Town Commission - Regular Meeting

And commission, I guess 112026 if everybody could please stand or may standing.

By your hands, please. Heavenly Father, thank you for another day. Continue to watch over our town, watch over our citizens, watch over our staff, and watch over our commission. Help us to continue to lean on you for everything. The Lord bless this community. Continue to guide us every day of our lives. We love you. We praise you. Bless our agenda. Let you be a part of everything that we do. In your holy name we pray. Amen. Thank you, sir.

wonderful it's very appropriate too isn't it for that one absolutely all right good evening kathy good evening commissioner keller here vice mayor satterfield mayor taylor commissioner motley here commissioner mcmullen president

Hey, guys. So on your agendas tonight, we're going to do flip-flops and things. We're going to do a proclamation first and a great presentation after that. So first we're going to read the National Preparedness Month proclamation. Whereas the month of September is recognized as National Preparedness Month and creates an opportunity for every resident of the town of Oakland to prepare their homes, businesses, and communities for emergencies and natural disasters. And during an emergency, every second counts in emergency preparedness programs educate individuals and families on how to prepare before, during, and after a disaster. And these programs address threats of severe weather, terrorism, and other potentially life-threatening circumstances to make our communities better prepared, resilient, and safer. And emergency preparedness is a responsibility of every resident and all town of Oakland residents are urged to make preparedness a priority and work together to ensure that individuals, families, and communities are prepared for disasters and emergencies of any type. And all town of Oakland residents are encouraged to participate in preparedness activities and become more prepared by making a plan, building a kit, and staying informed. Now, therefore, I, Shane Taylor, by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the town of Oakland, Florida, on behalf of the entire town commission, do hereby proclaim September 2026 in the town of Oakland as National Preparedness Month.

Okay.

With that being said, I'm going to ask Julie Butler to come up and you will do the presentation.

Is this on? Okay. I'm very honored and proud to be here today. Thank you, Mayor Taylor and Commission, for indulging us. I am proud to represent the Adams-O'Neill Treaty Chapter of the Florida State and National Societies for the Daughters of the American Revolution. I am here along with our, if y'all stand up and come up here when I call you, our Regent Wanda Kenney and our State Conservation Chair Morgan Buckner. uh we have a young lady in our community in your community well in my community too because she lives in my neighborhood but she works in yours and when i found out that dar had a national conservation award there was only one person that i knew that we absolutely had to nominate for this award We're very lucky to have her. She did some wonderful work at Orlando. She's doing amazing things at Oakland Nature Preserve. And she has done, she has changed my heart in one way that I never, ever thought was possible. She has made me love somebody from the University of Miami. So with that said, can we please have Nicole O'Brien, the managing director of the Oakland Nature Preserve. We are presenting our... This is a national award dedicated to the preservation of the natural resources of our country, its soils, its minerals, its forests, its waters, and its wildlife. We proudly present this certificate and medal to Mrs. Nicole M. O'Brien for your outstanding achievement for environmental awareness. And that is signed by our national and state chairs. Congratulations. Can we have you guys come up and take some photos? Shane, real quick. Commissioners, everybody.

He has to give a speech, though.

Would you like to say something?

We'll have you guys go over there.

Okay.

Thank you. There goes the audience. I would love to have y'all come.

I would love for you to come.

Yeah, perfect. I will absolutely make that happen.

Here's Joe done.

George where?

See you guys say Joe. Good to see you guys. Since the empty room is left, does anybody want to move up to the front? You know? Okay, I guess not.

The question is, does anyone want to move up? Everybody, come up, please. Are they all listening?

All right, moving on. So tonight on our consent agenda are the approvals of the July 28th, 2026 Town Commission Second Budget Work Session and the regular meeting minutes, approval of a reappointment to the Planning and Zoning Board of Ms. Nancy Ross, and approval to donate a police vehicle. Any questions or comments?

No?

Okay, I entertain a motion. Second?

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye, okay. Ms. Frost, I have to swear you in, so you have to come to the front.

I told you to move up front.

We're going to just... Ready? You got your right hand up? I, Nancy Ross, solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and will obey the laws of the state of Florida, that I will in all respects observe the provisions of the Charter and Code of Ordinances of the Town of Oakland, and I will faithfully perform the duties as a member of the Planning and Zoning Board of the Town of Oakland, Florida. Ma'am?

Thank you, sir.

Yes, congratulations. Thank you for serving. Thank you. All right, moving on to other policy matters. And we have our favorite chief of police, I believe. One of our favorite.

That hurts. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the commission. But the first slide here, you'll see why we're here, why I'm doing this. By Florida Statute 316-0083, we are required annually to give a report of the school speed zone program. Any jurisdiction that has school speed zone measuring devices is required to give this report. So if you could go to the next slide. That's why we're here doing this. The language is up there. Next slide, please. The general information. Our vendor for the school speed zone, as was approved by the commission, is Altimate. Right there. Altimate. And they... put in for the process with other companies, but this, and most of the companies are the same. The agreements are all the same. As you'll see, this is exactly what the language was stated in our agreement, but the revenue to date, the school has received $3,532.50. And what that is, is $12 from every citation has to go to the school for a school's crossing guard program. So I confirmed with Gabby, that's how much money they've received thus far. They can use it to begin only a crossing guard program. It has to either a salary of a crossing guard equipment, things like that. The company itself ultimate is negative $27,882 and 61 cents. What that is based on is the camera rental fee is 300 or 3499, $3,499 per camera per month that they would charge to the town. Should there be a profit? Because there is no profit, as in the agreement, the company ultimate will just write that money off. They're not going to charge us. So if we elect to do away with the program, it's not like we owe them money. We just get a zero balance regardless. The school still gets their $3,500. Does that make sense? because the statute requires the $12 for the school crossing guard. It does not require any money to come to the town. So that's the way it is. That's why it says Oakland PD has received zero and because of the agreed upon rental fee of $34.99 per camera. The main point to remember is this program was not generated as a revenue builder. We started this and brought this program here to make sure that the children coming and going from school are safe. That's it. We're not in this. This is not about money. So we're right where we need to be and and ultimate is totally okay with the numbers it is what it is other jurisdictions that have multiple schools they they would enter a profit margin but we would not but we've also probably had zero crashes throughout since this program occurred or started so that's what we're looking for uh the next slide the annual data to date starting from july 1st of 2025 through june 30th of 2026 which which really encompasses all of last school year keep in mind we didn't start the program until november so there was there was a few months where we didn't have the cameras up there but there's been 1370 violations and that is 11 miles or more of the speed limit whether the the 20 mile per hour zone is in effect or it's in 35 miles an hour 11 miles or over there's been 1370 of those the violations that have been paid 622 Violations contested and they're pending a final income. We still have two that are outstanding. And we have two that were contested and dismissed due to errors with the system. And we've fixed those errors. Then the violations that were contested and upheld by the magistrate is nine. And the violations resulting in a uniform traffic citation, meaning if the violation was 30 days past due, it reverts to a actual state of Florida uniform traffic citation where it goes on the person's license if they handle it. Initially, with $100 from the Speed Zone program, it never touches their license. If it goes past 30 days, it reverts to a uniform traffic citation, which increases the fine and can result in a suspension on the person's license if they don't pay for it. We have zero of those, and we have zero uniform traffic citations that are pending. So we're fine with that. There were 735 citations that were never issued. And the reason is that is the quality control that's in involved with this program. The way the system calibrates, if it calibrates and gives an error, whatever citations were issued between the last calibration and the current calibration, it does it every 24 hours, those are canceled. There were incidents where school was not in session because it was half a day and the system was still operating. This is all part of the two-step verification process that we have. So Ultimate verifies it. They send us the citation when it's listed for them as a violation. Then we have an officer assigned that does a secondary assessment to make sure that it's a legitimate violation. In this case, 735 times it was not. So those citations were canceled. So that shows that what we're doing to check the accuracy is what needs to be done. Some of the problems on the next slide, some of the problems that we noted during this first year and the, yes, sir.

Question first, the total number you had at 1370, that 735 is in addition to that, correct?

No, that's part of, pardon? Oh, I'm sorry, no, no, no, I stand corrected. That is correct, in addition to 1370, yes. I apologize. So some of the problems that we noted and how we fix it throughout this first year, one, the flashing signal software was not controlled by the police department. It was controlled by another entity. So that led to some communication issues when we needed it flashing when it wasn't supposed to be flashing. So the police department's taking it over. Now, Kelly and Stacey both have the software on a computer. They have to bring the computer out to each flashing light and manually program it, which has already been done for this coming school year, which just started today. The signage wasn't complete. It only indicated the speed enforcement times saying speed enforcement program from 730 till 330. It did not identify when the 20 mile an hour zone is in effect and when it's 35 miles an hour. We've corrected that. Now, if you look out there, there's a sign and all the times are listed on the sign. It's a lot to read, but if you're doing 20 miles an hour, you can read it. uh so the new signs were installed july 28th so we just just got those down to the wire but everything is accurate that was the reason for the two dismissals of the previous citations was we did not have the correct signage complete uh as required by statute so we dismissed those citations got the signage correct and now now it's there there was a long delay in the approval language from the clerk of courts about the uniform traffic citation when it's supposed to when it's 30 days late when it transitions to a utc There's been a very long delay. It's still not approved. As of yesterday, they're in the final steps of that. It's all in the hands of the clerk of the court. Remember, we were the first one in Orange County to go live with this program. So there are some growing pains. Now the other schools are online in Orange County and surrounding counties, and everything seems to be smoothing out. But that was some of the issues. And because we only have one school, it was a very small amount of violations for the clerk to get everything they needed. Excuse me. And there was some miscommunication regarding summer school versus summer camp. We've worked that communication out. A lot of those 700 and some odd tickets that were issued in error was because we were told it was summer school and it was actually summer camp. And there's a huge difference in the definition. And when you can and can't operate that program, you cannot operate it for summer camps where people pay or it's an elective thing to attend. It's summer school. If you don't come here, you fail this grade. That's summer school. That didn't occur, but we were... misinformed as to what the what the actual program was so the system was working now we've turned it off it won't be that way next year next summer uh the next slide is a picture of the updated sign with all the times it is a lot to read i would recommend going by it on a scooter instead of a car but all of those signs are are what's required by state statute so the speed limit is photo enforced the the total program runs from 7 30 a.m till 3 30 p.m At 3.30 p.m., when it turns off, it turns off. So it's not like we can do any other operation or speed measuring through that school zone. It turns off. We cannot do anything with it. On Wednesdays, obviously, we changed the hours. And then the big issue when the contesting of the citations took place in front of the magistrate was it has to identify when the 20-mile-an-hour mark is. So from 7.30 to 8.30 a.m., 20 miles an hour. 2 30 to 3 30 20 miles an hour and then on wednesdays 1 30 to 2 30 for early dismissal that's the 20 mile an hour times and one of the things that the magistrate did a very good job at explaining to the public who contested even when it's not in the when it is in those times the flashing light does not have to be flashing so people came in with the excuse hey the light wasn't flashing that sign tells you exactly what times you have to do 20 miles an hour it doesn't matter if the light's flashing the light is just an extra thing to put on the school speed zone to let people know but the lights will be flashing the sro visually checks it every day and enters it into the cad system to say on this day i checked it both lights were working just as a courtesy it's not required

They don't get a ticket unless they're going 11 miles an hour over, so if it's 20, it's 31?

Correct. We've had several people come in that get citations. They come into the PD, they don't understand that, and they say, but the light wasn't flashing. And that's the debate. It's a moot point because the statute requires the signs only. The $100 fee flat, yes. So if they pay it in those first 30 days where it's the $100 to Altamont, you can get online and pay it through their system. The state of Florida knows nothing about the citation. It doesn't go on your insurance. There are no points assessed, anything like that. If you let it revert to a uniform traffic citation after 31 days, then there's points on your license, your insurance can go up, it's an increased fine, all that stuff. It's better to resolve it in those first 30 days as long as we've checked it and it's a legitimate citation. If somebody can test it and we find out that there was an error in the system, certainly we're going to dismiss the ticket. And the last slide, if there's any other questions or comments, I think I just want to make it clear because that does look like a big number when you see the minus 27,000. For the town of Oakland, it's a zero. It was part of the agreement. It's in the contract when we signed it initially. And when they gave their presentation, they assured us no matter what number is there in the negative, we will never owe anything because this is not about generating revenue. Yeah. If you like it, I made it up. Any other questions or comments on the program?

Just one question. Have you seen a decline in readers?

Yes. So good question. They did an assessment before we decided what program. She hasn't got me the exact number, but it was somewhere in the area of 92% decrease in violations, in actual violations. And that's the goal. The goal would be zero violations. If we don't have to write a single citation, perfect. But we've had zero traffic crashes, and that's really how we measure it, how I would measure it. The speeding is the speeding, and I would hope that it continues on that downward slide. But as long as we've had zero crashes, we're right on target with where we wanted to be.

Okay.

Day at school was good?

No problems with the first day of school as related to this.

All right. Thank you. Does anybody in the audience have any questions about the cameras or anything? Everybody knows, right? Good. Okay. All right. Thank you, Chief. Appreciate you. All right. So open next on is the public forum. We'll open it up to any matters that are not on the agenda tonight. Do we have any takers tonight for public forum? Okay. Seeing nothing, we'll close public forum. And it's like we'll bring it back to our time manager. How are you, Elise? Good to see you again.

Good. Thanks for having me back.

I wanted to come back.

I almost didn't. Chief Eason sent me a text. We won't go into that. But I was like, I'm not coming back. you can stay in charge it's okay um i want to introduce first of all mike savage he's sitting right over here i'm going to turn the camera on him for a second he is our building official with will dan so if you see him around town this is our building official if you have questions about building official type things he's your man so i just want to make sure to introduce him just building official stuff no other questions right I wanted, I thank Chief Eason for kind of keeping an eye on things while I was gone. I wanted to give kudos to Scott and Steve and Michelle at Public Works. They're doing a great job in absence of a Public Works Director. The Public Works Director position is still open. We've received several qualified applicants, so we'll be going through those now that Ashley and I are both back from vacation and starting the initial interview process in the near future.

So that's looking hopeful.

Seminole paving has begun the Vic Avenue work when they should be doing the majority of the work tomorrow this week and wrap it up this week. So we'll be all done with that. As Chief mentioned, OACS started back up today. I didn't hear anybody screaming on my phone, so I'm assuming it went well. Parker left me a list of updates, so I'm gonna go over those as quickly as I can. The Briley Avenue septic to sewer design is nearing 90% completion of construction drawings. Once the main lines have been constructed, this project will allow for approximately 45 existing residences to connect to central sewer. As you know, in Oakland, the elimination of septic systems is critical to the water quality of lake apop is mandated by the state the 3.3 million in funding for the project has been made possible by two grants administered by florida department environmental protection instruction on that phase will begin in early 2027. and then recently the town submitted a draft work plan to the state for the pollard street septic to sewer project This $1.5 million project has been funded by a legislative appropriation. We'll bring central sewer to portions of North Pollard, West Gulley, West Henschen, and Postville Avenue. Construction is planned for next year right after the Briley Avenue project. The next phase of dirt road improvements is set to begin on Monday. The roads being improved for portions of East and West Henschen, East Gulley, North Brock, and North Cross. future improvements are planned will take place once the septic to sewer project have been completed the intersection improvements at mackey and winter's landing drive are progressing in spite of all the heavy rain it should know that be noted that this improvement as well as the dirt road improvements are being funded by impact fees generated in part by Oakland Park development and other developments. This one's exciting. We achieved a milestone last Friday with alternative water project. After nearly two years of back and forth discussion, we received our consumptive use permit for the facility. So that was one of our big milestones. We still have a lot of work to do before it goes into operation. But once online, it will provide water for irrigation to residences immediately adjacent.

state of Florida believes this is a worthy endeavor and has made available 4 million resist with construction.

And then we have a lot of exciting events coming up first is artist opening for a new exhibit at the arts and heritage Center called wildness and wonder the photography of john Burkett if you don't know john Burkett he's a local. photographer. He's done some in kind work for the Oakland Nature Preserve. He does wonderful wildlife pictures. So the artist opening will be on Thursday from 530 to 730. And then the exhibit will be in place through October 30. So definitely make some time to check that out. Farmers markets are back this month. So they'll be on the 13th and 27th from nine to one. then we have a block party planned for friday september 18th from 5 30 to 8 in front of the arts and heritage center and i'm going to talk about nature fest real quick nature fest is coming up quickly it'll be on saturday september 26th from 9 to 1 at the oakland nature preserve there's flyers for these over on the table and nature fest will have a lot of great activities for the whole family So that's everything going on in our world right now. All right, awesome.

Thank you, Elise. Kathy, anything good for you?

We have a planning and zoning board meeting next week on Tuesday starting at 6.30 for the Oakland Town Center.

And ARB saw that last week?

Yes.

And it was all good? It looked good? We should be excited? You can tell how, look at him. Yeah, I mean, he looks excited. Yes, I mean, okay. Great. Looking forward to that one. I kind of got a sneak peek of it. Pretty cool.

Just two quick things. One, by state statute, we're required to do active shooter training in time for schools. You have to do it once a year. Winter Garden PD was kind enough to make sure that our officers went through all the training with them, which was great. Without Winter Garden's help, we would not have been able to get it done before the school year started. So that was very good, and we appreciate the PD reaching out to us and allowing us to do that. The other thing was, finally, the grant that was given to us last year by the state of Florida for the Ford F-150 has come through. The truck has been delivered. It is here. It'll be on the road for the first day Friday, I believe. The officer who's getting assigned it will be back at work Friday. So you'll start seeing an F-150 with the new decals out putting around town. It's a great car for zero money. We paid nothing. The state was kind enough to give us a truck. What's that?

Truck, not a car.

That's a great truck.

Thank you, Chief. Thank you. We'll bring it back here, Commissioner Keller.

I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the back-to-school pizza party. I have a hard time making a lot of the school events because of work, so I was glad to be able to make that. It was a fun time, and I got to enjoy joining the mayor for the mayor's minute, so that was fun. And I'm looking forward to Thursday evening with the new art exhibit. John's work is amazing. I follow him on social media, and I'm excited that we're going to have him at the Heritage Center, so I'm looking forward to that event. And other than that, that's all I got.

just to get into school you know we did have the pizza i did check uh with pam today and there were no major malfunctions on the other stuff that was um going today no more than any normal first day of school one down 179 to go so and i do want to comment last meeting that i could not be here that i watched it on zoom for the very first time actually ever that we weren't all doing it during the pandemic type thing and you know we do get a lot of comments about we can't hear we can't do this other than when you know we turned around to do the pledge which is understandable It was perfect. I heard everyone very, very clearly. It went very well.

All 16 minutes. Quick one. Chief says because he was running it. That's why I went. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Mike. Nicole, again, congratulations. I don't believe people understand how big this award is from DAR. I do, but uh, it is a big deal. It's a national recognition. So awesome job. And, um, from us. And I think for me as well, I think you're doing an awesome job at the, uh, at OMP and running that. So thank you very much for everything you do there.

We really appreciate you.

Would you like to give your speech now? Thanks to you and your husband and son for hanging around too. We appreciate that. Um, The only thing I saw today, and I mentioned this the least, was on Highway 50, they were starting to clear off the remaining trees at the turnpike in 50 for that new project that's coming forward for the Small Bay Industrial Project. So that's exciting, because the quicker that gets going, the quicker it gets on the tax rolls, and the quicker there. So I will say that there are a lot of exciting things now that

I think people are back in from summer vacation, and now we're going to get back into a routine. And I think maybe Will Dan can attest to this is that there's a lot of good, exciting projects that are coming in into town. So we're looking forward to our ARB and zoning and everybody get those and get those things going. So exciting stuff.

Yeah.

Other than that, that's it for me.

Right. We have our hearts and minds are satisfied. Let's adjourn. It is 7.32 p.m.

Maybe it's me that does it.