City Council - Regular Meeting

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

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

Amen. I pledge allegiance. All right, Councilors, we're moving on to Item 5, approval of the agenda. Entertain a motion for that? Motion by Vice Chair Champagne, second by Councilor Schwan. All those in favor, say aye.

And the opposed, say no. All right, the ayes have it. Item 6A, approval of the minutes. And we'll start with the City Council Special Code Audit Workshop for the fiscal year 2025-26, the minutes of July 13, 2026. Councilors, any change to those minutes? Take a motion, please. Motion by Councilor Henry, second by Councilor Dome. All those in favor, say aye. Anybody opposed, say no. All right, the ayes have it. Moving on to 6B, approval of the City Council amenities from our regular scheduled meeting of July 20th, 2026. Councilors, any change to those minutes?

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

Okay, thank you, Mr. City Attorney. Which moves us on to Item 8. But before we get to proclamations and presentations, if you're here signed up for public comment, which is going to be Item 9, that is at 6 o'clock or time certain, as close to it as we can get. And that's for items not on this agenda. If you're here to speak on the agenda, you'll speak under each item. There'll be an opportunity. And if you would so please, on the back of the auditorium, there's slips you can sign up for public speaking. It helps us keep things in order. For now, we're going to move on to item A, proclamations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I just want to say in four years I've been sitting here, we've had some great financial reports, but this one suits my style. I think this is excellent. It has all the information attached to the agenda that we need, and then you hit the big broad strokes right here. I heard strong, strong, strong, financially stable, within budget. You gave us ratios, margins, told us where we're at in each department. It sounds like the city's in pretty good shape. It sounds like we're in good shape with you, so I appreciate it. I see no other questions. Anybody signed up for a public comment on this? Very good. Marcia, thank you. Jim, how many people signed up for Item 9, Citizens' Comments for Items Not on the Agenda?

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

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

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

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

So you could speak out your four minutes, right?

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

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

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

Point of order. Yes. My name is Invoke, so I do want to respond. Please. So you did provide some information that was not truthful, and I know you can say whatever you're going to say up here, but I do want to make it perfectly clear that the Cape Marco approval was granted on July 15. On July 17, they already cleared the two tennis courts and started construction of the pickleball courts. council meeting that you are referencing took place july 20 after all those actions and the discussion was based on the paper that was prepared by our city attorney some months ago and we said we were going

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Casey, I want to discuss some good news here on the updates. The current net liability for the police pension is $507,922. The pension is currently funded to 98.29%. I know we thought it was a much higher number at one point, but that's actually great news. It also goes on to say we will have that payment made within the FY27 budget, correct? So that's tremendous. Councilors, if you haven't read the ordinance, I just want to touch base on this, and this is something I'd recommend you discuss with Manager Lucius in your meetings. It really is perceived that somehow council dropped the ball or s

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'm just going to carry on to some of tomorrow's concepts. Should the bond not be approved? If the community and people sitting in the audience think we've been discussing cost cuts too frequently Up to this point in time you haven't seen anything if the bond doesn't pass We are going to go into every budget every department and start looking for more cuts It's the only way to keep this city fully funded and keep the services flowing on top of that should amendment three the government's governor's proposal pass we are really looking for serious problems that would be anywhere from three to fi

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

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

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

Councillor Gray. Thank you, I did have some questions on the management report, but since Councilor Goler mentioned my name in conjunction with this bond, I do have some comments. First, financing the city correctly is as serious as a heart attack. And getting the right information mapped out correctly is essential. I do have a, hopefully an opinion piece going into the paper this week, which now has been triggered. I've been asked by a number of Marco Island residents if the transportation bond referendum does not pass, how we will pay for the repairs that are needed. It is a fair and importa

Yeah, I'm going to follow up on Counselor Gray's remarks regarding the bond referendum. I could not disagree more than I am going to disagree with with Councilor Gray. It's misinformation on his part. There was more than ample information provided to this community with regard to the $23 million bond, what specific projects the money would go to. They were spelled out for months of debate, workshops, and council meetings before this community in a public environment. There should be no confusion of what was agreed to. Remember, the number was much larger. We spelled out the details of even the

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

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

I was just concerned because we have rules, charter, things like that, that we cannot advocate a position. I'm just asking for the city attorney to comment.

Councillor, since other councillors have had the chance to speak on this, I'll give you all a go around, but let's wrap it up after that, and then we'll move on. It's going to be Councillor Dome first, but is it on? Just two quick questions. Councillor Dome, then you're up.

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

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

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

Thank you, counselors. This is getting real for the citizens, right? We talked about it for a tremendous amount of meetings, but now they're going to make a decision on it. I will just comment that, and I appreciate my co-counselors, I feel like you're helping me keep a promise. We've been telling them infrastructure is going to be a bond referendum for as long as I'm sitting here, and that's going to be a choice of the citizens, and the citizens will get to make their choice, and I think that's a beautiful thing. I also think we live in an incredible community. We are well financed. We have r

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Second. Motion by Councilor Goehler, second by Councilor Gray. Any other light signs if there's a Councilor comment? Anybody signed up for public comment? All right. Call the roll, please. Councilor Goler?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you. I see no other light signs. Anybody signed up for public comments on this? All right. Call the roll, please. Yes, sir.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, these bonds are secured. Forgive me, I must be antiquated. I can take a security interest in receivables. I've never taken a security interest in revenue. But that's fine. I assume that that's entirely appropriate. But there's other bonds outstanding, and what I'm interested in is the unused debt capacity of the sewer department. So as long as we're in compliance with the debt service coverage ratio of 105 or 110, We could issue additional bonds if it was deemed appropriate for us to do so, as long as we stay in compliance with those covenants. And then would that security interest be sh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A motion by Vice Chair Champagne, second by Counselor Schwan. Jim, anybody signed up for public comment? All right. I see no other light signs. Call the roll, please.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I see no other light signs. Vice Chair Champaign, I agree with you. Feel out the dais. Can we start with the higher number? What I'm skeptical of is if we just throw the higher millage rate on there. have time to talk about it we're not going to get the majority we need to get there I just don't see that happening and that's time on staff in this council I certainly want to go with you and say I'm open-minded and let you pitch your case for the few months but with what we have to get a unanimous vote unless you want a straw poll your counselors now I just don't see it happening unfortunately t

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

Since 2016, the city has only gone one direction with millage rate. That's down. At best, we've held it equivalent to what it was the prior year. That's the last two years. We know what kind of difficulty those City Council decisions have led to we've been facing them from On the council now for about 18 17 18 months It's been non-stop trying to find ways to develop new revenue streams so that we can expend it for necessary items that need fixing We've not been able to do that as we sit here today. The budget we put together, quite frankly, doesn't meet all the obligations that the city has. W

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

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

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

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

So really the spending cap is our leash?

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

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

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

Thank you. Councilor Goldler. Councilor Champagne, I think you are so generous with your money and with residents' money, too, with all due respect. So here is my question, my problem with the increase in millage. We know what we need is infrastructure in our town. Yes, we do need a lot of work, without a doubt. City, our staff is recommending us here it is, balanced budget, stay with millage neutral. And let's give the citizens opportunity to decide on a referendum. If they want to stay where they are, then they will vote no. If they want to fix what's going on in our town, then they will vot

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

Yeah, $100 a year. Come on. Not going to cause a ripple effect among the community. To budget more safety and security, I don't know why we're arguing over $100 a year for a million dollar residence, because most of the residents are under $1 million in assessed value, quite frankly. So they pay even less than $100 a year to go to that number. And let me just remind one last comment. From 2016 to this year, 2026, millage rate has gone down 39%. Inflation cumulatively during the same period of time has gone up 36%. As we sit here trying to develop a budget forecast for the inflation rate this y

As you know, the light signs, I'll try to wrap this up. Vice Chair, you're correct. It is a small, it's not the amount, it's the philosophical debate on Marco. Some of us were elected, we campaigned, I understand you were appointed. By no disrespect, it's an easier path, but appreciate you being here. We kept – we made promises to the citizens that put us here, and those citizens voted on us based on those promises. Now, you're right – $300,000, 1.5 million – it's quite insignificant in the realm of all of Marco Island, but it's significant to the pledge you make to the people. And those peopl

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

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

No. All right, so that rate failed. Anybody else like to make any other motions? I'll make a motion at millage neutral. So we have a motion. I heard Councillor Gray, and I heard, first I heard Councillor, seconded by Councillor Schwan. Can we just clarify the millage neutral number just so we know, please?

Councilor Gray, are those millage rates acceptable to your motion? Yes. Vice, sorry, Councilor Schwan? Yes. Do you second? Okay, so we have a motion and a second. Dr. Lucci, is your light sign still on? Do you have anything, or do we? Okay. I see no other light signs. Call the roll, please.

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

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

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

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

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

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

But what about drawings, engineering costs?

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

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

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

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

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

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

I can. It might be a speedy conversation. Okay. I already paid Mr. Poteet some compliments for the quality of his financial reporting and insight. Complex organizations are often managed through exception reports. And so when I saw, this one intrigued me that both the customer and the organization both let this, this billing continued for what, a year at a very high rate? So I was really more interested in the system side of this question that obviously we should return it, we should respect it. I think that's good. I was just curious how this type of, Accounting irregular and I understood the

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

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

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

No registered speakers. Call the roll, please.

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

Here we go. We talked about it a little bit earlier with Terry here. I'll just remind everyone that early voting starts on Saturday the 8th and runs until the 15th. It's every day from 10 to 6 at the Mark Island Library. Election day is Tuesday the 18th. Polls are open from 7 to 7. So I encourage everyone to do their homework and vote for the best person in the respective party for all the primary elections. Martin, can you put up the slides, please? And I'd like to thank Ray for helping me with the slides. If you're looking for something fun to do, meet Captain America, enjoy free ice cream,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I could add a little more color commentary.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, so it's still cooking on the back burner in one direction or another. Thank you. I trust that the council all received the letter that was sent to all of us from the MICA Board of Directors. This is something that hit home for me because the MICA membership totals as many as 20,000 people on the island. I don't know if all of you digested that MICA Board of Directors meeting or letter. which was really talking about the roles and responsibilities of the Tourist Development Council. And I thought what they presented in that letter was very powerful, very straightforward, and really sort o

Let me try to remember. A few statements first. I was a MICA member. Not only because I forgot to renew, because I don't go to the beach, but I will be renewing just so you know. I've been a member for years. When you say 20,000 MICA members approve this, I think that's a little misleading. MICA, their board, unlike this council, does not have a meeting where 20,000 of their members show up and vote on this or vote an opinion. They are 20,000 strong, but they do follow the lead of their board of directors. That they do vote on. It sounds to me, and I believe that the county commissioners, if I

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

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

You have three counselors, although the counselor from EVERGLADE CITY IS ACTUALLY, I THINK HE'S A LAY PERSON, BUT HE ACTUALLY HAPPENS TO BE A COUNSELOR, TOO. SO REALLY IT'S MYSELF. AS A COUNSELOR, IT'S NAPLE CITY COUNSELOR COACH KRAMER, BILL COACH KRAMER, WHO SIT ON IT, SO THE TWO OF US. I FORGET THE MAKEUP, FORGIVE ME, AND I SIT ON IT. THREE, TWO LAY PEOPLE, ONE CHAIRMAN OF THE, IT'S CHAIRED BY ONE OF THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AND THEN THREE PEOPLE FROM THE INDUSTRY. OURS IS MICHAEL LAMME FROM THE MARRIOTT. And we have two from hotels in Naples. Is that going to change now? That'll still be t

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

At least I'm led to believe that's still the same. Thank you. Appreciate it. Counselor Schwan, you've been waiting patiently. You're up.

Thank you, Martin. If you could put up the slide, please. And while Martin is getting that slide up, I do want to let you know this is about – there was a new sea turtle nest that was caged today. It actually is in a really popular part of the beach. It's where – it's actually right against the Cape Marco fence, and it's kind of right where the black stones start. And so there's a lot of activity by beachgoers there. But a shout-out to MIPD, who provides these signs on the cages. about not placing anything within 25 feet of these cages. And I did want to just let you know, we do have the count

Mr. Chairman, there's a question for you since you're not part of the TDC. I heard the comment that we don't want to burden the taxpayers, but isn't the TDC money come strictly from bed tax, not the local taxes?

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

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

No. I mean, it's a unique beast, tourist taxation, right? I tread lightly here, sitting here. It works its way back into the community. I view it as showing the citizens, hey, tourism is benefiting your community. We're kind of all in this together to a degree. You're making the community beautiful. We're using some tourist tax to do it. We connect a lot of things to the tourist tax. But in return, people still continue to come because it's a beautiful community, and we ask them a little bit. So I said the term symbiotic once at a TDC meeting, and somebody said they liked it. It's an evolution

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you. Vice Chair Champagne, you are up.

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

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

Do we monitor how we compare to other municipalities?

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

I was just writing that I see no other light science. I guess I'll make me last a couple things I Just I'll read this without the name first The $1.8 trillion economy is now the world's 14th largest after surpassing Australia and Mexico. Can anybody guess what that 14th largest economy in the world is? Florida. Florida's economy moves up to number 14 globally. This is, I think it's from a Florida Association of Realtors update, but the company is Florida Chamber Foundation. Again, this is one study that might not, but the foundation said Florida's economy grew 6.3% over the past year, moving t

Thank you very much and thank you for your comments. I do want to follow up just for clarification and to refresh every councillor's memory here. So we asked approximately four or five months ago, we directed our city attorney to do an analysis of what other communities in Florida are doing in regards to pickleball noise. That was a request that came from our residents, several emails, several testimony. It started with our racket center and the condos around there. We had several of those people who live around there asked please to have the planning board or land use to look at this. We also

I remember that meeting I agree with you, but when I see any recreation any zoning It's broad or I only interpret this as a workaround for a pickleball consensus then that's the only way you could look at it if it said do you want to direct planning board to look at pickleball noise. That might have been a different story. But we've lumped the entire, every recreation and every zoning area. And I believe, I didn't give consensus, but I respectfully didn't. And I believe, was it you, Councilor Henry, if I remember? And was it you, Vice Chair? So the three of us were the ones that, I remember yo

ARE YOU WEIGHING IN ON THIS, STEPHEN? TWO COMMENTS. FIRST FOR VICE CHAIR CHAMPAGNE, ON PAGE 52 OF 97, A PRIMARY OFFICIAL STATEMENT, IT LISTS WATER RATES FOR A NUMBER OF MUNICIPALITIES. He was asking about knowing comparatives. And so I just know that that page is in there. It was useful. That's all. The noise ordinance, you hit me. That was a nerve ending. Because that 9,700 didn't include my effort. It wasn't meant to be insulting. They're just numbers. That's all right. You can't hurt my one feeling. It's hidden pretty hard. The idea is... That is to be done. The notion of what you were sugg

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I think what we're encountering here is something that I've made mention of previously and I'll be happy to review it again. All too many topics that lead to chaos and confusion are generated by someone on this council rather than by advisory committees who should be advising us on what we should be thinking about doing. So I would suggest that where we have concepts and ideas and proposals for things that might or should be done, we first start with the advisory committee that's most appropriate. Ask them to look into it. Come back with a policy recommendation if they wish to make it. But whe

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

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

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

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

GOOD. THANK YOU, COUNCILOR. COUNCILOR HENRY.

JUST ONE THING, INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, AND I'M GOING TO PUT IT ON US, ABOUT AGREEING TO CONSENT ON ANY FORM. AND I BROUGHT THIS UP WHEN I WITHDREW THE SOIL PARKING BECAUSE I SAID THAT SPECIFICALLY. WHEN I ASKED ABOUT IT INITIALLY TO DO MY WHITE PAPER, I GOT CONSENT. AND I WENT THROUGH THE MOTIONS, DID THE RESEARCH, DID ALL THE WORK. and then removed it because of public outcry, and that's fine. But we need, raising your hands, just saying yes to everything doesn't solve the problems, it doesn't make anybody happy. Be honest and straightforward. Change in your mind after the fact. We were electe

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

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

Okay. So is your reconsideration to not send this to planning board, direct staff to no longer send this to planning board? Would you like a white paper on it or do you just want nothing on it?

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

So we put it on hold. We don't direct staff to send it to the planning board right now. And we ask Councilor Schwan to do a white paper instead. If this passes, Councilor Schwan, would you be okay with doing a white paper?

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

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

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

That is correct. Make a negative motion.

Sorry. Anybody want to help me fabricate this?

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

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

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

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

Thank you for the help. All those who consent.

No, you're canceling Sunday. You want to repeat that one? No. Oh, you want to go the opposite. I'm sorry. My bad then. You want to go the opposite. OK. We're just having the same vote as last time. I'm sorry.

Sorry for the double negative. Counselor Gohler, you had another question which I put you on hold regarding you were probably shooting for consensus on water studies or water quality.

I apologize to everyone. I guess I should not be raising my hands prematurely.

Okay. Did you want to do a little research on water studies, or do you want to put that on hold, or do you want me to ask anything of the council?

I will do my research myself, and I will come back with that.

Thank you for that. Thank you for the help, staff and counselors. We have anything under the council reports, but does anybody have anything they want to share from MPO or CAC or...

I think he has on recess until September.

Steven, anything from Florida League? I could throw out a couple comments. First, I love those people. They're very home rule oriented. They've been very frustrated with a number of the thought processes coming out of Tallahassee. They joined the, here's the punchline. The handicapping in my last meeting was particularly with Governor DeSantis not affirming the Homestead endorsement. The best guess right now, the debate over the referendum language itself is still going through a legal process and actually will be decision by the end of August. And there's a decent chance that that wording of

Councilor Gray, I think this will be a really close vote, right? What do they need, 60? Is it 60%?

They need 60. They're handicapping it at 58.5.

It's going to be super close, but unfortunately the public doesn't dive into the numbers as we do sitting up here. They just hear tax savings. I'm preparing for the worst just in case mentally. I don't have any TDC updates. We do anything else, council? Okay, thank you. 19, citizens' comments. Do we have anybody signed up? I see Mario. I thought I saw him out there.

Can you hold off on the next speaker for a second? Sure. Mario, just to answer very quickly, the FDOT reports are attached to one of the agendas, what they said about the bridge. What was that? I want to quickly just, we don't normally engage, I want to quickly address it. You can pull it up from the agenda. If not, you can get ahold of staff and they'll get you a copy. Of what, the report? Of the report on the bridge. It exists, and the second thing I'll say is, We bid out this building. To whom? Bid it out.

I appreciate it, but we do have a bidding process, and you can join in on it if you'd like. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hold on a second. I want to answer your question.