Good evening. Today is Tuesday, July 21st, 2026 at 6:03 p.m. We're going to call to order city council meeting. Roll call. Miss Wright. Mayor Goodman, >> I am here.
>> President Hines >> here. >> Vice President Jones >> here. >> Council member Cox >> here. >> Council member Martin >> here. >> Council member Church >> here. >> Attorney Kristen Belaloo >> here. >> Intram city manager Leticia Wright, I am
here. And all other staff here. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. We'll have an opening prayer and pledge of allegiance to the flag by Mayor Charles Goodman. Please join me if you choose. Lord, we come here tonight to do the
business of our city. And Lord, we know that you and you alone can guide us in the right direction. And we ask you for those guidances. Lord, I ask you to be with each one of these council members as they make decisions that affect the
lives of all the residents. I ask you for the audience's patients and we thank you, Lord, for their willingness to actually be here and be part of their government. Lord, we ask you now to be with us as we go forward. And I ask you
to keep a special hedge of protection around our police officers and our fire department. Lord, each day they risk their lives to serve our city. Ask all this in your name. Amen. >> Amen.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much.
>> Item number one, >> item number one, additions, deletions, changes, and approval of the agenda. Uh, Madame President, can I just add under item five, new business, can we
make a introduction presentation by Don Ramdus? >> Excuse me. Say that again. >> Under 5A, >> introduction. >> You're moving one up. Is that what you're doing? Yes.
>> No, just uh we're adding this on >> and making it 5A and we're going to move 5A down to B and so forth. >> Introduction of what? >> Don Ramdes. Anything
else? No, ma'am. >> Move approval of the agenda with those changes. >> A second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Move to vote. All those in favor say I.
>> I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes 5 to zero. Item number two, public participation. This will be the first of two opportunities to speak about anything that is not on the
agenda. You have five minutes. Please state your name and where you from. Thank you, Jacqueline. Ab um just coming back and doing a couple reviews on some events that are happening with the Thanksgiving
committee. Um I listen online and I hear great things happening. I hear some other things happening, but I look at all the positive things that continue to happen in what we say. So, I just want to say I am out there listening. I'm not physically here, but I'm back now. So, I hear great things about the park. We
have an upcoming movie night that's coming up in October. So, I'm working with Miss Vicki and Miss Latricia on that. So, I will be getting the flyer and bringing that to committee when that all put into place. Um, I'm continuing and hope to work with uh Mr. my grows on the youth, the young pioneers that I
came to a while back. I do have um I guess pictures I'm putting together for some of them. Taylor Cbrooks and Quina Mitchell were the first two that I brought to the council. They're doing great things in the community. I did put a silhou um framing together for Taylor
Cbrook. So, he continues to do great things with the rodeoing. So, I was able to put this together and hopefully we'll get some of these pictures displayed in city hall. Um again, Quan Mitchell had his camp so that's recently continuing to do great things in the community as young
pioneers and I'm continuing to look throughout Willist and our schools with our children. They will eventually be the ones to take the reigns so much as older people and they'll take it in with it. So we're hoping to get them prepared to do this for Willist. Um softball program that continues to go.
We recently had they recently had a game here at the Little League field, but we're hoping to get the fields cleared so that they're able to do it at the park. Um Germaine Pitts continue as coach there. Um planning to bring the walking program back at K William Park or wherever it's availability for us to do the walking program. Um planning on
bringing that back. Um working with Mr. Nate Jonathan and a couple of others FDOT on safety of school starting. I've been really concerned. I've come before about the speeding on 27 coming into Willist, people not recognizing that I live out near frogs and people pass me
going 60 miles per hour. So these all things I've said before, but I've also continue to work with the people that are working with me on those. So Nate again, Jonathan, FDOT on trying to get something to slow traffic down there so that there's not a bus hit in the back or and Mike knows about it as well. Uh
we don't want to have a tragedy of a school bus trying to pick up kids in that area or going across the railroad track or turning off or just turning off dead frogs getting hit in the back. Um one of the new things um we have is the
the beautifying the the I'm not sure on 27 there's an entryway past BP there's a the four fork in there. We beautifying that DOT if DOT has helped me with putting wild flowers in there. So we asking the crew that's more not to mow those up. Those really are not just weeds, they're wild
flowersowers. There's signs there. Uh we're hoping to watch that beautify there. Beautify that little section right in the 27 there BP. The newest thing I'm coming and asking permission from one of the citizens a horseshoe. There's a group of young men that play horseshoes and they're trying to find
out if there's a location that when they have events at the park that they're able to have horseshoes or be able to do horseshoes at the park. um they don't want to get in anyone's space if there's a softball game or football or anything like that. They just wanted me to find out and get guidance on where if they
were allowed to do horseshoes out there doing events. I think that's mainly it like I said my little list. I've been continuing to work with everyone. I'm glad to be back and everyone here knows I will go to the people that I need to go to to follow the rules to get things done. Kise William Park, I'm just I'm overjoyed. My
dad, I know he's smiling out on me for all the continued growth there. So I ask you to just continue doing that and I thank everyone. >> Thank you. >> Last question. Miss Apple, when >> when was u movie night? Did you say when
that was going to be? >> 31st. October 31st. >> And I will get the information and it will be here at the past two years. Toy Story. >> Come back to the mic. Miss Apple,
>> I thought I was talking loudly. I'm sorry. Yes, on the 31st. It was here the past two years at the pavilion over here. Um, it will be there again. Desmond Holmes is a movie person. We're hoping to make him the the portable theater that brings theater back to Willist. He's great. If you've never
been to a silent movie, it is something that you would definitely enjoy with the headphones. Um, I think it will be on the 31st. I'll get the flyers out. Um, I think this that's this may be it on movie night.
>> Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? All right. Thank you, Apollo. Anyone else? Seeing none, we will move forward. All right. Item number three, consent agenda, July 16, 2026, council minutes.
and July 7, 2026 council minutes. Any discussion? >> I move we approve the council minutes from July 6, sorry, June 16th and July 7th. >> Have a motion. >> Second.
>> I have a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, move to vote. All those in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed say nay. Motion passes five to zero. Item number four is going to be updates.
We will start with our city attorney. Do you have anything for us, ma'am? Miss Wright, our interim manager and city clerk. Thank you.
I have uh just a couple of updates. I did have your preliminary budgets on your desk, but I had to remove them and I will have them for you tomorrow. There are some changes that Stephen needed to
make at the last minute. So, you will have those tomorrow so everybody can review. And don't forget that the first budget workshop is Monday, July 27th at 5:30. Thank you.
>> The second update, um there was some traffic pattern changes at Northwest 6th Street and Northwest 1st Avenue. That's right behind uh the New Waw Wa. It was a two-way stop, but now it's a four-way stop. So, if you're
traveling that road, please be mindful of the changes. And the last update I have is I met with um Mike Miller, Nate Roberts, and this has been an ongoing project. I think
when Chief Rose was here, we are moving forward with the surplusing of the items at the sewer plant. Next meeting I would be bringing back a resolution for you all to approve so that way we can go ahead and start
surplusing these items and the items that are no longer needed by the city we will be disposing of those items. So hopefully uh our goal is to have it all cleaned up and ready to go well all
cleaned up by September the 1st. And those are the updates that I have. >> Thank you, ma'am. You're welcome. >> Any comments from anyone? >> Chief Rose, >> as you all are aware, um I lost a good
major and a good friend to retirement, Major Matt Forney. Uh retired, moving on to a different part of his life life, and we wish him nothing but the best. He has served the citizen the city and the citizens of Willist for over two
decades, and he did it with pride, honor, and dignity. And we're so proud that he spent so many years here at our police department. And we just want to give him a good salute off. If you watched Facebook, you seen this final final radio transmission. Not final
call, final radio transmission. And uh those are the hardest things to do uh when you're ending your career in law enforcement. It it's just tough to know that that's the last time you're going to pick up that radio and make a transmission. So, he was pretty tore up about it, but uh he held it together and
uh we're so proud of him and we're so thankful for his service. Um we have a new hire. His name is Trevor. I didn't bring him in tonight. I will bring him in in the next meeting and introduce him to you all. Uh he's a young man. How old is he? About
>> 20 29 years old. Uh we have we have done a tremendous job of getting um younger police officers here uh which speaks volumes because normally they want to go to bigger agencies but uh we are starting to attract a lot of younger
police officers here at Williston and I'm very proud of that because that gives us that longevity you know of uh building them and molding them as long we long as we can keep them you know they can stay here and uh and learn more about our city and grow here. So, I'm
super super excited about that. Last but not least, um about almost a year ago, um we put in a bid for a speed trailer that the city of Donella was getting rid of because they
closed down their police department. Of course, uh we lost that bid. Uh but I'm proud to say that we rebid it at an even lower price and we won the bid. So, So, so we're super excited to get that
tool back at the police department. We had it before they was letting us use it and uh we had great results out of it. Slow people down in areas where we were having traffic complaints. So, uh we're super excited to have that back, but now it belongs to us. So, uh other than
that, that's all I got. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chief. Chief Steagle. Well, uh, first update is I probably should have wore some sunglasses. There's a glare coming back here in my face today. I'm not sure what it's coming off of.
Anyway, >> uh today Chief Willis and I met uh with Levy County and they they were going through a a preliminary budget meeting over there and uh we we requested a $30,000 increase to our the amount we get from them and they they are I'm not
going to say it's guaranteed, but it it's pretty close to being guaranteed. We've got that worked out. So, we would receive a $30,000 increase from them. Um, another part of that is they want to go as soon as we can get through this budget process with them. They want to
go into immediate negotiations, working out a a fair and equitable way to fund all municipal fire departments. They want to come up with some funding formula. They're going to be looking at types of equipment, um, responses, uh,
personnel, how many personnel you have, how many personnel you have responding. Um, you know, things that would count toward in in that would and just giving you examples would be a crash truck or a ladder truck,
uh, a spare fire engine, a tanker, brush trucks. Those are the things they're looking to see things that you could use other, you know, in other parts of the community. Um, to give you an example, like if they had a major fire, um, our ladder truck would respond to anything
at Bronson in the jail or the courthouse or something like that. That would be something that would count in toward that formula. And so, they're going to be wanting to do that starting right out of the block. Soon as we get a a set price for this, we're going to move to the next phase even before this budget
is finalized. And um I just wanted to make sure that y'all knew about that. I'm trying to keep everybody a breast of what we're talking with over there. U and if you have any questions at any time, please feel free to to ask. >> Thank you, sir. Any questions?
Ben. >> Not a whole lot going on at the airport right now. Well, that's not true. There's always something going on. I'm just a little more humble. But um I'm going to be working with um Kirsten and the city manager um here in the next few weeks to come about um bringing four or
five items to you guys uh between land leases and a couple of other things. We've got a we've got some good momentum on some stuff. So we're going to we're going to try to capitalize on it. Just giving you a heads up. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Kim.
Nothing. Okay. All right. Any updates from the council? >> Um, I'm sorry, Madam President, before you go. Aaron, could we could we have you give an update from today, please, sir? >> Um, let's see where we at. Hello. Check.
Check. Check. One, two. Come on. It's one of these. >> Yes, they mess with it all the time. Um, we're still fighting a few glitches with the software. um more ad train updates for the routers just it's just not working like they're supposed to. But
we're muddling through it. Um currently today we're I think 104 customers on 66 uh residences, 38 commercial. We got 40 that are signed up waiting to make appointments for installation.
We're still going through the pre-registration list. We're about halfway through the pre-registration list at this point. Can you give them an update about you at the RV park? >> Uh, we met with Teresa this morning and she's going to get with her people and
going to start in small groups trying to get them signed up, you know, 15 20 at a time so we don't get inundated by 350 at once. >> I have a quick question. Thank Thank you for the Facebook post. And just to clarify, you do not want the residents
to call and sign up at this point. >> Well, not at this point because we we they're just going to have to wait in line. So, it would be a while before we get to them. >> Okay. >> Because we're trying to get through the pre-registration list first. >> So, so no, they don't even you don't even want them to sign up, give them your their email or anything like that. Just
>> Well, they can, but they might be two months out, three months out, and it's just going to make them mad because we hadn't got to them fast enough. So they just once we get through the list and we get all the kinks worked out of the software, then we'll be ready to go mainstream and yeah, then we can rock with it. But >> okay, so they should look out for like a
post at some point that says >> we're sending out emails to everybody on that list in small groups and then once we get through that list and through the pre-registrations of people that that's been waiting for a year or two years, >> then we'll obviously make Facebook posts
and website posts and it'll it'll get out pretty quick once they >> Okay. So, people who are not on the pre-registration list should just wait and we'll be a >> That's what we're asking is they just kind of wait until we get to them because we're just trying to knock out their people that's been faithful and waiting so long.
>> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for >> Kim? All right. Yeah, Miss Jones. >> Thank you. I know we've had this conversation before, but I'm going to ask it again. If people are on your list and you know they're on your list,
you're pulling them what 20 or 30 at a time, 60 at a time. >> Well, it depends. It's I think the first batch I did was 25. Um I think the next batch because we we got kind of limited response making appointments. Um the
next batch I think went out was like 30 and then I think the next was like 35 and I think the last one was actually 50. So, like I said, we're about halfway through that list at this point. >> Okay. And so, how does somebody know where they are on the list?
>> Well, they'd have to call and ask. It's we sorted the list by date. So, it just, you know, we we started, I think, in 2024. Um, so like I said, we're about halfway through that f list. I think we're about
>> somewhere around September 25, I think, is where we're at right now. And we're not doing a section at a time anymore. We th kind of threw that out the window. >> We couldn't do a section at a time because the way they did not build this appropriately, there was no way to do a section of town at a time. It just it's all
>> So that went out the window. >> Yeah. >> All right. So the people who know they're on the list, if they want to know where they are, they need to call. >> They can just call and and have Alex look it up or somebody look it up and tell them where they're at. >> So they need to call Alex. Perfect.
Thank you. Any other questions for Aaron? Any questions? Thank you, Aaron. Any um updates from the council? I'm going to Mr. Walt Nichols, if you'll come and give us an update real quick,
please. >> Thank you. Walt Nickel with Right Pierce. I just want to give you a little bit of an update what's going on on Southwest uh 1st Avenue. Um, we were asked by staff to look into a drainage problem that was there and it's just um across from the hospital diagonal from
Tractor Supply and there's a new Mexican restaurant going in there. They've been calling the city quite a bit about an inlet that's been flooding. It's been a chronic problem for a long time and so we dug into it um with help of city staff and and things like that. We did find uh the culprit was the development
of the tractor supply in that area. And so we requested a meeting with the Southwest Florida Water Management District since they approved all those plans at the time. And we took two months to get this meeting. We had the meeting uh last week uh Thursday with them. They heard our case, our point of
view where we thought the problem was and we're asking for relief to get it fixed. and they came back and they're going to be sending the meeting minutes should be any day. But in that they said there is they had to research it but there's a complaint mechanism that they
have with with the water management district that they're going to send the city the instructions and then they're going to want you to file the formal complaint and then their uh compliance and investigative teams can look into it further. We're trying to get it
rectified by the people who caused the problem and it wasn't caused by the city and we don't want the city to be expending your money to fix this problem. But that's the next step. So that you're going to be getting an email um possibly to the city manager. We can
assist in that, but I just want to let you know it's coming. Whether we need council's approval to submit that complaint, then as we do this, we should come back to you possibly at the next meeting. But I just want to inform you that that that's where that's at. And I know the the restaurant owners been
calling the city quite a bit. I've been getting calls. I think that when chief was involved, when nutrition's been involved and others um and you know, they want something done. That's what's happening right now. It's not something that can get fixed. I'll tell you in a couple months. This is going to drag out
a bit, but we're trying to get it fixed without a cost to the city. And just wanted to update you on that. So there is a process in play that we can file the the the official complaint to get it resolved. >> Thank you. Council, have any questions?
>> Two questions. Um question number one, the complaint gets filed to to Swift Mud, right? Okay. Just verifying that in my brain. >> Um the other one is the inlet is on the opposite side of the street of them or >> Yes, it's right in the apron to the the
>> across the street though, so it's not in their front parking lot. No, it's in the city right away in the driveway. >> I know, but on their side. >> Yes. >> Okay. I'm just trying to figure out where it is. >> Yes. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Walt. The only thing that I could
see with um up there was when they cleared all the trees cuz that was all wooded and um >> well for the longest time. >> What we found there's the inlet was connected to a 36-in storm sewer pipe
that ran west to east along Northwest First Avenue and then turned north on Third Street. and that was crushed and removed because they put in their own drainage system in that development, storm water ponds and piping and they
removed it. But what their plans didn't show was that inlet was connected to it and it wasn't shown in their drawings. Had they looked at the DOT drainage maps, they would have seen that that area contributed to it. They didn't show it in the drawings. They ignored it. Um
staff has verified that that pipe was crushed at that point about 70 ft over. So, it's connected and then it goes to nothing and it was damaged during that construction and they said, "No, it wasn't caused a problem. It's it caused a problem and we we would like them to
rectify it." So, so that's that is the issue. It was connected pri prior to tractor supply development and it has nowhere to go now. So, that that's the situation that we we have found. Okay.
>> Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Nichols? Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. >> All right, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you, Madam President. >> Chief Rose, >> I just want you to know that I feel
really bad for you losing your second in command, but the fire department's about to lose its first in command. And the fire chief has told me that his last
day is going to be December 31st. And I have requested him to send me his letter so that it's not questionable so that everybody understands we have to deal with the situations. I am trying to do
it without getting my fire department so angry they want to take me out and burn me at the state. But we're going to continue to move forward. Uh I I don't know everything that's going to happen
because frankly you have one of the most confusing departments that is probably known to man and I have been visiting them and trying to understand what they're doing
and then I will see what I can do to improve it or make it worse. Uh, but I'm I'm working on it and it's I've got a lot of work ahead of me, but I wanted everybody to be aware. I feel really sorry for the police
department, but my fire department is in trouble, too. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. All right, on to new new business. Um
item A, introduction of Don Ramdis. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. Wow. Since it's good to be back, um, my first introduction, first of all, my name is Don Ramdis. I'm with the company Baxter
and Woodman. I had requested just an opportunity to say hi to you folks. Um, I was involved in the city of Williston back in 1992, uh, when I first worked with the city on their airport improvements and I
continued on for 28 years till 2020 and, uh, I ran into some of the council members at the League of Cities last year and so forth and it sparked back the memories of Willis. I wanted to try to help as best as I can in continuing
all the positiveness that I see around the city and so forth. Um I had contacted uh city clerk Latricia and uh spoke that there was an interest uh from I got to keep the person's name confidential uh of a person interested
in developing a hotel uh a brandame hotel in the area. Thanks to Latricia and Laura. Appreciate it, Laura. And some of the help from this city, uh we were able to provide some information, general stats on the city in terms of
traffic cones, potential sites and so forth. That group is uh in receipt of it. Uh this group has done several hotels in tong similar in Perry um different Swany County, Live Oak area and so forth. So they're they're
reputable. Um, again, you're probably figuring out who I'm talking about, but we'll just keep it. Um, so I I just wanted to again um show uh my interest and the company's interest. You have a great consultant in Wright Pierce. Uh we
are also a civil engineering firm, Baxter Woodman. Uh we were started back in 1946. Uh we're 80 years old. Uh we have se five offic uh sorry, six offices in Florida, in the northeast. We're in Jacksonville, Fernadina Beach, Green
Cove Spring, St. Augustine, Orlando, and West Palm Beach. Um, we work with municipalities similar to yours in terms of grants, uh, utility, storm water, and sewer. Uh, predominantly our office in
the St. Augustine, Green Coast Springs is does a lot of land development work, and we get the exposure to uh, groups and so forth. I was also talking to Benton about a potential lead for the airport uh to develop a campus on the
airport not a educational campus but more of an aeronautical campus on the airport. So uh we're trying to bring that experience in and help you. Again, I'm doing we're doing it not for compensation purposes, but to help the
city grow. Hopefully, uh later on as the city grows and may be looking for additional consulting services, we obviously would be interested in being an additional consultant to the city. But I wanted the opportunity to say hi again and say hi to everyone and the
future is bright out there and congrats on all the positiveness of which the city is going. Um, are there any questions? Pretty much I can't answer any questions in terms of the confidentiality of the hotel developer, but the plan is once they make their
decision, they will request a formal presentation. >> What was the dates? When did you last work for the city? >> Uh, as a consultant was back just for co 2020 was the last I was 2020. >> I was with Paso Associates.
>> You're a current airport consultant. Thank you so much for your time. >> Yes sir. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for coming. Item B, discussion with possible action, presentation of certificate from Florida Rural Water Association, completion of wastewater system operation apprentice
to Joshua Forom, and certificate of appreciation to Jim Jim Mutz, Katherine Vanzance, PR with Florida Rural Water Association. >> Thank you. I'm Katherine Vanzant with Florida Rural Water Association. We um
are a nonprofit association and we help uh utilities, municipalities with everything that has to do with your utility operations, water and wastewater operations. So we have um what we call circuit writers, field people that come
around to your plants free of charge, offer they're very uh have decades of experience, so they offer help with anything that you're having there. We have uh we help with finding funding sources for utilities free of charge and
um an a whole array. We are the leaders when you have hurricane coming through in providing um hurricane restoration to get water service back on and we have warehouses full of equipment to come and bring in to you for um emergency
response. So, we're just a nonprofit that um helps with your utilities in any way you can need it. One of the things we do is we also offer training and we have a registered apprenticeship program. It's registered with the uh US
Department of Labor and the and the Florida Department of Education um with all the qualifications of all that all apprenticeships have just like you think of as electrical apprentices. So when someone um goes through this
apprenticeship program, it's the only one in Florida for treatment plant operators. They come out um as a recognized nationally recognized journeyman um for that has completed a full
apprenticeship program and um one of your staff has done that. Now you have uh two other staff, Jason Fox is here that are going through the program also right now. Um Joshua did an exemplary job throughout the
apprenticeship. It's a two-year program. He even was um deployed while he was doing the apprenticeship. So, he lost that time, came back and made up that time and still um actually even surprised me cuz I was prepared to give him extra time to help him and I didn't
end up needing to. Uh in the process, he became your um a licensed operator for you. So, he would he provided you with a person on staff now that's a licensed operator which you didn't have before.
And so this is opportunity to congratulate Joshua and present him with a certificate from the Florida Department of Education which is also does this on behalf of the US Department of Lawyer of of Labor
certifying that he has completed the apprenticeship uh as a wastewater systems operator under Florida Rural Water Association. together with that for him to get through the apprenticeship it's required
that he has a mentor and Jim Mutz provided mentorship while Joshua's going through it um for technical information needed um out at the plant and we have a certificate of
appreciation here for Jim also it says um this certificate expresses sincere appreciation to Jim Mutz for serving as a mentor for the Florida Rural Water Association apprenticeship program, improving operational knowledge of wastewater utilities by providing
thoughtful supervision and coaching to future leaders in the wastewater utilities field. And through that, you now have on staff a future leader, a current leader in the wastewater utilities field. So this is my we're
bringing this APPRECIATION AND I just want to say that Jim Mutz has been with us for a long, long time. CONGRATULATIONS. >> CONGRATULATIONS, JOSH. >> All right. discussion with possible action directive and priorities for
Terry Boulevard while acting as part-time interim city manager. Council member Merith Mark, >> um I'll keep this very short and sweet. Um, I just thought that since we Terry's here for a limited, uh, amount of time presumably, obviously, um, we might have
a hard time finding a city manager, but if there and and we don't have to discuss this tonight, but obviously this is the only place that I can converse with you guys about this. if we thought that it would be advantageous for us to come up with maybe some things that we
feel would be a priority for him to address in the window of time. Not that he obviously could not sort it out on his own, but if there were things that we felt as a council we were unified in having him focus on um during the time that he is here. So, I didn't know if we
wanted to kind of revisit this in a couple weeks after everybody's had a chance to think on it and see if we want to give him any directives or priorities or or not. >> I'll cut mine short as well. I promise. I think that's a great idea. And it's
not in the sense of micromanaging. It's more in the sense of our specific situation and our specific moment and the looking at, you know, part-time and for possibly a short time. I think it's a good idea to at least give um a direction of what we're hoping for. So,
I think I think this is is a really good idea and I look forward to it. >> Miss Jones, >> I think not so much a directive but a priority. >> Yeah. >> I that if the directive I don't think we need to be giving him directives. I know he does report to us, uh, but he's a
city manager. He's supposed to be telling us what we need to be doing. Um, unless it's policy, which we give to him, of course, but I believe that the directive is not a problem at all to give him our
priorities. I think the directives he we don't need to be telling him what to do. But for priorities, we definitely and we probably all have different priorities, but we put them all together. It's probably not that much different, >> right? That's that was my sense. >> And if we all came up with three or four,
>> right? >> Um and gave those to Miss Latricia at the next meeting. Maybe she could bring that list to us. >> Yeah, >> Mr. Cox. I agree. I think one of the the big
priorities will be to to rebuild staff leaders. So >> yeah, >> but he >> he knows that. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I think to ju just just so you guys know, one of the reasons that I felt like this was good to have I mean
obviously we will each meet with you know assuming Terry signs the contract and becomes our interim city manager we will eat each meet with him and express this but I think also for the residents for them to see what we are looking for
so they don't necessarily feel like this is sort of no man's land happening and for the next four months We we know that that we were yeah that that we will be in good hands. But I think to make it just a little bit more public, a little bit more transparent about what we are
hoping to accomplish in the next four months prior to hiring a long-term city manager. So, are you wanting to have a meeting, a separate meeting from >> No, I was just thinking we could at a future meeting have this on the agenda again with time for us to sort of
prepare our thoughts. And obviously, Terry has not signed the contract yet. So, we can't really, you know, be throwing stuff at him today, but maybe at the next meeting, we could have uh this on the agenda and we could con, you know, converse about it as a council.
>> Okay. So the consensus would be um M >> um also too is ask him what after a couple weeks what he thinks his priorities >> might be totally different than ours and some we might not have thought about. >> Very true. >> Thank you ma'am. >> You're welcome.
>> All right. So, would our consensus be that we are going to send some information to Miss Latricia over the next few days and have her put something together and send it out to everybody that we can view and think about and then discuss at the next
meeting when she puts it on the agenda? >> Yeah. >> Is that good? >> Does everybody agree? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Our next item, which will be item number D, discussion with possible action. The Florida Department of
Emergency Management is accepting notice of interest forms, grant applications for both flood mitigation assistance, FMA, and building resilience and infrastructure communities, BRIC, brick programs. Walt Nichols, Right Pierce.
>> Thank you. Yes, Walt Nickel with Right Pierce. Um about two years ago we applied for grants through this uh very program. Um the city advanced forward a little bit on that. It looked like you were um going to be eligible for at
least one of the grants. Then the program was cancelled. Um and it is back up again. Um they had some caveats earlier, but now it's open again for submissions. And so we got the notice and we just want to present to you two years ago we applied for two projects
under the brick um BRIC program. We applied for Northwest uh 7th Street across from uh uh Country Estates and in that and we presented to you we had two two solutions. One is more of a regional
larger uh larger fix for that entire area. Um it would involve some substantial storm water piping um that would take runoff basically from Noble Road, convey it down into the uh Corey retention area that's to the west. Um
and that was the the big grant ask and that's that was in approximately about you know a million dollars um for design and construction to do all that work. Um and then we had in the meantime we had a what we called the interim fix which is
a smaller um uh design in case you didn't get that grant to get some immediate relief in that area. The city uh hired us to do that. Um we are about 80 90% done with that when we heard this program was coming back to life. um back
I remember chief if you remember you you were interum manager we put that on hold because if this grant program were would become open again and you were successful it would really undo everything that we're doing in that interim so let's not spend money on that this program is open again let's submit
and so we'd like to resubmit the Northwest 7th Street grant application again we'll do some updates and things like that um but we were in pretty favorable position the last time before it got cancelled so I think we got a very good chance of doing that again. So, we'd like to do that. The deadline
is September 1st, so we have some time, but uh we definitely like your your uh approval and direction to do that. Um the second pro uh under the same program, but this one's the flood mitigation assistance. We did apply for Northwest's fifth place to do um some
fixes and a grant there. That one back then two years ago was a long shot and the conditions haven't changed. It's still a long shot. it's really benefiting one resident and asking an about an $800,000 grant application. We
can apply to that again. Um I think I'd like some direction from the city attorney before we would actually submit that just due to the current ongoing situation over there. Um whether it's prudent or not, it is a long shot, but there is an opportunity. Um we've got
the paperwork. We can update it and resubmit it, things like that. But we'd like your direction for this program if uh to resubmit these two applications at this time. >> Any questions from the council?
>> So, you just need consensus from us tonight? >> Yeah, it's not you're not signing any contract, but we'd like to let you know when there's grant applications. I mean, I think sometimes you do a vote, but or you give direction, but you're not committing anything by submitting to these. There's no and again these when
we do grant applications that involve just the design and these are primarily design we don't charge you for them we you know we do them you know we we get our benefit when the when the work comes in you get the grant and we do the engineering when they're construction
asks like we've asked for $20 million grant applications for construction those take a little bit more and you usually pay us then under our miscellaneous services but these are going to be under our marketing charge Um, we've already done a lot of the work two years ago, but we just want to let you know that you're applying, so you
you're not in the dark on these things. So, >> perfect. Sounds great. >> Questions? >> You have been voting on these? >> Oh, we have. >> Mhm. >> Okay. >> So, there's nothing we need to do. We just
>> They want So, you want us to vote that we apply? >> Yes. That That's how we've been doing it recently. I think that there was >> Okay. >> Several that have gone that way. So, it's the Florida Department of Emergency Management,
>> uh, flood mitigation assistance and building resilience infrastructure through the break program. >> Yes, sir. >> I would so move that we move forward to submit an application for those two projects. >> I'll second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any
discussion from the public? Any discussion from the council? Seeing none, I move to vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those post say nay. >> Motion passes 5 to zero. >> Thank you. >> All right,
Mr. So resolution 2026-44 resolution of the city council of the city of Willist approving amendment number one for the Canadian Williams Park Design Service from Wright Pierce authorizing appropriate parties to execute such amendment on behalf of the city of Willist and providing an
effective date. Walt Nichols right here. >> Thank you. Walt Nickel with Right Pierce. Um we're asking for an amendment to our services for the work that we um have been doing uh at Cornelius Williams Park for the design. Uh this contract,
our agreement is over three years old. We did a master plan for it. Um kind of a quick master plan for that. Um that was approved and then we did design permitting through DOT permitting for the uh water management district. Um
went through all the design's been done for a year and a half. Um it got put on hold longer than that almost two years for the resoning with the county and it's been sitting there. We've been doing you know quarterly reports still doing meetings along the way trying to
assist where we could with the resoning. The site was finally reszoned in June of this year um through the county and now we can update the plans again. But in the meantime, our DOT permit is expired. The plans need to be reshuffled and
different phases done to meet the budget and we did all that and we're putting in fact it's out for bid right now for the first we're doing part C doing these out of order to match your budget. But we have, you know, you know, with a two-year delay and permits expiring,
they all need to be redone, putting this back out for bid again. So, we had some additional services that were asking for uh for compensation for. Um we are we'll say we're doing we're doing the bidding now. The project was put out for bid. Today's Tuesday, yesterday. And so we'll
be opening bids in August and getting um construction of the first phase must be complete by December 31st. We've got a very tight construction schedule right now. So we are expediting everything on this process right now and moving
forward with it because we don't want you to lose the the grant that you have. Um, and so anyway, but we did with a with a two-year delay, we had and expired permits, we had, you know, we're asking for additional compensation to cover that.
Any questions from Oh, I was just going to say we can't quit now. We're almost there. >> Anyone else? >> I'm just curious of the process. Um, is there normally like an itemized something that's submitted to us to review before or do we look at that
afterwards just as a general question when these things happen? >> Miss Jones, go ahead. >> As payment is requested, they give us a list of the things that have been done >> and then we would review that now as we're voting or >> we would we would review it as they present it to us.
>> Okay. >> Um, and and that's why it says up to >> Okay. because it may or may not get to the >> Yeah, we we on this one it's hourly rate. Some some are called lump sum where we bill you a percentage as we're okay. We're 30% down, we send you 30%
bill, 50%, 60%. These we bill you our actual time, >> right? It applies as it goes. >> Yeah. And then we invoice the city on a monthly basis and and it gets paid. Those invoices don't ever come back to council once you authorize this. That's done by your by staff.
>> Okay. Thank you. So my question is this would all happen inside of this fiscal year, correct? >> Or are we splitting this amount over >> again into the No, it's really going beyond because it's December 31st, >> right? >> Yeah. Yeah. So
>> So we would need to find some portion of it inside of our current budget and some portion of it going forward. >> I don't Yeah, I don't want to speak for you, Laura. >> Good point. Good evening, council. We're hoping that all or most of this is going to be refunded by the grant. We just
don't have those numbers for you today. Um, Right. Pierce asked this to be on agenda a couple weeks ago. It didn't get on. So, they they are kind of not getting paid right now to work on Cornelius Williams and they're working really hard. But I can get some numbers to Stephen for what we've already paid
out and what we still have available in the budget. But we're also working with the DOS, the Department of State to tweak the budget because there's no way this project's going to go for half a million dollars. We know that we can't do this project for a half a million dollars. So, we're going to do sections
of it. And by doing that, we can tweak the budget a little bit and we can maybe get some more engineering fees in there since they had to do multiple permitting. >> Thank you. >> So, most or all of this is going to be refunded. Um, I just can't tell you the exact number. And
I hate I hate that he's up here without an exact number, but I wasn't prepared. >> And we we don't know the exact number till we get the first bid, the bids in. So, it's out for bid right now. Uh, I believe it's August 11th is the bid
opening. And so, then we're going to have our hard number for that. And uh we've reached out to several contractors, got three people that are very interested in it. Um and they've already gotten the plans and it was just advertised yesterday. So if we get we get a couple bids and we always let
anybody we know beyond it's on central bidding right now, but we also call contractors, send them the invitation to bid. Hey, this is out there. The more biders we get, the better price you're going to get. Um but we have three firms right now that that are interested. They do say they want to submit a bid. So,
um, that is going on. So, yeah, you'll know your full budget and how it aligns with the grant once we get the bid in. But we're we're going full speed ahead. Yes, we're in it. We can't turn back now. We're not going to turn back and not and let you lose this grant. We're doing we're doing the work right now.
And a good bit of it is has been done the past two weeks. We've been really working hard to get this thing out on the street for bid. U, we want to make sure you don't lose that grant. So, yeah. >> Any other questions? Can I get a motion? >> I move we approve resolution 2026-44
resolution. That's all I need to say. Right. >> Have a motion. >> Motion. >> Have a second. Um any further discussion from the council? Any discussion from the public? Seeing none, I move a vote. All this all those
in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. >> Motion passes 5 to zero. All right. Item F, discussion with possible action. City manager agreement for Terry Bvard, Cedar attorney and Kristen Belaloo.
So this is the agreement that we discussed I will say at length last meeting last couple of meetings. Um, I made the amendments that you all requested uh to the agreement and sort of clarified language in the event that
there were discrepancies between paragraph A and paragraph B. I I made sure that those were resolved. I'm happy to answer any questions you all have. But hopefully this is familiar at least in in generalities to everyone. >> Any questions from the council?
>> Nope. And Bart, you have anything to say? >> Um, no, ma'am. I'm I'm good. Uh, I look forward to coming back and serving. If it's the pleasure of the council tonight to bring me back, um, I'll be starting tomorrow morning.
>> Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Bvard from the council? >> Welcome. >> Yes, ma'am. >> I think that's the only thing we need is a start date. >> We just heard it. >> I mean, he says he's going to start where I need a start date. That's the
only blank in the place, right? >> Miss Latricia, >> tomorrow, >> I'd be more than happy to put tomorrow's date as the start date. >> Can we make a bump for tonight? U I'll I'll be here and observe. That way I'll
stay off the uh payroll for tonight. And uh so since u I've been um maxed to the maximum number of hours, I want to make sure that the city gets uh every bit that they deserve. time >> and and I will tell you this. Um I don't
plan on going to any conferences. Um you I'm going to devote my time for the city. Okay. And I know you're talking about limitations and focus on stuff like that. So my focus, I can assure you, is not going to be um going to a conference to make me a much better city
manager. So just know that I'll I'll be devoted here in the city full time. >> Thank you, sir. just being on my part. >> Miss Jones, >> I just want to thank Kirsten for getting this on our agenda. That was like a miracle and it's perfect. >> You are welcome.
>> Everything that we said. >> You said you would do it. >> I know. I just >> Nothing I can't do. >> Yeah. And it and it was in the packet. It wasn't handed out. That's wonderful. >> So, make a motion. I make a motion that
Terry Bvard starts city manager tomorrow. If I can make a request to just approve the agreement with that start date. >> Yeah. >> So make a motion that we approve the agreement >> that is put in our packet from last
meeting >> with the start date of tomorrow >> of start date tomorrow. >> Have a motion. >> I second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any discussion from the council? >> We're voting on the agreement language itself with the start date. Correct.
>> Yes. Okay. >> And hiring him. >> Oh, okay. I thought that was discussed the last meeting. So, thank you. >> I did too. >> All right. Any discussion from the public? >> Seeing none, I move to vote. All those
in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. >> Motion passes five to zero. >> Thank you very much for the >> Congratulations and welcome back. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Item G, discussion with possible action. Willis city
manager description and job posting. City attorney Kirstston Belaloo. >> Okay. So, you have two items in your agenda packet. The first item is the job description and then the second item is the job posting. Both of them of 2026 at the top so that we don't have the issues
that we had in our last discussion in our future discussions. Uh, I went through and made all of the I think all of the um amendments that you all uh had talked about to the job description as well as to the job
posting. So, just as a reminder, the posting is just what we're going to put out and then the job description will be attached to it. Um, the only thing that's not included in here is that it's referenced um on I think it's page 41 of
your packet that the ICMA CM local government management core competencies will be attached to the as uh attached to the job description as an addendum. We didn't include that here because it's a little bit long.
>> Thank you. Any questions from the council? on both documents or just one >> on both. But you can start with one. Which one do you want to start with? You have a question on
I'm like, which one are you looking at? >> I'm perfectly fine with the Williston city manager job description. Again, Kirsten has done a wonderful job of getting that in our packet to us as quick as Leah as she could. I found a couple of what I in in the one pager I found just a couple of little
grammatical things um in the 1 2 3 fourth paragraph there's no why on the word city uh in the fourth line you see that
>> um in the last paragraph I believe there's a comma that shouldn't be there, but I'm not positive. Should there be a comma after exceptional interpersonal communication? Should that comma after interpersonal be there?
>> Isn't it interpersonal communication? >> I would say that that is an unnecessary comma. >> And in the next to the last sentence, there's an H missing in the word while. Got to turn my spell check on, huh?
>> Community stakeholders while fostering. >> Okay. >> Sorry. I'm just a proofreader, so that's all there is to it. And that's all I got. In context, I'm >> wonderful with it. >> Sorry. >> You're fine. >> You didn't want them to go out. That wasn't spelled, right? >> You're fine. You're fine.
>> We will fix that. >> Anything else from the council? Can I get a motion? I move we approve the Williston City Manager, let me get the right word. Uh,
what do I call it? Willist city manager job description 2026 as well as the job city manager job posting 2026 to be accompanied by the ICMA 14 points. >> I'll second that. >> I have a motion and a second. Any
further discussion from the council? When exactly are we looking to post? >> Tomorrow. That was >> my thing, too. Get it posted as soon as possible. Kim, are you hearing this? >> Internal. >> It's got to what? >> Go internal first. Is it 5 days?
Internal. Five days. >> Okay. >> Just this way here to give Mr. Bvard a chance. He can look over it >> since everybody else is internal. >> Okay. He he he gave you a thumbs up. All right. All right. So, it'll be internal
for 5 days and then it'll go be posted after that. Sounds great. All right. Any further discussion from the public? Seeing none, I move to vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. Motion
passes 5 to zero. >> All right. Now, we'll do the open public hearing. Uh first reading of ordinance 2026, city attorney Kirsten Belaloo. Okay, this is your first reading of ordinance 2026-764,
an ordinance of the city council for the city of Willist, Florida for the voluntary contracting or deanexation of the city boundary by deanexing 20.23 23 acres more or less of real property generally located east of Northeast 185th Avenue and west of Northwest 77th
Street. More particularly and legally described on exhibit A touch attached here 2 and fully incorporated herein by this reference providing for the amendment of city boundaries to contract the subject properties from the city boundaries providing for appeal of prior and consistent ordinances and resolutions severability and an
effective date. This is a quasi judicial uh matter. So, we will start by swearing in anyone who intends to speak on this issue. Anyone who intends to speak on this, if you'll please stand, raise your right hand.
>> Cookie and Larry, they need to stand up. Sorry. >> All right. And I'll get each of your names for the record. All consultants. >> Do you all swear or affirm the testimony you give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
>> Thank you. We'll have uh for each of the council members, I'll just go down the row and have you give me a yes or a no. The first item is, have you had any exparte communications regarding this application? As a reminder, an exparte communication is any site visit or
discussion with anyone that has occurred outside of a public meeting. So, any phone calls with developers, any discussions with citizens, anything like that, and I'll just go down the line. >> No, no, no. >> No. >> Excellent.
>> I will hand it over for staff's presentation. Good evening again, council. I think somebody's broken into Latricia's. So, tonight I'm presenting ordinance 2026764. Miss Wright, may I do my presentation
first? Thank you. It's okay. Um, on April 23rd, 2026, should have printed it out. >> An application for contraction of the city limits by removing a portion of parcel 042910
0. um also known as Stonehedge Farm South located within the city limits was submitted by EDA consultants on behalf of the property owner. The owner for the parcel request to compress the city limits or deanex this portion of the parcel for consistency for future
development. This contraction would remove about 20 20.23 acres that are currently undeveloped pasture lands. The current land use and the current and the future land use are both agricultural for the city of Willist. I'm not sure what they're going to be for um Levy
County. Current zoning is agricultural and no easements will be affected by this request, but we do have easements that go out there. So, if anybody needs to look at those, we can bring those up for you. It is staff opinion that this request will not cause any harm or hardship to Willis or its citizens.
Split government of this parcel causes and will continue to cause conflict for the property owners. This request does not create enclaves and in fact cleans up the city boundaries so so that the city limit has a logical um logically ends at this at
property lines. The contraction is consistent with Florida statutes and does not conflict with the city's comp plan. If you can go to the second page, we'll just make sure everybody knows what we're talking about. Um, so the blue with all the houses, that's
Country Lane Estates. So that's where you guys are. And this is the top of the um, city limits over on the northwest side. We've talked about this kind of a lot. In fact, Walt was just discussing that retention pond
that you see there. That's the 7th Avenue retention pond that we would like to be sending water to. So, that's the area that we're talking about. If you look at this parcel and you look at it on here, it's all in the county, but it's not all in the county. There's a line that goes down,
and if you go to the next page, you can see it. Nobody really knows. Um, Mr. Adam Hall was the planner for the city of Willist before I was, and he might know how this happened. Uh, Miss Cookie might know how this happened, but I don't know how this happens because I don't think that anybody really knows
how this happens. I think it was a clerical mistake is what it was. But if you look at it now, see it, you see the public where the um water retention pond is the kind of Yes, that one. Next to that is a property owned by somebody. And then next to that, see the line that
goes up? That's Levy. That's the city of Willist, but it's the parcel that we're discussing. So, a little bit of it is in Levy County and a little bit of it is in the city of Willist. The city of Wilson is not collecting any
taxes. I talked to Mr. Randy last week about it. Uh they did collect taxes on it for a while, but he stopped doing that a few years ago. So, this won't cause any monetary loss. Do you have any questions for me about this? Does everybody understand where we're talking?
>> Mr. Mayor, >> if you want to see it, look out my back door. >> I I don't want to tell everybody where you live, but yes, Mr. Goodman lives right there. some place in that area. It is a logical thing for their property.
>> It is an agricultural area that has >> I thought for a long time >> we were going to get a development there. >> I was not happy. But if that what happened happened and uh I personally and I can speak for the other people
that are backed up to that property are all very thankful that they want to bring it back into their pasture as it appears it should have been. Thank you. >> I have one question if I may. >> You may. Um and and it's it's
about this in the future should this piece of property ever get developed. I know that the state has been pushing really hard for um septic to sewer and maybe Walt can answer this. H how would would there be any issues with us,
you know, if it got reanexed back into the city, would there be any issues with us then providing septic services? >> Even as it is right now, it is in the MSD. So, there are no issues with us providing those services if we so choose. There are options that you can
go down if if at this point um larger acreage is going to be a requirement for this because the minimum acreage in Levy County is 10. So, they can't go below 10. If they decide to do a plan development and go lower acreage and they want to hook up to ours um water
and sewer, that is definitely um something that we can discuss in the future. >> So, this this falls in in the county into a minimum lot size of 10 acres. Is that what you're saying? >> Yes. >> Interesting. Okay. >> Yeah. But is still in our MSD, our our
municipal services district. So that means we still have um opportunities to extend out there. Now the property owners would have to want it because they're also going to have to extend from their property lines. But did I answer that correctly?
>> No, ma'am. >> Okay, Mr. Mayor, >> I'm waiting for permission. >> You have permission, sir. >> Thank you. Uh, I happen to have been around this development for some time and I can tell you that the city has
sewer right behind my house ready to benefit this if in the future it is ever developed. And the city has gas, fiber, and electricity on the other
side of the property behind me all going toward this development. So yes, in the future the city could you could get a developer in there and well as as we have talked a cookie and I could both
die and then you could get a developer in there and buy it all and then we can't have any control over it. But for now they want to make it back to their farm but the city is prepared if it is ever developed.
>> Yes. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome, >> Miss Jones. >> And the point being made that you've made that and Laura has made as well that if you want it to be smaller than 10 acres, it it needs to be in the city. >> It needs to be in the city or they need
to do a reasonzoning um for like a plan development or something. >> Um so it would be beneficial if it was in the city. Um can you show me where the easements are? You mentioned easements. >> Yeah, this are they are they utility easements or road easements? Do you guys
remember about 2 years ago we went through all this? Kirstson probably remembers very well behind um Mr. Mark Mark Pompio's house. >> Uhhuh. >> And we did those easements so that we could bring, you know, utilities over to this area. And then also we needed to do
some property swaps. They're on this map. They're kind of hard to see. Um but if do you see the um the green dots above the yellow? That's the access easements. So that will stay in the city limits
so they can still get access. Now the utility easements, they're kind of hard to see on here, but we do have them out there. >> Madam President, if I may, there is a 30 foot wide easement on the north side of the property leading to >> Yeah. >> this area.
>> I think that's Yeah, that's the access easement, right? Yeah, that's the green part that's going to stay in the city, right? That's going to stay in the city. Yeah. Any further questions? >> Madame President, if I can just briefly
because I don't want it to be said that it wasn't discussed. There was a bill that was passed in this most recent legislative session 1451 I believe it is um which regulates more strictly uh municipalities ability to provide
services outside of their municipal boundaries. So utility services outside of their municipal boundaries. It's not impossible, but it is more difficult and you are not allowed to do the kind of surplus rate charging that you were previously permitted to do in the same way. So, I just I do just want to flag
that as a sort of difference in in law that we haven't had before. >> Thank you. >> If you're done with me, I'll um let EDA come on up here and give their presentation. Okay. Thanks. Give me a second, Adam. I'm sorry. >> Welcome.
>> Thank you. Nice to see you. >> It's good to be back. >> Yes, sir. >> Yeah. Can you hear me? Um, yeah. For those who don't know, uh, my name is Adam Hall with EDA Consultants now. Uh but my first planning job out of planning school was city of Wilston back
uh about 15 pounds ago. Um 2010 2015 uh Marcus Collins was city manager at the time and hired me and I stayed here um up until Scott Litman um 2015. So, um,
as a history, this this was an issue back then. Um, this this line, um, and I've seen a couple different maps where the line is in different places. Um, but as Laura, you know, said, um, this is a
logical, I think, uh, decision and cleans up that boundary there. So, thank you, Latricia. Go. Thank you. Uh once again, Adam Hall, EDA Consultants, um for uh the owner, Stone
Hedge Farm South, um requesting deanexation of a 20.23 acre uh portion of the larger parcel. If you go to the next slide, sure. >> So, um yeah, as Laura pointed out, uh a majority of this parcel is in
unincorporated uh Levy County. um only 17.7% of that uh parcel is inside city of uh Wilson currently. It's about a 270 foot wide uh strip of land uh along the eastern boundary. Um if you go to the
next slide please. Um so you can see here on the right side um that where that line is like I said it's about 270 ft wide. Um so that portion would be going uh from city of Wilston to Levy County.
Um, next slide, please. Uh, the teal shows the outline of the entire parcel. Um, and as we said, um, quickly that that little panhandle going to the east there, that would remain. Um, but the, uh, pasture along the wood
line there would go to Levy County incorporated. Um, and that's what it looks like. So, no residents, it's agg. Um, no development there. Uh, next slide, please. Um so this is just another view looking south um and then uh looking from
northeast 185th um where um the property is mainly accessed from uh looking east there's the tree line that the uh land is the sub property is uh next slide please. Uh another view kind of looking south
that um I believe stable barn uh is in the county currently. So that's about the the biggest thing uh on that parcel. Uh next slide please. Um so there is some uh statutory um language that the uh DNA has to comply
with. Um there's some eligibility requirements in section 171.052. Um it does meet those standards. Um the compactness is not really uh impacted by this. In fact, if anything, it makes it more compact by removing a westward jut
um from the city limits, creates no enclaves, uh doesn't uh strain any properties outside of city limits by and create non-ontiguous boundaries. Um it's logical. Um the ability to provide urban services is not impact. We talked just about that.
Those utilities aren't going anywhere. If in the future the property does subdivide and wants to annex in, that will be a possibility. Um and um Cookie can can get up here and and talk more about the intent of the of the owner, but currently there's no intent to
develop any sort of density that require utilities. Um it's consistent with the comprehensive plans um and it complies with the statutory uh procedures outlined. Um next slide, please. So our
request tonight is to approve this ordinance. I'm available for any questions. Um, agent for the property owner is also here. Um, Cookie King. Um, yeah. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Any questions from the council?
the intent for the intent for the property I believe and Cookie can clarify, but right now it would to be to do larger lots um and either talking with adjacent property owners about buying those and incorporating their a property or having
some sort of standalone a use. Um I think effectively nothing on the ground will really change with that land. They'll probably remain pasture, you know, for quite a while. Um, but the the ownership may change a little bit. >> Okay. >> Cookie King and I'm speaking on behalf
of Marilyn Campbell, the Stone Hedge Farm owner. Um, after her husband passed, Mr. Campbell, you know, it's quite a large farm and she started close to Mayor Goodman some of those larger lots that were oak hammock. She
said, "Let's get those sold." So, those have been sold to people. And so, these this little strip, nobody knows. We've been to the county. We had a Zoom meeting. The county doesn't know it. They seem to think it was an error
somewhere along the way. Um, but her reasoning, well, she said, "Well, I guess we could sell that pa pasture." And I said, "Now, if we sell that pasture, I can't control what somebody's going to do with that." And she was like, "What do you mean?" I said,
"Somebody could will come and pay the price you're asking and put houses all and they have the ability to do that." And she said, "Well, that's not what I want. I wanted to keep it rural." And so we've talked and about what we could do. I don't think anything's going to happen
right now. Her house is within view of this. This is her cow pasture and horse pasture. So she knew that she didn't want that. So if anything, they would go to 20 acre parcels, not tens. She didn't even want tens. So
that was her that's her goal. if she sells it, she was going to do it in 20s to keep people from doing small lots. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And so it would keep looking like it does now when people walk around the three mile loop.
>> Any other questions from the council? All right. So, >> next would it would be appropriate for the public to have an opportunity and then we'll have uh applicant rebuttal and staff rebuttal. >> Okay. Any questions from the public?
All right. Anything from staff? >> And Laura, if you'll just put on the record um regarding the notice provided >> in the paper. Yeah, it it was um in the paper. Sorry, I didn't attach that. Nikki was supposed to get that for me,
but um it was in the paper, but this was not required to go to the um surrounding property owners. So, you did not get a letter this time, but um this is up to you guys to do the right thing for the city limits. And this is a good time to do this because we're going to be upgrading your GIS maps in the next
couple of weeks. So, if you do this for July, August, then I can get that um updated for you and this can be gone, which I think we all would like. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Can I get a votes
>> to the council for motion or deliberation? I make a motion that we approve the first reading of ordinance 2026-764. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion from council
or public? Seeing none, I move to vote. All those in favor say I. I. I. All those opposed say nay. >> Motion passes 5 to zero. Go to item number I, city attorney.
>> Madame President, this is ordinance number 2026-765, an ordinance of the city council for the city of Willston, Florida, amending chapter 14 of the city code of ordinances regarding buildings and building regulations to provide for adding section 14-2 entitled Knox boxes.
Providing for definitions, providing for applicability, installation requirements, maintenance and updates, approval and control, deadlines and enforcement and penalties, providing for severability, repealing all ordinances in conflict, and providing an effective date. This is not a quaso judicial. This
is just a a legislative uh hearing. And I will pro turn it over to Danny who knows much more about this than I do. >> Thank you, Mr. Wallace. >> Good evening, council. this the NOX box that we're talking about. Uh, is it working?
>> Okay, don't sound like >> the Knox box is being held up by uh >> Councilman Cox. We are asking that the city council approve this ordinance to on all construction, new construction,
commercial construction, that these boxes be mandatory and put onto the buildings. uh what it holds is a key inside to that business. We already have
uh about seven or eight uh businesses already that are uh have put these on. Uh most of the new commercial people when they come in, they ask where do you want it located? And but we're also asking to
where the businesses that uh that are not going forward from this point that we give them a year to be able to put them on. Uh we don't want to, you know, go out there and tell everybody they have to put them on right away. A box
will cost approximately $500. But this box, there's keys to it. One we keep in dispatch and the other is with chief officers. They will be in trucks that have lock boxes in them that will
have uh key codes to it so we know exactly what time, what date, and who did pulled the key out. And this all downloads into software back at the station once we get that software in.
What this will save is if there's an alarm going off and if it's a burglar alarm, fire alarm, or you know, just general alarm, and we can't get a hold of anybody, we're able to go to this box, open it up, get the key, open the
door, and go in. It saves the owner money in the long run because if you have to take a door or a window out, that gets very expensive. And uh I just talked to one owner that's putting one on his building now and he said the new
door that he just put on was $3,500 and he you know this is he prefer not to get it uh opened up. And I told them, you know, firefighters don't mind, you know, open them up. But this is going to be a an area to where if it's not an extreme
emergency that we have to get in immediately that we could get in, open the box, uh, open the Knox box, insert the key, get into the building, and find out what the situation is inside until a key holder gets there or we resolve it ourselves.
Any questions at this point right now? I give you uh many quite a few years back the SDA church uh was the first one to put one in when they were building. They wanted to put one in and
they did. Uh we have Aldi's Waw Wa Wind Dixie. Uh the metal shop down at the end of Main Street here, the old Dixie Lily and the City Annex is putting one in. So
we'll be able to uh uh you know be able to gain entry and there's been no questions asked from the construction of these buildings, people wanting to put them in. thing is we need to have an
ordinance so we could continue to request this and uh for all new construction coming in and not not residential just commercial and so we could have it. It's recommended by the NFPA this is a national
uh codes that throughout from California you know from east coast to the west coast uh that these are going in. So, and it's only the these boxes in the keys form are only specific to the city
of Willist. So, uh if Marian County can't get into them, Ela County can't get into it, it's only the city of Willist. >> Any questions? I've seen these on buildings commercials
before with traveling around with my job. Never realized what they were for. And I went over and spent some time with Danny and he went through cuz I wanted to understand what it was about. And now I know what they were used for.
I think it's great. Instead of them causing damage to a building, if it's just smoke, they can go get these and go on in. >> Chief Rose, >> so Danny, I take it these are paid for
by the owners. >> They are paid for by the owners. >> Okay. And these are for extreme emergencies or is there some procedure we need to follow before we utilize that key? Well, no. I mean, if there's an
alarm going off and uh out of business and we can't get a hold of the key holder, they're not there. We don't see fire. We don't see any breakin, but we need to get in there to to see what what's causing that alarm. It could be
something going on inside that building. It keeps us from having to break windows, break doors open, you know, through forcible entry, and it allows us to get in there. So, if it's a burglar alarm going on, you could get in there
as police officer and uh you know, for your for your search search of the building to clear the building to make sure that something hasn't happened. >> Okay, that's fine. I I would just I I'll get with you later because I would like to have some kind of standing operation
procedure that goes along with it so people don't just go, "Oh, alarm's going off. Get the key. Let's go in." Uh cuz we have to go to dispatch, get it, check it out of dispatch, and then come back and open it. I just I'll write my procedure on it. I just wanted to make sure. >> Right. Right. And >> thank you.
>> Okay. >> And and I will say this, this is no lightweight weight box. Oh, they had >> I mean they're they're they've got some weight to them. So, it's not like somebody can go and take a sledgehammer and want to knock it open or something
to that effect. So, but you want >> Yes, ma'am. >> Is there question for the lawyer? Is there any liability that this exposes us to? I assume that this is something that's been done in other cities and has there ever been any issue of liability
with these boxes? I'm not aware of any I'll start with my student. Everything you do and don't do is uh contains liability um to some extent. I am familiar with several other cities who have done Knoxbox related type uh
ordinances and I'm not familiar with whether or not that's that's ever I I don't believe that there's ever been any uh liability associated with them >> that I'm aware of. Great. Thank you. >> Shannon, >> I just have a general follow-up question. Um is there any additional
software required in order to kind of loop everything in or is this just done standard? The box itself is is uh installed and it's key activated. We just open it with a key. Right. >> The software and the lock boxes that
will go into the fire apparatus that would respond. >> There's a software package that the that we have to purchase every year to continue on with it. But it allows us to
uh put in every every firefighter, everyone there. So, whoever's on the engine or the rescue that's having to go in, they have to punch their code to get in. It will unlock and allow you to get the key out. And then a warning light
will stay on until that key is put back. And then once that it's uh the box is closed, it will clear it. And once we get back to the station, it will automatically download to the computer showing us times and everything else.
every you know the whole timeline >> and we we've had situations here where we've had people laying on the floor at their business place is locked up and we've had to take out the front windows and climb through to get to them. And uh
this is just to you know keep from causing further damage. And uh when Aldi's was built, they asked me if do you mind if we put a second box on the back side and one on the front side? And same with Wind Dixie. So we're we're you
know moving right along with them. So they they build these uh the the people that come in and build the commercial structures and everything. They're so used to having to install them from other cities that have the ordinances. They just ask, "Do you have an ordinance?" So I said not at the
moment but we do request that you put one on. They go no problem. >> Okay. So do we have any idea what the software cost would be for us for maintaining the records and the basically the program that controls our side of the law? >> Well the software package is $500 a year
for the size of our department and then we have an initial cost of buying the boxes to put inside uh into the uh the vehicles. And so that would be figured into this upcoming budget. >> Okay.
And you said that each individual firefighter police will have their own specific code so that you know exactly who went in. >> That is correct. >> How do you do that in dispatch? >> Well, dispatch, they will sign out the
key. So your your officer will sign the key out. >> Just want to make sure she was getting clean, >> right? So, you know, for us in the at the fire department, it'd be coded because uh but for you at dispatch, unless later on you want to go ahead and
put these in your your sergeants vehicles, then you could uh go ahead and uh buy the same boxes that we're going to put in. Any other questions? >> Any questions from the public?
Attorney, can we now vote? Can I get a motion? >> I make a motion that we approve approve the first reading of ordinance 2026-765. >> A second. >> I have a motion and a second. >> All those in favor?
>> I I did already. I did. So, I got to do it twice. >> I just wanted to make sure you did it. >> I didn't hear you if you did it. >> Yeah, I did it. >> What the public? Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. >> All right. So, all those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. Motion
passes five to zero. >> Thank you. Closing the public hearing. All right. At this time, we'll have item number six, the public participation. This will be the second opportunity for you to speak on anything that you would like. You have five minutes. Please
state your name, where you're from. Are you cold? Too quiet tonight. >> Yes, I am. I have been cold for a minute. >> Robert Northwest Fifth Avenue. >> I'm glad to see Terry back. I've had some working relationship with him. All good now. I hope you get your act
together and get you a city utilities manager. Somebody that can help Terry because you're lacking that, too. That's the next step. And that's just about as important as Terry's. Not as important, but right up there amongst it. Thank you.
>> Thank you, sir. Anyone else? All right. Item number seven, announcements. Oh, did you have something? Announcements. Do we have any announcements from city attorney,
Miss Wright? The first announcement I want to make is um Saturday, August the 1st between 1 and 3, the city of Williston along with we saw we're having our back to school bash where we be passing out backpacks.
So if anyone has any kids and they need backpacks, your child has to be present in the car with you in order to get a backpack. And that's Saturday, August the 1st from 1 to 3. And the second thing I
forgot to say on my first updates, we have already installed two lights over at the tennis courts and within the next two weeks there'll be two more lights installed at the tennis court and the pickle ball court. >> Awesome. >> Wonderful.
>> Uh also, uh I want to thank Nate Roberts and Mike Miller for working with me this last week. We've gone over several different items that I see need to be completed within the next 30 days I gave
them and that is there's 24 generators that are located at the sewer plant. Starting next week they will be making pads for those generators to go on and those generators will be located at all of the lift stations.
So thank you guys for that. And the last thing is the breezeway over across the street. There was some liability issues there. The guys worked on it today. And that breezeway should be open by the weekend so people can go back and forth
to the parking lot. Okay. Randy, >> Chief Rose, Chief Steel. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Mayor, for the record, I want to clarify I have not submitted a letter of retirement, nor have I
publicly announced my intention to retire effective December 31st of 2026. The only discussion regarding my future plans have been private and personal conversations. To say I was surprised by the your public announcement would be an
understatement. I remain fully committed to the citizens of the city of Woolston uh to serving them and request that the public record reflect that uh my reflect my current employment status. When I decide to publicly
announce it, then and only then will I give you a letter. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chief Steaggle. Um anyone else back there in staff? You're good. Okay. All good. All right.
Anything from the council? >> I have a question for Miss Bright. Are you still taking donations for the school? >> Yes, I am taking donations for the school. I am also taking donations for the women's club health department,
health and wellness department or committee uh of underwear, socks, balls, deodorant for the kids. that we will distribute at the middle school, elementary school, and high school.
>> Okay. >> Nothing else from the council. >> Yes, >> Miss Meredith. >> Okay. Um I'll probably get crucified for this, but I'm just going to go for it. >> Maybe. >> I And I'm sorry. I'm a thorn in your side about the fiber. It's $5 million on the
line, and I feel like it's my responsibility to be a thorn in the side. um cuz we're already quite delayed and and this is my concern right now is that I have a house that I owned and then I moved in with my husband. So, I've rented that house and I have a tenant moving in August 1st and she
asked about fiber and now I have to go to her and say, "Well, we have fiber, but please don't call the city and ask about fiber because nobody up there wants to talk to you." And I just don't think that that is the way that we get people to sign up. There was a post on Facebook today that said, you know, somebody said, "Hey, what do people
think about Starlink or fiber internet in Willist and there when I looked at it, there were 27 responses and and 25 of them said go with Starlink." And one person said, "Oh, I have fiber." And the reply to that was, "Well, I don't I don't think they're they're accepting
new people or I don't think they have that up and running yet." And I just think we really need to rethink our how we are handling our PR and how we are attracting customers. We need people to make this work. There is a very finite number that people that we have to have
signed up in order for us to pay our debt down and make this right. And I'm just concerned that I now have to go to a tenant and say, "I can't even tell you when you're going to get it. Please don't call the city hall. They don't want to talk to you. They're overwhelmed."
I just think that's a ter terrible customer service and I think we have been promised good customer service and I I have real concerns about that. So I would be curious to know my fellow council members feedback on that if they wish
>> tell them to call Alex. I was going to look up the number for Willist Fiber for you. >> It's a separate number. >> It's on the website 5296961 >> 6961. >> Yeah. But we've been told twice today, please don't call. >> Do it anyway.
>> Yeah. No, I Yeah. >> What else can you do? You got to do it anyway. >> I mean, I've got >> curious by whom? >> I have I have three people in my neighborhood who and another one that's across the neighborhood that say I've been signed up forever. I can't I don't
know when it's coming. They they can't give me any answers. Um, so I know they're on the list. I just don't know where on the list they are. >> Well, that's not what I was told last week. >> Or the first of the week. >> By who?
>> How about you? When we were at dinner. Uh-huh. What? Whatever that first day was. Was that Tuesday? No, Wednesday. Wednesday advance party. Um, so now I will tell them to call Alex. And I appreciate the number. uh because she can tell them where they are on the list
and hopefully the guys are working the list from top to bottom and not skipping people because um but I know that there are some people who have who work from home that have been signed up for a long year year and
a half and they're still waiting and what they have now is cutting in and out like crazy and I can't tell them anything. They're the only ones that could tell them something. And if Alex is the person, that's who we're going to tell them to call. And if they're new, I don't know why we wouldn't be taking new people. >> Yeah, exactly.
>> I mean, my my idea was to go to every subdivision and hang a door hanger. And I thought we printed door hangers, but I don't know that they ever got put out. I saw them on a desk uh when Miss Sue was here. I saw the actual mockup. I don't
know that they ever got printed. I don't know if anybody can tell me that or not, whether they actually got printed. I saw a mockup sitting on the desk, but a door hanger to hang on every and go to a subdivision and hang it on every door that we are now open for business. We
knew we know that there are certain areas of the city that Central Florida Electric, Central Florida Fiber, Fiber by Central Florida, whatever you want to call them, were targeting. And we actually gave them a permit for one area. They never pursued it, but they were very concentrated areas. That's why
they wanted it. Um, and those were the first neighborhoods I would have gone to to hang the door hang on to let them know that we were here or even just coming. I don't know if we need to, and this is money, I know, but I don't know if we need to hire a contractor to go install
them all at one time or whether we just need to peace meal them like we're doing now. But you're right, we can't make money until we get them installed. We can't make that minimum revenue that we have to pay back.
>> Can I add something to what you just said, Miss Deborah? Um Aaron, myself and Steven spoke today about contractors coming in. So, we are working on that. It is in process. >> That's good news. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Now, I will tell you the gentle the two
gentlemen, Santos and Uhuh. >> Tip, >> what's his name? Tip. >> Tip. do a very good job at doing the installs. I watched them, went out, spend a little while with them, and um
they're very conscious about what they do. It's actually a pretty neat thing to watch when they have to splice things together and stuff. So, if you can go out and visit with them and they'll explain what they're doing to you,
>> Santa. I just wanted to kind of touch base on a portion of what Meredith had brought up and as far as getting the information to the residents. A lot of people would look for a print out or something on their door, but majority of everyone
that that I that I discuss things with, uh, the first thing they go and look at is the city website or the city's socials, any kind of updates, news, anything of that nature. Um, I believe that is an area that we are underutilizing and it's free. There's no
cost to print. There's no cost of labor to go and put them on people's doors. Um, if even if we do both, just getting the information out there, staying on top of the narrative, letting people know, hey, this is not a rumor, this is not a rumor, this is what we're doing, this is what we can advertise. Please
contact this number if you, you know, are not sure where you're at with the line. So on and so forth. So that way we kind of negate all the possible misinformation that may be spreading. And like I said, it it's it's a free service. So if we could utilize that not
just for the fiber updates, but for everything for events, for social stuff, I think that'd be fantastic. Um I think that's definitely an avenue that we need to look into on top of that that because that is a question that even I am getting and I'm I'm new. um is what's
going on with this because I'm just going to go with, you know, for Verizon or or T-Mobile that's $35 and I don't have to worry about it because waiting a year to, you know, it's a long time. They're looking forward to it, but it's not a service that they can count on at
the moment. So, that's something I would like us to get on top of as well. >> Mike, you see, Chief Rose, you did say there were flyers somewhere. >> Door hangers. >> Door hangers. >> Door hangers. We have
>> I'd be glad to walk a neighborhood and put them on doors whether it's my neighborhood or somebody else. >> We need to contract it out. >> If you want to come back to the mic or somebody give him a mic. >> I was talking about Aaron.
Oh, >> obviously I can feel the frustration in the council and obviously you know you have constituents that are asking you every day not only that but your neighbors and everybody else and you know I was here in fiber started um as you know as y'all know me from the past
except for council member church is there's an open door or policy with me at all times. So you know give them my number. It's like I've always said, have them come to city hall and so yeah, I know they are strapped with getting the
things up and running and doing all that stuff. I've kind of stayed involved in it most recently. Uh so, but you can't be the stopping point. They have to come to city hall and speak to somebody or at least get a phone call back so we can explain to them where they're at. And at least at that point,
they'll understand, hey, okay, I get it. Spoke to the city manager, he understands. and uh uh or if Latricia is unlucky, she'll get the phone call. But uh that's what I would do. Um so if they try Alex, try to get a response they
want. You know, it's like the the kind words the gentleman said here, you know, you he has come to city hall, we have sat down and we have talked and we've had these discussions and not always did he always like the response, but at least he knew we were working on it and trying very hard to resolve the problem.
And I think that's what I would go with. That's what I would recommend as as a non-member of the city council tonight, tomorrow. >> Absolutely. >> Have a call city man. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Bavar.
>> Anything else from the council? >> Oh, wait. You mean about that or something else? >> Whatever. >> Oh, just two things. The Swany River League of Cities meeting on Thursday. this Thursday. I I don't know who's going, but we probably should try to
carpool or something. >> You're gonna meet us there, right? >> I I won't carpool with you guys. >> That's because you're going to be in Lake City already. It's in Lake City. We don't need to take four cars. We'll have to pay mileage for four cars. That's ridiculous. Um I'd say we need to ride
together if we can at all. And also I just want to announce that the woman's club is sponsoring a Williston candidates forum for the county commissioners, the county school board members, the judges and the candidates
and anybody else. I understand now we may have some people coming from the state as well. August the 6 from 6:00 to 8:30 if you're interested in listening to your candidates. >> It's really cool. I highly recommend. I actually had to participate but Had I
not even if I hadn't participate, I would say that it was a really neat way to learn a lot about the people who are running for uh various seats. >> When Meredith ran the time before, I think she it was the same time because it was before we changed our elections
and she and Mr. Stark actually participated in the candidate forum. It was nerve-wracking. I would have been nerve-wracked if it had been me, believe me. Um, but they they both did great, as did everyone else. But it it is a way. I've already watched a couple. They've
been online. I watched the one from Chief already and I watched the one from Bronson. And I already I had no clue who I was going to vote for cuz most of the people from the other side of the county. >> Uh cuz it's not our district's turn. >> Is this one online? >> Huh? >> Is this one online?
>> It's not going to be online. Unless I can talk somebody into doing it. >> I don't know. Maybe. >> And what time again? And where is it? Okay. Uh, August Thursday, August the 6th from 6:00 to 8:30 at the woman's club. And that's all I have.
>> Who's going to do the MC part of it? >> Latricia did it last time. I haven't asked her this time, but I probably will. >> She did an excellent job last time. >> All right. Anyone else from the council?
All right. See, as the mayor is gone, I think he has nothing. Um, all right. Ajournment. >> I move we adjourn. >> Motion. >> Got a motion and a second. >> Any discussion from the public? Any
discussion from the council? Seeing none, I move the vote. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. >> Motion passes 5 to zero at 7:56 p.m. >> What? Not midnight. I think that went pretty quick.