Will you? Move around? Thank you. That's good. I call to
order the regular session of the Board of Commissioners for the City of Tarpon Springs. Tuesday, November 18th, 6:30 p.m. Roll call please. Mayor
Collins here, vice Mayor Eisner here. Commissioner coleus here. Commissioner de Donato, Commissioner. Banther here. Our reflection this evening will be with Major Ted Morris from the
Salvation Army. And then followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Let's bow our heads. Our father, we thank you for this country in which we can
meet as a community. In this way, we thank you for the leadership of our Board of Commissioners and the involvement of our citizens here, as they've taken upon themselves the mantle of leadership of this community.
We thank you for their staff who stands behind them and supports them and provides research for them. We thank you for our first responders, fire and rescue, and law enforcement
who walk into danger when the rest of us leave it, and we pray that you would keep them safe as they do what you've called them to do. Father, we thank you for this time of meeting this evening, and we
pray that the discussion that takes place and the decisions that are made are made in accordance with your will for this community, for it's in your holy name we pray. Amen.
Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you major. Okay, we'll go to public comments. This will
be public comments on anything that's not on the agenda. And please come to the podium and state your name and your
address please. And you get three minutes. Hi. Linda Eisner, 1515 Riverside Drive. People do
a lot of good things in this town, just like the longest table was last Sunday. That was an epic event. But tonight I want to talk about Jonathan Metcalf, the owner of the
Tarpon Discount Grocery. He let my women's club take whatever we wanted from his store for our Thanksgiving food drive. Last Saturday morning, we filled up two huge trolleys
piled high with food cases and cases of food that we were going to donate to the Cap center. The Citizens Alliance for progress. Our Thanksgiving food drive was a huge success
because of his generosity and the donations from our community, we are truly blessed with his generosity to our community. So I want to give him a big shout out and a thank
you to Jonathan for bringing his store into our community and filling a tremendous need
on a daily basis. Thank you. Okay, next. Go ahead. Hi. Good evening. My name is Brenna Hager. My address is 317 35th
Avenue North. That's in Saint Petersburg, northeast. But I just want to come in and introduce myself. I'm your new waste management representative. Fairly new after Tim Bowers retired. And I just wanted to
provide an update. And I provided my card in case there's ever anything that you need from us. It's been our team's very long pleasure of serving this community. So I just want to give you a couple
updates. I've been working with Marco and Nick and we meet bi monthly, if not, if not more if needed to just really proactively talk about what's going on in the city, address any concerns. And one of the
things that we're working, we're going to be working with Holly to see how we can help increase the recycling rate here in Tarpon Springs. I know that's one of the goals of the city, so that's something we're
working on. And Holly, we just hosted her and her team. And then also some of the sustainability advisory committee members at our Tampa recycling facility. They took a
tour, asked a lot of great questions. And on that note, we're building a new recycling facility, which is pretty exciting because ours is pretty aged. So if you if anyone ever
does want to take a tour or any of your schools that will be open in 2027, but our current facility is open, if any anyone in the community would like to visit, we have an education
center there. And we're very happy to be participating in your events such as the Eco Fest for the July. Anything. Anything else that you'd like us to participate in? We will
be there. I think that's about it. Just really nice to to meet you all and I look forward to working with you. Thank you very much. We look forward to working with you as well. Next.
Anybody else? Come on. Peter, where have you been? Peter. North Carolina for part of it. That was beautiful. So Peter
Lack is 514 Ashland Avenue. See you later, Commissioner. Me? Hey, Peter, please, just a direct me and please stop. So please stop, would you? Peter.
Proverbs will be the halt, the minutes. Please don't do that. Well, it's. Come on. Seems to be. It doesn't matter that. Just focus on me. Focus on me. He always gets up and leaves.
That's his prerogative. I know it's his prerogative. You're not. You're not supposed to stop. Just stop a second. You're not supposed to direct any comments to anybody other
than okay, than the chairman. Okay? Which I recognize. You are a commissioner and you know better. I recognize the departure of commissioner. Me. There you go. So Proverbs 16,
we're going to start on three and go through various verses. Commit to the Lord. Whatever you do in your plans will succeed. The Lord works out
everything for his own ends, even the wicked, for a day of disaster. The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this. They will not go
unpunished. Through love and faithfulness, sin is atoned for through the fear of the Lord. A man avoids evil. When the man ways are pleasing to the Lord,
he makes even his enemies live at peace with him better, a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice in his heart. A man plans his course,
but the Lord determines his steps. How much better to get wisdom than gold to choose understanding than rather than silver. The highway of the
upright avoids evil. He who guards his way, guards his soul. Pride goes before destruction. A haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit
and among the oppressed, than to share plunder with the proud. Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers. And blessed is he who trusts in the
Lord. So a friend of mine wrote this the other day, and I felt it was very apropos. And it has
to do with John three. Basically at 13, where Jesus clears the temple, many Christians see anger as a negative emotion. However,
anger can be a powerful energy when properly controlled and directed. It can even be a source of justice and even holiness. Thomas Aquinas argued that he was not who he who is
not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger,
you are moral as well as unjust. Martin Luther King makes the same point even more harshly. The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral
conflict. He explained that the person who accepts evil without protesting it again against it is really cooperating with it. So when you feel anger rising
over the injustice all around us, take a time out, take a deep breath, pray and wait. When you have prayed and waited in, the righteous anger remains and show itself to be genuine. It is a time for action. It is
time to turn that anger into constructive action, to protect the vulnerable and advance justice to those in need. Not for myself, but for those who are suffering in our communities. And I bring this
up again with what regards to the incarceration and the grabbing of people off the streets, out of their houses, out of schools, out of hospitals, under the pretense
of the criminal immigrants? Thank you. Anybody else like to speak? Good evening, Laurie
Weaver, 451 East Tarpon Avenue. Gentlemen and ladies. Several months ago, I stood here and talked a little bit about a visitor's guide that that I
discovered in Dunedin and questioned why we weren't doing that here in the city. And apparently one is underway, and
I'd like to I'd like to suggest that Vice Mayor's vice Mayor Eisner's idea regarding the shuttles be included in that
visitor's guide. I understand it's it's in proof right now. And ultimately, if it goes to print, we will miss out on the opportunity to have that
shuttle and shuttle route included in that brochure. So if there's any way that you can halt, you know, the progress. Just a few more months that
maybe if the shuttle does continue to gain steam. I think it's a great idea that that can be included in that visitor's guide, I think will be very important for them to know the
route and the stops that that shuttle will have. So that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone
else? My name is John Saxer. I wanted I wanted to thank the commission for the job that they're doing in the city of
Tarpon. I also want to bring up the point of that stone anchor that was removed from a spot that cost, and I agreed upon
and removed by the former city manager. That stone cost $2,600. I neither like it put back at the location the cost, and I
agreed to. I'd like to stone return to me, along with the other stones for the stone circle that are in the tarpon dump. I've been an archeologist
for almost 60 years, and I know what I'm talking about when I say that these stones are ancient stone anchors from the fleet of Atlantis. So I want
that rock of ages, that stone of Destiny put back where host and I agreed. And that's all I'm asking. It's a good thing
it will wake up the city. And I won't push any further for the stone circle unless you all want it. That's all I have to
say. Oh, and if we do this stone circle, we can make a movie on it. The stones are increasing in value every year
by a couple hundred bucks, but someday they're going to be worth $100,000 apiece. And long after Tarpon is gone, they will still geodetically mark the
spring of rejuvenating life. The Poseidon built here in Tarpon. Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else like to get up and speak? Please come forward.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is John Stavros, living in Tarpon since 1984. I travel all over the world. What's your address,
please? She needs it for the 1006 Gulf Road. Okay. Thank you. I often come down to Portland to relax, take care of my mom. My dad, who are no longer with
me. They both died here. Been watching tarpon grow. And I've been promoting it globally since the 80s. I have written four books. Which one is being
published and published this week called Soccer Fashion Icon, and it's underneath a big tree that was in my backyard as soon as I got here a few days ago,
two bald eagles were there. One for my dad, one for my mom kissing each other. I cannot sleep due to the fact that I feel I'm in jail and I want to
know what is the rules for how many chickens per household? And then what is the proper way of fencing them? And third, what is the legal fencing
rights for a neighbor to lock you and you feel like you're in a prison? And I have the photos whoever wants to see, and that is the case that I want to
discuss with, because it seems like a neighbor has three houses and the three houses are fenced in with chickens running around, and my cat got flea
infested. A night time raccoons come to try to get into the chicken. The chickens are running everywhere and it's like I can't even be in my
backyard without having to listen to chickens all day, so I we are running a chicken farm in tarpon. Or are we looking at this case as something serious?
I know it's funny, but the evidence is here. If you grab the city manager's card as you go out, you'll find it up at the. Is it right there? Okay.
Right there. You get the city manager's card. Please reach out to him and he can talk to you about your matter. Okay? So he's the one that I would. Yeah.
Deal with this. Thank you very much. Good seeing you guys. Thank you. Anyone else? Good
evening everyone. Juliana de 413 East Oakwood Street, Tarpon Springs, Florida. Congratulations, Tarpon Springs for the longest table. It was a
success. The unity on the street in the community was great and hopefully we can bring this down permanently for
an event in city of Tarpon Springs. Not only the longest table down Thompson Avenue, also street to street tables
and bringing community together. And I think that's it. I have no complaints yet. That's good. That's good. Right now we love
we love it when you make no complaint, when nobody makes a complaint. Okay? Y'all just be blessed. Thank you so much. You do one more thing. Recycle. Yes. Bigger containers. That little
bucket. There's a complaint. Yeah. Bigger containers. Because the garbage man, they get confused, they pick up the green bucket. But then I have
another bag sitting there. They don't pick up because it's not in the green bucket. Oh, and it's recycling. Okay, okay. I
will let them know. Thank you. Okay. Any further? Austin, do we have anybody on zoom? No, sir. There are no hands up. All
right. Thank you very much. Let's move on to the consent agenda. Number one, attorney fees, Eunice Salzman, number
one, B Johnson Jackson, LLC. Number two, special events. Lombardo's light up the Bayou B
Doctor Martin Luther King Junior annual parade. Number three increase file echo, jet and Sparrow, plus equipment. Number four increase. File
online marketplace for the purchase of products and services. Number five Award file for backup emergency bypass pumps. Number six award
file for body armor and ballistic resistance products. Number seven award file for tires with related equipment and supplies. Number eight
renew file equipment rental and related products and services. Number nine Award file for motor vehicle parts and number
ten award file for the purchase of fleet original equipment manufacturer number 11. Allow existing meter reading billing
agreement with Harbor Watch to expire and number 12 award file for the Fire Station 70 generator and transfer switch. Do any commissioners wish to
pull any of these items? 11 and 12 please. Okay. Let's go ahead and vote. I'd like to have a motion to approve consent
agenda items number one through ten. So moved. Second roll call, please. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. DiDonato.
Commissioner. Yes. Yes. Vice mayor Eisner. Yes. Yes. Vice mayor. No. Talk about number 11,
I do so. This. I just don't even know how it got started. So I know, Tom, I don't know if you can answer this. Do you
know how this got started back in the day? Because the bottom line is we don't get involved in having separate meters. At any homeowner's association
that's behind fences and gates. So do you know how this whole thing came about? I. Thomas Kiger, public service Director
I have asked internally this agreement the the most recent iteration was executed five years ago and the language substantially conforms with the
most recent draft that we had from late 2011. It seems to predate that potentially as well. So I'm not entirely sure of the origin of, you know, how this agreement came to be, but
it was a deal that was worked out at the time with previous leadership in a previous board, and it does seem to be kind of in conflict with our policy positions on master meter
communities. So. I know how it came about. I, I just was curious if you knew about it. I just see here that there's a
proximately 20% of the parcels have meter discrepancies. So we losing money doing this not not changing it. I'm for changing it. I'm going to agree and I'm
happy that this came to fruition. But how did it how did it sit there for so long and nobody knows about this? I mean, we had to, somewhere along the line, realize that
this is becoming an issue, and that's really what I wanted to bring up. Sure. So to answer your first question, no, we don't lose money when we when there's metering discrepancies. But one of the reasons we're
electing to allow this contract to expire is we have a master meter, and then we're electing to as a service of sub meter, the other residences. And so
when there's errors with the sub meters, it pushes water volumes back onto the master meter. So we don't own those meters or maintain them. So we're sort of becoming the arbiter of like any metering
errors or billing discrepancies, we're moving money from one account to another for charges. And that's not really a place we would desire to be. Normally, if we have our own meters and
we own them when we do master meter, when we do metering, you know, if we have an error in meter, the meter stops, it's on us. We lose a little bit of money and it's our incentive to
go out and fix it as rapidly as possible to get that back up to speed so we can pay for the services rendered. Does that answer your first question? Does okay. I'm sorry, could you
please reiterate your second question? Just just just to give you do we have this issue anywhere else in the city? No. This is the only master meter community where we're offered.
We've offered Submetering as a service. Okay. Because like I said, when I saw this, I believe it started back in 1991 when they first came about. And because they did do the
research, I just don't understand how we could this this had to be a disaster. From the day they said yes, the board said yes to doing this. So I just don't understand it.
But I thank you. I'm sorry. I will say this is part with October 1st with the utility. Billings came into the public Services department. So we've been doing a lot of fact
finding and working to onboard that, that division into our department. And this was one of the items that came up as a pain point for the staff and something that ought to be addressed. And we're also
proceeding currently with a full utility billing audit to help improve the process. Is this just one step along the way to, you know, helping to modernize and improve the utility billing process? Well, thank you for what you do. And
that's really where I was wanting to go with this, because when I saw this, I didn't even think it belonged on a consent agenda. You know, this was like, how did this how did this come about? This is
very similar to the other issue of, you know, having Duke Energy, having eight years of not having an increase. And yet, you know, we have, you know,
increases constantly. And the other thing is, you know, as I've spoken to a few people today, you know, the same thing as us spending 50,000 a month
for a, a spill site that we eventually had to buy for quite a bit of money. I know it was proposed to me that it, you know, was a grant, but the
bottom line is when we could have purchased it at $1 million, it went to $5 million. So it was not a positive thing. So I'm glad that you and everybody
else and staff would, you know, look at things that are obsolete or incorrect and bring it before us so that we can move forward and try to make it look more streamlined. So thank
you. Appreciate you. Thank you. Okay. Number 12, Vice Mayor, don't you want to do a vote on that first. Oh yeah. That's right. Let's let's let me have
a motion to approve item number 11. Motion second roll call, please. Commissioner Banther. Yes, Commissioner DiDonato. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. Yes. Vice
mayor Eisner. Yes. Mayor. Collins. Yes. Number 12. Okay. Number 12. Let me just. So most
of this I covered with Bob today, and this is again similar to what I just spoke about. And I wanted to pretty
much share this so that the public knows what kind of went on. And I'm happy to let you describe what you did to
originally make this a lease. So if you could do that and then I will follow that up. Sure. So thank you. Bob Robertson, project Administration Department Director, and I will just give
a brief history as you ask. So thanks for the opportunity. So this is pertaining to Fire Station 70, the construction there. We awarded a construction contract last December. And that contract was
never intended to include the purchase of a backup generator. We're always going to do that as a separate transaction. Originally, we looked at supplying the generator through
a lease program. We've had a lease program with Duke Energy for the generator here at City Hall. That's when we started, and the board approved back in 2019. So I expected that
although these generators that we were going to specify for the two projects, City Hall and the fire station, they're the same capacity. They're 250 kilowatt generators, the installation, and thus the
lease of the fire station generator should have been significantly cheaper than what we pay here at City Hall. The reason I believe that is because when we did the City Hall generator, it had several
complexities that that the fire station doesn't have. We had five meter connections at City Hall for, for Duke, five different accounts that we had to consolidate into one. We had to directional drill conduit
under the building to be able to install this generator. So there was some significant cost in that we didn't have any of that for the fire station. 70. So I entered into negotiations with with Duke believing that
that we would get a good number. But the best number that I could get from Duke was $10,520 a month. And I'll note here that those funds would have been approved or sorry would
have been provided through an annual operations funds, not capital funds. So fortunately, the construction bid for the fire station came in $218,000.
Under the budget, the budget was $6.2 million, if you remember that. So we knew we would have some capital funds to work with, and we put the generator out to bid. We're able to do a donor direct
purchase, which means that we don't have to pay the sales tax on the purchase of this generator, which we would have had to do if we had included in with the contractors scope of work. So a purchase price of
$163,000, it's we're asking you to approve tonight. Just some numbers here. This this equates to a payback period of about 16 months compared to leasing a generator. So you can see the
advantage there. And I took a further step. And I compared the cost of ownership over a ten year period. So factoring in fuel maintenance etcetera, the lease lease option would
have cost us about $1.2 million over ten years. The purchase option, which we will own, maintain fuel in and everything. That's a $483,000 investment
over ten years. So over the same ten year period. So that's if you want to ask me any questions about that. I think they're well, I did want to thank you because this is a
blessing that that that you uncovered it. The only problem like as we spoke was that I wish we would have gotten these
numbers prior when this when this fire station was built. And that was my big thing. Of course, we're going to make at least we're getting half off.
And that's the numbers that I was doing as well. And I also wanted to say that we had two bids, one of them being 163,000, which is what we accepted. But
the other bid was $304,000, which I didn't know if we were buying them. A twin engine boat on top of the generator, but it
was quite a hefty difference. So I'm glad that, you know, Janine keeps an eye on these things, and I just would like going forward when we do these
projects to make sure that we check out the lease price versus the purchase price, because this could have been a huge mistake had we gone with
the lease. The other thing that I did want to also cover is for the residents to know that we do still have a six year, or is it 6 or 7 year lease on the one that's at City Hall? It's a ten
year lease, so we have three years remaining. Right. And that is a 7000 a month lease. Okay. So if I'm not here, I need somebody to get up to that
pulpit right there and remind the board in three years to cancel that and buy a generator, because we're throwing $7,000
out the window. In my opinion, monthly. So I would never have given the okay on that. And I'm going to be nice and not list
the names of the people that approved that when back in the day. Thank you, thank you. Okay, can I have a motion to approve item number 12 on the consent
agenda? Second. Okay. If there's no further comment, roll call, please. Mr. Panther. Yes, Mr. Donato, yes, yes, yes.
Vice mayor Eisner. Yes, mayor. Collins. Yes. Okay, let's go to our first business. Item number 13 is the public art committee. Appointments. Miss Jacobs,
honorable mayor and commissioners. Currently, this committee has four vacancies. Two are regular and two are alternates. At this time, we have received one application
for your consideration. And additionally, one of the current permanent members, Martha Hickey. Her term has ended, but she's able to serve another term and has is
interested in doing so. So we have two board actions. One would be to appoint the applicant, the applicant we received to fill the vacant regular member position. This
term would expire October 31st of 2028, if you so choose. And the second would be to reappoint Miss Hickey to serve another term, and her term
would expire October 30th 1st to 2028 as well. Okay, can I get a motion with a direction?
I will do the motion to appoint Jean Denhoff and reappoint. Do you want to separate or together? No. Together. Together. Okay. And I'll reappoint Martha Hickey to
another term. Second. Second. Is there any is there any commission comments on this? Is there any public comments on
this? Austin. No sir. There are no hands up. Okay. Let's come back. If there's no further comment, roll call please. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner.
Donato. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. Yes, vice mayor. Eisner. Yes, mayor. Yes. Okay. Number 14, code enforcement board appointments. Miss Jacobs. Yes.
On on this one, the terms of Mr. and Mrs. Archer are termed out, and neither individual is eligible for reappointment. Additionally, the terms of Mr. Stephan, who is a regular
member, and Missus Kern, who's an alternate member, have expired on November 1st. Both Mr. Stephens and Miss Kern are eligible for reappointment and have expressed their interest
in being considered up to continue service board actions needed. We need two people to fill the two vacant positions
whose term would expire November 1st, 2028, and you have three options. The first one would be to move Mr. Paul to fill one of the vacancies.
The second one would be to move alternate to Mrs. Kern to fill one of the regular members member vacancies, and the third one would be to select two people from the list below. If
options A and B are done and the alternates are moved up, then two alternates would need to be appointed as well. Do we have the alternate applications as well? I'm sorry, do we have
the alternate applications as well? It's in there. It's in okay. There. So we have the names. All right. Can we I'd like to entertain a I'm happy
to do the motion. Thank you mayor. This one was a little bit more difficult. But just because there's more moving parts. So if we could move alternate one Robert Paul up
alternate to. Margaret Kern up. And then we can. Does it matter which person you put in
alternate 1 or 2. Alternate one would have an expiration of 20th November, 1st to 2026, and alternate two would have an expiration of November 1st of
2028. So then I would nominate. Audrey first for alternate one and Penny for alternate two, and reappoint George Stephan
for his. His reappointment. I guess that's easy enough. Do I have a second? Second? Is there any comments on the board? If
not any public comments? Austin no sir, there are no hands up. Okay, no further comments. Roll call please. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. DiDonato. Yes,
Commissioner. Yes. Yes, vice mayor. Eisner. Yes, mayor. Yes. Let's go to number 15. Planning and Zoning board appointment. Miss Jacobs. So the term of
Justin Vessey has ended. However, he's eligible to serve another one year term. In addition, the terms for regular members. Mr. Robert Rockline, Matthew Collins have expired
and both are eligible to be reappointed. Both have expressed an interest in being reappointed and the term for the alternate member, Julie Wade, has expired as well, and
she is able to be reappointed and would also like to be reconsidered. So the board action would be to reappoint one, two, three and four. Okay,
do I have a motion for that? So moved. Second okay. If there's no comments comments here. Public comments Austin. No sir.
Okay. Let's come back to the board. No further discussion. Roll call please. Commissioner Banther. Yes, Commissioner. Donato. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. Yes, vice mayor. Eisner. Yes,
mayor. Yes. Number 16. City rules updates. Tabitha Adkins, our human resources director. Good evening. Tabitha Adkins,
human resources director. The item 16 on the agenda is a group of five rules that we are asking to update. It's been a while since these have been
reviewed. As you look down through there, through the memo and the edited versions of the rules, you'll see that rule four and five is mostly just language that we're updating
just to show current technology processes for hiring. We show that we now take electronic applications, not paper things like that. Rule number six is
our probationary period. So it talks about currently our probationary employees are not allowed to use any of their accrued vacation until they come off of that probationary
period. So for six months or a year, those employees are not allowed to use any of that leave. So we'd like to remove that language and allow them as it accrues, to be able to take
a day off if you know, if they choose to. During that time. We also added just that an evaluation should be submitted before those employees come off of probationary period. Rule
number 11 talks about our leaves that are benefited to the employees. One of the things on our accrual tables is that once you hit 20 years of service, the only additional
time of leave that you got was one day. So we would like to change that to a week. So that would give our 20 year tenured employees five weeks of vacation. And then we also it
also had some language referring to the probationary status of not using leave. We took out some verbiage in the bereavement leave. It's the bereavement leave only allowed
our city manager to approve up to a total of five sick days to be used. We'd like to remove that. If there's an immediate family member death and an employee needs more sick leave,
the city manager would be able to approve that. And then we also added the ability to add community service related leave. We'd like to start doing some
community projects as employees, so that would allow us to do some of those projects and account for leave during that time. Rule number 19 is the requirements for new hire
procedures. These needed to be updated for some compliance reasons. Federal law changes, things like that. So we cleaned that up, talked about who's going to get drug testing,
who's going to get a medical exam or related to their job description, and then also just cleaning up, you know that everyone gets a criminal background check. So it really just clarifies what our hiring
procedures are. Okay. Thank you very much. Are there any questions from from the board.
Is it okay or is it I don't know if it's proper or not, but when you have a situation that somebody is being brought up for whatever charges, whatnot,
that we could be contacted and let know before somebody comes up and tries to talk to us. And we don't know that there's issues going on. So you're saying, like, you all be
notified before we give them an adverse action or, I don't know, legally whether it should be before or as it's happening? I
just don't want to be caught speaking to somebody and not know that they have issues going on in town, in in the city. Rather, I don't think we
can share details of that. We could let you know if an employee was denied employment, but we can't share details of what their background history shows. I'm just looking for you to let us know not to speak at
all, not to details, because I understand the details could get sticky. So just kind of a notification if someone's been denied. Is that what you're saying? Like, okay, or even if
they're let go? You know, I don't really need to know or I don't think the board needs to know the details. If they want, they can go one on one with you. Right? It's the same thing we
do with the police chief when you know he doesn't have to fill us in on all the gory details, but we just we're known that there is something that has gone on, that's all. Just so that we don't the
general information could be passed on, you know, that that you guys are aware. That way, if you're confronted with something, you at least know that that was, you know, in place. Well, right now, the way I see it is because the
attorney is speaking to you in the, you know, the billing. Other than that, I don't really know what has, you know, what went on or with, you know, with whom, that's all. Okay. So if
we could just tailor that a little bit so that we're at least made aware, that's all. Yeah. Okay. Any other commission comments? Yes. I just want to ask Tabitha has
the biweekly situation been settled and over with? Hopefully. Well, we so during our employee meeting the other day, we did clarify that we
we've listened and we are going to stay with a weekly payroll. So we do have to adjust our time periods though. And so we've talked about sometime during the next several months,
you know, finding the right time to do that just because of our turnover. You know, we we get payroll turned in on a Wednesday morning and get paid on a Friday. So we've got to at least give a little bit of some
time in there to cut some liability when things don't go as planned. So we've got to work on that. But we are keeping it weekly. Thank you. I'm sure the employees will appreciate it. And and and payroll should be one week
behind no matter what but every week. So yeah just happy that was clarified. And thank you. Yes I just I just I just want to say thank you. You you have been a breath of fresh air in
HR and I and I was talking to the city manager and he updated me on all that you've been doing. But it's just nice to have a smiling face in HR now. And someone who who I think is advocating for staff. So thank
you. Thank you. I'm glad to be here. Thank you. I would like to echo that as well. Thank you very much. You're very welcome. I concur as well. Are there any
public comments on this item? Austin? No, sir. There are no hands up. Okay. Can I come back to the board for a motion, please? So moved. Second.
There's no further comment. Roll call. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. De Donato. Yes, Commissioner. Coolio's. Yes. Vice mayor. Yes, mayor. Yes.
Okay. Let's go to ordinances. Thank you very much. Tabitha. Go to ordinance and resolutions number 17. City attorney. Can you read it? Ordinance 2025
Dash 19, an ordinance of the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida, created a Human Resources section, subchapter general Provisions by including provisions for a general background check requirement
and a special criminal history background check. Providing for repeal of ordinances or parts of ordinances and conflict, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date
hereof. This is the. The second reading will be held on December 9th of 2025 and will be published in the Tampa Bay times by title only on November
19th of 2025. Thank you. Miss Adkins. Yes. So the ordinance was created so that we can use
the Tarpon Springs Police Department to run background checks. Somewhere along the way that that stopped. And so by doing that, that will allow us
to not only get a faster response, a cleaner response, but also cut our costs in about half. But in order to do that, we are required by the Department of Law Enforcement that we have an ordinance
adopted stating that this is our policy. So this is the reason that we had to create this ordinance. I think we, you know, probably should have done this earlier, but but we'd like
to bring it forward now so that we can move forward with that process. Okay. Thank you very much. Are there any commissioner questions of this
on this item? All right. Any public comments? Austin. No, sir. There are no hands up. Okay. I'd like to entertain a
motion. So moved. Second, if there's no further comment, roll call, please, Mr. Panther. Yes, Commissioner. Donato. Yes, Commissioner. Coolio's. Yes,
vice mayor. Eisner. Mayor. Yes. Okay. Resolution 25 2025 Dash 63, city Attorney Resolution 2025 Dash 63 A resolution of
the Board of Commissioners of the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida, amending the budget for the fiscal year 2024 through 2025, be it resolved by
the board. All right, Mr. Haring. Yeah. Good evening. Mayor. Commissioners, a budget resolution 2025 dash 63 is being brought before you to budget for items that were
previously not budgeted for in fiscal year 2025. This will be the final budget resolution for fiscal year 2025. I've tried to summarize everything in a cover
letter. The major items are the budget for some remaining Arpa expenditures, the purchase of a police vehicles and boat, and some additional expenditures for Hurricanes Helene and
Milton, which will be 100% reimbursable. And with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions. Let me start off the questions. So how much are we
still owed or how much are we still waiting for FEMA? About 7.5 million. Have they given us any any indication when that's
coming? We're working on it. Weekly latest. I got something from the National Association of Counties that saying that FEMA is slow walking some of this, they've sort of there's a
reserve fund and they when they did Covid so they're still trying to spend pay money towards Covid. It sounded like money we would get in 2025. It
might be in 2026, unfortunately. Okay. Commissioner, do you have any questions. So yes. So you so so you so you are you are saying that we should get all
that money next year or start to get some money next year? Well, well, I'd hope to get it now. We did get 2.5 million because when we did the debris removal we we the estimate back
then was 5 million. So we got 2.5 million last August. I mean last December, like I say, we still have 5.5, 5.5 million of debris removal money to get. And the balance is maybe 1.5 to
2 million of overtime and supplies and equipment that were part of the hurricane, saline and Milton. And you said, I believe that this year compared to Irma, we hired like a consultant or a company to
help us expedite this or something of that nature. Yes, we yes we did. But we got when we started getting some numbers, especially for Hurricane Helene.
We saw the overtime through this firm and I go, I knew that was awfully low. So what happened was the state has an auditing firm, Deloitte Touche. It's working for them. They
really they've come down. We've sort of put the other firm off to the side here, because we've got these people actually coming down weekly and spending time with us, helping us go through the process. So. So
yeah, we did have the contractor, but now we're sort of more using the auditors to the state that are helping the state out. And, you know, it's it's called Enron We trust. So
thank you I appreciate that. Commissioner Donato. Yeah. Do we have any certainty or assurances that we're actually going to get that amount from
the people we're talking with? The state? Yes. It's just a matter of getting through the paperwork and the final, you know, part of the slow walking. I was amazed that there's been some questions that they asked
us, like, prove that you own the golf course. So we had to supply information for that. And then I think for Sunset Beach, they started to say, well, you have, we have all the
pavilions and stuff that got ruined up there. But since there's some sort of snake that's out there, we have to put up some sort of warning signs and, and educate the employees about some form of
snake that might be out there. So just some a couple of things that we've had to go through. I don't know if it's just additional questions and I hate to say dragging it out, but
yeah. Thank you Commissioner. Yes I just want to say thank you to to Ron and his staff. I mean, I enjoy Ron coming up here and just being just so
precise with everything over these budgets. And this is his third and last meeting. So enjoy him because he's not going to be around. Thank you
sir. Third and last I'm counting the days I don't know if you are vice mayor. Well I'm not letting him go. So I don't know what you guys are talking
about anyway. Just joking. So as far as FEMA goes, we will get the money. They do always stand behind. It's just how
slow they can make it. Because truthfully, there is a lot of I's to dot and t's to cross. Yes, I being the only one up here that flooded in Killeen,
we had to go through every single detail of everything and most people give up, I'll just tell you that. But we as a city can't give up, and we shouldn't
give up because we will get the money. It's just they have all these silly protocols that I am blessed that my wife got to handle, that I just did the
decision and she handled it. So thank you, honey. I appreciate you, but it is a very difficult deal to deal with FEMA. It is it is not an insurance company.
They pay 80% on the dollar. And that's if you go through everything that they want you to do. So it is a tough battle. So I thank you for all you do. It's not easy to deal with them.
And I mean, I, I don't know who you're dealing with, but I would also contact, you know, Anapolina and their office and see that because she was instrumental in getting things pushed through and I'm sure she
would do it for the city as well. Right. Yeah. We're doing our due diligence. We want to get every penny back. And I just need to thank Sherry and Shane up in up in the finance department. They're the ones
that are doing a lot of the brunt of the work up there. Yeah. Thank you. It's it's not an easy task. I've dealt with them for years and each case is a nightmare. And thankfully we
haven't had any hurricanes this year. So do we have any public comments? Katie Taylor, 657
Haven Place, Tarpon Springs, Florida. Just curious, Ron, you notice the times that we're in right now, that gentleman that's over, FEMA, him and his son is on vacation. They were
two days late. They didn't even address the the conditions of the storm where where it was at. So now how if they drag it out like Commissioner Eisner said,
Vice Mayor, excuse me? Say that they're dragging it out. How does it affect the city budget? How long can they stretch it out before it starts affecting things that you had dates and
plans to do well, especially affect me. That's why I was worried about, you know, if we had another hurricane, we've had some more reserve. But, you know, is it enough to cover if we had additional hurricanes to
the extent of Helene and Milton? You know, if that's what if we had the money back, we'd be in a lot better, better shape and stuff. You know, it affects our fund balance, because right now,
our general fund fund balance is probably down about 400,000 from where I'd like it. But once we get the general fund money back for the general fund, it'll go up about another 800,000 and put us back to
where we are at. The sanitation fund is the one where all the $8 million of a debris removal is. So it's it's in a precarious position as being a negative position for the fund
balance in the sanitation fund. Okay. Thank you. I'm not sure if that helps or not. What? Next? Please? Hi, Craig, 1743
Chesapeake Drive. I've always appreciated Ron's attention to detail. It's always been fantastic. You've run after everything and thank you for all the work you've always done
for us. And I'm sure the mayor has got a better financial mind than myself. However, when I was reading through the general fund, when we got down to the
total expenditures. The budget amount with the increase and decrease shown don't match the revised figures unless you add in the money from the revenue
from FEMA and the insurance for the light poles and the carryover from absences. And that just seemed to me to be just strange. It just caught my
eye as soon as I saw it. Is that standard for us to issue statements like this? Well, what it is, we we have the additional revenue of 438,000, but what we're doing is
covering some other expenditures besides the hurricanes that the light, the street lights and the compensated absences. We have excess in some departments that are covering some of the other
departments that went over and in the general fund. Yeah, I thought it was just my misreading. It just stood out to me that the revised figures, it just they just didn't add up for me. And I just wanted to
point out that. Yeah. So we didn't go to any reserves to balance the general fund, but we we were able to take money from departments that had excess money, like the finance department. Okay. It just wasn't shown in the totals.
That's okay. Thank you, thank you. Anyone else? Austin? No, sir. There are no hands up. Okay. I'd like to come back to
the board for a motion. So moved second. Okay. If there's no further comments, is there a comment? No further comments. Roll call please. Commissioner
Banther. Yes, Commissioner DiDonato. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. Yes. Vice mayor Eisner. Yes. Mayor. Foley. Yes. Just so the the residents or people
watching this meeting tonight may not be aware that Mr. Herring has given us his
announcement of retirement. So this as like Commissioner Coleus said, this is his last. Budget, that he'll be last
budget resolution that he'll be presenting before us. We're going to have plenty of time before you retire to to do our big, fond farewell. But you
know we will. And anyways, I, like everyone else, said I. I truly appreciate everything you've done for our city, and you've been like a rock and a
rudder for this ship, and you're going to be sorely missed. So thank you very much. Let's go to item number 19, a city attorney. Would you read
it, please? Resolution 2025, Dash 64, a resolution of the city of Tarpon Springs, Florida, creating a part time position entitled Board and Committee
Clerk and providing for an effective date. That's it. Okay. Presentation by Miss Jacobs, honorable mayor. Commissioners.
Currently, we have a temp agency transcriptionist, and we are recommending the approval of a permanent part time position titled Board and Committee Clerk. This position has no impact on the budget and
would benefit all boards and committees by helping with the backlog of minutes, keeping us updated, and eventually handling all board and committees by time stamping and drafting minutes as they appear
in real time on our agenda. Management software. I have spoken to everyone regarding this. If anyone has any additional questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Does
anyone have any questions of our City clerk? Okay. Are there any public comments on this item? Austin no sir, there are
no hands up. Okay, I'd like to come back to the board for a motion. So moved. Second, if there's no comments, roll call please. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner.
Yes. Yes. Vice mayor. Yes, mayor. Kuleana. Yes. Okay. That concludes our our all of our agenda items. Let's go to board and staff comments. Chief, I just want to wish everybody a
happy and safe Thanksgiving. And yes, this past weekend the Longest table was a great event downtown. And thank Corina and all the merchants down there
for for that event. It was definitely a lot of fun. Thank you, City Attorney. I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and my 18 month old is watching. So. Hi, Melina.
Hi. Thank you and thanks for stepping up and helping us. Thank you. Okay. City manager, thank you. Mayor. I did mention the nightly Islands was a fabulous event. Saturday night
was packed down there and people dancing in the street and having a great time. Beautiful weather and the longest table was a great event. I enjoyed my wife and I enjoyed it very much and just want to
also wish everyone a great holiday. We'll be going out to San Diego this year to visit our youngest, my youngest stepdaughter, so we'll it's going to be a lot of fun. City
clerk I also would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you. Commissioner Banther. No real comments. Just hope you all have a good break and a
good Thanksgiving. Commissioner De Donato, I just would echo I wish everybody a very, very happy Thanksgiving and and a joyful holiday season. And
thank you very much, Commissioner Coleus. Yeah. Just before we wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, I did want to talk about the election. Coming
up, city Clerk one is qualifying officially over with qualifying is officially over Wednesday, November 26th at 5 p.m. Okay. And so right now
there's one seat that has four contestants and there's another seat that no one's commissioner. Panthers decided to run again and there's no other contestants. So that is
definitely saying something. And people should really pay attention to the community and just wish everyone really does pay attention moving forward. With that said, wish everyone a
Happy Thanksgiving with your family, friends and loved ones and just take the time to really enjoy every minute of it. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank
you mayor. I want to second what the city manager said the night in the islands was literally amazing. There were more people in the street, and
I had actually people sending me text messages saying, what's happening over there? They they didn't. They thought it was a riot. It was it was quite funny, but it looked like everybody was having a great time. The
line for Jelly donuts was down the block and out the door. It was ridiculous. I did also want
to update the board. I sent out a email to the city manager because at Forward Pinellas, which I represent for Tarpon Springs, I got a I had proposed
a question on the Becket Bridge or a few questions on the Becket Bridge because they were doing redesigning of it, and I thought it was designed, done
and ready to be going in 2026. And the feedback and comment that I got was that they would
be kind of shocked if it got off in 2026. So I, I don't know if you did relay the message, but if you could just send that
email out to the other commissioners so they can see the, you know, you won't see the questions that I asked, but you'll see at least the response to the questions. They're honestly not moving
very fast in, you know, going after the work that we need to have done. And it's all money related. So. And then I wanted to follow up on what my wife
said, Jonathan, at the discount grocery not only feeds, you know, holiday tarp in Palm Harbor with amazing discounts
and and in a tough economy. But he has the heart of gold. He just anybody that needs a donation to a pantry of any
kind. He just is so willing to step up to the plate and feed people less fortunate, or people that are just even feeling the squeeze. So I do want to thank him as well from,
you know, as a personal favor. I mean, he just he'll do anything that we ask him to do. And, you know, as, as a number of people in town, there are
stores and businesses that do the right thing and, you know, want to share whether they have it or they don't. So I just want to thank you, Jonathan. And your store is a blessing
and you're doing God's work. So I just want to thank you and I want to thank the staff and and thank everybody to have a blessing. Blessed Thanksgiving.
And please feel free to if somebody needs help, contact somebody else, because there's a lot of people out there that do have extra, and they're more than willing to share with
those that don't. But you have to sometimes swallow your pride a little bit and say, hey, I could use the a hand. And because I do see on Facebook a lot of people offering, but you
have to step up to the plate and, you know, it may not be your fault or what circumstances you have, but there's no shame in asking for a little help on holidays. So
thank you all and have a great Thanksgiving. I'm off to Texas tomorrow. I'll hold it down. All right. We're going to have we're going to have an emergency meeting the day after
tomorrow. So I get very little respect here. Very little. All right. So the longest table was
really something special. You know, it was you know, Cody Bracey had thought about this idea and, and had thrown it by some people and it sounded kind
of kooky, but he was committed to doing it and he did it, and it was well attended and people enjoyed it very much. So I want
to give him a big round of applause. Plus all the people that volunteered to help. And there's people in here that spent a lot of time helping as well. So it was really a
testament to our our town and how we come together and can do something special. And I think it was wonderful. You know,
this, this generous thing that the that the store owner did, you know there there's a lot of I call them acts of kindness that take place in tarpon with
lots of people. That definitely was one. And I mentioned when and my swearing in speech that I was going to work towards
creating a, an some way of acknowledging these acts of kindness. So the staff has been working, and they're going to present to you guys for your approval, a way of actually
putting of residents being able to email us or log in and do it. I don't know how exactly how they're going to do it, but we're going to have on the
screen where people during all the dead time when if you go to watch the meetings on YouTube, you see that this symbol of the city, right? And it's there for,
what, five, ten minutes or something. So during that time, we're going to be putting acts of kindness on there. And it would be something along the lines of this person did this,
and it could be something quite as simple as, you know, somebody was homebound or and their neighbor took their garbage out for them and did
something so and acknowledging different people, because all those things are going on in our town and, and it's wonderful. And it and all these kinds of things bring us together even closer. So and I
know they're very close to being able to launch that. Right. The. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we Brandon talked to me about it. Yeah. So he's got it right
there. So. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and happy birthday Kay I love you I'll be home
soon. And at 735 we're adjourned. The meeting with.