It's on. Good afternoon. I'd like to call the agenda review for this the uh 7th day of May 2025. Could I get a roll call, please? Yes, sir. Commissioner Dolison, Commissioner
Mercer here. Commissioner Dansler here. Mayor Prom Yates here. And Mayor Bson here. All right. We uh have some presentations and all of these will be presented on Monday except for the uh
strategic plan. Do you want to do that at the end like we've done before T or you want to do it now? Uh yes sir, at the end. I just wanted to check real quick to make sure. We had one added late today. So I'm just doing a quick refresh on my
uh device here to see if it's gotten there. Um, I believe there will be one more added. Latana, has it been added yet? The police officer week. So, we will add in one more that
pertains to um I think it's it's National Police Week as you know. We were just at the police memorial in DC. And so, their ceremonies take place, I believe, next uh next Thursday as well. And this is just a proclamation that
speaks to uh the issue of fallen officers and the police memorial. Okay. So that'll be added but it no issue there. And yes, we will do the strategic plan presentation at the conclusion of tonight's meeting. All right. We have no developments or notes in the
minutes. And then um don't have no second readings. Consent agenda. have one item you wanna just yeah just one item the appointment so and and just as an awareness for this um you know
that board has served since 1939 the library board um it's produced uh some city commissioners uh Commissioner Dancler came from there commissioner Dles presently serves as our liaison to the library board Jonathan Owen has served on that for a
number of years and his term expired in January so this is a reappoint appointment uh to him to that at the recommendation of the library board. All right. Thank you, sir. Resolution R219. R2519 is seeking approval for a FDOT
grant to update the airport master plan. So, our current master plan was initiated in 2014 and completed in 2016. Obviously, we've had a lot of changes in and around the airport since that time. So this current effort will allow the
airport to reassess priorities and ensure that future development aligns with current and projected aviation needs, the economic opportunities at the airport as well as community goals. Um it will focus on identifying opportunities to maximize the land leases that we have. We're actually
engaged in a land lease study um looking for Troy uh with one of our consultants right now. um explore op options to expand the terminal apron to accommodate more aircraft as we continue to see more and more operations there and then
review possibilities for development along the adjacent highway corridor. Um this is a $592,000 effort. The FAA is providing 90% of the funding for this. That totals about 500 almost
$533,000. And then the remaining 10% would be split between FDOT and and the city at 29,600 each. So this grant is for the uh FDOT's portion of it. All right. R 2521.
We had a lot of talk last week while in DC about uh FAA involvement in various things at the airport and we brought up the remote uh air traffic control tower project. So as you may recall we author
you authorized a resolution uh 2329 for a grant with DOT for the design and construction of that tower. Uh that grant is set to expire presently at on June 30th of this year. So, as that project is continuing to evolve and and
and you know go through the process, this is an extension request that moves the expiration date to December 31st of 2026. There's no change in any of the cost or anything. It's just a timeline extension.
Okay. Uh R22. So, happy to bring this item back for the city commission's consideration. This is the renaming of Lake Road, which presently serves as an unimproved right ofway that runs from Eloise Loop Road, Thompson Nursery Road at the
intersection of uh Lake Ruby Drive West. It runs south and then back to the uh west to connect into County Road 653. staff is proposing to rename that street Lake Ruby Drive West, which would
represent an extension of the existing road uh as it crosses northward uh of north of Thompson Nursery Road or Eloise Loop Road. Uh there's no development on this road, although you do have a 7-Eleven that's under construction now,
but it affronts Eloise Loop Road. Our staff reached out to the E911 uh folks to to get their take on this. They indicated that they had no objections to the renaming. And then if it if it is approved by the commission,
um the E911 center addressing office will notify all the emergency response agencies and other government agencies and any affected property owners. Uh that office will also coordinate the posting of appropriate roadway signs with city street and drainage division
if approved. So this is officially renaming that. just becomes a continuation of an existing road. Um, also just want to point out the the design for this road. It will be improved to uh is part of the work going
on at 7-Eleven, but that road will only go southward to the traditions development that is a future development to occur where it cuts back to the west or as you're looking at your screen where it cuts back to the left. that is um
intended to be a uh a recreational improved trail system that makes the connection there. The road will not extend all the way down to 653. Okay, Mr. Mayor, why would we not name this like um Stavvers Parkway? Well, I'm just
kidding. I'm just kidding about that. But why would we name it like Lake Ruby Drive South since it's going south? Why would we call it west? It just seems counterintuitive to me. This road's going south. Why would we not? Just because it's a continuation of the same road, but the other road's
Lake Ruby Drive, not Lake Ruby Drive West, is it? It is Lake Ruby Drive West. The other road is in eyes of um because it's on the west side. Call it south. It would make more sense. They would know. I'm just I'm just asking. I'm not trying to We were just trying to find a way to
get to a a quick resolution to the name. That's the you know it to serve it as a continuation of an existing road. creates a little less confusion, I think, for folks that may be traveling that. Okay. No heartburn. I'm just trying to figure out what what the logic
is. I do like the name Stabber Boulevard, but if we could pick a maybe more pronounced roadway for that. First Street. First Street sounds pretty darn good. All right. All right. All right. 25 23.
Sorry. Can we go back real quick? Oh, okay. So, one one qu question, and I think we've talked about this before, but is there still no way even even if we didn't pave it, but we just uh maybe graded it or some way to help and and
cue the school traffic down that road as opposed to queuing the traffic down County Road 653. So the school's um plan is to make improvements south of the school as I understand it uh to improve
queuing for that campus. The problem with doing anything along that east west extension of the roadway is that is a non-signalized intersection. And in all reality, the way that it exists today without major
redesign of an intersection there would likely create more confusion and problems for that the queueing of traffic there. It becomes a a bypass road and you're just dumping traffic elsewhere. I just weren't sure. I mean, if you posted a deputy there during the
school hours or something like that, but it just I and I I knew that the school board was considering or or changing that on the south side of it, but it just seems like we've been talking about it for a few years and it still hasn't helped and the traffic issues still
there. So, I just wasn't sure if there was any potential of a possibility, but doesn't sound like there is. Not with not at the at this point, Mayor Prom with that road. Um, I think we need to allow the school to address the queuing within their campus and certainly I
think when they get into the future development of the property further south of that, I think that's slated to become a middle school at one point. Um, getting their traffic off of the road is the key into their into their property.
It was that middle parcel between the two. I think that was the hold up. That's my understanding. Yeah. and we can try and get some more intel on that from um Harry Fix and the folks at the school board. Yeah, just update would be good. Eric, if you would chase that for
us, please. Anyone else? All right, R 2523. So, R 2523 is a request from Fourstar Real Estate Group. Uh this is pertaining
to the harmony on Lake Eloise phase 4 which is shown uh bounded in a red line on your screen. This is a 57.25 acre subdivision that contains 322 building lots and 12 common lots. Um
they're requesting that the city accept the improvements and the dedications that are in favor of the city within this project. All the water, sewer and reuse lines and the related infrastructure will be owned and maintain maintained by the city, but all the roads, street lighting and storm
water infrastructure will be owned and maintained by the Harmony on Lake Eloise CDD. Uh the commission approved resolution R2501 for the platting of the Harmony on Lake Eloise phase 4 subdivision back in January of this year, but certain improvements were not
complete and um the developer submitted a performance bond in the amount of $1.98 million to guarantee that completion. staff has inspected the property and found all the incomplete improvements are now complete and the
water wastewater and reuse utilities can now be accepted by the city. Right. Have we heard have we heard anything on uh obviously this is all done and platted. I'm not questioning that, but just curious of of feedback from planning if
there's been any conversation with the builder or any of these builders where all this is approved, but are they talking about scaling back at all yet or or slowing down just based on market? No, nobody's indicated yet. Um, you know, we we have
conversations often with developers that come into the office or um over the phone talking about projects. Um, we've not seen a slowdown in in site plan submittals. We've not seen a slowdown in permitting. And right now, nobody's really indicated that you kind of wonder when the rubber meets the roads. I saw a
report the other day where the Lakeland Winter Haven area was the fifth largest in the state when it comes to available inventory. And so you wonder when these builders are going to start to maybe scale back a bit
and slow down. And just as a note, um I don't know if I know uh I had a chance to take the mayor out there recently, but if you've not driven the new road that is just to the right of that red line, that's the new
Westlake Eloise Road. Eric, is it still called Westlake Eloise Drive? Um that road has been completed and reconnected back in at the north uh corner and um it is uh extremely well done. Looks
really good and it functions very very efficiently and effectively. I think they did a great job with that road. I concur. Any other questions? I just have one. Um if this is going
north and the south part of that is that additional lots and platting to be done. So to the south of the red area, those are lots that were already platted and um a lot of that has already been constructed. Uh people are living out
there. This area that's within the phase 4 is um is some of the more recent work they've done out there. Anyone else? All right. R 2524.
So 2524 is another uh road renaming and this is through Roger Lee Vaner. He's an agent with FourStar uh requesting to um rename Pomelo Lane to Pomelo Drive. I
think this is just for consistency within their subdivision. These are roads that are completely contained within the subdivision. Pomelo Lane was platted as part of the phase 2 subdivision for Harmony on Lake Eloise. There's no building lots that access
Pomelo Lane, nor is there existing future residential properties that would be impacted by this request. Um they also uh engaged with the uh E911 addressing office uh who would notify all the affected emergency response
agencies and other governmental agencies. That office will also coordinate the posting of the roadway signs with the city streets and drainage division, but the cost of those signs will be at the expense of the CDD. So, we'll we'll participate with them in that process, but they'll incur the cost
for that. And as I as I've looked at this one, certainly no financial impact to us. And Eric, I would just ask for you to weigh in as well. I think it's more so just to create consistency between the two. When they did one plat, they said we wanted it to be named this.
And then when they did the second plat, it had a different name. So they just want to make sure that those are consistent. Yeah, exactly right. All right. Uh R2525. Yes, R2525. Krina, if you could bring up the image
on this one for me. So, this is the shops at CC LLC, which I assume the CC is for Country Club. Um, they're requesting final plat approval for the shops at Country Club. This is a 34.9 acre subdivision. It is a commercial uh
property. It contains seven lots. One of the tracks will be dedicated to the city as a 20ft rights of way dedication along the subdivision's eastern edge. Um, this was developed according to the requirements in a PUD ordinance
23-29. Their water service is already accounted for in our uh allocations that we've talked about recently and that water will be from the Winter Haven water system. The waste water will be handled through a private sewer system um on property and then that waste water
will be treated ultimately a wastewater treatment plant three. There's capacity within our systems to serve this as that has been accounted for when they receive their site plan approval. Um this uh this platting will not directly impact current revenues from
this property. However, additional revenues will be realized upon the development of the vacant lots and staff's going to recommend approval of this. This is under construction today. So this picture is probably I'm going to say maybe six months old. If you happen to go by there
now, you can see vertical construction happening on the site, which Eric, I assume is for the public shopping center itself, correct? Yep. All right. Any questions? We have no ordinances first
reading. So then we're down to new business. We have one item. Um Katrina, is there an image with this one? Yes. Thank you. So this is the building uh due north of us. This is the old fire station and also where our finance department and account services
are housed. In August of 2024, the city had issued RFQ 2438 to uh seek submitts from design build firms that would be interested in a project for the redevelopment of this fire station uh with the objective of creating it as a
new space for the Winter Haven Building Division administrative offices. we have just run out of space across the street. Um, and the amount of work as as Commissioner Yates just mentioned. There's a whole lot going on there. Um, so that was the the uh the motivation
for trying to do something with this space. Whitehead Construction was selected uh for this project after a competitive process and that recommendation was posted on December 10th of uh 2024. Staff's been meeting
with Whitehead to discuss the project details and has negotiated a guaranteed maximum price for the design and permitting phase of the project that totals $355,930. When we do design build projects, we bring to you an initial uh
GMP which is for the design and permitting and then at a later date we'll present to you an addendum to that GMP that will factor in the actual construction costs. We don't know construction cost until you go through design, obviously. Um, we have $7 million set
aside in the construction fund for uh uh capital improvements associated with our building division. Uh, that is part of the uh in compliance with state statutes that limit what we can use building division funds for uh from the revenues
they collect from permits and inspections. And so recognizing some time ago that we would need to expand their facilities, we had uh appropriated those dollars accordingly. So this is a request for the commission to approve the design phase proposal from Whitehead
not to exceed $355,930. Um, we think that we we we know for a fact that what's what our staff has identified as their needs and what Whitehead has given some initial concepts to, we're going to end up with a phenomenal facility there that will truly meet the needs of our operations
and serving the customers. Um my intent is also we have uh where the flag post is in this picture where you see the two flags that wing of the building presently houses our finance department. our CFO and her team are currently um
working towards a relocation effort of their offices across the street to where to the second floor of Noro Hall and some vacant space that we have there that will allow all of our finance to be housed over there. When they vacate that space, we'll also relocate the
engineering division into their old offices. So, you'll have engineering and building division again in very close proximity. So, we create that one-stop shop efficiency for customers. All right, go ahead. The only thing that
gives me pause for concern on this um is we're getting further and further away from having a one big new um city hall because we're getting ready to put $7 million into this place or more. We're going to run out of space. or the
intention of course all along was to ultimately come up with a plan to have one big um brand new complex. But I feel what I fear is that we're going to put a bunch of money in here and we're going to it's going to be harder and harder to
get down that road. So, and I'm not saying I'm against this per se, but I'm just saying to us as commissioners, it's going to be harder and harder for us to bulldoze a $7 million building or sell it to some $7 million uh renovation if we're decide that sooner or later we're
going to want to put a five, four, threetory building, whatever it may look like, city hall, uh you know, state-of-the-art kind of stuff if we start renovating these kind of things. So, that's what gives me pause for concern on this. Not necessarily that I'm against it, but
um at some point we're going to probably want a new facility, I would think, but not we don't. I'm just throwing it out there for y'all to consider because that's what's in play here in my mind. Uh Commissioner Dancer, if I could respond to that. Um let me make one correction something I said. We have $7
million this dollars that has been appropriated for within the divi the building division fund. I don't think that this building the improvements will be anywhere near that. Um we are also considering opportunities to create a satellite office for the building division. So a secondary office that
would be someplace in Southeast Winter Haven. We're exploring some opportunities for that presently. um when we get to the point of Advent Health building their hospital and some more of the big commercial that we anticipate happening out in that neck of the woods, having the efficiencies of
being located closer to that with a satellite office provides uh I think some some great opportunities for us to better serve customers in in exiting this space that we're in across the street. That is one of the things that has to be done uh in
looking to the future of where would you put a new city hall and as you may recall from 2021 that was the plan that Strong Trout had done for us was a campus in this area. I think that that still is something that needs to happen. If you want to put my name on
that instead of the boulevard, I'd be okay with it. U maybe a restroom or something. Who's to say? But the um you know I think that when we get to that point there's value that will remain in this site to look for future occupants to go in there whether that's
you know something with the college or with other medical facilities or something that may want to go into that area. So I think we retain value with the improvements that we're doing because it will be office professional in its design. Um, in terms of moving
forward with a city hall project, my my professional opinion is we still have a number of needs that we need to meet within the community that are frontline service points for our constituents. um some of the as we've talked about
park space in Southeast Winter Haven moving forward with the completion of our fire stations, anticipating future public safety needs that we may have within the community as we continue to grow. Um we can we can get by for now for the next several years with
certainly what we have laid out for our our administrative services, but long term we do need to look for that. I also think with the uncertainty of what lies ahead in some of the um the challenges with property taxes and actions of the
state legislature, I'm just I'm trying to be somewhat fiscally conservative and not getting too far out over our skis without having a sound understanding of what our revenues and our our sources of revenues will be long term. But
definitely I I support what you're saying and if we could get a a brand new city hall at some point, that's certainly something we need to to work on. At the end of the day, we have to look longterm up here and in 44 years we're going to lose Norma Mayo Hall.
Granted, none of us will be here, but at the end of the day, I'll still be here. I'll I'll be You'll probably still be that will probably still be, you know, here will still be here. I'll at least be above ground. He'll be dispensing
wisdom every chance he gets. But if we're really thinking long term, you know, and even if we end up with Norma Mayo Hall long term, in 44 years, that'll be 120 year old building. So we probably will ultimately that plate what I thought ultimately T and you can help
me remember but I thought we were going to tear down this and make this the parking for Norma Mayo for the new city hall and for this building because I thought this would make a nice art facility but that's neither here nor there. What I thought we were going to do there is make this a parking for all three buildings. It was a It was the
concept at that point in 21 was to have it as a parking garage with a wrap. Uh kind of a a Texas donut is what it's referred to that you have the parking facility in the middle and then commercial and residential multif family around the exterior of that. Um and and
that may be, you know, an option that somebody wants to consider if they were to acquire that at that point. Certainly since that time, we've had a number of multifamily projects come into downtown and more that are slated that weren't
necessarily part of the equation in 21. Rain dance, the breeze, the Carl, um some other uh developments that we anticipate happening in there. So, yeah, I think that those plans still make a lot of sense and certainly what we're doing with the third street
complete street corridor project plays into that. We're we're taking bites at the apple. Um, but I and I don't think that the the concept that we had considered for a city hall across the street from this building really has lost any of its value. I think that
that's probably still the the best option for us at the end of the day. Okay. Well, I thought we were going to put $7 million in this. It's easier if we don't put that much because I ultimately see this building getting torn down one day before they tear down
Norome Mayo and before we tear down this building because this building's got the whole gene lady thing. Uh and at Nor Mayo it's I can't imagine us tearing that down because it cost so much but maybe we will. I don't know. But um sooner or later we as a city are going to have to have a newer bigger brighter
city hall than what we got. It's just a matter of time. So, I don't know when that is or where we put it, but that's all I'm throwing out there for you guys to think about. That's all. So, I just worry about the looming infrastructure costs that are on the
horizon. Those are those are mind-boggling numbers. Well, it's it's never going to come down. The prices are going to get worse. I can tell you. I mean, it's amazing what things cost now. So, anyway, that's a something for another commission to decide. But if we're we're really been stewards of the
people's money, we need to think along those terms and try to think out 40 or 50 years cuz that's what's coming. Mr. Mayor, um if we could add one more thing to this discussion. Um and I'll defer to uh Mr. Murphy, city attorney on that regarding the actual contract that goes
with that GMP. So John, if you want to speak to that, please sir. Thank you. Uh thank you T. Michael. Um, yes, we have a draft contract that will actually be part of the agenda materials that will memorialize the normal form that we use for design builder contracts. We've
developed with staff a template and um, Mr. Lavyby and I and Mr. Cox have been working on getting that finalized and that'll be uploaded hopefully tomorrow, but certainly no later than Friday. Just one more attachment for this. One more attachment. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank
you. Anything else? Yeah. One question. How how old are is this building? Eric, do you know? I don't I'm sorry. T I don't know. Built a garage basically for for that the And it's not a Gan Ley
building. I can tell you that. We have confirmed that with um one of our architectural historians. this building. I don't care how old it was. The the building that we're in, if you're speaking of this building here, 1960s, early 60s
currently. So, currently this building is being utilized in what way? The um the portion where you see the picnic tables and everything to the right of that is vacant. And that has been vacant since the construction of fire station
one at Avenue G and US7. that occurred 2012 if I'm not mistaken. And we did um we used this as a lot of storage space. Um when the police department relocated out of the southern
portion where the flag pole is that occurred in 2004 2005 time frame that was all renovated to house account services, IT and uh the finance department. So that's what's all housed over there now. Um,
yep. So, the renovation is going to be the entire building or just it'll be it'll be the the bays where the the parking of the fire trucks took place and everything to the north of that as well. South portion will remain pretty much the same. We'll do some minor
improvements in there once finance clears out. They've get a little wild in there. So, we have to paint walls and probably clean some carpets. You know how accountants and finance people can be. the parking is adequate. Yes, sir. There's um certainly at the time when this building is
utilized, the um during the the daytime um there's less demand on the parking to the north of it, which is also shared with Trail Head Park. So, there's a a great opportunity for the shared parking there. And then this also serves as overflow parking and primary parking to
some extent for Noro Hall. When the third street complete street project occurs, as you look out at Third Street in front of city hall here, you notice that that's an extremely wide street, which is why the Florida Citrus Festival was held there for so many years. That
will be redesigned in a fashion that provides more on street parking in a parallel or an angled format um and narrow that road up quite a bit. So, we will gain a significant amount of parking spaces. This building was called what? This building is called the city
hall annex. We'll build and we'll maintain that same. Yes, sir. Because it will house multiple offices within it. The part that the finance not so much finance but account services still has some of the jail cells in it. Actually,
the uh where finances they had, you can go back and see some of the old jails cells. So they're not they don't look like jail cells anymore, but they are pretty durable storage rooms. All right. Okay. Now we will
have strategic review. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um and commissioners. So we are kind of on that second round again of updates on our uh strategic plan pillars. So this evening we're going to talk about community safety, which again
is all about feeling secure, well prepared, and cared for. This covers so many different facets of what we do on a daily basis. Um we're going to have some presentations this evening from some familiar faces and maybe some that you haven't seen before. Uh going talk a
little bit about our fire services with Chief New Brand. Um our water operations testing insights. want to give you a little further in uh intel on um when we had our issue with the telemetry in our SCADA system. We have Damon Irvvis with
us from the water department who's going to speak to that. Introduce you to a brand new product that is getting ready to roll out called a SUFFA board which is a new communication tool that will help us in emergency situations as well. And then a brief update on hurricane
preparedness. Obviously, we are in the month of May and June 1st is right around the corner. So, with that, Drew, are you leading us off this evening, sir? I am. Take it away. Good evening, mayor, mayor prom commissioners. Um, I'm excited to kind of be up here and lead
off the community safety pillar. Uh, as city manager stated, I'm going to go over the fire zone changes that we have with the implementation of fire station 4. Uh, give you a little update on where fire station 5 and the design is. uh talk about some new technology that
we're using for electric vehicle fires um on the fire side and then I'm going to pass it on over to some of our teammates that are going to talk about some water operations testing, some communications enhancements, and then we're going to wrap up with hurricane preparedness with um Charlie Bird over
here. So, fire fire station uh four, we're getting ready for the grand opening May 21st. Um it's coming up in two weeks actually from today. uh be held in the morning. Uh as we kind of go into that uh outside of just the building um and how excited we are for
it, one of the things I want to share with you is the change into our zone and our response matrix that's going to happen internally for us and how that really impacts the citizens and the residents of the community that that fire station is going to be housed in.
So on the left side of your screen, you see a map of the way our stations in the zones are uh today. Uh the two things I want you to kind of look at is in the blue, which is Winter Haven Fire Station One downtown, and then what's currently called Winter Haven Fire Station 4,
which is off of Havenale Boulevard over on the with a trailer on the shared property of the church at this time. As we transition, those are two of our busiest stations and units. Um downtown station has a really large coverage area
as well as you can see how far that green extends for current fire station 4. Um on the right hand side of the screen is what happens on May 21st when this station opens. Uh fire station 4 will be relocated and moved over to
Fairfax. Um that coverage zone dramatically decreases. um went from roughly around 10 square miles down to about five and a half square miles of coverage zone um for that unit to take part on. Um the downtown station also
reduced by almost half of its coverage size. Um and what that really translates to and means to the citizens is over there in that green coverage area um they're they're going to serve about 3,800 calls for service just out of that
station. And that reduces the response time by over two minutes to almost every single one of those calls. Two minutes might not sound like a lot right now, but when you're in an emergency, if you're having a heart attack, if your house is on fire, two minutes can
literally mean the difference between life and death. Um, every 30 seconds a fire doubles in size. That's four times the size of the fire by the time they just get there. Um, in there. Same with any medical emergency, right? Every 30
seconds to a minute reduction in response in treatment that we have increases survivability by over 50%. Tremendous impact to that community um as we go through there. So, we're really excited to not only be in a brand new facility, but also increase our
service level that we're going to be able to provide to that area with such a high call volume. as such. Um, as we move forward and look at fire station five. Hey Drew, can I ask you can I ask you a backup for just one second? Yes
sir. Um, two things just one point to make and then a question that if you can elaborate on. So also within what's on the right hand screen, stations one, four, and five. These are very densely populated areas both residentially and commercially. These are where you have
major roadways coming through the city. So, vehicle traffic and accidents again that that adds to that call volume. Drew, the the activation of the dispatch system. Yes, sir. When station 4 goes live on
May 21st, can you explain that a little bit for the commission? Yeah. So in the background um as we're ramping up and getting close to the opening of the station uh there's a big matrix that goes on in the dispatch world in the realm um in the computer system. So
we've been working that we have laid out to ensure that this new coverage zone the minute that station goes into service it's getting the correct unit at the correct time on the initial dispatch every time. So, it's a lot of back leg work that we make sure and run through
the different zones and response areas to make sure that nobody's getting skipped over for our coverage and service as we go through there. Thank you. Thank you. Good. Okay. Fire station 5. Um we're sitting at 100% design uh
currently today. Um we're just waiting on the GMP to come back from Whitehead. This station is going to be located um at the Lake Cartridge Nature Park area. Um it sits on the southwest side of that property. Uh it's going to be a little
smaller footprint for us as what we had been building in the in the past, but this is a footprint that's really going to serve that community well in the area of our firefighters. So, one of the things that we're really working on um along with this project is we're working
with Carter K currently on roadway and watershed improvements that will also need to potentially take place on Shore Road and 20th Street that leads into that facility down there. Um along with this project, there's going to be a
couple other elements that goes on. Uh we're going to be adding about eight boat trailer parking spaces that that help service that boat area on there as well as they're going to make some improvements to some of the walking paths moving around um the park that
goes up next to the new fire station along there. So, we're really excited uh to see this come to light. We're hoping in the next couple weeks we'll be able to come forward with you guys on a GMP for this project as it sets. Uh, but this is really going to take our firefighters currently housed on a
shared property in a trailer and put them into a fortified structure that's going to be 30, 50, 60 years in the making for long-term growth for them as well. And the last thing I want to talk about is some new technology that we're
using. Um, really excited about this one. So, we're going to be the first first agency inside Pulk County that has this type of technology. Um, and and this technology is really important. So, as we're all aware, the
growing trend with EVs and electric vehicles um on the roadways currently, you know, in 2024, they have 1.3 million sales of electric vehicles alone. So EVs are now holding about 18% of the market
share for all vehicles on roadways. Uh you guys see them a lot in the community. Some of us might already have them ourselves and and operate on them on a daily basis, but one of the things in in our side in community safety that we have to look out is some of the some
of the potential challenges and hazards that they have. So these electric vehicles um with the lithium ion batteries that are in there pose a little different threat to the community and we also have to address them
slightly different. So lithium ion battery fires uh typically stem from thermal runaway inside the battery cells. So if those batteries get damaged whether it's in a vehicle accident, whether a different part of the vehicle catches fire or exposure to water i.e
the salt water and that you see a lot on the coast creates a thermal runaway in the battery. Um that thermal runaway um there's no stopping it once it starts. Uh exposes uh lithium and water don't match up very well, right? They have a
very violent reaction with one another um in high heat at that point in time. So when we look at a traditional car fire, we can probably most of the time put a car fire out anywhere from 300 to 500 gallons of water. An EV vehicle that
has um battery involvement in it can take 10 to 20 times the amount of water. So you're looking at 10,000 to 30,000 gallons of water up to 4 hours of constant application of water on some of these vehicles. Um so we started looking
in the industrywide on what we can do to help minimize that and minimize that impact here um in our community. And these electric vehicle blankets um are a product that's on the market that we currently have and have procured um for
our response. What they help do is they cover the vehicle. They smother it. They get rid of the oxygen. We continue to apply water to keep the vehicle and the blanket cool from the outside of it, but it really contains that fire and takes
that reaction out, slows it down. Um so this really will enhance our opportunity with the progression of vehicle um and electric vehicles throughout the community if there ever is a challenge with it whether it's from a vehicle accident or a vehicle fire stemmed from
another source of really mitigating it. uh we have collaborated with uh the towing companies and wrecking companies on how we dispose and maneuver these vehicles after fires or after significant vehicle accidents in which
battery involvement is. And these electric vehicle blankets are really playing a vital role for it. So, we're pretty pretty impressed and pretty proud that we're the first agency in here to get it. We have the other neighboring agencies have already been by to take a look at it as they're trying to go
through procurement process to start obtaining them and putting them on their apparatus as well. But this is a great tool that we're really really excited to be able to have out on the market to be helpful with it. Um, and commissioners, um, some of
you operate electric vehicles. Chief New also does. So, I want you to feel comfortable that the fire chief is willing to drive an electric vehicle. Um, we had a demonstration of these for all of our department directors within the last 30 days to see how they
actually deploy this and apply it to a vehicle. Uh, it's pretty fascinating to watch. Um and the the issue with these lithium-ion batteries is it it's not just to you know the single electric
vehicle but as you recall in uh I think MJ had come across an article recently that in California with the wildfires one of the biggest issues that they're faced with in the post fire mitigation efforts is what to do with all of these lithium ion batteries that were exposed
to fire that are now contaminated and and very hazardous and it is a tremendous expense for them to to you know address that. Um it's one of those unknown things that you have certainly along the coastal areas of Florida uh
the west coast and the Tampa St. Pete Clearwater area when you had a significant storm surge from the two hurricanes that hit last year. They're dealing with a lot of the same problems. Um, we hope that we never have that, but it's certainly reassuring to know that
whether a we have a an accident that involves a EV out on the road or if it happened within one of our charging stations or within the parking garage that we have a tool that allows us to address that issue more efficiently,
more quickly, and certainly much safer, not only for uh the people in that general area, but also for our firefighters. Are these singleuse blankets? No, actually that that is the great thing about them. So after after use um we do
an inspection and evaluation on it to make sure the integrity is in there left in it. Um the biggest challenge comes when when holes get cut in it, not necessarily that they burn through, right? So the material doesn't burn. Material holds the heat very well. We keep it cool from the outside. is really
any kind of glass shards or anything that might penetrate through there that would render it unusable again. They have up to about a fiveyear life cycle on them. Um, and it could be extended even longer with evaluation and just look through. How expensive are they?
They're about $2,000 a piece for the size that we we purchase. And they would be carried on what what vehicle you All of our fire engines are carrying. Every single one of our fire engines are carrying them because they're the ones that will be going out and responding to
the any vehicle fires or motor vehicle accidents. It looks like these would be good for any vehicle. Why don't we do it for everybody? Because that's a great concept. It it it is, but I do want to tell you that the gases that come off of lithium ion
vehicle fires, you don't want to be around unless you're wearing a respirator on there. So, the general public shouldn't be out there putting these over top of vehicles if they're on fire. Have we had any EV fires to date that? We have not.
I'm a safe driver. I do have a sample of it um over here. So, after the meeting, if you guys want to touch it, feel it. Um I I'll let you know. It's 75 pounds, right? Um it's no easy load to pick it up, carry, and move. Um, and the the hardest part about our job with it really is putting it
back in its case when we're done. Right. That really is the hardest part about our job. Folding a map. Yeah, that's right. It's like camping, right? So, if you're not good at camping and folding up a tent, this is going to be really tough to you. Casting it. Casting it. That's how they That's how they apply it. They put peace in their mouth and
throw it. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to David so he can continue on with it. Thank you guys. Thank you, Drew. Thank you, Drew. Uh, good evening, mayor, mayor, uh, Pro Tim, Tim, city
managers and commissioners. I am Damon Irvvis, chief operator at Fairfax Water Treatment Plant. Um, I'm glad to be here with you all tonight. I'd like to begin by sharing a little uh detail about our water treatment system.
Uh we have a total of nine water plants composed of 21 wells. Our plants stretch as far east of 544 Ridge Motech, Thompson Nursery Road, Winteret Gardens, uh Inwood and Ciphers Gardens
Boulevard Winteret Water Plant. The system we use for overall monitoring is called SCADA. This system uses a radio to feed data back to us, allowing us to monitor 247. With SCADA, we can activate pumps
based on demands to various parts of the system. For example, as we see increases in usage, we can adjust to ensure supply remains steady. The system automates much of this as well. SCADA system used in this way is in line with
best management practices. On April 3rd, we experienced a disruption in the radio communication that connects the SKA system. We can definitely say this was not a cyber attack. It was an
atmospheric disruption of some sort. We have had this happen before. The previous occurrence was during daytime hours. Sorry. staff was able to reestablish the system quickly. Uh this time it it happened
just after midnight leading into the highest demand time for the system. Most irrigation people up getting ready for for work. U due to the interruption, the pumps were not activated to keep up with the peak demand of the early morning
hours leading to a drop in pressure in some areas of the system. I received a call await uh I received a call right away and arrived at the plant at 1:30 a.m. We had the issue identified quickly, followed notes from previous
occurrences and dispatched the team to come in to all nine plants to manually get everything running to meet the demand. Ultimately, the SCA radio management system was reconnected. The precautionary boil water notice was
issued because the water pressure dropped low in some areas of the system. When pressure drops below 20 PSI, there is a risk of a reverse siphon effect that could introduce contaminants into the water system. We had no way of
knowing for certain where that may have happened within our the this entire system across hundreds of miles of pipe. Out of abundance of caution, we felt it necessary to issue a systemwide precautionary boilwater
notice. To lift that, we must test the entire system. What you see on the screen is a map of the 90 sites throughout the system displayed as blue dots. Samples were taken from each of
those 90 sites on back-toback days. All 180 samples passed the testing. This is the same sampling we do each and every week. We test onethird of the system every week. Results show that even with the
inter that interruption in the skater system, we had no degradation of our water whatsoever. Once we were able to mitigate the immediate concern, we began working with HIPP and his team to identify our fiber footprint in
proximity to all our water plants. The goal would be to tie our SKA system in with both fiber and radio to create redundancy. We are working to prioritize those connections alongside the expansion of the dark fiber network.
So, commissioners, one of the the key things that um I think is a takeaway in this um let's go back to the 90 sites that you see highlighted with the blue dots. As Damon said, when you when you have a boil water notice, even if there's a a
line that breaks, you you identify those testing points that are within that area, we have to do two tests on that back to back. Takes 48 hours to do that. You can't just go do it in the morning today and then in the evening today. It's you clear one set of set of tests
and then you do the second set. So, they do that every single week. They they take onethird of those um those sites. They rotates through. So we hit all of them and they are pulling water samples every single week as part of just our
ongoing water quality assurance process. Um on that particular day when you you have a systemwide boil water notice you have to do all of them which is a tremendous undertaking of of manpower. There's not a um an AI way or a you know
some technological tool that can do this for you. You're going and pulling 90 samples. Um and certainly the fact that that every one of those cleared, the first 90 cleared, the second 90 cleared, that's a testament to the uh the quality of work that our water team does. The
second point I just wanted to highlight and reemphasize, you know, how do you how do you prevent something from like that happening? um as we have more and more uh potential for atmospheric interference from communications of all
sorts that we deal with, it's the redundancy in but having both a radio system and a what we call a bounded system or a fiber optic communication. So, Hip and Damon and and members of our
team, as you mentioned, they look at all nine of those water sites. Um, identify how close are we with our existing dark fiber. What's it going to take to get the, you know, we'll say the last mile as we often refer to it, as well as the
priority of that water treatment plant in pushing quality water out into the system. and then we will include uh some of those efforts within our fiscal year 26 budget to to bring those online. We won't eliminate the radio system. You
still you still need to have both. You need to have redundancy because you don't want to have a situation where a contractor working on a private project accidentally severs a fiber optic line and then you have nothing. So you you have to have more
than one pathway. Um, and that's that's certainly what is on the horizon for us. And I think that we're we're relatively close with that. But the intent here was to really just give you some insights into what goes into testing of water and
and how we we ramp up those weekly efforts that we do just as part of routine to a a much greater magnitude when you have an emergency situation. Mr. Mayor, I got a question. Yes. So, David, was this your first time talking
to us? Yes, sir. Were you nervous? Yes, sir. You did great job. I see great things coming from you. So, good job. We're not going to buy it. See? So, thank you, Commissioner Dans. My question has to do with atmospheric interference. Could that be
like I know you're convinced it was not a a cyber attack which is great but what ex can you elaborate a little bit more on what is atmospheric interference because that that concerns me a little bit too. What does that mean? So uh
because I believe we use you know radios radio control telemetry system. So there was a radio interference or some type of interference with our with our telemetry system. Um, not sure where it came from. I mean, could it be a sunspot, a moon?
Could it be a EMP? I mean, that did it just seems to me like we need to be able to protect ourselves a little better against something like that, doesn't it? I I agree 100% with you. Um, and like I said, the last time it happened, it was during the daytime and we were able to get it back up and running, right, a lot
quicker. This happened in the middle of the night. Uh, so it was pretty challenging. Commissioner Dancer, um, in speaking with Hipwin or our or CIO, you know, that could be interference from something else in the
area that interferes with the frequency that we're on. Um, we are looking to upgrade our entire SCADA system to a more robust telecommunication, you know, uh, radio
frequency system. Um the system we have is is an older system and needs to be enhanced and that's one of the things that we're we're working towards doing now that gives it some more um I guess some more integrity on the safeguards
there. Yeah. Okay. Just that's it. I was just curious because I whenever something comes in from the air I always get concerned. I just the question I have is uh how does a reduction in pressure allows
I'll give you the possibility of contaminant I'll give you um the layman's version and then Damon can correct me with the technical version. So you have pressure on the system constantly. We operate about 70 71 PSI
under normal basis. If you are if your pressure is low and someone is running irrigation, when that opens up and creates an air valve within there, an air uh break, the lack of pressure can
actually create a reverse siphon back into the system. And if you had contaminants, say at an irrigation head, that would allow that to come back in. So when you look at external spets on a house, they
usually have a an anti-siphon uh component to them nowadays. So that you can't have something come back into the system. And that's a safety precaution in so much of our water system is that you don't want somebody to be able to put something back into the system to intentionally as a bad
actor create a contaminant. Um, but that's really what it comes down to is where you would have a an air break within there that would allow something to come back in. I see just from a lack of pressure. All right. Thank you. Thank you.
And I believe I'll turn it over to Kevin. All right. I don't know that Kevin's presented to you yet either, so if you could go easy on him. Thank you, guys. Uh, thank you, Damon, for the work you and your team do at the water plants. Good evening, mayor
and commissioners. I have exciting news to share with you guys tonight. The city of Winter Haven has acquired three sufa boards for our local parks. One will be located at the trail head park. One will be located at Ruben Williams Sports Complex and one will be located at the
walking trail at Chain of Legs Parks. And as you can see in the pictures here, Sufo boards are basically standalone digital signs. Um, and on the back on the right hand side, you could see we could use them as kind of like little billboards. You can use static images on
the back, which I also think is pretty cool. And then the best part is that they don't need electricity to run. The installation is quite simple. All it requires is four bullets into a concrete pad. And the screen is similar to a Kindle screen, kind of like a Kindle the ebook
readers. And so these boards, they allow us to send information digitally. So we can instantly update any alerts, announcements, or messages remotely from our offices. And under strategic goal 6.3 under the responsible government pillar, it says to continue to involve the ways
in which information about local government is communicated. So when HIP brought the idea of superboards to our team, we viewed it as a additional possible communication tool and then we realized it would provide a critical connection to those without access to
phones, TVs or computers while they're in our local parks. And then the best part is that we'll fill that gap in getting out information. So, for example, emergency notifications, a precautionary boil water notice, a fireban, or even
important hurricane information. And then we can also utilize these boards for our calendar, social media feeds, polls, surveys, and even news articles. So, as of right now, we're starting off with three SUFFA boards, and they will be installed in
the next two months or so. Thank you. And where did you say where the locations? Locations. Yes, sir. So, the local parks, it will be Trail Head Park, Trail Head, Ruben Williams Sports Complex, Ruben Williams, and the walking trail at Chain Legs Parks. Okay.
How durable are these? Um, I imagine a knucklehead or two out there will try to vandalize them. I mean, what what's the risk of that potentially or? Um, I would say they're pretty durable. They've been pretty successful in other cities. Um,
so I believe they can withhold any storms and stuff like that. I don't think there's anything to worry about there. I think from a vandalism standpoint, you know, that's that's always the challenge, especially when you're at sports complexes. I just, you know, went 0 for three in the championship game and I've got a bat in
my hand. Um, that's the kind of stuff we deal with constantly. So, uh, or we're always ready to deal with, I should say. We we knock on wood, we haven't had a whole lot of vandalism in that fashion, but um having them in prominent places
where they're visible, you know, that creates some some safety within it. Uh this will be our first venture with it. They are designed as such that if we needed to, as Kevin said, they don't have a power requirement for them. So, this is something that we could actually
relocate from time to time if we needed if we were doing something significant say in downtown. uh you know, a week-l long festival or something like that and you needed to utilize these as long as you had the mounting space to do it, you could you could transport them and and and still
be effective with it. I think once we get through the first three of them, we'll we'll further assess where they would uh where we get enough foot traffic in other places to to make them happen. And when you think about the fieldhouse, the new Winter Haven Recreation and Cultural Center, the
library, places like that, we can already do a lot of display through some of the technology that's in those and the uh the boards that we mount, such as what's right here in front of city hall when you first walk in. This really captures the opportunity or or um
capitalizes on the opportunity where we don't necessarily have that in in some of the bigger park spaces. Is there any way to add a camera or communication device component to these or is that going to be like the next level? I'm just thinking in the event of
someone has an emergency, they run up to it, it they tap the button and it connects them to dispatch or the one a couple things in that regard. Um something that we have come to understand a lot better is
um the the mass availability that people have of cell phones. Even I'm always surprised even with our unhoused population how many of them are charging a cell phone off of our power sources downtown. We have a number of emergency
call boxes and locations along the trail and then also like within the parking garage. Um, a lot of the feedback that we've received from industry professionals is that those are much less effective nowadays with the just the the high availability and frequency
of people having cell phones. We are looking within our park system to deploy more camera systems um affixing them to some of the light fixtures that we have where you have a power source where you have the big
belly uh trash containers and the what we call the tea belly that's the side attachment that serves as a Wi-Fi hotspot. hip I know is exploring right now. There's a an attachment that we can put to that that will be a um basically
a pole that is has a camera mounted to it and it utilizes the Wi-Fi and fiber optic systems that are connecting those for us to be able to monitor those parks or camera systems same way we do so many of our facilities. As far as specific
pieces that would go with a SUFFA board, Katrina, do you have any insights on that? I do. So, these are solar powered. That's why we don't have to run any power to them. Um, so the screen, that specific type of screen is used because it has a very low power need. So, these
aren't going to generate enough power to to run other electronics or um two-way communication things. They're just not set up for that because they're set up to be kind of nimble and and movable. Um, speaking to the vandalism side, if one of these got spray painted or something like that, part of our
contract is um, ongoing maintenance for any damages like that. They're wrapped in vinyl, so they can just come out and put a clean wrap right over it. How expensive are uh, six? We got three for 60,000.
Say that again. There it was a one-time cost of 60,000 for three and it's an ongoing lease of 2,000 a year for the maintenance and um any upgrades and things about $5,300 a piece. 53 333.
How many how many do you anticipate that you we would perhaps need? I think as we look ahead, um, you know, some other potential locations for this type of communication piece,
um, MLK Park certainly has some, uh, good capacity for a lot of of movement through there with the skate park next to it and the trail. Um, that's probably the the next site that I would look at.
Um and then it's just assessing the other sites as we develop future park spaces. South Lake Howard Nature Park is another one. Uh certainly as we're expanding that Lake Partridge Nature Park. Um so we'll just kind of play them by
ear with the studies that have been done. Bang for your buck. I mean is this what is this proven to to uh enhance or to what's kind of been the feedback in cities that it has been used or being
utilized currently? Katrina, we are somewhat early adopters. Um but the I did speak to a couple cities that have them um and they get good engagement on the surveys and things that they put on them. Um so they had positive things to say about them. So,
we're interested to to venture in and and test more and figure out the best ways to engage with the community. That is the only that is a two-way communication and that we can get feedback and surveys like on the facilities or or on anything that we're trying to get surveys about. Um, so
we'll we'll be tracking that and then we can also we know um how much foot traffic goes by the boards as well. So then that helps us understand the activity in our parks. Ju just for your information, our family donated the kiosk at the Chamber of Commerce building and we could have
bought 10 of these for what we paid for the one at the chamber. Now granted, we were doing it in honor of my father, but and that thing doesn't work half the time. So, this if this works and you can update this stuff, this is a really good bang for the buck. And for the price, I think we're really getting something
nice here, I think. But the key is going to be keeping it updated and keeping it current. You know, that's the problem with the chambers. is never current. So, these will actually work off of feeds. So, what we're already putting on social media and our website and things like that and our calendar will just
automatically go on to these unless we override it with an emergency message. That's beautiful. That is great. All right. Thank you. Now, Charlie Bird to wrap us up. Honorable mayor and commissioners, I'm
scared. I have to follow those three who did amazing for their first time. So, so bear with me, please. Um, with that said, we're going to talk about some hurricane prep. Uh, you know, when we went and we had
our momentum session, we talked uh specifically about the radios um and our our loss of communication with cell phones. Uh the new radio assets are starting to come in. I think that Britney is uh putting all those together, getting them inventoried so that we can uh begin uh
getting these things issued. Uh one of the things that happens when you get new equipment in, you've got to do some training. So all of our employees that will be receiving these radios and utilizing these radios will be uh going through a training program that talks about the nomenclature of the radios.
So, these radios have different channels, and you got to flip them over to different areas to be able to get to those channels. And then there's a button on there that we don't want to push uh unless it's a really really serious thing because it it'll get the dispatchers all wired up on us. Uh
that's the emergency uh button. Don't push the red button if you ever get one in your hand. So, we want to make sure that our our folks know how to handle and work these radios. And then also radio etiquette and how they communicate on the radios and get uh more real-time
information passed amongst themselves whenever uh that that whenever they have to be used during an emergency. Charlie, can I add a piece to that if I may? Those radios will be utilized daily by our teams. um is a uh
communication tool a lot of times in lie of using cell phones which is a primary communication tool for us now but part of the the benefit of having those on an everyday situation is that we don't get to pick when emergencies happen
um the I mean certainly we know when hurricanes coming it's death by you know the pace of a turtle but when there's a hazmat incident or there's an accident at an airport or uh in one of our facilities, we have to be able to to
respond accordingly. So, the these have a a 365 um application for us. How many how many radios? I think we got a hundred radios. Is that correct, Britney? Yes, we purchased 100 and they have all come in and we're building out the channels at
this time. So those are used within um primarily within parks uh parks and recreation the water department and public works police and fire are already situated there. So this is just supplementing our communication there. Special events is critical for that. How
busy are the channels do you because you know you know I guess using that technology the ones that we have Charlie as I understand our channels for our daily operations are assigned to us. Yes. So when they when they program and put that
template into those radios, it will be different from police and fire, but the we can rotate to those same channels. So there's disaster channels that can be utilized. Um there are channels that are specific to Winter Haven that we can utilize. So, as as the city manager said, if there's a major event that
takes place and we've got to communicate and cross communicate with other jurisdictions or the county, we're able to designate a channel that we all have on that template and then go over it and it does not overflow into the fire or the police so that we have civilians on there while they're trying to deal deal
with emergency calls. So, there will be that ability and correct me if I'm wrong, we can still scan with those those will scan through those channels. So your supervisors and all be able to scan through if they hear something that's going on where parks and wreck is calling something in because something
major has happened uh you know Lake Silver then um then then we can roll that over. We designate a channel. The people that are going to be responding there that need to talk to each other will be able to do that. But in the meantime, your emergency your your public safety teams will be able to
communicate with uh ambulances, crews, uh police officers, that kind of thing. And then and then there's a seamless um transfer of information that takes place. These are replacements for the current. We don't have them. We don't
have radios in those operations today. We we have not had look Commissioner Mercer I'm trying to think. It would have probably been early 2000s when we was staff. We we kind of phased out the radio system because they became uh very antiquated
and very expensive to operate. Um they're still expensive tools. I mean, this is a this is a communication tool that has a a significant cost to it that we were able to account for in in this year's budget. But um right now almost
all the communication we have with our operations is through cell phone communication. And and the problem with that is if I'm calling MJ to discuss an emergency situation, the only people that hear that communication are me and
him. On radio, everybody that's involved is hearing that transmission. So it becomes much more robust and inclusive and and much more effective. We have some of the old outdated radios um the surplus from when the police department
last upgraded that we used during hurricane Milton and it was a gamecher. That is what prompted us to p pursue the acquisition. We had brought that to the commission several months ago for the approval of the purchase. But when, as
you all know, cell phone communications were obsolete during Hurricane Milton because of infrastructural failures uh in the cell tower systems outside of Pulk County. Um, and if we hadn't had the radios, it would have been disastrous for us. Some of us didn't
have radios. It was disastrous because you have no communications with staff in the field at all. And as the city manager said, the efficiency of of them being able to communicate and use those radios daily is is going to make our efficiency for
our customers much better and smoother. Um, as we move forward, the training and administration uh uh to with our administration and key personnel on on what they need to be doing. We're going to go into some things in just on one of the next slides, but making sure that all of our people, all of our teammates
are prepared. they have their checklist, their call down um their call down lists ready uh so that we're ready to roll out and then ensuring that we have the any training that needs to take place uh that needs to be updated or to bring so that it's fresh on people's memory again
instead of waiting for something to happen. We will be coordinating with PK County uh PK County uh emergency operations center. They pretty much drive the bus. We follow their lead. We communicate with them on a daily basis during events. Uh as well as we get
every day an update on on what weather conditions there's uh to be expected fire situations like with the with what's the KR KDBI uh numbers. We get those updates with them. We'll be continuing to communicate
them throughout. They will also be assisting us with uh some of our training uh in the future as we go along. But uh the comprehensive emergency management plan, also known as the SP, you signed off on that in
2021. It needs to be updated. We're working on the updating of that, but we work in coordination with uh PK County uh EOC uh in that update. So, what some of the hurricane preparations you usually hear say, we're prepping, we're getting ready, we're
getting everything squared away. Uh, just to kind of give you some, uh, getting down into it a little bit further from a higher view debris management. Uh what's occurring right now is Britney and her team are already uh in the process of getting uh I think
in a week, two weeks uh the the vehicles certified uh identifying locations uh that that uh for for that debris management and those those sites to go. Um the radio system again I was uh that was just a something that they can
utilize on a daily basis whenever we have those radios. the vulnerable facilities, identifying what we need to do, where our weak points are. Um, you know, trying to identify something before it becomes a problem. If we have if we have to fire station two, you
know, we're in the process of trying to uh harden that building, it's it's looking at the facilities that we have that we have to maintain, making sure that those facilities are ready for something like this, a hurricane to occur. And then if something happens bad
like Ponogorder or somewhere else where the EOC or something that we're utilizing there that we need that's a critical facility, what is our redundancy for how we're going to set that up if it h if if we lose that that resource. Uh generators and bypass pumps, you're going in all of the
everyone that has generators going in and making sure that they're running. They should be doing a monthly test on those anyway, but this is another step in make sure that they're running the bypass pumps. uh make sure we have proper fueling, that we have a a plan in place so that that they can be fueled prior to
um and and making sure that we're prepared. Call down logs are basically up updating all of our employees information, the people that we have to rely on that's going to come in and help us so that we can communicate to them uh very seamlessly and very easily uh when
they need to whenever they need to come to work, when they don't need to come to work, what the situation is, where we're at, updates uh communication is is key all the way around internally and externally. Um, well, I'll say that on the education campaign part of it. Um,
the critical contacts, those are where we're getting with all the hospitals, we get with the the the nursing homes. We try to make sure that we have contacts who the person is that we need to contact so that if there's any issues that come up. You recall there was a time that we had to help refill a
generator tank that didn't have uh didn't have fuel in it uh for a hospital and and and so if we didn't have those communications, those contact numbers, those abilities to talk to someone uh and and and and work that out, then we'd
be scrambling in and in in the 11th hour, which is not where we want to be. The other part of that is is we identified in some of these nursing homes um uh um elderly care facilities what their plan is. Are they going to be evacuating? Who's going to be where? And
I'll give you an example very quickly. There was one that was here in downtown that the walls blew off the sides of it. we were able to already know where the people were and who had evacuated out of those rooms so that we didn't have to worry about trying to find who that person was if they were hunkered down
with a family member or something. So, it's making sure that we have all those critical contacts and understand what theirs are and making sure that they're updated. Education campaign, we discussed about that as far as how do we get the word out? You know, what did the list look like for all of our employees
uh and their families? what do they need to be doing to prepare um for uh a hurricane so they don't have to worry about uh their their family members and do they have a plan? They have a the redundancy plan if something happens where are they going to go? The other
part of that education campaign is as we talked about um people that don't know that there we're we're getting a bunch of new uh citizens that come into our our city and they may have dealt with snow storms.
They may have dealt with other other situations but they haven't dealt with a hurricane. They don't know how to they don't know who to contact. What are the resources that they need? So, an education campaign so that we can educate them on how to prepare for hurricanes. Uh how to get the
information, how to get the the supplies that they need and how to get their their their their houses ready. In other words, don't wait for the week before to start trimming all your trees. when there's a hurricane rolling in, let's make sure that that you know that you need to be doing it ahead of season so
that you're prepared already and we're not we're not burning resources trying to to uh pick up that those those missiles before the hurricane hits because that's that becomes a real problem. The other part of the education campaign that was really cool with the
su sufa boards is that gets rolled out. That's real- time information uh and not everybody has a cell phone. Not everybody utilizes a computer to get their information. Some people still like a hard printed uh newspaper. Uh how do we get information to them that don't
know how to use the technology that's out there right now? because there's still a lot of people that are like that to make sure that they have the education and the resources at their fingertips uh to provide uh to provide it for them. So, that's one of the things that Katrina and her team is working on, but those SUFFA boards,
that's kind of an exciting thing because that's real time that gets pushed out. Not only are we putting it on our website and putting it on Facebook and other other social media, but then it goes into these SUFFA boards and somebody's walking by and shoot, they might not even realize there's a storm
coming. who knows. So, um and then you know the the end result is we want to be prepared by the start of uh hurricane season and that's where the training for the radios and and the preparation and all the checklists that we're running down that all of our our department
heads are working on within their areas. Um we want to make sure that we're prepared and um and that we have redundancies and that we're ready to go. I will say on the hurricane preparedness, there's there's a tremendous amount of work that's going
on behind the scenes right now and we'll get into the, you know, really pushing out what do what do citizens need to be doing here in the next couple weeks, making sure they're aware of tax-free holidays for hurricane supplies as that information comes available. What's what's to be included in your hurricane
kit? Um, I'm excited. Uh we have two new exceptional public safety folks on our team in command positions this year with Chief Newin and Chief Monroe. Um and seeing how that they have worked together uh since both have been on
board has been just wonderful to observe and to see how that happens during a hurricane. I hope we never have to, but I I feel extremely confident with uh their leadership in that role and particularly with with Charlie at the helm. So, we will be uh ready to go and
hopefully we don't need any of it. Hopefully. So, with that, um thank you for your time and allowing us to share these things. Thank you for not beating up on Damon this evening. Right. A little disappointed you didn't
take any shots at Charlie. um your next update and it it it just fits so well as we're going into the summertime which is the busiest time actually I don't know that there is a busiest time for parks and recreation and culture nowadays with everything that goes on but certainly as
we get into swim lessons summer camps lots of activities and festivities that happen within our parks between June July and August um we'll get some great updates on that as well as some other uh things that pertain to how our community lives dayto Okay. All right. Thank you,
sir. All right. Then we'll have our commission reports and the attorney, city manager, deputy manager, city clerk, emergency matters not received for the agenda. A motion to adjourn.
We are join. Strong.