[Music] hello my name is Devon pis I'm the aquatics facilities manager with the city of Northport and today we're going to be talking with you guys about our free swim evaluation it's important that we do these swim evaluation so as uh kids are registering for swim programs
they get placed in the right class what we're looking at when we're doing the swim evaluation is every swim level has what's called exit skill assessments so what we do is we have your child get in the water and we'll go through a series of morning everybody today is Tuesday February 11th
2025 it is 10: a.m. we're in City Chambers and I call the city commission regular meeting to order uh Commissioners present are commissioner Deval commissioner langden mayor Stokes vice mayor emrich commissioner Petro
there's a quorum present for the meeting also present city manager Fletcher Deputy City attorney Roberts city clerk fa I believe we got C Fussell back there yes sir and
uh in spirit the chief Titus uh pledge let's see Todd would you be kind enough thank you sir FL the United States of America to the repu which stands one nation God
indivisible liy yes all righty all righty I'm looking for a motion to approve the agenda move second all right we got a motion made by vice mayor to approve the agenda seconded by
commission Langdon uh we're having some tech issues here so we're going to vote uh verbally um Mr Deval yes uh commissioner langon yes mayor's a yes Vice mayor's a yes
we have five to zero to approve the agenda um next uh public comments Stephanie Gibson my comment relates to the public comment policy item from your last meeting Mr Fletcher has absolutely no authority to lecture
any public comment about the content or form of her public comments the CM asserted public comment is for comment not questions he went on to direct her to make an appointment with his office if she has questions he is out of line and flat wrong he clearly doesn't like inconvenient questions or deferring opinions this is a repeating pattern
that needs correction ironically enough answering questions doesn't have to be in real time but rather during the commission discussion they can acknowledge the questions and provide further Insight or responses it is how you build trust quashing dissenting voices will only further The Divide and distrust all citizens benefit from the
public responses there are 50k plus voters in the city they should not have to get their answers behind closed doors so long as they not are not threatening or in citing riots public commenters can express themselves however they so choose every public commenter gets three minutes to express themselves however
they see fit in whatever form they so choose be that comments questions are standing silently for three minutes with two middle fingers in the air to share their messages Robin San vente good morning Commissioners as I stated in the last commission meeting regarding the referendum on the solid waste Transfer
Station I understand the need for it however I continue to try and make sense out of the financial backup materials to justify the monies presented everything I have reviewed such as the CIP sheets referendum presentation and the fiscal analysis report do not jive with the ask the bottom line is that referred to on
all these reports have a figure of a little over 9 million however the referendum is asking for 14 million please understand that I am not out to disapprove anything I'm simply trying to understand the money there should be no questions backup material supporting the referendums and verifying the money
should be attached to the referendums leaving no gaps in the understanding thank you and in public we have valy olander um good morning I am vdi olander uppercase V lowercase a l Dy
uppercase o lowercase L ndr I am not a corporation I come here in peace and I am not a criminal I have a dignity please respect
it I am your boss and fan Stokes I'm using F Florida Constitution language here I am instructing you to remove police woman of my back let her sit over here
and they'll be fine with me you have no consent to proceed otherwise I respect everybody here who obey his or her oath why don't you recognize public in
the opening statement this is public meeting before you vote an ordinance for 115 million police concentration camp Camp tell us what is annual cause for a bond if you don't it is fraud I am not
consenting examples now I going to read examples of maxim of Law and O number one those who preserve the world of an oath but deceive the ear of those who accept that are
perjurers number two no crime is greater than Disobedience of an O do we have any police officers here you have a l here number three there is no closure of filmer link among men than an Nots
number four Infamous person is prevented for taking a note number five an O has in it three components number one truth number
two Justice and number three judgment truth is to the party of swearing Justice and judgment in the judge or a clerk administering the O now this is my figures what I uh sent
you an email annual calls of one policeman is $370,000 annually this is the information 115 Bond will cost over 30 years 172 million and household property
tax Will Rise by $157 annually but if you if you take the three year loan household property will be up by 196 44 cents a
year do you understand English thank Mr thank you ma'am move on to announcements 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 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 in
Northport to serve on the citizen advisory committee if anyone has further questions please contact the city clerk's office thank you thank you next up consent agenda um city manager any items been pulled no service mayor all
righty any public comment there is none and I'm requesting a motion I'll make it mayor I move to approve the items in the consent agenda as presented we have a motion by uh commissioner langden to approve the consent agenda second by the vice mayor
uh let's vote by voice uh commissioner Petro yes vice mayor a yes mayor a yes commissioner langon yes yes and that passes 520 moving on
public hearings uh first up I'm going to need a motion for city clerk to read by title only so moved all right got a motion to direct city clerk to read by title only uh by
uh commissioner um Langton seconded by the vice mayor um let's vote verbally Mr Petro yes may yes mayor yes uh commissioner Langdon yes commer dual yes
we pass that five to zero city clerk ordinance number 20256 an ordinance of the city of Northport Florida amending the code of the city of Northport Florida section 2- 329 regarding deferred retirement option plan providing for findings providing for conflicts providing for severability
providing for codification and providing an effective date city manager you right thank you thank you Mr Mayor city of Northport recently entered into a collective bargain agreement for CBA with the sunos professional firefighters and paramedics the CBA affects the Northport
firefighters pension fund and increases participation in the Deferred retirement option plan also known as a drop from up to 60 months to 96 months ordinance number 20256 amend section 2- 329 of the city code relating to the drop so is
consistent with the CBA we ask that you continue ordinance number 22506 to Second reading on February 25th 2025 as presented thank you sir thank you Sarah Commissioners questions discussion commissioner Deval yes um I
discussed this with the city manager in our one on one um and it was explained to me you know this has been negotiated and I helping the city is that it's helping us to know about
our line of succession things are set up so that we know when we're going to need new officers in our fire department U so I'm for this peace Sirah anybody else right forever hold your peace any
public comments there's not that I am uh looking for I'll close the public hearing and request a motion I'll make it move to continue ordinance number 2025 -06 to Second reading on February 25th
2025 second we have a motion by vice mayor to continue ordinance 2025 d06 second reading on February 25th 2025 seconded by commissioner Duval uh let's vote verbally commissioner
dual yes commissioner langon yes mayor's yes vice mayor yes commissioner petol yes and that passes 520 uh moving on ordinance a second reading um C cler would you read by title only
please ordinance number 20253 an ordinance of the city of Northport Florida calling for a referendum question to be placed before the qualified voters of the city of Northport Florida at a special election providing a referendum question determining whether to finance the new Police Department headquarters project
through the issuance by the city of General obligation bonds payable from the proceeds of adorm taxes levied on all taxable property within the city in amount sufficient to pay debt services on such bonds providing for findings providing for filing of the ordinance with the Sarasota County Supervisor of
Elections providing for conflicts providing for severability and providing an effective date thank you ma'am city manager you're item thank you Mr Mayor I'm doing a regular Comm meeting on January 14th 2025 the city commission passed the following motion the motion was to
direct staff to bring back ordinances establishing referendum questions related to borrowing Authority for infrastructure projects and the Northport Police Department headquarters for first reading on January 28 2025 the ordinance number 20253 provides the following proposed referendum question
for the May 13th 2025 special election to finance a portion of a new police headquarters facility shall the city of Northport be authorized to issue Bonds in one one or more series in a total aggregate principal amount not to exceed $115 million maturing no later than 30
years from issuance bearing interest at no more than the maximum lawful rate and payable from ad vorum property taxes levied in amount sufficient to pay debt service on such bonds uh resolution number 20 24- r57 adopting City commission policy number
20241 the debt management policy and ordinance number 202 24-37 establishing a debt committee were also approved during a city Commission meeting on November 20 November 4th 2024 I would also like to relate information as it relates to the town halls and public
education that will be forthcoming an additional web page will be available after the meeting at Northport fl.gov referendum the city will be updating the page as the ballot language for all the referend questions once they are finalized and approved today by the
commission state law prevents the city from contacting voters or initiating conversations with them except in very limited situations but we are finalizing informal brochure that provides factual information about the referendum questions that can be made available upon requests um we also plan to host
three halls for the commission for residents to have their questions answered about the referendum questions they will be held at the Morgan Center on January excuse me on February 24th at 6 pm at the Northport Public Safety building in Wellen Park on April 2nd at 6 p.m. and at Sun Coast Technical
College at live via the city's YouTube channel and those who can attend May submit their questions to the clerk's office online in advance of the meeting we're happy to answer any questions you might have about this item Mr be thank you sir Commissioners questions
discussion commiss Petro yes Mr Mayor I did meet a I did request a meeting with the project manager for this project um the architect SL engineer and
GC and uh in the presence of the city manager and Deputy was it Julie um and um I did ask a lot of questions and I did study this
project as as much as I could um first the amount scared me a little bit um but as I studied this project it it is in comparison with other projects throughout the state Florida as a matter of fact it's actually more
conservative project uh I know it seems a lot um but when they build the schools you know schools are much more expensive than the police headquarters and um I consider this as an investment rather
than um borrowing uh the benefits outweigh the cost C because this is truly is an investment for our city for our citizens um and literally for the future generations to come uh as I can
see that I was asking questions uh general contractor who's going to be overseeing this project and how much are they willing to employ the people within the city of the Northport and they are really open to employ as much as possible uh Workforce
uh as a subcontractor to fulfill this project moreover uh this will be um a beneficial uh project because this building that they occupy is
really they outw that building and they need to move somewhere else and we don't want to repeat the same mistake that they did when they built this small police station so I did my due diligence and um they presented factual
information with me uh saying per square footage uh price and so on and we've talked about different scenarios and how it's going to be and to do it all at once it's much cheaper for the city than
to do in pieces um and substations uh would increase much more uh administrative expenses and um would require more people actually so um just to present to the citizens who will
be voting on this this is not perfect but you know it's one of those chores we have to do it even though we don't want to do it um if it passes uh it will be a good investment if it doesn't pass we're still going to have to pay somehow but
it will be more expensive L late down the down the road it's going to be more expensive later on so just want to share my thoughts as um for disco responsibility and transparency they answered all of my questions
so if anybody has any questions we'll hold those Town Hall meetings where the public can present their questions to us personally thank you thank you commissioner anybody else commissioner
Deval I concur commissioner petol this is an expensive project but how expensive is it going to be if we don't do it uh those of us up on the Das have had the
opportunity to look at the background of this project we've had the opportunity to tour our police station see the overcrowding I think pretty much we're convinced you know we passed a first
reading of this this uh we're convinced this is a needed project is it expensive yes and I know for the know we have the advantage that we have looked at this whereas the average citizen is going to look
at this project for the first time and say wow that's a lot of money um and it's up to us to get the public to understand that cost benefit analysis the benefit does outweigh the cost thank you thank you commissioner
commissioner L uh thank you mayor I just want to commend particularly commissioner Petro because I know you had a lot of concerns about this project um and you really dug into it and um did your homework so I I just really
appreciate that for the record I also want to state that um our police force is not the only organization with overcrowding um we we have other groups that are
bursting at the seams and um we have others who are in trailers because they lost their buildings during Ian um and a secondary benefit of building a new police headquarters is that they will vacate their current building allowing
other groups to move in and we won't have to build a new building for those folks which will save us considerable money so I'm looking forward to the community Town Halls uh and having an opportunity to talk with residents not
just about this project but all of the projects that we're going to referendum for thank you for the time mayor you commissioner anything else uh just a point of clarity since I know there has been some confusion out there I've heard
from a number of people um while our town halls will answer hopefully lots of questions as we information up on our website this project will be paid for by bonds and the ability to pay for this
will be through the ask of the citizens to increase their advm taxes there will be no use of Sir tax to pay for this there's been a lot of confusion there's been articles put out by people
who have alleged that we are moving around Monies to help pay for this and it needs to be very clear city does not have the money for this Police Headquarters it is asking our citizens to understand the
value of maintaining the high level of safety and policing we've we've been afforded so far and in order to keep up with this growth and in order to continue to keep our city safe we're asking our citizens to support this and
um but it is going to be paid for through ADV valorum property taxes and um and I would just encourage all of you who who are either listening now or who will listen to this later please don't look to social media for your solutions
for your answers to questions we are all accessible City staff's accessible please reach out there's so much factual information that will help you make smart decisions regarding this referendum that's all we ask is that you do your diligence you said to us in November you
want to be part of these decisions you want to make these decisions on how we spend your tax dollars we're asking you please take the time to learn ask your questions challenge us challenge these as each of our commissioners have done
regarding this referendum and and hopefully you will see this the same way we do that this is the right decision to make and that this referendum is much much needed so thank you very much um with that I guess uh we have any
public comments City cour good morning um I agree with commissioner Stokes with the um public thinks about the ctax because I remember following this last year as best as I could and um
I know there was some discussion when this was first brought up that there was uh staff has suggested there was about $50 million in funds through grants and whatnot and part of that was AER tax so that could be where the confusion is coming from also I have a big concern that there is
a lot of confusion with the citizens thinking that they've already voted for this in November why are we voting for it again so when you guys have your messages for the um the U ballot questions for May you know you need to
probably say these are new and some of them have been rewarded and also um I always like to have plan B for planning um if per chance the referendum doesn't pass and I do support it because I know the police are important to us because
they are and uh uh if I know buildings can be built to a certain standard and maybe accommodate a population of 150,000 and uh the buildings are reinforced so that in the future when you need to build and add on that third
story then you already have the reinforcement in the building the building's ready to go and then maybe in uh 10 or 15 years you go back and say hey we need to increase this and add the third floor and that won't be as big of an ass or scary either thanks that's it
thank you Mr car that's all thank you uh with that I will uh close this public hearing request a motion I'll make it mayor I move to adopt ordinance number 20 25-3 three as presented we have a motion made by
commissioner Langan to U adopt ordinance 2025 D3 has presented seconded by the vice mayor there's nothing else to that let's vote verbally commissioner Petro yes may yes mayor a yes
yes yes and this motion passes 520 moving on to C ordinance 2025 P4 [Applause] city clerk would you be kind enough to read this by title ordinance number
20254 and ordinance of the city of Northport Florida calling for a referendum question to be placed before the qualified voters of the city of Northport Florida at a special election providing a referendum question determining whether to finance a new solid waste Transfer Station through the issuance by the city of by the city of
bonds payable from the revenues of the City Solid Waste District providing for findings providing for the filing of the ordinance with the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections providing for conflicts providing for cability and providing an effective date thank you
ma'am right thank you Mr Mayor during a regular commission meeting on January 14th of 2025 commission passed the following motion motion was to direct staff to bring back ordinances establishing referendum questions related to borrowing Authority for infrastructure projects and the Northport Police
Department headquarters for the first reading of January 28 2025 ordinance number 2020 f504 provides the proposed referend question of to finance a new solid waste Transfer Station shall the city of Northport be authorized to
issue Bonds in one or more series in a total aggregate principal amount not to exceed million maturing no later than 30 years from issuance bearing interest at not more than the maximum lawful rate and payable from the revenues of the city's Solid Waste District borrowing up
to $14 million allows the city to include the anticipated cost for debt issuance within the request um the city commission heard its first reading of ordinance number 2025 das4 at its regular meeting on January 28th and continue the ordinance as presented to
second meing on today February 11 2025 we ask that you approve ordinance number 20254 today as presented thank you Mr Mayor thank you sir commissioner questions discussion
dual yes um i' spoken on this before uh when we had one of our planning sessions this was high on my priority list and the fact is for me it just
saves money it's an efficiency thing if you remember years ago all our school children were picked up by school buses every day that came from Sarasota and at the end of the day school bus
went back to Sarasota that's no that doesn't happen any longer they stay in a space off of Toledo Blade that's just common
sense Common Sense can save us not cents but dollars uh for us to do this it's just the right thing to do it's going to save us money save us money on employees on employees time on
wear and tear on our vehicles uh it's just the right thing to do thank you thank you sir Mr Petra uh yes and I'm in support of savings savings and to be fiscally
responsible although I want to eliberate and ask um the board to diffuse some confusion uh on Robin's comment where she says that 9 million versus
whatever 1415 can we engage in this discussion what so the public would be so the public would have a clear understanding where the money is coming from who's going to pay how how much it's going to be funded
and I see director speaks heading our way well the first question I would ask Mr commissioner where did she get her $9 million from I'm not sure um can we refer to the comment it doesn't say in the comment where she gets $9 million from it just references backup
material well while Mr speak is going to come down here I'm sure he can speak to the cost of the item he cannot speak to the where she got her $9 million from sir that's not something that we can do but based on our cost that we put into our item as it relates to I believe the
125 million funding gap for this project if you if you look at the items information it says borrowing up to 14 million allows the city to include the anticipated cost for debt issuance within the request so we're confident that the amount of money that we're borrowing is for the complete total of
project needed Mr speak you have anything else add to that okay have answer any more questions uh the quick question about um the fees will will be any fees and how much would be any raised fees on Solid Waste
increase and other any as far as Financial impact on the citizens chck speak Public Works director uh we won't have those exact numbers until we know what the cost of the bond will be for us and the term and once we have the term the cost of the
bond after it's approved then we'll back that into our Solid Waste uh assessment and whether that comes from uh is is also subsidized by funding that we had programmed in out years for this transfer station May cover a portion of
that but we'll have those numbers once we get the short up numbers from the bond can we be presented with those numbers once we have those numbers yes sir any changes to the assessment will come before the board for approval absolutely thank
you anybody [Music] else public comments city clerk Debbie McDow you know I am a huge fan of this trash transfer station however sending this project to a voter referendum for funding is extremely
premature here here's a here's a few reasons this project isn't ready for the voters the design process has not even begun therefore the city doesn't have an engineer of record estimated based on the 100% design plans the city still needs to purchase one more property
there isn't there any data charts or graphs showing the Commissioners or the property owners what the expected increase to their Solid Waste assessment will be over the next 30 Years the referendum does not State the amount of solid waste impact fees that will be used for the trash transfer station
where is the data showing how much Sal waste revenues will be collected from outside agencies to pay for the services the city will be provided on their behalf show your work show the details before the commission gives the approval for a voter referendum please press pause take your time and do it right the
first time if the referendum is delayed then so be it the project isn't ready now for a voter referendum anyhow please do not rubber stamp this without providing the pertinent information first if the referendum fails this very worthy project will be tainted for years to
come Stephanie Gibson while I understand and appreciate the likely savings we might see on this project in the future we are premature the fact is Staff has not brought back the item for the public input and commission decision the only Direction provided to staff was giving direction to investigate further and
bring back to commissions so we skipped bringing back options to commission and go straight to a voter referendum one why are we moving forward with an unapproved project when there has been no public decision reviewing the plans cost and savings two how will the ask go from 8.5 million to 14 million three how
does the commission make the decision to move forward to the referendum despite staff not providing the due diligence that depicts both the savings and the cost of the new facility four why are we moving forward and tying up the limited borrowing we will have left after the PD headquarters five what is what if the
commission does not approve the proposed project in person I have Pam to cars when I work for a nonprofit if I needed a capital asset I had to provide extensive amount of research if I needed to add a staff member I also had to
provide backup and justification as to why I needed to add this person and provide data with how much money I was going to save the organization how many office visits increased in the need for the staff you're asking for $14 million
from citizens and you've got no backup data you've got no data on how much it's going to cost to take these trucks all the way up to Sarasota you don't have data on how much overtime or how even not overtime but the cost where these drivers have to wait and traffic on 75
because I'm sure there's at least once a week where they're stuck in traffic and that time is um adding up with them trying to get their load and um there's plenty of other data you can provide so with that you know if you're going to approve this and with no data like that
and bring it to the voters I hope you have data when the voters are going to vote for it because I know we need a transfer station it makes sense it is going to save us money how much money is it going to save us because if you can't provide that for me I'm not going to vote for it thank you thank you that's
all mayor thank you very much uh that close public hearing and I'm looking for a motion make it move to adopt ordinance number 2025 d04 is presented second got a motion by the
vice mayor to adopt ordinance 2025 -04 is presented seconded by um commissioner langden there's nothing else to that let's vote by uh voice commissioner Petco uh yes vice mayor yes mayor is yes
Commission langon yes commissioner dual yes that passes 5 to zero uh before moving on I would like to say that uh with the referendum coming up we have a period of time between now and then where I would anticipate a tremendous
amount of questions that have been asked will be answered and um I would certainly think that uh it would be in the city's interest to provide all that information so that citizens can make a wise decision when they go to the poll so
um with that we can move on to uh D ordinance 2025 d05 city clerk if you'd be kind enough to read by public by title only please ordinance number 2025 d05 an ordinance of the city of Northport Florida calling
for a referendum question to be placed before the qualified voters of the city of Northport Florida at a special election providing a referendum question determining whether to finance certain Capital Improvements to a wastewater treatment facility through the issuance by the city of bonds payable from the revenues of the city's Water and Sewer
utility system providing for findings providing for filing of the ordinance with the Sarasota County Supervisor sorry that was for Robin's public comment providing for the filing of the ordinance with the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections providing
for conflicts providing for severability and providing an effective date thank you ma'am city manager your item thank you Mr Mayor during a regular commission meeting on January 4th 2025 City commission passed the following motion to direct staff to bring ordinances
establishing referendum questions related to the borrowing Authority for infrastructure projects and the Northport Police Department headquarters for first reading on January 28 2025 ordinance number 20255 provides the proposed referendum question of to finance Capital
Improvements to the city's wastewater treatment facility located on panamerican Boulevard shall the city of Northport be authorized to issue Bonds in one or more series a total aggregate principle not to exceed $17 million maturing no later than 30 years from issuance bearing interest at no more
than the maximum lawful rate and payable from the revenues of the city's Water and Sewer utility system borrowing up to $17 million allows the city to include the anticipated cost for debt issuance debt issuance within the request we ask today that you
approve ordinance number 2025 today as presented thank you thank you sir commissioner questions discussion out I had the opportunity to tour our Wastewater our
utilities and I just asked the citizens to consider the fact that we have Wastewater facilities we have pipes in the ground and they are all of a certain size and capacity and every day we have more
people moving into the city our capacity in a lot of situations is being overrun this is a needed project thank Youk you sir anyone
else okay that to public comments W McDow here's another project that is not ready for the voters for very similar reasons as the last one the design process is only at 60% therefore the city doesn't have an engineer record estimate based on the 100% design plans
whereas the data charts or graphs showing the Commissioners and the utility customers the estimated increase to their utility invoice will be over the next 30 Years how much capacity fees will be increased for this project everyone knows this type of increase
could have chilling negative effect on development give the details before the commission gives the approval for a voter referendum on this project please press pause take your time and do it right the first time if this referendum is delayed then so be it so many people are asking what's the purpose of this
project just because all five of you fully understand the purpose of the project 100% doesn't mean the citizens do if you don't understand the Project's purpose and cost to the utility customers then you should be voting no tonight and that's all mayor thank you very much um before I close the public
hearing I'd just like to say that um both these projects you know are in my opinion and obviously the opinion of this commission important um I believe that you know there's obviously a lot of education and information yet to be
supplied to our citizens so they can make an informed decision as we have I think that what is commendable here is that even with some new blood on this commission this commission is committed to doing the
job kicking the can down the road on Project after project after project which has been sort of the norm for this city has cost this City's taxpayers a fortune chice Boulevard being a perfect example so I
am very pleased that this commission is seeing fit to address these projects headon and understand the need for them and now it will be our lift to educate our citizens so that they can understand why we're making the decisions we're
making and I hope that they view our our our answers with an open mind I hope that they engage us I hope that they come out to these town halls and that they participate in this process because this is what it's all about this is what
you all asked for card blanch authority to borrow money on your behalf was turned down you wanted to be part of these decisions now you have that opportunity and and and we applaud that and we welcome it and we'll be happy to answer your questions this commission as
well as staff and and try to help everyone understand why these are critical projects and why they do nothing but help our citizens in our city so with that I will close this public hearing request a motion move to adopt ordinance
2012-05 as presented second got a motion by the vice mayor to adopt ordance 2025 d05 is presented seconded by commissioner Duval there's nothing more to that let's vote verbally Mr Petro uh yes vice mayor yes May's yes
commissioner langon yes commissioner dual yes and this motion passes 5 to zero uh with that we're on to General Public comments City cler there is none there is none with that uh we got commissioner Communications um vice
mayor uh not too much I just I just want to thank everyone out there for their prayers and thoughts concerning ela's mom and the accident that she had the latest update I have she's still in critical condition and we're just praying each and every day to hopefully
have a very good outcome it's going to be a long road but it's very it's very trying and uh we just thank you all for your support and prayers commissioner Deval uh the past two weeks I've toured
a number of departments in the city I attended the Little League opening day Saturday where I watched our Mir brought that first pitch and it was epic thank you for your kind
words I I also attended wolfstock and while I was at Wolf uh I also went into the Morgan Center and watched coed basketball being played outside I saw soccer being played
inside a large room in in the Morgan Center I saw a lot of arts and crafts set up on tables and I saw some folks around my age sitting having a little luncheon then I went over to the Mullen
Center and I watched more children playing soccer I went to newcomer day I went to an awards and badge pinning for the fire department uh I went to the opening of Fifth Third
Bank I also uh was here for an awards ceremony for a couple of our arts and Recreation Department Heroes that saved a life going back to the uh on Saturday on
one day opening the baseball soccer in two different places basketball arts and crafts I see on social media a lot of things there's nothing for people to do in Northport that's just not true our Parks
and Recreation Department I don't think there is a better one in this state thank you thank you commissioner and commissioner Lang uh thank you mayor I have decided rather than giving a
summary of my activities that once a month I am going to document those activities um and make them available to the public to review I want to thank city clerk's office for having my January activity report posted to this
agenda so people can take a look at it um I'll Reserve this time if I pick up some interesting information in my travels that I think we should all be aware of or should discuss then I'll bring them forward at this time um but
if you want to know what I'm up to my activity report for January is attached uh to this agenda and you can review it at your leisure thank you you may Mr Petro yes uh I attended a few things I
did a fif Third Bank ribbon cutting ceremony uh was really thrilled to see the community engaged and um got to know uh well I knew her um um from our local bank Ashley uh she works uh at the bank
across Home Depot c p Plaza um and she offered um me the list of courses for the citizens uh um Finance Management and proof your credit history so that would be I'll make that available then I
went to New Commerce day it was really good to be engaged with the community and see the people and local businesses um did attend Minnesota League of cities um they had a presentation from FPL uh there was a whole team of FPL
people offering their services um for example if you want to demolish your house there's a direct number you can call and set it up our you underground utilities Services they they they make themselves available and um if anybody
needs that I have those contact information um if I remember anything else I'll let you know that's spot it thank you sir for me uh as commissioner dval mentioned was my honor to throw out the first
pitch I have to say that I I followed uh the illustrious Chief Garrison and bounced that ball right on down didn't even make it to home plate but at least it was straight and um I
must say though it really is it is a treat to go to some of these events and see all our families and the kids out there and everybody having a good time you know sometimes we sit up here and we we talk about all these these challenges
that the city faces and you know we hear from vocal voices out there on each side of issues and sometimes we lose sight of the fact that there's over 90,000 plus people out there getting up every day going to work raising their families
enjoying their their neighbors and their parks and their city and all the things that living in South Florida you know afford them and um it just makes me feel good to know that you know we are that Community Unity we are that special
place where families you know enjoy and feel safe and um and can raise their family in a healthy environment with lots of good healthy things to do so you know again it's uh it's it's a great
pleasure to serve this city in spite of all the challenges we face and uh and and I want to extend appreciation to all our commissioners especially our two new new guys who really have had worked hard since getting elected to to get
themselves knowledgeable and educated they should set a good example to everybody out there you don't have to be a commissioner to learn a lot about your city and what's going on and to engage there's so much information and we're all accessible so you know again the
more we work together to move this city forward the easier it is the more cost effective it is so I'll climb off my soap box if there's nothing else it is 10:49 and I will adjourn city manager I
apologize God how could I miss our key people City manager do you have anything thank you Mr Mayor I do have something sitting it you're right otherwise I would uh just a couple of notes on the voting for the upcoming questions that we discussed earlier the
deadline to register to vote with Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections for the Northport special election is April the 14th uh Northport residents will be able to vote by mail or drop off their vote uh by mail ballot at the Northport election office which is located at 13640 Tammy Amy Drive
from April 4th through May 13th uh vote by mail ballots need to be requested and voters can do that on the supervisor of elections website up until May the 1st more details for in-person early voting locations will be announced soon for the latest updates please visit Sarasota
votes.gov City manager did you say will there be an early voting period no we said we we get more information we're going to sort of put that out there but they're trying to figure that out based on it to being a special election thank you
sir uh City attorney nothing to report and City cler I all right anybody else it's now 10:51 and I feel
relatively comfortable adjourning this meeting good job can you go under the water uh can you show us your front crawl can you show us back crawl can you show us element entry backstroke Different Strokes within there and what we're doing is we're trying to see where your child tests to before it becomes a
challenge for them at that point once we assess that then we'll let you know and you can go ahead and sign your child up for that appropriate level there