Audit Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today's meeting of the Hideaway Beach Tax District Board. I'm calling the meeting to order. And, Tara, could you call the roll, please?

Member Barto?

Present.

Member Zinken?

Here.

Vice chair DeLaughter?

Here.

Member Ramirez?

Here.

Chair Ryan?

Here. K. We'll do the pledge of allegiance. 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. Okay. Everyone should have a copy of today's agenda. Do I have any corrections or changes to today's agenda?

Madam Chair, David Tolsys. Just want to say good afternoon, everybody. I'm online.

Great. Hi, David. Thank you for joining us.

Good to see you. Take care.

I'll be

here. Okay. Great. We don't have any changes to the agenda. Can I have a motion to approve the agenda as it is?

So moved. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Motion passes unanimously. Moving on to the minutes. We have the minutes from our 12/18/2025 meeting. Does anyone have any changes to the minutes as presented?

I move that we accept the motion.

I'll second it.

Okay. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Okay. Motion passes unanimously. Right. Now we're gonna turn to old business. And the first item is the notice of intent for the Hideaway South Point Culvert. And that is Mohamed Debiz, Thomas Dunham Moore, and Tom Ryan, Hideaway Beach Association.

Good afternoon. And for the record, Mohamed Elis. I think we have an item in the agenda that has the sorry, the plans are not on the agenda, but the we have the draft permit

or the intent to issue.

We did put the advertisement in the newspaper. And I think it's once we get the affidavit from the newspaper, we'll submit it to the state and then they'll issue the final permit. And the item in front of you today is basically to coordinate with the association and appreciate that Tom is here today. So he can tell us what the association plan for moving forward with construction. And as you are the permit or the city of the permit order under the tax district, we're responsible for the environmental permit conditions and making sure that we meet the compliance when we do construction.

So we'll coordinate with Tom and I'll leave it for Tom to fill us in on what the association is.

Good afternoon, everyone. Tom Ryan for the record. Right now, it is in the long term plans for hurricane repair with Hideaway. No set date on anything. We do have to bring this back to South Florida also for permitting because it goes to our master association. We have not started that process as we just received our permit for the golf course work. So we're kind of it's on the I know it's with the board now for Long Range Planning. I just don't know exactly dates on when that's taking place. But it should be shortly for them to discuss and put it on their their list of projects.

And how long does it take for the permitting with South Florida that you mentioned?

It should only take probably it'd be a minor modification, so I would say three to six months.

Okay.

Because it's basically just making sure it doesn't change flow rates out to the from our master system, which it shouldn't. So should not be a long process with them.

Okay. If you had to guess, you're looking at a year out or

I would say probably by the time it goes through permitting, goes through the board agenda, I would say probably would be after turtle season next year is what I would guess.

Okay. So that so that you're looking at the 2026?

Mhmm.

Okay. Kind of timing.

Timing ish. 2020. Yep.

Or 2027?

Yes.

2027. Okay. Okay. Well, that that actually might time well if we do beach renourishment on Hideaway Beach in that same time frame. We would have, you know, sand there that, you know, would help to make sure the beach is in excellent condition when all the work is completed.

Okay. Okay. And just as a reminder, our attorney had drafted that agreement between the city and the district and the association. So we just gotta keep that on the back burner that once we have a date that we wanna proceed to work toward to do this work, we have to come to final agreement on that. And I know that had some dates and things in it, that makes you not wanna do it until you know the timing of what you wanna do.

So that's fine, but I just wanna make sure we remember that we have to have that agreement in place before any work can proceed. Right. So and this is an association project with responsibility for the engineering and construction and maintenance of of this culvert. But we've assisted in providing the the permitting since we care about the health of the beach in that location. Yes. So okay. Does the board have any questions for Tom?

Yes. There are a lot of people who are concerned about putting the sand on the golf course and raising the golf course as to where the water is going go. Now, water goes on the golf course. They may close the course for a couple days, but it's not a big deal to close the course for a couple days. It's a really big deal if it causes home flooding in any places and I wanna make sure that we're we're we're engineering it, looking at it as so that if if something goes wrong or if something's not right with engineering that we don't have somebody's house flooded.

Yeah. No. That's why it has to go through the permit with South Florida to make sure it doesn't restrict flows. Our engineer that did that's working on the golf course is also engineering this with Mohammed. So there's no issues with that.

Okay. When you say restricting flows, are we going to pump any water out there? No. Flows?

No. It's all gravity fed. There's going be two pipes set up. One is going to be permanently closed so that if we do get some kind of winter storm that one pipe will be permanently closed, we can open that up in case that does get clogged. We'll have it on our annual maintenance program to clean out those pipes every May usually is when we do it or more if needed.

Okay. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you very much. All right. The next item on the agenda is the draft management plan, Member Ramirez and Mohamed Abiz.

We've been looking a more regional approach? To our coastal protection and erosion control and looking to encompass working with the local communities, local stakeholders, and local governments to streamline our processes and possibly do information sharing and cost sharing. And Mohamed and I don't know, is

Sophie here today because she was working with

I'm working with Sophie at my office on the management plan. And this management plan, we discussed the elements of it with your Board last year. We've also had discussion with Cartier County. And then now we're on a stage where we have a working draft that is basically open for any feedback from your Board. And when the city takes any decisions and how to pursue the navigation improvement and the integration of the expansion of the Boro area as part of our permit, when that becomes an action item, I think that requires more updates.

So the way I see this management plan is like is a living document. We have a list in the plan, a list of all the active permits in the area and recommended coordination between the city and the county as well as the permitting agencies in managing different tasks and making sure that practically the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. So when there are activities in the area, it's all beneficial to everyone, and we've discussed those various elements. The only outstanding item is the item that the Waterway Committee recommended to your Board and the city would bring to the county as item for the management of Capri Pass entrance. So basically the first draft of that's why the cover says draft version one.

I would expect there will be a lot of different revisions. And before we engage with the county, we just need directions from you as well as from the city and how we will move forward with the elements of the navigation improvements as part of the plan. Okay.

Are you planning to make any changes to this at this point? Are you still seeking feedback or?

I think at this point, as I said, the item that is of need of clarification is how are we proceeding. And to my understanding, the city is going to reach out to the county for TDC funding for the effort to permit the channel. That's my understanding and I don't know where we are with

this. Okay.

Well, I can I'll get with you offline with my feedback. I think there's a couple of sections that need further explanation as well as some sections where the language isn't clear, at least to the layman anyways. So I think they do some work on that. But I understand what you're saying relative to the navigation channel. We need to see when the Water Waste Committee brings that forward to the city council.

So just to clarify, what we need out of this, this will be a backup document. The main management plan will be a few page summary of what the management plan has and then more or less like an administrative and legal document that says who are the parties of this agreement and whereas every action to be taken, who's responsible for it And then the backup for that will be this document or the management plan. And it's similar to any strategic plan or any management plan where you would have allocation of responsibilities and why we're doing what we're doing and how it's going to get done in the future. And that would be something that will be under agreement between the city and the county. And then one step further would be to get a beach management agreement with the state that will include the coastal management of Marco Island that would eventually bring in the state as part of a three way agreement, which will be a very good asset to have for not just additional funding opportunities, but also for regional coordination between different entities within a littoral system or a littoral cell, which is Marco Island.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

I have a question. Do you

think it maybe I don't know if it's at this point to the next step that the possible projects that we have or that we want to include in this regional plan that we would list them or start a, I don't know, a process of looking a little bit more in the future or what we have on hand.

A beach management agreement is basically the gold standard that the state would like to see in a lot of literal cells. And I believe to my understanding, the only living example is the town of Palm Beach, where they have the entire island is in an agreement between the state, the county and the town. And in those, they list all the projects under the plan. And then the issuance of permits and the action plan become a lot more simpler because it's already defined and permitted under the management plan. And that, again, as I said earlier, also make the entities that are within the agreement eligible for additional funding sources through the state.

So when we're done with our management agreement with the county and we know who's responsible for what, we engage we, meaning the city of Marco, engaged with the state and the county in trying to establish a formal beach management agreement for all of Marco Island from Kexampas Pass took a pre pass. That would be the ultimate answer. Yes.

You.

It's just not as simple as yeah.

Simple. And that's why

I just don't know. Well,

Timing of that. That's all. Because I did look at the Palm Beach agreement, and they do list specific projects. And I don't know at what time frame those projects were put in black and white.

So for the Town Of Palm Beach, for example, they have three major projects, three areas where they do major beach nourishments and one area where they do inlet bypassing. And anything related to those is basically instead of issuing a permit or a notice to proceed, it is becomes a more streamlined process since it's already reviewed and authorized the agreement with the state. They still have to go through the federal permits for each individual project, but the state process becomes a lot more streamlined.

Okay.

I I could ask the question, but I'm gonna stay out of it. I I'm somewhat confused. Okay? We're still talking Hideaway Beach and we're talking Palm Beach agreements with different entities, but the Hideaway Beach people are paying for the initial start of this or how I'm confused.

No, what we were saying is the element the current management plan current management plan is primarily the coordination for Hideaway Tax District responsibilities with Collier County responsibilities. So we make sure that the commonalities are coordinated between the parties. But it does not have any elements that are whether it relates to things outside of the tax district work plan. We're saying is in the future, once we get the agreement with the county, since currently, a lot of the work that we do kind of either eligible some parts of it are eligible for county and TDC funding, some parts are done 100% by the Hideaway Tax District, but we're doing that coordination. And that coordination, if we document it and have a formal agreement, the only item that becomes the city of Marco that intersects with ours will be the expansion of the borough area and the navigation interests that are not done and will not be done under the tax district funding.

It will be done through the city and the county. But it integrates with us because the same borough area that we use for Hideaway Beach, the same borough area that we use for Tiger Tail is the same borough area that will be also used for the inlet. And for having three different interests use the same sand resource, there need to be some coordination. A documented documentation will align the responsibilities of each party and who's funding what. The navigation and the Tiger Tail so far has been eligible or the county has a part in the administration and the funding of those.

Hideaway Beach, the sand that goes on Hideaway Beach And in this draft, there is a listing of who's responsible for what, and it will continue that way. But every time we have an item, we have to initiate meetings, we have to go and discuss this whole story from beginning to end, which can be exhaustive and time consuming and resource consuming as well. If you get the responsibilities ingrained in a plan, then when you have a project, it you don't have to go every time to all the different parts of the county to get who's going to pay for what and it has to be voted on. Because once it's in a management plan, once it's agreed upon, it becomes a standard process.

And if I could, to follow-up on that, David Tolstice's, attorney. So it is an excellent question by member Bartow because, you know, you need to be mindful of the fact that you are collecting taxes for the Hatterade Beach tax district. And while, you know, everything that's going on appears to be driven by you as your board because you're very involved in what's going on, that those funds that you're expending relate to what your purpose and mission is and that the city or the county are are, you know, paying for their share. And sometimes those lines can be blurred, and I'm here to help you try and navigate those waters, no pun intended, to make sure that the district is spending those funds properly.

And as of now, as we saw with the Tiger Tail project, we saw the county contribute to the initial project construction, contribute twice to the restoration of Tiger Tail, even in portions that lie within the Riparian line of Hideaway District. So it

I think we have to be careful when we make statements like that, whether it's true or not. But we're trying to sell what we brought Denny in now, and I think this is a great experience for you being here. That the confusion now what I'm starting to hear is what Dick heard, Steve or maybe Linda and and Phyllis, that people are approaching me now about taxes over there. That taxes for the Beach District are as much as the taxing for Marco Isle.

Mhmm.

The question is, are we overstepping our balance? And that's David's

Mhmm.

Advice tells us whether we're out or not. But we brought Denny in to help clarify this over there. But I'm even getting confused now of what's going on.

Well, the short answer is we're not. For your question, are we overextending our your district expenditures because I

guess that's one of my questions.

Yes. The other is, the whole idea is and why this is in a draft form and why it's not finalized is we're basically giving this to your Board, to David, to everyone to look at. And then when we get to meet with the county and Justin is the one that has to go every time for each action we take to go through the county process to get reimbursements for project that benefits both the tax district and the county. So as far as we're concerned, where we are now with where we were before 2020, we are benefiting from having a cooperative process with the county, benefiting from funding some parts on our own, funding some parts through the county to achieve goals that are beneficial to all parties. And as we move forward, the whole purpose of this is to maximize those benefits by maximizing the objectives of all parties and making sure that we don't dredge the Boro area, and we need the sand from the Boro area.

And then the county dredges the inlet, and instead of putting the sand where we need it, they put it in the offshore. So the whole idea of the agreement is making sure that the objectives of all the actions are to the benefit of the system and to the benefit of each individual stakeholder in the system. That's the whole purpose of having an agreement. And for the bigger picture, as the Palm Beach Island example, is the state recognizes the exponential benefits from different jurisdictions working together for the best of the system to the extent that they promote it, they incentivize it by even providing cost share through the state for entities that do that approach. So in short, you've got the structure through your board, through your administration through the city and through attorney reviewing this material that all any item that is presented is reviewed and to your benefit.

Could I try it this way, John? I hear both of you. Denny, what you're really hearing, I think, my perspective is the messaging that we get out there. I respect and understand what you're saying. But unless we can communicate that effectively to our members, you get this big melting pot and it's hard to separate out the wheat from the chase. Is that a fair statement, John? Yes, sir.

Yeah. I think so. I mean, you know, I'm just looking at this management plan. I don't have a problem with it, but I think back in my mind, how am I going to sell navigation safety? Navigation Hideaway when their taxes are

1,600,000.0. Hideaway Hideaway is not gonna pay a dime in the navigation safety elements. They had nothing to do with it.

That could be true, but we gotta sell that because people

still ask the question. Something that is not out for sale. Yeah. People will ask the question. It's it's when you enter into an agreement, it has it has objectives from all the parties. And what you're saying is the navigation is the responsibility of the county or the city. It has nothing to do with hideaway. But the navigation need to be coordinated with hideaway when they do their projects because they share this the water system. They share the borrow area that serves all these purposes. It has nothing to do with the tax district responsibilities.

All it has to do is you are sharing an island, you are sharing the waters, and you're trying to say, who's responsible for what? It's the same thing with, Tom is still here. Right? Are No, ma'am. Project with the culvert that is association is taking care of it.

But since the permit is done through the tax district, the compliances are done through the tax district. And it's the same with any agreement. David is working on the agreement with the association. And by the same token, when we work with an agreement, David and Justin will be an integral part of making sure that each each element of that is funded through the proper sources.

And and if I could real quick. So the agreement is not before you right now, and I think it is contingent on getting the management plan completed. And I think your chair will advise you. I don't need to advise you, but we will work diligently so that all the interested parties in the area are included in the agreement and that the responsibilities and obligations are specifically detailed so that in this instance, the district is only paying for what the district is responsible for as part of that agreement, which will fit into the management plan, which will be completed at some point in time.

Is is that gonna be in the agreement, what you just said that the district's only gonna pay for what they they use? Or

What they're responsible for. So you you allocate responsibilities.

Pay that in agreement?

Of course.

Okay.

Yeah. Any agreement will have

No. Not every agreement.

Okay. Any agreement that is done with

This agreement will. This agreement will. I okay? Yeah. Okay. Will make sure that.

Thank you. Thank you, David.

You're welcome.

Any other questions? I think I I know it seems like this is confusing to everyone at this point. And as Mohammad said, this is just an initial draft. I think the key point is vacuum. We live in a community of Marco Island, a county of Collier County, and in the state of Florida.

And the resources that we're working with in the beach and the lagoon are owned by various parties, and we all have to work together for the benefit of the overall community. But each of us has a role. You know, for example, you know, the Collier Creek permit that we're waiting on that the county is pursuing. That has an impact on part of Hideaway Beach. And so and we work together with them on that because when they do dredging there, we often put that sand on Hideaway Beach.

So we have to coordinate together. And the way it's been so far is that every time something happens is a long and complex process for going and trying to get everyone's agreement about who's doing what, who's paying for what. And we're trying to put in place, really at the county manager's direction, a plan that more clearly articulates how we can work together for the benefit of the overall community and what our respective roles are. So we're not trying to change the role of what we're doing as a tax district. We're trying to better coordinate with the other entities that that surround us, and we're able to do that more efficiently.

And so that's what we're trying to do here. And as you see, it's not it's not easy.

Well, that was originally what we started, Linda

Yeah.

Was bring all the stakeholders together. Right. But once we get them all together, are we taking the lead, is it gonna be out?

The city is what's taking the lead. When you have a management plan of that magnitude, it's led by the city. But the tax district is part of the city. And that's why you have city representation in all your meetings because they are the administrator. So in the city, a lot of the meetings were between the city manager and the county manager, Hideaway was not represented in those meetings because it's a city county.

But we are a big part of the city, and we want to make sure that our interests are well served, and we were not oversighted in any of the management plans that are being integrated. And finally, another important point is you make those agreements with stakeholders, but leadership change and people change. And every time it is a new person in charge, they don't know the history. And that's evident even to your individual members at the Board. Continuity helps.

But having a documented agreement and having an administration that negotiate those agreement is helpful not just for this Board, but for future purposes. So when there is an action that is needed, when there is a massive storm that completely affect the system, you're not scrambling as who's going to pay for what. It's already structured. So the whole idea is getting a preplanned agreement, just like when you get a permit and you have a contingency plan, you have a plan, you have an action plan. And it's always advisable to have an action plan than not.

Okay. Any other comments, questions? Okay. Thank you, Mohammed. The next item on the agenda is the financial report as of 12/31/2025. Steve?

Justin, would and Karen, I really wanna compliment the city for the thoroughness of this financial analysis. It's excellent. So please pass those comments on. I mean, a layperson can scroll through this. I mean, the statement of cash flows to me is like a source and use of funds. It's excellent.

I We certainly will and we'll ask that they keep doing it.

Oh, please. It's wonderful. The only thing I would change is very minor, but you got it out afterwards. The rent should be corrected to be $6,000 a year, not the 24. But I mean, for the members of this district, as you scroll down through those pages, you will see all the invoices that are open, the ones that are paid, you'll see a source and use, well, I call it a source and use, you'll see a statement of cash flows.

This is wonderful, I mean it's too bad we didn't have this a couple years ago, but it, I mean, I can repeat what's in there, but do any of you have any questions?

Adjusting the rent item, we may also need to adjust the beach raking item.

Yes, Dan. Terrible. We we kinda went through that.

So that it's consistent with what the what the the budget is this year since that was modified. So so those would be the two items.

I I think what the 65 includes the repairs, does it not? That's the emails you and I exchanged back and forth. I I kinda wanted to break it out in the city. I defer again, you do an excellent job.

It includes the repairs? I thought I thought it was excluded that we paid separately for the maintenance.

We do. But for budgeting purposes they have that in there at the 65.

But they are showing the actual Last

time on that Steve, that the beach raking, the maintenance and repair, should that go under our repair and maintenance?

I would agree with you, and we we went back and forth, and I I defer to the city.

Oh, okay. Okay. Okay.

Well, the only thing I think we need to be consistent here in that if the beach raking budget includes tractor maintenance, we shouldn't be putting tractor maintenance in the repair expense in the repair and maintenance line item. So I'm okay with it either way, but but it should be reflected in the proper line item. So if for if the 65 includes the maintenance, then the expense should be in the the the beach raking line. If the 65 is it does not include the maintenance, then we're okay.

It I think what happened when the city council approved it, correct me if I'm wrong, they approved $65,000. And that's where we kind of got off rails a little bit because that had been approved by the city. It was therefore harder to come back and break out the net between repairs and what we're paying for beach raking. Because collectively, the city looks at it as $65,000 annually.

Okay.

But I think I think what I'm seeing here is the 65 was set by the city prior to the new agreement being done between

Yes.

The tax district and the associations. Absolutely correct. So the 65 does not, in fact, include tractor maintenance. It's just a reflection of our historical beach raking budget. And if the city wishes to leave it that way for this year and correct it for next year, I can understand that. And then you're showing the tractor maintenance expense in the repair and maintenance line item.

Yeah. And that's exactly what we ended

up with. Yes.

Okay.

It'd be easier in the future as we talked in our email exchange to break that out.

Yeah. That was my question last name. Yes.

We can do a change order to update the purchase order to reflect tractor maintenance and beach raking if you guys prefer that.

Yes, we would.

Then it would make sense.

Yes. I I agree with Tessie.

And the reason it it it's open. We didn't put a limit on it. I mean, we agreed to pay for it. So I'd like to track it.

Yeah. Well, that's the purpose of it. Yes.

There's two accounts on there. It reflects the two line items, so it's two accounts. So we can up this order name.

I would almost prefer to do the beach raking and then a separate one line item for beach raking

Maintenance.

For tractor tractor repair. The

r equipment repair.

There are two line items on the purchase order. So it's two separate.

Yeah. But we're talking in our financials.

Okay.

So we could track it when when when we get it each month, we can easily look at it. That's what I was trying to say in in some of my emails to you.

Okay. Why don't we why don't we follow-up on this

Okay.

Offline? But I think we're just trying to get the financial report to reflect clearly the beach raking, the tractor maintenance. And if we're keeping the the lease income separate from the beach raking, adjusting that to the to the revised maintenance and lease agreement with the association. So Steve can meet with you offline, Tara, to clear that up. Okay. Does anyone else have any questions on the financial report?

But again, Justin, please pass on our compliments. Thank you. Okay.

All right. That is the end of old business. Oh, wait a minute. There's one more. We have the purchase order, Steve, I think, which was the purchase order for with the association that was also listed on the agenda. Did you wanna say anything about that? For the beach raking and tractor maintenance.

No. It was included as part of

the financing. Yeah. Did you you didn't okay. It was it was separately attached. So yeah. Okay.

And I think that Laurie is following. Right, Tom? Yes.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Alright. Then we can move on to old business. And we have just or excuse me. New business. We just have one item, public relations. You had asked that as a board that we have Denny Shields come back and give us a proposal on communications. We had Denny work with us back in 2022 to to help us more clearly communicate to the community what we were doing and why we were doing it. And so Denny has come forward with a proposal for your consideration at your request.

Thank you, Linda. Happy New Year to everyone. Good seeing you all again. Phyllis, good to meet you in person. I'm sure glad that there are no communications issues. So that makes it a lot easier. Seriously, sometimes I do feel your pain. For those of you who don't know, I live up at the Veranda Golf Club in Lea County. I'm also the Vice Chair of our Tax District. Different responsibilities, of course.

We're a unit of county governments, so our next hire in the chain of command is Lake County. Unfortunately, we don't have the benefit of the city helping us on a regular basis. We're by statute have to use a management company, which has its own unique set of challenges. So as I watch you the meeting streaming and as I attend meetings, I do feel the pain sometimes. It's really interesting and and difficult.

Real quickly, I won't take up too much time. Linda and I have discussed what the assignment is. So summarize it as quick as I can. Essentially, it's to develop an ongoing communication process that ensures that accurate information and that's the key, accurate information is communicated to Hideaway residents, Marco Island citizens, residents of Greater Collier County and in fact residents of Southwest Florida since where we are is such a precious resource. The first step in doing this is similar to what we did three years ago when I worked with you.

We need to understand our messages. I mean public relations is actually pretty simple. What do you wanna say and who do you wanna say it to? You pay people with experience to to figure out the best way to communicate those messages to the people. But in the end, it's not rocket science. What do you want to say? Who do you want to say it to? The what do you want to say, you want to get right, but you also understand it's a dynamic process. We're going to go through that. As I did last time, I sat down with you all individually, of course, because of our Florida Sunshine laws.

But I asked you some questions, you provided me some input. We're going to expand who I talk to. We'll go with some of our stakeholders, other stakeholders too. And the first step in this process to develop an overarching plan is to come up with a messaging document that really paves the way for us. Again, it's a dynamic document.

It can change as the situation changes. But if we do it right, it's probably a pretty good guide to really develop an action plan for. And that is the second step. We have to take those messages and those audiences and we have to put it into a plan. And I'm an old I'm an old army guy. We need to have plans for stuff. And what is a plan? What are we going to do? Who's responsible for it? And when is it going to be done?

Simple. Sometimes it isn't so simple because sometimes you got to move things around, but that's okay. You have to have a start point. And we've got perhaps a couple of big projects coming up on the horizon. My intent is to have this process so that anyone can come in and use it as a guide and move forward and execute a plan.

That's really what I'm here to do this time. And I'm looking forward to the process. Our cost for the planned development will not exceed $8,775 And that's it. What are your questions? We're still in January. It's still January.

We got

a week. Two weeks. I have looked at some of the streaming meetings and Linda has been kind enough to forward some documents. So I'm not completely in the dark, but certainly I'll have some questions and I'll look I'll look forward to, if you approve, I will, look forward to, working with with you all. I really love Marco Allen.

You did a great job first last time. Thank you. Had a lot

of help. Eamon's staff was very, very helpful.

I'll make a motion to

accept this proposal. I'll second it. Okay.

All in favor?

Madam chair? Madam chair? Yeah. So the proposal would be accepted subject to the execution of an agreement between the district and RDS Communications Group LLC because fortunately or unfortunately there are required terms and requirements that we have to put in an agreement as a public entity. So with that understanding, I think the motion is appropriate.

With that understanding, I'm sorry, David?

With the motion go forward just knowing that you're going to have to sign an agreement that I can prepare.

Okay. That would be terrific. All right. Thank you, David. I appreciate that. So I think I had a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. The motion passes unanimously, and I look forward to getting that document from you, David. Thank you.

And David, if you have any questions, this is Denny. Feel free to contact me.

Absolutely. I got your number here.

Okay. Super. Thank you, everyone.

Look forward to it. Thanks, Denny. Thank you.

All right. The next item on the agenda is staff communications. Justin, do you have anything for us?

Yes. Real quick. Couple of things. The, purchase order for coastal engineering for the permit renewal, has to go to city council for approval because of the amount. And it's on the agenda for January 20 on the consent agenda.

If it doesn't get pulled, it should be pretty straightforward. The also wanted to mention that we should start thinking about the schedule for the request for TDC reimbursement of the sand dollar spit restorations for this year. We're in a new year already. And I see you shaking your head.

Yeah. It's not my intent to seek reimbursement on that.

Oh, it isn't? No. Okay.

Well because this is permit compliance work?

No. No. I'm talking about the sand dollar. Yeah. The the sand dollar, we've we've gone to TDC for reimbursement for that in the past. Right. So we're not doing that this year?

Well, no. The the work that was done in the past was hurricane repair work. This is permit compliance. We're just preparing

But the beach the year before for that, we went for 350,000, which was?

That, again, was different. That was maintenance on on the beach. This isn't

That's what I'm talking

designed to be maintenance on the beach. This is simply to prepare the beach for bird nesting season. So I look at it differently, and so I was not planning to go forward in that case.

Alright. Then next that. Then also in February, the is when all the advisory committees hold their election of chair and vice chair.

Mhmm.

So just wanted to remind you of that.

In February. Okay.

Yes. To put that on the agenda for next month. Okay.

Alright. Yeah. We did it a little bit later previously, but the city would like us to do it in February. That's fine.

Yeah. To be consistent with all the other committees.

Okay. So Tara, would you put the election of officers on the agenda for the February meeting? Thank you for making us aware of that. Okay. Anything else, Justin, or that was it?

That was it. Okay.

City council communication. I don't see anyone present, so I assume there is nothing under that on public comment.

If I could Yep. I just it's David Toles again. Sorry to interrupt. So I'm I'm looking at the language in your charter related to the appointment of the chair and vice chair. Yep. And I don't know when they were last appointed, but the it provides that the chairman should be elected for a term of one year.

Mhmm.

So whenever that last appointment was made, that it would be a year from that date. You you're a little different than the standard advisory board for the city, I think. So I don't wanna I don't wanna make any short anybody any time. So maybe we look and see when the chair and vice chair were last appointed.

It might be

And it would be a year from that point. Okay.

Tara, could you take a look at when that was? I don't think it was February.

It I was more like April. Yeah. Think March, April.

Move out.

And in your view, David, if that's the case, then that would from a Citi standpoint, that would be the correct course of action to stick with whatever month we've been doing it.

Yeah. Because the the charter specifically provides for one term K. Or one year. Sorry. One year. And, you know, while you're you're free to do, I guess, whatever you wanna do under the charter, it's for one year. I I don't wanna short anybody anything because in the future, somebody will say, well, no. It says this.

So So, David, I have a question about that. So if if the election is delayed for a month or two based on quorum or whatever, any other, reason, so then it could potentially be different months.

No. I would say that the term would technically would expire however they would continue to serve until their successor is appointed. So the successor may end up with a shorter term.

Other thing I think that maybe makes it April is our terms run through the March. So when we have new board members, they join in April. So it makes sense that the election of officers would occur no earlier than April so that we have the new board in place. And do you recall, Phyllis, were you here when we elected officers last time? You don't recall? Okay.

Yeah. And and I think, you know, what happened with the city council, I won't bring up past history, but, I mean, that didn't move the term for the chair of the city council even though they it took them an extra three or four months to elect a chair. K.

Okay. So let's double check when, when the election was last year, Tara, and let's plan for it for the same month this year. And just let me know what the determination is. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. The next item was public comment. I don't see anyone here in the room. Do we have anyone online? Okay. Not not hearing any. The next item, item 11, is confirming our next meeting, which is February 19 at 01:30. Do we have everyone here who is available to be physically present?

I won't be physically present, but I can be present online.

Okay. So member Zinkin is requesting to be able to participate online. Anyone else? Okay. So I think we have a quorum of it that we four, anyway.

So we're in good shape for that meeting. Also in this is our listing of our full 2026 meeting schedule, so please make sure you have these dates on your calendar. And as we agreed last meeting, with the June 30 meeting, we'll have at least a quorum of three of of myself, member Ramirez, and member Barto. Okay. Any other proposed topics for our next meeting?

No? Okay. Other committee communications. Anyone else have anything they'd like to add of things that have been happening that you wanna make the board aware of?

I think just a reminder in February, the waterways committee is going to council.

Right.

Correct?

Correct. That's my understanding. Yep. Okay. If there's nothing else, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved. Aye. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you very much.

Thanks.