Good evening. Today is Tuesday, October 21st, 2025 at 6:02 p.m. We are here for our city council meeting. We'll have the call to order. Can I get the roll call? Miss Wright. >> Mayor Goodman. He's absent. Council
President Hines >> here. >> Vice President Cox. >> Hello. >> Council member Jones >> here. Council member Martin here. >> Council member Rickio >> here. >> City Manager Sue Bodette here. >> Attorney Kirstston Belaloo
>> here. >> City Clerk Latricia Wright, I am here. And all other staff >> present. >> Thank you. We will have the opening prayer and pledge of allegiance to the flag by Chief Lamar Seagull. [Laughter]
>> Not a surprise. If you will bow your head. Dear heavenly father, thank you for allowing us to gather here tonight. Lord, uh we ask that you watch over us. Uh make us good stewards of your words through our words and actions tonight. Lord, give us guidance. Lead us as we go
about our way in the business of this city. Help us with everything we do. Lord, I ask everything in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. [Music] Item number one, addition, deletions, changes, and approval of the agenda. So there is one addition um to your
agenda. It's resolution 2025124. I'd recommend we add um to the end and it's the uh resolution regarding the uh extension of our crossing guard agreement with Ley County School Board. That will be J.
>> Correct. I have approval of the agenda with the addition. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any comment from staff or the council? Seeing none, move to vote. All those in
favor say I. I. >> All those opposed say nay. Motion passes 5 to zero. Item number two, pro proclamation Florida City Week. Mayor
Charles Goodman is not here. Are you going to want me to read it? Sure. Proclamation Florida City Week by Darren. Council President Can you hear me?
>> All right. Um, if I can have that come up, please proclamation. Whereas city >> Okay. >> What about >> proclamation? Whereas city government is
the government closest to most citizens and the one with the most direct daily impact upon its residents. And whereas m municipal government provides services and programs that enhance the quality of life for residents making their city
their home. And whereas city government is administered for and by its citizens and is it dependent and is dependent upon public commitment to and understanding of its many responsibilities. And whereas Florida
City Week is a very important time to recognize the important role played by the city government in our lives. And whereas Florida City Week offers an important opportunity to convey to all the citizens of the of Florida that they
can shape and influence government through their civic involvement. Whereas the Florida League of Cities and its member cities have joined together to teach citizens about municipal government through a variety of activities. Now therefore,
I in lie of Charles Goodman Darin Hines by virtue of authority vested in me as council city president of Williston, Florida, do hereby proclaim the week of
October 20 through 26, 2025 as Florida City Week. In witness thereof, I have here to set my hand and cause the official seal of the city of Willist to be affixed this 21st day of
October, year of our Lord, 2025. City of Wist [Applause] All right. At this time, we will have public participation. This is a time, this is one of two opportunities where you will have a time to speak for five
minutes on anything that is not on the agenda. My name is Joel Penn. Uh, so Mr. Timoth has been posting stuff on Facebook the past two weeks going around town showing leaks all around city. I just want to
know we've had two supervisors been in charge and they've been over here for past five years and these less been here for about you know about two maybe one year. Why did it take for one person to
blast the city on Facebook to get that fixed? And why did it just take why did it take that to get it fixed? What I mean can you give me the explanation why and why are the supervisors I mean what
have they been doing? I mean and now that now the city's copying Mr. Timothy and going around saying we fixed it on Facebook making videos. I mean I just I've had several people come to me and my neighbor ask
they want to know why but I respond. >> You may. >> I just want to say that um since I've lived in the city, I've seen a lot of water leaks fixed >> that are not on the directors list that are water leaks that are being fixed
continuously. And yes, new ones pop up all the time, but I just want to make sure that there's, you know, no confusion that no water leaks have been fixed. I've never >> There's a list. They're working on them. I've seen a lot of them fixed that Mr.
>> I know. But my reason is my question is why are they fixing them now and why did they fix the past? >> The ones I'm referring to have been fixed in the past over the last couple years. So, I'm not exactly sure which ones are on Mr. Eart's list and I'm sure they're also on the city's list, but I just want to state that I've seen a lot
of water leaks fixed in two plus years. Well, four now leaks past week and a half. >> We did have a back truck that we were able to borrow from Stark that helped fix a lot of leaks this past week and that makes it go much faster. So, that's
one of the reasons why so many leaks were fixed in the last week because we actually had access to equipment made us able to speed up that process. >> Okay. So, Mr. Donald and Mr. Jonathan have been here for over five years. Why
haven't they to get it. >> I haven't >> Mr. Penny, I believe you asked your question. >> I think some is the answer that you got. >> Is there anyone else?
>> Yes. >> Hi, my name is Corey Bryant. I live in Morrison, Florida. I'm also the chamber president this year and I just wanted to make sure everybody was aware uh we got our adopt the highway signs up off of 121. Um the chamber did all that. It's u it's a great thing. We did our last
cleanup. Um but we're starting another one in November 8th if anybody's interested in coming out. It's going to be at 8:30 in the morning. We're all going to meet at the Williston sign, the north sign over here right off of 121. and we go, it's actually two miles and
it seems like it's a long ways, but if you split it up and we do it from uh Heritage Park, we can split from there and go take some of them north and some of them south. It goes a lot quicker. The last time we did, it took us about an hour. I think we ended up with um 160
pounds of trash. So, it was it was a good event. Um I think everybody enjoyed participating. It made them feel good in the end. and uh Dina Battle ended up finding like $30 on the side of the road, so it was worth it, right? Anyway, again, it's on November 8th at 8:30. Um
we'd sure like the city to participate if they could with us. Um anybody that wants to volunteer and stuff, any of the the community members, we sure like that do. But uh again, November 8th at 8:30 at the Williston sign, the north end. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you, sir. Is there anyone else? >> Yes, sir. If you come to the podium, >> if you sir, if you will turn the mic on, hit the button. Oh, there you go. >> This my first time. >> All right. Uh my name is Doug Bowman and
I host a Christian fellowship group that I call Friday night friends. And for the last couple of years, we would uh see widows, widowers, single people in our church sitting alone. And uh we came up
with an idea. Let's invite them. So we started inviting them to our homes and we would have a meal. We would play games and we'd have fellowship. Well, the word got around and as of uh the
first of this year, we were at 15 to 18 and no one had a home that could uh take care of that many people. So, I started asking my friends and Rosie Connley, she
says, "You need to speak to Latricia at city hall." And I said, "Really?" and she said, "Yes, go talk with her." So, I went to talk to her and I told her my mission or my goal. Uh Jesus said, "Love thy neighbor." And I added, "Get to know
your neighbor." So, what I do is um we have couples and then the individuals and we let the couples uh sit for the lunch for the dinner time. They can sit with their friends and talk. After that,
I break them all up, put them in different tables so that they're going to talk to people that they didn't really know or didn't uh just barely knew. And um so I explained that to Latricia that I looked for a place to to
meet and they uh the prices were way out of our range and she agreed to to uh let us use your community center on the second Friday of every month between uh
5:30 and 7. And we have gone from 15 to 40 people now. >> Oh wow. And they have said every every one of them said tell them how much we appreciate that and we are gaining more people every month as we as we uh say
we've got room now. So I just wanted to thank the city and thank Latricia for the um opportunity for us to meet people that we wouldn't have had a chance to meet and get to know them. And
we are open to anybody. We we are a Christian. But anybody that wants or if you know anybody that's just kind of sitting at home single 5:30 to 7 the second Friday of every
month. We would more than welcome them. And uh we play games. We have a potluck. We have fellowship. I've asked Chief Rolls to come and give his testimony. He had the most powerful testimony I've
ever heard in my life. And I've asked him to come and uh speak at our uh at our meeting. Uh and I just want to say thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. >> Does your group have a name, Mr. Bowman?
>> Does your group have a name? >> Yes. Friday night. >> Oh, sorry. Got it. Thank you. >> The church knows all about >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Is there anyone else?
Okay. If not, we will move to the consent agenda. Council minutes from September 16th and October 14th, 2025 will be on the next agenda. Okay, we'll move updates staff and board and council updates.
We'll start with city manager soon, but it Thank you very much. All right. Um, I just wanted to give a little update on the breakfast that we went to for Central Florida Community Action Agency on last Thursday. It was lovely. There was just a whole room full of people
that really appreciated Chief Rolls and everything he did for the hurricane expo. Um I was sitting at the table with his family which was lovely and he had lots of law enforcement friends there. So it was really a beautiful beautiful uh event. Um I do want to address uh
Joby Penny's um question about the videos. So I believe that as of today we have 11 videos that we posted through the public works and utilities department. Um, and you know, they're not addressing just the water leaks. I mean, we're trying to do, you know, there was information on block 12,
customer service, precautionary boil water notices, um, an update on blah. I mean, our effort here is really we're just trying to keep people informed. I know there's a lot of misinformation out there. So, um, I'm definitely a fan of these videos. I know that there's some mixed reactions about them, but in
general, I think they're doing a lot of good. Um, and I'm hoping that we continue and, you know, we're going to get other departments involved, police department, fire department. I mean, our hope is to kind of go all over the city and, you know, get the information out. Um, so speaking of misinformation,
which there's been a lot of, uh, we yesterday I was contacted by TV20 regarding the um, Hitchcock's, the closing of Hitchcock's, and uh, I reached out to Southeastern Grocerers. They agreed to put a press release together um for the public, which they
did this morning around 10 or 11:00. Um I just want to read part of it for you guys. It says, "As part of its Florida growth strategy, Southeastern Grocerers has finalized an agreement to acquire Hitchcock's Markets in Elatcha, Keystone Heights, and Williston. These stores will be converted to Windixie and opened
in phases beginning in late 2025, further strengthening the grocerers north of the presence. The new Williston Windixie located at 434 East Noble Avenue is expected to open in early 2025 ahead of the scheduled closing of the nearby Windixie at 727 West Noble
Avenue. Associates from the nearby Willis location will have the opportunity to continue serving customers in the new store, the Elatchu and Keystone Heights Windixie stores are slated to open by summer of 1.6. Um I know that councelor Jones actually um had an interview, I believe, with TV20
this afternoon. Um, but we just want to put to bed the rumors about the fact that it's a Harvey's. It is going to be a Wind Dixie now. I mean, yeah, Wind Dixie going into a hitchbox. We've now confirmed that and I believe we actually have a meeting with them tomorrow as well to get more information. Of course,
we'll release whatever we can. Um, but we finally rumors that it's going to be a Windix. So, we're excited. A lot of people are excited about the fact that we'll still have a Windixie and an Ald trying to squash the river. That's all I have. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you. Anything from staff, >> Mr. Speaker? >> Yes, ma'am. I just wanted to make y'all aware u I think it was y'all have a handout put in front of y'all today. We went up and made a presentation for
asking for an appropriation grant to build a new public safety facility um with uh our local representatives Kane and Johnson. Uh myself, Donald Barber, uh Walt, I don't know where you're hiding at here tonight. There he is
>> right hiding in front of me. Went up and I'd like to thank Donald and and Walt and Sue and everybody who helped put all this together to go in and make this presentation today. So, you know, once again, we're trying one more time. I think this is the third or fourth time we've went after it, so maybe this is a
the lucky charm. >> Thank you. >> Any other Mr. Barber? >> Uh, yes, ma'am. I'd like to introduce um from Florida Gas Utility uh Mr. Robert Graves and Miss Megan Santiago. Uh
they're here to do a brief presentation uh for the city. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Um I guess made some efforts to earn a grant. This
is actually about grant that was um my name is Robert Graves. As Donald mentioned, I'm the services manager at Florida Gash Utility or I'll refer to it as um I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you all tonight. our CEO unfortunately could not make a good
appointment otherwise. Um and just very briefly FDU is a nonprofit joint action um kind of a cooperative. We have 26 members, many of which are much like the
city of oil that operates that um one of the services that we provide is grant writing and that's here tonight in May of this year the pipeline and hazardous material posted a funding opportunity for
technical assistance grant background is the federal agency that has regulatory over sight over the safe operation of pipelines throughout the country they delegate that to
the purpose of the tech and I'll read from this quoting from their funding opportunity the purpose of the tech funding of local community for technical assistance related to pipeline saf and to strengthen the depth and quality of public of public understanding how
pipelines are designed constructed and operated. So through close work with your staff Carver uh we draft an application requesting $100,000 funding outreach and education throughout the county and we
also requested the hiring of create pilot train to enhance the knowledge of stakeholders. Earlier this month, the city was notified of grant of $100,000. And I would like to note that that 100.
Um in closing, it is important to understand that third party damages damages across the country. um and what has been requested through barber assistant will directly um
directly address those concerns and that's significant and in closing again I want to thank Barber but also Miss Santiago here on these she frame she also serves as our primary
and author of course you're okay with it. We do have it kind of recognize that Thank you. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Yes, Mr. Barber.
>> All right. That wasn't my only announcement. Um Oh, >> okay. The other thing was is uh I wanted to mention that um FEMA uh a representative from FEMA came in today and will be here the next uh day or so. Um they are here working with us because
uh the opportunity to be reimbursed for the storms last year has reopened. Um they've made an exception for us. So, they're sitting there and I want to thank Vicki and Miss Sue because they're working with her very hard to get questions answered and go through every
little document to see how much money the city could get back. So, that's another thing that is going on. Also, the last thing I wanted to mention, um the manhole repair on South Main and Southwest First A uh began yesterday and
um we are hoping that uh grading will be done by Thursday and hopefully repaving could be done as soon as next Monday. So, I just wanted to mention that that work has begun. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Any other staff? Attorney.
All right. Anything for the from the council? I forgot you. You said after the mayor. Um, a bunch of us, uh, specifically our Deborah, myself, Sue, and Miss Latricia
went down to Orlando on Friday of last week for the legislative committee sessions with the Florida League of Cities. And one um very interesting topic that was brought up in the utilities public works and environmental
committee meeting that Sue, Miss Payet and I were in was concerns from another city about HOAs um that had gone defunct but were responsible for storm water ponds and
drains inside of their HOA. And even though this was not an item that is probably going to get moved forward um by the Florida League of Cities, it was definitely food for thought. So um basically what happens is an HOA is established um and a a developers
agreement is made with the city um and they have to maintain the storm drains and then the HOA becomes a bump and nobody maintains those storm drains or ponds or anything else. And then when there's a hurricane and a lot of water for just you know average Monday in
Florida um the ponds overflow and the issue that was raised was who is responsible for those storm drains at that time. So anyway, um, public works director from Jacksonville Beach, I believe, basically said what the best
thing we can do is make sure that in our developers agreement that HOAs may not become defunct, that that is part of our developers agreement. So, I just wanted to bring that up as a thought exercise and maybe something that we should look into in the future so that we don't
absorb the cost of maintaining these storm ponds and the drains and the negative impacts of them not being maintained. Good for >> awesome. Thank you. Anyone else on the council? Yep.
I just want to give a uh good shout out to Roger Madison. Roger has been working on the pickle ball courts pretty much got them just about done, but I know he's been working hard
getting the paint, all that good stuff to get that done. So, the citizens will be happy that we got that. Anyone else from the council? All right. If not, we will have Mr.
McMillan. >> Mike, please. >> You can just leave it on. >> Just leave it on. I'm representing the CRA tonight with our I guess someone asked me to come back and talk about all the projects we're working on. Maybe you all didn't, I don't know, but they told me to come
talk. So, I just want to run down what we've been doing at our meetings. Second Monday, 5:30. Uh, we have approved the service dog statute for the veterans, the last part of the puzzle, and it should be
delivered coming up here by the end of the year. will be approved $18,000 for that. It's about a 4 foot Yeah. 4 foot long. >> Well, to show you this came from the uh Pensacola
memorial and we purchased it from the same woman that designed it. She owns the mold. She's in New Mexico. fine-tuning it. I'm trying to keep the park so symmetrical left and right. The probably be straight on towards northwest main. Put on the left or right
side. It kind of becomes unbalanced. But we have that. >> So, so in the pavilion block >> in the park. >> Okay. >> On the on the bridge. >> Uh the parking lot. Not everyone sees block 12 parking lot is cruising along.
It should be done in February of next year. Uh Donald stole my manic manhole at the police station, but um he brought that to us as a possible CRA project and it falls under safety traffic control.
It's in our district paving. So we voted on it and we approved $34,000 to have that manhole fixed. I guess as everyone knows the CRA funds are not city funds. They are the tax
increment financing that will give back to the county. Um the marquee sign for city hall has been approved. That's $39,000 approved for that. The permit should be
being pulled any minute to put it out of linear mean it's always going to be linear fire. Um, obviously it'll be all be wired control or wirelessly controlled from inside. Obviously, our goal is to put when the
council meetings are, when the voting is, there's a hurricane coming, uh, where the sandbags are, anything that y'all want to put on there. Um, the awning across the street that got run into by the vehicle.
You're not going to believe this part, but we received $10,000 from the insurance claim. It's going to cost right now about $83,000 to fix. >> Somebody that they did not believe. >> So, we approved to go out to bid, right?
We have a price, but it was outside of our obviously our perview. So, we have to go out and bid for it. So, we're currently in that process. And we were just shell shocked at that. I told the hammer the rest of them. They all look the same.
>> I said just take down the bent ones. What I did >> um sidewalks. You would not believe how hard it is to make an easy word like, well, let's just replace and add sidewalks. How difficult that is to get done. Studies and studies and studies
and studies. So, we've backed it down now to if there's broken sidewalks in our district district, how much is it going to cost? And let's get those fixed. Take us pedestri.
Um, what I brought tonight was one of the plaques we talked about last time I was here. How you doing? This is what we created for fireman's part. The plaque states
the monies again came from where the monies came from came from the tip funds. A little of history about it and we want to do that for all the projects we've got. >> The parking lot, the horse down the street. Uh got the name of the horse right now. >> Foolish pleasure.
>> Foolish pleasure. We want to put a plaque there. All the projects we've got going or have finished are going to be black. >> Yeah. I mean, >> I was told not to ask more questions like that until the parking lot is done. >> Probably the first of the year.
>> It needs a pedestal or something to put it on, right? >> We're not that far yet. I was happy to get This took a year and a half. So, Um, there's a little lake that shows up down the street here in front of the pavilion. Can't park. You can't walk
through the pavilions. An error in the pavement that was done years ago. And we are working with Right. Pierce done the surveying, doing the engineering. We're going to put he's going to put in a French drain system that's going to get that water out of there. It's not good
for the asphalt for it to sit there for weeks at a time. and obviously it's not good for pedestrians whatot so it fell under us. So those are the seven or eight projects that we've got going. Any questions?
>> I have a question. Um maybe this is a question for Walt. Uh would ballards of some sort along that stretch of buildings be helpful? I just hate the idea of us spending for you guys spending $83,000 to fix it only to have
the next tractor trailer that swings wide hit it again. Is is there anything that we should be looking into from a preventative perspective future traffic >> that would be in the DOT rightway. So
we'd have to go with DOT on that and we would have to make sure that we're not installing something that become safety. So that would have to be looked at and it would be DOT. Um right now those columns are set back. I do believe they're outside for an
urban area, the clear zone, but to protect them, you have to make sure that not introducing something. >> Yeah, I've been to a lot of cities that have a lot of, you know, the some of them have concrete planters that go
down, which is something that actually I've been thinking about. would be nice to make pedestrians feel like they're a little bit removed from busy traffic, but I don't know if that would, you know, how difficult that is with Florida. >> Yeah, we we'd have to make
their >> part of that 83,000 thought about it. mentioned that there's tens of thousands. I don't know the exact number for walking off the DOT road safety wise going to one lane. It's
immense amount of money just gave us 300 up there still on it. They have to coordinate where they go. >> There's a whole per >> Who's um where are you getting the
platform at for the statue? >> Uh Ralph Curry uh Parks Roads. He's he's fixing a solution right now. Thank you. >> Okay. New business, open public hearing. Attorney Kirsty.
>> Thank you, Madam President. This is the second reading of ordinance 2025-756, an ordinance of the city council for the city of Willist, Florida, amending sections 2.02 and 4.02 of the city charter and chapter 20 of the code of ordinances to change the dates of city
elections to change terms of office necessitated by such change in the election dates. Providing authorization for city clerk to delegate election tasks and responsibilities to the Levy County Supervisor of elections. Amending the time frame for special elections in certain instances. amending qualifying
procedures pursuant to Florida law, amending procedures regarding challenges, protest and absent ballots to comply with Florida law and providing an effective date. Um, so again, this is second reading and just to clarify, I know that we've been talking about a lot of election changes. This is just the
changes that are required in order for us to be able to enter into that agreement that we discussed with the Levy County Supervisor of Elections. The other ordinance regarding terms and term limits has been drafted. We're chopping it around and it'll be on your next agenda for first reading.
>> Happy to answer any questions on this one. >> Sure. >> We were talking about the legislative committees that you went to. I'm in the intergovernmental coordination and elections and management. There's one
other thing. remember exactly um in the elections area there has been a a state law not law yet it's still uh that has been introduced >> to move all the elections to the general
election I'm sure you're aware of that which this would totally circumvent preempt is the right word u as this preempts what we currently have because it says change it no matter what says
but I think that's interesting I don't know if we should wait or go ahead with it and hope we don't have to do it again >> one of the things that I will say about and definitely there's there's a lot of push push back
from the local government community of that kind of bill >> and the supervisor of election >> and the supervisor of elections of course um that is a concept cept that's been introduced a couple of times and hasn't is obviously not yet passed. Um that
doesn't mean that it won't pass this time. Um but I mean I'm not sure. I guess it's I guess it's up to you all. If this if the bill doesn't go through, then no changes would be needed whether you make this change or not. If the bill does go
through, changes will be needed whether you make this change or not. state and and as we know John does not want us to be on the general that's the one she want to she moves it and this bill says that it has
to be on that and of course everybody in my committee has 40 reasons why not the same ones told us about >> right >> that our information our information is
lost bill. >> Hopefully, it won't pass. >> Let's just go for it. >> Yeah, >> I just wanted to break that out. >> Make the change if that happens. >> I have a question. Reading through it. Um, it seems like a
lot of duties or details have been removed from our city clerk. almost feels like we really don't have a say in what goes on with the election. Even though it says
the city clerk gets to delegate responsibility, but a lot of the things that we've taken out and removed, it just seems as though we are giving over our rights related to what's going on with the city and the election.
>> So there Yeah. So there there are a couple of things. One of the things to keep in mind is that every every time that you see the language of at the request of the city clerk or as designated by the city clerk who put those provisions in there because your charter requires your clerk to be your
supervisor of elections. So there's no way for us to circumvent that without a charter change except to allow for your clerk to choose as she wishes to delegate that authority to Levy County Supervisor, Levy County Supervisor of Elections, which as far as my
understanding right now is on board with. She wouldn't always have to be on board. She can change her mind. Um, there are some other changes in here and I know that we talked about this last time that have to do with state law changes that we took out certain
provisions. Um, so like for instance uh challenges and protests. Um, the changes that were made to that section were to bring us into compliance with state law and the current election code. So, there are some some changes to the procedures that do take a little bit um out of the
city clerk's hands and supervisor elections hands, but that is because we we just changed it in order to be in compliance with her Florida code. We hadn't updated this code in a while. >> Okay. Does that also go for the canvasing board because it looks like the supervisor election now has control
over that as the city. >> Yeah, that that's part of the >> that was part of the back and forth of whether or not we wanted to enter into the agreement with the Levy County Supervisor of elections in the first place because that is one of the things that that she would want to have um
authority over in order in order for everything to sort of And if I remember correctly, you know, this is very trial. Judge presented it. We do this for a year and see how it works. >> Yeah. The agreement uh the contract that
we would we would sign if we pass this um is for one year. And so because the ordinance is written the way that it's written, if we enter into it again, then Latricia has the ability to delegate. Otherwise, that'll be that.
>> Yeah. And I think Mr. Jones also had said that the other cities were on board with it. >> I think it's I think it's every city, right? Every single city. >> Yeah. >> Not all of them have changed to the date
that we are on. I think there were two that were still left out. They may all be decided to do it now, but I think there were at least two that did not come to the April date. There's only one now, >> right? >> And bottom line, it all came down
easier. That was >> maybe the qualification part is the hardest part in my book and that's still she's got that heart and all the reporting is the hardest part.
Any other conversation from public? >> Seeing none, >> I make a motion that we approve the second reading of ordinance 2025-756. >> I'll second.
>> We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes 5. We'll close the public hearing at this time.
So at this time we have a presentation by the Doppler system. Miss Elena, I'm not going to do your last name. So, good evening. Um, appreciate the opportunity to speak here today. My name
is Elena Napolitano, director of sales at Doppler. I initially met with Mr. Donald and some others from the utilities and work department back in April um when Doppler initiated the contract with a so since
then we've scoped out a fiveyear agreement with the Doppler system. So today I've planned this kind of brief overview presentation of what we have to offer included in that that proposal and then obviously we'll open up questions you have on your end as well.
>> Okay. Next slide. Just let me know when you want to go to the next slide, please. >> Awesome. Yeah, next slide. So, up on the screen here, we have there's going to be a lot of different like quotes from different customers. I won't all those um specifically, but
that top image there does a good job at describing what a response management system is. So, that's what Doppler is, response management system. You'll see Doppler RMS. You need another acronym to remember. Um but we'll usually describe it in those four main components. So one
taking in information about what's going on. Um biggest one usually calls in for presidents. So Doppler has our own call centers on our end customer calls. They're strategically spread throughout the country. Um we
only take calls for utility. I get a call from Walmart, doctor's office. Um on top of that information from those calls we're also arms um include locates
um any other like information system. From there, we're aggregating that information and we're making sense of it or triaging it and determining, hey, all these calls in about say a power outage. We're going to group those together so we're not blowing up the call with every single resident that
comes in about the same outage. Um, we're helping criticality. We're helping filter out service area and then helping dispatch that information. that engage piece spans throughout the bottom. We're automatically documenting
this information as happens um that internal communication so that externally with residents helping. So a lot of information there but the idea is we're taking in information that's coming in making sense of it dispatching out the necessary
information. So the system itself is meant for daytoday use. So it doesn't just need to be used during like the bigger event out but it does especially shine in those situations. So this is what's called our
event detection. It's kind of hard to see here but the idea is when residents are calling in about an issue. Say one person calls in, they have someone else has maybe they see water leaving the street, someone has low pressure. The system smart enough to say, "Hey, all
these are indicative of possibly a water. You might have a water area." Same thing with power. Okay, these residents are calling in about this specific area. They think they don't have power. You might have a power in this area. And so from there, we can
kick off this tool so that when the residents pick up the phone and call in, they hear something. Thank you for calling Willist. We're aware of the power outage in this area working issue. Press one to speak to someone. Press up
to those calls, you can see on internally on a keap where those calls are going to be that internally, but your phones are So there's that IVR the red here when
they fall in and it ends up being over 90% of people end up that significantly reduce even if you're using it during daytime hours say we're not taking the phone or taking over the phone, you can still help mitigate a lot
of those calls coming in status updates. So, at any point out, hey, you know, we're aware of the power outage. Here's an ETR or a resident called that will get
what's special about this is that it's not it's a lot more reactive. So a lot of mass notification systems out there to have everyone opted into the problem in contact info. This they don't need to
do that. It's just going off of everyone. So obviously this is helpful during those bigger events, right? The hurricane power outages. It's helpful for the oneoff issues that residents will report as well. Um, so a lot of we
have the company started in 2017. We only have over 250 customers now. Um, so over time we've had a lot of customers and we've done apps for that was a popular thing for a while. We've stopped doing that just because the
usage rate is so low. The problem with the app is that you have to get residents to download it. The number of res have actually using it. And so in this case, it feels like the resident's using an app, but the key is the resident doesn't need to know this
exists to use it. So they'd call in the main line they're used to calling into might be us taking the phone call after hours during the day. But after they have that conversation with the call taker,
they're going to say, "Hey, thank you. We're gonna send you this text message to your phone where you can see updates. Please upload a photo, add a note." And so when the resident hangs up the phone, they already have this text message there waiting for them. They press on the text link and they get access to
that portal. There's no Doppler logos on there. You have the little logo at the top. It'll prompt them to add photos, add notes, updates. So obviously the resal from a customer service perspective, but arguably it ends up being more helpful
on the operation side because now they both have objective information about those. So it ends up being almost 60% of people who are actually updating that that additional information, adding those photos, adding those notes. That's a
common question we'll get is like, "All right, how many people are actually this?" Obviously, it's never going to be 100%. But with this tool, we end up getting a lot more of that. So, here we have some examples of photos that have come into our live customers.
Um, so on like the electric fiber side, obviously we'll get a lot of photos in where the phone call says, "Hey, there's power line down." but they send in a picture, right? Not everyone knows the difference. You can expect them to do.
Um people will call in and say, "Hey, there's a big tree down somewhere, but it's a small branch or vice versa." And so having that information, sometimes it's eliminating a truck roll in the first place, or maybe something comes in after hours, see the picture, and say, "Hey, this is April morning." Um
sometimes it's helping us priority, too, especially during those storms. The other benefit of this is that we have the pinpoint location of where these photos were taken and so we can help when we're dispatching crews out directly to the correct location as well.
Next slide please. Same with water wastewater side. So those five photos on the left here every one of those situations when the resident called in if you listen to the call they said there was a main break. they use that terminology when in
reality you know sometimes it could be a main break it could be high or could be a lifting issue ano a number of different things and so again we can't expect the resident to necessarily know that ahead of time but those photos end up helping staff that the two photos on
the right there they were both reported as leaks in the meter the bottom one's a lot more urgent so that's the type of information that you're not necessarily getting on the through these photos. So, it sounds silly. It's like breaking out. Now, you get a photo, but a lot of the cost
savings from this photo. So there we go. Scroll down. Perfect. Thank you. Um, so up until now we talked about the information, right? We're taking in a
lot of information from what's going on. What's key about Doppler the software itself is that we're making sense of that information and triaging it. So we have in-houseuilt AI machine learning that's kind of acting as fail safe, making sure things don't fall through
the cracks, making dispatch for hours. And so that's what that visual kind of representing. Hey, there's all these different sources of information coming in. A lot of people hear AI these days and they think of like chat GPT and typing in a question and it comes up with an answer and sometimes it's wrong.
Obviously, that would work in this scenario. Um, that's generative AI different type. The way this works is completely grounded in accuracy. And so from the years we've had these hundreds of customers with information coming in
and learning off of that. And so when information comes in from a customer, whatever those inputs are, if all it's doing is assigning a probability to what something could be, if it's under 98% probability, it's going for somebody for a live. We're never going to take any
guesses there. But this is a big reason of why it's helping things not fall through cracks. It's making sure it gets every single piece. It's not that information. Next slide, please.
So, that third piece when it comes to dispatching, the idea is that we're making it as simple as possible for the crew members to get that information. A lot of times we'll talk to utility public works departments and it's kind of a game of telephone where someone calls in, they're communicating
information, then they're documenting it separately and things again fall through the cracks. And so this way when a customer calls in, whether they're talking to us on our end, whether they're talking to you guys during the day, when the crew member is getting dispatched, they're getting texted and
called the information. If they want to get called first or texted first, that's all configurable, obviously, but what they get is very streamlined. They press a button or two and they get photos of what's going on. They get call. if they call the customer
back, it'll pass their cell phone numbers so that customers directed to that main line again when they have another issue. >> Um, this same technology can be used for safety check-ins for crews if you'd like. Um, but the big benefit here is
that it's automatically documenting the steps. So, the crew member on their end, they're they can organically respond to the issue. They're not having to worry about documenting all these things and playing this game of tag. But now at this point we already have all the information about the issue. We have
photos. We have times what happened. And so next slide please. There's a lot of different reports you can get from that information. So this is where that documentation piece comes into play. There's a lot of great systems out there for documentation. Um but the problem is
they're only as good as the information to it. The difference with this is that we're automatically a part of this process. now and so we automatically have all this information. So the reports we can generate from them are a lot more comprehensive, a lot more
accurate. Um so these heat maps are popular. It's not the only report you can get. A lot of those reports are configurable. But the idea here is you can go in scope by date by date of issue. See, hey, where are we spending most overtime? What areas might need
maintenance? Um things like that. All right. So, I talked a little bit about our more proactive version of map notifications earlier for when during an event. Doppler notifies a little more reactive. Um, and so the way this works is you can select a boundary on a map.
You've got files, select list of people. You're designating who you're sending those notifications out to. Type a message into a box and send that send out to those residents via text or email. And so people will use this for oil
advisories for plan maintenance for all kinds of things. Um but what's nice is that it's automatic realistically. Yeah, you can send messages out through email. Not many people use that nowadays. Um but the system will automatically detect
whether someone's phone number is a landline or a cell phone. And so usually people have it set up. will type the message automatically send a text to a mobile phone call to a landline and so they can reach a lot more residents that way too. We also have two way communication
enabled. This becomes helpful when you know you send out a message commonly like on the water side. They'll say hey maintenance has been completed services if you're having any issues please reply. Then residents can reply back.
Every single reply back will be documented. But if there's residents that say, "Hey, I still don't have water." Again, because we're triaging all the information coming in, we can automatically dispatch that right out to the crew that's still on scene. a lot of times just forget to turn the valve back on or something. Um, and so we can make
sure everyone's actually to wrap up here. So I threw in one case study at the end of one of our customers, but again there were quotes throughout the slideshow as well. Um these guys have been a customer for many years. Um
before we started working with them, they didn't have any visibility into after hours call. They were getting pretty utilities. um they didn't have a lot of those their daytime staff, you know, daytoday things
would work smoothly, but when there was a a bigger event as many hurricanes. Um but when an outage happened, they would get overwhelmed with those calls. And so that's where we stepped in. Their
solution that they they are still using with us is very similar to the one that we're proposing. Um RMS the solution you just described with event detection and then call answering. So that's where that contract would be taking calls
after hours and then have that option for date max. Typically, city hall would still be taking calls, but if needed, if there was a bigger storm that came through, they can be switched over to us that no. >> That's all I have. So, I'll open up the
question. You all have any >> first question? >> Yeah. >> Cost. >> Yeah. Is that on the next slide? Next slide. One more. Okay. It was just around after all said and done, it was around 55,000. The idea was
to split it up if the council wished. Um in this current year's budget we proposed additional for professional services in electric and fiber in water in collections um and even in uh roads and facilities.
So what we would do is we would code that out if the council wanted to move forward um around 5,000 to 6,000 per each of those funds and would literally split it up amongst all of them evenly since they would all be represented by the by the program.
>> Okay. So in your thing there's uh in your proposal there's three cities that it one averaged I think about 86,000 customers another one 81,000 and the one in Kentucky was about 13 to 14,000 we're
only 3,400 people >> for us we have something sim it's not similar but it's our gov which I still think we can do a better job to get more people done.
>> But um for a large city, I can see this working for them. I just don't see that it can work for us for the price, especially when our uh accountant said we don't need to be
spending any more money than what we have to, you know. So, >> so yeah, a lot of the the quotes on there are from, but our smallest customer serves under 200. Um, I would argue
the smaller utilities we work with, especially on the electric side, are the ones that get a lot more value for what they're putting in. Um, I don't know if you're familiar with an accounting management system on the electric side. Um, but utilities will spend hundreds of
thousands of dollars on those and it's not something that a lot of smaller midsize utilities can afford. So that's why we're honestly bigger in Yeah, we have these big off um being honest, but these smaller
midsize utilities are the ones that we have more of. one and then two they're getting a lot more out of it because a lot of these places I mean I know you're you're working towards getting AMI um but it's not quite there yet that's something where we can grow with you so
we don't we're unique in that we don't need those other pieces of technology to operate um and so you can start using us now if you get AMI in the future you can add that on but if you were looking at something with similar functionality for I mean this side the utility would
realistically cost a lot more um text my gov specifically that most of that overlaps with notify that's standalone. So if cost is a you know obviously factor which it is we can always piece
out notify and forward the rest of the system to start off. >> So we've already paid for one system I think we're have a contract with them. Um I just not for the money and not with
our account saying we don't need to spend anything extra. So for me I can't support >> I tend to agree. I do have I did have a couple of other questions. Um I don't
know relevant but you do the dispatch. >> Y >> you choose who to dispatch of our >> Yep. The dispatch is automated so you can trigger it internally. >> So you like if as the call takes it
changes we have to enter who's on call or something. >> Yeah. So usually it's a rotation. So it would automatically rotate on call schedule. if you needed to change it. Um, you know, if it's like three clicks to do it or you have a designated
customer like support that >> because I can see us changing that often. Um, good. And who enters the updates to the citizens? >> So, >> how are those entered? >> Yeah, usually it's up to you. Usually
the someone from the utility is pushing those out. >> Okay. Um, you can have canned messages in there if you want. Everyone kind of has a different preference there. >> So, it would still take an employee to to put in the updates as we went. >> Yeah, unless you want to have canned messages in there that went out.
>> Um, >> better we do. It's just having to still have someone to do that, but they probably get more relevant information. And my other question is >> Yeah. So that cost I believe just yeah
just under 50,000 per per year for five years. If you were to take out notify that massive tool um it'd be closer to like a year a couple without
too. Can somebody remind me when our text my go contract expires? I love the I love the concept of this. I unfortunately we're already in a contract with another company. I I agree that I can't quite justify the cost of it, but I do think this is great
information to have possibly revisit when our contract with text comes up so that we could look at this as an alternative if we're unhappy with text.gov and how it's working. Um, I I like the idea of the interactive side of it. Um, you know, somebody who, you
know, all had to call about power outages and it's really nice when you do get the continuous updates. I just we're already under contractual obligations. Love the idea. >> I I believe it's three years, but I'm not certain. >> And I would say that that's probably one
of the downfalls of most systems is that we have to have somebody to put in the updates. Uh, so somebody has to be here. They or somewhere they don't have to be here, but they have to be in the note in order to enter accurate information. Um, I'm not real sure how many people are on
text.gov that are actually giving information. Did we do the boil water notice on text? >> Yes, ma'am. It just depends on the area that we we select. It just depends on the area. >> So, we only notify the people in that area, >> right? And but did we use it for that this time?
>> Yes. >> Yes, we use it all the time. I mean, I know you you still put things on the doors, though. >> Yes. Yes, >> you did. >> We're still required to. >> Do you have to be signed up for it? >> I'm sorry. >> You have to be sign up for >> Yes, it's it's you have to opt in for it.
>> And does it um distinguish between text, landline? >> No, it's straight just text >> only text. So this would this system would be able to get information to people who do not have cell phones >> dwindling number of people but still
>> when you sign up with a cell phone you have to >> yes you have to have a cell phone >> but the Doppler system if if people entered a landline and it automatically calls. It does, but this other one doesn't. But it doesn't need to detect because it
you sign up the number you want to call >> and it checks >> and if your address is correct, you'll get the notification. >> So during the day when um the calls are coming into the city, is this system tracking those calls as well?
>> Yeah. So, whoever's taking the calls internally um would have dispract those calls. Most people use that to automatically dispatch those calls software as well. But either way,
>> so there's somebody that's on the line when they call. They would have an interface in front of them that they were able to put in the description of what's going on, phone number. >> So they would still have the internet. Okay.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. I would say the main I mean my understanding from the meetings we had the main value here wasn't necessarily customer notifications. It's more like the call taking docation piece of it. Um
so yeah. Any other comments? Any thoughts? Comments from supervisor sitting here. What do they think about it? Hannah fiber person too. I would like to add that I believe this is actually a
good idea because our state say Kirk or Cody whoever's on call or whoever call it if it is a mass outage they are not able to answer the phone while still doing the work then
directed to my phone then I'm involved and nothing is getting documented as far as all call at the house behind this and answer >> so just a little history um Doppler did
not approach the city of Wilston uh they have a uh big agreement with FMEA and FMPA so FMPA for municipal power association is the one that brought Doppler to all of their members, all 33 members in the state of Florida. They made a big presentation to all those
members. And one of the main pieces that the staff was looking at was we literally have someone in here for FEMA here for today and the next two days because during the hurricanes, we did not capture everything that FEMA wanted. So staff is going in there as they're being called in answering what questions
we can, seeing if we have anything of notes. um this eliminates that from ne need needing to be done from our side of the house if we were to have a storm event and have to report all those details to FEMA. The other element of it was when we talk about water and
infrastructure and sewer and gas and all those things and we go for all these grants like we have recently a lot of the data that Florida Department of Environment Protection the Water Management District Resiliency Florida and all these other places are asking and Walt can verify this is they're
asking for documentation. I mean they come back when we submit it and they come and and say okay well we have questions and they ask questions specific to these events. How many people called in about this? How many people were related to this? How many leaks did you have on this line? And that is relevant information to go back
to those grant programs and say, "Okay, here's the data you requested." We have no way of capturing that information. We don't even have a system built to capture that information. Edmonds is about creating work orders. It creates that, but there's no aggregate to actually pull those by category. It has
to do with an account. And so that is one of the main reasons why FMPA is recommending this to their members uh to address some of those needs and go after that essential uh funding. And I also want to remind um I know that there's been questions about finance. We all
knew about this last year as we mentioned we've been talking about this through April. We built into the budget that the council approved. I mean, it's obviously your your your option, but we did build in so if we were to if you were to consult Stephen, he would say that that was built into those
professional service budgets to split that up amongst the enterprise funds. So, uh that's to the question of of financing. Um and then if the issue is the text mygov, they're compartmentalized at Doppler. So, they can take out any piece, do as little, do
nothing, or do as much as the council would like us to to go forward with. Last piece is there's going to be questions about cost. I know our attorney will say, "Did you go out for bid?" They have a sole source letter that they can provide. And on top of that, this is a contract through an already contracted service that we have
through FMPA. So to answer those questions when they come up, >> I have a question for you. How much is this a year? >> Okay. I thought earlier it was higher. >> It's 55. >> 55. Is Mr. Bloom online?
>> Yes, I'm here. >> Okay, sir. So, what's your input on this costwise dollars? What's it going to impact us and everything? >> So, as Mr. Barber said, and this is a
great question. And this is going to be something you obviously will have to address each of these agenda items. If he has it in the budget and he's not going to exceed his budget for those lines, then from a financial standpoint, I'm fine. I don't, you know, I I'm not
going to be, you know, policing, you know, what he puts in there. If it's in the budget, and I know we've talked about this professional services from a financial perspective, we're fine. Um, sounds like this has already been vetted
with FM >> P of acronyms FMA FA FMA FMA FMA. Um, but I still would like to know if there's someone out there who does
comparably the same thing and what the cost would be for that. Um, but also I don't I think it'd be more work to have this system over here that we have to input
stuff into and then this system over here that we have to in input stuff into just to get a total of one thing going on. Um so I think we need to to take that into um
consideration as well because now we have two different systems that we have to try to manage when there is an issue that's going on. Um so for for me
because we are already currently under contract um I would suggest that we wait at least get more information from Mr. Harbor related to whether or not we can
find a more costefficient way but still get the same type of result that offers. >> Miss Alexa, >> I would just like to say that is 2025.
This is Wilston is like in 1960. We need to come up to this level. People have phones. They have all this stuff. Technology is wonderful. And if it's going to keep people informed so that somebody here doesn't have to take 82
calls about a tree down or something else that's not necessary and this can streamline the process, then we should do it. Especially when we've already heard from the finance person to say that we have money and all these people have already come up with a plan on how
to pay for it. And that's all I have to say is that it's 2025 and we need to get with it. >> Thank you, Alexa. But it doesn't streamline it because she just said that we have we still have to input information into the system. So as much
as technology there is, we still have to do put work behind it. Um, and I'm not necessarily opposed to that, but what I'm saying is we also still need to be diligent about the amount of money that we're spending finances. If there is
nobody else that's comparable and they're the best option out there and we decide to go with them, absolutely. I have no issue with that, whether it's 2025 or 2020. Um, so I just think we need to just make sure that we are
um dotting eyes, crossing our tees when it comes to finances related to just doing miser. >> Um, would this is the vision that this would eventually
phase out text and potentially admins or would they be required? Would each of those items would we have to have Edmonds, text my gov, and Doppler to cover all of our bases? >> It's a good question. Uh text my gov, yes, we would phase that out after our
contract ended. Um the Edmonds is a totally different platform. That's our billing. That's our customer account information. >> Um and and I wanted to just address briefly the the idea about inputting information. That question was related specifically to the alerts that the city
puts out. So like us texting on mass or calling on mass someone to give them information. Someone would have to type in the script and that script would be delivered. We don't need to put in information. The system gathers information for us. It compiles it so
that staff does not have to compile the information. it brings in and as she mentioned through AI and people who live in the United States um take phone calls and it triages all the data that comes in from let's say 80 calls classifies
them takes the pictures that they provide so it's actually building the information for us it's not something that we have to act actively do it stops the crew from saying I can fix that reclosure or I can put back in that jack
but instead I'm going to go to my log book and document what I did right before I pop the power on or I get the power popped on and then I spend the next 30 minutes sitting at the truck on the scene documenting all the things that I've done because the system will do that on their behalf and so it's it's
kind of the opposite of if that's the impression that we gave you and I apologize for that >> but that's not what was said >> how does this >> what she what she said was that if somebody makes a phone call and calls up here they will
have the information the um dashboard in front of them and as they're telling her the person what's going on, they have to be inputting that information into the system. So, it's not about texting people a response. They still have to gather the information, put the
information in, and then the computer at that point keeps track of the things. Is that not >> Yes, ma'am. So, that that's referring to what we call not being a spillover. So, that's talking about your normal business hours. We already take that information, >> okay?
>> And instead of putting it in admins to just create a work order, we would put it in their system, which would already be integrated to create that automatically with Edmond. So I wouldn't be doing it twice, but it also puts it in a format that we can print out reports and data for the future. So they
have the software to understand as information is put in and boxes are checked and pictures are added that it does its work in categorizing what enterprise what utility and what what is it major is it severe is it not it does all that automatically just with the
data that comes in from the customer right now what the process would be is the girls at the front would get that same information they'd create a work order it would come sit in the back it would get signed in after it was printed It would then go to a person that's an administrative assistant who would
possibly talk to a supervisor as to what do you want us to do and who do you want us to deploy and then we would pick out staff that we know is available and and so it it streamline it. It gets your reactionary time down considerably during the day when we take the call and then after hours they would take the
call as opposed to flooding dispatch um with those calls because now they're calling the on call person and they're usually asking the on call person, can we patch you in because we don't want to call them off of our personal numbers. So then the dispatch patches you in and that line is hung up. So, it's it's
removing some of those responsibilities from emergency uh dispatch that we could handle internally with the system and still collect that data. Um, and she can correct me if I've said anything wrong. Um, but I believe that's what was
proposed to us. And as I mentioned, the only reason why we even know about it is because FMPA did a big huge deal with Doppler for all of their systems and gave them a massive price discount to see if whether or not these systems could try it out in an affordable
manner. Um, and I believe that that contract can be as short or as long as we desire it to be. There's not, you know, she could say we could do a fiveyear, she could say we could do a one year. She has the ability to determine what the city feels is in its best interest. So, I do have a
>> Let me let Jones I >> I want to ask Eron if you can op if we can opt out of text.gov at all. Is there any out clause? >> I would have to pull the contract. >> Yeah, because that would make a big difference. If so, >> I don't know that there is. >> I would want to look at it, too.
>> Yeah. Okay. >> I'll get it to you. >> I appreciate it. That would be good. Um because if so, that would make a big difference. The other thing is I think I heard Mr. Barber. And if I didn't hear this right, help me. Um, I heard you say 5,000 here, 5,000 here, 5,000 here.
Different departments. So, I heard maybe 20 to 25,000. What about the rest of it? >> Uh, five to six. And it was going to be across, I think, eight or nine departments. >> Eight or nine. Not. >> So, you've got parks, facilities, roads,
fiber, gas, collections, wastewater, water, and power. So nine department and professional services. I think that was the conversation when Jonathan and Mike did their sections of the budgets when I looked at our budgets for the
other divisions. That's Mike. Correct me if I was wrong, but that was the what we had put in as the plan. So it was a collaborative effort. >> And you say it works interchangeably with Edmonds. >> They we've spoken to them. They have other systems I believe that actually have Edmmonds. They have other cities
that have Edmmonds. And so basically the data that they can collect can be inputed directly into our account information and help with the work order. So it's not a two-step. It reduces it to the same step we have during the day with the same information but it actually gives us the component
of having all the pieces of information to be used later. >> So just curious if we knew that this was going to be coming this is first I've seen this. If we knew it was coming, why wasn't it pinpointed in the budget coming out of every each department?
>> Is that a question? You want me to answer? Okay, >> that's a question. >> So, I mean, I've said at all the budget hearings, we ask you guys if any line item that you're curious about for increases, decreases. I mean, we we to be honest with you, I mean, there's so many line items in 9 10 budgets, it's
almost impossible to not sit here till 3:00 or 4 in the morning as opposed to 11 or 12 at night. Um, I it wasn't intentional. I can tell you that. I mean, these are meetings that we didn't know what it looked like and we were still developing this as of Sue was
introduced into it um I believe a month ago. So, I mean it's it's and it was just trying to understand what the contract looks like and the staff was trying to vet other cities that had this. We were trying to vet with FMPA whether or not they were really happy with the systems who'd already signed up. So, we were just trying to do our
due diligence. We put it in the budget merely as in in case so that you guys weren't faced with well now you're asking us for more money and if you decide not to do it, it's money that we save or in an emergency we have to rely on for other things. but we built it in there and we didn't mention it because
we didn't know if it was going to be something that we were going to pursue uh uh specifically. But I hope that answers your question. >> So I do have a question for you. So in your cities it has where uh residents can go take pictures of down power lines
this and that. I look at that as a safety aspect. We live in society where people just love to go out, take pictures and with the kids of today. What if it's a live power line and that
person gets close or steps on it going to get a picture and gets electrocuted? >> If you'll come back. >> Thank you. >> There's a disclaimer on that. Um
different customers will have but the call taker will say that initially if there is indication of a live power line the call taker doesn't have to say hey we're going to send you this this link right they won't even send it in the first place. Um but if
the customer does get a link there's a disclaimer on that that says there's a live wire or etc. do not approach um if they can take pictures from far away, >> but people might take pictures first before they contact.
>> I mean, it's not prompting them to take a take a photo. So, yeah, if they if they're taking it beforehand, then they could be doing that now, too. Probably are. >> Yeah. >> Right. Yeah. But once they're as soon as
they're prompted to take a photo that the caller will >> Thank you. Um, so I would suggest that maybe we let we table this until >> I can review the text my gov contract. Sounds like that's maybe a big piece and
then I can bring you back an update on that at the next meeting. >> How much we pay for? >> Absolutely. We can bring that back >> and I I would love to see a breakdown if if we take out the not if we can't get out of the tech contract if we take out the notification. And also you mentioned
that um FMPA had negotiated a discounted rate with Doppler. >> And so my question is how >> believe it or not >> that is the discount, >> right? No, but my question is how long does that discount apply? like is is that over for the first year, first five
years, first 10 years for the lifespan of the contract. Obviously, there'd be increases over time, but so negotiated a discount for a pilot program. Um the contract we have now is for a five-year contract. So, if we want
to change that, we can. The five-year contract applies a 20% discount. Um that'll be for any like longer contract. The FMPA pilot would be um 4,900 for for
what we had spoke out >> 4,900. >> Yeah. So that would include like 247 answering the FMP pilot basically covers like pretty much everything we have to offer. And so you get full access to the system 247 call taking full RMS for six
months and then from there you decide what you want to [Music] >> and then you pay an additional 49,000 or 55,000 for the year a year >> if yeah if you wanted to go forward with all this functionality um if we were to
like doler notify for example is the one module we have that overlaps with So if you were to take out that, say you can't get out of my gov contract and you were to stay stay with my go take out Docker Notify, that would subtract,
sorry I thought the proposal was on your iPad on my phone, but it would subtract 10K annually. >> So we're looking at approximately $100,000 for a year and a half of service. For the year and a half, it
would be 5K plus if you were not doing not notify 40K. So it' be 45K for the year and a half. >> So it was 4,9 4,500. >> Just under 5K. Oh >> yeah. For the pilot. Yeah.
>> Okay. That's why I was like that's a lot for how long? >> For six months. >> For six months. >> So we'd still be >> Yeah. Then what would we pay after the pilot? >> Again, it would just depend on the functionality you move forward with. If
you wanted the functionality we talked about with the RMS, say you didn't go with notify and spillover, it would be around 40k. >> So then we'd go from uh 5K,
>> we would jump up to 50. >> I know. I'll wait on him to finish. >> Yes, sir. >> The text my gov is is right at 5,000 a year. >> We just got our We just got the the bill for the renewal. >> Oh, you're so good.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> I mean, it's just I mean, it's just right at it. It's like might be 48.99 or 49.88 or something, but it's right at 5,000. >> Okay. I think we should >> Yeah, I agree. I mean, the math is basically
ballpark 50,000 for a year, 1,800 residents, not residents, residences, homes. Um, $30 a year for customer. >> Okay. So, we're Oh, I need a motion and
a vote um so that we can table this have um Kirsten to take a look at the contracts and Donald Mr. Barbara is going to take a look at um
some other companies that may and bring that all back to us. You think you'll be able to do that within two weeks or if I if there are any more? >> Yeah, if I could have a uh two meetings uh so a month I I could bring you guys back a full report of what we found. >> Absolutely.
>> And uh let you know what the price structure looks like and what services they are. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Because this was just a presentation with that direction. I don't need it. >> Okay. >> Sounds good. >> All right. Thank you, ma'am.
>> All right. So, I'm going to relinquish my control at this time to the vice president. >> Um, you're going to take control. >> I'm really going to shame my control because I can't because you're getting ready to do something with me and I
can't be a part of it. told me to do >> when the when the president is voting on something for for themselves as to an appointment to a boardly have the g pass just for procedural purposes. >> I'm sorry I didn't hear what you said.
>> Absolutely. Mr. Vice President, this is resolution 2025-119, a resolution of the city council of the city of Williston, Florida, appointing Darkness Hinds to the city of Williston Police Officer Pension Plan and Trust Board for a period of 2 years for term beginning October 21st, 2025 and ending
October 20th, 2027 and providing an effective date. >> Sergeant O'Hara's going to speak. Okay, never mind. >> Okay. On the resolution that Kirsten presented to the board is appointing
darkness to the police pension 185 with terms starting on October 21st, 2025 and ending on October 20th, 2027. >> Move approval of resolution 2025-119. >> I second.
>> All right, we have a first. We got a second. We got any discussion? Seeing none, we move to vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed 4. 5 Z. Sorry. >> 4. >> Oh, that's right. 4.
>> So tell me just just because I'm crazy. Why why does she have to say she has no? >> It's because she's got a a personal vested interest. just because she will have she will gain a
a position of of authority power voting rights in an organization. It's the equivalent to the financial gain conflict of interest. >> You know how many times I've been appointed to the general board and we've never just done that. I just that's why
I'm confused. >> Okay. I I I can only speak to what's happening now. I don't I don't recall a specific situation that >> Okay. >> you're referring to. >> We have another board. >> Yeah. No, I'm >> sit on it. >> Uhhuh. >> And I've been appointed by this board
>> sit on it for years, >> which is what we just did, >> including when I was president. I'm just >> Okay. All right. Okay. Item D, resolution 2025-120,
a resolution of the city council of the city of Willist, Florida, appointing Matthew Forney to the city of Willist police officers pension plan and trust board for a period of two years for term beginning October 21st, 2025 and ending October 20th, 2027 and providing an
effective date. Council member Deborah Jones [Music] Miss Latricia, go ahead. >> I had put you down, Miss Dre, because you are on the general pension board and you normally explain a lot better than I
do about the pension 185. >> Okay. The 185 pinch board, Sergeant O'Hara may do better better than me. They have five positions, two of whom are appointed by the police department and are police officers. They can live
in or out of the city limits. We appoint two people as a city. They have to live in the city limits. A fifth person is appointed by those four people and they don't have to live in the city limits.
They can, but they don't have to. Um, and Matt, uh, Captain Forney was on the pension board, but because he went into the drop plan, he can no longer serve in the capacity he was serving in as a
police officer because he's in the drop plan. So, I we are I am asking that we appoint him for as one of the two Williston employees, meaning ours because we have a vacancy on our side.
uh to serve as in the little capacity for the Wilson residential seat. >> I make a motion we approve resolution 2025-120. >> I second.
>> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion from the public? Any discussion from the council? Seeing none, we move to vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes five to zero.
>> I will also add that the 185 pension board was down to two people on their board. Miss Hines took one of those seats. Captain Forney will now have one of ours and the other one that is vacant is the one that they appoint together. So they will decide who the bid person
is and they'll notify us. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Resolution 2025-121 a resolution of the city of city of Resolution of the city council of city
of Williston, Florida approving the Pacer associate supplemental agreement 25-29 regarding the design runway 5-23 lighting and signage rehabilitation project authorizing appropriate parties
to sign and document any documents required. to execute same on behalf of the city of Wilson and provide an effective date. Attorney Kirsten Miller, >> I guess I'll hand it off to Benton. Happy to answer any legal questions about it.
>> Yes, ma'am. So, this uh this is the pass road work order for the planning and development phase of the runway lighting project for 523. uh basically taking the runway lighting system from a hallogen system to a LED system which should save
us a little bit in you know electricity and utilities and hopefully take down some of the maintenance cost as you know the H hallogen systems a pretty labor intensive system we replace about 15 to 20 bolts a year at the to the tune of
about $30 per bolt they're only about that big So the LED system would would probably be great. This is only the uh the design phase for it. Um based on what Mr. Singleary told us last meeting,
uh there is a cost associated with this one for the airport. It's only going to be about 1,100 bucks uh for the city's share in the FA and FDOT split. um Paso and Miss Sue and I are working diligently to um
resolve that and hopefully get the ready ready waiverss back so that we don't have to continue to pay into it because if it comes down to it next year it'll be a little bit more costly for us. Um but thankfully Pastor is really good at what they do and they've managed to find some state and federal grants to to
offset the cost considerably for us. So, our intent is to still proceed forward with the construction once the time comes. Um, regardless of the status of the ready waiverss because it will still be well within something that the airport fund could tolerate. Um, but you
know, ideally we would get the ready waiver back and then it would be money that we don't have to shell out for that. So this will >> all this will be coming out of the airport airport budget
>> only about only about $1,200 will be coming out of the airport budget. >> Okay. Rest will be state and federal m or state and federal funding. >> There's a I believe there's a breakdown included. If it's not I can send it to
you all. Um, but it's it's basically 95% u FAA, 4% FDOT, and 1% um city will. >> So the 11,000 we're paying 11. >> Okay. >> That's what I like. That's not what I
>> make a motion that we approve resolution 2025-1. >> A second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion from the public? Any discussion from the council? Seeing none, move to vote. All those in favor
say I. >> I. I. >> All those oppose both say nay. >> Motion passes 5. >> Thank you very much. >> Yes. All right. So now we're going to do resolution 2025-122,
a resolution of the city council of the city of Willist, Florida, approving the restarting of the agreement to prepare the study to develop impact fees with right peers authorizing appropriate parties to execute such agreements on behalf of the city of Wist and providing
an effective date. City Manager Sa and Walt. >> I'll just give a brief update before Walt gets up. But um so this is something that the staff has asked me to work on is getting these impact fees for um the police and the parks department
uh back in place. And uh you guys had passed a resolution, I believe it was January of last year to to get this started. And then a state statute came around and said, "Well, if you don't have these impact fees put into place within a year, you have to kind of start the wall all over." So that's where we're at is we're starting all over.
>> It's Walt Nichol with Right Pierce. Um we're not starting the work over. We collected the data, got all the information. It's just this is a formality. If you reauthorize us with today's date that starts the clock for year, we are planning the next four
months. just bring this to you the impact study that then gives you turn four months you've got all that time to debate to analyze and go forward with this basically start you have a
year before you have to if you choose to accept evalu formality no change in our scope no change in our fee just kind of let's officially restart this um a little ambiguous in state statute when that
starts this way and here. So in about four months we'll come back [Music] analysis and results have time. So with the analysis and results you're
going to give us a amount that impact fees should be >> okay. >> I just want to also add that um fire was included as a secondary proposal and they are also been studied out and that's already all been paid for as
well. So that's police, fire, parks. Walt was there a component for roads? >> No, there was not a but it was it was the other three. Have you um are you up to date on any policies that are trying to be passed at
this time relate to impact fees? >> Uh I'm not aware of it. We are using a specialty firm called RA tell us that they are the experts in this and they're they are really moving forward with this work. Um they are the ones who informed us about the new state statute frame. Um
so I can't speak as an expert on this. That's what we tell us. they're helping us with that, but I'm not aware of any. They they committed to we're gonna get this done in the next four months. Um I'm not aware of anything.
>> Yeah, there there is a there is development. I believe it don't believe it was in my committee but another one um that I actually have a summary of remember the page I said I need to give you um that talks about impact fees and
if they have to they're kind of frozen at a certain period of time um and if you got them you can't raise them and I think if you don't have them you can't have but I'll have to I have this it's a bill hasn't passed yet >> okay >> it's just a bill
>> and also if um you set an impact fee then part of that is you have you can only um do it over four you have to do it over four years you can't do it like all in one >> yeah percentage over four years before
the full amount can be >> I'll give it >> you can do that um bills I'm quite sure is fully aware of that but I'll pass that okay >> al also I wanted to asked if who who's
going to pay this impact fee? Is it for new development only or is it for all residents? >> No, it's for new something comes in a new development that added cost. >> Perfect. >> That's why you can't do one for storm water. New development should be taken
care of that impact other development. >> I thought that was the case. I just wanted it on record. >> So, also I'm just curious if in the process of doing this analysis they're taking into consideration the fact that there is um pressure from our
current governor to do away with property taxes and how that will impact also budgets for police, roads and parks and our fire. Thank you. And if that is in if if the uh projected effect of not
having property taxes is calculated into our future impacts. >> I will I will convey that. I just want to say totally different subject but I would like to also go back and look at regular impact fees for
development like we used to have but we did away with right yeah not we already have capacity but impact these on new development >> that's what this is m >> right I thought you did away with them
sometime in the past understanding right so these are brand new starting from scratch there's nothing in place. >> I We could pull the old ordinance. >> You just have to look at like what we were charging for all these things last time. >> Well, it would be way different, I'm sure. >> I would imagine. Yeah. >> But we would we don't collect anything
now from somebody who's coming in here and building a whole subdivision, a whole development of any kind. >> And our our residents are picking up the tab. So, if we can get an impact fee, the people that come will be the ones going to do it instead.
>> Yeah. So, that that's exactly what this is. impact fees you can't charge to anyone other than new development. It's just new developers that would be subject to impact fees. And I think we also need to be sure that um whatever that amount is
um since we've had a delay or we've had some time without having any impact fees if that's going to affect the impact fees that you have that you result that you get because I believe they said something else something as well about
um not being able to raise it above a certain amount. There are right now guidelines that they have to follow those limited minimum safety rails there. They just can't do that. That's all part of the statute. >> Okay.
>> Okay. >> All right. Any other discussion? >> I make a motion we approve resolution 2025-12. >> Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any other discussion from the public or the council? Seeing none, move
to vote. All those in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed say nay. >> Motion passes. 5 to zero. A Walt. On the last page of the agreement, um just want to make a um modification to the name. It says
darkness. H I N. Just make sure it says H. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. So resolution 2025-123 a resolution of the city of city council of city of Willist Florida approving the
transfer of funds from utility department to the Williston community redevelopment agency for the Williston downtown parking lot block 12 project authorizing appropriate parties to execute such transfer of funds on behalf of the city
of the city of Willist approving and effective date city manager who and Wal >> I'm going to defer entirely to Wal. >> So as you're aware the black parking lot project city owned parking lot that's being
construction proceeding done early next year. Um as part of that project the city is always going to we're doing that on the ground power new power coming in on the ground. Um from that point we're going to
connect from just outside the building into the building. Um was the intent that the city's crews going to do that connection called pedestals into
they were going to do most of that work. They were not licensed and the state didn't do all of it to take it from uh meter and you had to have a state license contract that they were always going to hire that
out. But rather than utilities department going out and hiring somebody to do that, we approached the contractor who's doing the work and their electrical sub to do that state license.
So they're doing work that the city was going to do that. Since the city was going to do it, perhaps pay for it, it would have been your cost anyway and that reimbured or anything part of city would have to
go out do it separately another bid and that would be efficient ways to do The city gets the revenue power doesn't get that all this power.
>> This is the 69,843. >> No question. Is this currently in within budget, Mr. Farmer? So, >> no ma'am, this is an unplanned cost. Um, the good news is earlier this evening, you received a presentation where we
received $100,000. Now, that money has specific to, as U. Mr. Robert Graves mentioned, uh, the salary uh, for one entire year of the locator, which we put in our budget. So, that big portion of it is in the budget. And then the other
part is of course for educational commercials, you know, things of that nature. So I was looking at the budget and Stephen could chime in, but if you look at all in for the benefits and everything for our 811 locator, it is a very significant portion of the 69,000
um that the city does not have to pay that was currently budgeted. So, he's welcome to chime in, but that's where when Mike and I talked about this, we had said that was kind of a blessing in disguise because this is a one-time cost and that's a one-time grant. So, you know, it's up to the council what they
want to do, but Walt's correct. I mean, this really is a city-owned parking lot and it's it's benefiting the city's revenue through the electric department. So, that was the thought. And the CRA also, just to remind everybody, is doing a few other projects that have really benefiting the city that Mr. McMillan
mentioned earlier tonight as well. >> A few other things they've added project. >> Yes, >> Mr. Bloom. You on board? >> Uh, yes, I'm still here. >> All right. So
how will this impact by coming out of the utilities? Is it going to hurt us? >> So um well if with that grant the again I I'll have to make sure I tie out all
these numbers with Mr. Barber, but the locator position for the year uh was budgeted about $54,000. Um, so if if that's the position that we're talking about, um, and that's
going to be 100% covered with the grant. And then, um, it was $100,000. I guess I didn't know what the rest of that grant was covering, if there was anything else within the city's budget, but if we could basically, you know, we basically
be down to um, what is it about 70,000? about, you know, 15 to $17,000. And if that's the case, I think between myself and Mr. Barber, we can find that money. So again, for for the council's perspective on this question and
anything throughout the year, what we're saying is is there's we're not going to touch reserves, but we have no problem if we move around our current budget as long as we stay within budget. So in this scenario, we are going to be bringing in more revenue
um grant revenue. So, and then therefore it's going to cover some of our costs. Therefore, we are really reallocating that $54,000 to this particular project. And again, we, you know, still have, you know, roughly about 15 to 17,000.
But at that amount, I believe we can find it. We can make it work. >> Okay. Thank you, sir. Any other questions or comments? >> Mike, did you have anything you want to
ask? >> Can I get a motion? Move the approval of resolution 2025-123. >> I have a question for Mike. Sorry, just a quick question. Um, my question for you is because we are um
There we go. Thank you. Sorry. >> Um because we are um passing on the labor to I mean is there cost savings in that as well that our employees are then redirected to other projects.
>> Any other questions? >> See none move to vote. All those in Oh, we have a first and second. Yeah. Motion move to vote. All those in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed say nay. >> Motion passes 5 to zero.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Discussion with possible action renaming of one reserve position to a part-time animal control position. Chief Micro, >> you got Sergeant O'Hara today.
>> Sergeant O'Hara. >> Okay. So, this is, as you know, uh, we took over animal patrol and code enforcement. Christy is is doing a good job thus far, but she's going to need a little bit of help. I'm also in charge of the uh of the of that as well. I'm
her supervisor along with others. But having said that, I'll say this. I'm in charge of the reserve unit as well. So, we have five reserve positions at this time. two are being filled or else already being filled. At least three that are open at the moment. We do have
to applicants, but we want to take one of those reserve positions that because we do pay our reserves uh and move it over to the uh animal control and code enforcement uh area so that uh we can hire a part-time person to come and
assist Christy when she's needed on her vacations or she goes to school like she's in school all this week. Um and uh so things like that that would help us to help her. Um and also the big bigger picture would be as well is to save a
little bit of money as well because the money is already budgeted for uh the reserve position at the police department. We can just move that over to that position and save not just the police department budget money but also the our city as well. So I think it's a good move on uh for us to to to look at
that. >> How much is the reserve position? It's a $15 an hour >> and this would be the part time that we're looking to pay for the parttime position as well. >> Yes, sir. >> Yes, sir. >> Do I understand correctly too that with
the cameras now over by the high school that you have less of a need for the reserve officers to be stationed there during school hours or >> No, we don't use actually we don't actually use them. We have we have rev and rev is over there. That's a different budget.
>> Different budget. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? >> Well, discussion motion or >> if you want to take action on it, you would need a motion. >> You want to take action? >> I move that we rename the reserve
position and move it to as a parttime animal control position. Second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion from the public or council? Seeing none, move to vote. All those in favor say I.
>> I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes 5. Discussion with possible action combining the planning assistant position and permit tech position together. City manager. >> All right. So, as you know, we uh
recently um promoted BJ Bishop from the permit tech position to the animal shelter manager position. Um she's doing a great job over there. Uh our problem is we have posted this permit tech position both internally and externally and we are not getting any applicants. Um it
also pays $15 and change per hour and we just really don't have anybody to do this position right now. Um VJ has been working with um Nikki over the past couple of weeks. Uh I believe Nikki had
this position originally, if I'm not mistaken, um with the city and so she feels as though she can do this work. Um I would like to give her some sort of a salary increase to take on this additional work. it would save the city
roughly4 to $45,000 um to not have this position and the benefits associated with it. So, I would definitely like to give her some additional money to take it on. I'm not saying that we may not need it in the future. You know, if we get a big development here, obviously I may come back to you and ask to reopen it again,
but as it is right now, we really don't have another option. We need to do something. And I would like to, you know, recognize and give Nikki the position. Like I said, she's willing to do the work. Um, but I do think she deserves some additional pay to >> That's my thought. What are your
thoughts? >> How How much are you looking to increase her pay? >> Did you talk to her about it? >> I did. Um, currently she is making we gave her a 10% increase for the intern. She's filling the position at $22 an
hour and maybe adding $4 onto that. But I mean, you're still saving $10 an hour for the permit tech and she's doing two jobs. And plus her part of her other with the planning assistant, 50% of that is covered with the CRA. So, um, I
didn't necessarily talk to her about the race before I like Sue and I came up with this idea. I had talked to Nikki about it and she said she's the intern regardless when we don't have a permit tech. So, um, but she said she can
handle both. So, my question is going to be in the event that you eventually hire somebody, she's going to be still sitting at that increased wage. So, now you're going to have that increased wage on top of whatever you're
going to pay that permit. So, that's not Why why looking like that? >> No, we're talking about eliminating the permit tech position altogether. Unless, like I said, something happens in the future and we get this, you know, 500 house development or something that
something changes drastically. But no, we would be basically eliminating the planning tech and just combining those roles with Nikki's current roles as >> So, so whack or sounds like it's already more than that. They've already >> Well, yeah. Well, that's true. She's the
interim already, then she's already at 22. Why is that not >> She's got 10%. I I would still say we I would like to give her something in addition to that or >> I mean I'm I'm a component of um sometimes we have to do extra work in
order to make things run and if she's already getting more money than what she normally would have gotten because she's in then just make a permanent save amount instead of an additional fee. >> I think I think I think that's where we
run into a lot of problems within the city when people are doing things and then we want to give them additional continue to give additional money on top of money. Yes. So, the HR manual requires us to give
her that 10% for filling in. Um, but her taking it on part time, like full-time, the additional duties, cuz that was only for temporary spot. And if she's going to completely take it over and get the C, um, she's looking at getting the
certification as well. So her additional duties adding on because again her 50% of her current planning assistant comes out of the CRA. They pay for that and we're still send still saving, you know, even with a $4 raise,
you're still saving almost $12 an hour on a person. >> So how much is she getting paid without the permit tech? without the permit tech >> without the interim paid up 10% that you guys >> 2096 with the
>> $3.90 and 10 of that is coming from the CRA. So the city really is paying $10 an hour. Is that what you're saying? >> Yes. >> Okay. So I'm okay with a couple of dollars. >> She said four. She didn't say a couple. >> Well, I know. But I'm okay with
what I'm saying. I have two concerns. >> Okay. >> Um my first concern is that the CRA they're cap they're the CRA is disappearing at a certain point. Um so I just think we need to keep that in mind
that the city will in fact have to take on the full salary of planning and zoning this road in our in our minds. Um do that. And and my other concern is that we we ran into trouble with Laura taking on job, you know, wearing too
many hats and getting overwhelmed and it caused, you know, an issue. Um, and and she ended up leaving. Um, and I just want to make sure we don't go down that rabbit hole again. Even though Nikki obviously is very willing, Laura
was also, and I'm just concerned about setting up that same practice going forward. I appreciate that there is initial savings. Um, but my concern is that we end up in a situation where somebody's overworked. Um, and then you know if do we take to your point DNA
like if we do have to hire a permit tech in the future then what happens to Nikki's salary? Does that or her hourly wage does that get removed from that? And then, you know, I just hate to do that to somebody without at least having that expectation set into the agreement
that if we do bump her salary up, the understanding that if when the time comes and we do hire a permit tech full-time that she understands that that pay has to be redirected to that permit tech and that she, you know, can keep her at that point, but can we
from a budgetary perspective, >> right? And I just too because we've just done the budget and we've just done raises. Um we did a 3% raise and now a 10% raise because she's got the interim position. So that's 13% right there.
>> Um but I still see the value of a couple of extra dollars um with the understanding that she knows it may have to be redirected if something big comes along. She because we don't want to burn her out. I mean, Laura was pulled in so many different directions by different hats all together. Um, between animal
control, shelter, I think I don't think Nikki will let herself get to that point. Um, she's she can do it. She can handle it. I think she can. >> That's was my concern is just the burnout that I didn't want to see that happened to her.
>> So, I didn't get a chance to talk to her today to see how she felt. >> I think we slowed down a lot. I mean, I know we're still very busy with different things, not not to not whole subdivisions, but we're still busy with a lot going on and people that are
remodeling and rebuilding um structures that are already here. I mean, everything from a roof to a fence. I mean, she's handling it all, but I do believe a couple of dollars. >> So, I'll give you an anecdote just to kind of put it in perspective. um
because the only other option is then we have to increase the salary from trying to get somebody in here. So my utility clerk um in the town of Bronson was making $15 to $16 an hour. She ended up getting her permit tech license and moved to Winter Springs and they offered
her a position at $25 an hour as just a permit all. So to ask somebody to be the planning assistant and the permit tech I grant gr granted winter springs is much bigger than listen I understand that but permit techs now are going for 20 to $25 an
hour just the permit tech alone so personally I feel like we should bumper to 25 that's my personal opinion of course it's entirely up to you but I just think that that's the right thing to do because again we are saving a lot of money by not having this other
>> we're saving a lot of money because we're only paying 15 or $12 an hour. I mean, well, yeah, $12 an hour now until other things happen. I would have forefront of it also saving all the benefits of a lot and all retirement
that's a lot too. >> Um, yeah. No, and I I agree. I don't want to short change Nikki because I know it's a lot of work. I would love um for there to be and again not necessarily in this situation but future board there's some calculus that we have
that you know when we combine two positions so that it doesn't feel arbitrary. What concerns me is that we're sort of making arbitrary decision about Nikki's value as as an employee who does both these jobs and then maybe this situation presents itself down the
road with another job where we're combining two jobs and it's like oh well $2 or $4 and I feel like it's it it would be I would be a lot more comfortable making the decision if there was a finite in the employee handbook like two positions and there's you know
it's 15% of this position for x number of times. you know, so that we're not we're not I just don't feel approp it's appropriate that we're making an arbitrary, you know, $2 an hour, $4 an hour, $6 an hour decision without any calculus behind how we arrived at that
number. I just don't feel like it's fair from employee to employee for that to be as arbitrary as >> and I don't feel like every collateral duty um that somebody's giving should be met with money as well. If it t turns
out to be a long-term thing, then okay, then yeah, we should be looking at money at that point. Had she not gotten the 10% ahead, which I knew nothing about, not you know, but had she not gotten
>> But had she I'm just saying had she not gotten the 10% at the interim, then you know, it would be a lot easier to give the give the raise for, but it's it's it's like you're paying twice for
>> to make it a little less arbitrary. I mean, we could look at the 10% which is what somebody gets when they're filling in for somebody else. And then I believe in the handbook if we hire somebody that has experience, we can give them an additional 15%. So that would be a max of say 25%. So what she's making now,
which again puts her in this 25 and change >> and this is also the fourth time that she's filled in as the interimm since she's been here. >> I'm comfortable with what Sue just presented. question. >> So, are we going to have to then pay her
for her lensure as well for giving the license? >> So, now we're not just looking at $25, we're just looking at more. >> It is a certification. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> So, instead of giving her if you want
her to be at $25, then we bump her up to 24 23 or whatever it is. And then when she gets her certification, she'll still get 25. >> I would think that's that'd be fair. >> 242, which is 24.
>> And unless you get a license bumper, the other dollar I think that would be fair >> and make it permanent. >> Yeah. >> So, is that the route that we're going is to make it basically we're just going to combine the two positions, make it
permanent. and everything. Yeah, I'm fine with that. And we agreed that if we have to separate the two positions that the additional amount that she is making as permit back will be
>> decreased. Um which I I hate to do >> make sure she knows that >> but I know that we've had another employee in that situation that Yeah. >> I know the un sorry University of Florida does that. If you're making $25 an hour, you're like, "Okay, this
position over here, I want to go for that one." And let's say it's paying 22. When they they take that position, they're now down to 22. They're not at that because they have pay grades and that's they have to stay within those
pay grades. >> Yes, Miss Kim. um with with that uh addressing your concerns of taking her back. As long as in the PAF I put interm in there, it
doesn't you know the the um the HR manual addresses that if we do have to reopen that position up, they do go back down to the original pay. >> And I know we're also working on creating the pay ranges as well. I just
know they're not there yet. Yes, I got to add in all the um job descriptions and make sure they're updated. I know supposedly they were updated last year, but on the documents when it says um revision dates uh from the file that
Deborah told me to find, they're from 2023 and 21. So, I don't know if they were really updated. So, I got to it's a work in progress. Al also please um make sure that in the event we hire somebody
else that when she drops that we don't take her dollar away or whatever it is for her certification. >> Yes ma'am. >> Yes ma'am. >> So you have to leave her at an interim. >> Yeah. And it also >> be able to do that.
>> Yeah. Also, with leaving her as an interimm, we don't necessarily So, if we want to open that position back up, that position will stay open. So, you know, you don't have to um eliminate that position and then we come back, we just remove the interim and
then we advertise for the permanent tech. >> Okay? >> And it'll just be there will be just no end date on her interim. And then two, there's no set time for her to complete the certification. >> So sir,
>> it could be two years. >> Right. >> All right. Any other questions or discussions? >> Can I get a motion? >> I'll let you. >> Um,
all right. I make a motion that we approve the combining of the planning assistant position and the permit tech position together as an interim position with the approved pay increase of the
10% plus an additional $2 per hour plus if and when she gets her certification the additional dollar per hour. >> Perfect. >> Stop there. >> Perfect. Second motion.
>> I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> I'm sorry, Meredith. Was that $2? >> 10% plus $2. Okay. >> Any further questions from anyone? I move to vote. All those in favor say
I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes 5 to zero. >> I'm sorry. Who second? >> Scared me for a second. I'm like I know I heard it.
I told her it was perfect and I'll second it. >> All right. Resolution 2025-124 resolution of the city council of the city of Williston, Florida approving extension of the interlocal agreement for the school crossing guards for 2020
for the 2025 2026 school year and providing an effective dates. Um, city manager. Oh, here's the envelope. That's already >> This is one of the shorter agreements that you'll ever see um come before you.
Obviously, not terribly long. Um as you know, we've been working with the Levy County School Board for a long time regarding passing guards and this is just an update to our contract regarding minimum wage. Um so, happy to answer any questions, but >> I will say that it says minimum wage,
but we pay no more than that. That's just a point of clarification. Look at your stab. We always have see that. Yep. And then we just supplement it. He's been here so
long. I just want to make that and I will make a motion that we approve resolution 2025-1. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion from the public or the council? Seeing none, I move to vote. All those
in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed say nay. >> Motion passes 5 to zero. At this time, this is the second um opportunity for public participation. You have five minutes to speak on anything that was not discussed on the
agenda. Um please state your name or your phone. >> Seeing none, we will move forward to >> Sorry, that goes back. >> Oh, just >> Okay. See, I know. I looked at him, too. >> See, I started saying
>> I started hating you staying here this long. >> Robert Lang, 500 Northwest Fifth Avenue here in Willis. Um, I understand there is negotiations going on with Lar say Lar because everybody's pointing
finger everybody else on the lights. What about we also need to address all the punch lit we got holes in the black top. We've got severely damaged black top or motor oil leak. I don't know whether that's the city, whether it's ours or what. Those
are some of the things we need to chase down. And we've also we haven't had a power outage in a while. So I don't really know but for quite a while. When I talk to Donald about this, high power would go out on the circle
I'm in, the outside perimeter would still have power. I mean, for a while. I mean, I put a generator in so it doesn't bother me now. But, um, that needs to be addressed also before we get Lar out of there.
And we've also got a sidewalk issue where they ran sidewalk down in some places as storm drain sw the sidewalk down to where it runs out in into the storm drain. There's one place there and I can't remember the
name of the street right now. I walk I don't but I can see dirt between the sidewalk and the corner. I steps off there about a six or seven inch step off an I break
an I know we haven't you all haven't accepted it yet and when I said something to about it well we'll just put handrail in it no we're not going to be drilling holes in a brand new so that's something else and I got to pick
and I have since found a couple more like not near that bad but they are Hold on. >> I don't know anything about a punch list. Whose punch list is it? >> Is it ours? >> It is. >> Yes, ma'am. Um, so to answer the question, uh, Kirstson I know has
reached out to, uh, Armstrong who the developer agreement is with, just to clarify that. And, um, we have sent them that punch list and I can give it to Miss Latricia and she can forward it to the council. It already has marked out everything that's been done, everything that's not been done, what the status of
everything is. Uh, Right Pierce runs that punch list with staff and so we've kept that updated. Uh, that is the reason why we have not, one of the reasons we have not adopted the roads and the sidewalks and, you know, all that stuff. The other thing to consider
is that we still have an outstanding agreement that they verbally contracted to. Uh if you all remember the the placement of the water and sewer was not vetted, shall we say in the best sense and the geotech that was submitted
turned out not to be how do I say this diplomatically as truthful as it could have been. And so what we did is we asked them and they committed verbally to the staff to our attorney that they would give us an additional 5 years to the one-year warranty after the turnover
point. We've submitted that a long time ago and they keep passing it back and forth and Kirsten can answer to that more. So, so a couple of things um on CL the gift that keeps on giving. Um the so
the most recent correspondence we have um from Armstrong um they indicated so we have pretty regular meetings with them I believe Walt meets with them maybe every two weeks um pretty often to to run this down um and and keep on
these projects. So, so to the best of my knowledge, they're not just ruminating on the same things. Otherwise, I imagine that Walt would reach out and say, "Hey, I've talked about the same four things." And nothing's been done. Um, I can we can get an update from Wall, I'm sure, on what those meetings um and the
specifics of that. As far as the agreement to Donald's point, um we have very specific requirements in our developers agreement as well as in our code regarding how um infrastructure is supposed to be um placed. It was not
placed um the in the manner which we require. Um they were given two options. Pull all of it out and do it again or provide us with this extended warranty. uh at a the meeting before last meeting
I had with them, they said, "No problem. Send it over to us. We just didn't get a copy of it." Um now they're saying that really it's the subcontractor West to West who made us that promise and who did all of those things. So now we're I'm currently in discussions with them regarding they are
responsible for West to West's actions and they will either sign it themselves or they will dig it back up. The other issue holding it up is the street light situation and that's been addressed to the council before. Um, and just to allay your fears there, uh, the staff has submitted to both, uh, the
HOA, excuse me, to uh, the three parties, the HOA, Artemis, which represents they're the legal entity representing the HOA, and also to uh, Armstrong. Uh, and we've given them all the plans that were approved. They paid
for a study uh for the power through Patterson DWIR and they actually wrote the check to the city because they purchased that service for engineering on the electrical through the city as part of their developers agreement allowed them to do and they show clearly on the plans the street lights. So they
were previously denying that there were street lights. We've sent them those plans. We've given large copies to the HOA and and the president of the HOA um Mr. Lston so that he could utilize that. And so now we're just waiting for them to I think Kirsten you notified them
that they had so much time before we would activate the bond. >> Yeah, they they've been notified and I need to go back in my um correspondence to give you an exact date, but they have been notified that they will perform the actions which we have laid out clearly for them and proven that they have an obligation to do or we will pull their
bond and we will do it for them. >> Can I ask Poor Laura. Poor Laura left. She approached me about us doing a U Christmas decoration contest, whatever you want to do it. But sub
my comment to her was getting street lights because I'm not going to do it if there's nobody. We can't see where we're going. I'll tell you what, there's a lot of sidewalk down there and if you step off that sidewalk, even sod in place, you roll an angle. That's some of the worst and side work I've seen. I've been
in construction for over four years. >> Are those things on the punch list? >> It's property. >> The the easements and anything that would have city infrastructure is on the punch list. The sidewalks, if we remember the ordinance from 1956,
the sidewalks belong to the resident. So they're not on the punch list, but that is something that the city is willing to do anything we can to work with the HOA and Artemis to make sure they have the information so they can propose that back as a negotiation. >> I'll put one on the punch list that they
came back in and also we talked about handicap accessible ramps with sidewalks. They're not. Some are, most aren't. They come out and dug them up and put them in concrete between the street curb and sidewalk pine for
example. There's caps that much they never put dirt back in or anything. I pointed that out. There's a lot if you really want to start looking at it. There's a lot of stuff out there that is shotty.
>> So is this stuff is this not inspected prior to completion of the subdivision. >> So, it there's two realms that the city can operate under. One is the building inspector, and that's going to be your structure and things associated with the
structure. Uh the other thing is um and Kirsten could answer this better, but other things are having to do with our our items that would be turned over to us. And again, because of the ordinance that the city currently has, sidewalks are the responsibility, unfortunately, of the resident that that they're within
the the space of. Uh if you all remember we had people coming in with another development about sidewalks a few years ago. So um everything that is on the punch list that's why I wanted to send it through Latricia to all the council because you'll see every item on there and what the status is and it'll give
you an understanding of where we're at what we're waiting for and if you have any further questions related to that we could probably answer them more specifically for you. The other thing that I sorry just to just to round it out because I don't want it to sound like just because we as the city don't have actionable items against Armstrong
or Lar doesn't mean that the HOA doesn't. Um so in areas where our our legal limits exist, pick up the HOA's legal limit >> and Artemus is your attorney. [Music] question.
>> Sure. >> Um, so my question is with the bond, if the city has to take the bond to do the work, is it similar to a security deposit in a rental where we basically take the money and whatever is remains gets returned to LAR?
>> Yes. I don't think it'll be anything remaining from what I can tell if there may not be enough. >> That's what I've been >> the bond is over $2 million. So, we'll be >> Oh, that's good. >> Yes, sir. >> Yeah. We We require bonds of
>> We'll be able to return money. I promise you. >> Well, maybe we can do some of this other stuff on the budget. >> We require that bonds be 110% of the entire project cost. >> Okay. I have no idea. That's nice to know. I had been told earlier it wasn't up, so that's fine to hear.
>> Mr. Lson, do you have a date for your HOA meeting? We were waiting for that. >> It's It's on our calendar. >> Oh, sorry. I don't really see my calendar that far in advance. Thank you. >> Okay, we'll move on to announcement.
Anyone have any announcements? Mr. Barber, >> go ahead. >> I I just wanted to pass this around for the council to look at. Um, and what you're going to see, I >> I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to know that they can always inquire of your public records and we
don't make it that complicated. So, if a citizen just comes in and they want information, we'll we'll hand it right over. You're going to see two work orders. one work order came in the day that the customer called it in. Then somebody called it in that evening and um and so somebody was dispatched out
and then the third is the the the uh paper is going to be the locate. Um any of the leaks that have been mentioned, we have these and I can give them to any council member, any citizen. The leak that was referred to across from CVS in front of the salon in the in the Mexican
restaurant, that leak did not leak prior to the 17th. It started leaking on the 17th. It was reported by the customer. We had that fixed Monday. So that is the two days between the leak being called in and the locate being done by 811,
which we're not the only 811 provider with services in that area. If anytime council wants any of this or you can send it through Miss Latricia. Um, and that's really the purpose of the videos is not to address specifics but procedure is to just educate, you know, how does how does that process work?
When we went in and repaired that, we are already planning on shutting that line down and replacing the whole thing from the end of Fifth where it hits 27 all the way back to Eper Park. There's a culvert that actually the water line runs through where you can actually see it. The reason why I bring this up is
when we went down and repaired it on Monday, there were 17 18 clamps on that one single 3/4 line. So, they're correct that it's been leaking constantly, but we immediately go out when we're legally able, we fix it, and
then when we hear about it again, we go back. What we're trying to do now is once we identify so many wraps, we're going to section out a piece of it and totally replace it with compression couplings on two ends and then that section will be replaced and hopefully then we won't have but we can only do
that for service line. I want to point that out. That's not something we can do with mains. So, I just wanted to pass that out and you can see the information and the dates right on the work orders. So, >> thank you. >> How's our boiled water? >> We're expecting samples back tomorrow
and by the end of the week we'll have every notice put on doors. We'll utilize text my gov and uh whatnot. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> All right. So, you have something else?
Oh, you said thank you. I thought you were saying >> um couple of things I noticed on the um the agenda um in this and I think maybe last week is cost associated
to a project. I noticed that's not on here. So like for instance discussion with the dollar the cost was missing far as on that and I think there's one or two other things. So if we could do that and where the
funds come from because that's been on stuff before. So and then just seeing um new faces around we losing people and we just hiring some new people. I've just seen some new
faces around. >> Yeah. Um I've onboarded yesterday. I onboarded three different people. Yes, we are losing people. Um not through the the We had one termination that you were notified about, but the rest are putting in two
week notices. Um >> are we doing exit reviews? If they come in, I ask I tell them that, you know, when they leave, come in and do an exit interview. Some people don't want to do it. >> Question. Oh, go ahead. Uh, Chief Rolls
just texted me and he wanted me to let the council know that um the video that was put up earlier today about the manhole, they wanted to thank the council because that was due to the drone and he just wanted to show you some of the ways that the drone could be implemented to get information out, not
just for enforcement. So, he asked me to mention them. >> Um, >> did they win the ball game? So, can we talk about the um organizational chart underneath? I'm trying to get out what I
want to say. Hold on. Give me a second. >> I know. I just need to look at it. Talk about it. Where is it? >> Um when it comes to um the animal shelter and what's the other one? the the permit is
the permit person who are underneath Miss Troy >> the animal shelter >> she what what is it just the permit >> yes well just Nikki because there's no department head for her >> okay
>> she's planning >> yes ma'am >> okay >> her her original department head was Laura so now without having Laura she >> Okay I thought I saw animal shelter or somebody else under >> permitting and planning assistant, but
now that we've moved them into one, um, we were trying to figure out the best route to take that. And I told the city manager, Sue, that since I have no employees, you know, under me, uh, and I'm the only department head with no employees under
me, that I'd be willing to take it on and kind of learn what she sort of does so I could help her out when possible. I was just I was just curious. I thought that uh the ones that were underneath the police were underneath you. So I was
just like, well, how is that working? Okay. So, thank you for >> Yes, ma'am. >> and maybe this again. Let's wrap this meeting up and circle back to it if we need to. But my question is, is there any conflict with having employees under HR? Because then who do they go to if
they have an issue with their supervisor? So, I don't think that's a discussion for tonight, but I think we should bring that back on the agenda. >> Agree. >> All right. Any other announce Oh, the announcement I had was December 6, 6 p.m. Christmas parade.
>> Any other announcements? >> I have one, too. Um, City of Lights holiday contest. I hope everybody saw that on Facebook. I'm very excited about it. It's done by the CRA. So, um, registration opens on November I can read that tiny November 5th, closes on
November 25th, and then the judging period is December 1st through the 24th. >> There's your Christmas judges decorating. >> They're excited about that. >> Thank you. >> All right. If there are no more, are there any more announcements? If there
Oh, Kirsten, did you have an announcement? You did not. >> I didn't. I will reenounce ethics presentation December 4th. Um I believe that Scott indicated that at the previous meeting, the meeting that he covered for you all. So December
4th ethics training. >> Thank you. >> Can we can we switch to a different day? >> That's a legislative conference. >> Yeah, we'll be that fourth and >> can we switch it to a different day? oil. I do not know the answer to that
question. >> When does it uh I it may I'm not 100% sure. We've announced it. Haven't heard yet from anyone. That doesn't mean that it's not a conflict. Just means no one's flagged it yet. Um we can take a look at that. When are people starting to leave
for their holidays? >> Uh I leave after Christmas. I'm not going anywhere. I take the week after Christmas. So maybe like the next week. >> The the problem with the next week is that there are city meetings basically every single week that people are still
holding. So that was like the one we try to hold it on a night when everyone's able to come, >> right? >> Um because you don't have a meeting. Um >> let me circle back with you. >> Okay. >> Let me see if I can figure something else out. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Adjourn it.
>> Got a motion. >> Got a second. No discussion. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. All those opposed, nay. Nay. Oh, I mean not nay. >> No, I'm so ready. I I apologize. So
motion passes 5-0. Oh my god.