City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, here we go. Call this meeting to order. Ms. Fazzoni, please call roll.

Council Member Coburn. Yes. Councilman Register. Yes, ma'am. Vice Mayor Jarman.

Present.

Councilman Castro.

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Tedimer.

Yes, ma'am. Please rise for the invocation by Dr. Steve Taylor of Emerald Coast Fellowship.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we're grateful to gather today and to do the work of the community. I'm thankful for those that have been willing to serve. Each of the council members and the mayor, we pray that you would bless them. We pray that you would give them wisdom. As they lead, I pray that you would also give insight and wisdom to just everybody involved on the city side, as well as those that are here to express their thoughts about things that are happening. We look forward to hearing from some of the good things that are happening in our community as we continue to grow. We're grateful for that. We know that blessing's from you. And we just pray that you give wisdom throughout the proceedings today. We ask it in Christ's name.

Amen. Please join Council Member Colburn for the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, we now move, get these a little closer so people can hear me. We now move on to community announcements. On Monday, September 7th, it is Labor Day. The city offices are closed. Our next council meeting is Thursday, September 10th at 5 p.m., so that's our evening meeting. Our following council meeting is Thursday, September 24th. That's a morning meeting. That's at 9 a.m. On Saturday, September 26th, there's the race for Bay's 5K, 10K, and Fun Run at Conservation Park. And then Saturday, September 26th, there is a fall festival, which should be a good time, at Aaron Besson Park. That is it for community announcements. We now move on to the approval of the meeting minutes. Motion to approve.

Second.

We have a motion to approve and a second. Ms. Fazzoni, please call roll.

Council Member Coburn. Yes. Councilman Register.

Yes, ma'am.

Vice Mayor Jarman.

Yes, ma'am.

Councilman Castro.

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Tedmer.

Yes, ma'am. We now move on to the approval of the agenda and additions or deletions. Mr. Whitman. No, sir. No additions or deletions. I noticed in the crowd we had a number of folks from Laguna Beach here that wanted to hear about that, and we have that last in the agenda. Do you guys mind if we move that up to first? Motion to approve as amended? Second. Okay, we have a motion to approve and a second. Ms. Vizzoni, please call roll.

Council Member Coburn? Yes. Councilman Register?

Yes, ma'am.

Vice Mayor Jarman?

Yes, ma'am.

Councilman Castro?

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Tedimer?

Yes, ma'am. We now move on to presentations. I guess we can't change it now. We have an update on the Bay Economic Development Alliance by President Becca Hardin. Becca? Becca?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. Thank you for having us today. Excuse me. As the mayor said, my name is Becca Hardin, and I'm with the Bay County Economic Development Alliance. We try to come before you hopefully a couple times a year to give you an update on the projects that we've been working in the county and how it has an impact on you and this community. And that's what I'd like to do today is give you an update on some of the projects that we've recently announced and where they are as far as development and implementation. The first one that we announced this year in 2026 is Voltari Electric. This is a Canadian marine and boat manufacturing company that is locating on a site that we found that has access to deep water near Robinson Bayou at the end of Frankfort Avenue. You see here, we put this slide up there for Councilman Register. It's his hotel, Hotel Indigo and Harrison's. We actually had Voltari's boat in town and the mayor was able to take a ride on it and gave a lot of the leadership a ride on their boat. This is a very innovative company. The boat is actually an electric motor boat with a carbon fiber hull. And they plan to create 300 jobs in Bay County, average wage of $75,000 a year. And they're investing more than $40 million in our community. The owner and CEO of the company has already moved here with his family, bought a house in Bay County. He's got his four children in our school system now. And the president of the company has already bought a house as well. You see the boat on the right. This is a boat that the company actually manufactures for the Canadian Coast Guard. They are working with U.S. Coast Guard on a similar boat. And then they also have a contract for these boats with the Navy SEALs in San Diego, California, because it's electric motor. You can't hear the motor. You can't smell the motor. You can't detect the boat from an aerial infrared light. So they are growing in the defense industry. That's why they have to expand in the United States. And thankfully, they chose Bay County to expand here. And we're super excited about having Voltari in our community. This is the biggest project that we've ever announced with the Bay County Economic Development Alliance and the community leadership in Bay County and the airport authority. This is IAG Aero Group, a company that's headquartered in Miami, Florida, with operations in Rome, Italy. They are a jet engine maintenance company. So they work on big jet engines for GE and for Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon, Rolls-Royce, Airbus, Boeing. They work with the big boys. In this artist rendering, you see that they plan to build 120,000 square foot maintenance facility. our airport that will eventually have access to our 10,000 foot runway and the key thing about this project is that they will build a jet engine test cell and that's an asset worth about 75 million dollars if you get a company to build a jet engine test cell in your community they're not going anywhere but looking further into phase two they'll build a second test cell and then two wide-body hangers this project will create 500 new jobs in Bay County and average wage of $65,000 a year, and it's a $107 million capital investment. We worked with Triumph Gulf Coast and their board, and we were able to solidify a $25 million grant to help support the recruitment of this company, and we are using that grant money to help build the maintenance facility that you see there in this picture.

Thank you.

The company also bought an existing manufacturing facility in the city of Lynn Haven, 140,000 square feet on 36 acres. They're using that for warehouse and distribution. That building is already full. They plan to have 150 of the 500 employees in this facility. They've already got 50 employees working here. This company is going to be a company that we want in our community because they're already very philanthropic. You see the big jet engine. This is a GE jet engine on the right. This is a jet engine that they have already donated to Haney Technical College. There in front is a student that's in the FAA-approved AMP maintenance program.

He looks thrilled to be there, yeah.

He's about to graduate, so we're going to hire him. You're going to get a good job. So this is the first engine. There's a second engine coming. Not only did they donate the engines to the college, but they donated an employee for Train the Trainer so that they can train all of our instructors and then all the tooling to work on these engines. The value of this donation is more than $5 million. So they're already contributing back to our community. This project is a project we worked with the county. And for those of you who are familiar with where the old county incinerator used to be on Highway 231 and the original industrial park, that's what that building is going to look like once Global Impact Products is finished with the retrofit. Global Impact Products is already using our port to import glass from our sister city, Merida. And they will eventually create 150 new jobs and invest more than $15 million in this project. Another aviation company that we were successful in approving is from Connecticut, Oxford Technologies. They, too, went into an existing building. They'll create 60 jobs, and it's a capital investment of $8 million. You see this equipment is very specialized because they manufactured the leading edge of the Black Hawk helicopter for Sikorsky. And Sikorsky's already been in our community, and we're talking to them about some opportunities as well. And then we recruited Amazon as a last mile distribution center. They went into an existing facility in the Port-Owned Intermodal Distribution Center off of Highway 231. They've already hired about 100 people and retrofit this building. And this was a $9 million capital investment project. So with these five companies that we announced over the past two years, Voltari, IAG, at Oxford Global Impact Products and Amazon. Just those five projects alone will create more than 1,000 primary jobs with a capital investment of 100. and $75 million over the next three- to five-year period. But we wanted to take that a step further, and we've partnered with our friends at Florida Power & Light, who did a more extensive economic impact study for our county and the communities in the county. And if you take those five new projects and you look over the next seven to ten years, almost 3,000 new jobs will be generated from these project announcements, with $140 million in annual revenue and $305 million total value added in the economy of our community. So we're looking forward to this growth. We'll see some major activities happening at our airport, which obviously impacts Panama City Beach and the people who live here. As you go up 79, you see construction projects spreading up every day, and we're excited about the growth that will have a very positive impact in Panama City Beach. We're out there traveling, just so you all know. We are a small, lean, mean machine, but we are around the world. These are some shows that we're targeting that we've already been to this year. Maintenance Repair and Overhaul, Americas in Orlando. Ben and I, my colleague Ben Worman is here with me. We're invited by State Commerce to go on a recruitment mission to Canada, which was very successful. And we just returned from London, England, where we were at the international show where we met with more than 20 companies in three days and got three good substantial leads from that trip. Saturday, I've been asked by the Secretary of Commerce for the state to join him and his team on a trade mission and recruitment mission to Taiwan. So I'll be taking a 30-hour flight to Taiwan and representing our communities there. And then we'll be going to a big boat show in Tampa in October, as well as maintenance, repair, and overhaul show in Europe and Amsterdam.

And then we will be going on a recruitment mission to our sister city in Merritt.

So we're working for you. We're working for the county. We're excited about these announcements that we've had over the past year and a half. Now we're ready for implementation and for recruitment of the suppliers of these main companies that we've recruited. So thank you so much for your support. We appreciate your partnership together. We're seeing great things happen in this area, and we want to continue to make great things happen for Bay County. I'd be glad to take any questions, Mr. Mayor.

So five companies across aviation, maritime, manufacturing, and distribution. Do you have a core focus? That's an impressive array of companies.

Yes, sir. Great question. We do have target markets that align with the state of Florida. Aviation, marine manufacturing are our two key priorities for target markets. Because we have an international port, logistics and distribution is also one of our key target markets. and obviously advanced manufacturing. So we are seeing success in all of those major sectors that we are focused on.

And how long do these deals take to come to fruition?

We've got one that we're working on at the airport, and Cole's been very involved because he's the airport attorney as well. that we announced in 2023 that we're still working to try to get it under construction. So some can last, you know, upwards of four or five years just to get going under construction. Voltari was not that, that was the exception. It took us six months. because we found the perfect site for them that already had existing buildings on it. So it can range from six to eight months to three or four years. I tell people that economic development is a marathon, not a sprint. So you've got to have patience. And we've got a great team that's working to make these projects happen.

All right. Any further questions from the council? Obviously, you guys have a great relationship with Haney Technical and then the colleges that we have here. What does that look like when we're bringing these people in and your substantial relationship with these local institutions and the pipeline of bringing families up and being able to work here and stay in our community and not have to leave if you don't work in tourism anymore?

Great, great question, because it used to be, I've been in this business, I moved here from Georgia, I've been in economic development for 25 years, and it used to be we would sit at the table with the president of a company and their first question was, how much money are you going to give me? It's not the case today. Their first question today is, how are you going to meet my workforce need? So our educational partners are the most important partners that we have in the recruitment process. And if you hadn't been to Haney lately, I would advise you to go and meet with Angela Reese and take a tour. I would take any president of any company in the world to visit Haney Technical. Their marine programs, their aviation programs, their welding programs are second to none. And when we bring companies here, that's one of the first stops that we make is Haney, Gulf Coast State College, Florida State University, the Bay District school system. If we can't provide an answer to how we can meet the workforce needs of the project, we're not going to make it to the next cut. So great question, and we cannot do what we do without a strong educational partnership.

Vice Mayor, you had something? I just wanted to thank you for being here. Very good presentation.

Thank you. Great work. You and Ben both. Thank you, Ben, for also being here.

Thank you both. Thank you for your continued support. Thank you.

All right. We now move on to Employee Years of Service Awards. Council Member?

have Jeremy Cross and Mark Schaefer to please come up and join me.

Good morning. How are you this morning?

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to be here. I'm sure Mark made you come.

But Jeremy has

been with us for five years. He is a dependable and dedicated member of our wastewater operations team. I'm told that his technical knowledge and his proactive approach and his commitment to safety and compliance has really contributed to the reliability of the operation of our facility. So Jeremy, I'd like to thank you very much for your five years of service to the community of Panama City Beach. I'd like to ask Officer Sweetin and the Chief to come up and join me. Good morning.

How are you this morning?

Oh, is this your lovely wife? All right, Officer Sweetin. I understand that you're assigned to the Uniformed Patrol, and you serve as a field training officer, which helps our new officers as they join our force. You're also an active member of our 287G program, And you've received additional training to be able to assist with certain immigration enforcement and federal supervision. So we thank you for all the extra training that you've gone to, for your dedication and your commitment to our city for 10 years.

James, did you want to say anything? No, just that Officer Sweet is a very valuable member of our team, as you guys heard. And we're proud of all his accomplishments. 10 years in this job is very difficult. And we look forward to the next 10 to 20 years, Sweetie.

Thank you. And next, I'd like to call up Lee Gilmore and Cheryl. Join her from our parks. And I see Sam's coming up with her. Oh, she's taking the photos. Good morning, Lee. How are you this morning? Well, what an accomplishment for you today. We are recognizing Lee for 10 years of service. 20. 20 years. Oh, sorry. 20 years.

Okay.

Oh, I was thinking about the last one, 10 years.

OK, we'll give you that 10 back. So for 20 years, he has been working in Parks and Rec. He started part time when he was 17 years old, helping out over there with the athletics and with maintenance. And now he is the athletic supervisor managing the youth and the adult sports. So congratulations and thank you so much for your 10 years of service. 20.

20 years of service.

Lee, everyone knows how old you are now, though.

I definitely... Lee has one of the hardest jobs, if you know anything about youth sports. I hope you understand that. He has over 2,000 participants in youth and adult sports. So if you do some math, he has about 8,000 people a year when you do parents and grandparents that are not happy with the ref's call that he has to deal with. So we appreciate everything you do, Lee.

Thank you. Stay here with me. Because this lady is hitting another milestone. And I think she started when she was 15 to have worked for 20 years for Parks and Rec. And I want to thank you so much for all that you've done for our Parks Department. I think you started as the head of the Parks Department about the time I was elected. So I've been able to work with you for the past four years, and it's been such a joy. And it's been a joy to see all the improvements that have come to all our parks, not just Frank Brown. So thank you so much for your 20 years of dedication to the city of Panama City Beach. We appreciate you.

Thank you.

Okay, we now move on to public comment on the consent agenda and non-agenda business. If you guys do have a comment on something on the regular agenda, please wait until that time. This public comment period is for the consent agenda and non-agenda business. Please come up, state your name, address myself or the council as a whole. Please keep your comments related to city business. You'll have three minutes.

Once again, my name is Captain Gary Wayne Beck. I live at 2601 Beach Street. I'd like to address the good people of Bay County that I just addressed a few seconds ago. You know, My obligation to hold up the Constitution and Bill of Rights, I put my hand on the Bible and Honolulu away. Since then, I've witnessed strong-armed extortion against the weakest of our people, our elderly. And then I have found myself being targeted because I've had all this criminal activity carried out in conjunction and under the grace of the Bay County government. And I've had some bad things happen to children, and I currently am in possession of the record of the individual that came over to my house and told me that he was a minor.

Sir, please keep this relevant to Panama City Beach, not Bay County.

Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. Let me, okay, you're right. I remember when you and Ethan both said that the molestation of a child happened in a county and it don't matter on Panama City Beach. How proud of you. You know what I'm saying? But during the meantime, we're talking about the Constitution and Bill of Rights. That's why I don't want you saying nothing. Sir, please keep your comments relevant to Panama City Beach. I think strong-armed extortion on Panama City Beach is important, you know, because I've had gallons and gallons of tears from the elderly that you're ripping the properties from. You remember Ms. Cindy, right? And there's a bunch more since her. Am I lying? No. $42,000 for one day's labor. That's a lot of money, ain't it? For an elderly lady. Oh, yeah. It was $16,000 first, and she got thrown in. Everybody knows the story how she got thrown in a room by three men and then told she owed $42,000 for one day's labor? Now, go ahead and tell me that's right, Mayor. And then we got Ethan over there. You know, I told him what happened to that child, and I cried on his shoulder. And what'd he say? The same thing you did, Mayor, as they kicked me out this building to tell me I can't talk about it.

You know, it happened in the county. It happened in the city.

That's exactly what Chief Telemontes says when they forged my name. You know, they forged my name.

Please keep this relevant to Panama City Beach, not your issues with the Bay County government.

Not with the issues of Bay County government. So the Constitution and Bill of Rights don't matter, right? And the fact that our law enforcement officer back there won't recognize a capital felony that any American citizen does would go to jail for, such as forgery, strong-armed extortion, you know.

Sir, please keep your comments relevant to Panama City Beach.

keep me going. But guess what? Everybody can see because I've been 16 years into my obligation to uphold the Constitution and Bill of Rights. No matter how much crap y'all put out about me, no matter how many lies you put out about me, you can't hide from the truth. Thank you, Mr. Beck.

Further public comment on the consent agenda or non-agenda business? Seeing none, we now move on to the consent agenda. Ms. Fezzone.

Resolution 26-155, a resolution of the City of Panama City Beach, Florida, authorizing additional expenditures at set unit prices in an amount not to exceed $50,000 for fencing supplies, installation, and repairs under the City's existing contract with Mr. Fence of Florida, Inc., for fiscal year 2026. Resolution 26-156, a resolution of the City of Panama, City Beach, Florida, approving reimbursement to Bay County Board of County Commissioners related to McGelvey Road repairs in the amount of $33,451.50. Number three, revision to the master audit list to remove obsolete items.

Motion to approve. Second. We have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda items. Ms. Fazzone, please call the roll.

Council Member Coburn. Yes. Councilman Register.

Yes, ma'am.

Vice Mayor Jarman.

Yes, ma'am.

Councilman Castro.

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Tettemer.

Yes, ma'am. We now move on to our regular agenda. We have a modified regular agenda. We've moved, if you're following along at home, regular agenda item number seven, discussion action item, voluntary private sewer connection program from the Laguna Beach sewer expansion area. I was going to speak on it.

Is Mark going to speak on it? Mayor, I'll take the first crack at it, and then I think we can defer to...

Okay. So what we're going to do for this item is just give us a brief overview. We'll call for public comments, so you guys can ask some questions or make your comments, and then we'll have Mr. Davis or Mr. Schaefer help us walk through it.

Okay? Okay.

Go ahead, Mr. Davis.

So to give you the backdrop here, this is for several years the city has been working to expand its sewer system into Laguna Beach in a three-phase project. Those three phases have been talked about for as long as I've been around. In 2023, we were able to get a $3 million appropriation from the Florida legislature, thanks to Representative Griffith, Senator Trumbull. And so that's when we began the design of the first phase, which we call, I think, phase C. And so then in May of 2026, you approved a $6 million construction contract to actually expand that sewer connection across that first phase of Laguna Beach. I'll defer to Mark, but I think it's several hundred different connections that will become available. What the grant doesn't fund and what the city doesn't fund is the actual, once we install the pipelines across the neighborhood, we don't fund the private connections to those individual lots. And so we've spent... a decent amount of time thinking about different ways in which we can try to make it feasible for those private connections to happen. And so the memo before you details some options there. In talking with the utilities department, talking to the city manager, the option that we think is probably the most feasible both for the private citizen and for the city is to have the contractor go ahead and install those connections on a voluntary basis if the citizen wants it. So not to force any connections, but to allow for the contractor to take advantage of the pricing that we got from the contractor to give that benefit to the residents and have them elect to have those connections made. And then you have in your packet, you have some options as to how we could essentially finance that connection for the resident and different ways we can collect upon that. And then obviously I can answer any questions or defer to staff on anything else.

OK. So in summary, we're doing sewer line down there. There's a lot of old septic tanks down there. We're going to fund, or the grants and the city or the utilities department is going to fund the main connection. Private, while we have the road dug up, private citizens may want to go from their septics, which may be having issues, or you just want to get onto the sewer. That's going to be privately funded, but here we're discussing options to finance that, and that will allow the citizens to take advantage of the pricing we got from the contractor.

Yes, sir. Just to clarify, when we bid out the construction, we also got pricing for these private connections. So it's already kind of incorporated into their contract. Okay.

Great. So now I'll call for public comment. If you guys have any questions, feel free to come up and ask them. They'll be all addressed after the end of public comment. Just come up, state your name, and you'll have three minutes.

Yeah, my name is Tim Ford. My dad bought a lot on Laguna Beach in 1958. I was born in 1960. I've been here off and on since 1960. I graduated from Bay High School. They didn't have a hospital out here at the time. So I've been here a while. What we're looking for is just as much information as we can get. One, if you've noticed, in the last two years, Laguna Beach has come up from the health department. Problems with fecal matter in the Gulf. Like I said, I've been here since 1958. I've never seen that. Another background to that, if you've been on Panama City Beach, you know the carousel. If you go to the carousel, look at the sign sitting there now. It says if you park here, you have to do business at the carousel. That's never happened. What I'm getting to is we're getting a lot more people. What we need to look at is the Airbnb. Nothing against them. There's a lot of Airbnbs coming up. That's economic. What we're looking for is folks like me. We've been here for a long time. We're looking at the cost of going to the septic system, going off the septic system, one, to help save our beach to where we don't have the documentation coming from the health department to where we can't go swim in the Gulf. That is a big issue. This project is going to help that issue. So looking at what's coming down for a lot of us that have been here is the cost of connecting to the system. We're for the system because it's going to help everybody. So our question is the initial cost. There's a lot of places that have been in families for a long time. One of my suggestions is if we could get with the city to come to the Laguna Beach Association meeting. It's not an HOA. It's an association that goes back, if you don't know the history of Laguna Beach, it goes back to when the properties on Laguna Beach were originally sold. The gentleman that sold the properties back in the early 50s put on deeds that our beach would not be built on. Large process went to the state. The state is the conservator of the agreement. And the association is just there to make sure that that agreement is upheld. A lot of the people in that association have been on the beach for a very long time. So if we could get a connection to where the city could come, because from what I see, if we initially connect as the contractor is there, it will be less expensive for us to do that.

And Tim, if you could just start wrapping this up, please.

Well, that benefits us, but it also benefits you for us to get connected as soon as possible. I think that would be a correct statement. So as soon as we could get... what the cost to initially do it so we can help get the information out and possibly work with you to come to the association with, you know, you can't put everything in stone. but as close as we could get to it so we could get more of the older people that have been here for a long time that see what this is going to do for us to get connected, not only to help us in our pocketbook, but help the city.

OK. We appreciate you, Tim. You're just substantially over time. And we're more than happy to have the conversations outside.

Yes? Just letting you know, the alarm's messed up. They're going to have to fix it after the meeting. So I'll try to keep track of the time for you.

OK. Yeah, we just, everyone gets the same amount of time. That's just the rule. Don't want to be mean or anything. Everyone gets the same amount. Okay, any further public comment on this item?

Yes, sir. Thank you very much for letting me ask questions. One of the first questions I have.

Hey, ma'am, what's your name?

Oh, I'm sorry. Linda Gerstner. I live in Laguna Beach. I've got like five questions here. If a homeowner or property owner does not pay the impact fee, if they choose to pay an impact fee now, can they pay it like the terms that you guys are giving us for the 5, 10, or 15 years financing, whatever. That was one question. The next one is the impact fee. Is it different than what we were given a couple months ago from Mark? I didn't see it in the paperwork. Also, vacant lots that are not developed, will they be charged the $31.06 per month if they're not developed? They're vacant. So of course they're not going to hook up impact fees. What is the difference between a three and a four inch pipe? What's the use of it? I don't understand that. I don't know if it's the number of bathrooms, whatever. And then the last thing is the date update. For the contract. I mean, it was supposed to start in May. Now it's several months behind. So I'm wondering if that's been revised. What can we expect to start construction, et cetera? That's all I've got. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Kirshner. Further public comment on this item? All right. I think several of those questions are kind of mixed between Mr. Davis and Mr. Schaefer. Mr. Schaefer, can you kind of just come up and help us understand this program and address some of the questions on financing, vacant lot charge, three versus four pipe, four-inch pipe, they have contracts start, and I'll just, just a minor correction, these aren't, as government jargon, these aren't impact fees, this should just be a fee for construction.

That's correct. First off, the limits of the project, this is, as Mr. Davis indicated, this is the first of three phases, and the limits are from Deluna all the way west to East Lakeshore, north to Back Beach Road, south to Front Beach Road. If it's outside that area, that's not in this phase of the project. I've done, I think, three presentations to the Laguna Beach Homeowners Association, but I'll be glad to cover any questions anybody has. Regarding the notice proceed, or the schedule for the project, the notice proceed was issued the 10th of June. The contractor's been a little bit slow getting mobilized, but he has started, and barring any rain events or any delays in construction, it should be done in March of next year.

Be completed?

Yes. There's about 443 or 441 lots in that area, in the service area, and we've used that quantity in the bid form. What we were trying to do is basically leverage the number of homes in that area to get better pricing in our contract and allow that to be available to the homeowners if they wish to use that. They're not required to use it, but basically, and I think we've got some really good quotes here in terms of septic tank abandonment. It's less than $2,500, which is much better than they likely could do on their own. Secondary benefit to the homeowners is if they go on this program, septic tanks can fail on you without a moment's notice, and suddenly you have a big time constraint to get something done. So this allows them the opportunity to deal with it basically now at an advantageous price. And the city is your in-between between the contractor and the homeowner in terms of issues in construction and so forth. So we're basically serving as their representatives.

Mark, between the start time now and March of next year, if I was a homeowner in there, I'd like to know, is there a certain time that they have to agree, or does it just have to be before the completion date?

The contractor owes me that date. I don't know what it is just yet. Typically, they'll put the mains in the street, and then I don't know if they're going to do it in bulk fashion, the entire area, or if they're going to do it street by street.

Okay. Can you speak to the... Difference between a three-inch and a four-inch pipe for the homeowners?

Yes. Some homes have four-inch main service exits coming out of the rear of the house. Some of them have four. Typically, it's a four-inch line. We just got unit pricing for both options. If the homeowner wanted to stay with the three-inch, he could, or he could upsize to the four-inch.

Okay. And then the question about the sewer availability charge for vacant lots.

The sewer availability charge, the guiding principle there is to basically encourage people that are on septic tanks to get off of septic tanks. I don't know how it's going to apply to an empty lot, but I would think it targets people that are holdouts that want to stay on their septic tank. It's basically saying we've expended all this money, the customers and the state have expended money to extend utility service in your area, and that has a cost, and we're trying to... It's certainly not going to recapture that cost, but it's kind of something to incentivize them to get off their septic tanks and connect. The state requirement is that once it's available, they have to connect within a year.

Okay. Say that again? The state requirement is what?

There's a state requirement that once sewer is available, and they've been given notice about it, they have up to a year to connect.

Mayor, may I address one more question? Yes. Ms. Gerstner did ask about impact fees, and there are impact fees that will be charged associated with these connections, and this financing option includes financing those impact fees as well.

Okay.

So just to clarify, it's a whole cart thing. Okay.

And the impact fee I gave in the presentations to Laguna Beach was an example impact fee, and it's just based on a standard three-bedroom, two-bath home. If you have, and that's, as you know, our impact fees are a function of fixture units, so if you have a three-bath home, that number is going to be higher. But I just used a standard three-bedroom, two-bath home, and it was $4,700. for the sewer impact fee only. That does not include the connection cost, which is the cost of running the pipe from the home to the city sewer, their front property line, at that point of connection.

Okay. Mayor, we're looking at an average cost per home around $7,000 for the total hookup and impact fees. Oh, for hookup and connection. Okay.

That would be a standard three-bedroom, two-bath homes. If it's a nine-bedroom, seven-bath home, it's going to be significantly more just because of the fixture count.

Okay. Mark, I agree with the gentleman that got up and spoke. It's definitely advantageous for the property owners to tie on the sewer once it becomes available to them, but let's say one of these folks has spent $10,000 or $20,000 in the last couple of years on a new septic tank, and I know in the past we've encouraged people and helped finance to get them to tie on, and we're still working is what we're talking about today. But you said something about the state law. We still have some folks that haven't tied on. So I mean, we're not forcing them to tie on. Is that right? I mean, we're encouraging them to tie on, which hopefully most of you guys will. But if they don't, what They just have to pay the availability fee each month. Is that what the penalty will be for them? Currently, yes.

The city's practice right now is to only charge an availability fee. We don't take any other enforcement action for failure to hook up.

Okay. And everything's gravity down there. There's no homeowner that's going to have to put a lift station in or anything.

Those that have a grinder pump that want to keep it, we can connect. There's a unit price for them to connect that to the service lateral, the gravity lateral.

But this is a little different than what we've done in the past. Are we still doing the same option we had in the past where we give them so many? I guess it's up to us how we want to do it. But in the past, we've encouraged them to tie on within 90 days and gave them a break. But this way, we're trying to do a package deal where we let the contractor. We never did that before. So this is something new, right? That's correct.

We'll tie it with a construction actually. So they would have the time to hook up when the contractor says they're in that area? That'd be the only option to be able to tie into the system at this cost.

It makes sense to me why they're there to do it. It'd be a better deal for you guys, for the mobilizer to do it. But we just have to figure out how we're going to get reimbursed back to the city. Is that right?

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

The state, they are ratcheting up the mandatory connection. Looks like it should come in. The legislature is doing that right now. I mean, there's property issues, ownership issues, and so forth. But it seems like every legislative session they keep stepping up. kind of must connect and so forth and so on. There's a benefit to the homeowner because if he gets rid of his septic tank, it frees up a lot of his real estate for other needs. If they wanted to put a swimming pool in or add a room to their home or so forth, they were restricted before because they had to accommodate this drain field and the septic tank. So there is added benefit in terms of depreciation and property.

I hope we can get rid of all of them personally, but. Anyhow, thank you for your presentation. You've answered my question.

Vice Mayor? One of the questions the gentleman asked was the cost for the hookup. Just so everyone knows, that's going to be on a case-by-case basis based off the fixtures and the size of the home. And then I guess the resident would have to come forward and say, I want to become part of this program, whatever we decide we're going to do. And then at that time, they would be able to get an accurate assessment of what the cost would be. We can give you what a basic one would be, but specific to each home, it's probably going to change.

Yeah, if the sewer currently exits the home in the rear and the septic tank's in the backyard, now the piping has to wrap all the way around the home to get to the main connection at the street, whereas if it's plumbed out of the front of the house, it's much less expensive to do that. I just wanted to clear. The fixed costs of septic tank abandonment, we have that cost in there, and some other costs like site work, those are fixed, but the quantity of pipe varies from home to home that it's going to cost to do that.

All right. I just wanted to address that because there is not one set price for everybody. So it's going to be on a case-by-case.

We can give them an estimate of what their impact fees would be if they'll give us a fixture count. We can help in a lot of terms in terms of getting a better picture of the financial costs.

So if we move ahead with this, probably the way it will look is if a resident wants to hook up, at that time they come forward and say, hey, I want to see if I want to be a part of this, and then the assessment would go forward and they would get a price.

They can approach us now. We can come up with an estimate for them.

Okay, thank you. Mr. Davis? Yeah, and just to clarify the Vice Mayor's point. So this will be an individual contract between the city and the homeowner for each individual hookup. So it will be a case-by-case kind of bespoke thing that we do for each lot. So it won't be kind of all one shot. So there will be some mechanics to each individual one that will be by contract.

So if they want to write a check and pay cash right then, they can do it, or we could finance it for them. Is that kind of where we're at? Correct. Those are the options available to get. Obviously, we need your direction on that. Now, the septic tanks, the old septic tanks, that will be part of the... They'll have to remove those once they go on, and that'll be included in the price. Is that right?

Right. The unit cost for that is $2,400 and... $3.57. Okay. Okay.

Anything else for Mr. Schaffer? Thank you, Mark.

Thank you.

Okay. So finance has done a bang-up job, given us a few options to kind of work with here. Can someone come and just walk us through these, Mr. Davis?

Yes, sir. So, I mean, what we feel like is probably the easiest mechanism to finance this is to have an agreement with each property owner and have a certain term. We've looked at five-year terms, 10-year terms, and 15-year terms. We've looked at interest rates that would be associated with that. Finance believes that 3.75% is what that money currently earns in the bank. I'm not the finance person, but I'm doing my best. And so we've calculated different options based on those terms and based on a suggested 3.75% interest rate. And what we would do is, assuming that you took those terms, if the homeowner wanted to agree to those terms, we would simply assess that annual cost on their tax bill the same way that we do your fire assessment or your stormwater assessment. Um.

Well, help me understand that because this project's outside the city limits, right? It's in our utility service area, but this is outside the city limits.

Yes, sir.

So they're not currently getting anything from us, but we'd work with the property appraiser or the tax collector.

We'd work with the tax collector and the homeowner to have them agree to do this. Obviously, as Councilman Castro said, they could just write a check, but that would be kind of a backstop to make sure, since the city is fronting all the money, to make sure that we – that we are able to collect that money. In the past, what happened is the city took mortgages on the properties, and there was a more complicated collection system, and it was administratively burdensome and didn't work out very well. So this is what we think is a simplified version that allows everybody to kind of get what they need.

OK. So the options outlined in this memo are cash up front, installation option or installment option secured by a lien on the property. Yes, sir. And then the third would be they voluntarily agreed to a non-ad valorem assessment. Yes, sir. Okay, so those are the... Kind of three options, and I believe the staff recommendation was the non-advalorem assessment. Correct. Okay. And that's attached to the deed of the house.

So they sell their house, it just carries over to the new owner.

Yes, so by contract it would need to carry over. So if they sell their house, the new owner would take over those payments because obviously the person who's gone doesn't want to keep paying for the... Yeah, they're non-advalorem.

Oh, yeah, if we go with a non-advalorem. Somewhat or the way solar panels work or whatever. Yes, sir. Okay. Got it.

Okay. And then amongst those options, we have outlined three terms, a five-year term, a 10-year term, and a 15-year term. And as you mentioned, Mr. Davis, The staff is recommending a 3.75% interest rate, which is what the utility fund is currently able to get for that money in the bank account. So it's not taking from the entire city's, you know, every utility payer in order to subsidize. That's kind of our break-even point there.

Yes, sir.

Okay. And then I see that staff has recommended basically a 10-year term. at that 3.75% and non-ad valorem assessment. So I think that's a useful starting point for discussion.

Is there not a way to offer all three terms, or is it only a way we can choose 5, 10, or 15?

That's probably a finance question because they're the ones that have to track all this and make sure that it all works.

When we did the lien in the early 2000s, it was very taxing on our finance department because if they sent in their bill, we didn't know if it was going towards their water bill or to the actual lien of their property. So we're asking for the non-app alarm. Now, if you guys recommend that, we could also recommend, number one, where they could write a check to the city and we can reimburse Royal American if they want to pay it all up front. Those would be the two options I'd recommend.

And if they desire to overpay their payment or pay a little bit early, are they able to do that?

No penalty.

Yes, there wouldn't be a prepayment penalty if they wanted to, you know. I mean, if they wanted to come in for one year and say, okay, I'm going to pay all of mine in advance, don't put it on my tax roll, we would do that too. I mean, we want to be flexible with this.

But they would go to the... Bay County tax collector to do that. How would that work?

The way that would work is if they came in and gave a check to finance and said, here's my annual payment, then we would contact the tax collector because we have to submit the roll to the tax collector every year. So we would just take them off the roll for that year. Okay. Hopefully Debra's not mad at me right now when I'm in.

She's not in her head.

She's not in her head.

Okay. I'm sorry, Vice Mayor. Yeah, I was just going to say if the council, depending on what the council says, it's really A and one of the others. Correct. So, and then they could pay partial up front and it would just be as finance would adjust that to the role. So. And, oh, I'm sorry. No, I was just going to say you can decide, oh, I've got half of this that I want to pay up front and therefore only half of the charge is going to go on the role for the non-advalorum, so.

And to clarify the action you're asking us to take here today, you're asking for direction to finish creating this program, and would this come back as a resolution, or would this be it?

Yes, sir. The program will come back kind of fully fleshed out as a resolution, and we'll build it out with all the details per your direction.

Okay. Sounds like we're given as many options as we can to encourage them to tie on. Yes, sir.

Yeah. So I guess to Councilman Register's point, though, could we offer multiple terms or should we decide on one term?

I think staff's recommendation is to decide on one term. But I'd like that term. I'd like to be sensitive because you have a home that ends up being a $10,000 a year. You're taking $1,000 out of these people's household income on an annual basis for those 10 years. So maybe we look at the longest term and if they can pay it off early, great. That's great. But the least impact, I think you'll get the most response for and maybe dragging it out a little further.

So that's a... Okay. In the memo, it says... Did we have what the average cost was?

$7,000, right? We didn't model. A model home was about the three bed, two bath model home.

was roughly $7,000. So the Councilman Register, the annual payment we have in this chart is, which is in the packet online, by the way. This is available for everyone. $700. Yeah. It is based on per $10,000. So if they go above that $3,200, about 30% above, they would get that $1,200. OK. Let's take this in pieces. One is the options on, I think we're all potentially agreed that we'll accept cash up front, right? And then so the two other pieces of the options are installment plan based on secured lien or non-ad valorem assessment. Staff recommends non-ad valorem assessment. I think that makes sense. That's where I'm at, non-ad valorem assessment. Okay. Okay.

You guys?

Councilman Castro? Yes.

Yes.

All right. All right, Coburn. Okay, so we got that portion done.

A and C. A and C. Would it be possible to require that should the property change hands, that this debt would be paid off at that time?

We could have an acceleration clause, yes, if you wanted to. Which is exactly that, right? If they sell it, then it's all due up front.

Right.

OK. Do we want to think about it?

I personally don't want to do that, but that's my personal opinion.

OK.

Well, it's just a suggestion.

Yeah. Yeah, I think just keeping it with the property. It would have to be disclosed at the property sale price, at the property sale time. Any prospective buyer would have to do their own diligence. And so, you know, I think just let's just keep it.

At that point, they can roll it in the loan and get some extra money.

Yeah, they could pay it out because that would have to be disclosed. At that point. Yeah.

Yeah, it just kind of makes sense to clean it up at that point.

Yeah, I think it's a good idea. I just think let's just try and keep this one simple is my opinion on it. Thoughts? Fifteen years. Okay, so now we're moving on to the term. Well, let's talk about the interest rate first, and then we can do the term. The proposed interest rate is 375, which is a pretty good – Very good rate. I think what home mortgages now are over 6.25. Yeah, over 6. So it's a very good rate, and it's just basically the city's not making any money on this. It's just this is what keeps the utility fund whole without having the rest of the subscribers basically subsidizing this program. So 375? I'm good with that.

Question. Yeah. There's also a fee associated with the tax collector collecting this, correct? Correct. I believe it's usually 2%.

Is that going to be added in as well? We would need to add that into the total amount of the, essentially the amount of the debt. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that, make that clear. Correct. So.

Good point. All right.

Okay. So three, everyone's good with 375, Paul? Yes. Vice Mayor? Yes, sir. Yep. Okay. Got those two. Now we're talking term. We have, uh, Five-year term, 10-year term, 15-year term proposed and modeled here. We could pick, you know, 14 and a half years if we wanted to, but, you know, start with those three options. What are the thoughts of the council?

I agree with the councilman. Our vice mayor and mayor, I'd give them as many years as possible, 15 years. If they want to pay it off early, they can, you know.

Yeah. Okay. I'm good with 15. Mm-hmm. I'm good with 15. I think that lowers the cost. I think you're going to get a lot more participation at that point as well. Yes, absolutely. Okay.

Council Member Fulmer? I'm fine with that. Okay, 15. So can someone do a motion to wrap this entire thing up? Vice Mayor, you're the one who can do the complicated motions.

This is more of a direct staff, isn't it? Motion, correct. Yes, sir. Motion to direct staff to create a resolution for sewer hookup in North Lagoon project to accommodate the proposed options A and C, C option being including a 3.75 percentage rate and a 15-year term.

Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second to, I'm not going to repeat what he just said. Ms. Fazzoni, please call the roll.

Councilmember Coburn? Yes. Councilman Register?

Yes, ma'am.

Vice Mayor Jarman?

Yes, ma'am.

Councilman Castro?

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Tettemer?

Yes, ma'am. Okay. So that will come back to us as a resolution, and obviously staff can be in contact with you folks, and I know Mark had said he'd been to a few of your meetings. We're happy to continue to talk through this process. It won't be enacted until we do the resolution. Okay. So this was just discussing what goes into the resolution. The resolution is going to come back to us. Okay.

But I would encourage everyone to get out there and spread the word because apparently they have already kind of started. So everyone kind of needs to be ready to pull the trigger if they want to do it.

Okay. Thank you. That was originally regular agenda item number seven, which we moved to first. We're now going on our regularly scheduled agenda to agenda item number one, large conditional use application located at 12201 Hutchinson Boulevard, This is a public hearing, quasi-judicial use. Okay. There's extra mechanics whenever we get one of these quasi-judicial uses. I have to read a bunch of stuff. This is a hearing to consider the approval of a large conditional use application from LSE Shipwreck Island LLC, Section 5.06.01 of the City's Land Development Code. This is a quasi-judicial hearing governed by the City's Land Development Code. This hearing is based on the recommendation of the Planning Board's approval. Members of the Council have been provided a copy of that order for our review. We will now begin the hearing. We move on to swearing in the witnesses. Will all persons wishing to speak during this hearing please rise to be sworn in? Lynn?

Do you swear or affirm that the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Okay. Mr. Leonard, were the notice requirements met for this hearing?

Yes, sir.

Okay. We now move on to disclosures. At this time, we will ask each member of the council to make their Jennings disclosure.

Nothing to disclose, Mayor. Nothing to disclose. Nothing to disclose.

Nothing to disclose.

I also have nothing to disclose. Next is the staff presentation. At this time, we will hear the staff's report. Mr. Leonard.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. This is a large conditional use. That's why it's coming before you. It's over three acres in size. The applicant is LSE Shipwreck LLC, and they've submitted the large conditional use application for a new water slide at Shipwreck Island Water Park. The property is owned CH, and it's in the FBO2 zoning district. And because it's a conditional use, it would have to meet 12 general criteria. And then there's also about five or six specific criteria that would apply to an amusement use as well. And the city council, you have discretion to impose conditions. It determines that are necessary to satisfy those required findings. And if the required findings are met, then the request must be approved. the applicant held his required community meeting on August the 4th prior to the Planning Board meeting and then the Planning Board recommended approval of this request at its meeting on August the 12th 2026 with the following conditions and there's two of them one is that a 20-foot setback from Hutchinson Boulevard is met on all portions of the new amusement structure and number two a modification allowing the existing six-foot black chain link fencing to remain in lieu of required solid faced fence I'm sorry, what was the setback? 20 feet. It was 20 feet for the entire structure of the new water slide.

Okay. And that is it. Okay. That is it for the staff presentation. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Leonard. At this time, we will hear from the applicant.

Thank you for having me here today.

This new slide tower presents a great opportunity for the water park itself. It's a $5 million investment and 20 seasonal jobs, roughly 20 seasonal jobs added to the park itself. We've worked with the city extensively to make sure that we comply with all necessary municipal and county regulations on this particular slide tower. It's going to be a great new attraction for the community, and we're very excited to construct this. And so once we do hopefully get approval from the city council to pursue this, we'll get into action immediately for this. But I'm happy to answer any questions that the council might have on this particular project.

What is the location?

It's on the northeast corner of the water park itself. Okay, where the children's play area is? That's correct. Yes, sir. Northwest. Okay.

Northwest corner.

Northwest.

Northwest corner, yes, sir. Side of that gate. Yeah. And what's the, what's the, it's a water slide? Yes, sir. Okay. Height?

50 feet, 55 feet?

50 feet, yes, sir. 50 feet, okay. Questions from the council? No. The applicant? No, I don't have one. Okay. Okay.

Mayor? Yes. Could you state your name for the record, please?

I'm sorry. I missed that. I apologize as well.

Clark Davis. Clark Davis.

That's right. That's why I didn't know what to call you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Davis and Mr. Davis. Seeing none from the applicant, Thank you, sir. Oh, thank you. Thank you, Clark. I'm just going to be a little informal, I guess. At this time, we will hear from any affected parties who wish to speak. Please come up, state your name and address for the record. Any affected parties? OK. At this time, we will take any public comment. Any public comment? Seeing none. At this time, we will hear any rebuttal by staff, any affected party, or the applicant. No rebuttal. No rebuttal. Okay. Mr. Davis, do you have anything to add? Yes, sir. Okay. At this time, we'll close the evidentiary portion of the hearing. At this time, we will hear any closing arguments by the staff, then the applicant. Any closing arguments? No closing arguments. We will move to council discussion. Okay, so we have a conditional use. The planning board put on the 20 foot setback and allowed them to keep the existing chain link fence instead of moving to a bigger fence, which is required.

I think the chain link fence makes it more aesthetically appealing to continue the same chain link the whole way around. It just looks good. I think the 20-foot setback's good. It's a water park. You want to see what's in there.

Exactly, especially at night. It's good for security.

Everybody loves a good slide.

Mr. Davis, just for clarification, if we approve this with the recommended conditions by the plan, we have to Re-add the conditions recommended by the planning board? I mean, you can just adopt the planning board's order, and that's fine. Okay. So a potential motion could be just to adopt the planning board's order?

Yeah. Motion to adopt the planning board's order of the 20-foot setback and required chain link fencing in lieu of what we would normally require. Okay. And to approve?

Yeah, to approve.

Okay. Second. Second.

We have a motion to adopt the planning board's order and to approve. And a second. Ms. Fazzoni, please call roll.

Council Member Coburn. Yes. Councilman Register.

Yes, ma'am.

Vice Mayor Jarman.

Yes, ma'am.

Councilman Castro.

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Tenner.

Yes, ma'am. Okay. Got through that one. We now move on to regular agenda item number two, resolution 26133. Mr. Davis.

A resolution amending the budget for the city of Panama City Beach, Florida for the fiscal year 2025-2026, appropriating revenues and providing an effective date.

Okay. Is there any public comment on this item? Seeing none, Mr. Davis, could you help us understand what we're doing here?

I would probably ask. Yeah. Okay. Do this one. All right. Take a break. Okay.

Quick response is a true up.

Yeah.

Okay. So before you, you have the amended budget for fiscal year 2026. And all through the year, council, there has been budget amendments presented to you that you have approved. And also throughout the year, the department heads have also made some budget amendments with the approval from city manager and myself. within their authority, within our authority. So the budget amendment that you have before you encompasses all of those amendments for 2026.

Okay, so this is the budget we originally approved, and then as we enacted them through resolutions throughout the year, and then as the department heads under, if the request was under Drew's spending authority or within Drew's spending authority, it encompasses those as well. Is that accurate, Ms. Gibson? Yes, sir. OK. Any questions? Motion approved. Just a second. OK. Do you need Ms. Gibson up here for this? Yeah, I mean, possibly.

I don't necessarily need her. But I've got some calls yesterday some folks in the community about Bayway and we're kind of short on a $41,000 shortfall for Bayway and transportation. With that being said, I think we got our wires crossed here because I think in a TPO meeting earlier before we did our budget meeting last year, and this is all true enough this year, 2026, there was a TPO meeting held and everybody kind of agreed at that point that each municipality would pay the shortfall. The TDC did not pick up that year. I have worked out with TDC to pick it up going forward but we had a $41,000 shortfall that I think we had a meeting so I'm just looking for some clarification from our TPO members of what that looks like and just to have some discussion because right now we have a problem and I'd love to kind of address it we got a pretty large cash carry forward and I want if we if we did agree as a municipality in that meeting then I'd like to uphold what we said we would do and cover the $41,000

So to clarify, Mr. Register, we passed the budget at this council, and that had the $41,000 in it. $45,000. Yeah, it was $45,000. It was $86,000. I think we paid $45,000.

We went about $41,200-something, I believe. Yeah.

Yeah, we passed 49,775, but then the TPO voted for their budget that didn't include that, that was a higher contribution from the city.

Yeah, I think there was some conversation. We just got some wires crossed, and it's something we've missed, and we've got a shortfall, and it's an opportunity for us to rectify the shortfall and fix a problem that we've got at hand. Wouldn't that go in?

The next item, J3, on the 26-27 budget.

So 26 and 27, this was actually for last year. We're short in the year that we're in right now. But next year, we've got the TDC to pick up that portion. So I've worked hard.

So we're in the proper. If you want to make an adjustment, it would be on J2, not on J3. Correct. Okay. And what's your recommendation or your motion?

My recommendation would be to cover the $41,000. This is a system that our workforce uses to get up and down Front Beach Road, and I think it's important.

I'll second. I agree with you. Okay.

And just for clarification, we were made aware of this early enough to where we have built two different resolutions depending on your actions. So that's already, finance staff has already kind of built that in. So we can immediately kind of move in that direction if you want to. And it's in front of you on your dais. Okay. And as of right now, it's a one-off.

TDC will pick up next year and we won't have this problem going forward. I think it's important that we get our workforce to. These people live in our communities. They pay tax in our communities. We need to be able to get them to and from work. I think we got some wires crossed and no fault of anybody. It's just something we can do to fix the problem and rectify how we move forward.

Do we have an MOU with Bayway or the TPO for this?

I think

I mean, I've been on the TPO, and this all came into being before I was ever on the TPO, so I don't know the background on that. And I don't know that Paul would know, because Paul didn't come on until, what, two years ago.

I think they vote on it every year.

I do not recall having voted on it.

Mr. Davis, do we have a MOU with the TPO? I'm just, you know. I haven't seen an MOU. I think, I mean, my understanding is at the TPO level, the cost share amongst the cities is.

Ms. Gibson, feel free to sit down.

Okay, thank you.

It's based on population, as I understand it, right?

It's based on ridership. So they track where people get off and get on. And I think, so there's a table that we see every year generally that tracks. what they believe our proportionate share is compared to the other cities, and then they submit a funding request to the cities to that end, and it's approved in your budget process every year. I've never seen an MOU. I can't say that it doesn't exist. My understanding is the process is it originates from the TPO and then is submitted to each individual city, and then there's a funding request that then gets funded by each city, subject to your, obviously, budget and appropriation.

Right. That's my understanding. And just, okay, so, yeah, and it's addressed at each, I can't remember what meeting at the TPO, but also one of the things that really jumped the cost for us is the Sunday service. And at the time, TDC was paying the Sunday service, and then we had a gap. And this is that gap, from my understanding and my conversations. And so... And I want to say February's meeting or something it was addressed at the TPO. I'll have to go back and double check. But then coming up on the next cycle, the TDC has looked at it and said, okay, I think we're going to be funding this as well.

Yeah, so if I recall, and that's why when we discussed the budget, last year, the TDC initially funded Sunday service. The TDC ceased funding Sunday service, and so the TPO sent us that bill. We said we don't need to fund Sunday service. But then it appears that the TPO has budgeted in Sunday service and voted on and fully approved the process, so there's a gap between what we said we would fund, and then what the TPO, including our members, have voted on. So I think we still have a, do we have a motion on the table? Motion and a second. We have a motion and a second on the table. Is there any further discussion on this item?

No, I think it's great that the TDC is picking up going into next year. And just to talk about Sundays, I mean, it's a major checkout day for us guys. We continue to grow into more of a year-round destination. I mean, people come in on a Friday and leave on a Sunday, so being able to get the workforce to these places safely is important. It definitely hopefully keeps a lot more e-bikes off the road and doing dangerous things, cutting across parking lots and scooters and things. So I believe it's beneficial to get these people to and from work safely. Now, do I believe that TDC has a portion in paying that? Yes, and they're going to step up and do that. So we've got great partners over there.

But I would ask probably, and we've asked this of everyone that we give money to, I believe, is Mr. Hobbs come in and just talk to us about the ridership. That's a fantastic point.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I agree. We'll talk about that in our budget for next year. But yeah, absolutely. OK, motion second. Further discussion? OK, and the motion was to? The $41,000. The $41,000. OK, so the amended. So just to be clear. the amended budget subsequently amended to adopt the 41,000. Okay. The shortfall of whatever it is. Whatever the shortfall is. Whatever the shortfall is. Okay. Thank you. Motion second. Ms. Fazzoni, please call roll.

Councilmember Coburn. Yes. Councilman Register.

Yes, ma'am.

Vice Mayor German.

Yes, ma'am.

Councilman Castro.

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Tenner.

Yes, ma'am. Okay. We now move on to regular agenda item number three, resolution 26134. Mr. Davis.

A resolution establishing the budget for the city of Panama City Beach, Florida for the fiscal year 2026-27, appropriating revenues and providing an effective date. Okay, any public comment on this item?

Good morning. My name's Jessica Graham. I'm the executive director of the St. Andrew, St. Joseph Bays Estuary Program. I try to come in front of you every year and give you an update of everything, so I just wanted to quickly update you on some of our projects we have. One of those is lidotraps, which are catch basins that we install in stormwater drains that capture organic and trash. We have six of them installed near Aaron Besant Park and in a year we've collected 260 pounds of debris and kept that from draining into the adjacent lakes there, which eventually would turn into muck. We've also captured One trap alone right there by that pond is captured 80 pounds. We sometimes have to shovel the leaf litter out of the trap because it's so thick. We also capture a lot of trash from different events that are there. So we are seeing a measurable impact. I really want to give a shout out to the public works staff. They're fantastic. They meet us out there. They do all the hard lifting and the traffic control. We try to keep it as easy as possible on them, but they do a fantastic job and really appreciate their support. We also have a couple other projects, a microbial source tracking project that will actually look at what the source of the fecal coliform in the waterways. You saw a lot of swim advisories last year. Surprisingly, this was swim advisories during dry conditions, not wet conditions. So understanding the source of that is important. And we'll be doing that at all of those Healthy Beaches locations in and around the city. Another aspect that we're doing is harmful algal bloom monitoring. That is monitoring for red tide events. We had a very large red tide event last year that lasted into January. We saw dolphin mortality from that. Scallops are closed in Gulf County because of that. So the more that we can get on top of it, We can then work with Moat Marine Laboratories to deploy technologies to actually kill the red tide before it gets inshore, ideally. It's still all in testing phase, but we've trained citizens on how to collect these samples, and then we are analyzing the samples to try to get on it earlier than later. and just to kind of put everything together for the estuary program and what it contributes economically we did an economic assessment in 2023 and the estuary of just a half mile buffer around both the beaches and the estuary indirectly and directly contribute 9.7 billion dollars in total economic output It provides substantial economic returns, both safeguarding our natural resources as well as to tourism and our community's way of life. Thank you very much. And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Yeah, I'm going to let public comment go through, and then I have some questions to ask. Further public comment on Resolution 26134, which is the budget for fiscal year 26-27? OK. Seeing none, yeah, Ms. Graham, I had a few questions.

Hold on.

You had some questions.

Yeah. Yes, sir.

Mr. Graham, the city does very few contributions to organizations, and we ask those who are requesting that funding to submit their request before we have the budget workshop. We did not receive this request in time. We have a member of the Estuary Committee on here, so we've worked to carve some time out, but why weren't we able to receive the request in time?

I'm still getting used to the timing of the requests. We just started producing these requests to the cities last year. And so I was kind of caught off guard when you guys started your budget workshops in time to be able to get that request in. But I'll be remedying that and getting it in sooner.

Okay, and what is the amount of the request?

$20,000.

$20,000, okay. And for the other contributions, we had gotten actual budgets on their side. Would you be able to produce that in the future? Sure, yeah. I notice on your policy board you have 12 voting members. Voting membership includes Bay County Commission, Gulf County Commission, Callaway, Lynn Haven, Mexico Beach, Panama City, Panama City Beach, Parker, Port St. Joe, Springfield, and FSU Panama City. Correct. For any of those government entities, do they provide contributions?

They do. We had contributions from a few of them last year. This year, when exploring contributions because of the upcoming November vote on taxes, some of them have said no. That contributed last year. Springfield will be contributing. And then the request hasn't gone into Bay County yet.

Okay, so it's essentially Springfield is contributing of the members, so Springfield and then we're considering here as Panama City Beach would be the only two contributing members from your municipality?

Last year we had Lynnhaven, Mexico Beach, Springfield, Panama City Beach. So this year...

So no Panama City?

Not yet, no.

Okay.

We're working on it.

Okay. Yeah, I noticed you highlighted your member from Panama City in your most recent flyer. on your website.

Oh, that's a board spotlight. So we've done that for every board member every month, trying to show who's behind the kind of the estuary program.

Yeah.

Any questions from the council? No questions. I thank you for being here. All right. Thank you, Ms. Graham.

Thank you.

OK. So we had that tied out. We have, Ms. Gibson, do we have one resolution, two resolutions for this one?

We have one resolution. We did include it after y'all's discussion at the workshop. We did include it, okay. Yes.

Okay.

So it is included.

I mean, I think the estuary program is a great program, and it's a program like the other programs that we have. contribute to. They help a very broad range of people. It's not like we're giving money to an HOA or something like that that's very specific. They help the entire area, including Bay County. And for me, I feel like I know, like Councilman Register said, shame on them for those that don't help contribute to these programs. But if my neighbor doesn't help somebody, that doesn't mean I'm not going to. So especially if it's a program that assists in such a broad way and affects the area, especially environmentally or with helping the elderly or with helping kids. So I'm totally in favor of just keeping this $20,000 in there for the estuary program.

I'd like to hear from Council Member Coburn about what her thoughts are. She serves on the Estuary Committee.

Thank you. I think they do a lot of good work out there, especially monitoring of the red tide because that's something that really affects tourism here. I can remember when I first moved here, we had several years when the red tide was really bad and it was miserable for everyone. So anything that we can do to protect our waterways and to decrease that and make sure that our waters are safe for swimming. I think is really important. The litter traps has been astounding. We only have a few around the park over there, but we've kept a lot of debris out of our waterways by using those. I think they do good work, and I would really like to see us support them in pushing forward for our national designation so that they can qualify for additional grants that we currently can't qualify for. Jessica has done a really good job of getting grants and moving the projects along, but now money's getting much tighter, and you need that national designation in order to really qualify for some of the larger grants.

And what is it that we need to do to help with that?

Dr. Graham would have to speak to that.

Yeah, and we can follow up on this. Let's add it to an agenda.

Okay.

Sounds good. I do have, you know, I think it's a great program, and I agree with the Vice Mayor that it doesn't make sense to do what's right, even if those don't. I do have a bit of a concern for cities having voting seats on the policy board without having any contribution, right? If a city, you know, on the TPO, we all do our contributions, right? Why are there cities or other municipalities on the policy board that are not contributing? So that's something I would ask you, council member, to take to your board and help us understand that. I think we've talked more about the estuary community in the last five minutes than we've ever talked about that. So thank you, Dr. Graham, for coming up.

I think it's a great program, Mary, and thank you for serving on it. Yes, thank you. I think the beach probably benefits the most out of any other city in the county, and it's important to have clean, beautiful beaches. So with that, I'll make a motion that we give Mrs. Graham or the estuary program the $20,000, however we have to do that. It's built in, right? Yeah, it's already built in. It's built in already? Yes, sir. I'll make a motion to approve it. Approve Resolution 26-134. Second.

We have a motion to approve and a second. Ms. Fazzoni, please call roll.

Councilmember Coburn? Yes. Councilman Register?

Yes, ma'am.

Vice Mayor German?

Yes, ma'am.

Councilman Castro?

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Tedimer?

Yes, ma'am. We now move on to regular agenda item number four, Resolution 26-135. Mr. Davis? Yes, ma'am.

A resolution of the City Council of the City of Panama City Beach, Florida, and ex officio as the governing body of Panama City Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, making findings of fact, amending the budget for the Panama City Beach Community Redevelopment Agency for the fiscal year commencing on October 1, 2025, and ending on September 30, 2026, establishing the budget for the Panama City Beach Community Redevelopment Agency for the fiscal year commencing on October 1st, 2026 and ending on September 30, 2027, appropriating the use of funds shown therein as stated and as may be necessary or deemed necessary to defray all expenses and liabilities relating to the respective pier, park, and front metro redevelopment plans for each such fiscal year and providing an immediately effective date.

That sounds like a consent agenda item, honestly. Any public comment on this item? Any public comment on this item? Seeing none, Ms. Gibson, please.

Yes, sir. This resolution is for the amended budget for the CRA fund for 2026, as well as the proposed budget for the CRA fund for 2027. So each year, there's things that happen that we have to adjust to things that happen. that require our adjustments for revenues and expenses. And those amendments are in that 26th budget amendment within that resolution. And then also, you have the proposed CRH budget that we prepare in accordance with the Florida statute, section 163.387, which requires that we follow and use the outlined redevelopment plan. OK.

Thank you, Ms. Gibson. So this is the same process we just went through for the general fund for the CRA because it's separate. Okay. Well, motion to approve 26-135. Second. We have a motion to approve and a second. Ms. Fazzoni, please call roll.

Council Member Coburn? Yes. Councilman Register? Yes, ma'am. Vice Mayor Jarman? Yes, ma'am. Councilman Kaut?

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Tettemer?

Yes, ma'am. Okay, regular agenda item number five. All right, regular agenda item number five. Resolution 26-157. Mr. Davis.

A resolution of the City of Panama City Beach, Florida approving a grant agreement with the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management for the creation of a watershed master plan for the city in the amount of $300,000, designating the city's grants contract administrator as the city's authorized representative and authorizing a budget amendment to reflect the receipt of these funds.

Okay, any public comment for resolution 26157? Any public comment? Seeing none, Mr. Adair, is this you? Yes, sir. All right, Mr. Adair, please help us understand this item.

John at Air Public Works. If you recall, Resolution 2619, back in October 23rd of 2025, this council approved $473,000 for the preparation of the city's stormwater master plan. We still continue to search for funding to, you know, for that project, and we are able to secure grant funding to help recover some of that cost. So that's what's before you today is $300,000 to go towards that project.

Okay. So this is to accept money from the, where is the grant from?

HMGP grant from FDEM. Okay. All right. Any questions?

Love grants. All right. Thank you, Mr. Adair. Yes, sir. Motion approved. Second. Any discussion from the council? No, sorry. No, no, no. I apologize. No, no, no, no. We can do discussion after a motion and a second. I was just following the rules. Yeah, I'm excited to accept this money, too. Ms. Pizzoni, please call the roll.

Councilmember Coburn? Yes. Councilman Register?

Yes, ma'am.

Vice Mayor German?

Yes, ma'am.

Councilman Castro?

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Tedmer?

Yes, ma'am. We now move on to regular agenda item number six, resolution 26158. Mr. Davis.

A resolution of the City of Panama City Beach, Florida, approving a grant agreement with the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Program, five ballistic shields for the police department in the amount of $11,750, designating the city's grants contract administrator as the city's authorized representative, and authorizing a budget amendment to reflect the receipt and appropriation of these funds. OK. Any public comment on this item?

Any public comment? Seeing none, Chief Telementes, help us understand this item.

Mayor Galso, a while ago now we applied for a grant to the Department of Justice for five ballistic shields. These ballistic shields are utilized for tactical operations, patrol operations, and just another piece of equipment to help keep our guys safe out there on the street. We were notified a couple weeks back that we were approved, so this will be at no cost to the city. This is completely grant funded and a vital piece of equipment for officer safety.

Okay, great. Chief, thank you and everyone that worked so hard at the police department in procuring these grants.

Yes, sir. Absolutely.

Thank you.

We've got to protect our officers, protect our citizens. Thank you, Chief. Thank you. Motion to approve. Second.

Second.

We have a motion to approve and a second. Is there any discussion on this item, accepting the grant? Seeing none, Ms. Fazzoni.

Council Member Coburn. Yes. Councilman Register.

Yes, ma'am.

Vice Mayor German.

Yes, ma'am.

Councilman Castro.

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Tettemer.

Yes, ma'am. We now move on to the City Manager Report. Mr. Whitman? No report. We now move on to City Attorney Report. No report. No report. We now move on to Council Comments. Council Member Coburn, you want to start?

Nothing today, thank you.

Okay.

One thing that just hit me with the Laguna Beach thing or whatever, is just trying to put all that in a consolidated format for these residents to be able to see maybe a flyer or something that the city can put together. I don't know if that's doable or we already plan to do that, but just something where it makes it simple and easy steps so we can get translated to them. Because I know we talked, we had a lot of robust discussion today, and we came up with this and we all kind of get it, but it took a PhD up here to be able to make the motion to approve it. So... I'd just like to see the city be able to put something together that way. I know your team can do that.

We'll get Aaron and Mark to put something together, and they can present it at one of their meetings. Thank you so much. Okay.

Great suggestion. Councilman Register. Councilman Castro. Nothing for me, Mayor. Vice Mayor. Nothing for me. Everyone's back to school. I hope everyone's getting settled, enjoying it, and also enjoy your Labor Day. On the 7th, our next City Council meeting is Thursday, September 10th, 5 p.m. here at City Hall. Have a blessed day. This meeting is adjourned.