City Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah, man. They made it easy for us, man. They got themselves. Everybody bow ahead. Dear heaven father, thanks for waking up this morning. Thanks for our life, death, and strength. Continue to bless us as community leaders, educators, and our professionals. I appreciate for taking care of us as we travel throughout the days and continue to bless Imma Charter Academy as one as the future in Jesus name. Pray. Amen. Amen. Flag president.

I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God. indivisible with liberty and justice for all. You may be seated, but here

as a dedicated member of Emma Charter Academy, I pledge my commitment to achievement of service. I make healthy choices personally and socially respect myself and the people in my environment. My choices my character. I myself keep my family, my friends, my community. I learn from my teachers and teach. I recognize that each day. This my choice is my pledge.

I'm happy to say that um breaking records last year they earned a Ve and for the overall test, Mrs. Cole, please stand and be recognized. Now, the head principal is on the road, so we're asking for travel, mercy, and grace. Uh, Mrs. Cole, ma'am, would you introduce the staff to as well that's here with you, please, ma'am?

Uh, yes. use my teachers. Um, I've got Mr. Jordan there. He was the one I did at Mr. And who's this teenager in the front seat? This is also known as Carter's mom because you know you only know by your

father. We won't even talk about that right now cuz you know 36. That's all I'mma leave it alone. All right. Thank you all for being here. Madam clerk, may we do roll call, please? Ma'am. Yes, Mayor Blake. Uh, Mayor Blake, are you here? Present, ma'am. Deputy Mayor Weekes here. Council member Goins here. Council member Hearn here. Council member CS here. City Attorney Ike here. And city manager Whitten here. Thank you.

Thank you, Madame Clerk. Mrs. Parson. Proceeding on to item number two-1 agenda regular meeting held November the 18th 2025. What are the wishes of council? Move to approve. We have a motion on the floor by deputy mayor we second. Second by councilwoman cost. Chair is going to call the question. All in favor of saying I. I. Any nays? I have it unanimously. Proceeding to item number two-2, minutes, second budget hearing of September the 16th, 2025. What the wishes of council? Move to approve. We have a motion on the floor by council woman deputy mayor. Sorry, ma'am. Quite all right. Quite all right.

Yeah, you have many hats. I do. And I'm looking for a second. If not, chair will second um for the minutes to be approved. All in favor saying I. I. Any nays? I have it unanimously. Proceeding on to item number three, awards and presentations. We have a a a presentation by Emma Charter Academy. Here we want to say thank you, Mrs. Cole. I will surrender the floor. So, you can tell me what you would like for us to do, ma'am. And I want to say thank you very much

because you are blessing. The young men and young ladies are a blessing to Bob on Blake Avenue. So, I I'm ecstatic about this and I support you all being a retired educator for 30 plus years. Okay. Well, I haven't reached 30 yet, but um I do want to say thank you very much for all the support that the city of Coco always provides us. Um and of course you want to, as you said, wish everyone an early Thanksgiving and just we just want to say we're here just to show you what we can do and show you our appreciation.

Yes, ma'am. So we'll go ahead and get us started. And just while I'm get why I have them here, my steppers have a very strict guidelines in terms of what they can what they have to adhere to in terms of behavior and academics and everything else. And so they have met the cut so far. We're hoping to keep them all at least by um our Christmas break. Um so we are hopefully going to bring home that hopefully the trophy again this year for the Christmas parade. And so that is just what we go for every year. We just, you know, we don't go for second place. So that's pretty much it. So we're going to go and get ourselves out here and get started with my girls. Okay.

Do we need to move the slide this over? Should I slide this over or Okay. You ready?

Yeah. I've been trying. changed. You know the Heavens MY

get ready and move. I do hear

and move. That's the last one. Last one.

Thank you. All right, Adriana. Thank you. WARRIORS Carrie Five, six, seven, eight. OKAY, HEAT.

Come on, PORTER. EJ CERS ALL TOGETHER SWITCH, SWITCH, SWITCH.

E,

GIVE IT TO ME ONE TIME. Two times. Three times. Now break it down. your girls. I hear you running over the length of your hair and they criticize you going to be happy cuz they're not happy with themselves.

I'm talking about Don't worry about who's saying the word. category. YEAH.

YES, MA'AM. YES, MA'AM. UH, COUNCIL, city staff, uh, city manager, city attorney, would you meet us down below, please? Ma'am, please sir,

Yes, sir. Council, Council McGowan, since this is in your district, district number one, I think you uh come on down everyone. Lot of data in everybody. Make sure you um get a chance to meet the staff. SGA Mr. HIXL NICE. best sweat in the world. Take a picture, man. M

Miss Cole, can you can you do all of us a favor and explain to the crowd why stepping is so important to the school and just stepping in general? What's the purpose of it?

Okay. Well, for us, it's more of a unity thing because we more or less are able to get our girls, give them a focus, and it also helps them behavior-wise and academic wise. It gives them a a goal that they have to maintain to be able to stay part of the our group. And so, I think it also just promotes unity in general because we also go to the STEP competitions. We get to watch them. We don't have a cheerleading group. So, we are there whenever we have our games. We're there to cheer our teams on. And so it's just it's just camaraderie between our our school itself. And so most mostly everyone knows the steppers when they see us at the school. So it's just it's one of those things and it's only for our middle schools. I only do the six through eight. I can't do the little ones. I'm not there yet. I can't I can't physically I just can't I can't do it. Are you the choreographer?

I Yeah, we go through some of it. I also have our captain for this year right here, Kiri. And um they come up with some things on their own. Sometimes I'll come up with something. They'll ask to change it. Can we do this? Can we do that with it? And so just kind of it's it's a joint effort. So thank you. You enlighten us when we say EJ. And what does that mean? It's just Emma Joel. And we started that I don't know when we started that. A while ago. Um 2015

probably around there. Yeah. I'm trying to think. I don't know when I started with the Septe I I think the steppers have been around for about a good six years maybe because I think I want to say about six years or so. So, we've been around for a while. Um, we get a new crop just about every year. I think this year I only have maybe one and a half because she left us and came back. Um, people here that were here with us last year. So, we don't have a whole lot that were, you know, that that we keep coming. We do have some high schoolers that do join us from time to time and kind of stick it out with us as long as they're, you know, grades come first. So, as long as they're able to maintain what they need to do in their at their school. So, but um, but it's it's it's something that seems to be catching. we haven't got to a point where they've been able to carry car carry it on to their high schools. A lot of them have tried to, but they need that um I think the support from faculty members and things like that. And so since it's not really well known amongst the the younger generation, they don't really know a whole lot about it. Um but we do try to keep them in tune to a lot of that. I know when we go to shows and stuff, I try to bring them back videos of what I saw and we try and take a few of them with us so they can actually see it in action because we're still at the very tip of the iceberg. We're not where I want us to be at, but we're still really young. So,

all right. Any other questions? Yes, sir. Hold up. He's just wearing the wrong sweater, though. Basketball um coming

and sadly to say that we'll be playing the uh Coco Tigers. So, welcome all and to see our male warriors and our lady warriors who was the county champs last year. All lady warriors uh returning players. Uh raise your hand who all returned last year. Hope Rainey, Tica Gold, Smith, um Sanders, Jefferson, uh all of them are my returning champs from last year. So, we help to keep going on and beat Tigers for our first time. We gonna play him twice, but we gonna beat him twice, but we gonna start the first night under 10.

I have one last thing to say. I have one last thing to say. I think he wore that cardigan because he thought Mr. Cole was coming today. Is that why we wore the cardigan? I'm just Yeah, because Bthoon University is the best university in all of the earth. We'll see at the classic. Okay. We'll see at the classic this weekend. We'll see it. Any any scholars are going to the classic this weekend? Raise your hand. There should be a few of them. Yeah. Well, unfortunately, you're going to be very sad Saturday night because we're going to win. We're We're going to beat Florida&M University. When's the last time that happened? We're not going to discuss that. Okay. No, I I didn't think so. Okay.

We would like to applaud you because we know the flip side. I'm glad to see the young ladies and the young men doing something positive because we know, you know, the media will put it out there, but we want to say thank you all. You mean the world to us and you are very very val. Amen. Amen. Let's give him a round of applause. FCA just Okay. For our president, we have Carter Davis. I know he's tired of my name.

Okay. For our vice president, we have Hope Rainey. For our treasurer, we have our Elijah Hixon. And then for secretary, we have our stepper here, Khloe Thompson. And on that note, again, two words we did not hear enough. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, let's give them a round of applause. All right. Good job. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, people. Good job. You guys are great.

I know. We having that turkey drive, right? We make my donation cuz I gave mine to the police department. So, I got a little turkey. Thanksgiving.

Okay. Proceeding on to item number four, delegations. Uh please, if you would like to say something, you must submit a card. They're located in the for area. you need to submit a card so that if you want to expound on anything city related, please feel free. Mrs. um Madame Clerk, Mrs. Arsenal, do we have any cards down there? I have no more cards at this time. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much. This concludes this portion of awards and presentations and also delegations proceeding forward.

Mayor, I'm sorry I did give you some cards though. Yes, ma'am. That was Mrs. uh You should have two. I believe one of them is Mrs. Cole. Kimberly Harold Cole. That was her. Yes, ma'am. And then the other one is for item number 8-2, Adamson Creek. But those that's it. Ma'am, teamwork is dream work. And if I want to get it right the first time, I better listen to you. All right. Sing no cards. Under delegations, we will proceed forward to consent agenda item. What are the wishes of councel? Go ahead.

We have a motion on the floor by Councilman Hearn and a second by Deputy Mayor Weeks. Chair's going to call the question. All in favor by saying I. I.

Any nays? Eyes have it unanimously. Proceeding on to public hearing. Okay. for item number one under public hearing. Um the city of Cocoa Evaluation and Appraisal Report, better known as EAR, based on amendments, second reading, second and final reading. I would like to say that this um documentation that we submitted to the state has very few changes and we do have two positive comments from the state. And without further ado, uh, Esquire Ike, ma'am, may I turn it over to you if you have any comments you would like to share with us, ma'am.

Before we proceed, I will read the ordinance by title. Yes, ma'am. Uh, ordinance number 05-2025, an ordinance of the city council of the city of Coco, Bvard County, Florida, setting forth amendments to the city of Coco comprehensive plan based on the city's evaluation and appraisal of the comprehensive plan pursuant to section 163.3191 Florida statutes providing for the repeal of prior inconsistent ordinances and resolutions. Incorporation into the comprehensive plan, legal status of the comprehensive plan, amendment, severability, and an effective date. Thank you, mayor. Thank you very much. Esquire Ike. Um, ma'am, Mrs. Alexis Crepo

Crespo. Yes, I'm sorry, ma'am. Pardon me, please. No problem. Thank you. Good evening. Alexis Crespo, I'm planning consultant with RBI. Um, as was introduced, um, this is your comprehensive plan update, also called your earbased amendments. Um, this is coming back to you for a second time after having, um, been reviewed by state agencies. I have a brief presentation to walk you through that if it would be the pleasure of the council. Absolutely, ma'am.

Great. Um, so as was discussed at your transmitt hearing back in August, this is a mandatory update to your comprehensive plan. The state statutes says you should evaluate your comprehensive plan every seven years and evaluate if the plan is still consistent with state law. As we've been experiencing here in Florida, the state law is ever changing, a lot of preeemptions coming out of Tallahassee. And so we did find when reviewing your plan that there were changes that needed to be made to be consistent and compliant with your with the state law as it's changed since your last major update in 2019. So, we um prepared amendments really strictly conforming to updates needed to conform with state law. We did not go outside of that scope. Um, as you may have heard, there's Senate Bill 180 that was passed by the legislator in recent years that um prevents local governments impacted by certain hurricanes from um enacting more restrictive standards into their codes and comprehensive plans. So, we've seen um some jurisdictions like Orange County, uh St. John's County make uh updates to their comp plan that was outside of the scope of just mandatory state law changes and they were struck down by the state and challenged by the state. So, we didn't want to wander into that unknown territory. We want to see that play out. Um there is challenges to Senate Bill 180 in play. So, we'll see that play out. But in the meantime, just get you uh a a legal comprehensive plan that addresses the state legislative changes. That was our our goal. Um we conducted um an assessment. We uh went to your planning and zoning board over the summer and then presented this to you in August. And this is the last step in that process. So we hope you do adopt this tonight. we would send it up to Tallahassee and just document with them that these amendments were properly adopted by uh the city and then we are done our process and we can rest easy for seven years or whenever you want to

make city initiated amendments in the future um at your leisure. So summarizing those just briefly, we we did touch every element for the most part. Um just making again slight tweaks here and there in future land use element, we addressed floating solar facilities as being a permitted land use in all categories. We also added language um based on state preeemption that you can't um have residential design standards for single family and two family dwelling types. You can still have design standards for your multif family buildings and commercial and also for uh single and two family within CRA and redevelopment districts, but just needed to add add some language just clarifying state law there. We made updates to level service standards in the comp plan at the direction of your public works director, address slip local act, and just got some of rid of some old dates in your housing element. The sanitary sewer element was where we probably made the most changes. There's been a state law um about septic conversion to get those um larger subdivisions on septic tanks onto centralized water and sewer or sewer specifically. So, we made um several changes to the element for consistency. And as was noted at the transmitt hearing, your utilities department is well on top of this issue, had a plan in place, so this was an easy update to make. Uh we made updates to your portable water element to address changes in levels of service. Um really the fact that people are demanding less portable water due to energy efficient fixtures. Um then we made some changes to your environmental based elements including your groundwater element to tie in that septic conversion topic. Uh reference to dates in your coastal management element and then also in your conservation element as well. We referenced your uh latest water supply work plan as required by the state. Then lastly, um we um made an update to

your public school facilities element related to developer prop shares or proportionate fair share payments just outlining that there is a process if a school is over capacity for a developer to pay and make capacity available and and what the school district has to do in exchange for that uh payment. And then the capital improvements element just up carried through those level of service updates throughout the plan. And we had to reference your latest and greatest capital improvement element which is your 2026 to 2030 uh improvement plan that you approved with the budget or yes. And then in terms of map amendments, we um needed to update the maps and this is your um city's GIS department that did a great job with this um to update the boundary on all the maps because you had annexed certain areas into the city, updated data from the latest available sources on a variety of maps. And then we also there was just a lot of unnecessary maps that created the need for updates. And to help with cost savings to the city and just streamline the plan, we just pulled any maps that would be subject to frequent change out of your comprehensive plan because this is supposed to be a long range planning document. So this was transmitted to the state. Um they had 60 days to review our um amendments. Not every department or agency uh provides comments. It's pretty typical that we don't hear from most of them. Um, but we did hear from the main ones that typically comment on these types of amendments. So, um, the water management district, D, and FDOT all issued letters saying that there were no adverse impacts from our amendments and that they had no comments, which is a good thing. Um, and the our firm has done several of these updates and FD usually wants to tweak those septic policies. Um, but they actually had no comments on this one. So, again, your utility department doing a great job. uh Department of Commerce had just a couple of comments. Um they wanted the year

2050 printed onto the future land use map to make it clear this was the future land use plan for the city through our planning horizon of 2050. They also wanted to do that for the roadway level of service map. And we um uh referenced an older capital improvements uh element or plan rather and we needed to update it to the 2026 through 2030 plan to be consistent with state law. So we um you guys had a a nice schedule that was done as part of your budgeting process. So we just attached that to this latest version um to be transmitted to the state or adopted. So, with that, um, I'm happy to answer any questions about the state review process. Um, we do recommend you adopt these amendments and this will again make your comprehensive plan legal and consistent with state law and um, we just thank you for letting us help you out in this process.

Do we have any questions for Mrs. Cresco? Councilwoman calls ma'am. Well, more of a question for staff. Would we be able to get a copy not of this CIP, the capital improvement program, but the comprehensive plan? I've had one since I came on console and I'd requested it and it's been enormously helpful in looking up things and as a reference with the maps. So, if we could Are we able to get that? Yes. And I'll make a motion to approve and I'll second it.

Okay. We have a motion on the floor by Councilwoman Picos and a second by Deputy Mayor Weeks. Okay. But I'm going have to open it to the public. Oh, that's right. No worries. No worries. You went through. No worries. No worries.

Any other questions for Mrs. Crespo? Seeing none, chair like to close this portion to council to the public. Please come forward and state your name for us. If you have any questions, uh please feel free to expound on this particular item um pertaining to the Coco evaluation and appraisal report. Going once, going twice. Should like to close this portion to uh the public and return to the council. We have a motion on the floor by councilwoman Carlson and a second by Deputy Mayor Weeks. Chair is going to call the question. All in favor by saying I.

I. Any nays? Eyes have it unanimously. Great job. Um, let's give you a round of applause there, Mr. Group effort. Thank you. Thank you. We'll move forward.

Next item under city business, item number 8-1. Um, in reference of approve the resolution 2025-088 amending the building permit fees for the city of Coco with an effective date of January the 1st, 2026. Um, this was um part of our previous action dating back to August 23rd of 2022. the same related issue of the resolution and then I would like to turn it over to Mrs. Nman. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes,

as you noted, uh the last time that the city had modified its building permit fee schedule was in 2022. And at that time, we had modified it to uh stay in line with what the other cities and the counties were uh charging for fees. uh in addition to the uh changes of the Florida building code and plans review changes that we had. So in 2021 as you all know we we converted to our citizens serve online building permitting platform which uh simplifies the process for the applicant. Um but we do still have all of the review processes in place for staff and all of the consultants that have to review in order to imp uh approve a permit. And so for this year, we are modifying our building permit fees. Uh number one, to stay consistent with what uh the county and the cities are doing around us and also to capture fees that are charged by consultants for plans review and and documents and all of the revisions that we have to to do for permits. So, uh, on your screen is the fee changes that are going to be effective, uh, January 1st of 2026. Uh, I will note that the base fee schedule is not changing for both residential and commercial permits. Those are still staying at $75 as the base rate for a residential permit fee and $100 for a commercial permit fee. all charged by valuation which is consistent with what all the other uh cities and the counties are doing uh by valuation. So the the larger the project the larger the permit fee is. So the smaller projects obviously do not have to pay as much for uh a permit fee. The changes that we have a plan review fee to capture the cost of reviewing those plans and documents. We currently use an

outside provider to to review those plans and it's a very detailed uh plans review process in order to ensure that we're uh following the Florida building code uh rules and requirements. Uh in addition, so that's $150 that's added to the permit fees. Uh for larger projects, a lot of the cons uh contractors and developers are using what they call private provider plans review and inspections. And they hire a private provider to do their plans review and to do their inspections. But what we have to do on our end is a building official does have to review and approve the private private provider submittals of the plans and inspection reports to ensure that they are complying with Florida building code standards to ensure that the engineers that are signing it are licensed and certified to to do that uh review and to do those inspections. So, we do have to pay our building official because he is an outside consultant to provide those services and uh we're charging that fee for those uh private provider plans, review, and inspections. I will note that for the larger projects that are using those private providers for plans review and inspections, the per Florida statute, we either provide them with a 25% discount if they're only doing one of the two or a 50% discount on their permit fee uh for using a private provider. So, so they do get a a discount if they are using private providers during that process. A flood plane review is a $150 charge and it's an increase from $75. We actually use an outside uh consultant who has to do those uh flood plane reviews um particularly for the projects to certify them in the flood zones and and we're just trying to capture those fees, the cost of using that outside flood plane reviewer for those charges. plan revisions. Uh we're increasing those

from 75 to 100, which is consistent with what a lot of the other agencies are doing and and that's to capture uh when a contractor has to change the plans in order to either meet Florida Building Code or because there's been a change in the scope on the project. Uh we still have to review those plans. We still have to go through the entire process again. So, we're charging those fees for that. The next one is the reinspection fee. We're increasing those fees from 75 for the second failure to 100 um from 100 to 150 and from 125 to 200 for the fourth failure or more failures for that. And and that again is to uh put accountability back on the con contractors to uh get the inspections scheduled. It it takes time and it cost our staff time to go out and do those inspections. And when we have multiple failed inspections, uh, that backs up the inspection process because we have to continually go back and do those inspections on those properties. And so we're we're adding those extra fees in order to uh capture that uh cost and those are again consistent with the other agencies. And the last one is the change of contractor fee which we increase from 50 to 100 which is consistent with other agencies again. Um, and that typically doesn't happen very often. Um, only will happen if a a property owner or a a business owner uh has to change contractors due to for various reasons and and so we have to change that on the permit for the new contractor. So, we do have to go in and review all of their licenses. We do have to do all that process. So, we do charge a fee for that process. So initially we're not on the upfront charges for the permits. We're not changing those fees. We're only changing on the the fees that we need to capture those costs because we're using outside

providers or to just be consistent with the other agencies. uh a lot of the the simplified uh building permits uh you know we're there there's a lot of changes with the Florida statutes on what we can and can't do on building permits and what you know they're trying to do a lot of more simplified permits. They started that with fire permits recently where you have only a matter of days that you have to uh approve a permit for fire permits. And so we have to expedite, we have to move quicker to get a lot of that done. And we anticipate over the next couple of years that those expedited permits may fall into the residential and commercial side of the permitting. And and we have to be prepared to be able to uh issue permits in a much quicker manner. Currently, right now, we're issuing permits in about a 7 to 10 day, which is pretty decent uh for what we're doing with 7 to 800 permits a year. and and so uh we're fairly consistent with our permitting. Uh but I do want to show you it was in your agenda packet. This is a comparison to uh the different cities in Bvard County uh of how they they do their applications. Some of them are very high. We did not want to go as high as some of the other um applications. uh they do a lot of it based on valuations and and have a percentage and it it can m it can be almost double what Koko's permit fees are in some cases. So we wanted to stay consistent with how we were doing things. Um for instance I'll say like Titusville if they change a contractor they actually have to get a new permit which is

a new cost. So so we're only charging the $100 fee. So, we're trying to, you know, be fair to the contractors, be fair to the residents, and and work with them on trying to get those, you know, keep those fees as consistent as we can for uh the developers and for the residents here in Coco. I'm available for any questions if you have any. Do we have any questions for Mrs. Newton? I think this is fair and equitable. Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve staff recommendation for resolution. Second uh 2025-088. We have a motion on the floor by the chair and second by the deputy mayor weeks. Chair is going to call the question. All in favor saying I.

I. Any naysay? Eyes have it. Unanimous. Great job, ma'am. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.

Okay, proceeding on this particular item. The next item, final item for city business. Okay, we have Adamson Creek Roadway sidewalk ownership discussion. Okay, this is presented to de by deputy mayor weeks and um it is a private road there. There are certain phases of it. I know you guys have this portion of it in your documentation. Um, Addison Creek phase 1A 2007. It was a public road when it was platted. Number two, Summer Breeze.

It's private. 2014. Uh, Lakeside Palms East 2018 was public and the remaining Addison Creek phase 1B 2019 private Lakeside Palms West 2021 private Adamson Creek 1C 2021 private River Walk private 2023 Adamson Creek 2 2024 private and the lakes at Coco 2024 private and even the newer ones coming in. Winward preserve preliminary plat p 20 24 is private but I'm open for understanding but it is a private road and my question that I'mma ask is cost how do we pay for it? Uh deputy mayor weeks the floor is yours. Yeah, I'm not presenting. Uh, Sucatrol is presenting, but um I per um our uh Gargani um I will not be voting but because I'm less than 1% uh because I own property and my home is in Adam Creek. Um I'm allowed to participate in the discussion, but I will recuse myself from the voting part of it. So that's what the attorney recommended. So that's what I wanted to let everybody know right up front.

Okay. And then state your name for us, please, ma'am.

Um Susan Katrrol. Um thank you, Mayor Blake, council members for allowing me to speak. Um, and I am the president of Adamson Creek Homeowners Association, and we are petitioning for you to consider our unique situation where phase 1 has Coco Streets, and phases 1B, 1 C, and two are private streets. We have 433 homes. Phase one homes are a little less than half are considered city cocoa roads while the other three phases are considered private putting the cost of maintaining these sidewalks and roads on all homeowners. Okay, let's put this found an article December 3rd 2004 about the Adamson Creek proposal. It was reszoned in 2003 and Adamson Creek was also annexed to the city. The phase one was started in construction in 2004. At that point, the whole Adamson Creek was platted in 2005 and all the streets were supposed to be Adamson Creek Coco's responsibility, but only 112 homes were built prior to 2018 in phase one. So, I'm pointing out that the whole community was platted to be um Cocoa Roads. Okay. See? Okay. Here is a map of the city of Cocoa. We are in district 3, which is the pink area. Note, there's a large white area within the city. These are county areas that do not generate any property tax revenue. So, the city has not annexed them yet. District 3, where Adamson Creek is located, provides nearly 2 million in yearly property tax revenue. And I will talk about that later. That is a different number that you would see

budgeted and I'll explain why. We are not a gated community. Phase one was developed by four developers. In 2018, Dr. Horton purchased the balance of Adamson Creek as the new developer. It was not an annexation. It was a continuation of the plan for building new homes in Adamson Creek which the original plan included 100% again home of Cocoa streets. However, when Dr. Horton took over, they made a deal with the city of Coco somehow to make the roads private in phases 1B, 1 C, and two. Also making no provision for future sidewalk and road maintenance or repairs in the reserves. and I went and tried to get records and I didn't find anything that would show what happened. Okay, let's see. Okay, what is land annexation? This just is a slide that explains why a c why would a county um why would a city want to annex? And it has to do with taxes. It's money. And I put it's it's for taxes. It's not rocket science. You follow the money. Adamson Creek was originally a part of Bvard County but annexed to benefit the city of Coco with our tax revenue. Okay. And I looked up more about what is annexation and apparently the first thing they listed was of course it was to generate money and apparently it's a fairly common practice and it mentions Florida particularly does it a lot. I also want to say that only 39% pay taxes and 80 and a Adamson Creek is a big part of that 39%. So 61% do not pay the property taxes. I put the budget up here. Hold on.

That's not the right one. The um 2026 proposed budget has an increase of $800,000. The budget's almost 13 mill u million dollars and the final millage rate of 6.9532 is projected to generate almost $13 million and go back to that other slide. Okay, I found another article, Florida today, August 10th, 2006. The positive impact on the city and it mentions in there that intended to be annexed by city of Coco positive impact on the city. Mentions the boundary, it mentions the tax base and the property revenue. So, there's documentation to show that Adamson Creek was annexed for tax revenue. Okay, this is the one that just shows the net increase that's projected 800,000 with the new taxes to show that there's money available. Okay, this is what I talked to you about before how it was the um Lisa Cullen put the tax from the tax collector's office put down it was 1.649 649 um million u dollars for tax revenue. But what was added in the budget were 33 homes that had not been sold. So their tax base was $500 per home. Now all the homes have been sold and the taxes are now $7 to $8,000 per property which is going to give another almost $250,000 in revenue. So that's how we got the $2 million um in taxes. Okay. Okay, in closing, as I said before, 39% of the residents of Coco pay t property taxes. 62 61% do not. Of that 39%, Adamson Creek pays

almost 2 million in property taxes, yet less than half of our roads, and we have approximately 3.3 miles of roads. and only Adamson Adamson Creek contributes 15.5% of that budget of the property taxes. Yet, we don't all benefit from it. For half of our community, it's taxation without benefits. We are only asking for a little over two miles of roads to be additionally covered. It can simply be done by a quick claim deed. And like I said before, all phases of Adamson Creek pay the same taxes. We request our roads be grandfathered into the original intent of the Adamson Creek development as phase one our cocoa streets and sidewalks. What you did was split a neighborhood when the whole original community was annexed for its taxes. We should all receive the benefits of our taxes paid to cover our sidewalks and roads. I want to point out our taxes are remain the same for all phases whether private or cocoa roads. This taxation is not fair and it is not just. I want to point out also our roads are new. So the city will be collecting taxes for 20 years probably before they start to do anything to maintain our roads. Our tax revenue should go to our community first before helping the other 61% that don't contribute. This is equitable and just. Again, we are only asking for approximately 2 miles of roads to be made Cocoa roads. And I also want to point out there are other developments in Coco North, such as Coventry and London, all have city streets. They are not gated. They do not have through streets. Adamson Creek is also not gated and does not have through streets. But there's the newest development, Lakeside Palms, as you mentioned, was built in 2021 and their

roads are Cocoa Roads. At the same time, Dr. Horton was developing our phase 1B and Lakeside Palms was also a Dr. Horton development, but they got their roads covered and we didn't. Okay. But also, I'll point out too, Fern Meadows, where some of the city council staff live, all have Cocoa roads. They're not private. I want to point out our roads are in good condition. The private roads are new and should be good for at least 20 years. So our tax revenue going to Addison Creek, we contribute probably in the next 20 years about $40 million. Okay. Okay. What Dr. Horton did by making over half of Adamson Creek responsible for their roads by making them private was a financial burden on all homeowners. Not just by all paying the same taxes, but all paying the same HOA dues to cover the private roads. This is basically double taxing every Adamson Creek homeowner. We respectfully request that you take the remainder of the private roads and make them cocoa roads as this was the original intent when Adamson Creek was annexed by the city of Coco as documented in those articles. I also want to add if the roads in Koko were made uh Koko's road, it would solve our school bus problem. We have right now the school buses can only go on the pro the uh public roads and we have a dangerous intersection, a three-way intersection with three stop signs that people keep going into that that's the only place they can stop. If all the roads were made public, we we would have two entrances they could come in. There's a route. I talked with someone at the transportation department yesterday and they verified that's why they don't come in the second entrance

because it's a private road and I personally know somebody if a friend of mine lost a a granddaughter last year be getting off a bus and she was killed in Georgia. So this I don't want this to happen that would be fiscally irresponsible for our community. So that's another reason for safety to have all our roads made um public roads. Finally, I'll end with this. It's only two miles of roads we are asking to be made Cocoa roads. It takes the quick claim deed for the city of Coco to take over our streets and sidewalks, and this was the original intent of Adamson Creek to begin with, and you are getting $2 million in tax revenue yearly. We believe we deserve to have all our roads make Cocoa Roads. Thank you for listening. And if you can vote soon, we would appreciate that. And I know there's another person that has to speak. Um, are there anybody else here besides

I have a card for Lucas? Okay. But but before do we have any questions for the president? Um, turn your lights on. I can recognize you. Okay. Who turn the light on first? Okay. Council Gins and Councilwoman boss. Um, the question I had was how long have you been living in Adamson Creek? Four years.

So, and when you started your HOA um payments, what what what was the responsibility um when you when you pay the monthly dues? What what's covered in those dues? Well, when we first it was $35, I believe, a year when we entered and it had to do with we have a pool and um we have a ponds and now the dues are going to be nearly $800 a year. Okay. So, it's a significant increase because we didn't realize that there were no reserves in there for the streets

and we had to be responsible to at least put that in there. That's why we're petitioning you and it's just going to keep climbing because you know the roads cost and I will say that I did check with a friend of mine that's a paver and he told me the costs if we were just going to do one layer one inch thick and for two miles it would cost between 375,000 to 500,000 or even a little more. And when we're paying $2 million a year in property tax, that doesn't seem like a whole lot. And like I said, it's not something we need right now anyway. It's 20 years down the road. So So you said I just want to make clear. So that the $800 that you mentioned, that was going to be for a month.

For the year. For the year. For the year. Thank you. Um Councilwoman Carson and then I have a question for Mrs. Morgan. Okay, that was a compelling presentation. Thank you. Um, I wanted to ask well, I had a couple questions, but I'll start with if you can go back. Can you flip back to where the district maps are?

Um, now the unincorporated areas here are actually in in district 4 in my in my area. um the yellow and the large one. I would say that your analysis was correct that it would cost a lot for us to incorporate them to annex them. But the other areas would actually be beneficial for us except that the residents don't want to be annexed. They don't feel there's enough benefit for them. In the case of uh it's Dr. Horton, right?

Yes. What was their benefit to having this be a homeowners association and not public roads? We haven't been able to find that out. We've searched. Mistake. What? It's a mistake. I don't think so. I think they benefited somehow monetarily. I don't know. There had to have been a bit. Why would they change it if they weren't going to benefit? They changed it. We were public roads and they changed it to private when they took over. Somehow they were able to change it just in the same phase.

And that's what we're complaining about is original intent was all roads were going to be public. And I'm sure people were looking to buy their homes in there because I know some others that didn't realize until after they bought their homes that now we're responsible for the roads and the sections they bought into because they bought the newer homes and the newer homes are the ones that are private where as phase one the original 112 are Cocoa roads.

Yeah. Because Dr. Horton also has the development that is close to my district and my neighborhood of the Riverwalk and that again those are private roads. I guess they're private because there is you don't go through that neighborhood to get anywhere else. Is that what kind of defines it?

Well, that could be one of the reasons. I mean I mean it was you know these are these are negotiated matters there and so again as the mayor um went over in the last 17 18 years there have been 10 subdivisions only two of them have uh public roads there the the the Adamson Creek development was platted in phases and so there is no phase 1 a everything governs what comes in the subsequent phases because you don't even know if those are going to happen. And so and so again there there is no um in phase 1 a everything was going to be uh public in all the subsequent phases. Again, they were pl platted individually. And and again, a platting is uh the the uh the roads, um the uh the sidewalks, uh the the the storm water, um all of those things that actually uh and again the lots also. And so and so again again because remember platted subdivision is is actually a recorded uh legal document there. And so 1A was was uh was was platted in 2007208 and then the next phase didn't come until 2019. So so there there is no um you know again they they're they're independent of each other. I know they're in the same subdivision, but the the platting of the phases are independent of each other.

Okay. Can I just that ask uh two other questions and then I'll I can let somebody else take over. Um why are the schools they only go on public roads? Do you know the answer to that? I I have no idea what happens with the school system. Yeah, I called yesterday. How often do roads get redone? I guess that's a question for Miss Morgan. Um we touch about 3% annually of our roadways. So that means that

out of our 80 miles. So do we know then how often a particular road gets done or that's just based on kind of the analysis you do when you go through and monitor the road and so yeah so um uh we mill and pave is the process we use and so that gives us um uh a service life extension for 12 to 13 years,

which that means that we only address 42% of our roadways on a typical life expectancy cycle. This leaves 58% of our roadways in perpetual deterioration. Well, and of course that would depend on the amount of traffic that a road is getting because I mean there are roads in this neighborhood that that or in my neighborhood they get very little traffic whereas others get a lot of traffic and are therefore more vulnerable. So it would be based on the the road and the traffic and going through. Okay, great. Thank you. That's Thank you.

Can can I Yeah, that's it for me. Um, I just wanted to say that there was one of the articles that mentioned when Adamson Creek was annexed that the intent was for more than 300 was 600 homes, I believe. So, it's documented that that was one community for 600 homes that were going to be annexed for their property taxes for to be cocoa roads. So to me, it's just going back to the original intent and we've got the articles that were printed that agree with that. So I just wanted to point that out. That's all.

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, I'm not agreeing with what was said in the article. What was said in the article was said in the article. And so the vision may have been for that but but again the platting which is a a legal document again the four phases are independent of each other and the four and the the one phase did have one a did uh platted as public roads but the other three phases were platted as private roads again um we don't independent of each other and and at separate points in on Mrs. Morgan. Yes.

Um, what is our annual budget for surfacing? Um, we have an annual budget amount of 50,000 $500,000 for our annual paving uh program and that uh that paves about two center line miles per year. Okay. And we did rain, excuse me, range road, right?

Yes. So, um, so when we have these roads in perpetual deterioration, we have to perform full depth reclamation on certain roadway stretches. So, um, full depth reclamation or FDR is not a repair process, but a rehabilitation pro process. It is very costly and impacts our general fund budget. We spent $1 million in 2019 on a onem stretch of Pineita performing FDR and $655,000 to perform FDR and Milan pave 1.2 miles on range road in 2025. Now my next question is uh people like to be annexed or one of the criteria for services that the city provides uh fire

yes uh police um a lot of areas do in the county have been annexed in because of the services we provide. Now my next question is um and I'm just stating the fact when it was time for us to vote for a millage rate out of the five three voted for the current rate where two others voted for a roll back rate. Now you're asking me to do something when we don't have the money but you constantly want to reduce. So, how can I pay for something when I do not have the proper funding? But you're making requests and that's some of the questions that I ask. Um, we clearly see when we do maintain an a a a millage rate, we see the reduction in crime. We see the increase of services. We see the self-esteem of the city of Coco clearly beyond a shadow of a doubt. So, so but if I set a precedent for one, I have to set a precedent for the others. And I'm looking at eight others that um just even recently um are on private roads. So, where can I get the money and also provide a service for them when there's others who do not uh have public roads? And when Cocoa um the Winwards and the Groves come in, we already know the value of those homes. Those homes for from a half a million up to 375 or if not even greater. In this ballpark figure, a total of about 700 and some odd homes, 7 plus homes, 700 over 700 homes and they're on private roads. Is that correct? Uh, Mrs. Mr. City Manager, Mrs. Newman.

Yes, sir. They they are platted as private roads.

So, so I'm I'm trying to be fair and equitable, ma'am. But if I do it for one, it's just like loving kids. I have to do it for the the other eight that's on this documentation here. And that's my problem. Man, and I I get it, ma'am. I understand it to the fullest. Trust me, I do. I get it. But I'm just saying if if if my budget is limited and even my finances in reference of road millillage uh will not accommodate that then I have concerns and and and my question is I know your your your homeowners uh fee whatever HOA has increased uh probably double tripled already and and and that's my question. You you want me to be responsible for that so that if then I would assume if we were to take the roads or be responsible for the roads would your HOA fees be reduced?

Should. So then I mean when you purchase the property, you know, they always talk about due diligence and I have some concerns because if I establish a president like this, then there will be others coming beating at the door and yes ma'am. Yes, sir. My heart goes out to you. Um we'll proceed in this order. Councilman Gins and then uh Deputy Mayor Weeks. I just I had one one more question because I'm ignorant to the HOA world. Um, so when I ask these questions, I'm genuinely I don't know. And so as far as the the pot of money that comes from the homeowner,

who handles the distribution for um your pool house, your your pond cleaning, like who we have a budget, we have contracts. So So the HOA board handles the distribution of that. And we have a property manager that company that we use. Okay. All right. They take care of most of this. Property manager does. Okay. Thank you. Um, Deputy Mayor Weeks, I have another question.

Okay. Uh, to go through the subdivisions that are uh deemed private. Half of them are rental communities. They are not homeowner association or I mean homeowners. They are rentals. Uh, Lakeside Palms West is a rental. They built the homes and they are all rentals. Um the uh lakes at Coco I believe is also all rentals. So those are not homeowners. Huh? Lakes at Coco. I know I know half of them were rentals or are rental properties.

No, the Lakes at Coco is just platted. It's not nothing's built yet. Also, when the original thing came out for Adamson Creek, and I will say this, uh, when I purchased in there, there was no Dr. Horton. I owned my home eight and a half years. There was no Dr. Horton. We were city streets. And those of us who purchased in phase one, all it was all city streets, and our HOA was based on that. Then Dr. Horton bought out the other three and did their deal which in so those of us in phase one assumed all the streets were going to be Cocoa Streets only then we found out after that they were not that they had made them private. Um, so if you go back to the original plat back in 2005, I know you say they were platted separately, but they had the developers had out the whole layout of what Adamson Creek was supposed to be, all the phases with all the amenities. There was supposed to be a soccer field. There was supposed to be um, uh, picnic grounds. There was all kinds of things that were supposed to be in Adamson Creek. And they also had where all the lots were supposed to be. And that was the what they were selling people on of what was to come and it had all the lots. Uh unfortunately due to the downturn that was not completed and so then thanks to foreclosure those undone phases or the developer went belly up and he sold them all to Dr. Horton. It's not the homeowner's fault at all. And as has been pointed out, Adamson Creek contributes almost $2 million of our $15 million in millillage rate. That is a huge that's 15.5% of our budget is contributed by Adamson Creek.

There is more than enough to take on two miles of roads in there. If you want it paid for, these folks, these homeowners are paying for it. Period. And they deserve to have what was originally put out there, the dream that of Adamson Creek to have city streets. Period. I know. I hear what you're saying about what you do for one, you have to do for others. We are unique. We are not like any of the rest of them. Those folks will know when they buy what they're getting. We did not get what we bought. And so the two miles, you've got people who love Coco, love living here, and they're paying their taxes. And our homes sell close to half a million now. So our property taxes, what we're paying now is only going to go up. You're going to keep getting money from us. We are adding hugely to the budget. That's all I have.

Thank you. Any other questions for president of the HOA? Thank you, Mayor Bank County. Uh, Lucas, please come forward and state your name.

Thank you, guys. Lucas Banti. Um, sorry, I was itching to stand up here because of the discussion that was going on. Um, so there's actually a key uh document that's missing in this discussion. So, in order to have a plat, especially in these bigger neighborhoods, you have to have a PUD. And so, I'll go kind of back. So, what is a PUD? So, Cocoordinate ordinances classifies a plan unit development as an area of land developed as a single entity or in approved stages in conformity with a final development plan. That's very key. Conformity following what was blade and plan. So, what was planned was not a pipe dream. It was it's real Adamson Creek. This is public records request final planned unit development PUD and this is stamped approved by the city of Coco um planning and development board and on the cover page of this plan it says the road rightways will be dedicated to the public public via recorded plot. So when the city accepted the neighborhood, the community as a whole, not A1, A B C, as a whole, all the all the all of them are in here. That's what we're supposed to be followed. So, and when you dive into the rest of this, there's a lot of other things that the neighborhood was sold on and that really I would request that council tries to do an audit on Dr. for Horton as a whole because the other things that were pitched in here to make the city of Coco and the community a better place that didn't happen are as follows. A full tennis court, a basketball court, paved walking trails throughout and around the the natural reser uh vegetations. We have sidewalks to nowhere and mold sidewalks that have already disappeared. Multiple pavilions,

benches, picnic areas and grills throughout the trails. We don't have these. A 25 yard three-lane swimming pool with a pool lounging area. We do not We do have a pool, but the size was drastically reduced and is too small for the neighborhood. And then this is the one that really upsets me the most. There was supposed to be a 750 ft tot lot by the pool that would have prohibited the three sexual offenders from recently moving into the neighborhood. That's a really upsetting thing that the PL neighborhood was planned, you know, to protect the community and to provide those resources and Dr. Horton got away with not doing it. And the benefit to them is the cost savings when it goes to develop it. So, um, again, these are public record. That's what I asked for. So there is a recorded document before the plots that this is what was supposed to happen and again it's for the entire neighborhood.

Thank you Council Hearn. Yeah. Yes. Um just from my observation of everything um but it seems like the sentiment is is almost as if you're saying that the staff city staff and the council at that time had did something deceiving uh in regards to this project. Uh if there's a dispute at least from my point of view it seems like maybe it would be with Dr. Horton the builder. Um have you all considered a class um a class action lawsuit against Dr. Horton? Maybe um pursuing legal means towards the builder. Yeah. How you

where's the president? Is she here? Yeah. Can you elaborate on that, ma'am? Please. Thank you. Responsible for development. This has not been discussed, but that's probably a next step we should take if you don't cover the roads. Thank you for that. just made clear that you know it should be that was the intent and that's our point that was the intent and I think you prove that and approved by Coco

right just based off the statements it seems like you guys had a set of deliverables that weren't delivered but I don't think that's on the city's behalf it seems like that would have been from the builder maybe am I wrong

they're just asking for the roads at this point and that so the that was the original intent Yeah. My biggest fear uh or biggest worry is uh if this was approved, we have a number of uh subdivisions um who maybe pay more in taxes. I I hear that's a big argument. Um there's a couple subdivisions out there. Um who's to say that they won't come in here demanding the same thing uh since we would have set precedents at that time. Um so that's that's my bought into private. We did not. The PUD says private. Yep. Private. You have to come to the podium because I'm I'm not gonna let this

I said their their their PUD say private so there's no confusion. Okay. Thank you, sir. Um Mr. City Manager.

Yeah, I'm probably going to need some help from uh Kristen from this there. But what I see are the engineering plans and not the plat. And so and so I see an engineering engineering plans that were submitted by the engineering firm of the developer, but I don't see the recorded plats. Again, that's different than a recorded plat. They may be stamped, but not recorded and they're not recorded against the plat. And so, so Kristen can correct me if I've misstated any of that, but but again, the the subdivision was platted, recorded in different phases. Um, and so again, sir, yes, you have something that has an engineer's signature and seal on it, but you don't have a recorded plat for the entire subdivision and all phases of the subdivision. Um the the in a in a couple of couple of statements. Um so the 2 million would be payment to the city of approximately $4600 a year per household. And so the 2 million may be um the total tax revenue which includes county and city there. But again, not sure, and this is my first time seeing her presentation, I'm not sure that on average, uh, it's 4,600, uh, dollars in revenue that we receive from each household. Um, and so again, just check, and I'm not I'm not I'm not uh debating or doubting what was presented by the developer. I can tell you what ultimately was recorded in the public records as as the plat. Um and so I I'll leave it there, Mr. Mayor. And then um you know, again, as you said,

there are other subdivisions since um the first phase that are that are primarily private. I I don't have an explanation. I don't think any staff was here in 2018 when um Lakeside Palms East was uh was um was platted. and those roads are are public there. So that's an anomaly uh on the listing of roads there. And again um with all due respect um it was made mentioned that uh staff lives in Firmal and um those roads are public there. I moved in for Firm Meadows uh when I took this job and had nothing to do with the platting of the roads there. And so I don't know if that was uh in regards to me, but again uh those roads were already dedicated as public when I moved into the uh into the subdivision.

Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Um I see your light on Councilwoman Cross. Um you have the floor, ma'am.

Oh, well I don't want to sidetrack things because I know this is about the roads, but I recall and I guess it was Dr. Horton at that point coming to us with eliminating the basketball court in exchange for I think exercise equipment. And I just remember thinking how bad that was. But how the sense that was early on no real building has started in Coco. It's almost a sense of desperation amongst coming from us that we didn't want to chase anybody away. And so we were very willing to give that up. Although I had several sleepless nights over it thinking about what the difference is. You know, basketball court brings people together versus exercise equipment that's very uh well sometimes not even used.

But all I'm saying that I bring that up only because all of those changes would have had to go through city staff, right? if they have presented a PUD that has whether it be the basketball court or the the tot park um would it have had to come back to staff and wouldn't the council have had to vote to change that ma'am

ma'am you you're saying coming back to staff there they coming through staff absolutely submitted to the PNZ and ultimately to to the city council there and so so again this was the developer says, "Hey, we have big dreams for building this out and this is our vision for it." And I I don't doubt that the developer uh uh said those things, but again, in terms of how it actually happened, it was platted in phases and each phase sort of a uh was independent of the other there. And so and so again, yes, that would have been presented to staff, that ultimately would have been presented to um to the PNZ and to this council.

Okay. But the fact that it was presented and platted in at different times, I mean this because my big fear here again as everyone else has expressed is, you know, we have winward preserve. um you know, we specifically took that on because we knew they were going to handle a lot of the infrastructure costs, right? Um but in this case, it sounds like there's a real argument to be made why Adam Creek would be different than um say Winward preserve that, you know, is being handled at one time. Um, I mean, I'm really interested in knowing what the expenses, what would this cost? Um, so I mean that would be an option for us, right, to request some analysis of what the expenses, what expenses would be incurred.

Incurred for what? to make the roads public in Adamson Creek.

I'm going to I'm going to try to say it a different way. Um probably say the same thing that uh Abby said. And so currently for the annual um maintenance of roads um you you the the council budgets half a million dollars and she is able to repair 3% of the roads. So 3% of the 80 miles of roads she's able to get to. Um and that's just a simple milling and repaving. Um and so so over the lifetime of a road i.e. 14 years if you go at that rate you only address 42% of the roads. 58% of the roads never get touched. And so and so the the 58 becomes 59% 60% of their roads are added you know and so and so again it is um you know unmet needs right now with your current inventory and certainly um exacerbated by an additional um 1.5 miles I think is is the remainder of 1B, 1 C, and phase two. And so if you never get to 58% of the roads, you have what we had last year where you have at that point in time, every so often you're going to have to what's it called, Abby? Resurface or no, not reconstruct,

rehabilitate.

Rehabilitate the road. And so to rehabilitate um Range Road 1.2 uh miles last year cost us $655,000. And so you have these big spikes because you're never able to properly maintain the roads there. And so every so often you have the big spikes there. And so again, it it I'm not being facitious. not it's not going to cost you you're you're not going to get to the roads um certainly by adding them on and and so because you're not already not getting to 58% of the roads.

Okay. And I just want to say again all roads are not created equal. Um the attention they need is based on the vehicles that pass over that road. Um, in the case of Range Road, you have a lot of trucks coming, you have the school buses coming versus, you know, another neighborhood road that has little of that traffic. So, um, I mean, I've lived in three different metropolitan areas and I'll have to say that uh, Koko's roads are in decent shape and one of those uh, cities I lived in was was really pretty affluent. So, I haven't been struck by um our roads, you know, us not being able to keep up with the roads. Um well, I'll have to say Michigan's in pretty bad shape right now, but that's a county road. Um, so my point is I'm still interested in in some sort of analysis that would let us know exactly what expense we're looking at. And I think there really is a that the argument, having listened to the citizens, the argument that this is different than the other developments we have on the books right now is pretty compelling. So I would at least like to know what um you know an analysis of the expenses.

I would like to hear other people's opinion as well.

Chair would like to make a motion to deny the maintenance of private roads and sidewalks of phase 1B 1C and two of Adamson's Creek homeowners. And I'm looking for a second and I'm doing this because of two things. A cost in which is going we do not have the funding now. Now um I would strongly maybe next year when it's time for us to do the millage rate maybe you all may have a different attitude but I would like to help them. But I know that if I do it for one, I have eight other uh communities that will be pounding at the door coming through our corridors right there wanting the same thing. And so on that note, that's why I make the motion. And I have a second second by Councilman Hearn. Deputy Mayor Weekes, your light is on.

Yes. I wanted to ask um Fern Meadows was developed 20 years ago. Have those streets ever have to be have anything done to them? What about all the other subdivisions out there? You're talking about all the main roads that get all the traffic, but the neighborhoods are not the ones that are having to get resurfaced because they're all newer. Our roads are newer. Burn Meadows, they're 20 years old. They haven't had to be anything done to them because they don't get the traffic. So, the fear that it's going to cost the city especially with the amount of money that they are contributing to our coffers is to me doesn't hold water. It's 2 miles of road and none of the other subdivisions that are public roads or cocoa roads are having to go in and be resurfaced because they don't get the traffic and they hold up. So, I'm just saying I'm asking you to please reconsider that. Okay, I have a motion on the floor and a second. Do you have the motion, madame clerk?

Yes, sir. Okay, thank you. Just going to call the question. All in favor saying I. I. Any nays? Nay. That the record reflect three. Yes. One nay. Councilwoman cost. All right. This concludes this portion of city business um reports. city manager. I don't believe that we have any reports. Okay. All right. Esquire Ike. Ma'am, no report. Mayor, thank you.

Thank you very much. Um, we go. Who's first? Councilman. It's okay. We'll do odds first. odds zone one district one

got to do it for one you got to do it for it all no I disagree yes you do well we we entitled to disagree ma'am yep we are right I will continue to stand on the principles as well as you

oh if you're saying um He can go. I'm filling out this form. Yeah, he said. Okay. I know it it was it was um one thing I did want to make a comment on dealing with that last conversation. Right. So, when we talk about um the renter side of it, right? Um, right now rent is at a cost two or three uh two or three bedrooms. Um, if you look at the subdivision that we was talking about, I think it's uh east, what is it called? Lakeside Palm West. Y

and so, you know, th those homes renting $2,600, $2,700. So, when we say their name may not be on that tax bill, but they're paying taxes. someone in that subdivision is paying those taxes. They're they're they're contributing even though they may not be the owner of that particular property, they are contributing to our revenue and and I guess as a third party I guess in a sense, but they are paying taxes. So I just but I know why that was said because you know we trying to sell the car too. I get it. But I just think sometimes, you know, I don't know. I just think that renters do in a roundabout way still pay taxes. So, um, so,

and I didn't mean them private if they don't. Okay.

Yes, ma'am. Um, so, so we we lost a, uh, a community icon, um, Miss Louise Battle. Um, she she also was, um, you know, a mother to so many individuals in the community. She currently was the uh concession manager at Coco Youth Football. Uh she also was concession manager for Rocket Youth Football for 15 20 years. And so you know that they're doing a homegoing for her this Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Um but she will definitely be missed and I I definitely wanted to make sure um we get her a a resolution as well. Uh he got sent to Monica today. Um, but I think you may be gone out of town by then. Maybe, possibly. Possibly. Um, so this was the event I was talking about last uh meeting. Um, financial literacy event 321 empowerment for all males 9th through 12th grade. Um, um, NFL player Jaylen Smith, um, former athlete for Notre Dame, um, New York Giants and Cowboys. he would be uh having a discussion for young men about financial literacy. I know I wish I learned about financial literacy as a teenager. I wouldn't have been so broke as a young adult. Um but we're trying to provide great information to our young people. Um a lot of the people in the community are crying out for help for their young men and so we're trying to provide that. Um the resources are there. All they have to do is register. So you can register at 321empowerment.org. It is free. They receive a lunch um as well and breakfast as well too. So um my grandmother is doing her her Thanksgiving event again at in Melbourne

at the Eddie Taylor uh senior community center in Melbourne. Um, last year she fed I think close to,200, 1100 people hot meals, not stove top dressing, real dressing that she crumble up with her hands,

uh, homecooked meal. And so, thank you to the community and all over the Bvard County has helped out and donated food. Um, she's not doing canned greens. They're going to be real greens that she's been working on for the last two or three weeks. And so, um, if anyone has anyone in need, um, that in need of a Thanksgiving meal, a love, a prayer, a hug, please, uh, this Thursday from 11:30 to 4:00 p.m., um, please bring them to pick up a meal. It's a drive a drive-thru, but they will have, um, picnic tables set out for individuals who may not have a car, who are walking up. And so, uh, shout out to my grandmother for just being who she is. So, um, this weekend, uh, Coco Youth Football won Super Bowl in several age groups, uh, 14 U, Flag, and 8U. Um, and so, shout out to them. It's very hard to win championships, uh, no matter it's high school or youth. And thank you for all the coaches and dedicating all their time, um, for winning the Super Bowl. um our team as well at Rocket Youth Football, my 6U team with me, my son and uh de not deputy mayor uh Councilman Hearn's son as well, Creed both play on our 6U team. We we won Super Bowl in Daytona Beach this weekend. Um you know Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, shout out to those young guys um for all the hard work that they put in. And that's that's my son there. He's, you know, I couldn't tell him that he got three tackles. You could, he think he, uh, Michael Irvin or somebody now. Um, this was the flag team for Coco You Football. They won as well. Um, so this is, uh, Mike Mike Jr. Um, he is our AU coach. They also won a Super

Bowl as well, um, this weekend. Um, you know, great job of them. They won two games back to back 6-0. That is unheard of. That's great defense. So, shout out to to Mr. Urban for um all the hard work and dedication those coaches put in. And that that's that's all I had. Um I know this next I know we supposed to have a meeting about the four corner. So, I got questions about it and I think we kind of had a conversation last night about it at our uh Diamond Square meeting. Have we come to a agreement on dates on that yet. We don't have dates. We don't have dates yet. Okay.

I don't have any video. Uh but I do have a couple things that I wanted to talk about. Um I just got back last night from Houston. I've been there for the last week for the National Association of Realtor Convention and we did a tour of Houston. They called it Roots and Routes. and um for you know you had to sign up for that kind of like what we do through the League of Cities. Anyway, the entire city of Houston has no zoning period. The entire city has no zoning. They um if you buy a piece of property, uh they do have setbacks and they do have some rules, but pretty much you can do with it what you want. and they took us through historic areas and um uh they um if you don't want something done in a particular area, you can deed restrict it, but that's the only restrictions that they have and that's by their original charter that they are not allowed to have any zoning. But it has worked really spectacularly for them. they um are booming and uh it's it's amazing to see. Um and there even their historic areas, third twothirds of the homeowners in that area have to decide that they want it to be historic, but there there are rules in place for that. They can only tell you what you can do with the outside, not paint color. Your house has to look like the original. Uh you can fix it up, but you can do anything you want to the inside. So you can modernize it. if you add on to it, you still have to be able to recognize the original structure. So, I found that very fascinating to go through that and uh I have pictures, but again, I my flight got back last night and uh just did not have time.

Yeah, just did not have time. I know. I was glad that the whole uh flying over there was the day that they were uh cancelling flights, but my flight went. Um, but anyway, it was uh it was a great conference that I went to and um uh there were some other things and I'm I'm drawing a blank at the moment. So, uh anyway, I'll have it for Well, our next meeting is not till December. Um Oh, I was going to ask um we are doing the thing on the 10th, correct? Is that when we bring the food items, right? The And that's where it's pictures with Santa and Mrs. clause and uh December 10th, but we're not doing anything for and elves, but we're not doing anything for Thanksgiving, right? We're just doing it for the Christmas. We're collecting for Christmas. Is that correct? I just want to make sure I got it straight.

We we we do the annual food um competition with uh the city of uh Rocklage. I think we I think we do that uh for Thanksgiving. And so we we do that. Oh, so prior to Thanksgiving. Yeah, we collect food items. We collect uh we'll take cash. Um um that's how they won last year. They had a big check written for them. Bill Taylor. And so and so we're we're in that. I I forget when we actually when they actually make that award presentation there, but is it only canned things or is it turkeys and all that? People were asking me and I thought we were only doing it the

I think it's by the poundage there. I don't think it's only canned goods there. I think it's You have a place for turkeys if somebody brings turkey. Oh, yeah. It's it's it's with the sharing center. So, they they definitely would have place for turkeys. Yes. Oh, so you take to the sharing center? Yeah, we do that. We do that every year. Um, you take it to the sharing center or do we take it to the sharing center? Yeah. No, no, you you we have drop off locations and so I'll get you that. We'll get you that again there. And so, uh, City of Coco takes it to the sharing center. We we deliver. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And so we do it then and then we do it again December 10th. Yeah. We have toy drive. Yeah. Um we have police department's toy drive.

December 5th. Uh the fire department does uh Adamson Creek, I understand, delivered a bunch of toys to you. So we got plenty of opportunities. Yes. We'll we'll give you a listing of all of that again. Yeah. Thank you. And as far as the parade goes, um, uh, I also wanted to get clarification on that. Uh, I know that there's a fire engine, but I'm going to be dressed as Mrs. Claus, so I didn't know if I wanted to be hanging on to the side of the fire engine as Mrs. Claus. Might terrify the children. Anyway, so what are the options? Well, there I think there are other vehicles there. There may be golf carts there. You're going to be dressed as Santa, right?

Yeah. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Gail was here. So, yes, whatever you you get on, we we you got to sign your liability form first. Yeah. Well, no. I filled that out today. I just wanted to know that there were other options as far as that goes. There you go. Yep. I don't want my wig blowing off anyway. Okay. That makes two of us. Okay. That's all I have. Thank you so much. Okay. Uh district two or district four, who would like to go next? Um, can you go first?

I just got one I attended. So, I had an opportunity. I had an invite to attend the Children's Safety Village Community Heroes Celebration Awards. It was a gayla that they had uh over at the convention center, not convention center, the Rosen uh over in Orlando uh this past week. So, it was really a great event to go and represent the city of Coco. Um it was a bunch of first responders that was invited. Um they were rewarded uh different different awards. You can see there was a lot of sheriff's representatives from multiple counties within central Florida seminal orange county. There's myself representing a great event. So the children's safety village is it's I think it sits on nine acres over in Orlando. Um it's a location they built for children. Um they can go and play. They do all typ of for kids there. It's really cool place to be able to get a chance to visit. Um it's right over by the fairgrounds. So, uh they raised money that night as well and they awarded some of the first responders as well as some of the uh there was a youth that was awarded. He actually saved his family uh from a burning home. The home caught on fire. He was able to go and uh basically alert everyone and get everyone out and he was awarded. Really great event. Um just something I had done over the we wanted to share with you all. And also, um, I've noticed the crosswalk project over on, uh, Pineita and Dixon Boulevard, I believe, is complete now. Um, so that's really great to see that the kids can now cross Dixon Boulevard, uh, in a safe manner. So, it's always great when we're making improvements.

That was a county project. We paid for half of it. Correct. It was a county partnership, right? Yes.

Thank you. Um, one of my one of the reasons I've always been proud of District 4 to represent District 4 is because it is the home of the Florida Solar Energy Center and that is the home of the expertise for alternative energy in all Florida. Um, I sit on the advisory board and we had a meeting today where we discovered that last Friday they were given notice that the budget has been cut. There's no future funding going from a staff of 66 to on January 1st 16 to on July 1st 7. It's based of course on the the federal cuts in funding. Um, the building there is actually owned by the university, Central Florida, and the land they leased from Eastern Florida State College. But this, of course, they were, this is pretty shocking news. Uh, they actually have like 8 million in award letters that they were supposed to get last year. There were just never, nothing happened this year. and um everyone was on hold. But in this case, they actually just to give you some of the stats, they took uh I think it's the solar, wind, and hydrogen research funding that was completely

um deleted. But I think almost more worrisome is that 74% of the energy efficiency budget was cut federally. And I mean energy efficiency is kind of hard to argue against that. Whatever the source the energy is, you always wanted to be more efficient. So anyway, um this is not such good news and um it's just you know a sign of the times um and it will have impacts. This uh is an organization that was created in 73. So this was actually their 50y year anniversary. the schools are going to miss it as well too because the uh energy whiz event that they do is is pretty popular and of course that is course work throughout the year leading up to it. So the um the advisory board of course is looking for ways to you know fund some of these things but I mean overall uh we're just going into a phase where there will not be any research being done um well in Florida and and in the US on solar alternative energies rather not just solar and not just And so we went to the High Point. Um they have an annual picnic. This is a big event. Um fun event. Um and it's great that the neighborhood, you know, gets together this way. Um Mary Lou is one of the organizers there. And one of the things that's really

charming about it is takes place under this large canopy of trees. If you like oaks, this is the neighborhood to be in because they definitely dominate. So, you have that whole canopy over you. The big talk there, of course, is the uh we did the painting down the center of Westchester Road and I was asked to ask if that could be painted over because that is not they were although people were grateful that there was a response to their um request to make that road safer and slower, they were really looking more for a pedestrian path. Um the the problem as we've discussed, you know, we discussed the the line down the center of the road, it looks more like a busy, heavily trafficked road. When cars are parked on one side, there's no way to stay within the double lines and get around the cars. So, um so I told them I would put that out there. But, uh again, everyone's appreciative that there was a response. It's just that um that response is not what had people had in mind. And we had the Cirrus apartments, their their ribbon cutting. Um I won't say too much. I know the mayor will have this in his report as well. Um they did some things that were really original though with the the drone bringing in the ribbon. That's what you have in the uh the lefthand corner. Yeah. And then you know there there's several features in this apartment complex, you know, that tie it to the space program that I just think make all the difference in the world. Like that this is, you know, just the lighting in

the hallway, right? It's made to look like a rocket. So things like that that make it really fun. And they're doing really well. Over 80% occupancy at this point. And again, such a great project because, you know, it it took blight and turned it into something that we can be really proud of. Um we've had in on Indian River Drive and in the neighborhood that I walk in every day, um we've had a lot of water issues. In the bottom leftand corner, that's the Dixon and Indian River Drive just sitting in water and of course water streaming. There's a constant flow of water from the apartments that are up there. And first of all, let me say thank you um Miss Morgan and who was your assistant that we met with?

Mike. Mike. Yeah, Mike Hall. Mike Gil.

Gil. Okay. Uh appreciate you meeting with me and you know talking about um some of the issues and of course this is a neighborhood that has several engineers that have you know this is what they talk about. Where is this water coming from? And they had a couple of theories. One being that the storm water pond on the other side of US1 that was done when they did US1 and diverted storm water to the west side is actually seeping and that so we have several locations where this is is really quite the issue. Um this of course in the bottom bottom left right corner is the Dixon and Indian River Drive. Um, and the upper right left is at Indian Circle, the north side of Indian Circle. And what you see in the right corner, right lower corner, is that property, his backyard, he's had to set up three sump pumps. And this is relatively recent. So, the really concerning water issues in that Indian Circle area. Um, I also want to say that Thomas Nash, is he with public works or is is he with utilities?

Very well-liked in the community. Just wanted you to know,

everybody knows his name. We had the um um the road collapsed in that one part. Um evidently there was damage to a sewer line and um they ended up getting a sinkhole. So that was uh taken care of. Thank you. And then the October 26 storms really left quite a mark on the bluff on Indian River Drive. Of course, we just we experienced this within, you know, the city limits. This is on Beverly. what you see the first well all three photos are that um it literally eroded um the bluff away and exposed the pipes and then the third picture on the right is you know after the repair but um since discovered of course we knew about the one that was Grand View where the road washed away but there were three others um that were on private lands So really some some issues. Now that was a 10-in storm. It was a really big storm,

but we hear about those all the time now. So it's concerning in this case. I know that there had been there was some land clearing that was done last year. Um trees and shrubs that were moved out. I don't know how much that affected it, but if there are better practices that residents that live along this area should be aware of, I think it would be great to educate them on that. And um I don't know whose responsibility that would be, but um it's probably not a good idea to pull out large rooted trees out of the bluff um just because of of the erosion that takes place. Um anyway, I think we that's Is that the last one? Okay. And this I just made wanted to make another pitch and we'll be making pitches all year long for Ashley Ingram who would really like to see a park one day in Cocoa Hills where we have a park desert. It's part of our comp plan. should be on our priorities list and so I'll continue to advocate for that neighborhood. There you go.

Thank you, ma'am. Last but not least, yours truly. Y'all save me for the last portion of it, but uh yes, sir. I'm ready when you're ready. Whenever you tell me, Mitch, want to say thank you. Happy early uh Thanksgiving. early this morning since about 5 something this morning getting ready for giving out turkeys here in the great city of Cocoa. Um I'm happy to say um for my church um right there on the corner US1 at 520 where we feed the people there. I give a special shout out to u Mrs. uh Patty Bryan there. We're at her facility, Walk on Water Ministries. As you can see, myself and Kevin and his beautiful wife. That's Mrs. Patty Bryan right there with the blue on on Merit Island. You can see the cat there just tanning his buns in the Florida sun after that big heavy rain. We, you know, had had experience on Merit Island. It's a nonprofit organization helping autistic kids using um horse riding as part of their therapy with the love of animals too as well. They have Shetland Ponies there I'm happy to say and had a wonderful time there I do believe in that u and supporting their organization and she's part of our sister cities too as well. Um but to the right, Mitch. Um this past weekend at Publix with the police department, as you can see, the lady to the left, uh Mrs. Wanetta uh porn, I think that's her last name. The young lady holding the turkey, Miss Wanetta, is the deli manager at Publix on 524. Young lady that's holding the turkey, uh sorry, turkey. Turkey

adjacent to me. She's in charge of the dental program at Eastern Florida State College and she made a donation and helped us out. You can see myself holding the turkey and our newest member. Uh we met her through our police department when we were at Texas Roadhouse. Um her name is Brooke Contardi. We had a great time, wonderful time. They hit me up with some money from the police um police department as you can see in the background. That's money and food. People donated food to the sharing center because we want to beat South Coco again. Um we beat them what, three or four consecutive years in a row. Then all a sudden they switched the game on us and they got a major contribution. This is Officer Taber. We're loading up the sharing center truck with food goods, turkeys, dry goods, um anything to help out the sharing center. That's Brooke. The gentleman to my right, your left, Mark and Mark L. Captain supports um sharing center. He uh drove the vehicle there. We had a great time, man. People were very friendly. They embraced us with open arms and it was a great time Saturday. Um that's Brooke and myself. Um there again, Texas Roadhouse, a strong contributor to the police department and PALS. They provided food for us this summer. And uh Miss Brooke works there at Texas Roadhouse in South South Co. That's Mark and Mark. You can see him right there. Uh making a major contribution back, putting back into the community. Miss Wanetta. Uh we're at the grand opening as you was talking about. Uh Councilwoman Cost, that's Chairman Jason Steel, city manager, myself. Uh the mod squad. Here we are. Everyone ly dotting everybody. It's a chrome dome

section. Everybody has a bald head with the exception of one, two, three, four. That effrovescent young lady with a mauve outfit on. Uh that's the um chairman. That's Mr. Phillip. and then Nick Herring and Chief Lamb, uh, Chief Moore and Chief Cyer. Um, I'm happy to say that same day they had a rocket launch. Uh, so we had a great time, man. Uh, people came out very friendly, excellent turnout. Uh, here's part of the working group, too, as well. Uh, you can see we're all skinning and grinning, having a great turnout. Uh, I was very proud of that. Uh here we had the grand opening of the LLC new building, the university right there on Pine Avenue. That's our current president, Mrs. uh President Holly Smith. Um I will be we will all see her come December. As you all know, uh we had a great time. That's Jenny and her two boys and myself at the grand opening. We dedicated a room there into this building. You remember the meteorologist from um WFTV?

Yep. chills. Yes, sir. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Thank you. Yes. So, the girls are smarter than the guys here.

So, that's Mayor uh Pat Bates, past president of the Florida League of Cities, mayor of Altimont Springs. Uh Len Tiffany, you guys should remember her from the EO class. We dedicated a building, a room to those two ladies, the chancellor, which is Pat Bates, and the guru of FLC. and she will give you historical learning. Uh, Mrs. Lynn Tipton, her brother was a former county manager of the great county of Bvard. Here they are, sisters of love right there. This room is dedicated to them. Uh, very nice man. Great turnout. Uh, my tight man was there too as well. That's Pat's husband. Um, you can see we're all lined up there. Uh, past president, yours truly, uh, uh, uh, uh, golly, I can't even pull the guy's name. He's gonna shoot me. But he's running for mayor for the great city of Orlando, second greatest city on this side. Uh, he has that deep voice. Boy, he's going to shoot me. He came to my father. That's Councilman Stewart from Orange County. Uh, here we are again breaking in the building, having a good time.

That's Orlando. Yes, ma'am. Orange County. Yes, ma'am. um first uh vice president Mark Franks and you can see all of us here. You can see uh Madame President with her orange slippers on her shoes on man. She's rocking it shocking house. This is the dedication. Um second vice president, yours truly Sarah Stokal, Miss Jeie Mark and yours truly Holly Smith. You guys know who that is. Yeah,

we made him famous. Buddy Dyer, he came to the hot chocolate cocoa, Florida. And uh we had that agreement with them over there in Orange County and also with the Dial plant. We had a wonderful time there. Local voices making local choices. Here we are with Holly there in the background. Um Mayor Medina. Yes, Mayor Medina and also yours truly, Judge Majid at the dedication. Had a great time there. Pastor Shaw, we were all there in full effect at his um indoctrination is elder at uh what? Zion Orthodox gentlemen.

Yes, sir. Masonic brother. That's Elder Shaw. Um I think we already did that. I I apologize, but that's the new homeowners there, man. Proud moment. Another one of our constituents. There was a few that was left off. My fault, but we'll talk about it. Hey, buy local, spend local, keep it local. Want to thank you all the staff, directors, our men and women of the great city of Coco. All 411 plus strong, over 400. We love our city. Continue to fight for our city. Great days and happy days are here. Again, remember the reason for the season. If you can help someone along the way, do so. Even if you buy them a a dog on cup of coffee and a donut. Uh we are brothers and sisters keeper. I entertain a motion to adjourn. We have a motion on the floor by Deputy Mayor Weeks, second by Councilman Hearn. Go in peace.

All in favor of saying I for Thanksgiving. Eyes have unanimously. Happy.