##VIDEO ID:UF_dvlT1py8## e e e e calling our meeting to order at 5:31 p.m. this time we'll have opening prayer and or invocation in the pledge allegiance by chap Frank Stevens chap Stevens present right let's pray together father we come now um beseeching your grace and mercy asking oh God that you would uh bestow wisdom upon this Commission on this evening ask father that you would give it a spirit of uh peace and unity in this place and throughout our city and our community um ask oh God that you will give us a sense of Oneness father we thank you for who you are and what you do and we thank you for the many blessings that you have given this great city um and the people that are here Lord we love you and we just ask that you be with us now in Christ's name we pray amen um at this time we'll move to our oh yeah Pledge of Allegiance United States of America the IT stand Nation indivisible right at this time we'll move to our public commentary please ask that you would make note of the uh public participation in the Quorum guidelines that are there in the back okay all right so we'll wait until that's compl complet it and then we'll begin our public commentary time um in that just want to remind everyone again to uh remember the rules direct all your comments to the chair um this is not a time for question and answer if you do have a question doing our reports we'll be able to attempt to answer it um at that time also just ask that you be respectful in your remarks um as as well um also just encourage everyone to uh if you're here for agenda item number 12 um that you would um make your remarks at that time public commentary it's typically for those remarks that are not included on the agenda so if you're here for agenda item number 12 then you can um wait until that time to make your remarks thank you I think this is Dennis way on 306 Alexander [Music] oh I just want to thank the city for everything you do for our community and um I think that we're spending way too much time being angry and um discussing things that under are offensive um if we and I voted for him and support somebody running for president then we need to show some respect for the people who run our city the fact that we forget that our police officers are out there every day taking care of us and running our city and the fact that you're afraid to call them because of a cheap that you don't show any respect for I just don't get that we all fall short we all have messed up and I'm just really tired of us focusing on drama instead of focusing on things like flooding Publixs where we have to go in and out of and it's time to stop blaming Vicky Gainer for everything that she is doing because she's doing her job every job has a process when you hire or fire somebody whether or not you like it is not the problem the fact that you are going to support somebody and again I'm telling you this is nothing about race I voted for him but you're going to sit here and condemn a man and his family and re in no regard to this small City we live in we have the best damn city in this area we came back from Hurricane Michael with a Vengeance and I now I'm doing a job where I work to improve what we look like when we weren't doing our job now it's time to stop playing games and start supporting this city and working on things that actually count and the fact that Chief Ry messed up yes and I don't agree with it and not every officer I encountered came out to give me what I needed but you respect the position and not the person so all I'm saying is stop all this hatred I'm sick of it and I came here specifically just to speak that you're going to sit here and blame Vicky Gainer and you're going to speak against this I've lived here since 1999 raised both my sons here and I'm tired of all of this anger focus on what we need to focus on and make this city beautiful that's what I want we have the best damn city in the country that's how I feel and I'm tired of all of this now if you want to work on some stuff work on that thing for by Publix where people are going to have an accident work on the flooding but let's stop all this anger thank you Mitch Oakley a lot of nerve to come follow that my name is Mitch Oakley I live on Massachusetts Avenue here in L Haven I want to speak a little more directly to the mechanical issues of the thing Haven been responsible for men who carry weapons and execute decisions I believe the force here is going to pay a price for for this convoluted process that we're having I believe law is going to be harder to enforce I believe it's going to be more contentious I believe people are going to have a propensity to disregard the face of the law and I know we can't fix it instantly but I would urge you to put some urgency with this process right now if I were commanding an officer of this group I don't know if I could send that Chief back out into the citizenry with a badge and a gun knowing what's waiting for him out there don't know if that would be a wise thing to do but I want to let you know that it impacts the daily troops leadership's here troops are down here they're living it every day I've not heard a single complaint not seen anything substandard but I'll guarantee you it's going to rear its ugly head just as soon as we try to put that gentleman back in place thank you thank you Miss Michelle basher thank you Commissioners um after Hurricane Michael after the financial crimes in linh Haven City Hall started being revealed it became obvious to me that I needed to become involved and better informed to make good decisions about our local politicians when the next election cycle rolled around in 2021 I made a point to speak to every candidate in person when they were all campaigning under their tents near the senior center before and during early voting yes those tents the same tents that the rhetoric being shared under them has been discussed again recently and since this was the only interaction I had with the candidates I walked away with the impression that Miss Fields Miss Tinder Mr Gray and Mr War were working together to take back City Hall and to remove the police chief and the city manager from their positions again that was in 2021 furthermore they had no other real goals or ideas to move linh Haven forward after their initial goals were achieved again these were my personal observations and who said what or who else was there I can't say but for three years now this campaign has continued with removing the chief and the city manager from their position as the ultimate goal unfortunately the mayor has now been added to this Hit List as well three years three long years at the same agenda last year there was another push to replace the mayor in the three open commission seats with a slate of candidates who were favorable to the agenda remove the mayor remove the police chief remove the city manager it didn't work Commissioners Commissioners the people of ly Haven spoke at the polls and still the opinion of the majority was not and is still not being respected the attacks the negativity and the complaining have continued so please just stop We Are All Saints and Sinners in our own ways and in our own minds we all try to do what we think and discern as good some of us use a moral compass to guide us others like myself use the teachings of a Jewish rabbi who lived over 2,000 years ago in the Levant whose message was simple love God love others if you are one trying to hold ly Haven hostage in the path with your hatred and anger go home and let the rest of us live in peace amen thank you s George H Lis Miller thank you mayor Thea Commissioners when my husband was living people would call him and ask him who should they vote her and he would tell them they call me now and I hope I haven't made a mistake each one of you were voted to be leaders of this city not to go behind each other's back and have meetings about someone you are not supposed to be having those meetings and if you having them shame on you because when you have a meeting every citizen should be invited and one thing you need to know only one person is perfect and that's God God is the only perfect being all of us have something in our closets that we have to be ashamed of so don't go out passing judgment and I know this I've been in this city a long time and I've seen the growth and I have seen what has happened since the hurricane Miss Vicky Gana has done an excellent job some of you wer even Commissioners said you were not you were elected later and if you want to be elected again you better watch your back and not be trying to stab somebody in the back that's not what you're here for you're here to lead the city lead the city and not trying to do harm to anyone else thank you thank you Rita Miller good evening I too want to say that I'm sick and tired sick and tired of the unnecessary hidden agendas the unnecessary backstabbing the unnecessary secret meetings which I'm thinking and correct me if I'm wrong is a violation of the Sunshine Law and I will tell each one of you if I find out for certain that you have held a secret meeting I will report you it is time that we move forward I think I said I know I said this once before to focus on what needed to be done to continue to move this city forward we are so much further in Economic Development and improving our city in our Flagship City in the county we should be continuing to surpass them instead of sitting here fighting on unnecessary agenda items and it is over and over and over it doesn't make any sense stop it stop the foolishness that's all I have to say thank you Patrice Henderson Amhurst T from Amhurst Street okay Judy Tinder Rich [Music] Walker reference material good evening Rich Walker 1106 M Avenue um I'm going to change the venue because we were told that we're not allowed to speak on anything that's on the agenda so most of the people here for agenda items and they're already speaking about it so I'm going to say a little thing here um noticing that we have been changing a lot of codes books laws ordinances and everything connected with how we live in this city like that lady said she's tired about something I'm tired about the executive Ranch of this government telling me how to live they're not elected but they tell me I have to sometimes raise my hand to go to the bathroom that's not right we're changing ordinances and looking at everything we're doing that's fine a long time time ago I presented you this this is a copy of the ordinances of the city of Lin Haven 1911 1997 you're reviewing everything here State codes you're reviewing the charter you're reviewing the building codes you're reviewing the comprehensive plan uh you're re reviewing all the Lin Haven ordinances and the udlc how many other regulations you have you don't know but it's about time you learned a lesson the city is growing too fast too far your government is not growing with it your ordinance is not growing with it why don't instead of you sitting here every once in a while and going over everything and not let people discuss it with you why don't you just put up a big sign that says but these people can do in Lin Haven not what they can't do it's getting boring that we have to sit here and the comprehensive plan 75 pages long all your ordinances you can't figure out how many pages you got here you're not going to tell me that you're going through every one of these and getting rid of some of the ones that are 19 1911 however when you want to nail us to the wall you go back and pull these off the old cement about time take a look at your government and tailor it to what we want now what we want for the future in the year 2100 thank you very much thank you I'll be back when we get to number 12 Bruce trailer Christy meloy chrisy mroy Port St Jeff Florida been in the area since 1968 went to school graduated from Mosley High School um it isn't none of this is about the color of your skin it is about the content of your character and that's why we keep speaking up that's why we come to the defense of a commissioner that tried to do the right thing it's not one trans transgression it's a number of transgressions if you would have read the letter that commissioner wari put forth it was thoughtful it was well done the last time I was here at this Podium I I have always obeyed policies and procedures put by out by the Commissioners that are ordinances always no matter what municipality I speak in I respect the rule of law and that's why I've been here and constantly shown up I handed out materials at the last meeting and the mayor told me I couldn't do it where in your policy and procedure is that where why did the City attorney not say hey mayor you need to step back now what a lot of people couldn't see is that the mayor motioned for a very nice police officer who had a lot of respect to come up to the podium but he was off camera I reached out and touched him and I told him I appreciate who you are I come from a long line of teachers and people in law enforcement including attorneys we've given been given lessons all our lives about Law and Order and been taught a lot of good things in this town helped with my development since 1968 so that's what I'm going to say right now but what the mayor did is he violated his own policy and I can assure you I don't believe that there were any secret meetings where the Commissioners got together got together to speak about this subject I think they met with indiv idual citizens American citizens you cross over into ly Haven you're still in the United States of America thank you thank you Cory Langford good evening um I just want to say from the outset um did I disagree with the way this whole thing has been handled um have not been coming as as often as I I could work schedule's changed a little bit but uh promise I'll do a better job at that but um what I did want to come here to talk about tonight was not the reasons as to why I disagree or agree with the process but more importantly um you know we've always I've always heard everyone talk about moving forward it's been said tonight it's been said by Commissioners it's been said by officials associated with the city so here's what I would ask especially the the elected officials is it doesn't have to be denyed you don't have to address it during your during your report um but what I would like to see is is each one of you come up with something one thing that you feel like you made a great decision on and that you would make that decision again given now that you know everything that you know and then two things that you wish you could have done differently or that you feel like you should have done differently until we start looking at ourselves through an evaluative lens to figure out how we ourselves can improve we're not going to move forward um I think everybody is is tired of of a lot of things um it's got my storm water Assessment bill in the mail so hear me comment on that in the future um but regarding that I I would like to see us all come together and move forward but before we can do that we've Al we've all got to be honest with ourselves on how we can do a better job that's specifically for the elected officials appreciate it thank you Johnny Basher gay Spates Ryan scay good evening commission um most of what I want to say I'll wait for 12 but I do want to say I thank each of you for reaching out to me in response to my emails I sent about that topic um specifically mayor Nelson exploring the alternative options that I presented talking me through some of the nuances I wasn't aware of in regard to Florida statute um taking advice from Mr Langford one thing I wish I did differently was I wish I reached out to Vicki earlier about uh the potential for demotion seems like maybe had I uh talked to her before that letter went out for disciplinary action maybe there could have been a a difference um so I just want to thank each of you for responding to me and engaging with me on that um something concerning that come up tonight though is just talk about secret meetings to my knowledge none of yall are having meetings with each other outside of this context pre commmission meeting and also individually each of you met before the bench trial with the city manager I believe that is correct if I'm wrong city manager please correct me but I believe that is correct I don't believe there's any of you five up here meeting with each other outside of sunshine um and then the other things that I want to talk about is um the police in our city you know they they sign up for that career a lot of them are doing good job and uh I have a lot of respect for them ones I've interacted with in professional settings informal settings um you know I didn't really think about a lot of their perspective through this but but I would like to so you know I've talked to some of them and gathered thoughts and uh I appreciate the different perspectives the ones that agreed with me the ones that disagreed with me um I also want to thank the ones that have to go deal with Moet Middle School traffic every morning morning because that's part of my route of my morning routine coming back from what I come back with and the school district's decision to change when that gate opens has had ramifications far beyond what time our teachers in this Community start interacting with their students I mean it's to the point where there was Cars backed up on 390 and uh I was worried somebody was going to get plowed into because people speed down 390 terribly um I don't know what the city can do I'm sure you guys have taken some actions already to deal with the district but that something's got to be done quick because I I am worried that kids are going to get run over um that's a huge thing for me um a big concern and then uh other than that I just want to say um I appreciate the service each of you have put forth in doing this um and uh lastly I I do believe and I hope this is true Miss Gainer I'll finish at number 12 thank you thank you Vicki Williams good evening Vicky Williams 306 Michigan I chose to speak out tonight to state that I do not agree with Miss gain's letter and I have a couple of reasons he already has a letter in his file thank you he's de demonstrated numerous times as poor judgment on duty or off duty the chief's Behavior reflects not only on the city but on this commission Miss Gainer you have tolerated the chief's missteps and mistakes and they continue to escalate I do not hate Mr Remy I do not want him to lose his job but I don't like his behavior which I'm sure you don't either and you've had to deal with this over and over and over and I'm sure you're not happy with that at this point I have no trust in him to run a fair in just Police Department for our city mayor Nelson you stated on the news we are being fair to Ricky Remy has Ricky Ry been Fair fa to us is he running a fair and just department and does he have the confidence of his men that's what I'm really worried about they can't say if they're if they have confidence in him or not because they want their jobs but I I really worry about that because we have a good Police Department I have lived here six years I've retired here I have you called the police department four times every single time they have been there within minutes even when it was a non-emergency and I'm very proud of them and I would like to see them that have the leader that they deserve thank you thank you for listening thank you Miss Jerry Parker good evening everyone first I want to thank everybody that came to the call of showing up tonight at the commission meeting to voice your opinion it's very important um one thing I really want to address is did a poll if Ricky Ramy should be fired or not on the beacon of Bay County those results are 615 yes 12 no I think people have spoken I know I have met with several of the Commissioners individually not together so let's just clarify that none of the Commissioners were met together I met with people individually it wasn't secret anybody could have seen it one thing that I really want to point out is the wjhg um interview that Vicky Gainer gave and in that this is her quote further lapses of judgment by Chief Ry will not be tolerated going forward any violation of City policy any acceptable act intentional or not which demonstrates a lack of professional judgment or races questions about his professionalism and ability to perform at the highest level of leadership will Resort in will result result in immediate termination so let's go by those one by one violation of City policy done an unacceptable act done intentional or not not done demonstrated lack of professional judgment done raises questions about his professionalism done ability to perform at the highest level of leadership done every single one of these have been done yet you want to say further lapses how about let's go to previous lapses and address those those need to be addressed and the fact that Miss Gainer you neutered this commission by coming forward and giving him a 25-day suspension sort of cut them off from being able to discuss this thank you thank you James Finch James fch 14 e Second Street this this coming June I'll be in the city 75 years my family's been here well over a hundred I love the city I've been very good to this city the city's always been good to be until the last few years in the last few years with uh uh Chief Ry when I had a stroke a week before the hurricane I was in a coma and when when all of it took place I was in a coma and you know who knew that I knew a year later that Ricky Remy got in the ambulance with me when they took me to the hospital and fly flighted me to Tallahassee Ricky Ry knew that and they all got around here and they say James was running the show James was doing this James didn't even know where he was for 30 days I was in there when I come back it was months before I got AR come April I turned them in all of them for stealing I had the mayor go to the sheriff and they was stealing on that concession stand right out there $190 something th000 bill for that concession stand I called out Vicky Gainer Vicky Gainer snarled up at me and it's been that way ever since I bought the fireworks for 35 years I bought uh Halloween candy for 30 years I've done everything I can for this city but I'm not giv a dime since Vicki's been here and I won't but he was in there he know I was in the coma but the FBI told Vicki to keep a eye on me she gets Ricky they keep eye on me the FBI goes to Judy tener says keep eye on James what the hell you want to keep eye on me for I'm the only one who went to trial twice not guilty not one time the $790,000 I loan the city was what they charged me for that's what I was on trial for and Vicky gain was the the benefit of it it was on Colorado Avenue Chris foran her Michael White got me along the city $79,000 approved in the commission meeting by Vicki Gainer leadership approved she got the money she got the Min fit I was a child and nobody from the city went over there and said we asked James for the money James loaned us the money I've written your letters and I've signed my name to it I don't I carry my own water I'm not calling nobody out that I won't calling them out to their face and I'm saying this city has been fractured more since Vicki's been in this seat than ever before in the 75 years I know of and then they talking about going forward you can bring the churches up here if you want to they only come when Vicki calls them and then and that's we need to go forward thank you ask that you ref frame your applause please do ask that we refrain our Applause from comments if not we'll have to um close out our public commentary thank you David karti reys Russell good evening all of you I'm walking a little slow tonight because I just had major surgery but I wanted to let some of my friends and fellow citizens in ly Haven know how I feel I have spoken before that I am afraid at times living now in my city I've been in this city 19 years I've been in Bay County this time alone for 25 years I have lived here on and off since 1967 so I've kind of watched a lot of things change but I wanted to speak about tonight I did make the mention that I was only going to speak five sentences but I changed my mind and as a woman I can do that one of the things I wanted I I got reminded of today was my parents taught me something a long time ago that I've tried to live by my entire life and that is actions speak louder than words and I'm both disappointed and dissatisfied by some of the actions that I have seen my city commission and and the governing body handle certain situations and I'm speaking about the decision about Chief Ry if actions really do speak louder than words his actions have spoke volumes and it's volumes I really didn't want to hear I I want to have faith in my chief of police like other people have said when I've called the police they've come no matter what they even helped me get into my car cuz I locked the stupid keys in them I mean they they help the citizens in this town and that that's one of the things I loved about it you can talk to your fellow police officers but I wonder about the morale as somebody else said of the the people under him and the one thing that I I will finish with is I know everybody would like to see us move on I've heard that I would like to move on but there is one thing I do know before we can move forward we've got to have some closure on the past and we've had a pretty rough past and the citizens in this town need to be heard because these feelings Run Deep And if if you all don't hear us then some of us will quit speaking but maybe some of us will move and that would be sad I I I just would like you all to please understand what I'm trying to say thank you arleene Harrison Harrison 904 Michigan Avenue I would like to say I've uh lived in and out of this town over many decades and I've always been very proud of ly Haven I've Loved Lin Haven and um I always felt very safe in Lin Haven I was very proud of our police department and I still am I think a lot of the people uh any interaction I've ever had with the police department in any way they've always been very respectful very kind and um the men and women that work uh in the police department I'm very I'm still very proud of them and um I since the hurricane um I they got out there and help people and they've always helped me and my mother um every way they could but I too have a I hope that their morale is good I don't know if there's a high turnover I don't know any I don't know those kinds of things but I just hope that the police department can lift their heads high with Integrity with continued Integrity thank you thank you Brian and gray Beth Arnold Beth Arnold Vermont Avenue I about a year ago I heard someone say that at a certain point in your life you owe a Civic a Civic tax back to your community and that's when I started trying to get involved and come to the meetings and go to the commission meetups that you have that are very poorly attended um but I do want to say that I'm proud of ly Haven we have beautiful Parks the park workers are there on weekends after the parade in ly Haven they were sweeping the street up before I could even get in my car and drive away we have hard workers in the city and you as well and I think it's unfortunate that you've been put in a position to spend as much time as you have on on the event of our chief of police I don't know if he's listening or if he cares to know but I think a resignation would be adjust thing for each of you because of the time you've had to put into this um but I do appreciate our city I think we have a beautiful city and it deserves to be treated with the respect that your your employees and you all have put into it you're not going to make everybody happy and that's why you each have a vote to do what you need to do and I appreciate what you do thank you oh Bishop Bishop chairman of the Bay County Republican party I want to thank you guys all for your service I don't come up here and I try to avoid city meetings for the most part around the county refer to watch from at home the last time I was here um I said the Ricky raing situation offered an opportunity for the city to grasp a civil lining demonstrating that this body was capable of restoring public trust by holding him accountable fortunately that trust has been misplaced this is a missed opportunity for this city government Ricky ry's motivations are very easy to understand he fled the scene of a crime out of self-preservation he refused to put documentation out of self-preservation he sought to escape a good civilian trying to get that documentation out of a sense of self-preservation these are very honest emotions they are understandable emotions we are all flawed yet these are exactly the sort of motivations that a police chief must submit to Law and Order and common good and what he did is he broke his oath he showed him unfit for this service and having to defend him having to allow him to continue to serve is an obvious absurdity and this is what creates this anger out here I know that I understand the motivation of we want to move on I heard this during the pre-commission meeting from many of you you can't move on from this when you have an absurd situation what's made worse off is the rhetoric that we've gotten from the Das explaining the situation we had the mayor during this first meeting talk about how the they didn't want to fire Ricky Rey because of constitutional grounds well that was obviously absurd of time it became more clear dur in pre-commission meeting that they were concerned that he would sue the city again we have a police chief in office at the time out of fear of lawsuit to the city that's not a good Dynamic for a city when I hear that oh we can't discipline Ricky Remy because of how would we treat a child at school I mean this is a police chief this is not a child this is a breakdown of the judge of how we make judgments for the city Lena Haven deserves more than this nation wide we've got a public crisis in faith in institutions that crisis is largely driven by the Viewpoint that people in power are not held by the same standards as Citizens and that we can that we do not have the ability to hold them accountable you guys have the ability to hold someone who has violated the trust accountable and the inability to do that will continue to Fester as an ulcer in this city I hope you guys will reconsider your decisions thank you very much thank you Jim [Music] Simmons jod Moore Jody Mo and amher Street in the beacon of Bay County Florida on Facebook um just uh two comments you know people are talking about moving forward and they they're tired of the turmoil in the city and so forth well if Ry had resigned or been fired back when in February when this all came about we wouldn't be going through this all right now and also talking about forgiveness of course you know Jesus God Jesus was the only perfect man in this world but when you make mistakes you are responsible for your actions and there need to be repercussions for that of course he can be forgiven that's not in question Ricky Ry should be fired he should have been fired a long time ago I'm actually shocked he's even suffering any consequences is at all but it isn't enough you on the commission your job is to serve the citizens and protect their interest not protect Randy's job and do you think you're doing that I don't think so and I'm not alone the others can disagree furthermore the punishment for Remy was not handled appropriately I realized Vicky gayner probably called everyone up there and told you what she planned to do and I'm sure it was decided a long time ago but the right thing to do would have been to wait on a hot button topic is issue like this to bring it before the entire commission at this meeting the city manager serves at the pleasure of the commission and not the other way around and she's forgotten that and so have all of you there is an item on the agenda of the censure Gainer I suspect that won't go anywhere which is typical of this commission but miss Gainer should be censored in fact I think she should be fired too this whole situation with Ry was handled poorly from start to finish from the time this commission was not informed of the hit and run in December to ineffective Des Duty assignment to now and I want to address something that was said in the pre- meeting and though kind of touched on this Ry isn't a school student I mean I'm glad there's an acknowledgement finally of past bad behavior because I think that occurred but Ry is a grown man who is the chief of police with a gun who holds the power of life and Liberty of her people in lyh Haven both citizens and visitors to the city he's not a 10-year-old who didn't do his homework the city has being sued by James Finch and Margot Anderson and Anderson's lawsuit Vicky Gainer and Ricky Remy are both named did any of you watch the interview on August 12th and you can answer when you give your reports because I'd really like to know if any of you watched it and moving on to something else a little different um I would also like for the city manager to address when The Old City Hall will be open um I thought it was supposed to be a museum for the city um it if it's open I'm unaware if it would also be nice if after 6 years the clock could be repaired it used to people who've lived here a while they know it used to play a Caroline and that would be nice to have back and I'd also like to know when and where the next citizen finance committee will meet if the city manager will include that in her report please thank you Katherine Hudson good excuse me good evening members of the commission my name is Katherine Hudson and I have been a resident of Lin Haven for 30 of my 36 years on Earth I went out of state for college but I loved Lin Haven so much I came back to start a career and raise my family until now I have remained silent and watching on the matter of Chief Ry because I believe in the justice system however following his his no contest plea and leaving the SC sorry his no contest plea to leaving the scene of an accident with damage and City officials decision to only suspend Chief Ry after his plea I feel compelled to come and speak out a no contest plea allows a defendant to avoid admitting guilt while acknowledging that the prosecution has enough evidence to likely convict them the court treats a no contest plea the same as a guilty plea and the defendant is punished accordingly as our police chief chief r is expected to know and understand Florida laws and statutes he should know that leaving the scene of an accident is a crime under Florida statute 316.061 his actions not only violate this law but also call into question his compliance with Florida statute 9431 3 which requires Law Enforcement Officers to maintain good moral character moreover the leak text messages containing offensive language and further further erode any trust we can place in his moral character these texts reflect attitudes and behaviors that are not befitting of a leader especially one tasked with enforcing the law and serving our community Chief ry's recent conduct clearly demonstrates a lack of judgment and responsibility expected of someone in his position and frankly anyone ordered by a judge to complete a driver's safety course is unfit to be police chief for these reasons I urge the commission to reconsider Chief ry's position our community deserves a police chief who embodies the high highest standards of legal and moral conduct both on and off duty thank you thank you Michelle Carter good evening uh my name is Michelle Carter I live at 3124 East Baldwin Road Panama City Florida 32405 well I don't uh live in the city of ly Haven but I don't think it should matter because what happens in every Municipal municipality in Bay County affects everyone I came here tonight because of commissioner War I saw him on news channel 7 and I 100% support him and I believe that Chief Ry needs to be removed as the police chief I believe that Miss Gainer as the city manager you do have the power to remove him and I think you should call his bluff I don't think that he would sue the city what I was hoping would happen after all of this had happened was that he would just be a big enough person just say you know this was a bad screen scw up that I did this was really bad this time and so I wanted to see him make a public statement and just retire and I want him to have his pension he did an outstanding job after uh hurricane Michael and even though we don't get along very well I did see him helping people after the storm and you know he he he he got a thing on the Weather Channel even and he did an excellent job in that but there's obviously some things in his personal life that are going on and I believe it involves alcohol and I know a little bit about domestic violence because I've been dealing with it myself so I'm highly against alcohol but I believe that the police department they're the people that report to Chief Ry every day I think it's important for them to be involved in making the decision as to whether he should stay or not because I've just been hearing even through Facebook and I I think Facebook's pretty accurate I've been hearing that a lot of people are going to leave if he doesn't either resign or if he's not fired I think he's had too many chances I think this last time it was so bad that he has he's he's costed the department the sense of honor integrity that you are supposed to have as a police officer and I just want to say that everyone tonight has spoken outstanding and I did think that Mr Bishop did outstanding and I do respect you miss Gainer and I think that you do an excellent job mayor and before I close I would like to just kind of talk about something different I love the Lin Haven Bayou Park and preserve and there's a a board out there that needs to be thank you uh fixed push back fixed yes I got a picture on my phone thank you so much if you could follow with the uh parks on that yeah you'll speak with him about it thank you Mary Brown e mcllin e McCollin this is on College Boulevard okay oh Elizabeth mlan I'm sorry I'll make this brief and then I'll be back um I I sent an email to all of the elected officials today and kind of waited till the last minute to do that I apologize I was debating whether I was going to or not but um I felt that you all sought out your positions nobody forced you're here you sought them out you campaigned for them and you were elected to these seats you were not elected to seats to lead you were elected to these seats to represent you were elected to represent your constituents the mayor was elected to lead the commission but also to represent the constituents and I think sometimes when we have um situations that gets a little bit clouded and I really hope that you can take a step back and go back and look that look at that because right now the city of linh Haven as you can tell from all sides has a serious public trust issue and it's a shame because Lin Haven is a wonderful City it's a wonderful place um it's really sad to see this happen it's disappointing to see this happen you all have the power to change that you have the ability to change that by taking [Music] action in action speaks just as loudly as the actions you take um I I like I said I really hope hope that you do something about that the because the diversion from representing the constituents has directly led to a problem of public trust in my opinion this might sound harsh but if you do not have the ability to do that or you're not willing to do it or you don't think you should have to do it if you think this doesn't apply to you my suggestion is that you should resign that's all right thank you Jenny Walker yes okay Johnny Walker 1503 done at court good evening and I concur with what most folks have said that we're really kind of tired of all this I rais three kids here three boys L Haven was comfortable came up real well I watch what goes on in government from a distance I like politics like oh that's interesting I wonder what's really going on there and I think what we're missing okay I remember where's the clock at right here okay I remember when Obama was running for president and there are a lot of people who were opposed to Obama running for president I just said a lot of white folks say hey I don't want to be my president or when he made president he was elected there was still confusion about him being president so there were some people who had legitimate political concerns and I respect that but there are also people who were outright racists just because it is what it is so it was a perfect storm and that we could not determine who was who because they always saying the same thing I don't like Obama policy okay so what policy about Obama that you don't like they didn't have one oh so it's not that you don't like Obama policies you don't like Obama so somebody said earlier this is not about race it's probably not about race but I know for a fact that there's a lot of vindictiveness from years past that cancer is back it was in remission for a while and I mean I got street crb I'm gonna say this anyway but I was proud to live in Lin Haven like oh Lin Haven is a nice city I never say that because I got street cred I'm hard like that but L hav is a nice city I enjoy living here comfortable I see the improvements could not happen without you guys leadership across the board Ricky Remy I like Ricky Ricky the way I said it and I look at Job performance and you he was off duty he did and we have to have respect and I'm not going to call the police because I'm scared that's a lie if I kick your door in the first thing you gonna do is call 911 so don't don't do that so I look at that and I see it for what it is it's an opportunity to get a foothold and say okay fine we're g to strike out all of them at once White Ricky Vicki the may we get them all and that's what it is so call it what it is because again from the performance that I've seen in terms of what Ricky did it trickles down to his troops and you all say well wor about the morale of the people or his troops or whatever the kids are fine they're going to be fine and one other thing I have to say this because if I don't say folks would think I'm disingenuous but when that Republican leader came up here and start enumerating those different things I said oh that sounds familiar and I'll leave it at that let's refrain from the Clapping please let's refrain from the Clapping hey would you like to be removed thank you rnie [Music] Thompson Bernie Thompson 8317 Front Beach Road I'm going to keep this really quick uh because of all the good people sitting for so long I just have three things first of all I've been so frustrated that nobody I haven't seen bring up the victim and this is just drives me crazy has anybody reached out to J Shay Jones J Shay Jones is the one who got hurt here not physically but his Mercury is tore up because your police chief crashed into it took off and if it wasn't for the good man in the Hemi who caught him we never would have known this and if I hadn't published it you never would have known this number two if you read the FHP report and I know yall have Ricky Ramy the chief of police lied to the FHP officer it's indicated in the report the FHP report says that Mr ry's description of what happened did not match the video now if I did that or you did that maybe not you because you have political privilege but if most of us did that we would be charged with with interfering with an investig I had a judge call me and ask me why said I don't know ask FHP these are serious things these are not hate but uh real big deal and he didn't even get charged for that and then finally the FBI reports known as 302 forums I know you all saw those too that backpack the backpack that the FBI and I I saw in testimony I was there in the federal courtroom I saw Miss Gainer I saw your testimony I saw everybody's testimony Ricky Remy had a backpack that that he got from Michael white with $330,000 in it after Michael White was arrested and then finally you know he he was removed or he resigned and uh a week after that Ricky Remy shows a backpack with 30 grand hey have you guys seen 30 grand if if you come across a backpack I want you to know I lost one if you'll put it in Lost and Found don't open it just call me have you found the money Mr Mayor anybody there 30 grand somewhere thank you thank you Mr Tony Bostic good afternoon mayor Commissioners Tony Bost 159 North Kim uh Callaway uh Mr War 3 years ago you sat on my sister-in-law's front porch when I lived in mayor he needs to address you okay they've addressed Miss Gainer but you didn't say anything about that correct but you sat on my front my sister-in-law front por you told me about your concern for the city of Lin Haven that doesn't bear out what what you're doing now you started out in the tender Camp you guys fell out now you're back in the tender camp that ain't going to work out for you either Mr malroy you don't have to call anybody or send anybody an email reference to Tony bosic my number is 850- 625 6126 hit me up when you get a chance Mr Bishop you talk about the Republican party you support the Republican Party supports the most morally reprehensible character in American history no redeeming qualities as a Christian let alone as a human being but you get up here and you want to say you support what Mr Warick is doing I find that kind of crazy go more you talked about what you published in the beacon of Bay County but what you failed to publish in the beacon the Bay County that Vicky Gana has done more there's only been one uh city manager in Bay County in the last since hurricane Michael that has pulled off what she's pulled off and that's the city manager over in Callaway you fail to mention in the beacon of Bay County that she's been the lowest paid for the longest period of time in Bay County as a city manager but you worried about whether she donated to uh Joe Biden I didn't see you put your donations to Donald Trump on there either did Vicky gaina has quarterback the rebuilding of the city of ly Haven and what's happened crickets she's been the lowest paid city manager in Bay County for the longest period of time what from the what from the the cheap seats crickets I sent each of you Commissioners an email today I stand on that flat footed 10 toes down problem here is you have let this charade go on unassuaged for so long against the mayor and the city manager I don't care what you say how you feel I'm going to call it what it is it's racism straight racism now if you you got a problem with what I say as old girl said on the video casat me outside thank you right thank you is there any additional public commentary thank you for your public commentary moving on to the mayor's report uh this report I'll try to address some of the things that were mentioned during uh public commentary uh one Mr Walker mentioned about the the uh ordinances um of course you do come to our pre-commission meetings and our commission meetings on a regular basis so hopefully you've noticed that we are systematically working through um our ordinances so we started with chapter 2 now we're working through chapter 10 on the uh animal ordinances we've actually worked on uh the ordinances for public commentary in Chapter 2 so we are strategically working through those um of course we're also working on the uh comprehensive plan simultaneous ly looking forward to also moving on to the uh unified Land Development code after that as we continue to work through the ordinances so there is a strategic plan to uh work through the ordinances as opposed to just highlighting uh or Hodge podging different ordinances so we can strategically work through those and hopefully within the next two to three years that we would have been able to touch on all the ordinances and of course citizens have the opportunity for input um on those as well because we can't uh change an ordinance without actually voting on it twice so several opportunities that citizens have to give input whether it's through email phone call text message um even discussion um there are some opportunities for that also um there was also mention of um me stopping someone from doing handouts uh during a another commission meeting actually uh resolution 24 20244 428 which was voted on by the uh City Commission on April 23rd 2024 under the citizen participation procedures number three visual or election AIDS and handouts um actually makes reference to that and it says that uh handouts the speaker wishes to share with the board must be provided in advance of the meeting or presented to the city staff at the meeting room before the speakers allowed time for public comments so that is basically saying that you cannot hand out handouts whenever you come up to the podium that has to be done prior to so that is something that I didn't change the entire commission uh voted on that I don't remember the vote for that but that resolution was passed on April 23rd 2024 uh there was made mention in regards to Mo traffic I can tell you that I know uh deputy chief infinger is working with uh school district and U Bay County Sheriff's Office to help resolve that issue um I was privy to a meeting between him and the city manager a couple of days ago um with that so that is something that is um on the Forefront it's at the top of the list of priorities um for him to uh to help try to resolve that as much as possible and some of the other schools as well so it wasn't just Mo that he was addressing but some of the other school traffic issues as well so that is something that is being looked into also um I know some have expressed concern regarding um safety per se again ly Haven is the top 10 safest city um in the State of Florida and for the size of our our city um we're the number two City in the State of Florida if you don't know there are 930 plus cities in the state of Florida and so we're in the top 10 there is no other city in Bay County that's probably in the top 50 the last time I looked um and so we're in the top 10 in comparison to all 930 and we're in the top two um or we're number two per capita basically cities that are our size I also want to clarify that the city manager did not give an interview to wjhg um that was actually a statement that was made public and so whatever um quotes that were made on behalf of the city manager were actually taken from a statement and not giving um in an interview and in regards to Old City Hall I don't have any specific date on that that's something that city manager can address would like to say that it's not necessarily going to be a museum only it's going to actually it's actually going to be an active building so there's going to be offices in there for the mayor and the Commissioners to come and meet with them there will some historic um uh artifacts in the building which will have this Museum like feel but it will be a a data it will be open on a day-to-day basis like our other um facilities and that is my report Mission pees thank you mayor uh I just want to say that I got more emails uh the past few days than I have ever gotten and so if I didn't respond to your email I will I just haven't got a chance to respond to all of them yet but I did read them all so just wanted to throw that out there I will be having a coffee meet this Saturday morning um I'll be honest I haven't decided if I want to go with Solo or wild rout yet so just pay attention to my Facebook page I'll let you know um don't know which one will have their fall lineup of coffees first so that's really what I'm going for uh but anyways uh I have been in contact with people that um have golf carts As We Know as some of us know we have a very big golf cart Community here um and one of the things that uh they brought to me was that there's we're somewhere around uh 200 plus citizens with golf carts now and so they were wondering if uh there's anything that we can I'm really just saying this to you know we can talk about it um is that they're wondering if a there's anything we can do maybe as a city to uh get in contact with the county and see with the vast amount of golf cart users now if we can get a few more Crossing points across the city because as we know our City's kind of segregated by Highway 77 and 390 so it does make it difficult for some people to get across um so and then there's been some issues with uh you know what one thing that comes with golf carts is that they're not registered like cars and all that so if there are infractions there it's really hard to enforce them um so maybe that that's something we can figure out if that's something we want to do if it's something that's not possible I don't know that's just something they brought to my attention so uh that's I just wanted to bring that up so we can kind of have that on our minds I want to thank everyone for being respectful with their three minutes uh that really makes it easy for everybody to get up here and um say what they had to say and uh with that for now that's my report please continue to feel free to reach out to me thanks of course my vote is for uh for Wild Root got my my hot chocolate from Wild Root so um also in regards to the golf carts I do know that's something that we've been talking with uh Mr Bobby Baker our chief infrastructure director about so that is something that's on his on his desk so that is something that that is being worked on um specifically knowing which roads to um to cross on but it's not as simple as us just talking with the county is something that has to be um done I think at a state level but do know that is something that's uh that's on his desk um that we've we've been talking about so he's just sort of been waiting on us to bring that back to him so that he can continue to work on that progress Mission perno thank you mayor um Mr Corey um early on in in my term as my commissioner I I I did have as a motion to lower the speed limit on 14th Street so we can connect neighborhoods um and get people from the NorthShore area to come up to wild rout in Ninth Street cross and I think that's our our goal probably is to connect have connectivity with the golf courts through the whole city so we can Traverse the city and get to our parks and what I know it's it's it we just had uh music by the bay and it sometimes for certain people in the area that want to go on a golf cart it's a little harder to get to um Porter Park so um just want to thank everybody for being here on I know we got we got the topics tonight that brought people out um I wish we'd see this most commission meetings but we don't really have the regelia to do that sometimes but um I I can't thank yall enough for giving us your opinions I've read every email um that people had and I typed back sincerely you know I I didn't I didn't get too involved with my responses just thank you R thank you R so just to let people know that I read their emails um uh and I'll I'll yield the floor to everybody else since we're going to have more people speaking so um I greatly appreciate it though I appreciate all our city employees what you've all done um I appreciate the boys in blue back there so um thank you and that's my report all right thank you commissioner wart yes I I don't have a whole lot um also yes I'd like to say thank you for everyone coming out um it's very much appreciated um someone had talked about something about secret meetings I'm not sure what secret meetings these are but I know I brought this up before when we were accused of violating the Sunshine Law a couple times the procedure for this is you if you know about this then you go to the enforcement agency and the enforcement agency for us is the lenh Haven Police Department provide a report and then they forward that report up to the district State Attorney and then they investigate it so I encourage you to do that if you have any information on that and then the last thing I have is uh I have my monthly uh time of the commissioner on 31 August which is this Saturday as Slim Chickens at 11:30 for anyone would like to come out and uh discuss whatever they' like to talk about and that's pretty much all I have thank you commissioner vag gri um I've not participated any secret meetings I've met with individuals but it's been in a a public place or in an open situation uh I did talk with Pat one time at beob Brady's but I was trying to get my granddaughter a job so it wasn't [Laughter] no um I hate that this situation has been poal politicized um you know Republicans versus Democrats whites versus blacks it's about judgment you either agree with the Judgment decision or you don't agree with the Judgment decision we did not have the opportunity to make that decision yes things could have possibly have been handled differently uh but we're not perfect long way from it um and I guess I'm going to stop right there Mr Mayor all right thank you and I guess uh in regards to the Judgment decision cuz I did hear some things about that in regards to bit commentary um I don't know if if everyone was clear that in the beginning when all of this transpired um we were advised not so much to um not terminate Chief Ry because of a lawsuit as much as um it was stated he had a medical condition and and help me on this uh um City attorney Amy if I'm if I'm wrong um but in claiming that there was a medical condition we were advised that to terminate someone um due to an incident that was caused by a medical condition whether we agree with that or not whether we believe that or not if that's that person's statement DET terminate someone based on a medical condition or an incident caused by a medical condition would violate um the Ada the American Disability Act um as I understand it I'm not completely familiar with the advice you were given but it is that is a fair statement so that is the legal advice that we were given many of you may or may not know that may not care if you know that but that is why the commission initially went down the road that we uh went down and our city manager went in the direction that she went down was not to cover up anything was not to protect anyone wasn't necessarily even to avoid a lawsuit I know that term came up later on because if you do fire someone and they said it was a medical condition and you'll violate um uh the Ada uh law that they're governed and are protected by then that does put us in a position for a lawsuit so it was not as I understand it looking back that was that was the legal advice that we were given initially that caused us to take the actions um that we took and then at the same time we said allow due process to work out um at that same time so just wanted to make mention of that because i' I've heard this come up a few times um during public commentary to as they say set the record straight that that was the advice that our city manager was given that's also what was related to us as a commission initially some of us didn't agree with it and we pushed forward however that's that's the legal advice we were given to terminate someone that stated they had a medical condition that caused the incident would put us in violation of the American with Disabilities Act um and so you'll be you know violating that law all right uh city manager report yes director good evening questions about the warrant list thank you mayor have had a lot of budget meetings this week with all of the Commissioners um have one tomorrow Finance Review Committee is um tomorrow at 8:30 invite you all to come out the clock that's over at The Old City Hall will be here October uh it was supposed to be here in August but it was a delay and so but it still will be here it will be much more it be much better than we've had before can't wait to get it you'll hear lots of Tunes coming throughout the city of Lin Haven for the new clock uh The Old City Hall there is a punch list and we do not want to sign off on a CO until they finish that punch list that would be the wise things thing to do um thank you so many people for giving me your support your emails your calls I appreciate it and I appreciate the work that you see us do here at the city of ly Haven here we are a family and uh we are doing a a really great job of keeping this city in working order I will tell you that I met with two Auditors uh last week and they came from different parts of uh Florida to do the audit for uh police department absolutely outstanding this was a pre- audit for accreditation they passed it with f flying colors they were so amazed with um the work that the police department and the chief had been doing to get things in order they were more amazed by this city one of the Auditors even said this is a place that I would love to live and I just can't say enough about this city this Police Department the entire city staff um how they uh were so polite run run this city so they were very happy to report that when we do our final accreditation in December they felt like we would not have any problems so I'm very very happy to report that um to everyone and yes mayor um DC deputy chief is looking into the problem that's on 390 uh with uh parents dropping off their children at Moet and um um DC if you want to come give an update on that that'd be great so what we found were um the school that the gates weren't being open as as early and staying open as long which is causing traffic to back up more than usual and spill out on the highway 77 390 um I did speak with some school officials it is I haven't personally drawn out gone out there this week but I've had some officers check on it I believe that has improved they've changed that timing it's always going to be a mess all these schools are um the problem was blocking these main thorough faires and at one point it got to where parents just kind of let their kids out on the road and it became a danger so I believe that has been alleviated as much as we can alleviate it for right now and of course we're constantly working on all the other school zones um I think the schools and neighborhoods just weren't built when they were built for this kind of traffic and it's just the way things are today and we do the best we can with it but it's always going to be a problem thank you deputy chief couple other things you've been asking me about Art in the Park it's been really hot so we're going to put that off until October where it's a little bit cooler and then we'll give you a lot of time to be able to um participate in art in the part uh please sign up for paper lless building this will help our trees that we don't have to kill so many trees so that is a really yeah that's a service that we're now giving to you all so I'm asking you if you can to sign up for that paperless building um we have a couple of projects as you'll see one over at Sheffield Park that we started that is an infrastructure pro project to put in the storm water system that storm water system will not only help us now but in the future we will also be Paving part of the Senior Center parking lot to help those seniors get into safely uh but the pond will be expanded in Sheffield Park uh that's going to take a few months it probably will run into some our Spring Concert Series in the park and we will try to make it as safe as possible the first Spring Concert Series begins September 20th so we want to see you all there uh we did have a really great meeting with uh the Department of Commerce today about uh the grant that $4.3 million Grant on high uh Ohio Avenue in Florida as you know it's say it's kind of a street Escape Grant to really Revitalize Florida Avenue it has taken a very long time we've been working on this grant probably since about 2020 um and um it's just been a very very a very long process and not on our end particularly because we're working with two agency one gave 75% reimburse M the other gave 25% reimbursement so we're having to work with two totally different agencies that work very differently but now they have put some additional managers in place Grant managers in place to help speed up that project uh it is now uh really with the Architects and then after it comes out of Architects of course we have to send it to both agencies that they would agree with it and hopefully sometime we can start this construction to be honest with you I don't see that construction starting this year simply because the agencies are so very slow um but it will happen it's a $4.3 million Grant and we have two other projects with both of those agencies as well uh just a couple other things too uh going forward I would just like to say that um something Mr Finch said and I wanted to clarify that and and really it is just not the truth I did not buy my proper until 2019 in 2017 this commission passed to do the work on Colorada Avenue you can't get something out of something you don't have and so be please be very clear I have never taken a dime from this city and I don't want a dime only what you pay me okay and so just so you know that whatever was said there did didn't happen don't know why it was said that it did happen um I appreciate everyone coming out tonight I know we have all a difference of opinion that's fine we live in America but one thing that we don't have to be is mean to each other we can be kind we can agree to disagree you you may not like my decision but still you we can agree to disagree and still live in the same country the same city worship together everybody is going to have a different opinion every no one is perfect none of us but I do know one thing this city is very important to me and all the staff that work here in the city we work tirelessly for this city we would do we do it and we never complain so I say to you I thank you for your comments whether they are true true or not but we will continue to work for this city and we will continue to give you 200% that's my [Music] report thank you uh City attorney I don't have a report but given the public comment I would like to confirm my prior opinion to you decision to reprimand or discipline the chief of police was never the commissions to make that Authority is given in the charter only to your city manager um one question I do have is in regards to the no contest plea I know there was uh a lot of discussion around that with legal counsel to really determine you know the definition of that in the application of that um for this case um because looking online I mean I looked online and and even talked to some others about it there are differences of opinion about it so could you sort of interpret that for us the the no contest I don't practice criminal law so I also had to phone a friend at the state attorney's office to understand it um the no contest plea is is not an admission of guilt it um that is the plain of Cho or the excuse me the defendant's choice to make he can plead guilty or he can plead no contest um on the other hand the prosecution can accept that plea and recommend adjudication be withheld um which is what happened here in this case which the judge can also accept and bless um with the result that it does not create a criminal record for the defendant that the judge can reject that to withhold adjudication and in fact make a guilty finding but that did not happen here so I don't know if I've answered your question but no so pleading no conest is no admission to guilt and then if the judge still gives adjudication did that mean that the judge although you pleaded no contest with adjudication then the judge would think would basically be implying that you are guilty but if he withholds adjudication was implying that you're not guilty I'm just trying making sure we understand the terms it's hard to know what it implies I can tell you that the result is that there's not a criminal record for that violation for which he was prosecuted okay all right thank you for that Clarity um moving on to our consent agenda approval of minutes 4 8324 regular meeting minutes approval of the 1911 plat residential paint program application for the residents located at 202 Harbor Point Drive approval of amendment 3 for hmgp project number 4399 033 R Lift Station 2 generator is there a motion for this motion to approve the consent agenda a second motion by commissioner perno second by commissioner pebles city manager we call the vote commissioner perno yes commissioner pebles yes commissioner venag yes commissioner W yes mayor Nelson yes motion passed uh old business final reading of ordinance 1166 amending the city's ulc to repeal regulations in chapters 1 39 and 10 and amending chapter 14 of the city's code of ordinances to adopt fluid management regulations city manager if you read it by title only please ordinance of the city of Lin Haven Florida amending the city's unified development land code to repair regulations in chapters 1 3 9 and 10 related to flood management amending chapter 14 of the city's code of ordinances related to building regulations to adopt flood management regulations providing applicability severability and immediately effective date right any additional comments on this City attorney no further comments right and uh for the record this is the we might be in compliance with the new FEMA uh maps that go into effect on October 24th got it so it's it's something that we have to change in order that we might be in compliance um with that all right is there a motion for this motion to approve the new flood planes on second all right motion by commissioner perno second by commissioner pebles any comments from the public all right no comments from the public city man if you call the vote commissioner perno yes Commission pebles yes commissioner venag yes commissioner Ward yes mayor Nelson yes motion passed um agenda item number 12 discussion and possible approval to censor the city manager commissioner wart yes so first um thank you for allowing me to have this agenda item um I want everyone to understand what it means to censor someone um I will tell you at one time I was going to have an agenda item added for a vote of no conf confidence until I F fully understood what this was and what censoring meant a vote of no confidence is when you disapprove of multiple actions or an individual's overall performance and is normally the first step or the step to terminate someone my goal here is not to fire the city manager which is why I chose to censor the city manager a vote to censor is just merely a formal statement of disapproval of one's action and is not intended to contribute to the removal of the individual from the position my decision is not based solely on the incident that happened at newbies I understand that people make bad decisions and what I'm trying to accomp what I'm not trying to accomplish is making a one mistake Workforce in your terminated culture let me repeat that I'm not trying to accomplish in making a one mistake Workforce in your terminated culture I'm sure every one of us can tell you a story when we made bad decisions in our life my decision is based on the Newbie incident and prior incidents where Ricky Remy has shown unethical behavior and bad judgment which has caused me to question his ability to effectively lead as a police chief my goal was not to attack Ry in his prior history I appreciate his hard work and service to our city such as what the city manager discussed earlier the accreditation accredit ation of the lhen police department which I understand is now no easy feat and it's a big deal I have no doubt that Remy is knowledgeable at his job and knows how to perform it well I wish he had made the right decision to resign or the city manager made the right decision to terminate him however since neither took place I feel has left me no choice but to do the right thing and push for his resignation I understand the commission wanted to wait until the outcome of ry's criminal charge was determined in my opinion didn't need to wait based on what the HR attorney said during our Workshop however they haven't been vocal about their own opinion on the situation this is one reason why it's important and add an agenda item for a vote to sent to the city manager I wanted on record how each commissioner voted I also would like them to explain what makes Remy the best person to fill the police chief position why his past history doesn't dictate his res resignation or termination and what their expectations are of the police chief can you pull up my presentation Herold um so I want to go through a few things and the first four facts that I'm going to go over I have sat down and discussed with the city manager and she agrees and every one of these situations Chief Ry made a bad judgment call the first one obviously we are all aware of the three civil citations that happened back on 30 December 2023 can you play the YouTube video please can I pause for a moment commissioner work this is a motion to censor the city manager are you building a case against siki or against the chief It's s it's my disagreement with Vicky gainor's decision um on her actions I felt like the decision she made on this was not strong enough and so I want people to understand why I don't think it was strong enough up to y'all this is this is his motion I just I wanted to clarify it does need to be about Vicki and not about Ricky well it's it's a I mean the only way to get there is for me to explain how I got that to that conclusion so that's why I'm I decided to do that thank you for clarifying so I I guess her question is are you explaining to us or you explaining to the public everybody it's the commission's action here to make if you're going to censor or not so you need to make your case to the commission right I am okay I am you play the video please actually I do have one more question um I know this one there the criminal one still open but then the Civil citations right and as I think commissioner pebles have brought it up about we're holding holding the police department heads to a higher standard especially the police Chiefs consider the enforcement of the law and someone got civil citations but then not just civil citations but other reasons that might have brought negative publicity to the city um it could um a I can't remember the question I had but that could be a viable reason to terminate somebody um it could be yes that would be within the discretion of the city manager to make that determination so he he does have civil citations that he has paid and there have been prior actions to this that have bring negative light to to the city and us as the commission could um take action on that that's a complicated analysis first of all yes there have been prior citations I have not personally um verified that they've been paid I've got no reason I've got no reason to dispute that I just I just don't know that as a fact um when we're looking at off-duty conduct and I think what you're alluding to is is it's generally referred to as conduct Unbecoming a government official right um yes that can be a Bonafide Avenue to uh take disciplinary action but it off-duty conduct has to be more scrutinized and on duty conduct uh but yes it could theoretically be and again that would be within the management discretion of your City attorney okay excuse me your city manager right thank you actually I do have one more question um actually I do have one more question um so when we as I looked at these civil and when you look at 101 ethics code if you could bring that up Harold I'm not going to read the whole thing but I'm going to read what I feel pertains to the situation as integral members of the City Lin Haven's team employees are expected to accept certain responsibilities adher to acceptable business principles in matter of personal conduct and exhibit a high degree of personal integrity at all times this not only involves sincere respect for the rights and feelings of others it also demands that in both your business and personal life you refrain from any behavior that might be harmful to you your co-workers or the city of Lin Haven or that might be viewed unfavorably by current or potential members or by the public at large whether you are on or off duty your conduct reflects on the city of linh Haven you are consequently encouraged to uphold the highest standards of professionalism at all times the following our guidelines that may assist employees in determining appropriate behavior and conduct how would the situation look for me and the city all employees must conform to ethical and legal standards to abide by the law and to preserve the city of Len Haven's integrity and reputation failure to adhere to this policy may may result in disciplinary action up to and including discharge from employment the next thing I want to bring up is back on 15 April and 18 April 2018 Richard rayy made vulgar text referencing past City Commissioner Judy Tinder or her significant other this came out after the Federal indictment evidentiary hearing on 12 December 2022 Richard Remy received a reprimand by city man manager Vicky Gainer on 21 December 2022 um I know someone had brought this up before about how we're continually trying to take down the the police chief or trying to fire him I will tell you at this time at when we talked about this at the commission meeting I did not push to have Remy fired I had a long conversation with HR attorney and I had good reasons uh that he should not have and I believe that the city made the right decision and not fire him at this time and reprimanded him um one of the other things I'd like to add is we we as a commission received some additional information on these text I don't know if he used a different medium to respond to Michael white but when you read him the thing that bugged me was you can tell that him and Michael White had a proper relationship and I understand that a city manager and police chief for fire chief or the department heads they typically have a pretty strong relationship since they work closely together but there comes a certain point where you you go over the line and you have an improper relationship such as going over having parties and things like that now I put more of that responsibility in Michael White since that's his superior but at that time I feel Ricky Ramy should have known better and if he keep going there's his reprimand um and then the third thing I want to bring up was back on 10 May 2021 Richard Ramy made a Facebook post with Ellen Fields police records from Spokane Washington while she was in a runoff race for mayor he made the comment we have been through enough in Lin Haven and if this is what we have to hold in the future fut as a mayor may we all come to our senses and realize we need to move forward not backwards please make informed decisions as you vote um again when I talked to Miss Gainer about this she said it was improper um I talked to well let me read the social media policy first and I'm not going to read the whole thing just going to read what pertains to this it says any such conduct that adversely affects or may be viewed as adverse verly affecting past or present city of Lin Haven citizens employees management or city commission members will result in disciplinary action up to an including termination employees shall not participate in any social media or electronic communication media that can be perceived as critical of the city of linh Haven its policies management and operations past or present City commission members employees or citizens and if you notice in parentheses it said she'll be collectively referred to as city of linh Haven entities so when you read this and they refer to City of Lin Haven entities they mean past or present City commission members employees or citizens any use of social media that creates a negative perception of any City Lin Haven entity may be grounds for discipline up to an including termination employees must always be fair and courtesy courteous to each other and all city of linh Haven entities the posting of complaints or criticism statements photographs video or audio that could be reasonably viewed as malicious obscene threatening or intimidating that the spared city of linh Haven entities will not be tolerated examples of such conduct might might include offensive post that may harm someone's reputation and then of course you have the ethics codes that I believe uh Falls in line with us the fourth thing I want to bring up is two candidates who were running for office back in early 2021 were told they would need a ped's permit to canvas neighborhoods letting residents know they are running for office Mark Anderson from Bay County superv elections had to get involved who had a discussion with city manager and Ricky Remy about this after involving the City attorney it was determined that a pe's permit was not required I remember this very well because I'm one of the individuals that was involved in that I remember when this first started was me and Brian Gray were running for office and he was in The Hammocks and someone called the police on him the police came out and told him that he could not go door too and he had to leave he called me and when he called me I told him that was wrong cuz I already researched all this as far as you know I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing I was doing everything legal you know the dos and don'ts you know things like that so at the very next commission meeting me and Brian Gray went to the next commission meeting and after the commission meeting was over me and Brian Gray appro approached Chief Ry and discussed it with him and I told him the way I understood it when I looked at the linh Haven Municipal Code the only if you are if you're not selling a product or a service you are not required to get a ped's permit and this was his answer his answer was but you're selling yourself and I was like well actually there a Supreme Court case about this and I tried to explain it to him and as soon as I started to explain it to him he um I could tell I hit a nerve and he was pretty upset with me and uh pretty much told me I'm not going to stand here and argue with this with you about this and I just kind of changed the conversation I said no no it's not like that that we just don't want to get in trouble and so I thought about it and I thought cuz there was another police officer there when we were discussing that and there was other people walking around so I said well maybe cuz that environment and both of us approached them maybe that's why I got a little defensive so I approached him and I said you mind if we have a sit down oneon-one he said yeah no problem so I had to sit down oneon-one discussed it with them and um still couldn't change his mind on that he told me I don't think you're going to have any problems I said I just don't want to get in trouble he goes no I don't think you'll have any issues sure enough that weekend someone called the cops on me cops came out um well one came out first and then the second one a little bit later and they were very professional with me very nice very courteous and they asked me what I was doing and I explained to them I'm just going door to door letting everyone know I'm running for election and she goes do you have a permit and I kindly explain to her that I don't require a permit because I'm not selling anything and she's like yeah you need a permit I don't fault her for that because she's just doing what she was directed to do and they were like I said they're both very courteous we actually had a really good conversation and um that was pretty much it and I went home and uh I was a little distraught because I felt this was part of my bread and butter and getting elected into office and so first thing Monday morning I called Mark Anderson and I explained him what was going on and he goes City doesn't want to do that because if they do it'll be all over the news and they don't want that and he kindly told me you know what my responsibilities are and he went down the line and he goes you know what my responsibility is not my responsibility is not to get people to the polls that's why you have to be able to go door too and he and if it wasn't for him I if it wasn't for him getting involved I wouldn't have been able to go door too and um so if you keep scrolling Harold there's the U the Supreme Court case it's the Watchtower bible and track Society in New York Incorporated versus Village of stranton this is the one I was trying to tell him about and uh facts of the case is the village of Stratton promulgated an ordinance that prohibits canvassers from entering private residential property to promote any cause without first obtaining a permit from the mayor's office the Watchtower bible and track Society in New York incorporated a compor a Congregation of Jehovah Witnesses that publish and distribute religious materials brought in action for intive Relief alleging that the violates their first amendment rights to the free exercise of religion free speech and freedom of the press the district court upheld most provisions of the ordinance as valid content neutral regulations the court of appeals the court of appeals affirmed concluding that The Village's interest in protecting its residents from fraud and its desire to prevent criminals from posing as canvassers in order to defraud its residents were sufficient bases on which to justify the regulation the question as a municipal ordinance that requires permit prior to engaging in the door-to-door advocacy of a political cause and display upon demand of a political cause of a political cause and to display upon demand the permit which contains one's name violate the first amendment protection according to Anonymous pamphleteering or or discourse and they came up with the conclusion in an 8 to1 vote opinion delivered by Justice John Paul Stevens the Court held that the ordinance Provisions make it in a misdemeanor to engage in door-to-door advocacy without first registering with the mayor and resing a per receiving a permit violates the First Amendment as applies to religious proing Anonymous political speech and the distribution of hand bills the court reasoned that The Village's interest in preventing fraud could not support the ordinance's appliance application to the religious organization to political campaigns or to enlist in support for unpopular causes the senting Chief Justice William H renquist argued that the court deci decision deprived Stratton residents of the degree of accountability and safety that the permit requirement provides and then the next thing just a incident report showing when they were called out um I um I just felt like that was another bad decision by Chief Ry and um if I really wanted to push the issue I could have but thankfully Mark Anderson and came to uh my rescue and the last thing and and this one miss Ganer will probably disagree with me on but a police officer who was fired by Panama City Police Department for Access and privileged information was hired with advice and consent from Richard Ry approximately two to three days later a district State Attorney served this police officer with a Brady letter and his employment with the Lin Haven Police Department was terminated and I had talked to miss Gainer about that before I talked about the first four and what she explained to me was they had talked to the Panama City police chief he had a lot of great things to say about the police officer and that he didn't want to fire him but had no felt like he had no choice but to fire him because of the situation that they were in and she also said that they talked to lar bassford the district State Attorney um and they basically let her know that um or they gave that implied that they weren't going to give a Brady letter to me whether he was going to get a Brady letter or not is irrelevant um he should have never been hired in the first place and I think that's another indication of a bad judgment call last and um next thing I want to talk about is employment at will what is employment at will all employees who do not have a separate individual written Employment contract for a specific fixed term of employment are employed at the will of the city of linh Haven and may be terminated by the city of ly Haven at any time for any reason with or without notice except as prohibited by law the only people that I know of that are employed by contract is a City attorney and a city manager employees who not have separate individual written employment contracts signed by the mayor or city manager of the city of lyh Haven are employed at the will of the city of lyh Haven and are subject to termination any time for any reason with or without cause or notice except as prohibited by law I think any reasonable person can look at all these and question whether he should be in his position or not looking at all these is issues I don't understand how anyone can look at this and believe Ry should not be terminated I don't understand how one person has become so untouchable it's bizarre to me as a police chief it comes with great Authority and responsibilities you cannot be outstanding in most areas you must be outstanding in all facets of your job Ricky Remy knew this when he accepted the position and his past history shows that he hasn't met the standards set by the city why is this important to reassure the public that their city is in good hands and feel confident that they will be treated fairly during enforcement of the law it can also affect the morale discipline and effectiveness of our police force the police chief position is a unique key leadership position that not just anyone can fulfill because of these reasons I believe he is not the best person to fulfill this position the actions taken on Remy don't match his infractions and he should have been terminated my opinion if you vote no on on this he just just prove my point that Remy is in fact Untouchable out of everything we have voted on this commission resolutions ordinances development orders budgets utility rates and millage rates I believe this will be the most memorable vote and the most talked about as our tenure as commission believe it or not we are writing history of linh Haven by your action or lack of action on this matter when I look back on this I want to be able to look in the mirror and know that I did everything I could to represent the cities of L the citizens of Lin Haven Ure the city took the appropriate a actions I ask you what side of History do you want to be on I personally want to be on the side of right thank you city manager do you have any response to that mayor Chief is a employee just like the other 200 employees that we have we have employees that we repr man several times for different things but what I do not do is go back two years and fire them for something that they did two years ago that's something that I know that we have Grace and surely I'm going to show my employees Grace they Chief has done a very good job but Chief is not Untouchable it's the right thing to do and no one can tell me different that it's the right thing to do I serve a God who is able and you can go talk to him but I know what is the right thing to do I am so sorry that commissioner Ward does not see my way and that's all right as again I said we live in America and we can agree to disagree but what we cannot do is when we disagree is Bully retaliate say things that we shouldn't say to each other we accept our differences we accept our opinions and we move on that's where I am and so Chief Ry has been given 255 days of suspension without pay I think a commissioner said it on Friday how many of us can live live um and lose $9,000 out of your paycheck in one month this city will move on whether you know commissioner work I love you but whether you agree with me or not I just ask that you move on from this and allow the city to move [Music] forward thank you is there a motion for this mayor is it all right if we discuss this before the motion okay all right I just wanted to talk about it before we get like an official vote because a yes and no does not give the whole story so um first I want to say commissioner work I respect you I respect everything that you brought um you as always you do your research and you bring your data um as you know back in back to the labor attorney thing this is a this motion or potential motion coming forward is a censure of the city manager and I was with you when we voted in the minority when the when the commission voted 3 to2 to push forward uh as with recommendation recommendation from the the attorney and so Vicky Gainer was directed to do something by the commission and so and she followed what the the attorneys that the city has hired to do said so I don't while I just I agree that we should have been notified earlier and I agree that things could have been done better I do feel overall that she did what the majority of the commission told her to do and even though I you know I voted in the minority I have to we would be going against the whole purpose of voting if she did something different um but what I also wanted to say was I've gotten more emails and more social media interaction over the past two days and I've gotten my entire tenure and I'll say on the social media side we'll just call it how it is you had the social media the social media side very heavily favored um Chief Ry not being the chief but on the email side I got more emails in favor of not censuring the city manager but what I found is that as I talk to more and more people that the issue at hand is the true issue at hand is people don't want Chief Ry the people that want him gone don't necessarily like some of the citizens said tonight they don't necessarily want him fired they just don't want him in the role of police chief and so I kind of wanted to give some examples so let's let's use um commissioner vandero for example if she was over a school and her assistant principle brought negative publicity to the school and did certain infractions most likely I would imagine would be that that individual would change rules they would become a regular teacher again they would not be fired right and then let's say uh commissioner perno at Bob Brady he has a store manager that has brought negative publicity to be O Brady's the probably would not fire that employee probably would move them to a different role that better suits someone that's ready for that that specific role and then in the military squadron commander I've been in many squadrons where stuff like this has happened they don't kick them out of the military they remove their role as a squadron commander allow them to keep their job but they have returned uh taken away some of their responsibility and uh what I'm trying to say is I think what I've gathered is when when the city manager brought the punishment to me at first I was on I'm going to be honest I was on board I thought okay man yeah he he's already paid tons of lawyer fees I know that lawyers are not cheap especially not whing Graham and then on top of that 25 days suspension that's a I can't that would devastate me and my family if I lost that much pay regardless of what my salary was I budget month to month so losing an entire month of salary that's a lot of money is to me that's not a slap on the wrist okay but anyways but after that happened I saw the feedback from everybody and I hear you and uh what's really come to my attention is not I there of course there's going to be some people that disagree with this and other people that well and some people that are fully on one side or fully on the other but I think the consensus truly is is that as some of the citizens said tonight it's not that we want Ricky Remy to lose his retirement and fire sure it would have been nice if he would have put in his reg resignation but they're saying as a whole we don't trust him as the role of the police chief not that we want him to be fired lose all of his pension 30 plus years however long he's been in the service so what I am asking is if you would consider modifying this to where rather than a censorship of the city manager who I believe even though I was in the minority of the vote did what she believed she was told to do modify the motion to just give a recommendation to the city manager to change the police chief's role as the police chief and allow him to keep his job is that the motion you want to make I'm asking commissioner War if he's willing to modify it because he it's his item [Music] well I mean is that how you feel I guess is what I want to ask do you feel that he should be put in a different position if if it was me I would give him I would do the suspension and then I would have someone else have the leadership but I would allow him to get job so look hold on a second so even if we vote on that we still don't make that decision right right it's a recomend even if we make that recommendation here's what's going to happen we make that recommendation she doesn't do it the next meeting y'all going to be back trying to censor her again so let's just let's just let's just deal with item number 12 which is the censoring of the city manager because we've made everyone has made their recommendations before we're here because she has not followed a particular commissioner's recommendation or a couple of Commissioners recommendations I don't know as you mentioned y'all were in the minority so to modify this to give her direction to demote uh Chief Ry and then as city as City attorney has told us that's not an our perview to give her Direction on how to handle an employee so we can't even vote on that or we shouldn't be even trying to vote on that because that's not within the of the commission okay so first of all there's no y'all okay when I say y'all you're the one making the recommendation yeah but that's what I said was so let so let's go back to number let me finish let's go back to number 12 because there's no need to continue the discussion on demoting Chief Ry because that's not in our purview as a commission but that's not what I said I said make the recommendation it's not even our purview to make the recommendation to do that is yes it is can I can I interrupt real quick I just want to say one thing I think I agree with you because when we all had one-on ones with commissioner gain or commissioner Miss Gainer that was the time for us to express our feedback give her feedback and give our opinion of what should or should not happen cor I think that's fair right but we represent the city and the city saw the what happened and they had feedback to that it's no different than when we make a motion and then we have public commentary City attorney you can direct her to take an action but it's it's null and void because it is outside of your Authority it's not binding on her so that's what I'm saying we can direct her but she still doesn't have to follow that direction per se because that's dealing because we've talked about that before I mean like I I think it was either with Dave Marcy it was commissioner wart brought that up before can he D can we direct her to do that and then what happens if she doesn't do that yeah so that's how we got to the censoring um because that's not in our purview to to and do you remember who we who you asked about that commission a ward I don't remember which do you remember which attorney you asked that question about giving her Direction on I don't know if that was the labor attorney if that was Amy or Kevin I believe it was Miss Myers okay yeah cuz yeah I didn't get much communication with the other one I think that was maybe a pre-commission meeting when we discussed that okay well here's here's what I'll say it sounds like to me if I understand you correctly commissioner Peebles if that's how you truly feel then you don't agree with the decision that Miss Gainer said that Miss Gainer has done it's not a simple yes or no though that's the point I'm trying to get at but I understand that but our vote is going to be yes or no that that's what our vote is going to be so is there a motion to censor uh city manager Vicky ganner is there a motion for that I make a motion to sense City manager is there a second is there a second for this motion motion dies for lack of second moving on to agenda item number 13 discussion and possible approval of resolution 20247 435 amending Chapter 70 and 54 the fee schedule in appendix a utility rates Finance director good evening let me read the resolution first oh yeah resolution of the city of Lin Haven Florida amending Chapter 70 and 50 of the fee schedule and dependance a of the Len Haven code of ordinances providing an effective date good evening as I brought to you in uh earlier this is the recommendation of the finance Review Committee uh for inclusion in the fee schedule uh we have an increase of 15 cents per th gallons in the Water Department a157 per th000 gallons for com for sewer uh $3.75 cents per thousand gallons for commercial sewer and $336 excuse me 3.36% uh increase to the commercial dumpster Sanitation right question I know at pre-commission uh commissioner perel had questions about the commercial and I do know that we've added that in for our discussion in the budget but could you just clarify that for all of us certainly so Waste Pro is the vendor that we use to do commercial dumpsters uh they have increased their rates to the City by 3.36% it's based on the CPI the published CPI uh so in order for us um we will be paying that 3.36 to Waste Pro we are passing on to our customers right to the commercial customers yeah um and I think um that's an increase of how much for the budget it brought in $22,400 to the city yeah so thanks commissioner perno for making that highlight in our pre-commission meeting and um of course if we vote on that then that'll go forward all right is there any um additional questions for the Director of Finance regarding um the utility rates and for I guess one question is um for clarification this is what was recommended to you by the finance Review Committee finance reiew committee reviewed several options this was the option they are recommending to the commission got it so want to be clear for the uh for the community that this this is not just us making this decision um this is something that the citizens looked at and provided to us from that Finance review um committee as well all right is there a motion for this I'd like to make the motion that we we approved but I'd like to discuss or make a statement if I could all right so there's a motion is there a second for this a second all right motion by commissioner perno second by commissioner pebles commissioner perno just I I I'm not beating my chest or anything but I know it's only $222,000 but I know I had the budget meeting with the city manager and the finance director and we we we got work on our hands to find money I I mentioned a couple of things through the through the meeting you know and I don't I don't know what the reaction was or not but I I I said something about what would what would I do we if we went back a half perc on this $555,000 what would it do if we did this and it would and the dollars that you know Kiki's it's not you know it's not we don't know exactly it's it's here and or there variance wise but I just want to charge the fellow Commissioners as as we're stewards for the city let's find as much money as we can in that budget you know let's get in there and do our diligence ask Commissioners to to review that and and make suggestions cuz it's one of the tightest budgets I've seen so far um in in in our you know in my in my time as a commissioner which is that in 50 cents will get you a phone call but I think that we really got our work on our hands and and and and I asked another question is um you know the Departments live and die with these budgets so um I'm going to go out and talk to some department heads and I wish I wish y'all would too so we can Hammer the and and and get everybody's feel for things cuz it's it's serious it's serious business and that you know in my world it's it's different you do you do reverse budgets to try to save money you try to control your variable cost you your fixed cost roll in and you hope there's money at the bottom line you know this is a little bit different because if if you blow a budget item she's going to come before us and say hey we we have to change the budget and we don't like doing that you know because we're going to spend money regardless but we want to stay within the parameters of the budget but there's this is this is some hard lines so it's something we got to work on that's all I'm saying sorry no appreciate that and we have had very in-depth budget discussions with um C manager and finance director um as as well and I think there's one more discussion to be had and then of course we'll get a chance to come together and those budget workshops are going to actually be during our commit meetings um September the 11th will'll be the first one at 5:30 uh so that we can um discuss those together uh any additional discussion on this any comments from the public all right city manager if you call the vote commissioner perno yes commissioner pebles yes commissioner vff yes commissioner Ward yes mayor Nelson yes motion passed quas judicial hearing discussion and possible approval of a request for development order multi-tenant shared infrastructure parcel 11573 00000000 and 11573 0000000000 uh director of Planning and Development you swear from the testimony you'll give tonight is the truth and nothing but the truth I do I'm not seeing my presentation it's on hours well I can't see it guys would you can you see I can now thank you Harold um so this is an application for a development order for multi-tenant shared infrastructure the applicant is Blake McRae the owner is 390 Lin Haven LLC and the agent is James lenina from Han Panhandle engineering who I believe is here tonight if you have any questions the project engineer is also James lenina and the reviewing engineer is Chris shorta from dubury there are two parcel numbers involved 11573 000000000000 and 11573 d-10 the property as is at 2604 Highway 390 and is approximately 16 acres in size the future land use map category is commercial and it's currently vacant they are request T ing to be able to construct storm water facilities to accommodate the proposed Circle K gas station plus future development that will go on site the storm water infrastructure and Landscaping will also be um constructed and uh the Planning Commission recommended approval by a 4 to1 vote there are two Parcels this is one of the parcels in red here and the second parcel is this corner parcel the storm water ponds are going to be along Highway 390 one of them will be on that larger parcel and the second one will be on this smaller parcel this um this one here this parcel you can see in red is where the Circle K is proposing to go but they cannot bring their development order to you until those storm water ponds have had approval because that development is going to need to discharge its storm water into those ponds which will also serve the remainder of the parcel when something comes before you as a development order are there any additional questions for Miss Amanda I just want to restate the question I had on Friday it pretty it was obvious to me that those stormw War ponds are going to be right on 390 but then they're going to come through well at a later date you don't know when you can't predict the future but and they're they're going to they're going to get they're going to get taken away when they widen the road would you like Mr Selena to address that I I think Jim will tell me the answer I just wanted to I just wanted to educate the public Salone in panhandle engineering we did it for you Pat thanks lien up this attitude around um than think about it dot comes in and acquires property let's say we push that um sea store right up to the front do comes in takes 75 ft takes out their pumps they owe them 10 million bucks I put my storm water Pond out in front they take the storm water Pond they didn't even damage the operating Bill business eot pays a tenth the price for the taking and the business we don't lose any business in Lin Haven you may notice that I did that three years ago four years ago five years AG now this hurricane gets my brain about five six years ago when we did um Dollar General right next door it's storm water ponds right out in front um I had somebody ask me that same question a while back and they said oh dot will never let you put it out there I said they're paying a tenth you know it's actually good planning if you know what's going to happen you just have to talk Circle K and pushing their building back 75 ft so and I'd like to add to the storm water management which is a the important thing our our aspect is the parent parcel owner who sells to these pads we're we're putting in a turn lane and two driveways on um 390 we've brought in water and sewer from across the road City Water and Sewer to the property and the storm water pond so we're providing joint infrastructure um and you annexed the land into Lin Haven as well right and we annexed into linh Haven yes we did um in fact I think it was this project was the impetus of the um inter local agreement we got with the county to work with um utility service areas do what's do what in everybody's best interest now all of a sudden caway get the same one and everybody so it's it's been a good idea um uh I um right now Circle K and the reason that one parcel was cut out Circle K even though they will not own the land have a lease and they wanted to have parcel of record for a lease Stafford the parent company is going to maintain ownership they're just land leasing we laid out two other Parcels on the um the right hand side because we need to do a traffic study and things like this um it could end up being one parcel Okay so we've been negotiating with the two different groups Car Wash and a sea store I mean you have a qsr quick serve restaurant but um there's no telling something else could buy that prop that property the 12 acres behind us behind that Frontage is um going to be sold and probably I would think it'd be more of a quasi uh residential mode than I think hard commercial we've laid out a shopping center on it just haven't got a lot of bites yet not not enough not enough people out there got it all right thank you any additional questions for um Mr Selena Mr Jim I didn't mean to put you on the spot but I knew you could tell people better than I would and and a regular Joe would have the same question so it got answered for me on Friday but logic works out when you you know yes sir it does thank you I was resting up back there thanks for bringing it in to LY Haven is there a motion for this I'd like to make motion to approve the storm water pawns I'll second all right motion by commissioner perno second by commissioner Peebles um any public comment C man if you call the vote commissioner perno yes commissioner Peebles yes commissioner Vandergriff yes commissioner War yes mayor nson yes motion pass public hearing closes at 7 54 and for discussion only of proposed amendment to section 5.1.3 unified Land Development code accessory structures and residential land use districts we got I guess about five minutes to discuss this so thank you um yeah so this is something that the uh Planning Commission discussed they had a workshop on this and wanted it brought to you for your discussion um to basically see if you wanted to tighten up the the allowances or requirements um for accessory structures because as they currently stand all we have are setbacks and percentage of the size of the the building that is currently like on the site so it can't be any more than 50% of the size of the building it has to be either in the side or the rear yard but we don't have anything that specifies what a building is what kind of structure is allowed um in one part of the code it says build but then a building but then what is a building we allow people to bring in sheds that are already built and put them on a pad and so now we have people that are wanting to bring in shipping containers and put them in their backyards which the neighbors may or may not appreciate thank you I know we discussed this on Friday and just asked that we all sort of went home thought about it over the weekend so if we got feedback from the public um commissioner peoples any input feedback on this yeah I had some uh good discussions about this and I think um uh what makes sense for this situation is we don't it's kind of a conflicting thing because you don't want to get into like a point to where you're taking away property rights but you also need to be respectful of your neighbor so um I think that what sounds like a good thing for this is if we allow it there's certain restrictions like it must be strapped down because it needs to be safe if you want to have this you must have a uh privacy fence at least 6 feet high um and it must meet the setback um requirements and if if it meets those three things and maybe we could add something that you can't stack them or something like that if we if we add certain things like that it still allows them to do it it's just respectful to their neighbor and I feel like it's not really taking away their property right you're still allowing them to do it I think also too you talked about size right right yeah size yeah that would be something that we would have to look at cuz do we want the um train cart sizes or shipping container sizes which we are seeing becoming very popular or what we want more of like the mini pod sizes or um and of course the uh the outdoor she sheds those can be different sizes as well um so and not that we're limiting those but uh but yeah so I think sizes will be something for us to consider and again tonight is not for us to vote on this but just to get some input um let our citizens hear our thoughts on this and then uh you know move forward with is there a particular time frame in which you would like for us to make a decision on this no sir okay um and so you'll know these are these will be the issues that we'll be discussing not that we can't make a decision on this now uh or at the next meeting or so but it's these type of things once we get to the U ODC um that we will be discussing those regulations getting into sort of the the the meat of everything um once we get finished with our um comprehensive plan commissioner perno any input just just possibly a question to the City attorney um there any other misali because I know your your law firms represents several that may have not without Reinventing the wheel you might have verbage on this so there are other municipalities in Bay County that have addressed this issue and some allow them as a temporary use as opposed to a permanent accessory structure others have approved them just like you're talking about with certain conditions we we can possibly get educated by her okay I give you a survey of what others have done yeah so when we have our next commission meeting if we could add this back to the agenda for a little more discussion thank you because I just even though I said there wasn't a Time on it if someone came to us again and said can I have one I I don't really know how to respond to that because we're no right now so so you continue to say no but we'll continue discussion on this as we get uh more input commissioner work anything you like to input on this Commission of vag Griff any input on this um is this one of the items uh that zoning would help with or I know we've been not necessarily because this would be like on a res if we're talking about for residences then this would NE zoning would necessarily um address this issue in regards to residences so all right ALS hey meeting adjourned