Huh? setting up for the meeting. I'm so miserable. I really apologize. I've been at meetings, too. [Music] That story, is it? It says August 11th.
Oh, did I give you the Which one did I for hers? This is August 11th. Did yours say August 11? August 6th. Okay. So, hers is is probably still in your office. You can take that one back. My fault.
Yeah. Okay. Age. We all feel your pain. I know. To quote my dad. It sucks to get help. He's 84. Oh, wow. He's still rocking. Yeah, he's still
rocking. But it's so true. Did you have a vacation? Not this year. What? Yeah. It's the kids college. I have four kids in college and it doesn't line up ever. So, they
come home, they leave, they come home. Stacy bill goes from $250 a week to 56. They're all from work. Yes. Yes. I get that from uh 6 midnight till 6 in the morning.
I know. I know. We are We are thinking about something maybe closer to Christmas. How are you? It will. I know what you're going to Hey, how are you? Good. I don't know. I don't want somebody to come in and solve all the problems in the city as soon as I leave and then I lose my job.
He's talking about Joe. Been here 30 years. You will never have things to do. Anything when you get back on. Yeah, that's the list has just doubled. Yes.
Hey, listen. [Music] You're sleepy. Did you have a meeting? No. [Music] Oh man. Sure. Of course not. How does that work? If we lose
city attorney, I'll ask you. I'll just ask you. Hey, Mr. Ralph, can you hear me? Okay, I can. Can you guys hear me? Yes, sir. I have a question. And if we lose power in this storm that we're about to get, what happens?
Uh if you You're zooming in. It's It's in a workshop. You could keep going. Okay. Keep going. It's just a workshop, so you won't be taking any formal votes today. So if you lose me, we're having a thunderstorm here also, so I might lose you on my end. So if I
drop off, just keep going. You'll be okay. Okay. Got you. Thank you so much. Okay. Oh, so we have to move the building. Answer the question. exciting. She almost like she
in the paper. I just explained that this is a temporary work. I shut the fans off if you need them. I put all that back.
They just want to believe that they I was like here when I saw When I was in Crescent City, they did the same thing in Crescent City. They just didn't swing past the headlines no matter what. [Music]
That's what I saw. I saw it said and I fact [Music] was a We all were. Yeah.
But I notic. But they do. Um, and I did send out to everybody too before it was on everybody's Okay. Hopefully you feel better. Oh, I'm sorry. So, they're not voting on anything.
Do I need to Did you send it to Peter? I did. And I sent it to material. I mean, you're part of general fun, so it should be fine.
Like I can't read public. Yes. So I have to go there. They like your seat that you get to be here and hide. You're the only one hidden. Okay. Good afternoon everybody.
Welcome to our city commission budget workshop on August 6, 2025 at 4 pm. I'm calling this meeting to order. We'll start with an invocation again by Paul from Commissioner Davis and can Assistant Chief Nukem, can you lead us
in the pledge? We have a limited. Dear heavenly father, we thank you for bringing us safely to um today's meeting. God, again, we thank you for the awesome opportunity we have to serve the city of Pala in our respective positions. We pray that you
give us guidance, direction as we have discussion and move in the best direction for our city. We ask these and all blessings in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. United States of America and to the
stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. Madame Clerk, Commissioner Davis present. Commissioner Cable present. Commissioner Jones.
Commissioner Borum. Mayor Carrera present. We do not have quorum, but we do not need quorum because it is a workshop and no final decisions will be made. Um, we're going to move on to public comments. Is there anybody here for
public comments? Seeing none close public comments and move on to budget FY2025 2026A fourth draft budget revenues and expenses. Yes, ma'am. So, uh, I will be bringing
our finance director up and just want the commissioners to know that we have spent effort and time looking at possible uh, strategies to bring the budget imbalance and we also addressed other
concerns like operational efficiencies, but this moment it would be better for the finance director to start. Okay, Miss Pia. Good afternoon. Can everyone hear me? Yes. Yes, ma'am. Okay, we'll start with our first item,
our the 2025 uh fourth draft, budget, revenues, and expenses. It's a pretty hefty report and I'll just go through an overview first and then give you an opportunity to ask questions about any
line items that you may have. So the general fund um has total revenues of 25 million and total expenses of 28 million which leaves a net negative um result of
-3 million. The airport fund is 4 million um and expenses at 4 million. Water utilities 27 million expenses atgative 26 million golf for 185,000 and
then negative 185,000 sanitation is at 1 or 4 million and -4 million in expenses. And we have tiff CRA 2.8 8 million in revenues and 2.8 million in expenses.
And Better Place fund 18.4 million in revenue and 18.3 million in expenses. And our ARPA fund has revenue of 1.2 million and expenses of one um 1.2 million.
And at this time, I would like to give the commissioners an opportunity to ask any questions that you may have on any of the line items in the fourth draft. Do you have any questions, Commission D? I don't know.
I mean, I know what I'm looking at. What am I looking? You're looking at this report, but she just she went Miss Pierre went over each category and the budget for each category at this point. You don't have right.
The summary was brought to you at the last last meeting. And then we did receive um suggestions on how to balance. You got that? Okay. I do have some comments and questions. I don't know. Commissioner Campbell, do you have
anything before I start? I'm gonna have some too. Okay. Well, you can come back to me. Yes. Thank you, Commissioner Campbell. No, ma'am. Go ahead. Okay. So, and of course is a lot of information here as you stated. Um, but
I had some possible budget adjustment suggestions and a couple of questions. So, on the other government services line item, special events budget of 26,400. I wasn't sure what that was for, so I wanted clarification.
So um 51934930 under other government services which I have to find frankly actually it's easier to find online. I want to just say one of the things we asked for I know this is Excel. I asked
before, but if we could get the column and row headers, we could reference. Yes, ma'am. She she mentioned that. I will say she did mention it to me. Um I just ran out of time, but I will have that for you.
Um on hand. I mean, do you want me to wait on this and do this at the end um instead of doing this now and present my suggestions at the end and my questions or I don't want to hold everything up and I did give you a copy both of you a
copy of Okay. Yeah. So, um I I think it would be appropriate if I may, not saying I know how to turn the mic on, but anyway, I would suggest if she's if this finance director can go over the information that she has put together and then
whatever suggestions or recommendations that's what I was thinking was better wait. Okay. Yeah, I'm I'm good. And I'll be of help uh as this is her first. Okay. So, let's let's keep moving along and we'll do that at kind of at the end. So are you on 3B now then?
We're on 3B. Operational capital grant debt servicing and transfers reimbursements reserves. Okay. Yes. So this is a breakdown of the expenses and expenditures that we have. So our personnel expenses represent 20%
of the total and that's at 17,7181. And we have our operational expenses that represent 13% which is 11,32,642. We have our capital expenditures and capital outlay that's 22% and that's a
total of $18,735,186. The grant expenditures represent 28% of the total and that's at 24,274,32. The debt servicing expenditures are 3% and that's 2,194,629. The transfers reimbursements reserves
that's 14% and that's 20 12,163,12. And we have a total budget that's $86,370,042. And if I was to insert uh if you want to look at it from an operational standpoint, if you subtract that 24 million, it really means that 62 million
could be considered the budget that you know that we are really depending on revenue streams and that would be a good way to look at it since the other portion of it that's grant is coming from grant um and that's
based upon actual activation of the grants. Okay. So, the next item is our proposed billing rates table and that's at a 4% increase. This is pretty hefty um report and it's
pretty much to give you an idea of what we're looking at. The first line we have a where it says rate table service size GB that's for garbage residential inside and the actual rate is under the row
that's named non-metered charge that's 27.1 and then we've applied the 4% increase for that and we're showing in dollars how much the increase would be which is $18 and then the new rate when you add
the 4% increase plus the original rate, it would be $28.18. And we've just kind of applied that um down the throughout the table. Okay. And to give a little explanation
too, we have been running I I can we have been uh on the average from uh looking back at the history for the past five or six years uh they have been increasing at 7.15%. Um it was one year I saw it was up to
9%. Uh but per our analysis and review of CPI and COLA and all of that CPI is like about 3%. So we don't want to increase we don't want to recommend increasing it
as high as it had been done in the past. Okay. It is more reasonable that we try to stay closer to CPI. Okay. Makes sense. And at this point we're running short in terms of the cost. Yes. From a budgetary from a budgetary standpoint.
Right. And of course once we convert that at in a fiscal year to governmental accounting uh principles and standards then most likely we would have profit of some sort because of the capital expenditures. Okay. Any questions commission?
Okay we'll go on to the next item please. The next item is our millage rate analysis. And here we have the 2025 certified gross taxable value at each of at first
the roll back rate um the 6.4 ms 6.8 ms and 7 ms and we have the percentage increase for each rate listed there. And that's 0025690
under the 6.4 mills. And we have our 0089796 under 6.8 ms and 121849 under the 7 mills. We have proposed avalone revenues for each option there.
4.6 million under the roll back rate 4.7 under the 6.4 mills 5 million under the 6.8 ms and 5.1 million under the 7 mills. We have the revenue above the roll back rate for the 6.4 mills is
118,000. Under the 6.8 mills, it's 414,000. And for 7 mills, it's 562,000. And down towards the bottom, 2024 to 2025 certified gross taxable value at
712 million. And then we have a a a hefty increase in gross taxable value of real property of 26 million. So that's a percentage increase of 3.7%. And as we know then on Monday evening uh
we did certify it at the 7.0 to a max 7.0 rate and just that's not the maximum maximum is 11 but the maximum for our city. Right. Correct. The maximum is 10, but the maximum we agreed to
to con even consider would be seven. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Continue. Any questions? Commissioner Davis, Commissioner Campbell, not at this. Okay. Um Okay. Okay. So next is our
20 2025 2026 fire assessment analysis as of August 1st, 2025. Under the first column, we have our gross value of improvements of $950,123.
And that includes both the variable rate of $2 and the fixed rate of 175 minus exclusions and our taxable value for fire assessments $731,611. The cost variable cost per thousand.
We're offering these several options. The current rate was 2 point is 2.46. And here we're stating that an option would be to make the variable cost at $2
175 or 150. And just below that, we have our tier one fee assessment. And currently it's 1.7 million. And the first option, the var with a variable
cost of $2 would be 1.4 4 million less the then that here to the right the negative 33,000 that will be the the amount of revenue that we have lost or not lost but chose to um reduce the
variable cost by and we have that 175 the fee assessment for that would be 1.2 2 million and that would be a loss of 519,000. And if we had set the variable rate at 150, we would have 1,97,000
and that would be a loss of $72. And under that we have tier 2 where we're listing the number of parcels that we're billing for. And the excluded parcels are 433
and our taxable parcels are 4,04. The um residential parcels are 2,663 and other taxable parcels are $1,341 and that's at a fixed cost of $125.
That's where we are currently. And our options uh the first two are $175 and the third option is to set that fixed cost. We'll keep it the same as it is now $125. What what what we're if I may ma'am?
Yes ma'am. Okay. So what we're doing is just trying to give you some options. Uh however, this methodology has not yet been uh confirmed by our attorney, that's our consultant, uh Mark Lawson. We did
present it to him. We're kind of waiting for him to get back to us like my question is whether or not we have the flexibility to charge residential one rate and industrial and non uh profit or governmental another. That is what we
have not confirmed. So, and if we can, then we would suggest stratification, meaning that the residential u fixed costs uh would stay at the 125, but any other type of u parcel owner
would be up to the 175. So, that's pretty much we're just looking at options. We will confirm this. Okay. But we need confirmation that that's something we can actually that we can actually do because we are not even certain that we can do it. It's just an option. Typically, I think you
can do it as long as you have some supporting data. So, we may need to gather some data from our fire uh responders about how many uh uh incidents that go to residential versus commercial. And there should be a way to do it. If we have the data, we can
Okay. I have the data and I have the detail information or we have the detail information for every parcel. So, I'd like to go over that with you as well, Mr. Brooks. Okay, I think he said yes.
Thank you. Thank you. Okay, go ahead. And speak to that consumer price index, right? Yes. So, this is a report um that we researched and here we're calculating
the current CPI for June 2025 compared to June 2024. Um, and that CPI percentage change was 2.28%. Um, and with that information, we are
recommending a 4% increase, and that's due to the lapse of time between grant expenses and reimbursements by the granter. Also, I've learned that we did not apply an increase last fiscal year. We did not. We did not. So, we're
and I don't think the year before either or the year before. So we want to maintain at least CPI and an increase based on what's happening with CPI the consumer price index. And the second page is kind of goes more
in detail and gives a breakdown of the cost of living versus the um consumer price index and how they're applied. Um one is applied to expenses and the basket of goods and services. the others more for income and how um for example
in here I put the social security um recipients receive a 2.5% increase cost of living increase. Okay. And I think it it might be helpful in some way to get now that we have a
public information officer again to perhaps get some of this information in basic fact-based terms to the community because I think it's a lot of information for us let alone people that are immersing themselves in it so to speak. Um so that might be helpful.
Yes ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Um on to the next item which is decision unit request summary. Decision unit requests.
It's a it's a hefty packet. The first page is a summary of all of our uh wish lists and needs throughout the city throughout um every department. Every department is important to us, right? Every department
plays a huge role in the success of the city of Palaka. Um, so this list is very important and critical to all of our needs. Um, and we're hoping that we can fund them. Um, we can go through I'm not
sure how to approach it. If you want to they've seen it before. This is our second or third time. Okay. Uh it was given so that the commissioners can have some understanding even more. I don't think that we gave them last time the actual decision unit. Yeah. No, we didn't. So that's why now they have an
opportunity to read the justification. This is helpful though. Thank you. Yeah. Right. So that's why we wanted them to have that. Okay. And commissioners, you know, you're at liberty to give us input up until about August 20. August 20th is
our deadline to be able to receive information to uh adjust the budget and to be certain that it's in balance. May I just like thank you guys. It was great. Oh, okay. Very good information to help us
understand the rationale and just analy. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Commissioner Davis. Keep on top your last page is the 10 year analysis. Y page.
While she's doing while this finance director is doing that, I just like to say thank you to all of the department heads that were able to attend today and they're here just in case there's any question. They have all made their presentation, but they just wanted to
Okay. And we appreciate that for sure. Okay. So, the 10-year analysis summary is a lot of information presented, but it also shows the growth in our budget, the growth in revenues.
We put a a spend a lot in payroll expenses, but at the same time, we're bringing in a lot more. You can kind of you can see from year to year the gradual increase in revenues and that's partly due to the efforts of our team
members um and the grant funding that we've received um and although um the expense line item has also increased. It seems to be certain years where we've spent more than others. However, it
there's I don't see a huge uptick. I can see the gradual increase in in spending. Any questions, Commissioner Campbell? A lot of information. Is he still there? He's still there. Okay. I know one obvious thing to
observe just common sense obvious not. Thank you. as um one additional step that finance director did was to literally calculate the percentage of change from year to year and that will be sent to your email.
Okay. Um, okay. I think that's important to if you would like to just narrate quickly the percentage of change from 2015 to 2025 or the amount of change because we were at 22 million with the
budget 2025 and now in 20 2015 I'm sorry 2025 we're at 75 million. So what percentage of change is that please? That was cut off on the report. However, I can give you the dollar amount.
Okay. So, that would be helpful. Okay. Um, the original budget for 2015 was 22,174,946 and the original budget in projected 2025 75,924,388. That's more than a 300% increase.
It is. It is. And our revenues at 2015 was 20,245,177. And in 20 projected 2025, the revenues are $39,975,246. That's a significant, right?
And our we can look at expenses. expenses were 26,592,696 and in 2025 we have 38 million673,220 and we can also look at the number of employees here 149 employees back in
2015 as opposed to now 193 if I may comment um per human resources the 193 three represents something that we did not have in 2015 and that is the uh temporary employees. Remember this year
we had even 10. We had at least 10 to 12 temporary employees this fiscal year. Additionally, I think we have how many interns? 20. So if you add 20 + 12, that's 32.
So the anomaly in the year 2025 is 32. So if you subtract that from the 193 the real number is 161. So the increase in employees has been
very little in comparison to the bulk of revenue that is being generated the expenditures that we are incurring. So literally we have been able to keep the growth of the size of the employment
base very low compared to the a 300% increase you know in our budget but in actuality our uh revenue stream only increased by 18 million. So but that's still almost 100% increase from 21 to
39. It's almost a 100% increase and I appreciate that from a fiscal standpoint. On the other side of that, it means those employees we do have are doing extra doing other people and that's the that's downside of that. I think we need to be
able to say that and the community needs to know how hard our city employees work and how much they put into their job. Yes. That's why I stopped and said thank you for them coming because they're always going the extra mile. Always.
Thank you. Any questions, Commissioner Davis? Commissioner Campbell, any questions? You did send us today and it was a request of commissioner Borum suggestions on how to balance the budget and plans for the city of Quebec to be
speak of him. There he is just in time. Perfect. Commissioner, thank you because of this commissioner. Anyway, Commissioner, thank you for inquiring, you know, and uh helping us um
do more to have a better budget meeting. I appreciate it. And uh as we were pursuing Oh, wait. I'm sorry. I'll wait. Yeah, we went through all of that. Now we're on
We're on the stock. Yeah, we're on um No, we finished that part. Do you have yours? And I could give him mine. I give the permission. Oh, does he have his? Oh, he has. Okay.
All right. Cool. All right. So, um just in response to you asking, hey, look in there, dive some more. So, some of the things we were able to come up with um was our first approach was to look at vacant positions
uh positions that had not yet or I I'm not certain, but I think they have not been filled to the best of my knowledge. I came up with maybe about four or five totaling about 365,000 with a fringe benefit of 45%. So that's at least
$530,000 if we were to decide to cut the vacant positions from the budget. Uh the other thing I know that we have a request from the fire
department uh which really totals 2.8 million and u if we were to reduce that request by about 1.8 million uh we can bring the budget in balance. Uh we also had some new positions. Uh the budget
originally called for six positions. If we can possibly reduce that down to two positions, then we could bring this budget into balance. Uh not funding salary raises, reduce capital funding by 300,000. I had also cons uh received
some requests to look at the possibility of uh having the attorney uh role being contractual. So I did look at that as a request and I I was only able to if if
we had the average billing hourly rate here. I put 250 on page three, but it's really closer to $300 per hour. That would only give us about 650 to 725 annual billing hours, billable hours. It
will reduce our cost because right now we're at 238,000 for the attorney services. So, but um I just wanted right now the city attorney as a salaried employee uh we are receiving 280 hours
at this time. Additionally, I looked at some of the efficiency improvements within the department and most of this we are doing, you know, automating routine tasks, streamlining communication. We're starting to use Zoom and Microsoft Teams much more to
try to cut down some of the meetings and running to and fro. Flexible work uh schedules, we're already doing that. Regular training, we're doing that. uh usage of technology. The IT uh leazison is helping us more in that area. Also,
communic community affairs is helping us with gov and other um and the GIS. So, we are starting to implement more technology and our daily uh responsibilities. Prioritization is constant uh cross trainining well cross
departmental collaboration. We tend to do that routinely once or twice a month. Uh we're constantly reviewing processes, setting clear goals, and trying very hard to create a positive work environment. I would say that's the most
challenging of them all. Uh looking at uh revenue streams, you had us you asked us to look at that and we did look at it. We are we took a different approach uh this year for this budgeting period commissioner. we uh went to the various
uh department heads particularly public works because most of the grants are infrastructurebased. So he was able to give us a listing of all of the needs that is not currently funded uh by the operational budget for
you know he broke it out in categories sanitation streets roads all of that and once we receive that list working with the new grant writer we are now categorizing it prioritizing it but additionally pursuing okay where can we
find this money uh the challenge right now is the fact that most of the grants are open for the next six weeks. So, we're under crunch to get a lot of grants out by the time we get to September 30th. So, that's our plan of action as relates to bringing in. We
also discovered that some of the uh grant relationships that we have right now with uh some of the engineers like Hansen, Pasaro, Health, they there's a component in the award that says they are to assist us with grant writing. So
we're pursuing that and we did use it two weeks ago. We are implementing we already did the review of the appendix A and most of the department heads have already submitted their uh changes in fees. So that has been taken care of.
The planning department uh we did an assessment about two weeks ago realized that there's a lot of the money that we're billing that we are not collecting. There are many uh shops that are past due. So we have now implemented
or almost implemented the strategy for collecting the past two amounts and the billing of the current fees. Uh there's a new fee that has just started I guess this week and it's called plant review plans review and that's under the
planning department where before a developer can proceed we have to review their plans and and sign off on it. That is a functional plan. So I believe yesterday, if I'm right, Mr. Lorenzo, we did
billing right yesterday or today for 15,000 or will do. Yeah, we've been we've been collecting those fees in the past also. That's not okay. Site plan. Okay. But now we're starting to get more activity or something.
Well, that's one broke down to the city. You know, we're collecting more feed. Okay. Good. And as it relates to current exemptions and abatements, the only thing that I could really really see was that fire assessment where we have um I
think it was uh 1,300 something uh of taxable of parcels that are not really being taxed or fully taxed. So again, I'm looking at that and um Mr. Burke says that he would also
assist in that matter, but we have Mr. Austin as well as it relates to thought policy or procedural changes that could incentivize you know uh more growth more assistance with the city. Uh we we looked at other
cities and what we saw was they stimulated growth in the city by dealing with zoning. Like there there needs to be some um we need to look at our zoning, see if we need to change it some to have more people uh get involved with
businesses, set aside space, adopt business diversity ordinances, and also repurposing vacant. We have a lot of vacant properties and we need to stop repurpose them so that they can turn into money.
So we're looking at that. An analysis will also be completed per commissioner's request as well to determine if the step and grade can be sustained you know over the next say 10 years. Will we based upon the second
grade uh study that was completed and what we are currently adhering to the big question is will we be able to sustain it over the next 10 years 5 to 10 years. So we will have an analysis uh completed for that. It's not done yet
but we will do it. And then other innovative uh practices um there's something called private public private partnerships and we do need to pursue that more. Um we looked at some other cities and we saw that
mainly that is being utilized for commercial and industrial development, recreational and cultural facilities and downtown revitalization. So I know one of the examples of what I personally did
was I hooked up our uh I connected the city where I was working with another city that was over in the panhandle and as they made money our city doing nothing also made money. So there are many different ways to uh pursue public
private partnership. Uh we were also thinking like here in Palaca, one of the uh ways we could implement this is the commissioners have been asking for us to figure out how can we set up a pool, you
know, in areas where there are no pools. And so we're looking at can we possibly pursue public private partnership with that as well. And that's pretty much it. just letting you understand that we really are trying to come up with ways to not only balance the budget but to
also become more profitable. Thank you. And just before we go any further for the record, both Commissioner Campbell and Commissioner Borum are in the building. So, we just acknowledge that. Um, anybody Commissioner Davis?
A lot of information. Yes. like mayor. Mayor Yes. I just want to note that I am on uh Zoom and it's me in his room. That's Commissioner It's Commissioner Jones. I have
I have him down as a VIA zoom. Well, we'll note that. Thank you, Commissioner Jones. Yeah, Commissioner Borum. Commissioner Borum work. any thoughts input or you just want to process it all?
I'm trying to process and and I'm you know trying to catch up on what was communicated and um I don't know what I missed and so can I'm kind of get my feet under right now. Okay, I get it. Commissioner Campbell, I was here for the most part well for
the entire meeting um excluding the time that I disconnect to come inside. But with regards to um the decision units, when will that come before us so that we're able to actually discuss? It's there. Um I know it's there, but when will be able
to have the discussion as to to dive a little bit deeper? we know it's been presented to us, but um because I know I was one of the ones who made the request that they give us the file filetman young version of what it is that they need so that we are able to kind of help dive in and weed
out or really take in consideration what it is that they need. And I know it's presented to us, but I think it also um works to our benefit to have uh either city manager or the department head to actually speak to the request in this
and the the necessity of their request. So I would love to um see if we can get that squeezed in at our next budget workshop um or see or how you see fit. So um what happened was
um the each department head when they came up and made their presentation they um they presented based upon what's in the decision units. So they they did
do that and now um when we get to August 28th we will be forced at that time at that budget to make sure we present to you a balanced budget. So the next time we get together per calendar,
well, I guess I was trying to say that I would hope that we would have had a discussion that would allow us to really take in consideration because again, as I stated in our previous conversation that oftent time we get to the point where we're looking for a balanced budget, which is absolutely what we
want, but later on um in the fiscal year we are look or we are met with emergencies or we're having to pull funding from other places whereas as if we would have been able amongst ourselves as commissioners to take in consideration and have some extensive
dialogue with regards to some of the things that are listed would have possibly um alleviated that happening saying I know we won't be able to do it 100% but that that was my hope. So okay I wanted that to be record uh reflect in the record.
Would you like um they're here would you everyone that is on that list maybe I'm gonna give everyone the the opportunity for the commission the opportunity to see if there's anything that they would like to bring that is listed.
So, uh, police is here, fire is here, police here, right? We can call them. Yes. Okay. I thought I saw them. Street, cemetery, water treatment, reclamation, water distri. Okay, they're here.
So, I guess the question would be to the commission if this is something I mean this is our last opportunity to dive a little bit deeper into it. Um, but again, I wanted them to bring this to us so that we would be able to really talk about it and not just check off on
something that we could have had some discussion on. Yes, sir. We're here so I'm fine with it. I was going to say and I agree and I think what we're really what I'm looking for um to Commissioner Campbell's point is we know we have the full list. The
question is what's what's really required and what's the nice to have. I think that what is what would help me um you know so what's a wish list correct? Correct. And and so the um us going through it
just given a top level with the decision units really did not touch any of them. Uh only the 1 million the maybe the 1 million8 I think that was the only thing uh if you haven't can
you bring that back up please and make it as large as you can if we can. That's as large as it's going to get. Oh that's as large as it'll be. So, the only thing um number 12 on the list, you can hit zoom right there. You can hit the zoom. Make it larger.
Yeah. Right. That's what we're talking about. And get rid of that thing on the side. Right. Thank you. Sorry. Right. Okay. So, it's number 12 that you're referencing. So, the only item really referred to is
um the ladder truck for 1,800,000. That was pretty much the the bulk of it has not been touched. And other than that, a suggestion that number um 17, which is fire, uh requesting
personnel up to six. And uh the the only thing recommended here was instead of it being six if he could uh operate with only two otherwise nothing else has been touched
on the decision units. Okay. Um so the 1 million8 and where you say 390 you see the 390 and the 75. So the 390 was requested to I was
suggestion reduced to 130 which would give him two personnel instead of six and the 17 17 right so reduce the salary uh just reduce that down to 130 instead
of 390 the 75 I was saying uh maybe not do the salary increase of 75 So that's it. That's the that's it for what has been touched.
Okay. Would would Chief Taylor just come and tell us what the impact or not that will be? Good evening. So if I can start back over with some of this. So the ladder truck is going to be our our biggest concern. we can easily
push the engine back a year or two. That would take that 900,000 to a million off. We've also been talking to a manufacturer that may have some demo trucks for us, so the prices may come down. So, there's that. The ladder truck would be more important though. Um, as
far as the personnel, all I did was apply for a grant. So, there's no money coming out this budget year for personnel necessarily. unless we were to get that grant and then you then it's the first year it would be
completely paid for by the federal government. The second year it goes to 75%. Third year 50% and then we're on our own. So this would be a three-year period for this. Um
the GL lines are minimal. Um, but we do need to start tracking that information for special operations better and having an actual budget for them. We're also in the midst of renegotiating contracts with Georgia Pacific Seminal Electric,
PDM Bridge, and um, or not PDM Bridge, St. John Ship Builders. So, as we're moving through that, we're trying to get them to help us fund the special operations equipment and training. So, that's that seems to be going pretty well with Georgia Pacific right now.
It's um we're still talking and working through that. Um I see. So then with the salary increase, we don't that's just something we couldn't find an inspector. We couldn't find a fire marshall at that rate. We have now interviewed and we
think we have a candidate for the inspector at the rate that you guys gave us last year. So we don't need that increase. So that would be fine. And then the public safety sign, that's just something we were going to split with PD. If that doesn't happen, not a
heartbreak. It was just I think we were just trying to make sure citizens knew more. But again, that's not a a huge thing for us. Can I ask a question? Yes, sir. Um, so the only item that we were looking at was were the 1.8, the 390,
and the 75. So, let me understand something. the 390 is a possible grant. Yes, ma'am. Okay. So, what we need to do is make sure and be certain that it's included in revenue and if it is, then that's fine. Correct. And we have not we applied. I
think it was last month it had to be turned in. We applied. We've not heard back. Um and like I said, that would for the first year would be funded completely by the federal government. 100%. if it happens and we only asked for three. Okay. Because we didn't know that we could even absorb six even in three years. So
we went with three. Okay. So that basically come right off the list immediately. Mhm. And so what that means, Commissioner, the only item we're touching on the decision units is just one item. Well,
actually two. It's the 1.8 and completely take off the 75. And again, I heard Chief Taylor say the fire engine I mean the ladder truck was more needed at this point. Yes. So So you you want us to take off the uh
fire engine? Yes, ma'am. That would be Do we need the ladder truck? The ladder truck is 20 years old. Uhhuh. The engines are eight and nine. So, you know, at 10 years they're supposed to go to backup status. We also when we got the new ones, we lost one of our backups. Okay. So now we're down to
one backup engine, but we can we've been making that work. So, and those are a little newer than the ladder truck. Okay. So, I'll meet with the fire chief and see if we can get a better rate. So, with regards to the um public safety
sign um and I heard that you said that you were willing to split with the police department currently, do we have any um public safety signs? No, sir. Those that are out that we see are the county, right?
And so that was our half of it. That 8,000 was was the PD's had 8,000 in their budget. Yeah. Yeah. And we're not touching any of that. Okay. Right. There was only there was only two things we were touching. Okay. Thank you.
You want to come up? Commissioner Jones, do you have any questions? I'm sorry I didn't ask. I just I just want to clarify something on that sign. It's not the signs that you're talking about, Commissioner Campbell, where we have the signs that are like a trailer. We do have one of those and it's
operational. The sign that we're talking about is an electric sign out in front of the police department at the school district. Yes, sir. Like the school district has. Yes, sir. It's one that we'll be able to put things out about the police department, the fire department, upcoming events for other departments at
the city. kind of like one that the commission has talked about putting over by bridge. So, let me ask you this and it's just for I think it's an idea, but with the chamber just across the street, is it too cluttered? I don't want to say
clutter, but is there an opt I'm thinking distraction and I'm thinking are will there be things shared there that could possibly I mean because we pay the chamber to see if there are things that we would be able to utilize their advertising board for as well.
We might be we haven't had that discussion but the chamber runs a lot of information on theirs. That's why we were looking at just just was asking. I'm not sir. I'm And they certainly could have events because that's a lot of their information on this. Any events we have
could be on the chambers and it the focus of the one we have if we get it could be on other things. Yes, ma'am. That are important. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Jones. I don't have any questions. Okay, thank
you. You put you just put yourself on the hole. Anybody? I like the the water treatment plant. Can we You like somebody from the water? Somebody here? Yeah. Well,
yes. What you know what I'm what I really want to know is what is the condition of our plant? Are there things I mean we know we're running but but are we whole? I mean I does my question
make sense. We we are whole. Um but we're failing. It's getting it's getting very old. Uh the internal parts you know after 40 years they just start to run and that's kind of where we're at. Um the decision units throughout the water treatment plant are all
very very serious at the point to where we need to move forward. Yeah. at this point anyway. But yes, ma'am, that's an actual fair question. Okay. So, those are avoid catastrophic failures in the very near future, all this stuff. So, thank you. That's what I thought.
Yes, ma'am. Of course. Can I guess the same is true of the reclamation facility? Yes, absolutely. They run hand in hand. Thank you. Can we get a can we get a comprehensive list and and I thought we we asked for these things um prior to
way in advance in terms of when we get our updates um what you know what's happening with each department so when we get to the budget we're not continuously getting hit with um things you might get hit with something
emergency thing here and there but throughout the year if you know you got some things assets that's in end of his life cycle. Go through your assets and understand the the priority of those assets and what they
mean as it relates to environmental or regulatory or whatever else it may be. And let's present something along those lines to kind of help us understand so that we can help
fund things from the budget before we get here and we get, you know, onesies and twes. So, if we can get that going forward, that'll be perfect because it it'll set you up for the budget going throughout the year,
which you all agree has to the work on the budget has to start much earlier than we've been starting historically. I would definitely agree. Yes. Um, okay. I so I did go I don't know if anybody else I did go through the your um
information and some of the budget of course there's there's a lot to go through but came up with some thoughts. I I think if we're asking other departments to sacrifice positions that it is only fair that we do. We don't have a legislative aid position. It's vacant.
We don't have it filled. Um that's 50,505. Correct. And so is it filled? Am I missing something? Did it get filled? Um the position is legislative a human resources. That position is not filled.
The legislative a. Okay. I think we have to give up something as well. We can't just ask every other department and the community to pitch in if we are not going to. So that was one of my suggestions. I'm just they're just suggestions. Um, I don't know about our school and
conference allocation. It's 10,000 per commissioner. Can that be reduced? I heard someone talking finance director. I think they're speaking to place.
Who who is that? Okay. So, city commission lines is 4025. All right. So, yes, ma'am. I see where you're speaking on page one. Yes. All the study commission information is on page one. Okay. And then again, and this has been
brought up before. I brought it up when I was first elected and Commissioner Davis has brought up the elimination of the special events and projects allocation of 5,000 each, 25,000 total. Yes. To the commissioners and the mayor. even if that is rolled into
the fund that's being established to offset costs for nonprofits. Uh and even uh we we were given we were trying to make sure that in this budget we also include the uh guidance that we
were given from the last agenda meeting of uh establishing that special events fund to be operated under the community affairs remember related to blue crab and there's not the blue crab anymore. You
know, it's the special events festival. So, we've been looking at being certain that that is funded. So, at this moment, we have it in the budget for it's in the budget at 100,000. Yeah. And I didn't know that might have to be
reduced, but if we roll in that 25,000, then we could reduce it to 50 and bring it up to 75, so to speak. I mean that or or whatever but I think hundreds a lot for the first year a 100,000 for what as for all of the different
the guidance that we understood from that last meeting was that uh you know all the events special events should be treated pretty much the same particularly as it related to uh and a festival that have like 3,000 people or
more. And so what we've been trying to do is establish and we're going to bring it back and send it to you. Okay. But we're establishing stratification like if it's a class A then uh Oh, there you are. Okay. Go ahead. You can explain it better. Thank you.
So the last commissioner meeting when we was talking about the blue crab uh the commission's guidance was to kind of fund some of the events in the city like the Zelia Festival, Sam Deputy Christmas. So, what we did, we came up with a class A, class B, and a class C
sponsorship funding price. Uh, class A will be about $4,000 per event. Class B, we looked at around about $25 to $2,000. And the class C, which is really pretty much 100 people or less, is about $1,000 or 500. And that's where we came up with that number. the number of events that
we have so far right now that we've been doing throughout the city. We did all we added that up and it came up to be about close to $100,000 if we did that grid. Wow. That's what I said. Oh wow. We did that. But now that was just a potential guidance. What we did was I
tucked the blue I tucked fourth July uh jingle jam and a couple events that we do that's class A and kind of the money we spent to help put that on from the city. And then I did the same thing with class B event. But it could be brought down significant because right now these
events been doing it without money. So any money you give to them would be a plus. Uh I had the occupation Palco reach out to me and said if we just help with the ports and stuff of that nature in his events that would offset some stuff. So you're looking at maybe $800. So the numbers can change. This was just
a guide to get it started and uh see where we go with that. Right. and I thought the 100 was a bit high and so I was suggesting dropping to 50 but then rolling the special events funds we each get the 5,000 each into that so that it covered that because we don't need our separate pockets of
money. Well, um I I'm not sure if I roll all of my 5,000. I I roll some. I roll some to help help with the events. I mean, but there because there's other things that I also do to help uh with things to get
give back to every year. We did it for the last seven uh eighth year with taking about 40 kids down to the Magic game and also to the Jacksonville Jaguars and we have a a
vendor who pay for um the tickets to the games also. um we we buy shirts and different things of that nature for the kids. And so my contribution back is at least provide
something from the city so it doesn't look like we're just taking being a taker and not um giving giving back. So I I that's why I want to keep some of my funds to be able to help contribute to a portion of some of the things we benefit
from. and to the like of um Commissioner Borum. Um the when we think about these funds, these funds have been utilized in many ways that um have been beneficial and even when we had the initial conversation, I've
received several um emails and phone calls with regards to it. I don't know um some people may not know that we with some of these special event funds we were able to assist the school um with getting students transportation to uh
games where generally in years past they have not had the opportunity to um and this is a charter school within our community um been able to have a complete year this year they were not only successful um at that but actually went to the championship championship
ship in two of their sports. So, this special events is not solely just for us to um benefit from, but it is beneficial to our community. So, I want to make sure that if we take in consideration, and mayor, I agree that if we are asking
other departments to chisel, we we should be able to do the same. But a lot of the things that we have or we're asking to chisel from are things that we've worked extremely hard to try to get. We've worked hard to try to get a legislative aid. And I don't and maybe just because I've sat here long enough
to understand the importance. I can give you a prime example of what just happened to me this past week with me traveling um where I had to disrupt um three of our employees just to be able to get me where I needed to be um in
Texas to represent um and those things. It was handled initially by someone and then fell off. So when we think that these things are not important, I've sat here long enough to see some of the importance and some of the benefits of what comes out. But again, I'm not saying that we cannot chisel away. But I
want to I want us to be mindful just because it appears not everyone is creating an event. Not everyone I've been doing the movie nights with Commissioner Campbell for just about as long as I've been here. Those things are for the community. Um there's not but
again I want to I just want people to know that these special event funds are not self- serving. They serve this community. Okay. And I think we Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry. Cook. Go ahead. and into and to as it as it relates to, you know, those like you
say those special events funds, they do pay back into the community. Even with um I I helped uh about five uh youth who were trouble youth um to be able to participate in the summer
program. They completed that program and these young people were getting in trouble in school and different things of that nature. And so being able to go to uh these summer programs and keep them off of the streets and doing some constructive positive things, they were
able to complete the program over the summer. And uh it it's it's the PAL program which we we we've helped a number of kids who uh were having issues in in school and as along with other things. And also, if I may just add one last thing, since he brought that up,
some of the funds that I've had allowed us not to turn down some of the interns that applied. I gave funding towards I want to say about seven or eight interns so that we would not be able to so we would not have to serve or turn interns down through the city of Palaca. And as
stated, had they not had some of these opportunities for employment, some of them would not have the necessities that they need to go back to the school. So again, these funds are not just we don't benefit from them, but the youth and the citizens of this community does. And one last thing, as it relates to the
aid, um I do quite I'm on a number of different boards and I do quite a bit of traveling as such as Commissioner Campbell and maybe some of the other commissioners as well. But again, when you if you talk to Sunny Crant, she can tell you about the time frame it take to
book something for commissioner. Then in addition to the uh aid u and what they'll do for us, they could be doing a lot of different research for a commissioner for different things that we don't have time for when we're on our full-time job. And so all of those
things that come into play as it relates to some of the things that we're asking. We're not asking if I'm I would love for anybody to look at anything that I ask for and then how I apply my funds and then make um a a good sound decision as
it relates to am I wasting taxpayer dollars and I can guarantee you 100% is no and just that's just how I operate. So I'm not if I'm asking for something it's it's legitimate and I don't think I'm questioning if it's legitimate. These are just and as
it says possible budget adjustments. I'm looking to us to also give something up and I'm not saying that you're wrong or right. I mean I'm just throwing ideas out. So take it for what it is. Well and you and you brought up that's a good valid point. That's but that's a very good valid point. But
it's just to each commissioner how they deem to do things and but you as the mayor or commissioner if you are willing to put your funds back in that you know just let that be that case but again if other commissioners are not willing to
do that um we can make suggestion but again at the end of the day I think it'll be up to the individual commissioner as opposed to having it run through um the city manager because at but but prior to some people coming on board. We already had these things in place already.
And so we were serving the community way prior to people other people coming on the board. So So why end something that has been a What does that mean? No, I'm just I'm just I'm just making a point. No, I just didn't know what that meant. I was trying to I hear you. I didn't know what you meant. Yeah, we just we this thing has already
been running for a number of years. But if there are people or or individual who may look like they are doing things improper, let's make sure that we can call those things out. And if it's unethical, then deal with the ethical
side of the thing. But again, examine my stuff. I'll be happy to to for anybody. That was never my inference. I that was not my intent. My intent was to save the funding for the budget. It was never in making any allegations that people were misusing funds. That was not what I
said. So, go ahead, Commissioner Jones. Um, Commissioner Jones. Commissioner Jones. Um, I just want to say that I'm not in favor of cutting commissioner funds. uh for all the reasons that's already been
mentioned and also for educational purposes. Uh I think every commissioner that sits on the board uh could tell you the value of us going to conferences and um uh Florida legal city things that we
need to go to to enhance and also uh help us learn our job and what we supposed to do. So you you you if you invest in your commissioners, you should be getting something out of your commissioners. And I think that all
the commissioners have shown that they bring something back from all of these uh conferences and workshops that we go to. Uh and I know just from my first term, most of them came from these work uh these conferences that we attended in
workshops. So, I don't think we can put a a price on those kind of uh those kind of funds being spent. Okay, that's all I want to say. Thank you, Commissioner Davis.
Yeah. Um I do agree with the other commissioners that we need a legislative aid. The reason we do is because one, we have a relatively new city clerk and who has a lot going on. We do I I recognize
and the other commissioners and mayor who've been here before me can recognize that the previous city clerk had different experience and did other things. So that is a huge gap. I can tell you coming in as a new commissioner, I don't know should I go
to the right, to the left, to the in to the out even for certain things. I don't know if I have all the meetings that I need on my calendar. Um and so again, we just need clear um support.
That is a necessary position I believe in terms of the um commissioners um I think it's called event funds. I am not against supporting our community. What I want to make sure is that with
discretionary funds like that that we are not duplicating efforts are doing things that belong with a department or some other place in the city. That really is just my point. Um, I do think things that are happening are important
and are necessary. Sometimes for me, and this is even before I became a city commissioner, it was confusing to me as a citizen as to what a department sometimes like community affairs or a recck department,
I I mean, I knew what they were doing, but when I would see an individual commissioner doing, I that's confusing to me. And those are some of the instances that I'm referencing that could look like some duplication of efforts. So in terms of students and
supporting and some level of um um latitude with how some funds could be um expended for each commissioner depending on that project. That's not necessarily
what I'm against. I am against duplication of efforts in any capacity. The other thing is um just ensuring that again we are doing things that are
reasonable that are necessary and like you said adding value. if something should be done by a department or by the city directly because again these are tax dollars and I just want to make sure
we're appropriately using them and um and I hear you. I guess my other question would be as well for these funds. Are there any guidelines there? There are, but they may what that was what I was going to segue into. They
may need to be looked at again um and refined a bit. They're they're somewhat general there, you know, but there are guidelines. There are guidelines and they we went around and around those a few times, but they are there. Well, I'd like to ask the commissioners. Um, is
$5,000 reasonable or I guess that's what I want to know. We're already taking a hit there because at first it was $10,000. Oh. Permission. We had So, if we're going to five, we're
already taking a $5,000 hit. And the amount that I paid to um allow the interns was right at 7,000 or a little over $7,000. Um and again, I think that was very beneficial because those kids were very
appreciative and I saw the fruits of the labor as a result of it. Um so even with the 5,000, it's better than nothing. I'm not going to complain about that. but we're already taking a hit with 5,000 because it was 10,000 which allowed us that we just recently got it um to where
we're able to roll it over. So that helps us or have helped us um for those of us that had who had not expended. So that gave our bucket a little bit more. So and question in terms of the internship program is this the city's internship
program you're referencing? So it is the city intern um that I am referencing the funding there is a funding allocation for it. However generally um the police department um facilitate something but
again trying to maximize what they have or what they were going on there was a need at that moment. So with that need I ask would it be um feasible for us to utilize some of that funding which city manager anytime I ask questions she
always first thing says let me get back with you commissioner let me research it I'm on it and so she never had there are times where she has come and said well no we can't utilize it for that so she's very very very um good at making sure that if it's something that we cannot expend funds on
but again this was something because maybe I feel because it was near and dear because that was something that started once this uh previous commission was here. So, um we wanted to maximize and we're actually the leading charge where other municipalities in this
community have started as a result of us. So, we wanted to continue to shine. Yeah. And and if I may, go ahead. In the budget on page two, there is an actual line item for interns and currently uh the amount is for the
new year 31,500. Yeah. So that's why I was asking asking the question, was there not a line item last year? Okay. It wasn't enough for demand. Thank you. Okay. Gotcha. And and if uh the commissioners are interested
in increasing it from that 31,500, then this would be the opportunity as well. There was already an increase, right? Because last year 25,000. You're right. Yep. Last year it was 24,960. when I looked at the amount of activity
that happened this year then I said okay they need to increase it so I did increase it okay based on this year's interns y this level is when when we talk about an internship program is there a plan like we want x
number of interns per department at this amount and we can come up with a number so I'm confused as to why that number is not determined when we're doing the budget So we can I can speak to it because again the internship was programmed was something that I proposed
to the city that the commission was gracious enough. Each year the demand for the internship changes. Um it is budgeted into the city budget. Um but again the demand
for it was a little bit higher this year. So that's why I'm assuming that finance took in consideration the amount and there is a cap. I will there is a cap and there there was actually um change on the end to dummy down the
amount of hours that they tentively used to work to allow four more students to come on. So there I will say human resources and um finance played a major part in trying to accommodate as many as they could. However, I made the request. I don't want to say the city I made that
request to provide that additional funding so that we would not have to turn away. So when you say the demand increased, what does that mean? More students were interested in Exactly. So again, I'm I'm just coming from another space
of planning like I hear you, Commissioner. I'm probably a lot more black and white than other people in some instances. When we have a finite budget um and we have a plan and that plan is
for 50 students for however many hours at a rate of whatever and we come up to $31,000 that that's what we have. Guess what I'm trying to say. But and I we're saying the same thing because they capped it at where they
were. I came and asked the request. I get what you're saying. There was a there was a there was a budget for it. There was a cap. They were at that cap, but the need I saw the need which I came with my funding at that moment. So I don't want to say city staff did
anything outside of what they were supposed to. There was a allocated amount. I made that request with the funding that I had. I got it. And the point I'm really trying to drive here is this is an example of what I mean is if we have budgeted for it and it's in a place
because that's not a duplication but I'm just using that as an example. There was a plan for it and you wanted it to be more. So that's how you use your funds. That's all I'm just trying to say. This but the same thing with me not having the guidelines for commissioners to use
these funds. Again, if I went out and had an ice cream social with the funds for the city, I guess technically I could do that. Again, not knowing what the Yeah, but the guidelines are there. And that is one of the things you couldn't do. Well, listen, but what whatever my point
is if I'm doing something that it looks like another department, right? You don't want that duplication. Back to the duplication. The reason this is critical and I hear I hear us. Everything we're saying is important, but when you have everything that's important, you still have to
prioritize in those items that are important to those things first that are critical. I'm driving this not because I don't want to take away funds or do anything. And I do think there are other opportunities to do it. I just want to say that if our goal is to not raise
taxes and that is absolutely my goal to not raise taxes for our community and we also want to from what I'm hearing decrease the fire assessment right then I'm just looking for ways of efficiency
I know they're um those programs and what what is happening with some of the funds is absolutely enhancing the community, but I'm comparing it to relative to what we're trying to do in light of increased cost, something has
to give. And that's really I just want you guys to understand where I'm coming from. And when I talk about the whole and while it may have been great back then because at the end of the day, I know we're trying to revive in our community, right? We're trying to
enhance. We're trying to support. But I just think I want us to be responsible in doing it by putting the critical things first, identifying where there's opportunity to do the things that we're saying have been done and
making sure we're doing it in the most efficient way. That's really all I'm saying. If that $5,000 in in a commissioner's budget is okay rather than being in the community affairs budget, it's still the same $5,000. I just want to make sure we're
allocating properly and what's best for our city and that gives the right message to everyone in our city. And that is why I spent the time on this exercise to have this discussion and about where we can contribute to
reductions that are extras and not necessities. But again, it has to have a discussion and that's what we're doing. I also had a question uh I have several more about um there is a line item in the commission budget on page one 25,000
for citizens transportation. The county did receive an allocation from the state, right? I'm wondering if we have to keep that in or not. Okay. And on the fifth draft, we've already notated. Okay. But we found out that information after
this was Okay. Great. Um, uh, next thing is on page nine of Can I go one thing? You can, may I? on on page one just so everybody can see something uh where we have that schooling conference line and
you know we have the 10,000 each there. Yeah. Uh our projected numbers I don't think and no one is going to go greater than 7500. So if you are really uh only the commissioners could know but just based
upon um year-to- date expenditures and projected you know maybe that is an opportunity like if that instead of being 10 make it 7500 I'm willing to do that I don't know about that's only if uh those that travel
because I did look at that I'll be willing to do I mean do 7500 I mean if 7500 if you analyze that already I mean I don't have No problem. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else or they want to leave it at 10? I mean, we can and you can think about it. We don't have to make the absolute decision.
No, we do need to think about it because the next meeting is where we we have a balance budget. We get to know it. We don't have time. I'm okay with that. Okay. Commissioner Jones, are you okay with 7500 versus 10 education
conferences? Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Campbell. Um, what is citizens? Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I was trying to get consensus. Citizens transportation. That was right. Solution. And remember the other day I said I asked we already
said. Okay. I'm sorry. Quick question. Why are we saying it is coming off? So, um, will there be something to continue those services? because again that route specifically impacted
people who were inside the city limits. So if if if if if that being the case and we understand uh the community that is served based off our route and our ride and the people uh saying hey this
is certainly something that we need for to get medicine groceries essential things for u them who don't have transportation uh I'd like to hear some more about that so yeah and that's why I posted as a question if he's meeting with them also go ahead well yes I have met with Mr. board in
the the R solution transportation area. Uh they allocate they recently came in some funds that help offset all that expense. The the routes will be the same. Uh actually they're going to try to increase a couple more days to the route that we had. So there recently came in we met a couple weeks ago about
them not needing the funding next year for but in Mr. board of mind. He should said the funding will be there in place and we should have more rout more routes and everything should be in place for 2026 to 2028 hopefully unless something change.
Great. Thank you. These are continued questions under government services on page 9. Yes. Special events budget of 26400. I don't I just want to know what that was about. It's 24,000.
Yes. you doing up there, Miss Miss Karen? Uh, Miss the finance director showed me two line items. I know the 4910, which is like 35,000, uh, but it might be 26,000. Now, that is the special events that we do for the
4th of July, the Chingo Jam, uh, the Hippity Hoppity and other events that the city does that where the funding come out, the summer jam series come out all that that line item right there. I was just asking for clarification. Got a 26. Okay. For the 26 400
city, she showed me two line items. It's on page nine. Oh, that's special events. Stage 51. Oh, that's Oh, 519.
519 349. That is actually not my line. Okay. I can't I can't explain that. I don't know what line 59 573 was it is it you the one she's question is on page nine on page
519 39 30 yes we'll come back with it but I believe it's the city just again a question okay don't go anywhere Mr. Cutright um special events St. John's River Center
Cultural Service. It's under cultural services on page 20, right? Um 35,000 for special events. St. John's River Center. But that was initially where it was put in when we had the river center. Correct. But but that's for the special events that we do down on the riverfront. The Fourth of July, Jingle
Jam, Hippity Hoppity, uh Red Riding U, and other events that we put out there, the summer jam series. That's where that money come out of. Okay. So, it's for the river front versus the river center. Okay. Great. Um, I get I'm going to bring it up. I don't know if anybody else is got I think we should eliminate the funding for the
splash pad and put it back into the general fund. But again, that's a discussion. I'm just bringing up points. I don't know what people's thoughts are on that. Well, well, mayor, how are you going to take funds that we've already allocated,
already voted on to do even prior to you being on board? So, why would uh why would that be such a main concern at this point as far as a budget item that we already had the money to do it?
Yes. Hello. Anybody else want to speak to it? Well, I I guess my question was posed to the mayor. The mayor. Yeah. I'm going to let you answer and then that's my problem. Um so, Commissioner Jones, could you say that again? I'm so sorry.
Let's see. They might hard to hear you. Can I repeat for sure please? And you guys help me. What I heard him ask is how are you going to suggest that we remove something that has already been voted on for that item. That was
the question and was budgeted prior to prior to and I get that. I get that. But again, I'm just trying to come up with costsaving measures that may be acceptable. I don't know if we would have to go back and
retract and re and have a new motion and do all that good stuff or just leave it alone. But again, I'm just not in favor of it. But I'll leave it at that. I I I honestly think that we need to a lot of conversations that we have we pacify. And I think this conversation
with the splash pad is a conversation that have been pacified for years. I think we need to get to the point to really say if we're going to do the splash pad or if we're not and then we can move forward. So, I
understand Commissioner Jones um point, but again, this is something that if we're going to do it, let's put the boots on the ground and if we're not, let's make that determination so that we won't have to continue to play with this
and kick it down the road any longer. Commissioner Ball. Um, I thought we weren't supposed to be talking about that splash pad until we got information back from Yes. uh, our project manager who was supposed
to be bringing the whole smell to us and then we can make a determination at that point. Uh, even though we we've already voted on it that we we wanted to do it. So things are in motion and so we was just waiting for some feedback and so am I correct on
that? You are completely correct and we will be prepared um possibly by the end of this week. So it will be on the agenda for further discussion decision making. We'll have everything that we have been requested.
Okay. Okay. Again it was additionally the engineers will also be here as well. Okay. Just another discussion point while we're on the budget and we're looking for funds. Commissioner Jones, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Request to speak. Your turn.
Uh, mayor, that even came up with this budget period because that's something that already in a prior budget have been approved. The wheels been set in motion. It's obvious that it's personal. Somebody personally don't want
the splash pad. Uh again, it's not like it's going to my backyard, but that's how that's how it feels as if uh some people on the dice don't want it. And three of the commissioners for sure was already on there that we had voted for
it to happen. Uh but now it seems as if there's a it feels like it's a crusade that don't want it. Now again, it's not a personal thing. That was a I think it's a enhancement for the city. uh going down in the riverfront. And I
guess at one point in time the entire commission felt that way. I don't think that it's it's fair or it's uh it should be done where uh
someone come in and undo what's already done. If that's the case, there's a lot of uh other issues that we should bring back up and maybe change, but that's not how we supposed
to do business up there in the Das. So, you know, again, you bring it up every chance that you get an opportunity to seem to have momentum to get rid of that. If you have a real good reason, I could understand. We don't have a splash
pad. We don't have a pool in the city of Palaka. There are some recreational things, real recreational things that's meaningful that we could put money towards and we're talking about taking commissioner funds and we're talking
about little things. There are some big items that we didn't even talk about on here that's on the wish list like using frontend loaders and backend loaders when we don't use them on a regular basis. $300,000 m uh uh equipment.
Look at stuff like that. And I try to be quiet, you know, and really give every department what they need to do their job. But we could question those things. How often do they use those front end loaders, backend loaders? Uh is it more feasible to rent them when you need
them? You know, uh so uh but but this flash pad, I do want to put it to rest. are we going to do it or not? If we're not going to do it, it's okay. But I think it's wrong to actually go through
the process, the right process to get a item, pass a item, allocate for that item, and then start putting roadblocks up and going backwards uh in the process. So because someone or some
people don't want it outside of the the the powers that be, you know. So if if we feel the need that every time somebody question what we do that we need to go back to the drawing board, that shows just how strong our board is.
And I'm done. Thank you. Okay. Go ahead, Commissioner Boss. Okay. while we're still talking a little bit about the budget and uh I got two other things I wanted to kind of hit hit on. Um I know eventually we we talked
about the um special event funds blue crab now. So let's just jump on the blue crab and how much we were um putting in for that. We were putting in 150 75 50 and so we ended up with 50 but we want to just remind everybody that we were
receiving some of those funds back from uh different organizations who were providing funds back. So when we think about um setting aside funds for these events, it's no longer
uh the situation where we're recouping anything. So there's going to be just money expended. Yeah. Expended and not getting anything back. That's the the first point. The other point with um the pool
um we have a lot of different scenarios uh and and different things. So I know I was a big proponent of uh you know having a pool. We we we are um a peninsula state. We're surrounded by waters on all three sides, east, west,
and south. And um we have a lot of people who are not able to swim in Florida. And so I do know that Governor DeSanders um and um Travis Hudson uh they had programs uh funding available
specifically for uh giving funds out to help young people learn how to swim and we've had just a recent uh drowning at the riverfront. So, I think it's super important that we uh seek a way to be able to provide
that um particular uh avenue for our for our citizens. At this point, we do have a um we we covered up Left Return of Park. It got covered up years ago. The the commission and leadership gave it
up. um the ravine gardens that was given up. It's no longer um even reviable, right? WT over is where a pool is way over on
the WT over pretty good ways from other areas that used to have a pool that lost those resources. And um we we have a golf course that's got a pool that we don't know how it got there on the city's property and people
are not able to access that pool. We still need to do a further research on that to figure out if the commission voted on allowing somebody to put a pool on public property.
And if anything happens, who's responsible? Okay. and water and power. We got need to understand all of those things. And the last thing we got is Calvary does Calvary Life Center does have a pool
which I did give some funding to last year and look forward to giving additional funds this year. We have to have restore some of the things that the community have lost over the years and provide those things to have it a
balanced situation for our city. And so that's what I'm pushing for. And so that's all I have for those two. Mayor, do you want to respond? Go ahead. Thanks. Um, so Commissioner uh department heads have been meeting uh on that very item. Matter of fact, today we
had a meeting on that and uh we are at this point looking to communicate with uh Miss U Lolita I believe. Yeah, Lolita. and um because they came and made a presentation about the pool. So we are in the midst
of sitting with them, our intent is to hopefully have anou that would provide pool services to uh or access to their pool to our community. So we're in the midst of starting that now. Our intent
is to finish that communication before we have the finished budget. So, we're looking to put funds in there as I'm I'm making notes of everything and I'm also uh making sure that we're setting aside funds to initiate negotiation with them.
So, I I did see where some funds were set aside. I think the I get I got an email with the allocations, but I I think on the on the magnitude and the scale that we're dealing with, I think
$10,000 is no. Oh, no. We're looking at 35. Okay, because that's where we are as of our last conversation today. It just makes sense. We just had a meeting on pool today. Right. Okay. Okay. So, that's where we are. Right. And the last thing to circle
around on the 10,000. We we we talk about the spay and neuter thing that we haven't seen that mobile truck here yet or that mobile trailer uh serving the city of Pala yet. Now, the last
email that I got, the last email that I got that said that there was something that I they were going to be set up somewhere out in the county, right? Somewhere. I'm not going out out there. Commissioner Bor, there was a request from this commission. Yes. That once we
gave that money and that trailer was complete, that that trailer was to be brought here to city hall so that we would be able to see the funding, our the benefits of the funding that we gave. And that was a request of this commission. It was and I think that that there has
to be in their schedule there has to be some days allocated to come to the city to the heart of the issue. Um so those uh the animals can be spayed or neuted. I would definitely follow because otherwise they can they can return the funds back because we haven't
they're trying to cover the whole town but we should have Yes, sir. We got to get our days. Oh, go ahead. I just have one thing that I wanted to bring and Commissioner Jones said it when we were having the conversation with the commission with regards to schooling and traveling and
things of that nature. As I look through the budget, I don't think we're putting enough money towards the schooling and training for our staff. And I think that it needs to be
taken in consideration. I know one year I was talking about even the funding that we had for um going out and job recruitment fairs. We we we brought that up one year. But I honestly think that in order for us to
um have those on our team that are, you know, overly qualified, I prefer to have overly qualified than just to have qualified. that we take in consideration um building into the budgets of all departments the schooling and training.
Um we can only get better if we put ourselves in spaces that would allow us to get better and I think it would be beneficial not only just for department heads to be able to take advantage of um pooling and training opportunities but some of the staff as well. Okay. Um so I
I would definitely with some of these fundings that we are cutting I would like to see that possibly some of it be taken in consideration for conferences school and training for um staff in general. Yes sir. I thought I thought they had done that
like huh a while back. I thought that was in place already for the funding levels is very low. Yeah, it it it is there, but still uh the department heads and their efforts to you know try to keep us in line with budget and so forth. They may have been
a little bit more conservative and uh I'm taking the comments, right? I've already put a note that I will look back at it with them. Our intent will be to increase it somewhat. And then we still do have where um if they want to continue education that we do reimburse them for education.
Correct. That's what we got on the books. Uh, can we resources? Do we have that? No, we don't have that in the budget at all, do we? No, except we have an increase if they were to get employ. You want to come up so they can hear you, please?
So, we we need to work on that. We need to We're only as good as our only as good as our education. We currently do not have any reimbursement for going to school. um we simply have a 5% increase if they obtain their associates and a 10 um associates
or bachelors and a 10% increase if they get their masters. Those are the only and then education incentives of course is a flat dollar amount if they get a certification in the field that helps their education. So, okay. So, C is there any way, like Commissioner Cam was
saying, if we can make sure that we put the uh reimbursement for education in there, um as well as looking at how we can increase um the allocation for um
certifications or continuing education. Okay, we'll look at that. Anybody else? Jones. Okay. I did have a couple of questions in regards to the CRA portion of the bud
budget and I know Miss Odum is not here but that's okay. I'm very much familiar. Okay. Um the downtown tiff there's a line item for special events grant budget of 15,000. What is that actually for since Okay. Special events can't be funded through the CRF.
Right. So there's been a lot of research uh done on that particular item and also with uh working with Miss West as well. Okay. Um what she did discover is uh one of the mechanisms that have been used by
other CRAAS to stimulate more activity in the downtown uh districts particularly is that you would assist the individuals that are putting together the events with an amount of money to
help them with the city services that they have to pay for. Okay. So that is the only have there's a cost program a CRA cost program and that's what it used to do $2500 which could be on somewhere out there
and right so she did meet uh with legal and uh also she did communicate with several other CRAAS to find out how were they stimulating so much activity in their downtown districts and that's pretty
much the mechanism that's being used. Okay, we have clarification legally. That's possible because we had that and it was done away with because of that 2019 ruling that was I'll put that as not allowable.
Okay. I will still follow up and check it out. Reinstate reinstate or revis that one out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's not funded at this point. And then this is just an idea. We have an e economic development fund ordinance. To the best
of my knowledge, that fund has never been funded. Um, and it given that we don't have a lot of expert funding in the general fund, is it possible to pilot an economic development fund program using the guidelines in this ordinance, at least to start in the CRA
downtown tiff and then expand it to the rest of the city as monies allow. It's just a thought because we're talking about economic development and stimulation or you know we h we do give funding to the chamber for economic development or do
we need a pot at least a part-time person to start and would that be funded through the CRA which makes the most sense to Scott again because that's where we have some revenue to do it but we got to look at everything that we're doing. I would say we we we have
the chamber. Um I'm not sure how much we actually um have benefited from it as it related to the city being brought new new businesses or anything else. I just want to kind of understand how the funding that we're currently given and
what we're getting back for that. Um, also we have um right now CRA coordinator director who's also supposed to help stimulate the down actually not only downtown but
this uh the south and and north tiff as well. So then if we bring in look at to bring in economic development another component um let's just see what we can get from what we what we have first uh with what
we're paying to do right now because we're going to have duplicate efforts I think in that regard at least that's what I think well I was comfortable thinking we need more research more data oh from the chamberings from the chamber the north but the northeast the northeast then the econom economic
development, the North Florida Economic Development, they the regional council. Yes, they gave us quite a bit and we they have the chamber and also we're supposed to have a member from the board that's represented on that. So that data is
already been given to us and certain things we just need to be able to act on. And the data I was referencing was from the chamber giving us data about what they've actually done for the money we've given in the small we got the small business development
in addition in addition we pay the small business development center we do funding so we have a lot of overlapping things that we really need to see if we getting our return on our investment before we continue to add another layer
and be paying those layers and I think that'll be something good we can return back to our I don't disagree but I would my main focus was the economic development fund ordinance that we have not addressed to probably give some incentivized some development and it would have to stop
probably in the CLA because that's where we may have funding to do it talking primarily about that more than filling a position right but we got we I think we have that already we got it through the small business development center which primarily focused on the the central
business district and um cuz there's not a lot of businesses that I've known that they've helped brought in other than just in the downtown area for the most part. You got the chamber, you got the RA coordinator,
and then we have other options. So, I I'm I'm not a proponent for not supporting it, but we let's see what we can do with what we currently have. in and this would provide incentives for PE businesses, entrepreneurs to invest in downtown. They're doing the recruitment
piece in theory. I mean, again, I'm not saying they are or not, but that that would be their role to recruit. I'm talking about providing some incentives for people to decide to move their business from somewhere else to downtown Pala. I get it. Um, and I agree. However, I
think there were some things that were brought up and even in some of your commentary is very much concerning that we can't specifically say the benefit of us providing funding to the chamber. And this may be a little different of a conversation, but I'm a tad bit
concerned that we don't hear from the chamber unless they're coming to ask us for funding. we don't get updates like we get from the small deh development, business development and that's concerning um especially if we are the seat of the city um of this county as
well as they are utilizing city property building um and all of that is not taking consideration the relationship that we have with them. Again, there should be we should be able to identify straight
up what the benefit of us being paid parts of the chamber. And every time we have a conversation with regards to the chamber and funding for the possibilities of doing some additional stuff, like the mayor stated,
we have to question if this would be a duplicate of um services or something. uh because we don't know what we're holistically getting from the chamber and that's concerning. Oh, you want to go? Yeah.
To that point, my question is, you know, they're providing the chamber is supposed to provide the economic development arm of the city. Right. Yeah. And so my question is then what is the city doing to um nurture that
relationship or what's our interaction with making that happen because I I see a gap it I don't see any connection if I may respond. So we do quite a bit with the chamber in a sense. We do meet
with them perhaps monthly uh because um they they do like they have a couple of projects that they're trying to bring to us right now. So as a result of that uh we've been meeting with them perhaps on a monthly basis.
Um, one of the things that we also do routinely is we tend to go to the monthly meeting and try to get feedback for what's going on. We have been working with their tourism. They have a new person on board, Kimberly. So, we've
been working with her to make sure that the city is listed and it's a part of uh the outreach that they're doing when they bring events in. We al we also found out that one of the things they do when they bring events to the city, they
uh create like a bag of uh coupons and you know uh specialties to give out to the participants that come to the event. So at this point uh we are trying to develop a more collaborative
relationship with them so that we can really say we're getting something from the relationship. So that's where we are. Well, part of a relationship is a two-way street. Always have to go to them. They should come to us. We meet twice a month. they can at least take out the time to come and share with us
or give us an update as to what it is that they are doing, the potentials of what is to come. Again, a relationship is not one-sided and it appears from what you just stated that it's very one-sided that we're having to go to them instead of them coming to us and
broadcasting and having it reflected minutes to our constituents in our city um of what it is that they're doing. So, even if they could come quarterly, Mr. I'll make sure start I'll make sure that they start coming
quarterly. Um, mayor, I I want to bring up another item. This and this has to do with the festivals. Um, one of the things I want to request is that we determine what's a best practice for the
approach we're taking to festivals. We're allocating money but and I know we can we'll have some financial um support right for whatever festival comes here but we we need to establish
what does that look like? If someone comes with a proposal to you know um lead the festival a festival for the city do they have to come with x number of sponsorships? Do they have to come with X number of dollars? What I mean,
what does it look like? Just because somebody comes, I don't think we're going to say, "Okay, here we got your $20,000. Go forth and conquer." We have to have some requirements. And I'm saying go do this research because one, we're delving into new territory
pretty much, right? And I don't want to waste the resources in that way even though we may not be the lead on it. I know um the commissioners mentioned before we have some skin in this game and so there are some requirements. I don't want it to come across like, hey,
we're just saying somebody come and say you want to lead it and do it. And I want to make sure that we understand what that looks like, what's required. Reach out to some other cities. I have a couple of names of people. We talked about some cities
having a what is that um person? A coord event the event coordinator. Find out what that looks like. Um we just need to put some parameters around it. not just a line item here. Thanks.
Go ahead, commission. No, I I I wholeheartly agree with Commissioner Davis on that. We we just can't just say that we're going to have funding available. And then two, when we put the amount that we're going to provide out there, you know, once people
come, like what is the criteria? and and and so we want to make sure that uh we're investing our tax dollars um and we're going to get a good return on it. And I assumed we were going to do something of some type of grant format
of sorts where everything would be outlined and the application for the permit would be included with more information that there be this whole packet and obviously that's going to go through the special events committee as well for them to make recommendations. But I thought there'd be some guidelines
because again for somebody who wants to, you know, have some of this funding go their way for their event, they need to know what's the expectations are too, you know, as well as we do. So, and two, we got to we we got to know what we're um putting our funds to
because we might the city's because the city's going to be um giving funds to we we need to talk to an attorney. We got to talk to an attorney to say, "Hey, can our funds go to certain
things as it relates to an event or whatever else it may be because we don't know what that event might be." prime example, the cancellation of the festival or the night that was supposed to happen on the riverfront that the
city proposed and got feedback, negative feedback because it was Christianbased, but they had every other kind of night. So, that's a very good example, Commissioner Borman. Thank you for bringing that up. What one other thing when we're talking
about efficiencies, this is for um Mr. Cutright's department and I think he he's gone but I was looking for that's okay. Um yeah, he had to step out. Okay. When we are developing a schedule for
next year, the city does not need to duplicate what anybody else is doing. It's a waste of resources. We we we got to find a way to partner, do something. But if there's no opportunity for partnership, maybe we
support it. I don't know. But duplication, I I'm going to ask the other commissioners to weigh in with feedback they're getting. Often times there's just confusion like do I go here? Do I go there? Why are we doing this two and three times? So, I'm looking for us to clean that up a bit
because I think it's a waste of resources because uh Commissioner, you remember you did mention this to me. I did meet with um community affairs specifically related to that. How are we going to have a calendar that is not having
duplication? And when someone else is already doing that, then why are we also doing it? So, right. So that's what we've started on recently and there are plenty of other potential potential events that can be developed too. Yeah,
we just started that last week. Thank you. I really think that more so recently with this commission that we are really trying to bring in uh a lot of things that have been issues of the past and have not
really been um necessarily addressed. So, I want to say to staff, thank you for um weighing in with us. Thank you for staying because a lot of times these conversations, well, all the time we can't have these conversations unless we're in a forum
like this. So sometimes meetings can seem as if they go totally to the left, but again it's an opportunity for us to shine light on a lot of stuff that in the I know the time that I've been here and I'll give kudos to um the leadership
of Miss Cardi with regards to even some of the grants that we found out that we were not even in compliance with had we not have the conversation on the dis um about some of the things that we talk about when it's hot and we don't when it's not as I often say but um again and
to staff, we really want to recognize the hard work and the flexibility that you um exude when it comes down because I've been around Miss Cardi and I know Miss Cardi can be uh very very very um on point when she needs to um and very direct which we need in a
leader and I I don't want to necessarily say we did not have that in the past but her leadership has proven that she's try to get things done and so again thank you to staff for your flexibility and your commitment to this Is there anything other any other
further discussion? Excuse me. I echo the same close to the end where we have to make final decisions. I echo the same sentiment as Commissioner Campbell as it relate to the staff and Miss Cardan. So, thank you, Commissioner Davis. No, I I agree and and I will say this, coming on
as a new commissioner, I'm glad Commissioner Campbell said that. I don't have answers. I'm just looking I will tell you what I'm looking to do and what drives me is not just making our city city better but understanding what's
happening in our county in our state and in our country. And there are some things, yes, we have home rule, home rule, home rule where we can make, you know, thing our rules for our city, but there are some things that come down that we
have no control over. And there are some things, agree or disagree, that we have to be proactive on. And we keep hearing this over and over and over. And if you read Facebook and people making comments, it exists, this whole doge, right? And
so a lot of what I'm saying is not necessarily what I want to do, but as the mayor said, it's an option that we need to look at so we can be proactive and take this time as we're transitioning and cleaning up and addressing some things to proactively
position our city to be efficient and effective. So, just know it's not just all the fields, but we're governed again, like it or not, by many things that we don't have control over that
gives us the opportunity to be better as we're making these transitions. That's good. And one other thing, go ahead. Um, I like to see if we can kind of develop a quick fact sheet that so that people can understand and know
based on the taxes that they pay. Here is the funding that come in what you pay through your avalorum tax. This is how much you get around about 3.7 about $4 million.
how departments and their budgets exceed that and how we have to use grants and other funding mechanism better place plan all of those other um revenue generators. We need to educate
the community on those things because in and our staff as well are the ones who don't know how that funding come together and and how we can use that those funds and um so but I think education is key cuz we get beat up on Facebook right
now. Sounds like Miss Hardy, it sounds like a huge opportunity for our new uh public information officer to set up some community meetings so we can leverage that fact sheets and just information. We need to boost our Facebook without
comments, but put some of this factual information out there. Thank you so much. And she will be attending all the meetings. Oh, so we hired somebody. We did hire somebody. A public information officer. will be attending all of the meetings going
forward. So, it's just that she came on board and Yeah, because we're getting we're getting beat up on Facebook right now. Um, Commissioner Jones, do you have anything? Any comments? I don't think he's on. I don't Yeah, I don't know if we lost
him. He gave up on us. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Brooks, again for joining us. Do we have a motion to adjourn? Oh, motion to adjurnn. Okay.