City Council - Regular Meeting

The following is the procedure for public comment and participation. Individuals wishing to speak on agenda items must complete a signup card prior to the item being introduced. Those wishing to speak on quasi judicial public hearings must complete a signup card and sign the oath. Sign up and oath cards are available on the table. Individuals wishing to speak on non-aggenda items may do so under petitions and requests from the public present. This opportunity is offered twice in the meeting and individuals may speak at either the first or second petitions, but not both. No signup card is required. Citizens shall not comment on any issue more than once during the meeting. All comments except petitions and requests must address the pending issue and citizens will be given three minutes to speak on agenda items. Next, citizens wishing to speak on the consent agenda must submit a signup card identifying the items of interest. Each speaker shall be limited to three minutes to speak on the entire consent agenda. And finally, all signup cards and exhibits being submitted to city council shall be placed in the box on the table. The purpose of the city council meeting is to discuss city business and proper decorum must be displayed by all in attendance. Public input and participation is encouraged. However, all persons in attendance shall comply with the rules for meeting procedures and shall refrain from any action that disrupts the orderly proceedings of the council meeting or hinders a council from performing its duties. No person shall interfere with the rights of others to speak, hear, see, or attend the proceedings, make threats of violence, disrupt the proceedings with shouting, fail to confine remarks to the agenda item under consideration, nor continue to speak after the allotted speaking time has expired, as these actions shall be considered disruptive and disorderly. The mayor shall caution any person who violates these provisions and disrupts the orderly proceedings of the council meetings, and they shall be directed to comply. Any person who fails to comply as cautioned shall be ruled out of order shall forfeit the remainder of their speaking time on the agenda

item under consideration and will be requested to return to their seat. Persons who fail to comply as directed shall be subject to removal from the council chambers by law enforcement or such other actions as may be reasonably necessary to enforce these regulations. Notwithstanding, the mayor may order the immediate removal of any person from the chambers who possesses a threat to property or life safety. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or restrict a person's right created by the constitution, law, ordinance, or regulation. Good evening everybody. Welcome to the city of Titusville City Council regular meeting, April 14th, 2026 at 6:30. Call this meeting to order. City attorney, do we have a quorum? Yes.

Awesome. Uh, we're supposed to have an invocation by Pastor Gerald Smith. Unfortunately, he was unable to make it. Um, at this time, I ask you to take a moment of silence. Please bow your heads. Thank you very much. Please stand for the pledge. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much council. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes? Move to approve the minutes of March 10th and March 24th, 2026 of the e council. Second. Have a motion by member Nelson, second by Vice Mayor Cole. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. City manager.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and councel. The first item I have is a housekeeping item uh 9A, the live local ordinance has been withdrawn by staff. There are no special recognitions and presentations and under boards and commissions. 6A is the community redevelopment agency and the action is to accept the resignation of the CRA member Greg Akre with an unexpired term that will expire on September 30th, 2028. The resignation is effective April 15th. There are currently no candidates on file. Thank you, city manager. City clerk, are there any cards?

One card. It's Stan Johnston. My name is Stan Johnston. I don't see if Mr. Akre is here, but anyhow, I I'm against him rem leaving this position because he should take time and apologize what he did. It's a horrible thing that he did. I've heard so much praise about him. So, what I have here is here I have my Bible and I'm going to uh tell the truth. Uh I I promise to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So, help me God. What has happened here in the city of Titusville is corruption and fraud in the CRA agency where he has his Mr. Acre has been working. This is my poster.

Mr. Johnson, your caution for not being on topic. I'm talking about Mr. Acre. Mr. Acre along with you with a number of council members have allowed the spraying of people with piss and poop. They've allowed it for months and and uh Councilwoman uh Nelson said she justified it by some kind of conversation with somebody of D. All right, Mr. Johnson, you're out of order. Please have a seat. Up against it. Thank you. Any other card? City Cloud. All right. Member Nelson

move to accept the resignation of Greg Akre with regrets. He has served a long time. Second. I have a motion by member Nelson, a second by Vice Mayor Call. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. City manager.

Yes sir. The next item is 6B, the Titusville Environmental Commission. And the action is to act on the Titusville Environmental Commission regular member Michael Majjack's request for a fourmonth leave of absence from the Titusville Environmental Commission meetings for the months of July through October 2026. City clerk, are there any cards?

Yes. One card. Stan Johnston. My name is Stan Johnston. I'd like the uh the video to show my f my front because uh right here I have a badge a badge of dishonor showing the election fraud that we had. So So when we're talking about uh this matter um golly which one what is it in army now? I wrote it down here, but uh anyhow u uh Oh, it's okay. I'm going to have to sit down this time because I've lost my notes.

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Thank you. Any discussion from council? Member Nelson. Move to approve the uh leave of absence for TEC U member Michael. Second. I have a motion and I have a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I.

Any opposed? Motion carries. City manager sir. The next item is 6C. The North Bard Commission on Parks and Recreation and the North Boulevard Commission on Parks and Recreation semi-ang report is included in the agenda package and no action is requested. Any discussion from this board? Seeing none. All right. Now we're at petitions and requests from the public. Non-aggenda items.

Dr. Kathleen Oric, Titusville resident. Before I begin, I really want to start by expressing my appreciation to Tom Habati for promptly answering several questions I had regarding the Royal Oaks Malaria study and the mediation process. And I appreciate his assurance the community will be involved in his commitment to keeping the residents informed. That was very good. Now, what I want to address right now is the lawsuit that's filed by Tulan um seeking a declaratory judgment. There is a clear and unavoidable irony here. Tulon claims the city's decision violates the comprehensive plan, but under that same plan, they had to request an amendment to move forward. A proposal cannot be in compliance with a plan. It must first change. Furthermore, Tulon requires heavily on land density as a categorical measure. By counting lakes as land area, they artificially lower the reported density. And in reality, a closer look shows that both the proposed density and the housing type do not align with the existing community. And while I'm not an attorney, I have done extensive research, and this appears to be a weak claim, one that should be well within the capability of the city attorney to defend. The city council made a unanimous decision to deny this amendment. That decision is legislative and should be defended, not negotiated away. There are also serious unresolved concerns including proposed use of community development district to manage storm water, the lack of an independent storm water assessment that accounts for site gradient that was sort of left off and the absence of an independent fiscal analysis. With these critical questions unanswered, this proposal presents real risk to the city. For that reason, the city should not enter into any settlement with Tulon. If discussions occur, mediation is the appropriate venue. But residents adjacent to the

golf course are directly affected and must have a role. Mediation must not occur behind closed doors through private conversations. It must be conducted transparently with opportunities for public visibility. There is no rule re prohibiting citizen attendance and there should be no effort to exclude them. Given the concerns raised in the recent internal audit, the city cannot afford even the appearance of backroom decision-making. Public trust depends upon openness. The role of the city attorney is to manage legal risk. But the role of this council is to represent the people. It is the citizens who fund this government and it is their interest that must come first. Do not negotiate away a unanimous decision. Defend it fully, publicly and without compromise. The people you represent are watching and they expect nothing else. And I would like to submit a copy of this statement for inclusion in the public record. And the main reason I want to do that is the minutes don't actually usually reflect what people have said.

Thank you. Thank you.

So, three lawsuits is big. Our city's definitely a mess. I'm going to keep this really, really straightforward. This is about doing right by the people who work for this city and for the people who pay into it. Right now, we have a lot of things that are not lining up. We've got bunch of people who show up to work every day and do their very very best for this city, but many are struggling to still get ahead. At the same time, we know that there's lots of money in this system. It gets spent all the time. The question is, is it being managed right? And I see that the city rolled out the fraud, waste, and abuse hotline, and that's a really good first step, but the tool means absolutely nothing if the people don't trust it. Right now, it appears that those reports go through basically the same chain of command that has been. And I think people are really uncomfortable with that. It definitely raises a lot of questions. So when that happens, people stop speaking up and they're really reluctant to. When misconduct happens inside of offices, when people say inappropriate things to people behind closed doors, they're really afraid to come forward. So on top of everything that else that has happened with the theft, we know that internal audits have suggested forensic audits. The only acceptable answer at this point is for full forensic audit in every single department. This is how you restore public trust. I know that it's going to cost for these things to happen, but the cost if we don't is that you never gain that trust back. So really think about that. really think about what the people in this city want because

no one seems to trust what's happening with this board and behind closed doors. We need a lot more sunshine. Thank you. Thank you very much. For the record, my name is Dwight Severs, a resident of Titusville. City clerk. Pardon? Sorry, Dwight. I'm notify the city clerk.

Okay. I rarely follow social media. However, one item recently caught my eye, which is which was a statement from the Titusville Police Department with testing that a council may repay $1,89622 for city records. I would be here supporting you, Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, if you received a similar statement. probably more time is spent on how to charge for the production of records and paying the bill, preparing the bill than simply producing the records. Never in my 40 years as experience as city attorney and city attorney ameritus and serving with seven different city managers, probably seven different police chiefs, have I ever heard of a city administration charging a council member money for simply them trying to do their job. Think about it, please. I'm sure I don't know the whole story and how the request for information could possibly lead to this, but obviously it did. Mayor and council, if you have a right to make inquiry in accordance with the charter and do your job as council members, mayor, if you ask for records concerning HR, health insurance quotes, past contracts, and information, would you be charged? Vice Mayor, if you asked for similar information during contracts bid, would you be charged? This should not be a personal item of any council member. Employing tactics to delay giving you your information that you need to do your job is wrong. It's as simple as that.

city manager, city attorney, frankly, it's time for you to step up the plate and straighten this out. It is wrong. Simply wrong. As I understand, council is going to have a retreat in the sunshine. I would hope you would discuss this and straighten this type of thing out because you should be able to do your job. Thank you. Thank you, Dwight. Member Nelson,

I was just going to point out that I did ask for some records um about a week two weeks ago and the cost was it was relatively small amount of records. It's three pages and it was $5. Um it was also something that I could get on the clerk's website. So I went to the clerk's website. But we do, I think, need to decide how to handle public records when council members um are looking for public records. And I understand that we don't don't want to stop people from getting, you know, 20 pages, 30 pages of public records. Um, I will say when I first started out, I was at a conference and with Sarah and there was a city where the guy ran up thousands of dollars in public records fees because of the redactions. So, we need to have a balance there. And I'd like to see that. So maybe city manager at some point can work on that.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. And just u point out member Nelson, I believe we we already do have kind of a procedure in place where if you're requesting more than two hours worth of staff time, you need to get a council support to do that. Um, so if you're looking at that, that's for like meetings and stuff, but I was thinking for public records, maybe a time period or a set amount of work and after that we get charged. That particular rule doesn't specify meetings or records. It's just kind of open and bank. Member Mscoso,

thank you. I I appreciate that. I think it would be good for us to discuss. Um, I will say on on this incident, um, I was looking for a simple signature, one page, and could not get that information of who signed the contract. One page, one signature. It was not given that information. Therefore, I had to proceed to a public records request, which then turned out to be $1,800, which obviously I did not pay. And that's kind of how we got here. So, it wasn't the intention to just ask for records willy-nilly. It was to get a specific piece of information that I wasn't given. I don't know what the request looked like. Tom, can you give us some information what specifically the request was? I don't recall the particulars but I believe it was regarding an ongoing audit in police department um and procurement and it involved redacting a number of records and also a lot of staff time but I don't recall the particulars I just know it was processed as a public records request and that's how the invoice was developed.

All right thank you very much. All right, back to petitions and request that city attorney. You have Yes. May I just inquire, Council Member Muscoso? Um, this is the first time I'm hearing of the onepage request. Um, and so I don't understand how a one-page request escalated to uh having to do a voluminous and and I don't know how voluminous it was public records request, but just so you know, in the future, if you're requesting a one-page um signature contract, by all means, you can reach out to the city attorney's office in order for us to forego any um mis um mishaps. Thank you.

Back to petitions and requests. Mr. Johnson, I believe you're angling for the floor. My name is Stan Johnson. First of all, I've got to apologize to people here and the council is that I uh I misplaced my comments about Mr. Mjac. And of course, I certainly approve of of him having a leave of absence. But um I'm here uh to again uh talk about some dishonesty and and corruption in the city of Titusville. And I and I have my one hand on my Bible and the other hand I say I I I testify. I promise to tell the whole truth and uh the whole truth. So help me God. Uh in this case is that I've sent an email to Mr. Connors and I copied it to a number of people. Sent it out at 5:00 today and I'll read part of it to you. says, "Do you remember, mayor, at the meeting that you spoke at Ashclon where I handed you a small piece of paper to answer some simple questions when we had your question and answer session and you threatened me?" Yes, you threatened me. You threatened me. You you threatened to crush me if I asked these questions. Okay. So, when I raised my hand to ask ask questions, what did you do? You completely or ignored me or my hand. So, this is what I have. That was a threat to me. That was you. That was a threat. So, it's it's it's uh understandable that uh you're doing some uh horrible things in the city and some illegal things. For example, here's what I'm talking about is I I wrote in the same letter to you. Anybody can get a copy of it. Against God's law and man's law that sewage aerosol is harmful and toxic to the health of the public. You and your buddies have con convinced or tricked the p public that it is okay to have city's double standard in violation of law. my profession of engineering, the golden rule and other you you suppress

freedom to complain about this problem and hazard to the health. Today, Titusville is what? Titusville is the only city in the world on this planet that since December 2020, city has approved the spraying of women, children, uh vehicles, and homes with sewage, piss, and poop. That's what they've done. Shame on you. Shame on all four of you here that that have uh have promoted this and just ignore it. It's not a it's not a uh a minor issue and what I do is is that's what one of the things I would like CRA to have looked into when I was removed from this this chamber. Now I also also want you uh see thank you for having this on here but this is an is election fraud by Mayor Connors. Dirtiest I've ever seen in the city of Titusville. Dirtiest I've ever seen. This is the badge I'll be continuing wearing because you're continuing to be corrupt. you removed me from the council meeting. Of course, you say I was somehow not on topic and so forth, but let me show again. This is what we have people. Sweet spray continuing since December 2020. Many months of sewage.

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Thank you. Sorry, member Nelson. Uh Mr. Hook. Are we spraying people with so? No, ma'am. And I believe in 2020 at one point D said to leave the fountains on. Do we even have fountains now? At Sandp Point, I don't believe they've ever been functional again. I think the only fountain we still operate is a senior center. Okay. Since do you remember when

the which the fountains or Yeah, the fountains. I don't ever remember them being back on after they were shut down during the spill at Sandp Point. Okay. So, since 2021, they haven't been on. Not that I recall. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, member Nelson. So, I wanted to share about an amazing opportunity that this community um was provided on Saturday, April 11th. myself, Carrie Lumbowski from TFD and Rachel Williams from Sandy Toes Pediatric PT along with Beta as our nonprofit hosted the North Bard Baby Expo on Saturday, April 11th. It was formerly known as North Bard's Greatest Baby Shower. This year, it was rebrand rebranded to better reflect the intent of the event. We also moved to a larger venue, Indian River City Church, which provided more education opportunities. The event was extremely successful. We had more than 30 vendors, including our presenting sponsor, Christina Kaido, with Women's Health Center. Our vendors provided North provide with resources from Wick Park and Recre Parish and multiple other community partners. We had breakout sessions from 13 guests including swim safety, chiropractic care, pelvic floor health, and more. We also were able to provide the scouts a fundraising opportunity providing hot dogs, chips, and soda for sale at the event. This event was provide has provided our North Bard families with countless resources, many community connections, and an opportunity to see all that North Bard has to offer growing families. We've already we're already talking about next year and how that we can continue to give back to North Bard, make it even bigger in better ways. We're looking forward to what next year brings for the North Bard Baby Expo.

Thank you. Um I heard it was a great event. When I was talking with Carrie about it, I thought she said Indian River Preserve, so I kind of got confused and went to the wrong place, but I was at it last year and it was an amazing event. Uh, we're still at petitions and requests from the public villain, historic Indian River City. I have been attempting to attain a formal determination as to why commercial uses, including a parking lot, are being allowed within the core residential zone and why a non-conforming lot is being used for business purposes instead of a permitted single family residential use. As many of those issues are tied to the quasi judicial items on tonight's agenda, I will be addressing the inconsistencies and how zoning is being applied within the same neighborhood during my comments on those items. I am entering into the public record two pages from the files that the city sent me. One shows a parking lot in the core residential zone and the other shows that a lot on Acorn with commercial uses is under the required square footage for the zoning. At this time, I'm also publicly requesting a formal consistency review. Additionally, if it is the city's position that Acorn Drive is part of the commercial corridor and not a mostly residential local street, then the comprehensive plan, neighborhood plan, and official zoning maps should be publicly amended to reflect that position. Thank you.

Thank you very much. All right. Not seeing anybody else for petitions or requests. City manager.

Oh, I didn't see him say that. Good evening, members of the municipality and attendees. My name is Ryan Llo. I've been living in Titusville since January 2025 after my honorable discharge from the military. And I love it here. The communities are great. People are fine. The Rockets are awesome. We love to all make an event out of it. But sadly, there's been something that has brought to my attention and that I know has had public outcry. People have been very distrustful to municipalities now because of it. And they want transparency. It's the fraud case, right? That's really what I'm coming here to discuss with and um really put a magnifying glass on it. as Fox 35 Orlando has seen it to report on this and make it part of their news headlines. Over 35 vehicles were unattended for on these inventory sheets what they reported and also over a million dollars of fraud had been reported. Considering if these two are separate from one another entities, both are totaling about $2.25 to $2.5 million depending for upkeep and other expenses needed. This money could have gone to other things in the in the town, in the community. Could have gone to infrastructure, schools, environmental projects, the rejuvenation of downtown Titusville, and the expansion of downtown Titusville. But it didn't. It didn't. So far, only one arrest has been made to an individual that had a paper trail leading directly to the home. Although this is good to hear that individuals are being held accountable for their actions, it's just not enough. The internal auditor has voiced concerns for the necessary funding of a forensic audit to see in the sector for who should be held accountable. As an accounting student, I have understood that by situations like this, time is of the essence. For every day there is not investigation. It is a day that records can be unrevealed, altered, and refiled. Also known as cooking the books, but for most commonly called fraud.

From the understanding, from my understanding, there has been no plans to fulfill this request. Furthermore, if there is waste in just this division alone, what's to say that other ones such as police, fire, EMS, mayor, mayoral boards, and other individuals with power have not tailored the system so that this tax dollars go into their own pockets to fund their own cars, their own luxury, their own food, their own necessities, and lawnmowers. As we have all heard from an exterminator, if you find one roach, there is more likely more likely hiding in the walls. What do you guys plan to do plan to fix this? What's the plan? Are we going to hold people accountable? Are we going to be able to say and do the right thing? Are we going to able to look at each other and just look to your right and left and say maybe this person isn't doing what's right and not accurately keeping track of funds as his responsibility and a deed and a just a right thing to do? If police can tell us, the more honest you are, the better you the the more honest with us you are, the better it will be. I believe those responsible should heed this warning and do what is right. As those who can admit fault, guilt, and show humility for these actions and take punishment for what is right. Will you, the Lord, do the right thing.

Appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else for petitions and requests? Seeing none, city manager. Yes, sir. Moving on to consent agenda. Are there any items which council wishes to pull from the agenda? Morcoso. Um, yes. I would like to pull I think it's 8B. 8B. Yes, ma'am.

Any other items? All right. So, now we're on A, C, D, E, F, and G. I'll read those for the record. 8 A, the water allocation permit for Astro House luxury apartment. 8C, resolution number 8-2026, commending outstanding students. 8 D, travel request for historic preservation board member Kirk Davis to attend the 2026 Preserve Florida Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida on May 13th through 15th. 8 E, the area 3 Wellfield generator replacement. 8F, amendment four for the state revolving fund agreement. And 8G, the modular classroom for Isaac Campbell Park. City clerk.

Yes, sir. Uh, we have Stan Johnston. Is this about 8B or the other ones? It's all the other ones but B. Pardon? It's all the other ones except for B.

Okay. I have 8B also. All right. So So let me go about what's going on here. is that um uh 8E I question I question whether this is this has to do anything with the uh uh solution of a huge problem that the city has had for many many years. A secret a secret problem. The secret problem is a big deal that's costed people some one person not $30,000 in about two days. And that that that problem is called four log virus. Four log virus. that's been hidden from us for many years. And what it is is is is I want to know whether this wellfield generator plant or uh or any of these other issues have to do with have to do with the four- log virus. So that's that's about all I wanted to go into that. Maybe I can have some questions from some Ron some responses from uh uh Mr. Mr. uh cook on on that u the modular classroom for Isaac Campbell Park. Uh I'm certainly supporting that uh because I don't I want it to go forward. Um I do not understand what's going on with the water allocation permit. So I can't speak anymore about that. So this is the main thing I was concerned about because uh this has been a problem for I don't know whether it's been 20 years or what. In other words, when we have a boilwater alert, what happens is that uh you can't possibly notify people can't possibly notify. And when I talked to FT about this, they said other cities have had this problem, but they can't name any of them. Any of the cities that have the problem like city h the city of Tyville

has. So, so we were we've been in a situation where we couldn't possibly uh advise people that were having a board alert, couldn't advise the city, and yet we had this. So, this is a this this is like um the dark ages in in water treatment. So, that's what we've had for many years, dark ages. So, I'm hoping that uh Mr. Cook can respond to that. Maybe it has nothing to do, but this is a million dollars. There's a million several million dollar solution this. I believe it's above $4 million and it's been a secret for years and years. Kevin, you want to comment on that?

The air3 wellfield was just replacement of a generator for our wellfield. Okay. Nothing to do with that. Correct. Thank you, city clerk. Tony Shel,

I wanted to speak on B, which has been pulled, so I'll come back for that. I want to just speak then on D, which was um going to be the praise part of my standing up here in my three minutes. Um for the historic preservation board, uh Mr. Davis to go to this um conference is going to be such a positive thing for not only the historic preservation board's project in the Joinerville area. It's up for an award. So, he'll be there to accept it should we when we win. and and um part of the thrust of this conference is on um abandoned and historic African-American cemeteries of which we have two and Mr. Davis of course is the um proprietor and and caretaker of of one. So this conference will really um enhance the historic preservation board's projects in in that direction and so the city will vastly benefit. So I just wanted to say thanks for for passing that.

Thank you. Mau city clerk, no more cards. The remaining cards are for item B. All right. Thank you very much. Councel member Nelson. Move to approve consent agenda items A, C, D, E, F, and G. Second. I have a motion by member Nelson. Second by Vice Mayor Cole. Any further discussion from this board? Seeing none, city clerk. Member Muscoso. Yes. Member Nelson. Yes. Mayor Connors. Yes. Vice Mayor Cole. Yes. Member Stokel. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you very much. City Manager, I believe we're on item B now.

Yes, sir. Item 8B is resolution number 07-2026 repealing resolution number 24-1997 and establishing revised quasi judicial procedures and the city attorney will expound on that item.

Are there any questions? We we spoke about this at the last um meeting and I made the uh additions which I believe the issue was um allowing the city attorney to determine the third party intervenor uh request in addition to adding the definition of a budding which I provided in the resolution. I don't know if there are any other issues why it was pulled. Uh council, can I get to the cards before we ask questions in case they trigger any questions that we might want to ask? I mine's not more not a question. It's more for clarification because I do think there's some confusion on what what this contains. So, could I just speak to that? Member So,

um I think there's confusion as to this is removing I think citizens rights to speak and from my understanding from going through it, this is actually adding more citizens rights. So, right now we have three minutes per citizen that can speak. Um, and then as you guys know, sometimes you'll come together, give up your time to speak. This is allowing now if you are a budding, you will have additional rights. So you can cross-examine, you can do other things that you haven't been able to do before. So I just want to be clear on that. Say clerk. The first card is Stan Johnston.

Uh, my name is Stan Johnston. Uh I'm want to illuminate some things that are going on that uh reading from the uh u the proposed changes and so forth. So, so, uh, whether they have it, but it's it it speaks about an EP expert witness here. And, um, as you notice is that today I I was putting my hand on the Bible and swearing that my testimony. And, uh, I've done this. And the thing is, it's it's surprising to me is what the city of Titusville does is they have a sometimes a code of silence or closed door policy that they do not respond. who we just we just saw this uh a few minutes ago at this meeting. In other words, Joe Lynn commented about uh something about FD and so forth like that, but she she doesn't she cannot get a professional engineer to dispute what I've said is is the is the crime that the city has committed with spraying people with sewage.

Mr. Johnson, your caution stay on the topic at hand. Okay, it's so I'm talking about expert wins. I'm sorry. I just gave an example an example of what's going on here in the city of Titusville and and I'm completely disrespected uh and it's not proper for you because I'm I'm commissioned to protect the health and safety of the public. And so uh I think that what I think that everybody should council members should read this because I consider what you're doing is a a violation of truth and fraud. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you, Mr. Johnson. City Clerk, Melinda Bayer.

Good evening. My name is Melinda Bear and I'm a property owner in Royal Oak um division and I'm here to talk about or maybe clarify hopefully uh uh this resolution B. It's my understanding. I heard the the council elaborate, but I'm just not clear and I'm hoping you can clarify for me. Is it it looks like the property owners can only officially object to development if the land directly touches the project. Is that accurate? No, that's not

I just didn't understand how that could be accurate because being a property owner in that division would affect me whatever land, you know, wherever we go with this because we're still going with that. I can't talk about that yet because it's new business or whatever. Okay. I just wanted to clarify that. So, I'll be back when it's time for Royal Hope to defend their neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you, city attorney. Yes. May I inquire just just for clarity where is this confusion? what portion of the uh resolution is is at issue. So maybe there is some issue that I don't know of which which portion if I can inquire that

I'm not I have not read through your revised plan. I just know that we're changing something that has been established for 20 or 30 years, right? Yes. Change is always good and and especially if it's in accordance and updating with the law. And that's was the that was the uh point of the city attorney really updating and providing um that that it's in accordance with the law.

Yes, you will. City clerk Tony. Uh please. Did you put a card in? No. I guess when you were asking her to verify I did clarifications here. So, you can't really just ask questions. If you do have a question, please put a card in and we'll call your name. So, Tony Shel.

I'm not an attorney. However, as a citizen, when I read through, you know, I did the resolution, um, I too came away thinking, "Wow, in this era of a move to authoritarianism, it's disappointing to see our state stifling citizen input." And now so is our own city council. The new resolution weakens citizen input is the way I interpreted it and I don't have it in front of me so I can't quote that section to you but it was a one of the larger paragraphs that said something about if you weren't abudding the pro property you know we can still speak but without standing is what I read unless you are abudding the um property of issue I believe every issue concerning the comprehensive plan affects me mistookal as it changes the context in which I live in this city when you change the comprehensive plan which often goes along with zoning doesn't it and if I'm not uh budding that property then I feel like I don't really um vice mayor Cole have a have a standing and um I own an historic home here and it's in a established neighborhood. I'm worried about infill, but I'm not worried about the empty property abudding my property because I own it.

Thank you. Thank you, Miss Shel. City Clerk, Kathleen Oark, as she's coming up, I just want to add if somebody does have a particular paragraph because I keep hearing where there's confusion, but please let us know because we might be able to adjust it because I don't want there to be confusion. So, I just want to say that

and and I would suggest given that there's so much confusion here today that I before I even begin talking, I think maybe this is something we should put off and have everybody go back through it because I have a lot of concerns and my read doesn't match what everybody else says. But I wanted to talk about um other parts of it to the other than the abuing and the resolution emphasizes fairness and due process. But the provisions raise some serious concerns about transparency and public participation. The resolution allows exparte communications. I can't tell you exactly where it is. I'm sorry. I would have prepared that if I knew I had to. And private conversations between decision makers and outside parties and states disclosure is not required and that non-disclosure is not presumed prejuditial. This is deeply concerning. It means that discussions concur outside of public meetings without disclosure, without consequence. That's not transparency. And it creates a system where some parties have greater access and influence than others. Secondly, the resolution defines parties as the applicant and city staff. Residents are not considered parties. Again, I might be reading this wrong, so this is partly questioning. Um to gain basic rights such as presenting evidence or crossexamining witnesses, a resident must qualify as an affected person and file a notice in advance of the hearing. Most citizens don't know how to do this and many who are impacted may not meet the narrow definition required. This effectively limits meaningful participation by the public. And finally, the structure of the hearing itself gives the applicant a clear advantage presenting after staff and then receiving the final rebuttal after public comment. We've already experienced that. We know how that feels like from the citizen side of things. So, taken together, these provisions create an uneven playing field. They don't strengthen public trust. They

actually risk undermining it. I ask that this resolution be delayed and revised to ensure transparency, equal access, and meaningful participation for all residents. And I'll add clarity to everything because it's clear that there isn't much clarity right now. And not just those with resources or knowledge to navigate procedural barriers. It's not about process. It's about fairness and confidence in how decisions are made. Okay.

Thank you very much. So just to clarify, exparte communication says a person may not be precluded without um disclosing, but section five says members shall disclose. So we are required. So if you called me and told me your feelings about something, you would not have to tell here out that's how I'm rated. But we as the governing board have to disclose any experte communication about said zoning or quasi judicial hearings. So I hope

doesn't extend to the staff particularly. I mean just because I had an experience where I asked a certain individual to respond to a procedural question I had and I was never called back and I we did a public records request and just saw a note um from the same person to Kim Rosen saying give me a call. I've got things to tell you. So there's some problems with other areas not just the city council. This policy is for the board. City attorney.

Yes, just a brief um briefly to to to add some comments. Uh 2.6 which was cited party or parties means applicant and city staff that remains essentially the same from the 1997 resolution. Part of the intent of the city attorney's office to update this resolution is because it was um with all due respect a little bit um outdated. in addition to it was providing staff and other boards of problems in in reading and interpreting and applying the quasi judicial rules. In fact, I agree with uh council member Stokl. This broadens the public's ability to participate. It in no way thwarts public comments which was always available and still is for quasi judicial u procedures. It expanded to where someone who has a direct impact to the abuing property is able to have party standing. Outside of that, prior to these changes, the public did not have parties third party standing. Um, in addition, exparte communications is directly um from the statute and case law. So, this information and this resolution I believe and stand firmly and confident that it passes legal sufficiency and we vetted it. vote. Two attorneys in our city attorney's office have we've spent months vetting this resolution to make sure that uh the city's protected in addition to expanding uh citizens rights to speak.

Thank you very much. City attorney, city clerk,

Michael Good evening. I guess my problem with this one is why doesn't a butter to and a butter have less rights than a butter? We all have the same comprehensive plan. I mean, I have to pay for the same school kids, 2.2 people per household or whatever it is. We have to pay the same for solid waste. We have to pay the same for police, fire, and rescue. until we start overbuilding and then we have to build more schools and more police, fire and rescue. Well, my point is that an abutter to an abuter to an abutter has the same rights as an abuter. So if you're going to give an ab butter standing, I want standing, too. This is my city, too. Come here.

You want to block off my road by building a subdivision in an area that's not connected to a a road that's designed for it, causing one of our members to have to move. I mean, this is this is not the way we're supposed to be building, right? We can do better. This is a step toward better. It's not better enough. We need to do better. Thank you. Thank you, city clerk. Macy Mullen.

Hello, Mullen. Yeah, I'll admit I didn't know exactly about all of the rules to this um this topic. I just saw someone sent it to me like an hour before I got here, so I had to come because I live across the street from US or I live across US1 from the proposed bleach plant. So, I disagree that it should only be given to people who have bought the property. We should expand it to everybody because I would love the ability to actually have more than three minutes to say why I don't want to live across the highway from a from a bleach plant. So, it would be awesome if you could expand it to everybody and not just abuing properties. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Earl Johnson. Hold on. City clerk,

city attorney,

just for some clarity, I wish I had the authority to give everyone rights. Again, this has been vetted through what statute provides in addition to what the case law provides. And the case law provides someone who directly abuts a an extra right to be able to um speak because they they they're directly impacted. Again, this does not take away the rights that everyone here was afforded prior to the of the 1997 resolution and and I don't know if there was any uh uh discussion or any um talk of wanting more rights prior to the the resolution being updated. But again, this changes in no way the resolution that was has been in effect for the past 30 years. It just adds that someone who's next to the property may have an opportunity to be heard in a different light. does not take away anyone's rights that you previously had prior to uh an hour ago.

Thank Earl

Earl Johnson. Um I it's it seems that there is quite a few moving parts to this. Um and there are people that are under differing opinions on this. Um I I'm going to give you one example on the abuing issue that I think holds some weight. In front of this council maybe I don't know 3 four five years ago was a proposal to put a biohazard waste incineration plant um off of 405. Well the property owner all owned all of the surrounding property. It backed up to I I 95 on one side and 405 on the other. There were no abuing property owners to object. Um so there can be similar situations to that. Um that would not be a very good thing obviously if the only people that had standing are people that are abuting because there were no one in this case. So I think I think using the charact using the abuing argument is flawed. Um I think there are definitely cases where and as you heard a couple of other speakers uh Mr. Mjack mention this is borders on comprehensive plan considerations. Um and so things can happen in one area that dramatically affect traffic uh schools other concurrency issues and lots of things. So, so changes in one place are not necessarily limited and siloed only to that one single place. They spread out and so of course other people are affected. Um, so I think at at this point I'm not saying that there's not any there's there's I think there's probably some good things in this and

than what's here, but I think it needs a little closer scrutiny and review at least by the public. Um um I just think it merits a little bit closer look before we go pulling the trigger on something. This is a pretty big deal. I mean because we're talking about st basically standing at least the way I read it. This affects standing more than it does public input. So I can not I can I still have the right to say get up and speak for or against the project but I don't have standing. So if there's if there turns out to be a legal issue only the people that are ab budding have standing and as as I my example was in that biohazard uh incineration facility no one would have had standing to objected to that because the the guy owned property completely surrounding that area. So that's I think a flaw.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. City clerk Elizabeth Baker. She left.

The last court is Dwight Severs. Dwight Severs Titusville in 1997 when I drafted the president quazar judicial procedure resolution it was drafted because of the case of Snyder and Jennings and particularly you'll see that in ordinance excuse me resol Resolution 24-19797. Most local governments at that time adopted the procedures by resolution. I'm amazed the resolution has not been updated over time. It's been 15 years since I had the role as city attorney. Certainly uh I believe that the most appropriate way considering the content of this resolution today and perhaps should have been in 97 it should be adopted by ordinance. Certainly lobbyists, consulting engineers, land use attorneys, developers, citizens should be given opportunity after a full public hearing process. There's a lot of substantive rights that are in this particular document. I'll call it document. You can see from the handout and AI's version of this, which I think is correct legally, what an or which what should be in an ordinance and what should be in a

resolution. And I think this should be clearly in an ordinance through public hearing process. Certainly, if you look at our ordinances since 19 2011, former community development director Peggy Busaka and your current have asked you on numerous occasions to make substantive and procedural restructuring of the land development regulations. Today in the land development regulations there's a section 34 that is entitled labeled article two legislative and quai judicial. There's procedures in that section of the ordinance if you look at it that overlap and arguably may conflict with some of these. This all should be placed in that ordinance as such. In addition that those regulations cover the procedure and process they include such things as 34-12 burden of presentation burden of persuasion which this regul resolution addresses you have 37-1 of the code defines adjacent parcel not a budding parcel adjacent I think you should follow your existing codes and regulations adjacent can count the parcel across the street, you have an extremely narrow standing to get involved in this proceeding. I have numerous recommendation suggestions, but my first one is do it by ordinance the proper way.

Thank you, Mr. Severs. Appreciate me.

Thank you. Um, I think obviously there is a lot to look into this. Um, city attorney, you you did a great job. You did exactly what we asked you to do. So, thank you. I think the um the reason I pulled this or what I want to discuss is the um abuing and I'm the one who was kind of pushing for the definition of abuing and I what I want to just and I know we've said this multiple times but if we let's say we don't pass this um then there is no party intervenor and nobody has the opportunity to speak. So this is actually a really good thing for our residents. that means that you do have um additional time to speak if you are budding or as you suggested um adjacent and so I think it comes down to that um terminology and what the definition of that is um so I hope everyone understands the third party intervenor is an additional thing that we didn't have before everyone could always get up and give their three minutes and say yes I like this or I don't like this um but you could not be a party intervenor where you got to get additional time and have a presentation. So that is the additional part. Um what I would say is I do think and this might not be popular that there does need to be um like I was talking to Macy with uh the the bleach plant and I get that she she lives across the street and so maybe that's where the adjacent part comes in. I don't know. But I think we have to look at the other side of the coin because you could be a budding and be against let's say against the project but what happens if somebody across town that really has not much like let's look at Royal Oaks for example we have people who are adjacent or abudding to the property who want to give the presentation and who have applied to be a party intervenor and let's say there's a business owner who does cabinets and they live across town and they say well I want to be a party intervenor because

I actually want this project to come through. Now they come in and they get the same, you know, presentation time and things like that. So I think we have to look at both sides and I think that is why it's important that we have a definition. But I do have a question. Does is it the state statute that says the word abuing? Is that where we got that from?

I believe it is the state statute. I don't have it readily. either the state statute or um case law. Okay. That um had the I think a budding came from the definition of affected persons which in 2.2 it says affected person means a person natural or corporate who is the owner of the subject property or who owns the property abuing real property that is subject to the proposed change. I want to say it's statutory which I can provide at a later date or a case law but again prior to this no one had um absolutely

the rights to do that in addition to the statute and case law restricts quasi judicial unfortunately quasi judicial procedures are regulated and it's a procedure that is um not just open for everyone to come and present a case or to present. It's it's limited to the applicant. It's limited to staff, the city's rebuttal. It's a it's a it's a quasi judicial procedure almost as if it's a court procedure. If it, you know, it's it's quasi semi a judicial procedure. We if there's a case going on in court, not everyone has the right to go and be parties to an action in court. And so that is the concept for a quasi judicial proceedings. It's it's statutory and case law regulated. It's nothing that the city attorney's office has come up in wanting of her own. Um trust me

I would be in favor of um just um tableabling this. It seems like there is a lot of confusion and then additionally to the abuing there seem to be some other questions too that I personally would like to look into. Um so I would like to table but I'd like to hear um other thoughts. Member Nelson

I'd sort of like to table it too. um you know we have to have some kind of order because it is court almost like a court hearing. It's like being in a courtroom where you have different parties. Um so you have to have some kind of order to it. On the other hand, I understand what you're saying when you say, "What about you have a project and you have nobody abiding, but the person across the street is really going to be impacted. Is there I'd like to have a couple weeks to think about to be honest with you."

Thank you, Member Nelson. Member Stokl. Yes. Um I mean, I'll go with that if that's the majority. I we tabled at the last meeting because I wanted to get clarification on the abuing and then I did meet with the city attorney um and went through it. So that's kind of where I do feel comfortable. That being said um I'm open to if we wanted to change it from abuing to adjacent that could be something but um I'm I've gone over this a lot so I feel very comfortable since we tabled it last meeting but I will defer to the majority. City attorney. Did you have something to say about adjacent?

Final word. I I just caution council to understand this is a regulatory uh resolution. Most cities don't have resolutions andor ordinances. There are some cities that have ordinances. I will say that our resolution is more indepth than most cities. Um, again, I try to condense an an 11page uh document resolution that's been operating for 30 plus years to I think six or so pages just because I know staff was having staff and boards were having issues in in following the procedures. But I do caution council that it's not um procedures is it's regulated by statute and by case law and it's not something that we can um just go ahead and and vote on or motion on. So I just caution that I welcome revisiting the matter. Not a problem.

Well, and to Mr. Sver's point, this is a resolution where we're just establishing procedures. If updates or tweaks need to be made, they can be made relatively easily. And if we kick the can down the road, how I mean that's just delaying these enhanced rights for these abuing property owners down the road. I don't know what's coming up in two weeks or 3 weeks or whatever it is. So, you know, I think at a certain point, you know, we got to make a decision on what we want these rules to be to comply not only with uh the state requirements, but also to make sure we give our residents every opportunity to be heard. Vice Mayor Cole,

uh, is there a problem changing the just the terminology? It seems that the terminology adjacent and abuing are the things that are the biggest factors that are confusing people. Is that a problem with law if we changed those interchange those terms without looking at the statute? I believe again the the affected person's definition was taken from the statute and that's what indicated. So the affected person was adjacent. A budding abuing I mean abuing. Yes. Now again I I can look and see if there's anything that fleshes out adjacent and the meaning and if that's um

you know that it seems like it seems like that's the sticking point that we have here. I don't I don't know. Uh I I sort of like the adversely affected party, but I'm concerned in a sense because with a budding is a clear definition. You're either a budding or not. Adversely affected party. I always hate it when you have things that can be the subject of 100. That's very subjective. Yeah.

So that I'm sort of struggling with,

you know, when you have a trial, you have your plaintiff, you have your defense. uh you may have somebody that uh an intervening party, but here I I hate to see 100 intervening parties. So you have us, you have a developer and a hundred people trying to present a case. And I'm trying to figure out is there a way that we can make it manageable where things aren't getting lost. We're not getting lost at least. And I'm not sure if I have an answer for it. And I don't know if her city attorney has an answer for it. I believe I have have stated repeatedly that our city attorney's office stands by the resolution that's been submitted um as being vetted and legally sound. Again, in stating the um I believe you're reading from 163.315 that Mr. Sever has provided that it's a total different um definition. It provides that an affected or adverse party may go to court if they ha if and so anyone who has any objection to any decision made by the by the by the council on a comprehensive plan um or development orders can go to court as an affected or adversely affected per person. It's separate and apart I believe from the clause.

So basically what we're saying is this resolution is going to govern how we conduct a hearing here. Correct. in accordance with statute and case law. Yes. And 163.3215 is govern governing who can actually sue in court. If again just looking at it cursory, Mr. Sever did provide it just moments ago. So that's just what in my cursory looks I I looking through it I see that that's it's distinguishable. Okay. So there is a dis

but I'm happy if council is comfortable wanting to um meet one-on-one to explain this. It's a legal matter uh that's being asked from the you know from the dis and um the public I I believe you know had some mis um misinterpretation of of or not reading completely respectfully not even reading the document. So it's hard to defend something when I don't know what is what is that issue. Okay. Member Mscoso. Oh, sorry. I feel better. Member Mscoso.

Yeah, thank you. Um, yes, I I would like to table it just so that we have I don't see anybody chomping at the bit to get this through and just so that we have we know that um we've done our due diligence because we have gotten some additional information and different thoughts. Um I would I would say and this could be something that we discuss um when there is a reszone or or um a cup a notification does go out to the property owners I think within 50 ft and so I don't know if that is even something um that we could do with state I don't know but that could be an option because that is a set um process as well. Now, that doesn't mean um if you're across the street and you're 200 ft, but that does give a little bit more leeway if you're within 50 ft of the project. So, that could be something that we we look into. I don't want to make a motion on that at all without researching it, but um I'm in favor um to table this item.

Member Stokall.

Yes. Um I also would say just for clarification, we as a board um are allowed the opportunity to give citizens more time. So, if somebody, even though it's not here, if somebody did live across the street um or requested more time with a majority vote here, we can do it. I also, as several people know, we will work with residents um if they want to come together and do a presentation. I I will say pretty confidently since I've been serving up here, I feel like we've done our best to make sure that every citizen has had their opportunity to speak whether they were an intervenor, whether they were closely related um just so we could make a informed decision and especially make sure that citizens get heard. So regardless of this, this would again going back to would give citizens more rights and even so much we still have that power and authority to grant citizens more speaking time. um if needed. So um again it I have already sat down so I feel comfortable but um it depends I guess on how the vote goes.

Vice Mayor I want to ask member MSO if if we tabled it. We need to give our city attorney some direction on what we really want because I've read it and I thought we were giving more rights to the citizens. That was my interpretation. Uh I I guess if we table it, what are we looking for or what are we asking from the city attorney? My qu just a simple question.

Absolutely. Yeah. No, I we're definitely giving more rights to the citizens. I do think this is a good thing. What I would like to know and so perhaps I don't know if you you said you might not have the information just the difference between adjacent abuing and then um adversely impacted. I'm not sure if that's something that um I'm not sure what member Nelson said, but something along those lines and um those three things what what that would look like. So, that would be kind of my recommendation to our city attorney.

All right. Well, I'll entertain a motion by anybody, but if you're going to make a motion, please uh give them a time certain and uh let let me know if you want to consent or new business or old business. probably old business at this point. Start on old business. Member Bosso. Sure. I'll make a um a motion to table until I'm thinking uh is it April 28th? That's our next meeting. Um and I think this could be on um old business. I think we need to add what we are asking her to do in the motion.

Okay. Um I'm asking just for the understanding of what the state statute says and if we can do adjacent um what that looks like and if we can have information on that if that is possible. I'll second. I have a motion from member Muscoso, second from Vice Mayor Cole. Any further discussion from this board? All those in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much, city manager. Sir, moving on to uh item nine, ordinances, second reading indicated earlier. 9A has been withdrawn by staff. 9B is a resoning number 8-2025317 Oleander Place. And this item is a quasi judicial item and city attorney will read the existing rules and also Brad Parish will read the ordinance for the record

and I will be reading the shortened version of the quasi judicial as proposed. Uh during the public hearing portion of this meeting, anyone wishing to speak on a quasi judicial item must complete a s and sign a speaker card along with the corresponding oath. The cards are located on the table in chambers. City staff will make the initial presentation followed by the applicant's presentation and then the hearing will be open for public comments. The applicant may make a brief rebuttal if desired. Witnesses may be cross-examined and all photographs, sketches, or documents for the hearing must be submitted to the city clerk and will be retained by the city. Members shall disclose any exarty communications or site visit at this time. Please.

Member Moscoso. None. Member Nelson. None. Vice Mayor Cole. None. Member Stokal. None. And I have none as well.

Our pleasure. Mr. Parish. An ordinance amending ordinance number 5-1993 of the city of Titusville, Florida by amending the zoning map made a part of said ordinance by reference by changing the zoning district on property located at 317 Oleander Place from the Indian River City Neighborhood Commercial IRCNC zoning district to the Indian River City Neighborhood Residential IRCNR zoning district on 18 plus or minus acres of property having parcel ID number 22-35-22-3 3-10-5 providing for severability, repeal of conflicting ordinances, incorporation to the code, and providing for an effective date. The staff report begins on page 355 of your packet. This resoning is um a request by the property owner to change the property from the commercial to the uh residential zoning within the same Indian River City neighborhood zoning district. Just to give you some background on this property and in the neighborhood in 2012, there was a Indian River City neighborhood study or plan that was created and developed in conjunction with the uh community to help guide development in that area and to identify which particular land use and zoning districts that the neighborhood would wanted. In 2014, the Indian River City neighborhood was zoning was placed on this property, including the entire neighborhood uh to surrounding it. This property was originally um community commercial zoned in the city and so that's why it was carried over and reszoned into the commercial subdist of the Indian River City neighborhood. The property itself is very small. It is less than the minimum size for a single family lot in the Indian Indian River City neighborhood zoning district. And

the width is also less than the minimum required. So it is it will become a non-conforming lot when it's if it is reszoned. This is the second reading and final public hearing. So, you would make an action on this tonight. Thank you very much, Mr. Parish. Does that conclude your report? The only thing I wanted to mention was that we did review the um in the staff report, you'll see we reviewed the request consistent with the resoning criteria of the code. We found it consistent with the zoning criteria and with the comprehensive plan and we recommend approval. Thank you very much. City clerk, are there any cards? We have two cards. The first one is the applicant, Dwayne White. Okay.

Hello. My name is Dwayne White. Um, I bought it assuming it was a buildable lot and I soon found out that it wasn't, and I would have um I build house. I do what it is for profit. It ain't from a personal house, but I'm actually doing it with my stepson here. He's never done a project. And he actually works for me and another builder. We we are partners with another builder and and this is his first project. and that he'll get financial gain. He's an employee, too. But, but I appreciate everybody's consideration. We're trying to build a new house in the city that's affordable. We try to do that, you know, several houses in the 200 range, which is hard to find nowadays. Houses in the twos that are brand new in the city. We've done a few of them. Um, but I know now to do my homework and check. I just assumed it was down a down zoning, so it would be okay because there's houses on both sides of it, but that was my ignorance, not doing my homework. And I should have known better because I do know that you got to check I do check in the county when we do stuff in the county which is the majority but I would appreciate um the consideration and the permission to put a single family home on it.

Thank you very much sir. Can I get to the other card? I just have questions. All right. Meoso. Sure. I I um I confirmed this with the staff, but um since it is such a small lot um and I know there's a lot of setbacks um they did inform me that you would most likely have to go through a variance and I just wanted to make sure that you were aware of that. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Member Stoke. That was my question. All right. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you, city clerk.

The last card is Melinda Villain. Melinda Villain, Historic Indian River City. I want to address the requirement that quasi judicial judicial items uh decisions be based on competent substantial evidence applied consistently to similarly situated properties. In this case, the staff report provides very clear reasoning for why this parcel should no longer be commercial. It lacks access to Hopkins. It relies on the local street and rear rear alley. Its size and configuration make commercial use impractical. And the neighborhood plan prioritizes protecting residential areas from encroachment. These are not unique conditions. Those same conditions exist on my street and in the surrounding area, particularly the reliance on alleys and local streets rather than Hopkins access. However, in those cases, commercial uses and impacts are being allowed to operate and expand, including the use of alleys and nearby residential areas for access, circulation, and support functions. This creates a material inconsistency. If the lack of Hopkins access, reliance on an alley, and lot size are sufficient grounds to conclude that a property is not appropriate for commercial use in this case, then those same facts should carry the same weight in other similarly situated locations. Otherwise, the city is applying its policies selectively, supporting residential protection in one instance while allowing commercial encroachment in another. That raises a legitimate question as to whether the decision before you is being applied in a uniform and legally consistent manner as required under your zoning code in Florida law. I am not opposing residential development here. I'm asking that the reasoning used in this case be applied consistently across the neighborhood. Thank you.

Thank you very much. City clerk, are there any other cards? Yes, sir. Member Stokel. Yeah. Question for Brad. Um, so if we were to approve this and for some reason BAA denies a variance, what rights would the property owner have now having a reszone property that we in effect are not allowing them to build on? What would happen

before going before the board of adjustment in cases like this? The code does allow have a provision to deal with situations like this. So, if the building official has the ability to approve a permit for a single family residence on a lot that may be non-conforming provided all other criteria are met. If in addition to that the applicant still cannot meet some of the criteria, then they have to go through variance. A variance decision is is binding. The the recourse beyond that is all suit. It doesn't go to city council. Right. So then I guess would it revert back to the old zoning? So at least he could do something with it or now you were stuck with a piece of property that

a board that we have no authority over potentially makes a decision and so his only recourse would be to sue pot. Right. I I think that depends on what the request is. So if we estimated that based on the width of the lot and the size of the lot that they could probably get about 2500 square feet of a home on the property which is pretty sizable. However, they have if based on the configuration of that property or what they're or the house or what they're trying to do, they may need to get an a variance. Um, that's their recourse. It does because, let's say, for example, it's denied, it doesn't automatically get resoneed back. That's another action before you.

Okay. And I I think I just wanted those things stated so the applicant is aware of that and understanding that we don't even have full authority over to try to do something whatever the BAA Okay. Yes. So, okay. I just want to make sure that's all. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Mecoso.

Thank you. That's that's helpful to note. Do we know uh what percentage of the property the building will be? I He just said it's 1300 square feet. My concern is Kevin, do we know if there's been any flooding in that area? I haven't heard of any. I just know that there have been cases where people have um built homes on non-conforming lots, gotten all these variances, and it's caused flooding on their neighbors. And so, I just wanted to confirm that it's not a 2500 foot house if it's 1300 square ft. Okay. for a grill.

But I imagine if you're doing it for affordable and 200,000, it's not going to be a giant house. Just want to make sure.

Okay. Thank you.

So the question before us is when we look at this lot whether this applicant gets his variances or not, should this lot be commercial or should it be residential? That is kind of what's before us. And looking at the map, it makes sense to be residential. I mean, and uh to Linda's point, there's a lot of goofy stuff in our code since 1963 when all three cities merged and it's a hodge podge, right? And I do believe like as a council, we should take proactive steps to fix our code and apply it uniformly, allow a little bit more flexibility where we can and uh figure that out. But, you know, just looking at the the pictures, it's pretty self-explanatory. Member Nelson,

I agree with you. To me, a residence is the only thing that makes sense there. So, my motion would be to approve ordinance number 8-2026 for reszoning. Motion by member Nelson. Second. Oh, MPS. It doesn't apply. It doesn't All right. I have a motion by member Nelson, a second by Vice Mayor Cole. Any further discussion from this board? Seeing none, city clerk. Member Nelson. Yes. Mayor Connors. Yes. Vice Mayor Cole. Yes. Member Stokel. Yes. Member Muscoso. Yes.

Motion carries. Thank you very much. Appreciate you guys being here. City Manager.

Sir, moving on to item 10, ordinance is first reading. 10A is the certified recovery residence ordinance. Again, it's the first reading and Brett Parish will read the ordinance for the record. An ordinance of the city of Titusville, Florida, amending the code of ordinances to establish procedures for the review and approval of certified recovery residents within the city consistent with chapter 2025-182 laws of Florida by creating section 28-21 accommodations for certified recovery residents for providing for severability, repeal of conflicting ordinances, incorporation into the code, and an effective date. This is an a first reading. PNZ did hear this and they had several recommendations. Uh we have not analyzed those recommendations. We'd like to bring that to you at your public hearing which is on April 28th.

Thank you very much, Mr. Parish. City clerk. No cards on this. Any discussion from this board? Member Stokel. Yes. I guess my question would be because there's so many um 11 items noted by PNZ, if we don't discuss them until the second hearing, um would we then need to table it because a decision would be need to be made or should we discuss some of those items now? So, we can come back to that meeting with clarification because this is also staff time. If you guys all start to look at all these and we don't necessarily agree with some of them, like when would you like to know that? I guess

you could certainly ask me questions if about the the recommendations. I'll try my best to answer them, but I think I'll have a better answer on all of them for you with a memo that we'd like to provide to you at your hearing on the 28th. And you'll have several options either to reject or not accept those conditions and just accept the ordinance as is or incorporate some of their recommendations which may or may not require to be readvertised. Okay. Okay. because I just some of them like staffing levels and security. Some from what I know about these homes, they don't necessarily have staff or security. They're residents living there. So, some of these just didn't make sense to me. And I

we had several questions ourselves. Yes, we believe um some of these are probably going to be problematic or maybe not consistent with law, but we that's what we need to evaluate.

Okay. Thank you. And I know the meeting happened last week, so you guys probably haven't had time to even do that yet. So, okay. Thank you. Any further discussion? Um, I know Mr. Parish has been working on this for a long time. Technically, this ordinance was required to be in place by the first of this year. So, we're a little bit behind the eightball and uh, you know, need to get something on the books and hopefully Mr. Parish can provide us um, some good guidance of what we can do and also cannot do in terms of amending what the state is telling us we have to do. Let me just clarify. If there are at your 28th meeting you do identify, there may be a couple of things that we could consider making changes to that would still require you if it doesn't determine if we don't determine that it needs to be reverted. We can just continue it to a date certain and provide you that change if it's under the umbrella of not a significant change but that obviously have to be you know approved or reviewed by legal muster as to whether it's required to be reverted or not. But we'll know more uh to your 28th meeting.

Thank you very much, Mr. Parish. City Manager.

Yes, sir. Moving on to item 10B, trucks on local roads ordinance. That is to conduct the first reading of ordinance number 10-2026. And again, Mr. Parish will read the ordinance for the record. An ordinance of the city of Titusville, Florida, amending the code of ordinances to regulate truck traffic in and on certain residential streets by creating section 17-34 restrictions on truck use of streets and amending section 20-26 powers and duties of city manager relative to traffic and development review procedures technical manual sections 14.2 pre-application meeting 14.3 concept plan 14.4 4 application procedures and 14.5 site plan required exhibits providing for severability, repeal of conflicting ordinances, incorporation into the code, and an effective date.

Thank you very much, Mr. Parish. City clerk

Melinda Villain Melinda Villain Historic Indian River City I'm going to keep this focused on consistency since this is a quasi judicial matter. The city is currently advancing a truck ordinance because it recognizes a problem. Heavy truck traffic impacting residential streets and the need to protect those streets from safety issues, noise, and damage. That is the city's stated direction. But that's not what's happening on Acorn Drive. Right now, Acorn is being used as on a reoccurren basis for on street loading and unloading by multiple box trucks and 48 foot freight trucks. This is not an occasional delivery activity. It is regular repeated use of a residential street and alley as a loading area for nearby uses. And I've been told by the city cannot I've been told the city cannot restrict that because trucks are allowed to load and unload on public streets. So this creates a clear conflict. The city is saying through its own ordinance that these impacts are a problem that should be reduced. But in practice, those same impacts are being allowed to continue without limitation. There's also a gap in the current process. Right now, there's no requirement in site plan review to identify or accommodate long-term freight loading and unloading. Construction truck routes are are required, but ongoing operational truck activity is not. So what happens is predictable. It used to generate truck traffic. There's no requirement to handle it on site and it gets pushed into the nearby public street which in this case is a residential street and it's treated as unavoidable. It is not unavoidable. It is unadressed. In a quasi judicial context, decisions are supposed to be consistent with the city's standards and its own state of policy direction. So the question is simple. How is it consistent to allow a use results on an ongoing truck, heavy truck loading and unloading on a residential street while the city is actively moving to restrict those same exact impacts? Because right now the city is identifying the problem in policy but allowing it in practice. Thank you.

Thank you very much, city clerk.

The last card is Dan Johnston. I'm addressing myself to you as an expert witness. And what I do is I swear to tell the truth, nothing but the truth. So help me God. The city of Tyresville has gone haywire and nuts. I I I met with city manager and assistant city manager about Mockingbird Lane and the project SNJ Oaks, which I've invited all of you to attend. You never done it. Oh, except for Merrick um uh football player and uh uh pastor Pastor Joe Richardson Diesel, they they went they went and visited with me. So, what we have there is what the city approved, we're talking about trucks, is that the city approved a sketch plat wide for the road 300 ft long that it's serving eight R3 projects 8 feet wide. City truck, city fire truck is wider than 8t wide. I don't know what you guys are going to do. I can't believe it. So, the sheet four of the plan shows the shows it to be constructed the the uh asphalt uh not asphalt but the stabilized pavement to be the width of 8.0 there's four zeros feet wide that's a tolerance of about a thickness of a sheet of paper 1,000 of a foot. So, what I'm sharing with you is you've got a big

problem what you're doing. That road now, which had a turnaround, has no turnaround. So, it's it's changed a two-way mockingb bird lane into a one-way street. Now, you got I don't know how you there's no way a truck can turn around except they back up 300 ft. So, I'm just sharing with you is is that uh this is relevant to truck traffic. You can't have it. I mean, it's nonsense what the city is doing. That includes Peggy Busaka and Brad Parish. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you, Mr. Johnson. City clear. Are there any other cards? No, sir. All right. Member Mscoso.

Um, thank you. Um, I think this question might go to Sandy. Um, could you elaborate on that? Is there is mockingbird lane really an 8 foot wide and it's serving multif family developments as stated? Maybe that's Kevin. Mockingbird lane is not a public road and I don't know if there's any multif family maybe this is Brad. I'm sure you've reviewed the site plan. So is it an 8ft road that is serving multif family R3

walking like Sandra said it's not a public road. I know that the there is a um private drive that was dedicated to certain property owners as part of the SNJ Oaks plat and I believe the pavement is about or the area for that road is or the driveway rather is supposed to be 10 ft wide from what I recall on the site plan but that I have to verify. So I mean if it's a private road there still has to be I mean code and you know there's there's standards that they have. Have we been checking that they are reaching they they are meeting those standards? Yeah we'll have to review. Yeah, we any approved site plan has to be whatever they construct out there has to be consistent with the site. So that site plan that he's speaking on hasn't been approved yet.

It has been approved. I believe it is under construction. I would have to find out where we are as far as a site inspection where they're finalized. Could you um I mean with the permission of the council and I'm sure just check and make sure that that that road is up to code and I don't know 10 feet or whatever our code is requiring. We can provide you answers on that project. Yeah. Thank you. Any other thoughts and feedback at the topic at hand of trucks on local roads ordinance? Any further direction that we want to provide to staff before we go into a public hearing next meeting? Seeing none, city manager.

Sir, moving on. There's no old business. Item 11. Uh under 12, new business. We have one item 12A which is the Bvard County Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. And as you recall uh back on the 24th of March, we had a presentation meeting uh regarding the subject from Bvard County Utilities Department and now they are requesting a decision on whether the city would like to continue participating in this um feasibility study as a stakeholder. And we have representative from the county to answer any questions. How you doing, sir? Good, sir. Thank you.

Thank you for being here. Um, I don't really have any questions. I know that it's important that we plan ahead and I think having continued dialogue with our county partners to see what we can do um down the road. I don't believe that, you know, nobody's asking for any money, just asking for us to participate and share ideas and insights and hopefully we can find a good plan to address our our growing concern uh of of wastewater down the road. Member Mscoso, thank you. Thanks for being here. Um for participation is that so it's going to be with BVAR County, um Titusville. Who else is involved in that?

Uh we're uh Space Florida and also the Air Force. And are um are those meetings open to the public or say I was curious and just wanted to sit in is that is that possible? Uh some of the meetings are held on federal property where we have to get clearance. So no, it's um very um the meetings are really uh conceptual technical. Um but to be honest, I haven't had that question asked, so I'd have to verify. Okay. And then who, and this might be for our city manager, who from our staff is expecting to be there? I believe Sandy is volunteered.

Okay. And would it be uh possible for her? Thank you, Sandy. Send yourself an email. Remind yourself. Would it be possible for Sandy for you to um if it's if it's the information's available for her to um kind of advise counsel on what is going on so that we have a a heads up as well? Yeah, I think there's um and I and I get this question also asked from our commission. Um there are going to be milestones where updates will be done. Um I'm reluctant to update on every single meeting just because there's ideas shared and those ideas are being formulated. So there, you know, again, I'm not here to say no. um saying from my experience um we will and I promise we'll keep Titusville in the loop on all the meetings and invite them as such um but to share it in a public forum where the ideas can change sometimes can cause confusion with the public. So um are we going to be doing updates? Absolutely. Um do we want to share it with not only our commission but you all as a partner in the study? Absolutely. Thank you. And I because I think what um I mean there's going to be real effects um depending on location and if we are um part of this let's say this new treatment facility um meaning the the cost for our residents could go up. We don't know what any of that looks like. And so I just want to make sure that um if Sandy's there that you know we are at least knowledgeable in what's moving forward and I imagine nothing would go forward without it coming before our council as well.

Yeah. nothing can get done at our pay level. I mean, we definitely need your approval. So, even if we wait till the end, you're still going to get final decision. All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And and I think that's the important part of being as a key stakeholder in this is so that we can have that dialogue so we can stay up to date on what's going on because you know obviously this is not only going to affect our residents but our economy and you know there's a lot of folks that um live outside our city limits here in Titusville that you know depend on us quite a bit. So even if they're not our residents, we're all kind of in this together especially when it comes to wastewater. Um any other thoughts, comments, concerns? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion for us to participate.

We have cards. Oh, I apologize. City clerk. Michael Mack.

I just want to say that I support this project. I think the idea of working together and cooperating is going to be key. One of the biggest problems we have out at the space center is there's no zoning, there's no land use management. So, water recycling um is going to be one of the few levers that we're going to have trying to control what happens out here. So when you think about it in that sense, what we're carrying when we take black water out of the space center is we're actually carrying water away and we're going to end up with reclaimed water as a result of that treatment. Question is, what are we going to continue to do with that? As we grow, as we're seeing, we're running out of raw water resources. We have to start looking at that treated water as a way of recovering water because it is a raw water resource. We may not have cleaned it enough to the point where it's portable, but I'll tell you it makes damn good surficial aquifer recharge water. So, think about the participation, our participation in this. We need it. The region needs it. And anything that we can do to get these plants away from the lagoon is a good thing. So I support this.

Thank you very much. City clerk

stay Johnston. My name is Stan Johnston and I'm going to do the same thing because I'm announcing myself as an expert witness on this. I swear to tell the truth, nothing but the truth. So help me God. So this goes back to uh education that I'm going to and this has to do with also what we've discussed about 8B and that is stakeholders. Who's a stakeholder? Who can say anything? Who has a who who has uh allowed to do it? Now here's what I learned from my professor in college in engineering ethics. This is a big deal. in fact is my professor is the top official. In other words, he was the president of American Society of Civil Engineer. Big deal. He was my teacher. So here's what he taught us. He said that engineers are responsible for what they know, for what they see. That's a big deal. So, what happens is let's suppose you you're driving by a construction site and you see the and you see obvious error that uh the crane is not where it's supposed to be and it should something should should should happen before an accident happens. The same thing if you see rebars are wrong when they're instruct being constructed and filled with concrete, you should speak up because you're liable. according to my professional engineer uh instructor that has to do with this here also the question is am I a stakeholder I don't have I don't abut I don't I'm not adjacent to this project but I'm I'm a professional engineer so uh it it my uh comments here involve who is a

stakeholder can I am I allowed to be a stakeholder as a as an expert witness So that's all. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. City Clerk, any other cards? Yes, sir. The last card is Keith Edwards.

So, um I'm really glad that we are actually looking in looking into this situation, but from the last meeting uh that we talked about this, we're still in a feasible study. They won't know nothing about how much it's going to cost or where it's going to go until the middle of December roughly. But the fact of the matter is we're looking at it now. They want to put a pipeline from my understanding and pump their sewer over here to us to for us to have a treatment plant over here. My question is they've ran off residential homes out there to build the space center. So, why don't we put the sewer treatment plant out there and pump our effluent water over to them? Now, if we do that, what are they going to do with it? Well, they have to have water suppression for all these rockets, right? Heat, water. It's sanitized. Therefore, we're alleviating losing our property and our grounds out here, solving a problem there because right now we're in trouble with our potable water. I mean, right now we don't have enough. We're conserving our underground aquifers tight. So, why are we bringing sewer this way? If they've got heat, they've got the flames from the rockets that can sanitize that effluent water. I think, you know, if we're looking into it, we might have better options than polluting our Indian River or St. John's River. So, let's keep our minds open. You know, I tell my employees, I might be the big

boss man, but I don't know everything. I'll listen to your opinion and if I like it, okay, a lot of times these green horns that have no clue of what they're talking about will come up with a better idea, a better game plan, and make me more money. Therefore, they get a little bit more money, too. So, let's keep our hats on and and keep our pencils sharp. Let's work together. I agree with that. But putting that thing over here, I like the better idea going that way. Thank you. Thank you, city clerk. Any other cards? Yes, sir. All right. Uh, member Nelson, did you make a motion?

I move to authorize our continued participation in the study for the Bvard County Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. Second. I have a motion by member Nelson, second by Vice Mayor Cole. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here. All right. Now, we're on petitions and requests from the public. Non-aggenda items. You've already done petitions and request. You've already done it once. I'd like to create u request a a forensic audit. I'd like to actually know what's going on. First off, when our council members, the bossmen and ladies of the city of Titusville has to pay for a document, that [ __ ] that stuff should be easy to obtain. Second, if our county manager is going to try to slide one in on an audit by giving our council member one page out of 200 and some odd pages, something's funny. The citizens of Titusville have lost complete trust in you from our election to flushing our toilets. So, I would like to make a request that there is a forensic audit and anybody involved in covering up these thefts, and I'm talking about even the cop or too that we acknowledge it, we put them down, we have them arrested, we let them pay their time because this one lawnmower that ain't going to hunt. And I'd like to know if you found my new F250 2025 Ford pickup truck or that 2026 backhoe. I sure could use them. I got an old beat up truck and I've been bending in my tractor. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Seeing no more, moving on to mayor and council reports. Member Scosa, why don't you kick us off? Member Nelson.

Well, I sort of hate to bring this up, but I said something wrong the other day and Miss Baker said something wrong. And I think what it made me realize is that sometimes we look at social media and we think that's the news. You know, we don't need to look at the news. Look at social media. We don't need to check facts. Look at social media. It tells you ABC and we believe it. And so, um, I looked up an arrest report on Mr. Johnson and Miss Baker had indicated that um, poor Mr. Johnson was testing water and got arrested for trespass. That wasn't what I remembered, but I thought, okay, go to the clerk's website, you can pull it up.

It's very easy. Type in a name, type in a date range, and it's there. So, I would encourage everybody to do that because it doesn't indicate that he was testing water quality. Um, he was told not to be on a construction site. It indicates that he called the police and told them, "Come arrest me. I'm going to the construction site." And they did. The case in the end was no pro. I was wrong. Uh I read it wrong. I read it wrong. I'm as an old prosecutor I am assuming and I don't I haven't talked to the prosecutor that handled the case. But a lot of times the witness fee is five bucks where it was when I was there. So, as a business owner, I'm sure you understand that sending four or five of your employees to court for the day for 20 bucks does doesn't get the work done. And this was an out of I think they're out of county. And I believe they actually went bankrupt. So they may not have even been a rat. So the case was not. Um so I was wrong by not reading it correctly. And I would say anytime these things come up, look it up. Look it up. I think it behooves us to pay attention and to check our facts um instead of just putting them out

there. And we I think we need to be careful with social media because it isn't the news and a lot of times it's opinions. One person says a happened. This is what's happening. And I think we saw that with Royal Oak. um we need to go to the council meeting because council is going to do this. And everybody panics and they're all here, which is fine. Don't mind it. But it just tells me that we're looking at social media as the news. So that's my cautionary tale.

Thank you, Member Nelson. Vice Mayor Cole, yes. Member Stoke.

Yes. Uh, two things. One, um, I put at your place, um, our guest speaker last night from the Space Coast League of Cities was Dr. Dwayne DeFreeze with the, uh, he's the executive director for the Indian River Lagoon. Um, it has the executive summary and the annual report. Um, typically our speakers are about 20 minutes. We were 40 minutes deep into the presentation. You can tell he's very passionate about it. Um, one thing that st stood out to me though that I I think is very telling. I think it's easy to we're doing this day in and day out and we know there's still so much work to do. Um, but I I appreciated how he started with imagine if we had that Artemis launch here with all those people here at the same time as a fish kill that we remember from years ago. And I was like, oh, that's right. We used to have those. And so I was I think that speaks to the progress that we're making. That didn't even cross my mind that that could happen. um and if that was the reputation and the impact that we left on tourists coming to our area. So I it in the report it talks a lot about some of the positive things we're doing. I think that we all know there's still always more work to be done. Um and then he also talked a lot about you know ensuring that we are protecting our environment and when he talked about you know when you're covering up wetlands keep in mind that water does have to go somewhere. Um so it was really informative presentation. Um so that's one thing and then two as our retreat is coming up next month um I would encourage us to just start thinking about things that might help us during that retreat. Um so as citizens speak um as I start seeing things I think what would make the and I don't even know the exact format of the retreat yet. Um and maybe we can discuss this and finalize it at our next meeting in April. Um, but some things that I would like to know that would help me at that retreat is knowing how much a forensic audit would cost. Um, and what's the scope of that?

So, would it cost x amount of dollars if we do one department versus all departments? What does that look like? Um, how much would it potentially cost to bring in an outside consultant? Um, just a third party person to kind of go and I've seen those happen elsewhere. Um, and I did talk to the city manager about this. At that point in time, we should have a rough preliminary budget. So I think as we're hearing comments from citizens saying please don't raise our taxes but also please make storm water improvements like looking at that and what are the budget priorities and giving us information as hey this is what it looks like right now if you want to go to roll back um if you want to invest more in infrastructure you might have to raise taxes so we can have I think a nice conversation regarding that. Um, and then I guess yeah, at our next meeting, maybe we can discuss if you guys think of something over the next two weeks of something that might be helpful for you to have as we go into that retreat. I'm really looking forward to it. I think it will be productive conversation. That's all I have.

Thank you, Member Stokl. I I com completely agree that we should have a a working budget at least to to have those conversations because you know it seems like going through my first budget cycle last year it was kind of felt last minute and then you're kind of stuck either approving it or you know from the dis here without even having um you just have 50,000 foot view of what these numbers actually are for. So uh having that additional time to go over it I think would would make a lot of sense. Vice Mayor Cole.

Uh, I passed the first time, but I had forgotten. I wanted to give kudos to public works. Uh, we had a 6 inch waterline break

on Oakill or Mer Murfield. Murfield. And when I went out there, one of the I went out and I was looking for one of the workers. And the reason I couldn't see him because he was in the hole and the hole was deeper than he was tall. They worked out there all day and into the night. What had happened is a tree root had found its way into, correct me if I'm saying this wrong, but a tree root had found its way into a 6-in line. It hit the six inch line and somehow the water got into the reclaimed water line

storm water line and it got onto Lita's golf course and flooded two of the ponds on the flooded and at first they thought they had a stopped up line that would pump the water out but public works came in they found it and they worked on it into the night to get it repaired. There were 35 homes, I think, that were affected by it that had their water off and then they had a ball water uh notice, but just kudos to those guys that were out there working their butts off. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Cole. And for my report, um I hear a lot from citizens when a new building is built, why are they not using an old building? And I I I think about that a lot, especially as I drive around town. You know, why do I drive down 50 US1 Garden Street and you see the same commercial for sale signs on the same lots? And I got to thinking about what could I do with that property if I bought it, you know, thinking like a business owner. And I came to the conclusion of not much because once that property is not in use for six months, it, you know, becomes non-conforming and there's really no gray area in the code. And so therefore, you have these smaller lots that were cut out probably in the 1950s that can't handle our new laws of storm water or parking or any of these other things. And so I think we as a council as we look through our code need to develop ways to incentivize that commercial growth throughout our community. And one of the ways that I had thought of and I had conversations with Mr. parish and I'll ask him to speak on this a little bit is storm water doesn't care what zoning district it's in does not and in our current code storm water plant has to stay within the same zoning district so if you bought a lot along US1 and it was commercially zoned and wanted to build a restaurant or little shop uh you wouldn't have any room for for storm water but what if you bought the lot behind it let's say it's residential now you don't have to scare the neighbors and try to reszone that lot to a commercial lot because it shouldn't be commercial, but just incorporate into the stormwater plan because at the end of the day, storm water doesn't care what zoning district it's in. But it's about giving um economic development opportunity to happen in some of our uh smaller partial areas throughout the city. And Mr. Parish, can you elaborate a little bit?

I did look at the code to see what provisions are available. Uh we do have something called a passive commercial use. It's currently in the code. It's very limited though. It is allowed for um a storm water system as part of a commercial development that can be located on a multifamily zoning only. And right now that would require conditional use permit for that storm water pond. Another example is or another location where that could be loc um be approved is in the Indian River City neighborhood actually. So if you have a commercial development in the subd district is commercial but you need a place to put storm water and you can't be on the same property. If you have the ability to do it, you can use a property that's in the ne the residential subd district. In either both cases there are conditions that you would have to meet standards you'd have to adhere to, but that's a limitation. I think what you were discussing with me was something much more broad. Um, so that's something if that's the council wants us to look into, we can certainly do that if we want to expand this in more areas. But that's the option that we currently have in the code. Now,

so I look at things as how do we get from A to Z and I'm looking at root cause analysis and a part of that in thinking this through. I got to thinking what is preventing this commercial redevelopment. And so that was kind of a a sticking point where I thought we were hindering the free market. uh maybe an opportunity as a solution, not just complaining about it, but okay, maybe there's a solution to incentivize uh the redevelopment of some of these older parcels on our commercial corridors uh without affecting the neighbors. That is the most important because the neighbors going through a resoning and then being commercial right next to their house and then them have to worry about it developing into something in the future. We don't want that. We we just want that commercial development to be able to happen. uh because unfortunately we as government can't make partial sizes any bigger. So that's kind of my thoughts. I figured I'd just turn it over to you guys and see if you guys thought that'd be worth an idea worth exploring um as we kind of continue to chip away at our code. Member Mscoso.

Um can I ask do you have a um like an example of a property that that you're thinking about? Um I'm just trying to kind of wrap my head around this. Yeah, I I don't have any particular properties, but I mean, as you drive up and down our commercial corridors, you see the same commercial for sale signs on every single property year after year after year, and I got to thinking, why is it this way? You know, we're supposed to have all this demand, but I'm not seeing it.

And you're saying that you think the issue is that there's nowhere for that storm water to go. Well, I think it's parcel size, but if we can be a little bit more accommodating with allowing storm water to flow outside of a zoning district, if they own the property, um I think without having to reszone that other property, that should be, you know, looked at as allowable. Member Nelson, I'm sort of thinking, and I know Brad probably doesn't have the time, but at some point going through the code and seeing what changes we can make to make it easier to develop commercial and not just that, just everything.

Yeah, I completely agree with you. These are just things that I pick off in my spare time. So, you have too much spare time,

you know. Um, just opportunities. I don't think Brad is going to have that much spare time, but I think at some point as we go along and hopefully Brad gets more spare time, it might be something that was worth looking at in terms of what could we do with our code to make it easier to develop commercial property. I if I may I give you examples. We routinely field calls about what we can and someone can and can't do on their property, commercial properties. I'll give you one example that I recall vividly from a few years ago. There's a property on uh Garden Street. It's very small. As you know, this area of Garden Street, especially around the railroad tracks, it's the core area of the city. It's an old area of the city. It was subdivided platted many years ago prior to even storm water requirements. So over time, someone may have purchased a piece of property and then they subdivide it even further. And and so there was one particular case where there is a uh office um on a piece of property that I guess used to be a single family home at one point, but it's an office now facing Garden Street. I imagine that over time the street was widened, probably took up some of the property as well. So what you have left is a really small piece of property and someone called me, a real estate agent called me and asked what can they could do? and they put it into a restaurant. And I I went through the whole the zoning allows it, but the property itself probably can't fit it. Even though it's built, it probably doesn't necessarily have to put in the storm water system, but just the fact that the uses can be in that building is going to be very physically constrained because there's not enough parking on the site itself. There's no way you can put add more parking on it to serve that kind of retail use. So, it's probably only going to be limited only to an

office use. As we know, office uses aren't very um a lot of them are being vacant right now. They're not being utilized. So, what can someone do with that property? Well, they could certainly uh redevelop it, maybe purchase it, combine it with other pieces of property. There are many ways this can happen, but there are no easy answers on those in those situations. Um so, as the mayor is suggesting, this could be one thing that could help certain certain properties, maybe not the particular one example that I brought up. Um, but we will certainly look, we do have advisabilities or directions from you from the past for us to continue to look at ways things in the code that we would like to bring to you as ideas to make things easier. Um, and we will certainly do that.

Okay. Thank you. So, we don't you don't need advisability for this. No, I mean I don't shaking his head. I have that in the past already. I mean, I'll certainly bring up ideas of ordinances to to change the code to make things easier if we believe it's ne um they can make a difference. Um, we do I'll give one right now we're working on specifically has to do with allowing um residential in office professional zoning um which I think it's I can't remember exactly but I think in some cases or live work units okay

which is a use that's not specifically allowed in that zoning district. It has to be one or the other. So now we are going to propose to you an ordinance to allow a mixture of those uses. Someone can actually live above the business that they're working in in that zoning district. Okay? Whereas right now they're limited to only a commercial. So an example I just gave you that piece of property, why couldn't they add a residential unit to it if it's got the right zoning? So those kind of examples we'd like to bring to you, but that's that's just one. Okay. Thank you.

While Mr. Parish kind of has a a blanket, you know, look at everything. You know, I I don't feel good telling Brad like, "Hey, look at this. I want to bring it before you guys and have conversation uh before, you know, Brad and his team start diving into anything." Member Stokel.

Yes. And that was going to be my suggestion is this is a great idea I think for the retreat again of hey this is advisability that I thought of and then somebody else might have another advisability and then us as council can start to rank those what's most important to us because as you're mentioning that I'm already thinking it would be nice although this would be staff time to like go through each of our blighted areas and then properties that have been for sale for a while and see can what used to be there even be developed now or have there been additional requirements and again we don't know what we don't know. So, I think that would be helpful. And then it made me think of a a message I got from a resident. I want to buy commercial property on Garden Street, but they're saying it will have to be reszoned for a different kind of commercial property. So, it's like those kinds of questions and they're trying. So, like as we get to know those things, um is there some potential red tape that we can try to alleviate to allow people to um grow and open businesses? So, I'm in favor of it. Again, I think that we just it's important for us to get on the same page and give clear priority list to our limited staff.

Vice Mayor, I totally agree and but I'm thinking we ought to be able to make it easier than using staff time and I'm this is directed toward the county manager. The kinds of things Sorry about that.

City manager. Sorry, we're not in the county. Okay. All right. Um interns. Okay. But can we get it to look into see if there are any kind of AI programs that can assist us in doing these tasks because AI is I mean I use it a lot and it really is fantastic and I know you are in the process of getting an AI program to help with the reviewing in the planning sections but I'm sure that there are some programs out there that can assist us with some of the mundane tasks such as that that Councilwoman uh Nelson brought up. So, I I would like for that to be also a task that we look at to see if we can are there any AI programs out there that we can look at that maybe we can talk to other cities too and see if they're using any programs that can assist us. and you know it definitely be would be cheaper than using staff time for it. That's just a suggestion.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Uh and I do believe if I remember correctly, we did add it to one of our core goals is using technology to improve government operations and efficiencies this year. So, uh those should all be things that the city manager should be already looking at. Um but I appreciate you guys having the discussion. If anything, I can generate some good conversation about ideas and how do we fix root causes that were started long long ago. But with that being said, that concludes my report. City manager, your report.

Yes, sir. I have uh two info items on the city manage report. The first is the update to the management response to the city audit recommendations of March 12th, 2026. And in that uh update, I go through various actions we have taken or in the process of taking to address the recommendations. There's also um going to be an amendment from the city auditor uh in the future updating some of the findings, but if council desires, I can go through my update uh if so desired. Amber Nelson,

please. Well, some of the actions we've already taken, we've instituted a a fraud hotline and an email hotline and um although I I thought it would be going live May 1st, we actually got ahead of ourselves. We've actually put it out there and we are are it's a work in progress, but uh we are benchmarking off uh another city that has a a similar fraud hotline and that should help us in tracking any allegations of misuse or fraud or waste. We immediately uh went ahead and put restrictions on our PCAR single transaction um limits to $2,500 and on a case-byase basis. Um city manager has authority to raise that for just a single transaction to $5,000. We're also looking to limit the number of pecards that we have issued. Um and also we maintain a master list of all the pecards and and of course pecards transactions require uh documentation to prove their um their truthfulness. We have filled the asset management um position and it's an employee who has previously served in the Ford County's asset management division and this person has a master's degree in public administration, has extensive experience in the physical asset management um realm and uh she's already hit the ground running and she's doing fantastic job and you'll be hearing of some of her accomplishments in the near future. Sure, I'm sure. Um, we're still looking to replace the water resources supervisor position. Um, and the city auditor and the police have collaborated on a process going forward to investigate allegations to ensure

there's no redundancy or conflict in their investigations. For example, um the city audit uncovered some deficiencies and irregularities that um as soon as you sort of peeling back the layers of an onion, we determined that at one point that uh a couple days after the initial findings that it required criminal prosecution and um right now the state attorney has accepted the case and uh it's scheduled for a hearing on April 28th. and we are we've provided an exhaustive list of all the items that were found to be misappropriated and we're seeking full restitution and we'll report back on any success if any. Um we have we've gone ahead and uh eliminated all the personal property that was stored at the field operation site. Um that was a finding of the audit that a employee was keeping their own personal recreational craft and other personal belongings and all the employees have been counseledled and required to sign a document indicating that they understood the admin policy does not allow for any personal property to be stored on on city property. Um and everything was removed. We're also um in the process of coordinating with caring car rigs and Ingam which is a third party external auditor not the one that does our audit a third party and they are uh developing a training program for us regarding ethics and waste and fraud. That's going to be a requirement for onboarding and also will be required of all employees for periodic training. And again, this will also be documented in everyone's personnel records to ensure

people understand the regulations regarding um uh waste, fraud, abuse, and misappropriation of city property. And also, we're looking at the feasibility of a audit follow-up. We've developed four different scopes of work ranging from a a smaller audit of let's say a small program like our recycling program for scrap metal which generates 10 to $15,000 a year. Um, an audit of that magnitude for several years looking back would cost $50,000 where a entire city audit, you know, looking back five or 10 years would cost upwards of a million dollars. So, we're looking at that and we'll be coming back with some information. There's a couple of cities that have looked into that and decided that that was a high hurdle and other cities have taken on that and we'll get bring back some information on that. And that concludes my my audit update.

Member Nelson. Tom, were there any other suggestions by the auditor? Any other recommendations? Um, I don't believe off hand. I think I've covered all of those. Okay. Thank you, member Stokal. Yes. A question about the PECard uh limits for the single transaction. Does that is that across the board? So, if anybody has a PC card, they automatically will have that limit or can you guys set different limits for certain people? There are different limits, but Okay. Um your department heads have a higher limit. Okay.

But now we've reduced everything down. There was some that had five or or even $10,000 limits and they're all reduced down to 2500 unless by case by case that I would approve for a single transaction or higher limit. Okay. And then um what about a monthly uh limit? Do you know what that is? Um and I would venture to say it's probably varies depending on who it is. It all depends on the operations. you know, obviously public works buys more equipment and they have a higher monthly threshold, but that's monitored by the department heads.

Okay. And then um because I kind of would defer to probably the internal auditor on if we should potentially lower it for others that maybe are just buying office supplies. Do they need a $2,500 single transaction limit? Um, and then lastly, do we have a threshold if something is over $1,000, for instance, that it can automatically get tagged or can we implement something like that? I don't know if we have an automatic flag for that.

Okay. Okay. But that's something that the department heads normally you know every month you get each department head or each proving authority gets a listing of everyone's pecard usage and a second the department head or supervisor has to approve that and that approval includes a documentation and receipts and of where the item was purchased and how much it was for. So you get an idea and each um each employee has a single line item. You'll see all of their transactions for that month. So you'll be able to determine, you know, who's spending x amount of money.

It just might help. I'm thinking too, especially with the now the asset manager, um if something's getting purchased like an an iPad or something, you know, in a department and it triggers it's over $1,000, maybe that's triggering a department head that hey, that's something over a thousand. We need to tag it. And then annually um and I say this because I know other organizations do it annually there's either it or somebody that goes around and scans and like has a log of it because I think that we keep hearing um you know there was a million dollars found you know of waste and I think I don't think that's accurate. I think there's probably a million dollars that we can't account for because we didn't tag items. so that we still might have them or they retired them, but because we never tagged them, now we can't account for them. And I would like to prevent that happening in the future, you know, 50 years down from the road where people are like, "Oh, these items, we can't account for them and they weren't stolen. We just never logged them and we didn't keep track of them. We didn't dispose of them properly." That that's my own personal of what I would like to see just for greater accountability.

Right. And we are updating our asset management software system. Okay. Which would help us track that. You're right. The over a 50-year period, that number was thrown out and it's a little bit inaccurate. We'll be coming back with some updates. Yeah. But, uh, you know, part of it is you have to track the items once you procure them, especially those items which are highly preferable or or like it or laptops, etc. or consumables, right? So, we'll get a better hand on that. Thank you, Member Ruscoso.

Thank you. Um, I know that we have um over 170 PECards here in the city. I'm even confused why I have a PE card. I I'm not sure about that. And so I think that is something that we'll probably look into as well. I mean the more well

so um so that was one question is looking at I mean the more pec cards that are out there I think obviously the the more opportunities there are um so also um I mean I I am confused about how there were there was personal property um at I'm not sure what site it was and and how we didn't notice that because that one's a very visual one. Did Did the employees assume that they could do that? Was that what happened or

It was noticed. It was the field op supervisor. He was the in charge of that facility and he kept his rec recreational boat there and um we determined that it's inappropriate there. It took a while, but we got rid of it and and nobody had reported that before. Well, I'm not sure. It probably was reported, but he was storing it. He was told to move it. He did not. And um and then um it is has been removed.

Okay. And then when do you think that we'll have the the prices and the different options for the forensic audit? Um just because once we get that, I'd love to have a chance to sit down with the internal auditor and um and just see her thoughts as well. So, I know that it would probably be put on an agenda, but just so that we'd have enough time to possibly schedule an appointment with her to discuss. I get that information, I'll I'll get it out to council. Okay. Please, sir. All right. Thank uh city manager. Anything else to report?

Yes, sir. We also provided the scope of work for the storm water master plan, which was directed by council. Um, we have an estimate of approximately $750,000 for this study. Um, at the April 28th meeting, we will be, which is our midyear review, budget review. We will be having an agenda item requesting council act on awarding that contract so we can get a notice to proceed and get that process rolling so that we can uh address all the issues that were uncovered during the October uh rain event and we have a lot to work to do to update our st storm water master plan.

Thank you city manager. City attorney your report. Okay, briefly. Um, city attorney's office been pretty busy as indicated in the report. The city attorney's office on behalf of the city initiated several lawsuit, small claims lawsuit regarding um as to uh damages caused to our water infrastructure. We went after the defendant Blue Streak, which is a subcontractor of AT&T because um they caused over a few years damages to our um in water infrastructure. We filed the small claims. The first case was settled for the full amount of $3,800. Uh we have since filed three other claims and the Blue Streak, they've reached out to us wanting to uh initiate settlement of those which will accumulate to over um close to $14,000. So, we're pretty um uh happy about that. Um the second item, we've got three new lawsuits served on the city. Two of the lawsuits are residents suing the city separately regarding storm water damages damage issues. The third lawsuit is the Royal Oaks LLC filing suit from the recent council's decision denying um the transmitt to the proposed amendment plan. Uh all lawsuits, the small claims mentioned earlier as well as the three new lawsuits will be litigated inhouse by the city attorney's office. The third follow-up item is the uh city received as council is full aware and had concerns about uh received numerous complaints regarding the readymix plans releasing dust in the environment and the city waters management system. Our office sent a letter to um of the city's intent which I think I reported a few months ago to bring legal action. Um and as a result the state got involved which we had sent the letter and copied the state per the statutes requirement that

we intend to pursue legal remedies. As a result, we believe the state um initiated an inspection on CEX and in uh resulting into a warning letter threatening that their permit may be revoked because of the violation and that they're going to be monitoring the so again we believe that you know our office has made uh traction on several issues that's been brought before to our attention by council and we just wanted to follow up with the report on that. Thanks

first. I just want to say thank you so much for all the work that you and David are doing. You guys are knocking out of the park, you know, getting money back to the city and obviously um working hard to enforce our code, which I think is important because why have it if we can't enforce it and uh making sure that we're protecting our residents. So, thank you very much, Member Nelson. And I just want to be transparent with you guys. Uh, one of the people filing suit is my cousin Leslie. Um, so I will stay away from the city attorney and Lesie.

Thank you very much. Nothing else to report. City attorney. Seeing no other uh lights at this time. Can I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn. We're adjourned.