##VIDEO ID:EtaI3XceSYw## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening and welcome to the regular commission meeting for January 7th 2024 like to call this meeting to order if we could please stand for the American Le or stand for the Pledge of Allegiance we can go for the American Legion Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all City K clerk please call the role commissioner Toth here commissioner crell here commissioner Minny here vice mayor dicki here mayor all right approval of regular and workshop agendas do we have any changes modifications I would I would like to us to consider having more of an open discussion rather than uh first reading on the terrain modification I would agree with that as well I I would think that that really uh this has come back as a uh an ordinance versus a workshop and if anything I would have thought that it would have come back as a workshop so I I agree with that as well anyone else three Bob AG Arden doesn't matter does it matter I'm I'm good I mean we've kind of beat it to death but it's okay all right uh do you want to do that tonight that's fine I I don't have any objections to it but just put it more as a ready to uh to actually hit it I know that uh I yes my objection was that I was going to propose some changes okay to there and that would require that the ordinance go back through review okay so I don't know if you want to wait till after that or if you want to have the discussion now it doesn't um I would like to see it go through review again you know it's so that we get to changes out of the way but not do the workshop tonight I think that that's fair we can do that later because I mean there are quite a there's a quite a bit of work in that yeah document is that okay with everybody okay so uh we will uh we will move the uh what's the item J2 to Workshop yeah so let me roll this up yeah J2 J2 y let just get it up here and uh and that will be uh moved to a workshop on the 21st mayor and Commissioners we do have a workshop item for the 21st having to do with Public Safety we can look to accomodate or we can have a separate meeting for either one of those items or excuse me a separate Workshop you anticipate the workshop on that's on schedule to be lengthy um I I think that would depend upon the discussion among the commission it's more um police and fire departments going to make a presentation and ask for the commission's decision about placement of a location for public safety building so we can start moving and hiring an architect and and moving down the road to getting this project on shovel in the ground can we look at what the agenda the regular commit agenda looks like and if that's short then just do both in the workshop do you know what your items that you want to change are tonight sorry do you know what you want to propose as far as the changes on on the um yeah my my point commissioner is that if the commission agrees that it's going to go have go have have to go back through review state review the process again so yeah really the uh the issue here is this is something that uh we had voted on on October 20th and basically at that point we uh we turned it down yeah um so I think that yeah it did surprise me that all of a sudden we saw this on the agenda versus a workshop um so I I don't have a problem doing two workshops on the 21st yeah I agree was going to say we can accommodate that it right now looks like the agenda is pretty light for the next commission meeting okay so we can just work to make sure that it stays light and have conducive workshops one for Public Safety and one for the train modification okay good for me good for good for I would is there any way even though we don't have a workshop scheduled that we could do discussion Tonight Tonight on it I mean after we get through our consent agenda yeah through the consent agenda the reason why I'm saying that because if we can come to a consensus tonight then when LPA meets again I'm just thinking about when meetings happen Y for the other ones and it doesn't have it it it certainly doesn't have to be tonight but I do think that we do need a little more discussion I I do as well and I would prefer to do on the 21st okay I'm that's fine okay so we will move that then to the workshop August 2 of uh I'm sorry January 21st thank you mayor just because it was an action item that was on the agenda just so it's clear in the minutes um could we have a motion and and a second and just a vote on moving that to the 21st sure is that acceptable I just want to try to make a clear record yes yeah would uh sure anybody like motion yeah I move that we move the um terrain modification program discussion to a workshop on the 21st of uh next regular commission workshop on the 21st of January a second though and a second so we have a motion and a second uh any public comment okay uh any comment with the Commissioners okay let's take the role please commissioner Manning hi vice mayor dicki hi commissioner Toth hi commissioner crel hi mayor doctor I thank you thank you all right no proclamations recognitions or certificates of appreciation and we're on to public comment and I do have one person that would like to speak on public comment that is West Evans mayor if I could there is one Proclamation or excuse me it's an introduction yeah oh I'm sorry yes it it was we even talked about it sorry about that no problem at all um mayor doctor and Commissioners tonight I would like to uh take the opportunity to introduce you to the city's first economic development director you know if if you recall back during the budget season the commission said that a prioritization for this commission was Economic Development so much so that a position was added specifically at the director level and for that director to be the first economic development director ctor with us tonight is Joan Goodrich who has extensive experience in the Private Industry local government and nonprofits with more than her 30 years of experience she's built many local economies and communities most recently she was with the pelis County Board of County Commissioners and spent significant time in several Florida coastal areas such as Martin County city of Del re Beach and Fort Lauderdale with that I would like to introduce you to the city's economic development director Joan Goodrich welcome evening good evening mayor Commissioners thank you Mr Anderson um Miss Kidwell Cohen and members of the community I'm so honored to join the um Treasure Island team and family as your new economic development director as Mr Anderson indicated I've been doing this work um for a very long time in trying to build the economic wellbeing of the communities that I've served by helping business own owners entrepreneurs and Executives in their problem solving um obtaining resources for them as they seek to bring jobs and business capital investment while economic development is certainly important in normal times it's even more important now um as communities find themselves rebuilding like Treasure Island um you're to be applauded for recognizing um a strong economy matters and that local business businesses are a part of Treasure Island's distinctiveness and heartbeat I look forward to getting to know each of you as together we seek to ensure that the tax base is steady moving forward um to fund the quality Municipal services that you've got a a long track record in delivering to the community while also saving jobs and bringing more jobs to Treasure Island families so again thank you for the opportunity to serve and I look forward to working with you thank [Applause] you Chuck when does uh when will Joan start her start day Joan actually started um yesterday was her first day okay thank you all right now we'll move on to public comments and West Evans West Evans isop Pals hello commission hello staff right now we have a problem with this commission and this staff every time we walk into this room it feels like the mayor and the residents are fighting with the rest of the Commissioners and the rest of the staff time after time we've stood before you to voice our concerns and what have we been met with we're told when we are passionate in our appeals to you that we lack decorum we are told when we disagree with you that you feel attacked there's a quote you often hear repeated nowadays that says Hard Times create strong men strong men create good times good times create weak men and weak men create hard times right now we'll say that we are on hard times and we no longer have room for the weak men if you take disagreement as a attack then you are weak and we are done with you at this point our last mayor often felt attacked when someone disagreed with him and look where that got us we have no use for that anymore we have no use for Commissioners who are willing to stand on the who are not willing to stand on the site of residents we have no use for city managers who are too weak to stand up to the staff and we have no use for a city staff that's too weak to do the right thing last week Chuck Anderson gave A Veiled Threat that FEMA might come to town because of our decision on option two everyone but the mayor jumped out of their skin and we're done with that we don't want people to cower at the warning that FEMA says they might come talk to them we want people that say good let let them come to town let's show them the devastation that they've caused their residents that they've caused your neighbors we want men and women who represent us and stand for us against the FEMA overreach and when FEMA does threaten us we want Representatives that will talk to our Congressional leaders who will take the fight to the governor if they need to to the president or if it has to go to the Supreme Court take it there we want you to stand with our mayor and on the side of the residents stand for your residents stand for your City stand for the flag and what it represents we are done with people who see roadways blocked with debris in their first thought is can we get FEMA to come take care of this we want the man who picks up the chainsaw and cuts it to pieces and moves it out of the way we want people sitting in these chairs that say they're willing to do whatever it takes to stand for the residents and do what's right for far too long this commission and staff have been controlled by a small group with an agenda a self-appointed king maker putting money behind Commissioners and mayoral candidates of course the only thing a king maker ever really makes are pawns and hard times and this is no attack on any of the you anyone as a person krael commissioner krael your sweetest pie I will not deny that you're one of the sweetest people I've ever met but right now we don't need a cup of sugar commissioner DIY Dicky you're not a bad person I've talked to you many times you're a great person I know that but right now we need you to stand with us and not against us thank you [Applause] Ron yes we only had one other public uh I don't the right time meting to present this but uh my name is Ron deazi uh I'm here tonight to present to the commission uh something that I found uh pertaining to building permits just and uh would you mind if I pass a couple of these out to the people so they could follow this or no to what Theiss you too yes okay I I only printed a couple because ior I don't have a uh printer commercial printer so if you would how do I this sure give it to the clerk if you would would you like me to wait a minute till you look no go ahead I I think that we've got just a couple of them anyhow so you can share um right but okay all right I can do that uh I would just like to make uh everybody aware that in South Pasadena you could pass this around in South padena I'll read it out out loud it says uh at the December 10th 2024 regular commission meeting the city commission approved resolution number 202 24-10 temporarily waving building permit fees for Demolition and repair of hurricane damage for residential and Commercial structures the fee waiver is retroactive to October 1st 2024 and extends through March 31st 2025 the waiver applies to building permit fees only it does not extend to other fees including but not limited to application fees plan review fees reinspection fees and search charge fees permit applications oh wait permit applicants who paid building permit fees from October 1st 2024 to December 10th 2024 must submit a hurricane Helen hurricane Milton building permit fee refund request formed by January 10 2025 so they could get their fees back if they already paid also St Petersburg and it says here permit fee waivers the city is waving the application and inspection fees for these permits through March 29th 2025 for Demolition and repair of properties damaged by Hurricane while permits are still required affected residents can can remediate storm damage to their property without permit fees over the next six months note the following work does not require a permit the removal of storm damaged contents and materials such as drywall and insulation carpet and floor and I can't read this here it's it's blocked under there uh you'll see it on yours I got the wrong the a copy here that's blocked out and it says that the uh you could remove storm damage contents materials such as drywall in installation carpet flooring and I can't read the rest of this because it's blocked out but anyway that's the gist of it now my concern is why is it that we have to pay a fee for permits why is it that we have to wait for permits when other towns are just giving them out so can you respond to that or or we can't get an answer that's correct this is uh you can make it in form of a statement and any of make it in form of a statement and when we do our uh public uh speaking up here for our uh commission commissioner reports that uh that any anyone would be uh if they want to select that as as an item to talk with they they can and I'm surprised that no one here is even aware of it no we're I'll be glad to address that during my commissioner comments Ron pardon me I'll be glad to address that during my commissioner comments well I want to know if if anybody was aware of this yes yes are you going to address that later yes okay all right that's about it it it's the next item commissioner reports comes up next okay so so you're saying that you were aware of this yes you were yes how long uh from the time that we put uh ours in effect I mean we we had to vote on it twice okay so yes so we are aware all right okay all right so maybe I came up too early then okay thanks a lot thank you all right we're uh we're now going to move on to the commissioner reports and we'll start with commissioner Todd all right thank you good evening and thank you all for being here first I'd like to recap a little bit from the last meeting where obviously I had a live mic I was called by a gaff or a blunder because it says Commissioners tell the truth well I'm pretty known for that but anyway um please note that the comment was made and I'm not really sure 100% of what I said but it doesn't matter because everything I believe in I believe in telling the truth my job as a nurse really depends on that as a nurse someone's life depends on us for telling the truth um my words were spoken out of pure frustration and the meeting was just a little bit over to the top um I'm telling you this because I find it extremely frustrating to sit here and get slammed all the time when you don't even know our stories about how the storm affects us we are neighbors we are your neighbors when this is all said and done we'll still be in our community um I was obviously Gob struck when someone came up to me and said that I should wait for my permit um seriously I have home too and parents to take care of um where's the humanity in that comment um again we're just residents as well we just stepped up to the plate to try to make this community a better place um I did not get lost from helain but Milton blew in my windows and as soon as I got to the island I knew my floors were shot the mold was already growing so I went to City Hall to pull a permit for my pull my wood floors up and put in tile so it's a little water resistant there um I believe everyone here has been affected by the storm um I know commissioner Crable and I are both not living in our houses and I think commissioner minning has just moved into his um anyway enough said I would also like to find out um how Title Basin was vetted by the state and if the numbers are incorrect then how did they get the contract surely someone had done a Qi evaluation and sorted it out before they came to work in our city and elevated um I'm sorry evaluated storm damage I would also like to know how efficient we are in having Jacobs handling the permits as I'm concerned with the issues that arose from Fort Meyers when they were working down there I would also like to request from our city manager that if in the future we're going to um have additional help that we do an RFP on it um personally I look forward to FEMA coming to town in the hospital we have a company called Joint Commission that ensures our quality measures are met I believe that is one of the responsibilities of FEMA additionally it is FEMA that determines if we are able to keep our flood insurance I have utmost faith in our City's staff that are trying to do the right thing every time one of the benefits and blessings of living in a small town and serving is that you generally get to know the staff and you get to know how much they really care for our residents that said I thank them with all my heart our police force is accredited and that's something really to be said about our fire department they're amazing all I can say is thank you to them how they've cared for my parents when we've had some emergencies recently to conclude in my comments I'd really like to thank two of my Commissioners that I have the pleasure of serving with Diana and Arden I'm not sure that you know how much volunteer time that they are spending along with former commissioner horac and others helping the cumbersome permit helping with the cumbersome permit process and treating people that come in with dignity commissioner Dicky and his wife are here in the city hall for five or six hours a day a couple days a week and he's probably seen it minimum of 100 people commissioner krael also spends a Comm considerable full time in our city hall helping our residents with forms serving our commission and then she formally served on planning and zoning and lastly she's displaced from her home that is true service to our community I would also like to thank our other city employees for putting our residents needs in front of theirs they have worked extra hours of overtime and they face personal challenges and some have had storm losses and family losses I know we will be Treasure Island strong and work together to get our community back together and our residents in our houses thank [Applause] [Music] you I'm going to take a step back here uh Lori Eiffel um Lorry please come up this was Mark permits and I thought it was uh going to be the last item of tonight but so my name is Lori Eiffel I live on Olive Palms uh we just bought in May and um we had to go home for several funerals we came back for two floods this has been my journey with Treasure Island we came back for Helen we um were able to take everything out of our house all of our sheetrock we live across from the lift station on 115th Avenue as I'm taking out my drywall in my sheetrock there's one lane so I called the city of Treasure Island and I said I'm being told to put everything in the road I'm trying to be a good citizen I'm trying to make it safe for all the big trucks coming through where would you like me to put all of my demoed drywall Etc well we we really don't know and they told me to put it out front we have a u driveway I said I can put it out front but none of your trucks will get through because the lift station is right there so then they told me to go ahead and put it in our driveway so we put it in our driveway I had my entire kitchen sitting out there all of the crumbled drywall that is now wet Milton went through so then when they come through to clean up we said to them are you going to be picking up all of the debris in our driveway because of course we called trying to be good citizens no we can't do that so we paid $700 to have our Drive driveway cleaned up trying to be good citizens to not block your roadway in hindsight I wish I would have blocked the roadway then October 28th we come in to pull permits because we're told that we need to get in the queue we get in the queue the first volunteer that I come in to speak with has me write down everything and anything that we think we need my house looks totaled on paper completely totaled anything we think we might do we better write down the next day I watch more meetings I learn more I'm like wow our house is totaled on paper we need to go back in we come back in we sit down with Brianna and we say this is not a true picture of our house on paper it's drywall and electrical like everyone else so we correct all that I told them I had a contractor I lost my contractor because of no permitting they called me while I was in Maine they emailed me I was there I think during November and they said have you found your contractor no I lost my contractor then come in and pull homeowner permits fine we come in again we pull homeowner permits we sit down we even brought in an Excel spreadsheet my husband owns a Manufacturing Company he makes metal doors frames Windows all these huge accounts even in Dubai he's done work so he estimated right down to the very last screw that we would need we come in we have Scare Tactics by the city oh you might not want to do it yourself you might lose your house and I'm thinking to myself this island is full of professional lawyers business owners people who build airports and I don't mean any disrespect but if we weren't as intelligent as we are could we afford to live here I know what my insurance cost I know what my house cost I know what my taxes cost are we really that illiterate that we don't know how to estimate how to put drywall and electrical back so they tell us we don't need the Excel spreadsheet write it down on the femur form okay we write it down there's hardly any room to write anything we hand it in I'm in Maine for Christmas time I get an email that says you need XYZ Corrections and I I really believe this is why permits are not being put out the amount of workflow and me hours that I have wasted coming back in here eight times to get my permit could have probably put out three permits plus my time that I'm not getting paid for so then they tell me you need to correct this I emailed back hey no problem can I set up an appointment with the building inspector to come in you know let's get this done let's get this fixed let's get my permits rolling no just come in and anybody will help you well every time I come in I'm told something different so we come in again today we sit down and um today I'm told as we're going through fixing it I'm like you know just look at all my permitting one of the questions was who's going to do the work well we just filled out a homeowner's permit hello we're going to do the work and and on that I had my roofing contractor my electrical contractor like everybody that we needed even sent in my Roofing contractor's license I'm waiting on their insurance the affidavit everything can't get a roofing permit yet so now he's telling me I need to go home take pictures of my home because we we need to know where the drywall is going we already wrote 48 in down and on top of that we have to have a drawing and Mark out where every electrical outlet is going when we already wrote out how many electrical outlets how many sheets of sheetrock how many linear foot of trim how many interior doors how many exterior doors how many vanities how many bottom cabinets and again we're wondering why we're not getting permits and again I'm a registered nurse I work in the hospital I my background is ICU when people are coding there's an algorithm we all know what to do there's standards of care we all know what to do it's the it's the minimum standards of care and I can't figure out I can't fathom why when you come in to get a permit there's not a standards of Permitting and Chuck I'm I'm going to call you out because if you're going to be the manager of a position you should now know how to do every single person's job in there and if you don't shame on you how I don't blame the staff nobody gets up in the morning and comes to work and says up off the town and I'm going to do a horrible job it's leadership there is no leadership this is my journey of Treasure Island and we haven't even been here six months and when you talk about the flood insurance going up compared to what I pay for homeowners insurance the flood is a joke so you know I I say bring FEMA in I would love to talk to FEMA at this point maybe they'll give me a permit thank you thank you commissioner krael thank you I just wanted to let everybody know um I received an email because I went on a mailing list from fdem that there is a mitigation Grant announcement that has came out the website is ww. grants.gov the registration period expires on 21725 at 5:00 p.m Eastern Standard Time thank you thank you commissioner dicki I'll start out by talking about the wave waving of perit fees that Ron debiasi asked about uh just yesterday as a matter of fact I I uh we had noticed the same thing about the other communities but this city of Treasure Island very early on did wave uh some fees for fencing interior uh demo tree removal roof repair uh replacement and of electrical meters uh and power surges on appliances so those things were waved uh through the end of January uh uh early on and we voted on extending that uh a couple of U meetings ago but anyway uh yesterday Ron I sent the city manager an email because I had noticed some of the same things that you that you had noticed that some of the C cities were waving all permit fees related to uh hurricane uh uh damage repair and I asked the city manager to uh look into the financial implications of us doing the same thing so we have already and and from the get-go wave fees on those those items that I just mentioned uh but I've asked him to look into the financial implications of waving fees for everything that's hurricane uh related damage repair so take a look at that yes sure R I'd say sure is that all I'm sorry yep no problem Jerry Springer uh as far as what you just said uh commissioner dicki um our concern is not so much about the fees and everything which it is is that it seems to us that these cities have been granting permits for months now this this just didn't happen yesterday they've been granting these permits for quite a while and we've been blindsided with this commission I believe that everything was FEMA's fault it was FEMA stopping the permits it was FEMA doing this it was FEMA doing that and from my experience what I have seen with FEMA they're doing a great job as far as I'm concerned they're the only ones that have helped me so far in this whole disaster FEMA is out there and in my opinion they're doing a good job so why can't starting tomorrow we come in and get a permit with no fee what is the what is stopping the commission right now from saying you could come in tomorrow get a and start work on your house every day I lose thousands of dollars because I can't live in the house and I'm paying for I'm paying a mortgage I'm paying taxes I'm paying all kinds of stuff but I can't live in the house thank you Ron that that's it please yes okay all right all right but I'd like some the other people to realize they're going through a lot too with their expenses thank you yeah thanks commissioner minning I wanted to uh comment on the Jacobs um city manager are you going to do that in city manager report no I'm not prepared for being able to do that okay um as you all know the city has engaged Jacobs Engineering to assist and permit um to assist with permits let me put it that way um and the question is uh do we extend that contract um it's for 30 days and do we extend that for up to an additional year um and the original agreement with Jacobs was that after 30 days of doing this during which time negotiations would proceed uh to extend the contract there's nothing in there as far as I can see that says that this will be extended it says negotiations will take place to move the um hiring of Jacobs uh to a full year I've asked the city manager and um eventually I will get um what I've asked for which is a cost benefit analysis the original contract with uh Jacobs was for over $300,000 uh I don't know where we are uh and in terms of expenditures because I understand that Jacobs has not even submitted an invoice um for the work that they've done so far which to to me doesn't seem that they have their act together in terms of being able to meet the demands or the agreement that we have um for their work um I will not be voting uh on extending their contract until I see a cost benefit analysis that says we spent X hundreds of thousands of dollars and we've gotten why and I want to be able to share that with everybody in this room and with the residents and taxpayers of Treasure Island um so that they can see firsthand exactly what's been done and what it's cost us to get there um so that's you and I have talked about about that so I expect that to be done and I expect it to be done relatively quickly thank you thank you um I'm going to uh read something from a letter that I had sent to the city manager um last week and uh it it's basically uh on the same subject matter uh about Jacob's Engineering so um direction to the staff to engage Jacob's Engineering for option two on November 19th 2024 the commission voted to approve 30-day notice to proceed authorization for permit processing and inspection services by Jacobs Engineering the agreement with Jacobs states that the commission authorization will allow Jacobs to initiate services with available staff while a long-term contract is negotiated and executed the commission again directs staff to negotiate and execute a long-term contract with Jacobs in accordance with the commission vote and this agreement the commission directed staff to negotiate and execute a long-term contract during the 30-day period the commission is aware that staff has failed to negotiate and execute this agreement within the 30-day period and at 30-day contract requires another extension to provide enough time for staff to execute on this directive following staff's failure to negotiate and execute the long-term contract within the 30-day period the commission now reiterates its direction to staff to negotiate and execute a long-term contract with Jacobs a short-term contract with Jacobs is is not acceptable and is not what the commission was had directed the commission directs staff to follow this decision exactly without staff modification a one-year contract with a one-year Mutual option should be brought forward to the commission for its consideration with that being said um I would have hoped that we would anticipate from day one how to keep the productivity uh of our uh of Jacob's staff uh in line so that we would have a 30-day analysis at the end of that 30 days uh and we had about a 40 or 45 day period of money that that was being spent um and and that uh I I agree with uh commissioner minning that uh you know an an analysis needs to be set out um and and we do need to see that but we also need to have the employees that are working with us here and active and productive and successful so um so that is uh is basically what I have on uh on that and uh that is my only report because for the last you know several months now um you know the we have as a commission we have the the one and only is our main priority our number one priority is get people back in their homes so thank you commissioner minning yeah um just adding to that with regard to Jacobs um in the letter that the mayor wrote to a city manager um I would just like to bring forward that the commission does not direct staff it's in the charter it's in the city code Commissioners are not not authorized or required in in any way shape or form to direct staff in their functions period thank you y and and with that I I would uh also want to say that the letter was directed to our city manager and not in any way shape or form to our to our staff we understand that uh we have hired the city manager to to be the one that is operating the city as a CEO and um and that Still Remains intact so so the statements here in the letter that you sent are inaccurate is that correct no and I I don't read it that way at all okay you say commission St the commission directed staff to negotiate that's Jacobs following staff's failure to negotiate and execute you are saying here um the commission again directs staff to negotiate and execute a long-term contract this commission doesn't direct manager is staff I mean he he is our staff he is our employee we have three employees uh and that's that's what it's directed and it didn't I you know it was sent to Chuck Anderson and not to uh not to any any uh directors or anything else so um I see this as direct reports direct reports as staff okay let's move on uh now uh do we have any reports from the city attorney or city manager I don't have a report no report mayor okay uh do we have minutes do we have approval of the minutes this uh this agenda yes yes we do okay so can we have a motion sure I move to approve the minutes from the June 20th 2024 commission regular workshop and emergency meeting second okay we have a motion a second any discussion any changes okay roll call please vice mayor dicki I commissioner Toth I commissioner Kel I commissioner Min I mayor I thank you moving on to consent agenda and can I have a motion please I motion that we uh approve the consent agenda as as written second okay we have a motion and a second is there any public comment hearing none can we have one comment yep is is this reimbursable yes it is okay it'll be part of um an expedited reimbursement we're putting forth to FEMA thank you all right thank you uh any additional discussion no if not roll call please byce mayor dicki I commissioner Toth hi commissioner Kel I commissioner Minnie I mayor doctor I thank you moving on to items of business we only have one now since two have been pushed out and that is the uh continuing the commission's discussion on substantial damage mayor doctor and Commissioners last Thursday there was a special meeting that was called having to do with discussion on substantial damage you know director yunan had provided a uh pres a PowerPoint presentation which was reviewed and they at the end of the presentation there was a couple of questions that were asked of the commission you know the the two questions in there related to substantial damage determination letters and also um so commission started to have some discussion since that happened we were notified that FEMA is coming in on Friday and I'm not using that as a scare tactic but they are coming in to do some sort of Staff assistance visit to take a look at how we're processing our permit so with that information you know I know the commission said that they wanted to continue the discussion tonight and of course you could do that um and reach conclusion on what you'd like to do or you could look to table this if you'd like to um have this discussion after the meeting with FEMA is conducted on Friday so that would be up to the commission for you know your decision on what you'd like to do I have a question on that if I may sure um is there any way that with that meeting with FEMA if we promise to kind of keep our mouths quiet can we hear and observe right now from what I understand and I haven't seen any agenda or anything like that but what I understand is FEMA is coming down to take a look at how permits are processed across the board within the uh Community Development Department and within the city so they're going to be taking a look at the pro I don't know what Avenue they take how they go through their methodology or anything like that I would think anything more than one commissioner though would you know constitute that we would need to notice a meeting but it also would just want to make sure that you know there was no undue influence we want FEMA to come in and to take a look at our process and either validate that we're doing things correctly or or give us an idea on where we can find efficiencies if we would be able to allow one commit commissioner I would honestly have to say that I would like I would like to see that be either ardan or myself since we've been working with the permits and the people for so long that maybe we would be able to have a better Insight on it and we seem to be a little bit Freer to be able to come in than I mean like commissioner TR I mean she works and has her family her parents to take care of and stuff and I'm not sure what Bob and John have going but it it's probably just as important but I I would like to to do that so that I think that would offer some transparency with the city and the commission and to our residents if we had somebody from the commission at least present I will be in attendance for the entire time that they're there in Community Development to see what's going on I'd be more than willing to pass the information to the Commissioners or you know if you wanted to appoint a commissioner you know you could there is danger with having elected officials being partially in involved or potentially seen as influencing on what's going on but if the if the commission would like to do that we can reach back out to feema and you know and let them know that that's what the desire is if nothing else just for somebody to observe I mean I think that would be a good thing of of transparency to our residents it will it will help us build some Integrity I'm what I need to add is that based upon the conversations with female we're trying to arrange for them to meet individually with the Commissioners you know at the conclusion of the meeting as part of the meeting toward the end of the day once they get past their initial assessment waiting on confirmation that that would actually be happening so I haven't heard anything more and I don't think they've notified staff of that I can definitely keep you in the loop on that but what I'm trying to do is to make sure all of the Commissioners are brought up to speed on an individual basis so that they are the mayor and the Commissioners with anything that transpires on Friday and I appreciate that I I think that is the the best way of going is that we all get at some time so hopefully they will make time for us I think what they're trying to do is to make sure that they have the right representative from the other office that is available on Friday to make the trip with them and that's what they're trying to confirm great thank you all right uh public uh here we go uh Robert hi evening Robert bazo um I love cpri again thanks a lot um as I've said before this is like deja vu all over again I have a lot of experience I've worked with fur uh nothing here is personal I I think the the board is fantastic all your professionals you you primarily volunteers is no no there's nothing against you personally registered nurse is one of the best professions in the world nothing here is personal but I think when we comment about just FEA provis guidelines and I just think we've been misinterpreting these guidelines over the last couple of months there were things we could have done right away by enacting the Emergency Management assistant Compact and getting a ton of people here if we work through the uh the Florida Division of emergency management office of medication could have had a ton of people here all refundable and we also have the ability to contract people Al as who work through the Florida Division of Emergency Management um again FEMA is not to be feared this uh visit this Friday is it's exciting it's great it's fantastic could have happened a couple of months ago this meeting is a technical uh technical uh a visit to assist it's a positive thing we should look at this as positive and also a FEMA audit is not a negative thing I've worked with FEMA they want to help us the Florida Division of Emergency Management wants to help us they will give us a ton of people and it's reimbursable I just feel the attentions here are great everybody has great intentions I just think we've looked at the guidelines and we've misinterpreted them from option one option two regarding permits and also I posted something yesterday about qualified estimates uh as an option under uh uh under the feea desk reference to uh calculate home market value I believe in October we would have had if we used that qualified estimates option instead of the county Appraisal or us paying $4 to $700 to get to get a evaluation we could have used a qualified estimat option getting the uh Billy manager to get real estate people and what to use com comparable uh comparable Market comps just like if you were going to buy a house a $1.6 billion do house subtract a million uh for a land you get a $600,000 value that's $300,000 to repair you could put a lot of drywall and a lot of outlets for $300,000 as an example I'm just simply saying nothing here is personal it's about in my opinion an incorrect interpretation of the FEMA guidelines looking forward to Friday's meeting you should be looking forward to it they're here to help us a great opportunity for the city manager to say I need 10 more qualified permit people here you what do we have 30 counties in Florida you will get people here immediately use uh the chief of police here I think used the emac process correctly how many police officers did we have on day six or seven of the storm I I mean it was almost like a police state but it was fantastic the police did a great job in using that emergency manag assistant compact to get cops here why didn't we do that for permit people train permit people again nothing personal we're all one team one fight let's go thank you so we're not going to have anything at the end of the night to vote on but uh I do still have a stack of uh cards if people want to get up and say something uh you you can if if not we'll just continue to move on until we're at the end uh Chris Clark uh Chris Clark District 2 um yeah thanks again for your time today I just I was on the impressed everybody talking about the you know the um permits again and the substantial damage letters so um I just wanted to go into that a little bit um last week we were talking about a lot of these letters going out and how they were very inaccurate um so and also these these backup letters that people had a hard time getting and and and those also being inaccurate so I did get a copy of one of those backup letters um from Kim cavello I think she's in the audience I think she's gonna also get up and speak tonight but she gave me a copy of that letter and it must have been a good day for the printer because she she did actually um get the letter um but now I understand why the city did you know doesn't want people to see these backup letters I mean this the amount of inaccuracies in this four-page document is is staggering I mean just a few highlights I mean her 50% number was $72,400 um so on like the fourth page it lists the substantial damage estimator and it lists all the damages it lists different things interior finish exterior finish roof covering foundation and it it it places a value on those and adds them all up and when you add them all up it comes up to $226,000 and 650 226 654 so when you actually take a calculator and add these up it comes up to 72,000 uh 954 so it's off by I don't know $175,000 now somehow when you go to the last page and you you look they somehow did use the the the accurate figure of adding all these up 72 954 her 50% number was what what I say 72500 so she was 50.1% substantially damaged she was over by $450 but again in this list of all these damages it's got damages to the foundation there's no damages to her foundation there damage to the superstructure that's the walls there's no damage to her super structure so again I go back to basically you know saying why in the world would anyone want these letters going out and then the problem is is what we heard last week is is you know well just go file an appeal why should this person have to spend time and money going out and filing an appeal um and doing all this when you got numbers that are just complete another gobbly G on here I mean that this this makes no sense and that the fact that we want to stand behind these letters makes zero sense to me I mean to to me it it's it it it's exactly like a court of law where when you you're guilty until you're proven innocent you get this letter you're guilty and now you have to do some sort of appeal and approve that you're innocent so you know the big talk last week of was you know should we send these letters out I think the answer is absolutely no um Mr Min you said come with Solutions so here's my solution and this is one of many that people have tossed around but only send letters to people that absolutely want them and request them have everyone else use option two and then come up with a system for people that have no damage we've talked about people that have no damage that are getting letters that say they're substantially damaged set up a system where they submit a permit that says I have no damage and you guys can somehow you know verify that they have no damage and and give them their determination and at the very end you're going to have people left that have never filed for anything and maybe you have to go around to those people and and see if they have damage or not but have some sort of a system we don't seem like we have any type of flow chart we don't have any type of of anything you know we're just flying by the seat of our pants and I think these letters are going to be a bad thing to have going out to everybody so I I think the biggest thing we need to do is is is get something in place do something stop fighting back against option two stop throwing up roadblocks and the other thing I will say I actually saw a copy of the of the letter from or the email from FEMA that came to the city it it was basically like hey we're just checking in to see how things are going you know let us know if you guys need anything I think there was a second one where there's just a routine audit I mean we're making into this into some big deal like oh God fee is coming down and they're going to they're going to find out they were doing everything wrong and option two is not going to work out it's absolutely not what it is so I just beg you guys and I know mayor doctor has been doing the same you know let's go on with option two and lastly I will say I do want to thank the folks that come up here and volunteer and help people but the problem is with no process in place and and nothing in place people come up here and they get a different answer from every single person that they talk to so it' be no different than if I rounded up 50 people to help me build a house and yes they're all great people and yes they're all super super hard workers but if none of us know how to build a house guess what the house is going to go up and in a few weeks it's going to fall down and go over great so until we get some leadership um we're going to continue to struggle thank you West [Applause] Evans West Evans isop Palms uh I'd like to remind the commission and the staff that option two since it seems like the staff is kind of fighting to get us back on option one option two uh it is one of FEMA's options uh staff's been fighting for it uh against the wishes of the mayor the residents and the commission it's been voted on several times uh it's seems to be I'm guessing the argument is that's what FEMA prefers us to do that's FEMA's uh what's best for FEMA but unfortunately what's best for FEMA is not necessarily best for Treasure Island right now uh we're not telling the city to improperly issue any permits our normal permitting process is adequate uh to pass any kind of audit uh in fact if anyone here has ever gotten a permit from the city you'll know that it's uh quite insane the amount of documentation and stuff you have to go through to actually get a permit and if anything should probably be worried about Catherine and Jesse auditing them when they come to town because that's where the you really get into it uh and as far as I know we get audited annually on all of our permits anyway because we're in a flood plane I could be wrong about that but that's what I've always been told uh and the threat we get for going with option two uh seems to be that we can if we do it wrong if we're going against FEMA's wishes we do it wrong we could lose our Let's see we kicked out at nfip uh forensic audit from FEMA threats from a visit for fdem and uh our insurance rates could go up these are all maybe could happen threats all this stuff maybe could happen and they're based on Fort Meyers and Cape Coral running a foul of FEMA system uh I know and one of those two it was they ran a foul of it because they had some trailers Pastime or something like that and the other one they let people rebuild without getting permits we're not asking anyone to do that uh FEMA can come pick up the police trailer park we got in the parking lot as soon as that day comes we won't fight them on it they can come get them we'll get the police in this building if we have to no problem uh they tell us you know we could end up on probation or something that's fine we'll stick we'll do the FEMA probation if we have to because we're going to do everything by the book uh these uh substantial damage letters that we were harping on Thursday night um they're not required under option two if people want those substantial damage letters tell them they can have them send them out to them don't block them from getting them but don't make residents who don't want them get them it's it's very simple uh if a person gets a substantial damage letter and they've already gotten a permit we need to make it clear that their permit application supersedes the substantial damage letter they are not bound by the sdl under option two if someone wants the sdl the substantial damage letter because they want to raise their house or whatever once again I know ardan you're fighting for that for your guys down in Sunset Beach and I understand that we're not saying don't give it to them give them the sdl if they want it but don't scare people that don't need it with it um uh to the Commissioners that are at the end of their terms we ask for you to please stand on our side on your way out the door for the new people coming in we hope that you do a good job stand on the side of the residents uh and to the mayor continue to stay on our side and remain unpin thank you thank you West Tracy Clark hello uh Tracy Clark is of Palms um I wanted to bring up today um the fact that on January 14th the FEMA money for the hotel help for residents is expiring uh people were given 90 days worth of funds to stay in hotels um that lost their homes and the 14th that money is now up so um there's going to be a lot of our residents that uh staying at the Mar is one of the places that don't have anywhere to go um once that money is up next week and I think that's pretty big deal um when they were interviewed um Channel 8 news the other day most of them were just looking for permits so as we're all kind of maneuvering through all of this I think it's just something to take to heart that there are people out there that are going to be really suffering here pretty soon that may not have anywhere to go we know that there are residents in my neighborhood in Isa Palms that are currently living in garages it's very cold it's going to be cold now for a few weeks and um I just don't want you know bad things to happen uh like commissioner to I am also a nurse I'm a nurse anesthetist and in the medical field lots of folks here have talked about um having flow charts in medicine we we have a lot of flowcharts when things go wrong we use a flowchart especially if you're dying if you're not breathing you do this if your heart's beating we do this if your heart's not beating we do this I think this is a perfect situation to get that flowchart started let's make a piece of paper let's let's say if if you need this go here if you don't need this let's go here and let's give it to everyone every person that's working in the permit department has that flowchart they can look at it they can they can you know use it as reference and let's get these people's permits done I think it would be really simple to do you know once we get all this figured out I mean let's let's get that going I think that we can do a lot of good here and we can do a lot of good that's going to help people and keep them out of bad situations especially as this temperatures here for us in Florida drop I worry about people in their homes and especially with that money running out I just be a lot of people in a really bad place thank you thank you thank you Tracy Sarah Pennington hi good evening commission um I wanted to just start off by saying that I understand that a lot of you up there might feel like you're being attacked I've heard that or that it can feel personal and I I want to say I sympathize I understand it must be difficult to sit up there and hear US citizens every week not having nice things to say and I'm sure that's very difficult um but I haven't seen people name calling or yelling from what I'm seeing I'm seeing residents expressing frustration uh we have usually about over 60 residents coming to these meetings these people are very well read well researched and they're all kind of telling you the same thing so we're taking our time to express these issues to you and then after all that it seems like we're frequently hearing you vote on the complete opposite of what the citizens are asking for so we heard a lot of examples of grossly inaccurate substantial damage letters last Thursday and then even this one tonight that Chris mentioned and I recall at the last meeting commissioner dicki you said that 66% of the letters are not substantially damaged so far I think well that means that 34% of them are that means over a thousand people in Treasure Island if they get the substantial damage letter are going to be told that they need to tear down their house or go through an appeals process and we know that those people generally are not substantially damaged most people on this island need the same thing drywall cabinets baseboards all of the basics so I don't understand how we can think that it's a good idea to go through this process of forcing people through an appeal and when we know that the data is bad you guys asked for Solutions and I agree we do want to have Solutions and I think actually Chris Clark gave a great solution and I totally agree with that if a resident wants their substantial damage letter I think actually on the flowchart the very first response to that needs to be did you know you don't need a substantial damage letter because I think a lot of residents are asking for substantial damage letters because they're scared and they think that they need it if they realize that they don't need that letter I would be curious how many of them would move on and not want them so um they should be told that they do not need the substantial damage letter their determination is now going to be based on the value of their permit uh if they still want it though of course give it to them let them have it but we need to let residents know and we need to hear from you because I still have not heard this these letters should be nonbinding for under option two so we still have this great area where people are getting a permit even now and then later getting a substantial damage letter and as the residents we feel like we are still in the dark if though if you are actually um holding people to those substantial damage letters because under option two those letters should mean nothing and they should be non-binding in any way so all you have to do is just send letters to people that want them don't send letters to people that don't and like Chris said yes there's probably going to be some people that haven't applied for a permit yet so those people need to apply for a permit and if they haven't they can come down fill out a form that says they're not damaged and anything left over that falls through the cracks deal with that at that time but I really want you to please consider this Common Sense solution that will put the residents first and then please notify all of the citizens of this solution thank you thank you Sarah Andy basy good evening thanks for the opportunity to speak um last Thursday uh um commission meting and I want to commend you for your experience on the board as mayor and also in the engineering field where you and I spend a lot of our time um you asked about Solutions and one of the things came up was about appeals and one of the one of the the the values of us going forward on option two is it takes out the need for the appeal as contained in option one because what you're appealing is this substantial damage letter that is are so much concern so I think that if you hold to option two and if you truly execute on option two then you take this appealing of a result of a substantial damage letter off the table so I want to mention that um the the other thing that you mentioned um tonight and again drawing on your experience as mayor and commissioner and also Al coming out of the engineering and project management field is this issue about not directing staff and um you know I understand I work from the private side uh with government entities all the time all throughout the State of Florida so whether you know with um with City governments or or departments I was actually on the phone today half the day with the mayor from Gulf Shores Alabama on a new assignment I have there at an airport but there's a there's a difference as you're defining directing staff relative to the obligations you have as a commission in that you all took a vote a a a a proposition was brought to you as it relates to Jacobs which is we're going to try to bring extra resources in as fast as we can to ramp up the permitting and so what was brought forward to you for consideration to the commission was that we're going to contract with these folks to bring in the help that we need based on the experience that they have both managing um programs as well as for Meers Beach which was one of the appeals I believe uh commissioner Toth RP I I was the one who Who as a resident brought this concept forward we brought a Comm in as well one of the largest engineering firms in the country so um so uh the city manager had two two proposals working at the same time that we were doing this and I believe that selection was made by the city manager um between the two but there's a difference in directing staff where you all voted as a commission to move forward with Jacobs and and part of that written description was to uh negotiate a contract the 30-day contract was set up as a period to allow the attorneys to negotiate terms and condition s on a on a what was referred to as a long-term contract it was not a 30-day try it out and see how it goes part of the reason you can't do that is you can't get people to relocate you can't get companies to staff up you needed permit reviewers inspectors permit input people if you don't have some time period that you're going to commit them to sort of a get what you pay for so I would argue that the um that the that that what the commission voted on and the direction you wanted to give was we need these resources in here we're not tied up about money that was the edict at the time let's get it done let's get people back in their homes and so we brought forward this and the staff was directed to do it and they've had time to do it now if if the staff didn't do it because you know they dog ate the proposal and they didn't get around to doing it that's one level of not doing it but the staff doesn't do it because they don't agree with it they think they have a better way they don't like that company it was whatever that's them not following what you all voted on and you're elected and represent us and so I would ask you to consider as you look at this what you voted on and directed and what happened during that 30-day period and what um what Parsons has uh not Parsons Jacobs has been up against and the and the last thing I'll say is I I I think that if you're going to do a cost benefit analysis you want to look at Jacobs I'd ask you to consider meeting with them oneon-one so they can speak freely because we've got a decrease in staff available through resignations you've got somebody there who runs Major projects yet somehow there's a disconnect in the execution of bringing them in and I think that if you met with them oneon-one you with your experience in engineering and project management you might be interested to hear some of the things they have to say thank thank you very much thank you Tony Johnson is Tony here okay good evening thank you for allowing me to speak and this will be kind of brief I only have two things to say I you I heard you talk about the uh FEMA coming and how you're going to handle that why don't you just bring them in here let all the Commissioners be here have your meeting here and let all the public otherwise we'll be hearing hearing the staff will be telling us what was said we'd just kind of like to hear that for ourselves now the other the other issue is that and I mentioned this on Thursday on the 23rd of December I asked for a public record this is a rid of Mand a petition for a rid of mandamus because I didn't get that record I'm still w waiting for it so I'm going to be filing this either this week or next just thought you ought to know okay thank you Kim cavello hi Kimo Paradise Island I have two things here to give to them for you guys to look at as Chris was saying from before now the first packet is the substantial damage letter I got and the five-page backup with it and on the five-page backup thing since nobody came in my house to even look and at the time when they came my neighbor has a ring doorbell and was talking to title Bas and people and she said do you need to get into our house they said no there's no need need to this is what they said to her through the ring camera there's no need for us to go in and look at your house so they just did the walk by which if you look at this on page four in the back where it has all of what needs to be done I highlighted most of the stuff the stuff that's highlighted I don't need done to my house all I need is my sheet rock and my kitchen cabin put in that's it but all this other stuff is on here which I do not need and the letter told me I was 50.1% substantially damaged if you take everything off that I don't need I'm under 33% so I would not have well I have to do is get my contractor my contractor did submit a permit for us to do the work so now we're going by option two which I don't need this letter I don't have to appeal it I don't have to do anything because his price is less is under 20,000 to come in and fix my house now the second thing that you have there is because when I had called one day the woman very nice woman that I spoke to said that they would not take my appraisal that was submitted with my permit because it wasn't on the right form so I called the person who did my appraisal gave them the woman's name and number to call he did spoke to her he said can you please send me the correction report of what needs to be done so you all have a copy eight pages out of the eight pages in here it says nothing about my house it's asking what county is Stover Vermont in what county is Duneden Florida in what county is River Edge New Jersey in what county is Milwaukee Wisconsin in goes on and on with all different states this is what was in the correction permit from the city okay then it goes down saying where's the one where's the one I'm looking for ah does this help clarify things for you are you kidding me says are we having appraisers remove the word desirable from appraisal reports it says yes and then it goes on but none of this stuff has anything to do with what needs to be done in my house how can you allow this this is ridiculous I'm hoping that my permit goes through considering that it's under $20,000 to fix my house I would love to be able to have a kitchen to cook in I have nothing except a toaster oven to cook that's it or a microwave that's what I've been living on my electric Works my AC works all I need is my drywall and my kitchen cabinets that's it so I need somebody to try and figure out what all that gibber draft was that was in this correction permit thank you thank you I got that a couple of weeks ago I followed somebody out Gary burkowitz um good evening uh Gary burwitz uh District 4 um I I practiced law for at least 30 years and I I spent a lot of time digging into the minutia various uh statutes and and regulations and I've spent the last couple of days uh looking at FEMA requirements uh for the um the substantial damage letters uh I do not recommend anybody plow through uh section 44 of the code of federal regulations but I I have done that and I've also spent uh several hours this afternoon just rereading uh FEMA's uh FEMA's uh published guidelines of which there are hundreds of pages and I I don't know where uh I don't know where the the city attorneys are with this but I I couldn't find uh any Authority whatsoever to switch from option one the substantial damage letter to the second option nor could I find any Authority whatsoever uh to do both and I kind of s and I'm kind of surprised that the city would have stopped sending out the substantial damage letters um as as a side point every everything that the city has done so far that uh has attracted a great deal of complaint uh seems to be exactly what FEMA requires the uh the uh the drive by uh by the by uh by the city the the engagement of Tidal Basin uh the methods that have been used uh they're supposed to be quick and dirty because the the object of getting the substantial damage Letters Out is to get them out quickly and the intention of FEMA has been that if a property appears to be less than 40% damaged uh on the quick driveby and application of the the factors that go into uh that go into uh whether or not a property is sub uh substantively damaged which is uh uh based on elevation uh whether or not there appear to be 3 ft of water and other things uh all of those all of those things are intended to be done quick and dirty and if it there is apparently less than 40% damage uh that should be the end of it the letter should go out if there is more than 60% damage the intent is uh the that the person found to have that has a problem between 40 and 60% FEMA requirements are that those properties because they're within 10% either way get a more uh extensive look um as far as the comments go that everybody here just seems to need drywall all I can say is uh they don't live where we live in District 4 where uh there are plenty of homes that have had their uh their sides just blown through or where water was uh uh water was up to the you know five or six foot level uh I'm I'm glad that everybody has so little damage but I I I don't think it comports with uh the reality at least in District 4 um based I I just can't find any basis for uh having started with sub uh the substantive damage letters to dis continue them uh the last thing I'd like to say is uh is that uh based on the other public comment uh people don't really seem to have a concept of what it means to stand up to FEMA because they've heard that uh Fort Meyers Beach is on probation and they're so they're uh their flood insurance uh premiums are going up 25% well that's what happen Happ s if you're on probation um if a city doesn't come into compliance with FEMA requirements within 6 months uh the flood insurance premiums triple uh for us that would be going from 4,500 to 13,500 we don't need that and I don't want to see the city deliberately go out of compliance uh the second aspect of it is the next time there is if you're deemed totally out of compliance uh the next time there is a natural disaster and there will be a next time FEMA will do nothing uh so as nearly as I can tell they've they have to have spent at least $10 million here cleaning up the beach cleaning up the street take getting rid of the debris uh giving uh paying checks to renters uh I can't I just cannot see the the sanity of even thinking of going out of compliance with the requirements and as nearly as I can see once you start with option one which you've done you have to stay with it that's just my legal opinion not necessarily the city's but that's the way we have to go thank you thank you Gary Chris plat evening thank you I'm here on behalf of my mother-in-law Suzanne fiser from is of Palms um I met with uh vice mayor commissioner Ardon dicki on December 26 regarding a substantial damage letter for her house her house is substantially damaged there's no doubt about it she got flooded with Helen then she got the roof torn off for Milton and slammed back down so there's severe structural damage on her house um I called the city on December 16th and inquired about the substantial damage letter because the website still reflected that only one house on 7th Street East in is of Palms was inspected um I was told no all the houses were inspected that her letter was done it was mailed out a week prior however she's not there at the house she's at our house um in seminal but um it's mailed certified mail nobody's did to receive it so the the gentleman that I spoke to told me to come down to City Hall collect the letter I brought her down she can't see she's 85 years old on oxygen so I brought her here we met with again vice mayor um dicki and um nobody could find the letter the gentleman I actually brought uh uh called I showed uh vice mayor dicki the the number that the guy called from so I called him and I asked him if he was actually at City Hall and he said he was on the fifth floor um so Vice May dicki asked him where the letter is and he he said he misspoke that she's not he's not sure if her house was inspected or not um but no idea where the letter is she she needs the letter because the insurance company who is almost $100,000 more than the 50% rule for her um said for them to do an amendment on more money for her for the flood insurance they need the substantial damage letter so we need to provide that to them but I called again on uh Friday no I'm sorry last Thursday and and still have not got any call back to inquire about where the letter is how do I get it for her that's it thank you Michelle wolf good evening Commissioners thank you for the opportunity to um speak with you tonight um um we have properties on Sunset Beach and you know I've been following the meetings it seems like there are a lot of people who are in different circumstances than we are in Sunset Beach and I just wanted to take the opportunity to make sure that that voice is heard um a number of us have properties that honestly had a lot of damage we don't know if it's substantially damaged um we're waiting for these letters because right now I don't know what to put a permit in for am I putting a permit into to repair am I you know going to have to wait in line you know first of all find a contractor who's going to help me go through the application process wait for the city to do its assessment and then find out we're substantially damaged and we need to to knock it down and rebuild so you know I really appreciate um the comments that I've heard earlier this evening for those of us who need them we're in different circumstances I think you know it's not a one-size fits-all situation ation and we really need these letters in order to be able to move forward both in terms of Contracting and in terms of our insurance as the prior speaker said so we ask you know I um really sincerely ask that you don't hold up these letters for people who who need them because we're in a different situation it sounds like than than a lot of the uh the rest of the city so thank you very much appreciate your time thank you Larry L Larry L former mayor of this wonderful Island I have have attended almost everyone of the post hurricane meetings of this Commission and it troubles me because I've wanted to speak but I haven't but I think it's time for you all to understand what has transpired and that is that I'm sorry I've got a hole in my throat I I heard uh Deb Toth talk about medical processes and I think to myself if I were a general practitioner doctor and somebody came into my office and I diagnosed the fact that they needed some Heart Care I would not attempt to do that I would refer that person out to a competent art specialist in the situation we have here I've tried to be objective I think that everyone of the people on this commission and people that have been advising the commission have tried to do their best and I don't think anybody's been malicious but I think the problem is that none of the people in our Administration were hired or elected into that position because they'd had experience and catastrophic events so I got a phone call two weeks after the hurricanes and a former inspector of this city called me said how are things going in Treasure Island I said not very good he said that he is now at Longboat ke an inspector there and that they had hired a company by the name of Forerunner who had taken charge of the administrations of more than 70 communities and manag the existing personnel with their back ground experience in the Specialties of special event or catastrophe events so I sent information to the company I sent me back the information and I forwarded that information to the city mayor John doctor I sent it to um ardan dicki and Bob Manning I gave a copy or sent a copy excuse me to our City attorney I've tried my best to Enlighten to the extent that I have knowledge Bob Manning indicated to me at the time that I spoke with him that uh uh they had hired someone to come in and manage the issuance of perits but that's not the point the point is this whole catastrophe is a different beast and it's different than any of us have had the experience of unless you were here a hundred years ago so the only mistake I see out of this whole thing we we're 90 some days into this and we all need some guidance not one of you could tell me what you had experienced in this whole matter that would be consistent everybody's information is different so how do we act well of course I have an opinion not necessarily born out that if there is information determining the value of the the damage to your property that should be revealed to every one of us so we can make an informed decision I think withholding that information is damaging all of us and there there's lots of us sitting out there waiting for some determination as to whether we're going to have to tear it down or can rebuild anyway my whole goal in this evening is I want to be helpful I've lived in this community over 20 years and I've given my life to community and I don't want to criticize anybody I just want us to step forward spend the money that it takes to get somebody in here that absolutely has had 70 plus experiences of this nature I don't care what it cost because if you added up all the cost that you you people have CED it'd be far more than the money that you spend for an advisor thank you very much Chris Downey evening Commissioners and mayor and staff uh um Chris Downing isop Pals also member of the zoning board on LPA um at last week's Thursday special meeting you know I spoke to all of you um about some of the confusion and what I thought was going to be some some problems that were going to occur which by all of the discussion tonight are are certainly occurring with folks that are getting permits approved but then also getting an sdl letter and you know I as a result of the meeting on Thursday I I I thought well I'll I'll try to help bring some solution we I think it was good that yall tabled it because if you had voted directly to go ahead and send them all out I think that would have you know caused more problems than it was worth so I'm I'm happy that you tabled it so I the next day I wrote a letter um and looked at about six points I thought that could help in this overall process to make things maybe go a little smoother I sent a copy of that letter um as an open letter to all the Commissioners and to the mayor and I texted each of you to know so that you'd know that it was coming um I did hear from uh mayor doctor uh that he received it and he actually forwarded the letter or asked me to forward the letter uh to manager Anderson so I did so um I did not hear anything back from manager Anderson yet um it's been several days since that letter was sent over you know by email as you requested me to do mayor um so for the record I'd like to I'm not going to read the whole letter but I'm going to paraphrase just so that the six points of that letter come out um for the record this evening uh so the first one is in regard to the STL letters themselves um and whether or not we should send them all out or to to every one or not and my my recommendation at that point was that there's a lot of folks that want these sdl letters whether we went with option two or option one not going to all of that argument that go ahead and send letters to those that are only requesting them and only if the the letter is actually indicating that the building is substantially damaged that's exactly what madira beach is doing their only ISS ising letters to structures that have been deemed substantially damaged and in all of this I would also caution that we're going to have to do more due diligence the staff is going to have to do more due diligence in the data themselves so that it isn't just a bunch of trash which is obviously not happening in all of them but there's SE several serious examples that have come out this evening where these substantial damage letters are completely wrong so that's the first one um I'll try to go through these quickly I think you know do not issue sdl letters to anyone that has a permit under application at this point and being reviewed it makes no sense to do that that is option two they're going to get a substantial damage determination that's done by that permit that should be the end of it and that should stand as the rule in that and not have an sdl letter go out after that my own daughter in pelis County got one like that and they're going to have to get that corrected cuz she had you know was her permit was fine and not substantially damaged but then she gets one after the fact you're going to have 500 of those in this case causing more work so number three um I think is to implement a process which has been mentioned several times that designates permits just for repair so that they are flood storm repair only permits under the building permit Rule and then limit the number of forms that you have to fill out for those damage permits that can be done madira Beach is also doing that if you look at their website they list a separate place where it's just a few forms that you fill out for those damaged permit for damaged repair or repair permits the fourth item is to implement a triage which has also been you know recommended and doing something at less than 30% of structure that that those would go faster the next two points are related to all of this but I think we as a commission you should recommend we temporarily extend the allowable hours for construction for repairs from 7:00 A.M to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday so that the repairs once they do have a permit and they get started can be done quickly Longboat Key has implemented that measured through November 30th 2025 and my last one is to temporarily and it's been mentioned already temporarily wave all permit fees for flood storm repair permits repair permits only um that's a burden to all of the homeowners and businesses that are having to do it my own permit costs me nearly $700 which the city is getting money from FEMA to do this work that is being implemented by penis County the City of St Petersburg lombo key and I suspect if we researched it many other counties and cities up along the coast to wave these permit fees so those are recommendations I encourage you to do whatever you have to do to pass motions in order to get that policy into the staff hands so they can move this forward forward thank you thank you and that will close our public comment do we have any discussion amongst the Commissioners sure I'll start I'll start out uh there were a number of people inis including Chris D that sent us some very good suggestions on how we could maybe improve the process or how we might want to handle these substantial damage letters and I'm glad that we have 100% And I say 100% support from from everybody on if somebody wants a substantial damage letter that we should give it to him I don't think I've heard anybody object to that the only objection I have to that is that it's a very inefficient process uh today a uh resident came in and she had called uh 20 times uh to talk with the flood plane manager she she comes in every uh Tuesday and Thursday to get her uh to to get her substantial damage letter and we we still didn't have it uh we we're setting on almost 500 of them but anyway so she is requesting it but she's not getting it because we're still sitting on it it is ready to go she's she's doing everything she can and this is not the original ones that went out this are the ones that the extra 500 or so that uh have not been released that but we have them and they're they're ready to go out so she was uh you know she was pretty upset but but uh I got I got uh uh uh Chuck Anderson to help us with that and we were able to get her her substantial damage letter eventually but my point is it took a lot of energy on her part on staff's part and in the uh little conference room uh I was with this lady so was Chuck Anderson so was the flood plane manager so was the building official and so was I think there was a fourth person and there all trying to help this one person so my argument with doing it upon request only is extremely inefficient and I know this was an extreme example I used but if we just do it let's just say somebody has to send an email say please send me which by the way we've gotten a lot of those since last Thursday people have sent us emails please send me my uh substantial damage letter if we have to handle those one at a time it's going to take up a lot of resources a lot of hours to handle those one at a time uh I've heard it said I've heard other people say that I'm pretty passionate about this subject and I am I am because my constituents are very passionate about it uh this lady was very upset I have a lady that lives four houses down from me that every time I see her she does not understand why she can't get her substantial damage letter so we need to we need to get these 500 at least that are ready to go I think we need to to to get those out uh having said that I do recommend that we add some a disclaimer on that because clearly there there's been some examples of where the calculations have been Incorrect and uh I just wrote up a a little and I think uh Tammy Basquez at the meeting on Thursday recommended that we put something on there to to help people uh uh you know not overreact to that so I wrote something here we can don't necessarily have to do this exactly but something like this important note a private property appraisal of the value restructure and repair cost estimates from license contractors may be more accurate than the estimates used in calculating this substantial damage determination for your property and will supersede the estimates in this determination if you choose to appeal this letter so I think it's making right put that right up front don't bury it on the back put it up front so that some if somebody does get a substantial damage letter and gets upset they know that there's a way to to appeal it and and and uh and not uh you know feel lost or feel like anybody's trying to run them out of their home uh in addition to that uh I have to tell you I've talked with a lot of residents down there in the last several weeks about subst their substantial damage letters and not one resident that I've talked to in District 4 has told me please don't send my be a substantial damage letter every single one of them says they want their substantial damage letter so again if you see me passionate about it is because I'm getting a lot of passion and a lot of emotion from the residents of Sunset Beach and the rest of District 4 that want these substantial damage letter letters uh finally I do have a couple of other things I know I might have another opportunity to throw these in but since I have the the uh stage right now I think some of the suggestions again that are very uh right to the point Larry lenn's comments about we us needing to hire someone to help manage this process after coming in here for eight weeks and seeing uh seeing how difficult it is how complicated it is to fill out these forms I think we need there's got to be a better way why why somebody has to say how many sheets of drywall and how many gallons of paint uh and how many nails they're going to need to put their drywall up and where they're going to they have to draw a diagram and put them on that I think it's I think it's excessive and I think if we can get somebody in here that knows more about uh how to how to how to make that more efficient we can get more than 88 uh permits out a week because at 88 a week it's going to take us it's going to take us about 11 weeks to get caught up to where we are right now so that's another three months on top of the three months that people have already been waiting so we need especially given that we're losing the the uh director in that uh area we need to get some serious attention at a high level that can make decisions about how we manage the process of getting permits out uh and then finally U mayor if I may be allowed you said something at the beginning of this discussion which surprised me you said you thought we weren't going to be voting on or we weren't going to be voting on this I think we when we left uh this discussion last week uh there was a motion and a second to uh to recommend that the uh City continue to send out the substantial damage letters as they became available okay um I would presume that uh that we'll uh we'll take a vote do we have them uh just com come on ler we appreciate the wisdom of a former mayor well um my thinking is that why does the city have to generate a letter why can't we send out the spreadsheets that we got uh for everyone publish them put them online and let everybody look at the data that was submitted because the conversion of that data into a letter is time consuming and who cares I don't care if my neighbor knows whether I've had substantial damage or not and it would it would take five minutes to put all these spreadsheets on the internet and be done with it thank you thank you lar yeah I'm I'm I think that the uh the reason that we weren't going to take a vote is because FEMA's visit coming up this week and uh I I guess that uh with that being said I I I retract what I said because I I think that it is relevant that uh that we hear from what they're saying on what we're doing before we continue to send stuff out I like the idea of you know Chris has had some great ideas and that's why I wanted it forwarded over to to the city manager and I think Larry um I think he's on on to something that uh it's going to make it easier and not more difficult I don't know how soon we could get that done um or not but uh you know if Mader Beach is doing it I'm sure that it can move pretty quickly so um at this point I I still I think that I I would like to to hold off until we hear from from FEMA and especially if we're going to get a one-on-one with each one of us on Friday um that we'll we'll be able to absorb and basically take a direction that that says yeah we're we're still on track or otherwise we're not on track I have a question comment please um we at one point we had a request form for substantial letter request we actually had a form and stuff and at one point um I'm still trying to get back with somebody on Palms because they're in Virginia they can't come in here to show ID to go so I even proposed having a whole form letter changed but for those people that are here and especially like the gentleman back there whose mother's house has the roof and everything gone I would like to talk to you afterwards please um that that we need if they fill out that that request form I don't know why we cannot let them have those if they are ready and stuff I mean and just turn those out without having to have a big fidue of doing any permit process or anything if they come in and do that request form I really do think they should be able to have that period for substantial damage for what's a lot of the people in Sunset have said and what this gentleman has said about his mother's home because I just I want to help the people and by us not doing that we're holding some of them back well I think that we do have agreement up here that everybody that's requesting it should have access to it I I I don't think anybody is arguing that at all uh it's more about you know the the hundreds that are going to be out there that are going to cause confusion to uh to everyone but can we not make that too separate things that's we we should just have this one we had two questions that staff asked us and the one was for the people that request and then there was one what do they do about the other ones that are ready I would say hold on the ones that are ready but anybody that's requested it we actually direct staff or or make a policy that if they request it they can have it and not have to go through a permit process or anything else can we do that by a link online too on our website and then if they really need to sign something they can doc you sign it they're asking for I you know this uh this this is where the Sunshine Law gets very cumbersome that uh that we're not I'm sorry please sit thank you no no we we uh that's okay but right now this is commission time um so yeah we don't have any any disagreement it's how do we get that done can we get that done in a couple of days and is it can we work maybe that direction and but still wait until we hear from FEMA that we're really if we're on target or not I think that's the the bigger issue since once again it's it's a couple three days exactly so if we have it in place and and I'll be happy to make a motion that we set up a process for providing the substantial damage letters as they're requested and start after the direction from we get on Friday then we should be at least with a running start to get these letters out yeah I I think that if your motion is just what you said and that's to to basically that's it you know put it out there so that the people requesting it uh that we get that set up so that that can be um I I don't know that that would be any any problem uh even with whatever FEMA has to say with us it's it's okay and why are we um actually wanting a physical ID what is the purpose of the physical ID that I don't get proving that that's the person requesting that information I thought it was something that had to do with their privacy or but it's public record on a on the uh text no but the substantial damage it is isn't on there isn't on the public site oh I'm sorry my bad on that cuz I am a little vague on that with the ID presented but that's my motion yeah I I would ask that chuck could you possibly get a hold of Robin Gomez Who's your uh equivalent over in madira beach and uh see if they've been because we're hearing that they've they're publishing it out online and uh I'm sure that they've probably take taking a look to see is there any issue with doing that um and so just so that we can find out if there is that possibility mayor when you say putting that out online you mean the individual letters um I don't know is it the individuals address that has issued substantial to haven't done all of them those that so yeah if we could sh take a look and talk with uh Robin that would be a a great place to move forward fair enough okay I think uh was was there a motion there commissioner to it was a motion to can you restate that please um to um my motion was to start the process of getting the substantial damage Letters Out upon request upon request I second okay we have a motion in a second yes shouldn't that be that the commission directs staff yeah in the motion I mean we're not the ones that right that's okay yeah and and truly our staff is sitting on this side of the uh the DI here so um yes we can have that put in thank you just for the maker of the motion is that an acceptable change commissioner TOS okay commissioner Dicky or is that change acceptable okay thank you okay uh I guess we go to additional public comment or no we've closed that correct and it's so we don't have to go back and okay so uh let's have a roll call vote please commissioner Toth hi commissioner Kel hi commissioner Minn hi vice mayor Dicky hi mayor doctor I thank you okay so to answer the question about madira Beach um I just did a quick search on madira Beach and I don't know who this person is it lives at 100 137th Avenue Circle but their substantial damage letter is online and is in a PDF form that says what the damage is and I'll be happy to pass this down to y'all Okay I uh I believe that that is all of the business for tonight so we are adjourned good job