agenda item. It would be G. We'd be adding it to the 5G. Okay. Discussion with possible action. Can I get a motion? I move that we approve the agenda with that change um as presented.
Okay, I got a second. Second. I have a motion and a second. Motion carries. Got a vote. Got a vote. Oh, we got a vote. It almost carries. All right. So, we move to vote. All
those in favor say I. I. I. All those who oppose say nay. Motion carries four to to zero. Okay. Item number two, public participation.
You have five minutes. If there is anything that's not on the agenda currently, please speak. Hi, my name is Corey Brian. I live in Florida and I'm actually
for the I'm sorry for the Chamber of Commerce. Um, I just wanted to pass on real quick, uh, on the 19th of July at 8 o'clock, we're going to be meeting here at the city hall all the chamber members that, uh, are involved in this. We actually got an approval to do an adopt
a highway and for the city of Williston. So, that's going to be our first actual cleanup. I spoke with the chief. He's going to try to give us a hand with maybe an officer out there, too. But, we'll see how that goes because it all depends on calls for service, of course. But we would like to encourage everybody
here if you anybody that would like to attend, any of the staff, um any of the actually community members, we're definitely looking forward to doing this. Uh I really think it's going to be good for the city. Um down the road um we got to do one once a quarter. So
hopefully we'll get more volunteers, but um again, it's on the 19th of July, which is a Saturday, and we'll be meeting at the city hall here. Thank you very much. What time is that? 8 o'clock am Yes, Chief. Mr. Cory, you said we're
going 121 north. Yes. Okay. Yeah, because once we hit the city limits, you know, we're kind of we have to stop. Y, but we'll be with you all the way there. Okay, perfect. All right. Thank you. Is there anyone? All right.
Are you on the agenda? No. No. I would have liked to have been on the agenda, but my issue has already been sent to the insurance company. So, I was told that it would could not be on the agenda because
I've already been turned down. I would like to um request that the city address their parking bumpers, also known as concrete wheel stops, concrete parking blocks. I drove up to the one on the
side of the post office on May 21st. I did. I'm not sure I touched it, but I drove up to it and when I was put my letter, did deliver my letter and when I backed up, the rebar was sticking up enough that it grabbed my bumper and
pulled my bumper off. Uh, pulled the bumper, caught it. I stopped immediately. I went in the post office. The post office guy said, "Oh, that's a city thing." So, I went to the city and Jonathan came out and helped me. Um, came out. He says, "Well, we need to
call the police. I have a police report." And another city employee came out there also, and I don't know his name, but the two of them stood there with me and they were take, you know, kind of supervising and helping me with this because I could not get my car
removed from the bumper. City employees came and I'm not sure if it was a 2x4, whatever. They helped lift it off and said, "Okay, don't drive more than 30 miles an hour to get home." So, I left the city. I left that area thinking that
I would be, you know, this is a city issue. You ought to be able to drive up to a parking bumper. I have a standard Cherokee Jeep. You ought to be able to drive up to a parking bumper and not be harmed. Um, seems like anyone should be
able to drive safely up to one. Um, so on 5, you know, on 5:22 on May 22nd, city manager called me and said, "The city's going to take care of this. Don't worry about it." I was going to be
leaving for Ethiopia in a couple days. So, I trusted the city to take care of it. And they said, "Call Latricia on Tuesday." My husband tried to call her on Tuesday. Latricia was sick. So, this went on and I was gone for two weeks.
Um, fast forwarding, he well, Latricia didn't couldn't call back and then I met with the city manager and Latricia in their office after I got back from Ethiopia and the verbiage changed. I was told, "Well,
since you ran over the parking bumper, I brought my iPad." And since I'm not on the agenda, I would love to show people the police report and all the pictures that of the my car. I did not drive over a parking bumper. I drove up to it just
like all of you do. And I have pictures of people driving. retrie if you will address me since then and okay finally okay well you get the idea I've been refused that the city is going
to take care of this and I've been without but I was strung along with asurances that the city was going to take care of it and then now it's been refused by the insurance company it's going to cost me $1,800 or
us $1,800 $100 to have my car fixed. Um, if you Google how you actually install these parking bumpers and look it up. I have a degree in architecture. I study
this stuff and these how was these how were these installed and put in? Do you know did does anybody know how they're supposed to be put in? Uh just you know one little highlight I have ensure the rebar is flush with the top
brick. This prevents potential damage to vehicles and injury to people and how much epoxy you should put in there and the spacers. Basically there's just rebars in these in these um parking bumpers. The second employee that came
out the day I was there, he brought a hammer and he went and he hammered in all the other rebars. So the people that drove drive drive up to the post office right now can thank me for the safety of their car because he hammered in all the
rebars right there that day. Uh I think the city needs to come up with a maintenance plan on parking bumpers. All you have to do is go just check them and hammer them in. And the reason the
insurance company turned me down and I was told by Latricia that someone else this happened to somebody else and they were turned down because it hasn't happened before. So as long as you don't have a maintenance program, the insurance company is going to turn people down for issues that happen like
this. That's that's what I understand. You're the city attorney. Maybe you can explain this to me better, but I was turned down because there's no precedence for maintenance and there's no fault of the city because maintenance wasn't
maintained because there's no protocol to do any maintenance. Is there? And does anybody know how they were installed in the first place? And were they properly installed? And I'm really embarrassed and sorry I have to be here and do this because uh
I'm just really mad. Thank you, Miss Shver. Anyone else in the public? Yes, my name is Tim Aker. I live right here in Wilston on Northwest 225. I got a question. Um it's about the um I've
been here before November of the past year about the overabundance of stray cats. Um as of last year, right before the last hurricane, I started trapping cats. Waited for the city to bring me some cat
some traps. Didn't get them. I took upon myself to go spend $50 a piece for them. And I did. And it just in my yard alone in seven weeks, I trapped 22 cats out of my yard. I trapped 10 from the Ivy house cuz I
got permission from them and everybody else around here. So, I trapped them. And so, I quit trapping three days before the storm because I didn't want to leave them in there and and be inhumane. But, uh there's got to be some kind of ordinance to feed these cats. uh and trapping them in and get them out
of here. These things are a plague. They're worse than rats cuz at least rat you can throw some rat poison down and you don't get in trouble for cruelty to animals. I mean we there's there's nothing being done about it. Uh you can
cry and complain about it and everybody just I mean if you're a cat lover fine but I ain't. I've had cats but you know what? I had them fixed and I took care of them. make sure they had plenty of uh worm medicine and had their shots. But these these cats right around here, I
mean I mean only thing you need to do is just make them a m make them a migrant and make tent city over here for them to give them something to stay in. I mean be like in San Francisco they crap everywhere. I mean it's really embarrassing.
I mean, I I mean, I don't know what else to do, but I'm telling you, I'm gonna start trapping again. And when I when I start, I ain't stopping. I mean, it should be my duty to do this. This should be the city's duty to have an ordinance. If you get caught feeding them cats, you get a
warning the second time, you get a frying the third time, maybe go to jail. And maybe all this stop and then these people would keep your cats under control. Cuz I'm going to tell you, when Wayne was a code enforcement officer, it was long. There was no more straight dogs around town. Try to find one. But
there's plenty of cats and it is very and it's it's just there's no excuse. Thank you. Any discussion? Anyone else? All right. So you'll have a second chance at participation at the end of
So item number three consent agenda council minutes from June 3rd and June 17th 2025 will be on the next agenda motion item number four updates
We're going to start with city manager SUP. Thank you very much, Madam President. All right, just a couple of updates. Um I think I mentioned at one of the previous council meetings that uh Kim and I had Kim, our new HR director, and I had attended a utility training in the
city of Newberry. That was utility training 101. And then we attended um on Tuesday, June 24th, utility uh 2011. And uh we actually reached out to FMPA. We're going to do the same two trainings, utility 101 and 2011 on
Wednesday, July 16th, that will be 101. And Wednesday, July 30th, and that will be 2011. Um, so they're roughly an hour to an hour and a half a piece. They're open to any city employee, any city council member, anybody who wants to just come in and learn about electric. Um, 101 is on the electric utility
financial and planning considerations. And then 2011 is on system operations and kind of the financial um side of uh utilities or electric utilities. So everybody is um welcome to those um to those trainings. You send it out to us. I can absolutely.
And then um Thursday, June 26th, I had a meeting with Kevin Smith, the uh general manager from GFL. Just wanted to warn you guys that there is a CPI increase coming with our GFL rates um forthcoming. He hasn't put it in writing yet, but um it is coming. And then um
just got an email today from coach Germaine Pittz of Heavy Hitter Team. So this was the gentleman who came before us and was looking to um have the women's softball at the Cornelius Williams Park. Um we've been working
with him for the last uh couple of weeks on uh obtaining the correct insurance that he needed and he just uh got that policy I believe either yesterday or today through K&K insurance. It's general liability insurance say that they have to have and he sent this email um addressed to the city council. It
says, "Hello. First of all, sorry I couldn't make it to the meeting tonight, but as the spokesperson for the heavy hitters, we would like to say thank you for listening to our plea to be able to play softball in the city of Willist. As of 7725, we now have insurance on the team as requested. We have been patiently waiting on the waiver to be
sent out. Um, but it has now been 3 weeks and no waiver. So, still waiting on that. But when we get them, we will get them signed and back. I have been in discussions with Tommy at WIAA. He has a copy of the insurance. I sent a copy to the city today. And with that in place, he gave us the okay. Um, so with time
and donation in our personal money, we have scheduled to host three teams this Sunday, the 13th, including our team starting at 400 p.m. until about 8:30 p.m. at WIAA. And we will plan two more dates that the city has allowed us to play for this year in Willist at a later
date. We are grateful for what you've done for us, but in the uh but the end goal is to be able to play next year at the East Willist Park with it being safe for teams and fans to be able to enjoy with dugouts and fence lines. Greatly appreciated, Coach Germaine Pitts and the heavy hititterter team and other
coaching staff. [Applause] Yeah. And then um last, I just wanted to let you guys know that starting at the next council meeting, we are going to be recognizing um and I believe we did this in the past and we're just bringing it back. We're going to be recognizing
employees for their years of service. So, we're going to start with employees um at the next meeting that have um been at the city for 25 years and then the next meeting after that will be 20 and then 15 and 10 and we'll have everybody um wrapped up by the end of this fiscal year um with the five-year awards. So, there'll be quite a few awards, but
they'll get a certificate and a pin from the city of Olston. And that's all I have. Thank you. Question. Yes, sir. um in your report that you do each week you put in there about um interviewing
for an administrative assistant. Yes. Question. Does she need it? I mean, we've uh been without one for some time.
Mhm. And by us taking the position that Chip had, would we be better off fulfilling that and putting that person back in the field? Um Christiey's pretty overwhelmed over there with the number of reports that
she has to do for all the different departments, water, gas, electric, storm water. Um and then there's going to be reports obviously with the internet coming on board. So, we wanted to have some redundancy between Christy and and this person, whoever person we end up putting in there, Jenna or whoever. Um,
it was really just to make sure that she has some relief and there's redundancy between those two people. She right now is the only one that does all those. Chief, you I also had a question about that same thing when you're three. Okay. Chief, you have an assistant. She stay pretty busy.
Yes, sir. Does she need somebody to help her? No, sir. Okay. And then we have one uh Vicki who is with for you and Latricia in HR.
She need help. I I just don't understand why we're going to spend more money to put person in the office. You have to remember how many departments Christie is um is working for. It's quite a few people. Like I
said, like it's water, it's waste water, it's and it's it's a variety of departments over there. I mean, and Jonathan can probably speak to this more than I can because obviously it's it's his assistant, but the thought was that we didn't need another person in the field and it would be better to have another administrative assistant over
there. But again, Jonathan can speak more to to Chris. Before Jonathan comments, let me make my comment and then he can answer both. My question is we have a staffing plan and it all lots so many positions in so many areas. This is not a position that's on the staffing plan, right?
You can't add a position without it being budgeted and us approving it essentially. If you want a position approved, you have to come before us at the budget or any other time, which I haven't heard the request for this position. Right. So, I was surprised also to see it in
your report. And again, it's not an additional. This would be taking the place of the person that is no longer with the gas department. So, it's not additional person. It's a totally different category of job. Okay. I mean, it's like the electric department that we had. Y'all came in,
you asked for different position, right? That's why you did, right? Because the staffing plan actually changes. Okay. Um, and that staffing plan is approved with the budget each year and to be changed it. I mean, that's the way I
interpret it. I don't know if it is the way you interpret it or not, but um there are so many positions. I mean, it's like Chief Rolls, he can't just add a police officer without coming to us and asking us to add that to the staffing plan, right?
So, you'd rather see this for the next put it in the budget for the next fiscal year is what you're saying. I I'm just commenting that I don't it's not a current position in the staffing plan. Right. Understood. That's just my comment. I don't know about the need or anything else. Right. And you got to remember we've got to
come to the council for this stuff because if not, I see it as well. Let's just do it and then we'll ask for forgiveness later. Okay. And that's fine. I mean that we can certainly do that into the next budget year if you guys would prefer to do it that way. That's certainly and I apologize if I didn't do that correctly.
Absolutely. Jonathan, can you comment though about Christie and Yes, absolutely. So that's loud. So, with the new position, the thought was with fiber coming in with all the customers and all the complaints and not complaints, but you know what I'm saying, all the questionnaires and all the hookups and disconnects and all
that, um, it'd be nice to spread the work around a little bit better, make it easier on everybody and have redundancy. So, one's on vacation, the other one can fill in because the way it is now, it's not really one and done, but more or less it's one and done, right? So I guess I kind of look at it
as when they were putting all this together that should have been budget put in to the plan for the for fiber. Sure. You know because we've been shifting employees around moving from you electrical over to utilities and you
know so absolutely I can certainly do that. Okay. Any other questions? No comments. All right. So, now we're here from attorney Kirsten Blue. Okay. Couple of updates for you all.
First, um the lean reduction policy is almost ready in its final sort of form for ordinance. Uh you should see that on your next agenda ideally. Um the RP for the top of the hill we plan to make live August 31st. Um, so we've, you know,
we've got to coordinate with, um, our service bidding. Central bidding. Thank you. Um, our bidding software, Central Bidding, um, for that. So, we anticipate that being August 31st, live and ready for um, bid. Was it August or July?
August 31st. Thank you. And then the final item that I have for you all is uh, you have a letter on the dis in front of you from me. So as a general recap, uh we haven't had one since all of you have been on the
council. So my uh firm's contract with you all is such that if we spend more than 10 hours on a specific project, it becomes a special project um build separately from your monthly retainer. Um, there have been, as I'm sure many of
you have heard, uh, a couple of personnel issues that we've been dealing with, um, that have already come up to the 10-hour mark. Um, so the next step would obviously be getting a special project approved to continue
um, addressing those concerns um, and dealing with those issues. The path that I would recommend for you and is outlined in the letter is um working with an independent investigator. Um I know that oftentimes there are concerns among staff members of you know who
they're reporting to may have skin in the game and how do we know that you're not invested. Um so twofold. one, not only um am I recommending that um you retain through my firm um Megan Logan um as an independent investigator, I've attached her CV for you all to take a
look at. She is uh very experienced in this area. She's done work with us um for Stark um previously and this is this is what she does. Um, and then, uh, not only that, but I myself would take a step back, um, and Danielle Adams from
my firm, um, who's another one of the attorneys who builds it, that my same rate, would be involved with Megan in order to run point on this project, just so everyone, um, all the staff members feel like that the two people that are involved in the investigation are completely without any skin in the game, haven't worked in the city before. Um,
so that everyone feels really comfortable. Um, you all would get a report from Megan Logan at the end of the investigation. employees would have an opportunity to um speak with her if they chose um and then we would address any of the concerns that came from there and she would make recommendations to you all. So that's my my recommendation
is that you approve a special project, approve us retaining Megan Logan. I don't anticipate that it will exceed $15,000. I've seen it go up to $15,000 before. Um if we get close to that amount and I feel like it'll keep going, obviously we'll come back to you all.
Um, but my request would be that that that special project be approved up to $15,000 and then you would get it's not an upfront cost, so it would just be monthly as um the fees are incurred. So, I'm happy to answer any questions. Um, but I think this is a sort of good way
for us to make sure that the employees feel seen and heard um and that there's, you know, accountability and recommendations made. Is this something that we have to have a resolution or anything for or you wouldn't need a resolution? You would need a vote.
Consensus. You need a vote. A vote. Mhm. Any do have a motion. I make a motion that we approve the special project with Miss Logan.
A second. Okay. First and a second. Any discussion from the council? I think it'll be a good thing. Yeah. Guess we have a decision to make in the future. So, any discussion from the audience?
If none, I move to vote. All in favor say I. I. I. All oppose say nay. The motion passes with the vote of five to zero. 40. Wait, five. It's four of us.
Yeah, we have five. Don't wait. We have came at 618. Wrote it down. All right, Chief OS. All right. On a good note, um the new guns that we bought from Don Allen are
now starting to be issued out. So, we're super excited about that. They are fully equipped and ready to hit the road. Uh the two vehicles we also purchased from Donellan are now on patrol. Uh sad to say one of them got hit the other night.
She already it was good news and Denny went to bat. So Oh man, one of them got hit the other night. So uh Latricia's working an insurance claim on that. So hopefully we get that fixed and back on the road soon. Uh, in
reference to our shooting simulator, I am glad to announce that council member Rickio is our top shot. So, congratulations. So, uh, she did pretty good. I don't think anybody was close to her. Her time
was 9.47 seconds. I think that was my time. like the get out of jail free part or what's my problem? We'll talk about that later. But uh everything's going pretty good
over at the police department. Uh we're in the process of hiring a couple new people. We had um two one unforeseen left and then we had another one that just recently left because he decided that this type of work wasn't what he wanted to do. So, uh after I spent all
that money. But anyway, uh he's uh I wish him well, but we're in the process of hiring two new people right now that uh one has a probably 13 years of experience and the other one is um coming from
our neighbor Levy County. So, uh we're super excited to get them started and once we get them hired and and through the process, we'll bring them before the council to introduce them. So, thank you Any
other staff? Chief Steagle. Yes, ma'am. Uh we were asked this last week to uh support the uh city of Cedar Key with a fire inspection. Um they've lost their fire inspection service down there and uh we're going to accommodate
them just being a good neighbor on uh one building down there. They're trying to get a a restaurant opened back up. Um, but they will be coming back to us wanting to negotiate possibly a contract for us to do fire inspections for them in the future. I just want to make you aware of that. And on a really good
note, we just put in a grant that is no match grant for $35,000 worth of bunker gear. We look to be approved for that and there'll be no cost to the city. Awesome. Thank you. Awesome. I got two more updates if you don't mind. I'm going to have the last word though. I'm waiting on
That's fine. Got another one. Uh we're fastly moving uh forward with the schools on cameras. Uh so hopefully by August we will have them up and operational. So I'm excited about that. And the second thing I wanted to mention to the council was uh I want to thank
all the law enforcement officers that showed up here for our third of July event. I think we had about 80 different officers from different agencies that showed up. Uh, I will be writing a letter to all those agencies thanking them for coming and assisting us. Uh, because that's totally on their agencies
when they come here. They pay for their overtime. We don't pay anything. So, I think uh I I'll draft a letter and have it signed by all the council members, you know, thanking them for uh for coming out and helping us out during our third of July. And it was it went off without a hitch. So, everything was
great. Thank you. Nice. Yeah. each did you have something? I was just going to say each time I mean I saw a council you know thanking the officers you know when we saw them when we could make eye contact and stuff so they all look like they
were having a good time. So, Chief Steagle, okay. Any other staff? Anything from the council? Miss. Yeah, I just want to say thank you for the 3rd of July. It was a fantastic
celebration and it went off seamlessly from my vantage point, just waving elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist. Um, but no, I was incredibly impressed and every time this being my second time, I'm I'm incredibly impressed by the organization required. So, thank you to all of you
all who um helped organize that and uh got the speakers and the every just everything. So, I just showed up, waved, but thank you for everybody doing the rest of the hard work and all the staff too. I would say ditto. Um, it it was
wonderful just to see we had more staff, I believe, that were everywhere all over the grounds doing everything things I've never seen them do before. It was really nice to see everybody working together uh as a team. Um, from the very beginning to the very end,
from clean up. Yeah. I mean, I we had people cleaning up who shouldn't have been cleaning up, but I was thrilled that that everything went great and the fireworks were wonderful. The music was terrific. The float was wonderful. Thank you for the bar that was in the middle of float that we could hang on to and not fall down. Yes.
Yes. And for Amos for driving. Yes. And if you want to watch how to cut a watermelon using Oh, yeah. the cutter. These two are the best watermelon cutters. I still have a whole pen. It scares me
to death that not thing. Not me. And I just want to add the gentleman that's running the camera in the back was also cutting watermelons. Oh, yes, he did. And he's a new employee. Y it's a pretty scary thing.
Somebody has their hand up. I think it's Laura. Hi. Yes, Miss Jones. Thank you, Madam President. You went really fast. I didn't realize everybody was ready. Um, so the animal shelter's had a lot of struggles the past couple weeks. We've had a lot of puppies being dumped in the city limits and um mamas
being dumped with that have puppies the next day. Um we're really struggling out there. Our staff has stepped up. Um not just Kim and Tequia who are amazing, but our new animal control officer who will be definitely prosecuting um any animal
cruelty that is happening in the city limits. She knows how to do this and she's very very good at it. And also BJ and Nicole uh stepped up last week. They went out there and they spent time with the girls because they were overwhelmed and the phone calls were coming in. But
we did get quite a few dogs adopted. We got a couple foster so that's good. And I'm going up and down because he's experimenting with me. It's okay. Um but we do still need help out there. If anybody wants to adopt a dog, foster a dog, or otherwise come out and volunteer, we would really appreciate
it. And we're not the only ones. Some of our friends around town are closed because they are full. And we did not get a lot of help from other rescues because they just don't have any room. Uh Wag has stepped up. Uh they have taken some dogs from us, two of our really good ones. They know that they
can get adopted and we appreciate that. And I wanted to um thank the staff. Um they put some dog kennels out there for us. We had a really great donation for the wood and the fencing. So, we have some kennels where they can go out and
run and play and have, you know, get out of the concrete. So, it has changed a little bit out there. If anybody wants to bring those girls um like a donut or something, they would really appreciate somebody coming out there cuz they kind of feel a little bit isolated. They don't get a whole lot of guests from the
city except for Tom and some of our staff who's been like brilliant for them. So, I just wanted to give that update on the animal shelter and the struggles that we're having. Thank you. Make sure they know we're glad they're there cuz I can remember we didn't what
we had before was horrible and what we have now is just wonderful compared to that even if we are full. So, over the past two or three weeks, I've had some customers ask um who have been
longtime residents and everything and they've asked what's up with it seems like every worker has a vehicle, which I'm cool with that. And I explain to them how we get them and um things like that to them so they understand
that we're not paying full price. we get them through the government and everything. So, I was just curious, have we bought any vehicles since the change in from city managers from Terry Boulevard to Sue? Have we
purchased any vehicles? I want to say one or two. Two. You're confirming. Yes. In the same fashion we did Danny goes through GSA or whatever it is. Yes.
Okay. All right. One of the things I noticed too that the chief was showing me was GPS that they can monitor where all the cars are. Do we have that on any of our vehicles? Aaron is in the process of installing them. We've been working on it for the
last month or so. Okay. On all of them. Okay. All righty. And then over in the barn area, do we have any cameras or anything over in there? So if if stuff goes missing that it's videoed.
Yes, there is a video camera out there. However, I did confirm with Aaron today that there is no audio on any of our cameras except for the one in the council chambers. So including the community room, nothing else has any audio. Okay.
Thank you. Anything else from the council? All right, we'll go to item number five, new business. Item A, discussion with possible action. Jackie Appan update on Canadius Williams
Park and presentation. All right, y'all got to clap. Knock the horn. Good. Good evening. My name is Jacquelyn Appling and I just would like to ask permission to reverse. I want to do the presentation first and then the update on Kian Park if that's okay.
Yes, ma'am. Okay. Yes, ma'am. All right, family. It's okay. All right. I I present to you tonight I'll start over with reading what I have. Um, good evening. My name is Jacqueline Napton. I'm glad to be able to attend more meetings. Due to work, I haven't been here, but I've had
listening ears. Physically not here, but listening. Um, thank you, Latric, for allowing me to get on the agenda tonight. You guys know I usually jump up at public speaking time, so I'm in and out because I'm usually running somewhere else. Um, I'm here tonight to just speak on two areas, part one and part two. The first one will be the
presentation and then part two will be update on reading part. I just kind of reiterated that. Um, I've already been warned not to be longwinded, so I'm going to try not to be. I'm going to speak quickly, but I'm going to make sure it impacts everyone. I'm hoping the presentation.
I'm not here to reinvent the wheel, as most of you know. I'm just here to jump start an idea that I've chatted with way back. As many of you know, Mayor Goodman does an excellent job with student of the month. Bingo. We have to agree it does a good job continue to recognize our children as they get older and stay
involved in the community. I have done some brainstorming with Chief Mike Rose from years ago. Um we were presented by U. a mayor a volunteer certificate for friends ganiz Williams community park committee entitled pioneers of the
community back in 2024. This was those volunteers that continue to work towards Kiswan Community Park project since 2011. Tonight I would like to collaborate with the project and present a certificate to a young man in our community and entitle
this project young pioneers in the committee in the community because when they do student of the month they do grow up and they become young people and they become adults. So I'm hoping to um extend this program by keeping the pioneer flame burning bright. As you
know, we're getting older whether we accept that or not. And our youth and our children will hopefully keep these ideas and things moving on and given opportunities. So tonight, I would like to present a certificate to a young man. Taylor Cbrooks, professional steel
wrestler, mentor, trainer, coach, and allaround cowboy, but most of all, a genuine, respectable, humble young man. Taylor Cibbrook started this sport at the age of four to five at the rafters
cross cowboy church for kid rodeos. Continuing his journey fast forward he won all area cowboy at Georgia youth rodeo series being the first African-American to do so. He has been two national to two national rodeos
Jr. and I don't all acronyms so his mom's here. Um he has been in national rodeos JRn 2001 placing 20th the following year NLB national finals placing number 10th in
the world 2022 we had a parade during that time celebrating this young man. At the end of 2022 he became a part of various professional rodeos association PRCA PCA RCA.
November 2024, he was champion steel wrestler at national all regional finals in Tampa, Florida. Tayen continues to compete throughout the state professionally in the circuit. He has not stopped at that point. He recently graduated from Central Florida College with his degree in melting and in
welding technology. Mom, Uncle Rick, family, and others continue to encourage and support as he continues the ventures. He continues to mentor, coach, train other youth in the community, breaking horses, nervous
there, riding horses, doing lessons. His patience with kids and horses are amazing. He also takes time to travel to various events, speaking at churches, speaking and sharing his experience and opportunities and encouraging others to get involved in positive ways. All these
things under the watchful eyes of God, Uncle Rick, who's not able to be here tonight, and others. It truly takes a village. So tonight, without any further delay, we would like to foresee the event committee would like to recognize
Taylor C. Brooks as a young pioneer in the community of Willist, Florida. We continue honoring and watching others as we continue to look and choose in our community young people. He will be presented with a certificate with two anonymous donation donors in his travel
box, his first buckle in his shadow box. Also, Uncle Rick will also receive the token as well as on hand to play a part in Taylor's life and his adventure. Congratulations to you, Taylor, for all of your success for your ventures in this world. We just want to thank you
and ask you to continue motivating other youth in Willist, Florida. As you guys notice around us, Gainesville, we're next to the capital of the world, Marian horse, capital of the world, Marian County. And to hear the great things that not only Taylor are doing, but most of you recognize a young man, Quin Mitchell. He was another one that was
recognized in his talent. What we need to happen, and I'm hoping that we can continue to pick young pioneers in the community of Willist, Florida. I'm asking the council to recognize these young people, not just Taylor and Quinon, but others with a plaque that puts their name visible in city hall. So
when others look at it, other student of the month look at they say, "You want to be like Mike? We want to be like Taylor. We want to be like Quinant." So those children will continue to grow and bring back to Willist, Florida, and not move away and take it with them. So tonight, I ask this young man, who's a hard
cookie to break, to collaborate with me on presenting other youth in our community with those certificates and those honors. So Taylor, would you come up please, sir? I would like for you all to meet Taylor. [Applause]
I knew I knew him from somewhere. I walked in the door. I've seen it. While we wait I knew I knew him from somewhere. I've seen it. I've seen him get awards at MLK, too. While we wait to come up, uh, you know, it's so amazing that tonight is here.
Uh, he knows I follow him, you know, sponsor him when I can. And, uh, He hasn't let me down yet. He's at a rodeo and it's somewhere close I can go there support. So it's a pleasure to be standing here with you again, you know,
saying thank you being a leader in our community and represent well [Applause] tonight [Music]
achievement for outstanding achievement July 8, 2025 signed by uh coordinator William Park. Congratulations.
[Applause] Also, this is buckle. You got to show us too. Yeah. Oh, nice. See my new present with you before
[Music] you always share. [Applause] just presented table with this box that holds some of his back in there
and I share. Would you like to say anything? All right. Thank you. As DC would say, big little burst. Bringing it bringing it home. Yep.
Um the second part I'm going to keep very simple. Um and I'm hoping like I say the fan would stay just for a little while with me. Um just a review of Kish Williams Park. There's a lot of new faces, the council mayors. I've watched change in all of those faces and I know the person looking at me said it don't
be long went just an update because in the community we're hearing hearing things about K William Park that it's not being loved it's not being taken care it's not being all of those things and when that comes out in the community I really wish those people were at council meeting attend more council
meetings attend more events but there are lots of things that's happened at Kise William Park there are a lot of volunteers that are working William Park uh is a project was started back in 2011 with a group called CSI which is sen citizens seeking improvement and I won't
read everything because a lot of this is already out there but it's a part that a lot of people have invested in I won't name names I won't say names but under a lot of umbrellas from at the council to the um the fire department to the police department to planning and zoning to um
every committee that's in city hall has contributed something with William Park 22 acres on 27 7 um located like we say behind shifting gears but it's a beautiful park. We've had various activities that happen at Guse William Park. Um we've had um Black History
programs there. We've had cleanup days. Some of you remember our cleanup days at K William Park. We've had spring um fest out there. We had muffins for mom drive-thru during CO. We've had uh health distribution. We had Father's Day programs out there. We've had annual events. We've had movie nights. We've
had food sharing out at Gish William Park. So, a lot of things that have taken place at that park called Gun William Park, Community Park. We have banners and I'm just like I said, I'm go through it quickly. That's called travel banners for William Park. They go
with us everywhere. We don't have them stationary. We're hoping to get a permanent place. You need help switching them out so somebody can help. Um, yeah, just keep Yes, the banners that we have, this one
started the main idea was the banner that says we are stronger working together for our community and children is my main focus. Come out of the classroom, children, children, children. You get children there, you get parents there. You get adults there. So, this travel with us all the time because we're stronger as a community and we
noticed that. You guys remember this was not his city hall. I remember the little white building. I remember the voting in that little house. So we came from somewhere else to get there and we're hoping with the park we can keep being stronger to get those things in Willist, Florida. This one if you've never met
Mr. Gise William this is Mr. Gise William and a young man had a vision of he never met Mr. Gise William and a picture that I gave him. He developed that picture of Mr. Gene Williams as what he would look like now. So if you all want to bring her up can everybody
see them? I'm sorry. Of who he would look like if he saw him? He didn't know him. He was a little boy so he did not know and you guys can show them to the new council members. So we just turn. Thank you. So that they're able to see. This is Gius William. The park was named
after him. And this guy had a vision. He never seen him, but he visualized from that picture what he would look like if he was here today. So overall, I was just mainly wanted to introduce the Prince William Park project. Anyone that's not familiar with
it, it's located on 27 barbecue. Go that way. You will see it. Great dog park, family park, softball, all of those things. The walking I'm starting a walking group. There's so much out there. We're utilizing park. I
will get with Patricia and Miss, you know, I have that wish list of things that can go out there temporary in the city. They know I I just I work with so many great people that will get temporary things out there. But for the new counselor and anyone that's new
project so thank you all for your time. I appreciate that. Thank you. Any questions or comments from I have a question. I have a Thank you.
Um I actually have a question. Um I know at one of the more recent um city council meetings, there was discussion of a bigger sign for the entrance of Cornelius Williams Park. And I'm just curious. I can't remember where we are in the in the time the time frame for
that. Miss Jackie could correct me if I'm wrong, but you're going to produce a sign. We're going to plant it. Correct. I'm sorry. The sign that she speaks of. You were going to produce the sign and we were going to plant it. We're working with a group for that. We'll need the city to help us because yeah, Jonathan is the one with the size
and anytime we have something done at the park, we always come to the council to make sure we pass following all the rules and doing everything that's needed there. And so Jonathan, I have been working with him on the signage uh to get it bigger. We also looking at 318 because we always go in that way having
it on both ends um to enter into the park. But signage is one of those projects that we're working on. Great. Um also, like I said, I would get Miss Deborah. There's two things I'm gonna ask you guys tonight. water. Um, we really need to have water at the park. We talked about the no water at the park
and people having to drink out the water fountain in the bathroom. Well, that water fountain's broken and um, we're just looking to get some type of water line run up near the basketball court. We talked about the parent that had a child in the wheelchair that could not get to water. So, I've worked with a lot of people. I've talked with a lot of
people on that project. So, water getting water out that's hot. We do softball out there where the heavy hitters and once you run our water you order bottle there's no water and going in the bathroom getting water in by the bathroom that's just not healthy. Jackie Jonathan to address that because we actually just talked about that this
afternoon. Okay. So far as the one at the bathrooms I didn't know it was broke. So we can get that fixed quick enough. I didn't know it was broke. Yeah cuz what we talked about when uh it was taken from the garage the used one we went with it because that was temporary. Right. It was an older one. I had Mr. Bulock to
come out and give figures on that of what it would take. And he said physically just take the labor of running digging the drain, find out where the water line is, the piping to to where it's near the basketball court. Right now that was a old water fountain. We took what we had and we used it. It's
gone. It's done. Water fountain. Great. The one at the basketball court is already scheduled. The water department's going to run a new line. The 811s have been in. So two weeks or less. The one at the basketball court should be should be installed and working. Great. And that's going to help keep the kids from making sand mud pies and all
those little things that's down by the bathroom. That's great. That's that's exciting to hear. That's exciting. So, and they say movie night. We're looking forward to having you all attend the fth annual movie night. It will be at the pavilion because generators with the light electricity, I mean say the
lightning and the rain. We're just not. So, it will be held at the pavilion on August the 2nd. We're working on it. Um getting everything in place for that. It will be Mufasa. I think that's the movie that's out now. Um, Desmond Holmes has been, if you've never been to a
headphone movie, if you guys come as adults, you will be amazed. Yeah, that's it's amazing. It's a silent movie, but it's amazing. So, that's coming up. I'll keep you all posted on that. And one more thing, and I'm done. The final thing is upkeeping. I know you
guys are smiling like, "Yeah, right. You said that a minute ago." But this is it. Finally. Um, we have been maintaining in Germaine pits as you know that we've been working on the fields out there. We've had several people private vehicles and private tractors to go in and clean those two fields, but as it
rains, the grass is just taking over again. We can't go out there and just spray grass killer to kill everything. Um, we've done it. We pay for it. We're asking for any help. I know the the correction workers that do a lot of projects in Willist. We've never had them out there. if we can get someone to
help us maintain it because we do practice out there still. We play up here but we still go out and practice at the fields because the fields are in great shape but when it rains it overtakes and now we're shoveling and hoing and pulling that out just to get the two fields of softball and we've had someone clean it. They've been clean
cleared. We've had officer I'm not going to say my dad and various people free volunteers to come out and clean the fields is to keep those fields so we able to keep practicing and people are playing out there. They're walking the football team practicing soccer's there. So there's a lot happening out there.
So we just I just need to find out who to talk with as far as getting the fields maintained after we've cleaned them and cleared them off. And we paid people to do that. So we knew the staff was short. We knew that what we wanted and wanted to use them and needed to. So, we were able to invest in that and that's done. But just
keeping them maintained. Yes. A did I miss the time for August 2nd for the movie? Yeah, we start at 5:00. I'm sorry. 5:00 and it will go to probably about 8:30 or 9. It's a short movie, but it will be activities for the children and families before then. And Mr. Trish always has
great ideas on what we do with that part. Okay. be nice things. So, is there a contact person that I can I know Jonathan on the water but on the maintaining or helping us with the fields? Jonathan and I will talk about it. Thank you, ma'am. Yes, of course.
And I they know I have a contact person that I have on speed dial. So, but I am Don't look at me like that back there like she's going to say one more thing. I thank you all very much. I appreciate everyone and I'm done. Anything from the public public?
Anything from the council? We don't need to vote. All right. Item B, resolution 2025-74, a resolution of the city of Williston, Florida, appointing Justin Head to the
Community Redevelopment Agency for a 4-year term beginning March 15, 2025 and ending March 15, 2029, and providing an effective date. City Plan Laura Jones. Thank you, Madam President. As you guys know, we lost uh Mr. Nick Williams. He's
decided to resign after it was 23 years on the CRA. I did put this out for I think I put it out for almost 5 months and um I got one full application and that was Mr. Justin Head and we're all very happy with this application. So
this uh resolution would appoint him for 4 years. Yes, the dates say March 6th to March March 16th to March 16th because that's when the appointment is. So it's not a typo. It's just the way that we try to stagger everything. He would have loved to have been here tonight, but he had previous plans that
he didn't know he was going to be on this particular agenda. Okay. Approval of resolution 2025-74. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
Any discussion from the audience? Any from the council? Seeing none, I move to vote. All in favor say I. I. I. All oppose say nay.
Motion carries five to zero. Item C, resolution 2025-75, a resolution of the city of Willist, Florida, approving and entering into a work site agreement between the city of Williston and the Florida Department of Corrections, authorizing the city
council president to execute the agreement and providing an effective date. City Attorney Kristen Blue. So, this is exactly what it sounds like. Um, uh, there's a an agreement that's attached to the resolution, um, just so
that you can sort of see what that would look like. Um, but it essentially just designates the animal shelter as a work site for the Department of Corrections and allows us to uh, use those individuals and their manpower. And I think we heard earlier that it's uh, well needed. Um, so I'm happy to answer any questions, but this is fairly
standard from the Florida Department of Corrections. Just as a followup, we did have somebody come out and um did her she's been doing her hours out there and she has been an absolute godsend to us. Um I had the officer reach out and ask if we wanted
to get into an agreement so that we could have some more and I said absolutely you know this is wonderful but we wanted to make sure that it was all um approved by a council before we continued on this progress. Okay. So these are not kids. These are
like court court courtapp appointed. I mean not courtapp appointed but court mandated. It's community hours. Community service hours that are through the department of corrections. Thank you so much. Yes. Yes ma'am. And Miss Jones, there's been other communities that have used inmates to
help with the dogs and work them, walk them, and stuff like that, right? Yes, sir. We actually have two um prisons nearby that we're going to be starting that program with um where we actually give them our dogs and they train them for us and return them to us adoptable. But this is just uh people
who need community service court order community service hours who are going to come to us and walk our dogs and help us train. And the woman that we've had lately, she's been here for a little while and she I mean our dogs are are completely different animals since having her. So, I asked Kirsten if this was something that she could help me
with, and she did, and I appreciate that cuz this could be a huge godsend to us. I know it was for my horse rescue in the past. So, very good. Can I get a motion? I make a motion that we approve resolution 2025-75. Can I get a second? Second.
We have a motion on a second. Any discussion from the audience? Any discussion from the council? Seeing none, move to vote. All those in favor say I. I.
All those opposed say nay. The motion passes 5 to zero. Discussion. Item D, discussion with possible action, vacation payout, city manager day. Okay. Thank you very much, Madam President. Um, in your packet, we have a
revised vacation payout review as of um June of 20 June 26 of 2025. Um, I don't know if anybody did the math, so if you did, I just wanted to let you know there's two uh let me back up. So, at the last council meeting, um there was a
discussion about not going down to 200 hours, but going down to 288 hours because that's what was in the um the employee manual. So if you take I'm going to use um Donald as an example here. If we take his carryover hours that's in that yellow column highlighted
in yellow 488 hour 40 488.28 hours and you subtract the 288 that's allowed by the HR manual you have his payout hours there is 200.28 and then obviously the associated um dollar figure of $7,8731.
There are two employees on this list um Jonathan Bishop and Matthew Forney um who actually took some of their um vacation. So if you subtract their 288 from their carryover hours, it doesn't equal 100. It doesn't equal like it did with John uh with Donald. But basically
this is the revised amount. And keep in keep in mind that these car carryover hours in that yellow column is as of December 31st of 2024. So that's why not everybody is on this list that was on the previous list. This is only anybody who had carryover hours
at the end of last year. So it's a much smaller list. And again, Stephen um Bloom clarified that this the $36,661.85 would be coming from salaries that we did not um fill, positions we did not
fill. Can I get a motion? So, just to clarify, this is a motion that we would approve this payout and then there would be an additional payout in the next fiscal year for the remainder of people. This will at least get us down to 288.
Yeah. This is it. This is it. No more payouts. And then we're going to encourage staff to use their time. Got it. Okay. Got it. Yes. All right. So, just so understand, we're going to pay it the 36 out. Right. Correct. Perfect. That way there we get it done. Get it
over. Pull the band-aid done. I make a motion that we approve uh the payout, the vacation payout per the schedule. Have a motion and a second. I'll second the motion.
I have discussion by council. I have a question. Does this include any hours that have incurred since January 1st? No. It's only so if they've acred any since January 1st they are not included here because they can still spend them correct in this fiscal year. Correct. Perfect.
And if they do not spend them in this fiscal year do they lose them? Mhm. Okay. So we're clear on that. That's why we're going to encourage them to take their time now. Definitely. Definitely. Any discussion from the audience? Seeing none move to vote. All those in
favor say I. I. I. All those opposed say nay. Vote motion. Motion carries five to zero. All right. So item E, discussion with
possible action for Department of Environmental Protection Grant, city manager Subday and Walt Nichols. All right. All right, I'm actually going to ask um Walt to take uh item E and item F and then Walt, if you can also give the council an update on the Crystal Curl uh lift station abandonment
that we discussed this afternoon as well. Yes, I can do that. Walt Nicole with Right Pierce. Good evening. Well, before you start, I just want to let you know that each council member has a print out of your PowerPoint because it's not working. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Um yeah, I
know in your packet you have the full applications for this, but I prepared the basically a condensed summary for this evening. Um on June 25th, uh we got notice of this this grant application. So this is a FD state
revolving fund assistance for utilities impacted by hurricanes Helen and Milton. And there is approximately $1.6 6 billion dollar that's available to the state of Florida through this um money.
This I think missed our radar both us and staff because it was labeled as an SRF loan and we were really at this point we have an SRF loans through SwiftMUD. city was not necessarily focusing on
additional loans at this point, but right before the deadline, I Donald Barber got word that it's called a a loan, but it's going to be a principal forgiveness loan. So, I just want to go that and and become a grant essentially.
So, what this is, there's two programs that FD has. Uh, the FD drinking water state revolving fund and the FD clean water state revolving fund. And requests for inclusions, the applications for
each of these programs was due on June 30th, 2025. Uh we got word that this was available on that that was a Monday on the Wednesday of June 25th in the afternoon.
Uh worked with city staff, worked with fortunately we've had other grant applications and we've done multiple studies for you on your infrastructure. we have a good idea of what infrastructure you need. And initially I
um emailed Sue and Donald saying, "Okay, we've got time. We're going to go after two projects. This these are what they're going to do. You've got one hour to let us know if it's different because we have to run with this." And uh turns out we ended up probably about 15 or 20
projects. I'll go over that that we ended up going for. But anyway, the request were due on June 30th. Um that was the dune and we submitted them on June 30th. Uh again these are classified as low interest loans but they do they
are telling us principal forgiveness. So they would become essentially grants to to this uh to the communities that receive them. Um under the drinking water state revolving fund eligible projects are planning design and construction of public uh water
facilities. And in our application, we requested $13.9 million worth of projects. Um, I do want to say, you know, this is the program was titled, you know, assistance from Hurricane Helen and Milton. Even
though your water system was not impacted severely by those hurricanes, a big po portion of the program is resiliency for the future building. And so the projects that we presented under the clean water were a lot of water main
upgrades and I have a list of what they are scattered throughout the city that will help in another hurricane. You lose a well field, you lose there is damage to one, you've got redundancy and this builds in redundancy and this program is
allows for that. So you could have had past damage from the hurricanes that occurred or building resiliency going into the future. And that's where the city of Wills and we felt your projects were meeting that criteria. So again, we uh the application we put in was for
$13.9 million. Um in your packet, I've listed the uh the projects, the water main projects that we included in that. There were 10 individual projects scattered throughout the city uh that we would do
water main upgrades uh increasing sizes, increasing connectivity and looping. Um it was upgrading uh the treatment plant mixing well doing some upgrades to that. some of the future work that we had planned on when
the Morales project was coming in. There's still benefits for the city if that was going going to happen. We've included those saw that and we also the city you've authorized u staff that they you know we're assisting them in purchasing a back truck. We found some back trucks through the
sheriff's association and and and so they're looking to purchase that. Uh the full-blown back truck that they're looking at is worth about $750,000. we that could apply to this grant. So, we put that that back truck in here, too. So, that those are the projects that we we put together and we've
completed the financial forecasts, the cost estimates uh for them and those are submitted to the uh on the water program. Uh on the clean water uh state revolving fund, that's the second
program. Eligible projects for that are planning, design, construction of clean water improvements such as storm water management facilities, detention, retention facilities, treatment of storm water, wastewater management such as sewers, pump stations, treatment plants
and and reuse. And so that had a little bit broader. Uh we put in that request, you know, $41.7 million. And in that the the project list is smaller with six projects, but we've got some pretty
heavy hitters in there. Um, if you're aware, Northwest 7th Street Drainage, we've had, you know, flooding issues there. We had applied two years ago for a grant, uh, a brick grant through FEMA. Uh, we didn't make
that first round. When it came again a year later, we applied for that again along with some other projects. We made it to the second round in January, February of this year and in soon thereafter February the funding got cut
for FEMA and so that project funding opportunity went away. We've included it here on this one and that that has always been a very high priority project. Uh fifth street drainage and the park over at Eper Park. We designed
some inter uh I'll use the term again band-aid. I've done that before here, but a band-aid storm water project. Uh you had authorized us. We designed it. City didn't have funding for that. We included that plus expansion of the Efferson Park. There could be storm
water improvements. The the quarry pond that is there can be enhanced, improved, would help storm water, help the park and help the the drainage of that area. We included that um as part of the septic to sewer program that we went after some other grants too under the
Florida Springs initiatives uh that we didn't get funded. We've been encouraged it's opening up again. We're going to be applying again, but we had in uh additional capacity for the wastewater treatment facility and that does meet this criteria for future resiliency.
that is a$25 to $30 million ask and that's why this program is at the the the number that it is. Um and then as you've been aware staff has been here on the fugat the station number one
fugat station. We've again got band-aids. We've got an emergency bypass uh installed. We've got new pumps that are going in but those are just to maintain the system as is now. that station needs to be replaced as well as the Acory and Russell stations. Those
are your three biggest lift stations. We put those in. So, these are uh that's what was applied for. Uh we're asking for, you know, $55.7 million. Um we're not expecting to get all of that. I'll tell you that the we were told to
ask big. There's money available, but that doesn't mean it's it's not an all ornone. they will fund portions that they're pretty much saying this this round is focused on small communities like Williston and so we asked big.
We're expecting a nice chunk of that to happen and they are telling us that it is a principal forgiveness so it will become a a uh a grant. So the schedule on this they they said August 20 they will start with public hearings on all
the projects that were submitted. So, we should start to hear how many projects were, how many people were we competing against, and what does it look like? Um, are we favorable? And then they're expecting final decisions by January 2026. So, um, we're hoping in the next
next six, seven months that we get some favorable news. Um, it's a great opportunity to help smaller smaller communities and, uh, they've been passed up communities like you in the past in the bigger communities and getting some of the grant money. this one um you know
we're being told is focused more to communities like Wilston. So that is uh what happened. It was kind of a short notice. Um a little bit of surprise that it was become a grant and that's became the urgency. If this is a grant, we have to do that and so we were able to do
that and we're hoping for success. So they will pick and choose which ones they fund. They would what I'm hearing and and I it's not written this way that we would probably get a funding allocation. Oh, gotcha. And then I think we'll be before you and
work with staff depending on what that money is and where these priorities are. That's what I believe is going to happen. Exciting. Meredith, when they do the public hearings, is that something that the presence of city
council would help sway their decision? I'm I'm sure I'm sure it can't hurt. Yes. So, yeah. Um, if I find out information on that, they should be notified. They would be in Tallahassee. Um, they they may be um Zoom meetings, too. They've been doing a lot of other
meetings that way. They get get a wide audience. Um, I don't know the format. Okay. Um, but they should be notifying the city as well as Wright Pierce, but they'll be notifying the city about uh the application. Let us know. Camics in Gainesville
office is Yeah, we can see when she's going to be there. Okay. It's probably not the committee though. They probably have a committee that reviews it. Probably not her. What is it? Federal or is it state? This is all federal. I'm sorry. State
money. D. Okay. FD. Um, so that's the the two programs that we applied for. Uh, and an update. Um, you know, city manager had a meeting with USDA rural development and they have, you know, RD loans are available
for communities. They're long-term low interest loans. Uh, uh, city manager and staff have approached us. We are putting together a proposal and it's rather lengthy to for the city to help the city
apply for a USDA loan. Um, but there's a lot of to to define what that number is going to be. We have to give estimates on what the the projects are, what the design costs are going to be, and what the constructions are going to be. And in that loan, we are uh including the
Curl lift station abandonment as one. And also the Homestead lift station is in dire shape also. And so we're including that under the loan. And then there is an opportunity under their purchase program. Um we're going to put in for a firet truck per staff. So we're
in process of developing all that. Uh there are strings that come with these loans. I mean, they're low interest loans for a long-term 30 to 40 years. So, it's a very low monthly payment that you would have, but they require certain things be done. They require an
environmental report be done for each of the projects. When we were doing the work for Crystal Coral, when it was city money or other funds, though, that wasn't required. We have to do and it's a rather lengthy environmental report that needs to be done. And so, we would have to do that. So, we're we're
estimating what that's going to be so we can roll that into that loan amount. it needs per their requirements and standards. It's called a preliminary engineering report for them also. And that's a rather lengthy report. Those would have to be done, submitted,
reviewed by USDA. And so we're we're uh estimating what those costs would be to do that. And also when it does go to construction, they require full-time construction inspection. So you and it can't be city staff. You have to hire a consultant. So these things they have
they're low interest and they're long duration but they come with some baggage. Um so we're working on all that. Um I did say I would had that to to sue by now. The the the other application derailed us a little bit when we we
jumped on that but we're wrapping that up. But what that proposal is going to do is going to outline all those costs that you have to ask what's your loan amount. So you know going in what that is. It's going to call include all the additional engineering that you're going to need to do, the environmental report,
the per report, the construction, and all the construction administration and and loan administration. You're going to need if you need um legal, I'm going to have to reach out to you, Kristen, to see if there's uh legal uh work that's going to be needed for that loan amount
and maybe some additional things from Steven Bloom that can all be rolled into that. So we're we're trying to give you that big big picture right now, but that's what we're working on now. And you know, the big project is crystal coral. We've been having a tough time finding money to to resolve that issue.
This is the current uh project that we're looking at now. And and additionally on crystal coral, we're not just looking at this. Um you approved, right, Pierce? We're working on the SwiftMUD SRF feasibility study that we're doing right now where we're doing the smoke testing and the teething of
the sewers. The next step of that is then you ask for the construction improvements, the critical project can roll into that too. So we're we're looking at multiple avenues um for that lift station abandonment. So that would be under the current uh uh SRF loan that
you have with SwiftMUD, not D, but with SwiftMUD. So those are the updates on things we've got going right now. I think we're keeping you busy. It was a busy week that we have a question. So in here there was a lot of things that were lined out
um related to sewer and septic. So we had to provide backup information and had given two and a half days to provide all that. We reported those were previous reports that we had done and so we lined out the things that were not part of this ask because some of those
reports cover a wide variety of things and so you know they needed the backup so we gave them the backup but we tried to highlight okay of this report that we did and and you're very fortunate that you know we had those reports the city has already looked to the future a
couple years ago we did the uh the utilities infrastructure report that looked at the water system, the wastewater system, the roads and the drainage. And so we had basically essentially chapters in each one of those and I was able to go to the water. Um these projects came straight from
that report and the backup for it and the modeling. So we're showing them that, you know, we we show there's a need for this. We're not just pulling these projects up. You know, you looked to this and we had a study and we're showing that there was a need. And so that's all in the packet of everything
that we needed to to provide them. So it was I had the exact same question and the other question I had is the population figures kept changing. I assume that's because it was a different demographic area. Yeah. Some of them were service area, some of them are going to be city area. So they had different ways they asked
that question and and we because they kind of bounced from 3,200 to 40 40,000. Yeah. At one point I think there was a 34,000 in one of them. I didn't know if that was a typo. I actually saw that a couple places. I'll look to that. Yeah, there there are
two places that had 34,000. Okay. And some odd. I will look at what I can find that question was, but some of them were even future and they gave us they gave us like users. So, you have a number of water services. Um there are factors.
Well, how many how many residents are on that? And they they have a formula that we have to use um to do that and calculate some of those numbers. The 34 I'll have to look. Yeah, 34,000 was a lot. I I was worried about that one. And it may be that you went all the way to Morales or something and you picked up a whole area. It
it could be a possibility or future projects or whatever. Yeah. Right at the I'll see if I can find them before I get out of here tonight. Okay. I'll take So the So the items that you removed have been completed already. Is that No, they were just they weren't included
in the ask. So they weren't part of what we wanted we had a sense about how much money we could ask for and a lot of this came from Donald really advise on what he was hearing what the pulse of how much we could do how much to ask we didn't want to ask too much but they
also did encourage ask for a good bit. So we we we looked at some of the higher priority projects from the various reports that we've done um and tried to prioritize that. I think that's one of the first things you did when y'all got here. Um yeah, what's those those different
enterprise funds the mapping? Yeah, we we had that information and so we provided that um wherever we could uh we provided what we had for Fifth Street where we already designed and we part of the parks master planning Epson we provided some of the concepts for that
too. So we were able to show them that you know the city's been thinking about this for a while. I love your concepts by the way with the pavilions. There were a couple pavilions there that he was still really in a draft form that we're working with. That was wonderful. I like the look of that. So, so those were we had to grab what we
could grab that week um to support what we were asking for, but I think we had really good information. I was just looking at the locations of the items that were crossed out and so I was just curious as to how you came up with what to do, what to input, and what
not to input. Um, I could go over that with you if you did right now in front of me. I don't have specifically lined out. Um, literally it was, you know, quick phone conversations that Wednesday early Thursday morning
with with Donald. We're going to take the top 11 of these water projects in the order that they were listed because they were in a semi prioritized uh order when we did the report. Um, literally we had to on the fly grab
because there was a lot of supporting calculations that we had to do to make that deadline. And so you essentially used a report you already had that you took out the the analysis that wasn't for this project that wasn't for that was apply. So I would say a lot of it was done very very quickly where where
thank you have a question. So do we need to vote on it? I have a question. Yeah. Circling back to the Crystal Curl lift station because my understanding is there's some immediacy required in
removing that from uh citizens property. Am I understanding? It's on it's located on private property. Right. So I I guess my question is if two questions one what would be just the out-of- pocket cost knowing that we don't have it but just give me a number of what it would cost to move that and
then secondly if the USDA loan doesn't come through I know you mentioned some other alternatives but how far out are we looking at being the USDA is it's a rolling application so if we can submit that I think we'll
be back probably to council when we do the actual submitting of that. Um, that's a rolling deadline. So, it would be a couple months of getting paperwork and approvals, I would imagine, through USDA. So, that if it went that route, that would be the quickest. The through
the uh SwiftMUD SRF that that could be another year before that that would be finalized. So, that was a longer process on that. So, but the USDA definitely has a shorter time frame. The cost $270,000 was the last quote that we've got. We have reached out to all the contractors
where we had contracts under construction, John Henry Park, the emergency bypass at at the fugit list station, the contractor doing block 12 and ask them because we could add that work as a change order. We've asked them even reached out to uh contractor doing
work at the airport. They said they're going to give us a price. They never did, but we've gotten three prices in the past six months, I think nine months, even before on John Henry Park or earlier than that. And they've all been in that $270,000 range is the number we're getting. And that's that's
one of the stumbling points that that that price tag. Thank you. Two things I wanted to just make sure you guys are aware of is with the loan that we have through C Co Coast for the fiber, anytime the city takes out additional money in way of a loan,
we have to notify them. So, just kind of keep that in the back of your head as well. And then really what we're looking for tonight is we want to make sure that the three things that Walt just um mentioned, the Crystal Curl lift station abandonment, the Homestead lift station um renovation, and then the fire truck are what the council wants us to put
into this because obviously this is an actual loan. So we're looking for, you know, kind of consensus tonight for those three items. I mean, my my sense is I'll go ahead and speak up. We got to address the Crystal Curl lift station. That should be top priority. Yeah. Since that is a legal issue as well as
just a logistical issue. My two sense. Okay. So, we've talked about a couple of things. We at this point you're looking at as far as a loan and not the but it's the loan that will eventually turn into a grant. Yeah. Not the USDA. So the the first part of
my presentation where we applied the the FD what they call their state revolving fund loan and I said slashgrant that is the one where they're saying it will become a grant through principal forgiveness. They're they're that is what they're
telling us. We submitted the paperwork and it still goes through the the loan documents and how much we could get. They are telling us it's going to be a grant. It will turn into a grant. That's that the USDA rural development is the
separate application that we are working on. We're trying to price all that. That is a long term 30 to four years. I think there's the flexibility in that and low interest loan that is a true loan. So before we commit to any, we're not
committing to anything. We're working out what that loan cost is going to be for you right now. Working out the paperwork. will come back to you, you know, at at city manager's direction once that number is known and then you'll have to you make that decision
whether you'll go after pursue that or not. So basically, you just want a consensus for you guys to move forward. I think right now we're we're just really informing you of what we did on the FD. That is no commitment either. Once you get word from them, then you're
going to have to make some commitments. if they're going to come to you and say, "Hey, we want to give you this money." You have an opportunity to say yes or no. Um, if it's truly a grant, I think I can't imagine what anything else would be, but yes, if it comes back with a
level of grant loan, well, then you have to make some decisions, but we don't know that now, and they're telling us it shouldn't be. So, again, just to recap, so Crystal Coroll Station abandonment roughly 270,000. Do we have a figure for the homestead
lift station at this point? $700,000. Okay. So 700,000 for that and the fire truck I think is a million. Is that right, Chief? Okay. So roughly 2 million for that. The the additional paperwork
management design that are needed for those lift stations is going to be considerable onto that also. And that's where we're mapping that out for you to to meet their standards. So, yes. So, I guess what we're saying is if you don't want us, I'm just using this for an example. If you don't want us to pursue the firetruck as part of this,
let us know now because we don't want to put it in. Obviously, we don't want Walt to waste that time. If you just want us to do the Crystal Coral lift station abandonment, we'll just do that. What about the back truck? Where does that fall in? That is in the first pro two programs I
talked about. That is in the uh FD um state revolving fund. The first two programs that we just submitted. It's in that that program. Okay. It could also be put in the uh the USDA loan requirement. It
could be you need and you have an opportunity. I'm asking the man if he needs a fire truck here. What fire truck do you need to replace? We have a fire one of our fire engines, engine 722, that's reached its 20 year
lifespan. Um, that's a truck you'd look to replace and move the first first current first line current engine into the reserve position. Uh, you know, do I need one? I will in the next few years. I mean, there's no doubt. So, it's
something you're you're going to have to face it. You can't kick this can down the road. I'll put it like that. We've done that kind of thing in the past, and I don't want to get behind on our fire trucks this time. Yeah. If we had uh with the vac truck
would be great, but that's 750,000, you know. Can we put them both in there? Well, the vac truck is in the It's in the first one, I know. But can you put it in the USD one? It could be with the fire truck. It could be. You're asking right now for
the three projects about $2 million. Yeah. um the ask becomes a little bit more efficient as it gets bigger because we we like for the design we have to do the the environmental report and the PR reports to their standards. If there was
another say another pump station that was added into that it it adds to the construction cost but it doesn't add to the administrative cost as much or the design or the reporting cost. So asking for a little bit more actually becomes a little more efficient. You ask for too small it's not worth the effort. If we
were to just ask for the crystal coral $270,000, it would cost you that amount of money to meet their criteria and manage the loan and apply for the loan. So, you need double. I mean, in round numbers,
maybe a little bit skewed, but relatively. So, you can ask for more and then that percentage of what it costs to administer a USD loan, it becomes a little bit more efficient. So an a bigger ask may be in your in your best
interest. Um they have this money available and I think that's why because it's an expensive program to apply for and manage. You do get low interest loans but it has more strings attached to it as opposed to the first two project
which become grants. They have a lot of paperwork too. We had a lot on John Henry Park a lot of paperwork. Um but it was beneficial. you got $1.5 million um on that project as a grant. So, um
USDA would it would comes with some strengths. It does, but it's an opportunity. The money is out there. What do you think, Miss Hines? Can I ask a question? Sure. Um, so do we roll the cost of the all of the requirements into the total
grant so there's no future out-of- pocket expense for the Yes, that's why we're trying to get all those numbers established now. So it no surprises for you then. Oh, we need a motion. Of course, I'm sitting over here thinking about a police console.
[Laughter] Yeah, because that was a lot of money, too. To go with those new radios that we don't have yet, right? That the sheriff's office promised us.
Yeah. You don't need a motion, but if there's anything that you didn't hear in the list that you want added or you heard on the list that you want off, now is a good time to give direction to your staff. The list is great.
I like the list. So, you add a back truck or a console to the USDA law. What's the console? The console is the big 911 thing for the dispatcher that actually we need for the new radios because the one we have now doesn't
match it. Don't match. And the uh and that is a that is a mandate. Yeah. Right. And I know we had it in the capital improvement plan but I don't think we had it funded. No, it's gonna
be a long frameworks with this loan with the USDA loan which is probably you said a year out the USDA loan. No, that would be pretty quick. That's the quick one. We we have to make that application. I
mean, you want to bring those costs to you first, get your approval. Sorry, Swift. Yes, Swift Mud is in January. So he said he needs the back truck. The utility department needs the back truck. That was the one we went and observed when they had it on the side of
the road and Oh, it cuts the little hole that the guy could get inside without having to tear up the whole road to get in there to fix it. Okay. It was unbelievable. I They sold me just going to watch it demo. Yeah. And whoever we had, I think somebody from the sewer plant whose name I can't
remember, he knew exactly what he was doing. Josh. But this is the USD. I saw him, but I don't remember his name. lack of air. The VAT truck is currently in the FD's revolving plan under the clean water program. Okay. Yeah,
we should. Uhhuh. That is in your packet. The applications, the two packets. One is the clean water program, one is the drinking, and I stand corrected. It's in the drinking water program. Okay. So I guess what I'm I was trying to understand is if the
that one fell through the fed state revolving fund. Yeah. If that one fell through Yeah. then we would had still have everything with the USDA, right? Or if the USDA fell through and the Fed came up
we have totally different. Okay. It is totally different. Yeah. I would be has one super I didn't ask this question. I know you met with uh USDA. I had several meetings with them afterwards. So I didn't ask
specifically, but once we make that ask, I think we're kind of committed to it. So if we ask for a vac truck now and that program goes forward in summer and fall, but then come January we get the
grant for it because we've already put that ask in. So I'd be hesitant on that one to ask on the loan unless you're committed that you're going to pay for those improvements with that loan and the vac truck is already
in the ask right now for the grant. if they're going to give us a pot of money and we can choose what to do with it. I believe so. I believe that is then we can choose Donald was getting that information. He's got some contacts within that group and was going to I mean he said to me if
well if I walk away and all I get out of this is the vac truck I'm happy. I mean that was his comment. He that's what he would it is impressive. Yes. But we got to get Crystal Curl taken care of because that but Crystal Curl isn't alone. Okay.
It it didn't fall under the hurricane resiliency. We had a hard time justifying putting that in the ass because it wasn't it's to remove something that's on private property. Okay. It wasn't meeting their We didn't think it would meet their criteria. So maybe we should add the police
council. That that could be to the USDA. Yes, it could. I can't remember the cost. Half mil. It was a lot. Well, we're still working on the consoles right now with the county. So they we haven't met to see if they're
going to donate us the ones that they currently have cuz if they do then we don't have to buy them or if they're going to sell them to us how to reduce cost. Uh me and Clayton have been talking about that. We got to go before the council once they get their new system installed and once
their new system is is installed then we'll meet with the county and say hey let's donate these to Willist or let's sell these to Willist at a cheap price which my approach to that is going to be the taxpayers of citiz the taxpayers of
Willist have paid for it once make us pay for it twice and they'll be compatible with the new radios. Yes ma'am. Okay, forget that. Yeah. Yes, ma'am. And the USDA you said is rolling. It's a rolling de. So, we can always do another one. Can you only have one at a time?
I know some do that. Sure. You can have multiple. You can have multiple. You can. But that the the effort and cost to go after that. It would I would advise you to roll as many in in the first ass that you can do and come in with a with one program. I I really would. I wouldn't
recommend coming a couple months later. That wouldn't be a a year later might be something different, but a couple months later, I think it would be best to plan this. My recommendation if you want another ask to do that, I I don't think that it would hurt to go ahead and add it in there just in case
as a backup. And if we don't need it, then we've got $300,000 to use on another project. I I will not let us do that. I will inquire what they would do if you pull up. if you ask for this loan, these
projects, they're doing an evaluation of these, what how they would rank that if you pull one out. I can't I can't tell, but it may be the one thing that catches their eye, Mr. Bishop. Who knows?
So, if you're talking about the SRF loan, I have to come to the council probably next month for a new digger, Derek. Would that be a good way to purchase that under the USDRD for the for the SRF loan because you're looking almost 600 for
that. Is that like an augur? What is that? Like an auger? Yes, ma'am. That's the That's the big auger thing that puts the poles in. That's the old white truck you see holding the power poles up and swapping them out. Yeah, I I could inquire with with USDA.
Just a thought. We've had discussions on these are the projects and they were favorable for crystal coral. They were favorable for homestead. They were favorable for the firetruck. We had those discussions. I I don't know how that is. Just a just a question. Yeah. So, at this point, do you know what it
is that we want? Everything. I know the augur would be great because it's better than digging my ham. I want to know if he knows cuz we've talked about he does, but we keep bouncing around. Can he tell me what it is that we that we're asking for? No.
Cuz we keep moving. We keep changing it. Is there time? Is this something that needs to be discussed? We discussed it this much. Why would we want to do it again? I I want to give you purchasing is
easier like the fire truck. We have less um pre-engineering that we need to do and cost estimating. We can get quotes, we can do that. So the purchase part of the program under the USDA is a little bit easier. Anything where it's design and construction, we've got to work out
the design cost, the peer costs, the environmental impacts, environment. We need to get a handle on that. So we ask the right amount of money. So if it's a design, if you're going to add a whole new design project, yeah, it complicates it. It takes there's a lot of effort right now that we're doing on that part
to map out what you need to do, what you need to ask, and the road map going forward. Adding equipment is a little bit easier. It's a little bit easier. Let's add the auger truck. But it would be nice to have some guidance on that. I mean, the only guidance we had prior to this was a fire
truck that we that was wanted to be added. So, can we do the fire truck, Homestead lift station, the fire and the lift and the crystal curl and the auger truck? Um, I will ask I'll ask about the auger truck or whatever you really call it. I know
that's not Yeah. Say again. Derek, I need to get some information from you, Jonathan. I'll work with Jonathan on that. Okay. Any other questions before we move on? So, similar to this in a sense, the lift station, I know we purchased a lot of
pumps just to kind of get us through. How's that? The bypass is in the temporary uh pumps are available and can and be engaged when needed. We've had in the past month
two meetings with we're um reaching out to the contractor who did the bypass to assist with some of the electrical work that the city felt they would have some staff felt some harder time doing themselves. And so I'm waiting on the a
change order price from RCM Construction to assist in that motor swap out that they want to do. Okay. And so that's we're waiting for that. We need one more meeting with them. Like I said, we've had two with them in the past month. Um it didn't happen last week. We tried to do it. I'm going to be
trying to schedule something next week with Donald and RCM. And then we're going to have a change order that's going to have to come back. Okay. To council. Okay. Are you good with that, S?
Okay. We'll move forward. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Item G, discussion with possible action. Credit card limit increase. Thank you, Madam President. All right.
So, um, again, this was the walk-on onto the agenda for this evening. Um, you have, uh, one pager in front of you. It has four columns. The first is the employee name with their associated title, their current credit card limit if applicable, and the proposed credit
card limit um that we're requesting. And I apologize because the council president I had zero and it's actually supposed to be 2,000 correct 2,000. So that puts the total at 77,500 currently. Um again, it would go to 102,500. So it's an additional $25,000.
And again, this mostly came because of the fact that we especially the people who have these smaller limits, these $2,000 limits, they max out their credit cards pretty quickly and then we're just juggling credit cards around the the city anyway. So, this would hopefully help with not having to juggle credit
cards around. So, all of these increases, then all of them max out every month. I wouldn't say they all max them out every month, but I'm going to use Laura as an example because again, Laura I realized with Laura
runs many departments, right? I realize with her and and I did go back and actually ask all of the department heads to take a look at these figures and they all agreed, you know, this is what they were looking for. But again, it obviously this is the council's discretion. You know, if you don't want to go that high, we don't have to. But it would just help
us not having to juggle around the credit cards. I make a motion that we approve these credit card limits. Second, have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?
Any discussion from the public? All right, I'll move to vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries five to zero.
Okay, at this time we have item number seven, announcements. Any announcements from staff? No. Yes, I have an announcement. Miss Latricia, um I want to thank all of the staff and
council for helping me with the fourth of July. Everybody did a great job in their task that they did and I just want to say thank you and I appreciate all of the help. We appreciate you too. Who Who won the best float?
Who won best float? Did they have that contest? Yes, they did. It was true force roofing. We didn't win. I can honestly tell you that they wanted to know if they were supposed to judge the city's float because they wanted to, but they weren't sure that they were
supposed to. Uh the judges, the lady that was in charge of the judges told me that. Um so next time we need to tell them to because he was amazing because I think we would have won by a long shot. Although true force roof thing was pretty impressive.
Chief Rose, anything. Miss Budette, I'm not pronouncing your name correctly. It's Bodat, but it's Bodette. No, I'm good. Thank you. Every time I say it, I feel weird. It's okay. Bodette. Bow debt. I have announcement. Kirstston.
Oh, sorry. All right, Miss Meredith. Um, August is sneaking up really fast. Um, and it's the end of the six month. Um, this is really directed more at the count, my fellow council members. Um, the six month uh probationary of Sue's
contract. And I know there's been some staff issues and we've got an investigation going on and things like that. And I would like to suggest that we extend the probationary period for two months to give Sue time to get that sorted and get through the investigation
and make sure that everything is um that we have a productive and positive work place inside city halls in two months and that we don't rush to make a decision in August. I think she would have to
Kirsten approximately how long does the investigation typically take from um the one that we just had in Stark took about a month um for for all that to get done. Um so it's difficult to
tell. It'll depend on who comes forward, what allegations are made, the documentation that needs to be reviewed, that kind of thing. So you think two months would be an ample amount of time? I would estimate that and I could come back and tell you once we get the sort of preliminary interviews and
documentation gathered I can give you a better sense after that. So let's make it next meeting we'll make that decision. Okay. Be interested. So has to she would have to agree to agree to it as well.
That's just asking her is that something she'd be interested in. Okay. Thank you. All right. So, we will table that and come back to it next meeting and then we'll decide how long we won't
now. Are y'all asking the table what Meredith said? Yes. We're going to come back in. Okay. So at the next meeting, I should have a better sense for you all of how long it'll be so that you can make a decision on how long you want to extend or can
obviously be on the agenda for the next Okay. Yeah. Okay. Any other announcements? You Well, it's not an announcement, but then again, we do announcements. That's first part. So, what are we going to do about Sweet's car? We've we've
apparently by them by Heidi saying that city said we were going to take care of it. So couple things I just want to make sure that we have as my recommendation always is to have as least amount of comment um
possible on potential litigation. There's been, you know, threatened to move this sort of forward. So that would be my recommendation. What I can tell you is we did submit the claim to our insurance company. our insurance company um came back and denied our claim based not upon I don't know that I would agree
with uh the uh information that was presented at the beginning of the meeting. I would clarify that it's not because there is no maintenance schedule but that there was no proof of lack of maintenance um and then that is what creates um liability um for the city and
so the our insurance companies indicated that our claim was denied for that specific reason. Um and uh unless you all tell me otherwise um at typically at that point we would take the position that we do not have
liability um and it's on the citizen to arrange for uh the property damage to be addressed. So I want to ask Miss Wright a question so everybody knows what is the proper protocol when there's an accident or
somebody wants to file a claim. What is the proper protocol that everybody should follow? If it involves employees, their supervisor is supposed to get with me and give me the information, police
report, pictures, and there's an incident report that the guys fill out. All that's supposed to be brought to me so I can file it with the insurance company. If it's a private person, a private resident, they're supposed to direct them to see
me. So, nobody else should be, but they also should also, if they are told, let me just repeat that, that they should also take pictures first. So, I'll have pictures to submit to the insurance company,
but they don't they just need to let that person know I'm going to give it to the proper person, which is me, to conduct a file claim. So, nobody else should be they need to go right to you first. Yes.
And nobody else saying anything else about it, right? They should not advise or make any comments on the issue that's at hand. You're essentially our risk manager and handles right
the cla the case right in an event that something happens um shouldn't a report be given by police or no should Okay just curious all right any other questions
was in this case I believe okay any other questions my I have just want to call to attention I don't know if you got the budget dates the budget dates. Everybody get those. They were emailed. They were emailed, I think, by Latricia. Yeah.
To all of us. I can't remember. Yeah. I hadn't heard it mentioned. So, I just wanted to make sure everybody knew when the dates were so they could be here. We do not. If you would, if you can just announce it, really real quick just because some of us can't get into our emails. If you'll write down July 29th at 5:30
is our first budget workshop. We will establish the tenative millage rate and set the public hearing dates. July 29th at 5:30. Uh the next one is August 12th at 5:30. That is what's
called our second budget workshop. [Music] August 26th at 5:30. If we need to have a third budget workshop, that's when we'll have it. We don't always have the third one. on se on September the 12th
at 5:30 is our first actual budget hearing where we set the millage rate. On September 29th at 5:30, the city of Williston's second and final budget hearing and that's the one that's
actually put on the tax bill that everybody gets notified of so they can come and make comment if they want to. They come anytime, but that's the one that's official. If you want to take a picture of it, I'd be glad to pass it. Pass it now. [Applause]
It's in the email. Huh? It's in our email. Yeah, it is in the email. If you But she said they can't pull up their emails is the problem. Yeah. Maybe a week or so until he gets back. Okay. All right. Um,
Miss Jones, did you have something? Yes, I have an announcement. August 19th, 11 to 1 at city hall, we're going to be having a community cats um consortium, we're going to have the community cats advocates here to talk about how we're
going to solve the people problem, not the cat problem because this is not the cat's fault. This is a people problem. And so, the people are going to come together and work and find out a way to get these cats off the streets where they belong, get them fixed, get them vaccinated. Um, from what I've
understand about five or six years ago, and Deborah can probably help me with this, we had some really amazing trappers out there and these cat colonies were reduced a whole lot and we can do that again and I think that we can do it better if we if we're a little bit more consistent with it. So, that's
going to be here. It's going to be our first one. I'm sure we'll have more, but this is going to be sort of a brainstorming who's going to be part of this team and how we're going to get this done. Okay. Thank you. Can I ask why we're having it on a Thursday? at 11:00 in the morning.
Nobody can come. I mean, who can come at 11:00 on a Thursday morning? I mean, my cat advocates are coming. Who Who's not coming? Who can't come at 11:00? I know Mr. Eert can't come and I can't come. I don't know if you you know need
They're not cat advocates, but he definitely wants to catch cats. You don't want me to comment. I know. I know. Because he doesn't want to release them. He doesn't do trap, neuter, release. He does other things with his cats that we all know. Uh but I'm
definitely a cat advocate. I've I've fixed I've trap, neutered, and released 30 in my neighborhood. I think probably have another 10 I need to do now. I think what you've done is amazing and I can communicate with these women. I'm I'm looking for people who aren't quite doing it right now, who want to help,
and aren't really organized. So, okay. So, you don't need people like us there. You are amazing, but I know you have to work and I I'll coordinate with you. Yeah, I can't come at 11 o'clock on a Thursday afternoon. I can't do any more nights, Miss Jones. Come at 11 o'clock on a Friday, but I can't come at 11 o'clock on a Thursday.
We'll have the next one at 11 o'clock on a Friday for you cuz there's going to be more than one meeting. All right. Awesome. Thank you. And maybe you guys can look into doing some Zooms. Maybe that'll help. I can't zoom when I'm working. I tried. All right.
But I can do it when I don't work. going forward. The only thing I didn't see on the agenda was the second uh public participation. So before we leave adjourn do you're so good to realize that this is the second round of um the
public participation if anyone would like to speak you have five minutes and please state your name and where you're from. Don't take me. All right. Seeing none, item eight, adjournment.
Can I get a motion? I make a motion that we adjourn. Got a motion. Got a second. We are adjourned at 8:02 p.m. Thank you. We have to do an all second. We didn't take a vote. We didn't vote on it.
We got to vote on it. Do we really Do we really have to vote on it? I I make a motion. Oh. All those in favor say I. All those opposed. I All right. Who second? 803.
Who's second? There he first.