City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. We're going to call the city council regular meeting to order. Tuesday, April 28th at 6:30 p.m. Roll call. Kaylee.

Council member Stafford here. Council member Richardson here. Council member Darmms here. Council member Knight here. Council member Thompson here. Vice Mayor Grim here. Mayor Marks

here. Invocation pledge allegiance. Mike Carroll from Valicia County Sheriff's Office. Please rise. [snorts] Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. God in heaven, thank you for this day and for this night. We thank you for these men and women that serve this city and we're grateful for them. We ask you to bless them tonight. We ask you to bless them with wisdom, with understanding, with insight, with creative solutions. We thank you for their commitment to this city and to the people of this city. And Father, we also thank you for our first responders. We're grateful for them, the ones that are here, the ones that are also out on the street protecting and watching over this city. Thank you for them. We pray blessing and peace and safety over them as well. God, we ask you to cause this city to continue to prosper, continue to bless the and protect the city. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Thank you.

[clears throat] Okay. Number one, absences. We have none. Number two, presentations and proclamations. 2A, the Levit Gun Historic District Update presentation by Daryl Victor.

Good evening, council. How are you?

Okay. Sorry, it's a little fast. I wasn't expecting to go this early, but I'm ready. Just make sure we got everything here. We have a new clicker, so I apologize if I do this wrong. [clears throat] I am here tonight to give part three of uh the presentation of the Levant Gun Corridor. It is an area that uh marks uh between Graves Avenue and University. It's North Levit Avenue. I don't know why I keep saying road in the past. I apologize. It's Avenue. It's Avenue. It's Avenue. Um and it is an area that is outside of the historic district. I know we go back and forth and I keep pedantically repeating it, but it's very important that um this talk is the third talk on three properties that are historically and vitally important to Orange City. And with the school going down, it actually, and I always like bringing good news to the council and to the city, um, we have linkage to why that side of the street is now vitally important to Orange City and the properties that are there. Some of these slides are going to be review, but I want so everyone can see that we are since it's a three since this is the third part of the talk that we understand what we're talking about. So, here's a handdrawn map. You have my little clicker. We have Graves over here, University over here, Orange City Elementary, and here are the three properties, 200 Levit Road, 209, and 244. 200 Levit Road is the original homestead of the Levit family. 209 is

the homestead of Abigail Gun, also known as the Gunnery. And 244 is the home of Helen Andrews Thompson, who we're going to talk about tonight. This is a property we haven't talked about and why this property actually, even though it's the newest property, historically speaking, is going to turn out to possibly be the most vital property, Orange City. Um, just for a side note, 209 after Abigail Gun passed away came into the possession of Helen Thompson. since the whole families knew each other from Connecticut. This whole area was historically known as Connecticut corner. So I probably want to amend it from the Levid Gun corridor to Connecticut corner which reflects what historically it was known as. This is the property we're talking about today. It's 244 North Levit Avenue. This property was built, though the deed office says in 1910, we have absolute proof that it was built in 1914. It was in the Tampa Bay Times. I don't know why it was in the Tampa Bay Times, but it was. And we have the actual movein date, um, which is kind of unique for older homes. And it may turn out um on our research that this home may be the oldest example of a bungalow style home in Orange City as well. Just a a quick review on uh what how this all played out in Orange City history is that we have pioneers from Connecticut. uh a majority of them from a place called Washington, Connecticut and Lichfield County went off uh to the west to settle the frontier. They were uh and some of them came directly from Connecticut to Orange City. The Levits, the ones we're talking about, went out to the west to a place

called Portage, Wisconsin, when it was still quite wild. And we have the diaries of the son uh who also sat on this council uh that that reflect that. In fact, we had um had bits and pieces of information about these diaries that they existed and we have been able to find the entire bits of the diary. We just found the last remainder of the diary which denotes him getting married to the French uh daughter uh the the the honeymoon uh the Madame Levit actually picking out the property that is there that we have the actual date where they sunk the well and we also have in this diary, this handwritten diary, the first piano being played in Orange City on Christmas Eve even though it was broken off the steamship. So, we have found the complete diary has been located which is quite an amazing event. The last piece was found again in an abandoned house in Orange City just a few blocks away. I don't know if I mentioned that. We're also going to be showing a photo that was found in an abandoned house. So, history exists. So, this is the Connecticut Club in 1906. Just a reunion. This is all review. I apologize. And here is that picture that we just found in an abandoned house, which is the most complete picture we have of five generations of the Levits. This was taken on Levit Avenue in the property just around the corner here. Um, what's very unique about this is we the most complete picture we have of the Levit. And right here, this gentleman right here, uh, right here, these we have his diary since he was 11 years old. So, it's him whose diaries we have who owned property obviously here and married the the French woman. But the person we're talking about tonight is not in this

photo. And we're going to talk why she's not in this photo. And she's one of the most important women. Some would argue she isn't the most important woman, but I would say she is in Orange City history. We're talking about uh Helen Andrews Thompson. And a little be brief background are again the Levits came went from Portage, Wisconsin and then they decided to move to Chicago to get into the fruit commodities business because oranges and fruit coming from the south after the civil war was over was big business. But the Levits had the misfortune of settling in Chicago in a very specific place in downtown Chicago when the great fire happened. So after the great fire happened, they ended up coming down to uh Orange City. They survived the great fire, but history of the American history seemed to follow these levit wherever they went. So Helen, who we're talking about tonight, these are her parents, Edward Andrews and Nelly Andrews. Ed Edward Andrews, who I've talked about in review before, fought for the Union in the Michigan Army uh in the Civil War, was taken prisoner um in a brutal battle, one of the most brutal battles of the Civil War, was a prisoner of war, served was uh in captivity in the two worst P camps you could be in, Libby Prison and Andersonville, and survived them. And this is his wife, Nelly Andrews. this picture was taken and we're reviewing again. I apologize. We know this picture was taken in Portage, Wisconsin. Um, she actually wrote his obituary because it was reported he was dead. And then again, as I've said before, he turned out alive and there she is in her wedding dress. So, these are her parents. They ended up moving to Detroit. He worked for customs. She became a music teacher. These are this

is Helen's parents. And right here is the earliest picture we have of Helen and her older brother Fred. Why Fred is important, if anybody has read or has a copy, and I encourage people to buy a copy of our story, the Orange City book that sold uh you can buy copies anywhere. Uh there is an article, a letter by Fred in there talking about what it's like to grow up in Orange City and Orange City Elementary. So he's also in the fabric of this story. Though he grew up in Michigan, he spent a lot of time here in Orange City and at Levit Avenue. Helen starts out her career uh she graduated early from high school by the way. She's a welleducated woman. She started out her career and I I'll go quickly um as an opera singer and this is her debut performance in Michigan as uh then she became very very successful. She had a voice like Sher or Tony Braxton. She had that range. She was quickly hired taken on and trained uh in Chicago and then hired on into the Boston Laric Opera Company. She was known as a a diva, but back then diva was actually a good thing. It's not the thing you think now. She became a a a leading opera singer and was touring all over the United States, went to Europe, Canada, and went to this very exotic place you've never heard about called Hawaii back in the day. That was a big deal back then. So you can see she's was performing was was well known opera singer and then in while she's performing she meets a British tenor opera singer named Walter J. Thompson. They sang together in the same in the in the Young Opera

Company. That's where they met and married uh in the year 1900 in New York City. Here's some highlights about Helen. And Helen was a very modest woman. Even though she was performing on stage uh and then coming to Orange City on wintering here with her husband, she and a lot of this is review, but this is important. She was a VIA member. She was your post mistress, which back then was a presidential selection. It was a big deal. She comes from a family of people who were postmasters, the Levits. She I have a typo. I apologize. She was uh the League She was in the League of Women's Voters, uh a representative. It turns out we just found a news article yesterday. She's on was on the executive committee. She did a lot of charitable a lot a lot of charitable work on behalf of the poor and the city itself. Um there's two, for example, if you go to the Valuchia County Courthouse in Dan, there's two giant oak trees that are there. She planted those. Uh uh she was deeply religious. Um and she was uh especially a lot of her volunteer work is she played the organ and sang at the congressional church, the historical congressional church. And so did her mother. Her mother was the first to play. Her whole family was musical. And even as uh she got older, she continued to perform on stage and uh around the United States. And what's very important about Helen is you I I can see a lot of people probably saying, "Well, who cares about some old dead rich person?" Well, Helen wasn't a rich person. She I've seen her will. She actually gave away her home when she died and all her assets to her friend

was who who was in financial need. So she didn't give it away to just her family. Her home went to to someone who needed it. This is you we don't have to reflect too much time on the slide, but this is just a brief rundown of of all the accomplishments or just some of the accomplishments of Helen. This is the last known picture we have of Helen and Walter. Walter went to England to go see his family on a ship and died. We don't know where Walter's buried. He never came back. So, um, unfortunately Oh, how did this get here? Okay, cool. I didn't know that was added. Well, this was the new picture we just found yesterday uh from the Miami Herald. As you can see, here are the board members of the Florida League of Women Voters. And there are two women from Orange City and VIA members that are on the executive council. Here is Helen, and here is I cannot remember her name. I apologize ladies of the VIA, but um I know she's related to Dickinson, but this was this was a big surprise that there were two these are these are the Florida representatives of the League of Women Voters in 1930. A big deal. Big deal. Women didn't have the right to vote until what, 1917, 18? I'm talking about a handful of years later. And look at that. You have two women from Orange City on the executive committee in Miami. Oh, I I didn't even know I uploaded. This is great. This is the better version. Uh and uh sorry, I shouldn't say that on someone's obituary, but uh here is Helen's obituary. And as you can see, she passed away very modestly. You

would think she would have this large obituary, but you can see it's very, very small. She lived in Orange City and served Orange City for 28 years. I also want to mention, I mentioned it before, um Helen and Walter were specially invited by Queen Victoria and King Edward the Prince Edward who became King Edward IIth or eighth, I can't remember right now, for a special command performance. Their opera scene was so good in England. And I also should add, I think I may have forgotten, they had no children. So, um, their house on 244 North Levit Avenue sits across from Orange City Elementary. And we've always wondered, why does that house sit across from that property? It's always been kind of a question. It could sit anywhere on that property. And as we are facing the destruction of Orange City Elementary, as I said, these talks, my talks are not for sadness. They're for hope and goodness. Is something good came out of this. We discovered Well, I'll just give you the surprise. I want to congratulate anybody who went to Orange City Elementary to congratulate all you Roadrunners. Helen sat on the board and was responsible for designing and constructing Orange City Elementary. We didn't have any idea about this. We wouldn't have known about this except for the for the destruction of the school and them salvaging this stuff

like that. Now, it makes sense why 244 North Levit Avenue sits across the street of Orange City Elementary. Anybody who went to Orange City Elementary, I would say anybody who's an Orange City resident is Helen's child. You are all Helen's children. And I congratulate each and every one of you because you could have a worse mother than Helen. [laughter] She's a very good example of what it is to be a wife, a mother, an independent woman, a business owner, and a darn good American. I was cursed. I apologize. I think I've given on these three talks plenty plenty of evidence and I've probably talked way too much about this property and this street. But it is vitally important that this council understand why why I am here often talking about this street. This street and these properties have been ignored and it is very important that it gets included into Orange City. Now that the school is gone, Helen's house is the last bit of property that connects Orange City. Uh the school that's it. Helen's house. That's it. Helen built her house. Helen helped build or and design Orange Elementary. You start losing more houses. You start discounting what's in or out of your historic district. It's over and you've lost all your flavor. Um, and I'll just do a quick aside. I'm also appealing to the Valuchia County School Board. We'll see where it goes to see if that when the school gets demolished that the new

playfield hopefully gets named after Helen. That would be really nice. I could use everybody's support on that, but I'm not here to politic on that. And I thank the council and I thank everybody's time. Thank you. Thank you. [applause]

Okay, we're moving on to uh number three, citizens comments. Before we get into citizens comments, I just want to stress again that this will be your first warning. If you uh go over your minutes and um things like that or if you um disrupt the quorum, then we're going to ask you to leave. Lori Scottton. [cough] Good evening. Lori Scotten, 836 Arowana Drive, Orange City. Good evening, council and staff. I'd like to read some Facebook posts that the mayor has been posting under her official Kayie Marks Orange City mayor page. I find these extremely unprofessional, inappropriate, hurtful, and they are targeting private citizens. For context, this first post was done on, I believe, April 15th, and it had to do with um a gentleman on Orange City Proud, which is our community page. I understand a lot of people don't use social media, but a lot of people do, and we have one that's specifically for Orange City that a lot of us share information on. and he had posted the link to the last city council meeting um because he was talking about the public works debacle and what happened there. So my response to it was so they voted against hiring a third party law firm to investigate Kelly. Really? They would all be essentially investigated. That's interesting. In other news, I'm glad the rest of the council had the decency to approve the buildings for public works. Those poor folks don't even have bathrooms right now. Mayor Marks under Kelly Mark's Orange City mayor page came back and said, "So

glad you lost the race for mayor. You have no clue what it takes to do this job. All you care about is your little witch hunt. Stop wasting everyone's time. It's not high school. It's more important to worry about city business than trying to spend your every day figuring out how to get rid of the mayor. you want the taxpayers to pay for investigating me. I'd rather um there's I see better places to allocate tax money. Now, that's very unprofessional to under your page. Maybe if it was under a personal page, I could understand, but that's Wow, that's like a really bad look. So, the next one came three days ago. Again, this is on the mayor's official city page. Kelly Marks Orange City mayor. Hello everyone. For anyone who is seeing all these videos from James Madison audits or Mark Dickinson, these are videos that he makes to capitalize on other people. Every time you watch these videos, he makes money. At least that's what I heard. I heard a rumor that he made $13,000 on the video about me. In the movie world, one would get a cut of that. In the political world, I get harassment, no royalties. What's wrong with that picture? I make approximately $15,000 a year as your mayor. Although this is it's his first amendment right to voice his opinion. Don't you think it's ridiculous that someone can follow you around and tell one side of a story and make $13,000 on it? I wish I had that much time on my hands. Stop watching his videos.

Thank you, Carrie Donaway. And this one's regarding training. Yes.

Do I need to state my name and address? Carrie Donaway. I live in the historic district, 347 West University Avenue. Um, I have a a written submitt as well that I'll be providing for all of the council. This is in reference to council communication training. Um obviously we need more uh let's see I see here good evening I understand training is being provided on pecard and expenditure procedures that is appropriate but residents are still train are still asking why training is provided for purchasing cards while repeated communication controversies remain unressed. Many citizens have witnessed public emails, social media remarks, and unnecessary conflicts that damage confidence in this city. Poor communication creates division, harms morale, damages reputation, and can expose taxpayers to unavoid to avoidable legal cost. If training is necessary for card use, it is certainly necessary for public conduct. Strong leaders do not resist improvement. They welcome it before consequences arrive. I respectfully request additional formal council training on professional communications, respectful conduct, public email use, social media boundaries, and governance best practices. Taxpayers deserve leaders trained not only in spending money but in representing the public responsibly and professionally. I'm going to leave the letter.

I believe I still have some time. I'm gonna jump back. Oh, that's okay. I thought you were done. That's okay. You want to stay up there because you you're the only one that has the comments. So, the next one is a blanket warning. Yeah. Okay.

We can go to that. Actually, I'd like to go to the independent investigation remark. Uh, last meeting it was suggested by Lisa Stafford that an independent investigation uh may be funded and voted upon to look into the Synindle City Council's actions. Just an overall blanket of what uh has been going on here. There's been a tremendous amount of public unrest and public frustration. very little communication coming back to the public in a public format of what the response was to so many accusations and proven documents. So I respectfully request written clarification regarding refusal of any request for an independent investigation into matters affecting public confidence. That's your number one priority, council. This city's public confidence for your citizens, and you don't have it. Independent review can establish facts, protect innocent parties, and restore trust. I respectfully request written response to the following. I'm writing the wrong thing. Okay. Uh there again there is nothing to fear. Review helps. If there are problems review helps. When outside inter review is rejected uncertainty grows and public suspicion follows. And here I am. Why was that rejected? It is very much needed especially for those seats that are up for vote. Residents should never be left wondering whether truth was avoided instead of welcomed. I respectfully ask this council to reconsider qualified independent review.

Whenever trust in government is is at stake, confidence cannot be managed. It must be earned. And as far as the cost, there have been incidents where we, this city, could come under legal obligation to defend council members andor mayor. It's going to cost a heck of a lot more than an independent council coming in or interview or investigation. And I have a letter that I'll submit on that as well. I read some of it. What I was going to say before was that so often, well, not so often. I don't have time for this. I I don't get paid for the little bit of time that I do get here. I know you get 15 grand for your time, but I'm not getting any. Uh we're not getting response. It's like things are brought to light at these meetings and nothing seems to happen. I look through look for communications and responses to it and it's just not there that I can see. So these letters that I'm submitting are requesting for each of my three topics this evening are requesting response from you guys. Formal response formal request. Formal response.

And lastly, blanket warning practice. This makes me crazy to sit up here or sit in the audience and be given a blanket warning for for for what and why me? It's just wrong. Residents continue to witness a practice where all attendees are broadly warned before sentence and comments and may later be removed immediately if behavior is considered disruptive. What's disruptive? We know that the agenda in our ordinance does not really supply an adequate description of it. We sit in the audience scared to clap, scared to laugh, scared to do anything or we're going to get booted out of the meeting. Public meetings should begin with openness and fairness, not presumptions. Warnings are most effective when tied to a specific person, specific conduct, and an opportunity to comply. warning should be done individually once and the second time given the opportunity to comply with it as an individual and then if they're being disruptive and have that defined so that we know yeah we shouldn't dis disrupt the meeting but if somebody says something I agree with I'm going to clap but not in these meetings we're being so restricted by this council that citizens are afraid afraid to participate. Participation has declined. Let's see. No one wants disorder, but without fairness, but order without fairness becomes intimidation. And we've heard this before from this council and this mayor

that staff is intimidated. Well, dang it. If the citizens aren't feeling intimidated as well, too. I respectfully ask that the council adopt clear specific standards of conduct, individualized warning opportunities and and opportunity to comply and removal only when necessary for actual disruption and not bogus just because they're saying something you don't agree with or you don't care for. I have a submission for this as well too. That's it. Well, yes, you should be providing copies for Thank you. Okay, moving on to number four, consent agenda. We just need a motion for that. Madame Mayor, I'll make a motion to accept the consent agenda.

Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any public comment on this? Seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question. Council member Richardson, Council Member Darmms, yes. Council member Knight, yes. Council member Tian, yes. Vice Mayor Grim, yes. Council member Stafford, yes. Mayor Mark, yes. And the consent agenda passes. Number five, ordinances, first reading, 5A, ordinance number 700. Mr. Waters, will you read that into the record, please?

Thank you, Madame Mayor. This is item number 5A, ordinance number 700. This is an ordinance of [clears throat] the city council of the city of Orange City, Florida, updating the five-year schedule of capital improvements for fiscal years 25 and 26 through 29 and 30, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict here with, providing for severability, providing for an effective date. And that was the first reading, Madame Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Joe Ruiz is presenting.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, council, respected members of the public. Joe Ruiz, development services director. Uh, for the record, uh, so today before you, as was read in the record by our city attorney, is ordinance number 700. Nice square number, right? Um, they gave it to me and I'm like, cool, I like that. Um, so, uh, every year, uh, with the the CIP capital improvements, uh, plan by state statute, we have to update this. Um u prior prior uh in in years past it used to be a requirement that it was a comprehensive plan amendment. Um now the the state um over the years has kind of simplified it and said adopted by ordinance. Um it really is a document that that lives yearbyear based on our budget, right? Based on what the what the city council approves on budgeting for capital improvements. Um and so it's it's it's really how how is the city um improving uh capital facilities um things that deal with concurrency um throughout the the next five years. So it's kind of a horizon. And so everything that we see and that you see in this ordinance and everything that um is is analyzed in the level of service um document that kind of goes together. So when this gets submitted to the state, they have background as to how we got to um updating these and and what our uh analysis of our facilities are. So everything uh that you see is cap capacity improvement projects. Um things get upgraded all the time, things get um renewed all the time, but everything that we report really is capacity related. Is it adding capacity? Is it adding water capacity? Is it adding uh traffic capacity, transportation capacity? Things like that. Uh so when you see when you look at that schedule uh it is a five-year breakout. Year one is funded within the current budget year. Uh which is why um since we're currently in fiscal year 2526, therefore we need to update that to to match that 2526 and then this one's updating it all the way to 2930. Uh so years 2 through

five are going to be unfunded, right? Because the budget has yet to be approved. However, we do have our projections of what what we're asking for and what we're needing. Uh so level service analysis for concurrency facilities is mentioned. Um and there is uh in our findings current capacity to serve existing and planned populations to planning horizon year 2035 which is where what our current comp plan to um which if you all remember we had the the year-based amendments the comp plan amendments first reading uh that came to you all which is to actually update that horizon year to also comply with state statutes because we've got to have two 10-year planning horizons um which we are currently going to be bringing to you all next month, uh, which actually takes it out. Originally, we showed 2045. The state said, "Well, it's got to be, um, 20 years. We're in 2026 now." So, we said, "You know what? We're going to update it and take it all the way to 2050. How about that?" Right? Um, and we'll plan even further. Uh, so you all will be seeing that horizon year updated to 2050 next month. uh when we look at population, when we look at all these facilities, really it's are we able to supply the need for our current population and for the growth of of our cities. Um and so [clears throat] in our city, I kind of was a little disappointed last year when Bieber sent us the update to the population numbers. Uh they found that there was only 16 uh increase of 16 people or 16 residents. I I argued that for the fact that um Bieber's number per new home is 2.68 is the average, right? Um we have had definitely more than um I would say eight homes, eight new homes in our city, right? And so they have a calculation and they look at new meters and new connections to Duke and things like that. So um I I missed the window in all the transition last year and so the good thing is they they reached out and they said, "Well, the city can appeal next year, right?" And so this

year I plan on appealing that I have all the background data uh for COS and for um for new homes. Uh so we expect that number to go up significantly from the original 16 that they had anticipated for April in April 2025. Um in our current planning horizon the um projection for um population was 17,929. Uh going into the 2050 we're closer to the 20,000 range as we update that and we look at those numbers. Oh, I went too far. All right. So, one of the items that we look at in our capacity improvements and in our capital improvements is portable water. So, our level of service is 300 gallons per day per equivalent residential unit. So, that's essentially each single family home. Um, currently today, the city uh has four trip water treatment plants and also 10 wells. um the add so the average daily demand is 1.715 million gallons per day u and so that is a net increase in the last few years we actually were seeing a decrease although we saw growth and a lot of that was due to uh the piping improvements that were done where p water was kind of seeping out and and we had to upgrade our infrastructure uh we've officially gotten to a point to where um the the growth um has no longer the net is now an increase right because we continue to grow in our city Um however there is uh sufficient capacity uh both in our cup uh which is 2.539 million gallons per day um and also in in our right in in our water treatment plants. And so in the uh water supply plan that was approved back in 2023. Uh we all know that the the city's currently working on updating the utility rate study at this time. Um, but there's the there was reclaimed water expansion, green the green sand filter that was successfully accomplished, the main water plant and alternate water supply planning. Right. So, we know off of Kentucky there's

currently the well that's being um drilled and and and studied at this time for additional water supply uh planning. So, for sanitary sewer, sanitary sewer is a little different in our city. Um, so [clears throat] we do provide sanitary sewer. However, the county is our wholesale sewer provider, right? So the the ones that host the plants essentially are Valuchia County. Uh so the level of service per day is 284 gallons uh per equivalent residential unit. Um and so the numbers that you see updated in this presentation and updated our our analysis are actually provided through Valuchia County. So we coordinate with the county, we get these updated numbers. Um and so the average daily demand is 2.086 086 uh million gallons per day uh with a plant capacity of 2.7 over at the southwest plant. So we are still within capacity and so is the county. Um the Dell North plant in the county is uh average daily demand of 262 with a plant capacity of 6. So we are also still within that capacity. Um the city currently is working on septic to sewer plan uh updates. Um I know I think that's with Joan Edmonds but the current year projects completed within 2526 uh so far are gravity sewer main um installed along Clark Street. Gravity s main installed along north Levit lift station along Orange South Orange Avenue near at Mil Lake is also under construction. Uh gravity sore extensions have occurred on the west side of 1792 um along Antie Galley uh West University, West Central and West Graves um and Harden Avenue as well. And as you all know, if you've driven down Industrial, I'm sure the mayor knows um the Industrial Drive utility improvements are also underway over there um in that area. So uh another aspect, another uh capital improvement element is solid waste,

right? Um, thank God people come every week and pick up our trash at our homes, right? It's a it's a a need that we all have um as waste is just something that that that we produce unfortunately. Um, the level of service is six pounds per day per capita. Um, this is also a county facility, right? So, ultimately our uh waste solid waste provider collects our our trash that gets processed and it gets uh taken to the Tamoka Farms uh road facility over in in Port Orange. Uh so what the what the solid waste department of the county does is they send us a report that they get every year essentially evaluating their facilities and saying this is the expected life of this facility. Um and so the closure date expectancy for the current uh Tamoka Farms um areas of solid waste um [clears throat] are July 2027. Uh surprisingly this actually in their latest report extended the life um although Valuchia County has grown and we have grown um the expected life of the um of the landfill actually increased by a month surprisingly. Um so I'm sure that the county is is doing some things to to kind of uh reduce waste and reduce um using up the landfill. Uh so in their in their report that was provided to us county commence construction of the southeast landfill expansion which fortunately estimates additions of over 100 plus years of capacity. Right? So we're good for the next 100 plus years of of solid waste production or generation. Uh storm water storm water really is managed through our land development code um and planning and development services working really closely with um our engineering department um stormwater [clears throat] division and also um St. John's, right? Uh so many of the developments that you see um all of the developments that you see really have to go through a

stormwater review. Um our city um has a code that that's pretty pretty protective. We've obviously had impacts through Hurricane Ian, Hurricane Milton that um right, we can we can uh continue to talk about unfortunately how how that impacted our city. Um but really uh back the the city council took an initiative back in June of 2025 where you all updated the storm water management master plan um which planned for the next you know the next 20 years or so of of storm water improvements to to continue to improve our storm water systems and improve um what what this city-owned facilities uh look like and will be um to serve to serve our residents. Uh currently the Mil Lake pump upgrade and Valuchia County um is working with is is going through Valia County uh transform 386 with grant funds. Um and also Valia County is working on five basin studies. The Poozer Pond one I believe is done and that's out of out of um that's completed. So really they're working on Florida Hospital, Graves Avenue, Marshall Pond, Miller Pond and East Rhode Island. Um and fortunately uh for us a lot of those basins are shared and they fall within our city boundaries. Um and so u a lot of that transform 386 we've been able to see that come through. Uh we've been awarded about almost a half a million for the Graves Avenue elevation study. Um and then also uh we are working with our local mitigation strategy emergency management group through Valuchia County uh to secure over $2.8 8 million for um the actual Mil Lake pumps um that will eventually take water and storm water from Mil Lake all the way to the borrow pits. Right. So um fortunately there's there's hope that that all those funds were ranked number one. I think John um John's been working that with that diligently with Pegasus. We're ranked number one with the county and in the

LMS to to get funding through federal dollars for hazard mitigation. [clears throat]

um public schools. So, I know we saw a somber picture of the Orange City Elementary School. Um I've I've we've been including this one for for quite a while now and and I wanted to kind of keep keep it up right keep it upy with with um the memory of the school. Uh partially because um as we know with the demolition also came the renovations of the school um and then the new school building which essentially added capacity to Orange City Elementary. Uh so I don't know if you remember last year when when I had this chart there was a lot of or a few areas of red um right so when we look at level of service for elementary and middle school uh the interlocal agreement with Valuchia County that all the cities in Valuchia County follow with with the school board um allows up to 115% of permanent student capacity right so if you have 100 students uh permanent capacity you can have up to 115 per se right so um with the Ar City Elementary um improvements. They added over 200 um facilities for permanent student capacity, which actually brought down their current utilization to 75%. Right? So, uh that allows for growth within the elementary school to be able to serve future residents and future students that come in. Um and then also what what you do see here too is what we add is our reserve seats. and reserve seats or projects that are in Q or that have been approved that the that cities when I say cities is because the Barry um and the land also impact our student um generation and the schools that that are in our city boundaries. Um and so really all the schools that are impacted within our city boundaries or or that we produce students for listed which are Manatee Cove, Orange City Elementary, River Springs, University High School, Reading Edge U and also I IHON. Um so with that um capacity improvement, the county um has essentially completed the $51 million that they poured into our Orange City Elementary School for that.

Uh fortunately, as you can see, um all of our schools based on permanent capacity are within uh within level of service. So that's that's a great thing. uh parks and recreation. Parks and recreation really uh this is one that um I don't I don't know that we really need to worry about from a planning perspective. Uh we we work with developers and we try to do a great job at um them providing neighborhood parks. And so when we look at neighborhood parks, the level of service is 2 acres per thousand. Um and then the community parks level of service is four acres per thousand. And so when we look at our neighborhood parks, um the requirements 29.7 and we're currently at 97.32. Um as developments come in because a lot of these uh amenities that they have, trails, parks, they're public access, they're off of public roads and public trails, uh we we add those to our to our numbers and so that number continues to increase. Um and then community parks, uh which the requirement is 59.46 and we're at a 75.2 acres. So um partially also one thing to consider is that there are county parks that are not necessarily counted within um our city numbers which are within our corridors right and within our our city limits per se or in the unincorporated which we know like Emory Bennett. Um and then the county is also working on expanding that facility across the street on Veterans Memorial Parkway on the east side um within that north of that Duck Lake and south of Rhode Island. So there are major plans that the county is working on for that. Uh the parks and wreck uh master plan focuses on redeveloping existing parks that was approved several years ago. I want to say 20 um 2017 and Valentine Park was in there and and it and has been and is in our chart here funded for redesign and improvements. Uh the recent approval and this what you see here is the Coleman Park um redesign and

upgrades that was approved by city council um on August 12, 2025. Transportation topic everybody likes to talk about. Um I've always learned that um growth means traffic, right? No matter what analogy you use, whether it's a business, whether it's church, whether it's um roads, as cities grow and as anything grows, it produces traffic. So the level of service uh for all state, county and city thorough affairs uh except Valuchia County um are E in Valuchia County limited access CIS facilities which is um interotal system u strategic interotal system facilities like 1792 is a LOSD. So that actually has a level higher service, right? Um 2021 uh average daily trips and critical uh road maps and and level service failures are listed um as you see here. You may ask why those numbers say 2021. Uh the county is currently working on I got an email um either today or yesterday. I couldn't remember. Um as I was fresh off the boat, right, coming back to all my emails. Um they are working on getting all the traffic impact analysis of vested trips or projects that have been approved and and and and vested. Uh so they are working on updating these 2021 numbers. But as we can see, Graves Avenue from VMP to Kentucky is failing. Uh there was a 2024 threelane improvement completed within that corridor there. That was actually FDOT um that did that improvement. Uh Veterans Memorial Parkway. Uh there's a four-lane improvement that was completed between Harley Strickland Boulevard and Rhode Island. Um and in the report um the I did get with the county to see what their status is. We did look at their capital improvements plan. Uh the county currently is working hard on getting the connection and the extension from uh Graves all the way up to 1792.

Um and then they're also going to be starting on design of expansion of Veterans Memorial Parkway from Rhode Island up to Graves. Right. So, um, they're working hard on those things. And then the extension of Rhode Island over into Deltona is, uh, on their five-year plan, priority plan. However, that is not funded at this moment. Um, and so when we look at other improvements, Rhode Island, uh, and Levit intersection, the roundabout construction, uh, FDOT has committed those funds. We are very, very close. Uh, we anticipate construction to begin in, uh, May 2026. We're working out some things with FDOT um to have our pre-construction meeting u set and going and hopefully that'll be early early early May. Um I4 is um obviously is a state uh interstate. Um and then they plan on adding lanes in their design phase um fiscal year 27 and 28, right? So that design is is anticipated to start 2728. Um and so that that'll be a good thing for for our area. Uh county currently is designing uh as mentioned the VMP widening from Rhode Island to graves an extension to 472 Enterprise in 1792. Are we happy it's all done? Um so a lot of people were complaining about this improvement um as it was under construction and I put a big completed stamp on here. Um, I got notification from FDOT the other day that they're getting ready to pretty much just close this out. They're just working on final paperwork. Um, and so this is really good to see uh this improvement here where they really u re redid the geometry of the of the intersection there. Um, if you traveled it, it's much safer. Um, it's much more controlled. There's less unpredictability with uh resident or pedestrians walking across through what used to be there. Um, so I think it's it's really a good improvement. Um and

also if you remember there was uh CRA funds committed to make those mast arms right painted black and and look nice and shiny. So um that has been uh completed. And then uh West French Avenue, this is another one that we are working on um with FDOT. Uh the LAP agreement, if you all remember, was approved in January on January 13, 2026. And so the city is we're anticipating notice to proceed hopefully [laughter] by this summer. we're we're working through their process. Um we're working with their team uh to kind of get things finalized so we can we can get this one um out out to bid. So um at this time staff recommends the city council approve ordinance number 700 at first reading and schedule second and final reading for May 12th, 2026. Um and that'll go handinhand with our earbased amendments on that day. Any questions from the council?

Thank you. Any questions from the council? All right, we just need to have someone make a motion. Yes. I'd like to make a motion to approve ordinance number 700 at first reading and forward to the May 12th, 2026 city council meeting for second and final adoption.

Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any public comment on this? Come on up. I just have a question for Joe. I was wondering how they were going to connect the sidewalk on West French with Worly Trail. So, if I may answer the question. So, the uh trail extension for medium French. So, if if everybody remembers, it's been a long journey on trying to get French uh Avenue Trail connected all the way from uh where it was to Blue Springs Park State Park. So, that'll be a 12-oot shared use path on the south side of French. Uh so where it ends over at um at Valentine Park, uh it'll transition on the south side all the way across um over to that Whley Trail segment. So we we'll kind of fill that uh fill that gap there that exists today with the 12 foot you uh wide shared use path.

Thank you. Any other public comment on this? Okay, seeing none, we'll bring it back to the question. Council member Darmms. Yes. Council member Knight. Yes. Council member Thompson. Yes. Vice Mayor Grim. Yes. Council member Stafford. Yes. Council member Richardson. Yes. Mayor Marks.

Yes. And ordinance number 700 is approved at first reading. Moving on to six, public hearing ordinances. Second and final reading. We have none. Number seven, resolutions. We have none. Number eight, discussions and action. 8A, consideration of special event requests for the use of Valentine Park for parking for scheduled events at Blue Springs State Park. Lzette Santiago. Good evening, mayor, council. Um, okay. Uh so the city has received two special event applications uh spec 012644407 and spec 012644408 requesting the use of Valentine Park for overflow parking associated with events held at Blue Springs State Park. Uh the first one is called the Blue Spring event. Uh that will take place on October 30th and 31st. visits the weekend from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This annual Halloween celebration features haunted trails, guided moonlight hikes, and eerie boat tours with ticket sales supporting the park. Due to the event's popularity, the organizers are seeking to expand attendance by increasing ticket availability. Um the second one is Save the Manatee 5K walk. Um, it's the second annual Save the Manatee 5K and that will be held on November 15th from 5:00 am to 5:00 pm. This event aims to raise awareness and funds to protect imperiled manatees and their aquatic habitat. Following the success of last year's race, organizers are proposing to increase participant capacity. Staff recommends approval of special event application 01264407

and 4408. Um there's no financial impact. Um and that's it. This is a proposed um parking uh option that I got over to um um Blue Springs and um he confir he approved um he's going to get about 14 400 spots with this 250 in parking area number one and 150 in parking area number two. And we just I just kind of did a little trail with how the buses will come in and then you know drop and um because they're going to have um um transportation too. Um and that's it.

Thank you. Any questions from the council? Any comments? Um Mr. Waters, can we do one motion for both special event numbers [clears throat] applications and just state them in the motion? That'd be fine. Okay. So, we just need a for efficiency. That'd be fine. Yes. Okay. We just need a motion. I'd like to make a motion um to approve the special event applications SPC-01-26-447 and SPC-01-26-4408.

We have a motion. We have a second. Any public comment on this? Okay. Seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question. Council member Knight. Yes. Council member Thompson, yes. Vice Mayor Grim, [clears throat and cough] Council Member Stafford, yes. Council member Richardson, Council Member Darmms, yes. Mayor Marks, yes. And uh approval of special event applications, SPC1264407 and SPEC1264408 are approved. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, moving on to 8B. Approve amendment number two to contract P099-19 online peritting software upgrades for compliance with Florida statutes section 553.79 and approved budget amendment resolution number 429-26. Joe Ruiz.

Good evening, mayor, city council, respective members of the public. Joe Ruiz, development services director uh for the city. So um before you today um is a request. Um I I normally uh don't have to to do these. Um being in development services usually people are submitting requests to us. Um so today I wore my my my best sports coat to come before you all. Really it was just my wife's suggestion to change my my coat that I was using. Um, but the online permitting implementation uh request um is is being brought to you today and and so I just wanted to kind of um let you know give you some background on on where the city is uh what statutory requirements are uh what we've done what we've attempted and and so where we are that has led us to to this day. Uh so statutory compliance with Florida statutes chapter 553 is is necessary. House Bill 1059 which updated uh the language in 553.79 was made effective on October 1st, 2021 signed into to to law by Governor Ronda Santis which required all uh local enforcement agencies which issue permits to provide online permitting uh services including submitts uh payments and permit statuses to be posted and available for access on our city websites. Um, and so I kind of wanted to kind of give you um the statute language in in the slide and for for all to see. Uh, when you read this paragraph, it's a it's a really loaded paragraph when it comes to the the requirements and the demands that that fall upon cities um when this law changed um back in the day and and we know hard copies were were the requirement. You would submit those plans signed and sealed with an official stamp. And so when you read this this paragraph of the state statutes, hard copies is only a secondary option at

this point. Um, cities must um provide for online submittals, online payments and permit status on the city's website. How that's done, cities have an option. You can do it um essentially via PDF or via large file transfers or you can have a thirdparty software um that that provides that service for you. The building official may um upon discretion ask for hard copy um as a secondary submittal, but it again it's only secondary. Uh currently uh what the city is compliant with in regards to the statute statute is uh online payments. We were able to work um with our our finance team who's done a great job at at helping us kind of navigate through some of these items. Um and so we have on our online uh on our website, we have a portal for payments for our permits and also our development applications. Um that really is a temporary patch uh when we look at everything uh because it is another third-party source um that we use um and it deals with both our staff and finance staff having to reconcile that and make sure that payment payments from one system are posted to another system. um and and it kind of gets redundant and and and really tax staff both multiple departments to to do this um which includes building planning and finance. Um so when we look at the uh current permitting workflow challenges uh so today um if you call our building department due to uh one staffing and due to our functionalities and capabilities with our current permitting system hard copy submitts are are required and they're manual rout manually routed um which cause delays. Uh so I've worked um in places like Deltona uh that have what what I'm proposing to you all today uh where essentially applicants submit their permits online and magically the system

itself creates a new permit number. So the a staff member doesn't have to sit there and put that information in and create that permit number. Um and it kind of it it it automates a lot of the processes uh which helps cut cut down on a lot of um information and a lot of repetitive data entry um and duplicate comments that occur. And so when we look at uh duplicate comments it's um sometimes uh you know right right now the way it's reviewed is it's kind of reviewed in its own silos. So the building department gets permits per se, they review it, it gets transferred over to fire, fire reviews, they bring it back. Um there is coordination that occurs with within those reviews. Um but currently there's no uh system to do online review. Um which is the way of the future and the way the state is looking for us to go. Um and really there's no there's no opportunity for say the fire marshall and the building officer to sit down on a at their own respective computers and kind of look at plans together. Um unless they have it open on their screen and they've got to use Adobe and things like that. Um part of the challenges is timeconuming plan stamping and correction letters. Um other than using Adobe uh PDF um where you can create stamps um currently our software doesn't allow for digital stamping of of approval. Uh so realistically a permit comes in uh we review those permits uh once they're ready to get stamped. Fire department stamps them or building department stamps them. um if it requires planning review, planning stamps um and then the building official at that time has staff or himself can scan that in right put it in the system. We have the approved scanned document and then that gets provided to the applicants um as as we'll kind of go through in a little bit later. Everything will be digital. Everything will be done digitally and so we won't have to do that redundant scanning um that we currently have to do today. Um and also u we currently have to do letters or correction or or review letters that uh are individually

produced through word um and that also gets sent to the applicants via separate emails. [clears throat] Um as mentioned it kind of limits interdep departmental coordination. There's no real concurrent review other than until the plans make their way through departments. Um yes we can attach plans uh via entergov in our current setup. Um but again it has to be reviewed through Adobe and if you're going to make comments and things like that. Um frequent applicant inquiries and incomplete resubmitts will be cut down uh because um currently today we've got to deal with people and um if they don't have all their paperwork unfortunately that gets sent back um depending on how how um how deficient their application is. And so there's a lot of that back and forth um that the system would cut down on. Uh so just some previous attempts um the city sta when I say the city I mean staff staff has not sat idle um really it's been a coordination with development services um planning building and our IT administrator over the year since the the signing of the bill in 2021 um to attempt to to launch an online self-service portal. So in your agenda item um we have shown that there was a previous amendment to the to the Energ or to the Tyler um contract back in 2022 and that was to work towards getting online system uh launched and integrated. Um and so we tried that back in 2024 and unfortunately um it was not a success. Um so if you see the anonymous quote at the bottom there um the quoter will stay anonymous. they say we continue to try we continue to try um to improve our system and get this compliant. Uh so when we looked at and we tried to launch that the customer uh interface included uh in the current service package is not suitable for online customer use. Uh we worked back and forth with it to say, "Hey, can you create an interface that when someone

comes in and submits their online permit, um it's user friendly, it's easy to use because what we have really gives a lot of the back-end information. It asks for impact uh fees. It asks for um occupation of the building and things like that that are really all already laid out on the plan um and determined by our plan reviewers. Um, and so anyone kind of going in there, we we did get multiple complaints from people when we tried to launch it and they said it was overwhelming. What what do I fill out? What don't I fill out? And so it was just really confusing and and we decided, you know what, let's just let's just shut this down and retry again. Um, and so um, also with the current online permitting software that we do have that's that's currently stagnant, uh, staff would need to rely on Adobe Suite for digital review and approval. Um so kind of this proposal today will integrate both intake and uh plan review uh and coordination. So um I just I we did want to kind of give a comparison um to who's using this um and what does it look like and what does our current configuration look like. Um and so when you when you look at um we got with with Tyler Technologies um they gave us several municipalities that are working towards the uh the e reviews as well as Digi Plan and kind of rolling this out and so we compared it with the city of CMI because CMI has successfully launched it. They're they're using it. Uh so when you look at their system, they've got automatic impact feed calculations that the system does based on the square footages and based on the use that the people put in their system or in their application uh development uh information. Um I we I should have been able to swap the development, right? But I don't know what happened there. Um and then the attachments, right? They can put their attachments and so here here's the the sheet that you can see that

looks like a one-pager and easy to kind of navigate. And then lo and behold, here's the cities long list uh which has people select impact fee classification uh select the building code occupancy uh provide the co fire code requirements and attachments. And so I just wanted to kind of blow it up a little better for us to see here. Um anybody kind of going in there, it looks like a college application that you're filling out for this for the University of UF, right? um you've got a whole host of things that you've got to go in there and fill out which unfortunately don't really pertain to the applicant. It pertains to staff on the back end. Um so [clears throat] staff and shutting down the uh current configuration that we have uh for the online self-service portal uh we explored a couple of different options. Um statute does say it doesn't have to be a third party, it can be PDF, right? Um so we looked into alternative one alternative one which is online website portal for applicants to submit a PDF application form with all supporting and required documents. Um, and Becky was was working on this, God bless her heart, before she she retired, uh, back last year, uh, in June. And she, one of her one of her, um, commissions to me was, "Jill, get it done. Get it done, Joe." Um, so, working with our new building official, we tried to get it done, but then we realized there's a lot of work that goes into doing that online PDF portal. Uh so when you look at uh the website portal for online uh permit fee payments and permit status um would also have to be created. So it's not just submitting the permits, it's also having a payment portal which like I said we've we've created a current bypass. U but then also the statute requires that we update and it's available for someone to look at the current permit statuses of every single pending permit. That is quite a task. We

get about a thousand building permits intaken every year. That's that's kind of our average. If you remember the state of the city, we're looking at about 370 development applications and planning applications and about a thousand plus building permit applications. Um so when you look at that alternative, that alternative demands a full-time position solely dedicated to process applications, processing payments, and updating permit statuses. So that would be literally someone's full-time job. they would have to intake that PDF um digitally uh process it, route it through to the departments for review um also be the person monitoring the payments and then they'd also have to work on daily I assume right updating um the permit statuses on these permits. Um an estimated staff member at an exe executive assistant level is $66,000 per year. Um and I put the asterk because if you all remember last budget season um we did request a planning tech position right so this would be an addition to the planning tech position that that truly that we need in our department. The [clears throat] other alternative uh was a large tri large file transfer links. So you know things like Dropbox where you can kind of create those links put everything together and send it um to the plan department um and building emails for receipt and processing of the application. Um, unfortunately, again, this still doesn't satisfy the online payments or the online status uh requirements. Um, and it does not satisfy online payments. I said that twice, so I just wanted to emphasize that. Um, and then the asterk there, it [clears throat] also demands a person to intake those, download everything, um, process it in the system, create the permit, uh, transmit it out for, um, review. Once the review is taken care of and the the application is approved, they would have to then um download the the approved documents, um stamp them,

scan them again, and then send them off to the applicants. Um I just kind of want to give you a day-to-day of of what we experience and and kind of what we we try to work around and and truly if we went with alternatives, what that would look like. Um so the solution in working with um our IT administrator work putting our heads together on a staff level and also working with our our representative over at Tyler um is Digiplan and e-review online permitting system. Uh so what this would accomplish would be uh fully integrating electronic plan review platform uh real-time multi-ep department collaboration uh advanced application intake management automatic audit trail with decision record um and embedded GIS for zoning and parcel verification. So people can actually go in that system and when you're going for your permitting and see what your future land use or what your your zoning is and what what uh confirm your address as you're um submitting those applications. Um I do want to note this is not just benefiting development services. This is something that if we are able to roll out benefits our fire department uh benefits our uh engineering department for reviews and it also benefits submitts of business tax receipts. Right? All these things get automated. all these things can can be produced and uh can be generated um to essentially better our customer service throughout the city um for for all these applications that are currently programmed in what's called our ENGOV permitting system right or EPL enterprise permitting and licensing um so this is a a holistic uh improvement that not only goes for building permits but also goes for any other application that gets processed in intergov so i.e E special events, special event permits. Uh anything you can think of that is a permit application would go through this uh online permitting software. Um so staff did some evaluations and

research um looked at studies, looked at information given by the consultant. Um and so literally here we have a breakdown that we provided to you and there was a an extensive uh memorandum memo that we included in there just to kind of give um the benefits and and and the the pros and cons of what we're dealing with and and how this would benefit us. Um and so on average when we talk about these close to 1500 applications that get submitted every year um and again that that didn't even include fire permits or um business tax receipts. Uh the estimated average review time saved is six hours per application. Um and so when we look at that it's about 1,800 hours per year. And if you calculate it on a on a 0.9 of a full-time equivalent of an employee we kind of provided the breakdown. And so um when you look at um our executive assistant which is uh average 24 hours $24 an hour and then 150 um when and that is a plan reviewer fee, right? So we went through our um our schedule for our third party reviewer and so really we're we're taking the value of what they what they quantify a review plan review for and building official salary. And so that would average about $150 an hour um in in that six-hour saving. So essentially the annual impact of what we're what we're saving would be about $72,000 a year in plan review time. Um this would make our reviews up to 50% faster. This would shorten approval process um because it would do away with a lot of the manual entry, manual scanning, manual processing that we do. um and reduce submittals um and when we save submittals is all that back and forth that staff has to deal with the applicants and and give guidance um because essentially the system will reject certain things and it's going to be built to say you still don't have this, you still don't have that. These are requirements that you need for your

submittal. Uh so it'll kind of um also uh reduce that that uh that that friction sometimes that occurs with people submitting because the system will kind of give that that guidance upon submitt. Um and so when we look at the three-year financial projection um and I want you to remember the $66,000 staff member cost that was that would be reoccurring, right? That would be in a position that would happen six every year 66,000. Uh so the quote that was submitted in the packet and submitted in the agenda uh for the first year cost will be $85,600. Um so in amending that existing contract um to bring us up to date um and into statutory compliance and something that is very efficient, we're looking at 85,600 for the first year. Um remember and recall that the the time that we anticipate saving and staff time and reviews is 72,000. Right? So it's a net benefit. Um, so it's a difference of 13,600 in the first year, but then as we go on, really the return on investment of this is going to pay for itself. Um, it'll allow time uh or staff free up more staff time for us to do other things and be more effective and productive on other things and a lot of the redundancies that we're currently [clears throat] doing. Um, and so after the first year, year two, now we're we're looking at 23,500 uh reoccurring costs to maintain this um in this contract proposal. Um, so it drops significantly in that first year really is for implementation hours and building the system um, and things like that. Um, and one of the the coolest things of it is that because there is AI assistance in in this software um, we can uh, upload our land development code in there and so our review comments and our reviews can be done right through that system. We can link it to uh, land development code sections and give people guidance directly on their plans and directly on uh, the software. So when someone goes up and looks up their permit or looks up the development

application, they can see our markups, they can see our comments directly in the system. Uh so like I said, it'll be very uh user friendly, very uh time-saving. And then not to mention also code enforcement uh cases and things like that will be built into that too. So that's another arm of the city that'll benefit from that. Um, so the overall benefits, uh, it'll align the city, uh, processes with Florida's digital government and resilience initiatives and statutes. Uh, it'll support the council's strategic goals for innovation, transparency, and customer service and upgrading our systems. Uh, it'll improve staff capacity to keep up with the growing permit volumes that we have. Um, it'll enhance auditability and compliance with automated version tracking. Um, it'll support development services goal to improve permit review time enhancing satisfaction uh with city services and it'll support the the building deficienc uh division's goal to integrate software that will assist in automation and tracking of building permits to enhance efficiency for customers. Um, and one thing to or a few things to add, we actually develop appraiser today because they're also working on digitizing some of these processes that they have. Um, so as you all know, we report to the property appraiser our permits um and they take that valuation and that information um and they upload it into their into their systems right based on and so that helps our tax revenue and our and our our property tax value. Um they actually use Tyler they use Tyler software um and that's what what they're advancing with u to digitize things. And so we were talking about maybe the opportunity to where we can have an interface where our our updates and and our reports will actually get updated directly through Tyler U interfaces with with the property appraiser. Um the other thing too we talked with Matt IT administrator um and he he mentioned and talked about to us the benefits of keeping our

current provider um as opposed to adding and looking at alternatives for another third party. And really, we've got a contract. We have um a provider that has the capabilities to provide these softwares, provide this training, uh they have tools uh for things we need. And so really, it just makes sense to to make an amendment to to our current contract to kind of accomplish these goals um and make this happen. Um so the tech technological advantages is direct integration with our current systems as mentioned um embedded GIS. So the GIS um there will be mapping functions and zoning functions and things like that related to properties and then also automatic track tracking or version tracking. Uh so one of the the cool things and I guess you know I'm a plan review geek right with with this uh software you can actually overlay uh plans and you can see what's changed and you can see what what the differences are uh on the resubmittals and it'll kind of highlight those for you. Um, and also you'll know exactly what was submitt one, what was submitt two, three, and so it'll track that and and give a good guide. Um so with all that being said um with this night sport nice sports coat um jacket that I've put on today um I request that the city council approve um and authorize a budget amendment via resolution number 429 uh-26 to proceed with implementation of online permitting software in compliance with state statutes and in alignment with the city strategic plan goals.

Thank you. Any discussion from the council? Yeah, I have a couple questions. So um as you stated that we have a current um software provider and contract that can incorporate the dig plan. It is part of their suite that be able to incorporate into that. And I see that in the budget amendments that we're trying to make for capital improvement that we're pulling out the citywide phone system replacement and using that monies for that. That is net savings. So that money is available because the project came in came in much much less.

Perfect. Okay. So that was that. And then also what I'm hearing is that you don't need that person anymore. Well, I'm gonna go back. [laughter] 60,000 72,000. I'm just saying. So the astric person, sorry Kate, I keep pointing at you. The asterric person, we still need the planning technician person. We still need the alternatives would have required an additional person just for online submittals and things like that for tracking. Thought we were saving something there.

Um All right. And so and then I guess it's just coincidental that the 235 happens to be the same amount that we would be going into year two and three with as we are getting from the savings that we had from the emergency disaster relief. Is that what you're saying? Is that just you know the cost, the reoccurring cost. So the first year you have the 856 and then after that we have the support for the system. We have it for all of for all of Tyler. That's 235 for the outliers. It um so that's why it goes down. That wasn't my question. Oh, I missed it. That's okay. On the emergency and disaster relief, the 235 that the Milton repair is coincidental.

Yes, [laughter] that would be coincidental. And when do you plan on implementing or trying to implement it? So if we're able to get this approved and we can move forward with um doing the amendment to the contract. Um essentially their lead time is about 30 to 60 days. Um and then so we've looked at pretty much from from this date on it it'd be about a seven seven month process assuming everything went smoothly and okay take a look at the time. So what we have in the queue right now is still going to be a little cumbersome until we are fully 100% on board.

Correct. Yeah. It's implementation takes some time. Um so we're hoping um I'm an optimist. We're hoping by beginning of the year. So um either end of winter, beginning of springh 2027, we'll be able to launch this to the public. Okay. [clears throat] Any other comments from the council? One thing. So Joe, this this software will uh enable us to uh deal with the state what Tallahassee wants. They can upload information. It'll it'll comply with state statute requirements for online permit. Absolutely. That'll get us above board. Yep. That'll get us above board with with what the what their requirements are in the statute. Thank you.

One other question. Go ahead. So, when we first implemented this, do we know what I don't know if we were even dealing with it in 2021. What did we actually pay for, what didn't work?

Yeah. So, um in 2022, we we upgraded for the online service portal. Um so, the in in having the benefit of working for Deltona, um I saw a successful roll out that they had over there. Um essentially the interface and the functionalities that um we amended our contract for were not equivalent to getting us to this place that we need to be or with where the city for example where Deltona accomplished. Um so there were limitations to it which is part of that interface issue that I told you with the with the um with the public that when the public submits it. Um and then then there wasn't the there wasn't a lot of the automation um that's needed to cut down on a lot of the um process that we currently

Oh, it just we got it and then it just kind of like laid dead in the water because it really wasn't working. So yeah, we we we worked on launching it. Um and then in 2024 when we launched it, it it it was a bust. Okay. Any other council comments? Okay. Um, first of all, I'm glad you're doing this because I've had several contractors complain about our permitting process. You know this, I'm sure you hear it. Um, and just that we're not up with the times with other places like you said. So, I'm glad it's actually coming to fruition. Um, and you said the business tax receipts are included also. Yeah. So, so, so anything we have a permit module for will be included in that in that.

So, that'll be less on the clerk's office. So, I'm sure they'd be happy about that. and um PDF versus Dropbox. Not everybody has Dropbox, so that's good that you would go with the PDF side of it. Um and then also you were talking about about the position and I would assume that would be Lulu that does the permitting when you walk in. Is that who it is usually? Um so yeah between combination between Lulu and DAR currently today if we would have done those alternatives on top of uh adding a person um to maintain that because uh realistically when we look at these softwares the softwares are for the city right

and I just wanted to comment on that with the council that I feel like whenever I go in there they're so busy with that you know what I mean they got piles and piles of paperwork to go through so I think this is great that we're going to digital um and then of course the uh ROI by is just, you know, 63% in three years and 100% five years. That's a no-brainer, council. Right. So, um, thank you for doing all the hard work and, um, I'm in favor of that. So, um, with that being said, we would just need a motion. Madam Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve the online permit software upgrades necessary to comply with Florida statuto requirements, authorize the execution of the work order as quoted by Tyler Technologies in the amount of $85,600, and approve budget amendment resolution number 429-26.

A second. Appropriating the required funds. I'm sorry, I heard squeaking. A second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any public comment on this? Okay, seeing none, we'll bring it back for the question. Council member Tiamson, yes. Vice Mayor Grim, yes. Council member Stafford, yes. Council member Richardson, yes. Council member Darmms, yes. Council member Knight, yes. Mayor Marks,

yes. And the motion is approved to uh the online permit software upgrades. Moving on to 8C. Uh the new business item, council member Thompson, council, council travel, training, self audit. Uh council discussion, did you want to start it out? Uh Councilwoman Tamson, this was your item.

Yeah. The reason why I pulled it up was just for transparency. And then we discussed two meetings ago that um we would have someone from accounting or maybe the city manager present um uh well staff did distribute the records. We do not know what you would like to discuss. So we provided the records um and at this point the discussion in our opinion based on the information we have to date it's between you all because we have provided that information. No I understand and so like two meetings ago when we talked about you said what would you like and I said well it'd be easy if someone just did a PowerPoint or something just to kind of show transparency to the community. Well we have it.

Yeah. We can we can run through it's the same thing that's in your agenda but on a PowerPoint just for everyone else. Understood. Good evening, finance director.

All right. So, at the March 24th council meeting, council member Tiamson asked that we bring this forward uh in the effort to be transparent and the report that we provided summarizes both travel and training for fiscal year 2024-25 and fiscal year to date 2025 and 26. I will note that the fiscal year 202526 is through March 18th. So the report doesn't capture anything after that. Uh staff provided the reports to council on April 13th and hand distributed them to on the 14th. Here uh are the uh amounts for each council member. Um I can run through those numbers if you like. Mayor Marks um in fiscal year 2425 spent $5,224 in travel and training. Vice Mayor Grim uh out was expended $2,479. Council member Stafford uh expended $4,72. Council member Tamson $3,975. Council member Richardson $4,443. Council member Darmms $2,466 and Council Member Knight $2,85. Then fiscal year to date for 2526. Uh Mayor Marks is currently at $271. Vice Mayor Grim is at $77. Council member Stafford is at $3,378. Council member Tamson is at $2344. Council member Richardson is at $636. Council member Darmms is $386 and Council Member Knight's $451. Uh the report that we provided broke out the transaction history and also provided a ledger detailing those

transactions by council member vendor in category. So, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have or like Do you have that in case the the public is wondering what those amounts are? Just not just do you have any of that on PowerPoint? I don't have the detail on the PowerPoint. Okay. But I'd be more than happy to provide my business card to any um any citizen who would like that information. I'll forward it to them. Perfect.

And just one other question with regard to that. Um, I do know that the Dand area Chamber of Commerce, the leadership of course through Stson, that was included at $1,200 is included in my amount for $2344 for fiscal 2526. And I'm assuming if you have someone else that's going to that, you'll be transferring those monies out and it wouldn't be an expenditure under my name. Correct. So, in light of your res, you know, withdrawing, we are just waiting for the refund and until that refund is received, it shows. Okay. Okay, perfect. All right. Thank you very much. Thanks, Evelyn. You're welcome.

Go ahead. I'd also like to say um if if if people would go to the Orange City, Florida government page or to OC Connect and go to the agenda item, they can also review the um the ledger information with the detail. Very good point. Thank you. Thank you. Any other discussion from the council? Thank you. Thank you. A lot of training and travel, huh?

Okay, moving on to 8D, City Council Facilitation Service with Raf Telis, Christine Davis. Good evening. Tonight's item is rather respective um with regard to our current uh strategic plan that was just distributed. Our current strategic plan will take us through 2027. It's designed to be forward thinking and cover multiple years. The document that was distributed is a document that indicates as of 319 kind of a progress report on where we are with our existing strategic plan. It's time for us to consider how to move forward. Is it necessary to do a strategic plan this year? Um, I attended the 2025MA conference. That is the International County City Managers Association conference in October of 2025. At that conference, I did a lot of networking. As you know, when we go to these conf conferences, we that's one of the huge benefits. And I met a Mr. Rodrik. He's actually the town manager of Aetherton, California. through talking with him he shared a lot of what his city does with regard to strategic planning board

retreat and so forth. So based on that I went to the raftellis setup in the exhibit hall and talked to their representatives about what's your program look like. Um from there they came in they talked with staff and they went back and did a proposal. That proposal should be an attachment in your agenda. So what we're looking at is where where do we go from here? We do this annually. Um some years some years we have taken off. So that's totally your discretion. I did take the proposal from Rafelis and shared it with the mayor. We met. She went away with it. Came back to me. We had some conversation and her directive was to bring it back for the entire council to see it and to consider what does the city want to do? Where do we want to go? So I'll take you through the RFellis uh facilitation services proposal um and we will have dialogue on what exactly uh how to move forward. So the raftellis uh facilitation service propo uh is a proposal that uh provides a 30,000 fixed fee. [clears throat] The initial series runs through May uh through July of 2026. That fixed fee includes all travel materials, four facilitated sessions, plus two quarterly follow-ups. The proposal is centered on restoring shared purpose, clarifying governance roles, and creating a disciplined cadence for strategic discussion. Rafelis a little Whoops, I'm flipping turning. So the recommendation and decision context the recommendation is if agreed you could approve the Rafelis proposal for the city council

facilitation services in an amount not to exceed 30,000 and authorize the city manager to fi finalize and execute the agreement. This proposal includes leadership alignment interviews facilitated sessions and quarterly stewardships. The expenses are, as said, are uh fixed with a uh $5,000 non-refundable deposit. It's proposed that the first four sessions would be held on Saturday, but could easily be shifted to Friday or a Monday. Um and obviously, it's based on a consensus. The engagement is designed to lower the temperature before the group sessions begin, reestablish role clarity and professional decorum, shift council time forward um to shared priorities and future focused governance. So the road map is you have a project alignment in midmay to the end of May which is a deep dive diagnosis uh with the leadership team to refine the blueprint and interview guide. The second phase is a discovery interviews that's done late May possibly early June. It is confidential one-on-one conversations with the mayor, our council members, myself and the city clerk. Then you go to the third phase which is your monthly facilitated series or your board retreats. These are four short high impact meetings focused on common ground, decorum, communication and priorities. And then your final phase is a quarterly strategic uh stewardship and that's two uh sessions of ongoing check-ins to review progress, maintain team health and keep the council um future focused. And this is all extrapulated from that

proposal that Ruff Telis presented. I'm not ad living. I am merely restating the proposal. So a little deeper look on the monthly facilitated series. The each session builds from personal motive motivation towards norms uh uh per motivation toward norms communication and strategic priority setting. The foundation is established as Wyorn city. We identify common ground values and review um interview themes. The Wii is the shared legacy and the program says that the it defines the decision-making process and develops a governance charter and each one of these has an a summary uh report generated. There's the real talk uh session at strengths and uh vulnerability uh where we you're familiar to that terminology. It's something we identify um previously. It sets communication and public decorum protocols for meetings and staff interaction. And then the fourth, the pivot passion to priorities. Agree on the most important issues for the next 12 months and be beyond. Then you get into your quarterly sessions. It celebrates wins and reviews the top five strategic priorities um against progress data. It scans the horizon for new legislative, economic, uh, or regional partnership issues. It checks in on the team health, revisits the governance charter, and, uh, take a policy level deep dive on major issues. Uh, potential benefits for the city is living strategic roadmap updates quarterly rather than a plan that sits on the shelf. public

progress report templates to communicate accomplishments and counter negative impressions. It builds a better budget alignment with building agreement on priorities ahead of formal budget processions or budget sessions. It says budget seasons. It's budget seasons. Um and [clears throat] then improve staff stability and morale through a more predictable professional governing environment. The proposal frames these sessions as a way to move from fixing the past to owning the future. Um I believe in here this is just a a highle view of the proposed dates we've talked about. Then you have the important part and that's your fee breakdown. So you you have your phase one alignment 5,000 phase 2 interviews 6,000 you move into your four monthly sessions at 11,000 and then finally your two quarterly sessions are 8,000 the uh for a total 30,000 investment or commitment. So project leadership is the lead facilitator is Cheryl Trent. She's currently at a another uh Sunrise, the city of Sunrise, um at a meeting there and and couldn't be here. Um but she's worked very closely with me to to try to navigate the this presentation. She did review it and weighed in on it. It's uh she comes with 35 years experience in local government and consulting and facilitation. She's a former town manager, assistant city manager, and assistant county manager. She's a certified facilitator focused on governance, strategic strategy, and team building. And then day-to-day lead um is she's assigned as the day-to-day lead and the city's primary point of contact uh contact. And then her director is Nancy Hetrick, which is the vice

president. And why Telus uh it's a public sector specialized in um local government and utilities. And you may recall that they were our utility consultant previously and have been before council many times. This is just a different piece of what they offer. Uh senior lever service. The propose proposal emphasizes um direct involvement from experienced consultants rather than junior staff. And this is one thing that I found very interesting in talking um during the conference and that was this is done uh throughout all the states. It's not a Florida thing. It's not a California thing. It's Rafelis throughout and the methodology uh links facilitation, strategic alignment and implements um implementation of discipline and they also note that they uh more than they they supported more than 700 organizations last year. So, I'll repeat. This is open dialogue for where are we going for this year is I know there's some big ticket items out there given we have a uh an election. This council could see one new council member come November. This council could see more. Um November's quite far away, but not too far away. Um so the the the availability for options is quite A number of options are out there and we're just looking for direction on how is the best to proceed based on the council's direction.

Council, any comments? I got one. Okay, Vice Mayor, we got four people coming up for reelection potentially. So, that could be we could have basically almost a new board come November. Yeah. It could be one change or four change, right? And that still leaves three of you here to work together,

but we're at a pretty good spot. We don't have to do anything. Your current strategic plan takes you through 2027. So, it's just where what direction do we want to go? And you're right, we could have four new council members, sir. Absolutely. And I, you know, to spend that kind of money for people that aren't going to be here, I I don't think that's a good Fair. Good. I'd like to weigh on that. It's basically the same thing we were talking about with leadership training, right? Why go? Yeah. If you're not going to be here, I started it in October and I didn't know. I wasn't looking out that far.

Yeah. I I I have to say that I don't I don't see the point in um spending that type of money with an election year coming up. Nobody's addressing a chair here. That'd be nice. Sorry. Go ahead. Excuse us. Sorry. Go ahead. I was going to call on you anyway. Oh, like I was saying, I I don't I don't see the point in spending $30,000 worth of the taxpayers money for something when we don't know who all's going to be up here come November if we're going to if we're going to have existing people, if we're going to have new people, whatever. Um maybe it's something, you know, see going forward, but just not not yet.

Maybe potentially bring it back after the first of the year if you feel that this is what everybody needs. That's so I I want to make it clear that um so you had said this earlier but I just they might not have caught this. So every year we do our strategic planning right then and that's what she gave us and um we pay approximately $5,000 for Herb to come out. Herb Herb Marlo

Herb Marlo to come out [clears throat] and then we sit down as a council and we decide what our goals are, right? And and that's how this comes about every year. Um and then we also have public participation can actually sit in the back, I believe, and listen to that or they can't intervene with what we're saying, but they can listen and and we do a workshop, if you will, right? For $5,000. Um $30,000. Did you say that she couldn't be here tonight? She couldn't come for the presentation part. When I find when it finally got on, she was already booked. Okay. Because I was going to say, if someone wants $30,000, they should be here to present, not you.

But the other thing is is I agree with the council. $30,000 is just way too much when we don't know what's going to happen in November.

So maybe we should wait until, you know, we see what happens in November here. Um, and then the other thing is is I think this is more like a a training a team building uh exercise is what you explained to me because our council is kind of broken right now. So um you know I'm not sure that this exercise is going to really help right now and um so we can only hope for November something will change. But I uh I do want to say that it's it was a good idea. Um, but I just don't It's a lot of time, too. Did you notice the time you have to put in for these trainings?

You know what I mean? It's it's what' you say maybe five or six Saturdays or something like that. Four. It would be four. Yeah. Four. And those are about two hour sessions. Okay. So, so versus a $5,000 Herd Marlo. Eight hours. No, six hours. Yeah. I was going to say one day. And so, and I say that because there's a lot of people up here that work and it's hard to accommodate that. So, um, that was just something else that I thought about might be, you know, something that Okay. Anything else from the council? No. All right. So, um, are we just going to

If you have direction, I'll take it. If it's I mean, obviously I don't see with the number of people who spoke moving forward. So, if there's other direction that you would like to give, we're welcome. And those that direction would be one of maybe two things based on what you've said. Yeah. one is do we wait until after November and then set up the strategic strategic strategic planning and whatever else with that council or are you interested in exploring what Herb Marlo's availability is and working with the current council to update um so based on you know you've got two options and it's wait this one when do we meet with Herb usually it it it depends I mean what month about I think uh March and April

so we should be meeting with her see what his availability is. I mean, I'm just going to suggest to the council that we should always strategic plan every year no matter what because that's how we got all these things done for the city. It's real important to set goals. So, I think it's important to say yes, let's go ahead with herb and spend the 5,000 like we've been doing because we've been very successful with getting things done, but then we should also hold off until uh November and see who's on the council and let them decide whether we should do this or Herb or whatever. I just don't think it's right for us to make that decision when it's going to be. We never know what's going to happen. And that's Go ahead, Fran.

I only have to go by the uh the West Faluchia leadership uh that I went through and um that was what a couple months and it was well worth it. And this kind of reminded me of that and that was helpful and I can see this being helpful, but I agree. I think we need to wait and see who's going to be here and then go forward. But I would recommend it. I like the sound of it because we need to we we never stop learning. Yeah. And um you know things change day by day so it's it'd be worth it. Definitely. Anything else from the council?

No. Okay. So do you have good direction? No. Okay. In order to have direction you would Do you need a head nod? heading on to do what to the first of the year table it oh well if you don't take any action I have all the direction I need I will bring it back after the election bring it back after the election and also about Herb for the well Herb is what I need direction if you want to reach out to a headnod okay for that okay so can we have a headnot on still doing our strategic planning with Herb Marlo and then we'll bring back this after November it's council discussion right now. Okay, I have enough head nods. Thank you. Excuse me.

No, citizens comments are closed right now. We're having a council discussion. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Moving on to nine report. City manager. Sorry, I'll let you sit down [laughter] first.

[snorts]

So my first ask is the fire assessment fee. It has been on your Friday communication that we need to set a workshop up in May. We have two proposed dates. if you all have your calendars and are comfortable. I'd like to see if you got if you know if the seven of you are available and if not uh how many would be available. Um ideally it would be all seven and the first proposed date is Wednesday, May 20th. We're one short. Oh, you got another one. It's you go. Thank you. My bad. Thanks.

Sorry. Okay. So, my first proposed date um based on the consultants availability is May 20th uh Wednesday. Does that work for you? I got one thumbs up. I'll wait.

Is that during the day? No, it would be in the evening. What time? 6:30 or 6 if you guys wanted to get started. It's not in this. No, this is just me talking to you. Um, I'll go through that in a minute. So, the question is for the fire assessment fee workshop, are you available on Wednesday, May 20th at 6 or 6:30 for the consultant to come in and go through the proposal for the fire assessment fee? What time? 6 or 6:30? Is there an alternate date? Yes. Monday, May 25th, which is Memorial Day. That's Memorial Day.

Yeah, that's not a good date. She was available the whole week. Um, and then we ran into problems. So, at this time, if Monday, May 20th, works, great. If it doesn't, Wednesday or Wednesday, sorry, Wednesday. Where's my phone? I have her availability. There were problems. I think I was going to have to go back to her and get other possible dates. And it's fair enough. two dates isn't necessarily, you know, easy. So, and the holiday we can't do. So, it's a little early. It's normally a little later. So, um, so I take it we're not all available. That's fine. What I'll do then is I'll get some more dates. I'll put them in a survey and we'll send it out and I'll I'll work on that and then let you know from that survey where we are.

I should have put a pencil. Um, I have a question. Go ahead, Jen. Is do we all have to be available the same day for the [snorts] work for the public workshop? Yes. No, for the person that's coming. What is it for? Oh, she's going to do the public workshop. It's a it's a workshop with council which is open to the public to discuss the fire um assessment. Assessment. And there's a consultant coming in for that. Yeah, that's what she's asking. I think same as the storm. Yeah. I didn't know if it was a one-on-one like we had discussed before or No, that's happening before we get to to the workshop. I gotcha.

So, I will send out the survey monkey and we will work on alternate dates. Um, some items I attended with council uh Manatee Cove School of Excellence, the award presentation, the that was with several council members. Bristol Manor groundbreaking uh vice mayor uh spoke on our behalf. The volunteer appreciation dinner was excellent. I got a number of feedback. So, thank you Kaylee and the team. Uh West Valuchia State of the Region for the mayor forum. Uh the 2026 regional um valor award program. Uh congratulations to our three nominees. That was Sergeant Kibby, Chief Miller. It's a different sheet. It's not going to be on there. and Chief Long. And then in the end, the congratulations to Chief Miller for receiving the outstanding performance award.

So congratulations. [applause] Some upcoming big ticket items are in addition to the workshop we're working on for the fire assessment fee, you will be presented shortly with the utility master plan followed by a utility rate study survey along with um and that utility rates study uh will also be similar to the fire assessment. It's not a new program, but it's an update. So, we'll be doing we may be doing a workshop on that. And then the uh general employee pay plan. It will be coming. Um and these all are going to happen through May, June, and July in pretty fast fast order. Um so an update on the uh city manager report for uh April 28th. The landown sidewalk project, the fencing and a little bit of sod remain in the area of the retaining wall before they can work to close it out. [clears throat and cough] Waste pro we're still monitoring. I do not believe Joe has heard from Mr. Johnson that who will be meeting with us regarding expanding our historic district. Um but I think he said it was going to be in April. So we'll we'll probably send a followup um if you haven't already. Still pending notification for the PAS grant application with regard to the old school uh elementary school. We had an email from Trish um last week or the week before regarding the moving the pediments to our public works facility. Ronnie is our primary contact and they he has been in touch with u or in touch with Paul who is their primary and we're just waiting for the call um that will tell us the date and time that they will deliver them to our um public works yard. They are only bringing them. we are will be responsible for removing them and they've staff has assured me Ronnie and

his staff have assured me that they can handle um handle that. Um regarding the Valuchia County elected roundts that next meeting is to be announced and the same for the subcommittee for the storm water. A new item that was added on here is Orange City is teaming up with Deerry and the Valuchia County um sheriff's office regarding ebike local regulations based on what the state took action that they took. Uh it wasn't very much. So we are working together to look at a local some local regulations to help mitigate some of the complaints we've been fielding um highlighted around like the uh school area. Um we've had people injured um with kids writing on them and knocking them down. Um but that was an initiative that Deb reached out asked us to to sit uh have a chair at the table and we said yes. Our first meeting was March 30th and then our next meeting is is May 13th. That completes my report. I have any questions?

I have some I have a couple questions. The Blue Springs Villas met with the HOA president. What was that about? Oh, so we can't find any records where we accepted the roads and so um pending that we may be bringing it to the city to accept the roads. Oh, okay. And then I had a question about the last meeting I um when we had the discussion about the modulars and I know Chief Long had gotten up and spoke um as an employee and I thought he was speaking as the chief of fire but he's what is his title now? I'm a little confused. acting public um acting public works administrator. I believe it's got another title in there. So So don't we have a public works director?

We have a public services director. Oh, okay. So it's he's not Okay. I'm trying to get the title straight here because I didn't even know that he was moving into that title. And when he was speaking, I think I don't know if y'all were thinking, but I was like, why is he talking about public works? I was so confused. And he was like, well, I know what's going on. I was like, wait, you're the fire chief. I don't get it. So, sorry he's I had to put it together and that's I just wanted to clarify that that so he's actually public works now acting um acting and fire chief um Sam Piltshire is your acting fire chief. Okay. So, he just he's not right now. Same thing I did when city clerk finance director. Okay. Does everybody understand that? I just it was a little confusing that night. Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome. City clerk. I have no report at this time. City Attorney. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh, at the last meeting, uh, the council gave approval for us to file a foreclosure for the property on Strawberry Oaks, um, Drive, and we have filed a foreclosure. So, I'll keep you posted on how that goes. Okay. Thank you.

Any questions? Any legislative update? We have session uh special session next week uh to talk about redistricting. Uh I don't think the budget's been signed yet. Um there is a handful of uh legislation that may affect mainly uh Mr. Ruez and his department and I'm sure if the council would like we'd be happy to brief you and and give you a rundown on the handful of statutes in the future. Thank you. Thanks. Very welcome. Any new business, council? can't see. I got something. Go ahead, Vice Mayor.

Thank you. Um, last meeting on the 14th, we elected someone new to go into the historical committee and then two days later they had a meeting and it was cancelled due to a lack of quorum. So, oh, sorry. You have something on that? Go ahead. Are you finished? I No, he's he's still talking. Go ahead. Thank you. What I was what I was going to say is, you know, possibly maybe we don't need the historical board. We seem to get more out of Daryl Victor doing a presentation. Seriously, he is the historical board hasn't met in what, six months, eight months, I don't even know. When was the last time they met?

So, either under citizens comments or like like Mr. Victor does, we seem I get so much more knowledge that way. Oh, yeah. So, that's that's what I'm presenting. I don't know how you all feel about that, but seems we don't get nothing the other way. Haven't had in months.

Um, so unfortunately we have not had a quorum for the historic preservation board. Um, at the last meeting you did appoint a board member. However, state statute requires that we post those public um, meeting agendas seven days prior to the meeting. Um, so your meeting, your city council meeting where you appointed her, it would not have met the requirements for the agenda posting, we we technically did not have a quorum when we would have had to publish the agenda for the meeting. Um, and then ultimately if we would have published that meeting and that item came to council and for any reason it may have been denied or something of the sort, we then would have had to resorted to cancelling that meeting as well due to also not having a quorum. So, we do plan to have a meeting in May since we will have a quorum at this time. Um, but that's currently why they have not had a meeting in a number of months. Um, because out of a five member board, I've only had two members and I need three.

So, maybe the other thing to that is maybe we need to look into whether that's a viable thing to keep. That's so vice mayor, are you proposing to bring it back as new business to bring it back for discussion to discuss if we should keep the historical board or not? I I don't know. I mean, could we do a headnot? How do you feel about that? Because not having You're saying not having Well, we haven't had anything six or eight months. I don't know how long it was. So So right now, before anybody goes, we're not discussing it tonight. Uh it's just do we want to bring it back to discuss it. That's how the new business works. So I'm not silencing anybody. It's just the way that's the way it works. We'll bring it back from

it's it's not up to you, Vice Mayor. It's up to the whole council. So, we would just need a we Mr. Waters, did you want to say something? If I could just add to give it a little bit of structure. Um, please. So, your options would be to either sunset it or dissolve it. So, that's what the discussion would be centered around. Okay. Thank you. Um, so we would just need a head nod if if the council would like to bring it back for discussion on sunset or dissolve. Does that sound or keep or keep? Sorry, I'm okay with it. Can I get a head nod? Yes or no, please? Yes. Councilwoman Thompson, I not.

Okay. Richardson. Council. Counciloman Stafford. No. Councilwoman. Okay. Okay. Well, we're gonna bring it back.

That's all I have, by the way. Thank you. And I just want to make it clear to everybody that we're not It wasn't to bring it back to to get rid of it. It was to bring it back just to discuss it. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Any other new business from the council? Have comment if everybody's done? Um, not until your comments. New business. Sorry, it's just out of order. It's only new business right now. Yeah. Just trying to follow the agenda, everybody. I'm not trying to. Okay. So, we move on to number 11, approval of minutes. We have none. Or we already did it. I'm sorry. Number 12, council mayors and comments. Now, we're in order. Uh, Councilwoman Thompson, would you like to go first? No, I'll wait.

Okay. Does anybody want to make a comment? Might as well go. Councilwoman, which one? Councilwoman Stafford.

Yes. I would just like to thank the staff for the excellent job they've been doing through the year. No matter what, I would love to thank you guys. And especially to our city clerk. You don't understand what she goes through on a daily basis. If not for her, we'll all be lost. and I do really really sincerely appreciate all your hard work. I know it's getting to be a busy time schedule for you with elections coming up. Just bear with us. Hang in there. We have your back.

Councilwoman Knight. I've got this written out because I don't think I could probably say it from memory. I want to talk about the recent social media post made by Mayor Mark. Hold on a minute. Can we have another one, please? We're short one. Sorry, I haven't counted out.

Thank you. Go ahead. I need to talk about the recent social media posts made by Mayor Marks on April 15th, 2026 because they have caused confusion and concern in the community and I think it's important that we clear the air. The posts you made were from a Facebook account labeled Kelly Marks or city mayor and when you use your official title, people assume that you're saying what you're saying is factual. Unfortunately, several things in these posts were not accurate accurate and I want to correct them so our residents have the truth. The morale buster is having to work in a trailer every day. That's not accurate. Fire Chief Ronnie Long spoke to the council in his capacity as an employee and based on his conversations with staff explained that they were supportive of the new facilities and and were encouraged when they saw the plans. It's important to emphasize that these buildings are not trailers. They are commercialgrade hurricane rated modular buildings. They have a lifespan of up to 30 years and are designed to keep our employees safe. The plans presented to the full council show the buildings will be anchored to a concrete pad, what makes them even more secure during storms, especially hurricanes. Number two, I think they could have had a pretty nice building for 1.6 million. Just think of the renovation of the current building if they spent 1.6 million on that. City staff made it clear at our meeting on April 14th, 2026 that the current building, which is a garage, is not a building that should have been that should have been or should be expanded and the additions were added by staff need to be demolished. The [clears throat] building will remain a working garage once the additions are removed. Number three, I hope the council members who voted yes can sleep at night when the hurricanes start. This suggests that the council members that voted yes to approve the new plans for the public work buildings did not take their safety into consideration. This is also a direct attack on the council members that voted yes to approve the new plans for the public works building which includes Vice Mayor Grim, Council Member Darmms, Council Member Richardson, Council Member Stafford, and

myself. These things matter because they mislead the public about what this council voted on and why. I also need to address another post the mayor made where a resident commented on her original post and the mayor posted from her official Facebook page. Kelly Marks Orange City mayor replied by telling her she was glad she lost, accusing her of being on a witch hunt and suggesting she was trying to get rid of the mayor. That kind of language, especially from an elected official and used in an official capacity, is not appropriate. As elected officials, we must rise above personal attacks and set an example in how we communicate. Residents should be able to raise concerns, ask questions, or disagree with us without being personally attacked or belittled by someone in public office. When it come when comments like that come from the position of mayor, it discourages people from participating in their own local government. And that's not how public service is supposed to work. Florida statute 112.3136 prohibits a public officer from using their official position in a way that harms others or benefits themselves. The ethics commission has consistently interpreted this to include using the influence of one's office in ways that distort facts, target individuals, or undermine public trust. When the mayor posts inaccurate information from an account label, Kelly Marks Orange City mayor, it carries the weight of the office. And when that information represents the decisions of this council and the facts she learned through her role, it crosses a line. This is not about politics. It's not about disagreement. It's about honesty, responsibility, and the trust our residents place in us. As council members, we all share the responsibility to uphold standards that protect public trust. I take that seriously, both for this council and for our citizens. And that means speaking up when something undermines confidence in the work we're here to do. Mayor Marks, you've already said you will not resign. Even so, I think it's important to be clear about my position about the standards our citizens expect from this council.

For the good of the city, for the restoration of public trust, and for the stability of this council, I'm asking you to reconsider and step down from your position. Your public post made in your official capacity for your official Facebook page, Kelly Marks or city mayor, has had a direct and damaging impact on confidence in this council's work by misrepresenting our actions, attacking fellow council members, and discouraging residents from participating in their own local government. And I want to end by saying something. The apostle Paul when he was imprisoned wrote to the letter to the Ephes Ephesians chapter 4:26 says and don't sin by letting anger control you. Don't let the sun go down while you're still angry for anger gives a foothold to the devil. In verse 31 it says get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words and slander as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Thanks.

Anybody else on the council have a comment? Okay. Um I do. Yep.

So, I'd like to read a memorandum. Um it's going to be to Mayor Marks and members of the city council and it's CCing the city manager Christine Davis, city clerk Kaylee Berles, and city attorney Paul Waters. Is from myself and it's dated today's date, April 28, 2026. The subject is formal withdrawal from candidacy for Orange City Council District number three. This letter serves as formal notice of my withdrawal from candidacy from the upcoming Orange City Council election effective immediately. This decision follows assess a thorough assessment of the current conditions within the city, including the conduct and operational dynamics of both staff and council. Those conditions fall short of the standards of professionalism, accountability, and effective governance that I expect and that the residents of Orange City deserve. I entered this race with a commitment to integrity, transparency, and measurable progress. I will not associate my candidacy with an environment that does not support those principles, nor will I participate in a process where those standards are not consistently upheld or enforced. I remain committed to public service and to advocating for a higher standard of leadership within this community. I appreciate the support of those who believed my candidacy and vision. Please update all official records to reflect my withdrawal. I will provide an additional documentation if required. City clerk Cayla Berlesen shall date stamp this document upon receipt and promptly forward it to Valia County Supervisor of Elections in accordance with all applicable procedures respectfully submitted. Dant email right now. You'll get it. Well, that's said. Anything else? It's a shame. Okay. Okay, I'm going to get back to regular business instead of all this other stuff that's been going on up here. Frankly,

excuse me. If you guys can keep quiet back there, we could finish our meeting. One more word out of you and you're out. You got it. Yes. Thank you. No, thank you. Have a great night. I will.

Okay, let's get back to city business. Okay. Um, first of all, Landsdown Avenue, I wanted to say I'm so proud that it's it's completed. I actually saw people walking on the sidewalk and I wanted to say thank you for that to the staff um because I know it's it was a hard project with the storm water and everything and it's been a really great project that I know that we kind of you know we're scared to do because it was a lot of money but we're saving lives there and that's what we're supposed to do up here. So I want to say thank you to the staff for that and um the council for approving it. The other thing I wanted to um talk about was the chief. Congratulations, chief. It was a real honor um for you to get that award today for the valor awards um because all the you know all the cities were there at the uh Hispanic chamber today and um it's a great event. So it was great to see that we had our three um people um congrats to them too. Kibby, um, Chief Long, and that's, yeah, that's the three, Chief and, uh, Kibby and Long. And then also, I just wanted to say thank you to Mr. Victor for the history. I have to say I agree with Vice Mayor that it's it's just a it's great to hear from you, and I'm glad you came up and shared that today. Um, it's great to hear the history. I think we all love the history here and I know that you know Kim Reading and Angela have helped you with that so I want to thank them also. Um it takes a team to do things and that's what we lack up here. So it's it's a shame but um I hope in the future we can pull it together and uh you know maybe we'll we'll get better at being a good council again like we used to be. Um, I have to say I am very very sad to see that uh, Councilwoman Thompson's not going to run again. Um, because I think

she uh, brings a lot to the council. Um, I think she has a lot of she does her homework and um, looks into things. So, that's going to be a big loss for Orange City and I know that some people don't think so in the audience, but that's just a very small percentage of Orange City. So, I want you to not feel like, you know, you're not wanted here because you were voted in by the people. Remember that, okay? Just like I was and everybody up here. Absolutely. I'll still be at all the council meetings. Don't don't worry.

So, I just wanted to put that out there. Um, no matter what a small group of people thinks about me or you or anybody up here. Um, the bottom line is is I think we're getting things done up here when we have time to do our city business. Um, and I'm proud to say that that's what we do up here. we the state we depend on our staff to get things brought to us and so that we can approve them and um you know that's that's what benefits the citizens not the riff raff. Okay. So um to address uh Councilwoman Knight's letter not going to get too much into it. Um I am going to say that I'm not going to play into these Facebook posts. Um I'm you know I don't want to play this game anymore. I I already said this publicly. It was a witch hunt and it has not ended and it is not helping our city to bring forward any business here. So, you know, if you want the city to do things for the residents, then stop and let's be positive and let's get things done up here because as much as everybody else has a freedom of speech, so does the mayor. And and they were facts. They weren't made up. Okay? And so if you ask the public works department, um I'm sure not everybody in that department agrees with um Chief Long. There was a few people there here that night that were not for it, but where's the rest of the department? We don't know what they think. So we can't go by a few people that were in the room. Um so I just wanted to point it out that we really didn't have the whole department here to say no, we don't want that or yes, we want that. We had to go with what we heard that night. I also want to say that I I really would like for the council to address the chair when you're going to speak because that's how we keep the quorum. And when the audience screams out like that and does things

like that, it's that's what kills the quorum here. And that's my job is to keep the quorum. It's not to shut you all down. It's to keep the quorum in this meeting. This is a meeting. This is not a show. It's not a show where you clap in an audience. If you want to be happy about something, that's great, you know, but we have to keep going and we have to get things done. And I think you all need to understand that that we're we're trying to get things done up here. When you come in and disrupt or or or disrupt the decorum, that's why I do that. That's why I give that warning now because it takes off time from having to give a warning and then and then to do that. So, I wanted to be clear that I did speak with our attorney about that, that it was legal to do that. So, I only do what our attorney tells us that we can do. But if you want to speak during public comment, absolutely, you get your three minutes. That is your right to do that. But when it public comment or yeah, when citizens comments is over, I can't go out of order with the agenda. So, I just wanted to explain that if someone wants to speak out there when we're on a different item, it's just not in order of the agenda. If you want to speak during citizens comments all day long, we're going to allow that and you have that time. So, I don't want you to feel silenced. I just want you to understand how this meeting works, how the agenda works. And if anybody would like to run for office, now's the time to do it. And then if you win, you'll get to experience what we all experience up here, right? It's not easy. It's not easy to make everybody happy, but we try and so but we are people and yes, we do have feelings and but this is not personal up here. This is business and we have to get city business done. Thank you. Have a good night. Motion to adjurnn.

Like to make a motion to adjurnn. Second. Got a motion. Got a second. All in favor say I. I. I. Motion or meeting adjourn.