april 8th 2025 it's 10:00 a.m we're in city chambers and I call the city commission regular meeting to order commissioners present Mr dval Commissioner Langden Mayor Stokes Vice Mayor Emmer Commissioner Petro so quarum present for the meeting also present
city manager Fletcher interm city attorney Golan city clerk FA board specialist Lane uh we have fire chief Titus and we have police chief Garrison
uh who are we going to use let's see here uh Mr hines would you care to lead us in the pledge the honor to Igian to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all righty i'm looking for a motion to
approve the agenda i'll move second a motion made by vice mayor seconded by commissioner um what is your name thank you to approve the agenda please vote it's early yeah it's going to be a
good day yes I did didn't think sorry that passes five to zero city clerk any general public comments carrie Murphy because of the reasoning and referendums I've become more
involved in what's going on in my city and what my taxes are paying for the past six months have been eye opening by but it's the assault on our hometown values and our beloved parks that push me to speak out let me remind you you were elected to represent the entire
constituency to set policy and legislate for the people you've reszoned our once quiet neighborhoods against our wishes now you want to defund the reason we live here i read you don't want to open the city to Doge but are perfectly content to doge the parks you're cutting at the very
fabric of Northport i speak for my neighbors and myself we will not stand by the wayside while you monetize and commercialize our hometown buckle up we are going to speak up and in person we have Charles Heights morning everyone thanks for the
opportunity to address you for the record Charles Hines and I'm Trust Republic Lands program director for the Florida GF Coast Trail and before I address uh the consent item Jay I just want to say to you all all the local governments that I work with and travel
around the city of Northport always wins the best decorated so when I walked in this morning I'm like "Oh boy that that looks wonderful." So and I also come to you I don't know if you guys know this but I am a lifelong resident of South Sarasota County and very growing up here
very much familiar with the reality that South County was denied a lot of infrastructure and amenities and I'll say that Northport of all of South County was probably hit the hardest uh when it came to that in the 70s 80s and
even through the 90s so I want to talk to you about item J and the Florida GF Coast Trail because now I really believe is a time for Northport to fully embrace uh this trail um I'm happy to see that
the design uh for the cost of this is is is going to hopefully move forward to put this off in any way as we've learned in the past things don't get cheaper uh the times now the land's there you have
public support for this um this is such working at the trail as a whole i left a map up there so you guys can see this isn't just a Northport segment this is part of a 420 mile state regional trail system and public space public trail
heads along the trail is what makes it unique and more mineral springs would be one of the best what I'll also add is you all have a tremendous amount of support it's not just Northport that's in this sarasota County has money set
aside they've paid for design they bought those three lots they want to go forward the MO supports it big Water Trust Friends of the Legacy Trail GF Coast Community Foundation the state of Florida and obviously Trust for Public
Land fully supports this so what's key is what I've learned to unlock other money i'm going to say it again to unlock other money is have it designed have local money in it so that when you go to the state or the feds or anybody
else or even Sarasota County is it's designed it's ready to go and if you don't they always push back and say "Where's where's the local input?" And you have that let me add one other thing is look what you have going on around you right now river roads being built
trails there south River Roads been designed trails part of it sarasota County just going to put an 8.5 million into upgrading Snook Haven they bought additional land next to Bob Johnson's Landing they bought the campground out by Snook Haven you are in an
ecoourism bullseye we need this trail and it will be the catalyst to revitalize War Middle Springs so please move forward and uh see this bigger picture how everything fits in thank you thank you
sir any other public comments that's all all righty um announcements there city clerk the current vacancies for the following boards and committees include art advisory board auditor selection committee charter review advisory board
citizen tax oversight committee environmental advisory board fire pent firefighters pension trust fund board of trustees historic and cultural advisory board joint management advisory board parks and recreation advisory board and veterans park advisory committee sarasota County Advisory Council
vacancies include one resident of Northport to serve on the citizen advisory committee if anyone would like more information please see the city clerk's office thank you thank you ma'am moving on to the consent agenda city manager any items been
pulled yes Mr mayor one item for J which is 25- 20 95 all righty and I don't have to ask who pulled it since I was the one um do we want to address this item first
or do we want to move the consent agenda make a motion i I'll make it um I move to approve the consent agenda pulling item J 25-2095 for discussion
right got a motion by Commissioner Langden second by the vice mayor to approve the consent agenda accepting Jay for discussion let's go ahead and vote and that passes five to zero all right i guess this is my item um can we
hold on the system just said that that vote failed no it passed my monitor said failed i just want to make sure it was recorded properly no problem um on the site the reason I
pulled it um you know one I want to say I absolutely support a legacy trail connection at Mineral Springs my whole reason for pulling this is to have one final discussion we've already you know approved design work this is a
$700,000 ask for design and engineering services for this trail head and I just wanted to talk a little about it because there are other things in play you know accepting the fact that this is a project that we ultimately want to do my
question is we have a conservation easement that still has many many months to go we've received absolutely no updates whatsoever about the status of that and where it stands
um we have issues about um that I've brought up before about the fact that this would be a trail to nowhere in my opinion for the time being since there's nothing else at Mineral Springs there's no sidewalks on Ortiz
coming up Ortiz to 41 there's really nothing there and so my question is is the timing of this right not should we but is the timing of it right and furthermore I I haven't had or I haven't
heard any discussion we've had about the maintenance of this um connection um you know I know it's it's basically a multimodal but there's going to be bathrooms um there's going to be some maintenance costs i don't
know what those are are they 20,000 a year 50,000 a year 100,000 a year i'd like to hear some of that um what's involved in connecting water and sewer to the bathrooms there what exactly would go in there and and again it's
it's to me a concern of timing you know we're in a lean year we're trying to save every dollar we can in every place we can i appreciate that everything goes up as you push things off in time but we're not talking about biomeaterials
here or building we're talking about a design and engineering study it's paper uh if if this you know if Kim Lee Horn wants this job they ought to be able to hold the price if not maybe we ought to consider talking to someone else if a
year's delay is going to change it i guess my thought is do we want to make this decision and spend $700,000 today and then find that there's things that might have to change down the road depending on the conservation easement
and discussions about what's going to go on on the 60 acres because we've not had any of those discussions currently in connection with conservation easement so again I I just want to hear what everybody else has to say and let majority
rule vice Mayor this is probably going to be a question for Miss Sandy if I could have her come down Thank you ma'am um would since mayor brought it up would
the conservation easement have anything to do with allowing the trail head to come in be hooked up because that would be a passive type thing for that area wouldn't it mr vice Mayor the conservation easement as it will come before you you will have
that determination and that project itself that you're referencing the legacy trail will still be a passive use of the land as you deem it for your That's what I'm saying because I don't really think it has a big issue with the conservation e is what I was this
project of the legacy trail will not have any conflict with the conservation ement to make it passive which is what the board has given direction for right and that's why I wanted to bring that up since the mayor had brought that up my other question was about how long are we looking at for this design phase when
Kimley Horn gets the go-ahad or the green light when are we looking at getting this design finalized and possibly going forward is that six months a year i mean what what timeline are we approximately looking at so yesterday morning we sent an email answering the question regarding the
timeline shows a total of 910 days for the services to be complete or two and a half years uh design and engineering is expected to take uh one and a half years to complete which puts us in fiscal year 27 be before being able to put the
project out to bid for construction um my main thing with this is is we've discussed this out many times this is our portion this is our skin in the game this is where we need to get up and and get it moving and and be ready to
connect to it my final question is do we have any timelines on when the construction of the rehab of the buildings is going to start taking place i'm going to ask our project manager Kim Humphrey to come down and answer that
and I called them out person sorry good morning kim Humphrey public works project manager uh so we are getting ready to kick off the War Mineral Springs um I guess what a historic renovation uh is the name we landed on uh essentially
that'll be a year to a year and a half between design and permitting so these projects are very close in timeline uh and you had asked the question about utilities you know you may remember we're bringing utilities into that site as part of War Mineral Springs
um project so the intent is that the new trail head would hook into those new utilities um just directly after they're put in uh but if if we do get the grant um that we've requested there's a a little
bit of extra time involved in that process you know the granting agency wants to review the documents before they go out to bid we have to do a hard bid there's just some other requirements that extend the time frame right and and that's one of my major
concerns by having the skin in the game we can go ahead and apply for those grants throughout this process to where when the hookup and everything is eminent and coming in we can be already in line with getting everything done so I'm I'm in support of this project
starting now so I'm just saying I'd rather get in get it done and let's work and get Warm Mill Springs done this way when we have a grandioso grand opening it's all there ready to go so that would be ideal and that that's just my opinion
so thank you ladies very much that's all I have mayor thank you Mr lang uh thank you Mr mayor uh beyond having both of these projects come together from a time frame point of view being ideal i think that should be a requirement that we
make sure that both celebrations happen simultaneously um in the past I've gone on the record my concern about this project was bringing people into that area with the buildings and and the property at
Springs being in such a shambles so the fact that these two projects are very close and I have all the confidence in staff to make sure that they happen pretty much simultaneously um I'm I'm feeling better
about it also borrowing on earlier conversations another concern I had was the condition of that 60 acres which hasn't materially improved except I understand I don't
know if if Chief needs to come down and and confirm this again but it's my understanding that the homeless colonies on that 60 acres indeed have been removed um again I'm reluctant to bring
people into a property that isn't safe so as long as that property is safe and the buildings at War Mineral Springs have been historically restored um I'm in support of of moving forward
um we do know that across the board being shovel ready is a requirement for qualifying for a lot of grants and and so um Vice Mayor Emmer kind of asked my question which is what completing this
study put us in a better position of attracting more money and I think I heard a yes so um I'm feeling better about that and you know again no secret i've gone on the record about being concerned
about maintenance costs for our parks um but I'm going to rely on staff to keep those costs in check um and I'll go on the record if we have to increase the millage rate to support our parks then
we'll increase the millage rate to support our parks um seems to be the general tenor um of the community um so there you go i'm I'm uh I appreciate the
mayor bringing it up it it um it requires multiple looks this is a big project it's a very important property um and it's critical that we do it right so thanks for bringing it up but but I'm thinking we do need to move forward with
this at this point city Manager I saw you nodding your head over there yes thank you Mr mayor i just wanted to point out to also something we wrote yesterday which was related back to the grants that um Commissioner Langden and Vice Mayor spoke on and it said completing the design and having a
shovel ready project significantly enhances eligibility for construction grant opportunities of which staff has already applied um for perission direction to the fedally funded recreational trails programs in the amount of
$450,000 and the state funded Sun Trail grant program in the amount of 3 73 million um thank you Mr mayor and um Commissioner we we have never said that the parks would require an increase in
the military or I don't know if there's history behind that comment but we didn't we never said that just for the record i'm just putting that out there okay all right just offer sorry
thank you we'll see what the community I do have one other question um there was some conversation a while ago that there was um not a grant but that
the Gulf Coast Community Foundation was holding some type of fund that was earmarked for the maintenance of Northport Parks was I that or was that indeed a fact
uh the GF Coast Community Foundation has made a contribution to this project which is included in the funding um it's about $33,000 the um any any funding that they would provide for parks i think you may be
recalling the discussion about the conservation easement and they were going to work with the conservation foundation now known as um big waters and they were going to help fund the conservation easement but there was not a discussion about general parks that
I'm aware of interesting i'll I'll double check my notes on that thank you Commissioner Dval thank you Mayor uh as Mr hines first mentioned in his
public comment uh in order to get things done overall the people want our part of it in place uh I feel that a step not taken is a step
backwards and in this city you know we've already seen you know I'm going to use Price Boulevard as an example you know how long was it delayed and pushed back uh this bill from Kimly Horn was a lot of
money but We've pretty much decided that we want to do this this is a plus for the state for Southwest Florida for the city of
Northport i just say go forward thank you thank you one quick question before we can pull this together um with uh with regard to uh vice mayor's comment and city manager about the conservation
easement um do does the conser as as the conservation easement comes together does everything that we hopefully wish to do on that property have to be
delineated in the conservation easement so it has to be very clear like if if it's if the legacy trail connector is not in in that then we can't do it if uh a half shell is not in there we can't do
it if there's a a botanical garden and we want to do it and it's not in there we can't do it because I just want to make sure that we don't find ourselves in a position of spending tax dollars on something only to find that we we get
boxed out and we end up you know what I'm saying i'm just trying to coordinate the pieces here and and I know I mean we're living in a void on the conservation east i have no idea where that stands what's going on what's been talked about what projects they're
considering accepting out of that land you know so I just want to make sure so um the there was a memo sent I believe it was sent to commissioners um that we put together providing an update on the conservation easement
uh it is our intent to bring forward uh a draft general terms document which is what we've been working on um with all the stakeholders uh so that there the commission can see what would be involved in it and there would be agreement on those general terms that
would then go into the actual conservation easement um so in those terms we talk about what use would be done in the conservation easement what would be outside the easement which is the property that we would actually um subdivide that
parcel and the things that are more intrusive would be in the other parcels not in the conservation easement so we have detailed all of that in this document and are looking to bring that forward hopefully uh the last meeting in May uh for your review and input
mr mayor the memo was sent out to commission on March 19th and it states that the general um they developed the guide creation of the easement and that the next steps are being taken and
outlined those and then it states that the commission will come back for review on May 27th at your regular meeting for discussion beautiful all right that's good and it'll have a that was the big thing is I saw the memo obviously but and I read it but I wanted to make sure that we would actually be able to see
those things that you all have considered accepting from the conservation ement so we don't do something find that work oops so good um I appreciate that again I pulled it because I wanted one more discussion because after all it is as commissioner Dval said
$700,000 and I want to make sure there is no question that we want to do this and no question in my mind this is the right thing to do i think it will be a great enhancement to the city the county the state so you know with that unless there's anything else to it I'm entertaining the motion i'll make it
okay uh move to approve item J of the consent agenda 25-20 95 as presented have a second a second got a uh motion by Vice Mayor seconded by Commissioner Langden to
uh approve item J 25-2096 um we need to read it back city clerk or we go 2095 i'm sorry all right then with that let us vote and that passes 5 to zero thank you very
much moving on public hearings thank you ordinance number 2025-10 um city clerk would you read by title amendment please ordinance number 2025-10 an ordinance of the city of Northport Florida amending the code of the city of Northport Florida section
26-3 and 26-7 relating to fire sprinklers and exceptions to fire sprinklers providing for findings providing for conflicts providing for separability providing for codification and providing an effective date the ma'am city manager your item thank you Mr mayor uh during the city
commission regular meeting held on March 18th 2025 the city commission continue ordinance number 2025-10 the second reading as presented uh on today which would be April 8 2025 be asked that you approve ordinance number 2025-10 today
as presented thank you sir uh questions and discussions commissioners anything to this nothing there uh public comments Then I'm looking for a motion i'll I'll
make it i move to adopt ordinance number 2025-10 as presented second got a motion by uh Mr langden seconded by the vice mayor to adopt ordinance 2025-10 as presented there's nothing else to that
let us vote and that passes 520 just one second it looks like it's moving on to resolution resolution 2025-R21 um city clerk would you read this by title only please resolution
number 2025-R21 a resolution of the city commission of the city of Northport Florida accepting the conveyance of track 9 of Wellen Park downtown phase 1 rate flat bearing Sarasota County property appraiser parcel identification number 0783070090 and approximately 20 acres of
real property located in the southern half of section 34 township 39 south range 20 east bearing Sarasota County property appraiser parcel identification number 078801 10003 and authorizing the conveyance of approximately 63 acres of real property
located in the northeast quarter of section 3 township 40 south range 20 east bearing Sarasota County property appraiser personal identification number 079700100 providing for filing of documents providing for complex providing for severability and providing an effective date that's a balance city
manager your item thank you Mr mayor uh on November 12th 2024 the city commission approved the first amendment and restatement of Wellland West Villages developer agreement um the restated agreement updates and restates stipulations to meet the current level of service standards and the changing
needs based on development patterns within the subject property the restated agreement outlined the convenience of two parcels from WBLP to the city for the development of needed government infrastructure as follows general government land approximately um 6037
acre parcel of land lying in section 32 township 39 south range 20 east Sarasota County proper appraisal parcel identification number 0783070090 and the public works parcel
approximately um 20 acres of the 51.9 acre parcel of land lying in the south half of section 34 township 39 south range Earing Sarasota property appraal parcel number 0788010000003 um the parcels are being
conveyed fe simple with the markable titles um the restatement outline and conveyance of the one parcel from the city of WBLP as follows the approximate 63 acre park this approximately 6 63 acre parcel was previously conveyed by
WLPP to the city back to them um as specified in the restated agreement um they have identified and served an alternate parcel for central sports facility parcel and the sports tourism park uh we ask that you approve resolution number
2025-21 as presented we're happy to answer any questions thank you Mr mayor thank you sir um yeah just on this item I had u I had a couple questions uh and and a comment um these are the well two of the
parcels are as you head from Legacy towards Venice and you make the left turn on River Road to the left on the left side there are those two parcels one is envisioned to be a public works facility to help uh mitigate the the
amount of you know equipment and and uh vehicles that need to traverse back and forth from downtown to there so that's a good thing the other is a parcel that I believe is earmarked for parks a park recreational kind of area am I correct
city manager uh yes sir um based on one is a a sports facility um parcel and the other is a sports tourism park right the the sports not the tourism park one but because that's a rather larger piece um
I would just hope that we consider um more soccer fields because we need them um with regard to the sports tourism project I remember reading all that West Village's documentation regarding this and in the movement of of parcels back
and forth um I believe we have if I remember six years from the time this is approved to make some determination as to what the city wishes to do on that
large rather almost 60 acre parcel that might be a sports tourism piece if we don't make a decision to do something there it reverts back to the district for the district to do whatever it chooses to do development-wise so I
raise that issue only because sports tourism is one of those things that at some point in time may have seemed very attractive whether today in light of some of the other things that have taken place in and around Southwest Florida it may or may not be as good an idea as it
was when it was originally thought of so I'm concerned only that we have a six-year window while sounds like a lot of time it's really not and I would hate to see the city lose the opportunity to take advantage of that 60 acre parcel it's 58 I think and change but that
parcel and have it revert back for developer development when the city could utilize it for something that we want to use for so I just raised that i I don't want it to fall off the radar screen for us other than that's really
all I have to say on this this item anybody else got anything on this one all right um so where are we public comments well I'm looking for a motion i'll make it move to adopt resolution
2025-R21 as presented second uh motion by the vice mayor seconded by commissioner uh Langden to uh adopt resolution 2025 dashb 21 as presented if there's nothing else to that let's vote
[Music] folks and that passes 520 moving on to resolution to C resolution number 2025-R28 city clerk if she'd be kind enough to read this by title resolution number
2025-R28 a resolution of the city commission of the city of Northport Florida appointing James Tol to the position of hearing officer with the authority to hear and decide matters related to enforcing the city's codes as well as zoning related matters providing for incorporation of recital providing for conflicts providing for separability
and providing an effective date thank you ma'am mr gan this is your item sir thank you mayor this resolution will reappoint attorney James Tol for a four-year term as a code enforcement hearing officer for the city to preside over code enforcement matters as authorized by the city code as well as
appointment as the zoning enforcement hearing officer to preside over matters required under the city's unified land development code thank you sir uh commissioners questions discussion I have just a a quick question
who does Mr toll report to and I guess what I'm really asking is um where does the evaluation of his work happen uh so ultimately the I believe it would
be the commission that would evaluate Mr tol whether or not he retains his appointment or is um removed from the position as hearing officer comes from the from the commission the the board will appoint him the board will remove him
but I guess what I'm asking what data do we use to make that determination i don't believe there's an official evaluation form that's used like other other employees as he's a vendor for the city um staff might be able to weigh in as
far as how they he's performing through code enforcement maybe those those employees that handle code enforcement okay just kidding thank you see she said thank you and then you're good
with the answer or thank you you would like that too no I'm good with the answer i was just curious okay um only comment I have is um Mr as Mr told submitted all his his invoices and and and does he understand
that you know while we appreciate he might enjoy working for free we we do want to compensate him appropriately for for the work he does and he'll because I remember some discussion in a one-on-one about that and and he understands he needs to forward them on in a relatively
timely fashion i'm I'm sure we will we will get that situation ironed out now that it's been mentioned yes all right uh if there's nothing else from commission uh any public comments on this one then I'll close the public
hearing request a motion i make it move to adopt resolution number 2025-R28 as presented there we go we got a motion by vice mayor seconded by Commissioner Duval to adopt resolution
2025-R28 as presented if there is nothing more to that let us vote and that passes 5 to two we moving on d resolution number 2025- R-29 uh city clerk you're kind enough to
read it by title resolution number 2025-R29 a resolution of the city commission of the city of Northport Florida approving a template for contraband forfeite settlement agreement providing for incorporation of recital providing for conflicts providing for severability and providing an effective
date thank you ma'am city manager your item thank you Mr mayor uh the Northport Police Department has the legal authority under Florida contrander act to seize and initiate corporate actions against property involved in unlawful action activities
excuse me under the same act the city commission of Northport has the authority to negotiate and enter into settlement agreements concerning forfeite matters as a result of entering into an agreement the cost delay and uncertainty of litigation to the party would be avoided um the city would not
initiate a forfeite action and the claimant would then wave any and all rights under the act once the template is approved the city manager or designate would be able to sign all subsequent settlement agreements without further commission approval we ask that
you approve resolution number 2025- R29 to allow these actions we're happy to answer any questions you may have thank you sir commission any questions discussions nothing to this one all right any public
comment and I'll close this public hearing request a motion i'll make a move to adopt resolution 2025-R29 as presented and we've got a motion by Vice Mayor seconded by Commissioner Dval to adopt
resolution 2025-R29 as presented we're voting and that passes 520 moving on to general business uh a
25-2000 uh city manager this is your item sir um Mr mayor this is an item that would actually approve you adding to your coniction contingency fund for your program that you actually provide for
your assistance to those in need um that's all I have on the request unless unless someone else had anything to add to it yeah commissioners any discussion on this one mr lang I I just have a quick question
what's the balance on the fund that this transfer is coming out of oh well yes hi I'm Tiffany Fowler accountant three in finance so the balance is 50,000 in your contingency fund
okay terrific you can afford it you're welcome yeah my only concern was it's early in the year i just wanted to make sure that there would be sufficient balance to do this again if we needed to very good anybody
else city clerk any public comments and I'll uh request a motion make it move to approve a transfer in the amount of $2,000 from the commission consendency to community assistant special event assistant program to
support fee assistant requests through fiscal year 2025 second we've got a motion by Vice Mayor seconded by Commissioner Langden to approve a transfer in the amount of $2,000 from the commission contingency
to community assistance special events assistance program to support fee assistance requests through fiscal year 2025 there's nothing else to that let us vote and that passes five to zero moving on general business
B2-2109 this is discussion possible action regarding rescheduling the 4pm city commission regular meetings held on the first Thursday of each month is requested by Commissioner Pro um city manager is not here to introduce the
item so I see no reason why Commissioner Petro can't do that since this is his item have the floor sir thank you Mr mayor in short I propose a combi combining our monthly proclamations
recognitions and awards meeting into our 6 p.m monthly meetings to be moved at 3 p.m meetings and looking backwards our proclamations recognitions and awards meetings are very short meetings in nature in the nature and it just makes
sense to combine them with our regular agenda city business meetings uh there might be some concerns about uh overlapping or going into late night uh but what I'm proposing is moving them
at 300 p.m before our road and drainage solid waste and fire meetings and 3:00 and um I would like to list some benefits to
it uh first it just seems logical and efficient to pull the staff personnel security personnel be used of our uh this chambers one less time a month as opposed to the current way uh as it's currently held on the first
Thursday first Thursday first Thursday first Thursday first Thursday first Thursday first Thursday first Thursday first Thursday first Thursday first days of each month um talking about government efficiency um switching to an earlier time our staff personnel will be able to be present and recognized or awarded
And um I do believe Sarasota County has a similar setup but I'm open to the discussion or any suggestions or any thoughts on this item i just feel that it might be uh beneficial for
everybody else not just the commission but for our city to be more efficient and more um responsible with the use of our resources instead of coming three times
we can come two times as a commission board but it's not just for us to come less to the city and be on the public display i think it's better for us to
utilize and be more efficient but I'm open like I said for any suggestions thank you sir commissioner Langden thank you Mayor um I I support doing something along these lines um we've had a lot of
conversations in the past both in public um and in private with residents about attracting younger commissioners to this board you know attracting younger people to run for commission and rightsizing
the pay was a big step toward making that happen uh I also acknowledge that a younger commissioner is most likely running a business or working in a primary job and unlike those of us who
are retired and have a lot more time latitude to attend meetings and events that we need to be accepting of younger commissioners um having said that though I I have a question and probably one
other comment um how does Well let me back up whether we put it at 9:00 before our 10:00 day meeting or a 3:00 before our 4:00 district meetings is there any
concern on the part of staff that we would constrain those recognition proclamation meetings i mean our experience over the past few months has certainly been that we get them done within the hour but are there any
concerns that we might have timing issues with that change uh city clerk you might want to address that the only issue and I don't think it's staffwise is public so when we have any recognition that's either for students
or members of the public i know in the past that was one of the discussions was the timing for them to be here and not be in school or to work sort of after school yes so 9:00 I think that would probably
not and three would be a little tight also would we dare consider to five or sorry five to six in between the districts um again same concern our
district meetings tend to wrap up pretty efficiently um but how would staff have any concerns with a five to six anyone else have I thought you were asking her a question
well I'm asking all of us well well what I was going to ask her was is like when we have those district meetings are they time sensitive to 4:00 or can they be adjusted like let's say we had the 4pm
proclamation meeting then we went into districts then we went into regular meeting you know an hour for each one and then however long the regular meeting would be is that feasible no the agenda states 400 p.m or shortly
thereafter for all of them so that would work the only issue that would only be is if we do have three district meetings and they are not just the quick and easy ones sometimes they do go if there's a hot item on there they go a little
longer so that will push into the six o'clock meeting as well right but we could also open the six o'clock meeting and then go back and revisit the district meeting and then move on correct just pause it we do do we have to be time sensitive at six o'clock or that meeting that one
says shortly thereafter as well but you Well if we know where we're at in that meeting we could just go ahead and say "Okay we're going to put this on pause open this meeting but we've done it before." And then go back to the original meeting finish it up and then go back to the regular meeting yes
i'm just trying to come up with a working plan to where if we still start at 4:00 we should be able to get everything done as long as it's a very light evening agenda city manager
we cannot make that promise sir but we will try our best that's it i'm I'm not supporting I'm not but I just want to make sure if we did it that way it may work to where you know like the next week we wouldn't have to come back on Tuesday or whatever the case may be
you know I seen the schedule that I was looking for and I was trying to hoping to get it all done like in a day meeting to where four o'clock the proclamations would be pretty much the last thing and then depending on how long the day meeting lasted because you can always
stop that go to proclamations and go back to the meeting and finish it up too mp and from our perspective the reason why we recommended the 3 PM that we talked to Commissioner Petro was because you're not going to get staff here at 5:00 for a recognition meeting they are
going to come during most likely the hours that they already designated to work because they have uh other obligations outside of their work hours so if you do move it to five o'clock as opposed to 3 o'clock be prepared to receive a lower attended meeting for
your proclamations and your welcome right but we also got to it's not just staff get recognized as citizens as well and groups so we got to do the best for all somehow you know that's why I said if we did it still at 4:00 with the
proclamations and stuff we're usually done within an hour that is true and then you go to your district meetings and then you go to your regular that's all I was looking at if if it was scheduled that way I think it could work yes sir that's all I had Mayor i just wanted to see if we could
get it working in line that's all um Yeah you see you know at first I was against this then I'm listening and I'm sort of leaning the other way but you know I look at on the one hand 4:00 is a really
good time because it's late enough for for community to be here after school for recognitions and it's early enough for people who are still working employees
who can come here or those who really do want to finish up their work at Ford but come right over here um and then I have the basic issue i I'm I'm not so convinced that that this is what I would with all the opportunities to create um
efficiencies within our city government i'm not sure that this is one of the highest priority items for me and quite frankly I question whether if it isn't broke why fix it um so um just don't see why we're doing this i
I I just question the intent but that's all I have to say commissioner Dval um the only thing I have to say about it is you know uh I agree with Commissioner
Emmer about the possibility of a pause how it's been done before you know the main thing from my point of view is to just try to be flexible it's hard to accommodate everybody every time on everything but
just try to be as flexible as as possible hey Mr petra thank you Mayor well as the discussion um progresses I just want to make make a point that it is not the highest priority the only reason why
I'm proposing this well there are a couple benefits but the reason why I'm proposing this is uh is to make it more efficient the the whole city to function instead of three times using these chambers pulling
everybody in just one day extra uh We utilizing a lot of resources and thus expenses are getting higher uh but uh as far as timing we're only changing from 4 till uh from 4:00 p.m to 3:00 p.m i
don't think it's a big deal uh as far as the to accommodate or not accommodate I mean if I if I've been recognized by somebody you know I would leave my work my school you know that it's a valid very valid valid excuse um people don't recogni
don't they are not recognized on continuous basis it's maybe once in a lifetime um but uh so that uh regarding the timing from 4 p.m to 3 p.m but thus
we eliminating one extra meeting a month of Hence I mean not that I'm looking for less work um we can accommodate
more more people i think uh like city manager said that some people will not come and that's been true some people cannot come as a staff personnel at 4 or later because they've been working and they about to leave
home can't come go home and come back but if it's 3:00 they can be here i don't know i'm open for suggestions or questions Vice Mayor
okay now it's time to put the other hat on i got no issues coming in here to have a meeting for proclamations welcoming the new employees and leaving it just at at that because depending on sometimes we've had
this chamber full on recognitions and it may take a little bit longer to get through everybody with pictures and stuff like that and it is their special moment i wouldn't want to down the road say "Oh we got a meeting at five o'clock
or four o'clock we got to get through this." to take away from their special moment and again then it goes back to Commissioner Langden saying you know yeah we could be more efficient with having you know younger people here
and and coming to these meetings but still it's still part of the job to be here at those meetings so even if it's an hourong meeting or an hour and a half long meeting for those recognitions I feel it's an important
process for the citizens themselves especially if they're within the you know the art club or the tree club or whatever club they are and they did something special they get their recognition and then they can hobnob with everybody afterwards and not be
rushed and just have have a blessed moment sometimes there's coffee and soft drinks and cookies and other things afterwards it just seems like we're packing a whole lot into a short period of time for no reason in my estimation well that's why I switched hats but I'm
just saying I see the pros and cons on both sides but I got no issues with the way we're doing it now i understand where he's saying we're coming here an extra day well it's our job we We should be here you know and we should be representing and helping the citizens
the best possible you know staff is going to be here regardless whether we're here or not they're going to be in the building somewhere so we can use them more thanks Mayor that's all I got boy I
mean good good arguments on both sides of this issue i I did have a thought earlier i don't know if it makes any sense but I'll throw it out anyway what if we split it up what if we
welcomed new employees on the agenda of our day meeting let's say um and then had proclamations and awards attached to another meeting um I think that way
certainly I'd feel a lot more comfortable that we could fit those things into an hour um yeah fit those things into an hour without bumping into any other meeting
i'm just kind of trying to think of creative ways of approaching this because again I I do think and I'm thinking toward the future if we get younger commissioners who are doing this
in conjunction to a day job getting out of work it can be easier to get out of work once for a longer period of time than twice for two shorter periods of time i
know I'm working more on the commission angle because I've been thinking a lot about that recently um so I don't know just throwing it out for conversation in uh in response that um one you know
again staff would have better insight than I would but but 9:00 in the morning is the beginning of a work day having new employees here and having their support staff here to for you know welcome I mean it doesn't take a long time but it but it may well be a
disruption to the workflow and the workday 4:00 is pretty much the end of the workday um and then I guess I just got to say it um while while I've certainly been a big proponent of trying to attract a a younger uh pool of
candidates to run for commission because I think it's important you know we have a young city and a young community and I've also been an advocate for rightsizing compensation packages for commissioners because I think it does attract uh folks who are younger and who
with a a a slightly more respectable compensation package will be attracted to the job um I totally believe this is a full-time job if you want to represent citizens of
this city it is not a part-time job i don't think it lends itself to having another job i think that it is actually not a good thing for people to split their loyalties running this is a city of 100,000 people almost a $300 million
budget and we have a staff of superstars who are experts at what they do who devote their full-time 40 hours plus and I think the commission that represents the citizens should be doing almost an equal amount of time and effort there is
way more than attending a handful of meetings to doing a good job as a commissioner it's engaging in the community it's calling for additional workshops on subject matter that we want to be better at and more knowledgeable at so I absolutely just don't see this
you know i I just don't um it ain't it ain't broken i say don't fix it and uh you know all we're trying to do is fit this square peg in a round hole for whatever reason i I'm not sure so that's all I have to say vice Mayor you're up
again I guess yeah i just wanted to respond to Commissioner Langden's um comment about putting it on an evening meeting or a day meeting to me if if it was pushed on an evening meeting and then that let's just say we have a heavy
topic type of evening then we're taken away from the recognition points again because we're either a going to try and rush through it and you know have to contend with other issues i just think I
I I got to agree with the mayor to where it it is like set up to where it is like a special day for them to come in and get recognized and then then they can hang out afterwards and you know we're done everybody goes home you know and and that's just a special thing for the
citizens and the employees so I would have to agree with the mayor and say you know if it's not fixed you know not broken let's not try to fix it that's where I'm at i mean I got both sides of the fence i understand it
but I I just think it is a special day for a lot of people out there that's all pretty clear i believe in the past it was actually during the 10:00 meeting um and what they did was they did a time
sensitive for 4:00 however therefore if your meeting ends at 12:00 or 1:00 then coming back at or coming back at 4:00 for that meeting as well if it's going over then we would just not not pause the meeting but stop go to that item and then go back to whatever you have left
on the agenda and And why then did the city clerk was it decided by commission at some point in time to move it to four o'clock it was already four o'clock we just moved it to that Thursday and I want to say it was because then you see how on your calendars we have that
Thursday sectioned off for a special meeting in case the city manager needs a special meeting for any item so it was to have that special meeting on that day if we need it it's already reserved on your calendars and then the four o' thank you may
and it happens at the same time each month you know the first Thursday of the month so I mean it's pretty much a pattern commissioner Petro yes i just want to clarify some things commissioner Linkton said that attracting new
candidates for the board I'm not sure if I'm following it what does it have to do with moving the meeting uh proclamations awards recognitions from 4 p.m to 3 p.m what does have to do with the
younger pool of candidates to be present is that what what I stated for someone if someone has a full-time job and I hear what the mayor said and I don't disagree i mean I've always approached this as a full-time job my number one
priority but if someone is working and doing um this job in conjunction um I mean I I worked full-time in corporate for 35 years and from my own
experience leaving the job twice a month for longer period of time would have been easier for me to pull off with my management than multiple shorter departures from work that was my only
point um and and then my comment of splitting the two things up was just would it be more flexible from a scheduling point view um no real intention on where you would plug it in but if it was going to
go as part of an agenda or just before or after um a regularly scheduled meeting it could provide perhaps a little bit more flexibility but um I see both sides of the issue
um I pass well oh city manager thank you Mr mayor just a couple of quick comments one the the the 10:00 or the 9:00 option in the morning we think is not as well as the afternoon just because of people
who are in addition to staff who come to get recognized people who and business partners and those who come to support some of the populations we have them getting here I believe would be easier to stay in the afternoon whether 3 or 4 o'clock of course is their choice or
even 5:00 from their standpoint the afternoon works better i think that to um Commissioner Langden's point the and Commissioner Petra the the flexibility of allowing you to have a meeting that's
already on a day that is already established lends more efficiency because you're already there and it adds to a a meeting schedule pre-existing as opposing to have one meeting on one day where there's not another meeting connecting to it uh and then the last
thing I'll say is that we had a meeting yesterday with the workshop and we had staff as uh the presenter of I believe it was two separate items you know to maximize those days of meetings having the commission submit items that they
want to talk about on those days could extend that day and make no mistake we're going to have some meetings that come up with um uh those kind of workshop but they're mostly budget related but if the commission wants to have a that are venue and output
opportunity you adding items that you want to talk to staff about on those days could be helpful because now you have us as an audience you have your colleagues as an audience and you're sort of um brainstorming your way through a topic that you may want to talk about so there's some opportunities
there in those meetings to make them um more impactful as well in the future for the opportunity of the commission thank you well if there's nothing else to that um yeah we have any public comment on this
uh I don't know if anybody wants to offer up a motion here creating i motion I would say is I would move to not change anything in the meetings that are set up for the new
employees and proclamations for you're not going to make any change you don't need to actually have a motion yeah you don't need to make a motion approve the res no we don't have to have a motion if you're not going to change anything i wanted to make sure that
everybody else was in agreement on that don't you think but if there was three notes then there's a change right nothing wrong with a motion thank you and I have a motion in a second you want to spin it back out again yeah we have a
motion by Vice Mayor seconded by Commissioner Duval if if the city clerk kind enough to read it back just for clarity i did not type it preemptive editing a motion was made by Vice Mayor Stokes seconded by Commissioner Dvau to not
make any changes to the annual schedule vice Mayor Emor Emotive [Laughter] if there's nothing else to that folks let us vote and that passes 4 to one with
uh Commissioner Petro or uh voting no descent thank you thank you for that word I was groping for uh anything to that or for reasons stated no I just feel that it would be more
efficient and more feasible more realistic more appropriate uh to have a combination of two meetings in one day simply because the meeting is so short and it's literally we get up
and leave we don't hang around thank you sir moving on to general business C25-21-46 uh this is possible discussion possible action regarding the letter to support for Sunost Technical College
submission regarding the allocation of hurricane recovery funds to Sarasota County Board of County Commissioners um city manager your item thank you Mr mayor um this item was introduced or brought to us last meeting
by uh Commissioner Duval and direction was given to staff in order to write the letter included in the backup documentation for this item we have submitted a letter which is the exact same letter as we submitted for um this
particular pot of money in the fall of last year in the fall of last year we submitted it the um county commission separated the funding of seven uh $7.5 million to STC but as well as to the BIA
which is the business industry association which is an arm of the Sun Coast Builders Association both entities are um very active and responsive for uh work trade workforce um training within
Sarasota County so they do supply the city of Northport both with an intention and a goal of helping us with our needs uh when that money was split between those entities um in the fall we they used our letter of
recommendation at that time so it is in our opinion that to write another letter would be duplicating our efforts in in a way that they already know our intention of what their um first decision was it's my understanding that there hasn't been
no nothing that has changed um from the information that was provided to the county when they made their original decision this is a sort of a revisiting of the topic based on new commissioners but our first letter still stands as a
representation of our commitment to and support of STC to be one of those partners so it is our recommendation as a staff that you don't need to do a new letter that first letter stands for your support of making sure that the city of
Northport gets the proper workforce training through trades as it was mentioned but we're happy to answer any questions or um I know Commissioner Dvalo was the leader on this he may have some more comments but uh hopefully we've given some more context and shine
some light on the role of staff and what we did before and what you're asking to do now thank you Mr mayor thank you city manager commissioners questions discussions commissioner Dubala right out of the box yes
um as the city manager just stated uh a letter already has been written when I brought this up I was basing the discussion on an editorial that I read in
newspaper at that time I was not aware that the city has already written that letter of support so as the city manager you know says uh we stand by that and really
uh I don't think we really have to do anything else at this point they know what they know that we you know the county commissioners know that we support our school
and if I had known you know in advance that that letter had already been written you know then I probably would not have thought at all thank you thank you Vice Mayor yeah city manager is really going to
love me on this one i mean since since we did have them go back and research all of this stuff and dust off that letter it's it's just my opinion i understand where you know it could be redundant or repetitive but
when they go to revisit this item there's a shiny letter sitting right there as well when they visit this item would the old letter still be in that backup when they go looking at
months uh I'm sure that it would Mr vice Mayor only because they're going to um since they're bringing back an item that they previously voted on it normally contains all the information from the first reading in decision they most certainly should already be there
almost certainly should maybe um if it's sent it is there that's just what I'm looking at so I mean there's pros and cons i understand but doesn't hurt to tell them twice in
my opinion that's all I have appear as there's anything else left to this um any public comments on this item there is not anybody care to make a motion on this
which case I guess no action means that letter does not go so existing letter spans yes all right then um we can move on um
to general public comments we have none moving on to commissioner communications um vice mayor yeah um can't remember if we had a meeting in between there or not but we did go to
Tallahassee that was a fun three days actually got to meet and talk with legislators and get some points across so it it was a good time um recently though this past weekend I
got to marry off my daughter which was a very good day and uh we had three different clicks of family there and everybody got along and it was it was just a great day and then that was Saturday and Sunday we ended up
having a uh celebration to life for Elaine's mom down here they had one up north but since all the family and everybody was down here we went to a nice little park on the river it's called like Island Walk or something
down in in Hanagorta but the whole weekend just turned out to be a blessed great weekend and everybody's starting to travel back now but I just wanted to give congratulations to Michael and Cheyenne Davis and uh there's no
takebacks so um thank you that's it that's all I got okay u Mr lang I'm going to skip over you since I know you file your reports or would you like to comment well I'm going to comment well there you go
you're up don't ever assume when it comes to me mayor you're up um I apologize i have not submitted my activity report in time for it to be attached so I will give a verbal report
um this time i I I just wanted to share um at our last MO meeting there was a presentation on the on demand program um for those who might not be aware a few
years ago most of our fixed route um uh transportation routes were discontinued in favor of an ondemand call up and you would be driven from point A to point B a lot of really great
statistics and if after this meeting city clerk or someone from her office can work with me to figure out how to extract just those slides from um the briefing package for the last no meeting
i would like to attach um that presentation to this agenda item to my report i will just share with you at a very very high level um in Northport we have one fixed route left it departs
right out here from in front of city hall traverses through Wellen Park um and ends up in Venice in um this past year tw 22,43 trips
um occurred on that bus and the average cost per passenger of Route 9 the fixed route was $26.81 to $29.32 um in re in comparison our ondemand
service in 2024 2011,716 trips so the on demand has been a very successful program um of FDOT and the average gross cost per trip of the
ondemand service is $11 so significantly seems counterintuitive but um significantly lower cost per trip than our fixed route so I will work with city clerk after this meeting to see if we
can't get this quarterly update um up for anyone who might want to look at it i'll attach it to my um 25-212 i'm done clear i'm good at that
thank you very much um Mr duval yes um going to go back a couple weeks here i did attend the mayor's state of the city at Solless Hall of Wand Park uh I attended the ribbon cutting for the HCA Wallen Park Emergency Center
uh we all did attend the uh FLC conference in Tallahassee um I also attended the and I want to say congratulations to uh District Chief Wall Gora i attended his flag ceremony
and retirement at station 86 um I attended our do the right thing recognitions here in commission chambers um I also attended a town hall that we were all at at station 86 on the special
election referendum questions and on March 29th uh I was down in Punta Gorda at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial uh March 29th is now known as Vietnam Veterans Day um and in
the same day I also attended uh here in Northport at the American Legion an event that they had and while I was there um I also spoke to a lady about the honor flights that go out
of Pontigora for our veterans um and she asked me to ask the commissioners to write letters of support um there wasn't enough time because the honor flight is today there was not
enough time to get that on the agenda but I did write a letter and submit that to her and also I will be there tonight approximately 9:30 when the honor flight returns from Washington and if there's anybody in the public that's listening
to this meeting I ask any of you that can to also go and say thank you to our veterans that's it thank you Commissioner we have Commissioner Petro yes I attended the Teleahassee
legislative session meet up with our representatives it was fun to see all of them uh get to know my fellow commissioners better um was a really quality time
spent and uh we did uh all attended that town hall spe uh special meeting for the referendum questions it was nice because people could come and ask questions and have a discussion and this is very rare
so I encourage all of the public if they're listening now to come to our next one which would be April 26th correct 4th of the day yeah April 24th 24th I'm sorry 24th um and would be held at Sun
College at 6 PM and that's about it from me as far as my attendance or what I did but I also have a two things to bring it up and I felt it would be more appropriate to to do it
now uh since we have this do bus going on in our city and I just want to ask a few questions well first um I'm sure you all read about or
seen that the letter from the uh from the the office of uh governor that he sent to our city and he outlined five things that we have to respond and I
read the response from our city manager uh as a member of the board I want to state that I'm all open for this dodge thing that I feel that the citizens have this fe
um notion that we hiding something from the city citizens that we have spent the money or but as a policy maker we have nothing to do with the operational but uh there's one question I want to ask um
city manager if he can address number five on that letter which says an unreserved or a total fund balance deficit in the general fund or any major operating fund that persists for two consecutive years and I looked it up in
the road and drainage district fund has a balance uh I think it has still have a I'm not sure if it's a second consecutive year or if it's a third consecutive year if you can publicly comment on that um so we will know and
the public will know if there's any discrepancy with our response and our fund balance yes thank you Commissioner Petro let us state as well I think we heard from the public a public commenter today
that we don't support the Doge um effort from the governor's office and let me just say it again and we can keep saying this until they stop the Doge effort the city of Northport is is going to fully comply with all of the Doge efforts whether it be from the state or the federal government wherever we get the
direction that we need to bring to this commission we are we're always going to follow the law and do exactly what our governor tells us to do so we have complied we will comply and we we encourage and invite them to look at us in any way they need possible we are not
going to send them a written invitation to say that unless they ask us to do so but anything that they need from us we will comply with based on your question and the fund that you're looking at that has been in the negative stance since we have gone through hurricane Ian we did
use money for that fund from that fund to re repair from hurricane Ian that's our road and drainage fund but the fund itself was negative never in a negative balance the lowest it's ever gotten was $12 million we went below our 20% of our
um internal policy but not in in policy for for reserve but not negative in the fund itself the benefit of having that money and being able to show it was a negative was was our grace and our um proper planning to have the money to pay for ourself if that money had not been
there even though it went negative from a reserve standpoint we would not have had the ability to borrow and I think that everyone sort of sees that connection into um what we are trying to get fixed with our referendum as the ability to borrow so one thing leads to another but we were grateful and had the
um financial foresight of our finance director and her team to only go in the negative from the reserve of what we needed to be there and per our policy it needs to go back within uh a three-year period and we are well um well in advance of that of putting that money
back for future use thank you sir thank you and then next thing I want to ask the board or maybe just for a sake of discussion if there's any value to send a follow-up letter to the office of the
governor stating our pos uh stating our current situation as the only city in the state of Florida that cannot borrow without voters approval and the reason is I'm bringing this up and probably the only
reason I read an article maybe two weeks ago that the governor is returning over half a billion dollars back to the federal government yet we are in such a need as a city
um simply just for the infrastructure failures that we going to have or have which would be uh close to a billion dollars as an estimate conservatively speaking so if there's any value to send a follow-up letter saying um and I know
there are proper channels um within that parameter to ask for the money but to be on the record with the office of the governor that we are really the only city which is uniquely positioned from our inability
to have money so maybe to have them hey this city is unique so next time we have a surplus let's contact that city so I'm just open for the any comments or discussion on that i just didn't feel appropriate to bring
this as an agenda item um separately simply because it's just a discussion manager may I may I address that oh yes um the funds that the the governor returned to the federal government were earmarked for specific
projects um specific uh things which I believe he felt was necessary to return to the federal government as far as raising the issue of we're one of the we are the only municipality in the state
of Florida who who can't borrow money um I put great faith in our Northport citizens to after they just narrowly rejected a very broad request in November for emergency borrowing
authority will now that we've listened and tightened up that language very well may on May 13th approve emergency borrowing for us um so you know I'm I'm more inclined to allow that to roll
itself out and allow the citizens to speak whether or not our state government can lend any assistance in the area were this to fail um perhaps the state might have some thoughts as to
how they might help not just our municipality but all municipalities with regard to reacting and responding to emergencies where there may not be the adequate resources at the municipal level that's something down the road but again those funds that were returned by
the governor I believe were earmarked for specific things that were not utilized i believe one of them had to do with relocation of immigration at which you know this this governor and legislature you know did not feel so inclined to utilize so I don't think
that that it's it's within their discretion to just turn around and use federal dollars for whatever they might feel would be appropriate within the state but you know I I don't see the need for a letter i I think it would be inappropriate but that's just my opinion
city manager if you have some Yes thank you Mr mayor um so from our standpoint and our feedback um like as I said earlier you know the letter that we sent a response to we are as a staff and a team almost certain that is not going to be the last thing that we hear from the
governor on this effort so um the timing of the first qu set of questions were directed for financial distress that our city has experienced and as I said in the letter in the response we have not experienced any of those um situations
which is a great thing our millage rate being the same for five years is a great thing considering how fast we're growing and the activities that we're doing as we go deeper into the conversation with the governor's EOG Doge team I am fairly
certain we will have an opportunity to stand up and say you know look at how great our finances are look at our miller rate look at our growth look at the taxes that we've brought in to the state look at the low debt that we have
because we cannot borrow and to me that would be the time where you then say "Oh and by the way since we cannot borrow you know and we do have challenges that are of a of a larger nature than we can continue to pay as we go you sort of
outline the context of that situation to them so that they can better understand but to sort of um say that hey we know you're looking at us to see if we have financial distress you know let us tell you about other issues that we're having." it seemed like it was sort of
not in the right place i do believe to Commissioner Petro's point that we do need to make sure that they know and understand our situation we have talked to um some of their staff the governor's staff as it relates to some of the grant
money that we're seeking for the police headquarters and they have been not only um receptive to listening about it but understanding that we have a unique problem um so I think the timing and the presentation matters on how we addressed them i think that if we would have sent
that initial information in that original letter to that team that we were responding to it may not have landed in the way that it needs to but as they dig deeper we will be prepared to have more informative conversations that will allow us to um state our needs
and garner their support vice Mayor yeah um I know I've had these conversations with the city manager but whenever these situations come up they really do need
to be advertised in an agenda item because not only are we having discussions Commissioner Petro had go up and said "We might want to possibly take action to go ahead and send a letter." Well that's agenda item stuff nobody in
the citizenry has any clue that we were going to talk about Doge or any of that matter which they may want to because I've seen bumper stickers out there that say Doge no but but this this time right now we need that's for what we've done
and everything if there's going to be action or discussion it needs to be an agenda and and we need to stick to that because right now we're just flying off into the weeds having conversations that nobody knows that we were going to have and and it's not fair to them
so I just wanted to get that on the record because it's happened quite a few times good point Vice Mayor City Manager no you know I think Mr vice Mayor bumper sticker but uh you pay for that yeah uh actually it was a gift from a
dear friend um I but I think you know and Commissioner Petro you correct me if I'm wrong you know the the the question of the context was maybe not so much for action today but to just sort of get a
feeling from the commission if it was valuable to put on a upcoming agenda item if it were so directed i'm not directed if if there was um support for it to be added to a future agenda item um as I think I think you need to
correct me if I'm wrong Commissioner Petro but I think that's where he was going but I think from a staff standpoint we will we will definitely cover his concern in one of the upcoming letters or conversation that we're going to have i know that everyone in our
state is putting together their budget at this point in time i would be very surprised if they didn't sort of want to or try to put their hand in that pot for just about everyone to say as you are creating your budget let's talk about some things you want you to think about
as cities they're going to say we want you to consider um some of the areas maybe that we as a state government have have noticed that you at a local government could do better and or want to consider and to me that would be some
of the uh proactive conversation they would want to have as everyone is compiling their budgets at this point so that's how I see what they'll do we understand as a staff because I've talked to Commissioner Pro what he's trying to accomplish and then ideally we'll be able to weave those two
together to bring to you and accomplish what he's trying to get accomplished in the near future thank you if I may yes mayor uh just uh to clarify uh vice mayor's concern basically the qu two two items the first one is I was just
looking for the clarification there's no action needed about this fund that I think it's golden range district fund just I've been asked numerous times by the citizens and rather create an agenda item I was just publicly ask
question so the city manager could publicly respond response uh response to that question as a second item I was just asking if there's any value to send a follow-up letter there was no action
needed as a discussion i mean if we if we try not to even discuss any issues on the DAS how can we even discuss this because because of the sunshine loss i mean that's that's all i mean I'm not I
apologize if I uh taking any of your time but this is our job and I've been asked I don't know how many times by the citiz citizens about this question specifically about the road and drainage district fund and if if you guys want um
if my fellow commissioners commissioners want me to create a agenda item to discuss this in more details I will but I don't think there's any action needed for that uh and again the second item I was just saying asking a question if there's any
value to uh send a follow-up letter that's it that's it's just I've been bombarded by the citizens about this doge thing and if we don't respond from the dis how else do we respond if we have to create
an agenda item if we have to create an agenda item I don't see any value to create an agenda item because what are we trying to do uh with those i mean it's not even up to us it's the governor's office and we've
complied I believe 100% from the response and from the testimony of the city manager i'm just at loss if I'm prevented from talking i know these are communication points but if I'm if I can't even communicate my thoughts but I've been
bombarded by the citizens I don't know what else to do i mean I've been quiet for the for the most part on the dis i'm just a little bit confused as of now i'll respond when you're done i'm done thank you but the thing about it is
is if you do it in the way that you want to do it nobody knows what questions you're going to ask or talk about at the end of the meeting if it's an agenda item then the citizens know we're going to talk about the shortfall road drainage we're
going to talk about Doge whatever the case may be on what they have advanced notice what they're going to be able to see within that agenda item and we also all know about the agenda item as well to be able to work with whatever the
subject matter could be within the sunshine laws so to just come up and ask questions i understand that you're being you know um humbled by everybody out there for these questions as are we but as this stuff comes through we will
address those questions and and stuff on but an agenda item is better because it's out there it's advertised they know we're going to talk about it hey let's pay attention they're talking about Doge what are they going to do but right now everybody probably just signed up and they have no clue what we're talking
because the meeting is over that's all I'm saying it's to put her in put it in proper perspective nobody's saying you can't talk about it let's just do it the right way that's all that's all I was trying to get at
and mayor I'd like to comment also um I'm going to say it a little more pointedly than you did Vice Mayor i really take offense at your comment that we're trying to quiet you or must you
are not giving you a voice that's what I heard um all we're doing is exactly what Vice Mayor said that the better way to have substantive conversation on anything is to have an agenda item
because then people know what we're going to talk about so I certainly don't want to communicate any feeling or intention or message that we don't want to hear from you and that we don't want
you to speak it's just I I'm I have a suggestion i I would suggest that you talk to city clerk there are trainings on a proper use of agenda um
parliamentary procedure that might be helpful um because again I'll I'll reiterate what vice mayor said um and and that is if we're going to have any substantive conversation on anything it
really does need to be on the agenda so people know we're going to have that conversation and they may want to come and participate so again it's redirecting the conversation not trying to prevent conversation no by no means I
did say that I've been quieted down and I said I fairly quiet on the diet i don't say a lot but when I say I make my voice he hurt and the only thing is you know and I consulted with the city manager page before this if I if it's
appropriate directed me that it's fine uh especially with this district fund and the followup letter but I'll take into consideration even for the discussion points that has to be put in the agenda and but I do believe the public
watches they do watch to the end i apologize if I did take your time on the DAS regarding these discussions so that leaves the
uh attended the uh do the right thing uh the police uh put on this past or so um that's always a pleasure i love to see and hear about all the great things that our young people do
um it's just a special event i you know I always appreciate like everyone who attends it and for the commissioners who do thank you very much um uh again attended our our uh safety
building location town hall on the referendums thought there was some real good discussion um you know I think it's valuable and and appreciate Commissioner Petro mentioning the the town hall coming up on the 24th that is the last of the
three um and it's 6:00 at STC um I would encourage people who have questions uh at all about these referendum items please come i I think they're invaluable um in addition I'm I'm also doing on the
25th of April I will be doing a uh update at uh Grand Living which is in Wellen Park it's a senior and and assisted living but it may it the facility holds up to about 150 hopefully
anywhere between 50 and over 100 people um who are voting citizens some of them maybe all of them I don't know but uh it'll be an abbreviated state of the city pretty much an update on what's happening but also an opportunity to address the five referendum items and
I'm working on doing the same thing at the gallery down here hopefully I can get it done before the referendum election date of the 13th so you know the more we communicate additionally um I want to mention that during early voting I will be setting up
my own tent at Biscane um to advocate as an individual and commissioner uh for the referendum items uh obviously I have no authority to order anybody but you know um I have Mark Franston who's going
to be attending with me uh but again our commission calendars you know dictate we we do have obligations for the city and other things so you know I can't cover them like from opening to closing on on election week it's the 5th through the
10th I believe of May but I would encourage anybody who might have the desire to man that table well you know that would be great we'll have extra mailers there that highlight the the five referendum items as well as signage
for the back to blue which uh again we're we're prepared not by the city but by outside support group um you know everything we can do to to promote this election I think is a good thing um
coming up also on the uh when is it at 4:19 um we have a quarterly business welcome event um which I encourage people to attend commissioners as well as citizens who might be listening to this um and uh
then on the 22nd um and I believe it's 10:00 a.m behind city hall here we have the uh a tree planting for and a greenest city award uh you know again another good event and an opportunity to engage our community and our citizens
and you know um it's it's worthy to make that one point um you know we hear quite a bit from vocal voices out there and and they have a platform and a forum by which they make their their feelings known about various issues you know you
can't deny Facebook and social media but the more we engage our community in their own wheelhouse whether it's at ballparks whether it's at special events wherever it be we get to touch people in
our community who aren't advocating for or against our agenda items necessarily but they represent vast majority our silent majority in this city and I think it's invaluable to get to know them and it speaks to the issue I say about how
important it is for our commissioners to really immerse themselves in the community this is not a part-time gig it is not if you want to represent the whole city and sometimes I do not deny the right of any vocal voice to speak
out i don't call them a minority they're a vocal voice on either side of an issue but there are an enormous number of people who are content to rely on their representatives to represent them yet it's important to get a feel for where
their heads are at what's happening with them in their lives and that's why I encourage everybody on this day to go to as many things as you can all the time people love it people care about it they are so appreciative that we are out
there being part of their lives anyway I'm off my soap box on that other than that um not last but absolutely not least administrative and legal reports city manager you got anything uh no Mr mayor thank you so much acting city manager or city uh attorney sorry I
didn't mean to promote or demote you i'm not sure which sorry couldn't help myself and uh city clerk I have nothing all right i guess if there is nothing else folks it's 11:50 and I adjourn the meeting