love Florida. We love our Tarpon Springs, we love our beaches. We bike ride. We.
Garden. My daughters hunt lizards. So you know when. And then I did. I was a member of
Turn the Tide for Tarpon. So that's how I originally started getting involved in the city of Tarpon Springs. And and I'm
happy to be here. Great. We're so glad to have you. Former. Yes, I am a former teacher for Hillsborough County. Oh, and.
Yeah, middle school. Yes, I enjoyed it. Yeah I did, yes. And then we also have another new member here, Doctor Scally, who is participating as an
observer tonight, as her term does not officially begin until October 1st. So you can introduce yourself tonight if you want to go to that. Yeah. Just go to that podium, Mike,
so we can make sure it gets recorded. Yeah. So. Yeah. Doctor Molina. Scally I've lived in Tarpon for 13 years. Moved here as I was largely
pregnant with my first born, and we fell in love with the community. And, you know, we knew we wanted to raise our family in a smaller town
because I was I spent a lot of my formative years in Alaska where it's very, you know, small and intimate. And I knew that that would be really important for my family. I'm a
local business owner. I have a private practice here in Tarpon. I also co-own a small private gym on Lemon Street, and I
really wanted to start getting involved in the the community and the local government and felt the best way to do that
was a bit of trial by fire to do Citizen's Academy, join a board that I'm, you know, passionate about and see how it works from the inside. So
what's your business that you own? I have a private practice that does psychological Services, Keystone Psychological Services. And so
we do therapy and psychological assessments. And we've been based out of Tarpon for about five years now. Are you a
social tarpon? I am working my way over there. It is definitely. It's been on my radar for a few years. And you know, life gets busy. So now,
you know, my kids are a little bit older. They can be left alone for a few minutes, and I can start to get more involved in the the organizations around here, the nonprofits and and
see what what our business can do to be part of that to. Wonderful. Yeah. Thank you so much for introducing yourself. And welcome to both of you. And again, I'm Holly Langston. I'm
the sustainability coordinator. So I'm the staff liaison. So any you know, questions, contacts, anything like that. You know, I'm the point person. And when you were sworn in, you
both were given all of the sunshine laws, all of those things. But should you have any questions, just let me know. And we can always go over anything that you need. Any you know, refreshers on. So a
little of our own backstories here. Was that Loretta and Dory came to me when turned the tide for Tarpon was starting. They came to my house and asked me to participate in that. And I
think probably the reason was, is that I had been involved with writing a blog, Sustainable Tarpon Springs, which is now the name, fortunately, of our of our plan.
But I had written the blog for a while and been trying to organize people talk with the city manager and her husband when he was a board on the
board of commissioners, and I was really trying to advocate that. We had a sustainability coordinator and that we would develop a plan because we needed to have a vision for the
future. And I felt like we were a little behind the times in trying to get that going. But there was not a big group to
get it off the ground. And I think that that's why what Dory was thinking when she formed turned the tide with Loretta, was that it would be good to
have a little bit of a political action group so that we could move this forward and be coming to the commission
meetings as a unit, you know, because when they asked me when I was in that meeting, how many a part of your group? Well, it's just it's just me. And I'm
writing a blog because I came I had moved here from Seattle in 2012, and the Seattle area was was pretty ahead of the curve
as far as sustainability went. They had, you know, a no. Zero waste policy in the city. And there was a lot of recycling, a lot of composting, creating
energy from compost and people's, you know, were minimizing trash because they didn't want to have to ship it. Ha. You know, so it was a and I
was involved in a company where we were very much aware of good stewardship was Rei. It was outdoor retail. And and if you didn't take good care of the
environment, there was nothing to go out and have recreation. And so I was part of the green team there. And I've just been
passionate about the planet for my whole life. So that's how I ended up here. And so. I've
lived in Tarpon about eight, moved from Saint Pete and lived there for 15 years. And I have
a. But I have left that and for, I don't know, almost 30 years artist and I collaborate with an artist Stackhouse and we
make art about the environment and climate change and ways to mitigate. And we speak under my
okay. And we we show in museums and have yeah light has to be green okay. It was great. No,
no, it wasn't right. Yeah. And we get commissioned to do we do big sculpture. We do paintings, we do prints and we interview
and work with scientists. And so we incorporate art and science in what we do. Wow. And
so joining the sustainability committee seemed the perfect thing. I too, went through the Citizens Academy. When we first moved here with my husband, and
I both did that. And then. Thought this, I thought this was a good thing. He went on the public art committee and so.
I think that this committee has done an incredible job designing and writing the sustainability plan. And we
continue to do that. And Denise has been a wonderful leader, and we're sad to see her go. But the understanding is we
have term limits and then we are able to get new people and we're happy to have you, and it's fantastic to be here. I
will, I'm going to be a member of the public good. So that's briefly my story. Great. So my
name is Siobhan Meehan and I'm originally from Buffalo, New York, and I've been here for 32 years and I love it. I moved here to windsurf and also
change my career, which previously was art director, creative director for advertising agencies. And I, I've been really passionate
about the environment. Buffalo went through quite a catastrophic. Bunch of decades
from the time I was born, and we were highly polluted, and Bethlehem Steel and our waterways were just decimated.
But I go back almost every year for Garden Walk Buffalo, which has about 400 open gardens, and the whole city has been transformed because of that.
And I have a number of people who are on the tour and it's so lovely. But anyway, that's I'm sidetracking right there, but so I moved here, as I said, to
windsurf and also become a landscape designer. And I'm, I'm self-taught and I've been doing this, I, I started off creating a garden group because
I thought, well, maybe I could join the garden, the garden club here. But I went to a couple meetings and they it was about luncheons and I'm a doer. And so I thought, okay, I'll
join this and I'll be digging all the holes for these ladies. And so I started my own group called the Garden Fairies. And we, we did about 20 years and
we it was a co-op. And after you joined us for three times, three times we would come to your house and do a transformation. So that's how I taught myself. And then after a
while, after like five years, I'm like, oh, I should be paid for this. So I, I, I transitioned into a pain
situation and now I do large and small projects. I'm currently doing a huge estate and safety harbor, 2.5 acres with two large ponds and just a
huge, huge project. We're into like quarter of a million right now on landscaping. And I love what I do, and I hope I can keep on going as long as I can.
And I love being part of the group and I'm so excited. We have two new members. That's fantastic. Welcome, welcome. Thank you. And I was with Turn
the Tide for Tarpon. I thought I recognized you, but I'm glad that we were able to parlay some of the members into this. This group. That's been really
great. So. Excellent. Well, you know, I remember reading articles about the garden fairies, and I had little ones. And I just remember thinking, I
really want to do that. Yeah. It was how am I going to find the time? Most of our members were ladies who didn't have have kids or their kids were
grown. Right. So I saw the photos of what you did and it was amazing. Amazing. Yeah. So thank you very much. Well, thank you so much. All of you.
I mean, the passion that each of us has brought to the planet to do good stewardship is amazing. I love that. Well, I
just one more thing. Lake Erie was, you know, in horrible shape when I was a kid. And there were on my slide show this year, Krusty, you know,
pieces of algae and stuff you had to walk over. And, you know, we were just supposed to accept that. And I always hated it because I was a sailor. You know, I was brought up as a sailor on Lake Erie, and it's
like, why? Why do we have to put up with this? So as we struggle on. So it's important, I mean, we we've primarily been talking about the environment
and things, but sustainability and what we're charged with is much broader than that. So we talk about cultural sustainability, economic
sustainability, social sustainability, and all of the things that make a community sustainable. Certainly the environment in the way it is
now is crucial because if we can, you know, breathe and we get flooded and all these things, we're not going to be alive. But these other aspects
are really important. And sometimes we forget to focus on them. But we have been, I think, really diligent in making sure
that that balance is very much there. I think ultimately it's really about the quality of life and wanting the
maintenance of the quality that we may have experienced in our childhood to be something that we're able to transfer to the next generations. And, you know,
all of us have sacred places that we've been deeply, deeply connected to in our lives. I mean, that are in nature. And I
think that that's part of the social fabric is being able to inspire the children of tomorrow to have that same experience, because there's far
too much electronic activity, you know, being on tablets, being on phones. And and there was a great book a few years back and it was, you know,
attention. It was nature deficit disorder back to the woods. And it was the reason that there's been a rise in that is a lack of connection to
the natural environment and the rhythms of the environment. And, you know, I remember as a kid just sitting by little areas where there were were creeks,
even in outside of San Diego and watching tadpoles go through their process of becoming little frogs and, and taking, you know, a jar home so
that I could watch it. But I think that that's been a really, you know, a treasure that kind of lost because it's not always
healthy enough in all areas for those little miracles to be viewed or, or happen in the social fabric is equally important. That uplifts
everybody to be connected to that as a group. Well, I spent 17 years in Eugene, Oregon, and they really are environmental
over there. So I have that in my background as well. And and my daughter did a big AP project research project on
clay inoculation to help the algae in our spring water. So try to figure out ways to clean the algae. So she's passionate
about it too, right? So. You know, I remember when we first formed Turn the Tide that the goal was to one day have a sustainability committee here
in Tarpon. So to actually sit here and actually have a coordinator here, I mean, that was like the biggest celebration when this all came
together. Because and this was all during also Covid when all this kind of formed and I had to start homeschooling my kids. So at that point I had to stop
attending the turn the tide meetings. But that's when everything started. Really coming together is when you came on board. I mean, that was like that was huge. That was a
huge milestone for Tarpon. Third for the third. Wow. Yeah. And the positions existed since 2022. I think the first 1st May have been hired at the end of
2021, but it's you get the gist. It's really only three years into having someone in this position. Four years, I guess. Just the fact that we have one
because there was resistance a long time ago. Yeah, there was initial resistance. So this is great. Thank you. Thank you for your introductions and your
sharing. Sharing your passion. We really appreciate you being here. Okay. We're moving into the discussion of the implementation action in the
sustainability plan. Holly is going to present that for us. And actually I was just thinking for the next meeting. I know some people prefer a paper copy of the plan. If you
would like that, I can get you one. Or if you are good with electronic, let me know your preferences because I can do either. So just let me know if you would like a paper copy to
read through and, you know, take notes or whatnot. Or if you just want to stick to it, is directly linked on the Sustainability department or divisions web page right now.
So that's the quickest way to find it. Okay. It's nice to have paper. I'm kind of old school that way too. I am as well, which is why I would never judge someone for asking for paper. So if that's
something that you prefer, it is completely acceptable to want that. Holly. Did Loretta and Melina get the link to the
portal in an email at all? Because I was waiting until, you know, they were confirmed and all that, so. Okay, I'll, I'll, I will communicate that we just have like a Google
drive where people can put documents like I can share with you all. It's just a different method than email. But of course you can't. That's not what I was talking about. I was talking about the agendas that
are for all of the committees that that's when I send out the link. It always goes directly to Civicplus. So when you go to if you ever want to see the agenda for obviously our
meeting, it will always be sent out to you. You were not on the email list yet. Did you get that email? No. Okay. So it's a it's an it. So we have a distribution list. So I will
always send out the agenda typically either the Friday before or the Monday of the week of the meeting, so that everybody has several days to
review the the minutes from the previous meeting. And it links directly to our portal where all of the agendas and minutes are all the agendas for all of the public meetings are held.
So that goes through. You can link it through the website, and then I send the direct link to our agenda packet as well. So just always look for that approximately a week before like the Friday before the
meeting. And that is where the information is. So just to orient everyone up there are the minutes okay. So typically
at the beginning of each fiscal year we just kind of talk about the priority actions that are coming up. So in the sustainability plan we have a
list of 50 actions that are done in a timeline sort of starting. Each one has a starting year and each one has an implementation timeline. So in each fiscal year, we have
about 7 or 8 new actions that I start working on from the staff perspective. And we start discussing in some capacity here in the committee. So our fiscal year starts October 1st.
So of course we get a new budget, new funding. And that's kind of when we start working on these things. And this year we have eight new action items.
So I was just going to kind of go over those. And again that doesn't mean they will all get done in one year. It just means that we will start looking at and doing, you know, strategies for how we're going to tackle
these, for the timeline that each of them is given. So most of them have either a three year implementation window or a couple do have a longer time frame, which is six years. So
some of them we will be working on for about three years, some will have a little bit longer to get to. Hopefully some results or kind of final point with that. So I'm just going to
kind of go through each one and talk about where either it stands if anything's been done or what kind of the the goal is just to orient everyone in our discussion. I'm not going back
on the 2024 or 25 yet, just because it would be a lot to do that all in one night. So we're just going to talk about forward what we're doing okay. So action 12 and eight, which
are very interwoven relate to funding strategies to acquire create maintain parklands and also a financing strategy to acquire land or easements. So
these also relate back to an action that was actually a 2025 action that has not been started yet, which is a parks and open space master plan. So the city has plans to undertake
that process in fiscal, I believe, starting in fiscal year 2026. So in that process, obviously multiple departments will be involved. The planning department, parks and
recreation or parks and parks. And a little bit confusing is the public works side of parks for facilities and the recreation side of parks for programing the streets and stormwater division, obviously,
because stormwater and hopefully being able to incorporate some more natural stormwater like nature based solutions myself for sustainability as well as our
floodplain manager. Just talking about, again, the open spaces and the prioritization of all of that. So all those really linked together very closely. So hopefully in I
don't think this will be something until the actual calendar year of 2026 that will be even beginning to talk about, but it is on the on the very
soon radar. Action 2021 action 21. Rather. O and M mean where would it say that in the funding source? Can you talk about what those funding sources are? No, I can't
because I don't know them. That's what would be done in the plan. We would have to because what is on M mean that would that's operations and maintenance. Typically I don't know what where you're
referring to that. I'm not sure where you're seeing it. It's in the chart before. Oh it's in the chart. I didn't make the chart so I didn't know that was there. And does that mean it
comes out of their budget? So yes, partly it would. So I think what that suggesting is that's part of the typical city budget as well as we'd be looking at any other funding sources, grant funding, capital
improvements, you know, any other pots of money that can be brought to bear for that capital? Capital improvements is a separate part of the budget. Yes. It's budgeted in a
different way. Yes. So okay. Okay. And then action 21 retrofits and upgrades to local government buildings. So this is the focus. The focus for
this is on infrastructure improvements that will increase energy and water efficiency. So anything obviously from lighting to all those things.
So a couple of things that we've already been doing for this. We've been doing the Duke Energy facility audits. Those are complete. I won't have the reports for probably some, you
know, I'm guessing in a couple of months, but that they will give recommendations on the types of upgrades and changes that we can make in the city, facilities that they audited.
And then also, I've been looking at procuring an energy management software so we can actually track our energy consumption at all city facilities. So that is
something that will be a fiscal year 2026 thing. And this one does have a longer time frame for implementation because as you can imagine, some of these things kind of have to be
rolled out. You know, we might not be able to change all light bulbs at once, for example. And a lot of it is has been somewhat done. Some of these things have been done and worked on, but it's just
looking at what we need to do to kind of complete that process and optimize, you know, building performance as much as we can. So that's that's a fun
one. And then the greenhouse gas inventory requires an update every five years in the plan. So. It will be done at some point during this, you
know, action window of 2026 probably to 2029. Our baseline data is from 2019. So we would just have to make sure we pull
together all of, you know, look at the next full year of data. So probably that would be 2024. But we haven't really talked about this yet. So do we have
any solar panels on any of our public buildings. So we do have solar. We have a solar installation at the reverse Osmosis water treatment facility. So it's not actually
on a building. That is, it's a pretty large solar array, but it's all ground mounted. So and it was done in two phases. The first was actually back in like
2019. And then the second phase was installed finished in 2024. So went into production in March of 2024. So it is it does produce enough energy to offset
about 10 to 15% of the energy used by the reverse osmosis water facility. So we actually have completed it's not really complete. I have most of the
results and deliverables from a solar feasibility study that looks at future solar installations, which the bulk of which we would probably be looking at rooftop. So city
facilities. So I'll probably be sharing some of those results. I mean, I just got them. So I'll probably be bringing that forward just to update you all maybe next month. But it is exciting to look at and we do
have some, some funds budgeted, not enough to do all of the projects, but we have we have some money. So that's that's
great. So reverse osmosis plant uses a lot of energy. I mean 10 to 20% only from all those solar panels, a lot of solar. And part of the issue there is
they would like to put more solar, and they have to have land in order to put up. Panels. But that plant, if you haven't,
it is amazing. And the people that run it are amazing. And so conscientious. But it does use a lot of power. So even the
number of solar panels that they have, which is sizable, only gives 1,015%. One of the locations you visit when you're
in the Citizens Academy. Oh, they have a whole evening spent there. It's amazing. Okay. It is. It's very interesting to see. Yeah, like industrial park
area. Yes. Because I've driven by that. Yeah. It's all in the front there. There's some in the front. So if you go to like Google Earth and you want to look at it or Google Maps, even
some of the solar panels are actually installed over a retention pond, a little drainage pond in the front. Then they go along the north side and along the east side,
and they kind of fill in all of what open space was on the property. They kind of maxed it out. I mean, there's a little bit of room for expansion maybe, but that's just would have to
look at the cost and the feasibility of doing that particular project. And we kind of do want to look at offsetting the energy use by some other facilities as well. So, you know, it'll just be
kind of a balancing act of what gets prioritized. But that's why we did the solar feasibility study to help us make those decisions. So Smith,
who ran all of that and more, he was instrumental in forming this and was on set with us all the time at the beginning. And
when we wrote this plan. Okay, great. He's he's retired now, but he he deserves so much credit for so much. Yes. There
were a lot of people that played key roles in in getting everything this far. So we're just building we get to do the implementation part. And you all did such a great job on the
plan. So it's exciting to get to work on some of these. One of my personal passions is has always been recycling. Since I was a middle schooler, I've always been into it. I don't know how to say it other than
that, but action 22 is work on increasing our solid waste recycling rate participation to 40% or greater. So that is going to involve a lot of
education and outreach, just a lot of working with our solid waste division, a lot of working with our waste hauler, which is W.M. you know, coordination, just utilizing
all the materials that exist on the county level. So there's really just there is a lot of work being done in waste reduction right now. That's a big action in the
sustainability just arena period. So this is incredibly timely and I'll be looking forward to working on it. It does also have a longer implementation timeline because as you can imagine, just
getting people to kind of start thinking about it and then start doing it, it takes a little bit longer sometimes to get the buy in and to get people in action. So this is a
six year window to reach that goal of 40% or greater. Sounds. Sounds doable. Yeah. When this term solid waste is that any
waste that we recycle or is that a specific type of waste. So I get solid waste. Is anything solid right. So yes.
So yes. Recyclables I think is probably a better way to think of it because we can't increase our recycling rate with non recyclables. So just increasing
the amount of things that we're diverting from the landfill into the recycling. Right. So people who might not participate at all if we get them to participate. Obviously
every household, every business, anyone that we can get to you know uptake that idea and begin to do that process will be helpful. And then also
educating people who currently are recycling on doing it properly, because a lot of what we find out from the county level, like where they actually
end up processing, you know, the materials for the waste to energy facility in Pinellas County, is that a lot of what ends up there could have been recycled, right? I was going to make that point. Yes, you can
tour that plant. And they you know, I think now they're probably back up and running. I mean, during Covid, they had kind of quieted their tours down. But it's really very
educational to go to that. We do not have landfills per se, as the waste energy is where where everything goes first. But they did say that so much
could have been. I would love to see that because, you know, did it on my own. Oh you did, I just did did it on my own. We can try to set something up. I
don't the only thing I have to figure out is, again, the sunshine law, part of right taking committee members out together. But we will come up with a way to make that happen, because we met somebody from
the the recycling. So those are a little bit different though. So Pinellas County are solid waste. That's not recyclables. That's not picked up as recyclables goes to the county
waste to energy facility. But then W m is also our recycling provider and the recyclables go to a waste management facility to be sorted and processed. And that is separate from the
county solid waste division. But what the solid waste division in the county has learned is that again, they end up incinerating quite a high
percentage of items that could have been recycled. And another way, of course, to talk about this and get people to maybe just do a little, do things
just a little bit differently is just explaining the contamination. Because of course, if a load of recyclables is picked up and there are contaminants, then those will also end up in the trash. They will not end up
being recycled. So just building trust around if we do our best to share all of that information, that the process will be done. You know, to the best of the ability of our
providers. So everybody plays a part. Oh, how many people in Tarpon recycle? I don't have like a a household count or anything like that, just
because I haven't been recycling has is not under sustainability. It's under public works and the sanitation division. So I in October will
be meeting with our sanitation division. We have also I mean we have talked about this and we have had multiple conversations. But the concerted part of working together and figuring out those
metrics, that's something that will need to start with, right, is understanding where we are and how we get to the goal that we have. Recycle in Tarpon, because in Saint Pete, I know
businesses did not. I'm honestly not sure. I don't know if I don't. Yeah. So that's residential recycling. And it would be good given the amount
of paper that businesses use. And drinks. Right. Yeah. Aluminum and glass I mean those would be those are right. It's definitely something to look at. The amount that restaurants
throw away. Yeah. That is always been an issue that if you're commercial like in Saint Pete, I lived in a commercial building. We owned a commercial building and lived in it, and
we didn't have recycling because we were commercial, even though we. Resident. But we had we took our own. Sure, we took it somewhere, which is always an option, but I know
that for some people that might not work. So we want to look at how to bring it to them if possible. But I have to say that, you know, I walk my dog every morning, sometimes two
miles, and on Thursdays when it's recycling day, most everyone has recycling out. That's great. And so I think
that it's well used in at least in the area I walk in. Sure. So I think people are really conscientious about it. I used
to teach a little, just a little public clinic when I was working for Ray, because when Seattle moved to the zero waste policy, even though we weren't
in King County, where that was enacted, the store that I worked at was in Snohomish. Everybody got very excited about the concept. And so, you
know, we just had a little opportunity to share, you know, kind of a forum. I did a presentation moving towards zero waste and what that would look like and how just
examining everything you threw out and asking yourself, can I do something differently with these things? Like one of the simple things that I did was start to take little containers
to restaurants with me. Instead of accepting styrofoam or plastic to have my food, my my
takeout, or my leftovers. And and it's amazing how, you know, a lot of countries, they always did that in the in India, they take their lunches to work in
these big three tiered tiffins. And and we would we take those when we go to the Indian restaurant and people talk about it, you know, just an action that you choose to do is
an inspiration to people around you. I went to Little Thai today with a friend and and I took my container and she goes, oh, you have you brought a
container to take your leftovers in? And it's just like a light goes on, you know, so little things that we do, it's so much easier to, to be
an example than to be a preacher. I definitely that's true. That's also an option. Well, you know, I said I
usually eat all of mine. So I have leftover, I think, before we move on, I think there's a lot of confusion on what can be
recycled. And like, I know when back in the day when I lived in Oregon, boy, they left a note. If I did something wrong that in my box next time, you know,
and they would check off what they saw. That was what was wrong. And I don't know if if something like that Seattle to I mean it was they took it
seriously and I think I know just from casual conversations I've had with people who also live here in Tarpon, we've all kind of wondered, does this
stuff really get recycled? I know that's what I was saying of making sure that educating people so that we can build trust in the fact that if you do the best on, you know, your
part of it, that then we have to trust that it goes, you know, and is processed correctly as well. Yeah. You know, that's all we can do. I think that if
we made the whole process more. More explanatory and just maybe just like even like when, you know, every once in a while, I know we'll get something from
the Tarpon Springs is kind of explaining, like important dates, stuff like that. Well, maybe just include a section that says, do your recyclables really get recycled? Yes they
do. Here, here's the here's where it goes. And maybe just provide something like that. And I think something fun, like
maybe having an artist create some sort of really. Not pretty to display magnet that can go in a refrigerator for people
who recycle, that can just put something cool, and that has a fun design to just remind people, and they can just have it up all the time, just so
they can hold themselves accountable. And if they're confused or they don't remember, they can just look sort of thing. I think something like that. I mean, we do we do
really make sure, you know, everybody that gets recycling bin gets the recycling guide from the county. You know, we have everything linked through the website. I mean, we honestly and we've just updated
the website. We have videos about, you know, making sure recycling isn't contaminated. Obviously, it's how people interact and use those resources that is more challenging. I love these ideas
and let's absolutely talk about them and flush them out when we're planning some outreach. I think that will be absolutely amazing tonight. The idea is just to kind of talk about what we will be doing. Are we then?
No, that's okay. That's okay because they're amazing ideas. But one of that's one of my ideas. No, that's absolutely fine that everybody's excited to be here and and talk about those things. But one of the
sort of ideas or thoughts I had was resume the knowledge and nibbles, which was something that Robyn started a couple of years, several years back. And one of those topics could be
again, like we could do an overview of waste reduction, you know, how you can change your habits and then also do recycling tips, like a whole show and tell about that, you
know, in person, you know, gardening. We could do the I know doctor McKenna brought up like the coyotes and living with wildlife. I thought that could be another really great topic for one of those citizen.
Just like, you know, whether it's a lunch and learn or an evening gathering and have like the Fish and Wildlife Commission come and talk about, you know, all those things. So I think that in the new year
that that would be really, really cool to. And since we have gardeners in our midst and we have people who've done zero waste and things like that in the future, maybe we can even
tap into some of you for presentation topics or just sharing your, you know, personal experiences, you know, teachers and scientists. And we just we have a lot of resources
that we can bring to bear. So the other thing about recycling is when we think about recycling, we just think about curbside recycling. But like we,
you know, all of those things you get you get your spinach in those plastic containers, you can't put them in. Right. They're not. But you can take them to the fire station. Yeah.
And they will. So we always take all of that. And also you can go public accepts plastic bags. They don't so much bags
but they those plastic clamshell plastic bags or foam trays. And then also you can go to the county. A few times
every few months to the north one and recycle paint and fluorescent bulbs and all sorts of electronic electronics. And that's something I mean, it's
so great because people have all of this stuff stored in their garages or whatever, and they want to get rid of it, but don't understand that you can
take it there. And it's so well managed. Yes. And we do have all that information for anyone who might be watching linked on our website. We have a whole a link to the county's where does
it go? Like where can I take it? You know, they have a whole resource list of all of that. And then of course, at least twice a year we do. Tarpon Springs does a, you know, a
pick up of special items at people's houses. And I believe that's coming in November. So I will see if we have a flier already for that. That's like the tires and all of those
things that are challenging to dispose of properly on your own. So yeah, the bulk bulk items and things like that. So we'll make sure that we share all of that of course. But I'm really
looking forward to yeah. Like I said waste reduction is a huge one. And then so for education and outreach the topics will mostly be waste reduction, energy and water efficiency.
And the plan also specifies the greenhouse gas reduction. So, you know, bringing that all into different, you know, educational opportunities, different outreach, you know,
venues. We will be getting very involved in communicating. So that's going to be a very, I think, exciting time, because I know the committee has been
interested in that for quite some time. And it is here. Action 28 create a green infrastructure plan. So this is the goal is to integrate green infrastructure as a core goal
of the city's infrastructure master plan. So this is one that is not something that I will be doing directly through the sustainability department, but it is something that I will,
you know, work with other departments as it's being, you know, if there are any updates to the infrastructure or stormwater plans, you know, trying to integrate these green infrastructure or nature based
solutions, as that's kind of more of what they're called now. When the plan was written, I think green infrastructure, there's it's it's, you know, it's just a different verbiage. But that is something to
definitely consider going forward. So there's that. And I believe this is the last one. But create a sustainable procurement policy, a policy to encourage the use of safe,
healthy and environmentally responsible products in city purchases. So that would be specifically internal, not putting, you know, rules or
things externally. You know, eventually in the future, I would love for some of these things to all come together into more of a sustainable, you know, business type program of some kind. But we're going to
start internally, see what we can get going, and then, you know, work, work outwardly as well. So those are our actions that we're again bringing into
the into the implementation fold and adding to the ones that we've been working along on for the 2024 and 2025
initiation years. So that's it's a lot exciting. Thank you. Holly. Any of the policies that
have come from Tallahassee. Influence or. Interfered or curtailing any of the actions in the sustainability they have
the potential to. So it's something that we have to stay abreast of for sure. So, you know, this year, this past year, you know, there was a a Senate
bill that would have taken away local governments abilities to regulate single use plastics, for example. There are many there are quite a number of local governments around the
state that do have those ordinances, rules or policies in place. And so obviously, at some point, if we would be
looking to do that, we would hope that we would have the freedom to do that. However, if there is something at the state level that preempts that, we we have to follow that as well. So
we just have to stay, you know, aware of of any new bills and laws that, you know, come into. Play. And Holly made a really
important point that mainly our role is as an advisory committee to the Board of Commissioners, and most of our
influence is in what the city itself is doing. But it's burned in me for a long time that I wanted more community and, you know, community and
resident engagement. I think that it's it's kind of a delicate balance right now, implementing policies that and
ordinances that mandate behaviors. And that is the delicate, delicate thing that can trigger people. Whereas
just sharing, you know, better ways of doing things for the sake of the and let's say, or the manatees, you know, and
bringing it to bringing the conversation back to what people cherish about the Tarpon Springs treasures. You know,
because we have very, very unique things here that not every city is blessed with. And it's, you know, it's a it's
something that when when you start mandating things, some people have a reaction to that. And the reaction is pushback. That's not going to be
constructive in any way. And I actually don't think that from human nature, maybe now that we've got somebody with some
like psych. Understanding, you know, you can tell, you can say, you know, human nature is to get reactive. Sometimes when you're being told you have to do something, the child, the
inner rebel, gets activated and doesn't want I don't want to cooperate, you know, and I think that that is something that we're seeing occasionally.
And, you know, it's just remind inspiring and reminding people that there's there's better, more constructive ways of
balancing our position in the community with the animals, in the community, with the vegetation and the waterways and with the businesses. And
that's what we're talking about, is healthy balance between all of these facets that make Tarpon Springs a thriving,
wonderful, beautiful, quality place to live. But all that we really have the power to do is, is to give feedback to those that are making the decisions.
And the board of Commission and the board of Commissioners, I think you are. I was going to say, I think you've hit you all have hit on a lot. Just talking about your personal connections
to Tarpon Springs. And I think that's the answer. The path is to help other people figure out and, and, you know, dig into their personal connections. This is just an anecdotal thing
that I just found out about today through my sustainability network. But the city of Tampa just came up with this new, I guess, campaign to help people
connect to, you know, their solid waste efforts. And they've created these cute little cartoon animals and they've named them. And so it's like, you know, remembering
what is. Yeah. So it's like remembering what's important. So they named, you know, I can't remember them all because but I think it's like Allie the alligator and, you know, each one has, you know, a phonetic
name that matches the animal. It's super cute. And it just really, you know, draws people in and it makes you remember, like, why it's important, right? Because we do care about the
greater, you know, the greater world around us. And Tarpon Springs obviously is such a a nature rich place. And so, you know, just something to it's just food for thought to, to
take going forward is just inspiring people to figure out what their personal connection and their personal motivation is. Like you said, Denise, instead of, you know, we're not going to go out and tell people
that we're being forceful or mandating things, but we want them to want to do it. So that's the education and outreach part. So back to this
thing from the state that influence policy. Who in the city is responsible for like letting you know, is it the
lawyer or the city manager or. Well, when new laws go into effect, it is. I mean, yes, the city attorney would certainly
be the person to make sure that we are, you know, doing our our doing things correctly and obviously following that new law. But honestly, usually every department is kind of
tracking like during legislative season, everybody tracks things that might, you know, be coming through that. You're correct. So that's
exactly so typically everybody has, you know, say, you know, in the water department, they have organizations that they network in. And all those people are talking about what
might happen. Same with sustainability. We're looking at what might be, you know, coming down, just tracking those. And there are people that kind of help us with that and do that work. So that's
where part of those professional organizations and networks and work groups you would, if things like that do happen, will you let us know? Sure. I'll be helpful. Sure.
That's a good idea. Okay. I can absolutely. Do you know, when I get legislative updates, I can try to pass them to you all? You know, I can't. I can't ask
you all to do things or try to influence you, but just to let you be aware. And then you can make the decision correct of, of if you wanted to take action as a citizen, you would certainly be entitled to do
that. You know, if you ever wanted to contact your representatives about potential things that were clients, all of those things. Yep. So no, that's a great one. We can we
can definitely do that in the you know, it's in the spring when all of that kicks back in. So got a little got a little rest until then hopefully. But.
Next okay we move to the next item. There's not much there's not much downtime. It goes so fast goes so fast okay. So Holly, you're very welcome. I'm going to turn it back over to
Denise to initiate the selection of a new committee chairperson. The one thing I will say is whomever is put into the position of chair now, we will, according to the
resolution, the founding resolution for the committee in January of each year is when the committee is supposed to vote and install a new chair and co-chair. We didn't do that
this year due to only having, I think, three members, and it would be very awkward to have only one person who wasn't either the chair or the co-chair. So I think we just
kind of let it. But in January, that should be our our practice going forward. If we have, you know, at least four members, we would then be able to have those positions voted on. So
the person installed as the chair to take that role from Denise would be from now until that time, until January, and then in January, it could be whatever happens. So you're
saying it's a it's an interim? No, I mean, it would be chair, but it would just be that we have to vote again in January. So it wouldn't be there wouldn't be a change in the title. There wouldn't be
anything that said it would just be for these three months until January when the vote has to happen again. So just letting you know, I got that
information confirmed and that's how it works. So as we as we open this up, the selection of the new committee
chairperson, I'm just going to immediately nominate doctor McKay to take the position of the chair as the most senior member of the committee and
someone who has been here for the duration of most of what we've done in this time, would you accept that? I would accept
that because I know I'm here for one year and then because because I've been here the longest, and then after year,
all. And Siobhan's relatively new than all of you will be seasoned to take over and move forward. Right. So do we need a
motion to make a motion, which is you could make that motion. We just need a motion. I do make a motion to nominate and elect doctor Carol. Make it to
the position of chair for the Sustainability Committee. I second, do we need a second? Yes, yes. All in favor I, I
okay, thank you, thank you. Congratulations. Oh, yeah. Is this effective as of this minute? I think it's I think it's. No. Because you're. Yes.
Because you're still in term. You're still in your position. So this would be going forward at the October meeting. Will need to get together. So you
can tell me. And Holly to. Yeah. Maybe the three of us can do that. Great. So new appointees
and schedule for the fourth quarter meetings. Yes. So this is the time of year where we look up and say, the holidays will be here before we know it. So this is just kind of when we
start talking about what the meeting schedule, if everyone's available for October, November, December, if you know, if anyone knows of any conflicts to just kind of let us know as
soon as possible so that we can plan proactively and hopefully not have to like, you know, cancel a meeting last minute or anything like that. So the next one kind of on the 16th,
October 16th, my birthday. Oh, is it really. It is. Oh, boy. It'll be like the the mayor was there on his birthday. Yeah.
That's true, that's true. Yeah. He was going to come to an event that, that I was part of. And his wife said, no, you aren't. We're going out. So
it's October 16th, November 20th and December 18th. Those are the third Thursday dates I have those. So you don't have
to know tonight. But I just wanted to put that out as far as you know, when you go home and at the next meeting, maybe if everyone is going to be available in October, we'll
have our meeting and then we can talk about, you know, November and December. If anyone knows of a conflict. We need to have three people. Correct. So we will have four
members beginning on October 1st. And so one person could be absent and we could still have the meeting. But if two people are absent, we cannot have the meeting in November. Again,
November 20th, it's always the third Thursday, 23rd Thursday. So that's the week before Thanksgiving, okay. And the week before and the week before
Christmas. And one, two and three days after the December 18th is the it will be the meeting. What is it, December
18th. Yes. For okay for December, I'm putting it on my calendar because I'm going to be a member of the public. Right. I can make a member of
the public. I'll be here. Molina. Can you make those as of now? Okay, great. Perfect. Well, obviously things happen.
Going to be great, but it is. It is just a point of information, though. Should anyone have a conflict that arises? Just be sure to let me know ahead of time so that we can put the absence in for, you
know, the meeting and give and have an excuse. Exactly. Have it excused so that we don't, you know, get into any. It's always better to know ahead of time. So if possible that would
be great. Then we can then we have a motion to formally excuse you. Right. So it's not like you miss because if you miss a certain amount you could
be in theory as to. Yeah, we don't know. But it's we just want to be tarred and feathered or whatever. We just want to try to run things. As you know,
according to what is proper as possible. So, okay, this committee has tended to be a little less formal than the
larger groups like the Board of Commissioners and and the PNC board. Because we've had the
luxury with fewer people to have a little more discussion as we get more people. And it's a newer committee. Right. I was going to say, I think sometimes it takes yes right time to get
footing, but everything's been going very well, I will say. So. We'll just, you know, continue, continue and great. All right.
So the items for the next meeting agenda. Your thoughts, my friends. Did you you were
going to see if Barbara Hoffman could come and talk about the wildlife and the. Coyote thing. I can look into that. Yeah. I
thought we were going to have that. I think that that's important to get. My thought is if we could do that for a bigger outreach, though also.
So if you all want them, someone to come to the committee, that's certainly a starting point. But just understanding that we don't typically have a large, you know, audience. What I'm
thinking is to have her come and strategize with us about a plan for communicating. To the
community about these things, like how saying coyotes in the neighborhood so that people don't go ballistic over it, but they can address it in a nature
friendly manner. And people have been. Knowing, I mean, that you really? Oh, yeah. And
you know, that's illegal. Not only is it illegal, it's completely unnecessary. And that's why I think that having
somebody but she's at. And if she and then we can strategize about how to make it out to the
public, because I think that there's a misunderstanding. And there's a misunderstanding about what to do when, who can
help. And and also, we talked about new residents who come, who move here and are completely unaware of our flora
and fauna need. And they just freak out over the. Lizard and, and and the turtles and, you
know, and then there's stuff in the water which she's very versed in because I, we had her come and talk to my husband. Used to be head of friends of
Howard Park, and we had her come and talk about. Yeah, about the marine life. And it was fascinating. We learned all
the different names for things. Yeah, I think it's I see that it fits because in the, the actions that you were discussing tonight, you know,
part of the connectivity to wildlife corridors and preservation is part of it. But I think that we might need solutions in the interim of
having these corridors laid out and understood by the public. Yeah. Just to protect. Our connection and what the city's
responsibility is, what the county's responsibility, what our responsibilities are. And what's her name? Barbara
Hoffman. Barbara Hoffman. And we saw somebody representing actually, it was Julie. Julie
Wade, who is representing Parker Creek at the Eco Fest this past week. So Barbara is the director. I, I thought she
was the director. I'm not I'm not sure I know that she's. Yeah. Very invested. Okay. And we can you know, one of the priorities in the Board of Commissioners meeting still has
been, you know, the storm storm water project. And we've had the desire to have the stormwater manager be able to come and speak with us. But
she's been so busy since the hurricane. Floodplain floodplain management administrator, I can ask her again as well. Now, another person that we might want to
consider is Mallory Schmidt, and she's CEO of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation. If you look at the map, the only problem with that is the
actual Florida Wildlife corridor is pretty far away from Tarpon Springs. We're talking about our own, our own we are. But that's a different
scale. I mean, we could definitely tap into all that. I would say, if we want to try to segment things together, then
we can look at how, yeah, I can bring that in. Okay. And I saw her last night and I'll ask her,
okay. If if there are things that she could if she thinks it's appropriate, she thinks that there's a because there's we're doing so much planning for the future. You know, there
might be a way to look way to the future. She's got such an expertise. She's incredible. Mallory. She's she's part of
the of the wild Florida Wildlife Foundation and on our local PBS, w edu. They've had they have a show about her and
and what they've done with the wildlife corridor. It's a fascinating document. Yeah. So she's their whole family is, is
is part of environmental things in the. Well they they were one of the largest landowners like Steemit and and sort of stuff.
Yeah. And they they still are. Yeah. So yeah I agribusiness. And ranchers are incredibly
thoughtful about. So anyway I, I will chat with you okay. I have another idea. Yes. So.
There are three proposals for the vacant lot on Tarpon Avenue. If any of you have seen the the beacon and it's quite
interesting, they're completely different. But some of them are a little I would say one of them is particularly
sustainably oriented with the containers and them a public space, which I have wanted so much for tarpon to have that I
my group did the the mural, the mother mayor's mural, and so I did a lot of research in that space. And Mother Mears endowed
that space where the parking lot is and and the ninth in the 1950s. The Tarpon family pushed to break that covenant, which
they successfully did because they were worried about competition from stores on 19. So we lost that space. And there used to be a drug store
there, and it was a community hub. And and they had this beautiful Victorian garden with a gazebo. We don't have anything like that now. So in
the proposals there's there's one that's very normal boutique hotel. Lovely. The plant, the facade looks lovely, really
fits in. But, you know, I wonder if there's so. And then there's two that are more creative, more thinking out of the box. And the one in particular I think is very
sustainably oriented. And they said that First Fridays could be held there and it could be used as a thoroughfare. So I
just was if, if you could keep it to like what the suggestion is for the topic for the next meeting and well, I so I'm just
throwing it out as to how. Are we able to give feedback. I think that that's what Siobhan is asking, is if we've got the
capacity to make any recommendations as a committee, I don't know, as residents, absolutely, yes. And their designs are on the Tarpon
website. Yeah. So they're supposed to be presented at the or was that already done? The the let's see. Are they doing a special. Yeah. So that should
be coming up. Yeah. And so they're going to go through them. They're the, the all three will be presented. They will do visuals discuss you
know all those elements of them. And then public comments will be allowed on all of them. So but that is the most direct way
to have your voice heard I know, but I mean, we are the sustainability committee. So and this is a major it's a major thing that's going to
happen to downtown. So but I think if it's so I mean we couldn't make a recommendation I know that. But is is it feasible for us to say we're
hoping that that whatever is voted on, is their sustainable? Criteria will not. But is the
decision going to be made before October 16th? I do not know the timeline for the decision. And that's the board. It's it's it's down to the board of commissioners. Right.
So there was a committee that reviewed the proposals and that's all they could do is review them and then send the recommendations to the board. And then the board gets to see
all the presentations, and they ultimately will decide who they want to negotiate. And I think you can comment on yeah. About
it. Yeah. Through that. But I was going to say at my point, the point of committee comments that it really is beneficial to
kind of watch at least the the Board of Commissioners meetings if you can't attend them, because sometimes they're quite lengthy. But I'll just listen in the car while I'm commuting
to and from work, or listen when I'm getting ready for work. And and it really does help keep you apprized of the perspectives that each of the
commissioners have and what their, what they're discussing that are priorities for the city for, you know, the improvements and that that's
part of a plan, you know. But I agree that every single thing that they discuss, they ask for feedback. And a lot of times, even if you can't be at the meeting, you can call in and
raise your hand and it will come through. You know, they put it on the air and it's and it registered as an opinion. Very, very important. But it
might not be we might not have time at this point. We you know, had we been listening to the meetings and brought it up like maybe a month or so ago, I
would say as an I mean, I just don't know about the functionality of saying it from a you could make general comments from the committee perspective. I would say, as a,
you know, as a member of the sustainability committee, sustainability is very important to me personally, you know, and here are my concerns that any development should include whatever you could do
that personally. You might all have somewhat of a varying opinion that you want to express differently in your own comments. So I don't know about, like you were saying, the
timing and the any way to compile all of that into one might be a little bit challenging at this point. So I would just strongly encourage you to make sure that your voice is heard and your
personal preferences and opinions. When the city manager was here and you and he said about the mayor's parking lot that there were. Going to build
another garage and that eventually that would be transformed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was great. Yeah, that is great. Because, you know,
Dunedin is doing a fabulous job with event spaces. And we we just don't have. Well that's I think that's feedback that as
individuals we need to consider giving but not necessarily what are feedback is for is the
sustainability of the actual city functions. So I think you can speak as a member of the committee. As far as you know,
I agree that's your expertise and your passion. Yet online, you know, so we don't know what they're talking about. But as soon as we can look at whatever the agenda items are when they
post them, how far in advance? Maybe a weekend typically, so that you have time to think about if you would like to go. If if you're going to speak on
an item that is on the agenda, you have to wait for the point where they've discussed it or opened it for public comment. But if it's if it's something that you're just passionate about, that you really feel
that the city needs to hear. They have public comments right at the beginning of their meeting, and that's a good way to I believe they'll open the
comments on this item after the presentations have been done. That's what I'm saying, is that that if it's on the agenda, right, if it's on the agenda, the public comments will be done at the time that they're
discussing it too. Yeah, but there's a there's a set order that you can if you if you're not going to be able to stay until that item comes on the
agenda, you can make comments in the beginning of public comment. They let you do that. Yeah, I would say the, the the
way that I believe the mayor is doing it now is you would someone could express the desire to do that and then they could. Yes. Make the exception saying you have to correct that.
I want to say something and they're always good about that. I would strongly recommend going to the Connect Tarpon page about this. To start, like you were saying, review the
proposals. Submit, you know, engage with it that way for sure as well. Well, and I'm just recommending that everybody does that and look look at it and give feedback.
Hey Holly, did you have anything that you felt needed to go on this agenda for next month? I guess it will depend on, you know, just the amount of time, if we're able to get
other people to come. But if we need something, if we. I could do an update on the solar feasibility study, we could talk about that and the priority projects that we're
going to try to, you know, work on through that. So that's that's probably the most current topic. And how about.
Is there a new budget or is that there'll be a new budget. So last night they did. The second they did the the reading. And I guess I think that
actually was passed probably I think that was it. Because then it's next in October meeting. Could you relay any relevant
items on the budget that are connected to sustainability. Sure that would be useful. Oh, okay. And it is all available if you ever want to look at the
city's budget. It's all online and it's hundreds of pages. Yes. But one thing that I found is that you can search, you know, within it to get to a particular. Yes. So I can, I
can I've held the budget and it's a lot. It's a lot. Yes. Okay. Yep. We can do that. That'd be great. That'd be
helpful. Great. Okay. Staff comments okay, I will just give a brief update or a summary, I guess. So eco Fest was Saturday.
Denise came for a little while. It was a beautiful morning. It was pretty busy. There were a lot of families with, you know, younger kids there interacting, playing games, doing the water
slides. We interacted with quite a few people. I had eco friendly dishcloths. We had water like sprayers for gardening to help conserve, you
know, or show people to use the lower settings. We had some little, little yes, we had the what? Like the aerators that save a little bit of water from
faucets. We had dog poop, pickup bags, reusable bags, just, you know, things to help people make little choices in their in their daily habit patterns to be a little bit
more sustainable. That was great. If anybody wants an eco dishcloth or a sprayer brought extras. I also brought a bag for you, Loretta, I usually do, yeah, I usually do give bags
out at the Citizens Academy, but I wasn't able to be there last night. So anyway, it was great. Eco Fest was wonderful. We had a lot of vendors. Waste management was there, Brooker Creek Keep, Pinellas beautiful,
so quite a few. The Garden Club, I believe was there. And then a lot of other city departments just, you know, sharing kind of what they do. So it was really it was really nice. And Dave,
as busy as when I was there, it was a pretty consistent flow. So very well attended a great it was it was a well done event and the recreation Department does a great job setting up
these these city, you know, city wide activities. Really great. Just a reminder, the International Day of Peace and the Peace Pole dedication is this Sunday at 4 p.m. And that
is at the field beside the splash park and dog park as well. And then I just wanted to give you a very brief update. The Storm Drain Mural program,
our public art. The Tarpon Arts director met with the city attorney and got the go ahead. So we are good on that, which is great news. So through the sustainability department,
coordinating with stormwater as well as our public art committee, we are initiating a mural program for the storm water drains to do public art as an education tool about, you
know, only rain down the drain. And they will have to have, you know, sort of native flora and fauna and things like that on them. So very exciting. So
we'll be working along on that. The next public art meeting is October 8th, so I'll be at that to, you know, continue the process with, with that committee. And the last is I
did send out an email. I will resend it in case people didn't get it. But the city is collaborating with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council on a coast. It's a regional coastal master plan, so that's
a big undertaking. It's going to be, like I say, a four year project basically for the next three years working through this. But they are big on community outreach about this
project. So they're offering a free training for community leaders. Anyone who might want to learn how to facilitate listening sessions. So while the focus of this master plan
is about flooding, if you were trained to host or lead a listening session, you could then go out into the community and do one about other topics, right? So it's a pretty cool opportunity. So I will send
that to you all. It's a great I've shared it with Robin Singer as well a piece for Tarpon. So if you can think of other, you know, community leaders, those guys I'm going to send it Zeb Atkinson as well.
So just kind of reaching out to people that we've had here previously and it's just something to keep, keep in mind. And otherwise I think that
those are my comments. And committee comments. I can start by saying, I'm so glad and grateful that we have new members. And if you really kind
of want to see some of the things that we've done in the past, there are links to the sustainability plan. It's pretty simple to read what the
actions are. The most recent accomplishment in conjunction with a lot of city departments and our arborist that was part
of Tarpon was the Urban Forest Management Plan, and it is a beautiful document, and it's really fun to just go through it and see what the what how
that is. Implementing the the concept of net zero loss of canopy in the town, which helps mitigate the urban heat island
effect, keeps temperatures cooler, creates climate. That's more pleasant for everybody when the streets are covered
and and the not radiating a lot of of the sunshine back. So that is a beautiful document. I was so, so excited that that we
were just part of giving feedback on that on a regular basis and finally been published. Is there any update on the arborist position? I
believe that we have an arborist starting next week. I'm pretty sure she's coming in next week to start, so I don't want I until it's all final.
And she's here. I'm not, I am I because I'm not in she's not in my department. But she will be under the planning department. So I'll be working obviously very closely with her. And I'm
also working with the planning department on just land development, you know, just discussions in general. Anyway, so she does get here. Will you invite her so we can meet her? Of course. Yes. That's a great
idea. Great. She depending. I'll see what her availability is. You know, she might be a little overwhelmed for the October meeting, but we'll we'll give her a little bit of time to settle in. I will make
sure that you all get to meet her 100%. Yes. So my comment is. We just purchased these things and maybe you know about them.
It's they other companies make it, but they're called this company is called daiquiri and they are their batteries. And
and you then can if there's a power outage, you can plug your refrigerator and this and their solar power. You can also charge them by plugging in. But
we just got them. And so they did. You get solar panels. We got two for your household for our house. And they're small ones a thousand and ones the
2000. And then you get these solar panels that you put out and you plug them in and they charge the batteries. And so I
saw it on the solar emails, I get it was a video of it. And they, you can put your refrigerator on it. That's a
great idea. Plug your phones in. You can plug my husband uses a CPAp so you can plug CPAp in. You can do your coffee, you
know. So I mean we have a generator that's gas powered, which we've never used. We've never put gas in it. They're so low. And and it's like, I don't
really want to use that, even a propane one. But this gives you, you know, it's not going to probably run the AC. But you know, you open your windows.
That would be wishful thinking, but it'll run your fans. I mean, we have battery operated fans for this, you know, but and we
have solar lights that we can use. But this is a really cool thing. Great idea. And the solar panels fold up and they have a little handle. And these
things have a handle. And you can carry them around. So you can put them throughout your house. It's not like a generator which has to stay outside. So I am like really
excited. Yeah, I'm excited to hear how it works. And the company we we had a few issues and they were so good at
solving it. So their customer service was A-plus. So that those things are available. Thank you. I don't have
anything to say, I was curious. I drive by every day. The Klosterman preserve, and I know that that was a huge celebration when that land was
saved, because we're always admiring the birds and that pond. But. Is there going to be any sort of well, what happens
to that land now? I mean, I know it's going to sit there, but does the city of Tarpon Springs maintain that land or not? It's not owned by the city. It was the county now. Okay. So
the county maintains it, right? The county purchased it from the school board, I believe. Is the transaction that occurred. So it just happens to be adjacent to the city of Tarpon
Springs, though. Yeah. So it's it's our it's our neighbor. So it feels like it's. Yeah. Right there. You know, sometimes I mean there's not really I mean
you have to basically park like in a perpendicular street, but it would be really nice. I don't know if it's possible, but maybe just to put a bench there on that sidewalk just so
people can sit and look at the birds, because sometimes there's roseate spoonbills there. There's such an array of really rare birds and they're all clustered there. That was
part of raising all the money. Yes. I mean, I think contacting them to help enhance it would be completely I mean, it's just
such a showcase, that pond, because we get really excited and we drive by and we're like, oh my gosh, did you see, you know, you know, sometimes there's wood storks in there.
There's like dozens of birds and it's like such, it's magnificent. And it that's a highlight. It was it really is just being brought back when we
first moved here. So you know, it's an amazing testimony to how quickly nature can recover, recovers and and becomes healthy again. We had had a
discussion about asking them, somebody from that group to come and talk to us. Yes, I'm in touch with Robin. She was going to attend the next meeting that they had their
next board meeting. So singer oh, because she came and talked about, you know, preservation and everything. So she's going to their board meeting. That was my understanding. So I'm
going to see what she. Yeah that's a good found out. And yeah we can we will continue to work on that connection as well. That'd be great because we we
are in charge of the sidewalk at least right in front of the gate in front of the fence defense. There's a lot of like, roads in Tarpon that are county,
correct. Okay. Like the bike path? Yes. County. Oh, and the sides of it are city. Okay. So it's very confusing. And that's why some roads and things don't
get fixed right away. Okay. County and Tarpon Avenue is state. Oh interesting. So there was all this stuff a while ago
about the trees and the crosswalk. And it took a really long time to get that crosswalk in because it's the state. Oh.
Road. Yeah. Like the bridge that's going to be redone near the yacht club. That's all. County? That's county. That's. Yeah. So it's it's really
throughout Pinellas. It's the same way, same learning that as we go along, you know which jurisdiction it falls under doesn't make a lot of sense.
Right. The way it is, the way it okay. So we've ended we've reached the end of our agenda. Have I forgot I forgot one
thing in my comments. My apologies. That's okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank
you so much. Oh, hey, Denise, thank you very much. It's been to thank Denise so much. Yes. Thank you. You're just amazing.
Thank you for serving the city. So just generously and selflessly and thoughtfully. So it's been a pleasure to to work with you from the staff side transition, but not an ending.
It's not an ending at all on the phone. Yeah. And when can you join again? Is there like a time period? Okay. Year. Okay, great. But I will be at the
meetings as a member of the public because I want that to be a trend that starts. Yes, yes. Get more people from the public coming. That'd be great. That would be great. So I move
that we adjourn the meeting. All right. Okay. And I second. Okay. All in favor? Aye, aye. So the chair of the committee
can't make motion. Actually, they can. I thought we probably need to do that. Well, I was under the impression that I really couldn't. You can. Yes. So we'll we'll make sure we get
all of that. Yeah. Thank you so much. Nice to meet you. Okay.
Bye. Yeah.