Okay, we're gonna start the, uh, October the seventh meeting. We'll have the, uh, invocation led by Mr. Hart Pledge of Allegiance, led by Commissioner Wilson. And then we'll have the roll call everybody. Please stand Eternal, Most gracious Father, we thank you through your abundant grace and mercy you've allowed us to come together to conduct these city's business. And Father, we pray that you help us to come in with spirit of unity. Even though we may disagree, let's not disrespect or disengage from one another. We continue to work together as brothers and sisters. We pray as special prayer while our first responders keep them safe. Be with them on every call. Watch over them as we watch over you over, they watch over us. We're still careful to give you the praise, the honor,
and the glory you do in your son. Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, for which is against one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Roll. Commissioner Kennedy. Here. Commissioner Wilson. Here. Mayor Johnson. Here. Commissioner Firstner. Here. Commissioner Oliver Here. Okay, we have, uh, presentations. I want to hold off on the first one to the, we have, we're waiting on another gentleman.
Where did the other guy Oh, you so let me know when he walks in. Okay. All right. Fire prevention Month proclamation. Do I have that one? Do I have that up here? It's right. Um, yeah, you have it. This is the framed one. Oh, okay. The one that you read is here in front where, get up there and look at you Pretty enough. Thank you, ma'am. How Many more have got there? That's it. Just, All right. I'm gonna read this proclamation. Whereas the city of OCOEE is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those living in and visiting our city.
And whereas fire is a serious public safety concern, both locally and nationally, and homes are the locations where people are at a greatest risk from fire. And whereas most of the electronics using homes daily, including smart smartphone tablets, laptops, power tools, e-bikes, e scooters, and toys are powered by lithium. Lithium on batteries, which if misused, damaged or improperly charged, can overheat start a fire or explode. And whereas the National Fire Protection Association reports
an increase in battery related fires, underscoring the need for public education on the safe use of lithium on batteries. And whereas residents should have followed these three key calls to action by only list of products, charge batteries safely and recycle them responsibly to prevent battery related fires. And whereas lithium on Batteries store a large amount of energy in a space, small space and improper use, such as overcharging, using off-brand chargers without safety certification
or exposing batteries to damage can result in fire or explosion. And whereas the proper disposal and recycling of the lithium batteries help prevent environmental hazards and reduce fire risks in the home and community. And whereas residents who have planned and practiced a home fire escape plan are more prepared and will therefore be more likely to survive a fire. And whereas working smoke alarms cut the wrist of dying in reported homes, fires almost in half. And whereas the City of Oak CO's first responders are
dedicated to reducing the occurrence of home fires and home fire injuries through prevention and protection education, and whereas October is the fire prevention month, we find it appropriately to recognize all that Oko Fire Department does to protect our community, both now and throughout its illustrious history in the city of OK coi. And whereas the 2025 Fire Prevention month theme, charging to fire safety lithium batteries in your home serves to remind us of the importance of using charging
and recycling lithium batteries safely to reduce the risk of fires in homes and communities. Now, therefore, the City Commission of the city of OCOEE does hereby proclaim OCOEE, I mean October 2nd, 2025 as Fire Prevention month and witness thereof, I have herein to set my hand and cause the City of Seal to be affixed the seventh day of October, 2025. Rusty Johnson, Mayor, What seal, Uh, Chief, I'm, I'm going have this to Let you get up front
and I'll have to get a good picture made there. Thank you. And Sparky and Double Ex Chief Am off who you got with You Chief. All right. We got our inspector, Jillian Waldrum, we've our Deputy Chief CJ Van Camp, and of course we've got Sparky here. Thank you. Get everything out with the National Night out here. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Oh, don't sit down without in your chair. Yeah, I think all, I have a proclamation here for the, uh, uh, purple Heart City. If all of you doesn't know we what? Purple Heart.
I mean, everybody here know what Purple Heart means, knows. Good. That's good. So I'm gonna read this proclamation off and we got a couple of gentlemen sitting back there. Uh, we'll get call you up here in just a second. Okay? I'm gonna read this proclamation. The city of OCOEE has great admiration and the utmost gratitude for all the men and women who have set selflessly served their country and this community in the armed forces. And we, whereas the Purple Heart was the first American Service award of declaration made available to the Common soldier, and specifically awarded to members
of the United States Armed Forces who have been wounded or paid the ultimate sacrifice in combat with a declared enemy of the United States of American. And whereas the mission of the Military Order of the Purple Heart is to foster an environment of goodwill among combat wounded veteran members and their families, promote patriotism, support legislative initiatives, and most importantly, make sure we never forget. And whereas OCOEE appreciates the sacrifice of Purple Heart recipients made in defending our freedoms. And believe it is important to acknowledge them
for their courage and show that the honor and support they have earned. And whereas the city of OCOEE has always cordially and warmly welcomed veterans of the Armed Forces into its community. Now therefore be it resolved that the City commission of the city of OCOEE does hereby declare the city of OCOEE. As a Purple Heart City encourages all citizens of the city of OCOEE to show heartfelt appreciation for the sacrifices made by Purple Heart recipients and to honor the selfless acts they have made in defense of our freedom. I, um, I'm gonna come down front.
Mr. Sparrow and Mr. Barnes, you wanna come up, come up front. I gotta find my other note here. Oops. Sorry about that. Uh, I, I want you to, you got, I want you to come up and speak at the, whichever one's gonna speak with the plaque, And then we'll get pictures and I'll read off Some stuff. Alright. Thank you. Good, sir. Thank you. Appreciate, Thank you very much. Good evening everyone. Can everyone hear me okay? Yes, sir. So, so my name is Lou Barnes. I am the Commander for the Department of Florida, also a member of Chapter 400. Um, we have the responsibility for all Purple Heart recipients in the state
of Florida Chapter 400. We have Orange County, Osceola, and Seminole County. And, um, as was stated in the proclamation, our goal is to support combat wanted veterans and their families as well as veterans and their families. And we do that through contributions, uh, donations given to us, and we give back to the community. Uh, but I'm so thankful to be here, uh, to have this, uh, opportunity to present to the city of Ocoee.
And I just wanna read this plaque. It says, the Military to Purple Heart Special Recognition Award. It's bestowed upon the city of OCOEE, Florida for your dedication and support on an American combat wounded veterans becoming a Purple Heart city. Now, I, I'd like to just add, for us, that's a big deal because, um, I served 26 and a half years in United States Army and, um, I wasn't a vie Vietnam veteran, but I served in the first Gulf War in Iraq and Afghanistan and just like some of our Vietnam veterans came back,
they didn't recognize us, uh, for our efforts. Um, but I just want to say thank you for the City of Ocoee, uh, for what you do and recognize veterans as well as Purple Heart recipients. Thank you very much. I, uh, we go, we going, we going to step up front here and I wanna read off a couple things and let him come up, stand over while we do it. So we'll get everybody in a few minutes. We'll take pictures up here. So we'll get this done. This is your proclamation, So We'll get the picture made with it up front up here. Okay? I wanna read off a couple Things. First of all,
any of you here, purple Heart recipients, anybody else? All right, uh, take a couple minutes. Actually here. I don't want to name off a couple people. This is, uh, this one is Bill Maxwell. Everybody knows Bill, bill Maxwell. Mm-hmm. If you don't don Bill beat one time and he's talking, you'll remember Bill, bill, I'm gonna tell you real quick about Bill. I've got know Bill in the last few years in OCOEE. He, uh, he came out of, uh, I think Selma, Alabama, went into the, went into the Army
as an enlisted man, went to Vietnam. I don't know if he got the appropriate heart when he was in Vietnam the first time in matter or when he went back. He went, come back, got his college education, went back as a helicopter pilot and served as the helicopter pilot. He, but he's got the Purple Heart here. It was, uh, in, uh, if you don't know this presentation, it was a status by General George Washington on, in New York, August the seventh, 1782, which is Bill's a super guy come back, the military, come back to living. And he ended up there, a local lady here in OCOEE
and he has been real active in all the things in our city in the last, I know, the last 20 years I've been around in 30 years. He's been active. He stays active and keeps being active. So it's really honor. No Bill, he, like I said, he ended up being a major too. He ended up retiring out as a major. The other one here, and I'm really extra proud of this because this was my father-in-law. He was a, uh, he grew up in OCOEE. He went off the Army, army, took him up. He was in New Jersey. He got called over to move over to the Army Air Force because him,
and it was in the paper here a couple weeks ago that the Orange Reserver had different things when you see the different, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 80 years ago, well eight years ago, him and three other guys, some guy taught him how to fly here in Ocoee. Now this is in fact eight years ago. So he got up there, they figured out he could fly, so they moved him over to the Army airport. But this is, this is his medals. He got distinguished firing cross. He's got the purple heart. But I'll tell you a real story here. He flew six runs. Everybody heard the Normandy invasion? Yep.
He flew six runs landing on D Day They gave us on the landing of the D the Normandy D day gave support to ground forces on the beach. Flew 69 more runs over Germany before being shot out. Now he was shot out. I think that's where he got the purple heart. But he also was shot out in Belgium at the time. He lived for a month in the bottom of the cellar in Belgium. Those people got him out, got back back to the American lines. What's really funny about that, my wife Marilyn's sitting back here. Her father, it was her father. He told me, he said, rusty, he said I was, it was okay with it.
I was in the cellar and the only thing I had to drink was champagne. He said, I never want to see Champagne again in my life He Uh, he's another gentleman. Come back to Ocoee this building right over here. He went back to University of Florida, finished his degree, got a degree in pharmacy, came back here, run the drug store. And Ocoee for all those years they did built, he inhibited three buddies who were all in the military, came back. They built the first crack homes at Ocoee up on the hill. They also built the bank. They also built the shop first shopping center. So he came back. Besides military service to his heart, he came back to the service of the city.
And then a lot of people, Edwin was one of those guys when I was growing up. My father told me one time that Mr. Pounds, he would give people medicine that didn't have money. If they didn't have money, he didn't care. He let 'em have the medicine. And that's kind of fellow he was so, he was a true Purple heart gentleman, I just wanted to say that. So you guys come over, we'll take a few pictures of everybody else. Y'all want to come down here too? We can, yeah. Get him both sides. Mark. Mark. Everybody's gotta turn in. Yeah, hands hold it. Yeah.
Thank you. I need pictures. I do have phone. What'd I do before? What I did with my phone? Is it over there? Right here? Is it up here? Underneath that? Yes. Sorry about that. You set right for, before everybody stepped up, I make a quick comment. Stepped a little bit here. This gentleman here, Mr. Sparrow was in, uh, he was in the Navy. I never thought much about being in the Navy. I, but I was in the Army, so I always, always thought about what the deal he did over there
is what I would loved to done. But I didn't get to do that because I in the Navy. But Mr. Sparrow was on the, uh, what you call those, pdr. Pdr. It was a boat that run up the rivers, down the rivers in which folks was a dangerous business to be in. How long were you in Vietnam when you got three months and five days? Three months and five days. Blew the boat up. They were on and killed the captain. The book he said. So give the guy a big hand too. Yeah. Alright. Thank you guys. Thank you very much. And we truly appreciate ation for our city. Yes, sir. You won't come back anytime. Yes, sir. Excuse.
Could you send me that? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Pass along. Okay. Update on Tiger Miner, parks and Leisure Service Director Johnson. I have, I have a couple people I think want to talk on that too. So, uh, Debbie Goen. David Denmark. Yeah. So when, go ahead. Huh? David, David Galley. David, that is All right. You want me to go ahead and why don't I let you got, uh, Kim Drury. Yes. Come on up and speak of them. We'll let uh, Mr.
Johnson's over here. Up up here, ma'am. Okay. You have, everybody has three minutes. Debbie Gey. Okay. Yeah. Debbie Gey. Dave. Okay. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak. My name is Kim Drury. I'm an avid pickleball player and I'm an official ambassador for the US Pickleball Association. I've been involved in developing rules and guidelines for courts in addition to consulting during the initial stages of building courts in Orange County. First, I wanna commend the city and how wonderful time for Minor is as a public park. It is well maintained
and provides a variety of opportunities for people with outdoor interests. My interactions with city employees of the Parks and Leisure Services Department and maintaining the park has been pleasant. I'd also like to congratulate you on keeping a pulse on popular activities and building pickleball courts to keep up with the rapid growth of pickleball, not just locally, but nationwide. It appeals to a wide range of ages, skills, athleticism, and desire to participate. Youth and adults can play together and everyone have fun. It's great to see families out together, grandparents teaching, grandkids workmates, playing and laughing, and competitors engaged in spirited games.
All this is background to address. The most popular times for court use are early mornings and evenings before and after people have to go to work or school, or have other obligations. Use. Use is maximized during those period. And in the summer, the heat dictates early and late use. As a morning participant, tiger Miner has become a community to me and my fellow pick pickleball players. We interact with the walkers, the dog owners and their dogs, the people bringing preschoolers to the park. We've given balls to kids and dogs to play with. Have let kids and parents and grandparents join us on the courts.
Some have altered their routines to come by when we're there. Hellos and smiles make the day better for all of us. Additionally, local businesses have benefited from the use of those courts of the pickleball courts. We stop at local business before and after play when we otherwise wouldn't even be in the area. One group i I play with has lunch every week in downtown O Coe and a shout out to Bike Life cafe. Even if the weather doesn't permit play, we still go there for lunch and we would've never known about it otherwise. Unfortunately, popularity comes with some consequences such as noise. I hope you'll consider options to allow the park
and pickleball courts to be open the current hours into the future so everybody can get to enjoy your great facilities. Thank you. Thank You ma'am. Very much. Alright, Mr. Denmark, did you sign you're good with Denmark? Oh, I got, My name's Dave Denmark. I live in Prima Vista subdivision, which backs up to Tiger Miner Park. I've been there along with neighbors for 30 years. Uh, the park has a lot of entertainment, a lot of children. A lot of people come into the parks
and we didn't know about the new pickleball court that was being put in. Uh, we do have tennis courts over there that I think they have taken a couple of those tennis courts and made into pickleball courts. But we didn't know the pickleball court was gonna be that close to the back of houses. It's approximately 70 feet from some of the houses. Uh, for me, I'm fairly lucky, but I can still hear the noise of people screaming and hollering. I know they get excited and I, I'm not against pickleball. I played tennis all my life. Uh, I haven't been able to play pickleball.
I got a bad knee. But the only thing that we were concerned about is the noise. And it is, there are people there early in the morning. Um, sometimes they may be, may not be playing pickleball, but they're still in the parking lot. And at night when they leave, they're still in the parking lot. So there are people that come there. Some come to see, um, the, and bring their children to see the playgrounds and the other people play. They've got a pavilion there. So it is, it's a very, very nice park. But the only thing we are concerned about is what we could do with the noise.
A lot of people, they, they're retired. They're right there behind the pickleball courts. They like to be able to sleep in a little bit in the morning. They like to be able to go to bed early at night without hearing some of, I know the people get excited. I understand that. I can hear 'em and I'm five houses down from the pickleball courts, but they're hollering and screaming and having a good time. And sometimes they get a little bit rowdy and they cuss and carry on. And there's some other people that are not or would not be welcome there. And I'm sure the pickleball players wouldn't welcome 'em there either.
But I'm glad we brought this up. Um, I understand we've got some more pickleball courts coming and maybe we could consider, um, having some more outdoor courts. As I was told, they like to play outdoors and hopefully we can settle at somehow or another. But people do like to get sleep at night. You know, I don't go to sleep at 10 o'clock at night or 11 o'clock at night. I'm usually in bed around eight o'clock, nine o'clock so I can get rest. And in the morning I get up around seven or eight. So, and that's among all my neighbors.
It's even the neighbors on the street over from the pickleball or from the, the houses that back up to the pickleball courts. The people on the other side of the street can hear 'em. And unfortunately, some of those people are a little, little older and they couldn't make it to the meeting. But I'm trying to represent some of those people in our neighborhood that are directly proportional to the park. So, thank you very much. All right. Thank You David. Mark, come up, you explain what we've come up with since the last meeting. Good evening, mayor. Commissioners, city manager. Last, um, commission meeting. We had some citizens that expressed some concerns with, uh,
the pickleball courts at Tiger Meyer Park. And you asked, uh, staff to come back with some suggestions or some ideas of how to mitigate some noise. So I'll, um, I will start that PowerPoint right now. Um, last meeting we had some concerns with, um, like they would just, just, um, was going over, uh, patrons in the park, little late, um, maybe past the park hours. Um, that shouldn't be there. Um, sometimes the lights on the courts, the current court that has lights staying on too late now
that court is actually in the middle of the park where the lights are currently. Um, so just to let you know where those lights are. Um, the noise level from playing pickleball, um, early, like you just addressed early in the morning and in the evening. Um, we have some vandalism in the park. Um, 'cause we, it is, there's no gates so people can, middle of the night. Um, we do lock our bathrooms up, but if somebody wants to come in, hang out in the park is is at night. It, there's not a lot of light in the middle of the park. So, and um, as he addressed earlier, cars coming in
and out from the, from the, I'd say the west side and the east side coming and driving out through a park. So, um, to address some of those concerns, um, I did a little research and um, looked at some other parks that are in neighboring cities. Um, we can, um, put gates at each entrance on each side. There's two entrances to that park. There's a, like a east of west, um, we have gates and we can, um, have our park staff open and close those gates in the morning and the evening.
Um, park hours right now are 7:00 AM 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM Um, that's the hours that use the park. So right now staff gets there and makes sure the parks make sure everything in the park's open. They don't have to open gates to get in. They drive in, open the bathrooms, open the tennis court, open the, I call it tennis court, open the pickleball courts too. And when they get there and they come, our park ranger comes back in the evening and locks everything up. Um, uh, recomme one recommendation would be to limit the pick the pickleball only courts from eight to eight.
Um, that gives people time to maybe sleep in. Usually people are heading to school or work by eight o'clock and 8:00 PM gives people time enough to, you know, enjoy their evening. Um, I still wouldn't, the tennis courts that are currently there, we would still keep those open or the lights are, because that's in the middle of the park and as the noise isn't, isn't as close to the neighboring houses, um, we can put our lights on a timer. I know he said sometimes the lights, the lights stay on. Um, but we could, we, we could control that with a timer, make sure they're off at a certain time.
And I have a couple options to help out with the sound. Um, the first option, well that's, there's a lighting, the lighting that we have budgeted for that park for those, the current pickleball courts that don't have lights, it's not your normal lights on a, like a pole. They're, they're run along the line, the top of the fence line on the top rail. And they just, they light just the courts themself so the light doesn't go anywhere else except to the courts. Um, another part, another way to help with sound. They have these, um, these boards that you could put up on,
um, the fence line. And it's, it's been known to knock the decibel level in half to help out with the sound so it doesn't travel to the neighboring houses. And also you can line, you can line between the houses and the um, courts. You can also do some landscaping barriers That helps out. Also takes away from seeing the courts, you know, make it a little, little prettier for you when you not looking at tennis courts. Um, those were a couple, couple of the options. I am Open to any questions concerns. Alright, before we, you, anybody out there, the two
that spoke, do you have any questions you want to ask? I actually put that I was gonna, yeah, you have to come up. Can I speak? Yes ma'am. Okay, perfect. I guess I feel like I need a step, step stool. My name's Andrea Jones. I live in a coi. I also play pickleball at Tiger Miner in the morning. And it's a phenomenal facility we've been playing. Before you built the new courts, we were playing on the, when you redesigned the, you know, and refurbished so that we had an individual court and we still play there. They like to separate us 'cause we're not loud, but they just leave us alone. So I wanna appreciate, I know this is very difficult process
because you're balancing home local residents with an awful lot of people who love pickleball. And we are so grateful that the city Parks and Ledger service department, they've always been so helpful with us. They respond to us really quickly. They keep the parks beautiful and the courts in perfect condition. There are issues with some drug use and cars at night that's separate than pickleball and hopefully we're not lumped in together. The biggest problem with the time change and I appreciate that this is just recommendations
'cause I was a little concerned when it was a PowerPoint that it was actually a done deal. But restricting play between eight and eight, the majority of the people who work, we have to leave by eight 30. And a typical game lasts a couple of hours. There's not time to start a game and have it finish by 8:00 PM in order for people who work to then be able to enjoy these facilities. And also in the summer, it's just too hot to safely play for that amount of time outside of those if you can't include those hours. And unfortunately this really just limits people who work being able to play.
I wish I was retired and I could play a little later. Unfortunately I'm not, I already have a deal with my boss that twice a week I can start a little later and work a little later so that I can play. Um, a lot of the people that come into a coie to play pickleball, they now buy the gas in Akoi. They do the grocery shopping Koi, they frequent restaurants in Akoi that they normally wouldn't do. And I know this 'cause that used to happen when I was doing the same thing over in Winter Garden. It is a few homeowners and I understand that and they bought their homes here. But it's an awful lot of pickleball players. The ultimate solution is
to switch the pickleball courts currently with the tennis courts, there's some cost involved clearly, but we've had the tennis courts with the lights have been there over 20 years according to Google Earth. And so many people may be even moved in with those tennis courts there already. You could move the courts over there. We could actually maybe have a couple of extra courts. Tennis players generally start playing later. There's less of them. If you had two courts, there'd be a maximum of eight people there at any given time. And then you would have less overall noise in general would be moved further away.
It is a lot more money. I got 17 seconds, but as a permanent solution, please consider the math of doing that instead of shrubbery for start. Thank you. That's all I have to say. I appreciate the recommendations. Alright, thank you. You need to fill out, take one of those forms and fill it out up there. No, I Did it already. You have it? You didn't call Me. Where's it at? Thank you. Does Are you Jones? Yes. What it says switch grass, Switch grass circle. It says street a co. I put it on the wrong line. No, I mean it said That's, that's the address line, Right? IIII didn't understand it.
I thought you were talking about because we got talking. Sorry. I think what, what I would ask for we ask commissioners is would nine o'clock work? Mm-hmm. Because I mean, you can't, I mean, I'm just, so we gotta talk about it now up here. So would nine o'clock work with the citizen, Mr. Dunbar, Mr. Denmark? Uh, I mean, I'm just asking at night, huh? The problem is the morning. The morning. So if we move that to nine o'clock then the morning we'd move it up. I mean I, it it is never gonna be perfect folks.
I can tell you it is not gonna be perfect. So I don't know if we could switch the courts 'cause their courts were made different that we had that pickleball court made specifically for pickleball. So I don't think we can be changing those. I can, I could assist with that having been built having. Alright. Any commissioners? I'm gonna real quick comments or anything. I know I'll start with Commissioner Kennedy on that end. Um, can I ask them a question? Is that Allowed? Yeah, but I just wanna know if two people are in your group. That's all I want. Yes or no? Dan Den Hoff and Steve ine.
Do you know them? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Uhhuh. Uh, so I have a problem with this, uh, with taking this as a presentation. Um, because last meeting we had, and I know you claim to have 30 people, I'm not arguing that, but we had two or three residents who came and complained and we asked for recommendations, which you brought. And then I got a couple emails, we have two more people. This should be on an agenda. Uh, I got emails from two people who begged,
please don't stop opening it before 7:00 AM They're not here to plead because this isn't on an agenda. And I just think we do this a lot where somebody says something in public, one person comes, or two people come and complain about something. I'm not saying the complaint's not legitimate, but what we're supposed to do is put it on an agenda and let everyone speak. And what I wanna say is, I don't know if you all are aware of this, but we just made a man spend a year of his life re-engineering a pickleball facility
to move it inside because 30 residents showed up and it was 800 feet away across a lake. And we said that was too loud. And I agreed with that. And I'm sorry, but I grew up playing tennis my whole life. Uh, pickle balls about five times louder than tennis. And I know you're aware of that and I respect both sides. But we live in a town of 55 to 60,000 people and we can't make decisions, no offense to anybody based on five or six people.
This should be on an agenda. We should advertise it, we should solve it. Also, I don't know, some of these issues that you're having, um, director Johnson, uh, unrelated to pickleball just seem like lack of control of the park. Are these consistent that parks aren't gated? Mm-hmm. Have lights on after hours don't have timers? Or is this unique to just this one park? No, I mean there's not an issue. The, if the lights stay on, it could be something happened to the switch that stayed on or people in the park.
We clo our park ranger goes around till 11 o'clock and if there's somebody in the park, we always tell people call PD if they're after hours. But that's just, they can't do anything except sit in the park at Tiger Miner. Well, I'm not prepared to take an, I personally am not prepared to take an action. Alright. But I've been begged by people to hear them out. Alright, here's the deal. It is on the agenda, whether it be down here or whether it be up here. It is on the agenda, sir. And I just asked the legal advice, we can vote from that. It was, it was publicized on the agenda this week
As a presentation. Yes sir. It was still, that's the presentation of what the suggestions are. But Not to take action. I'm not, I'm not gonna get in a long debate about it, but it is on the agenda, so that's not true. It is on the agenda. Let me finish talking. Commissioner. It is not on the agenda. It is on the agenda. And I just talked to the gentleman here it is a presentation of what we can do or not do and they could have come and speak, spoke to it. So it's, that's, that's so that part's there, so. Alright. Anybody else? Yes, commissioner. It is Tiger Miner is in my district
and I understand it is an issue with the residents that live in Prima Vista, that the noise level is excessive. Um, I don't know if a lot of 'em realize there was ever gonna be a pickleball court. There it is close to homes. Um, I appreciate the measures that you've suggested regarding a soundboard, the bushes or some type of hedge that would come up against the fence to block some of the noise. Um, I'm in favor of the eight to eight. I think that's reasonable locking, um, as long and also if the lights are facing down
where they're not going to cause any disturbance to any of the neighboring homes. Um, I personally feel as though, you know, we have a responsibility to maintain a, um, should I say, a healthy issue for our residents that live in that community. Um, it's not healthy to have folks till 10 o'clock at night banging balls around. I'm sorry, I wouldn't want that in my backyard. And so, um, again, I'm in favor of the issues that, should I say that what you have presented, I think they're fair, they're reasonable. It's not something we can't come back and look at later if we find it's unreasonable. But, um, at the current time, I think for the,
for our residents that live in Prima vista, it's, it's an issue that they have been dealing with for probably the past year and they just came forward to us. And I appreciate them coming forward to us because they're having issues. None of us would want a pickleball court and they're my backyard. You may like to play it. I understand. I'm not criticizing that by any means, but none of us would want that. Nor would I want a basketball court in the property right behind me. I wouldn't want a tennis court right behind me. Those all create noise that are a disturbance to our, should I say, our health and safety within the community. So I'm, I'm in favor of this. Alright, Mr.
Ner, I support the, uh, department director's recommendations and, uh, I think that you should, uh, pursue that in the budget for those sound mitigation, uh, efforts that you mentioned. Mr. Oliver. Um, the, the gentleman you said, you, you, you lived there for, what, 30 years did you I moved here In 87. In 87, okay. So he is been here since 87. Moment before any of us ever heard of what pickleball was, him and Navy resident there. Um, so you, I would have to take that into consideration,
uh, when they moved there knowing what pickleball was in 20 years from now. It'd be something else, but it's always gonna be something that we have to deal with. So, so the the thing that I, I'm getting at is that we're going to have to make some type, type of, some type of, uh, um, um, um, amicable, uh, and reasonable, um, um, uh, I guess, uh, um, what's the word I'm looking for? I'm sorry. Decision compromise, uh, compromises when it comes to, uh, pickleball versus, uh, the noise, the lights, spillage and, and the residents.
That's, that's been there for 30 plus years. And again, uh, pickleball, I haven't played pickleball, but that's, that's actually on my bucket list to, to learn how to play pickleball and, and, um, hopefully get good at it before my knees go out. But other than that, um, we have had projects going in the city for years. And I remember, um, when I first started running for office, one of the things I talked about is being able to be, have transparency with the citizens and being able to get their input in a lot of the projects that we, that we put forth in the city. And we, we still have projects that go on without input. I I, I commend the director here for bringing this
to the commission and allowing, uh, the citizens to get involved and to hear your, your comments regarding pickleball and the excitement of pickleball and, and being able to enjoy yourself at one of our parks, as well as being able to hear what a resident has to say about how it may possibly disturb them as far as the noise or the lights, those kind of things. So with that being said, I think that, uh, since we are, we are, we're coming to, uh, a situation where we're, we're compromising here, I think that, uh, uh, he's compromising. He's not saying that I want you to just do away with it. He's willing to deal with the noise,
he's willing to deal with some of the lights. But, but what I'm hearing is some of the issues that you deal with with forest pickleball. I hear there's a lot of policing issues we gotta deal with here. There's, there's some of the things that you mentioned there with, uh, people hanging out and those kind of things. But we, like you said, you don't wanna tie that into pickleball at all. But I do understand that the compromise has to come from both sides. And I think it's reasonable to be able to have, uh, a, a lighting schedule that it will be comparable to the residents, but also allow people to play pickleball, maybe adjust some schedules or whatever it may take to, to go out and play for those two hours after work or before work.
So I think that, uh, what we are proposing to eight to eight or to eight 30 to nine 30, whatever we can come up with and, and slide that scale to, uh, make it reasonable. I I I support that. I support, uh, moving forward with the project. But, uh, uh, the fact that we are, we, we put projects on, on the board here, uh, that allow you to, to, uh, come up and, and, and have a comment about it and, and be able to be, uh, uh, to be your voice, to be heard. I think that's, that's admirable. So, uh, hats off to you, mark, for bringing that to us and allowing us to come up with some solutions for you guys.
And, um, again, I I'm gonna support the idea of, um, a some type of, uh, uh, amicable solution to, to both sides. And I think that the eight to eight or the eight 30 to, to eight 30 or whatever that may be, I, I'm gonna support that. Thank you commissioner. I would, I would like to say nine o'clock, move it to nine o'clock. You know, let's, well we can't, you know, a lot of people come out early in the morning and play. I mean, because they worked. Ma'am, I know it's not gonna be perfect for anything. Everything, ma'am, you cut. Let's hold, hold, hold, hold it.
The process is we cannot speak from the orders. You have to come up to the podium if you're gonna speak again. And we've already given everybody a chance to speak. So we'll be here all night if we keep going back and forth. So we've gotta come up with what works for everybody. And so, I mean, yes ma'am. You, you can't speak from, you can't, you're gonna have to come up here to the podium and then fill out a form. Thank you. My name is Rhonda Connect and I live in Ocoee. I just have questions about the presentation. Am I allowed to ask questions? Yes, ma'am. Okay. So what I'm trying to understand is, are you saying
that the, the entire park is going to close and only be open from 8:00 AM until 8:00 PM and your proposal is that there will be gates because what I, I think I heard you say was that the tennis courts would still be open. So I'm trying to understand, does that mean that the tennis courts would be open all the time, but the pickleball courts and other places in the park will be 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Just the pickleball court will be eight to eight, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM I will still leave, suggest leaving the other,
um, the other courts open 'cause they've never had anything in the past that has come to us that says that it was an issue with them being there. But the park, the park, the park will be seven to 10. So we'll have gates open so people can come in and walk and use the restroom whether we gotta do, but the actual pickleball court, the pickleball only courts would be eight to eight with this recommendation. Okay. Alright. That was My question. Thank You. That's all right. I, you're good. Thank you. Alright, so do you want it to be eight or nine? I'd like it to be eight to eight
and then we can always come back and, I mean, if we find that make a motion an issue, I'd make the motion. Do I need to read exactly what you've got in your PowerPoint regarding the eight to eight with tennis being till 10, the lights, They weren't exactly shut off on the tennis court. Right. Only It would be courts Along with, um, soundboards and Yeah. Um, some form of vegetation. Yep. So you want to pickleball the pickleball only Courts eight to eight. Eight to eight. The park seven to 10. That's all with The gates being with gates being, um,
The front gates being closed every night at 10 and open at seven in the morning. Right. And Then With some sound mitigation, sound mitigation added, added to the pickleball only courts. Correct. Okay. Alright. You made the motion right? I made motion. I need a second. I'll second that second. Motion made by Commissioner Wilson, seconded by Commissioner Oliver. Any more comments? Let's vote. Put that right in front of my All right. Motion carries with Commissioner Kennedy vote and no. All right. Staff report.
Thank you very much folks. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. I, I have a few items. Um, item number one, the site conditions, um, due to the rain have deteriorated significantly. And so we will be making a, a, uh, determination tomorrow morning about whether we keep the groundbreaking on site for the law enforcement training center or move it to the Lake Shore Center. That's, I'm sorry, it's Thursday. We're making the decision tomorrow. Yeah, Yeah. Um, because, uh, of the, uh, the site conditions,
it's very wet and, and spongy. Um, the second thing I was gonna mention to you is that, um, we will be providing you, um, a couple memos, um, tomorrow, one summarizing the, um, the, uh, history of the permit and interactions for the fiber optics hub located on Ohio Shores Road that, uh, Mr. Swisher came and spoke about at the last commission meeting. We've, we've collected all the information, we've providing that to you. Um, Christmas Alliance was mentioned at the last meeting.
Uh, we have completed our, our testing of all outlets and provided the list of the ones that don't work to Duke Energy, they're working on them. The intent is to begin installation on November 10th. Yay. Um, I'll be providing you a memo to that effect tomorrow as well. Um, the, the next thing is the, um, appropriations. We are working feverishly right now on submittal of appropriations to, um, state legislature for this coming session.
Um, they're very water and sewer centric at this point. Um, we are seeking, um, hurricane resiliency money. We're also seeking some, uh, septic to sewer dollars as well as reclaim dollars to help, um, defer our expenses resulting from Orange County's new agreement. Um, and we will be looking at putting a public safety, uh, procreation request in is still in the definition stage, but we are working on that feverishly. Um, the Ruis Street Waterline
and Sidewalk replacement project, um, work's been completed with project closeout underway, and the next step is gonna be resurfacing Ruis from North Lakewood to the east entrance to Central Park under the Public Works resurfacing program. And it should commence within a couple weeks. Um, the last thing I have, I wanted to provide some c clarification for item number 10 on the agenda. Um, most of you're well aware that we've been working to consolidate the zip codes from five zip codes that we have to the one zip code, um, that
everyone recognizes as O co E. Um, briefly, uh, it does confer disadvantages to people that don't have the O co e zip code in some of the, uh, community. And, um, we have gone through multiple appeals processes with the US Postal Service and we have, you know, been to the, um, the, been to Congress with bills numerous times over the years. And this year we have made it further than all the other years combined. It's passed the house. We are in zip code unification bill,
HR SE 6 72. Um, and it's, um, going before the Senate. So we are part of a coalition, coalition of cities that are part of this bill. And we've been working with them to have a more unified effort. And it's working. And we, the, the commission on May 5th authorized us to participate with the federal lobbyist that's representing the group. And, uh, the name of the company is Van Soak and Associates. They are recommending a, a lobbying day in Washington DC
um, starting, um, the evening of November 4th, going through November 6th. So we prepared item 10 on the agenda. You have the option of canceling that meeting because you had previously canceled the November 18th meeting, so you could cancel the November 4th meeting and reinstate the, the November 18th meeting. Uh, the other thing is the lobbyist is re recommending that the commission send two elected officials and, and one staff member, um, you know, two
of you have been associated with this issue longer than the rest of you that would be Rosemary and the mayor. Um, but it's up to the commission to decide if you want to send a delegation to this meeting. Uh, the meeting would be with all the senators that represent the different cities and trying to, you know, garnish support there. Um, and you can choose who you want to send if you choose to do that. If you do that, I would recommend that you approve item number 10. And that's all I have. Let me say something. Go ahead. Okay. Um, if many folks may not understand this,
but probably 17 years ago, Rose Hill was probably one of our rep, one of our communities that annexed into a co e as a community of phase two and phase three, not realizing that they would not be able to change their address from Orlando 3, 2, 8 1 8 to 3 4, 7, 6 1. And it has caused them financial hardships, insurance rates, et cetera, has been increased. They've told me many times because of the zip code, and again, to unify them into the city of Ocoee, we've always been working very hard and we've spent many hours on this to, for them
to acquire the Ocoee zip code. So I would like to, as long as nothing happens, I think I'm just gonna say that I think, again, myself and the mayor have been working on this the longest. I think we've all been, both have been to Washington regarding this, um, dealt with folks from Tampa, et cetera, local post office with no resolve of the situation. And again, I think it's very important that we, we have never been this far, we have never gotten this far to be one of the, there was 50 cities I think mentioned on that, approximately on that bill, and we're one of them.
And I think it's very important that we represent ourselves in Washington at that point. So again, I would like to ask the commission, I would like to attend. I would personally like, I mean, I think you were right with the mayor also 'cause I think we've been working on this the longest. So that's my thoughts. Yeah. I don't know if you're available. No, I'm available. We started that process years ago and uh, 'cause it's a, it is a kind of a, you did say five zip codes, didn't you, Craig? Yeah, we have, we have five zip codes, five different zip codes, and it does affect people's, uh, um, taxes and stuff like that. So yeah, I would, we, we went up there
and met with the lawyers before and we also tried to appease the post office with donations of money for that also. That didn't work. So Yeah, I would appreciate going, but is it okay with you? No, I agree with that. Yeah. Yeah, I certainly agree. Okay. Yeah. So some one of y'all, Any problem? Is that a motion or, I don't know what we're doing. I don't, do we need to make a motion in order to, um, we got A staff report. He talked about item 10, and now we're Doing, you don't have to to pick that now, but we need, you're going to send somebody, well, no,
that's on the consent agenda. So we do the proof consent agenda, um, or deciding if you want to send a delegation and then who you wanna send that. That's really, that's Not item 10, correct? It is not item 10. That's why I brought that up under staff reports. Correct. Perfect. I I'm fine with that. You go, you all go. You want, do we need to vote on it or do we need to consent it? I think consent is fine. It's not a proposition that would require, Yeah. Okay. Everybody got okay with that? Okay. Everybody's consent. Good. All right. Is that all your staff report? Yes, sir. Alright.
Public consent agenda. Need a motion for the consent agenda? I can, can I just ask, you got, I'm probably gonna have to get a second on asking just a question regarding item 10. Mm-hmm. Before we consent is everyone, and my question would be, I'll state before anyone agrees to back me on it. Is everyone agreeable to canceling the 17th meeting for the sake of the fourth meeting? I mean, is that eight, 18th before we, before we agree to it, how The 18th meeting? Yeah, the 18th. I'm sorry. The 18th meeting. Is That gonna be a Okay, second? I can, no, But I'm just, I may, I'm gonna ask to poll 10
for just a, for a moment of discussion. You second that. I'll second then. Okay. And I'm just stating what question I have. Mm-hmm. Is there anyone, before we do the consent agenda, does anyone have any problem with switching the, sorry, I'm gonna Not having the fifth, Uh, going, not having the fourth and going and reinstating the 18th. Nope. Does that affect anyone's schedule? Nope. That's, that's the only question I had On that. No, no, no. It'll be covered in the consent agenda. Consent Agenda. Alright. Motion made by Commissioner Wilson. Approve his consent agenda as
Whole, As whole. I'll second Seconded by Commissioner Kennedy. Any more comments? Not let vote. Motion carries unanimously. Alright. Uh, first read award none. Second read award none. Public hearing none. Record. Agenda none. Comments from commissioners? None. Oh, no. Oh, no, that's, I'm sorry. I'm gonna read off these, I'm gonna read off these little things here first, then we'll give it start. October events, national Night Out. Happening now until 9:00 PM at Bill Breeze Park. Enjoy food trucks, a rock wall obstacle course face painting a DJ raffle
and Moore Halloween, howl night, Friday, October the 24th from 6:00 PM through 9:00 PM at Bill Breeze Park, featuring trunk or treat spooky maze, costume parade, food, trucks, games and rides. There will also be a mini escape room challenge. Restoration is required. November events, o coy remembers memorial wall ceremony. Saturday, November the first from 4:30 PM excuse me, through 5:30 PM at Unity Park. The ceremony is open to the public visitors
and residents alike are invited to honor and reflect on the lives lost during the track events of the 1920 election day massacre. All right, commissioner Kennedy, no further comment. Commissioner Wilson. No comments, commissioner first, no comment. Commissioner Oliver, We had a great town hall meeting on, uh, on September 18th. And, um, for those of you that, that was not able to join us, we had a lot of information regarding, uh, the city, uh, the different departments and the, the things that they offer here in the city, the residents that they may or may or not know about.
Uh, I have actually, uh, republished the, uh, the town hall meeting, uh, via video. Um, if you want information regarding that, you can go, uh, to my website. You can actually, you can actually send information to me via email and I can send it over to you. That's, uh, goliver at uh, ocoee.org. That's my, uh, email address and I can get that information over to you as well. Um, I don't know if I can put it on the, on the city site or not, but, uh, I did send out, um, uh, quite a few, uh, um, newsletters that, that information is on. So, uh, a lot of great information was passed out during the, uh, town hall meeting.
Also, I had an opportunity to attend the, uh, car show on Saturday. So if you've ever been to any of the Ocoee car shows, uh, it was a site to, to be seen. It was a site to behold and, uh, it got rained out, but, uh, it was some awesome, awesome cars there. So, uh, if you get a chance to, to do that next year, please, uh, try to attend that. It was great. Um, and finally, I have this for you. Sorry. Accept what is, accept what is, let go of what was and have faith in what will be.
That's all I got. Thank you, commissioner. I have a, uh, on, on my comments. I've got a, a citizen that lives in, uh, up on the north side in, uh, uh, town. He, uh, he sent me an email, I'm gonna read it off. Hey Rusty, how's it going? This is Rusty Morgan. How are you doing today? Hope you're doing well. Remember we spoke about Angel Tree Foundation, about possibly putting in a tree somewhere up around in the city, down maybe by City Hall, and we can bring some tags for people to come by, pick up the tag and buy the gift, and then bringing it back. And then I'll come by the week before Christmas
and pick up all the presents up. We spoke about this at the Barbecue place here in Ocoee. So what he's wanting to do is put a charity tree, Christmas tree is somewhere around here. Then they put tags on it, and you can come by and get the tag and then you can give a gift or, but he's, he's in the big time in the adoption and stuff like that. So, I don't know. What did commissioner think? We know what program it's supporting. I just said, what is Angel Tree Foundation? Angel As, as far as I understand, angel Tree Foundation, um, supports, uh, kids that may be kind of disenfranchised when come out at Christmas time. They don't, they don't receive Christmas presents,
but they, they provide a list of the things that they will like to have. And then different organizations, churches and nonprofit organizations will go out in, they shop or they donate and they, they actually will take these gifts to the kids uh, sometimes actually on Christmas day. Yep. So if we can work it out with the city, uh, staff to figure out where to put it up here. And is that okay with the rest of all? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. No problem. Commissioner? Uh, I'm not sure. I mean, that sounds okay. If staff can make it work. I, uh, I don't want to set a precedent
where people are bringing private things all to raise money for whatever. I didn't say bringing in city hall, I mean out, out front, not inside. Yeah. City property. Yeah. I don't, I don't So can y'all, if they can separate that somehow or protect us from unintended consequences, I'm okay with it. So I guess we've got, I Thought about that in front Four votes. Four or, Or would they, I think maybe would It satisfy, I'm gonna let staff, we'll let staff figure out what the required, I just worried About somebody saying, Hey, I have the right to put whatever out there that we may not like.
Well, they don't, unless they come ask for it. If you ask for it, then we can approve it. If we don't approve it, they'll move it. Right. Mayor, if, if you could, um, put us in touch with the Gentleman. I will. I just said that. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I just said that. No, if somebody comes up here and puts something out here, like we used to have somebody do those dumpster things where you, not dumpsters, but box clothes, boxes, they put 'em around everywhere. We had to stop that. We didn't do it, we didn't approve. But if we approve something, then they're there. If we don't approve it, then they're gonna be moved. That's how it works. So we'll let staff work on it and see.
Perfect. I'll tell him he lives up. I don't, I think he lives in Forest Brook, I believe. I think, I think that's where he's at. Okay. Alright. That's pretty much, uh, let's all go over to the, um, night out for the police thing over here. Thank you very much.