City Commission - Regular Meeting

Melissa, it says live. Are we live? We are live streaming, Vice Mayor. Okay. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the pre-aggenda meeting of April 24th, 2026. Um, we have a quorum. So, do you want do you do attendance, Melissa, for this? Yes, I do roll call for every meeting. Okay, go ahead. Mayor Betty Rush is out of town. Uh, Vice Mayor Mimi May here. Commissioner Sarah Maliga present. Commissioner Christopher McVoy here. Commissioner Anthony Segridge is also out of town. Okay, so with having three of five, we do have a quorum. Um good morning everybody.

Good morning. Happy Friday. Um before we forget um today from 11 to 2 is the volunteers breakfast at the casino. So um if we can any of us can make it over there that would be great. I will be there.

I will be in attendance. Um the agenda is heavy with um utility stuff as usually the last uh meeting is. So I would like to have um Director Liberty and Director uh Baker share anything that we need to know to help clarify their items so that we come in educated on Tuesday. So, I don't care which one of you guys goes first, Ed or Van. Um, Ed, you want to go? Okay, Van, you want to go? Oh, there's Ed. All right, Ed, you go first.

All right. I'm sorry. I I I have to submit I didn't hear your earlier comments. I was on the phone with one of my team members. So, uh, what is it you need to know? I'm sorry. No, I just said that because the Tuesday's meeting is heavy with uh utilities, I was going to give you and van the chance to share about your items now so that we facilitate the meeting on Tuesday a little quicker and we can ask some of our questions now. Okay. So, I'll just touch on a couple of items as a high level. You you'll hear again that night. I think uh one of the things that we like to talk about every month is how we're doing on the PCA. Okay.

Um we have some advanced information that the PCA has turned the corner. I said we we bent the curve. Um remember that we we had a declining PCA balance and we made an adjustment uh effective March 1 and that adjustment has helped. Uh we have, you know, bent the curve and we're headed in the correct direction. We've had a gain uh off the top of my head. I don't have a document in front of me uh over $200,000 gain to the positive.

We're still in a negative, but we've bent the curve. So what what to know about that? Why why did the curve bend? Uh two things happened was we raised the rate effective March one. So we started to get some revenues and we'll see more of that coming in in in this month of April. U the natural gas prices came down below what we forecasted. Excellent. Natural gas prices came down but the volume of energy that we sold jumped dramatically. I believe the increases in March were on the order of new order of magnitude about 9% over the prior year. So, we're running about 5% 4 and a half to 5% year-over-year in terms of energy send out to our customers.

Is that I'm sorry, is that new customers or is it um usage? It's that's total usage as uh as an as a utility. Okay. The total amount of energy that we sent out to our customers yearto date through the end of March increased in the range of four and a half to 5%. Uh but for March alone, it was an interesting jump. It jumped about 9%. That's it.

And uh that's reflective of the fact that we're adding new customers. New customer growth is running at about.9%. We budget 75. History shows us around 1% over a number of years, but we we're up about.9%. So growth is on track, but the jump in energy for that month was 9% year-over-year. So um so any idea why given that the the cold stretch was in January, if I remember right? It was. Yeah, it was. Good point. It was the end of January, first week of February was the coal stretch. Um, so presumably that would have shown up already, not in this round of billing, I would think, but I could be wrong.

No, that would that would No, that would show up in the March uh revenues. Um, but what we look at is customer counts um which are not driven by calendar necessarily, but also the energy that we brought into the system. M so that's that's that's for the actual month. The revenues for March will actually show up in April, right? So the increased energy use I I think is is it's more customers who may be using more energy than the customers they replaced. Um so as people That's interesting.

That that's speculation by the way. I don't have any data to prove that. So my assumption is as as a home turns over the new owners may not yet be acclimated to Florida weather. Maybe they're running air conditioning more than the previous owners. Uh maybe they're doing renovations and and putting in air conditioning for the entire home instead of just a few few rooms. Maybe they're heating their pools more. Um but we know we have more customers. A lot of our customer growth though is coming from new apartments and the new apartments tend to be very energy efficient. Uh they tend to have um 8ft ceilings, impact glass, modern appliances. uh they tend to run in the range of 800 to a,000 square feet many of these new apartments and uh and be relatively tight because they're they're brand new. So the new customers coming on my thinking is that those homes are much more energy efficient than the older homes that we have in our territory and maybe some of the older homes are being renovated and those owners are using more energy. That's speculation. we don't have the data, the granularity to get to get down to actually, you know, what what they did in each of these homes. So, we're watching that closely. So, the bottom line is on on the PCA, we sold more megawatt hours than we expected to at a lower price than we expected to in terms of rather at a lower cost. Meaning that gas prices came down, we sold more, and we had a nice gain. So, that we're headed in the right direction in the PCA. Uh, Storm Fund continues to grow. Um, we've brought a Sixth Avenue South substation came online on Wednesday.

Great.

No, nobody nobody felt it. Nobody knew it, but we have a brand new multi-million dollar substation at 6th Avenue South. Uh we got some pictures on Tuesday of the training that was taking place with uh with our line department and substation people uh in the building and uh it's now live flowing energy. Uh for those of you who are not aware that substation is the is the first of the next generation evolution of our thinking in that it's totally enclosed. All you see on the site is one building uh and the poles are around the perimeter and uh everything is enclosed in that building. And it actually has enough room inside it, not by design, but it just happens to be that that we could probably put six to eight cuts uh in there if we had to during a storm and the crews could ride out a storm right there in that building. Uh it has DC backup battery radios. Um it it has uh fiber optic communication and everything that's in there can be operated remotely um from outside the building if you have the proper equipment back at system operations to do that. So there's a lot of new safety features to it and a lot of improved reliability. um other things that are happening that we have. Um

let let's add I I don't mean to interrupt you, but I know we only have an hour and I Von has a lot of items just specifically for items on the agenda. Okay. I because we're going to get we're going to get your update on Tuesday. Just I I want to make sure if if there's anything that you need to clarify for us to make help us to make an intelligent decision on Tuesday.

Yep. big item on the agenda is the uh the directional bore for the conduits that we want to pull under the lagoon. Uh some people refer to as the inter coastal. The inter coastal is that but a portion of it, right? We're we're boring under the lagoon to replace the conduits, replace the conductors rather that go out to the beach. So the beach is served by what we call submarine cables or buried cables literally just laid in the mud. Uh we don't know exactly when. Some people think they go back to the 60s. Some people think they go back to the 70s or the 80s. But it's a long time. They operate at 4KB direct buried in the mud. Okay.

And we're afraid if we have a failure, we'll lose service to the beach. So, we've been underway with this project for a number of years. We have received all of the permits necessary to do the work. uh we have purchased a conductor and in this uh meeting we're asking you to approve the directional bore uh that will go under and we pull conduits and then we'll come back and then pull the conductors through those conduits and energize at 26 KV out to the beach. So key things that have not yet been done we're going to kick off this effort now is the coordination with the other city departments and obviously there'll be impacts the public on how this is going to happen. We know exactly where the bore pit is going to be on each side of the of the project. Meaning there'll be a bore pit in Bryant Park uh south of the boat ramps and the the boar exit or where we're actually pulled from is actually going to be up at the parking lot at the casino complex. So um we

upper parking lot or lower? Lower parking lot. Okay,

is my understanding. And so we need to work through the logistics of exactly what's going to happen. I don't want to do it during season. uh we want to do it outside of season, but we need to make sure that we coordinate and have good good discussion with leisure services and public works as to how much space we need, make sure that we avoid any impacts with activities that are known and planned to to occur in the park uh or in the parking lot so that we we stage this all properly. So, what'll happen is the conduit will be staged up at the uh the beach in that lower parking lot. the bore will will come up and then we'll pull the conduit from the beach back to the mainland and then stub everything up and cap it off and then at a later point we'll actually do the pulling of the cable through there. So

at one point there was talk of with this boring doing both a water line and a electric line not I don't think in the same conduit but I don't know adjacent or in a secondary conduit or something. Chris, Chris, Chris, let me stop you because I really do want to run this meeting with some sort of um organization and uh Sarah does have her hand up. I want to hear your question, but can you let Ed finish and then we'll ask the question? Fine. Thank you. Um Ed, go ahead and finish and then Sarah, you can ask yours since your hands up.

Yeah. So, um just wanted to assure everybody that all the permits are in hand. Army Corps of Engineers um if if if I had to give you a rough number, I think at its deepest point will be about 15 ft. 10 to 15 feet below uh the navigable channel. Uh so we're we're at a pretty low depth and uh again this has all been through the Army Corps of Engineers and all the relevant uh permitting authorities. So we we've checked those boxes, but the the next phase is not only just have the contract approved, but then we get into the work of figuring out exactly when we're going to do the work to minimize the impact. So, we'll need to get into a lot more detail yet on exactly how long it will take, how many parking spots, uh what week, whether it's going to be days or weeks uh of disruption and what that will look like. And um and and like as I said earlier, I do not want to do this during season and uh we need to make sure we avoid, for example, I would not want to do it during the Fourth of July either, right?

We would appreciate that any of those things. So, we need to work and work through these details yet, but that that's to come. Okay. Thanks, Ed. Um Sarah,

my only recommendation, thank you, um, Vice Mayor. My recommendation was that when we're doing this work, because, you know, there's still that rhetoric out there that the utilities department overcharges, doesn't do anything. I think this would be a great opportunity for us do like an educational um social media post with Rebecca just to show where the taxpayers money is going, that we do reinvest in our infrastructure. Um, so I don't know what that would um take, Mr. Perry, or how we could arrange that, but I think that we really have to start capturing these moments. So people see where their money is being spent because these things go underwire, right? Like they go underground, they're going underwater, they don't see the bright shiny object like they did the, you know, the water tower. Um, not anything against the water tower, but I think that this is just a really good opportunity for us to to showcase the the money we are spending and how we are improving things for the future of the city.

And I [laughter] I and I I agree and I think in all fairness, too, we want to make sure you all want to make sure too that this isn't used by somebody to say, "Hey, we're we're doing this because we're going to build a hotel at the beach or something." That's not that's not why this is being done. This was thought about long before those issues came up and it's really to reinforce the infrastructure that we have that supports that beach complex which is quite quite old um and and is in in question. So uh this has nothing to do with with you know preparing for any massive project at the beach. It's what we have to do to power the infrastructure that we have at the beach as it exists today. And that that should be part of the message I think. Yeah. Thank you. Uh Chris,

um just the same question I asked a minute ago that I recollect at one point there was discussion of running both a water line and a electric line. Is that still part of the plan or is that been changed?

That was changed at the request of the water department. Uh we did start the project with that in mind saying that if if they intended to bring water out there, now was the time to to do it. Uh we started the permitting process with that in mind. Subsequently, the water department, this was a number of directors ago, uh when we were, you know, the early stages of this, decided to uh back out and uh so that that's not in there right now. I I'll mention too that this does include um actually three uh condos will be inside the larger bore. One will be the active electric one. Another one will be a spare if we ever have to pull another wire through. And there'll be a smaller one for fiber optics. So we can pull fiber out there uh for our own facilities. But we would also have the capability uh should carriers like a Hotwire or Comcast or AT&T want to lease space from the city for that crossing, we will have space available to them. No such offer is on the table at the moment, but that's something that should it come forward that would that would come to the city commission to determine, but the time to put that in is now. So, it's it's a I'd hate to have to come back and say, "Well, we didn't put it in." You know, for the cost of having that in there, we'll we'll have it ready. We need that for ourselves.

Okay. I totally support, you know, if you're doing the boring, throw in a couple extra conduits so that you've got them if you need them. Thank you. Thanks, Chris. Okay. Um, Van has her hand up and I'm sure it's to address this question that you just brought up. Um, Van, if you could just wait one second. I don't see anything else on here. Um that is except for the stand which we do annually anyway. Do you have anything else Ed quickly that we have to discuss? We've got the boring, we've got stand, and everything else looks like it's either water or public works.

I I think those are the highlights and I don't want to take up a lot of your time but obviously available for one-on- ones if anybody else has a discussion ahead of time. But

thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. U Van, go ahead. Good morning. Um, so regarding the inter coastal crossing for water, we have we do have a fully permitted design set for that. But unless we are going to sell water to somebody on the barrier islands, we have absolutely no reason to do that. It's very cost ineffective. So basically, we've put that design on the shelf and should that situation ever change, we will be able to do it. Um but there's there's no reason to do it at this time. Um so to jump into my items on the consent agenda, we just have a change order for some extra time for our contractor on the 10th and 13th storm water improvements project that's on the golf course. Um one of the key pieces of equipment for that project had a super long lead time. So we just know that the contractor is going to need it a little bit longer just for delivery. Um, our new business items, we have a fuel tank for the master pump station. This is really important for the backup generator. So, if power ever goes out, the master pump station service would be uninterrupted. Um, and then I believe the remaining items, the the grants and budget amendment are just so that we can receive revenue from those funding sources that we got grants for. Okay. Does anybody have any questions for Von?

Excellent. Thank you. Um um Jamie, are you there? Yes, ma'am. Hi. Good morning. Um we have some paper lady stuff. Anything that you need us to talk about there? Uh no, those three task orders are pretty straightforward. Um we're just continuing on uh correcting some infrastructure issues that we that we know we have. Okay, that sounds good. Can you

can you actually address um I have a I have questions from uh different residents that are asking about you know when will this alley be paved, when will my street be paved? Can you just share a little bit about the cameras on the um on the public works vehicles right now and how that works and the piece and the concrete index just briefly so that the public can hear about that? Uh yeah, part of the uh budget this year was uh capital improvement project where a company called RMT. Um I know Delray has utilized them uh for the past couple years, but we're going through a different uh method for collecting all of our pavement condition indexes. The last time it was done was about 10 years ago was like right before the four-year infrastructure bond. So, we now are collecting all of the data and updating our entire roadway network as far as the PCIs, paving condition index, and that's going to roll into our overall uh new infrastructure master plan for uh roadways. Once we get all this data, we'll be coordinating with with Vaughn and utilities to see what their program is moving forward so we can start putting projects together just like we did for the Bond program.

Okay, so the cameras are on the trucks. This is the cool part. We put them on multiple uh our heavy equipment for solid waste because they canvas pretty much every single corner of the city doing trash collection. And we also have one added to our project manager vehicle um in the white fleet. So any of those areas we don't pick up, we can actually go drive those and pick up all that data. I I love that. I love that it's so efficient. Um Commissioner Maliga,

thank you, Vice Mayor. Um, I also wanted to state um for the record that the item that's under new business K is in partnership with the city of um Lakew Worth Beach CRA. Um that item is actually going to be on they were supposed to have it on their agenda this past month, but they didn't have a meeting. Um, so it'll be on the meeting next month for them to approve, but it is a project on item K, the paving of South D Street from Third Avenue South to 6th Avenue South and North D from Newern 3. That is in conjunction with the CRA and them helping fund that. Thank you for that. That's important.

The board has not approved it yet. Um, I have encouraged residents in Royal Point Sienna um to write letters and comments, public comments of support. Awesome. Um, I think that covers all of the items on the agenda. Um, I see Jaime's hand up and then Troy, you'll be after that for an update and then we'll go to, uh, Sarah and Chris. Go ahead, J.

The other thing I did want to mention, um, that has come up for quite a while now. If you didn't see it on there, uh, part of one of those task orders is actually removing the roundabout at, or if you want to call it that, at a street and 2nd Avenue North. That little that little tiny round that everyone drives over um because some people can't make it around it. Uh so that will finally be removed. And that's the item. Let's see. Oh, I see it. Okay. So, that's new item J.

Yep. Um and then oh uh whoever would be I think it would be Troy or or Jamie as um recent city manager the restrictive covenant for for the children. Yes I can you just explain that a little bit and then we'll go from there and then Chris I see your your hand.

Yes. Um this is work done between um city manager's office and legal uh for the children is requesting a restrictive covenant. They're applying for a grant uh a million dollar grant with the state division of arts and culture and as but as part of that grant application the city has to agree that during the period of the grant I think it's 10 years that building their portion of has to remain a cultural center. So if we approve it then any portion of you know we can't do anything for 10 years anything different than what they're applying for. So it's basically a grant between uh it's a c like I said a c the cultural center it would be designated as cultural center and for that they'll be eligible to apply for the $1 million grant.

Perfect. Thank you. Actually they've already applied. I didn't mean but they've already applied. They did receive the award. This is just a step for them to be able to get the funds. Okay. Thank you. Um, uh, Troy, do you have any other city manager stuff you want to hit with hit us with? Now,

I do have two things. Uh, just a reminder, workshop on May 7th. Uh during the workshop, we're going to be talking about uh code code issues and they're going to give a brief overview of the code compliance process and the commission have an opportunity to discuss issues that you that you've experienced in the community so we can try to come to some type of resolution or a pathway of how we're going to proceed forward with addressing, you know, code matters that come up and and how we want to, you know, make the city a more businessfriendly city. So, you have opportunity to discuss those issues. And then what I did need to get some input. Are we still trying to find a date for the transition meeting for? No.

Okay. So, I can take that off. Uh, we are still looking at dates. I think commission said a couple weeks ago that they want to talk about the annex building. Is that still a special meeting you guys wanted to uh schedule? Uh, what do you guys think? I'm I'm okay with holding off on that, but um I mean, we're getting the roof done and we don't have funding for anything else, so I don't know what we would actually talk about. I think that Oh, my hand's up, but I'll wait. No, you're fine. Go ahead. Um, I think that this is a good opportunity for us to do to at least give staff direction to do an ITN for people to bring some kind of ideas. Maybe that'll get our wheels turning. But that's just my thoughts.

Yeah, I thought we had actually already done that. So, if we haven't, for sure, we should do that. Chris, what do you think about with the annex building? I think we should decide as a commission and as a community what kinds of things do we want to have in there so we're not just asking randomly and wide open and entertaining something that the community would not be happy about. Um so I would say we ought to figure out what is our range of of uses taking into account what the community would like.

Okay. So you it sounds to me like both of you would like to have this meeting so that we can discuss what what we well what the community specifically and through us what we might want to see there. I I think having starting with that meeting would be the correct way to start. Okay. So yes Mr. Perry we would like that meeting. So so let me clarify. Are you asking for a special meeting workshop or just a regular

Well, special meeting so that the uh community can participate and and for that one I would definitely want it to be um not just posted on the website but also pushed social media so that we can get the feedback we need because um if people don't know that that's what we're talking about um we might not get the information that we want. Um and I don't know and we might be able to talk about it at that meeting. I don't know um what kind of a community information push we want meaning do we want to survey do we want to ask the community do we want to you know h how how in-depth do we want to go

you know do we need a sharet what what do we need to get the community input but I think to start setting this meeting and then also um doing some um some information to to draw people into this meeting as opposed to saying, "Oh, well, we had this meeting and we posted it and you didn't know." So, we want to make sure that people do know that this is this is what we're talking about and this and yes, we absolutely want to hear from them.

Okay. So, um Miss Smith will secure some dates from from the commission, confirm some dates for the commission and also be on the lookout. I think there's another date we're going to be looking for. The finance department needs a a workshop also to talk about some finance issues prior to us starting our budget session. So, those are the two meetings that I know we have to get in. Okay. So, a pre a pre-budget meeting. Yes. Okay. That's good. Good point. Okay. That's all I have for right now. Okay. Um I can't remember if Sarah Chris with their hand up first. Um why don't you go ahead Chris and then Sarah you can go when he's done. If Sarah has a short one, why don't she go ahead because I've got several.

I do I do have short one. I'm a little concerned on this stop code situation. Um during the cleanup that I participated with with staff, um I came upon a homeless encampment on um private property, commercial property that is um unfortunately supposed to be secured and closed on Lake Avenue. An individual had broken into the hurricane slider doors that protect the big entrance door and was camping out and sleeping in there. I had asked him if he needed homeless services. He said, "No, I've already been through all that." Um, and unfortunately because of this stop code has an understanding that this is not a life safety issue and I I am not in agreeance with that. Um, trespassing board and secures these things need to be addressed and we can't just put them on the shelf for two weeks until we have a workshop. So, I think that it's important that we have very clear clear direction um for staff to know what to enforce and what not to enforce. Things like that to me are life safety issues. This person's living in an enclosure where there's no air condition, no circulation of of oxygen, and the property owner doesn't even know they're there

and there's no toiletry to no. I mean, they're literally sleeping in the entranceway with the doors closed. Um, and and again, I just think that there needs to be clarification either from legal or from from the city manager's office on what life safety issues are. Thank you. Um, uh, Mr. Perry, when you met with the code officers, did you guys clarify what the definition of life safety is?

Well, during my meeting with the uh the code commission, the code officers, we talked about the the various issues that they face as code enforcement officers out in the field and some of the things that they believe that they could do to try to, you know, make this make a more businessfriendly approach with, you know, while they're out trying to, you know, uh, perform their jobs. uh they had some ideas on what we should be doing, but the directive that the commissioner Mlea is referring to is one that was put out by the manager's office to try to put a hold on everything that's going on and the com, you know, try to stop the bleeding a little bit because until we can get some clarification exactly what's going on. So, we can go back and revisit that policy. Um, like I said, we were just trying to take manager's office was trying to take some type of action to try to slow down the complaint so we can get a grip on it until we can at least sit and talk to the commission about how they wanted to proceed. But we can go back and take a look at that policy and get with legal maybe make some changes to it.

Yeah, I think that, you know, if we're talking about lawb breaking that also is a sheriff issue, so we really shouldn't be um getting in the way of that. Elizabeth, I see your hand. Go ahead. Good morning. Yeah, I just wanted to let you all know that we have been working with code to clarify uh repeatedly [clears throat] as questions arise what is life, health, safety and should be addressed now and what is not and can wait. So that's an ongoing process as issues come up. I had not heard about this one. So would the situation that um Commissioner Malika just brought up be considered life safety in your opinion? Yes.

Okay, agreed. Um, all right. Uh, Sarah, do you have anything else? No, ma'am. Okay, Christopher, go ahead. Uh, sorry, my phone was I was messing with it to keep the power going. Um, yeah, I have a couple things. Would it make sense to move on the agenda the um item for for the children to earlier on since I don't know whether the whether a significant number of people would want to come from the children? I was going to ask that Chris the day of the meeting. Yeah, I think if if they show up for sure I mean there is no reason to make that be the last item. Well what what I'd like to say you know my madam chair

go ahead. What I like to say is I did when I emailed uh Miss Reggie and for the children, I did let them know that their agenda item is closer to the end. So, if you're going to change it, please let me know so I can let them, hey, look, it's been moved up a little bit. So, you might want to try to get here at or around six o'clock. But, I did let them know where the item was located on the agenda. So, can can we can we as a commission right now during this meeting move it or no? Uh, I believe so, but I I'll I'll let the uh the clerk, madame clerk, answer that question. Um, Miss Clerk, can we move that to the um new business a so we can accommodate them?

We can reorder it and send it out. Is that okay with you, Chris and Sarah? Okay, let's do that. Okay. And I I'll notify them that it's been moved, too. You Okay, you're going to let Miss Reggie know or do you want me to do so? I can send an email. I want I can send an email clarifier. Yes. Awesome. Thank you. All right. Good idea, Chris. What's number two?

Uh number two is a little bit of an overall concern on finances and somewhat relevant to the upcoming budget discussions. But um in the recent election there was a lot of discussion that the city is is in difficult financial straits and and potentially in worsecoming ones depending on what comes out of Tallahassee. Legitimate concerns. At the same time, we are taking on a $10 million taxpayer funded expense for a garage. We have, and I can't remember exact quantity, but I believe it's somewhere at a half million for a Ziscovich study at the beach, which we've said we aren't going to do major things. Um, and we've locked ourselves into one of the highest city manager rates um around. I I I'm having trouble reconciling. On the one hand, comm some commissioners saying that we have all sorts of financial difficulties and on the other we're doing a lot of things that seem like we have a choice to not do those expenses. Um we also have a W I believe it's WGI but a parking um plan and I which is another expense of 100,000 or so. Um, and I I have a separate question on that one, but um I I'm just curious how those things reconcile and I don't know if anybody wants to comment, but it it it concerns me.

Okay. Thank you. Number three. Um, yes, we we did as a commission uh initiate a paid parking plan study a while back and then and I want to say it was with WGI but I could be wrong about that. um but with a consultant and then when the consultant reported in uh everybody got well some people got cold feet and and said oh no that we don't want a paid parking plan. What is the status of that and when are we bringing it back for the public and us to figure out what we're doing there?

Um Mr. Perry or Mr. Brown, do you have a answer for Mr. McFoy? Um Madam Chair. Oh, as as as you recall during the during the commission meeting, um the commission had some issues and wanted to have staff go back and take a look at it. Um the company came in, they met with each commissioner and from that they're taking a uh taking a look at all the uh issues and the uh ideas that the commissioner had and they're placing putting in a report. I don't have an exact date when that report is going to be completed, but what I will do is I'll get with the uh leisure services and find out when exactly that'll be completed and we'll be able to bring it back to the commission.

Okay. Uh Jamie, hold on one sec. Chris Jamie, uh y'all confirm, but I believe uh and try off I believe we set those up the updates for those on the one-on- ones for next week's. Um I'm checking now. Yeah, it looks like we have uh part of the one-on-one's next week. We have a uh to go over that scope based on the direction was given at that last meeting. So when we because we've met with I believe it's Mr. Sans from WGI. Correct.

So we did after Chris if you recall after that meeting when he brought in his first plan and we were not so happy with that. Um we did then go back and meet with him in one-on- ones. So Jamie, are you saying that he's ready to discuss um his new plan? Correct. I just went and checked my calendar. So for each of the one-on- ones next week, we actually have uh like a half an hour uh blocked out of each one of your meetings to actually discuss the updated scope of work based on the direction given at that last meeting.

So So then Chris, that'll allow us to share our our in our one-on ones. Um because I don't I think that it was more in my opinion I believe that they were coming at it towards a parking management plan as opposed to paid parking. It and at least for me I don't see paid parking as part of our immediate future in any way, shape or form. We're not there. We're not ready. So I hear you and I think that you're not the only one saying that we don't want paid parking right now. Um, so let's go into these meetings and let's share on our one-on-one so that we don't do it on Facebook and then we can go ahead and talk about it in in the sunshine at our next meeting or after the um report comes back. Does that work for you?

Yeah, I think it works definitely the latter part that you mentioned that this needs to come back to a public meeting so the public knows what we're doing on it. And um I would point out that when we started the contract, there was a majority of the commission that asked them to design paid parking downtown. So, um I guess we're changing our opinion on it, which is fine. Uh I was not happy with it from the get-go. Um I I would note that at the I'm I'm told that at the Monday meeting a week or so ago I when I was out of town um that Brent Whitfield, our representative on some of this stuff and on the garage indicated that the commission has said that they do not want paid parking. Um in that case, if if that's true, we should probably state that clearly and publicly. Um, but then I have a question. This $10 million or maybe more garage is funded entirely out of taxpayer funding. I have never seen, although I've asked for a plan on how we are financing the operations of it because, you know, certainly one of the thoughts was, well, we'll make street parking paid and then people will use the garage and that will help pay for the garage uh operations and maintenance. Okay, let me let me just stop let me just stop you right there. Okay. Um, those questions have been answered. So, when you go to your one-on-one, um, maybe ask because there is a five-year plan of paying for the garage. Now, I do hear you talking about the maintenance. So, the everyday um how to take care of the garage every day, and I think that that that does still need to be addressed, but as far as paying for the garage being built itself, that that has already been addressed. So, if you need more clarification on that, you can talk about that in your one-on-one. And if if

uh the city manager's office thinks that it needs to be clarified to all of us, they can bring that forward. Um I'm satisfied with the plan. Um so, let's I see Miss Mlega. Let's let her speak on this and then we'll come back and see if you have one more item. Go ahead, Miss Malaga.

Um thank you, Vice Mayor. So, you know, I I I hear what everyone's saying. The only way the parking garage is going to work is if there's paid parking downtown. So although we're not rolling out or talking about putting out paid parking now, no one's going to park in a garage if they can park on the streets for free. So I hate to say this, but we're all going to have to wrap around our heads the fact that there is going to have to be some kind of paid parking implemented 2 or 3 years from now when the garage is finalized. So this is a part of a bigger parking plan. It's supposed to be talking about residential decal parking for the side streets so people don't park on the side streets and and we've gone through this detail over detail every time we've had this meeting. So paid parking is not coming tomorrow. But for this garage to work and the city to be able to move forward, there will be a paid parking program that's going to have to be unfortunately swallowed by all of us. You know, we are residents as well. I own, you know, a business downtown and this is something that is part of the bigger plan because otherwise no one's going to pay to park in that garage. Thank you. Thank you. So, hold on Chris. Um, again, let's let's let's move on from this discussion right now because these are the things that we are going to be talking about with WGI. So, clearly all three of us have a different idea of what what um the parking management plan looks like or will look like. So, let's hold off before we get into a conversation where we don't have the rest of our colleagues here and we are not in the sun. Well, I mean, we're in the sunshine, but we're not in the chambers. So, um I appreciate both of you having, you know, your opinion set, and that's good. But let's let's move on to a new topic. Um Chris, you have you said you had several. You've done three. Do you have another?

Uh I do have another, but um with all due respect, uh part of the reason of pre-aggenda meetings is for us to be able to speak and speak in the sunshine on issues that are of relevance to the city. Um, so with all due respect, the issue of whether we are going to have paid parking, which as Commissioner Mlega clearly states is very much tied to the garage, and the garage is in the decision-making stage. The community met uh a week ago, Monday, or whenever it was recently, and my understanding is there was overwhelming opposition to it. So, it needs to be clear to the public what is the picture? How is this being financed? Not not the initial capital, but that's relevant too, but also the operations and maintenance and how does that tied to paid parking. Those are things that need to be clear and black and white for the public so that they can weigh in on it. So, yes, that's all I need to say on that. My we are coming up on budget and uh what I would like to us I'd like consensus from my colleagues is I want the 30,000 view the big picture view um as we go into the budget and that 30,000 view a key piece of it is how does our millillage rate compare to communities around us that are reasonably comparable terrible and somebody else can decide what's reasonable. Um, how does our millage rate compare and how do our actual tax bills compare? Because the the the bill that you get as as we all know I think is partly the millage rate and partly the assessed value of the house. Um, so really both are relevant the millage rate and what you actually are

paying. How do those compare to around us? And then a a also of the same communities a comparison and it's going to be qualitative and I don't know how you do it but finance people are clever of level of service. So basically so that we as a community can look at ourselves and say what do we charge people for taxes and what do we provide for services and how do we compare on both of those to our surrounding communities. so that as we as a commission who have to make the budget decisions have that information available to us as we're going into it. That's my I would I'm looking for consensus from my colleagues to ask finance to make that part of the I think there's a pre-budget meeting or something rather make that uh information available to us and to the community.

Can you clarify what you were saying with the 30,000 something? I was saying I'm looking for information at the 30,000 foot view where you step back and say all right oh like a bird's eye view or from a plane like over I didn't understand the idiom sorry yeah sorry I did I probably wasn't very clear but that's I was I thought you were talking about population I didn't know what it was okay sorry for the confusion

no okay all right so you're looking to f you're looking to ask us to give consensus for staff to give us kind of a overall all umbrella view of what is our millage rate? What does that how much does that um how much money comes in from based on that millage rate? What is the millage rate compared to surrounding communities? Yes. And what are the services that we provide for that millage rate compared to other communities

compared to other communities? Okay. Uh two question. recognize that the level of service comparison is I I doubt there is data just on the shelf for that. So um any qualitative approach to to try to compare what what people get in other communities and and just to clarify yes the comparison with other community on the millage rate but also a comparison of actual tax bill based on the the the product of millage rate and and assessed value some sort of average number for that. Okay, we typically pay 2,000 on average for for tax bill. Um, other communities pay 2,500 or

well, it's going to be it's going to I don't know. It's going to be based on the assessed value of the home and we have a millage rate of I believe what is it.549. So there's a mathematical calculation on that and then that's what people pay. So depending on the assessed value of your home, you're going to pay a different amount. Are you saying are you say hold on let me finish my sentence. Are you asking for if I have the same assessed value of a home in Lakew Worth Beach versus Wellington? Say we have a $500,000 home in both of those areas. What would the average tax bill be for each of those homes? No. Okay. Then I'm I don't understand. That's a comparison of the millage rates and we could we that's easy. We already know what those are.

Okay. Then I don't understand what you're asking for. What I'm asking for is average tax bill here versus in some other city. So that's and you're completely correct. Uh it's both the millage rate that we have a choice on and the assessed value which we as a city don't have any choice on. Um but it's an empirical fact. What what you know when you look at Lakeworth your your typical tax bill average is going to be X. When you look at Wellington, your typical tax bill is going to be what you know some why and how does that compare to the same comparison those two locations and I wouldn't do Wellington but some more comparable place and level of service. So basically what does it cost in terms of taxes living here on average and what do we get in terms of level of service on average for us and surrounding communities. So that as we think about our budget, we have that as our con our our context for it.

Okay. Sarah, so I mean level of service is garbage, water, electric, parks, wreck. I mean how how detailed do you expect staff to go into this? We we all know what our services are that we that we supply. level of service, some sort of assessment of, hey, if you live in Green Acres or you live in Palm Springs or you live in Lantana or you live in West Palm, um, you're likely to get these kinds of services. Maybe break it down. I'm I'm not looking to make a ton of work, although I know

that's what I'm confused about. Like, we have a bulk day every single month for every district. Like that's what you and people don't have to pay for that and their garbage is picked up twice and we have vegetation and that's what you want from public works is how many times we pick up garbage and versus Lantana versus Yeah. I don't understand what you want.

Okay. Maybe I'm doing a very crappy job of explaining it. That's quite possible. Um, but what I'm thinking of is when you live in a community, you get certain benefits from government, from your local municipal government, whatever they are. Some communities you get, you know, who knows what. Other communities, you get something different. I recognize that because it's different, it's not easy to do this comparison. And so I'm saying be creative, be qualitative, do it however you think you can do it, but some sense of level of service in the various places and what those other communities are paying to get that level of service so that we understand where we are and also why because we frequently hear that yeah our millage rate is high but our assessed values are low. That's why I want to move it to also looking at the actual average tax bills so that you take that aspect out of it. If you do average tax bills, you also are taking into account all the homestead stuff that has an influence and so on. Let's have those numbers so that we understand where we are relative to our other surrounding communities.

Okay, Mr. Perry.

Yes, m Vice Mayor. If if you like if you uh depending on the action taken by the commission if you like we can get together with uh commissioner for next week at this oneonone I bring finance in and maybe we can fine-tune exactly what he's looking for and provide that template to the commission based on what uh commissioner for is actually looking for and we'll have finance in it that way we get a better understanding and create something that we can bring back to the commission and say this is what you know what we'll be going forward researching that's just our suggestion I I like that suggestion because with all due respect, Mr. McFoy, I don't understand what you're trying to get at. Um, and I would like to. So, if you spend time with finance and they let you know what they can and cannot provide um and and speak with the city manager's office, I'd be more than willing to discuss it. I'm just a little bit confused right now.

Okay. I'm confusing sometimes. You are. You are. But, you know, we love you anyway. Um, all right. So, that's all I got. Okay. Great. We are at about 5 minutes to 10. Um the what we don't we don't have any leisure services on here I don't think. Um but so this weekend what do we have going on in the city besides this volunteer appreciation? Do we have anything else? Yes, the walk. We have the victim's walk tomorrow morning. Oh that's Oh, thank you for reminding that. So go ahead and share a little bit about that Sarah because I I can't be there but I want everyone else to be.

Um so to um on at Bryant Park tomorrow morning registration is free. You can register at 8:00 or you can pre-register by going to eark at s as in sam as in apple.org um and register for the um victim's crime walk which is put on by the Palm Beach County's um state attorney's office. Miss Alexia Cox, last year um when she was sworn in, she chose Lakew Worth Beach to host this. And we're very honored that we that she chooses Lakew Worth Beach to shine um a light on victims and and let them have a voice and be seen. So that's tomorrow. Um we start walking at 8:30. It's usually done by 10:30, 11. Um and it's just a stroll. It's nothing. There's it's not ex, you know, over overex exercising. It's a beautiful walk. You'll get to see the new trees planted around Bryant Park. And also um I had sent you all an invitation to Rolo's annual picnic for the Osborne community, Lake Osborne community. That is on Sunday at 4:00. Please bring something um to share and and meet with the community. And that's all I have.

Okay. And I just wanted to um update the public on the issue. We there was a a complaint, not a complaint, but a comment that there was quite a few um trucks and trailers at the boat ramp last weekend and um first of all, we love the fact that they are using the boat ramp because that does bring in revenue. Um there was an overabundance of of cars that week weekend because there was an event and at Peanut Island called Flotilla. So there was a lot more people trying to get on the water and get up to that event. Next weekend is Bokeabash. So there's probably going to be the same amount of attention being brought to any of the boat ramps along the coast. Um we have been assured by parking that they will be out there and they will be making sure that the trucks and and their trailers and the boat trailers are all being parked in the correct location and that they are not spilling over into the um neighborhood without being ticketed. So, um, thank you for the resident that brought that to our attention. So, we're good on that. And, um, if Chris, you know, your hand's still up.

Oh. Uh, [clears throat] it I'll lower it. I was just going to say I I love the walk tomorrow. I don't think I can make it. If I can, I'll be there, but I don't think I can. So, but it's it's a great thing. I've done it before. And make it if you can. Okay. Thank you. And wish me luck tomorrow when I go put on 80 gear, 80 pounds of fireman's gear and climb up and repel down a wall. You're not repelling down a wall and you're not going to die. It's not July. You'll be okay. You got this. You got this. Oh, I'm really excited. I I am excited. I'm scared, but I'm Get pictures.

I will. I will get I will get pictures. Jeff's coming with so he can take pictures. Um, okay. Unless we have anything else, I think we can probably wrap up our meeting. Thank you everybody for being here and sharing.