##VIDEO ID:ceS4BfpjFGc## e e e e e e e test test e e e e e hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello you did you T that's why is that doing that oh wait a minute wait a minute what that's his this is his off testing interesting yeah too  wait which which one is he using I don't think he's using this one right I don't know that position I think uses that one right I don't know why my face up I think this one needs to be like that hello hello hello testing testing yeah okay they're all good did you mute this one uhuh I didn't do anything don't M hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello man how are you just killing me hello hello oh man oh leave me alone okay you already checked the timer you didn't put a feed up there yet I know youed Swag now a part of that's up there video got I just talk on here if call is regarding a live meeting being directed by swag press two if you need technical support for your back testing testing I need the check the um the hearing hello hey how you doing this is Edwin Tana Jupiter we just want to we can we can do a test for our council meeting tonight okay cool let me pull you guys up real quick right testing testing testing testing the uh the testing testing the heing par are out there now you know that right okay got you guys up I'm ready when you were testing testing can you hear me can you hear me yep yep I can hear you okay and we got video everything good okay and what what is your name my name's Nathan Nathan thank you Nathan appreciate it no problem have a good day you too bye bye go huh oh you got it's got to have the you got to have the earpiece on it yeah when you turn it on then you got to it's got to be facing one of the see one of the two it on hello hello testing testing all right hi Laura hey how are you hi Laura hello oh you sounded like Dory like you know like when she does her whale yeah yeah that's what it said oh look I didn't even touch anything in the world oh there it goes again all I did was put the proclamation down it doesn't have anything one did earlier so I turned that one off because that you know they don't use that one when that one was on it it was doing that it was doing that but hello hello hello testing testing it's okay when so when I put it on I didn't touch it I didn't even turn it on well that's not good because I have to sit up here not good at all call Daniel can I upload something real quick yeah yeah so which is the one do you know this one here do you know which one he uses which microphone he uses this one right yeah maybe it's me that's yeah did anybody touch I did anybody what somebody mess with the phone uh I mean the volum the volumes did anybody raise these volumes up it does sound louder normally that'll happen if you raise the volume it does sound louder Yep they're not always that up I don't yeah I don't know where they normally are but I know that they're not always up I think they're normally halfway yeah push them up Carl told me he never touch them so I do not I just touch that green button look look look at those no these are the second one look somebody look at somebody push these all the way up yeah cuz they're normally not this loud no is way too loud I don't know tou hello hello is it m it is I don't think it's mute hello adjust all of these this one was gun I think I'm on second yeah hello hello hello hello there we go that's right yeah hello yeah okay so it looks like it's about third of the way up hello hello hello hello hello hello hello you can hear over there okay hello okay that one sounds good hello hello can you hear that one is it mut no now it is now it's not hello hello hell you can hear me capping it but it's not as loud as hold on I had turned that one back up hello oh there we go hello this one's louder hello that one's good hello and hello that one sounds good let me do this one down here hello hello testing testing testing his sounds good it's a little low yeah yeah maybe a little hello oh that a little low Ed speaking that one testing testing test it's low good you think so I think that one sounds okay I got it I got it three away oh you do hello testing testing it's I think it's kind of low I got to put my mouth right up to the microphone so pick it up try again testing testing testing testing just a little down now maybe testing testing testing testing testing fine okay if I turn more than I mean you got to put test test test does that sound okay test test test next to the microphone test test test oh test test test talk talk talk talk that sounds good yeah I mean you got to get really close yeah when it's when it's lower so yeah what's it's those are um let me see which one numbers are speaking they use these microphones too me or him yeah speaking hello testing testing testing testing yeah yeah that one's good this one okay hold on they're muted somebody somebody mess with this geez testing testing testing that's good now testing no is it muted oh testing testing there that's good good to go oh man you leave those muted U yeah they should be right yeah yeah we don't really use those too much yeah all right well it sounds better we haven't got any feedback since we did that so oh that's scary I was like oh my gosh like oh no I know this is why we hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello this doesn't sound good hello hello oh no hello hello we try to is there like a is there something that we should be doing instead of cuz we send a ticket in every time I need to see yeah yeah ticket today yeah I think we got a ticket today no we send a ticket a week beforehand we send it oh when we send when we do the agenda we send it in and so that's probably down in there right right so that's why when when we see that ticket it's got to be in the new system it's got to be assigned to somebody I bet just not assigned to to somebody particular that's why yeah is that something on our end do we no no it's on our end when we the ticket comes in now with the new system yeah cuz before it used to happen it'd be assigned to like five people and five people would like all think they took care of it they have to do it so now now it goes to one person so rea's going to be yeah so yeah we make sure she assigns it to one person if she's going to do it herself then sign it for herself that's yeah it's it's yeah it looks good um me check it yeah we need to check can you speak into this one this this one doesn't sound right to me hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello doesn't sound right hello hello hello allerg is going to kill me yep timer is good okay so oh how about the back here I got to check if you have any issues you can see I got them all up to about 3/4 yeah um yeah they're all okay cuz there was there was a couple that were like I mean they had them all the way completely all the way that's why I don't know who did that but I should have never touch I think who would be in the who was in here last in here last the only one playing and Zoning uses it but you should they should everybody's been instructed to do that but never touched them oh yeah we we have check all right I'm going to put them on mute is that is that okay hello hello hello hello oh Daniel you are hello hello hello huh thing we didn't say remind you you're on YouTube right now that's okay problem we haven't said anything I think we fixed it somebody turned over so we had almost all of them were turned up all the way to the top we just adjusted all of them back to somebody turned all them all the way up to the top where we think it's reasonable all right they're they're looking a little low but yeah this one here I think is a little low this one here can you look you're doing testing hello hello hello hello see Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello yeah that's good you're good you're good Charlie hello hello hello hello hello hello hello test test test test I almost did the Preamble so I'm glad I didn't do it on YouTube live yeah also the funny thing is um the system is the one is more sensitive than the speakers will let you to hear so there was one picking up like Swag yeah that one that one didn't testing testing testing so actually you can see so you can see as my voice is modulating it's bumping doing so they're hearing that they're hearing that on swag that's why yeah that that's why 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 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 see e good evening for sure the time is now 6:30 p.m. and I'll call to order the c community redevelopment agency meeting of Tuesday February 4th um may we have a roll call please chair kratky here Vice chair thunstrom here commissioner Delaney commissioner for here commissioner May here executive director Kito here commission attorney be here uh citizen comments do we have any citizen comments no mayor seeing none moving on to minutes uh we have before us the minutes of the December 3rd CRA meeting if there's no uh Corrections I'd ask for a motion uh to approve so moved second motion is second um all in favor signify by saying I I motion carries unanimously moving on to the consent agenda um does any member of the public or the Das want wish to pull a consent agenda item no mayor no being none I just wanted to show off the new hat that we got it's awesome so very nice um clearly a fishing hat I'll I'll take a motion in a second on the consent agenda so moved second Motion in a second all in favor signify by saying I I I motion carries unanimously moving on to reports commission attorney none executive uh director no report any commissioner comments none no seeing none the time is now 6:32 and we'll adjourn the meeting wow is that the record minutes is that the record yeah 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 7 p.m. and I'll call the order of the Town council meeting of February 4th uh begin with a roll call please or no we begin with uh the invocation followed by a Moment of bance and in the Pledge of Allegiance if all those that are able please join me in standing dear God please guide our deliberations and decisions tonight with Justice unity and peace amen amen let's have a moment of silence please join me in the pledge pledge Ali to the of the United States of America the repic it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all may we have a roll call please mayor kety here vice mayor sunstrom here councelor Delany here councelor for here councelor may here Town manager kit here Town attorney be here okay we begin tonight begin tonight with a presentation uh providing an update on the Jupiter fire rescue Department ask our chief to come up and give us the update so good evening mayor Town Council appreciate the opportunity to provide a little update on Jupiter PR rescue tonight um so we're going to if I can get this there we go so uh next year feels really good to say that next year Jupiter fire rescue Will begin providing fire service and EMF service here in the town and we made significant progress in a whole number of areas including community outreach uh Personnel apparatus and Equipment stations operational items and uh also in terms of our budget progression um and so I'm going to run through most of those things tonight and Scott's going to talk about the finance details so um terms of community outreach so I've been invited to speak at a number of uh neighborhood associations HOA meetings and other uh community group Gatherings as well as uh to a number of uh business Community venues some of our local schools and and some local events and uh you know at those uh opportunities we've kind of shared what we're doing and why we're doing it and we've really received just incredibly great feedback lots and lots of support um you know listen nobody is asking why they get that um you know they don't want to pay $60 million a year for what should cost 25 million uh we're beyond the why and we're into the operational phase that's happening next year and the questions I get are really focusing on some specifics of how and so I'm just going to cover a few of the questions that I've been asked and and I can share some of those responses um you know the the one I get asked a lot is you know can the town attract and retain firefighters and um and I can tell you absolutely that's the case I think uh last week I don't know if the numbers changed because it seems to be changing daily last week we had 158 people who have gone to our HR department to say hey I'm interested in working at Jupiter Fire Rescue and we haven't even started advertising for those positions and won't until the first quarter of of next year and so there's tremendous interest in our organization a lot of that interest stems from the great people that we've already hired on our on our executive team right and so those folks have an incredible network of people who really look up to and admire them and um and they're interested to come work with them so that's been a great thing uh some people have said uh you know look you're not going to be able to keep people Jupiter the folks are going to come and they're going to leave so listen the track record for the town of Jupiter says just the opposite and I'm not going to get these numbers exact I probably should have been a little smarter to get the exact number but I think the numbers like somewhere around a hundred of the town's employees right now in Jupiter have 20 years or more of service a 100 of the town's employees have 20 years or more of service uh Jupiter has a tremendous track record of retaining employees of attracting and retaining employees because they give them a great environment to work in in a great Community they support them they take good care of them and they feel valued and and all of that that happens right now in Jupiter is going to happen with your Jupiter fire rescue family as well uh another question I get is uh what is the estimated cost of the fire stations right and so the original estimates for fire stations were around 43 million that's what your consultant said before I came along the projection was 43 million for fire stations I can tell you right now the current estimates are that the council has approved up to $20 million to build the fire stations and we're pretty comfortable that it's going to be less than that number so um another question uh what is Jupiter fire rescue going to do about Special Operations or what are they going to do about Hazmat I hear that question a lot and there seems to be a lot of mistruths that get circulated around on that uh venue of Truth they call Facebook uh so listen uh who who in here pays for their garbage bill right because if you pay for your garbage bill you're paying for regional hazardous materials response whether you're in Jupiter whether you're in taquesta whether you're in Palm Beach Gardens right um so Palm Beach County has an incredibly incredibly great system where they use Solid Waste Authority fees to fund a regional hazardous materials response system and so there are four teams Del re Beach and Boer rone combined two municipalities combined to form a team uh palmach county has another team that's down off the Lakeworth Road area I believe it is uh West Palm Beach City of West Palm Beach has a team and Palm Beach County has a team in the North End as well and one of those four teams is going to respond to your hazardous materials or uh technical operation emergency because you're paying for them you're paying for them through your Solid Waste fees uh the folks in Palm Beach Gardens uh they don't have a special ops truck sitting in their fire station but they get the service because their residents pay for it and the same is going to be true of Jupiter they're going to get that service because they're already paying for it another question that I get a lot is uh what is J putter fire rescue going to do about jet skis or are you going to have jet skis the the the current provider has jet skis and so the response is listen right now the answer is no we don't have a plan today to to put jet skis out there whether we do in the future or not I'm I'm not sure about that right but uh today we don't because our plan today is that we are partnering and working closely with the Jupiter police department and we've been talking about I've been talking about this with uh the PD staff and their Command Staff since shortly after I got here hey we're going to team up together we're going to put a firefighter paramedic on the police boat that's out there all the time roving around and so you don't have to say hey let's go deploy it it's going to be there we're going to be there partnering with them to provide that service um jointly with the Police Department Public Safety Under One Roof and um and we have some plans to outfit that boat with some specialized equipment to also do some other services as well again it's just been this great partnership and this uh just malstrom of ideas that we're developing right of how can we work better together and create synergies um one of the other questions I get is what is Jupiter fire rescue going to do about training you don't have a training facility Well quite for quite uh fortunately I it wasn't too long ago the Town Council approved an agreement with Palm Beach Gardens fire rescue for joint training and they just had their training facility approved by the state and so they have a state approved training facility we plan on doing lots of training at their training facility jointly with them with other folks there's other fire departments that train at their facility as well and so we plan on working very closely with them on on those training opportunities and we've also had some conversations with uh pommy State College who has a training facility about how can we make take advantage of that and uh Martin County has just built a training facility and we've had some initial conversations with them about the possibility of doing some training up there as well uh and then the last question again uh it comes from that source of Truth Facebook I believe is uh you know what what is it about this $80 million bond that uh Jupiter is going to be issuing and I'm like sorry I can't answer that because I have no clue what you're talking about uh that was the last question I got I'm like I don't know where that's coming from uh you know and Scott is going to talk to you more about finances but you know currently there's no plan that I'm aware of for the fire rescue Department to to issue an $80 million Bond or a $60 million Bond or any other Bond that's not currently in today's plan um and so U you know again just a few of the crazy questions that I've been asked uh most folks are like saying hey you know we're really looking forward to you starting service and we really appreciate all the work that you've been doing in the community so far um and we are looking forward to that and we appreciate the opportunity to serve the community so um next I want to uh cover a little bit about Personnel so we have our executive team uh largely in place and you know again as I told you these te team members are nationally known they're held in incredibly high regard across the fire service uh and right now we're in the process of hiring a training Chief um and so we're going to get this person on board so they can begin to put our training and onboarding plan on for our future firefighters who will be hiring uh We've contracted with a medical director Dr Michael Ferraro who works at Jupiter Medical Center and and along with him we've been meeting with the team at Jupiter Medical Center on how we can partner and collaborate with Jupiter Medical Center in the best interest of the community uh in terms of apparatus and Equipment um as you're aware you purchased uh made a purchase of all the apparatus that we're going to need for fire rescue back in 2023 and uh there was an expected delivery date of uh the middle of 2026 for all of that uh we have great news our ambulances now are going to come 6 months earlier than the prom estate uh we expect to have them delivered in December of this year um and and right now we're in the process of uh ordering identifying and specifying all the equipment we're going to need for our fire apparatus and our fire stations uh so fire stations right and so great progress there um at the Pet Place fire station the underground parking structure totally been removed sight's been filled compacted uh they're working on um a retaining wall portion so that they can allow that uh river walk to go through along that site and uh we're anticipating to do a groundbreaking at that site on February 21st at 10: a.m. uh we really look forward to attending that uh at our squez Park Fire Station site uh landscape work has begun so at that at that site before we began anything at that site uh we met with the local residents there along Carver Avenue right and uh they all expressed a lot of concerns and so we got a lot of feedback from them a lot of ideas and really they wanted to know Hey listen if you're going to do this how can you enhance our community right and so they wanted two things they wanted the landscape work to be you know really uh topnotch so that the community benefited from it and they really the big thing is they wanted us to preserve an access road through squez Park so important for them to be able to get eastbound by using that access road to the park um and so those are the two things that are going to happen first those were promises made and promises that will be kept uh the groundbreaking ceremony is anticipated to be February 20th at that site and again we hope to see at that that groundbreaking ceremony and then the Abacoa park or Abacoa fire station let have a meeting planned uh this month uh to discuss a transition plan with the executive team out at Palm Beach County fire rescue and I'll give you an update on that once that meeting's occurred uh and then some operational items so uh one of the things you have to to do to be a fire department is you have to get the state to bless you or to give you uh it's not a license they call it an fdid or a fire department identification number uh we went through that process uh it's a pretty extensive process uh tremendous amount of information that has to be provided they come down spend a couple days here checking every single thing that you do and how you do it and uh and so we successfully gotten through that process and been issued our fdid we are a fire rescue Department in the state of Florida we've passed a mutual Aid agreement with Palm Beach Gardens through uh the council a training agreement with Palm Beach Gardens radio communications agreement with Palm Beach County fire rescue or the or Palm Beach County and uh we have a vehicle maintenance agreement in place with tonate and we've actually completed our application it's been submitted it's under review right now for our certificate of public convenience and necessity with Palm Beach County um so on the horizon uh we'll be uh applying for our state EMS license and then right after that'll be working on the adoption of a fire code for the town of Jupiter so that's kind of the fire side of this and now I'm going to turn over to Scott Reynolds who's our Director of Finance and he's going to go into some details about the finance portions thank you darl uh good evening mayor council Scott Reynolds the finance director for the town um I will tell you you know the the implementation of the fire department as some of as darl started going through a lot of his slides it's it's a very large task and also the town is very fortunate that we're in a great financial position to be able to do the implementation of the fire department uh and not take out a lot of debt service we've talked about that uh throughout the the planning stages we're now about a year and a half into the uh implementation of the fire department uh but I will start out with uh back in August AUST of uh 2023 uh if you remember right our consultant came and gave an update to the council in which you all decided to move forward uh at that time we were estimating an approximately $58 million startup uh for Capital and Station construction uh also with a uh first year of operating rolling forward uh forward looking into FY 27 of $25 million uh I'll talk about that a little bit as we go through the slides but uh the first year of operating in fy4 uh it was $1.4 Million uh with a vast majority of that cost uh as Daryl just indicated for the purchase of the fire apparatus and the ambulances uh that was 9.2 of that that also included some uh uh loose equipment uh also for the uh ambul ambulances uh as well and uh that was to be funded if you remember right when we talked about the implementation of the overall fire department it was always going to be funded through the use of our healthy Reserve balance uh some sir tax money uh and then we were going to borrow some uh some funds uh and uh that would be uh decided as we as we went into the into the implementation stage but this first year uh was going to be the $1.4 million what I will tell you uh we uh took advantage of of the market uh meaning that we were able to do uh take the the town's cash uh in accumul some interest earnings that was able to actually replenish uh the town's Reserve at year end uh to uh $54 million now that $54 million that we currently have in reserves at year end uh that's for any kind of audit adjustments but uh we were actually able to replenish that $ 11.4 million uh and also uh we feel very comfortable going forward into fy2 I'll just jump forward to fy2 because that was part of the budgetary process uh that we were also as a $2.6 million for the operating we assumed some portion of debt Service uh which I'm going to talk about in relation to the stations but that again that's going to be funded through our our interest earnings uh we're taking the town's money the taxpayers money and earning interest on that to help pay for the fire department going forward so we've been very fortunate at this point in time that that really the the citizens as far as their tax dollars really haven't laid out anything uh because it's been through interest earnings that we've been able to pay for those first year startups the next thing is the the funding of the fire stations as darl indicated to you that initial estimate uh for the fire station included some land because at the point if you remember right the consultant uh had already indicated that the probably the best service areas was squez park or the squez station as well as P at place but we didn't know for sure until we actually did all the analysis so there was some Assumption of land purchase uh in with the stations but as it turns out those are the two best areas uh for the stations to be constructed uh so that's that's going to save uh on the overall implementation cost but in order to to fund this uh uh additional $20 million uh for the construction of the stations is what we've came up with as an estimate we're going to use a short-term borrowing mechanism if you remember right back in August we came before the council and got the council to approve a commercial paper issuance uh it's short-term borrowing uh at a lower interest rate instead of us just going out and borrowing $20 million uh right at the beginning uh it's like a uh uh uh we can pull on a I'm sorry it's like a line of credit we can actually pull on it as we need it uh and because right now we're in the development stage of the budget budgets uh for the fire station we still very feel very confident uh that we'll be $20 million or under for the actual Station construction uh I will point out uh that we uh are anticipating a $700,000 savings at the end of life when we actually go out into the market and have the uh Banks competing for the town's business uh to either do a bond issue or a bank loan uh for that final balance uh but at that point uh we feel very confident that we will will uh have options for the council if they want to buy down that $20 million with cash uh they can do that or set the terms uh based on what the uh what the uh competing banks will uh uh uh make an offer on but uh we do feel that there'll be a approximately $700,000 savings by the use of the commercial paper op option that's primarily due to uh savings for interest uh I did look at that today to see where we were at know when we gave this presentation back in August uh we were looking at uh an interest rate for the commercial paper at 3.77% uh today it's at 3 uh2 uh that was as of December end of December uh we do know that there's been a pause uh at the FED level on the reduction of the interest rates or the prime rates uh but we do feel that going forward uh working with our financial advisor that throughout the rest of the year there will be uh some further reductions and meet our Target so we're still feeling very confident with that one thing I will tell you about the Station construction uh you know that we've brought before the Town Council already uh uh uh two phases of of the initiation of of the construction One Was the removal of the underground structure at Patt uh and because we're doing all of that we're also preparing for what the council has requested for a p place Park so at the same time we're removing the underground structure we're paying for a portion of that the CRA is also paying for a portion and we're starting to prepare for the river walk as well there's a a wall going in uh that the council approved at uh one of the last Council meetings uh and also some backfill and site prep uh that's occurring and then over on squez we're putting in a road that was requested by the citizens that's over and above uh the station requirements so uh there's some things that we're doing for the citizens as well but going into year two 2025 $2.9 million uh 2.6 for operating and $350,000 we're assuming that uh we will start making some draws on the commercial paper issuance so there will be some uh uh debt service costs this coming year uh we are again we're planning to pay for that through the interest earnings year three into 2026 we're going to start working on that this summer through the budgetary process uh Daryl uh and and I uh along with the HR will be working on the uh the um the Cadence for the hiring Cadence and also setting of the salaries for the people that we're going to be hiring and how many we're going to be hiring uh going into FY 2526 so throughout the summer uh we're going to be firming up the budget for uh 2026 uh we are anticipating that that is going to be a heavy year for uh the expense for the town uh because of the hiring of the Personnel uh the purchasing of the uh remaining equipment uh but uh right now the the town is in a great position Reserve wise we have uh again $54 million we don't expect that we're going to spend that by year end uh in fact we're hoping to actually add to that uh to be able to uh purchase whatever we need going into FY 26 and then again I want to remind everybody the first year of operation uh in FY 27 uh we still feel that we're going to be on target uh for $25 million uh part of that $25 million consists of uh $1.8 million in debt service cost again like I indicated earlier when we come to the end of construction uh we will uh ask the banks to compete for our business for a longer Term Loan uh at that point uh the council can buy down uh that amount of debt and and we can set our terms and that's right now we're basing that uh $1.8 million on a 15year term and I know the council has indicated they'd like like to see that to be last so we'll have those discussions at that time and with that I'll turn it back to darl uh for key takeaways so a bit long tonight appreciate your time um look next year Jupiter fire rescue department will begin providing service to Residents and businesses and visitors in the town of Jupiter uh implementation is on time and on budget and Jupiter fire rescue Will Set The Benchmark for excellence uh day one so if you have any questions be happy to take them um actually I want to ask uh Scott a couple just quickly and you said this but I just want to confirm um but so uh in fiscal year 27 the projected budget is 25 million what was that uh what what did we originally expect for 27 that that was the anticipated million heard last night somebody saying they thought it was 20 million so they thought it was going up I just wanted to hear on the record it hasn't gone up no sir in fact we're we're highly anticipating uh meeting the $25 million Mark okay um impact fees um I know right now the count is sweeping I and I know last year we collected $400,000 correct and now those got swept but when we do start our own Department effective you know 1012 6 and impact fees Ur then to the town uh do we have to set rules on how we can use them or is there rules already set for that and Mr bar could probably answer that but yes there there are restrictions it's those are restricted funds uh in in relation to any collection of impact fees there's a number of actual studies I'm glad you brought that up to uh one of the things I wanted to hit on was there's a number of studies that are going to be happening throughout the summer and going into next year uh one of them will be exactly that we have to do an impact uh fee analysis and study if the council wish to do impact fees also for ambulatory fees also uh any kind of fee collection for uh plan review uh so there's those type of fees that we'll that we'll have to do a study and bring back before the council to set those fees going forward along with the uh non- avalor assessment uh review as well and you know I ask that CU it's such a shame because we're getting impa we're having impacts and there being the costs that we're collecting or being swept for outside of Jupiter so I'm certainly anxious when they start crewing the town right and then we can use them for the improvements we're doing right now uh anyway thank you yes currently the the if you're you're referring to the County's collection uh that is not part of our Uh current contract uh to utilize those funds for here in Jupiter yep okay um thank you um I just want to make a couple comments and I'll turn it to my colleagues but really probably should address it first to our town manager phenomenal job um you know you took on this task um to deliver a uh outstanding fire rescue Department by 10126 and I'm extremely confident incredible staff hires that we've got the leadership team is just incredible the progress this uh update was thorough it is what we needed thank you very much including providing answers to those questions that you're hearing you know as you go around very helpful thank you uh maybe we ought to do it on some kind of cadence to remember I don't know why people are saying we haven't been transparent I think that's I think I don't know any local government has been more transparent than we have so uh these kind of presentations are helpful to uh you know dispel that uh that false claim if you will so thank you very much outstanding both you and to uh Mr Reynolds and any other comments on the Das yes I do um first of all can you hear me how about now great job great job executing this great job leading us to where we are now and when I see these dates October 1st 2026 it's going to be honest very quickly outstanding uh when this all started when I first got involved there were three main areas of concern one was the cost of the stations what we were suggesting was being described as ludicrous that how do we know it's going to be that that cheap you're doing it for half of what we were talking about doing it it's outstanding the the second biggest complaint was equipment we've we crazy out of whack with our estimates for equipment 6 months early under budget outstanding the third was service are we going to be able to provide the service and that Still Remains the one unknown but I don't really think it is um you've described now before we've even put it out for um uh solicitations that we've got 100 applications how many positions are we trying to fill ultimately uh so that number will be determined by you as you do the budget and so uh I'm I'm going to leave it at that you know ultimately we have to create a budget for the upcoming fiscal years and you guys will make those decisions then uh you so it may be a little fluid depending on what deci what would you just a rough estimate to staff the the department uh give or take a 100 right so we've already gotten applications to cover the 100 that we're anticipating yeah I I'll tell you 158 people last week were on a list uh interested in working here right and whether we'd hire them all or not I can't tell you that I can just tell you that the interest has been high and uh we haven't advertised yet we haven't marketed this yet well I can just say from an employer standpoint having 50% more people already applying for the job than I'm going to need allows me to pick the best so I think you've created an atmosphere where we're going to be able to really pick and choose really good people and I have every faith in your ability to pull that off thank you very much excellent presentation excellent news thank you Frank awesome great job Scott as well all your numbers are coming in perfectly the things that you've estimated are are spot on good job thank you both thank all three of you and your staff councel Delaney uh I agree with both my colleagues here um I just I guess I'll start I knew it was a heavy lift super heavy lifp to start something like this but you know every everybody's anxious about it because it's new and you know but with the leadership team we have and then the hiring of our chief and the deputy chief the excitement level in town hall I'm just watching you guys work and then the I've met some of the newer folks you brought in um I can understand why people are kind of beating their door down to come work here so I am not surprised and Scott and your staff everything's ever since I've been here everything's always spot on you know where every penny goes and I just have all the confidence in the world that we're going to we'll be ready to go early than uh October 1st so but anyway thank you all keep up the great work keep working hard and I I see you guys when I'm in here you guys are working hard so I really appreciate it so great job vice mayor I'll just say that um is this working is this better okay uh just for a different perspective so we have been going to a lot of the neighborhood meetings with you and we have seen them um for a long time but I think the most recent one was really a good example of just um How Far We've Come and uh it was an I believe it was a charter neighborhood meeting um at the community center uh and you received a standing Applause so it was a wonderful thing to see you answer questions I think there was someone you served with in that meeting who lives in Jupiter and worked with you in Riviera Beach and so learning from him and hearing from officer Diaz too and how the police are working with fire I thought that was just a wonderful meeting and an example you know of all that you're doing to explain you know the the fire department and how far we've come and where we're going so thank you for that and thank you also to Scott um this is one of the clearest presentations I think Finance can be very difficult um for many people and so it's kind of you know like a back of the envelope just understanding where we started what the Topline number was and how each of these um line items is adding up towards it so thank you counc may uh thanks for the update um I too have been getting a lot of questions and specifically when you were talking about the Hazmat response um and yeah the the regional teams the Hazmat you're you pay for that uh service so what I've been trying to help do is differentiate between where we received the Hazmat response service from and what a trt team would do um and I would think that with the squad truck that we ordered that we would build that one out for a trt response for high angle rescue you know dive calls things like that I mean I I would expect that that's where we're going to get our technical rescue abilities from utilizing the squad truck is that correct yeah so we are building that in right now as our plans for purchasing of equipment go right we're planning on building that truck out to incorporate incorporate a number of trt type activities we're also in uh close discussions with our partners just to the South palmach Gardens who they've just created a full trt team and uh we've been in talks with them about how we can partner with them they've agreed to provide that service to us anytime we want it but we want to have that right here in Jupiter and so we're looking at doing that ourselves as well and working jointly with them so we can augment each other's Services um for trt services so yeah I and I definitely would support us having our own in-house trt team you know it's something to be proud of too it's it's it's a it's a neat thing to have and have it right here in the town so um the only other question I have have you guys laid out any sort of plan for when we do start hiring the firefighters what our training academy timeline would look like like how long would the academy for these firefighters be uh to get them trained up ready to go day one so I'll tell you I have a personal vision for that okay I've communicated it with the boss right but the boss and I haven't reached agreement I've just said hey this is my thought okay and uh but we're coming in in the discussion is we're coming into budget we're coming into this budget development process and we're going to refine that as we go my personal thought I'll tell you is that it's about a 4mon program okay and um and part of that is because uh we don't just have to train folks we have to get them familiar with this community and our my plan is right is for me I think it's so important to know your community is to get these folks during training into our all of our Target hazards so that they intimately know those businesses those buildings before they run their first call at them absolutely and so that's my my goal and desire but we will work you know work with the town manager and the Town Council on how to make that happen okay and I'm I'm here I don't mind assisting with with that when you guys get the people on board I obviously work and do that do that type of work in this area so you know if you need me to come and help out with any of that I'll be more than happy to lend a hand so we appreciate it thankk you thank you thank you very much thank you for the opportunity the mayor I do have a public comment for this item okay Linda mcdermit good evening Linda mcdermit one 107 chadrick Drive um thank you for the presentation and um I just want to say I think most people know my vision on the fiscal end of the fire department um the the timeline what's been done has been excellent for a capital project I've got to say that um and I have no doubt that the hiring and everything will will have good people but my concern again is on the fiscal transparency so I read this um before coming here tonight and there are some things that I still would like answers not for me but for the public okay um when we state that the interest earnings the sir tax revenue and the use of Reserve funds in FY 2026 it is at a cost of not reducing the millage rate not reducing debt and of delaying other capital projects or not increasing the amount of staff pay to keep up with the cost of living in Jupiter and uh we did eliminate uh a a sustainability coordinator it was a vacancy no one lost a job but there are things that the town I think needs in a sustainability coordinator but there are things that were not done or held back to accelerate the fire department okay but in the 2026 budget to be developed using Reserve funds we need more detail there's been no long range financial plan and I've had a discussion with Scott 2027 just notes projected budget of 25 million but no plan what fund what is the Jupiter millage rate going to be I've asked about five times in public on a long range budget plan and still I have not gotten answers will there be a fire assessment fee what will the millage rate increase be for Jupiter will there be more Capital project cuts to accommodate annual cost increases the unknowns and the real numbers are all I'm asking for and the Citizens need to know not just what you want them to hear it's what they need to hear if you want to build confidence we need to get this long range financial plan and the other thing I want to speak of is if you want a seamless police fire to blend together not that Palm Beach County fire rescue did not cuz our police officers W work well with everyone and I thought they both worked well together okay then what about dispatch I really haven't heard about dispatch okay uh when I was in dispatch yes it was very nice to dispatch for both our fire and police department they become our family so I'm imagining that could be a future if you want control of your fire why not control your dispatch as well as well thank you well under citizen comments we don't that's effectively a citizen comment I'm going to take it we don't normally have comments in the presentation but I think it's appropriate to just quickly address this to those two items so uh Mr Reynolds uh can I just ask you um because the decision on whether we're going to have a fire assessment fee and then it would certainly have impacts on allowing a lower Ador tax rate correct that would be correct and we have not and we've been clear in meetings that we have not yet made that policy decision that's correct and we have it in the plan to come and that's something that the council will have dialogue about it'll be in public meetings correct correct when are we planning to do that we are actually going to start this summer uh we will have to notice our intent uh to the property appraiser before uh by December 30th so we will start that process this summer cuz it's it's a pretty long study we've talked about that before so we will be starting that this summer there will be a number of public meetings that are required by Statute uh to implement that even if you wish to at the end you may decide not to do it uh but uh in we will be doing the study uh we will be coming before the council the council will have to make decisions on uh uh what the what you want the the uh the fee to be like if you wish to go forward uh and because the other thing I just want to say I've been hearing from some residents about uh you know that they're concerned that right now they don't pay any tax like they have exemptions uh there are car vs that are allowed via the non- avalor ass assessment which means you would have to do a buy what's called a buy down uh of the rate uh you can't just ignore it uh but you can buy that rate down for these uh citizens so they don't they won't get penalized so to speak if they're currently not paying uh tax and if the council so wishes they can do these car vs so there's there's going to be a number of decisions that the council will have to make and a number of public hearings that have to happen uh and then uh that's before we Implement an FY 27 but we're going to start that this summer we have a number of of uh uh studies that we have planned for that's one of the main ones thank you and uh you know you've told us that for a while I know it's coming I personally five people up here make a final decision I haven't reached any kind of final conclusion on whether we should have a fire assessment fee and that's why that hasn't been decided right not just because I we haven't seen the study to come back to ponder about it and uh so when we do um so right now effectively we could estimate what the avalor tax rate is assuming there was no fire assessment fee cor if we have a fire assessment fee then it would be be lower right I just want to make sure the public is hearing this right you know that we're not going to do both and collect more money or anything like that because by gosh you'll be on social media probably it is already right you know suggesting that well the if you'll remember right back when we talked about it with the consultant um you know we had to make some assum assumptions regarding uh the uh what the tax rate would be you know using $28 million for the County Fire $25 million for the town using the same taxable value of the town obviously just because the uh annual expense is less the millage is going to be less yep so that's that's that's just how it would work understand again I appreciate since there's a question I just want to make sure people realize we don't have it we're not we're not evading it we haven't made those kind of policy decisions yes sir thank you it sounds like it sounds like a lot is being said to clarify everybody's Net bill is going to go down correct say that again everybody's Net bill is going to go down and and it's and it's just a matter of like I said if you were just base it on the millage it was just purely millage based uh Palm Beach County fired $28 million $25 million in FY 27 based on the uh the value of the town the millage is going to be less just with that but then you start throwing in the transport fees that will buy down the rate as well then if we have a non- avalor assessment if the council decides to do that that's also going to buy down the rate uh but there's also other fees that we that we'll be looking at that will also help buy down that rate so uh overall yes the the rate's going to be less I do think it gets confusing for residents because we think about the total tax levy too so there's the town's avalor rate but then the total tax levy on the town for all of its services or all of its taxes and fees and so when you see Jupiter fire rescue on your property tax bill as a separate line item you assume it's Jupiter fire rescue department but that is not the case because we haven't been fully formed yet and we're not operating so the Jupiter fire rescue people see on their text bills today are actually the Jupiter fire rescue MST is that correct okay and then that goes directly to the county so it is a separate item that will be eliminated it will be eliminated so we are restructuring this and there will be changes that we will discuss but that line item will be eliminated from tax bills and we will start talking about that during the budgetary process as well this year uh because we will have to send a notification over to the county as you remember every year uh the council has to vote to be included in the mstu correct uh so we also have to do an ordinance to say that we no longer wish to participate so we'll be talking about that this year as well thank you thank you thank you okay uh moving on to Citizen comments this is for non-agenda items and is limited to 3 minutes anyone wishing to speak is asked to State his and her name and address for the record prior to address in Town Council do we have citizen comments yes first is Aron Actis good evening uh my name is Aaron atis I'm a resid of Jupiter I live um over in the Heights I'm here to discuss election Integrity I was here last year and I spoke to you all a little bit about some results in your um Municipal elections I don't know who up here is as a candidate and running I don't know what parties you all have or what you are or were but I'm just going to give you a little feedback on what we the citizens would like to see uh historically um the current Supervisor has proven to have a very bad turnout for municipal election somewhere between 10 and 20% Which is really not a good um result to you know to be elected on in my opinion um County election costs will never go down and right now we are over 20 million since 20120 um what we would like to do is see all municipalities sent set a benchmark for Diamond standard elections um it is the 100th year of many municipalities and what we would like to see also is that you review the things that are working in your elections and that do not work I am a grandchild of firefighters and Air Force Colonels and right now I'd like to give a shout out to my cousin's husband who is in up in Jacksonville and is a navigator and um unfortunately the Calamity that just happened is not a good example of the mil military that we have right now and he works very hard to protect us um what we would like to see as municipalities canvasing their own elections you will save yourself a huge amount of money and it will promote transparency your data will be facts how do you do this you implement vote Watchers and you put poll Watchers at your polling locations as a candidate you should be in charge of this not get pawning it off to a supervisor the municipalities need to clean their own voter roles I would love to work with Laura and see how um that could be accom lished um those S soe Agreements are on the ballot you can vote no and in Loxahatchee it's actually on there and it says this the prom Beach canvasing Board will um canvas your ballots but actually it's her staff so they do not see maybe 5% um the duplications are happening on your vote by mail without any poll Watchers at all um do not subcontract our elections please because that's what's happening if you don't know this you are going to have early voting drop boxes February 24th through March 10th um that's over 2 weeks of chain of custody ballots that are not being observed there's no time stamps on the envelopes and no oversite there is two additional days after election day that ballot envelope signatures will be cured will you be there as candidates to observe this as your volunteers please do this I we suggest you do a premise check as well I have all the paperwork for you to um it's on the website for your supervisor has for you to submit designes to do signature inspections uh we'll be following up to see if any of the candidates actually do this because again um your constituents are paying a high cost for election integrity that's not happening thank you for your time Linda mcdermit LC dermit 107 Chadwick um so I'm pleased about the 100th and the Jupiter Jubilee but I'm just wondering where everybody's going to park a neighbor of mine asked me and I'm like um I'm not quite sure if there's other arrangements because I know parking's a little hard in here the other thing I wanted to know is the uh water refillable stations I'm hoping that there'll be those and can we bring our refillable cups to you know save Plastics um but but I am excited to come there and I um I think the town has done a very good job in that and will continue you know for the rest of the year um since this is comments I just wanted to respond to the 1.7 mil that is the mstu um yes that will be eliminated from the county but our millage rate is going to go up in 2027 at least we are using reserves Jupiter has healthy reserves that's wonderful and um we could not do this without healthy finances but please don't mistaken your Mill is not going to stay what it is now because Palm Beach county is only charging us the 1.7 not the 3.4 now it's 1.7 so please don't misunderstand that um I just happen to know how to read taxes because of my budget experience um there you know it is going to just transfer over so um when we get to doing the fire if we do an assessment or however we're going to do the planning all I've asked for is I want to know a long range plan either you're going to do increase our millage or you're going to give us a fire assessment we need to know that I I how do you make a decision on doing something so major without knowing what your long range finances are what fund you're going to take it from I'm just really concerned I'm not I'm not against anything that's going to go on anymore I want to see us have the best I'll fight for the best I just want transparency on these finances and I know Scott knows how he's c f SC Scott is good I'm not believe me Scott I know you know I just think the public needs to know um and no misrepresentation there's there's going to be an increase but where's it coming from assessment added millage reserves what fund is it coming from thank you one answer and we don't normally do this but particular in Jupiter Jubilee uh I think it's appropriate to answer so the public knows uh the Jupiter High School parking lot is uh is being set up for the public since we don't have parking here and there's going to be trams that are going to carry the residents from uh the parking lot uh or some kind of bus service correct that's correct mayor we have um parking at Jupiter High School we will have the shell buses there'll be plenty of signs directing people where to Park and we have overflow strategies um you know uh all built into our operations plans and so we'll be sure this week to make sure that we read vertise that to the public so there's no uh so there's no questions about it but certainly your neighbors uh can go to our website and I'll make sure tomorrow morning we get it up up there Linda and then I just want to respond to the other item because and I'm not getting into a debate I respect we may have differences of opinion and whatever and that's fine uh but number one our adorm tax is not going to go up over what we pay the county you just heard from our finance director that um it gets adjusted based on tax base but the counties is higher ours will be lower I've taken a position from day one that it's going to go all in adval arm taxes and there is going to be no s fire assessment fee but I'm open-minded to hear about the benefits of that fee and therefore if we do that then the ad of alarm taxes less I understand West Palm for example has to fee other municipalities do so I want to be open-minded about it but I just want to make it clear to the public you know we're not coming up with some other way to raise money and really have higher costs secondly is you know our contract with the county is terminated it's it ends on September 30th 2026 uh we the council and our uh way we're going to manage stupid fire rescues we're not going to be subsidizing the rest of the county we're going to have our own impact fees we're not going to build fire stations outside of the county in charged you for residence was the county would under the current contract so uh this we're going to be saving money from day one next uh public comments G be Lisa Lisa veland good evening my name is Lisa breelan and and I live in the Heights I'd like to take just a few moments to address some comments that were made at the for the candidate Forum last night um this is really for those who are watching online or will view it their convenience contrary to what was said last night there were some comments that we don't go to Council meetings and we don't have the time but yes we do I'm no stranger to this Podium you all know this and or to this audience and I I know several people and other candidates who have come up uh or candidates in this race who have come up before you and I know I have a lot there's a lot of people that watch when they're able to so um I just wanted to say that um but what I can agree on is that there was a time when residents didn't feel the need to have to watch so often because we had faith in our leadership to do the right thing on our behalf but that ship has sailed and there are a few common denominators here people have lost their trust in this Council and quite frankly has had enough and just like Mr puz said at The Forum last night for the District 1 and District 2 um conversations that there were five residents and one incumbent up there and people want change and they wanted it yesterday there was a comment about experience matters I agree experience matters but the council's experience is not the only experience that matters residents that are elected to serve will have the same opportunities that were afforded to you when you were elected I also want to say there was a comment last night regarding Sunny Sands uh by Mr Weston um calling it a garbage dump and Mr Weston you could not be more wrong that is sacred land birthplace of this town and for it to be referred to as a garbage dump is one of the most disrespectful things I've ever heard from a candidate for the record I have never heard a resident call it as such the fear mongering about the fire department and the comments that we must put push through otherwise your safety is at risk is just not accurate the residents to serve a council that is going to be honest with them and that's where this Council gets an F from me there was a discussion about being blindsided well let me remind you that the public was blindsided when it was just supposed to be a presentation and something that was going to be voted on saying that we weren't blindsided demonstrates how out of touch this Council has become residents please I urge you to come vote on March 11th you have three votes make them count thank you last we have is Rob Rob ro hi good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak I'm a uh a long-term resident of Jupiter I moved here over 20 years ago because I love this town and it's gotten better and better and better and I this is my home and one of the things that's really important to me is Safety and Security that that's critical it's one of the primary reasons I moved here and I live in a community that's got its own Police Department not Social Security and our community works very closely with the police and everything I hear is we got a great worker relationship so that's great and everything I hear about a new fire chief is terrific everybody welcomes him looking forward to uh him him coming on board and doing what we're doing there's been a lot of discussion about cost and everything else I'm a finance guy and uh I've been kind of watching this thing pretty closely for the last few years because I I I like money's important to me and uh paying money out of the pocket for taxes is not something I love to do but you know if you get Services that's fine and I think everything that we heard from our financial director tonight is consistent with my understanding and which is goes back a few years so i' like to say that that as a citizen uh I don't there's been a lot of discussion about lack of transparency and so forth I feel totally I feel I feel like I've been informed and I feel followed along the way and tonight with the fire chief and the financial director I think they fill in a few blanks that it wasn't aware of and I'm totally comfortable with the projections and I'm totally supportive what we're doing and I I thank this Council for doing a great job because I think it' have so I have a compliment no complaints thank you very much thank you that was the last one that's it thank you okay moving on to the minutes uh Council we have before us uh the January 21st minutes with some minor Corrections on the Das if there's no other Corrections I'd ask for a motion to approve as amended second Motion in a second all in favor signify by saying I I I motion carries unanimously okay moving on to the consent agenda um is there any member of the public that wish to pull a consent agenda item no mayor any member on the Das wish to pull one yes number four four four okay I'll take a motion in a second to approve the amended uh consent agenda consisting of items three agenda items three and five so moved as as amended Motion in the second uh all in favor signify by saying I I I I motion carries unanimously moving on uh to uh the item pulled uh agenda item uh for first turn of the vice mayor and then councelor cam uh for having pulled it and what is your pleasure I think given the community interest I'd like to request the presentation yeah same here okay okay good evening mayor council my name is Mike Hoffman I'm the senior director of community services and just a quick overview of this agenda item it is actually the town is seeking approval uh for the piggyback contract through rep Services Incorporated which is RSI uh through Clay County and that contract is going to get materials uh and the construction process for playgrounds at Indian Creek playground uh excuse me Indian Creek Park uh Maplewood Park and also Jupiter Community Park uh those three playgrounds are all wrapped to bundled together in a in a package uh and from a funding standpoint uh we had funds from last fiscal year that have rolled over into this fiscal year so we've compiled those funds and to actually uh enhance and uh completely redo all three of these uh playgrounds um so uh just a real quick overview from a Time standpoint we're looking at uh breaking ground sometime here in the spring and hopefully uh finish in these playgrounds sometime in the fall and I'd like to also give kudos to our Communications Department they've actually uh created a web page uh dedicated to a road map for all these playgrounds uh specifically over the next 5 years there's 11 playgrounds total that we're looking to completely redo so um if Council uh wishes I I'd be happy to show uh that web page yes please excellent let me move this around real quick while you're while you're pulling that up too I just want to request um just for one of the playgrounds Maplewood Park specifically um that playground is heavily utilized after school um during the week um I know I think Indian Creek Park and probably Jupiter Community not as much but I know Maplewood specifically is very utilized um between the hours of probably 2:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon so if it's possible to delay the construction of that one until school's out and then hopefully if we can work to get it done before school starts again in August that'd be you know a better time frame just for that specific Park if if possible if we can try to work on that yeah I mean um that would be have to be a conversation uh you know with the town manager and uh understand what we have but uh yeah that I don't I don't I don't see why if that's if that's something the public or the community is is interested in then yeah I we see I agree with that ask uh you know it's right across the street from an elementary school and uh so both uh Council May and I go there every day and the first place I can tell you the first place his son runs and he Sprints uh is the Park yeah uh and uh the kids just so it's a natural so it it makes sense that a park like that that's used every single day we really do need to try to schedule it uh as much as possible outside of the school year yeah yeah that's absolutely something mayor we we'll um we'll we'll look at that and hopefully be able to accomplish that um but certainly um we'll make sure that we have good solid plan to address the traffic and the parking and all the things that are over there very familiar with it yeah and so uh we we'll work to accomplish the request okay sometimes it's a little challenging with all the construction and timelines understand yeah absolutely so uh again Communications Department done a a terrific job they've actually created this Jupiter playground Renovations road map as you can see over the next 5 years there's going to be 11 different playgrounds that are actually to be complet completely replaced the first three that you're actually on the agenda item today is the Indian Creek Park phase one and I'll highlight phase one is just the playground uh if you look at 2026 there is a phase two which is going to incorporate a spray ground I also want to highlight with Indian Creek we're actually looking and uh actually constructing a bathroom facility as well uh currently there is no bathroom facility there so we want to make sure that if that's going to be our Flagship playground we want to make sure that uh parents in the community are taken care of and have an an area use the facilities um so just real quick if you go underneath here uh there is actually a interactive map here that outlines all of these different playgrounds throughout throughout uh Jupiter so uh as you can see if you click these so we'll go ahead and click Indian creep real quick and right here you see a quick preview and briefing of what that playground projections are and then also if you click the picture it brings up the renderings the current renderings now I have to apologize the agenda item had attached renderings that were uh with the proposal that didn't incorporate the complete holistic view of the entirety of the playground um so this these renderings are accurate and up to date that include uh you know all of the uh the trees the benches um and also the trash receptacles um so there's a variety of different play elements that are going to be included in each of these playgrounds uh some of the elements that were highly requested were the climbing elements um also lots of shade obviously Florida gets very hot so I feel like we've accomplished uh the shade portion uh and also uh just Ada any type of uh disability inclusive elements as well so we've tried to incorporate all those things within all the playgrounds um if you also notice that there isn't any fencing currently around these there that was was mainly just to for the obstruction uh the view of the the playgrounds we didn't want to obstruct The View so all these playgrounds are also going to have uh fencing uh around them as well so real quick uh you'll see uh again Spinners um this is basically for children to to get in and spin around um they have climbingsport that they're they are incorporated into the plan uh some climbing elements as well um and also again there will be a spray ground coming here in 2026 any questions about Indian Creek no okay real quick yeah I just than for the public uh I know the answer but uh um you know you refer to a flagship playground and I don't want I want to make sure people understand how that was picked at that location uh because it's the most used in you know some said why aren't we getting a flagship playground so can you just yeah can you just speak to that right of course yeah it's a it's a frequently used playground and we felt that it had the most potential uh to be uh enhanced to the uh to the standard of what the community expects at that playground know knowing that more people going to travel there than others so therefore we've put extra amenities there that that is correct yes and I know it's too late now um on this one but what what kind of fencing was it in uh CU you know I have fond memories of when it was some residents may remember Imagination Station and uh pickets uh were sold and there was all family names because there was put together by you know it was a community project uh any chance and you could get back with us because I do think people just finally remember that right and they might be interest in in that uh by the public yeah yeah absolutely we can definitely look into that and incorporate maybe something similar yeah okay yeah yeah I think a I think an Ode to the original Imagination Station at this park to do something like that would be a perfect uh yeah perfect idea thank you yeah absolutely yeah uh okay so Indian Creek Park and then we have um we have Maplewood right here and Maplewood also again lots of sh um receptacles uh you know benches uh lots of Play Elements um but this is on the one of the smaller Parks but again frequently used as you stated uh but yep there's also uh again swings um one thing also throughout all these Parks uh you have Synthetic Turf that's going to be your predominant uh surfacing element that's going to be for the surfacing for the playgrounds we're also incorporating mulch that's predominantly under the swing sets and these three sets I think there's going to be a variety of others uh surfacing materials though moving forward with the other playgrounds uh mainly focusing on the Synthetic Turf mainly because of the cost and the upkeep of it um but also incorporating mulch as well where we can but yeah uh I think the renderings turned out excellent again more shade I tried to incorporate a little more shade here at Maplewood considering that there's not as much natural shade as you have Indian Creek Park and also Jupiter Community Park so these are all up on the website for everyone to view um I believe we also launched a post today uh sent out a post today and we're going to be actually moving forward uh inquiring for more feedback uh for additional uh for these additional parks that are be coming down the road and then the last one Northwest to go Northwest other way west north north more North more North yep keep going west west again oh yeah north of limestone Creek there you go oh my gosh sorry I'm new to the area I'm still learning I apologize uh so this is Jupiter Community Park uh this would had uh this one is mainly a sports theme uh considering what the where the park is uh it's a sports complex again lots of shade um you know they have a variety of different Play Elements uh slides um Spinners uh again uh more Ada inclusive uh benches um so yeah lots of lots of different varieties I think this is going to be a huge hit with the community I think there going to be huge upgrades uh people are going to be excited about it and we just want to make sure that people are aware of it so does uh Council have any questions just real quick for the The Mulch element of the parks is it possible that we could look into using uh the Recycled rubber mulch um is more of a I don't know if it's more sustainable but don't have to replace it as much doesn't get blown away as easy and it's you know utilizing recycled tires and it's a pretty soft surface for the the kids so not sure if it's something that we looked into or not sure yeah that's something we can absolutely look into you and I discussed that earlier when I was saying try to sh away from it oh yeah safety concerns um recycled tires have toiling manganese lead there's lots of things that can come out in the chip mulch or U rubber mulch but not all of it has that so there are certain types that can you purchase without those type of dangerous ingredients and one of the things they suggest is make kids wash their hands afterwards or don't let them play on it too long I don't like that idea at all okay we can do both because not only is it recycling which is a good thing but it's a good surface for kids to fall on and that's fall Hazard is a very real Hazard moment the most common ways pediatric injuries occur is fall yeah um and another thing you and I have talked about first of all thank you for your presentation yeah absolutely um the need to have a safety engineer I'm a forensic engineer as a Prof do so I've studied pediatric injuries and fatalities and unfortunately that's a thing that does happen strangulations going down slides things of that nature there needs to be a safety engineer that does a complete inspection before this is turned over to the public and you assured me that was going to happen that is correct yep there are safety standards that are required that for to go through this process so that will be a part of this process also internally we have a certified playground safety inspector which is through the nrpa which is a national Recreation and Parks Association so we're very proud that we have someone on staff that also measures these standards and ensures that we're up to date and in check with all of our playgrounds and one other suggestion we kicked this around a few months ago is possibly putting emergency call boxes at our Parks is that something any of the other counselors are interested in you know everybody a lot of people have cell phones now so this needs kind of tapering off but it would be nice if there was an emergency call box to make a pushup button both for for safety and health reasons I think our fire rescue department is actively looking at that I know they've added aeds to the parks I know that they're you know working with Parks and Recreation to make our Park safer so I'm sure that's under review so how do you guys feel about a a safety call box some type of emergency call box I'd defer to fire rescue for it but I'd be interested and open okay possibly pricing it out anyway yeah just take a look at it okay so could could we possibly do that then we certainly look into that counselor but also uh we'll have to look into the feasibility of that linking to northcom to 911 center it's it's a um it's not an easy thing it's not an easy thing to do and that's why in many cases we defer to cell phones uh but we may be able to integrate something in with the fire department's AED program and so I'll take a look at that okay great thank you thank you very much excellent yeah I just want to say I think well I think the hill here is very exciting so on this park just have to say that um there's a at the science center in West Palm they have a hill and the kids just that's the best feature for some reason um so I love it I do want to say you know the last time we shared these renderings or or renderings in general with residents uh we had use different types of renderings an AI rendering that didn't include all the trees shade and we had talked about sun and shade studies to see how the light hits and when to make sure that the structures are covering what they need to cover um but we heard from residents that we really needed to prioritize both the equipment and the shade and so we did increase the budget for these Parks I know Indian Creek Park is going to see I think something like $2 million when you consider the bathroom and plus with the um Phase 2 splash pad not included in that so um these are major improvements and investments in our Parks um I do think we've been listening to Residents not only in the master plan survey that we did but also on social media I understand that residents are um providing feedback on social media staff are collecting categorizing trying to understand where the need is shade is the overwhelming um desire so this has been responsive to that I want to say thank you um these are much improved and I think are generating a lot of excitement so grateful awesome thank you very much welcome I appreciate that yeah thank you I think the public will be excited about this so I appreciate it thank you and the most I've ever heard over the years I say complaints from the are shade issues and I'm really happy to see that they're in there so excellent and all the equipment looks great so thanks a lot welcome to Jupiter thank you I um just to add and I appreciate vice mayor and uh councelor May pulling this item to get this presentation and just a generic ask because it's good for us as well as the public to see um you know please consider in the future automatically doing a presentation I think we would benefit from that and the public would be interested in that just as a standard um hadn't dawned on me shame on me but uh it was appropriate to do a presentation uh to let and I know I know and I appreciate the communication online I saw that today as well so I love how transparent you know our staff tries to be with communicating all this stuff but inevitably not everybody looks every place right so you even showed us how to where to get to it right and I know there be a linol whatever so it was it was beneficial thank you come again yeah be happy to do a presentation moving forward so and just one last thing I know I asked about the picket fence and I know that uh our efforts on parks are so much more comprehensive than they ever have been and we heard this in a previous presentation that our police make sure you know from a safety standpoint how they're laid out and whatever and you know perhaps it's the case that a picket fence there's a concern about that so I just wanted to have even said that while I asked the ask is if it could be accommodated but if the answer is Gee no it it would block line of sight and whatever because we learned that recently then you know know that I want to make sure that it's an enhancement not a uh doesn't have any negatives but people were just fond of those you know sponsoring a picket on the fence with the family name and whatever absolutely at this and at that location the first one right so I wasn't talking about everyone but at the flagship Park thank you yeah absolutely thank you very much that could that could be an art project potentially if not um offense y very welled a lot of C enthusias for those oh yeah I'll have a take a motion in a second on uh this agenda item motion to approve second Motion in second all in favor signify by saying I I I I uh motion carries unanimously moving on the reports uh Town attorney thank you mayor I do not have any reports other than to say All Quiet on the litigation front good that's what I like to hear uh Town manager thank you mayor just a couple of things real quick first of all um I want to thank uh Mike and Kristen George I see the rest of the team out there on the playground team for all the work that they've done um you know thank you for all of that and so um you know there's a lot of uh lot of work that goes into this and so appreciate that the other thing um I also want to thank the leadership team as you mentioned before about the fire department and putting our fire department together I can tell you that this has been a Monumental lift we still have a long way to go and as as I remind the team it's no longer 2026 it's next year and so it we'll be here before you know it and I'm confident that uh not only will we meet the the mark and rise to the occasion but we're going to set a benchmark for excellence as we do with uh everything else that we do in this town um I did want to take a minute to follow up on a couple of points that came up last week um there was a question about putting aeds at the Lighthouse um let's see division Chief Ro met with the folks at the Lighthouse and they've worked out um you know uh critical locations on where to put them and so uh in the barracks Museum in the gift shop the base of the lighthouse and a few other places and uh we're set and ready to go and we're just waiting approval from the Lighthouse Management uh Team regarding that so just want to know we checked that that off there and then uh you should also have on your um on your at your dis here a letter that I sent to uh the County Administrator regarding the traffic signal uh up there at the corner of Tony Penna and Central in the urgency of that along with another issue relating to um our utilities and so we sent that off today and hopefully we'll get a response a significant response back soon we we attempted originally to meet with the county and requested that meeting in December and the earli as we could get on anyone's calendar is April and you know just we just can't wait anymore with that light so we're moving ahead um reminded that the Jubilee is this Saturday and uh and I've already been assured that we are updating our directions as we speak and so getting that information out uh you know that to our residents um the event runs from 11:00 a.m. until 400 p.m. uh it's held here at the municipal complex and I like to um refer to it as a block party the 100-year block party I think you're going to be really uh pleased with what you see again um I don't want to make it to Christian George night but thank you Kristen for all the work that you've done you and your team on on making this go and from the police department Captain Scott kimark who's our safety Incident Commander and uh and a a lot of work uh involved in that um so thank you for that uh also want to celebrate uh acknowledge and celebrate king winman um who last Tuesday celebrated 50 years of service with the town 50 years matter of fact I saw him today and he had a pin on his on his ID of 50-year pin I go where'd you get that he goes I had to buy it myself cuz we don't have any so uh we're going to reimburse him for it was an Amazon purchase and so 50 years and congratulations to him and still going strong uh you'll see him definitely see him at the hundred year anniversary Town's life half the town's life half the town's life wow yeah and don't ask him any questions or stories because the time limit still hasn't expired on his stories uh by the way he started as a police officer just so you know and he was a police officer 20 uh for 28 years uh like to recognize the Planning and Zoning staff this past week completed the second phase of the sawfish Bay Park Marina restoration project um focusing on extending the natural rock um and planting mangroves and of course you know phase one was completed at the end of 2023 and we're already seeing the return of marine life to this area probably saw some pictures in your Friday report um this is Project is in support of our strategic initiative to protect local sea grass and the lockah hatchee river um and and then uh I will also tell you finally I would encou encourage everyone uh to take in the art committee's newest Art Exhibit called Legacy of light 100 Years of Jupiter and the art is on display at the Jupiter Community Center through March 9th so uh a lot happening and I'm sure I'll see all of you uh at the 100th anniversary this weekend so that's my report mayor thank you councilor May uh I got to get back to work so I'm going to keep it short I'm just going to say go Eagles vice mayor I just want to thank Kristen as well I think we forget how many events Recreation puts on every year and this is a big one this is the one so we are so grateful for everything they're doing we know it's going to be an excellent event and thank you counselor sure um ju just something brief um in regards to the uh the new bridge and the uh Jupiter Cove um condominium uh fepot has uh made an agreement with the residents here that they're going to replace sort of a natural uh landscape buper between the the road and and their build their east facing building and they put aside $60,000 for it I'm just going to stay on that and just want to let the residents know that we'll follow up on that and make sure that happens maybe a collaborative I don't know what they want to put there or you know you know um mature trees or plants or fast Growers or what but I think we should stay on top of that okay that was it councelor for um kudos to Kristen as well big big lift this time big big lift big event thank you very much for all your hard work um I want to say thank you to our town manager for getting rid of that awful no right turn sign on Riverside Drive that's there's a lot of people in the public that are probably very happy about that um the uh in all seriousness I I really don't believe I live on Riverside just a quarter of a mile from there it really wasn't helping any immediate issue that I could see um I think they were more interested in people just not stopping before they turned right and the guards should do that but you know problem we have with bright line is there's not much time between when the guard comes down and when the train comes so people just have to get used to that don't dwell on the tracks if you can't if there's not room in front of you don't go across do not dwell on the tracks assume that there it's like a loaded gun it's it all my dad taught me that's all guns are always loaded there's no such thing as a safety those train tracks are for a reason there's a train that comes by there every 15 minutes or less so assume that anytime you're going to go over those tracks that there's a train barreling down don't dwell on the tracks do not stop on them again if you don't have room to get Beyond it don't go over it but otherwise thank you for getting rid of that that sign thank you thank you and uh for being here for the whole meeting I'm just going to give you a little tip the police are at that location working traffic so please don't stop on the tracks because you're going to get a probably a little visit that you were not expecting good and uh mayor if I could one more thing Kristen is here she's completing I think tomorrow is 25 years of service to the town of Jupiter and she's one of those more than one3 I I wanted to make sure that I acknowledge that so congratulations on aniversary thank you for all your good service um may want add one one thing to u u Council of forest comment when you're Crossing that uh Riverside look South if that bascules up there really should get your attention right I didn't want to give anybody an excuse go but you're right no I I always do you know I'm not saying they you know run the red light but anyway if that thing's up you just be cautious that's that's what that's what uh people in the no do on Riverside right we know if it's up at least if the Train's going northbound it's going to Plum it into the river you know so that's a good sign um one other final item I did want to bring up was about transparency and the word transparency and how that's kicked around so much and there's an implication I don't know that it's been out right in a while was a year ago when we first started doing this there's an implication that you've not been transparent and I think that's far from the truth it's outrageous um I don't believe there's any lack of transparency a a a budget that hadn't been created yet it's not that you're not being transparent the the class is clear you can see through it there's just nothing in there yet these are things that have not been decided yet and have to be decided a great deal upon count uh counselor work so I don't in any way believe that you've been non-transparent Scott I I believe you've done everything we've asked you to do in the timeliness in which we ask you to do it and you've been completely transparent in my view for everything we've asked for you don't have the answers for everything yet that doesn't mean you're occluding it or blocking it from The public's view we just don't have those answers yet you've been very busy and A lot's been going on we appreciate your effort thank you very much I just have one item um quick but I'd like to ask the town manager to address just again in the way of responding to public um Mrs mcdermit did ask about dispatch intentions and I do think it's helpful uh uh Mr kitro if you would give a quick summary overview of how the dis Municipal Dispatch Center happened cuz that was under your leadership and then how in respecting that the gardens is first we've been waiting for that to happen to be able to make any decisions on our part on on dispatching fire could you please talk to about that certainly mayor obviously we have a lot more decisions to make on that uh but she is correct dispatch is absolutely critical um you know the time we call it the hello time from the time you get the hello on the 911 line to the time you see someone there to say hello to you by face and so um so we are we we currently are working on agreement with Palm Beach County fire uh fire dispatch to um to include them to work through them and then um and then take a look and at response times as we move down the road and then um you know evaluating what our future options will may be uh but certainly uh it's not only the hello time but it's also the integration with the uh with the police as well um I think and I I saw Chief rally here but I don't see him anymore um when I was police chief here we budgeted to put our Police radios in all of the fire trucks and ambulances and I believe they still have them so not only on the 911 uh Communications that important but also the integration between the uh First Responders and police fire that communication piece is probably well above what most have uh in place so yes it's very important and um fire dispatch and fire Communications with police is one of those constant evolving yep thanks okay thank you with that the time is now 8:31 and I will I'll adjourn the meeting e e e e