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constitution, law, ordinance, or regulation. Good evening everybody. I'm going to welcome you to the city council special meeting September 18th, 2025 at 5:30. I'm going call this meeting to order. We're going to have a moment of silence for our invocation. Please bow your
heads. Thank you very much. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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 very much, city manager. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and city council. The purpose of this special meeting is to conduct the second and final public hearing for the FY 2026
city of Titusville uh annual operating budget. Similar to our first public hearing, we'll have a short presentation by our finance director followed by a reading of the ordinances uh by our city attorney and then um voting on each ordinance and have
holding public hearing on each ordinance. So, at this point, I'd like to turn it over to our finance director. Good evening. Thank you for being here. As the city manager stated, this is our second and final FY26 annual budget hearing, and I'm just going to jump
right in. Uh as in the first public hearing, I'm going to kind of lay out the order of which things have to be done. The city council must adopt the millary before it adopts any of the budgets uh for the for tonight. And also the public may speak and ask questions before the city council adopts any of
the proposed budget related ordinances. I hope you're not waiting on me, Miss Terry. We're waiting on the slide. Okay. The clicker might need a battery. There we go. Too far. Go back.
Oh. We need a little IT. Okay. Um so just a little bit of a recap that the uh tenative budget was proposed on July 22nd of this year and it had a
millage rate of 6.300 mills. Also there was a workshop that was held on August 7th at 5:00 where you all were presented the initial budget. Uh the city manager proposed a reduction in the millillage rate to 6.3 mills and
the first public hearing was held uh last week on September 11th and this is the second and final public hearing. work. So, tonight we're going to have five different ordinances. So, there's five different uh uh votes that you will take
tonight. Three of them are related to the budget and two of them are related to the um rates for water and sewer and solid waste. It's not working. set. All right.
Okay. Next one. We'll be adding some more remotes to our next budget. You better knew a technician. Go ahead. Okay, go to the go to the next one. There we go. Okay, so now I think we're back. So you'll you'll be familiar with
this. This is the entire city budget. Um there is a net change of 173,137 from last week's budget. We had brought to you those two changes that we were going to make. And so this represents those two changes. As you can see here, charges for services is the main part of
the revenues that the city gets citywide. The next pie chart is for the expenditures citywide. Same thing as you'll see it's broken down. This one really didn't change from last time. It's a small change that we made and so the percentages didn't change from the
last meeting. And so this is the page that I have to read all the words on. So this is per Florida statutes. The city of Titusville, Florida is the taxing authority. 6.1938 is the rolled back millage rate. The
operating millage rate to be levied is 6.300 mills. The percent of increase over the rolled back millage rate is 1.71% which is considered a tax increase. Again, this budget was built on a 6.3
mills. It complies with the 10% cap on prior year revenue in accordance with the 744 430 Florida law. And if you're familiar, that law is um specific to Bvard County. Uh during the public hearing, city council must discuss the
percentage of increase over the rolled back millage rate if any and to and the fund the general fund budget and the purpose for which the ad valorum tax revenues are being increased. They also need to hear public comments regarding the increase in the adorum revenues and
the millage rate. So the fiscal year 26 budget as I said is a 6.300 mills 1.71% above the rolled back millage rate of 6.1938. It generates $878,69
of additional revenue over the FY25 adopted budget for advalorum. The purpose of this increase is to fund the 3.0% COLA. It is to fund public safety technology, vehicles and equipment and is to fund the cost of
consum consumables due to inflationary pressure. This is a slide of the general fund only and you can see that in the general fund that the advalorum property taxes make up 3.6% of the general fund budget which is by far the largest part. The other
part is going to be intergovernmental and utility taxes and we call those shared revenues. On the expenditure side, you can see that 44% of the expenditure side of the general fund budget is made up by public safety.
The next slide is the per capita for the resident of Adalorum. You can see that the city of Titusville does a very good job of keeping that on the [Music] Hello. Oh, I believe we could be back on. Don't
jinx it. Hello. Okay. Uh Curtis, is the live stream back up? Thank you. Okay. Right. I was just hearing you. All right. Miss Cherry, you have the floor still. Okay. Thank you, sir. So, this is the
general fund mill comparisons to the county and the other cities and you can see that we're relatively in the middle. We do a good job of holding that per capita number down and and we are in the middle as far as the actual millage rate goes. The next slide is the tax house. This is what breaks it down. The tax
house is very clear to me that we do a good job with that part of it as well. Uh, we use this based on a house that has a $260,780 assessed value. The exemption is $50,722 and a $25,000 uh homestead exemption for
the schoolboard. So, these the next ones are all the rate changes. Uh, you've seen these before. These are are the same rate changes, the rate same rates that were presented at the last meeting. Um, I'm just going to go through them real quickly. They haven't changed. You can see that storm
water and solid waste on the first slide have their uh state of the increases at 17.59 and 8% for solid waste. On the next slide, you can see that we have this the rate the storm water rate comparison. You can see that Titusville
is uh very close to being in the middle on both of those rates. So that you can see we're we're right in the all practically in the middle on both. The next one is the solid solid waste rate comparison. This one we're very close to the bottom. You can see that those numbers are uh reflective there
and only Rock and Melbourne are uh lower than we are. And these do not include their new rates. These are the rates that we had before. Then we have the solid waste commercial. It's the dumpster 4. You can see we're right in the middle on those rates as well.
Then we're going to jump into the 3/4 inch meter. You can see this is the same exact rates that were before. I believe that these are both the water and sewer rates are a 5% increase over last year. So that's reflected in these charges. Then you have the typical commercial
bill which is also a 3/4 inch meter and you can see that this is also based on five gall,000 gallon volume. And then the last of the rate is the 1 inch meter. And you can see that the volume of this is 15,000 gallons. And that you can see these rates haven't
changed since the last meeting as well. If you have any questions on the rates, Kevin's here to answer your questions. So, we have the water and wastewater rate comparison. You can see here that we do a good job with this. We're fairly close to the the
lower end of the rates. Um, and both of the rates that are listed there, again, this is not their updated rates. This is what their rates currently were at the time that this was put together. And then you can see on the combined utility rate for residential, again, we're towards the lower end uh on the
rates and it looks like it's 13560 as the average. Uh, and I'm going to pause right there in case you have any questions on any of these rate slides. I did have a question about, you know, where we are. I know these rates are us comparing what we're looking at for next
year versus where everybody else is currently this year. Um I would like to see uh after everybody finalizes theirs where we come back at. Um you know maybe after the 1 of October or something like that because I I think that would be a good comparison to see how we're tracking
because I know next year we're probably going to see the same thing where they currently are versus what we're proposing. So I think that'd be good information for I think Kevin Kevin can do that for you. Well, across millage rate, everything. Okay. By the way, the millage rates in here
are their the other city's proposed millage rates, but I can't get you what they actually adopted as well. They don't usually change, but I can get them for you. Thank you. Okay, so we're on to the action items. So, we're going to do a couple of follow-ups. So, we're going to adopt the
millage rate of 6.300 mills. It generates $878,669 over last year's adopted budget for Adalorum. Any additions to the budget would require an additional um equal or
greater uh reduction or addition if you wish to change the budget in either way. You would have to tell me what you want to add or what you want to take out. Or you have the option of making no changes at all to the budget. See, boy, I told her to read fast. I didn't
know she was going to listen. Okay, we're on to the ordinances. Okay. Um, ordinance uh 27-2025, an ordinance of the city of Titusville, Florida, providing for the millillage for the operation of the city of Titusville for fiscal year 2026 and
providing for an effective date. Are we going to do these one at a time? We're going to need to take a vote one. Yes. What what I would suggest is we need to deal with them one at a time. So after they're called then I would go ahead and
ask for public comment. Motion second. Any discussion and then we'll go on to the next. All righty. Sounds good. So you already read the ordinance for the record. Correct. All right. City clerk. We have one card. Stan Johnston. Good evening. My name is Dan Johnson.
It's on. It's on there. What? Your mic wasn't on at first. Oh, is it? They fixed it now. Okay. Uh Stan Johnston. And I've uh I don't know if this is legal, but this is a sign. And it says, uh it says, you
know, you're going to walk the walk. You got to know if you're going to talk the talk, you got to walk the walk. So, uh this is from uh a shirt that I got from the Lynx Ministry. Some of you all know the Lynx ministry was drive a bus big bluebird bus up to the Smoky Mountains
and we'd have fun with a a bunch of people. So, uh this has to do with with what we're talking about. You know, I'm talking about budgeting. I'm talking about money and since and uh in this
case there's a number of things that have not been included in the budget which I object to and the uh and there's been a number of poor decisions that have been made and I'm asking for budgeting to be included of the training uh for the
detection of sewer leakage um and training for harmful spraying of people with sewage um to educate and trains the council to obtain advice from the city, including our professional engineers. Uh, and you notice the sign back here at
176 parts per trillion. That's the measurement of forever chemicals that was in uh a sample of our drinking water, which is far above any acceptable level. And then we uh have also asking for testing of the Indian River Lagoon
uh for uh things. is not tested for at this time. Toxins, pesticides, herbicides, metals, and so forth because uh I don't believe that the uh it's just algae blooms that are killing everything. I believe we've got poisons
here and I know we have poisons here. Uh we have uh uh when boats come by and they paint it and so forth, they have horrible metals and toxic chemicals that are associated with with the u um coating of uh of boats uh especially
well anyhow. So so that's a problem. So on this number 27 is I'm opposed to it and uh I've um I I really tried hard to uh to stay
within the within the constraints of what I'm supposed to what I'm allowed to say. And uh I'm going to be wearing not only this, I'm going to wear a sign and if I'm not allowed to wear this sign um then let me know so I can put it down. So, I'll be doing that
in the in the next the next I'm going to go to 28. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. So, any other cards? No other cards. Council discussion on the mill rate. Member Nelson.
Discussion or a motion? Well, you can make a motion at any time. Move to approve ordinance number 27-2025 providing for the millillage for the operation of the city for 2026
with a proposed millage rate of 6.30 which is 1.71% uh increase over the roll back of 6.1938. Second. I have a motion and I have a second. Any
further discussion? City attorney, did you have something? No, I'm sorry. I was just getting ready for the next ordinance. Okay. Thank you. Ready to go. City clerk. Yes, sir. Member Muscosa? Yes. Member Nelson? Yes. Mayor Connors? Yes. Vice Mayor Cole? Yes. Member Stokel? Yes.
Motion carries. Thank you very much. City attorney. Ordinance 28-2025, an ordinance of the city of Titusville, Florida, adopting the general and related budgets of the city of Titusville for the fiscal year 2026 and providing for an effective date. Thank you, city attorney. City clerk,
one card. It's Dan Johnston. So, mayor, um, the rules are you are not allowed to wear or have signs up. I think by wearing them, you violate the spirit of that rule. So, I would ask that Mr.
Johnson remove his sign. All right. So, basically the rules of council or you know the rules of council. So, it's whatever council's prerogative is in regards to uh the signs. I just enforce the rules as they're stated. Uh city attorney, you want to weigh in?
Um I I would say that you know his t-shirt having something on it, that's a piece of clothing that would be fine, but but a piece of cardboard around the neck is a sign. Um which under the rules would fall under there something that would have to be in the back of the the chambers. So,
so his t-shirt, I believe, is fine for standing at the podium, but but not the cardboard sign. All right. Well, I think the city attorney weighed in, and I believe you're not allowed to wear the sign around your neck. Uh, okay. So, in other words, it's uh I'm going to take this off and I'm doing
it under duress and I believe it's it's a violation of my freedom of speech, so I'm taking it off. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Pardon? I said thank you very much. You need to put it in the back. I'll do it. I'll do it right now. Thank
you. My name is Stan Johnson. I'm a professional engineer former formerly employed by Bvard County and the city of Titusville as a professional engineer and as a registered land surveyor. U before you I have a number of signs that are legally posted back here and they
have to do with they have have to do with your budgeting, your spending of money, your errors, emissions and what I'm going to say is uh dysfunctional government. So you can see from here we have what I mentioned before 176 parts per trillion uh meltdown tripx over six
months city approved sketch plat so forth t will cover up barbaric crime spilling millions gallons sewage raw sewage into the Indian river and spraying people with uh sewage it's pretty serious issue and then the nonsense we have down here the large one
we have the $70,000 fraud which continues today it's it's a It's a document that doesn't exist that this well this is something that money it continues there it cost cost the city money talking about the 2026 budget
and we're talking about the 2026 budget and you'll notice on that it talks about also about unmaintained canals and flooding of priv private property and so forth. That's expenses. These are expenses that the city should stop doing. the city doesn't answer their f
respond to f phone calls and uh uh in this case is that I have sent to you emails dated June the 25th and July the 26th which I started talking and asking you to return my call on these things
which have many budget items in them budget items in them and they uh uh uh council does not respond And I have closed doors on me because council doesn't want to answer these questions because they're embarrassing. Because what it shows is the city of Titusville
is doing dirty deeds, evil, unsafe, and like I mentioned the last time I was here is that is that the budget expenditures on the budget were over 50% on safety.
These these are issues of safety, you know, when you're talking about flood planes, violation of flood planes. Uh and um uh so I sent you an email also today, but here I have these two two emails uh June the 25th and July 26th. And one
of them, one of them not only goes to our uh as violations goes to our governor and our uh state attorney, but also it it went to the FBI. So, what I'm I'm I'm tired of it is that the city of
Titusville is being dishonest, dishonorable, and uh as far as I'm concerned, you guys are are are being con artist in what you do because you're not telling the truth. Thank you very much, Mr. Four out of five of you.
Thank you. All right. Council discussion, member Nelson. Move to approve ordinance number 28 2025 adopting the general and related budgets of the city for 2026.
Second. I have a motion and I have a second and I would like to start discussion. Um M uh Terry, how much do you anticipate we will roll over from 2024 to 2025? 2024 was
2024 was rolled into 2025 already. 25 to 26. I I really don't know. We we don't generally ask for that information until we get all the expenses in. We're allowed through November 30th. Um normally it's significant. I'm going to take a good look at it this year, but I
really can't venture to to put a dollar to it. anything that we already have a commitment to a contract that's ongoing, those items will roll. Um, but outside of that, I I haven't looked at it yet. Okay. I'm just trying to, you know, process and figure out how much leftover
we're having from this past fiscal year into next fiscal year to see what legal room we do have. I I wouldn't want to venture to guess right now. I'm sorry. All right. Uh the reason why I bring that up is there's been um some folks
that have approached me, uh patriots, veterans in our community that, you know, brought up a very valid point that next year is the 250th anniversary of our country and asked that we do something a little bit more special than we normally do. I thought it was a pretty good idea and since we're talking
about budgets, I figured I'd bring it up. Um you know, obviously we have money typically earmarked for red, white, and boom, which I don't think that budget's changed. is right about the same. Uh but they were asking for a parade and I thought that was a pretty good idea and usually it cost you know 10
$10,000 to shut down US1 for a permit. Uh if we're we're talking about that with FDOT so that might be something I believe for council to consider. I believe there's a lot of groups that would fund raise and help put on you know the rest of the expenses. Uh but
you know, something I wanted to to bring up with you guys uh as we talk about the budget and where our money is being spent. Council, do you have any ideas or discussion on an idea of maybe earmarking some some dollars uh to help
make next year even more special for our country? Member Nelson. Well, I think there's some ideas that we can roll around, but I think probably we need to wait until after mid year to find out how much money we have. and what demands we have for that money and
then decide. Thank you very much, Member Nelson. Any other discussion? Vice Mayor Cole. Yeah, I think it's a an idea we really need to pursue and I think that uh we can probably get various organizations
to, you know, put in floats and stuff like that. I I I think it's a good idea, but I agree with member Nelson that we should probably wait to see where we are. We don't need to wait too late. Is there any time frame that anybody's thinking about yet?
Well, the 4th of July. So, we would have the parade on 4th of July and then end it with the fireworks, right? Yeah, I'm good with that. So again, I don't think it's fully a city lift, but I think the hard part for
any nonprofit to overcome is that initial permit with FOT. So that's where I felt maybe the city could come in and and help out if we had uh some funds available. Remember, do you have a dollar threshold that you're looking at, sir? I was just think I mean, what's the was
it like $10,000 to shut down US1? Right now, our spend plan for the 4th of July is we have budgeted 40,000 and we required 51,000. They just raised the price for the fireworks. What I would suggest that in January when we kick off
the planning process, we do an advisability to council. By then, we'll have some good figures on what a a parade would cost and come back to you with some firmer numbers in January. Yeah. I mean, I know know things are going up. I mean, that's across the board. Uh but, you know, we we have a
very very deep veteran community here and even uh FDOT's changing the colors on the Max Baroo Bridge to red, white, and blue next year. So, you know, I figured we we should probably maybe look at stepping up our game for next year. Member MSOS. Yeah. Um I think it's a great idea. I
appreciate you bringing it before the board. I would say I think um and Palm Bay they're doing a celebration as well. And one of their council members is kind of um uh leading the charge on that. So perhaps when you bring advisability, we can see how they're um working in that
pro um process as well. Thank you very much. By January, we'll have a better idea of where we're at financially. So, as we work through the audit, December is about the time frame where we start getting all of our final numbers put together. So, I'll have some some better numbers I can give you. It
won't necessarily depend on roll forward numbers and maybe that we can use some fund balance for that. Thank you, Mr. Har. Vice Mayor Cole, my question is a legal one for the city attorney. If we had a committee that was
working on the parade, can more than one of us work on that without it being a sunshine violation? It would depend on how you structure it. Um because remember the only time you can't talk to each other if something's coming to you for a vote. Okay? So if it's already been decided, you're
you're doing this and this is what resources are being done and all of your decision- making is over and it's just a matter of of planning it as a committee. Okay. Um, and there's no further council action, then it wouldn't be a a violation. It would only be a violation if there was something else coming
before you. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor Cole. And I, Mr. Terry, I know you mentioned uh the the financial audit. Who currently does our audit right now? It's James Moore and Company. Okay. They're out of Daytona. And who hires them and what's the
process? There is a committee that uh is formed. We hired them. This will be the second or third year of a contract. It goes through a committee which is actually involves the city council. The former vice mayor was actually uh the chair of
that committee. It is I'm not allowed to be per Florida statutes on that committee. I solicit help from colleagues I have. So somebody from the sheriff's office came. Somebody that I know from the properties office was on that committee and also our procurement administrator was on that committee as a
in an advisory role. And so it we come together, we put it together all we ask for RFPs and that committee is actually who decides who's going to run our audit. So I I really don't have any say in that. Thank you very much for the explanation. How long is that contract for? I believe it's for five years. Yeah. And
that's the best practice by GFOA. It takes a good two years for an auditor to get uh very familiar with our inner workings and our numbers and how our policies work. And so it's it's a five-year contract. I think there may be some options to renew, but that's up to the city.
Okay. Thank you very much. And I had a question um for HR regarding professional services from last year to this year. Looks like a decrease of 21% professional services from 142,000 to 112,000. And I'm
assuming that would be brokers, people to help you make decisions. Correct. Uh 76. Yeah. Um, while Terry's looking, professional service is made up of our uh benefits consultant
and uh our labor relations uh uh provider that that gives us uh consultations on our labor relations. So, those are the two thoughts I had with uh and and I guess my question is
why is it going down? I would anticipate it would go up. because as we look into next year and we've already had conversations as a council and I know city managers had conversations about putting out an RFP
for benefits consultant for PBM for ASO networks all those things. Uh I'm assuming that's going to cost a little bit more money. Yes. But what you mentioned mayor comes out of our medical uh fund. So I'm just thinking what made up this prof what
made up that increase and again my thought is is the the um professional services for our benefits consultant um labor relations trying to think whatever you look at the trend you know it's kind
of up and down up and down and and there is 10,000 I know that the consultant helps us with our ACA what We report our benefits information to the IRS. That also comes out of that. So
just trying to think what else what what what would have caused that to increase as much and then come down. Yeah, it went down by you know $30,000 and my question is why I would imagine that number should go up. And why did it
jump so high from 50,000 to 142 and then to go back down? Right. Yeah. You know, really again I'm I'm thinking of what makes up that professional services.
Mayor, we can come back with a complete accounting of that if you'd like. Now, we can send one of our accounting personnel to dig that number up for you. Well, I just my my concern is if we go out to bid for a new benefits broker and
you know, maybe there's somebody we want, but we don't have it budgeted for um is just my concern because, you know, these things are increasing in price, not decreasing in price. So, um yeah, and and and to that point, mayor,
you know, the 50,000 or so, as I recall, for our benefits consultant should not exceed that amount. you know, there's no commissions paid to that. It's a it's a fixed rate for the benefits consultant. So, um, but we could detail that, you
know, provide some, uh, detail for you, mayor. I can have I can have someone run a full accounting of this account number for you that will show all all and this is a revised budget. I'd have to see what the original budget was um, for last year. Let me look that up real quick. And yeah, and that's the thing is
if the revised budget, you guys, you know, we ended up having to spend $142,000 in 2025 and, you know, now we're expecting it to go down. I would imagine it wouldn't go down. Yeah, it looks like the original adopted
budget was uh 108 350. So, something had to have happened that required additional funds. I'm I'm not familiar without looking at it again exactly what that is, but I can get that for you. And and I'm not judging the fact that it costs more. Like I get it. I'm just saying if we're not planning for, you
know, another increase, you know, you're you're exactly right. There shouldn't be a large mayor. Member Soal. Yeah. To I think I would like to know just because it is in some of these others. So for instance, in community
relations, it went down. um purchasing didn't have any professional services and then HR it went down and then um finance it's around the same at 20,000 customer service is three and then support services is our highest one at
205 so I I think it would be good just for us to know why what's the discrepancy even between the departments and what it's being spent on I can certainly provide that to you member MSO yeah and I also had a question on it's
page 80. Um for the economic development in 2023 we had $129 and then it goes up to 244,000. And so I was just curious what that encompasses as well. So a breakdown of this uh like I think these kind of stand
out. I think that would have been helpful and I'm sorry I didn't ask this question sooner. So would you please state again which the numbers are that you're comparing? Sure. Um it's on page 80 if you look at the professional services. So the actual
in 20 uh 23 is 129. Then if you go to um the proposed budget and say for 2026 it's 232,000. And I don't know if that's including a salary or we hired somebody. Well, one of the things I want you to remember as you're looking at this, this
is a budget number and the prior two years for 23 and 24 are actuals. So we don't really put the actual numbers in here. The budget you're looking at for HR is the budget. So, I'll have to look to see what the actuals are right now, but there were a couple of special
council directives, I believe, for economic development that increased these numbers significantly for these years, and I'd have to either rely on Mandy or someone to tell you what those are. I believe that they were council directives, though, and we amended the budget for those. Those are consulting fees, I think, for
Kim Horn and some other economic development. Okay. Is it possible when we get this um to have a little bit more of a breakdown? I know that you gave it to me for a few um of the departments because I know it is a lot, but um is that possible just so that we can have a
little bit for the actuals? You mean as far as the activity goes? Yes, I can give you more information than you want. Thank you. So, I believe you know what member Mscos was talking about economic development. uh the 89,000 that's budgeted I believe that is for marketing alliance in terms
of that would fall under promotional activities right not prop professional services no marketing is under the prof is under the promotional activities okay somewhat it depends on where they put it at the department builds this part of their budget and sometimes if I find
things that are completely out of line I'll change it but otherwise they kind of know what it is they're doing with the money I would say most of it would be in professional activities um but promotional activities activities, but some of it could be. It just depends on how they plan to spend it. Like maybe the fee we're paying to
marketing alliance is professional services, but the dollars they spend on advertising is promotional. I understand that's just you look at promotional and you know that we spent $89,000 with them. When you see $89,000 budget, that's you know why your brain goes that way.
Mr. Parish, did you have something? I saw your light light up, but I don't think he's here. Okay. I was just confirming what you all stated that it it's budgeted in professional services. Okay. Thank you very much.
I know, right? Or sound like him. Um but it would be my recommendation if we you know maybe allocate a little bit more money in the professional services for for HR for benefits consultant. Um you know I know um Joe mentioned it's it's
$50,000. It's flat. take it or leave it for benefits consultant, but you know, sometimes you you get what you pay for. And if you guys, you know, notice we're struggling in that department right now. So, I would like to have some money available so we can have the best
possible person giving us the direction. And I'm not saying we're going to spend it because there's various different ways to craft an RFP where you could align all the dollars being spent. Uh, a very good example of that is you could pay a base consulting fee each year for
a consultant to actively work, you know, 247 to give us the best advice at like, you know, $50,000, right? Which we have budgeted for, and then do a percentage of savings to align everybody's goals because unfortunately
sometimes in the insurance world, the more things cost, sometimes the more people make, especially when you talk about commission. And I know Joe's gonna say they don't make commission. I get that. But, you know, that's something that I'm thinking about as we're moving forward so that we can get the best bang
for buck out of that because when it's our second biggest line item next to payroll, that is, you know, where dollars are at. So, so can I ask how much it is you're thinking that you want to add to that budget? I mean, if we're budgeting $50,000, because that number doesn't just make up
a benefits consultant, right? It makes up the labor services and unions and and we're going through that right now. So that's going to cost a little bit more money as well, right? Because that that's my concern when I see this number go down, right? Um
not so much right now, but uh in the event that we get beyond you get into an impass situation, but for the collective army process, we're doing that inhouse. So So mayor, council, there you have a couple of options right now. Uh we do
build in some contingency funds into the next year's budget in case something comes up that we actually need the funds for. Um those are are by the city manager at the city manager's discretion. Of course, is it something that you need? He can authorize that. If you go through a vote and decide that's
how you want to spend it. Also, this is a significant amount of money for his line. I know it doesn't seem like enough. I think it would be enough to get him started into the fiscal year and that perhaps it could be something we could address at midy year. Um, so you have some options for that other than if
you decide you want to add some money to this budget, you just need to tell me what we're what we're taking out. Okay. Well, I I very much appreciate that. And I believe this budget also included uh an additional staff member in community relations. Correct.
This proposed budget. That's correct. But I haven't made a decision whether to Okay. Just I got you. So, you know, like you said, there is some flexibility. Uh, but, you know, again, I want to make sure we provide every ounce of support we can to
make sure we get the benefits shared up and and correct. So, again, when I saw the professional services go down, that was my concern, right? Is I want to make sure you guys have the funds to to get it done. So, any other uh discussion from council on this item? Anybody want to make any changes to the professional
services? Just kind of leave it alone right now. All right. Well, in that case, I do have one last question and that's around the organization and maybe Attorney Stokes can um help answer this question. Is
when we pass this budget and adopted the way it is, are we approving the organizational chart as well? Uh the organizational chart is there primarily um as a justification for the for the dollar amounts and the line items that
are there. But the organization itself is all within the purview of the city manager. And I apologize for not getting back to you on this, but I did do the research and and you know whether positions what positions are are put
into place, whatever, all fall within his discretion once the budget's approved. So the organizational chart that's in there is just to justify the dollar amount, but he then has the flexibility to make changes um and all that. And once it's approved in the
budget, then it's, you know, it's his to deal with operationally. That's the way the council manager form of government works. So, thank you very much, city manager. So, how do we reconcile that with um article 2 section 15 powers four of city council
uh to establish new departments and redistribute the work within? Well, establishing the departments is is clearly one of your functions, but how those departments are staffed fall under his purview. So, I just think it's an interest.
So, if you if you want to and and and where that normally comes up is if something's going to be outsourced, you know, outsourcing certain departments to the private sector or to other governmental agencies. Um, yeah, that would fall clearly with with council to the side. But once you establish a
public works department, a police department, a fire department, then the staffing of that falls to him. So, thank you, Secretary Member Stole. Yeah, just to reiterate with that, I think it's under we set policy. So, if we were to pass a policy that we as a
city were going to provide a certain service or whatnot, we can do that, but then it's up to the city manager to decide how is that implemented and how do we do that. And I will say the org charts, uh, one of the classes I teach is public budgeting and a lot of budgets don't even include an org chart within their budget. So I do appreciate us
doing that for transparency purposes. But yeah, I feel like policy is what we really need to focus on and then we set that and then we have to allow our city manager to decide how to implement that. Completely agree and I appreciate that. Um, the the challenge I have with the
ORC chart and which I wanted to bring up while we're talking about the budget because it's in the budget is um according to our charter, we appoint the city auditor. So with that being said, um how the or
charter is laid out with the city auditor reporting directly to the person they are auditing, the city manager, I think is an inherent conflict and something that should be discussed amongst council. Um so I'm not necessarily saying it has to be like
right now. Obviously, it's not part of this ordinance, but it is something I think you're mayor. I think you're confusing the auditors. The internal order is appointed by the city manager. The external auditing firm is appointed by council. I believe that's what you're referring to.
There's actually two sections in the charter that reference an auditor. The first one is under powers of council, article 2, section 15, number six. It says appoint city auditor. uh later on in the charter section 27 I believe it is talks about council hiring an external auditor which is two separate
sections by the way we can appoint a city auditor we can't remove them though because it uses the same language as appoint uh city manager appoint city attorney appoint city auditor I'm sorry, mayor. What What was the
section you referenced in the charter? Section 15. I mean it it does say appoint city auditor and and that's and that's not uncom there are some I mean you look at Gainesville they have like eight charter officers because they have their utility department they
have an an internal auditor they have a bunch of others um the way I think the way the reason this was was always is that this list says city manager, city attorney, but then there are subsections later um that talks about it whereas the subsection here talks about external um
but this is open to interpretation and and having looked at it just now for the first time I would say it does appear that there is power for the council to have an auditor that would report to the council which is not uncommon that's very common having some sort of internal
auditor or inspector general that that reports to the council because as mayor as you said to have the auditor who's basically the watchdog reporting to the person they're watching is is kind of inconsistent. So that's why that's why charters are usually set up to have that
auditor report directly back to council. So, um, now a lot of this is, you know, shooting from the hip because I haven't delved into this and I certainly would have no problem coming back, uh, with something more definite. But looking at this, just at first glance, looks like
you appoint an auditor. Thank you very much. And it's not qualified internal or external. It just says you appoint the auditor. Thank you very much, city attorney. I mean, that's, you know, part of the reason why I wanted to just clarify things and, you know, why I asked for a charter review way back when, uh,
because it is ambiguous in some areas and I want to make sure that, you know, everybody knows what's going on. Um, personally, I think council's easiest way to do things is just to have the city auditor
maybe report directly to the city attorney and not necessarily city manager. Uh, but that would be the easiest way to do that and again it doesn't have to be done now but because we're having the discussion I figured I'd let you guys know uh where I was going with it uh any Fortune 100 company
any publicly traded company the hospital board which is a government entity they have an internal audit committee that the board member board member sits on and reports back to the rest of the board. Um, so that is another option where you could have one of us, maybe
the vice mayor, you know, say, "Hey, you meet with the internal auditor once uh before every meeting and then report back to the board if there's anything that needs to be uh made aware of." Uh, but those would be my recommendations. And again, it is nothing against Tom. Tom's doing an absolute amazing job. I
just look at structurally, organizationally, how we're set up for success uh long term. So, member Stokele. Yep. Um, no. I'm definitely open to that. I think too, just thinking through it, um, I don't know what it would look like organizationally, whether it stays
to the city manager, does reports to us or to the city attorney. I think I just would want more information regardless of who it it is appointed to because honestly, I don't know what the findings are of internal audits. And then the second component would be which is what
I think it is right now and how I would want it to remain is the point of internal auditing is to make sure we're doing everything correctly and then to make sure we're catching ourselves. Not a gotcha moment but hey in case we get audited for instance when I had to get approval from you guys for travel it's
oh we have this rule let me make sure I have the documentation. So, um I I think that we as a board need to be aware of it regardless of who it's appointing to is to make sure that we are in compliance should questions arise should Doge come about even more so I think
that would be important. The last thing we want is you know to be caught off guard. Vice Mayor Cole. Yeah. I'm I've been on the audit committee committee at uh Parish Medical Center for a number of years and the
auditor the audit committee is made up of board members and the auditor finals audit is reported to us the board members and then the audit committee uh
reports to the board. So I'm not sure if if George Mkhitaryan actually gets an out brief from the auditor. I think he gets the out brief at the board meeting after we have uh heard the auditor and
the auditor has told us what his findings are, not the fi the findings that he didn't have. So that could be a method we could look at. And I noticed when you mentioned something about the I don't know if it was the review of the
RFP or whether it was the actual audit, but you mentioned that the vice mayor was on it. Was that the RFP or was that the actual audit? It was it was the whole process. Yes. They reviewed the RFPs that we received back from all the audit firms
and then as a committee he was the chair and it it somebody from the city council has to per Florida statutes be on that committee. It can be made up of of at least three people and so he was the chair of that committee and they decided
and reviewed the RFPs along with me and so I just served as an advisory. I can look the Florida statute up for you where this happened maybe five years ago that the statute uh deter the state determined that um I could no longer internal employees could no longer
choose their external auditors. It had to be a separate committee and so that's why I reached out to my colleagues at the sheriff's department and the property appraisers office. It also does say that at least one member of the city council needs to serve on that committee and he volunteered to do that.
Okay. So, you know, I would think that if the uh if the charter is ambiguous on that, I think we as a council can make that decision that if we have an audit committee, which I don't have a problem serving on, uh, as an audit committee,
we would report back to the city council on whatever findings that were made. I think I'm thinking uh city attorney that that's a decision that we can make. Right. Well, I I I think it I think it is, but
I I I think we need to be conscientious of the two different types of audits. The annual audit versus an internal auditor. I'm not talking about the Yeah, I'm talking about the annual audit. Yeah. Yeah. The annual audit. You're absolutely right. You know, the purpose of an internal auditor obviously
internal dayto-day type things. Yeah. Okay, Vice Mayor Cole, may I what? To make a motion. May I, Vice Mayor Cole? You may. Uh, I believe for the charter council u determines who the external auditor is
supposed to be, sir. Yes, you do. So, what happens is once that committee comes together, they bring a recommendation and a contract and then the city council does vote on that. Yes. So, we collectively decide the external, but again, the internal, the
day-to-day, you know, because that's what you serve on, right? You don't serve on the external audit at Parish. You serve on the internal audit committee that doesn't involve George. Correct. No, I serve on the external audit committee. And that's the way it's
structured that we as an audit committee, the auditor reports to us in January of every year. Thank you, member Stokl. Yeah, I was going to say I think that the hospital is probably more the external component. My suggestion would be that maybe at our next council
meeting bring it up under the reports to get advisability and then we can kind of explore what the best option would be. Well, you know, we're talking about budgets and or charts. I figured I'd bring it up and have a quick discussion. Thank you very much. Anybody else have anything? All right. So, I believe there
was a motion and a second for this budget. Uh, we had a lot of good discussion, but no changes were made. Uh, which is perfectly fine. I'm just recapping because it's been a while. Uh, city clerk, member Nelson, yes. Mayor Connors, yes. Vice Mayor Cole, yes.
Member Stokel, yes. Member Muscosa, yes. Motion carries. Thank you very much, city attorney. Ordinance number 29-2025, an ordinance of the city of Titusville, Florida, amending section 21-241 and 21-243 of the code of ordinances by amending
and increasing the schedule of rates and charges for water and sewer service providing for severability, repeal of conflicting ordinances, an effective date, and incorporation into the code. Thank you, city attorney, city clerk. Uh, we have one card. It's Dan Johnston.
She called your name. Uh Stan Johnston. I'm I'm opposed to this. In fact, is um there's a budging items that have been with water and sewer uh for many years and they may now have been some in public works. All of
these eight signs, all of them, all of them have to do with water and sewer. And uh so uh this is an important issue. Uh and uh notice one of the things has to do with a picture of a dam and what
the city has done. They spent over a million dollars on these these particular two dams at the senior center and they're all illegal. They're all illegal because they they do not have compensatory storage. They do
not have uh surveying information on on the on the taking of public property by flooding and by increasing of wetlands. So what are they doing is that right now is that against law you guys are
violating our constitution taking of property without due process that's constitutional law and that we have more than one dam in fact in that area we have if you look at the FEMA
the FEMA gate FEMA gate has a drawing that shows in that area the city of Pass were constructed not one, not two, five dams. Five dams. Five dams. Do you know how many times FEMA was
contacted when they were designed and built? None. And all of those are illegal when what I just told you. Now, what what you just mentioned about uh u the auditing, that would be interesting because one of
these uh has to do with a $70,000 fraud. And in that cases, that was in 2019 and the city council discussed it and said $70,000 was spent on investigating me and my emails and uh uh the city paid
$70,000 for a report. However, when I did a request for public records, when I did a request for public records, when I did a request for public records, that's three times I'm mentioning this is because
finance says $70,000 did not exist. Sarah Stoker was there and also attorney Nelson was there and that continues today. So, that's a problem in the audit. dishonesty by the
city of Titusville. It's ugly. It's really ugly what the city has done. It's all lies. It's all lies. And so, so there is no there is no report. I did a public records doesn't exist. Thank you, M. City ignores it. So, no thank you to the
council. City clerk. Oh, sorry. Can I have a motion? Have one. Um, I believe we're on the general related budgets. Water and sewer fees.
I'm sorry, water and sewer. Move to approve ordinance number 29-2025 amending the schedule of fees for water and sewer. Second. I have a motion and I have a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, city
clerk. Mayor Connors. Yes. Vice Mayor Cole. Yes. Member Stokel. Yes. Yes. Member Vcoso. Yes. Member Nelson. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you very much. City attorney. Ordinance number 30-2025, an ordinance of the city of Titusville,
Florida, amending section 16-116 of the code of ordinances by amending and establishing an increase to the residential monthly charge for solid waste, recycling, and additional cart fees. and by amending section 16-117 of the code of ordinances. by amending and
establishing an increase to the commercial dumpster and commercial can monthly charges for solid waste and recycling fees and increasing the commercial dumpster rental fees and by amending section 16-118 of the code of ordinances by amending and establishing
an increase in the extra charges for special services providing for severability repeal of conflicting ordinances an effective date and incorporation into the code. Thank you. The attorney see clerk. We have one card. Stan Johnston. Stan Johnston. I sent you an email today
and you have a copy of that. It's dated September the 18th. And uh it mentions about I'll just give you the title of it. Title says my dissatisfaction. That's me. my dissatisfaction and opposition to city's 2026 budget tax and
budget. And then in parentheses on the title, it says errors, emissions, dishonesty, closed doors, and city's failure to respond beginning in this goes back to 1985. Mr. Johnson, please get on topic. We're
talking about the 2026 solid weight service charges. I want you to notice is that when I was reading the title, this is has to do with I'm reading the title of it. It says 2026 budget and tax budget. That's exactly how it's advertised uh in the
newspaper. So So that's talking about this this pardon. That's not what we're talking about. I'm talking about the tax and budget. Okay? I'm just giving you a title now. And I don't appreciate being interrupted, but in this case is that
I'm going to say is that is that is is that when I talk about four or five council members and when I talk about other people, it excludes this Mrs. Moscoso and it excludes Mr. Abati. You're excluded
[Laughter] from from being in the dirty deeds. Okay. So, and that's same miss. So anyhow, uh I made a mistake the last time I spoke on this is that u
uh I'm going to say what Ken Rosa had said and what I've said in the past. Solid waste is what it's done very well. But there one particular person here that has managed solid waste fantastically and I I would det
Kevin Rose said the last at the last meeting. So, he's he didn't mention any names. I don't know if I should mention any names, but there's a a Mr. Cook who is uh who's in charge of that, and I think he's done a fantastic job. Um, so
u let's try not to fire him. Okay. Now, uh uh but in this I I also have a uh this letter of um July 26th. It talks
about these these uh uh uh dirty deeds that the city has done. And I mentioned that in and this letter that I just sent today. Notice something something I did on this. Uh how did I close it? You're not going to like how I close it. I said
you are in my prayers. Love never fails. You guys need to what you need to do the four or five not you uh do need to repent of of this dirty deeds that you guys are doing. Thank you Mr. Johnson.
Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you Mr. Cook. I have a motion. Move to adopt ordinance number 30-2025 amending the code of ordinances by increasing the solid waste service charges and rates.
Second. I have a motion. I have a second. Any further discussion from council? Seeing none, city clerk. Vice Mayor Cole. Yes. Member Stokl. Yes. Member Moscoso. Yes. Member Nelson. Yes. Mayor Connors. Yes. Motion carries. City attorney.
Ordinance number 31-2025, an ordinance of the city of Titusville, Florida, adopting the Enterprise Fund and Capital Improvements Program budgets for the city of Titusville for the fiscal year 2026 and providing for an effective date. Thank you, city attorney, city clerk.
We have one card to Stan Johnston. My name is Stan Johnson. I sent you an email today and one one of the council members commented that re received I don't know whether the person read it but but anyhow um uh
I have this email sent to you I want today that I I wrote down you know you're in my prayers so I'm going to read the last paragraph and this that you have you have a copy of And I don't I caution you to stay on topic.
Okay, here's I'm going to read it to you and yeah, I read you the title. Um actually I didn't finish reading the title. It said beginning in 1985 with city's approval of the outrageously erroneous 1985 freshwater management study that continues today.
So, uh, in this email, I talk, uh, specifically about, uh, about I think there's over 10 problems that I'm I'm mentioning, including the sewage spill and spraying people with sewage. So, here's what I finally Mr. Johnson, please have a seat. You
forfeit the rest of your time for not being on topic. Thank you. Please have a seat. I already budgeting. No, we're talking about capital expenditures for 2026. Please. Okay. The the dam is is a budget. A million dollar budgeting. Please have a seat
and I can't talk. You can talk about it during public comment all you want. I I'm sitting down under duress. Thank you. All right. So, we called the cards. Have a motion. Please move to approve ordinance number 31-2025
adopting the enterprise funds and capital improvement programs for 2026. Second. I have a motion. I have a second. Any further discussion from council? Seeing none, city clerk. Member Stokl, yes. Member Muscoso, yes. Member Nelson,
yes. Mayor Connors, yes. Vice Mayor Cole, yes. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Thank you very much to the team. Appreciate everything you guys have done. Um, I know it's tough going through the budgeting process and then us asking you questions. We have petitions and request.
I know. I'm just talking about because we finished that section. So, again, I I really do appreciate everything you guys do. Um, now if I may, I wanted to also commend finance and the entire staff. Also, one item that we overlooked and I think it's
important to note that um we are retiring the riverfront bonds this year. So, in addition to having the lowest millage in 17 years, you're going to have.19 mills less on your um tax roll this year. So, that's another uh add a
little little bonus, but uh that that debt is now gone. So all that property is ours in perpetuity. So if you added that in, we'd technically be less than rowback or pretty close. I can't do that math in my head.
I was trying. I was trying. That's why I was asking the finance person. I don't even bring a calculator. So you know, it was uh interesting. I was talking with the state elected official today and I was telling him about our budget and where we are and he's like so you're partial roll back and I go what
does that mean? He's like well you're lowering your millillage. Uh and I was like yeah but we got to tell everybody it's tax increase. He's like partial roll back. I'm like you're the one that wrote the law that we have to read it this way. Uh you know so I I can't sell it as a partial roll back like you can
but uh we have to verbatim read it that it's a 1.9% increase. So, anyways, I thought that was ironic. All right. Anything else? All right. Petitions and request from the public, non-aggenda items. Mr. Johnson, would you like the floor? I think it says you're supposed to speak
on this particular Well, it's petitions and requests from the public. So, yeah, you can talk on that. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Petitions. I apologize. I'm used to saying non-aggenda items. I forgot this is a special meeting. Yes. comments must be directly related to this meeting.
Okay. All right. Uh the email I sent to you, um I'm going to read the last paragraph and it has to do with the budget and what you guys are doing. It says, "Sity is unable to dispute my findings of outrageous errors and dirty deeds." And this has been
going on for many years. Why do these sins happen or the dirty deeds? Why does city have closed doors? They don't respond just like the $70,000 and and failure to respond. It's just
like the the emails of June the 25th and July the 26th. That's been over two months and I've called I've called your number to be transferred from uh Mrs. Matthews for uh over two months
now every day. Why does city hide the truth with coverups by wild excuses, arrogance, closed doors, and numerous lies? Why does and how can council approve such nonsense? Why doesn't city admit to errors and seek repentance?
Mr. Johnson, your caution stay on topic about the meeting. This is very much this this email is very much on topic. It is even titled from the topic. My finding of today's council nonsense can be described as unhealthy unethical alliance by four out
of five council members to hide errors and truths of horrible decisions and city city's dirty deeds by a dysfunctional dishonest city government. Unfortunately, it appears that some council members are very successful as con artists and shysters unwilling to
confess of their and city's errors and unwilling to seek repentance. All right, Mr. Chair, you are in my prayers. I caution to you. You forfeit the rest of your time. Please have a seat. I have to sit down. Yes. And I'm going I close it with love never fails. I appreciate you. And the thing is is that uh Thank you,
Mr. We're supposed to love one another and you're not doing it. You're you're violating the golden rule and all these things you're doing. And I'm I'm underestim