number of documents I went through them and I found one as I said that I think will answer qu questions but potentially pose others so this is an email sent from Richard on Thursday August 24th 2023 at 5:23 p.m. Richard is um someone that works for a political consultant um and it was sent to president at iaff2928 so i228 would be the union so president at29 28.com and the subject is Jupiter project and I'll just read a little bit into the record right now um productive meeting today here are our takeaways immediate action items number one cam to lead the public facing opposition effort initial launch of the September 5th council meeting PC which would be public Concepts to assist developing messages and Target lists for email and text Outreach number two Jeff discussing with attorney petition language and deadlines set up conference call to include PC public Concepts to discuss strategy and details item three plan town hall meeting for September date and location TBD and then next um PC to develop comm's strategy and petition launch rollout and then PC to draft survey for fielding in September identify members in Jupiter who can do community outreach Outreach and so on and so forth for this this the consulting fee would be 5,000 a month so that email is a public record and I do recommend that residents look at it because what this this was shocking to me and I don't know if anyone else has seen it I've requested it you know at the prompting of the email that came out and asked for information on what was going on with litigation I received many many emails full of documents I read them and I found this and what it shows clearly in addition to the nearly $215,000 that the union has given to the pack which when you spend $215,000 in our community and you tell people that they're going to close stations or fire firefighters or fire people yes you might get signatures to compare the $215,000 that was spent some of us in our elections like our mayor if I remember his filings spent something like $8,000 so there is a big difference in terms of the money that went out into mailers into people at various locations telling people that stations would be closed we have emails to the town saying as much to us so I you know this to me um was pretty upsetting and surprising to read um and it and it answers some questions but it asks others and I have questions I think the council has questions I think residents have questions and it's you know it's time to answer those too and one might be you know what is the breadth and depth of coordination that took place based on this email what is the breadth and depth of coordination and when you say that you're going to have Target lists for email and text to Jupiter residents what are your criteria for targeting Jupiter residents when the town sends an email you can sign up for an email from the town you can sign up on our list and with regards to fire rescue we have a dedicated fire rescue page every email we send is then posted to that website I get some emails from the pack I don't get others I don't think I've ever gotten a text message who is being targeted and whe what are the criteria for that targeting so we now have the financial report from January showing the $215,000 I look at this email it's very upsetting and I have questions and I think a lot of other people do too so I just want to leave it at that I can answer the first statement that you made if you want just so it's on record um I was asked for that to lead the public opposition effort or whatever it was and I actually declined to do so so that was communication between them they came to me and asked me to do that I said I'm not going to and as you can see I haven't been the face of a public opposition e effort I've just been doing my duties as a council member um and then just so everyone is aware I'll just make it known right now I think I've told a few of you I have stepped down for my position within the union so I'm no longer the legis going to be the legislative vice president of the Union my turn term ends June 1st but I haven't really been participating in in many things so just so that answers your question as to my involvement like that was sent because that that's what they were coordinating I declined to do any of those things so just to answer that first question for you okay um you know I myself was curious um who was behind it and certainly public Concepts happens to have a uh history um that affects me since there was they had coordinated it or appeared to coordinate over half a million dollars in the last election that I participated in so uh it really is troublesome to realize that when as was stated you know typically I spent you know singled digigit thousands in an election in the last election I was faced with over a half a million dollars in dark money that we never could figure out where it was coming from other than public Concepts was involved and um I'm just so troubled also by the the propaganda that they've spread and misinformation is really Troublesome to me um but and with that um I don't have any more comments but uh uh time is now 7:52 and we'll adjourn [Music] meeting