Town Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay, good evening everyone. Let's call to order the uh Oakland Town Commission meeting for October 14th uh 2025. Please stand for the pledge. Father God, once again I thank us with your talent. I ask you that you give us your wisdom and discernment carry on business that we make the best decisions.

Okay, Kathy, good evening. Good evening. Commissioner Keller here. Vice Mayor Satderfield here. May Mayor Taylor here. Commissioner Ramos present. Commissioner McMillan present. All right. Um okay. We have uh several presentations. I'm sorry. Three proclamations in one presentation tonight. Um I'm going to start out with the uh storm water uh drain month and I'll ask uh Dr. O, you like to come up and say a few things? Absolutely. It's all yours.

You have the proclamation. I have one, too. The original that we did last Friday at the Orange Soil and Water Conservation District meeting in the Orange County Board of Commission's Chamber Hall where we hold our meetings. And we're broadcast on Orange TV the second Friday of every month at 3:30 and where we have our meetings. And it's a uh sure.

There you go. And we signed the proclamation in per perpetuity to for October to be storm water drain month. And the governor has a copy that we hope that he's going to sign.

Chanel, is that the nut behind the wheel? It could be.

Take the picture now, Mike. And the purpose is to keep, as Mike knows, is to keep plastic leaves. And that's why it's in October is we've got leaves coming down, lawn clippings, transmission fluid, radiator fluid, and all that other stuff that people dead cats, whatever else down the drain on the side of the road. And that causes contamination of our lakes because where that drain goes, it's not a sewer. The sewer comes out of your house. What goes in your kitchen drain and the other drains in your house go through the sewer and into the sewer system that they take care of. This drain is on the road and we only want rain down the drain. And so I have a proclamation from you that we signed on Friday and now your mayor is going to commence with this proclamation.

Absolutely. All right. Town of Oakland storm water drain month. Whereas the Orange Soil and Water Conservation District proposed to provide assistance, guidance, and education to land owners, land occupiers, the agriculture industry, and the general public in implementing land and water resource protection practices is prescribed by Florida Statute 582.02. And the district holds a self-directed purpose to provide leadership in the conservation of the county soil, water, and related natural resources through local involvement and community education. And storm drains are a majority entry point of the human derived chemicals, including automotive fluids and lawn additives, debris, and foliage such as line clippings. And waterersheds lead to the springs we play in in the aquifers that provide our fresh drinking and bathing water. And contaminants in our drinking, bathing, and swimming water damage our health causing cancers, mental issues, and even death. Foliage causes utrification, death of water bodies, high levels of nutrients, resulting in algae blooms, polluting the waterways, and it is incumbent upon the citry citizenry to ensure the prevention of contaminants from entering our precious waterheds and aquafers. And now therefore, I, Shane Taylor, by virtue of the authority of Estim as mayor of the town of Oakland, on behalf of the entire town commission, do hereby proclaim the month of October 2025 as storm water drain month. Only rain down the drain.

Thank you. Thank you very much. You glad you get a picture of us? Yes, indeed. And I'm going to also not only give you a copy of ours, but this is our 80th year in the state of Florida as our district. And so I'm going to give you a copy of our 80th year proclamation. Thank you. Mike, you want to take a picture again? You want to ask that? Where do y'all pose?

We'll do it right here. Oh, I guess Here we go. Thank you. Appreciate you.

Okay. Item two on the a on the presentation is a proclamation for blind Americans equality day for October 15th. Whereas by joint resolution approved on October 6th, 1964, public law 88-628 as amended. Congress designated order October 15th of each year as white cane safety day to recognize the contributions of Americans who are blind or have impaired vision. And it is important that all residents in the town of Oakland that are blind or visually impaired have the opportunity to live active independent lives. And approximately 6% of adults in Florida are blind or have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses. And for Flidians who are blind or visually impaired, the white cane is an important tool for self-reliance and full participation and and inclusion in our society. And the use of white canes, dog guides, and public and private transportation programs has ensured Floridaians who are blind or visually impaired can travel efficiently and safely, breaking down barriers to succeed in independence. And in 2011, White Cane Safety Day was named Blind Americans Equality Day by President Barack Obama. And this proclamation called upon public officials, business and community leaders, educators, librarians, and Americans across the country to obser observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs to celebrate and recognize the accomplishments and contributions of blind and visually impaired Americans and re and we recommmit to forging ahead with the work of perfecting our union and ensuring we remain a nation where all our people, including those living with disabilities, have every opportunity to achieve their dreams. Now therefore, I, Shane Taylor, by virtue, authority, vest me as mayor of the town of Oakland, Florida, and on behalf of the entire town commission, do hereby

proclaim October 15, 2025 as Blind Americans Equality Today. Last one. This one's for Florida City Government Week. Whereas municipal government is the government closest to most citizens and the one with the most direct daily impact upon its residents. And municipal government provides services and programs that enhance the quality of life for residents, making their town their home. And municipal government is administered for and by its citizens and is dependent upon public commitment to an understanding of its many responsibilities. and municipal government officials and employees share the responsibility to pass along their understanding of public services and their benefits. And the Florida City Government Week offers an important opportunity for elected officials and town staff to spread the word to all the citizens of Florida that they can shape and influence this branch of government. And the Florida League of Cities and its members municipalities have joined together to teach students and other citizens about municipal government through a variety of activities. Now therefore, be it resolved by the town of Oakland as follows. Section one, that the town of Oakland encourages all citizens, town government officials, and employees to do everything possible to ensure that this week is recognized and celebrated accordingly. Section two, that the town of Oakland encourages educational partnerships between town governments and schools, as well as civic groups and other organizations. And section three, that the town of Oakland supports, encourages all Florida city governments to actively promote and sponsor Florida City Government Week. Now therefore, I, Shane Taylor, by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the town of Oakland and on behalf of the entire town commission, do hereby proclaim October 20th through October 26, 2025 as Florida City Government Week. Right. All right, moving on to another one

presentation and it is from our folks at Pervis Gray and they are going to talk about Oakland Avenue charter school audit results. All we had a town but now you're on the school, right?

That was your last week for the town interim back today. So, and there's a PowerPoint slide that she's going to put up on the screen. Okay. So, I'm Tiffany Mangold, audit partner with Pervis Gray. And again, we're here to just give you the results of the charter schools audit for Oakland Avenue charter school for June 30th, 2025's fiscal year. And so, on the next slide, we've um this is just a summary of our reports. So, we've issued an unmodified report for your independent auditor's report. That means that your financial statements are fairly stated in all material respects. There is one paragraph that just states that these are for the school only, not the town. So if anyone's reading them, they're not misled by that. So again, clean opinion. That's the highest level of assurance that you can receive from an audit. The next report that we have here is the internal control report. And this is where we look at your controls and how they relate to financial reporting. We had no material weaknesses for you. We do have one significant deficiency. And this is just in segregation of duties. It's a similar comment to the one that we had for the town. It's a small operation. And so there was one employee who had multiple levels of control or she had multiple duties that were overlapping. Management's already taken this and made some changes and they've implemented detective controls. So we expect this to be alleviated next year. But for this year there was some overlap of responsibilities um across there. there were no instances of um non-compliance or other matters noted. And then the final letter there for you is your auditor general's management letter. This is where we would identify other items that did not rise to that level of material weakness or significant deficiency, but we still thought should be communicated as a finding. Um we did not have any additional ones. There was one prior

year finding that was fully resolved. that was on your year in close process and this year you utilized the assistance of Mike Brenson who's a CPA that you previously used as an auditor and so that helped you to resolve that entire finding and we had no recommendations to improve financial management for you and no instances of non-compliance. On the next slide, the next thing you should have is a communication with those charged with governance. It's a separate letter in the back of that bound financial statements. Um, it's a three-page letter and it's just specific information we're required to communicate with those charged with governance. So, there's a new accounting policy that was implemented, Gazby 102. You did not have any impact on the school. So, that's not changing anything. It just was properly implemented this year. You had no changes in other existing policies or procedures. Your significant estimates are the useful lives of your assets. other post-employment benefit estimates there and then the allocation of the town's payroll costs over to the school. The other communications that's important to note is just your financial statements. We found them all to be neutral, consistent, and clear. We did not have any difficulties in dealing with management while performing the audit, and we did not have any disagreements with management either. The last matter here is something we wanted to just bring to your attention, but um you did overexpend the budget by $93,000 in the expenditures, but your revenues came in that was offsetting that. So what happened is you had A+ money that came in. So there should be revenues that offsetting the expenditures. And so I'm going to show you that there's a favorable overall budget variance of 151,000. But because the expenditures over spent the budget, we have to comment on it. I'll show you that on the very last slide, though. So, we'll go in detail on that a little bit more. And this is just your financial

highlights for the year. Really briefly, total assets increase 125,000. Total deferred inflows decrease 125,000. Deferred inflows is your unavailable grant funding that you were waiting on last year. So, it just did not come in within 60 days and therefore it was deferred. It's recorded as um federal sources under the next side the revenues total federal sources 131,000 125,000 of that is oh sorry could you go back okay just on the right side of that so your um ending fund balance on the balance sheet which is the very first section here is $1.1 million your unassigned fund balance is 17% of your total expenditures and total revenues and so you have about two months worth of cushion there, which is great for a school. So, you're in good shape there. Um, your total revenues decreased or sorry, decreased $256,000. Mostly the change here is federal sources. You previously were getting ESSER funding and that ended. And so, that's $440,000 less than it was the prior year. And you got additional FFP money, which is based on student enrollment. So, that offset it a little bit. So, that state and local sources is up 187,000 for revenue. Your total expenditures is a decrease of 244,000 mostly. The big change here is your capital outlay. You bought seven new umbrellas last year. You had some playground equipment. So that was all last year. So not as many large purchases this year. The other financing sources is your leases. You didn't have any new leases, which is why it's zero this year. And your change in fund balance, you brought in an additional $260,000 for the year. So, and the last slide for you is your budget. So, I just wanted to show this so that you could see that top line of state and local re or sources of revenue. You brought in an extra 145,000 over what you originally

budgeted that includes A+ money of I think it's 108,000. And then basic instruction is the other side of that. So, when you got that funding because you did a great job, you paid your teachers like you should have and so that expenditure life. So, you just have to do a budget amendment for that. And so, I think that's going to be at your next board meeting. Um, so your total expenditures did over exceed the budget by 93,000, but you can see that very bottom line net change in fund balance. You still had a positive variance of 151,000. So overall, very smooth audit, clean audit. The segregation of duties is the only comment we had. Management's already taking that into account even though we just issued this less than a month ago. So we appreciate that on all sides and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Anyone have any questions for the auditor? want to make a comment. This is great. This is good. Thank you. Surplus. You have a good team. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Pam. Thank you, team. Good. Thank you very much. Right. Thank you all. Thank you for coming out. Sure. Have a good meeting.

Okay. Uh next on the uh tonight's agenda is the consent agenda. On the consent agenda are the minutes from the 9 September 23rd, 2025 town commission final budget and regular meeting. Approval of Waste Pros request for disposal adjustment. Approval of the Oakland Avenue charter school student welfare policy. Approval to serve alcoholic beverages at the state of the town, which will need that. Approval of sidewalk easement at 15717 State Road 438 toward Oakland Avenue. approval of water and wastewater rate increases for fiscal year 2025 2026. Anybody have any want to talk about before we

just have a quick comment? Yes, ma'am. Um I just wanted to say I really appreciated the addition of the financial impact line on all the items for approval. I think that's really important that we're able to see that as things are being Thank you, Kathy. as I see. Um I just think it's really important that as things are presented to us for approval that we can see exactly whether there is a financial impact because we know after going through the budget process that we need to watch our pennies. So thank you for that suggestion Kathy and I appreciate that.

Agreed. That was nice to see. That was good. Um anybody else have any questions or concerns? I'm I was trying to find the section just to let everybody know about the water. Is there something in here about um uh we got something here for water and wastewater rate increases? I just want to put that out in the open. Trying to find it. Does anybody have much 24 cents it goes up on water? It's 24 and then dollar for sewer. Sorry guys. Hang on. I know. Find it.

I know. Overall is like under $80 a like that. It's It's really minimal. I just like Make sure they're not alarmed that it's something crazy high. Is the note from Gabby. That where it is. What does it say? For 2025, the minimum residential water bill will increase by $1 from 1995 to 2095. Yeah. And the water usage above a,000 gallons will increase to 52 cents per thousand gallons from 773 to 825.

Okay. Just getting those numbers out there for everybody. So, you know, it's very minimal, but they increase. There's anything else? Nothing else. I'll entertain a motion. I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda as it stands. Second. Second. All in favor? I I I. Okay. All right. Moving on to uh first resolution which is resolution 2025-11 amending the defined contribution retirement plan for police officers.

A resolution of the town of Oakland, Florida, amending the defined contribution retirement plan for the police officers of Oakland, Florida. providing for conflict resolutions and providing an effective date. Okay, thank you. Who's presenting?

I can. Gabby probably was going to, but she walked outside. Um, so basically this is the resolution that we have to present to Florida League of Cities to increase the police officers contribution from 16% to 18% which was approved in the budget. Okay, sounds good. Anybody have any questions here on the table? Okay, this is a resolution. Anybody in the audience have any questions? All right, sounds good. Make a motion to accept resolution 202511 presented. Second. I'll second. All in favor? I

I Okay, resolution passes. All right. So, uh, our first ordinance, only ordinance of the night is ordinance 2025-07. And this is the first reading of ordinance to approve amendments to the town charter to be placed on the 2026 general election ballot. And I think that would come up in March 26, right? It's when the election happened. Okay. Uh, town attorney. The title real quick. Yeah.

Oh, sorry. Title. Yes. An ordinance of the town of Oakland, Florida, proposing amendments to the Oakland Town Charter, providing for referenda on the proposed charter amendments, providing the ballot titles and ballot summaries for the referenda, providing for direction to the town clerk, and coordination with the Orange County, Orange County Supervisor of Elections, and providing for findings, conflicts, severability, and an effective date. Hey, thank you, Stephanie. How are you

doing? Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor. How are you? All right. Good evening, mayor and members of the commission. Before you consider the proposed charter amendments as recommended by the 2025 charter review committee, I will briefly summarize the work of the CRC and the purpose behind each of the proposed amendments. To provide relevant background, the CRC was formed earlier this year via appointment by the commission as provided in the town charter. The CRC conducted its first meeting in March and has met six times to review the charter and discuss potential updates. Throughout its work, the CRC also reviewed helpful information provided by town staff, the Florida League of Cities, and the Orange County Supervisor of Elections. In conducting its review, the CRC was diligent, collaborative, and very appreciative of everyone's assistance as they work to formulate their proposed amendments. The purpose of this review was to ensure that the charter remains clear and practical. And to that end, the CRC has explained the purpose and intent of each proposed amendment as laid out in the final report included in your agenda materials for tonight. At the start of the process, the CRC identified 11 topics for discussion and after much deliberation, the CRC voted to recommend six proposed amendments to the town charter. The remaining issues were thoroughly reviewed but were not recommended for change. I will now briefly summarize the six proposed amendments for the commission's consideration. The first proposed amendment relates to filling vacancies on the town commission. You may recall that earlier this year, the commission was faced with filling such such a vacancy, and it took an immense amount of effort and

coordination to notify and vet candidates within 30 time the 30-day time limit presently provided for in the charter. The proposed amendment would extend the time for the commission to fill vacancies, providing for 90 days instead of 30 days, and would provide that if the vacancy is not filled in that time, it will be filled by a special election rather than by appointment by the governor. The intent of this amendment is to give the town more flexibility and to preserve local control over town representation when there is a vacancy on the commission. The second proposed amendment relates to voting threshold rules that would apply when two commissioners are unavailable to vote on a particular matter. Currently, the charter sets forth voting procedures which may vary based upon the reason for a commissioner's absence or abstension from voting on a particular matter. The proposed amendment would require a consistent three vote threshold where two commissioners are unavailable to vote on a particular matter regardless of whether such unavailability was caused by absence or by an abstension required under state law. The intent behind this amendment is to promote consistency and uniformity in the commission's voting procedures. The third proposed amendment relates to elections and would eliminate the requirement for runoff elections in the town. Currently, the charter requires a runoff election when no candidate for commission or mayor receives over 50% of the votes cast. Under the proposed amendment, the candidate receiving the most votes will be elected without the need for a runoff election. The purpose of this proposed amendment is to simplify the election process and

to save the town considerable time and expense that is associated with runoff elections. The fourth proposed amendment removes the petition option for qualifying as a candidate for election to the town commission. Currently, candidates may qualify for election by either filing a notice of candidacy and paying a $100 qualifying fee or by collecting a specified number of signature cards to qualify by petition. The purpose of this proposed amendment is to provide for a uniform qualification procedure by removing the petition method of qualification. I would like to note that because an indigency waiver remains in place to ensure equal access for all potential candidates, this proposed amendment would not have a disproportionate impact upon indigent residents in the town. In other words, residents who have a demonstrated financial need would still be able to qualify without paying the $100 qualifying fee. The fifth proposed amendment deletes a charter provision that currently allows for conflicting amendments to appear on the same ballot for referendum. From a legal and practical perspective, the placement of conflicting amendments on the ballot would likely result in considerable voter confusion. And if adopted, conflicting amendments re may render the charter extremely difficult to conrue and apply, potentially leading to inconsistent or contradictory results. The intent of this proposed amendment is to eliminate confusion among voters and ensure clarity in the results of future charter referenda. The sixth and final proposed amendment makes grammatical and wording corrections to various provisions. found

throughout the charter. The intent of this proposed amendment is to keep the charter consistent and accurate, but not to make any substantive changes as to what the charter requires in any given instance. As you can see from its first meeting, the CRC took its job seriously and undertook the task of charter review with energy and enthusiasm. The proposed amendments are the culmination of months of considering data and deliberating. And I would like to thank the committee members and I see a few in our audience tonight for their time and their dedication to this process. If you have any questions about the proposed amendments, I would be happy to answer them. Okay. Thank you, Stephanie. There are a couple members from the uh charter review committee. If you guys could just stand up. Let's just Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Would Would you like to say a few things at all?

Come on up. You can yell at me later. Well, number one, I want to thank our county, our town attorney, um, Stephanie and Wade for their ardent support of the process with us and allowing us to have the resources to have the Florida League of Cities to come in, explain us the process, getting data from the supervisor of elections, and just to thank all of the members of the committee for the time commitment and providing and lending support towards each other as we moved and um endeavored through this process. Thank you, Bert. Anything?

Yeah, I would like to echo the uh the attorneys were amazing in this. Um she summarized it and I'm like, yeah, that's kind of what I said. So, um, the city staff, you guys were, you know, on top of your games and very responsive to sometimes our kind of outrageous requests, but everything was done in a way that was professional and, uh, we appreciate it to our chair. Um, she stepped up and was very focused on the task and and was very professional throughout the entire process. And I think the fellow members brought we brought some good discussion. Um, some of it was, uh, not heated, but very, you know, intense. And I think at the end of the day, we all came together and agreed that this was the best uh course for the uh the town. And I think lastly, I'd like to tell the people that haven't thought about getting involved. Um as dry as the subject matter was, um we actually had a lot of fun doing it and I encourage people to get involved. Uh, in fact, one of the meetings kind of came up when my Florida Gators got selected to go to the Final Four in San Antonio, and I called in with my orange and blue hair on and participated in a two-hour conference call. So, and we went on to win the game. So, that was awesome. But, uh, seriously, uh, process was was, uh, very well done. I didn't know what to expect walking in. Um, and I think at the end of the day, the town's going to be better for it.

Right. Well, thank both of you guys. Okay. Um, does anyone here at the table have any questions? Got a couple, but go ahead.

Yeah, I just wanted to echo thank you to the committee and our legal council and town staff for all your hard work. Um, I had the chance to watch a couple of the meetings online and I was thrilled to see the the participation and you know, we say it time and time again that you know, and I appreciate you saying it that um, you know, we we need more people in our town to get involved in these opportunities with the town. Um, I highly encourage it. Who knows, you could become a commissioner one day. Um, but thank you again. I'm really pleased with the changes. I feel like they're going to really streamline a lot of our processes and again help reduce some costs. Not having to run runoff elections and things like that are things that, you know, as a small town, it's just very expensive for us to do. So, it's good to have um an alternative path that we can approve. Um, one of the things that that I kind of focused in on and got some clarification on earlier, um, was the procedures for filling town vacancies, of which I'm a benefactor of, but um, I was a little concerned with the 90 days, but again, the it's up to 90 days. So, as commi the commission obviously doing that in a timely manner, but I will also agree that 30 days is too quick. we we really were challenged the last two years and having to do those things in 30 days. So again, thank you to the the committee and everyone who participated in that. I think it looks it all looks,

Commissioner. Next,

I want I want to say thank you to all of you guys that worked on it. All the absent team who's not here. I know just two of you, but all five of you guys work very hard on it. And I know what you guys went through because I had to go through it myself for three years when we had to overhaul this uh charter review. So the charter review committee, you guys did an extraordinary job, professional job. I know it's not an easy task. You guys put a lot of hours and volunteer time. It's not just the six six times you guys show up. You have to do a lot of leg work, a lot of homework, and you know, chew on whatever you guys study and agenda coming up. whatever you guys are talking about the next week or next month, you guys are studying it and the attorneys, the staff, you guys did an awesome job. I know that um overall uh we have to do this again in 10 more years. Every 10 years we have to be doing this. Um but I know that the next time I believe it's going to be a lot easier task because you guys have pretty much cleaned up all nine very well. So it's going to be easier next time. And uh thank you so much for um putting your time into it. You guys did a great job.

Awesome. Thanks. Just real quick, I'm we're not being redundant. Um as it was stated, you know, this was this is dry dry reading. So, you know, um just thank you to the committee and and I'm glad that you had a team approach. You had the citizens, you had the Florida League of Cities, you had our attorney. It just feels good when you get all the resources from different places to come together to make us a lot better. So, I just want to say thank you and thank you that you guys were able to work well together. Thank you so much.

And just the mayor, thank you. Everyone has given you all the accolades to make your heads huge at this point. So, um we'll just blow it off probably and Shane will finish it. Uh you guys did an excellent job. Everything we went through to get here. Um I I think every one of these things were stuff that probably needed. Um, the only question I have as I read through it was when it comes onto the voting thing, it still makes it to though if we have to zoom into the meeting that won't count as a vote. It it does not affect the remote participation rules. Correct.

Can you elaborate on that remote? You're saying that you it does count for a vote or does not count a vote? You just at least maybe you want to go over what the procedures currently are. So, you can only have electronic participation. If you have a physical quorum in the room first, um once you have a physical quorum in the room, then you can have electronic participation. So, that's where she's saying you're going to have to have the three in the room at least. But if one had to recuse themsel for some reason, that that virtual one could count, right? So, it can again for for that purpose. Yes, there is a change that was our existing

this this proposed amendment would not affect a commissioner's ability to remotely participate when we have a quorum of three commissioners in the room. Um and so that commissioner would still be able to vote on matters that that he or she would have otherwise been able to vote for. Is that does that answer your long as we have the full quorum present precisely? Yes. Learn something about the past as well as the future. There you go. Only been doing this two years.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh just a couple of questions, Stephanie, for me on question one. Um and I'm sure maybe a little research on this or or just tell any municipalities do do they do some of them have the special elections go ahead if they have to fill a seat or is it always they will appoint someone or is it just depends on that community? It it varies largely community by community. Um, sitting here, I wouldn't be able to tell you, you know, what what most cities do or or even what municipalities around the same size as Oakland do. Um, but I can say that special elections would would be a common way to fill a vacancy if if an appointment is not made within the required time.

And and I and I agree. I think 30 days was really it's really tough to to to to fill that. um yours are very tied and and I do like uh you know 30 days in the old charter it said you have 30 days to fill it or else the governor would appoint a a person to take the seat and I'm sure the governor's got more important things to worry about than filling a seat um here in town. Um, so I'm glad we you you've struck that out where you make it 90 days and um if the vacancy seat is not filled by them, then the town commission and sit and set up a special election. Yes.

91 on the 91st day, we could we could get together and we could say, make sure I'm just understanding it right. We get together and say we want to hold a special election for that seat. Uh, and then date certain. Yes, precisely. And so there would be a whole process after that of determining the timelines for the special election, when the election would actually take place, when the qualifying dates are, and we would sort of retroactively engineer that process.

Right. Okay. And then the other one was um I had was a charter amendment um revising town commission voting thresholds. And we just talked a little bit about the virtual uh call-in and stuff like that. Um there is still the if there's an important issue that came up that you felt or a person on the uh table felt that hey I think we should table this and wait for everyone to be available or in the room that's still available to us to do that.

Absolutely. Yes. in order to have the item approved where you have two commissioners either abstaining or um absent then it would require all three commissioners to agree and approve that item. And so if one commissioner didn't think that it was appropriate to approve that item with only three commissioners at the table, that commissioner could simply decline to vote yes on the item and and the item would not pass. Okay, great. I it just there's some issues I think that are probably more important that require everyone here than approving alcohol at a state of town address. Yes.

So yeah. Um yeah, that's all I had on this. Um we'll open it up to the audience. Does anybody in the audience have any questions or concerns or or comments about the upcoming charter review that will be on your ballot in March? No. Okay. Uh we'll bring it back. Do we need to do anything? Do we need to uh approve this one? Yes. For the first reading and then come back again second time. Second. Yes. It will be back before you in two weeks. Okay. Motion. Anyone? Okay. I'll make Sorry. Sorry. Um I'll make a motion to approve the first reading of ordinance 2025-07 as presented. Okay. Second. I'll second it. All in favor?

I.

I. All right. That's down. Okay. So, moving on to public forum uh tonight and this is where um if you have anything uh that is not on the agenda or anything you want to talk about uh we ask that you keep it to three minutes. Um anyone any takers tonight? Yeah. Um U Dr. You go. Sorry. I shared a poster. Um, it's upfront and uh it's about brown fields. How many people know what a brown field is? Two pe four people. Five people. Um, a brown field is gunky stuff. Good definition, Mike. Um when you have soil which all underneath us of soil um and people pour stuff in it that's not supposed to be in it. That is pesticides, oil, transmission fluid, any of those things. And they pour a lot of stuff in it. DDT,

chlorodane, all of those things that are poisonous to us. It seeps into the water below it and then it gets into the watershed, the waterways. Then it gets into the aquifer. And what does the aquafer provide us? All of our drinking water. And then it has to be filtered by public's works and then go into our sinks. ice cubes and into our bathtubs. And if you have a personal well at home, it doesn't get filtered like that. The DDT, the chloridane, the transmission fluid is not getting filtered like that when it comes right up out of the aquifer. So the idea of this brownfield meeting that I'm doing is not for the policy wonks, not for these guys. Well, it is they can come. We want them to come. This is to let the residents, the property owners, the realators, etc. to come and find out how they can take their empty uh laundromat, dry cleaner, empty gas station, empty nursery that they can't sell because no one wants it because they don't know how to get the federal million dollar federal grant to clean the dirt out, haul it away, and incinerate it and put new clean dirt down where their nursery was or the gas station was. And we there are federal grants just sitting there. So we have all these nurseries with dumped pesticides

and all these gas stations sitting here with leaky tanks that are not being sold because of this. So, this is for anybody who knows that or wants to buy a piece of property and rebuild and fill in empty places and then they get tax credits so they can not pay property taxes for a while. Sounds like a plan. 29.

Thank you. Thank you for your Kirk guys, 49 East Tension Avenue. Um, for many of you guys know, I'm a retired Navy officer, spent 25 years serving my country. Uh, about nine years ago, I learned that we have 22 veterans who take their lives every day due to post-traumatic stress. We've lost more veterans since 911, about 160,000, than we have in the Korean War and Vietnam War combined, which we lost about 100,000. So, we have created an organization called Challenge 22. It's a nonprofit. Uh we've been doing it part-time for the last nine years, but this year we've decided to go uh and try to take it nationally. Um so my wife and I have committed to the next two years we're going to volunteer as the executive director for this organization um and try to take an organization that's been doing amazing work here in West County and and take it nationwide. But we are hosting our 9th annual Challenge 22 walk on Saturday, November 15th in Winter Garden. Uh our goal this year, it's a free event. Uh it starts at check-in is at 9:00, event starts at 10. Uh we do a 2.2 mile walk and honor the 22 veterans that pass every day. And we're trying to get 2200 people to come out and show their support for veterans. Uh there's a lot of people will come up to me when I wear the hat to say thank you for your service. Well, this is your opportunity to say thank you to the veterans where you come out and you can serve those who served you. So if you're interested, I've got a card here that kind of gives you some information about it. Um, again, we we hope to uh in our in our seven years of existence, we've raised over $700,000 and have worked with more than 10,000 first responders and veterans, family members, and active duty. Have not had a single reported suicide amongst that group. We feel what we're doing is working. Um, but we want to become a 10 million dollar organization where we're doing this where there is no veteran or first responder feels that they're no longer worthy. They would be better off the world was without them. So, it's through the support of the community that we're going to get this done. So, I

appreciate your time and I look forward to seeing you guys out there on Saturday, November 5. Thank you, Kurt. Thank you, Kurt. If you guys haven't done this before, I've done that walk with them over there in Winter Garden. I think it's a Yeah, I've done that walk with them and it's a it's a really good walk. I mean, it's walking with the guys there and walking talk and hearing the story. So, it's not just a boring 2, you know, two-mile walk. It's a walk that you're hearing stories and people bringing up close loved ones who've tooken their lives. So, we support that challenge 22 and hope everyone else considers going there.

Thank you. Thank you again, Kurt. Thank you. Okay, anyone else? Okay, we'll close the public uh forum and we'll move to the town manager and department reports. Okay, I just have a few things. Um, Music Under the Oaks was a great event on Saturday with about 600 attendees. So, I wanted to say a big thank you to all the staff involved. Um, Megan Montgomery, this was her first real big event that she led and she did a great job. Um, but it doesn't just it's not one person. It takes a village to put on our events. Um, as you all know, public works, police department, all have staff there, um, working extra time to make sure these events go off smoothly. So, um, it was all hands- on deck, but it was a great event. And we're looking to possibly bring back the same group next year um, to do a different set list. So, they were they were really good. They were pretty low maintenance, so um, we're looking at bringing them back already. Um, I put out a press release from um, the farmers market on the table. There's going to be some upcoming events, spec special events for the holidays. So, there's going to be a trick-or- treat trail um, October 23rd. Um, and a few others that are listed. I I think I'm double checking, but I think the December 13th date might be wrong. So, so stay tuned for that one. Um, I think that should be on the normal um, second Thursday of the month and not the 13th, but I'm I'm verifying that. Um, so just keep an eye out on Facebook for that one. Um, and then as the mayor mentioned in his proclamation, Florida City Government Week is next week. Um, we will be having the state of the town on the 22nd. Everybody's invited to attend and come and see what we've been

up to this past year and kind of our goals for the next fiscal year. Um, so we're looking forward to that as part of Florida City Government Week and we'll be doing some special posts um for that week as well. And then Pumpkin Glow is at the Nature Preserve on October 24th and 25th. So it's over two nights. So um we're going to the the town's going to have a pumpkin globe pumpkin patch and we're going to have an internal competition between our departments. So, we'll be putting the pumpkins that are carved on Facebook for voting um to see if we can get some some good pumpkins um between watch the police department.

Watch me close. Um that is it. That's all I have. But um Kathy might have something to add. Kathy, do you have anything to add? No, I don't believe so. Okay. Well put. Yeah. Mike and John, what you guys got going on?

So, uh, you may recall at the last meeting I had mentioned that we were on the cusp of getting a $100,000 grant. Two days later, we were notified that we did get that grant. Um it's through the healthy West Orange Trail connection and it will assist us in the um construction of the Sadler Trail uh to the West Orange Trail. So that was good news. Yes, that's it. Great. Great. John, you got anything? Nothing.

All right. Thank you, Mike. John, Chief, anything from you today? Uh November 22nd is the third 5K with the 50 to continue to generate funds for community policing projects. And uh I'm sure that you will be there. I expect to see you there. And representatives from the police department will absolutely be at this as well. The uh the project 22. I just think it's funny that they allow an hour for me to walk two miles. That's not going to happen. Uh but uh aside from that, we uh we did secure that grant for the side by side. Thankfully, we've been storm free. It's not done yet. It set the outfitters being being completed, lights, sirens, everything. Every the whole thing was paid by the federal government under a homeland security grant. So, it cost the city or the town zero dollars, the $35,000 project. We should be taking delivery of that within the next week.

You'll be patrolling the town with it. Really? Oh, wow. My money's on. He'll still be All right. Uh, Commissioner Keller, anything?

I just uh want to echo what Elisa already said. Music under the oaks was such a great fun night. Um, it's my first Music Under the Oaks and and it was just amazing. Um, I can't say enough about how great of an event it was. I do want to also thank the town staff. I stopped by and visited with Megan and Lynn and Stephanie earlier since they weren't going to be here and just thank them and public works and PD. We're so fortunate to have such an amazing staff to pull these events together. Um, I was speaking with one of the residents while I was waiting in line for a food or an adult beverage or whatever it was. There was so many good things that night. Um, and I said, you know, do you live in Oakland? And he said, yes, he actually lives in John's Landing. And he and his wife were on a date night, but they had come to the block party and brought their daughter. And um and he even said to me that, you know, the events in another town have just gotten so big that they just really prefer coming to the town events here in Oakland. And I I just like I mean, I was in awe at the block party and then at Music Under the Oaks. To me, these type of events, especially when they're our local Oaklanders that are attending, are just really what makes our town so special and unique. and I'm just really glad that we're able to do them and that we have such a great staff to pull them together. So, thank you to everyone involved.

Commissioner Mc Yes. Okay. Think I got a couple of bullet points um since our last meeting. I didn't know it was that big of a gap until I left. So on 9:26 um we we always hear me talking about Florida League of Cities and um this is the um special committees um meeting cycles. So September there's one this coming Friday and the last one is in December and you hear me talk about the policy committees and how the the Florida League of Cities comes up with their priorities. So, I'm on the development code and compliance redevelopment committee and that also includes impact fees and that's one of the topics and I Stephanie and I spoke about it today and I know you know we're talking about our impact fees here so that was covered in the that policy committee on 926 and just you know just want to be brief I know Stephanie's on top of it she's already mentioned it but you know we talked about the extraordinary circumstances about what we want to do as far as you know making some some adjustments to our use of impact fees, but the state is not looking at it in a in a nice way. So I I I know what I we we all know what our needs are, but just want to bring that, you know, to our attention that even though that was in the the literature or in the um information, you know, extraordinary circumstances are under attack and and spoke and when, you know, Stephie and I spoke briefly about it today, you know, the town um attorney is looking at it to, you know, keep us safe. Of course, we know what we want to do or how we want to do it, but we do understand the state may have a different look or lens on it. So, but that's part of the policy committee and then the next meeting is coming up on this coming Friday. I won't be here, but I'm going to call into it. That same night, um I flew to DC. Um there was a correction congressional black caucus meeting, but the reason I flew there was because I've been trying to get with Maxwell Frost. Now, of course, Maxwell Frost is not our

congressman. Daniel Webster is our congressman. Dane Webster is a great person. He loves the country, loves the Constitution, but Dane Webster is not a a congressman on the federal level that really um supports appropriation. So, I've been trying to get an audience with Congressman Frost um his office. I know his his um one of his aids, Jason Henry, and we just talked about grants. We talked about federal grants for sewer. Years ago, when Congressman Val Demons was a congressperson, she got the town of Oakland $600,000 for their sewer system. So, I just wanted to talk to him uh about how we can get some of those federal dollars. Now, he can't do anything for us, but what he can do is guide us to where we can get those funds. With that same conversation this past weekend, I talked to Mike Park and I said, "Hey, I spoke to the to the congressman office. They're going to give us some access to some resources on how we could get some federal grants. I know we're doing something on the state level, but we really need to leverage what's going on federal level." So talking to their office came back and spoke to Mike and say hey once we get that connection uh we'll definitely see how we can pull those triggers just to again they just going to guide us on how to grab grab those dollars. According to their office uh Congressman Frost office do not say anything now or you know we can't talk about anything now because the country of course um it's a shutdown. He said but soon as the shutdown is over we're going to um um reactivate those conversations. And so and I and I know we got some transitions, we got some things that we're trying to do. Of course, we know we're doing all we can for the sewer, but there are other dollars I wanted to um you know pursue with that. Mount Zion, the next thing Mount Zion Church, not me, but Mount Zion Ma, the lay organization, they have a committee where they do different um updates and different um programs. and they asked me to come in to talk to their well they they did an invite to a lot of church all the churches in West Orange County.

So they asked me to come in now back in let me give you back in 21 I did a talk right here uh through the tri county league of cities about how laws are created about local state relationships hot topics as it relates to the state laws and then really just trying to just like we was mentioning earlier getting the civic getting the citizens involved in politics and so I did that same talk to Mount Zion was was it was people from Claremont from Orlando and of course from Oakland so I did that same talk on Saturday for Mount Zion Church uh for their organization and we you know we did the same thing. We talked about laws on the state level, local level. We talked about um uh things in the town of Oakland, things also in different areas. We also talked about the property taxes which the Florida League of Cities is asking us as elected to really get out there and get the citizens involved. And then um a couple of things came out. But I had some citizens talk um me about some of the things that's going on in the area as far as sewer. Gave me some great news as far as what we're trying to do to bring more sewer to the internal part of of the town. U Mike Parker gave me some gave me some information on that. Talked about one of the citizens that has some issues. So it was just good to go over there based on their need and just talk to them. Uh and also it's right in line what we talked about now, Florida City Government Week. And then the last thing I want to say, I'm leaving tomorrow morning early to go to Tallahassee and I'm talking to James Harris. The the see session starts in January. The the the legislators are up there right now making policies right now. So they all they're already looking at budgets. They already looking at appropriations. I know the town uh the mayor uh at least we have already submitted our our request. But I'm going up there to uh to to to meet with some of the legislators along with James Harris. They already made, you know, the town has already done their due diligence and that's that's the part I like. You know, we're working as a team. The town has already put things

together, but I'm going up there on Wednesday on tomorrow and James and I are going to go meet with some of the legislators. Again, uh session is starts in January, but ideas and laws and and you know, all those bills, they are starting to be developed now. So, I'm going up there to to plant some seeds along with already has been planted with the with the town just to make sure that, you know, they see a face from the town of Oakland. And again, this was already created by the mayor and and also by staff. I'm just, you know, plugging in and trying to help as much as possible to ensure that we do all we can because of the session being starting in January. We have to show our face. We have to be present. So, I know I know it's a little long longwinded, but it's been a lot that has happened in the last two weeks and I just want to share a couple of those points and I thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Reynolds.

First of all, thank you so much, Commissioner McMillan, for everything you do for us. I had a lot of great feedback from the people that went to your event that you did the speech on and uh how much they learned. So, thank you so much. Um, Mike, the roundabout or at least the roundabout. So, the roundabout is beautiful. Acorn landscaping, pre-cast letters. We're supposed to have an event for us to go out there and take a picture and I don't know, argue, you know, post it on the newspaper to to show our new roundabout if we do it. Correct. But all of us go out there and represent with our same attire and stand out there. That would be nice.

What do you mean same attire?

Oh, other than the vice mayor with a Hawaiian shirt. Um, but I had a couple of residents come up to me saying that the acorn letters or the acorn color itself is a light yellow, not our standard uh, auburn bread or the colors that we have. And I know I talked to Mike Parker earlier. I just want to put it for the record for everybody to see. know is that the uh the artist designer took it upon himself to pick that color and none of us picked it or voted on it or if we knew we were under the impression it was going to be the town color. So I wanted to find out if you can address that somehow but it doesn't stay that way. And I went myself and I saw it and it looks like gold yellowish not our town color. Well, we can certainly address it. Um, just give us direction.

I mean, personally, I like the color. I think it's I would be afraid that if it was darker, you might it might lose something. I think the color it's to me it's kind of an orange color. To me, it looks like an acorn color. So, um, I just want to say that Joe Allerie, who did our style guide and picked our colors out, was the one that picked the colors for the acorn and the signage. Correct. Well, I just want to know if any of you guys want to see it. And I mean, okay, it's a commission, so if you

I don't have any interest in changing it. I think it would be a waste of money. I think it looks beautiful. I don't think we need to change it. And it would obviously there'd be a cost involved to change the color. So under the under the fiscal responsibility we have to our town and the fact that you know it was done by the person who's done our graphics for the the town. I just don't I don't think it's necess like I said I drive by it literally every day. I was excited. Oh it it's it's nice. It's beautiful. Yeah. But I just wish we had our logo signature color just like our street signs and our shirts. But it's okay. It's okay. why I bring it up.

I'm good with it. I like it. It offsets something. It's not It's good. It's fine for me. I mean, I don't I think, you know, you I've heard mixed people say, "Well, why did you do that? Why'd you put a sculpture in the middle? Why don't you put an oak tree there? Why don't you just You're not going to make everybody happy. It's just impossible to do that." But I personally, for myself, um I think it looks great. I think It's a neat little feature and I think once uh it it it's set in there then it will be one of those that will start showing up in pictures and start showing up everywhere. So

well and I would guess that it's not simply just going out there with a can of paint. It's powdercoated. So you'd have to take it back to the shop, have it painted. So it's I think it's a big undertaking and and again I I actually like this way it is. Sorry. So, I'm sorry. Sure. Oh, I'm done. That's all.

The only thing I would say on it was resident feedback. You get a majority or something thinking about it. Let's see where it goes. Okay. I've got just a few uh school items. Uh number one is Florida Department of Education has once again given the school uh school of excellence award, which I believe is the second year in a row that that we've gotten that. So that just shows the dedication of the principal, the staff, the teachers, and actually all the students. So that one heck of a an effort because that has all to do with grades. Congratulations to all of them. That carries forward to our um teacher of the year and support of the year. And I will read you uh the principal's uh uh note to us. Congratulations to our Orange Avenue uh charter school teacher and support staff of the year. Thrilled to announce that Miss Michelle Murphy has been named the teacher of the year and nurse Leah has been named support staff of the year for Oakland Aby Charter School. Miss Murphy's dedication, creativity, and passion for 15 make an incredible impact on the students every day. Nurse Leah's care, compassion, and commitment to the well-being of our students and staff helped make the school such a warm and supportive place to learn and grow. We are so grateful to their tremendous contributions to our to our school community and proud to celebrate all they do to make Orange Avenue Charter School shine. So, congratulations uh to them from all of us here on the table. Thank you. To say Oakland Avenue, what did I say? I started thinking about that. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, S.

Anything else? That's it. Oh, okay. Uh, no. For me, I'm uh I'm having a uh state of the town address per uh John on October 22nd at 6 o'clock. Hope you're going to be there, John. I'm doing it for you. Uh so, uh if you can come to that, be great. Uh we've got a lot of exciting things uh planned for that evening. So hope everybody can make that. Um other than that and alcohol, right? Apparently we all said, "Yeah, I'll buy everybody a drink." First round is on the mayor. First mayor is on me. There's going to be alcohol, no food. So

of all hearts and minds are satisfied. Let's adjourn. It is now 8:06 p.m. Thank you so much.