City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. We're going to call the city council regular meeting to order. Tuesday, March 10th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. Kaylee, will you call roll call, please?

Council member Darm here. Council member Knight here. Council member TS here. Mayor here. Council member Stard here. Council member Richardson here. Mayor and we're all here here. Uh do we have an invocation tonight from Phyllis Bartle of St. Jude's Episcopal Church and then we will do the pledge. Please rise.

Let us pray. Almighty God, our heavenly father, send down upon those who hold office in this city the spirit of wisdom, charity, and justice, that with steadfast purpose they may faithfully serve in their offices to promote the well-being of all people through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. To the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Okay. Number one, absences. We have none. Number two, presentations and proclamations to a government finance professionals week proclamation. Orange City Finance Department will be accepting the city of Orange City, Florida Proclamation. Whereas, the Florida Government Finance Officers Association is a professional association founded in 1937 and serves more than 3,300 professionals from state, county, and city governments, school districts, colleges, and universities, special districts, and private firms. And whereas the FGFOA is dedicated to being your professional resource by providing opportunities through education, networking, leadership, and information. And whereas the government finance professionals week sponsored by the FGFOA and all of the its member governmental organizations is [clears throat] a week-long series of activities aimed at recognizing government finance professionals and the vital services that they provide to our state and our community. And whereas during this week, government finance professionals throughout the state of Florida will be acknowledged for their hard work, dedication, and leadership. Now therefore, I, Kelly Marks, mayor of the city of Orange City, and on behalf of the city council, do hereby proclaim the week of March 16th to the 20th, 2026 as Government Finance Professionals Week, and further extend appreciation to our Orange Arm City Finance Department, and to all government finance professionals for the vital services they perform, and their exemplary dedication to the communities they represent. In witness whereof I have here onto set my hand and cause the official seal of the city of Orange City to be fixed on this day, March 10th, 2026. Kelly Marks, mayor. [applause]

You want to go down for a picture? Council picture back here. We got one more, guys.

[snorts]

Thank you all for what you do in the finance department. We can't do things without y'all. Um 2B, we have registered uh dietitionian nutritionist day proclamation with advent health food and nutrition services. [snorts] the city of our city of Florida proclamation. Whereas registered dietician nutritionists are the food and nutrition experts who can translate the science of nutrition into practical solutions for healthy living. And [snorts] whereas registered dietitian nutritionists have degrees in nutrition, dietetics, public health or a related field from wellrespected accredited colleges and universities, completed an internship and pass an examination. [snorts] And whereas registered dietitian nutritionists use their nutrition expertise to help individuals make unique positive lifestyle changes. And whereas registered dietitian nutritionists work throughout the community in hospital hospitals, schools, public health clinics, nursing homes, fitness centers, food management, food industry, universities, research and private practice. And [snorts] whereas registered dietitian nutritionists are advocates for advancing the nutritional status of Americans and people around the world. Now therefore, I, Kelly Marks, mayor of the city of Orange City, and on behalf of the city council, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, March 11th, 2026 as registered dietitian nutritionist day in the city of Orange City. And I encourage all citizens to recognize the contributions of registered dietitian nutritionists and express appreciation for their commitment to promoting science-based nutrition in the hope of achieving optimum health for both today and tomorrow. In witness [snorts] whereof, I have here unto set my hand and cause the official seal of the city of Orange City to be affixed on this day, March 10th, 2026. Kelly Marks, mayor, please come on up. We'll get a picture. [applause]

I have to say that was kind of like a They ask here.

[clears throat] Did any of the other ones have to be changed out?

4 A Okay, moving on to number three, citizens comments. We have two. Um, let's see. Michael Don Johnson, please come up. And if you can just state your name and address for the record.

Hello. My name is Michael Michael Don Johnson. I actually live in Semino County, unincorporated area. Um, I'm here to talk about politicians that are not properly vetted and that we should know about who we elect to public office. And for the record, I am running for Congress in the Republican primary. I'm not here to campaign tonight, but I want to convey some information that's factual about what's going on for with someone who represents this city. About two weeks ago, he was given a restraining order by a federal judge told not to switch around any of his money, any of his property, trade it, sell it, or give it to some other part of his corporations. And the reason that the federal judge issued the restraining order is because the company that he runs committed fraud with another company and out of check and they worked out a consent agreement for 18 $8 million that he had us to pay back to for fraud and conversion money. He failed to do that. Instead, he took the money that he got for down payment from the check company and gave it to another company or was going to, but it was seized by the US Customs and Border Patrol Protection Agency, which is now held by the US Marshalss in a North Carolina warehouse. This gentleman is also has several IRS tax leans in the tens of thousands of dollars, and he has two of them that's in the hundreds of thousands of dollars with the IRS. He also has taken out SBA loans and defaulted on them five times and the SBA came after him and said that he received funds from them illegally and was ordered to pay the money back and instead of paying the money back he sued SBA. He lost the case at the federal level in Virginia. He pledeled it and he lost it at the federal level pills court

level and then he just recently appealed it to the Supreme Court and Supreme Court gave a denial order this past week. This gentleman is also, we shouldn't be calling him a gentleman, but this person also used his congressional office to forge a DA form 638 in order to give himself a bronze star because when he was campaigning in our area in this city here, he claimed he had a bronze star and other medals, which he did not. So, he used his congressional office to get him one. And the general told investigative reporters and house ethics committee that his signature was forged. And the general also said he did not see the the the fake stories of stolen valor either until the reporters showed it to him and investigators showed it to him. And the soldiers that he named in there says they stole their valor. He did nothing to save their lives. Was never on the battlefield. In fact, he left. And the other thing that I think a lot of you already know who I'm talking about is that in Taylor County, Florida, he's in his business is being foreclosed on for $66 million. and he also has sexual restraining order against him in Columbia County and I think you all know who it is. It's our incumbent Congressman Cory Mills. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, the next next one is uh Lee Basque. Did I say that right? Bash. Okay. I haven't seen anybody write in cursive in a long time. [laughter] Thank you. Dying skill, right? It is. Thank you.

Hello everybody. I'm Lee Bash. Thank you for your time. Um, just up here for brief quick things. Uh, I was overseas when they installed a stop sign on Carpenter Avenue between Blue Springs and Carpenter and they didn't even have the white line. Got pulled over for it. I the judge did give me a mulligan, but the stop sign is there and I have to deal with it every day going between my house and taking care of a dog that I see during my lunch break because I work from home. Anyway, um it's on a it goes into Carpenter Avenue. It's not a hightra area and it looked like y'all try to put a speed to slow down people there. It's inconvenient. I hope it could be reconsidered. Um, another stop sign that was just installed was on Levit and that's a four-way stop sign. I looked at the engineer report. It didn't seem like the traffic was warranted it to be there. So, was it a citizen that just wanted it there? Um, I know that the speed limit here on Graves is 30. I'm not saying that people don't speed there, but if there is law enforcement or perhaps we can work with Felicia County to make another little tiny school zone at 15 miles per hour like we do at what is that Orange Avenue in Graves? Anyway, so um it's it's kind of annoying. I mean, I only have to deal with it because I go to St. Jude's Church. I only deal with it once a week or if I happen to go over to Deltona. But the one on Carpenter because it's at a T-Bone. Um it's it's really not necessary and um a lot of people missed it. I even heard at the Eagles meeting that another couple of people got pulled over there because

you usually see stop signs at intersections. So, and so that's that. Um, I hope to bring that up again later when we do more agendas for next year. Um, also, uh, the roundabout that's coming in, I think that's a wonderful idea. I know a couple of meetings I've been here and they didn't like that. It's brilliant. And then another place we could look into a a roundabout is Carpenter and Rhode Island. not a stop sign because it would be a total cluster in the morning getting everybody to school and breaking out of school. Um, and there's plenty of air area there. So, it wouldn't affect drainage or people's personal property. So, I don't know if you talk to the state about that or our count local county councilman, but uh, Rhode Island and and Carpenter, I think, could really benefit from a roundabout there as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. I just want to say if you make an appointment with the city manager, she probably could answer some of your questions about the stop signs and the and the roundabout. Thank you. Okay, we're moving on to four consent agenda. We have one more. Okay, [snorts] we're not moving on to the consent agenda.

Okay, [clears throat] Sharon Stafford. Thank you. Good afternoon. I'm coming to you with a happy happy happy face. We have worked out with the city and we're going to still have our festival. It would be March the 21st. It's starting at 10 o'clock. And I am so happy and so excited and so frustrated that I had to cancel. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Is there any other public comment? Okay, moving on to for the consent agenda. We [clears throat] just need a motion. Madam Mayor, I'll make a motion to accept the consent agenda. A second. We have a motion. We have a second. Kaylee. Oh, any public comment? Yes, ma'am. Seeing none, bring it back for the vote. Council member Knight, [clears throat] yes. Council member Townson, yes. Vice Mayor Graham, yes. Council member Stafford, yes. Council member Richardson, yes. Council member Darmms, yes. Mayor Marks,

yes. And the consent agenda passes. Moving on to five, ordinances, first reading. We have none. Number six, public hearings. Ordinances second and final reading 6A. Ordinance number 698. Mr. Waters, will you read that into the record, please?

Certainly, Madame Mayor. This is item number 6A. Ordinance number 698. This is an ordinance of the city council of the city of Orange City, Florida, amending the code of ordinances, appendix A, land development code, section 8.6.1, 6.1 schedule of zoning district permitted and conditional uses and section 8.7 supplementary regulations to incorporate definitions and process for recovery residences pursuant to Florida statute section 397.487 487 repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict here with providing for severability providing for enforcement and providing for an effective date and madame mayor and council members that was the second and final reading.

Thank you. Joe Ruiz.

Yes. Good evening Mayor, city council, respect the members of the public. Joe Ruiz, development services director for the city. Um so before you today um this is just ordinance number 698 uh for um certified recovery residences as was read into the record. Um so just a quick brief history um as we as we consider adoption in um Senate Bill 954 was signed into law um last year by Governor Ronda Santis um making the bill effective on July 1st, 2025. Um what the bill required was that certified recovery residences um be um permitted in cities with reasonable accommodation um and considered through the re the Fair Housing Act uh to provide provisions for these recovery residences which essentially are are sober homes um homes for people to integrate from programs into housing and and reintegrate back into uh daily society uh to live with their peers. Um so staff um with working with the city attorney has put together an ordinance to make sure that it complies uh with the state statutes that it provides a process. It provides definitions and so um nothing has changed with the ordinance at this time um since the February 24th uh first hearing. And so staff recommends that to come into compliance with state law uh that the city council um adopt ordinance 698 today, March 10th, 2026.

Thank you. Any questions or discussion on this? Okay, we just need a motion. Marks, I'd like to move to adopt ordinance number 698 at second and final reading. I second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any public comment on this? Seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question. Kaylee. Council member Tian. Yes. Vice Mayor Grim. Yes. Council member Stafford. Yes. Council member Richardson. Yes. Council member Darmms. Yes. Council member Knight. Yes. Mayor Mark. Yes. And ordinance number 698 passes for uh second and final reading.

Number seven, resolution 7A. Resolution number 420-26. Mr. Waters, please. Thank you. This is uh item 7A, resolution number 420-26. This is a resolution of the city of Orange City, Florida, approving the city of Orange City water asset management and physical sustainability plan authorizing the city manager to take all actions necessary to effectuate the intent of this resolution, repealing all resolutions in conflict here, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Thank you, uh, Robert Lawler.

Yes, ma'am. Mayor, uh, council members, my name is Robert. I'm the uh utility services director. I'm up here representing uh public services as I'm going to be talking today about resolutions both 42026 and 42126. Um I had a PowerPoint presentation prepared but I'll go ahead and just uh read my document here. Is it not working?

So some background on the matter. Um this is more of a formality. Uh so the city is uh currently completing the industrial drive water reclaimed water storm water upgrades uh using say revolving funds uh through two different agreements one for drinking water and one for safe uh safe water safe drinking water clean water sorry so the a formal adoption if you could go to slide two thanks so the formal adoption of the two asset management plans so one's for water and one's for storm water. It's required for the city of Warren City to comply with SRF agreements. And part of those agreements are we get a 0.1% loan rate reduction. So we have less loan to pay back as a result of adopting these two asset [clears throat] management and fiscal sustainability plans. So oh sorry. So uh essentially these plans are strategic documents just to keep our our city on on pace, keep us organized and show that these both the utility enterprise and the stormwater enterprise is is organized and managed by the city. So this document provides you know detailed information about our assets including inventory performance targets you know life cycle strategies financial strategies just making sure that we're owning and maintaining these assets. So uh the finance and expenditures in both plans were prepared using our approved budgets. So our actions today are to ask for the approval of resolution 42026 and ask for the approval of resolution 42126. Barring any questions.

Any questions? Council, madame mayor, if you'd like, I could go ahead and read uh the second resolution as well. Um, and you could vote separately, but I could go ahead and get the reading out of the way if you like. Sounds good. Okay. So, this is item number 7B, resolution number 421-26, resolution of the city of Orange City, Florida, approving the city of Orange City storm water asset management and physical sustainability plan, authorizing the city manager to take all actions necessary to effectuate the intent of this resolution, repealing all resolutions in conflict here with, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Thank you. Okay. So, we're going to do two separate motions, one for each uh resolution. So, we need the first motion.

I'd like to make a motion to approve resolution number 420-26. I second. Okay, we have a motion. We have a second. Any public comment on this? See none. We'll bring it back for the question. Kaylee. Vice Mayor Grim. Yes. Council member Stafford. Yes. Council member Richardson. Yes. Council member Darmms. Yes. Council member Knight, yes. Council member TSON, yes. Mayor Marks. Yes. And resolution number 420-26 passes. Now we'll need a motion for the second resolution. Madame Mayor, I'll make a motion to accept resolution 421-26. I second.

We have a motion. We have a second. Any public comment on this? Seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question. Kaylee. Council member Stafford. Yes. Council member Richardson. Yes. Council member Darmms. Yes. Council member Knight. Yes. Council member Thompson, yes. Vice Mayor Graham, yes. Mayor Marks, yes. And resolution number 421-26 passes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat] Okay, moving on to 7 C. Um, resolution number 423-26. Mr. Waters.

Thank you. This is item 7 C, resolution number 423-26, a resolution of the city of Orange City, Florida, relating to the state revolving fund loan program, making findings, authorizing the loan application, authorizing the loan agreement, designating authorized representatives, providing assurances, providing for conflicts, repealing all resolutions or parts of resolutions in conflict here with, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Thank you. Hello.

Uh good evening uh mayor, council members. Uh for the record, Balithar, public services director. Um just to kind of mention this resolution is for Rhode Island, specifically the section of Rhode Island between Veterans Memorial and Levit. Um so Rhode Island, it's a it's a major roadway that connects to 1792 and also it provides access to our u business and industrial center. Now, as all of you know, during Hurricane Milton, two roads flooded, Graves and uh Rhode Island, Graves was completely impassible for for quite a long time. And the only reason um Rhode Island was passible was because we were pumping water uh if you can go to the next slide, please. because we were pumping water as you can see there's a pump sitting right there uh across Levit uh into that lowlying area right across from the dock park is where we were pumping the water too. Now that area where we were pumping the water is bigger part of the industrial drive basin which flooded as well and we have a project going on over there right now to help with the with the flooding. uh when the industrial drive uh basin flooded, we had a lot of infiltration into our wastewater system as well. Water got into our sewer pipes and also uh into the lift stations uh and it severely impacted the wastewater system.

So now as we move forward and look into improvements u onto Rhode Island, we want to make sure that we address all those issues and I think the improvement should include um maybe these three things. One is to make sure it alleviate flooding. Second to make sure there is no infiltration into our wastewater system and third is to provide access to our business industrial area as well. Um so in order to do that we have been looking for funds and of course we uh asked help from McDallia. She's sitting [laughter] right here. Uh and if you can go to the next slide please. So there are federal funds that were appropriated under the EPA for Helen and Milton um for infrastructure improvements. So city requested for inclusion into the grant and I am happy to report that we were approved for a $7.5 million loan with a 100% forgiveness.

Wow.

So that is very good. So uh with this project of course uh the improvements that we will make is uh make sure the storm water does not get into our sewer collection system. We will make improvements to the road uh and into the uh storm water system. And also a small portion of this grant can be used to acquire something called tiger dams. Those are basically these big giant tubes about 18 in in diameter and they can they are used to prevent the surface water for coming either onto the road or we can put them around our lift stations and it'll prevent that. So we got a portion to be used for that. Uh next slide please. So basically all we are asking is to approve this uh resolution authorizing the mayor as the representative to execute the loan agreement and the city manager to be uh authorized as a representative to provide assurance and commitments that will be required for the loan application. Any questions?

I just had a comment. So when the storms came, I don't know if you remember McDall's in the off in the um audience. Um, I had went to Dale and said, "What are those things along I4 by Sanford?" And then I I looked it up and it said tiger dams. And she's like, "I don't know what they are, but we'll look it up." And now here we are getting them. So that's amazing to get that water pumped out even faster. So good teamwork everybody. I think it's awesome. C. Thank you so much. Thank you, Don.

Yes. I I was going to mention Dale as well. Well, I remember we were talking about the tiger dams and she had made mention of that in one of our meetings and it was going to be down the road. So, I'm really happy that that's coming to fruition and so awesome that we got this um funding at 100% forgiveness. That's great. And my other question is um I'm sure it's not going to be a 2026 project. [laughter] No, there is a whole process as it is with all grants. uh once we get this application done uh then we will have uh an agreement that we'll bring back probably in June. Uh once that's done then the next step is getting like a facility plan done and then we can move forward with the design. So there are certain steps that we have to go through

right any other comments from the council? So maybe by 28 of hurricane season. I hope so. [laughter] Yes. Yes. Hey at least there's hope, right? All right, Madame Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve resolution number 423-26. Second. We got a motion and we got a couple seconds. Uh, any comment from the public? Very excited. Seeing [clears throat] none, we'll bring it back for the question, Kaylee. Council member Richardson, yes. Council member Darmms, yes. Council member, yes. Council member Johnson, yes. Vice Mayor, yes. Council member, yes. Mayor, yes. And resolution number 423-26 passes. Thank you.

Thank you. And I want to say thank you to McDalia. I'm I'm so glad you're still here. Yes. Thank you. Free money. We call her free money. [laughter]

Okay, we're moving on to discussions and action. We have none. Wow, that's amazing, right? Um number nine, reports. City manager just a minute. Um we're going to have the mayor's initiative to um expand the previous state of the city um presentation that was done last year. You all were part of it. We're going to do that again. It provides residents with a more indepth look at city projects and the progress we've made or will be making. It allows the city to showcase our residents, the work that's being done. And this this portion will It's all council um that will be featured in the entire video giving each one of you the opportunity to highlight key initiatives and improvements that are happening across the city. We have a different filming approach than what you saw last year. The goal is to film on location throughout the city showcasing projects and improvements where they're actually happening. Examples include our infrastructure projects, park projects, public safety facilities, and and other community improvements. Filming on site helps residents visualize and see these projects happening. Uh scheduling staff will be working to schedule the filming days with you with all seven members. Uh each member's uh filming segment will be brief and structured to keep the overall video consistent and um engaging. So um from the top down will be the person your name is here. This is uh the proposed narrative for each item you're going to be talking about. The second page is the uh approved outline that was approved by our mayor. Um that shows you how we got here. Once you have a chance

to look at this, once you meet or have any questions or suggestions, you can just send them to us to myself. I'll get them to thank Justin for all this work. Um and hopefully we can wrap this up in about four weeks. at least [laughter] four. Um, so we're our goal is four, but it's dependent on your availability and and being able to coordinate. So, if you'll take the top one, pass it down. That's for each of you. Can I just want to make a comment on that that the reason I asked to bring it back again because it was very wellreceived last year when they when uh you know John Knox and then it went online and our residents could see all of us talking about our city and what we're doing and why we're doing it and where their money's going. And I think it's just more of like um you know when we went to a meeting the other day Christine was there was they were talking about cities need to educate your residents of what you're doing and things and we're already doing that. So, this is just another addition to that and it's good that I think I like that we're all on it so that everybody can see.

The next item is the mayor and I attended the elected officials at that meeting support from each city. I after the meeting, got her business card, emailed her, and then her and I had a conversation today based on the information I got from her. Uh, I did a little synopsis about what Forever is. Behind that is her email between her and I. It's a sample letter from the city of Orman followed by a possible draft letter from the city of Orange City. And the backtory behind this is uh since October of 2025, for the first time ever since 2000, the county one county council member started the talk about tapping into this land to be utilized for public purpose. So property that has been bought and and in this program and set aside he wants or I don't know who that county council member is. I don't think there's any she I think is appropriate. Um is asking council for support to look to use land that they have bought and possibly use it for public purpose which could be public buildings, streets, um and the like. Well, she and others do not want to see that initiative. Um they they believe that the land was kept to be you know raw land dedicated to conservation and not for future development by the

public or by the government. So she has obtained five letters so far from Edgewater Daytona Beach Orman Beach Daytona Beach Shores and Deltona. She is working and in New Beach tonight asking them to do the same. She also has uh two other letters from other agencies like districts and whatnot to support this. And I said, "Well, when I read the letter, I get, you know, I get that we're asking, but you know, what are we asking them? How do how do they adopt something that you feel would protect um them from doing this?" And she basically is asking them to preserve the um in perpetuity and the partnerships. And that's the first statement that you will see um on that letter. And um with that, if I know the mayor and I spoke after the meeting and she was interested. So, uh, at this point, I think you guys could talk amongst yourselves and either give, you know, the mayor a heads up that head nod that yes, you guys feel this is a worthy initiative or um, this is coming up on their next agenda. So, the sooner she has the letter, the better. But she's not saying that if we don't do it tonight that it's not, you know, it won't be valuable tool down the road. But of course, the sooner she gets it, the better for her initiative. So that this is I'm just presenting based on what we heard yesterday and for you guys to contemplate.

And didn't didn't Pat Nory have something with that like she in the beginning? Well, Pat Nory has been on the council for over 20 years. I believe she was a champion for this. Right. That's what I mean. And there's been lots of projects that been Yeah. for getting a lot of the trails done in Yeah. There's been lots of projects that have been successful um with that group. So that's why I'm in favor of it. Um council, are you in favor of just writing a letter and supporting um Felicia forever? Let's do a head nod. Yes.

I'm all for land conservation. I think Florida has overdeveloped itself as it is. We're seeing too many wetlands um being developed. We're seeing too many of our native animals being displaced um from their homes. And a lot of them are territorial animals. They're not, you know, they don't migrate. So, yeah, I'm [clears throat] all for it. Okay. All right. Have a look at it. We'll have it drafted and then you want any changes, we can make them. If not, tomorrow the next item is has worked very hard and he has

so sorry I I'm loud but apparently not loud enough. Um Justin has worked and developed a city of Orange City strategic communication plan that will carry us through 2026 through 2030 and we would like to issue you guys a copy for your record if you have any questions on it. Oh, I think that's a couple more than you need. Sorry, you may end up with a few extra on that. I didn't count them. And that's just for your um knowledge. And if you have questions once you look over, just let us know. Actually missing two more.

Oh, maybe I kept more than I thought. I did. I thought there were I thought there were 10 or nine. Okay, next item.

City Manager report one. Two, three, four, five, six, seven. See if I did it right that time. So, anything in green has been updated since the last meeting for Lands Down. The storm water infrastructure is underway. It they actually broke ground on that. The road is closed, but this project is still on schedule. for waste pro the implementation we're doing a six months uh review we did meet with red uh Bill Redmond with the RCG it was a very you know positive meeting and uh things are going rather well we just ironing out a few kinks the uh request for the historic district expansion we have an email issued to Mr. Sydney Johnson requesting to meet with him. I believe Robert, correct, correct me if I'm wrong, but our application for a POS grant was filed in October and I believe we're still waiting on that grant award notification of approval or denial. The Levan uh Levit Avenue, the work order was issued and uh we're waiting for the contractor to schedule that, but he has the green light. He's working on a project off of Rose. It's a Rose sidewalk um issue and he's working on that and this one will be shortly after that.

Um Christine had a question about that or comment. You had asked me which they put X's on the big dips on Levit and then I was like yes that's the ones and then I realized there was ones on the other side that you marked but I was just driving that way and I was like like this and I'm like yeah that's it. So I said yes, but they were the big X's. There was little ones on the left and I didn't know if that was something that you wanted to know about because you Xed them. They were all little like little dips. Anything that has an X means it's going to be addressed. So I was worried that you if we didn't mark the spot, it was good. And then we did all I was worried I missed that. So

no, as long as it has an X, it is going to be addressed with this work order and we'll there will not be a dip. And then somebody asked me why we weren't doing in front of the school and I didn't I didn't know what to say to that. I believe that has to do with the infrastructure and the work that's being done around there and it's slated to be done with future work that's coming and if we did it now we would be tearing it tearing it up. Okay. Thank you. Nobody's correcting me. Uh if but I'll confirm with staff and make sure that that's still the

um the I got the dates forwarded them to Kaylee. Kaylee has sent the dates for the Orange City Elementary for the mayor to go speak with the Valuchia County School Board members. Um we did receive a call late today that Joe can tell you about if you'd like or I can write it up in a report. What would you prefer? Um do you want to hear council? He could tell us. Joe, are you prepared Joe? Oh, I don't want to put you on the spot. Yeah, he he called me at 5:15 or so. So, you're they're always the best calls, right?

Good evening, council. Um, so I did receive a call um late this afternoon or this evening um from the school board representative in the planning division. So, the school board today uh did approve the demolition of of the school building. Um, essentially the timeline and time frame that I've been given is that uh there's a permit application that has to get submitted to their state board um for the demolition. And so they anticipate that between plans and approval for demolition it'll be about 30 days. Um so that's the the time frame we've been given and we're currently looking at. Um they have talked about um removing and um preserving the the Orange City Elementary sign and then also which um they provided a cost of about $3,500. And then they also have talked about removing the the pediments up on on the building. Um but that number is coming around um they need to get quotes, but they're thinking it's going to be around $300,000 to to preserve and take those down. Um, so as we all know, they're trying to cut costs and things like that. So we there there's really no saying. Um, however, 30 days is really looking like the time frame that we've got.

Are you talking about the sign that they put their information on? Uh, no. I believe it's a sign that's on the the facade. Yep. Okay. And then what was the other things that was 300,000? Uh, the pediments. Okay. The pediments. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. As mentioned previously, the mayor and I attended yesterday's Valia uh elected officials meeting. The only item that I didn't already address is number two. There were uh handouts. Those will anything that we received through a handout yesterday will be in your Friday communication this week for you to review and see if you have any questions on. Last item is Will Roberts, our tax collector, recently issued an email regarding House Bill 203. It's in the same position it was as of February 19th and does not, as of the last we looked or have been notified, have a Senate companion. However, they're in the last week. They can call a special session. That's still up in the air. We do not know the fate of that. Devlin did run some numbers based on House Bill 203 and what that would mean to us. And that would mean this budget that we're currently working on developing would see about a 20% decrease in our advalorum which is $2.2 million and that is significant. Um, I I can't tell you tonight, but I would be hardpressed to to say that you could raise your millage to 10 and recover and 10 is your max. We're at 7.2.

So, we're we are working on that. We're we're aware. Um, I'm trying to find out if somebody can tell me what is the drop dead date that the legislature has to make a decision in order to be put on the November ballot. And that's a really tricky tricky answer. It's like I don't think we have one.

Yeah. Don't love to know that. I uh I we did begin our police union negotiations yesterday and everything we're working on right now is contingent on knowing what revenue we're going to have next year and in the years to come. And with this um you know unknown, it's it's going to be a tricky tricky year. Um and that does complete my portion. Does anybody have any questions?

I do have a quick question with regard to that Senate or the House Bill 203 and maybe um our attorney can answer this question. With regard to that, I was reading and it's so much information, but it just happened to trigger something when you said a fire and uh police actually working through their um negotiations. Union negotiations. I I understand that with that house bill and if it does come to fruition that we don't take from that. So we still would have to fund our police and our fire no matter what. So we're going to have to find the cuts for the addition somewhere else.

Yeah. And that was our message to Tallahassee. Yes. If you if you cut that and we don't and we can't make uh cuts across the board, you're now saying how are we going to fix a pothole? How are we going to address a a a piece of sidewalk that's shacked up? How are we going to pay the police officers? Because we have normally in when you lose revenue, you you look to, you know, where can we do this? Where can we do this equitably across board and in here in that in that um legislation, you would be prohibited. We would have to keep them at the same funding level, whichever's higher either this year or the previous year. um I can't freeze and get, you know, creative and, you know, it's just there's just no really um way around it.

And then the other thing with that, and I know that there were talks, but I have no idea what the state has been chewing on as far as that's concerned, what they were offering when cutting or potentially cutting the uh millage rate. So, I mean, not the millage rate, the Avalor. So, Was there something that they were talking about putting in place for police and fire? Did you hear anything about that? Not in this house bill. No, not in this bill. Okay. And we are currently working on the fire assessment. Yeah.

And that will be coming forward. There is no police assessment. There's no it's there's no legislation um statute that allows for a police um special assessment. So that's why it's never considered. [clears throat] Okay. Well, thanks for answering that. I was just curious about that. Well, and I was going to say that, you know, when they brought this bill up, all the cities in Valuchia were talking about that potentially it would be a 50%. Right. Yeah. And and I think we got a little lucky on this because we have a lot of commercial property here. Yeah. That's what saved us, right? It's the it's the homestead that get the exemption, right?

And we are about 7030 for round numbers, right? you know, residential versus non-residential. And then when you look at the residential, not a 100% of that residential is homestead.

So, um, Dtona would arguably have a much greater loss, um, because they are so much more residential than they are non-residential. So, it it it will be work in our favor. But, we've seen a huge shift in our residential. We've grown. And it used to be 2080. Um but as you see these um housing developments, you know, we get more and more um through that um by the the residential development that we've had in the past 10 years. And then again, some of those are rerents. So they're Yeah. No, they're not all homesteaded. Correct. Y correct. All right. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you,

city clerk. I have nothing to report tonight. Any new uh anybody come forward to run for office or still same? I don't um right now elections are exactly the same. Um I have not had any new candidates at this moment. Um and I am still working through hiring an executive assistant right now. So I don't have any update on that either. Um I'm conducting interviews on Friday. So how's your daughter? She's good. Thank you for asking. Thank you, city attorney.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, lots of stuff going on behind the scenes, but nothing uh to discuss for the [laughter] group. Um, big news is session is over end of this week. Uh, I think the there is a special session. And I think it's the third week in April, but it's just for redistricting. So, so far, uh, there hasn't been a special session called for anything else. So, we don't know what's going to happen. So, typically the last week of session is when all everything happens. This is when everything starts getting wild in Tallahassee. So, uh, the governor has 15 days to, uh, either, um, sign or veto a bill, and if he doesn't, it automatically becomes law. Uh, so whenever we have a whole bunch of new laws, I'll be sure to update the council on anything that affects the city.

That concludes my report. Thank you. Yeah. Um, when we were at the round table, um, Mr. Booker was saying that there may be several special sessions coming for different topic topics, right? I think at least three that he thought about might come out as special session. I only know of the redistricting and the hint about the um adverarm. I'm not familiar with the third, but I may have missed it. Um what was the other one? Sovereign immunity he mentioned and he mentioned three. He said be on the lookout. they may do because they could just pull these special sessions regular session about sovereign because they've been

contemplating making changes for years and have been unsuccessful right so that's that's probably what I missed in that was I know he did because I wrote down the the limitations and how you know the house is over here or the senate's over here very conservative and the house is over here much greater numbers and uh you got to bring them together in special session

any the aerum thing. It's just it's um [clears throat] they got a lot of things to tighten up with that. That's not easy to just throw that out there to all these cities and right so they gota really it's kind of like when they that other thing they threw at us is after the storms came and it you had I remember you had a bunch of pages and you you had to read them all and figure out how you were going to put this into place and that's what and there was a lot of things missing in that bill that they had passed and so hopefully they're they're going to tighten it up with this before they do it because it just makes a bigger mess for the cities. So,

one of the things, Madame Mayor, um, with the bill, um, it it was a gradually phase in, but I think the way it's written now, it's it's it happens right away. Okay. Um, so that that's going to be kind of a shock uh, for a lot of people. And he said they've been going into general session throughout the night, like they're there late in the night still discussing everything. So, they're pretty exhausted from it. Imagine when we have our late meetings here and we're we're kind of falling asleep and getting, you know, we can't really make good decisions anymore. Well, they're going later than we usually go. So, um it should be interesting how it turns out. So, thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Any new business?

No. Mer, it's under comments. Okay.

Oh, yes and no. I do have a question on new business. Um, I was just wondering on the um leadership program, we all agreed to have Councilwoman Thompson to attend that. But I do have a question on that because um if I'm not mistaken in one of the meetings she did make a statement that she was if I'm not mistaken you did state that you know had a degree in finance or worked in finance.

Can you guys speak into the microphone because we're being taped. Sorry. Go ahead. And I was just wondering and you said you wanted to be very cautious of how you spend the city money. Remember and I was just wondering and this is a question if we don't start thinking about how we're spending the city money. Where is that going to lead us with everything that's coming down the pipeline? Exactly. So can you tell me how much that was actually or was it budgeted for? It's budgeted at $1,200. 1200. Three slots. For three slots. Yeah. 1,200. But if I'm not mistaken, council woman, you are up for election in November. Correct.

And if we pay for you to attend that and you don't win your election, where would that lead lead us? Leave us. What about the other two for city staff? They're going correct. Oh yes. Okay. Make a decision because we had this conversation two two meetings ago. So we can do it again. We can do it again. Be fine, darling. Yes, it will be. like to do that. It would be in the event that I do not get. So, so we're not in discussion right now. Do you want to bring it back for new business and then we can discuss it? Yes, we can do that. Let's do that for new business for next meeting. Okay. Everybody okay with that? Okay. Yeah. Any other new business?

Um, yeah, Madame Mayor, I don't know if everybody got this email uh from this lady, Cecilia Nelson. She's she runs this uh butterfly thing throughout the United States. and she's got a lot of cities and counties signing signing up. Is that something we want to get involved with for the Monarchs? Yeah, it's for the Monarchs mainly. You know, it might be just something like Oh, I'm sorry. I can forward it to you. Forward it to me. Okay. I'll take a look at it and then let you know if there's something I can bring back. Okay,

cool. I would just like to say that since we have the butterfly in Dickinson Park now, why wouldn't we? And we have the butterfly um we have Yeah. And we have the butterflies in that park that were set loose and everything. So, it be it could be as simple as setting up some [clears throat] areas and putting some milkweed uh plants up, you know, maybe cutting less grass and maybe making little beds here and there for the butterflies. So, council, can we bring that back for discussion? You okay with that? Yes. Okay, that'd be great. Cool. Thank you. Awesome.

Um, I wanted to ask the council under new business if we could bring back talking about a workshop for the businesses to so that they can have a voice in our town where we hold something where we could be here and they can come. We invite them to um, you know, talk about what their needs are in in in our city. That way we can cover the signs or any other thing because we used to have the um um the chamber do where they would go around and ask questions, but it was a lot of money and we dropped that program. So why not do it ourselves and see what the needs are in our community. So I want to see if we could bring that back

to discuss. It might be a good idea because then it might be a way for them to tell us how we can help them bring in more business to the city. Right. Is everybody okay with that? Yeah. Back. Thank you. Okay. Any other new business? Call. Okay. All right. We're um number 11 approval minutes. We already did that. Uh we're down to council and mayor's comments. Um Vice Mayor, you want to go first? I'm good. Is that all I had to say? Okay. You're very wordy. Councilwoman Darmms.

Did everybody see this? [laughter] Chief Jerome. She wants your autograph. [laughter] I have two extra if anybody wants. Very nice. And congratulations. Very very happy with that. Can you hear her Kaylee on the Okay. Thank you. Councilwoman Thompson,

I just want to just uh recognize this um strategic communications plan. Is this something that Justin you put together or it is? I like it. We there there's always there always should be one. I'm sure we have, but this one's a little bit more than what I've ever seen before. So, could just be me, but I appreciate it. Thank you, Councilwoman Richardson. Okay, Councilwoman Stafford.

Yes, ma'am. Um, I do have a couple of residents, they're having questions about uh, waste pro. They say on Mondays they a lot of times on Mondays they miss certain streets and when they come back on Tuesdays to pick up the uh, recycle, they're picking up the recycle and the garbage and putting it all in one one truck. So, they're wondering is waste pro doing any recycling or not? Because se several Several residents have said that their garbage is it wasn't picked up on Monday and when they come on Tuesday they're getting both of them. So are they recycling or

I've heard of it and I Bal and I just met and this has not come up before as a complaint or concern. So we can definitely I give you their names and there's videos 360°ree videos. If they are picking up recycling and dumping it as garbage, it's probably on a video. So, we'll be able to we should be able to research that. And just any information you can give us, the names of the streets, we should be able to investigate that. And that's it. Uh, Councilwoman Darmms had a comment. I guess

I wanted to say about Waste Pro. Uh, and I'm in a community and since they've come on board, they have been on top of everything. You know, they they're they've really been good. And, you know, at first I was like, okay, they picked up the recycling. [clears throat] What about the other stuff? They come back, which is interesting. They don't pick it all up at the same time, but we're having a very good um experience with them since they came on board. So, thank you. But the the outside residents aren't. So, you just don't know. You just don't know.

Okay. Uh, you good, Councilwoman Stafford? You good? Okay. Moving on. No, nothing. I do have one other question. Go ahead. With regard to the um rescheduling of the multicultural heritage festival um that's going to be on the 21st. I know that Kaylee had sent out prior email for the first that they were going to do it asking if any council members wanted to speak at the multicultural festival. Is that still an an offer? I will I'm sure the program will run.

Thanks. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Um, I just wanted to comment on the waste pro. I was going to say council if if you see any issues, tell the residents to report it to um to well to Christine, anybody. I mean, we can do it through the app. You can do it on the website. Okay. I just want to make sure I don't want to direct everything at you if that's not the right place. But that's what I've been doing is just telling them to if anything happens because if they don't know, they can't fix it. Right. Right. So, um, my office gets a number of calls, too. So, they're more than welcome to call our office and we can definitely get in touch with anything.

Okay. And then also, I wanted to bring up um our PIO. I have to give you a shout out. I'm just I'm I'm blown away by everything you've done since you've been here, which hasn't been very long, right? Um you know, this the state of the city video, I'm really excited about that. He's got a plan for the next year of what we're going to do. I mean, come on. That's amazing, right? And then the newsletter, like there's just so many things. I don't even know how you find all the time to do this, but I'm very happy with you and I'm sure the council is too. It's just you can see the change and it's amazing and I hope the residents can see the change also. Um, I wanted to say congratulations to the finance department. You always do a great job um on that. And uh I think your your colleague left, but please tell her thank you too. and uh the Advent Health, thank you for coming. If she she's probably gone already, too. And then the other thing I just wanted to say is, you know, the state of the schools, for anybody state of the schools, that was pretty amazing. It was only the second year. Um,

but they just do a phenomenal job and they they don't um take breaks on anything, you know. They just really think of everything. Um they had all kinds of performances up there with the kids. Um you know with the the stomp and the the um University High uh jazz band was there. I can't help it. I feel the same way.

Sorry, I got to control her a little bit. [laughter] She's excited. [clears throat] Um but it really was phenomenal. And um I just if you get a chance to go again it's just every year it gets better and better and um there was a pretty good attendance there at the Deltona Center. The Deltona Center is really growing. It's so happy to see. I think we had this conversation that we always drive to the east side to the ocean center and it's just it could be exhausting sometimes,

but now we're starting to see that the Deltona Center is growing with um more events and things, not just with government, but everything. And we don't have to drive as far and and it just seems like a great place to have events. So, it's good to have something on the west side. Um, I want to say thank you to everybody that showed up at the mayor's walk yesterday. Um, vice mayor, he's been showing up and filling in for me when I was sick. So, I want to thank you for that. Um, and I think how many more weeks do we have of that? Is it two? I think we have two weeks. Joe says two weeks. I was I was in Tallahassee, so I couldn't participate. So, okay, I don't I'm not looking to the end like I normally do.

So, we got two more weeks, but yeah. So, um, thank you to everybody's coming out. If you haven't come out, please come out if and walk with us. And that concludes my report for the night. We just need a motion to adjurnn. Like to make a motion to adjurnn. We have a motion. We have a second. All in favor say I. I. None opposed. Meeting adjourned at 7:30.