##VIDEO ID:x_eOh9r5_Xo## e e good evening welcome to the Board of Commissioners regular meeting it is Wednesday January the 8th 2025 6: p.m. City attorney would you please lead us in the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance our heavenly father we come uh to you today asking for your Divine guidance wisdom and support as we begin this meeting help us to engage in meaningful discussion allow us to grow closer as a group and nurture the bonds of this community fill us with your grace as we make decisions that might affect the residents of the city of mad beach and continue to remind us that all we do here today all we accomplish is for the betterment of the city this we pray amen 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 [Music] city clerk would you please call the role Mayor Brooks here vice mayor tagini here commissioner Kerr here commissioner mcgean here commissioner gabay present all are present next on the agenda is our approval of the agenda and before we approve the agenda I would like to add to our presentations Senator Nick deigle has come tonight to present to us if everyone is in agreement with that you okay so then do we have an approval of the agenda so moved second I'll second city clerk commissioner gabay yes commissioner Kerr yes commissioner mcgean yes vice mayor tangerini yes yes Mayor Brooks yes the motion carry 5 to zero we have no proclamations so first on our agenda is presentations Senator thank you very much mayor thanks for having me uh Happy New Year I know uh hopefully 2025 is a lot better than what we experienced in in 2024 um I wanted to uh first I want to thank you mayor for taking the time a couple weeks ago just before Christmas uh the mayor and I sat down and really just had a very candid conversation uh I wanted to hear what was going on uh from the city's perspective in relation to the permits and you know storm debris collection all of the things that that you know not only M deer beach with all the Barrier Islands here in penales County have been experiencing um and we had a really great conversation I think there's opportunities for us to continue to collaborate um I am I'm here to help and and and I wanted to get the opportunity to say that to all of you publicly uh and then really kind of lay out what what I'm looking to do in the legislature to unfortunately take a lot of lessons learned um and this is this is not directed towards anything you all are doing obviously but you know I I have the honor of representing district 18 in Penal County which is essentially Gul to Bay and South uh I live in Indian Rocks Beach and so I'm also dealing with the very same things that many of of your residents our constituents are facing uh with the permitting and the challenges of all of that the frustration of all of that and then what I call the new fword is the four-letter FW is FEMA and we all know unfortunately about that 50% rule Etc um so you know I want to um uh I want to to say you know please consider me as a resource um you know I will I am fully dedicated to you know stop what I'm doing to help uh you and your staff in this commission uh your residents our constituents and and whatever it is that they need moving forward um I'm I'm very pleased with the conversation that we had and and the challenges that you you've all have faced and managing and navigating the the permitting process um so I I'm going to talk about two different things things in the legislature that we're going to be focused on uh one is an appropriation uh focus and another obviously is going to be on on policy um I have the honor of of chairing the appropriation committee on tourism uh transportation and economic development a lot of the hurricane recovery Appropriations are going to be coming through my committee um Senator Ed Hooper who represents North pelis County or Gulf debate north with which includes the northern part of pelis County and Pasco County uh he is going to be the chairman of the appropriation Committee in the in the house so he's responsible for an entire 100 probably around $120 billion budget this coming session uh and Senator Hooper is also very aware of of the challenges uh of the barrier islands here in Penal County um and also uh about six days after Helen came through I had the Senate President Ben Albritton who lives in Central Florida come out we spent about six hours going up and down the Barrier Islands uh speaking with the various Mayors I didn't get a chance to come to mad Beach but when you see one municipality and you see the debris and the sand um you have a pretty good idea of of the magnitude of the impact that that we've had here in penales County um you know we we we spent we spent some extra time in Sunset Beach because I I think Sunset Beach you know was hit likely the hardest in the Barrier Island so it really it really exposed the magnitude of of of what we are dealing with here in the county um and Senator all Britain left very impressed with with the need of the legislature stepping up uh and providing immediate relief for for our residents for our constituents so so from an appropriation standpoint I'd like to to share with you and you and I talked about this mayor if there's any infrastructure projects that have been impacted by the storm uh that you all need help with from an appropriation standpoint whether that's storm water whether that's any type of of infrastructure um you know now is really going to be the time to to to let myself let my staff know exactly what those projects are the cost of those projects um and then we're we're here to facilitate and help uh get that into into the hopper so that we can we can you know go through that funding process because you know in my view whether it's madira Beach or or the 20 municipalities that I represent um nor you know shore shore shore acres in St Petersburg is another great example we we have some we have some I think infrastructure needs that that need to be addressed and I think that um you know considering what we've went through I think now is the time to really take it take advantage of that while while we can while it's freshing our minds um and so um Mr Gomez city manager if you you know you want to think about that with the mayor and the rest of the the the St the commissioner that would be that would be great um so help me help you is basically what what I'm saying there uh as far as the uh you know as far as the policy standpoint what I'm looking at is is really trying to create a uniform set of of of Standards post storm it's very specific to post storm and and this incredibly frustrating permitting process that that we've all had to um you know go through and figure out and try to do the right things because nobody wants to get in a situation where uh you know FEMA is saying you're going to lose your your rating and and insurance rates go up we we don't none of us want that um but I do think there's an opportunity to create a uniform uh you know set of of standards of guidelines a process whatever the case might be so that when this does happen again and it's not a it's not a uh it's not an if it's it's a when hopefully it's next hundred years in Penal County um but if we can create a system where local governments have you know the the opportunity and the resources to hit the ground running they have folks trained they're training all year round so that after that that initial emergency response we and you can all start hitting the ground running the state is going to provide resources there should be an expectation of exactly what that is um I've got I've got language and Bild drafting working with with Senate staff I don't have any specifics to that that's my overall overall concept um and and I want when that is ready I'll send it to you mayor and I I want your feedback I wanna I want to know what what can we do better maybe that's maybe something is that's in there that we don't need maybe that's something that would be conflicting with with FEMA which I'm going to try to avoid obviously right up front but uh my point is um and really the the most disappointing thing quite frankly is that that what we decide to do from a policy standpoint is likely not going to impact the residents here in penales county and I I recognize that and I'm frustrated by that um I I someone asked me earlier today I spoke to a large group and and they said why hasn't the legislature address the perating issue after a storm like Ian and I don't represent that area of the state so I I don't have an answer to that I'm just as puzzled as everybody else because this is clearly an issue that that is required it is necessary uh but it's something that I think needs to be fine-tuned so when it does happen again it has the the the least amount of impact for our residents in one of the most difficult scenarios and and experiences they're ever going to face and that's storm recovery and that's trying to get back into your homes um and we all know the stories we we we all have experienced it ourselves so um I just want to let you all know that um you know this experience for me personally um you know with my neighbors in Indian Rock speech and and the folks and constituents that I've spoken to these last two and a half months you know across this the this this County and on these barrier islands is is what is driving me to make this better for for all Floridians um and um and so it's uh I've got full support of leadership in Tallahasse which is always a always a plus um but I just wanted to share that with all of you that we're we're working we've got a great delegation here in in penel County as well representative Cheney represents uh you know this area in the Florida House of Representatives and we all know how how passionate she is about about this issue and about you know making things right for for our residents so um I cannot uh I cannot stress enough the the focus that myself and this delegation are going to have uh in in in answering the call of us in the legislature making making this making this better because it it certainly can be better it will be better uh but I think immediately also the appropriation opportunity for us in pelis county is very unique considering the leadership that we have uh in these very key uh key positions is going to go a long way so um I I really look forward to to working with all of you and um I will say since your your constituents are are also my constituents please keep the pedal to the metal please keep that sense of urgency up and the communication is so key uh you cannot overcommunication out there and there's a lot of folks who are frustrated and and I know you all understand that I certainly understand that um but you know a sense of urgency goes a long way and and that level of communication um will be appreciated so uh that is all I have for you and all of you today uh mayor so thank you so much for for having me and I'm happy to answer any questions but you know my my door is always open and and certainly I think people know where to find me these days so Senator just for clarification thank you for being here and appreciate that and so this policy legislation that you're putting together this will be in addition to any support that FEMA would give us so is that is that correct yeah so I I'll say you have to it has to align are you I mean and I'm not making a comment on which way to go yeah no no no absolutely no and I'll go ahead and explain it so from from a policy standpoint it's really we want to we we see a lot of holes in in the process that that you all are taking taking um responsibility of right now right and so you know FEMA has its guidelines and I there's option one there's option two all of those things I personally would like to clarify that to give almost give you all guidance of of really what what what can be done and that's laid out um from from a local government standpoint and I can tell you this um some are doing it much better than others and you guys are not at the bottom of that list I can tell you that um I'm not going to I'm not going to call anybody out I don't think that's appropriate that's not my style uh but there are some municipalities that are just really kind of paralyzed because they're I think they they they're worried and scared about FEMA they're worried about losing the rating that has created this just paralyzation of a process that should be moving uh in an expedited Manner and I think the way to do that is to have the information ahead of time to have that planning ahead of time to to you know obviously work with not only FEMA work with the Department of Emergency Management um and I know I know the mayor and I talked about that they they are they are here to help um you know director Guthrie um and and know his staff has been been working with you all probably on a regular basis and and I commend him and thank him for that um but I think that we can lay out a process that we're going to know what that is well ahead of time instead of reacting days after Hurricane when quite frankly it's chaotic because many of the decision makers are dealing with the the very disaster that your residents are dealing with and City staff is dealing with with those things it's hard to focus solely on recovery when when an individual a leader is is is dealing with that on their own so if we can lay that out um and then create an opportunity for for training for that worst day throughout the year I think that's going to go a long way in in in having the ability to hit the ground running and when I say expedited I mean there this is this is a process those boxes need to be checked and there's a reason why those boxes need to be checked but I do think in the conversations I've had with with my con our constituents and my neighbors Etc you know they're they're reasonable people they understand that this is a large task they once they understand why we're going through this process and and the the consequences that come with with FEMA and increase in in flood insurance policies and all of those things I any that's thousands of dollars for folks who many of them would have to make a decision on am I going to pay for my prescription medication am I going to pay for my mortgage that just went up because my flood insurance went up or do I have to sell my house and and go somewhere else because I can't live in in a beautiful Barrier Island anymore that that that is the are that all of you are trying to avoid and I think from a from a legislative standpoint we can we can create a very I think wellth thought out Fair uh and balanced uh process that that you all can follow um and and what I can tell you I'm not ever going to do is set any municipality up for failure that that is not my intent my intent is not to be you know kind of that uh you know preemption Tallahasse knows best I'm not interested in that what I'm interested in in learning from what what best practices you all have experienced and all of the other municipalities here not only penel but across the state and incorporate that into a meaningful balanc comprehensive um post emergency storm permitting package that that is going to be used as a as a as a blueprint in how to be successful in going through a very very difficult process thank you Senator thank you I have a question if I might thank you for coming out um two things I just want to make sure you're aware of and maybe you can um address them uh so FEMA has now I I I like way the way you started with the four-letter word that was good um in their calculations for flood insurance that base flood elevation is no longer um cons there's no wait a minute base flood elevation is no longer a national flood insurance program rating Factor as deter to determine the premium so we just we had someone from the insurance agency whatever came out about a year ago and gave us the guideline so that if you raise your home above FEMA standards and we have 4 foot above base flood elevation for design flood elevation here in madira beach that you don't get any discount on your flood insurance for have achieving that didn't know if you're aware of that I'm not aware of that no um but um so these families that are elevating or rebuilding are still going to have huge Insurance bills for flood even though they have they've done everything they've been asked to yeah yeah so one side FEA saying 50% rule you must rebuild or Elevate mhm you have no choice but if you do you don't get any discount on your flood insurance yeah yeah so I want to bring that to your attention um and and I'll just um commission I'll add I'll I'll kind of piggyback on that um we we my wife and I do not live on the water in any the Rocks Beach we live across you know we're on the on one of the fingers I'll call it but you know our neighbors across the street live on live on the water uh we're we're elev we live in key west. home so we are in fact elevated um you know lost three cars that I lost a lot of personal items but because we were elevated our living space was not was not impacted so of course everything underneath is very little coverage for that you know unfinished utility room downstairs that we have you know our whole life in storage boxes down there and um and because of that um you know lack of coverage you would think that I don't have I wouldn't pay out very much in in flood insurance we pay almost $6,000 a year in flood insurance and so of course that begs the question what what exactly are we doing are we contributing to the National flood insurance program um which that that's a that is a federal you know question and I'm very opinionated on that I'm sure as we all are I don't bore you with all of that but from a personal experience I I completely understand exactly what what you're saying and um I hope that with a new Administration in Washington DC and hopefully a new FEMA director quite frankly that we can get some fresh eyes on on what's Happening what has happened some again Lessons Learned um and and we can we can make some I think NE necessary changes at the federal level specifically around FEMA Clarity would be a good thing you know because if you all have Clarity from FEMA then you can execute what you're what you're supposed to do with all of this permitting and and that's not that is not happening either you get you get a you get a um I don't know what do you get like a a workbook or something that you have to interpret yourself I mean that's you know right that's challenging yeah add to it you you raise your home you're not in your case you're not really insuring anything there's nothing down there to insure right um but and the second item is we're so happy to hear that the state will be stepping in and using FEMA funds to administer uh grants to to raise your home but I want to make sure that you are aware that if you're in a velocity Zone which there's many of homes here in madira beach that are in a velocity Zone you can receive the grant if you elevate your old 50-year-old home but if you build new to the same FEMA standards you do not qualify for the grant and when I asked the state they said well we're just following FEMA guidelines so you look it up in the FEMA guidelines and it's that is what they say just doesn't make any sense yeah so I got I got you I'll I'll look deeper into that I have this first time I've heard I've heard of a velocity Zone uh terminology um I've heard a lot about flood zones of course but veloc zones not not so much it's the same 1% that you um Chan of flooding just has to do with wave action okay so if you're along the beach or along the bay or if you're out on the in the call the sax of you ringing a bell so uh you know look the the the Florida Department of Emergency Management is is uh going to be laying out a new program I'm sure you've heard of it elevate Florida um and that's the program I'm mention yeah so you know it's a work in progress I think it's got a lot of potential and um you know I think that you know knowing director Guthrie and and his um his dedication and experience and expertise in this um I think I think we're going to we're going to see a program that's actually going to be used you know the FEMA program to elevate homes I believe the numbers or something like in the last 30 years I think 16 Property Owners is um you know have have been able to utilize that so that means it doesn't work in my view that's over 30 years um so you know I think that I've had a lot of conversations with with the director about you know the need to to assist folks in elevating their homes because that's that's a way for us to get more resilient that's the that's the ultimate goal and it's very expensive and and again we get to that to that scenario where people are going to make these hard decisions and you know there's some opportunities through grants and and you know obviously commitment from the legislature and even FEMA for that matter um I think that's going to be a hopefully a very very effective um grant program thank you again thank you have any questions no Senator sigley thank you it's an honor to have you here with us tonight I'm sure a lot of our residents taking notes whether it's online or by other medium and I'm sure that a lot of the uh concerns that they have so far uh they're taking notes and understand um you know the local government responsibility the state and uh and the federal government from FEMA's perspective uh one of the concerns that I had heard from the residents that are being housed in hotels right now is that I think the the sunset is by January 14th yeah so um do you know think about that and I've also heard that if the state requests FEMA to extend that they would H that um would you shed some light on that for us yeah thank you commissioner great question um so the I believe that there's there there's basically you know FEMA you know has a certain amount that goes towards you know folks staying in a hotel for for a certain period of time I think it was I think it's three months 90 days give or take um that is expiring you said on January 14th um and so myself representative Cheney um you know been working with with the Department emergency management and getting that extension uh I don't have an update on for you on that today I haven't I talked with represented Chini over the weekend and I hadn't had an update from her so um I can tell you we're we're working to get that extension it it it's a it's a look housing from the gecko the minute that this happened I knew that that was going to be a a major major major challenge we're the most densely populated county in the state of Florida and when you have a a significant storm surge event like this um with so many one-story homes that were built in the ' 50s and 60s um these folks are going to be displaced and where are they're going to go you know not not everybody has family just nearby not everybody has family in Pasco County things like that 1700 homes in Madura beach only yeah and that's just in your city exactly um so you know it's it's going to even if we have an extension I can tell you housing is still a major major major issue here um and you know there there's a level of disappointment for me personally uh from from really what is um God bless you from what is available from the Federal Government after a natural disaster like this I mean just not only look at here in pelis County we've all we've all experienced that directly and it's been terrible but you know you you look at what's going on out of Asheville and North Carolina and the challenges that they have there you know I'm certainly not saying we're we're better off but what I am saying is that you know the federal government I think this new Congress and the new the new Administration coming in on January the 20th need to take a serious look at what we can do better here um and and and how to modernize storm recovery and relief for for Americans who are paying taxes to to have government help them when they need it the most and this is when they need it the most um and so you know again I'm I'm I I can only control what I can control um we're working with the department to get an extension on that I can certainly control that uh but there's a level of frustration that you know I'm I'm really hoping that my voice and your voices all of us collectively you know can really um get the attention of of our lawmakers in Washington and and certainly congresswoman Anna poen Luna has been a great champion in Washington she's got a very very powerful voice um and you know her office and myself have been in communication talking about these very things um so I I I anticipate there's changes on the way it's just we know things take quite a bit of time up in Washington DC we appreciate all you're done for us thank you I actually don't have a question just a comment Senator thanks for coming out thank you for having me um what you brought up about uh post storm standards and a uniform set of Standards I think that's an excellent idea as you know most municipalities we've never gone through something like this before um this is new for us and we're all learning Y and um once a month we have the big c meeting where all the M municipalities get together I would like to see some of those you know uh get together with everyone and and talk about the exact same thing what can we do better before the season hits again and also um the uh training and resources per municipality that way all the citizens will know exactly what we have and what we're doing kind of like ammunition against against our enemy so I appreciate you coming out tonight very informative and thank you very much no thank you for that and you you're a spot on there was um you just sparked a memory I I had a uh conversation with a constituent someone I've known he's a construction um he's a general contractor I think he lives in one of the Readington I've known for for several years great guy and you know he again to my earlier point he he understands that this is a this is a enormous you know task um but was really disappointing to him was that he picked up pretty quick that the the staff in that in that particular municipality didn't really know what to do at first and and and when I think the citizens look for their elected leaders to to lead and and have have information and be decisive and say this is this is what to expect people just want to know what to expect um I think that really is where that got me to if we can we can have that planning year round uh we can have that training year round and we can you know and and and and the staff can have that training and be focused on that and and committed to that when that happens laying out all those expectations is going to ease a lot of the frustration that is not going to go away because it's frustrating people are are being displaced in all the things that we talked about but them knowing their government is working efficiently for them is what they feel like they deserve and they do deserve that as we all can agree but I think that's going to go long way in in in mitigating a lot of the things that that you all and many of the municipalities here have been experiencing these last three months so I would like to steal your word of clarity and from day one after helain I think that the biggest challenge was understanding what FEMA expected um we all understood the 50% rule I think that that is something that a lot of residents did not realize that 50% is female or no FEMA it is a Florida building code but FEMA lays out regulations and rules that if you don't follow they'll punish you for and at the same time because there's not a Playbook and you and I discuss this there's no Playbook so municipalities are being hit for the first time and they don't they read they read the instructions they they're prepared and understand we were fortunate in our city that we did have a or we do have a staff that was very prepared and under understood the complexities however the changing of oh no you can't do it that way now you've got to do it this way is very disruptive and when I look at the members of our community who are displaced from their homes my frustration comes in that they're displaced we're working as fast and hard as we can many of our staff are working 7 days a week 10 12 14 16-hour days it's it's kind of insane what the commitment that they have which I'm happy for but we're working all of the hours to try to get people back in their homes as quickly as they can and FEMA says you have to do it this way so that way takes longer than if we were just doing if everybody in our community that got flooded didn't flood and they were just coming in for a remodel and they couldn't go over their 50% our process would be different so FEMA requires the process to be longer they don't give clear Direction so I think that if the state came up with clear direction that everyone could use instead of every municipality in pellis County trying to figure it out with the county which is not a good use of time but the problem even more is we're telling people you can't rebuild your home because you need to wait for this process that's taking an exorbitant amount of time and oh by the way you can't live in your home we've provided you with temporary housing relief and on January 14th that's over figure it out yeah so I believe my understanding is that after the hotel housing goes away there is an opportunity for a displaced homeowner to get $59 a night towards a stay which is roughly 1,700 a month number one you'd have a hard time finding a place to live in penis County for $1,700 a month on a good day you're not going to and on this day when the housing market is just there is nothing I'm I really and I had reached out um to representative Cheney about the housing issue and I love hearing that you are working on that or inquiring on it it would wonderful for the constituents all up and down the Barrier Islands to be able to keep their hotel rooms longer yeah giving the municipalities the time to get their permits turned around and then the other thing is that the struggle I've also heard is the uh housing that had been mobile homes or the uh travel trailers that that has become a very difficult adventure for a resident to to get a mobile or I call it a mobile home it's a a travel trailer placed on their property that they can live in which in madira you can get a permit it's you just go on and apply you have it it's it's quite simple um to allow someone a place to live on their property where they can be there while the construction is going on to make sure that there's you know the vandalism and the Begg and these kinds of things I'd like to see something happen there that would help our residents to be able to have a more streamlined process and get those travel trailers in if you have any um advice or input on that today or tomorrow um would be wonderful because people are going to be homeless on the 14th yeah I um I can tell you what I what I've known and this is this goes back from like the early days of you know after the storm um it was my understanding that penal County uh is is the authority if you will that that requests and allows these travel trailers to you know be put up at a certain site let's just use tropican field for an example it's a huge site right you know I don't know Derby Lane something with a huge parking lot and uh for some reason they did they did not want those trailers in this County uh I don't know the the specific reason um I spoke at a at a um homeowners association in in Venetian Isles right after I heard that and you know when I first heard that I mean it made you know it made me very angry because like I mentioned earlier it's pretty clear what was going to happen with a house housing issue in this County after after a storm event like that I mean it doesn't it doesn't take you know people knocking or sending emails or picking up the phone telling you where am I going to go I mean that you knew that right away and why we don't have these trailers in this County at every possible parking lot for these folks to to reside in in in the interim is beyond me and and and if if somebody's listening and I'm inaccurate there please let me know uh because I've said it multiple times publicly and nobody's corrected me so until I hear otherwise until I see I don't know have you seen any of these trailers anywhere I haven't seen any of these trailers U I've seen a lot of RVs in people's homes and that's great but some not everybody can go out and buy an RV they can't and so um you know certainly we're all sensitive to the you know to our seniors in our community we have a lot of them yeah and you know we all know some of them are probably living in their home and they shouldn't be and who can blame them where are they going to go so mayor I hear you loud and clear thank you very much for coming tonight thank you so much for having me I appreciate it Happy New Year to you all thank you thank you 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 for someone at the city to follow up on a comment or question made at the meeting you may fill out a comment card with your 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 might be on the agenda an affected person may become a party to a quasi judicial proceeding and can be entitled to present evidence at the hearing including the sworn testimony of witnesses and relevant exhibits and any other documentary evidence and to cross-examine all Witnesses by filing a notice of intent to be a party with the community development director not less than 5 days prior to the hearing do we have any public comment please hi theca Nelson um I live on 140th Avenue so I'm a resident um first of all I want to thank you mayor the Commissioners senator who left and the city staff for everything that you're doing I know you're working really hard and uh from everything that I've heard you're also working on the most important priorities which are helping residents be able to get back into their homes and have some stability within their lives and I know businesses are are likely an important aspect as well um so I preface that because I'm going to make a couple of comments and I that I don't want you to think oh you know I'm focused on the trivial um issues um my background is about 40 years in environmental health and safety and the military where I spent my last 10 years as the dod representative to the femo between the Commonwealth of Virginia and FEMA so I've seen this process from that level uh but certainly never experienced it and now I I have like you all um but one of the couple of the things I wanted to bring up really have to do with Public Safety and it may be that you're already working on these but I bring it to you in the vein of is there more that citizens can do to help with recovery um so you know a couple of things there's there's a lot of paint and um hazardous chemicals that are still left behind and many of these are in by homes where they're no no longer a people so uh federal and state laws exempt household hazardous waste but that means you have to have a household who can pick those things up and take them now and you know my concern is is that eventually not today it's going to get hot again and some of those containers are going to get pressurized they're going to burst we're going to get rain again and this is just going to go you know into our waterways which are our major asset right it's the beaches and the waterways when you start looking at the long-term recovery for the community those are assets so I the the laws prevent me from being able to go around and collect this stuff and take it over to penel County I don't know if anyone has approached uh the state about any way that we can work around this um could madira beach run a household hazardous waste day that we have closer I know there was one but and again a lot of these people aren't here so what are they supposed to do what are the rest of us supposed to do so somehow there's going to have to be some level of exceptions relative to the regulations in order to be able to do something other than have all those chemicals laying out in people's yards um just a couple Le Public Safety related things I assume that it's the state's responsibility to work on the sidewalk Crossings with the lights that aren't working I'm sure you've heard all about that but you know that becomes dangerous um and then some of the places where there's still things covering sand piles or debris piles on the major sidewalks on um Gulf Boulevard um and again just trying to think of the long range of as we try to draw people back into the community so that we can ultimately ly um you know take advantage of the assets the beach and the waterways that we have um again I I bring this to you in the vein of not criticism but is there something that you know citizens can do to help um I speak the language on the environmental if there's some way that you know I can help by making some calls to people I'm more than willing um to do that so thank you I'm sure my five minutes is up uh but thank you for listening and again and appreciate um all your hard work and uh and please keep it up because people need you thank you very much do we have any additional public comment with no additional public comment we will move on to approval of the minutes has the commission had the opportunity to review the minutes anyone have any changes no I think they're fine I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes as written do we have a second I'll second city clerk would you call the role please commissioner cerr yes commissioner mcgean yes commissioner gabay yes vice mayor tagini yes Mayor Brooks yes the motion carried 5 to zero we have nothing on the consent agenda so we will move on to public public hearings ABP 202-1758 application obviously staff is going to actually testify but I'm going to give you this summary uh the summary is that pursuant to Land Development code article 6 division 6 alcoholic beverage is the applicant for the alcoholic beverage permit 2025-the at docside Dave's Restaurant of madira beach located at 14 701 Gulf Boulevard and 1473 Gulf Boulevard here at madira beach the standards to be applied tonight are set forth in code section 110- 532 and I'm just going to read that quickly when considering the alcoholic beverage application the board of commissioner shall consider the following factors number one the extent to which the location and the extent to which the proposed alcoholic beverage request will adversely affect the character of the existing neighborhood number two the extent to which traffic generated as a result of the location of the proposed alcoholic beverage request will create congestion or present a safety hazard number three whether or not the proposed use is compatible with the part with the particular location for which it is proposed number four whether or not the proposed use will adversely affect the public safety and number five no application for review under this section shall be considered until the applicant has paid in full any outstanding charges fees interest fines or penalties owed by the applicant to the city under any section of the code the burden of proof tonight is set forth in section 2-10 of the city's code and it reads as follows the applicant shall have the burden of proof at the hearing to show by a greater weight of the evidence that the application is consistent with the city's comprehensive plan and complies with all procedural requirements of law conditions may be suggested by the applicant the city or any party or may be imposed by the board which are intended to ensure consistency and compliance the identity of the parties tonight you're there's only two there have been no notices of intent that have been filed with the cities the two parties are dogside Dave restaurant LLC and the City of course the order of presentation normally would be the applicant first and then the city but pursuant to section 2-9 F of the Sease code I have the ability as a City attorney to um modify that presid present ation and I think it'd be easier for City staff to present first and then followed by the applicant so that's what we're going to do I'm going to read the quas judicial procedures this is a quas Judicial proceeding where the Board of Commissioners acts in a quasi judicial rather than a legislative capacity at this hearing it is not the board's function to make law but rather to apply law that has already been established in this uh quad judicial hearing the board is required by law to make findings a fact based upon the evidence presented at the hearing and apply those findings of fact to previously established criteria containing the code of ordinances in order to make a legal decision regarding the application before it the board may only consider evidence at this hearing that the law considers competent substantial and relevant to the issues if the competent substantial and relevant evidence at this hearing demonstrates that the applicant has met the criteria establishing the code of ordinances then the board is required by law to find in favor of the applicant by the same token if the confidence substantial and relevant evidence of the hearing demonstrates the applicants failed to meet the criteria established in the code of ordinances then the board is required by law to find against the applicant at this point I need to ask the commission whether or not that you have received any or need to disclose any experte Communications that you've had with the applicant anyone no see no any conflicts of interest that the commission needs to disclose no no okay at this point I need to go ahead and swear in the witnesses if is the applicant here tonight okay um so if you would stand up raise your right hand Mr Morris would you stand up raise your right hand and we swear you know you swear the testimony you're going to give tonight is going to be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth okay thank you okay so with that we'll the um City staff to go ahead and make its presentation and of course you have the packet in front of you and I assume that the city will be um asking that to be received into evidence yes yes I do I want it to be received into evidence okay if you want to go ahead Mr Morris um the reason why this uh alcohol permit is in front of VI tonight it's related to um in our code when a existing alcohol per a property that has an alcohol perm wants to do an expansion above 10% of their uh square footage of alcohol sales they have to uh reapply for that expansion which is in that section 110- 535 which is the expansion of alcohol beverage zoning of the Mader Beach C orces it requires the approval of the Board of Commissioners to enlarge the area for sale of alcoholic beverages including consideration of all requirements under Section 110 532 um consideration of alcohol beverage application toide Davis is in the C3 retail commercial zoning district and has the F both properties have the future land use designation of residential office retail uh and the public notice was mailed uh to all the properties with been 300 feet of both parcels and it was posted at the gulf Beach's public library in City Hall and on the Mater Beach website and at the subject property um the criteria is pretty similar to or what like if it was a new alcohol what it would be um so I'm just going to go through the criteria has has to meet um when considering an alcohol beverage license application the board commissioner shall consider the following factors extent to which the location extent to which the proposed alcohol beverage request will adversely affect the character of the existing neighborhood um doc side daes alcoholic expansion to the adjacent property will not negatively impact the existing neighborhood character the existing neighborhood is mostly commercial or uh multif family uses and the existing restaurant already has a special Food Service establishment for cop alcohol license to serve beer and wine and liquor premises additionally uh nearby restaurants like the The Reef Bar and Grill located uh next to this property already serve liquor um the next one is the extent to which traffic generated as a result location of the proposed alcohol beverage request will create congestion or present a safety hazard um do side Daves does meet the parking requirements located in section 110 971 uh the bus business owner has an agreement for 11 additional parking spaces at a nearby commercial property that they that they would use for employee parking uh the customer parking would still be on property so the customers wouldn't have to walk um but the employees would be walking from a nearby a commercial uh structure that has a parking lot um customer parking is uh located on property uh the proposed alcohol use does not present a safety hazard or lead to additional congestion um whether or not the proposed use is compatible with the particular location for which it is proposed this proposed expansion of alcohol use is compatible with location the expansion to the adjacent property is a zone for commercial uses uh nearby businesses already serve alcohol and liquor uh whether or not uh the proposed use will adversely affect Public Safety Public Safety should not be adversely affected by do side D's restaurant expanding their alcohol beverage Zoning for serving liquor consumption on premises the restaurant is more than 300 feet away from any established church synagogue Temple or place of religious worship public or private school operate for instruction of miners or youth uh recreation community center 300 foot requirement is the minimum dis required for bars and clubs located in the C3 zoning District section 110- 530 and uh does not need to be met for uh restaurants doite Daves is currently classified as a restaurant and has to meet our our requirements and the state requirements related to restaurants um no application the next criteria is uh the no application for review under this section shall be considered until applicant has paid in full any outstanding charges fees interest fines or penalties owed by the applicant to the city under the section of the code the applicant has no outstanding fines or penalties ow owed to the city under any section of the code and the last one um re um and then the um fiscal impact isn't isn't applicable to this this application uh under uh our rec recommendations uh City staff does recommend the approval of ABP 2025 d01 with the following conditions um the approval of this expansion of alcohol beverage zoning use is not uh an approval of the remol permit for the properties um the stop work order for the properties will need to be resolved before a city staff can sign the state application for the extens of licensed premises um the applicant is currently uh having their architect send in revisions to uh uh resolve that issue but um as a lot of businesses they're having a very uh tough time right now and they want to get reopened and and rehire all all their workers so we we didn't want to hold them up over that so once um that's why we propose that as a condition because we want to make sure they keep the ball rolling and and the applicants are are are fix fixing the the issue in in good faith attached to this are the local application uh the parking agreement uh they have that nearby lot um their proposed site plan and their state app and the public notice mailing and posting if and that that is my presentation thank you Mr Morris any questions from the commission for City staff M uh so will they have to resolve the stop work before they can move move forward or is that just like they understand that they will have to do that at some point no they they understand they have to do that to move forward with fix fixing uh the getting the restaurant back up and running okay thank you any other questions from the commission I have a question on the um on the parking you have um 11 spot that are going to be for employee parking offsite that's an agreement with the another commercial establishment what happens when that agreement is no longer there what happens if that commercial adjacent I guess it's adjacent commercial property either sells to a different owner is there any stipulation in the agreement that uh other off-site parking will be uh made available is this a temporary thing is this a six month or six year or 60y year type agreement just a I was just double checking the monthly parking agreement um I I would have to ask the the applicant if it's by uh monthly basis look um they're paying the owner each month but I I don't know if it's a I I would have to ask the applicant um if it's like a long term hold on a second sir yeah they would have to clarify that any other commission questions okay thank you I I'm sorry I have a question okay um on the application um they make a reference to the number of employees to be 30 and on the site plan it says 10 I'm just guessing that uh probably the 30 might be you know different shifts so um that that's you direct your question to Mr Morris if he doesn't know the answer the applicant probably can um I think it's usually 10 on on a shift but 30 in total but the applicant can uh clarify that and then the other question I have how do you calculate parking requirements for this particular use in the section of the code uh you have um for restaurant uses you have to calculate for both uh the the SE eating um for the employees and for any any uh Dance Floor type use so I I had to do the it's usually parking spot I think for every four seats and then for every two employees and um we do have some parking credits related to to bike racks um but I but yeah I had to run through the numbers and the um they needed the additional parking off side for the employees to to meet the number um for the for the expansion on on the plan it just makes a reference to Total parking requirements 42 but it doesn't say how they achieved that number 42 so that's something that I would like to basically ask and find out about and then the other question I have has to why don't we let him go ahead and answer that question do you have the answer to that Mr oh I did a Excel spreadsheet of of the parking count I I didn't include it uh with this staff report um guess for future alcohol permits I can include that um but um the the additional parking was what would fixed it but I think but I don't have the exact counts on me on on hand right now um for but is it your testimony that they meet the parking requirements as required by the code uh they they do and I I did an Excel spreadsheet where I had had to run run the uh numbers based on what they they gave me including the additional 11 from the okay commissioner did you have other questions um just want to make sure they also meet that 50% FEMA rule just just to throw it out there well that that's a building issue that would be when the building permit is being considered you could make that obviously a condition to your to the application if you wanted to do that but they are Mr Morris they are going to be required to meet all current Florida building code requirements correct that is that is correct and that they they must meet that um and the approval of this wouldn't um like if this gu approved and they didn't they still have to meet the feem of 50% this doesn't impact that from they still have to meet it thank you so is it Mr Nazario if you could step forward sir you have been sworn under oath this is your opportunity first of all to ask any cross-examination questions of Mr Moors if you don't have any questions of him you can make any presentation that you want sure uh thank you for having me everybody I appreciate it Andrew I appreciate your hard time or your hard work and effort and uh anarie this is the first time I get to see you on uh on that chair so congratulations on the promotion um um I can answer anything that he wasn't able to answer um I followed all the criteria and all the guidelines if you look in the pack it actually has in the blueprints exactly how many parking spots we have it's numbered on on the thing exactly how we're laying it out to down to the bike racks um motorcycle parking as well as the excess parking I just wanted my employees to have a place to go so that we can get and um take care of as many guests as possible the whole point of the building next door is we already utilized that building that's where our storage is that's where our walk-in coolers and freezers are it's just not being used right now so I wanted to kind of incorporate that during those two months during season our restaurant is completely slammed I mean like wall toall I have a weight I have people hanging out in the street I want to incorporate that so I I say hey you know while you're waiting for a table why don't you guys go hang out in here give them a place to hang out grab a drink maybe grab some bar bites maybe put a projector in there if people want to rent for game space or something like that if our you know bucks make the playoffs like hey who wants to rent this gam space make it like something of entertainment purpose it's just it would look a lot better I can incorporate it make it you know a more beautiful area you know the whole front of our building can be beautified and looked up it just doesn't it doesn't look clean right now and I just think that utilizing that space would definitely help the business and um what were the other questions that you I believe you add something else sir yes so um as far as your employees I think you have maybe 10 employees per shift maximum per shift yes sir yes sir 30 total 10 per shift yes it's just that the application did not clarify that just U just for clarity that was that's all I asked that question yep yes sir but we're we're extremely happy to have you here in madira Beach we have frequent there and I know you're very very busy and the food is excellent and I know there's a lot of uh um a lot of residents walk to your restaurant so totally get it but you know we have to follow certain rules and uh just to see certain parts are met I completely understand any other questions from the commission for the applicant not seeing any okay anything else that you wanted to provide to the commission um other than whatever conditions that Andrew may want to come up with as far as FEMA 50% uh I'm I'm happy to to abide by and um adhere to so all the building codes I'll make sure how you guys need it to be done and make sure we do it right we've learned a lesson okay thank you is there anybody from the public that would like to step forward and make any comment about this application okay there not being any it's back before the commission now for consideration and approval of the application it would just be done by motion obviously staff is recommending that there be two conditions placed on it that that's in the packet on page 26 the first being the approval of this expansion of alcohol beverage zoning use is not an approval of the remodel uh permit for the properties the second condition was the stop work order for the properties will need to be resolved before City staff can sign the state application for extension of license premises and I think that there was a third one that was recommended by commissioner gavahi relative to that the property owner will comply with the Florida building code and the 50% rule so back to the commission questions any comments comments no just com doc side Daves is an institution here yes yes it is and I'm happy to see them uh expand and uh it's I think it'll be I think it's a great idea um yeah no I I definitely support docside Dave um that being said that you know the parking thing needed a little bit of clarity and um sounds like have a long-standing relationship with that with the adjacent owner it's not just parking it's additional things um if memory serves me correctly before the storm maybe six months ago maybe nine months ago I thought we had already approved this I don't know how it differs um but I do recall you being in um I guess the storm changed some things so you had to reapply um but I would I would um be in support of approving this per the um recommendation set comments well uh duck side Daves has been a great tradition here in madira Beach it's a winwin for our community we need to get people in here we need all of our commercials businesses open our retail shops open um less red tape and um as long as we adhere to what the standards that we have um I think it's a great win-win for uh Madera Beach I agree with all the Commissioners I agree um we approved when he was when docai Daves was before us previously we approved their liquor permit and I remember when we approved it when it came before us as often as we've gone there I didn't realize they didn't have liquor so I guess we were just drinking beer and wine we were super happy about that and then the hurricane came so after reviewing the plans I think that the use of that building is fantastic and um having eaten there so many times I know that although parking is a big deal and we should always be conscious that we follow the rules many people who go there walk or like my husband and myself we ride our bicycle so um I would support this wholeheartedly attorney do we need a motion yes we need a motion to approve with the conditions I move the approval of uh APB 202- one with the indicated conditions we have a second city clerk would you call the role please vice mayor tagini yes commissioner gabay yes commissioner mcgean yes commissioner Kerr yes Mayor Brooks yes the motion Carri five to zero next on the agenda is unfinished business John's Pass dredging update thank you mayor and commission I think as all of you are aware and certainly uh many in our city the city received the city spent several years of look looking for an appropriation to dredge a part of the Waterway on John's the John's Pass Waterway specifically on the north side of the Waterway just to the east of the uh bridge over to Treasure Island the drawbridge in the 2022 Florida legislative session the legislature appropriated a little over $1.5 million for this to dredge this part of the John's Pass Waterway later that year the city contracted with aptim environmental the kind of coastal management construction contractor for pelis County to work on the process of this project to get the dredging specifically permitting that is required from the Department of Transportation the Florida Department of Transportation the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the United States Army Corps of Engineers uh those three agencies are responsible for uh certainly the usage of the Waterway the management of the bridge and the overall management of the waterway that is proposed for the dredging reasons to again perform the work are to remove approximately uh what was originally listed as 13,000 cubic yards of sand to alleviate uh issues regarding the usage of the adjacent uh property specifically for various you know tourist type and entertainment activities excursions Etc um as well as for safety reasons uh for people who would use the area to swim Etc so aptim began that process in 2023 we met with specifically the Army Corps of Engineers as well as the other two agencies to uh go through that process say lots of uh processes involving studies of the water of the seagrass of subaqua other sub aquatic vegetation uh looking at even potentially impacted Marine uh life as well as um above water including Birds uh as well as to determine where the actual sand would be taken um that continued throughout 2023 at the end of of 23 then the Florida Department of Transportation provided a a RightWay permit uh for the dredging to begin aptim continued the work throughout 24 with the permits from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers that process then uh really took to the next step with the formal filing of the application in July of 24th in to go back to January of 23 the initial meeting was a pre-application uh meeting to determine what the requirements would be in all the work um including all of the um partners that the the core and specifically the department of of Environmental Protection um all of their partner agencies and their requirements um aptim then continued through the process we did hear aptim heard back from the core and FD uh that there was additional information in August and September of 2024 they have provided responses to the additional information and the next uh what has been communicated to Apton that they communicated to the city is that the the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will be doing an on-site visit next week of onsite um aptim there a representative will be here at the workshop to give an update uh a much more detailed upd update over what I just covered very quickly in uh in summary U but it is so far the our understanding and apm's understanding that both agencies have uh the majority of the information that they need they will likely ask for some additional information at the on-site meeting next week and hopefully everything will be approved and bids can be issued hopefully in by March of of this year with the project actually only taking a few weeks once everything is issued and bids are approved and issued um and have it all completed uh I did include in the writeup where that we did request the funding to be extended the funding has been extended through June 30th of 2025 I did not list that up there my apologies but uh it has been a long time a long process uh I did mention to each one of you in the commission that I was under the impression that we hadn't received or the permits earlier and I can just my misunderstanding that the permit that we received was from the Department of Transportation to utilize there right away because the dredging will occur or a part of it will be under the bridge um from adir Beach to Treasure Island how again the the impact um that the hurricane head we don't know exactly until really what the D the Flor Department of Environmental Protection asks next week but um aptim has been out to the site um I have not heard what they're what they exactly what they uncovered or what they found just visually being out at the site obviously it appears that the sand is still there as it appeared to be before for the prior uh long before I was here um it appears that at least in in nothing has happened in the area since 2018 in terms of any type of drudging or removing of sand um also during this process uh the Florida Department of Environmental Protection requested that we obtain a a right of access or a construction easement from the adjacent property owner um that happened almost one day to the next that was not an issue from the property owner and uh I know that there are literally thousands of individuals that are waiting for this to happen and we are approaching that time where it will occur I've been asked well did again as I said a moment ago did the storms have any impact um again visually out there it appears to be somewhat similar as before but without actual any type of study or investigation under the water is difficult to determine but we and as I've stated the project or the dredging will occur over the next several months and again on at the next Workshop um I think Nicole sharp and uh will be here to provide an update um on behalf of aptim the contractor that the firm that we have been using from the beginning happy to ask questions do we have any public comment good evening this is going to be really quick um is there any studies or plans on this being done as to why it happened because I moved here 13 years ago and the bridge has just been constructed and now we've got 13 years later we're going to have to redge all of this I believe at some point Megan had something about the currents and the flow and if we're going to be doing this again in another 10 12 years years I think maybe we should be starting to look at something as to what's going to keep it from coming back thank you do we have any additional public comment um commission so I would ask Robin a question if I can start if you don't mind I know that we had conversation in one of the meetings I attended with you um I cannot recall who was talking about it but that the county would maintain dredging once we did dredging do you remember that I I do and we're meeting Megan and I meeting with the county tomorrow to discuss the next item on the agenda and we'll ask about this um we will find out and provide that information back to you I believe that was the communication however the the permit that we receive should be from what has been communicated to me that it would be a 10-year permit so should there be should need to dredge in 5 years 7 years 8 years then we will not have to go through the permitting process through the Army Core again um I'm not 100% And I think aptim will clarify in two weeks whether we would need we would likely need a DOT permit those are not as extensive as from the Department of Environmental Protection or the core um but we will we will have a a definitive answer for that I'll go back and look at my notes but as I recall it and what I was bringing up was that it would be reded and maintained by the county at the County's expense not ours was my understanding um and the only other question that I had is the bid process aptum is going to manage that yes how long is that expected to take shouldn't take just a few weeks to because they already have the package prepared and ready to send out yeah they have been I'm sorry to interject aptim in the other dredging project in the County south of us in the Grand Canal area um so they're very familiar um with coordinating and helping through that process so I guess I could say one more thing that um the communication because this has been such a touchy subject with the community um I'm not sure where the communication breakdown is from aptum to us but the level of misinformation that we gave to the community um is an opportunity for us to figure out how we did that to correct it for future projects to be sure that when we put something out there that it's accurate not blaming anyone or not blaming anyone but um information is important to get correct so any comments the only com excuse me the only comment I have is um I do recall that the permit was for an extended period of time you mentioned 10 years I assume that was what I I'm recalling but that's great we were not privy that the county would be picking up the bill for future dredging in the next 10 years that was my understanding so I will be happy to have Robin clarifi CL that's awesome yeah longer do thank you comments um so so what I understand is this uh$ 1.55 six million Grant is available until June 30th 2025 at yes and we have been told we could if we need an extension they would Grant an extension would uh would that mean construction must be finished by that particular date or start of construction or yeah the completion by June the completion okay but if we again if we need to extend it there have been no issues in extending um how long ahead of time do you think you would have to request that extension it can it can be just a few weeks okay that's something we want to make sure of because well that's happened twice already that's why I'm I mentioned it before okay and then the other question as far as the depth of the sand to be removed do you have any idea as far as the design because of the storms not at that's what we're waiting to determine what exact exact depth originally was told it would only be about 20 to 30 ft um and that's how they determine the total amount of the the nearly 13 ,000 cubic yards of the removal of sand do we know how deep that sea wall is right along that not off the top my head okay the uh dewatered sand after uh the drudging that that's going north right along the beach we you mean on our sand yeah and I and thank you I neglected that part yes we looking to have the sand placed on our beach yeah that's the plan to do that any additional comments thank you we will move on to the next item on the agenda John's Pass Park Jetty repair heard the commission's directive at our last in December of 24 uh City staff did go back in removed the remaining concrete cement rebar from the that staff had removed bless you for the on the sidewalk previously on the jetty that was completed um last week Megan two weeks recently and we now just showing some images of the current from this morning of what the area look looks like and it's sand it's even with the the rocks that were there before not from the removal U so the area again everything has been removed as requested um it's a sand walkway uh the next it it has been used considerably in the last couple of weeks uh lots of people out there is the maybe not as many today due to the cold but over the days that the weather was uh certainly nice and sunny so what we will well take any of your comments now but certainly looking at its current condition um what the next steps are or could be um and again up for discussion but just discussions that staff has had um whether to place a sidewalk back there whether to leave leave it as is at a sidewalk uh potentially just at a Moby mat um a Mobility mat the entire way um there's a few just discussions that we had kind of to get your Insight your input we can bring back to you um based on your direction what the costs would be we are meeting tomorrow with pelis County uh to determine what they suggest what the any requirements would be uh I shared with all of you that we do not need a permit from the US Army Corps their jurisdiction is uh the Water the Waterway um similar to the dredging they do not have jurisdiction above the water so nothing with the rocks that you see in the image or the sand um or the sidewalk that was previously there um so that's the update on it um any again from your direction suggestions guidance we whatever we decide we would bring back to you in a workshop and go from that point do we have any public comment with no public comment Commissioners uh I just want to say I appreciate how quickly city city staff and management took care of this and got it made it available to Residents uh as far as rebuilding a sidewalk I'm not opposed to it but I'm in no hurry to do it because to me it looks it looks like all the other passes now like blind pass pass Grill uh it's it's it's rocks and sand so uh thanks for doing it so quickly and I'm not in any hurry to put a sidewalk down is there any input from the community that we've heard I mean I personally think that a sidewalk um gave easier access especially for people that need a little help and um you know a lot of carts get pulled out out there um I'd like to see a sidewalk go back in but I'd like to hear input from the community Commissioners uh I know we have to it has to be ADA Compliant uh does that [Music] include all the way down to the water uh as far as handrails um such as uh people that are 100% handicapped that want to go down in that area I would I guess if you look at the two miles of beach or the you know 20 plus miles of sand on our Coast um what is or what what is not required um we'd have to check into more detail uh specifically um but as I mentioned the mobility mat and mobility in general are options to allow to be able to get on the sand um so there was an ability for people to go all the way down to the end um and that is currently you can still go down but obviously it's going to be more difficult for example for somebody who's either on a cane or on a wheelchair clearly it's going to be a little more difficult to get all the way down to the end but none of our access points down to the beach have the ability to go onto to the sand um unless except for the areas that had a Mobility met we had one at and we are going to place them back where they were um at John at Tom and kitty Stewart park at archal Park where we actually had two Mobility Marts at two of the walkways um so whether we're required to we can certainly look into it I would say that there isn't a requirement that you have to make it accessible um or to what point all the way down to the water um that's we can certainly inquire you know provide look do some more research and get back to you but I mean that's kind of my response at this point I'm not in favor of mimat uh just because it's flimsy it is subject to um easily being removed by wave actions or wind um I am actually in favor of a sidewalk just commissioner Kerr is is interested as well That Sidewalk I think would be a barrier between the uh the sand that we currently have and the boulders um because right now I think if we left it just the way it is I think ultimately we'll have a lot of erosion happening and the sand will get washed into the B um in in into the bay so um as far as the Ada um you know there are a lot of um sidewalks AB budding seaw walls and and seaw walls you don't see any handrails so um I don't think Ada would be a big concern in this case um also once you go to build um water W of that CCC line I think we're going to have to get a d permit so uh it's important to um be sure we have all the permits uh prior to construction and I'm definitely in favor of of a I would say probably an 8 foot wide sidewalk I think gives our residents a a a chance to walk there enjoy the beach I've seen a lot of couples enjoy that water I've also seen fishermen um I've often walked on the beach and then this sidewalk has been like a like a designation where you walk to it and then from there you cross and go underneath the bridge and go to John's Pass so it kind of leads you to to go to John's Pass um so like commissioner Kerr I'm I'm in favor of having that sidewalk put back in I have spent more time at the jetty since it was jackhammered out than I had ever been there collectively in in my time in Florida which is I was born here so um and I've had the opportunity to speak to many Fisher people that live here drive here from Orlando just to fish here and I was sharing with Megan one day that I mean my husband and I were down there we've been down there several times that sitting there and the Fisher people are catching fish and it's I mean the lore hits the water and boom they got a fish the lore hits the water and boom they have a fish it's amazing how many people um go down and fish and enjoy that area I would love to see a sidewalk go back not necessarily for the person who's going to fish because I think that many I'm not going to say all but many of the people who fish there don't fish from the sidewalk they fish off the Rocks so they would get on the sidewalk and go on the Rocks some people did but the amount of people who enjoyed walking on the sidewalk and walking out and if you're on in a wheelchair or you're handicap the only way that you would be able to access the end of The Jetty is if you had a sidewalk I think a Moby mat is a is a neat alternative to do until we get it um I personally never realized how useful a Moby mat was until I was over at archal one day and I watched two people use the Moby mat when it was there that would not have otherwise been able to access the beach and I was under the impression that they were hundreds of thousands of dollars and found out this week that they're not they're just thousands which is so what I would like to see is I would like at our Workshop if we could have whatever the information is from the county meeting brought back to us because I think that a big part of what we do there is going to depend on how much it costs not that we won't do it ever but we may not be able to commit to it this year based off of what the cost is going to be so if we could get understand what the countyy is going to require of us and have someone give us a I mean you've got to know what you're going to build back and how you're going to build it what is going to be required our ADA Compliant handrail is going to be required can we do an8 foot sidewalk there all of those things I think would be important I'm a th% in favor of a sidewalk but I think that until we have some solid information we don't uh I mean understanding what the County's going to require to be able to move to the next step just to add to that um thank you all the mayor you're correct the mobility mats are a lot less expensive than sidewalks considerably um I believe in Megan you can correct me but I for 100 ft mimat and it's 6 feet wide 6.5 ft wide under $5,000 for 100 ft um I believe the I mean an estimated distance from what the previous sidewalk would be just under 200 feet um but again a Mobility mat may not go we would have to determine how far down on the sand it would need to go um but again that would be significantly less expensive a different it is subject to environmental conditions uh particularly we would remove it on an impending storm clearly because the water and the waves and that's what we have done at archal Park and Stuart Park um when significant storms are approaching um but certainly a sidewalk would be considerably um much more expensive but I I see the kind of the need to have and the ability for folks to go and walk all the way out also at the end would require um railings uh for safety just as were there before but again the storms uh created damage to that I also want to point out um before or after the storms and I think if you went out and walked and mayor you did quite a bit and so did commissioner go the um the sand had eroded underneath so it was a little bit more of a of a step to get up from the sand um and I know some folks when I was out there as a matter of fact and I happen to have my shirt um and this was I mean there weren't very many people out there but you know they asked are you going to fill the sand back in um and I said that's a great you know great observation I thought the same thing um but the fir you know where would we get and I said well we're going to dredge right here but later you know into the into the year so we could fill it in but regard we would have needed to have filled quite a bit of sand to make it um to make it as it was before and alleviate a little bit of a hazard not a huge Hazard but certainly could have led to people tripping trying to walk up from the sand um over time the sand would have likely filled back in um we're already start we're three months after um the second storm we're starting to see sand accretion on the beach um and you know walking you see that there's a ridge kind of in the middle and then the lower part where we did lose about approximately on average probably 12 to 14 in it's realistically now kind of like eight to 8 to 10 inches um as more sand is starting to fill in that'll take time obviously to to cre but um we will bring that back the information from that meeting we are we have no we have not scheduled I don't think to meet with fdp Megan waiting just to hear back from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection we will bring all of that information back in two weeks thinkk further I just want to say I'm encouraged by hearing that have support for the sidewalk because there's not the M mat's great for if you're handicapped in a we wheelchair but I think we have a lot of elderly residents that are not as stable as they once were and they may have a cane and um I just think on a solid surface flat surface such as a concrete walkways anything less than what was there before is going to be criticized as a uh you know a non-improvement so I agree I think the MIM mat is a temporary fix not not fix because it's it's I think it's addressing two different things if you go down there now um the the the people that are going to the beach they're not all fish in it is a beaten path right Bes you can see it in the pictures right there that and when we go I've been down there and you just stand there and people just walk they just I mean it is it is heavily trafficked and so I'm interested to see what the county says so that we can decide on next steps I I would say based on the it would appear to me I've only been here three years but after the storm it seems like a more percentage of people that are in that area are walking I don't know maybe because it looks like a path uh it just seems to me that there are more people who go to the park in that parking lot that are walking in this in the path than before when it was a sidewalk but I you know before I think you had the walkway well we just reopened and I think that's the reason part of the reason why we just reopened the U we call it the walkway well the railings were installed so it it has reopened as of Friday oh but the people were back walking that long before Friday no right yeah but I think too Robin part of it could be that there used to be a big huge clump of seag grape trees down there and that is gone it washed away with the storm and so it opened up that area I think that has has made it seem more friendly for the pedestrians for people to walk around that area just one thing I wanted to add typically MIM mat is designed um to work water WS of CCC line that's the only spec and that that D would approve that's why and and we've designed a lot of them my company has in fact we have done the madira beach and Treasure Island St pet Beach we've done all of those at no charge to government we just did it so I'm pretty familiar with with the MIM mat design and um merely the D will not allow it water WS of we've obtained permits to install correct Megan the Moby mat has really changed over the last couple years whenever we were first working for archal with the hug Foundation it was incredibly difficult to get a permit for a Mobi Mat now it's a field permit it's incredibly simple it is as easy as me sending an aerial picture getting a field permit from Aaron who is our local yes mob mat is but not concrete correct d will not allow I thought we were talking about M discussing Mobility mats right those are very easy no I I I get it then we have obtained permits I was just saying that D will not allow concrete water WS of the CCC line well that's what we're going to discuss with them and see what what they suggest Y and the sidewalk down there was poured just so we're on the same page CU it's kind of hard to picture it but the sidewalk was literally poured on top of the boulders so the way that that was done which was incredibly interesting which is why it shifted was there was a thick plastic sheet that was laid on top of the boulders and then it was framed in and it was 6 feet wide I believe maybe a little bit more and literally poured on top of the boulders so what you see on the flat area in the picture is not where the sidewalk was it was literally on top of the boulders so when the sand would wash away which happened in a high tide all the time you would literally have crawl paths through some of the boulders especially at the end all the time next on the agenda is Hurricane updates recovery rebuilding permitting Fe FEMA and fdm and thank you mayor and commission just want to before I turn just to give kind of an overall um update uh we heard from Senator deigle um regarding um and from all of you regarding everything post storm or specifically the frustrations that we hear of course we've heard them uh here we hear them every day our goal has been and continues to be obviously to repair restore get everybody back in their property get the city looking back um even better than before I keep telling everyone 2025 is going to be the best year ever but I'm sticking with that mission statement um well anyway to go forward so that has been our goal um from day one of course day one after the storm and then the second storm really to provide um immediate relief as I think all of you saw all of you participated um obviously all of you were impacted just like everybody else living out here um so we you know as we shifted from that to really in the last two months through the re repairing rebuilding um getting you know Pro people's property cleaned out remove all the debris we're up over 140,000 cubic yards of debris um to answer a comment from a public comment earlier um our debris removal contract company DRC will be collecting any of the Hazardous uh containers cans left at Curb there are still out there um they have not begun that process and so that is forthcoming where they will pick up all of those they are working through the quote punch list to pick up remaining debris throughout the city they have picked up some of the piles uh other piles were picked up by the fdot contractor on Gul Boulevard uh as of a few hours ago there are two to three piles on depending how you define a pile on Gulf Boulevard there's still one on the west side of Gulf Boulevard just north of 130th um our 130th Avenue West or our parking lot there is another smaller pile as you approach 131st on the west side of Gul Boulevard I think on the south and the north side of 131st Avenue West there is another one as you approach 140th on the east side of Gulf Boulevard again in front of I forget the rental building but near uh sweet brunette uh so those will be removed um the majority of debris has been removed so again getting the city um clean debris free removing the remaining hazardous materials we are working through the our repair mitigation to the city's infrastructure to include obviously our parking lots um our Parks um we had the softball fields kind of put back as they were before as an example and so we staff continues and we are uh getting quotes getting bid well issuing bids to have other repair work such as in this building the recreation center um other you know repairs that need to be done at archbald Park uh for example that will also include the structure the building at archal Park which is where the Snack Shack um is was and will be uh located so all of that kind of is still you know we're that will continue for the next few well the debris removal hopefully will finish in a few weeks and then we will you know continue with the repairs and and as I mentioned for the rest of our infrastructure we are finding um some roads and some of our storm water infrastructure structure that we continue to review as we've discussed before make sure that if there anything needs to be repaired that everything um is repaired uh I do want to mention that our involvement or the cities and our and our staff with FEMA uh is has multiple facets as I just to reiterate as I've stated before we have our involvement with FEMA for the reimbursement of our expenses reimbursement for everything um from our repairs and what's not covered by our insurance um to the biggest cost will be the debris removal uh to everything that we're looking that we are spending to be reimbursed by FEMA that is part of the public assistance program we are provide have been and will continue to provide information on individual assistance so all impacted households and individuals um whether you've been totally displaced you had personal property removed you've been in a hotel that is individual assistance that we have been providing information mostly directing people to go online to disaster assistance.gov call FEMA go directly to the Enoch Davis Center which I believe has closed um and but we I forgot to check before the meeting but we will check in an update um where if there is an in-person location to speak directly with FEMA Representatives then the biggest one um that and what Senator desig deigle spoke about is of course the the permitting the 50% rule everything related to that um that is taking up the line share obviously of City staff to get that and again get everybody back in their homes um we are providing weekly statistics for the number of permit applications we've received and the number of permits issued and we will continue to do that the number of substantial damag notifications that have gone out um I believe we've eclipsed over 700 of those and we can those continue almost daily um and as mayor you stated earlier I uh honestly sometimes I feel you know what what else can I do um I'm not an expert in all of these but we have you know ex exceptional staff um from Marcy to Jenny to Andrew to Joe to Jay Lisa everyone else uh Frank Barb Holden Etc in our community development our building and of course all of Megan's staff really everyone Jay staff and Recreation the chief staff and fire so what's the best way to State it so to put the city together takes a whole city and that's that's where we are we will continue to do that that is our commitment going forward so I'll turn it over to uh I think Mary to provide a couple of updates that we may have but we are um we will have as soon as we kind of go through some of the updates of any changes regarding the the permitting inspections uh substantial damage Improvement processes I will speak about we did receive a request that I shared with all of you um for our a little bit of our uh relief uh in specifically our laundry and um shower trailer so we'll discuss that after I get with Marcy so Marcy anything to update good evening everybody so yep I'll um WR a little bit of update about where we're at in the in the permanent kind of workflow process um My Hope Is by sunset this Saturday we will have close to or little over 900 determinations out if not higher I'm kind of downplaying that but I think it'll be more but we'll go with 900 now um the determinations are a combination of kind of the work that the staff put in and the determinations we made as well as the large amount of data we're getting from tial Basin um that's a subconsultant who also has been doing the determinations with the data that we get from them we are doing our very best to Q see that to the ability that we have with the information that we have um and so the letters are going out um with those determinations and it's important to remember those determinations are preliminary if you are determined subst stantially damaged um through documentation that can be easily reversed it it's not difficult but it does require additional documentation so I know people want to talk us out of it but it's really not conversation again documentation and we will reverse those decisions with with that information but it's critical that we show that we're following the process we're using the system and we're going through those steps and so that's why the those are being done um we're at a stage now where we pretty much have every ball in the air so wherever you can be from the substantial determination to close out of a permit we've got all of that going on now so it's it's full bore on getting the Letters Out we're fully reviewing any permanent applications that are submitted we're trying to get as much information out there to the public as far as what those applications need to look like and what's important and again City staff does not want to look at review or hold one more document than we absolutely have to have so if we're asking for it we do we do need it it is critical in our decision-making process um that includes photos cost estimates and those types of things and the appraisals um we we were getting a lot of um um feedback from the professional a lot of professional appraisers who felt like there was a critical aspect of the appraisals that they didn't feel like we were being taught ahead of you properly um so after meeting after getting that significant amount of feedback and meeting with an additional professional which I appreciate the mayor helped kind of orchestrate based on having met with him herself um we we agreed and we professionally agreed with it just in our experience um that we were able to reverse that determination and that seemed to be a great relief to everybody and and really kind of open the floodgates for us to be able to to accept appraisal that we originally were concerned that we couldn't accept um so we were able to through education and due diligence kind of change that course and um so now I feel very comfortable professionally defending anybody who wants to argue with me about what we decided to do so that's you know that's important to us as staff to make sure that we understand and feel comfortable with those decisions because it does impact the residents um so we are able to do that um with that we do have um supporting off-site staff um reviewing a pra as well as cost estimates so we are able now in a position that we are utilizing those staff we're sending them out as soon as as quick as we can get them into their portal and from there they take it and distribute it to their staff so wherever whatever staff they have who who is available is there to review it so it's not like we just have two people we have one person who gets them and they're distributed to how many other people they have available so um so that it looks to be going very well so far um so like I said they're also going to start they're doing cost estimates for us as well so um we're meeting later this week with the head person for that so we're going to you know continue to educate ourselves on that kind of tell them what we expect from them and you know the values that we're looking at so we're we're Shoring up that and given the fact that we are kind of at a different phase of everything and we do have all the balls in the air we we are looking at providing a more uh robust open hours permit process the goal will be to get people a little further along than we have been so we're hoping to start that as a little bit of a soft launch next week um penel County I've heard a lot of good things about their process so uh we've reached out to them and we're going to try to facilitate if not a conversation an inperson visit to go see how their process is working how their flow is going that way we can learn from any mistakes they've made not make them and kind of make the proc process efficient at the beginning so that's why you see some of the tables coming out we're going to start setting up some more workstations we'll have more staff out here so that that will be coming and I think we um I think that's going to be extremely helpful for everybody so we've grown we've learned we're trying to move as fast as possible we know that this is I mean we feel for every single resident that comes in we've you know if not if some of us haven't lived it or been affected directly by it um I've not not heard anybody none of my team members have complained about the Saturdays or the late nights um when we met with the the appraiser we spoke with he's like you know gosh I'm getting all hours of the night I'm getting emails from Joe and I was like yep everybody everybody is so maybe you may not like the email but you're getting them um so we are working around the clock and like I said no nobody has once complained and um it's a testament to the staff that we have the city staff across the board I can't say enough about the um the young kids with endless energy that we got from the rec center who just um they're sponges they're just it's amazing to hear them talk what all they've learned and they seem to enjoy it so I'm hoping that maybe we've given them some career you know options here um let's see what else do I have on my list um kind of wanted to thank definitely the leadership that we've had throughout this has been phenomenal um we've been able to try things things Implement things we've never gotten know if we came up with an idea that we felt like helped people and so I just have to say that I walked up to Robin this morning I was like I got an idea so he listened to it and said make it happen and um that's great you know it really gives us the ability to to learn from what we're doing every day and make those changes that we need to to to continue to try and meet the needs of the residents which are at the highest level that you know so it's it's it's we carry it with us you know um so that's I just wanted to make sure that you guys understand that we do have amazing leadership um with that I know people are talking about I won't go too far into this but I'm my head's already in you know how how do we not hurt like this again what do we do how do we learn from this um you know creating a catastrophe or chart that we switch into post storm that way we have clear Direction and staff reporting differently and all Hands-On deck approach I see quarterly training hurricane training for you know the software that we're using any updates anything that we can do um to help facilitate that even helping you know with Public Works um learning how to operate Machinery whatever that is we we're going to come up with that you know so we're going to that's going to be a priority cuz you know there's a lot to be learned from from we've gone through and I think we have just like I said an amazing staff people willing to put in the time and the effort so I think that's going to be really really great moving forward um let's see I think that's pretty much all I can say I know you guys probably have some specific questions so I can answer those and um yeah let's kind of take it from there thank you marcan mayor if I may um add to kind of the whole discussion in the agenda item because there is a slide up on the screen um earlier the discussion about housing and the hotel ending in January the county has and we've participated on a few of them um Zoom calls regarding the housing so earlier the Elevate Florida that was mentioned um earlier today in the County's update um they did reiterate that the state is provided through the Florida Division of Emergency Management the ability to provide grants as as commissioner Kerr mentioned but you're excluded if you're in the vzone by the way there is no cap for the grants if you're going to elevate your home according to the information we received earlier today but there is a if folks do participate in the um the tear down and rebuild through the fd's what's the mitigation program uh there are the to tear down and rebuild the grants are will be available up to 220,000 um but those you do have to sign up with the Florida Division of Emergency Management and get in their email distribution I think commissioner you did that um they the state has allocated $400 million for that program specifically for the tear down and rebuild um so we're and we've been Distributing the information making the Flyers available explaining people people that have come in here here's something that may be available there are other grants that are out there available um and the for the one up on the screen I think talks a little bit um about that um but the county continues to share um this information with everyone as well of what may be you know what's available and how that would work um they do take some time um I've shared I think with all of you the city did participate we were the pass through over a decade ago um for these grants for folks to essentially tear down and build a new home um and they were somewhat successful then we ran into a few problems and we almost got everything um worked out but these will be available we will no longer the city will no longer be a pass through folks can go directly to the Florida Division of Emergency Management to follow up with that to receive the information um and one other item um before I turn it back the we have received um for example the commission approved waving permit fees we're waving permit fees for rebuild for a whole year through September we have receed and today I received an email and thank you for sending it commissioner ker the we're starting to receive requests uh and questions requests regarding Sanitation Services single family homes that are currently not occupied um we they have continued to receive theirs bill um but if nobody's living on the property and where I live nobody lives in the six homes on my street um very few PE nobody's living in the single family homes behind me down the street on Palm we are aware of that we will be bringing back to you in two weeks how what to do for that we will likely need to amend our code to do that um I will we'll see if perhaps it can be done via a resolution which um I didn't get a chance to speak with our attorney but that's something that we will bring back to you in two weeks and we will review that we've I believe we've only had maybe about a dozen requests it's been 10 to 12 requests from residents stating hey I'm not living in my house why am I paying for the sanitation I totally understand that we will take that into consideration bring that back to you because I suspect that may grow um and if anybody's watching or listening I'm sure they're thinking that as well why am I paying for it so we will bring that back um to all of you and I think those were all the notes that I had on last Mars and and I was going to say one thing um the grant process that the state has now opened up and that they are going to be managing that is new so City staff does not have a ton of information on that so we will for right now until such time that we do have the bandwidth to kind of really wrap our head around what the state's doing we will just be sending people to to contact the State um and it's not because of any other reason then we just simply haven't had the chance to truly understand the program and all it offers so we will be directing people to to the state so if you're asked then that would be our preference right now until like I said such time that we have the bandwidth to really fully understand what what they're offering do we have any public comment with no public comment commission I have a question for Marcy you said that you hope very soon to have 9 designation Letters Out do you have a sense of how many there are to go yeah several hundred more um yeah I oh hundred more not thousand more so yeah no no yeah no not in the thousands more no should be several hundred more and the you say you're maybe more than halfway yeah yes yes yeah I would believe so and trying to get some perspective on it good yeah yeah no totally totally understand and um a lot of the ones that maybe don't have them now the priorities are the people who have who have stepped up started getting their permanent process going those are the ones that are really on our radar the ones who haven't they will get caught up but they'll probably be towards the later end and those letters are going out but if you haven't even initiated your permit and some people haven't those are kind of come a little later but they are getting intermixed with several of our notifications so understood thank you just one more question uh you're going to have you're going to expand uh permit open permitting uh hours is that what you're we're suggesting is that for for res residents to address any permitting questions or issues or just for uh applying for or can they come in just to talk ask questions so yeah our goal is to really um we really want people to leave with some traction we want people to leave feeling like they've completed something accomplished something or have something in hand so the intent right now is to increase the number of people out here the number of things that we can do real time um such as cost esate review and clarification what that'll do is it'll help eliminate some of the back and forth you submit something then we have a question then you have a question about the question we have so we I feel like we're at that stage now because of some information that we have that's clarified some things that I feel like now staff's time can be spent out here and be extremely productive with with the residents and we'll entertain any questions so whether you know homeowner contractors however we can get people across the Finish Line those are kind of going to be our marching orders thank you I've heard I've had great feedback from some of my neighbors who have been in here and felt satisfied and I appreciate the hard work that you and your team are doing thank you my turn early on in the process days into the process we had a meeting here public community meeting and it was suggested that whether you're going to repair or rebuild regardless that you had to get a demo permit and then there was the question is a demo permit to remove drywall or is a demo permit to tear down your house there was kind of like two different definitions of a demo permit MIT so people that were going to tear down their home they got a demo permit but may maybe they didn't remove drywall I understand now there's notices coming out from the city saying your permit's about to expire because we don't have a contractor signed up with the permit or um yeah Barbara Scott so if they're getting that notification honestly I would think that they that would probably have been a permit that was maybe already in the system because I would I don't know I'd have to ask what triggered that I'd have to ask bar what what triggered that um okay I just want to bring it to your attention I I appreciate that um I don't know how many are going out but I know it's happening um regarding fdm I it's encouraging there's new information out as early as today that you received and um so just for clarification for anyone that watches if you're in an AE Zone you can apply for the fdm well let me let me stop are they accepting applications yet I don't think so I think they're we will find out I don't think so just yet does this it's the notes that I happened from the earlier meeting that the state is still hiring vendors to manage the process um but we'll find out in the an advise okay well when when we are notified that it is I just would request that public notification be put out absolutely um but just for clarification so if you're in an AE Zone which I think most of the city would be then they would be eligible to either Elevate at $220,000 cap no to elevate there is no cap No Cap according but there's a cost share I would expect do we know what the cost share is I know I'm asking very specific questions we'll find out but there's probably a cost share 7525 or whatever it is um and that would regulate the cap I would imagine here again I'm making assumptions looking these are the questions that people were going to ask um but to rebuild which just boggles my mind if you're in a vzone you can Elevate and qualify for the grant but you can't put a new structure on those same columns and qualify for the grant that just boggles my mind but it but they're following FEMA so I'm I'm I'm not pointing fingers I just want to bring it to everyone's attention that's what I I've been told okay and I took an email and shared that with the city manager um um six weeks ago something like that yeah unfortunately like I said I can't speak to it I just haven't had the chance with it being so new to to to dive into that so um well when I was told I I couldn't believe it that I the state representative basically said you know don't look at me we're following FEMA standards and I went into the FEMA guidelines and they are that's what FEMA says so it makes no sense to me right you can raise a 50-year-old home but you can't build that same exact home brand new to Florida construction standards and get any any grant that just is crazy um so I don't know if someone when you're starting to dig into this can ask that specific question I don't well ask um and I guess that's it for this period thank you no comment first of all I'd like to say congratulations uh to team madira that's going to cover everyone that's really worked hard for this city and it citizens really appreciate it and um as far as the people that have reached out to me I'm just getting back to real quick the FD uh fdem the grants um that's up to 200,000 is that correct Rob it's well 220,000 220 okay if for tear down and rebuild re but apparently no cap for if you're going to elevate but the and the kosare there is some listed on the flyer in your packet U but we'll we'll find out some more information on it because it is a I was given a little bit different earlier but it some information is on the fire a lot of my um my district three a lot of those are single story homes as you're aware and U that's one of the um it's great news that you shared with us today and um that's one of the main concerns the citizens had also is um uh questions like that as far as grants to uh rebuild and rebuild up so thank you guys guys thank you that's all okay so i' just like to say that um I have witnessed City staff since Hela and I think I said it last time I try to say it every chance I get just the level of commitment and overwhelming just care and the chief has a motto that he um says often and it is adapt and overcome and I would my opinion and I think I would my opinion would be shared by many is that our city staff has really exemplified adapt and overcome from having employees that worked in the recck department taking care of kids or working outside come into the city office and get retrained rep purped into other jobs has been just nothing short of amazing from working staff working with the city clerk to working in the planning department to working in the permit department I mean Public Works everybody has just been so over I mean the fire department worked in the plan with the permit department I mean it has been really wonderful to watch a group of people come together and work just to work and not care that that wasn't their job description or today this is your job and this is how you're going to do it and tomorrow you have to totally retrain your brain because something changed in the world of FEMA and it has been really something to watch and the leadership within our city has been fantastic um it so I mean thank you to all the employees and thank you to Robin thank you to everyone that has worked so hard and tirelessly and I haven't heard anyone complain and I've been here a lot lurking around and ease dropping on trying to learn something or understand I think I've said a couple times I want to be able to go out to a restaurant and you can't go out in public if you can't answer a question because residents expect you to have a knowledge of what's going on and I have really enjoyed learning and understanding the just the intricacies and everything of the city I've asked you a million questions Marcy she's been my go-to person because when it comes to the storms and how we're recovering it has been where I could go and get the most information and understand um if I want to understand how the city's falling apart and we're going to put it back together I go ask Megan because she's the one responsible for putting it back together but I do thank you and I try to thank the staff when I when I take their time and when I see people in City Hall and outside but it has been um really wonderful to see so many people work so hard and care so much about this city and that is a testament to leadership I think commissioner Kerr has one more thing I I I did and um did ow to everything the mayor just said of course um one more component of the FM program is the structure acquisition and demolition uh the buyout now during my discussions with the state I wanted some clarity on that not not that I'm interested but I know neighbors may be you see you hear um Tales of people selling their property because they don't have the they don't have the money they don't have the resources to rebuild or repair and it's a last ditch effort and and people are taking advantage of that and and buying properties for 40 cents on the dollar um I'd like to know and get the answers the lady I was speaking to couldn't give me the answers what that really means what what would they be buying it at and it would it the state would buy it at the pre-storm value But there again there's a cost share so what's that mean does that mean 75% of the pre-storm value I don't know I and asking these direct questions we're not getting direct answers but in addition to that the city would not be required to fund any of that however they would be responsible for the maintenance of that property in perpetuity so that's something that the board would have to get together and decide would we want to participate in that piece of this fdem program so I think it's critically important that we bring it to a workshop perhaps the next Workshop would the city want to be involved in that piece and to understand for the residents am I if I want if I have to sell my property am I guaranteed a certain value from the state so I don't have to sell it for pennies on the dollar because people were taking advantage of me in a in a an address situation now I think this is coming a little too late because a lot of people have made those decisions already um but um it's important it's important to know I think some people are still up in the air what do I do you know trying to trying to figure out what grants are available trying to figure out what SBA loan programs are available what FEMA is going to give them what their insurance is going to give them what if I'm not insure all these questions so people are delaying in either demoing their home or repairing their home and now that the permits are coming out they have to make those decisions you just have to have all your information and this is a big piece of it so I just want to make sure that everyone understands all the different options and um what it means to the city because if if the if the state buys a piece of property well that's going to take it off the tax rolls and is that a big deal for the city maybe maybe not what can the city do with that property you know they would would they become pocket parks would they become you put Pavilion on them and they use them for Community you know there's a lot a lot of things to discuss and that's not that's not my point my point is we don't have all the information and we need to get it and I you guys are overwhelmed but these are these are some questions that can just be floated out and I think from the city it becomes a a stronger question than from a a resident and again and I think it's important to know that this is all very recent the state has just recently started doing this so a lot of the stuff you know there are a significant amount of questions that we can answer related to SB SBA ICC you know what those situ look like um I will tell you in the my experience with the grant program that the federal acquisition or state acquisition local acquisition of a property in a Barrier Island um the money would not be there it would it's I think it's going to be for different properties maybe the value though from what I've historically seen it was always better to sell privately that the acquisition money just wasn't wasn't there so I don't butan we're we'll we'll research it at a very high level and be prepared to do that and then maybe reach out and have see if we can have a somebody from fdm maybe come speak and and talk to that and answer the the Nuance questions of it um but yeah we can at a very high level maybe kind of just peel that back a little bit um and kind of keeping you know moving with what we have on our plate now but yeah just trying to look out for neighbors I have one one quick question that's on the um and it it is piggybacking off of a a resident comment do we know how many uh how many properties in the city have not been visited yet like the houses that no one has come to do we still have at one time we had some do we still have any that we're aware of that no one has actually gone to and emptied we're we had a list of about 50 properties that we appeared to have been abandoned and well I'll follow up but I think that list had been Whitted down to just a handful but I'll follow up an advise because I think we had only a handful where they still appeared to be completely um abandoned you I mean there were letters that got sent out to those homeowners or yeah that's what I thought I remember to see where if we could find them Etc so right I did um the item that I mentioned earlier regarding the our trailers for the laundry and the showers we did receive a request um which I provided to all of you and it's on the screen from U dozens of individuals who live both here in Mad Beach Treasure Island and and others um and they would like for the city to keep them I spoke with the owners of the trailers uh yesterday and then again this morning uh they and as I had been advising the commission they were set the two trailers were set to be demobilized or removed on this Saturday the 11th the because the FD Florida Division of Emergency Management that was their time frame remove them um we have this request uh whether to keep them I spoke with the owners they said the and the state we heard back from the state that the only way that they can remain is if the city then takes over the agreement that the owners the vendors had with fdem that it now becomes our responsibility we would then subsequently pay the cost uh currently the state has been paying the cost um so that's a request that was addressed to all of you the commission um and looking for direction um again the owner said yes they can stay we would send you the information I have not received anything to date so for example what the cost would be um I'm they are I mean pricey we when we paid for the ones that we procured right after the first storm um they're it was like 160,000 for a month um now we had six trailers uh I think two shower and four bathrooms uh I don't think we had a laundry one at the time but um so I don't know the cost i' have haven't received that I can reach back out to them but um whether we would like to continue that or not um again you I forwarded you the information um I didn't really look into the list but clearly some folks do live in madira summer in Treasure Island um and so they have been used um we've had a couple of issues they've been resolved um but really kind of whether you'd like for us to keep them or not I don't um we're fine one way or the other do we have any public comment Commissioners uh I'm I'm in favor I'd like to know if there's a a Time certain when we would stop of course and this is all pending what the cost would be because we're not getting reimbursed for this right Andrew I think you whether this is I don't we'd have to check I didn't get a chance to follow up but it so the Florida Division of Emergency Management is stated they're ending the mission um as a resource so whether I mean I think we could submit to be reimbursed but I don't know if it would be eligible to be reimbursed yeah I couldn't state that definitively my inclination would be no simply because the state was providing that resource and then cuts it off for a reason and if I recall we were at a meeting Robin and the director of Emergency Management Mr Guthrie one of the statements that he made at that meeting is at some point you have to stop the disaster is the disaster and it some point you have to stop your comfort centers you have to stop um the different things and it was an interesting presentation for him to speak about that but I understand that you can't keep on providing I don't know that I'm saying no but you can't keep on providing a service because at what point will you stop and his message that day correct me if I'm wrong Robin was you have to stop it because the longer you do it the more people will become dependent on it and want to continue it um in in our city in madira Beach we have a laundry there is a laundry a p laundry facility on G Boulevard right near the intersection of 150th and as a matter of fact a couple of our deputies said why aren't people going there when they were called to respond to an incident and I said no I agree with you it's it reopened it's there it's available I've used it a couple of times I've also used I did use the laundry trailer it is super convenient um but yeah that you're right I mean that is what director Guthrie did say at some point I I understand the request we empathize with um individuals U but at you're right mayor I mean at some point how how long do you continue it my thoughts were to I mean try it for 30 days see what happens or I mean at January 11th if we were to I mean possibly through the end of January maybe through February um and see how what that would be like you have no idea what the cost will be associated with I'm guessing it' probably be at least 150,000 through the end of February G that's a lot of money given the and again I'm basing it on what we paid what we paid for what we had before and they're going to leave right now when this Saturday the on Saturday commission without knowing the cost it's hard to but I mean I I understand we do need to have a Time certain because this date was not kept a secret yeah we we people have known about this date for a while maybe just to the end of the month just s it last this is drop dead end of the month uh these these facilities will be removed I mean not to not to be non-empathetic but uh we're several months away and uh we we can't let this be a a something that people get used to of forever so I I'm suggesting maybe to the end of the month uh I need to jump in here this is not agendized you don't have a contract you don't have an ultimate cost you no longer have an emergency you would not you would be violating your code if you approv to continue something on especially in the range of A1 $150,000 without the information without following the code I would strongly recommend you not go down this path you can discuss it but don't go down this path until it's been properly Ved I agree with Mr tras I mean you have to follow the state guidelines it is what it is I mean there there are commercial laundry facilities available um I mean I I you want to be compassionate but at some point we need to get back to normaly commission comments I would say we should listen to or attorney so when would be the last day do we have to set that up when would be the last day and should we the 11 the 11th this Saturday Saturday would be the last day I I agree um unfortunately uh we do have to follow the the uh guidelines uh um Saturday um would be the cut off date um so I agree thank you the next item on our agenda is contracts and agreements approval to purchase a JCB 35 z-1 compact excavator good evening mayor and Commissioners the item that you have before you was in the budget for FY 2025 um what we have found through our hurricanes is that we really really needed this piece of equipment um public works department has rented a lot of equipment um luckily with a mini excavator we were able to borrow rather than having to spend that money so we have been borrowing a machine from a contract director for the past couple of months um like I said this was budgeted for 65,000 the budget came in at $59,400 so we are under budget um and I'm here to answer any questions you may have such as we have no one in the audience I will not ask for public comment commission just what will this be used for we will use this for for storm water repairs we will be able to utilize this to clean off be Beach accesses to be able to excavate and clean out anything possibilities are endless thank you you're welcome you have to have good tools we do and we have found that we need them it does have an enclosed cab and the reasoning for the enclosed cab is because our equipment is kept Outdoors so what we have found is that having an enclosed cab which is just a little bit more money saves all of the compartments and all of the mechanical items do you have a trailer to move this thing we sure do you're all set where where will be store you say in our Public Works Yard okay I love it thank you I want one well you can come drive it okay I'm gonna hold you to that thank you comments once again I congratulate you for being under budget thank you that's fantastic um will this also be used um well you said storm cleanup around continuously around our our the deer beach in our neighborhoods yes upcoming and uh you had a trailer you see the trailer so something happens down on4 40th you can shoot down there with it and help that's correct yes so it's a basically um would residents be able to reach out to you with this I mean or would it only be for it would for City use only yeah we wouldn't be able to utilize equipment on private property probably okay well I still think it's a great idea I you know um I think we'll be able to utilize this a lot in the upcoming we will we've been utilizing the borrowed one quite a bit oh we appreciate them for letting us borrow those it was very nice of them thank you very much thank you thank you so Megan uh would you have to maybe get three bids on any purchase or is it like piggyback on a state this is piggybacked on the sourcewell contract I see so we don't have to get three bits okay thank you you're welcome thank you thank you do we have a motion I'd like to make a motion that we approve the purchase a JCB 35 z-1 compact excavator do we have a second second city clerk would you call the roll please commissioner cerr yes vice mayor tagini yes commissioner gabay yes commissioner McAn yes Mayor Brooks yes the motion carry 5 to zero next on the agenda is new business it's the 2025 Florida legislative session Robin thank you mayor and commission mayor and commission as we heard from Senator deigle a little bit earlier again regarding a legislative action um that's not really the purpose of this but really this is just an open discussion um what to begin the process since so legislative session begins uh in a little bit less than two months uh really give you an overview of what the city has um you essentially worked with our legislative delegation in attempting to secure both funding uh more so on the funding side a little bit less on the legislation or legislative um Law changes uh so the city has had some success in securing funding for the dredging last year for some seaw wall repairs that are happening this year um of course the we've been you know working particularly Through The Big C um issues common to all of us here on the coast uh including for example the short-term rental uh proposed legislation um and other proposed legislation involving you know changes to the billing codes Etc so really this is to get again a little bit of feedback um again due to the time constraint from all of VI um the legisl legislature has been providing working on resiliency um everything from again as I stated we received funding for seaw wall um repairs and replacement uh to potentially any type of storm water project we've received funding I didn't include here where we've received funding for some of our uh Street repairs that are in our storm water project budget so really kind of to get some of your input going forward uh we're kind of looking at again anything related to resiliency we have made requests in the past specifically for Appropriations uh for a kind of Public Works uh fire joint building that was not uh did not receive any appropriation um but if there's anything um between staff and I that we've talked about going forward again getting funding for our road projects that have a storm water try to alleviate flooding um but anything going forward to exactly that to alleviate future flooding impacts from the storms that we've had um so really kind of an open um discussion anything that we could share with shoe marer uh who we still utilize as our lobbyist group up in Tallahassee um I'll have a representative from Shu Market we're trying to get him for the workshop in January um but they're you know getting busy getting the with the upcoming session so that's the purpose of this item is really to get any anything that you would like for I to relay to um shoe marer or our legislative delegation there there is a a meeting tomorrow um in up at the St Petersburg College Clearwater campus with the delegation um so another opportunity to provide some input directly to our representatives and Senator Commission can they fix that um madira Springs were in front of daker deck that's that it's it's an F we um well we've addressed it with fdot not so sure much of a specific legislative action or funding but it's an annoyance I know how many for about a decade I think um they fdot did make a significant repair last year but viously it's come back fdot spent $250,000 on underd drains which was the project that you saw last year and then I think right around Little Debbie um is whenever it popped up again popped up again guess we I mean assistance from fdot not something that we had to go through the legislature but desate um um I was going to suggest that we put this on the workshop when Senator deigle was uh was speaking he he spec he asked again for the uh infrastructure funding request is this something we need to do now because of this upcoming meeting because I think we I mean it would be helpful to Prov something so we can relay that to them well I mean just some things that come to mind is um I know that the uh the federal government authorized what I don't know some huge number six months ago or whatever it was um well I guess it wasn't that long because the storm was only in September for power infrastructure I know that's always been off the table when speaking with uh the delegation but maybe now that federal funds are available for just that we can have that uh at least you never if you don't request it you won't get it right um and of course you know the power that goes along with you know we're we have plenty of roadway infrastructure improvements we need to do Road elevations and um you know Bayo I mean we've had them on the on the on the budget review for some time if we can get some of those some funding on some of those there that's just a quick short list um I have a email here I sent to myself basically um bear with me FEMA announces 1.35 billion to increase climate resilience um Nationwide so climate resilience I would think that has to do with Road elevations and um our storm water that all go kind of goes together and with what Elevate TI those gentlemen that were here with our last meeting some of those thoughts so or that's the Quick List as far as I'm I'm concerned I'd basically like uh real quick uh just see a study on our basic infrastructure as far as our our our piping our sewage um the uh underneath uh what we can do to improve that as far as our city infrastructure and and the uh to decrease less flooding that's what I'm saying yeah do we have any plans to go Tallahasse this year as a city and commission yeah not I think um it would be a fantastic idea a lot of cities go to Tallahassee and meet up with the legislators it it would be a great time to to get to know them and let them know that we're there to support them and um I think it'd be a fantastic idea a lot of cities do this um I've been in tassi just about every year for many many years and um um if we don't have it um in our schedule this year maybe I would like to recommend to make a habit of it to go to Tallahasse during this season for maybe you know it takes a day to go up and a day to basically meet uh with just leg legislators and we can set these meetings up ahead of time so we can meet with the Senators with our Representatives um so um I think we can really get a lot of mileage by going there and um and getting and and letting them get to know us and um us getting to know them so and again commission we that's what I me interrupt we we hire and we we have for several years the services of schacher Adis I understand that that's that's something totally different this is a this is a personal connection between us ourselves as people and commission with the state legislators how does that work with the Sunshine Law if we were to go together and meet with a legislator would that be a violation of the Sunshine Law it would not be a violation of the Sunshine Law if you met individually right but together as a group it would be a problem yeah it that's what I thought just to make sure um I don't I I don't disagree with you commissioner um but I think that our Representatives we should work more at our relationships that we have with them over the years the city has had strong ties with our representatives and um but lobbyists you mean no no no our or state represent state representatives and but they change depending on the the relationships tend to change based off of who's sitting up here and I think that's a shame because we sit up here serving the residents of the city that's our job right that's why we're here and um there's no reason why on any given day we can't individually have that relationship i' I don't know what that would look like to go to Tallahassee if we all went I'm not sure so I need um to understand that more I think that the relationship is great um what I'd like to see from the city staff is within our budget over the next several years we have projects that are planned and to gather together those projects and determine where it would be best to for our lobbyist or for us to want to look for money like when we got the money for the dredging of John's past it was because the commission um partnered with Linda with representative Linda Cheney and that's how we got that and there are other areas in the city that I'm I'm sure I'm not quite sure how um in depth I love the idea of the roads that commissioner Kerr is talking about we've got a lot of roads that need to be worked on and how can we weave that into our lobbyist helping us and what is he doing for us I say he I just because person I'm just say person but I had that as one of my questions is um what is what is the lobbyist doing for us because I don't recall an update I don't recall I mean we pay him we pay them them we pay the company and so if Robin when you say you're trying to get them here next week I don't understand the word trying not from you that's not directed at you but what I mean by that is we pay them to work for us why wouldn't they come here on a regular basis and give us an update why wouldn't they be here helping us or or maybe that's not their role to talk to us about you know the possibilities of what's available and what's out there to have um that's my thoughts how much do we pay them do we know yeah it's about U I think it's $4,000 a month or 42 and change but it's about 50,000 a year and typically what would we get for that well more so on the appropriation side what I what's in the item that the 1.5 million The 100 ,000 believe we received um Megan klarif I think we received over a million dollars for road projects as well in 2021 or 22 so if you look at that if if you look at those numbers in 2022 we got 1.5 million for John's past dredging and my understanding on that was without representative Cheney we wouldn't have gotten that money now I don't I'm not saying that the that the the lobbyist didn't do anything but she got us that money in 2023 we got nothing maybe we didn't ask for anything maybe we weren't advocating for them to do anything for us and then in 2024 we got $100,000 I think it would warrant for us to understand what our city staff sees as projects that need to be done in the city because we know the things that we think should be done but the city staff is in it every day Megan is in the city every day she knows the roads that need to be repaired um seaw walls that need to be repaired things that need to be done and then use using that information and things from the finance department or you know that they know or from the marina or from the rec center what is what is available and what can we push for the lobbyist to lobby for us and in conjunction with our elected officials to have those conversations as well I just wanted to add that we we had three Appropriations the beach grinds um I don't know the years 1.75 um for area 6 1 million and for Area 3 549,000 I believe was the dollar amount so those are the three project areas but again I don't recall the years those were given to us thank you you're welcome part part of the the work that shoem marker and and I that's why I included in the agenda item the Florida League of cities kind of legislative platform um are to preserve existing you know proposed changes to try to one example for property tax is try to add more exemptions try to but but I know that that's that's a balance every year to add more exemptions lowers Revenue to the city but saves property owners and in property taxes um but really a lot of the the items that you see up here um related to trying to ensure that there were proposals to increase our so the sovereign immunity for cities so right now there's a cap if we are sued at the amount that cities can pay um and there was a movement to increase those and so there's there's the appropriation side and the legislative side the policy issues and you know trying to preserve and protect what we currently have our ability to raise the revenue that we can home rule you know who who best knows what your city needs than our residents our businesses um our legislative delegation lives among our cities our communities but obviously not all they all are representing different parts of the state um so I'll have excuse me shoe marker here to to give updates and we will proceed and and come up with as the mayor stated our projects which we have in I mean in Prior years and look at the priorities and go go forward didn't didn't our representative from Schumacher change yes so we have uh the previous one the RJ that had been he left the company we now have Jim Taylor um and I'll have him to introduce to all of you I'm assuming you've met with Jim yes met with Jim we've never yep I would think that would be high on the list bring yes any additional comments the next item on the agenda is agenda setting for the January 202225 boc Workshop see lots of items uh we have one let me go through the list to go through we'll have a couple of ordinances uh to discuss there are well annual for the CIP update that's part of our comprehensive plan and some updates to the plan development uh we'll talk about how the city disseminates um our information um kind of relative to our website as well um discuss grant writing where that's going to go provide an update on the military court of honor you have a fiscal 25 Financial update for our first three months of the year again we'll have have a representative from apum on the dredging update continue with the hurricane updates uh we have advanced engineering designed to give follow-up presentation on the rebuilding madira Beach um ordinance for temporary structures after the post hurricanes um discuss mulch um website information officer task force committee we have one other item to add uh we required there was a legislative change last year we now need to update our ordinance for adult use establishment they did increase the minimum age so we are required by that legislative change to update our code our ordinance I'd like to add the infastructure funding requests for uh Senator deigle um I don't know if we can um lean on staff or yourself or someone to kind of come up with a preliminary list that we can discuss and maybe add to so that at the end of the workshop maybe we can get that ready to be sent off um and added to that it would be the um the part about you know if if they are interacting with FEMA about the insurance I think it's ridiculous that if you elevate above 4 foot above base flood elevation that you're that that's not calculated into your insurance premium many many homeowners are going to be elevating at a very high cost and then to be hit with 8 101,000 insurance premiums when there's nothing you're really insuring is excessive um and it's my understanding I could be wrong but it's my understanding that private insurance is basically uh follows the same guidelines as FEMA or the might not be using the correct acronym um because they are basically insured by by them as well so they have to follow the same guidelines so um I think that needs to be a big push this legislative session to get I mean if if they can change it one way they can change it back so that's my two cents thank you could I ask to maybe add uh Kitty and Tom Stewart Park to it just because some residents have raised some questions and just like to just discuss it for a few minutes would it be possible at the workshop to have the de to have the department heads give us updates on their damage of like Public Works Megan could give us an update on all of the damage that she's dealing with like walkovers that are damaged where we could talk about options for instead of rebuilding the walkway today putting in a Mobi Mat and then rebuilding down the road so that those walkways are accessible now and then um like uh Jay could give us an update on rec center and the fields so that we understand the status and uh Frank can give us an update on or whomever downstairs Marcy for the you know each department head can give us a update where they're at with the storm and repairs and damages and I don't know that everybody knows all the damages so it would be informative any further your comments next on the agenda is the Board of Commissioners 2025 meeting schedule again I think as we do pretty regularly any changes uh our next we have the workshop on January 22nd and then again regular meeting on February 12th workshop on 26th of February and then kind of continuing pretty much the 1 and excuse me the second and fourth Wednesday of each month with meetings um all the way through October and but then again in March we will begin to have uh excuse me April uh budget meetings for fiscal 26 but we'll continue to provide updates on our financial status each month on October 8th I will not make that meeting if we move it to the first I would be able to attend I have a conflict um but if I cannot be here obviously we will have a vice mayor who can sit in um but I I know that I knew that at the last meeting we discussed the um dates but I didn't know at that meeting that I would still be on the commission so um I just want to let everyone know that I don't know how changing that date would affect anyone else but October the 8th we're scheduled for a regular meeting and you want to have it on the 6th the first oh the first oh oh okay I got you if we can we can if we can't I just will not be in attendance and I I did not want to wait till the last minute I I don't have any conflicts I'm fine okay thank you very much so we'll move to the first okay yeah the Wednesday October the 8th uh commission regular meeting will then um take place on October the 1st thank you we will update the schedule any other comments before you adour oh yeah any anything else on the calendar thank you okay next on the agenda is City attorney I don't have anything today thank you then next on the agenda is the city clerk report January 2025 I would like to say it'll be wonderful that the oath of office will be given to an Marie Brooks again for a new term three-year term for mayor commissioner um Eddie mcin two years for commissioner District 3 and who gabay for commissioner District 4 for two more years and we can have a reception before the meeting if you'd like and um on March the 12th and really looking forward to that take new pictures if you would like and invite your family and then and then also at that meeting you can pick a new Vice chair is that the regular meeting following the um meeting after the election which would be the 12th the first meeting then and also I put some history into the report on the 1954 PC meeting minutes which includes the city of madira beach erosion plan ordinance 85 was adopted 391 1954 and also the um laser fish public portal is ready to go live I'm just waiting on Megan powers to come back to it the website would not let me change the uh public portal web address so I couldn't do it so hopefully that'll be done tomorrow and there's a lot of information in there and y'all just go in and uh look at it and of course every day there's more information going to be put in there and all so I'm really excited about that there was a lot of work involved in that and of course a lot of work to go but it centralizes our document it makes it easier for the public to find our information and so hopefully over time we'll have super mount in there and and future stuff in one centralized location I think it's wonderful at my Clerk's conference that we had on Monday and Tuesday one of the um things was on the emergency plan of having in the EOP which is in there you know U digitizing your documents and stuff like that and because we need more than one Avenue for saving our documents if something should happen so we're we're responsible for our public documents and keeping them safe so one of them is our laser fish and then and um we have some on the W drive but I'd like to centralize everything and we have a portable drive that we also put copies of what we're putting on the laser fish onto the portable drive so that things don't float away because it's easier it's easy for somebody to copy and paste something and sometimes they accidentally cut and paste so which goes away and we we've been finding that and so we're trying to keep a control on our documents and making sure that they're in laser fish and in on our portable that we have our our our portable drive but no one has access to your well a lot of stuff is on the W drive you know like we have ordinances and minutes and stuff we we've had to go back and uh put back that has access to other people in the city besides the clerk's office it's a network it's a networks um D everybody has access to the W drive not the commission but all the Department directors we have like when we adopt ordinances and minutes and resolutions they go into one area and somebody needs a resolution they can see it yeah but that shouldn't that be I mean I'm just in my in my head I'm thinking shouldn't that be locked where only the clerk's office can alter those documents I me well in laser fish nobody will be able to just remove them right it'll be there you can download a copy but you cannot just delete it but even even on the cities um website that shouldn't be no I wouldn't think that that should be able to be um maybe everybody can look at it but it should be they can't read only yeah read only where read only that's what basically that's what laser fish is as well we're putting everything there safeguarding because in the city Charter it says the city clerk is the custodian of the of all public records and ures their safety so I work real hard trying to get everything into a safe location city manager again thank you mayor commissioner for your continued support attendance and just overall um comments interactions with residents businesses have been extremely extremely helpful post storms um I hear the staff is extremely happy to come in particularly on Fridays because on Fridays there are special snacks that arrive um so one of you mysteriously delivers some wonderful so very very much appreciated by staff um so thank you and then we try to supplement throughout the week but it's just not the same it's one of the guys with nice hair yes that's true so thank you all again for that just a couple of quick um reminders again our next our Workshop is two weeks Wednesday January 22nd um we do we will continue as Marcy and our Community Development Department stated uh in-person open hours to assist with uh permitting Etc we do have two Saturday dates Saturday January the 11th and Saturday January the 25th from 10: a.m. to 1M on Tuesday January the 28th our master plan consultant kimley horn will be hosting the next public Workshop um here at City Hall Commission Chambers beginning at 5:30 um we continue to disseminate that information and we encourage folks to come out and participate we had a very nice uh participation um the kimley horn participated in the uh holiday Mary Market that was held out here in the park back on um in December December 14th I think if I remember the date um so they did get quite a bit of feedback and lots of good ideas and comments from a lot of residents that were there but even a few um visitors so definitely appreciate that so Tuesday January the 28th and just to I know they're they're not here but a huge shout out to obviously all of our staff and everything that they continue to do we're ask I'm only or being the manager obviously very very content very happy with all of their continued motivation hard work and it is very very much appreciated so thank you thank you commissioner Kerr I I just had um a last thought that I want I wanted to put out that our thoughts and prayer should be with the California residents suffering through the wildfires it kind of hits home with all of us with what we've just gone through there's poor people um it's going to start the meeting with that but at least want to end it really noted with nothing further it is 9:00 and we are adjourned