City Council - Regular Meeting

Call the March 4th city council meeting order. Commissioner Smith, will you give us a prayer pledge in fact for the day? Please serve. [clears throat]

Our fathers, once again we come before your presence. Come, oh heavenly father, our hearts filled with thanksgiving. Thank you God for the minute of blessing you bestowed upon us. This opportunity to be servants of your city. We ask the father for your continued gatherings. Your blessed on all that we shall say and do that be pleasing and acceptable in your sight. Bless those that are in the chambers this afternoon. Heavenly father we just say thank you oh god for what you're doing in the city of Apopa. Now father we ask oh heavenly father that you bless those that are bereaved. For we have one heavenly father's servant that went home to be with the lord. We ask you continue to bless his family. Hold him a holy hand. Let them know that earth has sorrow the earth cannot heal. This we pray in thy son in Jesus name. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Fact of the day. On March 4th, 1861, Abraham Lincoln becomes the 16th president of the United States. In his inauguration speech, Lincoln extended an olive branch to the south, but also made it clear that he intended to enforce federal laws in the states that succeeded. Six weeks later, the Confederates fired on Fort Sumpter in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Civil War began. Fact of the day.

Welcome to the public meeting of the city council of the city of Apakka. Please turn off all cell phones, phones, or set them to silent. The city council permits and encourages input and comments by members of the public on all matters which may come before the council for action. If you wish to address the council this afternoon, please make sure you have filled out a card with your contact information and have presented it to the clerk. When called upon, please proceed to the podium and speak clearly into the microphone, stating your name, address of record, organization if any, and direct your comments to the city council and not to individual commissioners, staff, or members of the public. The council and the city staff encourages constructive criticism. However, personal attacks are prohibited. Please observe general rules of decorum and civility. Speakers and members of the audience shall refrain from rude or derogatory remarks, shouting, disruptions, reflections as to integrity, slander, abusive comments, profanity, vulgarities, and statements as to personalities. Any violations of these provisions may result in the issuance of a verbal warning, including warning for trespass. If violations persist after such warnings, violators may be removed from the council chambers. Thank you. All right. Approval of the minutes. Anybody from the public or from the das need to change any changes or if not look for a motion to approve.

The public commented. Oh, I'm sorry. Public comment. Yes, Susan.

So, Rod Olsen Thank you. Oh, I think it Rod Olsson, 3156 Rolling Hills Lane, Nepopka. Uh, good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. I want to thank you for your service. At recent meetings, I raised my voice in anger, and I apologize. A message can be lost when the motion speaks can just take away from the message. I'm wearing this today to honor Al Lazo. Al retired last May after 20 years of service to the community coordinating all the crossing guards across the city. I passed away last week and I want to thank you Al for your dedication, leadership in keeping our children safe. And in honor of Al, be sure to watch your speed and put your cell phones down school zones. Um I'm concerned about key issues affecting the future of the city. I get these things working right here. All right. Uh when we look at this, you take a look at our current through January $222,000 in outside attorney fees. When you calculate that and move it out to an annual, it becomes 667,000. Annual salary for our former uh city

attorney was 147,000. You add 150,000 for other attorney services comes to 298,000. of the $667,000 we look at, it could be $369,500 in savings by having in-house counsel. Next, I want to address uh concern about city's treatment of Central Florida Soccer Club who have have trained and worked with thousands of children across the city. CFS is the only nonprofit youth sports organization that has been treated differently and then punished for expressing concerns about field maintenance exposing children, coaches, referees to potential injuries. These pictures represent the condition of all 16 multi-purpose fields across the across Northwest Recreational Complex. The fields were so bad that referees prolonged our stop would not start the match until holes were filled or sprinklers covered. In response to these concerns, the ad this administration closed four of the 16 fields. Coincidentally, only Central Florida Soccer Club. Then, coincidentally, these fields were reopened about two months later to an outside group over a weekend before Central Soccer was able to go back on the pitch. Coincidentally, CFSC was the only nonprofit group that did not enjoy a new five-year contract. Coincidentally, using four, putting the RPF out for three four field three fields when they've been using four over the last five years. In my northern Wisconsin terms, these coincidences can be summed up by if it looks like a skunk, if it smells like a skunk, it's a skunk. You have an opportunity as leadership to take action today to direct Parks and Wreck to negotiate a contract with Central Florida Soccer Club

that will be comparable to the other nonprofit organizations. Thank you.

Okay, Albert McKenna. [clears throat] Albert 3603 Golden Gem Road. Today, after approximately 20 months, you will be permitted to see what this administration already knew and has kept hidden from you. You will see what contaminants and toxins were introduced into our drinking water through the collapsed bottom of the retention pond at Golden Gem Road. This was not a natural event. It occurred because of negligence and neglect. The city deliberately created a narrative that misrepresented what occurred. They did this in response to being caught, filmed, and held accountable. It is now 26 months since the collapse occurred, and we are no closer to a resolution. Mayor Brian Nelson went on TV and lied to the public in the April of 1920 of 2024. He lied because he already had a report delivered to the city by DVO Saran in March of 2024 which defined quantities of contaminated water in discussed resolutions. The city were fined by FD. However, they were allowed to continue self-certifying by both St. John's and FD. In May of 2024, DVO came to city hall and outlined a procedure to remediate the problem and requested $950,000. The plan was specific and this administration were repeatedly advised that an explicit plan had to be exactly followed. You were warned that to ensure future structural integrity of this pseudo sinkhole only clean graded rock or rip wrap could be introduced into the aquifer that sand or loose substrate would be and I quote a disaster. Yet what we observe during this video is deliberately supervised ecotterrorism. the introduction of unsuitable

contaminated materials to fill an inconvenient hole. You can see ashwalt, sewage pipe, oil drums, all of which the city claimed were removed before the material was loaded into the aquifer. The real question is why the material was being delivered to the site. And why can you see already dumped in the aquifer if it was previously removed? This facility was not licensed to re to recycle materials. Why did we have to spend money on sifting materials that should have been delivered uncontamined? Truth is material subsequently purchased from midflor materials were clean as can be seen in the latter stages of this video. Clean material to cover a dirty truth. We see turtles being buried alive. We see a complete disrespect to life, health, and public safety. On March 10th, we will yet again have to request a six extension for a a property supposed to be functional back in 2021, which in my opinion will not be online until the latter part of this decade. Commissioners, what is the real cost? What is the real timeline? What are you going to do about the incompetence and lies from city staff and from a mayor? Today I request a motion to carry out an immediate independent evaluation to protect our city from lawsuits from developers and from the public in general because the comprehensive plan is a fiction.

Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Jim Moyer. I'm elected Orange soil and water conservation district 2 supervisor. First, I want to thank acting uh city administrator Bradley and public course director Vatameo for meeting with me and I'm looking forward to the next meeting. Also, I want to mention to everyone, I was in communication with uh UFIUS MRC. They've extended the deadline for the storm uh storm water pond until March 24th. They have 25 people re uh participated so far, 75 to go. They've asked for a either the city send out a notice to all the HOAs or you share the HOA contact information with them and I copied u uh city clerk bone was copied on the email to to them. Uh again my name is Dr. Jim Moyer. This is my presentation and mine alone. Um these are some of the best and the worst uh states for climate change. Florida is ground zero. Uh the five criteria used. I want to focus on inland flooding. That's us. [snorts] Uh these are some of the many a pretty exhaustive extent of the impact of climate change. I want to

mention two in particular. Agricultural production decrease and dire economic impact. Tourism very quickly. Florida when the natives were here that was predominantly fishing. La Flora. This was a military stronghold for the vast Spanish empire in the Americas. Around when Florida became a territory and then a state around Civil War, we became an agricultural state up until around the time of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowls. Then we transformed ourselves into tourism, which is number one right now. But because of climate change, there's a good chance we're going to have to reinvent ourselves again. Uh this is a comparison between uh 100 years ago, a century ago, and now climate whiplash. That's a severe change in either wet dry or hot cold like we recently experienced. and agriculture will not have time to recover from climate whiplash. So, please do everything you can in your power to protect our land and water resource resources. Thank you and God bless you all.

Okay, Dr. Can you see me? Good afternoon. Good afternoon.

It's hard to tell when at morning and afternoon end with the fog we've been having. Wanted to share with you an emergency release from the St. John's River Water Management District. we have gone into phase two severe water s shortage and this is permanent until it goes into phase one when um we don't know what's going to happen with that um landscape irrigation is limited to one day a week that's commercial and residential and um the this needs to be announced put out there broadcast um and then it's going to be enforced and uh Tuesday's for non-residential uh Sunday for even numbers addresses and Saturday for odd addresses. Please convert to Florida friendly native and um plants that can tolerate lack of water. Um question four changing from December to March. When we look at the statistics I parsed from the records of Apopka for the March, December and May dates, we have some very ugly looking numbers compared to November. Um when we look at March, December, May, which is mainly March, uh we see that the only 16.3% of the citizens vote. And there's a lot of reasons for that. When you look at the November dates, you see the 68.5% vote in Apopka. I left out the oct the countywide ones, but left them showing so that you could in the averaging, but left them showing so you could see how close they are.

[sighs] This is sad that politicians want to have the least amount of people voting. And when they say that they want to serve the will of the citizens, why would they want very few citizens voting for them? And the political term is incumbency. Because when you have less than 30% of the citizens voting, there's a greater chance that an incumbent will be voted in. And this has been known for decades. I remember hearing that back in the 1970s. Then we have uh racial disparity. Look at those numbers. Compare the top line, which is March, to the bottom line, which is November. Black 17% compared to 67. Hispanic 10% compared to 57. And look at the difference between white. There are many more white.

Thank you.

Think about it. [snorts and clears throat] Lero Bella. I I don't have a presentation. Uh my presentation is uh I've been watching the this uh election kind of close and I've been watching all the ads and stuff was coming across Facebook and even seeing a ad a commercial on spectrum [clears throat] and as a citizen I would I would hope that if it's true that we we would have been told about it already because uh I think we got one ad saying that you prevented homelessness. If that's the case, we've been looking for the last two years for the $160ome,000 that the homeless people that we couldn't find that we could have. Did we build a a spot for the homeless people somewhere that the city don't know about? I just I just like to know where that money I like to know. Did you use that money to eradicate homelessness if we don't have it? Because I'm confused because Miss Virginia Street always come up asking for the homeless. Not not only that, I just hope people will take and listen when when the candidates say that um they got integrity and they listen to the community.

How is it integrity listen to the community when you vote to move the public comment from the beginning to the end? And then while campaigning trying to get reelected saying if it was left up to me I'll leave it back there until after the election. How is that integrity to Philly's point? Yes. All this stuff all this lying and conniving it need to stop. I'm not a psychologist to be f to be honest, but I talked to a lot of them over at the VA and I found out that it's bipolar for somebody to uh uh complain that somebody else caused them to do something while driving through a speed zone, especially around the school. I would just say integrity would be to stand up and tell the truth for a minute and let the people vote and run on your record cuz it going to speak for itself.

Okay, Coach Naji. [clears throat] Coach Aaji, Central Florida Soccer Club, Apopka. Good afternoon, mayor, commissioners, staff, and members of the public. First and foremost, we want to commend commissioners Anderson, Velisquez, Smith, and Neesa for reminding us all that the children of our community are more important than RFPs, RFPs, competing organizations, adult egos, or political gotchas moments. So sincerely, thank you all. We'd also like to thank Mr. Sammy Ruth for highlighting an important point to the uh to the administration. When a program charges $150, $150 to $200 or so that is only a portion of the true cost families face. Equipment, travel, tournaments, and other expenses quickly add up, and is important that those realities are understood. Finally, there was a considerable amount of misinformation shared about our club and our programs at the last council meeting. We would like to take a moment to set the record straight. We are an an Apka based 501c3 nonprofit organization. We are not strictly travel or competitive club. We offer programs for children of all skill levels. We pro we provide opportunities for kids ages 2 through 18. Our program fees range from free, yes, $0 up to $21.95 for our oldest competitor program, which includes several tournament fees. Our overall fees are 20 to 35% lower than similar soccer organizations in Central Florida. Each year, we provide approximately $35,000 in financial aid to ensure that every child who wants to play has the opportunity. We do not turn children away because of financial circumstances. Every kid plays, period.

[clears throat]

We also provi provide uniform kits and equipment for families receiving financial aid uh financial assistance who cannot afford them. Our organization deep is deeply invested in the in this community. Each year we donate over 5,000 food items to local elementary school food pantries. We provide free coaches and player clinics for Apakar soccer. Offer coaching, training, volunteer opportunities and uh to for local high school students. Sponsor more than 20 children from the community to participate in our annual event at Inter and Co Stadium. Assist APOPC correct soccer when they they are short on coaches. Provide free open play opportunities for everyone in the community regardless of their club affiliation. Sponsor local school athletic programs. support teacher appreciation week for local schools, partner with and support other nonprofit organizations that serve children in our community. We collaborate with local flag football program so APKA kids don't have to travel to other cities to play. We regularly share field space with families, groups, and organizations who want to play frisbee, train for football or lacrosse, or simply kick around the ball. Several of our coaches voluntarily give up their portion of their compensation so we can continue funding financial aid for families in need. Our officers and directors, including myself, are volunteers and receive no compensation. Everything we do is centered on one mission, making sure every child in this community has opportunity to play this game we love. Thank you.

Okay, Brad Nolles.

[clears throat] [clears throat and cough] Good afternoon, mayor and council members. My name is Brad Nols. My wife Cheryl and I live in Waka Run with our two boys and have been residents in Apopka for nine years. We are the owners of Central Florida United Soccer Academy or CFU and I serve as its general manager. I'd just like to briefly address what occurred at the previous city council meeting and then speak about who CFU is and what we represent here in Apopka. [clears throat]

At the prior meeting, the RFP recommendation regarding field rentals at the Northwest Recreation Complex was placed on the consent agenda, and I was present at that meeting. When the item was removed from the consent agenda, I believed it would return to committee for further review without extended debate. And based on that understanding, I left the meeting. And in hindsight, that was my mistake. After watching the live stream, it became clear that discussion was continuing without our presence. Coach Brian Fragala who serves both as a coach and a member of our board of directors returned to ensure we were present for the remainder of the discussion and we are grateful for his attentiveness. Ultimately the motion that was being considered was withdrawn and council encouraged both organization to work toward a joint a joint proposal. We respected that direction immediately consistent with how we have approached this process from the beginning and entered into good faith discussions which resulted in the joint proposal now before you. So who is CFU? For those who may not know us well, CFU is a locallyowned family operated organization serving families in Apatka, North Orange and Lake counties. Although this is our first year as an independent organization, our leadership and coaching staff bring decades of youth soccer experience within this community. We emphasize licensed coaching, structured player development, and clear standards for sideline conduct and sportsmanship. Many of the families we serve reside within the city of Apakka and travel outside the city to train with us, and they have expressed a desire for stability within their own community. Our fee structure is intentionally designed to remain accessible and competitive within this region. In our first half year alone, we've awarded over $40,000 in financial assistance to ensure players are not turned away for financial reasons. We also established a nonprofit partner, United Sports Initiative, to expand scholarship opportunities and community

outreach. We participated fully in the RFP process and respect the city's purchasing policies and evaluation procedures. Our focus is long-term stability, professionalism, and access for the families we serve. In conclusion, we appreciate the council's leadership and encouraging collaboration and remain committed to working constructively with all parties. Most importantly, we are seeking clarity and stability so families and players can plan for the upcoming season with confidence and certainty. Thank you.

Thank you, Sylvester. Good afternoon, Mayor S. Sylvester Hall, Rock Springs Ridge. Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners. Uh, can we just have a moment of silence for our fallen military personnel because the country is at war. Thank you. When we go to war, I'm a 21 year veteran. Somebody is going to lose a mother. Somebody's going to lose a father. Somebody's going to lose a brother, a sister, a son, cousin. These things are not to be taken lightly. And I say that today because I have a saying that I've been saying for over two years coming up here and seemed like it's falling on deaf ears, but I continue to do it because there's a cause and effect for everything that happen in life and in in this world. And when I see that we have over uh 35,000 registered voters and around 8,500 come out to vote, that's the cause of all the turmoil that the country is facing today. So when you hear me say in the city of Apopka, the state of Florida, and in our country, too many good people are standing by watching bad things

happening and completely being silenced about it. It's time for us to stand up against hate. It's time for us to stand up against corruption. It's time for us to stand up against racism. It's time for us to stand up against greed. And it's time for us to stand up against white privilege. When we normalize the abnormal, we desensitize the truth to the point the truth doesn't matter. So, every citizen, election day is now, it's early voting, and election uh day is uh March the 10th. I'm asking you when you cast your votes, make sure you consider these things because this is the solution to our turmoil in our country. We must remember the truth matters, laws matter, morals matter, ethics matter, leadership matters, character matters, integrity matters, principle matters, rules matter, facts matter, procedures matter. Honesty matters. Accountability matters. Responsibility matters. Justice matters. And all God's people matter. We get up here and we pray before every uh council meeting. And then we turn right back to our wicked ways. I pray that God have grace and mercy on all of us. Thank you.

Okay. All right, approval of the minutes. Uh, anybody from the dis or from the public need to have any adjustments? If not, look for a motion to approve the me the minutes from the February 18th city council meeting. Got a motion by Commissioner Anderson. Second. Second by Commissioner Velasquez. All those in favor? All opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Any changes to the agenda? No changes, Mayor. All right. Consent agenda. We have two items. Does anybody from the public or from the DAS need to pull either one? If not, look for a motion to approve the two consent agenda items. So move. Got a motion by Commissioner Smith. Second.

Second by Commissioner Anderson. All those in favor? I. All oppose. Motion carries. Now, next up, uh, second amendment to the master development agreement of Fidian Town Center. Bobby.

Good afternoon. Bobby How, planning manager. The Flidian Town Center development is located west or north of West Orange Blossom Trail and west of State Road 429 within the PUD known as Flidian Town Center. Permitted uses within the PUD include multifamily town homes assisted living facility, hotel, and a commercial tract. Senity map shows location on the screen. In addition to the PD approval, a master development agreement was approved uh which permitted a maximum of 120 hotel 120 room hotel within the PUD. Major development plan was submitted that proposes a 137 room hotel within the PUD. Applicant is proposing a second amendment to the development agreement to permit a hotel on par 5 that may exceed 120 rooms and but shall not exceed 137 rooms. Recommended motion is approval of the second amendment. Myself and the applicant are here for questions.

Any questions for Bobby?

Anybody from the public wish to speak on this one? Up in Mckame 360 Golden Gem Road. I believe that all the development that we require in this area, especially hotels, is a good thing. But I have a problem here today because the comprehensive plan is a fiction. Everything that you commissioners are voting on is based on something that's untrue. How does that affect you? Does it make you personally responsible? Because you're aware that the comprehensive plan is a fiction. Why is the comprehensive plan a fiction? Because within the comprehensive co comprehensive plan, it stipulates that golden gem retention ponds are operational. 350 million gallons of water are supposed to be able to be contained there this week. You can't even take 4.5 million gallons of water from Alto Springs without being threatened a lawsuit. So if the comprehensive plan is a fiction, what happens every time you vote for a motion here? Are you liable because you know it's a lie? or what do we do to to mitigate what we do? I asked you earlier on to support a motion to do an immediate review of golden gem ponds. The reason I've asked it to be done is because unless you can say to the developers that we are on top of this, then I believe you're personally liable for making decisions that not only affect developers, but that affect residents. Because every time you allow something to go forward, are you denying us of our inaliable rights to have water?

There's a question. If you continuously allow planners and developers to build and the comprehensive plan is false because you haven't looked at potentially whether or not we can adhere to it. Are you affecting my inaliable rights? I believe you are. So again, earlier on today, I asked somebody here to motion that we immediately instigate a review on Golden Gem Retention Ponds to see whether or not it's viable, what the time scale is, and how much money we're going to spend. And people there today are watching you. When people vote, they're watching how you're going to going to deal with this. Don't disenfranchise the people who are going to vote for you by ignoring my request today. Anybody else? Sylvester Hall. When you talk about community, community involvement, there's a lot of thing that goes on. If the community was involved, they would know which candidate candidate is blowing smoke up their butt or not. And I would suggest everybody, if you have a moment, go to YouTube and watch some of these city council meetings.

That way you can learn about what's going on. That's all this is about.

I know what it's about. And what I'm telling you, this young man has been coming up here telling you guys this for over a year now and is falling on death is then myself and others who are standing up for the community and standing up for what's right. We get crucified and called the peanut gallery for coming up here and letting you guys know what's in the community that you should be already knowledgeable of. You should be knowledgeable of the the resolution and what it's going to take to fix it. But yet and still, we bring it to you and you come with your arrogance to not even listen when it can put people in harm's way. This is the kind of corruption I'm saying that needs to stop. And it stopped with citizen like myself and other citizens that Mr. Olsen called warriors and they was crucified. What I'm saying to you today is it's not you guys fault because you are who you are. It's the citizens fault for not recognizing who you are and remove you out of office. So we'll have somebody that's willing to serve them. So when we have an issue like this, not only this and other issues, it's addressed. When any citizen come before you, it should be addressed. It don't take no time to set up a committee. and everybody who come up here with a concern to simply check it out, investigate it, and if carries in and merit, deal with it and make the correction and let the citizen know what what what was the outcome. What did you do? We don't have to agree with it, but at least it shows that you made some effort to listen. If I come to you and tell you your roof

is on fire, you so arrogant you don't even listen. Make it make sense. I say again, make it make sense. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay, not we'll close the public hearing. Look for a motion to approve the second amendment to the master development agreement for the Fidian Town Center. That's only changing it from 120 to 137. So got a motion by Commissioner Velasquez, second by Commissioner Anderson. All those in favor? I. All oppose. Motion carries unanimously. Next up, residents of Emerson Park.

Good afternoon. Jean Sanchez with the community development department. This is a request for approval of the major development plan and construction site plan revision for the residences at Emerson Park. The development was originally approved by city council in 2020 and all subdivision infrastructure has since been constructed and accepted by the city with a certificate of acceptance issued on February 6, 2025. So vertical construction of the town homes has been underway. The project is located east of AoE popka road west of Austin Bay Boulevard and south of Harmon Road. Uh surrounded land surrounding land uses are primarily mixed use and residential including the existing Emerson Park residential subdivision to the north and the east and the Greystone Apka Health and Rehab Center to the south. No changes are proposed to external access points surrounding roadways or adjacent properties as part of this request. All access, circulation, and emergency connectivity remain so previously approved. The subject property has a future land use designation of mixed used and is zoned MU SGT mixeduse shore gateway. The proposed revisions do not change the approved density or intensity which remains at at 103 residential units. Staff finds that the revised layout remains compliant with all applicable zoning and development standards. The applicant is requesting a limited revision to the previously approved MDP and CSP. Specifically, the proposal replaces uh 12 two-car garage town home buildings with an updated onecar garage products on lots 1 through 18, 49 through 60, and 67 through 99 and the formal designation of open space track OS-8. These provisions are confined to building footprints, internal lot

grading, sidewalks, and driveway geometry. No changes are proposed to the completed infrastructure. Parking continues to be provided through a combination of garage spaces, driveways, and on- street parking. And under the LDC, the project requires a minimum of 170 off- streetet parking spaces. And the revised plans provide 476 total spaces. Pedestrian circulation, internal street alignments and emergency access, as I said, remains unchanged. Required buffers are provided with canopy trees such as live oaks and southern magnolia supported by understory and accent trees including crepe myrtles, lob lolly pines along the shrubs and fencing where required. The proposed revisions do not reduce landscaping or buffer widths or open space. and open space track OS8 is fully landscaped and integrated into the design. The DRC recommends approval of the residences of Emerson Park major development plan and construction site plan revisions at its meeting on February 10th, 2026. The planning commission unanimously recommended approval of the MDP/CSP revision with two abstensions. Um, with that said, uh, to add, actually, a letter received by staff from the Emerson Park, uh, town homes HOA has been included in the staff report. Um, really, it's as as it's been included as part of the public record to include uh to ensure full transparency. However, staff is limited to evaluating the MDP CSB revisions for compliance with adopted land use regulations and so legal matters outside that scope are best addressed by the city attorney. So, with that said, staff and applicant are available for questions.

Any questions for Jean? Um well, you know that we had received I've received anyway over 39 emails from residents and it's regarding I guess a lawsuit that's going on between Emerson Park and Park Square and I do and I did listen to that uh PNZ meeting and one member abstained because he is a resident of Emerson Park but the other one abstained because uh he had an issue with the lawsuit And of course, when I sat through the agenda review, I was advised that this is a civil lawsuit and it should not impact the decision on this project. But I my only reservation is that when there's an issue or problem with a development, and of course it's a private one, when one walks away from it, the developer walks away, then the one that's left with the problem comes to us to try and resolve the problem. That's my only reservation and that's what happens. Any other questions for the staff?

Uh yes, I have two. Uh one, it indicates in the report that there are going to be some minor adjustments to lots 73 through 81. What are those minor adjustments? I'll defer that to the applicant for specific adjustments to the lots. Um George, I want to present. Sure. Okay. So, well, if y'all want to present, any any other questions for Gan before we bring up the applicant? Did they have to update a landscape plan since now it's there's

they did update the landscape plan? Not much really changed other than um landscaping their additional open space tract. Um but that's really about it. Do we do calculations for requirements for capacity for like uh irrigation and things of that nature? Like what is needed to now that they're adding more green space the irrigation required for that that irrigation plans um were um also reviewed by public works and that so to confirm that there had to be two different ones. One the original one and then one with this updated plan reviewed. We have capacity in that with those changes. As I understand it, there were no objections from any DRC members on the approval. So,

Okay. Thank you. Okay.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, commissioners, my name is Joe Kovish. I'm an attorney from the Louns Law Firm here on behalf of the applicant. We did submit a presentation. Uh, is it So, I I do want to be brief. Um, but we will answer the questions just addressed. To the extent there is any public comment, I'd like an opportunity to respond to that. But on this initial run, I want to just stress that the only material change is the reduction in the um size of the garage associated with 12 buildings from two car down to one car. There were some minor adjustments to open space, but uh the again the site requires about 170 parking spaces. We provide about 470 and change. So it's about 280% of the required parking spaces. So parking is not an issue at all. If you see this uh this site plan here, you can see the um the general scheme of the development. Now infrastructure is in place. Site work is done. Vertical construction has already begun. Some of these buildings are already constructed. What we are doing, if you look at this slide, is only reducing the size of the garage for the buildings that are circled in red. The driveways are remaining the same. So, the the number of driveway spaces

remains. It's just a reduction in the size of the garage for these buildings. Um, if you look at the first image, that is the old mockup. That is the old elevation for what the garages would look like. Uh, the proposal is is something like the bottom. This is from a different site, but this was a a mockup elevation. The only difference between what is in this picture and what we actually propose in the site plan is the garage driveways will remain two cars. So they'll they'll remain the original width to facilitate uh two vehicles. There is no change to the front elevations at all. If you look at the site plan, the garages we're talking about are all interior. So they are all to the back of each building. But the front of the building, so the the elevations visible from Alston Bay, from the other streets remain unchanged. And I do want to um touch briefly on the lawsuit issue raised by Commissioner uh Velasquez. Now, in Florida, in the United States, you know, we're still innocent until proven guilty. To sort of put it in layman's terms, uh we have not admitted any liability or any fault in the pending lawsuits. One of them has to do with a retaining wall that is indicated on this slide. It's sort of the orange line on the right hand side. It does not touch any of the buildings. it does not touch any of the garages. Um those laws the lawsuit is still pending there may be an an order from a judge and and if an order comes out obviously we will comply uh under the law but as we stand today there's no finding of

liability and the applicant is coming before you for approval not anything to do with the wall but just to do with the size of the garages as staff has indicated are compliant with code. Uh there is a a second lawsuit having to do with the the costs associated with maintenance and upkeep of Austin Bay Boulevard to the south. Uh again, that is a dispute about what is required under a written contract has no bearing or implication on the size of the garages at all. So, while those lawsuits are still pending, our position is they have no bearing on the request before um you all this afternoon. I do um Mr. Georgie uh I believe can answer. There was a specific question uh posed about and and I I apologize. I forget the specifics of the question, but there was a more design specific question I believe somebody asked. Uh yes, my question was what are the minor adjustments that's referenced to lots 70 through 73 through 81?

Good afternoon George Georgie the PE on the uh uh proposed revisions. Um so in in regards to the uh revisions to the lots um this all right so these are the lots that were uh slightly tweaked. The original design had those the lot lines extend [clears throat] uh through that open space all the way to the rightway. the revision. So there were extremely deep lots will be on what's required. Uh the revision was to uh terminate the lots uh along this line and the creation of this open space open space 8.

So I have a go ahead just a few questions. So in regards to you said reduction of of of garage space. So to be clear it's reducing the number of garages. So you're going from twocar garage to one car garage. Is that correct? Yes. Yes. So the the size of the proposed garages on 12 two-car garage to a onecar garage on 12 buildings out of the 19 buildings. Correct. So not only just reducing the size but also reducing the number of garages. So no. So the number that the original garage could could fit two cars, two cars to one car. I just want to be clear on that. Correct.

Okay. Because I think it's kind of play with words with that. Okay. So, in addition to that, so in regards to affordability, so is that to help to make the home more affordable because you're reducing the garage space from a twocar garage to a onecar garage. Is that for more for affordability or is it for just trying to understand the reason for the reduction? It I it makes it uh market competitive for I can't speak for the pricing for for the client. I don't believe uh they're present but the understanding is it is uh it has an impact on the affordability and one of the main driver is the cost of the construction correct yeah

so the what other units have a this is the only proposed units that's going to have two car one car garage or the other units that also so uh the ones that are shown in here in dark lines those are the ones that are going to have the um the onecar garage all the other ones will maintain in the two-car garage.

So, this is you guys are going to pass the savings on to be more affordable. I just want to make sure that's because that's one of the conversations I was kind of having with some of the homeowners is that you guys are looking to be more affordable to bring affordable more affordable town homes. Again, I can't speak for for the developer himself on on this particular point, the pricing there, but uh that's that's the understanding is uh the affordability of of um the the proposed units. Correct. Okay. Mr. Vosquez, I thought the I thought the reason for the twocar garage to one had something to do with the fire department. So that was another um another point that

I never heard about affordability. I just heard it was the fire department. So that that was another reason for it which is to allow for easier access to the fire department uh particularly along the uh the emergency access. I don't know if you can is someone from the fire department um at this emergency access. So reducing the size of the garage there does allow for more maneuverability for for the fire fire staff and fire trucks.

Was that a requirement of the because we originally approved the site plan as with two car garages? So did something change where it became a fire hazard or something? I guess because you said that was the reason for the that was that's my first time I actually heard that was a reason. That's what I heard.

Yeah. So, it's it's sort of not the cause, but it's it's a benefit of the change. That was just a concern raised about access to the rear of the units. Um, I believe there uh, you know, it it was the development as designed and approved was code compliant. There were no waiverss that I know of for access to the rear. But, uh, once construction started, I I believe that that was when the issue came up. Uh it was just noted that the access to the rear um would be better under this configuration. So it's a benefit of this new configuration that access to the rear of the units is easier. Um it is more open. That's that's my understanding of where that that uh issue has has been discussed and where it has arisen.

Any other questions for developer? If not, I can bring I can bring up the chief. So, when you're changing it from two to one, are you changing the um the the length of the driveway? Is that changing the length of the driveway? No, the the length of the driveway is still the same. Okay. Nothing changed. So that would allow I mean because from the twocar garage you're now going to push if they have a twocar family there the car that goes on the driveway won't impede on the sidewalk in the in front of the the townhouse. Right. No. Yeah. The the limits and the depth of of the product itself was not affected. Thank you.

Any other questions for the not bring chief up talk about the Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Thank you. Commissioner, to address the question, there was no major change when we did a site review of the plane itself. We wanted to make sure that we had emergency access as far as for a stretcher. More of a not a fire response for emergency services. We have medical patient with two cars being parked out in the driveway and then a twocar garage that has no connectivity to the house itself from the front entrance or from the rear entrance, I say. Um, it was best to go down to one so we can actually fit a stretcher all the way through.

Okay. Did that kind of clarify that?

Okay. All right. Okay. Anybody from the public wish to speak on this one? Well, while Phyllis is coming up, I just want to thank the staff. I mean, Bradley and and public services and the fire department got a lot of the information that was requested by Emerson Park um for whatever, you know, if it ends up being a lawsuit. All the information is there. We put it all into one place. And I want to thank Rally for compiling it all. It was a it was a lot of lot of hours on on all of all of our staff's part to put put you know this whole package together so that you know we at least both sides have the information that they they need to to move forward with. Okay. As supervisor of the Orange Soil and Water Conservation District, um I am interested in why the rendering and maybe they're just so that you can see the product is no canopies around the houses that I don't see any the town homes. I don't see any trees in around the houses. I only see them surrounding the perimeter. And it's very important that we have um canopy um throughout the area to reduce the heat and to sequester the carbon and to improve um electric bills etc. So I'm wondering where those trees are. I only saw flowers right at the base of the houses and um the green spaces are just I hope it's ground cover and not saw why don't you wait just see if there's any other questions for Yep. [clears throat]

Albert McKimmy 3603 Golden Gem Road. Just an observation. The best boxer isn't necessarily the boxer with the hardest punch. It's the man who can dance around and avoid things. Well, Commissioner Nester just asked a question that intrigued me because the answer he got satisfied the question he asked. But maybe if we ask a different question, we might get a different answer. We asked were the requirements met in terms of water for for a development and the answer was yes they met the requirements but the requirements don't necessarily reflect what's on the comprehensive plan. So, is anyone from staff prepared to go on record is saying that the comprehensive plan is accurate and that anything taken off the comprehensive plan is therefore verifiable? Anybody else from the public wish to speak? Okay. If not, we'll close the public hearing. Um, you want to address the the trees? I don't

uh Thank you, mayor. only to say that the the purpose of the elevation photos is to show the structure that the uh site itself will comply with the approved landscape plan, but the this elevation is a mockup of the building itself. It's not intended to show landscaping.

Okay. All right. Thank Thank you. All right. We'll close this public hearing. Look for a motion to approve the residences at Emerson Park major development plan construction site plan revision. Attorney Shepard, the act of litigation that's going on, this is quasi judicial, correct? It is.

Can you explain what that means? Yeah, it means that you're interpreting whether or not uh this application meets the code requirements to be approved and therefore you've listened to the evidence from the podium. uh you may have received evidence outside although it's not disclosed um and you make a decision about whether based on the evidence and that's important not the opinions uh that you the applicant has met his burden in terms of what evidence that would be competent substantial evidence is evidence that a reasonable person relying on and here you've heard from the staff and contained in the staff report among other things uh that it does meet all of those requirements uh The re recommended motion tells you that it says that f to find that the proposed residence of emirate Emerson Park major development plan revision is consistent with the comprehensive plan and development code and recommends approval of the major development plan. That means staff has found that it meets all of those requirements. It doesn't mean you have to believe Steph, but you have to then if you're going to oppose this, you need to say, okay, well, there's confident, substantial evidence from somebody else. And that would be somebody who is a planner, an engineer, uh maybe sometimes a surveyor, maybe sometimes an appraiser that would counterbalance what you've heard from staff. And in the absence of that, it will be difficult only because in in rejection of an application like this, you have to give reasons that we then have to supply within, I think it's 30 days uh from the rendering of the decision to the applicant uh so they can decide what they're going to do. And that that uh denial letter has to have those reasons. So, if you vote to deny or move to deny, then please provide the at the evidence that we're going to rely on to tell them why we're denying.

Thank you. Okay. Well, so can I can I ask a question of of um um our chief administrative Bradley? I know we got this kind of today. Um so I kind of briefed through it. Did you get any feedback from the HOA president? Uh, yes, she did reach back out to me. I offered in the memo and I know you read that we'd certainly sit down and meet and go through it with them if they would like in person. So, we will set that up with her.

Um, and again, those items that were referencing the memo, we'll go through with her again and see if there's anything else we can help gather. Well, I mean, no one's here from Emerson Park to dispute this at this point, but um but you are going to sit down with them. Yes, I will schedule time with Miss Haye and and any other board members if they'd like to meet.

Yeah. I mean, I think they're trying to put two things together. I mean, I I kind of liken it, you could say this, let's say it's a homeowner, and a homeowner has put a fence over onto the next person's property. So, it's not So, it definitely is an illegal fence. And then, but that homeowner who's got the illegal fence wants to get a permit for a hot water heater. You can't you can't put the two you can't stop them from getting a hot water heater permit because the fence they just erected was not on their property. I mean, pretty simplistic, but that's kind of what So, we it's it's it's apples and oranges. what we're what we're doing here is is just we're just um making an

no adjustment to the There was also the storm water issue, but um you said that the master plan had the intention of Park Square sharing or or using the storm water that's uh in Emerson Park. Yes, that's what I found. Okay, I did read that. So, it wasn't just the the the retention wall. It had also to do with the storm water. So, um Okay. As long as you have a meeting with them, if if you can share what the feedback is from that. I don't see anyone here from Emerson Park. So, um

yeah, she did respond this morning and I'll be reaching out to set a time with her. Right. I mean, because I did get 39 emails. I mean, I'm not answering each email until because I'd be saying the same thing over and over again. So, and I just want to just kind of think about what you're saying and we do understand it's quality judicial and we actually have to, you know, have to approve it, you know, but I just want to just express that this community have really been through a lot with developers and if you guys can kind of take in consideration understanding that that there some things happen and there's just it's just a lot. So, we're asking you to definitely work with the residents. they they've been there for a long time and um just do what you can to work with them. So that's all I can say and I'll so make the motion. Okay, Commissioner Anderson makes the motion.

Second.

Second by Commissioner Velasquez. All those in favor? I. All opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Next up, Cold Link Apopka Major Development Plan. for director is Mir Hamza, a planner. The um let's go back. The applicant has submitted a major development plan for property located at 2560 West Orange Blossom Trail, which is just east of Stewart Avenue and west of uh Lake View Drive. The major development plan is called Cold Link Aapka, and it consists of a proposed uh new warehouse to the existing site. The new building has a total area of 147,624 square ft. Uh these are the vicinity and aerial maps of the 2560 West Orange Blossom Trail site. The total site area is 27.63 acres. Um the future land use for this property is industrial and the zoning for this property is uh light industrial. This is the major development plan for uh coingapka. Uh the development review committee has recommended approval. Um at the February 10, 2026 meeting, planning commission has unanimously recommended approval of the coal linkapka uh major development plan. The recommended motion is for city council to approve ColinkaKa major development plan. Staff and applicant are available for further qu comments or questions. Any questions for Amir? Anybody from the public wish to speak on this one? If not, we'll close the public hearing. Look for a motion to approve the Cold Link Apka major development plan.

So move. Got a motion by Commissioner Smith. Second. Second by Commissioner Nesa. All those in favor?

All oppose? Motion carries unanimously. Next up, assignment for Oak View oversizing utility line and partial construction reimbursement agreement between Hanover Family Builders LLC and the city of Apopka to land homes. We've emptied out. Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. Thank the item before you is the assignment agreement between Hanover and Lancancy. At the city council meeting dated May 17, 2023, city council approved the Oakview oversizing utility agreement with Handover Family Builders LLC. Handover Family Builders LLC now wishes to assign the its rights, duties, and obligations and responsibilities to Lansancy Homes USA Corporation. As required under current agreement, the city must grant permission to handover Family Builders LLC to make such assignment. So the request before you is to approve the assignment agreement between Handover Family Builders and Lance C Homes US Corporation for the Oakview Oversiz and Utility Line and the partial construction reimbursement agreement. In addition, we're requesting a waiver of the procurement process for the water main construction reimbursement um that is being requested in accordance with procurement policy 107.334.

Any questions for Blanch? Anybody from the public wish to speak on this one? If not, we'll close the public hearing. Look for a motion to approve the assignment of Oak View Oversizing Utility Line and Partial Construction Reimbursement Agreement between the Hannibore Family Builders LLC and the city of Apaka to Land C Homes. So move. Got a motion by Commissioner Smith. Second. Second by Commissioner Anderson. All those in favor? I. All oppose. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Thanks, Blanch. Next up, the proposed sponsorship agreement renewal with Advent helpka. Cindy,

good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. I am excited this afternoon uh to request uh the approval of the proposed sponsorship agreement renewal for Advent Health Popka. staff present to city council for consideration and approval a new five-year sponsorship agreement between Advent Health Apka and the city. Advent Health APKA continues to be an important part of the Apakka community and has enhanced our community through a variety of partnerships and agreements with the city. The 2020 sponsorship agreement in effect through 2025 provided the city with significant enhancements and inind support for Madman Health APKA. The agreement had a total value of $637,00040 comprising $298,000 in monetary contributions and $339,040 in in contributions. over the lifetime of that agreement. As part of the agreement, Advent Health Popka received marketing and branding opportunities at the Northwest Recreation Complex, while the city received funding to construct an outdoor workout area at the Northwest Recreation Complex, a digital sign at Jason Doyle Parkway and Ponan Road, and support for senior and youth programs and sports. The 2020 sponsorship agreement provided Advent Health APKA the first right of refusal opportunity at the expiration of the agreement to present the city with a new sponsorship agreement proposal. The proposed agreement has been attached to the staff report for your review and consideration and the [clears throat] new proposed uh agreement includes the following. Increased monetary contribution to the city by Advent Health Apopka. Increased and better defined inind service and services and programs provided to the city by Advent Health APKA. Presence at youth sport opening day ceremonies.

Providing stretching clinics, giveaways and prizes. Monthly health monthly health education workshops for seniors and Apakka residents. Quarterly cooking demonstrations for the Apakka community. defined participation by Advent Health Apka at the following city events. The Apka Health and Fitness Festival, $2,000 annual value. The senior Valentine's concert, $2,000 annual value. Fourth of July celebration, $10,000 annual value. 911 ceremony, $500 annual value. Hispanic Heritage Celebration as title sponsor, $5,000 annual value. Apakka tree lighting as title sponsor $5,000 annual value. So on the slides we showed the 2020 agreement background um from last year which correlates with the staff report and then we have the proposed new agreement showing the increases and the impact to the community based on this agreement. Uh the total value of the proposed new sponsorship agreement is $73,650 with Advent Health APKA providing 340 thou five 354,000 in monetary contributions and $349,650 and inind contribution services to the city. Uh staff recommend approval of the proposed sponsorship agreement with Advent Health Apka. We also have Brad Hillman here who is the chief uh operating officer for Advent Health and we have Cara McDaniel from his staff, the director of community engagement and Jamaa Felix, the manager of government advocacy. Okay,

cool. All right, any questions for Cindy? And if not, we'll have Brad come up if you want to. give us a our new newly christened.

Good afternoon, Mayor Nelson, Vice Mayor Velasquez, Commissioners Anderson, Neesa, and Smith, members of the public. My name is Brad Hillman. I have the honor of serving as the chief executive officer of Aban Health Apka. As a lifelong resident of Apopka, it's a privilege to stand before you today, not just as a hospital leader, but as a community member who cares deeply about the health of our city. Today represents a lot of work by the city of Apka and Advent Health as we take the next step on our continued partnership. As a faith-based organization, Advent Health is guided by our mission of extending the healing ministry of Christ. And for more than five decades, Advent Health Apka has cared for families here in the community with a commitment to whole person health ma body, mind, and spirit. Advent Health APK has grown into 158 bed hospital with with a supporting outpatient network so our neighbors can continue to receive compassionate whole person care close to home. We're grateful to continue expanding that presence through our renewed partnership, bringing trusted care even closer to the community we serve. Each year, our care team takes care of more than 50,000 emergency visits and over 112,000 outpatient encounters. This reflects the trust the community has placed in us and it reflects the needs of our residents that are growing. But we know health does not begin in the emergency room. It begins at home, on the playground, on the ball field, and in community centers and classrooms. Through this expanded relationship, we will provide dedicated clinical staff time to serve the vibrant community in areas outside of the hospital walls. In programs like monthly senior health workshops, chronic disease education, they highlight not just longevity, but also quality of life. Cooking demonstrations to help ensure health and support for youth sports so our young people can showcase their talent that

exists in this community. participation in major city events that bring neighbors together and build relationships, all of which provide trusted health expertise outside the walls of our hospital. This partnership reflects our shared belief that strong communities are not just built on accessibility of care, but also education, illness prevention, and connection. This agreement is about helping more families in Apakka feel whole physically, mentally, and spiritually. We are grateful for the opportunity to stand alongside the city as partners in building a healthier future for Apopkco. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Brad. Any questions for Brad or for Cindy?

Okay. Anybody from the public wish to speak on this one? Not we'll close the public hearing. Look for a motion to approve the advent. So move. Oh, you didn't finish. No. The proposed sponsorship agreement renewal with Advent Health. Got a motion by Commissioner Anderson. Second.

Second by Commissioner Velasquez. All those in favor? I. All oppose. Motion carries unanimously. And before you guys leave, I do want to um thank you. I've got I your students uh called uh Pastor Marino called last Friday and was going to do it under my mayor's report, but I'd rather while you're here bring it up. So he says, "Uh, mayor, I've got 50 kids going to come on Friday. We'll do a day of service or day of caring um for your forest lake academy." And so, okay, great. 50 we can we can handle that. So, we we we're going to go out and we're going to clean up the birding park or excuse me, the the mountain bike park. And he's then he calls a couple days later. Hey, I've got another hundred students coming like Oh. So, we've got uh we've got some planning we're going to do out at Northwest and then we've got a um uh one other project at we're going to paint the uh the graffiti off the the wall on the Lush Road property. So, we thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank the Adventist team and and Forest Lake Academy for what you do for our community.

Thank you. Two of my oldest sons will be part of it. I want them on the paint program with with with uh Bradley. [laughter] Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh number six, waiver purchasing policy. Blanch.

Yes. Item before you again uh is the waiver of the purchasing policy 107.334 for RFP 2026A275 and acceptance of the joint proposal for the Northwest Recreation Complex Field Rentals. On October 18th um 2026, city council provided guidance regarding the resolution of a potential bid award for RFP 20268275. As a result of that guidance, the two RP RFP responders agreed to present a joint proposal between Central Florida United Soccer Academy and Central Florida Soccer Club for the use of four active fields at the Northwest Recreation Complex. Attached is the proposal that the two um soccer um companies provided and they are here. If you have any questions about that joint proposal or you can pro where did you go present your side

unless we need are we all good if everybody's good and talk about the joint proposal. Yes.

I probably

Yeah, that would be good. Thanks. Uh if there any question Brian Forgalan I was up here a couple weeks ago uh coach board of director uh if you have any questions about the joint statement uh as we kind of discussed there are four current fields we decided that the best to do if we were going to uh mutually agree to something is to split those into half. Uh so the current one would be uh two for uh United two for fire and then we had also discussed at the meeting last time that there might be an acceleration of the new fields coming on board. the new fields coming on board and I'll let Naji kind of speak to this one as well. Uh they would have access to the first two that come on board. Uh any that come online after that we would want to have access as United as as for one. Um again all this is kind of written in a joint proposal that we had agreed to. So I'm not sure if there's any questions that you guys have.

Okay. Let me ask both both um squads here. Would you like Bradley kind of go over what we've what we've come up with as far as fields new fields? Would that help? Do you want to do it before or after? Do you want to do it now or do you want to wait till you've Well, I I don't know. Like we submitted the joint proposal. Has that has been Well, there comment on it, I guess. Well, I just think it it will give everybody some clarity as to going forward. I know that was one of the, you know, questions we had. So, Rally, I know you and I guess Yeah, I can give an update, Mayor. Thank you.

Uh, since the last time of the meeting, we did receive the permit back from St. John's River Water Management uh district on the plans. So, the plans are finalized. We have provided the plans to our two qualified contractors to submit the secondary quote. That's in process right now. Um uh we're working through some questions they have on the plans with our uh design engineer. Um once those uh quotes are received, we'll be able to move quickly because those are approved vendors. Uh so whichever one uh wins that bid, we'll be able to move quickly with them. Uh the uh plan timeline is to get them moving, get construction underway and with a goal of trying to wrap construction by end of May, first part of June. So that would allow us a few months or a month, month and a half to get the sod established um and get a couple fields online. We're looking at an option of uh soding two fields immediately uh and then spriging the remaining four which a sprig is a a growin period a little longer than a sod um or soding four fields immediately and growing in two. So, uh, we are actively moving.

We're going to have now two organizations. And so, the scheduling is also kind of going to be a collaboration between you two because you're only now each working with two fields that are available, right?

Well, technically should be six fields. uh for uh as we like I said as we with our collaboration and with the with the city's uh you know proposal to go ahead and expedite the uh the construction of the fields. There'll be four four fields for CFSC, two fields for CFU by uh by August 1st of 2026 and by August 1st 2027, it'll be an additional field for uh for CFU unless there's more growth than the option went before two two fields.

Okay. And as far as far as as scheduling I think one one of the most one of the issues with the scheduling is we didn't have guaranteed weekend uh you know weekend priority. So that's part of also was part of the proposal and then it's uh it's on us to make sure that we work that scheduling and with uh you know with maintenance to make sure there's no overuse of the fields etc. Okay. Okay. Any other questions for either?

Well, just a comment. I mean, we work pretty hard to try and work this out at your direction, right? So, I think for Central Florida United, I think the the the most pressing is issue is the sort of the closure and the urgency of this because we do want to give direction to our, you know, members. Yeah. Uh players, parents who live in Apakka who are following this and are kind of looking for some guidance to know if we can have a place to play next year. Okay. So, awesome. and uh just want to say thank you for working together and figuring out a solution.

Um because of course at the end of the day it was really about the families and the uh students that come out to play soccer because that's that's who we want to benefit from the program at the end of the day is is the the players. So we appreciate that. Okay. Any other questions for Blanch or for the applicants? Now I would just like to suggest I heard uh Mr. Williams say that they're considering sorting two sprig and four. I would like suggest that we start four and sprig two.

Duly noted. [laughter] All right. So, the the request before you today is to approve the waiver of the procurement process of the Northwest Recreation um sports field rental in accordance with the policy, accept the joint proposal from CFU and CFS and authorize negotiating negotiation of pricing of the Northwest Recreation Complex Field Rentals. Okay. First of all, anybody from the public wish to speak on this? If not,

yes. One one speak. It would be um maybe more applicable to the second issue. Um my concern is maintenance and it would apply to both groups. and the rest of the um recreation area is especially with the new restrictions and everyone complaining online um about constant watering out there. um even when restrictions are out there in normal times that when there's not an allowed watering period and watering continues, how are you going to keep um you know Rod's concern about the condition of the fields um decent when you can't water once they're established? Of course, after that one month of new sod being put down and you can't water them every day, how are you going to keep them in tow um and in good condition after one month? And then what type of grass or sods you're going to use? Those are my questions. Thank you. Anybody else from the public?

[snorts]

Rod Olsson, 3156 Rolling Hills Lane here in Apopka. I'm really excited about the aspect of you gentlemen be able to get together, organizations getting together to come up with a a viable plan to move forward. However, I vehemently object to the whole program. The fact that this city has continued to discriminate against soccer. They offer programs to kids that want to play above the age of 14 that the city wreck provides. They also provide opportunities up to age 18, which the city does not provide in doing it. the fact that baseball, softball, little league, Pop Warner, flag football enjoy rates of two to $3 an hour a field. It's inexplicable that you can charge $25 an hour, which has been historical number that these organizations have had to pay, plus pay for game time. The other sports do not, youth sports organizations do not pay for game time. They have the fields. This is an opportunity for you to take a lead on this words. Leadership is measured not by words but by action. Today you have the opportunity to act. First thing you should do is you should kill this RFP. Remove the RFP. The solution is simple. Direct parks and recreation to enga enter into a five-year agreement with these organizations comparable to the other youth programs that we have in the city. Thank you. Anybody else? If not, we'll close the public hearing.

Sorry. Okay.

Just a point of clarification because I don't necessarily understand the process. Right. So, a concern about killing the RFP prior to the agreements in place is something that we have a we have concern with. So, can someone help me understand how this process works? Does it happen jointly or does it happen one and then the other? The easiest solution is you already table the decision on the RFP, you can continue the table until they get the contract knocked out. What you're really saying for the the purchasing folks is that they have been a lot of concern because this is a process that isn't like spelled out in your purchasing procedures and you guys are the masters of your procedures. So, if you want to, if that's a concern, which I understand, there's not a a contract yet, uh you could table this and then if they come back and say, "We got a contract, everybody's good, contracts approved, and you can then uh conclude the RFP." That's a solution.

So, so wait, let me get So, you're saying we could go to number seven, approve that one, and then come back to six. Yeah. Which I guess is to tell them to go go ahead and negotiate and put the contract together. But I don't think we can. What? We We got to If they accept the joint proposal and approve us to go ahead and negotiate, we can come back to number seven and table it. Right. That's that's what you're saying. That's correct. So, we we approve number six and then we table number seven. Yes. You can table number seven until the contracts are negotiated. Correct. We can bring those back to council if necessary for approval. Perfect. Okay.

So, and then kind of what uh Mr. Olson had discussed um how do we kind of have either a workshop or something to discuss um the purchasing how the fees are paid that's usually handled by parks and rake in regards to negotiating those contracts. Yes. So that would be part of the negotiation of the contract. Yeah. So and that would if you would like that contract would come back to council for final approval. Okay. And bring it back. And I just want to make sure I understand that if we approve this agreement, then these two organizations can start to play next week or whenever. Well, it's August. August 1st. August 1st. This contract doesn't end till June July or June.

He's got through July. Okay. So, one has through July and then the other one can start in August and they'll be sharing two fields each. Correct. Yeah. After we negotiate the contracts. Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay. Right. And so you can table the with the concern that was just brought before you, you can table the next item until those negotiations are complete. Okay. And that contract comes back to us for final approval. Yes. Okay. Bring it back up.

Sylvester Hall, for the record, if we never had an RFP before, where's the data showing why we need one now? What was the purpose of bringing the RFP? If we never had one before and everything worked well, was the data showing that we should change the process? Where's the data showing that there's a need to change the process?

And then in the future, we have two now. What about three or four when they come? How are we going to dissect that? So I want to know because there's a cause and then there's an effect. What we're dealing with now is the effects of a decision that was made. So we have to get back to the cause. What was the purpose of the RFP? Why did we need one after all these years never having one? Somebody want to clear that up for me for the record.

Mayor, would you like me to Sure. chime in.

Uh I believe we discussed this last meeting, the uh the demand for sport athletic fields. If we built 20 fields tomorrow, we still would have demand for those fields. As we are coming into uh bringing six additional fields online at Northwest Recreation Complex, we have been getting continual outreach for groups uh looking for space. So to provide a process to allow for groups in the community to to put a bid in to apply for some of our limited space, we went the with the RFP option. Um as uh Mr. Hall had referenced. There are many other groups out in the community that will be looking for field space and continue looking for field space multiple years down the road. The RFP process does allow us an opportunity to um put a fair uh availability out on the fields.

That's why it was done. To to his point, when we started I've been in a pocket for 30 years. When we started 30 years ago, it wasn't that popular and it started to grow grow over the years. There was never a need for RFP. When it was very very small and it grew to what it is now, there still never has been a need for RFP. Thank you.

Okay. Okay. Dr. Jim Warrior, I personally just want to commend these two groups for working together amically and for everyone who's putting the children first. God bless you. Thank you. Okay. All right. One, Mr. Just quickly uh

just quickly regarding the RFP process. I mean we we know Bradley I understand what R is saying about going the RFP route. You know the issue with going the RFP route. you know, it sets a dangerous pre precedent uh especially for long-standing nonprofit, you know, youth organizations that have, you know, spent years building programs, mentoring children, supporting families in the community. You know, at the last meeting, I believe Commissioner Anderson and Mr. uh Mr. Olsen suggested that issue that we should issue RFPs all across the board to all organizations. Um, while we understand, you know, what the intention is, you know, history shows us that competitive bidding for youth sports programs can can have serious consequences. Back in 2016, the city of Orlando placed Trouters Park out for a bit. at the time at the time ACS which was a nonprofit serving the community for years and years uh they had a basically exclusive agreement with the with the city for $100,000 a year to use basically exclusive uh the park exclusively. A for-profit organization came in when the RFP was open and they won the bid by bidding $275 $75,000. What happened next really was predictable. You know, program fees for families more than doubled basically overnight. Many children were forced for forced out of the program because their families simply couldn't afford it anymore. Kids who had grown, you know, up playing with their teammates and coaches suddenly had to go elsewhere. And within three years, that organization filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. Just one month after collecting registration fees for from families, those families never got their money back. You know, the city was left picking up the pieces and had to revert back. is basically simply renting fields for years before another organization could rebuild programs. You know, this is what happens when youth sports are treated like a commercial contract instead of a partnership, you know, with the city. You know, you have

two organizations here and I've always said there's room, place, space for both organiz organizations to to coexist at the end of the day for the benefit of our children. I mean, for me, that's that's the most important thing. Can we can what what can we do, you know, for for our children, you know. Because at the end of the day, when we make decisions about whether we go an RFP route or not, you know, will the decision strengthen youth sport in the community or make it harder for our kids to our kids to participate? I mean, really, it's really simple. That's that's that's the big question. So, anyway, at the end of the day, I'm glad you know, Brad and I, CFU, and CFSC were able to come up with a solution that hopefully benefits our kids and our community.

All right. Thank you. All right. Looking for a motion to approve the waiver of the purchasing policy 107.3.4 for RFP 2026- A-275 and acceptance of joint proposal for Northwest Recreational Complex Sports Field Rentals. So move. Got a motion by Commissioner Smith. Second. Second by Commissioner Anderson. All those in favor? All opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Next up, uh that's the one we got to take. RFP 2026-8-275.

Great. Um, at the February 18th city council meeting, this item was tabled until the March 4th city council meeting um, pertain, you know, as a result of the request for the joint proposal that was just presented to you. Um, based on the information that was recently shared, I think, um, what we're looking at here is to table this item again until we complete the negotiations and bring the contracts back before council for approval. Okay. Okay. Any questions for Blanch? Anybody from the public wish to speak on this one? Yeah. Got to come up.

It's a lot of work. For one quick question. Do we have any kind of timeline on when we would expect that proposal because again I think families for both clubs are waiting. Yeah, we'll work with the procurement team to schedule uh negotiations. That's two. Yeah. Tomorrow. Within two weeks. I mean by the next health week. Okay. Next council meeting. That that fast enough? No. But okay. [laughter] Okay. All right. All right. We'll close the public hearing. Look for a motion to um table the RFP 20226-8-275 Northwest Recreational Complex Sports Field Reynolds. So move. Got a motion by Commissioner Smith. Second.

Second by Commissioner Anderson. All those in favor? All opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. And uh M Miss Sherman uh so cold of silence is still in place. Oh yeah. Okay. I'm afraid so. So it's still in place. Yes, ma'am. You take [laughter] Did you hear that? Still in place. Yes, it is.

All right. Mr. Smith, why don't you get us started? Uh, I just think we had a great uh, celebration across the month of uh, February of Black History Month. I want to thank all of those different organizations that sponsored Black History events and all those who participated and uh, that's all I have. Okay, Commissioner Neesa.

Absolutely. Uh, just I will be pausing office hours tomorrow uh, March 5th and resuming them on March 12th uh, from 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. here at city hall. um feel free to schedule a meeting or uh just come in and um if we want to meet somewhere else, not not at city hall, don't feel comfortable here, no problem. I can uh meet you anywhere else. Just let me know. Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

Okay, give me a second. Thank you. Okay, as I raise today to address a very serious matter that the residents of the city deserve to be aware of. In 2025, the Mloud Law Firm filed a lawsuit against me, alleging residency um issues. On March 2nd, 2026, the judge granted my motion to dismiss. Less than 24 hours later, the lawsuit was refiled. And at this time, the city was added as a defendant. Why am I bringing this to council and to the public? For two reasons, transparency and awareness. What has unfolded appear to be a coordinated effort to undermine the will of voters. An effort that I believe that has been led and assisted by a sitting commissioner, Nick Neesa. On January 22nd, 2024, emails were exchanged from the address nest22gmail.com assisting in drafting that assisting in drafting what was described as a final complaint. In one of those emails, the message read, "See attached notes within the PDF. Please do not share this document with anyone or tell anyone that I assisted in the efforts. Why would a sitting commissioner not want anyone to know he was assisting in drafting a complaint against a fellow elected official in another email let's see that's the one he said this is the one let's make sure see attached within the PDF please not share this

document anyone or tell anyone that I assist in the so that's the first email from him. Let's see. All right. In another email, he stated, "I cleaned up a little formatting in just a couple of words. Otherwise, it looks good." Additionally, on January 15, 2024, at 11 o'clock a.m., an email from Bill Mloud of the Mloud Law Firm stated, really can't see it, but it's there. Additionally, okay, here's a rough sample of a complaint of declaratory judgment. Another email by the M Bill Mloud stated, "Look, let me look at it before you send it. There will be a filing fee for her daughter to start the process. These communications show a coordination between a sitting commissioner and the current plaintiff who is suing me. One of the individuals involved has since come forward acknowledged their participation and apologized for their role in these efforts to remove me from office. Efforts that began before I even took my seat. If there if that was not enough, Commissioner Nesa then assisted in dropping the complaint against my real estate license with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The complaint alleged that the address on file for my license was inaccurate. Here is the here is the contradiction. The same address being alleged in the res residency complaint was also used to attack my professional license, but in reverse. It could not be both ways. So, I asked p publicly, what does my real estate license have to do with my service as a commissioner? How would

attempting to revoke my license improve the quality of life for the residences you claim to advocate for? Commissioner Neesa,

you respond. Okay.

It will not. Please note his silence and no response is an admission of guilt. What it would be what it would do is harm my livelihood in attempt to financially me and bankrupt me. This is a troubling pattern. There has been repeated efforts to have me removed from my seat, undermining the will of the voters. Their work attempts to pursue charges against in complaints against three other women as well, including the mayor's wife, Debbie Nelson, for merely touching his shoulder. He pressured our former police chief to file an unjust charges. There have been instances of belittling, hostility towards our female financial director, and most recently at a public debate, law enforcement was called on Orange County Commissioner Christine Moore for merely confront confronting him with the question. This pattern is deeply concerning. It reflects behavior that appears aimed at not at policy disagreements which are normally in governance but in intimidation and personal distraction and destruction. I want it I want it clearly on the record. I'm concerned about what will come next. The attacks have not only unjustified unjustifiable and has unjustified they have targeted my livelihood and my financially stabbed stability. Residents deserve leadership focus on improving our community, not secret meetings, emails, coordinated complaints, and taxpayer resources being used to intimidate others. Commissioner Neesa, you constantly lecture about transparency, integrity, and wasteful spending, but in secret, you do the opposite. attempted to harm

innocent people that with the taxpayers been forced to pay for your shady practices. My question to what end do you want power that much? I'm asking you publicly to please stop the secret harassment, respect the will of the voters and allow the council to focus on the work the work the people elected us to do. End of on my commissioner report. Thank you. Mr. Blasquez, I want to end the council meeting as is. There's nothing else to say.

Let's see. Bradley,

uh, mayor, commissioners, just a quick update on utility meter replacement program. Uh, if you look at the chat, uh, graph there, we have hit a little bit of a plateau. uh holding at 10% estimated billing. Uh our goal is still to hit the 8% mark by end of March. We have completed uh another 1544 work orders in the month of February and our no read number has still reduced uh by another 120 uh reads uh with a number as of March 3rd of 1,717. Uh we did have another meeting again today with utility uh billing staff uh uh Miss Sherman uh and utility operations staff to um uh look at these uh this data and then also uh forge a plan forward for the next month to try and achieve that uh 8% u mark as outlined.

So So do we have work orders for in place to start? How many do we how many water meters do we go? So we're at 2,97 still currently estimated reading. So uh to get down to that 8% mark, we need to get around 200 uh 2366. We have had another 128 uh accounts added uh this past month uh which does sometimes affect that estimated read. Sometimes if a new account comes online, uh it will get a first month estimated read and then we'll be assigned to a bill cycle, but that's separate from the ones that we have to replace that are

right. But it's still it still could be factored into that estimated still factored into the numbers here

because they could be midcycle put the the meter on and so it would show a no read versus getting a complete cycle. So I mean we're getting there. It's I mean and we've got all hands are still on deck and and uh I do want to thank you know Radley running point and Wanch and her team at at utilities and and obviously public services. I mean we're we're we're you know we're scrambling. We're working as hard as we can to make sure we we drive that number down and and really proud of you know where we've gotten to. But yeah, it's the last couple of points is going to be going to be a not a struggle but going to going to take extra efforts. So, that's the update.

Thank you.

Cliff, I'm just going to give you the brief. Uh, no news is good news, but only temporarily from the legislature on property tax reform. Uh, there's still no companion bill in the Senate, which means at least during the regular session, which is set to end on the 13th of March. U, there will probably not be agreed upon property tax legislation. However, I [snorts] got update from a lobbyist for a different city last night that said that's because they will bring it into a special session devoted to just property tax reform. And I will simply say based on experience that the uh anxiousness of legislators to get out of Tallahassee as fast as possible means that there is a possibility, if not a probability, that something will come out of that special session. But we will see. I would tell you if you have an interest in imposing things that could wreck your budget, you should be calling these folks and letting them know.

Thank you, Cliff. And then and then the we had the I guess the the fix for Senate Bill 180 is dead. Yeah. Oh, let me that's a good point. Uh so SB 180, as you know, was supposed to be about hurricane relief and all that stuff. And as you also know from experience, it tied our hands on all kinds of things that have nothing to do with hurricane relief. Um, so there was a what they would call a glitch bill. I think it's called SB480. Uh, that was supposed to go through uh and had some support, but at the end of the day, some key people who needed to vote for it didn't, and it is dead. So SB8180 is going to be with us for at least

until the next legislative session sometime in December, January of this next year uh or the end of of this year. So that's where we are on that. So that means no more terms immediately, which we get asked about frequently. It means that you can't uh make more restrictive rules that affect permitting and so forth, such as more restrictive comp plan, more restrictive zoning and so forth and so on. So that is where we are.

All right. Thank you, Cliff. All right. A couple of things. Uh had a great uh job fair at Wicaba High School and Apaka High School last Thursday. Probably had at least 300 kids from each school. I want to thank u both principles and their their coordinators and especially Stacy Vancamp, my assistant, who who coordinated the overall. We had like 26 to 28 um vendors there from the militarymies to um to any of these uh we had all of the the schools in the area looking for technical training schools. So it was a great event that I think a lot of kids got some great information about maybe what what's next for them. Um we got a kickoff with FDOT the complete speech complete streets meeting about the Apakco Koi road coming up uh the week of the 16th. So looking to kick off that that u 17.3 million project. And then last but not least, the Deja Island band uh will be this Saturday from 5:00 pm to 7 p.m. Come on out, be a part of it. Thank you.