Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone and welcome. All right, let's try this again. Thank you, sir. Good evening, everyone. We've got a 15-minute CRA meeting before we kick off with the 5.30 regular scheduled commission meeting. So we'll go ahead and get this knocked out and move forward from here. So first up, let's call the item to order. Are there any public comments regarding the Community Redevelopment Agency this evening? Sir? Yes, sir. Come on up. Good evening. Good evening. You and me both, sir. It's been a rough couple of weeks. Yes, sir. Can you make sure that's... Is the little green button at the

Thank you, sir. All right. Any other public commentary tonight for CRA?

We got a minute. IT pros in the back, can you reset that connection, please? While our IT folks in the back are working on that, we'll press ahead. This is a very light agenda for the CRA piece. If there are no other public comments, we'll move into the consent agenda, and we're looking to approve the minutes from our last meeting, which was September 8th of this year. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes?

Thank you, gentlemen. I have a motion and a second to approve our meeting minutes from our last meeting on September 8th. Any questions or concerns regarding the minutes? If not, city manager, would you call the roll?

Yes. Thank you all for that. And then new business, resolution number 2026-09-17, adopting a final community redevelopment agency budget for fiscal year 26-27. Any discussion amongst the Commissioners?

Thank you, sir. Any discussion amongst the commission?

I got some. Sure. So I'm fine with the budget as is for now, but just looking forward, we can always make amendments. And I think it was Johnny Bashir that brought it to my attention that Ty and some others had come up with some good ideas, so I want to give them credit for it. And then I talked to Ben today about it. And there are some items that we can move from the general fund over to CRA fund. For example, maybe you're allowed to do some code enforcement as long as it's doing code enforcement within the CRA area. People that are like, for example, the ones that spend man hours mowing cert

Yeah, I had a similar conversation. This was probably months back about things like that. Another one I had was concrete canvassing for stormwater. Because once you put that in, that's less ditch digging we had to pay every year. So that's kind of perpetual.

Awesome. All right. Mr. Perno, anything, sir?

My conversations with Ben have been regarding potential for a land purchase for hopefully a future stormwater retention area. I've been working on that with the city manager and the property owner.

There's a couple other nuances that Ben has explained to me, but I guess we'll pick that torch up when the project's at hand, the Florida Avenue project. I think there's some things that might, that CRA is probably gonna end up picking up the tab for within the grant-funded project. um i guess what was explained to me is that the grant the florida avenue grant covers public property it doesn't cover private property and the grant is going to change people's um private property the the actual um the project itself is gonna so there might be where we have to go back into public private and you k

Thank you for that. Thank you for working that initiative, Commissioner Perna. That particular area definitely needs some robusting of their drainage capabilities. Anything else? All right, I'll open up the floor. Any discussion among the public regarding this resolution?

I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second the motion.

Thank you both. I guess I got ahead of myself. I'm sorry. Thank you for keeping me straight, City Attorney.

BEN, WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME UP AND ANSWER THIS FROM THE CRA PERSPECTIVE?

Thank you, sir. So you basically keep swinging by the fences. Come on up, ma'am. Good evening, sir. Come on up. Good evening. And ma'am, come on up to the front row since you're headed up to speak too.

Thank you, Doctor. Come on up, Mr. Detweiler.

THANK YOU, MR. DETWEILER. ANY OTHER COMMENTS TONIGHT FOR THE CRA? Hearing none, thank y'all for your patience. City Manager.

Yes. Thank y'all very much. Any other issues or concerns regarding the CRA before we adjourn? All right, meeting adjourned. All right, 530 City Commission meeting to order. And first up tonight, we have Pastor Dr. Stephen Kyle from Highland Baptist Park, who is going to come lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and the prayer. Good afternoon, Pastor Kyle. Afternoon.

Thank you, Pastor Kyle. All right. We're to item number three on the agenda now, additions, deletions, and modifications of agenda. I do have one, a 3A, if you will, and that would be to do the formal swearing in of Commissioner Langford.

Yes, sir. So we basically have an 11, 11A, and 11B. Gentlemen, I actually know both of the nominees you all have. They're both very good people. Do you all want to speak to that at all as far as before we just add it to the consent agenda and get them approved? Yes, ma'am. Sorry.

Keep me straight. I just wanted to say thanks to Jeremy. You know, when we appointed Corey Lankford and Ryan Scraystep down, I knew that we needed to fill those positions quickly so that we can continue with the charter review. And, you know, when Jeremy threw his name in the hat, I was like, oh, wow, that's a perfect candidate. Absolutely. So I'm really excited to see what the new nominees can bring to the table because I know that they're going to do a great job. Awesome. Awesome.

Ms. Gibson, she was actually a councilwoman for another city, so it was back in 2021, so I think it would give us a unique perspective on another city coming in, and she definitely knows how government works and is actively involved in the community and wants to stay involved in the community, so I think she'd be a great fit for it.

Awesome. Those are two really good choices. Thank you, gentlemen, for bringing them forward, and thank them for volunteering. So any other additions or deletions or modifications to the agenda? None? If not, can I get a motion to approve?

Motion to approve the additions. Second.

Which one of y'all is official? Pat? Okay. Gotcha. Thank you there for the second, Commissioner Pernaut. All right. Any discussions among the general public regarding our additions to the agenda tonight? Hearing none. City Manager.

Yes. Thank you all for that. 5-0. All right. So now we will have an official swearing in of Commissioner Langford. We've already done the official swearing in paperwork. Ms. Tender was going to be with us tonight. She and I talked about 2.30 this afternoon. She had every intent of being here to swear Mr. Langford in herself. She told me at 2.30 she just did not have the energy, and I said, ma'am, it's not even been 24 hours since you had heart surgery. You are good. She said to send her love and regards, and she's... supporting Corey. She backs him and she wants him to succeed in this role. So

Thad Cain spent his entire life of 67 years growing up and living here in Lynn Haven. Those who knew him would often say his heart was as vast as his physical stature. And in 1976, Thad was a member of Mosley's second ever graduating class, participating in baseball, basketball, and football throughout his high school years. and he held a deep affection for all things related to sports and continued his involvement in ball games by volunteering to coach the girls basketball teams through the eighties and early nineties offering transportation when necessary and dedicating himself wholeheartedl

No, go ahead. Would you like to speak? I just wanted to tell you all that this is the second year that proclamation's been read, and it made me think about Thad. He was a gentle giant. A man would give his heart to anybody. He was just one of the kindest souls. I just got to tell you all again, I said it a year ago, but... I've shared the golf course with that guy, and you've seen him coming because he was the only man I know who rode from the passenger side because you couldn't ride two people in the golf cart. He was a big man of stature, but his heart was even bigger than that. And he could

All right, so it is now 5.50 p.m. Central Time. We will open up Public Hearing 5A, Discussion and Possible Approval to Adopt Resolution 2026-09-584 to set the final FY 2027 millage rate at 4.35 mils for the purposes of submission of the Certificate of Taxable Value to the Property Appraiser's Office pursuant the TRIM Act.

So with that, I will open up. Unless there's any discussion amongst the commission, I'll open up the floor for general commentary from the public. Sir, come on up, Mr. Oakley. You're welcome. Any place you want to sit, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Oakley. Anyone else tonight? Come on back up, sir. We're going to keep calling you, sir. It's okay. It's just a sign of respect.

We've actually had six different budget workshops, and they've all been open to the public. And you've got some folks on the first couple of rows here who have been at every single one of them. We've actually gone repeatedly over and cut, and there have been some significant cuts to the budget operationally. We can give you all of that information as well, sir. Be glad to. But is that before or after you guys vote tonight? This is the final. We have to wrap up for the new budget to start 1 October. We have to wrap it up tonight for this city commission meeting.

If you want to come up and grab this, this is literally a summary of our current year budget and our new year budget and all the changes for the general fund for every single department. That's actually my copy to reference tonight. You're welcome to look at it. Yeah.

Look at the sheet I just gave you, and you can look at the top. It's got the current budget and the new budget year and what the percentage cuts are going to be and what the actual dollar amounts are. Current year and the new year.

It's all in that 110-page budget. That right there is the very top cover executive summary that gives you all the big numbers, overarching, in one look. And you're welcome to keep that, sir. Yes, sir. Anyone else? Hearing none. Okay, Ms. Day. Gina, Chief. Hold on, we'll get your microphone, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am. He went ahead and read the resolution piece while they were getting you the microphone.

No, ma'am. We're just trying to be efficient with our time. The floor is yours, ma'am.

So I know the other millage rate we were talking was at 4.23? 4.25. 4.25. Yes, sir. What was the surplus on that? Like 83,000? No, that was 150.

I'd like to make a motion to approve 4.25 millage.

Okay. We have a motion and a second during our public hearing here. Would either one of y'all like to discuss further?

There was one other number, because I remember 151 was...

That will give us a deficit of $195,943. Was there... I think... Maybe I'm misremembering, but I thought there was an One other number we looked at that resulted in a little less. It was like $83,000 surplus. Okay. That's what I'm remembering. Oh, my bad. I knew it wasn't crazy. I'd seen that number.

I just want to be clear amongst ourselves that we have a motion, we have a second, we have a vote, and this is on the millage. Yes. And I don't think I'm educating anybody, but just for Corey's sake, since this is his first meeting, We need to be unanimous to pass this millage percentage, and if we're less than 4.1, right, or 4 to 1 on the vote, it goes to the rollback rate, correct?

It was, City Manager confirmed, and Kiki, I believe they recommended the 4.35.

Any other discussion among the Commission?

All right. We have a motion and a second for a 4.25, which is 1 10th of 1% less than the maximum 4.35. Our current millage rate, current year millage rate is 4.05. but we were operating at a significant deficit of 2.8 million. So that is not sustainable or feasible even with the cuts. So this would be the lesser, it would be below the 4.35 maximum, that 4.25.

Mayor, I think the deficit was actually closer to 6 million, if you include the debt service payment.

Well, yeah, but debt service aside, just the operating fund was right at, correct me if I'm wrong, City Manager, it was 2.8 million, right? Yeah, well, the current one we're wrapping up, right? So, yeah, 2.8. With the debt service, it was right at 6, but that's a separate $3 million annual debt service.

That is a relatively small surplus for rates.

for breaks and emergencies, but it keeps us in the positive. And as Mr. Detweiler said, it really will force us to stay monthly and engaged and with our nose to the grindstone every month on how the budget's executing, where we're at, and we'll continue to have to look for efficiencies. And the most lean, mean operating system procedures that we can do. So it is still going to be a very lean budget, but 4.25 is below the 4.35 trim maximum. So I'll open the floor. I just wanted to give you all a little reference for those of you that are new to our budget discussions here. That's what we're tal

Yes, sir. Thank you for that, Mr. Beshear. Come on up, Mr. Oakley. You're getting your steps in tonight, sir.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate you, Mr. Oakley. Ms. Moore, come on up. Good evening.

Yes, ma'am. And Ms. Moore, I'll be glad to set up an appointment with you, ma'am. If you want to do that, we'll have a meeting on that and discuss. Yes, ma'am. Ms. Day in the back, I see you. Ms. Gina? While they're getting the microphone for Ms. Day, anyone else? Sir, come on up to the front row. When Ms. Daines is done, you'll be up.

Correct. Thank you for that, City Manager, or excuse me, City Attorney. Mr. Buddy.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Hearing none, City Manager, I'll ask you to call the roll.

Yes. All right. So 4-1. We are closing this part of the meeting at 6.18 p.m. We will now move into the public hearing 5-B, discussion and possible approval of adoption of resolution 2026-09-585, final general fund and enterprise funds budget of $54,494,475 for FY2027. City Manager.

Acknowledged. Any discussion among the commission or a motion?

I'll second. I just want to say, now that I've seconded it, there's a ton of work put into this by staff, by the financial review committee, by the commission. Since I've been up here, this is the most work that's been put into a budget by far. Thank you, Commissioner Ward, for championing starting early. I just want to give kudos to everyone involved. Great work.

Indeed, and particularly the city manager and assistant city manager. You two have been on the leading edge of having to make some very, very difficult decisions on personnel cuts. Those are never fun for any leader, but I will publicly thank y'all for for having to work that within the budget realities, trying to limit the impact and still make sure that people are able to hit their retirement window if they're within a year and those kinds of unique situations. I know you had what, 130 something different drafts or versions before you finally got to the last one. Quite a number for sure. So

I THINK I AGREE WITH WHAT COMMISSIONER LANGFORD IS SAYING, BUT I THINK WE'RE GOING TO JUST HAVE THIS CONVERSATION IN A FUTURE AGENDA TONIGHT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE TREASURER ROLE CLERK, THE ACTUAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF A CLERK. SURE.

BUT REGARDLESS OF HOW WE FILL THE CLERK ROLE, THIS IS A GOOD To Mr. Langford's point, our operating surplus is going to be so small that we really have to look at this every month, just like you would a checkbook at home at the kitchen table. And I think that's a great way to look at that.

Maybe I'll just caveat by saying this should be something we can put onto the clerk's responsibilities. So when it comes time on that agenda item, we can talk about it more. Oh, sure.

All right, sounds good, but great input. I appreciate you adding it. All right, so we have a motion and a second. We've had discussion amongst the commission. I wanna open up the floor for the enterprise fund, the general enterprise fund piece here and the collective, excuse me, let me rephrase that. The final general fund and enterprise funds budget for FY2027, that's a mouthful. I'll go ahead and open up the floor for public commentary. And Mr. Oakley, I see you, sir. Come on up. And if we look to expand the finance review committee, I think...

You're passionate and you're knowledgeable, sir, so thank you. Mr. Beshear.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Hearing none, city manager.

Yes. 5-0. Thank you for that. And we close out 5B of this public hearing at 6.28 p.m. All right. Next, we move to the consent agenda. We had one, two, three, four, five, six items to begin with, and we added two more, which was the appointment of two new Charter Review Committee members, individual appointees from Commissioners Peebles and Warrick, and the temporary road closure approvals that the City Manager discussed earlier.

Okay. Any discussion among the commission?

I just wanted to say again, thank you to our appointees for the Charter Review Committee. You're volunteering your time to make the city better and I appreciate it. Second thing is along the lines of the road closures, I kind of wanted to talk about the Lynn Haven Community Fund. It is literally just... Citizens like me and you that are not funded by tax dollars, they're 100% volunteers that have created what's eventually going to be a non-profit that is literally just volunteering their time. These concerts that are going to be funded is because the Lynn Haven Community Fund went out and foun

I don't know if everybody is versed on item six, and you read the resolution for item six, correct? Correct.

And from speaking with you, that's a rescinding of the Florida Resilient Grant for the Eastside Stormwater Project, Eastside Stormwater Pond Project. And we're rescinding the grant, which means we're saying no to the grant from Resilient Florida because we got appropriation from the state of Florida to design the project. So the money we were getting a grant for was trumped by the state in giving us appropriation to do the full design.

Yes. We're still getting funding for it. No, I'm just wanting to stimulate the conversation and let the public know why we're doing that. Right. So just to let y'all know, our appropriation covers a bigger portion of the project, and we have to accept that over what we had a grant for, because it's not every day that you do a resolution to say no to a grant.

That's a good input, Commissioner Perno. Thank you for that, sir. Any other discussion amongst the commission on the consent agenda? If not, I'll open the floor. Any comments or questions? Oh, you know what? I'm sorry, guys. I'm not firing on all cylinders tonight. Can I have a motion to approve?

That was kind of my fault because I had started a discussion about all that. I'm sorry. No, it's my bad. It's been a week. All right. So I have a motion and a second. No further discussion among the commission. We'll turn it over to the floor. So come on up, Mr. Detweiler.

Thank you, sir. Any other comments tonight regarding the consent agenda? On item number six? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Jaina?

It's a resilient Florida grant, if I may. Yes. I'll let the city manager explain the difference between a grant and a tax.

Yes, ma'am. All right, any other questions regarding the consent agenda? If not,

Yes, 5-0. Thank you for that. We're to old business now. We're on number 12, discussion and possible approval of a hiring process for the city clerk treasurer position. So I'll open the floor up to the entire commission. No preset way ahead other than just an open discussion about this.

This would be a perfect place, as you spoke about, a variance report, a requirement for such. That would be right up a treasurer clerk's alley to try to report this information to the commission monthly, weekly, however you all want to do it.

I agree, and I see Commissioner Wark shaking his head yes, too. What I'd really like is, especially since this is kind of modeled conceptually after what the Panama City currently has with their clerk treasurer, I'd really like to get their PD, and if there's another couple of cities that have a similar position and role, for us to be able to look at their position descriptions and really kind of dig into that in order to generate... Our own PD and a very specific workshop. Doesn't sound on. Yes, ma'am, please.

And certainly the CPAs and the different financial management professionals out there, much like many other professional entities, they have different certification, industry standard certifications. So I'm really kind of curious to look at those and make sure we kind of align with what the proper municipal level expectations are. I do know, I went and looked, and I know there's like a chartered financial analyst, a certified public finance administrator, and a certified public accountant, obviously. But there's a whole bunch of them. There's certified government finance officer credentials.

I just want to make sure we get that right.

But to Mr. Langford's point, I think a very specific, narrowly tailored workshop for this would be the best way for us to do this.

And a workshop huddle is the right way to do that instead of in this forum.

So either a table or a motion to reassign to a workshop?

We would have to table this item to do a workshop and then come back to this, correct?

I just don't know. I just want to make sure. If we're going to make a motion, it would involve tabling this agenda item.

No, that's fine. We can table it, or we can motion to just go ahead and table it.

I have a motion and a second. Any concerns from the public in this? Basically, we're going to do a dedicated workshop and go through this. And any of you that want to come and watch the sausage being made and have inputs there, we'll welcome that. That's democracy in action. And by the end of it, it should be pretty clear on what this position is going to look like, how it's going to work alongside of the city manager, but be separate and distinct. checks and balances on the budget, kind of key muscle movements, all those big organizational things we'll talk about and we'll kind of plow throug

It does. Good point. Thank you for that, Mr. Beshear. Anyone else? Come on up, Mr. Buddy. You might as well sit on the front row. Yes, sir.

Yeah, we talked about that at I think a couple of our budget workshops. It'll be next fiscal year's budget, and what was the max? The max cost would be about $44,000 increase. We're not adding any extra employees. It would be the same amount of employees, but there would be some additional duties which would cause.

No, that's part of the budget. It's in the budget. Is it already in the budget? It's already in the budget.

We're using the same, as we talked about in the prior budget workshop, we're using the same amount of people. We're not adding any extra money.

Hypothetically, this is what would happen. You'd take someone that's already being paid, you'd give them a raise of $44,000 or something similar to that.

Mathematically it will be because you would remove a salary Replace the salary, but if you don't it's only a net of 44,000 but what if you don't if you don't you have to you have to bring somebody from the outside correct that one how are you gonna take that person's salary and Hire somebody then you would remove a role. We'd have to talk about that. We don't know that yet. But we're budgeted for $44,000, so that's what we'd do. We'd have to make it work.

Because I know we voted on getting one, you know, and... The intent is to hire internally and dual hat or increase responsibility with the corresponding pay increase. However, if we end up relooking at that, we would have to adjust, obviously, in the budget as well. So the plan is $45,000 now is what we have built in for additional... increased responsibility within the organization based on our current manpower position.

The commission picks and hires the city manager, the city attorney, and the city clerk. Those are the three direct reports organizationally to the five-member commission. Yes, sir. Any other questions? Hearing none, city manager.

Yes. Thank y'all gentlemen for that discussion, sincerely. We have no tabled items. We have no new business. And we will go to general public commentary. I see Ms. Moore and then Mailman the Pink midway back on my right side. If you want to come on up, feel free. Ma'am, if you want to come on up, you ladies will be first three out of the chute.

Thank you, Ms. Moore. The lady in the pink. Come on up. I'm sorry, ma'am. I don't know your name. Good evening. Good evening.

I've been on the board for a decade, ma'am.

Okay, thank you for that. I certainly don't mind addressing this. City Manager and I actually met yesterday afternoon with Bay County and our resident Commissioner Daniel Ratfield. We're looking at maps and options. We're about to have a couple of proposed maps to be laid out that, in fact, Commissioner Ratfield plans to go door to door for the 28, 29 folks on your street and share with them and get their inputs as well. So I don't want to speak out of turn, but the actual details of the possibility, we have multiple options now, thanks to the donation from Mr. Finch. And that was the good new

Yeah, well, sure, and that's what this is. I didn't get a chance to meet with you very much after that meeting, but a couple of your neighbors I stayed and spoke with for almost an hour after the meeting, and we all want the same thing. We all want safe streets. We all want relief from that god-awful traffic gridlock for really four hours a day, two in the morning, two in the evening. It's been problematic for a long time, and it's continued to get worse. so the the biggest thing some of your neighbors talked about was the impact on yelza's road and your families and we get that and i assured

Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. Ma'am, you're up. Yes, ma'am. Good evening.

Thank you, ma'am. Who's next? Anyone else for public commentary tonight? Sir in the green shirt, come on up. Good evening.

City Manager, would you get his name and contact information after the meeting? Okay. All right. Who else tonight? Mr. Beshear.

Isn't that correct, city manager? 24th is his birthday? Did you hear that, Johnny? It's either his birthday or his death date. We'll have to verify. All right, anyone else? Ms. Parker and then Ms. Day.

Okay. Anyone else? Oh, Ms. Day. Go ahead, ma'am.

Anyone else tonight? Buddy? Okay. Told you you should have sat on the front row.

Where were you saying exactly? Are you talking about Bay Haven and Mosley right there at 389? Yeah. Yeah, and right across the street there, on one side there's like a ballet place and then a medical office.

It's okay if you do, sir. All right, anyone else tonight for general commentary?

So next up is our reports. I am not going to really have one other than to welcome Commissioner Langford again. Thank everybody for your patience and grace the past two weeks. It's been a rough couple of weeks. But we are moving forward and glad to have Commissioner Langford on the team. I'll also give one quick note. Like I said earlier, I did get to speak to Ms. Tender earlier this afternoon about 2.30. She's doing well. She's about 24 hours out from her heart surgery now, but she was really tired and just give out. She said she slept like a baby last night with the anesthesia and stuff wear

Thank you, Mayor. I don't have much to report. I would like to say welcome aboard to Corey. And I would like to thank everyone who is here tonight. And I would like to thank all of our employees, all of our police, all of our fire, all of our military. And that is my report.

Just wanted to say again thank you to everyone that reached out during this long budget season, whether it was citizens that sat down with lunch with me and talked about it, whether it was department heads or staff coming to talk to me, city manager, finance director, thank you, everybody, financial review committee, thank you all. you open my eyes to a lot of things, and it makes it a lot easier to make a decision when you have more informed information. So I really appreciate it. Let's get this next fiscal year going strong. Commissioner Langford, welcome aboard, and I'm looking forward to w

awesome thank you sir mr ward i don't really have anything to report um it's already been said i know the staff has been through a lot this budget season has been really tough so appreciate everything you do um and that includes everyone on the staff first responders dispatchers and everybody um only thing i have is uh next wednesday um i'm going on vacation i will literally be off the grid so um probably for about a week and so if you're trying to get a hold of me wondering why i don't respond that's why so i i don't think i'm be able to use my phone where i'm going so just uh just want to gi

Thank you, sir. And last but certainly not least, Mr. Long.

Kiki, you got anything for us, ma'am? I want to publicly thank you for that. You and your entire team, but you in particular. Good job. Thank you. All right, city attorney. We have nothing to report, which is a good thing. Everybody, it's been a week, it's been a month. Y'all have a great night. God bless everybody.