City Commission Regular Meeting - Regular Meeting

The chief of fire rescue, utilities, all these, you know, administration, all these departments are absolutely, you want to meet the leaders. You can look into their eye and ask pertinent questions that are important to you so you understand where they're at, where they're going, what are their constraints, and how we can be as residents, try and give them the resources they need to provide the services that we're asking them to provide. I'm more in love with Northport than I've ever been.

Hey Brandon, what are you listening to? Just listening to my CPR playlist. What's on that? Staying alive. I'm Zach, and this is Travis from Northport Fire Rescue. And I'm Brandon, and this is Brett from the Northport Aquatic Center. Did you know a lot of the songs that you listen to on a daily basis follow the beats of CPR? 100 to 120 beats per minute. CPR saves lives.

Hey, Northport. I'm here with Ryan from our engineering division in public works, and we're in an area that is experiencing some drainage concerns that were brought to us by some residents. So, Ryan, what are some things you do when you get onto a scene like this to see what the issue may be?

First thing we do is we start at the bottom of the system, the outfall, how it connects into the canal. Then we start working our way up. We go through the cross drains, the culverts, the underdrains, and we look at every way the water flows downward. And we look for blockages, sumped dirt pileup, and even sometimes potentially collapsed culverts underneath. You got to remember, you can't report your water being an issue until we have 72 hours of no rainfall. And let's say it rains on Tuesday and a couple of days go by and that second day it rains again. You got to restart your 72 hours. We have to spend time of our water inside the system in order to clean it and in order to slow it down. Otherwise, we're going to end up washing out our neighbors below us.

Absolutely. So tell us about what's happening here.

Right here we have a rather large blockage inside the system. This is clearly an illegal dump of some sort, a tree obviously, and this will slow down the water. If we could see on the north side of it, or north as in the upper part of the drainageway, it's full of water. But when we look at our footage from down below, it's dry. So this is a huge point of collecting water. These systems really fail sometimes with like a death by a thousand cuts. You get a sump here, a collapsed culvert pipe, a blockage like this, and it slowly adds up.

That makes sense. So if anybody out there is seeing issues like this or experiencing it in your neighborhood.

All right. Good afternoon. Today is Tuesday, June 23rd, 2026. it's 4 PM. We're in the city chambers and I call the road drainage district meeting to order. Commissioners present are Commissioner Duvall, Commissioner Stokes, Mayor Emmerich, Vice Mayor Linden, and Commissioner Petro. There was a quorum present for this meeting. Also present are City Manager Pletcher, City Attorney Fuino, City Clerk Faust, Board Specialist Lindner, Police Chief Garrison, and Fire Chief Titus are in the back. 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, boisterous, immaterial, inflammatory, obscene, profane, or disorderly conduct. Additionally, meeting attendees must refrain from obscene, profane, or disorderly conduct, including hand clapping, yelling, and similar demonstrations, all of which deserves, disturbs the peace and good order of the meeting. Thank you. I'm going to call on Ms. Beaulieu. and choose the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, ma'am.

Request a motion to approve the agenda.

So moved.

Second. And a motion on the floor made by Vice Mayor to approve the agenda as presented, seconded by Commissioner Stokes. If there's nothing to that, please vote. and that passes five to zero. Nothing came up on the big screen, just to let you know. Public comment?

There is none.

Consent agenda. City Manager, any items been pulled? No, Mr. Mayor. All right, looking for a motion, or a public comment? There is none. Okay, for consent, that's what I meant. Thank you. Request a motion?

I'll make it.

Go ahead.

I move to accept the consent agenda as presented.

Second. I have a motion on the floor made by Vice Mayor to approve the consent agenda as presented, seconded by Commissioner Stokes. If there's nothing to that, please vote. That passes five to zero. Moving on to public hearings. Resolution number 2026-R-43. City Clerk, can you read by title only, please?

Resolution number 2026-R-43, a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Northport, Florida, as the governing body of the Northport Road and Drainage District, amending the Northport Road and Drainage District budget for fiscal year 2025 through 2026 for additional funding for Myakkahatchee Creek Bridge and price widening project R25MCB in the amount of $4,550,000, providing for findings, providing for posting, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing an effective date.

Thank you, City Manager. This is your item.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The Department of Public Works seeks to amend the fiscal year 2025-26 Road and Drainage District budget to reallocate $4.550 million in appropriated funds from the Road Rehab Program to the Minot-Akahatchee Creek Bridge and Price Widening Project. The reallocated funds will support the widening of Price Boulevard from Sumter Boulevard to the Minot-Akahatchee Creek, bridge crossing. We recommend that you choose option one today, which is approved resolution number 2026-R43 as presented. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Commission questions? Anybody? City Clerk, public comment? All right. I'm going to close this public hearing and request a motion. I'll make it. Go ahead. I move to adopt resolution uh where is it 2026-R-43 as presented. Second. I have a motion on the floor made by Commissioner Stokes to adopt resolution number 2026-R-43 as presented. Seconded by Vice Mayor. There's nothing to that. Please vote. Passes 5-0. Moving on to Resolution 2026-R-45. City Clerk, can you read by title only?

Resolution number 2026-R-45. A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Northport, Florida, as the governing body of the Northport Road and Drainage District, approving and authorizing the Mayor to execute the State of Florida Department of Transportation State Highway Lighting Maintenance and Compensation Agreement work order for all street lights 352 located on U.S. Highway 41 for fiscal year 2026 through 2027, providing for incorporation of recitals, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing an effective date.

Thank you. City Manager, this is your item.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The State of Florida Department of Transportation, also known as FCOT, provides an annual lump sum payment to the City of Northport for the maintenance of street lights on U.S. Highway 41 within the city. The annual lump sum payment is intended to cover the city's costs associated with routine maintenance, repairs, and energy consumption for the 352 designated streetlights along the highway. This includes tasks such as bulb replacements, fixtures, repairs, pole inspections, and coordination with utility providers. Today, we recommend that you choose option one, which is approved resolution number 2026-R45 as presented. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.

Commission, questions, discussions? City Clerk, public comment? All right, I'm going to close this public hearing and request a motion. I'll make it. Go ahead, sir.

I move to adopt resolution number 2026-R-45 as presented. Second.

I have a motion on the floor made by Commissioner Duvall to adopt resolution number 2026-R-45 as presented, seconded by Vice Mayor. If there's anything to that, please vote. Passes 5 to 0. Moving on to the end. No public comment. Alright, I adjourn this meeting is 407.

Welcome to report it through our North report system, which is at northportfl.gov slash North reports. Or you can give the public