City Council - Regular Meeting

Call, please. Yes, Mayor. Uh, Mayor Blake, present, ma'am. Deputy Mayor Weekes here. Council member Goins here. Council member Hearn here. Council member Cos here. City attorney Gargani here. And city manager Whitten here. Thank you.

Okay. Proceeding on to item number two-1, agenda, regular meeting of October the 28th, 2025. Chair like to make a motion to modify the agenda with the amendment to add consent item number 5-13. Approve resolution 2025-082 to provide a temporary waiver of building permit fees for repairs related to or structural damage caused by the storm event on October the 26-27 2025.

Move to approve. Okay, we have a motion on the floor by by I'm getting ready to call you the vice chair. That's it. Deputy Mayor Weeks and a second by I'll second. Okay, we have a light [clears throat] on Councilman Go.

Yes, sir. U would you consider um moving item 51 the inclusive playground to uh council business. Um it it may be apparent. I don't see her here right now. She wanted to come speak on the item. Um and so I wanted to give her that opportunity. She's not here yet, but I don't also don't want to make that mistake and she show up. Um so that's 51, which is the Provos Park inclusive playground. Okay. To to council business. Okay. Would you you all amend your motions to reflect?

Yes, I'll amend my motion to reflect moving that item to uh from consent to council. Okay. Second. Councilwoman calls. Did you second it? Yes. Okay. You going to amend your motion to reflect that? Yes. Okay. Thank you. All right. Chair's going to call the question. All in favor by saying I. I. Eyes have it unanimously. Proceeding on to item number two, minutes. First budget hearing of September the 3rd, 2025. What are the wishes of council? Move to approve. Second. Got a motion on the floor by Deputy Mayor Wheat. Second by Councilman Hearn. Chair's going to call the question. All in favor saying I. I. I.

Eyes have it unanimously. Proceeding on to item number two-3, regular meeting of September the 9th, [clears throat] 2025. What are the wishes of council? Move to approve. Sec. Okay. Second by We have a motion on the floor by Deputy Mayor Week. Second by Councilman Hearn. Chair's going to call the question. All in favor by saying I. I. I have it unanimously. Proceeding on to awards and presentations.

The moment we've BEEN WAITING ON. WOULD EVERYONE PLEASE give yourself a round of applause because we are going to have a proclamation read into. Yes. Clap like you mean it. Mean it like you clap. [laughter] Council [clears throat] member Lorraine Cos will recognize Viewpoint with Sitta Friends and Family and Community Radio Show for their 15th years in the great city of Cocoa. [applause] Council members, would you join us down below, please?

Mrs. Sitta, would you come and meet us there? And then we will bring the family. We are family. Amen. Uh Mitchell has a mic. Ma'am, here it come. Here it come. Squire Green Acres. Thank you, sir. I'm with you, ma'am.

Okay. Whereas viewpoint and friends is a dynamic womanowned small business community radio show that has spent the last 15 years empowering individuals raising awareness on critical social issues and providing a platform for community leaders, activists, change makers to share their stories and whereas under the leadership of Ceda Jordan Bengai right did I get Binki

Binki a dedicated community activist and passionate advocate for global poverty, domestic violence awareness, education, and social justice, the show has provided invaluable contributions to the city of Koko and beyond. And whereas through her tireless commitment to giving back, Ceda Dejon Beige has fostered a spirit of community engagement, encouraging listeners to get involved year round through volunteering, mentoring, education, and support for local causes, all [snorts] while remaining deeply connected to both her native Trinidad and Tobago and the opportunities provided by the United States of America. whereas CEDA's co-host Ellen O'Neal, she's probably here right there she is, has been a consistent partner in promoting community service, supporting small businesses, and empowering entrepreneurs as well as advocating for children at risk and various charitable causes both in Koko and throughout the region. And whereas viewpoint with CEDA and friends has built a rich legacy of educating and inspiring listeners by providing diverse viewpoints on social issues, showcasing community leaders, and bringing attention to local efforts that make a tangible difference in the lives of residents, particularly through interviews with those making personal and professional contributions to charity, education, and community development. Now therefore, be it resolved that the city of Coco of Bvard County, Florida does hereby extend its deepest congratulations and recognitions to Ceda, Djan, Biggie, Ellen O'Neal, and the entire Viewpoint with CEDA and friends team for their 15 years of service, commitment, and invaluable contributions to the community. Congratulations. Thank you. [applause]

There you go. I'm sure you have a few words to say. Oh, Mike, you know, you shouldn't do this one. [laughter] Come on.

So, well, first to begin with, um, it's an honor and a privilege to be recognized, not just in Bard, in the city of Koko, but like you said, throughout the United States. Um it you know amounts so many wonderful people uh here in Koko and Bravvada that gives back through volunteering and just about every fiber of their being here in our city. Um you know Ellen and I started our show about 15 years ago uh when someone asked me to come on their show and speak a little bit about the Affordable Care Act. And back in the day, I was one of those people who was an advocate for people to have health insurance. And I remember going on that show and speaking about the folks that can write a check for health insurance, the people that by the grace of God qualified for Medicaid, but there were people in the middle that could not afford health care. And I thought how wonderful it was that here we had an an option, a health option for people to go on the exchange and get health insurance. And and so when we got done on the show, the gentleman who owned that station, Mr. John Harper, said, "You know, you were very good on the radio. You ought to have your own show." And of course, Ellen O'Neal, who's been with me for 15 years, a best friend with a capital B and a great co-host. We've started doing it for half an hour and then we went quickly to an hour and it's been 15 years. And I like to say that we give people an opportunity to come on our show and and it's a platform if you want to talk about financial literacy, if you want to write a book, if you want to read a book, if you want thinking about writing a book, uh maybe you want to talk about the banking situation, you want to talk about mortgages. We educate people about their credit reports, how not to use their credit card. Don't put your hat too, you know, where you can't

reach it. So we teach them that if you want to buy a home later on in life, we will show you on our show through experts and professional people how to do so. And so I feel like God has blessed me beyond my imagination. Amen. Right. And I feel like from coming from a village in Trinidad and Tobago, sitting under a lemon tree sometimes wondering where my next meal was coming from, you know, my mother and father raised 18 children and so yeah. And so we we we know a lot about resources, right? But I feel like God directed me to come to the United States and give back in such a way that I can make my family and friends proud and be a an example for another little person like myself. So thank you, Mayor Blake, and all my friends on the city council for this pro proclamation. It's a big deal for my little friends and family back home and my friends here in the United States. And so I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I thank of course Ellen who's here today. And I want to give a shout out. Danny runs our board is back there and his wife Carol and the owner of our station stand up Kim. Everybody know Kim. Okay. Kim is here too. And Mayor Blake and I have been friends forever. And he's Yes. Yeah. And so but anyway, thank you and thank God for all of us being able to wake up and on this magnificent planet every day is a vacation. If you have friends, family, food, a little finances, and you can forgive, you're good to go.

That's right. Amen. [applause] Let's give Cedar a round of applause um with the family and support group, please come on down. I feel like uh Bob Barker, come on down. Let's make a deal. Lah and everybody. Uh, Sister O'Neal, since you and Sister Ceda are the dynamic duo, and you're the real deal, come on, everyone, march on down. Yes, we have. We have Miss Jamie here. Watch this. Let me see if you're paying attention. January, February, [snorts] what's the next month?

Let me TRY IT AGAIN. JANUARY, FEBRUARY, WHAT'S THE NEXT MONTH? your cell phone down here to the front so we can get this photo. Yeah. Come on. Everyone's yoding is working with me. Sharon. Uh Sharon, do you want to give it to you in French, ma'am? Give it to you in Spanish. Okay. Are we in? Come on. Get on in. I'm in here. I'm in. Got it. All right. Thank you. Let's give Cena another round of applause. [applause]

Okay. You know, people run in circles, right? Everyone has their own little click. They're running circles. But I'm glad to the broadcasting and communication media the radio station for 15 years you open up your circle CEDA and group to include the great city of Cocoa. So we applaud you for your dedication and serving the people. Amen. Amen. All right. Next on the list, yours truly, another outstanding young man with a great haircut like mine. Please come on down. Chief Cyer from Duball. Let's bring them a round of applause, please. [applause] A

and Chief, you do have support in the audience. Would you invite them to come down too as well, please, sir? Chief Cory, so I don't have to tell them. See, they're coming up already. Delighted, you might as well come on up. Bring her son with her. All right. So, so Before I u read the proclamation, I just want to kind of make a comment first. Um, this is well overdue uh for our records department and our supervisor of the records department is Sandra here. If you raise your hand, let him know be recognized. [applause]

So, just a a little background about Sandra. So, I've been a police chief going almost five years now. Come April. and and when I came to the police department, basically I was just evaluating everybody there and she was just a simple clerk there working and um working really hard and and so it came an opportunity where we needed a supervisor and she really distinguished herself from her peers. So with all that being said, she became a supervisor. Then what came behind that [snorts]

uh the state was changing how we report crime. So we went from UCR reporting to what we call fibers now. So, you may not know what that means, but it's a lot more crimes that we have to actually report. The crimes are already occurring in the city, but now we have to report those additional crimes to the state. She was instrumental in helping us transition to that. We were one of the first ones in in in the Bvard County to transition to fibers. With that being said, it was not an easy task. She did that successfully with her team. Then we start started getting phone calls from other police chiefs in the area wanting to borrow her to help train their staff. So we want to give her a round of applause for her team and her work. [applause] So she get every report that these officers write on the streets, her staff, they have to touch them and make sure that the crime that what they're listening as the crime matches the narrative as well as there's some additional blocks that has to be filled in properly to ensure that we're reporting accurate information to the state. Sounds easy, but it's a huge undertaking. So once she gets that information, it has to be very accurate. Once she gets that, this young lady right here, which is our crime analyst, she analyzed every incident that happens in our city to help us determine where we need to have our resources in order to properly fight crime. And with that being said, this team right here has successfully in the last 4 and 1/2 years, we've reduced crime every single year since we changed administrations here. [applause] Woohoo.

She she said that that uh in in that um any public record request that's made, it comes through her shop. Matter of fact, when you come down to the police department, we get this all the time. When you come down to the police department for whatever anything you need, you're going to see her or her staff first. and we're always getting compliments about the professionalism that they do every single day and they uphold the standard that we have with our police department. So, I mean, they do they do a fantastic job. Anything else you want me to say? [laughter] But we have a great team. So, they do a really good job. Okay, here's the proclamation. Whereas each day, dedicated law enforcement records personnel serve the citizens of Koko, Florida by providing vital services that are essential to the efficient operation of the Cocoa Police Department and its records section and in keeping our community safe. And whereas the men and women who serve as law enforcement records personnel are the backbone of the criminal justice system by ensuring accuracy, integrity, security, and accessibility of criminal records. They play a key role in assisting law enforcement officers in investigations and they maintain criminal justice statistics. And whereas the law enforcement records personnel demonstrate expertise in managing complex recordeping system that is crucial to identifying suspects, pursuing leads and ensuring successful prosecution of crimes. And whereas along with acute technical skills, law enforcement records personnel are committed to and exemplify professionalism, courtesy and efficiency in their daily interaction with the public officers and partner the partnering public safety agencies. And whereas law enforcement records personnel week provides the opportunity

to honor those who are committed to ensure their role in criminal justice. and criminal justice remain a vital part of law enforcement and to recognize their many contribution to the well-being of the community in which they serve. And whereas the city of Koko salute the Koko Police Department records department personnel and is appreciative of their commitment to service when the within this important aspect of law enforcement and criminal justice in our community. Now therefore, we the city council of the city of Cocoa, Florida, do hereby pro proclaim November 9th through November 15, 2025 as Law Enforcement Records Personnel Week. Thank you. [applause]

Come on in, y'all. I'm not going to bite you. I took a bath. [laughter] I shade shot. Ready? One, two, three. Got it. TIME. [applause] [snorts]

Is that it? out there. See you. Okay, let me get my glasses on. [laughter] That's That's the second thing you lose once you turn over 60 years young. The first thing you lose is your hair. Then you lose your eyesight.

I can't lose my hair. [laughter]

No, you're good. You're good. Okay, proceeding on to item number three, which is excuse me, item number four, which is uh delegations. Um please come forward when I call your name. Submit your card. We will proceed in this order. um delegations. We will start with um Alec Greenwood. You're on the microphone. Next will be Brad Whitmer. Third will be Miss Gibson and then we'll call them up afterwards. Okay. Please be mindful you have 180 seconds. The floor is yours, sir.

Good evening, Mayor C.

Good evening. Um, this is going to be a um I don't enjoy coming up here to uh to discuss things that have to correct the record. So, for the record, I need to make a correction uh on statements that were made in the council meeting. I think it was August 24th. Uh, a statement was made that um there was property that I made a complaint to the ethics committee about a council member making statements against that property owner and it was presented in a way that I was the property owner that the complaint was made about and that's exactly not what happened. I filed the ethics complaint because of issues that was being done inappropriately by a council member for a different piece of property, property I don't even own. And that's why I filed it because it's totally unacceptable to be as negative publicly about property that a group wants to develop. You cannot send misinformation like that. That includes letters that you sign, which was an example recently brought up in the council meeting in Melbourne and it's sending misinformation. Bottom line, this is crossing the line because now it was stated that I have a vendetta against this council person because of this situation that happened and that is

the farthest from the truth. Now this is October the 28th and sometimes the truth hurts. So that council person that keeps track of when I bring up for the public record corrections of misinformation like this, you need to look at all the dates that was recorded by this council person and look at what I stated. You can look it up. You can hear it because everything I've stated here is the truth. And sometimes the truth hurts because you cannot deny what was recorded. So this really is something that needs to be stopped. I I I really feel that u an apology needs to be made like to staff and for you to make a statement that I'm not the owner. You leave that to the staff to do when a person is handling a piece of property they want to develop. You do not go around and say you don't own that property. That is misinformation which is a fancier word for lying. [clears throat] Not only that, the same attack mechanism is being done with the other council members including staff members.

Please wrap it up, sir. And yet one of the staff members still has not received an apology for making false statements like I'm talking about. Thank you. Councilwoman calls.

Yeah. What he's referring to that property, you're right. He doesn't own it. He's had some partnership, but the point remains the same. the ethics commission complaint that you filed against me. The response from the ethics commission was that it is not corrupt behavior. It is not against the law to have a difference of opinion from someone else. And that continues to be my problem with what between us is that you interpret someone having a difference of opinion. And I've seen you do this in the planning and zoning meeting as well as being something that is somehow illegal uh corrupt because they don't agree with you. We have differences of opinion. We should encourage that particularly in our civic life to express those rather than put people down that don't share your opinion. And I'm not going to apologize for representing my constituents, particularly when that's one of the reasons I was elected, the issues in that area. So yeah, anyway, this has been going on for three years and it is so tiring.

I think it's tiring for everyone and there just there's no point in talking anymore about it. Um Brad Whitmer, please come forward.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members. It's been a while since I've been up here and believe it or not, I'm going to talk about Waterfront. So, uh, I've got some, uh, things to share with you and a couple of ideas and questions and whatnot. So, let me jump right into it cuz the clock is ticking. First of all, congratulations on finishing the Lee Winter Park project. It is beautiful. It's great to have the boat ramps open back up again. Uh, that's a wonderful boost for everything we have down at our our beautiful waterfront. And then congratulations in particular on getting the find award to rebuild the day docks. That is tremendous. That is great news. I was so pleased to hear that. I have maintained and I continue to maintain that Cocoa Village and the Cocoa Basin offers one of the best places as a destination for cruising boers on the east coast of Florida where the doorstep of the village, everything that it offers, we ought to be able to pack them in as much as we want to. Moving right along. Um, things that are going on, uh, Sail to the Sun rally starts in Norfol, goes to Miami, stops along the way. They travel over a two-month period. They will probably be coming through the first week of December when the Winter Bizaarre Arts and Crafts show is going on. That's typically when they aim for it. This year's Sale to the Sun will be different than the others due to other reasons that I won't even get into now. We may or we may not see them. One of the things is going to be where do we put them and how do they get ashore. So, we'll see how it all plays out. Uh, another thing closely related to that is the wintertime southern migration of people bringing their large cruising boats down south to South Florida, the Keys, the Bahamas. That is about to get underway as hurricane season wraps up. Once again, same problem. Great anchorage, but where do you bring people ashore? These are people have a lot of money. They look for fun places to go and places to spend their money. So, it' be nice to bring them in. Uh, other than

that, uh, the 6th annual Cocoa Village Holiday Boat Parade is set to happen on the 12th of December. Uh, that's in conjunction with the lighting of the tree and a Christmas movie in the park. Big event. Um, [clears throat] so we're excited about that. Uh, now on to uh questions of what's going on in 48 seconds. The T dock. Uh, what's still floating? You can't access from the parking lot. Uh it'd be nice to have an idea about when we'll be able to get people from land out to that T dock if it's structurally okay. People use it right now. They pull up and tie up and I guess take their dingies in. Which gets me to my next 29 second statement about what to do with dingies. We don't have a dedicated place to bring dingies in and that's why we're not seeing people right now. There's dingies in the south boat ramp area. There's four boat ramps. I'm going to suggest before I run out of time that we seriously consider designating the southboat ramp as a dinghy landing area. That would leave three ramps to launch boats from, which is usually plenty, and it would give people a place where they know they can take their dinghy and generate some of this traffic we're losing. Thank you very much. [laughter]

Thank you for your positive input, sir. My pleasure. More so than anything else, uh I I know you care about Yes, sir. Thank you. And I sincerely do appreciate that. Next will be Miss Anita Gibson and after Miss Mrs. Gibson will be uh Dr. George Frasier and then after that will be Pam Shy.

Good evening everyone council staff and uh everybody in their respective places. My name is Anita Gibson. I live at 451 Stone Street, Coco, Florida. And I will not belong with my uh information that I want to disseminate to everybody because this information really is a letter that I u put in the mailboxes today and it's only concerning uh a couple of people and the only thing I'm here to request to ask to plea is today's Tuesday. If these people involved in my letter that I put in their boxes, please respond to me because I've been dealing with this since last year and I will deal with this until I get a resolution that I can live with. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Gibson. Uh Dr. Frasier. And then after Dr. Frasier will be Mayor Pam. Good evening, Mayor. Good evening,

council members, staff, and our community. I want to thank you all for being here today, and I especially want to thank uh the city council for your support with the prosperity and wealth summit on October 19th. Um the crowd was small, but the impact was huge. I especially want to applaud uh Councilman Hearn and Councilman Goens for being on the panel and challenging those who were there to do more than just vote, but become involved citizens. And to you, Miss Anita, I thank you for being one of those involved citizens. As an Air Force colonel, one of the things that I always required our teams to do was to give a report on our missions. And so, this is my report. Like I said before, the the the turnout was small, but this is the impact already. One family out of that meeting has already met with an estate planning attorney to begin to set up their their trust for their for the next generation. Five families have already scheduled appointments to meet with uh with life insurance professionals to begin setting up uh the the the means of looking after their families when they're gone. And one family actually has begun the process of purchasing their first home. They are using a a local realtor, but they're also using uh a national organization called Naka. I forgot what the the letters stand for, but they're a huge um organization that helps firsttime home buyers uh to be able to purchase their homes. I think either uh Councilman Cost or Kum the Weeks, I don't remember which one of you ladies are realtors, but you know what I'm talking about. Okay.

Um, and so that that that that's huge. We're only talking about seven people or seven families, but those seven families represent almost $400,000 worth of um of financial stability that's coming in the area already in the community already. And so I want to thank you all for what you did. your donation helped us to be able to to to pull this off. And um so what's happening in the future? What's coming up? Our first um our first mastermind is going to be November 8th from 11 to 1:00 at the success center. It's free to members who are part of the wealth club and it's a nominal fee for those who aren't members of the of the wealth club. We're going to skip December because of the holidays and then we're going to kick off uh in January, go the rest of the year. The topic that we're going to be talking about on uh on in November is businesses, helping businesses tear down those those barriers for lending um and for pitching their businesses for growth. So again, I want to thank the Coco community, the city council, and the staff for what you all did to help pull that off. Thank you very much. Knowledge is power.

Yes, it is. Okay, Miss Pam. Then after Miss Pam, Miss Rose Flowers and family and council go. Good evening. How's everybody? Wonderful.

First of all, I want to thank Leisure Services for the outstanding job they did this past weekend. The uh fall harvest festival, the streets were full. Everybody had a fantastic time. So, thank you, Gail, and all your staff and the city for a wonderful event in the village. Next of all, to our friends at public works. As we all know, Sunday turned out to be a more rain than we all expected, especially me. I spent We don't want [clears throat] to hear about that. Anyway, thank you public works for cleaning everything up and uh being on top of it. We did have some flooding in the village. Nobody's at fault there. So, uh, and public works is aware of it and working, uh, with, uh, Florida, uh, state of Florida to clean up their problems. Okay. Last, not last, but next is Coco PD. I would like to thank, uh, the records department who has now left Chief, but they do a fantastic job. It's a small department, and they're very polite. They're very professional, and they fill out the request uh, in a very quickly, timely manner. And uh a lot of times I put my request in at the very last minute and they've never once said to me, "You're not getting that today." Okay? So I appreciate that, Chief. Okay? Now, I want to talk about a fun event. It's first for the village. Okay? And it's called Gobble Gobble, Walk Then Wobble. Okay? And that is for our fire department. Now, Chief Lamb has always given me a hard time because I'm always supporting everybody else in the community and I haven't supported the fire department. So this time we're supporting the fire department. So uh you can go to my Facebook page. You can also go to all the sponsors that are helping with this. The women's club here in the village along with the Bvard uh dog training club and a private three ladies called the three amigos. Okay. So we have a QR code. It's really simple. You walk three miles on your own. Now I walk 15 miles. I don't want to hear about this three miles guys. Okay. So you can take it and take the whole month

to do it. But for $20, we're going to take that $20, have a beautiful metal. So, if you've never had a turkey metal, you can have the turkey metal. Okay? Just stop by Tails and you can pick it up and then walk your three miles and that $20 is going to help the uh fire department provide Thanksgiving dinners for our community. And they this year, in the past, they've done maybe 150. I think we're looking at maybe more than like 200 more this year. Maybe two 250 because of the current situation. So everybody get those tennis shoes out. You can do it. Three miles. Okay. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, ma'am. Come back, ma'am, for the podium. We have a question. Oh, you have ahead. Uh

oh. Sorry. Uh can you repeat that date again? I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. The date. I'm sorry. Oh, the dates. Oh, it starts now. So, you can walk anytime uh from November the 1st, which two days, but anytime to the 20th. Okay. I got to give him a check before Thanksgiving so he can buy the turkeys and the meals. Okay. We'll support, right? And and we sign up how uh is a QR code if you go to uh my Facebook page. It's also on the women's Facebook page. It's all up through the community. There are flyers around the village. And so I'm sorry I walked out the door and forgot to bring one, but I'll leave one here in in the in the lobby for everybody to see if that's okay. Am I permission to do that?

Thank you. Okay, I'll put it on the door. Thank you guys. I just want to let you know you look spookacular with your shirt on there, man. [laughter] [snorts] [laughter] Yeah. Beautiful job. She's never been speechless. I know. [laughter] Okay. Yes, sir. We did. We did. Uh, next will be Miss Rose Flowers. Uh, council going and city. Um, council members, please join us down below, please.

Get the mic, man. It's it better go.

Um, if you look on the agenda, we have a item. Now, we have not voted on this item yet. Um, but because the item is is kind of further down, we wanted to take the time while the family is here. um because we don't want them to wait for an hour or so. Um but it's a special item on there for uh families who have special needs children. And inside this item is going to hopefully we approve um of a playground at Provos Park and hopefully this shows as as a beacon of light for all the parks in Bvoulevard County to have inclusive uh playground equipment. We used to have some downtown um but I think some other kids probably tore it up or whatever the case may be. But we we really wanted um to provide families um from all walks of life in our parks. And so Miss Rose Flowers and her some of her friends, they was on my behind for the last year making sure we get this done. But that's what citizens are supposed to do when you Yeah, Pam, you do it as well. when when when you want something done, you have to shake the trees.

Um I told her one day, you come to the council meeting, the budget meeting is there, that's the perfect time to bring the item forward, and that's what she did. She was a little nervous nervous about doing that, but um I believe I encouraged her pretty good to get it done. And so I want to give just give you a moment just to say a few words. Don't cuss me out, please. Sorry. Come on, roll. Go on. You can do it. [clears throat] [laughter] Go ahead, ma'am.

I just want to thank Alex Goins and the council for allowing a park to be developed for kids with special needs that they can have the same opportunity as other kids to just go out and play and have fun. Because having a child with special needs that can't walk and is a burden because most of the equipment that's out there, they can't do it or anything without having assistance. But with this kind of park, she can do everything by herself because she's very independent and she don't like help. So that would be great for her. And as I asked her earlier, I'm like, "You ready to go to the park?" And she said, "Yeah, mommy, LET'S GO TO THE PARK." [laughter] SO, what you supposed to say, Duna? Say, "Thanks for the park."

Thanks for the park. You're welcome. [applause]

Yeah. And so, and I know this kind of putting her on the spot, but she also personally Rose going through a lot herself in her own life. So, so not only while she's going through her own personal issues, you understand? She she she fought cancer and now she beat cancer. [applause] And so while she's going through that process, the fact that she's not only coming for her child, she has set up a legacy for herself and for other families that may have the same issue. So I want you to know that it's just not about yours.

Now you provided opportunities for so many other families. And so again, we really appreciate you for what you've done and all your friends. I got a video later on from one of your other friends. She couldn't make it. Um, but it just shows you how really important this is. Um, sometimes we take for granted in our own life because we can physically move and do the things that we want to do. We don't really understand what it is to not be able to do. And so, thank you. We appreciate you. Y All right. [applause] Thank you very much, Miss Rose. People never know what you may be going through or coming out of, right? But we admire you for being part of team Coco.

We [snorts] love you immensely. Thank you to you and the Flowers family. All right, we're going to take a photo op. You got Alex. [laughter] A little more.

You know when you wear black Everybody.

Hey. Hey. Alex. Alex. Council McGome. Here you go. Come on. Give him this. Halloween come early. [laughter] Thank you, Monica. One bag in this chair. You're not divide and conquer. That's why you mommy. [laughter] All right. Thank you. You're a blessing. Thank you to the Flowers family. Thank you. Okay. Let me get this right. Okay. This concludes this portion of delegations and we will proceed forward to the consent agenda item. What are the wishes of council? Move to approve. We have a motion on the floor by deputy mayor weeks. Second.

Second by councilman Gins. Chair is going to call the question. All in favor by saying I. I.

Any nays? Eyes have it unanimously. Proceeding on to public hearing. Please be mindful [clears throat] that we will also hear from the audience. Um, you have 180 seconds to expound on your particular item. Please, ma'am, please, sir. Item number 6-1, second and final reading of ordinance number 1025 of town forest future land use map amendment. Nothing has changed or been brought to our attention. Uh, Esquire Gagani, would you like to say anything before? Let's read the ordinance and by title ordinance number 10-2025 an ordinance of the city council of the city of Cocoa Boulevard County, Florida relating to comprehensive planning amending the future land use map for eight parcels of real property within the city of Coco totaling 1.9 acres more or less and generally located along Forest Avenue south of Malberry Street and north of Peach Tree Street and Coco, Florida as more particularly depicted and legally described on exhibit Attached here too amending [snorts] the future land use map designation uh said parcels from highdensity residential to mixed use providing for the repeal of prior and consistent ordinances and resolutions severability incorporation into the comprehensive plan and an effective date and legal status of the plan amendment. Again, second and final reading public hearing item and a legislative matter for the city council to decide. Mayor,

thank you. Esquire Gargani, Mrs. Webster, ma'am, the floor is yours. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Um it it's correct that this is the uh second final reading. There have been no changes and neither have there been any uh inquiries or complaints about this item.

Okay. Do we have any questions for Mrs. Webster council? Saying none sure like to close this portion to the council and return it to the public. Please come forward state your name. Submit a business card. One of our white cards here. submit that and you can elaborate on this particular ordinance. Seeing none, going once, going twice. Chair like to close this portion to the public and return it to council. What are the wishes of council? Move to approve. We have a motion on the floor by Deputy Mayor Weekes. Second. Second by councilwoman cost. Chair is going to call the question. All in favor of saying I. I.

Eyes have it unanimously. Proceeding on to item number 6-2 resolution 2025-077 modash lot split 2025982 as you are clearly aware of it's located on 1540 Clear Lake Road um directly due east of Eastern Florida State College. I do like the location. You can get a combination of um and I'm gonna let them expound on it, but it offers mo it offers more than just a car wash. It's something that's associated with um Esquire Gargani. Sir, would you like to say anything before I turn it over to Mrs. Webster?

Uh no, no, sir. Okay, sir. Thank you very much, Mrs. Webster. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Ma'am. Yes, ma'am. And yes, so this is the resolution 2025 uh 077 referred to as the mod wash lot split located at 1540 Clear Lake Road in Coco and uh more generally located uh near the intersection of University Lane and Clear Lake Road, west of the Clear Lake Isles Apartments and east of Eastern Florida State College. As mentioned, uh the owner of the property, Modwash LLC, is requesting a division of this lot, uh this one platted lot into two lots. And so this is the the main parent parcel uh which currently is about 1.771 acres and it's currently lot one on the records. And the applicant and the owner request to split this lot into two lots. And with uh the highlighted parcel at 1.201 acres being the new lot one and then further the smaller the second parcel will be lot two at about 75 acres. Now, this lot split also includes a shared access agreement uh because the it only has one access driveway which will be shared with the resulting lots. So, it'll be shared between the two lots. And uh for the shared access, the owner is required to provide the city with a written executed declaration of easements, covenants, and restrictions which grants the vehicular and pedestrian access easement. And so um upon analysis of the lot split, uh the planning and zoning staff determined that um that the there are no conflicts between the zoning and future land use which is general commercial and

commercial. The lots uh the divided lots will retain the zoning and future land use designations and the division of these lots does not create any non-conforming conditions. And regarding the advertising, it was duly advertised by being posted at city hall, a posting at the property and on the city of Coco website. There have been no inquiries or complaints uh about this item. The the approval or the resolution does include two conditions. One is that the owner agrees not to further sell, convey, or assign any interest in either resulting lot, which would cause the loss of unity of ownership or title of each resulting lot without first obtaining the written consent of the city. And second, the owner shall prior to recording this resolution provide the city with a written executed declaration of easements, co covenants, and restrictions previously mentioned, which shall bind the affected property and grant for the benefit of each lot of vehicular and pedestrian access easement as provided in the application for the lot split. And the declaration of the easements, covenants, and restrictions shall be recorded simultaneously with this resolution. And for the authority of the council comes from chapter 18 subdivisions. The city council may by resolution at a public hearing approve approve with conditions or deny divisions of land which constitute a lot split. And and in this case, the conditions are mandatory conditions. So staff requests city council to approve with those conditions this resolution of the city of council of city of Koko, Bvard County, Florida, providing for the division of one originally platted lot owned by Modwash LLC generally located southeast of the intersection of University Lane and Clear Lake Road and having an address of 1540 Clear Lake Road, Coco, Florida

32922 into two resulting lots of record. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much, Mrs. Webster. Um, I I I do support this, but I would like to hear from members of council and also the audience. Uh, we will start with Deputy Mayor Weeks first and then Councilwoman Cos.

Uh, my question is about the uh condition of where the owner has to come to the city if they want to sell the property. Why would that be a condition? I believe because the the declaration of easements and covenants uh for the shared access agreement describes the ownership as for the two lots, they would just need to to inform us and coordinate with us uh if they were to transfer the property so that we could revise the declaration. Oh, okay. So just because until they give you the the ease, you know what the um

the easement for the two of the two properties that that all has to be in place, then they could sell it without permission or they always will have to have permission. Well, no. They they would still have to contact us and let us know because the the declaration of easements, which describes the original lot split and the ownership of the two lots, would still have to be revised to reflect the new ownership of that second lot.

But it also is just simply ensuring that the owner is going to maintain the access. [clears throat] I think that's primarily the consent has to occur to make sure that in the future that access the lot access is being maintained for the two different lots there. I think that's the reason. Yes, sir. Thank you. So that there's no way to put that in like a like a deed restriction or something like that that the whole thing has to be sold with that easement in there. I mean, I know they do that on on residential property

and the the city attorney will have to help me. I think it's in there, but again, the only way to to assure that it remains in there is to look at each and every transaction, sale transaction. I I think that's that's how that's how at least that's how I view it. I think that's the way it's structured. Um I mean, it's just a it is a binding obligation though on the land.

It Well, that's it. I mean, I I just, you know, what if at that time whoever's in council or whatever says, "Nope, nope, you can't sell it." I just hate to put that restriction on on property where they have to come back if we can put it if it can be put in legally where they can just when they can sell it, but that easement has to be remain the same like they do [snorts] uh in residential. So, that's my concern. Is there any way that that could be done? Yeah, I'm I'm I think we're we're saying the same thing. I I think the only way that you're going to assure that again the the access is access issue is addressed is to actually know that it that it is uh being carried uh throughout the transactions there. And I hear you. I I don't I mean that's more of a a legal question uh in my mind, but again the intent is to make sure that um that again that access is being carried forward.

So, uh attorney, is there any way to to do that? Because like when when you've got um uh in residential if you've got to go through somebody else's property to get back to yours um you know that is always in the in the covenant. I've sold many homes where there was an easement through there. So that went with the property and that's not something that could be done in this case. I just hate to have that restriction on there. I'm I'm in favor of the split and all of that. I think that's great, but I that's my issue with this right now is that part. I just wonder if that can be done a different way.

Um I'd have to look I'm going to have to look at that issue. I mean, but I mean the declaration is is of easements for the ingress egress is going to be recorded, right? And that is a binding obligation on the land. So, and then so why would they have to come back to us? It's the It's the division of the lot, I believe, that would have to come back. That's not what they're that's not what I'm hearing. So, let me let me I have to take a closer look at some of the language. I hear what you I hear what you're saying. I just have to I don't know if I can resolve that tonight.

Um I could try to res I can try to look into that further. Um, we're going to bring this back again, right? So, if there No, this is the only hearing, Mr. Mayor. This is the only one. So, either we make it happen or we don't and and let me let me give some some additional historical on that. And so, this lot was originally owned by the US 1 CRA and conveyed to um what's the what's the um Clear Lake Isles. Clear Lake Isles. Um and so so conveyed to kill Killer Lake Isles. I'm assuming Clear Lake Isles sold it to

sold it to the um to the current owner there. And so so again, the city uh has an interest in again making sure that with the lot split that the two separate owners will always have access to their lots there. So, so again, you know, that's sort of the historical, you know, how do you ensure that that happens going forward there is is what I think number one is intended to achieve.

Well, what I'm hearing from the attorney though is that that this being in there, that declaration in there that that has to be is doing that. The declaration ensures that the um the ingress and egress remains in perpetuity. The um [snorts] the consent of the city in if you look at the condition of approval in the resolution is the owner agrees not to further sell conveyor assign any interest in either resulting lot. Yep. Which causes the loss of unity of ownership of title of each resulting lot

without first obtaining written consent of the city of Koko. which means I mean they can't they can't divide they can't separate the un the unity of title without consent of the so that's of the city city council because it's the lots that are being approved this evening. Mhm. But the ingress and egress is intended to run with the land. Okay. So what you're telling me is that the approval is that they can't split the two lots. It's not the ingress and egress because in reading this that's what I was

others may not have the issue with it that I do. I just, you know, I wanted to I just, you know, again, I I don't like it that they would have to come back to the city to to do with their land and um when it's all spelled out in here already what they can and can't do. Oh, the CRA. CRA, that's the property they own. it to you. Yeah. Um, is that it, ma'am? I I'm just not prepared to address that one on the declaration of

Is there is there any way later that this could be removed from that or once we do this, that's it? I mean, it's a condition of approval in the resolution. Um, again, I'm not I'm not prepared to modify that condition right now uh without looking at some of the other documents there. If if council wishes, uh we could postpone the item until the next city council meeting to provide more time to research and clarify. I personally would like that. I don't want to have to hold the owners up on this on this change. I personally would like that, but I don't know what the rest of the council have some questions.

Yeah. And let me again the the the the easement that uh went with the conveyance from the CRA to the development contain this provision in it. Yes sir. And so that easement is still there. The easement goes with the land.

And so the easement is just simply carrying forward there. that was a condition of the original conveyance to the to the to the property uh to the Clear Lake Isles there. And so and so again, the easement exists on the property and again it's just rolling forward there. I get it. It's it's it's it's in the hands of private ownership now, but originally going from the CRA to Clear Lake Isles there, that was one of the conditions of the conveyance. Well, and the easement is not the issue. It's them if they have to come to us to get approval to sell the property. That's my

Well, and that's what I mean. that that that language was actually in the in the easement when it was so that can't be removed when it was I think I think it's just rolling with the land right when the when US 1 CRA was uh dissolved in 2019 2020 all of those assets and and all of the the agreements rolled into the city city's responsibility so the city was responsible for these easements um if if the US1C was still intact today that declaration of easement would have to go back before the CRA for approval. Uhhuh. And not council to sell. Correct.

Because that's the thing in here is that in order to sell it, they have to come to the city to get written consent. Correct. Because it was once a CRA owned property and that's part of the But now that it's not that could technically go away. That's what that's my question. Yeah, that document's not in the agenda package. So, yeah. Yeah, that's not in anybody knew that that Yeah. Yeah. And that's why I'm I can't I can't address that until I go back and refresh. I'm sorry. I was gone on a cruise last week where I would have brought it up before. I don't know that

anyway. I'm Yeah, I don't the the I mean, who can remove the easement is is the issue. I guess Anthony will have to look into that. But but the cuz the easement the the conditions of the easement was number one is number one that they have to come for approval to see. Right. Right. I got you. Okay. Well, can I ask? Well, once she's finished, I'm done. I'm done. Okay. Counciloman.

Yeah. I was um so I'm curious because of course my husband was on the US 1 CRA and if I recall that whole property now it went to Clear Lake Isles but weren't they going to be developing the whole thing and did they determine later that when we originally made that deal uh they were that the intent was never to develop the front as a residential. It was always going to be a commercial right liner. But there was never any at that time there was never any plans for what that development was going to be. But we gave them that land

in the the CRA did uh give them that land for the purposes and in the agreements it it does indicate that the back part of the back parcel which was parcel two was to be used for the residential component and parcel one which was the front portion on aligning Clear Lake was to be used for some type of a commercial. Yeah. So it's going to be more mixed use. Correct. More mixeduse development. Correct. Well, they got a good deal. [snorts] It it met with the CRA's plan that was in the CRA plan that they had adopted, right? They established. Okay.

Yeah. Some would argue that they're not as affordable as, you know, they had originally set out to be, but I I'm fine with it other than with your Yeah. Mr. Mayor, can I can I ask Yes. So, go ahead, Mr. So, so Jennifer, the the owner of the lot is splitting it and selling it selling one a part of the split, one half of the split to Modwash. The So, the current the owner the current owner is Modwash is Modwash [clears throat] LLC, excuse me. And uh I believe their intent is to after the split to sell the other parcel to another commercial

and they're they're aware of this condition. They they they were sent the the agenda item um when they were informed that it was going to be right and we've not received any comments or objections from them to these conditions. I have not. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Are there any other questions? uh have to open it to the public. Okay, seeing that chair, let me close this portion to council and open to the public. Please come forward to state your name. Submit a card to elaborate on this particular item, please. Ma'am, please sir. Going once, going twice. Chair like to close this portion and return it to council. Close it to the public and return it to council. Chair would like to make a motion to approve based on staff recommendation and I'm looking for a second. I got a second on the floor by Councilman Gins. Uh Deputy Mayor Weekes. Ma'am,

I just want to say by saying what you just did that they already um plan to sell and that they didn't come to dispute this, then I'm I don't like that that's in there. But if they're not disputing it, then I'm not. Okay. Chair's going to call the question. And all in favor by saying I I. Any nays? Eyes have it unanimously. Proceeding forward to item number 7-1. Um consider reappoint of Todd Anderson and Alec Greenwood to the planning and zoning board through November 2028. Chair like to make a motion to approve. Second.

Second by Councilman Gins. Chair's going to call the question. like I see it just when I was getting ready to call it. [laughter] Councilwoman calls, ma'am.

Yeah, I was going to say that um I I watch the planning and zoning meetings every month and uh some in person and some I just make a point of, you know, watching from home and I've made a point of of really getting into and studying planning and zoning. Um and I've noted that I really appreciate Todd Anderson and the viewpoints that he has brought to that committee. Um he has however served 11 years and uh some time ago we made a new ordinance or that we would have uh time limits on our our service because we wanted to keep our committees dynamic and we have this K committee more than any other. We have many applicants for um in fact I know of people that evidently did not get their application in soon enough. Um but so that's why I can't support I won't support Todd Anderson although I think he is great. I think he he offers a lot to the committee. I'm just serious about trying to keep this committee dynamic and particularly because we have very few committees now that really have significant where someone can really have a a significant impact. This is one of them. This is probably the most important along with board of adjustment. um Alec Greenwood of course um you know for three years been back and forth but in terms of serving on this committee my biggest problem is that I've had two people come to me that they've actually resigned because they

felt it was overdominated by this one viewpoint and also it wasn't I don't know if this was the last committee meeting or not it may have been the one before, but where someone offered a difference of opinion was actually put down, you know, on the dis, they're discussing it, they offer a different opinion, and they're put down for that. And and I think that's wrong. It does not contribute um to a stronger planning and zoning board, and I I think that's important. So, I will not be able to vote for either of these even though I really do like Todd. Maybe if he's sits it out for one year, comes back. But, um, anyway, that's all I have to say.

We have a motion on of Deputy Mayor Weeks. So, so do we have term limits on Yeah, we do. That's why I'm not sure that wasn't brought up with this. Yeah, we have nine years. I would like to know. Yeah, the the code um code provide the uniform board ordinance provides that no board or committee member shall serve more than three consecutive full terms on any board or committee. The council reserves the white right to wave the term limitation.

And then council may reappoint a board member to serve additional consecutive terms and situations when the council determines that the applicant pool of eligible persons desiring to serve on the board is insufficient for any reason to appoint a different person. And we have two other applicants. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Um, let the record reflect both individuals, both um, Todd Anderson and Alec Greenwood are former council members, and I may not always agree with them, but I do strongly feel that they've always had the best interests of the city at hand and at heart. Um um it's just like when Junior was there. Junior served 40 years consecutively on the cold board. And that was a very sensitive subject. Matter of fact, I'll just be straight forward with you. One of the main reasons why he's still alive. And like those two, I may not always agree with you, but he's still alive because of that board and made a positive impact in his life. I may not agree with him at all times, but I just think that we know who has the best interest for the city at hand. Councilman Goins, sir, and then I'mma call the question.

The question I had the what was the amount of years for a term? It was three, correct? So, full terms, three full term, which is nine. Okay. And then my other question, um, which I'm sure we did, but I just wanted to put that on record. The, uh, it was properly noticed. Am I correct? Yes. Okay. So, we didn't get any applications on time. We have two applications. There's two more.

There's another item following this one where there's two more. They were being considered for an alternate alternate seat, but you could consider them for a regular seat. Okay. [snorts] Monkey wrench. Have a procedural question. I'm just trying to see if he's finished cuz he's not. I'm sorry.

Uh, Deputy Mayor Weeks and then you, Councilwoman Calls. But before we get there, Esquire Gargani, would we be in violation of having Todd Anderson and Alec Greenwood, if we're approved by council? If we're approved by council, they would stand and be able to serve their terms. Well, I don't know. They each serve it have already served three consecutive full. Just Todd Anderson. Just Todd. Alex served two six years. Okay. So, I thought it was just 2016 Greenwood.

Might have to ask the clerk about the role because it has to be it has to be three consecutive full. So, I'm looking [clears throat] at um our board member list here. Looks like m Mr. Anderson has served since January 28th of 2014. He was appointed to fill a vacancy that was left at that time. And you so he has time. The first the first term was a filling a vacancy. So that wasn't a full term. That was in 2014. Yes. And then how many full terms after that?

Um he was reappointed in November of 2016, again in February of 2020, and then he was reappointed in January of 2023. So that's three consecutive full. Mhm. And same with Mr. Greenwood. He's been since April 2016. But Mr. Greenwood was an alternate member. Oh, okay. I didn't And they didn't they don't have term expirations, so he didn't start his clock until he became a regular member. Okay, gotcha. Okay. I was just looking at this. I saw 2016. I went, "Oh, so he falls in that too." So I didn't know.

So you have two you have two incumbrants that have served three consecutive full full terms. So, and you have a couple of alternates on the next agenda item options. So, I mean you have what four candidates total for two regular procedure of voting. I'm getting so I mean if the um the council the council would have to wave the term limit um provision in order to appoint either uh Mr. Anderson or Mr. Greenwood for another term. Um or both

or wave for you know waiver for both. Um or but you know you also have two other alternative candidates. So the council the council can um know review the four candidates and decide which of the which of the four uh will serve the two new uh three-year terms. So you can go through a a a nomination process. Yeah. And I I actually have forms ready just in case

because I personally would like to see new blood on there. I mean not saying anything against the ones who've served. They've done a fabulous job. But it is nice to get new to keep it dynamic. Well, the y one of those two will be either Phil Phil pot or Susan is filling one of the alternate member vacancy as well. Procedural question. Are you finished, Deputy Mayor? Yes, I am. Councilwoman call.

So, I mean, we we have set up a procedure that we have followed now since we established it. Shouldn't we be doing that here as well? I'm not sure why it was presented this way. I think that goes to my point, you know, to consider all Okay. Consider all four um not as two separate agenda items, but go through the the ballot uh procedure um taking into consideration all four names. Mhm.

But we would have to first vote to even wave the p the term limit one for that before we could consider the first two for reappoint. Correct. It would I guess it would depend on you can go through the ballot and if go through the ballot and if um you know one or more of the candidates that's termed out is the in the pro is one of the top candidates then to appoint them based on the ballot you'd have to wave the I'm just trying to find out. Yeah know it's a good qu excellent question. I mean it's a little bit of a procedural Gordian knot but I think that's how it would play out.

Okay. So, we currently right now Well, go ahead. Let me let you finish your procedural question. Well, that was the answer to the procedural question that we would use the ballot um and then determine if one of the candidates that has served more than three terms. Then we would vote one way or another whether to consider all four people to nominate them. And then from there, the procedure would be to nominate and vote on it. Right. and and or Okay, I'm going to let you finish. I'm sorry. That's it.

Yes, ma'am. Gasquire Gargani, we have a motion on the floor current currently right now with Todd Anderson and Alec Greenwood. Um, and I have a second. So, if we call the question and vote on those two, they will stand in that position. Is that correct? they will remain in that position that if there was a second then yes second I got a second that that that motion would have to also include you know waving the term limit um uh provision in the code

okay I would amend my motion to reflect the statement made by city attorney and I'm asking Councilman Goens would he consider that as well yes sir Okay. Councilman Hearn, do you have that modification, Mrs. I was talking to a second? So, just Yeah. Yeah. No worries, sir. Councilman Hearn, your light was on. I was just trying to see if you wanted. I waved my question. Okay, sir. So, we don't vote like we're supposed to? Yes. I know procedure. No, we're not doing that normal with the ballot like we're supposed to do with the ballot.

No, no, no, no. We don't have to do a rank and that's why as Esquire Gargani why we have a procedure established right I mean they'd be w you'd be waving the entire I mean I guess implicit in my comment was I mean Mary you'd be waving your your procedure that you have um in order to appoint them for a fourth consecutive term under this isolated case. Well, well, it is our procedure. I mean, again, it's a it's a waiver. It's a waiver of the term limit and the and the procedure. I'm not sure I have the

I don't know if they put that in my book. Take your book out. It's not in here. If you recall, I mean, a while back, the city council adopted a a process, a ballot process for appointment of members. Um, it's not in the it's unfortunately the hard copy is not in the book. I don't know if I have a copy. Um, but that was a little bit more robust. We're con you're considering um all applicable candidates and you vote by ballot. If I remember, you need the resolution, Anthony. Excuse me. You need the resolution.

The resolution is right here. Oh, it's actually because the second item is an alternate out of those two. Councilman Goins, do you have your light on, sir? You going to wave? Okay. See what Espire Garage has to say? [snorts]

I mean, if we have to go to the ballot, we just vote on the ballot. But I'm just saying if we don't have to. Okay. I got a question. Go ahead, sir. So, I was doing some quick uh research and um I just had a question. One of the candidates state that they're a current contractor in the city of Coco. Um sitting on the planning zoning board, would that not be a conflict of interest? I did some research and from what I was reading, it was saying that that would be considered I'm sorry, I was trying to read the proc the procedure. Sorry about that. just because they have a business in there. It's a conflict.

Long as they don't have to vote on the business.

No, I mean business ownership is not an automatic conflict. It may be in certain cases or certain items, but um I think that the eligibility requirement also includes business owners in the in the city. So um you know one yeah even even the even the resolution on the process does recognize you know members who have uh one of the reappointment processes members who have not exceeded the maximum allow number of terms uh may be reappointed by council um does recognize it but the code does provide for waiver of the term limit requirement. the voting on appointments by ballot. In circumstances where there are more applicants for membership on the board or committee than there are vacancies for that board or committee, the council shall vote by ballot to choose the next member or members of said board or committee. And then the clerk will create the ballot, one each for the council which contain the names of all board com committee applicants and a space for council members to rank said applicants. and then the council um uh will appoint um you know based on the ranking. So I mean there there's a there's a ballot procedure that um is called for under your under your general rule. Um of course it's a council rule. If the council wanted to wave this then that again that's another decision for you all to make. But you have established a ballot process for appointment of members when there are more applicants than um than seats available.

Okay. I make a point. Can be council Hearns, are you finished with your your light is off? Council calls. Yeah, I was just going to make the point the reason we established the procedure we because we on one vote we ended up with seven of I think it was seven of eight all in district one. And so we were looking for something that would allow us to do something where there was more equity in the vote and representation. I don't remember.

And we have a very representative board now. They're like two members each from each district. [clears throat] So, we need to vote. That's not necessarily. I mean, if if the if I'mma call the question, but I just want to get uh uh see if if I call the question. I'm just trying to see the option from the city attorney so we can provide um an edi adequate but fair assessment.

Mr. Mayor, to call that question, the council would have to under the circumstances given both candidates are technically termed out, the council would have to wave the term limit restriction and wave your uh ballot procedure in resolution 2024-049 because there are two other potential candidates for the PNZ board. I got you. So then um to remove the motion and then do it the procedural way

where we vote ballot even though it's all depending on how they independently vote. Anyhow, it still could be the same results from the motion I made. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Could be. Okay. Okay. Councilwins, you have your light. Yes, sir. Um, just looking at our roster as well, I know it was it was comments made about um, kind of fresh eyes. We do have a fairly fairly new board, most of them 2022, 2023, 24. Um, and and the second thing is I don't mind doing a ballot. I don't just kind of throw that out there. I'm not um, it wasn't done with ill intent. I know

I looked at one agenda item. I didn't even realize that it was a second agenda item. for two candidates. And so, normally we see one item with the four or five or six or whatever. I think that kind of threw threw us off. So, um I think waving both would wouldn't look right either. And so, I think the optics of it um I think we have no choice but to go in this situation to go with the ballots.

So, I need to resend my motion and as well as council. or we can just vote on it and vote no and then it dies. Where is your recommendation, Mr. City Manager? I mean, Mr. City Attorney with you, as you know, with unanimous consent, then you can you can withdraw any motion that's on the floor. Okay. Um, if somebody if somebody dissents, then you have to call um you have to vote the motion that's been seconded.

Okay. So I would like to rescend my re um my nom well recommendation and I need for are you willing to resend yours as well? Yes sir. Okay. So now we need to get unanimous votes on this. Correct. All in favor consensus. All in favor say I. or I can independently ask you. What are we voting on? We're voting to rescend his motion. I I Yep. Councilman, um I didn't hear from you. I'm sorry. I said I Okay.

To resend it. Yes. Are you rescending yours? You don't have to resend. Yes. I got to get it. Yes. Oh, I mean I get the point of procedurally just taking it off the So the n um the recommendation has been rescended. Now we're going to use a ballot. Okay. And the procedure for this ballot. Are we using the highest number based on one, two, and three? Because what we have to do now is to select two seats with one alternate. Is that correct? out of four candidates, your your top preference should be for should be number one. It's on the ballot. Okay. I'm just trying to see. That's correct.

Your second. So low low score. Low score is your your top candidate. One is your top candidate. Two is your second. Three is your third and four is your fourth. That's all right, man. Use it. Dep uh city manager, would you uh city clerk, do you have a pen over there?

I do. Okay. Thank you, sir. Okay. Instructions. Please select the N by ranking each nominee one being the highest choice. Okay. Council member meeting name. Just for the record, um we will take the top three. Um the one with the highest choice will be um one of the permanent seats or reappoint whatever appointment for the PNZ. Then the second, but the third would be the alternate. That's what I'm just trying to make sure. Is that correct? Okay, thank you. Need a pair, sir. Thank you. Thank you.

Pass this down, please. Thank you, sir. He said unincorporated.

[snorts] Okay. [laughter] Jeopardy. Yes.

[sighs]

water quality. This should be number one. I didn't say I three

[clears throat]

At least it's not raining tonight. Absolutely. Say that softly. Cool. I know. Hope it's going to be a cool Halloween. 72 degrees. So So we're playing you guys Thursday instead of Friday. We will be out Thursday. Well, Please open door this year. That's nothing. We're fine. We're district champs. We're going to the playoffs. Come over and take his BP, man. Cuz he's over here. [laughter] Put the thermometer. Not underneath his tongue, but maybe underneath his armpit. I'mma stop right there. Rock. M.

I agree. But I think help me understand. Do they have metal detectors at games now? I think. Yes. Yeah. And Rockley. That's why we're playing. Where Rockley? They talk all I know about Coco, but we're playing where I guess [laughter] but hey man. Hey uh uh Council, but we know for a fact we won't let him live it down.

So what's our record then? Because I knew we'd lost to There were nine non-conference teams bigger schools. I think four only guys. We beat astronaut to sleep ma'am in our district that's something like what 28 to3 or something I forgot 35 schools just not like two [laughter]

I'm sorry y'all don't feel sorry for him now we have no sympathy for him ma'am that's lifelong Hey, I'm just I'm just happy Alabama's doing so much better. What do we do? Do we need to call in independent ballot? Stop like that. We need to call in my tight man, supervisor of election. [laughter] I have one question

for Monica. Does does the alternate Keith Wall was he asked if he wanted to be a permanent member? Does that happen automatically or? No, we we do ask. Oh, okay. Great. Great. Go on. You have your light off. Okay. Are we ready? Yeah. Are we ready for Okay. Better have those Prada shoes on, man. As much as he pounding the baby. [snorts]

So, we'll do item number one and two completed because that'll be taken care of. Then we go to item number three and four, right? Yeah, pretty much. We could have slid four back under consent since the folks had come. Oh, yeah. That's right. I thought of that as we were standing down there. Yeah. Don't tell me we have a tie. You need to rank them all. I do. I didn't know. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Uhhuh. I didn't know if I Sorry. No, I think we're straight [laughter] straight. I didn't know I was the cause. I'm sorry. [laughter] Dinner's on you tonight, man. I know, right? Lobster animal. [laughter] Had that last. That's a first time on the cruise ship. [snorts] That's a nice cruise ship. Oh,

all right. [clears throat] So, we have some scores. Um, Mr. Anderson received a nine, Mr. Greenwood received a 14. Um, Susan received an 11, and Rex received a 16. So your nine and your 11, if I understand correctly, would be the regular would fulfill the regular member seats and then your 14 would be the alternate which is Mr. Greenwood. The lowest number is the highest, right?

Correct. Yes. So that's Todd Anderson. Susan received an 11 and then Mr. Greenwood received a 14. And the ballots are open to the public, correct? This is a official document. Oh, yeah. It's Yeah, it can be public record.

So, do we need to have to now do the waiver for Mr. Anderson because he's passed his term limit? We we have be there would be a motion to approve the ballot based on the rankings and a waiver of the term limit requirement for uh both Mr. um Anderson and Greenwood. Okay. I'll make that motion stated by the city attorney and I looking for a second. I'll second it. Okay. Okay. Just going to call the question. All in favor saying I.

I. I have it unanimously. All right, proceeding on to item number three. So, would you give us the official again, Mrs. uh Arsenal, please? Sure. Thanks. So, we have Mr. Anderson who will fulfill a regular member seat. Uh Susan will receive a or will um fill a regular member seat and then Mr. Greenwood is an alternate. Okay. Okay. Okay, proceeding on to item number. Did you vote on that? Yes. All in favor? Yes, we did. We got a I thought it was unanimous vote. It Okay.

Okay. I must have missed it. That's okay. You want to hear it? I I can call them. I think we say you voted. I thought we did. Yes, sir. We did.

Proceeding on to item number seven- Three, city council approval of 2026 legislative priorities and state appropriations request. If you go to um your page, you see we have a a host of legislative priorities at the Space Coast League of Cities. Um we're collecting our data and we will submit it to um once we get the information from here submit it to our city attorney and return share it with our Space Coast League of Cities with our advocacy board and also share it with our state legislatures and Florida League of Cities as well. Um as you can see staff prepared and submitted the following legislative priorities. state appropriations request based on community feedback and discussion of the city council. I know my my concerns would be um and and I guess we can just take a consensus of this or do you all want to vote on this as well?

Oh, no. I mean, I question. Okay. I mean, you can submit your own five. I would say your top five. That's what the league normally submits, meaning the Space Coast League who in returns submitted also to Sheila and the uh League of Cities. What is your question, ma'am? Yeah, I wanted I think it's probably a question for U. Miss Morgan. Um, under our state appropriations requests, the water quality baffle box installation, where were those? What were the locations?

Um various locations. It it didn't specify it. Just the project states that we have uh anywhere north of uh 60 um um storm waterfall pipes. Okay. To the um Indian River Lagoon. And so uh we have 60 to the Indian River Lagoon. Wow. Over. Wow. Yeah, that's almost as many residents. Okay. So, we don't vote on this. It's just it we submit our recommendation.

I list our priorities. Looks good.

Okay. Now, my our top top five to me, I'm just talking would be number one, Senate Bill 180. My second would be protection of home rule. Number three would be property tax reform. Um number four would be state road 524 and state road 501 curve widening. And mine, this is just mine, uh would be Dr. Jolie Smith Community Health Facility. Those are my top five. Mr. Mayor, can I can I

Yes, sir. Go ahead, sir.

So, so we we have the legislative priorities which as you say you said go to the Florida the Space Coast League of Cities, the Florida League of Cities, and then we actually have what we've requested as appropriations requests, i.e. there's a form that is submitted to Senate to the House uh members so that they can uh lobby uh or advocate for those for the funding request. And so so again we we've given you them as separate uh uh items there. So, so on the on the legislative priorities there, you'll see everything that's under the the legislative priority category and then the legislative and then the state appropriations request. You can see we've done the 524501 curve widening and station access road septic to sewer conversion. Dr. Jolie Smith, Stradley uh septic to sewer Provos Park redevelopment and then the water quality baffle box installation. So those are specific legislative or state appropriation requests and then the others are as other cities and counties are submitting. Uh these are the things that we want the the league of city to advocate for or against uh in terms of legislative priorities. We

vote on all of them. Well, you can you can you can rank them, but rank them under the categories. So, you're giving me a ranking of your legislative priorities, and you would give me a ranking of your state appropriations requests. I've given them to you. I've given you at least the state appropriations requests in the order in which I think they should be ranked. Um but again it is that's a policy decision on the board on the council's uh part and then same for the legislative request legislative priorities although I don't know that we've been asked for them in any particular order on the legislative priorities

yeah can't we do that well will they specific well I don't have a problem with that But they asked for the top five. But hey, submit them all. Let them decipher it. We only have six under state appropriations. So no, no, not they. They didn't ask not for he's saying the legislative request. The legislative priorities legislative, right? So to to me the each one of us can give my top five.

Yeah. To me the You want us to rank them? Write them down and rank them. The top five. Well, you can just Yes, you can give it to the city manager. Yes. Yeah. Go ahead, sir. City manager. I don't know. Go ahead. She had a line. Oh, sorry. Sorry. You go ahead. Go ahead, ma'am.

Um, yeah. I'm sorry. I don't want to drag us back. The state appropriations request, the Stradley Park septic to sewer conversion. I was over there the other day looking at that and I think the map showed that would be I don't know that it is the best solution over there. It's like they definitely need an upgraded advanced septic and it needs to be maintained correctly. But the uh I guess we've got a sewer pipe going down Rosentine, right? I think that's the connection. Rosentine. It's something something you got to go all the way to Rosentine. Yes,

because you'd almost need a pump station because it's so low. And that would be pretty crazy. I mean the thing about of course upgrading the septic um would be you know a pittance compared to the connecting to the sewer but they would also have to do maintenance on it because one of the problems in the past has been they were putting bleach down a septic and killed the system. That's not good. Yeah.

Let me just give you my perspective. I don't think the state is going to give you any money to go from septic to advanced septic. Um and so I think I think your chances are better just to submit it as a septic to sewer conversion. Okay.

Um are are we doing anything else at Stradley Park? I mean I was going to bring it up later. I'll bring it up now real quick. um you know that lady's uh team she is working on getting her um nonprofit but she said the fields are not being maintained and the football players are walking around on them um while they're trying to practice and I guess all other fields provide the safety um the safety uh what's the word I'm looking for base the safety base thing um and uh so anyway I just wondered if the I guess the grass has been not mowed. It's really high and they're out there trying to play ladies softball league. So

Oh, okay. That's on the softball part because I was over at the football fields. They look pretty good. Yeah. Even after rain. [snorts] No, this is the softball fields. And is that I brought it up. What? Yeah, there there's a lot that has happened at Stradley also. I mean, there's a new football field. Um there's a project happening with the um Thank you. the concession. Um the parking lot. Um I forget what else we're doing at Stratley, but we've we've there's a lot that's happening at Stradley.

Um you know, I don't know where we are where the county is on the softball fields there because I I think the most immediate need was the replacement of the football field and that's happened. Yeah. Um probably some fencing that's happened over there. There's a whole list of things that have happened uh are that have happened are are happening at Stratley. Yeah, because they said the dugouts were falling in. I mean, there's all kinds of issues over there. So, and they're paying to use those fields. So, does that money come to us or the county or combination when they pay that to county? That goes to the county?

To the county. I gota Okay. So, it's the county who they need to hit up for the stuff in the softball fields. Okay. Thank you. I will convey that. Appreciate that. Okay. So, in terms of the legislative priorities. Yes, sir. And as the mayor said, if if the league is asking for your top five and we have seven or have Yeah. One, two, three, four, six, seven, and I need a a ranking.

I personally think the multimodal station, the money for that absolutely is number one. That's my opinion and I would second that.

[snorts]

Um, home rule, tax rule would be number two.

Tax reform. I'm just giving you my five, you know. Um, land use, Senate Bill 180. So yeah, I mean when we're saying legislative uh uh when we're talking about the federal, I know like our county gave us 5 million. We sponsored 5 million. TPO allocated I think 15. Um I'm trying to think if TDC allocated any funding to as well. And

that was that is the that is the county. That is 5 million. So So it's it's 15.5 from TPO, 5 million from the city of Cocoa, 5 million from uh tourist development tax, um 2 million from uh Congressman Herodopoulos, and the remaining will come from my federal legislator. from the federal. But isn't that legislative priority? I I I took it as being state under those. Yeah, these are these are state. These are all these are all state. Okay. Uh but definitely that that would be number one. Okay. I just took it as being federal.

So we all agree that's number one. Yes, that's number one. Um, number two, home rule. Yep, that's my number two. Number three, property tax. You got nothing without those tax. [laughter] Yeah, property tax reform. Yeah, I have that as my number three. And then my number four would be Senate Bill 180. 180 there. Yes, sir. Because that's where we take the future in our hands.

We just talked about those four corners. There's 25 other municipalities that is are that are part of this lawsuit or 20 plus. Let me just say it that way. [snorts] Uh can can we for one of the five I know one thing that I know the Space Coast League of Cities has never really pushed for from what I can remember is the state funding for the ship program. Yeah, that's that's that that's especially for maybe not for other cities, for Coco,

it is vitally important and I'm pretty sure Miss Neutman can attest to that when we got a lot of people on this list and it's not enough money for the folks in Coco on that list. And so a lot of rehab programs, first-time home buyers, we're we say we we building these homes, but some people may not be able to afford uh to afford those down payments. So that was my number two. Where's the ship? I'm asking for one of the five to be definitely that for sure.

So So here's what I have. Number [snorts] one is support for federal grant funding for the Cocoa Multimotal Station. Number two is the protection of local home rule. Number three is property tax reform. Number four is uh Senate Bill 180. And number five is additional state funding for SHIP uh program affordable housing initiatives. I can go for that. I have a problem with that. I support Do you all support? If you support a support plan, okay, take a consensus. Yes. Okay, [laughter] Deputy Mayor Weeks, I'll go along, sir. Councilwoman calls.

Okay. Thank you. You got it, sir? Yes, sir. Okay. Proceeding on to item number four, which was a consent agenda item 5-1. Uh, Council Goins, that's your request. You going to make the motion or do you care to make the motion? We need to make a motion. The last one. That's why I was asking him that question. Did we even make one for which one? Consensus. We did a consensus. Okay. Yes, sir.

Your item number number four under council business that you asked to amend the agenda. um the family member showed up for the delegations, but um I did have the video from uh one of the other advocators for this particular item. I think it's like 30 seconds long.

Play it again, Sam. Everyone from me and all the special needs parents in Coco to city councilman Goins into grant writer Connor Williams we would like to thank you for making this inclusive playground at Provos Park happen. We didn't just talk about inclusivity. We made it happen. It's not just a playground. It's a place where all children, no matter their abilities, will be able to play and thrive and be a kid. So again, we would like to thank you. Um, so, so we we I think we said enough about the item before. Um, you know, I hope everybody we I'm pretty sure we're probably going to vote for this. Um, but but I I I think this is an awesome step because if you look around other other cities, parks that are close to Provos Park, there's really no inclusive equipment around. And so, um, I make a motion to approve this item.

Second. We have a motion on the floor in a second. Motion on the floor by Councilman Goins, second by Deputy Mayor Weeks. Chair is going to call the question. All in favor saying I. I. Any nays? Eyes have it unanimously. Now you know the next question would be when will it be applied, but it's going to take time. Yeah, you know.

Okay, moving on to item number 8-1. Outdoor Programmable Digital LED message board 2025- 105. All right, council. Bear with me on this item here. Um, this is not just a uh some some want uh some, you know, some item that I just would like to see just because this is a very important initiative that was brought uh before my attention by a constituent. Um, as you may know, uh, civil engage engagement with our, uh, residents and citizens throughout the city has been tough trying to get everybody in the know of what's going on. So, uh, this item here, I'm hoping that the council can support. Uh, it's for a digital programmable uh, LED message board like you see uh, throughout the city. Um, so I'll give you some examples. So, this is one that we have in district 3 off 524 at the fire station. I know the picture's a little blurry, but we all know the location. This is one that's at the water tower, also district one. We have one at the police department, also in district one. [clears throat]

We got one at Jolie Smith Center, also district one. [laughter]

So, uh, district two, and I included district 4 because our our districts border each other. Um, but often in the past, we've had multiple events, um, important, uh, important uh, events going on. And a lot of the citizens would tell me that they had no idea it was taking place and they had wished that we had more uh, means of notification. I know Samantha does a great job with uh pushing out our uh monthly newsletter and other means, but everybody consumes their information differently. [clears throat] Um, a lot of members in my district are uh often don't have means of getting on the internet or looking at television and even sometimes receiving those monthly newsletters. So, I wanted to create a way to uh broaden uh our way of pushing out information to the community. As you know, we just experienced uh unexpected flooding throughout the city. Um the Fist Boulevard Dixon location were two hard hit areas within my district as well, District 4 because we border. Um and if it had been a worse situation, it would be nice to be able to put emergency information out there to the citizens. So, this is a location I identified. Uh it's at the intersection of Dixon Boulevard and Fist Boulevard. Um, as I stated, district two and district four borders these areas here. Um, this is a city-owned parcel. Um, I think this would make a great location to add one of those message boards. Um, it would really help out the the residents in this location here be able to receive information rather council meetings, um, town hall meetings, and again any emergency uh, message that needed to be pushed out to the community. So, I looked up I looked up some prices, some costs. I may not be exact and my information may not be on point. Um, but

the message boards I seen they were around like $9 to $10,000. Um, it could be more with, you know, inflation going on right now, but I think this is an item that I can't see any resident uh in the city uh not wanting this, not being able to have more means of receiving information that we put out. Um, so I would ask the council uh that you please support this motion and directing the city manager and staff to um first identify an exact pricing um and the feasibility of putting this message board here. Just give them the uh power to make that happen and uh bring this to fruition. So with all that being said, I would ask the mayor if you'd take a vote on it.

Absolutely. You make a motion. Then we I'll make a motion uh to authorize the city manager and staff to solicit bids and proceed with the procurement and installation of a programmable digital LED message board um at the proposed installation site. Um that would also give the authority to the city manager to find out uh find where the funds would best come from whether it's uh fund balance or whatnot. Look for a second for discussion. I'll second it for discussion. Okay. Okay. I see your light on Council Go.

Yeah. My My only question was because there's so much traffic coming from many different directions. Would you consider it being um cuz like the one on US one, it has one face on one going south and then the other one on on the north side. Um may maybe for staff to consider like a multidirection sign. That was definitely my vision cuz it's cuz I just I could just see just cars going everywhere on this one. So

So if if angled right from my observation, I was looking at other message boards and at intersections. Um it can be angled to where uh it it can be viewed from multi- angles. Uh rather you're coming down Dixon Boulevard or Fist Boulevard. So that would certainly be uh um what I'm envisioning. I like it. Okay, I'm good. Councilwoman calls. Uh yes. So this is Have you identified this as the uh heaviest traffic area because I know there's a lot of I'm no expert, but from my observation, this is one of our most heaviest uh intersections here,

especially for those who may need this information. So Okay. And it's the one that I can think of where we actually have the city property to do it. Correct. Correct. So, yeah. City owners. Um, do do we want a limit or does this come back to us so we know how much it actually costs? I think that would be best. I I think you know because when we make these decisions outside the budget um you know like I'm in favor of all these park things but we also you and I have a park desert in the same area right

um so there are opportunity costs to anything any money we spend so we just want to keep that in mind so do I need to make an amendment or just no so so this will come back to us then we would know Okay, great. Just going to call the question. All in favor saying I. I. Any nays? I have it unanimously. Thank you, councel. Now, we'll proceed to reports, Mr. City Manager. Sir,

Mr. Mayor, I'm going to I'm going to hand out um to you something that was created by the TPO on the Coco multimodal station and rail project. and just consider that sort of your elevator speech. So, it gives you um information on the project. It gives you it's really a pitch to the feds. Thank you.

Um and so it is as though you were um I want to use the term lobbying, educating a federal official on the value of this project there. And so you'll see um what the federal investment would gain um who the project applicants are and then uh on the on the reverse some information some project detail information there. So it's a good sort of elevator speech for you guys to have um um as you uh go about the city and your travels there. Um, I think the only thing we have is is that um, Chief Lamb is going to report out on the storm events from the last couple of days. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mr. City Manager, and council. Um, all of you received a situation report that uh, we sent out to city council for uh, the small rain event that we had on Sunday. Uh I started receiving phone calls a little after midnight on some of the issues that we were seeing in the city and about 1:00 that morning. Uh started scouring the city to try and report out. Um one of the things that I don't think our citizens really see behind the scenes is just how hard our staff are at work when everybody else is asleep. So that morning when I went out and started doing some of the damage survey at 1:00, uh by the time I got to a point where I could stop and start making phone calls when the sun came up and get a better clear view, um you know, our city staff was really hard at work and the directors were already hard at work. And I want to give you a couple of examples of that. Miss Nearman called me a little bit after 7:00 that morning. Had already arranged for her building officials and staff to come in to start doing damage assessments out in the field so we could

get a clear picture and a clear view of what was going on in our city, where our damages were at, and get those reports into the county and both to the state. At the exact same time, Miss Abigail Morgan had her crews out in the streets, diverted from doing anything else, and they were cleaning out storm drains to start pushing some of the water off of our roads, out of our residents, and out of our businesses. For the first time ever, we had our GIS employee that actually rode out in the field with us and helped us do damage assessment. Miss Ashley Malone uh went out used the app that we created here in the city that they created to actually do real lifetime GIS mapping of damages, flooding, road closures, and get that information into the county. Um, you know, it was really amazing to see how all that started coming to fruition without even really having to make any phone calls. All these guys knew what were going on, what needed to happen. We had damage assessment reports done before lunchtime on Monday morning. Mr. Walsh had damage assessment done for the entire utility system. The entire utility system, not just the city of Coco, reported in and back to me before 1:00 that afternoon in order for me to get that to the county to give them an idea if we had any uh water infrastructure needs or any issues that were going on. Luckily, knock on wood, I want take Jack Thunder, but we had no issues uh that were of any significant issues uh that we needed to report. So, and then Abby, of course, had all her crews out doing their things. So, you know, our police report was our police department and dispatch was being inundated by calls and those men and women inside there were taking significant amounts of notes and sending that stuff to me through emails and

other means to ensure that we touched every complaint, every issue, everything that was going on with our city and we made sure that we got out there and did significant damage reports back to the county. [cough] We had a full set report, damage reports into Bvard County Emergency Management before 4:00 that afternoon with any needs, wants, things that we needed to help get our citizens back on track. So, I say all that to say this, there's a lot of things that go on. Knock on wood, I won't say the h word. Uh, and that's hurricane, not the other h word, but uh, [laughter] yeah, not hates. not the one with the two toothpicks, but yeah.

Uh, you know, this goes to show you what a welloiled machine does when nobody else is looking. And we would never be able to accomplish those things. One, without the cooperation of all the directors, but more importantly, without their staff. Um, again, Mr. Walsh's crews were out, I'm sure, way before the sun came up checking our utility lines, taking care of breaks, you know, and to have Abby and um certainly Miss Charlene's crews that were out there right as sunbroke with the rest of us making sure that it was in order. Nobody, there's no city, there's no county, there is no state that can be prepared for whatever drainage you think you need to take more than 8 in of rain in less than 2 hours.

It's just not going to happen. But I can tell you this, our citizens were served. There was no one there was no complaint that came in through our offices or through any of these offices that didn't go unanswered or a personal touch given to that individual to go out and see what was going on. I would ask you to please take some time look at the damage assessment report that we sent out to you with the pictures. Again, I give kudos to our IT department and to Ashley um for what she did with that program and building that program. That's been one of the most phenomenal tools that I have ever seen that helped us get true live pictures of what was going on in our city and paint a true report on our needs and what we could do for our community. So, um, again, I won't harper on it, harp on it. I know everybody's ready to go, but uh, I'm very proud to be a part of this team. I'm very proud of all of our directors and what it means to be a part of this city as a whole because when tragedy strikes, it's not one individual person that does anything. It's a team and without this team, we would have never been able to accomplish the things that we did.

Yes, sir. Okay. Yeah. We we Yes. Let's give him a round of applause. [applause] But before I stand, I'm going to turn the floor over to our city manager. Mr. City Manager. Yeah. and and and you know I one thing that I don't have to do is I don't have to call Chief Lamb and and Jack and uh Abby and Charlene because again as as the chief said they're already out there with uh Chief Lamb. Remember Chief Lamb wears two hats. Uh I was going to make a ball joke but [laughter] be careful.

Yeah, I know. Yeah. but he wears two hats. He's the fire chief and the emergency uh uh manager, you know, and so um and so he's he's out there. Um and this is again the h word, you know, I mean, and he's out there before anybody's out there. I guarantee you that there's no other emergency manager out there before Chief Lamb is out there. And again, uh, as he said, you know, uh, Jack and his staff are out there, not just within the city because remember, it's a regional water and wastewater utility. And so and so when you see those breaks that are happening um elsewhere, that's that's uh more times than not that's that's us out there having to handle the situation. And so um so they they just do a phenomenal job. And then Charlene, again, as he said, is out there with her staff doing the damage assessments and and Abby and her team there. And so it is a it is a team effort. They they are committed to their craft and and that's one of the things that I don't have to worry about there. I just uh you know wait on the call to come in and uh you know and hope it's going to be a good call there. And so, but again, you know, kudos to Chief Lamb, all the directors. Um, again, Ashley and what she does with GIS, not only for this particular uh situation, but what she does for planning and they do some phenomenal work over there and and uh um you know um and so you just can't thank them enough there. And it is the things that go unseen by the public that that again they're just the experts at uh at doing so. So so I appreciate them and I'll stand with you Mr. Mayor.

Yes sir. Thank you. I stand with all 411 employees from the great city of Coco to say thank you team Coco [applause and cheering] and everybody all departments matter. So thank you. Can I ask him a quick question? No you cannot but yes real quick. So you have the GIS mapping did. So now you have it like on a map. Can we see that? You do that term. I mean does it do you I mean maybe there are things you learn from that, right? Yeah, we actually have she has created a really nice dashboard. Yeah.

Uh Mitch, if I overstep, just say absolutely not. But there's a there's a dashboard that you can go in that we'll make accessible to you guys. you can't make changes or anything to it, but you can actually see where we've plotted some of those things on there through um through that app she did. Um and it's worked out phenomenal. I mean, we even plotted I'll just give you an example. This is not our area, but um I got the report for the Grand View uh issues going on. Remember that's a lot from our border. Yeah. Remember that's a uh enclave in the county. um we still went out, GISDed it, took pictures of it,

plotted it on a map, and still sent it over to the county and they were like, "Oh my gosh, that's phenomenal." So even though that was not part of the city, because it was so close, we were able to catch that data and pull it in. So all that was plotted on the map outside of the city to still show where that was at. Same thing with um Jack had two, three issues that he reported to us and they weren't really major. You know, one of them was a lift station that had went down without power, but it immediately hit generator power. Nobody ever knew it. We still plotted it on the map to show it internally for us so we would know where those trouble areas were. Um and that was outside of the city. So, we can certainly share that information with you. So you'll be able to see it and we'll have it up to whenever we have an event or we activate the EOC.

That's awesome. Um the mayor stepped away so uh is that that was it for me. Okay. Attorney. No report. No report. Okay. So then um I guess that's anybody else give report that I'm missing citywide. So, we last time we did

it's even I can go very quickly. I don't have a I don't have a report a visual report. Um just want to thank all the staff that were involved in the town hall. Thank you for being there and um you know listening to the town hall. um some of the communications I've got as I've reached out about the town hall. Um really want to focus on that bus stop thing, the bus stop thing and um you know where we have where we have this park desert. um really getting some plan in place because the expectations are when when they hear us, you know, pass we're going to do this state-of-the-art and that state of the art provost they're going, "Wait, we don't even have a playground." So, and then um the other thing really concerned with some of the water issues, just understanding those a little bit more um because they're pretty severe right now. And this was before actually went and took some photos before this recent storm, but it's been very wet, right? So, the reservoirs are very full. So, and there's just this permeation, this this, you know, we're just having this leakage all along Indian River Drive, particularly at Indian River Circle. A lot of leakage there. If you were to go over there, um, you know, the the guy at the corner has got three pumps going constantly and we don't know where that water is coming from. He's got three pumps set up now and it was constant. It was just flowing. You can hear it flowing.

So, uh, yeah. Anyway, so that'll be my focus for my remaining year here. We were doing reports. He didn't have any. And we're doing uh evens. Go for it. All right. District two.

So bear with me because it's been a eventful week for me. [laughter] So, and I actually got my photos in on time. So, so this was the uh health fair that was conducted at uh Jolie Smith Center. Um I had a chance to go out there and attend that. There was a lot of partners that out, a lot of partners came out. Um, a lot of information, valuable information was given out to the community. It was a great turnout. Coastal was there. Um, we even had uh uh forget the cancer hospital in Jacksonville. They had representatives here,

Mayo and Mayo Clinic was there. So, a lot of valuable information was given out. I had a chance to go over to the hunger project um help uh prepare uh food for the students. That was a great experience as well. Uh they were very grateful to have a representative from the city there. If you all get a chance, go out and volunteer. Pretty good event. So, it's one of the photos there.

And then the Rotary Club, they did a community cleanup at Bco Pond. Uh me and my daughter was able to attend uh there was a lot of debris washed up from the uh the heavy rains. So uh once the water subsided uh as you can see there was some trash. You can see where the water went down at. But there was a lot of trash that came through and we were able to pick up we filled a lot more bags than that. Um and thanks to public works because they came came by and picked up all the trash. Uh we put it in a designated spot. Uh so great event there. Oh, that's another photo of us. That's the new uh the new drain that was put in from the um the Broadmore Acres project. So then I had a chance to attend the fall fest. That was a great event. Um I thought the uh what is it? Potter Girl. Uh I thought that event was hard to judge with the pets, but this was the

[laughter] This was This was tough here. It's hard customers. They They really They went overboard here. This was hard. Um they even got me to volunteer for the hula hoop contest. I think I made it around my waist one time and that was about it. [laughter] Oh, yeah. Miss Anita, she was there. So, it's me and my kids. Miss Anita, I got you there. [laughter] So, we were judges for the costume contest. This is one of the contests here. As you can see, they were real creative. It was hard to pick. Yeah. So, always deep comfort. I like the little tornado there. That was real I think that was the first place winner there. Yeah.

Uh this is some photos from the uh wealth is it wealth uh wealth and empowerment wealth and empowerment event. Uh I got to sit on the panel as well uh Councilman Gorn. So this uh some of the photos from that event. A lot of great information that was given out as well. I I took a lot of advice that I I didn't even know. So I received a message as well. So Councilman Gins, Councilman Cador from the city of Rockidge, South Coco,

South Coco, best known. [clears throat] I don't know what he did to his leg. I [laughter] So that was another great event. Glad that we were able to assist in making that happen. And that's all I have. And um as far as the uh heavy rains that we received, I probably shouldn't have been doing it, but I was out and about driving around just I wanted to see how good our uh city has been performing with preparing and there was areas that was a lot of water, but I can tell you by the next day a lot of that water went down. Um as the chief stated, no amount of drainage would prevent, you know, some kind of water backup in that type of rain that came through. Uh so our systems are working. Um, to my knowledge, to what I saw, it was working. So,

you know, I think I'm good.

I need to put a be a starter page up to do that. Um, so this is the the pro prosperity and wealth summit. Um, that I mean like like Councilman Hearn said, we really had a a good time. Um, but but also I know my family benefited um by talking Miss D. Sibi, Dr. Sibi. Um, now we're in conversation about trust funds and different things in our in our family. So I'm glad I attended that event. Um this 3:1 empowerment organization I'm a part of as a board member. Uh we having a uh summit for financial literacy um for our young people uh 9th grade through 12th grade all males. Um this young man Jaylen Smith is our guest speaker. Um NFL player um also graduate of Notre Dame University. Uh he's become to speak to our kids in our community. Um, you know, we just did my role at Koko High School, which who was a neurosurgeon, and now we having a young man who's an entrepreneur and also a NFL player. So, the information for registration is is on the flyer. Uh, go to 321empowerment.org to register for the event. Um, this is um the Memphis University game and I went to Memphis this weekend. Um to my far right is a James Row um who is a Coco High graduate. Now he is the um secondary coach for University of South Florida. Uh my daughter is in the middle. She's a track runs track for University of Memphis. And also Said Hawkins, he's a cornerback for uh South Florida. Um also Coco High. And [clears throat] then the grown man is to the bottom is my is my grown six-year-old. Um but but we had a great

time. Also, also, man, just just to be around um people from Coco in Memphis um is a beautiful thing. Also, we ran into Remo Fuller, who's also a Coco graduate. He is now a professor at the University of Memphis. And so, a lot of lot of good things going on. Um so, th this is uh um yeah, canoe. So, this was probably about 1:00 in the morning. This is um Barbara Jenkins. Um and uh Barbara Jenkins and Wilson Street. Um this is the pond that is on Bernard Street. Um the water did go down um after maybe a couple hours or so. Um, but like chief said, when you get that much rain and that short of a time, it's hard for the system to respond um as quick as we would like. Um, I did put a lot of things out on on social media cuz people was going through the water speeding. It was crazy. They thought they was on at Wet N Wild or somewhere. I don't know. But but they just, you know, so I I say that again on the record. Um, when we get rains like that, that's not the time to just go out and drive 50 miles an hour through water. Um, because of that, a few Chargers, a few Hondas got stalled out because for some reason they thought they was in a big mud truck or something and and a lot of them got stuck. And so um so I go back to this photo. So this area is a house that's getting built on um Wilson Street, but this also was a property that held a lot of water uh in the past. And so I I called the city manager and I asked him, you know, just kind of briefly was conversing about some of the house that we we're building in the area, especially in Diamond

Square area. It's great that we're building up, but also um a lot of those uh vacant properties that we do have are now getting filled with field dirt. And so a lot of that water is getting pushed. And when it gets pushed, it's going it's got it has to go somewhere. And so and and and I was just asking him about some of the properties, you know, kind of evaluating that and see if we can look at some of the areas that we own and see if we can have any retention areas inside of residential areas. Small swells, small little um pocket retentions here and there. Um I don't know what that looks like legally. I I don't I don't really know, but I just know um we what do they call it?

Rain parks.

Rain parks. There you go. And so I I just I thought about that that night because again, we want to keep building. We need to keep building, but we also need to think about um you know, where where's the water going? My house, I have four pumps going the last two days. I just stopped pumping um probably 2:00 this morning. And so, um, I had in in two of my rooms, I had maybe an inch or two of water. And so, um, Night Street, um, my my it's one drain that drains into the Thomas Cole pond. That pond did pretty well. Um, but it's a lot of water. And so, uh, I I would like staff just to, uh, look into some of those area, those vacant lots that we own, some of the areas that may, um, that we may be considering for surplus, just look at some of those lots and see if we can possibly do some of those rain parks, uh, in some of the areas. Um, that was just an idea. I don't know how the council feels about that, but I just I I thought about that um, as a proactive proactive measure. Um um so this was uh youth advocacy day. Um this was Sunday uh last Sunday. Um and and so with Jack and Jill, uh the kids did the interviews. It was pretty fun. And so that this was uh Mike Cador went before I did. uh this some of my niece nephews and and Jack and Jill is a a great organization nonprofit who helps the young people kind of get their careers going in the right direction. All different high schools from all over Bvoulevard County. Um and I think that's all I had. Um the the all of the

departments that dealt with those the water the last um Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Um we really do appreciate you guys. cuz I know I had some people complaining, but those complaining it stopped after um mo I had to get up at 1:00 in the morning, too. And somebody was walking through my yard at like 6:30 in the morning. I'm not going to say any names, but he's sitting over there. [snorts] And uh [laughter] and but but just small things like that. Um I appreciate you, Chief Lamb, um passing by and you just stopped by just to check on us to see how we're doing. um and so it it doesn't go unnoticed um that we have a great staff that are here and we do our best to get it done. And so thank you again.

So real quick, one thing I left out uh today I was at Endeavor uh Elementary uh speaking with some kids and the PE coach informed me that they have an event coming up. He wanted me to invite the public and the council. Uh Endeavor's walk to school day is October 30th. Yeah, that's right. At 7:00 a.m. uh they're meeting at the uh Save A Lot on Dixon Boulevard. So, if you're interested uh they would love to have us out there. So, 7 o' I forgot that's that's the Thursday. Thursday, correct? Thursday at 7.

Waiting for my pictures to pop up here. Um, there we go. Um, so I spoke at strategies of successful women and these were the uh women that I uh spoke with up there and uh here we all are. They gave each one of us an individual plaque. This was up at the Moore Center. I spoke with of course Ivon Menace. Um Wanetta uh Pointer, Katie Campbell from city count, I mean uh from school board, uh Dr. Cynthia Deaks, the lady in the green jacket is Dr. Cynthia Deaks. And then C Kathy Hamilton Brown on the far right. I was it was an honor to speak at it. I learned something from all of the ladies. The stories were incredible. And um I know that uh Lorraine put me up for it. They called her and she was going to be in Italy. So she gave my name and I was honored to speak at the event. Um again, not as hugely attended as we would have liked, but those who needed to be there were there and uh and each if it had only been us, we all got something from it. It was wonderful. Um then I went to the dedication of the new Eastern Florida State College building down in Melbourne. I think we all got the uh the invite to it. And so I went down. This is where they're doing the um uh robotics and I mean it's an incredible building. They were supposed to have people to give us tours, students to give us tours. And [snorts] uh there was a whole bunch of us in the lobby and we couldn't find the students who were supposed to give us tours. So I got into one room that a guy said, "Well, I'm supposed to tell about this room." But that was as much of the building as I got to see. But it is a

beautiful building and it sits almost in the parking lot of the King Center. Um and then of course we all went to well mayor and I went to this CRA um the uh down in West yeah West Palm and she's the president um and she did an outstanding job. It was a fabulous conference. Uh this is uh Genius. She was the uh tour uh person for my tour. And this is we're in um a music a music park and it is outside the sunshine hold on lounge which is famous for all the jazz musicians who came out of it and their CRA is uh rehabbing that whole building there and putting it back. It's been all kinds of things over the years, but that whole park in front is all musical equipment, musical uh things, but it's uh play equipment, but in in musical form. It's really cool. And then out front, they have the uh history of of some of the musicians and everything that has happened over the years. And uh this shows some of uh I kept queuing in on that. And um and it one time you can see there went through a fire. I mean it's had all kinds of stuff but it is famous for all the everybody was anybody in jazz played played there. And um this is the inside some of the rehab that's going on and I think it's the hundth birthday of it. um they hope to be open and you can see it used to be open all the way up and at one point it got closed off but they're redoing it trying to put it back into its original form. Then this was another section we went to. Each one of those buildings is a small business. And um so in the backside, this is part of the parking in the sidewalk. And uh so you can enter

from either street to get into these little businesses and they're like pocket um uh you know startup businesses. This is a place where they can start start up and but they're being very successful there. And again, this is all part of their CRA. Now, you think West Palm Beach, they get a lot of money in their CRA, but the stuff that they're doing with it is is amazing. Then, this is another uh area that is currently under development, and uh it is not finished yet, but um there were people who were coming down to this area like crazy, and they've got they're going to do parking garages at either end. That unfinished building is a boutique hotel. And uh so again, and look at the brick work. The the company that does all that brick work was on the tour with us. So actually he sat next to me. So we got to chat about a lot of that.

Um and then uh it is called Nora and I cannot remember the AC what it stands for. North of Railroad Avenue, I think was the thing. In fact, the old railroad tracks uh run. You can if you look down there at the sidewalk, that's part one of the old railroad tracks and they left it in place there.

Uh and then this is a marina that they've redone and I mean it is packed and the restaurants and the people. Um again, this is all part of their CRA that they've that they've done down there. So, uh it was it was a great tour. Uh and um then one of the uh seminars was a tale of two CRAAS uh brownfields. And were you in that one, mayor? The tail of two. Anyway, I didn't get pictures of all the seminars, but this was the group, the panel on that one. And again, so much good information. Um uh I also wanted to bring up real quick the playhouse, Cocoa Village Playhouse, again flooded in the basement from all the rain. Those pumps cannot keep up with that. And I don't know if y'all have met with the hospital people. I met with them yesterday and I guess they're in negotiations with land with the county and unincorporated Bvard, but they are going to build a hospital, but they are looking at doing perhaps an urgent care in Coco. We talked about the desert area that we have no other than one urgent care place there. We have nothing. So they were he was very interested in that. And um and I'm sorry I missed your town hall and a lot of things, but I was on a cruise last week with my husband celebrating a belated 45th anniversary. And the I have to announce I actually won a bingo on the ship. [laughter]

I won a whole $417. [laughter] Oh, now you'll be I know, right? You'll be a dangerous camp. I know. I know. So anyway, but uh yeah, and thank you again to the city, all the staff and everything you did with all the rain to get the reports from the city manager and that y'all were out and and taking care of things. It was uh thank you for taking care of our citizens and our town. Appreciate it very much. Mayor, it's all yours.

Thank you. Um kudos to all council members for doing a phenomenal job in representing the city of Coco. [cough and clears throat] And yes, once again, we thank all departments. Team Coco, teamwork makes the dream, you know what, work and that's phenomenal. Um, here we are. This is with us down there at the FRA. Um, um, Chuck Liznik and also Miss Tina was involved keynote speaker there at one of the seminars, one of many seminars we attended. Uh Phoebe is out of Daytona Beach, a Bthun Cookman activist as well, but she's a part of their um CRA at in Daytona Beach, Florida. She was one of the keynote speakers there. We were I attended Del Rey. So, we went to Corey Jones and we're talking about the development of of of the communities through the CRA. The president Renee was there. She gave us a tour. Um, one of the facilities we went to a cultural awareness arts. Um, one of the individuals uh made um, as you can see his painting in the cultural arts and museum. Uh, he was from the great state of South Carolina. Matter of fact, from Charleston. And uh, quite naturally, I went to South Carolina State who we handsomely defeated Bthun Cookman University.

[laughter] Uh this is the gentleman's name, the artist Aun Drummond from Charleston, South Carolina. And at one of the uh cultural awareness centers, they do um paintings and and all sorts of different artifacts. The city sponsors this through their CRA. Quite naturally, some of the cities have a budget out of this world, like 11 billion budget. Yes, especially down south. So, they have the funds to support their CRAAS and also provide um security there, police security. Yes, they do.

In the city of um Boon Beach, they did. This is one of the keynote speakers there um at the exhibit there. Um I'm trying to think of the gentleman that was the 11 o'clock service. She was a speaker and that's the new incoming president as well, Michelle. This is our group that we attended right there. As you can see, everyone dressed sharp. Mrs. Fox of the Fox in there as you can see. We had a great time.

Yes. Power and numbers. And I was very happy to see that. Um, last year we were the recipients. This year we supported other municipalities and CRAAS. Um this is at our event that Saturday or that Friday rather. Um also at our board, our legislative policy committees, the gentleman to the left is a former mayor Bill Brooks out of Orange County or out of Orange Wendir to be exact. And everyone knows Allison, our legislative representative from the Florida League of Cities. Um, you can find myself doing my collegiate days there with the greatest fraternity there at South Carolina State, Omega Sci-Fi Incorporated.

That's right. In the front with hair at the time. [laughter] I had a manager Teeny Winnie afro. He wasn't the tall one. Standing straight. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's trying to look short.

This is the Atwoods there. our newest member in the city of Coco right there on the corner of Barbara Jenkins and Fisk [snorts] Boulevard. I'm happy to say um to the far left is former Cocoa Beach Ben Malik. Um that is Anna, the the the the Atwood family. That's the grandmother and the mothers in the back. And those are two kids, Katie and I want to say Steve and myself. I brought the brochure here for the dedication for the home. Uh, matter of fact, we were at three different locations that same day early in the morning. We went to Mike Man's to kick off the food can drive that we do. Um, last year, Rocks pulled a fast one on us because we were defeating them like three consecutive years in a row.

And and they added money. They had one of the bankers there to support Rock Ledge. Yeah, man. They beat us out by a chin chin chin, but they changed the rules to the game to favor them because we would have spanked them a third or fourth year in a row. But we're going to redeem ourselves, but we went to that event, man. And I'm happy to see um the smile on the face. A beautiful family there, as you can see, a lot closer. Um Halloween is here. This is their family, the two kids, and that's the gentleman that helped constru reconstruct or revitalize that home. And the two kids there, the Adwoods, as you can see, there's smiles on their face, there's joy, there's laughter. Everyone knows that when children have a stable, secured environment, they do well both in self-esteem and attendance at their school. And I'm a strong supporter of that. um here at this great event. We were at the Humane Society. Um Teresa Clifton was there, the rededication of that building. Um as you can see, Chief Lamb, uh Deputy Chief Moore, former County Commissioner Curt Smith, and this felt slim trim, I don't know, guy with a bunch of hair on his face.

But we were there having a great time for the dedication of the new building. And uh I want to say thank you to our um fire department for providing a venue and a way to make that building successful. Thank you. And to all our great leaders too that support our humane society. It's going to be a beautiful edifice there. And that's one of many that I left off. But that's it. I want to say a blessing. Happy Halloween to everyone. Please be mindful that as the weather changes, the old man fall is showing up. Uh, buy local, spend local, keep it local here in the great city of Coco. And to all of our department heads and 400 plus employees, we thank you for your commitment and dedication to make Koko the place to be, to reside, play, and educate yourself.

And time chang and I've been brought we're falling backwards. Yes, we are. Time is changing, so set your clock back an hour. Chair entertains a motion to adjurnn. Move to adjourn. Looking for a second. Second. All in favor saying I. I. Go in peace. Get your candy ready for Halloween. [snorts]