City Commission Regular Meeting - workshop

big emergency, they already know what all their departments are already supposed to do, and they all work together.

This is always a dance. There's always moving parts. There's always things that can impact a decision, whether it's state, local, federal, revenue. All these things come into play, and it's just amazing how the city is impacted for the variety of things that can occur.

I feel more confident in the city and the way it operates. I don't see wasteful spending. I see a lot of proactive thinking way outside the box of what I thought a city does.

Well, I was already in love with Northport. I think everyone knows that. I got to meet the people who work here. their love for the community, how hard it is to run a whole city, the intricacies of it, and the why. It answers so many questions about the why things are done the way they're done. So it does, it empowers you to love where you live more and to get more involved.

And I think the important message here is the confidence that I've really feel now of the people running each of these departments. You know, they are running multi-million dollar businesses all separately but coming together with tax dollars that come through. And that is by far not an easy task.

The departments that we've been to seem to have improved with the growth in the city. So the mere fact that we've grown such a major amount, the department has grown, the staff has grown, the offerings have grown, and the need for involvement from the residents has also grown.

I think Parks and Rec really showed up and did an amazing job. They had a bunch of staff people. They kind of brought us around, had different speakers. I think they take the prize for the best overall display.

Places that I didn't think I would enjoy as much, like I didn't think I'd enjoy public works as much as I did. I loved it. And it seemed to me that there were the more questions that were asked.

The Economic Development Council. I think that is just, again, it all points to live, work, and play within our community.

I think there's a lot of misunderstanding out there about really how these departments work, how the city really works. And I think by offering a class like this, you get such an exposure to so many different departments and meet so many different people. You can't help but want to be a part of it.

If you plan on living here and living amongst the community and understanding the growth and understanding what we need, definitely join the North Port University. You're going to be pleasantly surprised. Morning.

Today is Thursday, June 11, 2026. It's 9 a.m. We're in the city chambers and I call the city commission budget workshop meeting to order. Commissioners present are Commissioner Duvall, Commissioner Stokes, Mayor Emmerich, Vice Mayor Langdon. Commissioner Petro is absent this morning due to a family obligation. There is a quorum present for this meeting. Also present are City Manager Fletcher, City Attorney Fawino, City Clerk Faust, Board Specialist Linder. We have Police Chief Garrison in the back. Is Titus back there? We got Deputy Chief Hurley up front and center this morning. I am requesting that all commissioners, public participants, and staff maintain order and decorum throughout this meeting. City Commission Policy 2021-03 states that attendees shall refrain from engaging in personal attacks and boisterous, immaterial, inflammatory, obscene, profane, or disorderly conduct. Additionally, meeting attendees must refrain from obscene, profane, or disorderly conduct, including handcuffing, yelling, and similar demonstrations, all of which deserves, disturbs the peace and good over the meeting. Thank you. I'm going to call on Mr. Hurley to lead us. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, sir. City Court. Public comment, please.

Yes. Debbie McDowell, please do not take this public comment as me being angry. This public comment is made out of disappointment and frustration. The city manager presented his recommended budget. These workshops are for you to talk it out, get consensus, and make changes to his recommendations. On the first day, you spent less than four hours discussing the city's $350 million budget, really? Why wait for another agenda item to discuss items in the commission budget? This is the agenda item. Yes, skipping your salary increase is the right decision. Yes, cut each commissioner's travel and training budget by 50%. This frees up $18,000. You're in budget workshops. Discuss away. Get those consensus on the record today. Regarding the bulk pickup, I heard commissioners' disapproval, compromise, and agreement to the idea. Get a consensus today. In my opinion, cutting them entirely would create more headaches and eat up any savings in no time. Everyone made it clear how difficult cutting 5% from the general fund budget was this year. The reason that directive was given was to use the 2.7 million in savings for the CEC and cultural buildings, which seems to be the newest priority. For two years, I heard each of you say public safety is the number one priority. You cannot have both. This budget clearly indicates the CEC and cultural building are more important than public safety. Get a consensus to use that 2.7 million to fill those gaps in public safety areas today. But wait, there's more. Communications BP3576 and Finance BP3495 both cut one position. Both department heads, aka subject matter experts, decided these could be cut. The CM didn't recommend those cuts. Commissioners, you can reverse the CM recommendations and free up $200,000 for public safety. I've got plenty more ideas, but there isn't enough space. This year's painstaking efforts to cut the budget will look like child's play compared to next year's if the November referendum passes. City Watcher, during yesterday's budget discussion, the city manager correctly pointed out that if additional cuts are desired, commissioners have a responsibility to identify where those cuts should come from. A commissioner simply stated that more can be cut without providing specific recommendations is not leadership, nor is it fulfilling the role taxpayers elect to commissioners to perform. Then to close the meeting, a public comment mirrored the vague statement of more can be cut. This reoccurring pattern of a commissioner comment being echoed by specific community members is coming off as coordinated messaging. The public has also seen evidence of controversial social media posts being shared by a commissioner with certain community members seemingly to generate reaction and engagement. Given those circumstances, continued claims of little or no interaction with these individuals become increasingly difficult to reconcile with the facts. At some point, the public deserves honesty about these relationships and influences. The unwillingness to provide direction when directly asked was disappointing but expected. Budget decisions require specific priorities and accountability. If a commissioner believes additional cuts exist, then it is their responsibility to identify them and explain the impacts to the residents. Anything less shifts the burden onto staff while avoiding responsibility for the actual decisions. Residents deserve commissioners who are willing to lead, make difficult choices, and stand behind their positions. Repeating broad criticisms without offering solutions serves no one. Anonymous. As a father with children, I have never had to call the police to my neighborhood. That doesn't mean public safety isn't important. It absolutely is. But what is essential to me and the more than 10,000 school-aged children in our community is having a strong parks and recreation system that provides opportunities for sports, swimming camps, playgrounds, special events, and other quality of life services that help make North Port a great place to live. During these budget discussions, it sometimes feels like the message being sent is that the only thing that makes a community successful is public safety. While police and fire are critical services, they are not the only thing that define a city. Families choose where to live based on many factors, including parks, recreation programs, trails, community events, and amenities that improve their daily lives. I would like to thank city leadership for highlighting the importance of public safety, but I would also encourage them to recognize the value of quality of life services. There are many thriving communities that invest heavily in parks, recreation, and community amenities while also maintaining safe neighborhoods. In fact, one doesn't have to look very far to find an example. Welland Park has become one of the fastest growing and most desirable communities in our region because it has focused on creating a high quality of life through parks, trails, recreation opportunities, gathering spaces, and community engagement. A great community was not built solely on police cars and fire trucks. It is built on safe neighborhoods, strong schools, vibrant parks, recreation opportunities, and places where families can connect and create memories. If we want Northport to continue growing and attracting families, we need to invest in all those things, not just one. In person, I have Valdi Olander.

Good morning. I am Valdi Olander. I can hear in peace. I am not a criminal, and I have a dignity. Emmerich and the rest of you, I am instructing you to respect my dignity, and I will ask Mr. Cohen to sit here. Just a 90 degree move. I did check four attachments, which you have in the sheets over here. First one, recommended budget. I counted from page 411 to last one, and add up to $1.4 billion CIP spending. Please verify that, and vote no. This amount is 14,000 per capita. Detailed worksheet, I didn't have time to check. Number three, fund balance reports that on September 30th, 2026, so it's three months from now, end of fiscal year, fund balance will have $158 million. That's lots of money. Proposals and reductions is actually very good because it totaled 32 million plus in savings. Then, proposed budget is up by 27 million from the previous year, which represent 9.3% from previous year. An 85% increase in Fletcher to get older. However, Population grew only 1.69% from last year and 17% since Fletcher took over. So clearly, we are suffering under his and your leaderships, whatever it's called. Vote no to budget 2027. One more thing. Your retirement contribution is $37,332 Per person, this is Mr. Enrich, more than you receive in salary when you can get here. Vote no. And last thing, I checked meaning of Fuhrerprinzip Schwerder Nation yesterday, and what it says that Fuhrer, which is mean Adolf Hitler, his word was about the written law. Did you get it, Enrich? Andres, if you work above Florida Constitution, the people have a right to instruct your representative. Are you a fuhrer? Please list carefully attachments. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Moving on to general business, item 26-0846, city manager, this is your item, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I don't have the actual title in front of me to read.

Discussion and possible direction regarding the city manager's recommended fiscal year 2026-2027 budget and five-year capital improvement plan.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You're welcome. We will start off our- What a team. Teamwork. We will start off today as we usually do annually by having our Stantec team led by Mr. Peter Napoli go over a few of our methodology assessment studies for fire and then we'll get into fires budget as well. Okay.

Good morning, everybody. Thanks, Deema. Good morning, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, Peter Napoli, Stantec. I'm here to give you a brief presentation summarizing the results of our assessment study for the city's fire district. It's an annual process that we've continued to do over the years for the city where we look at the financial forecast for the fire district and help the district with its recommended rate increases to the assessments that fund their operations. Our presentation today goes over the background on the assessment program, just a brief refresher on what the assessment program is, how it funds the city's fire district, a recap of where we left off last year in 2026, so you can kind of compare to that, summarizing the updates that went into this year's model and this year's forecast, and then some customer impacts. So a little background on the assessment methodology and the assessment program that's in place that funds the Fire Rescue District. This methodology and rate structure, it was implemented back in 2014 by our team and has been updated in 2024 just to, if you'll remember back in that year, we had to take a reallocation to look at the tier one and tier two rates. Tier 1 is supposed to be designed to recover 70% of the cost, and that's based on the response readiness of the fire rescue department. So essentially saying every property owner in the city benefits from fire rescue services, whether or not they pick up the phone to call them, just their watch standing and their availability at any point in any time. And then tier 2 is based on the protection of structure loss. So it's a scaling charge. Whereas tier 1 is a fixed charge currently residents in the city property owners in the city pay 187 fixed fee per household or per parcel. And then on the Tier 2 side, if they have a structure on their parcel that has a value that's associated with it, that's assigned by the property appraiser, and this is the replacement value of that structure, they'll pay $3.03 per $5,000 of value. So the more valuable the structure, essentially the more benefit they receive from the protection of loss, kind of like insurance. that tier two side of the assessment program recovers 30% of the cost. So 70% of the revenue comes from tier one, 30% comes from tier two. So since 2014, we've assisted the district with forecasting. We do a 10-year financial forecast of the assessment rates, of the revenues, the expenses, the anticipated additions of new stations, personnel associated with those stations to help them course correct and ensure that they have sustainable funding into the future. In 2026, a 9% rate increase was adopted to the assessment rates. The average single-family home value in 2026, this is just the structure, not including the land underneath it, was 240,000, which equates to 48 of those EBUs for Tier 2. So Tier 1, you'll see for this average single-family home, they'd pay 187 for Tier 1. and then you add in the $3 per EBU, so $3.03 times 48 EBUs gets you to an additional 145 for a total annual assessment of $332 to fund fire rescue services. Just a little recap of the financial plan and the forecast that we presented last year. 9% increase in 2026 can be shown there in that middle chart or middle table. You'll see in the blue bars there. And then in 2027 onward, we're projecting an 8% annual increase to those assessment rates. The bottom graph there shows the end of year fund balance for the fire district and projected out for a 10 year forecasting period. Those lines there show the various targets, 30% being the top end of their target for their end of year fund balance and then 20% being the very minimum. So for most of the projection period, this provided for a sustainable forecast with the fund balance tailing off in the latter years of the projection period. Of course, with our current practices of annual updates and revisiting this, we're not too concerned about the last three years, four years of that projection period. Uh, especially because there's so much unknown with that, and no 1 can really forecast what's going to happen in 2031 onwards. So we feel we felt fairly comfortable with this projection last year. And the plan was to continue on with 8% increases. So one more kind of historical and then an update on our assumptions here with the tier one and tier two. The revenue in the fire district assessment program can grow from two things. It can either grow from these assessment rate increases that you adopt for the rates tier one and tier two, like the nine percent that was adopted last year, or it can grow from growth in the city. So every time a new house is built, that's new structure value that's assessed, a new house that's assessed the tier one charge. So that adds revenue to the city's assessment program. Every time a large parcel, say it's 100 acres, gets split up into many individual lots for residential plan development, that large parcel before was paying a certain assessment and now all the individual lots will pay more in assessments. That's just another example of how the growth affects the assessment revenue and it offsets how much the uh the district has to request and rate increases because it provides for that funding so in tier one this is the that first chart at the top uh shows you the history from 2023 on the growth in tier one these units in tier one are parcels in the city so as the amount of parcels goes up so as These bigger parcels are split up into smaller parcels, and there's these splits or annexations. Tier 1 units go up and the Tier 1 revenues increase. So in 2026, the Tier 1 revenue or EBUs grow by about 1%. We're projecting in the orange there for 27, a half percent increase. And then on the Tier 2 side, this is the side that's been pretty unpredictable. So this has to do with the property appraiser assigning value to structures in the city. They have a methodology for how they assign value every year. It's part of their annual process. And when the economy took an upward swing in 2023, in addition to the growth that the city was experiencing, experiencing, you saw those EVUs go up drastically to 50%. That really is what shook up that allocation of the rates. And that's why in 2024, we came back and did a reallocation between tier one and tier two. 2024 was also a strong growth year, 15%. But then it just goes to show it's so hard to forecast things like this because we could have never seen the two years, 25 and 26, at almost no increase to the Tier 2 EBUs. And that's because with the property appraiser's updates, a lot of those structure values came down. based on their methodology for assigning value to those structures. So in 2027, in the orange on the right hand side, we're projecting a 1% increase to be conservative for the tier two EBUs. And as we incorporate the updated property appraiser data, we'll have the real numbers to show the commission before the eventual rate increases are adopted this year. So for our financial forecast, just some of the data points that we incorporate into the forecast every year. So we have your 2026 amended budget for the district. And then we have the 2027 proposed budget for the district baked into these numbers. After 27, we do our best to project how cost increases affect the district. And then we also project the revenues on the revenue side. A big component of the cost increases, of course, every year there's annual increases to salaries and benefits, but there is significant increases in the district because there's planned hiring for these new stations over the course of the 10 year period. And there is 12345 new stations planned over the course of this 10 year forecast. So. As that hiring is layered in, there's a phased-in approach that the district has taken by hiring six employees at a time to get up to that 18 required for a new station. Those costs are layered into the financial forecast. We also have the continued funding for the renewal and replacement funds so they can replace their vehicles and purchase new assets. This is the updated financial plan. And this is our screenshot of our financial forecasting model. So at the top part of this screen here, you see the program to rate increases for tier one and tier two. So you see that nine percent that happened most recently in twenty six, followed by eight percent for the rest of the projection period. Then in the next section, you'll see average single-family EBUs. That's what I showed you before based on the average value of a house currently at $240,000, and we have that growing over the course of the projection period. And then you can see the impact on an annual basis of those rate increases to the average single family home. So in that first year, then the 8% increase brings the average single family bill from 332 to 359. That's a $27 annual increase. And it's around that ballpark throughout the projection period. Of course, we're also factoring in the value this homes grows. So that's an important part of the forecast. I believe the district is coming to you today to request a not to exceed of 10% increase for the rate plan. But we just wanted to show you the forecast based on the plan that we previously presented in twenty, twenty six, and we hope to continue on this point of eight percent. The charts in the bottom part of the screen on the left hand side is the operating fund chart. So that's the end of your fund balance for projecting. for the district. So this shows healthy fund balances at least up until 2032. Out there, just the compounding increase of personnel costs really starts to outpace the revenue increase. But I also want to point out that we're very conservative with the growth in those EBUs in the background. So if that occurred And more favorably, if there were more tier one and tier two growth, that would help the outer years of the forecast. And then finally, this just reviews the customer impact. So the top chart is the chart from last year where we were projecting the same rate increase and the same customer impact for single family homes. The updated plan is below and really there's no change between these because we're just according to plan. So we're not really asking for anything outside of what was previously presented to the commission. And that's the conclusion of the presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions commissioners may have. Commissioner Stokes.

Thank you, Mayor. Peter, thank you very much. That was, for me, raised some questions. You did say that your revenue projections for the EVU increases are extremely conservative. Like, and yet costs, you say go up as we plan for these stations over the years. Why would we spend more money and correct me if I'm wrong? Why would we spend more money than we're bringing in here? Like, well, you know, I have a problem conceptually. I'm just trying to understand that. I'm not sure. I understand. You know, as growth continues. Okay, we're trying to provide safety for that growth and the revenue generated through new EBU's should cover it without having to raise rates.

So I'm struggling with that. So that's a great point that you raised and I'm just go back to this chart here. I think I wanna point out that it's important that we continue to do this on an annual basis and update it annually instead of saying, okay, this is the plan, 8% a year for the next 10 years. We'll step away and revisit it at the end of two years. Because we're doing this annual update, The we incorporate whatever is happening currently for the city. So currently for the city. There's been this stagnation of the tier 2 growth there. The past 2 years has been an average of a half percent increase because structure values of. fallen so far so right now under this situation that's why an eight percent rate increase is necessary to provide sufficient funding for the fire district under a scenario where you go back to twenty three twenty four we actually in twenty three we had a rate decrease because that growth was so high so as in as. The forecast is the forecast, and I think I see your point in saying, all right, if we're going to forecast forward 1% growth each year, you wouldn't need five stations because the five stations are based on a significant amount of growth occurring, so it should provide more revenues. I think our forecast is definitely conservative in that we have growth down at around the current levels. We don't want to put in 10% growth a year, showing revenues go like this. And then tell the commission, you don't have to adopt any rate increase and then growth comes in lower and then you have to have a rate increase that's higher than 8%. I buy that for tier 2.

I see that. I mean, the 1% is not not at a line in my mind, but I look at the tier 1 that's really based on. new EBUs, each new structure. So I look at that and I go from 26 to 27, 78, 253 to 78, 644. That's like, how could that possibly be with the development that's going on residentially in this city? A half a point just doesn't make sense to me. It's been one five and 23.7 and 24, 1.8 and 25, 1.1 and 26. Now you're at a half a point. And then you're saying we need to raise the rates I don't see it. I don't see it. I just think the forecast is not realistic.

Commissioner, if I could jump in and answer the question. We put the projections in based on trends. And we evaluate the plan, as Peter said, every single year. So when we have discussed the plan with you guys in the past, we stress that when the roll comes in in June, we always evaluate what the actual growth is when the June roll comes in. And then we reevaluate. There's an update that's in July. So those projections are projections to be conservative until the answer is no, which we should get that information very soon. And then we adjust that number to what the actual is. So right now what you're seeing is a projection based on last year's plan. Last year, that's the best guess from the data provided, and then we see the roll come in. So we make all of our adjustments for the scenarios and the plans that we'll put in front of Commission next month based on what the actuals are.

Have you ever looked at the comparisons retrospectively between what in the budget cycle you projected like right at this moment versus what actually came in for the last three or four years? We do. And have you found that every year we've well exceeded the percentage of growth that was estimated here versus what actually came in?

I wouldn't say well exceeded. So the numbers are very uh it's very unique because it's based off of growth and the timing of the growth and when it comes into the role so we've had years in the past where we know there's growth especially in the well and park area but if those parcels aren't cut in a particular period of time then they don't make the role for the next year So we see a little bit of a spike when a new development comes up, and then it might level off. And then we see a spike, and then it might level off. It's really dependent on how those parcels are cut. The rest of Legacy Northport, as you all well know, the parcels are already cut. So we see less growth on that side. So when we take an area that's not seeing a lot of new cut parcels, along with an area with a lot of new cut parcels, we project, and then we explain to the board and to the city manager's office of, We project and then we wait and see, because we always adjust the rate once the data is in.

I'm glad to hear that. I will tell you, since I live there and since I watch it, there are way more parcels going to be cut this year. There are so many more properties literally ready to pop than there were last year.

And you're 100% correct. And that's something we keep a close eye on.

I mean, that makes me feel better that when these numbers come in, they're going to support a higher tier one growth, which is going to ease the pressure on having to raise Rates at all, or certainly less than being. You know, probably we're talking about not to exceed 10. I would love to be in the 678% range. That would make me feel better. And I think that's where we're going to be. That's just I just want to get a feel for it. And I wasn't focused on the fact that you do adjust it to actual before we improve this budget and any rates. So I'm good with that. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. It's all I have there. Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I have a related question. Are we estimating the impact of the Winchester annexation?

Not, not.

What kind of impact will that have on the formula?

So what we'll, what we're anticipating that we'll see is a continuation of the added cut one, I'm sorry, tier one parcels being cut and added to the roll. Again, that goes to the developer on the timing of when they open up those developments. But we certainly have an eye for that being in the future. We know that based on data provided from the developer, that's going to span many years into the future. So it's something we do watch. We do account for. And then as Commissioner stated, we always go back and look at the actuals and then we make the adjustments from there because we always look for opportunities to bring that rate down.

And refresh my memory, how do we handle higher density residential.

Properties, so all of our and commercial, all of our assessments are applied uniformly across the board in the manner stated with tier 1. so if you go into a trim notice or a tax bill, you will see an assigned structure value, whether it's a commercial box store or whether it's a residential dwelling. but it's a universal application through the apportionment of Tier 1, which is everybody pays the Tier 1, and the structure value, which is assigned to Tier 2. Thank you.

You're welcome. Yeah, just one point I did want to make is what, to your point, Vice Mayor, on Winchester, there are significant parcels this area that puts the beginning of any actual development other than probably some infrastructure work off a bit into the future, which also creates a window of time for the infrastructure on River Road to be widened. So for people who are concerned about that, you know, there's a timeline here that's scheduled out so that, you know, things kind of fall in line the right way. So there'll be plenty of time for one River Road to get probably widened if not finished, but certainly enough before any significant developments there. And that'll push off a little bit our concerns about, you know, how that's gonna impact these rates for at least a few years.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

All right, moving on. City Manager.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We're gonna now move forward to the budget presentation as we were outlining yesterday. We're gonna go right into the Fire Rescue Department. So when you look at their team, this looks a little off. Yes, we will continue. They currently have 163 positions. Thank you, ma'am. 163 positions in their budget, and they requested seven positions that were not included, what you're seeing. And to piggyback off of the last conversation that we had yesterday, this is where the funding that we have on hand will be used to put these seven positions in to make sure that they're ready for their assignment as the fire stations come online. And of course, with the police that we talked about yesterday, adding them back in as well. We'll get police and fire back to where, police back to where they were to begin with without giving them more and getting fire to back to where they requested for what they needed for the actual fiscal year 27, as far as FTEs. When you look at their targets, you will notice and always appreciate, and they are very highly accredited, but their rate of the bystander CPR rate to exceed 50%, they're on target to do that. The increase out of hospital cardiac arrest survival rates, they're anticipated to be at 50%. State goal is 30%. conducting public education events to build community partnerships. 140 of those shows their impact throughout our city and the goal of 100% businesses to be inspected at 100% as opposed to a 99.8% goal. So they are by all means doing extremely well in servicing our community. When you look at their budget for the last few years, you will see that they do have a very tight budget operation and going through their budget this year, the reality that just so much of what they do is personnel driven is just amazing to show that they have so much little in operating expenses that they actually have control over and they still found ways to help out and do what they could do in order to meet the exercise of THE REDUCTION TO HELP THE ENTIRE CITY. AND WHILE I'M SAYING THAT, I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT, YOU KNOW, IN SOME PLACES, PUBLIC SAFETY WOULD EXCLUDE THEMSELVES AND NOT SAY, HEY, WE CAN'T PARTICIPATE IN THAT. AND NEITHER ONE OF OUR PUBLIC SAFETY LEADERSHIP TEAMS CHOSE THAT, AND THEY ALL WERE VERY PARTICIPATORY AND ACTIVE IN TRYING TO HELP US SOLVE A PROBLEM FOR all of us that we're experiencing. When you look at emergency medical services, you will see that there was 302,000 not approved, 817,000 was approved. Reductions, we didn't take nearly 500,000, but we did approve 370,780. Some of the impacts of those reductions, you know, operational readiness reductions, you know, when we start cutting equipment and gear and training and tools and overtime, that all leads back to the response activity and ability of this team and their quality, and it's not something we take lightly when we have to look at those items as to areas to reduce. The training and community engagement impacts, the training courses and conferences, we've all sort of been subject to that. I think we've hit that one pretty well. But they also scaling back the annual open house reduces outreach for our public. If there is a department that is probably the face of kindness and outreach, it is our fire team. And we will continue to try to make sure that we can have those events and opportunities every chance we get, regardless of whether today we have the money or tomorrow we find the money. Sustainable vehicle and equipment planning. Again, fleet services, you give them credit, you give them a lot of kudos for making sure that the vehicles that we may take for granted by looking at them, because we think that they're all gonna work well all the time, but they actually are being serviced to a high level for our public safety officials to get out there. And it's important that we find that proper balance of the longevity or the life cycle of the equipment, the replacement cycle of the equipment, and how we purchase new vehicles. Maintaining operational readiness. We're talking about replacing those in the service vehicles. and the impact of not funding the new to new blade station of 75 when I open with adequate staffing. And that's the staffing that we're talking about replacing so that they are not harmed in the process. District fund, you can see proposals approved were $3.1 million. Reductions that we actually approved as well were $447,000. And some of the impacts on that equipment for our district fund relate back to vehicle and equipment reliability, sort of what I just talked about, the replacement of the aging facilities. The assessment compliance and funding stability, that's what you just heard from Stantec and Mr. Peter Napoli, and thanks to him and his team for always providing us good information. And as Deputy Chief said, the actuals will be updated at the proper time. Training division effectiveness, there we're talking about dedicated vehicle for our training officer, enabling him to be able to recruit and onboard and have skills training that relates back to his role. operational efficiency and workforce capability. This supports logistical needs with the new van and preserves essential training opportunities and overtime capacity. As we talked about overtime yesterday, you know, overtime, structured overtime, same way in fire, you know, they have an amount that they need to use, must use based on their scheduling and with their different shifts of various hours as built in, not only to their contract, but to their scheduling, but that still doesn't mean that we need to all get that same level of comfort that whether it's a standard operating procedure, correct policy, or something that sort of puts everything in writing in front of us so that we all know exactly what we are dealing with and looking at as it pertains to fire. I will pause right there, Mr. Mayor, as we transition to see if you have any questions or...

comments commissioner stokes thank you um deputy chief could you just speak to the challenges you see when it comes to the lead times on equipment purchases and hiring because you know that's always a challenge and and it speaks to the issue of new stations opening and the kind of lead time you need so if you could kind of shed a little light on

Yes, I'd love to appreciate the question. Our suppression apparatus, we're still looking at anywhere between three and a half and four years before from ordering point to delivery. We're receiving a few fire engines at the beginning of the next fiscal year that were ordered several years ago in anticipation. So we have a very robust planning cycle and we evaluate that so we can meet all those targets. But it is very much a challenge. For our ambulances, we run typically about three years, but our chief of EMS has sought out alternatives and we're looking at other options that we have found a lot better lead times in. So we're kind of excited about that opportunity. So we're looking at kind of changing course to maybe a different manufacturer to try to shorten those lead times. So there's a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel for our rescues, our ambulances. For recruitment, I would say overall, there is less interest than there had been in the past for young men and women to get into public safety or into public government. And for us, our recruitment, we've been putting a lot of effort into that process to try to let these young men and women know that it's a fantastic career. It's a very fulfilling career. So with the support of commission last year, we started a cadet program. We're going into year two of that, very successful. We're trying to build through our strategic plan a couple other pipelines to kind of keep that going. But at the moment, the days are behind us where we get 200 applicants for five positions. We don't see that level of interest. So we are being very proactive on how to kind of improve the system. So as was mentioned before, we look to strategically hire a lower number annually and build up. The success story is Fire Station 87. We opened that station on Tuesday when you all approved the use agreement and the conveyance process will happen later. But we've talked with our finance team and the city manager's office. In this fiscal year, we didn't have to ask for 18 firefighters in one year. through a strategy effort, we were able to hire those slowly over time. And when we opened the station, the personnel were already there. So we found a lot of success in that. It keeps us from having big spikes in the rate as well, but it also solves the problem for us of we're not going to find 18 firefighters all at one time to fill the station. There is a lot of hiring going on across the state. we're just not seeing the numbers we used to. So we've adjusted to the environment in order to meet those goals for the city to be able to bring those personnel on.

And I ask because obviously advanced planning and budgeting, and that's why when we come forward with the need to invest upfront a little bit, it's because of some of these bad times and the fact that we have to prepare for it. So I get that. Is there, I mean, is it off the wall to think that for a volunteer-type group out there that could supplement or help in the area of labor. I mean, you know, it's just, I mean, from a layman's standpoint, people ask the question, even I wonder, could a volunteer force, we have so many folks who have histories, career histories in public safety, some assistance, maybe not at the front line, but in a way that might help cushion us as we face the challenges of trying to staff going forward, not just for fire rescue, but for PD as well.

It's a great concept and a great idea. I started out as a volunteer firefighter. We do internally evaluate the potential of incorporating volunteers. We started off with a cadet program to start generating some interest. The volunteer fire departments that are found throughout the state are suffering in the same manner. They're not getting the same amount of people coming in their doors. So we know that we would run into the same problem. We will always look for ways to improve that. The other side is the training level of a volunteer there in the past 20 years the requirements for them to be included in what we call our effective response force as reliable staffing to fill those roles is not there so the level of training required is different from a volunteer firefighter level to a certified firefighter but we we have talked about in the past of is there potential in the future for doing that we'll always explore future opportunities

That's all I got, Mayor. Thanks. Vice Mayor.

Thanks, Mayor. First, thank you for the page numbers on the slide deck. I know that was a request last year. I'm very happy to see it. Just a couple of thoughts. One of the things I really like about the FIRE model is the two tiers. And then the second tier is based on value, property value. So one of the places my mind has been going, assuming, big assumption, but assuming that the property tax cuts happen as they're laid out today, We really need to get ready for that. And one of the things I've been talking with staff about in my one-on-ones and agenda briefings is considering moving, in addition to some cuts we might have to make, moving some of those costs into a district-type structure. So specifically, might we move our EMTs into the district. And I'm sure there are all kinds of state statutes. And I know our attorney would have to take a look at the legalities. But I think we need to start stretching the state. And the time to do it is before D-Day. And I would suggest that all of our districts, in terms of their models, consider altering those models so some or all of it is based on some type of property value, like the fire district is. Because as I mentioned yesterday, my one concern with shifting costs into a district structure is that it's regressive, because everyone pays the same. And property values just have a nice way of sort of stretching that out. So I just want to bring that up because, again, I think now is the time to get ready and do some of that work and see what it looks like. And, you know, if it's not voted in, great. We just keep rolling. But I think we all believe it is going to be approved and when that happens is not the time to get ready. We need to sort of be ready now. So I just wanted to share that thought. I really like having part of the models as more of a scale based on property value. Anyway, that's my thought.

I do. I just want to make sure the terminology, and if there's a legal definition difference between property value and structure value, and it's important for the conversation. So property value is distinctly different than a structure. Structure value is for ease of term is more of the replacement cost, not the value. So we're careful when we describe the methodology to stress it's not a property value, it's an assigned structure value.

Right, but the concept, it's sort of...

I hear you there, yes, absolutely, yes.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Commissioner Duvall.

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I have a question on the first slide, 133. There's a little statement, sentence there that says that there's one position, it's in that lower left-hand corner, one position reporting to one general fund fire rescue district fire rescue position reporting to IT. So my question is, that person, are they being paid by the fire department, by IT, or just out of the general fund?

It's it's out of both. So we have split. Yeah. So that position is reporting structure to the it manager, Eric Ryan. The district specifically district funds fund half of that position. The other half of that position is funded through the general fund. So, for the collaboration that we have with it, we recognize that. 1 system analyst that we have with. The amount of facilities, 87 opening and more people was being stretched too thin. So we worked last year for that position was added. And the reporting goes under their org chart, but we partially funded because it's mostly dedicated to assisting fire rescue.

Okay, thank you. So. So, it doesn't pay for that position. It's not in their budget. Okay. My second question is kind of a generality. As we got to the near the end of the slides, you know, like on 139, there's a statement here about cutting overtime and PDO buyback funding weakens the department's ability to maintain adequate staffing, fill vacancies, blah, blah, blah. I see the word overtime placed in there a lot. Just in generalities, it's kind of well known that police and fire departments, they don't work 40-hour weeks. They work shifts. Have we done a study of overtime versus overtime? I hate to say this, in this times, creating a position for like a relief person whose regular staff and that person's job is to fill in for those when overtime is needed. You know, when someone calls in, you know, their wife's having a baby, okay, you need a relief person. Would it be cheaper to have, to use the overtime or cheaper to have a a relief person whose job it is to fill in those, you know, that's my question is overtime versus a position to fill in when overtime is needed.

So for fire rescue, we work on a minimum staffing model. So if we're at minimum staffing and somebody calls out sick or any other reason, family emergency, they had to leave, we then fill the position with available personnel, and that will incur overtime. There is overtime that is built into their salary because, like you said, they work shift work, and anything where they exceed 53 hours in a seven-day period per FLSA, they're required to receive the overtime. So when we look at our overtime, there's a lot of fragmented impacts to it. The city manager had mentioned in his description of... It's not all just hiring back to fill minimum staffing requirements. Some of it is built into thresholds and requirements through FLSA. Some of it is contractual through a buyback program that's in the CBA. Some of it has to do with reimbursable expenses when we do standby, let's say for the Atlanta Braves. our personnel are receiving overtime to do that. But then we have a fee structure to recoup some of those costs as well. And then some of our overtime is preparatory. We know that hurricanes happen, large brush fires happen. So some of the funding in the overtime budget is to account for a very real possibility that we have to double shift or triple shift to be able to provide services to the city.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

OK. That's it, moving on. Okay, all right, thank you, sir. Thank you, ma'am. Okay, we will now move to utilities. Again, large department, lots of people, and lots of money. So 113 is their staffing numbers for their amended budget of 26, and they are recommending to keep that number the same for Here are some of the goals and measures that we would talk about the increasing of the e-bill customers to be more efficient, exceeding the target rate right now. And we anticipate it'd be 67%. We want to provide 66% of the water demand. We are anticipated to provide 73% of that demand. We want to clean and televise 10% of our gravity sewer mains, and we are on target for that. Increase our percentage of new homes constructed on public water services to 66%, and 83% is our projection there. And increase of new homes being constructed on wastewater versus on-site septic, 62%. We're exceeding that at 77.5%. When you look at their budget summary, you will notice that the capital in this department tends to fluctuate based on the nature of their business. You can see from 48 to 66 to 30 to 21. There are always improvements in capital that will happen in our utilities department, including the building that we know that they are erecting now for their new home. But their budget is stable for the most part as it relates to the staffing and them carrying out their duties. When you look at their service level changes in the water systems division and administrative division, You will notice that they were approved for $275,000, and there were no reductions approved. But their impact to their fiscal year 27 service level changes, they mainly revolve around improved operational mobility and efficiency. That's new vehicles, plan or schedule roles for faster site access, better equipment. Enhanced security monitoring and regulatory compliance. This revolves around funding for cloud-based access for control licensing, remote wetland monitoring systems, and other software that strengthens system security. A greater infrastructure protection and reduced downtime. They've invested in a sunshade system for chemical storage, upgraded onsite storage capacity, and a mobile welder to reduce chemical degradation risks. strengthen asset management and training capabilities and industrial engraver for asset tagging and PLC access to support their asset management plan. The wastewater division, you will notice that we approved $102,000 in proposals and there were no reductions for the wastewater. Some of their impacts for this particular year also include improved operational efficiency and safety, adding a dedicated pneumatic lift truck enables safer handling of heavy materials and eliminate delays. They also had enhanced access and maintenance capabilities. That was installing new headwork hatches providing safer and more efficient access to influence channels, improving staff working conditions, and better process stability and water quality. Again, a sun cover over the clear well reduces algae growth and biological activity. When you look at their field operations division, you'll notice that we approved $483,000 of proposals and there were no reductions in this division. And some of the impacts of the fiscal year 27 service level changes are our improved field operations and efficiency as in the other divisions, replacing the F-350 and upgrading from a backhoe to a loader, increasing load capability and material handling capability, the enhanced meter reading reliability and workload management, adding a Ford Maverick ensures each meter reader has a dedicated vehicle, reducing delays, improving route efficiency, streamlined relocation and warehouse setup, This was utilizing professional logistics services for Connex box relocation, enabled a safe and timely and organized transition to the new utilities admin building. And they maintained the liability of critical infrastructure equipment, funding for crane truck repairs, ensures essential vehicles remain safe and operational, and supporting timely maintenance of lift stations, hydrants, et cetera. Engineering division, their proposals, they had 17,000 that were approved, No reductions to note. Their impact changes will be labeled as enhanced field efficiency and reduced operational downtime. So purchasing a pull-behind trailer enables engineering staff to transport the gator vehicle and carry essential parts and tools directly to job sites, improving field readiness, reducing return trips for supplies, et cetera. And that is the end of our utilities presentation. And we're happy to answer any questions as we transition. Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Stokes.

One real quick one. As we plan and build towards increasing capacity at our plants up in Oak West, Related challenges are you feeling you're going to experience if any. In order to service that, in other words, if all of a sudden, we're going to double our capacity from 2 to 4Million gallons. Like, is that going to put a pressure from a cost standpoint on bodies on that? Or are we able to like. run that operation with what we've got and and if we do need to feed operational costs into that equation are we making sure that our that the additional revenues that'll be created from that growth will cover it you see where i'm heading i want to make sure that in this sense growth is paying for growth that we're not looking at having to Bite the bullet on operational expenses while we wait to catch up. Because I don't want that to fall on the backs of any taxpayers other than the taxpayers that are going to be benefiting directly from that increase. In operational capacity, which are the people in in basically the Winchester and remaining well, in park areas.

So yes, Mike Vulo, Acting Utilities Director. So yes, we have our master planning. We do Welland Park separate master planning versus the Legacy City master planning because that is developer driven. And with the expansion of that facility, the developer is paying for those expansions to cover those costs. We do include all those costs as part of our master planning as far as chemicals and the dosing and treatment stuff. but we are also involved with the master plan heavily with the developer on that aspect. We do our master planning on the legacy side as well because we have a lot of developments coming in in different areas of the city that those plans are taken into a place that those that are benefiting from that services will pay for those services.

Appreciate it. That's all I got, Mayor. Thanks. Commissioner DeVos.

Thank you, Mary. I noticed a statement in there about buying a Ford Maverick for a meter reader. Is that one Ford Maverick or buying one Ford Maverick per meter reader?

it's one for uh where we we replaced a ford maverick but we had to hold on to a old nissan that we had so we did a memo to keep that nissan frontier for a year just so we can get caught up on the staffing and this would be to make it whole for the meter reading department so So it's just one vehicle, just one Ford Maverick, just to make the department whole for all of them to have vehicles.

Sometimes if I leave here in the evening and I see the parking lot on the east side of the building, I see a lot of pickup trucks. So far, the only Ford Maverick I've seen that belonged to the fire department, I believe. I own one, 40 miles a gallon. You will love it.

Yes, we currently have two.

I'm getting a new one, so you never know. Yeah, that's something, you know, it's looking at. the efficiencies of the vehicles. And for something like a meter reader, you know, where he's not going to be carrying, you know, five tons of equipment along with him, those hybrid vehicles. Thank you.

That's it, sir. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Whittle. Thank you. Our next, and I believe last but certainly not least, department is Development Services. And I believe there will be questions, so Director Wray, please make your way down, but take your time. So this department, sir, has 83 positions in it, and they are currently not recommending or requesting any new ones for next year. It will remain at 83 for fiscal year 27.

Good morning.

When you look at their performance metrics, they are very, very well scrutinized and heavily looked at as we try to make sure that we meet these marks. One is processing and reviewing 90% of single family residence permit applications within 30 days. We anticipate that to be 95%. Maintaining a rate of at least 90% of active cases brought into compliance. We believe that we'll meet that at 90%. 90 or more business attraction contacts made, we believe that that will be 125. And a goal of to plant or donate 200 more trees throughout the city, we believe that would be 400. When you look at the next slide, this is a graph chart. Per the conversation, I believe that Commissioner Duval has brought up as to where are the trees to be planted? How many trees are going to be planted? I think the last time you said you had asked about this three times publicly and had not gotten what you needed, so this chart was made for you, sir, to show you that there are tree plantings happening. When you look at the right side of it, you will notice that fiscal year 25 was 158 that were completed. Fiscal year 26 is 26 with 270 more planned to be completed before the end of this fiscal year. and for fiscal year 27 we have 732 trees that are planned to be planted as you can tell by the map you can see where they're located throughout the city and the variety of spaces through the different three-year window that they will entail and this next slide is a better breakdown of it so you know exactly where they are not just commissioner developing the entire board where you can see that where the 158 Trees were planted last year, the ones that we planted this year, including Sumter, as well as the City Hall retention pond. Where are we going in this year? We're putting more in Boca Chica, Kirk Park, Sumter, the playground at City Hall, the Garden of Five Senses. That's how we got to the 274. And when you look at next year, the 732, you'll notice that there is a big chunk of that is in the Jockey Club. Rewilding, you see Dallas White Park and Warmental Springs, City Hall grounds as well. So you hopefully... We hopefully think and believe that you can see that we are planting the trees as the fund and the efforts have been stated to happen over the course of this year and next year. The summary of those trees plantings is shown in a graph right here. It talks about the tree giveaway program, 330 trees donated to date, 580 expected by the end of this fiscal year. The landscape compliance program is another 311 additional trees anticipated in this fiscal year. And it's going to increase, like I said, over the next year. As you go through the budget summary of this department, you will notice that it's relatively stable. Fiscal year 25 was an actual of nearly $14 million, and fiscal year 27 is a recommended of nearly $17 million. And again, capital fluctuations happen in this department that allow for it to go up and down. You look at our planning and zoning division, they did get $905,000 of proposals approved and $35,000 $660 removed. Some of the impacts for the Planning and Zoning Division are, one, supporting a long-range infrastructure and development planning. This is the consultant for an infrastructure master plan for activity six and 10 that we've been talking about, knowing that we have to improve our capital planning for the future economic development of that area. And we know how important that is. Improving workforce efficiency and reducing overtime reliance. Overtime, again, we just talked about it with fire, we talked about it with police, we talked about it, I mean, overtime is not sort of isolated to any department, and I do think we just need to have a structured review of it so that we can answer questions with confidence about what we're doing. We heard from fire, and I think theirs is probably the most complicated overtime structure just based on their shifts. But everyone is trying to do their best to reduce that, and development services is no different. And maintains reliable field operations through vehicle replacement. That's something, again, that we're looking at agency-wide. And as we look at our replacement and our take-home policy, I think that that will just bring us all in a better enlightenment of what we do and why we do it and to be able to defend it. our continued processes. When you look at the economic development division, they had no proposals and they had a reduction of $39,800. And this $39,800 was from professional services, shipping, rentals, and advertising, but it will limit the division's ability to maintain its website, market the city at trade shows, promote special events. and target industry recruitment, which again, is related back to our overall visibility and economic development outreach. The building division had $100,000 of proposals that were approved and reductions that were approved of $75,000 and the impact of those service level changes, the maintaining the Reliable inspection operations through vehicle replacement. This is the replacement of two end-of-life fleet vehicles. They help to ensure the building division have safe, dependable transportation for daily inspections. And reducing overtime, again, increasing workforce flexibility. This is expanding multi-certifications among inspectors, distributes workload evenly, and reduces skill bottlenecks, lowers overtime and contract labor costs. Our code enforcement division had proposals approved of $157,000. Reductions were accepted of $76,000. And the impact of the 27 service level changes includes maintaining reliable transportation. They're replacing three aging replacement qualified vehicles ensures code enforcement will have safe, dependable transportation. They are also reducing overtime for better workload planning, as I mentioned earlier in the other divisions, and decreases capacity for hazard abatement and aligns training costs. A 25% reduction in hazardous tree and grass abatement funding lowers the division's ability to address nuisance vegetation while shifting training and travel costs into the code enforcement budget, ensures clearer alignment of operational expenses. Our natural resource division received proposals approved of $620,000 and a reduction of $2,500. The impacts of these changes are, one, replacing the division's aging replacement qualified vehicles. We see the pattern there. We also see the pattern of lowering the overtime uses for better scheduling, balanced workloads, and strengthening the environmental stewardship and future project capacity. Expanded water testing enhances data-driven sustainability planning, while increased grant match funding improves the division's ability to secure external funding and advance key environmental initiatives in 2027. And that is the end of development services, Mr. Mayor, and we will pause right there for you. All right.

Yeah, I have a question. I want to discuss code enforcement a little bit if I could. And this is not in a negative way. I just want to know what the process is because currently I'm involved with a homeowner that's having issues and Public Works is working on that. Once they're done, it's going to go over to the construction company and that's going to be a code enforcement issue. Approximately How long, once code enforcement gets involved into a case, they find a judgment that needs to go forward into the court systems to figure out how to get this fixed, about how long is that process? Because the homeowners, they want it done yesterday. But I know it's timely, I know it takes time and you have to come up with decisions, times, this, that, and the other. Is there an average time span on what that may take?

Good morning. Elena Ray, Director of Development Services. So it depends on whether we get voluntary compliance or we don't. If we get voluntary compliance, you will usually see that change within 30 days. If we don't get voluntary compliance, it could be three, four months, and sometimes never, because if the property is homesteaded, and it's a condition that we can't go onto the property to correct, then all we can do is put a lien on the property. So we have properties in the city. I know of one. There is a vehicle that is derelict, unlicensed property. on a property. We've had a lien on that property for years. It's homesteaded. We can't go onto the property to remove it. And there's literally nothing that we can do to fix that situation other than the fines just keep accruing on the lien.

This instance has been going on for a few years, I gather. And this is new construction that's going on now and It is a construction company. It's not homesteaded. And I just wanted, you know, roughly about how long it took. You answered that. But right now with code enforcement, are we proactive or reactive?

So we have been reactive because for most of 2026 budget year, and you see this reflected in our current budget, essentially what we've spent so far this year, our expenditures, we were down to two code enforcement officers for the entire city. So we have had no opportunity to be proactive. However, we are, as of right now, fully staffed in code enforcement today. As of what time is it? So we are moving to a proactive footing especially on construction sites. So one of the things that we had asked for and the commission approved last year was a position to handle specifically construction sites. And we have hired that person and they have, We're moving them into that role. They will be going after all of the construction sites that we have, primarily the single-family construction sites. There's a lot of them out there that have debris. They've got dumpsters that are overflowing and haven't been emptied. They've got porta-potties that are turned over, high grass, trash. Silt fences, they have lots of problems. So we've got a person who is specifically going to proactively go after those. So we are very hopeful that people will start to see some cleanup of those sites, especially as those builders get word that we're targeting the sites. We're hopeful that that will help some of them go ahead and clean up their sites proactively as well.

Yeah, that's awesome. But I was getting in, and that's great, don't get me wrong. But as we're growing, you know, a lot of the stuff out there, by being reactive, and we're sitting up here getting the complaints from citizens, and it's like, oh, they're always picking on me. Well, you may always be out of compliance, but... That's being reactive. They may have a very bad neighbor that just doesn't like them and they keep calling in and calling in whatever the case may be. But moving into like a proactive system. Granted, definitely, you would need more staff, this, that, and the other. I'm not trying to say any different. But maybe in that proactive status, you did a grid type system to where so-and-so takes care of this area to where it's not a repetitive complaint to the same person, but everybody's treated equally because they'll say this person, you know, their stuff looks like trash all the time, but I'm the only one that's getting a notice, you know, this, that, and the other. And it's just a bad optic out there, and I'm not blaming anybody for it. I'm just saying that I think it can be done differently in the future. I'm not saying any better. I think they're doing a great job with what they have and what they're doing out there. And I commend them. It's probably a tougher job than being a commissioner. We only take it online. They take it in person. So, I mean, you know, so I understand the problems. But it was just a suggestion on what we may be able to better ourselves with. That's all.

Absolutely, and now that we are, as of this moment, at full staff, I can share with you some of our plans. First, we do have a grid system. So we do have each code enforcement officer is assigned to a specific grid. Unfortunately, because we've been so short staffed, we haven't been able to dedicate an officer to each of those, inspector to each of those grids. Now that we're fully staffed, we do have an inspector for each grid. Now they are large grids because the city is so large. But one of the things that we have, now that we're at full staff, I keep caveating that.

You keep saying that, you're going to change yourself.

I think it's because it's just so hard to wrap my head around. But we are going to start targeting specific areas with sweeps by the entire staff. So I've asked our code enforcement manager to work first with communications to develop some educational material that we will distribute to neighborhoods. So let's say we identify a specific neighborhood and we have some on our list that are high offenders. We will target that neighborhood first with educational material and to let them know we're coming. uh... it would have done this in other cities if you let them know in advance you're going to be sweeping their neighborhood a lot of people tend to go ahead and clean some things up before we get there so then we will set a time let everybody know when we're coming we will have all of our officers on that neighborhood for say a week and we will write as many violations as we see during that week and then we will move to the next neighborhood that's identified when you do those sweeps you tend to get a lot of initial compliance from people who will say you know what it's time to clean out the garage and move some of this stuff into my garage instead of it sitting out in the yard or whatever the case may be, they'll go ahead and mow so that we don't have as many mowing violations. So we're hopeful that that will help. The education will be put out, communication will be put out, and then we will proactively target those neighborhoods that have a history of a high number of violations.

Well, thank you very much. I'm glad that you have a plan going forward. Those were just my suggestions and I wanted to say thank you to that whole department for everything that they do. Thank you very much.

They do a lot and it is, I've always told them, it's a thankless job. Somebody has to do it and I'm glad they do.

Commissioner Duvall, you're next. Thank you, Mayor.

Director, We've had this issue with a developer, you know, whether it's a, and I personally, these are mostly individual developers. They start building a home, the home is partially built, they go bankrupt, okay, liens are on the, you know, code enforcement, liens, and they can hang. Now, we did, we had a discussion about, And I thought we had come up with the idea that we were going to have a program where we would basically get rid of those liens if we could find somebody to buy that property and, you know, put it back on the tax rolls, get it built. And I just happened to have. It always seems I have an example for every problem we have in this city, and it always seems to be where I live. But, like, right on my street, it was a home that was partially built, abandoned. for years. After we had that discussion about what we were doing, all of a sudden, people showed up, porta potty, dumpster people, they actually put a shingle roof on the home, and then they disappeared again, and now there's a code enforcement sticker on it. I don't know, that's just basically a comment, but are we working on, are we seeing,

We are. First, we've got a couple of different approaches. One, the commission did pass a change to our code of the city that allows us to do administrative lien waivers or reductions. for properties such as that where we have somebody that comes in and they want to purchase the property and bring it into compliance, restart construction. We've done several of those lien reduction programs and have homes that have been completed and are under construction for that. As far as the building permit itself, state statute regulates when a permit expires and when you can renew a permit. So someone can come out, do some work, get an inspection, and their permit's good for a certain period of time. And then they can do a little work. Get an inspection and let it sit for...

Okay, thanks for that explanation. Yes. That's, you know, I'm trying to think what happened with this? You know, it started and then it just died. Yes.

That's... And that is a state statute, and they have even extended that period of time with recent state legislation that was just approved.

Okay, all right. Second thing, you know, I really do appreciate this, you know, these charts that are made up for me about the trees. And I hate to be negative, but I got to be negative in this one. Don't quote me on this number. I'm old. My memory isn't that great anymore. But if I go back to the 2025 budget book, it was a plan out of the tree fund back then to plant, I believe, either 300 or 500 trees for the year. I don't remember the exact number. It's not important. You don't have to look it up.

So, yes, we did project 500. You're absolutely right. We had a couple of problems.

Okay. And, you know, development services, okay, you know, and our new environmental fund, okay, you know, kind of took over the tree fund, okay. Things developed, you know, like... recently in our last city meeting we talked about you know using tree fund money for helping to if we can purchase those properties you know to conserve that area around you know those salt springs you know and i have no objection to that but if i look at this chart i'm looking and see that 26 The year, you know, the 2025, 300 or 500 were planned, 158 planted. For 2026, planned, 274. We're almost at half of the year and we got 26 planted so far. And then I look forward to 2027 and we move up to 732, you know, and that's...

So I can't explain that.

It's great to have a plan, but we kind of have to carry through with the plan, too. I can explain. And I understand that not all plans just happen. You know, things are complex. There's a lot of things going on in the city. There's a lot of...

so i kind of keep some emphasis on absolutely and if it's okay i'd like to address that because i know it has been a concern um so if if commissioner will recall the natural resources division was implemented at the very end of 2024 we interviewed hired got everybody on board by the beginning of last year it took a year to get all of the purchasing documents completed. So all of the contracts for the landscape companies, the irrigation companies, so that we could ensure these trees stay alive, it took us a year before we could really purchase anything of significance. And that was simply a matter of the formal bid processes that we have to go through, all of the contractual requirements, ensuring that these companies met all of the government purchasing requirements. So that, as I said, a year. The other issue that we have had is that the drought has it put a significant delay on being able to purchase the right type and number of trees that we were looking for. So specifically for a lot of these projects that we're doing, for instance, Boca Chica, we want large mature trees of native species. We can't get those from just anywhere, and the growers have had a real problem being able to supply them to us because of the drought conditions. Additionally, planting them in the middle of a drought is a problem. So now that we are approaching our rainy season, that's why you will see a ramping up of the number of trees that we can plant between now and the end of the fiscal year. because we will have more rain and we're able to get those trees from the growers. But between the contractual purchasing timeline that it took to get the contracts in place and then just the sheer lack of supply from the drought, those have been the driving factors as to why you have not seen many trees planted this fiscal year.

Thank you very much. You're welcome. Appreciate it.

Commissioner Stokes?

Yes.

Thank you very much, Ms. Salina. My question got maybe two, but one revolves around, you know, during this present fiscal year, our budget had about $2.5 million in there for environmentally sensitive land purchase, and I appreciate the work that goes in and the lead time. There always conditional things that affect the timeline, so to speak. And as we put together this 27 budget, I'm interested to hear what my fellow commissioners think and what we might do in adding to that fund. I appreciate that we couldn't buy $2.5 million worth of environmentally sensitive lands. During this year, so that number is rolling over and I, you know, believe when I asked this question before I was assured that 2 and a half millions still there. I'd like to see us add another 1,000,000 or 2 out of the environmental fund. Towards this, because there are quite a number of properties that need purchasing and protecting in this city, and it's going to be harder and harder to find the financial resources to do this. This tree fund is or this environmental fund. Has environmentally land environmentally sensitive land purchases as part The mandate, and we need to do it, and we need to start pushing it and we need to start addressing this because. You know, I mean, what are we waiting for? You know, I mean, I assume we. Know where these properties are, especially on the and then there's, you know, there are the areas we spoke the other day that, you know, is an area of concern. But, I mean, there are all properties that need to be acquired and, you know, and if. It's frustration not just for me, but for a lot of people as to why we are not doing this. I don't see this coming before us. I don't see us being asked, like, is it okay to go purchase this? The Tier 1 properties, for a long time, there was resistance on this board to acquire Tier 2. And it's time to start doing this stuff regarding environmentally sensitive land purchases. I mean, it's just...

The commission adopted this year, they adopted the surplus list of properties. It's been a few months since that happened. It took a while. We brought it back a couple of times because the commission wanted to see some changes in that surplus list of the properties that were owned by the city. That list has been used to help identify where we could maybe make some property swaps. And then in conjunction with that, we brought a list of identified properties that the natural resources team analyzed and felt would be worthy of purchase. And we had very large presentation that we gave to the commission, a slide deck with each property had its own slide and identified sort of the area where it was in. We didn't really want to specifically target the property in the public sphere because it can impact asking prices. But the commission did authorize a few months ago for us to go forward with that list of properties that we wanted to target for acquisitions. we have, as the commission directed, we have sent letters to those property owners. We are actively working with several of them who have contacted us back and are interested in the city acquiring their property. And we are working with the public real estate coordinator to do that. Things that we have to do in advance of you seeing it are things like surveys, appraisals, those types of things, working out a deal with the property owner that the city can abide by because of the restrictions that we have with acquiring property and that they are able to abide by. We've also had an opportunity to look at a couple of other properties that We didn't think we were going to get a bite at, and we are working with those as well. So those are things that you will see. It certainly doesn't happen overnight, sort of like with an economic development deal. We know for a long time it's coming, but we can't.

really bring it to you.

And that's why setting that money aside is so important. We never expected to be able to spend the $2.5 million in that first fiscal year. It was to give us the program and the ability to go out to owners and say, we have money. We'd like to talk to you. And that is the key. When they know we have the funding, they're more interested in talking with us.

Thank you so much for that. The only other thing is, you know, I'd be curious to see what your perception is and maybe how you might grade the Acela program and how it has helped. And do we anticipate any costs And in connection with the automation of that whole process, how are we addressing some of the concerns some people have had, some citizens out there have had, with regard to like the human touch, okay? Because I've heard myself, as I know other commissioners have, like the frustration sometimes with the inability to talk to a human being. And so, first the grading of the cellar, I mean, Did this make sense? Did we do the right thing here?

So Acela is working as it should. There is a big learning curve with Acela both on the city employee side, contractor side, public side. We do have people who are available all day, every day to work one-on-one with our customers. When they come in, if we have somebody, especially the typical homeowner who may only pull a permit for themselves one time in their entire life. We have a kiosk there in our building division where we will walk them through that process. We have met one-on-one with homeowners for an hour, two hours, and actually entered the information in for them. So we are always willing to do that and ready to do that. Now, the way Acela is working, I can tell you that because of the automation that's involved and the plan review cycle, we went from it taking us 30 to 45 days to issue single family home permits to taking less than five. That is a success. Zoning permits are almost 98, 99% of them are being issued in three days. so the the benefits are measurable and obvious now it doesn't mean a reduction in staff unfortunately because well unfortunately or unfortunately however you look at it but there are also state requirements that have been passed that actually put more work on our staff and we have to do that work in less time so the efficiencies that we have seen with Acela will help us in dealing with some of those changes that have been made at the state level As far as the dealing with complaints from people who maybe don't like the system or don't understand the system or are having trouble using it, or even, you know, if something has gotten caught up in what we, you know, a review cycle nightmare and it just doesn't seem to be going anywhere. And we do have a position in our budget that we have reclassified an existing position into called a Permitting and Policy Liaison. we have interviewed for that position. Its intent is to be that person, that go-to person, that if something gets escalated to you, to the city manager, that is the person who's going to dig in, figure out what happened, why it happened, what we can do to fix it, and to make sure that that type of an issue doesn't happen again, if it's something on our end that we're able to fix. So this is a type of position that's out there in other jurisdictions. It works because people have somebody, a touch point that they can go to. It doesn't mean they're going to handle every complaint and every problem because then they would get nothing done. But those issues that have either been escalated or that are so complex that they need somebody who can spend a significant amount of time to dig into it.

You know, 1 of the complaints and 1 of the concerns I've heard not just once, but multiple times from folks has been, you know, I go into city or I go in, I talk to the building department. I'm told what I need to do. I head out, I go do my thing. I have come back and. the next person i talk to tells me i have to do a whole bunch of other stuff that i didn't know why didn't someone tell me the first time what i needed to do and it seems like repetitively this occurs not once or twice but multiple times on the same development project and people are like doesn't anyone know what the other one's doing and you know when i call like um my insurance folks or i make a call to certain other services i get i mean it doesn't matter who i get but by god they literally can recite back to me almost what i said the last conversation i had there's like technology out there that assures that there is a continuity of information flow so that the next person you talk to, you don't have to go back to square one and re-educate them on your whole story again. And, you know, again, it just adds to the frustration people have. I don't know if a cell provides for that, if that's a separate kind of system, or if there's something new that's needed, but it is a frustration on the part of not just an isolated party here and there.

So there are software programs that you can get that will track conversations like that. We don't have that. Acela does have a place where we can put notes, but it's certainly not going to capture an entire conversation that we have with someone. A lot of the issues that we have is that when we talk with someone specifically, we may or may not have all of the information that we need in order to give them every answer to every question they may have. Plans change. You know, sometimes somebody will start out with one type of project that they're doing and then they'll expand it and find out that it trips a whole bunch of new requirements. We will not ever make everyone happy. We issue over 20,000 permits a year. you hear from maybe 0.1% of those. The rest of them, they're issued, the inspections are done, everything's fine, there are no problems. It's that 0.1% that you're going to hear from. And a lot of times it's because those are the ones where it's the person who doesn't pull a permit very often. There can, anytime humans are involved, there can be communication lapses or gaps in partial information. So it's hard to solve every one of those things with a blanket approach. But that's why, that's one of the reasons why this position is is important uh... because it can help us identify if we start to see patterns if if we start to see okay this wasn't a one-off situation this same type of thing is occurring more often that person can help us identify it write a procedure standard operating procedure for that issue and we can see if there are any uh... technology fixes that we can put into place to prevent it from happening and training that we can make sure it doesn't happen again So we are actively working to help solve those types of problems. Every building department that issues a lot of permits is always going to have some complaints. We are not going to get it right 100% of the time. Sometimes it's going to be our error, sometimes it's going to be the applicant's error, and sometimes they both may... So we will do everything we can, though, to make it as easy as possible.

And I appreciate the indulgence. You know, this conversation and some of my fellow commissioners conversations are budget spot on. but we don't always get the opportunity to talk about, especially your department, which is as broad as it is and affects the citizenry as much as it does. So thank you very much for the indulgence.

Commissioner, if I could add into that though too, you'll see in the communications budget, there's threefold. This is a customer relationship management process that we're working on. So on the sidelines, we have communications and IT, working on an overarching program to help not just development services, customer service, but really across the city.

Appreciate that. Thank you again. I want to bring back up something that Commissioner Stokes had asked about in the beginning on the acquisition of the properties, and we have two and a half million sitting in there. In your current talks right now on the properties that you may be acquiring, about how much of that two and a half putting more money in there. If it's a small amount, I may not be inclined to want to put more money in there at this time. So if you have an approximate number on what you think is going to be expended in what you're already currently talking about.

I can tell you that one property in particular that we are talking with the property owner would be a significant portion of multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars, probably approaching a million dollars by the time we get finished with all of the surveys, appraisals, title work, everything else if we are able to acquire the fund.

Okay. And that's what I just needed to do, that ballpark figure, because, yes, we may want to put more money in there, so.

We do have a million dollars that we have asked for for this year to add to that 2.5, and that is because of the known properties that we are targeting.

Yeah, and I'd be good with that. I have no issues with that. We need to move forward with acquiring these sensitive lands, especially for our environment and species out there and stuff. Vice Mayor, you're up.

Sorry. Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of quick things. I'd really like to request, particularly with the abandoned buildings that are half-constructed, that we apply a lot of that to District 2. We might recall back in 2022 when we redistrict the city based on census information, there were two districts that were growing faster than the average. One was District 5, most of that driven by Welland Park. I don't think we need to worry about Welland Park. The other was District 2, which is Toledo Blade East. We have, I believe, more than our fair share of those abandoned, half-constructed, single-family home lots. So I would just respectfully request that a commensurate level of attention be given to the east end of the city, because it is endemic out there. And I know you'll do that, so I appreciate that.

Acela allows us to run reports, and one of those things that we can do is look and see how long it's been since properties have had an inspection and target those properties.

That's wonderful. Thank you. And then my other comment is for the poor beleaguered code enforcement folks. It just occurs to me that our code enforcement staff shares some similar characteristics as our police folks, particularly our patrol folks, in that they are interacting with city residents under extremely adverse and stressful situations. And I know that our police have done a really good job with the chest cameras and with de-escalation training, how to deal with people who are just ramping up and how do you bring them down. If there's an opportunity for our code enforcement folks to share in some of that, I'm not requesting any budget attention. But I think it would be so helpful for them to have those chest cameras. And I know it's more of, on the police side, a protection for our police force. And I think our code enforcement people kind of share that same kind of dynamic. And then if there's any training that happens on the police side, that code enforcement might be able to take advantage of in those de-escalation techniques that might be well worth looking at. Thank you. Yes.

I would also suggest maybe a taser.

That's it.

All right. That's it, City Manager. I know you're going into the CIP next, so you are done with the departments. We are. So we're going to take a 10-minute break, and then we'll come back, and you can dive into that, sir.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Until you know.

84 degrees all year long. I just want you to have a good time. We have safety covered. Lifeguards here, staff, all day, every day when we're open for you to enjoy. Concession is open.

Pizza, pretzels, nachos. City Manager CIP.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Now we go into one of our more heavily funded areas of conversation, and that's our CIP conversation. Oh, sorry. When you look at the overview of our CIP, you see that 318 Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you, ma'am. I'm sorry. Let me go back for just real quick. All right, so beginning our CRP overview, Mr. Mayor, the existing appropriations as shown reflects nearly $318 million and our CRP proposals are nearly $67 million of that. The CRP overview by Pillar, The main pillar in this one will always be infrastructure and facilities integrity. It is how we maintain our primary infrastructure. You'll also see the environmental resiliency and sustainability of 14 million dollars and the other good governance quality of life and safe community have smaller amounts as well. When you look at the CIP overview by fund, as you can imagine, the general fund is going to be your lightest because that's not where we pay for our capital improvements out of. but we have road and drainage district, we have solid waste. These are some heavy drivers of CIP, including our utility funds and our waste water capacity fees. These are the buildings and facilities that we use to take care of ourselves. We do know that a lot of these funds have different revenue sources and streams that allow them to be paid for that do not include millage rate impacts, but definitely different impacts on the citizens of our community. When you look at it by department, our utilities department having 19 million in public works, having 41 million are going to be your largest drivers just based on the type of industry and the work that they provide. They are always going to be, again, the highest drivers of your CIP. uh surtax uh surtax and using how it's distributed you look at the public works of you know three million dollars utilities of 2.7 million dollars and fire rescue of two million dollars uh i know surtax is something that we all sort of think about a lot there's time to vote on it but it is an annual source of revenue that we can't sort of forget about as the um passing of that and the approval of that helps the city out in not finding money and revenue sources for those particular items. I will transition to the next one, Mr. Yeah, go right ahead.

Mr. Mayor, unless you have a question. Yeah.

Let me think for a minute. No, go ahead.

Go ahead. Okay. Okay. Yeah, we'll go to the end, sir. As we break down the different departments and what their CIP looks like, you can see a more granular detail here that talks about public works, for instance, and the solid waste transfer station. You can see that's at $12 million of this. knowing that you've talked a lot about that one, that's a good example to highlight of one that you've publicly discussed and publicly solved for, and we have received, as of today, grant approval for it. We do know that, again, our state people have supported us very well, but Governor is still the final call and final decision. And we got our fingers crossed that it'll stay the way that it is. But if it happens, if something happens outside of our control, then it is what it is. But I think that our team and our supporters have done a great job to get us to this point. um road rehabilitation 5.5 million dollars there there's always going to be roads and you know the miles that chuck would say of how much we have to improve upon and the status and the quality of our roads is something that we all always take very uh seriously within the public works department when you look at parks and wrecks uh what you see is the language park development for a million dollars uh the boat improvements at dallas white park for three hundred thousand dollars and the replacement of playground equipment at Highland Ridge Park for $300,000 as well. Don't you dare stop. Utilities Department, as we look at their breakdown in a little bit more detail, what you will notice, Mr. Mayor, is when you see the neighborhood wastewater line extensions, another project that we talked about this year and the need to make sure that that continues to happen. The advanced metering infrastructure, that was a project that is still very important to make sure that the metering is up to date, accurate, and reflects the most current usage of the citizens. $1.1 million you'll see is for raw water intake structure rehab. wastewater force main replacement on Sumter for $3 million, and the inflow and infiltration for $1 million. Just a couple items to highlight the utilities department CIP for the year. So when you look at these particular areas, you see fire rescue department having the future fire station apparatus for nearly $2 million development services. That is the environmental sensitive property acquisition that we just talked about from the commissioner's comment earlier, $4 million. And the IT division, their infrastructure replacement, I believe you have all been brought up to speed on their $1.3 million needs as well. But that is the end of the presentation for this CIP, Mr. Mayor, and we will be glad to answer any questions. We have a lot of CIP experts around the room. Thank you, sir.

Commissioner Stokes. I mean, I'd just like to first make a general statement and then talk about one other item. You know, so that, and this really is not so much for us as it is for those who might be listening or will watch it back later. All the CIP projects that are before this city, both funded and unfunded, are priorities of this city. They all are serious priorities. They wouldn't be on this list if they weren't important. Over the last couple of years, this city leadership has spent a lot of time scheduling out and And really analyzing all these projects from the standpoint of pathways to funding. Some of them have pathways to funding for virtually the entire project. Some of them are parcels. Some of them have no funding. As we attack these and attempt to address these infrastructure needs, those areas where the funding pathways exist, those move right along where our district or utility funds or surtax funds or whatever, we go ahead and we move forward. But there are many, many projects that don't have funding, partial or full funding. And it's important everyone understand out there that We don't simply cherry pick them. We don't switch from one to the other. We try to focus on where those projects that lack funding are and challenge ourselves to find pathways. The others take care of themselves. And even with all that, there will be some we just don't have all the money for. that said it leads me to there should be and perhaps not for necessarily this budget but at some point we're going to need to evaluate our surtax revenues and our projects were a couple of years what 22 the surtax list got approved by the citizens and that passed referendum so we are now four years Roughly into it now, it's 20, 25, 25, wasn't it?

Yeah, so it's 4 sided.

Okay. So, you know, we're in the early stages of those 1st, 5 years, and the bulk of that money's gobbled up by price Boulevard. Why do we appreciate that servicing the debt on on those bonds? But. We do need to look at what projects are in the pipeline. To be funded by Sir tax and take a look at where our priorities lie, especially in light of the challenges we may face after November. So I just throw it out there. something we're going to need to look at. There are projects that have surtax attached to it that we may need to reevaluate. And I just want people to understand that it needs to be done systematically. It needs to be thoughtful, but it does need to be addressed on a priority basis. And there are an awful lot of priorities that we have to look at. So, and that's really all the comments I had, Mayor, so thank you. Vice Mayor?

Thank you, Mayor. I think of all the areas we've reviewed over yesterday and today, the list that gives me the biggest headache and heartbreak is this list. And what really jumps out at me is the fact that we are unable to find the money to maintain our existing parks. And parks in terms of maintenance and current asset enhancements is reliant on surtax. And as Commissioner Stokes just mentioned, We're going to really have to take a look at surtax and be very, very smart in terms of how we allocate those funds. So I am particularly concerned about parks. And I have two thoughts or things that I'd like to discuss with staff and with my fellow commissioners. For the foreseeable future, we have to stop building new parks. We don't have a mechanism for maintaining them, and I'm seriously worried about that. The second thought that I'd like to toss around is using impact fees. I don't see why we can't make the case that our increase in population is causing the over-utilization of our current resources. And why we, let me be positive about it, can't we make a case for some of our enhancements, particularly, for example, our playing fields, that because of our population increase, those fields are getting more utilization than they did five years ago or 10 years ago. So why can't we make a case to utilize impact fees? We're going to have to get creative here, folks, using impact fees to address the impact growth is having on our current park resources. So let me throw that out. I don't know how pie in the sky that is. I know there are all kinds of STATE-IMPOSED LIMITATIONS. AND I THINK YESTERDAY I MADE A STATEMENT ON WHAT I FEEL ABOUT THAT. I THINK, NUMBER ONE, WE NEED TO GET CREATIVE AND SEE IF WE CAN'T MAKE A CASE TO HELP PARKS OUT. AND THE SECOND PART OF THAT, WE NEED TO START WORKING WITH THE STATE, PARTICULARLY IF THESE TAX REDUCTIONS HAPPEN, they're going to have to loosen up some of these restrictions and how we use other funds and give us that flexibility. So thoughts? Reality check?

I would like to propose to the city attorney that possibly is there some wiggle room to be able to do that.

A case to be made.

Yeah, just off the cuff, without having to do deep, deep research right now, but what do you think about that proposal? And the reason I ask real quick is because when the stuff does change, with come November, we are going to have to have different avenues, like possibly creating districts, this, that, and the other, for this type of financing. Would you think that it would be a good case to bring to the state?

So I think they're talking two things. One is, if I may understand what the Vice Mayor said, is using impact piece collected to Why do I have existing parks?

Correct.

And I'll have to look into the answer.

Because clearly their utilization is increasing. Our jungle gym equipment, for example, is getting more use. And I think there's a case to be made that we exhaust that equipment more quickly than we did 10 years ago because of the increase in our population. So again, I think for parks, there is a case to be made that it's not just new parks that address population growth. IT'S USAGE OF EXISTING ASSETS, AND WHY CAN'T WE USE SOME OF THAT MONEY TO ENHANCE AND IMPROVE EXISTING ASSETS BECAUSE OF THAT?

I'LL SAY IT'S NOT IMPOSSIBLE. IMPOSSIBLE. WORTH LOOKING INTO? I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE EVER, YOU KNOW, IN PART THESE ARE GENERALLY TIED TO CAPACITY. THEY'RE EXPANDING, SO YOU'RE GOING TO NEED you know there's a new development coming in you want to go grow that's not fair you're using that piece for that um so i guess my my short answer is i i i'll have to look into it right and then the special district is would be a separate issue is where you create a district and then you could possibly assess in that district utilizing the methodology not doing like what we saw today right with the fire districts and those are two separate issues at least in my mind

We can cross that bridge in November when we have to for districting and stuff like that, but thank you for looking into it. That would be awesome.

Thank you. I appreciate it because I am very, very concerned about our park assets and our inability to keep them in the condition that they need to be. We need to get creative. Thank you.

I had one question at the end where you had the Fire Department Development Services and IT Division, those numbers and those monies, are they already included in the budget going forward? So there's no action on our part for those, so that's already included. I just wanted to double check on that.

I think we've touched on them in the various departments.

I know it was mentioned, but I just, I didn't know if it was an ask to put back in or a proposal for us to approve. or it's already existing in the budget.

So everything that you've seen is in our fiscal year 2027.

Thank you very much. I don't have anybody else in the queue up here.

So do you need anything from us? Well, yesterday there was a conversation regarding your own budget. And after speaking to Madam Clerk, she reminded me that recently you passed ordinance or a policy a policy that allowed you to take a consensus you know during these type of conversations that would give us direction by the majority of that consensus to move forward and I know whether it was your travel whether it was your you know your increase that was on the table it's not time sensitive and I know one of your members is missing today so I would probably ask that you defer to one of the upcoming meetings so that that member can participate. But you do have the authority to have that conversation during this type of workshop, have a consensus, take that majority, and then give us direction to act on that.

Right, and I understand that, but like I said yesterday, in my opinion, I would much rather have it as an agenda item in a regular meeting. Yes, we could have done it here and hashed it out, but I would much rather have it broadly advertised to the citizens out there to where they may be able to give public comment this, that, and the other at a future date and, of course, Commissioner Petro is not here. I would like his input on this subject matter as well, which he gave yesterday. But to make a decision today would be, in my opinion, unfair to him. So if we just put that out on an agenda item in an upcoming meeting like we had asked yesterday, I think that's the proper way. Sir, yes, sir.

And particularly also, if I may add to that, sir, the discussion about is this a full-time position or a part-time position? because that could very well impact how we look at cost reduction in our own budget.

Anything else, sir? No, sir. I want to thank you for your time over the last day and a half. We've gotten a lot of feedback and given you a lot of information. This is not the end of the journey, but this is a big step in it. So we appreciate your time and your patience.

And we appreciate everything that you've done for us and staff. We know it was painstaking going over this last few months in bringing this to us. And, you know, ultimately it is our decision and hopefully that conversations that we've had over the last few days have been beneficial not only to we still want to support as best as possible within our means. Absolutely. Yes, sir. Thank you. And I think Commissioner Duvall has something to say.

Oh. I just want to say I really am thankful for the slides on the trees. I really do appreciate that.

Yes, sir. Thank you. You're welcome. City Clerk, public comment?

Yes. Justine Rozani. On June 9th, I emailed all five commissioners a detailed methodology report on the road and drainage district. I submitted a public comment at the June 10th workshop. The district was not discussed. I remain available to meet with any commissioner directly. The restaurant industry is Florida's largest private sector employer. The Wendy's at Sumter and US 41 permanently closed in late 2024. Now Chick-fil-A and Texas Roadhouse are building at Cranberry Commons on the Northport border, just inside Charlotte County. Franchise operators model total cost of occupancy. This message is clear. My two Northport Burger Kings pay $42,000 plus in total taxes versus $17,133 for my Charlotte County location. Four issues. One, Stantec's model calls for 0% in FY27. The city followed Stantec's projected increases of 25% FY24, 15% FY25, and 15% FY26. Precisely, that same report projects 0% from FY27 FY27 through FY33. Any further increase overrides the city's own consultant. Honor that projection and use FY27 as the trigger for a methodology review. Two, the 2014 consolidation shifted burden onto commercial pre-2014 non-residential drainage rates were higher to reflect greater commercial impervious surface. The 2014 EDU consultation Consolidation removed that distinction. Rates have since more than doubled. A differentiated structure distributes costs more equitably. Three, QSR brands are not interchangeable. The same ITE trip rate applies to all fast food regardless of volume. A McDonald's at 3.9 million, generates double the trips of a Burger King at 1.6 million, allowing actual traffic counts in lieu of IT estimates will produce fairer assignments. Four, end cap operators pay a fraction of standalone parcels. Chipotle at 17019 Tamiami Trail pays $3,139. My Burger King at 14928 Tamiami Trail, same road, same district, pays $19,021. Chipotle generates comparable traffic or greater daily traffic, a 6% difference for the same road impact, never modeled in the Stantec report. Place the methodology review on the June 23 agenda. Debbie McDowell, I heard you briefly address the new norm of amending commission meetings and workshops at yesterday's meeting. I'm glad you recognize there is a problem. Citizens monitor the agenda when it's posted, only to find out it was amended not once or twice, but sometimes three different times. This is unfair to the elected body as they try to prepare for the meeting. It is also unfair to the citizens. If it's not ready for prime time, hold off for another meeting. Another problem with the agenda are the lack of backup materials being included. Everything related to that agenda item should be included for the citizen's benefit and historical reference. It gives the entire picture to what the agenda item is. The more information, the better. It's more transparent, too. Using these workshops as an example, I'm positive the city manager sending memo, maybe even two, to the commissioners relating to discontinuing the bulk pick services, not included in the backup, Where's the other memos that give clarity to the budget? Even the slide deck wasn't included in the backup. Staff spent an extraordinary amount of time preparing those documents. Why not show North Port taxpayers the information they contain? They did a great job. There are no excuses for missing information and consistently amended agendas. I'm sure there is an easy... I don't have the rest of it cut off, so I don't know if that was... Oh, an easy fix. That's all, Mayor.

All righty then, thank you. 1120 I adjourn this meeting.

We got it all. My crib is your crib. Looking forward to seeing you here. Duty calls.