City Council - Regular Meeting

I just handed me these. Afterwards, after the pledge, you can take one and pass it.

Good evening. Our invocation will be offered by chaplain Stahlberger.

Good evening.

Excuse me. Then we will do the pledge allegiance.

Absolutely. Thank you. Heavenly father, we come to you now. Thank you for this time that we can all come together as a community with community affairs in mind. Thank you for the wisdom that you will impart to us. We invite you into this meeting now, and we thank you that you will grace us with your presence. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Amen.

It is now 4PM on Tuesday, 05/05/2026, and this meeting of the Ocala City Council is called to order. Clerk, please call the roll.

Mister Marciano? Here. Mister Musley?

Here.

Mister Dreyer? Here. Mister Here. Mr. Mansfield?

Here.

Mr. Bethea?

Here. We have one new employee, Dustin Tegritt. The clerk the clerk will provide the public notice for this evening's meeting.

The May 5 city council meeting was publicly noticed on 04/06/2026 on the city of Ocala's website. As a reminder, public comments and presentations are limited to three minutes unless authorized to extend beyond that time by the council president, a majority of council. All materials for the mayor and city council must be given the attendance staff for distribution. Prior to speaking at the podium, please state your name and address for the record and to maintain order, speakers must be recognized by the council president. Please silence your cell phones and all electronic devices for the duration of this meeting. Thank you.

Agenda item four four a is a presentation of the professional municipal clerk week proclamation to the city of Ocala clerk's office staff.

Yeah. Yes. I have the whole entire staff.

Alright. Professional municipal clerk's week. Whereas in 1969, the in International Institute of Municipal Clerks initiated and endorsed by all of its members throughout The United States, Canada, and 15 other countries, the week of Professional Municipal Clerks Week. This year, we celebrate the fifty seventh annual Professional Municipal Clerks Week, whereas the office of professional municipal clerk is a time to celebrate and honor the vital part of local government that exists throughout the world. The Office of Professional Municipal Clerk is the oldest among public servants, whereas the Professional Municipal Clerk provides the expert link between citizens, the local governing bodies, and agencies of government and other levels.

Whereas, the professional municipal clerk have pledged to be ever mindful of their neutrality and partiality, rendering equal service to all. Whereas professional municipal clerks continually strive to improve the administration of the affairs of the office of municipal clerk through their participation in education programs, seminars, workshops, annual meetings of their state, county, and international professional organizations. Whereas, it is most appropriate that we recognize the accomplishments of the office of municipal clerks. Now therefore, I, Ben Marciano, by the virtue of authority vested in me as the mayor of the municipal of Ocala, hereby proclaim May 2026 as professional municipal clerk's weeks. In witness, whereof, I here onto set my hand and cause the seal of the official seal of Municipal of Ocala, Florida to be affixed this first day, May 2026.

And I just want to say I appreciate you ladies and all the work that you do for us. We are so grateful for you. Would any of you like to say a few words?

Thank you for the recognition and counseling and mayor. I just want to take this time to publicly thank my incredible staff. I have one that don't she doesn't do good with this, but Damaris is the face behind the emails our staff receives of reminders about those wonderful public records requests we all like to get. Pam is the mastermind behind this whole agenda process of putting this. She takes these, you know, total chaos and last minute make it into something beautiful.

How did you get the Paige is that sweet beautiful voice that a lot of our boards and commissions applicants, they that's the first person they meet when you come into office. And then Tracy, Tracy is the one that's gonna make sure our records, our documents get into OnBase and the mail will be delivered on time. No, seriously, just want to thank each one of you ladies. I really appreciate what you do. That's not all they do, but just a little bit. And I really appreciate everything you do.

Thank you.

Item 4B is the presentation of drinking water week proclamation to Jennifer Capworth, lead operator and Sean Lanier, engineering and water resource director. Each. Alright,

proclamation for Drink and Water Week. Whereas water is our most valuable natural resource, whereas drinking water serves as a vital role in daily life, serving as an essential purpose to health, hydration and the

we the quality of enjoy.

Hard work performed by the entire water sector, designing capital, projects, operators ensure the safety of quality of drinking water or a member of a pipe crew is maintaining the infrastructure communities rely on to transport high quality drinking water from its source to consumers. Whereas recent global events have shown a light on the importance of drinking water for health hydration and hygiene needs. I might need to repeat that one to chief Balkan. Whereas, we are stewards of water infrastructure upon which current and future generations depend. Whereas the citizens of the of the city are called upon to protect our source waters from pollution, practice water conservation, and get involved themselves with it.

Now therefore, Ivan Marciano by the virtue of authority vested in me as the mayor of the city of Ocala, Florida, do hereby proclaim May third through the ninth as twenty twenty six drinking water week. In witness whereof I here onto set my hand and cause this official seal of the city of Ocala, Florida to be affixed this May 2026. Thank you so much for doing this. Would you like to say a few words?

Sure. Awesome. I

would like to thank you on the behalf of all the operators that work at the water treatment plant. It is our honor to serve the city and the citizens that live here. We love what we do and we enjoy having tours at the plant. So come on by and we'll be happy to let you see what we do.

Four c is a presentation of the American Wetlands Month proclamation to Sean Lanier and Matthew Stanley, water resource conservation supervisor.

Good to see you again. Alright. Proclamation for American Wetlands Month. Whereas wetlands are critical for protecting the quality of groundwater, springs, lakes, rivers surrounding the city of Ocala, in addition to sustaining the region's ecosystem and maintaining flood control. Whereas wetlands are essential habitats for wildlife, providing a home for more than one third of The US federally threatened and endangered species and energy rich resources necessary for migrating birds.

Whereas wetlands are popular recreation spaces that encourage hiking, bird watching, photography, which draws visitors and contribute to the local economy, whereas the Ocala Wetland Recharge Park was developed to recharge the Upper Floridian aquifer, reduce groundwater nutrient levels, mitigate flooding by providing storm water storage, create a habitat for Florida wildlife, and provide residents with accessible traits trails for recreation and education. Whereas the Ocala Wetland Recharge Park promotes public awareness of how wetland systems protect our springs by naturally filtering water, recharging the Upper Floridian aquifer and providing wildlife habitat and educational opportunities for our community. Whereas the residents of the city of Ocala are called upon to help protect the wetlands and appreciate the role the wetlands play in contributing to the city's water resources, wildlife, and local economy. Now therefore, I, Ben Marciano, by the virtue of authority vested in me as the mayor of the city of Ocala, Florida, hereby proclaim May 2026 as American Wetlands Month. In witness whereof, I hereunt you set my hand and cause the seal of the City of Ocala, Florida to be affixed this May 2026.

Austin, would you like to say a few words? Sure. Thank

you. Thank you, mayor Marciano. Thank you, council, senior leadership as well. I feel very blessed to be a steward of the Ocala Wetland Recharge Park. We filter 2,500,000 gallons per day that we're recharging to the aquifer. It's a great sustainable wonderful park. Come out this Saturday, we've got a Wetland Appreciation Day event from ten to noon and we'd love to see you there.

Awesome. Great job. Thank you for what you do.

All right. Item 4D is a presentation of the Water Reuse Week proclamation to William Davis, lead operator, Jeffer Greaves, lead operator, and Sean Lanier.

Right. Proclamation for water reuse week. Whereas safe and clean, sustainable water resources are essential to Florida's environment, economy, citizens, and visitors. Whereas, although Florida's water supplies are finite, the state's population and need for water resources continue to increase, whereas water reuse provides a mean for conserving and augmenting Florida's precious water resources and is a key to the state's sustainable water future. Whereas Florida has established the encouragement and promotion of water reuse as a state objectives in chapter three seventy three and four zero three Florida statues.

Whereas the City Of Ocala produces six and a half million gallons of reuse water a day for a beneficial purpose, including irrigation of golf courses, residential lots, municipal parks, and supplying Ocala Wetland Recharge Park. Whereas the City Of Ocala has joined the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the St. Johns River Water Management District in encouraging and promoting water reuse and conservation. Whereas the City Of Ocala has implemented innovative efforts in its water reuse program and encourages efficient and effective use of reclaimed water. Now therefore, I, Ben Marciano, by the virtue of authority vested in me as the mayor of the city of Ocala, Florida, do hereby proclaim May 18 through the twenty four twenty twenty six as water reuse week.

In witness whereof here I here onto set my hand and cause the seal of official city of Ocala, Florida to be affixed this May 2026. Awesome. Anyone like to say a

few words?

Yeah he's making me. Okay. I just want to say thank you to the mayor. Thank you to city council. We're very proud of what we do. We're we think it's a privilege to be able to serve the city to serve the citizens. We very much encourage tours. We would love to show you what we do.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Four E is a presentation of the motorcycle safety awareness month proclamation to a vet abate of Florida Inc. Forest Chapter of Marion County. President Greg Smales.

Well, thank you for being here. It's an important cause.

I will thank you for this. Of course.

Absolutely. Alright. Proclamation for motorcycle safety awareness month. Whereas motorcycle riding is a popular form of recreation and transportation for thousands of people in Ocala, Marion County and Florida's mild climate and scenic roadways make motorcycle riding an enjoyable experience throughout the year. Whereas Ocala's growing population, seasonal residents and travelers using Marion County roadways make motorcycle safety an important issue for all drivers, and safe operation of motorcycle requires the use of special skills developed through a combination of training and experience, the use of good judgment and a thorough knowledge of traffic laws licensing requirements.

Whereas, motorcycling can be an enjoyable activity when safely, and it is paramount consideration of all the regulations being observed. Whereas, there were there were 671,694 motorcycles registered in Florida with 15,696 in Marion County as of 11/01/2025. Whereas to prevent injuries and deaths on roadways, it is important for motorcyclists motorists efforts to share the roadway and ensure safety for everyone, whereas motorcycle organizations, clubs, dealerships, groups, and highway safety officials are encouraged to join the Florida Rider Motorcycle Safety Program of Florida and all motorcyclists in active actively promoting a safe operation, increased rider training and improved licensing agreements and motorist awareness, whereas the Motorcycle Safety Foundation has designated the month of May as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month and is recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Governor of the State of Florida to encourage other motor vehicle operators to be cautious and observe these vulnerable road users. Now therefore, I've been Marciano by the virtue of authority vested in me as the mayor of the city of Ocala, Florida, do hereby proclaim May 2026 as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. In witness whereof, I here on to set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Ocala, Florida to be affixed this first day.

So I just want to say thank you for this. I would say a lot of our fatalities that we experience in our community are from motorcycle deaths. I lost a close friend. And if you're not cognizant, it is hard to see motorcycles. You have to be aware. So thank you for bringing this awareness to the community.

Yeah. Motorcycles are much smaller than cars, and most people look for cars and trucks before they, get on the road or making turns, and they're not looking for motorcycles. You guys ever play punch buggy, You know, the sea of Volkswagen Beetle? Well, try doing it with motorcycles, and then you'll see them if you're looking for them. Yeah. May is motorcycle safety awareness. It's nationwide. Florida, we we drive we get to ride the privilege of riding motorcycles year round, but not so much for our northern counterparts. But anyway, look twice, save a life, and it may be someone you know. Thank you.

Very grateful for you, sir. Hold that

We have no presentations. Item six is our consent agenda. I'd like

to pull six q, sir, just for discussion.

Okay.

Six q is pulled. Are there any items six q have been pulled other than that? Hearing none, I will accept a motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved.

Second.

Are there any comments from the public on this matter? Call the roll.

Mr. Musley?

Aye.

Miss Dreyer? Aye. Mister Hilty? Aye. Mister Mansfield?

Aye.

Mister Buffet?

Aye.

Mister president, I'd like to ask Sean to come up to discuss item 6Q. Yes, sir. Item 6Q is 8th Avenue. It's a project that we've had on the books for a long time. This is for design. It was designed probably in 2017 or 2018 initially. It had and it's gone through several machinations. Initially it had, I think, one roundabout on it in a conceptual design. When we went to final design of it, it had four on it. And there may be some discussion that we want to have at the staff level to discuss.

First of all, the cost of the improvement. Sean will give you the detail. We have some DOT money, some CRA money and then some money that comes from the engineering funds, the typical engineering funds trip, the penny sales tax.

So

there may be some questions on how we'd like to see that design. We'll have Sean do a quick overview and then if you have any discussion, we'll be happy to entertain it.

You want me to go with the presentation?

Yeah. Okay.

Agenda item supports the city's strategic goals, operational excellence and quality of place. Kimberly Horn completed the design for Northeast 8th Avenue Roadway Improvement Project in 2022, projects federally funded through the FDOT's lap program for fiscal year twenty six-twenty seven. And FDOT is requesting that the project be updated to meet current standards and ensure compliance with federal requirements. That's what this agenda item is to approve the task recorder to do that. Staff recommends approval. I'm here to answer any questions. If you'd like me to go through an overview of the project, I'd be happy to do that.

Can we just ask some questions? Sure. I remember when we approved this, how did we get to four roundabouts? You're talking about a stretch of road that is at most a mile, right? Maybe a mile and a tenth?

Yes,

sir. I mean, four roundabouts sounds excessive. That's point one. I know non city tax money mostly is paying for this, but still it's taxpayers from somewhere, of which, last time I checked, most of us up here paid into the federal government taxes. It just seems like it's overkill. I don't mind improving the roadway to an extent, okay? But I mean, four roundabouts sounds excessive.

You also have a firehouse there that they're going to have to navigate if they're heading in that direction.

Yes, sir. That was when we did the design, we went through met with fire, went through it with them. And so the actual final design meets all the requirements that they needed for navigating with the fire vehicles and everything and any emergency response. The reason for the roundabouts, two of them are replacing existing traffic signals. So you reduce the maintenance of having a traffic signal with the passive engineered intersection by way of a roundabout.

The other thing is it makes you have traffic calming, so you're not trying to make the light because you're going to hit a roundabout. So I think it's like 3rd Street has an issue with people on 3rd Street trying to catch the light, and so they'll come flying across through there. So that's one issue that's addressed by roundabouts. The other two roundabouts, one, we don't have an existing road there and that's for the entrance future entrance to the Tuscaloosa Park that we're going to create on and create sixth Street. And so that's the purpose of that roundabout was to provide smooth intersection there and access to the park.

And the other one is the existing 9th Street that's down there at the other end. That's where the roundabout was going be located. The roundabouts were going be done in conjunction with streetscape. So this street was widened in years past because at one time I think they wanted a North South Main Street to go cut right through the middle of town and that got shut down, but not after this portion of that street had been widened. So we did a striping plan basically to re stripe it, narrow it down, create the stuff that we did, and that's the cheap version.

And then the idea was to come back with the nice streetscape where we would put trees and and, you know, the small trees and and landscaping, I should say, in in the, medians and some medium improvements and put the the hardscape in with that and then the roundabouts. So that was that was the reasoning behind the design. And we can reduce the roundabout but it's it's there for the traffic calming. You do have speeding issues there now on 8th Avenue. And so again roundabouts would check that.

And the project was born out of Midtown plan? Yes. It was multiple reasons. Number one, speeding on that intersection. There also there was no warrant for the number of lanes that we had. It warranted only a two lane. The third was it seemed together the park and the neighborhoods and made it better seemed across that road which had divided. There was a lot of disinvestment or perceived disinvestment at least in the first two layers of the neighbourhood East of North East 8th Avenue. So it brings that neighbourhood all back together. This was the hard plan.

We had always intended to do this plan and intended to do it this year. I believe we've always said we would do it in budget year.

It's been funded for the twenty seven fiscal year for, I think we've known about it for three or four years.

So would so the fire station is there. Isn't there a police substation in there?

Yes.

Four roundabouts within a quarter of a mile.

Within a it's a little longer than that, but yeah.

Okay. Okay. Little bit. A foot or two longer than that. I'm I'm I'm I'm all about safety. Don't don't misinterpret. Understand. But I I just think in that narrow strip of road, you got four roundabouts. That road get busy sometime. And I can see us thinking that that's going to be an answer all, but it just appear to be a little excessive to

me. Well,

it's two and two. So the fire station's in the middle of the four roundabouts. So you have two going to the North, you have two going to the South, I would say. The road is too big, so something has to be done on that road because there are significant amount of crashes. Something happens from the firehouse going south, there's a slight lift, like there's a hill in the road, and 2nd Street, that light is not something that people seem to see.

I don't know why, but there's a lot of crashes at that intersection, so something has to be happened to slow people down. That whole quadrant in there teeters, like real estate wise, investment wise, rehabilitation wise, because it is a CRA area, and so we've invested through the East Ocala CRA portion of money into rehabilitation of historic structures, reconstruction of new houses there, and this just kind of ties it all together so that the people living on the East Side Of 8th can safely cross the road. Right now they cannot. It's like if people don't want to cross 40, they definitely don't want to cross this road because this is worse. People are speeding down this road.

So it's kind of a no brainer. Mean it really always been a plan.

I think the last part of that statement is absolutely right because of the distance between third and fourteenth. You travel without a light, you you travel know, a long distance without a light through that segment, so you have the ability to go relatively fast.

I've taken correspondence from people on that north section who've said, hey, do you have plans to put a light in here?' because it's very hard for them to make a left hand turn to head south on 8th because there's a ton of traffic there. It's a major roadway, but for what we're trying to accomplish with cross connectivity between the East and the West Side, it just doesn't make sense.

So what I would like permission to just have staff do is look at the whole of that segment to make sure that think sixth we absolutely think we need ninth. Third, I think we need absolutely. But to look at second and ninth and analyse the need for those. 9th, because it breaks that distance, I think, again, it makes it easier to make that turn. 9th is a relatively busy street, and so some form of calming or control.

Is that at the water tower? Yes. Yeah, that's the one I've taken calls on.

And the Reilly? Yes. Okay. So we'll go back and we would request that you approve this, but understand that we'll go back and look at the design and come up with the best design.

I'm aware of the design because I've asked for it in response to that phone call that I've had. But I think next time having the link to the design on the agenda item would be helpful for reference.

Understood. Thank you. So

we're gonna vote on this and you are gonna alright. So is there any other comments from the audience? I think we've already did that. Any more comments from the council? Call the roll.

I need a motion.

I'll make a motion

to approve.

You just need a second.

Yeah. I'm waiting on him. There a second? Alright. No other comments? Call the roll.

Miss Dreyer? Aye. Mister Mansfield?

Aye.

Mister Hilty? No. Mister Musley?

Gonna sound odd after my comments, but I'll vote aye.

Mr. Pathe?

Aye.

Eight

is an introduction and first reading of ordinance twenty twenty six fifteen. Is there a member of the city council who will introduce this item?

I'll introduce.

Alright. The clerk will read the ordinance by Tyler. Okay.

Ordinance established in the Markenburg Ridge Community Development District pursuant to chapter one ninety Florida statutes providing for functions and powers of the district, providing for the initial board of supervisors of the district addressing correction of a scribner's error providing for severability in an effective date.

Thank you. Nine a is the adoption of resolution twenty twenty six-twenty four. Do I hear a motion to approve this item? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Growth Management Director Jim Schrohn is recognized for a presentation.

Thank you, council members, mayor. For the record, Jeff Schrohn, Growth Management. This one's been a long time coming. So we're here tonight to ask for your approval of the CAL Vision 2050. Since your last workshop, there have been just some minor edits, and I wanted to touch on those real quickly to start.

There was two changes to page 21 on action item 4.2. We expanded that language in that gateway section to include the reference to cultural heritage and natural resources just to expand some of that language. Action Item 4.3, we also expanded that to include connectivity language for north and south of State Road 40. That one deals with a down with a corridor master plan for State Road 40. So we wanted to emphasize the need for that connectivity north and south in downtown area.

Those were the comments we received since the workshop that were included in the recommendation from the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission also had one other change. They changed on Page 19, item 2.5. They added a high priority icon to the, sea frost to schools topic, which seems to be timely and appropriate. So planning commission recommended approval of five to o for those three changes. I was going to walk through a very brief outline on the plan the vision itself. If you want to forego that, I know you have a busy agenda. It's up to you.

Go ahead and do it.

Okay. Just real quickly, I just wanted to walk through just the overall format of the plan. Obviously, 2035, Vision 2035 remains a key foundation and a key continuing to use that document for moving into 2050. And so this, the first section of the document just explains how to use the document. The icons I just talked about kind of help you navigate what items are high priority, which ones are less of a priority, the State Road 40 items as well. So it just helps you navigate through that. We're a And to we're to a

we're

sense

lay the city out on how that air reform is envisioned for 2050. This is getting into the citywide initiatives. We had action items for each of the citywide initiatives. We had the four areas on that, Defining those initiatives and putting priorities to those, put other topics to those as well. Is one of the focus areas. We had four focus areas. We had East Ocala, the downtown area, West Ocala and the airport. I'm just showing you one. This is the West Ocala One. This, of course, is the map.

And here, you have the associated strategies for those focus areas as well. So again, just trying to drill down to that next level. This is probably the emphasis that we were taking from 2035 to put into 2050. And then just moving forward, obviously after this point, we'll move forward with implementing implementing these changes through the update to the comprehensive plan, which I'm expecting. We'll get that started, in the next few months. And, obviously, as I I think I'd already indicated to you all at one point or another, timing's good on that. We're required to do our evaluation, our appraisal report. Our year is coming up. We're supposed to submit our letter to the state in August. That gives us a year from August to get that completed.

So we have time, and the timing on this to incorporate the Vision 2050 is appropriate. With that, I would like to recognize Ali Palmer and the Kimmeling Orm team for helping us out as our consultant on this. Our planning staff spent a lot of hours and time and effort on this as well. And I think it's important to recognize all the city staff members because we did a lot of outreach and they were all very involved in the process as well, I appreciate that. And then we had our focus group on the side, which is our combination of citizens and other to help guide this process along as well.

So with that, we are asking for your approval. If there are some changes that you want, we can bring those back. I have happy to answer any questions you might have.

Is there any comments from the public? Comments from the council? Call the roll.

Mr. Musley?

Aye.

Mr. Mansfield?

Aye.

Ms. Dreyer? Aye. Ms. DeHolte? Aye. Mr. Bethe?

Aye. Thank you.

Items 9b through 9e are separate items, but they concern one project, and we will have a single staff presentation and comment period for all four of these items. To begin, we will set up all four items for approval. Item nine b is the adoption of ordinance twenty twenty six dash 12. Councilman Muslim Musli, who introduced this item is recognized for a motion.

Council president, I move that ordinance number 20, 26 dash 12 be adopted as provided by the charter of the city of Ocala, Florida, and based upon evidence presented, the city council will accept that adoption by sections on the second reading be waived. Is there a second?

Second.

Clerk Jacobs will read the ordinance by title.

An ordinance amended the City of Ocala, Florida comprehensive plan future land use map series as required in section one six three point three one six one through and including section one six three point three two four eight Florida statutes, deleting future land use policy 18.13 of the comprehensive plan relating to development conditions previously adopted by ordinance number fifty seven eleven, LUC zero five dash zero zero three zero for a 50.42 acre portion of property located in the 3,004 to 4,300 blocks of Southwest 43rd Court, parcel number 238000001, deleting future land use policy 18.24 of the comprehensive plan relating to development conditions previously adopted by ordinance number fifty seven sixty eight, l u c o seven zero seven dash zero zero three four for a 25.51 acre portion of property located in the 3,004 to 4,300 blocks of Southwest 43rd Court, parcel number 23812Dash001Dash00, providing direction to staff, repealing inconsistent and or conflicting provisions, providing for severability of ordinance provisions, providing for modifications arising from consideration at a public hearing, providing for directions to the codifier, and providing for an effective date. Date.

'9 c, the determination of agreement limiting density. Do I hear a motion to approve this item? So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you. Item nine d is the adoption of ordinance twenty twenty six dash 13. Councilman Hilty, who introduces items recognized for a motion.

Council president, move that ordinance number two zero two six dash 13 dash adopted as provided by the charter of the city of Ocala, Florida, and based on evidence presented to city council, accept that adoption by sections on the second reading be waived.

Is there a second?

Second.

Clerk Jacobs, will you read the ordinance by title?

An ordinance submitted a zoning map of the city of Ocala, Florida changing the zoning from PUD zero six plan unit development and OP office office park to PD plan development for certain property located in 3,004 to 4,300 blocks of Southwest 43rd Court Parcel 23812 Dash 001 Dash 00 And 2380 Dash 000 Dash 001. Approximately 251.09 acres. Case number PD25Dash0001, providing directions to staff, repealing inconsistent and or conflicting provisions, providing for salivability of ordinance provisions, providing for modifications arising from consideration at a public hearing, providing direction to the codifier, and providing for an effective date.

And finally, item nine e is the adoption of resolution twenty twenty six dash 25. Do I hear a motion to approve this item? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Now Planning Director Aubrey Hill is recognized for a senior staff presentation of these four items.

Afternoon. Aubrey Hale, Planning Director for the Record. So there's a lot of moving pieces on this one. I'll try to walk you through this, and then the applicant will have the ability to present as well. So first off is the deletion of the two comprehensive land use policies that are affecting the parcel.

As you can see on the screen, I wanted to provide you with a map that kind of indicated where those policies are currently and how they affect the parcel, kind of in some unique locations within it. It does not encompass the entirety of the properties, primarily along the eastern boundary of 43rd or what is commonly known as the 44th Avenue Road project is one of the areas that it contains that land use policy as well as a small little area west of that highlighted in that box. So this was transmitted to the state back in 11/03/2025 and going through their expedited review process. We did receive the information back from the state. There was no objections to the deletion of the policies, but there was a comment from FDOT pertaining to just continued coordination as it pertains to traffic and mitigation and things like that as the development does progress through its phases.

With that, the policies generally are tying it back to some development conditions that affected those parcels and the subsequent PD that they have provided that is also part of this hearing will address majority of will address all of these policy decisions. Some of the other things that affected this is that back in 2013 when the comprehensive plan was updated, it consolidated the land use categories down. So a lot of the old categories are still kind of referenced in these policies. But now it has a medium intensity special district. Things that are required of the medium and special district include things like a form based code or chapter 163 development agreement or going to a PD for those type of approval.

So that is what they are proposing now is to come in with a PD approval to coincide with this request. Additionally, there is an agreement limiting density on the property that was initially entered into to kind of restrict some of the development potential so it didn't exceed the thresholds that would have determined it to be a development or regional impact or a DRI. So the PD again is coming back in with this to kind of limit and kind of control what will occur throughout this project area. So thereby the City of Ocala entered into this agreement limiting density with Ransom Group at the time that was the owner, which the successor in that is KES, which is also the applicant. So therefore they are requesting the termination of this agreement to and then make it solely make the PD the sole responsible party for the future development requirements.

So as we get into now can I fast forward? Okay. So just touching on the PD plan itself. Generally this is a large scale, like more of a bubble plan approach that looks at the land uses that are locked into here. And as you go from really almost I-seventy 5 West, it kind of works from like a more commercial uses to a mix of residential uses within that.

So the properties East of the 44th Avenue project are more commercial in nature. They do allow for some mix of residential along that intersection where the roundabout is going to occur. And then West Of 44th has some commercial residential areas along with a residential component which allows for primarily more multifamily or single family attached type products that can occur within that blue area that's highlighted on the screen. And then lastly is the residential single family or the RESFF which is the single family component. Within that, the densities that are made up of this are those single family component has a five dwelling unit cap, which equals to approximately let me see if I pull it up here to approximately three twenty eight dwelling units within that.

The blue area, which is the residential, allows for some multi family, single family attached, where the maximum capacity would be at 18 dwelling units an acre or roughly 1,800 dwelling units. And then within the commercial residential area at its maximum if it was just to be built out as just residential could allow for five zero eight residential units within that. Now the other within the commercial areas it would allow for the maximum capacities are for the build out for those commercial areas would be roughly around 900,000 square feet of commercial area that could be built within that. However, if the residential units are built, then there's going to be some kind of give and take between the maximum capacity. Again, those are maximums that are established during this PD process.

So with that, there's also some additional buffering areas that are included within the PD. You'll see a dash line on the northern and southern boundaries of the property that are flooding some of the more residential single family neighborhoods that has a 100 foot building height setback requirement. So buildings that are within that 100 feet are not allowed to go above a 35 foot maximum height, which is generally compliant with the other single family residential zoning districts that are within the city. Their building heights are also capped at 35 feet. So this last image here is the diagram within the PD that highlights the buffers that are being proposed.

Generally, again, on the northern boundary and the southern boundaries are a 30 foot natural vegetative buffer along with a the blue areas are a 20 foot landscape buffer then between those land use changes. And then along the the roads that are being dedicated or be along the the roadways, there is a 10 foot landscape buffer area as well. With that, staff does recommend approval of the PD subject to the following conditions. That a final sign package compliant with the approved PD standards book shall be submitted with the first phase of construction. Site lighting will be installed on all publicly dedicated right of ways at the time of construction.

The city shall be the sole provider of the sanitation services. An avigation easement is required and may be completed by phase for the entirety of the development and the avigation easement must be in place prior to the first submittal of the development plans. An avigation easement really pertains to the airport's growth and how do we mitigate those impacts as the airport continues to grow. Also, general permitted uses within the commercial area are adhering to the B2 requirements of the land development code. But with the condition that any use is permitted by special exception in the B2 zoning district which are not otherwise identified as an allowed use shall require an approved special exception.

Accessory dwelling units permitted within the residential single family phase shall count toward the overall density and maximum number of dwelling units permitted within the phase. And then any vegetative gaps in the natural undisturbed perimeter buffer shall be supplemented with the additional plantings of trees and shrubs. So if there is any impacts or any gaps in those, those would have to be filled in. Also that the subdivision improvements would adhere to the land development code of chapter 114. And lastly, one that was included at the planning and zoning meeting was an opaque fence shall be provided as part of the perimeter landscape buffer along the bear track, which is that if you go back to that other page, that's that northern boundary within there.

So with that, staff recommends approval and is available for any question. The applicant is also and their agent is here.

Do the applicants have any questions or comments?

Fred Roberts, 40 Southeast Southeast 11th Avenue, Ocala, 34471. Here on behalf of the applicant. Sorry, I'm throwing off. I'm not used to being on this side. Happy to to kind of go through this a little bit.

We appreciate staff's report on a series of these agenda items. This has been a little bit of a complicated application process that's been ongoing for about nineteen months or eighteen months now as we've gone through this. And that really stems from the fact of sort of a legacy of things that have occurred on this property. So hence why you see so many agenda items, which really ultimately result to a PD that corresponds to a significant downward deviation in the development caps under what's allowed under the land use designation. So just to kind of touch on these briefly, I'm happy to answer any questions.

But obviously we've got the two land use policies that were incorporated relating to portions of this property. Both of those land use policies and then corresponding to the agreement limiting density were done at the time by the applicant to advance the land use categories under the way in which we used to handle land use a little bit differently, which was more use based as opposed to intensity based, to allow for land use categories that permitted the uses that they intended, but to limit those densities in such a way that it would keep it under the DRI threshold. It was a way in which at the time that developers could go about this without having this be subject to state review. Today, that no longer applies. So those land use policies and the agreement limiting density are really relics of a time gone by since the modification of Chapter three eighty Florida statute to do away with DRS.

So all of that being said is really what we want to focus on and we can talk about the reasons for those to the extent that the council would like is to address the PD, which establishes the standards with the development of this property. We're very proud of this project. This is a mixed use project that will be a legacy for this area. We have had our initial neighborhood meeting with adjacent property owners and stakeholders from the area in February 2025. We proposed a project at that time, got a great deal of feedback, which was very helpful.

From that came a series of changes to the project, which included: one, changing product types at the perimeters of the property adjacent to those areas that are developed to keep anything that would constitute a different use than what's surrounding those areas away from the property boundaries, and that is both by height limitation and by use changes. Two, to enhance buffers beyond what was previously agreed upon under the old plan that was last modified in 2010 to include expanded buffers and an opaque fence along that Beer Track buffer excuse me, Beer Track boundary, which was requested. Three, to address all of the internal traffic considerations and point of connection to say everything is going be through an internal boulevard that's going to be part of hopefully a future connection shown in your 2050 plan that you approved today to connect 43rd Loop to 20th to provide some additional traffic circulation pattern for these properties, which are subject to further development. And three, to limit density to correspond really to what's under the low intensity category. Even though this property is under a medium intensity special district land use, the limitations associated with this are fully in compliance with low intensity as to density caps and FAR, they are well below both of those categories for FAR for commercial.

So we can go on and on about a project we're very excited about and the details associated with it. We wanted to really touch on the high level limitations that have been implemented to ensure that this project, one, is transitions correctly with adjacent developments that are already in existence and two, provides for the best product that is going to be a legacy product project for this segment of the area or this portion of the area for a long time to come. Happy to answer any questions or we'd be more than happy to sit down and hear public comment and then appreciate the opportunity to address any issues that were raised there.

Is there any public comment on this project? Council, do you have any comments?

I got few things that are starting to concern me. Obviously, we all hear about from all our constituents overdevelopment, infrastructure and all that stuff. One thing we never consider is what are we doing to our current residents as far as the values of their biggest asset. As we add more and more inventory, we are now reducing the prices that these houses go for. Some people are boxed because they overpaid when prices were high, but they have the advantage of a very low interest rate that was happening at the time.

So at some point, we need to take this into consideration that we're building because we think the baby boom generation, which is all retiring, is going be coming here. In the report, those that do come here that are not, our schools are overcapacity in this particular area. So at some point, we need to say we need to take a breather. I'm not sure when or how that is, but I think we really need to consider the tax base that's going to be reduced by the values of houses going down. Yes, on the other side, you get houses that are being built that are going to maybe supplement that.

But what are we doing to our constituents in that area? Because nobody seems to be talking about and all you got to do is look at Zillow and you can answer that question. You can see prices are falling and falling. That affects our constituents right in the pocket book. It makes the decision sometimes whether they sell or don't sell. That has a turnover in the market. So we really need to be looking at something like that and addressing that issue.

If I may, I came prepared for that question.

Okay, good.

So we hear a lot of things, right, about overdevelopment and all the buzzwords that people seem to say. So today, before we came to this meeting, I pulled all of the listing data from the MLS. There are 3,571 active listings in all of Marion County. Less than 10% are in the city of Ocala. Less than 300. So the city of Ocala, I think, is insulated price wise because this is where people want

to be.

If you were in Silver Spring Shores, which is out in the county, or Ocala Park Estates, is north in the county, are they seeing a price impact because of the new construction? Yes, because there's a lot of new development within those subdivisions themselves that are affecting the existing 2,005 built homes. Within the city itself, though, you're not seeing people's prices go down. Prices are not going down. People may be listing too high because they want more than they're worth, but that's not the same as the true value of the house.

So if you look at the single family homes that are for sale, 2,590 are for all ages. There's a large portion of those that are 55 plus. We don't have any 55 plus in the city that I'm aware of, so I'm going to throw those out. Of the 2,590 in the whole county, nine ninety eight are also pending. And then in the last six months, 3,185 have sold.

We have more houses selling than we have available. There is still a very strong market for housing and that's county wide. So if you just want to put it down to the city, 62 I'm sorry fifteen fifty one houses were new construction of the 3,185. So you still have 2,000 existing homes that have sold within the past six months. In the city of Ocala, this is not a detriment to people's real estate.

It's just not. In this region where they want to put this, I would argue that there are some of the things on the perimeter that this is going to actually improve. So I think that one, it's worth noting, and this is a true yes or no question, was this already approved many years ago?

Yes ma'am.

And we are just now pulling this into modern day zoning classification.

Yes ma'am.

So there's really nothing to approve. It's already been approved. And so I think that's what's confusing for the public because it's put out there like oh, they're approving 900 houses. No, it's already been approved. We're just modernising this to today's standards.

Termination of agreement limiting density, the terminology of that is very misleading because it seems like all hell is breaking loose. But it's just what it was called back in the day. The DRI process, which is not something we ever use today, we have the next agenda items are part of an old DRI, it was very time consuming and very expensive for developers to do. So it makes total sense what they did back there when they had this. But even when we terminate this agreement limiting density, it does not make this a more dense property than what they would have by right if we just gave them the zoning that they were asking for on any given day if it wasn't already approved.

So I hear what you're saying with your concerns because they're valid concerns, but seeing what I see, knowing what I know, townhouses, I mean there's 50 active townhouses, 53 sold in the past six months. We don't have an overabundance of these things. I think people are unclear on what the building process looks like, so while things are waiting to be CO'd because we're waiting to get final inspections, it looks like they're empty. But a lot of these things are already pre sold. One of my favourite things, we're in campaign season, you're hearing a lot about people saying, Oh, we have to do infrastructure before development.

Okay, well we did that in the city of Ocala and I think you might have actually represented that client. Saddlewood Springs is a multi family product across the street from Saddlewood Elementary. I don't know if you guys remember this. Several years ago, we approved that project and we said you cannot CO this and correct me if I'm wrong you cannot CO this until 44th Avenue is done. When that road's in, when that infrastructure's in see we did this, we've got to take some credit here guys we put the infrastructure in before we allowed anybody to move in.

And yet, because it sat empty, for us to finish, we're held responsible for having empty properties. People who complain cannot have it both ways. So this is a no brainer, it is what it is, it's already been approved many years ago, it's a lot of technicality that people are confused by. We do not have an overabundance of housing in this town. I would argue that we still don't have enough. People don't want to hear that but the numbers don't lie. Alright, sorry.

Thank you. That's okay. Appreciate the explanation. I'm looking at it from a different angle, from a financial angle for people than you're looking at it because you're in that business. And of course, we look at things differently.

Yes, for sure.

I would also agree. I think when this was originally approved, even if we voted no tonight, they could still start pulling permits and building pretty much to what we're going to approve tonight. And so I am I think the approval just brings it into the 2026 way of thinking. I think it's a well thought out project. And this was going to happen when that road was first conceived twenty years years ago.

As far as some of the comments from constituents that it should remain an area for vegetation and for animals, if we were to try to do that, that's inverse condemnation, and we may be required to purchase the property. This property was never intended to be a wildlife refuge, so I will

The

clerk will call the roll from item nine b, ordinance twenty twenty six

twelve. Mister Musley? Aye. Miss Dreyer? Aye. Mister Hilty?

I think I made my statement, so I will go high for us to think about it.

Mr. Mansfield? Aye. Mr. Pathe?

Aye. The clerk will call the roll for nine c, termination of the agreement limiting density.

Mr. Mansfield?

Aye.

Mr. Hilty? Aye. Mister Musley?

Aye.

Miss Dreyer? Aye. Mister Buffet?

Aye. Call the roll. Item nine d, ordinance twenty twenty six thirteen.

Mister Hilty? Aye. Miss Dreyer? Aye. Mister Mansfield? Aye. Mister Musley? Aye. Mister Bethe?

Aye. Clerk will call the roll. Item nine e, resolution twenty twenty six dash 25.

Mister Musley?

Aye.

Mr. Mansfield?

Aye.

Ms. Dreyer? Aye. Mr. Hulte? Aye. Mr. Bethe?

Aye. Item nine f and nine gs are also separate items, but they concern one project, and we will have a single staff presentation and comment period for both of these items. To begin, we will set up both items for approval. Item nine f is the adoption of ordinance twenty twenty six dash 14. Councilwoman Drow is introduced at this item and be recognized.

Council president, I move that ordinance number two zero two six dash one four be adopted as provided by the charter of the city of Ocala, Florida, and based upon evidence presented to city council, except that the adoption by sections on second reading be waived.

Is there a second? Second. Clerk Jacobs will read the ordinance by title.

An ordinance amending the zoning map of the city of Ocala, Florida in the zoning from PUD zero two plan unit development to PD plan development for a certain property located West of Interstate 75 in North of Southwest 66th Street, the 4,000 block of Southwest 66th Street, Parcel 23875 Dash 00 Dash 01 And 35364 Dash 000 Dash 00, approximately 283.55 acres. Case number PD25Dash0007. Providing direction to staff, repealing inconsistent and or conflicting provisions, providing for severability of ordinance provisions, providing for modifications arising from consideration at a public hearing, providing direction to the codifier, and providing for an effective date.

Nine g is the adoption of resolution twenty twenty six dash 26. Do I hear a motion to approve this item?

So moved.

Is there a second? Second. Planning chief planning official Madreveren, is recognized for a single staff presentation.

Good afternoon. For the record, I'm Dara Madrevaren, chief planning official for the growth management department. The applicant is requesting to rezone two properties totaling 283.55 acres from PUD02 to PD with the associated PD plan and standards book. The subject properties are currently vacant, undeveloped and are two of the last remaining undeveloped parcels in the Heathrow Development Of Regional Impact or DRI. The DRI was originally established in 1999 and has undergone several amendments and extensions.

In 2013, the property was designated with the low intensity residential future land use designation, and that was from low density residential. A master's traffic study was performed for the DRI back in 2005 when it was approved. The study was updated by Kim Lee Horn in 2013. There are a total of two seventy seven trips reserved for the development of up to five ninety two single family dwelling units. The subject properties were originally zoned PUD two, but a final PUD plan was never approved.

Per the code of ordinances, it's now necessary for us to go through this rezoning process to establish the zoning and institute the PD plan and standards book. The PD plan and standard book address the density, design standards, buffers, access, which are all consistent with prior approvals the DRI and the DRA. The proposed PD is a single family detached residential development containing five ninety two lots with a minimum lot width of 50 feet and overall density of approximately 2.1 dwelling units per acre. The PD plan indicates that the subject properties will be accessed via SW 40th Avenue, which upon completion will bisect the PD and provide connection to SW 66th Street. An additional access point is shown along Tartan Road for this project.

A 25 foot wide buffer will be maintained around the perimeter of the development and along both sides of Southwest 40th Avenue with exception of a portion of the boundary abutting 19 lots in the Heathbrook Preserve subdivision, which will be reduced to a 10 foot wide buffer. There will be a minimum of 25% preserved open space, or 70.59 acres, of which seven point zero acres will be aggregate open space, or 10. The proposed PD maintains the same entitlements and development standards of the prior PUD and DRI. The proposed density of the PD is consistent with the previously approved DRI. And the PD standards, except for they are asking for variation to allow the development to maintain a 25 open space in lieu of the required 40% open space for single use residential PDs.

The density in the proposed PD is consistent with the DRI that predated the 2013 comprehensive plan amendment. Existing DRI is consistent with the comp plan through the vested right identified in Chapter 106 of the land Code. City utilities are available, and no level of service issues have been identified. Staff presented the proposed rezoning PD Plan and PD Standards Books to P and Z on March 9. The board voted six-zero to recommend approval with the conditions as presented by staff to both the ordinance and the resolution.

However, since the PNZ meeting, the applicant's agent presented staff with a revised PD plan which reduced that buffer along those 19 lots down from 25 to 10 feet within the 19 lots within the Heathbrook Preserve subdivision due to the perception of encroachments by the developer. Staff has reviewed those changes and still recommends approval for both items. Conditions staff have prepared for consideration are as follows: All sanitation services shall be provided by the City of Ocala, and subdivision improvements shall be provided in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 114 of the land development code. This ends my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions.

The agent is also here.

Comments from the applicant?

Council president, Fred Roberts, 40 Southeast 11th Avenue, Ocala. Once again, appreciate staff's report. This is a project that corresponds to a little bit of history. This was a previously approved PUD zoning, which automatically by code always change the PD. This is really relating to the plan and standards that now have to be brought up to date and current in accordance with the standards of today. And that's the premise of this. This project corresponds to the previously approved development order for Heathbrook DRI. A little different conversation for this was a preexisting DRI under the revisions of Chapter three eighty. The DRI stays intact. And then we comply with that because of the vested entitlements that go with it.

Not to speak quickly, but also I'm starting to see people glaze over on DRI conversations. A couple of very small corrections just to staff report, which is perfect in every way and we appreciate it. The only two being the buffer along Heathrow Preserve, where we had a 25 foot buffer proposed along all boundaries, that portion that kind of the finger that sticks out into this property had series of encroachments whereby the property owners had built their fences or some decks or things like that across the property boundary. Alternatives for a developer in that scenario are force the removal of those address them in a more creative way. Our choice is to address them in more creative way.

So what we've requested is reduce the buffer from 25 feet to 15 feet and allow the 10 feet that's still going to be remaining part of this PD to potentially be dealt with in a different way, which could be a stand alone track that allows for those encroachments or even potentially conveying that area or easements from that area to adjacent property owners to be utilized as part of their backyard, so to speak. So we want to be creative there and still be a good neighbor, hence why the modification had changed to that. Relating to the open space, a very small distinction. Currently, for a single purpose development like this, it would require not like this, A single purpose residential development would require a 40% open space calculation. However, for a mixed use development, it would require only 25.

Our assertion is that this corresponds to being a part of the Heathbrook DRI, which addresses obviously a varied number of uses from residential all the way to institutional and commercial. Accordingly, that's why the reduction in the open space requirement has been requested to correspond to what would be permitted as a matter of code right down to the letter. I wanted to just point out those two things for clarification. Happy to answer any questions. The Kinley Horn team here and Rick Bush is here to answer any very technical questions you may have, or we'll stand down and see if there's members of the public. I defer to you.

Let me see. Are there any questions from the public? None?

Do you have

one, Simon?

Well, yeah. There are miss Dylan Kubander.

Mister mister Dillon.

Hi everyone. Is that okay?

Would you state your name and your address please?

Yes, so my name is Dillon Cubander from 1830 Northwest 28th Court, Ocala, Florida. So essentially, what I had, got approved to speak for today was regarding not the Heathbrook issue, but the Southwest 43rd Court. But I will admit, this is the first city council meeting I've ever attended in my thirty two years on earth. So I just thank you all for having me. But when I came today, I just listened to both sides, and I wanted to mostly learn more about as opposed to just speaking.

And from the sounds of it, this was not a development proposal to get permission to develop that area. It was already approved. This was just narrowing down specifics on, like, building density and things like understand that pretty much correct?

Pretty much so. Yes.

Yeah. So that was essentially the issue that I had wanted to speak on, but, you know, I heard everything out and decided not to speak at that point or comment at that point.

Awesome. Thank you.

Thank you. Glad

that you came.

Yeah. Thank you for coming.

We love informed citizens.

Yes. Absolutely. That's what we're saying. Thank you.

Thank you, Dylan.

Okay. We we do have another public comment but it says public comment so I'm a wait till the end with that one. Alright? Alright. So nobody else with the public. Council, you have any questions for?

Mm-mm.

Alright. Clerk, will you call the roll? Wait. Hold on. Hold on. Let me make sure I'm doing it right. Yes. Will you call the roll on 99 Yes. Ordinance twenty twenty six dash 14.

Miss Dreyer? Aye. Mister Mansfield?

Aye.

Mister Musley? Aye. Mister Hulte? Aye. Mister Bethea?

Aye. Call the roll on item nine g, resolution twenty twenty six dash twenty six.

Mr. Musley? Aye. Mr. Mansfield?

Aye.

Mr. Dreyer? Aye. Mister Hilty? Aye. Mister Bethea?

Aye. Okay. We're on item 10, agenda item ten ten a, is the approval of the first amendment for a one year renewal utilizing the corporate purchasing agreement with Muscat painting and decorating. Do I hear a motion to approve this item?

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

Public Works Director Darren Park is recognized for a presentation.

Good afternoon. Darren Park, Public Works Director. This agenda item supports the city's strategic goals of operational excellence and quality of place. This is a one year agreement for the painting of masked arms and signalized intersections throughout the city of Ocala. We have 34 signalized intersections that have masked arms. Muscat did a pilot project for us a couple of months ago, two intersections and they did a really good job. In past painting episodes, we've had challenges with different vendors. This one performed well. Staff recommends approval. I'm here to answer any questions.

Any comments from the public? Counsel, do you have any? So I have one. How often do we have to and I know they all probably don't have to be bid at once, but kind of how often do we have to

About every ten years.

Okay.

Try to spread it out so we're not doing them all at the same time.

Clerk, call the roll, please.

Mister Mansfield.

Aye.

Mister Hulte. Aye. Mister Musley.

Aye.

Miss Dreyer. Aye. Mister Buffet.

Aye. Thank you. Item 10b is the approval of resolution twenty twenty six dash 27. Do I hear a motion to approve this item? So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

City engineer Sean Lanier is recognized for his presentation.

Good evening. Sean Lanier, city engineer. This agenda item supports the city's strategic goals of operational excellence and quality of place. The supplemental agreement incorporates the State Route 40 and Northwest 44th Avenue traffic signal construction and the Southwest 44th Avenue Phase 1B construction into the scope of the Northwest 44th Avenue Phase two construction grant to fulfill the 50% match requirement for the $8,000,000 grant funds provided in the original grant agreement from 05/30/2023. Staff recommends approval. I'm here to answer any questions.

Any comments from the public? Council? Call a roll.

Mister Hilty? Aye. Miss Dreyer? Aye. Mister Musley?

Aye.

Mister Mansfield?

Aye.

Mr. Pathe?

Aye. Item

10C is the approval of the budget resolution twenty twenty six dash 139. Do I hear a motion to approve this item? So moved. Second. Budget director Tammy Haslam is recognized for presentation.

Good evening, counsel. With counsel's permission, I'd like to provide a single presentation for items 10C and 10D as they both relate to the carry forward of prior year funds. Both agenda items support Council's strategic priority of fiscally sustainable funds, including grant funds, are available to carry forward and are requested for reappropriation from fiscal year twenty twenty four-twenty five to fiscal year twenty five-twenty six to allow for the continuation of projects and programs at various stages of completion at the end of the last fiscal year. This is a standard financial process used to preserve spending authority for funds that were committed but not fully spent before September 30 of the prior year. These commitments include contracts, purchase orders, capital projects and grants.

Staff requests the adoption of both resolutions and I'm available to answer any questions.

Any comments from the public? Councillor?

Call the roll.

Mr. Hilty? Aye. Mr. Musley?

Aye.

Ms. Dreyer? Aye. Mr. Mansfield?

Aye.

Mr. Bethe?

Aye. Thank you.

Do still need We need a motion

I know. Okay. So do I have a motion for resolution twenty twenty six one four zero? So moved. Second. Alright, Ms. Hamlin, she did her presentation. So is there any further comments from the public? From the council? Call the roll.

Mister Musley? Aye. Mister Hilty?

Aye.

Miss Dreyer? Aye. Mister Mansfield? Aye. Mister Bethea?

Aye.

Thank you.

10 e is the approval of a one year contract with Fisher Scientific LLC. Do I hear a motion to approve?

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

Fire Chief Clint Welborn is recognized for staff presentation.

Good afternoon. Clint Welborn, Fire Chief. This initiative falls under the city's strategic goal of quality of place. Fire rescue is requesting approval to expend an estimated $111,546 on self contained breathing apparatus from Fisher Scientific LLC. This purchase is an annual expense for fire rescue SCBA are vital to the safety of our firefighters. These units protect our personnel as they encounter hazardous conditions including structure fires, confined spaces, car fires and hazardous materials incidents. Staff recommends approval. I'm here for any questions.

Any comments from the public? Council? Call the roll.

Ms. Dreyer? Aye. Mr. Hulte? Aye. Mr. Musley?

Aye.

Mr. Mansfield? Aye. Mr. Bethe?

Aye. 10f is the approval of the purchase of various inventory items for Ocala Fiber Network. Do I hear a motion to approve this item?

So moved.

Is there a second? Second. Fiber Network Director that's not So Dale state your name for me, sir.

Good afternoon, counsel. Kenneth Jamieson, Deputy Director of Caliber Network. This agenda item aligns with council's goal of operational excellence. Inventory items are posted for a competitive bid in RC when they hit the reorder point. These bids are conducted by our utility services warehouse and will be procured within the procurement policy. These inventory items such as reels of fibers, bolts and routers support our growth and customer base. The items on this agenda is for our day to day work, maintenance, and support our city build out. Staff recommends approval, and I'm here to answer any questions.

Comments from the public? Yes, sir. Will you come up? State your name and address, please.

Chip Griffin, 310 Southeast 20th Terrace. First off, thanks for letting me make these comments. So I've got a question for the city for the council. When do we stop competing against private business? And just for clarity, I'm not on commission with anybody. I'm an IT consultant. I don't get paid by any Internet provider. And with her permission, just today, we signed up Stacy Adsides for Internet at her home on twelfth for $40 a month for gigabit Internet from wire three. They will have that installed in two days. Couple of weeks ago at one of my commercial buildings, we asked for Internet, and we couldn't even get a quote on when it was gonna be put out.

Stacy's former bill from Ocala Fiber was a $165 a month. Turns out $15 a month of that was being falsely charged for equipment we had returned months ago. Earlier this week, I tried to cancel Internet for doctors Darby and Johnson at their office, and that turned into a train wreck dealing with Ocala fiber. At a new commercial building out Mary Camp, we asked for an install date. We were not able to get one without a rigmarole.

We ordered a different provider. My office on 34th, we asked Ocala Fiber, can we get Internet at this building? We never even got a dollar figure, and then we were told the install time would be six weeks on a three year contract at a $145 a month per gigabit. I gave each of you guys a packet earlier. I meant that to be for the comments for later. Turns out I think I'm making that comment now. I did a speed test at Darby and Johnson. There's pictures that each of you I'm sorry, mister Lee. I didn't have one for you nor the mayor. They're getting 10 times the bandwidth for 60% of the price with no contract, no install fees, and it was installed in two days.

So how can Ocala Fiber going forward compete with there's a list of people on an email I had sent to you guys. Mister Mansfield was great enough to have a conversation with me. Five years ago, it was an oligopoly. There was no game in town other than Ocala Fiber. There was no other option. On my road, right up Fort King, I have Quest or I'm sorry, Quantum, Wire three, CenturyLink, AT and T, Ocala Fiber, Cox, Spectrum, and a litany of other ones. Zetos in the neighborhood. So how is Ocala gonna keep throwing money trying to compete with private industry who has people knocking door to door? And the fact is they have better services. A few of you are patients of my wife.

We had a fiber optic cut at 6PM on a Sunday. Wire three was out there, and they had it fixed before 9PM that night. A couple Saturdays ago, I got a call from the owner of Brick City Bicycles, the owner of Stella's, the owner of Ivy House, and two other places downtown saying their Internet was out. We called Ocala Fiber. They said there's no outage.

Well, there must be because I'm on the phone with Albert and Patricia and a few other people that are their Internet's out. It took four hours for Ocala Fiber to even admit that the Internet was out, and then another six hours to bring it back to life. So it's just representative of why is the city gonna give another 3 quarters of $1,000,000 to its effectively a failed network. I it I don't know how you could disagree with the fact that how do we justify $145 a month, pictures are in the packets I gave you, as compared to 99 for 10 times faster service? How do we erect how do we deal with that?

So thank you very much for your time. Sorry for kinda rambling. I just don't understand it.

So I would say we'll constantly we'll be looking into that. Yes. I mean, those was things that he said we we will find out more and more about, you know, what we do and why we do it. Right? Yes, sir. Because we've already had some discussions in regards to this. Okay, back to where we're at. Are there any other comments from the public? All right, are there any questions from the yes, sir?

A couple of things. One is, I guess, having an eighteen year background in government inventory control, we probably have to maintain these resources to keep our current customers so there are no outages or anything like that. To your concern, I hear you and I agree because as I told the city manager, I went into the AT and T store the other day to get my phone repaired, the glass. She immediately pulled up my address and told me I can give you Internet for $45 So the competition is out there. We looked at years ago, I would say three years ago, funding the bond issue to expand and we've not done that.

So I think that we need to have a council meeting to talk about where we are going with this because they are eating us alive. If you even look at 17th Street today, why are three or one of us out there blocking traffic while they're trying to run lines? And I'm sure they're going to be there during the peak traffic hours or whatever. So there's a lot going on that we have not addressed that I think we need to talk about.

Agreed. We'll set a workshop after all

of that. I think we need it. I mean this is not the first person that I've heard from that has complained about those things. We are just falling way behind the competition.

I have some comments. I'm going to come out with a different perspective, however, because I've always been pro Ocala, and I think we can do a good job. We are not, though. So here's my comments, and these are all based on, for instance, council approval. We approved that report you're talking about on four-sixteentwenty four.

The agreement was signed actually by me, I was council President at the time, on fourtwenty three of twenty twenty four. The report got back to a six months later on tentwenty nine of 'twenty four, six months. That was pretty quick. Today, they're coming to us and they want $700 something thousand to make sure that we upgrade. Now one of my questions, and I asked this earlier, so I already know the answer, but my question was this: What are we actually approving?

Are we approving a fix to the existing product that we have and or an expansion modification? That was one of my questions. It's been answered since then, but maybe you all have the same question. These are just my comments. We all have to listen to the complaints right now from all the different companies coming in Downtown Ocala digging in everybody's yard, and it's quite annoying, to be honest with you.

I'm just wondering now after months and months of listening to this, have we not created our own monster? Have we not? Because we haven't gone out and really pushed to try to make us, City of Ocala, better and aggressive. Ocala fiber is not like the electric, not like any of the other. It is an open market, and it's on everybody and their brother and competition coming down. I got a list. There's 13 Internets coming to town. We have 40,000 plus or minus people. We have 4,310 connections. I don't know if anybody's ever looked that up.

That's it. We have 40,000 people, and you're right, we looked a few years ago of, hey, how can we make ourselves better? Afraid that if we don't, we keep spending money. If we don't take action now and actually pay attention to what the market is doing, and I think we need some help at Ocalifire. I'm just telling you, I'm not advocating sell. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is we need some help, and we need some help from the private sector. We need somebody to come in. I don't know if it's a consultant, private partnership. Somebody come in and say, Guys, here's what you've got to do.

I'm afraid if we don't, what we're going do is be spending a bunch of money that we're never going to recoup because we've still got to have an ROI. We all still have to listen to our constituents, and I want to make sure I would like first to say, Ocalus, the best fiber that you can get, period, bar none, and then nobody, and you know, chase some of these people out of town.

I'm not

saying that, but what I'm saying is we can be better. Better. We should be better, and we need to offer this to our constituents. I've really been struggling this because I don't know why, but I started really looking into all of this. We do have some issues, and we can't fix it ourselves. It's just my opinion, but we can't, and we're leaving a lot of money on the table, and I don't want to see us spend a bunch of money that we're not gonna recoup, and this can be. It makes us money now. We can do a better job. I'll stop.

That's

my plea to you all. Was really talking to you all.

Again, when you read this, it looks like it's just for inventory items which are necessary to keep the actual unit functioning. But you're right. We

need I agree.

I'm not saying

no tonight, we need to work. I'm saying we got to do something

We about do. I agree with you because we did that report, as you said it, in '24, and here we still sit. Nothing's happened to raise the money for us, and that's what was decided from the consultant. We needed to raise $25,000,000 to be able to get out in

front. Well, we're now last.

Yes, real quick. This is an enterprise fund. This money doesn't come from the general fund. You all know that. When we did the first study, the things that we talked about that were systemic issues that we had to to fix because we had originally disconnected all the SCADA system. A while ago, we went to four neighborhoods and said we were gonna deliver service. Did the study did not complete the study when I became city manager. We we completed the the study actually when we hired Janice Mitchell as CFO. We put the study out with Uptown. We hired Uptown, we brought them in.

In the interim, we've seen all of the private deliverers come into town and start that. Has the landscape changed? It's changed a little. The thing is the systemic problems have to be fixed with one disadvantage that we have is we cannot procure like a private sector company can procure. So we have to go through the procurement process that has taken a while.

The design of the backbone and those things are on our way to completing to get but we know that we can't connect every door in the city at one time. We have a plan in place to connect 4,000 and go two neighborhoods at a time as we move forward. These up and down speeds, I'd have to do research. I have no idea whether that I believe the gentleman that believe that it's true, but we'll have to look and see what the circumstance of that is. I know that we have customers who have left us.

Hasn't been nearly as many as we've connected in the six month period and we've had people come back to us from other providers and come back to City Fibre. We have we have had a history prior to beginning this process with Janice where we priced as mister Griffin said we priced. And the consultant told us and we all agreed, you agreed that we would change that that policy and we to my knowledge, we have changed that policy. Now whether we've picked up everyone who had a pre existing account and changed them, I don't know. What that process looks like, I'd have to talk to Janice and level that out.

It's a process that we're going need to go through for existing customers. New customers don't pay that. It's a different it is a completely different kind of an enterprise. Someone said that. Think both of you said that It's an enterprise where yes, we'll be competing in an open market and we'll have to do things differently than we do them even in other enterprises.

And so have Janice, can you come up just for a second? I know that we have Uptown under contract. Somebody asked for evaluation of the system, And I know that Uptown is working on that, I believe, as we speak.

Yes.

They are working on the evaluation and the analysis of the SCADA system and how that all works. Yes, we're working on that.

And we've also talked to, we have had conversations with other private providers who, we may come back to counsel with public private partnership opportunities that would need to be discussed with you. So yes, it's a dynamic thing. It's changed some. We do make money from it at this point. Will it change?

Will the way that we provide it change? There's a good chance. I understand that it hasn't moved as quickly as any of us would like. Part of that is the procurement of the material. Part of that is the system that we had in place to begin with and having to bring that up to speed. So and part of it is planning and installation. So, Janice, did I leave, or Kenneth, did I leave anything out of that?

No, I think that part of the reason we haven't bonded yet is I don't, I'm fairly conservative, I think you all know that. But you have to spend your bond in a certain amount of time. So what we wanted to do is make sure the backbone, the infrastructure was all there ready to go before we went out to get the bond. So that was part of the issue of why we haven't went out and borrowed the $20,000,000 is because I can't borrow the money and let it sit while we're trying to figure out our backbone. So that was the process.

What we're working on now and it's going, already in a lot of neighborhoods, 25 total. So we're going to start with two of the neighborhoods that we have a little a low utilization, there's low take rates. And we're starting a promotional program with them specifically, they'll get flyers, mailers in the mail. And we're talking about whether we want to do some door to door kind of activities. And the price will be less than wire three. The promotional price will be less than wire three.

I think I like winning. I think we all like to win. And we have a great basis to start from, but we have to run with it. I'm just telling you, from what I see, we're walking, and we're taking our time. And if we don't, we're gonna have you know the old scenario, Can I tell a story now? I'll break it up. So the whole story is I got I had a picture in my office, and it's a picture of a lion and a gazelle. Okay? The lions The gazelle gets up and it says it knows it has to outrun the lion or it's gonna be eaten that day. The lion gets up and it says it knows it has to outrun that gazelle to eat that day.

Either way, you better be running. We're not doing that. That's my

Right.

And I'm trying to be passionate. I want us to win as a city. Yeah.

I agree with everything you all have said, and I mean I think Ocala fiber was the gold standard. I think within the last probably six months to a year, it slipped, okay? I just I don't think I know we do not have the right plan to run this thing forward. We certainly, under previous CFOs, Janice, not you the way we built out and the way we funded that build out, not going to work going forward. And it hasn't worked for the last two years.

My other thought is it is a total price conscious business model, and you better take care of the people that are already buying the service, okay, because if they find out that, oh, so and so is paying 35 a month and I'm paying 69 a month, which I am, what's

the difference? Yeah, understood.

Both of those are legitimate points. I'm sold on a fiber delivery for my entertainment of my house. Cox cable is the thing of the past. And I think Ocala fiber and wire three are the only fiber to fiber to home installation.

Right now.

Right now.

Right now. Won't be for long.

It won't be for long, correct. So,

Pete, let's and this all of you, let's we're gonna have to vote on whether or not we're do the the monies that we need tonight. And again, Janice, you all are working with Uptown. And we need to have a workshop so that we can further discuss this.

Yes,

sir. And how we're to move on.

Right? We will. What I'd like for you to entertain is let us get with Uptown and see when their report's going to come back and then schedule it right after that. Hopefully they can be there with us. They don't have to be. And if it's too long, we'll just have it. We'll have the workshop.

Yeah. Think time is of the essence, so if there's ragging their feet, we need to.

Yeah, you got it.

Go

ahead. Every day is another yard they're digging up.

Don't worry. We'll bring the date back at the next council meeting.

I mean, far as this goes, think, you know, as I said, when I look at this, this is for inventory.

Sir. Correct.

We need that inventory to keep our current customers operational.

Yes, because we are still connecting With every

the supply channels the way they are today and the backlog on different areas, we again, eighteen years in inventory control, you want to have the part there to be able to make the repair.

Pete, in the short term, can we just look at our operations, some of the service things that were brought up today and just address those? Sir. There's opportunities for improvements before we get to the planning session, Let's take some of the examples that were given tonight and address those.

Yes,

sir. Okay. So wheel 10 F. Mr. Jameson made his presentation. We had comments from the public. Council made comments. Call the roll.

Ms. Dreyer? Aye. Mr. Musley?

Aye.

Mr. Hilti? Aye. Mr. Mansfield? Aye. Mister Bethe?

Aye. Thank you. Item 10 g, the approval of the award of a contract with Bentley Pender Construction LLC. Do I hear a motion to approve this item? So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

Community Housing Service Director, Mr. James Haines, recognized for staff presentation.

Good evening. James Haines, Director, Community Development Services. This agenda item meets the strategic goals for quality of place. The Thomas residence was evaluated on February 1522. It was determined to be dilapidated and ineligible for housing rehabilitation assistance.

The property owner agreed to be placed on community programs waiting list for the demolition and reconstruction of the structure if funding became available. This particular rebuild project is for a qualified elderly, low income household. On 11/04/2025, city council approved a contract to two w Construction Corporation in the amount of $220,550. On 03/04/2026, two w formally notified the city's project manager of his desire to terminate this agreement with the city due to unforeseen labor shortages and certain personal matters. On March 6, the city's director of procurement and contracting provider written acceptance of the cancellation and notice of suspension of two w construction on March 9.

The rebid for this project went out issued on ITV number CDS250327A. That bid closed on 03/23/2026. Bentley Pender LLC with a bid of $161,617.3 was deemed the lowest responsive bidder. At that price, there's a $58,932 savings from the original bid. This project will be funded through the city's home investment partnership program grant and staff recommends approval.

Do you have any comments from the public council?

Yes, I do. Go ahead, sir. I know I've asked this question before. Just $161,000 is a lot to go towards refurbishment of a house. Are these dollars, are they only for that? Or could we have used that money to give people down payment assistance so they can maybe two or three or four people could have gotten a home?

This grant can be used for down payment assistance. The home grant can only be used for housing initiatives, either complete rehabs or rebuilds. This is actually rebuild projects. We're actually building a new house for 161,000. Unfortunately, the county does not have in the current plan to use down payment assistance out of this grant. We are working to get that added in the future. So for right now, this grant can only be spent for full rehabs to bring houses up to code or rebuild projects.

James, what would be the timeline to be able to get that in place, the down payment program? When you say you're working on it, what do you think?

Well, it has to go it has to go back through HUD, which is a slow process now because of lack of of persons. And then, really, there there are some funding challenges. We we have a wait list right now on the backlog for projects with the home. We are trying to cut out some funding for down payment assistance. We have some rental assistance coming down the pipe for some money we're readjusting in the budget. But right now, the down payment assistance and and from the city standpoint, we have hours on hold because the county is currently providing money in the city up to a $100,000.

So Okay.

They've asked us not to do any down payment assistance to assist them in moving their monies, which is normally not allowed in the city. So it's a much better benefit for our citizens to take advantage of that at this time.

Okay. Thank you. That's only through June, though.

Right? Is Did you know that? It's shipped. Yeah. I think it's through through the end of June. But it they may have some they they've got a lot of money sitting over there, so it

it may continue. Okay. That's good to know.

I'm glad to hear that the county is allowing city residents to participate in the 100,000 down payment assistance per person, which is an insane amount. But I do also want to reiterate that city taxpayers pay county taxes, so they are helping their own citizens.

Correct. Now, so with most of those grants, they're not allowed. They're not allowed to, because we are an entitlement entity as well, the the federal and the state normally don't allow it. We we have worked really well with their community services department, in in finding ways within the system to do that and take advantage. So in this case because of the large amount the state did allow them to do that and Ms. Butler reached out immediately and asked if we would participate and certainly you know we want our citizens to have that great benefit.

Any other comments? Call the roll.

Mr. Hulte? Aye. Mr. Dreyer? Aye. Mr. Mansfield? Aye. Mr. Bethe?

Aye. Thank you. 10H is the approval of economic investment program agreement between the city of Okela and eOne Inc. Do I hear a motion to approve this item? So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

Okay. Economic developer manager Roberto Ellis is recognized for staff presentation.

Thank you. Good afternoon. Roberto Ellis, economic development manager for the record. The city's EIP program was created to encourage economic growth and job creation within city limits and our electric utility service area. Based on a recent application received by eOne, they are proposing to expand your existing facility that's located at 2929 Southwest 57th Avenue.

And that expansion will include a $27,000,000 investment. This expansion would will add approximately 80,000 square feet to the existing facility and will also create approximately 63 new jobs. When completed, this investment will increase their production by 35% and the jobs that are going to be created will be at an average annual salary of just about $60,000 Looking at their total workforce, this will increase from 150 employees to 213 employees when completed. The request from e one is an incentive of $193,000 as stated in the agenda. And this will be in the form of a a grant that will be disturbed distributed in three equal payments.

Looking at the when the city expects to recover this amount, we're looking at under two years to recover the proposed investment. The attached agreement sets out the applicant requirements, includes maintaining which those jobs for a two year period after they have gotten three years to create those jobs. They'll be required to submit annual reports to ensure they are being held to those standards. They'll be required to remain facility for five years and also go through a financial review process as well. Given the expected benefits, looking at the return on investment for every dollar that we invest, we are expecting to get a return based on ad valorem and electric revenue of $4.37 based on the amount over a five year period.

Staff recommends approval. The applicant is ready to go. This is a shovel ready project and they are looking to be completed within a year. Staff recommends approval.

Is there any comments from the public? From the council? Call the roll.

Aye. Mister Hilti? Aye. Mister Mansfield?

Aye.

Mister Pathe?

Aye. Item 10 I is the approval of resolution twenty twenty six dash 28. Do I hear a motion to approve this item?

So moved. Planning

director Aubrey Hale is recognized.

Good afternoon. Aubrey Hale, Planning Director again. So yes, this is a resolution to approve the locally funded agreement between the FDOT and the City of Ocala. This project is currently the it's a resurfacing project that is going underway right now that DOT is doing and it's basically from US 441 and it will go all the way out eventually to the forest but this segment is to 25th Avenue. Within this, the CRAs have already been budgeting for some of these enhancements to intersections as well as future enhancements along State Road 40.

This ties into our overall Ocala vision, our Midtown Master Plan, Downtown Master Plan, and how do we start to seam State Road 40 back together so that way we have more of a connection between downtown and midtown. So this is kind of like hope the the first go at trying to enhance these connections along State Road 40. It'll allow for some brick patterned crosswalks at US 441, Southwest 1st Avenue, North Magnolia, Southeast 1st Avenue, Watula, Yaseula Track and 8th Avenue. This does spread across multiple CRAs. So West Ocala will pretty much handle the US 441 Intersection and then I believe a portion of Watula And 8th Avenue will come out of the East Ocala with the remainder coming out of the downtown.

So, staff does recommend approval and is available for any questions.

Any comments from the public? Call the roll.

Stryer? Aye. Mister Mansfield?

Aye.

Mister Musley?

Aye.

Mister Hilty? Aye. Mister Pathe?

Aye. City manager, mister Pete Lee?

Yes. Sir. Thank you. The Sand and Sun Festival will be May 16. That's a jury sand sculpting competition that will be held on Citizens Circle from ten to five. So we look forward to that. We will talk about Safe Streets for All grant at our May 12 workshop. It will be an opportunity for the public to hear about the safe street for all. There is a safety component to that. Will be engineering and police who will likely be involved in that grant. I will not be in attendance at the next city council meeting. I'll be on vacation. So Ken will be here.

I'm to be on vacation.

I'm going to

be on vacation also but I'm not vacationing with Pete. Good to know.

Right. Agenda item 13, Ocala Police Department. Chief Balkan.

Mike Balkin, Police Chief. Good afternoon, everyone. For the public safety report, we responded to nearly 7,500 total incidents with over 2,600 of those being dispatched calls for service. That represents about a 7% decrease overall when compared to last year. Of those, we investigated two ninety five crime calls, which is up slightly at 3%, and our arrest count remained consistent at two seventeen bodies.

Officers increased their total traffic counts by 1%, making a total of eleven forty one traffic contacts for the period, and we investigated 156 crashes, which is nearly identical to last year's numbers. I did want to take a quick moment before I wrap up to highlight our BlueLine Mentoring Program. The mayor has talked about this a few times. It's really showing promise. This program was launched last year as part of Mayor Marciano's, community policing initiative that's spearheaded by our own Patrick, Urano, one of our officers, as well as Miles Maconaco.

He's a volunteer that works closely with us, as well as Tara Woods. She's a retired major in our community outreach specialist. The program currently has 10 participants. These are all young boys from the Berkeley Pointe apartment complex. That's been a historically challenging area within the city that we've been focusing on.

The goals of that program include encouraging academic achievement, promoting healthy relationships and decision making as well as encouraging community involvement and leadership. And I will say with the current successes that we're seeing with these not only the kids, but also the apartment complex itself, a huge dramatic drop in all types of crime, violent and property crime as well. We're going to partner with the the hope is to partner with the Children's Alliance to expand that program not only in size but participation in geographic locations. So talks are underway to have a pilot program with them. Towards the end of June, that's probably going to be a boat sailing course.

Kids will learn how to tie knots, rig boats at the police department, and it will culminate with a day or two of sailing on Lake Weir. We know that's going to be successful, so I'll be challenging the city manager to incorporate other city departments so we can expand our reach and really hit the entire city and try to get much more benefit from the program. That's all I have. Thank you.

That would be a great thing.

I'll take that challenge.

I'll be back.

Thank you. I'd like to say, you know, I did the Mayor's Spring Clean. What's that? Okay. And we were out Tuscaloosa, I had no idea that they were gonna be there fishing, but it was so awesome to watch these kids that have never fished or caught fish to watch them light up with our officers. I mean, were having a blast. And I love, you know, this, you know, we talked about community policing, this is Patrick and Miles' idea to create this. And is just something amazing to see.

And what's important to understand is the cops that are doing the mentoring, they love it, I think, more than the kids. So it's a huge success all the way around. We need to expand the unit greatly, and the Children's Alliance is gonna be instrumental in that.

Great job. Chief, on on the voting that that Todd not not Ellery Dunn, one of your former police officers.

Yes, sir.

And I know he may be older than sand right about now, but I'll tell you what, he still would love it if you would call on him.

I I think I've got it already in my phone. He was at our last, basketball game. Yes, Kids kids and cops. So I'll reach out

to I'm telling you, man. He would he used to do that for the Red Cross.

Yes, sir. He's a great resource.

Many, many years. Yes, sir.

I'll do that. Mhmm. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Great. Alright. Fire chief, Cliff Welborn.

Good evening. Clint Welborn, fire chief. So for our two week update, you'll see the call responses there. Rescue four, rescue three, pretty close to each other there, and then engine one and ladder three and engine four also. But rescue force still leading the way. Eighty seven motor vehicle accidents. We did have 147 across the city, 87 that we responded to as fire department. One structure fire, 33 community paramedicine and core calls. Bringing the calls for this period to ten ninety nine and total for the year 9288. A couple of incident highlights.

This was a motor vehicle collision that obviously resulted in a rollover on North Pine Avenue southbound, brought traffic to a halt about twenty minutes there occurring near Northwest 8th Street. Although this was a high mechanism injury, we were lucky enough that this only resulted in one transport for further evaluation. We also had a trauma alert with two ambulance transports and four others taken to the hospital with a two vehicle collision on Northwest MLK Avenue and Northwest 22nd Street. This bought traffic in both directions. And then we do have a latest new firefighter EMT, Benjamin Williams, that we welcome this week. That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Any any comments? Questions for the fire chief? Okay. Did I miss out on the internal auditors?

He's not

here. He's not here.

Oh, that's why I missed him? Yeah. Good job. Alright. City attorney, mister Sexton, is recognized for his report. Item 15 a of the approval of four grant of easement and assignment of easement from the city of Ocala to Duke Energy, Florida. Do I hear a motion to approve this item? So moved. Is there a second? Second. City attorney William Saxon is recognized for his presentation.

Thank you, Mr. President. Staff has been working for some time on a coordinated project with Duke Energy Florida that includes the transfer of five easements, four new easements and one assignment of an existing easement to Duke in conjunction with its 230kV transmission line project. This agenda item is the product of those efforts. The total compensation being paid by Duke to the city is $1,640,000 The Duke 230kV transmission line project also provides significant benefit to OU and the city in general. I recommend approval and staff from OU, a representative from Duke, and I am available to answer any questions that you may have.

So is there any comment from the public? Having not counseled? Is that a one time payment of one point?

Yes, sir.

We don't get no more money after that? Okay. Alright. Call the roll, ma'am.

Mister Hulte?

Aye.

Mister Musley?

Aye.

Miss Dreyer? Aye. Mister Mansfield? Aye. Mister Bethea?

Aye. Thank you, mister president.

Alright. Is there a public comment? Is there mister Chip? I think he already Yeah.

He came and went.

So now, we get to the council persons. Councilman Hilty.

Mister mayor goes first.

Yeah. Come on. Man,

I'm gonna miss the mayor. I'll let you be next to me. That's okay. So if that's not where you wanna be, go ahead.

It's all good. Thank you.

Yes. So

I just wanna recognize Dwayne Drake for every year he puts on the mayor's spring clean. Over 300 people show up for that. Dwayne really does all the work, does a great job. Darren, I know you were out there. I'm sure other staff showed up. But they work across the city of Ocala picking up garbage. Several 100 bags of garbage are picked up. And it's just great to see people come out and do that and give back in our community. A lot of kids do it for their schools. So I'm grateful.

And I just want acknowledge him for the work, that he he put on for that. We do this Saturday. All of Ocala Marion County residents are gonna probably get these, from my understanding, in their mailbox from their carrier. Right? And the goal is that you would then put nonperishable items in the bag and then put it on your mailbox to be picked up on Saturday.

The need is now larger than ever. When I talk to people, it's seniors that are needing the food. It is single moms who are working trying to make ends meet that are needing the food. When kids are out of school, they no longer have the resources that they have while they're in school. So I would encourage everyone to participate in that. And also, we've shared it out on our social media platform, the mayor's platform. But if you could help get that out, from my understanding, the need is bigger than it's been in the past, so I'd appreciate that. And then lastly, I just wanna recognize Ben Bah. I don't know if you guys knew Ben. He was a journalist for March Today, passed away unexpectedly.

It was kinda shocking, but Den was a great guy. I really appreciate him as a person. He was always so happy to see. But what I appreciated him is just how he wrote. His stories were accurate and honest, and I felt like he did the right thing, and he will be missed. So I just wanted to acknowledge him today. Yeah.

Councilman Manfield. Councilman Hilty. Well, just going

tagging on this here. At Vets Helping Vets, we're giving about 15 GBP15000 a month out. We were giving out about GBP25000 to GBP3000 a month two years ago, we're up to GBP15000 a month. Now it's not just for vets. Anybody that comes by, we don't just give them everything, though. I mean, they get to pick things that they will eat rather than just giving them stuff that they won't eat or whatever. But you're right. The need is there and it's growing, you know.

Councilwoman Dreyf.

I'm good. Thank you,

sir. Councilman?

Yeah. As I stated earlier, I will miss both of the events on the nineteenth, the CRA board meeting and council meeting. Carry on without me.

I see you smiling. All right. No comment. I think we actually had a great strategic planning day last Thursday. I think we got a lot accomplished and I think we was able to give staff a sense of direction. I think it was a great day. And Dan, as always, does a great job of leading it, know, I mean, leading the conversation. You know, I I always enjoy him.

Thank you and thank thank everyone for the participation. It's meaningful and and we look forward to filling those goals and priorities. Where's your picture?

Is there nothing else? Any other comment from the public? Having none, this meeting is adjourned.

Men, I don't know why passed away. They gotta do an autopsy. No. I don't know. I don't love

the up coverage in my hands.