Good evening. I would like to call to order the regular city commission meeting this the 12th day of May 2025 at 6 pm. Can I get a roll call, please? Yes, Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Dison here. Commissioner Mercer here. Commissioner Dancler here. Mayor Prom Yates here. and
Mayor Bird Song. Here we will have an invocation by Pastor Cesar Perez of the Good Samaritan Christian Church of Winter Haven and we will be led in the pledge by Vanessa Castillo, MMC city clerk. Please stand if able.
Almighty God and Lord Jesus Christ, we come before you this evening as one people with hearts full of joy because of your majesty and grace. We recognize you today as our creator, the creator of all things, as the Lord and God of the
city and the savior of our souls. Today we come boldly before you recognizing that we need your forgiveness for our sins. The city of Winter Haven needs your presence to guide us and to keep us safe. Holy Spirit, we ask humbly that you guide this city of Winter Haven.
That you may guide this body of commissioners and staff. May you el illuminate their minds to bring righteous decisions to this city. May they always operate in your light and truth in every choice they make for this city. Keep this city filled with joy and
freedom. We pray that any problem areas in this city may become a place of goodness by the power of your spirit and every dark place be turned into a place where your light shines. We pray for our first responders. Keep them safe and
their family safe. Bring righteous education to every school. Keep every child safe. We pray for every city employee, every business owner. Prosper everyone. Bring more businesses to our city. expand our city in every way
financially and spiritually. We pray all these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen. Amence to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one
nation indivisible and justice for all. trash. Evening, mayor and commissioners. We have uh I believe four presentations this evening uh that we will share with you. And I'm going to ask Deputy City
Manager MJ Carnival to read into the record our proclamation for National Public Works Week and ask public works director Britney Hart and members of her team to come to the podium to accept. Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure and services that are
vital of a vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to public health, high quality of life and well-being of people of Winter Haven. And whereas these infrastructure, facilities, and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals from state and local governments in the private
sector who are responsible for rebuilding, improving, and protecting our nation's transportation, solid waste, natural resources, storm water utilities, fleet, and other infrastructure essential for our citizens. Whereas it is in the public interest for the citizens, civic leaders, and children in Winterhaven to
gain knowledge of and to maintain a progressive interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities. And whereas the American Public Works Association has celebrated the annual National Public Works Week since 1960 and 2025 marks the 65th
celebration. Now therefore, Nathaniel J. Birdsong Jr., Mayor of the city of Winter Haven, Florida, does hereby proclaim May 18th through May 24th, 2025 as National Public Works Week in the city of Winter Haven, and urges all citizens to join with representatives of the American Public Works Association and government agencies in activities,
events, and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals and to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our health, safety, and quality of life. and witness whereof he is here and to set his hand and cause the seal of city of Winter Haven, Florida to be affixed this 12th day of
May 2025. Nathaniel J. Birdong Jr. Mayor attest Vanessa Castillo. Good evening, mayor and commissioners. Um we would like to thank the commission for recognizing our incredible public works team during the National Public Works Week. Um, this year the APWA's theme is people,
purpose, and progress, which speaks to why we do what we do to meet the needs of our community and make the lives of everybody who works, lives, and plays here better. From all of our team, from the men and women who pick up our solid waste, who keep our ridge drivable, the storm water systems flowing, and our
fleet rolling, uh, this team shows up every day, usually behind the scenes to make sure that things just work. Most people, I say this often, don't think about public works until it's not happening. I'm so proud of this team and so thankful for the work that they do. And next week, we will celebrate by
highlighting what pro public works really is on social media. Um, we will be reading to the Little Sprouts at the library, some public works books, and making sure our team knows how appreciated they are with special gifts and a lunch. So, thank you for recognizing them during public works
week. We appreciate all of your support. You want to take a picture garbage collection. Dustin, two more. Congratulations, mayor and commissioners. Our second proclamation this evening is in recognition of police week. And I would
like for our assistant city manager, Charlie Bird, to present this proclamation this evening. Honorable mayor and commissioners, whereas law enforcement agencies play an essential role in safeguarding Hold on. They're a little slow. They're a
little slower than public works. I feel safe. Yeah, about safe. It's the place I want to be. Right above, you know, in case anything happens. More missions now. Correct. All right, we
we'll go at this again. Whereas law enforcement agencies play an essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms which have been guaranteed by the United States Constitution to every American citizen. And whereas it is important that people throughout our community know and
understand the problems, duties, and responsibilities of law enforcement agencies, and that members recognize their duty to serve the people of the community by safeguarding life and property, by protecting them against violence or disorder, and by protecting the innocent against deception and the
weak against oppression or intimidation. And whereas law enforcement agencies unceasing unceasingly provide a vital public service and whereas the city commission has designated the week of May 11th through the 17th, 2025 as police week in recognition of the
contribution law enforcement officers have made to our civilization through their dedicated and selfless efforts in enforcing our laws. It is also designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day in honor of the federal, state, and municipal peace
officers who have been killed or disabled in the line of duty. Now therefore, I, Nathaniel J. Birdong Jr., Mayor of the city of Winter Haven, Florida, do hereby proclaim May 11th through May 17th, 2025 as police week in
the city of Winter Haven and call upon our citizens to join in commemorating police officers past and present who by their faithful and loyal devotion to their responsibilities have rendered a dedicated service to this community. In so doing, they have established for
themselves an enviable and enduring reputation for preserving the rights and security of all citizens. In witness whereof, I have here unto set he has here unto set his hand and cause the seal of the se city of Winter Haven, Florida to be affixed this 12th day of
May, 2025. Mayor, commissioners, and members of the community, first and foremost, it is an honor to be your police chief and to serve with these men and women behind me. On behalf of the men and women of the Winterh Police Department, I want to sincerely thank you for this
proclamation. Your recognition today means a great deal to all of us who wear the badge and serve this incredible city. We are proud to say that through strong partnerships with each of you on this dis and with our community members, Winter Haven continues to be one of the
safest cities in Florida. Our historically low crime rate of 1.71 is the direct result of that collaboration and it is a reflection of what we can accomplish when we with trust, transparency, and teamwork come
together. This proclamation reminds us that we are not in this alone. We are grateful for your leadership, your support, and your confidence in the work we do each and every day. Thank you for allowing us to the honor to serve and protect and grow with the city of Winter Haven. Um, you heard you you guys will
hear from me enough throughout the year, so I have also members here that want to speak uh for the department. Good afternoon. Sorry, I'm a little bit smaller. Um, I just want to take a very short moment just to thank you and to express my gratitude and appreciation
for this recognition. I can't be more proud to be working not just for the police department and with these wonderful, amazing people behind me, but also to be part of the city of Winter Haven. Thank you again uh for this recognition.
Good evening. I just want to say thank you. I'm very appreciative. We are very appreciative to be able to receive this great recognition here tonight. So, thank you. We take so much pride in being able to serve this community each and every day. So, to be able to receive
this uh recognition is just a fantastic thing. So, we really appreciate it. Thank you. Good evening uh to the mayor and commissioners. I'm going to switch gears just a little bit. Um the work that we do obviously impacts the community as a whole. Uh more
specifically the unit that I'm in in the investigative services bureau. The victims that we have, the victims that we deal with oftent times have no voice. Either they're afraid to speak or because of the nature of the case, they cannot speak anymore and we have to advocate on their behalf. But we can't do that if we don't have the resources
and tools afforded to us by the commission. So on behalf of those who cannot speak or are afraid to speak, thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you once again. Thank you very much for your support and um hope to see great things out of uh these young men and women
behind me. Thank you. Ready to go, bud? On the count of three. One, two, three. One more. Perfect. All right, mayor and commissioners. Um, as the police officers are making their way back to their seats, just wanted to
share with you Oh, you still have more. You got to stay. You have to stay. You have to stay. But we we had a chance to visit the memorial in um in Washington DC two weeks ago. And uh where's Shaq at? Shaq's in the back. Um you may
recall when we went to visit the digital memorials for the officers, there were three officers whose lo current current officers whose testimonies and tributes were on those and uh Mr. Haynes was one of those who was happened to be just serendipitously displayed at the time
that we had a chance to visit that. So appreciate all the work that they do and certainly this is a an impactful week in law enforcement as they have that c that ceremony remembering fallen officers uh this Thursday that'll take place in Washington DC. Item 5C is uh another
special presentation. Um, this is the presentation of the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, the IMC certified municipal clerk designation plaque and pin to our very own deputy city clerk and city historian Latana
Harris. And we have the privilege of having with us this evening Miss Don Wright with the city of Eagle Lake and the Florida Association of City Clerks. She is the Central West director. I understand we have a number of other city clerks in the building as well as well as our very own master municipal
clerk Vanessa Castillo. So, Don, I'm going to turn it over to you. Thank you. Well, it's a with great pleasure that I appear here this evening to congratulate your city on the recent accomplishments of Latana Harris upon receiving her certified municipal clerk designation. Latana began her career in local
government in 2005 when she became the records clerk for the police department. In 2007, Latana was promoted to records clerk supervisor and served in this capacity for 16 years. In July of 2022, Lata became the deputy city clerk, city
historian, and archivist. She's a member of the Florida Association of City Clerks, International Institute of Municipal Clerks and the Pulk County City Clerks Association since 2022. In addition to being involved in her local clerk's association, Lata serves on the FACC membership committee and recently
was accepted to serve on the IMC Research and Resource Committee. The International Institute of Municipal Clerks and its partner, the Florida Association of City Clerks are professional associations that promote continuing education and certification through university and college-based
institutes. IMC's primary goal is to actively promote the continuing education and professional development of municipal clerks through extensive education programs, certification, publications, networking across the globe, annual conferences, and research.
FACC's primary goal is to actively promote the continuing education and professional development of municipal clerks in the state of Florida by partnering with the Florida League of Cities in the Florida Institute of Government to meet the everchanging educational needs of city and town clerks to improve their knowledge in
such areas as public administration, law, management, elections, and many other disciplines. Currently, only 234 of the 667 FAC members have attained their certified municipal clerk designation.
To achieve the certified municipal clerk designation, Latana has gone through and completed the International Institute of Municipal Clerks approved municipal clerk institute program conducted by the John Scott Dailyaly Institute of Government through the Florida State University in Tallahassee. This program
provides 110 student instructor contact hours of in-depth courses in managerial and leadership skills, social and interpersonal concerns, and technical training needed to deal with the changes taking place in government today. The program aids municipal clerks in
improving job performance and recognizes the professionalism of the municipal clerk's office. Completion of the recognized career development academy along with experience in local government and participation in conferences, meetings, and educational seminars are required to earn this
prestigious certified municipal clerk designation. Latana is now part of an elite group of professionals in local government, a group she could not have become part of without your commitment to support her efforts. Latana, display your plaque and wear your pin with pride
as a example of your dedication and professionalism. On behalf of the Florida Association of City Clerks, President, the board of directors, its members, and the Central West District, congratulations on becoming our newest certified municipal clerk. Thank you everybody. Y'all going to make
me cry. Good evening, mayor, mayor prom, honorable city commissioners. I am truly humbled and honored to receive my certified municipal clerk certification and pin and pin upon tonight. As Nelson
as Nelson Mandela once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." This certification will equip me to contribute greatly and make a positive impact in the clerk's profession and in the city of Winter Haven. I would love
to take a moment if you will to express my deepest gratitude to you all. To the mayor, mayor prom and city commission, thank you for your support. To the city clerk, Vanessa, city managers, deputy city manager and city attorney, thank
you so much for the opportunities, motivation, care, and support you have provided to me. I appreciate the push and the motivation that I receive from each and every one of you. To my city team
members, I appreciate appreciate all of you who contributed and donated to my FACC third class project Christmas in July toy drive. Thank you so much for the part you also played in my journey.
To my husband, my children, my family, and my friends, some of you who are in the audience tonight. Thank you so much for your unwavering love, encouragement, understanding, and support you unselfishly give to me each
and every day. You have indeed been my walk, and I am so grateful for each one of you. to Don Wright, FACC and IIMC. Thank you. Thank you for being valuable for being a valuable professional
resource of education and networking for municipal clerks. I am so honored to be a member of both associations and have the opportunity to serve on various boards and committees committed to the betterment of our profession. and to my fellow city and deputy city clerks who
came out tonight. I am truly grateful for each and every one of you, always willing to share your knowledge and assist me in any way that you can. I considered it a privilege to be a colleague and I thank you for taking your time out of your evening to come
and help recognize this milestone with me. I am excited on this journey and I'm excited to continue this journey in obtaining my MMC and any other accreditations or certifications that I can receive along this journey. I look
forward to what's ahead. I look forward to serving the city of Winter Haven proudly. Thank you again to everyone. I am extremely grateful. Thank you. And if any of the other clerks want to join them for a Go.
Just throw it on the floor. All right. Right here on the count of three. One, two, three. One more. Congratulations. One more. One more, Brian. Commissioners, we have one more uh presentation at the podium and then
we'll have a presentation from our airport staff. But um again, congratulations to Latana. She is um embodying the re the achievement of one of our strategic objectives as outlined in your five-year plan and that is
objective 5.4.4 which is to achieve and maintain department to individual level accreditation certification in standards across the organization. As you know we just did public works month um earlier this evening or public works week I
should say. Uh that team just recently received their national accreditation. Um we certainly have had accreditation for a number of years within our police department. Your parks and recreation department and fire departments are both working on their
national accreditations as well. Um I wanted to share with you this evening uh an accreditation that has also happened uh although not necessarily designated as an accreditation but as a certificate of excellence. This is through the Florida Municipal Communicators
Association. They have a certificate of excellence in government communications under the leadership of our director Katrina Hill and her team. Um they they took this upon themselves to pursue this. In order to meet that recognition, they met the there's a
number I think there's 14 criteria that you have to meet or that are outlined. You have to meet 10 of them in order to receive your accreditation or your certificate of excellence. They met 12 of the 14 and are presently engaged in hitting the final two. So they will be
have check have checked the box on all of these. Um, some of those requirements that they have met thus far, uh, adherence to the FMCA ethics for municipal communicators, the commitment to the FMC pledge of excellence, more
than one staff member as a member of the Florida Municipal Communicators Association, having a mobiley a mobile responsive website, having an app or reporting app, which in our case is the Access Winterhaven platform, having at least one full-time communications
professional, employed, conducting an annual state of the city program, establishing outreach programs to communicate the city into with into the the greater community and certainly our cityu program is a phenomenal example of that. Citizen outreach and educational
materials that are offered in more than one language. Ours of course is very we have a responsive website that you can do in I believe 70 different languages. Uh the most frequently used are uh Spanish and Haitian Creole materials. the promotion of Florida City Government
Week, which our hands-on haven program and city government week campaigns qualified for, our maintenance of communications and networks with our local media, and established brand guidelines, which u we have had in place for over a year now. Um it's it's
absolutely wonderful to be able to have an organization that has exceptional leadership in these various areas and that trickles all the way down through the frontline employees. Um and I just want to take a moment to congratulate Katrina Hill and the members of her team that are here this evening and offer
them a chance to give comment. Thank you. Well, thank you T. Michael and commission for recognizing this tonight. Um, the certificate of excellence from the municipal Florida Municipal Communicators Association is a reflection of the standards that we as a
team hold ourselves to every day. It recognizes that Winter Haven is committed to transparent, professional, and accessible communication within the community. It's a third-party validation tool that helps us hold us accountable to doing the work, not just in the spotlight, but
also behind the scenes to help residents understand how their local government operates and how they can be a part of it. Um, in addition to the certificate, we were also honored with a few program awards this year as well. We received the top honor in the category of best use of a specialty item, which we will
give one of those items to each of you tonight. Um, and that was for the yo-yos that we first started incorporating at Hands-On Haven. Um, and also best collaborative video production, which was our public safety recruitment video that we produced in partnership with Black Op Creative. And finally, we
received honorable mention for our website, which we continue to enhance to better serve the community. So, I want to give a heartfelt thank you to my team. Tash Shauna, Maggie, and Heather are here tonight. And you heard from Kevin last week. He's only not here because he's starting like crackadon
tomorrow morning on a video production with our water treatment plants. Um, but team, the creative strategy and care you each bring to this work make all the difference and you make our city sorry stronger every day. So, thank you. And to the commission, thank you for your
ongoing support of me and our team. Um, we're proud to do this work and we're even prouder to do it on behalf of a city that we believe in. So, thank you. You cannot play with those during the meeting. He's the biggest yo-yo of all. Congratulations.
Commissioners, at this time I'd like to um bring to the podium for a a presentation to you all our airport director, Mr. Troy Hidle, and our airport operations supervisor, Mr. Colin Davis. I believe this is Colin's first
presentation to the city commission. So, um, fresh meat up there to take aim upon. Um, but this is a just an update uh post recap of Sun and Fun 2025 from our airport team. All right.
Good evening, mayor, commissioners. Uh, just look quick. I told Colin that he had to push the green button after every paragraph, but unfortunately he didn't fall for it. But it's an honor and a privilege to stand before you tonight and introduce Mr. Colin Davis. Colin has been serving as the airport operations supervisor for a little over a year and
a half now and has done an absolute phenomenal job in leading the front house sa staff and ensuring our safe operations every day at the airport. So without further ado, I'm going to introduce you to Mr. Colin Davis and he's going to give you our sun and fun 2025 update. All right.
Good even good evening mayor and commission commission. My name is Colin Davis. As Troy said, I'm the airport operations supervisor. I've been here for about a year and a half and I'm excited to talk about uh this year's sun and fun recap. So, without further ado, we'll talk about some of the uh some of
the adjusted operations we do for the week and then some of the groups that we saw and then some of our statistics um talking about revenue and operations for the week. So, uh for the week of Sun and Fun, we have adjusted operations um for both our our dealing with pilots and dealing with our our staff internally.
So, uh, the first, uh, major, uh, difference that I'm going to go over is our Winter Haven Tower. So, we actually have a contracted controllers come out for the week to help, um, control our airspace. We see a massive influx over the week in operations. We see about the operations we'd see in a month in just that week. So, we have controllers out
here to help prevent any midair collisions and keep the airfield as safe as possible. To help our controllers and our pilots on the ground when people land, we have flagged carts. So, we rent out a couple golf carts and with our current golf carts, we mount flags on top of them. You can see in the top top
slide, and we help personally park each aircraft to make sure that there's no confusion, no one gets lost, and everyone's able to get uh safely to the to our terminal building. Next up is a overview of our field. So, I mentioned that we have our flagged carts uh help escort the the
pilots and aircraft to their individual parking spot. Well, our asphalt actually can't handle the influx of traffic that we have. So, we designate two grass parking areas. You can see uh outlined in red on that map. Now, we we do run into a small problem with parking the people on the
south side over in that red grass to your right as they can't walk to the terminal or be golf carters at the terminal. So, we rent out shuttle vans. We have two for the week. Uh, one follows that blue route around our airfield on along 21st Street to escort pilots safely from their airport or from
their aircraft over to our main terminal building to check in uh to limit our runway crossings and keep our runways clear and free for aircraft as possible. The other one runs directly to and to and from uh Lakeland Linder International for the actual Sun and Fun air show. So, we make Winter Haven kind of a one-stop shop for all transient
traffic. And lastly, the large yellow line you see on there is our uh our crosswind runway, runways 11 and 29. So, we closed down that runway for the week to help mitigate any crosswind traffic or anyone that that doesn't talk with tower and tries to come in landing the other way
just to help make things easier for our C plane base uh located next to us, Jack Browns, alongside our controllers that are landing the influx of traffic for the week. So, some of our groups that we received, so uh the Cardinals were here again just like last year and every year prior. So they're a group of um
individuals that all own the same make model of aircraft. Assassin 177 Cardinal. Beautiful aircraft and we saw about 28 of them this year. So they mostly dominated our our south sod area. Our second group were the warbirds. So if you made it out to Sunfl this year, you probably saw them along the military show and you probably saw them in the
air for a small time. They come here and visit us in Winter Haven for their pre-brief and lunch at our Flightline Cafe. And lastly was our general traffic. So you can see in that bottom left picture, we have a our grass field completely full. If you look really close, you can see some pavement on the
left. So our north dog was completely full this year. We saw more aircraft this year than last year. And it was overall a good year for general traffic. And you can see some of our numbers here. So on the left you've got some photos of uh Mario and Bobby, some of our lion techs fueling up a private jet that was with us for the week and some
of the warb birds. And on the right is some of our statistics statistics for the year. So overall, our our gallons of fuel sold was roughly the same as last year. But we saw an influx of uh tied down aircraft over the year alongside our total revenue, especially from ramp fees, which seemed strange to us after
the fact as it felt like one of our quietest years ever. But it just so happened that we didn't have as much weather this year and it was all evenly displayed across the uh across the week. And that's about all I've got for our airport this year. Uh any questions or comments?
Any questions? All right. That's it. Thank you. Great job. Great job. Thank you very much, Mayor Commission. All right. So, that's all of our presentations. We have no developments
of note. Commissioners, we have the minutes. Mr. Mayor. Yes. Motion to approve the April 23rd city commission agenda review minutes as well as the April 28th regular city commission meeting minutes. Thank you. Our closed commission meeting
open the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak to these minutes may do so at this time. Seeing none, close the public hearing open the commission meeting. Is there any discussion? All those in favor, let it be known by saying I. I. I. Poses by the same sign. Hearing none,
the minutes are adopted. Okay, we have no one that signed up to address the commission. We have no audiences. Uh second reading consent agenda.
Mr. Mayor, yes. Motion to approve one item on the consent agenda. Thank you. Close the commission meeting. Open the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak to the consent agenda may do so at this time. Seeing none, close the public hearing. Reopen the commission
meeting. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposes by the same sign. Hearing none, the consent agenda is adopted. Resolution R2519 would read by title, city attorney. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Resolution number R-25-9, a resolution of the city commission of the city of Winter Haven, Florida, approving a public transportation grant agreement between the city of Winter Haven of Florida Department of Transportation, FDOT, under contract number
G3B00, and financial project number 453789-1-94-1 for updating the master plan at the Winter Haven Regional Airport, Gilbert Field, and authorizing the city manager and appropriate city officials to execute set agreement and to take all other necessary actions. regarding said project and agreements related there too providing for
severability conflicts and an effective date. Thank you. Thank you. Anything changed since the agenda review? Uh no sir, just a reminder this is a update to the airport master plan. Total project costs
$592,000. Um the bulk of that 90% or $532,800 comes to us via a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration. 5% will come from the Florida Department of Transportation uh in the amount of $29,600 and 5% will be the city's
obligation again in $29,600. Staff recommends city commission approve resolution R219 and authorize city manager or designate to execute the subject grant agreement with Florida Department of Transportation grant number G3B00 and take all other necessary
actions incidental to the implementation of same. Thank you. Thank you, commissioners. Mr. Mayor, yes. Motion to approve resolution R2519. Thank you. I'll close the commission meeting, open the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak to R2519 may do so at
this time. Seeing none, close the public hearing, reopen the commission meeting. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of the motion, let it be known by saying I. I. Opposes by the same sign. Hearing none, R219 is adopted. Resolution
R2521 which read by Ty Looney, city attorney. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Resolution number R-25-21, a resolution of the city commission of the city of Winter Haven, Florida, approving an amendment to that public transportation grant agreement between the city of Winter Haven and the Florida Department of Transportation,
FDOT, under contract number G2H30 in financial project number 452131-2, for an extension of the airport digital remote traffic tower public transportation grant agreement at the Winter Haven Regional Airport, Gilbert Field, and authorizing the city
manager and appropriate city officials to execute that amendment and to take all of the necessary actions regarding said project and agreement and amendment related there too provided for severability complex and an effective date. Thank you. Thank you man. Any changes? No sir, Mr. Mayor and
commissioners. This simply extends the uh existing public transportation grant agreement with DOT uh changing the expiration date from June 30th of 2025 to now being December 31st of 2026. There is no financial impact. Staff
recommends the commission approve resolution R25-21 and authorize city manager designate execute subject grant agreement extension with the Florida Department of Transportation grant number G2H30 and take all other necessary actions incidental to the implementation
of same. Thank you. Thank you commissioners. Mr. Mayor, yes. Motion to approve resolution R-25-21. Thank you. I will close the commission meeting. Open the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak to resolution
R-25-21 may do so at this time. Seeing none, close the public hearing. Reopen the commission meeting. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposes by the same sign. Hearing none. Resolution R-25-21 is adopted. Resolution
R-25-22. Would you read by title only? City attorney. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Resolution R-25-22. A resolution of the city commission of the city winter haven Florida renaming Lake Road which runs between Eloise Loop Road/To Thompson Nursery Road on the norththeast
to County Road 653 on the south-west and generally lying in the north half of the southwest quarter of section 13 township 29 south range 26 East Poke County Florida to Lake Ruby Drive West making findings providing for severability repeal of conflicting resolutions and
providing for an effective date. Thank you. Thank you. Any changes to the manager? Mr. Mayor, no changes. Again, this is just the renaming of Lake Road to Lake Ruby Drive West. There are no properties that are impacted by this that have been developed at this point,
and staff will work with the E911 uh agency to do all the notifications if so approved by the city commission this evening. Staff does recommend the city commission approve resolution R25-22. Thank you. All right, commissioners. Mr. Mayor. Yes. Motion to
approve resolution R2522. Thank you. I will now close the commission meeting, open the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak to resolution R-25-22 may do so at this time. Seeing none, close the public hearing. We open the commission meeting. Is there any
discussion? All those in favor of the motion, let it be known by saying I. I. Opposes by the same sign. Hearing none. Resolution R-25-22 is adopted. Resolution R-25-23 would you read by Tyler only city attorney. Thank you Mr. Mayor.
Resolution R-25-23, a resolution confirming the acceptance of improvements, infrastructure, and dedications in favor of the public/ city of Winter Haven as noted on that certain platin titled Harmony on Lake Eloise phase 4 recorded in the office of the clerk of the circuit court in for Poke County,
Florida in platbook 211, pages 42 through 49, public records of Pope County, Florida, and authorizing the city manager to release the performance bond posted to guarantee completion of required improvements and infrastructure. General location subdivision is generally located west of Westlake Eloise Drive south of Shell
Road. Thank you. Thank you, city manager. Any changes? No, sir. This is the request from FourStar Real Estate Group. It pertains to a 57.25 acre subdivision contains 322 building lots and 12 common lots. FourStar did submit
to the city of performance bond in the amount of $1.98 million to guarantee completion of required infrastructure. Staff has reviewed all of the work there and is now ready to accept that. Um staff recommends city commission approve
resolution R25-23 and authorize city manager or designate to take all further necessary actions related to this matter. Thank you commissioners. M mayor Mr. Mayor. Um motion to approve resolution R 2523.
Thank you. I will close the uh commission meeting. Open the public hearing and my issue to speak to resolution R-25-23. May do so at this time. Seeing none, close the public hearing. Reopen the commission meeting. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of the
motion, let it be known by saying I. I. Poses by the same sign. Hearing none, resolution R25-23 is adopted. Resolution R25-24. Would you read by Tyl City attorney? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Resolution
R-25-24. A resolution of the city commission of the city of Winter Haven, Florida, renaming Pomelo Lane located in the Harmony on Lake Eloise phase 2 subdivision division as recorded in PLA 205 pages 26 and 32 of the public records of Pope County, Florida to Pomelo Drive. making findings, providing
for severability, repeal of conflicting resolutions, providing for the administrative correction of scrimmers errors, and providing for an effective date. Thank you. Thank you. Manager, any changes? No, sir. This is a request again from Roger Lee Voniker of Fourstar
Real Estate Group to rename the the road as presented by the city attorney. Um, if this is approved by the city commission, the Pulk County E911 addressing office will notify the affected emergency response agencies and others uh regarding that name change.
Any of the costs that would be associated with signage uh related to this change would be borne by the Harmony on Lake Eloise Community Development District. There's no financial impact to the city. Staff recommends city commission approve resolution R25-24 and authorize city manager
designate to take all necessary actions related to this matter. Thank you. Thank you commissioners. Mr. Mayor. Yes. Motion to approve resolution R2524. Thank you. I'll close city commission meeting. Open the public hearing. Anyone
wishing to speak to resolution R-25-24 may do so at this time. Seeing none, close public hearing. Reopen the commission meeting. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of the motion, let it be known by saying I. I. Opposes by the same sign. Hearing none.
Resolution R-25-24 is adopted. Resolution R-25-25. Would you read by title only to the Attorney? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Resolution R-25-25. A resolution approving that certain plat titled shops at country
club for filing in accordance with chapter 177 Florida statutes with specific conditions providing for the correction of scriveners errors and establishing an effective date. General location subdivision is generally located at the northeast corner of Dundy Road, State Road 542 and Country Club
Road. Thank you. Thank you. Manager, any changes? No sir. This is for the shops at CC LLC and their request for final plat approval of the shops at Country Club. It's a 34.9 acre subdivision that contains seven lots. This was developed according to the requirements contained
in PUD or planned unit development ordinance 023-29. Uh staff recommends the city commission approve resolution R25-25. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you commissioners.
Mr. Mayor. Yes. Motion to approve resolution R-25-25. Thank you. I close the commission meeting. Open public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak to resolution R-25-25 may do so at this time. Close the public hearing. Reopen the city commission meeting. Is there any
discussion? All those in favor of the motion, let it be known by saying I. I. Opposes by the same sign hearing none. Resolution R-25-25 is adopted. We have no ordinances. Uh first reading. We have a
new business item. City Manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is for the approval of design and permitting proposal contract and guaranteed maximum price for the design of the redevelopment of the old fire station number one. This was awarded to
Whitehead Construction via RFQ 2438. As we discussed in our uh agenda review last Wednesday, the intent is to renovate the former fire station due north of where we are today uh for the purposes of utilization by our building
division. Um, we did contract with Whitehead through a competitive RFQ process and that was approved by the commission January 27th, 2025. They have submitted to us um our
contract that we use for design build purposes is now included with this document. Uh and the design the guaranteed maximum price for the design and permitting phase of this effort is $355,930. Once they go through that process and they have the actual
construction cost that will be brought back to you in the form of an amendment to the guaranteed maximum price, we have set aside from within the building division um a total of $7 million to account for future needs of the building
division. Um, so that would include this project as well. As I mentioned, we'll eventually be looking for a satellite office in the southeast portion of our community, uh, going forward. Um, so the money is set aside for this. We do not expect that this will cost anywhere near
$7 million. It's probably closer to the $3 million uh, in terms of total renovation depending upon what all they get into once they get into that building. Again, that GMP will come back to you. So staff recommends city commission approve the design phase
proposal the contract and guaranteed maximum price in the amount of $355,930 and authorize city manager or designate to take all necessary actions and incidental there too. And I believe Mr. Wayne Mullen with uh Whitehead Construction is here this evening and certainly would be able to answer any
questions you may have. With that I'll turn it back to you Mr. Mayor. Commissioners. Mr. Mayor. Yes. Oh, we don't need a motion. Yes. Yes, we do need a motion. Sorry, Mr. Mayor. Motion to approve the approval of design, permitting,
proposal, contract, and guaranteed maximum price for redevelopment of the old fire station number one. Thank you. I will now close the commission meeting and open the uh public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak
to new business item 13A may do so at this time. Seeing none, close the commission meet I mean close the public hearing and reopen the city commission meeting. Is there any discussion? All those in favor let it be known by saying I. I. I opposes by the
same sign hearing none. New business item 13A is adopted. All right. Commissioner Leon reports. Commissioner Mercer. Um I attended a covision. Um we attended it
before the power of hope and healing and this was like a subsection of that. It was mental health and uh so they had a lot of people there I guess a lot of displays uh on that um on the mental health issues and they discuss some of
the mental health issues that we have in the community. So, uh, also attended First Missionary Baptist Church Heritage Day celebration, and I don't feel like I did very much, but I had three dental appointments the past two weeks,
so that's all I have right now that I can think of. Anyway, all right, Mr. Dancler. Yeah. Um, Mother's Day lunchon at Neighborhood Service Center. I popped in and didn't get a chance to eat, but got to see everybody. And, uh, I just missed you, mayor. I think you had just left or No. Are you I was there for the
food. Okay. I say you probably just ate. Yeah, you just laid left. Um enjoyed bark in the park again this year. What a fun time. I don't think I've ever been there when it hadn't been threatening to rain except last year when it was during the daytime. The bark
in the park is always fun and uh enjoyable and um good time I think everybody had there. also went to Black Oak Creative like the rest of you and made my little video. But I was told that I did the best job by the the girls over there, just so y'all know. So, I'm probably going to get a little more
facetime than the rest of you. They told me the same thing. Really? It's cuz y'all went before I did. Yeah. Um I got invited to go to Winter High School and do a financial talk. Where's there's this new rule now that's come out that everybody graduate high school
has to have uh some financial literacy. So, they're calling guys like me in my other uh life to go out and teach financial literacy to high school seniors, which was pretty cool. They were the They were the um what's the school in the school?
What's it called? Um Cambridge. Cambridge. Yeah, they were all Cambridge kids. So, that was fun. Got to talk to them for quite a while. Uh also attended the Hartford Winter Haven Golf Tournament. Big big uh big huge uh success that was. uh went by the
First Missionary Baptist Church and saw my friend and at the downtown heritage day. What a lot of fun that was. And um good crowd too, I thought. And the last thing I was going to mention, I I mentioned to you guys last time that if you haven't been down to the Fieldhouse and Conference Center and take a walk
around the lake and see what we've done with Lake Lulu, you need to do it. You need to do the same thing with Harmony. I just drove around in Harmony recently and I live out there, but that, you know, that road that used to go in front of Balhalla, they put a new road in out there. They've got all these lots everywhere. There's so much
infrastructure that's been built out there, roads everywhere. When that place finally gets built out, there's going to be a million people out there. But we're geared for it because I was so impressed. And I guess we built that road, right? They they built it as part we we approved it as part of their
development process along with the county and um but it was built by the developer. Well, I'm no road builder, but I can tell you it doesn't look like they spared any expenses because everything out there to me looks first class. So, if you guys are out in that area of town, it's worth taking a drive
through there because it's pretty amazing what what has happened out there. Harmony and Lake Ellie. So, anyway, that's it for me. All right, Commissioner Donaldson. Mr. Mayor, good evening. I uh had the opportunity to attend the planning commission
um meeting as well as the uh neighborhood service center. Uh I got there early. I think I might have been the the first one that got there. They were still painting when I got there or starting to paint and uh just great
time. A lot of people I know have known over the years. So, it's just wonderful to see the uh center just packed uh with people. Certainly, there is a great need for that in our community. uh also was able to uh well I want to I
want to thank the city of Winter Haven uh on behalf of the First Missionary Baptist Church uh for partnering with us in the 30th annual Heritage Day uh festival celebrating unity in our
community. 30 years is a long time uh to uh embrace such a wonderful idea and uh to the late Isa Frasier who uh was one of the uh one of the original um architects of this festival. Uh we we
certainly remember her in great fondness and appreciation. But the city has been a great partner with us over the years. staff has worked just wonderfully with us and uh we couldn't have a better partner in doing such a wonderful event.
So again, thank you very much. Also, uh trip to DC was uh was a great honor and a privilege to uh just to be able to be a part of a wonderful group to advocate for the city of Winter Haven u and to advocate at the highest level. I think
uh when you you go to uh that level, you know, that is the highest level for us to speak uh our concerns and our issues and advocate for the things that we want to see happen or change that needs to be made in Winter Haven. It's just amazing
to know that a city uh we are a city of that caliber and we have a staff uh of such a professional standard that uh would one one planned and promote such a wonderful trip and uh I was just uh
happy to be a part of it and felt it great a privilege to do so. uh also was able to uh participate in the annual uh Winter Haven High School Balor was held at the um uh First Presbyterian Church. Dr.
Nagley is a dear friend of mine and colleague. Um this year was amazing because we have seen a slide or a downturn in the back participation. However, uh we've gone down in numbers,
but this year uh when the students started graduates starting to come in, there was a designated place for them to sit, we filled that area and then had to go over to another area uh because we had over 87 students to come uh this
year. So, that was just great to see uh more interest uh in the uh high school balor. So was a happy to be a part of that and uh we hope to keep it going. That's
it. All right. I had a few things. I also attended the Washington DC trip. And one of the the highlights for me, I had never been to the uh fallen officers
memorial where we actually got to see the name of our fallen officer, uh, Officer Patterson's name listed on that wall with all of those
names. and also got to uh to tour the museum and I'd never been in that museum before and it was sort of really touching to uh go in there and see law
enforcement over and through the years and um so and some of the tragedies that happened and some of the rescue operations. I mean, it was really sort of touching. I I thoroughly enjoyed that. And as many times as I'd been to
Washington DC, that was the first time that I had actually ever been able to uh visit uh that memorial. Um attended the uh Mother's Day lunchon at the neighborhood service
center. And I don't know why y'all left so early, but I stayed late. Got food. because food was excellent. Plus, I got a actual to see some of the paintings that the senior citizens were doing. So,
they had an activity where they actually painted some paintings that looked really good. Oh, yeah. Yes. And in fact, I understand that at First Missionary Baptist, they did the same thing at the
uh Mother's Day activity that men were barred from. But uh they did do it. So, but any rate, thoroughly enjoyed that. Now, another highlight that I really love every year
is Bark in the Park with those wiener dogs. I mean I mean you really you all have to be there to see it. Uh because those owners of those wiener dogs, they really
want to get first place. And we have starting lines and finishing lines and we have to tell them you can't get ahead of the line. You can't get your dog before he crosses the line. You got to be. One year we actually had to have a
photo finish to decide. I'm serious you all. We had to have a photo finish. I could not determine which dog had won without the photo finish. So it was it's dogs just took over the park. Dogs and
strollers. I mean I I love it down there with the dogs. We just went to the dogs that day. But I loved it. and the weather hell. And so it was it wasn't hot. It was really a really really good day. I really y'all can tell I like it
to judge the to the wiener dog race. Those are little wiener dogs or something else. Uh I did the the tape at the Black Oaks. And I also uh went to Winter Haven High
School for the first time and um had the students to tape uh my congratulatory remarks that's going to be played at the graduation at the Civic Center for Lake
Region and uh Winter Haven High School. So, I thoroughly enjoyed that with the students actually, you know, prompting me and giving me instructions and saying, "Well, you didn't do this just right. You need to do that." So, but they were
all students at Winter Haven High School that actually uh taped me. So, with that, that's all I have. Uh, city attorney, Mr. Mayor. Yes. I think Mayor Proim might have something. Oh, I miss you. Skipped right
over me. I'm sorry, bro. It's all right. You owe me. So, um, so I've got a few things tonight, but I've also got a few things that are I apologize. I got to turn into Q&A session. So, bear with me. Um, one
of which, let's just start with the DC trip. So that was just incredible um for our leaders up there to make themselves available to us to be a sympathetic ear and understanding ear as well uh in our meetings with them to understand why it
you know has taken so long to get a dedicated frequency out at the airport. It should be a simple task. So, I guess my my question is the person that was most flamboyant uh in from the meetings was Senator Scott. I was just wondering if we heard
anything back from him just yet. Not yet, but um I can tell you that we've had some follow-up dialogue with Oh, bear with me one second. Um Andy Mueller, who is the director of
safety for the FAA. that was one of the individuals that General Palumbo had met with prior to us uh joining up with him at the FAA offices. Um he's given us uh a little bit of insights on some stuff, but we're we're we're still chasing that
path, but I've not heard anything back as of yet from Senator Scott's office. Um, we will follow up with uh Jack Hitchcock who was his uh and I can remember that now because it's not
Alfred Hitchcock. Um, but we will follow up with him and see if we have any insights. Thank you. Um, attended a downtown CRA meeting. Um, attended the RLC board meeting last week. Um, all right. So, a couple more
questions. So, having lived on Lake Lulu, I understand very well what happens after a prolonged absence of rain and then here comes the rain and
that flushes out the the overflow basins or just the amount of trash that that flows out into the lake. It seemed like over the uh weekend there was an exorbitant amount of trash, more so than normal. Really shouldn't be any, but you know, that's for up to every citizen and
visitor area to not litter. That would help with that issue. Um, but there seem to be an exorbitant number of amount of trash between the Lake Ship and the Lake Lulu Canal. Just wondering, does the city have any responsibility if any of those catches there? is something not
working correctly or if if we've had an opportunity to look into that issue yet. So, thank you, Mayor Prom, for that question. The um and that's I'm glad you asked that because that gives us a chance to give a little education on that whole process. And you're you hit it spot on. When you don't have rain,
you have uh the collection of debris that accumulates. And in our case, we really haven't had any significant rainfall since probably early February. And so it's not just trash, but it's also lawn clippings and vegetative waste
that gets blown into our catch basins despite all of our street sweeping and everything else. And that will just end up sitting there. And then you get what we've had over the past three days. Um, actually since I guess what, Thursday of last week when it really the bottom
began dropping out of that, it pushes all of that at one time in what we consider to be a giant flush. Um we have catch basins in a number of areas. Your storm water parks are are intended to serve that purpose first and foremost.
So South Lake Howard Nature Park, Lake Partridge Nature Park, um at Lake Ma Nature Park, we have catch basins for that. Lake Conine, which we will have our dedication on tomorrow evening. Again, intended to capture these massive wheds and the amount of trash that
collects within them. the in the area that you're ref referring to on south side or the north side of Lake uh Lake Lulu, it would be the it' be the west side, right? But on the on the north side of Lake Lulu, there is also a baffle system that is in
the road that is maintained by Pulk County. Um we checked with them this afternoon to verify their maintenance routines of that. That is addressed on a monthly basis. Again though, how much trash ends up getting into that at any given point. You're right, if people if
we didn't have litter, we wouldn't have the problem where it falls out. The outfalls that are along the canal, um, one of those belongs to FDOT, so that's coming off of the the overpass. Um, the other one I would expect you
there could be some debris that makes its way out to the lake with all of the cleanup that's happening on the south side of the lake where we had a number of of homeless encampments out there that we have been working with the county to address for the past few
months. Um, and I think possibly what may be happening there is is we've gotten rid of some of the underbrush and the the overgrowth there with all the wind that kicked up during those storms as well. You may have some of that debris that makes its way there as well.
Our staff continues to, you know, where we have that accumulated our outfalls. We're out there dip netting that and backing it out. Um, we just did project eagle three weeks ago. I'm looking for Britney. um we've not gotten their collection numbers, but one of the
things that we realize is maybe we need to do a little more frequent project eagle type work throughout the community and get our volunteers involved in that versus just doing that in alignment with Earth Day. City did clean it up Winter Haven about three weeks ago as well. Um
we collected Britney 30 some odd cubic yards of debris. Was it 2.7 tons? We took two 20 yard rolls. two 20 yard rolloffs. Wow. We That's probably the most we have ever filled. Now, that's a great accomplishment that you did that.
It's a terrible situation that we were able to do that. Um, and I can tell you the police department, uh, Charlie Bird and Vance and a whole group of folks worked specifically the overpass of US7 at our direction, um, because that collects a lot of of litter along the
fence line there. Charliewood, we get 30 bags of litter off of that overpass from the two sides of it alone. So, there's just there's a lot of litter out there. Um, despite our best efforts, we we've not been able to move the needle on behavior with that. And certainly,
drought conditions add to it. Long answer, but I think it's important to to share all that. It it is. And and that's, you know, if you could have a Project Eagle every weekend, 52 weeks out of the year, that that would solve a
lot, but it'd be a lot easier and less taxing on the taxpayer if people would just not litter. Um, so it's unfortunate that that happens. The question I've got on the FDOT um catch basin, do we have
permission to potentially go in there and clean that out at times or is that solely relying upon the FDOT? Because I would imagine being that it's a state catch basin. I'm taking a wild guess here, but I'm guessing nobody
ever comes to clean that out. Yeah, we can check into the frequency of that. Uh, but FDOT maintains those structures and they uh they usually contract that out and you'll have a contractor that comes through regularly and cleans out all of the inlets that are theirs. Um, I don't know the
frequency of that offhand though, but we can reach out to them and have that conversation. It seems like it and it's always this time of year where this is the worst, but potentially maybe we can look at, okay, we're in the dry season. We've got weather reports where the rain is
going to start two weeks out or a week out. Maybe we can be proactive that, you know, maybe kind of put into place a plan going forward that we can be more proactive rather than than reactive when we're exiting the dry season heading
into the wet season. This thought I would say that the unfortunate side of that we're going to have to be very reactive. proactive side is the campaigning to prevent littering and as much roadway litter removal as we
possibly can do. Once it's into outfall structures, your ability to access that, it's basically in the pipe and you're waiting for the water to push it all the way through. So, it's it can be a sooner reactive perhaps, but um we'll follow up
with the the DOT maintenance team and see what we can avail ourselves to. Thank you. Um, next question is, the county is pending an ordinance, and I don't think that they've passed it just yet, but that is restricting areas of boat
traffic on specifically Winter Set and uh even a couple Auburnale lakes, but it it's going to be impactful on our chain. So, I just didn't know if that's going to rely solely upon the sheriff's department to maintain and monitor, but it's specifically where like the
flotillas gather uh in Lake Winteret. They're creating a zones in those spots to um to prevent any kind of uh standing, partying, swimming from boats. I'm not familiar with that ordinance,
Mayor Prom, but we'll uh certainly get a copy of whatever is being proposed and report back on what the impacts may be. I would say that the enforcement of that most of the enforcement that that I'm familiar with in our lakes and Charlie certainly if you could weigh in otherwise is done by the sheriff's
office and their their um their marine unit as well as by FWC. Um, our involvement on the water is more so in a a emergency response rescue uh level. Um, but we can can chase that down. I
that's the first I've heard of that ordinance. Yeah. I had a citizen send me that just the other day, so I thought I'd bring Is there is there a draft of it? Uh, there is. I can If you could share that with us, I'd appreciate it. Sure thing. Final thing I had was u
Looks like we may need another parade. We had a um Winter Haven High School shotp put state champion. We had a Winter Haven High School team barbecue state championship. We had a Winterhaven High
School state tennis championship. And we almost went with a four Pete here with the beach volleyball team who finished second. Uh just one point away from a state champion championship for beach volleyball. So, just throwing that out there. We may
need to work on another parade for those guys. But, uh, Winter Haven High School is hitting on all cylinders. And you know, we not so long ago, we had a lot of drama with with Beach Volleyball and finding a location for them. And I, for one, I'm glad that I continue to kind of
advocate for those guys with the school board. And they got their team. And look at there. They're they're second in the state of Florida. They got their facility. They're on campus now. So, um, congratulations to all the Winter Haven High School teams and also congratulations to I think this is the
last meeting before graduation. So, congratulations to all the the graduates of Winter Haven High School in Lake Region. That's all I've got. Mr. Mayor, I got one thing I forgot and and I was going to make a suggestion that if we invite anybody here, we should invite the world the state champion barbecue
team here and let them practice a little bit. Yeah, barbecue and practice. But no, the uh and I appreciate you saying that about the I've been telling y'all all along about what a good tennis player we have down here, Ben Saltman. Uh he signed with FSU, but I he
may go pro. He's really so good. He won singles and doubles as a junior and he is like so good. So, not, you know, not that you guys are big tennis fans like I am, but he's gonna you're gonna just keep an eye on him because he's going to do something great. I really do think that. But my point is I meant and I'm
really glad you brought this up because I meant to bring this up the last time I talked about um when I took the walk down on Lake Lulu. And this is an initiative that Britney you can you can chime in and um you know all you communications experts there is a
organization or there's an initiative that that I'm a member of called for ocean and I usually wear a bracelet but every time we go to the ocean the task is you're supposed to bring in three pieces of plastic. Every time you go to the ocean you're supposed to bring in three pieces of plastic. And this
organization has all kinds of creative ways to remind you to do that. And they make jewelry out of the plastic that people bring in. And I buy the jewelry, they make cups, and they do things, but it's a really wellorganized thing. And I was down walking around on Lake Lula. I was telling you guys about it. And I was
doing the same thing because I'm trained to pick up four, three pieces of plastic. Well, why don't we do something called for the chain? And there's a you can put QR codes where people drop drop in their boats. And um that what for ocean does you can if you take a picture
of yourself out on the ocean picking up bottles and send it in they'll post it somewhere. I don't know where but somewhere it gets posted. But for people that are into that kind of Instagram stuff, I bet Katrina and you guys can come up with and we just put those QR codes around the ramps and try to get
people, hey, just pick up five pieces of trash, take a picture of yourself, put it in the garbage can or something stupid and we'll put it on the website of some sort. I bet it would work if we just start trying to raise awareness of and call it for the chain or for chain
or something like that. Um, just something creative to get people to think about picking up trash when they're out there. I picked up 20 pieces of trash just on that little walk I took because Lake Lulu was polluted. But if you're just out in the boat and I got my kids in it and my kids are grown now,
but they still every time we go, we got to get our three pieces of plastic whenever we go out on the in the in the Tampa Bay. So, just something to consider. And I'm glad you brought that up because I really wanted to bring this up last time and I forgot and I almost forgot tonight. So, you jog my memory, but I think that would be something we
might could work on. So, anyway, thank you. I didn't That's it. If I could comment on that one, mayor. The when we did clean it up Winter Haven this year, we expanded that campaign. We call it the great Winter Haven Cleanup Now, and we folded in all the
schools and encouraged them to go out and clean up around their campus kind of in the same approach and share with us photos. Uh Britney has a number of photos that those schools have sent in. We ask residents to do the same thing. Send those photos in and we we um we
take their you know their submittal as an entry for a prize in that process. We're trying to expand that constantly. You know, how do we get more people involved in this? This can't just be about city employees taking a day to go out and pick up trash. Everybody needs to participate in it. And I think that
we can find a way to expand that specifically for the lakes as well. So, I appreciate that insight. Thank you. Yeah, I was just going to add to what D. Michael had said was we had um almost 900 children from the local schools participate in the Great Winter Haven Cleanup this year and submitting bags of
of trash that they had collected from in front of their school areas. Um so many though that they asked for additional pickups on their dumpster services um because they had filled those dumpsters more than their their normal service, which we were excited about. Um, but we've talked um in length about how to expand this to our lakes, get our boers
to be picking up whenever they're out enjoying the chain. I love the idea of uh, you know, pick up three pieces when you're out and and going. I know that that had kind of been shared of instead of videoing it, grab it. Um, and so looking for for different ways to do that and promote that within the community. Um, we've talked at length
about, you know, is that an art sculpture? That was something that was mentioned um earlier today is is ways to display all that was collected. The goal would be to not have no litter. Uh so we have no art sculpture to make. Yeah. Um but until we get to that point, how can we we display um the hard work of not
only our team but the community as well through signage and other things? Do we uh uh promoting no littering or are we doing uh cuz I there's a lot of littering in our city. It's a big problem. It is. and and I we're trying
to do um Britney and her team are working with keep PK County clean and beautiful on adopt a roadway projects that the county has a pretty strong robust program for that. We've got, I don't know how many hundreds of miles of, you know, roadway to be able to do
adoptions on those, whether it's businesses or churches or nonprofits or individual families that will go out and help maintain that. Every bit of trash that we pick up, you know, it keeps it from making its way into our lakes. And I think um, you know, we have educational signs within some of our
storm water parks that that highlight where the trash comes from. You know, what is the size of this watershed? When you walk through downtown Winter Haven and you see trash on the ground, people may just think it's it's just litter on the ground. Well, eventually that's going to make it to a storm drain and ultimately make its way to Lake Howard
um or to Lake Eloise or Lake Elbert if it's if it's, you know, to the uh the other side of First Street there. So, I think that continuing to do um education, signage, programs that that highlight the significance impact
that litter has and what simple things you can do to help curb that. City attorney. Thank you, Mr. Mayor Commission, and congratulations to Latana Harris on her achievement. It's very, very good. I have nothing else. Thank you, city manager. couple things
if I could and I I hate to keep you a little bit longer but I just want to give you an update on a few items. So um from the uh recent discussions during our strategic momentum session and also of some things that are outlined in our strategic plan couple meetings that I just wanted to make you aware of that
have occurred. MJ and I met earlier today with representatives from um Lakeland Area Mass Transit District or Winter Haven Area Transit um to explore a local circulator route that would
provide access to medical facilities within our community and shopping facilities and other key destinations that are part of our overall wellness. You may recall that was the number one issue that the medical panel shared with us that they thought the city could help
them resolve and that's the physical barriers to accessing uh medical services. So, we're exploring that and what options there may be to help fund that within our CRAAS as well as from the general fund as need be to see if that makes sense. I met earlier, I'm
sorry, met last week with representative from Central Florida Healthcare and um again just giving some more direction on how do we address the fluoride issue and the loss or the the prohibition that's about to come forward through the state
uh if the governor signs the farm bill that includes the prohibition against adding anything to the water systems that is not water quality related. And we've got a couple thoughts on that that they're exploring for me that really focus on education and awareness of what
services are available and how to how residents can avail themselves to those as well as working within the community to uh establish some mobile um medical sites on a rotating basis. uh initially in a pilot program and then uh securing
a routine presence of those mobile units from Central Florida Healthcare at the Winter Haven Recreation and Cultural Center once it opens up again to make that much more um accessible, remove some of the maybe the the fears and the
you know the concerns about pursuing medical services. Um when it's right within your own community, it makes it a little more you know removes some of those barriers. So that is underway. We also met last week with members of our team. One of our objectives within the strategic plan is about establishing a
wellness committee. This, in my opinion, really comes down to having a wellness focus group or um think tank that would include representatives from our major health care providers as well as others such as the Peace River Foundation or the Peace River Center, uh Tri County
Services, the Mission, um a number of other groups that, you know, work with our community on wellness issues to bring them together at least twice a year to share insights on what do they see are the major health concerns that we have within our community, what are the trends that they're seeing and how
do we collectively work across whether it's corporate lines or nonprofit lines or government lines to try and address those the best that we can. So, we'll be reaching out to all those agencies in the coming month or so to identify an appropriate contact that will work with
us on outreach services in that regard and we'll report back. Um, last thing I wanted to share with you, you mentioned the um, the Washington DC trip and I think that that was a fantastic trip. I think it was very focused this year and I think we went in with the right
message and I'm hopeful that we'll see the results and the fruits of that effort. Um, with respect to the fallen officers memorial that we were able to go to, uh, in addition to, uh, Johnny Patterson, uh, his his name rubbing that
we were able to get a copy of there. also Gordon Stoes who was a fallen officer um from Winter Haven who is is memorialized there this week and Charlie if I'm not mistaken it will be on Thursday in Titusville Friday Friday okay Friday on Titusville and I think
Vance you're you and members of our team are are going to be there I mentioned a few times in the past that we have identified another fallen officer from Winter Haven Sergeant Thomas who I believe passed in the 60s was it
what was it? 50s. In the 50s. Um, this was an officer that had responded to a call and in the during the process of an arrest or attempting to make an arrest. There was a physical altercation um in which the officer ended up having
a heart attack. And at that point in time, that wasn't classified or declared as a line of death duty. and and um staff as I has done the research and and with members of his family um have been
able to uh pursue the recognition of Sergeant Thomas. He will be inducted into the Florida Fallen Officers Memorial this Friday in Titusville. Um as I said, members of our team will be present for that. We uh
anticipate that and and no reason really to not think that this would be the case, but that he will be added to the memorial in Washington DC and that would occur in calendar year 26. So there are two processes to that as I understand it. One is the actual
etching of the name that will go on the wall that we were able to observe and then in a a short time thereafter will be the um the memorial service. So, we have already begun looking at when our
uh DC legislative effort will be in 2026 in an effort to try and be there for at least one of those ceremonies to uh to honor and recognize Sergeant Thomas. So, just wanted to pass that along. I think that's that's fairly significant. And uh
the last thing I would add is that tomorrow is our dedication and ribbon cutting for Lake Conine Nature Park. that is, as I understand it, to start at 6, I'm sorry, 5:30 is um our commencement time there. Uh we're we're
hoping the rain will cooperate and um I think we've provided you all the information and details via email on that. Uh we expect our folks to begin arriving around 5:00 p.m. Um we're going to be shuttling from two locations uh because we do have limited parking
there and we expect a rather larger crowd. So, I hope you can all make it to that tomorrow evening. Michael, we do have uh parking allocated for you all. We plan to have that at the site at the park. So, one of our teammates will be at the gate uh
allowing you all in for parking. So, just wanted to let you know that as well. Thank you, T. Michael. Question. Uh you mentioned that the fallen officer that he has family that that are still in ask Vance if you'd come forward and
share the the intel on that. Yes, sir. He has a uh I think a a grandson that's still alive. So, we made contact with him and he's going to be trying to make some of these uh memorial services. and um he was going to try to
go to he was going to make an appearance this year at the Law Enforcement Memorial RV funding center just to see what it was like, but he was unable to do it this year, but we're in contact with him uh and we're trying to get other family members, his uh some other relatives that he may have. We're still
trying to identify them, but we do have uh uh him directly. I can't think of his name right now, but I can get it to you. curious um though it's been so long ago statute of limitations on things like that officer that is uh you know fallen in in
the uh line of duty uh or benefits or anything that would have been available or should have been available even during that time. I have to check on that because that's one thing. I have a remembrance uh honoring and remembrance committee that's in panel to look into investigate all of those if there's
still any other services that are I mean it's been a long time but I you know if he still has living relatives yes you know that uh I don't know whether or not there would have been or was he denied the family denied anything as a result of that? I don't believe they're denied they were not denied anything and just
like T said uh at the time it wasn't classified. Sure, we did a proclamation here actually the the day after a couple of days after his death, but things have changed in the years even with the heart and lung act uh to protect those who are
fallen and uh benefits they receive. Right. So there's we're going to look into that and verify if there is something that he benefit that out there that he can receive his uh next to Ken, we're going to ensure that they get it. It's great to get the recognition for
the family. Yes. That's all I have this evening, sir. Thank you, Deputy City Manager. Nothing this evening, sir. Thanks. City clerk, I just want to uh say congratulations to Latani again and just let her know that I am very, very proud of her. She worked
really hard. Anything from you, uh, deputy city clerk? Congratulations again. Nothing. All right. Emergency matter was not received for the
agenda. Motion to adjoin.