City Council - Special Meeting

Please rise for silent invitations followed by a pledge of allegiance. Amen. 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. Sounds like we may be getting a little bit of mic feedback. Are we okay? Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Everybody's here. Thank you for being here tonight. All right. Item number four, agenda item. public hearing is now convened to discuss the final millage rate and budget the fiscal year 2027 budget commences on october the 1st 2026 and continues

Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Council, any discussion or comments regarding this increase? Seeing none and hearing none. Council will now hear public comments regarding the proposed final millage and budget. The general public shall be allowed to address the council to make comments and ask questions. Anybody from the public wish to speak to this? Council will now hear, seeing none, the council will now, one last opportunity, I'm sorry, one last opportunity for council to discuss. Any comments? Council good. All right, moving on to agenda item number five. And item number 5 is for resolution nu

We have a motion and a second. Any public comment to this? Seeing none, back to council. Council, any final comments? We'll call the roll.

Yes. 5-0. The adopted final millage rate of 5.1500 mils per 1,000 evaluation is a 6.03% increase in ad valorem tax revenue above the rollback rate. Agenda item number six resolution number 26 dash five zero for final city budget. I have a motion to approve resolution number 26 dash five zero adopting the city of Port Orange fiscal year 2027 final budget.

We have a motion and a second. Anybody from the public wish to speak to this? Seeing none, back to council for final comments. Seeing and hearing none, will the clerk call the roll?

Yes. Five-zero. This budget includes all operating and capital costs for fiscal year 2027. This budget includes the general, special revenue, debt service, capital, enterprise, and internal funds. The adopted citywide fiscal year 2027 budget for all funds is $215,582,170. And that'll conclude agenda item number six. Mr. City Manager, what else do we have tonight?

Chief Wolfing's retirement is hereby denied.

two more days yeah two more days yeah are you even on that day of course i am joe look if you would man i know uh i know we've known each other for a long time and one of the things i do know about you is you just don't like public speaking and i'm okay with that no no you're actually better at it than you think i think baby but um before you for your comments if you don't mind i just want to tell you it's an honor to have not only worked with you But to have worked with you in this role as well, and at a time where we really needed a great leader to step in to the organization and fulfill tha

Can you believe 27 years ago what the department, the city, the whole region of Volusia County looked like and was going on the service levels compared to where they are today?

But anyway, before I let all these guys chime in.

Yeah, we appreciate it. You guys have also done a great job, too, keeping us modern. making sure when there's technological advancements out there, bringing them forward and getting those on board and the stuff the paramedics are able to do is remarkable. So just overall, that whole professionalism as well as the skill set that you guys have continued to improve upon is quite impressive. It's a good thing, for sure.

Your dedication is unbelievable. 27 years starting here and coming all the way through. But having Miske in line and towed, sorry, you got some shoes to fill, but it's been good. I could pick a phone call up and call you, or text you is usually what I was doing, call me. And it would be, now what? And that was before I sat on council. when we were having oxygen or something delivered to the shop. Having you reach out to the community where I learned from you first was incredible. And then to be able to work with you side by side on certain things has been even better. The one person that's a l

One last positive comment from me and I'll let you go. But, you know, one of the things in my time sitting up here for my time working with the police department was that need to have our own ambulance service and have that ability at least start that ability and then grow it and move it forward and um and i know that kind of started under another fire chief but i also know you were very instrumental in in helping us dissect the data and sometimes that's just not as easy you just think well you write down some numbers and you say well here it is and and you're like hang on a second you know an

Thank you. Hey, careful what you ask for, right? You just said that.

We are very, very happy and pleased. with this transition. I think anytime you can do this in-house and feel and everybody feels good about it at lots of different levels. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. So I'm excited for you. Very happy for you. I think this is a great opportunity. So it deserved opportunity and You and I have already kind of briefly talked, and I know the relationship in terms of you helping us to dissect information moving forward and work through the weeds sometimes, that that will be there. And I think you and the city manager will work great together. Congratulations and welcome. Gentlemen, anything for the new chief?

We're going to bring him on the line. We need to make sure the fire chief is at the podium. He's got a great way of public speaking. We'll give him a little bit of a pass tonight.

That's great. Best of luck to you, your family, your staff, your team, and all the men and women over at the department. Thank you. Looking forward to it. Appreciate it. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. City manager, anything else? No, sir. All right, and with that, we bid you a fair and good night.