Heat. Heat. This is a city council meeting to hear special recognitions and presentations. Council will not take formal action on the agenda items. All individuals wishing to speak may do so under petitions and requests. No signup card is required. Citizens will be given
three minutes to speak. All signup cards and exhibits being submitted to city council shall be placed in the box on the table. >> The purpose of the city council meeting is to discuss city business and proper decorum must be displayed by all in attendance. Public input and
participation is encouraged. However, all persons in attendance shall comply with the rules for meeting procedures and shall refrain from any action that disrupts the orderly proceedings of the council meeting or hinders a council from performing its duties. No person shall interfere with the rights of
others to speak, hear, see, or attend the proceedings, make threats of violence, disrupt the proceedings with shouting, fail to confine remarks to the agenda item under consideration, nor continue to speak after the allotted speaking time has expired, as these actions shall be considered disruptive
and disorderly. The mayor shall caution any person who violates these provisions and disrupts the orderly proceedings of the council meetings, and they shall be directed to comply. Any person who fails to comply as cautioned shall be ruled out of order shall forfeit the remainder of their speaking time on the agenda
item under consideration and will be requested to return to their seat. Persons who fail to comply as directed shall be subject to removal from the council chambers by law enforcement or such other actions as may be reasonably necessary to enforce these regulations. Notwithstanding, the mayor may order the
immediate removal of any person from the chambers who possesses a threat to property or life safety. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or restrict a person's right created by the constitution, law, ordinance, or regulation. >> Good evening everybody. Welcome to the
city of Titusville city council special recognitions and presentations meeting. Today's July 28, 2026 at 5:30. I call this meeting to order for the invocation. We'll have a moment of silence. Thank you very much. Please stand for
the pledge. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. Before we move on
to uh me handing over to the city manager to talk about the presentations, while we have quite a few law enforcement officers here, I just want to express um our community's deep gratitude for the actions that our department took last night and
apprehending a suspect from another county who clearly intended to to do do some harm in our city. And so from the bottom of my heart, really appreciate everything that you guys do to keep us safe day in and day out. I know we're here to recognize another fellow officer
who won the employee of the month. He might be a better swimmer than you, but you guys all do incredible work every single day. So, thank you very much. City manager. >> Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council. The first item on this uh
agenda is the employee of the month. And for June 2026, as you indicated, it is a member of the Taiso Police Department. And to introduce that award winner, we have our interim for uh interim police chief, uh Chief Wright.
You don't get to sit over there. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and council, and members in the audience. I have the pleasure and honor of introducing officer Jason Vanzle as the city's June 2026 employee of the month. We're pretty excited about it because
this incident was uh as far as the video goes is pretty uh extravaganza and uh I think our folks over there are pretty excited about it too. So um what this was was May 10th, 2026 was a water rescue that occurred. Uh the wind gusts
were up to 28 mph during that day. So when the wind starts gust gusting and the the not the seas but the river starts getting rough uh gets choppy can cause the swimmers to get disoriented get sucked under the water and anybody trying to do a rescue makes it extremely dangerous. It's hard to explain exactly
what happened. So we made a video of this based on the body cam footage and cell phone bystander uh footage. I don't understand. Emergency. >> I'm in Paris Park in Titusville by the Veterans Park Bridge and I have seen
what I believe is people. >> I just saw location device go by underneath the bridge. >> Okay, >> there's a storm here. We're having a squall right now and I'm seeing at least one person has been they were out with
jet skis and flotation. You know what I mean? Pulling them behind and I think they got separated and they're literally being blown down southernly in a southerntherly direction under the bridge and have passed under the bridge. >> Okay. >> Yeah. There's children
>> at least at least there's kids yelling. Okay. Yep. I got three people in the water without flotation devices. >> I GOT THEM. I GOT THEM COMING. CAN YOU SWIM TO ME? >> BREATHE without >> I trust me. I was a rescue swimmer and even I wouldn't swim in this. Stay over
with your kids. We got help coming. Come on, heat. Go, go, go. >> Swimmers. And what was neat about it is this incident lived up to our slogan, promoting teamwork within our community. And it took a community effort with the citizens that were out there with that
rope that you saw pulling off surveile back in with each rescue to help him swim back. So that's the incident that we're recognizing him for. [applause] [applause] >> [applause] >> It's the best I can get, man. [laughter] Well, that's a real tough act to follow as far as employee of the month, but uh
for the month of July, we have um a public works director. Cindy Reer is nominated for a city employee for the month of July 2026. Senior officials such as department heads are normally excluded from employee of the month consideration.
However, her tireless work ethic, willingness to go above and beyond on any task, no matter how mundane or time-consuming merit special mention. Since taking over as public works director, she has developed a strong rapport and credibility within the community among her staff in the face of
challenges such as scarce resources, staffing turnover, and aging infrastructure. These issues require almost daily reactive attention to keep citizen informed amid amidst the constant misinformation that permeates social
media. Sandy is the first to respond to cit citizen concerns on issues that involve public infrastructure and delivery of municipal services. Under her leadership, she has brought a fresh and positive outlook of how we deliver our budget message and deliver services.
She has taken steps to make leadership changes and streamlined organizational relationships and outsource functions to save funds. Most noteworthy is her response to demand for services to citizens such as
storm water maintenance, solid waste delivery, and water utilities. In an era of increasing service demands and demands for immediate response, Sandy does an outstanding job in community outreach and informing of citizens of actions that will be taken. For these
reasons, she is most deserving of city employee of the month. [applause] [applause] >> [applause] >> Um, all I'd like to say is I got 215 public works employees who deserve this over the uh over me. So, I'm going to now read all their names. Just kidding.
Thank you. [laughter] >> And member Nelson. And can the city manager tell us how much how many grants has s Sandy gotten for the city? >> Countless. >> Microphone. >> Microphone.
>> Microphone. >> A significant number. She does a great job of gathering revenue for the city through grants. She does a great job. >> Yeah. Sandy, do you know do you know how much you've gotten in grants? Um, I think over the years we've gotten like 20 million, something like that.
>> That's a lot. >> Jump change. [laughter] >> That's a lot. >> Thank you everybody. Congratulations um to our two employees of the month. Uh we really appreciate everything you guys do for our city and for our community. Mr. City Manager.
>> Yes sir. Moving on to 4B, we have the property assessed clean energy PACE loan program and a representative from of the PACE program will provide a presentation on the loan benefits for low to middle inome homeowners. >> I don't think they were bored with the
idea. I think they're I [laughter] >> Those were a couple tough acts to follow. Um do I need to turn this on prior to >> No, you're good. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you so much for having us tonight. My name is Matthew Choy. I represent Renew Financial, one of the two companies um that are before you the this afternoon to talk about the
residential property assessed clean energy uh program. Behind me is Mark Shuffle with uh Y Green as well. And then um also our lobbyist um Courtney Barker. And we just want to say again, thank you so much for taking the time. Uh residential PACE has been a somewhat
evolving and at times misunderstood program. and we thought it would be great to give you a presentation on not only the nuts and bolts of the program, but also some of the changes and the protections that have been enacted over the last few years. We thought the best way to do that was a presentation. Courtney thought the best way to do that
was just to tell you her experience because believe it or not, one of the reasons why we love her so much is she actually got a property assessed clean energy assessment um before she started um lobbying for us. So, we thought if it was okay with you guys, we could have her come up and just kind of tell you the actual process um and her
experiences. >> Great. Thank you. >> Well, thank you for having me tonight. I appreciate it. I think I know most of you. Hopefully, if you don't, um my name is Courtney Barker. I'm the former city manager of Satellite Beach. Um Satellite
Beach adopted the PACE program in 2016, so pro about two years after I started there. Um, one of the reasons why I was so attracted to this program and bringing it into the city to make it available to our residents was after
Hurricane Francis, and I think Mandy remembers this because when I was working here at the city of Titusville, um, I lost my entire apartment, everything gone. My roof fell in, lost everything I owned. Um, employees here were giving me clothes to wear to work.
So, it was a traumatic experience. So, when I bought my first home, it's actually not my first home, but my this my satellite beach home. Um, shortly after that, I went through Hurricane Matthew when I became city manager. And of course, now I'm so used to boarding
up my house and I was so sick of it and I'm like, you know what? I'm getting windows, getting impact windows, and I'm done with this. So, right before that, Pace came in and presented to me and I thought, you know what, this is great because it at least gives an option to people, you know, another way to finance
really expensive improvements um to their home without having to go through a traditional HELOC loan. And you can still do that. You know, I could have gone through a HELOC loan, but honestly, the curiosity got the best of me as a city manager. I wanted to see what the process was myself before, you know,
recommending that to my residents. And so, I did. So, I went through the program. It was awesome. It was very easy. It's very similar to getting a heliloc, but you don't have the credit check. you do have an income qualification and you do have um the
need for equity in your home. So the equity in your home has to surpass the cost of the improvements. So I went through all that, got approved for that. The best part and probably my favorite part of the program was the vetting they do for contractors. The contractor,
you know, relationship with homeowners can sometimes be very stressful. um just trying to find a contractor that is, you know, um going to finish your project is um not going to go out of business in the middle of your project. So, one of
the things that PACE does is it qualifies all their contractors. My contractor had to go through a lot to get certified into the PACE program. He had to provide financial documents, all kinds of stuff to make sure that they were the right type of contractor for PACE. And that vetting I would have had
to do if I got a HELOC loan. And I can guarantee if I asked a contractor, let me see your financial records, they would be like, no. So that's one of the benefits of the PACE program. So you get that extra vetting of contractors. One
of the reasons why I'm so um supportive of other cities and the county and adopting the PACE program is that one of my contractors said he said, "Look, I went through so much to get this, you know, to get approved, but the pool of
satellite beach is so tiny, you know, and we work countywide, you know, we really need this countywide to make it, you know, more available to residents." And so, um, that's the one of the reasons why I agreed to work with PA with PACE and try to get that program available to people because it it is
easier. Um, it's, um, you know, the interest rates are slightly higher because there is no credit. It's not credit based, but it is, um, it does have that consumer protection piece of it with the vetting of the contractors. And so, it's kind of like, you know, you have to weigh your pros and cons with
anything, right? And that's what I did. I felt the PACE program was the right move for me. The best part of it is it went on the, you know, to my property tax because that's how it's paid back is through your it's um the payment is added to your property taxes. And so
when I sold my home, I still had some money that I still owed on that loan and it's all done at closing. So I paid it off with the sale of my home and just moved on to my next house. So, all of that's done um you know just similar to like any any other loan when you when
you go to pay off when you're selling your home. So, um just wanted to give you that personal story. It is a great program and I think they can fill in the nuts and bolts for you a lot better than I can, but it was a it was a great experience for me. Thank you. >> Evening council members. Uh just so you
know, the third person in the triad here, Mark Sha, I run government affairs for Y Green Energy Fund. the other provider that you're looking to approve here. Uh work very closely with Renew in the jurisdiction expansion area. Matthew will come back up shortly and walk you through the deck. Just want to comment
briefly. Um PACE at its heart is about deploying capital. Um we are basically the finance company side of this equation and PACE utilizes 100% private capital attracted from uh frankly nationwide uh frankly worldwide sources
and because of this program it facilitates bringing that capital to your state to your county to your city to [snorts] uh uh take care of very important things most principally in Florida the the product is uh hurricane hardening storm preparedness uh water systems newly with
the complete original enabling statute uh was passed in 2010. The program kicked off in earnest in 2012 after a number of local approvals and then a complete rewrite was conducted in 2024. What was added um is septic to sewer
water systems, septic septic upgrades, which of course are near and dear to your heart with the Indian River Lagoon situation. Uh being able to tap into those again private capital to upgrade septic systems would be critical. um heart and soul of the program is consumer protection and again making this uh capital available in a very safe
and accountable way to your constituents to better your community. So I'll turn it back over to Matthew to walk through the deck and then we'll take any questions that you might have. >> Uh does this control? [snorts] >> No. >> Oh, even better. Perfect. Great. So we
went over a lot of this. We have about 16 slides here. I noticed that in the description it was a short presentation, so I'm going to fly through some of this so I don't have to keep you guys here any longer. Essentially, all PACE is is a financing tool that allows you to use the liquidity in your home to help pay for certain assessments that are
statutoily defined. That's really all it is. Um, and so when you apply for PACE, we go through a lot of the same processes. The only difference is between us and let's say an unsecured product is that we retain and oversee our contractors throughout the life of the assessment. So if you get a new roof
or let's say AC and 10 years, eight years later something goes wrong, we will still service that assessment for you because of our relationship. So that it's different from like going to Bank of America and getting let's say an unsecured line of credit. Um, we also do more vigorous, uh, background checks
with all of our contractors and Renew Financial, we have about a thousand in the state of Florida, um, that we work with. But this process just goes through kind of everything that happens. This is the types of improvements. What we see a lot of is the impact windows and doors.
Um, lighting and roofing are obviously really, really big as well. But obviously driving here, it was about 100 degrees out the entire way. And what we can do is obviously the AC the H have stuff and oftentimes we can get that done in a few days as well. So for those really important kind of paramount
issues we can get them done pretty quickly. Um let's talk quickly about Senate Bill 770. This was uh the bill that Mark was talking about earlier signed by the governor in 2024. Essentially what it did, and we can get you all this type of information when it's not up on like a tiny screen so you
can digest it a little bit better, but essentially what it was, it was a cornucopia of different types of protections for the consumer. And how we arrived at them is we went around to communities like yours that already had PACE and we were asking if you had any issues, what were they and how can we fix them? The biggest ones by and large
were contractor management and uh the idea that we needed to come and talk to the elected officials before moving in and offering new assessments. So those were kind of the two big things. Um we wanted to make sure that the home rule was protected. We wanted to make sure that contractor oversight was
strengthened. And then the third was we expanded into things like septic and sewer. And all that was done in 2024. These are some of the new um rules that are around the program that have been now enumerated into statute. Again, that was done in 2024. We have a lot of these
protections and we can go over more of these, but basically what we're talking about is state level protections. Um but also after that, and these are again, we'll get you these so you don't actually have to go down and read them. And so what came all this is that every three years we need to submit a report
to the auditor general of Florida. I didn't even know we had an auditor general, but this is a real office and they do real things. And so every year we send them our information. So there's a lot of transparency. One of the biggest issues if you were to just go home and Google pace, especially from
prior to 2024, you will see that contractors took advantage of homeowners in a way that we found fundamentally inappropriate. And so a lot of the guidelines that we deliberately put into statute um were to protect the consumer. And we did that as an industry because
we knew it was important that we do things better and cleaner than they have in the past and make sure that everything's as transparent as possible. So I saw that yawn. I will keep going. No problem at all. Um we have more contractor stuff. We've got a ton of benefits to local. Thank you by the way.
Um and again so that's me and that's Mark. Here's the final thing I'd love to talk about and we are now regulated at the local level which would be you folks. like if we are lucky enough to get opted in, we have a resolution where you guys can enumerate how we are regulated regulated at the federal or at
the state level uh through Senate Bill 770. And as of March 4th, we are actually now regulated at the federal level through the CFPB. And um we are regulated very much in the same way a mortgage is. Uh we have the same type of Tilla rules, the TR uh truth and lending. And so we have what I would
argue is actually one of the most secure products that consumers can can uh take advantage of in order to upgrade and harden their home. With that being said, I would be happy to answer any questions. I know I glossed over some of that stuff, but you guys were getting a little glossed over, too, so I wanted to make sure I didn't lose anybody. Happy,
happy, happy to answer any questions, though. >> Well, first of all, let me thank you uh for being here. I know I've met with you guys in the past to kind of learn about the PACE program and you know just to kind of make it easier for everybody to understand but basically somebody would choose to get a loan much like a heliloc
and to voluntarily assess themselves through the property tax bill to pay off the the length of that loan and I believe you guys told me that it's based on the type of u >> so yep it's >> things that were done right the length of that loan >> so it's the useful life of the product so roofs uh obviously last longer than
uh HVAC so what we do is we go to energy.gov, which is a federal database, and it will actually tell you the useful life of whatever that is, and that is the maximum length of the assessment that the term of the assessment, but it's up to the homeowner. If you want to get a new roof for $50,000, but you only
want a fiveyear assessment, you know, we can work with you on that as well. They're not necessarily, you know, prescribed. >> Thank you very much. And I think, you know, from our point of view, because it's not >> necessarily costing the city anything to to do, it's about providing options to our residents to, you know, address the
things that they that may come up, especially if you're living on fixed income and your, uh, septic system goes out or your HVAC system goes out. So, uh, providing those opportunities, uh, in terms of funding. So, I thought it was very interesting and I'm glad we have an opportunity to bring this before council. Member Mscoso.
>> Thank you. Um, this is my first time hearing about your program, so I appreciate it. Um, this might be a pretty simple question, but um, as somebody looking at it with new eyes, why wouldn't residents just go directly to you? Um, what is the kind of the purpose of having this relationship with the local government?
>> Absolutely. So, we are the money. Um, we actually pay the contractors and that's because of the way Oh, and Mark fails. So, uh, and and it's just the way the program is set up. um we are overseen by
another district um that actually because of the way that we work with the tax collector in the way that our payments are assessed, we need that relationship um with a separate like state entity and that is kind of where we come in. We are the financing
mechanism and then we actually contract with these local contractors to do the actual work. Um I don't know if Mark you want to >> Yeah, I mean it's that's good explanation and an excellent question. A lot of people ask that initially when they haven't kind of been exposed to this. It it's um it's a trit phrase we
all use a lot but it it works. It's a tool in the toolbox. So if you go back to the original enabling legislation in 2010, it was literally there's a need in this state. The the the recycling of of hurricane damage and just repairing roofs and whatnot year after year. It's
like how can we get ahead of this and encourage people to do it and get ahead of it with with hurricane hardening, roof tied downs, etc. And so it was it was really a financial vehicle that would that would allow that in a way. And it really fits in. You're right. Folks that have cash, it's much like
anything else. Folks that have cash can do that. That's that's obviously the most um streamlined and and efficient way to pay for something. This product was meant to come in below somewhere below high credit second line. uh second mortgage heliloc money, right,
which is going to have your, you know, if you got good credit, you'll have a a very good rate there, but well below high interest unsecured debt. And so I think right now our companies are probably somewhere in the 8 9%. [snorts] >> Uh which is competitive and it floats literally with the market, goes up and
down, and so it's meant to to fill that need. the collection aspect of it, which utilizes uh property taxes and and your county tax collector was just the vehicle that would put downward pressure on the um on the interest rates and as
the finance side facilitates us being able to go out into the marketplace and raise that capital to bring it here. >> Also, I might have misunderstor why do you need the city's permission? >> Why do Oh, for the collection. Yes. And so part of 770 was that uh it enumerated that uh
home rule that we need a local resolution with the municipality. I'm sorry, I misunderstood your question entirely and you were so polite to let both of us just talk. Um [laughter] but no, that's why it it was uh what we saw is that this program works best when we work with the municipalities where
we're situated because every city is a little bit different. I think the needs of Titusville are probably very different than the needs of let's say like a Tallahassee or a Jupiter, Florida, right? And so we want to be able to work collaboratively with you to make sure that we're giving uh your citizens and your constituents um you
know like the proper access to to the assessments. >> Vice Mayor Cole, >> so your interest rates rise and fall with prime. So what are you about one and a half 2% above prime? Yeah, right now we're floating between about 8 and
10%. >> Okay. So, you basically have a construction manager that works for you that goes out in the community and hires a contractor to put on a roof and you come by on a weekly basis or daily basis
to inspect to make sure the contractor is doing what he's supposed to be doing. >> So, we have a few mechanisms to actually um uh to ensure that the contractor is doing what they're doing. first, um, we don't necessarily, we have the contractor network of about a thousand contractors. When they go into a home,
um, and they see that the assessment or whatever, you know, the new roof or whatever qualifies for a PACE assessment, they will tell the homeowner about the financial, uh, financing option if they're not already available. And what we do is we actually have a terms phone call with the homeowner before anything gets started to make
sure that they fully understand um what is happening, the cost, and it's done in plain language and it's done in the language spoken in the home. That way, everyone is very much aware of what's going on. And then at the end of the process, we actually don't pay the contractor until the homeowner has a
final phone call saying that everything was done well and up to their satisfaction. Um, we also have things like True Pix where the contractors need to take physical pictures, but to your point, we also have sales teams within the state that do have an active relationship with these contractors um
that they talk to on a daily basis. But I there's not we don't have employees that go to every construction site on a daily basis. It just wouldn't be feasible. Um, so we use technology to help us out with that. >> So me as a homeowner, if I have a problem with my contractor, I call you and you send someone out.
>> Absolutely. And we don't pay the contractor until everything's done and we have that final um phone call with you. >> And the one thing that I heard was if I sell the house, the loan has to be paid off, but the loan is connected to my
property tax bill. So it's an additive to my property tax. >> Yeah, correct. It's a it's a voluntary non-advelor tax or assessment, I'm sorry. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Just just to make sure. So there's four distinct players in the relationship, right? There's our
companies which serve as the finance piece. We are the ones that get the money and as as Matthew pointed out, we hang on to it until the work gets done. There's the property owner who needs the improvement, right? Then there's the contractor and for the city attorney here somewhere, the privity of contract is actually between the homeowner and
the contractor. So that's where that relationship we're involved in that as the financer in that by virtue of state statute we don't release the money until the work has been done and we assure that in a number of different ways as Matthew pointed out we use true pick we use on-site visits I mean whatever it takes to make sure that and that's how
that's vastly different from unsecured but those are the four parties and then obviously government fourth leg of that stool through the county tax collector that facilitates the collection through the property tax system >> I know you said you have a lot of contractors
in your uh a list of contractors, but I guess as a homeowner, what how do I keep quality control going? Because when you have a contractor, there's always someone as a construction manager who's making sure the contract is going
according to the way it should be going right now. So, you've put the onus on the homeowner to do this and then the homeowner will call you if they have a problem. Is that correct? >> They do. It's it it ends up being frankly a bit of a of a of a triangle and that's where the state statute
really has made such an important part. Um the the rewrite in 2024 actually created an obligation for us to come up with a registration and oversight system that the local jurisdiction is actually involved in. You actually see that process and and to prove it as part of your resolution/ordinance.
And it's actually become um it's it's really become it's interesting we've seen it this develop. It's actually kind of a feather. It's I've seen as a good thing for a contractor to qualify as a PACE contractor because as uh was pointed out at the beginning, it's it's you have to jump through a lot of hoops. It's
background checks and it's quality control. There's actually um a ramp up a ramp down a um a system of of checks and balances where if you you trip up and you know their pricing is double checked and you can be put on probation, you can actually become delisted from the
program if you if you don't perform properly. And so it can be it's it's it's us making sure that oversight's done. It's the it's the homeowner reaching out and obviously they can reach out directly to the contractor, but if there's a problem, they can reach out to us. And of course, heart and soul of that, as we all know practically, is
the money doesn't flow till the work has been done and approved. >> Okay. Thank you. >> The only thing I would love to add to that is it's not a finite list of contractors. Councilman, if you, let's say, had a local contractor that you've been working with for 25 years and you love them, provided they can pass all
the onboarding criteria, we can onboard them usually within about a week. Um, and then you can have them also do the assessment. So, there is that flexibility. >> So, is there cost for the contractor to get on your listing? >> Um, huh. Yeah, basically time. I mean, like
you said, you have to jump through hoops, but Oh, but we don't charge fee. Correct. Yes. Um, yes. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I just want to keep everybody cognizant of the time. We do have other presentations to get through. Member Stokel. >> Well, if you would have called on me first, you know, wouldn't it have been,
but [laughter] >> Okay. Just a few clarifying questions. So, if I heard you correctly, per statute, you cannot operate this program without a municipality partnering with you. Correct. Correct. Okay. And then two, um, I think this was touched on to clarify, since the interest rates for
your program can sometimes be a little higher than the HELOC loans, the benefits of doing your program versus a HELOC, if I heard correctly, were don't have to have a certain credit score and you guys have a vetting process. Are there any other benefits besides those two that I heard?
>> Well, yeah, I mean, there's a lot. I mean, I would say that you also get it's not just the protections to the contractor. It's the protections, I would argue, for the life of the or for the useful life of the product because let's say you go to Bank of America and get a loan and five years
later your AC works. They're not going to go to the contractor the way we will because we do like long-standing relationships um just because we think it's a better business practice um overall. Um and so I would say that's probably one of the one of the better um benefits as well. So is it that
relationship or is there some type of additional warranty or >> um there's no additional warranty? No. >> Okay. Okay. So it's just having that relationship fundamental products. Um we are just overseeing the contractors in a more rigorous way than you know an
unsecured you know or if you were just paying cash would. >> Okay. And then um since the program is voluntary um if we were to sign on what does that look like then from like how would citizens know about it? How did would they know it's an option? What does that piece look like? >> Great question. And oftentimes it's up
to the municipality. Like I work with the city of Orlando quite a bit. And so we are actually on their like sustainability page. Um same with like the county of Hillsboro. It would be whatever you guys are comfortable with. We would love to be able to work with you if you have resiliency programs. Um
but also once we start our contractor network and they're able to work here, um it will be an option that they can also give to homeowners as well. We don't do any like direct to consumer marketing. >> Okay. Okay. So again, another option. So if somebody were to come off of septic to sewer
>> and we were are able to provide different options if they came to the city of how they could potentially do that. >> Yep. Exactly. >> Okay. [snorts] Thank you. >> Member Nelson. >> I think member Stal uh stole that idea because when I saw that subject to sewer, I was like, you know, we have
people that are going to have hard time paying for this and they're going to be required to do it. So this would be an additional tool. So I like that idea. >> Thank you very much, gentlemen. We very
much appreciate it. We don't take any action during this meeting, but we'll we'll get back in touch. >> Thanks for your time. >> Thank you so much. >> Absolutely. >> City manager. >> Yes, sir. Moving on to 4C, the lobbyist fiscal year 2027 legislative session um appropriations
report and the city of Titusville's lobbyists will provide a counselor presentation on his fiscal year 2027 lobbying efforts and plans for the fiscal year 2028 legislative session. >> Good evening. It's nice to see you folks.
One thing that you probably will find out about me is I don't like to lose and it makes me a little bit angry when I lose, but if I do, it's because normally I'm not prepared. I put something on your uh desk tonight. is called the man
in the arena and it's basically a thing from Theodore Roosevelt about how hard you have to work sometimes to get to where you think you're going to be able to go and then all of a sudden you find yourself face down in the dirt and it's
very very difficult when things like that happened. I can tell you right now, uh, as you well know, I represent five or six cities and I was so pleased because I had no idea because this was
really the first year that we started with what were we going to get when we we went to Tallahassee with the what kind of help were we going to get with with Sarah and what kind of help were we going to get with the mayor and what kind of help were we going to get with Megan? And and I can tell you right now,
the help that we got with all you folks far surpassed any city that I had. And it was amazing to watch it because I can tell you right now, we came in with the best needs for Titusville that we could. We
spent a lot of time and effort determining what Titusville needed, not what Titusville wanted. Some of the things they did not consider in Tallahassee, this the legislature and the Senate did, but the governor didn't
is is the 3% cap on tax, but I'll get into that in a second. 911 system absolutely needed, not not wanted, needed here. Cyber security absolutely needed, not just wanted. The
drones absolutely needed, not just wanted. And I can tell you that we all of us lobbyed them to the mth degree. And I was so so pleased. I mean, we have Sarah that's going to be the president of city the League of Cities this next
year. Correct. I mean, what else could you really want in a city council? The mayor has been was very very active up there. And I and I gotta thank you for that. But the one that surprised me the most and the one I really enjoyed the most was my rookie all-star Megan
because Megan was there and she was just all ears and all activities and and she came up to me. She said, "You know, I know somebody in the governor's office and I said, [laughter] "What?" And she talked about somebody that was uh she attended their wedding. I guess it was
her girlfriend's uh wedding and and sure enough, he he helped Megan right along. So, we were not only in the attorney general's office, which was very helpful to me, and Megan was in the uh the governor's office and the budget
director's office, and and if if you haven't seen your mayor at work up there, you'd be extremely surprised. He knows quite a few people. He's got a lot of lot of of influence, and of course, Sarah is just like a whirlwind. So, it's it's great. Um, I'm not going to get
into the political side of it because I do get a little bit of me a little bit angry with what happened this last session. It was politics. It was ugly politics and I didn't like it and I don't I don't ever like that kind of stuff. It these things should be based
on what the need is for the cities, not for the political aspects of it. We were fine. We passed the House. Not necessarily that difficult, but then we passed the Senate. Unbelievable that that we passed the
House and the Senate and then it was sent to the governor's office. I called the attorney general and asked the attorney general who was told me he had helped me. And I think you guys were sitting in some of the meetings when he said the same thing. He actually walked in when the governor was doing this and
and asked for support for these things. And now the attorney general used to be the governor's chief of staff. So for him walking into an office in the middle of a the final decisions on the budget was pretty pretty impressive.
But I didn't know right away. He told me later on what happened. But basically uh the governor said I'm not going I'm going to deny so many of these things with the cities. It's crazy. I think you all saw what happened to the
cities. is a massacre in a lot of areas. So, finally, I just couldn't help myself. I had to call up some people that I know in Tallahassee that are the budget directors and the people that are there and and sat down with the attorney general and he says it's all about Doge,
all about the Department of Governmental Efficiency and I want to pay and and and you can't fault him for this, but I can basically tell him, you know, you didn't take into consideration the things that you should have taken into consideration like the
3% cap for us, but but basically at this particular point in time. Uh he wants all cities to be able to do it within their own budgets. Now, that's the bad news. The good news, we have an election coming up. We're
going to have a whole new governor's office. U you're not going to ever hear me say anything bad about Ronda Stannis. He appointed me to the county commission. And I would be kind of like not be very very nice to the man that helped me do uh some wonderful things for Bvard
County. But we also have a big elephant in the room and I think we all know what that is. This big advalorum tech referendum coming up. So, we've got our work cut out for us. And I think that uh we can do some of the same things that
we did with uh Tom and the and the budget directors and all these other people in the beginning. And and we had good solid meetings on what it is we need. And not only that, but we the the the directors of each department came up with beautiful
presentations that we sent to the county when we put in the budget request. I was they were so nice and so good. So, that's why we got through the Senate this year. I think uh I had a conversation just last week and I I think I included you on the text with uh
Lita Kelly, >> I believe. So, okay. Well, Lita Kelly is the budget director and I just said, Lita, look, uh I I don't want to mess around here. I don't I don't I'm Trust me, I'm not angry about this. I'm I'm a big boy. I can figure out what goes on
in politics, but I need to know that if we submit those things uh this next year, will they stand a chance of passing? She basically told me that we've got a new governor and she told me the same thing the attorney general told me was why the governor vetoed all of
the bills that he vetoed. But she said, "Jason, if you're going to have the political influence you've had in the past and you can get to the same kind of lobbying team you've had from your city officials up here," she said, "The people from Titusville were great." And Brian with
all his people that were under him really did a fabulous job and you need to give him a hug if you can do that. But, uh, great guy and and and Sarah Holy Mackel, great job. But here we go. And that's why I gave you the the man in
the arena because all of us were down working really really hard. And as I said, I don't like to lose, but we did in this particular case. I would like to continue being your lobbyist next year. I want to get this thing through. I want to do some additional things that we
might want to do. Uh that's different, but that decision will be up to you. My contract is up and I think the renewal is up uh now. So I leave it in your hands. I would like to continue on. So if you have any questions for me, I'll be more than happy to answer them.
>> Anybody have any questions for Mr. Steel? Seeing none. Thank you, Mr. Jason. Appreciate it. >> City manager. >> Yes, sir. Moving on to 4D, the rate presentation for the public works rate review and a presentation will be
provided showing preliminary rates for the storm water, solid waste, and water, sewer enterprise funds. Good evening, mayor, council members. Peter Napoli, Sante Consulting. I'm here to present the results of our rate studies this year for the city's
enterprise funds, solid waste, storm water, and water and sewer. So, I'm going to quickly speed through this presentation. I won't bore you in too many of the details and review what our ultimate recommendations are for the city as far as the rates go and rate
setting. So, we'll start with water and sewer, go to solid waste, and then end with storm water and then summarize at the end. Um, our process essentially is a 10-year forecast. We have a financial modeling uh software that we use and we take your
current day budgets, your proposed budgets for this upcoming year. We work with staff during the budget preparation process. Uh so we have those two budgets incorporated and then we play forward the revenues and expenses based on what we know based on what we can estimate,
how you know inflation affects the rising costs, how um uh certain things like fuels and chemicals are increasing so that we can tell you what level of rate increase is necessary to meet all your obligations going forward.
And uh a successful financial management plan at the end of the day uh incorporates a few things. Um it funds your cash flow needs. So we're looking at your operating expenses, but we're also looking at the cash flow needs from a capital standpoint, an infrastructure standpoint, which is particularly
important with some of these enterprise funds like storm water and water and sewer. There's some pretty heavy capital needs on on those uh on those funds. We look at your operating reserves. So there's a certain amount of money that you want to maintain in your bank account at the end of the year uh for
liquidity purposes, working capital purposes. Uh and it also helps you cover disruptions in service, right? Um your utilities can be subject to interruptions from natural disasters, some uncontrolled circumstances. You want to have make sure you have the
money in the bank to address those things. And then finally, debt service coverage is important. And if you're issuing any debt, uh the uh financial advisors and the market is going to look at what kind of revenue are you generating just like we all personally from a bank standpoint, we have a credit
rating. The debt service coverage is the city's credit rating for its utility services. So beginning with water and sewer analysis, uh we just highlight some uh key observations here. One of the key
takeaways when we look at the water and sewer fund and this is similar for a few of the funds is when we take your 2026 budget and your current year it's almost over uh your total rate revenues and other operating revenues from different fees that the water and sewer fund
collects and then we take out the operating expenses so just keeping the lights on paying the employees the uh repair and maintenance etc. take out the transfers that are required for the water and sewer fund and then take out the debt service. Your operating net
income is actually pretty skinny. There's not a whole lot of money left over and what whatever is left over is what you would use to cash fund capital and infrastructure needs. Um so the way the water and sewer fund right now, it's a good thing that you're operationally
structured right. You have enough operating reoccurring revenues to pay your operating expenses. But for those bigger infrastructure capital like projects, the city's going to have to entertain issuing debt, uh, which is very natural for water and sewer funds because these infrastructure projects
are long lived assets that if you finance it with debt, it makes sense to pay it over the life of 20, 30 years. Um, some of these assets are in the ground. So, this is uh it looks really small up on the screen, maybe a little better
back there, but this is a screenshot of the dashboard from our financial model. I'm going to walk you through some of the key components here. Um at the top, we have the rate plan for the two rates, the water and the sewer rates, uh and
the irrigation rates. We have 5% which was most recently adopted by the city this past year, a 5% increased all the rates. And then you'll be deciding on the rate increase for this upcoming year. And then we play it forward a scenario where we have an assumption for
rate increases. And we have six percents running forward from beginning next year throughout the 10-year period. Um some of the the reasons for that are shown in those bottom graphs on the upper left hand graph, the top left corner, that's
your operating fund balance. So that's your savings account and we're projecting it over the course of a 10-year period. You want to maintain that at six months. It's city's policy to have at least six months of operating expenditures in that bank account. You could see that it's right pretty much at
the line for those 10 years. So the 6%s afford you that it it maintains that that fund balance. And then in the bottom graphs, we're showing the capital spending and capital funding. Um there is a lot of need for debt funding these
capital projects in the middle. Uh you can see the projected debt service. So in that situation where you're going to be issuing some debt for utility capital projects, the 6%s are necessary to maintain a a sufficient debt service
coverage. So this summarizes the rate impact of a 6% increase to both the water monthly bill and the sewer monthly bill. Uh the 6% increase uh results in a monthly change of $1.94
uh to the water bill uh which an annual on an annualized basis it's about $23. On the sewer side, it's about $4 a month, um, which is about $47 and the combined change is $70 over the course
of the year, uh, or 5.87 a month. This shows Titusville's current rates and proposed rates under the 6% increase in relation to other regional water providers, water and sewer utility providers, mostly cities, counties, etc.
uh the bottom highlighted bo orange box there is your current rates and where you sit in relation to these other entities and then the after the 6% increase is applied you jump up a few spots but there's a big caveat here and a big asterisk this is assuming that no
other utilities increase their rates which is highly unlikely so it's only showing Titusville current day and Titusville next year whereas the rest of these utilities are most likely increasing their water and sewer rates as well.
And that's for the typical residential home at 5,000 gallons. So, moving into the solid waste analysis. Um, similar takeaway from uh the revenue and the operating standpoint where the
solid waste fund is operationally sustainable. It but it's tight. uh the operating revenues are pretty much equaling the operating expenses. Um but on the solid waste side, it's a lot less capital intensive. There's not these massive
infrastructure projects. It's primarily vehicle replacements that are the solid waste necessities. So the way the solid waste fund is currently operating with funding these vehicles, it's a short-term leasing schedule to replace the vehicles and acquire new vehicles. It helps smooth
out the cost so you're not cash funding these $500,000 trash trucks, you know, every year. Um, so it's smoothing out the payment so that it minimizes the rate impact. Uh, however, the fund balances are kind of in a tight position right up front. And
that's why the rate increase that's suggested for fiscal year 27 is an 8% rate increase just so you can maintain that fund balance and also maintain the additional lease payments that are going to be uh accumul accumulating for the fund over the course of the period.
After that we do have 3%s built in. So it's just kind of a one-year a higher rate increase for that first year and then leveling out at more of an inflationary type rate increase. And then the impact to the monthly solid waste bill is about a $1.50 a month with
that increase, the 8% increase, which is over the course of a year and $18 change. And this is the city's current solid waste rates. Um the monthly rates in relation to other cities and uh utility
providers in the region. uh you guys are pretty low cost for delivering solid waste collection service. So um right there at the bottom and even with the 8% increase, you're really not changing your place in the survey. And then finally, the storm water
analysis. What everyone's been waiting for. Um the storm water fund is currently when you're looking at the snapshot of 2026 operationally efficient. So the revenues are just about covering the
expenses from an operational standpoint. But this is before capital is taken into consideration. So this is just the more operational type activities that the storm water fund plays throughout the city, maintaining things, um repair and
maintenance, paying employees, etc. But there is a very significant capital improvement program that's been identified and significant infrastructure projects that are going to require a lot more storm water revenue to cover. So that's the key uh takeaway from an observational
standpoint for the storm water analysis. And then back to the other, you know, limits, there's a minimum reserve balance to maintain and then there's debt service coverage to take into consideration if the storm water fund uh eventually needs debt to fund some of
these infrastructure projects. So our panel screenshot here, our dashboard is showing the 100% increase that's um currently being considered for 2027. And this increases the bill, but it increases the revenue in order to
maintain the current operations and now add in the capital infrastructure funding which wasn't previously funded. Um, primarily storm water funds around the state used to rely on grants and um other windfalls to try to fund capital
projects or they really weren't investing in their storm water infrastructure. Uh so that's why we're seeing a lot of these storm water rate increases around the state right now. The storm water funds used to rely on the general fund. There used to be, you know, enough money to allocate to storm
water resources. Now the general fund is more constrained than ever and getting more constrained. So in order for the storm water utility to be self-sufficient and fund the capital that we know of now and then future capital, um this increase has been
identified as as necessary. And this still doesn't cash fund all the capital that we identified. This assumes borrowing for about $10 million of those projects and cash funding the rest.
So this is a survey showing the the current rate at about 160 moving to 320. And um you're right currently right in the middle. Like I said, there's a lot of cities and counties that are looking at increasing their storm water rates
within in the near term. Um, however, we did run another survey to show you that some of the other rates in the region um that may be a better comparison because they face the same natural challenges that Titusville has. you know, you're
situated next to a body of water, you know, in floodprone based on your geographical uh setup. So, some of these other cities in South Florida, coastal cities, their storm water rates are
increasing at a rapid rate as well. So you can see that when we put you in this survey, your current rate was actually at the bottom of the survey and then you're moving in towards the middle with that rate increase. And then this um this rate increase
would result in a monthly change of about $13. This is an assessment, so it's an annual bill and u incorporated into the property tax bill. Um so the annual increase is $160. And then finally to summarize the
increases for the three separate utilities, the total monthly bill impact would be about $20 a month. And that's the conclusion of my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Any questions from council? >> Member Stokel.
>> Yes. Um when you did the rate comparisons for the water rates with the other cities, we have on our water bill a fixed rate and a usage rate and some municipalities just have a usage rate. So when you were comparing, did do you know >> that incorporates if they have the fixed in usage, it incorporates both of them.
So that's the fixed in usage for Titusville and for the rest of Let me get back to that survey. And then the separated in the blue and green is the water component of the bill and the sewer component of the bill. But for both of those onclude the base
charge the fixed charge as well. >> Yes, correct. >> Okay. And then um >> the solid waste rates uh going up again 8% and then you're projecting 3%. Um I hope that's true. And member Nelson will remember this. uh when we were first
getting on council, we and you might have been here um but we've been through several uh rate consultants that have come through where they'll say, "Hey, we'll raise it 2% here, 3% here. We'll eventually get to a 0% increase." That never came. We never got that proposal
because each year something happened. And so that just gives me pause and makes me a little bit nervous. Um, I will say that is true though when I look at other communities by us doing our own solid waste, we are saving a lot of money. I will say that. So, I really
think that's good that we are doing that. Um, I don't want to see us contract out, but um I just want to I know you can't really give me assurance, but it would be nice to have assurance that as we fix our trucks and that our rates can go back down um over time.
>> Yeah, I to I totally understand where you're coming from. It's it's very difficult to project past a few years because of things like we never could have expected the inflation that would occur during the co era. I mean that's unprecedented level of inflation. So that's one thing that a lot of previous
you know cities had rate plans that had to be scrapped because they're like we did not think 9% inflation was coming down the um the pipe for that. But that's why we re-evaluate annually. I think it's really important it's an annual process. We we do a
reconciliation with okay this is what we thought was going to happen and then this is what your budget and finance team is telling us that they actually the needs are for these departments and try to you know refine that year over year. Um I would never you know tell a
council to say okay adopt this 10-year rate plan set it forget it. It >> it's going to change. Um and there's things that we just can't anticipate. >> And we did have 8% that's me right here. We did have 8% on last year's for this year. So, yeah, we're still following. >> I know. I know. I know. And then, um, my
last thing, it's more for probably council and staff discussion just with storm water. I would agree ours is very high. Um, and maybe seeing if there's ways that we can maybe trim some of our general fund and other expenses to have some of our general fund go to help storm water projects and not just rely
solely on increasing our rates. So, I think we all agree that flooding is important. Um, but maybe looking at other things that we could cut around the city to help fund those projects. >> Thank you, Member Stokel. Member Nelson, >> I was hoping Sandy could uh work some
magic and find some grants for us. >> That that is the plan once the stormwater master plan is done and we have concept plans and and you need you need to have a plan in order to get grants. So, that that's kind of my plan. That's why you see me out years, not next year, but I have $5 million in
there hoping that I have projects to move forward with and hopefully we can reduce that by finding some grants. >> That would be great. And I've got to say, you know, when we started 10 years ago, every it just seemed like every couple weeks we had a sewer break.
>> Oh, yeah. >> Pipe pipes breaking. And we don't have that anymore. So, >> going to need you to knock on wood up there, please. Yeah. >> Um, >> I'm looking for wood. [laughter] >> But, you know, it was like um
catastrophe after catastrophe and we don't have that anymore. >> We have significantly invested in our water sewer and there's a lot more needs. As you can look at this slide, we're actually only um being able to fund 50% of our recommended capital improvement project um projects, but we
are we are making some good dents in those. >> Yeah. Thank you. And Sarah, I do remember last year where the consultant came in and I believe they said 5% every year for the next five years and well it was 5% the first year now it's 6%. So it's interesting
how that number keeps changing. I will just kind of push back about the solid waste uh conversation though because if you look at compared to Bard County District 1 uh they're at average $24 a month and we're at 20. I would say they
get double the service, you know. So, I think it depends of what what you're going to pay for and then just on top of the the debt and all the other things in terms of maintenance and the extra cost versus just paying for a service and not having to take on the overhead. So, you know, again, we can respectfully
disagree on that, but >> Well, again, it's not a debate. We're not at that time yet. Um, but I just wanted to bring up a different point of view looking at it. Um, but are you just really gonna rebuttal myself? >> No, I know. I was just going to say I would agree with you on that because
there is different levels of service, I guess my counter would just be of all the complaints I hear, I it's not on trash. And so that's where at this point in time, I'd rather focus on other things and try to keep our costs down. Um, but yes, I I will recognize the quality of service is a component of
that. Well, and I think you can also look at the saving money that's, you know, the general fund could then help with other areas, right? So, focus on outsourcing the things that we might be a little bit, you know, a third party might be better at to help save us
general fund dollars to invest in the things that are really important. So, I don't see any other lights. So, very apprec appreciative of your time. Thank you very much, sir. >> Thank you. Have a good night. >> City manager. >> Yes, sir. Uh, an option that may wish to consider now is to move E and F to the
6:30 meeting. Um, so that we can continue on or we can just go go right through. >> Let's just keep on going through. >> Yes, sir. The next item then is a Lean Six Sigma green belt presentation by our fire department.
>> Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh in just a minute you're going to see Chief Sanger do his presentation on the lean six sigma green belt project that he's been working on and I'm sure you all are somewhat familiar. This is a very useful tool that we have to streamline our processes in the department or even
citywide but it takes a lot of work. So his kickoff meeting was October of 2025. So he's got a solid 10 months of work put into this thing. Um and uh you know with that I'd like to have him come up and do his presentation. And I do
actually want to leave you with one thing too though is that uh we have a lot of different objectives with the fire department. Two of the primary objectives are obviously one is health and safety but the other one is to be good fiduciary stewards with our finances. And you'll see that in his
presentation he checks both of those boxes. So that's yours. >> No pressure. Thank you. >> That was quite the introduction. >> Yeah. Right. >> Uh good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council. Um
I'm not really a podium speaker. I'm more of a walker and talker. So you'll have to forgive me for this, but let's get right into it. [clears throat] Uh the define phase. And so during this phase, [clears throat] u I was trying to figure out what I
wanted to do for the fire department. And this is what I came up with and I'm just going to read it to you. The Titusville Fire Department incurs on the job injuries that result in lost work time over the past five years. These injuries have led to an average of 454.4
hours lost time annually, creating the need for overtime coverage. Overtime incurred due to these injuries averaging uh 681.72 hours annually, resulting in remaining firefighters working additional time to fill these gaps. [clears throat]
I didn't really concentrate on dollar bills because of the um all different hourly rates, but we're looking at approximately about a $25,000 a year um just in salaries of lost work time. [clears throat] So, if you're familiar
with green belt, you make a project charter and this is it. Um my goal is to reduce lost work time in hours by 20%. So if you back up to that about thousand hours, I'm looking at reducing about 200 hours annually. So a firefighter
typically works 240 hours in a month. So approximately one month of time. >> [clears throat] >> While I'm on this slide, I would like to um give thanks to A city manager uh b Chief Gustis,
C the black uh black belt, which is Vicky Rose uh who was my uh guide and leader during this project. Uh Amelia, you're familiar with her. She was my mentor. Heather was here a little bit here and there, right? And of course, my
team. Nobody from my team showed up this evening, but they all uh were very good. They all um helped me brainstorm. They all led me in certain directions. They all stopped me in certain directions. And uh so I want to give a thanks to them.
So again, if you're familiar with uh green belt, there's five um phases defined now into measure. So I had this much data and I picked this project because all this data was available to me and it was easy to gather, easy to go
through and it was just a lot. Uh [clears throat] so what I did was take approximately um 100 to 200 workplace injuries over the years of 2020 to 2025 excluding uh
COVID. Nothing with COVID because otherwise these numbers would have been skewed dramatically. But uh if you're familiar with Mark Langdorf, he was on my team from risk management. He sent me a spreadsheet like you wouldn't believe. And what I did from that in the green belt process is you narrow that down. You narrow that down. You narrow that
down. So on on this next slide here, [clears throat] basically I took hundreds of injuries and narrowed it down to eight injuries. And these were our high loss work time injuries. So rhetorical question, but where do you think most
firefighters get injured? fire ground activities, uh, training activities, not so much with us. Ours is physical fitness. Physical fitness is one thing that we actually do not train on. So,
it it it it makes sense that those are where our injuries occurred. So, if you look at the last box there, I'm not going to go through all this, but if you look at the last box there, the lower left hand corner, we're looking at approximately 5,000 hours over the course of the last five
years of lost work time due to physical fitness injuries. Now, firefighters need to stay in shape, right? So, that's not really the problem. It's not screwing off or anything along those lines. These were legit injuries. [clears throat] but
5,000 hours over uh five years. The typical 40-hour a week employee works 2,000 hours a year. Uh the firefighter 2900. So we're looking at almost a almost two years worth of loss work time in a 5year period. [clears throat]
Those eight injuries uh as you can see here were put into a matrix and all sorts of all sorts of different um scenarios were played out. As you can see uh right here uh the majority of our injuries
are physical fitness, the age and weights and the last column there is called before injury. That's just kind of what they were doing before the injury. So you look at the bottom two there or the you know the third and fourth one there. Uh many calls right
before they were working out. So from the measure phase, we move into the analyze phase. What I did was [clears throat] we made this um correlation graph here and I surveyed 30 plus of the field personnel and then
they rated and ranked uh the the things they thought made the injuries occur the most. And on the red the red numbers on the right hand side there, fatigue, body type, and distraction.
fatigue makes sense. If you're tired, things happen, body type, heavier body types, um not as flexible, um and age as you as you get older, obviously. And then, uh distractions. This one's kind of neat because if you're working out, you can
be the best possible shape. can you can be doing things perfectly and you're in the middle of of something and the tone goes off, jolts your body, and an injury occurs. So, why do I want to do all this? [clears throat] I'm sorry, the improved phase, the last phase, the phase that um I currently
anal I'm in. And then we're going to go into the control phase, which uh will last quite a bit longer. So, [clears throat and cough] we'll walk right in through here quick. What I want to do, what I want to do to reduce the risk to these firefighters, a
we're going to put together a certified fitness training team. I actually have one individual that's currently certified, one that's in school that's becoming, and one that's um will be going to school here shortly, [clears throat] protected rest pilot program. This one's actually more common than you
think. If if they're busy throughout, let's say they have a five hour block of real busy time, they're going to be required to have a downtime, just a period of time for their body and minds to relax. And finally, um, a controlled workout environment. [clears throat] I don't know if you're familiar with the 5
S's in Lean Six Sigma, but it's everything has a place. Everything goes back in their place after done use and and it's maintained in a clean environment. So, so basically what I want to do is build a new robust wellness and health program. What this is going to do and
what it's going to allow us allow us to do is monitor our individuals. These certified um trainers are going to take um forms and and give them to the uh firefighters before and after workouts.
they're going to uh if they're on their 48th hour 48th hour of work in a row, maybe not work out today. This is this is all going to um try to maintain or or I'm sorry, reduce the risk by that
20%. And I think that's very achievable. [clears throat] Actually, we have a uh less injury occurred day on our screens at our stations. I didn't happen to look today. I think we're around 13 weeks plus that we've haven't had a lost work time
injury. And I think that's just because we're having that conversation. Now, [clears throat] these are real generic numbers and this is kind of how I'm wrapping up. This these are real generic numbers, but um as you saw in the beginning just in salary about a $25,000
um salary loss in a year. If I can reduce that by $5,000 a year and then about a $25,000 medical bill. Now, this varies widely, right? You can have a couple hundred medical bill to $50,000 medical bill. This So, this is just kind
of an average. So, what I'm looking at is probably about a $10,000 a year savings just in this specific workplace injury forum [clears throat] with a return on investment of $8,700. And again, this is just very generic.
Um, but this is this, like I said, is is what my goal is to have a h happy, healthy, safe uh fire department. And just to wrap up the project summary for for this project, again, it was a
fantastic project. Um, it was a fantast fantastic pro uh process. I've never actually didn't really know too much about green belt prior to this and I think it's very very beneficial as as chief stated. Uh hopefully we we have more of these going in the future and
hopefully you'll hear a few more presentations yet this year. >> Okay. So I'm just going to read my project summary here. Uh by implementing structured fitness oversight, protected rest, and controlled environment, this project is expected to significantly
reduce injury rates and loss time, generating measurable cost savings and improving operational efficiency. With that, um I stood behind the podium pretty well, so appreciate it. Questions, comments, concerns for me? >> Well, first of all, thank you very much.
which I thought you did an excellent job uh going going through this process, identifying a problem and coming up with really unique solution. I did have one question in terms of the the cost and year for workplace injuries. You you said it cost right around $25,000 a year
because of the overtime to coverage, you know, people not being able to come to work. Did that also factor in the cost of paying light duty for those that were injured that we still have to place somewhere? >> Yes, that does. Yes. Yeah. So, you continue to pay the employee that's hurt and you pay for someone to fill their
seat at time. Yep. >> I was just wondering because I was like 25,000 seems like a low number compared to all the hours that you calculated. So, I was just like I wonder if both of those numbers were in there. So, I I appreciate >> I chose a generic uh low dollar bill. [laughter] >> Well, thank you very much. Any other
questions? Seeing none, thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> City manager, >> just sort of the last item. >> Oh, hold on. Hold on. city manager. I guess there's a presentation. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. >> I guess you're getting your your belt.
>> Yes, he's getting his green belt. Um this is Vicki um Rose from Lace Consultant and she's going to be presenting you with your green belt certification. >> Yes. Just um for those of you who don't know, hey Sarah, um in order to get a
green belt, uh the the Lean Six Sigma has several levels. Um, and it it it goes along the lines of of like a a martial arts. So there's there's belts and um so the green belt is the first one where they can uh lead a a project
improvement um team. And so the requirements for this is he had to sit through 40 hours of training. He had to pass an exam uh with an 80% you know approval or 80% 80% correct.
and then lead a process improvement u project. And so he has done that. We've made it through the uh improve phase. I don't wait for the control phase because sometimes it can take a while because what we require is all the data that they gathered for improve. Now they need
to gather again uh in the control phase to document the improvements and show that it actually did improve. And he did he did a really good job. I could tell he was nervous, but uh there was a lot of narrowing down. There were a lot of options for the different types of
injuries. Um but he took the the highest occurrence and and the highest um you know the the highest impact. And I think he did a really good job and I'm very very proud of him. And so [applause] >> picture Thank you.
>> Thank you very much sir. City manager. >> Now moving on to the last item is strategic planning comparative analysis. One of the challenges that we face every year as part of the budget process is how to get the best community engagement as far as strategic planning. And our uh
summer intern, Chase Jenkins, was asked to do a comparative analysis of other city successful programs. And without further ado, I'll turn over to our summer intern. >> Good evening, council. Uh just want to thank you guys for letting me uh present
my findings from this summer um to you all this uh evening. Um, so basically, uh, this summer, uh, I was an intern in special projects with Miss Kenny. Um, and she tasked me with taking our strategic planning process and basically comparing it to other cities with high
approval ratings from their citizens. Um, and basically see the places where we can improve, which was basically community engagement and uh, consistent annual civic engagement model. So starting out with the agenda um
obviously I already um in introduced the study um I'm going to address our strategic planning model um introduce all the other cities um explain some sim similarities and differences between us and them um and then I will explain uh
what I thought um for an improvement process for us going forward. Um so to start with our model um we are very council centered um and some of the strengths that I uh got from that were
we're we're very adaptable, flexible, honest and transparent. But like I said, some of our weaknesses are um our creativity with resident engagement um elaboration and uh specificity on some of our objectives and projects as they
um relate to what we want to do. Um so to start with uh the first city um and just to reiterate I uh did research on St. Cloud uh Boca Raton, Port St. Lucy and Winter Haven. Um now obviously
I I understand that they have different resources than us and way larger populations with you know Boca Raton and Port St. Lucy. Um but St. cloud um population of 71,000. Um one of uh the the neat things that I thought they did,
they have a visioning session each um each year and you know the point of this project was to find a creative way for resident engagement and feedback. Um and so using uh this visioning session which
is where the we have a council meeting kind of like this. Um residents come out. Um you guys basically ask residents kind of, you know, where do you see the city in 10, 20, 30 years? And they hire a artist to come out and they'll
actually sketch out what the um residents are saying. Um and this is kind this is pictures from 2024. Um and you kind of see all the different points on there um from resident feedback. Um, I think this is this is pretty good for
us because again, we can get the feedback we want because um from doing research and and and uh talking throughout the summer, uh, surveys aren't that um, good for us for getting feedback. Um, we
have a low percentage of participation. So, using a creative way like this, I feel like we get feedback and a good turnout um, from residents. Next, Winter Haven. Um, I think they were a a lot similar to us, um, in terms
of being council driven. Um but although they don't have a creative model they use um one thing that I looked at this summer was our public facing um communication which on all these cities websites they had a strategic planning
PDF out which was probably about a 20 30 slide PowerPoint which uh highlights all of their objectives and projects and initiatives to follow up with that um and comparing those to ours. We have um
just one page on our website with just six objectives on it, which I don't know how old that is, but um it would be nice to update that with with more um on the projects and initiatives we're that are taking place um that align with our strategic planning process um that
residents can look at. Um, I think that keeps us accountable as well as residents. Uh, because I'm aware that residents do complain and come. So once they do come, um, we will be able to use that kind of
as a a way to keep track of what we're doing and um, what's the word for it? um basically allow resident residents can we can give residents insight to how
we're dealing with the problems they're bringing to us. So um Winter Haven uses SWAT analysis. Um I'm not sure if we use SWAT analysis in our strategic planning process, but I think it's a good way to look at um previous years strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Um it's a good way to um look at each pillar and objective and see where we thrived and also see where we need to um work on. Um
so yeah that's that's one thing I think we can take from Winter Haven. Next Boca Raton which I understand they are a lot bigger than us and uh have a little more resources but um one thing that I took from them is their recommendation
section. Um, I think this is this is really good because um from again a public facing standpoint, it shows residents that we're looking at what um you know we can work on from previous years and then showing them what we're
actually going to um do to fix those problems. Now, um, looking inside, obviously inside of like council, um, everybody kind of knows what's taking place in terms of projects and initiatives, but from a resident
standpoint, not all of them know that. So, putting, you know, this out on um the website, like I said, a strategic planning PDF adding on to that um I think think would be good um going
forward in our uh strategic planning and improvements. Um so Boca Raton continued um Boca Raton has six steps in forming strategic decisions um which they're a lot like us in community focus groups, workshops, um
cross functional strategic focus teams, um meetings, council interviews, and workshops. Um they're very council driven, but like I said on their strategic plans, um they highlight specifics such as the project's accomplishments and challenges that uh
they go through. So, last but not least, uh, Port St. Lucy, um, which was my favorite in researching and kind of the main reason, uh, Miss Kenny, uh, brought this project up to me is because they have a human-
centered model and, um, they have a yearly citizen summit um, which is basically an event where residents come out. It's they have interactive activities, games. Um and basically from
this we can gain feedback. Um they have activities where each citizen is given kind of like play money. Um and they basically put that money um where they want their tax dollars to to go to. So
like which projects they want their tax dollars to go to. um which is a good way I feel like to to gain feedback. um basically um to say that I think we should um make instead of relying on surveys,
workshops and meetings, we should plan a large event um with vendors um activities um so we can get residents out and we can not only can residents um have a good time, but we can also gain some
feedback from it. um instead of just using surveys because um like I said um a lot of the times and not just for us in general um surveys um not to say they don't work but it's hard to get the
feedback we want from those. Um so moving forward oh and this is a picture of uh the event. So, um you see all those boards around those are boards with kind of different projects on them and the
little dots on them are where citizens have put um exactly what projects they want to see. Um so basically from this we can kind of um kind of put where we want what we want
to do for the city based on residents. So, this is a picture of their a picture well, one of the um slides from their strategic uh planning PDF on their website. Um, and you see the lady
holding up that um play money there. That's the money they're given um during the event to put at each um booth or project that they want um to see happen um throughout the
city. And um as you see um each pillar in their strategic plan is followed up with uh priority projects at the bottom there. And I think that that's a good thing to put into ours as well. Um cuz again from a public facing communication
standpoint [snorts] um I think it's good that residents know exactly what we're doing. So some similarities and differences. Um, so obviously they all we all have set goals. We all uh base plans off of feedback from residents. Um, and most
cities all have similar goals and objectives. So some differences we saw throughout um, the slideshow is we all have different civic engagement models. Um, some are less council driven than others, hence us in Boca Raton. Um most
of these cities elaborate on specifics such as projects and initiatives more than us and different and we all have different uh strategic planning uh systems. Um so what are our areas of improvement? Um although we're very
structured and goal oriented and by no means am I saying our strategic planning process is is bad because it's it's actually really good. Um, I feel like we can improve in explaining direct actions as well as specifics regarding projects,
initiatives, and challenges. And I feel like we can improve our creativity and variation when it comes to initiatives to gain feedback. Um, that leading to um a consistent civic engagement model like the one explained from Port St. Lucy and
the citizen summit. Um so what could the uh what are our improvement process suggestions? Um so like I said before a more robust annual citizen engagement model um such as the visioning session from St. Cloud and
citizen summit which we could almost um combine something like that. Um and then a datadriven analysis of each focus area of our strategic plan. Um so basically like I said before uh tracking each
objective of our strategic plan using um datadriven dashboards um to encourage improvement uh down the road um and also increase our public facing communication of planning goals and outcomes. Hence
our um PDF on our our website um adding a little more to that as well. So here here's the implementation road mapap I I uh put together. Um so first um launching a creative strategy for
obtaining feedback um which I said 0 to 6 months could take longer all with all of these could take longer or shorter um uh for for resident feedback. Um after that uh we can build on our recently
implemented strategic planning retreat. um to continue finalizing plans and gain more insight. Um assess um these strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities using a SWAT analysis. Use performance dashboards to track data. And then after
those four steps, finally execute our strategic plan while elaborating on our current PDF on our website. Um which would include entering projects, initiatives, um even a little bit of the budget and our plans. And lastly,
monitoring monitoring these processes continuously for uh constant improvement. So to sum uh all of this up, um obviously everybody thinks the strateg strategic planning process is is very important to the city. Um it's kind of
what we base all our projects and initiatives um off of. Um and and obviously it's not only supposed to support our current operations but build uh the framework for a sustainable future. Um because it is so important to
our success, constant evaluation and improvements must be made. Um Titusville is a great place to live um to me and um I feel like to everyone who lives here. Um and with the right execution, implementing the ideas explained um will
only make us a better place. questions and discussion. >> Well, Mr. Chase, I think you should be really proud of yourself. I think you did an excellent job putting this thing together and of course, it's been uh great to work with with you uh this summer as you kind of went through the
the internship process. Uh but I I think you definitely gave our council a lot of food for thought and how we can improve because ever since I got up here not too long ago, I mean, that's really what it's about. It's about getting a little bit better each and every day and how we communicate, how we interact with the public, what information we're getting
from the public to to implement uh the the community's vision. So, again, really really appreciate uh your insight. >> Thank you, >> member Mscoso. >> Thank you. This presentation made my heart so happy. Um I had actually looked at Port St. Lucy's um strategic plan and
had had printed it out and I think um we passed it out to all of the council. You're right, it's um amazing. And so I want to thank you for that. And then if you have any additional information that you feel would be useful outside of this presentation, I would ask that you send it to us. Um you brought up some
excellent uh points. So thank you for all of your hard work this summer. >> Thank you. >> Member Stokal, did he pass? >> No, since you get to call me, I was trying to be aware of time. Um >> Chase, you did an excellent job. I I do a lot of strategic planning within my
current role and just the communities that you picked and I want to encourage you. Um some of the things you brought up I think our council has already kind of piggybacked on what you said. So I'm really excited about the dashboards. I think I would agree I don't like the one
pager either. Um so thank you for bringing that up. I think us being able to be more transparent with the public. Um, also our sustainability planner in the back, Lily. Um, she just started something this past year where we invited the community to come to learn about the different departments. So, I think we're on that right trajectory.
Um, and I just I'm very proud of you um to be able to get up here and speak. You did an excellent job. >> Right. And I I actually uh talked to Miss Lily this summer and she brought up the community conference that you guys just uh implemented and um me and Miss Kenny actually talked about that and and
we think that um the something like a citizen summit is something we can build upon um that is as well. >> Yep. All right. Continue to stay involved with us, Chase. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Vice Mayor, >> good presentation. How much longer do
you have with us? I'm my my time ended last week. >> When is your timer? >> Last week. >> Uh last week I I I I finished. >> So you need to put together a program like you like they have at Port St. Lucy for us before you leave. Okay. >> That I'm giving you a challenge.
>> No, really. It it was a great presentation. I enjoyed it and and what you discussed about Port St. Lucy. I think that's really good to have that and you can have the play money and determine which projects you want to put the money on. I think it would be very advantageous for us to put on something
like that. And thank you so very much. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chase. >> Thank you. [applause] >> All right, ladies and gentlemen, we've come to that uh fun fun time of the meeting where we're in petitions and requests from the public non-aggenda items. We are still in our 5:30 special
presentations and recognitions meeting. Therefore, no action is taken at this meeting. Uh, as soon as we get through petitions or requests at this meeting, we'll have a short recess and then we'll get into our 6:30 meeting. So, with that being said, who would like to go first?
>> Good evening. My name is Jesse Wright, uh, Tatisville Mall, uh, resort and destination. Unfortunately, sometimes the developers would have issues as far as getting financing for hardships or other issues.
Um, historically, the city of Titusville has given the developers two years from the time that the site plan is issued and therefore it's a two-year term. So, the reason I'm here right now is I'm asking for additional one year. My site
plan uh permit is coming up in mid August coming up next year and uh by discussion with the city manager and uh and Brad uh we've discussed the possibility of getting additional one year. I'm not requesting that this
additional one year to be given to any developers is coming up, but I'm only asking for developers that have hardship like for example financing and issues like the Cumberland Farm um issues that we have in terms of the uh contamination
that were uh in a lawsuit right now. I just want them to see that. Um that's one thing that I'm requesting. Um and I'm hoping that the city council would direct the the staff to prepare a u a
change or amendment to the ordinance to have a second u to to additional one year. The only other subject I want to bring up because uh obviously the development is important for the city and of course u uh for for the residents
as well. Back in 2023, I uh tried to uh uh obtain financing from USDA. Uh it's been three years and unfortunately didn't quite work out. The bank that was supposed to fund the uh 20% for the
hotel and the assisted living uh went to FDIC. Therefore, the USDA efforts for the last three years uh he ended up to nothing. uh in the exist in the existing grant uh
agreement that I have and I just met with Troy Post this afternoon at two o'clock which I brought up to the city manager as well. I may be requesting that we would do an amendment for the grant and I want to make sure that I go on a record uh uh hoping that the funds
from the county would be transferred to the city. It's taken way too long. Um and uh with that that is the only two items that I want to bring up in front of you and I appreciate your efforts and again I appreciate all the support that every single members have given me over
the years. There's always a question of either abandon the project or just move forward and fight fight fight. I can answer any questions you have but otherwise I appreciate your time. >> Thank you Mr. Wright Mr. Johnson
>> Stan Johnston. I'm I've come to make another offer. uh hold this money up and and I'm having uh uh anyone who can step forward and get a professional engineer to disagree disagree with me on a number of things or on just one thing or
there's a number of things because right now is the city of Titusville is as far as I'm concerned is very dishonest in its engineering issues very dishonest and I've even made an affidavit out especially for the four
that includes Miss Muscoso affidavit that I filed recently with the um uh with the county clerk. So, this affidavit is titled affe criminal conspiracy. That's talking
about the four of you guys plus other people. Criminal conspiracy to spray the public with harmful sewage aerosol with the purpose to cover up this crime by them and the city of Titusville. So, you guys are listed on this affidavit. Is this your permanent record?
It's ugly. It's ugly truth what you're going through. So I'm off offering you you got we got 40 over 40,000 professional engineers who disagree with you including in including your own staff. Including your own staff, including your own staff that disagree
with you. It's harmful to spray people with piss and poop. It really is. And you deserve this. You deserve this affidavit against you. And you deserve this permanent record. You're disgusting. It's an ugly truth. It's a big elephant. There's many
elephants in the room that you guys have because of your dishonesty. And I have been persecuted. I've been persecuted for for uh telling the truth. I've been falsely arrested, assaulted, and so forth by the Titusville Police
Department. I'm fed up with it. And I think you guys are scum. And I've asked for your resignation. going to res ask for your resignation again for for a purpose. The purpose is you don't deserve to be there when you when you
okay and say it's okay to allow the fountains to be turned on and spray. The city of Titusville is the only city in the world that sprays that deliberately sprays people with with with a aerosol sewage. Only the only city in
the world. I'm ashamed of you. It's ugly truth. Ugly truth. The four of you. I don't know how in the world you can sleep at night, but you but I hope you lose sleep. I I lose plenty of sleep at night with the nightmares of what you guys have been have been doing. It's
really bad. I hope someday that you will repent because you need to repent. You need But you need to tell the truth. There's no truth in what's coming out of your mouth. It's ugly. It's ugly. And I'm I'm ashamed of you. Very much ashamed of you. So, anyhow, here's the here's the
I'm offering $100 to anyone to to get a professor. Thank you. >> Not seeing anybody else for petitions and requests for the first meeting. >> Um Dana Blakeley, I believe, wanted to speak. >> Miss Blakeley, did you want to speak at this meeting or the next meeting?
>> Okay, good. >> My name is John Do. Um, it's time to restore trust and begin removing the burden off our citizens. I'm Lieutenant with Bvard County Fire Rescue. I work at a firehouse that covers the northern parts of the city of Titusville. Every shift that I'm on duty, I get to see how
our failing infrastructure affects our neighborhoods and the lives of the citizens that live there. It's not only affecting them financially, but it's also affecting them um psychologically. I noticed in this um budget that there was $7 million in grants. I would like to know for 2027 what um grants the
city's going to pursue. Federal grants, state grants, and private grants. I believe there's other solutions that we can look at to help reduce the burden off our citizens. The city should aggressively pursue public private partnerships with our aerospace industry as well as with our major employers to help modernize our infrastructure. We
should maximize federal grants, EPA grants, uh, D grants, and other opportunities because investing in our infrastructure helps protect our neighborhoods from flooding as well as the Indian River Lagoon. Right now, the city of Titusville has a golden opportunity in front of them, but they must take the lead right now and begin
working with our U, uh, United States government, uh, NASA, the Cape Canaveral Space Force Center, Blue Origin, SpaceX, Lheed Martin, uh, the St. John's Water Management District, the Florida DEPA and the EPA and create the Space Coast Regional Water Partnership. This water
partnership can help modernize our drinking water, our storm water, and our uh wastewater infrastructure. The uh partnership could also uh explore purchasing Royal Oak um golf course and turn that into a stormwater regional park. They could even explore purchasing
the uh Sherwood Golf Course if it's still available and turn that into a stormwater regional park as well. What this partnership does is it does three things that our citizens are asking for right now and that's modernizing our infrastructure, uh protecting our neighborhoods from flooding, and restoring the health of the Indian
Lagoon. It's time to futureproof the city of Titusville and begin making it stronger for our citizens that are here today and for those of the future. We must begin putting our citizens first and and removing the burden from them. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Blickley.
Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Um, just a couple of things. I didn't realize that PACE was on the agenda, so I just have a 20 second comment about that. I would encourage you to read the Auditor General's audit of the Florida PACE funding agency. If you haven't done that, you might find
that very enlightening as you go through your deliberations on whether or not you want to um have that available to your property owners. zero down, no credit check, and we'll put it on your tax bill. If you don't pay it, it is a lean that you could lose your home. And, uh,
you contact the tax collector, she can give you a couple of examples of that. So, um, as far as that goes, on August the 18th, I'm going to send out 350,000 trim notices on your behalf and on behalf of all the other, uh, taxing
authorities in Bvard County. And I'm going to take many calls as a result of that. That's just my job. That's that's the way it is. Um, but I took one pretty harsh call today u from one of your residents in the city of Titusville and she chewed on me for about 30 minutes. You probably can figure out who that is
because I brought her in the room with me tonight. Um, she was very upset obviously about the proposed rate increases for water, sewer, storm water, um, and everything. And you know, you guys are in this business and I'm in this business and and we understand that your priorities have to be for the city
of Titusville and the school board's priorities have to be for schools and the county has to take care of those, but property owners get to saddle all of those priorities. So for this year, if we take Miss Blickley's proposed tax
bill that I'll be sending out, the general fund is proposed to go up 10%. Libraries and mosquitoes 2.3 2.3 the wreck district's 2.1 and the north boulevard district you know which is in this district is 10%. On top of a 100%
or a 50% increase in her water rates and in her storm water. She represents the majority of property owners in our district um here in Titusville. So um I'd like you to keep a couple of things
in mind. You know I'm a home rule girl. Um, I feel like local governments do a better job than the state. I feel like the state does a better job than the federal government in most things, but the state is attempting to take a big bite out of home rule. Right? We know that that that's how we got amendment
three. That's what's proposed before the voters on November the 3. Now, the state already took a bite out of what you can legally adopt as your maximum millage le uh levy uh limitation. They did that. that became effective June 24th. So the
state already already preempted that portion. That doesn't require the voters. That's already been done. So the rest is up to the voters to determine if the additional homestead exemptions and the additional assessment caps would be beneficial to them. Lots of theories on
whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. And I'm not here to tell you if I think it's a good thing or a bad thing. But I am here to tell you that I believe if local governments in an attempt to preempt property tax relief on behalf of their property owners is probably going
to preempt a positive response to amendment three. So folks are hurting. We're we're all feeling the pain at the gas pumps. Um, keep in mind too when your HOA fee goes up, if you don't pay it, that that can cause a less pendance and a foreclosure
and you can lose your home, even if it's a $50 a month assessment. So, some of these fees or assessments, property owners can't just pick and choose. And if you're going to pick and choose the ones that can take your home, you know, you're going to make sure that you pay
those. Now, Herman and I are old. Herman, we're old. >> Compare yourself to me. Back in the day, a property owner could choose to pay their Advil property tax bill and not pay their non-adval. Remember that when we got two bills, Herman can't do that
anymore. Okay. So, whatever we place on that tax bill, highinterest loans, uh, to maybe folks that can't qualify for any others, if they don't pay that tax bill, the tax collector's going going to sell the certificate. Okay?
She's going to do that on our behalf and she's going to collect those taxes. So, please keep in mind, I realize these are tough jobs. I know that they're thankless and many times, but my daughter said something to me that I am super proud of her sitting back there
tonight. She said, "Mom, if they can do forward thinking for increases, why can't they do forward thinking for decreases?" >> And and Councilwoman Stol brought up a good point. I see time after time um consultants come in with studies that
say if you increase rates relatively moderately at some point in time you'll get to a zero. I've been in this community 40 years and I love this community but it doesn't happen. Okay. So we've got to do better. I'm just going to leave you with this because I
know the challenge is tough. Um, 20 years ago, the property appraisers office budget in Bvard County was 12,7,000 and some change. We had 146 employees.
My 2627 budget request was 12,500,000 20 years later. And you don't do that without being transformative and making some some tough calls and making sometimes some decisions that are not popular many times with the folks that
put us in these seats. But there's no way to do the same thing you've been doing and expect a different result. We know that. So, thank you for your time and thank you for your service. >> Thank you. [applause] So yeah, uh Miss Dana obviously brings
up a very good point. Uh when we get to that item later in our uh agenda, the setting of the tenative millage rate, I was going to warn all council members, prepare for long budget hearings. It's not going to be status quo as usual where we come in. There might be one or two people here. I think we're going to
have a lot of things to hash out and a lot of ideas that that need to be talked about as we go forward. So thank you very much. I appreciate it. You >> you are very welcome. Just a reminder, too, you know, non-advelorms are not on the trim notice and they're not on the trim notice because the law requires you
to ask me to put them on there. So, I promise you if it were the other way around, the non-advelorum assessments would be on the trim notice. You guys know that those property owners pay in a fiscal basis October 1 to September 30th
versus the advalorum taxes are paid for the calendar year January 1 to December 31st. But all of that appears on the bill that they've received in November. I would like to see that changed. And I will tell you that that I'm going to ask all of you, all taxing authorities, um,
if you would like to ask me to make sure we include those non-advelor assessments on the trim notices. So when property owners do receive their notice of proposed property tax, known as a trim notice, truth and millage, they have a better picture of what their total liabilities are going to be. If that
isn't the case and I don't know that I'm going to be successful with all taxing authorities, then I'm I'm gonna try to sponsor some legislation to make that change because I really do think that that's a necessary component particularly with the size of some of the non-advalorum assessments.
>> Thank you very much for bringing that up, Miss uh Dana. And once we get into our next meeting where we can actually take some action, I would be very much in support of of that effort. Thank you. Anybody else for petitions and requests? We're still in our 5:30 meeting 2 hours later.
All right. Seeing none, we're going to take a 10-minute recess. We'll get started with our 6:30 meeting promptly at 7:35. We're adjourned.