City Council - Special Meeting

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

All right, will the clerk please call the roll?

Here. Okay. And first up, we have a presentation by the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce.

I think we were doing the invocation by Mr. Webb first and that's why it's facing that way. It's not written on the agenda, I'm so sorry.

And so we have the invocation by Mr. Dirk Webb, President of St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce.

Dirk, I was hoping he wouldn't go too far. Can you come on up here for a second? I've got something I'd like to read off for everybody here. So we have a proclamation here for Mr. Dirk Webb, whereas the city of St. Cloud recognizes that the strength and prosperity of our community is built through the collective efforts of dedicated leaders, local businesses, civic organizations, and individuals who invest their time, talents, and resources in the betterment of our city. Whereas under the leadership of President Dirk Webb, the St. Cloud Greater Osceola Chamber of Commerce served as a valued bu

You're in the board chair, right? Come on in.

And now Dirk's got to get back to work and give us the 2026 annual report from the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Dirk. Let's go on down the row here. Jen, would you like to say goodbye to Dirk here?

Yes, thank you so much, Mr. Webb. You're one of the first people that I spoke with and met with when I was just getting into this political job here. And it was amazing getting to know everything that you do for the chamber and for our city. I remember helping plan the first scavenger hunt that the chamber did with you, and it was a great opportunity to get to know you better. what you've done for this city is incredible, and I'm going to miss seeing you around on your walks with people who just stopped by our city. So I wish you the best in your future endeavors. Thank you. That's right.

John? You know, thank you so much for all the hard work that you have done put into our community. I think the work that you've put into our community will last for a generation. You really have put the chamber on the map and set the chamber up for success for the future. So thank you, sir.

Thank you for allowing me to serve you on your board, and your professionalism is awesome, and your friendship's even better. Congratulations, and God bless you, my brother. Thank you.

Dirk, amazing time here at the city. You served the city well with the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce, really gave it a good, clear direction. I've gotten to know you quite well the past two years. You've always surrounded yourself and attracted some amazing talent on your board. Look at the room over here, aside from Brian's. But the rest of them are amazing. No, but seriously, you have done a top-notch job, and you've always represented our city well. You and I have met on a number of occasions, and your top focus is economic development, and we're going to make that, it's going to maintain a

Amazing. Do you have a teleprompter down there? Amazing job speaking.

Yeah, go ahead and give it to the clerk over here. So you can put it up on the big screen so we can all see it.

Okay. So the boat ramp will still be available for all other fishing? Yes.

Okay. And the ramp will still be clear? Yes, 100%. Okay. All right. And what is the date on that again?

Okay. One question, city manager, we're going to have to check with Parks and Rec to see if that's...

So I think they're just using those parking spots. So you're going to set up your stage in the parking. I've seen that.

Can you maybe show, put your finger on the map where, just so staff can have a better idea of what we're... No, we're fine.

How many years have you been working with this program?

Yeah, and I know there are many partners in the community. What do I see on there?

I see Shamrock on there. Or is that Shamrock right there? Yeah, JHE. JHE. Well, and that's it. You have the support, Kisselback Ford. You've got the businesses in our community that are supporting you, and I, for one, support you guys. And everything you've done, your family, obviously, you all have dedicated a lot of time. And the captains, right? Tell me about the captains. So they volunteer their time and their boats to haul them out into the lakes, right? Yeah.

What about fuel? Who covers the cost of fuel? The captains. You've seen the price of fuel these days? Yes.

It's even more expensive. We all did a great job explaining this to us, and I appreciate that. Council, I for one support this. This is very similar to what we did with Spring Fling this past year.

That's right. You did that tournament that day. Yep. Where they parked at Chisholm Park this past year. And so I for one support this request. Obviously, they're going to have to work with Parks and Rec and figure out all the logistics on that.

Council Member Fletcher. I would absolutely support y'all's request. I believe we've, through some of the businesses that I have, have supported or sponsored teams in the past. One of my fondest memories at the lakefront is fishing with my mother down there when I was growing up. So I heavily support what you guys do, and your presentation was awesome. So you guys did a great job. Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

This is what St. Cloud's about. Thank you. Thank you all. Great job. Man, at your age, you're superstars. Congratulations to both.

Oh, yeah. One of his people. All right, city manager.

Yes, thank you. Well, we're going to do what we can. Obviously, if there's no scheduling conflicts, then you're good to go. Thank you. Appreciate you all coming up here. You did a great job. Thank you. All right. One last person I'd like to ask to come up here. We have Andres Rosario in the back here. Andres, you want to come on up here? He's from Blue Four. It's a veterans organization. Andres reached out to me probably about a month ago, and he gave a presentation to the Veterans Council, as you all know. We had the first meeting of the newly set board, and it was amazing. I think we have a

The mayor. He's going to do push-ups first.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Andres. Amy Van Ryper, I think she was the first to put me in contact with you. She sits on the Veterans Council. As I said, Andres, he presented to the council. Now there's only – this is a – what are the dates of these events?

Yeah. And how long have you been doing Blue Forest?

I saw a video you just posted yesterday, I think it was. What event was that?

There was a bunch of, it was an indoor facility.

That's pretty cool, man. Congratulations.

Yeah. And, Council, you know, this is everything we've been hoping for is when we started this Veterans Council underneath the City Council, it's all about getting those resources out there and getting those resources to come to us to provide them out there to the citizens. And this is one of those. Deputy Mayor.

Yeah, I have heard of blue for my my son-in-law, my daughter participate in high rocks.

So this has counseling involved with it. This has physical activities to do that. We've we've been we're Soldier City. That's who we are. I saw High Rocks go from a 200-person participant, and we were in Miami in November, which I watched my kids. There's over 20,000 people at that event. If this is an event that we can bring to St. Cloud through this, I recommend that we do that. The thing that touches me most is you're bringing veterans and getting them off the couch and Counseling is my bailiwork. You're getting them to do stuff to get them to be participants when they come back from someth

Oh, it's incredible. And there's a lot of veterans that do it. But it started in Europe, as you know, with the High Rocks. Yes, sir. When I grew up, soccer was not popular, and now it's huge in America. I think these kinds of sports are going to compete with MMA, compete with all the new sports that go on with this kind of stuff. So thank you for all you do. I don't know how we can help a mayor and council, but as a pleasure to the council, I think this is something that we should really look at and support it as we are a soldier city. I yield back to you, Mayor.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. The date again, you said the 14th. I thought it was a Saturday.

Oh November. I'm sorry. I was looking at October Is it a Saturday that is a Saturday?

I don't think it would. Those venues are normally in convention centers and places that are indoor facilities, and there's a lot of cost involved with that specific sport. It's almost like a tennis sport that the participant pays for to do that. We support Soldier City, and we support our veterans. If this ties into that, Mayor, I'm going to yield back to you. But anything that we can bring into the city to recognize our veterans, I firmly support. So I'll yield back to you.

Very cool. All right. I don't know about an indoor facility or what the scheduling is like with Parks and Rec on that. But November 14th, I'm okay with the pad out there. You're talking about the lakefront with the covered area? All right. That would also have to be verified through Parks and Rec? Okay. And maybe let's start with November 14th out there at the pad.

Okay. How soon for you to advertise? That's all I'm wondering about.

No, I mean just for this one, say November 14th.

So by October 8th, we can get you an answer. Okay. Is that good? Beggars can be choosers.

How many people are we talking that will be working out on the pad?

Yeah, and when we're talking about heats, it's almost like categories, what I understand. There's certain age categories, there's certain male, female, there's certain amateur status and things such as that. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah. I know it's different, but I remember it's an all-day event, but 200 folks come, 200 folks leave, and it continues on. Correct. Is that kind of what we're talking about? I just wanted to clarify that with you, Mayor, and thank you for that.

I was about to say, so these folks come from all over.

I mean, we can go ahead and agree to that. Council Member Fletcher.

If I could just give my two cents on this. A couple hundred people. I would, if we could direct staff to, for them to basically hold a small DRC meeting on a Zoom call with staff or a team's meeting to go over the details real quick. And then if we can, you know, improve up to a certain amount, then they can go. Because I believe the ordinance doesn't allow advertising until they have a Permanent, right? So that's the reason why we're wanting to We can say up to this amount you're good to go and then they have to come back so we could control To a degree how many tickets are sold?

Did we want to set an amount and give the green light to the city manager and staff if they reach anything under that? Is that what you were looking to?

For me, it was all about the timing to get it going. I don't know what that dollar amount would be. I'm going to say the same thing that Council Member Gilbert says all the time. I don't have all the answers. But, I mean, that would be the fastest way to get them rolling. All right.

We can say $1,500, and if it goes over that, the city manager can come back to us, but we'll go ahead and give her the green light if it's anything $1,500.

And I think why you're getting a positive response is because you are bringing people in from all over, right? And that is economic development, but it's also accomplishing the goal of getting the veteran resources out there to our public. Absolutely. Thank you very much for that, and I appreciate the phone calls you made to me regarding all this, and I'm glad you spoke to the council about it, the Veterans Committee. But did we give her the nod? We good?

If it happens. Fill out the application, and please come to the podium and talk about it to us in the future. All right.

All right. Since we're here, I'll go ahead and open it up for public comment. Anyone in the audience would like to speak during public comment here? Okay. We weren't going to have it in a special meeting, but somebody did fill out a form. Mario Agosta? Maria, I'm so sorry. What did I say, Mario?

That's okay, Maria. First of all, thank you so much for- Okay, get your name and address for the record, please.

I'm sorry, this is for anything not on the agenda.

It's just public comment. So which item number is that? I'll write it on your form.

Yes, item five under public hearings. Public hearing number five? All right, thank you. All right, yes, ma'am. All right, anyone else in the audience like to speak? All right, next up, we have our consent agenda. And we only have one item on the consent agenda. Will the clerk please, I guess we don't have to read that, but can I get a motion on the consent agenda? Motion to approve. Second. Would anyone else, anyone in the audience like to speak on the consent agenda? We have a motion from Council Member Fletcher, second from Council Member Urban. Will the clerk please call the roll?

All right. Next up we have public hearings. Will the clerk please read public hearing number three.

So if we don't vote on this, we just go home now. Where does it leave it? Nine months of nothing?

All right. Thank you, Coop. Anyone in the audience like to speak on this item? Any counsel? Motion to approve. Motion to approve. Council Member Urban. Second. Second. Council Member Fletcher. Will the clerk please call the roll?

And will the clerk please read public hearing. I'm going to say labeled number four.

You said I can stop you? You can. Okay, so $59 million goes towards public safety?

Okay. And what do we receive in ad valorem taxes?

This city has worked very hard. Very hard. And we're about to be dealt a challenge that no city in this great state of Florida deserves to be in. But it's what, 36 million?

Yeah, to our chiefs in the room, we apologize. We're sorry this is happening to your departments. That is not us. That's the state of Florida. And then if the public decides that's the way they want to go, that's what's going to happen.

Yeah. And I believe, um, how many firefighters, uh, I believe we just sworn about 13 new firefighters and, uh, over the past five, six months, we're hired almost 48. Firefighter EMS. And we're about to do ribbon cuttings on two $12 million fire department fire stations. And we're about to break ground and emergency operations complex and dispatch. And in this budget, I'm sorry, Cooper, I'm just jumping in here. And in this budget, in order to even balance this budget, to truly balance this budget, we're already in a deficit of five police officers. I'm sorry, we were going to hire, but in orde

If it weren't for our amazing police chief and his officers and our fire chief and that department there, we wouldn't be as safe as we are even with the hits that we're taking.

Well, we truly care about the citizens and the safety.

Can we say it out loud again that we are not spending on this downtown P3 project, the parking garage, general fund revenue?

Okay. And the Hopkins Park Community Center, also that is not general revenue. That is not. Those are not tax dollars, those are impact fees.

All right. Thank you coop Deputy mayor, I'm going to replace reading Sports Illustrated with that report on the plane tomorrow Just one question What is, by Florida statute, our savings account need to be what percentage before catastrophes, hurricanes, and such as that, just so the public knows?

All right, so you're telling me this budget's pretty transparent?

Yes. All right. Thanks, Coop. City Manager.

It's a long flight for Ken. They'll make sure and read it all. Um, city manager, staff, everybody, thank you for everything you've done to, to put all this together. Um, as I said in last meeting, we've got the easy job just passing it. We know there's a lot of cuts in these departments. We know it's going to be harder to do your jobs. Um, but we're preparing, you know, we, we have to prepare and, and, um, City Manager, how many years have they been, this city, attempted to build that public safety complex?

Yeah, and I'll tell you, because of you, of course, and Dan and the police chief and everything they've done, and I know they've got a whole building task force, I think, former deputy chief Zilke, he's here, he's on that. They're taking that thing across the finish line, and we're going to break ground on that thing.

All this doom and gloom and everybody throwing tomatoes at cities around our state is, You know, obviously because Amendment 3 gets brought up and so everybody at the local level is vilified and they just assume that we're mismanaging funds, we're actually doing some amazing things in looking out for our citizens 100%. And we're going to need the money to fill those seats at that complex when it's completed. Like I said, we can't take a stance one way or another, but if it does pass, we're going to have to beg for money. That's what it boils down to. They've got about $20 billion up there in s

All right, will the clerk please read item five?

Would the applicant like to speak on the second?

I Definitely don't have a problem with that. I mean councilmember urban

Yeah, I was just going to recommend what Dan said to put a condition on this that any changes from residential to commercial can be approved without having to come back to the council.

Anyone in the audience? Actually, we do have a few. We may get part of these. We'll go ahead and start with Maria Agosta. She left. Oh, she left? Yeah. Okay. Linda Ellens.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Council Member Fletcher.

I just wanted to respond to the citizen's comment. So I did see, I identified an issue. I believe you sent an email. Did you send an email or a letter in at one point, or was that another resident? Okay. So once that came through, I took that information and tracked it down with our city manager and looked at it. you know it's tough right so because you have your neighborhood and you want it to kind of be like locked in a box um we just don't want to be punished

One of the things that we have to look at is the totality of that whole area. So if it was, when I was looking at it, if you were to shut it off, then you would be going out, say you wanted to go to the commercial or somebody wanted to go to the commercial spot, they'd have to come out to the light, come all the way back around or then come back all the way around again, whereas this provides Ease of connectivity. That's the challenge. But I just wanted to let you know I did look into the concerns that you guys raised.

All right, next up we have Harold Ellens.

Can we take the clock off really quick so I can see the full map? Is there any way of doing that? Can we move it? Drag it to another side? Or it doesn't?

Yeah, it's just in a bad spot right there.

Sir, sir, please don't talk out. Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. I wasn't even paying attention. I was looking at this. Joe, can you please come back up here? I'll just ask for it.

So Anthem Park already had access into this property.

When it was approved, it would have been.

Okay. In the Anthem Park one. It was in the Anthem Park one to allow access into that corner?

Okay. Is that only used by buses right now, or how do they...

Okay. And this development, it'll have, is that in that roundabout, is that a basketball court? Are those... In the roundabout? Yeah. What is that?

I know the concerns were that these folks would be going down and using their amenities.

So no matter what, Betsy Ross is going to be opened up for traffic? Yes. For anybody?

The access onto Betsy Ross? Yes. So we're not approving that tonight? They already have that access? No, that's all part of the approval. Okay. So there's no, we can't take it back. I like the fact you're offering up more commercial. The possibility that.

Yes, ma'am. I got one more question. I'm sorry. Where Betsy Ross kind of, are they just curving it because of the bridge?

Thank you. Anyone else in the audience like to speak on this item? All right, council. Can we get a motion?

To have the flexibility. So the more we keep them talking, they're going to make the entire property commercial? I got another question.

Councilmember. I just want to say I do understand the residents concerns and similar to what councilmember Fletcher was saying I've seen neighborhoods that don't have the connectivity particularly and off of Canoe Creek Road where I live and And it creates a traffic nightmare on the main roads. And so our city code requires us to interconnectivity to be able to help the ease of access throughout our city and in these neighborhood centers. So I do understand the concern. And like was already mentioned, this is just a PD amendment. A lot of the connectivity was already approved previously. I wou

All right. We have a motion from Council Member Irvin.

Second. Sorry, go ahead. I was going to make a second. Was that a second over there?

Oh, but you wanted to add something to it? We have a second from Council Member Paul.

um but you wanted to make a comment yes um so i just want to say thank you actually to um the folks who put this together i did um meet with them on several um occasions trying to solve residents concerns um one of the things that i did like about this was the branding and the place making package that you guys have had i would hope that staff could work to add that to all of the all of the the larger developments especially if they do have a commercial aspect to it um so that was a big

All right. And we have a motion and a second on the table. Will the clerk please call the roll?

All right. Let's go ahead and take a 10-minute break here. And will the clerk please read item number six?

We all know the history with it. We just got another rundown. Like you said, this is the first of two public hearings. I don't want to affect the commercial development community. This is the problem with this, the way that we've had to go back and look at it. Is there a way that we can... Say we raised it all back up to the 100%, including commercial. Is there a way to put a mechanism in there where they pay the mobility fee, and then we give a refund as an economic development incentive?

the aerospace it's um high tech i i don't remember what we haven't had anybody come in for a while so i'd have to verify again but yeah and that's tough for us and you know saint cloud it's hard to get people here we don't have the rail line i know deputy mary gilbert's trying to get us that in metro plan um you know we don't have a shipping port we don't have we're not over there by the cape you know that they try and keep a lot of that over there but um Yeah, I think we need to do what we can do here. That's a great tool.

And if we could definitely look at the – sorry. If we could definitely look at that as a mechanism with COOP, with – I mean, look at other cities to see if we can actually – because that's almost an – immediate right um thing they'll be able to look at that and say hey if we're going to get financing for this this is the estimated cost of mobility fees but i know i'm guaranteed if i'm like if i pay it i'm going to get this back so it's going to it's a just a different animal we're going to we'll look at that option but what i was going to point out is that what mrs miller just told you regardi

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Council Member Fletcher, there wasn't anything you wanted to add to that? No, that was it. Okay. Anyone in the audience like to speak on this item? And any council comments? Any other? I thought the fire chief had something to say.

All right. Can I get a motion on this? Motion to approve. Motion approved. Council Member Fletcher. Second. Second. Council Member Urban. Will the clerk please call the roll?

And on to council action. Will the clerk please read? Council action number seven. Resolution number 2026-136.

All right. Anyone in the audience like to speak on this item? And council? Motion to approve. Motion to approve. Council Member Urban. Second. Second. Council Member Paul. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Thank you. And will the clerk please read item number 8.

All right. And I guess we have a presentation first for the annual report.

All right, anyone in the audience like to speak on this item? All right, I think the agenda item is about the $14,000 funding for the .

Okay, and Rick, he's the incoming president?

Very good, okay. All right. Paula, obviously, you know, we've had a long relationship between you and I, you and the council. We respect you. Excuse me. I'm not opposed to the $14,000, so I'm going to start off by saying that. Okay. We've always supported this. If you remember last year, this council really stuck our necks out there for Main Street and kept it going. And I know you've done a tremendous job wearing both hats, representative and Main Street director. And I know in the Main Street side, I'm sorry, the executive, I'm sorry, your representative side, you've enjoyed this council sup

No, I will voice my opinion. And if it's really Rick's place, I don't know who. Because a nonprofit is made up of the board members. That's the nonprofit. Right. So you're asking... This nonprofit is asking the city of St. Cloud, these board members, for financial support. Correct. And how much did you receive last year? $70,000, at which you continue to enjoy. But I know Council Member Paul resigned off that board from some behavior that went on over there.

There's not individuals. These are board members. When you're a board member, you're a board member, and you need to represent that nonprofit. And I do as such with all of the nonprofits that I represent. Council Member Paul.

And now that you're aware, you are the spokesperson. You're the executive director, right? That's right. Unless Rick wants to be the spokesperson. No.

Again, this isn't about you, and believe it or not, I'm not going to beat you up about Amendment 3 and that whole mess either. But even though Joel... out there blamed us and said we were attacking or taking funding from St. Cloud Main Street because you wouldn't stop Amendment 3. Okay, I can't speak to any of that either. I know, I mean, but that's the thing is we've had great relationships with you. We do amazing things in this community. And over the past several months, I can tell you the image of Main Street when it comes to this group, it's not been good because of the member I mean, it'

Amazing, yes. You are 100% right. Because of Amendment 3 and because we're trying to balance this budget here that in, what did we say, 31 years has not been properly balanced, we made cuts across the board. Everything. I mean, even the police chief is losing five new officers that we needed next year. So for those kind of comments from a board member of the year, that's disturbing.

I get it. I get it. I'm not saying that he got it because he said those comments. I'm not saying that, and I'm not beating you up, but there is a level of accountability. That when, if anybody, I represent the Museum of Military History and Veterans Tribute Museum, and any of those board members go out there and act like that, if they say one derogatory word about any of our partners, Osceola County, I had to ask individuals to step down from that board because they would say bad things about members of the county commission. I own it. And I know you're not the chairman, you're the executive d

Yeah, and maybe that is. It's just disheartening because this council, these members, you personally know. You personally know. This person right here gave... the GAR building night to the Main Street. And I'm not a member of Main Street, but I gave it to you for that night, right? For the Historic Preservation Awards. I thought it was an amazing event.

Again, nobody asked you to ask him to step down.

Nobody's asked you to do anything. Hold on. You are the representative for St. Cloud Main Street. You are now coming before us asking for $14,000. Hold on. I haven't said a word. I can see you trying to cut me off time and time again. You're just going to hear me out. Nobody's attacking you. It's okay. You're enjoying the $70,000 that this city provided your organization this past year still. Still. And your board member is going out and saying these things. Is that appropriate? I'm just, that's a board member. You're not a board member, you're executive director. Is that appropriate?

And I'm not beating you up about it. We're having a conversation, but you keep making accusations that I'm asking. Nobody's asking you to step down. Mr. Mayor, here's what I'd like to have. I've got the floor. I'm not asking you to ask anybody to step down. That's not your job as executive director anyway. You're the representative. You're up here speaking on behalf of that organization. I'm not asking anything. I'm asking, well... Is that? You already asked. Is that appropriate? I didn't ask you to ask anybody to step down. No. Is it appropriate?

Is that a no? It's not. I mean, we all know that, right? Is it appropriate to have a kind of a racial overtone or make a statement and call Councilmember Paul Kamala Harris?

The things that can be said about me, I don't care. Anybody can say whatever they want about me. These people right here, I care deeply. I think they're amazing folks, and we're like brothers and sisters up here where we won't get along up here all the time. But if somebody is attacking him for malicious reasons, I'm going to stick up for him. I'll stick up for you, too. And I have in the past. So I've stuck up for, I think, probably everybody up here. Because that's what you do in life. That's what being a good neighbor is. That's a good citizen. This is a community. And for me to be attacked

Paula, you've already spoken about what Main Street does, and I just wanted to get that on the record, that those are the accusations that are being made, the lies, and that is irrepresentative because that museum, with your other hat, has been there for you as well.

And it is. But I have never said anything derogatory about St. Cloud Main Street, Paula Stark, Representative Stark, Joel Davis. I don't go out there and say those nasty things. That a board member of St. Cloud Main Street, I'm not saying you, St. Cloud Main Street, The veterans, the dinner, many times that museum has purchased dinners there. And because it's supposed to be community organizations, right? You got business organizations coming together. You go out there and you sell tables. And that's one of your fundraisers. And that's great. You're now asking the city for $14,000. And I'm loo

Well, frankly, I don't care. Okay. This isn't your floor. I don't care. I said what I had to say. I've aired my... Concerns on how Main Street board members tree board member. Okay, so there is a board member So you acknowledge that so the Main Street board member is treating businesses in the community and council members. That's a concern That's a concern. Mr. Mayor, may I ask you this? Hold on one second. You don't have to come to the podium. I've just Rick's had an amazing business in the community for many years, right? Downtown. I look at this list. You got some stellar people on there.

Not one of those other ones have I ever heard that kind of language out of.

To me, it's shocking. It's shocking. I've never seen that behavior out of a board member out of St. Cloud Main Street. I don't know what the qualifications are to be a board member. Obviously, Council Member Paul did not feel she met those qualifications, which is why she probably resigned from that. That's it. Anybody else from council want to speak? All right. Council Member Urban.

Yeah, I would just say I do agree that we all know when we're up here as city council members, whether we're on the dais or we're at Publix or at a football game, we represent the city. So we have to be careful with our actions and the things that we say. So I think that's the same on any nonprofit organization. I also want to say, you know, as the mayor mentioned, there's a lot of great people that are also on the board that do a lot for the community. And Main Street does do a lot with historic preservation and everything like that. So, you know, there is never an excuse to personally attack

When I met you, Paula, and you told me what Main Street did, I was so amazed of what your heart and body and soul bleed into this city. The plaques, the things you did, I was just totally amazed. I never knew that as a citizen. The only thing I can suggest with being a business owner and being on multiple boards is a code of conduct. for board members in the future Something that they may have to sign or something like that. And that's the only thing I have to suggest that but Personally, I was just an amazement of what you've done for the city We sat when I was running for council and you sai

Yeah, and I don't think we've ever experienced anything like this where somebody's actually getting money and they want support, and then a member's out there saying things. It's not you. We know it's not you. But, you know, it's shocking. Council Member Fletcher.

Paula, thank you for everything that you do in the community. You know I fully support Main Street and their mission and service to the city of St. Cloud. I know you've put your blood, sweat, and tears into Main Street, founded, what, 1999, right? It's been since 1999. I fully believe that any issues will be addressed at the next board meeting that you have, and I make a motion for approval.

All right. We have a motion from Councilmember Fletcher and a second from Councilmember Paul. I'm going to ask legal really quick. Dan? And Deputy Mayor brought up a good point. You know, we give funding to these organizations. Should not, should not, we not require a level of conduct where we're partners with them, we're financially giving taxpayer dollars, that they don't make derogatory comments, and if they do, that the funding could be on the hook. I mean, that's for any board members on those organizations.

Okay. Is that something that you guys could put together, a code of conduct?

Rick, can you come up to the podium real quick, please? Can I get your name and address? Rick, thank you for coming here tonight, obviously. And, you know, this is unique waters for all of us. And, yes, she's the executive director, but you were the chairman this year, correct? Is that how it is? Next year. Next year. You're the incumbent for this budget.

Okay. When you say next year, when does that start? A year from October. Oh, a year from October. Okay. Is that something that, you know, we have it at the Military Museum. Obviously, that's how we hold people accountable for their reckless statements. Is that something that your organization, you can pitch to your organization to try and keep everybody?

Yeah, there's a level of professionalism that, you know, obviously when we're dealing with taxpayer dollars and we're making hard decisions up here every time we're up here, and that kind of behavior just, it hurts our community.

You know, it's especially the mouth that came out of not just the one at the meeting, but during the video. I don't know if you've seen the video yet. Rick, you'd probably throw up. It's disgusting. It is not appropriate for any either business owner who wants to do business with the city or a member of a nonprofit that wants funding from the city because a nonprofit is only the board members. That's really what makes up a nonprofit, right? Nobody owns it. but it's made up. They are the representative as a force. We, if deputy mayor over here starts, um, acting funny, weird, I don't know. Then

I know she loved being part of that organization.

And while legally you and the chairman are the authorized representative to speak, Every member up there represents the nonprofit. Speaking is one thing. That's the legal, you know. Yeah, that's the legal side. But the representative side and the relationship side, that's what's hurting. That's where when you got a city council member stepping off because she felt like a member of that board is, you know, just being inappropriate. And I don't think you did anything. I don't know if you've... It was just shocking. I'm sorry. All the way around.

Yeah, well, I just ask that you do your housekeeping over there because we've got some dust in the closets there. Thank you very much.

That would be Veronica or Dan, City Manager. You don't have to wait. There's an empty seat. I'm on so many myself. You know, I'm...

Since I was previously on the board, I'm happy to step in and term if that's the council's pleasure.

Love you, Paula. All right. So Councilmember Urban, he's volunteered himself, but I'll go ahead and make a motion for Councilmember Urban to be on St. Cloud Main Street board.

You're right, we have a motion on the table. We have a motion from, I believe it was Council Member Fletcher, a second from Council Member Paul. This is on the funding for the St. Cloud Main Street. Will the clerk please call the roll?

All right, and so now I'll add that motion for Council Member Urban to be St. Cloud Main Street Board Member. Second. Second from Council Member Paul. Will the Clerk please call the roll?

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for all you do.

All right, next up, first reading and introduction. Next items on the agenda are ordinances for the council for first reading and introduction for the sole purpose of council authorizing the publication of the ordinance for final hearing. The council will not take final action on this item tonight, on the items tonight. Full presentations and public input on the ordinances will occur at the final hearing at which the council will consider final action. Will the clerk please read? Get my glasses on. Looks like we have one. Label number nine.

Is the chief giving the presentation? No, it's just first reading. Oh, it's first reading? Yeah. Dan, I've already expressed my concerns about this. When it says creation of the agency, what is the agency that we're changing from and putting to?

Okay, so the chief building official will never be using this code.

Okay. We've spoken a couple of meetings ago. We spoke about this. We've been talking about it with other information. There's still many items. But I think the most basic is that appeal process. Have we figured that out yet? About 15 and 20 days.

That's the easiest. Like if we adopted it back in 2009, did we adopt 20 days? Because it's right there in the language. It's an easy yes or no. I mean, that's a five-minute check.

No, no, no. That's not in the appendix. In 2009, it wasn't in the appendix. That was not. That was part of the appendix. That was the 2021 they put as an appendix, as a B101. In the 2009-2015, it was not. It was included with the regular body of the code. It was an appendix.

Right, but that one thing, I mean, it's a month and a half now, or a month at least. Is it 15 days or 20 days? Because if we're moving forward with changing things, I don't feel comfortable where it potentially still conflicts and we don't have the answers. I want to understand what we have now before we change and move into something else. But I also believe if we do make changes, that we adopt the most recent version, the 2024. which I know in three years ago when you guys adopted 2021, Munich Code actually gave that legal recommendation you should be using the most up-to-date. They're about

And here's why. As your stance on a city manager, if you want to go ahead and say, is that what you were going to say?

As we know, there's some other issues that actually take precedent than accreditation of how bad this code is right now. I really think there's some serious issues, and we all know that. So we don't need to rush and go changing things. And here's the problem, Dan. If we're saying that the chief building official can only use it when called before, because then he's not really the one using it. He's just being a witness. Yes. Right?

I'm glad you brought that up. So when the chief building official makes a determination during a code enforcement process on that code, is the person that's brought before code enforcement, when that chief building official makes that determination, are they allowed to file an appeal under the construction board of appeals? Yes.

A final determination. The word final doesn't appear anywhere in that code.

No, when it says determined. When it says determined, they're in violation of this code. That's not a final decision. Determined is that they're in violation.

Okay. I respect the fact that under Section 162 that we've got the code enforcement process, the special magistrate. And nobody says they can't do that. But what we're saying here now is we're changing it over to community development, which the building department is underneath that. So only... When the chief building official is called as an expert witness before a code enforcement board, will the chief building official make any type of determination on a structure with the IPMC? Because that's changing things a lot. No. Well, it does because I can tell you I know one particular piece of pr

So I think that doesn't, you're moving, what you're doing is you're changing the people using this code because, yeah, you can bring the chief building official up before a special magistrate or code enforcement board, which I think that's the direction that this council has stated they want to start heading towards, but What you're doing is you're taking away the construction board of appeals, essentially, because you're not having the chief building official use that code out there. You're using code enforcement to bring them here and then using the chief building official. He's just going t

I think we need a workshop. That's fine. You and I, I think, need to continue hashing out what is and what's not and then bring it before because I think there's so much to this. There's so much that you and I understand and the city manager that to continue really just break it down and present it before the rest of the council, before we start changing things.

So so we're saying it hasn't been consistent if we're making it consistent. So there has been some problems, maybe just technicalities. I'm not saying this is a major thing because I think three years ago it was the city after, you know, 20 years. I don't know. Not 20 years. When was 2009? After 17 years. No, 14 years because it happened three years ago, filled out the form and said this is the agency using the code. And now we're going back and changing that. And that's where I don't want to change anything right now because I already see from 1994 that ordinance when it says when a city offi

And we can choose, the city wants, we can choose 162, right? Which we did. That's the code enforcement, special magistrate process. but you can't have both and then say you can't have both routes. You can say, if we adopted in that language, when we adopted IPMC, we could say we put them before the code enforcement with any of these codes. We can do that, but we didn't do that. When I say we, I wasn't here 20 years ago.

And that's where the conflict, just because it's not practical, that's where it conflicts. Because if you read what they're allowed to, and I don't have everything pulled up. And that's where you and I, I think we need to kind of sit back down and go through this a little more in depth. Because I think there's many twists and turns with this thing. I'm happy to do that. Let's move. I just if we can move this to the October 8th and we can talk about this part again, that's where we're only a few weeks away.

I think we can right this ship. I just don't think we're going to do it tonight. And not by going in and just changing this or that. I think we start a path forward on adopting the new version. But I think we need to discuss this a little more.

Well, and I don't know that we'll sort out all of our...

Did you do the second or the motion? Second. Okay. Sorry. I thought I did. Yeah. Motion from the Mayor. Second from Council Member Fletcher. Clerk, please call the roll.

All right. Anybody else have anything else to say? Council Member Paul.

Does that mean they have to be found guilty of the crime? Or just arrest it, because how do we keep track of the...

Right, so whether or not somebody's found guilty, if our police find illegal drugs on the property, it's a nuisance, obviously.

Okay. Do they have a hybrid board, code enforcement slash nuisance abatement?

And if we were to move forward with a code enforcement board, I think at that point then we'd probably want it back and let those guys wear both hats, right? Is that kind of?

Okay. Do we have to pay anything to the city, to Osceola County?

So you're saying that in these hearings that our police chief would be out working the sheriff in this case?

This house, the garden behind City Hall, was it Is that how we acquired that or no?

In the proceeds of those coins they went to the city police department or how did that work?

I mean, we're not talking about once a month. We're talking about once a quarter probably.

So because that's a drainage pipe, it's not a water line.

No. We don't have anybody on Experience Kissimmee. How come we don't have anybody on Experience Kissimmee? Can you get on that board? I know you don't have much going on there.

Council Member, sorry, Dan? Do you have anything else to add? Sorry, no, I skipped you. No, I'm fine. Thank you, sir.

All right, Dan, city attorney. I don't have anything. Okay, council member Fletcher. Nothing at this time, thank you. Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

Thank you. Just a reminder, October 15th, which is a Thursday, there's Walking with a Cane. I mentioned that at the last council meeting. I'll be taking the Kissimmee Rail over to Metro Plan and picking up some of the members there. Then we'll be going to the stop at Winter Park. through the trail. We're going to be timing what those destinations are, and then we'll be participating in the blind experience of walking through the streets of Winter Park with blinders on and a cane. And it happens to be on the exact same day as walking with a cane. So I invite you all again. If you can give me a

Deputy Mayor, could you send that information to Sandra and have her send? I would like to go to that.

Yes. Yes, sir. I will do that. Kelly's not here, but I will make sure that happens on Monday if that's okay. Council Member... Irvin, and happy belated birthday. I'm sorry. I forgot to sing you happy birthday. I'm so sorry. I'm not a good singer, but I did buy you a cake. I just haven't got it to you yet.

And I want to echo Deputy Mayor Gilbert's comments. It's been an honor to serve with you guys, every one of you. And that's why I'm passionate about it. People can say whatever the heck they want about me. I don't care. But when they say things about the rest of you, it bothers me more, I think, when they say things about the rest of you. I think, remember when the concrete crushing thing, that attorney, I'm going to stick up for you people. That's my nature is that I care deeply about every one of you. And I just feel that that's something that, I don't know. So it's just been an honor servin

Mary Emma, can you please come up to the podium and... Our communications director loves to communicate during council meetings.

It is a very exciting and very profitable experience for the city. That's awesome.

That's such a cool event. And I know Jay and Debra, they're always out there. And Parks and Rec, they're doing such an amazing job. They scare me all the way through. Like, they keep sneaking up behind me.

Yeah. No, I love this time of year. With October, there's so many events out there. The corn mazes or the, you know, the –

Yeah, fall festivals. It's just such a cool time of year. And then you go right into November, and it's Thanksgiving and early December with the parades and all. So it really brings out the community spirit and everybody's so positive. All right, with that, I've got nothing else to add, so I will adjourn this meeting.