I call to order the regular session of the Tarpon Springs Board of Commissioners. Tuesday, November 4th, 6:30 p.m. Roll
call please. Here, vice Mayor Eisner here. Commissioner. Here. Commissioner DiDonato here. Commissioner Banther here.
Tonight we're going to have our reflection performed by Reverend Kurt Snare from Saint Timothy's Lutheran Church, followed by the Pledge of
Allegiance. The Lord be with you. Most holy God, we thank you for this opportunity to gather. We thank you for this place that you've allowed us to be stewards of. Help us to be
good stewards. Be with all those who work and play and visit and serve here in Tarpon Springs. And we pray that you would give wisdom to our leaders, that they might guide in a way that's pleasing to you.
We ask that you would come and be with us and guide us in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit. 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, pastor. Thank you Reverend. Absolutely. Thank you. Okay, tonight we have just one
proclamation. It is Veteran's Day proclamation. Normally the. Our Trish Hickey, our
administrative assistant up upstairs would contact the. Like the Elks Club or some other veteran group to come
down and receive the plaque. But I thought it'd be nice to have veterans from our city itself, because I think we have a whole number of veterans, and
I think there's a group of them here in the audience tonight. So I'm going to ask all the veterans that are in the audience, not just city employees, but all the veterans that are in the audience to
please stand up and come forward, please. Okay. I didn't
know Renee was a veteran. That look at that. Like it, I knew it just unbelievable. Okay, so
I'm going to ask each one of you is the microphone on? Can you hear it. Yes. Okay. I'm going to ask each one of you to
give your name and your branch of service and your rank. So each one of you come forward.
Michael Schwartz, United States Navy, E-5. Said John Gibson, John Gibson, Lance corporal,
three, United States Marine Corps. Janine Lewis, United States Air Force, retired major.
Rene Vincent, United States Navy lieutenant. Keith Meade,
United States Army four. Scott Young, United States Coast Guard E-5. Jeff Young, United
States Air Force sergeant. Thank you so much for your service, Janine. I'm going to ask you to come forward. I'm going to read the proclamation and present it to you. Whereas
our veterans represent the very best of America, they have bravely answered the call to serve in the finest military force in the world, and they have earned the dignity that
comes with wearing its uniform and defending our great flag. And whereas on Veterans Day, we honor all Americans who have served in the Army, Navy, Air
Force, Marines and Coast Guard, both in times of war and peace. And Whereas Veterans Day gives us time to pay deep respect to our veterans. And Whereas we
humbly thank our veterans and their families as we remember and honor their service. And whereas on Veteran's Day, we remember those these heroes for
their valor, loyalty, dedication, and encourage all Americans to recognize the fortitude and sacrifice for our veterans through public ceremonies and personal
thoughts and prayers. Now, therefore, I, John Colonies, by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the City of Tarpon Springs, do hereby
proclaim November 11th, 2025, as Veterans Day. Just thank you to everyone for for noticing
and honoring the the citizens that work here for the city as well as veterans. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you. Because I thought
you said that to. I thought you I thought you said not city employees. So I didn't get up.
Thanks. Commissioner DiDonato, would you please give your rank and branch of service? Yes, sir. I, I just misunderstand that
you said not to get up, so I didn't. Yeah, I'm proud to say I served in the United States Navy and was a petty petty officer second class when
discharged. And I just thank all of you who have served and and appreciate our forces because without your commitment,
I don't think we would even be here. So thank you all for your commitment. Thank you. Okay, so let's move on with the agenda.
Let's go to the consent agenda. Let me read the items. Item number two renew file number, laboratory services. Number
three Award file hack equipment. Number four Award file. Digital airport advertising. Number five increase file copier lease.
Number six. Award file. Motorola body and in-car cameras and redaction. Number seven award file data center. Modernization of City Hall and
police and number eight award file. Single source purchase of beverages for resale. Golf course. Snack bar. Do any
commissioners wish to pull any of these items? Okay. Can I have a motion? So moved. Second.
Roll call please. Mr. Yes. Mr. DiDonato. Yes, Commissioner. Gulyas. Yes. Vice mayor Eisner. Yes. Mayor. Colon. Yes, mayor.
I think we skipped public comment. I think we did. It was actually the chief that pointed out. All right, I missed it, too. It wouldn't be a meeting if I didn't miss something.
It's okay. All right. So let's have let's have public comment. Is there anyone that would like to speak? Please come forward on anything that's not on the
agenda. Austin. No, sir. There are no hands up. See, I knew that nobody was. Check on Peter.
I think I knew it. All right, number nine. Number nine, internal audit of procurement
services Department report, Mr. Lewis. That's a good timing.
Mr. Mayor. Commissioners. Good evening. I place on the agenda audit number one one 2025 audit
of the procurement department. There were six audit objectives which resulted in one finding and five observations that covered the period of first
half of FY 25, which was August 1st, 24 to March 31st, 2025. I'll just go through each
objective quickly and tell you if it was an observation or finding. The first thing I did was just basically look at the policies and procedures, including the administrative
code, which took effect on June 1st of 25. All the testing, however, was done using the previous administrative code code because the thresholds
change. So I didn't want to I don't want to have two sets of data. So I although I while I reviewed the new code, which was obviously approved by the board, all the testing was done
using the prior code with the with the older threshold amounts. There's no issues there. The admin code goes right along with state statutes
and the city charter, and their internal policies and procedures kind of dovetail perfectly with there with the administrative code as well. So that was the first observation,
first objective and observation. The second objective. I reviewed the single and sole source procurements. There were there weren't a lot of these. And that's where there was
there was one finding single sole source procurements are basically when you you go around the procurement process for a for a legitimate reason, you have to meet certain criteria. If it's a unique
product or a product or service or unique vendor or stuff like that, they basically fill out a form. They send it to the procurement department and the procurement department. If
you're a director, you fill out the form, you send it to them. They determine if it meets meets all the established criteria, and then if it meets if it if it meets a certain dollar amount, then it goes to
the finance director or the city manager. And ultimately if it's meets the the highest level goes it goes in front of the board. Most of them were okay. There was a few, though, that were debatable in terms of
the criteria. So I noted those in the report. It's not really a a control issue or anything like that. The policies are fine. I think they just need a little more scrutiny. I guess
the way I look at it is if I can look at it and if it jumps out at me and I say, wait a minute, I'm not sure if that's really a single or sole source procurement. If it doesn't, if it's not a candidate for that,
then then a vendor could easily. If I can question it, then a vendor could. So it's more just it's more just applying the policy a little more stringently to the, to the actual forms. So that that was
the only finding as well. Third objective was to review the supporting documentation for medium and large procurements, which includes all the all the documents that are required,
plus any approvals, staff approval, city manager review, finance review, depending on depending on the amounts. No issues there either. In fact, that they had really, really
good records. I mean, just their internal their internal share drive. You could go back ten years without even having to lift a finger. It was really, really nice to have that much that I didn't go back that far,
of course, but it was really nice to be able to if you wanted to go back that far to see any patterns. Most departments don't have records go that that far back that are that easily accessible. So that
that was really nice. Fourth objective was to review protested bids. There were none. During the protested bid is when someone challenges an award. There were there were
none during the audit period, which is good. There was only two debriefings, though, that the that the director did for a vendor that was an unsuccessful bidder, which is kind of like a value added service. But the
point is, though, there were there were no there were no formal bid protests during the during the audit period. The fifth objective was to review
the fixed asset process. Anything over $5,000 purchase price is considered fixed asset. And as you can probably imagine, we have we have a lot of them
in the city and some are fixed assets can be, you know, ten, 15, 20 years old depending, you know, depending on, you know, what type of asset it is. So with that, with with that many assets and that kind of time
frame, a lot of things can happen. So, you know, they can get lost, stolen, misappropriated, you know, you name it. And there's, you know, there's different stages. There's the acquisition stage
all the way to the disposal stage. And they use kind of a decentralized and electronic barcode approach to, to manage these assets. And when I say decentralized they use the each individual department works
with procurement to ensure that to ensure that the the assets are accounted for on a yearly basis. So they basically do a audit every year of each department and each
department's each department's assets, fixed assets, and then ultimately the all the way to from like I said, from the acquisition to disposal stage and all the the the controls
are in place. It's a really good job. I was more impressed with that probably than anything else that that they do. Because like I said, you're talking about a lot of assets
and a long time frame. The last one, I'm on the right. Yeah. The last objective. Number six review the controls over the
ratification process. Ratification, if you don't know, is basically a commitment that's over $5,000. Usually it's an error or something like that. Someone made a mistake. And you know the contract is
for 10,000. But they realized, oh no, we got to put an extra, you know, $6,000 worth of whatever in there. And there were, I believe, two during the
audit period, which isn't a bad thing. You know, mistakes happen, the whole the whole kind of reason or purpose behind looking at that is to make sure that I've seen I've seen these in other in other cities and counties where they
use the ratification process to kind of circumvent the the formal procurement process. So it's not a question of whether or not ratifications occur. Obviously, they do occur. The question is the degree. And
make sure that there's not they're not there's not a lot of them that would indicate an issue. And there weren't there was only two. And they had the proper documentation, the proper sign offs, the proper
rationale and reasons for ratification. So there was there was no issue there. That's about it. Overall, I thought it was a very well run department, and I do I do want
to note there's if I didn't know any better just looking at the department, just looking at everything they do. One thing I didn't do let me let me back up. I didn't look at p cards. Those are usually standalone audits.
So those will be in the those will be a p card will be in the next risk assessment. Like I said, they're usually standalone. I didn't want that to take up, you know, all the time on this audit. But you
know there's only they do a lot of different things. And there's only three people in that department, including the director. So I didn't want I did want to note that it's it's it's impressive. I didn't know any better. I would think
there's 6 or 7 people that work there. So pretty easy audit to do. The name of the game in procurement is is documentation and approvals and everything. You know, I needed to do to do
the work was was right there and easily accessible. So if you have any questions I'd be more than happy to answer them. Yeah. Thank you. Let's we'll have commissioner questions. So
let me let me start off so on the single source items that you had on on procurement, did you were you found single
source purchasing. Did you question the Miss Lewis. And on those items. Yes. Yeah. They they're they're responses in the back of the. Okay. And you
were satisfied with her response. I just want to make it clear to everyone. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah I'm sorry. Yes, yes. Of course. You were satisfied with her answer. Yes. Also on
the on the fixed assets, do we have a procedure internally to do any kind of sample inventories of our fixed assets?
Yes, I don't remember. It's been probably a month and a half since actually I did it. But they have like a bar code system and they control the stickers and they control the
they basically control the process. So in order for something bad to be happening, you would have to have someone in procurement that was kind of involved with it. Does it make sense? So the controls are in
place. Is that what you're asking? No. I mean is there like a periodic. Oh yeah. Yeah. Annual sampling test done. I
don't know if you call it a test, but they do. They do an inventory annually. And you would, they would if there was something missing, they would find it during that annual review. I guess you could call
it a test. But yeah, they have they have an asset listed on some ledger, some form. And then they do a sample of testing. Right. They would go and test, oh, you know, every
yes, 25th item and everything above a certain dollar amount to make sure it's physically there. No. Even better they do. They do 100% testing. They check for every single item every year. And then against
whatever is on our computer printouts and stuff. Correct. Good. And then, okay, so, Miss Lewis, you're doing a good job. So let's go to Commissioner
Banther. Thank you. I do appreciate this audit. I don't have any questions. I've always been very proud of the professionalism in our in our in our purchasing department. So thank you, Commissioner
DiDonato. I would also like to thank you, sir. And I would like to see how things are working, your impression thereof. And then again, what we do to to rectify any, any situation to make them better.
But thank you very much, Commissioner Coleus. Thank you. I appreciate the audit report. As you said, as Janine and her staff do a great job in the procurement department, and I'm
very thankful to have them all. Thank you. Well, and Vice Mayor Eisner, thank you. Mayor. You know, it's very interesting when you do a in-depth scrutiny
of somebody else's department puts a lot of pressure on the person. And when I read through the report, it was very impressive, of which I knew. Janine, you are amazing. I have
the utmost confidence in what you do. And truthfully, the sole source comment that was made, it's like looking at you under a microscope to me. So I
appreciate and you know, I appreciate everything you do. I do get to read all of your proposals. You know, when you put out the very hard to keep up with, you know, it's not
easy. It's it's you almost dealing with a moving item because by the time you've gotten together all your facts and then you put together, I'm making a statement, not a
question, but when you put together all your facts, the whole item that you're going after, the whole procurement has moved from what you originally decided and looked
at. So when I listened to you, Billy, describing the difficulty of you doing an audit on a difficult position, it was probably one of the most
difficult types of audits that you could possibly do, in my impression. So I want to thank you for an in-depth audit. I want to thank you, Janina, and your staff, for having six
people represented by three. So thank you. Okay. Is there any
public comments on this item? Come on up. Katie Taylor, 657 Haven Place, Tarpon Springs on
your fixed asset. On your surplus item. The fixed assets go to surplus after they're no longer used. When you clean your computers, you have your old furniture. All that stuff go to surplus. Is there any way
that rather than you destroy, can a nonprofit be able to access some of that surplus that you're getting rid of? Yeah, we there's a there's there's protocols for that. Janine would probably be better
able to answer that though. I mean what what actually happens. Well, why don't you get with Janina and Janina. Right, right.
Okay. Thank you. Any other public comment? Austin? No, sir. There are no hands up. Okay. Thank you. Let's come back to the board. Is there any? I'd
like to entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Okay. Is there any further comments? If not, roll call please. Commissioner. Yes. Commissioner. DiDonato. Yes, Commissioner. Coolio's.
Yes. Vice mayor. Eisner. Yes. Mayor. Yes. Okay. Mr. Poulos, you have the fiscal year 2026 internal audit plan. Yes, mayor.
The FY 26 internal audit plan is basically just going down in a quick history in 21 for fiscal year 22 was one of the first things I did when I
started. Here is I did a citywide risk assessment at the department level. And that that basically creates the pool of audits. And that's I've just
been going down the list every year with, you know, 1 or 2 exceptions, but mostly just just going down the list. And this is the last year of that doing it every five years. Some
audit chops do every year, every two years I, I, I don't have the resources to do a risk assessment every year. So I'm just I'm doing them. You know, I'm trying to do one every five years. So this would be the
last year for that. And then at the end of this year, I'll do a revised risk assessment for the next five years. So this is the first two audits are just on the old risk assessment and a new risk assessment at the at
the at the end of the year. The good news is I don't have to start from scratch. I can just I can modify the the risk assessment. And the first time I did I interviewed, I think
like 32, 33 people, the board, every director, city manager, anyone that would talk to me. So this year or this, this time I won't have to do quite as many. And I know a little bit
better how the, the how the city works. So I'll still do it at the department level, but I'll probably throw some processes in the, in their processes in there as well. Like for instance, like p cards like I mentioned, that'll
probably that'll probably be pretty high up on the risk assessment because that that needs to be done. So yeah, basically what I'm asking is for you to approve the audit plan with the two audits and
then the revised risk assessment at the at the end of the year. Okay. Commissioners, have any questions? I don't have any Commissioner Banther. No, sir. Commissioner DiDonato.
No, sir. Commissioner coleus. No, sir. Vice mayor I'm going to say no, sir. Okay. Any public comments on the
auditor's plan for 2026? Austin? No, sir. There are no hands up. Okay. I'd like to come back to the board for a motion. So moved. Sir. Okay. With that
said, if there's no further comment, roll call, please. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. DiDonato. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. Yes, vice mayor Eisner. Yes. Mayor. Corleone. Yes.
Thank you, Mr. Paulos. Thank you. Take care. Okay. Item number 11. Approve task work order for file number 24 0115.
Planning support services. And this will be. Jamie Taylor. Mr. mayor, board of Commissioners, appreciate you being up here. Jamie Taylor, public Services
assistant director, looking for approval on task order for a Parks and Rec master plan at the cost of $248,500. Okay,
let's go to questions. I'll start it off. So, Mr. Taylor, I think we went over some questions together this morning. So I'd like to just reiterate
them. First of all, is this plan paid for. So this funds are available in the penny fund to be utilized for the plan. Okay. Does the other question
is why are we doing this. There's a lot of different reasons and positive outcomes that will come of this master plan. A few things just to start on that is one, it's
identified in our comprehensive plan. It calls for a Parks and Rec master plan to identify and detail out how we're going to move forward with our parks,
recreation services and amenities, facilities and land. And then it's also another item in our sustainability plan talks about preservation of our
lands that we do have, and that will be part of the master plan as well. Some of the really excellent outcomes, in my opinion, are it provides us a
roadmap to move forward in a comprehensive look. It's not just piecemealing one study of an area and a different study of a different area. It gives us a broad look at everything that we can do and then also
implementation strategy and funding mechanisms to put that plan in action. Okay. And another question is why is this
best served by having it done by an outside party versus in-house staff? So with half associates or any other outside party, we get a professional
and unbiased opinion. You know, in my opinion I would like x, Y or Z. But this will take a broad look at it from different professionals who have
different aspects of whether it be the sustainability viewpoint or connectability, or the levels of service within recreation or our park acres
that we have per capita and all those different data points. And they will collect all that information and present us with pretty much the best practice
moving forward with that and without a bias opinion in it. Are they going to are we going to be looking for sources of
funding? Yes. Outside sources of funding. Yes. So that's detailed in the scope as part of I believe it's phase five, I think, to help with implementing these capital projects and moving forward
towards the future. So where would these sources come from? You know, it could be anywhere from local, state or federal grant money. There's a aspect of talking about private
partnerships that we could utilize. And, you know, other just grants that may that they may know about and be able to also pinpoint which ones that will be successful and what
aspects and what details we should include or how they cater to our specific needs here in Tarpon Springs. Will there be public input on this plan? Extensive community
outreach with throughout the plan that would include meeting with different residents throughout the community. That would include public engagement throughout the year, and then
also looking for input from not only city staff, but commissioners as well. And really a full 360 view of what is needed and wanted from the citizens. Give them the
opportunity to put their stamp on what happens in the future as well is, you know what we none of us want is a plan where we spend this kind of money and
it just gets put on a shelf is do you believe that this is a plan that can be acted upon? Yes. I think that identification of funding,
prioritization of different projects, that really gives us that that concrete roadmap and work plan, instead of just pie in the sky aspects. Okay. Thank
you, Commissioner Banther. Thank you. The mayor covered all my questions. Jamie, I thank you for, for for for meeting with me today and giving me an updated tour of
the rec center. I think it has a lot. I think it has a lot of potential. And I'm in full support of this plan and it is my goal as we discussed, I hope it points out the need for a lot of our improvements needed
in Dorset Park in areas of the town that I think can benefit most from, from recreational facilities. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner De Donato. Yes, I just want to thank Jamie for the time that we had spent
together on this issue. And I go back a ways, as some of you know, and some of the projects are near and dear to my heart, and it would be nice to see those further enhanced. And I believe they can be. And we
talked about that as well. And and knowing that the study is actually already not only needed, but is, is is budgeted as our mayor, accountant, mayor is not just a running mayor,
accounting, mayor. And he's asked that question. So we know that we can go forward with this. And I think putting everything together, I believe in my talk. I told you, Jamie, that it was roughly 30
something percent. I went back only 22% of our square foot. In Tarpon is park space, which is still higher than anybody else
around us. And I, for one, am very proud of that. And I think we've been blessed with this. And we need to to enhance and take care of what we've been given. So thank you very much,
sir. Thank you. Commissioner. Yes, thanks. And I was able to speak with Jamie and Caroline on Monday. I'm still very skeptical about it. As we talked about, I've provided
backup that there has been studies before on some major parks, you know, including that mayor's landfill. And I just wanted to verify with Jamie and staff. You guys all had a good
chance to look at that document that had been produced back in 2012 regarding the mayor's landfill. Yes, I did thoroughly review that. Yes, sir. Okay.
And regarding there's the very, very last attachment says TSP landfill feasibility proposal on this page. It shows all these different potential grant opportunities with either
sports foundations or developers or. Other funding sources from, you know, from other parts of the country or just, you know, overall in
general. Were you guys able to see that? Yes, sir. So my my follow up question is, do you have any history of staff or even anybody even following up
to try to look for this plan or see it through back from 2012? Not to my knowledge. So you know, we I'm going to see how
this is going to go, but I'm going to include some amendments to include in the scope of work because I as much as staff is saying macro, I think we're thinking micro.
There's a lot of money to be spent. And when I hear it's coming from the penny funds, that's another reason why I don't even want to support it. The penny funds are very crucial aspect, and I guess
they either, you know, fund all the vehicles for the police or fire department or some other things and also helps pay for some of these other projects that we've had to find out to
do. So there's a lot of information there for us to be able to work on. I'm not expecting staff to, you know, have this completed in a year. You know, if we don't approve this, they can take their time
because some of these properties are years on out. And, you know, I'm not sure when we sit there and talk about an approach on a, on a macro level, what we're exactly
looking at to do for our recreation in this community. So I'll wait to see where else everybody going. But I'm not supporting it at this time. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank
you. Mayor. You know, this was an interesting topic because last, last time I walked in here for the part one, in my
head, I kind of didn't have any adverse issues with it at the time. Commissioner said brought up points that, of course,
prompted my thinking differently. I did ask, you know, I want to thank you, Jamie, for the meeting and everybody else that was there,
because truly, you did answer all of the questions that I had. And the main question that you really are coming up with is that it's an unbiased opinion.
And that, I think, is where you're going to change my negativity to positive, because as the commissioner speaks about which I understand his
thinking, we do need to update, even if we've done a, you know, a investigation and a proposal prior, we have to update that to get a different view. The
world is very different. You know, every two, three, four years. So I don't really want to have the commission doing their opinion or your opinion,
even though I'm not disrespecting either. I just want to have I love a unbiased opinion, so I will support it
this time. I, I said, I'm listening to the mayor, who pretty much touch base with all the questions that I had in my head, and I'm glad he brought it all up because he's, you
know, for TV land. They got to hear all of the questions answered. And I'm not, you know, taking anything away from your questions as well. They're all still good questions, but I
will support it because like I said, it's it's we need to have an outside view. I was when when you were speaking about that, I was visualizing a helicopter viewing all of
Tarpon Springs, which is what it's about. It's a lot of money. But in the realm of things, we need to have that. We need to have that. Otherwise we're
we're a, a a rudderless ship. And I don't want that. So I will support it. Thank you. Okay. So let's go to public
comments. Is there any public comments on this item Austin. No sir. There are no hands up. Okay. Let's come back to the
board. I'd like to entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Okay. With that, let's go to commissioner comments. Let me let me start off one is that
first of all the the the study is required per the our comprehensive plan. So we know that that is the case. I know
about the study with the landfill that was done some years ago, but I'm not even sure that I best of my knowledge, the landfill is years away from being used. Is
that correct? I believe about four years out. Yeah. So so that study is not really applicable at this point
because we can't act on it. The and I, I, I'm interested you know I, I was concerned about the money and you know I brought that up several times
to you Jamie and also at at, at with the rest of the staff and the city manager. It is a lot of money for the study. I know,
I, you know, we're if if we could do it in house and be as thorough I you know I but I don't think we can we don't have the staff right now. We've got a lot of projects going on,
a lot of activities to do. If we put it on staff, it's going to have to. The ball is going to get kicked on this and then we're not going to get the the study done in, in any
reasonable time. And and like the vice mayor said, the independence and objectivity of having it done by an independent third party, because we have, you know, so many things, we get a lot of
things thrown at us by residents, whether it's water, slide parks, whether I got we I think we all got the email about a bocce courts. I mean,
all those things are, are, you know, we want to take them serious, but we don't want to just ad hoc start, you know, just voting on little individual items without some
kind of comprehensive strategy to what we're doing here. So I think it's going to be useful and helpful. So, Commissioner Banther, yes, thank you. One of the things I pointed out on my
tour with Jamie today, and we'll see if this is part of the study or down the road on a on a budget item. But I'd really like us to expand the, the, the weight room there. I'm
a gym rat, as everybody knows, and I grew up with a total fitness, you know, like weight room back in the day. And I think, you know, we have the more the more people, especially young men, that we
can get off the streets and into our rec facilities and exercising and working out the better. So I'd like to maybe when we review this a plan and when we decide based off what
the findings are, how we're going to move forward, I do want to put I do want to look at it specifically in the eyes of our youth and seeing how we can expand our recreational facilities for them. But
especially passionate to me is the weight room in there. And I would like to, when we have the funds or we can get, you know, grants or whatever, but, you know, offer more of a, you know, wait, wait, wait weightlifting
training, training facility for people in town for, for for youth especially that can't afford a membership elsewhere. So I was very impressed overall. And I look forward to to the
study. Thank you, thank you, Commissioner DiDonato. I basically expressed that I was really blessed and I think that the landfill is is is four
years out, but it may take 2 or 3 years just to come up with what we're going to do there. Because I know originally when we talked about the landfill, it was talked about putting football fields and soccer
fields and, and, and little league fields and all kinds of stuff out there. Well, now we've gotten some of those already. So it needs to be looked at and ideas of what to
do with it. So thank you for that. And I look forward to see what comes back. Thank you, Commissioner Coleus. Yeah I've I've been around for four years. Enough to see that these
consultants and whatever they do, if they're going to come in here and I want you to stress it to them, they're going to come in here and just grab 100 people in the room and click items one through four on the
screen and just say, oh, you know, that's not going to cut it for this community. And neither is just 180 people on Tarpon Connect. So we don't get out to reach thousands of thousands of people in this community. I don't care what
consultant does. That master plan is a failure. And so I'm being very straightforward on that. And we've seen enough consulting that they keep it as simple as possible. And those
small, you know, groups with, you know, the most vocal people. And so I want it done. Right. I'd like to make sure that in this scope, if it needs to be
amended or whatnot, a third boat ramp with great grant sources is identified. Stadium seating around Spring Bayou for potential big festivals, purchasing Fred Howard for
recreation, festival and events with grant funding opportunities. A detailed analysis of Stauffer Chemical site once and for all, and the Mayor's Landfill site for
recreation services with Grant. I'm not going to support it unless all that's included in the scope for detailed analysis, Vice Mayor so, as I said, we
need an unbiased opinion. And, you know, as I'm sitting up here, I just said it to the city manager and I'm not being disrespectful, but, you know, somebody has this wish, this
wish and that wish. That's why we need to go outside. But in retrospect, listening to Commissioner speaking, I've been to all of pretty much all
the main streets, all the brandings and and truthfully, he makes a good point because we spend this money and we get ten people, 12 people and the
most vocal people in town and it's, you know, connect. Tarpon is everything. I want a merry go round. And and I don't mean this disrespectful, but you know, everybody's got a wish
and everybody's got an idea. So I don't know if there is a way to insist that the people that are going to do this survey can
get a cross section of an X amount of people. Can we instill that, that if because if we do get a minimal amount, as been said, and I've seen it
with my own eyes and it's disappointing, I got to tell you, you know, you go to these meetings and, you know, city managers there, I'm there. Sometimes the mayor's there. You get and I could go through
the list of the people with my eyes closed of the town people. But I want to have more of a cross section. So I don't know whether we can do a mailing
through the water department or, you know, I don't know, but part of that money has to be utilized to get the people's opinions of what if you're
going to use that as as a guide, of course. Because like I said, we all have opinions. I could sit here and give you my opinion. I'm going to stay neutral until I see what is
given to you, you know, and then I can go from there. But we need to have a minimal amount of people in order to
make it a viable survey. That's my statement. Okay. So we do. We have we had a motion. Do we have a motion? We do, we do.
Okay. Is anyone willing to amend the include the scope of work. That way these detailed things don't go lost or forgotten because they're not my ideas. Their ideas have been
talked about for years on end, as well as historic, has historically have happened before. So I appreciate it. So who did did I do this motion or I think I believe I did the
motion I'm always happy to amend. I just want to in the spirit of of what the vice mayor says of, of of it being an unbiased opinion, I would hesitate as I'm not going to
put a new, you know, like, you know, weight room in there, like, you know, I might intend to put in the motion specifics like that because ultimately we have control of the study. When it comes back, we are in charge.
It's not like the study happens. And then that's what happens. No, the study assist us in making our decisions. So and I and I agree with most of your list I do. But I think that's
best. I think all of our personal opinions and wants and desires, which I think are important because we are pretty plugged into to the town here that comes in when we when we review the study and make the
action plan for it. I'd rather keep, you know, personal wish list out out out out out out of the motion of this time. Okay. All right. With that said, the
motion is not amended. Roll call please. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. Donato. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. No. Vice mayor. Eisner. Yes, yes. Thank
you, thank you, thank you. Okay, let's go to item number 12. Approved. Change order for Penn Street and Gross Avenue. Drainage and roadway
improvements. Mr. Robertson. Thank you. Mayor. Hi, I'm Bob Robertson, project administration department director, for this item. We're asking the board to approve a final change order for the Penn
Street Gross Avenue stormwater improvement project. I say final because we are finally approaching the end of this project. After nearly five and a half years. We're bringing
this project to a close by the end of next month. In fact, final concrete work is being completed this week. Sidewalks, curbs, etc. and we're tentatively we've got a paving
final paving scheduled to be completed before Thanksgiving. In this change order, we are reconciling additional work against credits and refunds for materials and work that we
didn't need. As I'm sure you recall, and for the public's benefit, this project was originally awarded to another contractor who abandoned the project less than halfway through, leaving behind a lot
of work that needed to be redone and for which we received $1 million settlement check. So while we did our best to estimate the quantities before awarding the job to the
second contractor, that's Keystone excavators, it was difficult to estimate all the quantities that were ultimately going to be needed to finish the job and get it done right. So that's what this final reconciliation is all about.
The net change we're requesting is $771,633.70. That's an increase of 14.6% over the current contract value. This
change would be divided between five funding accounts. Most notably, nearly a third of it would be allocated to funds that were accumulated as interest earnings on the
American Rescue Plan, Arpa grant money that had previously been unallocated. So thanks to Ron for helping sort through that. I have provided every
line item in your backup that was included in this change order so you can see which items were credits and which ones were additional work for the additional work. I'd summarize it this way the
majority, over 86% was for enhancements extra paving, sidewalk, curb, driveways, Ada ramps, etc. details are all in the backup, but I'd be happy to
expand on that if you need me to. And finally, with the finish line of this project around the corner, and kind of in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to take just a second to express some gratitude to the
board, city managers, past and present, city attorneys, past and present, multiple city departments, and most importantly, to the residents who have been more than patient as we have worked our way
through this very challenging project. So with that mayor, that concludes my staff report and I'm happy to answer any questions. Okay. Let's go to commissioner questions. I'll go
first. And it's I know it's in the backup. I just want to make it clear of the $771,000 of the change order. How much of that
is a add on items versus overage? About 86%. 86% of it is additional things that came up. So those things that came
up, they were they kind of unforeseen at the at the on the the inception of the project or did they kind of evolve you just yeah, a lot of it was and
some of it was underestimations on our part. We had to make our best estimate before our next for the for the second contractor to come in. And I'm not in favor of estimating really large and creating what
you might call a slush fund and a contract, I'd rather underestimate it and then work through the quantities and reconcile it at the end. So that's been my approach. I appreciate that because I think
that's more again, it brings it, it's more transparent. It comes before us. Yes. So I know we had this conversation this morning of and I know I didn't
ask you a number, but we have a litany of projects that go on throughout the city, right? Yes. Over the course of a year. Just give me an idea of how many projects you have, small and
large. I'm managing somewhere around 30 to 40 projects at any given time. Okay. And and so how many of those have you had to come to the board for
changes? I think probably two. Okay. So so you know, I know you're in the unenviable position of when you show up
here, it's, you know, you're like sometimes you feel like you have egg on your face, right? Like, okay, I got to go. But most of the projects don't come before us because there
are they are on budget and everything's on schedule and it works through. Right? That's right. Okay. So I just want the residents because they I think they only see you coming here
saying the projects got a problem and we need more money. They don't they don't see the ones that don't need money because you don't show up for that. Because you don't have to come here. Correct. Right. I
just want to make it clear for everybody. Thank you. So you're welcome, Commissioner Banther. I don't have any questions. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner DiDonato. No additional questions, Commissioner. Yes. No. I just
appreciate Bob and his staff for what they do to try to do everything they can. There's a lot of unforeseen changes. And, you know, we have an old city, a lot of old pipes and road
work and stuff. So this can happen and I'll just make my comments in the end. But I'm definitely going to support this. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you. So I need to rehash a couple of
things because as you know, Bob, I've spoken to you all through this project. So when you we start off with a supposed million dollar project and we
bite into that beautiful red apple and we wind up where it's rotten in the core, and they walk and they just disappear, then you have to wait almost
two years to get, hopefully not into litigation and into some sort of settlement with the bonding company. And the bonding company knows they have you sort of by the short hairs
as well, because they know you want to settle. Otherwise you go to court and everything becomes much more expensive, which it did any which way. But at least we didn't have to lose the time. So these are the
tough decisions that you have to make. And you know, Janina has to make as well. You never know when that apple is going to be rotten on the inside. I just feel terrible that it
started off as $1 million, and it goes to $6 million. But a good lesson to learn is to get things done while the price is on the lower side. And that's
what we just had to do when we borrowed that money, the 19.3 million. Because who knows what could happen down the road. I know that some there was
discussion when the first contractor was doing it. There weren't in place enough rocks underneath the and I'm going to get technical. There weren't enough rocks underneath these.
The stormwater drains and these drains were giving us would have given us problems of having to tear the road up again had he continued with the
project, which I don't think anybody said. So it's not. So to answer the mayor's question about having to redo when Keystone came in, they had to
redo almost everything that the first contractor did and got paid of paid for. Correct. Quite a lot of it. Yes, sir. Yes. So what was done was done incorrectly, and we would have
had the whole thing done incorrectly if he stayed on. So it's a blessing. Silver lining. Well, you know, sometimes, you know, what can I say. So I did
want to make the commission know. And the people that are listening in that it was a blessing. The Keystone took it over and they corrected everything. And some of the cost overruns were finding, you
know, the project was done to be stormwater. But when you open that up, you find rotted water feeds that feed people's homes. You have to replace all
that. So isn't that what a lot of the money went towards? Yes, yes. Okay. So it's it's unfortunate that it went from 1 million to 6 million, but it's a blessing that we got it done
right. And it's a good lesson to learn for when we go forward and have to open up brick roads and whatnot that are 140 some odd years old. And, you know,
it's it's, you know, the residents and the board have to know when we get into these projects, sometimes there is you need to have somewhat of a slush fund. And, you know, the
egg on your face is not just egg on your face. It's the egg that we found in the roads that nobody could foresee. And it just has to be replaced because it's silly to just, you know,
put a blinder on your eyes and say, okay, we don't see it. You have to fix it when you're there. So I do thank you for it. I know this made you lose whatever's left of your hair.
When we started, I really did it was. It was probably a nightmare in itself. So thank you. And I know it was a lot of sleepless nights. Thank you, vice Mayor. Appreciate you what
you've done. Thank you. Okay, let's go to public comment. Any public comments on this item? Austin? No, sir. There are no hands up. Thank you. I'd like
to come back to the board for a motion. So moved second, and let's have any further conversation. I just want to say that Bob, I appreciate. I
know that this has given you agony for the last several weeks, and and but that says something about you, okay? The fact that you care and that you want to do a good job and
you're. I know it's not your fault, but I know you wear that. So I appreciate that. Thank you very much. So it says a lot about you, Commissioner Banther. No, sir. Thank you,
Commissioner DiDonato. Sir. Commissioner coleus, I just want to thank Bob, but. But I do want the citizens to know that, you know, we have another $240,000 coming out of the pension fund this year. So
we've had two items and, you know, five, ten minutes that have wiped out literally 10% of our pension fund for this year, plus the other debts that we have an obligations. And I
don't remember seeing that other master plan as part of the budget when we were going over it within the 2026 pension plan. So the water sewer funds
are up 25 grand. They're paying 25 grand from two different sources from there. Okay. The stormwater fund is paying 240,000, and there's only every year about 350 to $400,000 left
every year from the stormwater funds. So this change order has wiped away our natural more than half of what would be available in the storm funds without the increases. So I just wanted to make that clear
moving forward that, you know, something needed, but it's coming at a big cost in several departments. Thank you. Vice Mayor. I agree with everything
that was just said. The only problem is you can't foresee what's underneath the ground. And unfortunately, these things
just they bear a brunt. That's all you can say. I hope that, you know, we we look into things better. We could look into, you know, I've spoken to
actually Janina and yourself about possibly even holding them more liable in bigger bonds in all of that. But again,
there's only so much you can do. You still, it was a tough time. For four years we had runaway inflation. And you know, that was a huge issue that set off
this to start with. And again, you know you never can tell. Everybody offers you that shiny red apple until they get to work. And, you know, for whatever reason, we don't know
actually, even the reason why he walked or she walked or wherever it was, but they walked. And then, you know, the project goes astray. And, you know, for 2 or 3 years, the
inflation goes through the roof and, you know, who knows. So it is what it is. And this is what a city has to sometimes take on
the chin. Thank you. Okay. With that said roll call, please. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. Yes,
vice mayor. Eisner. Yes, mayor. Yes. Okay. Item number 13. Downtown sponge docks. Shuttle service, discussion and direction. Vice mayor, this is
yours. We get a good one this time. I want to see smiling faces up here. I got you on a time limit, Mike. Okay? Come on. I got to get you out before 730.
The only thing is, I did tell him I would like you to on the inaugural trip. On this this bus, you have to drive all of us for the inaugural trip around. That's a that's a deal.
All right, there you go. You heard that? It's on tape. Okay, so we discussed golf carts, jitneys, whatever you want to call it. But in the last just
before the budget, and I know we were all concerned that we have money, didn't we have money? But, you know, while everybody up here knows that we get the comment from people and
residents that we want to be more like Dunedin, we want to be more like New Port Richey. We want to be like we want to be like, we want to be like, but we want to be like tarpon.
And what we need for tarpon is to work with the businesses that need help. And right now, you know, the Sponge Docks needs help. Tarpon Avenue needs
help. And this is for Sue Swenson. And down further, even south, it needs help. We need to connect all of the businesses through a shuttle
system. So what? I proposed to the city manager is to get to for us to purchase two of these and to possibly get retired. Gentleman like, could be in the
back over there on the left side as a driver. I won't mention his name, Tim Kefalas, but and you know what? Honestly, I even made the comment and
I'll make it on tape that I would love to do this myself. I think it's it would be a great attribute to have city commissioners, and I'm not
pushing anybody else to do this, but I want to be there to drive that and, and explain to people why I want them to spend the money in our town. And you know,
who better can explain that? But people that are here donating their time, you know, we don't earn a lot of money, but we do this because we love
the town. So these vehicles, I believe I saw it cost $35,000. I know in the backup I saw $41,000. So you're referring to
really you're talking about under $100,000? I don't think it would be a lot of money to for insurance purposes. And,
you know, as far as in New Port Richey, I know they do eight stops. Again, I would look to the board's approval for what we would like to do or input,
like, would we just want to make four stops? Eight stops. I would also like to ask if possibly somebody in town has
drank too much, would we want to include bringing them back to the house so they wouldn't get stopped by the police? I mean, I'm not talking about on a regular basis. I'm talking
about, you know, having a system where somebody can, you know, choose at least to be driven home, you know, rather than take that risk getting
behind the wheel of the car. Now, of course, if they make that choice, I would be charging them. Otherwise, I don't think we should be charging working, just plain
for tips. Unless again, I'm looking for advice and ideas on how we could move forward, but I really think it would be advantageous to get this going.
Going between Tarpon Avenue and and the sponge docks and even traveling down as far as mirrors, you know, so, you know,
wherever we're trying to do another. CRA area. And this would really bring everything together. So if there's any
input, I would love to hear what my fellow commissioners have to say. So this is a just discussion and direction. So
let me start off the. Austin. Do you have the video queued up okay. Downtown New Port Richey
is thriving and this is the best way to get around the downtown area. Roundabout trolley or Dart is totally free. It's an 11 passenger, Ada accessible electric ride that makes eight stops so you can
hop on and hop off to explore downtown restaurants, shops, breweries, bars, attractions and events. No need to circle for a spot or melt in the heat. I parked at the free New Port
Richey garage off US 19 in main, waited at the trolley stop sign and a driver rolled up in no time. I got off to check out all the vendors at NPR, fourth Friday and After hours art show at the library. Live music at
the Hacienda Hotel. There are tons of places to grab a bite and a drink downtown, too, and you don't have to end your night early. Dart runs five to midnight Thursday through Saturday and noon to six on Sundays. Tag a friend who needs
to see what's happening in downtown New Port Richey and make plans to ride this weekend.
Okay. Any more? Yeah. All right. Okay, so. I don't think we need tonight to talk about where it goes and where it stops and who's driving it and all that
stuff. I think that this is a I'm in favor of moving forward with. This project. I think it should be given back to the
city manager to work on, you know, is this going to have to go before the CRA? Right. It's going to be a CRA issue. It come back to the CRA with, you know, the cost and and and then
we can get into, you know, what it actually does and where it goes and all those kind of things. But I'm I'm definitely in favor of it. So but I don't think we need to get into those
micro details tonight. Commissioner Banther. Yes. Thank you. With the exception of the vice mayor driving the vehicles, I'm in full support. If you want to have at it, Mike.
But I think it's a great idea. I like it better than the original one that was proposed earlier in the year, when it was the one that Dunedin uses. I think they have a they have a service they use. I like this
because we can control it, set the routes if it what, what what do we have to lose if it doesn't work? We just stop doing it right and sell the vehicles. But I think it's I think this go around this, this
is going to be successful. And I think it's a good idea. So I'm I'm in support. Commissioner Donato, I too can go along with this concept. I there's a lot of some things that we don't know the exact cost and how we're going to do
it and those things. But I agree with the mayor that we can discuss that later. But I think this is a viable concept, more so than maybe the last one, even though that was viable too. This was money at the time, but
I'm in favor of going forward. Yes, Commissioner. Cool. Yes, yes. No, I'm in full support. I think this is a great opportunity. I want to make sure that at least these vehicles are at least the size,
the sizes. As mentioned, we can can move 11 people at a time. It's good to move that amount of people. I would ask for an aggressive date for it to come back for us to, to be reviewed.
I mean, as soon as December 1st for us to make a decision somewhere around there, because we got to time this out right a little bit before the the season so we could really get a
good picture of this. And so as soon as possible the better. Okay. So do you need a, do we need a vote on this or consensus is a consensus I have
a consensus to bring back because this is a CRA decision and expenditure. It's it is in the plan. So it's an authorized expenditure. And we'll get that information as quickly as we
can and bring it to you for your for your approval. Okay. So with that said that's our last item. Let's go to board and staff comments. Chief thank
you sir. And thank you for recognizing our veterans. I do want to remind everybody next Tuesday, November 11th at 11 a.m. down at Craig Park will be
the city's celebration of Veterans Day down in the park there. So invite everybody to please come out. Thank you.
City Attorney. Nothing here. Thank you, Mr. Evans, for helping us tonight. Absolutely. Thank you for having me, mayor. Okay. City manager. Yeah, I just want to note, really,
speaking to Commissioner Cooley's comments about his interest in changes to the scope or what's included. It's very important to me that that the consult our consultants always talk to you all. So
that's what we set up. The branding consultants, one on one. You can tell them what you're thinking. I want to do the same thing with the master plan for the CRA. And this plan, the recreation plan will be no
different. You'll be able to sit down with them and talk about the things that are important to you and what needs to be included. Because in the end, you know, we always struggle with citizen participation. At the end of
the day, you five were picked to represent everybody and we have to fall back to that. Sometimes we just can't get we'll we'll go out and we'll hold those things at churches if we have to, at synagogues,
at the rec center, wherever we do, to try to add the numbers. But at the end of the day, we're going to look to you all to talk to your constituents and then tell us and give us that final thing. So that's
always important to me, and we're going to keep doing that going forward as well. Thank you sir. Thank you, city Clerk I have no comments. Thank you. Okay. Commissioner Banther yes.
Thank you. I want to first thank Mrs. Weaver for our little midnight snacks here. Thank you. It's always nice to have a sweet treat when you go home after a meeting. So thank
you I appreciate that. Also say congrats to our mayor who did his race. How was it like 26. You said 26.2. That's about 26 more than run. So yeah, I'm
very impressed. So we're all very proud of you. And I like that you had that running mayor T-shirt. I always think that's cool. And we can represent Tarpon Springs. So I just want to let everybody know. I thought it was private funds,
sir. I'm sorry, but I'm glad it's approved. So also, I told the city manager this my family, we're going to go back to Ireland in January. And as I have in the past, when I've gone back as an elected
official, I'm going to have a meeting with the Lord Mayor of Dublin. They're actually very easy to meet with. And I encourage all of you when you when you travel, like there's lots of opportunities like that. And Dublin City Council's
always been very nice and I'm going to meet with the with their Lord mayor and give him a key to the city and a proclamation that we will read in January. So that will be at,
at the, at the, at the end of January. And then for this trip, we're taking our youngest daughter with us. So so so she can experience that. So it's going to be a cool thing. So I appreciate the commission being
being being in being in being in being in like you know like in support of that. So, so so I do thank you. Thank you Commissioner De Donato. Well, I
would like to congratulate the mayor and his medal too. It's very impressive actually. They should put it up. Up in the trophy case up there because it is very impressive. And I did
the 26.2 miles with you. And I was really, really exhausted the next day. So I can imagine you were as well. I'm just, just excited about the things
that we're we're talking about doing now. I, I feel more and more accomplishment as far as things going. I'm very appreciative to to staff. I
know sometimes things don't always go quite as smooth as you want them to go, but but the fact is, your perseverance,
it's going to get done and it's going to get like. Vice mayor said, it will be done correctly hopefully this time rather than we find out totally after the
fact. So I thank you. And I know it's a running 30 to 40 projects at any one time. It's a difficult matter. So I appreciate you, sir. And just
happy to see fall get here. I it seems to change everybody's attitude and outlooks and I'm proud of our city. And just thank you very much for being
here. Thank you Commissioner. Thank you mayor. Congratulations on the marathon. Thank you brother. I can run about 10% of what you can run five K together. What's my
ankle gets better. Yeah, right. Because we got that one coming up at Saint Nicholas. Oh yeah. Yeah. But yeah there's it's fall season holiday seasons coming up. The greatest right
here in the city of Tarpon Springs. There's a lot of cool events coming up this weekend. I just want to highlight the ribbon cutting for Discovery Playground. It's very anticipated to so be something
great. And there's a lot of other events to this weekend. So everyone enjoy. Thank you. Thank you Vice Mayor. So I don't know what a big deal is of 26 miles. I do that on my
bike almost every other day. I mean, come on. I mean, that's not a big deal. No, all joking aside, it is impressive. Especially someone of your age.
But I joke with you. I think, you know, it's it's an accomplishment. And that's the best accomplishment. You know, especially, you know, you said
you had it was not an easy event. You, you know, you were hurting a little bit there. So and just the work up to be prepared for it along with
being a mayor is, is that's not an easy task. So I commend you for that. I do want to thank Lori for making me fatter than I am now. I always thank you
that for that, I appreciate it. I did also want to bring up that not everybody knows this, but I am pretty much at every event that goes on in the city
because I don't have another job. So it's either catered to my wife or be at these events, but that's not the reason I'm bringing it up. At every one of
these events, I want you to know your city manager is there as well, so he's at every single event that I see. It's it's rare to not see him at an
event that the city puts on. And that is a I take my hat off to you. You have a lot of energy. You're firing on all cylinders. I don't know how many cylinders you got, but
you're firing on all of them. So it's just good to see. Thursday is the Sunset Beach concert. Nobody has to go. I'm taking care of it. As usual. I
will pat myself on the back. You're welcome, Mr. Banther. Thank you. I enjoy I enjoy a crowd of people clapping when I stand up there. Anyway, so you
know, we know so. And yes, we do have I see, I have my wife laughing. She knows too. Yes. So. Well, she married me and she knew what she, what she was
getting into. So we do have the seafood festival coming up this weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And at the same time we have First Friday. So it's going to be a little bit
different. We kind of really could use that, you know, golf cart because for this to go back and forth, you know, I know there's going to be people going, where is that other. Oh
you thought there was a seafood festival here, but it isn't. It's over there. I also wanted to end this by saying, as everybody else up here spoke,
our staff is the best. They really are. You know, it's not easy to run a city as we all have tenure up here. That's one
thing. And we all know there's a lot of moving parts in running a city. And you win some and you lose some. But it's just it's it's a lot of
work to try to make things run smoothly. So I do want to thank the staff as well as I want to thank the city manager for having his Monday meeting and
having all the people contribute to their thoughts and ideas. It makes people feel like it's family and it is, so it's good to have that feedback.
Whether it could be good, bad or indifferent, but you know, you get a warmth from knowing that people care about what you do. So I just want to thank the
staff. They do a great job. I've gotten very few negative comments regarding the city of lately, and I'm pretty sure if I don't get it, you guys haven't gotten it either. So
and that's a good sign because there's very little that I have to call up the city manager and say, hey, so and so said this or and you know, that's an oddity. So all have a good week.
And yes, I will cover Sunset Beach for you all. Thank you, thank you everyone. I too would like to thank Miss Weaver for the goodies. I always appreciate goodies. Thank you very much. And I'd like to also
I meant to do it the first time around, but it's rare in a city where you have the young brothers as your leaders for the police and fire. That's an extremely rare, rare event, but
it's even more rare to have three different looking city managers in the sight of one week. I mean, last Wednesday we had one city manager, last Friday we had a different city
manager, and tonight we have yet again a different looking city manager, all in the same body but just different. So I mean we're tarpon is is is a different special place. So
thank you I'm a chameleon manager. You said you wanted to I did I forgot to mention we are having a workshop. I think it's the 13th on the Forbes property agreement. And I just want opportunity. We've kind of
put together something for the we're working through with the applicants. And we want you all to express your desires and to mold that document. So when we come back for a vote at a
meeting, we've kind of worked through the issues and we have something we can agree on. The other thing also in the master plan is identified, I believe it's five catalyst sites. So
there there are some of them we own. Some of them are private where we we put a development and try to spur a seed or how we like things to grow. So I've told them I want the commission's input on that so
we don't put something in there that kind of kills the whole thing because, you know, they weren't they weren't thinking right about tarpon. So I want to set up I'll set up a date with you all in the weeks to
come, to go through those. You may have seen them if you went in the public meetings. I have asked staff to reschedule another public input meeting because that one was poorly attended. But I want you all to
give us direction on those sites so we don't put something in there. You know, one is the bayou property. To really settle the question, what do you want to see happen on the Bayou property? And so we can move forward with a plan that
that we're going to be happy with. Same thing with, as the branding consultants are, are narrowing down to half a dozen or so icons, logos. And I want to bring them to you in a
workshop setting where you, you get to whittle them down so you really have ownership of what we what we have in the end, like, you helped us make that call. We're not saying sort of a ta da moment. What do you
think of this? And then and then nobody likes it. So we'll be I'll be looking for dates from y'all or sending out dates to the afternoon sessions. Work around your schedules to make those decisions. Thank you,
thank you Laurie, thank you very much for all the. Laurie is such a multi-talented person.
She bakes. She she has kilns at her house where she creates all these. Pottery. Yeah. Yes,
ma'am. The boss is talking back there. She's talking to you, not me. So, you know. So she makes these things. She made me this beautiful little helmet,
which is mine. I get to take it with me when I. When I leave office. I already got it marked that barcode. Yeah, I got the barcode on it, but but she. No, she really is and I appreciate
you know and and she's exemplifies, you know, everything about what makes our town special. You know, I was talking with Jordan today
upstairs about, you know, he was just asking me for some insight on, on the community and such. And, you know, we've we've always talked about, you know, you know, my father was
born here in 1915. Okay. So that's 110 years ago, but I wasn't born here, so I was raised somewhere else. And then I came here as a young adult.
So I have a different perspective than he had. And then you've got, you know, like Commissioner, Vice Mayor Eisner, you know, who came here 13, 14,
15 years ago and jumped into the city and got involved in rotary and all kinds of stuff, and, and and you're doing the same thing. You came into the community and, and you want to
make an impact. And that's exactly what we want in our town. So like I always say, it doesn't matter if you've been here. Your family's been here a hundred years, ten years or ten months. We're all in the same
boat together, and we want everybody to be involved and you really exemplify that. So I want to thank you so much for and and also for your
friendship as well. So and you know, so yes, your campaign supporter manager back there. So you know, you know, and
going back to these items that we have general disagreement on, you know, I, I've said that and I mean it that, you know, none of us have an exclusive on
what's right and wrong. Okay, we all have different opinions, but wherever we can compromise, wherever we can find some some way to get as close as we can
to A50 vote for one vote. I want to get there because I think it makes for a healthier city. It makes for healthier decisions. So, you know, and,
and, and I want every board member to feel part of this team not like, you know, I know, Commissioner, you've been on the on a different end of
things, but don't think I don't respect that I really do, I really do I'm serious. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, you know, just being patronizing, I really do. And I think that,
you know, it's it creates a, a healthy, you know, environment for our town. And I think the city sees that we're not just a rubber stamping group up here,
that we can sit down collectively, come to some kind of understanding. And if it can get five, oh, that's beautiful. If it can't, I understand. I'm not I'm not naive. But wherever
we can move towards that, I really do want to do that. So you know, so I already said nice things about the vice mayor who has been, you know, I
want to thank he is and I I'm sorry I'm taking up so much time but he you know, you're you've, you know, we haven't always seen eye to eye on
everything over the time we've known each other. But I've really come to respect you a great deal. You always step up.
You have made life easy for me. Because where I can't go, you go. And you're always. You've never said no. And I really
appreciate that. I really do, and I appreciate it to my ego. Yeah. I, you know, it's part of the strategy. Yeah. So. It's
for what I got to say. So you know, and, and as far as the running stuff goes, I know I'm, I know I can be kind of obnoxious and I have, you know,
in, in wore a shirt that said running mayor. You know, I get to get attention and all that stuff. But, you know, God's put us in different in places for, you know, for a reason. Some
and I believe that, you know, I haven't always been a physically fit person. I wasn't you know, I got to really thank
my daughter Joanna for getting me on course. But, you know, I, I've had and not to put a downer on the, on the night but but you know, I have heart
disease in my family and I lost my oldest brother at 56 to a heart attack. You see my brother Tom, he had his first bypass when he was 49 years old,
and my mother passed away at 67 of a heart attack, and I was heading in the same direction, and I was, you know, I was probably, you know, when I ran
my race last week or I, you know, I got down to 165 pounds, but I was up to like 210. I was eating Rolaids like candy all
day long. And I know I was heading in a bad direction. I know I was going to be next. I'm, you know, I'm like the oops baby in my family. So I have a big distance to kind of
see them. And I saw all the things happening. And my daughter Joanna, you know, really saved my life. And she got me thinking about, you know, what I eat and what I do. And
then once I got that kind of health, I, you know, during Covid, I was, you know, stir crazy like everybody else. And I decided to go out and start
walking and then jogging. And then before you know it, I was going far. And because of the way that, you know, she had taught me to eat and live, I
had, you know, I was able to do that. And then now, you know, then I become mayor. I had no real long intentions, you know, again, you know, fate takes you
in different directions. And but I'm here now, and I where I can be, I, I, I know there's, I
know the the general secret, you know to being elderly. I'm 71 years old and I have the ability to run 26 miles. Okay.
It's not a it's not by accident. It you know, it it takes discipline. It takes getting up every day and and and doing something. But I don't expect
everybody to go run marathons. Okay? I mean, I'm, I'm kind of nutty that way, but I don't expect everybody to do that. But I think where I can impress
on somebody to be healthier and if I can inspire anybody and I have this bully pulpit because people seem to pay attention to what I do. I'm going to do that.
So, you know, when I got the shirt and I went and saw the principal and I said, hey, can I wear this shirt, I actually asked the superintendent of schools if I could wear the shirt. And he said, no, you got
to go talk to the principal. I don't have the authority. So she I talked to her. She was all excited. Yeah, wear the shirt. So as a matter of fact, I didn't even it wasn't really a good shirt to wear because I
had never wore it before, and it was doing some crazy things to my body. And it was. And I ain't going to get into all the details on that, but it was not the best shirt to wear. But anyways, I and you know, and
when I made my swearing in speech, I talked about blue zones and being healthy and trying to create a healthy community and all that. And we're working and we're going to work towards that. I'm going to be bringing some stuff to
the board in the next year towards, you know, different initiatives. But a lot of the things we have in the community already, you know, we have a lot of programs for, you know, health. We have yoga classes at the rec center. We have all
kinds of things. A lot of people just don't know about them. And, you know, Mayor Archie had a mayor's fitness challenge that he did. And I'm
I sat with him once and I'm gonna go sit with him again and get pick his brain and find out exactly how he did it and again, be bringing something back to the board about, you know, doing that because I really
believe, you know, we can do those tangible things in the town, like fix streets and, and, you know, do all the stuff we have to do. But, you know, we
need to create wherever we can to create just a healthier town. And, and, and going back to those blue zone things, it's not all. Yes, it is exercise,
but it's just moving, right? It's walking. But that becomes incumbent upon us to create an environment where people can go out and walk. So wherever we can plant a tree so people can
walk in the summer when it's hot, you know, that's going to be imperative upon us to create that environment. Right? And and the same thing with, you know, and the sense of
community. So like on I believe it's November 16th, is it the longest table thing that's coming up November 16th. Right. Yeah. It's on it's on a Sunday.
And that's not even, you know, that's just an organic thing that happened in the community. Right. People. You know, Cody Bracey had an idea to do this. And he started talking to
people and people in downtown and, and then people from all I mean, Linda and her group and, and everybody started to come together to just create this big giant table. So I want
everybody to show up, you know, and go to that. Because, again, that's all part of us bringing our community together, you know, and, and finding we have a lot of common ground. We're
in this thing, this little cocoon together and wherever we can, we're always going to have disagreements as part of the nature. And and they're going to be fiery disagreements, because that's what we are,
especially, you know, in Tarpon Springs. It's we're known for it. But at the end, we're we're all in the same boat. And so let's come together when we can.
And anyways, I'm just rambling on. So with that said, meeting adjourned at 759. We beat this commission. According to the
Mayor of Dublin, I will be there. Enjoy.