Afternoon. We'll call to order the agenda review of July 8th for the Monday city commission meeting of July 13, 2026 to order. Can we roll call, please? >> Yes, sir. Commissioner Davis not present. Commissioner Dolison >> here.
>> Commissioner Bong >> here. Prom Mercer >> here. >> And Mary >> here. Thank you. We will have the invocation and pledge on Monday evening followed by two proclamations. Uh and then we've got a couple of agenda review only items. I think we'll go
ahead and review the uh South Pole Park Pathways to Prosperity now and then we'll save strategic plan to the end. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um we have with us this evening uh Blake Drury with GI
Consultants. Just to give a little background to this. Um is Benicia gonna join us this evening? >> She is on her way >> in route. Okay. So um uh Benanishia Frasier is the economic development director with Central Florida Regional Planning Council who has been the kind
of the facilitator of this. This is an effort that um the Winterhaven EDC, former director Bruce Lion had really championed a few years back of a means to um look at what some of the industrial
and commercial growth needs were that we have in the south part of Pulk County. really targeting the areas along US17 to the south, uh, Fort me down in the Malbury area, Barto, um, as well as
Highway 60 or State Road 60. So that incorporates again parts of Barto, certainly the lower end of Winter Haven in the ILC and then also all the way over to Lake Wales and down 27 into the Frost Proof area. So GI had won a um,
competitive bid to uh, to prepare this study. Uh Blake has been working on it for gosh seems like a year. Has it been a year now? It seems longer than that. Um and they are making these presentations uh to those municipalities
and partners that were involved in this. Uh our staff has been a part of this as the EDC, the staff of the other cities, the Central Florida Regional Planning Council obviously as well as the CFDC. So, with that, Blake, take it away and
we'll have questions as need be at the end. >> Wonderful. Thank Thank you for having me. This is exciting. We uh briefed the county commission a few weeks ago and we're now sort of doing the road show to
talk to all the cities. Um, and as as T. Michael said, we have uh been on this work for about a year or so. And you know this this is a a very large
project, very large area. Um I I think that a lot of leadership has been seen from uh folks at the city. Um not the the least of which was Bruce Lion and
his in his role with the the EDC. Um, you know, this this is a very big area that we're talking about. It's 848 square miles. It covers Winter Haven, Lake Wales, Frost Proof, Fort Me, Barto, Malberry, a large chunk
of uninccorporated area. And, you know, this is a part of the county that's evolved a lot over the last century. You know, you've seen the eb and flow of citrus and ranching and then on the western side of of phosphate. But the past few decades have kind of
moved away from what I would say is natural resource driven industry into something that you might call like locationational and and proximity based industries. So really good example of that shift right here in Winter Haven is the the CSX motoral facility and and the
industrial park that's been uh developed adjacent to that. So the the vision for this work is to see how we can transform South Pole County's key transportation corridors into a resilient, connected,
and economically vibrant regional network. We'll talk about what that means in a second. Um, in really simple terms, that means that we're looking at how land use, roads, utilities, industrial development, and environmental protection can work together instead of being planned
separately. Um, we're going to talk about all of those topics over the next few minutes. Um, we're going to talk about transportation, about how conservation can work with development, and um, as Venanisha told me, I had to even about everybody's favorite new
topic, which is data centers. Um, which we don't think are a good fit for the area. We'll talk about that more um, when we get to it. So, as we said, this is a really big study area. Um, and as as T. Michael pointed out, we're really
focused on the the three corridors of 60, 17, and and 27. Um they're connecting multiple communities and they've already got a lot of industrial activity on them. So that's kind of the natural place to uh to build
from. Now, specifically, we're looking at that two-mile area from each one of those corridors. And we picked that because a major industrial user is really going to want to be within that distance of a major highway.
Um, so that kind of helps us focus on places where we've got transportation access, we've got land use in place and you know those things with economic development can be can be more closely connected. Um the demographics are what you'd
really expect for um for this area and and pretty much in line with the county. Uh I won't make you read all the numbers on here. We've got a report that um that uh Benicia has that goes into far more detail, but there's a couple of really
important things that kind of flavor an approach here. One is that this study area is a net net exporter of employees. So that means a third more people leave the study area for work then come into the study area
for work which is a little bit surprising especially when you consider how much industrial there is in the area. The other is if you can see on the right is that there's really been a shift in kind of the employment character um related to the the target
industries of the region. So a employment has has dropped uh by about twothirds but transportation wholesale and and trade employment has risen. And so that's kind of consistent with that kind of trend I talked about in the
beginning of this move toward uh more of a a locationationalbased uh industry. So we didn't just jump into uh doing recommendations and this is part of what the this year has been. We we listened
and learned and we we studied u a lot of data. Um, so these are are things that came out of those conversations with each one of the cities with the the various EDC's um through the area and
they're really meant to kind of set up what the strate what the strategy is trying to solve. Um, so number one, I'll kind of go through these a little more quickly than than I might have planned to, but um the first Oh, my time's up.
Sorry. So the the the first one and I think this is is something that you know really came out through through the process is this urgent need to preserve industrial land. So um everybody that we talked to said there's a lot of pressure
to convert industrially designated land to residential uses. And if you put yourself in the position of the land owner, that's a that's a relatively simple um uh setup.
Residential is there. There's a market for it. The payback is immediate. Industrial, there's a little bit of a market for it. It involves some investment. The payback takes longer. So those those two things sort of push at each other. And you see the sort of
scenarios that you get throughout this part of the county where there's sort of push to move and convert uh at least industrial uh designated land into residential. The problem is once you go to residential, it's really hard to
replace that that industrially designated land. And so we we really have to protect it because in most cases it's in places that are best suited for this part of the county. Um so this is
the adopted future land use. There's about 14,000 acres um designated for industrial use. Sounds like a lot but it really is not when you think about the fact that you know there's other entitlements that need to
go with this. there's infrastructure that has to go with it and you know it really has to be available for development. So there are some parcels on here in pink designated for industrial development that if we were talking you know individually
could tell you that the owner is just not going to develop them. And so that sort all those things sort of chip away at that number which is another reason why we need to to maintain that those lands for um for future industrial. So
you can see sort of where the the clusters are that we um that we have to work from. And when you get from that first map with the pink, that's what's designated to this map that is what's actually on the ground. Um,
you can really see that only about half of that 14,000 acres is built with industrial. And of that half, about half of it's vacant. So, uh, meaning vacant land, not vacant
building. Um, and so, you know, that tells us a couple of things. There's there's real capacity for future industrial activity, but there's also a big difference between land that's designated versus land that's ready to
to develop. And part of the strategy is how do we how do we close that gap? Um, another thing that we think is important is the sort of ownership pattern. Um, so everything on here, each separate color,
uh, represents an individual owner of 500 acres, uh, or more. Um, and so these, I think, are opportunities because these are big, contiguous properties. They're the best chances to develop large scale opportunities, and I think we're going to show how we can um,
we can build off of that. Now to be fair, basically the entire west side is phosphate unlikely to um to turn into the sorts of uses that we're talking about. But as we look through the sort of center and west part of the or center
and east part of the study area, I think those are where the large opportunities are. The second issue that has sort of come to the top and one that is driving a lot of things that you see on the ground is that there really is a
shortage of what you might call modern industrial buildings, particularly in buildings that can be divided into like 50 to 100,000 feet uh for for users. that as we've gotten into this and
gotten into the analysis, that's the size range that the economic development folks um get the most leads for. It's also a size that you'll see in a second as we go through this, it's in really short supply. And so
the reason why this matters is because most of these companies that are, you know, trying to locate here, they're not going to wait a long time for a custom building. um a large a large user. Yes, that's sort of expected to be able to sue these smaller users. They really
want to get in. They need something that's available quickly like I need to be operating out of that space in six to nine months. Um if we don't have that, those prospects go elsewhere and and anecdotally we lose a lot of those um to
the market. So, oh shoot, I've done something. There we go. Um, so I said there's about 16 and a half million square feet of industrial. Um, if you sort of parse that out into
modern industrial, so think about that as like um, anything less than about 20 years old. Um, that takes it down to about 5 million square feet. Most of that's concentrated, you know, along 60.
You can see the big um dots scaled there around the the ILC. This is this kind of reinforces 60 is that um important corridor. But one of the really important findings of the
study is that if you drill down into that space of like 50,000 to 250,000 ft. So buildings that could be divisible into those um those you know sweet spot of 50 to 100,000 square foot buildings.
There's about 3.8 million square feet of that. About 200,000 ft has been built since 2004. So that sort of modern building that's easy to move into, easy to you know have a a user uh get into it. It's extremely extremely limited.
And those are the places that the businesses that are, you know, going to create the local jobs and support the supplier networks and and grow over time, that's the place they start out and we don't have spots for them. So that's that's causing us issues with the
rest of the market. And that's important because industrial buildings, there's sort of an ecosystem uh to them. They don't all serve the same purpose. um you know that million plus square foot building. It looks great at the um
at the groundbreaking. It looks great, you know, when it's open. It's going to serve a regional or probably in in this case a statewide market because of of where it's located. Um whereas these smaller buildings are going to serve like the local manufacturer, the
supplier, the repair shop, the startup. um we have to have a mix of of all of these sizes and we've seen a lot of the large footprint buildings come online. The issue is that if we don't have the smaller ones that limits the capacity to
build the bigger ones because the smaller ones are the ones that give the opportunities for service to the large ones. So the truck that's backed up to that million square foot building is also the truck that's backed up to that
smaller 250,000 foot building because stuff is going back and forth between them. And if we don't have capacity for the smaller ones, we lose capacity to build the larger ones. Um so where could things happen? um airports like Barto
and Lake Wales, they're kind of growing beyond transportation into to more economic anchor uh kind of roles. This is, you know, not just aviation related stuff. It's logistics. It's um even evol
or um vertical takeoff and landing. But airports have to have compatible land use and access and coordinated planning around them. We think that's an opportunity to to build on here. Um, talking about emerging industries, um,
data centers have gotten a lot of attention lately. Um, you know, that historically wasn't the case here in Florida, but, you know, it's crept down because perceptions about like climate risk have have changed uh, over the
years. The reality is that they have huge community impacts, not the least of which are the use of significant energy and water um resources. You know, in May the governor signed uh SB484 over in Lakeland. Um and
functionally that's really going to make it more difficult to develop data centers. It also gives local governments more control over things. Um so really as we've done this we haven't relied on on those as a as a component of of the strategy.
Um infrastructure readiness is another issue that we're uh trying to deal with. Um this is another one where you know you have the sort of chicken and egg um question. Think back to those pink sites. Some of those pink sites
don't have things like road access, water, sewer, power, broadband. Um, and as we've heard from the stakeholders almost to a person, waiting until a project shows up before you extend infrastructure, that makes you lose
opportunities. And so, um, not necessarily here in Winter Haven, but there's other sites that I could show you around the study area where like that that clearly has been, um, an issue and that specifically is an issue in that smaller footprint size where people
need to be in right now. So, when we think about infrastructure, roadways are a key component. Um, this sounds complex because we're calling it a roadway stress index. It's pretty it's kind of a simple idea. If you expect industrial
development growth in places that already have congestion, um the roads are going to become barriers to development. And State Road 60 is of the places within the corridor that we examined, it's five of the six top
potential roadway stress segments. Um it's already carrying a lot of passenger and freight traffic. If we want industrial growth to happen, we got to make transportation improvements along with this. We'll talk about what some of them uh can be. Infrastructure power. Um
power is a actually a competitive advantage for South Pole County. Um we've got substantial generation and transmission uh capacity both TCO and and Duke. Um a lot of modern industries. you think about your advanced advanced
manufacturing, your your clean industries, they're paying really close attention to reliable power availability. This doesn't mean we're on autopilot. Um power delivery and especially substation capacity. Uh has to be coordinated with the specific sites where growth is
expected, which is why we've sort of when we get to the strategy kind of paired up uh infrastructure with with sites. Um and then the last piece of infrastructure that we'll talk about is broadband. Um, so broadband's generally available. Everywhere here where you see
green is is served. Everywhere where you see pink is is underserved. Um, it's kind of distributed unevenly. Um, some locations have a lot of providers, others have a limited number. Um, but
what we need to point out is that for these users, this broadband's not an option. Um it's it's part of basic site readiness and it's one of those things that falls into that category of um
extending it after you already have the user is uh probably not a winning uh choice. Um so storm water and environmental resilience um you know flooding and drainage as you might expect are are big concerns especially around Peace River,
Peace Creek. Um I want to give Winter Haven a lot of credit. you've been a leader in this space with One Water and the efforts of of everybody including I see Gary Hovered back there. Um we worked with y'all on that project for
for several years. I was here a couple months ago when um when Gary went through the presentation. Um, so you've been leading this, but what we found out as we've been through uh all of the the
work is that other cities support planning for things like water storage as regional infrastructure. Um, and it's important because it's got to be a regional sort of solution. And we think that there's through the leadership that y'all have shown, we think that there's
others within the region who are willing to to participate as well. And we think that's a a good thing because if you think about the environmental systems, you know, obviously the Peace River is the dominant natural feature and then it's fed by uh Peace Creek by Bolex
Creek. Um, these can be the backbone of a regional conservation network and we want to talk about how that can can look in just a second. Um, another piece of the study area maybe outside of outside of Winter Haven's perview is uh the FEGN
or Florida Environmental Greenways Network. They've identified a priority one connection, meaning um there's land that probably needs to be set aside as development happens um down in that southwest southeast corner
of the study area um to connect with other uh kind of important regional uh wildlife areas to make sure that connection doesn't get doesn't get breached.
So, now we'll move briefly from what we learned to okay, what can we do about it? Um, we've got some strategic moves. They're kind of in four categories: land use, transportation, um, storm water, resilience, and infrastructure.
And they're really intended to help South Pole County um, compete for economic opportunities and improve quality of life. We don't see those as two separate um indistinct issues. We think they're they're combined. Um so,
as I said, this is th this is a strategy, meaning this isn't a land use plan. This isn't a capital improvements uh plan. This is a strategy that uh can help to guide all of the uh all of the
component uh partners in it. Um this slide sort of shows the words uh behind that. We've got some images as well. Um it's got three big outcomes right in the middle of the slide. Meeting market demand for modern industrial opportunities, moving people
and goods safely and efficiently and strengthening the natural environment. And then in order to make it easier to follow, we've sort of broken it out uh into um into four strategy areas of land use, transportation, storm water and resilience and
infrastructure. Um so overall uh this sort of summarized the development strategy. And like I said, this isn't a development plan for parcels. This isn't capital improvement program. Um what it is is a framework for showing where different kinds of
actions ought to be considered. Um the goal is really to focus growth around assets like airports, ILC, existing industrial clusters, other major corridors. Um but also protect neighborhoods and the the key environmental systems that we've
outlined here. So, I won't go into to terrible detail on on all of these, but specific to this, you know, portion of the county. This set of of ideas is really focused on industrial expansion
and conservation. Um, so things like expanding industrial maybe to the east of Barto airport, connecting that down to to State Road 60. um expanding, you know, kind of south from the ILC uh
towards 60 we think is an opportunity um in Lake Wales along Hunt Brothers Road um and then and around the airport. And then tying that together with a primary conservation network um of wetlands and
flood plane uh protection is important because that growth doesn't have to be at the expense of environmental protection and we think that that can actually offer a a benefit to uh potential development. Um,
as we sort of focus on transportation connections, we think that there's, uh, shown by six and eight and seven here, some potential, uh, new north, south, and east, west connections that, um, are going to reduce pressure on State Road
60. The very simple idea is redundancy. Um, if everything has to depend on one corridor, then congestion safety is only going to get worse. Um, a more connected network gives you more options. It takes the pressure off of um
off of that one road of of State Road 60. Um, thinking about sort of the west side of the study area, you know, there's opportunity in Malberry to uh modernize, intensify a little bit. There's a couple of sites in in BTO that um proactive
utility expansion uh could be able to help and then there's maybe some some opportunities for larger sort of megaite development uh to the south if if infrastructure can be uh supported. So they have the land portion but they uh don't have the infrastructure portion.
And then as we move uh over to the east and the south um you know thinking about opportunities uh down by frost proof um maybe where some nodes can be expanded some other sites can be maybe uh set up as potential large scale sites and then
you can sort of see that uh wildlife connection down in the bottom right hand corner. So we've then further broken these out um by each one of the categories. Um you know land use really is about preserving and and
prepositioning things. Um one thing we have done because we think it's important is to start to think about how to increase the avail the inventory of uh available
industrial buildings. Um and we think that local governments can play a role. Um there's kind of three ways generally you can do it. Um the far left is like the fully public option. That's sort of you're doing it and um you're then
operating, you know, whatever uh building facility that is or park or industrial park that is. There's a sort of a middle ground of a co-participant uh option that says, you know, local government can do uh what it does, which is, you know, it can help with some
financing and and maybe be more patient. Um but then private parties build and finance and and own the construction. And then the incentive option, you know, is sort of the the kind of least intensive, which is you're
just providing incentives on demand. And so remember again, this is a a large study area with many jurisdictions. And so, um, you know, what's right and a good approach for one city is not going to be, you know, the
best approach for another. Um, some of these take a pretty high level of sophistication to pull off. Um, and so we wanted to kind of plant the seed that these are things that we think you need to be thinking
about in order to kind of diversify your um, your industrial market. Uh transportation wise, I think we talked about this uh new connections, redundancy. Um you know, it's not we're not we're not just even though this industrial study, we're not just trying
to move trucks faster. Um we're trying to improve safety, reduce impacts on neighborhood, um and ultimately make these site these industrial sites more competitive, which is I think key to the process. We talked about the roadway
stress um index and so a lot of the things we've uh proposed here as as potential new connections are things that um are really trying to to take pressure off of um State Road 60. Um I
understand that we've got signal upgrades in the works um for the Logistics Parkway and State Road 60 uh intersection which I think is a is a big deal. You know, turning movements are a challenge. There's limited access. It's
got both safety and efficiency concerns. You can see the wide variety of of users of this intersection that we have. Um key intersection on key road needs improvement. I think you're well on the way to to working on that. When it comes
to uh storm water and resilience, this is like thinking about water management in a regional sort of systemic way. Um, we've got some ideas that we've pointed out. Um, the biggest thing I want you to
kind of walk away from this with is that if we do it right, the the storm water aspect of this is going to reduce flood risk. It's going to support development. It's going to improve water quality. It's going to create a community amenity. And none of that is at the
expense of development. And none of the development is at the expense of the environment. We absolutely can manage both of those. We've sort of laid out a hypothetical way that that primary conservation network which is sort of
the big fat sometimes skinny sometimes fat line uh through here might work. So um this is kind of illust illustrative of of the concept. Mind you, this primary conservation
network, that's a key part of your onewater approach. Um, and our goal has been to try to expand that approach to all of the areas along Peace Creek and downstream to the to the Peace River. So, it's not um operating in in
isolation. Um, instead of thinking about treating wetlands and floodplaines and and ponds kind of as separate pieces, we can get those connected into sort of a bigger uh system that can have all
sorts of benefits like storing water, reducing downstream flooding, supporting wildlife, creating trails and open space um and actually be a benefit to, you know, beyond just the users of the industrial uh site. So you can see how
all of those elements from wetlands to flood planes to the storm water from the development to connected forested uplands, how that can all work together to to create a conservation network that you know can be um sort of the extension
of uh your your concept of the sapphire necklace. And then as as we sort of pivot to uh infrastructure um really the strategies here are about readiness um you know for for for all
the non-planners um just kind of understand that you know companies are choosing places that are ready and if the roads the utilities the power the broadband um if they're not in place or if if it's even unclear about when
they'll be in place um you know, we're we're going to lose opportunities to other locations. Um so, um thank you for kind of sticking with me through this. I know it's a lot of information, um to
take in, but I I think it's a really important um topic. Um, you know, I I guess I want to reinforce that this is about kind of positioning this part of the county for long-term prosperity. And
it takes working together with the other communities, but we've got a lot of assets to build on. Like we've got strong corridors, we've got airports, we've got rail, we've got logistics facilities, we've got people with large land holdings, we've got lots of power infrastructures, we've got really
significant natural systems. So, you know, we can compete for quality jobs even while we continue to protect the character and the environment of the community. So, thank you.
>> Commissioners, any questions? >> Yeah, I have a question. So, the presentation that you just made, we don't have access. We don't have that. So, I'd like to have it. I would love for you to have >> slide deck we can provide to you and
then the full report. >> So the RP the RPC has they're in like their second round of review on the report. Um I could talk to Benicia about giving it to you as as >> I'll probably get a copy at our meeting
now that I think about it. All right. >> Good evening. Frasier, economic developer with the Central Florida Region Planning Council. Just quickly, um we are still reviewing the document. What we would like to do is engage with our partners. Um once we
are finished with that process, which is in the latter part of August, we will make the actual document available to everyone. >> But you can absolutely have the presentation. We'll we will um print the presentation that you this deck for you and put it in your boxes so you have a
hard copy of it. >> Um again I I just I want to certainly recognize Venicia and Jennifer is here with the uh Central Florida Regional Planning Council. Um it's good to see you. We share a common anniversary that we both came into these jobs on the same
day. Uh we also have with us I think Lindsay Zimmerman I see back there from the CFDC. um Steve Elias and a whole crew of people from the Winter Haven EDC including the new uh president executive director Allison Beman who I will introduce further later on and I think
other members of the EDC that are here. This is a collective effort and I think what's what's interesting about this um particularly as we talk about property tax reform is that is a big issue for all of us and Blake was mentioning about
the opportunity for these lands to be developed as residential. You know certainly we need residential to uh to support uh housing here but at the same time if you have the opportunity for those to be um the industry that employs those folks and continues to contribute
into your tax base. That's wonderful. But we've seen that and I I think he hits it on the head when those perspective opportunities come forward and we see those I think that CFDC sends me one about every other
day it seems. If somebody's looking for a location um to either lease or move into and it's not a million square feet, it's I need 50,000 square feet and or I need a 100,000 feet. Those facilities just
don't exist. And that's a tremendous opportunity between all of us in the southern portion of Pulk County here, central to the south, um to pursue some opportunities and and create that inventory and those um partnerships that
can bring that to reality. So, and I think that the approach of really focusing in not only on what the that workforce demographic is, what the need is within the industries, but how do you take care of some environmentally sensitive lands that we have, how do you
prepare for the infrastructure? It's a very uh coordinated all-encompassing approach. So, I I commend them for the work. And this is, as I said, a partnership with all of those municipalities and and EDC's in the mix.
Well, I'll just add that, you know, I I certainly appreciate the presentation uh this evening. I I stayed awake the whole time, promised fall asleep at all. Um I think that that the balanced approach is the right approach and I think that's something that Winter Haven
you know has uh more so than others because we do have the benefit of the um ILC and it seems you know if we want to build you know a million plus square foot warehouse we've got the space to do
it and it's it's out there and we don't scatter those throughout the community And you know, we have this cluster and we have this cluster over here. We we've got a specific area for that sort of development. there's room to grow towards the south, but that's that's the
area where Winter Haven sees that that sort of future growth and not putting those pieces throughout the throughout the area and balancing that with also the um nature piece of it and keep making sure
the water's flowing correctly and making sure that we're not impacting um the environmental lands. um obviously you're going to impact somewhat but to a minimum and I think again that's where that balance comes into play. So we'll
let me hit on the the hot topic here because you brought up data centers. Um so in my calculations and and kind of what I've viewed in the way that the city of Winter Haven lines currently are
there's not a room for a data center. So, can you expand on that and where, you know, there's not a thousands of acres of of uh of of old phosphate land that you could go throw a data center on in the city of Winter
Haven with the way that our limits are defined. Either one that want to take one wants to take it. There's no media in the room, so you're good. Nobody's going to hear this. >> Before I hand it off to Blake, I just want to just speak briefly to the document itself. I know you guys don't
have access to it, but the the actual document itself doesn't go into detail about data centers. It does uh it does bring it up because it of the particular interest in it, but the the document does say that while there is an interest in data centers at this time, there are
more appropriate uses specific to South Poke. And now I'll hand it off to Blake. >> And I I also think specific to South Pole, um the the thing that's gotten a lot of traction lately is sort of the
the hypers scale data centers. Um which are like you see on four or 500 acres like they're they're massive sites. Um, and you're correct. Right now, that sort of site doesn't exist within the city of
Winterhaven. The reality is the places where you may have um other large sites within this study area may have a site, but access might be limited. Um,
water, sewer, power might be limited to that specific spot. And so, you know, in I if if a city were to decide that was something they wanted to pursue, um it it really is logistically an uphill
climb to get there, not to mention um politically. And I I think that the even even within the past year that we've been doing this study um the the
regulatory climate within the state has changed. And so if you think about what um what the component uses of of the of a data center are water being a massive one. I I just
the way things have gone think it's next to impossible to get that even if you wanted to do one. So, >> and not saying I do or or that we even have that desire to move forward, but it's really just because there is a lot of discussion out there and there's been
calls for moratoriums here in in Winter Haven and and other municipalities, but I just don't see the need for a moratorium when you don't even have the space or or spots to even potentially have the discussion, right, to add the center in the first place,
>> right? You're you're almost having a having an argument for no good reason because >> even if you even if you win the argument, >> you can't execute it. So, >> what good is it? >> Thank you. Any other questions? >> Appreciate the presentation.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh then we'll have five sets of previous minutes up for approval and then we will move right on into the consent agenda. Um, and so I'll let city manager take it away with 10A.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to call upon this amazing team of department directors and staff to present their items this evening. So, the develop the developers agreement with the physicians partnership. Eric Labby will speak to this. This may sound familiar because
you heard this is a CRA board. >> Yes, sir. Mayor, commissioners. Um way back in 2013, we entered into a development agreement with Physicians Partnership LLC. Um on December 29th of 23, that property was sold to Corgrow
550 Winterhaven LLC. Um pursuant to section 10.9 of that uh developers agreement, um the agreement uh cannot be assigned or delegated without the express or written consent of the other party. um we had not received a consent
or assignment. Um so we had not paid uh the development incentives for that property for um tax years 24 and 25. Um uh we have since received that uh assignment uh documentation and so on
March 3rd 26 representative Corgro delivered that assignment and assumption of lease and contracts to the city staff and city attorney has reviewed that document. You did hear this um as the CRA board. Um staff does recommend um
that you would uh approve and consent to the assignment and assumption of the leasing contracts um document with Physicians Partnership LLC to Corgrove 550 Winterhaven LLC and authorized the mayor and other city officials to execute the consent um or anything
necessary there too. Have any stand for any questions you may have? Commissioners, any questions? I think we're good. We'll move on to 10B. >> So, this is a um agreement to provide traffic control. Greg, are you prepared
to speak to this this evening? Would you prefer I do that, sir? >> Okay. Thank you. So oftent times within private developments that are gated, the roads are are maintained and owned by the private development and they will reach out for assistance with law
enforcement um for traffic control. So the Peace Creek Community Development District, this is down off of the south end of County Road 653 by um the new elementary school. They have uh requested uh for the city to exercise
jurisdiction for the traffic control enforcement over their roads. Uh Florida statutes does authorize the city to do so over roads that are owned and controlled by a special district such as the CDD that this is uh their board of supervisors is required to execute a
written agreement with the city in order for us to do so. Uh these are typically uh intended to enhance traffic safety within the residential subdivisions and communities. The CDD is responsible at its expense for complying with all the requirements for signage and traffic
control as mandated by Florida law. also must reimburse the city for any actual costs of any speed studies or inspections that we would conduct to determine uh the uh if their existing signage meets or exceeds the SA standards that are set forth in the
manual on uniform traffic control devices more commonly referred to as the MUTCD. Uh they are also responsible for installing and maintaining all the required signage. There's no financial impact to us for doing this. This basically falls in line with how we
would enforce in a non-gated subdivision or on local roads. And we're recommending the commission consider approval of the agreement between the city and the CDD for this effort. So if they were to want
an officer there running radar, is that something that we would >> if they have a speeding issue and have a request for that, then they coordinate that with PD and based upon our availability of resources, we we work with them for that
>> and they would cover the cost of that officer being there. That is something that we would we're going to do is just our enforcement within that because again tickets be issued and so on. But they don't they're not paying for that additional cost on that service.
>> But if we don't have an officer available, we we're not obligated to to pull one, >> right? >> They don't get us they don't get a higher priority uh because of of this agreement. This just gives us the authority. It's really a way for us to
safen up their streets and and patrol those as need be. >> And if they wanted to have an offduty officer assigned for a specific time of day on a specific area, they could do that and that would be at their expense. >> They could do it. If they were having a special event, I'm looking to Greg. If
they were doing a community parade or something and wanted to to procure an offduty detail from us, they can certainly do that as well. We have these in a number of um gated communities. It's just a means that if
you don't, then we don't have the authority to go in there and address speeding or um you know, people operating vehicles that they shouldn't be, you know, so on. >> Yeah. I mean, I'm just thinking there's a reason why they're asking for this. I'm just trying to figure out exactly.
>> Yeah. Greg, do you know of any particular issues that are happening within this one? Yes, sir. Um, so there have been they're trying to rectify some issues uh with parking, uh, speeding, improper vehicles driving on roadway,
certain ebikes, motorcycles, things that on our normal roadways here in the city, we'd be able to easily enforce with either doing a traffic stop, issuing a warning, andor issuing a citation to correct their behavior. In these cases, because the roadways are not within our jurisdiction, technically it's almost
like a road warrior style. I mean, anybody can park anywhere, they can drive anywhere, do anything as long not a criminal act. It's just a civil traffic violation. We don't have a jurisdiction duty of enforcement without disagreement. >> So, they're going to report it. They're going to call in. We're going to go out
there based upon the current call log of the pecking order that that falls in, and then we can go out and issue tickets. >> Absolutely, sir. If they have a reoccurring issue, they can do what's called a direct traffic assignment. We'll put it on our plotter to try to address it as calls for service dictate within the rest of the city. Um, if they
do want a special assignment, just like the city manager said, uh, they can contract with us for what's called a special detail officer, and at their own expense, they can have an officer there for as long a duration as they wish. Okay. >> I have a question. Do they pay adorn taxes? >> Yes. >> To the city.
>> Oh, yeah. They're draw, >> right? It's just the private road deal, >> right? Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Next item um is just travel and training. So, you all are are slated to attend the Florida League of Cities
annual conference in Hollywood, Florida, August 12th through the 16th. I believe your accommodations and registrations have been accounted for by Amanda Joe in in my office. Joining you this year at that event will be Deputy City Manager
Carnival and Public Affairs and Communications Director Hill will be attending and I think is also presenting at that conference. I will unfortunately not be able to join you due to a a family wedding that I need to attend out of town that that evening. So
item 10D is a first amendment to the utility developers agreement with FourStar Real Estate Group. This is specific to the Harmony on Lake Eloise project. Gary, would you like to speak to this one, please? Good evening, mayor, commissioners.
So, this this uh item that you'll be considering on Monday is basically for upsizing the utilities through the development. And you'll see here that the 12-in force man um will go down to our new Harmony
Master lift station. flow will be directed off of the eastern side of our system that currently flows to the master list station at the Chain of Lakes complex. So, we'll take some stress off of that station for additional future capacity
uh at the Chain of Lakes. And this upsizing of this force man has been already it's already uh in place and so this is reimbursement for that upsizing effort. So this work has been done um and this
is uh an approval of that first amendment and basically as they're putting in their utilities developers agreement if we know that we have a need for expanded pipe size and the like we factor that in. So
be happy to answer any questions. Think we're good. >> Okay. Um Gary next one is yours as well. Badger meter smart cover system uh agreement, >> right? So, we have um you know the smart
manhole covers throughout our system now and uh they do require maintenance. Uh these uh systems basically they monitor the water level in a manhole and they shoot that information up to a satellite
which pings it back down to our employees on their phones or their tablets. So this is just a maintenance agreement to uh make sure that everything remains operational throughout the year. >> Okay. >> Yes. Gar
are they on all of our uh manhole? >> No sir. We we uh strate strategically locate them throughout our system where we know that we might have issues. So we have I think uh 74
uh out there in our system now. So, um, they have helped us tremendously as far as sanitary sewer overflows. We've been able to catch and avoid an overflow because of this this equipment and this
this technology. >> Gary, can they be moved as need be? If you have a problem that came up in an area, you could relocate them. >> They can be relocated into another location. Just got one more question. Uh so
I know that uh in the past that we've had some some issues u years ago as it relates to when there were weather events >> that caused backup. So I'm just wondering how
>> so basically what happens is um we you know have some areas of our systems that we suspect have a lot of infiltration and inflow >> these we can move these into those areas to document >> um which segment of pipe we might need
to look at as far as lining or replacing. So um besides the the benefits of the you know avoiding sanitary sewer overflows, it also helps us to identify systems that we might need to replace >> and also plugged lines.
>> That is correct. >> All right. I think maybe you're still up. 10F >> 10F water uh and sewer connection fee and rate study. So, um, as you know, this past legislative session,
uh, a bill was passed that will require us basically to do away with, uh, the search charge that we currently charge to our out of city customers and that will have to be done by 2027.
So, we want to be proactive. Um, we will be coming back to the commission later this this year for probably a construction type loan instead of a revenue bond. And uh this this information from a rate study and
connection fee study will support that effort later this year. >> So just a couple things with this um to add to that. So that sir charge means that the rate structure that we adopted in 2024, August of 2024,
is built off of what your rates are for your inside folks and your outside folks and what your CIP is. Well, if you're having to change that rate structure, one coming down, one potentially coming up and balancing it out there, we need
to know what that number is going to be and also verifying against the current CIP. So, we do expect some changes within that. We've also asked for um Rafelis in this scope of work to contemplate an environmental sir charge
that uh for us to give considerate for you to give consideration to um for us to certainly you know be able to advocate if it makes sense that would help with things such as septic to sewer conversions as well as environmental
land acquisition efforts that have a communitywide benefit. So um It's really driven more so by the change in the legislature and and what we're allowed to do, but um it it kind of ground truths where we are today.
>> Yeah. Additionally, um our our current rates are in uh in 5,000 gallons chunks. There's a rate for 0 to 5, 5 to 10, 10 to 15. We're also going to look at uh maybe possibly changing that into
4,000gallon chunks um to help with our customers that are on fixed income and and so we'll be looking at that also as we go through this process. >> Yes, sir. the so the uh the study we've
got to as of when we build our budget for 20 2728 that's when we've got that fee >> that's that's what we would be looking at
>> yes because we have to remove it one more question in in reference to that uh I thought that uh maybe there was some room for the search charge fee
>> there. You can do a search charge, but there's the automatic search charge that has been in place for >> that's the longest period. That's what went away. You can actually do a 50% search charge. >> First 25 can be automatic and then you have to justify the next. Okay. the the
way that it's it's rewarded and and I don't have the exact details of it, but you can still do a search charge. The process to do so has become extremely laborious and complex and and basically
is an annual exercise you have to go through. Um, and at the end of the day, it's it's probably more effort than than you want to take on to to create that justification. Um you asked the question
about the 2728 and Gary mentioned that this we have to uh eliminate that sir charge in our and it it varies from community to community based upon bonds that you have out in and and similar
financial debt. Uh in our case we have to be remove that by July 1st of 27. So we've got basically a year to work through this process and that's why it folds into the 2728 budget year. >> Okay. Right.
>> As part of that process u we'll make some re recommendations for you to consider whether u any new rates would be implemented January 1 or uh the start of the fiscal year. >> So do you think so will this let me ask
this question first. Will this rate study give what that search charge we need that we we should have >> for non- city residents >> that we're allowed to do. >> We're going to do away with the search charge. So it's going to balance the
rates. >> So that so that's kind of what I'm getting at. So citizens of Winter Haven today are probably going to pay more than what they did before. >> That is correct. >> And so this is another gift from Tallahassee. If anybody's watching on
YouTube, understand why your water bill is going to go up. And it's because a non city retent who doesn't pay city taxes now who has to pay a little bit extra for their water now gets split
amongst everybody else. So you have about 30% give or take, let's just call it 33% of your customers are outside the city limit. 66 are inside. Those 33 are paying a 25% search charge on water and
sewer. That comes off and you rebalance everything. So they'll likely see a drop in their s in their cost while everybody else sees an increase in the cost spread across twice as many people.
>> Tell me the system's not broken. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I hear you. Very good point. Because as because as a city resident, we all pay most everybody in this room all pays city taxes which
helps go towards the infrastructure cost overall and that's why we pay a little bit more in that direction. But now that's not the way it's going to work. Look forward to the rate study. >> Thank you for
>> moving right along. Since we're since we're >> y'all bring that talking about sludge, let's just go on with it. >> So, um >> thank you, city manager. Uh >> I didn't describe it as snot as somebody recently did in a room. So,
>> so um this is we're asking for retroactive approval. Um this was an emergency condition at uh wastewater plant three where we had a pipe in one of the irrigation basins fall and hit um the
aeration system. So we had to take that basin out of service and we when we did that kind of upset the treatment process and increase the amount of solids that we have to handle. So, we uh asked Synagro to come in and assist our staff
with dewatering sludge so we could get the plant basically leveled out from a operational standpoint. So, this is one of those emergency things that we have to do. You know, it's
it's the stuff that comes up and when you have one plant that you're taking portion of it offline to do repairs and then you have a problem at another plant and suddenly what you anticipated to be uh the challenge just gets a little more complicated. This is a retroactive
approval because this work has been done. Are they still on site, Gary? Are they >> I believe they are. >> All right, Gary happenings like this in water and one of those. You can't predict it. It just >> every day. >> Yeah. We have to remain in compliance
and that's that's pretty much what this is about. >> Tuesday is a little bit worse than the heat of Wednesdays. I do want to make a point here because I think it's timely that you know this we've got a couple of things on this agenda that are the
emergency repairs that we're asking for retroactive uh authorizations on that being one and one that's yet to come up that Mr. Eers will present on HVAC at the library. Um and just to editorialize for a moment
those are things that you can't predict. you know, you respond to and you've got a an extremely competent finance department that helps us identify how do we do that? You've got staff that knows how to troubleshoot it. But as you're engaged in discussions on property tax
reform, you know, the big thing that hangs out there is deferred maintenance on systems and that makes these types of emergency repairs much more common. So while we're dealing with them in 2026
when things are as they are, if you have to defer capital improvements and capital replacements, uh those maintenance issues will become more prevalent. >> So yeah, additionally I think you know it's important to note that um plant 3
is now 50 years old. You know plant two is 55 I think years old. So these are older facilities. So it's it's time and we'll be coming before the commission for additional improvements here very in the
very near future. >> NH Gary. >> All right. Last item for the water department. Um, as you may know or remember, we have come to you before about the lead and copper rule that's uh
required by EPA where we are required to remove any lead in our system. Primarily, these are old lead gooseenecks. We have found some out in our system and we are replacing them. So we will be asking on Monday for your
approval to basically purchase materials to take to accomplish these efforts. I do have our our lead and copper team here with us and um if you have I'm going to let him tell you a little bit about the program, some background and
some numbers. So DeAndre if you would uh come Uh, good evening, mayor and commissioners. Um, my name is DeAndre Holmes Wilfork. I am the construction superintendent. Me and my crew are in charge of the lead and copper program.
Um, right now we are currently on a regulatory requirement to have all lead out of water services by 2037. During that time frame, you have
progress that you have to meet in order to stay along that timeline. Um, we are currently ahead of schedule on that, but our objective as a department is to get this done as quick as possible. Um, our
team has worked tirelessly to give us this cushion that we currently have, but we want to continue that and order continue that. We need more materials and we need to also
let me start over. Sorry. Um so currently right now since we began we have located and replaced 71 lead services. We currently use a predictive modeling program that helps us to find
high risk areas for lead to be found at. Um in order for that predictive modeling to work we have to do what are called soft digs which is basically we go out to certain residents that They give us addresses that are more than likely to have lead at those addresses. Once we
get there, if we don't find lead or if we do find lead, once we input that information into the program, once they recalibrate it after a certain amount of soft digs, it gives us a better percentage of accuracy on their
predictive modeling. When we started the program, we were at 35,000 unknowns throughout the city out of about 45,000 services. Currently, we are at 14,600 um unknowns. So, we are more than
halfway through the unknowns. With the predictive modeling, those numbers can change, but at the rate that we're going with the verifications, those numbers will continue to drop down. So, the materials and fittings that we are going to purchase will allow us to continue on
the track that we're currently on to get this done as quick as possible. I don't foresee us being anywhere near the amount of time that's allotted for this. So, we should be able to get this done years in advance if we continue and have the materials in order to do that.
>> And that, you know, I think it's important to note this isn't about lead in the water. This is about lead within the infrastructure and where we identify properties that are likely to have that.
That's based upon the age of the property and when it would have been developed because obviously there came a point in time when lead fittings and goose necks were no longer utilized. Um so you're looking at older portions of the community and our predictive
modeling helps us identify that if you have it in an area in a house and there's other that were constructed at the exact same time. That's what you're looking at. So, they're doing a great job of advancing that. And this is the predictive modeling component. Um,
brings some uh present day AI technologies, machine learning into that process to our benefit. >> I have a question. Did you use um your billing system as to the age of the homes um in the
>> So, with the predictive modeling the company that use um Trenx. They had access to a lot of the dates on when these homes were built. >> Um what we realized um going through the system when we looked at it, there were some areas that they did not have the
information for, but we did. So, we were able to knock off a big chunk of the unknowns by going to those areas that we know without a doubt do not have any lead there. Um they're all new builds.
So, do use dates as long as well as field verifications. >> Thanks. >> Um with the uh my understanding is that the uh the lead
pipes are at the hookups at the uh water meter level. And is that >> so um most of these almost all of the lead gooseenecks that we find are actually At the connection to the main, you'll have a corporation stop, which is
a way for us to shut the water off directly on the main. And coming off of that corporation stop will be a segment of pipe that is lead. And it'll usually lead to a galvanized line going to the service. You can't just take the lead gooseeneck off because um galvaniz has a
tendency to leech the lead that's coming off of that fitting. So now that galvaniz is also contamin as well. So we replace all the way from the core up to the meter. >> As city manager mentioned, you know,
this is just another use in our department of innovative technology using AI. So we're using every opportunity that we have to improve the the efficiency of our teams.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. Your next item this evening, I'll invite uh Mr. Eers to the podium. Um happy to see this coming forward. This has been a a heavy lift for what seems like a few years now, but uh we have a cooperative facilities use
agreement between the city and the school board. We've had these in play for a number of years now. Um as you know, the schools use our facilities for park for athletic competitions. We use some of theirs. We're using one right now for our summer camps. Uh but this
agreement is the backbone of that. Scott, >> thank you, Mr. Mayor. City commissioners, uh the city of Winter Haven and public, excuse me, the Pulk County School Board have maintained a successful cooperative facility use partnership since 1990, allowing both agencies to share facilities, coordinate
programming, and expand recreational opportunities for residents and students. For more than 35 years, this partnership has maximized the use of public facilities, enhanced recreational and athletic opportunities, and demonstrated a shared commitment to serving the Winter Haven community. The
proposed agreement renews this partnership for 10 years from 2026 to 2036. The agreement establishes priority use for each agency's facilities. Um, by continuing this agreement or excuse me, arrangement, both organizations can effectively utilize existing public
infrastructure, avoid duplication of facilities and services, and provide expanded programming opportunities uh for residents and students. As part of the agreement renewal, the school board will provide a $100,000 contribution consistent with the contribution included in the previous 10-year
agreement. This funding will be applied toward the city commission's 2022 commitment of $350,000 for the renovations uh to the Dennis Stadium. The contribution acknowledges that the school board's ongoing partnership is supporting shared recreational and athletic facilities and
reduces the city's remaining commitment for the project to $250,000. Uh FY26 cash carry forward will be used to support that contribution. Uh the renewal of the cooperative facility use agreement continues a long-standing and mutually beneficial
partnership that promotes community access to recreational facilities, supports youth and adult programming, and ensures responsible stewardship of public resources. So the gist of the um the financial piece of this is that commission had made a commitment
several years back as Dennis uh athlet the football field was being renovated um to $350,000 to go towards that effort. Um the school board obviously did all that work and we just have not settled that out because
we needed to get this agreement done. um the because the school district pays us $100,000 over the 10 years for the use of our facilities and there's other fees that they pay on top of that particularly in the aquatics arena. Um
those basically we apply them against each other and and we'll make a payment to them at $250,000 and put that to rest. So have we I know part of the uh challenge use that word that we had was
with the youth and so all that has been worked out. So our use of school facilities, Dennis in particular, we have access to that. If we need to program into that space for if we want
to have an event or a competition or something of that nature, we would coordinate that just the same as we would coordinate the use of a gymnasium or otherwise. It's built around the scheduling and the other activities. Schoolboard activities take priority on
their property. our activities take priority on our property. Um, it does not allow for just the open access to that site. I would not uh advocate or or try and seek that out.
Just the same as I wouldn't try and open up some of our facilities just for anyone to go in and use at their own will either. That would have to be coordinated and scheduled accordingly. >> So, when are we going to finish the payment? 250 that we owe
>> once once the ex the agreement is executed. We would do that right out the gate to settle that out >> and that comes out um we've already identified that within general fund fund balance. We've kind of been sitting on that for >> gosh I think you the commission
considered this probably three years ago >> somewhere in that range actually longer than that. Longer than that it would have been it would have been when city manager her was still here in 2022 was still on the commission. Okay. Um, next item. I mentioned this uh
again, some emergency repairs. So, Scott, if you'd speak to the HVAC efforts at the Winter Haven Library. >> Yes, sir. Um, so the HBA system at the library was installed in 2004. Uh, consists of four large units as part of the city's long-term capital replacement
strategy. funding was included in FY26 to replace two units over four um excuse me two units and over four multiple fiscal years. In June, unit 4 experienced a catastrophic failure requiring immediate temporary repairs
and a full replacement. At the same time, unit 3, which operates in tandem with unit 4, suffered significant mechanical issues and was operating at only 50% capacity. The combined failures subsequently reduced the library's cooling capacity,
creating risk to the facility, uh, library collection, staff, and visitors during peak summer temperatures. Emergency repairs and replacement increased the total funding of 2000 FY26 projects from a budgeted 150,000 to approximately $198,837.
staff identified sufficient savings from completed HBAC projects at Rotary Park and the PET building to fully fund these emergency expenses through budget reallocation, eliminating the need for additional appropriations. The revised replacement schedule uh will
complete unit 4 and FY26, replace unit 22 and FY27, and defer the replacement of the system controller to future fiscal years depending on final project costs. staff recommends a ratification of the emergency HBC purchases and
approved. So, this is work that has been done. This came up just a few weeks ago, certainly in the peak of the heat. Um, libraries are special places, not only in in the sense of the people that utilize those, but that is a a massive asset that the city owns in terms of a
collection. And when you don't have climate controlled space, if you're not cautious about that, you can lose that collection. Um, so want to commend staff for their quick action on that. I think they had also had some uh electrical issues just in the past seven days with
AC down there that they were quick to respond to. >> Thank you, Scott. >> Thank you. >> Um, and last on your consent agenda, uh, public works director Brick Hart will update you on the item for the old
Helena Road, Cypress Gardens Road complete street effort. Yes. Good evening, mayor and commissioners. Uh, so on January 23rd of 2023, the commission adopted a resolution which allowed staff to submit a grant application through the Pulk County TPO and the Florida
Department of Transportation um for funds to reconstruct a segment of Old Helena Road from Legoland Way to Cypress Gardens Road. With that project, our application consisted of um information that we
would improve the roadway, but we would also add a path that would then tie into the existing sidewalk on Cypress Gardens Road. And so that only comes up a portion, if you're familiar with the area, the sidewalk comes off of Cypress Gardens Boulevard, up Cypress Garden, Georgia to about the Walgreens area, and then just ends. Um so we would tie back
into that and create a new walk path. We would also do a realignment of the road to create some traffic coming in there. um we would need to do some drainage improvements and we would also be enhancing the bus stop that is there within that facility and making sure that that shelter is up to date. FDOT
did accept that grant application and awarded the city $883,140 for the purpose of the construction of the project and that would be anticipated in FDOT's fiscal year 2028. So, in order to move forward, the city would be required to fund the projects
designed and then we would also be responsible for any construction cost exceeding that $883,140 award. So, Kimley Horn and Associates, a firm who is under the city's master continuing professional services contract, prepared a scope for the
design of of the work. And that scope included survey, geotechnical work. They would also attend all of our progress meetings. They would do our permitting assistant. They would prepare 30, 60, 90, and 100% plans and ensure that those are submitted and approved by the FDOT.
And they would also participate in the preparation of the bid documents. We anticipate if approved this evening getting started with Kimley Horn and their design would be completed in the summer of 2027, just in time for us to move into the FDOT fiscal 28 for construction.
So, Kimley Horn's lumpsaw fee for the design is $311,865. A total of $285,000 has been budgeted for this effort within the transportation fund in the fiscal 2025 2026. There's a balance remaining of $26,865
which would be funded through cost savings that we've had on other projects and those dollars also live within the transportation fund. It's important to note so this aligns with our strategic pillar alignment um the infrastructure pillar specifically uh 3.2.5 which is to improve our
pedestrian network and improve any of those gaps that we have um to get our pedestrians to and from. So, our recommendation is staff recommends the city commission approve the task order with Kimley Horn and Associates and authorize the city manager or his designate to execute that task order, issue a purchase order, and take any
additional actions necessary to complete the design phase of Old Helena Road's complete street project. >> So, it's a little different than the typical complete streets that we see that you know may like you have out on Third Street right now. This is probably more in line with some of the work we're
doing on Roosevelt. you know, trying to make sure we've got pedestrian access, good storm water management in there. >> Yes. This won't be our typical um roadway project where we're seeing major changes to the intersection. There will be a small realignment just to make room
for that pedestrian path, but there won't be a a roundabout or major intersection improvements. Uh they will see a nice new upgraded bus shelter out of it. So, we're excited for those. >> Great. Thank you. going to ask uh under um resolutions for
deputy city manager MJ Carnival to pres the item on the 2025 annual lakes report. I will note that uh Monday in addition uh to this item you'll have with um the lakes appreciation month proclamation. So members of our LAC will
be here and during Monday's presentation there will be a slide deck component that I believe Devon Moore and members of our lakes or our natural resources team will present. So MJ, >> good evening mayor and city commissioners. So our lakes advisory
committee serves in an advisory role to the city commission. Um so that group has actually existed for 40 years. This will be the 40th year of existence for the lakes advisory committee. Um, and each year they present an annual lakes report that summarizes the lake conditions, documenting the city's management efforts as well.
Um, in that report they evaluate water quality conditions, hydraologic conditions, and biological data. And again, Monday night, you'll hear more about all of that in some detail, but kind of at a high level, um, in 2025, 51% of the monitored lakes met the state's regulatory thresholds, uh, which
is a substantial improvement from 2018 when only about 37% of the lakes locally hit that hit that threshold. So, uh that's good news. And then many of the remaining lakes that are impaired continue to show improving water quality trends. And you know, we use very
sustained science-based management here. And I think it shows that that that long-term benefits uh those long-term benefits pay off if you kind of continue to work that plan, right? Um each lake uh in the in the in the report includes a water quality management plan which identifies
specific challenges that that lake has and and within that lakes's wershed um as well as outlines kind of the management strategies and the future priorities for for each of those lakes and those serve as kind of like a living document that we use to to manage the lakes. since 2020. That report's also
included an interactive online version which gives residents and researchers like a public um public facing very interactive tool that you can jump real quick and see, hey, this is the lake I'm interested in and get right to that information. I'd also like to note that that that report is used pretty heavily
by other regulatory agencies. So when FDOT is doing a project near a lake in Winter Haven, they're pulling that report and looking at the data. FWC has referenced it, FD has referenced it. So kind of the whole alphabet soup of uh of agencies use what is created locally as
a reference when they're planning their efforts. Um complementing that the digital and the hard copy versions 20 this year uh we have a in brief document which will be the second year that we have that. So that is just like a couple page document that uses some kind of
graphs and pictures to explain at a very high level what's happening in lakes locally and really to kind of invite people to dig into the bigger document. find out things specific to their lakes. Um there's no financial impact associated with this item, but I do
think it's notable. Um you have a specific strategy within your strategic plan, strategy 4.31 that speaks to continuing to publish this document and implement the management strategies that are outlined in it. So I think you know meeting that strategy and goal is is important to note. Um, and then other than that, staff recommends the city
commission approve resolution R2619 adopting the city of Winter Haven's 2025 annual. >> And I'm going to um just look to Devon. Devon, will they receive a hard copy Monday? >> Yes.
>> So, you'll have that nice thick reading material to get you through. I heard in Bird Song's copy it has all the fishing spots somewhere. >> If you are an angller, this is um an an essential document in my opinion because it's going to tell you where you need to
go. >> Under new business uh for Monday, I'll ask John Murphy to address item 13A, which is the appointment of legal counsel. >> Thank you, city manager. Um on June 17th
of this year, we issued notice to Blue Line Aviation um regarding their default under the land lease agreement and the resulting automatic termination of that agreement pursuant to its terms for their failure
to commence construction of the 38,000 plus or minus square foot building um that they were required to construct as part of the land lease agreement. Um we have uh in anticipation of litigation
um I in cons consultation with city manager reached out to the Campbell Trone Tamayo and Aronda Law Firm via John Mark Tamayo to uh have them be available to represent our interests uh
in any resulting litigation flowing from the city's actions in terminating the lease or notifi notifying of the automatic termination. litigation has been filed and this is um allowing for Mr.
is a board-certified civil trial lawyer to undertake representation of the city's interests in that litigation which is pending in state court here in Barto circuit court. Um the letter of representation is attached. It's been executed. Um it allows for legal
services to be furnished by that law firm in conjunction with this particular matter and we would ask that the city commission on Monday ratify that. Happy to any questions if you have any as to the agreement. I don't want to really
make any further comments on pending litigation, but we can keep you posted and I will I will continue to do so. >> And I would assume that advice is for the commission and anybody else. We don't talk about any ongoing litigation until that comes to a conclusion.
>> That's correct. And from time to time I may ask we need to for a meeting or strategy sessions regarding settlement potential or what have you. But our general position is that we have no comment on pending litigation.
>> Okay. And then the other item uh for you for Monday, and there's really no discussion for this evening, is um during the May 26th meeting,
Commissioner Davis had asked about bringing forward for discussion amongst the five of you matters pertaining to city commission compensation. So that is simply what's on here for I think he shared some information that
evening uh that we had provided from my office on uh s the pay structure for our other jurisdictions here in P County. So that is just for discussion on Monday and don't have anything else to report on that this even
um if it pleases the commission. Um, oh, one last thing. You are going to the FLC, so you do have to designate a voting member. Thank you, AJ, for putting that up. So, this is, um, when
they do their annual business meeting, um, each municipality, sending delegates are asked to designate one of those officials to vote at that annual business meeting. Uh so we'll ask you for that election amongst you all
Monday evening and then we will communicate that back to the staff of the Florida League so they have it. >> Okay. >> Um the last thing uh if it pleases the commission we can
do at this point is the um strategic plan presentation on environmental stewardship. I do want to again though point out uh we have with us this evening Allison Bean. Alison, if you'd stand and certainly come to the podium if you wish. Allison is in her I
think third day as the new president and CEO of the Winter Haven Econom Economic Development Council. Um we met with her, Eric and I, yesterday to go over a few items. But if you don't know Alison, I wanted to give her a chance to introduce herself to you as she will be the person
that comes to the podium and cannot tell you about all the things that are going on. >> No comment. >> Yeah. >> Hello. Good evening, mayor and commissioners. Uh I look forward to working with each and every one of you. As it's my third day, I'm still getting
uh my the my sales flowing here with my lovely ladies that I work with here at the economic development council. Um I do have uh 15 years of past private sector experience. I worked for SEMX and Tucker Construction previously and then
prior to that I worked for Central Florida Development Council and Hayne City Economic Development Council where I served as president. So my uh I I worked with Vanessa Castillo in Hannes City uh many moons ago and so uh I have a number of years of economic
development experience uh and coming back to my roots in economic development here for the city of Winter Haven where I was born and raised. So looking forward to it. Thank you so much. >> Okay, thank you Allison. So the last item this evening is a
strategic pillar update. Um I hope you're finding these beneficial. I know they come at the end of long meetings, but I think it's it's a great opportunity for you to hear from some of the staff that are doing amazing work. And this one is very timely in that I mentioned you're doing your lakes
advisory uh presentations on Monday. Certainly a big piece of our environmental stewardship and the the annual lakes report. Environmental stewardship isn't just about lakes, though. It's also about um how are we preserving this community for future
generations, about environmental protection. That's includes things like solid waste and storm water management and urban forestry, land use planning. So, we've put together a few items that we want to talk to you with this evening. Um some of this may sound
familiar to you. Obviously, we've gotten a lot of rain. Cassie King is going to kick us off about our phase 2 water shortage update. This is tied back to swift mud, our lake idle 4E plan. I did budget briefings with all of you over the past week. We talked a lot about in
the storm water proprietary fund that Lake Idol projects. So, we'll have an update on that. The expansion of South Lake Howard Nature Park. This is a really cool project that I can't wait until it's done and we can get out there and do a ribbon cutting. We haven't done a ribbon cutting in a couple months, so
we're due for one. And then um the Northeast Landfill customer convenience center. That almost sounds like something you'd visit at the airport. That's actually a transfer station that is very uh convenient for our folks here. So Cassie, take it away. >> Awesome. Thank you. Well, good evening,
mayor and commissioners. My name is Cassidy King and I am the customer relations specialist for the water department. And tonight I'm going to provide a little update on the Southwest Florida Water Management District's phase three water shortage update and the department's efforts in response to
this item. So to give a quick recap, in late March, the Southwest Florida Water Management District's governing board declared a phase three modified extreme water shortage order. And this was declared because there was a regional
rainfall deficit of 13.7 in across the district. Now the main thing that came out of this for utilities was a irrigation schedule of one day per week. Um the city's uh irrigation schedule in response to that was even addresses may
water on Tuesdays and odd addresses may water on Thursdays and they may water before 4:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m. And then additional utility responsibilities that came from that include uh restriction implementation and enforcement which we have been working
with code compliance on um community outreach and education and then uh monthly monitoring and reporting to the water management district. Now, originally the shortage order was set to end July 1st of 2026, but at the last
governing board meeting for the water management district, they did extend that water shortage order until October 1st. And I know you might be thinking, we have gotten so much rain the past few weeks, so why are they extending the water shortage order? Well, while we have gotten a lot of rain in the past
few weeks, um they look at the regional rainfall levels for the district um in the consideration of this shortage order, which at the time was um a deficit of 11.4 in. So that is why they extended the water shortage order. Now, they did add a caveat um that this
shortage order could be um rescended early um dependent on those rainfall levels, but for now, it will stay in place until October 1st. Now the department itself uh the biggest thing we've implemented uh is public reporting adding that into Access Winter Haven which is the app uh residents uh
the public can use to report things such as uh potholes they see. We just added a uh irrigation violation tab into that. So it keeps uh public reporting in one hub and it also allows our department to deal with those reports in a streamlined manner. Now, how we've been handling
those is um when an address is reported, our water conservation specialists will reach out to the property owner owner, excuse me, that um was mentioned in the report uh and they'll make communications via door hanger, on-site education, phone call, or email. Um it's
kind of been done on a case-byase basis. Now, if there are any second reports that have been put into the uh reporting app, um the water conservation specialist will make a direct visit to the property owner and do um irrigation evaluation and provide any additional
education as needed. Um outside of Access Winter Haven, uh we have put out a couple of social media posts regarding the updated irrigation schedule and the irrigation education services that the department provides. um as well as a notify me notification. So that email notification about the new irrigation
schedule. And then lastly, we um have been doing community engagement about the irrigation schedule at public events the department has participated in such as seven rivers water festival. Now this is just a quick screenshot of um what that irrigation uh violation tab looks
like in Access Winter Haven. So, just like the other tabs, you would first put in that address um where you notice the violation happening. And you can add a photo if you do desire. And then the um reporter would put in that description as well as the day of the week and the
time of uh day they notice that irrigation happening. And that has really helped us out because it can um give us addresses or areas to um refer to code compliance for patrolling. And then lastly, they would just confirm that the address in the report is accurate.
So from that we've had um 76 total reports. We've actually had a few more in the day. So I believe it's at 83 now. We've had 83 total reports um through Access Winter Haven with 18 second um reports um put in there. So an address being reported twice and then we have
referred two of those cases to code enforcement. Um in addition to that, we've done 54 irrigation evaluations since April 1st. Um, and outside of Access Winter Haven from the code enforcement team, there has been 20 code cases to date in regards to the water
shortage order with two door tags issued. Um, eight verbal notices and 10 official notices of violation. And that is all I have for my update. Um, I will turn it over to Devon for the Lake Idle 4E plan.
>> Can I ask you real quick uh on on reuse water? Are our levels satisfactory? Have we replenished our the coffers on reuse water? >> Yes. So, at least from what I know, I know they did a connection between plant two and plant three that has helped with that greatly. So, I know last year we
kind of experienced a a drought with the reuse water, but I don't believe we've had any of that happen this year. >> So, Mr. Mayor, add something to that. So, you know, in years past, all the reuse came out of plant two. And if you we call it the hydraological cycle. If
it's not raining, people are using more water. and those pl those tanks drained down, we would not have water for the golf course. People couldn't irrigate their lawns. We made that interconnect between plant two and plant three a few years back that began to solve that problem. And then with the motorpool
road project, they have basically uh further supplemented that system. So there shouldn't be an issue where you don't have access to available reuse water as the demand is there. Um it
knock on wood. Remember we had a lot of issues with the reuse system as well of debris and um the the bofilm and the stuff that would get in the line. Uh that has you know that along with pressure issues. We've seen minimal
issues in that regard over the past I'm going to say really 12 months now. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening, mayor, city commissioners. My name is Devin Moore, senior environmental scientist with the natural
resources team. Um, I had a direct hand in developing this Lake Idle 4E plan, which I'll be discussing today. Uh, first things first, a little background on Lake Idol. It's a small 19 acre water body located between lakes uh Mod and Buckeye. Sits just to the southeast of
Winter Haven Recreation Cultural Center. Um, the map depicts Lake Idol and the red area is its storm water drainage basin. As you can see, the majority of the basin lies just to the north and to the west of the lake. Um over the last
decade, Lake Idol has been exhibiting declining water quality and in 2019 it was classified as impaired due to exceedences of the state regulatory thresholds for chlorophyll a nitrogen and phosphorus.
Uh these are the primary pollutants of concern that we're looking at in our lakes. As a result of these exceedences, Lake Idol ranks at the the top of the priority list for management action as determined by our annual lakes report. And in recognition of these issues, we
have developed a category 4E pollution reduction plan which was submitted to the FD and approved in 2024. If you're unfamiliar, a 4E plan is an alternative to the state's standard process for addressing impaired water bodies. This process typically starts
with the development of a total maximum daily load or TMDL. Um, and then uh that TMDL quantifies how much pollutant loading needs to be mitigated followed uh by the basin management action plan which stipulates specific
management strategies aimed at addressing those pollutant loads. So instead of waiting for to thoroughly evaluate the lake and uh basically develop its own plan which can take years to decades to achieve. Uh we have
opted to uh go with a 4E plan which allows managing entities to present a list of projects that are already in the process of being implemented. Not only does this provide local stakeholders with more control over project selection, but it opens up opportunities for state and federal funding.
Ultimately, it results in a more timely application of management strategies. So the remainder of this uh these slides are going to be discussing some of the major projects that are being put forth as part of this 4E plan. Uh many of
which you guys are already familiar with uh through your recent budget briefings. The first of these involves uh improvements to existing storm water infrastructure in the drainage basin just north of Lake Idol. Um effective storm water management is a preventative measure that have helps to reduce the
amount of external pollutants that enter the lake. Uh these particular improvements were originally conceptualized as part of the storm water assessment and improvement plan back in 2019. It says 2017 here, my apologies. Uh the report didn't come out till 2019, but we uh identified some
priority areas in 2017. Uh focusing on the first phase of these concepts. This project involves the installation of approximately 1,000 linear feet of exfiltration pipes, associated inlets, and cleanout ports, as well as restoration of any impacted driveway aprons and sidewalks within the
vicinity of the improvements. Um the map here uh depicts the proposed uh general locations of the infrastructure additions within the rights way along uh 9th Street, 9inth Court, and Avenue B Northeast.
The city has implemented exfiltration systems in the past and can attest to their efficiency at capturing sediment, yard debris, and litter while also allowing for rain water to soak into the ground. However, this project will be employing an innovative new take on the practice. Uh this uh top image depicts
the cross-section of a proposed storm tech system which is comp comprised of perforated pipe surrounded by gravel and geoteexile fabric. These systems are designed with ease of maintenance in mind. uh debris can be jetted out to cleanout ports and then a back truck can
be used to to remove that debris before it can actually make its way into the the storm water system proper which drains directly down to Lake Idle. Um to help fund this project, the city was awarded a D non-point source management grant reimbursing us in the amount of $348,000
for the construction aspect of the project. Currently, staff are working to finalize the designs and permitting by the end of the 2026 fiscal year, and construction is due to be completed by this time next year. The second major initiative of the 4E plan is a sediment and activation
project, which addresses pollutants that have already entered the lake. These legacy pollutants are present in the lake bed and slowly leech excess nitrogen and phosphorus into the water column, which can lead to algae blooms and the growth of nuisance plant. uh populations. This project involves
the application of utrior, an innovative product that binds to bioavailable phosphorus in the top few inches of lake sediments. Essentially, this creates a barrier that drastically slows down the release of additional nutrients into the lake. Utrizorb is an EPA approved
compound made from bentonite clay and has been successful in improving water quality in several P county lakes. Uh this also includes a pilot test of the product in Lake Swan which uh Commissioner Birdong is probably familiar with. Uh this resulted in a
successful removal of algae and duckweed growth on the surface of the lake for about a year after its application. So we are uh personally familiar with the product and its effects and are excited to be uh employing this uh this innovative
technology for lake idle. So to achieve the intended results for Lake Idol, the project uh the product will be distributed over three broadcast applications resulting in an estimated neutralization of over 1,000 pounds of bioavailable phosphorus. It should be noted that the project was selected by
the Coastal and Heartland National Estuary Partnership or CHNP to receive funding through their exceptional lakes and ponds initiative. This allows the organization to apply federal dollars to implement innovative and impactful uh management actions within their service
area. If approved, the entire cost of the project in the amount of $230,000 will be approved and uh city staff will be finalizing the details of this funding opportunity in the coming weeks. If accepted, the project will be on track to be completed by the end of 2028,
not fiscal year 28 and calendar year. Apologies for the typo here. Of course, in the meantime, the city is engaged in other management activities within the Lake Idol drainage basin. These include street sweeping uh as well as some several new rain gardens and
other storm water improvements at the uh newly constructed Winter Haven Recreation and Cultural Center and of course our public outreach and education measures which aim to educate the the residents in that area about what actions they can take to reduce their storm water impacts. Now I'll hand
things over to Todd Gooding with an update on South Lake Howard Nature Park. >> Commissioner, I'd like to make a quick note on that. Just, you know, want to give some kudos to staff that, you know, Deon mentioned that 4E plan. So that is the the city stepping in and saying, you know, we'll we'll take on the responsibility of being in the driver's
seat rather than waiting for the state to tell us something needs to be done. And because of that, it kind of opens the door for these other funding avenues and these opportunities. So FD funding a project that improves the way that storm water moves from the watershed into the
lake and then the coastal and h heartland national estuary program um who uh mayor prom serves on our on their policy committee them allocating that money. Those those are factors of having you know a 4E plan that says we'll take
on the responsibility of making this lake better before the state has a need to. um we have an annual lakes report that kind of prefaces all of the information we need to be able to enter that 4 plan. So all of those things kind of stack on each other um and make getting grants and making the
improvements in the wershed possible that lead to the improvements that we noted um and they'll speak to further in the lakesport Monday night. So it's those long-term strategies when you talk about lake management that really start to compound on each other to have good impact. So just want to point that out and give staff some kudos for it.
>> And one more thing um they put your report on their website all it's on there. So >> yeah, so you need to send them one. I took one the last maybe six months ago. I guess I took the one that we had from last year.
>> We'll make sure they get a copy now. >> Okay. >> Good evening, mayor and commissioners. So I have the privilege of giving you an update on our South Lake Howard Nature Park expansion project. Um the project schedule. We started this project in November of 2025. We have an anticipated
completion date of July, late July 2026. You can see in the image here, we have a map of the area that area circled in red was the existing park along Lake Howard and the area circled in yellow is the expansion portion of the project. We had
some environmental based project goals with this project. First was to address some flooding concerns in the adjacent area. Second to that was use of an acquired parcel uh where the old radio station was and we were going to use that for some needed storm water replacement aspects that were located on
that property. Um also we wanted to expand our storm water collection and treatment capabilities. And then we have some overall project based goals to expand the existing park for public use with a multi-use design, some park amenities that would be fun for the public and enjoyable. Um, we were also
going to use a nature-based approach to this design. And we've provided here a short video that shows kind of the current project progress. And as we work through that, I'll make some comments as to things that park goers or residents may not notice. Uh, there was a deadline that's met or exceeded if we complete
the project at the July date with an FD Heartland headquarters grant in the amount of $450,000. that has a deadline for uh December 31st of 2026 and we should meet or exceed that expectation. The storm water uh treatment there's
some controlled shell structures along this park where the water will be be contained in ponds and then be mitigated through different control structures with weird type system. we can take the boards off and let certain amounts of water through and that water is held
there so that it can be treated and then staged to mitigate the flood and also uh impact the lake quality of the adjacent Lake Howard. Um we'll have some high rain and flood storm mitigation control improvements again that will help us hold or retain some of that storm water.
We've estimated that that's going to uh have impacts of about one and a half feet of storm and flood mitigation control measures. There's the replacement of some aged out and failing infrastructure. There was an existing storm pipe that ran through that property. We've been able to abandon
that that pipe as it was failing and and decomposing. The land converted will be used for beneficial public use. It's a measure of good stewardship. There's an old radio station there. Uh we've also um eliminated well we we will be eliminating some of the signs in excess
and some of the aged out signs in the existing park. So trying to eliminate some ution and putting new more minimized signs in there. Um, some other things the public may not notice is collaboration efforts that ensure success in delivering a true asset to the community and the environment and
also the pursuit that the arithmetic meets the public appetite for this park. Some of the things that park goers may notice is updated restroom facilities. Uh, if you don't mind, you pause that. So, if you can see there, there's a
boardwalk located across that pond. That boardwalk, if you were to travel from right to left on your screen, goes through a wetland area. So, it's kind of a canopied scenic wetland portion that connects the existing park to the new park. Also, this is going to expand areas for natural habitation. People
want to bird watch, check out the wildlife there, um, be able to enjoy that. There will be an expanded trail to the top of your screen. the trail kind of. You can see it meandering through the park there. It will provide connectivity to 21st Street and also to Lake Howard Drive.
Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of this because it was just installed in the last week. There's going to be an homage to the railroad. So, we were able to acquire some old unused CSX rail and also some switches. We had a fabricating company put that together in a unique design. It'll be implemented into the
park for park owners to see and also to pay homage to the railroad. Also in the center of your screen, you'll see kind of a concrete area with a triangle to tarpole over the top. That is a pavilion that's going to be used for educational opportunities, um environmental opportunities,
presentation. Kids can go in there and dip out water, look at it under a microscope, launch a kayak from there. Um that's kind of a reserve location that you can make reservations to be able to access it. There'll be additional recreation opportunities, playground, fishing, hiking, also some
health benefits that those can bring with them. and new to Winter Haven. I think this is the first for Winhaven, also a first for East Pole County. We will have a 13hole disc golf course. Um, it's a unique design. We kind of brought in some disc golf experts and also some
of our design team to work through that and walk through that in the field and make it very a unique experience. Uh, I think everybody's going to enjoy that. Well, and then lastly, there'll be some ped pedestrian and traffic improvements. Those will exist along Lake Howard Drive and also along 21st Street. So, with
that, I will pass the microphone over to Miss Bobby Watson to give you some additional couple questions, I think. >> Sorry. >> Um, in the center of this photograph or picture, is that it looks like a cave area underneath of that or is it just
the the tree? Go back to the tree. The one tree that's kind of high um after the trail in the very back. Yeah, keep going. Right there under there. So that that is part of the trail kind of comes around through there and it be to the right just a little bit. That area is
going to be solded. This this video was taken a couple weeks ago. So we're not at final completion yet. That's kind of a bare area. But that is actually the trail will have some asphalt portions, some boardwalk portions, and just some natural like small rock portions to give it a very natural environment. That will
be one of the access points for them to walk out and access one of the tea boxes for the disc golf. If you want to see what one of those tea boxes look like kind of center. Yeah, there you go. Right there. That's one of the tea boxes. They would be throwing to the left of your screen uh to a basket
that's hidden in those trees. Um and you can see also I wanted to add in up at the top of the screen about the middle those are some of those control structures. And then also down there just above that T box right there is a control structure as well for the storm
water management components. How often do we go through and and pick up trash from from the water from the lake? I know in the past the other portion of this park seems like I mean
it's doing its job. We're trying to prevent the trash from going to the lake, but getting the trash picked up from these these wetland areas. How often does that occur? >> I think it depends on the lake for this application here. I know we're going to monitor that. Those weird structures will collect that. So once it gets
implemented, we'll see how the new control structures are going to are going to manage that and then we'll adjust our staff accordingly to go out and address it. >> So mayor add to that a little bit. You know, you get and I think we've we've experienced this a lot this past spring,
dry conditions, litter gets into the roads, it gets blown into the storm drain. storm drains all flow to lakes and you get a good what I call a toad strangler of a storm and it pushes water through there and we get a big flush of litter. That's the the purpose of these
sites is to capture that before it makes its way into a massive water bite like Lake Howard. We'll use park staff and natural resources staff and street staff as we see that as we anticipate that to go out and and check those big areas
that that are where we have an actual control for it. Uh South Lake Howard Nature Park, uh Lake Partridge Nature Park has a really unique system there. Lake Howard uh dock in the alum system there. When we built that dock, we put
in some new containment. And then we have some of those that are out uh where storm water flows and and we know the one back behind Beef Brady is there that has a inground baffle system. Um you know those those present challenges when
you get like what we had Friday night over two inches of rain in an hour and a half. You know they're going to push a ton through there. and is we can get to them. You know, fortunately with these sites, it's somewhat contained to when it makes its way all the way out into a
major body that we get kind of stuck. I would add too that with this park here, there will be three stages of that application. So, if we were to get a heavy storm in the middle of the night, it would overrun one, it may be contained in the second, but it doesn't make it out to the lake. >> Conine's another one of those that has
similar system. >> Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, mayor and commissioners. My name is Bobby Watson. I'm the service coordinator for Solid Waste. I'm here to talk about the new Northeast Customer Service Convenience Center. Um,
open on June 1st. It's located at 401 Bannon Island Road in Pay City. So, if anyone has ever had to take a trip out to the county landfill, you know that it's a little time consuming and once you get there, it gets a little
intimidating with, you know, driving around with the big trucks and commercial trucks. This facility provides residents with a convenient local disposal center um for household and bulk waste as well as construction
um debris and tires. It makes it easier and safer for our residents to dispose of these materials without the long drive to the landfill and without the hassle of driving with the commercial trucks. The customer convenience center
was established as part of Pulk County's ongoing commitment to reducing illegal dumping and keeping our communities clean and safe by providing residents with an affordable and accessible disposal option. P continues to invest in
responsible waste management and environmental stewardship. The facility is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Um, it's for residential use only. No
commercial vehicles will be allowed. Commercial customers will unload their own material into the appropriate rolloff container. So they'll just drive around and put their stuff in the rolloffs. Those rolloff containers will be transported to the North Central
landfill on a daily basis. Because it's a pilot program, no cash will be accepted at this time. Only credit and debit cards, and they will also accept Apple Pay. Disposal fees for um residents will be
$10 per car load or for pickup trucks, $18 for trailers under six feet, and $27 for trailers over six feet. We hope the residents of Winter Haven take advantage of the Pulk County Customer Convenience
Center and help keep the city that we love clean and beautiful. Thank you. >> So, this is kind of a a neat thing, I think, that And big credit to to Bobby. Bobby's the person when people's garbage doesn't get picked up, she's the she's
the happy person on the other end of the line getting yelled at and does an amazing job for us. Um, but if you've ever had to go out to the the citizen drop site off of past Boswell Elementary
coming into the north side of the landfill, you know, you if you don't get there, if you're not there before the gates open, you're going to wait a while. Um, for those in Winter Haven, this is a very convenient location, particularly if you're in in eastern or northeastern Winter Haven to get up
there. um kind of a a new transfer station of sorts that we hope our residents take advantage of. It's a it's a pretty cheap, inexpensive way to do it. If you can get your stuff there, you're not putting it curbside. It's not sitting out, but it's it's just one more
tool that they have to get rid of debris. >> Couple couple questions. Yes. >> How does that fee relate to going out to the the main landfill? at the landfill. I believe they weigh. >> Yeah, you're going to get you go weigh. I think there's a I think the minimum is
10 there, >> but um you go across a scale system. They have a little small scale house. >> And um hazardous waste like old paint, paint cans, electronics, can that go here or does that have to go out?
>> That will still have to go to the environmental center at the landfill >> for now. Or would you envision that? They have not mentioned anything about ongo, you know, >> and that's that's a challenge, you know, because if you're if you've got a truckload, you've cleaned out a loved
one's garage and you've got paints and fertilizers and old TVs, but then you've got white goods and other trash. It's two different locations within the landfill you got to go to. You know, household hazardous is on the south end off of Diccastro Road and everything
else is going to the north end. Um, >> which that one's still free though, too. I think you can >> your paints and all your your chemicals are and and keep in mind we still do household hazardous waste day >> here in Winterh Haven. >> Britney, did you have anything to add to that?
>> Yes, sir. I was going to mention the P County did hire a new solid waste director um earlier this year. Uh he is a former um detective who investigated environmental crimes and he is very familiar um with types of illegal dumping and there's a need to dispose of
household hazardous waste and he has expressed that he's looking into other pilot programs such as this um to allow for the county to have additional ways to dispose of that hazardous waste that paint those white goods those situations. And so I think we'll see additional pilot programs coming out um
from the county in the next the coming months and the coming years now that they have new leadership. >> Thank you. >> So that's um our our presentation this evening. Again, this isn't it aligns with the strategic plan because we talk about
pillars, but these are those things that are happening and I'm always just amazed at the amaz the incredible work your staff does with everything else going on. These are the little things that are getting done and big things at the same time. Most people don't even know that South Lake Nature Park is being expanded
yet. That is such a major asset and going to be a really cool component. So, hopefully you uh you enjoyed this presentation. We're available for questions at any time regarding any of those or other projects and we will be back in August to talk about uh infrastructure about the same time and
this lines up well because we'll do our budget presentation that evening uh specific to the water department and that has a ton of infrastructure as you know for fiscal year 27 is proposed. So that's all I have this evening for you. All right.
Well, with nothing else on the agenda, we will adjourn. >> Thank you.