City Council Regular Meeting - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone and welcome and we do apologize for the delay but thank you so much for being here this evening. We'll call to order this meeting of the city council of the city of Fort Walton Beach. We will first stand if you're able for an invocation from Reverend David Knight, director at St. Simon's on the sound and then continue standing for the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. [clears throat] Let's take a moment as we go to the Lord in prayer and take some deep breaths and center ourselves, put aside the troubles of the day, remind ourselves of why we are here. Gracious and loving God, we thank you for the opportunity to come together in this way, in this free country. I thank you for the leaders of this city and those who have offered themselves in so many different ways to support our citizens and the citizens who come to do the same. We pray your blessing upon them. May you guide all of them with wisdom and compassion, mercy and justice that comes only from you. We lift up to you all the victims of violence in this community and our nation and the world, especially the Jewish community in Australia and students at Brown University and others that we may name silently or aloud. May peace reign on this earth, Lord. May love replace hate. May you protect all of our first responders and those that are our [clears throat] forces, especially those in harm's way. May your blessing be upon us this day and always. We ask it in your holy name. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you for that, Reverend. Moves us to the approval of the agenda tonight. Council Mayor, I'd like to uh tonight's agenda and move Oh, help me out, Miss Burns. Miss Barnes, the u around the mound resolution. What number is that? 9.3.

9.3. Here it is. My computer is rolling slow on me. I' I'd like to make a motion to the agenda to move that up to right after our ACE awards at 5.2, but before our Christmas parade winners at 5.3. Second. Okay. Uh, approval of the agenda made by Councilman Schmidt, seconded by Councilman Jeter to, uh, approved the agenda with that one small change. Any additional comments?

Full disclosure, I had on the calendar to not come tonight's meeting at all due my wife's birthday. I want to discuss this item that'll probably impact all of our grandkids and some great grandkids and want to get that business taken care of. And I'll probably step out I think that's probably the best idea for everybody. [laughter] Council, please. In that case, I might stick her.

The motion does pass unanimously, which brings us to recognitions. And we have two wonderful students here in the audience today. The first one is from Chalkall High School, Ellen O'Neal. If you and your family would like to step up to the podium right there, we're going to say some nice things about you. Tell everyone about you. Miss Ellen, I I assume you go by Ellie. Yes.

Okay. So, I'll just say Ellie exemplifies civic excellence through her exceptional academic performance, youth leaderships, youth leadership, athletics, and community service. Sixth in her class with a 4.63 63 GPA. Ellie is renowned for [snorts] her community involvement in church and running youth groups. Miss Neil boasts an impressive record as a student of the preIB and dual enrollment programs with recognitions as an Indian scholar. Ellie counts memberships in the class office, Excel Club, Key Club, Moo Alpha Theta among her repertoire. As captain of the cross country and distance teams, an active member of the National Honor Society, and through employment as a run with it sales associate, she inspires peers through her innovativeness, excellent teamwork, and service to the community. Congratulations, Ellie.

Thank you. [applause] Hang on, hang on one second. If you could please also tell us what where you plan to go to school, what you plan to study, if you have any of that stuff, too. I haven't figured out where I'm going to school yet. I've gotten accepted into my top options, though. I'm looking to study business and marketing. Oh, nice. Fantastic. And if you and uh your parents want to come up here and grab this and take a picture with all of us, we would love to have a picture with you. [snorts]

Thank you. Awesome. CONGRATULATIONS. [applause] [applause] All right. And our other ACE Award winner is from Fort W Beach High School. Emily, pronounce your last name. That's what I was going to say, but [laughter] Miss Barnes tried to French it up a little bit more and I thought, man, if I say this, if you and your family want to step up to the podium. [cough]

All right. Miss Emily Coti embodies civic excellence through impressive academic achievement, compelling extracurriculars, robust work experience, and various awards. With a weighted GPA of 4.69 69 and a class rank of five. She's distinguished herself in dual enrollment while also being recognized as a Viking scholar and recipient of the Ant Mitchell award. As a member of the Beta Club, National Honor Society, Viking Ladies Leadership Club, and community outreach chair of HOSA, Emily has a serious effort on the improvement of our local academic community. Additionally, she has work experience at the Holiday and Resort and Gulf Are Marine Adventure Park. Her leadership, intellect, and deep involvement with community programs extol the highest virtues of civic responsibility. Congratulations. [applause] [cheering]

And do you have uh any school picked out and what do you plan to study? I'm hoping to go to the University of Florida and I want to study premed. Fantastic. That would be great. Yeah. Come up here and get this award and take a picture with us as well. Sorry.

Thank you. Fantastic. Congratulations. [applause] [applause] All right. So, that brings us to item 9.3. Uh, resolution. Mr. Burns, do you want to do that?

Actually, it doesn't need to be read, but it this particular resolution, I believe, actually, I'll let maybe Mr. Schmidt sort of lead it up. But uh I was asked last Friday to put it together because they uh they being Mr. Davis, Mr. Schmidt as a TPO representative, I think had a meeting with some local leaders and they indicated that uh the 1B option which everyone was a little fuzzy about not being included at the presentation last Tuesday at the convention center was not included. And uh I think they all realized it became apparent that despite the fact that the city had pushed 1B either calling it 2B or 1B over about a six sevenyear period really after the February 2024 uh meeting uh I think which was like the kickoff meeting at the Emerald Coast Convention Center there was never really like an official position taken by the city pushing 1B after that. And so I think that led uh possibly to some miscommunication with the FDOT and they went with 1A as the only option or no or no build at all as the other option at the meeting last week. That's obviously led to a lot of people uh not being happy with that and I think uh Mr. Schmidt can kind of give you some more details on that.

Mr. P, quick question. Daniel, come on up. Did we lose the microphone? It's on [laughter] from from a technical standpoint, traffic flow, mission readiness, we get one chance to to do this 1A or 1B, what data substantiates that improvement?

Um, as far as the metrics for first of all, not a traffic guy, right? straight from their report, the metrics on 1B um are an improvement versus 1A when you projected stuff out to you 2050 or 2030. um different percentages on you know you got all segments going around but but 1B the traffic metric options in travel times were less um than 1A probably because there's one less signalized intersection if I were if I were just clogs the artery common sense

which one would have less land acquisitions um I do believe once again from their report I think 1A had um a lower construction cost but maybe more rightaway acquisition and 1B had [clears throat] a higher construction cost um but lower property ac acquisition with the total tag on B being I don't know between 3 and 5% maybe more so about 3 to 5% financial impact but less property owners and and partial being impacted through the rightway construction

I do believe on from the data that was submitted that is true Okay. Do you think that we could, you know, by having, if there was support to get 1B, you know, opening up more access to downtown through the walkability side by it being elevated instead of at grade? Less traffic to have to cross the street on it, those kind of things. Um there's probably more opportunity to I would think depending on where you know the um the overpass portions um or MS MSE walls or whatever you want to call it are. Yeah. Thank appreciate. Anyone else questions for Mr.

I I do um thank you for that. I spoke with Jeff ear yesterday, I believe it was, and just trying to get my head wrapped around this. Um, what what would you say, just hearing you there, what would you say drove, let me say this, I'm surprised that we've made it this far down the road on the largest capital project our city's ever faced. and DOT who's heading it up didn't know inquire hear our preferences they just went merrily along saying we'll pick one I'm not going to talk to the city about it was kind of and I don't expect you to know that answer I'm just saying that I'm surprised by that and then so what would you say was the driving if you know the driving factor for DO's decision to choose 1A as opposed to 1B or or other options that were [clears throat] out there.

Purely speculative, but um bottom tag number, bottom line dollar. Um and then I think those of you who are at the presentation, they they mentioned in the amount a couple times at least. So 1 A is cheaper than 1B. 1B includes the flyovers. And I saw it today late in the day there's two flyovers. Is that correct? on the 1B that is this body looking to approve. It's got two bridges I think it showed. I do believe so. Yeah. And there, you know, they're they're not long ways. It's just, you know, a gap when going over the roads.

And this is probably just from I would say social media where I had seen it come out. I believe the city page had posted some renderings or sites overviews and I thought it was really neat initially months ago it seems. might have been a year or so ago, but it was the images then and it was fictional, I guess you would say, came off Okaloosa Island Bridge and and and immediately started taking a an elevated approach around there and then it came and landed down, I don't know, at Def France area somewhere thereabouts. So, that's not 1B. 1B is flat until it reaches some point around the library, elevates, [snorts] and goes back down. And then the one going north on Eglund is an elevated that comes to those two places cuz I've not um so it's one thing I c it's hard to look at it without you know seeing it but generally speaking yeah there's there's two overpasses on that side

flat to to about the library and then elevated or somewhere maybe east of it just a little bit. Yeah, I think there's one coming southbound on 85 to 98 going and then the other is I think in the area you mentioned. Gotcha. Okay, that's all I got now. Thank you, Councilman. Anyone else questions for Mr. See none. Does anyone from the public wish to speak on this item?

Yes, sir. Mr. Smith, good evening. I was I was a little bit confused about this when I saw this come up on the um agenda. It wasn't I didn't I didn't catch it last week. Somebody pointed it out to me, but I went I went back through the background information that was published and I went back and read all these minutes that are that are listed on here. And [snorts] I think there's there's some [clears throat] confusion because I was surprised to be hearing when I read the resolution that this had all been been supported for all these years and this is what what the council had had voted voted on. Um but as I got got back through when I found out what they actually voted on was um transportation alternative 2B. It didn't include any flyovers. What they were voting on was a route. They weren't voting on flyovers. So, you know, before you make a decision tonight, there needs to be some public discussion about what the public wants and there needs to be discussion amongst the council on whether that's [clears throat] the best way to go. It's not something it's it's definitely not something that's been preddecided um or voted on by this council before. Thanks.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else from the public wish to speak on this? Yes, sir. Just fill out your name and address.

Sure. I'm Jeff Watson. I live in Shalomar. Um yeah, I have a couple of comments. If they're if they're not gerine, just tell me. I'll go sit down. [clears throat] All right. So, I I attended the uh presentation last week by the Department of Transportation. I'm surprised with the presentation that was given there and the conversations we're having so far here how far down the road it appears we are without adequate preparation by the state of Florida. Um I don't think there's enough comment uh from the public. There's still a lot of questions just listening to the interchange between Mr. Schmidt and the first speaker about what actually you're going to get here in the city of Fort Walden Beach. If nothing is done and they proceed with a a build, what we were told last week is a study at this point for 5 years. But there shouldn't be any confusion at this point, I would think, if if we're good to go. If the city of Palm Beach is is ready to receive a round mound construction, I would think all of you would know what it looks like. I would like to know even though Shalomar, we drive through here all the time. We're all part we're your neighbors. So, I would like to think that everyone would already know what we're getting. And I don't think that's where you are. So I think that the the conversation with the state should be u to slow this process down and and understand what you're what you're getting. Uh it's like trying to think of a poke as to the presentation last week. Uh it was 320 million versus 295 and I think I think his comment was correct. uh it came down to a dollar uh which is a crazy uh determination considering the last time the bridge was built was in the 60s. Um it's an 8% difference

between the two and I think that this that the buildings that are being taken potentially with one A that would not be with 1B. Uh I don't know what the trade-off is with with that. I don't think that that there is a price tag on it because there's a lot of value associated with that. Uh we attend a church in downtown Fort Walden Beach, corn Cornerstone Church. It's a brand new church. Um and um so there's there's a lot of questions that we have as members of that church as to what the future of that area which will be with 1A will be basically part of that big green space. Uh, and that's supposed to be, I think, part of the water runoff or something to that effect. All I should know and and I think more needs to go into that. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, sir. Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. We we're in the the PD&E phase. And you're right, Mr. Watson, we don't know because the the design product hasn't been developed. Uh, you know, very similar to building a house. You got the blueprints that are going to build build the house. The design phase will come and then the construction phase. There'll be a long due process to continue. I wish we could have the bulldozers out ASAP to get it going, but there will be more due process in this project to include the design product. Yeah. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak on this item? [clears throat]

Seeing none, council, do you wish to take any action? Mayor moves to approve the staff provided resolution supporting the around the mount alternative 1B. Second motion made by Councilman Schmidt, second by Councilman Jeter to approve resolution 2025-31 supporting the around the mound alternative 1B project. Additional comments.

Yes, sir. to kind of give a little more background as well. When we left that PD&E presentation at the conference center, I believe FO's turnaround was about a 10-day response they needed by December the 19th, I believe it was. Recently, there was a request to extend it so that we could have this kind of public conversation because FOT's limited window would have meant that we wouldn't even had this conversation. So they granted the request to extend it to I believe January 31st that uh allowed us to have this part of the due process um to give FOT a response. The perspective that I have is we have one time to continue to try to mitigate and improve what a very prominent stakeholder that is in our community which is our Department of Defense. We're hearing a lot about the need to improve mission readiness. I'm not I'm like Mr. Payne. I'm not a traffic guy, but the data that that report is showing us and that public works is telling us 1B is improving that. I respect FDOT's recommendation. [clears throat] If it's because it's a higher contract cost or if it's because of the Indian Temple Mound or parts of it, I think those kind of things can continue to get scrubbed out. But the perspective of trying to improve the traffic flow is literally mission critical. Uh and we're only going to have this kind of time to do those kind of things. Second, I think it continues to have a conversation of what we can do to expand the vibrancy and the canvas of our downtown. Not to drill too much in the weeds, but long after we're gone and the design phase is done and the rightway and construction cost still needs about $250 million to fund. So we're a long ways away. And that money is going to go somewhere, whether it's the state puts it somewhere else or puts it here. But where I'm going with this is is that we have to we have to make a decision that

respectfully disagrees with FDOT's recommendation to get it the way that we, the city of Fort Walton Beach, believe it it needs to be. As we drill in deeper though, I'd love to continue growth management at that time and city leadership to make sure the architectural standards of what's going on underneath the overpass is critical as well. There's been a lot of progress this past year or two or three on removing the blightedness, removing the vagrancy, and those kind of environmental things that that defer people from wanting to come to Fort Walton. So, as this project around the mound, I believe, will improve the vibrancy, improve the traffic flow, but continue to take examples from other communities around the country to make sure there's an environment underneath those overpasses that has a pallet for people to like those ACE awards to hopefully move back here, hopefully to stay here. We need talent to come to Fort Walton. And I'm going to stop there. So,

thank you, sir. Anyone else wish to speak? Councilman J,

I will certainly be supporting the motion. all for [snorts] many of the reasons that council member Schmidt said and there were some great points brought tonight. At one point in time we were just approving the route now that we kind of have a route semi approved. We're going back to the state and and uh and to the design side of it. We saw many pictures of many different bridges before we eventually even on different roads from Hollywood to Wright Parkway. We're in that phase until we actually get the final product as to what we're going to get. This is just continuing the conversation and mission readiness. That is a word we hear a lot in a lot of places we go. Tourism is number two. Number one is military. Military is telling us drive a few miles that way and look at the difference in an overpass and a stoplight. They're going to get behind and support an overpass down here. And I think that we should try to do it as well.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else wish to speak on this? Councilman Walker.

Yeah. Um, make sure I got it right. David, you'll probably help. Um, 1A is what the DOT is recommending. It's the lesser expensive of the 1A and 1B. Um was and then Mr. Smith brought up a point and it was you know I was kind of as this all came up and I saw this here and I'm like man I it's been a long project so I've been trying to rack my brain going back all the time. I'm like man I didn't see an elevated anything until in the last 6 months year maybe. Seems like it came out on social media. um maybe um the Facebook channel did it here, whatever. And I said, "Well, that looks pretty neat. That's pretty cool." But again, it was the one that came from the bridge, elevated all the way across. And I said, "Well, that's pretty neat. There'll be a lot of stuff going on underneath it." So now we're just coming down to to the western portion of it downtown will be there will be a portion going north and east and west there. So, I don't know what would you say its overall I mean benefit to downtown is. I like the looks of a fly over. I really like the one from the bridge over. And so, what would you say is the primary benefit and that I guess DOT chose not to value that high? What What where do we disagree with DOT at? Like what we heard tonight, the contract cost, that's where we disagree. I think FDOT wants to move forward. And again, they were going to have to move forward after 10 days after that or that that PD&E presentation at the conference center. If we didn't have what we're having right now of response, they were going to continue with their recommendation. Um, we have one time to improve the traffic flow as well, I think, was where

the downtown benefits too. I don't know the the u economics impacts of it, but if base realignment enclosure and different things from our DoD installations are having to get repositioned because of the traffic, I think downtown would be hurt dramatically. Yeah, cuz I'm just having trouble seeing the the improved traffic flow from a ground level versus an elevated at a$2ish million dollars. Have I heard the numbers right? There's a $25 million bump up if we go with those two elevated. Is that about the right number you as you understand it?

Somewhere between a 5% 8% total contract increase. But my understanding it removes at least one light which very similar to the bridge project that our community is seeing now. When that light at the east side of the Brooks Bridge is removed and at Santa Rosa Boulevard, when everyone's leaving the public beach and that's a junction with Highway 98, when that artery is unclogged, the traffic's going to flow so much better just with that one light. Now, on the west end, this is the program we're talking about now where the scope of the bridge project ends around the mound begins. We have to continue to complement how to remove and break up those arteries so the traffic can continue to flow. And then it doesn't stop. The TPO's prioritized west of us, Highway 98 by

Hurlbert, you know, to continue to improve the traffic flow. Yeah, I got you. I looked at the two pictures of 1 A and 1B and the ground level versus the elevated. I didn't recognize the um I didn't see another red light there cuz it was around the mound was zipping them on along down here to, you know, are actually back up here now. Um, so anyway, I just um

there'll still be a design product over the I mean, I believe one of our state appropriations requests that we're asking to get funding from our state delegation is money to help fund the design. Uh, the city and the county have matched some funding as well to fund the design. So, we still got to construct, you know, and develop the what the actual design is cuz nobody knows exactly until what that blueprint looks like. What do you have you thought any about the um 8% if it is 24 million on 300 million the 24 million but that five or 8% 20 million thereabouts um you know with the state the DOT saying hey guys we're approving 1A it's at a price of X you guys voted you want the upgraded version and therefore you got to come up with the money is that a has that been kicked around or a consideration that you've heard kicked around. Is that a possibility that the state would say cuz you guys wanted an upgraded version. It's going to have to come from y'all. Whether it's tax, you know, property taxes or sales tax or anything else. Has that come up that you're aware of?

Yeah, we're relying on our federal delegation, our state delegation, our county, and our city, and hopefully purses like the Triumph to fund these programs. Not just this program, but we need funding for other programs around this community to improve the traffic flow. One of the climate surveys that we get from our community is that how horrible the traffic is. This is a project that some are going to not like the decision we make, some are going to like it, but the data that we're seeing is 1B improves the traffic flow. and everybody that we see like you mentioned on social media or others how bad traffic is on Highway 98. We got data that this improves it compared to 1A. Compared to 1A. Okay. Thank you,

Councilman. I had a lot of questions because I attended that meeting and uh so what I got from that so if I could provide clarity to some of the things you were asking is for the past six or almost seven years I think as they move forward with this project different options have kind of dropped off and this was that final 1A the AT grade or no build those are the two options and I think it naturally happened that 1B was dropped because one price tag and then path there was very little input from the residents at the point I think they had a sampling size of like 25 people and what I heard was around 17 15 16 17 voted for 18

and so they're like well there's not really any push back and this is the cheaper option it just naturally became so here I think we're going it's becoming more real like it often does in meetings as things for gas all of a sudden you're going to vote on something and a lot of people show up all of a sudden and uh so we're looking at like oh before we just move forward with either the no build if we provide too many hiccups along the way or too many objections which is a possibility and before we get put into this 1A option we're coming back and going more people have seen it we're seeing the effect of 74 businesses at the at grade we're seeing extra at least one extra light at grade um there was many other reasons so this is even though it's more expensive and I don't even know if they have the full impact numbers of those 74 businesses that will have lawsuits with imminent domain. So, I don't even know if that number of that 295 is completely accurate because how could it be before that's all settled? So, to go 8% more to improve the traffic situation, which is what we want to do, we're coming together from the chamber of commerce, the city, and all this information going respectfully to the DOT. Would you consider bringing 1B back as the option instead of 1A? And I mean that's from my understanding what we're trying to do because it'll be less impactful on the businesses, better for the traffic overall. And even though it was more expensive and the DOT moved forward, it wasn't that they were like, well, this is what we want and what we want to drive and now you're asking for something more expensive. It was you're an agency that's less expensive. There's not a lot of push back. Obviously, that's going to just to me it's like the path of least resistance. So, I think we have an option here, as big as this is going to be, to pull back and try to get what I also agree is the better option and before we're too far in and we get into design phase, that's why I'll be supporting this and I hope that some clarity on where that where that

it it does help me. And I and it brings me back to the question I have from Mr. Schmidt and it's it's still there. My question is still there. I'm picturing the state being a builder, you know, and they're like, "Hey, we picked this one. This one's the least expensive." And we come to them and say, "Hey, we want the upgrade model." They say, "Sure, no problem. It's going to cost you $22 million extra." You know, so that then the question comes back to where are we getting the money? And I understand state, federal, and all of our legislators and everything else, but we don't have that yet.

Everything there in presentation implied that like we would have to pay for an upgraded version. You can tell me if I'm But I think they I think that was just the cost of that. I mean, just as if the imminent domain came in and the cost skyrocketed, we wouldn't be responsible. I think they're approving and if anybody does it but if they approve that federal budget I couldn't imagine I don't want to misspe but I mean do you I we would know before it happened and that's what's going to whether it stall or not stall the program is roughly [clears throat] 200 something million dollars by 2028 is the rightway and construction cost this conversation right here FDOT's done their homework on 1 A and 1B.

Yeah. They said, like you said nicely, they they brought us out a recommendation during the due process time. We're politely responding. The biggest holdup is the funding because right ofway construction cost has not been funded. And that's when we have to continue to lobby with our federal delegation, our state delegation that we need to improve traffic flow, admission readiness, and the quality of life in Fort Walton Beach. And this is one small way to do it.

I mean, I would just add to this conversation as well that one way or the other what the main question that you're asking your main concern about will they say hey we were going to fund this but now you're going to I don't think that's something that would possibly happen like you said is it possible anything's possible is it likely I would say no cuz one way the other you're just putting this total price tag forward and saying hey we think this project's really important as Councilman Schmidt said our delegation our representatives higher up than us are saying hey we think this is important too and at some point, we're either going to get it or not get it. But at least this tells them this is what we want to support.

And by the time there's actually a shovel in the ground, this price tag is going to change tremendously. Maybe to help squash that concern, you know, 20 years of county dude, I'm still learning my way in the city. I don't think statutoily I can use ador city taxes to pay for a state road. So maybe a question for Mr. Burns, but I couldn't do it with county funds. I I don't think you could. So, we're just hoping that by asking them nicely, we paid for the PD&E study for a million dollars. I see that. And then for them to But anyway, I don't know why we're

The only downside, Councilman Walker, is it it's going to end up on a a spreadsheet and they're all going to have numbers attached, right? And then they're all going to have priorities. So, when they look at that and say, "Well, this one's $292 million. Okay. Well, maybe we can fit that in on this cuz we had 300 million to play with. Now we're over that. And again, that's arbitrary numbers. But that's that's really the only downside to it. The elimination of the traffic light as as has been spoken about is probably the main. So So theoretically then that up bump up of three over 300 projects,

right? Right. So it gets bumped up and we get bumped down or or they go with the 1A or the no build option. So really or just you go to the back of the list and wait again for next year is probably and the people who bump up and bump down and bump around are the Okaloosa and Walton Transportation Planning Organization. They have the priority list of what projects are racked and stacked.

Not us, not FOT. F DOT executes what the transportation planning organization has prioritized. So we're currently number four. There's two separate Highway 85 project widenings in front of us as well as the Herbert Field project. That's what determines whether or not the project keeps going on. Not a 5% increase in cost. If if the TPO board or the politics of that board changes over the next four to six to eight years, that project could go up or could go down.

That's what sets the priority for FDOT. State legislation and the and the federal legislation have to find and work towards finding the funding for those prioritized projects that the Okaloosa Walton Transportation Planning Organization has prioritized. All right. Anyone else with a comment on this uh motion that's been made? Council, please vote. The motion does pass. Six to one. All right, that brings us to back to item six or I'm sorry, 5.3. Four. Brave winners.

Four. 5.4. 5.3. How is it?

Mayor city parks. He announced it. Uh we're here obviously to do the presentation of the awards for the parade that we just had on December 2nd. Uh it was a Tuesday. It was a very cold and windy night. It was

I remember it very well. I'm sure you do too. Uh but it was the Fort Walton Beach. We held our annual community Christmas parade. We estimated attendance was somewhere between 9 and 10,000. There were 95 entries that made up this year's parade. Before recognizing the parade winners, I'd like to thank the members of the recreation staff. Uh particularly Janice, where'd she go? There we go. Janice, who is the staff coordinator and organizer of the parade. This was her first year doing it. I think she did a great job. Wendy was a big help in that along with uh Pat. Pat, can you raise your hand? uh Sean Paulie and members of the park division that are not here. I'd also like to thank uh Police Chief Beige and his officers, especially Officer Terren James. Many of the staff know him as Tiger. Uh had an opportunity to meet him. Officer Officer James was a traffic officer. He got the two different lineups to merge in the proper order to get to uh Eglund did a great job. Fire Chief Shipman and his firefighters, Daniel Payne and the public works utility staff, city of Valarzo which provided one of their street sweepers for the cleanup. And certainly I want to thank you for your participation along with the city staff that were part of the entries in the parade. So now for the parade winners. Can I have the envelope, please? Wrong program. Sorry. So the uh our first award goes for best service and it goes to the crew. The crew of Columbus.

Let's go. group woman. [applause] Okay. Come on. Thank you. [applause]

The uh second award for best marching goes to Fort Walton Beach High School and Bruner Middle School bands. [applause]

[applause]

The next award goes to best youth, the floor, the for Welton Beach High School cheerleaders. [applause] [applause]

Thank you. Next is Best Religious, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [applause] [applause] [applause]

for best commercial and that goes to Walmart superstore. So, let's go to Walmart. [applause] [applause] Walmart couldn't be here tonight. Not busy down here. Mayor, that concludes the presentations.

Thank you, Mr. [applause] And before we move on, uh, just want to echo the sentiments there of Mr. Flity. Fantastic job. All the parades that we do throughout the year here in the city are are really well put together, I think. And, uh, never hear really any negative feedback. You only see a lot of screaming, excited kids, which is really what it's all about. So, thanks to everybody in the parks department that that works on this. Uh, city of Fort Walton Beach employee recognitions, Mr. Davis. [snorts]

Thank you. All right. Our first victim is Charles Pettis with 20 years in the Fort W Beach Police Department. All right. [applause] Next, Mr. Let's see, Marcus Shoemaker from our finance department. [cheering] [applause] [applause]

Did you say 50 years on started when it was eight? Close. It's getting close. All right. And our final recipient is Robert Rididgeway with 25 years. [applause] Thank you. [applause]

It brings this council to the consent agenda. Move to approve. Second. Got a motion by Councilman Jeter, seconded by Councilwoman Deberry to approve tonight's consent agenda. Any additional comments? Council. No, sir. Council, please vote. I'll fix it.

Okay. Is unanimous consent. That brings us to item seven, mayor and council comments. We start with Mr. Walker. Thank you, sir. Mr. Brown.

Hey, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to read it this so I don't vomit. All right. So, I would like to request that the city manager have staff bring back a presentation at our next council meeting outlining what a two-day per week residential pickup system for the designated recycling day would look like, including projected cost. I would also ask that those costs be compared to the residential and commercial sanitation rates currently charged by the city of Dustin and city of Cresview and uh be included in that same presentation. That's all I have. Mr. Mayor talking trash talking. Do you know that Chris View has two pickups? I don't. So just

Thanks, sir. Mr. Dear, pardon me. That's you. Oh. Uh, no, I'm okay. Okay, Councilman Jeter, I'll say for you, Councilman.

Uh, just a quick one. I've been taking part more in city things as I'm uh since I've become a councilman. And uh there's a few I'll mention. I could do it at the end, but I'm going to shout out Gareth Sterns cuz I see him. Uh it was so exciting like seeing what Chalkaw did and I don't think I would have got tied in. I don't think the community would have got tied in um had you not provide the service you provide. One of the things that that Final Four game that I heard from everybody, old alumni, old friends that I went to school with uh there at Chopall um were that was the most packed the stands had like they could ever remember it being. And obviously big shout out to the the football team and the coaches, they they did that, but your part in rallying support behind them. Just everything that I've been doing with the community, stuff like that's awesome. So just every individual, every member of the community that goes to things that does extra, it's huge. And I it was I think it was fun for so many people to kind of get back into that. So I appreciate it.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Agreed. Yeah, we can clap. [applause] I like it. Um, Councilwoman Riley,

mayor, at this time I would just um like to um thank the um the city um Kim Kim, thank you so much for preparing such a wonderful travel book for me, but I wanted thank the city um for allowing me to be able to participate in the U committees in the Florida League of Cities. Um, I really really enjoyed it. Um, I learned a lot as a new council member. Um, I think it was an honor for me to be able to to be present there. Um, don't want to send a lot of the the city's money. So, you know, traveling here or there, but I can tell you it was well worth it and um, I think it was, you know, a good decision um, to have Councilman Deberry and I both, you know, to to be able to travel there. U, just learned a whole lot. I really did. So, I just want to uh thank you all so much and you know, as we all know, in January, the legislation will be coming out and so some of the the um decisions that we made uh for the the whole state of Florida, the cities in the state of Florida uh on our legislative policy committee, I think we came up with it u with some pretty good ideas and and uh drafted a final finalization, you know, um the things to include, you know, property rights and different things like that. So, thank you all so much. I'm privileged to be able to

We're probably have to stop that though. Mhm. Every time you guys go, she brings me back more water. [laughter] That's good. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you, ma'am. Uh just a real quick one from me as well. Just wanted to wish a belated happy 100th birthday to Regina Sterling right next door uh over here. Unfortunately, she had a a 100th birthday party and I was driving back from Atlanta. I would have much rather been there than I caught in Atlanta gridlock traffic. So, happy belated birthday. That moves us to public comments. Uh, anyone from the public wishing to comment on anything that is not on tonight's agenda, come on down and we'll give you 5 minutes, we just ask that you tell us your name and where you live. There we go.

Come on down.

My apologies for being the only one. not necessary. I live at 113 Brook Street in Fort W Beach. Here for two reasons. First, I want to say thank you. Uh I was out walking with one of my neighbors in the landing. I think it was Wednesday or Tuesday last week and we noticed one of those power stations were dissolved over the landings. Somebody had backed into one it looked like or ran it over. Don't know what, but it was knocked down. The wooden structure was broken. There was wires everywhere. [snorts] And so I took a picture and the only person's uh email I had was Mr. Schmidt. So I sent it to him and asked him if he ordered that to Mr. Davis and they had that stansion replaced in a day. That's fantastic service.

Say what?

That's Mr. P. But yes, thank you. But that was great, great service. I really appreciate that. Other thing, this is something that I don't need to put I just want y'all to think about this. We've been watching the work in the landing progress for a long time and I think there's light at the end of the tunnel because the amphitheater is getting finished. Those concrete bleachers are getting finished. And I would like in my I'm 76, right? In my lifetime to be able to sit in a concert down there and watch one get that thing finished. If you look at what we got now, when we finish what's in progress, you know, the customers for that playground, the kids are happy as clams with what they got. Most people like the idea of the concert. We finish that up. the uh everybody's going to be happy. As I understand, it's going to cost over a million dollars to finish up that little bit of what we got left. Do we need to spend that money? I'm serious. Do we need to spend over a million dollars to finish up that little bit? There's, you know, there's other things we could spend this money on. Like there's parks have been approved. Do we have the staff to click keep support those parks? We need more police officers, right? Do we really need to spend that over a million dollars to finish up a little bit of that landing? And what I don't want to see is somebody gets in there and we have another multi-year project for just that little bit. It's been long enough. You know, now if you even try and walk down along the walkway, the workers there yell at you, you're trespassing. You shouldn't be in here. And I'm sick of that, too. But sometimes you need to declare victory

and move on. I think that's the situation here. We got the amphitheater. The children are happy. The adults are happy. We don't need to spend any more money. Just think about that. Okay. Like I said, there's other things we need to spend that money on. That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hancock. Anyone else from the public wish to speak on anything not on tonight's agenda? Seeing none, we'll move on to resolutions and resolution 2025-29. Mr. Burns.

Okay. Mayor, this resolution is to amend uh 2023 2022, which is the resolution the council passed back on December 12th of 2023 regarding the procedures for council meetings and procedure for how the council kind of operates outside of meetings. Uh and uh the reason for this particular resolution kind of just is to sort of kind of create a safeguard for uh partially for Miss Barnes because she's the individual who always gets contacted. Hey guys, Mr. having a lot of trouble hearing our attention.

But but also uh Mr. Davis and myself as the charter officers, we kind of are the ones that communicate with y'all at the most. And sometimes if uh uh if the mayor ever needs to uh decline an invitation like he indicated, the lovely young lady's 100th birthday like he indicated, then this will set up a process to where he would just notify M. Barnes and then she'll go down the list. The first person she would contact would be the mayor pro Tim. If uh Mr. Schmidt can't handle it, then uh she would then contact uh a council member and that that selection would be based on a rotating order alphabetical [snorts] kind of how y'all do the comments here at your at your meetings. Uh the first person that ever get contacted would be Mr. Browning cuz he's be and if he declines it or accepts it, it doesn't really matter cuz the next time Mr. Barry would be contacted if the mayor pro Tim declines an invitation to to fill in for the mayor. And so, uh, this process will just kind of, I think, ease things because it, I think the issues only ever arisen, oddly enough, on times when y'all don't have council meetings. Uh, and so it's not easy to find a a quick replacement for one of y'all. And so, uh, this is a kind of a resolution that's being generated more by uh, I'd say partially myself, Miss Barnes, and uh, and, uh, there's at least one council member not present who sort of spurred the the genesis of this particular resolution.

Thank you, sir. Any questions on this for either Miss Barnes or Mr. Burns? Mr. Walker, this is this is um that procedure there for you know the mayor can't make it mayor pro Tim and the procedures there. That's the only thing that's changing in the rules in the rules procedures. Right. Correct. There's a wear ass clause to it. Gotcha. I thought it looked through it and didn't see any other red. So yes, thank you. That's it. Who else? Mr. If we're making changes to the original uh resolution, is this time I mean, can we throw out other changes that we'd like to see in this resolution? Sure.

You could you could either accept this tonight and then if you want to make additional changes, we could if you want to change this obviously if you're talking about making additional changes to other portions of it, I would ask y'all accept this here tonight just so Miss Barnes over the Christmas break can in case there's a lot of these type of events. But if you want at any time y'all can bring this up and decide you want to make further changes to this. Anyone else questions? Anyone from the public wish to speak on this? Council wishes to take any action.

So move to adopt resolution 2025-29 amending resolution 2023-22 rules of procedure for city council meetings. Second. Motion made by Councilman Jeter, seconded by Councilwoman Riley to approve resolution 2025-29. Any additional [snorts] comments? I think like a lot of other things we've done tonight, it's good to just establish a procedure. So now we know we have something to follow a guideline and uh yeah, resolution only takes one reading. So I'm interested. Anything else you'd like to change going forward as well? Anyone else? Council. Um no, I don't have anything. Oh, you second. My bad. I don't know if it matters. I just heard it over here in my ear. All right. Um, council, please vote.

And it does pass unanimously, which moves us to resolution 2025-30, a resolution to adopt a vision zero policy on traffic deaths and serious injuries. Is Chief Bay here. Who's presenting this one?

Daniel, I'm sorry. Hello, mayor and council. Um, tonight for you have a resolution um related to the uh existing safe streets for all grant that we got. Um, there's a couple of you on on the council at the time when we were notified we um received this grant and I and I think I first think it's important to say we are no different than anybody else when it deals with the federal government. We've been trying to get this executed for a long time. Um, we had Doge, we had shutdowns, we had this, we had that, we had three different city managers sign it before they were okay. It's it was it's really been one of the most frustrating things I've I've personally had to deal with on this one. But um fast forward, you guys can see the background, but basically um at the end of September, we had it all signed and ready. And that was a 8020 grant for straight safe streets for all. This is separate from the Tri County deal. This is just the cities. Um and the first step in in being eligible for some of this funding is to create a safety action plan. Uh part of that safety action plan is a resolution of support to eliminate traffic deaths with a measurable time frame. Um it's it's really kind of like going down the checklist of what we needed to do to complete it. Um but you'll see um in there that that we have committed to um zero traffic deaths by 2045. There's a couple other municipalities that have that. Um, it was either zero deaths by 2045 or it was [snorts] 90% and I figured [clears throat] if we're going as high as something like

that on the percentage wise, like let's just go for the goal of zero. Um but this is you know um basically moving through the um checklist for the citywide safety action plan which would then identify some of these segments that we have some of these problems specific to the city and then we'd be eligible for implementation grants once this is finished in the future. Um this was kind of like the first step. uh then we would have moved on, you can see in some of the backup to um a uh board and committee and and we have one um already with PD that we'd like to utilize in the county. Um but having said that, that's what this is on the resolution. Um if you have any questions, I can do my best to answer them that time.

Thank you, sir. Questions for Mr. Payne on this uh resolution? Councilman Walker trying to understand how it's built. Um, so we submitted for and we won a grant to create a safety plan. Kimley Horn is going to be create the the grant is going to be used to pay Kimley Horn to create our safety plan. Correct. Correct. And Kimley Horn, aren't they the ones that did our previous safe traffic studies and all? Um

yeah, they were um at at the point of time of this, they were our um transportation specific general consultant that we had um at the time. So they let us know the grant and they applied for us and did all the work on that side. Gotcha. And and that all brings me back to probably one simple question. I know at the time it made a big splash it seems, but what is the status of the around um the the traffic circle? What are they called? For for Hollywood. Yeah. A and the road de uh where are things with that? It's kind of been quiet.

So um so we just received um 60% design plans from HDR who's the one that was doing that. Um it's um you know roundabout but um no diet really. Okay. Just a roundabout pedestrian facilities and improvements and intersection improvements and and all that. Yeah. No, it's it's it's four lane until you get to the roundabout, you know, basically to get around. It's not a it's not a fourlane roundabout. So, east of the roundabout continues to be four lanes all the way down cuz that seemed to get the most splash. Yes, sir. That's what we kind of settled on for the public.

But on those four lanes, um there's going to be some pedestrian either in the middle or on the sides. Is that uh no middle all on the sides? on the sides completed sidewalk and sidewalk/multi-use path on like I said it's 60% on that end just got them in Friday so you know so it'll be on the south side of Hollywood it'll be east of the roundabout south of Hollywood there's going to be a 12T multimodal is that what it's called um that I can only say that it'll be there'll be some type of path on both sides the actual width we're trying to get you know [snorts] one bigger than the other just just for a true multi-use But um as of right now conceptually it's it it's pedestrian facilities on both sides.

Gotcha. And that's all in done within the rideway. No land acquisition required. And we got 60% for the design, not for the construction. Is that correct? Um yeah. Yeah. These are just [clears throat] design plans. The construction is budgeted within the project. That was part of the approved approved budget. Gotcha. What was that number? Do you remember for the for that project? I think it was 3 million that we settled on that 3 million. Yeah. Okay. Allocated through the year cuz there's a much bigger number if we were going to take it down to two roads, right? Two lane. Sorry.

You know, they're all kind of in the ballpark of the same on that side. Okay. Thank you. trying to be easygoing Christmas mayor here tonight, but let's keep it on the That was talking about I know I know I felt you. I felt the Santa. I felt the Santa in you. And I like the information. Let's uh question C. [laughter] Obviously, a lot of things come to you and they're gifted. Who would not want a zero debt? But I I just in my limited knowledge, I'm like, if I had to do that in the next week, there would be a lot of restrictions and things.

Do we know what we're committed to as far as costs, restrictions that could be implemented? Are we going to have a lot more lights and speed zone cameras, you know, going down the road like they do in some countries? Are we open ourselves to say, "Yeah, we want to commit to this." And do do you know?

So, no. I mean, we we obviously we have a plan that we wanted to be city specific and not over a tri county area, right? Like we know some of the state roads that we have here are going to get most of the attention on some of those. Th this would be a little bit more detailed in the city street stuff and you know with the state thing, they're under GOT jurisdiction for those state roads, those big ones. the the city local roads we would have full control but it's it's really related around the accidents both for for cars um pedest or pedestrians cars and vehicles and eliminating those. So, I I don't there's no um I don't think I've seen any like enforcement type, you know, camera type situation on that. I would be, you know, hard improvements basically on the ground, you know, roads, curbs, could be right in, right out, you know, stuff like that. So,

that's where the safety plan will come in. They'll target maybe like we did here at Be and I think First Street. Target areas like that where we had accidents problems and we develop a plan to improve. Let's just say like Hollywood Eastland something like that. Okay. Have traffic death data. I think me and Nick worked on together on stuff that before. Uh high volume in the back spins. How to make that thing safer. So it' be kind of like you know Mr. Walker brought it up, but that's probably a good example of one on that end. We just um you know, we wanted to [snorts] move on that one, but for stuff like that in the future, you know, we could potentially have a funding mechanism on that side.

Appreciate it. Anyone else with a question for Mr. Pay on this? Seeing none, does anyone from the public wish to speak on this council? Oh, Mr. Qu can you define a multi modal um official definition? I think it's it's all you know users of the transportation network even ones that haven't even been made yet.

So let me pedestrian my question. Um, I'm asking about the multimotal path because there's a lot of confusion. I keep hearing being talked about golf cart path, but golf carts would not be allowed on a multimotal path, would they? Um, yeah, correct. We And we've you those of you have dealt with this, we have low- speed vehicles that have tags. Those got to be on the roads. We've had we have golf carts that have tags, too. But yeah, this this isn't golf cart paths um or anything that we have.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else from the public wish to speak on this item? Council, do you wish to take any action tonight? Mr. Mayor, so move to adopt resolution 25-30 to adopt a vision zero policy setting the goal of eliminating all traffic deaths and serious injuries within the city by year 2045. Second. Motion made by Councilman Jeter, seconded by Councilman Browning. to approve resolution 2025-30. Any additional comments? Yeah, all five of my kids will be on the road by that year. So, I hope we accomplish this goal. That might be working against the goal, right?

I guess we'll see. Putting more cars on the road. Mr. very I I just want um I live near Bill Parkway and and I drive around the city quite a bit and so many accidents because people want to turn right on red and and one night in particular there was three major major accidents Bill and Memorial uh Mary Esther and Bill and also um on Mary Esther cut off by Publix three major accidents within one hour and more and more and more. So, yeah, I'll be voting for this.

Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else wish to comment? Council, please vote. And it does pass unanimously, which brings us to item 10.1. Ordinance is on second reading. Ordinance 2195. Mr. Burns.

Ordinance 2195. Ordinance of the city of Port Beach for a meaning the charter of the city of Port Walton Beach. Adding a new section 8 titled city election dates without deleting any other provisions of the charter and renumbering the remainder of the charter if approved by the voters. Provide for cotification. Provide for ballot question summary. Provide for an effective date. This is second reading. If it does pass tonight uh this ordinance, then uh the ballot question will go to the March 10th, 2026 referendum. Any questions on this for Mr. Burns, city attorney? Anyone from the public wish to speak on this ordinance on its second reading?

Council, do you wish to take any action tonight? So move to adopt ordinance 2195. Motion made by Councilman Jeter to adopt ordinance 2195 is seconded by Councilman Merrill. Any additional comments? No, sir. Councilman Walker, I was I meant to ask Jeff, but this document th this is a one the resolution second reading nine through the once there. These are all a result of the charter review committee. Correct.

Actually, the first one, the one you're voting on right now is not. This is actually the result of a separate uh set of votes and discussions that y'all y'all had over a series of meetings after the charter commission was not. I got you. It came after the charter review committee. Correct. And our discussion right gotcha. Thank you. Uh just and I think the question was and I might have asked it then and I think I know the answer but was there any public comment on this? Um that no this one was a result of our discussion. No public comment. I take that back. Thank you Mr. Mayor.

Uh please just pass 42 moves item 10.2 two and ordinance 2196. Mr. Burns.

Ordinance 2196, an ordinance of the city of Fort Long Beach, Florida, amending sections 34,57 and 25 of the city charter. Providing for a referendum on the charter amendment, providing for a ballot question providing for a vote vote at the March 10th, 2026 election on whether to amend sections 3 through 5, 7, and 25 of the city charter to clarify the nonpartisan nature of the council seats. Update term limit provisions. Establish consistent procedures for filing council and mayoral vacancies. And provide flexibility in the establishment of filing fees for city elections. Provide for coordination with the supervisor of elections. Provide for conflict, severability, and effective date. If you pass this tonight, it will go uh on second reading to the uh if you pass it on second reading, it will go to the March 10th, 2026 referendum. Um I do have one thing to note. Uh there was a typo on this version that you are voting tonight. said March 11th, 2026 election, but that's not the actual date of the referendum. It's March 10th.

I was just going to ask you that. And the version actually it's printed out for you signed tonight. It says March 10th. So 104.

All right. Anyone uh questions for Mr. Burns on this? Anyone from the public wish to speak on ordinance 2196? Mr. Smith? There you go. I hope to only do this one time. I'm not going to talk about the um proposed charter amendments, but my objection is to the um ballot language, and this would apply to all all the ballot language. I think they're much too generic and ambiguous. They cover way this this one we're looking at covers sections 3, 4, 5, 7, and 25. And there's numerous ones in here that cover more than a half dozen different sections. So, you know, I can't go through and pick what I support and what I don't support. and they don't they don't tell me what um they don't tell me what the the amendments are actually doing. I I don't believe they comply with Florida statute 101.161 which requires that the battle langu the battle title and summary must state in clear and unambiguous language the chief purpose of each amendment. U I don't I don't believe they do that. So before you move forward I would suggest um give Mr. Burn's opinion.

I I disagree. So that's my opinion. Action. Anyone else from the public wish to speak on this? See none. Council, please vote. Mr. Mayor, so move to Oh, my bad. I'm sorry. I thought we already had a motion. So move to adopt ordinance 2196. Second. All right. Motion made by Councilman Jeter, second by Councilman Browning. Any uh further comments? I would say thank you Mr. Smith for bringing it to our attention. I'm going to rely on Mr. Burns who has done his research and compiled these together in the correct legal way.

I I researched it very extensively on this particular issue. Uh there I've looked at numerous other ballots from other referendums across the state and uh I was actually very surprised at some, but uh these definitely comply with state law. So, got it. Thank you, Councilman Walker. I'm going to hold my It is the same question, but it is on one of the ordinance, one of the other um second readings, so I'll hold it for it, but it is on that same line of clarity um and clear purpose. Um you you're you're stating, Jeff, obviously, I mean, you you prepared these, right?

You you're st you're stating that you believe they meet this requirements of 101.61 61 with its clear purpose in each one of these um each one of these ballot languages. You're correct.

Okay. Gotcha. Okay. Thank you. Now, [snorts] it does pass 51, which moves us to item 10.3 and ordinance 2197. Mr. Burns. Ordinance 2197, an ordinance of the city of Oral Beach, Florida, amending section 68, and 9 of the city charter. Providing for a referendum on the charter amendment, provide for a ballot question, provide for a vote at the March 10th, 2026 election on whether to amend [snorts] section 689 of the city charter to clarify the council meeting schedules are set by resolution and to strengthen certain disciplinary provisions for the council members, provide for coordination with the supervisor elections, provide for conflict, severability, and an effective date. This is second reading. If you do pass it on second reading tonight, it will go to the March 10th, 2026 election. And like the previous ordinance y'all voted on, it contains that typo saying March 11th.

Thank you, sir. Questions for Mr. Burns on this item? Anyone from the public wish to speak on this one? Council, do you wish to take any action tonight? Mr. Mayor, so I move to adopt ordinance 2197. Second. Motion made by Councilman Jeter, second by Councilman Browning to approve ordinance 2197. Any additional comments? Yes, sir. Council, please vote. Does pass 5 to one. Moves us to item 10.4 and ordinance 2198. Mr. Burns.

Ordinance 2198. An ordinance of the city of Oral Beach, Florida, amending sections 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 of the city charter providing for a referendum on the charter amendment. Providing for a ballot question, providing for a vote at the March 11th or March 10th, 2026 election, only amend sections 11 through 14 and 16 through 22 of the city charter to remove outdated verbiage and amend the charter to facilitate more efficient daily operations of the city of Oral Beach. Provide for coordination with the supervisor elections. Provide for conflict severability and an effective date. This is second reading. If you pass it tonight on second reading, it will go to the March 10th, 2026 election. Again, this contains the March 11th instead of March 10th, which is a typo.

Thank you, sir. Questions on ordinance 2198 for Mr. Burns. Would anyone from the public wish to speak on this item? Council, do you wish to take any action tonight? Mr. Mayor so move to adopt ordinance 2198. Second. Motion made by Councilman Jeter, seconded by Councilman Browning to approve ordinance 2198. Any additional comments from the council? Councilman Walker? Yeah. Um, so 2198. I thought, did I miss the whole convers? I mean, I voted no on. Okay, it is 2198. So 97. I was looking around for the chief. Is the chief available?

You guys have a bill or Major Marlo? Okay. And and and it it'll be for staff and and I'm sure that and and you may have I'm not sure how long you've been here, but this one caught my attention um because it has a lot to do with history of our city uh council and our city police and and prior events. So and and Jeff this would come in um this definitely uh comes into the question its clear purpose um reading it administrative efficiency and then we go and find out in the body of the ordinance itself. It discusses the restriction placed upon this body uh should it ever decide that it wishes to uh do any of the things mentioned there with the police department. So years ago maybe how long have you been here sir in the with the department?

A little over 23 years.

Okay. So then you'll remember years ago I think it was probably about 2012 maybe 13 there was a a budget process that was underway. Uh the the police budget was presented and at the same time Okaloosa County Sheriff's Department um it at the same time presented a consolidation bid. It it proposed to provide the services of law enforcement to the city um to the people of the city and it saved I want to say that it was it proposed saving $2 million to the taxpayers [clears throat] and shortly thereafter as part of that process the police department at the time and I think it was pre-chief I don't don't think he was here at that time they went back and sharpened their pencils and saved a million dollars. So that was the that was the event. I looked at the study again tonight out in the parking lot. It was from 2013 on the consolidation, not the bid, but the study of consolidation. So, saying all of that to recognize that while this talks about administrative efficiency, it actually enshrines and restricts it enshrines the police department and restricts this body from doing what previously it would be available to do. If four members up here decided that we would like to entertain an offer from the sheriff's department um to provide law enforcement services, we could do that. This change to the charter changes that it's no longer possible if this charter amendment is placed upon ourselves. If we vote upon ourselves, we can no longer solicit a bill because it restricts mergers. Is that is that fair and accurate? or do you have some changes you'd like to

correct me on? Probably definitely be a question for Mr. M. It I mean it in a roundabout way. Yeah. Would restrict mergers. Yeah,

correct. And so what the timeline too that I'm talking about there. So we've got the initial consolidation bid by the sheriff's department came to the police department. They sharpened the pencil, saved a million dollars. Uh shortly thereafter this body, not these people here, I'm pretty sure nobody was on it. Maybe Nick, but [snorts] but uh anyway, um it came back and they made a decision that um to protect the police department from that in the future. They say it's going to have to be a unanimous vote up here if we are to um it's not dismantle, but do away with it completely. You know, absolve it and merge completely with the sheriff's department. So that was pretty simple. You can see it in the writing here of this body. It it it lines through it and and then so we've gone from four being able to decide to merge to a unanimous decision which came after that and now it's a unanimous decision and cannot be merged. So I caution this body that um what we are if if we move forward with this and and if the voters I do trust the voters will will will be informed and educated on it won't pass it but um should should it this body pass it we are restricting ourselves as representatives of taxpayers from ever merging this group with it. Now, that being said, and this is where I want the chief, um, chief, if you're watching, when you do watch this, I want you to check me on these numbers here, cuz these are important, and this is the significance of the numbers we're talking about here. So, bear with me. Um, recently, the city of Destracted with the Oakloo County Sheriff's Department um, for 3.1 or 3.3 million, I believe it is. Uh, I have this on fairly

good information, but I do want the chief to check me on these numbers here and compare it with the county. It's my understanding that the city of Fort of City of Dest last year received 36,000 calls into the police department. They handled those 36,000 calls with 17 officers at a budget of $3.3 million. It's my understanding as well, and the chief can check me on this as well, the city of Fort Walton Beach received 31,000 calls and we have 53 uniformed officers at a cost of 9 plus million. So, should this pass and should the voters pass it, uh there's a $6 million spread right there in being able to consider services from the sheriff's department. So, I just wanted to put that caution out there on this. Thank you. Anyone else wish to comment on the ordinance? Seeing none, council, please vote.

And the motion does pass 4 to two. That moves us to ordinance 2199. Mr. Burns. Ordinance 2199, an ordinance of the city of Fort Wish, Florida, amending section 33 of the city charter, providing for a referendum on the charter amendment, providing for a ballot question, providing for a vote at the March 10th, 2026 election on whether to amend section 33 of the city charter to authorize compensation to all city elected officials, provide for coordination with the supervisor elections, provide for conflict, severability, and effective date. If you all do pass this on second reading tonight, it will go to the March 10th, 2026 referendum. And again, there was that typo, but it's not contained in the version sign if it does pass tonight.

Thank you, sir. Questions from the board for Mr. Burns on ordinance 2199. Council Walker. Um, looking at it, compensation, and I I made a note here to reference Mr. Jeter because I know we had a conversation back then regarding it. Um, and and and probably dealing with the clarity. I didn't spend as much time looking over this ordinance, but does this ordinance um either disclose or describe or is it even a part of it? Cuz I couldn't tell by reading the title. Does compensation include uh benefits?

It the ballot question says monetary compensation or health insurance coverage in the in the wording.

Okay. And then that's just just to double check cuz Mr. Jeter and I had the conversation. Is there a limit placed on either one of those dollars of of compensation or in insurance benefits dollar-wise? Yeah, hold on here. It is any council member electing monetary compensation shall receive $1,000 per month and a mayor electing monetary compensation shall receive $2,000 per month. However, uh that's if they choose the monetary compensation. If they they they have to choose one of the two, they can also choose health insurance coverage for themselves and their immediate family, which would probably be worth more than the other.

No limit placed on the benefit of insurance. Correct. Is that described in here? Can you point me to that? No, it's not. Okay, gotcha. Okay, that's it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Anyone from the public wish to speak on this uh ordinance? Council, do you wish to take any action tonight? Mr. Mayor, so moved to adopt ordinance 2199. Second.

Motion made by Councilman Jeter, second by Councilman Brownie to approve ordinance 2199. Any additional comments? [snorts] Council, please vote. That does pass 5 to one. brings us to ordinance 2200. Mr. Burns.

Ordinance 2200, an ordinance of the city of Fort Long Beach, Florida, amending section 35 of the city charter, provide for a referendum on the charter amendment, provide for a ballot question, provide for a vote for the March 10th, 2026 election on whether to remove section 35 of the city charter relating to limitation on annual budget expenditures, provide for coordination with the supervisor of elections, provide for conflict, servability, and effective date. Um, if this passes on second reading here tonight, it will go to the March 10th, 2026 referendum. And again, the version you sign has the type of typo fixed, making it March 10th, not March 11th.

Thank you, sir. Questions for Mr. Burns on ordinance 2200? Would anyone from the public like to speak on ordinance 2200? Council, do you wish to take any action? As the mayor, so move to adopt ordinance 2200. Second. Motion made by Councilman Jeter, second by Councilman Browning to approve ordinance 2200. Any additional comments? Councilman Walker.

I was going to ask Jeff, but he and I spoke on the phone earlier and I I'm still a little I'd like from because I was out two meetings ago. I missed it and apparently that's when it took place. Just curious um whoever was involved with it because I haven't looked at the meetings or or the video, but where did the Ann which does not limit increases to property tax millage rates come in? I was just trying to get a you know we we know that the the limits annual increases was on spending nothing related to millage rates than section 35 that was passed by voters in 24. Where does the limit increase? Where does the rationale and maybe m Mr. Mayor if you were here and can share with me what the rationale for including that was. Personally, my answer to any kind of question like that regarding any of these would be that was what that committee decided would be a good change to the charter and then obviously was voted for by the body and that's what I thought to Jeff and then Jeff said that it and and maybe I misunderstood or what but that millage rate did not come out of the charter review committee. It was apparently a discussion on this body when I was out. Is does anyone else remember that? But

no, I didn't. So, uh, when I was reviewing the ball about language with staff, it was requested that we put something in there about, uh, the fact to clarify to the voters that milligate will not be affected by by this particular vote. And, uh, and originally what happened two meetings ago when you weren't here, I actually worded it much longer and then uh, it got simplified. But so the prop what they voted on though or to send to first reading in back in October was a much longer version saying the same thing and it did mention property tax though in that but that was also I added that at the request of staff.

So the request to add that was by staff not the committee itself to include property tax. Well the committee I know didn't recommend a mouth question. They never they never sent recommended mouth language. [snorts] Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, anyone from the public wish to or did we already do that? Where we at? Yeah. I have two keys because he was asking a question. All right. Council, please vote.

And it does pass 51, which brings us to Mayor. Actually, one thing because we're about to go into the Christmas break and a whole month we'll go to the next council meeting. And uh just I remember last year shortly after the uh the previous referendum ordinances passed, Miss Cop and I were uh inundated with a lot of legal questions on whether or not the city seal could be used for things. And this is a big issue. And I just ask everyone remember that please please don't use the city seal for any political purposes if you can because that created a lot of issues. The actual city seal itself, you know, on mailers and whatnot. I just asked you. When you say issues, what kind of issues was was created from it? That's a billable time for the city. I'll tell you that.

That [snorts] brings us to item 11.1, Miss Barnes.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, the local planning agency. Uh, the city council appointed Mr. Robert Reiney to serve on that committee back in January of this year. And at the November 6th ABA meeting, Mr. Renie was inadvertently appointed as chair for the 26th term. Following the meeting, um staff talked with city attorney who advised that a a regular LPA member must serve as the chair or vice chair. A uh alternate member cannot serve. So during their uh December 4th meeting, Mr. McFersonson who was coming off as chair uh requested to be to switch positions with Mr. Renie so that Mr. Renie could now become a full-time regular member. Mr. McFerson would go to the alternate position. So the LPO the LPA board supported that swap and has requested that um city council will appoint Mr. McFersonson as an alternate member without a term expiration and appoint Mr. [clears throat] Renie as a regular member to fill the position currently held by Mr. McFersonson with a term ending September 30th, 2028. And [clears throat] I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

Fantastic. Questions for Miss Barnes on this? See none. You guys wish to take any action tonight? Mr. Mayor, so move staff's recommendation. Second. Motion made by Councilman Jeter, seconded by Councilman Merrill to uh take the recommendation of Miss Barnes and city staff and reappoint Mr. James McFersonson and Mr. Robert Renie to serve in those respective positions on the LPA. Any additional comments? Uh thank you, Mr. McFersonson and Mr. Renie for serving. Council, please vote.

The motion does pass unanimously. brings us to item 11.2, Miss Barnes. So, for the police officers retirement fund board, on December the third, the police officer's board chose Mr. Matthew Holt to continue to serve on the board as its fifth member and submitted his name to city council for appointment. So, staff respectfully recommend city council reappoint Mr. Matthew Holt as the fifth member to the police officer's retirement fund board with a term to expire September 30th, 2029. Now, we have to answer any questions you have. Thank you, ma'am. Questions for Miss Barnes? Seeing none. Do you wish to take any action? Make a motion to take staff's recommendation.

Second. Motion made by Councilman Merrell, second by Councilman Jeter to reappoint Mr. Matthew Hold as the fifth member to the police officer retirement fund board. Any additional comments? Thank you, Mr. Holt. Council, please vote. does pass unanimously. Brings us item 11.3, the firefighters retirement plan board appointment to Miss Barts.

On December 17th of 24, council appointed Miss Carly Silverlag to serve on the Fort Walton Beach firefighters board to fill an unexpired term of a city resident position. Her term is set to expire December the 31st and she has expressed an interest to continue serving on that board and staff respectfully recommend city council's reappointment of Miss Silverl Slag as a resident member to the city's firefighters retirement fund board to fill a four-year term to expire December 31st, 2029. [snorts] Be happy to answer any questions. Questions for Miss Barnes? Anyone wish to make an appointment to this board? Mr. Mayor move staff's recommendation.

Second. Motion made by Councilman Merrell, seconded by Councilman Jeter to reappoint Carly Silverlack to the Firefighters Retirement Fund Board. Any additional comments? Thank you, Miss Carly. Please vote. Brings us to item. It does pass unanimously. Brings us to item 11.4, the Chamber of Commerce Advisory Board. Currently, uh, we have Mr. Merrill filling that position and he has volunteered to serve again. And if I may, mayor, sure, you may.

I know this kind of gets confusing sometimes. I don't call everybody when these terms are midy years of a voting uh, election year. In an election year, I will contact everybody for every position on those boards. When it's one during midterm like this, I just ask the person who's currently feeling it if they'd like to continue. These are just there are a few of the ones that are like an annual appointment based on that board's bylaws and so forth. So that's why it's done a little differently. Makes sense. Um, anyone want to nominate themselves before Mr. Merrill? I move to nominate Mr. Ben Merrill. Second.

Motion made by Councilman Jeter, seconded by Councilman Browning to nominate Mr. for Ben Merrill to serve on the Chamber of Com Commerce Advisory Board. Any additional comments? Thank you, Ben. I know you're representing us well. Keep doing it. Council, please vote. Does pass unanimously. Brings us to item 11.5 and the Northwest Florida Fair Board currently filled by me, volunteer to serve by me. Anyone want to do it instead of me or nominate? I [snorts] move to nominate Mr. Mayor Nick Alegretto to serve on the Northwest Florida Fair Board for as long as possible. [laughter] Second.

Thank you. Motion made by Councilman Jeter, seconded by Councilwoman Deary to reappoint me to the very strenuous Northwest Florida Fair Board. Any additional comments? [snorts] Council, please vote. Barry. Mr. Barry. I was She was making notes. This year? No. That's why it's the best one. It does pass unanimously. Brings us to the Okaloosa County Head Start appointment currently filled by Miss Riley and she has volunteered to serve again.

Anyone wish to move to nominate Miss Debbie Riley? Yeah, there you go. Thank you.

Nominated by Mr. Jeter, seconded by Miss Deberry for Debbie Riley to return to the Oklahoma County Head Start Board. Any additional comments? Council, please vote. The motion does pass unanimously, which brings us to item 12.1, action, direction, and discussion and a request for code enforcement fine reduction and waiver at 13 Carson Drive Southeast. Mr. Davis or Mr. Burns? Mr. Davis.

Yeah. Uh, so another one of the code enforcement uh cases brought before us. they've come into compliance. Uh the individual came to sit with me. His paperwork had a different address, but this is the correct address in uh what Miss Barnes has created here. Miss Barnes, the code enforcement team said the uh property's outstanding now. So, they've kept up their their end of the bargain. So, we're looking to wave the fines and leans against this church. Gotcha. Questions on this for Mr. Davis? Anyone from the public wish to speak on this item? Council, do you wish to take any action tonight?

Mr. Mayor, so move staff's recommendation to wave the remaining fees on 13 Carson Drive Southeast. Second. Motion made by Councilman Jeter, second by Councilman Merrill to wave the remaining fees at 13 Carson Drive Southeast the uh mitigation schedule situation here. Yes, sir. like to say thank you for all the hard work code is doing. It seems like every meeting we have a uh uh fine release or lean release because we're bringing properties into compliance and that's the purpose of code. So keep up the hard work and thank you. Anyone else?

Council, please vote. The shortest discussion on fine reduction passes unanimously. I love to see it. brings us to item 12.2 fiscal year 2024-25 CDBG consolidated annual performance and evaluated waters report otherwise known as the caper. Mr. Gibson.

Yes sir. Good evening. So this is the uh annual requirement for the CDBG program uh that we submit this to HUD. Um it is basically a a summary of the year of what all money was expended. Uh it focuses on the previous year's uh fiscal year's uh program. However, we do include all the information from any previous year that had not been fully expended at that time. Uh so for this uh report, there were three uh programs that were expended that were from the fiscal year 23 24 or from the 2122 periods on there. Uh with those two of those were closed out. uh which only leaves the housing rehab program uh that actually has outstanding programs that were predecessing the previous um fiscal year on there. So, we're doing really good on our spending on there, getting these uh the money spent out of there. Uh we do have plans for the housing rehab money to get that spent out of there as well. Uh there was just some money that was returned into that program. That's why it kind of plused back up in there. Uh we'd spent the money, but then they sold the house, so the money had to come back into the program from there. uh for the previous fiscal year on there. Um as you can see, most of those have been paid out. There's a few more on there um that is left on there. Uh even on those numbers, uh the vast majority of that is actually already been done. We're just getting the final um invoices and everything to close that out on there. Um and with that, staff respectfully recommend city council approval of fiscal year 2425 CDBG consolidated annual performance and evaluation report.

Thank you, sir. Questions for Mr. Gibson or Mr. Jeter? You say some of these were from previous years that we're closing out 24 25. Correct. That carried over. That's correct. Okay. Cuz what did we ended up doing? And real quick, I don't have to go on forever, but the 25 26 I thought we talked about doing one large project. What park was it? Did we ever decide uh we're going all We're going all funding to one big correct project and park this year. This is from previous year. This is from the previous year. Basically, the fund that's for this this current year's funding. This is basically summarizing what happened with the last year's funding. Yes, sir.

Anyone else? Anyone from the public wish to speak on this? Seeing none, council, do you wish to take any action tonight? So, move to approve fiscal year 2425 CDG consolidate annual performance and evaluation report as presented tonight. Second. Motion made by Councilman Jeter, seconded by Councilman Browning to approve the caper. Any additional comments? No, sir. Council, please vote. [snorts]

And it does pass unanimously, which brings us to item uh 13, I'm sorry, item 12.3, support of permanent protection of the Eastern Gulf Test and Training Range from oil drilling. Mr. Burns. So, back I think it was about two weeks ago, uh, Council Member Sher reached out to me because I believe he's part of an email blast chain from the mayor of, uh, Niceville and some of the other mayors and some other local leaders. Uh, none of them being on the same board, so there's no sunshine law issues. But uh the mayor of Nashville put out a call uh to every city to uh put a letter like this together because the Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners and the Dustin City Council had already done so. It basically is a letter uh objecting to opening up the you know the Eastern Gulf test range for more uh oil drilling and those leases. And it's something that's, you know, over the last, you know, 20 years, like Congressman Gates was always good at getting that shut down and the previous congressman before him was too. And it's always helps the sitting congressman to get kind of unanimous support from a lot of the local government governmental agencies in that area. It's just another thing that kind of bolsters their case. So, uh, what would happen if y'all do approve of this letter here today, Mayor Algro, you would sign that and then [snorts] it a copy would go to, uh, Congressman Petronis, and then also there's an address on here to actually go to the Department of Interior and a way to file online as well. And, uh, I think it, I don't have obviously a dog in the fight, but I do think it's probably effective to have everyone locked up. So, so,

thank you, sir. Questions on this for Mr. Burns? Anyone from the public wish to speak on this item? Council, do you wish to take any action tonight? I make a motion uh to support this protection of the eastern G Coast test and training range from oil drain. Second.

Motion made by councilwoman Dary, seconded by councilwoman Riley to move forward with the letter. Any additional comments? Seeing none, council, please vote. And it does pass January, which brings us to city manager reports. Mr. Davis, that first item, I think Mr. Burns has already said it's been postponed. Correct? Yeah. Yeah. To February, most likely.

Okay. Uh, moving on. I would like to recognize the police for the really cool winter wonderland pallet thing they put on. I think Kendra Stalls kind of championed that. But it was it was awesome and kids had a good time. So cool on that. Uh navigating the 3%, you know, we try to bring something up every time that we're fighting with that. Just so people understand the the actual impact. Uh we have I want to say 100 something thousand in our tree mitigation fund, but I can't spend it because the trees are purchased out of operating and I'm not comfortable spending operating funds on that yet. It's just another kind of silly thing that we have to wrestle with. Um, we had spoke last meeting about working with the churches on the the styrofoam to-go boxes. Speak with Mr. Burns. I think we take a different tact and try to get them on the team and see if we can figure out a way to get them to work with us. I don't want to be the hammer and just go in and say we're going to, you know, write an order and find him for giving out this stuff. I'm not quite sure the way right way to phrase it, but I'm going try when I get back from leave, I'm going to see if I can schedule some time with the two churches that are, I think, the the big contributors to this trash issue that is going out. And if they have uh some skin in the game, I think maybe we'll have a better partnership. So, just want to take a different approach with that. And then uh golf clap is due for Mr. Nick Driver promoted today to deputy city clerk. [applause]

Very loud golf clap, but yes, that's all I have. Thank you. [laughter] Thank you, sir. City attorney reports, Mr. Burns. Uh, no. Good night. Merry Christmas to everybody. Fantastic. Happy Honda Days to you. That moves us to uh final comments and we start with Mr. Walker.

Yeah. Um, let's see. [clears throat] If if Mr. Browning will allow. Thank you for asking the request on the trash. That should be a good study feas there. If I could add on to it, I will. But if you had other intentions, I'll do my own. But um I know you mentioned the cities. Could you also um obviously add in the county. They do two trash pickups. We know along with that. Sure.

Um recycle. So add that on. Thank you. And then um the church that came up here, which I've looked it up real quick on the maps, it's not the one I was thinking, but I live nearby the church that was a church there on Hollywood. I got notification of the vacating of the rideway. Seen a lot of construction going on there. So that's exciting. Uh back behind, you know, a couple of blocks. It's corner of Elm Elm and Hollywood there. That was a church there. Do we know what's going in there business-wise?

Peach weekend. just admin office or something. Oh, dang it. I was hoping for something edible or drinkable. [laughter] Can I stop by and get coffee? Donuts. Okay. Um, that's all I had. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you, sir. Mr. Brown. Uh, yes. I would like to see if we can get that uh resolution I guess 2025-29 now. Or is it is that what it is that we change the rules and procedures

on the next agenda? I just feel like we have I mean that I sat out here while it was changed the last time. I feel like it's a new council that may want to see it ran differently. So if nothing changes, awesome. If something does, cool. Um and then also just for clarification on the trash question, just because just being up here since I mentioned it the first time, I received like 12 text messages. Why are you bringing that up? So, uh I mean we know that there's chatter about uh possible outsourcing that and [snorts] um I just feel like it's the fair thing to do to look internally cuz I'm assuming we haven't asked our own staff to do it yet. Um I just think it's the fair thing to do to ask them to see what they can provide because of the services that they already provide. That's fantastic. So that's why I have asked for them to bring that back

and that's all I merry Christmas. [clears throat] Merry Christmas to you, Miss Dear.

Uh yes, follow up on the trash pickup. Uh twice a week, are we going to increase our paying for twice a week pickup on our water bill? Uh I noticed as I shared with u the city manager uh more and more people are moving back home to save on money. Uh more and more people um seniors especially are moving in together um to save on money on rent and what have you. So there's more garbage per household. But then there's uh many of us that don't need twice a week pickup, garbage pickup. So my question to you um uh city manager uh Mr. Davis, are you going to increase our order bill on this trash pickup?

Just your worst. That's mine.

I thought so. So, you know, just taking a step back, I started in June and at least three of you asked me to look into this. I couldn't start it until November because we needed to close out the numbers. So once I had the numbers in my fat little hands, I put together a draft and um it's about 20 pages, right? Just as something to chew through and I've sent it to the sanitation team. What I've asked before tonight was prepare something saying this is what it cost us to keep it as is. This is what it cost us to bring a second pickup. This is what it would potentially if we put out to bid if that's the will of the council. But in there just so I didn't want staff freaking out that we're just going to outsource and thanks for coming. So there's going to be some protections in there for staff uh to include salary and vacation time and those sorts of things. So there's a strategy, but to answer your question, I I I don't know until the will of council says go forth and do whatever. So I can't give you a yes or no. Uh, it could go any number of different ways, right? So, if it's the will of the board to go out for a contract, it would I would request a five-year contract and at the end of that contract, the concern is, you know, there's there's there's a hustle in the trash game, right? Wayne Heiseno and the Dolphins. So, there's money to be made. I don't I want to protect the the one of the hustles I know of is the commercial just takes a beating to make up for the residential. So there's we may have to go back out to bid at that point in time. So I mean there's there's lots of things to navigate, but uh I did pull a public records request for Destin I think and I'll I'll try and get Crest and County and add that. I didn't I just pulled public records for Destin out of curiosity, but I can probably get the other two and we'll circle back. So not a good answer

to your question. Not a firm answer, but you're right. you three of your three of your colleagues will have to team up with you. Well, I have to talk with my colleagues. There you go. But only in the assumption only [laughter] the red only. Well, I'm I'm here talking to you here in discussion. That's what we're doing. Yeah. Mr. Mayor, can I add something to that?

Just for my ask is because I'm not one of those three people that reached out to him. I don't know. Is it are we just trying to get rid of a department? Are we trying to add a second day? We've not discussed anything about I have no idea. So, we'll find out when they present it and presumably hopefully lower than we'll know the answer if it's what what the wheel or what the want is out of this request. It's [clears throat] similar to the aftercare daycare, right? It's the conversation was are we competing with private sector? Could we potentially save money? Whatever. So, we'll look at it. [cough] The will of the board will. So, that that's we'll discuss it then.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. Uh, Mr. Cheetah, that all smells trashy to me. Stinks.

On top of the generic Merry Christmas, there just thank you um for all the delightful conversations we have in this room. Some good, some bad throughout the year. Kind of makes you reflect. We've had a lot of really good workshops over the years. We got another one coming up. We had a really great CRA meeting earlier. One of the most productive ones that I think we've had in two or three years. So, got a lot of a lot of cons still to navigate through, but we got a lot of pros. I live in a great community from the parade. Heard nothing but great things about Winter Wonderland. Heard nothing but great things about uh the new CRA meetings that you're doing, the getting out and meet and greeting with the, you know, city manager and and really meeting the community. Well, just hearing a lot of really good positive things. together some rocks to be thrown by a specific road or a specific boat. But in general, we are blessed to live in such a great area and I hope everybody has a safe and happy holidays and see you back in here in January ready to get some more productive work done.

Well said, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Yeah, real quick to jump into the trash conversation because everybody else had I run uh some of our businesses. We use our home as our office. it. Uh I grew up I guess in the county off be and we would get two trash pickups. So when I got one I was like this is not working. So just to throw an idea out there because we just we just pay for a second trash can. I know it's I don't know how much cheaper that would be than having to have another day where trucks go out but from a business standpoint I'm like and like you said some people don't want it. So why would we charge it? Is there a possible way to go to look into that and say we'll just grab that second trash can and it effectively works the same. Um, just throwing that out there since you guys brought that conversation up. As I was saying earlier, as far as like being on city council [snorts] being uh, you know, getting on in April, I'm in the water sports tourism industry. So, in the summer, I don't it's hard to get a hold of me. I I'm super busy. As I've come out of that, I've got to come to more events, which I've really appreciated. learned so much about our city, how it works. I've got some tenative updates with Chief Beige and Daniel to paying to go and tour those facilities. So, if there's a staff out there that uh thinks we would benefit by learning more about your department, call me. I'd love to learn more. Kind of really like to understand how it works because sometimes there's been a few times up here where I'm like, uh, I'm not sure exactly what's going on. I try to ask a lot of questions. So again, um, one of my first or second, one of the early meetings I had like I was googling things. I think I made a joke about it, but it's I mean I I feel like I can do a much better job for the city, for the people, for my neighbors, for my, you know, co-workers, people around me if I understand it. So, thank you guys. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. And I got my generic one, too.

Love it, man. Merry Christmas to you, Miss Brown. Uh I just wanted to um um thank the city um thank the you know my colleagues here on the dasis um obviously you know mayor Algra also for um any patience that you all have had with me too because this is a has been a you know u a learning process you know and I'm getting ready to wind down at the end of the year and go into a new year and so um hopefully um the things I've learned thus far I'm able to polish up a little bit on it and I could be you know u make a for the city of Fan Beach and the residents coming into the new year. And on the other hand, um wanted to just speak on as Bryce can say on the trashy issue. Well, I was not one of the the ones that inquired about it as well, but um I obviously, you know, I'm openminded enough to see whatever information that you can compile. But um me, I I I'm kind of like if it's not broke, don't don't try to fix it. You know, if it don't need, you know, the wheel squeaky wheel is is not squeaking anymore. doesn't need any more oil and you know but anything that's for the city uh and that's going to be a positive for the specifically for our employees I you know want to make sure that you know because I value the employees opinion obviously the same way the voter because that's you know I'm working for the constituents and so um just you know I I'm waiting to entertain whatever information that you can get. Thank you. And u merry Christmas and wonderful new year.

Thank you, ma'am. Merry Christmas to you. And I would just uh echo a lot of what everyone else has said up here. It's been a I think pretty productive uh year in 2025. And everyone that's just recently joined the board, I think, has done a fantastic job of uh not only learning, but being willing to learn and being willing to listen. And Mr. Davis, it's been great to have you aboard as well. Merry Christmas, happy new year, and everyone take care of yourselves and each other. We're journ