City Council - Regular Meeting

Well, good evening, everybody. It's Monday, August 3rd, 2026, 5.30 p.m., and this is our regularly scheduled city council meeting. Let's not forget rules of decorum are in effect for councilors, staff, and participants. It's not what you say, it's how you say it, and that's a message for all of us, right? Good message in life. But please come up and speak your mind, and we look forward to hearing what you have to say. Jim, would you call the roll, please?

Counselor Henry. Here. Counselor Goeller. Here. Counselor Dome. Here. Vice Chair Champagne. Here. Counselor Schwan. Here. Counselor Gray. Here. Chair Palumbo. Here.

All counselors are present. Yes, in a moment we're going to do the invocation. It's going to be Reverend James Thielen of the Marco Lutheran Church. And if you could remain standing for that, after that I'll lead in the Pledge of Allegiance. If you're able, please stand. Reverend.

We pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the many blessings and gifts you give us for this beautiful city, Marco Island. We thank you for all who serve our council, those who keep our streets safe and secure. We thank you for our residents and for the bright light they shine into our community, and then for those who come to visit and to enjoy this little bit of paradise. May your hand of blessing be upon us all, and may we always give you thanks for all that you do for us. In your son's name we pray, amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance. All right, Councilors, we're moving on to Item 5, approval of the agenda. Entertain a motion for that?

So moved. Second.

Motion by Vice Chair Champagne, second by Councilor Schwan. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

And the opposed, say no. All right, the ayes have it. Item 6A, approval of the minutes. And we'll start with the City Council Special Code Audit Workshop for the fiscal year 2025-26, the minutes of July 13, 2026. Councilors, any change to those minutes? Take a motion, please.

Move to approve. I'll second.

Motion by Councilor Henry, second by Councilor Dome. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Anybody opposed, say no. All right, the ayes have it. Moving on to 6B, approval of the City Council amenities from our regular scheduled meeting of July 20th, 2026. Councilors, any change to those minutes?

Motion to approve.

Second. Motion by Councilor Schwan, second by Councilor Gray. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, say no. All right. Moving on to item 7, approval of consent agenda. There is one item. Light sign if you wish to remove this item. All right. Councillor Gray, we're going to remove 7A. And that will now become 16A. Alan, what do I do with no other items? Motion to approve as amended? There's nothing on there at this point. I'm sorry. All right, so move to 16A.

There's nothing further, so just move on.

Okay, thank you, Mr. City Attorney. Which moves us on to Item 8. But before we get to proclamations and presentations, if you're here signed up for public comment, which is going to be Item 9, that is at 6 o'clock or time certain, as close to it as we can get. And that's for items not on this agenda. If you're here to speak on the agenda, you'll speak under each item. There'll be an opportunity. And if you would so please, on the back of the auditorium, there's slips you can sign up for public speaking. It helps us keep things in order. For now, we're going to move on to item A, proclamations and presentations. Councilors, if you'd join me up here on the top of the dais, and I'll step down. Excited. We have two employee service awards tonight. The first one's going to be for Carlos Mendez, who is collections and distribution. He has a five-year service award. Diane, I believe you have a couple of kind words to say.

Yes, thank you. Carlos, would you please go to the front?

Come on up, Carlos. Thank you.

Today we are pleased to recognize Carlos Mendez for five years of dedicated service to the city. Carlos began his career in customer service as a meter reader before joining the water and sewer maintenance team as a maintenance mechanic trainee. Through his strong work ethic and eagerness to learn, he has developed extensive knowledge of both plant and lift station maintenance. His electrical and mechanical skills have positioned him for advancement to maintenance mechanic one. Congratulations on this milestone, Carlos, and thank you for your dedication and contributions to your team and the city of Marco Island.

Carlos, we greatly appreciate your service. What you do is imperative to the community. Without you, we don't have a community, so we appreciate that. Here on behalf of the city and the council, commemorative pin for you to wear proud, and of course, sorry, of course a five-year service award that you can hang proudly.

Did you wish to say anything? No.

Well then, let us thank you for all you do for us, and we greatly appreciate you, sir. All right, I see a bunch of firefighters here. Second award, Leonardo Rodriguez, fire department, 20 years. Miranoda, where are you? Come on up.

Come on up, Leo.

And if you have family, great. Friends, bring them up, please, please.

Today, we are proud to recognize Battalion Chief Rodriguez for 20 years of dedicated service to the City of Marco Island Fire Rescue. Chief Rodriguez is an eight-year United States Army veteran who now serves as B-Shift Commander. In addition to being an EMT, fire boat operator, hazardous materials technician, and rescue diver, he oversees our Marine program, ensuring the readiness of our fire boat and the training of all fire boat operators. We are honored to have his wife and his family, his children, with us today to celebrate him and his 20 years of dedicated service. Please join me in congratulating Chief Rodriguez on his remarkable milestone.

20 years, beautiful. Extensive resume. You're always there when we need you. We forget about you when we don't, but when we need you, the first ones we're calling and praising. Couple things from the city here. We do have a commemorative pin, which you could proudly wear. $100 Amazon gift card. Do you see the kids eyeing that down? So be careful on that one. They have their accounts set up already. They plug it right in. And, of course, something you could proudly hang on the wall for your 20-year service. Did you wish to say anything or have the family say anything?

I'd just like to say it'll be short and sweet. I couldn't have done this without my family, especially my wife. Couldn't do it. This is my wife, Nicole, my son, Andrew, his girlfriend, Bella, and my daughter, Ava.

Now, don't go anywhere yet, folks. Did we get pictures yet? Now, I would like to invite the whole crew here. Guys, come on up. Come on up for the picture, please. Look at how many people came out to support you. Don't be bashful. Come on, guys. Give them a little encouragement. Come on, team. Jump on both sides, and this is something that girls will be very proud of. Where's Chief? Chief, you're right over here next to your superstar. Please. All right, guys, I know I put you on the spot a little bit, but when I see so many people here to support one of their colleagues, it seems like a special moment. All right, counselors. That's it for proclamations and presentations.

Thank you, Kelsey. Sure.

All right. We're moving on to item 8B, which is a presentation of our third quarter financial report. Marcia, are you here? Come on up.

Good evening. I'm Marcia Sola. I'm the finance director for the city of Marco Island. I'm happy to be here. So you will have seen on the agenda a number of lovely documents with all kinds of numbers. So I'm hoping you spent hours and hours studying them.

Thank you.

But I'm going to give you a brief overview for now. So I'm happy to say that the city remains in a stable and disciplined financial position. Our major operating funds continue to track within expected ranges. We're seeing strong revenue realization in several key areas. The general fund, the revenues remain strong. We've collected $29.9 million year to date, which is all but 1% of the ad valorem we were expecting. And this keeps us within 12% of the full year budget. And we're only three quarters of the year through at this point, so that's not bad. As I mentioned, the ad valorem continues to anchor our stability at this point, and on the expense side, the general fund expenditures, which totals $22.4 million, which is 32% of the budget, so we're slightly below the expectations for this point, but departments are managing costs well and keeping spending aligned with service demands. Together, the general fund is running a healthy $7.5 million in surplus at this point. Interest revenue is a bit soft. The reason you're seeing it compared to budget being lower than expected because the interest rate dropped after the fiscal year 26 budget was developed, so we didn't know that was going to happen. It remains a risk, but strong performance in other areas is helping. Building services fund is reflecting soft permit activity with 40% of the revenue still to be collected, but expenses are also running below planned levels. Water and sewer fund, the revenue is strong, 32.1 million to date, 9% within 9% of the full year. Operating costs are also experiencing pressure due to higher electricity charges and increased sludge hauling at the north plant. Even with these increases, the overall expenditures remain within 31% of the budget, keeping the fund stable. So overall, we do expect to finish the year in a stable and confident position. The general fund is performing well with disciplined spending and reliable tax collections. The building services fund will require continued attention, and the water sewer fund is maintaining heavy revenue performance while managing cost pressures. Any comments or questions at this point?

Thank you. Counselors, light signs if you have any questions. I'm sure I'm going to see a few. I know I'll have one myself. Vice Chair Champaign, you're up first.

Good report, thank you. Very good performance up to this point in time. Have you had the opportunity to develop a year-end estimate? Not yet.

Not yet.

Not yet?

That is high on my priority. It's something I want to see. You know, I haven't been here that long, and so I have a big to-do list that's mostly mine, but I welcome input from others on that also. But, yeah, I definitely am used to maintaining a projection throughout the year so we can know the reality of what we're expecting.

Good. Thank you. No further questions.

Thank you. Counselor Gray. Well, he knocked off one of my questions. Comparative fiscal or the nine-month period, we don't show the last year comparative period. Is there the hope in future periods that we're going to show the nine-month that we could see how the prior year's comparative?

We can do that, yes. You will have noticed I did show the prior year through the whole year. There are different ways to look at it, so figuring out which way we really want to look at it without throwing too many numbers at you all on one page is an important thing to do.

Okay, I'll stop.

I just want to say in four years I've been sitting here, we've had some great financial reports, but this one suits my style. I think this is excellent. It has all the information attached to the agenda that we need, and then you hit the big broad strokes right here. I heard strong, strong, strong, financially stable, within budget. You gave us ratios, margins, told us where we're at in each department. It sounds like the city's in pretty good shape. It sounds like we're in good shape with you, so I appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yes.

You're welcome.

I see no other questions. Anybody signed up for a public comment on this?

No, sir.

Very good. Marcia, thank you. Jim, how many people signed up for Item 9, Citizens' Comments for Items Not on the Agenda?

We have five registered speakers.

Well, that's going to take us certainly past 6 o'clock. It gives people time to still sign up at 6 if they'd like. So why don't we start with the first speaker?

Yes, sir. Our first registered speaker is Ms. Emily Began, followed by Ms. Terry Hasdorf.

Hi, Emily.

Hi.

Folks, when you come up, if you just identify your name for the record, even though we might know who you are, just say it in the microphone, please.

Yes, my name is Emily Begin. So good evening, chair and members of the council. My name is Emily Begin, and I'm the vice executive director of the Coastal Habitat and Water Quality Initiative, otherwise known as Seahawk. And we're a science-first 501 based out of Naples who's working to restore Florida's canal systems through independent research, free technical assistance for local governments all across Florida, and public education. So I'm here tonight to invite you all, the staff and the community members who are here in person and watching virtually, to a season of free events that Seahawk is hosting on the island beginning next month. So water quality in the canals has been a part of life on the island for decades, and it's a conversation that isn't going to stop as long as people live alongside a system like this one, man-made but home to real wildlife and habitat. It takes ongoing attention. Marco's canals have been on the Florida impaired water list since 2019 and many residents have questions about what that actually means. This season opens on August 28th with the Canal Science Symposium from 2 to 4 30 p.m. in the afternoon at the Rose Hall of Marco Islands Library. University scientists from the University of South Florida and University of Florida, whose research on residential canal systems just earned national recognition, will share what they know about water quality, nutrient loading, and how it applies to canals like Marco Islands. This afternoon also includes interactive exhibits and dedicated time for Q&A from any members of the community. Beyond the symposium, Seahawk is also hosting three free community workshops here on the Marco Island through September on water quality, aquatic vegetation, and wildlife and fisheries. And separately, our team is offering free water quality testing at residents' own docks as a part of our ongoing field research to better understand these canals. And residents can sign up at any time. I want to be clear about what these events are and aren't. So Seahawk doesn't advocate for a single fix, and we're not here to promote a project. We are a neutral science nonprofit, and the season exists simply to put that experience and expertise directly in front of the people who live here. So I'd love for each of you and the staff of the city to attend alongside your constituents. I've brought a letter that will be shared by the clerk and a flyer for each of you. And it's all free and open to anyone on the island. So community members, business owners, teachers, students. And you can learn about what's happening in the canals. So registration is available through our website. And I hope to all see you there. And I appreciate the time. Thank you. Thank you for coming. And thank you for the information. Thank you.

Our next registered speaker is Ms. Terry Hasdorf, followed by Mr. Ronald Hattendorf.

Welcome. Thank you. Thank you to the city council, to the city staff, to the first responders, and the residents of Marco Island. I'm running for Congress to represent this district. Florida's 22nd district is very special. People ask me what is – Just state your name.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm Terry Hasdorf. Thank you. People ask me what is my why. Why are you running? Well, when I was in high school, I was asked to travel to seven different cities in the Soviet Union as part of an exchange program called the People to People Project. And I saw firsthand what communism and socialism do to people. The poverty, the oppression, and the hopelessness that I witnessed firsthand had such an impact on me that when I landed three weeks later at John F. Kennedy Airport, I literally got down on my hands and knees and kissed the ground. I was so grateful to be an American. We have no idea how much we take for granted. And right now, with the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America putting more and more candidates in place, I can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch. This is a cancer in our country that must be stopped, and I will fight with every fiber of my being to fight against socialism taking hold in this country. I'm a conservative, constitutional conservative, by the way. I've had the honor to be endorsed by organizations such as Priests for Life, Father Frank Pavone, Major General Bob Deese, the Florida Family Action, Moms for America Action, Glenn Story, who is the founder and CEO of Patriot Mobile, Stand for Health Freedom, which is the Maha Agenda, and FLC Action. I care deeply about Marco Island. This district is very complex. I am the only candidate in this race who has experience working as a congressional staffer. I worked for six years on Capitol Hill. I worked as a member of the leadership, House leadership. Having an experience with the Appropriations Committee, knowing where the levers are, knowing how the processes work is very vital. I am not going to be a candidate who's going to be running around looking for where the bathrooms are and trying to figure out how to get things done in Washington. I am trained and highly seasoned in DC, and I know how this district is going to need a lot of things to accomplish the complex needs that are in place here. Dealing with water issues, dealing with some of the things that I know are facing this district, such as from Immokalee all the way over to Wellington, you're going to need somebody who can be ready day one, and that's what I bring to the table. I'm a candidate who is running because I care about fighting for traditional values, fighting for the things that make this country truly special, and Florida really is ground zero for the conservative movement. I believe that you have things here in Marco Island that really have been overlooked in the past. And I have also committed that when elected, I am going to put a district office right here in Marco to suit the needs and make sure that the constituents have someone who will fight for them on day one. So I'm humbly asking for your vote. I'm Terry Hasdorf, running for Congressional District 22. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Terry, and good luck to yourself and all the candidates.

Our next registered speaker is Mr. Ron Hattendorf, followed by Mr. Greg Folley.

Ron, welcome.

Thank you. Glad to be here to see all you guys, people.

If you just state your name for the record, please, in the microphone.

Name is Ronald Hattendorf.

I live at Angler's Cove on Marco Island.

1985 I've been an owner not that that makes me any better than anybody else Yeah, I'm at the wrong meeting for one thing But thanks for Darren for telling me you have public comment that you'll see when this is on the agenda But this is not on it tonight.

So you could speak out your four minutes, right?

And I'm talking about the cruise ship As you can see, it's a five-story cruise ship. I'm taking it out of my bedroom window. I I moved there for the view. Love to wake up in the morning and look at it like many other people. Ended up with this cruise ship being there at least four days a week now. And if they get another one, which I'm sure he's planning on doing, it'll be eight days or seven days a week. But anyway, that's why I'm here. I'll get every take every opportunity I can to talk about it and being that this is the wrong meeting I get still get the opportunity this is a Asked Dan Smith over here who was very nice to me because I'm not really good on the computer or any of that stuff and he went forward and I Requested him to distribute a letter. I wrote to the Rose about most Rose marina to the Local paper and I'm gonna read that and I'll read it again every time I get a chance so Dear mr. Smith, I respectfully Request that you distribute the attached newspaper article Which was recently published in our local newspaper to all members of the Marco City Council and the Planning Board The article expresses my view as well as the concern shared by many island residents regarding Rose Marina Incorporated. I say incorporated. Because it is incorporated, it wasn't always incorporated. I remember when Rose was here. Grandpa Rose, old man Rose, whatever you want to call him, he did a lot for the city. And that's very hallmarky. But I'm not going to use that as an excuse to give in to this operation. Okay, where was I? I hope this letter and the attached article may be included in the public record and made available to the elected officials who will be reviewing this matter. I believe the article accurately reflects the concerns that many have expressed by many residents regarding the potential impacts of the potential marina operations and related activities. my intention is to simply ensure that these concerns are considered as part of a decision-making process thank you for your assistance and for your sharing the attached article with the city and the planning board thanks a lot dave anyway i hope i got time i'll read the article to the editor and i know you've all read it but i just want to refresh you

You got about 20 seconds. I can give you a little bit more, but if not, paraphrase the highlights.

Please. Proposal expansion roads marina deserves careful scrutiny by the island residents public officials for many years the waterfront property has enjoyed the views of Factory Bay that Contribute to both the character in our community. I won't read the whole thing if I'm running out of time I'll read it at the real meeting if I could remember when it will be I

Keep an eye, we're slating this for the first, trying to get to the first meeting in September, two meetings from now, but you'll see it published and you'll be able to have plenty of time to speak on that.

Okay, that's great. Thank you. And I will take time. Thank you. Thank you. And of course we're talking about the buses too.

Thank you so much. Jim, next speaker, please.

Our next registered speaker is Mr. Greg Folley, followed by our final registered speaker, Ms. Chris Dowell.

Good evening, counselors. Thank you for all you do. I kind of understand a little bit about what that involves and all the praise and glory that comes with it. So please continue doing the excellent work you do. At the last city council meeting, did I give my... Greg Folley, 940 Cape Marco Drive. At the last city council meeting, council discussed a proposal from Councilor Schwann at Council Communications. The proposal was to consider requiring a conditional use permit for any changes associated with recreational use in any zoning district. Specifically, staff will ask planning board to make a recommendation to city council regarding conditional use permit for changes in use for any recreation in any zoning district. This is a pretty sweeping proposal. Very, very comprehensive. It impacts every single property owner in the city. As sweeping as that would be, you would expect there would be a white paper and detailed study and analysis about the impact of it. There was none of that. No agenda item for public comment. No study on the impact on the planning board workload or potentially the city council workload. No analysis whatsoever of the need for this. No analysis if it were imposed on the time that it would take to get approval for minimal changes. For example, as proposed, any change in use for any property in the city would require a conditional use permit for slides and pools. for hot tubs, for swing sets, basketball hoops, bocce ball, tetherball. I mean, any of this would be subject to city council discretion after planning board acts on it. Bear in mind, all properties are already subject to the building code, setbacks, micro-restrictions, and any HOA requirements that are in place. why this sweeping assault on property rights on every single micro island property owner. There have been no demands for this sort of thing, yet every property owner has a very strong interest in seeing where this goes. And it's proposed at a time when basically nobody's on the island. Imagine if the conditional use permit were in place as suggested for recreational changes in all zones Do we have any idea what that requirement do would do to all the workloads of city staff who are already very overburdened and What about the timeline for every single change that someone wants to make? And why now why was this so urgently? Needed to be discussed I don't know, but I do know this. I live in Cape Marco. And Cape Marco recently approved a change in the tennis courts to pickleball courts. There were two tennis courts that were very underutilized, now transitioned to eight pickleball courts. The counselor who wanted to change these rules fought that proposal at the Cape Marco level and was defeated because every single voting member of the Cape Marco Property Owners Association voted in favor of that after years of discussion and debate. And obviously, the people who live in Cape Marco are the most impacted by this. So I am concerned that there's a possibility someone's using their official position to go around a decision that was made at the property owner association level and is properly made there. In any event, I think that this is ill-considered, and all the property owners in the city who live in the most freedom-loving state in the country, Florida, have reason to be very concerned by a proposal like this. The planning board should spend zero time on this, zero time. It's completely out of order, and I ask the council to reconsider it. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Point of order. Yes. My name is Invoke, so I do want to respond. Please. So you did provide some information that was not truthful, and I know you can say whatever you're going to say up here, but I do want to make it perfectly clear that the Cape Marco approval was granted on July 15. On July 17, they already cleared the two tennis courts and started construction of the pickleball courts. council meeting that you are referencing took place july 20 after all those actions and the discussion was based on the paper that was prepared by our city attorney some months ago and we said we were going to look at that again you farley have expanded on your presentation on the one question that was going to be looked at and just discussed by the planning board And I feel that you have misrepresented that there is a conflict of interest. And I'd like to ask our city attorney, is there a conflict of interest with me on this?

No, there is not.

Thank you. so i know that you have been promoting this on social media i would ask that you be honest when you make presentations at our city council forum you're a former counselor we have a high standard to meet so thank you and thank you council for your time thank you counselor next speaker our final registered speaker is miss chris dowell hi christine hey watch your phone

Hi, Christine Dell. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. At the last planning board meeting, they approved three to two for the Hilton. Unfortunately, it was a quorum, but we had two members missing, and that meeting was scheduled because that's when the attorneys for Hilton could be there, not when the people who were actually sitting on the planning board could have been there. So what I'm really worried about is, is that Marriott and Hilton do not pay their fair share of water rates. This has been brought up multiple times. And so last analysis that was done and handed to me is there's 800 rooms at the Marriott They have, what, six restaurants? They have a spa? They use a lot of water. Their bill would be equal to 50 homes on this island. It's a shame. But we're looking at, we need money coming in. Why are they paying less than a homeowner? The Hilton has 336, and they want to put another 300 and some in and not pay enough. So I really think you need to look at these water rates. It is not fair to the single-family homeowners to support the businesses on this island. We talk about all the work that needs to be done for our sewer and water buildings, maybe possibly getting this AWT ever end, and why is the majority of single-family homeowners, 11,000 homes on this island, carrying these two businesses? not fair also the condos their rates are less so you guys need to really look at this i don't know if anyone's ever told you this i've been up here before previous council and nothing's been done so i really think you guys before you start voting on putting this through with the hilton you need to change the water rates appreciate it thank you we have no other registered speakers

All right, this will close public comment. We're moving on to item 10, city manager's report. Casey, I'm going to turn it over to you first, and also light signs if you have any questions for Casey. Please.

Thank you, council. You probably noticed here tonight we have several of our MIPD police officers, and I'm very pleased that they're here tonight because I am proud to announce to the community that I made the selection of chief of police. and Chief Joe Bilardo accepted the job and is effectively our new police chief.

Chief, Chief, Chief, I know we're going to have probably something official, but come on up. Bring your officers up. Come right down here. I'll give you the microphone. Officers, come on up so we can see you and we can acknowledge you.

Congratulations. Congratulations.

Invite them all up, Chief. Thanks.

I'm not going to forget anybody. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Thank you. All right, so I just found out about this today myself. I'll have more, I'm sure there's going to be like an official ceremony, yes, and I'll have, I'm never really at a loss for words, so there'll be a more extensive statement at that time, but I just want to Thank this entire department, all the community. We have had a lot of interactions with the community and it's been very, very positive. We're making a lot of changes. They've been pretty positive. A lot of good interactions with everybody on the island. Those things are going to continue. I'd like to thank Dr. Lucius for the opportunity. She had a lot of confidence in me, and I was happy to be able to step up and fill this role. I'd like to thank the council. Thank you very much for all your support over the last couple of months. It's been a pretty intense two months going back. But I think that we're having a lot of success. I also want to thank the folks who sat on the interview board. They took an entire day and really took the time and made a, you know, took a lot of time out of their day, and it's appreciated. So I thank you. I thank everybody here. And when we do have our official ceremony, I'll have much more to say.

All right.

All right.

Officers, we need you to squeeze in for this one. Everybody doesn't have to get a little tight.

Get a little bit closer. Hug.

As close as you can.

Oh, Casey, we have to follow that up, huh? I mean, geez, there's a precedent. Anything else you want to add?

I will just add that we will plan a formal swearing-in ceremony in which the public will be invited and, of course, the council will be invited. And I know just the fact that all these officers are here tonight to celebrate Chief Bilardo just as a demonstration of how impactful his leadership has been in a short time and I know will continue to be. Thank you.

Just a point of clarification. At these ceremonies, sometimes I see cake in the back area. We'll have cake. All right. I do see one light sign for you, Casey.

Councilor Gray? Thank you. I loved your report, and I believe there's a special place in heaven for hockey moms and people that save lives. So I loved seeing your report that Diana had actually pulled something off on a CPR, and there's a special place in heaven for you. Thank you for doing that.

Very good. I actually... Councilor Gray, I had that one highlighted. And if I might be exact, congratulations to Diana Snover, the city's HR director, for being nominated as the 2026 AmeriCorps Day of Service Community Hero. Several months ago, Diana performed CPR on a resident while dining at Patty Murphy's. She stabilized the individual until first responders arrived.

Tremendous.

And thank you for bringing that up, Councillor Gray. Councillor Henry, your light sign's on.

Yes, actually, this was something Dr. Lucius and I had talked about because I was going to bring this up as a Collier County thing. On emergency readiness, there's a summit on August 29th, and Ms. Dover will be honored at that event. It's an all-day event. It's all kinds of, it's CPR, health matters, all done by the Collier County Sheriff. Apparently there's a really good goodie bag. But yeah, I just wanted to let everybody know it's at the Ritz-Carlton. Lunch will be served, right? And breakfast? Breakfast will be served. But it's from 8 to 3.15. And so it's one of those things we can be there to honor one of our own and know how lucky we are to have her. Thank you. Thank you.

Casey, I want to discuss some good news here on the updates. The current net liability for the police pension is $507,922. The pension is currently funded to 98.29%. I know we thought it was a much higher number at one point, but that's actually great news. It also goes on to say we will have that payment made within the FY27 budget, correct? So that's tremendous. Councilors, if you haven't read the ordinance, I just want to touch base on this, and this is something I'd recommend you discuss with Manager Lucius in your meetings. It really is perceived that somehow council dropped the ball or staff and didn't fund this. But if you read the ordinance the way it's written and the limited control we have on this and what we're subject to as far as market conditions and outside interests, it's not very advantageous for the city. And I'm for the police and fire, and I want to make sure they are taken care of. But I would just recommend speak to our city manager on this in your one-on-ones, and maybe it's something we might want to discuss again on the dais here, just to make sure everything's within line and they're achievable metrics for us. But I'll leave it at that for the moment. Casey, anything else before I move on to our city attorney?

No, that's all.

All right, very good. Thank you. There's nothing for our city attorney's reports, but light signs if you have anything for our city attorney. Councillor Goller, you are up.

I just have a couple questions for our department heads, first for city attorney. We all know that Greg Oller ran, when Greg Oller ran for council, we said that we will not raise taxes without asking the citizens. So referendum's out there, and it's waiting for you to vote on. But I have a couple questions myself as well, because there were some wordings in a referendum That's confusing. About $23 million, does it mean it's going to be a blank check? Or when we're talking about that not limited, would you please explain that to us, Mr. Gabriel?

You're referring to the ballot question? That is correct. The ballot question provides that the bond will be issued for not to exceed $23 million, so it cannot be any greater than that amount. It also provides for, you know, the... You're not allowed by statute to exceed more than 65 words, I believe it is, by the ballot. So you have to limit what you're actually identifying. You cannot make a list of the things that you're going to be providing. So it just is a summary as to the points that would be identified for the ballot, for purposes of the bond. One of the things that's important is that even though the bond would be approved not to exceed $23 million, For every part, every item that would be spent or bought or utilized for transportation purposes would come before the council as a whole and voted on each time. Each contract, each item, a bridge, whatever that might be, comes before council and is identified to the public. So nothing would come before you just because the ballot would be approved.

Just to make a record, I'm not really telling you how to vote. I just want to clarify a couple things. Also, my next question would be, it's probably mostly for city manager and probably the rest of the departments. So if the bond does not pass, so what's going to happen with those projects that we've been discussing? Obviously, we already have one project fully funded, which is the Coxambas Bridge. I remember one of the department directors told me that they might have to start a GoFundMe page or something like that. But it's to put a set aside. So what would be the consequence if the bond will not pass?

Well, we have a budget that we've proposed for FY27 that includes one project, which is the Caxambas Bridge. And if the bond does not pass, the projects that we have outlined for the next 10 years will not be funded. And I will come back to city council, and we'll have a discussion about alternative funding strategies.

One more question for city manager. So when would be the other time there would be opportunity to put the referendum out there for asking for a bond?

It would be either during an election year in 2028, or the council would have to call a special election, which you could do at any time.

It's $50,000, right, for special elections?

Correct, it costs about $50,000 at the city's cost, yes.

Okay, I think I'm done here. Thank you so much for the clarification.

Thank you, Counsel. Any other questions? We'll open up for either Alan or department heads at this point. Vice Chair Champagne?

I'm just going to carry on to some of tomorrow's concepts. Should the bond not be approved? If the community and people sitting in the audience think we've been discussing cost cuts too frequently Up to this point in time you haven't seen anything if the bond doesn't pass We are going to go into every budget every department and start looking for more cuts It's the only way to keep this city fully funded and keep the services flowing on top of that should amendment three the government's governor's proposal pass we are really looking for serious problems that would be anywhere from three to five million dollars in loss of revenue on top of not having the bond fund uh passed uh this city would be up the creek for a short period of time. Could it be dealt with? Absolutely. I mean, we'll find a way. But it is going to be substantially different. Could affect services rendered to the community. Most likely, to be honest with you, it will reduce the services rendered to the community. And many of the long-term capital investment projects will be, once again, kick the can down the road. It'll be deferred. We won't do any work that has been desperately needed for years. So a lot of negative things are on the horizon. Again, I can't recommend anyone vote for any particular referendum proposal. But certainly think about what you're going to vote for. when you do pull the trigger. And I think everyone understands my position. I'm going to be supporting the bond fund and against the Amendment 3. Thank you.

Councillor Henry.

Well, I guess to feed all of that, all we know in life is guaranteed is death and taxes, right? I do have a question for Joan. You, in your report, said that public records requests were up 40%. Can you put that in general numbers? Are you getting more and more people, or is it one or three or five individuals? Are you getting 20 people occupying?

Yeah, it's a combination of them. I think it's basically the topics that are being discussed at council. We just have a lot of community members that just want to learn more about what's being discussed. So we do get some repeated people asking, but I also think it's also a broader amount of people that are asking as well.

Thank you. And I know he's back in the corner, Justin. I just want to clarify this. This might be to Dr. Lucius. In your breakdown of savings of what you cut from your budget, you had the $30,000 for the Tree City money deleted from your budget. I just want the public to know that money was taken from your budget, and it's now in fleeting facilities. Is that correct?

Yeah, that is money that will no longer be in the... No longer your problem.

Okay. I just wanted to clarify that, that it did go from one spot to the other. And then the big thing, thank you to everybody for the thorough and detailed reports. I do encourage all residents to review and see the details of what our city employees accomplish each month. And one thing I find extremely interesting is in the IT report, they tell you... how many views our council meetings get and all the other committee meetings. And I just found it interesting that 129 people watched the beautification meeting from June 3rd, and only 91 watched the budget meeting from 6-15. Interesting perspective. So that's all I got.

Thank you, Councillor.

Councillor Gray. Thank you, I did have some questions on the management report, but since Councilor Goler mentioned my name in conjunction with this bond, I do have some comments. First, financing the city correctly is as serious as a heart attack. And getting the right information mapped out correctly is essential. I do have a, hopefully an opinion piece going into the paper this week, which now has been triggered. I've been asked by a number of Marco Island residents if the transportation bond referendum does not pass, how we will pay for the repairs that are needed. It is a fair and important question. I've already mailed in my ballot and voted no. I wanted residents to understand why. When I ran for city council, I pledged not to raise taxes without first putting the question to the Marco Island voters. My initial support for the referendum reflected that promise. I did not want the city to spend your money without asking for your approval. However, I also expected residents to receive a specific list of projects, their estimated costs, and a clear explanation of how the money would be managed. I asked for that information, but the necessary detail in financial accounting had not been provided to my satisfaction. Instead, the referendum asked voters to authorize up to $23 million for transportation improvements, including but not limited to bridge replacements and roadway improvements. Those words are too broad and ambiguous. They could allow the money to be redirected to projects that were never clearly identified by the voters. I am also concerned about authorizing such a large amount before the city has demonstrated how much is already available in various funds. how much actually needs to be borrowed, and when each project will be ready to proceed. After considerable turnover, the city has a new finance team, which I am extremely encouraged about. Before taxpayers authorized $23 million, I believe we must first be confident that the city has the financial tracking, controls, and staffing needed to manage responsibly. Financial discipline means identifying each project, determining its actual cost, and borrowing only when the work is ready to begin. That avoids paying borrowing costs before the money is needed and ensures that each bond is tied to the project for which it was approved. If the referendum fails, needed repairs will not be abandoned. The council should consider projects individually, examine available funds and grants, and authorize borrowing as necessary over time. This approach provides stronger guardrails, which allows Essential work to move forward. I voted no because this referendum does not provide enough specificity, financial accountability, or protection against funds being used differently than represented taxpayers. We can complete these projects, but we should do so carefully, transparently, with the financial discipline Marco Island residents deserve. I do not feel this desperate need. We have time to work through this. Thank you. MR. Thank you, counsel. MR. I did have a couple questions for Mr. Poteet. MR. Please. Jeff, if I was a hugger, I would come over and hug you, but I'm not a hugger. Your report was outstanding. What it did was it anticipated where you were going to have variances for the remainder of the year and explained how you were bridging that and how you were going after it. Additionally, you answered further insights, whether it was on the lead pipes, et cetera. You're listening well. You shared some great insight. And I did want to point, I doubt most people wanted to read the Bond Offering Memorandum, but on a couple pages in there, bear with me just a second. It was on page 43. No, 35 and 36 of the Offering Memorandum. The Offering Memorandum goes to quality lengths to explain how AWT, was in the works on this island and would actually add to the integrity of our water quality. So that document does speak to the value of the AWT. And I just, I, what you're doing is excellent. I just wanted to thank you, but I was impressed to see the AWT conversation got wrapped into this latest bond referendum. The bond refunding, not the bond referendum. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Counselor. Vice Chair Champagne?

Yeah, I'm going to follow up on Counselor Gray's remarks regarding the bond referendum. I could not disagree more than I am going to disagree with with Councilor Gray. It's misinformation on his part. There was more than ample information provided to this community with regard to the $23 million bond, what specific projects the money would go to. They were spelled out for months of debate, workshops, and council meetings before this community in a public environment. There should be no confusion of what was agreed to. Remember, the number was much larger. We spelled out the details of even the larger bonds by project, by dollars, by time frame. Nothing should be confusing. There's no misleading to the public by this council in proposing that $23 million bond. The fact is, second point, he said, none of the infrastructure projects required will be abandoned. Baloney. You don't pass the bond, you don't get it.

Let's keep this short.

The point is that is a false statement. There is simply no way that we could do those projects except for the Caxamas Bridge project. Everything else would have to go by the wayside because there is simply no money and no ability to raise taxes to get the money to do those projects. So the road repaving that's already 20 years behind continues. be 30 years behind before we do anything. These projects have been delayed for eight consecutive years due to tax rollbacks. And we're about to enter year nine and 10. This is just off base. Unnecessary and unfortunate that these comments were made.

Thank you. Guys, this is a... This is a conversation on department head reports. We're kind of turning it into an advocation for and against bonds. State your point of order, please, Councilor Schwartz.

I was just concerned because we have rules, charter, things like that, that we cannot advocate a position.

I'm staring at the city attorney.

I'm just asking for the city attorney to comment.

You're allowed to provide factual information, which I deem everyone's statement is what you believe to be the facts but you're not supposed to be taking a Position on behalf of the city you may take a position personally, which is what's been happening Thank you for that reminder

Councillor, since other councillors have had the chance to speak on this, I'll give you all a go around, but let's wrap it up after that, and then we'll move on.

Can I make one second?

It's going to be Councillor Dome first, but is it on? Just two quick questions. Councillor Dome, then you're up.

This is for Dr. Lucius. In the way of checks and balances, I heard you right if this bond passes that none of the revenue from the bond can be utilized until City Council approves it, correct? Correct.

That's correct.

So there is not going to be any nefarious action, somebody just going out and spending money because it's there. Second of all, a question I've been getting from a lot of friends on the island, if the bond is successful, what does it cost us, the taxpayers, initially if we don't end up using the revenue from the bonds itself. We just do the paperwork. We've got them sitting there. But we don't need it because maybe we have good fortune. What does it cost us as taxpayers? How does this bond work? Is it like a home HELOC, where if we don't use it, we don't pay on it?

That's correct. So you will only pay debt service on the bonds that are issued. So if you only issue $7 million worth of bonds, you pay back a millage that would pay the debt service on $7 million. And again, each one of those projects and the cost would be presented to the city council before any of those bonds are sold. So, yes, it's only you pay what you use. It's not $23 million up front with a millage up front for the next 20 years.

Great. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Council.

Councilor Golder.

I just want to clarify, when I started this conversation, it was clarifying the language in a referendum on a ballot. I did not any means did suggest to vote yes or no on it. I trust in intelligence of this community, and I know you will make the whatever you decide. It's up to you. And Greg Goller did say we will give you an opportunity to you make the choice. They made fun of us when we had our own tax pledge, remember? So that's all I had to say. I'm not promoting or denying anything. Thank you.

Thank you, counselors. This is getting real for the citizens, right? We talked about it for a tremendous amount of meetings, but now they're going to make a decision on it. I will just comment that, and I appreciate my co-counselors, I feel like you're helping me keep a promise. We've been telling them infrastructure is going to be a bond referendum for as long as I'm sitting here, and that's going to be a choice of the citizens, and the citizens will get to make their choice, and I think that's a beautiful thing. I also think we live in an incredible community. We are well financed. We have reserves. We are knocking debt down. We have a full service community. And it's hard pressed to find a better community than Marco. So when you see us debating these points, it might seem as if things are in dire straits. But they're not. This is the only time we have the chance to talk and to talk about these things right here on this dais. So everything comes out right here. And it's the negative of the Sunshine Law and the benefit that we do have a Sunshine Law, but maybe the negative consequence. Looking forward to seeing what the citizens have to say. With that, department head reports are closed, and we'll move on to item 13, which is a quasi-judicial public hearing, and that's 13A. We do have a resolution. I'll ask Joan to read that into the record, please. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Is that open to the public?

Not this.

What you guys discussed before should be open to the public.

It will come back at the public comment.

You're going to have opportunity at the end of the meeting for public comment, and we're going to talk about this going forward in another bond proposal. So, Alan, I don't have to open this up for public comment.

Chair Palumbo, we have no registered speakers on this item or any other going forward at this moment.

It's not an agenda matter. It's only an administrative discussion by counsel. Thank you. I appreciate it.

If you could read it, Mario, you have an opportunity at the end of this meeting to make a public comment if you'd like, and that'll be for this, for anything you'd like. Joan, please read into the record.

Yes, certainly. This is Resolution 26-38. I'm reading it by title into record. A resolution of the City of Marco Island, Florida, approving variance petition VP26-000054, providing for a variance from Section 30-3053 and Section 30-441G. of the City of Marco Island Land Development Code for the property located at 2559 San Marco Road, Marco Island, Florida, 34145, providing for findings and conditions of approval and providing an effective date. Thank you.

Mary? Mr. Chairman, this is a quasi-judicial item.

Ex parte, please. Thank you.

Communication by counsel. So if you would start from this end. Counselors?

I attended the planning board meeting, and I did a drive-by.

Planning board meeting, but no drive-by or no communication. Just planning board meeting.

I watched the planning board meeting, spoke to one of the members, a drive-by, and looked at it on Google Earth.

I just watched the video of the planning board meeting. That's it.

I watched the video of the planning board meeting, and I did do a drive-by.

I attended the planning board meeting, and I did two drive-bys. Thank you, Alan.

Mary? Oh, anybody wishing to speak? Anyone who intends to speak on this matter needs to be sworn in. So if you would just rise for the moment. Raise your right hand. Thank you.

I saw this agenda so we can move pretty quick here. Mary, please.

Good evening. Mary Holden, your planning manager. Before you tonight is a request from Collier County Utilities for the pump station on San Marco at 2559 San Marco and it's the turnoff to Goodland. So if you've ever been to stands You have driven by the site and seen that beautiful mural on the on the water tank itself They are requesting three variances along the north side of the property line. This site was built many years ago and it at the time it was under Collier County and They are needing a variance to the setbacks so they can construct and install an elevated generator, new generator, fuel tanks, and then there's the required parking and fire lane access that will all be in the north end of the property, basically along the north property line. This property has setbacks of 50 feet because this is a public ST, which is special treatment. Setbacks are determined by the most restrictive of the zoning code adjacent to it, and that's agricultural, And that's 50 feet all around. So that is why they are before you tonight. The planning board considered this request at the July 10th, 2026 meeting. There was no opposition. There was brief discussion. And the planning board voted 6-0 to forward on a recommendation. And Martin, if you could just... put the slides up real fast. I want to, just for the people in the audience in case they're curious, this is the site and that, this, all the yellow area is where the variances are being requested. Mason Lundquist, who is the PE representing Collier County, is in the audience should you have any questions of him also. Thanks, Martin. I'm done. And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Councilor, light signs if you have questions. Councilor Goehler, you were up first.

Well, this project was approved by 6-0 by Planning Board, so I think I'll move to approve it.

Second. Motion by Councilor Goehler, second by Councilor Gray. Any other light signs if there's a Councilor comment? Anybody signed up for public comment?

We have no registered speakers.

All right. Call the roll, please. Councilor Goler?

Yes.

Councilor Gray? Yes. Councilor Dome?

Yes.

Councilor Schwan?

Yes.

Vice Chair Champaign? Yes. Councilor Henry?

Yes.

Chair Palumbo?

Yes. All right. Thank you, staff, and thank you, planning board, for the work on this. It made it easy for us. We're moving on to item 15, resolutions and city council items. This will be 15A, and I'll ask Joan to read this resolution to the record, please.

Thank you. This is for the first reading of ordinance 26-05, reading the title into record. An ordinance of the City of Marco Island, Florida, amending Chapter 22, Fire Prevention and Protection, Article 2, Fire Prevention and Protection Code of the City of Marco Island, Code of Ordinances to create Section 22-39, Fees Payment Deadline Enforcement to establish a deadline for the payment of fees imposed by Chapter 22. and to provide that the failure to timely pay such fees constitutes an enforceable violation, providing for codification, providing for conflict, providing for severability, and providing an effective date.

Mr. Chairman, if I might, just for clarification for the agenda. So this is item 14 under ordinances for first reading. Apologize. 14 aye. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, Council. Chris Byrne, Fire Chief. The item before you, as said, is an amendment of the City Code of Ordinances, Chapter 22, the Fire Prevention and Protection Code Ordinance. The ordinance in its current form lacks a uniform process of payment and enforcement of fire fees. The fire fees are associated with permitting, fire plan review, fire inspections, reinspections, nuisance or malfunctioning fire alarms, and other fire prevention services. The amendment creates section 22-39, fees, payment deadline, and enforcement. It'll establish a uniform process for the assessment, payment, and enforcement of fire fees. It requires a payment of fire fees within 45 days of notice. It also establishes nonpayment as a violation of the city code and will be subject to enforcement through the city's code enforcement process. The amendment also clarifies fire fees will continue to be established and amended by City Council through resolution. This amendment will strengthen the city's ability to recover the cost providing fire protection and fire prevention services while promoting timely payment and consistent enforcement. And with that, I am here for questions.

Thank you, Chief Byrne. Councillor Schwan, you're up first.

Yes. Chief Byrne, thank you for the presentation. I actually want to make a motion to approve this as presented, this ordinance and the amendment and the establishment. So thank you.

Thank you. I'll second that.

Motion by Councillor Schwan, second by Councillor Doan. I still have some light signs on.

Councillor Gray. Chief, thank you. Great work. I just wanted to compliment you on cleaning up two things in this ordinance. One, you're instituting payment deadlines. You're instituting an enforcement mechanism for unpaid fees. These are the types of disciplines that are in our best interest. Can we charge interest after the 45-day period? So you've got two windows there, but you have your enforcement and your execution, but I'd love to know if gets dragged out if we have the right to charge interest.

That's a good question, but probably not for me to answer.

The answer is that we do not. It's following the code enforcement process, which we're not allowed to do interest. But it will follow. There will be fees, and there can be daily fines for failure to pay.

So what would it take if, under fair conditions, we were allowed to charge interest on past due violations of a certain period?

It would require an ordinance amendment to the city, the finance department, for all fees that are outstanding and due to the city.

Okay. Thank you for that feedback.

Thank you.

Thank you. I see no other light signs. Anybody signed up for public comments on this?

No public speakers on this issue.

All right. Call the roll, please. Yes, sir.

Councilor Schwan. Yes. Councilor Dome. Yes. Councilor Goller. Yes. Vice Chair Champaign. Yes. Councilor Gray. Yes. Councilor Henry. Yes. Chair Palumbo. Yes. Thank you, Chief. Thank you.

And Alan, thank you for keeping me on order when I printed out my own agenda as opposed to the one Joan gave me because I like them on one page. It looks like I cut a little bit off. So now we move on to item 15, resolutions and city council items 15A. And Joan, if you could read this please into the record.

Yes, and I'd also like to remind you, Mr. Chair, that we have two people that are going to be joining us.

We have Jay Glover on finance on Zoom call, and counselors if you need, and we have Dwayne Draper, he's the bond counsel. They're both on Zoom call if you have any questions for them.

Okay. Be prepared. This is a little long. I'M READING RESOLUTION 26-37 BY TITLE INTO RECORD. A RESOLUTION SUPPLEMENTING RESOLUTION 03-55 OF THE CITY OF MARCO ISLAND, FLORIDA AS PREVIOUSLY AMENDED AND SUPPLEMENTED AUTHORIZING AND IMPROVING THE COMPETITIVE SALE OF NOT TO EXCEED 31 MILLION AN AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF THE CITY OF MARCO ISLAND, FLORIDA, UTILITY SYSTEM REFUNDING REVENUE BONDS SERIES 2026 TO REFUND CERTAIN UTILITY SYSTEM DEBT OF THE CITY ATTRIBUTED TO THE WATER AND SEWER SYSTEM AND TO PAY TRANSACTION COSTS ALL SUBJECT TO THE SATISFACTION OF CERTAIN CONDITIONS CONTAINED HEREIN. approving the forms of the authorizing the execution and delivery of a continuing disclosure certificate, a registrar and paying agent agreement, and an escrow deposit agreement authorizing competitive bids, and approving the forms of the official notice of sale and summary notice of sale pertaining to such bonds. making certain provisions and delegating certain responsibilities with respect to the official notice of sale, biddings, and sales of such bonds, approving the form and distribution of a preliminary official statement, and approving the execution and delivery of a final official statement, appointing the paying agent, registrar, and escrow agent, providing certain other matters in connection therewith, and providing an effective date.

Thank you for that. Mine was much shorter, but I appreciate it. Marcia, come on up. Thank you.

Hello again, Marcia Solo, finance director. So if you just heard, we have a resolution for you to approve and you have a lot of documents on the agenda, but really all we're asking you to approve tonight is the resolution authorizing this. The objective on this is to provide net present value savings over the bond that was done in the past. Over the past several months, staff from various departments in the city, along with the finance team, have prepared all kinds of documents, and that's what was available for your review. So as you already heard, there are two gentlemen that are on Zoom waiting to talk to you and answer all the complicated questions that they have many years of experience to provide answers for. First of all, Mr. Jay Glover is the managing director of PFM Financial Advisors, LLC. He has more than 24 years of municipal finance experience. and he specializes in financial advisory services for all kinds of municipalities throughout the Southeast. He's served as project manager on over 600 financing transactions totaling more than $20 billion, including refundings, new money issuances, and complex financial structuring. Jay's role is that he is our financial advisor, and he's guiding the overall structure of the series 2026 bonds. He prepared the financing schedule, coordinating rating agency engagement, and managing the competitive sale process. The second gentleman, Mr. Dwayne Draper, he's a shareholder with Bryant Miller Olive, PA. He chairs that firm's public finance group, and he's worked in public finance as an attorney and investment banker since 1989. He is recognized with AV preeminent rating from Martindale Hubbell and was named lawyer of the year in Tampa for public finance both in 23 and 24. He is our bond counsel and disclosure counsel, and he's responsible for preparing the bond resolution, the notices of sale, the preliminary official statement, and ensuring full legal and regulatory compliance throughout the issuance. The rating agency call with Moody's was held this afternoon. So if council approves a resolution tonight, next steps would include receiving the credit ratings, posting the notice of sale, preliminary notice of sale and the notice of sale, and conducting competitive bond sale. So the gentleman on Zoom will tell you more about all of these things.

Very good. Gentlemen, did you want to weigh in, introduce yourself, or do you want me to open it up for questions for the counselors?

Whatever your pleasure is, sir. We're happy to just address questions, or we can give a little more details if needed.

If I'll start for either one of you. Now, we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, about nine attachments here. We've had the opportunity as a council to review this. But as Councilor Dome said with the last conversation on our upcoming referendum, is this like a HELOC? Do you only take the money and use it when you need it? Can you put this in a little simple terms for the community so they can understand what we're doing here, refinance how it works, just maybe give them the highlights if that's possible?

Perfect. I'll probably take that. Chair, council members, Jay Glover from PF and Financial Advisors. And yes, we are the city's financial advisor or municipal advisor, which means we have a fiduciary relationship with the city and help you structure financings that are in your best interest. So the thing that I would akin this to is just like refinancing your mortgage on your home. So you issue bonds at a 5% and 4% interest rate. We're now at an interest rate environment where we can borrow at about three and a half percent or so. And we're just lowering the annual payment on the debt service in each and every year. So we're not extending the debt service. We're not taking out any money upfront for any capital projects. We're simply matching the maturity of the existing bonds and lowering the debt service payment in each year through a refunding. The resolution requires us to achieve at least net present value savings equivalent to 3% of the refunded bonds par amount. and that's really what the GFOA recommends in terms of savings. You don't want to pull the trigger too soon and not realize enough savings, so they really set a parameter where they recommend people moving forward, which is about 3%. If I might, to go into a little bit about the market, because I think it's helpful context here, is we've been in quite a volatile market condition, as you likely know with all the goings on in the Middle East. This refunding has moved up and down in terms of net present value savings as interest rates have changed. I will say over the last several weeks to month, we have seen an increase in interest rates. So as we sit here today, we are slightly below the required savings parameter. But we are recommending that the city council approve the resolution so we can get into the market at the opportune time if and when the interest rates improve. And it's only about a 20 basis point improvement that we need, which is a pretty minor adjustment of lower rates in the market we're in today. So, again, I just want to make that clear. Rates move up and down, but this will give us the flexibility to move forward. within a short period of time as long as we can meet that minimum savings parameter, which is part of the resolution that you're considering here today. So I think I went a little bit further than just a brief explanation, but I did want to get that point on the record for your consideration.

Mr. OJ, I appreciate it and appreciate for the public watching, too, spelling out what type of refinance this is and how it seems like to me it has nothing but just good benefits. But I will turn it over to the counselors. Counselors, light signs.

Counselor Gray, you were up first. Thank you. Just to confirm, the bond amount that was referenced in the draft of the offering statement was for $20,790,000, the request conversation pegged this at up to $31 million. So, first, I wanted to identify, are we refunding approximately $21 million in outstanding bonds plus issuance costs, et cetera, or is that the right figure and we'll just be paying off approximately $21 million in bonds and replacing it with this new instrument?

Yeah, that's a great question, Councilmember. The not to exceed par amount in the resolution would allow us, if the market conditions permit, to refund all of the outstanding Series 2016 bonds. However, certain of those bonds have lower coupons on them, which are 3%. So we're not seeing a benefit in the current market from refunding those. Again, we're at a higher rate than 3% right now. But if the resolution, if market conditions did improve, we would be able to include those lower coupon maturities in the refunding. But we're only going to do so to the extent that they derive savings. So when we started this process, some of those bonds made a little bit of sense. So we included the flexibility to fund those. But as we sit here today, they do not. So that's the difference between the estimated par amount that's in the preliminary official statement and the max par amount that is in the resolution. But again, we will only issue enough par amount to refund the bonds that are going to generate debt service savings and pay what's a fairly minimal cost of issuance in a transaction like this. You know, we're estimating around, you know, 200 or so thousand of cost of issuance, which is included in the net present value debt service savings figure. And the bulk of that is actually to pay an underwriter who actually purchased the bonds on behalf of investors. So I hope that addressed the question. But if not, I'm happy to provide more information.

No, I'm enjoying this. And thank you very much. We do expect these bonds to be issued at par.

Well, we allow bonds to be either bought at a par or a premium. So there will be really just dependent on the investor appetite on the day of the sale. As was mentioned, this will be a competitive bond sale. So what the city will do is we will put an advertisement in the bond buyer as required by state law that announces the city will be accepting bids for these bonds on a pre-advertised date and time. And then any number of investment banks will submit bids. You know, we see anywhere from five or six bids up to 15 or 16 bids for something of this nature, high credit quality, a nice size that will generate bids from large Wall Street firms, but also smaller regional firms. And we'll award the bonds to the lowest true interest cost bidder, which could have some par bonds, but might also have some slight premium bonds as well.

Thank you. These are great answers. The amortization schedule wasn't referenced in the document package. I assume are we just going to try and mirror the amortization schedule in existence with the reissuance of these bonds? Or particularly if there's some debt service savings, is there any consideration for accelerating the amortization schedule on those bonds?

Yeah, another great question. We do what we call a matched maturity refunding. So the refunding par amount will be very similar to the refunded par amount. And there'll be just less interest being paid because we're issuing at a lower interest rate. But we could potentially look to eliminate one year off the back end of the deal and then have similar par amounts and debt service payments. in the earlier years, but we generally do it with a matched maturity with no extension or shortening of the maturity.

Okay, these bonds are secured. Forgive me, I must be antiquated. I can take a security interest in receivables. I've never taken a security interest in revenue. But that's fine. I assume that that's entirely appropriate. But there's other bonds outstanding, and what I'm interested in is the unused debt capacity of the sewer department. So as long as we're in compliance with the debt service coverage ratio of 105 or 110, We could issue additional bonds if it was deemed appropriate for us to do so, as long as we stay in compliance with those covenants. And then would that security interest be shared equally with any subsequent bondholders as well? I just want to make sure that we're not impairing our financial flexibility going forward.

So maybe I'll take a quick stab at that, and I'll let Duane chime in as well because it's a little financial and a little legal to that question. But, yeah, essentially these bonds will be secured on parity with other water and sewer revenue bonds. So all of the bondholders who are existing debt as well as bondholders that buy this debt will have a parity lien or an equal lien bond. on net revenues of the water and sewer system. And you're exactly right. There's two main covenants within the bond master resolution, one being an additional bonds test and one being a rate covenant. So the additional bonds test is that coverage ratio that you have to meet in order to issue additional bonds. So in theory, yes, the city can issue additional new money as long as they meet that 110 additional bonds test. You also have a rate covenant, which requires you to set rates and charges each year to cover the debt service on a 1 to 1.1 times basis as well. So the additional bonds test is a test you meet upon the issuance of debt, but you also agree with bondholders that you're going to continue to set rates to meet those obligations on an ongoing basis. I will point out that the 1.1 ratio is the bare minimum legal ratio to issue debt. If you were to bond down to that level, there would be significant negative credit implication in terms of your credit rating. Marcia mentioned that we had a good conversation with the rating agencies. I guess it was at 1 o'clock today. You're a AA category credit rating on your water and sewer system. And that's because you maintain coverage ratios around 2.0 times, which provides significant liquidity and cash flow to keep up with the ongoing capital needs of the utility system. So while legally, yes, you could bond down to that 1.1 ratio, I would not recommend it. I think what you would be faced with potentially is if you had significant capital needs, you would also need to look at your rate structure to make sure you're maintaining those financial ratios to maintain that double A rating. I hope that addressed that question, although a bit long-winded probably.

No, it wasn't long-winded. You're on a roll, and I'm gratefully appreciative. So on page 21 and 22 of the preliminary official statement, which refers to the sources and uses of funds and debt service schedule. Those are blank so far for the reasons I think you've explained, as well as the final bond amount. Where do we sit in the decision process when we're prepared to actually fill in the sources and uses of debt service coverage and the final bond amount? Where does that come to this approval process?

Yes. So this is this would be the final formal approval that city council would provide today. And again, there are certain parameters that we must meet. And I'll defer to Dwayne on those. He can go over those parameters once we conclude this process or part of this Q&A. But right after we price those bonds on a competitive sale, at that point we will know the interest rates, the coupons and the yields, as well as the purchase price that the winning bidder is going to offer to buy the bonds. That will allow PFM to finalize the numbers, is what we call it. and also get the verification agent to verify there's sufficient funds being put in an escrow to pay the bonds off. At that point is when that preliminary official statement that you referenced turns into a final official statement. And that's when the final PAR amount, the final sources and uses, the final debt service schedule is all included. And then that document is also distributed to the marketplace with all those final details. But we don't know those until we actually price the bonds. And again, we can only do so and award the bonds if we meet the parameters and the resolution you're considering tonight.

Thank you, sir. That was excellent. And the two guiding principles that make me very comfortable is we have excellent coverage ratios. This has been referenced. And the hurdle rate is a 3% MPV savings in order to move forward with this decision, correct?

That's correct. And that net present value includes all the costs to doing the financing as well.

Excellent answers. Thank you very much. I'm done, Mr. Chairman.

All right. I don't see any other lights. I have a couple questions, and Councilor Gray covered one of mine and a few questions I wouldn't have thought to ask, so I appreciate the detailed analysis. Jay, a couple things. So we're still going to maintain our AA bond rating, correct, if I heard you correctly there?

Well, we had the call today. We will not hear from them until, I think, August the 7th. They're scheduled to take it to credit committee. But I think the indication on the call, while they always caveat it as a committee decision, was very favorable and they see a lot of stability within the utility system and the city's finances as a whole. So usually we get some kind of indication. They'll tell us there's some negative pressure on the rating. We did not get any of that. It was a very good conversation and I would expect, based on my doing this for many years, that we're going to get an affirmation of the current credit rating, which is in the AA category.

Excellent. A couple things I picked up on your conversation. One, this is time sensitive due to market conditions, correct?

That's right. We're anxious to get the approval here today so that we can be flexible enough to get into the market at the opportune time. And if I might add one point to that, someone might be thinking, why didn't we do this six months ago or a year ago when interest rates were at a lower level? We are only now within the current call window of these bonds. So these bonds are callable October 1 of 2026. And tax law allows us to only refund those bonds when we get within 90 days of that call date. So we're really in that current call window, so we can do the transaction now or really any time after. But, yes, it's time sensitive. We want to be able to move into the market quickly to take advantage once rates turn in our favor.

Great. I heard if I read what's in these nine attachments, I went through them, but I want to make sure I didn't miss this. About $200,000 was the total cost of the refinance. Did I get that right?

Yeah, that's the estimated cost of issue. That's correct.

And then last question, keeping it simple for the citizens, do we have an estimated net savings amount for this whole refinance? What are the citizens going to end up saving if we go through with this?

Yeah. So, you know, to get to the 3% parameter, you're talking about $700,000 of net present value debt service savings or close to a million dollars on a gross basis. And obviously, we don't strive to just meet the minimum parameter. We're going to try to obviously exceed that and try to get to the market at the best time. But that's kind of the general range of the minimum savings we would be able to move forward with.

Last question for you or staff. We approved this today. Market conditions move against us. Are we locked into this case here, or can we just simply not move forward with it? What is our judgment today, or what does our direction today commit us to?

I think that's a great question for Jay.

Jay, please. Yeah, it commits you to absolutely nothing. And unfortunately for Dwayne and myself and every other professional on the deal, we get paid contingent on the financing closing. So really there's no cost to you doing this unless the deal moves forward and then we're all paid from proceeds of the loan out of that amount I just mentioned.

Kind of knew the answer to that one. I want the citizens to hear it and the counselors to make sure they understood that as this has no downside risk to us and all upside reward. Counselors, any other light signs or questions?

I'd like to make a motion to accept the resolution as proposed. Second.

A motion by Vice Chair Champagne, second by Counselor Schwan. Jim, anybody signed up for public comment?

Members of the public on this one.

All right. I see no other light signs. Call the roll, please.

Vice Chair Champagne.

Yes.

Councilor Schwan?

Yes.

Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Gray? Yes. Councilor Goler?

Yes.

Councilor Dome? Yes. Chair Palumbo?

Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Staff, Dwayne Jay, thank you so much for this. This is a win for the citizens, and we appreciate your efforts. We are now moving on to Item 15B, another resolution, which I'll ask Joan to read into the record.

Yes, thank you. This is Resolution 26-39. I'm reading this by title into record. A resolution adopting a tentative millage rate for the City of Marco Island for the fiscal year commencing October 1, 2026 and ending September 30, 2027 and providing an effective date.

Good evening councillors Melissa Hinton budget manager for the city before you tonight is a resolution to adopt the tentative millage rate typically this is done at the council meeting that's held after the operating workshop however this is just a formality for the county and for the state so this is actually doing the millage rate for both Marco Island and Hideaway Beach And keep in mind again, this is a tentative millage rate, so it's subject to change at your discretion up until the second hearing.

I see no light signs. I'll just first off start with something I say every year. Thank you to the citizens of Hideaway Beach for self-taxing themselves. I greatly appreciate that they protect their community and the rest of our community with their efforts. Just keeping consistent with past statements. The other thing I will say is, Melissa or for Casey, we're reviewing this now. Was this not a state change? Was this a statute change? Or what's bringing this to us now at this point?

It is a state requirement to submit the tentative millage rate to the tax collector. Very good. Within a certain number of days. 35 days. Thank you.

So the citizens know we're still going to have time to vote on this. There'll be readings on this. There'll be public comments on this. This is the beginning of a bit of a journey, correct?

Yes, but I want to be clear. I believe the state law only allows you to adjust the millage down and not up. So once you approve your tentative millage rate, you can change it. You can decrease it, but you can't increase it.

So that's what I was going to question. If our bond referendum is approved, does that affect this vote tonight, or do we need to compensate for that?

No, it does not affect this millage rate.

Very good. Councilor's light signs, if you have any questions.

Councilor Goller. Just quick question. This is a millage neutral, correct? That's correct. All right. That's all I wanted to make sure. Thank you. You're welcome.

Actually, Mr. Chair, I do think we should say for the record, the proposed millage rate for the city is 1.2670, and for Hideaway Beach, the proposed millage rate is 1.6000. Very good. Thank you. Vice Chair Champaign.

guess I have a basic question if amendment 3 passes doesn't that affect this millage rate or won't it affect this millage rate not this year no it will not affect the millage rate and is there no other reason why we would hold off on approving this millage rate once set it can only go down There are still some obvious questions with regard to the budget. In my mind, I would, at this moment, be reluctant to vote in favor of keeping the millage rate at 1.267 because I don't know what all the issues are going to be by the time we formalize the budget at the end of September.

I'm assuming that's in the form of a question, basically, right?

So we have to submit a tentative millage rate. It's required by the state, and it has to be submitted to the tax collector. It does not have to be millage neutral. Tonight, if the council were to agree that your tentative millage rate is higher because you want to have the ability to adjust it down your first or second reading of the budget work you know of the budget in September you could certainly do that but please also know that we took your direction from the two budget workshops that we had we're in the process of building the budget that's August is used to build the budget finalize it and then you have your first reading and your second reading in September So if there are some intended changes, we need to know that now.

Vice Chair, you're still up. Yeah. What is the maximum millage at spending cap level?

That is 1.3551 mils.

I propose that is the millage rate we set and decide by the end of September whether we choose to use that or not.

That millage rate, just so you know, would require a unanimous vote.

That's the new rules with super majorities and 7-0? That's correct. So this would be a good time to engage in conversation with your co-counselors and say, are you willing to discuss this with me going further? We always have the right to vote neutral or less, but I understand where you get at. I want to pitch my case for the next amount of months.

Let me go on for one more second. Please. This city has been dealing with declining millage rates since 2016. We're now entering our 11th year. millage rate neutral or declining millage rate it has gotten us to where we are today which is financial difficulty meeting all of our objectives I think agreeing to keep it at millage rate neutral is asking for continued financial difficulties of finding money to pay for various services and or, more importantly, infrastructure improvement. So I would vote against the 1.267 and choose a higher number. That's it.

Point of clarification. Please, Councillor Gray. If the millage goes up 10 percent, there's I think a stair step in what the council approval numbers are for millage increases. Is it up to 10 percent over the flat number requires five councillors and if you go above 10 percent it's seven councillors? Do we want to make sure we do this correctly?

That is related to the state determination of the maximum millage. If you go at rollback, that's, you know, majority, not the majority vote, but rollback is just a four to three, you know. Millage neutral is a two-thirds. Anything between neutral and maximum is a two-thirds vote. Anything above, anything maximum and above would be a unanimous vote. And that's set by the state of Florida.

I'm still seeking a little more. So millage neutral, is that a number above the 1.267?

No, that is. The 1.267 is millage neutral from last year.

And that will require five votes of council to do that?

That's correct.

Thank you.

So just to confirm, as I remember from the previous meeting, as I call it neutral, a supermajority of the five, anything, what's the number for seven votes?

1.3551 Mills.

1.3551. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Henry, you're up.

Thank you, Councillor Champagne, for saying what you said. And I agree with you in some ways. But the fact that I think to the public that we have the bond referendum on the ballot starting next week, I think it's in good faith that we need to move forward knowing that we'd be good stewards. And if... the referendum in November passes, well, then it's going to be time to pay the piper. But I think moving forward, we have to stay at neutral for the stewards to show that we are being good stewards to the community and that we need the faith and the votes before the referendum come August.

I see no other light signs. Vice Chair Champaign, I agree with you. Feel out the dais. Can we start with the higher number? What I'm skeptical of is if we just throw the higher millage rate on there. have time to talk about it we're not going to get the majority we need to get there I just don't see that happening and that's time on staff in this council I certainly want to go with you and say I'm open-minded and let you pitch your case for the few months but with what we have to get a unanimous vote unless you want a straw poll your counselors now I just don't see it happening unfortunately that that's just my thought I hear where you're going to like to go there with you but I don't want to open up for conversation and then just a couple meetings later say I was never going above neutral and we just Took a lot of time to talk about it. That's where I think we're at. I think Councillor Henry is right, personally. That's just my opinion. With that, I see no other light signs. Anybody signed up for public comment on this?

We have one registered speaker.

Can you please bring them up?

Mr. Rick Woodworth.

Rick, come on up. Rick, welcome.

How are you doing? Rick Woodworth, Marco Island. I guess I'm going to go way out on a limb here and actually agree with something that Councilor Champagne said. He and I don't often agree. I think we appreciate the discourse we've had in the past. in this case and i am absolutely not advocating reckless spending or budgeting more than the city needs but i agree with him that you have to give yourself enough flexibility to approve a budget that's adequate to meet the needs of the city and to provide the residents with the level of services that everybody wants that i think everybody deserves so Would just ask all of you to carefully consider now whether you're giving yourself enough room in the budget process To have flexibility if between the time The final millage has to be decided give yourself a little bit of room So if you need it, you've got it because if you vote to lock it down now You can only go down and it might have to go up So thank you very much.

Thank you We have no other registered speakers.

Vice Chair, any other comments or thoughts, or did you want to scooch up the millage rate, make any motions or anything? I mean, I'm not trying to put, I'm asking before I call for a... Let me just reemphasize again.

Since 2016, the city has only gone one direction with millage rate. That's down. At best, we've held it equivalent to what it was the prior year. That's the last two years. We know what kind of difficulty those City Council decisions have led to we've been facing them from On the council now for about 18 17 18 months It's been non-stop trying to find ways to develop new revenue streams so that we can expend it for necessary items that need fixing We've not been able to do that as we sit here today. The budget we put together, quite frankly, doesn't meet all the obligations that the city has. We've had to cut. There's nothing wrong with cutting. I'm just saying we need some room here because things in the next month or so could change dramatically based on various budget proposals, on bond proposals. And so anyway enough is said we need some room in my opinion Just to protect ourselves the community and going forward

Thank you. Dr. Lucious? Thank you. I want to hopefully provide some clarity to this conversation. So Melissa mentioned 1.3551 would be the millage that would require a unanimous vote. And I believe a rough estimate is that that would raise an additional 1.5 million. I also think that what Vice Chair Champaign asked was, what would the millage be to max out to the spending cap? And that was a number, I don't remember the exact number, but it was somewhere around 300,000. And for that, you're looking at a 0.02 millage increase. So we would go to 1.2870. And anywhere between our current millage, 1.267 and 1.3551, anywhere in between there only requires a two-thirds majority vote. It's just the 1.3551 that would require a unanimous vote. Now... I think this is going to take some discussion. And let's say you approved 1.350. And I don't know exactly what that would raise, but let's just say it would be close to 1.4 million. Then we probably need to talk at another meeting about how you would like to spend that $1.4 million, although then I think we would exceed the spending cap. So perhaps the recommendation is let's sock that money in reserves, because depending on what happens with Amendment 3, we may need it for something else. We may need it for emergencies, whatever. So I think we have to think about that. And then my last point that I'll make is if we're just trying to fill that 300,000 in the spending cap and raise the millage 0.02, Quite honestly, I don't know that it's worth it. I mean, we don't have a designated request for that funding. If we had something that I said, oh, we absolutely need $300,000 for this or for that. But we don't have that request. We were able to balance our budget. I think we brought you a responsible budget at millage neutral. And I certainly wouldn't go to bat for 0.02 mills. I think if you want to raise a significant amount because you genuinely believe we need to put some additional funds and reserves, then you talk about a higher millage rate. Otherwise, our recommendation, the staff's recommendation, is millage neutral. We have a balanced budget at millage neutral.

Councilor Gray, your light sign's on. One more go around if you have guys that are going to ask for a motion or not.

Just a couple points of clarification, actually. Last year's millage rate did increase from the prior year. Is that correct?

We put it in reserves.

BUT THAT BECOME THE BASELINE THAT WE BUILT OFF OF. I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT LAST YEAR'S MILLAGE RATE INCREASED FROM THE PRIOR YEAR, SO WE HAVE HAD SOME VERY MODEST STEP UP.

YES. WE HAD A MODEST INCREASE. THAT'S CORRECT.

OKAY. AND THEN THE SECOND QUESTION, JUST TO CONFIRM THIS, BECAUSE I KEEP HEARING THIS, THIS COUNCIL COULD DECIDE AT ITS DISCRETION to issue a $5 or a $10 million bond for capital improvements if they choose to vote for it without going for a referendum. Is that correct?

Yes, that is true. However, spending those funds would be tricky due to the spending cap.

So really the spending cap is our leash?

Yes, sir.

Thank you. I'm done.

Councilor Dome.

Dr. Lucius, I'm sure there's people sitting at home in panic right now about what it's going to cost them in the way of their taxes to Marco Island. Should we adopt a higher mill rate? And just as a historical perspective, fiscal year 16, our mill rate was 2.046. Right now, we're looking at doing 1.267, quite a bit lower. If we were, as citizens, comfortable with that fiscal 16 of 2.04, this discussion of do we stay here and hopefully things go our way, or we can, as Councillor Champaign says, put ourselves into a safety net situation. If we need to, we can draw down or reduce it. But I think your average citizen wants to know, on an average, let's say, assessed value home of $1 million, what is that going to cost us per year as a citizen? About $1,000 a year?

Oh, would you give me one second? Because I actually do have that information. OK. So, and I would just direct everyone, there is a helpful chart on our website that shows, okay, nevermind. Annual cost on a million dollar home would be about $100 a year. Yes, sir. And that would be a millage. So if you're talking about the millage that you're talking about now, which is less than a tenth of a mill, it's about .09, it would be about $100 a year on a million-dollar assessed value.

Okay. And do we have a number if we put it at the max of 1.3551? That was for the 1.3551.

$100 a year? Yes, sir.

OK, that's my Starbucks budget for the week. So I think as we look at these numbers, let's get realistic here. We need some kind of a safety net here. And if we're all going to be reasonable about this and we want to keep our island the way it is, I think we need to do what is necessary, even if it's not popular. I wasn't here running for election. I didn't sign anything saying I won't raise taxes. We saw what happened to HW Bush when he said that. Yeah, it ended with one term. And I appreciate the effort or the thought with those who signed it, but we need to evolve. We need to look at this going down the road a bit. So I'm with... Councilor Champagne on this. I think we should go as high as we possibly can. And if we need to, we can reduce it later. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Goldler. Councilor Champagne, I think you are so generous with your money and with residents' money, too, with all due respect. So here is my question, my problem with the increase in millage. We know what we need is infrastructure in our town. Yes, we do need a lot of work, without a doubt. City, our staff is recommending us here it is, balanced budget, stay with millage neutral. And let's give the citizens opportunity to decide on a referendum. If they want to stay where they are, then they will vote no. If they want to fix what's going on in our town, then they will vote yes. But I do not feel comfortable raising millage on the citizens of Marco Island. So I would not be voting for that. Sorry.

Well, there's your answer on a unanimous vote, maybe. Vice Chair Champagne.

Yeah, $100 a year. Come on. Not going to cause a ripple effect among the community. To budget more safety and security, I don't know why we're arguing over $100 a year for a million dollar residence, because most of the residents are under $1 million in assessed value, quite frankly. So they pay even less than $100 a year to go to that number. And let me just remind one last comment. From 2016 to this year, 2026, millage rate has gone down 39%. Inflation cumulatively during the same period of time has gone up 36%. As we sit here trying to develop a budget forecast for the inflation rate this year, it's about 4%, maybe even higher if the war keeps going on. But 4% right now. So whatever we get is 4% less in reality that we can use for purchasing power. inflation has been a real ugly contributor to our problem. And we're not taking that into account. To get a true increase, we need to take into account the 4% inflation and then build in something on top of that. So I would favor the... the 1.3, whatever it is, as a number, because that $100 a year cost and extra taxes, it's not an issue, in my opinion. People are spending more on candy bars than $100.

As you know, the light signs, I'll try to wrap this up. Vice Chair, you're correct. It is a small, it's not the amount, it's the philosophical debate on Marco. Some of us were elected, we campaigned, I understand you were appointed. By no disrespect, it's an easier path, but appreciate you being here. We kept – we made promises to the citizens that put us here, and those citizens voted on us based on those promises. Now, you're right – $300,000, 1.5 million – it's quite insignificant in the realm of all of Marco Island, but it's significant to the pledge you make to the people. And those people put us here based on those pledges. They didn't put councilors here that said, I'm raising your taxes, we've saved you too much money over time, and I challenge you to campaign on Marco Island and say that. See how quick – so we are a very wealthy community that is very conservative. And that spending cap is what literally got us to city, forgive me, I'm not gonna know the word, cityhood, cityship, sorry about that. Without that, it took five referendums before it. So will it maybe shift at some point, Marco? Possibly. I don't know if today, but here's what I'm hearing. We're not going to get a unanimous vote for the highest millage rate anyway. Councilor Gold, is there any way you'd change your mind on that? So it's a moot point of motion for the highest millage rate. And to try to squeeze this for $300,000 and try to get a super majority seems almost like a moot point for those peanuts. So it sounds to me like millage neutral is going to be the only possibility of surviving here. And we could always go lower than that if we chose. Would anybody like to make a motion on any of these numbers?

I'd like to make a motion to adopt a millage rate of 1.30.

Do we have a second on that? Motion by Vice Chair Champaign, second by Councilor Dome. I see no other light signs from the Councilors. We already had public comment on that. Can you call the roll, please?

Yes, sir. Vice Chair Champaign? Yes. Councilor Dome?

Yes.

Councilor Henry?

No.

Councilor Schwan?

No.

Councilor Gray? No. Councilor Goler?

No.

Chair Palumbo?

No. All right, so that rate failed. Anybody else like to make any other motions? I'll make a motion at millage neutral.

I'll second that.

So we have a motion. I heard Councillor Gray, and I heard, first I heard Councillor, seconded by Councillor Schwan. Can we just clarify the millage neutral number just so we know, please?

Yes, and I want to be clear that in your motion, you should include both the city's millage and the Hideaway Beach millage. Both are included in the resolution. So the city millage at millage neutral would be 1.2670. Hideaway Beach millage at millage neutral, 1.6000. Very good.

Councilor Gray, are those millage rates acceptable to your motion? Yes. Vice, sorry, Councilor Schwan? Yes. Do you second? Okay, so we have a motion and a second. Dr. Lucci, is your light sign still on? Do you have anything, or do we?

No, thank you.

Okay. I see no other light signs. Call the roll, please.

Councilor Gray? Yes. Councilor Schwan?

Yes.

Councilor Goler? Yes. Councilor Henry?

Yes.

Vice Chair Champaign? No. Councilor Dome? No. Chair Palumbo?

Yes. That puts us at the five we need, correct? Five to two. There's your majority, your super majority. All right, motion passes. I had to just double check that. We move on to 15C. Authorized city manager to request withdrawal from a Mark Island Police Department dock construction project, including withdrawal from EPA grant application. Chief Bellardo, no interim chief. Let me just scratch that off my agenda. Police Chief Bellardo, you are presenting.

Good evening, Council. Chief Bilardo, Parkland Police Department. So we are looking to withdraw from a grant project that we have been working on. So we're requesting that the city manager withdraw from this project. Give you a little background on it. MIPD began the process to apply for a grant from the EPA back in April of 2022. Many delays have impacted this grant, including a NEPA environmental assessment, funding of no significant impact, approval of guidelines to avoid impacts to West Indian manatee, multiple government shutdowns and policy changes at the executive level, adding to delays at the EPA. This grant has not been awarded yet. It has been earmarked, but not awarded. The original project budget was $65,000 for local match funding and $260,000 grant funds if they are awarded by the EPA. The project has become cost sunk in that the construction costs have grown since the grant money was earmarked at $260,000. This amount cannot be increased to account for more expensive construction costs that have increased over several years of time. So the original budget was $325,000. A 25-foot Carolina skiff with trailer and equipment has been purchased with the local match funds for $49,573. If operating from the original project budget, this leaves $275,427 for the entire remainder of the project. The project was put out to bid and only one contractor bid under budget. The lowest responsive and responsible bidder went through ownership changes. 180 days have gone by, and they've become unresponsive, and they will not sign the needed documents. The second lowest estimate to construct a dock is $327, $546.69. This places the project well over the budgeted cost, so we're about $50,000 we'd have to come up with in addition to what we've already spent. This project is an extension of a dock being built by the Collier County Sheriff's Office. Part of the awarded grant requirements would include water quality testing in conjunction with the data on notices of violation for illicit discharge. In the absence of this dock, the code boat will still be utilized. We have that. It will still be utilized for the canal patrols to educate and issue notices of violation as necessary for all violations, especially those impacting water quality. The boat's going to be trailered and deployed from Caxambas at no cost for storage there. The interlocal agreement allows 10 days to indicate if the city wishes to withdraw from the project due to the construction costs exceeding what the city reasonably expects. So my recommendation is that we cancel this project because considering the financial issues that we're facing and coming up with another $50,000 to cover that gap, I don't think is reasonable considering the fact that we do have another option for the boat, place to put it. We actually have three viable options. so it doesn't make any sense at this point to go higher plus fact that the grant has not been awarded yet we put it back out to bid it's gonna be probably another year costs are only gonna go up so it's gonna be even more by the time it all gets finalized thank you chief for the presentation I do so we have some light signs from the counselors the counselor goal you're up first before I move a motion to approve it I have one question sure that have you been conducting the code enforcement vote all rights in the canals right now The code enforcement boat is still not ready. They're still finishing up some of the electronics. So it's not quite in service yet. It should be a couple of weeks. But it's been purchased. We own it. They put the motor on it. I think they have to do a couple of things electronically so it will be ready to patrol.

Okay. Then I'll move motion to move to approve. I can never get this right.

I get a second. We have a motion by Councilor Goler. I heard a second by Councilor Schwan. We still have some light signs on. Councilor Gray.

My question is operational effectiveness. We had a vision to build this dock in a shared process with the sheriff. It's in the north end of the island. Right. Loading the boat up at the south end probably makes it harder to create code enforcement coverage in the north end of the island, just maybe from a commuting time. I'm trying to understand. We had a vision that this was an excellent operating model with the county sheriff to use this dock. Right. What changed?

what changed was the delay and the increased expense it's it's we're not going to get for what we're gonna the extra that we're gonna spend we're still gonna have access to the water and the canals it's just it'll be a different part of the island where they'll be able to you'll be able to put the boat in at the it'll be a trailer right there at the CACS campus boat ramp at the off of Collier Court it'll just be different part of the island they're still gonna have access to all the waterways and everything like that

So there was really no compelling reason to move forward with the sheriff in this tank They're gonna they're going to continue to do their project.

They have a little bit more wiggle room resources to do what they're doing To me it just doesn't make sense for us to come up with that kind of money. We're really we're going to operationally be Essentially the same it's gonna be a push Thank You councillor Henry

I just had a quick question. Thank you for all the information. How much money has been expended to get to this far?

About just under $50,000. So we have the boat. We bought a boat. That's really what it is.

But what about drawings, engineering costs?

We can't spend anything until the money is awarded. If we spend any money associated with this grant, it will not be reimbursed.

So we can't do anything until it's awarded.

No money has been expended? Just the boat.

Just the boat. Thank you.

There's about $15,000 left over from matching funds that's earmarked for this project. There is a possibility that a lift could be put in for this vote if the county allows us to do it. We've just started looking at that. For that amount of money, we might be able to do a lift that would be a little bit more operationally effective, but it's kind of in its infancy. So if that's something that we wanted to move forward with, that's actually a fourth option for operationally to do.

Chief, I think you're going to get what you need for tonight, but we do see one more light sign, Vice Chair Champagne.

My light sign is on only to make a motion to authorize the city manager to request withdrawal from the MIPD dock construction project.

We had a motion.

Oh, you did.

That's okay.

Like I said, it's that important. We need two motions.

I missed the whole 14 ayes, so don't take it personally. So we have a motion in a second. Appreciate you confirming that. Do we have anybody signed up for public comment? No public speakers on this. Call the roll, please.

Councilor Goler.

Yes.

Councilor Schwan. Yes. Councilor Dome. Yes. Councilor Gray. Yes. Councilor Henry. Yes. Vice Chair Champaign. Yes. Chair Palumbo.

Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Councilor. All right, moving on to, what do we have here, 15, sorry, we have 16 items removed from the consent agenda, 7A. So we go back to item 7A. Councilor Gray, I believe you removed that if my notes are correct. So do you want to start?

I can. It might be a speedy conversation. Okay. I already paid Mr. Poteet some compliments for the quality of his financial reporting and insight. Complex organizations are often managed through exception reports. And so when I saw, this one intrigued me that both the customer and the organization both let this, this billing continued for what, a year at a very high rate? So I was really more interested in the system side of this question that obviously we should return it, we should respect it. I think that's good. I was just curious how this type of, Accounting irregular and I understood there was an inputting software problem at the beginning Is there nothing to catch this type of sort of variance over? An earlier period of time.

I'm not that familiar with our software program our billing software program To answer that question. I don't know if our finance department can answer that but that's where it would be caught is through the software program but This was a relatively new account. They started in 2024. And then when, just so the public knows, when the meter was installed, there were actually four meters installed with this account. One of the meters, well... Several of the meters have what's called a factor. Your meter will read at a higher usage than it's going to be billed at. In other words, a factor of 10 in this particular case, it was a factor of 100. That it should have been built at an extra zero was put into the software where it was now being built at a thousand versus a hundred so they got a bill on one of their Meters on their account so it wouldn't be as clear-cut as you might think if it were one meter it was four meters and and therefore the anomaly didn't stick out unless you were paying the bill, I guess, if that makes sense.

So there's no sort of patch that we could address to try and avoid this type of?

I can't answer that question, but I can research it and get back with you.

I make a motion to approve, and thank you for waiting and having this conversation with me. Okay.

And a motion by Councilor Gray, second by Councilor Goler. Since we're on this topic, I see no other light signs. Jeff, I'll just say real quick, I love Apple. I love American Express because they have great customer service. The mark of a good company is something will go wrong. It's how you deal with what went wrong. You acknowledged it. We spoke about it today. It's been fixed. Every penny is accounted for. Appreciate that. Appreciate the honest acknowledgement and making sure the client's taken care of going forward.

And I can tell you that Lynn and our customer service department really worked hard to make sure that this got straightened out. And then both the city manager and our finance director reviewed the detailed information that Lynn put together. Very appreciative, you know, for her efforts in this effort. Thank you. Anybody signed up to speak on this?

No registered speakers. Call the roll, please.

Councilor Gray? Yes. Councilor Goler? Yes. Councilor Schwan? Yes. Councilor Dome? Yes. Vice Chair Champaign? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Chair Palumbo?

Yes. Motion passes 7-0, which brings us to councilor communication and future agenda items. Councilors, light signs if there's something you would like to speak about or share with your co-councillors. Councilor Henry?

Here we go. We talked about it a little bit earlier with Terry here. I'll just remind everyone that early voting starts on Saturday the 8th and runs until the 15th. It's every day from 10 to 6 at the Mark Island Library. Election day is Tuesday the 18th. Polls are open from 7 to 7. So I encourage everyone to do their homework and vote for the best person in the respective party for all the primary elections. Martin, can you put up the slides, please? And I'd like to thank Ray for helping me with the slides. If you're looking for something fun to do, meet Captain America, enjoy free ice cream, and hang out with your local police officers. Join the Marco Island Police Department for National Night Out, a fun, family-friendly evening where you can meet your local officers, explore police vehicles, and enjoy free giveaways. And even meet Captain America. It's tomorrow night from 5 to 7 at the Marco Island Police Department right here, 51 Bald Eagle Drive. Bring the family, enjoy the ice cream, spend the evening getting to know the men and women who proudly serve our community. I'm going to say we, but the Marco Island Police Department cannot wait to see you there. Second slide. Once again for the Marco Island Police Department. I'm reading what Ray wrote. I'm just going to make that clear. Want an opportunity to meet Officer Will without seeing red and blue lights behind you? Join us for Coffee with a Cop at the Borough on Wednesday, August 5th. That's this Wednesday from 9.30 to 11. Officer Will Prigge and other members of the Marco Island Police Department will be there for coffee, conversation, and a chance to check out the Mustang. The Borough is at 845 Bald Eagle Drive, and that's from 9.30 to 11.30. Thank you, Martin. And thank you, Ray. And then I just – the other thing I had was there is a beach cleanup this Saturday at 8 a.m. Please join the Beach and Coastal Advisory Committee members and come to South Beach. All of the items needed to pick up the trash are provided, and the cleanup is sponsored by the J.W. Marriott, Butcher Brothers, and iTrip. And I want to thank the Beach and Coastal Committee for putting these together and loyally being there every month. So that's this Saturday at 8 a.m.

Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor.

Counselor Goehler? I have three items. First of all, while Jeff is still here, Jeff, I would like to follow up on the one of the speakers spoke earlier about the rates for the hotels. I don't know if you have an answer for that or if you could provide us an answer at some point. I would greatly appreciate it.

Well, the rates are set by council. It's a policy decision. And if... if you remember in 2010 through 2012 we went through a bunch of rate studies and the rate studies indicated that that the the business and the commercial class were paying their fair share and so the question went back to the consultant and they asked them to revise their methodology and the same answer came back and this went over a period of three years and So I really can't address it other than if you'd like to do another rate study, we can do that, and that would determine whether or not they're paying their fair share or not.

Would you be too much to ask you? Should I ask for consensus, or how does it work?

I'm going to talk about you have every right to ask for consensus I'm actually going to address that in my council communication that we are shooting to consensus with four people agreeing before getting white papers I will let you return to that but if you want to if I could speak first to because I think it starts with maybe a white paper and a lot of information before we just put four hands up and say go do a race okay but that's my thought but but if you want to I will not stifle your voice you have a right to ask

All right, then maybe I will reach out to you, and we can have a discussion if it's OK, Mr. Pachit. I have another one. We had injured firemen, and we prayed, and I know he's doing well. And thank you, guys. We had a fire the other day with the Cape Marco chief, and I know that he's doing well. Is he doing well? One of our firemen was injured.

Yes, he is. He's recovering well. Thank you.

Okay. Well, thank you very much, and please give our best from all of us. Thank you. Another question would be – I think chief is gone. I don't know who can answer. Has anybody heard about this flock traffic cameras that everybody's talking about, how they're collecting all the data? And I just have a question. I don't know who to ask about it, but chief is gone probably. I'll just

I'd ask the city manager maybe to start with, not to put on the... Yeah, flood cameras.

We have the license reader already once you come over the bridge. We already have it. But now that we are talking about upgrading our cameras, the traffic signals, and it's supposed to have a data center in there that's supposed to be like an AI. They are collecting all the information of driver's license, I mean, the license plates. So I just need some answers about it if you have any.

Well, I think the basic answer is FLOC is a brand name of the license plate reader. We do have a license plate reader on the bridge, as everyone knows. I don't believe that's the brand name. And the cameras that are being placed as we do our signalization upgrades are traffic signal cameras to monitor the traffic and help change the signal. We are not collecting or capturing data on those or storing any data from those cameras.

I could add a little more color commentary.

Certainly. And also, Chief Blardo is here to add anything, any concerns about the license plate reader.

We were discussing the flood cameras. Chief, what you can say about us?

Oh, did I get it? All right, I got it. So we're talking about the cameras at the traffic signals and all that?

Yeah, flood cameras, the traffic lights that we put on right now.

Yeah, none of that data is being stored.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, so it's just there's an ability to observe it, but we're not creating a database, anything like that. So that data is not being stored. It's just being used for any kind of real-time surveillance. information, things like that, for any kind of traffic issues, just in real time.

It's very good to hear. Thank you very much, sir.

You're welcome.

Alan, I had a follow-up on that, and you know where I'm going with it. We had some legal problems with those bridge cameras?

Well, with the license reader cameras, but that case is still pending. That's what I just want to mention. We still have a pending case. We're still involved, but the court hasn't made any final determination. Very good.

Steve, did you want to weigh in on this, or you had something to... Well, it was because the chief we had talked about, I actually met, the question was, is the data protected, and is it hands-off to any other organization? And they researched it, came back to me, and said, we're protected. So that was the peace of mind I think we were looking for here. Thank you.

Thank you. Counsel, anything else to add? No, I'm done. All right. And I'll come back to you when I get done with mine if you need to be revisited. Counselor Gray, you're up next.

Two topics. Mr. Poteet, since you weren't smart enough to leave.

That's a loaded start.

The rate study. We started talking about the AWT and if that rolls forward. I thought I heard you state that that was going to require a rate study at some point in that journey. Is that correct?

A little bit different. A revenue sufficiency study. Okay. That may generate the need for a rate study.

Okay, so it's still cooking on the back burner in one direction or another. Thank you. I trust that the council all received the letter that was sent to all of us from the MICA Board of Directors. This is something that hit home for me because the MICA membership totals as many as 20,000 people on the island. I don't know if all of you digested that MICA Board of Directors meeting or letter. which was really talking about the roles and responsibilities of the Tourist Development Council. And I thought what they presented in that letter was very powerful, very straightforward, and really sort of tracked no taxation without representation. So I had a couple questions. I really felt they were going in the right direction to have an inclusive. I hope we're not going to spin the Tourist Development Council off into a not-for-profit using supported by taxpayer money, but that may be the will of that decision. So that I understand. So I just wanted to share that view. And Mr. Chairman, my question for you is you've been sitting on the Tourist Development Council. Have we shared any posture on the desires or how we're looking at all this or what our intentions might be? Let me tell you why this is really important to me. I just read an article on Bend, Oregon, 109,000 population community and they found they have great tourism to over a million tourists come for the hundred thousand residents and they Justified moving some of that tourist development money for public safety meaning to support the police department and the reason is because it is such a powerful part of the tourist experience etc and So I'm asking a number of loaded questions and then I'll throw one more out there and then back out of this gracefully. I don't know if who's met with the MICA Board of Directors and what's important, but they had a very professional letter mapping out a responsible way to staff it if you do take this to a not-for-profit. And then I just see there's an opportunity here that could be revenue raising to support our police department as well. So can you shed any light on any of this?

Let me try to remember. A few statements first. I was a MICA member. Not only because I forgot to renew, because I don't go to the beach, but I will be renewing just so you know. I've been a member for years. When you say 20,000 MICA members approve this, I think that's a little misleading. MICA, their board, unlike this council, does not have a meeting where 20,000 of their members show up and vote on this or vote an opinion. They are 20,000 strong, but they do follow the lead of their board of directors. That they do vote on. It sounds to me, and I believe that the county commissioners, if I guesstimate right, like this idea. It's a good thing for the TDC. I don't fear the word tourism, and I don't see how it hurts anybody. The privatization will still be under the county commissioners. The budget will still be under the county commissioners. It will release some constraints. Yes, it'll make the TDC's job a little easier, and don't forget, it might not be popular. Their job is not supplementing tax dollars so we could put it back into the community. Their first and foremost job is to promote tourism. It's not a popular statement, but that's their job. Advertise, promote tourism, and bring tourists to the community. Now with that, they do realize it's, and at least what I said on that council, I realize it's symbiotic. I realize the money I put back into the community keeps the community looking nice, and it brings the right type of people. So I understand when you take those tourist dollars, sometimes you do use them for the community. dredging for the beach, which we enjoy. I talked about beach bathrooms, which I'd like to pursue with this council, possibility of a fishing pier. So whatever you use the money for, the citizens are going to benefit from it. And you can connect a lot of things to tourism. There's a lot of I motion to approve because it promotes tourism in that TDC. Some of them are garbage cans for parks, picnic tables for parks. Tourists use them, but a lot of locals use them. So the only change, in my opinion, that happens with this is it makes things a little easier for the actual TDC staff. It's common. I believe, I don't remember correctly, I believe 60% of the DMOs or direct marketing organizations in the state are now privatized nonprofits. So we're probably the exception, not the rule. But this real concern, this will be when the county commissioners are here, this will be when the citizens show up and say, here's what we think, here's what we believe. I thought it was an extremely well-written letter. We haven't had a TDC meeting yet for me to share or do anything with it. And I'm not sure it's fully on our pay grade. It's really going to be the county commissioners making this ultimate decision. But our time would be as councillors and as citizens. When's the meeting, Casey? August, forgive me? Remember the date? August.

August 27. 1.30.

That would be the time to come and state that. I don't know if I fully answered all your questions, but that's about where we're at.

I'm trying to sort out. So if this went forward and it was spun off in a not-for-profit footprint, than the selection? Because right now, it seems to be going towards staffing it with business people and experienced, not really resident people, or representing all aspects of the community. So is that the staffing still up for conversation?

You have three counselors, although the counselor from EVERGLADE CITY IS ACTUALLY, I THINK HE'S A LAY PERSON, BUT HE ACTUALLY HAPPENS TO BE A COUNSELOR, TOO. SO REALLY IT'S MYSELF. AS A COUNSELOR, IT'S NAPLE CITY COUNSELOR COACH KRAMER, BILL COACH KRAMER, WHO SIT ON IT, SO THE TWO OF US. I FORGET THE MAKEUP, FORGIVE ME, AND I SIT ON IT. THREE, TWO LAY PEOPLE, ONE CHAIRMAN OF THE, IT'S CHAIRED BY ONE OF THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AND THEN THREE PEOPLE FROM THE INDUSTRY. OURS IS MICHAEL LAMME FROM THE MARRIOTT. And we have two from hotels in Naples. Is that going to change now? That'll still be the makeup unless...

Okay. So the idea is that same staffing or those appointed people for that commission?

At least I'm led to believe that's still the same.

Yes. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Counselor Schwan, you've been waiting patiently. You're up.

Thank you, Martin. If you could put up the slide, please. And while Martin is getting that slide up, I do want to let you know this is about – there was a new sea turtle nest that was caged today. It actually is in a really popular part of the beach. It's where – it's actually right against the Cape Marco fence, and it's kind of right where the black stones start. And so there's a lot of activity by beachgoers there. But a shout-out to MIPD, who provides these signs on the cages. about not placing anything within 25 feet of these cages. And I did want to just let you know, we do have the county report on the activity that we've been seeing for nesting sea turtles on the Marco beaches. So far, we've had 166 total nests. We've had 250 false crawls. We've had 48 hatch nests, and we have four disoriented nests so far. And we're at halfway through the season right now. The sea turtle experts do tell and share with us that only one out of 1,000 of these little baby sea turtles survive to adulthood. So we all care deeply about the hatchlings and want to just make sure that we're abiding by the sea turtle ordinance so that we can make it possible for these females, as they mature, to come back to the Marco beaches where they were born. So thank you. And, Martin, thanks for putting up that. And a shout-out to MIPD for your enforcement.

Thank you, Counselor. Counselor Dunn.

Mr. Chairman, there's a question for you since you're not part of the TDC.

I'll try to answer it if I can.

I heard the comment that we don't want to burden the taxpayers, but isn't the TDC money come strictly from bed tax, not the local taxes?

No. The TDC money, yes, comes from tourist taxation.

Basically bed tax, not our local taxes. Correct. When I hear the term, well, we don't want to burden the taxpayers, the local taxpayers. We're not. We're just taking it off the tourists from the bed tax, supposedly. So this is not going to be, if this goes forward, it's not going to be a burden on the local taxpayers.

No. I mean, it's a unique beast, tourist taxation, right? I tread lightly here, sitting here. It works its way back into the community. I view it as showing the citizens, hey, tourism is benefiting your community. We're kind of all in this together to a degree. You're making the community beautiful. We're using some tourist tax to do it. We connect a lot of things to the tourist tax. But in return, people still continue to come because it's a beautiful community, and we ask them a little bit. So I said the term symbiotic once at a TDC meeting, and somebody said they liked it. It's an evolution. How do I say it my best Jersey way? We're kind of all in this together. I don't know how to put it. Did that answer any questions?

Again, basically clarification. It is bed tax. Correct. Correct. Yes. And another point, when it goes back to the mill rate thing, How many of the past city councilors that voted for this rollback in the last eight years that kind of put us in this tough position still reside on the island? Or how many, you know, I know a bunch that did the damage and they left.

Eight years worth. You had Irwin. Rich Blahn, a voter for the last year. Graffoni, Joe Roll, I think a jarrant move. Joe Roll, I believe, is still here. Rich is still here. Becky Irwin is still here. Greg Folley is still here. Vice Chair Bracknett's passed away, unfortunately. I'm trying to think back. I don't know if you ever voted for it, but he passed. I can't tell you the beginning of 2006. I can't remember exactly. Charlotte? I'm here still. That was kind of a given. That was, I thought, understood. I'm sitting here. Yes, I'm still here in case you didn't notice.

My point is just accountability. We did this eight years in a row back. We're in a tough position now.

Two moved away, maybe, if I remember. Jarrett was one, and I want to say, was it Sam? What was Sam's, the captain? Young. I think he moved. He had to resign and he moved.

Rios is under house arrest.

No comment. You'll learn that in our business. No comment.

Oh, it's true. I'm sorry. That's the way it is. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Vice Chair Champagne, you are up.

Thank you. Jeff, you're going to be sorry for sitting around here. Did I hear you... On the water rate issue being charged to hotels, did I understand you correctly when you said the rate was established in 2010 or 2012?

The rates have been adjusted periodically. We haven't had a rate adjustment since 2017. That said, our rate structure hasn't changed since 2006. So the structure has been the same while we have had periodic rate increases.

I guess what I'm leading to, if the last adjustment occurred in 2017, it seems to me based on inflation and other financial situations that have occurred since then, time for a rate increase.

Well, that may or may not be true. We can do a rate revenue sufficiency study and that will determine that answer. But what I can tell you that over the years we have been able to reduce our costs through operational methods as well as our debt service has been reduced. Historically, our debt service has been pretty high, but it's been coming down and down over the years. Tonight's decision will further that debt service reduction again.

Do we monitor how we compare to other municipalities?

We do in certain attributes, but all utilities are different. Our costs, our treatment methods are vastly different. Marco Island has some of the most technologically advanced treatment plants that you'll find anywhere. And so our costs are different because of that. um we have no traditional water sources of our water sources are our alternative water sources brackish water our primary drinking water source is a it's a surface water but it's actually storm water runoff and so those type of costs are different from treatment plant to treatment plant so i really couldn't cost

Approximately how much would it cost to do a new rate study a rate study or whatever? It's probably in the neighborhood of $200,000 No further questions Thank you.

I was just writing that I see no other light science. I guess I'll make me last a couple things I Just I'll read this without the name first The $1.8 trillion economy is now the world's 14th largest after surpassing Australia and Mexico. Can anybody guess what that 14th largest economy in the world is? Florida. Florida's economy moves up to number 14 globally. This is, I think it's from a Florida Association of Realtors update, but the company is Florida Chamber Foundation. Again, this is one study that might not, but the foundation said Florida's economy grew 6.3% over the past year, moving the state closer to its goal of ranking amongst the world's top 10 largest economy by 2030. To me, this is great news, and this is concerning news, right? If you live on Marco, it's concerning. We are land scarce. How we treat redevelopment, How we treat moving the island forward, these condos will be redeveloped at some point in time, especially the condos. Their hope is that they're developed with twice the square footage and half the units. But they're coming to Florida still, and there's land in Florida. If you watch the county commissioner's meeting, and this might be something to speak about when they're here, if we have a little bit of county commissioner slash counselor communication session, we do want to keep it to a few distinct topics and not get too far off. But the data centers they were talking about in their last meeting, what are we doing in Collier County, a very important issue, our new rezoning in our congressional district. So a double-edged sword. They're coming. They're spending money. There will be a heck of a lot more tourist tax to distribute over there. But there's going to be a lot more people too, not just tourists but full-time residents. We found paradise. We all moved to paradise, and we've all affected paradise. So just sharing it for what it's worth, good and bad. A couple of things I want to – COVER. AND COUNCILOR GOLER, I'M GOING TO TALK TO YOUR STATEMENT. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT A COUPLE OF THINGS MOVING FORWARD. WHAT WE CONSENT TO, HOW QUICK WE DO IT, WHAT WE SHOULD BE POSSIBLY ASKING FOR BEFORE WE DO IT. AND LAST MEETING'S CONSENSUS WITH ABSOLUTELY NO CONVERSATION AND NOTHING TO DO WITH CAPE MARCO, THAT IS NOT MY BUSINESS. COUNCILOR CHUANG, YOU AND YOUR BOARD ARE YOUR BUSINESS AS A GATED COMMUNITY. I JUST WANT TO SPEAK ABOUT THE PROPERTY RIGHTS PORTION OF IT AND MAKE THAT VERY, VERY CLEAR DESPITE WHAT WAS SPOKEN ABOUT TODAY UNDER some citizen comment. Martin, can you put up, there was a slide I forwarded to look at. So I asked Alan to just, I asked him five different items here. What were the costs to the citizens on his end, on the attorney's end, for the e-bike ordinance, the firearms in the park, noise, sharks, and turtles, and there's your number, $29,795. That in and of itself might not be so massive. But you have to also put in all the staff time. On the noise ordinance, we had a tremendous amount of staff time put in. Chief, former chief of police, staff, code compliance. So there's a lot of time, energy, and effort put into these wants of the council, I'll say. Now, I'll use Councilor Henry as an example, a good example. A while back, you brought to us the e-charging stations, right? Not a major topic on Marco Island, but this council said we can't decide on it today. We need facts, data, information, and a white paper or report on it before we can make a decision. I brought the noise ordinance back up And I was surprised. I thought I'd get at least the compromise. When I polled this council, I said, would you like to reduce the nighttime decibels by two points, the daytime decibels by two points? And I believe I said, decrease the enforcement by 20%, 50 feet to 40. And my quick math was 20% less. And I also asked that we remove plainly audible, which I thought would be the conversation starter. After all this money, time, and effort spent on noise, I couldn't even get a counter. proposal from my co-counselors. Four said, we do not have enough data. There is not enough data to even consider going forward with this if there were all the time and energy and effort put forward. Heck, I thought one of you would have said, well, leave plainly audible, and I'll take the lower decibels, and I'll take the shorter enforcement. It's like a win for everybody. I couldn't even get traction for that. There wasn't enough data to move forward. So my concern is, and I tread lightly on this because I don't want to stifle anybody's voice. If you ask me for consensus, I will put it to the people, put it to the council and ask. try to remain neutral at that point i'll make my vote make state my opinion but facilitating your requests i want to be neutral but we are raising hands pretty quickly last meeting here's what we agreed to staff will ask planning board to make a recommendation to city council regarding a conditional use permit for changes in any recreation in any zoning district that's a massive ask for a state that is probably one of the most property rights protecting in the entire country. And I believe my exact words were, God, guys, you can't just willy nilly stick your hand up and direct staff to do this. We could revisit this if anybody wants. But more importantly, going forward, I think, and I'll try to direct this to counselors, we should be asking for a white paper. a little bit of cost, what's the effort, time, and energy going to be to the planning board, to the staff. You'll notice me sometimes saying to Casey, Casey, do you have time to do this? If we ask you to look into this, because I've been around long enough to understand our wins create a ton of work for staff. And if we're never going to just proceed forward and just kind of want it for the sake of wanting it, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT WE WOULD PROBABLY BE, I DON'T WANT TO PUT ANY PROCEDURES IN PLACE, I DON'T WANT TO ASK FOR PROCEDURES. I WOULD ASK THOUGH THAT MAYBE WE START CONSIDERING ASKING EACH OTHER FOR A BIT OF WHITE PAPER BEFORE WE MAKE SOME OF THE DECISIONS ON THESE LARGER ITEMS. I MEAN, A CHARGING STATION, WE NEED ALL THIS DATA. ANY RECREATION IN ANY ZONING DISTRICT, WE ASKED FOR NOTHING. NOT A COST, NOT TIME ON THE STAFF. not what any means. I thought that was very vague. Anyhow, light signs if you have any comments on this. Councillor Schwan, please jump in.

Thank you very much and thank you for your comments. I do want to follow up just for clarification and to refresh every councillor's memory here. So we asked approximately four or five months ago, we directed our city attorney to do an analysis of what other communities in Florida are doing in regards to pickleball noise. That was a request that came from our residents, several emails, several testimony. It started with our racket center and the condos around there. We had several of those people who live around there asked please to have the planning board or land use to look at this. We also had several requests from people who are surrounded by the Y. So that's what started that conversation, and it was decided to direct our city attorney to provide us that document. That came up once he finished it. A couple months later, then, we had a discussion about it when we were discussing the Racket Center and the surrounding neighbors to that. We discussed the timing of when might be appropriate to discuss this and look at it, and it was decided at a later time to bring it up. So there was the background. That wasn't a whim by any means. We had our residents come up here, send us several emails, Asking us to please look at that and I'm thankful that Ellen brought that forward to us for our consideration So I just wanted to give that background on it Counselors with all due respect fully and I appreciate it.

I remember that meeting I agree with you, but when I see any recreation any zoning It's broad or I only interpret this as a workaround for a pickleball consensus then that's the only way you could look at it if it said do you want to direct planning board to look at pickleball noise. That might have been a different story. But we've lumped the entire, every recreation and every zoning area. And I believe, I didn't give consensus, but I respectfully didn't. And I believe, was it you, Councilor Henry, if I remember? And was it you, Vice Chair? So the three of us were the ones that, I remember you talking about property rights, and it was a big ask. It seems very broad to me, and I'll use it again as an example. Going forward, I think we need to do a better job as council and say we need more data before we just move forward WITH SOMETHING THIS BROAD, EVEN IF IT WAS SPOKEN ABOUT BEFORE. THIS WASN'T A PICKLEBALL CONVERSATION. THIS WAS ANYTHING NEW. IT'S SO VAST. BUT THAT'S MY OPINION. I SEE COUNCILOR GRAY'S GOT A LIGHT SIGN.

ARE YOU WEIGHING IN ON THIS, STEPHEN? TWO COMMENTS. FIRST FOR VICE CHAIR CHAMPAGNE, ON PAGE 52 OF 97, A PRIMARY OFFICIAL STATEMENT, IT LISTS WATER RATES FOR A NUMBER OF MUNICIPALITIES. He was asking about knowing comparatives. And so I just know that that page is in there. It was useful. That's all. The noise ordinance, you hit me. That was a nerve ending. Because that 9,700 didn't include my effort. It wasn't meant to be insulting. They're just numbers. That's all right. You can't hurt my one feeling. It's hidden pretty hard. The idea is... That is to be done. The notion of what you were suggesting was inadequate, so I did not respond to it. I am hoping and expecting that after the next election that there will be seven councillors up here that will seriously consider the noise ordinances I presented. So that's why I went silent on it, but that is not a lost investment. Thank you.

I do have a follow-up question for the city attorney, too. Ellen, can you give us an idea of the amount that was presented here, the $29,000? I know it did not include Councillor Henry. I had done some work on the parking that worked with the staff and things, too. But is this an

kind of an average number of your attorney fees or first of all you need to realize that's almost a year and a half almost two years worth of work so that got lost in the conversation just the numbers were there the no I mean it just depends when you ask me to do something I basically track it and keep, my bills are pretty identified and specific as to what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. If you ever look, you'll see that. And that's how we were able to go back and look at this and find it. Some of that work was multiple questions about, like, for example, the noise ordinance. It wasn't just noise. It had a lot of different gyrations and different parts to it. And it also included code enforcement and enforcement of that. So there's lots of pieces to it. It was how I just identified it. Well, actually, the chair identified a topic, and I just followed it up with anything related to noise.

I asked for these five. Those are the ones that I asked for.

Anything related to noise, that was just used. I actually had my assistant sit down and just kind of go through the old bills. AND IDENTIFY THOSE. SO IT'S NOT A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH. IT'S NOT ALL INCLUSIVE. IT'S JUST WHAT WAS EASILY IDENTIFIED UNDER THAT TOPIC.

AND THANK YOU FOR POINTING OUT THIS WAS OVER A TWO-YEAR PERIOD, TOO. THANK YOU, ALLEN.

AND IN ALLEN'S DEFENSE, THESE ARE THE ONES THAT JUST POPPED UP IN MY HEAD, THE ONES I COULD RECENTLY THINK OF. ALLEN, I'M GOING TO TREAD VERY LIGHTLY AND MAKE IT QUICK. SINCE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT NOISE, AND STEPHEN, I APPRECIATE YOUR STANDPOINT. I THOUGHT YOU WOULD HAVE COUNTERED ME AT GET RID OF PLAINLY AUDIBLE WHEN YOU HAD ME AT THE REST, BECAUSE IT WAS BETTER THAN WHAT WE HAD. Councillor Gray's noise ordinance, could you sign off on it as legally sufficient?

Well, we had a number of gyrations of that ordinance. So at the end of the day, the last one that came through was something that I could recommend for approval. Now, Councilor Gray didn't necessarily like what I had proposed, but we worked it through, and we are where we are right at the moment. And I believe that the benefit of that, by the way, was that we have a very good enforcement process going forward now, and the complaints are down. I haven't heard anybody commenting or raising questions relating to noise citywide or what it might be for vacation rentals or whatever that might be. So there was some benefit to it.

MR. So, Stephen, quick question. If his last version was legally sufficient, why didn't you motion for it?

MR. It was shot down maybe. Maybe I wasn't getting the right feedback. I presented it the way it was, and the negotiations started. And I wasn't interested in negotiating because I went through a very disciplined process with the community to arrive at those metrics. And it was very thoughtful. And so why would I want to negotiate against myself?

Well, if the original ordinance wasn't legally sufficient or enforceable, then how were we going to pass it?

Well, the draft that came forward was good. But you might want to know that one of our residents just sold his house because he gave up on the noise. So people vote with their feet. This is not a laid back casual conversation. And it is still very much of a burning issue. And the point was I put forth a very honorable set of numbers that after a great deal of effort and research with the community, which wasn't in that 9,700, I got road rash on my back for that journey. I'd rather bring it back as it is in the next council and see how that plays because we do have a noise problem on this island. And yes, enforcement has stepped up. But I can assure you that we have a noise problem on this island.

I know we didn't open this up for this, but I appreciate the conversation. I appreciate where you stand and appreciate talking about it. Councillor Gohl, are your light signs on?

I just have one comment. Please. I'm very much supportive of that we have residents here, and they are very much bothered by pickleball. games and the noise and everything. And I do support that we need to study, and that's why Council Schwann brought it up. But I had several conversations from people who live in HOA. And for us to turn around and tell the HOA, to what they can do in their development. It's out of our jurisdiction. So I just have that any zoning, that's kind of my issue is.

Well, that's what you agreed to.

I know. So is there any way I can reconsider my vote?

Well, it's the same as the police. This was a consensus. Alan, correct me if I'm wrong. There is, you can bring it up for reconsideration. There's no, you don't need any yes vote or no vote. This is simply a consensus item. Correct, Alan? Correct.

We're not doing anything at the moment.

Okay. So what's the process?

Well, actually, could we speak about this process? Please. Because I feel like this topic has gone off the rails.

It did a little bit, but it's our only time to get together and speak, so.

So here is one of the challenges for your staff. If the city council makes a decision, we move forward in a certain direction toward the decision that a majority of the council made. What sometimes happens is one or two or three people who didn't vote in favor of it want to keep revisiting it because they don't like the decision that a majority made. And so then we keep spinning our wheels revisiting the same item instead of honoring the majority of the council. Now, I think procedurally, we have made some improvements. If you recall, about a year ago, we brought up this idea of consensus, and it was very wishy-washy. Some people were nodding or grunting, and it wasn't really clear in the minutes, did we really have consensus? And so the chair said, okay, I'm going to make this clear. Every person has to raise their hand. And that brought clarity to that process. I think what you're asking now is could we advance this even further to bring more clarity? So, for example, what has happened a couple times now is someone brings up an idea and asks for consensus and at least a majority raises their hand. But then over the next several weeks, there's some regret or remorse or confusion about what is it we raised our hand about. And then we start the cycle again of revisiting and spinning our wheels. Meanwhile, our staff is moving in a direction. Now we hit the brakes. We reversed. Everybody's wasting time. So I think to provide clarity is what the chairman may be suggesting, and correct me if I'm wrong, is we went to the raising the hands, which is great, but we may need to take that one step further. And if someone comes up with an idea under council communication, A next step might be please provide a white paper on the next agenda, and then we can move to consensus from there. At least everyone will see it in writing. We'll have some outline of what the discussion points are. Everyone will get it a week in advance, have time to think on it, have time to do their own homework on it. And then from there, there could be consensus on do we want to take this further? And I think that would be very helpful to our staff. I think it would also be helpful to members of the council, because right now you're raising your hand, but then two weeks later you say, I didn't really want to raise my hand, I want to reverse it. And that's just creating a lot of discontent, I think, among many of us, because now we're questioning, did we have a majority or don't we have a majority?

Well said. Counselor Gold, you're still up, so let me... ASK YOU THIS, FIRST OF ALL, STAFF, DO WE HAVE ANY TIME AND EFFORT INTO THIS YET? DO WE PUT ANY TIME INTO DIRECTING PLANNING BOARD TO DO ANYTHING?

NO, NOT YET. OKAY, SO WE'RE GOOD THERE.

DO YOU STILL WANT CONSENSUS TO CONSIDER RECONSIDERING THIS? WOULD YOU CONSIDER DIRECTING THIS COUNCIL TO ASK THAT WE GET A WHITE PAPER ON IT INSTEAD OF JUST... I THINK WE SHOULD RECONSIDER COMPLETELY. DO YOU WANT A WHITE PAPER AT ALL? FOR WHAT? I THINK IT'S ONLY FAIR THAT... I'M JUST ASKING YOU, OKAY. THAT'S FINE. SO LET'S HEAR FROM VICE CHAIR CHAMPAGNE, THEN I'LL ASK FOR YOUR RECONSIDERATION.

I think what we're encountering here is something that I've made mention of previously and I'll be happy to review it again. All too many topics that lead to chaos and confusion are generated by someone on this council rather than by advisory committees who should be advising us on what we should be thinking about doing. So I would suggest that where we have concepts and ideas and proposals for things that might or should be done, we first start with the advisory committee that's most appropriate. Ask them to look into it. Come back with a policy recommendation if they wish to make it. But when you start here, a counselor does, we just create work. We have an idea. We haven't done any of the work. And so the alternative is if we don't want to assign the topic to an advisory committee, then we require the counselor to do the work. dig in, do a white paper, you look into all of the research, you come back prepared to really get into the nitty gritty of this idea. So it's one or the other, or maybe you could actually do both. First assign it to an advisory committee and the counselor provides the advisory committee with all of their homework. to date and stand by to even assisting the committee if if necessary but it can't i agree with what's coming out we can't do this to ourselves and we do it over and over and over so it has we have to show better organization better judgment and a heck of a lot more work by someone other than just assigning it to staff I THINK ADVISORY COMMITTEE I WOULD SAY IS OPTION NUMBER ONE. OPTION NUMBER TWO, IF THAT'S NOT ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY COUNCIL, THEN MAKE THE CITY COUNCIL DO THE WORK. WHOEVER HAS THE IDEA, YOU SPEND THE HOURS. COUNCILOR GRAY DID IT ON NOISE. HE SPENT AN INCREDIBLE NUMBER OF HOURS. I DIDN'T HAPPEN TO AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU WERE SUGGESTING, BUT NONETHELESS, HE PUT IN THE WORK. So he was someone who lives up to what we're looking for, but just throwing out ideas is not the answer, quite frankly.

Good conversation, guys. I got Councilor Schwan up next. Councilor Schwan, go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Champagne, for your comments, and that's exactly what happened with this. It was referred to the planning board, where they have the expertise on it. The city attorney had provided us that document earlier on. And so that's been sitting there. And we are having this question. And so the approval was to send it to planning board, not for us to have this discussion. Send it where it should go. And in regards to that question, that question was actually produced by staff. It wasn't me who put in, because they've seen some, I think Dan testified about other communities have used that recreational activities definition. Is that correct, Dan?

What is the question again?

Okay. Just in regards to the specific question that was said to refer that to planning board, not for council to discuss, You had seen that in your years of experience by using more that type of definition to use in that question.

Well, for conditional use, right now we have for conditional use in some areas for tennis courts. We have that at the YMCA. That was just my example I had. Today it's, then it was tennis, today it's pickleball, next three years from now it's another use we don't even know about.

so that's where that specific language came from it wasn't from me or anything like that that's where that came from and so we took your recommendation to go to planning board with it and let them look at the legal piece that was brought together by our city attorney and let them give us a recommendation that's all that that is because that's the body I agree with you it shouldn't be and I know counselor goaler and I agreed on that it should go to planning board and IT SHOULD NOT BE DISCUSSED HERE AT THIS SPECIFIC STAFF COUNCIL.

GOOD. THANK YOU, COUNCILOR. COUNCILOR HENRY.

JUST ONE THING, INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, AND I'M GOING TO PUT IT ON US, ABOUT AGREEING TO CONSENT ON ANY FORM. AND I BROUGHT THIS UP WHEN I WITHDREW THE SOIL PARKING BECAUSE I SAID THAT SPECIFICALLY. WHEN I ASKED ABOUT IT INITIALLY TO DO MY WHITE PAPER, I GOT CONSENT. AND I WENT THROUGH THE MOTIONS, DID THE RESEARCH, DID ALL THE WORK. and then removed it because of public outcry, and that's fine. But we need, raising your hands, just saying yes to everything doesn't solve the problems, it doesn't make anybody happy. Be honest and straightforward. Change in your mind after the fact. We were elected to, Think on our feet and make decisions. And so just raise our hand and then the next week change our mind. I know there's one specific time I did change my mind, and I brought it up at the next meeting first thing. I consulted the attorney on how to do it because I knew I had changed my mind. But I think it's something we have to think as individuals, as elected folks. We need to think about that. When somebody says, do you think, really think about it before you raise your hand.

Thank you, Councillor Henry. I will think about it next time.

I'm going to get back to you. I think I agree with you, Councillor Henry. It's a good conversation as to how to just better proceed forward and learn as you're working together. Councillor Goldler, do you want me to revisit this or leave it alone? This is going to be up to you. And I'll also talk to you about water quality. I owe you water, too. But do you want me to do anything with this reconsideration?

I want to reconsider.

Okay. So is your reconsideration to not send this to planning board, direct staff to no longer send this to planning board?

That is correct.

Would you like a white paper on it or do you just want nothing on it?

Well, a white paper. That's fine. I think you'll be fair.

So we put it on hold. We don't direct staff to send it to the planning board right now. And we ask Councilor Schwan to do a white paper instead.

Correct.

If this passes, Councilor Schwan, would you be okay with doing a white paper?

I think we'll just put this on hold for a while until after the election. Okay. Thank you.

Well, I need consensus then to put it on hold, okay? So all those who no longer want to send the direct staff to send this to planning board, raise your hand. We're reversing our decisions. Am I clear on this? We are not sending it to planning board. We're reversing last week's decision. Is that crystal clear?

No.

Okay. Sorry, I thought I was clear on this. We will be directing staff to no longer send this request to Planning Board. We're reversing what happened last meeting. Is that correct, Councilor?

That is correct. Make a negative motion.

Sorry. Anybody want to help me fabricate this?

It's a basic rule.

Give me the language. I'm happy to receive it from anybody.

I am reconsidering my vote from the last meeting. sending this proposal to the planning board. That's what it was, right? Correct. Okay.

So you'd like to direct staff to no longer move forward with that?

I'm directing staff to no longer move forward. Is that crystal clear, guys?

We're telling you don't move forward.

I think this is too complicated. The question is, is there still consensus to send the conditional use for recreational activities to Planning Board? Thank you. Is there still consensus? If four people say yes, we continue. If four people do not say yes, we do not.

Thank you for the help. All those who consent.