time if you can please silence your cell phones or electronic devices that would be greatly appreciated your greeters tonight is human resources manager Samantha Potts and police captain DW Smith going to do some other introductions starting from my far right and your far left with recording secretary Taylor Lochert city clerk Susan Dauderis Deputy Mayor Zone one commissioner
Lori Tolland good evening and welcome everyone zone two commissioner Travis Sargent good evening welcome zone three commissioner Kristin Deaton good evening welcome uh zone four commissioner is absent tonight um city manager Joyce Shanahan assistant city managers Claire Whitley and Shawn Finley sitting in the front row there City attorney Randy Hayes police chief Jesse Godfrey over in the far my far left your far right and fire chief Howard Bailey and I'm mayor Jason Leslie
at this time I'd like to call Pastor Cord Bear to do the invocation uh followed by the Pledge of Allegiance let's pray father again come together to uh have one mind and one intention to serve this community to the best of our ability and so Lord I pray for each and every attendee here uh Lord that you would grant them the grace and the wisdom to speak well and appropriately
pray for each and every person in leadership God that you would grant them your wisdom and your discernment as they make decisions I pray father that ultimately uh this community community in spite of its differences would stay unified I pray father for our first responders that serve our community and protect our community from the evil intentions of human beings that would want to ruin this community Lord would you bless protect each of them and their families and again Lord
we're privileged to uh to just have the Breath of Life today we're grateful that you're the one that gives it commit all this to you in the name of our savior Jesus we pray amen amen amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible, with liberty and justice for all thank you may you all be seated thank you Pastor
Cord at this time we'll hear from those of you you who have a signed card to speak about any item which is not on the printed agenda for this meeting including any items on the consent agenda each person will be given a total of three minutes I have uh quite a few cards here so what I'll do is I will call one name and then I'll call another name behind it to go on deck and if you could just go in the front row that make things a little faster and smoother so our first speaker will be
County councilman Troy Kent followed by Charles jackowitz Kammer sorry I can't read a handwriting good evening honorable mayor and commission Troy Kent Ormond Beachside I want to talk to you a little bit tonight about Walmart personally I a huge fan of Walmart and I'm going to tell you why they're an American company
I think their prices are extremely competitive I can go there and buy socks fishing hooks a new tire and donuts all in one trip I like that I still like to go in and shop at a store I don't want anybody else picking out my stuff so I wanted to start this with I'm a fan of Walmart I am I went to a community meeting last week where Walmart I believe was going to be coming before
you all with a special exception now when I was a kid Walmart was located where the winn Dixie was until recently in 1989 about 36 years ago they moved to their current location where they are now 36 years I went to that community meeting because you only get so many bites at an apple and you all are sitting in very powerful seats to make a a really impactful change for Ormond Beach Walmart is going to come before you and I believe it's a special exception they want something they're
going to be asking you as a city commission to come together and give them what they want I was there for one reason and one reason only I wanted to see what the facade of their building was going to look like I told them at that meeting Ormond Beach should not have the ugliest Walmart in the State of Florida they shouldn't have it they should have the most beautiful Walmart in all of America and then I showed them a picture of a Walmart and Washington DC and their response to me was come on that's Washington DC and my response was come on this is Ormond Beach we
deserve to have exactly what Washington DC or anybody else has all Walmarts are not the same and you don't have to have one that looks like paint by numbers you can hold them accountable and all I need are three of you to be strong with that but gosh it'd be great to have five of you they mentioned I heard well you know we have a budget we have to work within and I maybe I shouldn't have said it but I said your family is one of the richest in the world I understand you you have a budget everybody has a budget but they've been pulling hundreds of millions of
dollars out of Ormond Beach for 36 plus years at that location and I just wanted to put a bug in your ear and just tell you if you've not gone on to Google and put in a simple search of beautiful looking Walmarts please do you will be amazed at what you see there are beautiful locations around and they can do that right here and I think they should this isn't about strong arming anybody it's not about being nasty with anybody it's about saying you've been doing business with our people for a long time we just want what Washington DC has thank you and have a nice night thank you
councilman Charles and on Deck is Robin magleora good evening Mr Mayor City commission city manager and attendees my name is Charles I'm the chairman of the board of directors of the Ormond Beach YMCA now known as The Charles Li Decker family YMCA this quick presentation is a result of questions raised by Commissioners Tolland and Sargent at our annual meeting on January 16th and what was brought up was a tragic case
regarding swim lessons and the loss of a life because of a lack of knowledge of swimming so what we wanted to do and that night we're reinforcing it here on you see on slide two under Youth Development the Volusia family YMCAs flago family YMCAs give out services to people scholarships that are either free and reduced because of needs within the family Flagler Volusia County gave out $374,500 to give out lessons and scholarships to people including swimming lessons when we get a
parent that comes to us and they qualify for assistance within a scholarship we may ask they qualify for one but if they got three children Mr Mayor Commissioners we don't say no we teach everybody look what seat belts have done for lives of children swimming lessons should have the same imperative and priority Healthy Living the Volusia family YMCA's put out $27266 last year to help within the community our YMCA provided $2,333 in scholarships that's 34% of the funding within the
flagler Family Volusia YMCA that was used within our YMCA your YMCA the young men's Christians Association of flagler Volusia county has a great partnership with the people of Ormond Beach our membership totals which Liz is going to go over you equates to roughly 19% of the population of the people in Ormond participate at our YMCA in totality last year in 2024 the Volusia Flagler
Family YMCA assisted our community with financial aid and scholarships totaling $646,000 the Ormond beach YMCA the LI Decker Family YMCA provided $138,900 in scholarships 21.4% of that budget we go over some telling numbers for you and we'll conclude good afternoon I just wanted to introduce myself my name is Liz camer I am the new District executive director for the YMCA here
in Ormond Beach I've been with our Organization for over 19 years but I've only been in Ormond for a few months so I just wanted to introduce myself I wanted to say thank you and I wanted to share the picture of what r y does in this community um if you can go to the next slide for me I just want you to see in 2022 we started Renovations in our facility our membership base at that point was 2723 units a unit could be one person or it could be a family of five so that equaled a little almost 3,700 individual people on January 31st of 2024 we are sitting
at almost 8,497 people using our Y so that's pretty exciting just wanted to share that growth in what we've done in our Y thank you so much for your time thank you we appreciate it okay Robin and Doug Pettit on Deck Robin Magleora or Ormond Beach I didn't really prepare a speech I just have some points I'd like to talk about um I don't attend the Ormond Beach uh city meetings often because I do go to the
council uh Volusia County Council meetings there's a conflict of attendance however I do listen to every city of Ormond Beach meeting every single one of them on the video recordings um the audio recordings every time so I know what's going on in the city I've asked in the past that hopefully we can get actual video video recordings that we can actually see you see any important documents that are put up on the screen for those of us that are watching at home that night or the next day hopefully that happens sometime in the future some positive things for me that have happened in the city recently are the art statues everybody seems to really enjoy them I do myself the wrapped
boxes the color for murals being painted on all of our beautiful walls down in our City downtown um the art sign going up hopefully that'll get people's attention bring bring them down to the city I do want to say that I want to thank the mayor for standing by his community first slogan for when he ran he's very approachable and he lets us speak to him he speaks to us and he speaks to us in a way where we can get our we can get our concerns out to him and he responds to us the best he can keeping it legally so he won't get in trouble nobody will get in any trouble and I
thank him for that because he's standing by that and I'm going to say that his video on the news brought a positive light to the city although some people maybe not have agreed at the places that he went to we all have our different opinions I myself know this city like the back of my hand although I've only lived here for 5 years because I'm out taking photos of this beautiful city on a daily basis I even know where the rabbit is on New Britain Avenue I don't know how many people do the bush rabbit anyways what I do want to say is that unfortunately what occurred at the last City meeting caused the negative light on this city and should have been done in private and
I will always stand for the freedom of speech I do not support a city ordinance that would take that away from the mayor or anyone sitting up on this dais the commission should be working together for the people we are your employers and you need to remember that I don't see that happening what I see are some Commissioners trying to bully the new mayor and I will not stand silent and watch that happen I would like to think that for this meeting forward that I will see you all working
together for the benefit of the residents of Ormond Beach and working for us and making it the best place that not only you live in that we live in because Ormond Beach is a beautiful place to live and a beautiful city thank you thank you Doug Pettit and Gayle Belin is on Deck Doug P Beachside 129 Magnolia uh Mr Mayor Commissioners and staff while it's not on tonight's agenda I
stand this evening to oppose the proposal of a censorship ordinance in response to Mayor Leslie's recent media appearances while I know it's not actually called a censorship ordinance it can be characterized as nothing less as a resident I was pleased to see the mayor showing off our town in both the print and broadcast media I did not observe a malicious intent in mayor Leslie's interviews and certainly not to the extent of deserving the kind of treatment he has endured as a result but rather an example of someone who truly cares about his town it's
been stated that the mayor should have informed the public information officer of the interview I only to learn in an article published this morning that the Pio was aware of the new six's request to interview the mayor but made a strategic decision not to respond was the mayor informed of this strategic decision and part of it the Pio stated that the city was actively collaborating on story ideas through Ormond Main Street looking at Ormond Main Street website it shows to be made up of among other things influential stakeholders and therein May lie a major part of this problem since
when are City's elected officials required to subordinate themselves to a nonprofit's influential stakeholders let me be blunt this dispute seems to be rooted in elected officials servicing these influential stakeholders or acquiescing to political advisers or the disgruntled minority that lost the recent election it's not not at all about preventing confusion it's about retribution that's how the residents see it and that's how most of us who have had any connection to the political apparatus of this County see it and your efforts to promote
this as a virtuous riding to the rescue uh while concealing your disdain for Mr Leslie and what he did to your machine are transparent again being blunt Jason Leslie is a little rough around the edges sometimes he doesn't easily possess the trappings of sophistication that might appeal to of the influential stakeholders he's a regular guy who prefers to spend his time at the American Legion or with the regular folks over at Iron Horse mayor Leslie's overwhelming virtue is his enthusiasm for Ormond Beach rather than some Draconian ordinance What the residents that
I'm familiar with would like to see is a sincere effort to discard the prejudices and alliances of the political process and work together to improve and strengthen how you inform and engage not only the residents but each other for a stronger Ormond Beach thank you thank you Doug um Gayle Belin and on Deck is Elena Kraft good evening mayor Leslie Commissioners and City staff thank you for the
opportunity to speak before the commission I'm here this evening as both a 13-year resident of Ormond Beach and as the city's representative to the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee the BPAC which is the subcommittee of the Volusia Flagler transportation and planning organization over the 10 years as the city's representative to the bpac I have worked closely with assistant city manager Shawn Finley and very much appreciate his time his expertise and willingness to collaborate I'm here
to speak in support of consent agenda item 6i The Hand Avenue mixed use path which would run from Nova Road to Williamson while there are some small all segments of the sidewalk from Nova to Clyde Morris there is inadequate or no sidewalk at all from Clyde Morris to Williamson I live in Chelsea Place in the Chelsea Place development bordered by both hand and Granada because of the increasing traffic on Granada with much more to come as development on Williamson continues along
with the developments west of I95 drivers have discovered Hand Avenue thus increasing the number of cars that Traverse the road on a day basis a few years ago my neighbor was riding his bike during the daytime on hand Avenue in the bike lane he was hit by a driver and killed if there had been even a sidewalk even a three-foot sidewalk he most likely would have been on a very he would not have been on that very narrow bike path sharing the road with vehicles going 45 to 50 m an hour
and sometimes faster I frequently see parents with strollers as I did today bicycle pulling a trailer with a baby in it bicyclists pedestrians Runners and residents with their dogs all walking or riding in the narrow bike lane having a mixed use path on hand Avenue will enable bicyclists and pedestrians to more safely Traverse Ormond Beach to other areas of the city for shopping to bus stops for recreation for doctor's appointments and even to the nearby hospital connectivity to other parts
of the city as well as to neighboring cities will enhance the quality quality of life and bring more Commerce Better Health and improved Public Safety to the residents of Ormond beach with drivers distracted by their smartphones by GPS maps on their Dash dashboards or on their phones conversations with passengers and paying attention to traffic which is ever more it is imperative to separate pedestrians and bicyclists from such traffic I encourage the commission to vote in favor of this proposed mixed use path and I thank you for your time
thank you Gail uh Elena Kraft and Harvey Burton on Deck good evening Council my name is Elena Kraft I live in here in Ormond Beach um so I'm here to address the discussion that took place during the last meeting in regards to Mayor Leslie's Channel 6 tour of the city to me and every resident I spoke to and I spoke to quite a few um the four minute segment was a positive Spotlight on our city the worst thing that the mayor did
in that tour was to provide an estimate for when the Rainbow Park Renovations would be completed and he happened to be off by a week what a crime in fact that innocent 6 uh Channel 6 segment was so offensive to one of the Commissioners that she proposed a ridiculous ordinance similar similar to Daytona Beach Shores ordinance which includes the following language and I quote if the mayor or city council member is communicating without the specific authorization of the city
council the mayor or city council member must specifically disclose that his or her opinions expressed are solely his or her personal opinions and do not reflect the opinions of the city or the city council in violation of this section shall be deemed malfecens in office that's the ordinance that you guys are looking at I mean it it sounds like speech suppression it sounds um just horrible so here's my question why do we elect Commissioners to represent each of our areas and why do we
elect the mayor to represent all of Ormond Beach if they would need to get authorization from the other members before communicating with their constituents makes absolutely no sense so in clear terms the speech is both you know speech reg this ordinance is speech regulation Towing on speech suppression there's really no justification for this ordinance and I would be very curious to hear what justification Daytona Beach Shores had in enacting this ordinance I asked our City attorney
if any other municipalities in Volusia County had a similar ordinance and he said he was not aware of any other one my guess is that very few cities have such a Draconian ordinance in place because there are plenty of other ways to address concerns through Common Sense collaboration and respectful best practices the irony is not lost on our residents you're trying to limit the mayor's communication with his constituents because you're afraid he will misrepresent the city yet you're blind to how destructive this attempt at limiting speech and engagement with
the community is for our city I found it both counterproductive and unprofessional to hear three Commissioners Commissioners Tolland Sargent and Deaton all turn on the new mayor proving that you have no intention to work together for the sake of our city and the residents so if it wasn't clear enough I am asking you to kill this proposed ordinance before it does any more damage to the trust our community puts in you thank you thank you uh Harvey Burton and on Deck is Jennifer
[Music] bright please call me Alan 915 Ocean Shore Boulevard um I'm here tonight uh to talk about a park system evaluation as an evaluation tool evaluation is a vital is vital for the administration of a municipality including our Park and Recreation system a park system includes but is not limited to our comp plan uh Recreation
and park element a Park and Recreation master plan where you the city Commission have spent thousands of dollars on plans and millions of dollars on operations on page 31 and 32 if I can get to it 31 and 32 has a um a matrix of your Park system which is pretty good
and and that it describes the complete Matrix of your Park system with categories down the yellow and it has um like objectives along along the side so those um categories are proximity to access to linkages comfort and image uses and activities buildings and architecture with the uh new landscape ordinance regrow the loop and now regrow Volusia thanks to um councilman
Kent initiative and flooding I suggest to the city commission to insert a category of natural amenities for the 75% native plants that our planning department has just gone through enormous efforts for trees safety and Park drainage for future discussion and policy development the updated Park evaluation system will provide longitudinal data for your natural system
with hundreds of Acres of lakes and Parkland therefore develop a template to evaluate all parks by a citizen Advisory Board collect data and evaluate the allocation of resources to sustain and maintain our Park system the data would be organized and presented like you have here with the recommendations and priorities for specific efficient effective and efficacious action a park
system including natural amenities evaluation is an essential tool for the city commission please consider this suggestion during your upcoming planning sessions I thank you and I would ask the mayor if I could include my comments to be part of the minutes okay thank you Alan you're welcome Jennifer bright and on Deck is Caroline Meyers good evening I was deeply troubled when I listened to
the February 18th meeting to hear our Deputy Mayor State and I quote to uphold the principles of our commission rather than acting independently in ways that do not reflect our Collective governance Collective governance is a governing Arrangement where one or more public agencies directly engage with nonstate backers in Collective decision-making processes Carl Marx concept of collective government is associated with Communism a social and political ideology that strives to
create a classless society where all property and wealth are communally owned this is where we the citizens can see a reoccurring theme where a few of our commissioners are continually suggesting the city acquire private land again it was brought up that Ormond Beach operates under the commission manager form of government but section 4.02 was not referenced appointment the city commission shall appoint the city manager B removal subject to in Conformity with any conditions of employment
approved by the city commission the city manager may be removed by a majority vote of the city commission so why would the zone 2 commissioner who made the indirect inference that someone on the dais was trying to get the city manager fired this in itself was unprofessional only trying to create Discord and then they have the audacity to say if you have a problem call that person sit down with them or discuss it this from a commissioner who has yet to respond to multiple
requests from his constituents to set up a meeting to discuss concerns it would appear that some of our elected officials have developed the mindset that the elected body should be a well-planned echo chamber where senior staff create public policy behind closed doors and their role as elected officials is merely to rubber stamp it hopefully the mayor maintains his individuality and refuses the bureaucrats official line before issuing information to his constituents this is
why the residents of Ormond Beach elected him thank you next up Caroline Meyers on Deck Joe Danio oh John I'm sorry good evening I'm here on behalf of the commissioners of the Ormond Beach Housing Authority I am Miss Caroline Myers I'm the executive director of that agency I am here this evening to share our accomplishments during my tenure we are an agency that serves
187 housing vouchers and manage 41 lowincome housing units that is located South Washington Street Division Street Hand Avenue florman Avenue and Ramsey Terrace when I was appointed to that position for the agency it was it was a standard performer through hard work commitment dedication accountability not just on behalf of the agency but accountability of the residents as well we are
performing as a high performer over four years we obtained that grade through the Section 8 management Assessment program we call it for short the cmap program it measures the performance of the public housing agencies that administer the housing Choice vulture program in 14 key areas cmap helps her Target monitoring and assisting and assistance to F programs that need the most Improvement I have done a lot but will continue to strive to make those units modern safe and
decent thank you for the time and for allowing me to share a little bit of what our agency is and and we will continue to do for the residents we serve we value being a part of the Ormond Beach Community and is este theme thank you thank you Caroline John up and on Deck we have Suzanne Sxheiber mayor commission my name is John Danio and I live at 11 Palmetto Dooms Court I recently moved
back to Ormond Beach from Holly Hill where I live for 15 years and currently own and operate my business which just last week celebrated 37 years I served on the Holly Hill City commission for the past 8 years and I was fortunate to get elected at a good time we recruited our city manager Joe Forte back and our vision Focus team began its work we eliminated blight on US1 by removing outdoor displays we redid the sunrise boat ramp we unveiled and dedicated a new beautiful Granite Veterans Memorial in front of City Hall to honor those Holly Hill residents who lost
their lives in battle with the help of a $1.2 million in Appropriations we cut the ribbon at our new fire station last month and we are now working with a couple who submitted plans and has begun work on a high end RV park off a Flomich Boulevard to complement our biggest achievement pictona through Echo grants and private funding Holly Hill now owns what could easily be the finest pickle ball facility in the country and I say all this not to brag but to point out the importance of one critical component teamwork our commission wasn't perfect neither was our
city but we always respected each each other's opinions and if we disagreed well we agree to disagree the mayor didn't need our permission to promote our city that's his right and honestly that's his job and if he mistakenly says something he should be corrected behind closed doors not up here certainly not in the newspaper city of Ormond Beach did not elect a commission to squabble and determine what the mayor can and can't do they want continued progress one thing I've learned in government is progress takes teamwork without it you're only a strong as your weakest link let's
refocus and get back to work thank you thank you [Applause] John Suzanne and Connie Colby on Deck good evening I'm Suzanne Shyer with dream green Volusia I'm here to talk about posos if you've never heard of posos it stands for purr and poly floal in layman's terms forever chemical these forever chemicals pollute our water and ruin our health and our economy the chemicals
build in our bodies and cost an estimated one and a half billion a year in deaths and illnesses including but not limited to cancer heart attacks and strokes an example of posos is in firefighter foam our organization took water samples for a posos study conducted by a team at the University of Florida the study on posos in Florida's freshwater Springs was published in science of the total environment in this study 50 freshwater spring Springs were analyzed and the Springs with the highest concentration of posos were Green Spring Blue Spring and Gemini Springs right here
in Volusia County the three most contaminated Springs were all within a 10m radius of Deltona the cities within the 10 mile radius are ar City Deltona Lake Helen DeBary and Deland in 2022 we did a pfas test with cyclopure Labs from residents unfiltered tap water in Deltona and Lake Helen the results coincided with UF results so why am I here and what is it that I want you to know tonight the federal government had passed a requirement that Pfas compliance monitoring to agencies begs
in 2027 and compliance with maximum contaminant levels be met by 2029 but with the new president this is now paused and that's okay but it can't stay paused reverse osmosis treatment plants are one of the most effective filtration systems to remove posos contaminants in water Ormond beach has this type of water treatment system however the Westside cities and County do not the Deltona commission voted to accept the Ferrero law firm as representation in a pfas litigation
suit for their water in January of this year see when governments sell water they do hold a responsibility to the people they represent if the city of Ormond Beach finds it in their interest to discuss pfas in our city or at the state level or even in Washington DC I would remind mind that no one wants to drink polluted water selling drinking water does come with responsibility which is why the vote was unanimous in Deltona to pursue litigation they need water treatment to remove pfas we spoke on this issue at the Volusia delegation the round table of elected officials
the City of Lake Helen and separately to certain elected officials I come before you speaking on this subject tonight because of previous closing comments on this issue thank you thank you Suzanne H up and on Deck we have Jeff Boyle no yeah you're up y sorry sorry good evening my name is Connie Colby 108 Robo
Lane in Ormond Beach first of all um as far as Miss Caroline from the Housing Authority I've been to a couple of their meetings they maintain one of the most wellmaintained um housing in our area it's an asset to um to um Ramsey Court um two things I would like to talk about first of all um the property on will met the 20 acre property that I've heard is subject of Po
possibly purchasing um as far as the price I would like to suggest that that you look at the Property Appraiser's website for um Volusia County it doesn't come anywhere near close to $2 million it looks like there's four properties there and um check that out before you decide to spend $2 million on that otherwise it looks like a nice piece of property to have um I don't know what the situation is at this point with the gas station at the Circle K at Nova and Hand Avenue
new um if I were a person living on Collins I would not like to have that in my backyard um it looks like it's um it's a property that can be a commercial property acceptable there permitted I think it's a conditional use to have the gas tanks there though and I don't know if that needs to be approved as a conditional use how that works um I would worry about the fact
that it drops the property drops off and with the cement there people with their gas tanks loading up and gas maybe going into the cement rain washing down into somebody's backyard might be an issue for contamination for people's yards there is a drop off behind that property and not too long ago maybe two years ago a person at the opposite end of the street behind all aboard came to I believe it was a Planning Commission and was concerned because he had run off from
All Aboard going into a swimming pool which had to be corrected and that place had been there for a while so I I would suggest that somebody look into the fact that maybe they don't need to have gas tanks at that property there's already two other gas stations there um it's kind of overkilled and not really quite fair to the people that already have been supporting our community with their gas stations thank you Jeff Boyle and on Deck is uh Hunter uh well wend I couldn't read the writing here but W go
yeah it's a little scribbly Jeff Boyle 614 North Halifax Drive it's now been two weeks since the three Commissioners made objections to the mayor's televised comments those objections are still being debated with another article in this morning's newspaper and the audience remarks we've heard tonight which uh called three Commissioners bullies and accused you of alliances and other things it it appears that it's the messengers that's the problem
that not the message of false information to offer some perspective and clarification this was never an attack on the mayor only a challenge to false information that blindsided the Community Information still not corrected like the previous speakers we respect the mayor's important role in serving as the ceremonial symbolic and public face of our city and as our spokesperson a source of public information that is why the commission staff and all Resident
must assist the mayor to make sure the public information is documented transparent accountable and accurate The credibility of all of us depends on that accuracy public trust is fragile it is built on Truth the Channel 6 segment created confusion about whether Ormond residents have to pay to park in Andy Romano beachfront Park about the possibility of an executive golf course at the
airport and about the threat of the massive fuel terminal locating itself on our City's doorstep and a subject I might add that has really caused Great consternation this community and we we believe it's been settled although the mayor would disagree with me on that there's a growing awareness that the mayor's most vocal supporters and we've heard heard from some tonight oppose our city government and all of its public decisions Mr Mayor please reach out to them address their
issues turn their negative energy into positive energy for our city you're a mayor to all of us those who voted for you and those who did not and since I'm preaching accuracy 2,997 voters who did not vote for either candidate please do everything a mayor can do do to unify us thank you uh Hunter no Hunter Wendelstedt 88 South St Andrews Drive um I just wanted to say I was blessed a few months
ago to become the ambassador to this city and what I've witnessed even tonight I was late but the snickers in the room and clearly people have taken a side and that's not what Ormond beach is all about okay Ormond beach has become a wonderful place that I've been here since 1971 after being born I moved from Atlanta the reason we're so amazing is not because of snickers in the back and playing the blame game yes you are our mayor Mr Mayor you are whether we voted for you or not
you won and everyone wants you to succeed we all do but I think it's very important to realize how amazing this commission is how amazing they have been and if we work together and working together is you asking them you had the the thing on TV that's fantastic those probably would not have been the things that I would have focused on in Ormond Beach and maybe you should have asked the Commissioners what they thought would have been the great thing to focus on in Spotlight um
it it's just one of those things there are growing paints you're new to the area just remember for those of us that have been here for a long time we're not against you we're for you but like I said earlier the snickering and my daughter showed me some of the comments online cuz if anyone Googles me you'll see what a terrible person I am I'm used to getting nasty comments about myself and my family things like that uh and I understand how that feels sometimes but for this commission to get those comments that's unjust they've been here they've been
in this community everyone up here has done a fantastic job Mr Mayor please lean on them for their assistance and that would be my only advice to you uh in the future you know Miss Caroline thank you for all the work you do that's that's an amazing story too Ormond Beach is a fantastic place I travel around the country I am the ambassador to the city I I've told everyone all the wonderful things bike week I'm here there I'm everywhere what we need to do is come together with common ground stop the snickers stop the baloney get together work together and you know
what if not enough people like what you're doing you won't be here in a couple years if you do a fantastic job you'll be sitting up there for as long as you want but this seems very personal and that's something that mayor Partington mayor Partington disagreed a lot of times with the Commission but they always came together with a common ground and they always had that solidified when he would go to the community they talked Mr Mayor please make sure you talk to them and those of you that don't think this city commission is is not right it's because you're being partisan
because you're friends of the mayor if you don't think they're good doing a good job you're wrong it's not about the gas station this that the other thing we all have problems with what's going on but you need to work together and realize how good they can be thank you Hunter [Applause] at this time we're going to move over to the uh approval of the minutes for the February 4th 2025 City commission meeting uh the minutes have been sent to the commission for review and posted to the city's website does anyone have any concern Corrections or changes at this time move approval second discussion yes uh Voice vote please all those
in favors please say I I I all those oppose uh the ayes have it thank you move over to uh consent agenda items on the consent agenda are deemed routine and non-controversial the action proposed is stated for each item unless a city commission removes an item from the consent agenda no discussion on individual items will occur and a single motion will approve all items does any member of the commission wish to pull any items from the consent agenda move approval second any discussion as one good second
uh please call the vote please commissioner Tolland yes commissioner Sargent yes commissioner Deaton yes mayor Leslie yes do any Commissioners wish to comment any of the consent agendas at this time uh Deputy Mayor I'd like to comment on 6h and 6i I'll start with 6h the skate park um I appreciate the uh challenges to keep a reliable company that operates the concession stand and keeps an eye on the children at our skate park I have to say that the skate park was not one of my
favorite additions when it was first suggested when I served on the Leisure Services Board um I have since changed my mind and I appreciate the services provided to the residents it is used abundantly by our youth and it may serve up to approximately 30 youth a day so I just wanted to justify that cost that we spend um for our quality of life and then the other um consent agenda item I wanted to just um highlight is 6i and that's the TPO project I want to personally
thank Gail our Bpac representative uh for her comments tonight and her insight and her service to the community so thank you Gail um I'm thankful to Shawn Finley and staff for pushing this grant for a mixed use path along Hand Avenue between Williamson and Clyde Morris and there are other grants to be considered and I would personally like staff to continue to look for ways to connect our city and increase safety and just for you Commissioners I'll be discussing um a need to
update that Master Plan during our workshop and that's the end of my comments thank you Deputy Mayor um any other comments on the consent before we move on okay um we're going to move to 7 now uh we'll now open the public hearrings and uh City Clerk please read title 7A ORDINANCE NO. 2025-12: AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING CERTAIN UPDATED SCHEDULES TO THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS ELEMENT OF THE CITY OF ORMOND BEACH COMPREHENSIVE PLAN; PROVIDING WHEN SUCH UPDATES SHALL TAKE EFFECT; REPEALING ALL INCONSISTENT ORDINANCES OR PARTS THEREOF; AND SETTING FORTH AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 2025-12 read by title only do we need uh Steven Spraker to speak on this or move approval second
uh we don't have any cards here any other questions by the commission before I call the vote okay uh city clerk please call the vote commissioner Sargent yes commissioner Deaton yes commissioner Tolland yes mayor Leslie [Music] yes 7B please read the title ORDINANCE NO. 2025-13: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 11-1, FLUORIDATION OF WATER SUPPLY, OF ARTICLE I, IN GENERAL, OF CHAPTER 11, HEALTH SANITATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES; PROVIDING TERMS AND CONDITIONS; AND SETTING FORTH AN EFFECTIVE DATE. this is the first reading of ordinance number 2025-13 read by title only do we need uh Steven to speak on the item no it would be Shawn I'm
Shawn I'm sorry no okay I do have two cards so I'll have the two speakers come up and then um we'll kind of go from there uh Jerry valcik and Amy on Deck good evening again I'm Jerry valcik living on the Ormond beach side I devoted most of my 40-year professional engineering career to providing Safe Drinking Water for large communities
including the Army the US Army worldwide I uh based on this expertise I am staunchly opposed to repealing the city's water fluoridation ordinance a Community Voices article in last week's Observer explains my view now more you need to know you need to let the voters decide this issue just as they did in 1957 when Ormond residents voted to establish our City's water fluoridation program you need to hold a public workshop
for citizen input especially since this has significant public health impact first you uh have said your decision to inflation was based on the state surgeon general's guidance in Resident please let me address that first the state surgeon general's blanket guidance to eliminate floriation was based on a report that would not survive scientific scrutiny according to the American Dental Association the 19 studies he cited relied on atypically high fluoride exposure
levels invalid biomarkers and insufficient sample sizes these excessively high levels are the rare exception and not the rule especially in the vast majority of us communities like ours where water fluoridation is highly regulated at safe optimal levels second are you aware of the stand for health Freedom Indiana group that has been trying to end fluoride use by targeting a 100 Florida cities and there council members with a delu of emails texts and phone calls did you
verify that those urging you to end fluoridation were actually Ormond residents it's so important to confirm this the source and get objective science and fact-based guidance on this issue and of course resident input third on the free choice argument everyone has it absolutely any one of the 70% of our state's population who use fluoridated Community water can choose not to or get fluoride elsewhere however these choices should not be the basis for denying the rest of us
the benefit of optimal fluoridation you actually denied our free choice when you ended fluoridation and did not let the voters decide finally I urge you to reestablish optimal water fluoridation immediately to do no further harm and in light of questionably and in light of the question basis for cessation two reestablish the city's environmental committee or a new advisory task force for prudent expert advice three hold a public Workshop to discuss all points of view and
lastly then put the issue to the voters and let us decide for ourselves thank thank you Jerry um Amy good evening Mr Mayor Madame Deputy Mayor Commissioners and City staff I'm Amy valcik and I live on the Ormond Beach side I'm also here in opposition to repealing the existing ordinance that ensures safe optimal fluoridation of our City's drinking water I've done my homework
and have some important insights to share first have you talked to the experts have you gotten firsthand feedback from our Frontline workers dentists dental hygienists pediatricians I have and they tell horrendous stories of the lifelong damage that a lack of fluoridated was water causes it's utterly startling like the Ormond dentist who knows instantly if a new patient grew up in an area with fluoridated water because a mouthful of fillings crowns and Miss missing teeth is a Telltale sign fluoride is most beneficial to kids as their jaws and teeth
are developing without that another dentist had to give Dentures to a teenager they've seen what they call the Dentistry domino effect where a single cavity leads to a filling a crown and later a root canal and other issues these procedures are costly invasive anxiety producing and preventable with safe optimal water fluoridation and speaking of experts have you met yet with our own Public Works director to get his input on water fluoridation next Roi you've said that stopping
fluoride will save the city approximately $4,800 a year but the taxpayer Savings of continuing it are much greater 2024 data from the CDC proves that optimally fluoridating water offers a $20 return in dental cost savings for every dollar spent so the 14,800 a year that we spend on fluoridation times $20 Roi saves residents $200 96,000 a year in Dental treatments further since water fluoridation results in 25% fewer cavities it saves $32 per person a year by avoiding Dental
treatments Mis days of school and work for 44,000 Ormond residents that saves $1.4 million a year the taxpayers savings are undeniable third Freedom of Choice when you decided to stop fluoridating our city water without giving us a vote our freedom of choice was taken away and you invariably injured the most vulnerable among us our communities underserved especially kids will suffer the most extras like fluoride toothpaste and oral hygiene products are not as effective and regular Dental
Care is not universally affordable and accessible Commissioners you've made a health decision that affects all of us based on questionable data and a few voices we appreciate your commitment but respectfully you alone should not be making this decision call for a public Workshop allow public input and debate talk to The Experts then let the people vote thank you thank you at this time um I don't have any more cards I'll ask for a motion for approval in
a second and then we'll just kind of go into discussion at that point and we can R rotated from Zone one commissioner on up um if you guys have any comments or anything you like to say move approval second okay um Deputy Mayor do you have any comments you like to make um sure thank you for your research and your comments um I appreciate that um Community fluoridation has become a very controversial subject again recently I will state that I am fairly neutral regarding
whether we remove or continue fluoridating our water my research of the pros and cons both showed flawed data studies and results on both sides the push to remove is great and I've only heard from you all and one other resident uh to keep fluoride in our water the Ada the American Dental Association supports community fluoridation and our Surgeon General supports removal
Florida is next in line to consider consider anti fluoride bills just in today DeSantis is expecting federal health regulations to follow pushing the ban for fluoride and drinking water if this occurs then there's absolutely no need for discussion or putting it on a referendum where you will have to pay for that extra voting privilege um at this point I'm going to will continue to
vote to amend the ordinance of the water um of supplying the ordinance of fluoridation of the water supply Article 1 CH 11 section 1 thank you deputy mayor uh commissioner Sargent thank you Mr Mayor Valcik thank you all for coming thank you for your research I respect y'all um unfortunately I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one I go back to um the positive feedback that I've
received from residents including dentists um that some of the dentists couple of them that I talked to said that they were pushed in dental school to push fluoride times have changed I believe water should be water you know we you you reference Freedom of Choice well on the flip side if we automatically in include it we're limiting freedom of choice for those that do not want it it so I went to the store today and I picked up Crest Toothpaste for Kids $4.29 for that Colgate $1.49
I'll just read both warnings are on there sorry I'm getting old um Keep Out Of Reach of children 6 years or younger if more than used for brushing is accidentally swallowed get medical help or contact a poison control center right away with the 800 number two Poison Control Center I know when this started I think it was about 16 years ago commissioner Kent now councilman Kent brought
this forward and he sent certified letters to all the manufacturers of this chemical to ask what was in it do you know how many responses he got zero none of the manufactur we willing to provide the data for a chemical that we are including in our water system water should be water you know with heart conditions going on are we going to start putting heart medicine in our water so we
can limit that where does it stop I am 100% for removing fluoride from our water and um when you read these I mean it's very concerning call Poison Control and once again Freedom of Choice goes both ways thank you Mr Mayor thank you commissioner Sargent uh commissioner Deaton thank you I'd like to thank you both for the time and effort you guys have put in to be here I really do appreciate it and Amy I appreciate the conversations we've had they've been they've been they've been very smart
thank you I appreciate that um I do want to revert back to the conversation regarding the water treatment facility I did have a conversation he did say he'd be fine with it being removed so I went and had a conversation with my dentist and he thanked me for getting him more clients so um with that I am going to stay against the fluoride thank you thank you commissioner Deaton uh I will also say uh thank you to Jerry and Amy for your efforts on this um you know and I will have to
go with uh the rest of the commission here because [Music] um like like some of them said that we had a lot of I didn't get that many people that were opposed to it they you know taking it out we had more people in favor and I have two dentists in the family who I called and contacted and asked them their input about it and they said honestly a lot of the cavities come from kids drinking vitamin waters and all this other sugary drinks um and they don't think that you know that's that's where the biggest problem is and so fluoride you know they like you know it's just ridiculous
it was something that was pushed on them in medical school um they were both not really big belie Believers of it and I also think that you know government shouldn't be medicating us uh I really do um so unfortunately I'm just going to have to go with um taking this um fluoride out of the water I think that's that's a good step in the right direction but however until the state does anything we can't always reverse this thing back I mean we just have to go back to the steps that we were going through right now if we decide to change course um while while these rules are in place now by the state legislator that can change it looks like the state legislator is going
probably uh you know ask the cities to eliminate it or make some kind of legislative law on it but like I said I'm going to stand firm in my position right now um and thank you but thank you for what you guys did at that time if there's any no more deliberation here um we do have a motion for approval and I will call the vote well I'm sorry you call the vote commissioner Deaton yes commissioner Tolland yes commissioner Sargent yes mayor Leslie yes I will now close the public hearings I'll now move on to staff and commission reports suggestions and requests starting with the
city manager Joyce shanan thank you all um just a couple reminders upcoming meetings March 12th and 13th you're going to have a goal setting workshop on Tuesday April 1st we will um uh have a regular commission meeting so there's a possible Workshop that might be before that but we don't know 100% present yet Tuesday April 1st um public art uh Workshop is being proposed
um and we'll confirm with the city commission if you decide that's a good date for that and we'll send this out to you in the mail just so you know Tuesday April 22nd uh we're proposing a workshop for storm water flooding that's one of the ones that you asked us to prepare on Tuesday May 6th will be the final goal setting uh Workshop Tuesday January 3rd uh please mark your calendars that's our Capital Public Capital Improvement plan for the budget so that's Tuesday June 3rd that's
really important that's the first budget Workshop we always do the CIP first and then Tuesday July 15th would be our operating budget so as you have traditionally done in the past after your Tuesday uh June 3rd meeting the commission takes a recess until the budget workshop on July 15th so what I would ask you to do is look at your calendars um for those upcoming they should be on your because
they're traditional Workshop regular commission days but take a look at that so we can get that on the calendar and we can clear the the road going forward um in a joint effort between n and PD with rotary a prop the rotary Club of Ormond Beach correct downtown Ormond Beach excuse me um in a joint effort between neighborhood Improvement division Police Department with the Rotary Club of downtown Orman Beach a property was cleaned up on petree terrace um and the resulting collection
was astonishing quite honestly 1.76 tons of debris and materials on a residential property or 3,520 pounds were removed from that property so I want to do a special shout out to the Rotary Club and to um PD and nid for organizing that uh the neighbors had been upset about that property for a very long time and they were finally able to get um some uh approval to enter
the property and do some action so well done by everybody um I'm pleased to report that the staff the city staff all of our staff has completed the Florida Alliance to end human trafficking training that you had suggested Mr Mayor and the city has requested its 100% club membership certificate uh cyber secure Florida launched an initiative by cyber Florida and pursuant to State Statute training for staff is underway and is expected to be completed by end of April
the state requires all employees to be trained in cyber security so that we can help eliminate um um people opening up ad emails and and running through your whole system so uh thanks to um Chuck Osteen our it manager for organizing that um additionally we had a free training session that came by the way of the Florida League of cities was that uh the Florida League of cities offered um some training to about 40 or 50 staff members a week ago or so uh it was
free of charge to the city and it was a 4 hour training session so we are very grateful for that airport update The Collector Road next to um to extend the Runway Drive to extend Runway Drive from West Tower Circle to Pineland Trail was completed following the final uh contractor's walkth through that was one of our cips from last year so we got that road cut through and Mr Mayor you'll be excited to hear this one the 2025 mayor's Health and Fitness
challenge the kickoff and weigh-in celebration is Saturday March 29th 2025 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Joe and E Willie Daniel South Ormond neighborhood center you can register online at the city's website we traditionally have ours a little bit later than after the first of the year so those people that have already fallen off the wagon from their January 1 um goals you can kick back in gear and do it then so uh we're looking forward to that uh just a couple
more items I would like to share with you um I would like to uh extend a warm congratulations to Alex Schumann he was named one of the 40 under 40 by the news journal congratulations Alex and um I would like to um thank um Chief Godfrey and commissioner Tolland for their participation on the opioid task force abatement task force and um making available those kits to the biker um that
help uh if you're having a fentanyl overdose you just get the one shot one breath thing and it it helps revive you those are life-saving measures and we applaud those efforts I'm happy to answer any questions if anybody has any for me tonight questions no thank you very much thank you Joyce uh assistant city manager Claire Whitley hi good good evening I just want to Echo Joyce's comments about the neighborhood Improvement Division and their work on the property cleanup and add to that um
an appreciation for the legal department as well so our uh our manager and nid Chris Mason works very closely with legal as you all know private property issues are complicated and time consuming and they just partner together and do a phenomenal job um so I know our residents appreciate it when we're able to get some results on those issues just wanted to mention that thank you thank you Claire City attorney Randy Hayes nothing tonight thank you mayor okay this evening we'll begin
with uh Deputy Mayor commissioner Tolland all right good evening um couple notes that I took during the meetings I first of all I wanted to um thank Hunter wendlestedt for coming and being very candid and being speaking the truth and I appreci I applaud you for that and I appreciate that um I also want to thank the YMCA I think they left for their very informative report and support
of Ormond Beach and that did come out of the very tragic event that we had um in our town losing that one little child and so um we had questioned what we can do as a community you know you can't put fences around every body of water and uh the YMCA did reach out and say this is what we do and and and hopefully there'll be more families that will take advantage of those scholarships and teaching our kids to swim um this should have happened uh last last time
but we got sidetracked so I wanted to um I need my glasses I can't read can't see um I want to thank you mayor for appointing Debbie kruck and Marvin Miller as ambassadors a few few meetings ago are our last meeting um and I would like to formally congratulate them I had something written up and I'm going to read it tonight even though they're not here I'm sure they'll they'll hear it at some point um Debbie your appointment as a Goodwill ambassador's well is a well-deserved
honor and reflects your dedication to supporting our veterans and the community your passion and tireless efforts to uplift and advocate for those who have served are truly inspiring this nomination is a testament to your leadership and compassion I wish you continued success as you bring positive change and strengthen the bonds within our community congratulations the next is to Marvin Miller congratulations on your nomination as a Goodwill Ambassador this
prestigious role is a true Testament to your dedication your character and your commitment to fostering positive relationships and representing the best of our community your ability to connect with people and promote goodwi would undoubtedly be a meaningful impact I have no doubt you will continue to inspire others along the way I'm wishing you much success and fulfillment in this welld deserved position and I apologize I have a lot to say
tonight um the um Joyce thank you for acknowledging the opioid abatement meeting I wanted to give the Commissioners just a little update date of our last meeting and what we were able to do I think it's really important you know as we're assigned to different committees to come back to you and let you know what what's going on so the grant money um for this quarter was awarded to West Volusia neighborhood center hearstone and firststep shelter and just in case you all don't under
know what uh the abatement is all about is these are monies that supports additional programs or Services uh to those in recovery the board voted to begin to accept for-profit applications in the future as well as nonprofits money granted is from funds awarded from pharmaceutical lawsuits fighting the opioid epidemic there are very strict guidelines and restrictions on how that money can be used the board is made up of County representatives and is well Diversified
an initiative that passed this last meeting was suggested by County staff as an app that can be used for professional Outreach in p and as a public resource to help or provide help for those seeking recovery for instance if you're a mom and you have a child that is suffering from opioid addiction it's really difficult to find a resource or where you go and what you do so there is there will be an app that if you Google it you can find it and it will point you in different directions
helping um helping you provide get those resources needed and it will also be a resource to those companies already in the business of providing recovery by finding those people so it's a connective piece um of course there is a cost and the opioid abatement money will be used um for that purpose the but the board felt it was worthwhile and it was um important and speaking of drugs I do want to talk about the one box and I do know that um Joyce I think you were a recipient
of this email but it was very informative and I think it's important for the commission and the public to hear um this was an email from um Missy O'Brien who is a Volusia recovery Alliance Advocate and it would came out of a meeting I was at in Port Orange for opioid oh can't remember it was a breakfast I can't remember the name of the the group anyway um Missy said she she wants to thank
everyone for their support Volusia recovery Alliance Karen who is the CEO of that company and I Missy thrill are thrilled with the strong Community Partnerships Advent Health sponsorship of 25 one boxes is a huge win for Volusia County and shows your organization's commitment to help saving lives after we spoke on Friday she's speaking to me I called and made an immediate appointment with
Miss Karen from Volusia recovery and Es especially since she was visiting with members of sheriff Chitwood and Captain C's opioid task force we spoke about this Bike Week harm reduction push and they agreed to support and assist by getting me a list of 25 establishments in the whole of Volusia County that hit our metrics of need and Commissioners you have that metric um in front of you while he she waited for the list I received a call from the Ormond Beach Chief Godfrey with
his list in Declaration of support I immediately called the Ormond Beach victims advocate Courtney who agreeing to join me in outreaching to the Ormond Beach locations when we return Friday even I had my list from my opioid task force and planned my weekend Outreach she I was thrilled that almost every one of the establish I contacted was grateful for the one box and the knowledge that our organizations care these stories I heard of overdoses and the number of individuals
working at these establishments in recovery was staggering it was extremely humbling in a positive connection to Advent Health in our Ormond Beach Police Department with their collaborative out Outreach in 3 days I have outreached to 28 establishments placed 16 one boxes with 29 individually trained on overdose recognition and reversal of 256 kits of Narcan handed out the
one boxes each have four kits of Naran and most locations received a total of 12 additional kits all one box recipients were trained on the usage and charging the box so what this is this is a box that's got Naran and PPE like gloves um within the Box you open it up and there is a little video that says the first thing it says is okay breathe so you take a deep breath and you breathe and then it tells you how to administer the Narcan it it's just an amazing tool um all one uh let's
see information for referring individuals to Volusia recovery Alliance peer sport recovery were issued to everybody um the only request was that our office be able to contact them for questions concerns um and the ability to have them Reach Out for reversal of all overdose notifications and it goes on so I guess the point is I know it was very long but I want to thank from the bottom of my heart our Ormond Beach police for being open and collaborative to Advent health for
their sponsorship and for opiod Recovery Alliance and all those organizations working to fight the opioid epidemic it's really through collaboration that we can get a handle on this so I'm very appreciative of that all right my final comment is and I hopefully this is my final comment and it's regarding the latest media outreach regarding our mayor being blindsided and before I start with
my written word I need to say that I absolutely positively resent being called called A Marxist that's just totally unamerican and I don't appreciate that I'm extremely disappointed that this continues in the media and that our mayor reached out to to the news journal to continue a dialogue on a topic that takes away from the work of the commission the mayor already addressed his
comments in The Observer I also think the timing was quite interesting based on the release prior to a commission meeting let me be clear this was never about governing dialogue I believe in freedom of speech it's about following protocol in representing our city with accuracy and putting our best face forward my comments tonight address an issue that is fundamental to our democracy the
importance of speaking on the dais for transparency and the unintended consequences of continuing media scrutiny that shifts the focus away from the real work we're here to do when we sit on the dais we're not only speaking to each other but we're speaking to you all the people we serve the dais is where public policy is debated decisions are made and the public can witness on how those
decisions come to be we are accountable on the dais all matters are to be addressed openly and with transparency scrutiny is healthy and the role of the press is important in holding our leaders responsible but accountability should not come at the expense of effectiveness if Commissioners are forced to spend more time defending the process than advancing the solutions we lose
as a community I ask my fellow Commissioners and mayor to remain committed to speaking openly on the dais and do the work of the commission to serve our residents I encourage the media to continue its vital role while recognizing when coverage begins to overshadow the progress we are working to achieve let's reaffirm our commitment to serving our residents and putting them first
and ensure that we serve with integrity and focus good night thank you Deputy Mayor um commissioner Sargent thank you Mr Mr Mayor um first I would like to say thank you to the YMCA you know at that dinner Charlie LyDecker put it very well where he said the YMCA's business model is horrible they give away more than they take in and finally they are now operating and the black where they
now have the memberships up and are finally making some money but they give back and they do not turn away anyone for any reason so if anyone needs a swim lesson or needs after daycare or anything the YMCA is there for our community and I appreciate them for coming tonight um I also like to give a shout out to and I normally don't do this but my mom was in the ER last night and as we know Advent is just I mean there was no seats in the waiting room people in the hallways and then thankfully
she was in a room um I got home late last night from baseball was about 8:30 I didn't want to go back out there so I called and I felt very bad calling cuz you know how busy those nurses are and the nurse that was on duty Hannah was so calm cool she wasn't rushed and it just says a lot for our um healthc care workers I think in in the the system how wonderful they are with our residents so thank you to Hannah I don't know her last name but um I know a resident asked about the visual
Visual and audio I believe that's still on track for Q2 of this year um yes we hope to have that by the end of the summer it's coordinating with a couple of the other upgrades to the chamber so it has to all come together but we're hoping during during your summer break perfect thank you so that's coming online um said that the piece of property at willmette you know when I brought this forward I wasn't asking that the city go out write a check for $2 million obviously we have to do our
due diligence and evaluate the property and of the 20 acres I believe from my talks with people about five of it is developable of that five you would have to bring in about six ft of fill we know what filling in is going to do it's going to flood the area so that's why I brought this environmentally sensitive piece of property um forward for consideration um so obviously we're not going to rush out and do I think it's worth 2 million no but I'm also not u in that business so obviously
we would have to get our appraisals and do our due diligence as a city before we spent any money um those are the comments so far and then I'll go on to my written notes over the last couple of weeks I was reflecting on the distractions that have been encountered we have people groups that show up and ask us to write letters to support different issues affecting the city county from flooding to overbuilding and development last meeting I proposed the city to look at purchasing
an environmentally sensitive piece of property in the center of Ormond Beach this was overshadowed by the comments at the last commission meeting regarding misinformation that was stated in an interview with Channel 6 I'm not going to rehash what was said instead I would like to read a letter that I put together that I hope will help us all move forward I titled it progress in the city of Ormond Beach and ignoring distractions ladies and gentlemen fellow residents of Ormond Beach tonight I would like to celebrate the progress of our beloved city um has made and to reflect on the
journey that lies ahead Ormond Beach is a Vibrant Community rich in history and uh breaming in with Potential from our beautiful beaches to our Lush Parks we have much to be proud of however ever as we Embrace these accomplishments we must also acknowledge the distractions that can divert us from our path of progress in recent years our city has experienced remarkable growth new businesses are opening their doors contributing to a thriving local economy our infrastructure is being enhanced
with Road improvements beautification of uh projects that not only make our city more accessible but also more inviting to the residents and visitors alike we've seen investments in public safety Community Services all aimed at improving the quality of life for everyone in Ormond Beach however as we celebrate these achievements we must remain Vigilant distractions come in many forms be it negativity misinformation or decisive rhetoric they can all
pull us away from our goals and hinder our ability to collaborate effectively it is crucial for us as a community to stay focused on what truly matters the well-being of our residents and sustainability of our environment and the enhancement of our community spirit let us not be swayed by those who seek to diminish our efforts to divide us instead we should harness our collective energy and pass passion to propel Ormond Beach forward we must engage in
constructive dialogue listen to one another and work together towards a common goal by doing so we can build a resilient Community not only to withstand challenges but thrives in the faces of them to ignore distraction does not mean to ignore dis descending opinions or constructive criticism constructive criticism excuse me it means to rise above the noise and focus on solutions it means to prioritize collaborations over conflict and to foster an environment where everyone
vo is heard and valued let us commit to being champions of progress advocating for Unity and cooperation and all of our endeavors as we stand on the height of the of future opportunities let us remember that the strength of Ormond Beach lies in its peoples together we can achieve great things if we remain steadfast in our vision unwavering in our commitment to one another let's continue to work diligently celebrate our victory and learn from our setbacks all while M all while
maintaining our focus on the bright future that awaits us thank you all for your dedication to our community for your commitment to making Ormond Beach a better better place for all together we can turn our vision into reality and create a legacy of progress that will inspire generations to come let's move forward together thank you and good night thank you thank you commissioner Sargent uh commissioner Deaton thank you please bear with me I was Ill last week and combined with my asthma
I just have not kicked the cough yet um Deputy Mayor Lori Tolland I would like to thank you for spending your weekend dedicating it to these one boxes that's pretty commendable I appreciate that Robert Carolyn and Leisure Services I would like to thank you for helping me address the debris issue at the Nova ball fields I know this is tough given where the ball fields were built but being continually attentive to the situation especially during baseball season is very helpful I'm excited to discuss options for Nova field 1 in the near future I know that we have all received
many emails from the same resident with a number of issues but specifically regarding the temporary sign ordinances in Ormond Beach and the DR Horton stick signs I had a good conversation with corporate DR Horton regarding our city or City Sign ordinances and the ramifications if they are to continue placing those stick signs all up and down airport Granada and Timber Creek I personally have not seen one DR Horton stick sign since I made that phone call and I'm happy to report that Resident actually sent me an email last week to thank me as he had not seen any signs either
small victories I'd like to thank City staff for helping me with an F dot matter a large truck had spilled insulation and debris all over Granada near Indian Springs causing hazards on the road and debris in the ditches in the side of the road within a few hours City staff had fdot out there clearing it up so thank you for that I'd like to give a shout out to Ormond PD for continuously being attentive to the ongoing transient issue we are facing in Ormond Beach I know this is a difficult task given our reactive code enforcement policy but they have been extremely respective
to my requests I would personally love to see a proactive code enforcement policy should budget permit but that's a conversation for a different day Joyce do we have any update on the workshop for the homeless transient issue discussed a couple months ago I think we talked about that I don't know that we've got that schedu okay I'd love to see that one get on the calendar if possible um regarding the Circle K gas station resident comment from last commission meeting I would like to see if the other Commissioners would be in agreeance to direct the planning
department to research the administrative Land Development code regarding the allotted feet from gas station to a residential home I do know that if an amendment is agreed upon the amendment would only apply to new applications not this specific Circle K project but it might be worth having a conversation about for future projects and I would like to get the opinions of the other Commissioners I'm always open to listening to new ideas I'm up for exploring it same okay if
we could direct staff to handle that thank you so much appreciate that and lastly this job is hard and for most of us on the dais in addition to our families this is not our full-time job many people often don't get to see the positive things we are doing in the community each day instead you see a headline or a single vote you disagree with and you run with it we field complaints via email and phone call daily we have difficult conversations and we bear the weight of making decisions that impact an entire community we are attacked on social media by people who have never sat in this
seat all because we don't always align with every single view or vote we are accused of things that often aren't true our reputations are battered from behind a keyboard and all because we are quote unquote politicians I don't know about the others but my goal wasn't to be a politician my goal is to do what is best for Ormond Beach so that my children and the rest of the future Generations are left with the same thriving town that I was fortunate enough to grow up in and despite the noise and negativity I'm still going to be here committed to Ormond Beach thank you and have a
good night thank you commissioner Deaton well I will say that uh nice surprise tonight Joyce with the 100% Club you're holding that for me weren't you I was yes for those of you that don't know what that meant is that the Attorney General's office has a program that allowed businesses but also cities to participate in a program where you can kind of understand a little bit more about how to identify anybody that might be human trafficked and there's all kinds of different forms of human
trafficking and so January was human trafficking Awareness Month and so when I learned about it I thought that it was a good time to maybe uh have the city of Ormond Beach participate in there was no charge right no charge and I think it was an hour training now that the city employees were able to do and what the 100% means is that all the employees in the city are all trained and will get a certificate I believe for the 100% so good job I really appreciate it the commission here I'm sure appreciates it yeah it's a great thing and uh human trafficking awareness is uh something that
we should all be mindful of because it does exist um the last meeting we did discuss about raising our threshold on um things that could be that'll need to be voted on by the commission you know spending so we're at $25,000 I saw that Deltona actually is going to have something on the agenda where they're going to raise it to 100 um so I just I know we talked about it but I mean um 100 is a little high um but it's it's I think that raising it though would be a really important part
of what we do here because the way it works right now is that if the city needs to spend any money to keep the wheels moving for any projects if it's over $25,000 it has to come before the commission and some of these projects could really slow us down a little bit um for example if a police car goes out for any reason um we have to go through all these motions to get um a you know a police car replaced and that requires the commission meeting and public notice and all that stuff and us sitting here and Meanwhile we're down one police car and Public Safety is always always important to us because as a commission here Public Safety is always priority right
and even our staff though so uh I'd like to see that on the agenda at some point and uh oh if I might we're uh researching what other cities are doing and we'll bring that uh survey back to you with some recommendations um I believe we've had the $25,000 since long since like 30 years so it doesn't have the same buy buying power today as it did and you all gave us some direction at the last commission so we are working on that and hope to bring that before the end of May good
yeah like I said it's important because this helps keep the city moving and some of these things that are important you know like a police car going down or something like that we need to like get one right away and get back moving because like I said Public Safety is important to us uh I did have the privilege to event attend the first state of the schools um that they had in new smyrna Beach uh it was actually pretty interesting uh we had a lot of kids show up and did all these little talents and uh everything from a marching band to a ballerina and all kinds of other fun stuff so that was a a really nice thing that they did uh the superintendent um has been asked to do this
for I think she said four or five years something like that and uh so this was the first one um I thought it was really good so I think they're going to have another one next year so keep an eye on that if any if anybody's interested in knowing about what's going on with the uh the public schools uh I also had the privilege to attend this day of the county um that was over at the Ocean Center a lot of good information about things that went on throughout the year with the county uh they talked about everything from the uh the parking situation and the fees that they're going to have which is not for Volusia County residents it's only for people outside of
Volusia County um but they talked about that and they talked about some other projects there in the works and uh I I thought it was really informative so if any of you all interested and want to know about what's going on with the county I would definitely check that out for uh for next year now be on the west side this time cuz they rotate every other year from you know west to east side um it is Bike Week um so I hope everyone's just being Mindful and careful of all the bikers out there um I do ride a motorcycle and I can tell you that I had a couple close calls over the weekend of people almost hit in me um so just be careful out there just look twice um there's a lot
of people out there and I think there was some accidents reported um there might have been a couple lives lost unfortunately so we'll pray for them the families and everyone affected by that the mayor's fitness challenge is coming up I uh hope that the commission here will will participate I know that commissioner Sargent has made a challenge already I think a couple months ago um so we'll we'll see I'm I'm ready though I'm ready can I make a comment is it always just based on BMI I believe so can we like maybe alter that in the future four years ago it was exercises okay
I I mean just maybe thought for the future just not BMI yeah and you know what we're we're working on it we had a nice round table discussing just different things with Leisure Services and just bouncing some ideas around so uh we're going to see how this year goes but next year I'm hoping that we can do something a little bit more fun like that like you said just besides just the BMI um and lastly I I didn't really want to get into this too much and I think I'm just going to close it out and hopefully put this thing to rest for once and for all but you know the last couple
weeks I had a chance to reflect on some of the things that went on and some of the discussions out there and I think the lesson learned for the commission including myself is that you know just ask some questions you know if we have any questions about anything we have staff always available uh 24/7 great staff and if we have to do it here as a group to ask a question you know ask a question you know I think we can really kind of get a lot of things resolved that way just by asking questions and also you know we're we're kind of new working together I mean I got to
know some of you in the campaign Trail and your campaign Trail right and um but we never worked together and I could tell you that from being in I played High Level Sports when I was younger I played in a band and I could tell you that there's a lot of things that I didn't agree with with my teammates they didn't agree with me bandmates same thing but when we left everything in the locker room or left everything off the stage and we went on stage we made good music together and we won games together and I think that that we're now kind of getting a little more used
to each other and moving forward I'm confident that we'll all work well together because that's where our constituents wanted they wanted us to be here and they chose us and they chose us to do one thing city business and I'm ready to do City business I'm ready to get moving there's a couple little hiccups that happen here and there but we all make mistakes but as I learned from my coaches when I was younger to my mentors later in life that if you're not trying you're not making mistakes is okay because that means you're trying you know so I mean and that happens you
know but but I'm out here trying I know you're all trying and we're doing the best we can but we are picked here to do this job to work together because City business is very important the city staff they spent a lot of time putting this these agendas together and we're very thankful for that um but we are the ones that helped drive the machine to keep the wheels moving too by working together as a group so I'm ready to work together with you all and get some things done leave the stuff that we feel about each other outside the door we come in here we do City business act
professional act courteous to each other and as we're working together and we're you know fixing things or addressing things or doing whatever we're doing I think we can kind of work all the other wrinkles out while we're moving along so I'm confident we can do that I appreciate all the comments from everyone I appreciate the comments from the commission but like I said I'm ready to put this thing to rest I think you're all ready to put this thing to rest and let's just move forward and push ahead and make Ormond beach a great place other than that meeting adjourn thank thank you