to make sure. Okay. All right. Silencing phone. Evening Pat sir for later. All right. So Chris, where would you like to do the coins after the pledge of
allegiance? We do modification. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Let's call this meeting to order. The first thing we'll do is have an invocation by Pastor Tim Krisco followed by the pledge of allegiance.
I invite you to pray. God our father. Let us take a moment to silence those that have recently lost their lives and are putting themselves in harm's way nation. We thank you for them and this great nation.
We pray for the leaders of this council that they will walk humbly, judge justly, and love earnestly. We ask your wisdom and guidance on the governance of this great city and its endeavors. Father God, we ask your blessing upon
this city, its citizens, and this council here today as we meet. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, pastor. >> To the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you again, pastor. All right. Uh tonight we're going to do uh jump off script for just a second.
We're going to present some very very welldeserved uh challenge coins. Um for those of you that may have attended this weekend, we had an amazing turnout at the the ball fields this weekend. Uh Mr. Justin Ward and his department, uh
recreation, parks and recreation is just absolutely amazing. Uh Justin, I can't say enough good things about you and your team, sir. I have been utterly impressed with you from day one and your impact across our city and our youth is just absolutely incredible. Um I was so
impressed by your entire team on Saturday. I came back and told the interim city manager, we need to coin these folks. So, uh that's what we're going to do tonight. So, we've got Ty here to take some photos. If you would come up and we'll kick off with you, sir.
Destiny, come and stand in between us. >> Let's do this proper. >> You want to? >> Yeah. Yeah. I got a >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you, brother. >> Mr. Robert Mitchell.
Come on up. You did a great job this weekend. I'm proud of you. Thank you, >> Kelly Wells. Incredible job. Proud of you. Thank you, ma'am. Elizabeth Trustee
aka Trust small enough coin for you. >> Proud of you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Cassidy Hen. Oh, you take your time. I like your
jacket. Congratulations, young gentlemen. I'm proud of you. Great job. Quinton Mills, >> like your jacket >> and your hat. Thank you. >> Proud of you.
Holly Lane. And if I mispronounce that, I'm sorry. I can sometimes be phonetically challenged. How Haley, I'm proud of you. Thank you, ma'am.
And what is this? This everybody in attendance. >> Yeah, that's the folks that are working tonight could make it. >> Okay. We also have six others that couldn't make it tonight because they're on shift. They're pulling the are holding the line, if you will, but we'll
go ahead and uh pronounce them as well, recognize them publicly, and they'll also be getting some of these same city coins. Justin will send them with you if that's all right. Um, we have Mie Barrera, Aidan Price,
Jacob Wood, Noah Harrove, Cheyenne Smith, and Shajiri Richardson. I'll just take those to him. And uh, Justin, if you will play delivery for us. >> Thank you. >> With my sincere thanks. Thank you. I'm
proud of you and your team very very much as I almost wipe out Don Brother for employee of the year. >> Yeah, Don won something else. >> Yeah, >> we just kind of did.
All right. All right. Um, number three on the agenda, uh, additions, deletions, modifications of agenda. Does anyone have anything they'd like to bring? Uh yes, I have something I'd like to
bring add to the agenda for discussion. Um I'd like to I don't know if you some of you may remember but citizen sent to us a policy example for may for the uh financial review committee to potentially look at for an investment
policy. Um I'd like to discuss um asking the financial review committee to to look at something like that. So, >> is that just for clarity, Commissioner Peoples, is that something you want to bring up and present tonight or something you just would like the
commission to um formally request they review for us? >> Yeah, just formally request a review from the financial review committee, get their opinion on it. >> Sure. >> They know much more about money than I do, so Yes, >> sir. All right. Any other additions,
deletions, or modifications? Is there time to talk about the um I can bike? >> I can bike. >> Yes, sir. I'm going to mention it in my report. >> Okay. >> Okay. Anything else, Pat? >> That that that would be it. That would
be it, I think. >> All right. I we have one uh addition uh from Commissioner Pebbles. Do I have a uh a motion? >> Motion to approve. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Right. Interim city manager, would you
call the role, please? >> Commissioner Perno, >> yes. >> Commissioner Tinder, >> yes. >> Commissioner Peeles, >> yes. >> Commissioner War, >> yes. >> Mayor Lowry, >> yes. So 50 addition, and that will now be number
12. And uh public commentary will become 13. And Commissioner Peeles, one more time, what did you want to call this? Uh, financial services. >> Financial >> uh to discuss asking the financial review committee to look into an
investment policy. >> Reinvestment policy. All right. Thank you, sir. All right. First uh item on the agenda is number four which is a proclamation for the American Red Cross month 2026.
And uh it goes as follows. Whereas the American Red Cross month in March we honor our neighbors who make our humanitarian mission possible in Linhaven, Florida. Every day their acts of kindness change lives bringing relief, comfort, and hope to those who cannot wait. This compassionate spirit
runs deep in our community just as it has for 145 years through the American Red Cross. And whereas those who serve in the Northwest Florida chapter light the way during emergencies, whether it's delivering shelter, food, and comfort after disasters, providing a safe, life-saving blood supply for patients
facing conditions like cancer treatments, childirth complications, and traumatic injuries. Assisting military members, veterans, and their families with 247 global support. are empowering individuals with skills like first aid and CPR that saves lives. Whereas these collective efforts are a powerful
reminder of the strength of our community uh that lies in our shared commitment to one another. As we mark Red Cross Month, let us celebrate our local heroes and resolve to continue lifting each other up so no one faces an emergency alone. And now therefore, I,
Mayor Dave Lowry of Linhaven, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Linhaven, Florida, do proclaim March 2026 as Red Cross Month and encourage all citizens of Linhaven to reach out and support its humanitarian mission uh
signed this day, the 10th of March, 2026. >> And mayor, we do have some folks from the Red Cross to receive that proclamation this evening. >> Outstanding. Would our uh American Red Cross reps come up, please? Thank y'all for coming tonight for all
you do. Y'all are truly an amazing come up here with me please and let's suppose and who would like to receive the proclamation? You got volunte ma'am. Come right here. Pose with me. Want one,
>> y'all. Let's give the American Red Cross a hand of a call. Thank you. >> Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Appreciate y'all. All right.
Employee of the year presentation. Miss >> Roman. Welcome back. She's been promoted to multiple times. She is now our senior staff account and is the most influential part of every
day. She does all the cross training for every area in the technical department. I could not learn the finance department without her. I hope that you appreciate all the hard work she puts in. Thanks
for listening. I'm going to jump in here. >> And ma'am, we have a small coin for you as well. >> Oh, cool. Thank you. >> Congratulations on a job very well done. Thank you very much. >> I'm proud of you. >> Thank you. All right,
we'll move on to the uh consent agenda now. Um >> do I have a motion to press forward on six, seven, and eight? >> I just wanted to say something before we do this. >> Yes, sir. Uh just so that the public is
aware and correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Lightoot, but the approval of appointing a member to the board of adjustments, there's still going to be another slot that's still open after this. >> Yes. On the 24th, we will still have one more. >> Okay. I just want to say that publicly in case anyone still wants to apply. So
for that for that position. So all right. Thanks. >> Awesome. Mr. Mayor, I have one uh suggested change I've talked to the city manager about on the on the um uh operational assistance agreement with the beach. Basically, that agreement is with the Lin Haven Police Department,
which doesn't really exist as a separate legal entity. So, our suggestion is to make that just city of Linhaven. You can hand make those changes in the agreement. >> Okay. Inter city manager, you good with that? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Um commission, any concerns from
you guys? Oh, okay. All right. So, we uh our consent agenda will be to approve the meetings from last minute or from last meeting. Um threeUS regarding Bay County Sheriff's Office operational assistance. uh Panama City Beach Police
Department and Bay County Sheriff's Deputy DUI task force agreement operational agreements formally um documenting our participation and support of our different municipal organizational entities. Uh and then lastly, approving a member to the uh
board of adjustments retired military colonel. Um any concerns or issues? If not, may I have a motion? >> A motion to approve. Second. >> Got a motion and a second. Uh, any public commentary regarding these three
consent agenda items. >> Hearing none. Uh, Commission or interim city manager, if you'll call the role. >> Commissioner Peeles. >> Yes. >> Commissioner Perno, >> yes. >> Commissioner Ward, >> yes. >> Commissioner Tinder, >> yes. >> Mayor Lowry, >> yes. All right. Thank you'all for that.
Um, no old business, no table business. We now have one, two, three, four items on the agenda for tonight and then public commentary and our reports. So hopefully unlike the last four or five meetings for those of you who have been
uh regular avid participants, we've had some really really long meetings as of late, hopefully we can still get y'all out here uh before the daylight ends tonight. So wouldn't that be a change um for all of us? All right, so we're on to new business number nine. Uh
discussion and possible approval of an addendum to our Coca-Cola contract. >> Mr. Justin Ward, the man of the hour, >> a resolution of the city of Linhaven, Florida, approving an an amendment to the city's beverage agreement with Coca-Cola Bottling Company.
>> Yes. push a little button in the base there. Justin, >> can you hear me now? >> Start over again if you don't mind. >> We just want to include Kane Griffin as an additional facility to the Coca-Cola contract. This would ensure that we can reap the rebates that we're currently
not getting at Kang Griffin. Um, this would not change the terms or anything from the original agreement. We would just be able to all the product that we purchased for Kane Griffin will be eligible for the benefits for him. It's free money. >> He sold me. Motion to approve.
>> Second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any public commentary regarding uh Mr. Ward's motion or request? Hearing none. Uh great shirt by the way. Love the color. Uh city manager, if
you'll call the role. >> Commissioner War. >> Yes. Commissioner Peeles. >> Yes. >> Commissioner Pero, >> yes. >> Commissioner Tinder, >> yes. >> Mayor Lowry, >> yes. Thank you for that, Justin. Thank you. Uh, number 10, discussion and possible approval of RFQ and job description for attorney services.
>> Yes, sir. There's nothing to approve this evening. We wanted to hear some more feedback if anyone had any. We've got several uh comments and edits on the RFQ I sent out um as well as the job description for the attorney. Uh we do plan on bringing you an RFQ on the 24th uh to approve as as well as a job
description. So if you have any additional comments on those uh reviews, please get them to me by the end of the week so that Mr. Bracie can complete the RFQ and we can present that on the um or included in the agenda for next meeting. >> So inputs, any additional inputs the
commission may have you'd like by close of business this Friday. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. All right. Any questions, discussion among the commission for that? Yes, ma'am. >> Yes. I just wanted to ask is the RFQ is
it for a firm or an in-house attorney? >> So, we will have an RFQ advertised for a law firm and then we will also have per your direction a job description um a job ad posted once you all approve a job description for an in-house attorney. So, both will run simultaneously. We'll
>> see what we get with both nets, Commissioner Tinder, and then we'll make a decision as a team where we go from there. can't hear. All right, for those of you that couldn't hear that, my apologies. Uh, I just replied to Commissioner Tender. The intent is to throw out two
nets here, cast two nets. One for a new legal firm contract with a whole firm and one also for a job description for a city attorney. We'll throw both out. We'll see who and what organizations apply. And then we as a commission, a team of five will decide which way we
want to head from there. So that will be coming up. We'll finalize the RFQ and our um uh the job ad u at our next commission meeting. So edits through close of business this Friday.
All right. So thank you for that. Any other discussion before we move on? Nope. Number 11. Discussion and possible approval of resolution 2026-03-524 midyear budget amendment FY2526.
>> A resolution of the city of Linhaven, Florida amending the final budget for fiscal year 2025 2026 and providing an effective date. >> Okay. Kiki, would you like to discuss with the commission? >> Certainly, sir. Thank you. Um, each year
I come to you about this time with any adjustments that I forecast for the rest of the year. This is our best guess to get us to September 30th of 26. Um, we I do statistical analysis and uh do my
best projections. So there is approximately a 4% increase to the budget. Um, we are still going to be in deficit uh with regard to the payment for the 2019 bond, the 2 million7 that's
still in deficit in the uh general fund, but that I have discussed that with you several times. Um, I don't see this as an issue here. We've had some additions. We've had some sub subtractions. We've done everything we can to cut the payroll as much as we possibly can. We
do have some additions for additional expenditures. Um, and I can discuss this with you. I don't know what how much detail you want me to go into this tonight. >> Any questions from the commission for Kiki? >> Yes, I have one. >> Yes, sir.
>> Uh, so when it talks about the police budget has been reduced by 679,000, but then it says it's due to the purchase of several vehicles and cameras in fiscal year 2025. That's just saying that they were purchased last year
instead of planned for this year. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And I have one question. >> Um you say reduction of employees. How many employees have we? >> We uh so we have
several uh positions that are still on the position sheet, meaning that we're able to fill them, but we're not back filling uh staff members who have left us. So, we'll have budget savings. Um so,
I'm not reducing the amount of allowable positions. We're just not filling vacancies and we're using that as a cost saving measure. >> And can you tell me how many there have been?
>> Six, eight. Six or eight, I think. >> And that excludes the police department, right? I believe they're short nine officers currently. >> They are still short, but they have hired four. Yes. Clearly were here the other day. Yes, ma'am. Um I believe that they're still recruiting.
>> Thank you. >> So nine police officer positions plus six sixish. >> Yes sir. >> Other staff positions. >> Yes sir. >> Any other questions? Just um Miss Kiki if I may. Um how much
is 4% of the budget? What's the total dollar amount? >> I'm sorry commissioner. >> How much is 4% of the budget off hand? Just ballpark >> tell you is >> approximately $3 million. >> Approximately what?
>> 3 million over all of the funds. >> Right. So we're increasing the budget by $3 million. >> Correct. >> Does that include the amounts you're talking about that we grabbed from last year? >> Yes. Okay. And
>> those were purchases made or they were scheduled to be made and uh funding allocated for in the last fiscal year. >> Yes. And that was about a million and a half I believe. >> Million and a half of the 3 million. >> Yes. >> Which are now being executed in the current FY?
>> Yes sir. >> And ballpark for the extra 1.5 million. What are the biggest biggest rocks or biggest ticket items there other than equipment purchases? >> Now, let's see. Um, we've got $180,000 additional for the
police department, $25,000 for the design of the Bailey Bridge improvements, $75,000 to improve the street lighting on Mosley Drive, $83,000 to remodel and enhance the animal shelter. We have $22,000
budgeted for the fraud loss that I've discussed with you. We I am of the opinion that that will be reimbursed. I just can't predict if it's going to be in this fiscal year or not. I'm I'm confident we will get that money back through the insurance policy. Um sir tax
will increase to $300,000 for paving of 18th Street, $197,000 for the west side outfall. The water department will include $50,000 for chlorine tanks and $100,000 for additional depreciation. The storm water
department has included $285,000 which is a D grant for wetlands for a wetlands pond, excuse me, and $70,000 in additional depreciation. Utility impact fees will increase the
reserves by $745,000. So, while we're increasing the budget, it means we're putting more in the in the bank in the piggy bank by $745,000 further um utilities impact. >> Okay. Thank you for that rundown. Yes, ma'am.
>> Just one more question. For the sake of transparency, can you explain or give an overview to the public about the 22,000? >> Of course, I'd be happy to. In Dece in October, the city received a series
of fraudulent emails. The emails appeared to come from a vendor. They did not. The emails then were routed to a staff member. The staff member never saw the emails, but they were given the staff member's
name on it. Then the fraudulent emails went from that staff member to a second staff member and it appeared to the second staff member that the first staff member had been included in the conversation. So you've got a total of
three or four fraudulent emails. The fraudulent emails instructed staff to change the banking account information for a vendor. The staff member did this. It was a fraudulent account. The money
was paid to the vendor. We discovered this approximately a week later at which point the or the vendor had turned off the medical benefits for the staff. So I the first thing I did as
soon as I was um notified of this was I made a second payment to the medical plan to make sure all the staff members medical coverage was reinstated. Then we reported the issue to the police
department and to the fraud department of the bank and told them exactly what had happened. Initially the bank told us we would get the money back because it was within five days. They indeed did give us the
money back that day that I requested it. However, come the following Monday determined that there was not enough money in the receiving account to pay us back. That's how the the city is out the
money. It went to a fraudulent account that we have not been able to pull back yet. And of course, as you may know, when fraudulent banking um items happen, the people in doing this fraud move the
money repeatedly. So, it didn't just land in the account that we used, but they moved it here and there. And could be different countries, could be different, definitely different banks and different accounts. The police department has been involved,
the FBI has been involved, and Homeland Security is currently um investigating. They have issued subpoenas to the banks. Uh they have not reported back to us. I've asked for a
report. They will not disclose that report info until they've completed their investigation. In the meantime, the city has issued a a claim with the insurance company and we're again I'm confident that the claim
will be paid. I just can't tell you when. Do you have further questions about this? >> Ma'am, >> and that was 22,000. And that was for Was that for one month of our health insurance?
>> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. Any other questions across the commission? >> I just had a comment. I just want to say that this is the best overview I've seen since I've been on the commission. So, thank you. >> Thank you. I appreciate the commission.
Thank you. >> You are a true gem, Miss Kiki Roman. Uh we really appreciate you very much. Any other concerns? Um >> if you could uh entertain a motion to approve, please.
>> Yes. So, if there is no other questions or discussion, uh, can I get a motion to approve? >> Motion to approve. Meet your budget. >> Thank you, sir. Can I get a second? I'll second. Thank you. All righty. Mr.
Lightfoot, would you call the RO? Comment. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Getting ahead of myself. My apologies. Uh, general comments. >> Good evening, commission. Um, thank you for that overview, Kiki. I appreciate it. I I do have questions though and I think the questions are more directed at
the DAS. Um, what So, in my job, I work in procurement for a government contractor. I manage uh multi-million dollars worth of subcontractor portfolios. I deal with vendor payment issues on the regular. My company has
process in place to handle requests like that to ensure that that kind of stuff does not happen. Um, it involves the vendor having to log into a system where all of their payments are managed. It's a secure system that the vendor that our
company manages has two-actor authentication to ensure that somebody can't easily penetrate the system. Um, that's probably stuff that Sam's familiar with. I would think Jamie's familiar with that as well, and I would think you are as well, Dave. Um, so I
would ask what is the city has the city already done and what are we planning to do to better secure our financial systems to prevent these kinds of things from happening in the future? And also, are we doing any sort of um fishing
training? I do fishing training two, three times a year. Um, if you're not familiar with what fishing training is, it's fishing with a ph, not an F. Uh it means an attempt to um gather information from a party in
order to victimize them through fraud. Um so what is a city doing to train our staff to ensure that this kind of stuff is not repeated and that is my question for the the commission and the city manager. Thank thank you.
>> So um that was a good input Mr. Gray. Miss Roman, can you talk about you've talked about trans very transparently and frankly thank you for what happened last October. Can you talk to in your particular department what y'all have done specifically to ensure this does
not happen again? >> Absolutely. Um so I will be bringing you a new set of finance policies. We are waiting for additional information from the department of commerce. We just went through a
monitoring situation and they're making recommendations about some additions. So, I didn't want to bring it to you twice. Um, practically speaking, what we are doing in the department now is we are requiring three sets of eyes on any
change to any banking information. Person who receives the information will verify it with me and one other staff member. and we're literally standing behind someone's shoulder watching them type in the numbers. We will be
verifying with and this happens so infrequently as you might imagine bank businesses do not change their bank accounts regularly. So um this is not an everyday occurrence. It was a one-off. Uh
and again it's made an impact on us. We know that this is something that we have to watch very carefully. And I think since this has happened, we've had one bank account changed. Again, I had three staff members with eyes on this watching to make sure it was properly done and
verified with the vendor. And again, I will bring you a new policy soon as here soon as I hear back from Department of Commerce. And just for clarification, the verification is that multifactor um or how do you actually engage to
verify legit request, legit vendor, right? And legit action to take. >> However, we receive the request, we will verify a different direction. So, if we get an email, we'll make a phone call. If we get a phone call, we'll send an email
to make sure that everyone's on the up and up here. And we've all learned the lesson about uh making sure that we're reading the email addresses carefully. In this specific circumstance we're discussing tonight, they had reversed
just two letters in the in the um email address. And when you're looking through hundreds of emails a day, it was not part of our practice to absolutely verify that the email addresses were coming from the proper addresses. And that's how it slipped through the
cracks. Hard lesson learned, but one certainly not to be repeated. >> A hard lesson learned, but I promise you we have taken this very seriously. >> I just want to say in today's world, this is so important. I mean, I get
calls that's happened to me more than once. Um, I shut down, walk away, and come back and and just to make sure that nobody is on my computer and whatnot. But I think in today's world, we need to and it sounds like you're doing what you
can right now. Um I don't know how much it is involved, but I think I'd like to see them involved, too. Uh and not just for finance. I mean, this could happen. This could happen to everybody's shaking their head over there. This could happen
to anybody uh in the city. So uh anything that we can do to educate I think is going to be very important. >> Yes ma'am. And it is involved and we are making some changes there as well uh to fortify that. A place I've worked in the
past you had to do the fishing training like like Mr. Gray had mentioned. So we have a long list of of items to work on that we are addressing. >> Awesome. Um, when the time comes, I'd really like for you and the IT team to come back and
brief us, you know, outside of classified or ultra sensitive type secretive stuff, but in general, the new protective measures in place and how that will help us achieve a higher enhanced safety. Sure, I would
appreciate that. Otherwise, we'll leave it to you experts to do in IT and finance worlds and we'll help where we can. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Roman. Any other questions before we move on or any other public commentary
>> and then Mr. Dewire, I see you next. >> I'm just want to come up here and say I missed the last meeting, but again, I want to reiterate we are not Panama City. I don't want to have anything to do with Panama City or like Panama City. Actually, I feel that we're very
fortunate to have had a chance to reclaim ourselves um thank to the recall commission and getting a new mayor and all the things that transpired with with that. And I
think people should be looking to us to see well we should st stand stand as a standard for everybody to work and make their place better get the corruption out as far as town hall meetings again
>> and we're talking about the budget. There will be a public commentary. >> Oh, I thought this was public. >> This is public comment options for >> the budget motion. Okay. I'm sorry. So if it's specific finance >> Oh, I'll come back. >> Okay. >> You're welcome. Sorry,
Mr. Deweiler. You and it is finance related. Correct. Come on up, sir. >> Good evening, Kiki. Thank you for presentation. Um, I just had a a quick question and you know, this is maybe more for public understanding. Um, so it
was about $3 million, I believe you said, for the 4% increase. uh 1.5 of that was spending from previous years that we we rolled over into this year. Um for the 1.5 that wasn't a rollover, was that emergency additions? Were those
grants that we didn't know we were going to get that we had to do matching to? Is this increased financing for projects that we didn't know we were going to need? Can we get a little bit of explanation on that 1.5 on why we're adding it midyear so that we understand why we were insufficient on our budget estimations at the beginning of the
year? Oh. $745,000 is increased reserves, which means we're putting more money away. That's a good thing because of the way Florida requires the budget to be revenues must
equal expenditures. Even though we're putting more money aside, it makes the budget look larger. So $745,000 of the million5 is additional savings. So, we had increased revenues from
basically taxes and that's going to be going towards our general fund >> impact fees impact fees. And then we have $285,000 of an additional grant for the storm water department. So, you're almost at a million right there. >> Okay. And do we have any means? Are we
is that going to be going directly towards the debt servicing that we're going to be having or is that just going to the general fund and and we'll be >> no the the storm water the department that we've had in the >> excess revenues you said we have >> no those are utility impact fees they
must be used uh based on where they're u collected from. So if it's a storm water impact fee it has to be spent on storm water. If it's a sewer impact fee it has to be spent on sewer. >> Okay. So these are directed funds. These aren't individual. >> Correct. >> All right. Thank you >> sir.
Any other finance uh specific commentary to this issue before us? >> Hearing none. Mr. Would you call? >> Commissioner Berno. >> Yes. >> Commissioner Peebles. >> Yes. >> Commissioner War. >> Yes.
>> Commissioner Tinder. >> Yes. >> Mayor Lowry. >> Yes. Motion passes. Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Roman, very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, we are down to number 12 now, which is Commissioner Peeles's ad, Financial Review Committee Reinvestment
Policy. So, sir, I'll turn the floor over to you. So, really, I just wanted to kind of talk it out with all you guys in the sunshine since uh this may be a voting item in the future.
uh just it was brought I believe it was actually Ryan that brought it up uh back in October, but I'd been thinking about it a lot and I thought it was a good time to um ask the finance review committee if they'd just look at it for
see if it's something that's plausible for our city. Uh basically it's if an example if we get some type of reserve funds or something if we can put that in some type of investment account to acrue some dividends or or something like that if we don't have a policy in place I
mean it makes it more difficult to do it. So I'm not saying that we need to start doing that but if we have a policy in place then if we ever get to that point in the future then we'll be able to. So, I think it's important to have that policy, but I trust the finance
review committee to look at it more than me because they're the professionals. >> And just for clarity, Miss Roman, if we have access funds now, what is the current kind of rules of engagement for investing city funds currently?
We are required to keep it in a qualified depository bank. There are certain uh funding levels and assurities that the that the banks must have to be a qualified depository.
I can't just put it in to Joe's house of banking on the corner. I have to make sure that all of the money is in a qualified depository. Currently, and we just went through a banking RFP currently, we're using Hancock Whitney for the majority of our
funds, and we have about a little more than $5.5 million with a Maris. They are both qualified depositories. They give us the preferred government rates on all of our deposits. The city receives more interest than you
would on your accounts because we are a government. We're stable and we have a more money than I assume you have to invest. Uh should the finance review committee and this board uh determine
that they want to invest in other options that would be something that you would have to approve. Um, there are limits what the state says you can purchase. Of course, you can't purchase commodities or any high-risk
investments. The state of Florida has a poolled fund that we could invest in if you determined that that was something you felt was appropriate. Um, I will tell you that because of our cash balance, we could very well invest in
the poolled fund. Now, when I first got here six plus years ago, there was not enough money for us to invest. Um, today I I could recommend a a balance to be invested in the pool fund with Florida
if that's what you wanted to do. Um, but it would require having an investment policy reviewed. It would need to go legal. Um, and it would be have to approved by the commission. And without trying to put you on the spot, but what are your thoughts on this? Would this be
helpful in your opinion as our director of finance to have this policy in place? >> Well, theoretically, it could um garner more interest for the city. Theoretically, uh again, when you're in a poolled cash environment, it's a much
larger investment and therefore the returns theoretically are better. It's like buying mutual funds at home. Um, so theoretically, yes, there could be a larger return. I can't quantify that 40 tonight because I wouldn't know what you
would authorize us to invest in. >> Sure. All right. Well, thank you for that. Any other commissioner have uh any questions regarding this uh for either Commissioner Peebles or Miss Roman? >> I would just think we're really going to have to study it. I mean, it seems like
a gamble. um you know, you're putting money out there and hoping that it does something. And I know of a few restaurants that you could invest in if you if you're looking a place to put it. >> There you go. >> All right. >> That was kind of my plan though was to
have the financial review committee do the research because they know how to do the research. You know what I mean? So that was kind of what I was thinking. >> Good idea. I believe they meet in April. Yeah, I can certainly bring it to their
attention that explain. >> So, do I have a uh motion to uh ask the financial review committee to look at a drafting a potential investment policy? >> A motion to approve. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Are there
any public commentary regarding this uh investment policy formulation request going to the financial review committee from the audience? Mr. Langford, come on up. See, I don't I don't know if Miss Kiki
remembers I asked this question about a year and a half ago. Why aren't we investing money? The specific example that I used was the money that we had gotten for the library. I want to say it was somewhere around a million. >> I'm sorry. The money for what?
>> Money for the library that we had. >> No, >> money for the library. What we had that was well that went into defense 101, >> right? But how much was it? About a million somewhere around it. >> I've heard a million nine quoted
multiple times. I'm not sure if that's accurate or not. >> The example that I used was that money, right? If we had a million nines sitting there and we went a long time going back and forth, are we going to build a library? Are we not going to build a library, etc., etc.? So that money that
that just that money just sat. We could have invested that money and after after an extended period of time, had we had an investment policy, there's a large chance that we we would have gotten a return on that money. I'm not saying that what we did was wrong or what anyone did was wrong. I'm just saying
that the lack of an investment policy prevents us from potentially earning money on money that we already have. So, I'm I'm glad it's coming up. Thank you, Mr. Peebles, for bringing this up. I spoke with Mr. Scray about it. Um, one
of the things that when I was speaking with Mr. about it, I I showed was the the Bay County um packet um and they go through in detail about the returns on their investments. Not only that, but who they're investing with. I mean, they're invested in some water district
out in California. I mean, it's it's very detailed on who they're who they're investing their money with. So, I would encourage you all to as you ask the finance review committee to review this to also reach out to our our Bay County partners because they already report
that annually and it's pretty detailed. And maybe take a look at that policy as well. um because there's probably some things that we can pull from the Bay County investment policy and implement it here in Linhaven. So that's it. Thanks. >> Thank you, sir.
>> Wasn't going to come up, but he named me. Um we talked before we ever got appointed to the charter review committee, just for clarity. Um we actually talked last year before October when I originally emailed it. Um and uh the policy that I provided to you all
was the Bay County policy that he mentioned. Um it was very eye opening and the reason I think this came up um Mr. Langford mentioned the insurance money. But really for me the turning point was when a member of the community stood up here and told the commission
that you shouldn't have paid off a loan. You should have invested the money in like a you know a mutual fund or something. And that's when I started doing what I do and digging in. And I found out by talking to Kiki is not allowed to you don't have an investment policy. So it got me thinking, you know,
it's 2026. Why why is city of Linhaven not investing? Um so I appreciate you bringing it up, Sam. Um I would appreciate it if if y'all, you know, agree to this and task them. Um like you said, Commissioner Tinder, it is a gamble. Investing is always a gamble.
Um, but if you do the research, which hopefully the financial review board will, the municipal pool fund that she's talking about, I mean, to me, that's where I think we should start. Uh, I don't think we need to look much further than that, to be honest. Um, at least to start, uh, it looks like a pretty safe
spot and a lot of municipalities, uh, get good returns from from that pool fund. U,, but like Miss Roman said, you can't touch it if you don't have a policy. So, policy step one. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other Mr. Deweiler?
I >> I'll par a little bit of of what uh you know Cory and Ryan said. Without a policy, you can't do it. Um there's plenty of ways to mitigate risk. Treasury bonds, they're I think going for five and a quarter right now. Five and a quarter on a million dollars can easily pay the salary of one of our
police officers. Um, if we're going to have the money sitting around and we know that we're not going to be touching it for a year or two years, this is an investment plan for, let's say, the sewer plant that we know that we're not going to be doing PD&E on for the next 3 years. So, it's just going to be sitting
in the general fund or a utilities fund or something like that. Why not be able to pay for an extra employee out of the dividends? Why not be able to buy bulletproof vests or new radios? Why not be able to invest in new hoses for the fire department or something like that if if we're going to have the money in the accounts? And we know that we're
going to have it for 2 years and you only have to make a year-long investment. The vessels need to be there in order to do it. But that start money management. We could be leaving, you know, $500,000 a year on the table because we just don't have a policy in the place. But that doesn't mean that we're going to be going headlong into
risk. Treasury bond from the US government's going to get paid back. you know, most municipal bonds, if they're double A bonds or higher, they're going to get paid back. Um, City of Tampa pays their bonds. You know, State of Florida pays their bonds. Um, so there's ways to do mitigated risk on on investment, but
again, without those vessels, we don't have the ability to do it. And that's part of strategic planning long term is if we we know we're going to have these projects five and 10 years out and we have the money in place because we've locked it in because we know we're going to be doing these projects, why not get a little return off the top so that we do have the money to invest back in
those departments that are holding the funds for us. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> May I clarify something? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Uh today today right now the city earns approximately $120,000 a month in
interest. I don't want you to think these are sitting in uh non-interest bearing accounts. Old cash is earning about $120,000 a month in interest. Okay.
>> All right. Any other commentary? >> If not, uh Mr. Lightoot, would you call the role? >> Commissioner Peoples? >> Yes. >> Mr. Pero? >> Yes. >> Commissioner War? >> Yes. >> Commissioner Tinder? >> Yes. Mayor Lowry. >> Yes. Motion passes.
Thank you. Um number 13 on the agenda now is public commentary. We have four folks signed up. First we have uh Ryan Scray from Mission Avenue. Come on down. >> What up, Commission? Um, in the year
2000, when I was just 10 years old, a small startup walked into the headquarters of Blockbuster with an offer. They offered to sell their entire company for $50 million. Blockbuster laughed at them allegedly. They had thousands of stores, millions of
customers, a business model that had worked for decades. They believed the future would look just like the past. So, they ignored the idea. They protected what was familiar to them and they told themselves they were doing just fine. Meanwhile, Netflix built the
future. Streaming technology, a completely different way of delivering entertainment. 10 years later, Blockbuster was filed for bankruptcy. And today, there's exactly one Blockbuster left in the world, and it's a novelty museum. Netflix today is worth
about $416 billion. So now, why bring up Blockbuster and Lenhaven? Because cities can fall into that exact same trap. A city does not decline because it grows, and it does not decline because it welcomes business. A city declines when
it fails to guide its future. Right now, most of Linhaven's growth isn't guided. It's just stamped. Projects show up, they meet the bare minimum, and they get built. Then afterward, everyone gets to argue about whether it was the right thing for the city. That's not planning, it's
drifting. And when cities drift, they don't end up with innovation, high-skll employers, or new industries. They end up with whatever happens to show up next. Cities that succeed don't just allow development. They shape it. They attract the industries they want. They
welcome innovation. They think about what jobs their kids will have in 20 years. But that requires something uncomfortable that most folks around here tend to not be willing to do. And it requires a community willing to think beyond what feels familiar to it.
Because cities that refuse to guide growth don't stay charming small towns like we have. They slowly become collections of storage units, fast food restaurants, chain stores, and missed opportunity. And the real danger to Linhaven isn't growth. It's having a
mindset that's comfortable complaining about the future instead of helping shape it. The future comes whether we plan for it or not. The only question now I have is one I've been asking for about three years. Whether Linhaven is going to guide it or just keep reacting
to whatever shows up next. The long the longer this five sit here and choose to wait like every other commission before you instead of starting the process of positioning our beloved city for smart guided development through long overdue policy and code updates. the more you
continue the comfortable familiarity of the archaic commissions that came before you. So, be kind and rewind. Thank you. >> Right, Miss Smith, you're up. You don't have to talk about finance this time.
>> I said you don't have to talk about finance this time. >> Oh, thank you. >> State your name. >> But I only have two cents. It's Michelle Smith. Um, but I'll just get back to I as far as the town hall meetings on just Saturdays, I really am not in agreement
with that. I mean, if you want to hold a town hall and maybe during one of the commission meetings on one of the it's every two every other week. Um, have a public commentary at one of those. But I again we're fortunate enough to have a
brand new start and you know government for the people by the people. It seems that just the slow creep to take more from the people to hide things from the people and at this point I think it is a
very poor idea. We were saved thank goodness. I would hate to have to redo that. And there's people before me that were here through the whole mess and it still
transpired. So, not that I know anything, but perhaps y'all did and y'all didn't stand up and say something and save the day. I don't know. But we need to really start and involve the people and keep the people involved.
Thank you. All right. All right. Uh, third up, Miss Christie Maroy. Christy Maroy Port St. Joe. Um just to kind of double back on a couple of
things. The last meeting you decided not to bid out Waste Pro. Um that's your commercial carrier. It is not your residential. Your residential is inhouse. It's the
nice guys that you said you saw. That's residential. And those folks talking about money, my understanding is they bring in $450,000 a year. And that doesn't include if they
collect metal, white goods, etc. That that is also something else they pick up. That's revenue. I think y'all really need to take a look at what you do and what you do well.
That's a revenue stream. I think it's really important that you all know that. Um, so this brings me to the next item that's going to probably be a little controversial, but I understand that
you're looking for an outside vendor to uh fill the the already in-house person in fleet as it pertains to trucks and that uh you may be going out for
bids. right now. One of the vendors that I understand is Phoenix Construction. Now, I appreciate everything that Mr. Finch went through, everything that he's done for this city,
what he did for a very valuable person, Argo Anderson, and making sure that she had good counsel. I do question the shift. I realize that you also have car fleets,
etc. that you got, I think, two employees that are doing that. But before you outsource something, you really need to make sure it's the right thing, just like with the attorneys. Now, my perspective on what I've seen
from Dave Marcy is I don't feel like he's competent. Mr. Futin was an a a an example of that. He talked about federal law and medical marijuana. Medical marijuana
went on the referendum for Florida. 71% of the population voted for medical marijuana. So, I think y'all need to get with the
program what your expectations are. Oh, drug zone. I get it. But you may have some people that need >> Thank you. >> to take mar medical marijuana and you need to protect their rights. Thank you,
>> Miss Jerry Parker. Good evening. >> Good evening, commission. I just want to discuss a few things um in reference to an interimm city manager and what's going on with that whole situation.
Um, one of the things that really concerns me is situations that happened prior, such as bid rigging, allowing Vicki Gainor to come in here
not once, not twice, three times. That was wrong. When she was fired, she should have been escorted out of this building bar none. She should have
never been allowed to come back in this building. And y'all did. Y'all let her. That was wrong. The other thing, Chris putting up that panel for that
camera. I'm sorry. I totally 100% disagree. That's hiding. That is hiding 100%. So, y'all need to take note of this situation as a commission on what's
going on with our interimm city manager. Has Chris done some great things? Yes. But has he done some wrong things? Yes. So, y'all need to take that under consideration. Thank you. >> Thank you, ma'am. All right, those are the four that
signed up ahead of time. Miss Basher, >> good afternoon. Um Michelle Basher's 811 Louisiana Avenue. Um, I would like to cycle back around to this, um, old city hall and have some feedback about where
that stands right now and when it's going to be finished and open to the public when you do your um, report. Thank you, >> ma'am. What was the the question there one more time? >> The old city hall has never been
completely finished and open to the public. It's supposed to be a little meeting space for the for the commissioners and the mayor and then have some memorabilia and >> Mr. Le, you want to speak to that? >> Yes, sir. The building is finished. Um,
the entire project is done. It's closed out. I can take you over there whenever you want to go. Um, it's set up for a little meeting room. No one has used it. No, no commissioner has asked to meet a constituent in there. They typically use our conference room. Um, if they come to city hall to meet with someone or they
meet out in the public or at their home. Um, so honestly, the building should have been demoed during construction. Um, but the building is sitting there. If anyone wants to use it, we're more than welcome to put you in there for a meeting or whatever you want to use it for. Um, it's furnished, ready to go.
>> Are there any kind of museum historical? >> There's a few historical things that some residents have brought by. Um, but nothing to keep open to, you know, as a museum or anything. I think there's three items that are in there. >> Mr. Gray,
>> I'm sorry, Mr. Langford, the other bearded guy on row three. >> I didn't uh sorry, I didn't sign up. I wasn't planning on speaking during public commentary. Um but there was some uh some stuff said and and during the
last commission meeting um I came up and and spoke uh specifically after a motion and um I I kind of wanted to give an update since some of that was mentioned tonight. Um you know I had to unscrew myself from the ceiling uh during the
last meeting but that's okay. Um you know and it revolved around two things with the hiring man or the the city manager hiring process. Number one, I encouraged you all to stick with the process that was that was established. Um, so I appreciate that. Um, and then
the second thing was, and this was the controversial thing that I brought up, uh, I brought up some questions um, about uh, specifically Mr. Lightfoot. Um, and uh, I believe it was the following Friday after that I I met with
Mr. Lightfoot in his office and uh he fully addressed my concerns as to what I was what I was worried about. Um the reason that we did that there was is because some of the things that was disclosed cannot be disclosed publicly
due to other proceedings going on. Okay? And I'll just leave it at that. But I would encourage anyone that has has now or had the same concerns that I did to meet with that individual and maybe those concerns will be resolved as well.
So I just wanted to get up and and say number one that that what I said during the last meeting of adhering to the process, I stand by that and I appreciate you all for doing that. Um and number two that that Mr. Lightfoot did resolve my concern that I brought up
in public. So, I thought it was only fair for me to get up and and and say that that was that that was in fact resolved. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Langford. Miss Moore. >> Good evening. Couple of things. Um, I'm going to
disagree with Mr. Lightfoot about the building. Um, it its history in Linhaven, so I don't think anybody knew it was open. I'm I'm pretty plugged in and I had no idea. So maybe uh reach out to the Linhaven Heritage Society. There's several of us here. Maybe we
could have a little ribbon cutting and you know open house kind of thing and that way people know it's there. Maybe it can be used for something else. But anyway, we can have a disagreement about that. But I want to save the history and Bay County, not just Lin Haven. Um another thing I just heard from a friend of mine who's having a hard time uh
hearing what's going on, especially Kiki. So, are uh is sound equipment being been ordered? I've heard that that's the case. >> It's it's being worked right now. Uh >> okay. >> I can put Go ahead. >> I think we can hear pretty good here,
but you guys and Kiki, it's she's breaking up. So, I'm just saying people that are listening online, they're having a hard time, you know, um hearing what's going on. So, um but I do have one more other thing and maybe you can address that in your um report. Um, the
other thing I wanted to um repeat and reiterate what the other lady over here said. Um, I'm I sent an email to all of you and you know that I'm very much against um eliminating open public commentary at these meetings. Um, I was actually going to go to Panama City to
their town hall and address um what they're doing and I wasn't feeling well that morning so I didn't go. So, you know, I missed my opportunity for a whole month. So, once a month is just not going to cut it. Um, I understand. Now, I'm all for the town hall if you want to increase participation and have
um, you know, more open-ended kind of discussion, but when it comes to that, I'm going to continue to speak out and think that we need open public commentary at all the meetings, you know, Panama City and here. So, um, but since you're going forward with the town hall, maybe you can address this in your in your report and I just wanted to ask
if that's going to happen with anybody u when the, uh, town hall's going to be, when, where, um, what time. Thank you. Sure. You want to go ahead? I think we nailed down the first guinea pig. >> Well, a couple things there, Mayor. Um, Miss Moore, I did email you a while back
um to ask to meet with the historical society. Uh you reply you replied you were going to get back with me with some dates, but we haven't lined up. Um that that's in your email. Quote for the speakers. We've got two quotes uh to redo some of the audio work in here. I'm waiting on a third quote, and then we
will get get it done to hopefully increase the audio. gonna move the speakers back closer towards the the um audience there and add a couple more from the ceiling. >> I know Harold had a lot of ideas and uh he is an extremely talented sharp IT
guy. So uh I have no doubt he'll be able to get the sound in here better for us in the auditorium. That's part of the mayor. That's part of the quote is replacing the heads on these so they're more sensitive. >> Okay,
got you. Okay, thank you for that. Um, and was there anything else to that town hall, the date and time? >> Yeah, I was going to cover that in my report as well, but the first town hall is March 21st. Um, and we will be pushing uh publications on Facebook to ensure that everyone's aware of that.
It'll be on the website as well. >> And it's uh what time in the morning here? 9:00 am. >> Yes, sir. In the chambers, >> 9 to 11:00 a.m. on March 21st will be our guinea pig town hall. And here in the beginning, it's not any
type of uh red reducing uh public commentary. It's literally enhancing and giving a third opportunity for folks to come meet with commissioners right here in this build or in this room every month. And instead of being up here in the dis, we'll literally be in tables
kind of all staring and sitting at with each other looking down on the floor and and having frank kind of polite golden rule kind of conversations and talking back and forth. So that's that's what we're shooting for on the 21st.
Mr. Deweiler, come on. I wasn't originally going to speak, but uh since some questions got brought up about the old city hall building, um it was my understanding when documents were released last year that one of the concerns that was had over old city hall
was the fact that the spiral staircase that was supposed to go into the building would not meet state standards. Um, I have not seen any documentation since then that would counter that or that engineering and design was done, stairwells moved, something changed
about that that would make it so that that building could be certified an occupancy permit given to it. So, I was going to give the city the opportunity to give us an update on that on how that's been permitted and certified since clearly we had a certification issue with city hall as well. Thank you,
>> mayor. As we reported months ago, we have a CO on everything. The construction has closed out. The contractor's been paid in full. We have CO's. The project is complete. >> That CO's certificate to occupy. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. All right. Any other public commentary
tonight? If not, we will move forward into the mayor's report, commissioner's report, city manager report, and then we'll wrap up. Um, so one thing, so for those of you that don't know or have not heard yet, we will be advertising this, we do
have the, um, city manager interviews coming up on the 16th, um, a week from yesterday. Uh, we will be having we have three finalists now. We did have select five to do a final interview. Um, two
have found other opportunities elsewhere and withdrawn. Uh, one was from North Carolina, one was from Miami. The three local candidates are still in contention. So, we will be doing that. It's going to be public here. Um, we will be doing that next uh Monday, the
16th. I believe we're starting at 9:00 a.m. I'll verify that and we will be advertising that. Um, but y'all are are more than welcome to attend. We'll do uh the kind of the sequence of events will be we'll have about 45 to 60 minutes
with each of the three. They'll be able to come in, introduce themselves, kind of say an opening comment. The commission, the five of us will uh ask questions. They'll give an they'll have an opportunity to respond as you would in any typical interview and then
they'll be allowed to give kind of a wrap-up at the end. Um so that's kind of what we're doing. Uh, and then once we have all three interviewed, then y'all being the audience will have the opportunity to hear the five of us discuss. I really liked person A, person
B, person C. Person C really hit it out of the park, you know, XYZ. The discussion back and forth. Um, we will then try to formulate a rack and stack of the three. Ideally, we'll have a clear winner or selecting a primary and
then we'll also select a secondary. Uh if we can come to a consensus among the five of us and the intent is there. Should the primary not agree, we we break down in contract negotiations, we already have an approved alternate, be
able to step up and move forward from there. Uh looking forward to hearing from all three next week and I would encourage all of you if you have the time to come in and participate with us next Monday. I realize lots of people work during the day. So if you can't be
here in person, catch it on live stream or watch it afterwards, but this is as much as transparency and openness as we can possibly get. and you can hear all three of the finalists speak, talk about their vision for the city, their qualifications, and where they want to
take our city. So, with that, if I could just to do a sequence of events, uh Jennifer Hodgeges, the assistant city manager, has been helping me uh and she and Rob Jackson, our city attorney, have been doing most of the uh coordination
with the the uh three interviewees as well as the commission setting up schedules and things. But there's one thing that she and I were going to do tonight, and she's not here tonight. She had a family thing come up. So, I'm going to ask three participants, three Linhaven residents to uh come up and
help me. I have a bowl here and I have the names of the three uh final interviewees and it looks just like this except it's cut out in three equal parts and I've got the papers folded up and I
would like for three of our Linhaven residents to literally pull the names out of the bowl and that will establish the order of the three that we will do the final interview in. So that's not even something the commission will decide. random look and three hands of
three Linhaven residents can help with this. And so, if you'll entertain me here for just a moment with this, Mr. George Hines, fellow military veteran, would you come on up? Miss Jerry Parker, would you come on up? And Miss Michelle Basher, would you come up?
So, in order to to be completely fair about this, I'm going to ask all three of you to come up here. Pick a number between 1 and 10. >> Pick pick a number between 1 and 10. >> Four. Eight. So, you're first. You're second.
And George, being the true southern gentleman, he had said ladies first, he'll go three. So, Miss Parker, who did you get? So, you would >> Zach Deweiler. >> Okay. Miss Michelle
>> Rebecca Hart. >> Okay. And Mr. Hines, >> Chris Lifewood. >> All right. Thank you all. Let me shake your hand. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Um, so we now have our our
sequence of events uh for our interview. Zack Deweiler, Rebecca Hart, and Chris Lightfoot. One, two, and three. Uh, completely random, but thank you three Linhaven citizens for your help there. All right. Uh, other than that, just one more hats off to Justin Ward and your
team. I could not have been more impressed with y'all on Saturday. We had 1300 folks, little ones of all shapes, sizes, colors, backgrounds, you name it. They were all in jerseys and they were all ready to play and they were the cutest things. Um, that's that's some of
the most inherent goodness that you can have in a community is seeing your kids out there learning leadership, teamwork. I know Commissioner Peebles is really big into this with his kids. I got to meet his two adorable kids. Um, but Justin, thank you. Uh, and the thing that was over the top to me was you and
Coca-Cola had worked and we had a hugging Coke machine. For those of you who have never seen a hugging Coke machine, little kids could go up and literally hug the Coke machine and it would pop out a free can of Coca-Cola Classic. There were a lot of happy kids Saturday, let me tell you. I don't know
about the sugar buzzes afterwards with the parents and grandparents, but there were a lot of happy kids. So, Justin, again, you and your team, amazing job. Those coins were welld deserved, and I just truly appreciate everything y'all do, sir. So, that's all I have for you
tonight. Um, we'll start over on my left with Commissioner Pero and we'll go to the right. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I don't have much to report. Um, did we we had the TPO after the meeting last time, right?
Yeah, we we Commissioner Peebles and I Commissioner Peebles and I attended the TPO meeting um on the day after our commission meeting. I also had an estuary meeting that day. um the the the uh St. Andrew's Bay St.
Joe Bay estroy program policy board meeting. So uh um we um we we conducted ourselves at both those meetings and then of course um I attended the um opening day ceremonies. Um and with that
I just like to thank everyone that's here. Um uh I appreciate the people that come out and give us their voice and uh I appreciate everyone in the room. um what you give us from the city, our city employees, our first responders. And
that's my report. >> Thank you, Commissioner Pero. Commissioner Peebles. >> Thank you, Mayor. As uh Commissioner Pero said, we had I had my first TPO meeting in person, and it is quite different. There's a voting board of five up here. There's a voting board of
like 20 there. Um, so that was uh I want to say thanks to Ben for showing up and and giving his advice on some things. And um uh the TPO is very important. Um there we did have something come up that had to do with uh sidewalk funding and stuff
and and Commissioner Pero and I got to advocate for that and ultimately we got our way. So it was um it was a good day. Uh, next I wanted to say just reiterate what everyone has said about Justin and his team. Of course, I'm heavily
invested. Had a great time. Kids are having a great time. So, keep up the good work. It was awesome. Um, looking forward to probably, you know, over a decade of opening days to come with age and my children. So, um, yeah. Uh, and another thing kind of in the same same
vein is I noticed um my daughter plays volleyball, so I've been in the in the gym. And uh something that a citizen brought up to me probably two years ago was he was my coach, my basketball coach when I played wreck ball. He was probably my coach maybe six or seven
years in a row. His name was Howard Steel. He's the best coach I've ever had. But um uh he said, "You know, after the hurricane, I wish I wish they could have kept the state championship banner for the Wildcats, and now it's there."
So, thank you guys for doing that. Um let's see. Got some notes, some more notes here. So, yeah, Coach Steel, you got your banner. Actually, there's multiple banners. There's there's a state championship and then runner up and and
all that. and Scott. It's kind of cool to look at all those names up there. I wasn't good enough to be on any other teams. Uh but it was it's cool to see some of the guys that were in the league that were much better than me that were on those teams. Um and then finally, uh just kind of something I wanted to hit
before, uh this isn't really a voting item or anything, but I just wanted to bring it up in my report since we're going to be meeting Monday for the um city manager selection. Uh, one thing I'd like to do is since the uh
the charter review committee has it on their agenda to talk about um modifying potential things and one of them is talking about uh I believe it's chapter 24 that talks about the roles and and everything with city man things that have to do with city manager. But all
three of our candidates I believe are local, right? And so I'd like to if we could agree to since they're all local and since we before it's se we've selected and make it fair now is to say can we allow them 12 months to relocate
because for two reasons all three of them are local but they're not technically in the city of Linhaven I don't believe in the way our charter reads you have to live in Linhaven but the charter review committee one of the things they're looking at is potentially
changing that to um a radius or time rather than the actual city of Linhaven and that would be a voting item for the general public in August if they decide to go that route. And so if we allow our selectees 12 months that'll allow them
one to have plenty of time to move if they need to or if the general public decides to allow them to have the radius rather than living within the city limits then that solves itself. So, that's just something I wanted to bring up. I think it's uh proper to do
it before we make the selection since we don't know who it's going to be yet. You know, you get what I'm saying? But, um, so I'll start off with what you ended with. Um, the chart is pretty vague about that. It says, I'm trying to remember the exact
wording, but I think it says they have to live in the Linhaven within their tenure. So it doesn't doesn't give you a whole lot. It's very vague. So um and second, I think that's probably something you would you would do when whoever's selected.
You would do part of their contract. Would that would I be correct on that? Uh Mr. Jackson, >> that's certainly an option. I mean, we've done that before, >> right? >> Uh for candidates that lived outside the city, give them a reasonable amount of time to relocate into the city. the
probably the time to discuss that would be when you're doing the contract negotiations. Would that be the right time to do that? >> That could be a time we could do it. Yes. >> Okay, that makes sense. Okay. Um, so I had a couple things here. Uh, last night
um Bay County League of Cities had an event where we had uh Andrew Star who is uh the lead on the building of the Panama City Beach Hospital. And uh it was a phenomenal uh briefing and and I learned quite a bit and uh listening to
me talk about that you're like well that's on the beach side. How does that affect us? >> Um couple things I got that from that that could affect us as Linhaven residents is um you know there are times that we go over there and let's say something happens where you need an ambulance, you need to get to a
hospital. If you're on the other end of the beach, um on a good day when it's like late at night with hardly any traffic, it's probably going to take you about 20 to 30 minutes to get to the hospital. When it's during a regular routine day, um you're talking 30 45
minutes and then if you're talking like spring break or something like that, good luck. Um that's one of the reasons why one of the many reasons why that hospital is so vitally important. Um, two, one of the big things that he brought up was um, and I'm sure we have,
he even said this, he goes, "I'm sure most of us have experienced this or know a family member has experienced this where they need a certain type of health care and uh, you know, Bay County kind of has a big void in in a lot of different areas when it comes to healthcare and you have to go outside the local area to get that. I'm one of
those people. I'll have to go down to Gainesville every so often for some of the things that I'm dealing with. And um their vision in the future is for that uh to to fill that void and uh to have um also um such as a cancer um center
there. So it's it's the first phase is projected to be completed sometime. I think you said early 2028. You might say mid 2028 because it never happens on time. But um it's a this is a big big deal from this community. And the ones that were here during Hurricane Michael,
I'm sure you you understand how that impacted us. Like you did not want to get hurt after Hurricane Michael cuz you didn't know what you're going to get when you got to the hospital. So, um so yeah, I learned a lot from that. And uh you know um I think that's going to be
not just a benefit to Panama City Beach, but to us in Lind Haven. Um yeah, opening day ba baseball. Um not really much more to say. Thanks uh Justin for everything you do. Um that that program has definitely come leaps and bounds of
what it used to be. So that's kind of a testament to what you're doing out there. So thank you. Um, I know I brought this up before about um, uh, we had uh, Miss Jennifer Vigil that talked to us about uh, destination Panama City
and uh, talked about the Atlantis Event Center. Um, not sure if you guys have had time to go out and take a look at it or talk to Miss Vigil, but um, I don't know how you guys feel about it, but I would like for her to come and kind of do a workshop and explain how us having
um, something like that in Linhaven, how it would impact us and how it would be structured. So, is that something you guys would be interested in? >> Okay. >> I think the public would also absolutely be very interested. >> Absolutely. Um, or check with her.
>> Um I I don't know if I want to do it during a commission meeting or if it's just a separate workshop. I don't know. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. We could not maybe not this one but maybe next month. >> I'll check with Miss Vigil about her availability and get some dates to
present to you all. >> Okay. Thank you. And then the last thing I have is uh I I just want people to understand I know some people are are against uh the idea of having the town
hall and then just having audience participation to discuss just agenda items. Um and I think I get the feeling people are think I'm trying to shut them down and it's not. It's really not. I'm just trying to try something different that I think um
we could get some good feedback from the public and have some good conversations and um I'm all for you know um freedom of speech and that. Um I actually was one of the ones and I'm sure Commissioner Pero and Commissioner Tinder can attest to this. One of the
first things I was a proponent of because that was one of the feedbacks I got from residents was they wanted both meetings in the evening and I tried to fight for that um the first time and I failed and I fought for it again and here we are. We have both meetings in
the evening which is I feel is the the right thing to do because that's where you get most of the people that can actually come out and attend because most people work during the day. So I just want people to understand that I'm not trying to shut anybody down. I just trying to trying to find a way where it
can be more interactive and we can have dialogue because that's one of the complaints that I get is you come up here and you don't get a whole lot of back and forth. And um that's just not the way it happens in a business meeting. If you watch YouTube, you're going to see a lot of them where once they start doing a back and forth,
especially if it's something that's contentious, it gets out of control. And so, um, so that's kind of why, so in case people wonder why there's not the back and forth, that's that's one of the big reasons why. So that's my feelings on
it. Um, I just want to let everyone know how I feel about that. But I appreciate everybody's input, whether you're for or against it, I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, first off, I want to say that our chief of police, Chief
Blanchard, was at our heritage meeting uh last week. Uh, not only is he entertaining, uh, he's a funny guy, um, but he's very informative and it was a pleasure to have him. Our first our meeting before
that, the mayor was there and we got so much information. Everybody really enjoyed it and we appreciated him coming out. Um, the other the other thing I was going to ask this, but I was going to wait. What
do we what are we going to do with the information from the Saturday workshops? The I mean, is it going to go anywhere or do you have to be here in order to understand what's going on? So, Commissioner Tinder, if there's items
that come in that residents have issues with, um, you know, Monday morning staff will work to address whatever those issues are, and then we will follow back up with the commission to let let you know that those are closed out. Um, but if there's other items that people just want to discuss, I mean, that it will be
videoed and and they can watch the video to get that information out. It won't just be closed into this room. I mean, >> okay. Um, and the other Well, I have a few things. The other thing was I wanted to make sure, mayor, you didn't say it, but I want to make sure that the public understands that when we have our
interviews for the city manager, we welcome the public to be here to see and hear everything that goes on. However, it's my understanding they will not have any input. Is that correct? Not the public. >> Yes, ma'am. We'll be the only ones uh
asking questions, the five of us. Okay. Now, if anybody in the public wants to email, I mean, the five of us all represent all of y'all. So, if you have questions that you would like asked, feel free to submit those to any of your commissioners or all of your commissioners, myself included as the
official mayor commissioner. Um, email us, hey, I'd like to hear XYZ. And because we're still going to be formulating our questions as well between now and we're not publicly sharing those until the day of. The only thing is I will ask all three of the
candidates the exact same question. Okay. Um and it just one other tidbit if you don't mind me jumping in for just a second to clarify. So when we have the first person interview, so Mr. Hines and Miss Basher and Miss um Parker all
helped us tonight draw the order. So the first person will be doing the interviews. The other two won't get to sit and watch. They'll be sequestered elsewhere. Uh in fact for Mr. Mr. Deweiler and Miss Hart since they are not part of the city currently uh when
their time is while they're waiting for their turn. Of course, Mr. Deweiler is going first, so he'll get offered it after his interview. But Miss Hart, for example, will be offered to be given a tour of the the fire department, the police department, parks and wrecks, that kind of thing to keep her instead
of sitting in the back just making her watch Spongebob cartoons or something, she can actually go out and see some of the city facilities. It keeps her involved and engaged, but it keeps her from not gaining an undo advantage. Right? We'll do that with all three of the contenders or the second and third
contenders. Anyway, um that's the plan. So, everyone will get the same questions. It will be fresh to them. And if you come and watch in person in the audience or if you watch online, you will get to hear the questions just as I do and you'll get to hear them react and respond accordingly.
>> Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. I I wanted to thank Kiki for giving us a very clear understanding of that 202,000. I've heard a lot about it lately and uh it occurred to me the public needed to hear it. So, I
appreciate that. Um I'm going to wait for the uh assistant city manager to give his report um before I ask a few questions, but I was going to ask Ben, do we have any update on the Florida Avenue project?
Yes, we do have an update. Um, the plans, we reviewed the 90% um plans, so they're almost done. We provided some feedback and the architect is finalizing everything right now. So, hopefully within the next four weeks, uh, we will
be able to send all the information to Florida Commerce, uh, the agency that issued the grant to the city. um they have to kind of give their blessing on the on the plans when they're and they have been involved in the overall
process. Whenever they they give us the green light, we can advertise uh for we can issue the construction the invitation to to bid on the construction. >> Okay. So year >> So I mean it's you have no idea really.
>> We're looking at hopefully about six months we'll have it out to better or sooner. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay. Um, little on the touchy side, but I was not aware that there were any
fleet uh negotiations going on. >> So, >> does anybody know about that or am I >> There are no fleet negotiations going on. We are reaching out to get pricing um to see if it's cheaper to look at some of our heavier equipment being uh
outsourced uh or outsourced to service um our garbage trucks, our dump trucks, our back hose, our excavators. Um but again, if it's a a bid that has to go out, you all will have to approve it. Okay. >> So, you haven't done any of that yet. >> Just looking at pricing to see if it's
even cheaper to to do that. >> Okay. And my last item, and I hate to be the dog with the bone, but here it comes. I feel it's so crucial that the camera be reconnected
back here in this office. And I don't know why you wouldn't want it connected. I think it and it's not a matter of who's going to ask for a public request anyway. You know what I'm saying? But I
sure would like to if I had a question and I wanted to know who was coming and going and everything all day long, you know, how long were they staying and who's here? I just think you're all looking at me
like, you know, what in the heck is she talking about? Um, I'm just I'm just saying I don't understand why we would disconnect it. number one. But number two, I think for everybody's well-being and transparency, it should be
connected. >> So if I understand it right, on the way the side entrance there, there's a camera in there, right? >> So there's a camera that looks around every door, entrance, and exit of city hall. We are replace having to replace a server there to that stores all the
data. Um, it was fried during all of this, but the camera that you're talking about only looked at the city manager suite and watched who goes inside and outside of that office. >> Um, there's nowhere else that there's a camera looking inside an office. >> And do you have any issues or problems
with us seeing who comes and goes? >> I mean, no, ma'am. I don't really want a camera watching my my office every day. You can see who comes in and goes out of the building all day long. >> Okay. any additional um commissioner report
reattachs before uh we move over to the city manager report. >> I just forgot to mention one thing. I just wanted to give everyone an update that I believe uh it'll be on the next commission meeting, but I did meet with um the
Bashiers who um had a great idea to go along with what I was already talking about with the the um the naming rights and things like that. And so I just want to give an update that as it stands right now, next commission meeting, we're going to be looking at a policy
for fundraising slash um naming rights and things like that. So, just wanted to give that update that we that has been being worked in the background. So, >> yes, sir. Miss Myers is working on the the sponsorship policy and hopefully we'll bring it to the 24th.
>> All right. And with that, >> will that help with the I can bike? >> No, ma'am. I'm about to talk about that. >> Okay. >> Okay. Go ahead. >> I'm finished. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. Mr. uh >> staff uh Justin and River met with the I can bike uh program. was brought to by
Miss Mashers. Um looking at doing a program this summer to help special needs folks learn how to how to ride a bike. Um Justin is working on some potential sponsorships along with River. And as soon as we have those submitted, we will bring to the commission uh for you all to accept the donations and then
schedule the event. Um it'll be about $10,000 for the program and about $2,500 in hotels uh for the instructors for the week. Just a reminder, we have our strategic meeting March 20th. Hopefully, we will send out the presentations to you all
Monday, so you all have a can review them for the week. Um, that way you can prepare questions and comments prior to the meeting. Uh, but it will be in here Friday, March 20th, uh, beginning at 8:30 8:30 a.m. uh, that morning. >> And just so everyone knows, the whole
public is invited to come and attend. >> Yes, sir. It's a public meeting. Basketball registration for Linhaven residents is open March 6th through the 16th. Um and then the open registration for everyone else will be March 17th through April 24th as you all discussed.
You know, doing the Linhaven residents first to ensure they have priority and then opening up to the rest of the county. Um after the last meeting, Bobby reached out some uh pricing for striping a crosswalk out here on Pennsylvania Avenue that is scheduled for March 16th.
and the TPO, the last TPO meeting and they talked about the car wash. We actually received uh the car wash agreement fully executed. So, we will be able to utilize that that wash uh that they have for the payway facility. I think it it's very reasonable. We'll issue a PO and then our city vehicles
will be able to utilize that that facility. And then just want to thank >> a video if you want to watch it of the of a bus being washed. I actually rode a bus through the bus wash. It was amazing. And then uh want to just give a thanks
to Maria Dernia. Uh she's been working very hard on our grant reimbursements. She's got a lot of reimbursements rolling in and closing out some of the old grant projects. Um so we're starting to see some of that money roll back in that we spent two and three years ago. So it is good to see some of those funds back.
>> Thank you for that. Miss Roman, do you have anything for us on the finance side other than what we've already discussed? >> List. Thank you very much. >> All right, city attorney, you're up, sir. No report, sir.
>> All right. Well, that concludes our meeting tonight. I'm sorry I didn't get you out with the still the end of daylight, but I got you pretty close after dusk. So, thank you all for coming. You have a good night.