Town Commission - Special Meeting

ington is absent and Vice Mayor Terry Cronin here. Commissioner Anna Butler here. Commissioner Tim Reed here. Commissioner Sher Corey here. Town Manager A. Marie Smith here. Town uh sorry, finance manager Jennifer Kerr here. Fire Chief Gavin Brown here. Town clerk Amber Brown is also present. All right. I'd like everyone to stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I'd like to recognize a moment of silence, please. Okay. Thank you. And u just we'll recite the civility pledge again. The commission and staff of the town of Melbourne Beach pledge to conduct all public discourse in a civil manner. The mayor and all members of the commission will treat one another with courtesy and respect and ask the public to do the same toward the commission, each other, and toward staff. We will be respectful of one another even when we disagree. We will direct all comments toward the issues and we will avoid personal attacks. All right. So, we do have a moment for public comment. Susie, Bruce. All right. Seeing no public comment, we'll move forward. Uh, new business is Ordinance 2026 uh-01 proposed addition of employee firefighters to FRS first reading an ordinance of the town of Melbourne Beach, Florida, providing for eligible employee firefighters participation in the Florida Retirement System as authorized by chapter 121 Florida statutes, providing for conflicts, providing for se severability, and providing an effective t uh date. And I guess am I recognizing uh Miss Smith or Yes.

Okay. Uh as the town was looking um to hire the three new firefighters that you had approved this uh past fiscal year, um we realized that uh we uh needed to put in place first the retirement system. And I understand that there was um some previous discussion with the interim town manager about uh going to the Florida retirement system or maybe um piggybacking on the police uh retirement system that we had. Um based on the needs, the um ability uh to hire quickly, we we uh decided to go with the Florida retirement system. Um and we weighed a lot of the pros and cons. Um we talked to the finance manager as well as to the fire chief and uh we believe this is the best uh route for uh the town.

Thank you. Chief Brown, did you want to say anything?

Um no. So just that we we assessed, you know, the option of having our own local plan versus entering in uh to the Florida retirement system. And I've outlined a couple of reasons why we think this is going to be the best um for our municipality. Um but just a couple things just to highlight real quick from it. So uh the first thing is that many of our town employees are already covered through the Florida retirement system. So this isn't something new we're bringing to the town. Um we're just electing to add the firefighter positions to this existing um retirement system. It's the quickest to enact. Um but the bigger things for us is that as a municipality we have limited staff. We know that and so this system reduces administrative burden and it ensures that the plan is compliant with all Florida rules and laws. And so that takes the burden off of us to make sure that we're not um you know accidentally you know not following a rule or not eligible for the state's portion of the reimbursement. Um it allows us for a more predictable employer cost compared to a local plan. So we just pay the state um avoids unfunded liability exposure to the town. And then another big benefit is that um of this versus the local is that it's a recruitment tool as well. So um the people that we're looking to attract to employ here um aren't people right out of fire school. We want seasoned people coming in to be the supervisors um or our volunteers. And this would allow people from other agencies that have already uh started their career in an agency that offers this Florida retirement system to come here, keep their retirement, and it would transfer with them. They could finish out their career here in Melbourne Beach and bring their knowledge and experience with them. So, it's a recruitment tool um as well that makes us more attractive to um candidates for those positions. So,

thank you. For all those reasons, we recommend Florida Retirement System. Miss Kerr, do you have any comments that you want to share with us? Um, no. I I support F FRS. It is a recruitment tool. We are looking for people who I mean I came from Bvard County government 23 years before I came here and that was one of the reasons is this town also has FRS. So, it is a good recruitment tool and it it gives the employee security and wants the you know the reason to stay. So I support that. Thank you. Thank you. So I'm happy to hear a motion and then we can have discussion after it's seconded.

I make a motion to accept ordinance 20261. This is the first reading um to provide the eligible employee firefighters participation in the Florida retires retirement system um as authorized by chapter 121 Florida just Florida statutes. Second. Okay. Discussion.

Commissioner Reed. So the only thing I was going to ask to perhaps get added in here is this because this is an ordinance. It doesn't. Um I when I read through this I was trying to see where that fit in in our ordinances. Ordinances all have paragraphs and sections defined to them. I didn't see where that was kind of uh put in here. So maybe in the in the um the uh the overall uh summary page there that we can say. I think it's I don't know if it is chapter 12 or or whatever it is in the in the ordinances. Um that's where this is ordinance will appear. So we could have we could have that in the for the second reading. I I'm not opposed to anything in the first reading other.

U may may I ask a question? Commissioner Corey, of course. Um, I I don't I don't believe we've ever done that before. So, I don't know that that would be appropriate for this particular ordinance. I don't we've never put in the ordinance where it goes in the listings. So, I don't know that that would be appropriate. I could be wrong or I could be 200% right. Is that something we would discuss with the attorney? Yes, I um I can take that as an action item and I will discuss that with Ryan and make sure we put it in the appropriate place. Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, to clarify, I'm not trying to change the the writing of the ordinance. I'm just in the in the background information and the the summary page there that went came with the uh the introduction. That's what I was looking for. So, Chief Brown, I did have a question. Just looking on the back page. There was some there was some talk about um the health insurance and where it was budgeted and then what would where is actually I was kind of confused by by that because it was uh said health insurance was budgeted at 42,000 but but the remaining amount of 14,000 it needs to remain as a buffer for health insurance. Maybe uh Miss Curry you could tell me. Yeah. Um, so the reason that being is because our health insurance is based on age. So the 42,000 in the original the the approved budget we that's a guesstimate.

So you don't know until you know the age of the employee. All right. Got it. So if we're getting older people in, it's going to cost more because it's based on age. Unless of course they're Medicare age. Yeah. you know, we're getting close, right? So, to have that buffer in case is is a smart thing to do. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions, commissioners? No, not. Okay. All in favor of this first reading? I Oh, sorry. Oh, sorry. Thank you, Amber.

You know, this is a moment for public comment. Is there any comments from the public? Seeing none, and I apologize to the public. All right. You're rusty, right? Uh uh all in all in favor. I I I So, none opposed. Unanimous. Thanks. Okay. I I would love to entertain a motion to close this meeting. Motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? I I Thank you. We'll give Amber a chance to rev up for the the third one.

And I apologize. I let them know. Thank you for all your but I promised them I would study.