Right? >> Any kind of branches, trees, plants, anything like that does not belong in there. It's not recyclable. The collection center won't take it. So, basically, I just leave this notice on top of the lid like this. >> Leave it closed.
Like that, yard waste, and that's it. And the driver knows not to collect this. >> And if there's ever confusion, there's even an app that takes out the guesswork. So, the Recycle Coach app, it's easy. You just put in your street, your zip code, and it will it will
notify you the day before on your phone, you get a notification, say, "Hey, tomorrow's your trash day," and you put the tan lid out. Wow. >> It'll give you a notification so you can't mess it up. >> I like that. >> From drivers to planters, each row shows the same thing. Pride in their work and pride in serving the community.
>> I do the best I can for y'all. >> Learned a lot today. had a great experience with the gentleman from solid waste division of public works. What I learned today was that we have a lot of programs I don't think citizens are aware of to take advantage of whether it's cardboard collection, whether it's tote cleaning or
or also just the fact that we have one gentleman, Mr. Mario, who goes out through the entire city making sure that we recycle properly. Please make sure that we recycle properly so that we can get the best most efficient use of our solid waste throughout the entire city. It was great to be here today and thank
you for tuning in. See you on the next job. Good morning. Today is Tuesday, December 9th, 2025. It's 10:00 a.m. We are in the city chambers, and I call this city commission regular meeting to order. Commissioners present are Commissioner
Dval, Commissioner Stokes, Mayor Emerage, Vice Mayor Langden, and Commissioner Pro. There is a quorum present for this meeting. Also present are city manager Fletcher, city attorney Fuino, city clerk foss, board specialist
Linder, police chief Garrison, and fire chief Titus. I would also like to recognize that we have a former commissioner in the house, Miss Joan Morgan. Thank you for your previous service and your service to lead us in the pledge of allegiance, please.
I pledge algiance 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. >> Okay, I'm looking for a motion to
approve the agenda. >> So moved. Second. We have a me um motion on the floor by Commissioner Stokes followed by Vice uh seconded by Vice Mayor Langden to approve the agenda. Let's go ahead and vote.
And that passes 5 to zero. Moving on to public comment. City clerk, do we have any public comment? Dominic Sigretto, mayor, commissioners, and members of our community, thank you for allowing me to speak. In moments like these, it's easy to concentrate on disagreements, but today I want to
refocus our conversation on something far more important. The impact that city manager Jerome Fletcher has had on Northport and the future we risk losing if we do not recognize his value. Under Mr. Fletcher's leadership, Northport has moved from talking about progress to truly achieving it. In just a short
time, our city has welcomed hundreds of new businesses, expanded healthcare access with a state-of-the-art full-ervice hospital on the way, modernized our development code, and brought long delayed projects such as the widening of Price Price Boulevard. I presume we all can appreciate that we won't have to deal with standstill
traffic during rush hour to fruition. Mr. Fletcher has been the force behind making Northport more transparent, unified, and accessible. He has met residents where they are, thereby institutionalizing public input and creating an environment in which community opinions are valued. These are
major and necessary accomplishments for the second fastest growing city in America. Mr. Fletcher has ne has catalyzed the growth that has led to new jobs, safer roads, and stronger healthcare, clearer rules for growth, and a city becoming more resilient and
more hopeful. We need a leader who understands that growth and has already proven he can manage it. One who has a vision for the future. One who has given his city stability, ambition, momentum, and who has shown nothing but unwavering dedication to its citizens. Mr. Fletcher
is that leader. I urge you to stand with Mr. Fletcher, stand with progress, stand with the future of Northport. Thank you. City employee, I want to share a perspective as someone who comes to work every day at city hall simply trying to serve this community. The recent conversations about the charter and the city manager have put employees in an
uncomfortable and frankly embarrassing position. It has distracted from the work we are here to do and it has created a level of public confusion that need didn't need to happen. The city manager has my full support which includes enforcing the charter. When he does that, he isn't blocking communication. He's respecting the structure that protects employees and
keeps political pressure out of the day-to-day operations. Commissioners are always free to speak with me and or any other employee. The line the charter draws is clear and obvious. When direction or intervention is needed, it goes through the city manager. That is not only appropriate and extremely common practice, it is what creates a
stable workplace. There has been claims of a hostile work environment. The only time I have ever felt or seen anything close to that was with former commissioner whose personal agenda towards the city manager affected the entire organization. That agenda and influence is still trying to affect the city and it's time for that chapter to
end. I am asking the commission to publicly support the city manager so the community hears a united message that would go a long way to calming the temperature in the room and helping staff and the public regain confidence that we are all on the same team. Our focus needs to return to city business. This issue should be a non-issue has
taken enough attention and time. It is time to move forward together. Follow the charter we all operate under that commissioners took an oath to enforce and get back to serving Northport with professionalism. In person we have Joan Morgan followed by Robin Sanente.
I support Jerome Fletcher. I want to give you a history lesson. Okay. Fact. A picture was put up in city hall trying to correct a wrong which all commissioners know. Uh and this is not unique. Okay. history. A picture was put
up of our mayor, Marge Jenning under the no smoking sign at the old city hall. She constantly smoked there. No one was going to stop her no matter what. This is not unique putting a picture up to try to stop her wrong. Fact, a bogus petition, which is not
based on the policy. It's based on out to get you. It's based on we've been looking for something since day one is going around against the city manager history. I was once the person that that petition was against.
They didn't want me. They didn't want white mount me from day one. They just like they didn't want some didn't want our president city manager. Guess what my sin was? I was young. They wanted to keep this city as a
senior citizen area without kids, without schools. And here I was. They said I was playing kindergarten games. They said I was playing in the sandbox. Newspaper articles and editorials said I was going to take all the money in the city budget. I was going to bankrupt the
city and I was going to build county schools. You can't do that, folks. Okay. And here's some quotes that are on city tape at meetings. Kitty Gala got up and said all the young people in Northport should be sterilized. Herman Bregman got up and said that they
knew where my children were at all times because they didn't want young. What the they want now? We've got a great city manager. I won. We are going to one here. Win here. It isn't about the policy, folks. Let's really see what
this petition is about. And guess what happened once I won? life changed. They knew they couldn't get me anymore. And guess what? We had a catharsis. Okay. Some of them even came and apologized to me. Some of them really saw that I wasn't this big evil
person, that I really cared about Northport, like Jerome Fletcher cares about Northport. We've got a great city manager. I hope some of these people who are putting petitions out anywhere, even at our festival last s Saturday, how
could you do that? I hope they realize how stupid they've been. Take it back and let's unite as a city. Let's unite under this great leadership. We are third in the nation now to Austin and and Orlando. Our city
is great and it's being recognized as great. Go out in the in city hall and look at the beautiful decorations and all the greatness we have. Look at what's happening. the state leaders, the school board leaders, the election leaders, and the county officials all
support Jerome Fletcher because they know what he's done. >> Thank you this morning. >> One more. I got to move this. Um, I'm just going to make a generalized
statement based upon the topic of losing our voices. And I'm not just referring to the citizens losing their voices. I'm referring to local municipalities, local
governments losing their voices because of bills that are being brought forth before the legislature. It's important for the commission to understand the viewpoints from a citizen's perspective that when we come
before you and we make our voices and our concerns known and we expect at least for consideration of our voices and not just being ignored. You expect the same thing from the legislature. So, it puts
restraints on what you has to do as a local government with what's going on in our legislature. And I just want you to become a little more sensitive to really taking into consideration the citizens voices on certain topics. And that would
be a balance of the environment and development. For one, there's a lot of bills that are now coming forth in the legislature that are removing those holds on conservation lands and so forth. And we as a city and I just have
to say the report that Chanel put together that you're going to that's going to be forthcoming before you is to be commended. It's an excellent report and that is such a step in the right direction that we so need as a city. And again, I just want to stress the fact
that to please be a little bit more sensitive when looking at environmental parcels, areas, habitats, biodiversity, taking that all into consideration with water quality. And it's not just about economics. There were parcels that have
come before this board, like the one on 41 at the recent commission meeting, that the seller wanted to put it into conservation, and the county is willing to to do that. But the city rejected it. Now, it's up to the seller to now go to
the county and say, "I still want this in conservation." Heck, right now, the property is up for sale for 2.8 million. And the county doesn't want to fight the city on this particular issue. I've been speaking with the county. I've been speaking with the realtor and speaking with the owner and they're going to
proceed with the county to have that land put into conservation. That's just one example of that particular property that's in a conservation zone and and and numerous other sensitive nature of that parcel.
So, please be more sensitive and and listen to the citizens voices and really take them into consideration just like you want the legislature to take your voices into consideration. That's it. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> John Rollins. >> Good.
>> Don't do this very often. Um, it's more towards you guys, I think. Um, the citizens You know, I I I walk the streets. I talk to a lot of people and I talk to you guys consistently on nights I see you.
Um the sound of this room right now, this moment, you should have dealt with this different. This sound is the most quiet the city
has been. And it has everything to do with leadership. Leadership comes in different forms. We have great leaders in our in our presence. They're all back there. We have great great great great leaders.
We also have people with an agenda. When you put agendas and and a cause together, it does not bode well for the city or the citizens.
Agendas should be looked at for exactly what they are. And I hope you each take a minute to step back and analyze when someone has an agenda of destruction.
I know firsthand firsthand what that means. Not second. Want to claim victim? No. Not weeks after.
Not weeks after. People have an agenda. With the agenda and you're signing an a petition with an agenda behind it, you have to look how many years the agenda has been happening. Not at the moment.
Mistakes are made. People do things. Commissioner Deval didn't follow rules. Pictures are hung. What are we doing? Seriously, what are we doing? We're following somebody else's agenda. He's a good man. You are
a good man. And I'm going to say it out loud to you. Everybody needs to hear it. Your family shouldn't have to go through this. I appreciate the fact that your daughters have dealt with all of this since you've been here. And people need to understand that when you're attacking
the man, you're attacking his family, too. Keep it constructive. Citizens need to listen and they need to listen sharply because with this moment,
those are the voices that you're not hearing. Quiet. Thank >> you, sir. >> That's all there. >> Thank you. All right. Moving on. Okay, we will no longer move on. Okay,
city clerk, announcements, please. The current vacancies for the following boards and committees include art advisory board, auditor selection committee, charter review advisory board, citizen tax oversight committee, community economic development advisory board, debt management committee, environmental advisory board, historic
and culture advisory board, joint management advisory board, police officers pension trust fund board of trustees, parks and recreation advisory board, planning and zoning advisory board, and veterans park advisory committee. Sarasota County Advisory Council vacancies include one resident
in Northport to serve on the Sarasota Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization Citizen Advisory Committee. If anyone would like more information, please see the city clerk's office. Thank you. >> Thank you. Moving on to the consent agenda. Um, city manager, has any items been pulled?
>> Just one item, Mr. Mayor. Item A, 25-2350. >> Okay. I'll be looking for a motion. >> I'll make it. Mayor >> Wait a minute. Public comment on any public comment? >> Okay. Now, I'm looking for a motion.
>> Okay. Mayor, um I move to approve the items in the consent agenda, pulling item A25-2350 for discussion. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion on the floor to approve the consent agenda, removing
item A for discussion made by Vice Mayor Langden, seconded by uh Commissioner Stokes. Anything to that? Please vote. And that passes five to zero. Okay. Moving on to item A in the consent
agenda 25-2350. City manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, this is approved first amendment contract number 2228 for professional architectural and engineering services for public services facility phase 2 by and between the city of Northport,
Florida and Sweet Sparkman Architects Incorporated in the amount of 3,44,625. This item was pulled by myself. There is we were in an agenda briefing yesterday. It was brought to our attention that there was a um an error in the language in the contract that stated Dallas White
Park which was not part of the original project. It was an oversight on our team most likely from a template that was being used when the contract was being created. The error is not material and legal. U city attorney has said that it would not affect us. If you approve it today, I just pulled it to make you
aware that the error will be fixed and we'll make sure that the contract reads appropriately going forward. >> Thank you, sir. Anything commissioners? There any public comment on this? There's not. >> Then I'll request a motion.
I'll make it make a motion to approve the first amendment contract number 2022-28 for professional architectural and engineering services for public service facility phase 2 buy and between the city of Northport Florida and Sweet Sparkman Architects Inc. in the amount
of 3,044 3,44,625 uh subject to the correction in the contract. >> Second. All right, we have a motion on the floor made by Commissioner Stokes to approve the first amendment contract
first amendment amendment to contract number 2022-28 for professional architectural and engineering services for public services facility phase 2 buy and between the city of Northport Florida and Sweet Sparkman Architects Incorporated in the
amount of 3,44,625 on the amendment of the contract with the proper language and that was seconded by Commissioner Dval. Anything to that? Let's vote. And that passes five to zero.
Okay. Moving on to general business. Uh item A26-0167 discussion and possible action regarding Northport city charter section 5.02 in the city of Northport personnel policy
manual section 6.8. Um comm um city manager Fletcher, this is your item. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, this item is a follow-up to the conversation that the board had with myself and city attorney 3 on October 28th where you gave him
direction for outside legal counsel. Um, I'm going to turn it over to him to respond to that um feedback that we received as we move forward the conversation. >> Thank you, manager. As uh the manager said, the commission directed me to get
a third party outside legal opinion at the October 28th uh regular commission meeting. I received that opinion from an attorney from Gay Robinson Nikay who was a board certified specialist in local government law. The ultimate conclusion
was that there is no conflict between the personnel policy and the charter and this item will discuss whether or not the commission is essentially going to accept that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So,
we are seeing no public comment or never mind. Uh, question to the commissioners on board. Um, since we see no conflict between the two, I would like to pull the commissioners to see if
they are willing to follow the charter as is. Commissioner Dval, >> thank you. Um, as the city attorney just spoke, he obtained an opinion. He has also on this
day has stated something to the effect if you ask 10 attorneys, you may get 20 opinions. This was just an opinion. Everyone has an opinion. I have an opinion.
My opinion is that the charter does not agree with this policy. Secondly, who devised this policy?
It wasn't made by the commission and yet it limits the commission. The result of this are a number of things. Like an employee who might feel harassed in some way,
but is afraid to speak up to their supervisor. Whereas if they had commissioners who could freely come in and out and just ask questions like, "How are you doing? Do you need anything in your department?"
Then word might get out and the city might avoid some lawsuits. Also, when I was touring utilities department with escorts,
one of the things I noticed was in a room with chemicals on the shelves that the utilities department personnel used to process and test water. It was in the same room with the refrigerator and microwave on the shelves. This is where
they eat. If people were freely allowed to go through, something like that might get addressed a little sooner. Our senior services building somehow has
gotten into a shape that it needs to either be torn down or major reconstruction. And as yet, we're not sure exactly how we're going to pay for that or how we're going to accommodate the folks that are in there.
If maybe people that represent the city were there to look at things, those things might get reported. I was on the charter review board for four years.
The city of Punta Gordon also has a charter and in their policy there's a statement in there that the restrictions on commissioners or counselors
of giving direction does in no way mean that they cannot freely speak with employees. I worked in an industry where everybody had the
requirement and responsibility to speak up. Every person had to report everything. And that's not just in one industry. Airlines operate that way. Nuclear power plants operate that way. And many
governments operate that way. I think I've made myself clear. Thank you. >> Uh, no, I don't think you made yourself clear. In my opinion, I asked a simple question. Are you going to follow the charter as it states right now?
>> Yes, I'll follow the chart as the charter states. As the charter states. >> That's fine, >> Commissioner Stokes. >> Yes, sir. I will follow the law. same as myself, Commissioner Langden or Vice
Mayor, sorry. >> I will follow the law, but I do feel compelled to make a statement to indicate that our senior staff is not responsive to employee concerns about
employee safety is offensive to me and it needs to be stated. I'm horrified that one of my fellow commissioners would take that kind of position. I'm horrified.
>> Commissioner Pro, same question. >> I will follow the law. I would like to make a few statements. >> You can make a statement as long as it's concerning this. We still have another item coming up next. >> Yes. And I'll be very careful not to mix those two together. Although it's very
hard because they stem from the same issue. Uh but first um the policy along with its uh consequences and I'm talking about 6.8 policy appears to have resulted in the conclusion that individual commissioners
uh are not permitted to ask or converse with the staff. I I find it astonishing that we got to this point. And maybe we can backtrack a little bit because it's a really important topic and um not sure how it happened but uh first I wanted to
clear some smoke. I met face to face with uh Mr. Lear and uh he was the previous city manager of our city and we talked about about this policy rather extensively.
Uh I asked his permission if I can share some highlights of our conversation and he agreed. Uh he gave me his card. um if anyone wants to contact him as well at your
discretion but um he stated that he started the policy but it not did not include that provision in the policy moreover he said if the current city manager adopted this policy and I'm talking about 6.8 policy.
Uh it would be his policy because it was adopted by the current city manager. Um and you cannot say that you did not create the policy. You adopted it is
yours Mr. Fletcher. So he also said that he did not forbid employees to engage in conversation with the city employees which is currently we are forbidded to talk to the city employees. Um and
there's no I have no personal agenda. I'm not influenced by anybody. But the thing is if we are not allowed to talk to the city employees that affects me directly. Um, and I want to talk about this policy that we sent the
the the request for a third party opinion is uh that provision about communication between the city commissioners and the city employees uh was going back to Mr. Leer, it was
not authorized by him and the policy was never adopted by Mr. Leer contrary to what I was told um by the city representatives. u mainly by the city manager. So I'm getting conflicting
information and I want to clear some smoke and I do believe that I do believe him Mr. Leer that he did not create that policy especially that that provision that prevents us from talking to the
city employees. Um it's just can you imagine a city of our size or any city for that matter where the leadership of the city is not allowed to talk to the city employees. I find it very astonishing and very very
disturbing to say the least. When I see the city employees I I try to find a way to get away from them. And this is troubling. No matter what we say, no matter what we talk about, this is very troubling. Um,
and when we talk about this policy, suddenly it became a law, if you will, and the city manager many times referenced that we follow the law. Now, this policy is his policy, right? But it greatly affects
us as commissioners because we mentioned in that policy many many times on and I talked extensively point by point that where it affects us. Um so this policy not only affects the city employees in
regards of communication with the city commissioners but affects the city commissioners directly which is me and I'll be talking about myself. I'm not talking about any other commissioners because I can only speak on for myself. Um
uh and I will say more it affects the city as well as the taxpayers um the people who elected me. I was told by at least two department heads, the directors
that commissioner you cannot talk to me and those department heads are present in this room. I find it very not just defensive but that this is the charter. Again, going
back to the charter, I'm fully obligated and willingly want to follow the law and the charter which is the constitution of our city. But I cannot abide by the policy simply
because the charter does not forbid the city commissioners from asking questions. And if we send I'll go over uh let's you know if we send this uh
question to the attorney general opinion and request a formal opinion whether the city charter prohibits us from asking questions or talking to the city employees. I'm sure
we all suspect where it's going to come uh because um this is very very disturbing. So, um the recent case at the the town of Sur uh Surfside
um and I talked to the city attorney personally with that um of that town. Uh the the last city manager was fired in October of this year for
almost exact reasons because he was trying to take control and be a gatekeeper of the entire city as far as the commission and the uh council. They called council um communication if you
will. So uh there are cases and cases where it is allowed and I'm not sure why we at this point as we are as so I I cannot I cannot adopt this policy
or the the the the conclusion of this third party opinion and like my fellow commissioner Dval told us that this is just an opinion and I'm not following an opinion of somebody else.
>> May I make a comment, Mr. Mayor? So what I heard you say is that you will not follow the position of three city attorneys and one external council,
but you will follow the the opinion of a city manager, a previous city manager who was censored by the ICMA and the state ethics board for having sexual relationships with an employee. I don't
think I would take advice from a city manager who obviously has such difficulty with boundaries. >> Can I respond the mayor? >> Yes. >> Quickly. >> I'm not following any advice and and uh to be corrected, it's not three city
attorneys. I talked to Mr. Goolan about this issue. Uh the only offer he made is uh we can get together with the city manager and we can address your issues. he did not uh formulate his opinion to me. As far as the three city attorneys
um so this would be our first city attorney who sided with the city manager's policy and outside city attorney uh which I hear that uh that city attorney um has provided services to our city before. Uh correct me if I'm
wrong. So by no means I'm following any advice and I never asked for any advice and I never mentioned of any such matter as far as advice. >> All right. Thank you. Uh public comment. City clerk.
>> I got a comment. >> Oh, wait a minute. I would just like to make one statement that um in the three and a half years I've been on this commission, I have never been denied access to anybody or any information.
All I needed to do was alert city manager. I've never been denied, nor has anyone ever been denied. So, it's not a matter of us not having access or being able to discuss anything with staff as
long as we go through the protocol. And it's done for the purpose of protecting not just the employee, not just to make sure that the city manager and his senior management are not undermined, but also to protect city commissioners
from putting their thumb on members of staff to further their opinions, their agendas. The reality is almost everybody follows this. Puntagora has 24,000 people. They're a tiny little
neighborhood community. And the truth is that a legal opinion is a legal opinion. It's not just someone off the street who says, "Hey, you know, I went on Facebook and posted my opinion." This is a legal opinion on what the charter interpretation is. Any commissioner who
doesn't follow the direction of an attorney, a city attorney who tells us that this is the interpretation of charter subjects themselves to an ethics complaint. I would hate to see any member of this commission be brought up on ethics charges because they just
don't understand what the law is. I don't know where you have to go to find somebody. the the alluding to the fact that this outside council did work for the city. So consequently, it disqualifies this attorney from their
opinion because obviously there must be collusion because obviously I came from a third world nation where I had oppressive government. So the reality is we have a lack of faith in the system in the laws. That's what I'm hearing here. And the problem I have with that is we
as elected officials took an oath to follow the law. If we don't like the law, we can try to change the law. We don't like the charter, we can try to change the charter. We don't like policies, we can try to change policies, but we can't just disregard. And if that
occurs, we are headed for ethics issues seriously. And it's a distraction from the challenges that this city faces. So, I would urge the parties involved here to take a hard look at why we got elected in the first place, to do what
we think is in the best interest of the city, to do the city's business, not to sit here and put on a drama show for the city, and for a handful of people who have a special agenda out there who have been advocating for this ever since Jerome was interviewed for this job.
This is a one-man show and a manipulation of certain commissioners. Okay, that's what this is. And people need to realize it for what it is. It's wrong. It's undermining. It's hurtful to the city. It gives us a bad image. As
it's been stated today by one public speaker, we are a great city of 100,000. We need protocols. We need policies. We need chain of command. And we need strong leadership. Now that we finally got it, we have a group of people who
don't like the fact that they don't have control. Well, they have a vote. That's all. We all have a vote. And I support city manager. I think this is an absolute distraction from what's going on. And and to find fellow commissioners
who say they won't follow the charter as it has been interpreted by our attorneys. I find beyond belief they will find themselves faced with ethics complaints. There is no doubt about this. somebody's going to complain about their behavior.
That's what's going to happen here and it's going to come back on them and I feel very badly. So, I would urge everyone to pay attention to what the laws. You may not like it, but we took an oath to follow it. Thank you, Mayor.
>> City Manager, you're in the queue. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, this is the first time publicly I'm responding to what occurred in the meetings on September 23rd and October 28th and even today. Uh, first of all, just from the conversation this morning, um, Commissioner Petro, when that policy did
get here and I got here, I did sign it and I do own that and I know that it's mine. What I said was I did not edit it when I signed it because it was already sound and approved by our city attorney, Amber Sllayton, who was here for eight years, who agreed with that policy and
its connection to our charter. So, please make sure we add her in the list of people who signed off on it. and for Commissioner Deval and the ability for staff to talk to you all to air their grievances. That's why we have a human resources department. They have trained
professionals who are in there to listen to them so that they can be heard and given expert advice on how to move forward within our organization. It is not a role of the commissioners who deal with policy as opposed to myself who deal with personnel. That's why we have
the HR department. Um, as we go forward, if we could put the slideshow up, please. I want to talk about the non-interference um, clause in the charter, which is what we talked about from the third party legal opinion. And this third party legal opinion, that is exactly why we send out opinions to
third parties. when you want that reassurance that they are providing something that supports what you've already heard from your own city attorney. When I hear us say that, well, we don't care about third party city uh city attorney opinions. I mean, I just
don't understand how much further we can go down that path of trying to get to the same space. But I will say that it is not new, nor is it an obscure tech technicality. It is the foundational element of our city's government. Uh, our form of government is what is on
trial today, it sounds like, for those who want to change how we govern as a city. Um, it's it's not unique. Um, it's our form of government in this city and it sets policies and laws and for the city manager and for all the charter officers. It's not just for the city
manager. What you're asking for is for the city attorney's office and the city clerk's office as well. And going and talk talking to an attorney that's not the city city attorney. Why would you get advice from them when you can go straight to the top? It just doesn't make sense. And we handle our
administrative staff respectively. Um the clause is a check and balance that prohibits individual commissioners from using political influence in administrative matters even if it's not meant to be political. An employee could misconstrue it to be a directive by a commissioner. Uh and I didn't bring this
clause with me. It was in the information before I even got here. The administrative policy 6.8 was created by city leadership and approved by the attorney as I said um and it outlines how city employees not commissioners should handle with individual
commissioners. We've heard that well this policy can't tell commissioners what to do. This policy the administrative policy is for our staff and our team and it has been proven by multiple attorneys that it's in alignment with our charter. And as the
legal memo concluded, there is no conflict with the non-inference clause and the city administration policy. Uh this has been stated, as we said, by multiple attorneys. Um and now we have Nikki Day, board certified external
legal counsel saying the exact same thing. The clause ensures that city operations stay professionally managed, free from undue political pressure, and account accountable through a clear chain of command. Um, I've tried to get it to be understood that the chain of command is important. It's important in
any organization. That's how you create structure. That's how you avoid chaos. Um, it prevents any one elected official from exerting proper influence over a staff or management decisions. It maintains an even playing field among commissioners. So, so as well that no
one member of the commission gets special access or control over staff that others don't have. Um for example, currently when commissioners ask questions, their questions from staff are regarding information from their meetings. It's sent to all commissioners, not just one commissioner, so that everyone knows
exactly what the commission is discussing. Um the legal opinion also states commissioners actions must remain within the charter defined boundaries and must respect the limits. That is all that's being requested to follow the law. And as we have heard this morning,
um clearly following the law is not going to be um supported by all that's up here. The legal opinion put it clearly. One is a limitation on commissioner's power, which is the charter, and the other is a procedure for staff, the administrative policy, and they can be read in harmony with
each other. The administrative policy supplements rather than contradicts the charter, and following the policy does not cause anyone to violate the charter. The intent here is to ensure that the city manager or the other relevant charter officer is aware of the request,
can coordinate a proper and timely response, and keep a record of it. This is about coordination and accountability, not secrecy. Our city charters the local constitution and the law of Northport and the document through which our residents, the voters, delegated certain powers to
the commission and set strict limits on those powers. In fact, every commissioner upon taking off office swears an oath to support, protect and defend the US Constitution, the Florida Constitution, and the charter and the laws of the city of Northport, which
includes upholding all the charter limitations and rules. This oath imposes a binding legal and ethical duty to uphold the charter. It protects employees, as I stated earlier. Um, they may fear that their answer to an elected official might be potentially
misleading. They shouldn't feel blindsided because they know and understand that information goes through the city's chain of command and structural boundaries as established in the charter. These are sensible safeguards. I fully encourage our city staff to
maintain positive, authentic, and casual conversations with the elected commissioners to build that rapport and boost morale provided those interactions remain within the city's legal boundaries. Within this framework, informal day-to-day dialogue before staff and commissioners is encouraged.
It fosters um collegiality and morale so long as it does not stray into the workrelated inquiries or requests for work that would contravene the charters, non-interference clause or the policy guidelines. This approach ensures healthy communication and trust between staff and officials while respecting the
proper channels for administrative duties. It is not new. Many people before you have been able to do this and your job while honoring the charter policy 6.8 does not stop commissioners from getting information to which they are entitled to perform their roles and
neither commissioner has stated this is a reason for their desired change. The policy explicitly states that does not impede legitimate oversight policy direction or the function of city commissioners and the legal memo does this as well.
It is fundamentally sound and le fundamentally fair and legally sound and and let me be clear if any commissioner requests information or data for policym they will get it. My job is to facilitate those requests through the appropriate staff and to do so
thoroughly and efficiently and I never use this policy to deny information. I use it to manage information flowing properly and legally. Unfortunately, since taking office, there has been a pattern of such conduct not in alignment with the charter, as you have heard, because they disagree with the charter
in its language. We've seen repeated instances of of attempting to get information or action directly from staff while disparaging city leadership at the same time, and taken individually, they might seem harmless. Collectively, they amount to an undermining of the city manager's role and a breach of the city's charter
requirements. I believe Commissioner Petro is sincere when he says he wants transparency. But I must point out that true transparency is achieved when all commissioners and the public receive the same information at the same time, which is exactly what our current procedures ensure. What he
calls transparency unfortunately would inadvertently lead to an unintended consequence involving private undocumented conversations between commissioners and staff. That behavior is less transparent transparent and invites miscommunication and accusations of favoritism. More importantly, until
the charter and the laws are changed, the current charter and policies must remain in effect. Commissioner Petro, for his part, has very openly challenged our framework, and to his credit, he brought this important conversation to discuss in public with his colleagues on October 28th. In his view, the charter's
language about giving orders doesn't doesn't cover every day informal interactions. However, our internal and external legal council soundly rejects that interpretation. The legal memo emphasized, "Regardless of the form or example, commissioners must not
circumvent their charter officers when dealing with staff." In other words, it doesn't matter whether you call it just talking or asking quick questions. If a commissioner is engaging staff members about city business, it it should go through the proper channel. Otherwise,
it is a charter violation. So during the conversation on October 28th, there were several things said regarding our um workplace environment. And here are some things that I want to point out for our culture and engagement through our human resources department um that we actually
provide to make sure that we do have a positive and healthy work environment. Not only do we have gatherings such as the annual employment appreciation lunchon, uh we do do the um employee recognition for the veteran ceremonies which is greatly appreciated. Our quarterly service awards show our team
that we care about them. Our annual annual end of the year pizza party allows us to get together for fellowship. Our workplace mentoring program with big brothers and big sisters is a very positive program that helps those who want to grow to hopefully be somewhat similar in what roles we are and successful in this
life. We also do the monthly welcome with new employees because we care about them onboarding and getting here and having a positive impact on our community. When it talks about the wellness and safety of our employees, we have an annual safety and wellness fair. Mental health is such a challenge for
everywhere in this country. City of Northport, our employees are no different. We make sure that we reach out to them. The EAP, the employee assistance program is specifically designed to show those services of mental health and um employee engagement
when necessary. Our wellness programs, our health is our most important asset for all of us. And as we age, we know how more important that gets. The employee events, we want them to have fun. We want them to laugh and um fellowship with each other as much as they can so that they know that life is
more than just work. It is about the relationships that you create and are able to keep. In the healthy living programs, we always encourage people to be at their healthiest. So, we also do employee training to make sure that we have a positive workplace. um the emergency road training. Uh we all know
that during disasters, everyone has a role to play and I'm thankful for those who have who put their own personal needs aside to help this city during emergency trainings. Everyone progressive discipline training. We never want to just have someone separate from this organization immediately
unless something has been done that we cannot then do not have a different choice from. But we always want to train our people. Our goal is not to remove our people. It is to always train our people and we continue to abide by that. Our annual mandatory training, the workplace harassment, that has been an
issue for recent years in other places. We don't want it here. Our ethics, we will continue to make sure that we train on our ethics so that we follow the law and do things that we're supposed to do and first report of injury to make sure that we carry out our duties in a way that allows our employees to be
protected if they do have an injury. Our disc training allows us to make sure that we understand each other as people, our personalities, our different ways that we work, how we communicate, how we relate to each other. That's important when you have a team of our size. And community service training, we can never
have enough of that because we service our community. All 95,000 people that reside in the city are our customers. And I'm glad that we take that seriously every single day. when you look at some of the things um that happened and I need to just take a
pause here and talk about my personal commitment to you all as your city manager. I've served in public administration for nearly 30 years and I've served here for four years and I've been a credential manager for three and a half years. I am the only I am the only sitting current city manager that
is credentialed in the county of Sarasota, Charlotte County, Dotto County, Manatee County, and Hillsboro County. And I adhere to the code of ethics from ICMA which demands integrity, fairness, and
dedication to law from all city managers. And one of the core tenants of that code is to make sure that we respect the structure of government and observe the law. That is plain and simple. There is no two ways around that. But I want to make this perfectly clear. I am never going to break the law
or the charter. Not for anyone and not for any reason. The charter is the supreme law of the city. And as city manager, I'm bound to uphold it just as the commissioners are. My duty is to implement the policies of the commission within the bounds of the charter and the applicable laws. If a directive or request ever conflicts with the higher
laws, I must point it out, seek a lawful resolution. That is not an obstruction. That is literally me doing my job to ensure that the city government operates lawfully and ethically. I understand that our two newest commissioners are frustrated. They perhaps feel like I am being too rigid in enforcing the
charter's limits. But I want to reassure our residents. I would rather lose my job than violate the charter or any law. My integrity and my oath come first. I cannot and will not be complicit in any action that breaches the our charter provisions, including the non-interference clause or any misuse or
abuse of power. That is not an act of defiance against the commissioners, is an act of service to the commission and the public. By insisting we follow the charter, I protect the commission's decisions from legal challenges and our city from liability. By saying no to interference, I'm saying yes to proper
governance. And I do that with the full support from legal authorities and ethical standards. The legal opinion we obtained underscores that commissioners must remain within the charter defined boundaries of their power. That's not my opinion. That is the law. The hostile
work environment that we just s went through is very offensive and I hope that we all know and understand that that is not the culture that we have here and we want to make sure that we move forward in a very positive manner. Now, I do need to apologize for my
actions that I did, which I created controversy over a photograph that I made, including Commissioner Dval. He revealed at a meeting on September 23rd that I showed him his picture in my office with this photo on it containing the words, "Do not engage with this man and stop and just walk away at the
bottom." To provide context, I created the picture and didn't distribute it to anyone. It was intended as a light-hearted joke. And in a moment of frustration of nearly dealing with a year-long effort on my part to get the commissioners to stop proactively violating the charter, he and I laughed
many times over that first year. He laughed at the photo with me, knowing it was a gesture that I continue to try and get him to stop breaking the rules in question. I was giving him the grace that I would have wanted in a new role instead of making a public issue about
it and then filing formal complaints. He laughed about it. We laughed about it and then Commissioner Duval laughed about it with his other fellow commissioners that he was going to get t-shirts made. However, seeing it from Commissioner Duval's perspective on September 23rd, he was upset and
emotional and felt that he was being disrespected by my actions. I now understand that it was anything but pointy to him. And somewhere between the three weeks from the day that he saw the photo and the day that he publicly showed his displeasure, he had changed his mind. He has the right to change his mind. In my opinion, another option
would have been to engage me in any of our weekly conversations to discuss the action. I would have immediately apologized. There would there was no way for me to apologize prior to September 23rd because I learned at the same time the public learned that he didn't like it. But regardless, let me say I
sincerely apologize, Commissioner Dval. I'm truly sorry for having created and displayed that image what was meant as a moment of office humor between us in retrospect was unprofessional. It was never my intention to disparrage you in any way, but I recognize that regardless of intent, according to you, the effect
was hurtful and disrespectful. I want everyone to know that I own that mistake. It is mine. I'm human just like everyone else. I make mistakes and when I do, I apologize so that we can move on. To fully explain the context of why I created the picture. Um, it came during a period of almost a year where
he and I had not had one bad word between us. He had praised me and my professionalism and my ability to work with the commission to get things done. And I actually told him twice during the year that he was a pleasure to work with over that first year. So imagine my surprise when he displayed the picture
and revealed that his feelings uh were hurt and that had not been previously expressed or communicated to me. That is not the proper chain of how I should find out that he doesn't like something that I do. If he would have told me, I would have apologized. But in the future on my behalf if future um frustration ar
frustrations arrive with commissioner Duval or any commissioner instead of handling them with humor I will handle them professionally through direct communication and proper channels and discussing it with the entire commission. The picture incident is example of accountability. I messed up. I own it. I once again apologize and now
we move on. I do believe, however, that Commissioner Deval's handling of the photograph reflected a lack of cander because we had shared numerous private conversations marked by mutual respect and humor with no indication of tension or discomfort. Yet later, he allowed a
narrative to take public hold that he was disrespected and harassed despite knowing that the photo in question was a light-hearted moment understood as such by everyone present. I am extremely grateful that the other commissioners witnessed that context because without
it the situation could have been mischaracterized even further. Commissioner Dval himself has admitted that staff repeatedly told them that they can't ask question answer questions because of our policies. Meaning my staff had to remind him that they needed to loop in the city manager's office per
the rules. Every time I hear that I say thank you to our team. Thank you for following our policy. Thank you for being respectful of the law that we are all here to enforce. We don't get to pick and choose. You don't get to say, "Well, I like this law versus that law." We follow the laws.
He's he's talked about even recently a few days after he was sworn in that he walked around one of our public work facilities that wasn't open to the public in the area that he was in and he would tell you that he was not the public. I believe he said on October 28th. On a separate day, he followed an
employee in his car to an employee only area and got out of his car and confronted an employee with questions. The employee resigned shortly thereafter. not solely due to that incident, but that was a factor I was told. Commissioner Dval's own actions revealed a troubling inconsistency in his
criticism of myself. On September 23rd, I had my annual evaluation and he submitted um his report. Yet, nowhere in there did he mention he was feeling harassed, uncomfortable, or a hostile work environment. Only a month later on October 28th did Commissioner devour
publicly level accus accusations of harassment in a hostile work environment and for the first time he ever voiced these complaints. This abrupt after the fact disclosure shows a lack of credibility since all the items all the items he complained about happened prior
to the public evaluation. All the complaints of harassment and hostile work environment are fruit of the same tree. When you read them, they all have to do with me reacting to him not recognizing good governance and the difference between his role and mine and
how we view the charter. Just yesterday, I was in a meeting with Commissioner Dval and he stated that he didn't agree with the legal opinion about communicating with staff and cited an example with our former human resource manager and said she was let go and had I had a chance to talk to her,
she still might be here. That particular employees conclusion was based on her behavior as outlined as an independent third party did an investigation. How would how would he have helped her stay? Personnel decisions are part of my job
description, not his commissioner has made it made it clear he doesn't like the restrictions on his role as staff. He wants to do what I do, which is my job instead. As we focus on the future uh and the advancement of what we need to tackle,
the more time we spend on distractions like this, we're not spending time on those on those challenges. I encourage all of us, my team, to make sure that we continue to use our energy and resources on serving public interest, but we are moving on now. I'm sorry. Now I need to back up.
Sorry. Yeah, thank you. That was a long way. Um, now as we move on on November 25th, this these are from the brochure that I was used that was used to hire me when I came back in 2021 and it talks about the challenges and opportunities
from the city from this role that needed to be dealt with. On November 25th of this year, the deanexation initiative lawsuit result favored yet again the city of Newport. It is time to close the divisive chapter and focus our collective energy where it belongs, on the future of our growing city. We
invite we we invite the West Villagers group and all of our neighbors to join us in a renewed spirit of collaboration so we can work together on the opportunities and challenges ahead of the city of Northport. The ULDC, the Unified Land um development code rewrite was approved by the city commission in
August of 2024 and will help improve our commercial opportunities that will help reduce our tax need from our citizens. The economic development initiative is something that we talk about every every day. You saw a presentation on December the 1st, how we are aggressively out
there engaging different businesses and opportunities for our city as we grow the transition of county operated parks in Northport. Um, in fiscal year 21, following the June 30th, 2021 date
termination of the 2006 uh interlocal agreement with Sarasota County, the city Northport Parks and Recreation Department successfully transitioned the maintenance and operation of 19 sports fields and courts and two specialty parks to the city's full responsibility.
The department managed this expanded scope with a fullear transition budget of $1.36 million, demonstrating a cost efficiency compared to Sarasota Countyy's previously reported uh budget of nearly $1.5 million. Concurrently, the department uh has achieved
record-breaking attendance at both Spring Parks, the Northport Aquatic Center, and was honored with several awards and accolades from professional associations in recognition of excellence in operations and service delivery, rebuilding uh Northport's community
brand. Um, now I know that Commissioner Pro said he believed the word of our former city manager, but let's talk about why this was in there when I was hired. Um, there's a significant uh inconsistency that has emerged in uh public discourse. And some of the
individuals who speak now most forcely about ethics and accountability were noticeably silent when documented ethical violations occurred under the previous city manager that was referenced earlier. And that double standard needs acknowledgement because it directly affects the credibility of the current accusations. According to
this city manager brochure, Northport previously faced a serious ethical scandal involving a former city manager. He was investigated for misconduct censored by the ICMA and permanently banned from the organization for ethical violations. Uh, a comprehensive internal
investigation confirmed an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate and substantial lapses in judgment. Which raises another question. You know, where were these same outspoken voices then? Where was the social media campaign demanding the accountability for that
wasteful expenditure of public funds? Where was the petition or the call for consequences for those who now express such deep concern? The same voices you hear now were here then. After the commission voted to reinstate him, there was no communitywide petition, no organized effort at our
city events, no sustained public demand for removal. The selective outrage we see today simply was not present. This is what I mean by double standard. I have not been found guilty of any ethical violation ever in my entire life, let alone here in the city of Northport, by the state ethics
commission, by any official authority. Yet I have been the subject of repeated allegation, public attacks, and calls for termination. I am not naive to the fact that some people come to the table with predetermined biases, whether conscious or not. I felt them. At times, the attacks have leaned on racially
coded descriptors and dog whistle cues designed to activate bias rather than promote honest dialogue. I have seen how assumptions are made more quickly, how intentions are questioned more readily, and how mistakes are assigned different weight depending on who is in the chair compared to others. If these concerns
were were truly rooted in principle rather than politics, then past misconduct of that magnitude should have drawn at least the same level of scrutiny as the assert assertions being made today. The point here is not to relitigate the past. The point is to put the current criticism in perspective. It
appears to be very selective. it appears less driven by commitment to ethics and more by personal uh personal or political genders uh before us. If the standard is zero tolerance for unethical behavior, which it should be, then all unethical behavior should be
called out. Period. As we talk about the utility and infrastructure investment expansion, we have to go and look at what most recently happened, which is our partnership with SMH. Our community is so grateful for the full
service hospital that will be nine floors in the largest structure in our community costing over half a billion dollars in in the very near future. At this event, I saw the groundbreaking event for this particular hospital. I saw state representative James Buchanan. He had two questions for me. He said,
"How are you doing and how can I help you?" I said, "The EOCC project." He said, "Is it funded?" I said, "Yes, there are rules that we have to follow to make sure that they can help us." And he said, "Okay, I will see what I can do." I also saw US Representative Greg Stwie at the same groundbreaking. We had
shovels in our hand ready to throw dirt. And he said, "How long you been here?" I said, "Four years." He said, "You're doing a great job. Let me know how I can help." I told him I saw where he had hurt himself in an accident uh last year. And I asked him, "I was he okay?" He said he was doing a lot better. And he thanked me for my concern. Are these
not the types of conversations and relationships that the two commissioners should be having when they want to talk to someone as opposed to talk to staff? That's those are the meaningful conversations that help uplift the city, bring much neededed funding, and elevate the brand of our community. Those are
the conversations we need you to go out there and do. Talk to other elected officials, those people who can aid us. We have a YMCA that's bringing an early learning academy to the corner of Price Boulevard on King Plastic property. They have already made an investment in
our community with King Plastic. the YMCA as a former partner of ours who left our community years ago with a bad taste in their mouth. We need funding to help them, to help us. I've asked for those those conversations to go to the county commissioners. Our county
administrator and county commission commissioners support us greatly. They said several years ago that they would donate towards a new YMCA. We need you to go talk to your fellow county commissioners so that they can help us as we bring this asset to our community.
Those are the conversations that we need to be having. And you look at these accomplishments that I just put up there. The ones that we still did not even put up there. Price Boulevard, Warm Mineral Springs, which we're working on that the the MPsquare program where
we're helping out um nonprofits, our bond rating, which is which is great, which we we need because we need to be able to secure things to help take care of oursel. The natural resource division was created to make sure that we show the community that we cared about the environment. The Asella Online permitting system to make sure that
people who do business with us have an easier time to do business. the Northport University. We want to make sure that we get the goodness of our governance and our government out in the community so people know what we do and why we do it. Our police who are quadruple excel excelsier accredited,
you know, thank you. We want to support them. We know what they're going through. We know how hard their job is. But yet the same people who want to do a petition are showing up at our police events who didn't support them when they actually needed them when we voted on it and now are at the same event saying,
"Come out." so I can so you can sign a petition with me. The person who didn't support them and now want you to sign something that doesn't support the city at the same time. It just doesn't make sense. Um our fire rescue ambulance accreditation, thank you guys for all that you do as well. Parks and Rex gold
medalist. We could talk about parks and rec awards. We'd be here all night. Healthcare, we are becoming a healthc care mecca and we want to recognize that through our partners at HCA and behavior health. That is critical for a community of our size that is growing, that is aging. And Hurricane Ian, we know that
we will always continue to be recovering from Hurricane Ian. We were so blessed and fortunate that we did not have to go through a hurricane this year, which I believe was maybe the first time in at least maybe 10 years as we sat here. I've been here for four years and it was by far the best hurricane season that I
went through. But I know Stacy and her team were prepared and we look forward to whatever challenge is going to happen next year. Whatever happens, we'll be there. Now I want to shift to something that uh truly matters which is you know why we are here and whom we serve. I'm speaking
now to our staff, our city staff and all the public servants in this room and around the city as well as the residents who re rely on us. Despite the noise and the turmoil of recent events, I don't want any of us to lose sight of our core values, our core mission. We are here to make Northport a better place for
everyone. And that means rising above personal conflicts and living out the values that define ethical public service. Let me remind everyone that our team displays our value in work every single day. These are the principles that I expect of myself and our team and they are the antidote to the negativity
we've been grappling with. Accountability. We take we take responsibility for our actions and decisions. When we make mistakes, we admit them and we correct them. We use taxpayer resources wisely and we answer to the public for everything that we do. Integrity. We will tell the truth,
follow the law, and do the right thing even when no one is watching. Our ethical compass does not waver with political winds. Integrity is our north star, keeping us honest and worthy of trust. Fairness. We treat everyone with impartiality and respect. Whether you're
a commissioner, a staff member, a resident, you get a fair hearing and an equitable service. We do not play favorites and we do not base decisions uh we base our decisions on merits and facts not on personal agendas. Innovation we we embrace new ideas and solutions instead of clinging to the way
that it's always been. We look for better ways to serve. That means being open-minded, adaptive, forward thinking, and those are our qualities that help our city progress. Kindness. We remember that that behind every title and every role, we are all human beings and we all
make mistakes. We show compassion and understanding in our interactions. Even when we disagree, we strive to be civil and empathetic. A kind word can infuse a tense situation. A respectful approach can build bridges. Service above self. This is the probably the most important
role of all. We put the community's needs above our own ego or convenience. Ser service above self means that we are here to work for a cause that is greater than ourselves, the well-being of our city and our neighbors. It's a reminder
that public service is a public trust. Every decision we make should answer one fundamental question. Does this serve the public good? And that is the hard truth. Our detractors don't share the same value system that we do. Period.
Most of them are not like us. We choose to wake up every day and be happy and to have pride in our community. Instead, they want to wake up, divide us, and share their misery with us. No thank you. We will not let them do that. If we keep these values at the forefront, I'm confident that we can
overcome any challenge. I am incredibly proud of all of you throughout all this turmoil. You have kept the city running smoothly. You exemplify these values daily. You often perform tasks that are thankless behind the scenes that make a huge difference in our citizen lives,
and you do it all with excellence. Thank you all for embodying service above self and purpose over fear. As we move on to the residents of Northport, you are why we are here. You deserve a city government that operates with accountability, integrity, fairness, innovation, kindness, and service above
self. That is the promise I still make to you. I will continue to strive for those ideals every day as your city manager. I ask that you continue to engage with us, attend meetings, ask questions, hold us accountable, but please get the facts and make sure you see through the noise. Your support and
your informed involvement are what make Northport strong. Let us all move forward together today from this in a spirit of renewed cooperation and dedication and pride in our community. I for one am rolling up my sleeves and focusing on the work that you entrusted me to do. I am tending to the future,
the work of serving the public. Let's continue to put service above self and keep the city of Northport moving forward in the right direction. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for letting me say that. I know it was kind of short and if you want me to say more you want to say but I appreciate it. Thank you
sir. >> Thank you sir. Vice Mayor Langden you're next. >> Uh thank you mayor. I I have a lot of comments on this subject but I'm going to hold it for the next agenda item. But
I do want to say our charter is pretty clear about the delineation of roles and responsibilities between the city manager and the city commission. And clearly the city commission is
responsible for developing a strategy for the city, passing laws, approving the budget, approving what outcomes we want to have to improve the quality of
life of residents here in the city. When we approach staff to ask questions about city operations, other jobs or what's going on in a
particular project, we are clearly outside of our role as a city commissioner. Now, having said that, I have eyes and ears and I move freely through the community and I talk to a lot of people
um on a day-to-day and a weekly basis and I form opinions about city operations. I have sometimes concerns, not often, but concerns about how we might be going
about things. And anyone who has ever participated in one of my agenda briefings knows I am not shy about voicing my opinion on how we are doing operationally in this city. And in fact,
I can remember one instance in which I clearly determined and shared that we had messed up in in a way we handled something. Not my job. I don't bring it
up here. I don't interfere at a staff level, but I know city manager can uh back me up when I say I am not shy about sharing my opinion at an operational level. And I know how staff will receive
that who hear it, the opinion of one commissioner about something she is not responsible for. But I would hope given how I conduct myself and support the laws and the charter of this city and
how publicly I am a champion for this city. I support everything that we do. That is our job. I would hope that when I do share my
opinion on certain topics that that staff would listen to me because they know where I'm coming from. And I would encourage every commissioner to consider
our role and how important it is for our employees to be free to go about their day-to-day job, making life better for the residents and businesses of this city without interference from out here
up here. And it's not what we think, it's the impact that we have on them. We're assuming that everybody who works for the city would welcome having conversations with us. I can tell you
that is not true. It's simply not true. So I encourage all of us to step back.
Let's follow the charter and the legal interpretations of that charter and get back to the business of delivering value to the people who live here and the businesses
who conduct business here. Let's stop being distracted by things that we weren't elected for. We weren't elected to have this kind of controversy and public drama.
Let's get back to city business. >> I did. >> I'm done. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. Commissioner Dval, you're next. >> Thank you, Mayor. Recently, our public's work director stood right
there in a public meeting and I asked a question and it wasn't a question that required an answer of are we building something 10 stories or five stories where maybe he didn't have the correct information would give the wrong
answer. I asked his opinion. We were talking about the transfer station and possible ways to fund it. And I just asked
a public meeting. If it were up to him, what would be his opinion? And the city manager sat right there shaking his head. and our public works director got flustered. His face turned red. He
kind of chuckled because he was being directed not to answer the question. So, Phil, I think maybe you might have missed that. Secondly, this is the last thing I'll say.
Recently, a former commissioner came to me and notified me of a situation that a citizen had notified her of. I wrote to our city manager, told him of the conversation,
and you know, I had no inkling of it. It did, you know, it didn't it was a strange one. I did not get a reply from the city manager. I had to go back to that former commissioner and say I didn't hear
the former city commissioner, you know, who's not in any controversy with the with the city manager did get some sort of a reply. Thank you. >> Uh, Commissioner Pro, your
>> Thank you, Mayor. I just want to I have to respond to some of the statements that were made from the DAS. Uh first it was and I find it demeaning to hear that that this is a distraction and uh
particularly and I'm speaking on for myself that I'm being influenced by one individual uh or by the actions of that one individual. Uh let it be clear. Uh we're talking about the petition. Uh I've learned about the petition the same day
the public learned with it was posted on the Facebook. I have no correlation or any action in that matter. And the second is that this is undermining respect uh of our city charter officer
or the city charter office. I have great respect for city charter officers uh and the office. I respect the office. Um this is has nothing to do with personal attacks or um any of that nature. I just
want to clarify that because uh you know the statements are being brought back and um and will be referred by to the ethics referred to ethics complaint for asking a question a city employee that does not give them direction or asking
them to do anything to do something. This is a this is a laughing matter. If it was be if it would be filed as an ethic complaint after I speak to any city employee asking a question, what are we talking about? I mean, let it let it be logical. Um, this this is not I
perceive this as a threat. Uh, I do not accept it and I I do think it's not I do believe it's not professional at least to say the least. Um and uh the the going back to the third party opinion, the legal opinion opinion emphasizes
this phrase deal with administrative services which I if I read the opinion it it's I'm 99% agree with the opinion with the exception but if we phrase the question differently it's a matter of wording. If we phrase the question
differently, asking for a third party opinion, meaning if the city commissioners can ask questions about the city business, not give them directions, not tell them what to do, I think would we would have got the different response, but um I'm all for
upholding the city charter and that is not to make request and not to give orders and that is not to ask the city employees to do something and not to tell them to do something um but uh
it's simply different issue and when we talk about to deal with administrative services I don't want to deal with administrative services I have no agenda and let it be clear I do not have personal agenda or political agenda in
this matter um I differentiate myself from uh commissioner Dval's um issue uh because his issue is between the city manager and picture. My issue is I'm being told not to ask or
converse with the city employees. I think it's absurd if you ask me. I'm not part of any I'm a I told many times to the city manager on on one-on-one meetings. I I would be asking the same questions you
if it would or anybody for that matter if anybody would be in your chair. I have no biased uh perception. Um and um I'm not looking for any promotion if I'm if I if anything I've
been promoted my by uh already by being elected as a public official. Now my job is to be accountable to those people that elected me. Um, and it's my job is to be accountable and I want
to have that information. When the information is controlled by one person, I mean, do you see any problem with that? I do. Um, I grew up on uh in that regime where the information was
controlled and you could not ask any questions. And thank God that I'm not in that regime anymore. Now I find it I find it very very strange that slowly but surely
at least locally and and to some extent on the national level we getting to that and not trying to be political. We get into that regime again that I'm being prevented and I'm being told commissioner you cannot talk to me and I
was shown this to my face. You cannot talk to me. What? I have no words. Um, so I cannot go on and on because I would be repeating myself. But, uh, this this has to stop and I have long patience if it has to
stop if it has to be. Now, we keep referencing the law, the law. If we don't follow the law, the charter does not prohibit the city commissioners from asking questions. It prohibits to dealing with administrative services,
make requests or to give orders. And I find it very ironic that we talking about this. The charter is very clear clear uh as far as the delineation of the responsibilities of the city
commission and the charter officers. Yes, it is clear about the administrative services and our legal policym process. That is us as the commission board. But uh I just want to say a few other things
that this is in the interest of the board is to be able to ask questions the city staff. If other commissioners are if other commissioners are against that or against this transparency, I don't know what to derive from that uh or what
conclusion to make that uh but there must be some reason or reasons to hide something. Now I'm not commissioner or vice mayor. I'm not implying or suggesting anything. I'm just deriving the conclusion of this
policy if you will that we cannot talk or converse with the city employees. Now if we let it be clear let's right now let let's vote that we can talk to the uh city employees. What prohibits us from talking to the employees? I derive
the conclusion that there must be some reason to hide something. I'm not suggesting anything. I'm not saying anything. I'm just logically deriving to the conclusion that I that I hear. Um, and we represent the city. We
represent our our constituents. I we took uh an uh oath of office to uphold the charter and I will uphold the charter. Uh, the charter does not prohibit prohibit the city commissioners from asking questions about city
business. And I want to I do not want to divulge too much into the information uh of this topic because the next agenda item like vice mayor said we can cover many um many points in that agenda item
but I'm not in favor of adopting or making a law if you will and if we violate it we're going to be referred to the ethics commission or ethic uh complaint for what for asking a a city employee. Now, personally,
I will and I am abide by your policy, if you will, but never never in my time as a commissioner I have given orders or make or made any
requests and I never attended to. I repeat, I never attended and I do not want to give orders. It's not my job. If you ask me, I want to do less than more as a city commissioner, right? It's the human nature. We tend to do less work.
And I want to do my work. My job is to represent the taxpayers with unfiltered information if I want to get that information, unbiased information if I want to get that information. So I can make a logical conclusion, get my vote to be
educated and well informed. Now there's a chain of command. We always refer to the chain of command. We have to uh abide by the chain of command. The chain of command. I don't want to give any commands. I will abide by the chain of
commands or command but I in my clear conscience I just cannot uh I'll I'll I'm not looking for any drama. I'm not I'll stay quiet if the the board but to me it's apparent apparent that there's
must there must be some reason reason why three of my fellow commissioners are against the other two commissioners that are just want to ask questions nothing else nothing more. there must be something
and it's up to the uh voters to remember this but remember I'm accountable not to the city commission I'm not accountable to the city employees in that regard that they are voters but I'm I'm responsible to constituents whether they agree with me or not if
they ask me half of the stuff what's going on in the city I don't even know I've I've learned so many things of projects or uh conclusions I've learned from other from other people I find it embarrassing that like if I ask a question a director of development
of services say hey what's going on at that corner I it would be so beneficial for me to know what's going on at the corner now that every little question I have to go to the city manager and ask hey what's going on he refers me back to the to the director because a lot of
times he doesn't know the answer um but it would be so much convenient so much cost effective so much efficient to ask me, hey, what's going on on that corner of Price and Cranberry? Why did they clear three lots?
Whose lots of those? Well, I can check whose lots of those myself, but I don't know what's going on. If it's a city business, if it's not a city business, I look like a fool in front of my constituents. Like, imagine imagine you talking to uh your uh state
representative and you ask them and I I got to check with my staff what's going on with that. I I don't know the answer. This is embarrassing to say the least. I'm done. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh, apparently you got a spark. Vice
Mayor Langden, >> I have nothing to say. >> Then why'd you put your name up? >> I just took it off. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Um, since this queue is cleared, I'm going to say a few things.
The one thing I' I've worked under two city managers on this commission. One was the former comm uh city manager Lear and uh city manager Fletcher and it's been consistent throughout the seven years that I've been here and it's called respect.
I always went to the city manager if I had to talk with staff and it's the same with with uh Jerome. I would go to either city manager and say, "Hey, I' I'd like to talk to Sandy about how they put the sand in the sand pits and or
whatever the thing might be." And they would say, "Okay, yeah, go talk to Sandy or can we get Sandy into this office and have a meeting with the three of us?" It's respectful. It keeps the city manager in the loop when we are talking
to staff because it does create a conflict between staff and commission. And some of us, especially Phil, are a little bit older. When we get told stuff from staff, we could sort of forget what exactly they said to us and then we come
out and we give wrong information. What? >> Yeah. Oh, glad you woke up. Um, but seriously, it is it it's a tool and and I fully
respect following the charter. The policy was set in place. We've gotten opinions, legal opinions. I don't see any lawyer certificates up here on the dis, including myself. But when it's put out,
you pay the taxpayers money to get these opinions. Then if you don't take that opinion, why spend money seriously? We did it for a reason, and it's to come down and figure out what's right. How do we move on? And
right now, we were tasked to come up and get an outside opinion, which we did. Unfortunately, there's a few commissioners up here that don't like that answer. What do we do? Do we go out, let's get
another outside opinion until they're happy? It could take 10 opinions. It's nonsense. That's enough of that. But one thing I do want to clarify and Commissioner Dval, I would just like to have your
attention for a moment because out on Facebook out there with the creative writing and gaslighting that goes on on this one particular site, it was brought up numerous times about this picture and
about Commissioner Stokes and myself being involved with this picture. And I'm going to tell you the story on how I found out about the picture. I pulled into my parking spot. Commissioner Dval and Commissioner Stokes were out there.
They were joking back and forth. And I just said, "Hey, gentlemen. How you doing?" And Commissioner Dval come up and he goes, "Hey, did you see the poster?" I go, "What are you talking about?" He goes, "In in the city manager's office." I go, "I haven't been in the city manager's office since last
week." No. He said, 'I made the naughty list.' I go, ' Okay, what? He showed me the picture. I go, "Wow, what did what did you do?" Told me the story about he went into a department, was bringing cookies and stuff, which is a great gesture. And uh
he just said, "Yeah, I think I'm going to have a t-shirt made." And I just being a smartass said I am. I said, "Well, you might want to make more than just one if you're wearing it at city hall. This way you have a change of clothes." That was the conversation. That was it.
That was the only conversation at that point when I found out about that picture. Few weeks later, maybe a month, I'm not sure, crossed paths with Commissioner Dval, cuz I don't see him that often. I heard he was upset about the picture and stuff. So, I went
directly to him. I stopped him. I said, "Hey, Commissioner, if you felt like I disrespected you in any way, I'm sorry." I said, "That wasn't my intention. You brought this up to me. You got my response." I said, "If I did any," and I said it multiple times, "If I did
anything wrong, I apologize." And before I walked away, Commissioner Dval said, "Peak, you're good." That's all I've ever had to do with that picture. So, I just wanted to put that on the record. and Commissioner Dal is
right here to either confirm or deny that that conversation those conversations took place. I just wanted to clear clear it up that we weren't involved. It was a guide on the end. So that's all I have. Um I appreciate you
listening. So city court, we ready for some public comment? >> Sure am. >> All right. Debbie McDow. After serving with four city managers, I can tell you as a commissioner, I learned so much from staff during the informal ride alongs
and volunteering with various departments. The quick conversations and passing were just as beneficial regardless if the chat had something to do with the city, family, or weather. It created connections and understanding that can't be accomplished on the dis. Yes, every city manager has its own management style, but it never included
fear or ultimatums. I assure you, no other city manager ever intimidated a commissioner or forbade an elected official to talk with staff until the past few years. It's disheartening to see staff's hesitation to even say hello to a commissioner compared to how it used to be. This new culture is far from the worn out cliche community of unity.
The community of unity has now become a culture of control. Commissioners should be weighing all sides from all perspectives, not just the one of the city manager presents. When staff and citizens contribute openly to on the issues, the commission could avoid unintended consequences and create well-balanced policies. It's been proven
a good policy outlives those who wrote the policy and those who voted on it. Within this new culture of control, why have a commission at all? I'm not sure if some of the commissioners have a true allegiance to the city manager or if there's quite fear of the becoming his next victim. There are so many people
outside city hall who see what he's doing and quietly tow the line for fear of his reprisals. The culture of control has no benefit to anyone, not today or in the city's future. In person, I have John Rawlings. So, I'm listening to all this, including
the last comment read. What's ironic is rules. We're talking about rules. Why don't all of you just come down and take over right now while I'm talking
and speak your minds? Why not just rush right down here, break all the rules, and just have your way right now? City Clerk wouldn't mind, right? Just break all the rules. Rules are meant to be followed.
that they're not being followed. The reason we're here today wasting taxpayer money isn't because of policy. It was because the policy wasn't being followed. Disrespect. I I I tend to agree with you on on some
things, but that's what dialogue does. Dialogue works around everything. The last comment, there is no dialogue. The other thing I'm going to point out, not one time have I heard from anyone
that any of the managers can't handle this. Not once. David, you haven't talked about any management other than than Jerome's on on on following anything on following
any structure. You you are a brilliant man. You really are. I know your background. Did you break rules at your last job and just divert around doing whatever you wanted to do? I'm sure you did not. You stayed confined within the structure. When you had to change
something, you went to the appropriate people and had it done. You're you're a super brilliant man. And and I have a lot of respect for each and every one of you up here. This is so basic. It's not funny. And the person that just wrote all that
has an agenda and has had it from day one. Day one. And you all know it. You too. You know she's got that agenda. And the group that she's with has the same agenda.
Call it out. Don't be scared of it. Now, do I think you're entangled in it? No. Do I think you are, David? Yes. I think you're being guided and directed and I need you to step up and be the leader I think you can be. But that's my
opinion and like you said, we all have opinions. I'm looking from the outside in and I've gotten my time with you oneon-one. I like you. I don't have a problem with you. This is all BS. All of it. Thank
you. >> Thank you, Morgan. Frankly, >> Frankly, I've listened to so much and I really some of it just makes me sick to my stomach. I have demanded, I have said, I have begged for this everyone in city office to study the history of
Northport, everyone to learn. Why don't you know that some lots are being emptied? Go find out. There's nothing stopping you as commissioners or as people. When I see a lot empty, I find out. Chain of command does not destroy
dialogue. Never did. It's easy to see the difference. Every single commissioner knew the chain of command and it was easy to see. And that doesn't mean that we have to be afraid or controlled. The citizens of Northport and the
employees of Northport do not feel controlled by our city manager. They like him. They respect him. He is the man who started. You are not alone. He cares about the people. This is ridiculous.
And yes, it is a personal agenda and that is all it is. This can be worked out. I knew when they were against me, I had to distinguish between what was political and what was personal. And let me tell you something.
Personally, it hurts. Personally, you kind of feel it is against you. But then you got to realize, no, it's not. And you can unify. The catharsis can happen here. The unification because I became more determined by those that were against me to prove
to them that I was here for the good of the people. And I cared. And that man cares. He could step away and get a job for a lot more than we're paying him. But he cares about Northport.
He sits in the back room for Teen Court. He cares about You are not alone. He cares about the people. He will listen. There is no control and fear here. I'm sorry.
I don't see it. >> That's all there. >> Thank you. >> I had one. >> That's Robin Sam. Sorry. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh first off I just want to say I have
nothing against anybody on this dis including you city manager and we've spoken about that and I am not here to uh bash anybody. I'm strictly looking at the subject matter which was brought up
as a citizen who has a voice to comment on a particular agenda item. Period. I looked at the legal opinion of Nikki. I have nothing against that legal opinion. She is well educated and to to offer
that opinion. I put a memo together which I sent to all of you just on a on a different viewpoint from another interpretation. And I think that the problem lies within the vague wording. I don't think anybody
up here has a problem with the structure of separation from commissioner and then the administration and the city manager running that. I really don't think that that's a problem here. I think the problem is the way it's worded and the way it's then interpreted
is causing all this conflict because there's there's you can't go beyond this point or you can't go beyond that point because you know you're going to walk on an administrative or that's not within your purview to to do that. So I think the words that are being used uh like
deal with open communication if you take it out of context or if you take those words literally it's vague it is open for interpretation. Every attorney has a legal opinion and a different interpretation and then it goes to the judicial department and then they make a
ruling based upon the evidence brought forth before them and then their interpretation of that evidence and then they set precedents a lot of times on that. So if we don't fix the wording, I'm not saying get rid
of the structure, that's fine. There always needs to be separation. But I think if we if we fix some of the wording so it makes it unambiguous so there's no mistake in here it is black and white.
You can't sway the then we won't have a problem. But there should be some form of open communication between a commission and a and a staff. Staff always has the the can say I'm sorry I don't know. I refer you to the city manager. What's
preventing them from saying that? Nothing. But to also to just to put a line and draw it between a commissioner and an employee staff interaction to me, I think that's a mistake. It puts too much restraints and causes too much confusion.
And that's that's what I've got to say about that. I can go on and on and on and cite the Buddy Hughes case which she brought forth because of the same situation. And as we grow as a city and we get new commissioners on this board and there you're going to be younger and younger
and younger. >> Thank you. >> Interpretations are going to vary. >> Now that's all. >> Now that's all. >> All right. I'm going to request a motion. >> I'll make it. >> Okay.
I move to accept Miss Day's analysis of the Northport City Charter section 5.02 and administrative personnel policy 6.8 as presented.
>> We have a motion on the floor. Do I have a second? >> Sure, I'll second it. >> Okay. We have a motion on the floor by Vice Mayor Langden. City clerk, can you read it back, please? >> To accept Miss Day's review of the Northport City Charter section 5.02 and
City of Northport Personnel Policy Manual Section 6.8. >> And that was seconded by Commissioner Stokes. Anything to that? Let's vote. And that passes three to two with
Commissioner Pro and Commissioner Dval dissenting. Anything to that commissioners on your dissension? Okay, that's it for this item. We're going to take a uh 10-minute break and then come back and do the second one and then
we'll do lunch after that. All right, we're back in session. Item B26-0181, discussion and possible action regarding tasking the Charter Review Advisory Board to review and provide recommendations regarding potentially
revising section 5.02. 02 of the city charter through a referendum question to incorporate language regarding commissioner communication with city staff. This was requested by
Commissioner Pro. So, I'm going to send it right over to Commissioner Pro. >> Thank you, Mayor. I'll be uh I'll try to be very concise and short. Uh, from the beginning, I was warned by the current city manager not to talk to staff and uh
u not to mention ask questions, but um it was never my intention and repeat it was never my intention to overstep the law. Um and the law is clear that the commissioners cannot give orders or make requests to the city employees. That is
to ask them to do something or tell them to do something. um and it was never my intention to overstep his authority. Nevertheless, uh this uh this issue arose. So I would like to propose um uh
a a correction and not not correction but a detailed um insert if you will uh to amend the charter. And the first step is obviously to to direct this uh charter review
board to look into this And uh I just like to bring up the Puna Borders uh expert the the section from uh their charter if we have if we can have this on the screen and I know it
was attached as a attachment but I would like to go over what they have is I'm sorry um so I'll read they have two sections And uh no they have they have a section that is broken down in
two paragraphs and the section is titled with interference with administration. Uh paragraph A and I'm going to read while it's going to be put up on the screen. The council or its members same as commissioners. So they just call them
council members shall deal with the city officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the city manager solely through the city manager. And neither the council nor its members shall give
orders to any such officer or employee either publicly or privately. that is almost word for word that our city charter states um in section 5.02 02.
I mean, it's almost word for word. It's just different synonym. I mean, it's I mean, some of the words are exactly the same. So, um but I want to concentrate on paragraph B. Uh but before we read the the paragraph
B, um I just want to have this question in your mind. if they didn't have if we look at the section 2 paragraph A compared to our section 5.02 02 which details the the
uh the the limitation if you will of communication it's almost the same but if we look at theirs and ours and we don't have B they just detailed how far they can go
so and us saying that if we have the same claim that means we are prohibited from talking uh to the city employees and that's the law. this is the evidence that it's not and if we if I made a motion to submit the request to formal
request to attorney general they would be I don't want to say laughing at us but they would be saying and if we sent this along with that request I don't think that motion would be passed but at any rate I just want to
concentrate on section two paragraph B uh and it's it reads nothing in the foregoing which is above is to be construed to prohibit individual members that is commissioners, council members of the
council from the from closely scrutinizing by personal observation and questions to city officers and employees all aspects of city government operations so as to obtain independent information
to assist the members in the formulation. of sound policies to be considered by the council. They got it right. They detailed and they did not prohibit which if we look at ours, ours does not
prohibit but it does not detail. So I I just whenever I hear we have to follow the law and you cannot talk to the the city and post that is not correct. This is the proof. If we look at theirs otherwise they would be contradicting
themselves saying this is the first paragraph you cannot and then you can you know what I'm saying so if it's if ours is missing this paragraph that doesn't mean that ours our charter
prohibits us from conversing with city employees and they going into that detail that they can scrutinize by closely scrutinizing And when when I hear this, no other government does this. No, I just
reference the town of Surfside, a sleepy beach community that fired their own town manager for practically the same thing. His thing was even more outrageous that he he had some issues with the city employees and was not
professional dealing with his employees. But that's not the issue. The issue is um again I want to bring our focus to the issue and the issue is we interpret the charter that the charter prohibits us from asking questions and that's the
interpretation of some of my commissioners but it's not interpret interpretation of other commissioners. So what I'm proposing is to put it up to the voters. Um let them decide. Um let's
start with the process. And um I I'm just open to see what my fellow commissioners if they're going to say this is not right and it's a small town community. You know at one point our town was a
small town community. Uh and Punaorta yes it it is much smaller about a quarter uh of our size but it doesn't mean it doesn't mean that they're not doing the right thing. You
know, this is just a perfect example of confirming that our charter does not first does not forbid us from asking questions, talking to the city employees. It it goes into more detail and it presents
like it should transparency, accountability, um no political agenda. I repeat, no personal attacks. I'm I'm not into that. My personality does not permit me to do that. I'm differently
built. So, I'm not into fights or anything. I just want for the future commission and future commissioners to have that ability to converse and uh let it be put out out to the voters. Um uh but again, I have to I have to warn as I
was warned and threatened that I'll be referenced to this ethics uh by asking a question. There are no basis or grounds in the charter and uh the legal opinion is
different agenda item but it did not look into whether we as commissioners can ask questions or not to ask questions. Uh but border got it right. So, I'm really uh curious of what my
fellow commissioners can share and because this is the only time we could talk. I did not talk to any of them prior uh because of sunshine by um law. We follow the law uh and I'm just
curious what they have to say. >> That it sir. >> Yes. For now. Thank you. >> All right. Well, leave leave that up there, please, real quick. All right, I'm gonna go first this time because I'm not going to get stuck at the end. So, if if we look at these
paragraphs, this this is what I see. And it says, "The council or it members shall deal with city officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the city manager solely through the city manager.
and neither the council nor its members shall give orders to any such officer or employee either publicly or privately. It's pretty straightforward. Now what they did in my opinion on the second paragraph was says nothing in the
foregoing is to be construed to prohibit individual members of the council from closely scrutinizing by personal observation and questions to the city officers and employees all aspects of city government operations so as to obtain independent information to
assist the members in the formulation of sound policies to be considered by the council. The way that I read it is that you still have to go through the city manager. It does not put a mute button on you to ask
questions to staff. It's still in the respect guidelines to where you're going through the city manager with whatever problems you may have. And you may have it with let's say public works to where you got director speaks or any of his
employees with the city manager and you have your conversations or the city manager could say hey I understand what you're looking for go talk to Mr. Speaks and that's the end of it. I it still states that you solely go through the
city manager. So, if you say that they've got this right and then they defined it, it's still setting up that conversation through the city manager, and that's just my opinion. Go ahead, city attorney.
>> Thank you, mayor. I just uh want to make clear that generally when you see contractual or statutory language or charter language that says nothing in the foregoing, what that indicates is an exception to a general rule. So how I read the puna charter is that the
general rule is you can't do this except that you can't ask these questions based on the formulation of policy or however it is. The difference between putting Gorder and the city of Northport's charter is that nothing foregoing that exception to the general rule exists. So
I think it would be the reverse of what commissioner um Petro said is that it actually supports the legal opinion that was given that the um commission is not supposed to ask staff business related questions. Thank you. >> Thank you sir.
>> Can you repeat that sir uh in more lame terms? >> When when you see a charter provision? >> No in this specific example. a specific example or it could be in a contract or anywhere and it begins with nothing in
the foregoing which is how paragraph B that you put up on the screen shows what it shows is that that's an exception it mean it overrides something previously said >> so if this exception exist if this
paragraph existed in the Northport charter then it would support the argument that you can commissioners can speak with the city staff because it's not there. It supports the opposite. >> Okay. So, in short, you uphold my my
opinion or if you will or >> I I I I'm I I don't think I am. I'm saying I'm I I have the opposite reading of what you're saying. >> Okay. >> Which it doesn't support me. >> Okay. Commissioner Langden, you're next in the queue.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Everything that goes on here in Northport operates in a context. And one of the first things I did as a new
city commissioner is I took advantage of training that was available through the Florida League of Cities regarding one of the things they covered were the different forms of government that exist within the state of Florida. There are
many different forms and in some communities legislative and administrative responsibilities are combined in the commission or the council whatever term you want to use. But that's not the form we have. We have
a council or commission manager form of government. And I just want to share with you some descriptions from um from the FLC, Florida League of Cities, the Florida Municipal
Officials Manual. And here's what they say about the council manager form of government. This form parallels the organization of a business corporation. voters, stockholders, elected council, board of directors, including the mayor
ch. Well, in our case, we kind of uh we have our own policy for that, which is legal. Different communities can establish different operating rules for how how they work together. Um and and then the body elects the chief
administrator. The prevailing norms in the council or commission manager form of government are administrative competence and efficiency. Under the commission manager form, the manager is the chief
administrative officer of the city. The manager supervisors, supervises and coordinates departments, appoints and removes their directors, prepares the budget for the commission's consideration, and makes reports and
recommendations to the council. All department heads report to the manager um etc etc. It goes on to say the manager and through extension to his staff is expected to abstain from any
and all political involvement. That's us guys. Abstain from any political involvement. At the same time, council members and other political leaders are expected to refrain from intruding on the manager's
role as chief executive. Council members are expected to abstain from seeking to individually interfere in administrative matters. Now, our charter
says we're not allowed to make requests of staff. Why is it so difficult to interpret that to be requests for information, not our job to meddle in the operational
details of the city? Um, it's been said before, I've said it before. I have never had an issue talking to whomever I wanted to talk to in this city, but I do it through the proper channels. Period.
I have never felt that I did not have access or did not receive information that allowed me to make a good decision up here on the Deis. Now, you might not agree with my decision, but I had the
information I needed to make a solid decision. So, I would encourage my two fellow commissioners, if you've not taken advantage of some of that training,
please do it. We don't operate in a vacuum here. We we can establish our own norms. That That's absolutely true. We can modify if if we choose to um our charter. We're able to pass laws, but we
don't exist in a vacuum. So, take the time if you haven't to get that kind of training and to compare us to other communities that might have a different policy. They might have a different form of government
and you can't compare us to them. Um, and and I'll also say parathetically, I I have a number of friends in Panagorta and they complain to me all the time what a hot mess things are in Panagorta because of of how they operate
on on a daily basis. So, um I I I know Commissioner Pro, you're coming from a good place in this and I totally support and respect that you brought this to the commission for a public conversation and
and to let members of our community to comment and I applaud you for that. I feel compelled to say, Commissioner Duval, I believe you have a good heart. I know you are well-intentioned. I know that you take your
responsibilities as a commissioner seriously and I respect you for that. I I remember one of the earliest comments you made when you became a commissioner is that you were your own man and you
made your own decisions. But sir, respectfully, I I have to say to you, and this is not something I would normally say in public, but y'all have made it public. I believe you are being manipulated, and and other
people, public commenters have said, "There is another agenda operating here. I don't believe you share it, but before our city manager even got here, there
were people working to discredit him. So, we really need to think about that and call it for what it is. And commissioner, I know you have a good heart and you have a lot of really good
ideas, but please make sure you're being your your own man and and you're not being manipulated by an agenda that is destructive to this city. I don't believe that pertains to you, Commissioner Petro.
I've said enough. >> Commissioner Dval, >> thank you, Mayor. Uh, all I have to say is um, you know, I'm a senior too and we have our senior moments, but
but I never I never remember saying I am my old man, my own man. I do reme remember uh, Commissioner Stokes actually saying to me, you are your own man. Um but as far as being manipulated
um no I just do not you know I do listen you know to pros and cons you know I try to pay attention um but it is true that no one manipulates me. Uh,
the only manipulation that I have is in my conscience that says everything I'm trying to do is to benefit the citizens of this city that elected me. That's it.
>> That's it, sir. Okay. Uh, Commissioner Pro. >> Uh, yes. Uh, just a little bit to comment on. I was uh with my interaction with the city manager. uh he told me if I don't like the current description of
the charter, let's make change. Uh so that's where I'm coming from. I want to make change. I want to make change for the betterment of the city. Not to advance my agenda, not to advance my views, not to promote myself, but I think this ultimately and eventually
will benefit the city in greater and many many ways. And we might not look at this the way it is now. But we have to be careful what we wish for because you know after we pass on we go and somebody
else in the in the commission you know we have to make better for them uh as well. So I and with that thought in mind, let's let's make some change and let's put it up for the first uh step
that is in the process for putting up for the referendum question. And um if we don't have an appetite to do that, then I don't know what we can do. It just uh I I've tried to make my ch I've tried to take uh take initiative and
take to make a change. That's it. >> Commissioner Stokes. >> Yeah. I'm on this item. I mean, I'm I mean, I I would want to crystallize
the ask to uh to the charter review board. If it's to put together the language to change, we're not there. That's not their decision to make. That's our decision to make. But if what we want to do is ask them to look at
this issue and to whether or not they feel this is a item that should change in our charter and bring back some recommendations as to what they think. I'm sort of, you know, I I don't find a big problem with
that. What I do find a big problem with is two city commissioners who have said that they don't agree with the legal interpretation. So, they're not going to follow the law as it's presently written. I'm okay with wanting to talk
about and explore the possibilities of changing a charter. Hell, why wouldn't anybody be willing to talk about something that's constructive? But what I do have a problem with is anybody who's not going to follow the law as it is presently interpreted by our legal
council. None of us are lawyers. And if we do not listen to our subject matter professionals, and our lawyers are subject matter professionals, we're making a big mistake. Nobody was threatening you, Commissioner Petro.
What I'm trying to caution you on is I would hate to see you. You have a future in this city. you make a contribution. I would not want some employee to file a case against you because they feel put upon. You don't realize it because your
heart's pure. I get it. You don't mean any ill intent, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't received that way. Employees work for their supervisors who in turn work for their supervisors and their bosses. every big organization and I appreciate not
everybody has the benefit of having worked for large organizations where there is a chain of command again I will say it I've said it a hundred times I have never been denied access to information or staff all I had to do was
ask if I didn't want Jerome there I could say I'd really like to meet with somebody on their own he doesn't lord over us this this thousand and employees in our city are not living in fear of him. We have one of the bestrun cities
around if you ask me and again that's my opinion but nobody's threatening anybody. I'm trying to caution you that you are walking a slippery slope here and and if I felt you weren't you didn't
have the ability to to to to have access to the information you need. Hell, I don't know if you attend every single briefing and every single workshop and every single uh one onone, but my god,
we we have total access. All we have to do is follow a process to to get it. And it's not a problem. If if this is about I don't trust Jerome Fletcher. He's a liar. He's a bad guy. He should be gone.
Say it. Say it. Because that's what McDall is saying. That's what she's saying. Get rid of him. I didn't like him before he was here. I don't like him now. And anybody that stands alongside her or stands with them is saying that
and it is undermining to this city. Okay. The reality is we can talk about should our charter say different things. I'm all for that. But when two present commissioners are saying, "I'm not going to follow the law no matter what because I don't agree with it. I I I don't know
what to do with that. Why waste the time to ask our charter review board to do anything when the reality is if they come back and say, you know what, we kind of looked at this and like this form of government, this is the way it works. What are you going to say then?" Well, now I don't agree with four
lawyers and charter review board, so I'm still not going to follow these rules. So it I need some commitment either follow the rules the way they are now the way they've been interpreted until such time as they change or I'm not prepared really to want to support any
furtherance of this subject because again we've wasted well I wouldn't call waste we've spent all morning long talking about a subject that is not really the people's business the people's business is trying to run this
city in the best way we can do the best for the most. Find a way to pay for all the infrastructure challenges we have. Instead, we are caught up in a drama made of one iate excommissioner who has done nothing for the past four years but
try to get rid of this guy. And if it isn't obvious, I don't know where you've been. Cuz it's obvious to thousands of people, thousands of people, people who never even bring stuff up about the city have said to me, "What is her problem?
Why is she doing this? And why is everybody buying in or some people buying into this? It's just wrong. Show me where you're not getting what you need. If you tell me you don't trust the people, you don't trust senior management, you don't trust our senior
staff, our city manager, you don't trust them, that's a problem. That's a big problem. But if you're saying I don't have access, that's just not true. And it's misleading to say that. We are not a city that suppresses its citizens
or its commissioners or its staff. We are about as open and transparent as you could possibly be. I mean, more so than almost anyone else. I mean, look at the school board. Look at the county. Look at the state. I mean, are you kidding me?
And so, you know, with that again, without without some some comfort level that you two are going to support the interpretation of the charter as it exists, until such time as as it finds its way to a ballot and and and citizens
vote on this, this is years away. Okay. I got to feel like y'all aren't going to follow the law as it's interpreted. If you're not, then I'm not playing this game. I'm not. >> That is >> I yield. >> Okay. Uh, Vice Mayor Langden.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I I have to agree. Where does it stop? Um, I have a really hard time burdening the charter review board with something that,
let's say, they agree with our current interpretation and our legal interpretation from from what I'm hearing is two commissioners might very well reject their point of view
if They want to change it and recommend to us that we provide looser access between commissioner and staff. It needs to go out to referendum. City
clerk, what does a referendum cost these days? Between 80 and $100,000. If >> it goes on a general election, it doesn't cost us anything additional. If it goes on a special election, then it would be around $80,000 depending. Last year, it did not cost us much. 2028. >> Let's do general.
>> Yep. So, I I guess I have to concur with Commissioner Stokes. >> Painful. I'm I'm not inclined to support the request unless I hear a commitment on the part of two commissioners
that until our city charter may be changed that you will abide by the legal interpretation and the and the majority of your board members. If if you're not going to
publicly make that commitment, then I I'm not going to be supportive of sending this down to charter review for their review and recommendations. >> Got it.
>> Commissioner Pro. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh well first um I want to clear some misconception if there is any pertaining to my position. I never said that I will not follow the law. How many times I said I
will follow the law and when I was told numerous times at this agenda item discussion that I'm not willing to follow the law. That is not correct. Uh technically it's not correct. Well first of all this is not the law yet.
It's a an a legal opinion which you know like I said if we send it to the attorney general for a formal request and their opinion they might come back and say yes you can talk to the city employees without
without making um requests or ask them to do anything. So it's it's very you know you look at this from one angle I'm looking from the other angle. So I just want to be clear publicly at least do
not say that I'm not willing to follow the law because I numerous times in the previous agenda discussion I said I will follow the law. So uh with that in mind I can continue about uh other thoughts
that I have about the commitment ask um I said it in previous agenda item discussion that I'm not going to bend the rule if you will the rule that is placed by the employee policy that
directly affects the city commissioners. I'll just be quiet and probably not gonna attend as many events with the city or you know all these extracurricular if you will uh public appearances like do the right thing. I I
felt I I didn't come yesterday for the same reason that what can I talk how's how's your how's how's the weather um and I'm not saying that I'm being denied the information I'm saying that
you know to get independent view or just simple question I find it very ironic that we even talking about this item you know we should be allowed to converse with the city staff you I'm being put low below
the average citizen in the city. Any citizen in the city can come to any city employee and ask anything they want. Now me being a public official. I can't. I was told you cannot. I was
told you cannot. I was testing how much can I go? How much can I go? By the way, I never never overstepped the charter. never asked uh never told any employee to do anything for me or ask anything make request or ask them to do anything.
So if I did not violate it then I'm not planning to violate it in the future. But this issue has to be solved. I'm not going to be the first one. I'm not I'm not going to be the last one who brings
this up. But uh I just find it very very ironic that you know we we're not wasting or tying up the taxpayers money. This is the real issue we're talking about. This has to be solved. Um many cities face the same issue. I just told
you that this town of Surfside fired their city manager for exactly the same thing. And when you tell me no government municipality faces this um issue, that's not correct. I mean, there
are many municipalities that allow the city or city commissioners or council members to converse with the city employees or towns employees. many um I don't want to make the list
but if you ask for a commitment I've been committed to follow that policy I'm not going to create a drama I'm not going to put the employees into uncomfortable position not because I make them uncomfortable but because the policy makes them if they talk to me and
do not report they can get fired that's why they they they're not feeling comfortable talking to us but if you want to stay this Hey, how are you? How's your How's your family? Merry Christmas. I'm not going to be able to attend these
declaration declaration awards meetings and whatnot. All these extracurriculum because I'm being so shielded from conversation. I this is I'm almost exhausted about talking this talking about this subject.
If there's no appetite to move to the review for the city charter review board, that's fine. But I'm on the record that I did ask that. So, I have nothing to say. As a as a matter of
fact, uh no personal feelings, but I'm really really uh astonished. And that's the lack of description because I don't know what to say. I don't I don't even know what to say. If you think that there's only one
person that we can come for the information, which is fine as far as you know the chain of command, but if I want some just like commissioner Duval pointed out when he asked an opinion of the uh director of
public works and the city manager prevented him, I mean, how do you where's the transparency? I'm crying out loud. Where's transparency? Where's accountability? Where's all that? Uh I'm not taking part in that, you know,
whatever you call that petition mass or unhappy minority. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about being as a public official. Um I guess I'm done. I I want to make a motion, but um >> in due time, sir.
>> Thank you. >> Um just one second, Commissioner Langden. I'm glad in in the end of your speech that you said that you were willing to follow the policy because the policy is in place. The charter is in place and
that is our job at this time. And I'm just glad that you made sure that you stated the policy. But what befuddles me the most is is when you say you can't come to all these extracurricular activities, these awards
ceremonies, this that and the other. So my question to you is is the only thing on your mind is to talk to employees about business questions. You can't be cordial in an atmosphere to support the employees. >> No, if I can respond. No, mayor.
>> No, you can you can respond. No, it's just, you know, uh being uh very positive, encouraging, and that's said, I mean, it's fine to be part of those extracurricularum activities, if you will, but the feeling of being there, it's so
awkward because any question, hey, how did you get to to to that promotion? What what did you do extra? I mean, what was what was your path to do that? What's your passion? Uh where do you see yourself in five years? I can't ask those question. I shake the hand and I'm gone. I shake a hand and I'm gone. I
mean, >> those are personal questions, sir. You can ask those. But what you can't ask is just say, you know, hey, how do you train your K9? You know, I really want to know the basics on that. What are your secrets? >> No. If I ask, what is your aspiration to be in 10 years uh within the city? That
is a city business. I'm not alone. >> Oh, it's a personal business >> within the city. Well, you define it's personal. I define it as I abide by the policy. You're you're asking them day-to-day operations. That's basically the city business. You ask them about future plans or whatever. Those are
their desires. Th may make it, they may not make it. It's you you just apparently you just need to learn how to speak with individuals off of city business. That's all. >> Yeah. One example would be and I made
that on the October 28th meeting. A lot of there was some concern about vaping. Um so if I approach uh deputy chief or chief what is our vaping policy in uh city uh business uh city property that
question technically I cannot ask that question. I have to go to the city manager ask that question. He calls the deputy or chief. I mean t talking about efficiency talking what if they uh and the the main accident that they are
there and I'm asking about vaping policy I cannot ask them that question. I mean that's >> maybe not on the spur of the moment but you go like in your one-on- ones that you go and you say there >> city manager I would like to ask about the vaping policy and he'll probably say yeah next time you see Mr. Morales or
the chief, just go ahead and ask him. Or he'll say, "Let me get you that paperwork. Let me get it to you. I'll email it to you." To where you have all the black and white in front of you. It's you're still getting that information >> and then we're all copied. >> Yeah. But the problem is, you know, I'm being put below the access of a average
citizen that like I said, he can or she can come to any city employees, ask any questions. >> She's not an elected official. >> Yes. And I'm elected official. I'm not. >> And there's rules we must follow. >> I follow the rules. I follow the rules. And I've asked a couple questions. I was
told not to ask questions, so I don't ask questions. >> Okay. I'm going to move on to Commissioner Langden. She's in the queue. >> Um, thank you, Mayor. And and I was really tempted to just turn off my light
because I I know your your mind and your interpretation is is not going to be changed. But it I have to look at it from a practical point of view. As someone who's managed
teams of people for over 20 years, there are a lot of times where people on my team had very good recommendations and suggestions for what we might do about a particular topic.
But part of what senior management needs to do is to look at recommendations and a path forward when those recommendations are often competing with others
for resources and outcomes. So if if we run willy-nilly asking staff operational questions,
what assurance do we have that the information is correct or has been sort of vetted in the light of other things that need to happen or limited resources or potential
conflict with another, you know, how are we to know that? So, and let's just say you bring that information to the commission. I wasn't privy to that conversation. I didn't
have an opportunity to ask contextual questions so I could better understand where that employee is coming from or or how that recommendation works in light of others.
I just don't see what good can come from that. And based on some of your comments today and and a comment you made in one of our earlier meetings, I get that you are suspicious or don't
trust what you hear from official channels and you might feel the need to query other folks in the organization to see if you can get an opposing view.
I I just don't see what good can come from that. How do you know that the opposing view is valid relative to all the other things that are going on in the city and other priorities
that happens in the operational realm. But, you know, at this point, it's just so clear to me that further conversation is not worth it. I I'm really discouraged because because
I will share with you one of the things we share in common. I'm exhausted by this conversation as well. and and I think it's self-serving and com in commission naval gazing and and we have work to do
for the benefit of this community and I for one would like to get on with it. That's it. I'm done. >> Uh Commissioner Stokes. >> Yeah. Um, I mean, I just like to say, Commissioner Pro, you know,
I feel bad to hear you say that that your response and reaction to this is to withdraw and to not go to extra, as you call them, extracurricular
events. I mean, yesterday we honored a bunch of children who did the right thing, who who when they saw a problem or they saw a neighbor or a fellow student in need, they stepped up. They
epitomized what we all wish we could be all the time. to say that you're frustrated because of your supposedly inability to to to to gather information, you're going to exclude
yourself um even more than you already have. Is is it's disconcerting. I I I don't I don't mean to demean you for it. I I just would urge you to think about what you said and how
valuable to 95,000 citizens in this city, this staff is, this organization is, what we do as a city. We're not just your average run-of-the-mill
community anymore. We're a leader. We're nobody's red-headed stepchild. We are thought of in high regard by communities that have way more money than us, way more property value than us, but who realize that we're growing into our next
incarnation. And the things that we do extracurricular a as as commissioners are in fact part of our our resource and ability to understand what our citizens
at large are saying, how they feel. I wouldn't comment on whether vocal voices are the majority or the minority. At times they are, at times they aren't. But there's a silent majority out there. They get up, raise their kids, go to the
ball games, do whatever they got to do. our ability to go out and meet them on their own ground, to interface with them, to be there for their events, to honor and celebrate their children and their families is is part of our job in
being good commissioners and good representatives. It's not just to represent the loudest voices. It's not even to represent sometimes our own personal opinions, but rather what is truly in the best interest of our city. So, please don't do that. Consider it.
you know, um, take advantage of every tool you've got. If you haven't been, take advantage of it because it's there for all of us to make us better leaders and better representatives. But, you know, I I get we bring our baggage with
us. We come from backgrounds. We come from countries, we come from places where things are different and it and it molds who we are. But in this country, public servants are that they're here to serve the public. For the most part,
their hearts are in the right place. They're trying to do the right things. There's no need for that level of suspicion and suspect. That comes from people who feel marginalized themselves and they project that on everybody else.
Just think about it because we're here as a team to try to help our city move forward and I believe this is a distraction. I do. I believe the issue is an issue, but it's just one issue and it's
certainly not the highest priority in this city in my book. And I hate to see it pull us apart because it's it's definitely serving the interests of the chronic complainers out there who are just loving this controversy cuz
that's what they live for. Do you see them here? They're not here. They're busy playing quarterback, keyboard quarterback. They're at home already figuring out what they're going to say next to all of us. And they're going to attack me and they're going to attack Pete and every one of us here cuz that's
what they do. That's who they are. But they are not Northport. They don't represent the majority of this city. Majority of the city are wonderful, hardworking people get up every day trying to make ends meet. They expect their representatives to do their bloody
jobs for them. They don't want to know what's going on in every single department. They don't want to understand how everything works. They just want their lives to be good. They want us to represent them. That is representative form of government. It's not a democracy
and it's not a socialist country we live in. It's a capitalist system where everybody's out for themselves except those public servants who actually give of themselves to serve the public. That's what we're here for. And we make decisions in the best interests of the
most people knowing every bloody decision there's a group of people that are going to be dead set against it. But we do it because we believe it's right and we listen to all the people and we work with our subject matter experts. With all due respect, an hourly employee
does not have the insight and the perspective that a senior manager does or a city manager does. Nobody's preventing us from getting at anything. It just needs to be done in a proper format so it's under the sunshine so we all benefit from the same information
and that nobody feels put upon or puts themselves in a position to be attacked. That I don't want to see cuz I've seen too many people get attacked and hurt for something that they really didn't mean cuz their intentions were pure but they didn't follow the rules and the law
and they got themselves in a pickle over it. So that's all I got to say. >> Thank you, Commissioner Stokes. Well said. >> Uh, Commissioner Pro, >> I guess I'll conclude because we're going back and forth. Um, basically I
want to respond to a few things, but uh, the real thing the real thing that I'm concerned with uh, is we are a government entity and we have to be transparent. And if I want unbiased, unfiltered,
just regular information, regular day-to-day business information. By the way, uh I want to um I want to give a compliment to the city clerk. City clerk told that we can converse and ask whatever under her
department. And I've only used once because I've asked some question about public information, uh public record request. It's it's not going to be a chaos as somebody said, but the actual framework of
the day-to-day operation that we as a city commissioners in entitled to do the the job itself. Um it's just you know uh vice mayor keeps saying you know any corporation any private entity. The
problem is we're not private entity. We are >> the FLC. It's not me. Well, you reference FLC doesn't say that we are prohibited as commissioners to ask questions. Uh they don't say that. So
the form of government that we are in in this country is transparent or at least has to be transparent and I don't see that as far as baggage and that formed me this way and I don't trust uh yeah I don't trust the
government. Do you trust uh our federal government? Not on all levels. Certainly they do whatever they want, right? But we as voters, we try to do our due diligence and we see what's better for us. But saying that we have to trust the
government and we have to close our eyes and do whatever the government tells us. I mean that's where I came from. That's I don't want to go back to that form of government. Uh but uh as far as the information being vetted and properly
channeled to the city commissioners, I want unvetted information. If I want to ask informal question, I want that as a city commissioner. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with transparency? But I guess we can go on and on. I I'm
not an opposing view. Uh and I didn't mean that I will not attend. I said I'll consider because I I it feels awkward. Um but yeah it's I just um what you wanted to hear that will I
follow the law I'll follow the law and um I guess we have to wrap up this this agenda item but vetted and all that stuff you know because we transperate our views and that how it should be and the government that you know we we
looking maybe from our own individual view Let it be transparent. Let it be open. Let it be. We're not going to burden the staff by asking one question. We're not going to tell them what to do. The
charter forbids us to do that. The charter forbids us to make requests or ask them to do anything for the city commission on individual B. Uh and again, I repeat again and again, I never violated that. And the city uh uh
manager can concur to that or testify to that. >> That it >> city clerk, do we have any public comment? >> Yes. >> Cheryl Cook, I strongly oppose allowing this language to move forward for consideration by any advisory board of
non-elected volunteer citizens. This is not a minor clarification. It is a significant expansion of individual commissioner authority and carries operational, legal, and ethical risks that volunteer residents are not equipped to evaluate. First, the proposal alters relationships among the city's three charter officers, city manager, city attorney, and city clerk.
The 2018 charter revisions intentionally created three independent administrative authorities. It did not give individual commissioners, supervisory, or an investigative authority over staff, legal personnel, or the clerk's public records functions. Sending this to a citizen board invites interpretations that conflict with the charter
structure. Second, allowing individual commissioners to scrutinize staff across departments expose the city to risk, compromising attorney client privilege, interfering with the clerk's statutory neutrality, creating conflicting directives that undermine the city manager, and pressuring staff inappropriately. Volunteer boards lack
the training resources and legal background to assess these issues. Third, this language blurs the line between policy and administration. Commissioner set policy. They do not conduct investigations or intervene in daily operations. Unilateral authority to closely scrutinize employee risk. P
politicizing professional administration. Finally, submitting this to a volunteer board gives it unwarranted legitimacy. Decisions about administrative authority and staff oversight are matters of governance, not advisory housekeeping. Any change must be handled at the dis with legal review,
public input, and accountability from elected officials, not outsourced to volunteers. For those reasons, I urge you to stop this item from moving forward to a citizen advisory board and reject the language in full. Thank you. >> Was this former commissioner Cheryl Cook? >> Yes.
>> Oh, I just want a clarification. >> Sorry. >> Well, the name says Cheryl Cook. I cannot confirm who that came from. >> Tamara Rem. I support the charter board reviewing the charter with regards to communication of commissioners with city employees. I believe that commissioners
should be allowed to talk to employees directly to get information needed to determine how best to address items they are voting for on on for the city. If no communications are allowed without going through the city manager, then the city manager can totally control the narrative of what the commissioner is here. And no, that opens the city up to
one single person deciding how things will be done. That in my opinion gives way too much power to the city manager position. In person, I have Robin Sam Vicente and Joe Morgan. I think we've uh beat this to death. I >> think we made shoes out of it, too.
>> But I also I think you you have to respect Commissioner Duval's and Commissioner Pro's concerns and what they're trying to bring forth to the commission as a body. You can't just say it's not valid
for A, B, C, and D. They have genuine concerns and it could have all be settled if you just put it to the charter advisory board. In my mind, it's really just a clear interpretation of what's written and you can clean it up
with proper language. So there'd be none of this discussion. If you want the policy to take the lead, then clean up the charter language or vice versa. However you guys vote on it. But to put clear language in there is going to just
take care of this whole thing. And it's not just for this board, it's for future boards as well who have total different interpretations as this board. And it almost seems like you're chastising Commissioner Duval and
Commissioner Pro and and just beating it to death. They respect the charter. They're going to follow the charter because that's the way it's written and that's what they're guided under, but they would like somebody to really look
at the wording. So, it's a clear statement of what they can and cannot do without being totally setting a environment of uncomfortability. That's what's happening to me. It's very simple. Just send it to
the charter review advisory board. Just get get other people's opinion, not just a legal opinion. You got my opinion. I'm not a lawyer, but I have 10 years experience in that field. And I gave you a whole another interpretation. You have to consider it. What's the harm
in doing that? This conversation could have been over 20 minutes ago if we just did that. Thank you, >> Joan Morgan. I've been here 53 years and I've never gone to any meeting uh ribbon
cutting or any ceremony that I haven't come back home and had so many new opinions, so many great opportunities even though some of them I didn't really want to go to. Okay, but I learned things, okay? and to stay away. Oh my gosh, that's not what your your job is.
I mean, why do you want to be a commissioner if you're going to stay away? That's ridiculous. I do believe that if I gave a history uh quiz or whatever to some of you, you wouldn't pass it. Okay? And I'm sorry. You need to learn the history. Some of you know it, some of you uh don't know it. And
you need to learn the history. If I see a lot that's been cleared, I don't sit there and go, "Oh, I don't can't find out." Because, you know, I'm a commissioner and I don't know. Hey, I'm a citizen. You Google it. You look it up, you find out, you ask questions. In 53 years, I have never felt even as a
commissioner or a non-commissioner or whatever, I never felt stammeed. I never felt like I couldn't find out. I've never had a commissioner not be able to talk to me. And no rules were broken. I mean, there's there is a chain of command and
it's easy and it's not hard to follow. It's easy around here. Love Northport. Be part of it. Charter reviews are going to change. And I have no problem with that. I mean, you know, we always have to look at the charter. Um, but how many of you have
really read the charter? That's what I want to know. Okay. All right. Okay. uh and really understand it and really realize the reasons for it. We are not a bad city. We have a great city manager.
We have all of you that I do believe care, but we are not in in in in some kind of controlled atmosphere. Guys, this is not hard. These people, these employees are not scared. We've got a good system here. We're the third
boom city in the nation for Pete's sake. We were six when uh uh uh city manager took over. Now we're third. Obviously, he's done something great. Obviously, we've all done something great. Look at our Look at We're the ones they're
looking at. And we're sitting here constantly talking about something like this. We are not controlled. We are not that bad. We're good. Okay. And you'll always have a few non-contents and we know who some of them are.
>> Thank you. >> That's all. >> That's all. All right. Uh be looking for a motion. >> I have one. I move to ask the charter review advisory board to review and provide recommendations regarding potentially
revisit revising section 5.02 of the city charter. through a referendum question to incorporate language regarding commissioner communication with city staff. >> I second that.
>> We have a motion on the floor made by Commissioner Pro. City clerk, can you read that back, please? >> To task the charter review advisory board to review and provide recommendations regarding potentially revising section 5.02 of the city charter through a referendum question to incorporate language regarding
commissioner communication with city staff. And that was seconded by Commissioner Dval. Anything to that, Commissioners? >> Uh, yeah. >> Commissioner Stokes. >> Yeah. My only concern is it doesn't it it it doesn't it isn't asking the
charter review board to determine whether or not in their opinions any change should take place at all. It insinuates, the motion insinuates that commission is is requesting
charter review board to put together language to change the charter to allow interaction between commission and staff. So, I mean, I think we're putting the cart before the horse. I I
I mean the only the initial thing I I would want to know is does the charter review board even think that there's something broken here that needs fixing or are they good with the charter the way it is? Have they looked at comparable charters? Have they looked at
other cities? I mean I I am not supportive of asking them to put together language to change the charter because I'm not convinced the charter needs changing yet. No one's convinced me of that since, you know, I don't see something that's
broken. I I see commissioners who need to find their way and then I see some outsiders who are doing the best they can to undermine. So, I I got a problem with this motion as it's
written. Um, unless it changes, I I I I'm going to I can't support this. >> Okay. Uh, it's a change. >> Commissioner Dval, you're next. >> Thank you, Mayor. >> I really hesitate to speak.
I spent four years on our charter review board. And in my four years, I was the only member that stayed for two two-year terms for the total four years. I don't have to wonder
why that happened. For me, I carry a responsibility. I volunteered to do that and I followed through with it. For a lot of other people, they thought they were not being
listened to. What is the purpose of having a board, an advisory board if nobody wants to have them look at something? And this is a problem that has been
continuous. Just go back to the beginning of this meeting when the number of vacancies on advisory boards were announced. There's a reason for that. In my four years, not one recommendation
that the charter review board brought to the commission was accepted. And here we have a commission that's ready to say like, gee, let's not even bring it to him.
That's all I have to say. >> Commissioner Pro, >> we can make an amendment to the to make it more specific. >> We have a motion on the floor first, sir. >> Yes. But in relate in regards to what uh Commissioner Stokes said and either make an amendment or we can
have this vote and then see where it goes and make another. >> You want me to make an amendment now? >> It's up to you. You have the floor >> to incorporate the language that would allow commissioners to ask questions of the city employees.
>> We have an amendment made by Commissioner Petro, city clerk. Can you re replay that, please? >> To incorporate language to allow commissioners to ask questions of city employees. >> I'll second that. >> And we have a second by Commissioner
Dval. So, we're going to vote on the amendment first and that fails three to two. So, it is not amended. We will go to the original motion and vote as the original
motion was stated. Please vote. Oh, I hit the wrong button. There we go. And that fails three to two. Anything else? It's 11 or 11. Is 45 minutes long enough
for lunch for staff? City manager? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. We'll reconvene at 2:00 p.m. and we will There's a place in Northport that invites you to slow down to see, hear,
and feel the world around you. Inside the Garden of Five Senses is Boundless Adventures, a playground where every child can play, no matter their abilities. Just beyond the playground, the story stroll turns a simple walk into an interactive adventure.
Each step reveals a new page or activity sparking imagination, curiosity, and conversation. It's a walk, a story, and an adventure all in one beautiful setting.
The Garden of Five Senses, Boundless Adventures, and the story stroll, where every visit is a story waiting to be discovered. Residents may begin to see some changes taking place here at Fire Station 81 on Sumpter Boulevard. And here to tell us more about it is Deputy Chief Nick
Hurlehey. Thank you for being here. >> Thanks for having me, Madison. >> So, tell us about what's going to be going on at Station 81 in the coming months. So, in a few weeks, uh, we will see the station being torn down and the crews that normally respond out of this station are moving into the temporary fire station, which you can see in the
background, and our fire admin will be moving into city hall. >> So, it's being torn down completely and being built back up, right? Not being retrofitted. >> That's correct. The project started out as a remodel and our design was more to just add a little bit of square footage. The the building's not that old. was
built in '98, but after the hurricanes, we had to bring the building up to current code. Different codes existed in 1998. So, that process led to a cheaper option, which was to tear down and rebuild. >> Sure. So, is there a general timeline
for how long this project is going to take? >> Yeah, so the tearown should start in December. So, by the end of the year, it should be all flat ground. And then we are being told anywhere between 12 and 14 months before the new station is complete and ready for our crews to move back in.
>> Gotcha. Okay. So with a project like this, what does the cost look like and where are those funds coming from? >> So the majority of the funding is through Cirax. Uh the total project is around 17.5 million. >> So since a brand new building is being
built, what kind of improvements can be made by taking that route? >> So one of the biggest is we are a critical infrastructure building. So, our crews are expected to respond as soon as the storm clears. The new building will be rated up to a category 5 hurricane, and that meets the code for
our wind load this far inland because we we get a little bit less intense winds as we get away from the coast. >> Sure, that makes sense. So, we're coming up here on some beautiful trees. >> So, tell me about the plan for these. Are some of them sticking around? What
is your plan? >> Yeah, absolutely. So, one of the things we did very early in the project is we recognized that to the best that we could, we wanted to save as many trees as we could, but especially the mature oaks. Sure, >> they provide a lot of shade and they're beautiful and, you know, native to
Florida. So, we worked with the contractor to design the parking lot in a way that we could really maximize the ability to keep these trees. So, a large amount of these uh more mature oaks that you see that were standing under the nice shade canopy, we were able to keep a lot of these trees. some of the
smaller oak trees and some of the older palm trees uh we won't be able to keep. But we worked with the city arborist to ensure that you know we we did the best we could with how that design can be and found out that honestly some of the palm trees are at their end of life as is. >> Got it. Okay. Well, that's great. I know
a lot of the residents are going to really appreciate that as well. So, to cap it off, service is staying the same. Everyone's getting the the same level going forward. >> Yeah, Madison, you're right. So the crews that normally operate out of this fire station are just going to be a little ways down the road in the temp
station with a temporary apparatus bay. And all of our administrative staff from fire rescue are moving into city hall which is right down the street. And if you need anything from fire rescue, you can go in the front doors of city hall. Turn to your left where economic development just moved into and you'll see a friendly face from fire rescue
ready to help you out. >> That's great. Continuing to provide that exceptional customer service. So I really appreciate all the information, chief. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you for having me. The city wakes before you do. Quiet work already in motion. Work continues even after you've gone.
The way forward kept ready. Every step, every turn, prepared long before you arrive. Others begin theirs. Every hour, every act quietly connected. Most of us don't think about how our
city works. We drive on maintained roads. We call when there's an emergency. We assume someone's keeping it all running. And they are. Northport University gives residents a chance to step behind the scenes, to meet the people doing the work, to see how decisions are made, and to understand
how we, as a community, can be part of it. It's not just about learning the facts. It's about learning where you fit in and how you could shape the city we call home. Uh, the most surprising thing would probably be the opportunity to get taste, which is really cool, understanding how that feels. Would
recommend for everyone unless they have a heart condition. I think another thing would probably be how many people it takes to run everything >> is how well all the departments work together and how well each of the departments know about other
departments. So in the case of a big emergency, they already know what other departments are already supposed to do and they all work together. >> This is always a dance. There's always moving parts. There's always things that are that can impact a decision whether
it's state, local, federal, revenue, all these things come into play and it and it's just amazing all these things that of how how the city is impacted for the variety of things that can occur. I feel more confident in the city and the way it operates. I don't see wasteful
spending. I see a lot of uh proactive thinking way outside the box of what I thought a city does. >> Well, I was already in love with Northport. Um I think everyone knows that I got to meet the people who work here, their love for the community, how
hard it is to run a whole city, um the intricacies of it, and the why. It answers so many questions about the why things are done their way they're done. So it does it empowers you to love where you live more and to get more involved.
>> And I think the important message here is the confidence that I've really feel now of the people running each each of these departments. You know, they are running multi-million dollar businesses all separately but coming together with
tax dollars that that come through. And that is by far not an easy task. departments that we've been to seem to have improved with the growth in the city. So, the mere fact that we've grown such a major amount, department heads have grown, the staff has grown, the
offerings have grown, and the um need for involvement from the residents has also grown. >> I think parks and wreck really showed up and did an amazing job. They had a bunch of staff people. They kind of brought us around, had different speakers. I think they take the prize for the best uh
overall display. >> Places that I didn't think I would enjoy as much. Like I didn't think I'd enjoy public works as much as I did. I loved it. And it seemed to me that there were the more questions that were asked. >> The economic development council. I think that is just a again it all points
to uh live, work, and play within our community. >> I think there's a lot of misunderstanding out there about really how these departments work, how the city really works. And I think by offering a class like this, you get such an exposure to so many different departments and meet so many different
people. You can't help but want to be a part of it. If you plan on living here and living amongst the community and understanding the growth and understanding what we need, definitely join the Northport University. You're going to be pleasantly surprised. >> I would absolutely say do it because you
don't know until you know. And you can go online and you can read all these things, but a lot of it is the experience and sitting across from from whether it's the the chief of police, the the chief of fire, rescue, utilities, all these, you know,
administration, all these departments are absolutely you want to you meet the leaders. You can look into their eye and ask pertinent questions that are important to you. to understand of where they're at, where they're going, what are their constraints, and how we can be
as residents, try and give them the resources they need to provide the services that we're asking them to provide. >> I'm more in love with Northport than I've ever been. >> Hey, Brandon, what are you listening to? >> Just listen to my CPR playlist. What's on that?
>> Staying alive. >> I'm Zach. And this is Travis from Northcore Fire Rescue. And I'm Brandon. And this is Brett from the Northport Aquatic Center. >> Did you know a lot of the songs that you listen to on a daily basis follow the beats of CPR, 100 to 120 beats per
minute. >> CPR saves lives. >> Hey, Northport. I'm here with Ryan from our engineering division in public works and we're in an area that is experiencing some drainage concerns that were brought to us by some residents. So
Ryan, what are some things you do when you get onto a scene like this to see what the issue may be? >> First thing we do is we start at the bottom of the system, the outfall, how it connects into the uh canal. Then we start working our way up. We go through the cross drains, the culverts, the under drains, and we look at every way the water flows downward. And we look
for blockages uh sumped uh dirt pile up and even sometimes could potentially collapsed uh coverts underneath. And you got to remember, you can't report your uh water being an issue until we have 72 hours of no rainfall. And let's say it
rains on Tuesday and a couple days go by and that second day it rains again, you got to restart your 72 hours. We have to spend time of our water inside the system in order to clean it and in order to slow it down. Otherwise, we're going to end up washing out our neighbors below us. >> Absolutely. So, tell us about what's
happening here. >> Right here, we have a rather large uh blockage inside the system. This is clearly a um illegal dump of some sort uh a tree obviously, and this will slow down the water. If we could see on the north side of it, or north as in the
upper part of the uh drainage way, it's full of water. But when we look at our footage from down below, it's dry. So this is a huge point of collab collecting water. These systems really fail sometimes with like a a death by a thousand cuts. You get a um a sump here,
a collapsed uh covert pipe, a blockage like this, and it slowly adds up. That makes sense. So if anybody out there is seeing issues like this or experiencing it in your neighborhood, you're welcome to report it um through our Northreport system, which is at
northportfl.govnorthreport /northreports or you can give the public works customer service a call. In Northport, families are finding more and more places built just for them. We opened um this past June. We are an indoor play center for children ages 0
to 7. We do open play sessions, birthday parties, special events, and classes here at the play center. for me. Um, you know, being a Northport resident, there was really not a whole lot in Northport for children. Um, besides the local parks, so it was super important for me
to have something in the community to be able to offer to families with young children. You want to have that option to be able to still get out of the house with the kids, get their energy out, and not have to hike all the way up somewhere with traffic. and you can just go to a spot near you and just make
those special memories that are close to home. >> Playtime Paradise isn't the only new spot making Playtime local. Do the Beach is a immersive indoor adventure park. We are primarily an inflatablebased attraction. We have over 14 different ride attractions scattered throughout
the park. with growing young families pouring into Northport and growing the city, we just knew there was such a need for families to have an outlet and some some good entertainment, active entertainment for children. One of our core beliefs as a as a company is encouraging kids to get involved in
active and social play, getting them away from their screens and using their imaginations. >> From slides to inflatables, dance classes, birthday parties, Northport is growing and so are the options for young families right here at home. The community has welcomed us with open arms.
>> We are thrilled to be here. >> It shows families that there's a place for them um to grow as a young family in Northport. >> While you're watching me run away from this hurricane, you could be signing up for emergency alerts. Sign up at alertsacount.com
today. Welcome to the brand new Northport Podcast Network. We're so excited to introduce you to our revamped lineup of shows created to keep you connected, informed, and inspired about everything happening in our city. >> That's right. With three unique shows
under one network, there's something for everyone. >> First up is Northport. Now Madison and I will rotate hosting this fast-paced news-driven podcast to bring you the latest city updates, event previews, and important information all in one quick listen. >> Think of it as your weekly guide to
staying in the know about what's happening in Northport. >> Next, we have Northport Stories. Laura and I will share heartfelt and inspiring tales from around our community. stories that showcase the people, places, and moments that make our city special. >> And don't worry, Voices of Northport
isn't going anywhere. I'll continue bringing you even more personal stories and interviews with residents who shaped our city. And last, but not least, Northport Living. Cody and I will also rotate hosting this show, which is all about tips, events, and lifestyle ideas
to help you make the most of life right here in Northport. Whether you're looking for family-friendly activities, ways to get involved, or helpful home and garden tips, Northport Living has you covered. With breaking news, heartfelt stories, or practical tips, the Northport Podcast Network is your
go-to source for all things Northport. >> Make sure to subscribe to the Northport Podcast Network wherever you listen and join us as we celebrate and connect with our amazing community. >> Northport Now will be released bi-weekly. >> Northport Stories and Living will be monthly. A schedule will be available on
social media and our website. Hello everyone, Devon Pulis here, aquatics manager. Welcome to my crib. We have fun here at the crib. Programs included. Become a pass member. Play all year long. Payer at the crib. We do have
rules. We take all payments here at the crib. Apple Pay, Mastercard, Visa, cash. You pay right here to enjoy the crib. So, enter through the gate. Childproof, most adult proof.
Shade. What's that? Our newly installed sun shade available for rent all season long. Here at my crib, you don't have to worry about a place to find a seat. We've added more chairs than ever here at the crib. If you're coming to enjoy the
cribs and you got little ones, we got the perfect area for them. Our Pelican playground, newly painted, fresh floor, fresh palm tree. It's looking clean. Looking for a place to work your upper body? Take a shot at here at our
Stingray shuffle. Looking to relax? I got you covered here with our lazy river. Living more on the adventurous side. Check out the slides right behind me. Newly painted. All offer something
individual and unique. Check it out. Check out the main pool kept at a wonderful 84 degrees all year long. I just want you to have a good time. We have safety covered. Lifeguards here,
staffed all day, every day when we're open for you to enjoy. Concession is open. Pizza, pretzels, nachos, ice cream. We got it all. My crib is your crib. Looking forward to
seeing you here. >> Duty calls. Hello, my name is Jerome Fletcher, city manager of city of Northport. I'm at the Northport Aquatic Center. I'm on the job today. Let's go. Command, sir. >> Nice to see you.
>> All right. Thanks for having me today. >> Of course. We're going to go through our opening checklist for this morning to make sure that the facility is safe and operational. >> All right, sounds good. Let's do it. Before anything else, the team walks the entire area to make sure everything is clean and in good shape.
>> Our next part of our task is to make sure that our body of water is one clear. The water must remain clean. We must identify any possible materials that shouldn't be in the water. >> Then it was time to check the surge tanks. As you can see the glistening of the water down there, right? >> If the water is too deep and you hear a
rushing of water, that means that this needs to be filled before we can begin operations for this. >> Okay, >> it's part science, part intuition. At the relaxi river, Jesse showed me the digital checklist system, the hydro app. As soon as I click yes on this checklist that let's say the water is clear and I
do not identify that the water is cloudy or any sense that yes goes directly to my manager and lets them know that at this exact time I checked that water to make sure it was safe and clear. >> This technology being used at its best job. >> Now our rotations we have evolved to
having our lifeguards into a more of a roving position >> with the competition pool. We still maintain the chairs for the height eligibility. Um, but here we have to have a minimum of five lifeguards just to run this body of water. >> Wow.
>> And we actually have a lifeguard positioned in our catch pool over there to help our guests that are coming out of the slides at a barracuda tarp and twister. >> I've seen that person there. Then Jesse brought up something that most people might not think about. Pool skimming. >> Pool skimming is the sounds of the water
being properly flowed. So with those drains, all the water has to constantly filter throughout our pool at least three to four times a day. So not only is the water continuously being pumped in, continuously flowing out, being cleansed through our sand filters, then
being pumped back into the pool. It's a very long process, but it makes sure that the water stays the clear as possible. >> Then Jesse taught me about the zones. >> It helps maintain that their body of water is theirs to protect anybody that's in their zone. So lifeguard Brandon right now is actually scanning
red one zone. So red one zone is here. Any part of this body of water that reaches let's say all the way from those stairs to the bulkhead and to the side of the corner. This entire zone is his right now to make sure that they are staying healthy and hydrated. We do have
a 30 minute a rotation here for all of our lifeguards. And lifeguards are not meant to bypass more than one hour of continuous lifeguarding. So after every hour, the lifeguards must take either a visual break or an actual break. After
Jesse's walkthrough, I met up with Matt, one of the pool technicians responsible for keeping the water clean and safe every single day. He started by showing me how they test the water across the park. >> Got comp pool, lazy river, kids pool. >> Each sample is dropped into small disc and loaded into a device and in just
seconds it gives a full readout on the pool's chemistry. And before this little machine was created, this was a more of a manual model. >> Yeah. We um a lot of people will use tailored tests. So it involves like a little different chemicals. You would fill up a container and drop them in
like a certain amount and basically it'll calculate from there. Um what your pH and chlorine is. >> And this is the daily task. >> Yeah. This is what we do at the start of every day. >> Inside the control room, he fired up the valves that get the entire water park up and running. When we have everything
going, the water level will be back up, but since we're not running everything in the moment, it'll drop it down a couple inches. >> Next, he showed me the daily checklist for the part. >> Then we have our chemical data sheets. So, basically just making sure like that our comp pool, lazy river, kids pool are
all where they need to be, anywhere between two parts per million or 10 parts. And then pH is somewhere between 7.2 and 7.8 for a healthy pool. >> There you go. Then came the back washing and wasting process. Flushing the
filters to keep the water flowing freely or removing excess water from the system to keep the water levels balanced. >> And then it'll start coming out in this pit. >> So this this whole pit will fill in about 3 minutes. >> Really? Over there? >> Yep. >> Next, we changed out one of the strainer
baskets which help catch large debris before it can reach the pumps. >> I'll tra that one. Thank you. Then new one goes in just like that. And we usually let those dry out. I'll clean them later this week. >> Before joining the team in Northport, Matt worked as a lifeguard in Charlotte
County under Trish Sturgis, our assistant director of parks and recreation. >> So I've known Trish a very long time. So that definitely was one of the influences of wanting to come work at the aquatic center. Had me go out for an AFO course recently, which is aquatic facility operator course. basically
anything and everything relating to a facility like water chemistry, safety rules, that this and that. So, I went there. I just passed that class. So, that's a little little bit of knowledge under my belt. It was definitely useful. >> Well, Matt, we're we're grateful for
your time and your experience and all you put into your career here and congratulations on your certification and you do amazing job here at sir. >> Thank you for joining me today at the Northport Aquatic Center. It's a great facility. I want to thank director Sandy Funheller, assistant director Trish Sturgis. I have learned so much amazing
things today. I would like to say that the technical expertise that goes to keep the water safe as well as the people safe is an amazing combination. See you on the next job. Thanks for being here. >> Hey, city of Northport. My name is Sandra Budro. I am with AECOM and I'm
representing the city of Northport on this glorious Price Boulevard project. We are here on Price Boulevard at the Blue Ridge Waterway in which we are building the box culvert. Um, as we've talked in the past, we're doing a double barrel box culvert here and we are
currently pouring the second wall of the structure. That wall's got to cure. The concrete has to cure and then we can strip form. So, it does take some time for the walls to cure and then for us to start building the top. After that, we're going to build uh the earthwork
and then the roadway. So, at this point, we are currently early on in the process. If you want further updates, you're going to go to the Price Boulevard web page. Hello, I'm Jerome Fletcher, city manager of Northport. I'm on the job with the solid waste division of public works.
Let's go. Make yourself at home. >> Oh, I love the duck. Look at that. Yes. >> That got passed down through a few co-workers and then now it's it's ended up in this truck. So, I was like, I want to keep it. So, Well, well, maybe it's
for the uh two-time driver of the year. How about that? >> Yeah. >> Wow. Congratulations. >> I appreciate it. >> Yeah. Two. You You only been here for two years, right? >> Two and a half now. So, >> all right. >> Recognition is nice. But what he really values is the simplicity of the work.
Meet Cole Sigley, a solid waste driver for the city of Northport. >> You can put me on the same truck and same route, leave me alone for 30 years, and I'll be it'll be done. You don't have to worry. You don't have to worry about it, >> right? It's very low stress. Let me do my job. Yep. >> I'll do it right. Come back tomorrow.
>> Yep. And then you go on to your next route and then you just keep doing that and then eventually the weekend comes. You enjoy the weekend right back to it. >> Right. That's that's how life should be. >> It's a career he planned for early on right after high school. >> I went and got my CDL after I graduated high school and my goal is to get here
eventually. So >> All right. >> So I sound like a man with a plan. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, we appreciate it. We appreciate everything you guys do. He even shared a little bit about where he grew up. Far from the Florida heat >> because we we're from West Virginia. >> Okay. What what part of West Virginia?
>> Uh so it's north central. So like Clarksburg. It's about 40 minutes from Morgantown, which is where the university and the schools are and all that stuff. >> I've been to Wheeling, West Virginia a couple times up in the mountain. >> Yeah. >> I I I'm going to tell you, driving up those streets when the streets are like
really narrow. >> Uhhuh. >> And you got to wind up those. I was like, "Oh my." And I was young. And I was like 23. >> Yeah. >> And I was like, man, this is going to be a problem. >> There are some of those mountain roads where it's just we like to call them kiss your butt turns where you're
sneaking through >> and then you got to do that in the winter when it's icy on the road. >> I don't even want to think about it. I don't even want to think about it. >> No, I'll take this over that up there. >> Any day. >> And when the talk turns to hobbies, the trucks don't stop at work. In his spare time, it's all about monster trucks and RC cars.
>> Nice little basketball court right there. My son would like that outside of our house. >> Oh, yeah. >> That's nice. >> Your place to run your little RC trucks, too, >> right? Oh, yeah. >> I got a bunch of those. I like that. >> Do you? >> Yeah. >> Oh, man. Do you have the gas powered ones? >> I have the electric. I don't have the
gas powered. I've seen them. >> I I just want like the ones that go fast. >> Yeah, it could be electric or gas, but how fast can yours go? >> I have So, I have a couple that can go 40 plus. >> Oh, yeah. >> So, they're the brushless motors. So, >> you go race them somewhere like on the track? No, I just race around my yard.
They're monster trucks, so they you just take those things anywhere >> and they can jump over anything. >> Oh, yeah. >> Right. >> I rip them through the sand and the grass and hit big jumps with them. I break them more than I do plates. >> You take a big jump, you're like, "All right, let's do this." And then you land it and it's like boom, it's done. You just broke the wheel offer.
>> But when the work day starts, the focus shifts to keeping the city running smoothly. Every collection has a plan. And behind the scenes, people like Mario Vaniti, planner and scheduler for the city, help make sure it all runs like clockwork. >> So, basically, I'll And I will check them one by one.
>> Right. Do you really? >> Oh, yeah. I'll get out at every one and I'll check I might take a section and do like three or four streets, >> right? >> For the entire city. >> Yeah. So, here we have contamination, our first tote, >> right? >> We have yard waste which does not belong in there,
>> right? and we're going to end up tagging this and they're not going to collect it because of that. >> Okay. But but as I'm familiar with, you write on there exactly what the problem is. >> I can check off there's a spot for yard waste on there that doesn't belong in there and I'll show you that. >> The goal isn't punishment. It's
education. Making sure residents know what belongs in the bin and what doesn't. >> So here we have these are um it's a recycling notice. It's not a violation. It's not it's just a warning. It's just saying that you know oops you had in here that didn't belong. >> Right.
>> So, I'll date this. Today's the 24th. And there's a spot on here. We noticed your recycle container that had something that didn't belong. And there's a spot for yard waste. >> Right. >> Any kind of branches, trees, plants, anything like that does not belong in there. It's not recyclable. The
collection center won't take it. So, basically, I just leave this notice on top of the lid like this. >> Leave it closed. Like that. yard waste and that's it. And the driver knows not to collect this. >> And if there's ever confusion, there's
even an app that takes out the guess work. >> So the recycle coach app, it's easy. You just put in your street, your zip code, and it will it will notify you the day before on your phone. You get a notification say, "Hey, tomorrow's your trash day." And you put the tan lid out.
>> It'll give you notifications so you can't mess it up. I like that. From drivers to planters, each role shows the same thing. Pride in their work and pride in serving the community. >> I do the best I can for y'all. Learned a lot today. Had a great experience with the gentleman from solid waste division
of public works. What I learned today was that we have a lot of programs I don't think citizens are aware of to take advantage of. Whether it's cardboard collection, whether it's tote cleaning, or also just the fact that we have one gentleman, Mr. Mario who goes out through the entire city making sure that we recycle properly. Please make
sure that we recycle properly so that we can get the best most efficient use of our solid waste throughout the entire city. It was great to be here today and thank you for tuning in. See you on the next job. There's a place in Northport that invites you to slow down to see, hear,
and feel the world around you. Inside the Garden of Five Senses is Boundless Adventures, a playground where every child can play, no matter their abilities. Just beyond the playground, the story stroll turns a simple walk into an interactive adventure.
Each step reveals a new page or activity sparking imagination, curiosity, and conversation. It's a walk, a story, and an adventure all in one beautiful setting.
The Garden of Five Senses, Boundless Adventures, and the story stroll where every visit is a story waiting to be discovered. Residents may begin to see some changes taking place here at Fire Station 81 on Sumpter Boulevard. And here to tell us more about it is Deputy Chief Nick
Hurlehey. Thank you for being here. >> Thanks for having me, Madison. So tell us about what's going to be going on at station 81 in the coming months. >> So in a few weeks uh we will see the station being torn down and the crews that normally respond out of this station are moving into the temporary fire station which you can see in the
background and our fire admin will be moving into city hall. >> So it's being torn down completely and being built back up, right? Not being retrofitted. >> That's correct. The project started out as a remodel and our design was more to just add a little bit of square footage. The the building's not that old. It was
built in '98, but after the hurricanes, we had to bring the building up to current code. Different codes existed in 1998. So, that process led to a cheaper option, which was to tear down and rebuild. >> Sure. So, is there a general timeline
for how long this project is going to take? >> Yeah. So, the tearown should start in December. So, by the end of the year, it should be all flat ground. And then we're being told anywhere between 12 and 14 months before the new station is complete and ready for our crews to move back in.
>> Gotcha. Okay. So with a project like this, what does the cost look like and where are those funds coming from? >> So the majority of the funding is through SIRAX. Uh the total project is around 17.5 million. >> So since a brand new building is being
built, what kind of improvements can be made by taking that route? >> So one of the biggest is we are a critical infrastructure building. So, our crews are expected to respond as soon as the storm clears. The new building will be rated up to a category 5 hurricane, and that meets the code for
our wind load this far inland because we we get a little bit less intense winds as we get away from the coast. >> Sure, that makes sense. So, we're coming up here on some beautiful trees. >> So, tell me about the plan for these. Are some of them sticking around? What
is your plan? >> Yeah, absolutely. So, one of the things we did very early in the project is we recognized that to the best that we could, we wanted to save as many trees as we could, but especially the mature oaks. Sure. >> They provide a lot of shade and they're beautiful and, you know, native to
Florida. So, we worked with the contractor to design the parking lot in a way that we could really maximize the ability to keep these trees. So, a large amount of these uh more mature oaks that you see that were standing under the nice shade canopy, we were able to keep a lot of these trees. some of the
smaller oak trees and some of the older palm trees uh we won't be able to keep. But we worked with the city arborist to ensure that you know we we did the best we could with how that design can be and found out that honestly some of the palm trees are at their end of life as is. >> Got it. Okay. Well, that's great. I know
a lot of the residents are going to really appreciate that as well. So, to cap it off, service is staying the same. Everyone's getting the the same level going forward. >> Yeah, Madison, you're right. So, the crews that normally operate out of this fire station are just going to be a little ways down the road in the temp
station with a temporary apparatus bay. And all of our administrative staff from Fire Rescue are moving into city hall, which is right down the street. And if you need anything from Fire Rescue, you can go in the front doors of City Hall, turn to your left where Economic Development just moved into, and you'll see a friendly face from Fire Rescue
ready to help you out. >> That's great. Continuing to provide that exceptional customer service. So, I really appreciate all the information, Chief. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having me. The city wakes before you do. Quiet work already in motion. Work continues even after you've gone.
the way forward kept Ready. Every step, every turn, prepared long before you arrive. When your day ends, others begin theirs. Every hour, every act quietly connected. Most of us don't think about how our
city works. We drive on maintained roads. We call when there's an emergency. We assume someone's keeping it all running. And they are. Northport University gives residents a chance to step behind the scenes to meet the people doing the work to see how decisions are made and to understand how
we as a community can be part of it. It's not just about learning the facts. It's about learning where you fit in and how you could shape the city we call home. Uh the most surprising thing would probably be the opportunity to get taste which is really cool. Understanding how
that feels. Would recommend for everyone unless they have a heart condition. I think another thing would probably be how many people it takes to run everything >> is how well all the departments work together and how well each of the departments know about other
departments. So in the case of a big emergency, they already know what other departments are already supposed to do and they all work together. >> This is always a dance. There's always moving parts. There's always things that are that can impact a decision whether
it's state, local, federal, revenue, all these things come into play and it and it's just amazing all these things that of how how the city is impacted for the variety of things that can occur. >> I feel more confident in the city in the way it operates. I don't see wasteful
spending. I see a lot of uh proactive thinking way outside the box of what I thought a city does. >> Well, I was already in love with Northport. Um I think everyone knows that I got to meet the people who work here, their love for the community, how
hard it is to run a whole city, um the intricacies of it, and the why. It answers so many questions about the why things are done their way they're done. So it does it empowers you to love where you live more and to get more involved.
>> And I think the important message here is the confidence that I've really feel now of the people running each each of these departments. You know, they are running multi-million dollar businesses all separately but coming together with
tax dollars that that come through. And that is by far not an easy task. departments that we've been to seem to have improved with the growth in the city. So, the mere fact that we've grown such a major amount, department heads have grown, the staff has grown, the
offerings have grown, and the um need for involvement from the residents has also grown. >> I think parks and wreck really showed up and did an amazing job. They had a bunch of staff people. They kind of brought us around, had different speakers. I think they take the prize for the best uh
overall display. >> Places that I didn't think I would enjoy as much. Like I didn't think I'd enjoy public works as much as I did. I loved it. And it seemed to me that there were the more questions that were asked. >> The economic development council. I think that is just a again it all points
to uh live, work, and play within our community. >> I think there's a lot of misunderstanding out there about really how these departments work, how the city really works. And I think by offering a class like this, you get such an exposure to so many different departments and meet so many different
people. You can't help but want to be a part of it. If you plan on living here and living amongst the community and understanding the growth and understanding what we need, definitely join the Northport University. You're going to be pleasantly surprised. >> I would absolutely say do it because you
don't know until you know. And you can go online and you can read all these things, but a lot of it is the experience and sitting across from from whether it's the the chief of police, the the chief of fire, rescue, utilities, all these, you know,
administration, all these departments are absolutely you want to you meet the leaders. You can look into their eye and ask pertinent questions that are important to you. to understand of where they're at, where they're going, what are their constraints, and how we can be
as residents, try and give them the resources they need to provide the services that we're asking them to provide. >> I'm more in love with Northport than I've ever been. >> Hey, Brandon, what are you listening to? >> Just listen to my CPR playlist. What's on that?
>> Staying alive. >> I'm Zach. And this is Travis from Northport Fire Rescue. >> And I'm Brandon. And this is Brett from the Northport Aquatic Center. >> Did you know a lot of the songs that you listen to on a daily basis follow the beats of CPR? 100 to 120 beats per
minute. >> CPR saves lives. >> Hey, Northport. I'm here with Ryan from our engineering division in public works and we're in an area that is experiencing some drainage concerns that were brought to us by some residents. So
Ryan, what are some things you do when you get onto a scene like this to see what the issue may be? >> First thing we do is we start at the bottom of the system, the outfall, how it connects into the uh canal. Then we start working our way up. We go through the cross drains, the culverts, the under drains, and we look at every way the water flows downward. And we look
for blockages, uh sumped uh dirt pile up, and even sometimes potentially collapsed, uh coverts underneath. And you got to remember, you can't report your uh water being an issue until we have 72 hours of no rainfall. And let's say it rains on Tuesday and a couple
days go by and that second day it rains again, you got to restart your 72 hours. We have to spend time of our water inside the system in order to clean it and in order to slow it down. Otherwise, we're going to end up washing out our neighbors below us. >> Absolutely. So, tell us about what's happening here.
>> Right here, we have a rather large uh blockage inside the system. This is clearly a um illegal dump of some sort, uh a tree obviously, and this will slow down the water. If we could see on the north side of it, or north as in the upper part of the drainage way, it's
full of water. But when we look at our footage from down below, it's dry. So this is a huge point of collab collecting water. These systems really fail sometimes with like a a death by a thousand cuts. You get a um a sump here, a collapsed uh culvert pipe, a blockage
like this, and it slowly adds up. That makes sense. So if anybody out there is seeing issues like this or experiencing it in your neighborhood, you're welcome to report it um through our Northreport system, which is at northportfl.govnorthport, /northreports or you can give the public works
customer service a call. In Northport, families are finding more and more places built just for them. We opened um this past June. We are an indoor play center for children ages 0 to 7. We do open play sessions, birthday
parties, special events, and classes here at the play center. for me. Um, you know, being a Northport resident, there was really not a whole lot in Northport for children. Um, besides the local parks, so it was super important for me to have something in the community to be
able to offer to families with young children. You want to have that option to be able to still get out of the house with the kids, get their energy out, and not have to hike all the way up somewhere with traffic. and you can just go to a spot near you and just make
those special memories that are close to home. >> Playtime Paradise isn't the only new spot making Playtime local. Do the Beach is a immersive indoor adventure park. We are primarily an inflatablebased attraction. We have over 14 different ride attractions scattered throughout
the park. With growing young families pouring into Northport and growing the city, we just knew there was such a need for families to have an outlet and some some good entertainment, active entertainment for children. One of our core beliefs as a as a company is encouraging kids to get involved in
active and social play, getting them away from their screens and using their imaginations. From slides to inflatables, dance classes, birthday parties, Northport is growing and so are the options for young families right here at home. The community has welcomed us with open arms.
>> We are thrilled to be here. >> It shows families that there's a place for them um to grow as a young family in Northport. While you're watching me run away from this hurricane, you could be signing up for emergency alerts. Sign up at alertsacount.com
today. Welcome to the brand new Northport Podcast Network. We're so excited to introduce you to our revamped lineup of shows created to keep you connected, informed, and inspired about everything happening in our city. >> That's right. With three unique shows
under one network, there's something for everyone. >> First up is Northport. Now, Madison and I will rotate hosting this fast-paced news-driven podcast to bring you the latest city updates, event previews, and important information, all in one quick listen. >> Think of it as your weekly guide to
staying in the know about what's happening in Northport. >> Next, we have Northport Stories. Laura and I will share heartfelt and inspiring tales from around our community. Stories that showcase the people, places, and moments that make our city special. And
don't worry, Voices of Northport isn't going anywhere. I'll continue bringing you even more personal stories and interviews with residents who shaped our city. And last but not least, Northport Living. Cody and I will also rotate hosting this show, which is all about tips, events,
>> by Commissioner Langden and seconded by or Vice Mayor Langden, sorry. And >> that's a while >> and Commissioner Stokes. anything to that. Please vote and that passes 5 to zero. My apology,
city manager, I forgot all about that. So, we'll be doing item E 25-29 D- 25- 2920 discussion and possible action regarding the adoption of the Northport,
Florida Parks and Recreation Master Plan Final Report. City manager, this is your item, sir. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, I will turn it over to Trish Sturgis, our assistant parks and rec director, to lead the conversation. Thank you. Good afternoon. Hope you all had a great
lunch. Trish Sturgis for the record. Um, so we brought back a little while ago that introduction and we are now in the final stages and uh, GI Consultants is here with us today. But just to let you know before um, that the parks and wreck advisory board action item is also
attached for their recommendation to commission on behalf of this presentation. So, I'd like to introduce Christy Kborn and Amy Zangotita to come on down and walk you guys through this. >> Thank you.
>> Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having us back. We're really um excited to be here at the culmination of the parks and recreation master plan and give you the um final presentation. My name is Kristen Kborn. I'm the director of parks and public spaces at GI Consultants and I have with me Amy
Zengita who um is one of our planning managers. So I am going to run through the presentation. A lot of the front part of the presentation is a um overap of where we've been in the past. I'm going to go through that very quickly. A lot of it's the same content that was
given the last time I was here to give a presentation just to be cognizant of everybody's time. By all means, if there's any questions at the end, I'm more than happy to talk through any of it. So, the overview and the parks today is the part that I'm going to go very quickly through and then I'm going to get to the new stuff, which are the
opportunities, the vision, and the toolkit for implementating for implementing the parks and recreation master plan. As Miss Sturgis mentioned when she introduced us, u the parks and recreation advisory committee has recommended adoption to city commission for your consideration. Part of the
reason why that's important is that the city um parks and recreation department is CAPA accredited and one of the requirements of Kappa accreditation is to have an adopted parks and recreation master plan. So that's really essentially why we're here today. It also gives you leverage in applying for
grants in the future because you have an adopted plan um that's going to create the blueprint for future. Um also want to mention that just because it's adopted doesn't mean that every single thing has to be followed to um the letter. It is meant to be a guiding document and a vision for implementation
into the future. Um that provides a blueprint of priorities based on what we heard through the public input process of the plan. It is meant to be a living document and we look forward to you all working with it and implement implementing it over the next five years for short-term and um 10 years for the
long-term recommendations. So, one of the things that I wanted to start off by talking about is reminding everyone about the city strategy, which really we found to be quite influential in the parks and recreation master planning process because what we heard from your
public through the public input process really enforced what the city has talked about in their strategic plan, which is quality of life, environmental resilience and sustainability, smart growth management, as well as looking at your infrastructure and facilities and how they are going to move into the
future. So, we were able to reinforce that through the parks and recreation master planning process and really helps to preserve the city of within a park character that you see in Northport that makes it very unique for the for your residents who live here every day.
So, the uh the process we did the overview of the parks today which was um looking and documenting the inventory of all of your parks. We talk to the public about the different opportunities. Um, your parks and recreation department does a fantastic job of offering a huge
diverse amount of programs and facilities to your public. Um, so when we got to talk to the public about what they wanted, what they wanted to see u moving into the future, there was a lot of compliments from the public on the availability of programs, the availability of facilities in the city.
Um we also looked specifically at youth sports and how the growth um in Northport is going to influence the demand in the future as well as ecoourism and all that culminates with the part of the presentation that is new from the last time I was here which is
the vision and toolkit for implementing the plan. So um an overview of the park system to date. Um a couple things to call out on the map. Um the area over here on the west, this is primarily the Wellen Park area. Um this is the heart of the city.
You can see that the city has um a lot of parks in the existing western part of the city and then you've got two on the east side and then some gaps, geographic gaps in the middle of the city. And that's part of what we use um as we're moving through the planning process. Um
just a quick update on your parks. You've got 29 completed sites and two that are currently under development. That's Bokeh Chica and the Circle of Honor. And then one that's in the master planning phase, which is Italy Avenue Park. And I will dive into Italy deeper later on in the presentation. Um we had
a specific focus on Italy Avenue through our public input process so we could um hear what people wanted to see at the the newest park to come in the city. So all that breaks down to three community parks, one in the master planning phase. Eight neighborhood parks. Neighborhood parks are the type of parks that people
walk to after school, after work that are close to home. They're smaller in acreage. 13 special use facilities plus one in development. Two greenways, one open space property, and two conservation properties. So, looking at the neighborhood park
level service, um this map, um I'm just going to hit a couple of the highlights associated with it. Um your residential areas are the yellow areas. So, the darker yellow are um existing rooftops in the city. This is where people are currently living. Where there are
lighter yellows, these are areas of the city that are zoned for residential, but they have yet to be developed. So, we take that into consideration when we are looking at neighborhood parks because we want to have parks where people actually live. So, when you're looking at the
service area of a neighborhood park in Northport, we have um we're showing kind of this turquoise blue service area and that is about a half a mile or a 10-minute walk. So you can see that there's a lot of areas in the in the city of Northport currently that um where people are living where they don't
have walk to half mile service for neighborhood parks. When you move to community parks, these are larger parks. Um this service area is looking at a three mile radius. The idea is that community parks are larger and generally have facilities that people would expect
to drive through. Your pool, your community centers, ball fields for games and tournaments. So you can see that you've got um better coverage within three miles of each of um the residential areas. And we'll talk about when we get to the recommendations at the end what the impact is to fill some
of those areas that are um without parks within the driving distance and walking distance. So moving into visioning, this is where we got to talk to the public about what we wanted to do. We had um different ways of talking to the public. We had a statistically valid survey, open link
survey, a series of public workshops, and some focus groups as well as working with the parks and recreation advisory board through the process. So, a summary of what we heard from the public. Um, people really want to be able to walk to their parks. They want to be able to walk from their front doorsteps to their parks. They also wanted to be able to
walk between parks. So, connectivity and trails were very important. Accessibility and equity. This goes to the distribution of parks throughout the city. people really want to be able to get to them easily. Um, as well as no matter where they live, they have equal
access to the same types of facilities as their other um, Northport residents. Sun relief. This seems obvious. We live in Florida. Um, today is a beautiful day where people might not mind walking a little bit further to a park, but um, having the ability to get relief from the sun through shade. This could be
natural shade like addition of trees. It could also be shade pavilions, picnic areas, but then also longer park hours. This is something that is really important because this time of year it's quite dark at 5:30 and 6:00 at night. And we want people to be able to recreate in their local neighborhood
parks when it's dark at our nicest time of the year, which is um certainly the months that we're in now through like March, Aprilish. um in programming and recreation amenities looking at how additional unique and active recreation amenities can be created throughout the city as
well as additional programming. We heard specifically on a focus on senior um senior focused and nature-based programming was an area for improvement. And then finally, ecoourism. Really capitalizing on the great access to nature that people have, not only
currently within the city, but directly adjacent to the city and the ability to offer additional marketing so more residents know what's available right in their backyard. So the programming needs and opportunities summarize um to senior focused activities, teen focused,
growing your science, technology, engineering and math type focused programs as well as additional naturebased um and part of being able to implement those additional programming is going to require additional space and that's where the Italy Avenue um community center, the future Italy
Avenue Park further on the east side of the city is going to play a a critical role. We also did a youth sports demand analysis and this was looking at the forecasted population growth along with the amount of reservations that you all
are currently not able to accommodate based on um the existing fields that you have. So about 19% of your house family households are currently engaged in youth sports. In 2024, we're looking at
an increase of about 3,300 new family households with children who will engage in organized sports. Um, and then that would translate to facility expansion of 34 new uh sports related facilities in about the next 20 years. So, 19 sports
courts. Um, this translates to your pickle ball, basketball, tennis. Um, the highest unmet need that we heard about through the public input process was actually outdoor volleyball. But what those sport courts look like would depend on as you're expanding your park system, what the neighbors um around
those parks would like to see. Eight diamond fields, those are the types of fields where softball, baseball um could be played. Softball um just to note was preferred over baseball. Part of the reason for that is a softball field has a skinned infield. That means that the
infield is all made of clay. There's no grass. So the baselines are able to be flexible. So, if you have smaller kids who are playing coach pitch or te-ball, you can pull the baseline in and not have the obstruction of grass. Um, if it's starting to get up to a little bit
older, you can push the you can push the baselines out. And then seven rectangular fields, those are multi-use fields for things like soccer, football across. Looking at ecoourism, um the on this map, the heavy black line are is the
current city limits of Northport. Um, and I love this. I actually really love this because it's hard to create nature in a builtout community and you all have a lot of nature here in Northport. Um especially given that this is primarily a residential community. Um these green
areas might not all be under city um ownership, which is totally fine. This is a lot of opportunity for um your residents to be able to recreate and experience nature, whether it be walking, hiking, um bird watching, anything like that. And then certainly some of the um some of these green areas
and these ecoourism opportunities are within the are within city um property. So also looking adjacent the entire um you've got a lot of green area that wraps around the entire north area of the city as well as on your east and
west side. Um a lot of opportunities for partnerships to provide programs and to market opportunities. And then what a lot of people would really hope for is to have two state parks within 10 miles of the city boundaries. So we recognize that 10 mile drive if it's at five
o'clock um might be challenging when you're leaving the city boundaries, but this is really a unique opportunity to experience some of Florida's best natural areas very close to the city. Uh note on this map, if you're looking at it, um the reason why we have an
irregular polygon around the city is we actually run these um we actually run these 10 mile distances from the actual shape of the city boundaries. So where we indent a little bit right here, it's because your city boundaries are indenting. So this is a true 10mi radius
on this map. Some of the other recommendations that came out of your ecoourism study that we um dive into is using warm mineral springs. When the city took that over um it really offers a unique history, a unique Florida experience right here in
Northport, but using that as a hub of environmental information for the city. And that ties to the last bullet, which is the new park sustainability manager. One person could make a very large difference in the ability to get the word out to go out and talk with the
state, talk to the other natural the ownership of the other natural areas to um expand your go green with parks initiative to build programs to build opportunities. The city doesn't have to do anything do everything, excuse me, but having the ability of a staff person
to be able to focus on growing this program will really make um a big difference. Beyond that, looking at strategic um acquisitions of conservation lands. Again, we're not making more of it. So, protecting wildlife habitat inclu including water quality and supporting the recreational
uses that are light touch recreation such as bird walking, hiking, that type of thing. So, what is the vision for Northport Parks and Recreation? This is where I'm really going to start to slow down because this is um information that hadn't been presented publicly in a
commission meeting yet. So part of the master plan um and creating the vision is taking all of the public input that we heard and creating guiding principles. Guiding principles are a way to organize all of the information. We are very diligent through the public
input process to make sure that we read every comment that comes through and what we do with that is we group them into guiding principles that will be the framework for all of the recommendations. We want to make sure that everybody who took their personal time to participate in the process is
heard and that we are making sure that we're creating guiding principles that are meaningful moving forward. We also look at land acquisition and how we can fill those areas of the city that don't have a park within either a half mile or a three mile radius. We've created some
park type standards to get at the equity question that people wanted to have equal access to parks. And then we come up all of this how much is it going to cost with a capital improvement plan. So the result in Northport is you have five guiding principles. Each one of them has
recommendations specifically tied to it. That is providing for today. This is taking care of your residents that are currently living here that currently are living, working, and playing in Northport. What are their needs and bringing everybody who's currently here up to a level of service to be expected?
Planning for the future. you have growth coming in Northport. Um, so how does how is the parks and recreation department keeping up with that growth? Enhancing overall user experiences, whether this be your programs or in your parks, connecting people to parks through trails and safe access, and then
expanding access to nature. So looking at land acquisition, this is the same map that we were looking at earlier. Um again the dark yellow are where people currently live and the lighter yellow are where um you have zoned residential property. So expanding
park access um we have prioritized this in the capital improvement plan. So we have um instead of just saying go out and find land in all of these areas. We've put together a strategy that prioritizes filling one mile gaps first. So after you've filled one mile gaps
going back and being able to fill halfmile gaps. Um, and this really creates a map. We don't intentionally ever look at a center spot. Um, this gives the city direction on areas of where to look for land, um, vacant land
that might be available, looking at willing sellers, but the idea is that anywhere in these areas is going to help target and fill gaps. We're not looking at any specific parcels as part of that. That's really important. Um, looking at community parks, there's four identified
areas with a three- mile a uh radius, including one in the um Wellen Park areas. And these community parks also serve neighborhood park needs. So, in the recommendations, if you're fortunate enough to live within a half mile of a community park, you're going to be able
to expect to see in the future your neighborhood park needs being taken care of in a community park. So, uh, just a couple quick notes on Wellen Park. Wellen Park, um, has been a partner with the city on the parks and
recreation master plan, and they were, um, very helpful in helping us think through the area that's going to be Wellon Park. It's a very different pattern of development from the rest of um, from the rest of Northport. Um, there it's mixed use. You've got your commercial areas and your schools and
your residential areas um, all combined. So, it's looking at bringing in 22,000 more homes and about 60,000 new residents. So, we wanted to make sure that as Wellen Park is coming online that they're uh these new residents needs are going to be are going to be met.
So, uh the city already has the post annexation agreement which is um 15 acres for sports facilities. What we have recommended as part of this process is to reallocate that as a 10acre a new tacre community park as well as a 5 acre
neighborhood park and then in addition a multi-use tournament complex to ne meet the needs from the youth sports demand analysis. So u multi-use tournament complexes have um typically an economic development part of um part of them. In
other words, you'll see teams traveling from around the area, around the region to come and play games there and in turn they're eating lunch at the local restaurants um and being able to contribute back to the community. So, our Well and Park recommendation for the
multi-use permanent tournament complex is above the reallocation of their 15 acres from the post annexation agreement. So, next I'm going to talk about park type standards. We've created two different park type standards in
Northport. It's important to note that not every neighborhood park is going to look exactly like this graphic. This is just for illustrative purposes to show um the relationship of space and why we're recommending at least 2 acres. When you get smaller than 2 acres,
you're going to sacrifice something. And the thing that's typically sacrificed is green space. And green space is one of the most important parts of a park, especially in a neighborhood park where people can just have room to stretch out. They can throw a throw a disc
around or, you know, just hang out with their friends, lay out in the sun, read a book, just unprogrammed space that feels like there's areas for people to um just enjoy the park. So obviously not every park is going to have um water or be fortunate enough to be adjacent to
water, but if there is looking at water access. Some of the other things that I want to call out specifically are looking at safe crossings. So having sidewalks going to the park as well as crosswalks to the park entrance that helps reduce
vehicle and pedestrian conflicts. Again, we're looking at people being able to walk to these parks and part of that is having safe pedestrian areas. We are also accommodating with picnic areas, walking loops. Walking loops get back to that people really want to be able to get outside and walk for exercise. You
can see on our walking loop here, we're showing trees along the way. Again, tying back to the need for shade, um lighting when appropriate to create a unique um user experience, playgrounds, and then of course always accommodating ADA requirements. One of the notes that
I want to make on these park equity standards is as you dive into each of the recommendations for each specific park, which I'm not going to go through this afternoon, um all of your existing parks, if they're missing any of these components to have a basic baseline
neighborhood park in Northport, we're recommending that you go back and add the components. So, if there's not a playground, if there's not a walking trail, we do have recommendations for adding that. So no matter where you live in Northport, if you're going to your local neighborhood park, you can expect
at least the same basic type of amenities to be provided. That doesn't mean that in the future if you've got a larger acreage neighborhood park that's approaching 9 or 10 acres that you might not have additional things in here. That ties back to creating unique user experiences. That's wonderful, but we
want to have a baseline based on public input of what people really want to do in Northport at all of your neighborhood parks. So, um, community park. This graphic, um, is a little bit misleading because this is showing a very small community
park. Um, and it shows it shows a quad of of fields. Again, we've got the skinned infield here that we talked about. There's no grass on the infield. This allows for the flexible baseline, but we still have all of the neighborhood park amenities built into this. We've still got the walking
trails, the play areas, the shade pavilions. Um, again, 10 acres is on the smaller side for a community park. So, the the ball fields take up a lot of room, but that's why we're suggesting a minimum of 10 acres, so you have room for other things besides the ball fields. So, this also in a community
park adds back in the lighted sports courts and the lighted fields, having some larger pavilions available for teams who might be um, you know, at halftime or after the game to have their juice and their oranges to be able to gather. Um, we've also added in a
restroom building. Restroom is not necessarily automatic in a neighborhood park. If it's an area where the neighborhood really would like to have a restroom, that's up to the the city's um consideration based on the neighborhood needs and demands. But in a community park, we are recommending it obviously because you're larger and you've got
sports fields. So, Italy Avenue Park, your new um parkland that you have acquired on the eastern part of the city. Um, part of what we did with Italy Avenue Park is we had um our parks, our public meetings,
we sent out a postcard to everybody who lived within, I believe it was a mile, a mile of Italy Avenue to invite them specifically come talk to us about their park, their um new park development in their neighborhood. And what came out of that was um what we call the program statement. And the program statement are
the amenities that the public indicated they'd like to be able to have um in the future park. And that included nature trails, a community center, rectangular youth fields, um potentially synthetic. Um but rectangle again looks at soccer, football, and lacrosse playground, um
dog park, and then support amenities like your parking and your picnic pavilions. So I'm going to zoom in on each section. So when you're when you're coming in the San Mateo property, coming into the park and crossing in, we've we've cut this in
half to make it more readable. So the left hand side is the north part of the park and the right hand side is the south part part of the park. So coming in, if you go around the roundabout and you go to the north side of the property, you're looking at a lot of your neighborhood park type amenities.
We've got the walking trails. We've um done a nice job of based on looking at the aerial of the site as well as working with our um biologist who was working with us on the ecoourism plan of interpreting just in the general area of where the existing wetland is on site so
we could um so we could preserve it. Now with that said once the park moves into design tree survey wetland lines all of that you know this is just concept level based on an aerial. Some of this may tweak a little bit, but we wanted to make sure that we're planning for really
conserving the environmental features on the site. So, keeping the existing wetland, there's a really nice tree canopy right in this area. So, we've um weaved some walking trails through that. So, you have the opportunity for a walk through nature and then we're pulling in
the other neighborhood park amenities. Um we've got the sports courts here. We're showing basketball. Um we've got a dog park, lots of pavilions, lots of walking areas. Then when you um come through, if you take the roundabout and you go south, you would get to the new
community center. Some nice open space associated with the community center. So if you're running summer camps, you've got room for the kids to run outside and be able to play around. Um, we've got parking integrated and then we've got the four rectangle fields that we um that we talked about to help fill some
of the youth sports demand needs. One thing that I forgot to mention is that we are showing a walking trail coming from the north part of the site running along the canal that connects to Atwater Park. So, we know people really want to be able to go between existing parks and this pres pro provides a nice
opportunity to connect Italy Avenue to Atwater which is on the north side. So, looking at the community center, um, when you break down all of the needs for the programming and all the spaces and add in the storage and all that, we're
looking at about a 35,000 ft building. And our architecture partner, Waker Jensen Architects, on this did put together a just a floor plan diagram that helped us with cost estimating for this for this project. So, we're looking
at a double gym with an elevated track for walking above it. Um, we know people wanted to be able to walk in Northport. Nobody wants a walk in Florida in July and August. So, this provides a nice aironditioned opportunity to do some walking um indoors as well as a locker
room storage. We've got great uh multi-purpose center space that can be used for parties, for rentals, for performances. Um, we've got group fitness, little rock climbing area, a media lab, small cafe, restrooms and
storage, maker space, and then a senior social area that could also be subdivided into additional rooms. So, that's how the 35,000 square ft approximately breaks down for diagrammatic purposes. So, all of this gets us to the capital
improvement plan. Again, the capital improvement plan is a very large Excel spreadsheet that is appendix to the plan. Um, it we have broken everything down in short, mid and long-term. And the idea is that parks and recreation master plans have an interim update
every 5 years. So, after the short and midterm, go back to the public, you celebrate your accomplishments. What have you created that came as one of the short and midterm accomplishments from the last master plan? and then test these priorities. Anything that didn't
get accomplished, are they still priorities? Where do they fall in in short, mid, and long term? And then the long term, looking at um do we need to pull some of these forward based on what we're hearing from the public. So, we do a really a really thoughtful job of
making sure that we're splitting things up over years to um like for instance, Italy Avenue. When we dive into that a little bit more, you'll see that we move through the planning and design of that in in one time frame and then it moves into the construction and by the time
you open it, you are a few years out. So, we try and organize things into that. So, when we're looking at short-term, what we've done is we've looked at park and facility improvements. These are your existing parks and we have a breakdown at what um
each one of those in the spreadsheet are the what each of these sites and how the recommendations are both to bring them up to a park equity standard that we had talked about the minimum service in Northport and then we have other projects that are not necessarily tied to a specific site that you currently
have um which is for instance a pavilion replacement plan replacing all the pavilions throughout the throughout the entire city system a sports report resurfacing and fencing replacement replacement schedule. Again, that's systemwide. And then bringing in the land acquisition. So looking at land
acquisition short, mid, and long-term. Going back to the map and where the targeted areas are to fill some of your park gaps that you have right now, geographic gaps. So two community parks and three neighborhood parks. Looking at a systemwide trail map and signage
associated with it because people want to be able to get to their get to their parks. So having that at the pedestrian level and then a safe route to parks plan. So your shortterm over the next two fiscal years is $10 million.
Midterm again list of park and facility enhancements. And this is where you start to see the park design and engineering coming in. That is having city center front green as well as Italy Avenue Park moving into design and engineering permitting. All that stuff
takes takes a little bit of time. and then your other projects continuing on with some of the um ongoing systemwides as well as some other land acquisition and looking at a trail master plan. So midterm which is the 3 to 5 years uh 26
million and then long-term this is 5 years plus again this is the period of time where you would run a new um update interim update on the parks and recreation master plan celebrate your successes so far and talk to the public about what the priorities still are. So,
we're now bringing in the park construction of the city centerfront green as well as Italy Avenue Park and War Mineral Springs and then continuing on with your other citywide projects as well as um land acquisition. This is a larger number and part of the reason why
is because these are um Italy Avenue Park is quite expensive in and of itself to build with the new community center and all of all of that. So, about $72 million on that. So part of the plan as we move into implementation is looking at funding
sources, opportunities and recommendations. So some of the options are alternative alternative financing mechanisms like bonds, dedicated millage rates, um looking at enhanced agreements, looking working with your developers, requiring land land
dedication as part of new developments coming in to fill some of these gaps for um where you have park deserts in the city. bringing in new residents. Let's serve their park needs. Um looking at impact fee structures. Um making sure that when you all get impact fees that
you're spending impact fees. That's very important to keeping up with growth. Um and and but you've got the recommendations now on how to um how to fund some of the growth that's going to be coming into Northport as part of this for the um expanded capacity required based on new residents that's coming in.
um expanding user fees, looking at dynamic pricing, expanded programming, bundled memberships, that type of thing. And then expansion of interlocal agreements, continuing to work with your schools, the county, the state to have um to have opportunities for your
residents to work cooperatively and go to um parks and other facilities, other public facilities in the vicinity. As part of that, we work with RMPK funding. They're a grant specialist here in Florida. Um there is a grant strategy
that's part of the appendix to the to the plan. When you go through it, you can see they took this capital improvement plan and they compiled a list of all of the grants that the projects that were identified in the CIP would be eligible for. So it creates
what we call grant stacking opportunities. And we have an example of one here um for the city of Claremont that uh GI that we happen to work with RMPK on for Victory Point Park up in Central Florida where through grant stacking you can see the list of grants
here where one grant is serving as the required match for another grant. So it minimizes the amount of matches that in this case Claremont was outlaying and that we were able to secure about $2.6 million in funding by utilizing this.
So, we have two specific projects, Cityfront Center Green, and Italy Avenue in the plan that have a grant grant stacking strategy in there um that the city can start looking at um an approach to working through those two to those
projects. And that's the end of my presentation. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. That was very good and thorough. I I appreciated the one-on-one too when you all gave it to us and that was great. Uh, city manager, you did hear the city center front green. That's
where I got that information from. So, just thought I'd >> Thank you, sir, because we were wondering, but I I didn't imagine it. It was part of this plan. >> Thank you, sir. >> All right, commissioners, questions, statements, comments, anything.
Okay, Barb, go ahead. Vice Mayor, >> I I just really want to commend the planning team. This is an incredible plan. Um, and I can hardly wait to see it start coming into fruition. Um, a
couple thoughts. Uh, and and I think some members of staff have heard some of these before, but you pointed out the incredible number of conservation areas, not just within the city, but also
surrounding the the city. And I would love to see us work more closely with the owners of those properties to open those properties up more for ecoourism opportunities. Orange hammock is is the
top of my list. That is a beautiful property. My understanding of its current usage is sort of informal hunting. I'd rather see um some additional and other ecoourism opportunities in that um
property and because my belief is the best way to protect our environmental plan is to open it up appropriately for community usage because then the desire to keep that when people really
experience it. the community would fight any attempt to try to build a huge parking lot. >> They fall in love with it. We want them to fall in love with it. Yes. >> Exactly. Exactly. Um, one of the things I'm not sure about, I've been very
involved in talking with staff in the community on economic development opportunities out there. And I know that we have dramatically expanded our activity center 6 and developed a
new activity center 10. Um I I believe that some of that reszoning has reduced the number of single family homes um which in my experience tend to have
more children in them um than apartment buildings or condo buildings. So, I just want to make sure as we're programming or determining what kind of park facilities we have out east that we're
really clear on what the demographics of that growth is going to look like. Um, so that we have the right number of playing fields, we have the right number of walking areas, etc., etc. Um,
I also want to make sure because of the higher intensity development with activities six and 10, um, I want us to be thoughtful as as we acquire properties. And I'm going to have the exact same request of our natural
resources division um manager in this request also is that we be sensitive to that area and make sure we have some relief from that intense development and that we're positioning the right
environmental areas and the right types of parks to support that type of development. Uh I was very happy to see that source of funding that we will put the uh strong
arm on our developers. I think that particularly our larger projects, our developers really need to play a part um in having green space and parks as part of their development as appropriate. And
I'll make the same request of parks and wreck that I will make of our natural resources division as we're developing our property acquisition plans for parks and re and environmental land that we're
doing that in a coordinated way um so that we're leveraging the investments of both parks and and conservation. So again, thank you very much for a wonderful plan particularly Italy. have. I'm really looking forward to see seeing
how that plays out. It sounds wonderful. >> Commissioner Dval, >> thank you, Mayor. Um, thank you for the presentation. Thank you for the, you know, the one-on-one as mayor mentioned. Um,
as Commissioner Langden just mentioned, Italy Avenue, where is that in like the timeline? Um, that's a park that I can see people driving
from the center of the city to get to. >> U, I'd like to see, you know, we don't have the money to do everything all at once. Uh but in priorities, I'd really like to see that uh put near the top.
>> Yep. So that um is shown the the midterm to start the design and engineering. It's the single largest project in your CIP. So it's um 35,000 square feet of community center is is a lot is very expensive. Um, so it's the, you know,
the currently the way it is is in the CIP is you start in midterm, but that's why this is meant to be a living and breathing document. If the city identifies the funding to bring it forward faster, I'm sure that the residents around there would be thrilled.
>> Yes. Um, like I've said a number of times lately, you know, SMH, the hospital was the biggest thing to happen to Northport. Um, this park
can be one of the biggest stars. >> That's it. >> Well, thank you, sir. >> If I can just um address real quick your um about this park, we will bring back I I believe the city manager is bringing
back all the CIP in January sometime um to have that discussion citywide on projects. And so we would look for input on prioritizing if that is the will of commission to prioritize Italy Avenue um on the park project list
>> and that's an unfunded CIP conversation that we sort of have talked about over the past few months. >> Well, maybe it'll get some funding after we get done chatting. >> Multiple. >> Nobody else. City clerk, do we have any public comment?
>> We do not. >> All right. I'll entertain a motion. >> Again, >> get with it. >> We only have one person that is not staff out in the audience, so how could you forget that?
>> Okay, I want to thank you too for the great presentation. Can you imagine doing that? Wow, I'd be tongue tied. Okay. Um, and it's a great it's great since this morning all your blood pressures went down just listening to this. don't they? I mean truly what a
great thing because what do parks do? They unify us. And what do we need to do as a commission as a city right now? We need to get back to unification big time after this morning. And this is great. Parks bring that bring calmness. They achieve anything. Our slogan, man oh
man, do parks mean that. Uh parks make us happy. Parks keep us together. And we are so unbelievably I don't even want anyone to know it, but we are so blessed to have the leadership that we have in our parks and recreation department. And
I don't want the others to know it because they'll be after them because I mean we just we really do. Look at the festival. Look at all the happy people. Look at the parade. Look at the decorations out here. Something that's different. In my day, it was all tennis. Now it's pickle ball. In my day, it was
baseball. Now it's all soccer, but walking trails is definitely becoming more and more of a thing. We're all anxious to see the circle of honor, which is something that we work for for a long time. Warm Mineral Springs, we don't I don't think any of us realize
how important that is to the world. Okay. I think more people in the world know about War Middle Springs than some people in Northport do. But that is a money maker. And it's not because downtown Northport supports it as much as the world does. And that is
definitely an important part. The aquatic center, you're saying that the the new the new recreation center might be a highlight. Well, hey, that aquatic center is now. And the leadership and the programs and we don't know how many kids lives we've saved by the swimming
lessons. You have no I we'll never know. But we are saving lives from that. Um God bless our parks and wreck because let me tell you something, folks. That is the one thing we never ever ever ever ever can do without. We need the parks and wrecks, okay, to keep our blood
pressure down. >> Take care. >> Thank you, Miss Bar Morgan. >> Is that it? City clerk, are you sure? >> Okay. I will entertain a motion. >> I'll make it. >> Go ahead, Commissioner. >> I move to approve the parks and
recreation master plan final report as presented. >> Second. We have a motion on the floor by Commissioner Dval to approve the parks and recreation master plan final report as presented. That was seconded by Vice Mayor Langden. Anything to that commissioners?
Please vote. And that passes five to zero. >> Great job. Thank you very much. >> Thank you all so much. And thank you to the Northport residents for participating in the process. Happy holidays, everyone. Thank you. You, too. >> All right, we're going back in time again here. Let me find my spot.
>> I get so confused. All right, we're under item six, public hearings. Second reading, ordinance number 2025-34. Um, Miss FA, do you want to read this? >> Ordinance number 2025-34, an ordinance of the city of Northport,
Florida, amending the non-district budget and capital improvement budget for fiscal year 2025-2026 for additional funding for the emergency operations center project F24EC in the amount of $1,685,15 providing for findings, providing for
posting, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing an effective date. >> Thank you. Commission questions, discussions. Oh, buddy. Do we have any public com Oh, there we go. I thought you had hit something. I'm sorry. It just didn't
come up quick enough. Commissioner, >> um, basically this is a second reading. Pretty much we all agreed on it last time, and I really don't think that anything has changed too much other than we're all a little bit older.
Uh, so >> I say let's get it on. >> All right. Any public comment? City cl. >> I'll entertain a motion, sir. >> I'll make it. >> Go ahead. >> I move to adopt ordinance number 2025-34
as presented. >> Second. We have a motion on the floor made by Vice Mayor Langden to adopt ordinance number 2025-34 as presented and seconded by, I believe, Commissioner Stokes. Yes.
Anything to that? Please vote. And that passes 5 to zero. Okay. Moving on to ordinance number 2025-35. Um, city clerk. Ordinance number 2025-35, an ordinance of the city of Northport,
Florida, amending water and wastewater capacity fees, amending the code of the city of Northport, Florida, section 78-30, providing for findings, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, providing for codification, and providing an effective date. >> Thank you, comm uh same manager. This is your item.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh this is the second reading. There were no edits or changes from the first reading. So, we recommend that you adopt ordinance number 202535 as presented. Thank you, sir. Anything commissioners,
>> Commissioner Deval? >> Um, in regards to this ditto to the last one, I'm ready to move on. >> Okay. City clerk, you get any public comment? >> There is not. >> Okay. You sure?
>> I'll entertain a motion. >> I'll make it. >> Okay. >> I move to adopt ordinance number 2025-35 as presented. >> Second. I have a motion on the floor to adopt ordinance number 2025-35
as presented. Made by Commissioner Dval, seconded by Commissioner Stokes. Anything to that? If not, please vote. And that passes five to zero. Moving on to resolution 2025-R87.
City clerk, can you read this, please? Resolution number 2025-R87, a resolution of the city commission of the city of Northport, Florida, electing the use of the uniform method of collecting non-advelorum assessments for more than one year levied on certain real property in the city of Northport,
Florida to fund costs incurred by the city each year and providing municipal services related to the abatement of nuisance conditions as contemplated by chapter 42 of the code of the city of Northport, Florida, which services may include, but are not limited to eliminating excessive growth of grass
and nuisance weeds on developed lots and removal of hazardous trees and accumulation of debris on any lot stating a need for such levy providing for the mailing of this resolution providing for incorporation of recitals providing for conflicts providing for severability and providing an effective date.
>> City manager, this is your item. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh this agenda item will be led by our development services director, Miss Elena Ray. Thank you, ma'am. >> Good afternoon. Um so we have talked several times over
the last year about code enforcement and the um issues that we have with abatement, lack of funding, um difficulty collecting leans. Historically, our lean collection has only been about 30%. We have a significant amount of money sitting out
there in leans um from costs that the city has incurred in contractor fees, administrative costs. Um I did work with our previous city attorney to um get with outside counsel to talk with
them. We we initiated a legal request through them based on our conversations with the commission about an unimproved lot program. And uh we talked through that. The outside legal council did some research. We hit a little bit of a snag because uh
Northport's unique, we all know. And because of our pre-platted nature where we have so much land and so many lots that are not in close proximity to um developed lots, we would not be able to
assess everything the same. So there would have to be tiers created and it would would require a study to be done uh for a special assessment. That process is is lengthy. It's costly. We we estimate that it would um cost
probably a couple of hundred,000 to get that going. Um and it would take some time. We'd have to go through the RFP process and and get that done. The outside attorney did suggest a method for us to um recover
a lot of our costs, administrative and hard contractor costs. And that's through the special assessment lean program, the uniform method of of collection going through the tax collector. We have a huge number of leans somewhere in the
neighborhood of almost 1300 outstanding leans for code enforcement. Um that's that's a lot. It's a huge number. Um to give you an idea to put that into perspective, we could pay about seven or
eight years of all operating costs for code enforcement with the money that is outstanding in leans. Currently, we have no proactive method that we use to collect those leans
through the special um collection uh method. We would we can't take all of the leans back um all from as old as we have them, but we can take the last three years to um a special assessment
role and forward those to the tax collector and they are then put on the next year's uh tax bill. If they don't pay it, it goes to a tax lean or tax bill um foreclosure just like any other tax bill. Um over the
last three years, we've uh we have about $3 million in outstanding leans. That's over uh three years worth of operating expenses for our code enforcement division. And that's when we're fully staffed and are actually using all of
our personnel costs. Um, so being able to collect leans in a in a proactive method like this would be a real benefit for collecting that uh those hard costs. These aren't just um imaginary costs.
These are costs that the city has paid out of the general fund to uh mow grass, pick up debris, take down hazardous trees, those types of things. Um we are also um going to be meeting with the
city attorney's office. They reached out to me um just this week about some other methods that we could perhaps use um to collect leans besides just this primarily our older leans. As I said, doing this through the uniform method,
we can only go back a certain number of years, but we have a lot of leans that are uh 10 years old and they're they're literally just sitting there. Uh some of these homes have been abandoned. People are still paying taxes. The the tax bill that comes out every year, but the house
itself is abandoned. We have dozens of homes where we have repeated leans for mowing every year. I mean, we're mowing multiple times a year. Um we have homes where we have roofs caving in. The
owners have abandoned the house. they're not taking care of it, but they've just left it there and they're continuing to pay the the taxes. So, this would be a way for us to recover some of that general fund money. The commission, of course, since it is general fund, it's
unrestricted, it could go towards code enforcement or it could go to any other priority that the the commission has, but it is general fund money that was spent um for these properties. uh there is a requirement that if we want to use this method for the next
year, so for next November's uh tax bill, this resolution, which is simply a notification that we plan to use it, this notification has to be approved by December 31st of this year. There will
be in order for us to actually use it, there will be an accompanying ordinance that will come to you. We were going to put it on today's agenda, but due to the length of today's agenda, um, we decided to move that to January. We can adopt that ordinance at any time. It doesn't
have to be at the same time this is adopted, but that will be coming to you for first reading. We've got it set up for January. And I am happy to answer any questions that you might have. >> Well, first off, I want to say bless you for not adding that today.
questions. Commission, >> anything? >> Of course you do. >> Of course I do. >> Quite a while ago. >> He beat you, Commissioner. >> I'm so sorry, Commissioner. >> Go ahead.
>> I can't even say age before beauty. I just wanted to thank you, Miss Lennon, because I know we have talked long and hard about what to do about these unimproved lots and all the rest. And this seems to be a very logical way to do it and um you know get us a good
chunk of money. If we can come up with some you know ways of going after the old, so much the better and you know that should certainly beat success and all the all the lot owners and some of the other ideas we had. You know, like everything else we do, it's a process.
Hopefully, we've got to a point where we've got a a good resolution to this. So, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Vice Mayor, >> I He sort of stole >> Okay, we'll move on. >> I'm much more comfortable with figuring
out a way to collect on what's already owed to us than trying to figure out an equitable way of assessing properties. and some are being maintained and some aren't. What a mess. So, um I also would be very interested
in ways of collecting on those older lanes. So, TBD, right? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Great. Thank you. >> Anything else? City clerk, is there any public comment? >> There is not. >> Okay. Thank you. I'll entertain a
motion. >> I'll make it. >> Go ahead. I move to adopt resolution 2025-R87 as presented. >> Second. >> Have a motion on the floor by Commissioner Stokes to adopt resolution number 2025-R87
as presented. And that was seconded by Vice Mayor Langden. Anything to that, commissioners? If not, please vote. And that passes 5 to zero. Moving on to resolution 2025-R88.
City clerk. >> Resolution number 2025-R88. A resolution of the city of Northport, Florida, adopted as a curative law to ratify, validate, and confirm the approval of the master services agreement by and between the city of Northport Police Department and Hotwire
Communications Ltdwire for Hotwire Television and Internet Services for the Northport Police Department PD3 located at 1995 Prao Boulevard, Venice, Florida 34293. Providing for incorporation of recital, providing for ratification, validation, and confirmation of prior
actions. providing for conflicts, providing for severability, providing for retro retroactive application, and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you, city manager. This is your item. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This item is for
ratification of the master services agreement by the Northport Police Department forum February 7, 2022. Um, rat it will be ratified, validated, and confirmed. This will be applied retroact retroactively to the date of execution. We ask that you choose option one which
is to approve resolution number 2025-R88 as presented. Thank you. >> Thank you commissioners. >> Anything to this? >> I have one question. >> I'll hit Q. >> You're such a stickler.
How do I get hot wire at my house? >> Okay. Go ahead. >> Are you serious? >> That's it. That's all I have. >> Okay. Anything else? I'll entertain a motion or public comment. >> There is none.
>> I I I could have predicted it. >> I move to adopt resolution number 2025-R88. >> Second. >> We have a motion on the floor made by Commissioner Dval to adopt resolution number 25-R88
as presented and that was seconded by Vice Mayor Langden. Anything to that, commissioners? If not, please vote. And that passes 5 to zero. Item C, 25-2534. discussion and possible action regarding
the agreement between hotwire communications LD and the city LTD sorry and the city of Northport, Florida for internet and cable services to Well and Park subdivision for 3 years in the amount of $15,84. Mr. Fletcher, this is your item.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The Northport Police Department negotiated a new massive services agreement with Hotwire Communications to deliver hotwire internet and television services to the Northport Police Department PD3 with a revised expiration date of January 20th, 2026 for a 36-month term in the amount
of $15,84. We recommend that you choose option one, which is approve the new master services agreement between the city of Northport, Florida on behalf of the Northport Police Department and Hotwire Communications Ltd. Hotwire for Hotwire Internet and Television Services for the
Northport Police Department PD3 located at 1 1995 Parto Boulevard in Venice, Florida 34293 with a revised expiration date of January 30th, 2026 for a 36-month term in the amount of $15,84.
Uh we are happy to answer any questions you have today. Thank you. >> Thank you. Commissioner Dval, you're in the queue. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh for Commissioner Langden, with the right amount of money, anything's possible. >> Thank you, Commissioner.
>> All righty then. Oh, >> yeah. Just Well, go ahead, Commissioner Stokes. >> All right. Just one question. Um, is there really any, just for the public understanding, is there really any other
internet service that is available? >> Julie Belia, our assistant city manager, may have that answer. >> For the record, Juliana, assistant city manager. Yes. Um, and actually the police department, they have two for redundancy. There's others available in
the Wellen Park area besides Hotwire. >> I mean, I know that Hotwire covers the vast majority of Wellen Park. All of town Wellen Park almost, as far as I know, every community
in West Villages or a lot of them anyway. I know the bigger ones it does. Um, >> so that's why I was curious. Um, and I I personally believe they're the best service out there. That's my personal opinion. I've had them all and I think
Hotwire does a great job. So, I'm kind of pleased with it. I think that'll be a a good service and their customer service is excellent, too. >> Yes, sir. Up for um the Wellen Park Developments, the developer works with Hotwire, so that's the one that has been made available to all the other
developments. For example, the police and fire. We have other for redundancy, but the developer chose hot wire to be their provider. >> Exactly. All right. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Anything else? If not, I will uh use a motion.
>> I'll do make it. I'll move to approve item uh 25-2534 as presented. >> Second. Oh, >> I have a motion on the floor by Commissioner Stokes to approve item
number 25-2534 as presented with a tossup second then I will give that to Commissioner Dval. So, anything to that? If not, please vote. And that passes five to zero. Thank you.
Oh, now we're going to 25-2655. Discussion and possible action on city and Northport land acquisition program utilizing the environmental protection fund. Mr. Fletcher, this is your item.
>> Yes, sir. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Mayor, we do have members from our team from the Natural Resource Division to lead us through a presentation today. Thank you, ma'am. >> Thank you. Good afternoon. Chanel Bosch, environmental planner with natural resources for the record.
All right. Um today I'll be presenting a proposal to use the environmental protection fund for a strategic land acquisition project that protects flood prone ecologically significant areas within Northport. These investments not only strengthen
our environmental stewardship and long-term resilience, but al also directly supports the city's rebranding initiative by reinforcing the community's strong identity around natural beauty, sustainability, and environmental
responsibility. This approach aligns with the values our residents consistently express and helps position Northport as a forward-thinking, conservation-minded community. The goal of today is to outline the basis of the land acquisition strategy
that will use environmental protection funds to conserve areas of high ecological value. These acquisitions will help mitigate flooding, preserve water quality, help protect the city's natural assets while supporting safe and
responsible growth. As Northport continues to grow, our natural systems are under increasing pressure. We've all seen flooding in residential neighborhoods after heavy rains. And much of this happens because natural flood planes and wetlands are being filled and fragmented.
Preserving key parcels can help store flood water, protect homes, and save the city millions in future storm water and infrastructure costs. Environmental protection is not just about preservation. It's also about smart e smart economics.
Natural lands provide free storm water management, reduce flood damage, and improve our water quality. These benefits save taxpayer dollars, millions, and increase property values. Additionally, this program could
help Northport qualify for FEMA's CRS points, thereby lowering flood insurance policy rates citywide. On the map above, you'll see our zones of interest. These zones are primarily composed of flood planes, wetlands,
critical habitat corridors, and natural areas. By focusing acquisitions within these clusters, the city can m maximize ecological benefit, strengthen regional connectivity, and create conservation corridors that work with rather than
against development. It's important to note that parcel IDs are not being shared at this stage due to the sensitivity of the information. Withholding identifying details protects the city's ability to pursue fair market value negotiations and allows staff to
approach property owners respectfully and strategically to gauge their willingness to participate in our program. Additionally, the parcels included in this preliminary list were identified through a GISbased ecological evaluation
and visual assessments were conducted by public write right ofways as staff did not have interior access during this initial review. As we move forward, each parcel will be required to complete a comprehensive environmental assessment
to conver confirm our e their ecological value, their feasibility, and long-term management considerations before acquisition steps are taken. When we protect land, we're also protecting people and property. Permanent conservation helps storms
helps store storm water, filters runoff and maintains habitat for spec species such as the gopher tortoise, waiting birds and scrub jays. It also pro protects the clean water that supports our city. These same lands can also
provide educational and passive recreation opportunities for our residents. The environmental protection fund is specifically designed for projects like this. We are requesting to allocate $2.5 million towards our land acquisition
program. We can also leverage matching funds from agencies such as the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the Florida Forever Program, and local land trusts, effectively doubling or tripling the city's investment. It's also worth noting that
we have funding allocated for this fiscal year for invasive species removal around the city. Our approach emphasizes fairness and transparency. We would only work with willing sellers, ensuring no eminent domain actions.
Parcels will be prioritized based on measurable ecological benefits such as flood plane function, water quality, and habitat value. We will also seek partnerships to share costs and management responsibilities. On the screen above, you'll see a
snapshot of our scorecard and the categories used to grade each parcel. Each property under consideration was evaluated using a standardized ecological scorecard guideline. Scoring ranged from zero to three with zero
having no ecological or economic value and three representing the highest potential environmental benefit. This system allows us to compare parcels consistently and prioritize acquisitions that will have the greatest long-term value to the community.
The evaluation criteria included categories such as gopher tortoise habitat, scrubj habitat, heritage oak presence, overall plant coverage, watershed impact, flood plane impact, and neighborhood green space need. The
end composite score fell within 0 to 100 with zero having no value and 100 h having the highest psychological value. Together, these criteria allow us to make datadriven, transparent decisions that prioritize highv value conservation
lands and maximize both ecological and community benefits. The benefits extend beyond the environment. This initiative directly supports safer neighborhoods, lower infrastructure costs, cleaner waterways, and a better quality of life for our residents.
It also reinforces Northport's image as a forward-thinking sustainable city which is attractive to both businesses and future residents in our city. This proposal aligns with the city's existing priority priorities which
involve protecting strategic lands and aligns with our comprehensive plan goals for flood control, environmental protection, and resilience while supporting development in areas more suited for growth. Nearby Sarasota Countyy's neighborhood parkland program is an excellent example
of an established acquisition program. Through proactive conservation and grant matching, they've reduced flooding and improved water quality while also maintaining property values. They have conserved over 110 properties, which is equivalent to over 41,000 acres of
conservation land. They've also leveraged over $30 million in grant funding. Northport can follow a similar model scaled to fit our local needs and priorities. Staff is presenting three options to commission for consideration. Option one
is the staff recommendation. Under this option, staff would pursue all parcels identified by the natural resources division following the ecological rankings established through our evaluation process. Each acquisition would be contingent
upon three factors. The presence of a willing seller, the availability to secure the property at fair market value, and the availability of funding. If a property owner is unwilling to sell or requests a price above market value or
funding is insufficient, staff would move on to the next property on the prioritized list until all funding is utilized or all properties have been acquired. It's important to note that the environmental advisory board last week reviewed this recommendation and made a
formal motion to support staff's recommendation for option one. In addition to this motion, the board also recommended including the parcel referenced during the September 9th commission meeting, a property previously proposed under Sarasota County's land acquisition program so
that it may be included alongside other city candidate parcels. With these additions, option one reflects both staff analysis and advisory board consensus, providing a clear, transparent path to pursue conservation lands with the highest ecological and
community benefit. Option two. Um, under this option, staff would focus acquisition efforts on the top 10 properties with the highest ecological value as identified by the natural resources division. Efforts would be limited to these parcels unless no willing sellers are found. If none of
the top 10 parcels are available, staff would proceed down the ranking list in order of ecological value until funding is utilized. Option three. Under this option, all parcels not containing wetlands, flood planes, or storm water management
potential would be removed from the acquisition list. This focus would be solely on properties that provide direct hydraologic or flood mitigation benefits to the city. With commission support, we can initiate phase one, which involves identifying
willing sellers, conducting appraisals and environmental assessments, and applying for grants. Northport's natural systems are our first line of defense against flooding and the foundation for clean water and a high quality of life. By investing in
these lands now, we're protecting the city's infrastructure, its residents, and its future prosperity. We ask for your support to move forward with this initiative and put the environmental protection fund to work benefiting all of Northport residents.
Thank you for your time today and I welcome any questions that you might have. >> Thank you. It was a nice presentation. I have a quick question. We have a conservancy group out there in Northport that's currently buying properties on their own, raising funds and putting
that into conservatories. Would you be willing to look at what they've purchased and maybe purchase lots in those areas because that would just enhance the habitat as well for either scrub jays, gopher tortoises, you know, to where we might be able to work hand
in hand and make bigger areas of conservation. >> Absolutely. That's a great point that you brought up. Um, we've actually been in contact with these individuals and have had meetings with them um and tried to gauge their willingness to help um participate in these pro programs or um
partnering with us as well. >> Yeah, because I think that would be a win-win for both parties involved, not and the city in a whole. So, >> absolutely. >> Thank you very much. Uh, Commissioner or Vice Mayor Langden, you're going to get a hard time with that. >> You're going to get demoted. You keep
talking, you know. >> Uh, thank you, mayor. That was going to be one of my suggestions as well that we consider taking recommendations and working in a cooperative way with our local environmental groups who are also purchasing property. And I'll make the
same comment to you as I made to our parks team as we put together our property acquisition plans. Let's make sure um those efforts are coordinated. In some situations, colllocating a park
and conservation land would give greater thud value to green space. In other situations, we might want to separate that to provide some shade and green space relief to areas of the city that are more intensely
developed. Um, what's the anticipated budget for these acquisitions? Um it depends on the fair market value that we can um acquire them at. You know, some some properties are listed between $40,000 to over $250,000.
So, it all depends on the size of the property, um the willingness of a um a seller, um and the fair market value. >> What sort of the the what funds do we have available for the purchase of these
properties? How much are we willing and able to spend on this activity? >> Um, we're requesting to utilize 2.5 million of the environmental protection fund um to spearhead this project. >> Philosophically, I'm not supportive of
using public monies to buy conservation land or to buy land for economic development. But the fact that we're using money that developers who insist on clearcutting are really going to pay for it. I I very
supportive of this activity. Um I have one concern question. Zone five looks to me to be square dab in the middle of activity centers six and 10. Number one,
am I accurate with that? And if so, how are we going to balance um our need for commercial property with our desire to conserve land?
>> Um that's an important point that you made. A lot of the land out there is currently undeveloped. Um so when we did our initial screening of these properties, a lot of them focused on flood plane benefits and wetlands. um because that is, you know, what we see a
lot here um in Northport is flooding. Um so we did focus highly on wetlands and flood plane parcels out in that area. Um and because the area is undeveloped right now, there were more opportunities for potential um property acquisitions,
>> but for a lot of that property, our intention is to develop it commercially. So um and when we develop whether it's residential or commercial wetlands and those kinds of things do need to be mitigated. So I
just see the potential for conflicting strategies here and and how are we going to reconcile that. >> Good afternoon uh Elena Ray. Um, so first I want to clarify that 2.5 million was already approved in this year's
budget for land acquisition. Um, we will be bringing a an ordinance of uldc amendment to you uh soon um regarding that funding um because we need to add some language to the regarding the com
the combining of the old tree fund and the new environmental protection fund. So we just need to merge those two together. Um so we will be doing that before we actually expend that 2 and a.5 million. Um but as far as the conflict between the two, we all know wetlands
have to be mitigated. That's costly. Swift mud is pretty sticky about that. um the ability to put some of those wetlands or flood plane into conservation could actually
potentially benefit a developer. So, um from a standpoint of if we remove that wetland area from a potential development, they wouldn't have to mitigate it then. Um, but additionally,
we did talk about this conflict when they were looking at this and there were some parcels that we had to say no. Um, we we have we have we know of plans
for those parcels. So, we took those off. So there was um there was uh already uh the intention of looking carefully at that to make sure that we don't uh butt
heads between our environmental conservation and our economic development. Um one of the unique things about having both of those under our development services umbrella is that we are able to uh really ensure that those
are compatible. So we are we are doing that. >> Personally I would be very disappointed to see a lot of land within those activity centers taken off the commercial development.
>> The idea is to look at those parcels that have ecological value but would also be difficult to develop >> to develop anyway. >> Right. Right. >> Okay. Okay. I got that. Um, I'm good. This is exciting.
This year I'm all green. >> Oh boy. >> Commissioner St. >> Almost. >> Yes. One, thank you for this. Um, you know, the uh I mean, I'm glad you said it, Miss
Elena, because the 2 and a half million was something that, you know, we did put in the budget this year. Um, one it's I don't wouldn't really call it a concern but a consideration I think as you as we try to put this together is
the ranking process itself. You know to me there are two pieces to this. One is is the ecological impact that acquiring some of this land and setting it aside would provide. The other is the storm water management and water quality
aspects of pro of of of you know sensitive land acquisition. That's where I think our priority ought to be. And in the rating process, while I didn't look close, I don't know that it does that. and and my fear is that it will
prioritize properties, you know, that that cater to perpetuating environments for scrub jays and gopher tortoises and others. Not that that's not a a a value thing, okay? Don't get me wrong, but at the same
time, let's be real. We're not going to have much money for this. If we get a couple of million dollars a year at with the cost of what it takes to run our natural resource department for all the overhead and the human resource involved in running that department takes a big bite. It's going to take a big bite
here. Development slows. It's going to affect this fund. No matter how you cut it, we're never going to have as much money as we'd like to have for this collective purpose. So, I say we need to be careful how we marshall the resources. And to me, the place to focus
would be on storm water management and water quality areas along with my Akahhatchee and areas like that. It's my opinion, but I would be an advocate of option three rather than option one. I think option one is going to be everything in the kitchen sink in it and it's going to turn into, oh, we got a
little nest of scrub jays or a bunch of gopher tortoises here. Not that they shouldn't be protected and taken care of. God forbid I should say that. But it's real important we we if we're going to use taxpayer dollars, which is well development dollars cuz that's what it
really is, that it go to mitigate storm water management. They're on the hook in their planned developments to asssure that there isn't any more storm water management runoff after development as before. We know they're going to take care of their end of storm water
management issues. But to be able to take some of the money they pay by cutting down trees and redeploying it to help storm water management in some of the areas, low-lying areas of our city, I think is the high priority, much more of a higher priority than anything
ecological in my book. And since we're going to have such limited resources, I'd like to see a process here for evaluation and prioritization takes that into account because I would have a hard time supporting spending, you know, this money on areas. I mean, I it's going to
come down to fighting over what projects make most sense, but I really think that storm water management is critical to our city, and this is a great opportunity to address it. That's why I fought for the two and a half million in the budget. So,
>> um just to note our land acquisition scorecard, um we did include that in the materials that were presented to you and it does um outline all of our grading procedures and it does rate those wetlands flood planes um as very
ecologically high. Um on the um attached document um to the scorecard are the um parcels um which we are we have identified and each parcel um on that list has the score that we gave it as
well as why we gave it that score. Um so um in the description you can see whether there were wetlands or flood planes within that parcel and um why it received such a high score. >> Yeah. as long as we're as long as we're waiting the average there that we have
for those priorities if that's the will of the commission. The the other comment I would make is and Commissioner Lang or Vice Mayor commented on it is uh is our development partners. I I mean even in
our commercial and industrial areas of the city that we're hoping to get developed as planned um they need to play an active role in in in helping that process. It's, you know, they got
to build the infrastructure and, you know, this is part of what they should provide quality of life amenities as well as good storm water management. And, you know, to the extent they can help in this process by putting up some of their dollars, so much the better. I
mean, you know, I'll I'll point to my neighborhoods of Wellen Park for that. I mean, you see what they're doing. And even as they recognize some of the higher priorities of storm water management issues there, they're going back and digging some of those those uh
ponds deeper and bigger to accommodate. So, you know, that is to me a critical critical part of we have such our opportunity to get our hands on this property is on any of these properties is so difficult. I know we had lots of
push back on tier 2 along the Makahhatchee and all we've really gone after are those properties that had, you know, no structures on them. You know, I will go after all of them. Now, think about some storm water management ponds
and retention ponds and canals and other things that could be built to help mitigate flooding in some of our areas of the city that people have for years taken a beaten on. And when people talk about how all this development is causing problems, you know where it's causing them? In the legacy areas of
Northport where all these single family homes are being built where there used to be one or two or three or four homes on a street. Now there's homes everywhere. They don't mitigate. They don't do anything for storm water management. They just cut down old trees and build their homes and their driveways and their lenai and their
pools. So that's where I see us making a dent in this. So thank you. That's all I got. >> Commissioner Dval. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I have a number of questions. Um, first of all, this money,
uh, it's coming from what was the tree fund. Um, how much money is there in that fund? >> I don't have the exact number. Uh, Commissioner Stefan Kaleiff, natural resources manager.
I I want to say we have in the neighborhood of four and a half million, but not all of that is in the tree what was what was the tree fund. We've collected a lot of money under the environmental protection fund that went into effect when the ULDC was adopted.
So, um we've had some fairly large um properties to develop and some fines as well. So that have been collected under the new fund, not just the old fund. >> Okay. How um how much revenue would you
expect next year to go into this fund? >> Um based on development that we know is coming. Um, we're we're looking at probably >> I I would need to look at our budget what we what we did project that in our
budget for last year. We pro projected a revenue. I don't have those numbers in front of me, but it was substantial. Um, at least a couple million dollars, I believe. >> All right. Um, at one time I heard about a plan for the environmental division to plant 500
trees this year. Um, can you tell me how far along we are on that number? So again, Stefan Kaleiff, natural resources manager. So for the last year we were very close to that number and
for this year with the projected projects that we have uh in plan um I expect to be exceeding that number. Now I'm talking this fiscal year for uh 2026.
Um, that's 2 and a.5 million. Not sure how to coach this question. Um, 2 and a.5 million for these identified pieces of land.
Will we try to renew this program for another year? You know, will it be like a continuing or is this just a one-time shot? >> From my understanding, this is something that we will evaluate on a on a
yearby-year basis based on the funds that we have collected in the environmental protection fund. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. And if >> and commissioner if I can interject what what we approve in the budget that's
>> and if I may commissioner one more just point from on the behalf of natural resources my team we noted we note that as far as habitat protection preservation and conservation are some
of the most effective ways in protecting and preserving our cannib canopy and in many case this is superior compared to plain tree planting simply because we are dealing with an established canopy established native habitat that's
already there. It's functional. It's providing uh habitat for our wildlife shade for our residents uh protecting helping with the uh heat island um effect mitigation. So, these are some of
the reasons why we uh believe that this uh program is so important for our city. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Vice Mayor. >> A quick followup question. Could you put up that slide of your score sheet? Um
and and while you're doing that, it's my inclination to support the recommendation of our environmental advisory board, but Commissioner Stokes does bring up some good points about
storm water management being one of the priorities. And I was going to suggest if it wasn't there to integrate it into the score sheet, but but it is there. What would be your sense of hypothetical situation? We
target 10 properties based on your score sheet. What percentage of those would would rise to the top because of their ability to help us manage water quality and storm water?
I think if the scorec card waited those kinds of things, I would be supportive of a broader mission than option three, but Commissioner Stokes does make some really good points about storm water being a priority.
>> Um the there was an attachment that we included um within this agenda item. >> Um and if you do look at the top 10 parcels, I believe all of them have storm water and wetland um function. Um,
so those actually were at the top of our list >> and that would be one. >> Yeah, it would be Yeah, option one. >> Okay, I'm comfortable with that. Thank you,
>> Commissioner Stokes. Yeah, I mean and again by by you know I I have no real problem between option one and option three as long as option one weights stormwater management related sensitive properties that I think is important and and to um Commissioner Duval's concern
which which is a righteous one. You know we only got so much and yeah it's substantial. I mean we might get two three four five million a year. Who knows how much if development starts to dry up, if the markets close, if things happen, that's going to affect that fund. But which is why I think we need
to be careful. We have a baseline overhead of our natural resource department, which people want it for a very long time, and I'm very very proud to be a part of a commission that saw that come to reality. I really am. I think it's great. But we got a chunk of
dollars every year to go to support that department. We also know we want to replant trees and then we also want to address sensitive land acquisition and there may be room while it's not exactly focused on the land acquisition end it ties
together and that's the ability to create a program in our city for people to incentivize people to plant trees. Our excommissioner, Alice White, said this over and over and over again, a
hundred times. People clearcut, whether it's the individual developer, whether it's the big developer, everybody clearcuts because they got to build everything up because of storm water issues and all the rest. But where's the incentive for people to want to plant trees? I hear
people all time complain about developments taking away all our natural resources, cutting down all these precious trees. Nobody's stopping them from planting them. plant them on your own property. I I bought in an HOA
and I put in my arc requests and I've planted trees, bushes, you name it. I mean, I've created a little show like I've I don't know how many degrees I've lowered the temperature. Probably not many because I tend to get upset about things. So maybe, but all I'm saying is
like you can do it. People can do it. and the ability to structure a program citywide for people to take pride in doing that I think is important and I think it'll help mitigate the amount of dollars we need to put towards tree replacement and you made a comment
earlier about you know identifying these areas and acquiring the sensitive land and it will help with our tree canopy. Well, percentages can be deceiving because there's a lot of areas of our city that even if we exceed the 30 35%
like um umbrella or canopy that we'd like to hit, there's tons of areas that don't have anything in the way of trees and it's hotter than you know what. So, there is a need for tree planting in this city. There's a lot of areas where we need more trees in and around
residential areas, pocket parks and other areas. So, you know, I just think we need to be smart how we marshall our resources and and to me this is a program we could get community buy in on. I I don't think people realize I don't think some of the develop some of the property owners in these plan
communities even realize that they have the ability too to speak out and say, "Hey, don't cut all these trees down." A lot of people hire developers or builders to build on their lots. Don't realize they can tell them, "Don't cut down these trees. Keep some of them." And there's a lot of misinformation
about what you can plant in and around septic tanks and other things. You know, Alice was, you know, beat the drum on this over and over. And I'm delighted to like take another swing at the drum because, you know, I think not all people, but a lot of people might want
to get behind a program like that. >> Commissioner Stokes, I Lori Barnes, Deputy Director Development Services. Um, I'd just like to address some of your comments and then also maybe give an overarching um,
forward look for you all. U, first of all, the natural resources division has on a number of occasions since its inception offered um, a tree giveaway program to residents. They also attend um many of our community events and even
programs at schools to educate the public about trees, about planting trees, about right place, right species. And so we will continue those efforts. Um, moreover, they work very closely
with our residential contractors now, wherein we didn't have the staff to do so before to really work with them on their site planning for new residential and conserve those trees. Conserved trees offer more of a benefit
than new planted trees. Um and as to the budget conversation, development services is well aware that um we have to be cognizant of the revenues and balance all of the various natural resources programs including administration of the division as well
as our efforts related to wildlife preservation, acquisition of land, tree planting. We have a number of tree planting projects that are currently in various stages of development, whether it be design or procurement. And um as
those trees go into the ground, you'll see us publishing um on our our social media and celebrating that we are planting trees, that we are forward looking for the environment to balance
that growth. And uh I think that um that the community is pleased to see what our natural resources division is doing. And as we bring our budget to you next year, we'll be sure that we're balancing all the various areas of preservation and
making sure that we're good stewards of those those dollars. >> Thanks for sharing. Let me add also that thanks to our uh environmental experts that we have in our natural resources division, we are able to go after
aggressively grants that are available. So there would we're not using city money. We're not even using the developers money. We're using state federal money or even from private organizations. We've gone after a watershed master plan grant. We've gone after a grant. We secured a grant for
planting trees on Sumpter Boulevard. So to replace uh trees that were destroyed during Hurricane Ian. So we'll be doing we will be embarking on that planting. Um we have uh we're working on a grant uh now a grant application. Actually
it's not a grant. It's literally a donation. there's no matching component uh for a large bucket of money that would allow us to remove exotic um vegetation from city-owned property. So,
uh those types of things are something that we didn't have the wheelhouse to do previously. We didn't have the capacity to do it. Um, and then we didn't have the the staff necessary to manage those
projects going forward. So, that's I I call it free money and I'm I'm all about it. Um, so we we're very fortunate now that we have the staff that's able to go for that and so that's simply going to um you know
boost the amount of initiatives that we can do in that division without dipping into uh our of $700,000 for grants and matching or donations.
So, that's money that we're going to be able to use without having to dip into the the special fund, which is just a fantastic and unprecedented thing for the city. >> Thanks for sharing that with all of us. >> Thanks for sharing that.
>> And if I may make two more quick comments, Commissioner. So re regarding the tree donation program for this fiscal year we have allocated funding towards expanding that program compared
to last year. So we are expecting to be donating um over 400 or perhaps more trees that people will be able to plant um on private property in their yards. uh we
will be providing the necessary educational materials to ensure that this planting will be successful. Um and another point that pertaining to tree planting on private property, our
unified land development code incentivize that. So when a developer or when a builder considers clearing the property, they can offset a significant amount of their mitigation uh fees if they choose to plant trees on
their property instead of paying uh back to the city. I had one other thought as I was listening to you speak and that's you know a as we go about identifying properties that might make sense for us some will lend itself to storm water
management things some will will just to be create green space and parklike but you know to the extent with the needs we just listened to a a park's master plan and we know that a big focus of our
citizenry was on outdoorsy envirment environmental, eco, ecological kind of, you know, uh, activities, the ability to perhaps dovetail. I mean, we're going to have the same problem as we try to build more parks and expand our park structure
east. Okay. Um, there may well be opportunities to take some of this environmentally sensitive land and create a natural park, the kind of park that doesn't really have to be maintained. It's not going to have a whole lot of concrete or structure on
it, but that would also lend itself to, you know, quiet enjoyment, trees, shade, peaceful areas, you know, um, so, you know, there something to consider, too, where one hand may help the other here.
>> H, thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. I believe that there are many ways to collaborate with our uh parks and recreation department uh team. >> That's all I got. >> Thank you. >> Good enough. Any public comment? >> There is none.
>> I'll entertain a motion. >> I'll make it. >> Go ahead. I move to direct city manager to pursue option one, which is to pursue all identified properties by priority, ranking, and availability.
>> Second that. We have a motion on the floor made by vice mayor to direct the city manager to pursue all identified properties by prioritized ranking and abil and availability, which would be option one. That was
seconded by Commissioner Stokes. If nothing, please vote. >> And that passes 520. Thank you all very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on to item F 25-
3007. Discussion and possible action regarding the first amendment to construction manager at risk contract number 2024- 16.002 002 for construction services contracted
phase 2 by by and in between the city of Northport, Florida and Ajac Building Company LLC for construction of an emergency oper operation center in the amount of 12,748,3980. Mr. Fletcher, this would be your last
item. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, this is the companion item to the item you approved earlier regarding the budget for the EOCC, and we are recommending that you choose option one, which is to approve the first amendment to construction manager at risk contract number 2024-16.002
002 for construction services phase uh contract phase two and between the city of Northport, Florida and Ajax Building Company LLC for construction of an emergency operations center in the amount of $12,748,398. Uh myself and the emergency manager
Stacy Alisio are here to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, sir. >> Anything on this commissioners? Not seeing anything. Let's get it done. >> Uh, city clerk, any public comment? There is none. I'll entertain a motion.
>> I'll make it. I move to approve item number 25-307 as presented. >> Second. >> We have a motion on the floor made by Commissioner Stokes to approve item number 25-307 as presented. And that was seconded by
Commissioner or Vice Mayor Langden. I give up. >> If there's nothing, please vote. >> And that passes five to zero. What are you waiting on? Let's get that thing built. >> Thank you. Thank you very much.
>> It's taking you so long. >> All right. Our last item is item G25-0210. Discussion and possible action regarding presenting the key to the city to Bud Corte on January 8th, 2026. And that was
requested by myself, so I'm not passing it off to the city manager to get it back. So, little bit of history here. Um, if you drive by the Northport Scout House on Greenwood, you'll see a sign
where it was named in honor of Bud and Wanda Corte. The couple moved here in 1984. Bud owned a contracting business on Trot Circle for many years. He donated thousands back to the Little League
scouts, girls softball, and many other organizations. As an early bird kowanas member, he helped restore the scout house on more than one occasion. He worked with the builders association to make it happen. He was always doing stuff for children
and families of Northport. He went above and beyond to help others. He later worked for the city as an inspector in the building department before he retired again. This time for real.
That's when he began making homemade gifts for his friends and family. On November 25th, he passed away. A memorial service will be held for him in January.
And I am I'm requesting the city of Northport give his wife and family a key to the city to thank them in remembrance of Bud Cortee's contributions to this community.
And if there was anybody out there in my opinion that deserves this, it is Bud and it is his family. So that's all I got. It's up to anybody have anything to say.
>> I move to approve item number 25-0210 as presented. >> Well, thank you very much. But we got to check for public comment first. >> Oh, okay. Now you can go ahead, commissioner. Oh, >> now I got to put my glasses back on. I
move to approve item number 25-0210 as presented. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion on the floor to approve item number 25-0210 as presented. Made by Commissioner Duval
and seconded by Vice Mayor Langden. >> Thank you, M. Mr. Mayor. >> I'll get it right once. If there's nothing, please vote. And that passes five to zero. Thank you very much. >> Trying not to. City clerk, is there any
uh >> Yeah, that would work. >> Thank you. You're sure now? >> All right. Not going to fly anybody in. Okay. >> Maybe. >> All right. Commission Communications. Commissioner Deval, you're up first. >> Thank you, Mayor.
Um, recently attended the do the right thing ceremony, Point City Parade and tree lighting, police department ser uh swearing in ceremony, Okachica Park groundbreaking, Waken church food distribution. I worked that for a day
and a half. And I also attended uh went to the FLC conferences up in Orlando for three days. And no matter which committee I was at or which lecture I was at or
which forum, every single one seemed to concentrate on SP 180, the legislature taking away home rule. Those were the, you know, and there's a couple of other bills coming up. I think it was an 18 and 20. I don't want to
>> I'll I'll get the numbers mixed up, but the main emphasis was for us to let our legislators know how we feel about these things. >> That's it. >> Thank you. Uh, apparently we have a typo because it says Commissioner Emerich's
communications. I'm going to go with Commissioner Stokes. >> Just need to go twice. Anyway, uh I did go to police swearing and ceremonies, the senior giving. Um what else did I go to? The poinsetta
parade, which was outstanding as always. And uh that's about it. Um anyway, I would just encourage anybody who's got free time after this meeting, head over to the Twisted Fork. the
chamber is doing its big push and fundraiser for the um meal or uh shop with a cop. So hopefully we're going to go over 20,000 again tonight and uh you know come out drink and reach in your
pockets. Thank you sir. I think I'll have that. I may go over there. >> There you go. Um, I attended the senior giving festival, the poinsetta parade, and uh came to the do the right thing,
which is all I can say is it was said earlier, it's a phenomenal program and and it's awesome for for our children and to support our youth. I seen so many smiling faces after the program and they were so proud and their
families and parents were so proud. It just makes for a joyful evening. So, I really appreciate that. >> Uh, Commissioner Langden or Vice Mayor. Damn it, I did it again. >> You were doing so well. >> I I give up. >> It's It's been a long day, but I'll I'll
just say I'm sorry our parks and wreck team has left already because it was an outstanding poinsetta parade and festival. And I just really want to thank that team for all the joy they bring to the families
and residents of this city. So, thank you. >> Remind you when time comes to vote on spending money for boats. >> Kinder, gentler Bobber Langdon. >> Oh boy. >> See, we're converting you. And
Commissioner Pro, you're up, sir. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, yes. I was part of the poinsetta parade. It was awesome festivity. I really enjoyed it. Um thank you parks and reccks and city clerks office for
um fulfilling that um attended police swearing in ceremony and FLC conference in Orlando. >> Thank you sir. City manager. >> Uh no thank you Mr. Mayor. >> Nothing. City attorney.
>> Nothing, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. >> Thank you. City clerk, >> thank you. >> Oh, really? You're not going to say that you were in the parade with your gingerbread minions? >> And everybody who shared their candy me and not the one who did not >> Oh,
>> there's always one Grinch in the crowd. So, >> but thank you all very much. If there's nothing, we are out of here at 402. We are adjourned.