City Council - Regular Meeting

Well, good evening, everybody. Welcome. It is Monday, August 17th, 530. Welcome to our regularly scheduled city council meeting. Jim, would you call the roll, please?

Councilor Henry? Here. Councilor Goler? Here. Councilor Dome? Here. Vice Chair Champaign? Here. Councilor Schwan? Here. Councilor Gray? Here. Chair Palumbo?

Here. All councils are here. All right, guys, a couple things before we get to the agenda and remembrance for our former councilor Rolla. Rules of decorum are always in effect, right, for councilors, for staff, and for the public. We want to encourage open, civil dialogue, passionate debate. When you come up to speak, please try to give us the same courtesy we'd give you. I have no desire to hit the gavel on anybody. I have no desire to stifle anybody's voice. But we always appreciate it if you do it just in a respectful manner. But speak your mind. We certainly want to hear. Also, if you could silence your phones, please. And the other thing is I see a bunch of people here. So if you're here to speak, public comment for items not on the agenda. That's going to happen tomorrow. under item 10 on our agenda. Four minutes to speak, seven and a half people. If there's an abundance of people signed up, I might try to cut the time down a little to give more people a voice. If you can come up and speak on behalf of somebody else, say I'm representing my opinion and part of my colleagues, it'll even help so we could hear more voices. If you have not, please fill out a public speaking form. They're located in the back of the room, and you can hand them in to our city clerk here to my left. All right, with that, item number three, a little bit of a sadder item, remembrance of Councillor Joe Rolla, a city council member. And Joe and I had served my first two years, and I sat right where Councillor Gray sat, and Joe sat right next to me where Councillor Schwan. So we had a great little relationship. And he taught me a few things along the way. In the very beginning, I'm always grateful. And towards the end of his time on council, when he was going through a little bit of medical stuff, I was able to return the favor and try to help him out along the way. So he always had a genuine smile. He could look at me with the wink of an eye and tell me if I did well or not. He didn't have to speak. I just knew through body language. So we're going to have a little remembrance for him. And then our rabbi is going to do a moment of silence for him. But let me just read you a little bit about Joe. And as for Councilor Rolla, he served from 2020 to 2024. City of Marco Island remembers with gratitude and affection Councilor Joe Rolla, who served our community on the City Council from 2020 through 2024. Joe cared deeply about Marco Island and was committed to protecting the character, quality of life, and natural beauty that make our community so special. His service reflected a thoughtful and independent approach to local government, always grounded in what he believed was the best for the island and its residents. During his time on council, Joe contributed to important discussions shaping Marco Island's future, including the comprehensive plan and long-term land use, water quality, and protection of the island's waterways. He brought his technical and professional background to these issues and was willing to ask difficult questions, examine the facts, and respectfully express a point of view when he believed it was warranted. Joe's commitment to Markle Island began well before his years on council, including his service on the planning board. I believe that was for five years. And he understood the decisions made today would shape the island for years to come. His years of public service were a reflection of his love for Markle Island and his desire to leave it a better place for those who lived here. The city of Markle Island extends its sincere appreciation to Joe Roland and his dedicated service, thoughtful leadership, and lasting contribution to our community. He'll be remembered with gratitude and respect. I'm always not sure, but that's worthy of applause and respect for Joe. Also, there is one announcement I did want to make. I believe it was regarding his service. A visitation will be held at Hodges-Jasperger Funeral Home on Friday, August 21st. From 12 to 1 p.m., a funeral service will follow at 1 p.m. Burial will take place at the Marko Allen Cemetery, should you wish to attend. So thank you. Counselors, if anybody wants to make any comments, light signs, please. I don't want to – All right, with that, we're going to have the invocation, a moment of silence for Joe, and we'll leave that with the Pledge of Allegiance right after that. I'll be happy to lead in the Pledge of Allegiance. Rabbi, if you would, please. And if you are able, please stand.

Scripture tells us that Joseph was a prime leader who rose to the head of his household, the master's household, the pharaoh's household in all of Egypt. We remember that Joseph is one who rises to the top and provides leadership to benefit us all. May I spend a moment thinking about all that we have accomplished as a community because of his guidance.

Amen. Pledge allegiance, please.

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.

councillors on to item six approval of the agenda and entertain a motion to approve motion by councillor champagne second by councillor dome all those in favor say aye anybody opposed say no the ayes have it item 7a approval of the minutes this is the City Council operating budget workshop minutes of July 20th 2026 is there any changes to the minutes councillors Motion by Councillor Gray, second by Councillor Schwan. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Anybody opposed? All right. We're moving on to item 7B.

I have a change for 7B.

Thank you so much.

On item 15B, and I actually already had given this to Joan, the vote is incorrect. I voted no, and the minutes state that I voted yes. It was resolution 2639. Very good.

Any other changes, councillors? Motion to approve as amended?

I move to approve as amended.

Motion by Councilor Henry, second by Councilor Dome. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Anybody opposed, say no.

All right, the ayes have it.

All right, guys, nine items on the consent agenda tonight. Light signs if there's anything you'd like removed. All right, Councilor Gray, let's start with you.

Councilor Gray, I'm sorry. I heard Gold or Silas. No, sorry, Councilor Gray. That's all right. F. ID 26-56 is kind of a theme with the fire trucks. Okay. No, I'm sorry. That was the – no, I got the wrong one. I apologize. It is ID 26-5684, which is item I, the fire department pumper truck balloon payment.

Okay. Councilors, anything else on the consent agenda you'd like removed? All right. So item I is now going to become 17A.

That will be 17A.

Council, is there any motion to approve as amended? We have a motion by Councilor Schwan. Vice Chair, make the second?

Second.

Second by Vice Chair Champagne. Can you call the roll on this, please?

Councilor Schwan? Yes. Vice Chair Champaign? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Gray? Yes. Councilor Goeller? Yes. Councilor Dome? Yes. Chair Palumbo?

Yes. Consent agenda passes 7-0. No proclamations in the presentations tonight. We are on to item 10, citizens' comments. We do need to make sure it runs to at least 6 o'clock, 22 minutes. Jim, how many people signed up?

We have nine registered speakers.

Nine times four, if we even give them three, 27. So let's just give nine all four minutes. We'll fudge it a little bit here. So let's bring them up and start with the citizens' comments again for items not on the agenda. Okay.

Our first registered speaker is Ms. Christine Dowell, followed by Ms. Terry Hasdorf.

Christine, welcome.

Good evening, counselors. My name's Christine Dell. counselors on Thursday I sent you all an email about an incident at the neighborhood information meeting at Joey's Pizza this past Wednesday where a counselor dome made defamatory statements about my husband and then gave me a slap on the arm I stated he had no right to touch me and I have filed a battery charge Councillor Doan, in his short tenure, has stated that he is not elected and has no promises to keep and has interrupted the First Amendment of a speaker at the podium by calling for a point of order to silence them. motion to override the statutory maximum allowable severance in the city managers contract negotiations the community is seeing less adherence and respect for our governing documents than any other time in my memory I would like to remind all of you that an elected counselor must be removed by a mandate of the people with recall, but appointed counselor can be removed by a simple majority of four votes. I encourage you all to remember that with a vote of no confidence and a vote for replacement, you can bring the community a resident representative who will uphold the oath of office you all strive to honor.

Thank you.

Thank you, Christine. Councillor Dome, I'm not sure if you're familiar with our rules and procedures. Since you were mentioned specifically, you can reply if you like or you can choose not to.

Okay, I will. Yes, I was at the neighborhood information at Joey's. So I will admit to that. But for everything else that was said, what I'm accused of, I unequivocally deny the allegations. They are false, misleading, and do not accurately reflect the facts. And that's all I have to say. Very good. Thank you.

Jim, would you call the next speaker, please?

Ms. Terry Hasdorf, followed by Mr. George Lamke.

Good to see you again. Good to be here. Thank you. Good evening, members of the Marco Island City Council, city staff, first responders, and residents here in person. I'm Terry Hasdorf, and it is an honor to be here. I'm running as an America First Republican candidate to represent Florida's newly drawn 22nd Congressional District. I'm honored to speak before this council and to attend other events on Marco, including celebrating the police chief ceremonies, chamber of commerce mixers, and town hall forums. There was one common theme that I've heard over and over. Please go to Washington and hit the ground running day one to fight for us and our district. I keep hearing the same message. Washington needs to remember that government leaders exist to serve people, the people who sent them there. That is especially important in a district like this one. We have retirees trying to afford to remain in the communities they love, families dealing with the cost of housing and insurance, small businesses trying to survive, agriculture that is essential to Florida's economy, and our national food security. And we have communities trying to preserve the character and quality of life that made people want to live here in the first place. Those are not abstract Washington issues, they are kitchen table issues. One of my priorities is addressing Florida's property insurance crisis. Homeowners in Marco Island and Naples are being squeezed by premiums and availability. Florida has some of the highest property insurance premiums in the country. As a member of Congress, I would push for greater competition in the insurance market, expand federal incentives for hurricane mitigation, such as tax credits for hurricane shutters. and make homes more resilient before disaster strikes. Finally, I would push for grants to improve drainage systems, upgrade seawalls, strengthen power grids, and harden critical infrastructure. Every dollar spent on mitigation saves multiple dollars in disaster recovery. I also want to examine the federal role in helping property owners who live under HOAs and POAs. When government encourages or interacts with these systems, homeowners deserve transparency, accountability, and a fair process. Another priority is protecting Florida's agricultural land, particularly the farmland surrounding Lake Okeechobee from unnecessary overdevelopment and from investment practices that can threaten our long-term food security. One of the issues I have heard repeatedly is about water. Water is not just an environmental issue, it's an economic issue, a property value issue, a tourism issue, and ultimately a quality of life issue. Southwest Florida depends on getting water policy right. We have to protect the water resources that make this community possible. That means protecting the Everglades, supporting the Army Corps of Engineers, and making sure federal funding is actually reaching the projects that matter to Southwest Florida. I believe Florida deserves a strong voice in Washington on these issues, and that's what I plan to bring. The people who live here understand this ecosystem better than bureaucrats sitting thousands of miles away. And finally, we have to get serious about federal spending. Inflation and the cost of living cannot be solved by continually spending more money. I bring a different kind of experience to this race. I've worked inside the federal government. I've worked on Capitol Hill. I've worked with businesses nonprofits, and organizations navigating Washington. I've spent years building relationships and getting people with very different interests to sit down, solve problems, and get things done. I'm the only candidate in this race who has experience as a congressional staffer. I spent six years serving as a staff member in Congress, including House Republican leadership, where I learned not just how government works, but how to make it work for the American people. I know how to write legislation, how to navigate the appropriations process, and I plan to bring results that will be delivered on day one. I live in this district. If elected, I have committed to maintaining a presence and opening a district office here on Marco Island because representation should mean not disappearing to Washington and only coming home when there's an election. I'm deeply honored by your support and the opportunity to speak with you tonight. I'm Terry Hasdorf, and I'm humbly asking for your vote for Congressional District 22. Thank you very much. Thank you, Terry, and good luck on the campaign trail.

Next registered speaker, Mr. George Lancaster, followed by Ms. Diane Chagat.

Good evening. I'm here for the Winterberry ball field. And my question is the safety issues that we're playing on out there. are really disturbing. I mean somebody is definitely going to get hurt if we don't get the field in somewhat better condition than what it is right now. And I guess I'm just wondering is there anything that our league could do to help maintain that field? That's a good question. I'd like to get an answer on that at some point in time. My colleagues and I were here and we're out there. I've been playing 14 years on that field, and it's the worst it's ever been right now. And I really feel for the safety of a lot of players. And I think it needs to be maintained a little bit better than what it is right now. And I'm willing to do whatever I can to help maintain the field. I know my colleagues are here willing to help maintain the field. We just need a little help. And a little help would be greatly appreciated. So if you can let us know what we might be able to do to help you get the field in better condition. That would be a plus.

George, we greatly appreciate the offer of help. We're going to put you in contact with our city manager who worked through the chain of parks and rec. This is the first I think we're hearing of maybe, at least I'm hearing of some challenges. So let's get you in the right channels and help for the park or the environment to the community. If we can accept it, we gladly will. So we appreciate it.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Our next registered speaker is Ms. Diane Shaggett, followed by Mr. Tom Polston.

Hi, Diane. Welcome.

Thank you. Diane Shaggett, 1700 Bounty Court. I'm here to talk about pickleball. The pickleball members have had their dues doubled. Although these dues are three times the rate of any other facility in a two-county radius, it's not the amount that most of us deserve. Dispute is the shortening of hours the continued degradation of the court surfaces poor maintenance and landscaping at the facility and Now we have noise curtains that are creating unbearable heat and dangerous conditions on the court So my question is are we creating a solution for a problem that we don't have and The first point I'd like to make is that the City of Marco Island has very specific ordinances for acceptable noise levels. Decibel meters used at the Racket Center have not yielded measurements above the acceptable noise levels. That means there has been no noise violation at the Racket Center. The second point is that the City of Marco Island noise ordinances do not apply to parks. Not to the crack of the bat and the cheer of the crowd at Winterberry Park. Not to the shrieking and laughter of children in the playground or splash pad at Mackle Park. Not to the repetitive bounce and dribble of the basketball day and night at Mackle Park. And not to the concerts at the Unity Bandshell at Veterans Park. These ordinances do not apply. Now pickleball has been played on Marco Island for 15 years. It started on the stadium court. It has grown since then. We have a very rich pickleball fellowship and community of friendships that's grown through the sport. This community not only enjoys playing pickleball here in Paradise, but can be depended upon to volunteer and lend support to the many parks and recs, events, and charities, a true testament to the tenets of the Macko brothers in creating a small town on an island to foster the enjoyment of Southwest Florida. So we would like for you to reexamine the validness of having those heat trapping noise curtains up that is creating a health and safety violation. Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next registered speaker is Mr. Tom Polston followed by Mr. Kevin Smith.

I'm welcome. Good evening. First of all, we're deeply disappointed to hear that the Parks Foundation had to be... Tom, if you could state your name for the record, please. Tom Polston, 140 Seaview Court, Marco Island. Thank you. My second home is Winterberry Field. We're deeply disappointed to hear that the Parks Foundation has to be dissolved at the end of September. Last spring, myself and Bill Thompson... went before the park and recreation board and also parks foundation about the conditions at winterberry field we were the only organization to be present and voice our concerns about winterberry field we presented three proposals from jsm who has previously been contracted by the city to maintain the field they did an awesome job in the past and most recently for the home depot project The reason why we did this in March was to get the ball rolling so it wouldn't affect our 2027 season and also not interfere with MIA football, who also plays at the field, and they start in August. Nothing was ever done, but we did stay in touch with the foundation and look for their guidance on how to move forward. Thank you, Rennie, for always getting back to me. Recently, we took another gut punch and were very disappointed again when we learned that sod had been ordered for Veterans Park and Mackle Park, but not Winterberry. Who made that decision and why? Myself and two other board members, Todd Rogers and George Lancaster, met with Park and Rec's fleets and facilities. We were told there was not enough money. There's a new landscape company taking care of the field, which is not doing a very good job. I think you all received an email from Bill Thompson with pictures of what's going on at the field. There's bare spots, high grass in the outfield. All our members wonder why the other parks get taken care of but not Winterberry. We are doers in this league. We don't just stick our hands out and always ask for handouts. We take care of the park, cleaning it up. We paid for the shades on the bleachers. We watered the plants and even put in new ones. We are coming up on our 27th season on Marco Island with one of the largest memberships of any organization on the island. There's like 16 of us here now, and another 200 voted for me to be their leader. And I appreciate that. It's too late to do anything now because the football season starts in 11 days. They have their first game. It was supposed to be Friday night. That game got canceled. So their first game is in 11 days. To put anything down now would be pretty ridiculous. Then on a side note, on August 13th at 10.15 a.m., Superior Landscape showed up with three pallets of weeds. I mean sod. I guess they didn't need as much as they thought at Veterans and brought it over to Winterberry. They sodded a patch in center field, which would be the 50-yard line for the football guys. They just laid it on top of the existing ground. No prep work, and I was there watching. They finished that spot at 11 a.m.

It's a beautiful park. It's the best park I've ever played on. We've got a couple of problems. First of all, the infield. Thank God I'm not an infielder. If I were, I think I'd need tactical guard. I'd need to be a SWAT player to be out there because what happens is Mother Nature beats down on that ground. And no matter what Bill Thompson tries to do for it, it's like concrete. So we have 12-inch missiles that are hitting that concrete, and they bounce like Super Bowls. So if you're an infielder, guess what? Your head is in danger. Your brain is in danger. Your teeth are in danger. And your eyes are in danger. We need some clay on that field. We need to soften it a bit so those balls don't bounce as high. At least, well, there's certain things that it would affect, but certainly not your head. Let's move on to the outfield, because I am an outfielder. Over time, Mother Nature kills grass. We really don't have grass. We have crabgrass, but that's okay. We can play on crabgrass. That's not an issue. The issue is the bare spots. Over time, whether it's insects or whether it's fungus or whether it's just Mother Nature killing the grass, there are great big bare spots. They become either hard as concrete, which the ball, again, bounces in your face, or they become sand pits. They're like quicksand. So you hit those things running, God help you. So two things. We need some sod, and we could use some clay in the infield. That's as simple as I can ask, and I'm sure we can do that. It's a lot easier than redoing a bridge, and it's a lot easier than barfield corner. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Guys, please, please, please. Please, please, please.

Lynn Nathanson, followed by Ms. Jean Wagner.

Hello, counselors. Hi, Lynn. I'm Lynn Nathanson, Blue Bonnet Court. I've done some research and I found more than I thought I would, so I'm going to read this very quickly, just to give you an idea of what I've found. And I call it Looming on the Horizon, What is to Become of Marco. And, well, you must have all heard about in Mallorca where the streets were filled with 60,000 protestors protesting tourism that has put a strain on local population and infrastructure. But tourism is having on their inhabitants and environments. Which cities and countries have a tourist tax? Well, Barcelona, Spain charges about $50 a week to hotel guests. Venice, Italy has introduced a $5 a day trip tax to dissuade short-term tourists from overloading the city. And if you've been there recently, you know the mega ships come in and you can't move. Santorini and Mykonos, where I was just three weeks ago, announced a $21 levy for cruise ship visitors to Greece's islands during peak summer. Kyoto, Japan, a lodging tax. In Bhutan, the visitors pay the world's priciest entrance fee of $100 daily to promote low-impact tourism. That's down from $200, though, in 2023. Galapagos Islands and Ecuador have an entry tax of $200 for international visitors and $100 for those from neighboring countries. countries, Bali, Indonesia, Seville, Spain, Edinburgh, Scotland, plans are set to introduce a 5% tourist tax on accommodations in 2026 to raise an estimated $62 million annually. Which countries restrict tourist access to over-tourism areas? A wide shot of Machu Picchu, Peru, stunning without crowds, not so much with them. Santorini and Mykonos, where I also was, plan to limit cruise ships to combat over-tourism and reduce the impact on the Cycladic Islands, details yet to be confirmed. Ibiza, Spain, authorities have introduced new regulations limiting the simultaneous docking of cruise ships to no more than two at a time. Amsterdam, Barcelona, Spain, Athens, Greece, Hallstatt, Austria, Trentino, Alto Adige, Italy. I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that. French Polynesia. Annual tourist numbers are planned to be capped, with local cruise lines taking priority over international cruise ships. Sardinia. Let's see. Dubrovnik, Croatia. Visitors may face fines for, well, that's behavioral. Prague. Have city councilors have decided to ban outrageous bachelor and bachelorette party costumes? Oh, well, that's something else. Let's see. It goes on and on and on wherever you are. um i've highlighted some of these things the point is that we have to do something we're going to have a lot of cruise passengers what to do with them those that don't want to go on excursions and want to just be around that could be hundreds on a daily basis and i think it's too much for our little island to bear and this is a worldwide problem yosemite in our own country salem Forks, Washington, Yosemite National Park, Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, Big Sur, California, Nashville, Tennessee, the Florida Keys. They voted to prevent cruise ships, and the governor shelved it.

If you could finish up, please.

Mackinac Island. All right. It goes on and on. Miami Beach, Panama City, Florida, Gulf Shores, Alabama. and so forth, and I think we have a big problem that we have to discuss very thoroughly before making any very permanent decisions. Thank you all.

Thank you. Our next registered speaker is Ms. Jeanne Wagner, followed by our final registered speaker, Mr. John Agis.

Jeanne, welcome. Don't forget to state your name, please.

Good evening, councillors. My name is Jeannie Wagner and I live at 1649 Villa Court. Last week I sent you an email to all of you as well as the city manager and I only received one response. Thank you, Chair Palumbo. I wanted to read what I wrote again here tonight because it's very important that you hear what I have to say. I would like to express my deep concern about the recent changes at the Marco Island Racket Center, particularly the new gate and the sound mitigation mats surrounding the pickleball courts. The new gate blocks entry in a way that makes this valued public facility feel unwelcoming and institutional, more like a prison than a community recreation center. For members and guests who have supported and enjoyed the Racket Center for years, it feels like a slap in the face. More importantly, the sound panels appear to be creating a serious heat and health safety issue. While I understand the city's need to address neighborhood noise concerns, The current configuration restricts natural airflow around the courts. On an already extremely hot day, this converts the playing area into a heat trap. Today, the day I wrote this email, the court surface measured approximately 130 degrees. The mats themselves became so hot that accidental contact could burn skin. I'm a relatively young, higher level player, in pretty decent shape, and yet I experience dizziness and nausea from the extreme heat while playing. Those are warning signs of heat illness, not ordinary discomfort. If these conditions affect a healthy player like me, I'm especially concerned about older members, visitors, and anyone with cardiovascular, respiratory, or any other medical vulnerabilities. Many racket center users are seniors. Suppressing airflow during southwest Florida's hottest months may put them at unnecessary risk of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. The city recently approved sound panels intended to mitigate pickleball noise around three sides of the courts. That goal is understandable, but it should not come at the expense of player safety, comfort, accessibility, or the welcoming character of the Racket Center. I respectfully ask the council to act promptly by, one, directing staff to evaluate the heat conditions and airflow inside the newly enclosed court area, including surface and ambient temperatures at various times of the day. Two, considering changes that preserve ventilation, such as redesigned panel placement, gaps for cross breezes, more breathable sound mitigation materials, or other alternatives. Three, reviewing whether the gate design is necessary and whether it can be modified to restore a more open, inviting entrance. And four, posting heat safety warnings and ensuring readily available water, shade, and clear procedures for responding to possible heat illness while a permanent solution is developed. Noise mitigation is important, but so are the health, safety, and dignity of the people that use the city facility. Please do not wait for someone, particularly an older player, to suffer a serious heat-related medical event before reconsidering these changes. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. I would appreciate a response describing what immediate steps the city will take to evaluate and correct these conditions. Thank you for your time. Very good. Thank you.

Our next registered speaker is Mr. John Agis, followed by Mr. Ralph Rohina.

Good evening, John Aegis, Heathwood Drive, Heathwood Drive, Marco Island.

Welcome, John.

How are you doing? I'm going to continue the pickleball conversation. As a resident and as a Parks and Rec committee member, I have provided as much reference and foundational documentation to all of you as possible to avoid this exact scenario that we're experiencing now. I've outlined possible solutions, possible scenarios. I originally voted against the price increase. I have stated that I was in disbelief that these sound barriers would be accepted at the Racket Center. Much like many of the other solutions provided, such as the quiet balls and paddles, designated play times, et cetera, that we've suggested, the player group was dissatisfied with our suggestions from BRAC. Now the city has spent $88,484 to test these sound panels and before the installation is even completed we're hearing about problems with the heat. Where do we go from here? That's a good question. I provided reference materials that were sent to you several months ago from the city of Martinez, California, which gave a good snapshot of a similar scenario that we have here. I suggest that you all reference it. I also suggest that you all reference the zoning documentation I've sent you, the suggested zoning documentation before any further action is considered at this point. Thank you. Thank you, John.

Final registered speaker is Mr. Ralph Rahina.

Captain Rahina, welcome. Hi, guys.

How are you all doing today? Ralph Rojina. 1630 Burgonia Court. Just a couple of additions to the softball Winterberry thing. I did bug you guys over the weekend on it and I made my points there and I appreciate the response very quickly considering you have to prepare for this meeting and everything else from yourselves and the city manager. So I wanted to add that appreciation and Joe was at the First thing this morning, so at least there's a drive to actually help out a little bit. Second thing, I know it was mentioned that there were weeds in cases of conflict. I know I personally took half a dozen pictures of what was on the field and in the pallet and put it through AI. There wasn't a Bermuda mentioned in there. I'll tell you what it was. It's bahia, sedge, goose grass, torpedo grass, pasture grasses like borne and wild barley. So, personally, I just assume it'd be ripped out and stored. I don't know what Mackle Park looks like, but they're very, they're correct. It is dangerous. Anybody who's had sod put on their lawn, if you looked at it, the sod slabs, I mean, they were this thick, three inches. No amount of pressing down on it is gonna make that match the rest of that field. It's dangerous the way it is. The other thing I just wanted to add on to, I know it was mentioned, you know, several hundred softball players have interest in whatever. There's a lot more people that are interested in seeing the softball. I mean, I don't like Facebook myself, but even if you use that as a guide, there's 1,500 members on that Facebook. So it goes to show you that there's quite a large group that supports that activity, and they would like to have a little bit of help, and I think they deserve it. Thank you.

Thank you, Captain.

That is our final registered speaker at this time.

Very good. Thank you. All right, that closes citizen comments. We're on to Item 11, City Manager's Report. Councilor's light signs if you have any questions for Casey. Casey, anything for us?

Nothing additional to add.

We do have Councilor Gray up, so Councilor Gray. Thank you. Dr. Lucius, thank you for your report. Don't really want to get into the history on the Parks Foundation. There wasn't any financial information attached, I understand.

We appreciate you guys. If you could take into the hallway, please. Thank you so much. Still trying to conduct the meeting. Sorry, Councilor Gray.

That's fine. There might be approximately a million dollars that might be reallocated to the city's coffers from this wind down of the foundation. I don't know what insights you can or can't share on the obligations or how we assess the application of those proceeds from the standpoint of whether the contracts were honored with the donors, who we greatly appreciate for donating, as well as if you're winding it down, I do not know what everybody's obligations are going forward and how we should be thinking about what's appropriate to allocate those funds. So it was just more a set of open questions and trying to understand the road ahead.

Certainly, thank you. So the current balance in the Parks Foundation Fund, which will be moved to a city fund dedicated to parks projects is $1,085,583. The majority of that did come from one donor and we do currently have a contract with that donor that requires pre-approval before any expenditures are made. And then the remaining funds were intended for park-related purposes. So it is our intent that these funds will be shifted to a separate city fund and will be dedicated to parks projects, all of which would come before city council for approval before making any expenditures.

So not to ask a trick question, is it possible that Winterberry Park, that ball field, might be a valid application of those proceeds?

If the City Council agrees to that, certainly.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council.

Vice Chair Champagne? Just a follow-up on Casey's comments. I'm not so sure the contract would permit an allocation of funds to the senior softball field.

Yes, thank you for clarifying. So out of that 1,085,900,000 are from one donor, and those are restricted. So currently, there would be about 164,000, or I'm sorry, 185,000 available. And that's a combination of six donors plus interest that has been earned on the account. So I believe there would be about 185,000 that are not restricted funds.

I'll just go forward and people are under the misconception, as I was also, that the donor, unidentified, donated a million dollars. That's not really true. He donated $900,000 over several tranches, has been asked to complete the donation, has not yet done so, nor has he agreed to release the funds to be used for any purpose, even those that are stated in the contract. As a philanthropist, I find it interesting that there was a contract for a gift. Certainly not the way I conduct my donations, but nonetheless, it is what we agreed to. and it has to be abided by. Now, whether or not there are options beyond in the future are to be explored. Quite frankly, I'm not sure if very many of us, if any of us, really understand how this all came about. I know there are people in the community working with the donor to see if they can convince him to release the funds. they may be getting close but then that's been going on for quite some time so unfortunately it's a big mess has been and we've had people who already get up and speak about inadequate funding to correct recreation areas that should not come as a surprise to any of us There are no funds for any infrastructure repair of any significance. Tomorrow's the vote on the infrastructure bond. We'll see what the community thinks. We either support the bond and begin the, investment requirements, or we don't. And if we don't, it'll be interesting to see how we come up with available funds for any of these things. But nonetheless, the Parks Foundation really, I was probably one of the very first members invited to join by former Chair Bruckness. May his heart be in heaven. And it was never clear even to members of the committee what it was all about. very unclear very disorganized to the very end and it hasn't gotten any better so we'll all learn what is going to take place but people had the impression that somehow the foundation had money available to assist their projects that was never the case and certainly is not the case today So there should be no hopes for those kind of funds. Whether or not The remaining $185,000 can be applied to projects yet to be seen. How do we determine what is an acceptable project? Because I can tell you, there will be numerous people, if they believe there's $185,000 available, there are going to be numerous organizations asking for that money. How do you make the determination? deserves it who does not deserve it much to be talked about but it's a problem and it has been a problem and is a problem and these are infrastructure infrastructure items pickleball fields pickleball courts Mackel Park everyone has comments on all of them let's see where we go from here after tomorrow's vote

Appreciate it, Vice Chair. Appreciate all your philanthropic endeavors on the island never go unnoticed. Councilor Goeller.

I had a meeting with Dr. Lucious, and we discussed this issue the other day. I personally think that a pension was paid by the taxpayers. And I think that $1 million, actually $900,000, we should also think about negotiating paying down debt. the debt bond that we have. That would be my personal opinion. Because these taxpayers of this town paid for the bench show, right? And how much is the debt that we have right now? It's about $900,000 is not much, but we can use it to pay down the debt. That's just my opinion. Is there any way we can communicate with that person? You said that you do not communicate much, but you speak with the lawyer?

Yes.

So is there any option we can do that?

Currently, that would not be allowed under the current contract. I think the first step is to address the status of the Parks Foundation. The second step is to open an account with the Clare County Community Foundation. So if we do have residents like the softball players or others who want to make tax-deductible donations for parks projects, they can do that. And then I think the third step is potentially seek an amendment to the contract with the donor. And that amendment, obviously, I would seek guidance from the council on how you would like those funds directed. But at this time, that's not an option.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Schwann?

Thank you. And thank you, Dr. Lucius, for your report. I do have a question for clarification. for the counselors up here and also for the people in the audience and watching at home. And it's in regards to pickleball, the sound barriers, panels that we purchased, the fencing and also the locking time of the gate because I do think there needs to be clarification where those recommendations came to council before we voted on that.

yes thank you and and i did um send a summary email to the council just outlining some of the issues that have been brought up by pickleball players and what the staff has actually implemented in terms of adding the sound panels adding the fencing locking the gate those were recommendations that a representative who was Representing the pickleball players brought to prac prac forwarded those recommendations on to the council Council funded and approved those recommendations and staff implemented them as directed if the direction changes Will implement the change but as of right now we followed the recommendations from the pickleball players themselves Thank you for that clarification

I'll just say I personally, and I think I've said on this dais a few times, I like, and I understand the pathway of the Parks and Rec Foundation due to rules and regulations, but I like taking it out of the governmental domain. I thought it never belonged here personally. If you want to start an organization, a wonderful thing, and be philanthropic and fundraise, that's an incredible thing. These are good problems for the island to have, people that want to donate money. I just thought that that should be done on a personal level. Decide who you want to serve with. I don't want to make decisions on who would be on your board and who you're going to fundraise with. So maybe there will be an alternative solution, but I appreciate the Collier County Foundation, right, as being another great, great organization, another outlet for us. With that, I see nothing else for city manager communication. Moving on to item 11, or excuse me, item 12, the city attorney's report. Light signs if you have any questions for Alan. Alan, anything for us? And you don't have to have anything, but you can if you do.

Thank you. I guess what I'll do is only bring to your attention some of the items we've dealt with with regard to the code liens. As you know, I had identified that luxury homes, we had filed a claim against luxury homes. and they had owed $6,200. After that meeting, they actually paid the $6,200 directly. So that matter is resolved. Federoff O'Neill is another contractor. They owe $6,450. That is pending. That complaint has been served on them, and we're waiting for them to respond to that. The bigger one that I did really want to bring the most to your attention is a problem property that's 910 Ship Court. That property has been an ongoing problem with the city. We have $226,655 in liens, a sizable amount of money. We've chased after them before. There's some issues regarding the owners of the property. We now know that they live in Connecticut, but we're trying to serve them in Connecticut now to chase those funds. The property still is in bad shape, as I understand, and it's difficult for us to deal with that. But I wanted to bring that to your attention because I know it's out there and the public has raised questions about that.

Very good. Thank you, Alan. I see no light signs, so on to item 12, monthly department head reports. Councillors, light signs if you have any questions for any of the department heads. Councillor Goehler.

I only have one question for Mr. Petit. Jeff, would you please clarify for us where are we standing right now for AWT project?

sure the project is scheduled to go out this Sunday for advertisement for the request for qualifications and then once we get that in we'll select a firm presented to counsel for approval and move forward from there so this Sunday it goes to advertisement

Excellent news, Jeff. Thank you. I see no other light signs, and we have nothing under 14, quasi-judicial. Chair Palumbo?

Chair Palumbo, I'm sorry. We do have a gentleman who has to speak on item 13.

Please bring him up. Thank you. Thank you.

That would be Mr. Rick Woodworth.

Hi, Rick Woodworth. Rick, welcome. 908 North Barfield Drive. Well, let's see. What should I talk about tonight? Water, infrastructure. Now, I'm going to switch gears. I thought that there was going to be a report from the finance department, and I wanted to use the opportunity after hearing that report to make some additional comments about the audit process. I think we as a city need to get enough detailed financial information through the audit process To identify problems before they become expensive ones Now while it's in planning is the time to get our auditor on the right track.

I

city recently approved more than a hundred and twelve thousand dollar in water and sewer refunds because of a billing error I think that we need a detailed review of the water and sewer enterprise fund including billing accuracy rate classifications revenue controls and especially the transition to a new meter system and how it will interface to the billing system City's water and sewer budget is as large or larger than the city's operating budget And it has actually more outstanding debt 90 million dollars compared to 20 million dollars to the city So it's not it's not a small operation and it deserves I think a larger amount of tension during the whole audit process we've also had questions about the condition and funding of the police and fire pension plans those funds for those of the people in the audience that don't know now have grown to be a combined total of over 75 million dollars again not a small amount of money and that will continue to grow significantly every year I'd like to say that now is the time to create audit guidelines so that we get more detailed information so that we can make informed decisions. In a perfect world, I would suggest that there should be separate audits for each of these funds along with the city audit. I know there's an additional cost involved to ask for deeper testing. and more detailed reporting, but the greater cost is not knowing the facts about where our money is being spent and how it affects the future of the island. finally I hope that planning for the audit includes getting it as soon as possible if you look back at the history of when the city received the audit in the past our city most of the time received it in March where it could still be an effective management tool to get the audit nearly a year after It doesn't give you much of a tool But we need the tool and we need the information and the water and sewer fund and the police and fire funds are Critical to this city and we've got to take care of them and make sure That they're fully funded and accountable for the benefit of the people involved. Thank you.

Thank you We have no other registered speakers.

All right No, no, no, no. You're public speaking item 20, sir.

We got you covered. We're on to item 14, which we have nothing under quasi-judicial public hearings. So we're going on to find 15 ordinances, 15 A.I. or A.1. Second reading of an ordinance. Joan, would you read that into the record, please?

Yes, this is ordinance 26-05, the second reading. And I'm reading the title into record. An ordinance of the city of Marco Island, Florida, amending chapter 22, fire prevention and protection. Article 2, fire prevention and protection code of the city of Marco Island, code of ordinances. to create Section 22-39, fees, payment, deadline, enforcement, to impose fees to establish a deadline for the payment of fees imposed by Chapter 22, and to provide that the failure to timely pay such fees constitutes an enforceable violation, providing for codification, providing for conflict, providing for severability, and providing an effective date. Thank you.

Thank you. Chief Byrne?

Council, good evening. Chris Byrne, Fire Chief. As was read by the City Clerk, this is the second reading of an amendment to the City's Fire Prevention and Protection Code. The ordinance in its present form lacks a uniform process of payment and enforcement of delinquent fees, and that's what this amendment will create. it'll establish that uniform process for assessment payment and collection of fees and Will require fees are paid within 45 days of notice It'll establish a non-payment violation of city code and it'll clarify that fire fees in the future will be established and amended by City Council resolution And with that I can answer any questions counselors light signs if you have questions councillor Schwan

Yes, thank you, Chief Byrne, for the presentation. I'd just like to make a motion to approve the second reading of this amendment.

I'll second it. Motion by Councilor Schwan, second by Councilor Gray. Anybody sign up for public comment?

We have no registered speakers.

I don't see any light signs. Before you call the roll, I had one quick comment. I thought Jason Bailey, planning board chairman, made an excellent email to us regarding some noticing of these. I'm not going to hold up this second reading. I don't think it's the time and place, but it is something I'll speak to the city manager on myself, and I encourage you. Basically, if you're not familiar, just a good suggestion as a contractor with when we notice these and how much notice we give before change takes effect to make it a little easier. But with that, I see no other light signs. Call the roll, please.

Councilor Schvann.

Yes.

Councilor Gray. Yes. Vice Chair Champaign. Yes. Councilor Henry. Yes. Councilor Goler. Yes. Councilor Dome. Yes. Chair Palumbo.

Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Thank you. Congratulations, Chief. Thank you. All right. Nothing for 15B. So we're on to Item 16. 16A, termination of contract with Ron Elbook for lobbying services. Just to note, Ron is on Zoom call should we have any questions. And Raina Brown, I believe she's here. Raina, good to see you again. She's attending in person. Casey, I'm going to turn this over to you.

Yes, thank you. Council, at the July 20, 2026 operating workshop, members of the council agreed to revisit this lobbying contract. The city has had a contract with Ronald L. Book for lobbying services since 2014. In 2024, the city conducted a bidding process, and we received three bids. Council awarded the contract again to Ronald L. Book for $82,500 per year. Over 10 years, Ron Book's firm has secured approximately $10 million in state funding for the city of Marco Island. And city staff has had a productive working relationship with his firm. The contract that we currently have is in place until September 30, 2027, but can be terminated with a seven-day written notice. And as the chairman mentioned, Ronna Brown is here in the audience, and Mr. Book is on Zoom. So the recommendation tonight is for the council to discuss whether or not you want to terminate the lobbying contract or if you want to stay with Mr. Book's lobbying services. You could also have a discussion and consider transitioning to a federal lobbyist or foregoing all lobbying services at this time.

Councilor's light signs for questions. Councilor Gray, you're up first.

Thank you. And I was one of the people that leaned into this conversation just to declare my questions. It's a fair amount of money. I'm a big fan of Warren Buffett who says, price is what you pay, value is what you receive. I'm always trying to understand if there's real value here, we could fix the Winterberry ballpark with $82,000 or a big piece of it. So I'm just very conscious of where we should apply what our scarce resources are in the most productive ways we can. I don't know the history on the 10 million and whether we secured the 10 million and actually spent the 10 million or whether part of that was secured and not deployed, but I'm really looking for how we should justify to ourselves that this is a wise investment by Marco Island for the benefit from a lobbying standpoint And for me, I was a little concerned over the last year or two that the loss of home rule conversations and a number of things. I personally was interested in joining the SB 180 lawsuit and raising questions about the live local. think some of the commentary I got from our advisor was that we shouldn't lean into that these were substantive topics in Tallahassee so I'm just trying to understand how we use this money productively and constructively and what's the best way to approach it and there wasn't anything attached in terms of a memo about how we should think about the services and how we should define value. I'll just stop there. Those are my concerns.

All right. Councillor Dome, you're up next. Dr. Lucius, just to confirm, you said $82,000 a year as a salary, 10 years, so $820,000. In that 10 years, you brought in $10 million. Well, not really impressive, considering Al Musico and I at the old ad hoc marketing committee brought in $15 million over about the same period with no salary. So, you know, I'm not real impressed. Thank you.

All right.

Councillor Schwan.

Yes, thank you. I would like to bring up, and I concur with both of the councillors just said, but also I just think from a financial point at this time, our money can be better spent in another place and maybe possibly down the road work more with a federal lobbyist where I think we could be possibly getting a better bang for our buck on that. So thank you.

Councilor Henry.

Actually, I agree with everyone. And if to stimulate the conversation or to put it on our list of things, I do think especially with depending on how the vote goes in November, the money to be had will be from the federal level, not from the state level.

So you know where the light signs? I don't know if any of you reached out and spoke to Ron. I did in great detail. I don't like the fact that we need a lobbyist, but that's part of the way the game is played in Tallahassee and in DC. 10 million over 10 years sounds like a pretty good track record. I know last year we didn't get any money. So I'm thinking myself, when you keep asking, maybe this year now we're due to receive. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. You have what's considered the best lobbyist in the state. And so I'm not so sure. My concern is if we sever this today, then we have to go back at some other point to Tallahassee and start reinserting Marco Island there and asking again and sending a lobbyist up there. Remember those folks on Marco that didn't want to advocate for themselves. Or maybe that's not a way to put it, but that decided to go in a different direction maybe. So I'm not so sure I want to sever the relationship. I don't know if there's any type of performance contract this could be, or if they don't bring any money in, it could be cut in half. I don't know if we could ask for a discount on the yearly cost, just in good will. But I'm not so sure it's a service I want to just immediately move away from myself. It's produced good results over time. And we're going to need a voice there, especially now more than ever. So that's just my thoughts on it. Has anybody signed up to comment on this?

We have no registered speakers on this item.

Ron, did you want to weigh in? Or Anna, did you want to weigh in or make any comments on this?

Mr. Chairman, I would love the opportunity.

If you could just identify yourself so we know you.

There you go. Thank you. And I want to just say I appreciated the opportunity to visit with you. And I will also say that in the 11 years of representation, this is the first meeting that I've missed. And as you know, I'm still recovering from a torn rotator cuff surgery. I'm on day 22, the most miserable experience I've ever had. And as I think I told you, I'm a guy that at 23 years old got struck by lightning. Nothing compares to what I've just been through. But I apologize for not being there in person. Ronna Brown from the firm who does so much of your work is there. Let me say the following. First of all, we have appreciated the opportunity to represent you and your taxpayers all 11 years. We have done what I think is extraordinarily exceptional work for you. In the 11 years, there's only one year that you did not get an appropriation, and that was this year. The second time where money didn't flow in answer to that one question, didn't flow, you've had one veto in 11 years and one project that didn't get funded. There were a number of things that contributed to that. None of it related to displeasure about Marco Island or the lobbying effort. There were other political things that got into the way of it. I think we have put Marco Island on the map. I think you've been treated to the point, to the dollars and cents. And look, I'm not an elected official. So unlike electeds, I don't have that same platform. I would say, number one, earmarks in Washington, D.C. are still not really happening. So you can look for earmarks there in using a federal lobbyist. but they don't happen. Look around the state at all the local governments that have federal lobbying, and I applaud those that do it, but the return on the dollars aren't there. You've gotten the average of a million dollars a year over the course of the 11 years, just under that, but right there, 10.3, 10.4 million in 11 years. That's a great track record, no matter where you are. We are hungry to do your work. We don't want to lose the opportunity to represent you. If what you would like us to do, and by the way, same fee all the way through. We haven't altered it. We've stayed with it. We're proud of what we've done. We want to continue. If you want me to sharpen my pencil, Mr. Chairman, councillors, we are happy to sit down with staff. We are happy to sit down with the chair. and try to find a happy median so you feel like some dollars are spared. But some notion that there aren't going to be dollars coming from Tallahassee, there will be. The last revenue estimate, which was done last Thursday or Friday, showed an additional billion dollars of recurring general revenue to come into the budget. Our job is to stay abreast of those things, not wait for somebody else to tell us about it. I think you lose ground when you pull out and you're not doing the things that we do to make sure your voice is heard. You have a new Senate member coming in. She knows the city. You've got a house member that we're not necessarily as a local government on her strongest place, but that's what you have us for. You have us to work those members that need to advocate on your behalf our job is to be creative in that advocacy um we don't want to lose you as a client i'm sorry i'm unable to be there but there's never been a moment in time we haven't been responsive to your staff to the administration and there's never been a time since the beginning of our representation where your staff has not been equally responsive when we've needed information from them along the way our job is to be educated on your needs our job is to help guide you on what we think will sell i would say you're going to have a new governor from southwest florida the time to strike is in his first year not wait till his second year first year time that the senate people are going to want to help the new senator will be her first year not her second year as much I would urge that you look at the breadth of this and hopefully consider giving us the opportunity to continue on your behalf. And we don't do it on our own. We do it on your behalf.

Very good.

Thank you.

Sorry. Thank you, Ron. I did say, did I have a light sign that was on? I saw one.

I turned it off.

Okay. Counselors, any other light signs? All right. Do we have anybody signed up for public comment on this?

We have no registered speakers.

Okay. Please come on up.

Please. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Of course. To answer questions about the types of projects that we've worked on for the city, what we do is work with your department staff to determine what the needs are in the immediate for the city so that we can then gauge what is the appropriate project that goes to Tallahassee for the request. We help shape what the city needs with your staff. so that the projects are in their best light, so that your legislators can really promote them to the people that they work for funding towards, the leadership and then the governor's office. And I think that formula has been a very winning formula over the years. I did bring a list with me. These are infrastructure projects that deal with flooding, water quality, some transportation projects, a fire suppressing vehicle for the fire department, which we helped with getting the funding allocated over the time that the fire truck was ordered and keeping that in the budget until it was incurred. And I think all of these projects aren't the jazzy projects that make it into the newspaper. But I think the projects are extremely valuable to the city. And I think that without the state funding and without our efforts, I think that the city would have to foot the bill totally on your own. So I think the return on investment has been excellent. I think for our fee, earning a million plus each year for the last 11 years, I think it's worth noting, and I wanted to just let you know that that's where we come from. We do enjoy representing the city, and I appreciate your listening to me tonight.

Very good. Thank you. Any questions for me? All right. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Guys, I'm going to make – Councillor Gray, your light sign's on.

We needed this conversation, and so I really appreciate your joining us and having it. A little bit intimidating when you've been working on this that long, and then you profile a governor in his first year and a senator in his first year, and that actually the timing could be pretty effective – So I've only been here for just close to two years, and so my experience is a little different, it's a little narrower. And you're right, it does you a disservice over a 10-year period. My first reaction, I definitely want some input from my associates up here, is, Maybe one more year might do something very productive for all of our benefit, but I'd like to make sure that we at least put guardrails on our expectations and see where this goes. But I'm a little haunted by this presentation on whether this is the time to cut and run. I do believe you're making a great effort on our behalf, and I greatly appreciate that, and I know there's a lot of noise. There are a lot of things going for Marco Island over the last couple of years as it relates to Tallahassee, but it didn't yield any outcome. So I would really welcome some input. The question about whether you go at the federal level or not, I think we're all up here sincerely trying to figure out how to make best use of this resource and how you apply it. So I'm a little haunted. I was definitely inclined to thinking it was not going to be an acceptable return. Now I don't know about it. Now I'm thinking maybe a year more is worth paying attention to, but I don't know. Please join in.

Steve, we've got some light signs. I'll address that at the end, but Councilor Schwan is up first.

Yes, thank you. I guess I'm going to reiterate, we are in such a financial crunch in our city with our revenues, and we have some really large impact votes coming up, and I just think we have to prepare the best we can for this, and I think I would prefer that we do terminate it now at the end of this fiscal year, see where we're at, and we can always reinitiate this contract at a later date. It's very possible, too. But we have not identified new revenue sources. And so what we have to be looking at is where can we save money. This is over $80,000. I think that's a significant amount. So that is the reason I take the position I'm taking.

Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Henry.

Interesting, Councillor Gray, that you said that. And I agree with you. But it's gambling, right? If your table's winning, you're afraid to walk away. but we haven't been winning, but maybe this one last toss of the dice could get us something. So I completely get what you're saying, because it is, there is a chance. But then also, and I thank you for your words, and I agree, but then we just had State Representative Benaroche complete her first term, and she basically said, we are the rich community and our tax dollars and everything is distributed through the state to other counties that need more than we do. So it's a gamble. Could it happen? Could it not? But could we do better things with the $80,000? Or is it on a judgment call, like, OK, well, let's negotiate the price. And they know that this is to show or shut up. So it's a toss-up. I would not pay full price, because they've made that clear that negotiating is an option. But it is one of those that's kind of like, do you extend for one more year, but then You're in the casino hall and all the bright lights, and you're like, do I take one more year? So I don't know, but I agree. It's a gamble. But my concern is we just finished with State Representative Benaroche, and she basically told us there was nothing to get. Thank you. Thank you.

Thanks, Chair Champagne.

I think we find ourselves in a very, very challenging situation here. The state is going to, the governor, is going to amend Amendment 3 and come out with a new referendum, possibly any day now. So the question is, will the Homestead Reduction Act pass? You want to talk about a gamble? There's a gamble. Will most voters in Florida who are complaining about affordability pass up on the opportunity to vote in favor of a homestead reduction act I don't think so if I was gambling I would say they're going to pass that and if they pass it I don't think there's any doubt in anyone's mind in this room or on TV we have some real problems so here's part of the gamble Do you spend $82,000 in hopes that you can get something when you're going to be struggling to find $82,000 to cut? So yeah, you spend it. You're rolling the dice. He's been successful in getting money in the past. You have to give him credit for that. Is it as much as we'd all like? Hey, I'm not sure we expected what he got. So you've got to give him credit to some extent. On the other hand, we know or feel quite sure we're going to be really short of revenue, really short. And we're going to be looking for every dollar to cut. The sad part is if it's as bad as we all think it's going to be, we're going to lose over a million dollars if this passes Amendment 3. We're going to have to look. to more than just cutting expenses for paper and copying. We're gonna have to look at what projects go. Do we look at what people go? I mean, we're looking at serious, serious issues. If we choose to pay the $82,000 and roll the dice, I guarantee you if Amendment 3 passes, which I believe it will, we'll be sorry. If it doesn't pass, we'll be sorry that we didn't spend $82,000 to have our lobbyists working for us. So here we are. We're caught in the middle of a serious, serious problem. And the best we can do is make an educated guess, pro or con. All we're going to do is guess. We can't prove anything at this juncture, except that we have real serious financial challenges. There's no doubt about that. What the solutions are, we don't have. So that's my comment. I don't know what the heck to do, to be perfectly honest with you. because it's a difficult this is probably one of the more difficult decisions not because of the amount of money but the decision based on knowing what we think we're going to be facing is it worth the roll of the dice or not i don't know

Well, maybe Councilor Goler's got the answer. We'll see what she has to say. Councilor Goler, you're up. No pressure. You're up next.

First of all, thank you for your service. You guys have done a tremendous job, and we are very appreciative of that. And unfortunately, to pick up from my colleagues where they left it, right now our priorities are concentrating to take care of our own municipality as much as possible. And we don't know what we need. And $80,000 might not be much of money, but it might pay some of our staff salary. So we have to be very careful in knowing that there is really not much money to bring home at this point. We are looking at, just like Councillor Henry said, Yvette Benaroche already said that, yes, we are not getting much. She got $6 million for the city of Naples. We didn't get much. So I think I'm going to support my colleague's decision. And I'm very sorry. But it was lovely working with you.

Councilor Dunn.

This question is more for the city manager and Mr. Gabriel. I don't want to overstep my boundary and negotiate here. But there might be an option. Would Mr. Book entertain a commission structure where he could actually make more in the year the more he brings to us? Is that something that he's willing to talk about?

Mr. Chairman? Please, Ron, please, yes. You have the floor. A couple of things. First of all, you can't do commission-based agreements. They're prohibited by Florida law. Can't do them. Wish I could because I'm confident enough that we will produce what you're looking for us to produce. That's first of all, track record speaks for itself. Let me go back for just a minute to Councilor Champagne's comments about Amendment 3. First of all, for everybody's benefit, every opportunity I've had from Pensacola to Jacksonville to Daytona over to the Tampa Bay area to South Florida, i have spoken at several dozen chambers of commerce organizations and other business groups against the amendment that's first of all i think it's important to speak up and speak out because you all are limited as to what you can do number two i am based on the james madison institute poll that came out last week that originally showed it at 70 passage that when introduced as to what it will cost in lost police, fire, parks, et cetera, it went down to 55%. That's the highest it's ever been towards passage. I'm frankly more bullish and I'm prepared to go to that gambling table and gamble that I'm right. And what I would suggest again is give me an opportunity to sharpen the pencil bring our feet down, and then quite candidly, if we get to November the 3rd and the amendment passes, let's revisit the issue and we can either discontinue at that point or we can cut it further to get you to a better place. Walking away, in my opinion, isn't walking away from the craps table. It's walking away from real opportunity, certainty, comfort level, track record. I love Representative Benarach. I don't agree with her. She's mistaken as to what the availability will be. And I would suggest to you that your new senator is coming in with a strong leadership vibe to get things done and to bring things back to the community. Our job is to figure it out. Our job is to make it happen. That's what I would gamble we will do on your behalf. Am I prepared to cut my fees? I am. Am I prepared to work to November and see what happens? And if Councilor Champagne is right and it passes, address it then. But I'm telling you, A, I'll sharpen the pencil, cut some now with an offer that if it passes in November, we can revisit the issue.

Thank you, Ron. I'm going to take my go-around team. I see a few light signs on again, but I'll go with mine. A couple of things. I made a few notes. First of all, just big picture. I think we live in a paradise. I think we are well-funded. I think we had one of the lowest millage rates in the entire state. I think it was two or three years running. We were top three lowest millage rates. We funded an entire community. We have an entire staff out of those 15 lowest taxation cities in the entire state of Florida. one of the most heavily populated states in the whole country. We managed to offer full services, knock debt down, maintain a AA bond rating. We're in good shape. If the citizens listen to us, you'd think we're ready to go bankrupt. Do we have to tighten the belt? Yes. Did we get caught in the fact that we were tightening the belt for eight years and then now the state started? Yes. That absolutely did not help. That's a double whammy. And it didn't help with the spending cap that we are basing it on last year's already underinflated value, let's say. But with that, I think we're in good shape overall. A couple things I heard Ron say. I have much better faith in the state of Florida than I do in the federal government giving us money. This is a much better run state. We have surpluses. We're in great shape even if we do cut some taxation to the citizens. I think he's right, and I would feel much more confident lobbying Florida for money than the federal government Now, if we're a wealthy community and we don't send somebody to Tallahassee to voice for us, what happens if we don't voice at all? You think anybody's going to care about Marco Island? We probably need to scream twice as loud because we're a wealthier community and not be forgotten. It's been that way for years. And when you hear me talk about Faye Biles, the Marco Island Taxpayers Association, she used to fight for us decades ago every single county commissioner meeting, voicing, don't forget Marco Island. But I understand and I respect your opinions, tightening the belt. But, Counsel, let's not forget, look, no disrespect, I don't want to make bad blood here, but we were going to go into reserves for a beach mat we didn't like to build a boardwalk. And now we're talking about $85,000 terminating a position I wouldn't do before I give a 10-year relationship an opportunity to come back and see what he could do for us. I'm certainly willing to wait a meeting to listen to what Ron Book could present. if it's advantageous for us in the cities citizens we can look at it so i don't feel i need to terminate this tonight i'd like to hear what i'd like to hear how sharp he could make that pencil and the citizens will see that we did their bidding we had a great conversation about this and then we can make a decision if it's worth it to move forward or not i think losing our voice in tallahassee is a mistake personally i think we need to keep it and i think this year we need to scream loud and clear you forgot about us last year so don't do it again and i think ron's the guy that could do it personally But with that, I see some more light signs. Councillor Schwan.

Yes, thank you. So as I said before, it's so important that we look for where we can save money. We have to save money. And I think this is a significant amount. So I'd like to make a motion to terminate the lobbying contract with Runbook effective at the end of this fiscal year.

Do we have a motion?

I'll second it.

Motion by Councillor Schwan, second by Councillor Dunham. All right, light signs are stuck. Councillor Schwan, anything else to add to that? Yeah. OK, thank you. Councillor Gray.

Well, I'm a little sheepish here, because I've been very serious about expense discipline. And I really appreciate, Councillor Schwan, your motion. I'll ask you that this is kind of a Las Vegas variation. I appreciate the gambling concept. My understanding is this contract can be canceled in seven days. Is that accurate? OK, the run rate on this is $6,833 a month. We've got them covered in the budget through 930. I'm not sure how I'm going to vote yet, just to give you that courtesy. I really appreciate this conversation. I needed it. But I'm sitting here thinking there's a new council in early November. That's $7,500. between 9.30 and getting into next year's budget to assess, one, what happens with this amendment and everything else. The one thing that I really wanted to accomplish and that I've done here was to see if everybody was focused on the importance of the execution, et cetera. I'M REALLY GOING TO WAIT AND WATCH. I COULD GO EITHER WAY ON THIS VOTE, BUT FOR ME, I WOULD PUT A VERY SHORT FUSE ON THE ASSESSMENT, AND I'D HAVE THIS ON THE AGENDA AT A MINIMUM FOR EARLY NOVEMBER TO REVISIT WHAT THAT DECISION IS SO THAT AT LEAST YOU COULD PROTECT ABOUT $75,000. I DO.

THANK YOU, COUNCILOR. COUNCIL, LET'S FINISH UP WITH OUR THOUGHTS. WE HAVE A LOT OF OTHER THINGS ON THE AGENDA TONIGHT, SO VICE CHAIR CHAMPAGNE?

YEAH, I THINK I'M COMING TO GRIPS WITH A PERSONAL DECISION. And I liked Ron's comments that he just recently made here in the last few minutes. I think we continue to contract as it is with some negotiation yet to be determined what that leads to and revisit it after the election in November and decide at that juncture whether we wish to terminate it because of Amendment 3. or or not but let's go let's make the effort state focused in the short term to see what we can do with a negotiated contract to be revisited after the election in november new council decides what to do at that juncture can be canceled in seven days. You're not losing anything. You're not really taking a dangerous gamble here. I think it's worthwhile to continue the relationship. Councilor Henry.

I agree with Chair Palumbo in the fact of First step, I would like to see the renegotiation. I want to see it before you. And then talk about it next week or next meeting if we can. And I agree. Also, why don't we extend, say, the contract? Again, you can do it in seven days or as part of the negotiation. have the contract go, I believe, November 16th is a Monday. It would be right after the election that we could have it on the agenda. So I guess my question is, if we want to have a vote on what has already been brought forward, or if you guys would want to change your mind and we could bring forth another.

Well, we have a motion in a second. What you're saying is you're suspecting four councillors are not going to vote for us. I don't want to put words in your mouth.

That's where I feel.

You could ask Councillor Schwan if she'd like to withdraw.

That's your choice. I just wanted to ask if not, we can vote and we can see where it goes.

I do not want to. Okay.

So I see no other light signs. Anybody signed up to speak on this?

We have no registers. Okay.

Call the roll, please.

Yes, sir.

Councilor Schwan.

Yes.

Councilor Dome.

Yes.

Councilor Gray.

Yes.

Councilor Goler.

Yes.

Vice Chair Champaign.

No.

Councilor Henry.

No.

Chair Palumbo.

No. Motion passes 4-3. Contract is terminated. We are moving on to 16B. A discussion with the city council regarding the city attorney fee structure. Alan Gabriel. Alan, you are up.

Thank you. I'm not sure it's a good time to be having this conversation. I mean, it's everything, right? Apropos. Touché. Okay. So I'll just bring it quickly to the discussion forum. So at your budget workshop, we had talked about raising the city attorney hourly rate to, I guess it was to $325 an hour and a retainer of $13,500 just to remind you. The hourly rate applies to every lawyer that comes before you from the firm. It's a blended rate that covers all of us from the top to the bottom. And the retainer covers all the public hearings and meetings that you have, including conversations with counsel and staff and whatever that might be. And then you had asked, indicated a desire to have some options be presented to you, which I presented in different contexts to give you different opportunities, whether to lower the retainer now and raise it later, or the hourly rate consistent with that. It's your choice to make a decision.

Pretty good. Thank you, Alan. First light sign, Council Gray.

Just one quick question. Looking at the options, and I appreciate them, under Option one or slash option two, it talks about a 4% increase or the CPI, whichever is greater. Why couldn't that be the lesser of those two as opposed to the greater of those two or just the CPI? It could be either one. It's defined right now as 4% or the CPI, whichever is greater. So could we just strike that? Because that's actually the year two of this contract, or the concept about the next price increase of next year.

Yes, sir. That would be the next, the following, the upcoming year.

Right. So I welcome the input from my associates that option one looked pretty responsible, but I was trying to build the road ahead. and whether or not, I just didn't understand why it should be the greater of 4% of the CPI.

It set a floor, actually, of 4%, and it would always be at least 4% in that context. And if CPI was higher, of course, it would be that. But frankly, we have contracts that we just set a regular percentage and just let that happen.

And then the other alternative for us is we just move forward with one of these options and then We both reevaluate where we're at a year from now.

Honestly, I work for you every day. It's a new day. You can terminate me with a new, this is not a contract proposal that I have a guarantee of a year. This is an hourly rate that we're establishing. And at any time, you could change any of that. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you, Counselor. Vice Chair Champagne?

Yeah, I favor option one with a fixed rate of 4% going forward. I think that's the simplest one to choose from my perspective. So that's my contribution here.

I see no other light signs. I liked option one also. I liked the fixed rate, to tell you the truth. I was kind of in between the two of them, option one and two. To be real honest, I can kind of go either way, to be truthful. I do think our city attorney is fair with us, I think, in the pricing. I've asked around. I said my wife's in the legal field. He's mentioned to us where other communities are paying. They seem like they're willing to work with us. And I also know that, Alan, I mean, I know there's a lot of conversations, times, and things that happen where we're not directly billed for, it's called a goodwill or fair treatment. So I can go either way, but those are the two that are sticking out in my mind. So I'm between one and two. Councilors, any other light signs? Anybody else want to add any input to this? Alan, what do you need from us? Just some direction on this, consensus?

Give me direction, and I'll come back with a proposed letter for approval. Or you can just give me direction, and we'll bring it back for a consent agenda, and you can just accept it then.

Well, we got the whisperings of one, one, two, one, two, that first section there, option one or two. Stephen, you were the first one, the 13-5 in the hour. Is that what you're leaning towards?

Yes, it is. I could make a motion to that if that helps you, or we can wait for the concerns.

It would help if you gave me the motion, because then I can bring it back, and assuming there's no complaint or question, it can just be approved in that context.

Well, I'll take a run on making a motion on option one at a fixed rate of 4%.

So option one is without the percentage increase.

There's no percentage increase that would be negotiated in the future period. Is that correct, Alan? Yes, sir.

So let's start with we have a motion. We have a second. Let's open up for dialogue. Vice Chair, I think you want to blend them maybe at the 4% to option one. I'm not sure. But light signs to jump in on the conversation. Right now we have a motion by Councillor Gray, a second by Councillor Goehler for option one. The original proposal rate increases at $325 per hour with a monthly retainer of $13,500. Councillor Henry, your light sign's on.

I also support option one without number two because we can't predict how markets are going to go and why would we agree to a price increase before we know prices have to increase.

Good point. I see no other light signs. Anybody signed up to speak on this?

No public speakers on this issue.

Call the roll, please.

if I might just ask please since it was that simple

Get out when you can.

Boy, when you start with that, I'm kind of concerned. My only point was the last time we did something similar to this, it was adopted by a letter of amendment. that I can present that to the chair based upon what we've already discussed. Unless council wants to see it, I'll just have the chairs sign off on it. But if you want to see it back again, I'll put it. If that's the path, Casey, any concerns with any of this? If that's the proven path we've used for the years? It's still not effective until October 1st anyway. So, yeah.

Any objections to that, council?

It just means it doesn't come back again as an agendized item. Perfect, Alan. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. We are... Moving right along. Does anybody need a break, counselors?

No, but can we turn the heat up?

It's dropped like four degrees.

It's too hot. It's too cold. We are... Forgive me. We're moving on to what? 16C, I believe. Correct?

Yes.

The resolution.

Joan, would you read that resolution to the record, please? Thank you. I'm reading resolution 26-35 by title into record. A resolution of the City Council of the City of Marco Island, Florida authorizing the lease purchasing financing of the acquisition of a Pierce Enforcer Pumper and related equipment. Approving the form and authorizing the execution and delivery of Schedule Number 999-0007090-03-01-LN005 with Truist Equipment Finance Corporation. Approving the form of the authorizing and execution and delivery of a project fund agreement in connection therewith, authorizing the execution and delivery of other documents required in connection therewith, making certain covenants and agreements in connection therewith, and providing an effective date. Thank you. Chief Byrd, thank you.

Good evening, Council. Chris Byrne, Fire Chief. The item before you is to replace one of our fire engines. I first brought this item to you during our capital budget workshop, and actually I've brought this up for a couple years, and you're well aware of the reliability issue we're having with an aging fleet. Our fleet is aging, as is the city infrastructure. So we propose a replacement of one of our engines that's a 2010 model at replacement. It will be 18 years old. The need for the replacement is a little bit about reliability issues. It was out of service for 72 days in fiscal year 25. It's out of service right now. It's been out of service since July 10th. It's been out of service a total of 55 days in FY26. The reason for the lengthy delays of it being out of service is when you're at 16 years, parts are just very limited for this vehicle. We continue to experience reliability issues. Some of this is due to corrosion from Hurricane Irma storm surge. We're proposing a procurement strategy as to utilize the competitively bid NPP gov cooperative purchasing contract that will reduce the delivery time from 36 months to 18 months. And we've also brought price savings of about $200,000. This proposal is $200,000 less than the truck was last year through the use of this contract. The total acquisition cost is just a little over a million dollars that includes $100,000 of equipment and installation. We propose a $350,000 down payment from the fire engine, the fire rescue capital replacement fund. That money does exist there. And the remaining balance, as you heard in the title, to be leased through a 10-year capital lease with truest leasing at a 4.65% interest rate. There is no fiscal year 27 funding required for this item. This item is brought to you today to get the unit ordered and get it here in fiscal year 28, and at that time is when the debt service payments will start. With that, I'm here to answer any questions.

Thank you, Chief. I see some light signs. Councillor Henry.

Thank you so much, Chief Byrne, for all the background. The paperwork on this was very impressive and it was very well presented, so thank you for that. And with that, I move to approve.

I will second it.

We have a motion by Councillor Henry, second by Councillor Goeller. Councillor Gray, your light sign is on.

Thank you. I'm about to expose how sad my personal life is because I dove into the accounting here. And actually, this links to all three fire trucks. It's really straightforward. I'm very supportive of us doing this, but The three fire trucks, the payment of 184 on the one which I asked to pull from the consent agenda, the 350,000 for another one in the down payment, and the 250 all adds up to $782,000. And we've identified $703,000 in that capital improvement fund of 1609 5 I do understand there's a timing difference and this may not be fair to ask you or maybe it's for the accounting department I do understand the timing difference but in approving all three of those were approving 782,000 the funds got 703 now there may be part of the strategy that we're refilling that that capital improvement budget with the 26 or 27 budget and I was just trying to make sure we had the funds that we were allocating. I didn't know if that $700,000 had other uses that we might be taking away from it. In other words, somehow do we fund the $82,000 so we meet all three of these obligations? And then the last question is, it seems like every one of these leases has a balloon payment on the end. I couldn't tell whether there was a risk of balloon payment at the end of the maturity than these other leases that we need to capture the funding for that as well. So I just wanted to make sure that the flow of funds was covered correctly. Those are why I asked the questions.

Okay, I can answer a couple of them and then it may be the finance director or the budget manager. The capital, the contribution to the capital fund would shift to debt service for these trucks. There is no balloon payment for the truck that I'm proposing right now, nor the latter truck, which is the next one. So coming out of the capital fund, what we're asking today will be $350,000 as the down payment for this truck. The only other amount coming out of that capital fund is the item you pulled from the agenda, from the consent agenda.

I thought the $250,000 was earmarked on the other truck to come from that capital fund as well.

No, that we're trying to avoid paying that balloon payment by ordering the next agenda item.

So then the total usage... against that $703,000 would be the $184,000 plus the $350,000. Correct. And we're satisfied that there's sufficient funds remaining for whatever future purposes?

Yes.

I'm done with my questions. I just was haunted by the accounting.

Well, I see no other light signs. Chief, how long did we talk on it, 30 minutes, 35 minutes? Yes, sir. We had a great detailed conversation, started with Chief Byrne. And I'll speak about C&D, although we're on C. You're going to be asking for $3.5 million. Tell me why we should grant it.

Yes, sir.

Well, first of all, we need fire equipment, right? That's number one. We went into great detail. Price improvement. These are better constructed vehicles, just a little more heavy-duty than the previous, a little more beefed up. We talked about the firehouse, the cleanliness, the condition. I presume this vehicle looked the same way. Maybe there's some value at the end of the lease. We got 18 years out of one. impressively, but now it's at the end of its life. So after those detailed questions, detailed conversation, I was thoroughly convinced that this is a good purchase. So I, of course, will support it. Anybody signed up to speak on this?

No registered speakers.

Call the roll, please.

Yes, sir. Counselor Henry?

Yes.

Counselor Goler?

Yes.

Counselor Schwan?

Yes.

Counselor Dome? Yes. Counselor Gray? Yes. Vice Chair Champaign? Yes. Chair Palumbo?

Yes. Motion passes 7-0. On to item 16D, resolution. Joan, would you please read that into the record for us, please? Chief, you might as well stay right there. I'm staying right there. Thank you.

THANK YOU. THIS IS RESOLUTION 26-36 BY TITLE INTO RECORD. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MARCO ISLAND, FLORIDA, AUTHORIZING THE LEASE PURCHASING PERCH FINANCING OF THE ACQUISITION OF A PEARCE ENFORCER 100-FOOT ASCENT LADDER TOWER AND RELATED EQUIPMENT. APPROVING THE FORM AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF A MASTER LEASE. slash purchase agreement, including schedule number 999-0007090-03-01-LN004. They're under with Truist Equipment Finance Corporation. approving the form of and authorizing the execution and delivery of a project fund agreement in connection therewith, authorizing the execution and delivery of other documents required in connection therewith, making certain covenants and agreements in connection therewith, and providing effective date. Thank you.

Thank you, Chief Byrne, once again.

Thank you. Good evening, Council. Chris Byrne, Fire Chief. As spoken by the City Clerk, this item is for the replacement of our ladder truck. Our current ladder truck was purchased in 2018, and it was financed through a 10-year turn-in lease. So in 2028, the vehicle either needs to be turned in or a balloon payment paid. Due to the reliability and maintenance issues of this vehicle, as you're aware, excessive out of service time, 160 days out of service in 2025, and another 67 days so far this fiscal year. we are recommending replacement rather than taking ownership of this vehicle. As we will utilize, we're recommending the same procurement strategy, and that is utilizing the competitively bid and PPGov cooperative purchasing contract. That contract does reduce the delivery time from 25 to 27 months down to right around 20 months, meeting our May 2028 deadline. The amount is $2.5 million, and that includes about $105,000 in equipment and installation. We're recommending financing this through a 10-year capital lease with Truist Equipment Finance. This is no balloon. At the end of 10 years, we have ownership. The 10-year term has a 4.65 interest rate. And again, there's no FY27 funding required for placing this order. The lease payments will begin upon delivery of the apparatus in FY28. And with that, I can answer any questions.

Thank you chief counselor Henry Again excellent information, and then I just need you to promise that you're not going to ask for anything for a while Can you can you define a while?

Yes, yes I want to say because it's the second time you've mentioned the the documents these weren't done by me alone this required a tremendous team from the city manager to the finance department to our city attorney, to our bond counsel, this was quite a process to get both of these before you, and it was absolutely a team effort.

Well, they do not recommend it.

Councillor, would you make that motion again, please?

I move to approve another fire trip.

Do we have a motion by Councillor Henry, second by Councillor Gray? Councillor Gray, your light sign is on, your light sign is off. I see no other light signs. I agree. Chief and I had a much more detailed conversation about a vehicle that's 10 years old. The type, the quality, what the new one's going to look like, how we're going to own it, the way it'll be maintained, how much life we can get out of it. I was satisfied with the answers, and I appreciated the time you spent explaining to me. Anybody signed up for public comment?

No speakers on this issue.

Pull the roll, please.

Counselor Henry?

Yes.

Counselor Gray? Yes. Vice Chair Champaign? Yes. Counselor Goller? Yes. Counselor Dome? Yes. Counselor Schwan? Yes. Chair Palumbo?

Yes. Congratulations.

Counsel, thank you for your support.

Thank you. Ride safely. Did you just say that? I love it. We are moving on to 16E, city manager performance evaluation from human resources director Diana Snover. Diana, please. Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, council. Tonight we are discussing the city manager evaluation form and the content. We previously discussed this during the February 17th council meeting when concerns were raised about the portions of the evaluations being a little bit too subjective. so vice chairman Champaign and myself recreated the form and that was then presented at the July 20th council meeting during that meeting I was tasked to work with councillor Henry which she and I did meet on July 27th to go over the form we conducted a detailed review and during our meeting we did determine that no additional changes were necessary based on the July 20th discussion the only changes that were ultimately made to the evaluation were those that were recommended by city manager lucius during the july 20th council meeting specifically those changes were to eliminate areas of redundancy so we removed in section two goal number four which was council relations and governance and goal five which is community engagement and public trust We also moved strategic thinking and vision from Section 3 into Section 2 as it's more appropriately aligned with the city's goals and strategic direction. And as a result, Sections 2 and 3 now both contain four criteria, providing a more balanced evaluation and eliminating duplication. So overall, the evaluation remains substantially consistent with what the council previously reviewed on July 20th, and I am looking for council to be comfortable with the changes today and so that we can finalize this form for future use. I am open for questions. Councillor Henry.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, and because I'm the one that has delayed this, I would move to approve.

Motion to approve by Councillor Henry, second by Vice Chair Champagne. Do you have anything to add, Vice Chair Champagne?

No, that's what I was going to do.

Councillor Gray, your light sign is on.

I think we made great progress, and thank you for the work my fellow councillors put into this. Diana and I did have a chance to talk briefly that one of the things I was trying to figure out was where in this review do I address culture? I'm a big believer in the power of culture. I actually think culture is much more powerful than strategy. Diane did a good job, I think, of pointing out where I could address those comments in this review. So I think I was satisfied. I just want everybody to be aware that culture is such a powerful driver of the quality of an organization. And so I just wanted to make sure that we somehow were able to speak to that in the review process. That's it.

All right. I'll just say I liked it. It's clean. It gets to the point. You can always add another page if you want to put additional comments or anything. So I think it's great. Anybody signed up for public comment on this?

No, sir.

Call the roll. Please.

Counselor Henry.

Yes.

Vice Chair Champaign. Yes. Counselor Goller. Yes. Counselor Gray. Yes. Counselor Schwan. Yes. Counselor Dome. Yes. Chair Palumbo.

Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Thank you for your hard work, Diana, and also Vice Chair Champaign for your input on that. We are moving on to item 17, items removed from the consent agenda. And that was, it wasn't F, it was I, right? That was 8I. Yes, it was. Budget appropriation, fire department, pumper truck, balloon payment, Chase Calloway, finance manager. Councilor Gray, I believe you removed that, so would you like to start?

Yeah, well, actually, I can limit the pain and suffering. I'd make a motion to approve. I just need to understand the funding mechanism from that ledger account, which was an excellent explanation tied to all three of those. Perfect.

Do we have a second to that motion? I'll second. Motion by Councilor Gray, second by Councilor Henry. Well done. I see no light signs. I'm assuming nobody signed up for public comments.

No one signed up on this one?

Call the roll, please.

Councilor Gray?

Yes.

Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Schwan? Yes. Councilor Dome? Yes. Vice Chair Champaign? Yes. Councilor Goehler? Yes. Chair Palumbo?

Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Excellent. Now let me get back to my... All right, counselors, moving on to item 18, counselor communication and future agenda items. Light signs if there's something you'd like to share. Counselor Goller, you're up first.

First of all, I would like to congratulate our new chief one more time. And I'm sorry I was not there for your wonderful ceremony. And welcome and thank you for all you do. So my next comment will be for a future agenda, I had a short communication. Actually, I had a communication with Dr. Lucius that I will be working updating the water and sewer rates. What I want to do, I will be working with Mr. Petit on the white paper. And I wanted to do it last time, and you were right, Mr. Chairman. I think this is a better way to do it. And I will be bringing it. Go ahead.

I just as an update actually Jeff and I have been talking about that and he's working on a report to City Council and we plan to he plans to present that to you in terms of the rate structure and rate sufficiency on the September 22nd agenda so I don't know if a white paper is necessary because we're already working on that and we'll bring that forward next month

Well, thank you. I would certainly wait to see what information they bring forward. You could piggyback on that. Most of the work is going to be done already for you, and you could inject your desires as a councillor and bring up great conversation with us.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anything else, Councillor Aguilar?

No, that would be all.

Okay. Councillor Schwan, you're up next.

Yes. Thank you, Martin, if you could bring up the first image that I provided you. And what I'm going to be speaking about is the Sea Turtle Conservatory Retrofit Light Program that's available to beachfront properties. Actually, Martin, this is the second one, if you could just bring up the other one. And I apologize if that wasn't identified. Can you even put them next to each other, Martin? Okay, well, the purpose of this program, and Martin. Keep going back and forth. Yeah, Martin, thank you very much. You're always so helpful. So this is a program that was started back in 2019, and it was a joint effort that, on behalf of our Beach and Coastal Advisory Committee, the Marco Island Code Enforcement, and then also the Sea Turtle Conservancy also, which is actually based in Gainesville. And what they do, they assist beachfront properties with retrofitting their lights while maintaining the safety on the properties for the individuals who live there, but also making the amber lighting that then is available, which is what we need here on our beachfront communities for our sea turtles. So, and actually they pay 100% of the cost for the fixtures and the bulbs is paid by the conservatory, and the beach properties then just have to pay for the installation. And so far, eight Marco beachfront properties have received grants from them for between $23,000 and $65,000. It's been a very successful program. So those eight properties that received these grants were South Seas West, South Seas Northwest, the Royal Seafarer, the Summit House, Tampico, Sea Winds of Marco, and the Gulf View. And it's a great program, and I just wanted to bring this forward to encourage the beachfront properties to put their applications in, get their name on the list for the next time these grants become available. Because they also did provide funding after the hurricanes, too. So just wanted to give that reminder to our beachfront condos.

Great information, Councillor. That's actually really useful.

Is this something you could get to the paper as well or something? Yes. There's a lot more people read the paper than watch us. And that's already being worked on. Perfect. That's great.

Well, excellent news. Thank you. Councillor Henry, you were up next.

Okay. Well, it's already been said once today, but tomorrow is Election Day. So if you haven't voted yet, please do. Martin, the slide, please. Please know that the Marco Island Police Department is having a blood drive next Tuesday, the 25th. They are enticing you to attend by giving all donors a $20 gift card, a T-shirt, and a wellness check. I encourage all to attend this event from 10 to 3 next Tuesday. Thank you. Also, I just want everybody to know that it is summertime, and please know that during the week of August 15th, over 1,200 families were served by our daily bread food pantry at the various distributions. So if you have time, please volunteer. And if you have extra food, please donate. And one more thing.

And I apologize, I'll get emotional.

Oh, I do it all the time, don't worry.

Yesterday I attended a celebration of life for Tim Smith. He was the executive chef for Hideaway. Over 400 people were in attendance to celebrate a life taken way too soon. I attended, not as Deb Henry, City Council.

I was there as Emily's mom and Grace's friend.

My daughter and Tim's daughter have been friends since high school. Elisa went to Lely and grew up on the island. Their wonderful and loyal friendship has continued to college as they both enter their senior year at UF. I mention this because the city of Marco Island is a small town. It is not about residents versus businesses, who, by the way, are residents too. It's about families and friends supporting each other in the highs and the lows as a community. We have to truly listen to the facts, stop with conspiracy theories and exaggerated topics, and remember that we are a community and every person matters. Thank you.

Well said, Councillor Henry. It's not something we applaud. It's something we commiserate, but beautiful words.

Councillor Gray. Councillor Schwan, just for first, that was an excellent lighting presentation. I do know there are grants. Is that for exterior lighting only, so it would be on your balconies? I mean, this wouldn't address any of the interior lighting in those condos.

As I understand, it's exterior.

Okay, so just so people understand that one. Thank you for that clarification. I only have one quick comment just for everybody's benefit, and I had talked to Dr. Lucius about this this morning. The council meeting on September 10th, it was moved from September 8th, and it was moved from September 8th to September 10th, I think, to conform with a budget requirement, but that also lines up with the council meeting for that evening. is my understanding. So we'll have the budget meeting slash council meeting on September 10th. And the only reason I just droned on on this, because a lot of people have asked me when Rosemarina might be coming up for decisioning. And my understanding is as of now, that will be coming forward on September 10th. Thank you very much.

I have a couple of things. I see another light signs. Councilor, I'm going to follow up with yours a little bit. And just on the citizens part, you know, united we stand, divided we fall. And yes, we have passionate things we debate about on Marco. And yes, we are frustrated over reaching build out. There's no question about it. And we're all in love with what we used to have. But I look at the island as in great shape. I look at it, think of five better places to live than Marco, and right here, right now in your mind. I can't think of one. And then think of one that's the safest community in a large state, has one of the best budgets, one of the best teams. I mean, we really are. And I think we should focus on big pictures. Tear a small house down 1,500 square feet, put a 4,500 square foot house up, and it takes four air conditioners to run that house. Electric grid, there's a concern we need to be talking about, focused on. I talk about the hardening. Yeah, I'm not crazy about dredging the beaches. I know there's environmental challenges, but there's no beach, there's no hideaway. If there's no hideaway, there's no Marco. There's no gopher tortoises, no owls, no nothing. So it's the lesser of the challenges. So I think we should focus and start focusing on the big picture. That's just my big picture message. However, on a positive note, I serve with some of the most generous philanthropic counselors ever in the history of Marca. Councilor Gray is the first one to slap his paycheck up out there. Councilor Schwan belongs. I can't tell you how many organizations and supports, and too many to list. Councilor Champagne, you take care of everybody. Councilor Dome, I don't know you as well, but I know firefighter, pilot, MPO, raise money. You've earned your stripes. Councilor Goehler, military, first responders. And I know your husband paid. a debt forward that none of us could ever be thankful enough for. Councilor Henry, when I needed water stations in the parks, you were there. Whatever I come to you for, you're there. So I'm going to piggyback on that. Martin, can you put the first picture up that I have ready for this? Never miss an opportunity to support our daily bread. It's one of the greatest causes. And when you go to Winn-Dixie or Publix and there's a buy one, get one free on cereal, load up that cart if you could afford to. Because we have good people on the island working modest jobs. And when we talk about businesses and fight about population and tourism, we have people that just come to me in September and just beg for shifts. They're not worried about the trolley or the cruise ship. And these are valid concerns on Marco. They're worried about, can I have another shift so I could work my way into prosperity and keep my kids on this island where I want them to have the values and the benefit. So if you have the opportunity, never miss an opportunity to fill that box up. Now you're going to get me going. It's a very rewarding thing. Warren, can you go to the next slide, please? And I'm going somewhere with all this. All right, that's another one. Those are the serials I chose. Can you go to the past that one, please? When you go to a wonderful organization, not just our Daily Bread, Meals of Hope, in the same direction, feeding people that are willing to help themselves, that are just looking for a little bit of supplementation, so your meal doesn't cost $100 on Marco, so your salad doesn't cost $50. Their salaries are not... advantageous for the cost of living on this island and for the cost of rent, but yet they managed to get along. And every now and then they need a little leg up. But this caught my eye because there's wonderful recipients on this. By the way, that's Miss Nancy in that picture of me, if you don't know her from the subway. Everybody loves Miss Nancy. And she's always there to help a cause. But look at some of the names. And if you go down, you see Deb Henry, Counselor Deb Henry. That's going to make me cry. You see Counselor Benita Schwan at the very bottom. Always willing to step up and help their community. These are great causes. Always take an opportunity to help them if you can.

It will make you feel good, and it's a great cause.

Thank you, Martin. Now, one thing I want to run by of a little more procedural. And this just popped up. Somebody come up and said thank you, Chair, for replying to me. sunday august 18th i must say you're the only counselor that has responded to every single email i sent so sent to me thank you counselor gray thank you chair palumbo for your responses it's reassuring to know that you've listened you're open to feedback willingness to engage disappointed so if you chose to respond i appreciate your sponsor you're the only person who responded to me now i'm not putting this up because i want to tell my co-counselors you need to respond to people don't miss the message but i have a bunch of those over the years if you scrub my i don't know how you'd search it in my city council email files the thousands and thousands of emails i answered there's a bunch that'll say thank you you got back to me so it makes me think it's really about the citizens want they want their voice heard whether we agree or disagree they want their voice to be heard so this is where i'm going with this we're going to change the meeting times to 1.30 and I'm so happy. I'm shocked by the end of the night, I'll be honest, so I think it was a great suggestion. And we didn't have a ton of pushback from the community. It was a slower time of year, but even if it was the height of season, I don't know how many emails we'd have received that said, I like it where it's at, maybe I don't like change as much, or I can get to the meeting and make public comment at 5 o'clock. Now their opportunity for comment is at the end of the meeting. They'll still have an opportunity. But our citizens, they like their voice being heard, their actual voice. They like us to see their face, their inflection. We communicate through body language. So where I'm going at, council, is there any will or desire to direct our city manager to maybe take a look at opening up what we did in COVID prior to my time, allowing citizens to Zoom call in for public comment? I like the thought of it. I like the thought of keeping the agenda the way it is, 10 speakers or four minutes, it's seven and a half speakers, whoever maybe gets in that queue first. I'm not saying we should open it up to hours of public comment, but there are people that might not be here on the island. They want their voice to be heard directly and they'd like us to see their face and I'm wondering what your opinions might be on that due to the change in our meeting time. If anybody wants to jump in, light sign. Councilor Henry.

I personally, that was an active thing even kind of post-COVID during the short-term rental time. And I had to say give kudos to people who sat and listened to a four-hour meeting before they could make comments. I'm all for it because it just adds more conversation. What ideally I would like, because having just a voice speak from above, and I don't know if our technology takes us there, is if there was a way to do a screen almost in a Zoom format. I don't know if that's an option. Because just hearing somebody talking down, there's something to be said about being present in eye contact, which we've all learned to do over Zoom. But no, I think that's a great idea.

Thank you. Thank you for the feedback. Councillor Gray.

Yeah, I was in the minority that was trying to hang on to the meeting time because we programmed people to come at 6 o'clock after work, but I respect the decision of the council. I'm very apprehensive about the Zoom strategy because that means any number of people that are not residents could get on Zoom and cloud the conversation, whether it was a national shark presentation and they all wanted to get in line, So the residents come in here and speak. And obviously we have people that are not residents that are welcome to come here and speak, but I think we're opening ourselves up to a lot more people that would choose to come when they have a special interest topic and would cloud the field.

That may be the case. I mean, a lot of those people that want to speak are the residents, but there may be a fail-safe for that with limiting the amount or the number. Right now I'm just talking about if it's worth even considering pontificating and pursuing. Councillor Schwan, you're up next.

i agree with what counselor gray just said because i think there will be opportunities people who don't live here full-time or part-time will be coming in and zooming in from all across the country but another point i want to make and this was initiated by you at our last council meeting that to ask for consensus you first have to do a white paper So are you doing a white paper on this before you ask us for a consensus?

It certainly has to do. I'm not even asking for a consensus here. I just want to know what your opinions are.

Well, I think you did say you were asking for a consensus when you started this. So I just want to make sure that following through on what you did and moved forth, it would not be an appropriate time to ask for a consensus.

Sure. I'm certainly not even going to produce it if I don't think I have four people that like the idea. If not, that's a good point. We stop right here and right now and I'll put another ounce of effort in it. Vice Chair Champagne, do you have any thoughts on this before I endeavor any effort on this?

There are pros and cons involved. The concept that we've heard the negative side of people just jumping on and very difficult to decide who they are and in reality versus who they claim to be and whether or not they're residents. If there could be some way of registration to participate on Zoom where we can first check who they are, might be a way to get around that issue and problem. Without that, if we can't vet the person other than letting them just get onto Zoom, I think there could be some problems.

Very good. So you got three. Anybody? Give me a nod or a no. If not, we don't go any further.

I saw Joan shaking her head, so I have to say probably not a good idea.

Councilor, I like what we can get from point A to point B quickly. I like the thought of the citizens being heard, but I do respect the decision of this council. No further conversation on that. Councilors, anything else you missed before we move on? All right, item 19, counselor's report. We have no reports attached, but if anybody has anything to TDC, our meeting is tomorrow, so I have nothing to, but Florida League of Cities, Stephen, or Bonita, MPO, Deb, CAC, anything to report, counselors?

I would on MPO. Actually, last week, I'd invited down our MPO executive director to meet with Dr. Lucius and I regarding our situation that we're facing with our bridges and our infrastructure and things like that and have a discussion between the three of us some ideas of ways we might hopefully be able to get some additional funding in those areas no promises but let's make sure we are aware of possible revenue sources very good thank you

All right, nothing else. I know we have at least one patient citizen on item 20, citizens' comments. Jim, how many people are signed up for?

We actually have two. Can you call them up, please? Certainly. Our first registered speaker is Mr. Rich Evans, followed by Mr. Elliot Maskook.

Mr. Evans, welcome. Come on up. If you could just state your name, and I know you've been waiting patiently.

Yeah, no problem. I appreciate the opportunity to speak. I think this is the way government is supposed to work.

Just state your name, please. I'm sorry.

Oh, Richard Evans. Thank you. A candidate for that Saturday, and they had not yet announced the CD22 redrawing of the map. A couple of residents at a Kentucky Derby party said, hey, we're on Marco Island, and we're really angry because that bridge cost way too much. I came over the bridge, and I'm thinking, well, it's got to be engineered to withstand a hurricane, so probably worth the investment, I would say, at this point. So in summary, let me just say this. I'm a CPA risk manager. I've got credentials. Check the resumes before you decide who you're going to vote for, and then I will be accountable, accessible, consistent, and term-limited, and tenacious.

Thank you so much, and we wish you the best in the election, and thank you for coming.

Thanks so much. I'm honored to speak here.

Thank you.

Elliot, come on up. Our next registered speaker is Mr. Elliot Mascoup.

Thank you. Elliot Mascoup, 1300 6th Avenue, Marco Island, Florida, 34145. First of all, I'll be brief. I just see one thing that I would really like to bring up. It's a glaring omission on every council meeting. As a member and now vice chair of the Waterways Advisory Committee, I really appreciate Chancellor Champagne's plea in previous meetings to start to direct and advise and guide the committees. And I think what I'd like to see is every council meeting have an agenda item. that would address that. I think it's extremely important. I didn't really feel this way until I had a year under my belt as chair. I'll give you a quick example. One of our very important mandates from the City Council to the Waterways Advisory Committee was to provide information to the public about safety, navigation, the atons, the poles along the navigational channels. And it was never addressed. We talked water quality forever, but we never addressed safety. the very important issues in the safety on our waterways. And so I took the reins, got in touch with Tracy Frisano, and made sure that the Marco Marine Police would be at every waterways advisory committee meeting. An example like that, I think, is extremely important because there was no guidance. There was no direction. But it just hit me. So there's a lot of things, though, that I haven't thought of. And the other committees haven't thought of either. And that's where this city council comes in. And we really need your guidance. We need your direction. We need you to have this as an agenda item on a regular basis at city council meetings so that these committees can do the work that you want and be accountable and valuable to the public on Marco Island. That's just what I wanted to say, and I thank you for your attention. Thank you.

Well said, Elliot. I made a few notes. Thank you.

We have no other registered speakers.

Councillor 754, great meeting, great dialogue.

Hold on a second. Hold on. Joan.

Thank you. Councillors, please stay behind because I need your signatures. Thank you. Thank you.

Move to adjourn.

We are adjourned.