to the lake plid regular Town council meeting this Monday evening March 10th 2025 in the government center of the beautiful town of Lake plid um if everybody would please stand we have the honor of having with us
father com from the the Catholic church with us who's going to lead us in the invocation and pledge thank you Father pment happy do Heavenly Father we pray that the town of Lake plid for the council representative for all its
citizens citizens reside in Lake pla because they find it quite unique and special watch over bless and protect all of us who resde here in Lake placet may we continue to reflect your will and your glory in abundance guide us from
distraction we fac in today's society we ask that you give us the grace and the wisdom to discern what is your will and what is not may you continue to bless the council member and guide them always in your wisdom that they may help and
guide this town to remain a special town that it is show abundant grace in each council member so they will be able to reflect your will your grace in each case that comes before the council we ask you to protect and guard
each member so that they all time May benefit from decision that deliberate today we ask that youon do not let any emotional response or issue confuse a cloud the reality of what is your truth may your grace
descend on each of them and may everyone who comes and lives here in lake placet become a great asset society and community we ask this through Christ Our Lord amen amen I pled Al pled ALG 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 amen ask the clerk to call the role please
mayor Holbrook here council member Hayes here council member warley here council member Charles here council member Everhart here at this time everyone you've
noticed for the past couple meetings Tina has been sitting up here by side of Eva uh Eva's Eva's been gone for a while uh will be gone for a while and uh Tina will be taking over her duties as Deputy
clerk so I just if you'd stand up I just wanted to introduce our our Deputy clerk to [Applause] you okay consent Agenda One
I'll make a motion that we approve the consent and uh second we got a motion in a second any further discussion on the podium yeah I have a comment to make um on page 45 of the accounts
payable there was a payment on the town credit card for $8,600 to Duke Energy which is not within policy uh apparently it was something that Kevin McCarthy had authorized regarding a
grant um so completely out of process out of line um should never have been made um I did send a note today to Rachel and to uh Charlotte and I feel that they're going to be putting in the proper corrective action um that needs
to be done for monitoring credit card payments which we should never be using our credit card for accounts payable in this case there's even could be questionable about the grant reimbursement opportunity because it was made completely out of pro process and
so I wanted to make that comment that of course the account's payable is paid so that we need to approve but Mr Mayor I would ask that you also support authorization of a relook at our credit card process the authorization limits
what we're using it for um to make sure that we have a very robust in accordance with policy probably stricter because credit card should be a little stricter than um normal payment but that this never happens again okay so noted and you are aware of
that Rachel okay any other comments take it to the audience bring it back pull the councel council member warley yes council member Hayes yes council member Charles yes
council member everard yes all right next we have presentation citizen on the agenda first of all is a citizen citizen life saving award I'll turn it over to the chief
Mr wall you join me up here please I'm also asking that uh Town Administrator Charlotte Rodriguez join me down here as we continue with this you speak into the mic for me I've asked that uh the Town Administrator joined me for this too as this is a joint award
from the town and the police department um I would like to start read this letter on October 31st 2024 at 50:09 p.m. you just demonstrated extraordinary bravy bravery and selflessness during a harrowing incident near the intersection
of us27 and L gr Road in Lake Placid your Swift action in pulling a man from a burning car not only exemplifies your remarkable courage but also illustrates the true Spirit of community and compassion in a situation where many chose to drive by you stood out as a
Beacon of Hope and Humanity your willingness to put your own safety at risk to save another life is commendable and worthy of recognition it is individuals like you who Inspire us all and remind us of the profound impact one person can have in a moment
of crisis on behalf of the town of Lake plaid and the Lake Placid Police Department we commend you for your heroic and selfless act your actions have not only saved a life but have also uplifted our community spirit thank you for embodying the values of Courage
integrity and compassion we are proud to honor you as a true hero just to put this in context um Mr Waller stopped when many others just drove by and called 911 about the vehicle on fire the gentleman was Mobility impaired
inside and couldn't not get out by the time Mr Waller had arrived it was already burning his legs the fires were into the passenger compartment if he had not taken action the gentleman would have passed away there is no doubt by the grace of God it could have been anyone here in this room thank
[Applause] you sure I want to go down have a picture that's what she's asking I don't care do you you want let's go thank you all so much
spe [Applause] give it a minute to clear out right I've got okay okay see yeah all right next on the agenda we have the Lake June Park
Memorial mural of memory is there anyone here for that okay so we'll move on uh the last thing under presentations is our Lake Plaza Police Department update presentation
okay I was asked to uh put together a presentation to answer some questions that have come about about the new police department um the first question being what what accreditation gets us uh first thing is better community relations by focusing on police
accreditation we demonstrate our commitment to community policing fostering strong relationships with citizens through transparency and accountability a boost in public trust meeting rigorous accreditation standards enhances public confidence in our
decisionmaking and operations a new facility designed with this purpose will further strengthen this trust trust within the the community increased operational efficiency the accreditation process encourages us to critically review our
policies and operational practices a new space will allow us to establish workflows that enhance our efficiency and service quality enhanced accountability achieving accreditation necessitates detailed documentation and self
assessment a new facility will provide the capacity needed for Rob oversight and accountability measures get down here access to best practices by pursuing accreditation we can learn from a collaboration with other accredited
agencies fostering a culture of ongoing Improvement and service Excellence lower liability risks compliance with with established standards reduces our exposure to lawsuits a well- constructed new facility will help mitigate risks
associated with inadequate working conditions commitment to professional development a new building will incorporate modern training spaces that promote continuous Learning and Development for our officers and staff a larger well-designed I'm sorry
improved staff morale a larger well-designed workspace positively impacts officer morale by addressing current space limitations we can enhance job satisfaction and pride in our work demonstrated commitment to Excellence a new police department
represents our dedication to high standards in public service shaping our agency's mission and identity what type of training will take place in the new police department was an additional question that I was asked um
right now defensive tactics training require padded floors for takedowns to ensure officers are not injured during training we have nowhere that we can do this right now we have nowhere to practice defensive tactics our officers get no additional training on this right
now unless we are somehow able to secure the college facilities in Avon Park this requires additional pay for officers to appear there in their off-duty hours um simulated weapons training requires a simulator which must be
installed to allow for advanced firearms training this is something that I personally feel law enforcement officers get too little of our firearms training should be a minimum of if not bi-weekly weekly um right now we due to the
expense of ammunition we cannot do that we're lucky if we're able to get every quarter to every six months firearms training for the officers having these simulators and being able to install them which our insurance company PRM will assist us in they have a huge Grant that would allow
us to obtain the simulators needed for the additional firearms training um also I was asked why we can't do training here in this building when you're training for defensive tactics and Firearms it requires loud
verbal commands to be given if we begin doing this in this building during operating hours we are going to disturb the operations of this building because the officers are going to be yelling and shouting it's not something that you would want to have in here how are we how are impounded
Vehicles handed I was asked this question I believe this alludes to evidence vehicle storage um it's it's not an actual impound lot as you would think of in a larger City this is evidence vehicles vehicles that have been involved in traffic homicides
murders or or anything else where we were required to seize that vehicle and take it and store it in a secure location while it's being processed for evidence currently we have nowhere that we can do this we used to be able to use Rodney's Towing they had indoor storage
and would store it for us they're no longer in business um we have used the town Barn before for this purpose but when we do that the Allan and his staff are removed from the town barn and we have to take
over that space and maintain security of that space adding costs to the town for additional Personnel to maintain the security of that space it's not something that we do often and we try not to do if we don't have to what are the requirements for
document storage um records retention is mandated by our federal government and our state government depending on the rep record type um this defines its storage and its length so we have to look at what types of Records we're talking about currently
at the police department I have this here to show you we deal with the gs1 the GS2 GS5 and gs1 Records daily each has a specific retention some records we can never get rid of we have to keep them for a
minimum of a hundred years anything to do with any type of murder or manslaughter case we will never get rid of that not in my lifetime so these records have to be maintained they have to be maintained properly that's why we need proper record
storage um I was asked is this a want or a need when we're looking at a want versus a need this is not a want this is a need our current building was constructed in 1969
the town took possession of this building in 1988 it was used from 1988 to 1996 as the public library here in Lake plad those of us that went to school here remember going to that place as the
library in 1996 it was taken over and the police department moved in since 1996 there has been no effective um Improvement to the infrastructure of this building of this building to
include the walls the floating ceilings the electrical which is still on a single outlet as if it were used in a house you have one Outlet on a wall we plug multiple things into those outlets and as you can see in the pictures that I'm
showing a lot of it has been pieced together over the years by small projects each time nothing significant ific has been done to improve this building currently our our evidence room if you were to climb over a floating wall you can get into our evidence room
through the roof this is completely unacceptable for a law enforcement facility we've tried to combat that with video and alarm systems in our evidence room that's still not enough for accreditation it would not allow for us to meet accreditation requirements it
allows us to proceed with day-to-day business but is something that we seriously need to look at I just received a week ago a notice of a department in Alabama where the entire police department was indicted for lack of fiscal Security on their evidence
room it's not something I want to see happen here in Lake Placid we need to push forward to improve our facilities to get the Department that this town deserves and needs continue through this and just show show you some of the deficiencies
that we're we're looking at in this building you can see see the ceiling tiles that just floated the wires that randomly dropped down from the ceiling where we still have incoming old phone lines they have been adapted to use
internet but it is just a piece that's plugged into the old phone line they still don't have the the rate or internet speed that is required or needed for law enforcement purposes you'll see the exterior of the building we have cameras that we
currently have on there and the wires are actually run on the outside of the building there's no security to them anyone could walk up and pull these out or interfere with our cameras out in the exterior of our building um the parking currently we
have enough room for seven vehicles in the rear of the department that's including everyone working each day we have about 13 parking spaces around the front and side of the building that's that we share with not only the chamber
twq and the um hair salon behind us so we have very limited parking for anyone who wants to come into the police department you'll see here our it room there is no air conditioning in this room this room gets exceedingly hot
I'm actually amazed daily that we do not have problems with our computers and our server because of the heat especially in the summer we've done all that we can to to redirect um air conditioning in here it just doesn't work um we've had Millers out and they've done everything
that they can aside from installing a fourth air conditioner in this building dedicated to this room you'll see our our just the conditions that we have um looking at the financials of this I've been asked multiple times where the funding for
this is coming from how are we funding this where are we get getting the money currently in our budget we do have 1.6 million set aside from our um which funded infrastructure fund but we've also set aside our arpa
funds currently our arpa funds were dedicated and had to be dedicated to this project by December 31st of 2024 which they were the amount in that fund is$ 76,6 7050 we would also have a recoup amount
from the building that we're currently in um we were not able to get an actual estimate from the realtor he never um got back with us miss warley was working on that with me but I did uh attain a just value from the property appr prager's website of
$269,100 this is a grand total sum of $1,298 35050 leaving us a remaining $57,900 50 cents that has to come out of our infrastructure a
$570,000 expenditure for a $1.6 million building seems like a pretty good investment for our town to move forward with and make um I'm not sure what the other numbers were I was told that there was some numbers out there that uh had been thrown around and
people were not giving the proper numbers the numbers I'm giving you right now are the numbers that we have in our budget and this is exactly the arpa funds that we have the arpa funds being dedicated to this project if we do not use them on this project we have to
return them to the government they've been earmarked for this we sent to the federal government this is what we're using these funds for we did that before December 31st to ensure that we retain the funds if at this point we decide to
change our Direction those funds need to be returned to the federal government so we have to make that decision um just to give you a little bit more on the building currently that we are currently in we have an effective area of
2934 Square ft that is including a 200t square foot shed in the rear of the building giving us an an actual working space of 2734 Square ft our records room
currently is a cramped 49 Square ft room we have have it packed from floor to ceiling with records our evidence storage currently is a 128q ft room in the building 128 Square
ft our computer servage server roof is only 28 square feet for all the services that we need in that building we have one Outlet on the rear of that wall that plugs in all the it stuff in that
building one these deficiencies I I mean we look at this it's kind of disturbing when we look at and you start looking at these numbers and what we continue to work with um our actual cost for this
building we can't actually tell you exactly how much it's going to cost we have not gone out to bid yet I cannot say I can tell you this I said it when I first took over as Chief this is the worst time to build a police department but we're never going to find a better time every time we continue to revisit
this subject the cost of this building goes up when this first came about way back when we were at 700,000 to build a police department we're up to 1.6 million now because we keep delaying and putting off this project and saying is
it really worth it should we really do this the longer we drag our feet the longer and the more expensive this is going to get we can get a building right now now that saves the taxpayers of Lake plaid a considerable amount of that money almost a million dollars that
money to save them that doesn't have to come out of our infrastructure fund I think this is the time and we need to move forward and we need to get this project completed if you look um at the actual cost like I said I can't give you
that the space we would using a calculation I looked up the actual um commercial rates right now for construction we're looking at $150 per square foot on this building is what current actual costs are I had
doubled that to 300 just to make sure that we have enough to cover this building we're looking at a 4,999 square foot facility which would come out to an actual cost if that is what it costs of
1,499 th700 again I i' I looked through this and looked up a a study which says that when you're looking at law enforcement facilities you should look at about an average of 250 square foot per officer at your
agency currently we have what would be the equivalent of 12 sworn officers at our agency um this would would show in our current facility with the size we have that we equate about
officer in that building the study I read recommends nothing less than 233 squ foot for the officers when you get anything under that you're you're looking at storage in public spaces and works spaces which we have in our building currently the the officer's
workspace is full of things stored all around them it's actually an embarrassment to bring people back into that Squad room and have to service them from it um if you the study is is located at w www. revenue.com and it's
police station sizing if you'd like to look at that study as well just to show you that we do need this additional space what I've done is the additional space the 4,999 square ft will accommodate eight additional officers the support staff
the evidence and the storage that is needed to accommodate them this allows us to move into the future and grow as a police department as the town grows and we last us approximately 20 to 30 years into the future um having said all this I would
like to uh take a few minutes to ask Sheriff Paul Blackman to come up and speak on the benefits of accreditation his agency is accreditated accredited not only in law enforcement but also in Corrections and if I'm not mistaken correct me if I'm wrong Sheriff Blackman
you sit on the board for accreditation of Corrections correct if you would please uh welcome me it join me in welcoming him mayor thank you for the opportunity to be here I'm Paul Blackman and have the honor to serve you as your Sheriff
of Highlands County and I was invited to come down to speak to the benefits of accreditation um we have been accredited at the Highland County Sheriff's Office for a little over 15 years we this year this past year we just reached our exceler level on our law enforcement side side this coming year we will reach
our excelsor status on the detention side which is five uh 5 threeyear uh re accreditations without any uh without any known violations or anything so we're pretty proud of that and um I would love the opportunity just to tell
you about the benefits of uh of the accreditation uh process and how it works for us um it literally as a small agency as compared to the to the state we're kind of a small to midside agency and uh we have the the benefit of
gathering best practices from around the state and it really really benefits us uh if you can imagine all the crazy things that happen in our world today and crazy things in law enforcement somebody has already experience that and we get to see that break that down see what's going to work best for us uh to
protect us from liability and and we're certainly certainly uh blessed to have that that benefit to us so uh something that I I would encourage the chief and as his and his police department and in seeking that accreditation status I think it would be very beneficial to the
city of town of Lake Placid um in fact when when I first heard about this I reached out being on the commission for the last six years I reached out to Stacy Layman who is the director of of the uh accreditation in Tallahassee and I spoke to him about the size of the
police department and the uh the physically constrained area that we live in and they agreed to to wave any type of fees whether it be training fees accreditation fees software fees uh and we could work through that and I told the chief that anything that we could possibly do to help reach that status
for those guys we I'd even offer my accreditation manager to come down here Janine uh Harris and and to help walk you guys through the process to make sure that it all goes smoothly so we certainly offer that and and I'm here to answer any type of questions or try to answer any questions that any of the
council members might have just to add a little bit just so you're aware when we go for grant funding as a law enforcement agency there are many grants that we do not qualify for because we are not an accredited agency there's more funds available to accredited agencies than there are to
non accreditated agencies that's where we sit Chief I think it's important to note um we we saw it we haven't seen it under the current Administration federally but we saw it under the the previous administration there was a strong push that every time
there was a some sort of event Across the Nation uh they were always wanting to encourage law enforcement agencies to get accredited I would see I want to predict the future I'm not I'm not very good at that um but I would say you will
see in the future where that will be a mandatory situation where all law enforcement agencies uh will have to become accredited so I would I would think it would be better to get on that boat prior to it prior to it sailing and
you have to get on it then so I that would just be my my opinion on that is we're just one big incident happening somewhere Across the Nation where they're going to make us make us all be accredited it looked like you might have had a question Char it's going to be more on the cost side right so you know
in order to do this there's going to be a lot of work and I appreciate the opportunity to weigh fees and things like that but then going forward we have to have an accreditation manager because you know there's things that you have to keep you know once you get there now you got to keep your standards your policies
your training everything up to date you can get audited on that so sure is there an accreditation U manager it's like are we going to have to add headcount to do so being on the commission for the last six years I've seen it done several different ways so one of the one of the
ways I've seen from agencies the sides of the town of Lake pla the police department uh they kind of divvy that role out to so instead of bringing in just an accreditation manager they might have somebody that works in their records department and they now wear two hats uh instead of
instead of just the records department so that's something that you can look at some agencies bring in just one person specifically for uh for accreditation uh for the accreditation manager position that's what we did but we did it because we had two different so we're accredited
under CFA for the law enforcement off the law enforcement side and we're accredited for for fcac on the detention side we found that that was just too much to had to have person wear several different hats so we brought in a person specifically for that but it can be done several different way is Sebring
accredited Sebring Police Department yeah I think they're going through the process I don't think they are credited currently they're moving they're currently moving towards it yeah I think uh I think seing Police Department because we sent Janine to help with them
and we also sent Janine over to Hardy County Sheriff's Office they their jail just got accredited and they're now going through the process on the law enforcement side as well again thank you guys for the opport I have some questions that could involve you uh just on the overall presentation
um you went through fast so I didn't quite capture the financial numbers but you know at one point it was 883 and then recently it's 1.6 the last CIP actually had the arpa down to 300,000 and the legislation Grant up to
1.6 and then another 300 so you know watch these numbers go from 1.6 to 1. now9 which does get to be pricey so you're saying the building will be 5,000 square feet 49,999 fet 4999 let's say 5,000 right
for Simplicity and you got to see a pretty presentation of the condition of the current and I and I so true confession I recently Rec attended the seven week Sher uh Citizens Academy with Sheriff Blackman and I learned a lot and
was very impressed with Highland County and all the various departments and you know we're a small town of 2500 right in the midst of you know um surrounding um Sheriff help and that I'm I've always
been curious as to what leveraging of some of the the processes the training the building everything you have have in place okay so you talked about the need for this 5,000 ft building to have
padded floors and you know we need um basically training for firearms I went to the training range and it was impressive up there um and so that's what I'm wondering is in lie of building our own for our little small town can't
we leverage some of the opportunities that they have we currently use their gun range for our firearms training but you still have to purchase the ammunition but ammunition I'm talking about you you talked about this your three charts up there showed a padded
floor why you need the ex training room I was asked why we need the training room right so that leans what I'm kind of asking and thinking is and again 1.9 1.6 whatever those numbers are is
expensive for a small town like ourselves where we grow into it is is another but in the meantime is there something with leveraging a very sophisticated that's what we've been doing and that's one of the problems we're having is that we continue to leverage and push this off instead of
actually hitting the problem head on and taking care of it I I understand growth for the future because you talked about you know years from now we're going to have you know years from now the growth that we could attain but I'm saying in the short term is is there more leveraging even of
document storage I get a hundred years but is there some sharing of documents storage like in this building in a very secured that you could do in the sheriff so those are the questions that I have as you get to the price has
doubled will it continue yeah it was 883 three years ago was the original some of the Town meetings that I looked at the original was back almost 10 years ago well it's it's continuing to go up put it come down I don't know
current building is how big how big is the current building the current building I I just told you it's 2,700 something square feet the current building is yes okay and there's been no renovation so I I guess Sheriff Blackman is there any further leveraging of
document storage or other and maybe it's too soon to even look at but you know we've well there there's a lot of questions there that I would need answered before we could commit to something of that nature but as far as uh record storage uh I think that would lead into evidence storage and stuff we
would certainly not want to take on the liability of of that because then we become responsible for it we start storing it uh we just went through something very similar with the city of Avon Park where we had to go obviously we took over their law enforcement services for them and then uh then we
became responsible for all that evidence so it was needed to be purged and needed to be gone through and make sure what was their inventory so to speak and and and now we were we are are responsible for all that I don't know that I necessarily want to take on the
responsibility for the City of Lake plid or the town of lake plid and and all of their I don't even know how much they have so I would be able I know evidence and Doc storage are kind of different need to be treated different than that uh but today who does you how many
vehicles do we impound a year we don't impound vehicles that that's I don't understand where the impound come from we take them as evidence and have to keep them vles do we take in for evidence that you spoke about it depends on the year we've had
as many as seven fatal crashes in a year and as little as one it depends on what happens out here I can't project how much how many fatalities there's going to be on in a traffic crash or how many murders how many suicides in a vehicle we're going to have there's no way to
project that so I I can't tell you that I can't give you that exact number it would be a guess and I'm not going to guess at things in the new building we'll have a you said a garage G how big will that be it is the equivalent of uh I can't remember the exact square
footage but it would hold a minimum of two vehicles that we could put in there for evidence until we are done processing those once they are done processed we can release them but we have to have them and we have to keep them secure while they're being
processed and today you said they're stored out at the public works right now we have nowhere to Ste them um Public Works is is full that building we can no longer use we've used it once before in the past there's no room in there right now does
it need to be stored Inside Yes it has to be kept out of the elements to preserve the evidence on the exterior of the vehicle if we leave it sitting outside what was the point in taking it for evidence it it it's all going to be destroyed that's why it has to be inside
it has to be interior storage like I said we used to use Rodney's Towing they had the facilities and we could secure those facilities they're no longer in business they're gone and we have no one that has that
type of storage space anymore so I I appreciate because these are all the questions after that hit the newspaper right then we start getting questions from people about the $1.6 million police station um so how much are the
arpa numbers right that they've kind of and again the last CIP had them down to 300,000 don't know know where you're getting that from all I can tell you is from the last meeting where that the one that we approved last month had 300,000 I spoke with Rachel the exact amount in
that fund is $ 760,50 and that's all earmarked for for the new building 776 we earmarked it for the new building in December it we sent a letter off to the state stating that's what we're earmarking it and using it for
okay and then we had at one time a million for a legislative Grant then there was discussion alone so the legislation Grant is on hold or not materializing so I we clarified and it's never been a grant it's always been a
loan it may have been misspoken misspoken before that it was a grant but it's never been a grant it's just a loan I guess I'm referring to the CIP schedule that we submitted last year and we just submitted it this last last meeting that that's correct says
legislation Grant each time yeah and and it's a loan it's not it's a loan it's not a grant we've never had a grant out there for it we did attempt to get uh okay funding from the state but that was turned down last year the grant the legislation Grant the legislative funds
were shot down last year we've never had a grant out for this other than the arpa funds I don't know who started saying we have a grant but maybe last year it was put on because it was a grant and then but we had applied for a loan for it the USDA low interest loan but we actually
don't qualify we've discovered that recently um if you have the money in your budget for it they will not loan you you can't take the USD Ada loan so we don't even qualify for it if we don't use the funds we've set aside now we
won't have that so we don't have funding right now we have the arpa funding yeah yeah 77 yes we do have some funding for it we also have the sale of the building that we're currently in as I said and that is a just value of 269,000 as listed on the property
appraiser website that would give us a total of 1, 29,8 3.50 and that is from not from Lake Placid taxpayers from the town of Lake plaid this is money we have from other
sources to go towards this that would bring the cost down to approximately $ 57,168 from the taxpayers of the town of Lake plaid giving them a $1.6 million facility may I may I interrupt just a
second because I did I did check with our we have a um we have a contract with Greg Carlson for as our um town real estate person so so um I did check with him instead of like I just didn't
remember your figure 269 he's given a value just an estimate this isn't a true appraisal but he gave a value of the building of 350,000 so instead of 269 he's saying
the building should sell for 350 in addition to that uh we sold the previous Town Hall I guess you know I'm the historian kind of here so um also when we we went into this whole thing we said
that the previous Town Hall sale and this and the building that um the current police station is would go towards the the uh new police station so that was the deal so that we would use
those funds so I I don't know the exact figure that we sold the other building for but I think it was 300 maybe Mr Harris would remember was 350 60,000 and then we should be able to
get with the estimate from our our real estate person 350 for this so those are funds that we were allocating to put towards the new police station so I'm sorry didn't relay that to you yeah he gave me he just want to verify it was
still our agent that it is isn't a full-blown appraisal but he just said 350 for the current building we are in I always said that was probably the most valuable building we have because of its location in the town and its condition
so the the building on the circle that was the previous Town Hall that money was supposed to go to the new police station and then the building that they're in so I just wanted to make sure you all knew that
um just uh so that sheriff Blackman can get out of here does anyone have any more questions for him I know that he has other engagements to yeah we have a race to fixing to start in a couple of days I need to we we always appreciate you when you come down here anything that we can do always got good information for us absolutely anything
we can do thank you for the opportunity to speak and if you guys get an opportunity to get out to the 12 hours ofering I hope you have a good time hope I don't see you out there be safe than what race are you going to be in it'll be he's the pace car right
it'll bek okay if I could just follow up a little bit on some of the things that Chief said um as of early Friday last week and then even around 3 o'clock today Rachel
has been um Rachel Osborne has been trying to work with USDA to get some clarification as of Friday exactly what Chief said um if we have the money in the bank the way it's viewed is that there's no reason for us to apply for the USDA now there are some additional
questions that came up through this process that Rachel has since posed to our USDA rep that we may get some feedback but at this time it appears as though we're we need to proceed forward as though that money doesn't exist does not does not exist from
USDA yeah one of the requirements on that is is if you have the money you don't qualify so it it we're not saying no but it looks like we we need to push forward without it but we but we have the money
so we yeah we've got to paid for with with what we had like like deor said what we had from the old town hall uh what we will get for the the sale of the one we got plus the the almost
800,000 you know it's it's just almost already paid for I mean yeah there might be some some costs there that we that we haven't associated with it yet but we don't know what those are so uh the town of Lake Plaza is going to be getting a
new a new police department for almost nothing I'm not seeing that but okay I'm just saying you can't see this I'm not seeing getting it for almost nothing so well right now with with and it all depends on the sale of the police department we
have right now but with with what he says with what we have already and with the old town hall building we're already over a million dollars see I don't understand and and I'll be happy to review those old minutes where you can
sell two buildings and alloc you know you can sell a building but buy this one but then you're allocating that money that you were buying to build a police department and oh by the way when we sell the existing Police Department we allocate that so that didn't make sense
to me but okay so now we've got but in the meantime we bought a $300,000 building on Dell Hall that you know maybe one could argue that should have gone there but so I'll I'll be interested in watching the numbers is to
see how we're going to afford 1.6 1.9 and and I think we it's not an output of 1.6 or 1.9 as I said we already have the 760,000 I'm saying the cost the the total cost if it's 1.6 or it's 1.9 then
how we fund it is what you're saying we fund it for free I don't share that view but I will I'm not saying it's going to be free I'm estimating approximately 489,000 with the new number from miss warley it would be $489,950 remaining that we would have to
fund out of our infrastructure the rest of it would come out of the arpa funds and we would recoup from the sale of the building okay what may um just so to head off any other questions does this
include outfitting the building or is this the price just for the building the outfitting of the building comes with the price of the building the the I'm not including Furniture um currently we've used furniture that we've actually and and I hate to say this but we've
gone around that other people are throwing away and we we get what's usable and we bring it in and use it at the police department we generally do not buy new furniture for the police department or at least it's never been done in the 27 years I've been there so
no I I do not include Furniture in that I made the comment that um we've worked very frugal we've pinched pennies to try to make sure that we're being very wise with taxpayer money um it's not an he's not exaggerating when he says I haven't purchased if you
go over and look at the the desks and things of that nature they have definitely been donated and they've tried to work with everything that they could with it's been given to them so given all of this um are we finally ready to go to
bid I spoke with cool and cob today and we are in process of finalizing that so that we can go out to bid so yes ma'am that should be coming anytime great thank you there any other questions for me no I just you know I'm going to say
again it was just the past Council I mean it wasn't you can spend money you can change it around you can re budget you can move categories every year I mean each Council has its own blend of what they want to do but I'm just telling you the history of it that when
we embarked on this is that was the intent that we would you know sell the town hall we would sell the building that they're in and I kind of think there was one more I don't know if that was a three acres over there by um Hillside I I do know those two buildings
were involved but it's all up to every this Council what you want to do but I'm just saying that was originally when we embarked on this I really think at this point the horse is dead let's go to bed
it was um really just to give the history get some of that information I said as a new Town Administrator I'm new I'm asking questions that come to me so then of course I'm throwing them at the chief or I'm asking Eva and we've gone through um a extensive history where I
can see back where it looks like previously they were putting money back ever so often because they were anticipating that this was going to happen so you could kind of see it but it helps whenever you can put it in context and pull it all together not just for myself but for anybody else that's that's new to the town business
so thank you chief for filling in the gaps thank you okay now we'll go to public comments I have one here from Gil T Worley she so I guess we'll do away with that
one it's it's requesting the mayor Reed and sign a proclamation declaring April to be recognized as Child Abuse Prevention month and I do have a a proclamation
here oh here it is that uh that that I will sign in in lie of this I think it's a it's a great cause and it's it's something that everybody needs to be aware of and we need to keep it out there so nobody ever forgets
it okay all right there was one other is Ken Anderson here oh ken yeah good evening my name is Ken Anderson thanks for giving me a moment of your time this is really at this point more of a public service announcement but I was still encourag to
come here and bring it to the attention of the council just uh to preempt any possible problems in the future because we are hoping that it's going to grow into something more uh but basically we're the many of the mergence on the East Inner Lake section of the business
quadrant are uh interested in having a party and Mr Harel and his kindness and Mr lockart and his have agreed to allow us access to their parking areas met with the police chief last week he's agreed that at this point there's no
need to close any roads but he assured me that the process wouldn't be complicated we just need 30 days notice um but basically it's going to be an opportunity for the shop owners to stay open on Friday night the third Thursday of every month um if the response is
great then of course the merchants will you know probably open more the ultimate goal of course is create a dining and shopping experience that'll start on one end of V Lake and end all the way at the other end of Maine um so it should be something that
will help enliven the spirit and the interest in the town and like I say it's mainly just to bring it to your attention now but it's going to be on March 21st from 5: to 8: the Flyers are going to go out tomorrow provided there's no blowback or push back
tonight um and it uh is mostly going to benefit the businesses on this end of town for now but the ultimate goal is is for the benefit of the entire business community and like I said the spirit of community yeah is this just is this just a one night
thing or you going to try to do this on a regular basis Thursday I mean third Friday of every month now we haven't looked at the whole calendar year to see if it falls on a major holiday or there may be some exceptions but right now everything's kind of tentative our first
uh on the 21st of this month is going to be a trial run we're not going to do a lot of publicity we're not going to bring in a lot of activities but it'll give us an opportunity to speak with some of the people there and find out some of the things that they might like to see in the future um as well as to
meet with some of the merchants and find out what they think they can do to capitalize on the additional people that we hope will be bringing to town yeah and i' I've been working with Mr Anderson on this and so originally they were going to try to close the street in between harzel and the other
place but it's too much for right now so it's going to be at hartel's Plaza uh contained in the plaza so they don't need to close the road or incurring expenses and um from what I understand uh Frank harzel has agreed to provide a
DJ to live it's actually the Lee alorn band it's going to be live entertainment but maybe not every time I mean it may be karaoke one month and it may be Christmas caroling in December you know it' be whatever the community is looking for yeah I the goal is to be responsive
not tell them what we want yeah our end of Town's very excited about it just to do something to try to bring people out out in the evening so it's very exciting we'll see what happens thank you all very much Ken while you're there I just I want to thank you for taking over the
merchant Society or the merchants and at least being their spokesperson this is just a small part of getting this all together and while you're up here uh with the uh uh CRA and the downtown Merchants the
flower pots really look nice well we're so glad we're anxious to see the results coming out onake soon I understand it's coming soon I've I've I've had a couple good compliments about it it's uh it looks good and I just appreciate what
what you and and a lot of other people the the CRA and the business people and everything they're doing to help promote Our Town well thank you very much thank you very much Mr
Raco front and center sir first of all thank you for having me here thank for letting me speak and uh I was invited to be here to speak um who am I I'm Mike Raco I grew up in Lake plid graduated in the 80s and I'm
here on behalf of the Youth of Lake plid that's really who I'm here for um I'm a personal trainer of Youth I am a coach of Youth and I'm a certified Pest and herbicide technician and that comes into
play later on um why am I here um I'm here because 15 years now I've been back in Lake plet my children will be all in high school next year I have three of them one two girls one boy they grew up in Lake Placid they went to the youth
Fields the youth fields in Lake Placid are very important to me I use them at least twice a week eight months out of the year I work with at least one to 30 kids at a time in those sessions I am not against this pickle
ball court not one bit I think it's great that we have something that we can look at to be something new in this town now why am I here why am I kind of upset um I'm upset because I think that there could have been some more input now I
was told that there was a lot of input you know my background already I I've been on those fields for the last 15 years and I have never I was never told or heard anything about the pickle ball until at the end again my problem is not with the pickle ball I'm not happy about
eight courts I would rather have been impressed by Four Courts under cover that would have been awesome so now what is my point point my point is this in those 15 15 years that I've been
here and been on those fields I have seen this I have seen sand volleyball courts disappear cover over taking the poles out gone I have seen playgrounds was out there today for an hour that are unsafe that are just too
old 15 at least 15 years those playgrounds are ants on the ground everywhere and if you are out there now and you saw those fields it's embarrassing my daughter plays youth
league softball in Sebring this weekend they have two men working on a Saturday we had two men working on our Fields 15 years ago they are no longer out there we had sprinkler systems out there
no longer working we had youth football programs and baseball and soft we still have those baseball and softball but the fields are unacceptable fire weed if you don't know what fire weed is look it up it is all
over those fields and it's worse than poison ivy I'm sorry that I'm emotional I don't want to get emotional the maintenance the maintenance has disappeared from those fields and you want to build a million dooll facility out there and I'm so
happy that you are but we do not take take care of what we have and that is my problem that is my biggest problem I was out there for an hour today and I've been to other fields bar toes building $2 million
facility there's the YMCA just redid their fields and it looks immaculate the fields the softball fields north of the high school in Sebring Immaculate they have fences that need that they have new ones we don't need fences out there there's so many things that I could make a list of
that we could have considered first my three minutes is almost up I'm sure I just say again Maintenance please maintain what we have and maintain this million dooll pickle ball area because I will use it when
it's not being used for pickle ball I will use it for my training um so I am not against it again for under cover would have been amazing out there please consider more consideration in the youth people that work with youth
in this town as we make decisions like these again thank you for your time if anybody wants to talk to me about any of this please reach out to me I have I work at Fitness for you so that's where I'll be if you need me again thank you
for your time I really appreciate it I would I would like to question I'm sorry okay I would like to butd in um when I was first took this position I went out to Lake June and did a self tour and I
have to say I was dismayed at the condition of the place but in the meantime I I found out it's not for lack of wanting but we don't have the resources for example I called up to Sebring and got a comparison of what the
budget is for the max long Fields compared to us and um actually I was going to save this for the end of the meeting uh um let me get my numbers here it was um well and then can I can I can I answer that just real quick yeah while
I'm looking I applied for a position for this town for the town and this was after they had taken those positions away from and they they had a position that they had opened up and it was to take care of Main Street Interlake and the
islands so I don't know why you would again and I don't want to I know more than I probably should we have a director that is over those people that take care of the Yards and the he was the man that took care of the fields okay so he got promoted but
didn't ever fill his position so I don't know you know my there's a lot of arguments there and there's a lot of things again that I know that have happened and it seems like and then again now pickle ball courts and now again I don't have any numbers that are set I've been told some of this information that there's money that we
are putting into the pickle ball courts like2 200,00 ,000 if that's the kind of money we got sitting there for that why don't we have that new sprinkler system why don't we have at least fertilization and weed killer on those fields because there is nothing since Co and I and do
we not have any money from Co to make outside stuff better you know like how how about a walking path how about you know stuff for the older people that are out there with their kids I just there's so many other things that this town is going to need and that's my point too is that we're going to need this someday
we're not getting any smaller so these things are things that I want to throw out there now because I want you guys to think about it cuz I'm not we're not going to stop the pickle ball courts it's too late for that you guys are way far ahead of that now so I saw the surveyors out there today just so you guys
know um so you know it's I just think there could be better concessions for our kids because when you make a pickle ball announcement on Facebook kids kids kids kids everybody throws any wor about the kids well nobody asked about the kids you know what do the kids need well they don't have you know you can't have
a softball tournament the guys that put on the softball tournament in Sebring this weekend did it in Sebring because their fac field facil facilities are way better than ours they're from Sebring the guys that put it on they're from they have teams from Lake plid or they're from Lake plet I'm sorry so I I
just feel like you know we're we're not getting the information that we need to help the kids and that's why I'm here I would have never come I got pushed to come out here and and my agenda is a little different than some of the people that pushed me to come because they're totally against the pickleball cours and they have some rights to be because
they're really kid people and the kid you know some of the statistics that I that I looked at there's 130 pickle ball colleges in the United States okay so that's no scholarships that's just Club teams girls flag football has 300
colleges now that offer scholarships 3,000 scholarships they offer for girls flag football why aren't we pushing for a Rec director here with that $200,000 that can make these programs and have these programs okay I'll do that you know it's just it's just one of those
things that I just you know work we're talking about the kids but we're not really trying to help the kids and you know and I'm a coach and teacher I'm sorry I was a teacher for 15 years so that was the other thing I didn't put on there I've seen kids grow from youth programs and our high school programs and middle school programs are subpar
because our youth programs are nothing we have none and I'm bringing that back I I want to say that throw it out there so I hold myself accountable I want to do a flag football league I want to do a soccer league seven years ago my kids did a soccer league out there 300 kids 300
kids we why are we not doing that everybody in the world is doing that but Lake PL so I it's hard for me to sit back and see that because I've seen and then those kids get scholarships and then the school gets popular and then we get better High School coaches and there's just so many things that we need
here that we're not putting the work into um and I and I and a lot of these the people that were on this board I went to school with here you know and so they all know and my dad was a coach and everybody knows how I feel we can change this town youth youth
wise if we make a wreck program okay if I could make an announcement right now that's what I would say you want to change this town put money into the youth program I think Miss Art's ready I found my notes okay time up so so just
for the benefit of everybody out there and whoever Harry correct me when I if I misspeak um so comparing Max Long's budget to our budget and so forth that's roughly the same number of Acres 32 Acres um they have a staff of three
full-time people two part-time people and then they pull in workers from the golf course as needed our Lake June Park has a staff of one for the same number of Acres their budget is 58 $2,000 a year
our budget is 30,000 a year their fertilizer and chemical budget is $20,000 a year and our budget is 2500 something so that's why Lake June Park looks the way it looks said it
before and I might say um yeah and I I thank you for your passion you're so passionate and Mike showed up at the meeting at the school board to support our kids so I appreciate him being a show up kind of guy he shows up he
speaks his mind he's trying to get better for our youth but the other thing we've had which I didn't realize this was happening is that we used to have a lot of volunteers and we used to have a lot of me people that just paid unbelievable money they they donated
fertilizer and they helped at the park and you would call a work and people would show up let me tell you something we have evolved into not people aren't doing that anymore so it's kind of like a social kind of a social thing that's
happened to that people aren't showing up to do that they're too busy they you know our lives are so busy now so we are not getting the um donations we were and we're not having people we call a workday nobody shows up so that's our problem and and this is a
transitional social type of thing that I didn't know about until I investigated it but this is a true problem and we're going to have to figure that out of what we're going to have to do with that because this is
something brand new for us as a town so people just aren't doing what they used to do I'm not blaming them I'm just saying our times are different things have evolved and so but thank you for being a show up guy I would just like to thank you also
I share your passion there's not a meeting that goes by that I don't say what about the children what about the youth and families in this town and sports is so important to develop teamwork skills and social
skills and I've only been here 15 years 16 but those Parks were a lot more booming with soccer the weekends the lights every night were on and slow the teams went to Sebring and so the
history is important to me of okay how did we get to where we are because we really have a gem of a park that we could showcase and we could get a lot of those um games back here grow the soccer breaks my heart that there is no use
soccer in this town breaks my heart and and I've talked to the guy who developed it before right and we're going to bring it back and so I think this is one that you know it come June we're going to start budget workshops and we're going to have to put in that creative way of what's
important in our priorities so that we can try to determine how can we get Recreation and family and youth activities back because if we don't invest in the youth you know regardless of how we did in the past we can become
creative I also share the lack of a recreation advisory committee we we don't have any of that anymore so appreciate your passion I share it and I think that that's just something that we as um the staff and the council are
going to need to address and I don't want you to feel like you're the Lone Ranger because I think that the entire Council myself included although sometimes you don't think so but um myself included that I am also concerned about the youth but
I'm concerned about the global picture and I think that you should know Mr Raco that we have $250,000 in CRA funding next year um and next year is almost here uh as far as these funds run um and that is in there
to address playground equipment so that will be addressed not only at Lake June Park but in the other Parks Taylor Park and um the one by Serenity Village as well Spruce Park and Taylor Park whatever um and and that will be addressed and we are addressing the ants
we hear that almost every meeting and I'm a golf professional I know a bit about ants you kill them they come back you have to keep killing them I get that um and I certainly U appreciate the youth as well in in my business as well
um you would hate to see me on a soccer field but I mean I I play golf because the ball doesn't move until I move it I don't have to chase it so um but we are paying attention I think Harry is doing the very best he can down there but as
as councilman Eberhart mentioned he's one man and that's all we have the money for right now but um we have other things that we have to do at the same time and I think it's important that the whole Community grow the youth as well
but um the whole Community thank you just clarification the 250,000 we have is not for Lake June CRA is not is is not um Lake June Park is not part of the CRA District so just clarification there
yeah sorry about that um the the the the dollar person sits next to me for a reason but there's still 250,000 in there right it's under playgrounds but there I think they are oh well we're not going to discuss that now thank
you and I just wanted to take this this opportunity it'll be later where we'll talk about other updates but just for you sir thank you for your feedback and I would encourage you we have a workshop that's coming up on the 17th in that Workshop we're discussing um fees be and
charges because over the course of history there used to be where we charged for certain fees at the fields to be able to help offset this we did away with that so that's why some of these conversations will come up in our fee Workshop
so okay and Charlotte maybe mentioned him also more important the regional planning workshop on the parks yes so that we make sure that we get all of the attendance that we can we have a master parks and wreck plan that we're in
process of developing with the county we received a grant so there'll be workshops that are coming up if you're not on the next door app I don't know if you're within the town limits or not okay um we'll we'll put it on the website though we'll put the notices on the website and it'll also go um out and
next door app I'll let you know yeah I'll let you know when it is how's that all right any other comments from the audience jock cley 607 Sunset Point Drive I have a couple easy things here
uh in in previous meetings there was uh a request to know uh relating to the dragboat races that we had last September what uh Financial benefit was there to the city has there been
any has anybody done anything to see what uh you know what kind of money it brought into the city Deborah hi Mr cley hi I'll have to get that from the the tourist Development Council because that's all ran through them okay yes sir it's all ran through
them um outside of I mean we get the reports but I don't I didn't see any Financial reports on that I wasn't here for that portion but I can certainly ask him on last year's information I realize it's probably not easy to calculate you know what benefit there was to the city
financially but I just wondered if if you had anything uh another thing was uh in the last uh I'm on the utilities uh commission for the city of for the City of Lake plid and uh at the last
meeting there seemed to be some confusion over the priority list for what projects were supposed to be uh done as far as the um hooking up different areas to the to the new uh
wastewater treatment plant and uh somehow when we voted on that we voted we were asked to we were given list of about 10 different projects right and we were asked to vote
on what priorities like they should be done in and we we agreed on the first three uh projects as top priority to be presented to the to the city council you know but then somehow on the list when I when I looked at it
later later on when we got the the minutes there was something in there about theet heating uh plasted Lakes from the uh from that project right uh we we talked about that at the meeting
just just a week ago right and there was that wasn't understood that's not what we understood we were voting on we were just voting on that the one two and three items were the the top priorities that you would be uh uh applying for grants for in May
June or July whenever this the next Grant application come up and the rest of the projects were still there the only thing is that you know possibly down the road maybe the priorities of those could be adjusted one way or the other so I I just wanted to make that
clear and uh one more just one more minor thing as as the gentleman uh stated there previously uh you've got to allocate money to uh maintain whatever you build in the Parks I used to work
for the City of Hollywood in in the design and construction management department right and we were constantly getting bombarded from Parks and wrecks or public works or the police department or whoever that the city council members
they like to uh build new things for the city that's that's what uh you know that's what gets them reelected if you build a new playground you put new playground equipment in you do something for the prior Department you do something for the police department but the the council in
general did not allocate funds year after year then to maintain those improvements and and it's something that it's important you got to do it thank you can I respond on
Sir last meeting the mayor presented several questions that needed go to the Utility Commission and staff to develop a recommendation for councel that then goes to the county
regarding uh that very issue I understand and I was advised that your commission voted to delete Placid Lakes from the funding priority which I think we want to bring back as staff and discuss again which will give you
another chance to address that uh and then develop a the recommendation that goes before the county because much of the regional utility work will be out in the county not just the town right and we believe like the mayor said you know
we we've got to develop the town's position first and then go present it to the county so we'll we'll be visiting on that very issue uh at your next meeting okay yeah I think there was this at the at the last utilities meeting the uh I
forget the lady's name but the Pam Brewer Pam yeah who uh made that motion you know she wasn't there so but the the the three of us that were there you know uh pretty much expressed the the opinion
that that's not what we voted on or that's that's not what we meant if we if we voted for that it was a mistake well let's have a chance to clarify that okay thank you thank you that's recorded isn't it I mean the meeting is recorded
see I think the recording was too much um there would and because nobody as Le on and I was there too the conclusion is we had one interpret there was one interpretation of what we were voting on and that was just to do the top three everything stays on the list
for future it was not deleting anything but at the meeting a week or so ago Pam Brewer was not there so we could not bring it up again we couldn't ask her what her intention was that we actually voted on so it's it's is the streaming different than what you
record for minutes so when I did the minutes I wrote that exact motion when it was made so I took it off my written okay clerk notes at the time I don't listen to the audio all the time and
Miss Brewer did remove the pled legs off of the list in her motion okay well then I I think I think the Utility Commission didn't hear her or didn't there was confusion thank you okay any other
comments before we move on all right we'll go to public hearings you want me to take that one yeah I just want to bring it up do I need to read it by title yes yeah got to find it is that 4
a I don't know okay oh I don't know where that's from I don't know oh this is if you can there it is oh you've got okay yeah I'm just saying oh it ordinance number 20
25-3 and ordinance of Town Lake plastic repealing and reserving section 17-1-2 of the code of town of Lake PL comma Florida semic colola col ordaining section 11 17-22 through
17-25 regard regarding mobile vehicle sales semicolon amending and restating the balance of chapter 117 and providing for separability semicolon and providing for an effective date
period I recommend this be tabled until the next meeting I understand after we had our first reading there was a workshop Central Florida Regional planning Council took uh several comments on how to address this we do
not have their results back and since that bears on this you may want to wait but it is entirely your discussion your decision several of you were at that workshop and if you know the results and want to move forward you you may you
would be lawful in proceeding tonight well first of all the um the handout that did not incorporate the 567 amendments that were in the motion it's this one is the same as the first one so we have to table it because the
motion that passed amending the first one the first reading is not reflected in what we got and and I'm going to go a step farther because somebody said we we were not ready for the ordinance um we were going to go through the process so I'm
just going to vote no not to table it I'm going to say no until we get all the results back and then we'll start from fresh and we'll go from there not going on this is created before we even had the meetings before the town I think
it's almost like a slap in the face to the public to say come and get your input and we've already passed this on the first reading I mean that's just me and I've had a lot of people call me they're very upset that why do we come to the meeting for a workshop when you've already passed it on first
reading and we I the only reason I voted for it was because it was first reading so I'm going to say not table it just say no and then when we get the results come back and let's recreate it from the beginning instead of having it second
reading and tabling it I just I think to the Public's showing up the show up people that they should be respected that we we should probably on my feeling we should have waited until their input and they feel like they why why did they
come when we already processing it so I I mean I've just had enough feedback that that's how I feel so I'm not going to vote to table it I'm going to vote no let's just let's just set it aside and take all the information and then I'm
sure it's a great ordinance we just stick in the Public's comments and then go down the road from there instead of tabling it just go ahead and vote no and then we'll start fresh from everybody's comments that's just my opinion so I
guess I'm just confused um but I I agree with Deborah I I think that we had the comments from the public and the central Florida Regional planning Council and I was hoping we would get some um some notes from them by now but you know
everyone's busy I get that so um I think we should not go any further I don't understand the difference between setting it aside and tabling it um I think I just think we need to not take action on this item tonight what however we want to say it for the minutes but um
I I agree Deborah I think it's and and and joy as well I I think it's not right for us to ask for the Public's input and then move forward without even knowing what they said totally agree and I was more confused when you see something that's
more red stried out with new stuff to say well how are we agreeing to a second reading when it feels like we just trashed the first rewrote it and now here it is again so I guess based on
what all four of us are saying is do we need a motion to just kill this one and start a new I mean the same thing you absolutely can what what is the right approach since we're all agreeing we don't want to go forward with this first of all I
misspoke on one issue we didn't publish this you cannot go forward tonight I forgot that when I said you could go forward tonight so this is not a thing for tonight now let's come back and remember why it's before you at all I think you forgot that we started this
with a discussion of a moratorium if you recall the discussion 60 days ago on a moratorium you saw me squirm around and try to get several different approaches on that moratorium because no one wanted to leave an
ordinance on the books and tell the chief or code enforcement not to enforce it so you voted to go forward with a moratorium on certain elements of food truck that was an IL legal act you cannot just say don't enforce an
ordinance I took that as a direction to bring us back a moratorium on food trucks so I did and I met with the chief if you'll go back to that chapter all of the red strikeout Chief and I went through it
and the first half of the or three quarters of that chapter is totally unused it's Antiquated and it is is it's not needed because you have an even better stronger State Statute so I took
the liberty of recommending we strike that out you've got an ordinance that is totally redundant and worthless it's worse than worthless because if your code enforcement folks tried to enforce it you risk litigation over something
that you don't even need to be out there doing it involves a permit that we haven't issued in years to my knowledge now if that offended anyone in trying to redo that my apologies I was
trying to clean up a code if you're going to look at it you might as well clean up all of it in that one chapter so one thing you may want to do is keep that to revoke that not tonight but a month from tonight that's just the
revocation of the first part of the code so but I need your guidance on what you want to do now when it comes to the moratorium you my sense was you wanted to act fairly
quickly and that's the reason I brought you an ordinance which is more or less the second half and I put in that ordinance several elements because frankly you guys were all over the place and I've got a little something in there for
everybody you just need to pick and tell us which direction you want to go now none of that preempted the public the public can come in and tell us and that's what second reading is for is to implement what the public has said and
you've heard staff say let's wait till we get the report from Central Florida Regional now I'd love some input because I suspect y'all were there for that and you knew you know what was said and you're the ones that represent
present the public anyway so if you want to tell us great I'd love to try to help Taylor and hon it in better getting your thoughts tonight but totally agree nobody wants to slap the public in the face not the intent I was trying to
comply with what this Council voted on now I owe joy and apology on one thing joy and I sat and reviewed this and I thought Joy was going in a pretty good direction based upon what you guys wanted to talk about do I still agree
with using private public property for private gain no I don't and I jumped up and and agreed with Gibby because he gave a great speech on just don't do it I ran out from under you after saying
yeah I thought the work we had done was good it really needs to be good coming with that one exception I I still don't think it's right to use public property for private profit particularly when you've got
folks investing so much in Brick and mo that's a philosophical question that's up for yall to decide my recommendation is to table it because at the next meeting we should have the results of your public hearing uh your Workshop
rather the results of anything you want to say tonight and we'll hone in on what you want to do if you want to throw the whole thing out that that's fine what you going to tell the chief of police and code enforcement continue to enforce the code not enforce the code remember
we wrapped around the axle on that question fairly well 60 days ago and let me just interject this the reason I voted no and everybody voted yes it's it was like when we did the
moratorium it's against the law didn't realiz okay but I'm just saying the reason and I was saying the same thing that Mr Harris just said so I think we should revoke the moratorium until we because it puts the town in such
liability if there was an accident and the food truck was over there in the loading zone which I understands the loading zone but it doesn't really matter it's on town right away or County right away whatever it is and so if they get hurt they can sue us or they can say you not only did we were we illegal and
you didn't enforce the law but you approved being here and now they get hurt the little food truck gets run over or whatever and they sue the town which is very Troublesome to me because we're not big enough to really take on a lot of lawsuits so what I'm saying is I
think we should revoke the moratorium let's go through the process and I'm sorry because I think the journal Plaza is fabulous but it puts the town people the 25 men women and children of the town like Plaza that puts us at too much risk it puts the police Chief and code
enforcement at problems were doing something illegal that's why I voted no and I would like to even tonight to um revoke the moratorium and let's go through the process and figure out what we need to do so we're not just saying oh yeah you can park here not only is it
illegal to park there but now we're saying the town's supporting you and we're leaving us liability wise now that's just my opinion I'm not an attorney but I agree with revoking that vote or
period so that means that until April pardon me until April um the chief or should be should be ticketing food truck for instance that's in the loading zone
because the M moratorium is not in place so we need to write that ticket yeah police chief can answer that question so if we revoke the moratorium so would you tell the vendor that's
sitting in the loading zone that he's not allowed to be there I guess that's the question you would have to yes it would it would be my responsibility to do that absolutely and specifically because he's in the intersection as well yes okay so what you're saying then just so I understand because I want to make
sure what I'm voting on what you're saying is we're going to go back to where we we were we do that well on a lot of items so we're going to once again go back to where we were two months ago and and have an outdated ordinance in place so that in case
somebody stubs their toe we don't get sued the outdated ordinance is in place regardless the moratorium simply creates confusion of its enforceability okay and I know that it is not proper to do the moratorium as we voted okay and again I
know I just got loud Deborah got loud this is a tough issue we like what kenle Block's done food trucks people like we're just trying to figure out how to write it down and it's a tough issue so we haven't agreed so if we want food
trucks between now and then where do they have to be private property private prop property is that right I think okay I think Ken was allowed to park in back weren't you Ken it's not not best not happy nobody likes
it you got to come up here Ken name and all like that for the record Ken La Blanc uh Journal Plaza um I do have a loading zone behind the building um concrete slide back there but it's 100% hidden by the building so you know we did try moving the truck
back there and they did did one3 or 33% of the volume that they do when they're up front you know so I mean big part of the um you know the appeal of a food truck is you're driving by and you see it you know and then you pull over because it's street food you know it's just a thing there's a Vibe associated
with it you know and if you don't see the truck you don't pull over so um so it's completely so if we parked it behind the building we may actually not have food trucks because they may not come because they won't make enough money to make it worthwhile coming so we'll just l food trucks you know all
together is the likely outcome of doing that but we did test it out to see will they still come if they park behind the building but the answer is mostly no so and I hear what you guys are saying but you know I mean I I see food trucks in towns all over the the nation you know
where they they Park them on city property and it's like you go on an app and it tells you where the food truck is going to be today so you go to that location so it's this part of town or that part of town and they're parking on city property and they're selling to the you know to the people you know onto the sidewalks usually and and it seems to
work out fine so I don't know why we can't have something that works we used to have food trucks around Stuart Park they were parked in city property also on the parking spaces you know selling onto the sidewalk it worked great too you know so um to say that it's it you
know there's not a solution here um I mean I think there is a solution you know that would work I mean we're again we're not the only people doing this you know many people doing this just got to figure out the right solution if you've got a solution write it down and send it to me I'd love to hear it but in the
meantime we've got an ordinance that is the law in Lake pla M period I was trying to rush an ordinance in that was my only reason um so we could get it fixed yeah and and and I think the
ordinance that we were talking about there was a bunch of changes to it that that made sense but what I read here none of them got into this so this is the original one so I don't know what we're looking at tonight in here because it does not seem to have been changed
from no this was the original from last week last month until we know and we never got the input from Central Florida so I didn't try to put any of them in from last month included yeah but there was a motion made at the end of the at
the meeting last month that uh motion to incorporate some of the comments and the revisions in that and the ever got into this version I thought that's what we were looking at tonight but it's not in we never got right that's and what um Mr Harris said is we didn't receive them
yet so it's not that we we intentionally left it out we haven't received them yet no no no there it there were things from our meeting Our Town council meeting there was a list of six seven eight amendments that I recited that should have gotten that should have gotten into
the revision and it never made it into the revision yeah my understanding was it was going to get into here we were going to look at it you guys maybe were going to approve it on second and then when they come up with other stuff it might get replaced with a whole new uh
one based on their feedback but so my let me let's try to craft some direction for me one add the stuff we discussed or we approved the changes we approved last meeting two add the recommendation of
Central Florida Regional planning con Council and if those are at odds with each other I will put them both in and you can choose does that sound like a reasonable yes yes and and I also found out at last minute today that Florida in
2020 passed a law protecting food trucks and in other words you cannot you have to be careful you cannot unduly prohibit where they are located oh yeah we have to comply with that and the and you can't regulate the
food part you yeah there's a lot of what and that's what Dana was trying to say when she came before us um yeah she's here and so she was saying you can't do it and then people go like well let's just um tax them you can't from what she said
and I haven't had time like I haven't done that and I should have done that but I'm just going off of uh what Dana said and she was trying to be honest and say but you can't do that you can't do that okay let's do it but then we'll tax them and then they'll make it more fair for the businesses but maybe you could
Enlighten us again about what's going on with that certainly thank you again Dana Rell con uh planning consultant for the record um there is a long place I think it became effective or maybe even
modified further in 2021 which is when a lot of local municipalities started taking into account the new regulations and started updating their codes to reflect these things um I think that there is some leeway to potentially
allow some food trucks in certain areas that we might designate on Town property but we do have the authority to regulate where they go in town which is kind of how the code is set up now to allow it on private property and if we want to allow it in public rights of way uh we
might even we can't permit them or regulate them but we can regulate our property we can and Bert might have a different opinion we're allowed to lease our property so
if we want to allow food trucks on our property in that way I do think that there's a mechanism to allow it um but we do have to be very cognizant of those fora statute regulations that you mentioned we cannot regulate them I also
wanted to note as part of some of the items proposed to be removed regarding peders permits there is some overlap just barely um and this this all came up at
the same time when I started looking into the food truck issue as well as the flea market issue I don't I don't want to call it an issue we um we have a wonderful Farmers Market also occurring on the journal
Plaza property but a review of pound minutes indicates that when business tax receipts formerly known as occupational licenses were originated in the town there was a group that got together to
recommend to the council how this should be applied in the town they recommended that when there's more than one vendor on a property that they should pull a permit for a flea market
and this is where you know I've gotten into some conversations with Teresa who runs the the flea market and she's been really wonderful to work with and I have a lot of respect for her um you know there's some some items that might be sold at the flea market that
could be totally I'm sorry the farmers market that could be totally exempt from that requirement because their agricultural products especially if they're grown in Florida and our code also accounts for some of those things but the way that Council used to regulate what they
called flea markets was when they would issue these licenses they would look at the overall health safety and Welfare of these properties so I saw in different areas and minutes where they might have said this flea market is a great idea but we need to make sure there's enough
room for a fire truck to come through or that there's circulation there's parking there's checks and balances I think some parking was taken into account for the flea market at Journal Plaza but I also think that um
there should be mechanisms in place to regulate some of the activities that occur not just for Journal Plaza but for any farmers market in town and I just bring this up again because it there's some overlap in some of the
items being proposed for deletion so it's just something for us to consider when we're talking about about transient sales do we have a separate ordinance I don't remember on flea markets yes it's very very very small it's three sections
and probably less than 3 your point is that other ordinance gets Kenny in his Farmers Market deems him it's not that our food truck ordinance is the problem that you're referring to it's the flea market
ordinance that's part of it yes yes but there's regulations for how much people get charged for flea market vers pedalers permit so we might want to discuss as part of this conversation if somebody runs a flea market and per the
code are required to pay $10 per vendor setup as part of the flea market if we also want to continue charging for peder permits I I I guess my point is I would prefer that we address food trucks in
flea markets separately unless you see a need to combine the two but and I don't mind going into flea markets but this is a food truck pedalers and solicitors pedalers and
solicitors deal with folks going door too asking for money or selling things that's not what our code says well I think it is that's one of the ways that pedalers are defined in our code but they also can set up temporary places of
business they can they can set up temporary places of business I still want to say let's deal with flea markets in a separate ordinance as opposed to food food trucks is a crisis as it is
certainly I defer a council to make that decision but I did want to bring it to their attention very well yeah and I think tonight I mean ordinance says food trucks solicitors Peddlers temporary ordinance so I'm just saying and I had a flea market and I spent
probably an hour and a half the lady that did it before me five minutes she was in she was out she paid $300 a year or something and so but with me it was an hour and a half and I finally said either you vote for me or you don't and um you know there were stipulations I had to be approved by the police now the
other lady never had to do this but I had to do it which is fine but I'm just saying I had to get a traffic pattern by the police chief I had to have show that I had a working bathroom I had there was a lot of stipulations I did have to pay
the fee up to a certain amount and then I didn't have to pay it anymore which I did um and that probably was a mistake but I'm just saying I'm just saying it through the years and I think I'm the only other one that did a flea market besides that lady by the way it was
wildly popular it was people loved it but I'm just saying so yeah I went through that process so if we're gonna if we're if we're just going to do food trucks fine but we have solicitors Peddlers temporary I mean I don't know I just think this is a bigger issue than
just and I know that we're pressed to do food trucks because everybody wants to do food trucks I mean I want them to have those to come to the boat races um that on like June um so I get it but I just think we it's it's bigger issue
than just that's it right and I'll also just mentioned that as part of the proposed changes which I know are still in flux at this moment but we talk about tents setting up tents in right away setting up tents in certain areas so since it is part of the
conversation I was going to say too because Dana when we looked at this um Ro I mean food trucks so to speak that's not outlined anywhere in our ordinance and that was the reason why we had to make the distinguishing difference between them because it's not in there it does read
as so what it states here is pedalers correct yes thank you and in Avon Park like they they did separate the two issues and that's totally fine as I mentioned I defer to council to make that decision I'm
sitting here thinking how what what what is the right thing for staff to recommend separate or together to me there's a big difference between a flea market and uh agricultural products and oh what what do you call it d
farmet Farmers Market flea market to me is used clothes and used furniture and used everything as opposed to farm very different things and and from what I understood was that when I was doing this I had in the front I had the the um
Mar farmers market and in the back I had the flea market so there was two separate areas if you did handmade and you had vegetables and stuff you were in the Farmers Market but I still had to permit the whole thing because it was a fleet Market but just like Kenny I don't think Kenny's ever had to get anything
because of what I understood I can set up in my front yard and I have friends that sell eggs and stuff um I could set up that in my place anytime I want to on Interlake on my property and not get a permit because from what I understand
the farmers market doesn't need a permit they're selling handmaid things it has to be handmade it has to be a produce or it has to be you know food or something see that's where they're exempt under the peders area permit only
for um and I'm sorry it's been a couple weeks since I've looked at this so give me some Grace please but I believe it's um produced grown in Florida so if we look at the other items that are sold at the flea market which I love and I enjoy
and I eat um they might not be produ produced in Florida or it you know there's all kinds of goods there's Cottage Goods that are also exempt to some degree but not necessarily from the pedler permit requirement that we have
right now to answer our town attorney's question my suggestion would be to currently separate the two issues um if a new farmers market or flea market arises in town to potentially
regulate them under the flea market section of the code AS was originally attended until we can also address that section so I would remove all references to tent and temporary things from our ordinance that's my suggestion remove all references to
ttin because and I'm sorry I'll I'll continue to elaborate but um food trucks are regulated under Department of Business and Professional Regulation but sales of food from tents
are regulated under Department of a and they are regulated under two very different sets of regulations so the 2020 2021 uh Forida statutes that we discussed are only in reference to food
trucks or they might call them mobile food vending yes I would use the specific language used in Florida statute to address this issue and of course when you have the country fair or the cadium festival we
have food trucks and food tents I have no it's going to sound like I'm about to do a u-turn on Dana but I have no trouble including because I do think we have to
regulate tents for food it's to me it's food tents um the flea market concept at the same time if you want to open that ordinance and tighten modify adjust and and make a
clearer distinction between the two I think that may be helpful I can bring that one for first reading 30 days out as well so you can juggle them both at the same time if you would like correct so separating the issues
but bringing them forward together you know at the time yes same thing set different yeah I I'm just making sure I understand and again I Deborah I know I didn't have everything perfect I was trying to do a hurry up ball game to get
back to you with something right so I think I thought I made a motion that we should uh revoke the um moratorium I think I made that motion I didn't get a second but I think I made that motion to go ahead revoke the moratorium for now I
don't know if I'll get a second on that it's a tough one but yes because it was not a proper proceed it was didn't go forward properly so is that a second so could we could we say you're going to revoke the moratorium and return to do I I don't
need to say that okay it's still the law never mind thank you for the all right we have a motion to second on the table any more discussion from the podium hearing none we'll take it to the audience so I understand this right so
if you guys vote to approve this then if any food trucks are out there on the road police chief's going to give them a ticket is that right yes and tell them they can't be there so I think that's regardless because what he said at the last meeting is today that's a loading
zone so not just food trucks but UPS and FedEx and others shouldn't be that's what I thought I understood that's why it's almost aot I've got messages to the food sorry the FedEx drivers and UPS drivers I've asked the business owners to talk to them and tell them to try and
make sure their trucks are completely inside the loading zone when they're um loading and unloading so um so I think that's working better now yeah and the food trucks are already staying in the loading zone but you know we paav that back alley why can't the FedEx folks use
the back alley um I I suppose um I suppose they can probably and maybe we could tell them go use back alley um I mean sometimes they're coming in with pallet jacks and things on um you know um pallets using pallet jacks and stuff
and they're not going to get up the ramp on the back alley like they can come in from the front where they just drop it to the ground and they're at level of the businesses if they do it from the back and they got a pallet jack then it's not so easy to maneuver you know 5- foot pallet up that ramp turn the
corners and all that kind of stuff um so and you know many cases they're not using pallets you know they're doing things by hand and uh so I could get the message to them that they should you know go around back um and then it's really just a semis that can't possibly
go around the back and by the way the the um the road in the back worked really good uh it always works good um in the rainstorm today which was like a torrential downpour we did get wash out on the very North End um and so it which
is the area that gets the worst water um because it's coming up from the drainage crate in the front coming up and going to the alley so there's going to need to be some repair on that um but the the rest of the road worked perfectly you know what they did worked perfectly but
just that one needs repair did you say water's coming up through a drain yeah on the street is that the one in front of building what happens is all of them come down to the one on the very North End it gets overwhelmed and the water comes up water goes to the other
side it fills up and it comes up and out there's a pipe that goes under the road to the other side is that open yeah but the water filled up so high that the great must be lower than the than you know the other side and it just comes up
um um I took a picture of it actually I think I took a video of it sounded to me like the pipe on the road needed cleaning I don't think it's that I think what needs to happen is they need to connect the pipe to the retention Pond across the street because that had about this much water in it but it's 5 foot
deep you know we don't have adequate place for that water to go um so it ends up coming out and it goes down to the alley yeah I mean we've known about this for years the city's known about this for years and years and I think they talked Joe asked the county if he could tie in into that retention Pond and they
said no and I think it just died right there and there's never been anything done after that so I mean it's just a problem that we know we need to solve at some point yeah I sent I sent some to Dennis the engineer today um just letting him know a picture and stuff so that he knows
that it's happening but back to food trucks back to food trucks yeah all right so um so if you guys vote Yes now then I got to tell the food trucks that they're done right okay for 30 days yeah then we'll figure it out we park in
the back right okay ju yeah just so you know a little bit of whiplash you know I mean if they have to go and come and go and come you know I prefer that it was just consistent and they didn't have to make these changes um because once they go I don't know if they'll all come back
but um but uh I mean it's kind of like tariffs they're on they're off they're on they're off it's hard to do business that way you know but whatever you guys do we're going to have to deal with right just a Qui question have you tried signage to point people to the back to the food trucks when they're
there okay okay because the people driving by didn't see it so they didn't stop right that's that's the business they're losing is the people that see it and stop because of it right nobody's driving down the alley right so okay all right we got a motion a
second on the table let's go ahead and pull the councel clarification on the motion you want verification on it verification is that a the moratorium I don't have the number of it tabling no to no
weend it we're not talking about the ordinance we're just talking about the previous the moratorium just we're just addressing the moratorium next address should we we add the date of that meeting would that be helpful in the clarification to you know the moratorium
that was approved at the January what I think it was the Jan Ary meeting because in the February meeting brought the revision the first reading January 13th that sounds right January 13th so
I'll in my motion to give the date of January 13th when the moratorium was passed to revoke that moratorium got it got okay go ahead and pull the council council member warley yes council member
Hayes yes council member Charles yes council member Ard yes the next recommendation would be to table until next meeting or uh proposed ordinance
20253 the alternative motion would be to disapprove strike it and we'll start over don't care your call that would take 30 days long tabling 03 means we can act in 30 days starting
over is a 60-day time periods days table see and you don't have to decide tonight yeah my my fear of tabling it just to expedite not having a first
reading is if there's a lot of changes it's then trying to see well okay we started with something we didn't like it then we had a workshop now we're trying to inject that we're trying to inject these other things that creates confusion versus a clean
start you're putting off addressing Kenny's concern for 60 days rather than 30 days doesn't matter to me I can do either that's assuming that it would be revised to allow food trucks on Town yep property yes
ma'am yes it is well I guess the comment I had was that just say no this is what my couple people called me very adamant said just say no this it's not working let's just get everything together and start over
again so I know it's an extra days when you turn away that microphone doesn't catch anything you're saying I'm sorry okay so um the people I that have called me said don't table it just say no until we get more information and start over
again but it's up to you guys if we're gonna I mean it does save 30 days but I don't think this is a thing we're going to get done that quick I mean I think it takes some time especially when you have a lot of different moving elements and I
do think that some people were very offended that we went ahead and and voted um for an ordinance when they hadn't made comment they took their time to come out and made comment so um I'm just telling you and I I feel I feel
they're right I think that we shouldn't have done the ordinance before they got to make comment I really do I think it's just disrespectful to the public like why do you come out when we've already got an ordinance started and I'm I'm sorry I'm not very ad in about most
things but I'm going to vote no just to start over again but you guys can do whatever you want it sounds like you're saying to strike it that's what the attorney is saying we can either vote to table it or t to strike it my position was and I think you're saying the same
strike it because we've had you know a lot of public comment at the workshop Dana's given us some good information we now seem like we're expanding a little to me that that's a start over not try to revise what we did at first reading
because then we're going to be more confused I don't think it was clearly put to the public in the first place on the first reading so I I'm saying let's strike it and start over as well because I I really think that uh we do the
public a disservice if we do anything with what we have now because it was not done with their input and we asked for it and then we say oh too bad you know no I that's not the right thing to do we ask for it we need to wait until we get that input from Central Florida Regional
planning maybe um Charlotte can get us a little more attention there and get some answers so that we can move forward but yeah let's strike this so I voted no on it last time it was 341 against so I'll
make a motion that we strike uh the second reading of 2025 -3 food truck solic solicitors Peddlers temporary ordinance um and that we start new once we get the results of the uh workshop
and then the other changes that we think need you know outdated in our ordinance that need to be changed okay all may I all good what do you want me to do with the first half of the ordinance that no one has really said gber you're right or
you're wrong the liter the solicitor the door too salesman that we saying that the chief and I are saying let's revoke that I can a bring you back a whole new ordinance doing the same thing it'll have a new
number or B strike everything after that it'll have to come back for I'd like to strike to me I'd like to strike it off and allow the input and then the clean first reading of the new and if it incorporates that I'm fine
but it becomes a clean um reading very well we need to strike it all because it was done in previous events and that's not been a pre uh prevailing Motion in the past so I just start it over and I will gladly second
it um we did this in haste trying to fix something that was seemed to be imminent problem so I have no problem striking it for now all right I need a clear definite motion sure
again I make a motion that we strike second reading ordinance 202-0324 that we we think that need to be made because it's going to be the food truck solicitor pedders temporary ordinance well it won't be temporary but the or uh
the changes to those ordinances do you want me to bring in flea markets separate ordinance I think that's separate do you want me to come forward with the flea market so we can eliminate Dana's concerns of crossover
or may I have that discretion if I agree with Dana yeah if so so to me it would be we we Town admin I think we need to vote separate let's let's vot let's let's do the let's do the one then we'll come back to flea
Mark I'll second whatever she said ready okay I'm good okay so we have a motion a second so I'm going to reread the motion second reading or uh striking second reading of the ordinance
20253 food truck moratorium amendments um to um direct the town attorney to get the comments from the central for original planning workshop and to make the other changes that had been previously approved by Council does
that kind of Encompass your motion is that okay any changes okay all right any comments from the audience bring them back pull the council council member Charles yes council member everard yes council
member Hayes yes council member warley yes okay if I may yes so I am clear I have the discretion to bring back flea market ordinance and I have the direction to
bring back an ordinance on food trucks may I also bring back an ordinance basically equaling section one of the one you just struck which eliminates solicitors and
pedalers quite frankly it would take the same ordinance that you just struck and keep all of section one and eliminate because that's that simply is revoking
our outdated ordinance of solicitors and peders I have a suggestion just like you brought this one forward just I mean it's a good road map so let's just go forward with what you
did we just need to get more input and you know put things in there so it's not a bad thing it's just that we're not ready yet for an ordinance we need to really work through this so I think I am an opinion I don't I don't I haven't
really paid that much attention because I was focused on certain things but um those other things are not bad it's just that this is a good road map so let's just bring it back and we'll look at all of it that's fine I can certainly do that it's a great road
map so I think that about covers that M Mr Mayor okay all right clerk you okay okay all right now we have a variance request from Robert
Marshall good evening Dana Rell Town planner for the planning consultant for the record tonight before us we have the property located at 601 South Main Avenue owned by Robert Marshall the
property is approximately 0.26 acres and just Northeast of the intersection of poinsetta and South Maine uh sandwiched between South Oak and pal Meadow Street the applicant is requesting a twot variance to allow a six- foot fence in
front yard areas instead of the maximum fence height of 4 feet in the R2 District this is coming before you all tonight um because the board of adjustment is usually the final decision
makers for variances but there's a section of the code that states they cannot approve variances over 35% as such we've forwarded this request uh with a recommendation from the local
planning agency to Town Council for the final decision the future land use on the subject property is medium density residential with um I'll get into zoning in just a minute I actually want to point out here the Highlands County
interactive GIS map is not up to date yet but these Alleyways you see in the area outlined in blue so the area outlined in blue is the subject property and you can see the Alleyways in that area those Alleyways were vacated by
counil a couple months ago so right now it is one full property and the zoning is R2 which is the multif family dwelling District this little triangle here never really had the potential for
construction because of the size minimum size requirements for a home I've inserted in my PowerPoint the specific findings that I wrote in my staff report but I'm going to skip over them here and I'll bring back these slides if there's any questions
regarding the findings that I had but I trust that Council has reviewed those on the screen here you'll see a site plan so the yellow areas indicated on this site plan are exactly where the six-
foot fence is proposed the applicant is proposing a privacy fence the town engineer reviewed for triangle of visibility to make sure that it wouldn't interfere or hinder oncoming traffic and
either direction and he stated that it would not impact the triangle of visibility on March 3rd 2025 the board of adjustment moved to recommend that the Town Council approve the fence height of six feet in front yard areas
on the property with changes as follows really these are actually conditions so the property shall not be used for open yard storage and in the event of a home is constructed on the property the fence in the front yard
shall be altered to comply with the height requirements for fences as established by town code so I should go back and we should discuss what front yard areas means by code so say a home
was instructed uh constructed on this property and it was set back 50 feet the front yard would be from the front plane of the house forward so it would be 50 ft now the way
that uh since there isn't a structure currently constructed on the property the way that we generally go about approving fences in residential areas when the lot is vacant is first of all we can approve them for Safety and Security reasons but second of all we
would require a 25 foot setback which is the required setback for the R2 District so in the past the applicant has constructed this fence that you see shown on this survey with
x's and he set it back 25 ft from this property line along Oak and 25 ft from paletto this Alleyway was recently vacated and when it when an Alleyway is
vacated it takes on the zoning so we know that the alleyway way is basically split in half and it goes to either property owner on either side Mr Marshall owns both sides of the property but zoning follows the
same Trend so half of this alley will have R2 zoning and half of this alley will have the C2 zoning in the commercial District a fence would usually be allowed on the
property line at the height of 6 foot um for portions of the property depending on the use so I don't want to go too far down that rabbit hole but
um we we would essentially allow a six- foot fence on the property line in commercial districts in this instance the property has an R2 zoning which is residential and because of the findings
of fact I have to recommend denial which is what I recommended to the board of adjustment and it is also what I'm recommending to the Town Council this evening um the applicant is not being deprived of a fence he has the ability
to place a 4-foot fence on the property line all the way around or he also has the option of bringing the fence in 25 ft and erecting a six foot fence after the first 25 ft of the property uh the the applicant has
indicated concerns regard regarding safety and liability so I will turn it over to the mayor and the applicant who is here tonight for him to make any um presentations yes Robert Marshall like I say my concern is just
about liability and safety in the back of my building that's what I'm here for and um that was my main purpose in uh vacating the alleyway behind the property was to fence it and I thought all along that that's what was going to happen
so here I am again the thing that strikes me is it feels like that fenced in area is an extension of your commercial property into a residentially zoned land which would not be appropriate you've not I
mean Dana has her recommended motion is no outdoor storage correct what what are you putting back there is it nothing I just want to keep people off of my property okay I want to bring the fence out so nobody gets on my easement on my
property and gets hurt and gets sued that's my main purpose that's why that's why the code enforcement's there there won't be anything in back of the building so is the only reason for the fence just to keep people away from your
property correct is there any in neighborhood is there any other way to accomplish that I mean you think a 4 foot fence they will climb over is that what you're trying to say yes I do yes they do but six foot fence they will not it would be harder it
would um what type of fence is this it's a PVC is it uh it's like this you know there's no yes like panels the same the same one that's in the back right uh bordering the uh duplex in the
back it's the same style of fence same same material and there's no offence there now at all correct okay um and people are getting into the back of your building and just hanging out
smoking dope or whatever they do exactly exactly right yeah you said that right and and have you called the police on that so you're saying you have trespassers today in the past I really haven't but I called about a week ago uh some the kids were back there throwing
the football against the building couple weeks ago was they were throwing rocks but I I never called I just chased them out of there and you know 6 eight months ago somebody stole my cell phone and ran off yeah I remember the last meeting you told us that I mean do do you have no trespassing signs today on the property
no I don't and I guess Chief since two months ago I'm going to ask you again is are you getting do you you know are you seeing a lot of safety issues over in that area that would lead to people
needing to put up six foot fences no ma'am and again with a six-foot fence the difference between a six foot fence and a 4 foot fence a fence is a fence um the only difference is is what code enforcement can see from the roadway a
six- foot fence blocks the view of 4 foot fits doesn't um I would just suggest a couple of things um first of all I would suggest that the fact that people can see over a 4-foot fence would be to the
advantage of law enforcement so they could see if there was anything unusual going on behind your business uh on their normal Patrol without having to get out of their car and in my case jumping to see over the over the fence um I would also suggest that you
consider some um some plants there that are not kind to people like banville is a good plant but it's not always recommended because it does you know stick you but as three trees in the front on the side because there was no power lines but right there there's some
power lines and I didn't want to interfere with them mhm I already would have planted some trees there but like I say there's a power line there well it's not a big plant but you know just something there even even crunch rock or something that would that would make a noise and would make it uncomfortable
for people to get over the fence if they you know scratch your knee or you know whatever I just think there are other um environmental things that you can do there and and retain the 4-foot fence and retain the Integrity of the neighborhood Dana are we talking about
the only place that's in uh in compliance would be a six foot fence would be the with the one on the uh right hand side on the road correct not not between the two properties right that's what I'm thinking so we're talking about the one
one area right on right there where your arrow is down to the building right I think that's where our conversation is based right now on that one one line right there yeah now where the mouse is here because this is also a budding
a road it is considered in our code front yard and sidey yards are considered the same with the same setbacks do you have fencing there now sir I'm sorry do you have fencing there now where her where her pointer was a minute ago where it say says unnamed
alley and shell rock is there a fence there now no there isn't the only fence is between the U duplex and the building right that's that's what I recall having been out there it was the the fence behind the duplex and I thought that you were were okay with the business next door being allowed to access that alley
with their trucks if they needed to to turn around well what happened was uh since he was opposed to it I sold him that land in back of his building and U I really didn't want to because I knew he would cut down the trees and make a pig pen out of it but I
did so I could get the the variant I mean the uh easeman vacated behind my property so that's what I did and uh I just I just want to separate from these other people in their neighborhood
because they're slobs you know they don't maintain their property like I do I understand your concern I think the word you're looking for is hostile vegetation is is I know what people put up a lot to try to deter somebody from
climbing over a fence or something like that Dana is it is it the code that I could put up a 6ft fence 25t back from the easement correct so what I'm asking for is just two feet of fencing two basically two feet of
fencing on that side street 90 feet correct on South Oak and on this vacated alley you're asking for a twoot variance to increase the fence height from 4 foot to six foot so six foot fence but it would have to be 25 ft from the property
line correct it would have to be set back 25 ft without a variance could do that correct okay so the the different if this was commercial property he could put a six- foot fence all the way around on the property line okay so here's the
thing about fencing in the C1 and the C2 District our code allows fencing to be 50% of the size of the building so what is the square footage of your
building 7500 7500 what is that 3,750 Square ft of his property could be fenced with the six foot fence it could be on the property line um but it would be limited the size
okay I'm trying to sort out is just because the Quirk that part of this is residential is being the problem and it was from I watched the board of adjustment live streamed it I got the impression that they felt that for all
intents and purposes it's everybody thinks it's commercial and that's why they asked for the uh caveats that if it ever did go residential it would revert to the residential code but he would because by it's virtually
commercial I mean not it isn't but it's perceived as commercial so if the commercial rules applied he could do do what he could fence in 3,750 ft of the
property if the property had a commercial designation which the alternative to this method of approval would be to apply for PD zoning I'm done I don't want to do
anything else it's almost two years on this deal I'm done whatever you decide I'm good with I'm through with it you know yeah I think this is one of those that if you're on Main Avenue you think it's commercial if you're on the back side it's residential right so that's
the kind of the the challenge of this property so if if if you approve it I'm fine on the property line if you don't I'll put the six foot fence 25 ft back is that is that correct in the statement correct
we could approve that the part that's partiel two that is not owned by Robert that's got that little pie shaped on pal what is it being used for I think it's just V on the corner there there was
apparently a building there that burned down years ago it's V I get that but he said they cut down trees and rather slly are they park there was actually a house there that burned down no you're talking about backa lesbes
yeah correct well I I sold it to him like I say to get the okay and he cut the trees down and and and what they do is they they pull their vehicles in there and unload and load and that's what they do with the property now but I was reluctant to do
it because I knew it would happen you know I mean that's a residential issue as well I'm I'm not trying to squeal on my neighbor I just don't I just want don't want anything to do with them because they don't keep the prop up like I do you know you know they have tires outside
they got trailers outside you know personally personally the way I see it he's allowed a 4 foot fence to me two two foot more isn't going to help it or hurt it uh let's face it if somebody wants in the
property they're going to get over a six foot fence it it's like locks on doors they're only there to keep honest people onest whatever you decide them for the fence is the same thing whatever you decide put it on the you know if he
proper line 25 back whatever you decide I I just don't have a problem with it as as long as it it looks good I don't understand why this is considered the front of the building I would to me I would think the front of the building would be what's facing Main Street but I
guess that's just the way it's written but you know I I don't care I don't care what should do yeah well and I I appreciate um staff's recommendation too so I mean I I'll go go ahead and make move to recommend that we deny the fence
height based on staff's recommendation and also that for the two feet you can move it back and you don't even need to come to council see what I do is I lose 25 ft of that property and it's really not that large anyways that's or you can do a for foot you've already said you're not going to
be doing anything with the property so whatever you decide makes yeah that makes no difference either way either so I'll make the motion to uh deny the fence height of six feet in the front yard area I'll second all right we have a motion a
second any other comments from the podium I would defer to the board of adjustment I'm sorry I would defer to the board of adjustments recommendation okay all right well we haven't voted yet
but okay I understand that okay all right so we'll we'll take it to the audience Pinterest 12373 Los Lake Drive I attended the LPA meeting much discussion ensued Dana stated her position um the LPA committee members
went not back and forth each other but Rober explained his position the reasoning why and they put the different conditions on there if it's resident should build a house you're going to take down the fence agreed you can't
have any outdoor storage agreed whatever they said he said agreed so um and like Joyce said you if you watch the meeting you can see the intent of the committee members you can see that
although Dana was doing her job here's the law however you know they the intent was to give him a six-foot fence I think he said he's into at $10,000 right now trying to come before the Town Council for the last two years to be
able to protect his property I don't think it's unreasonable what he's asking for thank you no other comments bring them back let's pull the council council member Charles yes council
member Hayes yes council member warley no I'm gonna I'm gonna side with my council member everard no mayor Holbrook okay I appreciate Dana's position but I'm I'm going to
back our Board of adjustments and allow it out of respect I think more than anything they give their time so what was the motion to deny so and you voted how Mr Mayor to deny no to allow it so you
voted against the motion to deny yes therefore the denial fails you need another motion not a granting of the issue right second motion is so a second motion then to defer to the decision of
the board of adjustments and allow the six-foot fence with the condition that they placed on it I'll second it but I'll also say in the future nobody's going to know this even happened and there a residential goes in there I will tell you this because of where I live in the
microphone I'm I'm saying where where I live there's a six foot concrete fence in between me and the heart souls and people I heard the crash of the glass and they went over that with the with the register and we running through the
yard and you know what did it I agree with you Bogan Vila they're never coming over that concrete fence again I can tell you that but I'm just saying a six foot fence if they want to get over there they're coming and I saw them running bobbing up and down I'm call 911 they're running okay but you
know what go over there and when you go to haril look over there the concrete fence Bogen Vila will stop them I Neville works well too okay all right we have a motion in a second on the table anym more discussion from the
podium take it to the audience bring it back pull the council council member Everhart yes council member warley yes council member Hayes having lost the first motion I
will go with this one yes you missed one council member Charles no thank you have a good night thank you Dana certainly okay 6b1 and 6b2 are off the table well now go to
61 budget amendment so so those two are off the table because of that's fine okay which the attorney attorney you want to take
it so we have a budget amendment for Lake June Park playground repair and maintenance the town has been conducting necessary repairs and maintenance across all public parks to ensure safety and compliance with playground safety standards as part of this effort a certified playground safety inspection
was conducted at Lake June Park Spruce Park Taylor Park and Bicentennial Park the inspection identified Spruce Park as the highest priority in terms of repair and maintenance needs While Lake June Park ranked as the lowest priority however repairs at Lake June Park's
Upper Playground structure were already in progress prior to the inspection due to the recent safety concerns that have been brought forward by residents a comprehensive list of recommended repairs or replacements for each Park will be presented at the April council meeting along with the full inspection
report Parks have been prioritized based on urgency and safety considerations as follows Spruce Park will be the highest priority B Centennial Park will be second Taylor Park will be third and Lake June Park will be the lowest priority but with ongoing
repairs um I do want to hone in just on on this item as councilwoman Haye said earlier the three parks that are ranked 1 two and three all fall within our CRA District so that was what she was alluding to earlier Lake June Park does not so for Lake June
Park quotes have been obtained for the necessary repairs to the upper playground structure so you have two options option one is for the replacement parts that are only for the wall climbing structure at $2,384 and then we have the additional
repairs again for the upper playground structure would be $478 192 so you have the combined to total there a little over 6,000 so we are asking the council to consider approving the repair costs for Lake June
Park's Upper Playground structure and issue a b a budget amendment to fund these repairs Additionally the council may consider prioritization and funding of the repairs at the remaining parks in April when we come back for that just want to keep bringing that up so that no
one thinks that we're not going to take care of those three Parks as well so the impact would be 6,000 $824,000 [Music] almost 7,000 going to come out of it is going to come out of our repair and
maintenance it will come out of repair and maintenance General Repair and maintenance okay and there's enough budget money in there to pull it over okay yes ma'am but does that mean I mean we just had discussion earlier right that a lot
of work needs to get done and so now are we going to rob from Peter to fix Paul over here right so you're say $7,000 is going to come out of general maintenance budget which means general maintenance
isn't going to get done no Rachel or did or you saying you had no there's you you overbuilt the budget in no no there's already money in there for repairs and maintenance in this account for Lake June Park and so that's what it's going to be used for it was already in the
budget yeah there's always a line item adjustment where some Pro projects don't get done anyway so it'll it'll come back to you you'll see what where that money came from but it's in the General Repair you know what that figure was for the what the line item adjust
what the line item amount was if we're making an adjustment I just wondered how much more no I didn't I have it off top of my head okay well it's probably not a lot anyway but that's my concern it's it's we built the
budget with a certain amount for maintenance and now we're saying oh we need seven I I support this don't get me wrong it's just trying to see what might not get done that we thought would because we're pulling money over for
these uh needed repairs yeah like the Town Administrator said we'll bring that back to you next month so you have that information yeah the these are things we think need to be done right now I agree agree totally in April you'll have a whole list of things we'll need to
prioritize on on the other on the other other ones and and then decide where that money will come whether we looks we Reb budget for next year or whatever we do okay I'm looking under um Recreation repair and maintenance other it looks
like there is a annual budget of $30,000 there and under equipment repair there's 3500 there so that would be 335 and um it looks like that there're not much has been spent there
so there's probably fine to go there so I'll go ahead and make the motion um to approve the uh 2024 budget amendment for up to
6,824 uh for repair and maintenance of the Lake June Park upper and lower playground structures I will second it you got your playground structures yay and the my only comment is is um the
life of the playground equipment because I know it's expensive and I'd like to keep an eye on that so we can kind of budget ahead so when we have to spend that 100,000 or 150 if we put up a tent over it that we keep our eye on the ball
yeah we're making some repairs but how soon are we going to have to replace the whole thing so we can prepare for that in the future uh would you repeat your motion I will it's um the recommended motion here move to approve 2024 25 budget
amendment for up to 6824 34 uh from GL account number 00157 9461 repair and maintenance okay I thought you said upper and lower I said for both playgrounds I said the upper lower playground this is for
the climbing wall only and the upper no it's for both no look up above where it says option one is 2,000 that's what I'm saying that is the wall and then the second is the upper playground structure but both of them together of the 68 but
I thought you said upper and lower playgrounds and I just wanted to clarify that that's all okay so the lower playground is not getting no replacement parts for the whole structure just The Climbing Wall Part
right okay that's just what he's trying to make sure you get so you're approving your motion on what's written here yes okay but my understanding is there was some minor repairs done to the if we're calling it the lower
structure the swing saddle was replaced and some other things that I think were done I don't yeah that was done in the regular budget it was in that's what I'm saying yeah that was in the director's report okay yeah all right is that clear okay exactly any other
comments from the audience Rand did you say you had a professional safety study conducted and they prioritize the need for the repairs of the four playgrounds yeah so you're making a budget amendment to go ahead and quickly do the fourth
one on the list I I I don't follow if you paid a professional to tell you the urgency of repairs and you're going to the bottom of that list to start the repairs so so what's happened is because the other three playgrounds fall within the CRA
District we'll be it'll be a different budget so those will come in as is there a timeline on those or we're we're going to address it we needed to bring it here make the council aware here and so in our CRA meeting for next next month in April we're going to bring it so those have a funding source yes sir they do
okay okay I didn't think CRA could funds could be used for repair and maintenance it's in our plan for infrastructure for playgrounds specifically it's in there in the plan repair and maintenance we've we've we've
gone round and round on buying new is in there but is repair and maintenance I'd have to look at it but I'm pretty sure okay we don't need to resolve it now yeah and I thought the reason for the delay because you're still getting what the results of that inspection and what
the cost will be for the repairs that are being recommended whereas this they got us right away or this can be yeah and this one could be addressed on this budget whereas the others would be better addressed on the CRA budget because it falls in the CRA District we
just received the report well that's what I'm saying is that's the reason for the delay is this Harry was able to get okay here's the replacement parts and and pull forward what the budget amendment would be the other you're waiting for the final results and then
what will those repairs be on those three Parks correct and then because this one we were already really in depth on looking at yeah yeah so valid point thank you I didn't think there was any um usable if you will structures at
Spruce Park or the other two parks well no Taylor park has new stuff but Spruce and B Centennial I thought that we had to replace all that equipment anyway that's correct it'll be Replacements not repairs all right so that's not going to be repairs other than Taylor Park is not
going to be repair it's going to be um trees and a cover right we'll be removing one uh one structure that's there currently and we have the option to put something else back in its place okay thank you so so good point and then
that is covered yeah new Under CRA and we have CRA money budgeted for those three parks okay poll our Council council member Charles yes council member Hayes yes council member
warley yes council member Everhart yes okay next is 6d2 consideration of adjusting Town council meeting schedule I'll turn it over our town
manager I think this one's a no-brainer so due to the increasing length of Our Town Council meetings as a Town Administrator I'm requesting that the Town Council consider adjusting the meeting scheduled to improve the efficiency in decision making um what I
mean by that is because I I know that at our last meeting there was a lot of decision fatigue um that is a true term if you go and look at it people get tired and they you just want to hurry up and get done so we hurry up and vote um and that's just the reality and so I
think if we are able to to look at separating it and our um Town attorney just showed me that we used to have two meetings scheduled and it's actually outlined that way but if we were able to set um the second meeting to be able to
hear any of the public hearings any of the ordinances or anything that's of a similar matter that's going to be much more longer and length than we could put that on for the third Monday we'll just throw that date out there um to bring it up so if we're in our
meeting right now and we see that's not going to be there then we don't have to have the the second meeting it's only if it's as necessary if we need to or not you said the third Monday our code schedules our current regular meetings for the second and fourth fourth I meant
fourth I meant fourth okay that's what we had thank you atin the code only has one meeting in our code because we revised it we revised it I thought did too but I looked it up munic code and it's that hasn't been cified yet the all right so
we'll just undo yeah happens the next yeah yeah I mean we revised it undo I was sitting there thinking I thought we did but catification happens once a year and that all three so we need to do
a new ordinance to put it back in the code the way we took it out we do that well a lot and it would be contingent on whether we have we need to have that second one or not and since we've got to amended anyway you can either the second or the
fourth the consideration I would suggest is plant your feet and have one of these for the public hearings so they're not going to be continued because people come out to see them and because professionals from far away engineers and lawyers come in to
make their argument and if they sit through a three-hour meeting and then it gets adjourned and come back two weeks later that's not good no no yeah we would want to be able to have our council meeting and then have the the public the other one on the and we said the third because we've gone through
looking at all of our meetings that we currently have to see where it's going to fall so we'll do it the third of that's fine now if you don't have a big agenda you still could put your public hearings correct on the second Monday yes and we just make the best guess we can with the with the one meeting just
do with the one meeting so we're going to have a meeting on the second Monday and the third Monday back to back no second fourth they just but did she just said third third the old way was fourth oh she's recommending the third but then what are we doing right
now we're on the second Monday aren't we correct so that would mean we're on the second Monday and the third Monday correct backtack meetings correct if needed or not needed why don't you start on your
second Monday with your public hearings which is an adjustment of this then we if you get through all of it on your second Monday you don't come back to third if you don't you come back the
third the difference is scheduling your public hearings first on the second Monday I didn't articulate that well your public hearings can't be postponed from one meeting to the next there are times certain publish in the newspaper professionals etc
etc okay so I do them first on your first meeting it's the stuff that's the routine stuff that we would want to fall over to the next meeting yes I think that's corre I still didn't public
hearing first no no you're just saying flip it we're just flipping it as what so the public hearing on the uh the public hearings would be on the first Monday of the month and second Monday first meeting no yes second Monday and first meeting
yes public hearings and then the third Monday would be the remaining items on the agenda yes okay don't have strong feelings about it I'll be glad to bring you an ordinance and we can adjust it next what would that do to
staff two weeks in a row two weeks in a row I getting out of here close to midnight doesn't no no no I get that I definitely but I'm just with the two weeks in a row versus the second and the fourth Monday the good thing about this method is it's one
agenda and and what you heard me object to last time was dear God don't put us through two agenda packages no it'd be the same it'd be the same agenda package just would call it for example the April agenda and we go as far as we can on the second Monday
and we come back on the third Monday for anything we didn't get to I even put in here actually saying we started at 5:30 and say we're going to end at a hard 8:30 just bees the other thing too is because PE people don't
come people aren't coming we the whole thing is is we want to have it at 5:30 because we want it to be open for for people to come and attend but the reality is they're they're not they're not attending our meetings because they think they're going to be here all night long and but we need their feedback that's who we're here to serve so we
need them so at the CRA meeting there was a request to have them in the evening because of business owners you know not being able to attend during the day going to two Town Council meetings
which I'm fine with so just to lay that out there but would we go back to considering then incorporating the CRA back into one of them that's just going to make the meeting longer that would almost that almost indicate that we
would have two meetings a month well and I think it would defeat our purpose right I think that and did we did we decide in CRA that we're going to go to 5:30 no that's that'll be be on the April yeah we didn't in April we'll
bring it'll be on there for CRA in April okay with the request to go back to quarterly yeah and the only other thing you could do I'll just throw it out there instead of meeting at 5:30 we could meet at 4:00 say that no we get our work by then
yeah that's yeah you can't do it no well I could I just changed my schedule yeah yeah well I mean technically I could too but it's tough as well yeah so I'm just trying to understand again
the the meeting structure like you said with this overflow I'm that's not still clear to me so the first we'll just call it first and second meeting right the first meeting you're saying when we look at the agenda that typically comes out would always be the consent
agenda and presentations from citizens on the agenda public comments that's it I'm trying to I'm trying to understand then or is it everything and then 8:30 we're done everything rolls
over to the following week and then how do you advertise that I'd like you to give staff time to figure that out oh that's fine and let us come back with a proposal okay ideally what we had planned was everything except for the
public hearings any anything else like that we would take and move to the other meeting and I feel bad that I just stepped on her presentation yeah it's okay and and I really want to back up and let staff recommend right no no
you're okay um we would focus all standard Town Council business at one meeting everything else would be public hearing ordinances or anything of similar matters so that was why we had originally said in our discussions that we would have everything else and then
at the next meeting come with the public comments because we would cover everything that you just named off councilwoman Charles however you choose we're okay with that we're just really trying to see how we can do this where we can do the business make sure everybody's
getting out of here at a decent hour and we're able to have participation from the residents okay so so are we where you're going to come back like we just said or we're going bring you an ordinance that will lay out my recommendation to
her is going to be an ordinance that will lay out two meetings but it'll be the same agenda and what I want to let her our administrator talk about you have any suggestions order give it no no no I'm
I'm I'm basically on Logistics how is this going to work What flows over and what doesn't and then I I don't want to put staff where now they've got two meetings backtack weeks putting packets together that have to get published and that in itself brings a lot of work
that's what we're trying to eliminate but what I was trying to understand if you put the whole packet up there for week one but knowing half of this is going to be the I call it week one the second meeting I'm in my mind trying to figure out well how does
that work too so to I think the two meetings is great um one problem is the length of the meetings trying to bring that down but I think also it's an opportunity to serve the community better as well um and I'm
I'm not following if you're on one agenda and you're going from one week to the next um just a random example if I'm looking for a zoning change sometimes those take six months because you come to a meeting and you have to make a change and you can't
come back for another month and there's yet another change so you can't come back for another month is is is this process you're proposing is that going to make it where if if someone is trying to move forward with a project whether it be um zoning or um approval for
architect Ure those things that they could come back in two weeks versus a month you you could take a project that's going to take them eight month eight months for approval and cut that down to four months which would be doing a great service to people trying to move forward with projects in the town so I'm
not following if that if that one agenda two meetings would actually satisfy those requirements or not but I think as far keeping the time down is great but also I think you need too many a month to adequately serve the public because we are starting to
experience some growth here and we won't don't want to discourage investors Builders from coming into this town because it's going to take me nine months to get this approved and I'll I'll go somewhere else and do it quicker so I think if you could kill two birds with one stone
there if that was set up properly but you're saying to have uh a meeting the first and the third and we're saying the first and the second that they would be back to back I I was thinking right it is yeah just spread
over two days yeah and I think because advertising we couldn't do it the second and third I think it would have to be the second and fourth yeah that's that's and it can't be a continuation say if if we were going to go that way yes
right right well I would point out that I think our meetings as we all as your lawyer learns a new Council will bring back hopefully
things closer to right that you want and that meetings I think over time will get shorter I thought the objective was to try to get it all done in one night and spill over only if the clock
set 8:30 if you publish for the second meeting you have to have a second meeting and that's what I thought we were publishing our notice that we were trying to avoid Gibby's point and I sure
appreciate trying to shorten the process I get beat up for that very issue too much but if you have two meetings two weeks apart and you have to close an agenda you know the week before the
meeting you're leaving about three business days for staff to do anything of substance to get it on the next agenda when we we used to have two meetings a month and it's darn near impossible to develop documents go back
and forth with the applicant and come back two days later given a deadlines but then there's public confusion when we'll use the meeting that we ended at 12:15 a.m. a lot of people thought they a lot didn't stay
and so now you have this overflow meeting they come for something they don't know when it's going to be discussed they've taken up three hours of their time only to say no you got to come back next week because we didn't get to it so I'm a structure person I'm
like uh tell me what the meeting is about not the if we don't and I know it's difficult but it's this overflow to the next week is what's confusing to me but let staff come back with something
may so if if the Overflow is mundane things like approving playground expenditures that would that's my understanding that would be the second meeting but to get the citizens uh taken care of in the first meeting without a
deadline not a hard and fast deadline but get the citizens taken care of all the Consultants taken care of and out of the way and do the housekeeping work in the second overflow right maybe a different way is I would expect each meeting has a published agenda because
when I hear the word overflow we didn't get to something so it's just going to overflow to the next meeting so that that's maybe my misunderstanding of the word overflow for a meeting versus a structured meeting here's the agenda and what we decide the citizens
presentations and that as the structure of the agenda okay so here's what I'm what I'm I'm thinking I'm listening to everybody and I I agree with Colleen in that I the Overflow is is kind of a
crapshoot because what if I'm on the bottom part of that agenda but I might get get taken on the first meeting but if I don't I'm going to get on the second one but I have to come to both but if you say here's the agenda for the meetings that will occur in month April
okay whatever it is and so and and then there's a little line on the agenda once these items are addressed this meeting will be adjourned and and I don't care if it's 6 o'clock we got here at 5:30 we got done early we're out at 6 well you know hooray we can all go home and then
we come back the next meeting whenever it is and we address the bottom of that agenda and we have a definite cut at regardless of the time and and I I hesitate to say not to exceed 8:30 because what if it does you know but I
think if we have two meetings it hopefully it doesn't hopefully it shouldn't but let's do this part of the agenda whatever staff thinks um would satisfy the public need first because the public needs to be first let their public needs be satisfied and then we we
come back the following meeting whenever that is and and address the remaining party of the agenda that way it's one packet one agenda with a cut so you know if you're in the last half of the agenda you're in meeting
too okay that's how we want it that's exactly how we want it so like if you took the the agenda today we would cover everything except for we would come back for if the two public hearings were on here we would be coming back at the second meeting to cover the public
hearings was how we were proposing so right now we would have done our consent agenda we would have done presentations we would have handled public comments um new business if it was necessary things of that nature the resolution we would we would bring back to the second
meeting to the second meeting yes ma'am so so stay with that so up above it would say Monday March 10th and March 17th so I would asked the town attorney to make sure all
of that concept is under Sunshine Law of correct um noticing of me minutes of meetings and agenda items but I think it because now it's going to go over a two we period yeah but to make that clear I
think you're right about putting that at the top but maybe somewhere you say okay so um meeting April 10th let's say whatever it is that first meeting here end April 10th start well 17th whatever so that it's clear on that agenda what's
going to be on the first meeting what's going to be on the second meeting and the date of each of those meetings yeah confusing how can it be confusing you just put the dates on that's just what you asked for well we threw it out there because I said it we threw it out there let's give staff I said I asked the
question is that how it would be that's all I said how you how do you want it so it's not confusing I would like Mr attorney to determine if we that is a under Sun shine law proper way to notice meetings and packets we'll bring back a lawful
proposal thank you okay all right so for the for the sake of our schedules are we going to two meetings already in April or is this coming in May or we probably do we would start it in May okay thank you we have to do an
yeah we have to do an ordinance so he's going to have to so it's going to be May or maybe even June tce later probably probably June if we need a second meeting next I can always call a meeting yes true if if we feel it's enough I mean if it looks like we're going to be
here till midnight or whatever yeah you know we can we can reschedule cut the agenda and call another me and call another meeting okay cool okay all right well we got a couple more things on the agenda here let's uh is there any more
talk on that no he's got to come back with an ordinance come back with more information okay all right so we'll go to uh 63 the uh uh penon
proposal and there's two different ones uh ones on the GPH station in South Main and the other ones on the pumping station enforc me that's correct um at the last uh lpra
meeting I brought these to the the board they wanted me to go get a second quote and I believe you have that second quote it came in this morning can can you talk clear in the microphone especially for the YouTu so for the first one it's Pen's proposal
number La p 25002 p is supplement agreement to the master agreement Marquette Master station and Main Street lift station Technical Services which is um C
Construction engineering and inspections um the impact okay recommended by L to unit requested a second quote which you have the impact is yes uh Technical Services is 38,000 with
the 5,000 contingency with a total 4,300 I mean 43,000 um these funds will be provided out of the $40 million Grant where the construction of the lift stations U is out of two other grants so
uh my recommendation is to uh uh for the council to uh review um sign and uh the proposal for this one and then the second one is the agreement for the Southwest
uh South Water Treatment Facility pumping station in Forest main Construction it's a continuing uh Services Technical Services with penon um lpra asked me to get it requested me to get another quote
and you have that the penon is cheaper than uh kimly horn by about $1,000 so they're real competitive um this one will be $96,000 and with the 10,000 contingency with total
106 with the same recommendation that the council reviews signs and accepts C can you clarify um under the statement issue it says that the rupac requested a yes second
but due to time constraints this could be set back so did you get not notice proceed have been issued on both uh they have been yes so if this thank you um if we don't get this this could set us back in construction so um because at the end
of the year you know Kevin came and and we had two quick turnarounds for our you know requests for quotes and was able to do that was like a week I think so can't we do the same thing here it's just not oh I did the two quotes you have the second quote from kimbery horn I'm just
reading the statement of issue and then what you said I was requesting them and they happen to come in this morning I wasn't expecting them that okay so you do have two quote you had to okay that's what I was trying excuse me Kimberly
Horn's uh uh proposal for both both uh South plant and and and main main lift stations so that's in the packet or that's NOK did you that's this that's on the
desk should be you up there from kimbery horn and then those are the only two that we then penon is in the package okay like I said this time sensitive you know could put back the project so so
for the first one is penon was 43,000 and kimly Horn was how much I believe it was Kim Horn was uh I'm not seeing prices in here so maybe
I'm what's billing is 40,000 so they're actually cheaper no okay is cheaper kimy corn is 40,000 am I reading something wrong here you're you're not under the other one is
38,000 okay 38,000 this one's 40,000 and penon is Roger correct pardon me I'm sorry penon is Roger the one that has right done a lot of work for us knows us well Kevin asked them for the original this is
kimly horn so can I just slow down for me then y I'm reading this one package which is kimley horn yep scope of services fee and billing it says 40,000 plus 5,000 contingency right and then
this one is 38 and five so we're saying 43 versus 45 kimley horn m just so I can get Apples to Apples here excuse me penon is 38 and plus five right so penon
is cheaper than kimly horn they're 43 38 and five right am I reading that right right and then and kimly Horn is 40,000 so 2,000 40 and five it could be 45,000 okay 45 $2,000 difference froming
is $2,000 right that's what I'm saying yes okay and then the second one is6 versus 107 yes like,
difference so they were competitive basic right so it's your recommendation to go with Bon yes view inside so we can have processed have you approved this change with
d there was no change Kevin had this prepared so it's just a reallocation of the same money right so this is just for construction Journey inspection I think the agreement called for two bits and we only had to one that's the reason we had to you very
muchy yes so both projects have been approved notice proceed is just is construction engineering and inspections and then again reason I brought it tonight because of time constraints I just don't want to get set
back I couldn't bring it back to the lck no till next month there's funds in the grant for this right that's what I was told yes that's what I've been told yes that's how they figured it out the grant Rachel
there funds in the grant for this do we need two separate motions or can we do it at one um let's just do them separate just to make sure it's it's legal let's do the uh Mada lift station
and Main Street stations first so I will make the motion to accept the penon proposal number l a kpl 2500 2p supplemental agreement to master agreement marata Drive lift station
and Main Street lift station Technical Services during construction for 38,000 contingency funding of 5,000 total of 43,000 and funds to be provided from the $40 million Grant
second all right we have a motion to Second any further discussion hearing none we'll take it to the audience I just wanted to ask if in the future we can get three bids on all the these type
projects it only required two but and this came out of our library well I'm saying out of the library yes I understand that we we could probably get five but we have five five as long as we've got I don't remember how many's in the library but we have we have a bunch
I think and even though it comes out of the library just for um I don't want to say use the word protection but to avoid any second guessing better to have at least two bids yes yes that's I usually do too have the library so that's why I
had kimbley horn come down for something else and I asked them to break me one up real quick I didn't expect it to have it before today's meeting so okay so we're going to go with at least three in the in the future if we can get prices from three of them is
that just saying about two two I think it's important like Joy said for the consistency of the project penon has been involved the whole time I do think we need a second bid but as long as penon comes in as the low bid I think
two is enough as we don't need to start this whole project over again right so so but moving forward I will get to all right we got a motion a second go ahead and pull the council please councilman member Hayes yes council member warley
yes council member Charles yes council member everard yes okay if you could bring up that second page on the screen I can read it better please for the glasses thank
you so I will make a motion for approval of penon proposal number l a kpl 25001 p for Technical Services for South wastewater treatment um wwtf pumping station and
Force main during construction Technical Services during construction $96,000 contingency funding of 10,000 for a total of $16,000 funds to be provided from the $40 million Grant
second all got a motion to Second any further discussion from the podium saying none take it the audience hearing none bring it back pull the councel council member Hayes yes council member warley yes council member
Charles yes council member Everhart yes okay all right that's all we got on the agenda I'll turn it over to our town manager for her comments thank you thank you B I just wanted to provide some updates um and
since he just gave us um we just went over the wastewater treatment plant I'll go ahead and give an update on that the construction is on Pace for completion in January 2026 we're about 14% complete um for public risk training
First Amendment training it is being scheduled with Pro Compton training and development the dates are to be determined right now Rachel is working that out with them it will probably be somewhere late June or July so just an update on that and that's going to cost
us about um it's right under $4,000 so was pretty reasonable Lake June Park Dugout roofs the work is in progress um if you haven't been down there I encourage you to go down check it out we've seen some of the roofs I sent some pictures to council the ADA Bathroom renovation is
complete at Dow Hall and by Centennial Park at that building that's a CRA project but since the council approved that purchase I felt like it was necessary to bring that update here the Lake June Park pickle ball court the survey was completed today um
and our town attorney has ordered the title search once it's received it will be submitted to fap so that we can move that project forward I don't know if you've seen all of the tree trimming that's happening everywhere but tree trimming at Stuart Park Park um after finishing up there
they went to Dain Park and the next area that the crew will be trimming throughout the month is oakill s Cemetery um they also trimmed all the trees the bushes and the pal Meadows in front of Dr Pierce's office and then that's in process with us getting that
set up on a schedule all the way down 27 street light um inspection and repairs has been completed uh the Water assess the water Asset Management plan is being produced by Florida rule water and is funded by
D that should be completed in the next two to three months and this should be pretty timely for Budget um for the budget discussions because it will also come with a rate increase recommendation so just something to put on the radar playground inspections as we've already said those were all completed
we'll have more reports on that in April with photos for you and then just a reminder that on March 17th we have the fees Workshop that will begin at 2 p.m. and then the last thing I have is that the mayor and I did meet with the county and we went over the plans for the fire
department that's to be coming so they'll be returning in April to go over that with us one of the questions that we asked in that meeting and I actually got a response right before I came into this meeting was we asked about the money that's generated from Lake Placid
for the area for our fire assessment and that amount is $531,500 that's what we generate in our fire assessment just in the town of lake poset so that's the amount I've been asked that question so I'm putting that out here that's what we've generated we gave them a whole slew of questions that
came from Council and also questions that have come in from some of the residents in the town and they're going to bring all of that back when they present in April are they getting close to a site yes yes we're hoping we're hoping by the April meeting that they will have share they will have maybe
closed on the property okay you said fee Workshop is my not say it's Tuesday February March February Tuesday March 18 from 5 to 7 St Patty's Day the 17th it's on the calendar for 17 yeah
it's St Patty's Day yeah St Patty day and and at 2 o'cl I'll be late I doubt if I can make that as my notes indicate Tuesday March 18th from 5 to 7 and that was
Town council meeting that's what I wrote down infallible but I mean if yall want it on the 17th that's fine I'll get it when I can the central flid regional planning was from 5 to yeah that was on the 18th
right so my calendar says March 18th at 5 o'clock is that what yours said and I think because we said St Patty's Day we're really going to have a meeting on St Patty's Day but what's what's published on the website the
17th okay I had a question um did you all discuss did you discuss with the fire people about our our fire station that they're occupying did you that was the other that was the other building police chief that we were going to sell to
counter um the new U police station we were going to sell the fire station too so that was the other one it was the Town Old Town Hall the fire station and the building they're in and that was to cover the new police station so what did they did you ask them about that did you
say why are you storing stuff and not getting a land no because they have intentions of giving it back to us they do when yes that's what we're saying in April they're going to come present they've already picked out property and everything that's what we're saying when they so they are going to when they do
that okay well that was the I couldn't remember the other building but that was the fire station so yeah either we can use it now I think that our some of our staff wants to use it instead of sell it but that doesn't mean anything because if it goes into utilities that's a
separate category that funds itself so we would still have the benefit of of getting it back basically so so this speed Workshop which is now on the 17th
I'm not GNA make that one so clarification that is my error and I own it was the 18th yeah I just looked at my hand type notes so can we Rectify that error and make it on the
18th I can republish it on the on the website I think we should folks because honestly it's St Patrick's Day and and not so much for me but people aren't going to come in St Patrick's Day it's a big said I'm going to be in the Irish
pop I might be right there with you so can we GNA go to March 18th from 5 to 7 yes I will go ahead and put it on the website and I will correct that on there
my apologies don't forget next door I'm sorry don't forget next door I won't foret next door I'll revise that to seven Charlotte can you um just can you clarify um so the police station and
the pickle ball court are close or going out for bid are they what's the status of them going the packages going out for bid on those two we're literally I talked to um cool cool and Cobb today so I'm waiting for some of that to come back for the
police station for the police station and pickle ball we're we're just W waiting on our survey and then the title to come back and that's it and then it'll go to um sorry to ferat so that we can move forward then the package will be complete for us to go on but don't we
have to go out to suppliers for bid for costs is what I'm saying yes we will yeah yeah when does that happen as soon as we get that back Gotta Wait for we've got to wait for the title to I mean the surve yeah the survey to come back the survey to come back you have to wait something for fap before that can happen
too is it what can't we go out without title work we know I know that's what we can for that but ferat wanted us to we have to send it over the documents to them we have to send the documents and you have to have the title I need the
Serv they want you got the Serv no they were out there doing the survey today I'm waiting on the survey to come back when the survey comes back we'll send it to them and then we'll go out to bid yeah I had some people come and ask me what they were surveying yeah so yeah somebody else mentioned that to I
thought yeah and that so then it will be then on the town website the request to bid for the pickle ball and for the police station but the utilities that we just went over those don't ever get put on the town website when we need a bid for
that I'm I'm trying to understand the you know because there's a section on request to bids oh yeah that's why it's because they're in the library they don't have to they don't have to go out if it's in the library remember when we were talking about oh okay yeah that's on that one if it's in the library they
don't need they don't have to go out to okay but the other two will then we think with then the next week they'll be out well I don't know about the next week because everybody's on spring break mode right now okay we have we have some of them out right now that we would get that back from you have some of the
staff Dennis is out this week oh the staff when some of them out I meant the bid out okay so no no no no they staff out so we'll wait for them to get back and then but the police station we're waiting on cob and cool yeah about two to three weeks and police station we're
waiting on cob and cool cool and cop cool and cop yeah and then that's good to go or then Dennis still needs to do things no no we'll we'll be ready to go okay thank you we'll be ready to um where are we with you sent something today with reference to a website
redesign um we went out and asked about website redesign just because we've had a lot of comments about the website and what we have our offerings that it's not as friendly that it's not um as robust as other municipalities and these
comments came from thank you these comments came from Council and public from public and what and Council and our Council and your council members um I saw the bid I have friends in that business that bid is huge yeah yes way
high yeah we're going to have more bids right yes we're we're actually looking at Unis solution which is e Civics and that's who a lot of municipalities use and it's probably going to be more than that it cost I I think that's I think that already is huge and so expect some
push back in this in this direction okay so that's one we wouldn't publicly go again back to the our website where we have requests for bids we wouldn't put that out there also we would but whenever we're going through the process
of preparing for the budget we're not going to get quotes for everybody so we try to get a quote to set set the bar so that you can look at what we're what we may be getting that's coming back I'm just going to be very honest if you start asking everybody for quotes and a
very small municipality if we're not meeting that they're not going to come give us quotes anymore they're going to say why are we giving them to you because they know what we're [Applause] doing okay anything else all right we'll start down here you got anything I'm good thank good I'm
done thank you I got one thing it came and I want to say this on a positive note because I really think it's important for our our residents to
get involved but I want them to do it in the right way I understand some of our residents went out to the park and took some quarter inch metal Dow rods and drove them into the ground to Mark out where they think the pickle ball court
should go that that was a major major safety hazard if if a child or even one of the guys playing soccer would have fallen on that it would have been piled them immediately again I I appreciate the the
fact that they that they want to help but let's do it in the right way get with Charlotte so she can get with Harry and we'll go out there with you and we'll do it in a way that it's going to be safe for everybody um I don't know who authorized that I don't think
anybody did I think I think they just went out and did it which which was fine I don't I don't have a problem with it but they put us in a a a liability situation that that could have become hazardous and uh when I found out about
immediately I think Charlotte had already taken care of it but uh yeah just we just got to be careful what we do and how we do it but I really appreciate the public getting involved the more people to get involved the
better I think it makes our decision but but please please let's don't do anything that that could hurt somebody that's all I'm asking anything else come before Town Council now how could we forget you I wasn't going to let you hey I'm Margaret
deer 1804 FR Street couple of questions it's interesting that all this bid stuff comes up I see that the town went to Great Links to enumerate um things wanting bids for things that cost over $10,000 and preferential treatment to Lake Placid businesses and things but
nowhere does it say how this has to be publicly notified H how does anybody know to bid I mean I understand being involved in the business of people calling a mess estimates you don't want to do that because that's wasting time I'm not
talking about that I'm talking about Bonafide bids and that was a circus with the CRA last week and the bids and the landscape and the and the the this and is it four phase and all that if you had an RFP and an invitation to bid it
eliminates all that and it makes it crystal clear and it makes more people want to get involved just my thoughts on that also have some thoughts on food trucks having owned a food TR truck in a busy municipality I'd be happy to talk to Charlotte whoever but I have some
suggestions of how it was resolved in other areas and then a final note as you all know I'm extremely interested in the fees restructuring we got a lot of people at the last Workshop because there was a Grassroots effort to get a lot of people
to that workshop and there's a lot of people interested in the fees that are going to be for the town of lake plid so you can under imagine my head whip around what there's another fee Workshop when did that get scheduled where did that go I I signed up under the
Historical Society for next door so I can see on next door because I'm told that's where I have to go I didn't see anything so how do we get to the public and even people y'all I can't come to any more meetings on what I already come
to or talk chitty chat with y'all to find out what's going on and people are interested and they want to be a part of the solutions I don't ever want to be a part of the problem I want to be a part of the solution and so do my friends
so how can we manage this better how can we what do I need to do to to hear and stay on top and help my citizens and help my friends like Mr Randall and Miss Ventress and the ones
that don't stay here till o dark3 and thank you are very much it's only 9:15 um I think I saw in the uh the website presentation that there was a provision for a sign up for push notifications so if you that would help
push notifications of of um emergencies meetings pardon when they there when when when well it's a push notification you sign up for it it comes into your inbox automatically you don't
have to look for it well if we we publish things and we put it on next door and we put it on um all these things on Facebook and uh and the website and still someone comes in
today and said what happened how did this pickle ball thing happen cpes we talked about it for three freaking years so what you know what tree do I sleep under for that one else