Good evening. Good evening. It's usually on the side. There you go. Being 5:33, I'll now call to order the regular meeting of the Lake Placid Town Council this 12th day of May, 2025 in the government center of the
beautiful town of Lake Placid. Uh at this time, if everybody would please rise, make sure your phones are either off or on vibrate. We have the distinct honor of having with us tonight Mr. Drew Severance from the First Presbyterian
Church. It's always an honor having him and we appreciate him being here to lead us in our invocation and pledge. I I told John that it's it's an honor that you guys ask us to do this. We really appreciate it. You're not standing for me, right? Just make that clear. Um
you're standing for the Lord. So, well, let's pray. Father, we thank you for the gift of prayer. We thank you that not only do you hear our prayers, but you act on our prayers and mysterious way. You use them uh to carry out your good
and perfect and sovereign will. And so we come to you um as our creator, as our father, knowing that um you're listening, knowing that you that you care and that you love us. Uh, Father, we thank you for uh, this town of Lake
Placid and just the blessing that she is and the privilege that we have um, to live live here, Father. But it takes uh, effort uh to run her. It takes uh, effort to plan. Um, and so I thank you for all that are
here, especially the the town council and the staff. Father, I pray that you would give them wisdom. your word says if we lack wisdom all we have to do is ask it and so that uh we pray that everyone would be looking to you depend upon you I pray there would be unity uh
in decisions and uh father I pray that uh you would work uh through and above and against decisions that are made that would be the best uh for your people and the best for this community and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
Amen. And then the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Thank you, sir. Uh, clerk, would you please call the role? Mayor Hullbrook, here. Council member Hayes, here. Council member Worley. Council member Charles here. Council member Ebart here. Okay, we'll
go to consent agenda. Consent agenda 1 A through D. I make a motion to approve consent consent agenda one items A through D. Second. All right, we got a motion second. Any comment from the podium?
Just two quick comments. Um, just on the minutes under the co-op student where it says that we were going to um during the summer, it should really be changed to say students for a co-op program. So, it's not a summer, it's a it's a continuous
um and then the only comment I want to make is um I don't know how many people are reviewing the budget and the accounts payable, but I have been and there's a number of budget items that are running way over. So I will be getting with uh Charlotte and um also
Rachel to try to go over and get some answers question on both the budget and some of the payables. But other words, I'm fine with um you know moving forward. Council member Hayes, are we voting? Oh yes. Yeah. I was going
to I was going to I was going to wait take it to the audience first. Any comments from the audience? All right. Hearing none, we'll bring them back. Pull the council. Council member Hayes. Yes. Council member Everheart. Yes. Council member Charles. Yes.
Okay, we'll go to number three. No, number two, presentations. And first of all, we have the Central Florida Regional Planning Council for their presentation. Good evening, mayor and council members.
Um thank you for the opportunity for um for us to present the proposed text amendments regarding mobile food dispensing vehicles um commonly known as um food trucks. This initiative is um in response to the direction given on the April 14th meeting and is aimed at
providing um structure lawful and community compat compatible framework um for regulating food trucks within the town of Lake Plaza. Um tonight we will walk you through the background as well as the legal context and um detailed elements
for um the proposed ordinances changes um related to food trucks. And our goal is to enable these business to operate while preserving public safety um aesthetics and the right of neighboring property owners. Just some background um
information. Um the code of ordinances currently does regulate um peddlers and soliditors but does not address mobile food units. At the same time um Florida statutes 509.102 preempts local governments from
lending um registering or charging fees to food trucks. However, um municipalities may still regulate location hours of operation and site specific standards. Um the proposed um amendments reflects this
balance. All right. We I will provide um an overview of the proposed text amendments before going into ind depth um line item by line item of the proposed amendments. So, um just an overview, um the amendments have um
three main objectives, which are to align with state laws, define where food trucks may operate, and establish operational insight requirements to minimize impacts. Um locations allowed include um special events with permits, overlay districts established by town
resolution, and then commercial or industrial properties as either a primary or accessory use with special approval. Regarding um operational standards, some of the key standards will include units must maintain mobile, no permanent skirting or wheel removal, sites must be
improved with gravel, asphalt or similar material, vendors must op um properly manage trash, grease, and waste. And then um if on site more than three hours, they must provide restroom access for employees. Um, food trucks may use um may not use required landscape
buffers or essential parking unless additional spaces are provided. There are setbacks from residential zones and limitations on the number of trucks per site, typically one, which helps um limit conflicts as well as no alcohol or
um drive up cells are permitted and um access to ADA spaces or fire lanes must not be blocked. Here we have outlined the proposed text amendments. Um these changes are um being proposed
to three chapters which is chapter 117 soliders and pedlers retitled um transit merchants and then chapter 152 language and definitions and then chapter 154 supplemental regulations adding section
154-18. Here you have um what um the first change to chapter 117 and this um includes adding definition for mobile food dispensing vehicle um in compliance with what Florida
statute states um it being defined as as well as adding um the definition for transient merchant and um and then adding in this chapter which is section and section 117-13
um adding um exemption number five which states that the regulation of mobile food dispensing vehicles involving license registration permits and fees is preempted to state um is preempted to the state. Um and then it states that um
Florida statutes and um section 154-18 provides requirements for mobile food dispensing vehicles. For chapter 152 language and definitions here um we're adding the following definitions which which is conveyance as well as food truck and
then mobile food dispensing dispensing vehicle as well as mobile food vendor overlay district. These are all um terms that are being used in the amendments and therefore need to be
addressed in the definitions. Chapter 154 article 3 supplemental regulations. This is where um mobile food dispensing vehicle food trucks regulation would be added. This is adding section 154-18 aiming at mobile food dispensing
vehicles food trucks. Um adding um applicability as well as um mobile food dispensing vehicles um may be permitted as an accessory use on properties with the town of Lake Placid under the following conditions. Um this is highlighting
special events um again through a special events permit. um requiring a sk um a site sketch drawn to scale um showing where um the event taking place, all exits and entrances of the
property and all reasonable information required by the town to determine whether the food trucks are in compliance with applicable town requirements. Um, the mobile food dispensing vehicles included with the special event shall ensure that the property is returned to
the property's original condition no later than four hours after the event. Another way food trucks would be permitted is through the mobile food vendor overlay district. Um this is again um properties identified by the
town council um will be included in the mobile food dispensing vehicle um moving food dispensing vehicle overlay district by resolution. Um, the mobile food vendor overlay district does provide for regular vending opportunities at select
public locations and the town will adopt a resolution identifying each public location that establishes requirements for that specific location. The other option is mobile food dispensing vehicle um permit um
permanent establishment accessory to a primary use. This is a food truck on a already established um property as an accessory may be established as um an accessory to a primary use on a property
allowed by special approval on property zone commercial and industrial and shall be subject to general requirements and standards established in this section. Um the last option is as a primary use on vacant or undeveloped land. Um this again will also be allowed
through special approval on property zone commercial and industrial and shall be subject to the general requirements and standards of this section. We now go into general requirements for um mobile food vendors. And this is where it gets very um detailed. And
um and it states that um there shall be a violation for any mobile food vendors to offer for retail sales, display accessory advertising of any food products of any location except in compliance with the requirements of this section.
Um, food trucks must maintain valid um licensing required by um Florida statutes and um as well as um any licenses regarding that and insurance in order to operate um a motor vehicle within the state. All mobile food
vendors must have this name of the business clearly displayed on on the food truck. Um mobile food vendor shall be located on an improved and stylized surface of such um concrete or gravel asphalt or any similar
material. And if located within um an off street parking area, any parking spaces um used will count against the minimum parking ratio required to support the principal use of the property. It also talks about um accessory outdoor
tables, chairs, tents um must be provided in the site plan and included with any special event permit or mobile food vendor overlay district site resolution and then all the food um vending must be conducted from the food
truck. Um any of the outdoor tables or seating cannot block or otherwise impede access to any sidewalks, driveways, ADA accessible parking or fire lanes. Um and a mobile food vendor may not conduct business within 20 ft of any
fire lane or fire hydrant or fire alarm box or fire connection. It was noted to me that there was a um air between that 20 feet. In the other part of the um the amendments it says 25. So, um the actual
number for both amendments is 20 feet from any fire um lane and fire hydrant or fire alarm box or fire connection. I just wanted to make that clear. Um mobile food vendors must um provide or have available trash
recyclables which is currently marked with a sign requesting it use by patrons. against they must um be responsible for removing um any generated waste and trash um at the end of each day as well. They must also
provide adequate um waste and grease disposal um for the food truck. And um it also states that if the um the vendor does not
um does not dispose of the material properly, the um sorry I lost myself. The responsible food vendor must uh may not resume operation until an altered method of disposal has been approved if they have not done it um correctly. Um there are
um regulations about operating between dusk and dawn. Um adequate lighting must be provided if and the lighting must be directed to emulate glare from any other use. Um, no FUA shall be parked within 20 feet of any fire hydrant, fire escape, or fire control device adjacent
to any county or state roadway, road rightway without the government's approval. This is for additional requirements for undeveloped properties where mobile food dispensing vehicles are located on undeveloped properties. The following um additional requirements shall apply.
Um, the food truck unit must be set back at least 20 feet from any existing residential development and 150 ft from the nearest residential use if they're using a generator. Um, the property shall be um the property available for the mobile food dispensing vehicle shall have a
minimum area of at least 1,000 square feet for parking to accommodate at least three vehicles. And a mobile dispensing vehicle shall not be placed upon or operate from any yard required by the by the court of ordinance, any setback required by the court of ordinance, and any open space required
by the court of ordinance or any area required to be landscaped by the court of ordinance. Um, the food truck shall also not be placed or operate within any required parking spaces. Um the food the food truck um vehicle
um private owner shall be currently responsible ensuring that no litter or debris escapes the property. No solid or fluid remains on the ground after removal of the mobile food truck other than clean water. Wheels cannot be removed and the mobile food
dispensing vehicle shall always be capable of being driven from the location at the conclusion of its allied hours of operation. No vehicle skirting or other elaboration indicating permanent location shall be allowed and all sound
and smoke shall confirm to town county if applicable state laws um and shall otherwise not create a nuance to neighboring properties. Mobile food dispensing vehicles shall only set up and operate between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and
7 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and shall be removed outside of those hours. That's something to definitely think about if that's some um if that's a regulation that you want to
um consider or if there's anything um within those regulations that you see that might not fit um what the town is looking for. That's one of my questions that I have for you today. um because
um as you all live here um you know what the what the community wants and needs. So um I am going to be looking for direction on that later as we um finish our discussion. any dispensing of food or beverage of
any type not regulated um in this code and not regulated by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations as a move food dispensing vehicle shall require prior review and approval of the town manager and licensing or permitting as required by town code of ordinance.
Um, food trucks are prohibited from the following. Selling or distributing alcoholic beverages, selling or dispensing food to customers in a moving vehicle, otherwise engaging in drive up sales. Other general regulations is um
it shall not exceed a width um and 24 feet in length including the length of any trailer, hitch, and trailer. Awnings may extend up to five feet outwards from the mobile food truck, but in no case shall a mobile food dispensing vehicle and in the
extension exceed a total of 15 in width except for portable seating removed after closing. Shall be um shall be self-contained when operating including all utilities, power, water, cooking, fuel sources. Um
it shall not impede free movement of automobiles or pedestrians. No more than one food truck dispensing vehicle shall operate on any property at any one time unless as part of a special event. U mobile food trucks operating at a site for a duration of more than 3 hours
shall have a written agreement available upon request which confirms that the employees have access to a restroom within 300 ft of the operation. Um the mobile food um dispensing vehicle shall be operated only by the move food
um dispensing vehicle vendor and then um mobile food trucks may display one fully movable menu or display board not to exceed square um four square feet of display space on either side. The menu or display board must not be located more than 5t from the mobile food truck
or it designated pedestrian path. And then they should also comply with any and all applicable signage regulations in the town of court of warnings. For special events um such as food truck rallies, an owner and authorized agent of property may apply
for a food truck special events permit under this section and to allow food trucks to operate on the property in a greater number than allowed under this section. Um for public property, a special events permit is required for any food truck to operate on town owned property or on public rideway. And then
um for the permit, the application for the permit shall include a um site sketch drawn to scale that includes and propo it includes the dimensions in the proposed location of the food truck. um special event area, all entrances and exits of the pro property, parking area,
um loading zones, fire hydrants, all the information reasonable in order for the town to review. Um the provisions of this section are an additional and supplemental means of enforcing the town's code of ordinance and nothing contained in the section shall prohibit the town from enforcing its code of
ordinance by any other means. Regarding what will be required um for documentation, the applicant shall submit a site plan showing the proposed location of the food truck and any necessary components. Um the applicant shall also submit written
consent from the property owner which authorizes the food truck use and guarantees access to permanent bathroom facilities on site and provides shelter in place. The applicant shall also submit in documentation of days of operation and hours as part of the application and prohibit locations um
for mobile food vendors must not be located within um street rightway or easement unless approved by a special event permit within a any required preserved or landscape buffer or within 50 ft of any single family residential law unless separating screen by a
minimum of six foot um wall or fence. So, um that was basically the all the proposed amendments for for um for food trucks. And
um we I just kind of want to go over um basically that um again Florida law allows us to regulate through zoning um food trucks and require um special approval to operate as a primary use. Um
this ensures community input and compatibility with surrounding uses. Uh regarding enforcement and documentation, the proposal does include um operational rules, setbacks, sound lighting, and waste management among others. Uh required documentation includes the site
plan, proof of restroom access, property owner's consent, and days and hours of operation. This helps with um accountability and coordination. And regarding um the legal framework, um I know that was a question um in the last meeting.
Um, under Florida statutes 509.102, um, we cannot require separate business licenses or fees for food trucks on private property. Um, we can regulate location, zoning, operating hours and impacts. We can require um, conditional
use permit, site plan review, and charge fees for those zoning based processes. Um, and I have more information on that as well if you have any questions. But basically, um, these amendments aim to create more of a fair and enforcable path for food trucks, um, to operate in
the town. Um, and at this time, I can probably take any questions you would have. I I have just a number of minor questions. First off, I want to thank you and and the team for such a thorough review and a very comprehensive plan.
It's very impressive and I I thank you for that. Um and and I mine is reading through all the text and the changes. So, this will kind of be to both of you and the attorney. Um I wonder on page 71 where under the definition we say public
place means if we need to add the word and parking lots. So, we talk about without limitation, schools, parks, roadways, sidewalks, public buildings, and playgrounds. It seems the word parking lot should be in there, too. Um
um so public place, the way it's written now, that's already in your code of ordinance, that there's nothing being changed to that. Um what is being um proposed and changes was actually underlined in the staff report. Um,
but I guess whenever we change the um, we can go ahead. We're going to change it if there's something that's missing before something for consideration. Um, so add and parking lots to public places. I I just think it helps to and parking lots. Okay, we kind of list
everything else but not the parking lot. Um, and then I just kind of want clarification on some. So, it's our our package 72 where it talks about um fairs and festivals and we name some
right we name but should we also add the farmers market in there or is that because it's on private property that we don't need that. So, I'm just trying to make sure that we cover, you know, our Saturday farmers market
um properly in here. And then clarification, does a mobile food dispensing vehicle include trailers? Because we keep talking trucks, trucks, trucks, and you know, we have trailers that come in, they'll back it in, and then the truck will leave,
but the trailer will be the food dispensing. So yeah, that's actually the conveyance the where they're selling the food from whether it's a enclosed trailer because I know there's some that have like the barbecue spots where it's just like it's kind of
open so it kind of it's it's all included in that. Okay. Just want to make sure that there's no concern by us constantly using the word truck. Well, the actual word is mobile food dispensing vehicle. Okay. Um, and can I
go back to your to your question about um adding the the farmers um market? So, right now um how does the farmers market operate? Do they have a special event permit? It's all private, right? Okay. So, then they would have to
come forward with a um a special approval to allow for food trucks at the for farmers market because um this one is addressing exemptions. your your comment on adding the farmers market was under the exemptions. Is that
correct? Oh, yeah. I see what you're saying. It's under the exemptions. Yeah. So, I wouldn't include it there because they wouldn't be exempt from getting um Okay. Okay. Okay. So, that answers that question. I just wanted to make sure that I answer your questions. Yeah. I appreciate that.
And then I'm still not clear on the vacant lots or undeveloped lots as a primary use. So if we have a vacant lot in town that somebody owns, they can set up a food truck there if it's under these regulations. If it's
um commercial or industrial and again that's up to the town if that's something you wanted to include from the direction from um the April meeting. you all wanted to see all the different options and so that was um listed as
one. Again, that's something if you all agree and say we don't want that, then that can be removed. And if you do uh want to allow it, these are the the regulations that we just went through apply to that as well.
Okay. And then I'm not clear on this. You can park on parking spaces count. area and and maybe we need to go back to that one. It's like it's like if a business owns parking spots but out on
the street they can park a food food truck. Basically, if a a business has um their parking spaces, they and they have enough parking spaces to to meet the parking requirements for their business and to have the food truck, then the
food truck would be allowed to park within the parking spaces. Do do we have then anywhere for on Inner Lake and Maine business owned parking spots that a food truck could park in? Good evening, Dana Redell, town
planner. Hi. Yes. So, some businesses do and some businesses don't. That might be something worth looking into in terms of amending our text. There was a period of time where the town was very staunch that they wanted businesses on Maine and
Inner Lake to provide the required number of parking spaces for their buildings on the town like on their property. Over the years, that outlook may have changed. So, we just approved Miller's AC, which has some parking
spaces on their property, and they were also allowed to develop a number of parking spaces in the right of way. Um, so to what Miss Brenda is saying is if a business is required to have 20 parking
spaces and a food truck, they have 20 20 parking spaces only. they meet that minimum requirement and a food truck takes up one of those 20 required parking spaces, then they could not locate their food truck in that parking
space because they no longer would meet the requirement for minimum parking. Correct? So, in the case of something like Journal Plaza, I would have to go back and look at the parking resolution to determine whether or not
this qualifies as a change of use because there's something in our code that says if you are in a historic district, which again, language very vague. We don't have one established. If you are in a historic district, you
can come before the town council and ask for deviation from the parking requirements to respect the characteristics of what was originally there. So, Journal Plaza built in 1920. Um, they said we can't put any parking
spaces on site. We could fit a a loading area in the rear, but we can't fit any parking spaces on site. Um, you know, the town agreed to a parking resolution that said, "We will
allow you to build build out the journal plaza for these uses and add phase two of the journal plaza for these uses. And we will not require any parking on site. But if you intensify or change those
uses, then we need to revisit your resolution for parking. So this it will affect different properties in different ways depending on what agreements and resolutions they have in
place. So it's complex. So then um based off that information and what's being proposed um there is the option of because the way it's written it says um the amount of parking um you should not result in a
reduction of the number available off streetet parking required to support the principal use. Um we could if that's something that you would like to see is that it's um up for approval whether they would be allowed to um get a
reduction. You could do it as a case by case um approval you know review of the situation of the business and the food truck. May I I'd say 90 to 95% of our businesses have
no private parking. It's all in the right of way. Walgreens and the bank on 27 have their own parking facilities, which would comply with what councilwoman said, but most of them have zero. So the question, I think, is whether or not you're going to allow
them park in a public rideway in a parking space in front of their business. I think your ordinance says they can, doesn't it? or does it prohibit use of parking spaces? Um, no. You they can you they can park in in in um in public parking spaces.
There you go. But um but it says that it has to um the parking that's available has to meet the parking requirement for the principal use. And that's where the change can happen where um there could be a a reduction in parking if if you
feel like that would one um but isn't that private parking? What is it? But isn't that private parking on their private property you're referring to? Yes. And I'm saying in most cases that doesn't exist at all.
Brenda is saying that if you have agreed with businesses to allow them to use off- streetet parking instead of on street parking, you can encumber that as part of your parking resolution. And I also believe, if I understand correctly,
that this ordinance is providing for the ability to park in town rights away in two different ways, not just outright. One way is through the overlay district, which I have a question about we can get to. Um, and the other way is through
special events, but as the way this ordinance is written right now, it does not allow for someone to pull up to a parking space in the town right away and utilize it for a food truck without being in the overlay district or without
being part of a special event. That's very helpful because that that's my concern is on Inner Lake, the two main streets where there's a lot of pedestrian and vehicle traffic and people trying to get in and out, it's a
big food truck there. So, so what you've just explained, if if that's what this saying throughout, it's the event or um or on private property or in your own lot, right? A separate lot that someone has it.
And then the other question of course is the 3:00 a.m. is is to closing at you know 7 pm and that's for general discussion because I know people you know for dinner coming home might grab something in that. And then the 3:00 a.m. is of curiosity. I don't know that anybody
would be visiting a food truck at 3:00 am. Um and then my very last is on the insurance. Is assurance something that we could put as the required documentation? That's been my concern all along is insurance properly insured to make sure
that the town's properly insured. All regulations um for licensing and insurance and um the way the food trucks um is operating is um preempted to the state. But they could drop their insurance or
it could get cancelled or no that I don't know the process for the state to regulate that. Um I mean as part of required documentation you can provide that they are in compliance with state law. Um
that could be included in in um in the required documentation. As far as enforcing that, I'm not sure how the town would go about um regulating if they have insurance constantly. I'm not
I'm pretty sure that's covered by the state, right? And if they if they drop their insurance, they're no longer qualified by the state to operate the food truck. I'm guessing it kind of works the same same as like um your vehicle registration. Exactly. Yeah.
That's all covered by the state. Yeah. And just for clarification on page seven of nine under 15, Mhm. you talk about mobile units can operate between 7 a.m. and 700 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday
and 7 to 3:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Is that 7 a.m. or 7 p.m.? It's 7 a.m. I think what should be added just for clarification? Yes, I I made a note and that's um the direction again that I stated that was one of the questions
that I had for all of you. That was something that you were okay with um with times. Where does the 3:00 a.m. come from? There's um there's municipalities that allow for up to 3:00 a.m. Um just because depending on the type of atmosphere they have. They have
people they have events later at night that close till 12:00 a.m. Then they um then they have food trucks that are available to two or three. Again, it's it's a discretion up to you. I think in Lake Placid we could make it
to 9:30 and it would be fine. 9:30 p.m. No, I'm just teasing. But I I really don't see a need for 3:00 a.m. Do you? No, that's just it's probably bars close at 2 and grab something to eat on the way home, but I don't see our
environment like that. No, I I think um can we say something generic like consistent with closing time of surrounding businesses? Can we do that? keep it nebulous like that or or do you stay with or do you
just kind of remove it and then have when they come with the permit you would review the their proposed hours we have to review everyone what did you say about noise ordinance or do you stay consistent with the noise ordinance I don't know how
noisy picking up and I'm sorry do 10 p.m. I mean, yeah. I mean, it would do 10. Is that the limit of the noise? Nine. Is it nine? Dana, do you have any comments on that? Um, I understand
council's, you know, quandry here. Um, maybe I would recommend midnight. I mean, I think I guess where I would be coming from with that comment is although we don't currently have that
atmosphere, there is a desire to bring more nightife to downtown and no, you know, I'll be careful with that. We don't want clubs. We know that, you know, we don't want loud noises and things that could create nuisances. But I think there's been a drive in the way
that our community is going is that we're getting closer and closer with these nighttime markets to having um the opportunity for businesses to have economic development at night. So, um you know, I think 10:00 would be
sufficient. I think midnight would be sufficient. I understand we really don't need people out in the streets at 3:00 a.m. So, like my mom says, nothing good happens after midnight. Oh, I'd just like to ask our chief uh how do you feel about that?
I would have to say that if we are going to have a noise ordinance in place that that sets a limit at 900 p.m. that we should probably do the same thing with our food trucks as well to stay consistent across the board. But then this is more like a
restaurant. Yeah. But it's an outdoor restaurant. So, I mean, if you figure at if they close at 9:00, they have four hours to clean up. They're still going to be cleaning up at 1:00. So, they're still going to be around. Not that they could do any sales at that point, but um
I I think at this at this point in time that 9:00 p.m. is enough. And if it comes, like Dana said, down the road that we have more people wanting to stay later, then we can come back and revisit that time for the weekend. But um I I
would propose to change that to 9 7 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on weekends, Friday and Saturday. Wouldn't we make it easy on ourselves and just make Sunday through Thursday the same? Just just have the same times and
it would it would close at seven though. No. So Sunday through We can say what time? Saturday. I like midnight. I like to to plan for for the future. Oh, I see what you're saying. I'm just saying that rather than just these are the hours 7 to 9. Yeah, I would do midnight, but
that's midnight. Okay. Well, I need a a consensus. Other words, you got to do an ordinance change every time you want to change the time. Yeah. Good point. And and if they're making noise, they get a code violation, right, for noise. So, so what is the the direction of of the
whole board? Midnight or 9:00? What was it from? Um I didn't make a note of it. What was it from Monday through Thursday? 7 to 7. 7 to 7. And then on the weekends it's 7 to 3. But I hear to make it 7 to I would do 7 to
midnight. 7 to midnight. And if after 9:00 I mean the restaurants, you know, some open till 10:00. Um some close earlier, some aren't open for dinner. But if it's a noise issue with them, then they get a code violation. It's just that'll save us in the future from
coming back and changing again. And they don't have to stay open till midnight. It allows them to. Right. If they're sales are dropping off at 9:00, they can close. Right. Correct. All right. I'm good with that. Okay. You guys good with that? Yeah. I
The 3:00 a.m. did not work for me. So, whatever you all agree with, whether it's um 9:00, 10:00, irrelevant. Okay. I have it to change from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. Monday through Sunday.
Any other questions or comments? Yeah, I I have some, but you want to take it down the row or I was just going to say I think you've done a great job on on all of this. you covered, as far as I can see, you've covered all the points that we brought up, all the points that were brought up
in the in the workshop, and you've done a great job with all that. I appreciate the um clarifying the 20 ft from the fire lane because it said 20 and 25, so it's up to 20. Thank you. And um I think it's really I think it's a good a good a
good piece of work. Thank you, Miss Torres. I'm sorry. I have one question if the council will allow. Um, for the overlay district, it states here that the council would create the overlay district by resolution. Is that something the Central Florida Regional
Planning Council intends to come back and help create with them or will that be an exercise performed by the town staff? I would hope that would be just council. it. Um we are more than welcome to assist in that and identifying public um
locations and then creating that overlay um providing that a mapping and then uh signing the regulations that are laid out here. So just with your direction we can um that can be next followed by the next
steps. Okay. Appreciate that. Okay. Yeah. I have a five what? Five things. Go ahead. Um there are no provisions in here for enforcement or penalties for violations
there. that there isn't not that I saw. So, um the only thing I saw in there was if there were violations, um they would have to cease sales within like that that was like for grease and
discharge and so forth. That that was in that's in here somewhere, right? Yeah. But then there's no like Okay, so you got to cease operations. Um, the old one was set up, I think there was like a $500 fine and so forth. And it was clear that you had to cease selling or I think we
were going on the train that you would cease selling immediately and then you had a set time to pack up and leave and then you would not be invited back. It said in there as well, right? So, I mean, given your direction, we
could definitely lay out um uh amendments to address um code enforcement violation. Um with the and we can work with Dana and the um town manager for that.
Um could you provide a little bit more as to what you would like to see within those amendments? Okay. I'm trying to remember what it was. Were you given our original documents, our draft? Yes, I think it was in there. Okay. So, um I do
remember we had um like violation one and there was like violation two, but we have I can go more in depth as to what that means. And um and but you mean you regarding code
enforcement, when would you like for it to to um regarding like if they're not I'm trying to understand if they're in violation of what would you like for them? Okay, let's pick anything. Let's say they have
uh garbage blowing around. Um let's say they're we put ever on your restrictions violating in that one. We do have um a regulation that they have to um adequately address their waste and
grease disposal and that they um would be stopped for three days I believe. No, I didn't see that. Um let's try to find it. Okay. because I know like where they're parked and their plan would be reviewed first
so that they so they couldn't be in non-compliance with that. But regarding um adjusting their their waist, I think it's number eight. Well, I just picked that as one example, right? But let's say there's there are multiple things
they're required to do or not to do if they violate X whatever item. I didn't see other there was no monetary penalty and I Well, I know that they would be um in code violation. I'm not sure what your
code um violation requirements and processes are um regarding violations, but I mean we could include those as part of the amendments. So, usually code enforcement violations infractions and
penalties are not included as part and the town attorney might disagree with me. They're not necessarily included in each part of the ordinance. They should be inserted into the code enforcement nuisance portion of the code. And
usually when the Central Florida Regional Planning Council puts together text amendments and things like that, what I've seen in my experience is town and city attorneys are the ones to come in and add additional language regarding penalties and violations into the code
enforcement section of the code. Okay. So, um, okay. So, be covered elsewhere. Um, and then you have, um, there's nothing here on, um, prohibiting amplified music. I mean, we have the the
the noise ordinance, but it's I mean, they could have something blurring up till 900 p.m. I think that would just have to call fall under the noise ordinance and be enforced by the by the code enforcement
officer of the police department. Yeah. Chief the noise ordinance as it stands right now, if we begin to enforce that during the day. Um, just to give you an equivalent, uh,
it states 65 dB. 65 dB is equivalent to a conversation in a restaurant. So, if someone runs a vacuum during the day, it's over 65 dB. We would have to sight them for that. So, it's kind of
uninforcable as it stands currently. So, we need to address the noise ordinance with reference to the town. That's Yes, that's a town thing. That's not a county thing. It's a town thing that's more restricted. We mirrored the county's ordinance. So, we pretty much
mirror what they have in place as well. Okay. Is it 65 dB in the county as the last time I read it? Yes. Okay. It's been a while since I've read the counties. Yeah, I haven't looked at it either.
Okay. Um then this is kind of just I don't know if it's word smithing or it's my reading it wrong, but on page uh three of nine, the first paragraph talks about transient merchant. Then halfway through that paragraph, it says
um describes everything so on so forth. Uh such goods within the town and leases, uses or occupies any building or structure that's not transient. Where is that Joy? Okay. On on the top
of page three of nine, the first paragraph, halfway through, it's describing it. It's describing the defining transient merchant, but halfway through the description, it sounds like it's talking about a permanent
a building or structure, I guess, because um they it's it's without a permanent business like they come in and can rent, lease or occupy any building, but it's not for a permanent
um time or they come temporary. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's it's just it's including all of that because I can say, "Okay, I'm going to rent this location for a month for this for a I don't know like a month-long festival." And then
they pack up and and go. Okay. Okay. I think it might be worth uh looking at adding a time frame to that. Like so for example, the farmers market does have a lease and I've had that conversation
with them where they feel like they're permanent business, but the only time you'll be able to catch them there is on a Saturday. Um, so I think it would strengthen this definition if a time frame were added. So like a short-term
rental on the residential side is three months or less. That might we might want to look at that time frame for something like this. Okay. Okay. Um Okay. Moving on to page five of nine. The uh item
four. Mobile food vendors should be located on an improved stabilized surface. I think we want that to be shall be or must be. Which number did you say? Number four. C4.
Okay. Yeah. I'll make a note. Okay. Thank you. Um and then many places you talk about um proximity to um fire lanes, fire hydrants and so forth. And unless I missed it, there's nothing in there
about distance from crosswalks or intersections. Um I think there is a requirement, I'm not sure which one, but about that it cannot impede pedestrian or um vehicle access. cover it. The distances from crosswalks,
stop signs, and intersections are all covered in Florida state statute on how far they can set up to. Okay. Um, and I don't know how council feels about u the 50-foot setback from existing residential. Now, we know it
has to be uh commercial or um industrial, but how do you feel about 50 ft from an existing residential? Is that from the property line or from the home? Pardon? Is that from the
property line or from the home? From the property line. Just to share some anecdotal information. A couple years ago when the Caladium Festival was occurring, there was a complaint from a residence
where the food trucks that year were parked near residential lots and the generator had to be running 24 hours and it was a loud generator and that homeowner was not pleased to have that in their vicinity. The current um proposed regulations say
if they're running on a generator, it's 150 ft. Oh, good. Okay. Oh, I see it. Thank you. Um and if you want to change the 50 ft um from residential um you can provide
that direction as well. Okay. And then in our draft, um, we had that if it's on a vacant and unimproved lot that there had to be a driveway apron so it didn't, uh, degrade the road
that you wanted to be required. I would think so. That was a suggestion that they just don't drive off the road onto they don't just drive off the road onto a vacant lot. That there has to be a a driveway apron. Would that be part of the stabilized
surface requirement? It could be. I think the point is if you have commercial zoning for a brickandmortar facility, you require paved parking and of course an apron under that paved parking. Would you
treat a mobile facility differently? The the parking would would still apply. the off streetet parking um improvements would probably still apply. So dustless surface off- streetet parking for three
spaces if you want to put it on private property. Correct. So then we I would I could include to add a driveway as part of the it isn't the challenge here and I think the point that's a valid one that we
talk about a vacant lot an unimproved vacant lot that may be commercial but people just start pulling in and out in and out in and out to park for the truck. then you start breaking down the edge of the road which is our cost.
So whether it's an actual paved driveway or some type of you know call it apron that they put down to protect the road. I think it's also a fairness issue. If you require a brick and mortar to do
certain things, why would you not require the mobile? He that that lets him out of it raises the cost for brick and mortar to his detriment. I would even include the requirement for
landscaping of those parking areas because the purpose of landscaping and canopy tree coverage is to lower the ambient temperature. Our parking areas are required to be a hard dustless surface. So, while this will allow the food truck to go over gravel, the parking area itself will be over
asphalt, millings, um, concrete, some kind of pavement. So, to Bert's point, if we require brick and mortars to provide some of those same elements to use a vacant
lot for the purpose of food trucks, a commercial use, it should be prepared for commercial use. Okay. Um, okay. The last the last thing is that um and that's just word smithing. I
think some there's some redundancy um that like item 10, item six. Um I think it was page four. They seem to be be repeating themselves.
Um, yeah, number 13 is the same as E4. Maybe condense it. Um, which page were you referring to? Okay, let me see what is [Music] um Okay. on
page six of nine. Item [Music] 10 is redundant with six I believe on above above. Yeah. And but that's for um outdoor tables and seating. And this
one is for the food truck itself. Okay. But they both mentioned like 25 ft from a fire hydrant alarm box. so on and so forth. There are different categories, but maybe just move that to general requirements to to to um
condense the text. That's it. Sorry for being so picky. No, you're fine. That's all. administrator and I were thinking you guys might want to talk about food tents as well. For example, if you're putting
a commercial lot uncleared and parking a truck on it, at times that truck becomes a tent or could be a tent. I believe we have m mainly those in special events. I see them a lot. Are you going to treat them
differently? I've seen it particularly lately um in the city of Sebring. I'm not very good with directions, but Dana, you may be able to help me with this. They they set up um they have the downtown area, but there is a parking lot that they have
it's just an open field. You know what I'm And that's what they set up. It's like 8 or 12 and there's a lady who coordinates it and that's what they're using it for. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. At the cottage food marketing. It's like a It's like a
farmers market in a way. um this would um so it wouldn't be necessarily a food truck. Um it would probably fall under those same way that your farmers market was um approved and set up.
Um not sure Dana what do you think about which circles back to the farmers market was never approved. It never went through any process and was never set up correctly. So the only mechanism we have to regulate farmers market in the town of Lake Placid is our requirements for
flea markets which was the intention when that code was established based on the minutes I was able to locate there. It was um indicated in those minutes that when multiple food tents or any
type of tent, multiple vendors come together using their 10x10 tents, they're supposed to obtain a flea market license from the town. It's supposed to be $100 a year and $10 per
vendor. And I believe there's some heartburn over whether or not that should be followed in our code because there's about three paragraphs. Each paragraph is about two sentences each. There's no definition for flea market. Um that is
certainly something that I think should be addressed. I don't know if that's something the regional planning council would be willing to do as part of the this round of revisions for food trucks. Main thing I'd like to see is don't put tent stakes down in our parking lot
asphalt. Go ahead, Janet. I was just going to say I know that this is one of the topics that Jennifer and I discussed before, so you may just need to clear it with her. Yes. And that was going to be the comment that I was going to make. I could definitely circle back and um run it with Jennifer and see if that's
something that we can um work on and um and we'll work with you to to get that going. Would that be in here or a separate one? That would I it would be separate. I was going to say it would it should it should be separate, I believe. However,
I want to I want to cl we need to clarify that with Jennifer because she did say that in some of the areas if it falls within our downtown revitalization plan that they may be able to address some of those amendments. So, this may be one that she might look at. Okay. Can't say for sure because today this
goes beyond the farmers market, right? On Wednesday's windown Wednesday, there are the tents up at Journal Plaza and we all like them, right? So we, you know, we want to make sure that we've got the right um language to allow that, right?
The right mechanism in place. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Okay. Anything else? Nothing else you do. All right. Thank you.
Thank you so much. We appreciate you. Okay, we'll go to 2B. Town code test text amendment options for council consideration. Good evening, Redell. Good evening, um, town planner, for the record, my name is
Dana Redell. At our last meeting, there was a discussion where there was an acknowledgement that many of our codes need revisiting. I put together a brief list of some of these codes. that I've noticed in my experience are
out of compliance with Florida statute, may be difficult to enforce when it comes to code enforcement, or uh provide inconsistencies between policies, procedures,
or our relationship with Highlands County. This is a very high level list. There's a lot more that we could go into. This overlaps to some degree
with one of our very last uh agenda items. If you want to pull this and come back, we can do that. Um, but part of the reason I wanted to get council's approval in moving forward with any of these things is, you know, I've submitted an RFP.
So it includes the daily daytoday planning and zoning responsibilities which is essentially what has been occurring for since 2006 since the county took over the planning and zoning for the town of Lake Placid. there really hasn't
been um major updates to our code of ordinances because everyone is trying to keep up with the dayto-day which is also where I stand. I'm happy to do the dayto-day for the town as well as
provide some of these updates. So, I just want to be clear that when we engage in in these updates, there's a separate hourly fee for them. um I I have to bring in help in order to get some of the research done and to
secure some of the time to make sure that we're we're bringing together fruitful amendments to our code. So that's particularly one of the reasons why I want to make sure that we're all on the same page. I'm not wasting council's time. I'm not wasting our town
administrator's time and that we're all on the same page. Um, so I'll just give maybe a very brief, you know, I have 17 items here. So I'll give a very brief overview of maybe why some of these things I found to be important, why I prioritized them
in the way that I did. Um, one thing I noticed in our town code, starting at number one, is we don't in our town code have a requirement for building permits. We do have we have adopted the Florida building code and in a review of our
interlocal agreement with the county, the building official um is responsible for the enforcement of the Florida building code. Just in my experience in working with the county between the county and the town,
sometimes it can be hard to coordinate in that way. So, this would be a very simple one paragraph amendment to our code requiring building permits for new construction additions and things like that. Something that mirrors Highlands
Countyy's code, Highlands County's code. So that way if our code enforcement is quicker and able to get to that property first, they can be one of the first ones to respond when someone's uh building without a permit.
storm water management. It's come to my attention that we are under the county's MS4 permit, which is a storm water management permit. Um, as some of you may have read, I have a technical adviser that works with me. His name is Jeff Kennedy.
One of his suggestions is that the town gets their own MS4 permit because it's not too difficult to do. I don't know if I take that same stance because if we fall under the counties right now and they're taking care of some of our storm water needs,
then maybe we should just align with them for the time being. But for there was an example where when I was doing code enforcement and they said, "Hey, look, our code enforcement is trying to enforce these NPDES requirements, which
are storm water requirements in the town." and our town attorney says we can't do that because it's a different jurisdiction even though it's our code. So then when I went into our code to try to enforce the same regulations, we didn't have them. So I'd like to probably just take
them over from the county. I'd review them, make sure that they're a good fit for the town, make sure there's nothing we shouldn't take over, or maybe add our own requirements and tweak them a little bit to make sure we're in compliance with the state and and those
things. Concurrency management standards gives me really bad heartburn. So concurrency is when a new commercial development comes into town and there we're all ensuring that they meet the level of service
requirements. That means we're saying yes, we do indeed have enough water and wastewater to serve this development. Yes, our roads can handle this amount of traffic. Um yes, we you are going to contribute the appropriate amount of parks and
recreation. And our code lists the building, the Highlands County building official as the regulating entity for this. And it also requires um many inventories, which we do not have and I have never seen in my tenure as town
planner. Not that some of these inventories aren't a good idea. I think they are, but they're um might be a better way to go about concurrency. And again, because we have adopted portions of Highlands County's code for commercial review, that might
be something we take from them for the most part, but I have some tweaks because we have our own utilities. So, I would probably take some of their language again, make a couple tweaks, and go from there. Criteria for zoning, future land
use, special exception, etc. Um, this worries me because there's case law that basically says if you make a ruling for special exceptions, future land use changes, zoning changes, and you don't have
standards in your code that establish standards for how you're going to make this decision, a court of law can consider any of the decisions we make as arbitrary and overrule them. Now, in my staff report, I include
standards, the same standards that Jim Laroo started pre206. We could probably use some brushing up on that, insert actual standards in our code to make sure we're being fair across the board and we don't find ourselves in any trouble. Regulations for RV
parking/overnight stays. This is um this isn't something that plagues the town very often where we have people staying in RVs, but it is something that does happen and we should have some kind of standard. We don't have any standards
for it really. um when it it talks about you know no parking in in flood zones and there are times when like the caladium festival I think the drag boat race there's been times in the history of the town of Lake Placid that we've kind of allowed it we should probably
just get something in writing regulations for docks boat houses and seaw walls we don't have anything in our code regarding that we've leaned on the county's code for that it'd be great if we adopted something into our own code. Um, I'm
sure as a lot of you are aware, we don't stop people from from putting those up. Um, but again, we need to have our own standards. And I'm also not sure that I'm in agreement with the county standards on
that because there's a Florida statute regulation that says we cannot require permitting through the state in order to issue our permits, which is the way that their boat dock policy is worded. I hope I'm not opening cans of
worms for every worm all over the place. Um, and then we also have boat docks as a permitted use in residential districts. So, this was brought to my attention a couple years ago as well that most times boat docks are accessory
uses to residential uses or maybe even commercial uses. And I'm not opposed to allowing uh boat docks as a commercial use like you know for the water parks that are coming and things like that if someone has a commercial property and wants to
use them that way. Um, but what you could potentially run into when you say a boat, a boat house or a dock is allowed before a house means someone can use that property, come
every weekend, enjoy themselves, play music, um, not have appropriate garbage disposal. So, I would like to move that into being an accessory use as opposed to a primary
use. Sign code updates for compliance with the First Amendment. That is something we've discussed in the past. Um, I've I've rated that a little lower, kind of mid, only because I think that that might fall into some of the changes
that might be proposed, okay, in our downtown redevelopment district. So, I might not actually encourage that at this time. I do consider it like higher priority, but it really might not be for me to follow right now. So, I'm going to cross that out. Fences for vacant lots, safety and
security, not open yard storage. Our code only talks about fences in the way of open yard storage. It doesn't address fencing for safety and security. Um, I think we should have the discussion as to whether or not we want people to have
fences in our C2 district, which is our downtown inner lake in Maine, if we want them to be able to fence the front of their property. um or some of the things we have even going on on US 27 home occupation. In 2021, there were
updates to Florida statutes regarding home occupation. Our code is not in compliance with that. There were also updates regarding temporary shelter after a storm to that were required to allow people to stay in temporary
trailers and RVs like FEMA trailers after a storm. We just don't have any regulations for that. That was also brought to my attention. Highlands County has adopted some regulations and it's really just a process thing. We'd like to make sure they fill out the form. Um I know of one property where
someone may have been living in an RV for a very extended period of time and they claim it's you know from a storm and I don't have any way of documenting that. Architectural design standards as council is aware we almost all projects in the last couple years have been
having difficulty meeting those. So, we could amend them to I think my suggestion is probably to not necessarily take away our design standards, but add more options for visual interest and not limit people to 30% glazing or 100 square feet of a
porch. Um, there there's other things like trelluses they could add or maybe even decrease from the 30%. I've been starting to ask developers like, "What do you think is an appropriate amount?" and they just keep saying 30% is really
steep. Setback requirements, corner lot setbacks, they contradict themselves. In the code, it says one thing in one area and then in another area it says on a corner lot, the rear 50t have to be 5t away from the lot line and then the
first 20 feet of the lot. I couldn't expect anyone to be able to understand that. I think we should amend that for clarity. Historic district. Something before my time was accidentally removed from the code regarding setbacks for the
historic district. I'd like to put that back in. Then there's also setbacks for functional classifications. Meaning if we know, this is an example, I don't actually have anything like this going on. If we know US27 is going to widen
their lanes and that eventually the goal is that they're going to have to acquire property from the property owner on US 27, but we allow them to build a structure on the lot line and then later come back and say, "Well, we really need
this. We're going to eminent domain you and it's not just going to be your parking lot we're taking. It's going to be half your building." So, it's saying, "Put your structure back." A requirement to put your structure back. So, in the
future when the town comes in and says, "We need to purchase this land from you, we're not destroying their entire business." Could I add one to that? Sure. If I may, the county adopted an ordinance or I
think they were considering it doing a similar provision for collect major and minor collectors. You might put that on the list for discussion for the same reasons. Yes. And this is um coming from that
discussion. Administrative variances. I think previous councils really liked to make sure everything came before them and I am 100% willing to continue that if that's town council's decision. But it might be
worth looking at the code again and saying, you know, if they if a car wash can't put a front porch on the front of their car wash, maybe we'll allow town staff to give them deviation from that
requirement as opposed to coming to town council accessory dwelling units. On Wednesday, I attend a legislative wrapup. So I don't know the final outcome of this and this legislative season has been extended by 30 days but
there was discussion that that they might preempt or require that um like single family residential lots allow for accessory dwelling units which is kind of like a guest home but just
one step further because you can rent it out to anyone. doesn't have to be a family member or something that you don't rent. So, I'm I put that lower because I'm not sure if that's going to become a Florida statute requirement or not. But either way, we can look at it. The LPRP, so I have that low on the
list only because we are going, you know, through the ISBA process and the EAR process and that is going to come out in the wash in the end. Um, if council, you know, immediately just said enough is enough. I can't stand the way this is. I'm happy to amend that, but we
can come back to that fertilizer ordinance. Again, very happy to do this. I just have it lower because all of these other items have Florida statute implications as and case law implications that just worry me a little
bit. And then I only have food trucks on there as an acknowledgement that that's something that needs to be worked on. Obviously, the Central Florida Regional Planning Council is doing a wonderful job. So, that's just easy to cross off. But, um, that gives you like a taste of some
of the text amendments that we need. And with council's permission, I would like to move forward with the first five or so. And I discussed with the town administrator, and I'm sorry I didn't print it out. I actually created a chart
for you all to kind of understand what the process looks like. It's very It's exactly like running a zoning change or future land use change. It's going to require two hearings before town council.
Um certain and I will let town council guide me on this, but certain requirements if they fall under our land development regulations should really go to to the LPA. But like storm water
management, I could skip LPA and bring it right to town council or I can run through LPA. You think I'm wrong on that one, Bert? What are you thinking of doing? I thought we got we're getting a grant for storm
water planning. I think until then we should probably adopt the county's standards because we fall under their MS4 permit. I'd have to look at those standards before I agreed or disagreed. I'm sorry, but Right. I I agree. We need storm
water something. I just don't know where you're headed. Yeah, it's worth a discuss. All of this is worth the discussion. You bet. Um, but I'm just saying in terms of polic uh procedure of how we proceed, if the opportunity arises where maybe we don't have to take things to
LPA, does town council want to proceed on the fastest route and then most of these actually almost all of them. So, I think the downtown redesign that Central Florida
Regional Planning Council is doing is going to be very publicly oriented. You know, we need that stakeholder input. Most of these things here are just regulatory in
nature. Um, might not I don't foresee the public wanting that much of a seat at the table. Obviously, if they if they do, we can revisit that. But my timeline wouldn't necessarily include public workshops for
these and again saving time for time and money for the town. But if there's items that town council say no, I you know, a member of the public has approached me, this is really needing a further discussion, then we do that 100%. So my comments are if something
should go to LPA, I'd like it to go to LPA. I don't want to start jumping over them. Um, and so I'm not smart enough to know which ones require LPA or not. I'll leave that up to you. Um, just as we're all of these are great and I appreciate
your list of things that we need to do and I appreciate the expertise that you bring um, and your dedication to the town. My question as we talk about priorities would be some of them you said are in Highlands County already.
Couldn't we and and I'm I'm brainstorming, you know, put them lower because we can revert to there's already an ordinance there that we should fall under unless we have something written that's more stringent. So, so that's kind of where
as we start to figure out, yeah, I want them all done, Dana, but then where do we start? Are there some that could be pushed further down because we can rely on the county's um ordinance that they have in place?
So, the items that I've added to this list are items that were not adopted by the Bullard ordinance. So, we might be leaning on the county's code, but there's nothing that gives us authority to lean on the county's code. It's been
a default setting where years and years of planners have said, "Ah, this application's right before me. You know, I'm not going to hold a developer up. We got to in the name of development, you know, just use the county's regulations." But we don't have the authority to to really do that. Okay.
Then maybe I misunderstood on some of them what you were saying that we could just revert to the county. Is it just copy their code and put that in more of a copy paste scenario? which is why and that's why some of them will be quick like I can bring it to you next month and then we still have to go through the
whole process and you know smooth sailing others of them we might look at and say I don't like what the county has here let's change it so some things I'm thinking about adding specifically to the Bullard
ordinance itself just a quick and easy we're also adding this section and this division Others is a copy paste, remove, add, research other municipalities, see how they do it. I I have a couple questions, too.
Um, on the RVs for overnight stays, is there a limit of days that someone can stay in an RV on their property? Not in our current code. I think there is because in in Lake Blue
where I live and we don't have a homeowners association but I know there was a lot of discussion for a couple people living down the street from me that were living in the mobile home instead of in their home and they said oh they can't do that for more than I believe it was 30 days now where they
got this from you know it could have been that I I don't know but I recall over the years I mean I've lived in Lake Blue a long time probably 30 years. But um I know of particular properties that said I I don't think they can stay there
that long. I also have a relative who has an RV and they weren't allowed to put it on on my property or park it in front of my house and stay there. So, uh it's I don't know if it's just understood, maybe it's not written, but
um but somehow it got enforced because they had to move on down the street. Um the same way with boat docks. Um we do have some regulations somehow because we had to get special permission when we built our home because of our lot was so
steep. We had to build the boat dock before we built the house because we couldn't get down there to build it otherwise. Um but without that special permission, we were not going to be allowed to do that. And then we had to build the house within a m a certain number of days from when the vote dock
was completed. But I also know that we probably have something coming before us in the next month or two of a land owner that wants to build a dock and not build the house yet. So, um, and I appreciate what you said about, you know, they could have parties and noise and all that kind of stuff. So, um, maybe we
need to consider a period of time if if a person is really just not quite ready to build the house, but they want to at least enjoy their lot, enjoy the boat, the boat dock and such, then okay, you could do that, but within x amount of months or a year or less or something, you would have to build some kind of a
house. Um, and these the last thing is the accessory dwelling units. Is there something with reference to that in effect now? Not in not by Florida statute. Nothing that requires it now. Okay. Because I I
know that um Councilman Worley has an ex accessory dwelling unit on her property because I used to live in it. So I know it was there. Now if it's still I mean it's still there but I don't know if it's still being used for dwelling. But um my husband and I live there for for a
while. So, I know that it was there, but I don't know uh you know if if there was a regulation or not or or we maybe just lived there illegally for several years. I don't know. But I know we live there. So, at any rate, that's all my questions. I had my little priority list
that was requested that we had the priority list and mine is similar to yours, uh Dana. I have building permits, storm water management, then I had sign code updates because of the infamous HGTV that resonates in my brain. Um,
food trucks I think are done. We don't have to redo it. We don't have to spend $125 an hour to do that. um Lake Blessed Regional Planning notification requirements and PD requirements. They seem to kind of be a little nebulous and change and I think
they should be settled down and criteria for zoning. Those were my five. Would you throw the U boat docks, seaw walls, and that in with the building permit? Did you put that up high too? Yeah, I think I would because today Highlands County doesn't require
permits for them for boat house. They're supposed to. They do not. I know. I have to rebuild my seaw wall. Not for boat houses. Seaw wall. And I think it depends on what lake you're on. Lake June requ. Yeah, I know. I I never had them
involved. I didn't have to get a permit, but that was a replacement. I probably wouldn't have had to get a permit anyway to replace, but um yeah, I think it should actually what the rule they told me is if you replace, you're supposed to give a permit, but with the recent hurricane and all the damage that took place, they waved that.
Yeah, it it was hurricane damage. So, yeah, I'm done. Thank you. Okay. Um yeah, I was just you've already prioritized and then I guess my only thing is uh if there's anything that we can move up that's like lowhanging fruit
to get done. Um I it looks good to me as it is. Maybe move up number 10. As you say there's um already a county code on that for whatever we can just copy and paste from the county.
Hit those first. Yes. I'm having a hard time balancing the top five between the three different options. I was going to say, could we make a would council approve for uh Miss Redell and I to meet
together, review maybe the top five and start with the top three um and then she can just work together with me on that. Thank you. Absolutely. Great. Thank you.
Hello. I'm good for the top three. Yeah. And I I think that's a that's a reasonable bite. I don't think we have to bite off quite that much, but um for future planning, I think that's a great idea. But yeah, the first three, I'm good with those three.
Yeah. Are you making is that a motion or is that just a Do we need a motion? We need a motion. No. Would you? Just um just to be clear, this is with reference to what's coming later with
your RFP. This is at $125 an hour. Yes, you've heard enough discussion. You can do it either way. If you want a motion to limit it, you can do that. Or you to limit the top three or you can allow the town administrator to manage the process
as I would recommend. Yeah. Yeah, agree. Let you manage it. I agree. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Pampin interest 12373 Lost Lake Drive in
Lake Placid. I guess I'm trying to understand it's 10 after 7 and we're under presentations agenda item number two. And I think what you're saying is this would be additional work for the consultant as the town planner. So
you're going to have the base pay of 5,500 per month. And so every one of these things would be an additional cost that requires two public hearings. We have a tendency at the town council meetings to drag on an inordinate amount
of time. So, I've heard the last couple months the mayor talk about we've got the 2050 ear comp plan amendments. We have to focus on the priority list. You've got utilities, the million gallons a day coming online. Big picture. Where were
you develop where won't you? Right now, I don't you know, you have the CRA, you were having monthly meetings. You're gearing up for the 100redy year anniversary of the town. So much stuff is going on. It almost seems like you're coming up with busy work to add to an
already busy schedule. Budget hearings are coming up. That should be a priority focus. I don't I read the budget packet in in here, but I don't look at the detailed report like you do. So, if you're looking as um Councilwoman
Charles said, there's cost overruns. Isn't this a time to what are the potential cost of each agenda or each item that you're talking about going further discussion into and then this hadn't been presented to LPA whether you
want to do that or not but I just don't understand why we're not the focus sitting on the things you've already said were priority you talk about the recreation or the playground equipment that seems to come up over and over the the the different things that we you've
spent a significant amount of time on. Why are why aren't you focusing on that? I understand if there's somewhere they're out of compliance, but when I went through this list, a lot of these and and Dana explained more about it, but it's either state or DP, there's
current state legislation on several of these things. I just wouldn't reinvent the wheel. I wouldn't make busy work when you time is critical. people out here in the audience are listening online and I'll wrap that up because I'm talking too much but but I think we just
have to move things along and focus on priority issues. Thank you. Well, I agree with you and I think a lot of these can be added together and done at one time. So, I I I don't think it's as bad as it looks, but yes, I I I agree
with what you're saying and thank you for those comments. Very very important. Thank you. Okay, what do we have? 4 A
4 comments. Ordinance 2025-04. No comments. Oh, public comments. Yeah, I'm not up there. I didn't see that. Any public comments tonight? Okay, we'll move right along
then. Go to item 4A, ordinance 2025, town of Lake Plaza, modification to conditions of the existing C-1PD highway plan development district. This is second reading on
that, correct? Correct. Okay. So, um I'll make a motion to approve and adopt hearing number get it up on the screen. I can read it better. There we go. Thank you. Hearing number
LPTC.25.002RZ ordinance 202504 on second reading. Would your motion include comma and to adopt the prior record as evidence? If it needs to do that. Sure.
It's a public hearing. You need some competent substantial evidence to support your ordinance. I think don't you I'm good with the expedited motion. I absolutely support that, but I'd just say move the record in and get down the
road. I understand. Yes. And if we can, we need to do exparte communication. So, you're saying we can't just jump ahead and do the motion. We need to go through a short Okay. There are a couple housekeeping one. Yeah. Did you read the
title of the ordinance? An ordinance of the town of Lake Placa modifying the zoning conditions for properly located at 1069 US27 North Lake Placid, Florida. That's ordinance number 202504. Thank
you. Yes. All right. Thank you. And if I can um I'll go ahead and get sworn in quasi judicial hearing. Square testimony you're about to receive. I mean, you're about to give
the truth about I do. And then I will ask the town council members if they've had any exparte communication regarding this hearing starting with Councilwoman Everheart? None. Thank you. Mayor Hullbrook. No. Thank you. Councilwoman Hayes. No. Thank
you. And Councilwoman Charles? No. Thank you. Then the motion to approve I'm sorry to adopt the prior record and approve the approve and adopt the ordinance. Correct. Correct. So move. Done.
Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion on the podium? Only question would be no changes since the first reading. No changes. LPA had no changes. Okay. Okay. Take it. The audience. Seeing none, bring it back.
Pull the council. Council member Hayes. Yes. Council member Eberhart. Yes. Council member Charles. Yes. Thank you. Okay, we'll go to 4B. This says second reading ordinance
2025-05 amending chapter 3 adding town council meeting. Pay attention. Is that the title of the ordinance or just that's I don't see a title. You place that on the agenda. That's your
That's your thing. Just just says second reading ordinance 2025-05 amending chapter 3. Scroll if you would. Is there more down? Oh, here we go. Yeah. Ordinance number
2025-5, ordinance of town Lake Blass admitting chapter 3 of the town code by adding a town council meeting on the fourth Monday of each month and providing an effective date. And that should be the third Monday. My apologies. I've changed it in the guts
and forgot the title. Oh, it should be the third, not the fourth. Yes. Didn't I say that? I was just thinking it would be the fourth because it would give staff more time to to work between the second and the there's a there's a conflict in the
document. We decided on the third. I think we did but the header says the fourth that that's was my point. The title I think we changed it from the fourth to the third. We did got the change in the body of the ordinance but not of the type. So, the title should be
amended to say the fourth and then the ordinance would be unless you want changes. No, you just said that backwards, huh? You just said it backwards. Somebody else read the darn thing. It should say ordinance of the town of
Lake Placid amending chapter 3 of the town code by adding a town council meeting on the third Monday of each month and providing an effective date. Correct. And I will make that motion. Okay. And second
to what did you second? Okay. Motion is okay. So we have a motion in a second. All right. Any further discussion hearing? None. We'll take it to the audience. Nobody coming forward. Pull the council. Council member Hayes. Yes.
Council member Edart. Yes. Council member Charles. Yes. All right. This will be first reading of ordinance 202507 conveyance of a 1,271.63
63 square ft or 0.03 acre parcel of land located at the northeast side of Lake Clay Drive. And I assume this is the Fifer Pro project. Yeah. Yes. But is it the second reading or the third? It says
isn't the second? This is second reading. It says first. So at the last meeting, it was under presentations. It was only a vote to move forward with a quick quick claim deed. It wasn't a move forward to approve an ordinance by first reading. Oh, okay. It wasn't done
properly, so we have to redo it. Okay. All right. Thank you. I don't think you're not on, Kim. Your mic's not on, Kim. Now, is it on? Oh, there you go. Don't push the button. Okay. Um Kimberly Sap um representing the town of Lake Placid
at the request of the Fipers family um to convey by quick claim deed a 003 acre piece of property that was for whatever reason left on the wrong side of the road when they built
Lake Clay Drive. Um I know uh town administrator presented last week or last meeting um the history of it. Uh the research I did on behalf of the town found that I couldn't find any reason why this piece
of property would have been left on the wrong side of the road. Um and it's not large enough for any type of development. uh the Vipers or DB partners have been paying taxes on it since what we could tell from the 70s um
when the property appraiser just included it as part of their larger tract. So my recommendation was for the um town to approve by first ordinance by reading by ordinance which is how the town has to do any conveyance of real
property conveying this property to DD partners um by quick claim deed. Would would we should we do that by the sale of a dollar or $10 or something? You don't have to. I mean you're put
conveying by a quick claim deed. You can the town by by conveying by a quick claim deed is not guaranteeing that they have title or good title. They're just conveying any interest they possibly have in this property to DB
partners. But the the council if they want to can put a a dollar figure on there. Hey, I just always thought by putting some money in there that's I mean I I'll leave that to your legal opinion on Yeah, there does not have to be any dollar figure. Okay, conveyed in
a quick claim deed. Do you have any other questions as far as just need a motion second? So we just we just need a motion to I don't see recommended motion on here to read to adopt on first reading
to adopt on first reading ordinance 2025 07. I'll make a motion to adopt on first reading ordinance 2025-07 conveyance of a 10271.63
63 square ft or 003 acre parcel of land located on the northwest side of Lake Clay Drive. Second. All right, we have a motion to second. Any further discussion from the podium? Hearing none, take it the
audience. Seeing none, bring it back. Pull the council. Council member Charles, yes. Council member Hayes, yes. Council member, yes. Okay. Yeah. You want to I think there's Is there another item
here that you need to We'll just go ahead and take care of it while you're here. Which one is that? I was preparing. Yes. Um is the interlocal It
is after the police department. There it is. Oh. Oh, yeah. 6D4. No. Sorry. No. No. I'm like at four. Is that the one? I was number 6B.
6B. bookmark. Oh my goodness. What is the agenda number? 64 6B 64 page. Give me one second. It's on the agenda.
6 B17. I don't see anything on here. 197. It's on the agenda, but I can pull up the backup. Okay. This is a request um for in a local agreement. The um town utilities needs to use a
portion of real property owned by the Holland County School Board to um construct their lift station. They need to take down a fence and put it back up. Um so the interlocal agreement is between the town and the school board
for temporary use of that little piece of property for the school board of the school board. requirements for taking down the fence and requirements for reinstalling the fence. Um, which is in compliance with the school board's regulations.
I'm lost. Okay. Is this in our packet? I'm trying to find it. I don't recall this in the packet. I think I missed it. That's all. Okay. So, we'll come back to I just know that the
utility is going to be really sad. just putting the remainder of it. If if it's not in the packet, can we can't discuss it, can we? It's on the agenda. I mean, it's on the agenda. I don't It's on the agenda, but
I didn't have the backup material. Okay. There's a copy of it. Oh, okay. Okay. I see it now, but Okay. Do we have So there has a copy. Yeah, I have I have the copy here.
Huh? Well, there's a lot of it. How much do you I can briefly go over the local agreement. It's it's basically a temporary use of a 50 foot by 110 foot portion of schoolboard property. Um, and we're going to cross over it to get to
the where we're putting our lift station, which you at the risk of minding his business. You, this is something that you need to move forward on because he's 30 days from
construction and this needs to go through the school board. If you find a month from now you don't like it, tear it up. This is simply an agreement. There's no feelout with it, right? That lets you use their land. you've got to
move their fence back because the kids can't the kids have to be enclosed. But we're trying to do it over the the summer, right? They're doing this the in the agreement there's specific requirements for if the fence is down.
There needs to be a temporary fence put up if they have to move the the main fence. Schoolboard employee needs to be on site if there is no barrier in their students present. um which is all schoolboard regulations and they've named Frank Brown who's their facilities
director for the school board to work with um um B sorry B two birds um as far as coordinating when that's going to happen and they're trying to do it like I said school's out the next two weeks they're
going to do it be you know when there's no summer school in session so they can get it up get it done and get it constructed but they're not charging a fee the agreements required mainly because the school board we're using we're crossing over another governmental entities property and they want to have
make sure that we comply when we reconstruct the fence that it's constructed in accordance with their regulations for fence construction and it outlines it provides a copy of their fence requirements which we will we will
comply with we would want you to do that anyways um is that's that's the Basically, the agreement is just between us and the and the school board to allow that to occur and hopefully they'll be done in the next 30 days. But we don't
have a copy of the center. Is that 6D3? I'm sorry. Is that 6D3 on the agenda? 6B. Just 6B. 6B1 on the 6B1. So is there any if is there any
reason that we would object? I did not see any reason for objection. There was nothing in there that was really requirement of the town that would not be a normal requirement for use of school board property when there's students present. So it's
basically housekeeping. It's housekeeping. Correct. because they can't have us, they can't allow us to just go on their property, tear their fence down, and not have something in place because if the town said, "We're not rebuilding that fence," then their attorney would be like, or their school
board would have egg on their face. And the school board has already has signed this, they signed this at their meeting last week. So, we have this, they have already agreed to this to allowing the town to access their property. And how was it overlooked getting
putting it to our packet? I have I overlooked it. I must have I put it on the agenda and didn't pull it all the way in. That's my fault. So, I can appreciate it's housekeeping, but I need to read it and I and I'm fine
to take five minutes and read it now or however we want to do it, but this is the first that I've even seen this. Um, and I'm certain it's going to be a quick read or whatever, but because it's you're you're looking for a motion and a
vote on it, which I appreciate. I think we just need to either take a 10-minute break and read it and it's not it's not a very long agreement, fortunately. It's Yeah, this is what was just handed to me by the So, I'm sorry, Kim. It's not a very long You're right. I said it'll be
a quick read, but I'm not I'm not a type of person that can just agree to a motion on something that I haven't read. Do you want to I mean, do we want recess? So, the copy that was just given to me from attorney Harris, she's I
think she's running copies and give you mine right now. And for the record, I was out because my farm also represents the school board. Yeah. Yes. Oh, appreciate that. All right. Well, while they're doing that, we'll just move on at something else and then we'll
come back to this. She want to take a minute. I or did you want to I doubt I'm the only one who wants to read it. So, how she has to get us copies though, right? Everybody keeps giving me their copy and I appreciate it. But what's Tina can come back give
us copies. We take a certain minute break. Is this the mayor's copy? I got the mayor's copy. I don't know whose copy you have. I got the mayor's copy. I'm good with it. I can read that. Well, I but I know what I'm reading and
because I know about defenses, so that helps. So, what are we doing? We're pausing for copies and for time for Mr. Oh, I thought we were going to go on to another one. Okay.
While we're waiting, we could do the uh the Heartland National Bank Resolution 2025-09. What number is that? Oh, I see it. 58. The Heartland National Bank resolution should be very easy. It's basically just giving town staff authorization to
upload files. So they just wanted a resolution to say that it doesn't have to be u a member who can actually sign checks but just they have to do a upload of the of the
files. So I'm not supportive of this because of segregation of duties. So we're saying whoever processes the payroll would then process the payments. Whoever processed the accounts payable would then take the file. So that's a segregation of duty issue. Um, I
recognize that today the signers are you, the mayor and the vice mayor. Um, and that there may be absences of that, but typically would you'd work around that, right? And that if you know you're going to be gone during payroll upload day, then you'd
alert another signer to be able to to validate the amounts and that. So to me, I'm not supportive for segregation of duties issues and and I'm fine with the motion too that you had the optional motion where it just said council approves the motion for only the account signers to
approve the upload file which staff is to provide information to the town clerk or the mayor mayor to verify the bank and then due to availability and uncontrolled absences delays would arise. I I think we can overcome that by letting people know when you wouldn't be
there and then you'd have the backup person, right? But it would just be you doing option number one. I I do not support option number one where the person who does payroll or the person who does payables or other checks also is the one
uploading to the bank. Okay. It should be the check signers and then have a process in place when they're not available during I call it upload day, the due date that you uploaded. Then you make sure you have the person of the three check signers
available to do that. Okay, I'll go ahead and then make that motion um to I'll make a motion that council approves uh the AC file upload uh would
be for the one of the three check approvers today. Which which option is it? Is it It's your optional two. Well, you're call Yeah. Is it three? So, your your option
one is the receivables, payables, and payroll people. I don't support that. Your option two is well it's just you but if you're not there it needs to be one of your alternate which is well so there's
there's three things happening here we got payroll then we got the payables and we also have billing right so all three are AC uploads though right three different people right and those three people are proving those and they can't I'm saying I don't
support It's as a segregation of duty violation. Them also call it writing the check which is uploading the file is one of the things that they already doing right now. That's a problem. And and it was back in what
2023 and then that's when we found when we did changed over to Hartland that we changed the bank signitories you know to be um yourself where we took the town administrator off because he also approves them. So, we cleaned that up
then. I don't know that we knew, at least I didn't, that we still had this segregation of duty issue. Okay. So, it's good to clean it up now. Okay. So, that way we'll have to keep the mayor in eone speed.
So, only if you're not there. No, it's it's right. It's they every time you upload a file, then they going to have to call the mayor or Eva to do that. So, we have to wait 30 minutes or so until that process is done. Isn't it you? I mean, isn't it all three? Yourself? I
don't do all three. No, no, no, no. The check signers today are who? Eva and the mayor and and Deborah. Oh, and Deborah Warly. There's three. Okay. Yes, Rachel. I think that would help Councilwoman Charles understand if you
go through what the process looks like on this end. So but like I said it's three different process. We got payroll, we got the billing and we got accounts payable. So when we pay it's sort of like in one setting we can create the file in ADG as
there is approval process through that process because you have to do the requisition and what have you. So it goes through the directors it goes through Charlotte um as approval at that point. So once you get all that and you process the the payments then it creates
a file. So the only thing you're doing is uploading so that you can pay people with NOD or you can pay for the the vendors or you can do a process billing so that you can um direct deposit or charge the the
customer's accounts. So this is so this has nothing to do with the approval process. It's just the physical uploading. Right. So I think the concern over here is that someone that is
creating the file is also uploading the file. Right. Correct. Correct. So so if you did not have the same person that created the file uploading the file, then you don't have a segregation of duty violation. I
I know what that means. It's not my first rodeo. Um, but I think that possibly if the internal standards are are set, then you would not have the same person creating the file as
uploading the file. You're just giving yourself more options for people that would be able to upload the file as long as they didn't create it. That can be an option, too. But it's it's basically just creating a file. the
system actually creates the file. And so it's just one thing as far as if I did this process or I did this payroll batch, then I'm just not uploading. Why couldn't you approve it? Well, I can
upload it, but then I'm have to be doing all three of the batches as far as I can, but then I do the accounts payable batch. So then it's going to be the same situation. So there's one batch that I do myself. Then the payroll clerk does one and the billing clerk does another
file on different days of course. Right. So just need to know how comfortable you is with that and who would you like to to upload the files. I'm not supportive of the people who are
responsible for the work also uploading the file. So you want somebody to upload the files that didn't create them, right? Yes. Yeah. Okay, I'm good with that. So,
if a receivable clerk uploads the receivables, why couldn't the finance director approve the transfer? That's what I just said. That's fine. Okay.
Um, and I think the finance director could I I thought it was all three. That was kind of the motion I was making that the um areas of responsibility, payroll receivables and payroll would upload it, but the finance director would be the
one approving it. And in your absence, then it would be um the mayor or the vice mayor. That was where I was going at first, but I thought somebody said no to that. I just think it I
from far as I'm concerned, I didn't I didn't understand it that way. Um, so the the only one that could approve the individual file uploads would be the finance director or one of the signers
of the account. Yep. Who has no idea what they've just looked at, but Well, okay. I should get a report that says there's from the system $1 million or whatever it is and yep check that's what's in the in the upload good go.
I mean anybody anybody approving it I would hope even today has some checks and balance that yeah the ADG s file or the ADP um has this amount and that's what did get uploaded to the bank.
That's just a a regular check that should be in place today and I'm certain it is. There's a report that every every time you create a file, you can report kind of um parallel the path file to tell you what it really means and how much you paying and how many vendors
you're paying and what you're paying them. So there's a report that can be provided, but it's sort of like they're too kind of responsible for their work just because the file got created with the right amount. sometime you have to make sure that the transaction is also
correct in there. So it kind of holds staff responsible for their work. So that's why we kind of did it how we do it now. But I'm okay with the verifying every upload. May I ask a question?
How much extra work though is that going to put on you when you're already understaffed and have an inability for us to meet expectations? I think it's going to be more so timing. Correct. Because say fence like on with payroll, you have to make sure you put it in before 2:00, right? And then if they
don't have time to and processing it around 2:00 and then it's the person or if I'm not there, then it could be a timing issue. So more of a timing than anything. So is option two with appropriate internal controls
financial the council approves the motion to allow the finance director to approve all the file uploads. That's that's doable. Yeah, that and then if it's and that's what we're saying. They'll upload the file, but you will approve it. Right.
Do you think we need to put in there um in the absence of the finance director, who would be the next in line to approve that? Cuz what if she's sick that day? Um then it' be a check signer, right? What? Then it will be a check signer. So
it be either the mayor or Okay. But do don't we have to say that? No, because on we can put it on the contract itself or with a motion they going to see the minutes. I mean, I don't want to come back two months and say, "Oh, well, we didn't put that in there." So, you
know, I I don't want to leave anything to chance here. I still think we ought to have a sentence in there that says in the absence of the fin in the absence or inability of the finance director that the town clerk or mayor would approve
these file uploads. Yeah, that'll work too. Are you good with that? So, let me make a stab at another motion. I'm sorry. I'm just no good. Go ahead. Go ahead. With appropriate internal
controls, financial safeguards and cyber security in place, council approves the motion to allow the finance director to approve all file uploads which the bank will call for verication and is aware that there may be some delays and I don't think we which the bank will
call for verification in the event the finance director is on vacation or out of the office then the approvers would resort to the existing check signers.
Perfect. I like that. Have you made that motion? I just made I'll second that motion. Okay, that's what I was I thought you did, but I wasn't sure. I I want to be sure to Okay, so we're getting a We're taking that delays in processing out of there. We don't need that. Yeah, I'm
good. Okay, so we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none from the podium, I'll take it to the audience. Bring it back. Pull the council. Council member Charles. Yes. Council member Hayes. Yes.
Yes. Okay. What do we want to do? Keep going or Yeah, let's let's take a a few minutes break. That way you can read over that and then we can discuss that
after the break. back at it. My memor is not that good. Okay, we'll go back to the interlocal agreement between the Highlands County School Board and the town of Lake Pleasant and council has had a chance to review the interlocal agreement. Did
anybody have questions? I would recommend that somebody present a motion to approve it and allow the mayor to sign. He has the the one already signed by the school board. So be
it since there's no chart up here with our motion. I mean Eva, can you put I make a motion. Oops. Make a motion to approve the Highlands County and Town of Lake Placid Recreational Interlocal agreement for
fiscal year 2425. Is that it? No. No, that's not the right one. No, you can use that same similar language. It would be the interlocal agreement between school board of Highlands County and town of Lake Placid. Gotcha. And so I'll make a motion for the interlocal
agreement between the school board of Highlands County and the town of Lake Placid with reference to the fencing and authorize the mayor to sign and execute the agreement. Correct. Done. Second. All right, we have a motion, a
second. Any other comments from the podium? Hearing none, we'll take it to the audience. Okay, bring it back and pull the council. Council member Hayes. Yes. Council member Charles. Yes. Council
member Everheart. Yes. Okay. And you have Thank you. Okie dokie. Now we're okay. All right. Next, we'll go to 5B resolution
2025-10 establishing the adoption of a fee booklet. Thank you, Mayor. The town council and staff have previously met and reviewed to update the town of Lake Placid's rates and fees. Initially, the staff planned to include all rates and fees to the town
council excluding sanitation and utility fees to create a fe fee booklet by resolution to streamline the ability for the council to review as part of the budget process to be established by resolution. However, following the input from our
town attorney, it has been determined that the specific rates and fees outlined in the town code as based on the town charter can only be established by ordinance. Consequently, staff will move forward with proposing town code ordinance changes to revise the remaining rates and fees that can only
be changed through this process. So today, staff is presenting resol resolution 2025-10 to finalize the first resolution establishing fees and rates for recreation, events, and rental fees that was that were discussed in prior
meetings and workshops. Staff is requesting a final review of the fees included in the fee booklet. As there were some fees that were not addressed, such as the public works and sanitation level of services, recommendation fee levels are included. The town code allows these fees to be established by
resolution and adds a public records fee schedule that adheres to the state of Florida public records law. Regarding nonprofits, staff is presenting the following to assist nonprofits while ensuring that the town is able to continue to have funds to ensure that all town facilities are
maintained to the utmost standards for the town of Lake Placid residents. fee waivers excluding deposits. Request that the town council consider directing staff to create a formal request form for fee waivers to present to the council rather than submitting the
entire packet. Please review the following fee waiver policy. Few waiverss for facility rentals, police services, garbage services, and road closures are limited to one event per year for each organization. The fee waiver does not cover the refundable
damage or rule enforcement deposits. Waivers would um would be granted to any 501c3 nonprofit organization with proof of nonprofit status submitted at the time of the application. The waiver would apply for only one event per year
for each organization and that is listed in here for you for review. There were also um additional comments uh espec specifically related to the caladium festival and the way that that is
handled. We would consider that what they call a legacy event. a legacy event would be considered something that is 10 years or older and especially when it helps to identify us as um the town of Lake Placid which is considered the caladium
capital. Okay, let me read this by resolution. Lake Placid Town Council resolution 2025-10 a resolution the town of Lake Placid Florida established the town of Lake Placid authorizing the adoption of
a fee booklet and amendments to same by resolution at a minimum during the annual budget process or on an as needed basis and providing for an effective We're available to answer any questions. So, you've packed a lot into
this and in your statement here, you've packed in a lot, which a lot of it needs to be broken down, but we had a fee workshop, right? We spent two hours at a fee workshop, and I'm not seeing kind of
some of the things that we did. We talked about like the renting of the conference room, right? Here at the government center, the community room and that and we talked about if it's just somebody needing to use it for a meeting, you know, the table and chairs
versus an event. And I don't see that broken out here. We we kind of spent a lot of time. I know that a lot of feedback I had was just organizations once a year using the comm community comm community commun these are town residents once a year using the
community room and now what we're saying is it goes from $50 a year which a lot of these just use it once so they don't pay anything to a hundred so it's like I
mean these are some huge Steuart parks going from 50 to $150 if you're a town resident. I I don't know how we came up with 300% increases on some of these parks. We didn't discuss these park fees in that
workshop. We discussed business licenses and we discussed, you know, these meetings and these rooms and that. So, that's kind of confused me when I started seeing the sizable increases of a lot of these. you know, the the sports user fees are staying the
same and and that's fine, but a lot of these other parks are really increasing pretty sizable. And then the same thing with using the government center um that what did they call it the
community room or the um conference room? So, was that outside of our workshop? that these No, this is all from workshops. So, you got to remember you've had two workshops. There was a workshop prior to me coming on board. Um and then there was a workshop after. So,
all of these are from the workshops. So, the the fees for Steuart Park that is for the entire park. And so, the fee for Devain Park is for the entire park. What's the current? The current is $50. For the entire park?
For the entire park. So, so it's a I it's just the size of the increase. Um, and and going back to the research that was presented before that in 2016 we were charging more than even this and
then in 2016 the council at the time decided to reduce the park fees by a substantial amount. So um we had discussed at the last budget the workshops where we did in town residential rate out of town um these
are the same numbers that were presented at that time. The only difference was um council member Hayes had mentioned as far as the community room to uh separate out the kitchen and all of those things. Um and
I'll let uh Charlotte talk about that. we we didn't really include that uh because of the difficulty in trying to separate that out and the timing that it takes to get these reservations done. But overall
really the only change that was made in this from your previous meetings was the additional garbage services. uh the levels of service and just just to point out at the last council meeting
when the dollar number council member Charles was absolutely right the list that that was developed by a public works department and it was a $10,000 if you add it all up because public works actually gave us their actual cost of what it would cost to run those events
whereas on the applications it is a level of service. So that's why you saw the difference of $8,000 and change to the $10,000 and change because the actual public works gave us all of the cost whereas the public was only being
charged a level of service. So um Allan and I got together looked at the level of service for sanitation um and came up with some other numbers and additional level of service. As far as the rest of those, these are the same
kind of numbers that have been coming back and and were discussed. And the main concern was I know at the time was not profits. So, um would it be possible? We're talking
about a legacy event which is 10 years or older. Um in particular, my concern is the women's club. They've been in organization since 1952. And if we go and they use the
community room once a month, I believe most of the year. I don't know if they do all summer, but most of the year. And if we go to $100 for them, they will not be able to be here. And like I say, they've been in organiz in in existence since 1952. I
don't know if that's the right thing to do to these people that are town residents or or maybe they don't, you know, all live right in the town, but they're like placid area and the garden club is great, but what the issue is just pointing out the and I understand
that, trust me. Right now, we have the garden club that meets weekly. We've now had to have a church event that comes now weekly. They don't pay anything. We got two church events. Yeah, but but how long have they been coming? they're doing every Wednesday. I'm not sure, Charlotte, because I wasn't here
when that took place. Yeah, every they're coming every Wednesday, so they're new. Um, and actually it's um they sold their place that they meet for worship and now be the word is out that you can come to Lake Placid and you
can use our building and our services for pretty well near nothing. But if if we if we went to stop it, if we went to the legacy event type of a thing for um a an organization that has been in
existence x amount of years and has been utilizing our facilities for 10 years or longer, we've not been here 10 years, have we? No. So, we would have to revert back to did they use the services in the previous town hall, which I believe they
did. don't know for sure, but um I would say we would want some kind of a criteria, but I would like to be able to have some kind of a criteria for those organizations uh like the women's club. And maybe they're not the only one. So, I don't want to single them out as the only one,
but I'd like to say, you know, let's let's do this. And then if these churches are here for 10 years, then they could become a legacy event. And if at that time the the fees have gone up yet again that they could revert back to their original fee maybe or something.
But you know just some some consideration like that. Um, yeah, I the the way the way the intro was worded, I could foresee uh anything that is a 501
non-charity claiming a fee waiver and that opens up our budget to who knows how many events a year for police and whatever. So, we need to put it in here somewhere, whether it's under uh rules and regulations or whatever. define the
criteria if it's a legacy event 10 years and older and maybe as you said yeah promotes the town and so forth promote the core core values of the town and the 501c3
uh status as well something yes 501c3 legacy um organization that's been holding these events for 10 years and are is beneficial to the town in general and maybe under the rules and
regulations. Just add that. I I think where I struggle is the word defining the word legacy. Is it how long the organization has been a nonprofit or is it how long they've been using our facilities at no cost?
So, I think that one gets to be a little I I would say how long they have been in existence and um Okay. Not no not how long they've been in existence, but how long they have been doing
events that promote the town and and Charlotte is the organization that you just mentioned, is that a Lake Placid organization? I was doing um research to find out how we could how other
municipalities are doing this and that's where we found the criteria of what's considered a legacy event and it is one that promotes the town. So I use the caladium festival as an example because that promotes the town. It's a revenue generator. Um, it didn't necessarily
because the garden club gets tricky with it being considered legacy event because they hold the they hold their event here, but the town's not really benefiting from their event if that makes sense. But but the town benefits from what they do, correct? From not
from the event per se because it's every month, but the town benefits from their organization because of the volunteer work that they do in the town and the things that they do for the town. Um, especially in the past, they've always they've always kept up the flowers on, you know, on Inner Lake and on on Maine
and stuff like that. So, you know, I think they they bring a lot to the town and have over the years and have created to our our community and our vision. But, um, I would say legacy being 10 years or older. Um, and I I guess um I'm
sort of going towards 10 years of o or older of having met at town facilities and um a 501c3 something beneficial to the town and also that their meetings are not for profit that they don't sell anything at their
meetings. There was something in there about that you couldn't sell something uh or you couldn't charge admission. You couldn't charge admission. Yeah. Would you include
501c6 organizations? What is that? Which it's a nonprofit, but it's for your members. So like the chamber is a 501c6. A lot of the homeowners associations are 501c6.
I would say C6. Yeah. So that I mean that was one of the the things on the front here talked about, you know, C3. So, I wanted to clarify that. But Charlotte, my question was more for the church that you said just came forward. Is that a Lake Placid
organization? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Well, I I think in that case, if they've just started with us, that they they would be subject to the $100. Um, and especially if they just got rid of their building, they know how much it costs to have a building and they would
have, I would think, quite a few people, which might cause us to need to replace the carpet sooner or you know, so we would need to charge more, I think. I wanted to speak as a member of the community for a change. Uh, I would encourage you to stress
heavily in your criteria contributions to the community or service to the community. The chamber, keep Lake Placid beautiful, folks that raise money for us, folks that do work for us. 501c3 status is a
good first step or C6 don't care. But I either they're bringing something back to my community or write a check would be the test I would encourage regardless the age of the
entity that that that kind of gives the legacy. Maybe that's one thing but maybe there's another way to look at it. To me, it turns on service or if they're bringing business to our businesses. The country fair happens to be legacy, but
it brings in folks to our businesses, I think. So, to me, service checks the main box. Um I period just just to kind of just throw fuel on the fire,
I guess. Rotary Club, for instance, my Rotary Club provides a service. We've been in existence 50 years. Well, we're not 501c3 Rotary the park they maintain for us. That's not our rotary club. It's the Do you do
anything? That's the That's the noon club. The morning club. You will never be a member at this point. However, the morning Yes, the morning club does a lot for the town as well, but it just doesn't happen to maintain that
particular park. But um I'm just saying that that's kind of an odd thing because we don't meet there. We don't you know profess to meet there but we are we provide a service to the community but we are not a 501c3 but you know service
is the issue. Yeah. build that into. But I still think I still think regardless of that fact, I still think that should be in there and if we decided that we wanted to get that exemption, we could come and have a special case basis or something. And again, my comments are,
you know, these are fees. So if there's true costs to the town, right? We keep, oh, we got to paint it and we've got to carpet. That's called maintenance. That's called what our taxes are going for. So, so I think I see there's a difference
between waving a fee, which is revenue to the town, or waving expenses, which are true costs to the town. The comments I had made before. Yeah. I just think it might give a little more clarity
um separating an event from using the community room. Those really aren't events. That's I hold my weekly meeting. I hold my annual family picnic. Those aren't what I would describe as an
event. Um the other things that do take place around town outside of the government center, that's those would to me would fall more in line with event. So you're I think you're kind of talking about two separate activities and entities and trying to put it under one
umbrella. So I think if you pulled those two apart, we have a community meeting room that's available for a fee and because you know and you do need to maintain that room and yes, replacing carpet as part of the maintenance, but also making it available to the public
increases that maintenance. So there's there's got to be some type of of offset there for that. um especially since I don't know it for a fact, but I think probably a very large percentage are not taxpaying town residents that
are taking advantage of of using this room as well. I know some organizations that do that and they quite frankly they think it's the greatest thing in the world. They get a nice room with a kitchen, they go in and use it and it's free. It's that's just like you say, you know,
you're you're waving cost of services, you know, for the for the outside of bits with the the garbage and the the public works and the law enforcement. You're basically doing the same thing here. If you're giving them this room and the equipment, you're you're you're giving away that that service as well.
And and it it all does need to be reigned in and gotten under control. But I think it would give you a little more clarity to separate those two, you know, events, parks, streets, street closures versus just a community room where a
multitude of things occur. And thank you for that. And at the workshop, we even went further for the community center. We broke that into two ways. One, just a meeting table and chairs. into the people that have
weddings, parties, and that's an event right at the community center that there should be a charge to that because if they went to a hall, they would be having that charge. So that was kind of where I didn't see that in here where we broke down just somebody who wants to use the room for their call it annual
HOA meeting or their nine times a year garden club meeting where they're just using the table and chairs versus I want it on the weekend for a wedding for my organization's Christmas party. They're going to use the kitchen. They're going to use other things. That's a hall
rental type of expense. And I do agree with that. and and as a business owner who does produce events and has a venue, it's it's difficult for me to compete with free, you know, and um but even though it's not free, somebody's paying for it, but the consumer's typically not
paying for it. Yeah, I think there was um there's a provision that says level four, level five, but I think that only references picking up garbage and things like that, but um I it it concerns me a lot having managed clubs in the past and having
these kins and all these these things and you have there's a provision in there somewhere where if you have juveniles, you have to have police and that was always a rule at my place. If you had 100 people, you had to have I had to have an officer and if there was if there was 100 kids, I had to have
two. Um because I mean you have to supervise the kids because they're on your on your property, you know. So, um that I don't have any problem with any of those fees as high as they are because um they they've got to go somewhere. So, we have to make sure that
our building stays intact and that our people that use it are safe and they're not doing something stupid. And uh council member Hayes, it is in the rules. We I we did include Did you see under police and road closures that
if there is an event um required event is going to draw large cl crowds or fall outside the scope of the facility or parties for use and deeds may require offduty officers to work the event. Right. I remember that. did that
and that. Yeah, I remember voting somewhere. I just wasn't sure where, but thank you. Yeah, some of the things that we're trying to figure out is how to meet the demands of renting this room um to properly be able to meet the demands because it is a
full-time job to schedule. It's a full-time job with the demands of cleaning up the room. We have a dedicated staff that works on all of our buildings and then there is the expectation that because they are getting it from the town that we should
be setting up the room even though we say we won't. Um but there is a lot of pressure because they will come out and they will ask the staff and so it's it's very difficult and then during the day when we're having the they have the
meetings and such it's very disruptive because we are trying to work but we're still providing a service but it's very loud where the location is. So there's a lot that goes into the renting of the room. Um, we had backtoback every
weekend that they have anything here, we have issues. So, you walk into confetti all over the place. I'm painting the picture so that you understand what we walk into on a Monday morning. So, there's confetti and glitter. And so, that's the first thing you walk into and you have to clean that up. And we have
another meeting that may be coming in the same thing on Monday. So, that's what we walk into. Um, so there's a lack of respect also for using our our facility and then there's abuse that comes into it. Um, so obviously we have
to give the information to you. You make the decisions. Uh, I I put it out there. We are struggling financially. And so if we continue to give things away at little to no cost
when we're being asked why we're not updating the parks or why we don't have money to buy certain things, we said we went from 2016 where we used to charge way more than we're even charging right now. And so if you
think about how that pocket of money could have built up from 2016 to now, but we're we're trying to meet the demands. So we need to know what council really wants from us because we are
shooting in the dark. We really are. We depend on What was the thinking of the 2016 massive reduction in fees? I wasn't here. Mr. Mayor, do you recall they dropped it? Reuced it. Mr. Mayor, do you recall? No.
He's shaking his head. I think he does. No, I don't. I'm on another one more different comment. But but to your point, that's not addressing it in here. the confetti and the mass when you come in on Monday, which is back to the
events, not a I had a meeting, I used the chairs and that was it. I agree totally. An event, you cannot go to a hall without a big deposit, sometimes a cleanup fee, and other things. So, if we're renting it for events, right? It's
an event space. Sometimes it's catered in, sometimes they bring in their own food. That should be a whole different pricing. If we even want to be in that business of hall rentals for parties, weddings,
showers, Christmas parties, etc. And I I think that don't want to compete with you. I think they try to address that um with the deposit because if they leave the place in a mess then they don't get their deposit back but the bottom line
is they still have to take time from what they're doing that one Monday morning and clean it up because you've got another function coming in right behind it. So but yes you got the deposit back but but that's where I'm struggling because this is saying community room government center town resident
$100. So that's if I have a meeting for 100. So I would say because we're we we know what events are coming in here. So the majority of the events here are not meetings coming into the and coming into the community room. They are the garden
club birthday mostly birthday parties but then you have other events like this weekend they had the ROC uh ball the ROC ball and then right the next day was another event on Sunday. So
even coming in so the ROC they're with the school they don't get charged and and that's that that's a government entity entity but we came in this this week this morning or Monday. Yeah, today's Monday. I'm sorry I'm losing
track of time. They actually used the whole entryway. They used our the administrative hallway with confetti all over the just And so what's happening is a some of these events are
not coming in and really taking care of what what's there. But I don't think they should be free. I don't know why if somebody's using it for a party, why they would be free because they're that's why we're showing that the fees
there as being in town out of town rates, but they are not for well ROC is school oriented. So it's a government entity and the government entities on a on a whole from all venues throughout any government entity are a a give and
take. We we let government entities hold meetings here. So um the HRTBO holds their meeting here. I don't have a problem with meetings, but the majority of these are are parties now. I mean they are coming in and having events.
you have your um you know great you know the the women's club they do three events a year now they started out doing one here they're doing now three and so we made the recommendation to say because there's other city that actually
gives a waiver automatic waiver for one event for not for profits and they allow that fullfledged the rest of the time they're paying the fees, they could come to council and ask to have those fees reduced, but they're given that one
automatic. So, so how about just adding this on this on this thing, just adding another line item that differentiates an event from a meeting. And you might wave the fee for
an event, but still keep the deposit. I mean, still require deposit. just add some line items and add a cleaning fee. I don't think that we should be cleaning up confetti and all the other stuff that they do and and on a whole
that that's what we've been we have now enacted charging that 150 to majority of events, but it's been very hard for staff to to because of the way it's been done with no consistency and that's been
The whole thing is about trying to get a fee scale. Try to get something that we can say to all events, this is what we expect. Um, when we first got the building, we had Danny was here. He was doing all the setup. He was doing all the breakdown. It was where it was
literally one person doing that. Um, you know, we don't have the staff for it. So then at that time, you know, Phil said, "Okay, so you know, I know from other places I've worked when I had a big event to go somewhere that was giving me something for free. I had to set up I
had to clean up and all of those. So that's what we require. You you set it up the way you want you want and you clean it. Um not everybody does that. So we've started enacting that 150 pretty much on everybody. But we have events
that have been coming to us on a regular basis that we have not we just have kept them status quo like the the women's club. We're not charging them pretty much anything. um they do a great job, but when they're here and they're setting up, that back door is open um
and it stays open and that's where on tear on your AC unit. I've I myself and Harry have a few times went out to different groups that load up in the back and that's fine, but they'll leave it open the whole time. And so we go and we put a sign up and we say, "Please
shut the door." That's wear and tear on the AC unit here. So we're trying on a staff level to to keep it Nice. So, I mean, any ideas you guys I mean, you set the you set the fees. We're just bringing you the information,
the experiences that we're having, what we're seeing. We had another event coming here. They literally took our computers and the computer that's in there and everything and moved it out into the hallway. Um, that takes staff having to go get our Leanne, our IT
person, to go set that all back up to get it working again. So these are kind of just some of the things that we're running into. So for events, do they sign a contract with these rules? Well, that's missing, right? The event. Yes.
And again, events, not meetings, right? If I go around a hall somewhere, boy, it's a pretty good contract that I have to sign. These are the things that I need to do. It is under website. These rules you're seeing right here that I embedded within the fee schedule trying to mimic Highlands County. They all
their rules and regulations for all their fees in one location. But if you go to our website or application, you know, the the reservation request form is there with all these rules. They're all there. But then again, it takes
staff time to to to enforce all of this. So, we developed an inspection sheet. We're really starting to get that implemented that our staff, you know, Harry will go in, check it off. Do we give the the deposit refund? We've kept
a couple of deposits for sure. Um for the parks, the same thing. If it's Steuart Park or one of those parks, Allen, you know, we're enacting where there's a a something that we can track to say, okay, you're good to get your refund, you're not going to get your
refund. So, we're trying on this end, but the rules and regulations are in there um and have been developed and and people sign this and they're supposed to adhere to it. You mean legal opinion? If they disrespect our facility, if they decline
to clean up, tell them not to come back. We had two events that we won't have them back. We had one wedding that the folks actually left it a complet disaster. We not allow them to come back yet. Your
your item 12 covers that, right? Your item your item 12 says anyone not complying u will forfeit their and would not would not be granted use. Correct. Uh we had another group come in here. They literally told do not put
push pins. Do not you know they thought that it was okay to put push pins in holes that were already there. So, I mean, just just giving you some ideas and and try it. Um, if you get a chance individually, go in, look at the
carpeting. The carpeting is going to need to be redone. Right now, we had we just tracked. We thought it was this last event. There's like a line of whatever spilt all the way out the door. We can't decipher which event did that,
but it's there. So, it's a whole line of just stain that goes from like somebody dragged maybe, you know, a cooler or something that had something in there. So, that that's all we're trying to do is just, you know, get some some
consistency. Just something for consideration. The administrator and the clerk have pretty well made it clear that this is a real time bandit for staff. is something the staff really doesn't have time for. It's not something that the town is in the business of is doing
events. You have the facility. You have the room. Have you ever possibly consider leasing that community room to an event planner on an annual or multi-year basis, whatever, who would pay the town
a fee for the room and would be responsible for managing all events. Of course, you would have a contract of what their responsibilities were. That takes the time away from town staff. Probably would make the room instead of a financial drain at least a
break even or possibly a revenue generator and and have a little bit more uniformity with what takes place in there because it I I could, you know, doing that for a business. I understand every word they're saying. You know, it takes time plus and people
don't respect. doesn't matter what their deposit is, they still don't respect the property. So, if you just to just to do a third party lease out on that, have someone that's going to take care of that, run and manage that for the town and and be responsible for the fees and
and responsible for the events and take that burden off of the town staff. Do we require these organizations having these events to show to have insurance we on some of the events? Yes. The bigger events, not the smaller ones,
baby showers and those types of things. We do not we don't do that for the parks either. So that was like the weddings questioning to lay out what events just to get some continuity. Remember when we
took this, you know, when it was taken over before there wasn't really any processes in place. It was a 0 to $50 and it was subjective and we want to be fair. If you're going to charge this one, then you charge the other one. If you're not going to charge this one, you
don't charge the, you know, so there was no consistency. Same with the requirement for insurance. Um, the garden club, the garden club gives me insurance. The women's club gives me insurance. The majority of everybody gets the church group. I don't think we got insurance on
that. So, you know what? What is the line that you say this is the time you need insurance? Now, our insurance PRM allows us to offer they can sign up. They pay for it. We don't, but we have that for the events that want to to do
that. I I just have two things. Uh first of all I agree with with Miss Charles that we should um we should separate meeting versus event and define it as such which is what is considered a meeting and what
is considered an event and then we can possibly do fees um appropriately based on that. And secondly what does the women's club and garden club what do they pay now? So originally when Phil in initiated. We
really didn't know. So, he was charging them. They did a fiveyear fiveyear which is up was supposedly up this month um for $25 for the AV equipment. So, they pay $25 right now. Okay. Um and I think at one point
we said even if if profits were able to pay 50 um you know as far as the events, but right now they pay 25. Okay. Um the gu the women's club pays nothing for their event and and they have three.
Now their third event that they're having, they've upped it. They will be having a police officer there because they will be so uh serving alcohol. So that's another level. But they will be paying for this for that, but they're not paying for the room. But they charge
for those three events. Yeah. Correct. The women's club charges tables. Yeah. Right. All right. So they get back to entry fee. Yeah. An entry fee. Yes. So that should be a different fee for them because they're charging an entry fee and they're they're selling. Absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah. And we do have a question. I want not talk but I believe on on the form whether they are um charging. Yeah. I saw that on the form. I thought the form was we don't allow for profits to come in here and sell tickets to their
forprofit. So that's something that's not allowed right at all. But today, and let's just say the women's club, do we charge them to use the room today? No. So they that's profit to
them. We have not charged. But the garden club we do. They don't sell though for AV equipment that Phil. So I said at the time there was no consistency consistency for us to to So the garden club only pays if they use AV
equipment. They use it all. They always use the Okay. $25. And if I can make a comment on that because remember we don't technically have an IT person. Mhm. We have an individual who has IT experience who
wears that hat who we are utilizing a lot when we are using that room because no one else here knows how to do that. So now she's being pulled away from her day task to go and take care of that. And then instance when Eva said that we came in and everything was in the
hallway. We actually had that room reserved for a government entity that was coming in to use it as a meeting space that then it was all hands on deck with us trying to get that room set up to make sure we had it proper since we were the one hosting that here.
I say all of that because if I don't then I can't put it in context for all of you to understand the pressure that it's putting on us when we are trying to manage this which is why we truly need your guidance on how to go forward with it. We need
you. I think you tell us what you need and then just tell us what you need. I looked at what Eva had put together before and I think what she put together was a very robust um presentation. I
supported it when we first when I first got here. That was the very first meeting I had and then I was shocked in comparison only because remember in previous I was over them. I helped to see what the fees were and I seen that we were giving things away basically for
free. So for it's not enough to even pay. I mean Harry is wearing so many hats just trying to even help manage with that room. And you're talking about at least three staff members. I can tell you right now actually it's more that you've got Eva, Harry, Tina, and you
also have um our IT and her like Leanne. I'm like I got her name. So that's four just at a minimum right now. Not mentioning um Jose who has to clean it. So now you're talking five staff members
and that doesn't include the parks. No, that doesn't include the the park upkeep and the park rental. Just to put it in perspective, should we be in the event planning? Should we I mean listening to
all the things that you've just said with and I'll say the word the abuse of government property during these events that have grown and got it got out of control. There's a fundamental
question. Should we be in the event rental space? It's not a government service. It's something's got away from us. that now we need to talk about. I mean, there's other places that people can
rent and they're going to have to pay for it and they're going to pay cleaning and deposits and they're only going to pay for the day that they use it, not what you told us during the workshop. Somebody has an event on Saturday. Oh, we allow them Friday to come in and
start setting up and then on Sunday to clean up. That's three days for free. I mean, I personally have no problem with let's just not be in the event planning but only using for meetings
and and historically that was discussed when the building when we first got the building. B remember talking about whether to have it as a community, you know, uh, room or to just have it as government. I think Bill brought it up at one time to just have
it for government for meetings for a meeting. this room versus the other. I think at the time I know talking to Phil on my own preferred that we not get into the community room rental uh because it
was going to end up I mean the right we could tell that it was going to escalate the way it is and now when it's out there that we don't charge anything and and believe me the the folks and there a lot of them are wonderful people I'm not
saying anything about that but they come in like they just paid $300 for this room and they're very demanding on on staff. They they want this, they want that, they want us to set up and they got that room for free. So, it's very
difficult to because as as as public servants, we want to help. And that's where we started out with this building is I mean, I know we were very excited as staff when we first got this building. We were very excited to be
able to help people. Danny was It became to the point we're like, "Oh my goodness, you know, it's it's just got it's a lot." We had two events back to back. We brought there's there's ones now for backtoback events. And so that's that's why this has been brought
forward, not only just for the fees, but to get some some way to handle it and streamline it. Do you rent this building or let people use this this room as well? This is very rare. The only time we rent this one and it's not won't even
rent this one is if we have an organization using that room and HRTPO's had to use this room a couple times because that room was taken. But other than that, this room is not uh so we um the Highlands County budget uh folks
when they do their budget presentation through all the cities, they come in here and do presentations. So this room is not used for food and all. It's for meeting space down there. We got meeting space. We got the EDC, I think twice a
year, comes here and has their meeting here. HRTPO has their meeting here. So, um, we we've had Central Florida Regional Planning do some of their meetings here. So, we do have other government entities that come in and do utilize it. We allow we host the uh
elections here for early voting. So, for government entities, we are, you know, partners. It becomes the other the other areas that that have been the event. It It seems to me like if we're having
issues getting the facility cleaned and turned over for a for a an event the next day that we shouldn't book them like that. Well, we Tina and I, just so you know, we were going to get with Charlotte because that happened this
weekend and Tina and I were just talking about that today. And I said, "Well, we may have to get with Charlotte and say we don't rent on Sundays, period." Yeah. Or Saturday events or we do Saturday or Sunday, but not both. One event on a weekend. Yes. That's it. I mean, a
handful of times that that's happened. I typically when I was doing it, I would tell the person having it on a Saturday, you need to make sure it's cleaned up. We don't have staff here. I told the person on Sunday, I can't guarantee you it's going to be clean, right? So, you take it as you get it, right? So, I
mean, and basically, that's kind of what Now, as far as having it on, you know, allowing them to come in on a Friday, if it's a wedding or a birthday party or an anniversary party, they want the Friday, they get charged. Yeah. Not for profits. No.
Based on what you said earlier though that AV, they want you for AV. You said one time you've gotten four of you pulled. That's not you guys' job description to support an event. I mean that that I I feel this
has got out of control and listened to all this. I don't support continuing to rent out our government center for parties and weddings and showers and other events. I
don't I I I hear the you know the the comment of uh should we consider us leasing to an event planner to then lease our spaces out? I mean, that might be easier and not have our town staff be involved in
all those things, which you shouldn't be. You shouldn't. Your job is not to go support, you know, the different parties that are taking place or cleaning up after the party or or fixing from the party and all of that. This is like got
out of control. And I I really myself personally I don't support continuence of the our government center for parties. And I know Charlotte Charlotte has been told that we we actually by offering this free are are
taking business away from people that have venues that this absolutely because it's much easier to give us a call and say hey or even for 50 bucks. Where are you going to go for $50 to rent a venue for a wedding? You're not
going to. There's no We've done all the research. We've researched all the cities and counties and that just is not happening. Whether whether it's not profit or it's forprofit, it's not even for profit. We we're not looking to make money. We're looking to upkeep the
facility itself. Um and we are seeing the wear and tear in there uh tremendously. I I was I was not aware of all the mess and the headaches and so forth. And so I would resend my suggestion about putting
another line item for events and just cancel events. And if I could make a comment because Harry had a good comment too is that we remember we we are working on the Dow Hall building that as soon as that is finished that will be a space that would be over there and we could
develop our applica. I mean we'll go through this whole process to set what those rules and regulations are but that would put it over there at that building away from here for the birthday party things or things of that nature, baby showers that they may still want to have. So just to put that out there to
keep that in mind. Yeah, I I think I I agree that we would have just the community room and the conference room and for meetings only and no events and and then just say we know we're in the process of developing another facility
for events. It's not ready yet, but at this point and whatever you have on the books we're going to have to honor, but book no more events. Um, but I suppose that we have to do something of value to make that happen. But would you like us
I mean would that be a motion to to begin at a certain date and then we can come back with fees for just the parks and when we're talking about meeting space this would be a meeting space for like HOAs and your government entities
and making profits right but if it's not profits not profits is going to be parties no no meetings meetings only meetings I'm saying Okay. I' I'd say that we would we would rent out the community room and the conference room
and and I guess those are the only two that really are, you know, in in the process here for meetings only. Effective when we would honor what's on the books right now, but effective today, we would not book any more
events. honor what's on the books today, but as of as of today or if you want to make it the if you make it the 1 of June, everybody's going to be shoved in in the last couple of weeks. We got we got to do it now. It's 8 8:52, nobody's going to know till in the morning. So,
we make it effective today. So, I want to clarify because I I love car the garden club. I love them folks because I know a few of them. But the meetings is a meeting, but it's it's also an event because they do decorations, food. It is
an event even though it is a meeting. But but they're meetings and I think we can probably we can probably legislate them into cleaning up better or something to that effect. But um just I mean an event to me is a birthday party,
a wedding, a kinara or you know that type of thing. Not a meeting that. Yes, I know they they decorate for their meetings, but they are meetings. So So we keep it for meetings. Who who decorates for meetings? Say that again. Oh, the garden club. The garden club.
Yeah, they bring in flowers. They decorate. Not on walls, but they they decorate. It's a It's a big for for the regular meetings, but flowers. Yeah. Each each one person. They do a beautiful job. Yeah. If you're chairperson for that
month. Yeah. So you have to bring meetings that's fine. Yeah, I think that's what we need to get we need to get back to. Yeah, we can make the conference room available for meetings only with fees with with with appropriate
fees, right? Which we still need to decide but um so do you want us to bring back we'll bring back the fee schedule? Yes. To bring back bring back with these based on meetings just on meetings only
and then the parks because the parks are going to be part of that too as far as the fee schedules. So right now if we can start with that and just bring back and you can go over the parks later. Yeah. I think I had one more comment and I'll
shut up. I promise. Um, you know, I hate to see the few bad ruin it for the good folks. And that feels like part of where we're headed. I'd encourage you to give
your staff a month to come back with maybe a refined proposal. They've heard your position. You're ready to tighten the belt. And I think that's the issue tonight is tighten the rule up. But you
know there's nothing wrong with discriminating strong statement about people who are not doing what they ought to do and who are why would you even let people get into our AV system that bring your own if you want to use it. Um but
uh you may still have some good folks that we want to let use or do business with. Sorry I had to say that. So, so I'll ask Charlotte because when I said should we even have these events, it sounds like you and the staff have
already had these discussions. We have and and the reason is yes, we do have offenders, I guess I should say. However, the big takehome here is is we don't have the manpower to maintain. That's what I'm saying. We do not have the manpower to do the reservations to
to clean up behind even if it's just vacuuming the floor. We don't have time because of how quickly they're coming and how rapidly. Yeah, we're we're stretching, right? And and the wear and tear that's happening. I I would still like to say that um
that effective today, we make no more event reservations and we ask staff to come back next month's meeting with a list of recommendations for fees for meetings,
keeping in mind that some may be legacy events and come back for those. and and we'll address the parks after we get this over this hurdle. I'll second that. Okay. So, we have a motion in a second. Any further discussion from the podium?
Um, can we um I I I think the the comment about let the bad guys hurt the good guys is because I'm thinking I've been to an event by the women's club, you know, and can we narrow the in your
working through this narrow down the definition of which events are acceptable? For example, an event by a I'm just pulling out of the air here. For example, an event by an
organization versus an event that is a individual birthday whatever whatever would that keep the good guys in good graces like the women's club and weed
out the ones that might cause the damage. So, and and and I I hear you. Birthday parties, weddings do not make up the majority. of the rentals here. Okay, just to let you know and I you
know I have she's been doing it recently but they don't make up the majority. Well, I'm just trying to find a way to balance the ones that cause the problems versus the ones that are nice. We're deciding. I mean, we can come back and
Charlotte will work on something. Um because I mean, like I said, the women's club, I used to belong to the women's club. I love the women's club. I love Joy. All the the You know, I know there I just don't think we can go there, Joy. I think that I can't pick and I I don't
I think if you start picking and choosing, you're going to end up with a problem. Yeah, because I can see if we if we go your route. So, my Rotary Club might want to have their their annual banquet here. And what if we don't clean up like we did last time? You know, I
mean, I could see that, you know, it was it was a hard thing. We we had our we had our meeting and then we had to stay another hour to clean it up. So, you know, um I think we need to just keep it to meetings and um keeping in mind the legacies and we've set the fees
accordingly, but just meetings, organizational meetings. And if they have, you know, like the garden club and they bring in their flowers and such, that's still their monthly meeting. Okay. Take it to the audience.
Any comments? Bring it back. Pull the council. Council member Hayes. Yes. Council member Charles. Yes. Council member Everheart. Yes. Okay. We'll go to 6D1 budget and mileage millage proposed
meeting schedule. Thank you. We have been working through um our midyear review and we will have more information on that in the June meeting. Between May 19th and June, I will be meeting with individual
department heads to initiate preparations for the 2526 budget process. I have already met with one of our directors. We have proposed workshop dates. Oh, I apologize. Let me skip back up. Town council sets a proposed millage
rate at its regular meeting which will be held on Monday July 14th to begin the proposed budget development process and then we have the proposed workshop dates. First budget workshop would be Wednesday July 30th. The second bud budget workshop would be Wednesday
August 13th. The third budget workshop would be Wednesday August 27th. Then we would have uh final adoption dates regular council meeting on Monday September 8th to adopt on first reading the tenative millage rate and the budget and then a special council meeting on
Monday September 15th for the final adoption of the 2526 millage rate and budget. So we wanted to make sure that you had the dates. The only challenge I have with the I don't have a challenge with the dates.
Um July 30th, August 13th, and August 27th are all Wednesdays. I work till 5:30 on Wednesdays, and I could not get here until 6. Now, I mean, if you can start the workshop without me, that's fine. But I cannot get here until 6.
Council, would we like to move that to six to allow Councilwoman Hayes to get here? Why is that looking? Because you're the only one that hadn't nodded yet. I'm fine with that. I would speak up other words. Okay. I guess silence is golden
down here. We're good. Okay, that was easy. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we're going on. All right. 6D2 request for fee waiver JC's Fourth of July fireworks.
Thank you. We have a request to wave the July 4th fireworks at Lake June boat ramp fees. This request is historically made each year. And then you see the amount here. We have a refundable deposit of
$150. Boat ramp area rental is $50. Lake Placa Police Services is $880. Total waiver request is 1080. And then the fiscal impact amount that we're looking at is $930. And I have to say from someone who
used to do this, that is a steal for us. Can you just break down the 880 for police services? Is that how many officers, how many hours, at what rate? Don't have that in front of me. I was going to say chief four
officers for four four officers for four hours at 55 per hour. Okay. Because the attached form is has 45. So that needs to be updated. the form that they filled out. The the gentleman that does that used the very old form that that form is not in
circulation anymore. So, I don't know where he got it, but it's not on the website anymore. Probably had it saved. Probably last year's, right? He has copies he kept in his email. He keeps filling out. I actually the ancient old forms. Well, I asked him to contact you to get the the latest one as well, so
that he wouldn't be working off the old form, but apparently we didn't. I move that we wave the July 4th fireworks fees of $1,080. Second, we have
Joy. Joy, did you second that? Oh, okay. All right. We have a motion and a second. Any other comments from the podium? Hearing none, we'll take it to the audience. All right. Seeing none, bring it back.
Pull the council. Council member Hayes. Yes. Council member Eberart. Yes. Council member Charles. Yes. All right. 6D3. Approval of the Highlands County Lake Blessed Recreational and a local agreement.
This agreement is being presented on an annual basis. The town council is being asked to approve the annual interlocal agreement with Highlands County. This agreement includes 125,000 in funding from Highlands County for all of the recreational parks in the town of Lake Placid. The funding is allocated in the
town of Lake Placid's budget for the 24-25 fiscal year and is specifically designated for operational expenses rather than capital expenditures as outlined in the agreement. We're seeking a motion to approve the Highlands County and Town of
Lake Placid's recreational interlocal agreement. And this has been the same agreement for how many years? A long time ago. Well, they dictate the money, right? So, I'll make a motion to approve the Highlands County and town of Lake Placid Recreational inner local
agreement for 2425 fiscal year. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further comment? I I just have a question. I was looking at the inventory list of all the parks. Where is Jerry's Park behind the police station? Uh,
Chief, is Jerry's Park by the police department? Right behind the build, the police department building. So, the parking lot today. Is there an actual park there? There's a small grass area, the grass area that you park vehicles on. No, we do not park on the grass.
Actually, we park only on the concrete and on the uh gravel. The grass area that would be right outside my office would be what was considered Jerry's Park. There were there was a time we did have picnic tables out there, but they were never used and eventually just fell
in disrepair and were removed. So maybe we should eventually take it off this list as a park. Um, and then my com my question is on Bishop Park, right? We own Bishop Park, but the county do they maintain
it? Do Do we No, they do everything. They do everything, right? They maintain it and they repair it, but it's listed on this list also. Correct. I I think the list should be updated to get rid of the shuffle board. were
removed like two years ago. That was going to be my next one. Missed that one. Right on it. Yeah, we did add We did add the new park, Dal. So, that's on there. And I'm sorry, what? The Dahal Park. Make sure that got on there. We'll take the shuffle bar board off. I'll let
them know. Why are some of the parks in in red print on? Don't know. Don't know. This is This document comes from us from Highlands County. So, Oh, okay. It does. It was a list of them, but I don't know why it's in red. It's just the same
ongoing list unless we add a park or take a park off. There really hasn't, as long as I've been here, any adjustments made to this list. So, okay. Um I will find out why, Brad. I don't know why. And then the last one over there to Allan
is, you know, there's a number of the Taylor Park the different addresses because we get it right. There's a whole bunch of lots together, but they're calling one 111 Grove Street as Taylor Park. I mean, we all know that Serenity
is, you know, the different like there's four, I think, lots that make up Taylor Park all on Serenity. They're on there, but then they're al this is also showing a 111 Grove Street. I believe that's interest. That was my guess. Yeah. So,
we we can give these changes to them to clean it up. I think the par the parcel IDs on there. I can go through that and have them I'll just make sure that Yeah. Clean it up. The parcel IDs match uh the addresses because there could have been address changes done by Highland County
that the parcel ID will give us the the correct address, I guess. Okay. Anything else? Nothing from the podium. We'll take it to the audience. Hearing nothing. Bring it back. Pull the council. Council member
Charles. Yes. Council member Everart. Yes. Council member Hayes. Yes. Where are we at now? Okay. 6D4 Town of Lake Placid Planning Agency Board of Adjustments and Town of Lake
Placid Regional Utilities. The town um LPA, BOA, and Lupra um meetings. We have vacancies that Well, there's I'm going to not mess this up. The re on
the regional utilities, there's two vacancies. LPA, we have a full board. Um there there have been some absenteeism. I think the LPA board is probably going to discuss this at their next meeting. They're possibly looking
to have council. It'll be come back to council to possibly, it hasn't really been discussed. It's just kind of what I've heard that they might want to switch their alternates to the couple that have been absent and make them alternates and bring the other two to full board members. So there might that might be
coming to you in the future to address the absentee in the code in their LPA board of adjustments code there is a three uh meeting absenteeism uh clause in it. So that that's going to probably be coming
before you and we on this agenda at the very end you saw I have advertised the two spots for loop rack. So at the very end of that and then we'll put it on the website. Okay. These have been up for a long time and and and as long as I've
ever been here, I believe these two seats have been open. Is that right, Council Member Everheart? I believe these two seats have been open for a long time. Yeah. And then there's one that hasn't been there for a couple of meetings. Yeah. So, but that that was the only reason.
Is this a just a notice to us or is there some motion that is required here? No motion. I think it wasformational only. Okay. So, no action. No action. Okay. I guess we'll go on
to 65. Town of Lake Placard request for proposal RFP for planning services. Thank you. The town of Lake Placid issued a request for proposals
for town planner services which officially closed on March 29th. The town received only one submission from Stonehenge Land Development Consultants led by Dana Redal, our previous town planner who has continued to provide services on a monthly contract basis.
The scope of services outlined in the RFP mirrors the current scope under which Miss Redell has been operating. Miss Redell brings extensive experience not only with Lake Placid but also with Highlands County and the Central Florida Regional Planning Council. Her established relationships and deep
familiar familiarity with the town's planning framework have supported efficient and informed project management. Given the absence of other proposals and the successful track record with the current consultant, staff is supportive of council consideration to formally accept the proposal submitted by
Stonehenge. That has been included for you. And you also have two motions. Motion one would accept the proposal. Motion two would reissue the RFP. I was asked to obtain the
information on what we um Mr. Laroo, who previously handled planning services for the town, what his fees were. And for three months of service, he we paid him $23,16.25. Is there any um hours on that
or was that just a me just pull this payroll record? Maybe I pulled the payroll record and then I'm looking here because it does say I pulled the interlocal agreement so that I could look at it with you with the outline services
professional planning services. It encompassed comp plan amendments, land development regulations, reszoning variances, spe special exceptions, and site plan review, pre-development conferences, meetings as requested by the city, development related advice and
response to inquiries, planning studies and grant preparation, updating the comp plan, five-year schedule of capital improvements, attend council and planning and zoning board meetings as requested. Um then it goes on and then compensation
and method of payment for the performance of any of the services as listed in paragraph one of this agreement will be invoiced monthly at the following rates 125 per hour and $700 per meeting. How much per meeting? Per meeting was 700 per meeting. Thank
you. Thank you. You're welcome. You're welcome. And then when we were contracted with the county, it was 30,000. Wait a minute. I think it's 25. It was 35,000. We paid um Highlands
County before we got Mr. Laroo was 35,000 for how what period of time? A year. 35,000 a year. That was really low. That was very low considering the services that they were providing. Yeah.
Which is part of the reason why they're not able to even explore that now considering they have new planners who um with our LPRP and the nuances of our setup. They can't take this on right now. And what year was that? That was um
this was the agenda item on this was August 8th, 2022. And then it says, "Highlands County gave notice under the town's planning interlocal agreement that they will not be able to provide all of the required town planning services effective October 1st, 2022. Employment
of a new town planner to replace the Highlands County Planning Department." Joe Barber and I met with the county planners and county attorney. The county is willing to continue issuing the zoning review for all single family residential construction and charge the developer the owner the same rate they charge for the same service to the
county. There will be no additional fee charged to the town. The county will submit a proposed interlocal planning agreement using same format as in the past but with the limited services described above effective October 1st, 2022. And then that's when we entered into an agreement with Mr.
Laru and after three months my understanding is that it was deemed that it was not cost effective. Um and then there was a lack of sometimes the response time was a little delayed but um but other than that he has a staff that was efficient.
It was like Fort Myers or something. Yes, ma'am. He's in Fort Meyers. Yeah. And um my understanding was he wasn't working full hours either. It was as needed. So this is a critical position for this
town. I mean the planning position with all the things that we, you know, may have coming down the pipeline and the different things that we need to do. Um so 5,500 a month is 66,000 a year.
We couldn't hire a planner with benefits with the skills and the experience that comes with this company. So, and and I think what you just went over supported it's a lot cheaper than somebody we had in the
past. Um, and in this case, we have an experienced financial consultant that knows our town and that knows our county. And you can't even put the premium on what that savings would be to
us, even if we found an ideal employee to hire, then we've got to get them trained and all the things that can fall through the cracks while that happens. or another consulting company that comes in and wants to do it. You can't put a
price on experience. So, I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve the proposal submitted by Stonehenge Land Development Consultants for Town Planner Services and authorize the town administrator to enter into a professional services
agreement consist consistent with the terms outlined in the RFP. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Yeah. Comment. So, if we take Mr. Laru's salary, which
he charged us for 3 months, multiply it times 4, 12 months, was $92,425, which at the time we thought was exorbitant, and in 2022 it may have been. In this case, we have this company
at $66,000 and at a simple 192 hours at $125 an hour, you will up this this 6600 $66,000 contract to
$90,000. That 192 hours equals out to 16 hours a month. Now, we've just asked our planner to at the fee of $125 an hour to go over three different text
amendments at Do you really think we can get that done at 16 hours a month? I doubt it, but maybe we can. But it seems like everything that we come up with has got 35 pages in in in the packet and
there's 35 hoops that we have to jump through. And I'm concerned that I appreciate the $66,000 and what that's going to uh acrue. Um where will this $5,500 a month occur? Will you be here?
Will you be um at home? Will you be working remotely? And then at $125 an hour, um, we have a whole lot of things to do. So, we're looking at probably
$125,000. So, I realize it's an important position, but it seems like we had someone on staff. This someone decided that wasn't going to work and left. But now, guess what? We're coming back with an RFP. So, now we can make
more than what we did when we left. Just pointing out the obvious. Not saying she's not qualified. Not my point. Just saying. Okay. Any other comments? Was trying to say
something. I didn't see her. Thank you. Good evening and thank you for your consideration of my contract this evening. Um to address your concerns, Councilwoman Hayes, I do not intend to collect $125,000 a year. I would like to
point out that without a benefits package, I'm taking a loss of approximately $30,000 a year. I will be paying 10% taxes minimum on that 5,500 and bringing home less money than I did
before. Um, I had senior management FRS, so a significant portion of money was being submitted to the state. Um, and I truly believe that what
I can produce as a contract planner is more efficient and a better contribution to the town than what I was required to do as an in-house planner and a better use of my time.
I would not be attending safety meetings, budget workshops, uh, supervising code enforcement, and I can devote the appropriate amount of time that the town
deserves. Jim Laroo's services, when I looked at his invoices, came out to approximately 30 hours a month. I'm spending 30 to 40 hours a week, usually more, on services that I'm providing to the
town. Um, it's hard to quantify some of the work that I do, which is why I provided a flat rate fee that I felt like I wouldn't be taken advantage of and I wouldn't be taking advantage of the taxpayers either. I'm very cognizant
of what our taxpayers deserve and it has been a topic that weighs heavily on me. Um, and I also have the opportunity to make money in other avenues through my private contracting business.
So, in my opinion, this is a cost savings to the town. In addition to the fact that through my contractual services, I'm able to offer technical services. I don't know if the town plans to proceed with the full-time town
engineer, but the setup that we have now seems to be working pretty well. Um, I think ultimately this is a great benefit to the town and to myself. So I again I thank you for your consideration. I just wanted to address those concerns
and I do see text amendments as you know they're going to increase my paycheck at the end of the day. But I think it's important that the town understands what they're asking me to do. um that I'm not overloaded and overburdened with the flat rate fee
where I'm told do all of these things and then everyone on both sides is disappointed that they're not happening fast enough or on their timeline or in the manner that they want them to occur. So yes, I do intend to make more money as a contract planner, but not through
the town of Lake Placid. Thank you. Okay. Any other comments from the audience? Clerk, bring it back. Pull the council. Council member Charles. Yes. Council member. Yes. Council member Hayes. You
convinced me. Yes. Okay. Yeah. And I'll turn it over to the administrator for her comments. Thank you. So there is no more important annual responsibility for a municipality than to the develop than to develop our
budget. The budget is not simply a financial document. It is a direct reflection of the community's values, their priorities, and the vision for the future. As we have been preparing to conduct the mid-year review and look at the current fiscal year, we will be
providing updated projections and recommendations during the June council meeting. But this brings us to a very essential question that I think has to be on the heart of all of us, especially the council. What is your vision for the town of Lake
Placid? Where do you truly see us going outside of the comp plan? Outside of the LPRP, what is the vision for Lake Placid, the town of Lake Placid, not just the greater Lake Placid area, but the town itself? When we had um LPA and Loop
meetings last week, one of the things that constantly comes to my mind is that it's if we don't have vision, then the people perish. So, where are we going? Where do you see us in the next 10, 15, and 20 years? Through my recent collaborations with county officials and external
partners, a reoccurring theme has emerged. Lake Placid is widely perceived as a unique close-knit community, but one that often resists resists change. We are viewed as a bedroom community that does not actively support business
development and our development standards are seen as overly restrictive and inconsistently applied. The perception is that the town is very difficult to work with, that we are very reluctant to grow, and that we're resistant to collaboration.
While this view may not reflect our intentions, the perception has real world real world implications for investment, for our partnerships, and long-term sustainability. The absence of a long range fiscal plan has placed constraints
on our ability to be able to prepare for development and to be able to maintain properly the services that we are currently providing. A coordinated effort between the local planning agency and the utilities committee is essential. The two advisory bodies most must work
together to ensure that land use planning aligns with the utility expansion especially as it relates to the town sewer capacity and revenue generation which the mayor posed us with taking this to both of those bodies. A regional utilities workshop has been
scheduled for May 21st, 2025 to allow for further discussion among committee members. A joint workshop between the local planning agency and the utility committee is scheduled to occur during the regularly scheduled LPA meeting which will happen in
June. So what are what are council priorities? That's the next question. Recognizing that the town did not have a formally adopted strategic plan, I asked the town council very early in my tenure to identify the top priorities. This was
essential in providing me as your new town administrator with clear direction and focus areas that align not only with the community's needs and expectations, but also would be able to meet our staff and where where we would be able to grow and how we would be able to utilize
their talents. The top five priorities that were identified was number one, public safety, supporting the continued advancement of both the police department and fire services. This includes evaluating staffing, equipment, facilities, and long-term resources
needed to maintain the highquality emergency response that we pride ourselves on. Strategic planning and comprehensive plan update, developing a formal strategic plan, and re-evaluating the town's 30-year comp plan. Both initiatives are are now in process and
with CFRPC leading the development of the strategic plan and scheduled to initiate the comprehensive plan update in late 2025. The next was the town infrastructure improvements, creating a structured roof pavement plan and a streetscaping plan. These efforts will
provide clarity and sequencing for future capital improvements which will support our grant applications which we depend heavily on and help manage our community expectations and parks and recreation enhancing park development and expanding
our recreational opportunities especially those that are centered around the youth and family engagement events. This priority also includes exploring options for event programming and long-term recreational planning. communication and community engagement,
improving how the town communicates with our residents, and being able to foster more consistent and transparent community involvement. This includes updating our communication tools, increasing public participation, and strengthening
trust. In addition to these five core priorities, it's worth emphasizing that the sixth priority that was repeatedly noted is economic development. While not ranked as high initially, the need to support sustainable economic development, including attracting appropriate commercial investment and
supporting our local businesses, remains critical to the long-term health of the town of Lake Placid. This focus directly intersects with infrastructure, utilities, and planning and will require further alignment as strategic initiatives advance.
I think we've all heard here that organizational capacity is one of the biggest things that we struggle with right now. My onboarding as town administrator began shortly after the adoption of the 2425 budget. It has been very difficult to sit here and have a
budget that I didn't help have input on, that I didn't get to be able to weigh in on and then be responsible for it. And then see that the fact that as we said, Councilwoman Charles said that some of the our true up for the midyear, there are discrepancies there that we've had
to address internally and be able to look at things that we we would have liked to have planned for. Well, since that time when I've been working closely with the staff to prepare for the development of the 2526 budget, this process has revealed a
sobering but critical truth that the scope and complexity of the municipal operations in Lake Placid have definitely outgrown the town's current staffing model. Historically, the town of Lake Placid has relied heavily on the dedication of volunteers through advisory boards and committees. While
that civic engagement remains valuable, the real reality is that today's municipal environment is shaped by increasing regulatory demands, legal complexities, and a rapid community that is changing. It requires a stronger
professional workforce to ensure accountability, responsiveness, and service continuity. In addition, the town of Lake Placid has experienced significant staff turnover since February. These vacancies have placed a strain on our remaining staff who have been
covering essential functions across multiple departments wearing sometimes five to seven hats. Employer retention has become one of our highest priorities. Compounding this challenge is a competitive employment environment that we face when
we have municipalities in the city of Sebring and the city of Avon Park who are able to pay our staff a minimum of $5 more than we can offer. That is a sobering reality that we are facing right now. They also offer a more
comprehensive benefit package that make it increasingly difficult to attract and retain skilled personnel. As we move forward with long-term planning, our infrastructure investments, and the regulatory compliance, the need to build organ organizational capacity will be
central to delivering the level of service our residents and businesses deserve. The upcoming budget process will not only reflect the town's operational needs, but it will serve as a turning point in shaping a sustainable and resilient future for the town of
Lake Placid. In regards to public safety and the police department, we received most recently the architectural renderings for the proposed police department facility. The staff and I have reviewed it and we are making our recommendations and that will go back to Cooland Cobb
Engineering tomorrow. Parks and Recreation. In an effort to initiate a meaningful progress toward a townwide parks and recreation master plan, we began initial coordination with Highlands County, which had been exploring the similar needs on a broader scale. The TDC developed a grant
application to support the creation of such a plan, and the town submitted a formal application to sub to participate. Following those discussions, the county opted to pursue a countywide initiative that focused on parks throughout all of Highlands County rather than the
individual municipal systems with a focus on tourism generation that would uplift the appearance and the offerings to our local residents. As part of that effort, Lake June Park ranked within the top 10 prioritized parks with several recommendations that were made to
improve the facilities with tourism enhancing features that would also benefit our residents. However, it's important to note that these are only recommendations and they do not constitute a comprehensive planning document for the town of Lake Placid's park
system because the report did not provide the level of detail or tailored analysis needed to support a long range town strategy. This remains an outstanding need as we prepare for the upcoming 2526 budget cycle. And I would recommend that council consider whether
to initiate a formal parks and recreation master plan specific to the town of Lake Placid. In addition, on Friday, very late Friday, we did receive an updated quote from Niti for the pickle balls for
the pickle ball court at um 239,800. and our town um attorney is finalizing his legal opinion right now to satisfy the FURDA app requirements so that we can get that submitted to go out to bid. Once submitted, we will move forward with the FURD
approval. Community engagement. Our recent community engagement efforts have seen early success, particularly through the CFRPC public workshops that are tied to the county's comp plan review and the development of the downtown strategic plan. These workshops have helped
establish establish a foundation for open dialogue with residents and business owners. One that we welcome and we hope continues. And in there will be additional opportunities for public input input and we will continue to advance through the remaining phases of
the planning process. In June, you will see boots on the ground as CFRPC will have their staff circulating through the town. They will be talking with the businesses. They'll be evaluating the landscape and they'll be coming back with more information for us. In an effort to broaden our
outreach, the town staff developed a community survey using a revised version of questions that had been previously utilized by the CFRPC and another parks and recreation plan that they had used. While it was well intended and designed designed to fulfill the council's
request for a broader community input, a technical glitch allowed some participants to submit multiple responses and it was pulled. This experience, I believe, highlights the continued challenge of executing engagement strategies without
a dedicated budget or the necessary tools for us to have a professional-grade implementation. We did the best with what we had to move forward constructively. staff have obtained a vetted survey model from the village of Pinerest which has demonstrated effective community
feedback results. We are in the process of adapting this model in laser fish where it can be tracked and we can also it will provide all of the documentation that we need to be able to have this accurately done. Once it is finalized, the draft survey will be presented to
town council for your review and your approval prior to us releasing it for public consumption. Our goal is to develop a reliable mechanism for gathering meaningful public input that will inform both the downtown master plan and other strategic priorities that
are directed by town council. Our midyear highlights and budget amendment as stated will come in June. However, there are some key things to pay attention to. We did have bank interest revenue. there was a notable increase because of the interest
earnings um through Hartland National Bank. We also have stated that there was an overlap in positions with high salaries because we had um our previous town administrator who also held the role as um utilities director. Sorry, my
brain is getting tired at this point. I'm typically in bed. And um and then we also had the town in town engineer and we had a grant writer that was in there. There was a lot of overlap with salary. So you're going to see that that there was um administrative administrative salaries
that contributed. We have discussed grant concerns with trying to ensure that grants align where they need to. We had to get the e civics platform to be able to help us offset in that area. There will be additional comments that
will come in the June meeting. The realities that we face and we've outlined here today underscore the importance of aligning our decisions with the operational capacity of the town and the expectations of the community we serve. While forecasting
governmental revenues and expedentures even a few years out involves a degree of uncertainty, a budget built on well-reasoned assumptions and planning frameworks can help us identify this. I I know that councilwoman Worley is not
here, but she always says if we fail to plan, we plan to fail. So everybody keeps asking, well, why do you need all these plans? Well, because I'm sitting with previous staff and new staff and asking, "What was the plan? What was the
roadmap? Where were we going with the utilities? What was happening?" And I get a resounding, "I don't know." Well, I don't know doesn't move the town of Lake Placid where we need to go. And it doesn't take care of the residents that we have been tasked and
commissioned to oversee and to help and to be here for. So the work ahead is significant and the develop of the 2526 budget is going to be one that probably we all are not looking forward to because it's going to
be tough conversations. But I think the only way we're going to be able to move things forward is to have the transparent conversations in the open with the public present so that we can continue to serve them the way that we are supposed to. Thank you.
Quick question on that TDC plan that they submitted. Should we do we need to give them feedback? Should we have that as on the next town council meeting at least only for the Lake June and Bishop Park, right? Those were the two. Those were the two. Yes, ma'am. And they
ranked in the top. So So is there some like overview summary so that we can give them any appropriate feedback? Yes, ma'am. In your I think it went out in the packet and then I also printed a copy, too. It's in there. So, we can do that. Absolutely. Anybody else have questions? Yeah. On
that, I was disappointed. I was hoping it would be a plan for all of our parks and not just those two. That's what we were led to believe. I asked that question almost in every meeting. Are we certain this is a
master plan for all of our parks and not tourism? And the response was it's going to be all of our parks. Yeah. So disappointed. I'm equally disappointed, right? Because we keep pushing out and I've been since the second month on town council asking for a master plan for
parks and recreation. So I totally support that. But yeah, that was like a big disappointment. However, that was led to believe it's for all of our parks. And I was also disappointed in their recommendation. I'm disappointed
that they didn't ask for town feedback. So how they came up with this master plan for Lake June Park and Bishop Park when they didn't survey anybody in the town because they're just looking at heads and beds. That's what they look at. No, in that one they said that you
two attended the workshop meeting to give the feedback. So that's kind of how they're setting it up. It's that's their bottom line is heads and backs. That's tourism. though they said that that was a tourism grant to bring more sports tourism to this area,
but I think they're looking for some feedback. So, we can give them that feedback. We'll let Deborah's on that council. We'll let Deborah do that. She not here. Deborah here for that one. She's not here. We'll put her in there. I was going to say I think it was
Councilwoman Worley and I that were part of that portion and then Councilwoman Ibrahart and I were part of the HGTV portion and I think there was one meeting um with the sports experts that you and I attended. Right.
Right. Just to clarify which is why Deborah Warly needs to be here. TDC. Anything else? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, wait. I did have one more reminder. Surviving First Amendment audits and citizen journalist encounters
in our town. Our first amendment training. This is a reminder that that will come up July 15th, 16th, and 17th. It's from 8 to 12. Council can attend. You just have to pick a day which one works and let us know and we'll coordinate. Have to go three days.
Three days. You only have to attend one day. One day. One day. But there's three days offering. And what are the times of voting? 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. And it will be here at the town hall. You're welcome. I can send that in an email as well. Thank you. Okay. What is
that May 21st meeting you mentioned? That is a workshop. That's for correct me. Utilities. Utilities. Our pack. Oh, and workshop. It's late. One last
the the number for the pickle ball the 239,000. What was that for? We received the updated quote from Niti. Is that just for the court construction? Okay. But you're going out
for a bid. So that was a budgetary estimate that he updated it because from when he previously gave it to us. So he requested for an update on what it would be now. I think it's up there on my dis on the
dis show. Do we have just that one bid? Because we haven't gone any further. We just received it on Friday. Okay. So that's a updated amount. An update or a bid? It's an updated amount. Updated amount. It's
not correct. Okay. So it's not a bid. No. Correct. Eva, I'm sorry. Eva intercepted on this for me Friday. I believe Niti is a sole source. That is not probably that's not going out to bid. That's a soul s that's my understanding. But we're still trying to
piece some of those together. Piecing it together. But he is the only one who does pickle ball is my understanding. Oh, I see. He's a single source. That's what I was told. But when you go out for a bid, you might find others, which there are. Correct. Okay. We'll go out.
Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Any comment from staff? Everybody good? All right. All right. We'll start. Joy, you
got any last comments? Okay. Now, do we have the police station? She'll be next week. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.
Uh, two quick things. One's informational as maybe you know or not, but on February 24th, Governor Dantis signed an executive order to establish a doge for the state of Florida and also that each of his agencies should
establish a doge. And then March 18th was kind of the first request coming to all the municipalities uh regarding financial condition. And so this is the kind of the first Doge request to no surprise ours is is was a
non-issue um that the staff provided. And um Charlotte sent that out. And yeah, my comment was I I would think that when we have a letter um signed by the mayor going to the governor that we should just be aware at town council that something like that request came
out and then also was responded to. And then Mayor Hullbrook, I have a question for you. A couple meetings ago was where in order and and I'm just kind of reading the minutes and I wanted clarification in to enhance communication, Mayor Hullbrook announced
that all inquiries or issues should now be directed to the town administrator. The town administrator must be involved in all town businesses. I don't think that was intended that we couldn't ask a just a question to staff, not on an issue or something. or if a comment was made in like this meeting, you know,
tomorrow I can say, "Hey, Rachel, you said this. Could you clarify?" I don't think it intended that we have to go to Charlotte for minor things like that. I want her involved in everything. That's that was my concern. Okay. Uh I I don't want things being done without without
her knowing what's going on. So, we can't ask a question directly to a staff member. Is that what we're saying? It just feels that's inefficient that I can't just, you know, call Rachel and say, "Hey, you said this. Can you clarify it?" I have to
write to Charlotte to then go to Rachel to then get back. So, that's what I'm I mean, I'm not giving direction or anything, but just clarifying when we can talk to staff or if we can't at all, everything has to come through Charlotte. I I don't Let me think about that. Yeah,
I think it's kind of a judgment on, you know, what it is, but I just I we've had we've had it in the past where things have happened that have gone over the admin before she got here that went over the administrator's head. And just just
like I've told everybody in the past, I don't want to find out something secondhand. And the same with her, I want her involved. She can't do her job unless she knows what's going on with everybody. So that was my concern is
just I I don't want Rachel or Eva or whatever to have five or six different bosses. If you got a concern, I'd rather you go to Charlotte and let her take care. And and maybe it's the word concern or question. So it's just kind
of a judgment of I I didn't think it's intended that we can't talk to staff because that's not an environment I don't think we want to get into. And at the same time, again, I'm not saying you can't talk to staff. I just want Charlotte involved in talking to staff and Yeah. or or know what you're at
least know what the what you're talking about so so she'll she'll know to uh to be able to come back with something if she has to and not not be blindsided. That that's all. Any other comments come before councel? Meeting adjourned.