City Council - Regular Meeting

regular meeting wednesday september 9th 2026 at 6 30 p.m to order roll call please council member richardson yeah council member darms here council member knight here council member thompson here vice mayor grimm here council member stafford here mayor marks and we're all here here okay we have the invocation from mike carroll volusia county sheriff's office and the pledge allegiance please rise

Thank you. Okay, number one public hearing adoption of military and budget for fiscal year 2026 2027. Opening statement, the city of Orange City intends to adopt a millage rate and budget for fiscal year 2026 2027. The rollback rate is 7.0523 mills. The proposed millage rate is 7.2387 mills, which represents a 2.64% increase over the rollback rate as certified by the property appraiser of Volusia County. The first motion for millage ordinance, ordinance number 701. Becky, would you read that for us, please?

Madam Mayor, I'll make a motion to accept ordinance number 701.

I second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any public comment on this? Seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question. Is there no public comment on this?

It's at the end. Okay, so we have a staff presentation from Devlin Moore.

I think he's just saying to read it into the record, and then we'll do the motion separately.

Okay, now we're gonna open public hearing. Is there anybody in the public that would like to speak of this? Okay, see, and now we're gonna bring it back. We're gonna close the public hearing, and we're gonna open it up for city council discussion. Does anybody have anything they'd like to discuss?

Okay, now we're gonna move into, we had a motion on the floor for 701, which was Vice Mayor. You still wanna hold that? Sure.

Madam Mayor, I'll make a motion to accept the ordinance number 701.

Second. We got a motion, we got a second. Can you call the question, please?

Yes. And ordinance number 701 is approved. Moving on to ordinance number 702. We need a motion for that. I'd like to make a motion to accept ordinance number 702.

We have a motion. We have a second. You can call the question for that.

And yes, ordinance number 702 is adopted for the annual budget. Okay, so we're going to do the closing statement now. The City of Orange City's tentative millage rate for fiscal year 2026-2027 is 7.0387 mills, which is 0.19% below the rollback rate of 7.0523 mills as certified by the property appraiser of Volusia County. The final budget hearing will be held on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026 in the council chambers at 201 North Holly Avenue at 6.30 p.m. This now concludes and ends the public hearing and resumes regular meeting agenda.

Moving on to number one absences. We have none. Number two presentations and proclamations. We have none. And citizens comments. Stephen Sanders, and this one's regarding the city's future financial liabilities.

Okay, you wanna stay there for the second one? The second one is public records and meeting minutes. Steven Sanders.

go ahead i just wanted to comment on no we're not doing comments on citizens comments right now no on the consent agenda okay go ahead um i just wanted to talk about the first one that's the approval for me the amendment number one to work order 309-25 regarding the country village water treatment plant pilot program um i know we don't generally discuss things on the consent agenda but i just want to make it make a statement so that people understand what this money is for When we approved an amendment for five of before it was for five more weeks of continuous pumping at that well site.

Hold on a minute. If you want to discuss an item on the consent agenda, we should pull it and have a discussion and approve the consent agenda first. or not approve the consent agenda? Council?

Right. Okay. I'd like to have consent agenda item A pulled for comment.

Can we just do a head nod on that, right? Okay. Council, you okay with that? Okay. So we just need a motion for the consent agenda without 4A. Okay.

We have a motion, we have a second. Is there any public comment on this? Seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question.

Yes. And a consent agenda passes, except for 4A, and we'll talk about 4A now. Discussion? Council Member Knight? Yes.

Okay, we got the floor, thank you. So a few weeks ago we approved an amendment for five more weeks of continuous pumping at the Country Village Water Treatment Plant pilot program well. They broke through to some brackish water and back plugged that well to where the brackish water was hit. um they've been pumping out the brackish water and have been seeing improvement in water quality and they need an additional 16 weeks of pumping to continue clearing the brackish water instead of having a third party on site staff is going to take over the pumping and monitoring of the water quality saving

Okay, we're moving on to five ordinances first reading we have none. Excuse me, we need to vote on that item. Oh, sorry. Okay. I need a motion on to accept item for a on the consent agenda.

We have a motion we have a second any public comment on this? Seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question.

Yes. And 4A on the consent agenda passes. moving on to five ordinances first reading we have none six public hearing ordinances second and final reading we have none seven resolutions seven a resolution number four five three dash two six uh becky could you read that into the record please yes madam mayor this is resolution number four five three dash two six a resolution of the city council of the city of orange city florida

We have a motion. We have a second. Any public comment on this? Okay. Seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question.

Yes, and resolution number 453-26 passes. Moving on to 7B, resolution number 454-26.

Thank you council seen a motion I'd like to make a motion to approve resolution number four or five four dash two six adopting the annual rate resolution for the fiscal year 2627 tax year 2026 solid waste service assessment Second we have a motion we have a second any public comment on this I

Seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question.

Yes. And resolution number 454-26 passes.

Thank you. Okay, Council, looking for some action.

Madam Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 455-26.

I'll second. We have a motion, we have a second. Any public comment on this? Seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question.

Yes, and resolution number 455-26 passes. Moving on to 7D, resolution number 456-26.

Yes. And resolution number 456-26 passes. Moving on to 78. Resolution number 456-26.

Thank you. Council? Madam Mayor, I'd like to stay so moved. Okay, we have a motion. Second. We have a second on the floor. Any public comment on this? Okay, seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question.

Yes, and resolution number 457 dash 26 is approved. Moving on to eight discussions in action. We have Okay, nine reports city manager. Good evening.

teams volusia meeting on september 18th and then the volusia league of cities dinner in holly hill on september 24th that completes my report any questions for the manager or comments okay i have a i have a comment so tomorrow is our state of the city at john knox and i got a message from the manager that we have three other council members attending is that still

Just want to make sure we're following the sunshine laws with that. because we will have a quorum there and I don't, you know. Oh yeah, with the four, sure. Right. So everybody's clear that we're not, you know, we're there. My thing is we're there, we're talking city business. We're gonna have constituents asking us questions. We're gonna be there talking about things that are gonna come up for a future vote. And that's what concerns me with us all being in the same room. So wanted to make sure that,

okay it's come to my attention that you know we've been getting a lot of feedback from the minutes from different people and it's come to my attention that actually the council is held responsible if those minutes are not prompt And since we are a little bit far behind because of all the public records requests, I'm not really, you know, prompt has different definitions obviously, but I think, you know, a year behind is a bit long, so that's not prompt. But what my concern is is that the council could be put on the line for this because it's ultimately, our responsibility to make sure these mi

Okay, thank you. Because I know she's been working hard to get it done. I know that the whole office has been behind because of all the requests that are coming in from the different places, I'll just say. But when I heard that it was, it was alarming to me because I just don't want to get in trouble for something that we're responsible for. So that's why I had to bring that up. Okay, thank you. Moving on to city attorney.

No? Okay. And we got approval of minutes.

Yep. And council and mayor's comments. Councilman Knight?

Um, I'd like to talk about us receiving the org chart on a weekly basis. Um, I don't think we need to continue to get that. That's micromanaging our city manager and staff. And that's not our job as a council. According to our charter, our it's it's up to her to manage that. So I'd like to see that stop. Council.

I don't even think we need it once a month. Again, that's micromanaging our city manager and I don't think that's appropriate.

I think that it was brought to everybody's attention was because when we have turnovers in the city of major departments and we don't know and people look at us like we're running the city here, but actually the city manager's running the city, not us. We're making the decisions, but when it comes to running the city, couldn't tell you half the things that are going on the city right now because the city manager runs the city so I don't think it's micromanaging I think it's just keeping on top of what's going on when people in your constituents ask you if there's any you know who is your who's

I think that comes down to our city manager making sure she notifies us appropriately through her reports or through emails or text messages. Okay, that would be fine.

Yeah, just that's the same thing, only different, right? If she's going to notify us when people leave and come and go, it's a lot easier to put a chart on there than it is to go, you know, Mary left today and Mike came in tomorrow. And, you know, it's easier to go, okay, here's the chart. Check this one off. This one came in.

Anybody else on the council? No? Okay. Thank you. Any other comments from the council? Councilman D'Armes.

Not on that. Okay, go ahead. Okay, so I attended the EPTA TPO meeting, and a lot of talk on this one was US-195 and some of the things in motion. They're reconstructing modern loop ramps to enhance safety and operational efficiency. Extended and separated off-ramps from northbound I-95 and on-ramp to southbound I-95 to enhance traffic movements. New free-flow on-ramp from southbound US-1 to southbound I-95 to improve efficiency. One newly constructed bridge over FEC Railway, I guess that's happening, to extend the on-ramp to southbound I-95. Two new constructed bridges over US-1 to separate on

Right? Thank you. Okay, with that being said, we're just looking for a motion to adjourn.

Let's not have a, we're not gonna have a conversation here. Just make your comments. There's no direct attacks, point of order. Point of order, there's no direct attacks up here.

Thank you. Anybody else from the council? All right, we just need a motion to adjourn.

We got a motion, we got a second. All in favor say aye.