celebration for December 2025. I'm going to call out each student's name and and their school of attendance and we're going to give you a certificate. Shake your hands and then you're going to line up and prepare for a photo after we are done bringing everybody up. Leila
Leila Bennett Browning PS Elementary Simons Kelly Smith Elementary. >> She's not here yet. Okay, we'll we'll hold that one for a while. Austinina Hyatt James A. Trust Stoofer Children's Written Center
Charter School >> Shila Brooks Melon Learning Center 3K. Congratulations >> Matteo Mina Mena um Melon Learning Center K through 12. Matteo mixing up the order of things. I'm
sorry. Ryel Chaus Mos Mosley Elementary. Did I pronounce your name correctly? >> Congratulations Lincoln Young's Mayo Baptist. >> That Jayla. Yes.
>> Jayla Simons. Kelly Smith, Hezra Coffee, Putnham Academy of the Arts and Sciences. Not here. Okay. Thank you everybody. We're going to take photos first. We'll bring up the educators and take photos
with the teachers and educators as a whole group. Get ready. Get behind him. All right. Now, don't be individual.
So, all of you can stand on the sides, please. stand just on the sides. >> Yes. Oh, my Very good. Good job. Thank you, By the way, >> Awesome. Great job, And now
the first one. Awesome. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. I'll take I'll take it. >> Okay. Okay. You're going to be able to
make sitting in my moving. Good girl. Got it right there. Do you want me to get I'll take it. Everybody look this way. >> Act like you like each other. Not
happening today. Got it. Did she get you? >> Yeah. Did she get a >> She did it so fast. disengaged. >> Do you guys want? >> Oh, absolutely. All right, we got 20 minutes. I'll make sure
>> all the parents there'll be a link that will get sent to your download. So it probably be Thank y'all. Thank y'all. So, she'll be here for all. >> Yes, that's going on next week. Okay.
>> No, I knew it was over Christmas, but I didn't know. Welcome. That's okay. Welcome to the city park city commission meeting December 11th, 2025. It is 6 pm and I'm calling this meeting to order beginning with an invocation led by Pastor Malbury
who is in Zoom and a pledge of allegiance led by Commissioner Davis. Please stand. >> Good evening everyone. Father, we give you thanks and praise again for this day. We thank you dear God for your goodness towards us. Thank you for how
you blessed us throughout this day. You brought us together once again for a meeting and we pray God for the wisdom that is necessary to move in the direction that you would have us to go. You said in all thy ways to acknowledge
you and Father, you'll give us directions for the pathway. And we thank you. We look to you this day, God, for all that you do for us, touching our bodies, keeping us vital and strong and
full of good health. We praise you for that even now. It is in Jesus name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> Join me in the pledge. I to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Roll call, please. Madam clerk. >> Commissioner Jones, >> present. >> Commissioner Campbell, >> present. Commissioner Davis,
Commissioner Borum is excused. Um, Mayor Carrera >> present. We have forum. Thank you. Approval of minutes. Have has everybody had an opportunity to read the minutes from November 13th, 2025 and November 24th, 2025. >> Motion to approve.
>> Second. >> We have a motion and second. All in favor? I. Any opposition? Thank you. On to public recognitions, presentations in the spotlight department of the quarter. Miss Jones. >> Good evening everyone. Um Madame Mayor,
commissioners, um as indicated in our last meeting, we um will moving forward um beginning this month um begin to recognize a department. as we still recognize our employees, we want to recognize our departments as well in a
whole for their um contributions. And so this month we will be recognizing for the month of December our community affairs department. Um just a brief summary of some things that they have been done. As we know, the Palica community events play a
central role in bringing people together. The community affairs department serves at the center of civic engagement providing a variety of events throughout the year by working tirelessly behind the scenes to plan promote and execute. Mr. Eddie Cutright
provides leadership that serves with organization, compassion and commitment to building unity across Pala by uplifting and inspiring the people of the city. The team that makes it happen um is Mr. Reno Fails, recreation coordinator, Mr. Courtney James,
recreation assistant. Miss Jessica Cruz, the administrative assistant. Miss Shana Sheffield, cultural resource assistant. Miss Liliana Rodriguez, a recreation technician. Mr. Clayton Buford, parks laborer, and Miss Antasia Bethl, parks
label. Um, as we know, there are several events that are put on throughout the year. We have two upcoming that are also the winter jam series number two which will be Friday December the 12th and the jingle jam Saturday December the 20th. Through community connections,
partnerships, energizing youth involvement, festivals, events, the community affairs department has showcased outstanding teamwork, planning and passion while being subjected to addressing to addressing weather challenges, timelines and evolving needs
of citizens. The community affairs department provides a legacy of service in the city of Pala. Please join me in taking this opportunity to acknowledge Mr. Eddie Cutright and his team for their leadership and steadfast commitment to enhancing the city of Pala
for all. All these jackets and stuff >> right there. Just a brief statement. All that that Miss Jones said was wonderful, but it's all go to my team. My team do a great job for me to keep me making sure the city and the city manager and the
commissioners look good. Everything praises go to them, not me. It's all about my team. Good job, D. Um, now we're going on to a plaque. >> Mayor, if you could before we move on, we have one more acknowledgement. Uh, >> first of all, go ahead. Good evening,
mayor and commissioners. On behalf of the city manager and our management team, we would like to uh recognize attorney Jane West for the first woman president of the Putnham County Bo Bar
Association. >> I Yes. Stunned. Thank you so much. It was a great honor. I did not know I was the first female president of the Putham County Bar Association, but it's about time. >> Thank you all.
I think that was I sure was insinuating. I was shot. >> Okay. Now, the plaque for the NSFA flag football. Commissioner Campbell. Good evening, mayor and commissioners, and to the citizens of Palaka and surrounding areas. I stand here today
wanting to bring recognition to one of our local schools, um, Putham Academy of Arts and Sciences. Putham Academy of Arts and Sciences does not necessarily have the all the resources that they have within the other schools in Putnham County School District. However,
Principal Ellis, who is in the back, as well as um Coach Ward, who is here with the team, if they can go ahead and come in. Oh, code war. >> Here they come. >> Come on up front.
towards us. >> Turn around now. Face the audience. >> All right. Who you have before you today um is a true testament to a program that I've seen develop over the last two years. Coach Ward has provided some
phenomenal mentoringship when it comes down to uh his teams that he has started or have continued to start. I've seen where the program went from not being able to complete a season due to lack of transportation. Now they have gone all the way to become the NSFA
flag football champions right here. And so we wanted to recognize these individuals because these are youth within our community right here in the city of Palaca who are going on to do great things. They played several teams from Jacksonville and things of that
nature. But they have brought the win back to Palaca. Not only the boys, but the girls, both teams are champions right here from the city of Palaca. And so we want to highlight them for their phenomenal work. We want to highlight coach Ward and say thank you for your
mentorship. Thank you for providing a safe outlet for our youth here in the city of Palaca. It's individuals like you that make it possible for them to have the futures that are bright and because of them we stand behind them as a city. I stand behind them as a commissioner and I will continue to
forever shine a light on anyone and all the students that are bringing positivity here in this community and this is a prime example of those students and adults who are pouring into our students here in the city of Palaca. So again, we say thank you and I ask the community to join me in thanking them
and congratulating them. But again, if you look to the back, Principal Ellis, um, who so eloquently leads the school and is doing phenomenal things over at Putnham County, Putham Academy. I'm still going to ask him to come up because I'm kind of being forced
to. Yeah. But again, these are youth from right here in the city of Palaca. They could be doing anything else, but they decide to go out and put their all into sports. And I will say this, most of the ones that are standing up here are
in dual sports at multiple times. So, they are juggling not only their academics, but they're in juggling their sports schedule. And I know this football team, they was practicing a whole lot and so it paid off. Again, thank you, Coach Ward. Um, thank you,
um, students. Thank you, Mr. Ellis. Mr. Ellis, I'm going to put you on the spot. Is there anything you want to say? Well, I also want to add that not only are they good athletes, they're good students. Um, and because of their performance, our school actually was
recognized last year as a model school. So, we are currently a 20 25 model school. And uh, we appreciate the support from from the commissioners. >> And I'm sorry, just one last thing. We definitely want to make sure that we highlight the parents for allowing your
students to be actively involved in making sure that they get to and from practices and from games. Thank you so much. Congratulations. on to city manager and administrative reports affordable housing grant home repairs class presentation by St. John's
housing partnership. >> Yes. Um, commissioners, mayor, uh, our affordable housing grant, uh, I think is CDBG, right? >> And a total of 2 million. And so these
are, we've broken it into four compartments. We are reporting on two of those compartments today. Thank you. >> Um, good evening, mayor, commissioners. Um, just a quick introduction about these two presentations. Um, as you may
remember, back in January 2024, the city received a $2 million grant from Commerce for affordable housing. It was divided in four task. Um, the first task was to do home repairs. The second task was to create a down payment assistant.
And these two task um were allocated $1 million. The other million dollar was allocated um for acquisition of lots and then construction of affordable housing. Um today we're going to have a presentation by by the two first task. Um the first one is going to be by St.
John's Housing Partnership who is the contractor working in the home repairs and then we'll have a second um presentation by Ascarata Consulting who is the company develop developing the down payment assistant. Also um it's good to note that in task number three
and task number four we're making a good progress. Um the city has acquired um two lots and we did procurement for a contractor to build affordable housing and the procurement was done and the company awarded and to do the construction of those houses was a local
company called Synergy Construction. Um they're currently in the phase of getting the permits um with the county and with the city to clean the lots and to start um building. So I will leave the mic um to San Jones Housing Partnership. Thank you.
How do I Who's controlling the Oh, it's on you. Sorry. Um, >> we want to thank you for this opportunity. The housing partnership works in affordable housing. A big part of what we've done for the last 27 years is home repair programs in existing neighborhoods.
And more and more we're seeing how critical that is. It's really what stabilizes many families. It keeps a neighborhood stable with the existing families. Um, your program, next slide. It impacted 12 homes. What what y'all had instructed us
to do was there was an average cost or a cap of $40,000 a house. And we were asked to look at both, you know, major health and safety, mechanical improvements to the house, such as new roofs, and also whatever we could do to improve the appearance from the outside.
So, most of the work went on the inside just because the homes needed it. But to give you an idea of it, we out of the 12 households, eight of them were senior citizens who had owned their homes for a number of years. Their average income is really 20 $25,000 a year. So most of
them are surviving on that, but it doesn't leave a lot of room for brand new excessive insurance payments, the normal cost of living. So maintenance and major mechanical repairs when a roof can cost you 10 or $12,000. A new air conditioning system can be $6 to $8,000.
Next slide. So what what we wanted to do is just give you an idea. These are some slides of some of the homes. Um we replace six roofs where we could. We put metal roofs on simply because that'll be the last time that house ever needs a roof. And with Florida's insurance challenges, we think that that's
probably one of the best things we can do to help somebody stabilize it. We also replace air conditioning systems. Next slide. And in a few places, we had to replace the electrical panel. That's one of the hardest things sometimes for a homeowner to want to do because they
don't see anything other than a brand new panel box, but it's, you know, $1,800, $2,000 later, but it's what keeps the house from burning down or having other kinds of problems. So, our challenge is always looking at what needs to be done and trying to make sure that it's going to either reduce health
and safety issues or hopefully help with their utility bills, lowering them or some long-term maintenance. Um, so half the homes got new roofs, half the homes had uh additional a HVAC systems put in. And in many cases, what we found is the
AC systems weren't sized properly. They had leaky ducts and other things. So, we're hoping that we'll see a reduction in their utility bills over time. Next slide. So, this is again, this is a house as an example. The water heater was literally outside and it was not in
a shed or anything else, it just was wrapped with a plastic tarp, which if anyone thinks about it, if it someone had come up in the rain, if a kid had touched that playing around or something, they could have been shocked if there was any kind of a loose wire to it. So, we built a shed over it um just
to protect it for the future of the system. And in a few cases, their fence was falling down in certain places. So, we replaced part of the fence. Next slide. Again, another house put in a new roof. We also did some bathroom renovations. And generally speaking,
when we go in, if someone in the house is over about 50, we talk to them about, do you really use the tub or would you prefer a walk-in shower? The walk-in shower prepares them to stay in the home for a longer period of time. If someone ends up having accessibility issues,
they can roll into the shower. They don't have to try and climb over a tub. Next slide. So again, this is another one. Um, probably about a third of the homes got kitchen cabinets and countertops and those were all designed really because what they have just was
deteriorating so much it was a health and safety issue when it came to food preparation and other things. Next slide. So this is another one of the showers. She took out the old tub, put in a walk-in shower. Um, probably about 30% of the homes had significant
challenges with the flooring, either old carpeting or old lenolium that was becoming a trip hazard. So, we ended up pulling that out, repairing the floor underneath it, then putting down new floor covering. Next slide. Again, another house, got a new roof, new HVAC,
and a walk-in shower. Next slide. So, this is you can see this is what we're doing on a number of the homes. It's not everything in the house. $40,000 doesn't go anywhere near as far as it did 10 years ago, but we're looking at the major mechanical things. Someone could replace a window on their own or a door
if they wanted to, but it's that roof or that HVAC that we don't want them trying to cobble something together to do it or in in many cases hiring someone who doesn't do the job properly. Next slide. So again, that's just another one of the
walk-in showers we put in. Next slide. Um, this is a house. It's very hard to see. It's a beautiful piece of property, completely covered by a lot of the the woods around it. Um, had to get a new roof and major repairs to a wraparound deck that had become unsafe to walk on
just to get in and out of the house. Next slide. You can't see much, but this is another one of the one we put a metal roof on. So, it'll be the last roof that house ever needs. Next slide. That's the condition of some of the steps and the stairs where she was
trying to navigate in and out. Next slide. So, this house um kitchen cabinets, ceramic tile in the bathroom, just trying to replace what was there and make it stable and and sort of waterproofing the whole area. Next slide.
Again, same thing. Just some before and after photos. Next slide. This one we replaced 23 windows. Um the house was in good shape. The roof didn't need work, so it made sense to just try and tackle those windows and get them done all at one time. We also removed
the ramp that they had needed in the past but didn't need it in the future. Next one. >> Again, put in some new flooring. Next slide. Another and the same house. We just replaced, you know, you can see we've replaced all the windows there. Next
slide. And that one got a new roof. And I think that's the last slide there. Um, again, same thing. We're putting in 30-year architectural shingles. In Florida, that might be good 20 years. With insurance companies these days, it may be good 10
or 12 before they start pushing you. So, whenever we can give them that long-term lack of future maintenance, that's what we tried to do. Next slide. >> That's it. Okay. So, this is what we're trying to do. Um, and and I want to thank you for the opportunity to do
this. We've got about 35 households that are still looking for repairs. If you have other funds to do it, um I would encourage you to keep an eye on the Florida legislature. They there's a rural housing bill that is coming through. It's going to be proposed that
a million dollars to each one of the small rural counties will be added to the ship rehab program. So, if I was y'all, I would talk to the county commission and see if that goes through. One, that you can help support the legislation possibly, but also that they
could earmark some of those funds for some of the people. I I know they have a waiting list already, but given it's additional money and everything else, maybe there's a way where they would make sure that some of that comes to city of Palaca residents. The the rehab programs are a huge opportunity to
preserve existing neighborhoods. You I'm over in St. Johns County most of the time and I can tell you that I've been watching workingclass neighborhoods get turned around because rental investors are buying up property and a lot of it's because a family can't afford to borrow
to fix it up but they want to live there. But at a certain point if they got a mortgage and they need to replace the roof and they can't their options are very limited. So your rehab programs really go a long way in stabilizing neighborhoods and preventing gentrification. I hope you continue
looking at this for the next 20 years. Just there are going to be housing funds out there. Everybody acknowledges that housing is a challenge across America. And when you do things like this is I always look at it is not just for the family you've helped immediately, but hopefully that house remains in the
community serving either their heirs or or sold to someone else who keeps it as part of that community fabric and keeps your employees and household members working close to town. Thank you for the opportunity. We appreciate it. >> Thank you.
>> And as a side note, um for the funds that um are funding this activity, we expect to repair at least 16 homes and you've completed 12 already. So there will be four more almost immediately
before June 30, 2026 that will be completed with these funds. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Um I'm Crystal Escott from Escott Day Consulting to Mayor, the commission, city manager, Miss Cardi. Um
I just wanted to say thank you as well for the opportunity. This was by far um I worked with the city on a couple projects and this was by far my favorite. Um and so I put together a little PowerPoint. Um as Carlos explained, um this was a task by a lot
of us, a lot of the staff. Um Carlos, Mr. cut right. We all were meeting with Miss Cardi um to to create this program. Not only to create the program, but we also had to put together the documents, the forms, the process, the procedures. So, it was a lot of work involved, but
we managed to roll this program out um March 1st. >> Um and if you'll go ahead. >> So, our program launched March 1st. I was responsible for the administration of the down payment assistance program. And as you can see, we had about 150
plus people attend our launch event out at the community center at Jenkins. Um, and it was it was it was phenomenal. We gave out little gift bags and people were excited. We partnered with a lot of realtors, mortgage brokers here in the city to have everyone come out like a
one-stop shop for purchasing their own home in the city of Palao. And I put together um a couple things there. I won't read it verbatim, but it basically says that we launched March 1st. Um, as Carlos explained, it was a three-part program. Um, and we took over the
administration of the down payment assistance. This process was like be above and beyond. The realtors were reaching out, the the people that wanted to purchase homes were reaching out and it was a real collaboration to get it done to make sure that it was
streamlined and very seamless. So, in order to explain the process, they would reach out, we would work with the realtors, they turn in their applications. Once it was reviewed, it would go to me and once the complete packet was put together, I sent it over to Carlos and then it went to legal and
then it went to Miss Carter to sign off on. So, it was a a bunch of eyes on these programs. So, if you go to the next slide, please. Um, the home down payment assistant, and this just kind of tells you what they were responsible for. They had to have
at least a 620 credit score. They had to have at least two years of employment. They also were responsible for completing a first-time home buyer course. And then they also had to purchase a home in the city. So it couldn't be Interlock and Crescent City.
It had to be in the city of Palao. Next slide, please. I do. >> Okay. So, what that should be, I don't know why it's looking like that, but that should be like, wait a minute. I know I'm not seeing six of the same picture. So, what that should be, it's a
picture of um our first purchase. It's our first purchase. Her name is Miss Kathy Melton. Um after we launched the program, Miss Kathy was one of the participants at our launch event and she was already kind of working with a realtor in process to getting her um down payment assistance and she just
didn't know it was going to come from the city of Palaka, but she was looking for any kind of assistance with purchasing her first home. She's worked and lived in the city of Palaka for over 30 years and she said this was like more than a dream come true for her to be able to purchase her first home. She was our first purchase April 7th. So after
launching it took about 30 days for us to actually um get someone in the program and we had to have I think we had to have at least one >> but Miss Cardi was adamant. She was like we're not spending all this money on one person. So she was like we going to get at least 15 to 16 people in this program
and get it going and we we managed to get it done. I think we had to have at least one by June 30th we had five. So if you'll skip to the next slide those are our next couple purchases. Mr. Clinton Jo Johnson. He was one of um a
participant working with Habitat for Humanity. He moved into a new construction, a new build that was built just for him, but at the last minute he was unable to close because he didn't have enough of funding, but the city was able to step in and help him buy his
first place. The other participant is Miss Shawana Brenson. It's her and her children. um the day that she was expected to close, she was also scheduled to graduate with her bachelor's degree. She said, "I'm passing on that. I want to buy a house." >> So, she was like, "I'm not going to
that. I'm going to go I'm going to go to my closing." She was like, "And I don't have any regrets." Um if you'll go to the next slide. So, the next two purchases was Miss Karen Bunch and Miss Maya McCoy. They both um purchased homes here in the
city. Miss Karen and her family moved in I believe in May and then Miss McCoy closed the end of May. Miss McCoy actually moved to the city of Palaka from Orange Park. So she was like, I want to buy a house. I don't really care where it's at.
She was like, I'm happy. If you'll go to the next slide. So up there we have Miss Leiamond um Cobbs. Her and her fiance purchased a home, but they purchased a private. So, when you purchase private, you don't necessarily have to go through like a mortgage broker. They did like an agreement
between them and the the seller. And then we have Mrs. Aaron Owens. She moved out of her parents' home straight into a new construction. So, she bought her first place and it was brand new. The next one, um, they just started rolling in. This is Miss Aita Bright.
She also moved back to Palaka. She used to live here. She was born and raised here. Um, but she moved back to Palaca to buy her first home along with Hazel and Terry Mitchell. They also purchased their first home. >> Next slide. This is Miss Lata Whitfield.
>> She works for the um Palaka Housing Authority and she was extremely excited. I actually took this picture off of her video where she was like dancing at her closing. Um, so I did a quick screenshot to get her picture. Um, but she is is really excited. She called me and she
was like, "I don't know if I want to do this. You know, the house isn't it's not a new construction and I always imagine myself purchasing." And I was like, "Girl, listen. This is a house. It's going to be yours and you're not going to be living in public housing anymore. Buy you a house." So, she did. She was like, "You know what? I'm going to go
ahead and do it." And she closed on her house the end of September, I believe. Next. So, this is Miss Kenasha Tobler with her children. It's actually a family of nine. She purchased her first home with her and her husband. She was like, "Miss Christa, I don't know if I'm
going to be able to do this." But we a with our partnership with the city. So, I told Miss Cardi, I said, "I don't want to I don't feel comfortable because I worked in social services for over 20 years. And I know I look like I'm like 17 years old, but y'all think I worked in social services from being a police
officer to now for over 20 plus years. And I don't want to put people in homes and they don't know what to do afterwards. So, we partner with the city to do one-year case management free. So, a Scott Consultant will be following all of these home buyers for the next year.
And I call them, I just check on them, make sure, hey, are you okay? Do you need any resources? Is everything going good? If not, then I direct them to someone that I know would be able to help them, whether it's a light bill or just a quick, you know, question they may have. Um, but Miss Toba purchased
her first home with her husband for her family, and she was like, "This is like the best thing that's ever happened to us." She was like, "I never imagined being able to buy a house ever. Just ever." Next slide. So, this is just the information flyer that we used um
letting everyone know what was going on. The ending of the program um would have been September 30, but because we were making so much progress, Miss Carter was like, "You let's go ahead and get it done. Let's get some more houses um sold." We have 13. One lady was not
pictured. Her name is Miss Naisha Parker. um she just declined. She was like, "I f your person." But we have one person that just closed. I think you did the wire transfer last week. So that one that's processing, Mr. Johnny Jackson. He closed and he's he's purchased. Um
and then we have an application for one. It said two at the time, but we're down to one because now I have another application that I'm also processing. So I'll have that to Carlos in a couple days on Miss Cardi. Um but yeah, that's it. Any questions?
>> No. No, no. Great, great, great news. >> I don't have a question, but I do want to just say thank you to both um Miss Aakarate as well. >> As Scott, I'm sorry. >> You tell she
>> um as well as uh St. John's Housing >> partnership. Thank you. Um, you all have made an investment into brightening up our city and providing families the opportunity. A lot of times we hear the rhetoric, oh, they're not doing anything
in the city, they're doing this, they're not doing that. But this is proof that we are allocating funding to where it needs to be. And without you all, I don't think we'll be where we are. and knowing that you have the background knowledge in housing and other
resources. Um, it proves by you standing by those who you have helped to continue to help them even after what it is that you were set out to do is complete. So, that speaks volumes. Um, and just thank you because a lot of those houses
probably would not have been repaired if we did not get this funding and had someone like you to go in. Um, and I really like the fact that it was all over Palaca and not in one particular area. So that speaks as well.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> 2026 legislative preview. Miss West. >> Good evening. And I will try and make this brief. We've got the legislative session starts in a month on January 13th. If we could just pull up the
slides. As you know, I I do this every year to kind of give you a preview of some of the bills that are going to impact the city of Palaca. There are a lot. So, a lot of the information is already in your packet. We have the Excel spreadsheet with all the bills and
I will be adding more to that. First one, uh, SB34 by Senator Sharief requires local governments to approve applications from historic African-American cemeteries. Next slide, please. Senate Bill 44 by
Senator Rousan. This requires a city to provide an electronic payment option for fees associated with public records requests. Next slide. Senate Bill 48 by Senator Gates. Fortunately, we've complied with one part of this. It does require a local government to adopt an
ADU, accessory dwelling unit. You recall we passed that ordinance already. But it also um requires the uh office of program policy analysis and governmental accountability to evaluate the potential of tiny homes. So you may see that back on your radar in the future. Next slide,
please. Senate Bill 92 by Senator Gates. It protects employees who submit written complaints to the Commission on Ethics or provide information to an investigator. Next slide. Senate Bill 110 by Senator Tar Arlington basically revises the circumstances under which a
person may have a homestead exemption. And I'll I'm going to address the homestead in a little bit in a couple of slides. Next slide, please. SP 118 is Senator Trunow. Um he basically has uh this bill that does not allow local
government to do special assessments on certain RV parks. Next slide. Senate Bill 122. Yes. >> I hate that. I know it's long, but would you go back to the employee protection? >> You read over it, but I just wanted to
once one one sentence just tell us define it one time for us. >> Which bill? SP92. >> Yes. >> 92 >> protects employees. >> SP92. >> Do you have any
He has read it, but >> Yes. I I I mean basically I I don't know where this bill stemmed. What we find with most bills that are pending in the legislature, it was one isolated incident that might have happened in a lawmakaker's uh jurisdiction. They bring
it up to them and then that lawmaker basically imposes a bill that infects the entire state of Florida. So I don't know the particular circumstances here. I will tell you that Senator Gates hails from the panhandle, so it's nowhere around here. But I don't know the factual circumstances as to why he
brought this bill. >> What it look like is that it actually gonna make people participate in those investigations. But um you at this thought you may have had more info on that. >> I'll I'll look into it. I'll try and find out the genesis of the bill. Yeah, not a problem.
>> Uh going back to Senate Bill 122 by Senator Trell. This repeals provisions relating to local business taxes. This is a bad bill for us. we do uh bring in a significant amount of income through our business tax receipts. Um we would
be able the way the the bill is currently crafted be able to keep doing that, but we would never be able to raise those fees again. So be on the lookout for that. Next slide. Senate Bill 156 by Senator Alik. This is enhanced punishment for criminal offenses against law enforcement
officers. Next bill, Senate Bill 168 by Senator Trunau. It revises the list of places that may be declared a public nuisance to include gambling houses. Senate Bill 208. I got a little creative here. Senator
Mlan's bill prohibits local governments from denying residential development based on lack of compatibility. This is a bad bill. We absolutely must take into consideration compatibility. Senate Bill 218 by Senator Gates. This is an SB80.
You probably heard about that really bad bill from the last legislative session. This attempts to fix it. This bill would potentially help Palaca, so be supportive of that one. Senate Bill 248, public records by Senator Rodriguez. It creates a public record exemption for
personnel uh identifying and location information of our clerks and their staff. And then all of the bills that pertain to homestead exemption, and this is actually just a handful of them, I can tell you there are dozens. And what that
tells us, I'm not going to recap them now because we don't have enough time, but what you can be sure of is that something is going to pass this legislative session that is definitely going to impact our property tax revenue coming into the city. It's going to
happen. We don't know what it's going to look like. I'm tracking them, but we all need to be aware of that because a significant portion of our revenue does come from property taxes. So, with that, any questions? >> Go ahead, Commissioner P. >> I don't have a question. Um, but I have
a statement. Thank you. This has been since you started providing us with that information. It keeps us a breast of what's before and the progress of um these different bills. I do have a
request that you get with um the public information officer and see if there's a part that we can put on the website and just say on the watch or on the lookout or something catchy that we can direct citizens to say, "Hey, these
are some important things that may um you know may affect uh Putnham um or Palaca." And I say that because there are a lot of times even outside of us going and advocating for some of these things in Tallahassee that there are
random days on the capital that other citizens and organizations or all of those, you know, things of that nature are in Tallahassee and they would be able to know what to help us advocate for. So that's why I would want to have this placed on the website so that
others will be able to um be pointed for some direction. >> Absolutely. I'll make it happen. And a reminder, uh the Putham County is going to have a special day at the capital this year the first time. The Putham County legislative reception is going to
be uh February 19th in the evening. Um and it is going to be on the 22nd floor of the Capitol building. If you haven't been to that space, it's absolutely beautiful. Great views. I would highly encourage everyone to go. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Financial report October 2025. Miss
Chief, >> good evening everyone. Can everyone hear me pretty well? >> Yeah. >> Hey, presenting to you the unodudited results of operations for the period ending October 31st, 2025. Please note that the annual budget has
been divided equally into 12 periods for the purposes of this presentation. Actual cash flows may not follow this linear pattern of receipt or expenditure. Certain special revenue funds that are not part of the budget process are excluded from this report.
The report also includes a comparison with the previous fiscal year's results through the same period. This feature will provide the reader with additional insight into all the funds operations. This report represents the completion of 8.33%
of the 2026 fiscal year. The general fund revenues year-to- date are 1,490,487 and that represents 6% of budgeted amounts of for the fiscal year. General fund expenditures year to date are 1,414,14
and that's 5% of the budget amounts. General fund incumbrances are $899,27 and are excluded from expenditures. Incumbrances are a function of the budget used to track and manage future expenditures by reserving funds for
specific commitments before they are actually paid. General fund cash and investments are 19.4 4 million. Halaka's reserve general fund BA balance is budgeted at 21.6% exceeding best practice guidance by
4.9%. The enterprise funds do not have a requirement, but they're still budgeted at 23.3%. Airport fund revenues year to date are $143,241. That represents 3% of the budgeted amounts. Airport expenses year to date
are $141,34 and that represents 3% of budget amounts. ARPA fund revenue expenses year to date are currently zero. Better place um plan fund revenues year to date are $24,393.
That represents 1% of budgeted amounts. Better Place Plan fund expenditures year to date are $170,787 and that represents 1% of budget amounts. The golf course fund revenues year to date are $7,823
and that represents 4% of budget amounts. Golf course fund expenses year-to- date are $28,355 and that represents 15% of budget amounts. Sanitation fund revenues year to date are $313,85
representing 8% of budget amounts. Sanitation fund expenses year to date are $219,80 and that represents 5% of budget amounts. Utility fund revenues year to date are $942,983
and that represents 3% of budget amounts. utility fund expenses year to date. Our $921,320 and that represents 3% of budget amounts. Tax increment fund revenues year to date are currently zero. And our
TIF expenses year to date are $159,134 and that represents 6% of budgeted amounts. And just to add um to that with regards to the um tiff
um I'm sorry I wanted to make a an statement about the cash flow about that um because of the tiff property taxes we don't receive right away in the month of October. Um they generally come in in November and December.
>> So just wanted to make that statement. Okay. So, and they did come >> and they did arrive in October and >> November >> and in November and December. Sorry. >> Right. Commissioner Davis. >> Yes. Uh just question on the revenue reserves budget balance. I noticed that
we >> It's the last page, the very last page. Um, I said we're we it says the conclusions paca's reserve general fund balance is budgeted at 21.6%.
>> But tell me, it looks like it's 18.3%. Or am I misreading the report? >> That's the city as a whole. The 18.3 Okay. Oh, okay. As a whole, not the reserve. I'm sorry. Not the general fund
>> fund. Right. This is a breakdown by fund. So that 21.6 is only looking at the general fund. >> Okay. And um the 18.3 is a a sum or average of all of the funds together. Okay. But average of all.
>> Okay. Because it says for citywide, right? >> So citywide. >> I got it. >> I see it now. It's just Okay. Got it. >> It's apples and oranges. the data written it just and what's shown is citywide versus a statement. I guess
you're showing it for citywide and it's at the very top. No, it's not here. >> You see that total line that says total reserves citywide. Correct. And then you have the um total uh budget balance
which is the 85 million. >> Yes. >> Um and that percentage Yeah. >> is just >> I know the citywide. So my my point is in the conclusion, yes, you're talking about just the general fund. I was just making a
comparison with the report. When I'm visually looking at it and I see that and I see the numbers that are in your um description, it's two different things. That's just the point I'm making. >> Oh, okay. >> But does that make you understand what I'm saying? >> Absolutely. I didn't look at citywide
the dash citywide. I just looked at that 18% when I see the percentage and then I looked at the conclusion based on the information what's on there because it just says revenue reserves budget balance again it
>> you understand what I'm saying >> if I may it this may need a statement in the conclusion >> you're giving a conclusion about the general fund but you're giving data on citywide >> exactly >> that's all please make it all match
meaning and I'm not asking you to add that just maybe the statement is the citywide is 18%. I know I see it but it just >> I think for the sake of community information to share with the community it's simpler we can make this >> inconsistent
>> okay and perhaps the real the real uh reason why the finance department or director I'm sorry is reflecting it that way is because the requirement is actually only for general fund the requirement >> that's correct
>> and so uh maybe we can reward it that might be >> correct that would be helpful the requirement and so I guess the citywide is just some nice to have information good but it's not required >> it's not required it it just stands out more than the required information
>> okay >> thank you >> thank you >> thank you >> police department staff study chie >> once again good evening mayor and commissioners >> uh if you remember back In the budget uh
cycle for the 2024 uh fiscal year when we were looking to build the budget, we requested funding to be able to go out and seek a professional report for staffing levels, future staffing levels that may be needed. We decided to do that because we wanted to bring something back to be able to uh give you
a professional view so you can make your decision on how we proceed in the future and help with your decisions on on our staffing levels. today uh before you the report has come back and we are here to present it and Dr. uh Mitch Miller from
UNF will be presenting the report to you. >> Thank you >> Dr. Miller. Okay. Okay. So, good even good evening, >> mayor, honorable city council members. I appreciate this opportunity to present the findings from our study uh to you
tonight. Uh I'll try to go through the background fairly uh briefly. Uh but I do want you to hear it so you can have confidence in the study and and understand and under and understand basically you
know the context. So, uh, we we have two or three slides here where we present this, uh, across the country oftent times to, uh, city councils or county commissions where there's, you know, defunded police debates and so forth. And we essentially have two or three
cases on the philosophy of the role and function of police in modern society, which I'll spare us the time and not really subject you to a lot of that. But, I mean, law enforcement is the the face of the government to the citizenry, especially in crisis. and we understand
that their function is absolutely requisite and indispensable. If we could move on to the next side slide, please. So we have se several slides here in a row which basically just saying that policing has largely changed somewhat
since co and but before co there was a balance of police community relations uh and being proactive and also reactive you know responding to to calls for services the most traditional function of the police but it's uh with uh the avoidance of trying to you know not
spread contagion and uh quite frankly the shortfall in staffing nationwide that transpired from COVID due to early retirements and and uh people just uh stopping to apply. So there was you know we were we were losing people we had and
we were not uh replacing. So uh this is just evidence around the country from American Correctional Association. And it was systemwide, not just police, but they were down like what 40 something% in correctional staff. And uh you can see that the numbers, you know, as much
as a 45% shortfall in the the states of Tennessee and Kentucky. And uh we've had similar findings here in Florida. If we can move on to the next slide, please. And so these are just newspaper captions around the country evidencing that this is indeed a nationwide phenomenon. If we
could go on to the next one, please. And then uh so uh we can see evidence from uh law enforcement staffing particularly you know troubled uh again just evidencing the the case I've been making. Next slide please. Again the next slide just just more of the the
shortfall. Next slide. Again this I think that's the last one. Oh no I'm sorry. So oh well okay no it's not the last one. This actually contributes because in this era of while we're getting the shortfall, we've had just tremendous new pressures upon the
police, the national uh overdose epidemic, the the fentanyl crisis, the mental health crisis, uh you know, continued strained racial relations. So, if we can move on to the to the next. So uh when we have a shortfall in policing then the police are basically you know
we have strained uh ability to not only maintain positive police community relations but uh to address them the main police fun investigative crime suppression functions uh and uh at uh
risk for the citizenry of course is uh more lengthy response times if we're not able to uh do this. I I do I I'll return to this at the end. So I'm saying that you know that in recognition of the problem the government's tried to you know have responses not only this the
study and the background that I'll be sharing with you here briefly tonight but through the US cops hiring office program but I understand that you guys have already been successful with that last year but that that will factor into the ultimate recommendation. Next slide please. So, uh, I will briefly tell the
story because, uh, I'll try to do a speed a speed talk for a for a native southerner, but it I find most of my fellow Southerners like a a background story and it is Florida based. So, the the quick uh the quick and short of this is I was sitting in an office at UNF one
day and the department chair who's also on the uh the team, Dr. Brenda Vos, who would have been here tonight but had to drive to Iowa with a hospitalized mother. So, uh, you know, our best wishes and God bless to her in that situation. But she got a call from Sheriff Rick Staley over in Flaggler
County said, you know, uh, we need a staffing analysis done because we have way too few officers. Our contract remains the same, but Palm Coast is growing leaps and bounds and, you know, we've got to have more bodies and we need, you know, a recommendation of the number. And she came down and she said, "Have, can you help with this? Have you
ever done it?" Like, never heard of it. Never. Never heard of it. So, I'll be honest. I said, "I'll do what any good criminalologist does." I went and did a literature review and the literature review said there's four or five different you know models of staffing analyses different you know research
methodologies of which the most dominant one was one recommended by the IAP international association chiefs of police known as the workload model. So the sheriff needed the findings for his county commission for you know budget upcoming considerations in short order. So we had no choice but to follow that
model the first time and uh gave them some recommendations. But I will say as uh as a criminologist uh you know just uh I I was sad the science was not rigorous. Briefly I'll just you know not get into it but tell you that uh we can
all agree regardless of how many advanced degrees you do or don't have that measuring beats guessing. And the IAP model says, well, we'll just assume that deputy or police chief time is allocated in equal thirds. One third of being dispatched, one-third of police
community relations, and one-third of administrative paperwork, training, uh, deposition, and court testimony, the likes of that, right? Well, uh, having worked in law enforcement for 25 years and and in law enforcement support unit capacities, I know that wasn't true
across agencies as the uniform standard because different agencies have different crime problems, different levels of manpower, resources. Uh, just just one size doesn't fit all. Similarly, the one size does not fit all. That's not true within an agency because different officers, you know,
some are detectives, some are some are road de deputies. people have different duties that don't demand, you know, equal time allocations of their job. But yet, with that assumption, the studies were being done that you didn't even have to interface or deal or talk to the police agency or the or the sheriff's
office. All you had to do was just get a data dump of their dispatch data and their human resource data and do statistical calculations and make the recommendations. So, we said, "Okay, well, Sheriff Staley, you did this, but you know, quite frankly, we don't have any scientific confidence in it." So we
agreed and got a US cops office grant and redid it and uh I re redesigned along with my team uh a mixed methods methodology. So we still want all that data. That's vital. Your calls for services I mean that's vital and so is your your current uh available manpower
sworn officers per shift. But you know to understand how that varies and how that matters for you in this case how that matters for the the city of Palatka we come and do two and a two to two and a half days of interviewing. So I bring a team of three people and they we do
random sample or in or in smaller more manageable size agencies such as yours with a more saturation sample of talked to as many swarm people and I won't bore you with it but we have a set questionnaire okay that's been validated through US cops office and funded you know two times uh two different grants
uh and we go through the standard questionnaire and we ask all the questions of all of the officers and then we average the answers right so we don't assume how you spend your um we have the people that actually are doing it report and we understand some people might you know be wrong and be a little
you know exaggerative too high one way or too low but we assume that the math is approximately correct over all these different officers right so we do this in focus groups so we get get real data to plug in then into a a formula well okay so we did this we we used the new
model and we were able to find more rigorous better findings for the sheriff the US cop's office came right behind that said, "Okay, but does before we make this a national re recommended model, before we lend our name to it, endorse it, does it also work for the police, not just counties, because you
know, there are different realities." So, they gave us a second grant. We did that with Gallatin Police Department. It's a bedroom community just north of Nashville, Tennessee. Uh, SP I'm from Nashville. It used to be in the country. Now, it's just all suburban. They have the their size of force is approximate to you. So, it's kind of a good
comparative reference. We did the study then for Gallatton Police Department and also had positive results. If we can move on to the next slide. So, uh I'll speak to this briefly because this is my or not my with the team's uh conceptual theoretical framework of how we think
about this. So, just backing up a second taking a pause. You know, when you think about police needs, police staffing, right? Police staffing is a function of supply and demand with adjustments. Okay? So uh the supply the number of
officers available to respond to okay the demand which is the calls for services. We want to do police police community uh relations proactive police community outreach kind crime prevention officer presence for deterrence to you
know deter uh terrible bad crimes and I understand a lot of those you know proactive progressive things are already going on there and I commend the police administration there for for those uh realities but that doesn't change the mind the basic fundamental reality of
policing when we call we want someone to come in as quickly as possible Right. So supply and the number of boots on the ground, the number of sworn officers that can respond to the call, the demand, what is what is the demand for th for those dispatches, right? Okay.
And then the adjustment shift relief, how many people, it's not on paper, are assigned to the shift, how many are actually there that day, that night to get in the car to go make the response, right? So, you know, sick leave, uh, sick leave, uh, v vacation time, uh,
people that are maybe out for funeral services. Uh, we've done this now 13 times, uh, for 13 different agencies. Every time we do it, you learn something else. So, also, how many officers maybe are assigned to death duty because of some, you know, maybe there was, you know, they were involved in an active
shooting or something like that, right? So, you have to really drill down and ask the questions to get to it. So, so that's the logic. supply, demand, and adjustment. Okay, next slide, please. Okay, so what we've done is we have a sevenstep formulaic model. I'm not going
to get into the calculus. If anybody wants to talk about the math and the numbers, I'm happy to stick around after and do that, but I know that will probably be the most boring thing you could imagine to hear. So, I will not subject you and just talk, you know, like, you know, just logically about what it is very quickly. So, first we
get we get from uh from the the the uh the police department worked with us through uh their automated system. So, we got all of the dispatch services for for the study period. Okay. Then, you know, time to address calls for
services. That's what I was talking about the mix methods, the interviewing, the actual officer input. Okay. Then number three. So then, okay, this is how many calls for services per shift. What's the minimum number of officers that must be available that shift to
address those calls? Okay, that that volume. Okay. And then step four, minimum officers per shift to meet performance. Okay. This this is really where the recommendations and what you guys decide kind of plays off of. So I'm just this is I I'll return to this and
end on this. So, okay, it's up to the chief or the sheriff, whoever, you know, the is the the police administration, uh, to decide, okay, you know, we do we want our, uh, do we want our, uh, officers to
be dispatched 50% of the time, 33% of the time? Those are roughly the two reference points generally in contemporary policing. There's, you know, we could go lower or higher. We assume lower. They're not working hard enough. And higher, we're going to burn them out. so quick. So, okay. So, you
know, uh 33% was, you know, the assumed as I talked about, you know, the old bad just we we assume that's the reality. Well, that's an ideal goal perhaps, right? But it has we in all 13 we haven't found lower than 40% anywhere. Okay? So, it's just it's it's an
assumption and much higher a lot of places including here as I'm going to get to in a second. So, number five, then we calculate the shift relief factor. That's the adjustments. So we've looked at here, you know, here's the the supply and demand, but then how does that change by, you know, vacation, sick leave, things such as that. Okay. Then
what's the minimum officers you really need after factoring that in? And then step seven, I'll step aside for now because that's really then after you get the findings for the number where those bodies should best be allocated according to, you know, where your most crime, the most, you know, need for call
for services or other emergencies may be. Next slide, please. Okay. So, finally we get to uh what all what this uh this act this this formulaic you know analytical uh research process means for
you guys. So uh right now Blacka police department uh we have found the officers spend almost 60% of their time dispatch. That that's troubling. Okay. So the science the scientific the criminological literature tells us that
if you're over 50% you're at risk at burnout. You're you're at risk of you know making quite frankly worse decisions on the job. Policing is stressful. It's tiring. You know I mean you know we all make fun of the police. You know oh they're sitting behind the building needing a donut. Well sometimes that's needed after you've been to a
domestic violence and then you've had a fatal car crash. You know you need 10 minutes to deescalate. And if you're just running the people from call to call to call all day, then you know over time they're going to get burned out. They're going to be more irritable. You're going to have poor police community relations. Okay? So we we can
just understand that that that's not good. Okay? That that's considerably higher than the recommended 33% by the by the IAP. So assuming if you were to reallocate and try to do that to get all the way to a 33% okay you would need to
hire uh you would need to hire something like you know 30 people over over the next uh over the next five years. Well that that's that's a you know not that's a pie in the sky number and I I understand that but that's you just from what the study on that assumption is.
Okay. So uh if you assumed a 5% population growth in 5 years you would need to hire again 29 to 31 and again that's at the 33% and then also projections of the same at a 10%. So if we can go to the next slide. Okay well
that's the last one but anyway so I wish I had a slide for this. Dr. Brenda Vose was again like going to be here to co-present this with me tonight but she she had to go to a sick family member. So let me just put this in in context and give you my in conclusion
interpretation of it. All right. So uh third 33% uh dispatch is kind of low. You know in the south you know we we want to get good return from our officers and we don't want them sitting perhaps that much. Okay. So uh but again that 33%
assumes across everybody. Now, in the context here, you guys just had a US cops hiring grant, right, for four people for police community relations. Well, if you got four people doing that full-time, to my way of thinking, that sort of, you know, should take a little bit of percentage pressure off of the
rest of the people, and they don't need 33. Okay. At the same time, we can agree 59. I mean, that that's not a good way to keep people. That's a good way to burn people out. That's a way to have you know not optimal interactions at traffic stops and you know you know
house you know uh visits and the like. So uh even 50% I would say too high. So let's say you know what would be maybe a a reasonable uh a reasonable workload allocation for dispatch and and I'm
going to suggest to you 40%. Okay. So you're still getting good work return on good tax value out of your your workers but you're not burning them out at 40 at 40%. So at 40% and assuming because you know I know that you know the city only
has so much money but let's so uh let's assume a 5% population growth okay over the next five years. So I think that's modest. I don't think that's you know unrealistic. So five at a 5% population
growth over the next five years in order to s sustain a force at at 40% workload uh and not have lengthier response times due to being short staffed. You would need a you know
10.4. You can't have point4 of of a human. So 10 or 11 officers. So let's say 10 10 hires or two hires a year. Uh there is a me there is a need right now actually uh by the math at at your at
even at a 50% dispatch allocation for an additional 1.8 or two officers right now. But if you factor that into right, if you factor that into the, you know, a five-year projection of growth and of of
two a year, that would be plus 10. And I I don't know the realities because we didn't look into retirement expectancy or attrition, but assuming you had turnover, that wouldn't be a true, you know, plus 10. That would be some replacements plus whatever the differential on that would be. So I will
uh conclude by because I always want to be objective and you know as scientifically honest as possible to say sort of you know two two limitations there or or or two contextualizers. one I think strengthens the case for more for hires and one perhaps questions it
but the strengthening. So, you know, when when the study, you know, we we while the study is very good at capturing uh actual uh road deputies time allocations of being dispatched, you know, when when we sample everybody when we're getting answers for people
now, well, you know, you've got four new people that aren't dispatched at all because so the so the numbers if anything that I've told you are probably artificially low in terms of relating the demand, but offsetting that is I could be wrong uh because the projection is based on a population growth
expectancy and you know we don't have a crystal ball so we don't know for sure that there would be that growth and if there would be to be less than 5% growth then the recommendation wouldn't be 10 but it would be a number less you know proportional to what the growth actually
was happy to take any questions >> uh yes when you are talking about officers to respond to CS call uh CFS's um and you mentioned we have some who
are community based are I guess what I'm trying to understand is that a certain population of officers who do CFS depending on the nature of the calls I'm I'm just trying to understand because if I'm hired to just
>> be I can I can answer it to the best of my general understanding if there's and if there's nuances then we'll let the chief clarify Okay. >> Excuse me. So, police and works on shift work as >> to the mic, please.
>> Police and works on shift work. So, so for the shift basically. Okay. Uh here in PALA, I I' I've been to a few agencies since, but I recall, you know, that we're going to be allocated to roughly like two zones or two sectors, right? Okay. So, we have people that are in both. If there's a problem one or the
other, you're close enough, they can send people, you know, for backup, but Okay. So, we're we're working and we've got so many bodies per shift right in there and that's what they're doing. They're on patrol. They're they're patrol officers. Now, there's also people that are specialty officers,
detectives, you know, K-9, other other things. Now, some are dually trained. So, you might be working detective role, but you but you oftent times, you know, especially in in a a smaller city, go come as backup and support. So you know there so there's there's mobility both
across the zones or sectors and while someone's primary role might be patrol you know and or they might or it might be a specialy officer role you you might work supplemental in in the other as well and uh I don't know if that uh
>> so before you do that really here's my question your recommendation is a number of officers and you made a recommend comination over the number of officers who need to be hired immediately. I suppose my question then is you mentioned officers or positions but is
there a specific role that needs to be hired in PALA? >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> The study is to inform the need for uh what sheriff's officers would call rogue deputies. What here you would we would
we would probably call patrol officers. That being the correct patrol officer sir. >> Okay. The other question is in the appendices is this information palatka based or is this based on the um
approach? >> No that that is your specific call for services and your who reported for work for the time frame to respond to such. >> Very good. Thank you. I have ahead.
>> I have a couple of questions. First, um, in your time study, what method did you use to conduct the time study of these officers? I know you said the calls for service was dispatch um um oriented where the dispatch call and
send a officer out, but how did you actually conduct the the time that officer is on the call to clearing that call? >> Oh, okay. Well, that's all in the system, right? I'm sorry. That's all in the system. So, uh that's that's just
extraction of your official data. So, uh there's think of it as a time step. So, the call came in for service. The dispatcher uh got on the radio and that was assigned to officer this and we do this by officer like badge number, you know,
identification number. So, 178- or whatever it is went at 10:33 p.m. Okay. And then that person has to call in at the end. And I'm now I'm now off the call. And that's important for two reason. one for the point of the study.
It allows us to measure the amount of time actually on dispatch and then more practically for what's happening in the real world crime world or you know public safety world of palaca now that's lets his dispatch and lets the the agency know that person is now available
again to be sent somewhere else if need be. So there also there are some crimes that an officer has to respond like domestic violence, uh battery charges, theft. I I understand that Walmart get a lot of our a lot of our calls go to
Walmart and I think that they're now going to a system where they pretty much handle it. Am I correct, Chief? They pretty much handle it now. you don't have to answer but they pretty much answer in um in house and then maybe just forward things to the state
attorney's office. Now out of those calls dispatch may I don't want to act like I know about all this off but dispatch may call in the theft at Walmart because Walmart called it in that may or may not require officer to
actually respond. We do have public service aids as well. Is that what they're called? Public service. >> Yes. >> That are nonsworn. >> Um, and I don't know if your study covered that because this is just sworn
patrol. We did have questions in the qu focus groups for all of the officers about, you know, like what are the what are the top five calls that you most respond to to to get a feel for like and actually Walmart was mentioned, you
know, more more than >> Well, would you share that? I mean, that's good information. What are the top five calls service the call? Uh well they don't the the order probably would vary maybe from year to year but so they're g in well we look at it in two
ways. What are the ones that you you're dispatched for most common? And then to our way of thinking what's more important which are the ones that you're dispatched to that are the most timeconsuming. So, uh, you know, there's there's a lot
of, uh, a lot of calls for, you know, well well-being checks and things like that that people have that just, you know, are, you know, like we we haven't is is so and so did they die in their house, you know, an officer wellbeing. So, that's, you know, very short-lived and, you know, might be fairly frequent.
But the calls that are the really drive the really drivers of the of the time in this, you know, the the budget are uh well domestic violence calls uh in any any fatal car wreck. But basically, he
he has policy and the policy says that there are there are certain crimes or or or certain uh events that that require uh more than more than one person, right? So now, you know, if you're you because I'm measuring basically, you
know, time being dispatched. So, uh, any any violent crime, any crime that involves a juvenile, any crime that is going to involve, uh, uh, offender transport, uh, I would we is a frequent
response. And, you know, here we, you know, obviously I'm sorry, I was still in St. Georgia last week where it's 10:13 Baker Act. Any Baker Act. Uh it's so you know those type of uh those those are the the most recurring. I mean obviously you know horrific crimes that
involve you know even more than two but I mean we don't I mean I understand you had a terrible situation by by the park and a stabbing here recently and while you know again that's progressive to add you know additional deterrence officers and and to keep that that safe and I
understand that those aren't dispatchable people that factor in into the solution. Okay. Okay. I'm try to be short. Um, and I could appreciate you answering that. Um, so with the time study as well, I know that some
departments have 8 hour shifts, some have 12 hour shifts, and I know that our department is actually 12-hour shifts. That So, which one is a 12-h hour shift? >> That's right. So, which do your study or did your study even uh investigate
what shift needs more officers to cover? Is it 8 hour shifts or is it 12-hour shifts? And could you explain? Well, uh the department really runs on a 1212 logic and then uh part of the
factoring of the shift relief element is well then you know there's well you know the the peak times of day right the the rush hour okay and so by having an eight hour you can think of that as sort of like a relief shift that overlaps part
of the other two right so if someone >> excuse me I don't want to go I'm not asking you to explain what they Oh, >> I want to know which one would that you evaluated would been >> Oh, I see. Yeah. Our study was done purely on a on a 1212. Now, anybody that
would that that worked relief uh that worked relief uh shifts or or or or relief time periods that was factored into our time measurement along with because uh we uh factored in overtime uh
as well. So, but I thought one of the benefits is 12-hour shifts actually alleviate or at least decrease overtime. Um, so >> yes, >> and manpower, >> right? >> And you could you could do more with less because you're doing a 12 hour
shift. I know Chief could explain, but I didn't get it from you when you was telling. So, but but you've done a good job. Thank you. So just to answer your question as far as it uh pertains to the different um workloads for the shifts whether it be 8
hour, 10 hour or 12 hour uh regardless the police department operates on a 24-hour period. The reliefs for the number of hours that must be out during each shift would be the same to cover uh the city uh at its minimum and maximum levels. Um just for example a minimum
staffing for a day shift period whether it be 8 hour 10 hours or 12 hours is three officers to respond to calls that is very low when we look at the size of our city because it covers the three zones. Now if you take into account if you get a Baker Act that someone has to
be transported to Daytona then you're down to two officers or if you get an arrest where we're stuck out at the jail once again you're down to two officers that runs or has to respond to calls for service for the entire city. So it the when you when you speak on 8 to 10 to
12, the number of officers provided for that time stays the same. It's just the number of hours they worked during the day because we're covering the 24-hour period. >> All right. So So you said typical shift have three three minimum control officers minimum shift coverage. That's
minimum. That's at a minimum. So let's say for example he spoke on vacation, illness, uh any call outs or anybody out. So when you miss somebody, our minimum levels before we reach out and call, they cannot go under three. So if they hit that number, we have to reach out and we require officers to come in.
As you're well aware, we require them to come in to do shift coverage where it requires overtime. >> So what's the average uh shift number? >> So our average shift number actually right now as it stands is four officers. Uh it can elevate to five at night. >> Okay.
when when full uh it would look uh similar to uh five four on days, five on nights with a midship officer. >> And and and I know you're proud to beg. I mean say brag that our uh >> I was about to say
>> not beg but to brag that our our crime rate has gone down. Right. >> That is that is correct. So we are um attempting to do miracles with what we have. Yeah, I appreciate you doing that. >> But I I would I would I want to touch on
just briefly uh as mentioned as Dr. Mil Miller mentioned the cops program and then uh what you've done recently approving the cops program has already elevated staff. He talked about over a number of years adding the different um staff members and where we stand currently. Uh depending on where the
population grows, we we're are already ahead of that number as as we look at at this current time. And that's because uh what you've already approved with it being not only covering uh when we talk about areas uh during the week, the CRA district is an area which allows for
them to not to have to respond on a regular basis to the area because you already have officers staffed in that area. So that allows them to respond to different areas and and officers to be out at different times. So what you've done as a commission, you've already gone ahead. What we did for you is be able to provide the information in the
report so you have it as when the time comes and we talked about it for future references for us to make a responsible decision and you be able to relate to those numbers and we did not want to do it just from a poof and just pop out ahead and say we believe we needed this. We want to be able to provide you with a
professional report so you can see the numbers so you can reflect on your decision that has to be made uh when the time comes. >> Thank you sir. >> Thank you. just super quick in conclusion. Thank you for
the opportunity to share this here tonight. Uh I I do want to uh you know sort of hopefully uh you know not not be braggy but but with some humility but at the same time I want you to have confidence in the study. So uh we're real proud that it's now been endorsed
by the US COP's office. So it's known as the US COP SAM. I hope that'll be good for business. Uncle Sam, easy to remember, right? But SAM stands for US cop staffing analysis model. So it's now the nationwide prefer to build standard model. Uh in the last uh four years it
uh we presented as the keynote address uh for the Florida Sheriff's Association. Then the then the success of that to the National Sheriff's Association. We couldn't believe it, but they liked it so much they asked us to come back and do it again this a second time. So we you know it's it's the new
national model and I I hope you'll have confidence in it. if there are any follow-up questions or anything because I know some of the details and it's are kind of meticulous. You know, I'm I'm just, you know, up the road live on the south end of Doctor's Lake. Happy to come down and meet with you guys if
>> you Thank you, Mr. Ba. >> Thank you, mayor. Thank you, commissioners. H >> mayor um mayor >> I want to see if we can make a quick amendment to the agenda given uh what
pela was currently or recently um broadcasted over the social media platform and news I feel that it's um to the benefit of our citizens to hear from Mr. Sean who is our waste treatment
plant supervisor to give some um background knowledge and what we are doing as a city to move forward um and I think this is the perfect opportunity because not only is we do we have citizens in here but it's broadcast and we can direct
people to go back and watch this video for an update. So if we may so move. >> Yes. Good evening, commissioners, mayor, city manager. Recently, we did did the lead and copper
survey for the city of Palaca. We do this survey every 3 years like it went out in the media. We put out 105 samples, received 62 back, which is roughly 60% of them. Out of those six, uh, those 62, we received six that hit for excessive
lead. Those six are individual apartments in two locations. Those individuals have already been contacted. So if you were not contacted, it was not you. Uh the city water has been tested from the wells into the pipes and out into
distribution. We are lead free. We have no lead in the water. We have no lead in our wells. Your water is safe. Now, with that being said, the pipes from the road to your house, if your house is older, you should have that
water, those pipes checked for lead. The city does not cover that part. That is on the citizens to do. I recommend going to one of the local big box hardwares and picking up a sample. They give them away right by the doors. You can take it, send it out. They'll send you your
results. When you get your results, if you do not understand them, please call me right away. I'll come right out to you. We'll go over them. We'll check them. We'll make sure you're good. The city will help you any way we can moving forward. We have moved our testing up to every
six months instead of trienal. So instead of 3 years, every 6 months we will be doing it now. We've also adjusted our corrosion control program. We put it up a little bit to try to help those people that didn't pass. Hope hopefully we can coat their lines for them and they won't have to acrewue the
bill of replacing all their piping. If your pipes are bad, that does not mean you need to run out and change them right away. You can solve that problem with a simple brida filter or any other water filter or water pitcher. Please do not run out immediately and think you need to replace all your plumbing in
your house. Um, moving forward, we're going to be on top of this. We've been on top of everything going on. We've passed all kinds of tests that we've never done before. We're on it. We're moving forward. It's not the city water and we're going to make sure and keep the water good for you guys. Any
questions, contact me. My number is on the reports. It's in the media. It's everywhere it is. My name, my number, my email. Call me. I'm there for you. I swear. I don't care what time it is. I will get back to you. Recently, this weekend, I've probably spoken to about
500 of you already. So, I'm there for you. Call us. We'll get out there. We'll help you. Littlest thing. You don't like the taste of the water? Give me a call. We'll go check it out. Make sure you're filtering your water quick enough. Other than that, that's all I can tell you right now. It's
a very minute sample of our city and it the way it went out, it looks like it was the whole city. It really isn't. And so I I wanted to bring that to the attention of the community because um and thank Sean for his leadership when
it came down because he actually reached out to explain the process because prior to I received I saw someone sent me the news clipping and I was able to reach out to the citizen who
made the statements and they were very thankful and I was able to give that information, correct information because Mr. Shawn had already reached out to us and I wanted to this is a prime example of being out in the forefront to correct
what the media has portrayed when it comes down to some things that have come out knowing that a small number of six and in those apartments we can't make the change. So, um I think educating in the future,
making sure that when things like this come up that we are in the forefront to make sure that we correct the information that has been wrong. And I honestly I thank you because you reached out to me before I even had to reach out to you and it was I said it was like a two-minute different from the time I
received the text message with the news article to where you was actually calling me. So, thank you for phenomenal leadership. We have that throughout several departments. But when it comes down to water, when it comes down to certain things, it becomes a uproar on
social media because of lack of >> knowledge >> knowledge and how things actually work. So it gave me great peace as I told Mr. Sean to know that it was a fraction while we don't want any lead um in our water, but to know that the way that it
was presented that it was only a few number of six residents. So, thank you so much for your leadership with regards to putting that fire or lay it out. >> Absolutely. Like I said, we want to be proactive. We work for you guys. That's your water. I want to make sure you're
happy with your water. And if you want, let me know. I'll take care of you. I promise. All right. >> Thank you. >> Coming up, before I say anymore, I want to make sure I announce that January 7th at the Jenkins Center from 5 to 7:00, I'm going to be holding a community event. I would like all you guys to
come. We're going to educate everybody on letting copper, what it does to the human body, what it does to your pipes. Come on. How nice and simple. Everybody will sit around. I'll explain it, have some demonstrations, and everybody will go home a little more knowledgeable. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much,
>> Sean. I have I have a question. >> Sure. out of the approximately 400 4,000 homes uh or apartments that we have in the city of Palaka. How did we select the 105 people to receive the sample?
>> Uh that was set up by D. D sets up our sites where we sample from. We just follow along to what they tell us to do. Um, it was set up, I don't have the exact time, a long time ago, and the person that was in charge of water 20, 30 years ago sat down with D and
selected these sites. So, these sites are in stone. Moving forward, I'd like to petition D to maybe change a few of the sites because some that we have on there, those buildings no longer exist. They're either a parking lot now or they're a store or whatever it may be.
So, I think it's time for us to update that list and >> be more proactive with it. Getting the smaller areas that we don't get the test. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you for everything. We We appreciate you. >> You're welcome. >> Anything else?
>> No, that's it. Thank you. >> Okay. Commissioner Borum, Commissioner Davis, Commissioner Jones reports. Commissioner Bum has an excused absence. Commissioner Davis. >> Okay. I'm going to make this quick now.
Um, I have had several requests for a citywide shred event and I'm not aware of any occurring. So, I am currently working with the city manager. I mentioned it to her and looking to see if we can possibly get a citywide shred event, what that will entail possibly
and hopefully in January. I know that soon, but um at least some information about it to look forward to. >> Yes, if I may, uh public information officer and myself, we have already met and she is actually helping me with
trying to see if we can do it in the month of January. So hopefully she'll let me. We'll know that by the end of this week. Thank you. >> Thank you. That's fast. and um that will certainly help our community, you know, as people clean in the beginning of the year and shred documents. So, right,
look forward to that. Um from the Putham County Development Authority as a board member, just a quick update from there. Um I currently serve on that board with the mayor and um Commissioner Campbell is a member of the board. Um we are currently interviewing
um for in um candidates for the executive director position and we are looking to define our goals and objectives for the authority. So you'll hear more about it from one of us in the
near future. Um just wanted you to know the 2026 officers for the Putnham County Development Authority have been elected or I should say re-elected. Um, the chair is Matt Reynolds, the vice chair is Commissioner Larry Harvey, and secretary treasure is Mayor Michelle
Meyer from Present City. Right. Okay. Um, from for the COC leadership um, council. Um, and just a reminder, the COC is a continuum of care program. It's called Keys to Home in central in our
area. And that program is designed to promote communitywide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness by providing funding or efforts by nonprofit providers. So, we don't hear a lot about
this organization, but we do hear about some of our local organizations. Um, as sitting on the leadership council, I do um just an update for Putnham County is Putnham County um the Putnham
County Care and Coalition has terminated their subcontract agreement with the task force, but we still in the county get um services by the Lee Connley House Catholic uh Charities, Family Promise, and Grace Marketplace.
Um also, I'd like to mention that Mr. Cutright is working with uh Kiana Johnson, the rural engagement coordinator regarding some transitional um housing options for our area. So, we are directly involved with that group in
addressing our um unhoused population um concerns. I would like to also state that I had a conversation with county commissioner Leotaa Wilkinson regarding addressing our county's homeless population and was assured that
the county is vested in working towards a solution as well. Um but the goal is to get programs that drive appropriate programs. The challenge for all of us is, you know, how to address individuals
who don't want to go into programs, available programs, but they want resources and often times those they want resources to um support their habits. So, that's really our challenging um population. But I do want
to say that there are organizations here addressing it and working with that population. We do recognize we still have this but know that there is a larger organization that we are plugged into um from the city and the county to
again look for that. So work is ongoing for that. Um that is um all I have. >> Okay. Thank you. Anything commissioner Jones? only that I just serve uh as a leazison
for the palaka housing authority uh between the city and the palaka housing authority and just a couple of things that's going on with this housing authority they are completing a rehab project for the north side which they have put new roofs on uh the apartments
over there really looks good uh and they are doing um u project improvement to all of the projects in that area homes in that area, excuse me. Uh modernization
projects and they just uh redid the family investment center out at Rosa K. Ragsdale. Um which uh if you haven't been out there in a while, I invite you to go out and see what they're doing out there. Uh they have been very engaged
with the community. The new executive director, he is hands-on. Um he actually have had back to school stuff. He had um just thinking outside the box where they fed the kids at the bus stop donuts. It
was in the paper I think. um you know, greeting them. Just some things that boost morale and you know, living in public housing could be rough and challenging, but uh you know, he's
providing hope and uh so there's many uh ways you could go out and volunteer at How authority and and they're looking for volunteers as well. And that's all I have as far as authority.
I'm going to move on to public comments. I'm going to open the floor to public comments for any items not specifically left list listed on our agenda for this evening. Please limit your comments to three minutes and please provide your name and city or town of residents. I do have a couple of folks that filled out
yellow cards. Mr. Griffin. >> Good evening, commissioners, mayor. My name is Bob Griffin. I live at 309 River Street. Uh I wasn't born and raised in Palaca. I chose Palaca and I came here 14 years ago. It's the best thing I ever did. Uh I'm one of the crew of the Araz.
It's a tall ship uh that is a performing arts venue. Uh it is uh I was just looking at the city seal the very top of the city seal you've got a tall ship and we've got a tremendous maritime history here but what the Amir Z does it brings
us a 90 foot steel hold performing arts venue to for our for our community and the idea of a is to use it for the river riverfront communities up and down the St. John's River to per have musical and
other performances uh there. We we'd like to come to Palaca seasonally and home port here part of the year. Uh we're right in the middle of St. John's. It's currently uh homeported in and Jacksonville, but we'll we'll be doing
performances in Mayport, Ringo, Palaca, um Sanford. We have the ability as a sailing barge that only draws three and a half ft. We have the ability to come very close to shore to be the stage for
the audience on shore. This is owned by a nonprofit. Its history is that it was the home for a traveling theater group for 25 years. That theater group disbanded and now we've got the ship. Uh it's a nonprofit and it's staffed by
volunteers. about half of the volunteers are from Putnham County and um we would like to be able to uh put on about probably four or five concerts, free concerts at the Palaca City dock or the
shoreline uh in the in in 2026. Uh we're uh we all we also did have a demonstration concert uh this summer and uh we had a very good reception. On our previous port visit we had lots of
people come by and and it a tourist attraction. We had 50 sometimes 100 people a day coming out to see the vessel. I talked to people that said, "Uh, I was just traveling through Palaca and I was going across a bridge and I saw this ship and I had to come by and
find out what it was." So, we we want to be Palaca's tall ship in addition to being the the ship that advocates for the St. John's River. Um, what little we don't really ask much. We It would be nice if we could get electricity to the end of the dock for our use so that we
wouldn't have to run generators during performances. Um, we've got a a grant from the TDC for next year and uh we're a nonprofit without an income stream. We're working on raising money and getting sponsorships and um be happy to answer
any questions. >> Thank you. And if everybody when it when the ship is back docked here, if you haven't had an opportunity, please take a tour. It is very interesting um vessel and it was worth taking a tour of it. I really enjoyed
it. Yeah, I'd like to have the opportunity to uh work with Mr. Cutright and uh and the public works director um moving forward for specific specific plans on how Pala the city of Palaca and the Amerz can work together.
>> Thank you. Anybody have any questions? >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> See, Mr. Deputy Good. Good evening. Sam Deputy, 623 St. John's Avenue. Uh, mayor, commissioners, I just want to say thank you. Uh, the
114th Christmas parade is over. It's always a good feeling when Santa crosses the line and and we've uh got another year under our belts. But it was great this year and I want to I want to just say thank you for the cooperation. Uh
Mr. Eddie's department and Mr. Eddie was one of our key masters and he took uh it's the day I get the most abuse in a whole year and Eddie took uh his fair share and did it uh wonderfully and I appreciate that. The police department
was just above board and wonderful with everything. Uh we learned a lot this year about that. So, we're grateful, but I want to say thank you because we've never had the city of Palaka on a float with our commissioners. So, and we've
never had our city manager in the parade. And I I just want to say thanks for that cooperation and you really looked good on that float. Uh so, I want to say thank you uh because uh it just
was great. Jessica Cruz is to be complimented for her dedication and her work. Um, she has actually brought um the joy back into volunteering to do things within the city and I really
appreciate that. It is the meetings that we have with that are great. It's just a super atmosphere and I appreciate everything that Mr. Eddie and Mrs. Jessica are doing for us in that in that realm. But the 115th is coming if you
can believe that. And I just received my 27th registration tonight for next year. So, we will definitely fill our 225 spots. That's my cap. Uh again this next year. So, I'm looking forward to a great
crowd as you saw the crowd this year. Uh it's just a great turnout. But thank you for everything that took place this year. >> Thank you for organizing the parade. >> Miss Kitchens, >> Allegri Kitchens, Palaca, Florida. I'd
like to compliment you on putting the flashing lights on the stop sign at the intersection 13th and St. John's. However, >> but you need them on the 13th street side also. I'm very impressed with them. They're great. You can see them two blocks away. And I highly suggest you put them on the stop signs in downtown
Palaca so that people can actually see the stop signs and stop and they won't be running them. And then trim the tree limbs back so we can see the stop signs in downtown Palaka also. And uh based on what u Dr. Mitchell just said about the the police and future uh future officers might be needed. I suggest you stop
annexing in new people to get water and sewer and stop annexing in development. What you need to do and this has been talked about before by previous commissions. create an ordinance where you can create you can extend water and sewer to people outside the city. They pay a higher rate
which makes up for the cost of service. We it's win-win for us. It's win-win for them and that way you don't have to add more police officers in the future. Just a suggestion again. Thank you for the red light, the flashing lights on the stop sign. They are wonderful. >> Thank you. Is everybody else here for
public comment? Okay. Please give us your name and city or town of residents. >> Um my name is Robbie Clunch. Uh good evening everybody, mayor. Uh commissioners, um I'm here to speak in reference to the um conditions of the
cemeteries, the city owned cemeteries. Um on November 7th, I sent everybody that's in this room an email um requesting. I do appreciate the fact that Mr. or Commissioner Campbell did respond to me. It was a Friday evening at like 6:30 in the evening and he
responded to me. Um I also spoke to Miss Annie. She was uh very helpful to drove me in the right direction so on and so forth. Um unfortunately since then I'm in the same place I was that evening. Um
I have made multiple attempts to get an answer to it. If the answer is no, the answer is I have to open up my checkbook. Whatever the answer is, I've expressed this to the city manager multiple times. Um, unfortunately, I
gave up. I gave up um this week. I did not reach out to your city manager every day this week. I reached out to her last week. I reached out to her the week prior to that. I reached out to her the prior the week prior to that. Um, being told, "Please give me three days and I'd
get you an answer." Our last communication was on December 1st. Um there has been some stuff done at the cemetery. Um from what I assume, um she did delegate it out. Um Joe has contacted
me. He did give me his opinion on it. Um I don't personally agree with it, but he did give me his opinion. There are some things in his email that I don't agree with. Um just statements that he made that I don't believe are true. Um but that's we can talk about that at a later
date in time. Um, I just want somehow to be able to get this answer. Um, I I have no problem waiting. I have no problem doing so forth. Um, I just need somebody to communicate with me. That's that's my biggest issue at this point. I'm not going to continue to reach out, continue
to make multiple phone calls throughout the week to get somebody to respond to me. Um, I I I don't want to bring it up, but we just had this issue
just recently. Um, so if if if I'll be here to the end of the meeting, if anybody would like to speak to me after the meeting, I just figured everybody would be in the same room tonight. Um, everybody that I have been told that needs to be involved in this is in this room in this evening. Um, I just need an
answer. Um, because honestly, it is not acceptable. Um, I hope everybody enjoyed their Thanksgiving. I started mine off by going to the cemetery and pulling weeds and treat ants so my daughter could go see her mother
on Thanksgiving because it's not it's not in the conditions unless I go out there and I pull the sand spurs up which are gone now. Um when I was out there Sunday I didn't see any. Um unfortunately
um one of the emails I've received from Joe was that he was going to ask for additional services um services that are already on the contract um but it looks like they went out there with with a product of I don't want to say Roundup um because we know
that's a very bad word um turf clear so forth um Oakill Cemetery is burnt. It is brown from one side to the other. Y'all are more than welcome to go in there and look at it. Um, like I said, I just want to see what we can do to reintroduce the
irrigation. Um, >> thank you. >> I'll do anything in the world I can do to help. Appreciate y'all. Y'all >> may Is there anybody else here for public comment? >> Staying on a close public comment. Miss, go ahead. So, I have uh spoken or sent
I've not only have I responded to you, I've spoken to you several times. I've sent you several emails, I've delegated uh to Joe uh Mr. Verio on several occasions. He's communicated
with you and uh I'm going to ask Mr. Joe to come up and explain further >> um what can we do? I don't want to do this in this meeting the way >> so I've already met with him. >> But what I'm what I'm trying to say is I don't think that the commission is a
breast of what he's actually asking us for. So if he can explain what he's asking so that when a response is given >> Yeah. It'll be in context. >> It'll be in context because again there why he was speaking I know what he's
referencing >> because >> the community doesn't. the community doesn't. So, I don't want to go I talk to you, you talk. No, let's not do that. Let's have him address what his concerns were. Let's have Joe or either you or whoever
respond and if we can come up with some kind of resolution to the problem, let's do that and move forward, but we're not going to do the back and forth thing. >> Sounds great. Thank you. >> Can you try to explain one minute? Well, can we can I handle this in city time, my time at work or what?
>> So, the issue is that from >> I was going to have Joe come up and explain what the issues were and see if Mr. Punch. >> My thing is let's hear from the citizen who brought forth the complaint. >> It's not the usual process, >> but if we're and it's you're saying not the usual process, but if he's bringing
forth the complaint, we don't know what the complaint is. How can he respond to a complaint that everyone may not be a >> to the podium please again? >> Thank you. >> And just kind of give us an overview of Yeah.
>> Yes. Um uh like I stated um it's just um I have photos um so forth. Um if you walked through the cemetery as of October um was when I took the photos um your pant legs are completely covered in fan spurs. Um, there are several ant
piles out there. I understand the environment. Um, but, um, we're paying somebody at the end of the day, we're paying somebody to treat the the grounds, >> right? >> Um, so I just want the grounds to be
improved. Um, unfortunately, um, you can go out there, you can spray product all day long. Majority of all your products require them to be watered in. Um, they don't work unless they're watered in. Um, as far as if you wanted me to explain
the dis truth. Um irrigation. Oh, no. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. What I what I stated about >> overall his concern was with the irrigation I >> irrigation. I want the irrigation either repaired or or or reintroduced. >> Um I do I don't know if it matters. I do have a little bit of background in it.
Um, I'm willing to to assist in any way I can to if I need to send some of my guys out there to replace some sprinkler heads. Um, if I need to send my guys out there to um, you know, fix a pipe break, um, so forth. I have no problem doing that.
>> Um, thank you. So this is what the solution of what was irrigation substance of what it was because it's not about it's not about it's the irrigation and if there's a way that it give us the response as far as >> is the irrigation out is it has a
possibility to be replaced the potential cost is that something that we've taken in consideration why was the irrigation not repaired during the time or taken away those are the things that I want us to get to the bottom of I don't want to get in a blame game I don't and what's I
want to get to the matter to where if it if he feels that it has not been addressed in the time frame because he did reach out to me. I was actually at the riverfront at one of the jam events and he came up to me. I had no clue he what he was because I responded to his email while at that event and he was
there. So that's what I want to get to the bottom of it especially if he brought it to the commission as a whole because he feels as if it wasn't addressed. So that's what I wanted you to have if you could. >> Correct. >> I'd like to say one more thing. I'm not complaining at all. >> No, we're not.
>> Well, I don't want you to think that I'm complaining at all. Um if if Miss Car would have just Hey, we need more time. >> I just want the communication. >> Thank you for explaining. Yes, ma'am. I'll ask I'm going to ask Joe to come up, please, and give us more information. >> Okay. Well, I may go ahead, Miss Connie.
>> I'm sorry. because not only that we understand what the nature of the problem was. We did do the research historically, we did, I believe, also communicate, but I'm going to have >> Mr. Please let Joe explain. >> Uh, yes. With regards to um his letter,
I did respond to it uh in a lot of detail about the history of the irrigation in that particular cemetery. Um it was in place years and years ago with our reused water. Um when that
system was up and running a number of years ago. Um what it was doing is the treated water was uh damaging some of the headstones. We were getting complaints beyond belief. It was also pooling in the certain areas. Um the lawnmowers would come through it would
rut causing tremendous amount of other problems and complaints. It got so vast at that time the city at that time made the decision just to shut it off um and to go away from it. Um with the irrigation system we used to reuse water. Now that was the the reclaimed
water sent back out. Um we need to find another place for that. So years moving forward we move that water to the uh yeah to the airport. So it now sprayed down out there and doesn't affect anything and things grow well out there.
Um, other than that, we don't have uh city water in that general area. The water that was feeding through there is no longer available. It's it goes out to the airport. Um, and I did explain all this quite a bit. The the cost to reconstitute and restart up that
irrigation system would be astronomical regardless of anybody's expertise. I'm just letting you know, it'd be very expensive and we don't have the water source to get to it. Now, if we were to extend the city water just let's say we were like let's run it the you know half
a mile we have to run the city water to get it there then the cost to run that irrigation system on an annual basis would have to be seriously considered um it'd be well into the 50 60 $70,000 a year just for use for irrigation. So um
the city years ago determined that it wasn't needed at that time and I still feel the same way. I don't think that the cost is would outweigh what we need to have happen. Now, I do understand it is it's dry. We had a dry year this year. Didn't get a lot of rain. We still aren't getting it. Uh but for the most
part, it's it stays pretty good. And with regards to um the sand spurs, we we sent we sent our crews out there and he even mentioned that they've gotten better and they are it's very difficult to walk around. They sanded 30 acres of area to try to get up every sand spur.
So, we're doing the best we can and we are absolutely staying on top of uh our contractor to make sure they do the best they can at every every turn. So, I apologize if we can't keep up to the standards that they expect, but I think we're doing a pretty good job overall as
a city for the cemeteries >> and subsequently we did uh reach out to the subcontractor >> to uh increase the number of times that they're going out to the cemetery. So that's what we've done in response to
his requests and we thought we communicated well but if not then we're telling you again >> go ahead say it doesn't sound like not necessarily about communication it's about solution >> my question is what is the subcontractor
doing what are they contracted to do sounds like there are ants there there's other things right >> and what was the expectation >> maybe you weren here when the water stopped. But what was the plan to maintain the cemetery without water?
>> It's always been just the rain in the natural setting. That's Yeah, it's that's what was decided that they were going to do. And as far as what is their job, it's to maintain. They have they're going out, they're hitting the ant the hills. Um yeah, they're not going to spray poisons and things of that nature, especially when it's a dry season. But
we do have them by hand trying to pick and pluck and clean as much of it up as they can within reason because they can spend a lot of time out there just picking up sand spurs. So it's white sand that particular cemetery sand spurs thrive in that condition in that
setting. So it is kind of difficult to stay on top of them at all times, but they are doing their best. They were out there dragging carpets upside down. The contractor had an idea to try and it worked pretty effectively. So they're trying different things. I just think that it will take a large a longer
period of time for them to get everything that they're looking for. If you look, you're going to find it. So, we're just trying our best to get it under control. >> We'll be more uh we'll be happy to meet with you again and see if possibly
because as he mentioned, he's willing to contribute. So, perhaps we can look at that. It sounds like the solution would be so costly and regardless of contributions and we still have to I think come up with some other solutions potentially if
they are out there um because it's problematic. >> Go ahead, Commissioner Jones. >> Never mind. I was going >> Anybody else? Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. Um, go ahead.
>> We may we were going to ask that one item be pulled from the consent agenda. >> Which item? >> U, that would be item F because >> I was just going to ask anyway if there are any items to be. Okay, that's fine. F.
>> Before we go to the consent agenda, go ahead. So, um, for the Amara Z, um, can you take that? >> Okay. So, um, we've met also before a couple of times maybe. Um, what I would
like to do is schedule a meeting with you after this and, um, we'll see if there's a way with Mr. Director of public works, right, director and community affairs and see how we can work with you better.
>> Thank you. But there was a um there was a moment where uh we were trying to figure out um if it was good for the city to continue having um that there at that time. So I think we'll have to look at
that as well. Okay. >> Thank you. Anything else? >> On to the consent agenda. Are there any other items to be pulled from the consent agenda besides F? Did you say F? >> Yes, ma'am. Okay. Uh the re Yeah,
there's the reason for >> Okay. Okay. Any other items? >> If not, do we have a motion to approve? >> I'll make a motion that we approve the consent agenda excluding item F. >> Second. The motion is second. Any
further discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposition? Thank you. F. Let me read. Okay. F. >> Let me read it, please. >> Oh, please. >> Adopt resolution number 2025 R177 supporting and endorsing the nomination of St. Mary's Episcopal Church for
listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Go ahead, Miss Cart. >> Yes. Uh the reason why I requested it because the individuals are here and they would like to uh say something regarding >> Okay. Miss Taylor, would you like to come up and give us some information,
please? >> Good evening. Um, my name is Diane Taylor. I live at 261 West River Road in Palata, Florida. And I have with me a very important guest on this. >> Oh, I'm Carol Milson and I'm from Jacksonville, Florida, 5590 Ortega Park
Boulevard. >> And um the application to the National Register has steps that we have to follow and we um request the authorization from the city of Palaca to move forward and St. Mary's Church is
the Carpenter Gothic Church at 809 St. John's Avenue and it was built in 1883 by John Purcell who is a a well-educated landowner master carpenter and devout Episcopalian and African-American in
Winssboro, South Carolina. And when he came to Palaca, he built the St. Mary's Church in 1882 and St. Mark's Episcopal, the church on Main Street on Second on Second Street, sponsored the little church because
Purcell came here and um he wanted to bring his son Isaac to go to law school in Palatka and um he held services in his home on Lemon Street, which is now St. John's Avenue. And um it outgrew his home in two years. So St. Marks
sponsored the finances to build St. Mary's and George Bert who was a developer in town gifted the lot. But Miss Milton is the great great great granddaughter of John Purcell and she
did the research that helped me on this application. So tell us about >> John. Oh well I'm g try to be brief. Um in 2016 um I started genealogy research um on my
grandmother's side and stumbled across um uh my grandfather uh great great-grandfather's history and in doing so I kind of started um at the lower end with my my gen um family moving forward
and that's when I discovered um more so his son Isaac the attorney um and as a When I was doing my research, someone tapped me in ancestry.com um to confirm if I was a descendant of John W. PCEL, and that's because they
were writing a book um about the Gothic churches. And that's when the facts came about that my great great-grandfather built St. Mary's. And they reached out to me and invited me to some of their um events, tours, uh signing the book. and
um it's called Spires in the Sun, a Gothic story of churches. And I was engaged with them to understand the history behind the church. And I got a book signing and the author signed the book and we just kind of connected from
there. Uh and then they asked me to attend any of their events that was in my my area and I just started having a partnership with them and understanding more about my great great-grandfather. But I had already researched the sons and went to Winssboro
um South Carolina and went to genealogy study there and I found a lot of history about my great great-grandfather um where he sold goods to the Confederate army. He was um a free man, never a slave. Um he actually had a
servant himself and he um owned several um land and property and acorage there in Winssboro. And um got a lot of evidence from that genealogy center uh different receipts from him building um chimneys for schools. Uh he built homes
there. and uh just I'm just very proud to have found that level of lineage behind my family and to bring that back here and knowing all along um he and his two sons um were living here and then
Isaac actually became a city councilman in Palaca which no one knows um and his son Joseph became the city clerk of Palaca and if you ever look at the history of the city hall records in Palaca Florida. We went to the city
hall, my aunt and I, and we pulled the records and um I see all of the meeting notes and things like that and it brought me to tears. Um and then there also Isaac um was a very well um known um attorney. Um he's weren't he I can't
even I'm I'm kind of full with emotion right now. Um but he became he um represented Supreme Court of Florida um the state of Florida. He was a delegate for the National Republican Convention four times and um he won a Supreme Court
case in Jacksonville, Florida um allowing African-Americans to um sit on juries and also to be on travel on different public transportation and um he's in four or five different books. Um the emassation of the American
Negro um and um uh Booker T. Washington acknowledged him in several his book his books about being an upcoming big-time um attorney. Um so it's just a a moving moment to know that you know I have this
lineage here in in Palaca and unfor also the big overwhelming news is all these years living here and growing up as a child and my grandmother who is her great great they never knew that they this this history existed. Um, and
they're actually buried over in the cemetery, the father and the sons. Um, none of us knew this. Um, so I'm very proud to be here and hopefully getting this um, history of the church that he's built. Not only did he build this one,
he contributed to the arch dasis um, which is entire entity of churches with this same style of church throughout the state of Florida and in some other places. and he specialized in the temple part um where you can actually see his work by looking at the way the temple
design is to know that that's his work and he's mentioned the book about it. So that's my synopsis. Yeah, that was very >> and dear Palatka is accepted into this application by the national register one because Purcell was the first
African-American to attend as a delegate to the annual Dasin convention and then secondly the the priest that or the the reverend that came along after Purcell to take over St. Mary's was ordained as a priest in
St. Mary's in 1883 and that was the first African-American priest either Episcopalian or Catholic in the state of Florida and also New Town is included by the National Register as part of this application.
So St. Mary's will just thrive as a result result of this. >> Thank you. Yes. Go ahead. >> Roll this thing along. I would be more than happy to provide this support and endorsement not only to what I've heard tonight which was a very interesting um
history lesson for Palacta um but it is also the home church of former vice mayor uh Mary Lawson Brown for a long term where her son served as the pastor there as well. Um, so I would be more than happy to provide support and make
the motion to accept our to accept this resolution and supporting and endorsing the nomination for St. Mary's to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. >> We have a motion to second. All in
favor? I any thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Taylor, for doing this. if you're finishing up. >> I actually had started that process and Diane stepped up to the plate and took it over and really ran with it, the
process to get St. Mary's on the National Register. So, I thank you very much for that. >> Does anybody want to take a recess? >> No, I didn't think so. Okay. On to
>> a dis a discussion direction zoom attendance at city commission and CRA meetings. It's just a brief discussion and thoughts about how the commission feels about us zooming in. Yes, guests will zoom in but what is the general
thought as the zoom it can't count towards quorum. I think those were the points to be made that somebody zooming in from the commission that can't be counted as quorum or contributing to quorum. So it does leave us. Go ahead. I think that's already
been established and I think that um for the most part generally there has been quorum with reference to uh attendance in the past and I believe Miss Karen has carried on that tradition of if they
know that there is not going to be a quorum with trying to make sure uh that a quorum is present. The last time we did not have a quorum, um there was an emergency that came up and I was able to relieve myself to make sure. But
previously and prior to that, uh I think there may be some type of uh misunderstanding as far as workshops because I do believe that there has been more attendance via Zoom for workshops
which does not make a requirement for quorum in place. But as far as with commission meetings or other city I mean other call meetings, I don't think there has been a real issue with the lack of quorum. And if I'm wrong, I would like to know,
but I just don't believe that there has been a overall whamming problem to where we would not have been able to answer or do have handle important meetings because that would have too been blowed up in the >> I I think you're correct in in the end
that we've had quorum for called meetings. Obviously, workshops not a requirement. I think some of the other issue is that for the audience it's difficult enough to hear us when we're sitting here. Audio-wise when somebody's zooming in it's really quite challenging. Um I know other communities
since the zoom for predemic purposes was lifted have done away with having zoom attendance for commissioners. But again, it was just a discussion to have and if we're all comfortable with it and still having us some of us zoom I I've never
had that opportunity, but if we've still had somebody some folks that want to do that, I guess we keep it in place. >> I mean, you have the opportunity. You have a mayor approach him now. >> But if the mayor approach him isn't here, we have a problem. Go ahead. Go ahead.
>> I just want to say I don't know that there's a problem. The issue is as Commissioner Campbell said or or I'm sorry I don't know who said it right now but um if the person attending by Zoom
is on a phone that does not have a good connection that's where there's a problem right so that's the biggest thing so if we do it um to be effective we just need to be able to hear the person >> and I think also um commissioner to that
point. It's not always necessarily been because I've been on the end where I can hear everyone that's on the zoom, but when it came down to the chambers and I know Miss Karen has been working diligently along with public information officers. So, if this is something that
we are going to continue, we need to make an investment in the >> technology that would allow for us to be on the cutting edge when it comes down to meetings. Okay. And I think we can end the discussion. I mean, I'm fine with it. I
just again, I think if we can make every attempt to be here physically, that's great. If if it's necessary in some situations and we're all comfortable with it, that's fine, too. Thank you. Um, discussion direction commission commission and performance evaluation of
city manager. Is Miss Jones here? Um, we've said this several times that we need to evaluate our city manager. >> Um, I know I pulled up the tool that was in
the packet and looked at it closely. There were there were some typos, by the way. >> It was a lot. >> I was being kind. So, um, here we are. And >> do I I guess this was this what we
determined we wanted to use as the tool to evaluate the city manager. Did we all >> We did vote on >> My request would be if you could uh
disseminate something similar because unlike the mayor, there was some typos. It still said the city of Oido on the one that I looked at. >> True. um that you could actually I couldn't I see you did it. I don't know how you did it, but I couldn't answer it because I
could not go into it and make it a um a live document to to be able to market and put my answers in it. Do you understand what I'm saying? >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> So, it need it needs to be a fillable Yeah.
>> PDF document. >> And I was able to do that. I transferred it over to Dropbox, but I also think we want that clean copy. I perhaps we need to have a special call meeting in the beginning of January to do just this,
>> not as part of the commission. Is that what we want to do? >> Well, when you say do just this, what do you mean? >> I mean just the evaluation. >> Clean it up. >> Clean it up and actually go through the process of giving that performance appraisal to the commission. >> Oh, okay. >> To the city manager rather.
>> Yeah. the meeting to clean it up and give her the eval clean copy, but we should come into that special call meeting with this completed so we can present it to the city manager and discuss it or are we sending everything to you to summarize.
That's what we need. Yeah, that that's what we need to >> the process and and this is the process and it could come to me and I would be able to say the acceptable this type but what the mayor is saying after I and I was looking up some documents in IMCMA
on the process. So you have already determined the form that you want to use. You've already set the goals for the city manager. The next um step would be to determine if you're having public meeting to discuss all of this with the city manager to present the findings and
have her an opportunity or a private meeting because all of the documents are going to be um public records um as written. So that's the determination if you all like the special call meeting. So if you have everything completed and she would be able to give you all
feedback as you're giving feedback as to how you've evaluated her in a in that setting. So that's the um directions and guidelines from ICMA. Yeah. >> Um >> Okay. Who wants to comment? Go ahead. Commissioner Davis, do you want to say something?
>> No. >> I want to understand our options for giving the city manager her evaluation feedback. So, if we
again I'm still trying to understand what's allowable. Um, if we each did the evaluation and it was summarized and we received the summary. Could one >> one document versus five?
>> Correct. And then could one commissioner give Miss Cardi the feedback? >> I'm not I'm just trying to talk through it. And so what I'm trying to understand and and where I'm where I'm going with this is um
I'm still struggling a bit with um our process with evaluations and grievance processes and how we play them out. And I'm not saying it things should not be public information.
I think it's how we do it and what, you know, how do we provide the public information. So, I'm going to stop there. I'm open. I'm just trying to those are my concerns. >> And I think we definitely want to be as professional as possible and yes, it
falls under the public. Um, go ahead, Commissioner Jones. Well, I don't think we should be public in giving her feedback on her evaluation that I don't know any other entity that does that.
Um, and I don't think it's fair. I think that we give out individuals after we actually speak to our employee and then give that to HR. A jar can compile a summary, a brief of
the feedback that each commissioner gave, you know, one page or two page or whatever it is, especially where you have uh if you're not meeting your expectation or the goals, those things are the the most important. Exactly. >> Um because if she's meeting or
exceeding, we we we we know that. But the ones that you're missing the benchmarks that that that way we could do a corrective action plan. and uh and go forth because it is it's I don't think it's good like just like you're
saying uh to do that in public rather I mean I think I think we should do some things and allow it to be personal to her >> and that's my thoughts on >> I'm in agreement with that I'm not in agreement with overall what I'm thinking
about in the setting of how I'm evaluated we I often I have to evaluate myself >> then I meet with my boss >> to have that. However, in this case she has five,
>> right? And so my question is to legal um is there an opportunity because I struggle with the summary because at some point somebody may feel as if what they wrote down did not or may not have
been conveyed in the summary the correct way and that's what I don't want to happen. So is there an opportunity and the answer probably is no for us to have a closed door meeting. So,
so, >> so what and what where I fail as if and it's not to I'm just thinking about what we didn't do in the past not making those same
mistakes how we've in recent with having liaons um on multiple uh as multiple doing multiple things that we had going on and how some of it was perception or
some of it it wasn't really conveyed. I want us to avoid that if at all possible. Um I do agree with giving her the opportunity to have some things that's amongst the commission but again how do we accomplish that? And I and
that's that's where I I I'm struggling with how do we move past that point because I know yes I'm able to have that closed door meeting but to make sure that individually what we need to I don't know I'm just still struggling with that latter part of it.
>> Other cities do it >> and that's that was going to be my question. So this is not new and this is the question I've been asking for months. You know what is the a a best practice or a standard process for
a commission with a city manager to evaluate because this cannot be new and that's I know this exists >> and so I guess I need to I I'll take it to the
League of Cities. I mean the Florida League of Cities because this exists. It does. And that's why I'm confused because at some point from what I've seen, I've seen there's a self- evvaluation component. There's a datadriven component. And then in some communities, there is actually a
community and staff feedback component. And so when you say it's been done, it's been done in different ways in different cities. Correct. But how are we? >> But we don't. >> But I think we need those that information. >> So we don't know how that decision. >> Correct. That's all I'm saying. and then
we can determine how we want to do it. I'm in full agreement with Commissioner Jones um with what he has recommended here. Here's what I here's what I want to make sure is that
um first of all we we know that individually one we can have um the city manager complete herself eval and we can review that with her when we go in with our evap and we discuss that and write
up whatever recommendations we have. And so where I hear you, Commissioner Campbell, I think you're saying there's concern about if each of our evaluations
are turned into HR and it is summarized. I mean, we're talking specific data is summarized or you know what, maybe that's not the right word. We're saying summarized. Maybe we mean combined. >> I don't know. Maybe it's combined. But
the point is, I agree with you, we want to make sure no one's point is not included in that >> combined or final document. I I think that's what we're saying. Um, so to that
point, >> and I do know, for example, Carson City, the city manager does do herself a vow. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. >> And and so we haven't done problem. No, I know, but we that's not the process we've had right now. We've never done an eval here at all as far as I know. Historically, there's never been an eval
done in the city commission city manager. >> Yeah. >> Not the full commission. You mean the full commission, >> right? But a city manager evaluation a full commission as it's supposed to be done. It's never been done. >> Right. >> So, we would need to get and um approved
self- evaluation form for the city manager. We do have one. >> We have we have the evaluation form. Not self-evaluation. your >> no self-evaluation is actual evaluation that I would have received from a supervisor from so that document she
completed as well. >> Yeah, it's nothing different and and yes it's the same but she completes it and shares it with us and we agree and and determine based on our evaluation if
>> Okay. Yeah. just for general employees. And the reason I say that for general, we have a separate sheet self-evaluation for us. Yeah. >> Um and then there's the evaluation form that we self- evvaluate or grade ourselves that the city manager or whoever your supervisor also
>> and I know we're talking about the city manager, but that may be something that you want to take in consideration. Correct. Because to self evaluation, a employee should always know what they're going to be evaluated on. Whether it's the self or whether it's anything else, there should be one standard form that
an employee of on any level that they have. No matter what, there's one evaluation form and it's a self-evaluation >> and the actual evaluation form. >> Correct. It's the same usually. So to
this point um the other thing I'd like to know I'm going to add this to it is what we need to agree on is what are the dates for evaluation as well. So we have the form we're going to clean it up. We need to clean it up right as well.
>> I already did clean it up. I sent you a blank point. I >> I did >> I'll send it to Yeah. And then it needs to be a fillable document, a fillable PDF document that we can all type into. And then um we
just need to decide what we do and how we do it. I suppose um >> and I think we are looking >> information. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. January need to really get this process going. >> Yeah. So,
>> can I take a look at someone needs to go out and get the um options for us, right? Of what it looks like for a commission to evaluate. >> I don't >> a city manager. Huh? >> I mean, I don't mind. >> No, I don't either. That's what I'm
saying. Is it? >> Yeah, I'll I'll do it >> and then and provide that to >> So I did I did print off ICM manager's guide on how you all
are to evaluate your manager or your employee. >> Okay. Does that guide include we know how to do the evaluation? I don't think that's our concern. What happens when we individually complete our evaluation of
Miss Cardi? Does that guide address that? >> Yes. So in here, which is why I was bringing up um the different parts of first and I already knew we had already approved the evaluation um got the form and all of
that um or whether you was using a consultant to do all of this for you and then it was just tips for conlo a closed session discussion, the dos and don'ts. It tells you um what not to do. >> What did you say about what for tips for a close session? Yeah, tips for the
closed session discussion. um or governing bodies conducting an evaluation throughout the session. >> It's not applicable in Florida. >> Okay. >> Oh, and that's not a Okay, got it. That's a general document. Okay. Oh, for
ICMA. >> Okay. >> So, >> okay. >> So, basically, yeah, that that was in this case. I'll go I I'll reach out for the league cities and I'll provide it to >> we'll provide it to HR. Yep.
And then um in our next meeting, right? We have Should we have a call? >> Yes. I mean I think again we really need to stop moving. >> No, we do. We do. And then what dates and so um what dates are we looking?
So what evaluation period is this? >> The initial I guess we're Yeah, we're running her date was >> December, >> February, March. >> So now we're enter when we enter 2,
we're three months away from a year. >> So this is going to be like a 10-month eval. >> That's my question. >> Yes. In Jan if you do it in January. Yes. No, we need to do it in January. We need to get them moving. >> Okay. So, it's a 10-month eval. And from
that point, we'll move to 12 months. >> It's after January, will we move to annual? >> It's annual evaluations. That's your >> Thank you. I just as a body to determine
>> and then annually thereafter. Okay. Thank you. So, I've done some quick research, >> okay? >> And these are some of and and I'm saying this because of legal. Um, so some of
the steps each council member fills out their form that's allowed. Um, and it generally says from here that the clerk compiles the results. Um, and then
it goes the evaluation meeting must be held public. >> What What is your source on that? >> I'm just I did, like I said, I'm doing a quick research. So, it was and I'm putting it out there so that that's why I said I'm putting it out there for you to take into consideration because, of
course, a lot of this falls up under the sunshine law, >> right? So there is no state statute that requires the performance evaluation of a city manager to be conducted in a public form. If you are going to evaluate the city
manager, all of you together, that triggers sunshine. Correct. And so you would all have to be in attendance. But there's there's nothing that requires your review of her to happen in a public form. So >> So if we individually do it, that's her evaluation.
above. >> The question is what happens as a result of that? If there's some >> some concerns, some things in need of improvement, how do we convey that to each other? We'd have to have that public >> exactly. That's what I was referencing.
>> Yeah. >> Opportunity. So, so what we're at city managers or any contract changes or performance, >> it has to be done in an open meeting
>> with all of us. So, that's why I'm a tad bit concerned or >> perplexed in trying to move forward. >> So, go back to the summary of >> never seen it before. I'm going to I'm going to go do the research and find out because >> you're going to bring us back. I see
people doing this to their city managers and meets >> we're going to have keep this on the agenda for the first meeting lot of commission meetings >> first meeting in January you're going to bring us back it's going to stay on the agenda >> and when you bring back the research I would like it from multiple >> sources
>> sources versus just solely leaning on >> and I'll do it multiple sources and in relation to the sunshine law in the state of Florida >> right >> so we task just miss Jones to maybe
reach out to the county commission and I I never heard of them >> um having an evaluation with Mr. Subs >> uh in public never >> and just ask how do they do an evaluation okay on their their
administrator thank you >> Y thank you because it's I'm not asking for the meeting to be public because again I'm making sure that when it comes back to a
collective if there's corrections or action plans that can't be done. >> Yeah. So that's what I'm that's that's what my focus not saying that I want her to come sit with right here in the middle of the floor we be no that's not
what I want. I want to make sure that as we move forth and we build that platform that is taken in consideration because that's going to be a whole separate meeting requires a lot more time. So that's I just want us to have a bill because again I've stood up here 10 years and
they haven't done it. >> Okay. I think we have a kind of a plan moving forward. Um next discussion direction pre-aggenda meeting may commission attendance. >> I'll keep this short. I don't want to attend. >> You don't want what?
>> You don't want what? >> I don't want to be I don't want that to be an additional >> No, I think it was just to to have maybe a schedule going forward or somebody at least informed. So, two of us don't show up because of sunshine. >> I don't want to be a part of pre-aggenda.
>> Okay. We have one hour. >> That's day-to-day operations. >> Thank you. Any other input on that topic? But >> but we're not excluded. You're not >> we're not excluded. If if one of us want to attend and just say mayor, if you've
been attending all of them and you know just communicate, I could communicate say hey mayor I want to attend. >> Correct. I just don't want you don't go. Right. So that's a matter of just communication because to say one person is going to attend all the time. That
ain't right. Exactly. Yes. >> Thank you. on to Oh, go ahead. Sorry. Go ahead. >> So, if if more than one of you wants to attend, can you please coordinate with the clerk so we don't have any sunshine? >> That's that was my concern. That's why I
brought it up. >> Otherwise, we have to publicly notice. >> That's why I brought it up. >> Can I ask this question? Is it how did that even come about? one >> and is this something that is a practice >> in this government is having
commissioners or mayor attend pre-aggenda meetings? So it started well you can answer >> well it did start with call but I can also say that the chair of the county commission does attend the pre-aggenda and she well it's now madam chair she's the only one that does and has does it
every prior to every pre-aggenda meeting and none of the other commissioners ever do but she does I can just say that from the county perspective but here I believe that's my understanding it started when Mr. flag. Mayor Flag was Mayor Flag and he started or initiated
that inclusion of the mayor/chair in the pre-aggenda meetings and it continued until I stopped doing it basically. >> And I guess my question would be the purpose of the attendance
of an elected official. What would be the purpose? Are they supposed to report back during a commission meeting as if we report back when we about our different? That's what I want to bring clarity to because I don't want staff or anyone to feel as if
they have an elected official in attendance that they can't carry on the way that they would carry on. And two, what is the purpose? And I'm asking these questions because I have always been on the fence about it
because as a legislator that's for me tapping in borderline tapping in on day-to-day operations >> and three if um a commissioner is there are they
able to talk comment because could you influence what goes on the agenda or I that would be a concern. I don't I don't trust myself >> because say for instance I have something that I'm advocating for and want to be in on the agenda. So this
time I'm going to make sure that I'm at that pre-aggenda meeting blah blah blah and that's what I want to avoid >> versus if I have a concern um when I meet with the city manager I would say I would like to us consider this to be on the agenda coming up and give her the
information and she takes it to the pre-aggenda meeting and get information >> because this has >> and this has come before us several times in the past and nothing different has been done or a a commissioner to my
knowledge have attended outside of the mayor. But to me, I still make it it's to me it feels as if we're tiptoeing on overstepping our boundaries with day-to-day operation versus versus legislators.
And I welcome other opinions, but that's why I'll make it firm that I will not attend. That's why we have a hire as a city manager to delegate meetings and that's what she does.
>> Can the public attend? >> Anybody from the public attend? >> If I may say something at this juncture, um, one of the things that we started doing to be certain that all commissioners are aware of what has been
discussed at pre-aggenda. Uh you noticed last week I think that everyone received the pre-aggenda. Uh I tried to get it out to you the following day. So like we met on Tuesday, I tried to get it to you
by Wednesday and also uh indicated the director or department head in case you had a question or concern you know that you would know where it's coming from. And from that, I was able to reach out to her regarding a specific matter and
asking why it was on the agenda and received the information that I needed from that email that was sent to us. So, I appreciate that method and would advocate for that method. But, >> well, whoever asked for it, you know, I
didn't ask for it. I I didn't ask for it. So, um I just feel still still feel you have the liberty to go in if you want to and we got the legal opinions. We go through the court. If you want to go, you go. If you don't,
you don't. Most of us have other jobs. >> Yeah. >> And other things. I think I think one of the things to also consider when we're comparing to county or a commission that rotates the chair,
that's different because then if we said the chair could would attend pre-aggenda meetings maybe to ask clarifying questions or to understand because you're chairing the meeting which may be different because each year
a different commission commissioner would have an opportunity to go, which is what happens at the county, right? Cuz yeah, cuz they each year they get a new chair >> except it's the same time. >> Well, they twice two years >> or or whatever period for a period of
time, right? It's a it's a year. And so that's one thing to consider as well that that could make us I'm getting ready with be with Commissioner Campbell. I'm not going to a pre-aggenda meeting. I don't have a purpose and I don't I talk to the city
manager. I ask my questions before the meeting or if she doesn't, she puts me in touch with the appropriate staff member for me to get more information for decision making. So that's my >> manager every week as well. We all >> Yeah. No, no, I'm just saying for me
that is enough for me to not need to go to pre-aggenda and I'm fine with the chair going to pre-aggenda especially >> nobody. Oh, okay. Dying. Well, I'm I'm fine with the chair if so desired as the person who facilitates the meeting. I'm
just saying. But but >> but the purpose is nothing comes back to us from anyone that attend those meetings. So what is the purpose of them being there? Whether it be the chair. No, no, no, no. I'm not directing it to I'm looking at you. No, I'm I'm just I
just want to identify the purpose of why one of us that sit up here, be the mayor, be any other commissioner, what's the purpose? If nothing is coming back from that person who attends those pre-aggenda meetings for us to our
knowledge, it's only putting them aware of what's going on or what could potentially go on the agenda where I feel as if we all need to receive that information at one time. And I I'm gonna reference Commissioner Jones because Commissioner Jones always states that he
feels that someone knows more based on the level of attendance to certain things. I'm not going to specify. So I as a commissioner would make the recommendation that no elected official
attends pre-aggenda meetings. So it's cut dry that when Miss Cardi or whoever she delegates to send that email to the commission, we're getting it as a whole and if there's any followup that we need to do from sitting on this side of the
day is that it be done that way. That's just me and I think that will eliminate this coming before the commission again at least as long as I'm sitting here. I don't know. >> But what's no one we're saying we don't want to restrict but no one has given me
the reason of why >> I I again as the chair it is sometimes easier. I don't go and try to sway anybody's opinion or give any input that would change their mind. It's basically to hear what's going on and have some
sense about that before coming into a meeting. Um, anybody could have run for mayor and be the chair. I did. And so I, and again, it was a practice that's been in existence for some time. And all of a sudden, it stopped. And I
guess I just wanted clarification. If we were going to all make appearances, we needed to be scheduled in a sense so that we didn't require noticing for sunshine reasons. We can't all be there or two of us be there at the same time. But I think it is helpful as a chair for me to have some of that information
beforehand. But again, whatever the group desires, I'm not about to fight that. It was just again, it's easier for me as a chair to be a part of that and just to listen. >> Mayor, if that's the case, I would like to have a policy implemented in place to
where it is documented properly. Even though I disagree with it, but I think that should be the policy because say for instance as we move forth in years to come, what about if
the person who sits in that seat, they're not of the same thought process as you? So if that's going to be the practice, let's not make the practice official versus going along with what has been implemented for since that
time. >> Yeah. Now, I am concerned about making a policy that is um an attempt to manage behavior. Um there's accountability and there are
rules to what we do here. And again, it's not a person attending meeting. It's the, you know, the staff meeting to put together what needs to happen. I don't think
personally I don't think we need to do anything. If you want to go notify the clerk because at the end of the day all we're trying to avoid is more than one commissioner in attendance
because it, you know, it's not a public meeting. And so I I'm just saying I just have a a concern when we use policy to manage behavior. >> I have a concern about not sunshine law.
I have a problem with not knowing and I trust our staff. I trust the city manager. I trust our legal. But to make it >> No, no, no, no. I I said that I trust the mayor. But I want to make sure that
if we or whoever is allowed it to attend that they know these are the things that you are not or cannot do. And I want it to be documented because again if I if mayor is no longer sitting in that seat
as mayor and the next person comes up I want it to be concrete. You're only in attendance basically. You're just a fly on the wall. fly on the wall absorbing the information as far as persuading or anything of that nature. It needs to and
I just feel y'all I get I'm understanding but I want to take our department heads and all of those individuals who attend those meetings into consideration. Again, it the the appearance may not be intentional, but
sometimes there can be a little bit of intimidation that comes when you have someone that sits on where we sit when it comes down to some of those meetings. And there's absolutely no way that you can persuade me to think different. And that's what I'm trying I'm not I don't
care about Sunshine Law when it comes down to that. I'm want to make sure that the relationships with our department heads and the person that leads them is there and there is no room for anyone to feel as if they are intimidated or any
other thing. We don't have to follow what the county do. We don't have to follow what Jacksonville do. don't have to follow any of we want to make sure when we sit on here and I still think ultimately it's stepping over into we all want more information not just as
chair but when we come into these meetings so we don't appear to be uneducated or anything with regards to when it comes down to those things again I just think that it's tiptoeing on day-to-day operations and we're not here for that
>> so I I will share this if the the way that I have observed the mayor um conduct herself in these pre-aggenda meetings is basically in an observation capacity only to prepare for the city commission meeting. However, that is her personality. If you like you noted had a
personality that interjected their will into that meeting and then staff communicated to other council members in the course of preparing for the city commission meeting that does pose a risk. though it is personality based. What I can do is this to maybe move this
item along because it's slate. Um I can draft a memo basically noting the pros and cons. And I'll try and reach out to Carl flag to understand what occurred and why all of a sudden he decided to interject on those pre-aggenda meetings
so you can get some background and make a decision going forward. Sounds like a plan. >> It does. Question for Miss Cardi. Who's facilitating the pre-aggenda meeting? >> It is myself. >> I do know that. Here's my point. >> City manager,
>> you you are the chair of that meeting. >> I am. >> I just want to make sure that we we were in a meeting the other day. There were city commissioners in that meeting as guests who kept wanting to
ask questions. I don't care if it's the president, it was not appropriate and they were shut down. The point I'm trying to make and I do hear you because we're talking staff, but if that's the case, we got some bigger issues. And then I don't
trust that people feel confident to do their jobs. And um if Miss Cardi can't manage the meeting but for attendees who are inappropriate, then that's a bigger concern. So I just want to put that out
there. I just believe in responsibility. I believe in supporting the role and the authority that comes with that role. Um, but I again I I just said I have a concern with limit or trying to manage
behavior instead of accountability and consequences to an action. So that's just a different approach. But I do understand what you're saying >> and I'll and I'll later rest this and I promise if the intent was for the chair
to be the person that attends rather Mayor Flag at the time, Mayor Hill at the time, Mayor Carrera at the time, well now or whoever may be in the future. Let that be the intent. then you don't have to
worry about sunshine because it's set that it's the chair. >> That's what I >> So that's what I'm that's why I say policy or creating some and I agree and I thank you for making that memo because I don't want to leave the door open for
this to have to come back in the next couple of years. If the standard is for the chair to be the person that is in attendance, then let that be the standard. >> Okay. and create a policy to reflect that.
>> Correct. >> I understand what you're saying. Now that we have a pro Tim in the event that the mayor can't attend, the pro Tim is to fall in place if they can and let it be that. Outside of that, I don't want to leave it.
>> I don't that's that's what I'm trying to pursue. >> Okay. I think we we have a solution. >> Yep. >> Moving forward, >> I want to move the me further forward. However, I don't agree with that one. I think that what Miss Carter is doing, you send the summary, >> the highlights of of the of the meeting
to all the commissioners that mean we all got the same information. I think that is the best thing to try to put some No, we used to put a policy in place. I don't think I don't think there should be a policy that the chair go to the meeting because now we lose flexibility.
All of us are the same. She's just the chair of this board, but all of us is the same with the same power. There's no more power than the chair other than running this meeting. So, >> y did I not say that already? >> The flexibility. Well, but you said make it a policy still and I don't think that
should be and we don't have to call mayor uh ex mayor flag. We're we're making a decisions to date of what going on and I think Miss Carter have made it clear she wanted to be transparent that we all because the request probably already been made. It wasn't me again
who asked any question about the uh the uh meeting because I never asked to attend or don't desire. However, I do desire to have the same information that the mayor have or anybody else that goes there. You didn't say that, but I just want to say my piece and I'm done. Thank
you. >> Thank you. >> Can I move on? >> Yes. >> Okay. Public hearing second reading ordinance 202560 certified recovery residences ordinance >> are any of these we can loop together as we've done in the past to
>> they're all individ I I already looked at them they're all individual I will group them whenever possible um is there anybody here to speak to that >> I'm sorry >> second I'm I'm at the first public hearing first second reading of
ordinance 202560 certified recovery for residents. >> Yeah, that that excuse me, uh, Mayor Davine, Miss West, I think you should speak on that. >> Second read public hearing. Second reading. Yeah, >> it's a second reading. >> Second reading. >> It's a second reading. So, there's really nothing to say about it.
>> There's nothing to say. It's second reading. >> It's a second reading. I just asked the question if there was any more to say and if not, we have a motion to approve. >> Move mo move. I move to approve. >> Second. >> The motion is second. Anybody here for public comment on this item? Seeing none, we close public comment. All in
favor? >> I. Any opposition? Thank you. Second reading ordinance 202561, an ordinance of the city of Paka, Florida, vacating abandoning the portion of Laurel Street located between South 10th Street and South 11 and adjacent to
posel number 4210 276850 1 160010. Again, second reading. Any questions? If not, do we have a motion? >> Move to approve. Second. >> Have a motion to second. Is everybody here for public comment? Seeing none oppose public comment. All in favor? I.
Any opposition? Thank you. First reading ordinance 202519, an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Paka, Florida, establishing regulations for short-term vacation rentals, providing for definitions, registration, instruction, and business tax receipt requirements, providing for penalties,
providing prescrivenness, ever serability, and effective date. Miss West. >> Sorry. So, basically, right now, the city of Palaca does not have any regulations on short-term vacation rentals. Uh, there are a lot of preeemption bills at the the legislature that have been passed that severely
restrict our ability to regulate, but um we move forward with drafting this ordinance because we felt the need uh to do so. We do have short-term vacation rentals in the city. They aren't currently being checked. They aren't currently paying BTRs. there is the
necessity to get a hold of this before the situation gets out of control as it has in other municipalities really kind of destroying the quality of life. Um but it it is within the limitations uh of state statute so it it is fairly
limited in scope. >> Thank you. Is there anybody here for public comment on this item? Please come up. >> Good evening mayor, commissioners, um city staff. My name is Dennis Hanks. I am from Sonteo, Florida, and I'm here representing the Florida Alliance for
Vacation Rentals. We're a statewide agency, nonprofit group that's been around for 31 years representing all the short-term rental homes around the state of Florida. It's a $ 31 billion a year industry. Um, we are here in support of the ordinance today. Um, we do have some
things that we'd like to recommend be looked at in there as you move forward. um possibly something around the fee of $300. What we've seen, we've done this across the state of Florida working with communities like yourself um in
implementing these ordinances. 300 seems to be on a little high end for the size and the scope of what you have here. You have seven vacation rentals currently licensed with DBPR in the state of Florida. Um, >> what you there are more that are
>> that aren't listed um that I know that you're looking for some clarification on. Now, some of those that are listed on advertising platforms may not fit into the category of a vacation rental by the state standards with DBPR. I do sit on the DBPR advisory council. Um, if
someone's renting a room, it's technically not a vacation rental. It's not licensed by the state. So, there's a lot of those that are in the category as well. Probably 60 of those in the city of Palka now that have all kinds of different categories of where they would fit into short-term rentals or not. So,
um we just suggest that maybe looking at the rate of the registration, maybe having an um reapplication in the second year at a lower rate like some cities have done. If you look at Mount Dora, you look at Largo and some of the others, I know there was some listings
in the ordinance or the staff report of different cities that were putting in regulations. Some of those are much larger. They have thousands of vacation rentals in their communities, whereas this is kind of just starting out and small here. Um, I think it's a great
option to look at for Pala when you're looking at short-term rentals. Um, families come to stay in those short-term rentals. We know that we want to be familyfriendly, but we want to deter the bad actors that come in and sometimes create the noise, parking, and trash that we see all around the state
of Florida, particularly on on some of the vacation rentals. Um, that's where we can come in as a nonprofit agency. We do a lot of training and education. We do 4-hour safety certification programs. We also have a human trafficking awareness mandatory by the state that
has to be done. It's free of charge. So, there's a lot of those type of resources that we can bring to bear on folks here. We have been talking with the county about doing um countywide educational program on short-term rentals so people understand the taxation side, TDT, um
all the requirements that the state has. There's a lot of loopholes on the state side that people don't realize as well. So, we want to make sure people understand that, particularly in rural areas like this where you have to test your wellwater and things like that if you're you're going to have a license with the state. So, there's a lot of
those things that we can help with and we're just saying we're here to help you and work any way we can with you. >> Thank you. >> I'm I'm happy to work with you um before the second. >> Thank you. >> Do we have a motion to approve? >> Move to approve.
>> Second. >> We have a motion, a second. All in favor? >> I. Any opposition? Thank you. First reading, Ordinance 202520, an ordinance of the city of Paka, Flout, amending the code of ordinances to prohibit smoking and vaping in all city parks, providing for definitions,
providing for enforcement and penalties, providing for signage, providing for codification, providing for severability, scrutinous evas, and providing an effective a Miss West. >> Yes. Actually, a big thank you to Commissioner Campbell for bringing this idea uh to us at the last meeting. Um
I'm very excited about this in that it also includes vaping St. St. John's County actually just passed a recent bill along these lines, but inexplicably still allowed cigars at the beaches. Didn't quite get that. Uh, this covers all types of smoking, including vaping,
and you can see the justification for it in the staff report. Happy to take any questions. >> Anybody have any questions? >> Second. >> A motion, a second. Is anybody here for public comment on this item? Come up, Miss Kitchens, please.
Allegra Kitchens, Palaca, Florida. I support this 100%. I have a late friend who switched from smoking to vaping and basically it killed her. Uh whenever I would visit her house, I could only be there like a minute or less before I felt the oil and crap in the back of my throat. What I want to know is does this also apply to the city sidewalks where
you have people smoking on the city streets and the city sidewalks because we get a lot of air pollution that way also. But I support it 100%. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Miss Russ, can you respond? No, this uh relates to our city parks. >> Thank you. >> So, I have a question.
>> Go ahead. >> How do we enforce that? >> I'm so glad you asked because you recently passed your municipal infraction ordinance. Um we do have in place now a system that is going to launch in January where our police force
will be able to issue citations for violations of our code that don't relate to real property. And this would be one of them. >> This is new. >> Thank you. >> We have a motion, a second. All in
motion, a second. All in favor? I. Any opposition? Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. Transmittal hearing ordinance 202521 ordinance of the city of Palaka, Florida amending the city's comprehensive plan
pursuant to section 163 3191 Florida statutes amending and updating the future land use element transportation element housing element public facilities element conservation element recreation open space element intergovernmental element capital improvement element property rights
element historic preservation element economic development element authorizing transmission transmitt to the Florida Department of Commerce providing legislative findings, providing prescriptive service, providing for clarification survivor, commissioners, >> I know this is the last item of your
agenda today, >> but I I need to tell you that this process uh that got us here to do the trans bill here, the date to the comprehensive plan started in 2023 with the developing of the vision plan
for the city of Palaka, which is the basis is for all the updates that we have done to the comprehensive plan in the last year or so. Um it basically contains two parts. The first part of the update it has to do with data analysis. The second part is the goals,
objectives and policies updates. Uh it is a transmitt hearing. It is subject to state review. It will go to the department of commerce for review and different agencies and it will come back with comments from them in 60 days. So
the final adoption is going to be probably at the end of February or beginning of March. Uh the update to comprehensive plan u like I say is implementation of the vision plan and affects all the elements of the comprehensive plan. We have nine
elements that are mandated by the states or statutes and we have two optional elements and all of them has been subject to that date. I have the our consultant from the JP Pro, >> Nick Hill, who was the project manager for this, and he's going to go and run
through with a brief summary, you know, of each element uh for your consideration. >> Staff recommends approval for transmitt. >> Thank you. >> Please give us your name for the record. >> Hi, Nicholas Hill, senior planner and
planning manager for JB Pro. Pleasure to be here. I believe I have a presentation. Oh, >> sorry. Last one. I'm sorry. >> No problem. >> Okay. Do you want me to just tell you
when to advance the slides? >> Just go. >> Okay. Great. Go ahead. >> Well, once again, my name is Nicholas Hill. I'm a senior planner with JB Pro and the planning manager there as well. and I am just so proud today to be in front of you to talk about Plaque 2045 and this project team's hard work. It's
a 230 page to documents that we helped establish and uh we worked very very hard on it. So I hope that's evident in our presentation. So the first thing I want to talk about today is a little bit of a background on the project.
Um, in 2023, uh, the city embarked on establishing a vision plan for the city. They did a lot of community engagement, as you should for a vision plan to collect feedback on what that vision should be. Of course, though, they knew that they would have to implement that vision. In order to do
that, they would need to update the comprehensive plan. So, they s sought a CPTA grant in order to do that. And shortly after the vision plan was approved, the CPTA grant was um was awarded. And then the city shortly thereafter hired us over at JB Pro to
help them meet the requirements of the grant which is to update the comprehensive plan and submit it to the state. Now I would just like to note that the grant application deadline and all the deliverables required were already met in June. Um so we're just
continuing to work on the project by having going through the adoption process. All right. So we have an excellent project team as led by the very talented Lorenzo as you already know. Uh JB Pro is led by our planning director Kathy Ebal who also serves as the principal in charge on the project.
And we also have several planners predominantly Jacob Alderman working on the project. Since I'm not a transportation expert, uh we did hire a transportation planner for this project from the Cordino group. They do transportation planning all across the United States and so we hired them for
the mobility element. So let's talk a little bit about the comprehensive plan today. What is it? It's really a statemandated master plan for the future of your community. And through that, the comprehensive plan serves to coordinate local decision-m provide guidance to land owners on what they can do with their property and
importantly implement a shared community vision which you all have. Now there are a number of topics which are required to be addressed in Florida statutes. Those are the topics shown in blue there. Those are required to be addressed in their own individual chapters of the plan which we call
elements. Um there's also two brown ones there. Those are the optional elements of your comprehensive plan. Those are very important to the city. They should be important to everybody. In my opinion, they should be required um for comprehensive plans, but they are not yet. The city has widely decided that
they need both of these elements and therefore have already been included in your comprehensive plan. I would also like to note that we had two open houses for this effort. One on September 24th and one on October 15th. At both of these openhouse events, we
had an opportunity where all of the goals, objects, and policies that we updated were out for display and we had several hours where we had the public come in and review any of the draft changes that we made. So that way they could provide feedback, comments, mark things up, cross things out, add things,
which they certainly did. Next and I just want to talk quickly about what are the three primary things that we did here with this update objective. So the grant required two um but we went ahead went above and beyond a little bit and did the third. So the two things
that the grant required was to maintain consistency with Florida statutes which means update the plan to be consistent with any changes in Florida statutes as they change every single year. Implement the community vision plan that was adopted in 2024. And then of course as
just an extra bit of care, we wanted to align with best practices as best we could. Next, so I'm going to go through each of these proposed updates that we did to the element. I'm going to see if I can see my screen from all the ways over there, but I'm going to try my best. It is
getting late and I forgot my glasses, so we're going to try. >> I got you. It's all going to be good. All right. So, the future land use element, the intent, according to Florida statutes, is to set the city's long-term vision for how land is utilized, to guide growth in an organized way with supporting infrastructure, and to provide a
framework for future zoning and development decisions. In terms of the statutory changes, we updated all of the references to Florida statutes and Florida administrative code. There was a lot that we had to update there. Um we updated the elements data analysis the supporting
documentation for each and every element including the future lane use element and interestingly enough there's also several state preeemptions and regarding the uses that should be included in your future lane use element. One of them is electrical substations and then the other one is floating solar facilities
that was state preeemption once again that are required to be included in your comprehensive plan and so we did that judiciously. In terms of the vision-based amendments, we uh establish a mixeduse future lane use category that came directly from the vision document. Um, an important thing
to note is you already have some of these provisions here in your zoning districts today. Your downtown zoning district allows 20 dwelling units per acre and a floor area ratio of 4.0, but it doesn't really have a future land use designation to implement that. I thought that was really interesting. So, we went
ahead and established that consistent with that downtown zoning district and that overall vision. We also uh asked the city to evaluate, we didn't actually do this as part of that, but just to evaluate in the future because we thought it was important, a
density bonus program if certain public benefits are provided by a developer of a property and incentives to encourage development in areas already served by existing public infrastructure instead of expanding outwards into green field development where no infrastructure currently is and exasperating our
current systems. In terms of best practices, like I said, this wasn't required by the grant, but just something that we felt like we we should do as good stewards. Um, and that was consolidation of future land use categories. Right now, it's a long narrative in your comp plan. We just
made it into an easyto read table. Hopefully, that helps. Um, we also wanted to refocus the PUB zoning to be less frequently utilized for all development and instead specifically for special development that is not
contemplated by the land development code. So that was very important to us. You know that is aligned with the original intent of PUD's bless you. We also just like all the other elements restructured GOPS for improved readability and organization and updated
and reformatted all the maps in the comprehensive plan for the housing element. The statutory basis for that is to ensure adequate safe and affordable housing for current and future residents to improve existing housing and eliminate substandards condition. to provide sites for a full
range of housing types within the needed infrastructure and to guide programs to create, preserve, and distribute affordable housing across the city. All required by Florida statutes. So, one of those uh Florida statute requirements that we didn't see in your current comprehensive plan is directing the city
to maintain a public inventory of cityowned properties that are potentially suitable for affordable housing. Now, that may seem scary, but I can assure you the statute reads that the city may use them for affordable housing. The inventory themselves, though, is mandatory. That's why we
included it on there. Uh, revises references to outdated Florida statutes and Florida administrative code and updates the elements supporting data analysis because we always updated the data analysis. Next, some of the vision-based changes. Um, we
wanted to ask the city to evaluate in the future um, updates to the land development regulations to support the expansion and diversification of housing as that's needed for affordability and lifestyle changes as the city gets older and incentivize the development of new
dedicated affordable housing units. And when we talk about dedicated affordable housing units, we're talking about those that are subsidized, those that have government program LITC funding primarily attached to them. Um, these are good things that the city should continue to aspire to get. Um, and it is
required by Florida statute, but it is also included in your vision and directs the city to help property owners preserve and enhance naturally occurring affordable housing. Next, there is a difference between dedicated affordable housing units and naturally occurring
affordable housing. Dedicated units are those that are subsidized traditionally through like a 30, 50, 20, even sometimes 99-year period. They're subsidized for that period of time so they can target lowincome renters. Um, traditionally though, there is also
naturally occurring affordable housing, which is housing that is traditionally older on smaller lot sizes. smaller homes in general that are actually inherently affordable um because they are not built like new builds where they're traditionally a little bit larger lot size, a little bit larger
homes and new builds are just inherently more expensive. Um so we create that clear distinction within the plan. Um we also add new provisions related to the rehabilitation and replacement of substandard units that's also required by Florida statutes
and restructured GOPS for improved readability. One note I just want to make before we move on, but you can u move the slide is that you're going to see a lot of strike through and underline in your in in the comp plan. There's a whole lot of that. You'll see that we actually reordered them and then restructured through and underline
because a lot of those changes are really just changes to readability improvements that we felt were needed um just to make it more accessible to the public to make it a little bit more readable to flow naturally in a way that we thought might be interesting to the public. And so it's a little misleading
to show as much strike through and underline as we did when really um those changes were a lot of times just grammar and clarity. Okay, so back to this comprehensive plan update. The mobility element which was led by the Cordino Group, transportation planning firm out
of South Florida. Um the intent of this element according to Florida statutes is to plan for a safe uh convenient and multimodal transportation system. Multimodal meaning supports multiple modes of transportation to emphasize public transit where feasible and
support all travel modes to coordinate transportation with the future land use map and other plan elements and to align with state regional and MO transportation plans and programs. Statutory changes were very minimal. You guys have a great element um you know in
terms of the statutory requirements. We just updated the goals, objectives, and policies to make sure the Florida statutes have been updated as well as updated the data analysis. Next, and in terms of the vision-based changes, they were clearly identified in the vision to
create a more connected and pedestrianoriented network and support uh the city's status as a designated trail town. In terms of best practices, we directed the city to develop a long range transportation master plan. The
transportation element of the plan is just an element. It's just a component. Really, most best practices nowadays say you should have your own dedicated transportation plan for your city, which can't possibly have enough detail for just an element. It really needs to be
an entire plan in of itself. And then also identify potential streets for road diets. Um, that's planner speak. Road diets are what what that means is they're automobile oriented roadways which have additional capacity. And what you do with those once they're
identified and they're strategically identified is you narrow the lanes to slow the traffic down. And with that additional land that you now have taken away from the cars, you allow for multimotalism, which just means pedestrians and bicyclists to encourage
a more vibrant and foster a more walkable area. Um, we also lay the groundwork for a water taxi service that's already being done in the city. Um, there's already ground work being done. We just kind of um codified that within our comp plan and restructure
GOPs for improved readability and organization. In terms of the recreation and open space element, the statutory intent of that is to plan for a comprehensive system in parks, open spaces and recreational facility to provide public and private spaces to play uh for play,
leisure and community gatherings to protect and enhance access to natural areas, waterways and beaches, and to ensure recreation opportunities support quality of life for all residents. Once again, statutory changes were minimal, just updated references and
updated the data analysis as required by Florida statutes. And it's important to note for that data analysis, we didn't do strike through and underline of the data analysis. We completely rewrote it from scratch for every single element. Next,
um we also uh made some best practices changes. We reinforced the parks and recreation facilities impact fee. We directed the city to update or to explore updating its level of service standards. So right now your level of service standards um particularly for
parks is based purely on population. But as we know just because you have x amount of park space for x amount of population doesn't mean that everybody in the city is served. You also need to consider things like proximity and the type of facilities. So that's why we uh
included the city a strategy for the city to go ahead and make that evaluation. Um there's also some language in there that we saw that was kind of iffy on the open space system establishing a level of service for that. So we also clarified the open space system requirement. We Oh, and no,
no problem. Are you controlling the computer? I'm sorry. I've been looking at you the whole time. I apologize. I apologize. Okay. And then we restructured the GOPs for improved readability and organization. Again, most of the strike through and underline
that you see is just for clarity. And then for the statutory basis for the conservation element to preserve and manage air, water, wetlands, soils and other vital natural resources to conserve wildlife, fisheries, habitats and other environmentally significant
resources to protect these resources from new development and to promote sustainable use of our resources. No major statutory changes, just updated references and the data analysis.
We direct the city to explore additional incentives for preserving our natural resources through the development process by protecting native vegetation and natural resources and also identifying additional ways for preservation of environmentally sensitive lands and water resources. And
of course we also restructure the GOPS as you can see. So in terms of the statutory basis for the public facilities element, it's to plan for reliable water sewer drainage, solid waste and aquifer recharge system to identify current efficiencies and
infrastructure needs to coordinate facility upgrades and expansions to support plan growth and to conserve water resources and protect natural drainage and recharge areas. So this first bullet is really important. So uh we actually adopt by
reference a water supply facilities work plan. This actually wasn't part of our original scope, nor um but it was required in order to make the comp plan consistent with Florida statutes. Um but the city has been such a great partner to us and Lorenzo was kind enough to
help us with it too. So we went ahead and did that just as part of the grant requirement. Uh we went ahead and wrote you uh a water supply facility work plan. Our engineers did that as we're part of a multi-disiplinary firm. Um, we also revised references to outdated floor statutes and updated the data
analysis particularly with that water supply facilities work plan in mind. Um, for best practices, we included provisions which help implement the water supply facility work plan and gave the city some things to potentially
consider as it moves forward. Um, we uh defer level of service standards to the capital improvement element. Right now in your comprehensive plan, you have level of service standards in two locations. Most of the time you have them in your um element themselves where they're most relevant and then you have
them in the capital improvement element as well. So the issue with that is is sometimes you create redundancies and if you were to update one, you forget that there's another one there. So we've actually consolidated all of them in the capital improvements element which is typically best practices for most
jurisdictions now moving forward. In terms of the statutory basis for intergovernmental coordination, it's to coordinate the city's comprehensive plan with the plans of neighboring local governments, region, uh, agencies, and service providers to establish joint
planning areas for annexation, infrastructure, and public services needed, and to promote collaboration on schools, population projections, and facility planning. Statutory changes were minimal, updating references, and updating your data analysis.
And then one of the things that we recommend was to explore the possibility of adding an ISBA, an interlocal service boundary agreement, which is basically just a more formally legally binding procedure for how annexations should occur and service deliveries. Um, a lot of these activities are kind of already
occurring as a just a matter of practicality and coordination with the county, but this would just formalize that process. It would also help you with your annexations um and making sure that they happen in a logical planned manner. Uh we also added language recognizing Putnham County as a partner
in the Florida Seapport Transportation Economic Development Council. So because they are a partner, um the city of Pala is potentially open to grants as part of Putnham County is open to grants which could help develop local ports and restructure GOPS for improved
readability and organization. All right, moving right along. Capital improvements element to plan and prioritize major public facility projects to support growth and service needs to identify costs, funding sources, timing, and locations of future infrastructure investments and to ensure
facilities meet adopted level of service and correct existing deficiencies. So, as part of that, we adopt a 5-year schedule of capital improvements. We revise references to Florida statutes and rules of the Florida administrative code and we update the data analysis to
make sure that it's up to date along with the other elements. And for best practices like I mentioned that we consolidated all the level of service standards into one element so that way you don't accidentally adjust one and not the other. And we also have
the general restructuring of the GOPs private property rights element. Believe it or not, that is a required element of the comprehensive plan. Um, there were no changes to that. That's a pretty straightforward element. It's already aligned with best practices. The city already did a great job. We had no
changes. In terms of the historic preservation element, this is not required but generally accepted that the purpose is to identify, document and inventory historic and cultural resources to promote the protection, restoration and adaptive reuse of historic structures
and to pursue funding and partnerships to support preservation efforts as well as to integrate historic resources into community planning and development decisions. statutebased changes. Um, same as the other elements and just some of the things that we
recommended that you do was encourage more adaptive reuse projects and implement public awareness and educational programs regarding historic preservation, greater coordination with the Florida Master Site File, um, and just more celebration of historic resources here in town.
And then finally, the economic development element to support business growth through incubation, retention, and attraction efforts. To promote tourism and leverage local assets to strengthen the economy, to foster collaboration with regional partners and economic development organizations, and to pursue grants, incentives, and
programs to expand jobs and investment. Statutory changes were similar to the other elements and best practices. We did some work to this element to more clearly identify economic development objectives, champion community investment, business
incubation, tourism and industry retention. We recommended the reestablishment of the Main Street program here in Palatka. Um, we have big proponents of that in the office. So, of course, we had to include that as well. That opens you up to grant dollars and makes for a more vibrant downtown, which
is where we'd recommend it. It also uh added language which improves the policies directed at tourism, wayfinding and event programming citywide and explores opportunities to improve connections to regional trails, activate the waterfront and accommodate tourism.
So last slide here we are here at the city commission the first reading the transmitt hearing. Um the state will have if you decide to transmit will certainly have their opportunity to do their state coordinated review. all the agencies get involved in review and make sure that hey it's we're not violating
any Florida laws that we're aligned with best practices. They issue something called an ORC report um which is objections, recommendations and comments. Usually they have a lot of great recommendations and comments for things that we could do better. Um and hopefully no objections um but if they
are we can address them as part of the second reading so they don't issue a challenge. Second reading is projected like Lorenzo said sometime in February. So once again um this was a major effort on behalf of our team. We're so proud we
got to be a part of this grant-f funed effort and we've stretched these grant dollars as far as we possibly could. Um I hope that's evident in the whole document here and the hard work that our team put in and Lorenzo as well. Um so thank you and I'm here if you have any questions.
>> Thank you. When all is said and done and everything's accepted and we go through the second reading process, is it possible to get this on a thumb drive? So, we I I would like it as a reference on a thumb drive. >> Yeah, absolutely. Um, some people like
the thumb drive and then some people request it as part of like a a binded document. We could also >> Okay. All right. >> Okay. Understood. Yes. >> Yeah. once. >> Yes.
>> Yeah. I I like the idea. >> Okay. Thank you. Any questions? >> You did a phenomenal job thanking me to wait this late. >> Oh, that's all right. >> Very phenomenal. I mean, very phenomenal. What a phenomenal though as well. And thank the community for coming
to your office for public input. >> Um I I do have a question on your intergovernmental coordination element. It does have mandatory language. The city shall work to establish an interlocal service boundary agreement with Putnham County. Um, we're we're
trying that, but what's the in >> what's the incentive? >> Yeah, >> we will have to enforce it the city because it's going to be our policy, you know, uh, at least we need to initiate the process. Doesn't mean this the county is going to, you know, accept it
or not. I just want to take the opportunity to to thank Nick and the team of JB Pro. They provide an exceptional service to the city and it's been a pleasure working with them. Uh it's been over a year. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And we're looking forward to the
next stage. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> We have a motion. We have a second. >> All in favor? >> I. Any opposition? >> No. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Great.
>> Thank you for holding out till the end. Do we have any commission and comments? Do we have a Well, I'm going to wish everybody happy merry Christmas and happy holidays and enjoy the rest of our time off from meetings this month. >> Yes. Merry Christmas, everybody.
>> Merry Christmas. With that motion to adjurnn. Thank you.