Thank you very much. All righty. Item one, addition, deletions, changes, and approval of the agenda. Mr. President, I have one um walk-on item. It is Thank you. It is the um continuation from the last meeting, the
vacation and sick time that you asked for. If we could add that to the end. All right, I need to delete item
8A. Mr. Smith will not be able to attend tonight and also need to delete item two, mayor's student of the month. The young man will not be able to attend. Okay. Thank you.
Mr. President. Yes, sir. Um, I would actually like not to delete item 8A. I know it was a uh discussion, but I did put paperwork. I did want an opportunity to go over with the council so that when this matters returned, you all are informed on this situation.
Okay. All righty. We'll put that back on there. Okay. I move approval of the agenda with the deletion of item two. Can I get a second? Any addition of the vacation? No. And
the deletion of item E for the vacation and sick time overreach. Thank you. I'll second. All right. We have first. We have second. Any other discussion hearing? None. We'll move to vote. All in favor say I. I. I. Those
opposed. 5-0. [Applause] Item three, proclamation 56th annual professional municipal clerk's week, May 4th through 10th, 2025. Mr. Mayor
Charles Goodman. Could I have our municipal clerk, Latricia Wright, come up here with me? Join me. Thank you very much. This is a proclamation. Whereas the office of
municipal clerk, a timehonored vital part of local government exists throughout the world. And whereas the office of municipal clerk is the oldest among public
servants. And whereas the office of municipal clerk provides the professional link between the citizens, the local governing bodies and the
agencies of government at other levels. And whereas municipal clerks have pledged to be ever mindful of their neutrality and impartiality, rendering equal service to
all. Whereas the municipal clerk serves as the information center on functions of local government and community. Whereas municipal clerks continually strive to
improve the administration of the affairs of the office of the municipal clerk through participation in education programs, seminars, workshops, and the annual meeting of their state, provincial,
county, and international professional organizations. whereas it is most appropriate that we recognize the accomplishments of the office of the municipal clerk. Now therefore, I, Charles Goodman, mayor of
the city of Willist, do recognize the week, not the day, the week of May 4th through 10th as Municipal Clerk's Week. And I further extend appreciation to our
own municipal clerk, Latricia Wright, and to all municipal clerks for the vital services they perform and their exemplary dedication to the communities that they
represent. Signed under my hand and seal in the council chambers of city hall on this sixth day of May, 2025. [Applause] Patricia. Congratulations, Miss
Wright. All right. Item four, proclamation, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Mr. Mayor Charles Goodman, I don't see any Asians in here. City Manager Sue Bode, would you please
join me? Yes, I do. We do have an excellent Asian restaurant for those of you that have visited it. And it is my hope that the city manager will see this gets to them and I'm going to read
it. AsianPacific American Heritage Month whereas May was established as AsianPacific American Heritage Month by
Congress in 1992. Whereas the AsianPacific American Heritage Month is a celebration of Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in the
United States. And whereas the month of May was chosen to commensurate the immigration of the first Japanese people to the United States on May 7th, 1843. and to mark the
anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10th, 1869 because the majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese
immigrants. And whereas despite generations of living and contributing to the fabric of American society, many Asian, Native American, and Pacific Islanders continue to be treated not as
belonging and face persistent racism and stereotyping. And whereas since 9/11, South Asianameans, especially those who
are Muslim, Hindu or Siki, often face senseless violence and the harassment due to the color of their skin and the tenets of their fate. And more recently since COVID 19
pandemic, Asians in general, particularly women and the elderly, have faced anti-Asian violence. And whereas May is a month to reflect on the rich diversity of the
AsianPacific community and the contributions Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders have made to our culture and our civic life. Now therefore, I, Charles Goodman, mayor of the city of
Willist, hereby proclaim May as the AsianPacific American Heritage Month in Willist, Florida, dated the 6th day of May, 2025. Would you please see this gets to
the appropriate place? [Applause] Thank you. All righty. Item five, public participation. This is your first opportunity to address the council. At
this time, anyone in the audience can come to the podium and speak for five minutes on any topic other than what is on the agenda. Please state your name and resident if you come up and council just a reminder we do not have to
comment. Yes, my name is Tim Eron Northwest 225. Um previous meetings there was a uh something that was brought up about the 7 cent sales tax and the 1 cent that um
the 1 cent extra tax. So, I went online. I spent a lot of I spent a lot of time online trying to figure out um the money that the police department isn't getting from the 1 cent. So, I went on the county know there's no
really no documentation. I went to the state uh online looking. There's no documentation. Well, if this one s is being taken out and the police department is not getting it, it should be some accountability. where it's going
or who is in charge of it. I'm not saying anybody here, but that's a lot of money over the course of a year, one cent being spent on on on every dollar uh when you purchase something. And
um so I don't think it's right for for the money to be taken out and it's not given to to the police department when they need it, just like everybody else around here. I mean I mean I I've looked online and I've looked and
I've looked and there's really nothing on here about where it's at. But like today, I spent another couple hours just just trying to find out where it's at. But there's no money shown anywhere where this money is going supposed to be going to the police department. There
should be some accountability here. And I mean, I don't know about the police sh uh uh chief here, but I'd be want my money to try to pay my officers more money or try to get better gear or whatever. Um, that being said, I guess
that' be it for me tonight until the next one. Anybody else? Anybody else? All right, item six, consent agenda. Um, just a note, the minutes will be on the
May 20th agenda. Previous issue. Okay. I so I put in front of you the um the history of the local sales tax and current rates. On page eight, you will see that Levy County has a small county
sir tax of 1% that was established in October 1st of 1992 and they have not repealed it. So it is still in effect. And um I did speak with on page two. Okay. I did speak with the county manager about roughly an hour
ago. She did provide me with a copy of the county budget which uh Chief Rolls has in his hand. That 1% equates to roughly $5.5 million. I have not been able to get anything further from her in terms of where it's broken down like each of the municipalities what they get out of that 5.5 million. I can
certainly, you know, delve a little deeper and see if I can find that out for you. I apologize. I just got this information about an hour ago. U I even went online to even see even what the sheriff's department gets and the other local police departments like chief and whatever. There's nothing on
there about what they get. I even tried to get a what the total sales tax that came in for the physical year. There's nothing. I mean other than there's a budget for the county and there's a budget for the city of Willist and the rest of it. But but the money the money
that that's supposed to be coming in to pay these people um to me that's almost like stealing. I mean it should be being paid to these people. I mean if it whether whether it's a month or whatever by the year that's their money to be getting. And if it's they're not getting
it, somebody needs to be accountable for. And I I I don't know. I mean, I don't think it's right that he can't get his money whenever he could be paying his police officers more money. So, maybe they can stay here instead want to go somewhere else. So,
council president. Yes, sir. Uh, I know I kind of got an idea what he's talking about. Uh, and I'm not sure how it's broke down. I don't know if it's broke down that it goes to the police department or road department. I have no idea. I talked to the city manager about
it. Uh, and after I realized it that he was going to bring it up, I talked to her about it. She was able to get a little bit of research done on it, but as far as how it's broken down, I have no clue. And I don't think the city manager does at this time either. Uh,
but 5.4 is a lot of money. Do we know when was that put into play? Yeah, she said time. That's a lot of years. 5 million a year.
It is. I think this came up once before when the previous city manager was here and um it was brought to my attention. So, I asked him about it, but I think this is as far as we've gotten with it uh under a new city manager. I think this is the
first actual money figure that we've seen. I'm not aware that it's actually designated to police or police departments. I I think it's strictly to the it's a local option sales tax for the county. I don't think it's
designated for law enforcement or anything else. Uh it's for them. Every county in the state of Florida has the option to put on a local option sales tax. And you can exercise it in any half cent, whole cent, whatever. Um, and they
opted for a one penny and that's why we're 7% sales tax and other counties are are six and we're seven. Uh, so that's why even when you go online and you order something, it ask you where you're from. So it can tell how much to charge you tax, whether it's six or
seven or eight even or six and a half. I know um my former employer, we sold things online as well and we had to know where they were from in order to know how much tax to charge them. you know, whether it was 6%, six and a half, six and a quarter, seven, whatever for Levy
County. And I think that's probably about the highest there is a 1%. I don't know that it's designated for law enforcement or anything else for that matter. Yeah, I don't either. I I just know I know there's other counties that have it that it's strictly towards
law enforcement and they divide it into different uh cities within their county. So, I don't know how this one's set up. I have no knowledge of that and um all me and city manager can do is just keep trying to get information on it until we can figure out ought to have it when
they passed it in 1992 and it should say should be able to go all the way back to that ordinance by Yep. Yes ma'am. You please come up to the podium and please state your name and address. Stephanie Monteoodo, 460 Northwest 4th
Street. Um, very interesting topic. Is there like a budget that's like in place? I'm sorry. Oh, is there a budget that's in place for the city? Oh, yeah. That like I I guess just like where is the accounting for it? This is a this is
county, not city. Well, a city I guess. Where's the city budget for like all the accounting as where the funds go? This is not in our budget because we don't collect it. The county does. Oh, the county does. But does it allocate it to the city for the police department? No. No. Oh, okay. Thank you.
Mr. Eert's saying that it might be or it should. He does. We're trying to find out. You know, that's what he's questioning is where is it supposed to go. I think it's just general fund. Well, when you go on there, it's really like really confusing. You read one and
it says it could be used for uh county and then the other one when you read it can be used for the police department for they can use for payroll, they can use it for equipment, they can use it for their discretion. Uh but it doesn't really
clarify about how see see what I was trying to break down is how much Willist gets and then how much Chief gets and stuff like that. But my thing was it wasn't really it was no clarification there as far as
how much Willist is supposed to get per year on each one, but it did state when I was reading on there that uh uh they it can be for payroll, it can be equipment or whatever. But I I just
think there's some money a lot of money missing that belongs to this department and whether it be the county the county that's not paying them. Okay, that's Yep. So, thank you sir. Anyways,
Mr. President. Yes, sir. May I address Councelor Jones? You may, sir. Councelor Jones, you of of all of us have the greatest memory. Do you have any idea what they used to sell to the citizens
of Willist and the county to get them to approve a 1% or did it was it just approved by the county commission or was it a referendum for the citizens? To my recall, it was just put on there by the county by the county commission. I don't
remember it ever being a referendum. You don't remember any referendum? Do not where the people voted to be taxed? The only referendum I can really remember is the bed tax, the tourism development, and we did that. First time it failed, the next time it passed. That's the only one I can remember. Thank you very much.
Thank you, sir. Sure. You have Please state your name, where you from. My name's Dan Kaufman. I reside at 32 Northwest 4th Street. Okay. And what I'd like to know is I attended a meeting a couple of probably three or
four weeks ago on the um fire assessment program and I was wondering where that went because your consultant was here trying to sell you on going through this process and it seemed to be they had an urgency that they needed it done by a certain date and I've heard nothing else
about it nor have I seen another meeting on it. So I'm I'd like to have some more information on if I may. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Steaggle, would you like to if I can just briefly on that? Um we just received a draft of the next um document
that you all will need to receive. We received that today. So it'll be on your next agenda. Okay. Thank you. Second. Yep. Next agenda. Okay. All right. So, back to item six. Consent agenda and the minutes will
be back on the 20th. So, really we just Y information only. Information. All right. Item seven, updates. I'm sorry. Can we go back to U item six? I apologize. That should have said April.
April minutes. Yes, but they're going to be on the May 20th. Oh, I'm sorry. It's going to be on the main. Yeah, you're right. I'm I'm sorry. I'm confused. All right. Staff and board and council
updates. All right. First up, city manager Sue Vadet. Thank you, Mr. President. All right, couple of updates for you. Um, Wednesday, April 23rd, Thursday, April 24th, uh, I attended the 2025 Florida League of Cities Insurance
Summit in Fort Myers, which is always interesting because they like to tell us what's coming our way. Um, on the property side, they said that the frequency hasn't changed of storms. However, the values have changed of obviously, you know, how much they're
paying out. Hurricane Ian was the second costliest insured catastrophic loss in their history. Um they are telling us to expect 10 to 15% property rate reductions. I know right. Let's hope that's the
property side. On the health side they said their health care costs are still increasing roughly 7 to 12% because of the GLPs the GLP1s. Um and that 20% of the employees are driving about 80% of their claims. So probably see some increases there. Um
on the yeah um mangaro ompic the weight loss slash um diabetes drugs. Uh on the claim side uh this was interesting. I didn't know this but liability on a sewer backup claim is determined by care custody and control.
And they do offer courtesy back uh cleanup through Florida League of Cities due to the health and um regardless of who the claimant is. So, I don't know if we've ever enlisted their assistance, but we can because it's a health safety issue. Uh, then Tuesday, April 29th, uh,
attended the North Florida Transportation Planning Summit in Live Oak. Um, I learned about a grant that I did not know of. I Laura may know about it, but um, you guys know about the HMGP grant, which is a 4-year period of performance. It's got a 75% federal uh
funding with a 25% non-federal and that's for things like generators, elevations, mitigation planning. There is also an HMGMP which is for the 25% match. So we actually can apply to get 100% of the funding. Um it's through Florida
Commerce and they have allocated $82.1 million for that. So if we were to get the HMGP, we can go after that for the match. Uh then Thursday, of course, last Thursday, May 1st, I attended the National Day of Prayer at Heritage Park, which uh Patricia did a great job in organizing. Uh Friday, May 2nd, attended
Law Day on the Swany River in Chief with Chief Rolls. My first time attending. Arizona was there as well. Uh today and tomorrow, Jonathan and Mike are attending the 2025 hurricane and storm preparedness forum in Jacksonville. I gave you a little um flyer on that in
your packet. Uh you also have uh before you the brochure that we put together on the Williston animal shelter. Laura did a great job on this. So it's a little kind of fold out if you guys want to take a look at that. It's got a cute puppy and kitty on front. And then I just wanted to go over
some recent legislation. Uh Donald's going to address House Bill 818 that passed. Um it's a utility relocation bill, but wanted to let you know I just kind of picked like six of them to kind of go over that have all failed, which we've been watching um intently. Uh
Senate Bill 202, that was um regarding municipal water and sewer utility rates. Uh basically, we would have to charge the same rates for in city and out of city limits. That failed. House Bill 1523, that was the utility services transfer bill where we wouldn't be able
to transfer so much money from the utility to the general fund. that failed. Senate Bill 1704, uh we would have to hold public meetings for unincorporated areas. So again, areas outside of uh city limits, that failed. House Bill 991, we've been intently
watching that one. That's the uh CRA bill. Um failed. H Bill, uh sorry, uh House Bill 301, that was uh increasing the limits for sovereign immunity. That failed. And then Senate Bill 810 that was on storm water management systems um
where we would have to do yearly inspections for um storm water systems. That also failed. So the majority of the ones that we are watching um have failed. And last but not least, I wanted to introduce everybody to Vicky Corbin. Vicki, if you'll stand up, please. She's
our new administrative assistant. She started with us yesterday. And our HR director, Kimberly Troy, is scheduled to start with us next Monday on May 12th. So, you'll see her at the next council meeting. Excuse me. Who is the HR director?
Kimberly Troy is her name. She's not with us tonight, but she will be with us at the next council meeting. Thank you, Mr. President. Miss, do you have anything? Okay, I have a couple things. Uh uh recently I've been attending the county
commissioner meetings uh representing the city of Willist. Uh they've been going pretty well. Uh recently I've had two officers that have left. Uh we're in the process of hiring uh two more officers to replace those two that have left.
Uh glad to report that officer Goodson and Officer Wink completed the PFC test today and were promoted to that rank. Uh that's patrol first class. Um the vehicle update from Dunellan. Uh
they had it on their agenda last night. They talked about it. Uh by law they have to surplus. So they have to put them out for bid and uh based on that they will let us know where we're at. So I'm waiting to hear back on them. I think their next meeting they're going
to talk about it. Uh the weapons, uh the firearms, we should be able to go ahead and move forward with those because they're under that $5,000 mark that the law requires. So, as soon as I get an update on that, I'll pass it along, let you all know. But so far, uh things are
going pretty good. They have allowed us to utilize their speed trailer. Uh very nice speed trailer, if I may say. Uh uh and we've had it out. And I was going to say, did you put it on Alexexas Road? No, it was in front of
my house. No, it was in front of her house. I know you wanted one. I wanted to make sure she seen it and I and I think it did its job. U you know, we're in the process of doing a calibration on it and once we get it back up and calibrated, we'll be putting it back out. But, uh thanks to them for
allowing us to use it for the time being. You know, hopefully they forget about it, but That's all I have. All right. Fire chief steel. You good, Mr. Steel? Mr. Aaron, you good? Mr. Lur,
Mr. Barber? Yes, sir. Real quick, uh, block 12 update. Uh, they are been continuing work all week this week. Um, for some of you who don't uh are not aware, uh we did have an issue with some of the things that we unearthed on the
site. Uh those are being dealt with. Uh D had to be contacted and we had to uh do some mitigation there on some issues. All that's been taken care of and was finished yesterday. Um they are having uh two of their excavators go on
vacation in the next couple of weeks and also we're expecting some inclement weather. So you will see the site kind of shut down next week. Uh we're also waiting on uh structures. So that's the only holdup on continuing with the main ground development are your sanitary
structures, your manholes, all of that. Uh we've ordered those from Delado and we're we're waiting on those. Uh we also Nikki and I went around to all the business owners as was requested by council. We had conversations with them. We spoke to them and uh talked to them about their concerns about parking and
and shared with them areas that they could resolve that. So, I just wanted to give you an update on that. Secondly, you'll notice that you have a paper on your dis. It's uh stapled. It says at the top the Florida Senate and if you want to look at that because this is one of the bills that did pass uh Senate
Bill 818. And this deals with utility relocation. The form that it passed thankfully was much different than the form that it was uh originally introduced as. Uh this was requiring that a specified amount of
communication services be distributed by the department of revenue by non-operating transfer to the department of commerce and monthly installments through grants and donation trust funds. Uh and this was transferred to the local government half cent sales tax clearing
trust fund. Um that's what it is in its final form. It was funded at $50 million. So, I'll break it down in layman's terms. Uh, and you can track and see all the differences there on the sheet that I gave you. This is DOT comes in or there's some sort of large road
project. Um, and many times when you widen let's say 75 or 200 going through Ocala or Newberry Road in Gainesville or let's say 2741 or 121 here through Willist, it can require that there is a
moving of utilities. Um because like out on 27 when they widened it years ago, we have manholes that are in the middle of a lane. And I can tell you working out in the field for many years, it's not fun to be standing there hoping that no one crashes into your vehicle and kills you. Um especially when you're half in a
hole. So um nowadays they they relocate a lot of this infrastructure when they go and they widen and they change the roadways. When this bill was introduced at the beginning of the session, it basically stated that the burden of the cost of
relocating those was completely and solely on the utility. So that means that they could come here to 41 uh south or 41 north and say, "We're widening this. You have to move all your gas. You have to move your sewer. You have to move your water. And you have to do it by this date and you have to pay for
it." Thankfully, amendments were introduced and they quashed that. I think a lot of that work and credit goes to the League of Cities um and a lot of other organizations that we're associated with. It did pass in its final form, but what they stated was is
that now there's this $50 million fund. Um which I'm not I'm assuming that's going to be annual that will go to the cost to the local utilities to hire out or if they're capable themselves to move and relocate those utilities. There's more information to come on how those
funds would be dispersed. I'm going to be having uh Wright Pierce look into that for us so that we can kind of get ahead of the game if one's ever proposed here locally. But that is uh basically in a nutshell what Senate Bill 818 uh does. Thank you, sir.
Okay. Rest of staff. I forgot to ask one question and I know we haven't talked about it in a while. So maybe Donald and Allora can give me a brief update on the movement of Canelius Williams Park. So we will tell you that we uh have
gotten contact from the county and we're in talks with them to possibly annex the park and that it would become part of the city, that it doesn't have to be contiguous and that the zoning and all the information would basically be on us.
The holdup was that the Levy County did not have proper zoning for a park of this sort. So, our impervious surfaces and other issues for zoning were not working. And I was working with the county to try and do either a land
development code change, which is intense and difficult, um a variance, which I'm not for variances before construction. They don't really that's not what the point of a variance really is. we're going to try to find another way to do it. Well, the um attorneys for the county
contacted me um well contacted the planner and then she contacted me and said that this can be annexed because there it does not create a conclave an enclave and it is contiguous to the city on a um on a street. So I
can do that in six weeks um and then we can get started out there. So that was the hold up for the past few months or so because we really didn't know how we were going to put a park on their on their land. It just didn't meet their zoning at all. So hopefully this is good news and y'all
annex it in when I bring it to you next time. Okay. Crazy. So it's only contiguous by the by US 27A. That's crazy. But because it doesn't create an enclave, it doesn't make a
pocket of county. Um, it's okay. So, we're going to move in that direction. Does it meet our charter? What do you mean? Annexation says it has to be contiguous. No. Uh, Kirstson can help me with that, but
So, I I'm going to do I know that this is sort of different than what we usually do. Laura and I just had this conversation for the first time maybe an hour and a half ago. Um, so what I would like to do is have some time to put together a memorandum of law essentially for you explaining how we get to where
we get to. Mr. Steagle. Yes, sir. That the airport's already kind of like this. I was going to say that it's essentially like the airport. It's only continuous by the road, right? Okay. Yeah. Yeah, if you look at the um city limits for the airport, it kind of skips
over the road. Um so that shouldn't be a problem. But yeah, I'm sorry that was the hold up. It was it was a very difficult project to try and get the land development code changed to meet the requirements of what this park needs to be for us. All righty. Thank you.
Great question. Whoever answered that Who asked that question? How about the park? You did that. Great question. Thank you. Okay, council. Have a question for the chief. Just need to know an update on your
simulation out at the Great question. It was. Yes. Uh, so next week I will be setting or trying to get a date for or time from each one of you to find out when you can come out and go on the
simulator starting next week. So great question. I'm ready. I'm excited. And we got something in store for you. Uh oh. Go get ourselves killed, huh? Thank you, sir. Maybe I want to retract that question.
Thank you. Hey, council. Anything else? No, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. President. I had nothing. All right. Thank you, sir. All right. Item eight, new
business. A discussion with possible action. Water and sewer issues at 11:06 Northeast 3rd Avenue. Resident Cameron Smith. Mr. Barber. Uh, yes. Thank you, Mr. President. So on um July 30th of
2022 at approximately 10:51 a.m. uh Christy Richardson who was a technician at that time received a call from the Wilston Police Department that the homeowner at 11:06 Northeast Third had a broken pipe turned out to be the water man. Uh there was no 811 ticket. Uh it
was uh digging up and repairing and replacing a septic tank which had no permit from the Department of Health. Uh no permit from the city of Willist. In doing so, the water manes on that street on north east third a are quite far into
the properties um quite a bit further than most any other place in the city. We do have a legal easement and when um an unqualified excavator came uh and just sat on a random track tractor, they ripped up the water mane and disrupted
the service. So, uh, that day it was on a Saturday, I believe. Um, I and some others showed up and we made repair to the water line, uh, fixed the main, did boil water notices for the whole area. Um, and then of course we called the
police because of the nature of it. Um, this is when a lot of the development time period after COVID was starting to gear up and we were starting to have a lot of damages. So at the time we were in uh encouraged by the city manager at that time uh to get together a schedule
of what the cost was for the water loss for the repairs for the staff. The uh back sheet of the paper that's the report from the tech at the time has the breakdown of that uh of labor, trucks, equipment, parts uh and whatnot. Of
course these were prices then. This would be a lot more expensive now. Um and these are all FEMA rates. So we look at the FEMA schedule and we do it based on that rate. Um a invoice which is the second one uh second page that is
submitted in your packet was given to Mr. Smith. Um based on that cost he made remittance of payment. Uh the third sheet is the police report that was given and um this was taken care of. I know Mr. Smith has come with uh each
time a city manager has changed and he's wanted to address this, which is definitely his right. But this time, I wanted to make sure you guys had the case number, the report from the technician at the time, how we broke down the costs, and if you have any questions about the incident, you're more than welcome to reach out to me. We
have all the records, and I'm sure if we tried hard enough, we could track down some pictures of all the damage. So, uh, that's all I had to add on that. Okay. Thank you, sir. Can I add that to my recall what he wanted was sewer. Is that correct? What he wants is the sewer. Uh
longterm he's asking for the sewer and we applied for septic to sewer for that area, but it's one of the grants this year that they turned us down and everybody in Levy County on Yeah. If I I remember the sewer is on the wrong side of the road. It's not that far. It stops at 9inth Street and he's uh past 11th.
He's at 11th. Yeah. Yes, ma'am. Okay. And I think that's what he's come before. I don't I don't know that he's ever asked for his money back. Yes, he has. He has. Okay. I don't know that I've heard him ask for his money back, but I know he wants he wanted sewer cuz it's an apartment. He doesn't live there, right? It's some rental. It's a
house. It's a 32 house. It is a rental. It's a rental that he owns, right? That's my where you call from before. Okay. I guess he'll show up and tell us what he wants. To clarify, and the bill is paid. Uhhuh. Oh, he paid it in 22. Absolutely. Yeah.
1920 in 2022. Okay. So, all right. Said I don't know that he wants money. I think he wants sewer. Okay. Next on the list is item B, discussion with possible action. Water leaks around the city. Resident Timothy
Ecker. And if um council and everybody will ask questions when he's done with this presentation if that's okay. do what now? We'll ask questions with you with this presentation. Sure. Yes. Um I I've been concerned about all
the leaks around Willis. Um and it's not like it would leak for a day or two. Sometimes it's weeks or it seemed like a month. Like sister's place, they just fixed it like 3 weeks later or a month later. And then
I noticed today just like the next place down now that's leaking. Uh but I I rode around town today on my own time. And um there's a leak on Southeast 2nd Street and Fourth
uh where uh address 329. There's one on Southeast and South First Streets which is right down there just past the police department. They had just fixed it. I came up and made a complaint right up here and it's still leaking. put a couple little cones around it. Um the
accountability here is is non-existent. Uh and then uh by the will used to be the badcock. It's been leaking there for a year. They just finally went around there and dug a little hole around it with a couple little cones. And I talked to Grayson
about it and he said he came up here and he complained about it again. And then there's a leak directly behind Sister's Place, which is what I just said. Then you got lane yardware. Talked to Frankie about this. Why there's always water. He said three weeks ago it was checked out
and he said is the city's water leaking. It's not his leaking or he would had it fix. There's nothing being done about it. Go you can go look at the mud puddle over there. Question is who's responsible? And this and and then here's the other part. Southeast 9th and
1st Avenue. Uh it's leaking on edge by the stop sign. You can see where they fixed it on the left side, but the right side was bowling up right there digit of the road. The man told me, Mr. Alvin told me said it's been leaking for a year. Then you got another serious leak out there uh on um on Southeast 10th and
in uh and where 323 goes by. It's right there by the edge of the road across from the old peanut shell. And then um uh and then there's one on Southeast 10th Street right there in front of the apartment right there on apartment 135. I talked to the girl there and she said
it's been leaking really bad for 3 weeks. They got a big orange cone around it to cover the hole up. And um she said, "You know, I mean, I'm like this. We're we're we're in drought situations. Y'all are charging us double for water and I'm
watching it pouring the ground for free. There's no accountability. I want to know who is accountable for not doing this job. Because in a real world, if if if I own the plumbing company, you would be broke overnight trying to fix these
things and going back and going back and going back. I mean, I don't if y'all don't think if it's serious, something's really wrong here because the there there's got to be thousands of gallons of water a week running into the ground that y'all ain't making no money on. I
mean, and I'm sure there's other places. I mean, when when you ride by and you keep seeing the same old same old same old and you do and nothing is being done, something when something needs to be done about it and it's not, the accountability is not there, somebody
should be fire remoted. That's all I have to say. Mr. Barber, would you like to say anything? Would I like to say anything? No. Mr. President. Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, I
would like to thank you. Uh, some years back, if I my memory is not as great as Councelor Jones, but I think it was three city managers ago, and I'm not going to use any names, it would be no
point. I had a number of council meetings queried the city manager. I said, "We're talking about conserving water. Can you tell me how much water is
is be missing is leaking from the city?" And I had to ask him three or four times. And ultimately what he told me was we're a certain amount is allowed in percentage and we are within the amount
allowed to be leaking from city water systems. I didn't much like the answer and based on this I don't much like the answer now but obviously no system is perfect but I
thought 5 years ago 7 8 years ago that there seemed to be a lot of water missing and that was before we started increasing rates. So this has been a longterm issue. It's not a new issue.
So, I just will hope that the uh this council will take it to heart and that our new city manager who is being bombarded from left to right all the time would also look into it. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
I would just comment too, I can't in concept disagree with what Mr. Eert said. There are leaks in the roads everywhere. You can drive around. You can't you can't miss them. They're everywhere. Um, I know why they're there and and you're right, the system is old.
Uh, I know that there have been some concerted efforts to fix them and you're right, fix this one, another one pops up. It's not the same place. It's just down the road from it or down the block from it. It's an old system and we have applied for a lot of loans, a lot of
grants uh from Rural Water trying to get the dollars to to fix them um because we don't have that kind of reserve sitting around to do it. Yes, ma'am. That's one reason that we did raise the rates because the people that we went to for
loans and grants said, "If you don't raise the rates, we're not going to make you a loan." Yes, ma'am. And so that's what we had to do in order to even get on the table to even talk to them about grants. Yes, ma'am. Or loans. Um so I can't disagree with what you said in
principle. Yes, ma'am. Um but um they're trying, but some of them are severe leaks. They're not like a little leak. It's like you can hear it gurgling out of the water, out of the ground. But but it's it it seems to me that there
could be a concerted effort to make plans on making the grid better by say see you get together and say all right let's fix this block let everybody know this block this block and make a concerted effort to fix it besides let's do a little band-aid and a little
band-aid and a little band-aid and at the same time let everything else just go ary and and when somebody's make getting paid to do do a job they should be doing it with pride. not not look aside. I mean I mean I I I do
construction work for a living. I do concrete and I do and I work with pride. My I'm only as good as my last job and then that's how I do things. I mean I stay busy. I don't I don't I don't have to I I don't do no advertising and but but but whenever you take no pride in
your job or it looks like you don't then then then you step aside or find somebody else to to do the job. You can speak public. Hey, I'm Joey Penny. I live at 43
Northwest 4th Street. I just want to say between Gainesville and Ocala, we have not that many leaks. And another thing, our system is so old by the time they go and try to fix one spot, it just falls apart when they go put a cap on it. And
I've seen it. So, our staff does a good job. I had a water mane break over by my house. They had it dug up and fixed in 3 hours. And just to let you know, there's not enough people in this community that
works here that can take care of all that. So, just to let you know, doing what they can do. All right, we shall end this here. All right. Go to item C,
Mr. President. Yes, ma'am. For our agreement, because I have made this extremely long, I will read it. Both of them. The next two. Both of them. Yes. Both. The next two. Uh, this is resolution 2025-63, a resolution of the city
council of the city of Willist, Florida, approving and entering into an agreement between the city of Willist, Williston Crossings West LLC, and Wilston Crossing East LLC, regarding exclusivity of the provision of internet services on private property, authorizing the city council president to execute the agreement, and providing an effective
date. The first comment I'm going to make is that the um resolution title needs to be amended. After I submitted the materials, we discovered that just Wilston Crossings West owns both of the pieces of property that we're talking about. So, you can just NYX out. That
was one of my questions on why the signature was only one. Yes. Perfect. I'll let Donald talk to you about sort of how we got to um here because this is his brainchild, his idea.
So um we have to be competitive with fiber anywhere we go but private property would be the exception to that. Uh Williston Crossings owning uh their system and their residential area um uh approached us and said that they were
interested in getting out of the internet business right as we are talking about getting into it. They have on their lowest season generally 200 people on their internet provision and in peak season that rises up to about 450. These are folks that do
monthto-month uh subscriptions to what they provide them uh which is not a great internet but uh it's really the only option in that area. So we um worked with them. Uh we worked with Hector. We worked with the bank. We
worked with uh the crossings and Kirstston, everyone. We came up with a depreciation. Uh we've got them to guarantee us sole exclusive rights to their property for telecommunications. Um there are some exceptions to that like systems that
they currently have running their offices and things like that. You know, they're they're not required to remove those, but they can't bring in anybody new. we won't have competition coming in uh as far as internet. Now again another exception to those are let's say
Starlink or any kind of mobile uh mobile cell service that you have internet through T-Mobile, Verizon, things of that nature. That's that's nothing that we can control, nor would we want to. But this is a great deal for us. Um there was basically around
$431,000 that's added to the loan to go ahead and do their entire area. and uh they're guaranteeing that that that basically over the payment of the 20 years of the loan that they won't pull out and allow anyone else to come in and
and offer those services. Um this takes our rate of what we receive as far as customer base and it immediately jacks it up into year 2 p uh uh predictions. So that's phenomenal for us because when you hear about the loan shortly, you'll
hear that there's a time period where we don't have to make payments. So that time period of having that customer base within the first year where it wasn't included to have that count really will be a boon to replacing any kind of money that we take out and getting ahead of those payments or uh possibly even
putting new customers and more neighborhoods on which will also have a higher rate of return. So we're excited about this. As you saw two meetings ago, uh Teresa uh from uh she's the manager there at the crossings and the owner, they're excited about this. She came and
she shared that with all of you. And so we wanted to lock this agreement in before you were to approve any kind of loan that would contain it. Thank you, sir. Mr. President, I'm just going to add a little bit um about the uh agreement itself, the uh provisions
that we have. One of the most important things that we wanted in there was the liquidated damages provision that you're going to see on I believe it's page two of the document itself, page 19 of your packet. Um, essentially what we have come to an agreement with with Willist
um crossings is that um they understand that we're putting in money in order to provide this infrastructure and that if they were to uh breach our contract, it would cost us money. Um so we're putting in a provision called liquidated damages which essentially just means we've
agreed beforehand what the damages are going to be um based on the uh year in which any breach occurs. So if in year five they decide that they no longer want to be part of this agreement and they breach the agreement then we have uh an amortization schedule which is
attached to the agreement which says this is how much now that this is worth um that this has cost us that we haven't been able to pay down with your customer base. Um Hector was good enough to put that together for us and really helped us out with that. Um so we have uh basically an agreement on if there is a
breach, this is how much they'll pay us back. Um this will be recorded on the um land. This agreement will run with the land. So if there is any change in ownership, this agreement will remain. Um so if Crossings is sold to
um another company, then that company would would also um be subject to this agreement. So, it'll be recorded on the piece of property as well. Um, so those are just a couple of the things that we put in here to make sure that we have adequate protection as the city. Um, so that we can we can make sure that this
is a a good agreement for all. So, I'm happy to answer any more questions, but those are just the highlights I wanted to hit for you all. Anybody got any questions? So, she answered the one I had. Mr. there. Thank you, Mr.
President. I have uh asked about this several times and the last time I asked about it, I was told that, you know, I said, "When when's this internet actually coming?" And I was told that the holdup is the bank. Do we or do we
not have a loan ready and a bank willing to do that loan? Item D. So, next thing on the agenda and and the banker sitting right there Hi, Mr. Banker. Are you going to give us the money?
Okay. Thank you. All my my answers just got taken care of. It's all right. Thank you. Dax. Sure. Fire away. I make a motion we approve resolution 2025-63.
A second. We have a first. We got a second. We got any other discussions? All right. Hearing none, then all in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed. 5-0.
Item D. All right, Mr. President. This is resolution 2025-64A. Resolution of the city of council, the city council of the city of Willist, Florida, authorizing a loan in a principal amount of not to exceed $4,667,774 to finance the cost of the installation of broadband utilities and
to pay cost of such loan. Approving the form of a revenue note and a loan agreement delegating to certain official of the city take certain actions and to execute any documents and take any actions required in connection with the issuance of said loan. designating the note as a bank qualified obligation
under section 265B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended, providing other details with respect there too, and providing an effective date. This is the loan that we've been talking about and working on for what
feels like an eternity. Um, but here we are. Um, the attachment that you'll see uh to the resolution is the loan agreement. um itself. So, I'm happy to answer any questions. I feel like we've talked a lot about this, so I don't want
to rehash every bit of it. Um and I'll also give it over to Donald for anything that he would like to add. So, this is identical to the uh schedule that you were given as a as a promise and commitment from C Coast Bank. Uh Mr. Justin H is here. he can basically
relate that the form that we went over. It was roughly a month ago is is still strong. It's exactly what was offered. It's exactly what's being delivered. You guys asked a bunch of questions as to the terms and whatnot. Then um I don't believe there's really anything that's
uh changed in any way, shape, or form to that original agreement. So this is just what we promised uh we would try and deliver. Um I want to thank C Co Coast Bank. I want to thank Kirstston and I want to thank Hector for all the the work, the hard work that they've put in and um I think that this is a a very
favorable loan on behalf of the city and this is why we wanted to deal with a local bank versus, you know, dealing with a Bank of America or Capital City or uh not Capital City, Capital One, excuse me, or one of those types of institutions. So, I I think that you guys have some very favorable terms here
and if he has anything to add, he's more than welcome to. come up. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Like old times. I will be brief. Uh Justin Head, C Co Coast Bank. First, just I want to thank the council and the whole team for
allowing us the opportunity to put a bid in on this and see if we could accomplish this for you. I'll apologize for some of the delays that was on us. And uh we we just had a few changes procedurally. No issues within the loan. just uh we ended up having to refer this
over to legal counsel and we had to find an attorney that also had uh bond counsel on staff. So, it just took a little longer than we expected, but they were pleasant to work with. We got it done as quick as possible and much faster than some of the 90 to 100 day
120day quotes we got. So, I want to thank Hector and Kirsten and of course Donald. He did a great job and and the whole team worked. And uh other than that, everything is as you were presented on uh the original term sheet. So if anybody has any questions about any of that, payment structure or
anything, fire away. It is a big loan. I can see why it took longer. And Holland night was absolutely um they were the bond council. They were absolutely great to work with. So absolutely. I I think most of the and I
don't know if you want them here. Most the couple of questions that I have I don't really have to do with the bank loan but they're in here so I don't really know. They may pertain to the bank and I don't realize it. Can you on page 26? Can you talk to me about
Jay? Item J. So what is that on our page? Uh your 62 in the packet. 62 I'm sorry. Okay. Thank you. 62 in the packet. And I don't think it has really to do with the bank. I think it has to do um
go to J. It may have to do with the bank and I just don't realize it. But I'm telling you this is legal ease from the word goat. Reading the definitions. It took me longer to get through the definition pages, pages and pages of definitions
before I could even start reading the thing. And if you just give me one second. I'm sorry. It was a it's a long agreement. So I want to familiarize myself with Kirsten. It starts on page 59 of the packet. Page 23. It's section 4.07 covenants of the issuer regarding the
system. And that's a clause J of it. Right. Right. I just kind of want to know what exactly I read it one way, but I want to make sure what it really means. It says mandatory connections no competing system that's the topic.
So to the so yes essentially what this means is to the extent that we're able to require connections and this is this is very sort of boilerplate language that you see in a lot of these kinds of loan agreements. A lot of the time you see them more with um like sewer or
water um where you have a lot a lot more power. Um it does have in there um to the extent permitted by law. So to the extent that we can say you must i.e. we need to enforce our contract for exclusivity with Williston crossings. Um
but we can't go outside of Florida law and require people to connect to the internet. That's only that's why now Miss Jones on this this was actually a good clause for us on behalf of the city because if we change our development code which we've been talking to Laura about and let's say a new development comes in and we do something similar to
gas and we say when you build the development you need to put in a space for telecommunications then we can be their first right of refusal in offering those telecommunications. So that also helps us in that regard as well. That is what I thought that it meant. I just wanted
to make sure I was reading it. It's really nothing to do with the loan itself, but it's in the loan agreements. Sure. Does it does produce revenue or extra revenue? Okay. That's really the only question. It incentivizes us to encourage revenue. Yes, it encourages revenue. Yes, it
does. And your revenues are pledged as collateral for the loan to the bank. So therefore, bank wants to make sure you maximize that at every chance you can get. I guess my and my second question is, did we roll a couple of other loans into this? No. I I didn't make No, there
was some discussion when we were trying to push this forward about being creative and sort of trying to consolidate some things, but we decided to just start decided not to. Okay. They are mentioned in one segment and that's because the collateral also serves as collateral on those loans. Okay. So,
they're referenced there. I don't see them there. That's why I wasn't they're referenced there on par with this loan for collateral safety. Appreciate it. All right. I'm here. Okay. Oh my god. That's it. All right. I make a motion that we
approve resolution 2025-64 as ready to discuss. Second. We have a first. We got a second. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Those
opposed 5. All right. Item E, uh, sick time sheets. Thank you, Mr. President. Okay, I gave you two sheets, uh, tonight that have vacation payout potentially and sick time. Um, so
you asked for four things from the last meeting. You asked for number of vacation hours. Um, that's what this first the longer sheet is. Um, it has pay out all the way down to 200 hours. Um, of course the employee manual uh requires that you're not supposed to carry more than 288, but of course we
want to leave a little room for people to continue um acrewing those hours. So that's the first sheet. You asked for uh sick hours. That's the second sheet. We only have one employee that is over the 800 hours. That's on that uh shorter sheet. And then you asked for the dollar
figures for payout. That is in that last column, the payout column. So, if we were to pay out everybody right now, all of the employees that have over 200 hours of vacation time, it would cost the city 75,45755. And for sick, of course, they can only cash out a quarter of their
sick time. So, the one employee, um, if he cashed out anything over the 800 hours, it would be $59.80. So, pretty minimal there. The last thing you asked about was the need to hire additional employees. um if we put one of these in effect. Of course, it
matters which route you guys decide to go. I did ask Stephen what his recommendations were um in terms of when he gave us um this information. He gave me kind of a one, two, three. He recommended first that we move anything over the 200 hours to comp
time. The second thing he recommended was um incentivizing our employees to take the time off by the end of the year. I know in some people's cases that's a lot of time off you'd be taking. And then the third would be the payout. He really was not in favor of the payout because of the amount there.
Um but at least I wanted you to have the information and and hopefully we can make a decision because um as I mentioned in the last council meeting, uh we have moved over to the Edmond system. This information did not transfer. So that's what took Steven so
long. Um when he went in here, he was like he gave me the first time he gave me this. I was like, uh, these hours don't look right to me. And so they realized that everything did not move over. So they have now moved everything over and this is now accurate. Any questions? Wow. Wow. That's right.
So if we first of all, I say I can't believe we let them do this to begin with. Be my And I say them as in we allowed them to do it. So, there it is. Um, they're dedicated to their job, so they don't take time off to do self-care, if you want to call it that.
Um, I know on the comp, I don't see how in the world we'd have we'd pay it out. I agree with Stephen. That would be the last choice I would have. We can do a combination of two. I know I mentioned last time to bank it to bank the extra and let them use it in case of emergency.
um or and that's essentially what the comp time would be. So we could actually do number one and number two and move it to comp time and incentivize them to use it as soon as possible. And with only one person with the sick time, I probably would pay it
out. That's just the way I feel about it. Just a reminder, I'm not allowed to get comp time. Why not? I'm a charter officer. Well, I know we have you're exempt. You're exempt. Does it I don't know that it says the charter officer can't do it.
I think it but there we have other exempt people that are on this list is what I'm trying to say. I guess that's why I'm saying I don't even know why it's here because I guess it's not overtime. Does it say in your provision that that as a charter officer you can't
take comp time or does it simply say you're exempt an exempt employee? Yeah, it's always been exempt. Yeah, you're exempt. Yeah. Well, a lot of these other people are exempt, too, but we're talking about giving them comp time. So, I think we would if we did that, we'd have to give it to you. And the police
chief is comp time. I mean, I mean, he's exempt. A lot of these people are exempt. That's why they haven't had time to go take their vacation because they're the boss. I mean, they're the boss and that we know is true.
So, how do y'all feel about it? We can't just throw it in the garbage. No. Is what the system would have us do. We'll do our best to work with taking care of our peeps. I think the top comp time bank, I
wouldn't call it a bank, but that's what we called it where I worked before was a comp time bank. And if you use your other you can and get it down just a little bit, you can actually take your neck like you're used down 40 40 hours so that you're now
40 hours under your next 40 hours could come out of your comp time. Some some of y'all have been here so long that you're getting a lot because it's based that way. The longer you're here, the more you get. I worked at places like that as well and that's why you acrew it so fast because
you worked here a while. I mean, I worked at the hospital for 30 years. I was acrewing like 12 hours of pay period. So, every two weeks I was getting like 12 hours and there was no way I could use it that fast because I had to go to work. So, and that it's really hard to people that are committed
to their job to know that they're needed to walk out the door even if it is for self-care. What do you think we should do, Miss Sue? Yeah, I mean, regarding the exemptions, I I would need to take a look at that. I
I don't know off the top of my head. So, I I could work with Sue on that. See where we're at. even if it's a one time thing, which is why you may want to call it a vacation bank rather than comp time. I would probably agree that the comp
time makes the most sense um just because we haven't budgeted the $75,000. It's a lot of money. Um we may want to look at the possibility in the future of allowing people to cash out. I have done that in the past where like at the end
of the fiscal year you could cash out a certain amount. I mean you probably would not want to cash out 511 hours but um you know maybe they could cash out a week or two or something like that to kind of also help get this figure down but I think the comp time probably makes the most amount of sense at least for
everybody except for Latricia and we'll kind of work on Latricia separately. Mr. What do you think is going to look into it and whatever you all decide that's the right thing to do bring it back that we're not violating
do what you think I don't sorry I don't um really see or understand how putting it into comp is really going to benefit us
um unless we are going to make them take time off. It only benefits it benefits them more than it benefits us because we're not throwing it in the trash cuz right now they're only allowed to get a certain number of hours and we let them acrew it anyway. Right. I definitely would not say to throw it in the trash.
That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is if we put it into a bank, they still have hours that are acrewing that they're going to have to take the time, which is going to add to or it's just going to sit there and stay the same and you're
still going to be in this position. Yeah. It won't add anymore. It won't add any but it won't take away either. Not unless they use it. Right. So um I think we should well we have to do
one and two because the excess can't go in the system anyway but we have to make sure that they start taking the time off. I'll take my huh joking. I said I'll take my pay out. I started to say, I can't believe I'm
going to say this out loud, but I'm going to if if they would be willing to take half of it, we might could pay it out since they're going to lose it anyway. We might could pay out half of it. How are they How are they going to lose
it? Because the system won't hold it. It only holds up to the cap. The new system, the new systems essentially dumped it already. Let's see what Miss Jones. Thank you, Mr. President. um the comp time's not going to help most of them because they're already in
the sick bank and they've already contributed. So, it's really not going to do much. Um unless you give that sick bank money back and then you just have more and more hours there. As far as the payout, um I don't know if this is going to go over well with the staff or not, but a
lot of the larger municipalities will pay out on retirement or leaving. And um if it's less than retirement so retirement will be 100% say if you leave before retirement age or your your um
years it would be say 75%. And the reason they do that instead of paying people out when these conflicts happen because they happen to other municipalities as well is because it's spread out. So it will be maybe 75,000 or maybe less if you decide to give them a percentage but it only gives it to
them when they leave. And unless there's life-changing money up there, none of the people are going to leave just to get their vacation payout, but I don't have the form. So, there could be life-changing money up there. I mean, it it currently says we do pay them out when they leave, but we only pay to a certain a certain amount because that
that helps our liability. I mean, we have this as a liability on our books at the moment. Any CPA that looked at this would call it a liability to the city. But you you can raise it and you can make it anything that you want. And we gave the 200 hours of of vacation and the 800 hours of sick that we do pay out
when when you leave, even when you leave, not just because you retire, but they would pay up to the 200 hours at 100% when you left and a quarter of the sick leave. And that's what our policy says now. Yeah, there's no reason to pay them all out today unless you decide to
do that. But um you can pay them all out when they leave, which is what our plan was anyway. But I didn't hear that as one of the options. Mr. Barber, I I'm trying to be delicate in saying this. You have people on that list that
were told that if they took vacation time for years, they would be fired from their jobs. You had individuals on that list who had vacation scheduled and at the last minute were told, "No, you're staying home and you're coming to work."
We had people on that list who spent thousands of dollars on booking trips, cabins where our families went on vacations and we could not go because we had a director at the time that told us we would lose our
job. And I think that's relevant here to when we're asking why did we get this much time on the books because we worked for years under a director that constantly told us we would be fired if we took time that we were entitled to take. And I think that should bear quite
a bit of weight in the decision that you make. Whether we put it in comp time, it's still on your books. So, you know, I I I'm I'm I just I don't know how much to to not say that, you know, is going to get us in the newspaper, but I mean, there was some
activity that occurred that was inappropriate that was allowed not by anyone here or anyone on that dis, but it was allowed and now you're saying to the employees, too bad, too. Let's Can I comment to that? I don't I
don't think anybody said that. I I would just say that uh nobody like you said, nobody that was on the council at that time was aware of that. We are aware of it now. That's why that person is not here anymore. One of the reasons that person is not here anymore. Uh because we became aware of some of the issues
that we had. Um but I will also say that's been three or four years ago. So I I don't those you could have gone on vacation. I know you have. You have Miss Jones. Three or four years ago, you could have been burning down some. I take a 3 week vacation to use up the
time that I currently get in November. I'm famous for taking my vacation. I still come in. Don't charge you for the time because there's problems. Then I usually take another week sometime in the spring and then I I might serve on boards in Marian County and serve on other things and I take off time and use
up time. I can't I can't be away from my job anymore. I know the director can't be away. The supervisor of election or electric can't be. We can't take any more physical time. You all you both of those people that you're talking about and and Miss Johns, you're both exempt just like the city clerk. I I'm aware,
but we also have comp time already on the books because we were not always exempt employees. So, I wasn't an exempt employee other till a couple years ago. So, I already have almost 200 hours under comp time. So, you're just adding to that. And what's going to happen is
it's still going to exist on your books. And in the meantime, the other thing I want to point out is that for each person, let's say they're here another 10 years and they have this time on their book, their pay is going to go up in 10 years and you're going to owe this amount on that new pay rate. That's the one thing that wasn't mentioned tonight.
As opposed to the pay rates that people currently are in. So, you're actually going to save money if you don't leave it on your books. No, we don't pay out comp time when you leave. We only pay out the Yes, you do. Look at your policy. Comp time is required by federal and state statute to be paid out at
100%. Annual vacation is paid out if it's not termination if it's voluntarily departed. But comp time by state and federal law is required to be paid out. It is time comped that was in prepay that was taken and given because it
wasn't paid out on. So it's required by law to pay out comp time at 100%. Okay. Yes, sir. you and Miss Belaloo has got a good challenge for the next Sounds like we
have lots of questions that we will come back with lots of answers. All right. Mr. Bloom in that. Yes. So, Kirsten, when you guys are looking at this um because there are some people who can actually take
leave and we not have to pay them extra. Um, can you look at that and see if that's feasible, legal, what issues? I will look at all the all that realm. What we're required to pay, what we
Yeah. are permitted to pay. Would Miss Latricia, would you ask that Selena send us all the HR manual? I used to have it on my desktop, but it's not here. So, somebody would send us the HR manual.
The whole thing will be on the website. All right. So, they'll they'll uh check it out and come back to us and have some answers. All right. All
right. Mr. Hector left. Mr. Hector. I was going to see if you want. All right. Item nine, public participation. This is your second opportunity to address the council. At this time, anybody in the audience can come to the podium and speak for 5
minutes on any topic other than what is on the agenda? No one. All right. Anyone on the Ring Central meeting wish to speak up? Unmute your mic and speak up now. Nothing heard.
Item 10, announcements staff. Yes. Just a reminder, next Tuesday investature meeting at 6:00. For the ones that are being sworn in, could you please wear your pretty blue shirts, long sleeve shirts?
Can I can I request um we do it at 6:15? 6:50. 6:15. 6:15. That's No, I don't have I've already scheduled the judge to be
here at 6. He'll be fine. Hey, please roll with me. I can I'll ask. It's just that a meeting as you know conflict. So I'll ask and I'll let you know. We we could just feed them
first. Yeah. Council, there would be no food. Who said that? That was a good idea. Oh, Erin said that. Council. Right. Okay. I would like to say that it's nice to see that the gentleman who purchased the old gas
station on the other side of the railroad tracks went by there the other day. A lot of it's all cleaned up. Um I see they got a trailer there with a fence around it. Um he's doing what he said he was going to do. Um, and I'm bad with names, but the
other night, um, coming home, Jonathan, Jason, um, and a couple other employees were dealing with a small sinkhole over by the
um, Marathon jobber plant, gas plant, and they u they were out there, got it knocked and everything. And I will say this is goes for all of the employees who work
for the city, utilities, police, and everything. When there's an issue, and I've gone around and seen them and everything, they work as a team. Police officers will come to assist, do what they have to do, but all
everybody works as a team in here. So, I've gone by watched them over behind um Capitol City Bank work on a project. There was four guys there. They were
down in a hole probably 4 ft deep and just getting the water man, getting everything taken care of. Yes, we have old structures. Always wonder why did it take so long to for us to get things done when we're given a grant. Correct me if I'm wrong. It takes
eight months for us just to be able to get the money. So, it's not like we're not It can be much much longer than that. That's fine. You may have to put the money out and then get reimbursed, which may takes a lot longer as well. So,
that's a big reason why it takes quite a bit. Other than that, that's all I got. Anybody else, Mr. Mayor? No, sir. That's
right. I know you have something to say there, please. No. All right. I can't believe it's still daylight. All right. I make a motion that we adjourn. 11:00. Second is done. All
right. Got a first. We got a second. All in favor say I. I. Time is now. Okay. 7:31 p.m.