e e e e e e e e e good morning everybody today is Tuesday
March 11th 20 2 it's 10:00 a.m. we're in City Chambers and I call the city commission regular meeting to order Commissioners president are Commissioners Deval commissioner langman mayor Stokes vice mayor emrich and commissioner Petro is a warm present for
this meeting also present city manager Fletcher interm City attorney Golan city clerk fa uh we have Captain Gregory and chief Titus Miss Morgan would you be kind enough to lead us in a
pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all all right looking for a motion to
approve the agenda second a motion by vice mayor seconded by commissioner langden to approve the agenda let's vote and that passes 5 to zero city clerk public
comments sander Fab books and agent times was papus Jill Luke as I am teaching chair yoga at the senior center I cannot attend in person but would like to highlight three items one I've seen in print statements that
say DP issues designations for outstanding Springs that is not true designation is done legislatively legislators designate departments oversee what was designated two Please be aware that the governor is talking about cutting property tax so anything that you might want to pay back via that
Revenue fund could be vastly affected warning Will Robinson three lastly when I was in Tallahassee I spoke to reps Buchanan and McFarland about bringing a Statewide program that would Implement signs near where children with autism live to prevent such tragedies as what
occurred here recently while attending this 10-year-old's funeral I learned that there is movement in the house regarding this measure Easter Seals is supporting it also I will forward the email I sent these reps as a followup so you can have the information that I have I ask that you show support to this
measure while you are from Tallahassee please I love to see Tucker James Reese name on this program thank you in advance Jill Luke in person I have Maya brigh followed by Aaron Nesmith and Sky
Stewart good morning my name is Maya bright I'm here on behalf of Northport High School's drug-free Youth and students working against tobacco club I'm here to address concerns about flavored tobacco products and their effects especially on
youth across the country five states and 138 localities have already implemented bands on flavored tobacco products demonstrating a national Trend toward youth tobacco use and prevention this is happening because flavored tobacco products are designed to appeal to youth making it easier for them to start using
nicotine public health studies consistently show that flavored products serve as a gateway to lifelong addiction flavored products disguise using the harshness of nicotine making them more attractive and palatable bait producer juel was sued and lost for
causing these injuries from sale of their products death of a loved one heart attack hemorrhagic Strokes or bleeding in the brain lung diseases and injuries including bronch bronchiolitis obliterations organizing pneumonia and e
ecigarette or vaping production use Associated lung injury nicotine addiction that led to worse health conditions nicotine poisoning pulmonary disease respiratory failure seizures injuries from exploding ecigarettes and injuries from ecigarettes Catching
Fire an example of a city that has implemented this ban is in Denver Colorado in December 18th 2024 Mayor Mike Johnson signed Bill 24 1765 into law prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products on March 18th 2025 the ban will
take effect giving businesses time to to adjust by 2026 full enforcement is expected ensuring compliance and protecting youth enforcement will be handled by the Department of Public Health and environment by updating the standard operating procedures training staff for compliance monitoring
conducting retailer education and public Outreach a grace period before issuing citations to allow to transition according to a National Youth tobacco survey 2.25 million students use tobacco products in the past 30 days
four out of five youth tobacco users started with flavored products the most popular flavor flavors are fruit candy desserts mint and mythal we encourage you to consider implementing a similar band here in
Northport thank you for your time thank you Aaron good morning my name is Aon Nesmith this is not the first time I've had to address the issue with flavors and vaping back in 2019 I did a press conference with state representative
Jackie Toledo discussing the legal age which is now changed to 21 and these flavors my daughter Ashlin began vaping specifically juwel at just the age of 14 years old during her freshman year of high school like many parents we were unaware of her vaping due to the
discreet nature of the devices and their scents over time we noticed alarm symptoms anxiety depression which led to self harm a significant drop in her grades mood swings and seizures she had started the school year as a member of the National Junior Honors Society and
on the Varsity softball team but within months everything changed her grades plummeted she began skipping classes and ultimately couldn't attend school anymore the seizures began gradually but soon escalated to daily occurrences in class forcing me to pull her out of
school one day a close friend shared an article leaping vaping to seizures Ashlin finally confessed her struggles with addiction she had tried to quit several times but felt trapped she revealed that she did not at first realize that the jewel contained
nicotine and was drawn in by the appealing flavors particularly the mango in response we implemented strict measures to keep her safe she was never allowed out of our site we restricted her social interactions remarkably during this time
she began to reclaim her true self and enjoyed over six weeks without seizures or vaping during this time we did Addiction Counseling mental health counseling and asked for help from her doctors but being only 14 there are not many options out there for nicotine
addiction we knew we couldn't keep her locked up forever as she gradually regained our trust and completed her online class as she returned to school unfortunately the grip of n nicotine proved to be too strong and she started vaping again and EV eventually
transitioned to smoking thinking that it would be better than vaping despite multiple attempts to quit she struggled to overcome her addiction and the seizures return daily debilitating episodes that prevented her from holding a job or ever obtaining a driver's
license at the press conference I had mentioned earlier she was asked this question had flavors not been around would you have ever picked up the Jewel and she answered never the tobacco flavors disgusting sadly she cannot share as she passed away this past July just 3 weeks
shy of her 21st birthday we believe her death was caused by a grandma seizure in her sleep triggered by vaping I am convinced that had vaping never entered her life she would still be with us today I urge you to consider ashlin's story and the many other children
affected by this issue please ban the sale of flavored tobacco thank you for taking the time time to listen to my story and prior prioritizing the safety of our youth hi my name is Sky Stewart and I'm part of defi SWAT which is drug for
youth working against tobacco um what we would like to see in Northport is prod propos policies for Northport are ban on all flavored nicotine products this includes flavored ecigarettes nicotine pouches and methanol cigarettes exemptions from hookah tobacco and align
with existing policies in the cities another thing is graduated penalty system for retailers first violation citation and mon fine second violation 30-day suspension of all retailers ability to sell tobacco
products the suspension acts as a stronger deterrent empathizing the importance of compliance during the time the retailer will required to undergo further education about the law and how to avoid further violations this business will also be subject to
inspections to ensure that they have fully complied with regulations third violation 60-day suspension fourth violation oneyear suspension public education campaign to inform businesses and residents would also be helpful and a compliance inspections to ensure
adherence some suggested implement our suggested implementation timeline um is March 2025 to June 2025 prevention finding to the City Commissioner gain feedback July 2025 to September 2025 draft proposed
ordinance with legal experts October 2025 to December 2025 conduct public Outreach gather Community Support January 2026 City commissioners vote on ordinance spring 2026 begin enforcement with education first
approach here's the financial impact Healthcare savings reducing youth addiction lowers Public Health costs related to nicotine addiction treatments and then potential state federal grants to help offset costs key takeaway from all this a well structured ban can be
implemented efficiently and cost effectively thank you for your time thank you follow by Jennifer Stringer hello uh my name is Brian McHugh I'm here um on behalf of defi SWAT students
working against tobacco um first I have a few questions regarding how can defi SWAT make this a reality what steps should we take to formally propose this initiative would a petition from students and community members help
demonstrate public support can they approve our petition example and how many community members are required to make the items actionable what documentation or research data would strengthen our case and are there any partnership opportunities with local health
organizations or law enforcement for enforcement and education and finally how can defy and SWAT work with City commission commission to draft an ordinance that is fair yet effective uh secondly I wanted to go through some
statistics that we have gathered from a survey that we ran at our school this survey was aable to take back our bathroom survey because our bathrooms have a serious issue with vaping especially flavor vaping in our schools 62% of students reported that
they were forced to cross campus due to bathrooms being closed 75% of the time there were people gathered in the bathroom who weren't using the bathroom at all 50 54% of the time students were seen vaping or talking about vaping and only 23% of students thought the
bathrooms were safe and accessible in their schools a few resources that could help fund an initiative that we are trying to push is along with uh collaboration from the county there are State Health Department grants that can uh we can
receive funding from uh and also state and federal sources Private health organizations uh such as the American L Association can also support initiatives the tobacco prevention program can also help with federal and state funding and just yesterday Florida won a 79 million
doll lawsuit against jeel which could help fund this push closing statement the evidence is clear flavor tobacco plays a major role in youth nicotine and addiction cities and states across the US have taken action to to protect young people Northport has the opportunity to
be a leader in this Movement by implementing a ban we can reduce youth nicotine addiction improve long-term Public Health lower future healthare costs and ensure a safer Community for all thank you for your time thank
you good morning Jennifer Stringer defi SWAT sponsor and adviser and also teacher at Northport High School thank you very much for your time um obviously we have some excellent wonderful students at our school we have 88 members of the drug free youth students working against tobacco program at
Northport High School that is phenomenal 88 that have signed up to be members to make a big push towards fighting the big tobacco companies like juel we have over 500 um D5 members within Northport Community as you guys well know you
sponsor the drug free youth program which is an awesome program with the um free membership testing at the Morgan Center and memberships that have been given to the students that do pass and are subjected to random screens throughout the year at the Morgan and M Center so we do really appreciate
everything that you guys are doing for our for our kids this is obviously a very serious very big issue and thank you um Aaron for presenting today it was very heartfelt and um struggled through that and I'm sure you did too our students want to take back our schools
we want to take back our community we want to take back their lives that are being affected by this um terrible terrible epidemic of vaping um the products are changing rapidly because as you know companies want to make money they recognize that um communities are
fighting back against the products so they're changing them and modifying them to be nicotine pouches for example nicotine little pouches that they can stick underneath their gums that are flavored same situation but a different product that we're going to have to fight also um we have with us today um
Darlene from the Department of Health who also sponsors students working against tobacco program and we have the founder of the drunk fruit youth program miss Monica Becket here today as well and they are big advocates for us and are supporting us in our mission um the statute that the students were referring
to from from Denver Colorado isn't the only state that is enacted this ban on flavored tobacco but just to read you just a bit of how they were able to proceed and the students can provide the commission more information later if we want to talk to the City attorney later to get that information out to you the ban um is
2444 in Denver sale of flavored tobacco products prohibited it shall be unlawful for any retail tobacco store to sell offer for sale give barter deliver or for furnish to a user or consumer any flavored tobacco product or samples of such product we want to include in that
the nicotine because when this was written they did not realize that the flavored nicotine pouches were also going to be an issue this section should not apply to hookah tobacco a violation of this section shall be non-criminal violation upon which the manager is authorized to assess civil penalties the students did
discuss those civil penalties with you um this has already been done we're not Reinventing the wheel so any information that we can help provide for you for the city commission to help get this done we are willing as a a force our drug fre you SW students to help push this forward to get this enacted in our city
thank you very much for your time hi Joan Morgan um want to talk about these wonderful people I mean this is this is our future okay let them have a future let them have a future Monica
Becket started the drug-free youth uh in Northport many many years ago and Jennifer Works tirelessly I mean being a teacher is enough being a chemistry teacher is enough okay but what does she do it's just amazing these people are
not just here but they are the lead ones for the county they are are meeting with the S marisota vaping Task Force Under the superintendent and they are the lead School in fact just about the only School working with them they have done
a lot they want their bathrooms back the report are that girls are suffering from urinary infections why because they can't use the restroom they won't go in the restroom they can't use the restroom that's sick flavored vaping is is is really
saying you're so stupid you're going to go for this there is nothing that's going to help them any child that truly understood that vaping smoking and illegal drugs are going to destroy the only body that they
have certainly should be smart enough not to do it but we've got to help them because they're not that smart they're not thinking they're becoming part of the crowd uh and that's sad that is very very sad look at the stress we're putting on the education system the
admin rators have to worry about who's vaping instead of what subjects are being taught isn't that sad we have we're playing a hide-and seek we're spending money on cameras and sensors and all of this kind of stuff
and sro's to find them and try to weed them out and then they find another place we've got to you've got to we all have to end these things being sold we've got to do anything we can because we are trying to save our youth
and youth and life is the only thing that counts not money speaking of that one way we can help also because they have certainly spoken about everything dealing with vaping and they've done a wonderful wonderful job but let's talk about
another area where we can help and that's Recreation most of the kids doing a on a swim team and that are not vaping how can you save money ambulance calls police calls health
issues the head of the sro's for Sarasota County Steve Loren openly is telling us and has at meetings that we've had that his brother had a double lung transplant because of vaping there will be consequences nobody
that smokes nobody that Vapes nobody that uses illegal drugs will not have health issues it's 100% positive sorry Recreation makes it better thank you on all
righty on to announcement 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 firefighters pension trust fund Board of
Trustees 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 on the consent agenda uh city manager has anything been pulled no mayor uh any public comment there is none and I'm looking for a motion I'll make it mayor um I move to approve the
cons agenda as presented got a motion by commissioner Langdon seconded by the vice mayor to approve the consent agenda if there's nothing else to that let us vote and that passes 5 to
zero on the public hearings uh we have got uh resolution number 2025 d-08 uh city clerk would you kindly read by title only resolution number 2025 d-08 a resolution of the city Commission of the city of Northport Florida
accepting the transfer of water and wastewater infrastructure and improvements and Associated warranties in Arbor Oaks phase 1C providing for incorporation of recital providing for filing of documents providing for conflicts providing for severability and providing an effective date thank you ma'am city manager your item thank you
Mr Mayor the infrastructure located within aror Parks phase 1C is now complete therefore this resolution is necessary to identify what infrastructure the city is accepting from the developer the city holds easement rights to access operate and maintain the infrastructure and all related warranties have been assigned to
the city we ask that you approve resolution number 2025 r08 as presented thank you sir thank you sir uh commission questions discussion seeing nothing city clerk any public comments there is none then I am looking
to close this public hearing and request a motion I'll make it move to adopt resolution number 2025 d-08 is presented got a motion by vice mayor seconded by commissioner Deval to um
adopt resolution 2025 d-8 as presented let us vote that passes 5 to0 on the resolution 2025 B
r09 city clerk if you'd be so kind resolution number 2025 r-09 a resolution of the city Commission of the city of Northport Florida accepting the transfer of water and wastewater infrastructure and improvements and Associated warranties in Cedar Grove phase 3A The
Strand 1A providing for incorporation of recital providing for filing of documents providing for conflicts providing for severability and providing an effective date thank you ma'am city manager you're up thank you Mr Mayor similar to the last item the infrastructure located within seed of Grove phase 3A is also complete and
therefore this resolution is necessary to identify what infrastructure the city is accepting from the developer the city holds easement rights to access operate and maintain the infrastructure and all related warranties have been assigned to the city we ask that you approve resolution number 2025 r09 as presented
thank thank you sir commission questions discussion seeing nothing any public comment there is none then I'm closing this hearing and requesting a motion make it move to adopt resolution number 2025 r-09 is presented second we've got
a motion by the vice mayor seconded by commissioner langon to adopt resolution 202 5-9 as presented let's see and that passes 5 to zero moving on to ordinance's Second reading ordinance
number 2025-the Florida amending the code of the city of Northport Florida Chapter 2 Article 5 division 5 police officers pensions providing for findings providing for conflicts providing for severability providing for codification and providing an effective date thank
you C manager you're right thank you Mr Mayor this is the second reading for ordinance 20257 regarding the Collective baining Agreement amendments for the Florida police and elevent Association we ask that you approve ordinance number 2025
that 07 as presented has no changes were requested thank you sir Commissioners anything to this item I don't see up there don't see it no there it goes commissioner
Duval yes this is a second reading and I just want to reemphasize that through these negotiations and through our
support we just want our Police Department our officers and all of our employees know how much we appreciate their efforts and that they do deserve a decent contract decent pensions
uh this is just something that's good for our city as a whole thank you thank you commissioner anybody else any public comments city clerk then I'll close this public hearing looking for a motion I'll make it I move to
adopt ordinance number mayor to adopt ordinance 2025-the P your didn't take there sir and that passes 5 to zero moving on ordinance [Music] number guess we're let me see where we
are 2025 d08 city clerk would you be kind enough to read that by title only ordinance number 20125 08 an ordinance of the city of Northport Florida amending the non-district budget for fiscal year 2024 d225 for Hurricane Ian hurricane Milton
costs and payments from Park and pack fees from the West Villages developer developer agreement post annexation in the amount of $823,000 for the payment of Park impact fees to West Villages developer uh agreement purposes for the amount of
$23,988 ordinance 20258 today as presented thank you sir thank you um Commissioners anything to this item any public comments city clerk then I'm closing this hearing requested a
motion move to adopt ordinance number 202-828-8303 f08 as presented and that passes 5 to zero on to E ordinance [Music] 202-9251 an ordinance of the city of
Northport Florida amending the non-district budget and capital Improvement budget for fiscal year 2024 d225 for additional funding for Price Boulevard widening Phase 1 Project R15 pw1 in the amount of
1,723 472 providing for findings providing for posting providing for conflicts providing for severability and providing an effective date thank you city manager your item thank you Mr Mayor uh this is the second reading of ordinance number 2025 -09 for
a budget amendment for the short call and funding for the price widening phase one project there were no CH changes in the ordinance from the first reading to the second reading we ask that you approve ordinance number 20259 today as presented thank you sir thank you sir
Commissioners commission dval yes uh this is the second reading and I'm hoping that this is the final discussion and reading on anything before the price Boulevard widening
project actually gets started and I'm very proud to say that I'm on the commission that is going to be the ones that actually sees it done thank you did owe that anything
else any public comment I'm closing this public hearing requested a motion I'll make it I move to adopt ordinance number 20 25-9 as presented
got a motion by commissioner langon seconded by commissioner Deval to adopt ordinance number 20 25-9 has presented let's vote and that passes
520 we are on the general public comment to be clar there is none there is none we' been on to commissioner Communications commissioner Petro yes um I attended uh Northport
Police Department annual Awards it was nice to see the accomplishments of our police officers and um I did go to the public safety event by Northport forward I wish that event would be more advertised and wanted to see more
people because it was very informative for the public uh and for our community um but it is what it is we'll see they can do a better job I also did um attend annual Employee Appreciation
lunch on it was nice to see the employees of our city and minkle them and talk to our uh employees and it was nice event it was
windy but it was good good event and also just wanted to add uh that I'm proud to be a member of this board that we see the implementation of a price wiing Boulevard thanks
mayor I attended one of the greatest events in Northport this past Saturday The Pinewood Derby races and mayor he didn't come out with a winner this year as always but uh it was it was the coolest car it was a fun
day I enjoy the children there and and all their enthusiasm and what what a great event so I I thank them every year for allowing us to come out there and it's just a wonderful day that's all I got mayor thank you uh Mr
L uh thank you May um as I did last month um and thank you to city clerk she attached my activities for last month uh to the agenda of this meeting and I will continue doing that moving forward so if
anyone's interested and finding out what I did and participated in they can reference that report um I I do want to throw out I was very interested by the public comment about tobacco use and VAP
taping um and I made a note to myself um to have a conversation with our city manager and our interim um City attorney about that I'm also going to reach out to a member or
two of our school board and also our County Commission I think there's a lot of Merit I was very impressed by the research the students did very very impressed um and I personally was not aware of some of the issues in the
schools I certainly knew vaping was an issue but didn't realize that our schools were having such a difficult time policing our restrooms so so I am going to do a little bit of my own research and um
Outreach on that I I certainly think that that we as a body and our staff that the issue certainly merits some conversation um and maybe identifying some options available to us I know that
we have prohibited smoking of of any type in our public places and and I am proud that we did that a year or two ago um and this might be phase two of that work I I also think that if we did
something um in conjunction with the county and our County schools that that would certainly add a lot of momentum and a lot of teeth to whatever action we might wish to take so I just wanted to
throw that out I I know the community is is sometimes frustrated by our lack of uh interaction with them when they give public comment and I've kind of decided when there's a public comment or or two
or three that bring forward uh something that's an issue or an opportunity that makes a lot of sense for us to consider as as a a government um I'll certainly discuss it during my time here during my
reports so uh that's what I intend to do on that topic um and that's all I have for this meeting you uh Mr Deval yeah the only thing I'd like to speak about right now is uh our recent
Employee Appreciation Day I just want to add my personal appreciation for each and every one of the employees that we have in this city thank you thank you um see our last
meeting uh I did attend let's see the uh CB Scout Pack 2 57 pondwood Derby as vice mayor said I had the coolest car
Northport prison even though it didn't win it was cool um starting to be a trend uh also ended the Employee Appreciation luncheon it's always good to see everybody pull together and and
uh and give a little recognition to all the hard work that all our all our city workers offer up to our citizens here um and the Northport Police Department annual award ceremony I themed is well
um I was let's see on uh end did the Ukrainian Festival I don't know if I brought that up but uh that was seriously well attended there were lots of people all throughout the day and uh you know uh in as our our Ukrainian
Community is such a significant portion of our city and make such a contribution uh you know a good shout out to them and our hearts go out to them and we all wish for peace uh and then I also uh was out
there at the WHL Miss fast pitch softball and redeemed myself through a strike and uh that's an impressive group there are lots and lots of kids who come out there and uh and attend and and you
know uh listening to Miss Morgan speak about Recreation and and the value it brings there is no doubt that kids that play sports kids that are active kids that swim the more involved in community activities they are the less likely
there are to you know to smoke to do drugs to get into trouble and so you know uh that's part of the quality of life that this City offers we are the youngest City around we have more families and kids than any other and um
we have some great programs everything we can do to help our youth grow up straight and narrow its best so you know um kudos to everybody who helps contribute to that that's it for me uh I have one
comment okay I just want to point out you really know how to clear a room I was going to say the same thing yeah well Captain Gregory I thank you sir i' I've made a list of the others and I think they left while yall
were talking no you no you got rid of the last on and last but not least Charter officers anything city manager no Mr Mayor Mr Mayor we have um a a legal request we did back in 20122 related to
before that smoking bill passed I'm going to send that out to everybody make sure that that gets to you kind of Recaps the how that bill was implemented and what your jurisdiction is related to smoking in the city make sure that everybody gets a copy of that I know too uh if I remember correctly at our last
Cog meeting uh city manager and I heard a little from the school board that this is on their radar screen and and and they're wrestling with this issue as well and trying to determine what they can do to help address this problem so you know everybody can weigh in maybe
there's a way to make a dent in this um City cler well at that Captain gregory no just [Laughter] thanks for hanging out with us thank you
sir with that if there's nothing else it is 4: or 10:40 and uh a.m and I will adjourn this meeting