City Council - Regular Meeting

Well, good evening, everybody. Welcome. It is Monday, August 17th, 530. Welcome to our regularly scheduled city council meeting. Jim, would you call the roll, please?

Here. All councils are here. All right, guys, a couple things before we get to the agenda and remembrance for our former councilor Rolla. Rules of decorum are always in effect, right, for councilors, for staff, and for the public. We want to encourage open, civil dialogue, passionate debate. When you come up to speak, please try to give us the same courtesy we'd give you. I have no desire to hit the gavel on anybody. I have no desire to stifle anybody's voice. But we always appreciate it if you do it just in a respectful manner. But speak your mind. We certainly want to hear. Also, if you coul

councillors on to item six approval of the agenda and entertain a motion to approve motion by councillor champagne second by councillor dome all those in favor say aye anybody opposed say no the ayes have it item 7a approval of the minutes this is the City Council operating budget workshop minutes of July 20th 2026 is there any changes to the minutes councillors Motion by Councillor Gray, second by Councillor Schwan. All those in favor say aye. Anybody opposed? All right. We're moving on to item 7B.

On item 15B, and I actually already had given this to Joan, the vote is incorrect. I voted no, and the minutes state that I voted yes. It was resolution 2639. Very good.

Any other changes, councillors? Motion to approve as amended? Motion by Councilor Henry, second by Councilor Dome. All those in favor, say aye.

All right, guys, nine items on the consent agenda tonight. Light signs if there's anything you'd like removed. All right, Councilor Gray, let's start with you.

Councilor Gray, I'm sorry. I heard Gold or Silas. No, sorry, Councilor Gray. That's all right. F. ID 26-56 is kind of a theme with the fire trucks. Okay. No, I'm sorry. That was the – no, I got the wrong one. I apologize. It is ID 26-5684, which is item I, the fire department pumper truck balloon payment.

Okay. Councilors, anything else on the consent agenda you'd like removed? All right. So item I is now going to become 17A.

Council, is there any motion to approve as amended? We have a motion by Councilor Schwan. Vice Chair, make the second? Second by Vice Chair Champagne. Can you call the roll on this, please?

Yes. Consent agenda passes 7-0. No proclamations in the presentations tonight. We are on to item 10, citizens' comments. We do need to make sure it runs to at least 6 o'clock, 22 minutes. Jim, how many people signed up? Nine times four, if we even give them three, 27. So let's just give nine all four minutes. We'll fudge it a little bit here. So let's bring them up and start with the citizens' comments again for items not on the agenda. Okay.

Thank you, Christine. Councillor Dome, I'm not sure if you're familiar with our rules and procedures. Since you were mentioned specifically, you can reply if you like or you can choose not to.

Okay, I will. Yes, I was at the neighborhood information at Joey's. So I will admit to that. But for everything else that was said, what I'm accused of, I unequivocally deny the allegations. They are false, misleading, and do not accurately reflect the facts. And that's all I have to say. Very good. Thank you.

Jim, would you call the next speaker, please?

George, we greatly appreciate the offer of help. We're going to put you in contact with our city manager who worked through the chain of parks and rec. This is the first I think we're hearing of maybe, at least I'm hearing of some challenges. So let's get you in the right channels and help for the park or the environment to the community. If we can accept it, we gladly will. So we appreciate it.

Thank you. Guys, please, please, please. Please, please, please.

Jeanne, welcome. Don't forget to state your name, please.

Very good. Thank you. All right, that closes citizen comments. We're on to Item 11, City Manager's Report. Councilor's light signs if you have any questions for Casey. Casey, anything for us?

We do have Councilor Gray up, so Councilor Gray. Thank you. Dr. Lucius, thank you for your report. Don't really want to get into the history on the Parks Foundation. There wasn't any financial information attached, I understand.

We appreciate you guys. If you could take into the hallway, please. Thank you so much. Still trying to conduct the meeting. Sorry, Councilor Gray.

That's fine. There might be approximately a million dollars that might be reallocated to the city's coffers from this wind down of the foundation. I don't know what insights you can or can't share on the obligations or how we assess the application of those proceeds from the standpoint of whether the contracts were honored with the donors, who we greatly appreciate for donating, as well as if you're winding it down, I do not know what everybody's obligations are going forward and how we should be thinking about what's appropriate to allocate those funds. So it was just more a set of open quest

So not to ask a trick question, is it possible that Winterberry Park, that ball field, might be a valid application of those proceeds?

Vice Chair Champagne? Just a follow-up on Casey's comments. I'm not so sure the contract would permit an allocation of funds to the senior softball field.

I'll just go forward and people are under the misconception, as I was also, that the donor, unidentified, donated a million dollars. That's not really true. He donated $900,000 over several tranches, has been asked to complete the donation, has not yet done so, nor has he agreed to release the funds to be used for any purpose, even those that are stated in the contract. As a philanthropist, I find it interesting that there was a contract for a gift. Certainly not the way I conduct my donations, but nonetheless, it is what we agreed to. and it has to be abided by. Now, whether or not there are

Appreciate it, Vice Chair. Appreciate all your philanthropic endeavors on the island never go unnoticed. Councilor Goeller.

I had a meeting with Dr. Lucious, and we discussed this issue the other day. I personally think that a pension was paid by the taxpayers. And I think that $1 million, actually $900,000, we should also think about negotiating paying down debt. the debt bond that we have. That would be my personal opinion. Because these taxpayers of this town paid for the bench show, right? And how much is the debt that we have right now? It's about $900,000 is not much, but we can use it to pay down the debt. That's just my opinion. Is there any way we can communicate with that person? You said that you do not

Thank you. And thank you, Dr. Lucius, for your report. I do have a question for clarification. for the counselors up here and also for the people in the audience and watching at home. And it's in regards to pickleball, the sound barriers, panels that we purchased, the fencing and also the locking time of the gate because I do think there needs to be clarification where those recommendations came to council before we voted on that.

I'll just say I personally, and I think I've said on this dais a few times, I like, and I understand the pathway of the Parks and Rec Foundation due to rules and regulations, but I like taking it out of the governmental domain. I thought it never belonged here personally. If you want to start an organization, a wonderful thing, and be philanthropic and fundraise, that's an incredible thing. These are good problems for the island to have, people that want to donate money. I just thought that that should be done on a personal level. Decide who you want to serve with. I don't want to make decisio

Very good. Thank you, Alan. I see no light signs, so on to item 12, monthly department head reports. Councillors, light signs if you have any questions for any of the department heads. Councillor Goehler.

I only have one question for Mr. Petit. Jeff, would you please clarify for us where are we standing right now for AWT project?

Excellent news, Jeff. Thank you. I see no other light signs, and we have nothing under 14, quasi-judicial. Chair Palumbo?

Please bring him up. Thank you. Thank you.

We got you covered. We're on to item 14, which we have nothing under quasi-judicial public hearings. So we're going on to find 15 ordinances, 15 A.I. or A.1. Second reading of an ordinance. Joan, would you read that into the record, please?

Yes, thank you, Chief Byrne, for the presentation. I'd just like to make a motion to approve the second reading of this amendment.

I'll second it. Motion by Councilor Schwan, second by Councilor Gray. Anybody sign up for public comment? I don't see any light signs. Before you call the roll, I had one quick comment. I thought Jason Bailey, planning board chairman, made an excellent email to us regarding some noticing of these. I'm not going to hold up this second reading. I don't think it's the time and place, but it is something I'll speak to the city manager on myself, and I encourage you. Basically, if you're not familiar, just a good suggestion as a contractor with when we notice these and how much notice we give before change takes effect to make it a little easier. But with that, I see no other light signs. Call the roll

Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Thank you. Congratulations, Chief. Thank you. All right. Nothing for 15B. So we're on to Item 16. 16A, termination of contract with Ron Elbook for lobbying services. Just to note, Ron is on Zoom call should we have any questions. And Raina Brown, I believe she's here. Raina, good to see you again. She's attending in person. Casey, I'm going to turn this over to you.

Councilor's light signs for questions. Councilor Gray, you're up first.

Thank you. And I was one of the people that leaned into this conversation just to declare my questions. It's a fair amount of money. I'm a big fan of Warren Buffett who says, price is what you pay, value is what you receive. I'm always trying to understand if there's real value here, we could fix the Winterberry ballpark with $82,000 or a big piece of it. So I'm just very conscious of where we should apply what our scarce resources are in the most productive ways we can. I don't know the history on the 10 million and whether we secured the 10 million and actually spent the 10 million or whethe

All right. Councillor Dome, you're up next. Dr. Lucius, just to confirm, you said $82,000 a year as a salary, 10 years, so $820,000. In that 10 years, you brought in $10 million. Well, not really impressive, considering Al Musico and I at the old ad hoc marketing committee brought in $15 million over about the same period with no salary. So, you know, I'm not real impressed. Thank you.

Yes, thank you. I would like to bring up, and I concur with both of the councillors just said, but also I just think from a financial point at this time, our money can be better spent in another place and maybe possibly down the road work more with a federal lobbyist where I think we could be possibly getting a better bang for our buck on that. So thank you.

Actually, I agree with everyone. And if to stimulate the conversation or to put it on our list of things, I do think especially with depending on how the vote goes in November, the money to be had will be from the federal level, not from the state level.

So you know where the light signs? I don't know if any of you reached out and spoke to Ron. I did in great detail. I don't like the fact that we need a lobbyist, but that's part of the way the game is played in Tallahassee and in DC. 10 million over 10 years sounds like a pretty good track record. I know last year we didn't get any money. So I'm thinking myself, when you keep asking, maybe this year now we're due to receive. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. You have what's considered the best lobbyist in the state. And so I'm not so sure. My concern is if we sever this today, then we have to go

Ron, did you want to weigh in? Or Anna, did you want to weigh in or make any comments on this?

If you could just identify yourself so we know you.

Sorry. Thank you, Ron. I did say, did I have a light sign that was on? I saw one. Okay. Counselors, any other light signs? All right. Do we have anybody signed up for public comment on this?

Very good. Thank you. Any questions for me? All right. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Guys, I'm going to make – Councillor Gray, your light sign's on.

We needed this conversation, and so I really appreciate your joining us and having it. A little bit intimidating when you've been working on this that long, and then you profile a governor in his first year and a senator in his first year, and that actually the timing could be pretty effective – So I've only been here for just close to two years, and so my experience is a little different, it's a little narrower. And you're right, it does you a disservice over a 10-year period. My first reaction, I definitely want some input from my associates up here, is, Maybe one more year might do somethin

Steve, we've got some light signs. I'll address that at the end, but Councilor Schwan is up first.

Yes, thank you. I guess I'm going to reiterate, we are in such a financial crunch in our city with our revenues, and we have some really large impact votes coming up, and I just think we have to prepare the best we can for this, and I think I would prefer that we do terminate it now at the end of this fiscal year, see where we're at, and we can always reinitiate this contract at a later date. It's very possible, too. But we have not identified new revenue sources. And so what we have to be looking at is where can we save money. This is over $80,000. I think that's a significant amount. So that

Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Henry.

Interesting, Councillor Gray, that you said that. And I agree with you. But it's gambling, right? If your table's winning, you're afraid to walk away. but we haven't been winning, but maybe this one last toss of the dice could get us something. So I completely get what you're saying, because it is, there is a chance. But then also, and I thank you for your words, and I agree, but then we just had State Representative Benaroche complete her first term, and she basically said, we are the rich community and our tax dollars and everything is distributed through the state to other counties that nee

I think we find ourselves in a very, very challenging situation here. The state is going to, the governor, is going to amend Amendment 3 and come out with a new referendum, possibly any day now. So the question is, will the Homestead Reduction Act pass? You want to talk about a gamble? There's a gamble. Will most voters in Florida who are complaining about affordability pass up on the opportunity to vote in favor of a homestead reduction act I don't think so if I was gambling I would say they're going to pass that and if they pass it I don't think there's any doubt in anyone's mind in this roo

Well, maybe Councilor Goler's got the answer. We'll see what she has to say. Councilor Goler, you're up. No pressure. You're up next.

First of all, thank you for your service. You guys have done a tremendous job, and we are very appreciative of that. And unfortunately, to pick up from my colleagues where they left it, right now our priorities are concentrating to take care of our own municipality as much as possible. And we don't know what we need. And $80,000 might not be much of money, but it might pay some of our staff salary. So we have to be very careful in knowing that there is really not much money to bring home at this point. We are looking at, just like Councillor Henry said, Yvette Benaroche already said that, yes,

This question is more for the city manager and Mr. Gabriel. I don't want to overstep my boundary and negotiate here. But there might be an option. Would Mr. Book entertain a commission structure where he could actually make more in the year the more he brings to us? Is that something that he's willing to talk about?

Thank you, Ron. I'm going to take my go-around team. I see a few light signs on again, but I'll go with mine. A couple of things. I made a few notes. First of all, just big picture. I think we live in a paradise. I think we are well-funded. I think we had one of the lowest millage rates in the entire state. I think it was two or three years running. We were top three lowest millage rates. We funded an entire community. We have an entire staff out of those 15 lowest taxation cities in the entire state of Florida. one of the most heavily populated states in the whole country. We managed to offer

Yes, thank you. So as I said before, it's so important that we look for where we can save money. We have to save money. And I think this is a significant amount. So I'd like to make a motion to terminate the lobbying contract with Runbook effective at the end of this fiscal year.

Motion by Councillor Schwan, second by Councillor Dunham. All right, light signs are stuck. Councillor Schwan, anything else to add to that? Yeah. OK, thank you. Councillor Gray.

Well, I'm a little sheepish here, because I've been very serious about expense discipline. And I really appreciate, Councillor Schwan, your motion. I'll ask you that this is kind of a Las Vegas variation. I appreciate the gambling concept. My understanding is this contract can be canceled in seven days. Is that accurate? OK, the run rate on this is $6,833 a month. We've got them covered in the budget through 930. I'm not sure how I'm going to vote yet, just to give you that courtesy. I really appreciate this conversation. I needed it. But I'm sitting here thinking there's a new council in earl

THANK YOU, COUNCILOR. COUNCIL, LET'S FINISH UP WITH OUR THOUGHTS. WE HAVE A LOT OF OTHER THINGS ON THE AGENDA TONIGHT, SO VICE CHAIR CHAMPAGNE?

YEAH, I THINK I'M COMING TO GRIPS WITH A PERSONAL DECISION. And I liked Ron's comments that he just recently made here in the last few minutes. I think we continue to contract as it is with some negotiation yet to be determined what that leads to and revisit it after the election in November and decide at that juncture whether we wish to terminate it because of Amendment 3. or or not but let's go let's make the effort state focused in the short term to see what we can do with a negotiated contract to be revisited after the election in november new council decides what to do at that juncture ca

I agree with Chair Palumbo in the fact of First step, I would like to see the renegotiation. I want to see it before you. And then talk about it next week or next meeting if we can. And I agree. Also, why don't we extend, say, the contract? Again, you can do it in seven days or as part of the negotiation. have the contract go, I believe, November 16th is a Monday. It would be right after the election that we could have it on the agenda. So I guess my question is, if we want to have a vote on what has already been brought forward, or if you guys would want to change your mind and we could bring

Well, we have a motion in a second. What you're saying is you're suspecting four councillors are not going to vote for us. I don't want to put words in your mouth. You could ask Councillor Schwan if she'd like to withdraw.

That's your choice. I just wanted to ask if not, we can vote and we can see where it goes.

So I see no other light signs. Anybody signed up to speak on this?

No. Motion passes 4-3. Contract is terminated. We are moving on to 16B. A discussion with the city council regarding the city attorney fee structure. Alan Gabriel. Alan, you are up.

Pretty good. Thank you, Alan. First light sign, Council Gray.

Just one quick question. Looking at the options, and I appreciate them, under Option one or slash option two, it talks about a 4% increase or the CPI, whichever is greater. Why couldn't that be the lesser of those two as opposed to the greater of those two or just the CPI? It could be either one. It's defined right now as 4% or the CPI, whichever is greater. So could we just strike that? Because that's actually the year two of this contract, or the concept about the next price increase of next year.

Right. So I welcome the input from my associates that option one looked pretty responsible, but I was trying to build the road ahead. and whether or not, I just didn't understand why it should be the greater of 4% of the CPI.

And then the other alternative for us is we just move forward with one of these options and then We both reevaluate where we're at a year from now.

Very good. Thank you, Counselor. Vice Chair Champagne?

Yeah, I favor option one with a fixed rate of 4% going forward. I think that's the simplest one to choose from my perspective. So that's my contribution here.

I see no other light signs. I liked option one also. I liked the fixed rate, to tell you the truth. I was kind of in between the two of them, option one and two. To be real honest, I can kind of go either way, to be truthful. I do think our city attorney is fair with us, I think, in the pricing. I've asked around. I said my wife's in the legal field. He's mentioned to us where other communities are paying. They seem like they're willing to work with us. And I also know that, Alan, I mean, I know there's a lot of conversations, times, and things that happen where we're not directly billed for,

Well, we got the whisperings of one, one, two, one, two, that first section there, option one or two. Stephen, you were the first one, the 13-5 in the hour. Is that what you're leaning towards?

Yes, it is. I could make a motion to that if that helps you, or we can wait for the concerns.

Well, I'll take a run on making a motion on option one at a fixed rate of 4%.

There's no percentage increase that would be negotiated in the future period. Is that correct, Alan? Yes, sir.

So let's start with we have a motion. We have a second. Let's open up for dialogue. Vice Chair, I think you want to blend them maybe at the 4% to option one. I'm not sure. But light signs to jump in on the conversation. Right now we have a motion by Councillor Gray, a second by Councillor Goehler for option one. The original proposal rate increases at $325 per hour with a monthly retainer of $13,500. Councillor Henry, your light sign's on.

I also support option one without number two because we can't predict how markets are going to go and why would we agree to a price increase before we know prices have to increase.

Good point. I see no other light signs. Anybody signed up to speak on this?

Thank you. All right. We are... Moving right along. Does anybody need a break, counselors?

It's too hot. It's too cold. We are... Forgive me. We're moving on to what? 16C, I believe. Correct?

Thank you, Chief. I see some light signs. Councillor Henry.

Thank you so much, Chief Byrne, for all the background. The paperwork on this was very impressive and it was very well presented, so thank you for that. And with that, I move to approve.

We have a motion by Councillor Henry, second by Councillor Goeller. Councillor Gray, your light sign is on.

Thank you. I'm about to expose how sad my personal life is because I dove into the accounting here. And actually, this links to all three fire trucks. It's really straightforward. I'm very supportive of us doing this, but The three fire trucks, the payment of 184 on the one which I asked to pull from the consent agenda, the 350,000 for another one in the down payment, and the 250 all adds up to $782,000. And we've identified $703,000 in that capital improvement fund of 1609 5 I do understand there's a timing difference and this may not be fair to ask you or maybe it's for the accounting depart

I thought the $250,000 was earmarked on the other truck to come from that capital fund as well.

So then the total usage... against that $703,000 would be the $184,000 plus the $350,000. Correct. And we're satisfied that there's sufficient funds remaining for whatever future purposes? I'm done with my questions. I just was haunted by the accounting.

Well, I see no other light signs. Chief, how long did we talk on it, 30 minutes, 35 minutes? Yes, sir. We had a great detailed conversation, started with Chief Byrne. And I'll speak about C&D, although we're on C. You're going to be asking for $3.5 million. Tell me why we should grant it.

Well, first of all, we need fire equipment, right? That's number one. We went into great detail. Price improvement. These are better constructed vehicles, just a little more heavy-duty than the previous, a little more beefed up. We talked about the firehouse, the cleanliness, the condition. I presume this vehicle looked the same way. Maybe there's some value at the end of the lease. We got 18 years out of one. impressively, but now it's at the end of its life. So after those detailed questions, detailed conversation, I was thoroughly convinced that this is a good purchase. So I, of course, wil

Yes. Motion passes 7-0. On to item 16D, resolution. Joan, would you please read that into the record for us, please? Chief, you might as well stay right there. I'm staying right there. Thank you.

Thank you chief counselor Henry Again excellent information, and then I just need you to promise that you're not going to ask for anything for a while Can you can you define a while?

Councillor, would you make that motion again, please?

Do we have a motion by Councillor Henry, second by Councillor Gray? Councillor Gray, your light sign is on, your light sign is off. I see no other light signs. I agree. Chief and I had a much more detailed conversation about a vehicle that's 10 years old. The type, the quality, what the new one's going to look like, how we're going to own it, the way it'll be maintained, how much life we can get out of it. I was satisfied with the answers, and I appreciated the time you spent explaining to me. Anybody signed up for public comment?

Thank you. Ride safely. Did you just say that? I love it. We are moving on to 16E, city manager performance evaluation from human resources director Diana Snover. Diana, please. Welcome.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, and because I'm the one that has delayed this, I would move to approve.

Motion to approve by Councillor Henry, second by Vice Chair Champagne. Do you have anything to add, Vice Chair Champagne?

I think we made great progress, and thank you for the work my fellow councillors put into this. Diana and I did have a chance to talk briefly that one of the things I was trying to figure out was where in this review do I address culture? I'm a big believer in the power of culture. I actually think culture is much more powerful than strategy. Diane did a good job, I think, of pointing out where I could address those comments in this review. So I think I was satisfied. I just want everybody to be aware that culture is such a powerful driver of the quality of an organization. And so I just wante

All right. I'll just say I liked it. It's clean. It gets to the point. You can always add another page if you want to put additional comments or anything. So I think it's great. Anybody signed up for public comment on this?

Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Thank you for your hard work, Diana, and also Vice Chair Champaign for your input on that. We are moving on to item 17, items removed from the consent agenda. And that was, it wasn't F, it was I, right? That was 8I. Yes, it was. Budget appropriation, fire department, pumper truck, balloon payment, Chase Calloway, finance manager. Councilor Gray, I believe you removed that, so would you like to start?

Yeah, well, actually, I can limit the pain and suffering. I'd make a motion to approve. I just need to understand the funding mechanism from that ledger account, which was an excellent explanation tied to all three of those. Perfect.

Do we have a second to that motion? I'll second. Motion by Councilor Gray, second by Councilor Henry. Well done. I see no light signs. I'm assuming nobody signed up for public comments.

Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Excellent. Now let me get back to my... All right, counselors, moving on to item 18, counselor communication and future agenda items. Light signs if there's something you'd like to share. Counselor Goller, you're up first.

First of all, I would like to congratulate our new chief one more time. And I'm sorry I was not there for your wonderful ceremony. And welcome and thank you for all you do. So my next comment will be for a future agenda, I had a short communication. Actually, I had a communication with Dr. Lucius that I will be working updating the water and sewer rates. What I want to do, I will be working with Mr. Petit on the white paper. And I wanted to do it last time, and you were right, Mr. Chairman. I think this is a better way to do it. And I will be bringing it. Go ahead.

Well, thank you. I would certainly wait to see what information they bring forward. You could piggyback on that. Most of the work is going to be done already for you, and you could inject your desires as a councillor and bring up great conversation with us.

Okay. Councillor Schwan, you're up next.

Yes. Thank you, Martin, if you could bring up the first image that I provided you. And what I'm going to be speaking about is the Sea Turtle Conservatory Retrofit Light Program that's available to beachfront properties. Actually, Martin, this is the second one, if you could just bring up the other one. And I apologize if that wasn't identified. Can you even put them next to each other, Martin? Okay, well, the purpose of this program, and Martin. Keep going back and forth. Yeah, Martin, thank you very much. You're always so helpful. So this is a program that was started back in 2019, and it was

Great information, Councillor. That's actually really useful.

Is this something you could get to the paper as well or something? Yes. There's a lot more people read the paper than watch us. And that's already being worked on. Perfect. That's great.

Well, excellent news. Thank you. Councillor Henry, you were up next.

Okay. Well, it's already been said once today, but tomorrow is Election Day. So if you haven't voted yet, please do. Martin, the slide, please. Please know that the Marco Island Police Department is having a blood drive next Tuesday, the 25th. They are enticing you to attend by giving all donors a $20 gift card, a T-shirt, and a wellness check. I encourage all to attend this event from 10 to 3 next Tuesday. Thank you. Also, I just want everybody to know that it is summertime, and please know that during the week of August 15th, over 1,200 families were served by our daily bread food pantry at

Well said, Councillor Henry. It's not something we applaud. It's something we commiserate, but beautiful words.

Councillor Gray. Councillor Schwan, just for first, that was an excellent lighting presentation. I do know there are grants. Is that for exterior lighting only, so it would be on your balconies? I mean, this wouldn't address any of the interior lighting in those condos.

Okay, so just so people understand that one. Thank you for that clarification. I only have one quick comment just for everybody's benefit, and I had talked to Dr. Lucius about this this morning. The council meeting on September 10th, it was moved from September 8th, and it was moved from September 8th to September 10th, I think, to conform with a budget requirement, but that also lines up with the council meeting for that evening. is my understanding. So we'll have the budget meeting slash council meeting on September 10th. And the only reason I just droned on on this, because a lot of people

I have a couple of things. I see another light signs. Councilor, I'm going to follow up with yours a little bit. And just on the citizens part, you know, united we stand, divided we fall. And yes, we have passionate things we debate about on Marco. And yes, we are frustrated over reaching build out. There's no question about it. And we're all in love with what we used to have. But I look at the island as in great shape. I look at it, think of five better places to live than Marco, and right here, right now in your mind. I can't think of one. And then think of one that's the safest community in

Thank you, Martin. Now, one thing I want to run by of a little more procedural. And this just popped up. Somebody come up and said thank you, Chair, for replying to me. sunday august 18th i must say you're the only counselor that has responded to every single email i sent so sent to me thank you counselor gray thank you chair palumbo for your responses it's reassuring to know that you've listened you're open to feedback willingness to engage disappointed so if you chose to respond i appreciate your sponsor you're the only person who responded to me now i'm not putting this up because i want to

I personally, that was an active thing even kind of post-COVID during the short-term rental time. And I had to say give kudos to people who sat and listened to a four-hour meeting before they could make comments. I'm all for it because it just adds more conversation. What ideally I would like, because having just a voice speak from above, and I don't know if our technology takes us there, is if there was a way to do a screen almost in a Zoom format. I don't know if that's an option. Because just hearing somebody talking down, there's something to be said about being present in eye contact, whi

Thank you. Thank you for the feedback. Councillor Gray.

Yeah, I was in the minority that was trying to hang on to the meeting time because we programmed people to come at 6 o'clock after work, but I respect the decision of the council. I'm very apprehensive about the Zoom strategy because that means any number of people that are not residents could get on Zoom and cloud the conversation, whether it was a national shark presentation and they all wanted to get in line, So the residents come in here and speak. And obviously we have people that are not residents that are welcome to come here and speak, but I think we're opening ourselves up to a lot mo

That may be the case. I mean, a lot of those people that want to speak are the residents, but there may be a fail-safe for that with limiting the amount or the number. Right now I'm just talking about if it's worth even considering pontificating and pursuing. Councillor Schwan, you're up next.

i agree with what counselor gray just said because i think there will be opportunities people who don't live here full-time or part-time will be coming in and zooming in from all across the country but another point i want to make and this was initiated by you at our last council meeting that to ask for consensus you first have to do a white paper So are you doing a white paper on this before you ask us for a consensus?

It certainly has to do. I'm not even asking for a consensus here. I just want to know what your opinions are.

Well, I think you did say you were asking for a consensus when you started this. So I just want to make sure that following through on what you did and moved forth, it would not be an appropriate time to ask for a consensus.

Sure. I'm certainly not even going to produce it if I don't think I have four people that like the idea. If not, that's a good point. We stop right here and right now and I'll put another ounce of effort in it. Vice Chair Champagne, do you have any thoughts on this before I endeavor any effort on this?

There are pros and cons involved. The concept that we've heard the negative side of people just jumping on and very difficult to decide who they are and in reality versus who they claim to be and whether or not they're residents. If there could be some way of registration to participate on Zoom where we can first check who they are, might be a way to get around that issue and problem. Without that, if we can't vet the person other than letting them just get onto Zoom, I think there could be some problems.

Very good. So you got three. Anybody? Give me a nod or a no. If not, we don't go any further.

I saw Joan shaking her head, so I have to say probably not a good idea.

Councilor, I like what we can get from point A to point B quickly. I like the thought of the citizens being heard, but I do respect the decision of this council. No further conversation on that. Councilors, anything else you missed before we move on? All right, item 19, counselor's report. We have no reports attached, but if anybody has anything to TDC, our meeting is tomorrow, so I have nothing to, but Florida League of Cities, Stephen, or Bonita, MPO, Deb, CAC, anything to report, counselors?

I would on MPO. Actually, last week, I'd invited down our MPO executive director to meet with Dr. Lucius and I regarding our situation that we're facing with our bridges and our infrastructure and things like that and have a discussion between the three of us some ideas of ways we might hopefully be able to get some additional funding in those areas no promises but let's make sure we are aware of possible revenue sources very good thank you

All right, nothing else. I know we have at least one patient citizen on item 20, citizens' comments. Jim, how many people are signed up for?

Mr. Evans, welcome. Come on up. If you could just state your name, and I know you've been waiting patiently.

Just state your name, please. I'm sorry.

Thank you so much, and we wish you the best in the election, and thank you for coming.

Well said, Elliot. I made a few notes. Thank you.

Councillor 754, great meeting, great dialogue.