Good evening. I'd like to call to order the board of commissioners regular meeting. Today is Wednesday, July the 9th. It is 6 p.m. City attorney, would you please lead us in the invocation and pledge of allegiance? Our
he heavenly father, as the citizens of the city of MadiRaa Beach meet together to address our local concerns and opportunities, we give thanks to you for the bounty that we enjoy in all aspects of our community life. We ask for your inspiration to strive for excellence in our endeavors to serve the public and
please grant us peace in our world and harmony between all people to your greater glory. This we pray. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. City clerk, would you please call the role? Mayor Brooks here. Vice Mayor Kerr here. Commissioner Taglery. Commissioner McGee
here. Commissioner Gabbay here. Commissioner Tagleri is absent. Thank you. Do we have an approval of the agenda? Like to make a motion to approve the agenda as written. Do we have a second? Second. City clerk, would you call the role,
please? Vice Mayor Kerr? Yes. Commissioner Gavay? Yes. Commissioner McGee? Yes. Mayor Brooks? Yes. The motion carried four to zero. Next on the agenda is proclamations.
Proclamation for Parks and Recreation for the month of 2025, month of July 2025. Whereas parks and recreation are an integral part of communities throughout this country, including the city of Madiraa Beach. And whereas parks and recreation promote
health and wellness, improving the physical and mental health of people who live near parks. And whereas parks and recreation promote time spent in nature, which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and
well-being and alleviating illnesses such as depression, attention deficit disorders, and Alzheimer's. And whereas parks and recreation encourage physical activities by providing space for popular sports,
hiking trails, swimming pools, and many other activities designed to promote active lifestyles. And whereas parks and recreation are a leading provider of healthy meals, nutrition services, and education. And
whereas parks and recreation programming and education activities such as out of school time programming, youth sports and environmental education are critical to childhood development. And whereas parks and recreation increase a
community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism, the attraction and retention of businesses and crime reduction. And whereas parks and
recreation are fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community. And whereas parks and recreation are essential and adaptable infrastructure that make our communities resilient in the face of natural disasters and climate change. And
whereas our parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and provide a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors. And whereas the US House of Representatives
has designated July as Parks and Recreation Month. And whereas the city of Madiraa Beach recognizes the benefits of park park and recreation resources. Now therefore, Im Marie Brooks, mayor of the city of
MadiRaa Beach, Florida, do hereby recognize July 25th as Parks and Recreation Month. J. Next on the agenda is presentations. Presentation mosquito control and
vegetation management by Penllis County. Thank you, mayor and commissioner. I'd like to introduce from Penllis County Public Works, Mosqu Mosquito Control, Vegetation Management, Alyssa Barrow and Caroline Scott. Welcome.
Good evening, everyone. So, as introduced, my name is Caroline Scott. I'm the senior environmental specialist with Penllis County Mosquito Control and Vegetation Management. I also have my section manager, Alyssa Barrow, with Penllis County Mosquito Control and Vegetation Management. And today we'd like to provide you just a
quick presentation on mosquito control, how it's operated here in Penllis County, how residents can protect themselves, and a quick Q&A and any questions we can answer. So with that, we're going to go ahead and start with the world's deadliest animal, which
believe it or not, it's not a venomous snake, it is not a crocodile, it is not a shark, it is in fact the mosquito. So statistically we see that over 650 million pe excuse me people are infected with a mosquitob born illness every
year. Roughly half of those deaths are contributed to malaria which is one of the mosquitob born illnesses we look at and mosquitoes kill more people in one day than sharks have in a 100 years. So that is a huge statistic that makes it really important to have some sort of
control moving forward. Why do we look at that here in the state of Florida? Well, the state of Florida has a history of mosquito-b born illness. Back in the 1800s when we started settling and establishing the state, there was multiple outbreaks of mosquitoborn
illnesses. One infamous one would be our malaria bell where the northern part of Florida that was being settled had that nickname for the number of cases of malaria they saw. Now in today with modern mosquito control we do not see as many cases but
they are still a threat and so today we can see travel cases of Zika malaria chaguna deni and we also can see locally acquired cases which means they come from right here without any travel to another country of West Nile St. Louis
and sephanolitis or eastern ecquin and sephilitis. So, it's important to have some kind of mosquito control available because we want to make sure our public health is protected from these diseases. So, what are we looking at at mosquito control? Well, if we ever have a
possible case of a mosquitob born illness, we mosquito control will work with the Florida Department of Health. If a provider, a medical provider finds that their patient is suspected of having a mosquito-born illness, they will contact the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Department of
Health will contact us and we want to make sure we are doing whatever we can to minimize any potential transmission to our residents. Now, the tricky part with mosquitoborn illnesses is most of the time you will never know that you
have one. West Nile, for example, has a statistic where about 80% of people who have West Nile show no symptoms whatsoever. But for the few that do show symptoms, they can be devastating and they can be deadly. So they can be sick anywhere
from 2 to 14 days after being bit by an infected mosquito. Symptoms can include high fever, joint pain, pain behind the eyes and then of course encphilitis would be more of those severe symptoms where you can have the inflammation.
Now residents who are 50 years or older, people who have a mono autoimmune compromised systems, even children in some cases can be especially susceptible to some of these symptoms and the severity of those symptoms.
So, we encourage anyone who has any symptoms, right? Whether it's a headache, a fever, and if they've also been recently bit by a mosquito to contact their local provider and their provider will make that decision if there needs to be any additional testing and contact with the Florida Department of Health.
Moving on, let's talk about the mosquito side and kind of how these diseases play a part altogether. In the state of Florida, there is not just one mosquito. Believe it or not, there are 90 different species in the state of Florida and 40 of them reside right here
in Penllis County. Now, out of those 40 species, not every species is going to be a threat to the public health. We have about 17 species here in the county that we would consider a threat to public health because they can either vector disease or they are a high
nuisance, so they bite. Other species like the one in the bottom corner on the finger actually eats other mosquitoes as its main source of food. And we have other mosquitoes that will bite other organisms like birds, reptiles, and leeches. So not every
mosquito is a bad mosquito. They also all are pollinators. So there is a benefit to mosquitoes. They drink nectar as their main source of food. It's just the females that will bite another organism such as a person to obtain protein to make blood or I'm sorry to make eggs.
So, we take that into consideration at mosquito control. We have staff that are certified and trained to identify mosquitoes down to the species because we are just focused on the ones that are a concern to our public health. Now, when we look at our mosquitoes, we
also consider their life cycle. So, believe it or not, a mosquito can go from an egg to an adult in about 5 to 7 days. And in our warmer temperatures, that can be shorter to 3 to 5 days. Now, mosquitoes start their life out as an egg. And once they're an egg, they need
to get into contact with water in order to hatch as a larvae. Now, they don't need a lot of water. They only need a/4 in. So, that's about the depth of a bottle cap. So, when we talk about standing water, sometimes that can be a misconception of a lot of water. Not
always the case. Also, depending on the species, they can utilize salt water, they can utilize brackish water, they can utilize fresh water. It all just depends on what species we are talking about. But once they emerge as a larvae, then they're going to eat and grow and become
a pupa. You can think of that like a butterfly. When a butterfly goes into that crystallis stage, that is the same stage for a mosquito where the inside of their body is starting to change and then they will eventually emerge as an adult out of the water. With that,
we want to make sure that we understand what's going on in the county in terms of all stages of mosquitoes, what species we're talking about. And we do that in mosquito control by again using our vision and our goal of protecting public health. That is our number one
goal. We also consider this idea that, you know, we want our residents and our visitors to enjoy the outdoors, especially beautiful areas like our Gulf beaches. So we take those high nuisance mosquito species into consideration and we do that through education. We do that
through monitoring and we do it through our practice that is called integrated mosquito management. Basically what integrated mosquito management means is we're using a bunch of tools on our tool belt to try and control these populations to an acceptable level. And that's where again our education, our
monitoring, our treatments, they're all going to come together into play. Now, some of our programs I've mentioned the monitoring. We have programs including our Sentinel chickens. So, we own chickens here at Mosquito Control and we have eight coups that are set throughout the county. Our chickens play
an important role because as I've mentioned earlier, we have mosquitoes that do prefer to bite birds and with our West Nile St. Louis and eastern equin and sephilitis, those locally transmittable diseases we see here in the state, they naturally go from
mosquito to bird, mosquito to bird. Sometimes those mosquitoes decide they want to bite a person or a horse and so those possibilities of those diseases can spill over into our population. So our sentinel chickens are a nice way to
track if there is a mosquito-born illness in an area before someone ever becomes uh ill, hopefully not. And we do that by we test the chicken's blood once a week. We send that blood off to the Department of Health and then they'll
give us results in the same week. The chickens luckily experience no physical illness if they do come with one of these diseases. They just produce antibodies in their blood that we're able to see through testing. And our chickens get privately adopted through either individuals or we work with a
couple local nokill farms afterwards. So they have a great job I think here in the county. So outside of the chickens, we also have traps. We have 57 permanent traps. we have set throughout the county. Plus, we set out additional depending on what cases we're working.
And then with our traps, they're checked usually on a daily or bi- basis by our staff. And our staff will actually ID each mosquito down to the species so we know what we're working with and what is a potential threat. Outside of our monitoring, we also do regular
inspections. So, we have 12 wonderful, excuse me, technicians who go around the county. They also will do service requests, which is when a resident can call and tell us about a mosquito problem they feel they're having on their property and they will go out and inspect the property with that owner's
permission. We also have regular sites that we check year round. Outside of that, we also do our education and our uh I already mentioned the service request, but our education program, that's where I come in. I do all of the education and outreach for the county. We have classroom programs
that we do. We have HOA community meetings such as tonight. We do booth events. We provide information and it's all free of charge. So, we just find whatever ways we can to work with the public and talk with our residents and tell them about, you know, what we do,
but also what they can do. And then finally, our treatment options. We do also do treatments. We have ground treatments that we can either do by hand, we can do by backpack, we can also do by overnight truck. And then we have a helicopter that does also do granular
product treatments. So we have two different kinds of treatments. We do larvaide treatments, which is when we're targeting the mosquito larve, which is one of the better ways of doing it if you're trying to make sure you're tackling a population before they become biting adults. And then we also have our
adulticide treatment, which is going to be what maybe you know as fogging or spraying, which is when we're targeting those adult mosquitoes. So, those kind of are all of our roles. In terms of residents roles or an individual's roles, there's a couple different ways that you can combat
preventing mosquitoes and protecting yourself from mosquito bites. Some of those great great ways are going to include dumping standing water. That is the number one way really we promote is dumping out any standing water because you are eliminating the breeding ground
for any possible mosquitoes. So, we have examples of dumping out bird baths, pet dishes, any kind of equipment that's sitting on a property. If you can't dump it out, let's say you have a rain barrel, that's awesome, and we want you to utilize that, but then cover it. Make
sure the mosquitoes do not have access to that rain barrel or any other equipment that you can't physically dump out. We also recommend treating. So if you have like an ornamental pond, if you have bromeilads, if you have a pool that's in disrepair, there are a couple
options you can do which include using BTI which is basillus theangensis. It is a natural soil bacterium that we actually use at mosquito control. You can also buy it at most hardware stores under the names mosquito dunks, mosquito
bits. If you can't do that, we also recommend using what we call mosquito fish. They're a native cambia and they are great for pools that are in disrepair or any ornamental ponds. They're a native fish that grows to be about 2 to three inches long and they
eat mosquito larve as their main source of food and a single mosquito fish can eat about a 100 larve a day. So that is a great number. How do you get mosquito fish? Well, you just call us. We actually breed them on site and we give them away for free to residents. We just
have a technician come out, evaluate the site that it's appropriate for the mosquito fish to be viable in, and then they will place the fish. And if you can't do any of those, then try and remove remove whatever is collecting that water. If you don't need
it, put it away. So, those are some of our biggest tips. I also have pictures of what the BTI, the mosquito bits or dunks look like. And I also have a picture if you click one more time of our mosquito fish and it is actively eating a mosquito larve
outside of the dumping standing water. Again, we're looking around the home. The mosquito only needs a quarter inch of water to live. So I just give another example of what you can maybe look for in your own yard or what we encourage residents to look for in their yard. So, pools, bird baths, pet dishes, tires,
bermilads, buckets, anything. Anything that collects water. Let's say you're out though, right? You can't dump standing water cuz you're out at the park or on the beach. We recommend you dress and defend yourself. So, dressing appropriately would include
wearing long sleeved, light colored, loose fitting clothing. I always like to recommend like those dry fit or moisture wicking clothes because I know it can get very very hot during the summer months. So you have to be careful how you dress. But also defending any
repellent that is approved by the EPA for use, which when you flip over a mosquito repellent and you look at the label, it'll have an EPA registration number right on it. We recommend that you use those according to their labels. So there's different ingredients that
have been approved by the EPA including DE oil of lemon eucalyptus, picaridin, IR 3535. Those are all approved ingredients and we just recommend that you read the label because sometimes we'll have mosquito repellents that will last 6
hours, sometimes they'll only last 2 hours. It's like sunscreen where you just have to be mindful about how often do you have to apply it. Um, we do not recommend, if you see on the bottom here, those gone wristbands or kind of anything that's a sticker or in a one
place on your body. We don't recommend those only because they're protecting that one little area of your body. You want any available uh property for that mosquito covered or protected with a repellent because they will find it.
So outside of that, we just also like to acknowledge some of the myths that maybe go around with mosquito control and how to protect yourself because we want to make sure our residents are educated on how to protect themselves. So things like mosquito plants, which would be your citronanella, your lavender,
yes, those plants have essential oil inside of them, that can have repelling properties, but unless you plan on planting that plant and then burning your garden down the same night, they're never going to excrete those oils properly. So they're a nice ornamental
plant, maybe not the best option for protecting yourself. Same thing with like bug zappers. Bug zappers can be indiscriminatory against other insects and you every single mosquito may not fly into that bug zapper. It's also attracting many insects. So, it sometimes does the
opposite of what that resident wants. Uh batous, there has been a study out about bats and mosquitoes and the correlation. And we just always like to dispel that bats can eat mosquitoes. It's not going to be their main source of food. They're
going to look for more caloric rich, you know, bugs, beetles, moths. A mosquito is going to be more like a potato chip to them. Uh, consumption of garlic, vitamin B, or bananas. Sometimes people feel if they consume those products, it makes their
blood unattractable for a mosquito. There really hasn't been any research out there to prove that. Repellent bands and wristbands, as I mentioned, ultrasonic devices and cell phone apps. There's an app for everything and believe it or not they are out there so
but they do not work. Dragonfly mimics and then our most recent viral sensation is the mosquito buckets or mosquito buckets of doom which is where you fill a bucket with water, some grass and then you put the mosquito dunks that BTI inside.
It's marketed as attracting mosquitoes into one area and killing them all on site. It's not quite the case. it actually may create another breeding ground on your property instead. So, we encourage the elimination of standing water, not the introduction of it.
And outside of that, we have a website that has a plethora of resources for our residents, including what our programs are, how to reach out to us, how to do things like a service request. We also recently launched our public treatment map so all residents in the county can
see in real time where we are treating by overnight truck or where we are treating by helicopter. Uh we put those kind of as needed. So once we have data available for those treatments then we post those out. We never plan anything days months in
advance. It's as our data comes in every day. But residents can take that map and utilize it. And it also has a 30-day history. So, if they're curious about if there was a recent treatment, they can definitely go on there and see when that has been done.
And I have the QR code, but it's also right on our website. So, outside of that though, if you have mosquito issues, if you know someone that has mosquito issues, please, please, please, please give us a call. You can also email us and I can provide you that
information. You can also utilize the Cclick Fix app through the county. But please, we are a free service. We want to help. We want to make sure our public health is protected. And with that, I'd like to open it up to any questions you all might have.
Do we have any public comments? Questions? Commission questions? Sure. I have a question. Sure. This was so educational. Thank you. Presentation was wonderful. I learned a lot. Um, I guess it's safe to assume that
mosquitoes are generally seasonal, right? Do we It's not year round that we have high population of mosquitoes. So, that's a great question. Mosquitoes are here year round. Now, in our winter
months, you may not notice them as much because it depends on is their habitat available in terms of is there enough standing water? Also, temperature plays a part because insects, they can increase their life cycle in terms of their metabolic process with warmer
temperatures. They're cold-blooded. So, when we have those cooler temperatures, which I know the one or two weeks through the year when we have the cool temperature, they can actually slow down their life cycle process. So, they may not be as noticeable, but they are year round. And just like what before, some of our diseases like
West Nile, those can also be year round. So, the threat is always there. Well, I'm going to be a lot more careful with mosquitoes from here on. Wonderful. Thank you. Great presentation. Thank you. Definitely very informative. I learned a lot also. It's Thank you very much for
coming out today. Um, how about the getting back to the dragon flies? Does the county drop the dragonflies? And if so, how when do they do that? No. So, we do not drop dragonflies. Um, we have a population. I mean, we have
dragon flies already throughout the county and they're in many different water bodies. Dragonfly nymphs, which are the baby form of dragon flies, will also eat mosquito larve, so they are a natural control, but we don't drop any or do anything of that sort with dragon
flies. Oh, okay. Thank you. Thank you for coming out. Your presentation was great. Do um do citroronella candles help or they or or or not?
So the trick with citronanella candles is once you light the candle, it's going to maybe have a foot to I would say three foot radius at most. And that's if it's not windy, right? As soon as it's windy, it's being blown in one
direction. I would recommend there is a product. It's a spatial repellent, which means it volatilizes the repellent into the surrounding area. Um, the most notable brand would be Thermosel if you've ever heard of it. And Thermosels
are advertised to do a 15 ft range. I've seen some that are 20, but the one I personally have is 15 ft. Those are going to be a better option because they have an actual ingredient. They're volatilizing and you just still have to be careful of the wind, but it's going
to cover much more than your citroronella candle would. Okay. Um I know the city has I mean the whole reason you're here is because many complaints about the mosquitoes right now and I don't know if that has to do with pools that aren't
being kept up because of the hurricane or because we have so many building lots now that may be having standing water. I'm not sure. But on the building lots, is that something that we should talk to you about maybe coming out to spray or I
mean it's it's it's I know where my building lot is, our home used to be. Um you can't walk in the street in the evening. It it it's just terrible. And I think that's kind of where this whole request came from
for you to be here tonight. Yeah. So I can take that one. Um, one of the things that we are seeing across the board along our communities that are coastal that really got hit hard with like surge during Helen, um, things like that where you have a lot of damage to properties where you have vacant
properties. What we are seeing is we do have some bad pools that are mixed in. Um, in a bad pool I would expect to see a species of mosquitoes. The general would be qlex. They like dirty water. Um, so these bad pools would be the
perfect place for that. So there are localized areas we will see those bad pools uh having an impact. Most of what we're seeing which includes I was able to take a look through your service requests that have come in and our data for MadiRaa Beach. Most of what we're seeing is going to be 80s Egypt eye
which is more of a container breeder. 80s Egypt eye is the one that you're going to see it later at night uh maybe in the evening time. You'll see it early in the morning. hallmark is if you're getting bit, especially lower extremities, um that is a hallmark of 80s Egypt eye. The reason why you're
going to see a huge uptick in that is with those vacant properties, if there is any kind of even if it's under construction and there's a way for that water to pull, especially now that we have the rainy season kicking in, that's what we're seeing. And the biggest challenge with that is that with private
property, we do not have the ability to just get on private property. we do have to work with that property owner and get that permission to go on uh property to do any kind of treatment. And the other challenge with vacant properties is if somebody is not living there or routinely going there, you have a long
period of time where it's not getting upkept. So the water isn't getting dumped. And so even if we placed a treatment, we have some extended release things that we can uh we can dump dump the water that's there and we can place uh essentially mosquito dunks and bits in the area. Those are only going to go
for about 30 days maybe and that's when it would need to be reapplied. The other thing is that I know there was question about whether or not we could spray more in those neighborhoods. 80s Egypt eye because of the time period that they're actually active more daytime where you're going to see them like in the
evenings. We do not fog during that time period because we are looking to avoid people in pollinators. And most of the mosquitoes that we're targeting have a peak time somewhere between 2 and 6 a.m. which is why that's when we we're running fogging missions. So it doesn't match up during the daytime. We are not
going to run a fogging truck because that could be very detrimental having so many people out. We don't want to be um inadvertently spraying anybody. We also don't want to hit up those pollinators that are flying during the daytime. So really it's that dumping standing water. The challenge is how best can we work
with all of our municipalities to get on those properties and be able to try and treat them as we can. Mosquito fish for the bad pools we can certainly place. Um, and again, it's just a matter of being able to get on those properties. So, if it's a whole community effort, we
are happy to work with codes um, and work and have codes sharing information. and we share information with them so that if they're able to get on property, we can come on with you and go place those fish, we can do some of those treatments. Um, if you know your neighbor um and where they live and
they're just not living there, even just getting in touch with them and having them give us permission to be able to go on property is so helpful because outside of that, really our only recourse is if we believe there might be a public health threat, we can start a process of placing a trap. Then we have
to monitor the trap and show that there is an elevated number of mosquitoes that may have a public health threat. But then we have to start a a process of sending letters to try and resolve the situation. So it's a long process. It's not something that we can resolve very quickly.
Is there an online sign up that would actually give you authorization to come on? Let's say I wanted to give you my information and say yes, please, please come and and and spray. Is there an online? So that's through click fix and things like that. Um when you go on our
website, we have the mosquito control email address. People can email in and say this is my address. I would like to initiate a service request. You have permission to come on my property. Please um we'll we'll schedule the service request that way. Cclick fix. It's uh for private property, it's
usually done through service requests when that property owner reaches out to us. So you be able to have that permission. We do have to speak with them or have them somehow communicate in that they are the property owner and attest to that. Okay. Is longer grass is that an issue
for mosquito? Not for breeding. They will harbor in longer grass sometimes, but it's not something that's going to contribute to the mosquitoes have going through their life cycle. Really, it's that standing water. If we get rid of that standing water, that eliminates them.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So, I just have to I wanted to clarify on the flyer that we received um and we po I think we posted this same flyer on our website or on our Facebook that office phone number if a resident of
MadiRaa Beach calls that number they can ask for service through that. Yes. But it would be better number but it would be better if they emailed. Nope. Either way, um when they call into that 7503 number, they directly talk to our admin at mosquito control. He's very
knowledgeable. He can help them through the process and he puts it in directly. Okay. Another route is public works has a general um line that is the 8900 number. So it would be 727-4648900. They can call in through there and get assistance to put in a service request
or cclick fix or the mosquito control email. All of those ways suffice and we do not have to be a participant in that service call. Nope, you don't. I just wanted to clarify that. Someone had said that direct. did and I'm like I don't think so. Okay, awesome. Thank you for coming. It was very informative. I have one more question.
Okay. If a resident were to email or call after the inspection or treatment is done, do they get any kind of followup saying you really, you know, any remarks that were taken on that property, you really need to keep this turned upside down or Yeah.
Yeah. So, if the property owner is home while that happens, the technician will talk directly to them. But we also have a door hanger that we will put onto the residence store that kind of talks about it'll have a comment section and talk about what happened and it also gives
them a little bit of information on what they can do. And then it also has links to our website if they want any further clarification on why we did what we did and what we found. Yeah. And that's great. But there's so many people that are not living there anymore. Um so the door hanger may not
really get seen. That's why I was just wondering if there's a um if they give you an email or something if there's any kind of we traditionally do the the door hangers for our follow-ups, but um if they want to if they're not there and they're not going to be able to pick up a door hanger, they can always contact in and
we can tell them directly what the tech was finding um in our system, we're able to see all of the comments that the tech makes, including any pictures that they provide. Oh, great. Great. Yeah. So, we can talk through all of that if they want to call in. Okay. because I think I think a lot of residents may not really be living here
right now. That makes sense. Yeah. And it was a very hard hit. So, you know, pools that are not operational that um there's just a ton of conversations that you know are kind of endless. So, um appreciate everything
you're doing. Absolutely. We're here to help. Yep. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next on the agenda is preparing your organization for a major hurricane. Um this was the presentation that was given
at the big C meeting two weeks ago and we talked about it briefly in the meeting two weeks ago here but I thought that it would be informative to share when you go through the presentation it asks questions gives you guidance of what what you should be doing to be
prepared. So I put together a list of questions out of this presentation and Robin and staff gathered together some information. So I want to share that information here with you guys tonight. So the first page is just talking about
it's just the introduction page. On the second page it talks about the main objectives of the presentation which is to provide interactive information, discuss lessons and define risk management. on the next slide. Um before insurance coverages and provisions, the
understanding your coverage. So for our city, our deductibles for nonhurricane non flood is $2,500. Deductible for a named storm is 5% and
it is subject to a $35,000 minimum. The deductible for flood is $2500 with the exception of zones AV and excess of NFIP whether purchased or not.
Um we do have blanket not specified coverage and when you go down that um to important coverage provisions we have extra expenses of a million dollar business interruption 500,000
our PTO is provided automatically for the property within a th000 ft of a covered location we are covered for inland marine and we do have a $250,000 mitigation coverage. Um, there are some exclusions. I did not
have the insurance policy to read that, so I'm not exactly sure what our exclusions would be, but on our flood coverage, we are covered through NFIP. We move on to before valuations and placement.
Um, they recommended that you do a appraisal every 3 to four years at a minimum. Our last appraisal was done in 2021. And we do do an annual valuation trending. Our full appraisal will be
completed in 2026 by Centurisk at no risk to the city. Um I did send Robin a note and asked him why was there a reason we didn't do it. I mean just because they recommend every 3 to four years doesn't mean that that has to be what it is, but was there a
reason why we weren't doing a 3 to four year? Um on values should be nominally adjusted annually. We do do that. And then the other items on there I think are pretty self-explanatory in that
information. So when you go on to the next page to develop your COOP, which is a continuity of operations plan, we have a very well-ritten emergency operations plan that addresses everything in that.
And we actually um voted on that every year. the um that plan gets updated and it comes before us in a resolution to vote on and we did vote on that recently. I think that if you didn't take the time to read it when we voted on it, it's very informative to go back
and read it. I actually went back and read it because it didn't really occur to me when I asked the question about whether or not we had a coupe plan, but when Robin sent me back the data and said, you know, our emergency operations plan, I was like,
uh, it's the same to me, same thing. And so, as I was reading through our emergency operations, it gets updated with contacts and things change and if they change, that gets updated. But it would, if you took the time to read it, I think you would get a lot out of it in
understanding how we how we, and by we, I mean the staff manages through a storm. It's it gives a very detailed um time frame on that. And then on the identifying pre-storm to-do list, our
EOP gives a very very detailed information on the roles and responsibilities of pre and posttorm. In addition, our public works department has a very detailed prep list and the city for the city prestorm as well as a
city park inspection checklist and they are reviewed and updated yearly similar to the EOP. Um, specifically with public works, things that would be added would be, you know, we added a generator, so that's something else that has to be added to their checklist for fuel and
things like that. And then pre-torrm to-do list are we do have pre- disaster contracts that are in place. We piggyback off the county and we contract for some. Um our emergency contact list is included
in our EOP. So um that is created and updated yearly. And then the next slide is activate continuity operations plans. We plan for possible challenges and adjust as needed. And
I think that all of us saw when we had the storm how city staff did adjust as needed. When things came up that there were issues that we had never dealt with before, they they just pivoted and changed and made those adjustments. And
I personally viewed the way that it was handled as fantastic. um when some when when staff would see something that didn't work, they talked, they came up with a way to do it different and they did.
And then next is during for communication. Um we do not have a dedicated PIO. I h am hopeful that we will hire one and our next budget season or in the budget that we're working on. Um but during the storm we all learned
that information given the type of storm we had last year. getting information out was not the easiest thing in the world. And staff has added different means of communication which I think is wonderful and I believe they continue to
look for better ways for us to communicate with the public during monitor of stat the status of the event. Um there's lots of things to monitor. Robin is in the he is he is our main person. he and the chief and I
think that during they have that down pat for what they did. They knew their roles. They knew what their responsibility was and the city staff did a great job on all of that. And then complete preparedness activities pre-landfall. This is just a
list of things that need to be done prior to the high winds and rain. All of these things are listed in our emergency operations manual and are handled as well. The after damage assessment,
um, I can tell you that day one after the storm, city staff was out doing assessments. They weren't only assessing the property that the city owns, they were assessing the community as a whole. And that was a collaborative effort, not
just by the city manager and public works, but planning department was out, the permit department was out, everyone was boots on the ground working to get those assessments out. Then mitigate property damage. Um,
that's getting in and quickly cleaning up what you can. Uh we know that when Hela came through our planning department, permitting and planning downstairs flooded, they were here the very next day and got a mediation company in. It was the the importance of
getting it done was there and they understood that operational resumption. Um we did relocate a lot of services. We ended up after Milton having the recreation department come over to city hall. We had permit and planning and zoning came
up from downstairs to upstairs and so city staff under Robin's direction leadership did quickly moved people around. I don't know that they all love being where they are right now. Recreation has gotten to go back to their homes. So, they have to
be a little bit happier, but um we still have the permit and planning department are upstairs in the fishbowl sharing space and sharing the chamber during the day as well. And then issuance claim insurance claim workflows. Um I'm just going to kind of
skip over that because the insurance claims it's with FEMA. There was um I went one day with Robin. I happened to be here and got to participate um in observing. The FEMA crew came out
and Megan and Robin met with them and I got to tag along to see it's it's a lot of work to go through. It's just like going with an insurance adjuster. You have to do all of this with the insurance adjuster. You have to do it all with FEMA. They document everything.
So when you move on to the next slide slide and it talks about repairs, we all know that the repairs take a long time. Um this presentation said 30 to 30 days to a year. It's it is as we all can see
it is very timeconuming because we are a coastal community. You can take Kitty Stewart Park as an example. It isn't just okay let's go put the seaw wall back and let's build the parking lot back. You have to have a wave runup analysis there. You have to have
engineering. There's lots of effort and work and time that goes into it. And then there's the bidding process, you know, to get because we have our procedures of how things go when you're spending over a certain amount of money. So the repairs are, as homeowners know,
time consuming and takes the time. and then after FEMA can be a whole another story. But so I just wanted to share that I thought it was interesting. I um I know that when I was reading through some of these when
they presented it at the big C, I didn't really know the answers to it. Um but I found it interesting to get the answers and be able to read the data and understand. And it also reminded me, like I said, what a great job staff did
do. And as a reminder for anyone who's forgotten it, they were here seven days a week and they worked seven days a week and most of them had their own homes that or not most but many of our staff had their own homes that were flooded.
They had their families at home that were having their own um displacement and they were here taking care of our city and taking care of our residents. So do you have any questions? Public comment. Do you have any
questions? It's um I didn't realize that the insurance was such a big piece for the city. I um I thought it was just more on the federal the FEMA. Yeah. The grants. So, we get some of both.
And and excuse me, mayor and commissioner, if I may add to the mayor's presentation, and thank you, mayor, for all of that. the we did we did have our insurance adjuster come on site and we took him around just a couple days after Helen um and then
again after Milton um so they were right on top we're still even 9 months later still resolving still processing same with FEMA that will continue for some time we will provide an update on what's occurred because we have received from both storms I think we're approaching a
million dollars that have been paid out by insurance but we'll give you a full accounting and more um at the workshop. But yeah, a lot involved with insurance and of course we have to determine every year the what are we ensuring the levels we do that at their recommendation and
suggestions as to how all of that works. But we do have kind of a dedicated person in finance that coordinates all of that as well as coordinating um the FEMA and as the mayor stated there there are a couple of different components to FEMA. um she observed uh the our
assistance portion, but of course then there's the whole regulatory side. There's the individual assistance for the public. Um but ours involves getting essentially reimbursed for our losses and the work that we well for some of the losses and then the work that we've
uh performed after that is not covered by insurance. So that that continues still through today and it will for some time. We did receive one, I believe, I don't know, Andrew, if we received any more, but at least one FEMA distribution. I believe it was for a
little bit over $30,000 so far, but uh just the first one of likely many going forward. So, are we reviewing our coverage? We review every year. It does get reviewed. We go through the list. Of course, we have a we have newer items. we have some items that we haven't
replaced, so they're not currently covered until we acquire certain things. So, we do that every year again with their recommendation. Great. And um No, I agree. Let's not forget the staff just right was amazing at that time and they
continue to things are slowed down more reasonable. They're still just as busy. Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, it's, you know, the for staff, they're sh in in the permitting and zoning, they're shifting from um working on the permits for the demo of the interior and rebuild of the
interior to now um the new homes for the tearowns and build new and then the lifting and all the challenges of lifting that, you know, many of our sister communities are having as well because it just wasn't something that was common and coming up with a system.
And I I applaud because I ask a million questions. I get an email or somebody stops me somewhere and asks me something and then I want to understand that because I want to know the answer for the next person that asks me and
it's a lot. It is a lot. You know, you're have to have some insight for they're they're moving forward. There's no doubt. There's there's some Are we Is that part of our agenda package tonight as far as permits? No. I think we're going to talk about that
at our workshop workshop. Yeah. Thank you. Comments, madame mayor. I also wanted to acknowledge and appreciate our staff during the hurricane time last year. We did not expect a hurricane like
that. We had never experienced it, but it just seemed like the staff handled like they had been through it before. they were extremely um ready and and knowledgeable and they just seemed like they knew what they
were doing. But over and over and and above that I think is the selfless selfless times that they put in. I could see the the the the faces that were tired
from days being here and available, but they never gave up. They never gave in. They would just kept on moving forward. So, um, just wanted to publicly recognize that and and appreciate our staff. I totally agree with you. I And Madame
Mayor, I totally agree and thank you for this information. Um, also, um, I believe our city staff did a great job and our fire department also did a great job. And um I also want to get back to um letting
our residents know about hiring licensed contractors and and stay away from those scammers out there that just chase storms. I know that a lot of our residents fell victim to some of those stormchasers out there. And it's very
important to let our residents know to hire a licensed contractor. That is unfortunate. Yes. And that happens. Yes. Um I want to say just one more thing about the storm. uh when staff
because you're only staffed with so many people to do certain things and when you only need, you know, maybe 10 people in a department to do normal day-to-day activities and then you have a hurricane and everything just blows up. It's
exponentially more work. And one of the things that staff did that they came together and I think I've said this before but I'd just like to reiterate it is the recreation department came into the into the city hall and this is where
they were working and three employees not just three worked with the planning department but because the employees repurposed and were trained to be able to help permit or I should say community development because that's all encompass of planning and permitting
and helped them to do things and they were trained and community development ended up with two of those employees and the clerk's office ended up with one. And so we had employees who out of the storm advanced and might not would have
known otherwise that they would love working in that type of environment. And so community development gained two employees. the clerk's office gained an employee that they needed. Unfortunately, Jay lost three employees. So, I don't
know that he's happy about that. I know he's happy that they're that they've, you know, moved into something wonderful, but now he has those positions that he's had to fill. But my point is, it was wonderful to watch how the staff came together and helped each
other. and they they really did they did a great job and that's that was really nice to watch happen. So anyhow, I was hap I was happy to share that. I thought it was a great presentation to the big C. So I think it was fantastic. And uh
one more thing I want to thank um all the volunteers out there that came to the city and volunteered their time and remember our uh donation center help center here with all the amazing supplies that were donated to the
residents and the volunteers that helped get those out to the residents. I I thought that was simply amazing. Also, yeah, I should say too because I the fire department was amazing. We had strike teams from all over the state that came in and they stayed here. And
it that was really neat to listen to other fire departments how, you know, they came in and they were just they were just here and they did whatever was required or needed. And even though it was a terrible time, it was very cool to
me to see how as a state we support one another because that was our state fire departments coming in from other municipalities and helping us and it was really fantastic and the residents. So,
thank you everyone. Next on the agenda is public comment. Public participation is encouraged. If you are addressing the commission, step to the podium and state your name and address for the record and the organization or group you represent.
Please limit your comments to 5 minutes and do not include any topic on the agenda. Public comment on agenda items will be allowed when they come up. If you would like someone at the city to follow up on a comment or question made at the meeting, you may fill out a comment card
with the contact information and give it to the city manager. Comment cards are available at the back table in the commission chambers. Completing a comment card is not mandatory for any quasi judicial public hearings that may be on the agenda. An affected person may
become a party to a quasi judicial proceeding and can be entitled to present evidence at that hearing, including the sworn testimony of witnesses and relevant exhibits and other documentary evidence and to cross-examine all witnesses by filling
out a notice of intent to be party with the community development director not less than 5 days prior to the hearing. Do we have any public comment? With no public comment, we will move on to the approval of the minutes if the
commission has had the opportunity to review the minutes. Do we have a motion? I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes as written. Do we have a second? Second. City clerk, would you call the role, please? Vice Mayor Kerr,
yes. Commissioner McGin, yes. Commissioner Gavayagi, yes. Mayor Brooks, yes. The motion carried four to zero. Having nothing on the consent agenda or public hearings, we will move on to unfinished business with resolution
2025-04, ceremonial items policy. City attorney. Yes. Thanks, mayor. This is resolution 2025-04. I'm going to read it by title only. It's um a resolution of the board of commissioners of the city of Madira Beach, Florida, adopting a ceremonial items policy and providing for an
effective date hereof. That was a reading of that resolution by title only. You remember this is discussed a number of times in different workshops. Um this is um the policy that you last saw. There have been no changes to it um based upon the the last direction that I
had received. Do we have any public comment? Commissioners comments? I'd like to um adopt a resolution 2025-04 ceremonial items policy. Do we have a second? I'll second.
City clerk, would you call the role, please? Commissioner Gabay, yes. Vice Mayor Kerr, yes. Commissioner McGee, yes. Mayor Brooks, yes. The motion carry four to zero. Next on the agenda is Ford F250 crew cab
XL purchase 2024. and mayor and commission as we discussed at the was brought up at the workshop and agenda item that was added. We had a discussion regarding the purchase of this vehicle which was approved back in
November um at the November commission November 13th, 2024 commission. It was to purchase a Ford F250 crew cab XL under an existing Bradford County Sheriff's Office contract. Uh the budget
for the vehicle was 65,000. The agenda item incorporated uh a price of $55,41140. Uh the item further stated the agenda item that there would be a topper and a rear slide
out storage. Uh those were acquired and installed. However, in addition to those two items, there were several other items that the mayor mentioned at the last workshop that were purchased and outfitted with the vehicle. There is a
list of the items and we did misstate on one item and I do apologize to mayor and to the commission the item regarding purchase of tires. Uh we had stated that those that item that the tires were purchased for a different vehicle. Uh
the item and Jay can provide some more information. It was a a process for the tires to make them last a little bit longer. Um the where we spent approximately $1,400 for that
that work that we did on the tires. Uh in total the entire cost of the vehicle ended up which is in your agenda item at roughly over 60 close to $70,000. U as I stated at the workshop we will
make sure going into the future that obviously we make the most responsible uh financial decisions for whatever we are acquiring whether it's equipment services etc. So we will bring to you the items
uh that will come with a purchase of an equipment. Uh so going forward we will be provide more information. Uh make sure that we explain what we are doing what we are acquiring. Um as I stated it's up on the screen the the item where
we stated it was for a different vehicle. It was not. It was for this vehicle was to paint the wheels that came with the vehicle black. flip them so the white lettering is on the inside mountain balance. Um Jade, if you wanted to add anything. Yeah, good evening. Yes, to echo that.
So that particular item um was specific to the the wheels and tires that are on the vehicle that came with the vehicle, but they were powder coated for rust protection longevity. We did a few months prior replace the tires
on a different truck which is the reason that I I didn't have this specific invoice in front of me and that's why I misspoke and was incorrect in my statements about that. So, um sorry for the confusion on that. That was a not the intent. That was just something that
I didn't have in front of me. So, um, but that that to to us was a is a a longevity. If we're going to be spending any sort of money on some, you know, or capital items like that, our our goal is to utilize them as long as possible and protect them from the elements. So, that
was the intent of that. Do we have any public comment, commission? One of the big things is the wheels, but it's the wheels, not necessarily tires. You have to break them down to do this corrosion protection. Correct.
You have to break You have to take the tires off the wheel. Correct. I I would assume and again I I don't know the full detail but I would assume that the removal of the tires, removal of the tire, excuse me, removal of the wheels from the rims and then they powder coated the rims and then put
the tires back on. Powder coating process. It's all the same equipment. It's just it's coated to ensure that it doesn't rust. Right. I mean, when you powder coat, you have to take it through a heated oven. Yes. So, you have to have a bare wheel. I I only point that out because whether
the black I don't want any misperception that whether the black sides out or the or the white lettering is out. It doesn't matter. There's no more labor or cost impacted for that item. It's the it's the powder
coating that's the cost and the it's labor intensive. Um just don't want any misperception on that. Um but to your point
a better detailed job at the time of totally understand and that's and that in putting this all together it was you know hey well this makes more sense to everybody so in the future well it's a big difference 55 versus almost 70 or whatever it is. um when
you're making that pitch, this is this is where we're going with this um this light this this lighting package and whatnot. That's all. Mission. Well, it seems to me that um when we
were talking about the uh wheels um um whether um they're inside or out, it all came to uh $1,256. Um there was no itemization as far as
what cost was where. Um that probably wore our residents and for the the board itself to you know be more uh descriptive as far as accountability um about that cost itself. Um, and then
one more is just the um um the 360 degree camera package which um costs 1,6428. Um
do you think that's uh something that we really needed on that truck? Well, so most of the vehicles come I I'm and I'm not sure how that's itemized, but most of the vehicles come with some sort of rear camera on them, even our school buses. And especially with the the topper, the topper
eliminates that rearview mirror. So with that rearview mirror, I mean, that's it beeps when it backs up and it has the cameras so we're able to see. Having a very similar vehicle, it's it's great. I I I mean, just for just for safety, if
nothing else, where where you're backing, especially if you're around uh crowds or whatnot. It's well, there's there's a few vehicles in the fleet within the city that actually don't have the rear cameras and it it's surprisingly uncomfortable to drive those cuz now you're you're in usually
it's outfitted with like our our bucket truck was one that doesn't and it you're using the mirrors but you've got wider bodies on them and you've got other pieces of equipment. So, um, and that's why we we've added one to the school bus that's out there so you can see as soon as that thing turns on, you know, what's
directly behind you and that, and again, that's a safety thing with the kids getting on and off the bus and, you know, anyway, but especially with this vehicle, if we're going to have it at special events and driving around larger crowds, having that camera is extremely important. mission.
I'm just uh wondering um whose idea was it to beef up the truck and and and when did you realize it was going to cost the monies that it did and who approved
the budget? I think I overall in general this was I hate to say it but this was the full intent of the truck from from day one. And again, I I think in my presentation to you all, this uh table that we're looking at, although we were looking at would have provided a
better picture because the intent I mean we're so far with that truck, we've already used it on the beach once uh for the 5K, loaded a bunch of equipment in and out and we got back here at 11:30 that night and didn't unload it because it was 11:30 at night. Um, we used it
for uh speaking engagement on the beach where we actually used it for the power because of our pavilions don't have power and the location we do have would run cords across the walkway. So, it was another safety avoidance thing. Um, and then the third, we've utilized it for a couple of groundbreaking ceremonies to
transfer items back and forth. So, it's making it as flexible as possible and the ability to to get to places anywhere in town. And then I know we just again we just talked about the hurricane response. if hopefully we never have to go through that again, but this is going to be another vehicle that we'll be able
to utilize for that. So, it's we wanted to ensure that we didn't limit ourselves with the purchase, but we also wanted to make sure it was something that we took care of in the long run and again something that we're proud of. I mean, that's that's why it it's wrapped the way it's wrapped is it's going to be at special events. It's going to be seen
all sides. So again, I I think a better descriptive from the get-go would have would have made this a more clear and we wouldn't be talking about it today if if I had done that. So I I understand that and especially future conversations. It's
so um so moving forward um how do we address any concerns that may arise such as this one? For instance, if we went to buy another truck, um would you bring the additional cost
before this board? Absolutely. Yeah. with the with each agenda item that we do bring when we purchase a piece of equipment that will include all the details. We're going to be discussing at the at the next workshop a sizable piece of equipment and we will
bring absolutely everything that we need to purchase as part of that agenda item. Here's the cost of the equipment. Here's if we need to sign it, wrap it, add whatever this part, the other part. again with we have to be reasonable. I
as I stated at the workshop does does all of this seem reasonable? I believe there there are some who do not believe it's reasonable. We are using it. Could there have been lower cost alternatives? It appears that way. We do need to provide you all of the information going
forward. We will provide you all of these details because again we are responsible. We have to be responsible with other the money that we use for the goods and services that we acquire. We have to follow our ordinance obviously,
but we have to be as efficient and effective as possible at the same time. It it probably won't be me though because I'm going to drive this thing until the wheels fall off. So, okay, we'll hold you to that. Yeah. Okay.
So um for me this issue has been about transparency and I have tried to talk about transparency in a lot of things and the reality is if there had just been a logo put on the truck when it was purchased I wouldn't
have I would not have ever known that you spent over $69,000 on the truck. The reason that I found the $69,000 is because I was curious as to how much it cost to wrap the truck.
And that I when I requested the invoices for the truck, I didn't even get that invoice. I've never seen that invoice. I only got the invoices for the other things. Um, so for me it's about transparency
and and I I do think that it was overspending. It's my opinion. Um, and the challenge that I have is that when you budget for 65,000, which I know Jay, you've already said that you would do this differently, but if you budget for
65,000 for a vehicle and then you spend almost 70, that's overbudget. you've spent beyond what was budgeted and approved. And even though we can do budget amendments, when you're purchasing a vehicle, that budget amendment would
come to us prior to the purchase. So, there's always rumblings in the community about shenanigans. And what I want to come out of this is that when you make a purchase, if you're buying a truck, everything that's going to be
associated with that truck is part of what we're approving. You don't get approval for a dollar to buy a truck and then go buy $3 worth of accessories because that's still part of the truck purchase. And that's that's how I feel
and stand on that. Um, my computer went to sleep. Um, I think that two things that came up in conversation with the public and I know that Robin had shared with me in our one-on-one after the last meeting that hundreds of people had reached out
to him that they were unhappy with my bringing the subject up and how I spoke. I definitely did not feel like I spoke out of turn. Um, I was frustrated that I was being told the information I was putting out there wasn't true. And I had had a meeting with the city manager. He
had looked at those charges. He knew them. So, I did not appreciate that. But for the hundreds of people who did not appreciate what I said or did, they've not reached out to me so that I wish that they would if there is an issue
with what I've done or how I have addressed something. Um, I think that when things stand out and this might have just fallen into we have other issues that have gone on in the
city that didn't come to the commission. When the pilings happened out in the water, that never came back to the commission. When the jetty got tore down, that did not come back to the commission. I want it to become customary
that it comes to the commission. That's what we're elected for. That's what we're here for. We are here to support the city, to support the residents, to support the staff, and to sign off on the purchases and how the money is spent in the city. And if things are going to change or money is going to be spent,
that's our that's what our role is. Our role is not to manage Jay. our our role is to manage Robin and to approve the budgets and approve the spending. So on that I would be
curious if there is a how many vehicles in the city have powdercoated wheels. I don't I know you probably don't know that but I'd be curious how many are in the city have powdercoated wheels and what is the is there a procedure for
that? Um, I I see that as not needed. I see powder coating as you powder coat once they need powder coated, not on a brand new vehicle that you paid a $900 upgrade for tires and tint for the vehicles. I do
know that other um vehicles are tinted. And the reason I'm asking about the tent is because I had two residents specifically ask me why the tent was so dark now. So, I'm just I don't need it now, but I'm curious what is the policy
on tenting vehicles because I know that there are other vehicles that are tented and those were the only two things that I was going to add. Madame Mayor, I just wanted to to state that transparency is everything to us.
Um, we are responsible to our public and the tax dollars. um who are distort or distort of our residents and and the monies we spend. And um staff needs to back us and help
us um in letting the residents know that um we're we're serving our purpose here on this port. Well, and Jay, just to be clear, I appreciate that I appreciate the position you brought
here tonight in that if you did it again, you would include everything. I do appreciate that you say that um because I think that the commission might have had different input on what was going what was being spent. Just given that the original approval was for
65, we might not would have approved to go up to 70. So I know that for myself in the future when anything now I will be more mindful so that I'll ask the
question maybe in advance. Well, as I stated to all of you to the comm mayor and commission, the items that we will bring in will have the full cost of the equipment. We're not going to proceed until we have absolutely everything from the department that is
making the purchase exactly what we need. Anything further? I think it's a very important lesson for the city and um transparency is the key. I think going towards the future, I
think we can learn from this and uh and I appreciate this being brought up. So, thank you. Next on the agenda is discussion proposed ordinance 2025-14, amendment to chapter 14, moving of
structures. Okay, so we have some handouts coming El's way. Um, as discussed from the uh previous meeting, the goal and objective with this uh chapter is to allow for some relief in reviewing and permitting the
elevation projects due to uh a lot of the existing structures were built to setbacks that now don't allow for proper access and some usage of it. So, we're trying to come up with some verbiage to help allow for some of that. Um it it's
a little bit it's become a little bit tricky with the wording and trying to allow for it but not give, you know, an open canvas to every um to to everything. You know, we can't fulfill every need. So, he's trying to lock it in. It's been a little
difficult. So, we did play with some verbiage. So, what you see highlighted in yellow is is new to what was put in the package. So, it's a little more information on encroachments and setbacks. So, we provided that. We've also handed you guys some examples of
some of the actual permitted permits that we've been seeing. So, give me one second here. Okay. Sorry. Um, so I don't know. Let me pull this up real quick. Oh, I had something up here.
Here we go. Okay. So, and Marcy and I had some edits, which is what was just passed out to uh from what was in the packet. So, we've been working on that since up to the time that we came in here.
Yeah. So, unfortunately, yeah, it's we we took some comments from planning and tried to incorporate them. So that's taking into account rear access as well as some sideyard comments um and being a little more clear on the allowances for the footprint.
I do ultimately see that we will I think need to do an exhibit so that we're clear when we use the word balcony what we consider stairs and what's part of a landing. So we do we do foresee an exhibit coming to better identify that. So, I'm not sure would be the best of approach if you want to go through the
verbiage as written or discuss maybe the examples and then uh go into the the verbiage. Has the has the planning commission seen any of this or do they are they required to see any of this? They're not required to see it. It's not in the land development regulations.
It's in chapter 14. I believe the LDR start chapter 82 or so. Uh so they're not required to see it, but we did bring it to the planning commission on Monday to get their impact um their input. And
one of the things that they where they brought up two two things. Um one of them being the rear yard access, allowing for access in the rear yard and possibly a second story deck like a small landing. Um, and then also further
defining access features and kind of honing in the area for that, but they were in support. Are those comments incorporated in your comments? Yes, Marcy and I took those comments from Monday evening and tried to
incorporate that into the draft that you have. So, the one that we just uh passed out uh the yellow highlighted area and that's page two of this draft. Uh that's what we we're kind of working on and try
to incorporate those comments from planning commission as well. It's going to give you guys a minute to read it over. How would you like to present it? So, maybe go ahead and give I'll give you guys some examples and then we can kind
of go through the verbiage. So, what you have hard copied in front of you um is an actual uh permit that we've had come in. So, what they have here is, let's see, let me kind of zoom in a little bit. So, what you can see here is the
original house. So, this is the the face of the house now as it exists. And then they provide a rendering of what they would propose for the access. And as you can see as proposed the access format
and layout is pretty pretty minimum. So what we've done when we've when we started looking at how to give some dimensional allowances for this we take into account that a door being 3 ft if they were to open out you definitely need the area
where the door opens out to be at least 3 ft in depth. Then as you the stairs and then the stairs will follow through with 3 feet. a landing would need to be six feet because it takes in the stairs going down at three feet and then of course going down to the grade level at three feet. So this is one example when
you actually look at the size of the stairs and what they what they actually end up being depthwise from the outer edge here. The full depth of them a little over 9 ft. So that gives you the three feet stair width there is probably
a little wider and then 1 foot4 feet in between. So, they kind of give a little space as you go down the stairs. So, this is one example of what what we've been um seeing as far as planning and permitting. And when you look here
based on their survey as constructed, the house is is 18 ft roughly 18 ft from the property line. The setback requirement is 20 ft. So just as it was built, it already naturally encroaches into the front yard setback. So with that, they would have
very little room to work with kind of only on the sides. Um so even coming in with their deck and coming out the obviously ends up being fully 9 ft, but 3T kind of as you come out of the house and step into the the balcony. So this is a good example of how we have a house
that's already by design not compliant with current setbacks. And then the next exhibit is a bit the same, but they ended up coming up with a a different fix. So they also come out and
in consideration of this as you step out of the house, you have that three-foot balcony. Then you have a three-foot landing as you go to your stairs downstairs. Then you have a sixoot landing again. And then they come out around. with their design, they were
able to they come in at eight feet outer edge to outer edge. So you have one design that's eight feet outer edge to outer edge, another one that gives a little space in between and ends up a little over 9 ft outer edge to outer edge. But I think we can all agree and in each case you're looking at a pretty
reasonable access with this design. And they actually ultimately decided to once you hit the landing, they actually took the stairs in towards the house and back down underneath, which was good. It made it less encroaching, but they that's a
design approach that they took. Not all not everybody's going to be able to do that, but but they were they were able to do that. So, these are just two examples of what drives home kind of what we've been going through. And you also have one example that we've been showing before. I don't actually have it
to pull up, but it happens to be Nikki, the resident who's been here. And um so I think her house is a good example. And in the package, and like I said, unfortunately, I didn't get it pulled up, but in the package, you'll also see that her house as constructed is like
right at 19 ft from the property line. And what she would like to do or, you know, the family would like to do is add on to that another 10-ft uh balcony positioning the stairs on the side. And you can kind of see dimensionally what
that ends up looking like from their perspective to be able to pull in the driveway and then come up a set of stairs into a balcony and then into their home. So we have a couple of different instances there to drive home. the fact that some people just want to have like the minimal landing at the top. Other
people like to take more advantage of their front yard, get a little balcony in there. So, we're trying to figure out how to realistically come up with some verbiage that accounts for that and takes into account minimum access with necessary and how we work
within that and be cognizant of, you know, how to how to make that reasonable for usage but not overly robust in some situations. So, So, with what you are all presenting now
to us tonight for these changes, do you feel like that's going to because you've got quite a number of homes that you're looking at now between raised and new builds. Do you think that this is going to
be our best foot forward in helping our residents to be able to build but not going so far away from where we are that we would be in a bad area? Does that No, it makes sense. and and that's the
same thing that we were struggling with and then how to put how to capture that in words we started becoming very kind of difficult and I unfortunately did tell Jenny I said I have so many different plans in my head and all the different permutations that we go through that people are having to to
address. I do think this is a good step forward. I do know that there is some massaging to be had here as far as maybe being a little more clear again recognizing to accompany this with exhibits for the designers and the homeowners to understand what we're trying to allow and what we're trying to
get at um down the road if people want to if the code changes and there's opportunities for real balconies and things like that. you know, they may be able to in the future, but the goal here is to give them something that they can use and enjoy now to represent what they want and and they're just going to have
limitations that new builders don't. For instance, a lot of the newer homes, you take access as you you park into your garage, you go into a set of stairs and it comes into your home, you know, at some point underneath. And that's just not a viable option for these homes given their older age. I would not
support cutting into the slabs and redo. I mean, you just don't want to start messing around with that too much. So, whatever we can do to help keep the instru the structural integrity of the existing frame and allow them to easily go back to where their front door was, utilize sliders on the rear. Um, I think
it's very reasonable use of what they have and the intent of what we want. I really appreciate the effort that you are all putting into trying to come up with a reasonable compromise that will help people
I'm sure we're not going to please everybody, but hopefully it will at least end up in some middle ground that does help the the homeowner who did not want their home flooded, really didn't want to build up, did not want this, but
yet here they are, right? Um and I do know um Kathy Kathy had spoken with some other um building officials in the local communities and everybody is in the same same space. Some of them have already got some stuff
in you know going through others are just like us others are just others are just now filling out this process. So and we are starting to look at some of the other verbiage from other communities obviously because our setback rules are different and things like that. Not everything fits, but we
are getting the gist of what other communities are doing. Are our setback rules more stringent than our surrounding communities or are we more lenient? How I mean that would be a good if you don't know that's just I mean that's just okay. That's curious to me.
And then you also have to take in consideration that a lot of these homes are legally non-conforming to the setbacks, right? So a lot of them don't meet the setbacks in the front front or rear sometimes side but um and then where do
you put the staircases from there the access? Do we have any public comment? And just to give you context, these are the owners of the um the third one here where you have the survey and they have the nice 3D layout. So that kind of gives you an idea.
Well, Bren Semi 14024 Vivian Drive. Uh like Marcy said, she that's our uh schematics there that you have there. Um um number one like the effort that the mayor has been put into this and the emphasis that y'all have had the extra
meetings uh can't be uh thanked enough genuine uh working with community and the concern particularly when you had other families here. So just not an isolated incident or single family. So the effort that y'all are putting into this and the additional meetings uh it
means a lot. It really does. Uh I want to get kind of the the specifics. I do think that the 10 ft should be kind of um a reasonable uh place to start. I think the six feet you really literally are talking about just doors and
accesses and things like that. I think with 10 ft get builds flexibility for people to change. I think after our uh military service is over and we come back to the area because we'll still be our forever home. When we get old, we may have to require a lift, things like
that. Things might need to be have a little bit more room to move in and get things into a house instead of just a narrow stairway when it comes to mobility issues or if we were able to sell or have someone else, an elderly family member come in. I think that's a reasonable consideration than just the
bare minimum what it takes to get the stairs and the door open. So, that's kind of think our point of view on it. And again, we don't want to ever encroach on a neighbor. We understand that there's reasons that there were setbacks uh designed and then also things for us to to kind of look at it.
And we didn't know it's on our own our own fault for not looking at the original schematics. There's an additional 10 to 12 feet from the start of our property line to the actual street itself. So there is even more set back to the eye than what actually meets the property lines. So I appreciate
that. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any additional public comment, commissioners? Um, yeah, I'm just trying to absorb how this is how this is written. Um,
so let's just start with a highlighted area. All access features shall be designed to the minimum dimensions necessary to provide safe, reasonable, functional access. Access landing stairs and ramps cannot exceed 8 ft measured past the front face
of the building into the front yard and cannot extend past half the required sideyard setback. All right, let's digest that a little bit. So, we're saying 8 foot into the setback area.
If your house is currently, if it's going to be lifted and is not at the 20 foot, let's say it's a 24 ft, then how does I don't see how
this is addressing the setback versus the front of your house. is saying it can't be more than 8 ft off the front of your house. In that case, it would be 4 foot into the setback area instead of you're getting your four 8 ft. How's that? Right. I'm kind of trying I'm just trying to
understand the intent and the arguments that you might have down the road and and the arguments of of here. I mean, what I'll even step back even further. What's the whole purpose of setbacks? It's because of the uniformity off the seaw wall or off the off the curb. Is that correct? Just so that when you're
driving down the street, you have a somewhat of a uniformity of a neighborhood. Correct. Yes. Okay. I think this stems from many of our homes, our older homes are non legally non-conforming, don't meet the current setbacks. So, trying to
create some sort of allowance for that staircase and landing in the front without really knowing everybody's setbacks. Um, some people's setbacks can be a lot closer to the property line in the front than others. So, measuring
from the property line like we like we do with setbacks um backward toward the house um we foresee that there might be some issues that we're that we're not seeing right now with raising homes and then
not being able to get them their staircase and landing. So in this how we have it written is really measuring it from the front face of the building instead of that property line for the front.
So they are allowed or can have that access in the front. And so so with that because that was one of the things we were struggling with. It's like, okay, to your point, if you're 4 feet back, and I did have some verbiage that I was trying to get that across and we couldn't seem to, but um
if you are 4T back, we would still say, okay, we're going to give you that 8 ft, which would mean you get the four feet by right that you would have been able to have, but you also get an additional four feet. So, at no point would you know you get 8 ft. Even if
you're behind your set back or if you're 4 feet into your setback and only 16 ft away, that 8 ft would still be applicable to you. Um, we did have a caveat about in no situation would you be closer than X to the front property line. Um, then it just started to get a
little wordy. So, I think this is going to help us hash it out as far as kind of what you guys see. Um the front yard right now has no encroachment caveats whereas the rear yard has a caveat of second floor and above balconies can
basically can lever into the rear yard setback up to 4 feet. Um but there's really none for for the front. There's no caveats for that in our current code. Our current code allows for that 4 foot um in the rear
for second and a and above as long as there's no supporting columns. Yes. Correct. So, um, back to my earlier comment, if the whole idea is to keep the the neighborhood consistent as from the from the curb,
then why wouldn't we be measuring from the curb if it's currently a 20ft setback and no, you cannot exceed more than
you pick it 12 feet off the curb, right? So you would regardless. So if you're already encroaching like the like this first um applicant here, you're already encroaching
um 2 feet um 1 foot n it doesn't matter. you still can only encroach into into the 14 feet if you follow what I'm saying?
Yeah, I think you're if if the goal is uniform to to maintain the uniformity and to keep that then that would definitely be a a kind of a different approach than what can we minimally give existing houses outward versus looking for a defined setback moving forward.
just saying okay you can do the as long as you're 10 ft off then that creates the uniformity that you're that you're talking about. I think um with this we definitely had in mind the challenges of elevating the structures. If we switch
to the setback um by right in that case then that would allow for new builds as well to start you know or or maybe it's a combination of both. You can't you can't encroach any more than 14 ft. I'm I'm Mhm. you massage the numbers,
right? Mhm. You can't encroach any more than 14 feet and in this application or a maximum of how much room do you need to get out your door? Is it six feet? Is it four feet? I don't know. Or a maximum of for
a landing. What I'm also thinking of is these smaller lots that we have. And if one of those homes or duplex wants to elevate and their lots don't conform to the minimal um lot depth that we already
have in our code. We have a lot of lots like that that may be 50 or 70 feet in depth. Their setback is they they're legally non-conforming. They don't meet the current setbacks. But that but that's where you can get
your your minimum. you still raise your home and we're still going to give you a way to get out front. You know, you can still use your front entrance. You don't have to reconfigure your home to use your front entrance. But that's when it becomes a minimum. I don't know. Does that make sense?
I don't know. It's a a min max under these conditions, it's this and under these Yeah. And and I agree too. I don't but but if you're already set back at 22 or 24 ft um then if you want to make it a little
nicer deck on why be penalized because again what's what's what's the reason for the restriction? The reason for the restriction is to try to maintain uniformity up and down the street. And then on the on the on the back, it's not so much
about access. It's again, it's about that uniformity, right? I really love the idea of can lever up to four feet. I think that's fantastic. So with the front, if we wanted to, I'm
just thinking through this. So basically with that we would say elevated homes would be allowed to encroach into the front yard setback a maximum of x amount of feet and then that way if they already have the four feet because they're already set back
further they still get that minimum encroachment allowance to help to help build out is kind of what you're looking for is yeah I mean if trying to make something a you know, like the 10 like the 10 foot we have on Yep. Um I'm sorry, I forgot the name, but on
the third the third document, we have a 10 foot um balcony that's in the front. Yep. That's a place that of enjoyment. I don't know. That might be the way that the sunsets. They might get the sunset on the rear balcony and they like to be out on the front balcony in the
evenings. Um, so as long as it's not encroaching right on the street view and you're you know is that un reasonable and and that's kind of one of some of the stuff. So like if you look at the the survey that we have here for
instance this property is 23 ft off but once they well actually it's a little closer with the little butt out here but as designed right now their stairs would be 11 ft 9 in off the property line and what I would foresee a desire for is you
know getting the balcony like you were saying a little bit and wanting to be able to do that and how how do we manage that encroachment unless we do the like that setback requirement. ment or the minimum maximum encroachment kind of requirement and giving that flexibility
but also not overbuilding in the front such that it's um right so in that case if you're only and maybe I'm not reading it properly but you're at the end of the day you're 11 foot n off off the property line
the property line but you're probably where 20 something feet off the road you know if that was a minimum of 14 well they're going to have to reconfigure those stairs somehow, right? Yeah. So, if they had to maintain the minimum of 14, they would have to they they would have to reconfigure their stairs in some capacity,
right? And for this one, that would probably if we gave them that option, that would be one second. So, like with with with these guys then Yes. And can they've kind of already done that cuz once they hit that landing now, they've actually
pushed it back in towards the rear of the house and then back down. So they had the flexibility and the ability to do to do that because technically when you're lifting it's obviously wide open underneath at that point in time um until such time as they put the walls in perimeter walls or whatever. But there would there would be a way to
build those set of stairs. You just wouldn't have that landing. Maybe you would extend extend the deck under those two windows to the left and then come come straight down but it's only exactly four foot wide basically for the stairs. You have the flexibility to do that.
Yeah. And that's what we're trying to kind of figure figure out is the best way to capture that. So you're m maintaining that that view. You just don't want to see that house driving down the the road and then one just jumps out. I think that's the whole point. So
So you were both working on this right up until you came in. Yes. So, and and appreciating your um busy days, what do you think is realistic for when you will hammer something out that
you're comfortable with to come out? I love that you're here tonight and you're presenting this in a voting meeting as a conversation because we talked about I mean just the the length of time it takes to get something
moved through the processes and what we could do to speed that not to speed it but to move it along in a in a quicker fashion for the residents and for you guys too because you all need to be able to have um those answers for yourself. So, do
you have an idea? I mean, do you think that we have a workshop in two weeks? You I'm assuming you would bring us back something again in two weeks and maybe that would be the final what you would really think would be a good answer for what we need.
That's what I would hope for. Yes. Um that we would be able to use that as a first reading. Um obviously, we'll have to talk to Tom and Robin um and make sure that Can we do a first reading at a workshop?
Is a special meeting? Answer is no. It would have to be a special meeting. We've been talking about the possibility of doing adding a special meeting. Um and so we're trying to coordinate that. I I would be in 500% of that if they
were ready to do a special meeting to read it. If if you're ready, if you're not ready, then obviously not. But that's what we've been talking just exactly what Tom was saying. We've been talking about possibly having a special meeting before the budget workshop um
and then having that second reading at the next regular. I think we would be looking to have it just after the workshop after. So likely probably to schedule it at 8:00 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. Could we do it between the budget and the regular meeting or the workshop?
I think the budget work session might go right to it. We can try, but I I just I mean I'm Look, come on. These guys can't stay all night. Well, yeah, we'll discuss it and we'll make sure we meet all the reporting requirements.
I'd rather come in a different night than have have them. We couldn't do it before the budget because I think I don't think Tom's available before until 4 p.m. But I mean, we could always hold our budget meeting at 4:15.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we could do the special meeting at 4 and I because I I I see where you're headed, right? And if the budget meeting runs over, then we take a 15minute recess. Let's do that.
Let's let's set it at four special meeting and that puts a pressure on you because you have to deliver on four by in two weeks. Madame Mayor, if I may, um some cities do not consider a stairwell
a structure as long as it's open to the air. In other words, some cities don't require any necessarily setbacks from the property lines to the stairwell as long as it's open. It's not considered a
structure. I just want to put that out there for some thoughts. Okay. I think um and with that too for for us to kind of hone in how we lock in this stuff, you know, from you guys
again, this is kind of a good example and then seeing um this family's example as the um third one of wanting the balcony in the front. Is that our goal is to be able to like the whole front of maybe this structure.
Would you see if they wanted to have a balcony that we find a way to give them the full length of the house, a little bit of balcony, or would you like to see us lock it into maybe the size they're showing now? Those are kind of the things that we
were we were kind of struggling through a little bit because obviously the access is one part of it but then once you get up to that that thing you could easily see how nice you know 4 to 8t 6t balcony coming off the entire length of the house would look very nice. So we have to figure out if it was my
house I would want the balcony the full length. I mean, exactly. And and if you if you think about it, since you brought it up, if you think about it from a from an aesthetic, a driving down the street and what are you looking at? Um, driving down the street and looking
at a house with a big full front porch is in I mean, in my opinion, much more attractive than just the little landing porch. Yes. And if and I mean, if you're letting them encroach, what's the difference? They're in the air. So they're not t
they're not taking up ground space. They're up high. And if it was the whole length, I don't know. I don't know that I would I would personally say, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. You can't do the whole length of the house." I would feel like, "Why not?" Okay. Okay. So then we would we could put some depth
define the depth of what would be permitted and then once we go beyond that, what the access would look like and how we how we would work that in. So that gives us some good I'm assuming in the rear as well cuz people have sliders and stuff like that. So if they want something for the length of the home
within the rear then the rear gets a little more you know we need to be very precise with that and we were trying to put in some rules um with where post could be. Just with these homes the ability to can
lever is not as readily available as when you are constructing a new home. gets built into the structure by design. So the ability to canle lever four feet wouldn't be possible, but possibly two, two and a half depending on the depth and where the post go. So I did foresee adding some language to kind of to the
extent possible cantal lever the portion of it. Um but again controlling having some rules around the depth that would be allowed and how the stairs could be oriented with with that. I think um just to go back to the front or or even it would be the rear the same when you talk
about um allowing the porch to go the length of the house. I I recall a conversation with a resident about having to lift their home and no longer having use of their front yard where if they were ground level they would be able to walk out their front door and
utilize their front yard. And when you make me go up in the air, and you're making me go up in the air because I flooded and now I don't have a front yard. So giving them a porch is like allowing them to continue to use their front yard, to have that type of use for
them, their family. And to me, that makes perfect sense. So long as we can do that and you can make that work, you can word smmith that reasonable and consistent reasonable and yeah I I think it would
I think it would be more attractive if more attractive. Absolutely. And and make it usable. I think it need to needs to be six feet not four because four feet doesn't really give you much room to do anything. Correct. So I would be okay with six.
Yeah. And that was one of the things you talked about like reasonable use of the stairs because you are hauling your appliances, your furniture, everything you're doing is is going to be going up though. So we do want to be reasonable with that. Um so what are we saying here? Um so if you
lift your home or build new regardless you have, let's say you're lifting your home, you currently have an atgrade slab that you have outdoor furniture. So you lift your home, you've lost that. now to
that slab did not did not was not counted against you as far as your setback because it was it was just a slab. So now that you've lifted your home, if you build that deck,
that patio that you you had, now you're not allowed to do it because it's because you have to have supporting columns to build that patio. Same size. Um, so that's what we're saying
or correct me if I'm not hearing correctly. The structure as to commissioner Kavahi was mentioning the structure would still have a requirement of the 30-oot setback if you're on a seaw wall. However, if you wanted to
build, let's just call it 10 foot max, you could put columns to a patio for so that you could you use your outdoor space, your elevated outdoor
space cuz that's your living space. You want to walk out of your kitchen, you want to walk out of your living room and just sit out and enjoy the the air. You don't have to go downstairs to do that, right? I I see value in that. Right.
and and and back again to the to the front. I really think it's if if you find that the minimum is six feet that you need comfortably to be able to access your home, then I I I think that you first start with a for
maximum 14 ft from your setback. Um but if you were going to encroach into that, we're going to give you a at least six feet to get out of your house. If if that makes sense. Does that
does that make sense? I think so. Because we don't want to have to we don't want going to have to give up the reason we're here. Now you elevate your home and now you can't enjoy the outdoors anymore because you don't you can't go out and enjoy that patio that you have ever since you've bought
your home. I don't think that's what the community wants. Agreed. Um, and with that, I foresee we will have some people will want the deck open. Other people would want to go ahead and and cover that. So, those are things we're going to have to, you know,
agree that we agree that that's reasonable use of it to to cover it. And I see, you know, just kind of thinking through all the things that people want. So, we will have to be clear with that. I think once we get to the stairs, those remain to his point. If we wanted to do some word smithing around, not
encroaching into the setback because it's the stairs, then it's open air just like these are shown, but then you could possibly walk into a covered patio, which you'd want if you're coming in out of the rain because they don't have the option to come in through their garage and straight into their home. They're going to be exposed to the elements. So,
it'd be nice to have that cover if they if they wanted that. So, um, and as of right now, just to this will only be applicable to the elevated homes because it is in the moving structures as we move forward to the land development regulations throughout the coming year
or whatever if there are other things that we want to talk about. But this right now will only pertain to the um restraints and restrictions that elevated homes are experiencing. Correct. Y anything further? Um,
I look forward to seeing whatever you bring back. Okay. I think it'll be much for much further. So, um, but no, the feedback we got tonight is priceless and how we move forward because we we do understand what what you guys want. Um, I think we have some really good examples, too. Um, so
yeah, we appreciate that. That helps. For the rear, I know we mostly focused on the front, but on the rear, um, were was everybody comfortable with I know Commissioner Curry, you mentioned 10 ft from the back.
It's hard to place furniture on anything less than 10 feet. It is. Yeah. True. So, 10 ft. Okay. And with with the way that we drafted our accessory structures, that's not this isn't going to be much
of a of an issue. I don't foresee. So I think they cannot be enclosed though, right? I mean they cannot be enclosed and become like a extension of the house. No, it has to have outdoorsy character.
Yeah, I think we can I have a few ideas about how we can kind of hone that in. Yeah. So, great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you guys so much. Appreciate it. So, with no contracts and agreements,
next on the agenda is new business, the Edward Burn Memorial Justice Grant, Penllis County Support Letter. City Manager. Thank you, Mayor, mayor and commission. We received a request from Penllis County to provide a letter of support
for the county receiving an estimated $232,520 from the Edward Burn Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. Uh we are not receiving the funds directly for us. This is simply a request uh the city supporting the county's participation in
the program and the subsequent dispersement of the funds. We did this last year, didn't we, Robin? Yes, I remember. Do we have any public comment? Commissioners comments. Is that a state grant?
I think uh I should know because in a prior life we got lots of them. I can find out. It's a federal I'm sorry. I think it's I think it's a federal grant. It's a federal grant. Yeah, federal money. We did this. We signed this letter last
year. Oh, why not? Yeah. Yeah. All right. I I make a motion that we support the Edward Burn Memorial Justice Assistance Grant by providing this support letter. Do we have a second? A second.
City clerk, would you call the role, please? Voss Mayor Kerr? Yes. Commissioner McGan? Yes. Yes. Mayor Brooks? Yes, the motion carried 4 to zero. Next on the agenda is agenda setting for
the July 23rd, 2025 BOC regular workshop at 6 p.m. Thank you, mayor and commission. So, the items for our next workshop on the 23rd of July, impact fees will be first uh we'll discuss the special magistrate
lean at the listed address. uh update on the John's Pass drudging, information on uh the potential murals at John's Pass Park, at our municipal marina, and in our uh ROC park. Uh
that's why it lists recreation. Uh we will discuss non-conformances and open sky ordinances. We'll provide them monthly posttorm update update discuss an update to our sanitation ordinance to require dumpster
enclosures. Um a true back trailer purchase. Um two items to add to that we will add to this list. One is FD resiliency grants
and our IT Integris uh virtual chief information security officer. Um Robin, could we also add the jetty? An update on the jetty. Update on the John's Pass Jetty. And um
could we also have an update on the letter to the state for the Marina? This goes way back several months. Mhm. And then could we also have um could we talk about for the public's benefit and
for ours as well the code enforcement on the sunken boats and like pools with the that are green the the houses that are damaged that haven't been touched so that we could have an open discussion on how that is handled and and that
process. I get asked that a lot. And where are we? Right. And where are we kind of to get updates on that? And then um could we also talk about strategic planning as a topic? And
um you gave us this one time, this damage assessment book. Will we get a new one of these? This is I have a name tag on it. You can't see past that, but it was the the full damage assessment for the Can we get one of these updated? Okay,
that was super helpful when we got that commission. I know we just had a groundbreaking for the um honors court. Um just wondered if when we would put a shovel in the ground. Commissioner, any comments?
I also personally would like to uh discuss the um have the sheriff's department present um possibly to give us information on the um the EV uh bicycles um that are uh
what the rules and regulations are for those. I think you and I talked about that before, right? Madam Mayor, I'm sorry. I just had two other items that I just had forgotten to mention. Um,
talking about uh 150th Avenue and DOT um at least start a conversation with them when they would resurface 150th Avenue. Right now there are a lot of potholes and it's pretty dangerous. I
drive on it pretty often and you know you kind sometimes you wear around it and there's another car next to you and you have to slow down and so forth and so on. So I think we need to possibly reach out with DOT and see when they are going to resurface and repair 150th Avenue. And then the other item I was
thinking was that we just had these ceremonial um items and key to the city and um certifications and things like that. But I I was also thinking, okay, well,
how do we encourage people to tap into these um items and can we create a situation when people where people can get involved and actually work really hard to be able to be recognized?
So, you'd like to have a conversation on how we do that? Yes. Um, you know, we had talked about some heroes that uh were here during the past hurricane season and I I think we can probably look at that and say, you know, you guys did a wonderful job. Um,
we would like to recognize you or nominate you, for instance, for a Yeah, we can do that. I don't see why we couldn't do that at the at the workshop. That'd be a great time to talk about and get more in depth in um what we're what we're giving out and how to approach
that. And I think that's idea. Anything further? Robin, do you have anything additional? No, not for the not for the next meet commission workshop. Well, we'll be busy.
Yeah, but I think a lot of that stuff will be quick. It's just getting the updates. It won't be a lot of a lot of necessary time. Next on the agenda is reports and correspondence. Board of Commissioners 2025 Board of Commissioners meeting schedule.
Any updates or changes? We will bring you I'm sorry to the updates or changes to the 2025 schedule. So we will bring back we will add here a special meeting for July 23rd. Uh we're going to discuss internally. It appears
the likely the best time might be right before the commission in between the two meetings, but we will I'll email um the commission to confirm and we will meet the advertising requirements uh for that meeting.
Okay. Any public comment? Commissioners, any comments at the Sorry, May one. At the July meeting, July 23rd workshop, we will bring you the proposed schedule for
calendar year 2026. Just so you have a quick look at it. Okay. Thank you. Next on the agenda is board of commissioner Oh, excuse. Yes. Board of Commissioners meeting report January
1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2025. City clerk. Yes, it's updated through June. And if anybody would like any changes, still let me know. And I hope you do take the time. And
it's after a while, it's going to be a good document to refer back to. It's easy way to go back and look something up. And I'd like a good way cuz the clerk's office doesn't have any real way to send out stuff to the community, but we're looking into
finding some way of like other departments have for communication and maybe that would be something good and lay them out on the table to send them out to people. Do we have any public comment?
Commissioners, any comments? My only comment is I would like to thank again the um the presenters from Penllis County Mosquito Control. That that was a that was a great presentation and I'm
I'm very hopeful that the community was dialed in tonight because um could really use your assistance and you stayed the whole meeting almost. It's impressive. Thank you. Next on the agenda is city attorney. Uh, mayor, commissioners, I want to let you
know that I um did receive information from the attorneys that are handling the fire station litigation. All the settlement proceeds have been received. I did ask uh the parallegal for the attorney handling it when we were going to receive those funds. I asked um I
think Monday. I have not gotten a response back to that email. Uh but hopefully it'll be within the next couple of days the city will receive the money. Once we receive it, um, I will notify you to let you know that we have it in hand. So, we're very close. Thank you. Do we have any public
comment? Commission, any comments? Next on the agenda is the city manager report for June 2025. Thank you, mayor. And just it's in the packet. I'll go through some of the
highlights for June 2025. As I've shared in the past, June tends to be a little bit of a transition month as we get into the start of storm season. Gets ridiculously hot, humid,
typical Florida summers. Um, of course, we're still in our rebuilding part from the two storms in the fall or end of summer. Uh so we continue again getting our priority to get
residents and property owners back into their homes. I think we we continue to address that every day that staff is uh working and we certainly discuss it quite a bit at these meetings. So that continues um obviously through the every month, every day that we're here. Uh the
report just kind of goes through a variety of different reminders of how the public can communicate with us through website calling, coming in person, coming to these meetings, uh etc. Coming to between the workshops and
the the regular workshops, the budget workshops. Uh also additional reminders of again since we're in the summer to stay hydrated. Make sure that if you do go out in the uh be mindful of storms just as we had one here two weeks ago that had some hail and wind. But I know
of a couple of people that got caught outside in it. Be a good idea to take a look before you go outside as to what might be brewing because it can happen in in the matter of of seconds that a storm looks like it pops up right above
you um without you even noticing. Uh which we experienced on July the 3. Um again just scrolling through um activities that were held. We held the two grand openings as Commissioner Go mentioned. We held our annual monthly
cleanup that the trash pirates helps coordinate the first Saturday of every month and of course numerous um the 5K run that was mentioned earlier. Uh recreation uh and a couple of youth softball tournaments. So June, July tend to be a little bit slow particularly
after the 4th. Um so but we do remind folks of upcoming activities as well including city meetings. Uh we do encourage folks to sign up so that they can receive our email updates which update upcoming events, meetings,
activities that can be done through the city's website through the subscribe. Again, we celebrated the groundbreaking uh related to weather and the fact that we're in hurricane season. I reminding folks that we do have a page um through our Thor Guard weather station that is
located on top of the recreation center. I we did include in this report the the website where you can click on it and it will give you an update of the weather right above us. We used it quite a bit on July the 3rd when there were a few thousand people here. Again, we go
through several pages reminding folks that we are in hurricane season. Everyone please take a hurricane. Penelis County hurricane guide with you. We have quite a few here at this building and the library has some as well. And again, just reminding folks of uh
also the Ready Penelis mobile app. Uh it's a good time. It provides emergencies, weather updates, or anything else, the road closures that may be impacting particularly major roads. As we get uh further down, other
reminders, I we get questions this time of year. Why is the city not picking up the seaweed on the sand? And as is explained, we are not allowed to pick up some of it. We can pick up most of it. Excuse me. We can pick up a little bit of it, but it is part of the ecosystem.
It is it does have uh useful purposes including uh source of food for various uh land and aquatic life. So that's the re gets washed up and then it gets washed away. update on our city uh
visioning. Uh our contractor consulting firm Kimley Horn should be completing that over the next probably over the next month. Uh we are having a public meeting on July the 22nd here at our commission chambers to go over questions
from our you know any questions that any resident property owner business may have about our community development and all things planning zoning. But we will also provide an update on where on our master plan that we hope to adopt here
over the next few months. We go into discussing the budget and a little bit of the process and where we are um that we've covered in our workshops. It did include a listing of millage rates from last year. Right now, cities are setting
um and the county and other taxing authorities, special districts are setting their budgets for next year and setting their millage rates. So, you can see where we compare to other cities here around us. Some cities that are towns that are smaller and of course some that
are bigger such as Clearwater and St. Petersburg. did include a little bit of a sample of um the impacts from the storm um on our revenue and on our budget that we've discussed at the workshop. So folks have a little bit of an idea even included information on the
emergency bridge loan request that we have set forward and then preliminary budget um what the city tends to is looking to spend uh preliminarily for next fiscal year. And also that our final two meetings will be September the
10th and September the 24th um where the commission public hearings and meetings where the commission adopts the budget for next year. Included information on our financial transparency information on our website through our
financial software clarion. Folks can go in and look at how much money the city has received, our inflows or revenues, and where the city has spent it, our outflows. We even have a listing of payments that the city has made and
that's available for the public to view. Again, remind more reminders of helping to keep our our sand, our beach is clean and litter-free. And please keep the pets at home. Please be not ebikes, non-motorized bikes are not allowed on
the sand. Uh no glass. Uh there's no smoking other than cigars are allowed on the on the beach on the sand. So we're constantly reminding folks of of those. And again, as we proceed through other reminders from sanitation about our
trash and garbage collection, recycling, uh really um debris pickup post storm. Just reminding folks to begin to prepare as we are in in hurricane season. Hopefully, again, we don't have another flood or very
large wind event, but it's a good idea to prepare your house, get everything ready for the summer. Um, even a quick thunderstorm can knock a tree over or move branches, etc. Um so in reminding folks of Wednesday is our brush pickup
as well as larger items uh bulk items and again our weekly um recycling. Also reminding folks of storm water um through our public works and storm water funds of exactly how runoff can end and
how to help us keep your your property yards uh free of various pollutants that eventually make their way um to the Gulf and to the bay. Um, just like in a popular movie, uh, all all water ends up
in the ocean, I think is the from, uh, if anybody's seen Finding Nemo or, uh, the second Nemo public works gives a little bit of an update on our projects. uh what uh we'll have updates on the start time at the
workshop, but again we've from the street end uh projects to the court of honor through our road project over at the off of 140th and uh what we call area 3. That one has begun, but we'll
provide start dates on the others. um a little bit on the honor court has the tenative schedule, but we'll provide um some updates uh cuz they the mobilization I don't think occurred this week exactly, but we will we'll provide
an update. Um and then just a recap of uh the completion of the beach groans growing um in project to reinforce and restrengthen our our beach groans. included a copy or
a little bit of the and a link to the fire department's annual report. A lot of wonderful information on number of activity uh from during calendar year 2024 for again the majority of our responses for medical fire incidents um
and what our average response time. And again, as we continue through the report, a lot more reminders. Our marina looking for just some updates on posttorm finished most of the repairs. The last one being the power pedestals
that are uh in the process of being installed. Um we're going to look at the next work workshop again to look at uh murals. Here's a sample of what one might look like at the marina if approved. Uh we we will have some more updates as
we go on regarding revenue uh for the for the marine. I just didn't get it in in time. Uh same for parking. Reminding our residents that they can obtain up to three three vehicles that can be registered and ability to park for free
at city parking spaces. uh and also just included a little uh the revenue for June of 2025, which was the month that we collected the largest number of parking fees um in a single
month. Keep in mind, we did increase our park hourly parking fee back in October from $3 an hour to $4 an hour. Um so we are now relative to our uh every city well the Treasure Island, St. P Beach are at the
same rate, even a little bit higher than we are now for parking. Um the Readingtons are at $4 an hour. Um as we go north through the beach, couple of the lots seem to be a little bit less um than $4 an hour, but um so we're
comparable with our really our I think our main competitor for coming out um whether to go to Madera Beach or Treasure Island or St. Pete Beach. Um, we're all at least at $4 an hour. I've been reminding folks of the process. Another reminder of our uh
beach library and the services that they offer um including um downloading materials, checking out museum um passes. Um and we conclude kind of with upcoming events through the month of July, including meetings. Um and Jay
wanted to give a quick update on July 3rd. All right. Good evening again. Sorry. Uh this may end up sounding like an acceptance speech, so just play the music if I get too long. Um so to give you guys kind of a recap, uh it the
event went pretty well. I felt um we began at 6:00, ended at about 10:00. Um, we got more than more rain than we expected. Right at 8:50, 10 minutes before the fireworks were supposed to go off and at about 9:15, I got a phone
call from our fireworks company saying, uh, there's a good chance everything is destroyed. So, um, obviously we still had it. So, I just I've made like a quick list and sorry if I run through, but I'll kind of give you guys a background of, uh, everybody that was involved. Um, it may have seemed like
just a handful, but uh, I think just about the entire city. um had their hands on it at some point. So, I had uh give you guys an idea, Max was shuttling people back and forth to the barges in the building department's boat and then I had three staff members, Haley,
Ashley, Ka, and Kaylee who were working the bar and doing other stuff at the event. So, plus additional rec staff that helped set up and do all that other stuff. Um the community sticking around, the residents, the visitors, the vendors, everybody for attending the event. Um, we had like three rushes of
attendees that showed up, went home every time it rained, which was very surprising, but it worked. Uh, commissioners, obviously, mayor as well that attended the event. Um, Jeff actually helped me uh brush water off the stage while it was raining to keep the bands playing. So, uh, Robin and his
family were there assisting. Um, they helped pick up trash afterwards. Jill with the chamber helped picked up trash afterwards. Uh, FD FE uh cleared the fireworks show for us twice. They normally only have to do it once, but the second time around, uh, they made sure it was still safe. Parking department with cones and signage,
public works with the restroom trailer, our cleaning crew cleaned up the rec center, which was destroyed when we let everybody inside, but for a safety perspective, it was the best opportunity for us. Um, sanitation cleaned up our mess the next day, which was helpful as always. uh Spieler and his company and
his staff for the barge assistants, our fireworks company who stuck around mainly because he had a lot of other shows the next two days and didn't want to come back. Uh my dad was in the building pushing water out of the building and my daughter was standing there keeping him on task so that was
helpful. Uh our sound guy and the band stuck around and played in the rain which was incredible. Um we got lucky. He had no equipment was lost. Um, so I I appreciate that. The PCSO, uh, Snyder,
uh, Deputy CM, Deputy Backrom, whoever else I forgot, and our marine units that helped make sure that it was safe. Uh, the most terrifying visual for me the entire time was the boat that sat out there in the storm, in the lightning, in the water while this was all going on, cuz that thing is one giant piece of
metal. So, I was very uh, you know, very surprised and very shocked, but appreciative that they did that. Windex usual for the parking. I'm trying to think I have one other uh and everyone who text me directly while it was pouring down raining and lightning. If we were still gonna have the show and everyone who texts afterward to say
thank you. So, um there was a lot and uh I I think I mentioned everybody. If I forgot anybody, I'm sorry, but I just wanted you guys to know the full picture of it. So, anyway, thank you. And to add to what Jay said, we did uh have to make a quick decision to get
people inside that were out in the back. I under the impression that there were quite a few and quite a few people did leave as it started to rain, but there were a few hundred people in the back and that thunder and lightning was directly above us. So, we quickly moved
as many people as we could inside. Um, all just left quite a bit of trash, some water and nothing was like significant. Nothing was destroyed, I don't think, but it didn't look like it after. Um, but of course people started kind of grabbing chairs and sitting. Um, but it
was a very could have been obviously very dangerous with that many people outside. So, do you want to thank Jay and his staff for everything that he just said and think it worked out as best as it possibly could and folks enjoyed the show. Yeah. And he Robin did mention the Thor
Guard system. We have that on the roof. Um it measured two and a half inches of rain in 15 minutes which in my time with the city I'm sure we've I mean storms excluded um was probably the most intense storm that we've seen. Uh it was one of the vendors said he got out of
his truck and the water was up to his knees in the field which is crazy. And even after all that rain we got off the field and there was very minimal damage. So we got lucky but again it wasn't just one or two of us it was a whole group. So thank you. Did Did you happen to swim?
I I heard you did. I heard you I heard you had a moment. Yes, I left one. Jeremiah uh the city partner photographer got a picture of me uh video of me sliding in the water. Uh he told me he didn't get it the first time, so I did it a second time. I think he was just trying to get me to go
again. So, but yeah, we had a little bit of fun afterward as well. The show was great. In spite of it, the show was great. There was only like maybe one or two duds that you could notice. If there was more, you couldn't notice it because the
show was it was a good show. Yes. Sorry, last point. So on the the barge, he actually showed me at the very end. Um we have these they use 6in shells, mortars. Um he had four of them out of the entire show that didn't go off. And then there was one section of
tubing that were some smaller ones maybe half the size of this podium that didn't he said 98% of the show launched and the rest of it was it was a great show. It was extreme. I mean he he covered it with plastic did everything he could. We got it's good that he knows what he's doing. So so mayor and commission we'll have as we
go on try to kind of upgrade the report a little bit more have some more data. It's difficult as to try to meet the agenda time to include all the statistics, but we will have more as we go forward each month just to show you some more revenue and expense.
Your conversations with the mayor is incorrect. It's not at city hall. Yeah, this came out before right before we changed it. Okay. It's going to be at the friendly fisherman. The friendly fisherman. Thank you, Robin.
Do we have any public comment? Commissioners, any comments additional? Wonderful evening. What? Yes. So, next on the agenda is board of commissioners correspondence. Do you have any anything to
correspond any public comment? Then if nothing further, it is 8:25. We are adjourned.