City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, good morning, good morning. We are going to call this meeting to order. Madam Clerk, if you'll start us off with a roll call, please.

Mr. Engelke. Here. Mrs. Frank. Here. Mr. Howard.

Here.

Mr. Smith. Here. Mr. Weed.

Here.

Vice Mayor Bolt.

Here.

Mayor Pechota.

Here. All right, we will stand for the invocation, and today's pledge will be led by Captain Lewis White of the Venice Police Department.

Our Father, we pray for this session of the Venice City Council. Bless these men and women as they lead our city into a bright tomorrow. I ask in their name, Amen.

We 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.

Got a couple fun proclamations this morning. We'll start off with 26-0614. If I can get the children's first folks to meet me up front and we'll get the vice mayor to come down with me.

Thank you.

What are we celebrating, your 30th anniversary? Oh, boy. What does it say? You're only 29. Whereas Children First was founded in 1961 in Sarasota County and has spent 65 years strengthening children and families by improving the quality of their lives through a comprehensive approach to development, education, health, and well-being. And whereas Children First serves as the exclusive head start and early head start provider for Sarasota County, delivering high quality early childhood education healthcare, nutrition, and family strengthening services to children from birth to five and their families, and is ranked in the top 1% of more than 1,600 Head Start programs nationwide. And whereas, Children First continues to be recognized for excellence and impact, including being named a five-time National Head Start Association Program of Excellence and a 2026 Top Workplace USA by USA Today, reflecting its enduring commitment to both the community it serves and the dedicated professionals who carry out its mission. Now, therefore, I, Nick Peixoto, Mayor of the City of Venice, on behalf of the Venice City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as the 65th anniversary of Children First and encourage all residents, to recognize and celebrate the organization's lasting impact on children, families, and the future of our community. We tried to get a balloon drop for your 30th, but it didn't work out. Too expensive. Confetti candle? Didn't do it. Here you go. Tell us some things about you and your wonderful program.

So thank you very much, Mayor. Thank you to the council. First to pitch, anybody who loves children, that's everybody. 800 Gulf Coast Boulevard. We love volunteers. Come over and visit us and you'll be able to see what we do every day and what we do every day is to serve families that are that are they're vulnerable economically vulnerable children who are at risk and we help kids be ready for kindergarten and we allow for their families to be actively engaged in work and school and bettering their circumstances and in a nutshell we do good stuff every day thank you mayor

And we appreciate you guys so much, the partnership, you know, and everything that you do for our community. You guys have been longtime advocates and partners and we're very appreciative of you. So thank you so much and congratulations on your 30th at 29 years old. Thank you. Okay, and for the next one we'll bring down City Manager Clinch and Assistant City Manager Omenheiser and then the Vice Mayor. Hold that and have the two of them on either side of you. Swarm the Vice Mayor maybe, one on either side. There you go.

Swarm.

You guys can each put a hand on it, you know. Whereas small cities and towns under 50,000 population are the home to millions of Americans and constitute the vast majority of municipalities across the United States. And whereas small cities and towns strive to strengthen their communities through the provision of services and programs to improve the quality of life for all citizens. And whereas the federal government is an essential partner in the success of small cities and towns and must be encouraged to continue to support programs and legislation that strengthen small communities. And whereas state governments are partners in the success of small cities and towns and must be encouraged to continue to support key programs and legislation that strengthen communities. And whereas organizations, businesses, and citizens are partners in the success of small cities and towns and must be encouraged to continue to grow their efforts to make small cities and communities a viable choice for people to live in. And whereas during these challenging economic times, the need for a renewed intergovernmental partnership to support essential public services is more important than ever to ensure the safety and the growth of small town America. And whereas the National League of Cities President and the Small Cities Council of the National League of Cities have declared June 2026 as Small Cities Month. Now, therefore, I, Nick Peixoto, Mayor of the City of Venice, on behalf of the Venice City Council, do hereby proclaim June 2026 the Small Cities Month and encourage the President, Congress, state governments, organizations, businesses, and all citizens to recognize this event and to work together this month and throughout the year to invest in small cities and towns to better the lives of all citizens.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you to our residents who came out in droves today for Small Cities Month. I do appreciate you being here. All three of you, yes. We look forward to this every year, but I think it has some special significance this year as we celebrate our 100th anniversary of the founding of our small city, the City of Venice. It's neat to reflect back and think 100 years ago this year, our city founders were up in Tallahassee advocating and lobbying for the creation of this organization, the organization we all get to enjoy and serve today. It is really incredible. And thanks to the Chamber, we have some of that history now, and Kathy will tell you it was really three reasons why they formed this organization. It was to provide economic development and vitality for this developing, newly developing area. It was to provide exceptional services in a way that was not being done anywhere around this area. And finally, and most importantly, it was to give a voice to the people of this community, an accessible, transparent, responsive government that they could interact with regularly. So it's pretty cool to stand here 100 years later and recognize those three values are just as important, if not more, today. So we are here to make those values first and foremost as we step into the next 100 years. And it doesn't happen on its own. I want to thank the Florida League of Cities, the National League of Cities, who are constantly advocating for our small cities. There's a lot of challenges and pressures right now, much of which are out of our control. But we persevere by sticking to those tenets that have served us so well over the last hundred years. I also want to thank our leadership, the City Council, that has led us over the hundred years in a consistent and strong leadership way. I also want to thank our staff. So 400 women and men who every day are out there making sure we deliver exceptional services. That is why we perform so well and will continue to. So thank you all for your support and bringing some awareness to our small city. And we look forward to the next 100 years. Thank you.

No comments. All right, we'll come back at 9 15. Okay, we are back. We are back and we are at audience participation. Madam Clerk, do we have anybody signed up to speak?

No, we don't.

Okay, then we will move on to consent. All matters listed under the consent section are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless an item is removed by a council member. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired by a council member, the item or items will be considered and voted upon at the end of the consent section. With that, is there anything that anybody would like to pull? Seeing none, I will entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor.

Mr. Vice Mayor.

I move to approve items on the consent section.

Seconded by Mr. Howard, and all in favor say aye. Aye. Aye, anyone opposed? Passes unanimously. Okay, we're on to public hearings, easements 26-0619. I'll open the public hearing. Madam Clerk, do you have any written communication?

No, I don't.

Okay. And do you have anybody signed up to speak?

No.

Can you go ahead and read this for me by title?

Sure. Consider dedication of easement to Florida Power and Light, concerning property at 120 and 610 Airport Avenue West, to provide access for the relocation of electrical services associated with Agape Flights hangar construction project.

All right, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing. And do I have a motion?

Mr. Mayor.

Mr. Engelke.

I move to approve item number 260619. Second.

Seconded by Vice Mayor Bolt. Any council discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you'll make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display. Passes unanimously. On to 26-0620. Public hearing is now open. Madam Clerk, when you're ready, if you can read this by title only, please.

Consider dedication of easement to Florida Power and Light concerning property at 1545 East Venice Avenue to provide access for the installation of electrical services for the new Fire Station 2 project.

And have we received any written communication?

No.

Anybody signed up to speak?

No.

Public hearing is now closed. I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor.

Mr. Vice Mayor.

I move to approve item number 26-0620. Second.

Seconded by Mr. Howard. Any council discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you'll make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. Passes unanimously. We are now on 226-0621. Public hearing is now open. And Madam Clerk, when you are ready, you can go ahead and read this by title only, please.

Consider dedication of easement to Florida Power and Light concerning property at 1575 East Venice Avenue to provide access for installation of electrical services for the new Fire Station 2 project.

And do we have any written communication?

No.

Anyone signed up to speak?

No.

Public hearing is now closed. I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor?

Mr. Engelke?

I move to approve item number 260621. Second.

Seconded by Vice Mayor Bolt. Any council discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, when you are ready, if you can make us ready for an electronic vote, council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. Pass is unanimous. All right. We are now at ordinances first reading, and this is ordinance number 2026-16. Public hearing is now open.

and madam clerk when you're ready you can read the ordinance by title only please an ordinance of the city of venice florida amending the code of ordinances chapter 87 land development code by amending sections 1.7.4 1.8.3 1.9.4 and 1.12.33 decision criteria in section 1.10.1 preliminary plat quasi-judicial application pursuant to text amendment petition number 26-08AM by amending the decision criteria for several quasi-judicial application types, providing for appeal of all ordinances in conflict herewith, providing for severability, and providing an effective date.

And do we have any written communication?

No.

Okay. And do we have a staff presentation? If you have any questions many questions from the Council.

Questions I'd like a presentation and some questions okay.

Roger Clark our planning director will be up.

Good morning, Mister Clark and welcome.

Thank you mayor for the record planning zoning director Roger Clark. In getting together with the city attorney and looking at some of our review criteria, which we haven't looked at probably in years for different quasi judicial application, we determined that there was a need to make them a little clearer. A LITTLE MORE POSITIVE TO APPLY, A LITTLE MORE APPLICABLE. SO WE MADE SOME REVISIONS TO THEM. IT'S BASICALLY ONLY FOR ZONING MAP AMENDMENTS, CONDITIONAL USES, SITE DEVELOPMENT PLANS, PRELIMINARY PLATS, AND HEIGHT EXCEPTIONS. The purpose was to really make them more specific where possible, get them more aligned with the code, make them clearer. We did not create any new categories of evaluation for applicants, so it wouldn't put any increased burden on them. We did improve the sentence structure, I believe, and changed it to make it a little more consistent. We did take this before planning commission. It was recommended for approval 6-0 with a few minor modifications. That we did make between Planning Commission and City Council based on Planning Commission's discussion those changes including some wording adjustments adjustments to make the review criteria consistent across all of the Applications we did remove some wording regarding a swift mud because that's really their own process. We don't have a We obviously have control of our own regulations. We wanted to make the environmental criteria more accurate. We do have a couple different ways to examine environmental issues. We are focused on just one of those, so we made it a little more general. And we moved some items around from general zoning map amendments to planned unit development amendments to make that a little bit clearer. As you know, we worked on that. over the past couple years to allow some amendments to plan unit districts. So I can bring up the document hopefully if my technology works. All right, hopefully you can all see that on your screen. Basically the black strikethrough underline is changes that we made originally. The red ones are something that came out of the planning commission meeting. Green just means we didn't eliminate it, we just moved it to another location. So this first one is for zoning map amendments. And you can see some of the wording rather than starting the sentences with consistency or conflicts, we indicated whether the amendment is consistent. with the comprehensive plan whether the amendment conflicts so it makes it a little more applicable for the review the reviewer to apply these criteria obviously that can be either planning commission or city council as well and you can see some of these things that we we did eliminate and move to a better location This is the standard zoning map amendment, and you see down here at the bottom, we get to plan district situation. I did notice one, looks like a typo here, this word amendment right here that I'm kind of pointing at. I think that should say the property and not the amendment, so we'll make sure that we get that corrected. You can see here, just for an example, in number seven here where we identified the wildlife and habitat protection, That document is required in certain acreages, and then we have another one that's also required in certain acreages. So we wanted to make it just generic. If we go down through the next one, I'll just go through quickly, is conditional use, which typically is a planning commission. and there's only three criteria and we just kind of made those consistent. You'll see that the compatibility standards are consistent across all the documents and all the different applications. And then the next one is, A site and development plan, which is another one that has decision authority by planning commission, could obviously come to you on Peel. We did want to relate to the intents and strategies a little more specifically of the comprehensive plan and not just the comprehensive plan in general. You can see here where we took out swift mud reference and then the environmental assessment made that consistent across all of the different applications. The next one is preliminary plat and the changes just kind of roll consistently across each of the applications. uh like i said we really didn't change anything we just kind of made them clearer and finally the last one uh for height exceptions uh once again intention strategies those were pretty recent so those those criteria were in pretty good shape but we did make a few changes so that'll make it a little clearer for planning commission and obviously if it a little clearer for city council to apply the criteria when necessary so if there's any questions i'll be happy to try and answer them for you

Any questions for Mr. Clark? Mr. Smith, we'll start with you.

Thank you, Mayor. Well, first, thank you, Mr. Clark, for all the work that went into this. I appreciate the work of the staff. I tried to read and study what changes are made, and it's quite a document to get through in that form with the green and red and black and everything. I do think they're important criteria when we're talking height exceptions and plats and all of that. So I don't think we should diminish the importance of this. I started to actually suggest some edits and I thought you can't edit by committee. I won't even attempt to word edit it. But I did have this one overwhelming thought for myself, and I wanted to ask you about it. You said that no new categories have been added that would require more of the applicant. And I took that to be a direct reference to Senate Bill 180 and the restrictions we might have on anything that might tighten this up in that way.

Is that fair? It seems like everything we do nowadays, kind of that pops into our head immediately to make sure we're not in violation of it.

Now, and please don't be defensive about this, but doesn't that hint that This not being the time to do that. I mean, we've got one hand tied behind our back. We can change it, but only in one direction. And it seems to me we shouldn't be making any changes in here until we're free to make all the changes we want to make. Has some thought gone into that?

Understood, but I think I can maybe defer to the city attorney a little bit on this because this was kind of a cooperative thing between the city attorney and planning staff to kind of clarify these criteria and make them easier to apply and actually make them criteria. I'll kind of defer to Kelly on that.

Madam Attorney?

Yes, thank you. So that that is the logic behind it. We're not trying to there come a time where we're able to go back through and maybe make substantive changes. But this was an effort to make the wording more objective and applicable. I've noticed, especially when we had circumstances of denials, the board planning commission primarily because that's who sees a lot of these struggling a little bit with what exactly does this mean? What is being asked? I mean, it's supposed to be an objective standard when you're operating the quasi judicial standpoint. So that was this effort was just transforming the language without changing the intent really to make it more black and white. Are you meeting this standard or are you not meeting the standard versus unfettered discretion where we just sort of think about what we might find to be problematic or acceptable?

And then if I could, just one other question. You mentioned swift mud. And we've been struggling with our relationship reliance on the water management district on all of these issues. And I know the mayor is trying to clarify some of that up on Curry Lane. And help me understand what we've done here. We've taken out the references.

to to swift mud or um we took out the reference to these in these criteria because really what you're looking at when you apply these criteria is it consistent with the comprehensive plan and the land development regulations the land development regulations have the swift mud requirements obviously that these applicants have to get their swift mud permit actually that comes through the review process and if they can't get that permit then they have a significant problem but really what Planning Commissioner City Council would be looking at would be looking at our comprehensive plan and our land development regulations so we don't really have any control over the swift mud and their review of an application but we make sure that that process definitely occurs so we're not applying their standards we're applying our own standards

But does that mean we can't consider what what they have said in their review when you remove it. I mean it's no longer part of our consideration. I mean they might have nuanced findings that it seemed to me we might want to consider in giving an approval.

Well, in actuality, the swift mud situation really gets resolution through the construction plan process. They have to have applied for their swift mud permit prior to site development plan and sometimes they actually get that permit, but sometimes that carries through to the construction plan. process which is an administrative process that comes after site and development plan so if there for some reason was an issue with swift mud's review or their uh potential issuance of a permit we would more than likely be back in in planning commission's realm well thank you sir for that clarification yes anything else for mr clark

Okay. Seeing no other questions, thank you, Mr. Clark, for your presentation. Madam Clerk, do you have anybody signed up to speak?

No.

All right. Public hearing is now closed. I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Vice Mayor. I move that Ordinance Number 2026-16 be approved on first reading and scheduled for final reading. I will second.

Seconded by Mr. Engelke. Any council discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you'll make us ready for an electronic vote. Councilmembers, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. Passes unanimously. All right, we are on to ordinances final reading, ordinance number 2026-19. And Madam Clerk, after I open the public hearing, you can read this ordinance by title only. The public hearing is now open.

An ordinance of the City of Venice, Florida amending the Code of Ordinances, Chapter 70, Traffic and Vehicles by amending Section 70-10, School Zone and Speed Infractions, adopting findings authorizing the placement, installation, and operation of speed detection systems on specified roadways maintained as school zones for venice elementary that constitute a heightened risk providing for repeal of all ordinances in conflict here with providing for severability and providing an effective date and have we received any written communication since last hearing no okay and is there an update from staff no sir unless you have any new questions any questions from council

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, do you have anybody signed up to speak? No. Public hearing is now closed. I'll entertain a motion. Don't jump at it all at once.

Mr. Smith. I would move that ordinance number 2026-19 be approved and adopted. Second. Seconded by Ms. Frank.

Any council discussion? All right, seeing none, then we'll move to the electronic vote. Madam Clerk, if you'll make us ready for that vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display. Passes unanimously. Okay, we're on to resolutions, new business. Resolution number 2026-11. And Madam Clerk, when you're ready, if you can read this resolution by title only, please.

A resolution of the City Council of the City of Venice, Florida, acknowledging the creation of the Venice Police Charitable Foundation, Inc., finding that the organization serves a public purpose, transferring charitable donations held by the City on behalf of the Venice Police Department to the Venice Police Charitable Fund, Inc., and providing an effective date.

If I can get Police Chief Leisenring and the representative from the Foundation Board to come up. Looks like Mr. Sean Singheisen will be representing the board today.

All right. All right, thank you. My name is Chief Andy Lysenring, and with me is one of our board members, Sean Sengeisen. And I'll just mention, you know, just the dedication of the board members. I'll mention that right away. We called Sean about 20 minutes ago because Craig Markham was going to speak, and he couldn't. And so he said, dropped everything and came on down. So thank you for being here. So just kind of give you a little bit of history of our use of our funds and how we've kept them in the past. As you probably already know, but I'll mention for the public, A lot of the funds that you see up there are for our community programs, and many of them are listed. Also, we use funds for assisting employees in need. That could be various needs. It could be, for example, after a hurricane, an employee's home's damaged, they need help with emergency recovery, we can do things like that, or let's say emergency medical situation in their family and they need some immediate funds, we can help in those kind of scenarios. So traditionally in the past, and we've been doing these community programs for decades, but in the past the Fraternal Order of Police held those funds for us, but over time it became a little bit complicating and they had some difficulty obtaining a non-profit status and a lot of our donors wanted to donate to a non-profit organization. While we're waiting to develop a non-profit organization, we initially started by creating a fund within the city finance department. There are some tax benefits for people who donate to a city entity, but there are still some complications with using the funds at times. It's difficult to have a budget not knowing what needs there are going to be throughout the year. So we'd have to deal to some degree with budget amendments or even purchasing food. Typically under city rules, we don't purchase food using city funds. So we'd have to get permission for the city manager to run our programs. So it's a little cumbersome. So now I'm happy to say that we've developed a nonprofit organization called the Venice Police Charitable Foundation, and that foundation is filled with board members, with local professionals that will ensure that everything's ran properly. We do have a 501c3 status already obtained, so we're moving forward, and the next step is transfer those funds. that are currently with the city with the intent of using it, continue to use them for the committee programs and to assist officers and other employees that might be in need. So currently, as you can see there, we have a total of $68,504.57 that we're requesting that you transfer to the foundation. And I'll let Sean just kind of introduce himself and just tell you a little bit more about the mission and the board members that are on the foundation.

Morning Council, how are you doing today? Yes, I am Sean Singh Eisen, and I am one of the directors, board members of the Venice Police Charitable Foundation. And I'll just say before I read this, when I was asked a while back, I was very honored to do this because the police department has a very special place with me in the city of Venice, as the mayor and myself were back A long time ago, police explorers through the Venice Police Department. So we have some history. But as Chief said, I do want to give a lot of thanks to the Chief. And... Thank you, Chief Thorpe, for spearheading this. If it wasn't for them, Charlie has put so much work and effort into getting this organization up off the ground and the time that he has put in. Chief as well. Thank you for the dedication of that to serve the Venice Police Department and everyone that's in the building, not just the officers, but just in general, the help that is needed sometimes. Life's hard and every time someone can be there to help you out. I will read this quickly. In the best place for a charitable foundation mission statement the mission of this police department terrible foundation is to support this police department employees in times of personal need foster wellness and professional development and community partnerships. How the foundation achieves its mission the foundation. has many accomplishments. Its mission by funding outreach programs such as Shop with a Cop, Blue Santa, and the Shark's Tooth Fishing Tournament, supporting employees' wellness and morale, providing advanced training opportunities, and meeting unique technological and equipment needs that enhance service to our community. The board of directors. The foundation is governed by a volunteer board of directors composed of community leaders, such as myself, and law enforcement professionals committed to supporting the Venice Police Department and community it serves. So the board members that we have right now, Craig Markham, who is our president, Mary Ann Kurtz, our vice president, Steve Ledbetter is our secretary, Eric Robinson is our treasurer, yours truly, Sean Singh Eisen, director, Joe Raffinello, director, Tabitha Joyce, director and chief is on that board as well. Yeah, the Venice Police Department Charitable Foundation Incorporated serves a public purpose by raising funds for equipment, training, and community outreach that enables the Venice Police Department to better serve the city of Venice. By establishing the foundation, it is a independent nonprofit organization Charitable contributions can be managed with greater transparency and flexibility, providing community members and organizations with a clear and dedicated avenue to support public safety initiatives. The foundation strengthens the connection between the police department and the community it serves, ensuring that donations resources are directed towards meaningful programs that benefit both officers and residents. Thank you very much.

And with that, we'll ask you to adopt the ordinance and approve the transfer of the funds.

Any questions from council? Okay, seeing none, thank you both for the presentation and for your time this morning. Madam Clerk, do you have anybody signed up to speak?

No.

Okay, then I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Howard? I move resolution 2026-11 be approved and adopted. Seconded by Vice Mayor Bolt. Any council discussions? All right, seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you'll make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display. Passes unanimously. All right, we are on to presentations with action, and this is going to be 26-0622, Planning and Zoning Director Roger Clark on Neighborhood Workshops and Property Posting Standards. If Mr. Clark would come forward one last time.

Thank you, Mayor. Once again, for the record, Roger Clark, Planning and Zoning Director, and I have signed the speaker's card. In a previous city council meeting, we were directed to do some research on a couple of different items, one being public notice, or actually both regarding public notice. First was to research the various platforms for neighborhood workshops that we have in our code, and then the second was to consider our posting standards that we do on properties, our physical posting of signs, and give a little history and kind of give you an idea of what's currently happening It was back in 07 during the Envision Venice project that was the update of the comprehensive plan that there were some indications and concerns raised by the citizens that they wanted greater opportunities for dialogue between developers and stakeholders. There were also some concerns raised regarding some proposed projects at that time. Probably not much to anyone's surprise, but there was a Walmart proposed at that time. So there were some concerns about notification and these kind of items. As a result of that and kind of during that time frame, staff proactively actually developed the code for neighborhood workshops. And the neighborhood workshop was to notify adjacent property owners within a certain specified radius. And also we have a process where you can become a registered neighborhood association and you get notified on all proposed development in the city. These notices are to be mailed out at least 15 days prior to the hearing that is the subject of the notice. and they are required to hold this neighborhood workshop before they can even submit an application for a land use change to city staff they also have to do a legal advertisement in the newspaper as well so prior to 2020 all neighborhood workshops were held in person due to the covid obviously the covid pandemic ALL MEETINGS CHANGED AND WERE HELD VIRTUALLY AFTER THAT HAPPENING. WE DID INCORPORATE THIS OPPORTUNITY INTO THE LDR'S THAT WERE ADOPTED IN 2022 AND THEY NOW READ THAT WORKSHOPS ARE ALLOWED TO BE CONDUCTED IN PERSON VIRTUALLY OR IN A HYBRID FORMAT. Uh, since 2020 out of 122 neighborhood workshops, 37 have provided an in person component. So obviously the flexibility of the virtual workshop, uh, has been the popular way to do these workshops. We did survey the other jurisdictions. Sarasota County is currently evaluating this issue and it appears that more than likely they're going to move into an in-person format to be required. The town of Longboat Key does require a neighborhood workshop, however, only for one application type and that it be held in person. City of Northport requires neighborhood workshops to be conducted in person, but also does allow for a hybrid format to have a virtual component. Finally, City of Sarasota does not explicitly require in-person workshops, but it's kind of implied in their language that indicates location of the workshop. So based on this information and kind of looking around at other ways that other agencies are doing it, and also Councilman Smith considering our good friend Senate Bill 180, Staff at this point would recommend a hybrid type of workshop requirement where you would have both a required in-person component and a virtual component. Obviously some of these neighborhood workshops require the attendance of professionals that may not be located locally, may actually be in another state. So if we had to make them fly in for these presentations, that could be considered more burdensome. So I think considering that and the position we're in, I think that maybe the hybrid format would be the way to go. But I'm here to answer any questions that you might have.

Any questions from council? All right, we'll start with Mr. Smith.

Thank you. Just one, did we also look at expanding the radius for the number of people, neighbors, who would be informed through the mail.

We did look at that as well. I know there was some discussion that that's what Sarasota County was talking about. However, they were not actually talking about their radius they were talking about the where the workshops could be held and within a certain mileage distance so they weren't considering that but it was interesting to look at the other agencies as well to see what their requirements are as you know or you probably know our requirement is we notify everyone within 250 feet of the subject property measuring from the outside of the property or if there's an adjacent roadway right-of-way water body we go to the middle of that and measure. So looking at other jurisdictions, Sarasota County has two different measurements. The lowest one is 750 feet and then their second one is 1500 feet if it's for rural areas. City of Sarasota is 500 feet. Northport has a couple of different notifications. Their base one is 1200 feet. And then they also have a secondary for rezonings and special exceptions that they require 1,320 feet. Not exactly sure what that additional 120 feet does. And Longboat Key is 500 feet. So obviously we are the smallest one. except for really Longboat Key and City of Sarasota, obviously Northport and the county are much larger areas and would have more rural areas, so I would understand some of the increased distances. But we've been doing 250 feet, and I looked back since we've had a zoning code. So with that, I'll entertain any questions. Mr. Weed?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I noticed also that you don't mention the change in the signage notification. Could you kind of give us a background on that and what our neighbors are doing with that incomparable fashion.

Yep, I was going to get to that next. I can go ahead and address that at this point, if you would like. Okay. Yeah, there was also direction regarding the posting of signs that we do, and we do post the signs, and we always have. We were directed to evaluate the requirements that we have with regard to Sarasota County and what their requirements are. So we did look at that and we did develop a revised notice. I can put it on the overhead here. Okay, and this is, we looked at multiple local postings that are permitted. But we have gone to the same size as the county. It's a three foot wide by two foot high sign that we would install. This is a lot less text that we had on our smaller postings. So it's clear, I think easier to read. This is actually the sentence that's in the code. We had to pretty much stick with that, and we will be either writing in or using some type of a piece of equipment, label maker, something to fill in the blanks. We also are providing a QR code, so if somebody reads that with their phone, it'll take them right to the agenda and right to the agenda item. uh this is a good generic sign it doesn't we can order a lot of these uh with using this template and we will we will still be posting these signs we will be charging the applicants for the signs and we have gone out and got some estimates we're probably looking for our first order maybe 100 150 in the two to three thousand dollar range for these signs they are the corrugated plastic which is tends to be a little more expensive than than other things and the size is going to require a couple different posts to put them on. So this is kind of what we've gone with to make it easy. Obviously in the future, considering the fact that maybe we could require the applicant to do this, but at this time, once again, Mr. Smith, reference set up by 180 could be considered burdensome or more burdensome. So we will still be posting these signs.

Mr. Engelke?

Thank you. Overall, I'm in favor of this. So I have like three different questions here, or at least two. So in terms of the notification and the hearings, we're removing virtual. We're keeping hybrid and certainly hybrid includes in-person. So we're just really removing the virtual meetings.

No, I don't think we're removing. I think what we're gonna require is a hybrid fashion where you have both required in-person component and a virtual component.

Same meeting?

Yes. Okay. Yes.

What we're doing is eliminating the virtual option.

Virtual only, yes.

Okay, good. And then I do understand, I'm very concerned about SB 180, but I also like the idea of increasing our footage from 250 to something maybe a little bit more similar to some of our peer groups. I take that it could be a hardship or an additional burden. Is that true? You kind of referenced it. I'm kind of agreeing with you. I want to be on record of saying, hey, I think we need to do a little bit more than 250, maybe be closer to some of our peers. But if we can't do it, maybe that's one of these things we look at once 180 is sunsetted.

Well obviously we have a list of things to look at when one eighty is done or when one hopefully if it goes away. But right now it's the vagueness of the the the act is kind of difficult to deal with so whenever something like this comes up I certainly consult with the city attorney to see what her thoughts are on it. I think. I don't know whether that would be considered more burdensome. Obviously, it does cost more. It is a larger list to mail to. Whether that's gonna be considered more burdensome or not, I really don't know.

Okay, so we'll just table that part until SB 180 is changed or done away with.

Okay, it's up to council. Mr. Smith?

I hate to table it. Is there another possibility such as the city will pick up the cost of the additional 500 feet notifying people until such time as there is no Senate bill 180 interference. And at that time we could add it to them. I just hate when we're focused on this. We've done the great research that you've done. of all of our pure cities and counties municipalities that that we shouldn't move now to to start this process and we have to absorb a small cost of a few additional mailings while that's not allowed to be any more burdensome at least we could get it. So madam attorney.

yes uh mr smith that's you know correct the city could choose to take on anything that's an additional cost but just to note that any change you know it's almost in the eye of the beholder and the end up being what the bottom line is whether something is more burdensome it's just the degree of risk the city wants to take and moving forward maybe no one comes forward and says it is or determines that it is and so that's also something to keep in mind that you it's not saying you can't but it is saying uh there is a provision in that senate bill 180 that if someone does believe a change is um more burdensome that they would have to notify the city and at that point you could take it under consideration again if you if you make a change so just another option if i can mayor go ahead mr smith um

I do want to note that people have mentioned to this council when they've been in front of us that they weren't notified and they were unhappy about it and that's that's happened in my time on the council so I do think it's something we should act on and I would note that the county has done with the city attorney just referenced move forward even in the face of Senate bill 180 and just said no and we're just going to do it and somebody challenges it will deal with it then So I think we should move forward, and depending on our level of boldness, either just put it into effect until challenged or put it into effect where we absorb the cost but we get the job done. That's what I would hope this council might do. Thank you, Mayor.

Mr. City Attorney, or Mr. City Manager? Thank you, Mayor. Your both names are up there right now.

Just wanted to clarify. I just want to clarify on the cost proposal that there really, you could say there's a cost associated with all three of these provisions. So right now with the posting, we're planning to pass that cost along, which is currently how it's allowable in our code. There could be additional costs associated with a hybrid meeting versus only virtual. And then of course the mailer. So I just want to make sure we're clear on the cost side of things. It has implications for all three of these decisions.

But in clarity, we could absorb the cost, which would not be more burdensome on the applicant, correct?

I think the city attorney is suggesting we could do either. We could absorb the cost or we could move forward with it as proposed.

will be one side step to that would be for the workshops because it's not just a cost, that's a physical presence. So having it as a hybrid, like Mr. Clark said, you could have people who are out of the area associated with the applicant participate virtually but i mean there will be potentially i don't know some cost with hosting a in-person thing but we're not necessarily i don't know how we would factor that into the city covering that so one of those things you almost have to wait and see if you move forward with this whether it's just absorbed and everyone carries on or someone wants to make an issue out of it is it fair to say though that since we offer community space at a lot of our buildings that

There's no additional burden to the individual like they're not paying for the city space. So that's there's no additional burden for that correct.

Presuming that's available and meets the other requirements and yes, I guess that would not be an additional monetary burden as far as the actual hosting of it.

OK. Mr. City Manager, you're done. OK. And then Mr. Inglekey.

And thanks. So it looks like we're really looking at three different options or three different proposals. One would be the virtual meeting elimination hybrid and or in person to the notification of beyond 250 feet and three, the signs. So will that go down as one motion or three motions or how would we work that?

Well, just to be clear, this is just moving it forward. We'd have to come back with an ordinance. So this is just step one. It'll have to go through Planning Commission. So whether you bundle them together or do them separately, it's really...

doesn't matter so we're really not making a motion here we're just saying hey let's just advance a concept with these three items you are you are going to make a motion and it's going to be to direct staff to do something and then they'll come back with the ordinance for us to approve ordinances correct madam attorney it might be one ordinance okay i got it thanks any other questions or comments mr bolt

I've been on this council quite a while. I hate to admit that, but I don't remember that many people coming in here complaining about our 250 foot situation. Have you gotten a lot of complaints?

No, we have not, to be honest with you, we have not gotten a lot of complaints on that. Sometimes we get a complaint that somebody wasn't notified, we find out, we look at our list, they were notified. Sometimes the postcard was accepted by maybe somebody else. The other situations are is that we rely on the county property appraiser's list. Sometimes it's not the correct address on their information so it doesn't get to them. Usually it's some type of a snag in the system, not necessarily that it was the distance that, you know, why don't you do a bigger distance so we're notified. like I said we've done 250 feet since at least 1978 and I believe even before that so you know that's where this has been discussed in the past multiple times we've always landed in that spot so it certainly is up to City Council for that situation what you would want to do and just a matter I was trying to write down what the neighboring communities the next

Number up was Longboat Key at 300?

500.

Oh, 500. So you've got a couple of them at 500 feet.

Yeah.

Which seems a little awkward to me in our little city, but all right, thank you.

I would also say, if I could, the accounting might get a little squirrely if we were going to absorb some of the costs for the neighborhood workshop. The signage is very simple because we're going to buy a bunch of them. We're going to divide by whatever we buy, and however many signs this project gets, it's going to be very simple to apply that cost. Neighborhood workshop, that's going to be a little different. Did they have to pay for the location? Did they not have to pay? How much is the location? It's going to be a little different. It would be a little squirrely on that one.

Madam attorney.

Just one clarification. The change for the sign size does not require a code modification. So that is just being implemented to your request. The other two, distance of notification and workshop would require a code change.

Any other questions? Mr. Engelke.

Regarding the workshops. where we you know we already give the option for hybrid and in person. So I think the mayor mentioned hey the city has a whole bunch of facilities that are available for use for meetings like public meetings. So really there's not a whole lot to we're not changing a whole whole lot there other than eliminating the true virtual meetings with a no-cost option if they choose to do something in space available to city

many of the many of the neighborhood workshops have been art in our facilities or many times they're they may be in a nearby clubhouse or something like that so i don't i'm not positive but i i doubt that there's that much of an expense involved in those neighborhood workshops sometimes they happen on site uh uh depending on the you know what the location is like Obviously, a triple diamond, you could have one right out there right in front of the parcel that's going to be developed. Sometimes it's as simple as that. Okay.

Nothing else? Thank you, Mr. Clark, for your presentation. Thank you. Madam Clerk, do you have anybody signed up to speak?

No.

Okay. Then at this point, I will entertain a very well-crafted motion or motions.

Mr. Mayor.

Ms. Frank.

All right, I motion to both approve staff's recommendation for the new proposed standards regarding the physical posting on property for pending public hearings, and for neighborhood workshops to require a hybrid option that includes both the in-person and online component.

Madam Attorney, are you content with that motion?

Yes.

Okay, all right, seconded by Vice Mayor Bolt. Any council discussion? Ms. Frank?

Yes, I just wanted to thank Mr. Clark for taking the time and energy to gather all this information, do the research. It was not an easy task from my vantage point, but I think it's critical. It's important to me that as a local government we are as transparent possible and that we have as much public involvement as possible so that was what really drove me to put both of these potential changes on our radar and on the agenda because that's my end goal so thank you again for compiling the research and helping us improve our our plan of attack here thank you mr smith well thank you i'm happy with uh

I'm happy with the two provisions that are in this motion, but I'm disappointed that we're not also including an extension of the radius. And the explanation of where we are, showing that we're not in line with anyone, that we have the tightest and least expansive area that we're notifying people. It's not where I want to be. I want to be where we are giving as much notice and as much transparency as we can. And 250 feet is basically your next door neighbor on each side. I recall people here in front of this council this year, could have been at the end of last year, on a project on the south end of the island who were very upset that they were not notified and they were like two streets up. And it was like, this is gonna change the whole neighborhood and we didn't get any notification and they didn't get invited to the workshop and they learned late of the project. And it just seems like if we do wanna be transparent and we do want the community involved and we do want community input, then we should go to a, a standard that others use, and the Vice Mayor pointed out the smallest radius anyone else uses is double ours, but some of them are six times and eight times what our area is, and I don't understand why we don't want to tell people that this is happening. I'm glad for a bigger sign, and I'm glad for an in-person meeting, but I just think we need to add to the distance that we're notifying people, that that's a courtesy, that why should we be the one city that doesn't tell anybody unless you live right next door? Thank you.

Mr. Engelke.

I have to agree with Mr. Smith. 250 is maybe a lot and a half away. I'm not sure procedurally I'm okay with the motion that's on the floor. um or the suggested motion on the floor um if i don't know can we add This is a review of the ordinances. Can we add the possibility of increasing the distance from 250 to 500? Part of the motion, or do we do a second motion? I don't want to dilute or lose focus on the motion that's on the floor, but I do think if we can engage discussion a little bit more detail from 250 to 500, it might be a good idea. Again, I'm not sure what the procedure is, but that's my thought.

One suggestion I would have is that we go forward with the current motion to make a second motion because, and I can yield to the attorney on her opinion on this, but with the impact of changing the distances being a possible burdensome task, maybe that's something that has to be done after the sunset. But I would probably keep them in two separate motions unless, Madam Attorney, you have a different opinion.

Either way is fine as an amendment attempt to this motion or separate motions.

All right. So I'm going to go ahead and move forward with this motion, and then if you want to make a second one, I'll give you that opportunity to do that. Anyone else on this particular motion? Okay. So with that, Madam Clerk, if you'll make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can go ahead and indicate your vote. Madam Clerk, you can tally and display. Passes unanimously. And Mr. Engelke, if you have another motion.

I'm really not sure how to word it. um maybe very similar to the motion that we just passed but changed these uh specifics to uh amending it from 250 feet notification to 550 or 500 feet notifications i i don't know how to put that in words without writing it down and spending some time but that's matter of attorney maybe you can help me say something i think you the intent is there the mailed notification modification to the 500 foot standard i would second that there

Okay, seconded by Mr. Smith, and council discussion. Madam Clerk, I'm still on the voting member screen. All right, any discussion from council? Ms. Frank?

yeah i understand uh bringing us in line with some of our uh peer cities i do just wanna um so if that's the will of the board i i can go along with that i do want to clarify that 500 feet is 1.4 football fields so that's a pretty far distance in my mind and also you know outside of that current 250 foot um that we mail to now, likely with this larger sign, it's gonna be harder to miss if you're driving by, if you're walking by, if you're a neighbor. This increased signage, I do believe, will help in the transparency process. But I hear what my colleagues are saying, too, about the 500 feet.

And I was just going to say that I think my lot is 60 feet wide and my neighbor is probably 12 feet away from me or six feet to the lot line. So I think that bringing us in line with another standards of our local municipalities, I think is very appropriate. The more people that know, the more transparent that we are, the better off we are. So I'm in support generally. I don't think we have too much to worry about. I just want to be careful of Senate Bill 180, that's all. Anyone else? Okay. Then with that, Madam Clerk, if you'll make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, if you'll tally and display for me. Passes unanimously. Okay, on to Charter Officer Reports. We are at City Attorney.

I don't have anything today.

City Clerk.

Just a reminder that the June 9th meeting is canceled and your next meeting will be the budget workshops on June 18th and 19th if needed.

City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor. Good segue. I was going to just give a little bit of a framework background here for our budget discussion. So normally every year at this meeting in May, we bring forward a request for council to exceed the 3% charter limit on our proposed budget for the following fiscal year. You will notice we did not do that today. And that was intentional because as we've all talked about here for several months, it is going to be a lean year and it's going to be a cut year. So we are not planning to exceed that threshold. Therefore, the next discussion we're going to have on the budget will be at the budget workshops. So I wanted to just let you all know you will be receiving your draft budget books late next week. Compliments to our finance department who are working diligently right now on putting those together for you. Reminder that we had a couple of requests that came out of our extra budget workshop that we held in January. And one of those was that we are going to put together all of the budget detail sheets for you this year. So that, excuse me, that'll be electronic because it's a lot of information and we'll make sure you understand how to navigate that file. But that'll take you within each line item and see the actual details, each specific expenditure within those line items. So as you dive into that late next week, if you have any questions, please let me or Linda Sinney know and we'll help walk you through how to access those files. The second item is just a reminder that we have planned a second budget workshop for July 8th as needed, which again was a request from Council. This year, our approach is we are going to be extremely conservative. We are going to make reductions as necessary and with an effort to limit the impact to our level of service, and that's how we're approaching the budget. There will be a overall reduction in the general fund, There will be a reduction in the FTEs overall, not filled positions, but there are unfilled positions which we have held open, which we will be shedding from the budget next year. All of this you will see in your budget book, but there, you know, keep in mind with these cuts, we are also adding seven neighborhood parks, the Venice Community Center, and a fleet maintenance program for all of our light fleet units. So that will all still be incorporated in there. And that is our general philosophy for the budget this year. The other thing I wanted to mention is hurricane season kicks off on June 1st. So we just got done a thank you to Sarasota County. They did a two week operation readiness training up at their EOC. We had staff from virtually every city department that went up and participated in those trainings. Uh, and then we held our own training last week at our EOC, a tabletop exercise with all of our leadership teams and assistance. Very successful. So we are ready to go and hopefully not necessary, but our team is ready for action as needed. We'll also be having our Hurricane Expo this Friday and Saturday at the Venice Community Center. So lots happening as we do every year, but just wanted to kind of highlight that and let you know our team is ready to go. So that's it for me, Mayor. Thank you.

Council Member Frank.

Nothing today.

Council Member Smith.

Thank you mayor. 3 quick things if I can when I want to endorse a letter that we received from former councilmember Mitzi Fiedler urging that we look at acquiring 10 additional acres near the North Venice Park that's about to. She indicated in that that there might be some help from the county in acquiring the land I don't know we're exploring that or whether That land's even available, but I certainly embrace the idea of enhancing that park with conservation land, park land that might be available right next door. And I thought that's something we could possibly talk to the county about during our upcoming joint meeting with them, which I look forward to. And I wanted to request that as part of the agenda for that we we be sure to put on there a discussion of how to reopen Casperson Beach. I think that there's nothing more important for us to discuss with the County Commission right now then finding a way to reopen access to that beach. So I I'd request that that be part of it along with miss feelers suggestion. And then finally, I'd like to praise the citizen advisory panel that's been helping us with the airport master plan. I think that they have worked hard and they brought about conversations that were necessary for us and that are helpful as we go forward with an airport master plan that will affect us for years. And I think the role they're playing is really important in helping us establish better relations with the neighborhoods. And I believe that we have several of them represented in there. And I think the council should consider making the airport advisory panel a permanent advisory board to the council. I think it's that important a topic. I think we've seen that with the vast turnout at meetings of that panel, and I'd love to see us have a citizen panel, and it included VASI as well as others invested in the airport, but also several neighborhood organizations, and I think that we would benefit from having that group there to facilitate better conversations with the city and with the airport staff going forward. So I'd like us to consider that at some future point. Thank you.

Council Member Howard? Nothing to report, Mayor. Council Member Weed?

Nothing to report, Mayor.

Council Member Engelke?

have to concur with mr smith regarding ms fiedler's idea of investigating the acquisition of property up by northeast venice park if this is an opportunity for the city and we get somebody else to pay for it i'm okay with that so i don't know what the next step is but i do like that but the other thing i have to report on i had the privilege of attending the florida league of cities leadership about 120 folks were there from representing probably about 110 different cities out of 411. The basic idea was leadership with courtesy and conflict resolution. In other words, let's all be friends up here. We're out there, we're representing the city. Ways of saying, hey, let's disagree, but let's disagree respectfully. Very, very timely and informative. And secondly, I did confirm just through discussion with a lot of my peers that Venice is a pretty well-run city. So I'd like to kind of shout out again to our management team and also to council, that's a little self-serving, but to the management team that, hey, nice work. It's showing up. We're recognized in the state as being a well-run city. Congratulations. Let's keep up the good work.

I'll be your friend, Mr. Engelke. Vice Premier Bolt had to excuse himself, so I will move on with my report, and that is to start with, as City Manager Clinch alluded to, there's going to be a free two-day City of Venice Hurricane and Home Expo this week at the Venice Community Center in partnership with the Venice Gondolier. State, Sarasota County, municipal, nonprofit, and community groups will be tabling with the city this Friday, May 29th. Storm Prep Landscaping and Home Improvement and Recovery-related business vendors will be on hand with the Gondolier on Saturday, May 30th. Speakers on Friday will include Venice Fire Chief Frank Giddens, Police Lieutenant Matthew Sosnich, Community Rating System Coordinator Christina Rimes, Assistant Utilities Director Patience Anastasio, Building Official Derek Applegate, Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief Sandra Tapumene, and ABC 7 Chief Meteorologist Bob Harrigan. Raffles for weather radios and generators, giveaways, food available for purchase on both days, and this is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Make a weekend of it and be storm ready, especially if you are a new resident. A reminder that hurricane season starts June 1st and runs through November 30th. I believe I'll be there on Friday morning to proclaim hurricanes away. So come join me. We can do a little dance and maybe some weather, ask for some rain to take care of the drought. The 33rd Annual Downtown Venice Craft Festival will be held 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 20th, and Sunday, June 21st, presented by Venice Main Street. And for more information, you can go to visitvenicefl.org. Visitvenicefl.org for that one. And then finally, as the nation marks America's 250th anniversary, the City of Venice celebrates its centennial year. The community is invited to a full day of patriotic festivities on Saturday, July 4th. Activities include a morning parade at 9.30 a.m., community picnic at 11 a.m. at the Venice Community Center in partnership with Venice Main Street, and then evening fireworks display at 9 p.m. Apply to enter a unit in the parade at venicegov.com under things to do. The application deadline has been extended to Friday, June 5th, and it's earlier if capacity is reached, so just try to get those applications in as soon as possible. The parade slots are filling up fast, so get it in today if possible. For more information on the city's Independence Day celebrations, including the parade route map, visit venicegov.com. Other than that, that's pretty much all I have for today. So we will move on to our last audience participation. Madam Clerk, if you have anybody signed up to speak?

No.

Then we are adjourned.