Town Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Good morning, everyone. We're going to call this meeting to order. Today is Monday, April 6, 2026. It is 9:00 a.m. All council members are present, including town manager, deputy town manager, town attorney, and town clerk. If you please rise for the invocation, followed by the pledge of allegiance. We thank you for this time and for this beautiful day. We ask to be blessed with wisdom as we discuss our strengths and our weaknesses. Help us to work together as a unified team as we listen politely to others points of view. Celebrate our diversity despite our differences and boldly steward Fort Meyer Beach towards a bright and healthy future as we work together on our shared mission. Amen.

Amen. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Next is the approval of our final agenda. There is one change um item number or letter. Where are we at? seed. The Castle Beach condo association is being pulled and we're going to replace that with a town manager walk-on for a special event permit. Do you want to touch on that, Will, before we or just give a brief overview of what it is? But it's a special event permit for a glow by the Gulf event um coming up in midappril down on the south end of the island. Thank you, sir. Move to approve as amended. Got a motion from councel king.

Second. I so by second by councelor Mlan. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Hearing none. That motion carries unanimously. Next is public comment. Amy. Um I have Chris Ryell King and following Chris will be Ed Korea.

Good morning.

Good morning. Okay, so I know I'm on the clock, so I'm going to be very quick as much as I can. Um, thank you for having me. My name is Chris Rel King. I am the chair of the Anchorage Advisory Committee and just want to give you an update promotion for our cruiser appreciation day coming up this Sunday from 12:00 to 3 at Bayside Park. It's a celebration of boating and community. We'll have some prize drawings at 1:30 and 2:30 and a special meal deal at Snug Harbor for $28 a person. uh you can choose from multiple menu items, but I just want to uh give some recognition to all of the people and organizations that are involved and I want to do some thank yous. So, if I leave anybody out, I apologize. We've had some people coming in to the event um in the past couple of weeks and I may not have all of their names, but thank you to the council for giving us permission to host this event again this year. Thanks to the town staff. Um, we've had a lot of people helping us, especially our wonderful harbor master, Curtis Ledwig. Um, but we've had support with our details, our permits, our insurance, um, and certainly our promotion that Abigail has, uh, mastered for us. So, we appreciate that. Uh, congrats and thank you to my committee who has been really working very diligently digging into all of the details to make sure that we're putting together a wonderful event that people can come and celebrate with us. I want to thank our monetary sponsors. We have Florida Marine Contracting and Recovery, Fly Heli Tours, Sam Lurri, John and Kathy Nash, and Ed Skunover. I also want to recognize all of the participating organizations. And again, I may not have the latest list, but here's who I know is going to be in attendance. We have Bay Oaks, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Astero Island Garden Club, Fort Myers Beach Art Association, Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce, Fort Myers Beach Yacht Club, Friends of the Library, Friends of the Moundhouse, Keeley County Beautiful, Marine Environmental Resource Task Force,

Native Plant Society, Pod Protectors, San Carlos Bay Sale and Power Squad Squadron, Turtle Time, What's Up FMB, and the FMB Lions Club. And then we have more than 20 prizes for our inkind complimentary prize drawing. Um we have Diamond Head, the Community Foundation, the Women's Club, Friends of Bay Oaks, Friends of FM Library, Friends of Loverski, Friends of Moundhouse, Island Carts, Key West Express, Lighthouse, Yucatan, Margaritavville, Matanis in, Nervous Nelly's on the Bay, Pety's Upper Deck, Pink Shell, Snookbite, Snug Harbor, Santini Marina Plaza, Self Storage, The Islander, and The Whale. So, I want to ask everybody to come out and join us this Sunday from 12 to 3. You'll learn about a lot of the island groups that you can participate in. You'll meet some new people. You'll meet some voters. You'll make some connections. And I hope that you enjoy it.

Great. Thanks, Chris. Thank you, Ed Korea. Sorry, Ed Korea. And that's all I have signed up. Ed. Oh, there you are.

Hi. Um, my name is Ed Korea and I wanted to talk about uh the development of the Windham Gardens. I was here at the the meeting last week, last month and uh was hoping there'd be some more progress. I guess what the what you're going to be doing is uh continuous special events or something to get that uh site up and going. I'd like to say that it's been three and a half years since uh Ian and we have one restaurant down this side of the island at Leno and it's a great restaurant but we need more and this by developing the site where Windham is that would be a big benefit to the people that live here. It'd be a big benefit to the people that work in this building too because now you can go to a a restaurant or get some food. So it's something that's very important for me personally. I've been a a permanent resident here for 14 years and had a a client 10 years before that, but I'm here for the the long term. Um, so there's been several starts and stops on this, but nothing's happening. I would like when I was at work, if we had something like this, I'd put together a critical path and figure out to gates to figure out what are we going to do to get this completed. I don't see any emphasis on that in this and I think it's very important getting restaurants back in in the area in this area. Um so I'd like to see some action on this maybe uh uh keep on working it. Look at what's the critical path to get it done. We want to do the right things to get everything done. Let's make sure we do that and if we have a delay then get it going again. Otherwise we'll be here talking this next year. So that's my suggestion that we do to get uh restaurants here and Windham Gardens is a great place to do it. What they're trying to do very similar to what the Beach Bar did. The Beach Bar is wonderful and uh what they're looking at here from what I understand is the same

thing and it's a great place to spend some time on the beach. Thank you. Thank you, Ed. Is there anyone else that'd like to speak? Public comment. Howie. Hi, my name's Howie. Turn the mic on. Turn your mic. Press the button on the Hi, my name's Howie Hoffman and I'm the commissioner of the Fort Meers Beach Senior Softball League, the Triple Deuces, and we're coming to the end of our season. I'd like to thank you all for everything you've given us, all the help you've had, and Fort Meyers Beach is coming back. Let's all do it together. Thank you very much for a wonderful season.

Thanks, Howie. Anyone else? Seeing none, we'll close public comment. Next, we have a presentation from the Honorable Matt Caldwell, our Lee County property appraiser. Welcome, Matt.

Well, good morning uh mayor, council, and uh town staff. Appreciate the opportunity to come and chat with you. Uh just uh to orient us a little bit, I'm here to talk to you today about uh the outlook for the uh tax role for 2026. And uh couple of things to keep in mind. Uh the entirety of the tax role is based on January 1st. So the ownership, the use, the character of the property uh is all considered in terms of determining what the value is for this tax year. Again, that date uh is the operative date and the statutory timelines. uh we will issue a rough kind of a a draft topline number uh that will actually be published on June 1st and then we continue to refine that and then you will have on July 1st your official number uh on which you will uh begin to formulate your actual budget decisions and you'll go on then to adopt a maximum millage rate submit that back to our office and we put that together uh with our value uh opinions for the year and that's what goes in the trim note Uh obviously we're just at the 1st of April. So I'm here a little bit ahead of our normal schedule, but uh based on where the market has been, a number of uh uh cities and the county asked me to come and have a conversation to help push this uh conversation a little bit uh ahead of the normal curve uh to get prepared for it. So what does that look like? Uh remember we develop uh in in simple terms two big numbers. One is the just value. That's the the market value for uh layman's terms. Uh and that goes where the market goes. Uh at this point uh in our analysis that is showing a slight decrease year-over-year, maybe a couple percentage points. Uh again, a little bit of the caveat. Think about that calendar. We are basing it on January 1st. We then look at all of the

sales and lease data and cost data from the previous 12 months and analyze that. And at a tax role of our size, over a half million parcels, that's a good bit of work. So what this number I'm going to these numbers I talked to you about today, they could still change and probably will change a little bit, but maybe not at scale. That's it's it's really uh I I don't have any published document for you because we're still working through that. Still verifying the sales, still validating uh what was arms length, what was actually uh to be included or to be excluded as it were. uh but nonetheless in the earliest model runs based upon the raw data pushed through it shows a slight decrease in the just value. Now when you move to the taxable value which is what ultimately you're concerned with uh it is showing essentially flat and so you say how can those two numbers be different? Uh, and that's because the vast majority of your properties are either going to be uh covered by the non-homestead 10% annual assessment cap or the Save Our Homes Homestead 3% assessment cap. And a significant portion is going to be that Save Our Homes. And so what that means is every year, those of you that that everyone here I hope has filed their homestead paperwork, uh you're going to see the market value move as it does, but your assessed value can only move up a maximum of 3% a year. And then for the homesteaders, you get an additional 50,000 deduction off of that to establish your number. Your non-h homestead, your commercial properties can only go up by 10% a year. So over those years that the market has moved faster than 3 or 10% you begin to build up a very nice cushion. A question we get every time we run into this period where the market begins to go down. Why does my taxable values continue to go up? As long as there is a gap between those two numbers, your taxable will move forward at that at that locked in percentage until they match. What is for

certain is your taxable can never be higher than your just. So if the market does collapse in a significant way like 0809, you will can you will go down with it as a taxpayer. Uh so that's called the recapture rule. Uh you'll probably I I've already started to hear about it. You'll probably hear about it from constituents and you can refer them to me and I'll walk them through how the statutory formula works. But that is how for the the net result for your purposes um essentially year-over-year flat from your taxable position uh with a slight decrease in terms of the just value. Uh naturally your question is okay why what are the things we're seeing? uh you continue to have new construction come back on uh but of course as we've talked about in previous years uh particularly on the islands jurisdiction Fort Myers Beach and Santael a lot of your new construction is really just the restoration of previous items so it's not total new growth um although you did benefit substantially by Margaritavville coming back on that year right after the storm uh so year-over-year I think it's about 60 65 million in uh in new construction Um that's taxable. Um and you to get a scale of how much is just restored stuff. Your just value new construction is about 400 million. So that 66 is going to be true true new construction. The balance the 390 million or so is that all that uh uh the condos, the hotels, whatever it is coming back online. Uh as to the bigger market picture, uh this uh jurisdiction has a lot of condos. Uh and if you followed the market at least in any uh casual way, you probably aware that that that is where uh the biggest challenge is in the market, at least in our market right now. Um you you see the strongest um downtrends uh in that market. And

there's multiple reasons why. Some of it to do with the increased standards in terms of reserves uh for uh maintenance and safety reasons. Uh also supply and demand dynamics. Uh I would suspect that a lot of the CO refugees that came into our market and now you can see they are starting to leave or at least they're not coming at the same rate. Uh and they probably as a higher percentage were entering the condo market rather than the single family market. Uh and so you see a little bit of difference there. So, uh, that's my broad brush, but I'm glad to answer questions that you have specifically about any properties or concepts that we're, uh, tackling in the tax role. Councelor Mlan, questions.

Number one, thank you very much for being here, Matt. We really do appreciate it. Um the I guess if you could go a little bit further into the difference the recapture you were talking about and the difference between the 390 total spend versus the I think you said 66 which was like new development versus reconstruction is do I have that right

correct so uh the uh previous it was it's a really I don't want to call it a serendipity coincidence that the exact year that Ian hit us, uh, the legislature adopted a standard post- disaster statutory formula for tax relief. Uh, and it it it more or less adopted the the prior common practice. Previously, the legislature had adopted specific tax relief packages after major hurricane events uh in order to provide some relief from taxation to the to the affected parties. Now, we have a standard. Uh the quirk in our case was it passed in 22, didn't take effect till 23. So we actually the governor gave us an executive order under which we we initially did our tax refund uh tax relief in 22. Uh part and parcel of of that was to identify everything that was uninhabitable. And for the immediate post- disaster, they receive a pr-rated refund on taxes. So after Ian, it was essentially three months of taxes uh for that year. And then we go back to the normal process. And as I mentioned, it's all based on what is the condition, the use, and the ownership on January 1st. So January 1st of 23, then we looked around to find out as best we could who was back in their place. Uh and out here, that was a very small percentage. Most people that qualified for the refund uh in 22 were going to be uninhabitable in 23. And going forward, year after year, we're continuing to whittle down that universe. uh and the way that it works on the reporting side, those buildings come off the roll uh for the time they're uninhabitable and then they come back on and they come back on in that new construction box. Obviously, they're not truly new construction. Uh, and so that's the difference that when they come back on, assuming they're within the window, and we're kind of pushing against the end of the window, but if

you come back on uh within the the statutory number of years, you still keep all of your homestead or all of your cap benefits. And so that's why you're going to see 400 some odd in new construction this year, but only 66 million of it is acrewing as new uh taxable value for the town. The rest of that, excuse me, coming back on the rolls.

The rest of it just coming back on the rolls and it already has that baked in either homestead or or 10% protection that's uh that's getting flowed through. And you mentioned that the time frame to maintain homestead for properties that have not been reconstructed is coming to an end next year or

No, it it it ended as of January 1st. Um my position is that uh everyone who has made good can demonstrate they've making a good faith effort to rebuild their home uh qualifies under my reading of the statute. Um, so the vast majority of people countywide, uh, are going to maintain their homestead. And I would say most of the ones who hadn't truly, they weren't sleeping in the house on January 1st of 26, they'll be done this year.

Um, of the whole universe, you know, we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 25,000 properties that in this bucket we're talking about. Um, and we were we only had about 300 uh that we identified at the first of the year. We sent letters to all of them to notify them that we didn't see any evidence that they were making an effort to rebuild their home at all. Okay. Um and that they would lose that they were outside of their window as of this year. That's really good information.

Well, and it's and and I think a really great stat, by the way. I mean, you think we went from 25,000 properties that needed to to try to get back in their home within the three-year window uh and we only had about 300 that didn't do that. I really to me as I look through just uh a casual overview of those properties, it's just people just weren't going to rebuild there and probably are just moved and not coming back. Thank you very much. Yeah, Dr. Link.

Yes. So, that brought a question up for me this discussion. How do you know when someone's been back in their house or what what do you look at to say there's no evidence that they've done this or they've done that? Uh well, the first line evidence is going to be I mean after three years that they've not pulled any permit at all. Um that's a pretty sure sign that they don't intend to to be back in it. Um those uh houses and we're talking houses, condos out here. We're dealing with condo buildings and we're we're getting down to the nitty-gritty. Um if you my my perspective uh in terms of of implementing this was to be extraordinarily uh broadminded in the im immediate year after Ian and every year that goes forward we're going to be more demanding of really demonstrating that you're making progress and that habitability that habitability determination is going to start leaning more towards our side than it is to to the basically if you told me it was uninhabitable in 23 I was going to more or less take your word for it. um because it was completely believable.

Um as as we now have gotten into 26 and and I don't see any evidence of any effort to do that uh to make any restoration,

it we we're we're beyond the window at this point and it's we're we're going to move beyond the the savings of those caps and and deal with the property as it sits. Uh whatever that may be. Um in terms of the process, it's it's our normal typical process. We're going to look at the indicators of habitability. Is somebody Well, first of all, are they still claiming it? There's their driver's license, their mailing address, their voting registration. Uh we can see it's it's the 21st century, so we can see that they're receiving uh all different kind of benefits, whatnot. We we've got a service that works on aggregating, identifying uh our our lives just the same way that Amazon does and and advertises to us. So, we use that same that same uh suite of of services to identify is somebody really living there? Um, and then we go and and lay eyes on it uh and and drive by it. And of course, at this point, we're down to a small enough number that we can realistically drive by all of those. That again goes back to a practical question immediately after the storm. We just if if we started in the first on the 1st of January, we'd never get to all of them uh to physically see them. So, uh, at this point though, we're down to the number that we're we're going and and personally visiting each one that we've got to check off the list one way or the other.

I have another quick question for you. Uh, after the storm or I would say last year even, um, residents would say, "Boy, my um, home value dropped significantly. It's like under 100,000, but my land value shot up. So, I'm at the about at the same place." Is that accurate those numbers or did it just get tweaked so that their tax bill was similar and what can they expect this year? Would that should they see a change

that No, those are great questions. Uh so first of all that is what happened in the market. Um but in in particular for our purposes because of our interaction with FEMA, we had to uh have a highly defensible land value because 50% uh the 50% rule process involves uh determining what the land value is to to extract it or deduct it from the total.

Um and uh reality is reality. we were not uh focused highly on land value because particularly on improved properties, it it wasn't a major part of our interaction with the taxpayer. Uh it really was that posttorm paradigm that forced us uh to really dig in and assign a unique land value in every instance that we could. Uh so we improved that model. So that that would be to say prior to 22, your land was worth more than we had on the role. um the topline number was probably accurate, but we weren't focused on it and it wasn't a priority that people were asking uh to get that ratio more appropriately determined. Uh now, particularly on Fort Myers Beach, that was the effect we saw after the storm. uh properties that if you had asked me in 22 uh you know a mid island dry lot uh that I would have thought would have sold for 400,000 turn around and post storm and it's selling for 800,000 uh just for the land with the building still to be scraped, right? Uh and so we had price discovery uh from a if you're an economics geek, what you had as a microcosm on the beach was was a great case study on a essentially a one-time only sale for a highly desirable location. And if you don't get it, then it's not going to come up again. Most of that land was just not available because people weren't going to sell it for 50 years,

right? Okay. So, we can expect to see some adjustments and perhaps maybe some of that land, vacant land will sell, will move in the market. Yeah. I mean, as a high value location,

yeah, as an island location, your your land is going to it's going to be that way permanently. Um, I mean, as a ratio for your older properties, it's not surprising to see land be 60 70 80% of the value. Um, and the only way to change that fraction is if you then put say a golf front property. If you build the new thing, the the threetory built out to the max and that improvement itself is maybe worth5 $6 million. Now your ratio is going to be much more 50/50 or 4060. Um, but in in the older things for sure the land is going to be the the predominant value. Thank you, Matt. Yeah, Scott,

thank you for being here. Uh, what's your crystal ball looking for 27 and 28? That's a great question, Scott. If I had that, I'd be retired over on uh over on poly market right now. Well, I know you guys are somebody's got to be looking at the future. I don't want to hold you to anything, but is it is it look like it's going to be flat the next couple of years or? Uh, so if you follow follow me on Twitter, you'll see I'm having some great debates, uh, just just really great philosophical discussions about this with some, uh, pretty smart people around the state. Um, uh, there are a lot of things happening all at the same time,

right? Um and from my part and you get other economists in here, other anal an analysts they'll they'll have a different opinion. Uh inflation is the single biggest driver of where the market goes and the market's participants reaction to how to hedge against that is more influential than anything else we'll talk about. And the hard part when when I say that is that's extremely unpredictable. We don't have we we we know what to do, right? Though more sophisticated investors, you move from real estate, you move over to equities. Move from equities, you move to to bonds or what you know, whatever. You're you just start moving around and try to get ahead and and and get the gains before everybody else catches up and takes the losses, right? There's no clear path for how to deal with persistent inflation. Um the the only path if if there's a rational one is to just spend your money because inflation punishes savings. So if you if you came to me and said what happens to a market when everybody is always spending their money and not saving well that should tend to p keep prices and values persistently higher uh because you've got activity now at the same time what are we dealing with here and southwest Florida is the epicenter of what is happening around the state. We went through a three-year period where not only did we have COVID refugees and so tens of thousands of people moving, bringing their cash here, driving the market up just from that, just that alone would have changed the dynamics of our market. I mean, we we had uh properties were selling in less than a week, right? And and when you understand historically typical marketing time is 3 to 6 months. If you're selling your house in less than seven days, that is great for you. that is a wildly unhealthy market on the hot end, right? And so now it feels like it's uh uh going down, but in fact marketing time is still right around 3 months. So we're

still on the hot end of the standard 3 to six month period as and you can zoom into particular maybe complexes or particular neighborhoods and these dynamics might not be exactly the same, but I'm talking at a countywide level now. Um, now you take that with all the co dynamics and then we had the storm and we displaced all of those people in those 20,000 plus homes and that's where you get apartment complexes with 102% occupancy. All right. And so they are they are going back to 85 90% occupancy a more norm it's a normal healthy market but it feels uh like it's a downdraw. Um so how do people react right? uh apartments in particular, that's that's not a big part of your sector out here, but it's a major part, say in the Cape and in the county's tax role, the new apartment complexes that have popped up over the last 5 years. A lot of those were PE investments, uh, and they were buying those and operating them at an assumption of a 3 to 4% cap rate. Totally unrealistic. Now, their occupancy goes down to what we would still call healthy, 85 90%. Right? I mean, that's not a bad number, but

it just it screws up their metrics. So, they're selling uh the the nice uh West West Village right there downtown uh next to the Edison home. They sold that for I don't couple multiple million dollar loss compared to their acquisition uh during the COVID boom. Um so those those participants are kind of leaving. And so as as you ask what's what's happening, I still see the normal individual buyer looking for opportunities at a rate that's more similar to a stable 2012 to 2014 period. Um, but you've got that big institutional money, not happy with what they can get there, not happy with what they're losing money on inflation, and I don't know where they land,

right? That where that money lands is going to drive what the next really big revolution is. And that's it's a long way to get around to it, but it but it there's no clear answer. It's a very muddled picture at the moment. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Again, thanks for being here. Really appreciate it. Absolutely. John, yeah, I'll I'll echo that as well. I appreciate your always willingness to come here. Um your availability and your staff's hard work as well. Thank you. Uh just a couple of things. one from my understanding I guess. Are you saying then that all but 300 properties are back online on Fort Myers Beach or expected to be by January?

Uh that no 300 were the ones that were not making any effort to be back on. Now I would still say the balance um you're asking me to go off top of my head but we're down to say 2 to 3,000 only um that are in the other bucket and I would expect most of those to be done this year. At least they should be based upon where they were, how they were situated January 1st, right? These were folks that um they they're not ready to occupy, but they've they're they're in the process, right? New drywalls in, new they're just waiting to get the things the pieces that they need to get done.

Um at least for the ones that are going to be completed. Now, there's um there is a and and that was from the perspective of people that had a homestead. They were on the clock. Um the the others uh you still have a significant number of properties. Um and and I'm I'm getting the calls now from the people uh you know it was very easy in the first year where we just took the whole building off in the condo. Well, now floors two through five are habitable. People are living there. We put them back on, but floor one is still a mess. And now they're arguing with each other about how to handle that. And then they want to drag me into the argument about how to handle that. Uh, and so, uh, we I'd say that's kind of the category that's left other than the big single owner properties that you're still aware of and you know, they're they're waiting to figure out where the market goes and and what to do in terms of their investment.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, also, last time you were here, you u gave your insights onto what you expected from the governor's proposal to get rid of ad valorum taxes. Um, it seems like now it's it's leaning towards uh just homestead credit. Uh, any any thoughts or any wisdom to share?

Well, that again another great polymarket bet. I could make a lot of money on it. I I think the safest bet is nothing happens. And of course, what visiates against that is it would be impossible to think that they do nothing at the end of all of this conversation for the last 18 months. Um, but looking at the parts and the pieces and the players, they're not really on the same page. Um, that's that's this is a very complex piece of policy. Uh, it's not easy to do when everybody wants to work together and right now they don't even want to do that. Um, and so it it kind of tells me it's not going to happen. In the background as well is that the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission is going to be seated in January of 27. That's uh we so you remember the CRC constitutional revision commission meets every 20 years off cycle from that by 10 years is the TBRC which is essentially a CRC that is its scope is limited to tax and budget issues and you know then you can argue about what isn't a tax and budget issue but it is ostensibly different than the CRC but this is going to be seated and be available to deal with this entire conversation and be filled with ostensibly 27 seven people who are particularly expert and uh interested in the topic uh rather than you know the process we have right now that's that's that's kind of going in different directions. Um if you take the position that something has to go to the ballot then it probably is a homestead uh reform. If I was able to draw that um and and I have encouraged and and I am encouraged by the conversation that I hear from some of the members um I believe we should transition the homestead from a fixed value the 50,000 to a percentage. Uh that percentage would achieve two things. one, it would eliminate the need to come back and deal with this because of inflation, right? The 50,000 we passed in 2008, uh, needs to be

somewhere, depends on how you mark inflation, but needs to be around 96 to 105,000 to have the same dollar value as it did in '08, right? So, we've lost half of the homestead benefit because of inflation over the last uh 18 years. You do a percentage, you get rid of the inflation problem. Uh the percentage also is more equitable, more easily implemented uh from an equity standpoint statewide. Um if you say we just made it 100,000 because we say inflation has done that. Um we deal with it here. We deal with it in Cer County. Uh it would knock out 75% of the tax role in Liberty County. Uh and that's a county of about 11,000 residents on the Appalachiccola River. So it's not a doable. It's just not feasible for your small rural counties where most of your property is homesteaded and most of it's worth sub 150,000, right? Um so you go to a percentage say what say it's 25% off. You get a 25% deduction whether you've got the $6 million beachfront or you got $150,000 home in the woods and everybody gets 25% off. It's it's it's easy to implement, solves inflation, solves the equity problem. Um, again, I'm encouraged uh by by the embrace of of that concept by a few folks, but um that's that's of that's certainly what I would like to see if we could get somewhere and that it be focused on that. I think that could pass.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah. Well, Matt, thanks again for coming and answering the phone call to come down. Uh it's certainly information. Although it's not the greatest news, it's it's better than what I had expected you to say. So, I mean, I'm encouraged to hear at least stagnant better than negative as of right now. And again, you said it could it could change up or down depending on what you find in June and July.

I I'm still getting people that are coming forward. You know, we talked about the properties that are are not doing anything and they're they're some of them that I've talked to are just paying attention to what's going on. And I still get I know I talk to you about it every single year. Still getting people that are saying, "Well, I'm noticing that my property value. I've just built back my home that was 400,000, say at the storm, and my property was worth 400,000. Now, I've rebuilt my home after Hurricane Ian, spent 250,000 rebuilding it, 200,000 rebuilding it under the 50% rule, but now my house is only worth 100,000, but my property is worth 1.2 million." To them, it seems like the numbers are just getting shifted, right?

Is there any scenario? And and so I've had people actually come and say, "Why would I I can rebuild my house, but I don't have the money to build a new home. So if I put 200,000 into rebuilding this house, is my value now going to go the opposite direction, even though I know my home or my my land value has gone up?" What can we say to those people to encourage? Is there anything that's going to change that? I mean, because to me, anybody that why put 200,000 into something that's only going to be worth 100,000 and their fear is if, god forbid, we ever get another 8 in of water inside their house, they're going to have to tear down that house and lose that investment that they just put back into something that they could only afford to keep. So, I'm I'm not hearing a ton of it. Not as much as I did last year, but I am still hearing that. What can you tell the people that are concerned about that? I mean, from just the the cleareyed green eyeshade accounting standpoint, uh that's that's how the market works. Um and that's that's how uh revitalization and gentrification works in a marketplace. I mean, it's it it's unique to our circumstance here because it's post- disaster, but it's a kind of the same argument you hear in historic communities when you get a complete wholesale change of the users and the neighborhood is disappearing as land values go up and the just all the accompanying changes that occur. Um, the the the dynamics the same on the beach. Uh, but I use an example I think is really easy to understand. Uh because this is this has happened widespread in South Cape Coral, South Cape Coral Parkway. Um your original houses there are built by Gulf American Corp. Uh 1960s, so we're talking about 65 70-y old houses. Uh but they're concrete block. They're bunkers. Uh you can basically wash them out and they're perfectly fine from a from a physical standpoint. And I've replaced the cabinets and the soft materials. Um but you're on a direct golf access canal lot. no bridges, straight out to open water. Uh that lot in Fort Lauderdale is

a $3 million lot. Here it's somewhere between 750 and a million. Uh and the buyer that's coming in to buy that doesn't want a singlestory 1960 ranch with one and a half baths and a carport. Um, so even though it's physically in good condition, even though you can spend the money and make it perfectly livable in a house that kind of house I grew up in and would be would love to live in, I I think they're nice. That's not what the buyer the majority buyer is looking for. The majority buyer wants exactly what you've got in your mind. threetory out to the setbacks uh 4,000 square feet uh with four garage garages because they're also going to be the kind of buyer that's parking a 40 foot 50 foot boat on the on the lift in the back, right? So that's just the reality of how the the market evolves. And so out here that same in your mind uh quaint ranch or particularly the the uh woodframe bungalows uh I'd love to live there. You've heard me say it before. I don't even need the air conditioner. My wife would not live there with me, but I would be fine. Uh, but that's just not what the market wants. And and that's what you're seeing expressed in in those dynamics and in those ratios. And so for their actual decision on the permitting side, it's why I've I've encouraged everybody if you've got a home over 30 years old, even if there aren't these other market dynamics going on, don't use our tax role for that. Right? The tax role is an option. it it's really designed for you to just get your roof permit without having to get an appraisal or get your AC permit without getting an appraisal. If you got to do a whole house rebuild, get a private appraisal that determ that that looks at the specifics of your situation and all the things that are going on in your property because at the end of the day, our tax role is just a mass valuation model. Uh I think we do a really good job. Uh I'm I'm really proud of our

team, but the more variables you put into that and age and desiraability being two really uh uh big variables that are very subjective, um that that's going to just make it I'm not going to say inaccurate, but it's not going to be as accurate and useful as a as a direct private appraisal that you get for your specific in instance. Well, yeah. That becomes a catch 22, doesn't it? If your house is worth 150 in your eyes and then you go get a private one, it says it's worth 500 and all of a sudden you're knocking on their door again.

No. Well, no. Listen, uh that is one of the great things about being an independent constitutional officer. I don't care what anybody else does. Uh I work only for the taxpayer. Look, I I love you guys, but I don't care if you make money or lose money this year. Uh that doesn't determine uh my responsibility to the to the taxpayers in terms of the the tax role. So, uh yes, that is I hear that as well. People are worried that there's there there's a great repository of all appraisals and I I get to look through them and comb through them, but that's not You got so much time to do it. Yeah, that's exactly right. I in my in my extra time at the end of the day, I I start perusing through the appraisals. All right. Thanks again. Will, do you have any questions? No, no more questions. Just thanks Matt for being here.

Yeah, absolutely. And anything else you all need, you know, you can call on us. We'll be glad to. Great. Thanks, Matt. All right. You all have a great morning. You too. Next is local achievements and recognitions. Councelor Mlan, we'll start with you. Uh, I just want to say last week on the beach was just such a great great week. um between the firehouse, the town staff birthday celebration, the open house, just the engagement of the residents and and everybody uh their participation. It was just wonderful week. So that's all for me.

Council Link.

Yes. Um, I want to thank the town staff and will Tracy your leadership having the open town hall. I cannot thank you enough and everyone who worked so hard to make that happen, Mayor Allers for everyone being prepared. I know that wasn't easy, but when I reached out to Will, it was around um probably about a week before our 30th anniversary and I said, "Will, it's um State of the Union time and I'm hearing from people. Can we have a state of the beach, state of the state? And he said, "You have it. Give us a couple weeks after the anniversary and we'll pull it off." Abby did an excellent job handling an unruly crowd sometimes keeping us on track. And again, I just want to thank everybody for doing that. I think we should do more.

Thank you, Scott. I'd like to thank our seasonal snowbirds or seasonal residents. Um the last couple years they just haven't been back and this year they came back in full force and I know the island's still not perfect but I want to thank them and all our visitors. Uh we had a tremendous season. I I saw this guy 7 a.m. 6:45 on Sunday. We're both working. So, it's it's been a great season and and I know people um you know have have put up with traffic and put up with a whole lot of things, but at the end of the day, we're showing the the state, we're showing the country that we're we're open and we're open for business, and I think next year is going to be even more fantastic. So, I want to thank everyone for giving us a shot this year. John.

Well, from the department of redundant redundancies. I I'll just uh share that u yeah congratulations to the fire department. Just a fantastic addition to Fort Myers Beach with that uh fire station 31 and thank you for the invitation to attend. And I'll echo as well, thank you for the town hall, mayor, town manager, uh town staff. Thank you for putting that all together and for your willingness and work to stay late and and and make it something that the residents appreciated because I've uh from the folks that attended from my buildings, I heard nothing but positive feedback. So, thank you for that. And the hot dogs for dinner were delicious as well. So, thank you.

Well, I won't add to all of that. Everybody said anything. I just wanted to take a second to He's not here, but uh

wish Tom Yazo a a happy retirement. um he'll be he'll certainly be missed, but as he told me at the town hall, he's never far away. He's only a phone call away. So, uh good luck, Will, in trying to find a replacement that fills those those boots. But, uh I have no doubt that you'll be able to do it. So, thanks, Tom. Tom, for all you've done. I don't know if you can hear us, but if you can, thank you. All right. Next is our approval of the minutes. Oh, I'm sorry. No, I lied. We have the advisory committee. So, sorry sitting back there. that a better better make sure he gets included. Uh they have the appointment of members to the local planning agency. There was uh one open seat due to Mr. Mlan coming on to the council. So we had one applicant, Mr. Skunover. Ed, do you want to come up and say anything? No. Okay. So, we'll go ahead and we've got our little ballots. We'll make our ballot selection. There's one for Ed and two open boxes. So, let's make sure we check the right ones. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Thank you.

I had to do it. I know. Could be a ride in. Yeah. Could be a ride in. True. Yeah. Okay. First up is uh John Mlan for Ed Skunover. Rebecca Link, Ed Skunover. Scott Safford, Ed Skunover, John King, Ed Skunover, and Dan Allers, Ed Skunover. Congratulations. Okay, John, is that uh does that reflect your vote? It does. Councelor Lake, yes. Scott, yes. John, yes.

And I do as well. Is is there a motion to uh approve the selection of Ed Skoonover to the LPA? So moved. Second. Good motion by councelor King, seconded by Vice Mayor Safford. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Hearing none. That motion carries unanimously. Congratulations. Board or condolences, whichever. It's a good gig. You'll enjoy it. Thank you. Now, you might want to step up because you're on three committees now. So, you're going to have to resign from one. And would you share what that will be or

I forgot he's on three. Is that a decision I have to make today or do we have time for that? I don't think I don't he doesn't necessarily have to make it today, does he? Um, we'll look into it and um possibly a waiver. Um, we'll we'll see what the rules say. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Complicate stuff. Next is the approval of the minutes from the town council meeting on March 2nd, 2026. Town council management planning session for March 5th, 202026. And the town council meeting for March 16th, 202026.

I have uh one change. Okay. Page 23 of 225 from the March 5th, it says uh it's actually town manager talking about uh recognizing a balance between personal freedom and shared responsibility and a balance between punitive and educational measures prior prioritizing the former. I think it should be prioritizing the latter. You're actually hoping to educate rather than be punitive. Correct. Thank you, John. Correct. But with that, if there's nothing else. Okay. Is that your motion? Are you making a motion? I will make a motion to accept the minutes. All right. Got a motion by Councelor Mlan.

Second. It's nice to know that somebody else reads them too or catches the changes. All right. Got a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Opposed? Hearing none, that motion carries unanimously. Next is our consent agenda. We have three items, the same three items. The resolution 26-060-26-063, the extension of local emergency tropical storm Debbie. Resolution 26-064 through 26-067, the extension of local emergency tropical storm Helen and resolution 26-068 through 26-071, the extension of local emergency tropical storm Milton. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Motion. Second. Motion by councelor King, seconded by councelor Link. Any further discussion.

All those in favor signify by saying I.

I. Opposed. Hearing. None. That motion carries unanimously. There's nothing removed from the consent agenda. So that brings us to our one and only public hearing. This is ordinance 26-07, the smoking and vaping. This legislative item agenda item is the first reading and public hearing on proposed ordinance 26-067. If if approved at first reading, a second reading and final adoption hearing will be scheduled for May 4th, 2026 at 9:00 am or at another time identified by town council. This is an ordinance of the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, amending section 18-30 of the code of ordinances of the smoking town of of the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida to prohibit smoking and vaping in the town's public parks and in county parks and beaches located in the territorial boundaries of the town. defining the terms smoke and vape excluding from regulation unfiltered cigars and providing for conflicts severability and an effective date.

Thank you mayor. Um so we had a very good policy discussion regarding this one I believe at your last M and P meeting such that I even thought this one was on second reading today but it's actually first reading. Um I will briefly summarize the legality side of it. Um at your MMP meeting you did ask some policy related questions and um our deputy count town manager she worked on that. Um you'll find both in your u agenda materials on page 107. So basically what is going on is that the state of Florida has preempted the regulation of smoking. However, they have carved out a exception to allow local governments to regulate smoking and vaping um within any public park or public beach uh that is in their territorial limits. And this would include for purposes of Fort Myers Beach, Bodwitch Park, Lynh Hall Memorial Park, and the Pier, which are both owned by Lee County, but they are located within the territorial boundaries of the town of Fort Myers Beach. Um, the proposed ordinance also uh defines what smoke means um and what vape means. And it does exclude um vaping does not include the mere possession of any uh vapor generated. Wait a minute. The um the one that the exclusion that's very important because that is in the statute um is for the cigars. Let me find it. Um the term smoke means inhaling, exhaling, burning, carrying or possessing any lighted tobacco product with the exception of unfiltered cigars. Um and then the policy consideration, some of the questions that were asked.

Um Tracy, do you want to comment on those? It's 107 on the blue sheet. One of the questions that council members had was regarding um any assistance with grants, like how would this impact um future grant applications? And so through my research, um a smoking ordinance is rarely mandatory, but it could serve as a tiebreaker in certain grants. For example, when we talk about environmental protections or clean beach initiatives, that kind of ordinance may kind of tip the scale in our favor should we move forward with it. again rarely mandatory but can serve as that tiebreaker portion. Um it can be used and cited in grant narratives under um environmental stewardship as well as public health, visitor experience, so tourism and sustainability. So that was the research that I had done in regards to council questions.

Nancy, anything else? Um, no. I I think that um Tracy summarized it very well in the um page 108 um where she said that um the town uh the policy of the town then would be a public health, environmental protection and visitor experience measured aligns with um coastal sustainability and familyfriendly tourism goals. The only thing I noticed is in you didn't include it's just a scrier thing but you want to include Crescent Beach Park. It's also one of the county's parks. It's not listed in your Thank you, John. Claim questions.

Uh, I just have one question in that the actual ordinance references smoking. You the um the term definition, Nancy, that you just read out says any leted tobacco product, but there are non-tobacco alternatives that people smoke. I'm wondering if there's a way that we could perhaps I'm not certain about that. Um you're thinking of like chewing tobacco. No, I'm thinking more like well potentially um although that's illegal. So I will have to look into it if there are specific um

um herbal cigarettes that are not tobacco. Okay. So the question is really um whether that would fall within the prohibition. Correct. Okay. I will, like I said, I will look into it's not a die on my sword thing. It's just a if we're going to stop smoking, we should stop smoking everything. You're talking like a hookah pipe or something? I mean, I don't I don't smoke that stuff, but there are plenty of tobacco alternatives that people do smoke. Fair enough, Rebecca.

Yeah. I even have a neighbor who rolls her own cigarettes because she's very concerned about the environment and it's the filters that are a problem to for wildlife. So that's why she does it. I think that would probably be as well one of those things that may be uh allowed like cigars are. Um Oh, I see. Yeah, because it's the filter that's causing a lot of the problem. The smoke is maybe health related, but it's so what I'm hearing then is a possible carveout for cigarettes that are that do not have a filter that are rolled.

I think it's something we should think about and consider maybe before the second meeting because when I was doing my research, I found a lot of it was about environment. There's also, of course, the people who don't like the smoke, but um it seems to be more focused on littering.

Yeah, I know Tom is um thinking about his retirement, but um how what about from an enforcement perspective? Um that would be something to consider. Although from a policy perspective, you may want to have it in your code, um the actual enforcement of it, um as to whether or not the cigarette has a filter on it, um and the type of cigarette that's being smoked.

Yes, I I hear you there. That's something to consider. Um I also did some research on um how we could um actually manage this or enforce it. Um, but I think that's probably for comments down the road here. That's it. Mayor Scott.

Um, I I think the the vaping part is is the big one because of the environmental impact. I mean, in Europe, it's just ridiculous how how much trash and how much environmental concerns there are over over the vaping, especially the disposable ones. So yeah, if we can clean up the language a little bit with the the filters, I'm way okay with this, John. Well, I guess I'm not sure now, but I I'll save my comments until we come back with some clarity around some issues.

Okay. Yeah. For me, I mean, Nancy, I've had people come up that this was coming up. You know, the term public beach shall include beach access areas. So, I had literally had someone come up and say, "So, if I'm at a beach access in my car at a town hall parking spot, am I in violation if I'm smoking in my car?" My answer is, I don't know that there's really going to be a lot of availability to enforce this. For me, this is more having something, as we've said before, a tool in toolbox. Should it come down to grant stuff? I don't know that like ebikes on the sidewalks, how fast you going to be able you can't radar them, right? So, I I don't know that we're going to get that granle with it, but I I just told them I would bring it up at the meeting that if I'm in my car smoking, am I going to get a ticket? I I don't know that it extends that far, but

yeah, probably not in your car. Um, however, the beach access, I mean, we are being uh we're considering the access areas as being a part of our parks. Um, if you want to exclude the beach access, we could we could do that. Um, generally I would assume there might be trash cans near the access area. So the the litter and the environmental impact might um be addressed.

Yeah. Well, I again I don't I'm fine with the language the way it is. I just I don't see a ranger knocking on someone's window saying will you can't be smoking in your car. You know, maybe they will. Maybe I doubt it. But anyway, I brought it up. I said I would. Public comment. Anyone like to speak in public comment or do you have any cards? I have a few signed up. Okay, perfect. Uh, first up I have Hunter Shamlan. Sorry if I butchered your last name. After Hunter will be Sher Sally Kruin. Sorry again with the name if I butchered that one. Step up to the mic. There you go.

Thank you. Hope you all had a good Easter. Um, I'm the owner of Paradise Vape and Smoke on For Myers Beach at Seagate Plaza. Um, I appreciate all your perspectives on smoking and vaping. Um, I I do agree the biggest issue is littering on the beach. Um, as for with most stuff from beach toys to bottle caps, I think it's all in the same realm of littering truly. Um, you know, it the battery stuff is an issue at times and now they make these things a lot larger so it people tend want to hang on to them. They don't tend to, you know, accidentally lose them maybe per se to become trash, but not really a something we're just going to toss out. That costs quite a bit of money. They don't have the small things that they used to anymore, like, you know, cigarette butts for that matter. Um, when it comes to beaches, you know, state parks, I think they should, yes, they should actually have ordinances for stuff like that. You know, places where people congregate with families generally. The beach, the open beach, you know, where people like to drink, they tend to want to have their nicotine devices as well. Um, it brings a lot of locals out here as well to spend money here at local, you know, establishments. I feel strongly about that. Uh, myself included. Um, when it comes to servability, I I misread it and it said severability. I meant I thought it was regarding the serving of it, but I was hoping that wouldn't concern much my business out here. Um, I it's my bread and butter typically out here and um I hope it doesn't get affected too much from, you know, any kind of strict enforcement out here. I I do believe there should be some form of enforcement especially for littering. Uh maybe steep fines be great revenue generation in my opinion. Just an idea. Um do you guys have any questions for me at all being part of the industry, the tobacco industry?

We don't usually do questions in during public comments. I'm just curious. It's my first time being here. I appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah. Um but you guys have my information on there in case you have any questions. You're always feel free to reach out. Um, I'm been industry about eight years now and you know I'm more for getting people off of cigarettes typically in my industry, not for you know selling them truly. So cigars and nicotine devices is what we usually do mainly. But um, but thank you for your time. I appreciate y'all. Thank you Hunter. Yeah. Thank you Sally. And that's all I have signed up. Mayor. Okay.

Good morning. My name is Sally Kruer and I'm proud to serve as the director of community health and benefit at Lee Health as well as the chairperson for tobaccofree. Tobaccore Freely represents a coalition of local organizations dedicated to advancing the health of our community. Our partners include the school district of Lee County, the American Heart Association, Drug-Free Lee, the Youth Services Coalition, the Florida Department of Health, the National Guard Counterdrug Program, and many others. Several of them are here today. We strongly support the passage of this important ordinance to protect the health and well-being of our residents and to preserve the beauty and charm of our wonderful community. Tobacco use remains one of the leading preventable causes of diseases and death contributing to a wide range of health issues including cancer, heart disease, respiratory conditions, and stroke. This ordinance is a critical step towards creating healthier healthier environments that reduce exposure to harmful secondhand smoke which is particularly dangerous to children older adults and those with chronic health conditions. I will share that other nearby areas including the city of Santael, the city of Fort Meyers and the Lee County Board of County Commissioners have already adopted similar ordinances with limited um enforcement issues. These types of policies h help produ excuse me. These types of policies help reduce cigarette litter, promote healthier lifestyle choices, and increase quit attempts among those who use tobacco. Moreover, cleaner smoke-free environments enhance the appeal of our community to visitors, potentially boosting the local tourism industry. While these financial benefits are notable, the primary concern is safeguarding public health. Thank you for considering this important ordinance. We believe it'll help make Lee County a healthier, safer, and more

vibrant place to live, work, and visit. Thank you for your time, and we're happy to meet with you if any additional questions. Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak? Seeing none, we'll close public comment. Any more council discussion? You know, Nancy, um, Hunter brought up a very good point. You know, the litter is a lot is a big part of this. Is there any way to strengthen that language when it comes to what potential ramifications would be if you're leaving, as he said, you know, some of these vaping things there looks like a big cell phone battery pack that they're plugging into the bottom side of these things. And I've seen them leave them behind just leave them on the ground when So it's it's for me it's it's important that you know if you're leaving garbage behind we we've seen it many times out on the beach where we've had to go out and grab bags and pick up garbage not necessarily just cigarette butts but just garbage in general. So there should be in place um and I would discuss this further with Tom or whoever's going to help um in his absence um the enforcement side of that would be I believe through a citation u an immediate citation when you see someone. However, if they litter and they they're not there anymore um it's it's a challenge.

Well, obviously you got to see them. It's we hear that from LCSO all the time. I mean, if they don't see it, they can't issue a citation, right? But but if you and we do see people blatantly just Well, maybe our staff doesn't, but Go ahead, Will.

Yeah. Yes, Mr. Mayor. It's It's a good question and really it it it really the enforcement of all of these policies. It really comes, you know, with having the ordinance first. You know there are ramifications but then it's compliance is achieved through education first and then willful compliance generally by people who know about the ordinance and know you know what the laws are in place and understand that's how most compliance happens after that you know for people who willfully do not comply you know then it's our rangers and our partnership with LCSO and it is absolutely is something that has to be witnessed uh and then acted upon. on soon thereafter by those compliance officers.

Thank you. Yeah, that's good point. Glad you brought it up. Any other discussion? Yeah,

I have a few comments. Um, so I agree. I think education should be our first enforcement and maybe from the rangers or anyone who sees it similar to our dog walking leash no leash you know it's could be the hey did you know you know just letting them know a soft approach in the beginning um I'd also like to see maybe that we have signs at the beach accesses and perhaps u parking lots associated with those beach accesses um and then I think people will start to comply just because it's visible just like trash. It could be another resident who who notices it and says something or another visitor. But I saw I think it's Lee County. It's either Lee County or Santael. They do an escalating. So after they've had the policy in place for a while, they say we'll do a warning. Then we'll have a citation and then the citation ex escalates. So, if you've have more than one, two, three, it goes up $100, $200, $300. It's kind of uh crazy, but I think the soft approach like we do with the leashes and littering is what we're looking for. Awareness.

Mr. Mlan, any questions or anything? No, I'm good. Thank you, Scott. I'm good. John, I'll just go ahead and move this to the second reading on May 4th. All right. Got a motion by councelor King. I'll second. Seconded by Vice Mayor Safford. Any further discussion? Councelor King. I. Vice Mayor Safford. I. Councelor Link. I. Councelor Mlan. I. And I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously.

Next is our administrative agenda. The first item is resolution 26-073, Dune Management Plant Memorandum of Agreement. This is a resolution of the town of Fort Myers Beach, Lee County, Florida, delegating authority to the town manager to execute memorandums of agreement between the town and beachfront property owners and the ordinance with the town of Fort Myers Beach dune management plan and providing for an effective date. Well, I will ask Chad to step up and talk us through the why we need this in and then I'll add to it. All right. Morning, Chad. Turn your mic on.

Morning everybody. uh Chad shoots town of Fort Myers Beach Environmental Staff. So, uh what we have in front of us is the uh request to authorize uh our town manager to execute these memorandums of agreement. Um this process uh for the uh MOA uh is um outlined in the dune management plan that is uh stamped with our uh Florida Department of Environmental Protection permit and um authorized accordingly. Uh so this is the the purpose of this is we'll have deviations uh if they want to change the composition um add additional plants uh maybe it's seag grapes or it's uh additional plantings um all all need to be uh native uh salt tolerant dune vegetation uh that we capture that in a site plan if there's any maintenance um uh maintenance configurations that they would like say, you know, we're going to plant se C se C grapes, but we only want them to be 4t tall and just want to recognize that uh uh in writing so that um uh it's not missed in, you know, future dealings where they're, you know, maybe cutting their hedge and somebody's raising their arms, they're killing the the vegetation. We we we recognize that in writing and we allow for that. Um, so it's it's a way for to capture the the property owners wishes of how they want their their property, their dune vegetation to be maintained. Um, get some buy in from those property managers and uh helps ensure the success of our dune management plan as a town,

but they're still going to be within that plan that's already in place. This is just allowing a little bit more freedom to add potentially more if they want.

Yeah. Yeah. So, and and in some cases, maybe somebody wanted to plant their own dune and did not want, you know, necessarily our uh you know, scheme 1, two, or three, but they want to have dune vegetation out there that's not necessarily within the confines of those um schematics. I think it's a reasonable uh request to um change it as long as it's, you know, in in um compliance with our our code for the coastal area to be salt tolerant doing vegetation. we, you know, things like kuzias or other vegetation that as soon as you get an overwash, it dies out there. You know, some people still want it out there, but we're we're pushing back on that. Um, you know, that way it saves them money and it it also provides, you know, proper habitat out there in the environmentally critical zone.

Councelor King, question for Chad. Yeah, a couple I guess. Um, we're This was approved by FDEP in 23. When we had people sign up for the easements for the project, were they provided what all this information? Yes, sir. It's outlined in the dune management plan. Um, now one of the things that got pulled from the agenda today, is there an opt out on this or uh are you referring to the Castle Beach item kind of? Yeah.

Yep. Um, so, uh, I I wasn't aware that that was pulled, but, um, that is an instance where, um, you know, we've worked with those property owners and we've had several instances where they may have signed on the easement and then, you know, we're out there planting the plants and they're, you know, raising their hands. We don't want the dune vegetation. Um, I think it's always been the spirit of what we're trying to do is we don't want to necessarily force things down people's throats. So, you know, if they don't want it, um, you know, we're just going to resend that easement. Um there's not an op opt out clause per se um in here, but if you're not participating, that's that's more or less your opt out. So uh in the case that uh we're referring to, they had opted in and then now they want to opt out. So I think it's a little bit different and that's why we put that in front of y'all. But there's no, you know, I think we're always going to be flexible with people. That's the whole intent of this MOA is to try and be flexible and hear what they want and um within the guidelines make that happen.

Okay. Thanks. So, counselor, I um I did work with Chad and um also I've been trying to coordinate with their attorney um the resolution to this issue. Um what has been conveyed to me by the attorney is that the individual who executed the easement initially did not have the authority of the condo board to execute that easement. And so then now the board has discussed it and it is their preference that they terminate the easement and um Chad has the opportunity we're working that into the document where he can go and remove our plantings um that we have.

Nancy, would it make more sense to talk about this when we actually have an agenda item for it? I mean, we're talking about something completely separate. Kind of Well, it's kind of related to it. We I think Chad had offered them the memorandum of understanding and um they because I have a whole lot of questions around that, but it's not an agenda item. So I I want to ask those questions, but I want it to be on the agenda to be able to ask it. So it's on the record for that agenda. Thank you, Nancy. Anything else? Ch Scott, that he took care of me.

That's King or Link. Chad, I have a question about um I like the idea of, you know, us worrying about the environment and partnering with uh residents who live there. Can everyone see the agreements that have been decided? Are they public record? Are they posted online? Um I imagine they will be they'll be recorded. Well, that was kind of a question that I was going to ask Chad was how many of these do you have? We just have the Margaritavville one right now. That was kind of the get it going. Um, how many memorandums would will be signing is another way to say it. Uh, I would say on the order of dozens, you know, we have

dozens as in 12 or 24 or 24, 36, 48. You know, we'll see how many people. My concern is is kind of with the recordeping of that. Um, I don't know what staff has considered as far as um recordkeeping. Would it be shown in eyeworks for that particular property? Would it be cross reference that there is a memorandum of of understanding? Um, would we be recording these because they're not going to be because they're not coming to town council, they're not going to be in the clerk's minutes.

Sure. I'm open to suggestion. Whatever y'all think is best. uh all for it being transparent and um if we want to record that in I work as a permit or if we want to uh post it, you know, as a uh public item that we do sometimes with like with our FD permit. I I cringe when you say the word permit because it I don't necessarily I mean it's we've already got a permit for it, right? Why, you know, I don't think there's a need for an additional permit if someone wants to strengthen the dune to protect themselves and the resident and, you know, people on either side of them. To me, that doesn't make a lot of sense. I

I agree, Mr. Mayor. This is something obviously, and I appreciate the question from the town attorney, something we need I still need to work out uh and the staff and maybe I can come back and report back to you uh at at a future meeting of what uh what we think is the best way forward for that recordeping since it's not going to be a council decision. and it's going to be mine if that's okay with you. Yeah, I don't I mean I don't have any I mean obviously letting people know that this is happening is important.

I don't I don't know there's going to be a ton of people whether it's 12 24 46 38 whatever people that come in to do it. It's it's done to strengthen, not done to weaken, which is different than what we were just talking about on another agenda item, but I don't know there's going to be a lot of opposition, but at least letting people know it's coming is probably a good plan, whatever that and I I'm okay with leaving it to the discretion of the manager and the staff to determine what that is. And if it's not sufficient, I'm sure we'll hear about it if we can pivot from there.

We'll definitely keep the records in accordance with our requirements, our statuto requirements. Um, I'll work with the manager on it. I mean, my concern too would be in the event there's a turnover of the property, the property is sold. I want to make sure that it's picked up. Um, you know, recording is always the easiest. However, there is money associated with recording the documents. Um, but generally there'll be a due diligence search that would be done through the town records. uh that request would be made and where is it gonna pop up so that the buyer would be aware that um that that is in play. That's all. I still have a few more comments. Mayor. Yeah, go ahead.

That's okay. Um so it sounds to me like the MOAs are trying to get permission, seek acceptance, kind of uh mitigate any problems down the road. So, what I'd be curious to see is this coming back for another reading or is this it? Okay.

Um, I'd like to see that we're consistent, you know, in a handful of the pieces in the framework and then there's exceptions for the individual property so that we're asking everyone the same types of questions. Um so it's clear to them and it's clear to us what what role and responsibility both parties have. Um and then any exceptions. So we're treating all property owners similarly with in some guard rails will that you have authority to to make judgments but that they would always be in line with what is the best practice for the dune management. So if I could add Chad, don't we have a standard memorandum of understanding? Are we

Yes, ma'am. We draft it and that's what we've been going forward with and the guidelines are there referenced in the Dune management plan that's an exhibit and so it's it's standardized. It's somewhat routine. Um and then will perhaps if there's a need to deviate from that template then you could bring it back to town council. Absolutely. That would would have been my recommendation. That's probably the perfect the memorandum of agreement example that we included in the agenda is the one that we will follow for each one. And if there is a significant uh difference in in in any then we'll bring I'll bring it forward on a case by case basis. That sounds perfect.

And I like the fact he used the word significant because there might be some minor tweak um and he and I will work together. or if it is significant then we'll we'll bring it back. That sounds perfect. Thank you. That covers my issues perfectly. Council MLAN. Um so for clarity just

Thank you. Um for what Rebecca was asking about, there are the three choices of plantings that are outlined. Are you suggesting that this memorandum would allow the residents or property owners to select outside of those three choices? Uh so that is an option. What we're coming into most the the most common request has been uh separates since we have additional FDM money. Um and there's been some requests for sea grapes hedging. Um uh we're all for that. It helps block uh a lot of light that we're having out on the beach that u we've seen in the last few years since the hurricane.

Um that would be one of the most common ones, but the doom management plan also references like rope and ballards. So we while they get it by right, we want to be a part of that process as to where they're going to put that rope and ballards. We don't want them going all the way down to the shoreline or something um

impact of that nature, etc. And you know as the as the dunes do their job and grow um in elevation uh there is a dune height modification uh uh in the dune management plan. So if they wanted to do that they would need to um come in with the MOA and that way it's it's a bit more of a process. It's a sensitive area and you know while it's allowed by the dune management plan we want to have a little bit of oversight to make sure things are done correctly. That that's great. That really addresses my my question. Thank you.

My I guess my thing since we talked about it was Nancy, you were talking about recording. Is there a way that we could add just trying to help figure out a way if someone requests information on a property, whether it's tax leans, violations, whatever. If we have something like that, well, first, do we have something like that? And if we do, is it as simple as just adding a memorandum tab to that same location? So, if someone is doing a search on the property, like they reach out to Amy or whomever and say, "I want to look at 123 A Street to see if there's any leans, if there's any foreclosures, if there's any violations." And in within that is the memorandum tab that would automatically populate for anyone looking to buy that property.

It's a great idea. That sounds like a a very viable option. Yes. When they're doing their due diligence. Okay. Just a suggestion. It's all I had, Chad. No worries. Thank you everybody. You have another question. Yeah, here I go again. Um what happens if somebody does not hold up their end of the bargain? What kind of um you know penalties are there or warning systems?

I think there's some in the D management plan they have uh you know if there is non-compliance what we can do um you know certainly if it's a code violation we can uh pursue that uh avenue. Um, you know, I always like to say I don't anticipate there being any problems, but you know, Fort Myers speech, there's always some. So, you know them all. Just Thank you. All right. Thanks, Chad. Yep. Y'all are welcome. Is there any other discussion or a motion for resolution 26-073 dune management plan memorandums of agreement? I'll go ahead and move it. I'll second that. Motion by councelor King, seconded by councelor Mlan. Any further discussion? Councelor Kang. Hi. Councelor Mlan. Hi. Councelor Lang. Hi.

Vice Mayor Safford. Hi. And I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously.

Next is resolution 26-072 L0195 FD grant approval for downtown storm water mitigation phase 1. This is a resolution of the town council, the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, authorizing the town manager to execute and administer a grant from the state of Florida Department of Environmental Protection through the fiscal year 2526 state appropriations for the Fort Myers Beach storm water downtown mitigation phase 1 project in the amount of $292,500 authorizing the town manager to execute related documents needed to implement and administer the grant and programs providing an effective date. Will

Yes, Mr. Mayor. This is just uh as it as it says uh in the agenda granting me the uh authorization to move forward with the uh coordination with the county and other entities to uh utilize this funding for uh downtown storm water projects. And I can have Jeff step up if anybody has any questions about specific uh projects, but I mean we've discussed these before, so I don't know if he will, but he's ready to answer the questions. Councelor King, any questions? Um not so much a question. I guess just if you want to touch on the money and the matching and things like that.

Yeah, I can let kind of finance or the grant managers on this, but they can do the finance part of it, but I can tell you about the projects we're we're hoping to um to go with on this one. So, we have some some areas on at by OSC that need to be done by the downtown area uh especially um you know Crescent and Third Street where it floods pretty heavily uh which impacts sometimes getting off the island that way if there's a there's something going on on Asterero. So, um we have some projects and this is kind of a tiered system that we're doing throughout the town. um once we we keep applying for storm water funds uh to improve the the flooding and mitigation of the the waters coming in and high tides. So, this is just another another pot of money that we can use. Um and it's through the storm water reserve and and uh I can if you have details on the grant, I think finance could probably answer that a little more. Um but I I know the projects we submitted were were right around the downtown area as well.

Thanks, Jeff. Yep. Scott. Yeah. Speaking of that downtown area, do you have duck bills on all those outflows now?

Yeah. So, the the ones that we have, there are some private ones that we found uh kind of after the fact that are in that will that back up the system. So, that's part of this, too. We're going to go in and talk to the the owners of those. Um maybe improve the the duck bills a little bit. Problem is, it's coming through some of those ones that weren't our contracted ones. um when we went and and cuz we saw that still it was backing up on the storm drains downtown. Um but we had duck bills in all of ours. So we were trying to investigate what what it was. So there are some and sorry Mark isn't here. He could probably explain it a little a little more in detail but um we're going to be kind of going that route and then um you know we do get high tide there so I don't know you know especially on king tides it floods down by Wahoo Willies for sure and Crescent. So, we're just trying to find um we do have some design money, too, to to find solutions to those cuz I know it is a big issue. But, uh yeah, we do have duck bills on all of ours that were part of the tier one or part of the the Tetrate Tech project.

So, can we force somebody to put a duck bill on there? That I'm not I'm not sure. Can we on their property? I mean, no, we can't. I would I would say we highly recommend they Oh, of course we can highly recommend it. So, I guess my question is is is if we know it's flooding down there and there's there's some private outflows that are co causing this or helping the or problematic. Can we pay for those?

My my question would be to your point if there's an outfall it's got to be tied to a town drainage system. Would there I'm guessing there would have to be some sort of e easement in place if it's tied into the town's public system. Do we have e have we looked and seen have we know tracked down if there's any easements for any of these duck bills that we we have? Not currently. Um not that I know of. I can talk to Mark a little bit more see if they've tracked some things down but I can report back next meeting on that. Okay.

You're correct, mayor. I mean, you you can't really use private property, but short of an easement, we could actually get some kind of license um to allow our our uh equipment or item there. Yeah, it's some private drainage that's going Yeah, I I'll coordinate with Jeff. We'll figure it out. Okay, that's all I had. Rebecca, no,

John. Uh, I just wanted to state publicly that uh the um town sheet shows that this was actually already previously budgeted. So, we have the money. Yeah, that's it for me. Thanks, Jeff. Thank you. Is any other questions or is there a motion for resolution 26-072? I'll move 26-0 resolution 26-072 second seconded by councelor link. Any further discussion? I'm an I. Councelor Link I. Councelor Mlan I. Vice Mayor Safford I. Councelor King.

Hi. That motion carries unanimously. Our last agenda item since Castle Beach was taken off is a uh Glow by the Golf special events permit for 4:17 and 4:18 from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Santini Plaza 7205. Dawn or Will?

Yeah, as Dawn's coming up, I can talk about that. uh this is being walked on uh to the council um just because it's it's within a couple of weeks and uh the projected number of participants uh would be something that I would normally bring to the council. It wasn't on the agenda just really through the staff uh through and myself not approving it in time to make the agenda cut off. Uh there we have no issues with the event. It's been reviewed by the staff. It's been reviewed for public safety. It's been reviewed by um fire and all the others. There's we we have no concerns from a staff perspective. And I asked Don if she could come in, answer any questions about the event or maybe just talk about it a little bit. Don,

fire away. C can you turn your mic on? There you go. Yeah. Go ahead.

All right. So, we're really looking at bringing more health and wellness onto our island. Um, this is going to be come long term. We're going to do more and more events just creating prevention, education, awareness, showcasing local physicians um and companies around our surrounding area. And so Globe by the Gulf is our first event that we're curating. We're being very intentional with who we're bringing. And um we have over 24 vendors signed up already. So, we're we've got holistic wellness, we've got IV therapy, biotech wellness, high low inensity PMF, inhome water filtration systems, organic farm protein, um just different things, holistic herb supplements, and then healthy food. And then we're going to open and start with yoga on the beach and a fitness class. So, this is just the first of of many, I think, to come. Just providing awareness in our community.

Very good. Councelor Mlan, any questions? No, I think it's great. Rebecca, this is exciting. I'm wondering though, just uh the vendors or I'm sorry, the property rental people on Santini Plaza. Have you heard any uh push back or any welcoming? They're glad you're there, you know. Oh, they're very excited to work with you're going to bring more customers to them as well. And you think you'll be okay with parking parking for for everyone, right? Yeah. Perfect. Thank you, Scott. Yeah, Don, I just want to thank you for all the hard work you're you're doing to get things going off season. I mean, you you I know how hard you're working and I really appreciate it.

Thank you. So, I think this will be a great event. John, no questions, but uh officially welcome back Daniel Ren. Thank you. And Don, thank you for all you do. Uh thanks for not sleeping because you it keeps you busy. So, Oh, I see. I appreciate all you do. Thanks. Well, as a health nut, I I'm certain. What's so funny about that? Nothing. Geez. Tough tough crowd. Tough crowd. No, thanks for the event. The only suggestion I would has you mentioned that you were looking at doing several of these. Maybe the reoccurring special event permit might be something easier and more cost-effective

versus doing one for every assuming you're going to do it on the same dates or have the same dates in mind. maybe look at or talk to staff about a reoccurring special permit so you don't have to come back every single time if the crowd's as big as you anticipate. Well, this will this this particular part of it will be annual. So, and we were kind of last minute, you know, putting it together and actually Santini had reached out to me about doing some different events down there. So, that's kind of where that came from. So, next year actually we we're we're looking to moving it to Bay Oaks and and a little bit more into season. So, Okay. Thanks ladies. Thank you. Thank you. Any further discussion or a motion for the globe by the golf special event permit? I'll move that. Mayor second.

Motion by councelor King. Seconded by councelor link. Still laughing over judgmental. I know. Councelor King. I councelor Link. I councelor Mlan. Hi. Vice Mayor Safford. Hi. And I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously. Final public comment. Anyone of the three of you? Nope. We'll close final public comment. Town manager items.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. A few items to discuss. First, I'd like to congratulate Ed Skunover for his appointment and let him know we the staff look forward to working with him and as we do with other members of the LPA going forward. Um, core of engineers. I want to give an update. I re as we discussed uh in council meeting a while back and uh about dredging, canal dredging and efforts there. I did reach out to the Jacksonville District Corps of Engineers and have uh started a dialogue with the commander there and he's put me in touch with members of his staff uh that uh manage the process of how communities uh can apply to get on their uh uh bianual list of congressionally approved projects. So no promises but it's a step in that direction. um because many of us know that it's really it's the uh it's maintenance that we not only do we need to do the dredging but then we need to have a continued maintenance plan which would make us more eligible for uh federal relief in further instances. So just progress there and we'll continue to work that hard um going forward and uh we continue the negotiations and discussions with the school district of Lee County uh regarding Fort Myers Beach Elementary School. uh last discussions we had, we myself and the deputy superintendent agreed uh that we would um pass along some of the discussions back and forth with uh with council and him with the school board uh going forward. Um and uh so that's that's the stage that we're at right now. Uh I do anticipate it that uh that the proposal will uh be in a very near future uh school board workshop and uh school board for approval. Um I what that exactly will be the school district has not released publicly yet and uh pending your questions council

king. Any questions? Nothing. I'm good. Thank you. None. John. Thank you. Thanks Will. That's it. All right. Town attorney items.

Um thank you for appointing Ed to the LPA. Um, I've had the opportunity to work with him on the charter review committee and he's been a very good contributing member to that uh committee which by the way tomorrow is their last meeting and then they'll be sending their recommendation and report to you. Um, and also I do really I am going to miss Tom Yazo. Um, those are big shoes that are going to have to be filled. I worked very closely with him on uh resolving some of the FEMA issues as they were traveling through code enforcement. He made some significant changes to the code enforcement department and office and process. Um without that, I don't think we would have gotten to the point with FEMA that that we have. So I did want to publicly recognize him for that. And other than that, nothing.

All right. Thank you, council member. Items and report. Councelor King. Nothing. Vice Mayor Safford.

Uh yes. I so I want to remind everybody that uh the casino the community foundation is going to have their casino night at Margaritavville uh this Saturday. Um as well as then then Sunday we've got the cruiser appreciation. Um unfortunately I'm going to be out of town babysitting grandkids, but uh you know those are two of my favorite events. So I hope I hope they're well attended and they do well. Um, as Nancy mentioned, we're having our final charter review committee meeting tomorrow at two o'clock. So, if anybody from the public wants to come out and um please please do because uh this this is the final meeting and then uh I've got my TDC meeting Thursday. So, that's it.

Nothing to add. Councelor Mlan. Uh yeah, I've got a couple of things. Number one, I also want to thank Tom Yazo. um he's been pretty steadfast in the way he's supported our town and it's very much appreciated.

Um there I've been as part of the Anchorage Advisory Committee, I've been working with that team as they have been planning for the uh cruisers appreciation day. And I'll tell you it is going to be it's so well planned. Logistics are amazing. The gift prize, whatever they're called, are really significant. The food is uh Snug Harbor, which we all know is fantastic. Uh so it's it's going to be a great event, and I look forward to seeing people there. Um similarly, we do have an open slot on that advisory committee. So, I'd like to see if there's a way we could perhaps um do a announcement that we'd like to recruit somebody for Anchorage Committee. Uh and then the final thing is I've been working with uh Chris King about the U advisory committee handbook. We've done a couple of revisions through that between Chris and myself. So, I'll be taking that to staff for review and then hopefully we'll be able to bring it to you. Uh, so that should happen hopefully with the next cycle.

Very good. That it that's it. Yeah. All I Scott covered what I had. Unfortunately, I'll be out of town as well this weekend. So, I won't be able to make I'm going to try to get back for the cruiser appreciation, but I'm definitely going to miss the uh I'm definitely going to miss the casino night. You're lucky Scott because I'd have taken you down in poker. Well, somebody else can win this year. There you go. Um, so I hope they have a great event. The community foundation always does a great job with that. And uh, obviously Chris and and the appreciation. That's going to be a fun event. Like I said, I'm going try to get back in time for that. So, everyone have a good week. If there's nothing else, John, take it away. Well, with apologies to Par Parliament, this is for you, mayor. Uhoh.

Ow. We want the funk. Give up the funk. Oh, we need the funk. Got to have that funk. We're going to turn this mother out. With that, we're going to move to adjourn. Well played. All right, we Any objection? We are journed at 10:38.