City Commission - Regular Meeting

I call this City Commission of the City of Pahoket Tuesday May 26, 2026 to order at 6.03 p.m. May we please stand for the invocation provided by Commissioner Kywas Williams followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Oh gracious God we thank you for our gathering here tonight for our city commission meeting. Father God we thank you for how we're able to come together and do the business of the city of Pahokee and make the best decisions that are good for our residents and that are good for our city. God we just thank you for how you just continue to work with us and Father God and how you anoint our tongues God, and how we can just say things that's going to be respectful of each other as we make the best decisions for this city. Thank you for our residents and how you continue to bless them, Father God, and continue to bless our city. And we ask you for all these blessings in Jesus' name. Amen.

roll call madam clerk mayor Babb present vice mayor McDonald present commissioner Cowan Williams present commissioner McPherson present commissioner Scott present city manager present city attorney here city clerk is present

Thank you City Clerk, thank you Commissioners, thank you staff and most importantly thank our audience for being here to participate and witness us as we deliberate in our regular Commission meeting of May 26, 2026. At this time city manager do we have any additions on emergency basis or any deletions to our agenda?

None.

Thank you ma'am. City Commission, having heard there are no deletions or additions to our agenda, what is your pleasure?

Mayor Babb, I move that we accept the agenda as printed. I second.

it has been moved by vice mayor mcdonough and properly second by commissioner Williams for the adoption of the agenda as presented call for questions hearing none are you ready for a vote roll call madam clerk Vice Mayor McDonald yes Commissioner Calvin Williams yes Commissioner McPherson yes Commissioner Scott yes Mayor Babb yes thank you Madam Clerk thank you Commissioners motion passed by unanimous vote next we'll have presentation proclamation public service announcement public comments agenda items only at this time City Clerk do we have any public service cards completed We do have two presentation and I have our city manager present those as they come forward The first on the agenda for presentation is Lohr

And lower stands for Lake Okeechobee Regional Economic Alliance of Palm Beach County.

First I'd like to say good evening. Good evening. And thank you for allowing us to come to you this afternoon and give you a little bit about what we're trying to do as an organization. A little bit about Laura. We, from our inception, we're one of the charter members. From our inception, we made up of all the cities, the members from all the cities as a part of this organization. From first inception, when we first started out, Pahokee had a commissioner at the table and a city manager. Belgrade had a commissioner and a city manager. Sape had a commissioner and a city manager at the table. TO ORGANIZE THIS ORGANIZATION AND LET US FUNCTION. THE MAJOR THING THAT WE DO IS WE TRY TO BRING BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS TO OUR COMMUNITY, WORK CLOSER WITH THE BDB BOARD OF PALM BEACH COUNTY IN SOLICITING TO BRING OUR BUSINESSES TO OUR AREA. AT THIS PRESENT, THE THING THAT'S ON OUR AGENDA NOW, THE MAJOR THING THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT IS TWO HOTELS THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT. And we have solicited some lobbyists to lobby for us to try to get these hotels, get a nice hotel in our community. We're in the process of looking, trying to find properties. I don't know if you're aware or not, but you should be aware. THAT WE HAVE TRIED TO POLL EACH ONE OF OUR CITIES TO SEE IF THEY HAVE ANY LAND OR ANYTHING SUCH THAT WE COULD USE IN ORDER TO PUT A NICE HOTEL THAT WOULD BENEFIT THE GLAZE AREA. AND THIS IS FOR THE GLAZE AREA, NOT FOR BELL GLAZE, NOT FOR POHOKI, NOT FOR SOUTH BAY. AND WE HAVE TO ADD CADELE POINT BECAUSE THIS IS A PART OF OUR our region, and even though a lot of people don't recognize them, but we have to recognize them because they all do have citizens in there, and they're taxpayer citizens. They should be recognized in our community. But the thing that we are doing now, and we're a nonprofit organization, and basically we survive on donations. And when we first started out, the city was donating, like each city donated $5,000 a piece, and they did this area for a period of time. And it kind of dropped off. But this is money that we use. We don't spend money or send donations or anything. We just use the money to try to lobby for agencies to go into different countries, different cities, different conventions and things and try to lobby for the Glades area and sell our area as what we have to offer as a place that you would want to bring a nice business of such. I look at Fent Rock and a couple of the race track stations that we have. We work closely with some of the things that help get us some of those places here. A major, major thing with Fent Rock. That's one of our major tasks that we worked on to get here. So I'm going to sit back and I just want to give a little introduction of where we are. And I'll let Mrs. Roberts kind of fill you in on a little more detail as to what's going on. Thank you.

Thank you, Coach Rose. As you all well know, he represents the Tri-Cities Education Commission, sits on many, many boards, advocating for our communities, and he is just a super value to the LORE board. He's been with us since its inception, and he does a super job for us. You all know Ron Doncaster also, who is... in charge of Lakeside Medical and what he does with Tampa General. So he's here on a different matter tonight, but he also is a member of the LORE Board. Also, your very own Ms. Brenda Bryant has spent countless hours with LORE attending the meetings when she was representing Representative Berman. and has contributed by giving of her time, talent, and input into things that Laura is doing to try to benefit the communities. This specifically is a request really for information so you all can understand why the request is coming before you. And it is for us to be able to pay for. We've already gotten a proposal from JLL, which is a national company who is best in class for preparing feasibility studies and marketability studies. When we first started out, Lore is the person that's doing this. So it's not, as Coach indicated, not for one city or a separate entity. But it is for all municipalities. What we are attempting to do is have in a report feasibility and marketability to show what our communities can use, how many beds we can fill in a hotel. Hotels require this information before they will come and do things by way of backward. And if I run over, you'll tell me to stop talking. I could talk about this forever. But Coach Rhodes and Laura hosted a tour and cobblestones hotel who is out in the middle of the country came specifically and is looking to increase their position in florida in south florida they started on a program in green acres it's not going to work for them there but they actually came and toured Ava Parker with Palm Beach State College is a part of this project as well. She offered five acres free to not just their hotel, anybody that's coming. What we've done thus far is gathered properties that are available in each community, but that's not an exhaustive list. once we're able to hire the company to do the feasibility study they will reach out to each community so that they can each community can tell them what properties they have that would potentially be a good site this isn't that we're picking a site it's just so that a potential hotel chain would be able to look at it and say yes these are the properties that are available for instance some in South Bay have it on the corridor right on 27 and that's interesting to them but we toured them in pahokee in belgrade in south bay we didn't go all the way to canal point but the mayor mayor sarah baxter reached out to me specifically and said well are you all including canal point and we said well yes we would like to but we don't have enough money to finish the project and she is willing to bring from the county 50% of the entire project is a fixed fit. Excuse me. $35,000 asked for the report that we will have both a feasibility study and a marketability study to say which that restaurants can be supported out here. It doesn't say which restaurant, right? But they will be able to go. We will be able to go to a restaurant and say, Look, here's the feasibility study. It says that with enough residents from Belgrade, Pahokee, South Bay and Canal Point, we can fill this many hotel rooms per night. and so on and so forth so we have compared two different companies that do this type of work we also compared it to the county that offered to do it for free the county doesn't even have a rfp in place they would have to create it you all know how much red tape that takes we love the county but we don't want to wait that long we have people as i say cobblestone is calling us back saying where's the feasibility study we want to move And you may not like cobblestone. We don't have to use cobblestone. We need this same information for any brand that comes out here. Also looking at a Fairfield in South Bay and some other things. So we're making progress. And so in comparison, the other company also came back with a $35,000 fee, but it was not as comprehensive. one of the people that is a member of the business development board sits on that board with me actually is in charge of the hotel concessions excuse me the airport concessions and so she's she's kind of sort of from the glades she knows and understands business and she's interested and getting behind one of these franchises potentially investing and helping us structure this so i feel like we've got a lot of different people who have expertise in this area not just us as coach said we're volunteers which is true but um the city of bell glade has committed the check is in the path we should have it this week of ten thousand dollars to do this project we would love for the city of uh pahokee to give us five thousand dollars they used to do five thousand dollars every year obviously that's not as much but our city doesn't have as many residents and so we thought that that was fair the city of South Bay has already witnessed a check for $3,000 because we didn't have to go through the Commission process and take so long to get approval we can go back for more if we need to that left a difference of $17,000 if city of Pahokee contributes 5,000 and mayor Baxter has indicated and told her staff Jonathan Brown most of you know his working on pot of money that would be there to contribute that because the county's included through the unincorporated area okay so I'm available for questions we are super excited about this project we've been working on it for probably three months this is where we are we it will take five weeks to complete they said five to eight I'm pushing for five once we retain them so any questions I'm happy to answer or I can speak with each of you individually and provide you documentation anything else that you need and I want to qualify clarify one other thing coach said we were lobbying we're not certified lobbyists so he just means that in a loving term as that we're out begging okay that's all I have mr. mayor

Yes, I have a few questions.

From your perspective, would this help us?

It would help us greatly, I think. Part of where Lakeside wants to be and is contributing to this effort is we want to help support the community any way we can.

And in order for us to bring the doctors and the people we need out to the community, we need these types of places for people to come and stay, places for them to eat. And we want to drive as much business, one, it's working on from east to west as it's going from west to east. That's what we're trying to do.

It's also symbolic, as people see that kind of development

have a few question as a in the video with the mayor I would definitely solicit is commissioned to support this project for was the funding the $5,000 finding A few years ago, we looked at a project to build a hotel, and we do have an ideal spot. It's an old city hall location as you go up to the lakefront. Thirdly, the business development board with Kelly Smallridge, the CEO, was kind of spearheading it. And I'm asking, I don't know, have you noticed that project was kind of on the table at one point? But I'm almost sure that a feasibility study was done and that may be able to be used, at least as a foundation. Even Belle Glade, there were three major projects being proposed, a hotel here in Pahokee, a hotel there in Belle Glade and a amusement park on 27 in South Bay. There was a lot of entities at the table. The county was there, former Commissioner McKinley, the business development board and others was there.

i don't know what happened it was through a major development out of miami nothing that's why we're back here now kelly smallridge is working with us on this particular project so my question was was a feasibility study done at that time not to my knowledge the county forgive me i didn't let you finish your question to my knowledge the county is working with us on this as well we've had many conversations there at every table so is discover the palm beaches and so is the tourism council and again they wanted us to use the county for free and we basically have let them know and the mayor agrees we just don't want to take the time in the red tape it'll take them three months to get a rfp ready for us then we've got to go out to rfp and so maybe a year from now we'll have something we already have people on the hook that want to come here and they're looking for a feasibility study anything that you know they if they had a feasibility study they would have given it to us instead of having us go out and do what we're doing now and again this isn't the the county is approving and on board but not spearheading this no city is spearheading this law is spearheading this and that we have ava parker and palm beach state college involved offering five acres of free land is is pretty amazing so we've got the educational component she wants a hospitality hotel right there so that they can start streamlining classes and courses in hospitality. That's huge. Also, Mr. Mayor, we've already given your property over here to them to look at that. So we again, we're not picking sites. We're letting them know that there is availability. They will reach out and work directly with your people, whoever you all choose that is. to to hone in on things like what is the population what is it you see that you need and want those types of things and for canal point they're going to have to be using mr brown and those folks count to give them numbers now the discover the palm beaches and the tourism council already has all this information together and they're working on us with us on this as well so that it's not going to take a great deal of time to compile the information that we need I'm not sure that answered your question. Do you have any others?

Do the Commission as a whole have any questions for our presenters?

I just want to say that I'm glad that you have clarified that this is something that Laura is sponsoring. I know before I became a member of the commission here and since I've been here I've been speaking with different individuals with regards to trying to get some on momentum going with regards to bringing a hotel here We haven't been able to make much progress, but hopefully, since it's for the Tri-City area, and I don't want to leave out Canal Point, but we always say Tri-City and Canal Point is unincorporated, so that's why we don't really include them. but they are certainly a part of this and I'm really looking forward to seeing this take off I know there's not a feasibility study because we've been checking everywhere looking for it there's not even a file an official file on it anywhere and I know I've been you know asking and checking and just trying to make sure that we get something going so thank you all for coming and clarifying what's going on with regards to the hotel I'm on board with it any anything that I can do to be of help to you I'm available thank you Mr. Melbap that situation you would talk about I remember when they did the studies and they was doing some things to

to try to bring forth that. But it kind of phased out, you know, and we haven't heard too much about it. But if there's something that the community could use, we would welcome that. This is why we went to each city and asked you guys to send us any available land that you might have. that they could donate to this cause. So, you know, even if they had to purchase it, we just want to know that someone was available. That's why we went to each city. Now, you guys should have got something on there. I don't know if you get it or not, but each city was supposed to give us a list of land that was available. Thank you.

Question. Does the feasibility study have an expiration date asked for as a time limit when it has to be, that it can be utilized? Yes.

that's a good question i don't know the answer to that question we're going to use a lot utilize it real fast so i mean we got people waiting on to get it in their hands and there's some legalities about who can use it and how they can use it for instance so jll is going to prepare this project and i know cobblestone can't wait to get their hands on it but cobblestone in my opinion, should be doing their own feasibility study or help us pay for it. But I don't want to be beholden to any one individual. I don't want you to be beholden to any one individual or any one entity. So we do have to make sure how we're going to be able to utilize that. We're still working on some of those things, for instance, because from JLL's perspective, they want every hotel that thinks they want to come to to use them to do their feasibility study. And they will have already done a beautiful package for the whole area. So we're working out some of the details on that. And Kelly Smallridge's team is helping us with that. I'd like to add this too. This is not their bailiwick. They do recruitment and retention only. They have never helped and made telephone calls on any hotel project. They asked us what can we do for Lore and the Glades because Lore needed to get some things going, I think you said, you know. And so we said, we need a hotel. Everything else really doesn't matter. Yes, of course we want new business, but we can't have the bass tournaments that we want. We can't do the things that we need to boost tourism out here until we got a pace for people to spend the night, go to the bathroom and go to the restaurant. So that's what we've asked for them to help with. And boy, have they stepped up the County Tourism Council, discover the Palm Beaches, the Business Development Board stepping out out of their bailiwick of what they do to try to help make this come together. I have never in all of my time in working with the three cities and Laura had this type of a project come together to unify and bring everything together with as much momentum as we have. Everybody's excited about it. So we just got to make it happen now.

And also, if I'm sure I'm understanding this clear, that feasibility study can be utilized for any project, not just the hotel, correct?

It's going to include restaurants. How many restaurants can we serve and make sure that they can stay in business?

Yes, ma'am. And there's something else. I can't remember what else it is.

But yes, it's supposed to be a marketability study and a feasibility study, all encompassing. So we don't have to keep going back to the table.

I just want to say thank you all so much for coming and explaining it to us. I support it and I just look forward to you all bringing some of that, you know, bringing them to Pahokee so that we can start to grow just like Belle Glade is growing. So I will support the project and whatever it is that we can support and do and look forward to the city of Pahokee working with the Lua board as well.

okay the major thing that we're looking at now uh make sure we have somebody from pohok at our table um you know to so we can get the information back to you guys and have input on whatever we do directly at that particular point rather than wait and you have to come later okay if there's somebody in the meeting then we make decisions and everything like that then you'll have somebody on the board that could have a have some input from you guys it'll speak for you guys and say what you need

You'll let our manager know when the meetings are?

Pardon?

The meetings.

Yes.

Every Tuesday of the month.

3 o'clock. Every Tuesday of the month.

Wakeful of Alliance.

Every second or third.

Sometimes we move them around a little bit.

Don't work Brenda so hard she can't come to the meetings. She knows where it is. yeah oh yes and we did just break for the summer but with this team and and the people that are working on this are working on this every day to make this happen we hope that when we come back and our next meeting will be in august that we may have the results of this feasibility study with your help

OK, thank you.

Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. And we're happy to come any time Ms. Brenda asks us.

The next presentation will be Mr. Ron Doncaster, hospital administrator for Lakeside Medical Center.

Ms. Brenda, I brought agendas to people. I can hand them out after. so good evening mr mayor and good evening committee and everybody here uh and miss brenda thank you for the invitation so i'm ron doncaster i'm the administrator of lakeside medical center i'm also the senior vice president of operations for the east coast for tampa general hospital but my primary mission uh and um And I'm a proud Pahokee Rotarian. And Ms. Brenda asked that I come to the committee tonight and give some updates on where we're at. So where I thought I would start is to reintroduce what the relationship between the healthcare district of Palm Beach County than Tampa General Hospital is. And what it is not, and I think it's a bit of a misconception out there that I should address, is it's not an acquisition, it's not a merger, it's an agreement, it's a management service agreement for five years that has some very basic tenets to it, but was also built in a way that will allow us to grow. So it was built kind of tight and a little bit ambiguous, which I think is perfect. between two organizations who have not done this before. So Tampa General acquires and merges, this is their first management agreement, and the healthcare district has never, I guess you could say in a way, given up control of the hospital and the everyday management of it. So it's a pretty interesting effort. The major tenets of the agreement to do some very specific things. First is to address the infrastructure. So the infrastructure at most hospitals is case management, care coordination. So how we take care of patients. So the way we look at the hospital business I guess is not, you know, you come to these in these four walls and we take care of you if you're sick and then you leave. It's really to care coordination to make sure we're taking care of you when you leave as well. That's important. The thing that that's connected to that people may not know is revenue cycle. So the other thing we want to make sure of is that we get every cent, every dollar that's due us via insurance or Medicaid or Medicare, because it's important for two reasons. Number one, we want to make sure we create a margin so that we can invest it back into the hospital. That's what it's for. And also to be mindful of the taxpayers of Palm Beach County who support Lakeside. So it's important that we really get in there and take care of those two things. The other thing is coming up with a strategic plan. The strategic plan was approved by the healthcare district and it includes a few different things. The first of which, and I'll start to go into those with the summary of our accomplishments thus far, is to really attack the out migration of people who come into our emergency room. So through a lot of data analytics we realized that the big service lines that folks typically come to our emergency room and get transferred out are neurology, cardiology, urology, and GI. Those are the big ones. And now we're starting to interweave nephrology, because nephrology is really connected to everything. So we've done a couple of different things along those fronts, which actually leads to one of our first accomplishments, but we're taking it to a different level over the course of the next three to six months, and that's telemedicine. So right now in our ED, we do have teleneurology coverage, which is important and pretty critical. So it's allowed us to keep some of our patients that we otherwise would send out, but not nearly enough. We got a little more work to do. We started that right when I came, and so we're looking at the company now that's there, Eagle Medicine. We've actually just gotten involved with, in a big way, with Tampa General, who has now got a robust telemedicine program. So we have TGH Telemedicine. They have a different outsourced doc company, guys who will be on telemedicine. And we have a new technology partner called VC. VC has allowed Tampa General to grow their telemedicine exponentially. When I first started, I was told by Tampa, my company, it'll be a year before we can handle it. But now they can handle it right now. It's a fascinating company. They're the telemedicine company of NASA. They're up in the space shuttle. They're all over the United States, really fascinating. So what we're looking to have i would say by september october is a new neurology group a new cardiology service and nephrology so that is big in a year's time what i will say is tampa is growing because tampa is growing around the state Tampa's developing now their own telemedicine company, if you will. So in eight months to a year's time, Tampa General, University of South Florida doctors will be the ones on the other end of that screen. So that's coming. So kind of a two-step process that'll get us to address our emergency department out migration pretty quick. So that is important. A really important and big one is we just had approved by the healthcare district board an oncology infusion therapy center, which is a big deal. So it's an arrangement between the healthcare district, it's gonna be under the Lakeside Hospital license, We're going to build it in Loxahatchee Roads, which is right off southern where Culver's is. That seems to be the landmark that folks know. And that's exciting. So cancer is the number one killer in the Glades, number one in two of the cities, and in the state of Florida. So we'll be addressing that very quick in six to nine months. That will be up and running. What I think is gonna happen is that when the oncologists come on board, the site might not be ready yet, constructed yet, so we'll have them at Lakeside and we might be able to offer infusion at Lakeside. So that would be pretty incredible. So that's a done deal. Letter of intent has been signed with the building. The lease should be signed at any moment. We have construction design locked and loaded. The partnership is gonna be with Tampa General Cancer Centers of South Florida. So 100% investment by the district. We're gonna hire, if you will, Tampa General to run the front end and to run the physician group. So that'll be here in six to nine months. That's a big one. Telemedicine. We implemented focus grants, so out of the ED, we're now offering folks free AIDS testing and other STD testing. That was a statewide project that was really complicated to get up and running, but we got it up and running. We're working with Florida Atlantic University While telemedicine is important and it's critical in rural hospitals all across the country, we're working with Florida Atlantic as well to put clinics on site. So an interesting kind of fun fact, but not so fun fact, at Lakeside, there's no place for doctors to see patients. When the hospital is built, some of you may know where the clinic is on the left side of the hospital. That's a federally qualified health center, which is separate. So we're gonna build clinic space on the third floor. We're gonna take some patient rooms and make clinics. FAU, who I just had a meeting with today, has GI urology. Today we met with an orthopedist, orthopedic surgeon, who's very interested in working with FAU, working with rural communities. So I am very confident we'll have clinics on site in addition to telemedicine. And yeah, I wanted to let you know that. And then lastly, well, I'm gonna say two more things. The healthcare district has three mobile health clinics. So I lobbied, we lobbied over the course of a bunch of different months to get one dedicated to the hospital. So within the month of June, it'll be parked at Lakeside. We have an unbelievable community liaison, Joanne Reynolds, who's pretty tied into the community and has a great thing going with, we're already doing education at the libraries, We do different kinds of clinics at different places. You can call Joanne or myself, and we're happy to run testing sites, education, and ultimately we could do actual mobile clinics, have docs on the clinic going to meet the patients where they're at. We had the luxury of When I first got here and we were developing the strategic plan, we had almost a gift, I'll call it a gift, of having our community health needs assessment done at the same exact time. So the community health needs assessment is something every hospital in the country has to do. It's interestingly required by the Internal Revenue Service. And it's a fascinating project and process. We had meetings at the hospital, we went out to see the community, and we came up with a community health plan. And that community health plan that we sign onto involves going out to the community, meeting the patients where they are, and we'll be doing that as well. So once the mobile unit is there in June, we'll be kicking that off in a very formal way. So and then lastly what I wanted to say is it's interesting you two are here. So I see people here in the audience. We're very committed to So we made Joanne, who I mentioned, that was a priority to get a dedicated community liaison, and she's got a two-part role, two-part role, doing both community liaisoning and patient experience, so completely focused on our patients. But as Donya said, I'm in the Pahokee Rotary Club, and we'll go anywhere and everywhere to talk everybody as we go. So it's been a great year. It's actually been a year for me here. Had a lot of great people and we're making a lot of great strides, a lot of promise. So thank you for having me.

I have a question.

Well, so Coach Rhodes wanted me to mention that we will hire local. So an interesting thing, funny, thanks for saying that. Of course, that's a commitment. I talked to West Tech, we're talking to FAU, South University, we're talking to everybody to think about things like workforce development, because we plan on getting busy. And the interesting thing about the Infusion Therapy Center is we'll get that job list first. So we'll be sending that around as well, and that is a commitment. Thank you.

Sorry. So my question is, you said that you're converting space on the third floor into space that doctors can use to see their patients. Mm-hmm. How many beds will that require you to reduce from your capacity?

So we have 70 beds in the hospital now, so that's a great question. 70 beds in the hospital now. When the hospital moved from the Old Glades Hospital General to here, Even Darcy Davis herself doesn't necessarily know why it was built with 70 beds. It was actually built too big. So we're taking eight rooms, eight patient rooms, and it's on the left side of the third floor. And we don't see that it'll impact anything. And if it does, it would probably be a few years from now and that gets us to a really good problem to have. Because we have this different land, I think we have two lots on that land. So one of the things that I really talked about when I first got here was building a temporary medical office building in the back parking lot. where we could put the doctors. But it's a little expensive. And right now, this is the best way to go. But great question.

Potentially, if going forward you get the business, which would require you to increase your capacity, you do have space that you can expand your facility?

Yeah, yes. So right now, when I first got here, the average daily census was between 5 and 10 a day. So we've got that up between 15 and 18 through some various things. And I think what the math shows us is we can get it to 30 or 40. So there's room strategically. I wish I had the answer as to why it was built with 70 beds at first, but I don't and they don't either. Yeah, it's interesting. But the good news is it's a big, beautiful hospital. And if we get to that point, which I hope we do, I hope my desire, I can't wait for the day when I get my first parking complaint. I can't wait for that day. And I think if we get to the point where we have to move those eight offices to a trailer in the back, easy.

I have one question. I want to say thank you for coming out tonight. I listened to all of the services that you say you're going to provide, and thank you. We need them for our community. But I didn't hear you say anything about our OB. Nothing came up about that, and I know that our residents have to leave and go to West Palm Beach for services. So what have been your talks in regards to reopening up the OB ward at the hospital?

I recognize and understand how sensitive of a topic that is in this community. And I will say a couple of different things. An OB unit is not a phase one, I don't want to say priority, but it's not first. The first thing we have to do is start the out migration for all of those other services. But what I will say, and what I talk to the CEO about a lot is, The federally qualified health center has comprehensive health care, OBGYN, primary care. And we don't necessarily market the four walls of the hospital that way. So we do have that. We do have the ability and the opportunity to take care of women up to that point. I get the sensitivity of it, but it's not priority. It's not in the first phase.

And thank you for the question. I know it's not an easy answer.

And I will say there has not been one meeting where that question didn't come up. So it's on our minds.

I hope it continues to stay there too because we lose our identity when we don't have a local maternity ward here in the local community. You take, we're well known for our NFL players, almost 70 to 80, maybe 90 players came from this area. we won't have that no more as far as identity because they're gonna list where you was born at whether it's Clewison or Palm Beach or whatever hospital you actually was born so that would certainly help us and I know it's a hot topic from the local perspective and we hope at some point that that will be able to come I know it's not in phase one But I hope it's somewhere still in the back of your projection to try to get that for us at some point.

I wouldn't even call it the back. It is top of mind.

Thank you.

Thank you for the update and presentation. We appreciate your service. we're going to move to our consent agenda we have one item on our consent agenda which is the May 12th 2026 city commission meeting minutes I'd entertain a motion for the adoption of the consent agenda if that's a desire remember if I move that we accept the minutes as printed second it has been moved by Commissioner Williams and properly second by Commissioner McPherson for the adoption of the consent agenda item which consists of the May twelfth two thousand twenty six city commission meeting minutes call for questions are you ready for a vote roll call Madam Commissioner Cowan Williams yes Commissioner McPherson yes Commissioner Scott yes Vice Mayor McDonald yes Mayor Babb yes thank you Madam Clerk thank you Commissioners motion passed by unanimous vote next we have old business discussion of existing activities of previously held events if any there's an old business Next, we have our public hearings and our ordinances. We have one ordinance, Ordinance 2026-01, seat of attorney.

An ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Pahokee, Florida, amending certain sections of the City of Pahokee's Code of Ordinances pertaining to dangerous buildings, deleting outdated references pertaining to the City's former Code Enforcement Board, specifically amending Article 3, Chapter 6, Section 6-67, entitled Duties of Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer, amending section 6-6 8 entitled duties of the special magistrate deleting section 6-6 9 entitled liability for damage resulting from enforcement of article suits amending section 6-7 to entitled emergency repair vacation or demolition providing for adoption of representations providing for conflict and repealer providing for severability providing for inclusion in the code and providing for an effective date

Thank you, City Attorney. City Manager, could you give us a brief explanation?

Yes. So whereas the city desires to expand and clarify the authority of the Special Magistrate to here adjudicate, enforce, and compel compliance with matters involving dangerous, unsafe, dilapidated, and substandard buildings and structures, The staff, along with the attorney, has reviewed the ordinance. And to ensure that all of our buildings are in code and we can move swiftly, if we had any situation where we needed to ensure that our residents are safe and that the building has issues, we can go to the magistrate. And our code is much clearer, so we can go through that process much faster as well.

thank you city manager city commission having heard resolution 2026-01 properly read into the minutes by city attorney properly explained by city manager Ms. Clark you had something to say just the public hearing once you take the vote properly explained by city manager what is your preference I'll take a motion and a second then we'll move to our public hearing prior to the actual vote I move that we accept ordinance 2026-01 second He has been moved and seconded. At this time, I'll open up this public hearing on this ordinance. Anyone wish to speak from the audience concerning this ordinance? Hearing none, I close the public hearing. City Commission, we have a motion and a second. I call for question at this time. hearing none are you ready for a vote roll call madam clerk commissioner calvin williams yes commissioner mcpherson yes commissioner scott yes vice mayor mcdonald yes mayor babb yes thank you madam clerk thank you commissioners motion passed by unanimous vote next we have resolution we have resolution 2026-22 city attorney

A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Pahokee, Florida, approving and authorizing the execution of maintenance work order ASM56 for fiscal year 2026-2027 with the Florida Department of Transportation, FDLT, for the maintenance of statewide, of state highway lighting facilities within the City of Pahokee, providing for authorization, providing for adoption of representations, providing for conflict, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you, City Attorney. City Manager, could you give us a brief explanation?

Yes, this is renewing our current partnership. The City of Pahokee has maintained a cooperative partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation, and so now we are renewing that partnership with them as well. FDOT has approved funding in the amount of $52,308.88 to reimburse the city for costs associated with repairing lighting and ensuring that our city is properly lighted for the 2026-2027 year. Staff recommends approval.

Thank you, City Manager. City Commission, having heard Resolution 2026-22 properly read into the minutes by our City Attorney properly explained by our City Manager, what is your preference?

I move that we accept Resolution 2026-22.

It has been moved by Commissioner McPherson and properly seconded by Vice Mayor McDonald. Call for questions. Hearing none, are you ready for a vote? Roll call, Madam Clerk.

Commissioner McPherson? Yes. Vice Mayor McDonald?

yes commissioner Calvin Williams yes commissioner Scott yes mayor Babb yes thank you madam clerk thank you commissioners motion passed by unanimous vote next we have resolution twenty twenty six dash twenty three city attorney

A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Pahokee, Florida, approving and adopting the updated Continuity of Operations Plan, COOP, for the City of Pahokee as set forth hereto in Exhibit A, providing for adoption of representations, providing for conflict, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you, City Attorney and City Manager. Could you give us a brief explanation?

Yes. The City of Paulgate has updated its Continuity of Operations Plan, referred to as COOP, to strengthen emergency preparedness, ensure continuity of essential city services, During hurricane and other disaster, improve coordinates among departments and maintain compliance with applicable emergency management standards and best practices. The staff recommends approval.

Thank you, city managers. City Commission, having heard Resolution 2026-23 properly read into the minutes by our city attorney, properly explained by our city manager, what is your preference?

I move that we accept Resolution 2026-23. Is there a second? I'll second.

It has been moved by Commissioner McPherson and properly seconded by Commissioner Kywin Williams. Call for questions. Hearing none, are you ready for a vote? Roll call, Madam Clerk.

Commissioner McPherson? Yes. Commissioner Kywin Williams? Yes. Commissioner Scott?

Yes.

Vice Mayor McDonald?

yes thank you madam clerk thank you commissioners motion passed by unanimous vote next we entertain our last and final resolution resolution twenty twenty six dash twenty four city attorney

A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Pahokee, Florida, authorizing the execution of the Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement, SMAA, with State of Florida Division of Emergency Management, providing for adoption of representation, providing for conflict, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you, City Attorney. City Manager, could you give us a brief explanation?

The City Clerk is going to present that one.

So what this resolution does, it allows us to renew the statewide mutual aid agreement with the state. We had one approved back in 2018, and it's just now time to renew that. So that's what you guys have before you in preparation for the hurricane season.

city commission having heard our city attorney properly read the resolution into record properly explained by city clerk what is your preference i move that we accept is resolution 2026-23 that's the one we're on 24 24 i'm sorry second It has been moved by Commissioner Cowans-William and properly seconded by Commissioner McPherson for the adoption of resolution 2026-24. Call for questions. Hearing none, are you ready for a vote? Roll call, Madam Chair.

Commissioner Cowan-Williams. Yes. Commissioner McPherson. Yes. Commissioner Scott. Yes.

yes thank you commissioners thank you vote passed by unanimous vote next we'll have new business presentation by the city manager of activities of upcoming events if any we have three listed here and I'll have the city manager either introduce the presenters or provide the report the presenters are heard to provide the report we'll have a presentation or update if any from Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office are there any

Thank you so much. The next will be from the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.

How's everyone today?

Good.

Happy faces today, good. So I do have a small report, but I have more of some things that I wanted to tell. I think we talked with the city manager, the city clerk, and Ms. TJ. But I want to give you guys an update. So this is just an average of what Fire Rescue kind of runs during the month. And I'm not going to bore you guys with numbers and stuff like that. But it's always steady. For us, that's what we look at the numbers and the calls that we run. So in the month of March, we ran approximately, and I'm going to give you the bulk, 76 medical calls during the month. We also ran two fires. two vehicle accidents and then if you look at the month of April the cause the medical cause were 74 so stay 72 74 so it's not an uptick and that's some of the things that we kind of guide ourselves you know if something's different if there's more people coming in on summer on you know winter and stuff like that so the vehicles were three on this month and we also have the same two fires There was all the other costs like assistant investigations and that could be anything from a failure to a smoke detector or someone just want us to check out their home if there's smells like smoke or they're unsure or they just call 911 for whatever reason. So we do go and investigate. We also have some fire alarms which after the smoke detectors that we did, Thank God, you know, we haven't had anything but good, positive things. And what I'm talking about is we did something that's called the Blitz for smoke detectors, and we brought groups because we had a grant, and we were able to install a lot of smoke detectors in people's homes that didn't have it. And that's part of our prevention team, and I got to give it to them. They work really hard. Our community risk reduction, they don't get the credit that they deserve because they're always behind the lines, right? The firefighters are always in front of the lines, but because of the work they do, we have less and less activity when it comes to fires, accidents, and stuff. We also have a mobile integrated health system, which is the kind of people that actually follow up And that gets it off, like, let's say an elderly. They're falling a lot. Our crew members, we recognize that they need some extra help, and we will actually put a note on our report. Our mobile integrated system would get it. and they will come out and try to help them by prevention, falling, teaching them what kind of socks they don't need to wear, helping them with all kinds of things, phone calls, getting them in contact with insurances or health support, any type of health, psychological. So it's a really good, good thing they would do. But again, they don't get enough credit. So I'm just letting you guys know that it's out there for us. I feel like I'm hitting the microphone. Sorry. So the other things that I wanted to talk to and I talked to your staff is, Sorry. There was a lot of things that we can bring as Palm Beach County Fire Rescue to the community and to your constituents. Some of those are the drowning prevention. We have something that is called the drowning prevention. We have had classes where it's the sinking vehicle. And it's very important because the bodies of water are here. They're everywhere. So we do partner up with the Drowning Coalition of Palm Beach County, and they come out and they do classes. So another thing that we also do is fire extinguishers. A lot of people have them, but they don't know how to use them. How many people here have used a fire extinguisher? how many people have an extinguisher and don't know how to use it right so it is it is important and and it's nothing to be shameful because um when you purchase a fire extinguisher it gives you a sense of security but it's a false sense of security because you can cut yourself in a room thinking just because you have the fire extinguisher that you're going to do something good and it can get out of hand and by the time you find the exit you find yourself in trouble so those type of distinguishers for The city, the training, the vehicles, it's important because it gives you hands-on experience and it'll teach you and you feel confident. So if the time is needed, hopefully it's never needed, you will have it. So those are part of Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Things Day initiatives that we can show you. And I don't want to lose you, but there's so much more, but fire extinguishers, drowning prevention, CPR hands-on, all of those good things that if we can help the public get to know it before, it can save lives. It can actually help us help the community. PLEASE REACH OUT. I JUST SENT AN E-MAIL TO MS. TJ AND I THINK MS. CLERK AND CITY MANAGER TOO ABOUT WHAT WE SPOKE THE LAST MEETING ABOUT THE FOOD TRUCKS AND STUFF LIKE THAT AND LITTLE THINGS THAT CAN HELP MAKE THE EVENT SAFER AND WE'RE WORKING ON IT REALLY HARD. That's all pretty much I have for you guys. I mean, unless you guys want to come and visit us in a fire station and ride with the fire truck, I mean, you know, we can turn the woo-woo lights and you will feel the experience. So any questions are welcome. Thank you for the presentation.

Next we have the discussion and direction for consideration of taking a summer break from the regular scheduled commission meeting on July twenty eighth two thousand twenty six and August the eleven two thousand twenty six commissioner Kyle Williams brought this to our attention to have us look at this added to the agenda and consider taking those two days off as a summer vacation last year the commission did it I mean it's a new year this year so it still will be up to the majority of the commission if they desire to have that done I'll give Commissioner Kyle Williams an opportunity to kind of speak on why she thought it was important to bring it before us and we would have a motion and a second with question to consider voting this up or down if we decide that's the direction we would like to go. Commissioner Williams.

Well, you've pretty much summed it up. We took a summer recess, is what we called it last year. And so that's what I was asking, that the commission take a summer recess for those two meetings. Just take a summer recess for those two meetings for this year, as we did last year.

and we would still be within the charter because the charter says that we just need to have at least one meeting a month and so we would not be going against the charter I'll just open the floor for any input or any comments anyone would like to make and I'm going to start with Commissioner Scott to get his opinion to see if that's something he would like to consider doing

No, I wouldn't consider it because it didn't happen like that last time. I think it just happened when something came up and we took it off. But, you know, I think we need to just leave it on there. And, you know, things come up, then you can make that change. But just taking them off just to be taking them off, that don't really make sense to me.

it was a resolution we didn't just take it off because we had to get it approved during that time that we took it off we didn't just approve it up front for two meetings yes he brought it ahead of time we did get it approved he brought it Mr Jackson brought it and asked that we had a time off he did just like we're doing now

COMMISSIONER MIKE DUNN, ANY COMMENTS?

NO COMMENTS.

COMMISSIONER MIKE FEARSON, ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO SAY?

I WOULD GO FOR ONE OF THOSE DAYS, BUT NOT BOTH.

I also would recommend just taking one of the other two just for summer refresher whatever you want to call it vacation or whatever so we I'm going to carry this back to you just for your consideration to Ms. Williams out of the two days which one you would prefer have a choosing for I mean July 28th is fine if that's what the commissioner says they'll take one of the days July 28th is fine we haven't voted on it yet but it seemed like there is a consistent consensus to at least have one of those two days taken as a commission summer vacation and the date is being discussed is July 28th Mr. Mayor we'll put it on the next agenda I think you guys said at the last meeting that you wanted it just as a discussion so we'll have it as a resolution so this item was up for discussion and we kind of can sense the rise that we will look at the 28th of July and it will be brought back at our next meeting for official vote up or down next we have the report of the mayor and I'll be very very brief it is with heavy heart that we share the passing of Valerie Mays a cherished member of the city of Pahokee through prime digica prime star digica digica digica Valerie's presence and professionalism and dedication have left a lasting impression, and she will deeply be missed. And I ask that you will keep the family, her loved ones, and Prime Star Digina in your thoughts and prayers. and at this time and you can stand up just right at where you are if you want to just say a few words on her behalf this is her supervisor this way Valerie was sitting in the back she was our IT person we started live streaming in 2016 ten years ago and And I don't think she missed very few meetings twice a month here. I'm always conscious of look out and ask, are we ready, IT, are you ready? And she always gives me the thumbs up that I mean she'll be able to proceed. So we'll let the supervisor just give a few words on it.

Good evening, Mayor, Commission, community. Thank you for the actual kind words for Valerie. I want to just thank everyone for their thoughts, their prayers, their phone calls. It was a surprise when I saw the email from the city clerk. um showing that the city wanted to recognize her so that really touched me and i immediately copied the email and i sent it to her family so they can see because as you all know valerie and i were the only ones that were getting the city emails so it was you know such a delight to see that you all knew what happened and then wanted to express yourselves and then today coming in you know working with the city clerk and then um commissioner williams coming in and and wanting to just you know um express kind words and then the city attorney miss weeks coming in wanting to just express kind words you know it really means a lot um not only to me but I can't even imagine how heavy this is for the immediate family because you know we always think that we're going to be here forever and you know to your point you know she was always the quiet person who was just she made things work and people would always say when you see Darren and you see her because we've traveled around the country together we've done a lot of you know, big projects together, and she was the most loyal person ever. And about two months ago, we had to just basically, you know, bring Derek in to take over some of her work for her. And it's been a transition. And everyone knows my name, Darian Doherty. And Mary, you're right. You know, we came to the city about eight years ago and it started as an initial conversation and no one knew that we would be around this long providing services for as many municipalities and as it's always been a privilege. And in building the company, you know, Valerie was very instrumental in the architectural structure of the company and we're so privileged to provide same similar services to a lot of municipalities you know i'm here in south florida and just the out form of support that i've seen in the past 48 hours it's just really uplifting And it makes me, you know, think to myself that when it's my time, if I just receive a third of the positive acknowledgments, you know, I think I will be blessed because I've received so many inquiries about her day and night. And, you know, today is a day that I really wish my name wasn't Darian Doherty. I wish it was John Coffey. because in the green ball he was able to resolve things and at this point that's what the show is thank you and this city will be providing a proclamation and a flowers arrangement

That will conclude my report. Next, we'll have the report of the city manager.

Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. We will start the report with the Tri-City events that are occurring. And so the first we have is the Senior Citizens Prom, and I'm going to ask Ms. Annie Eiffel to present the information on that. you have in your packet the budget as well as the letter from the organization also.

Good evening, Mayor, Commission, and Pahokee residents.

My name is Anna Eichel with Healthier Glaze, but in this capacity, I'm serving as the chair for the Senior Citizens Prom. For those who don't know, for the past couple of years, a group of residents and organizations have come together to provide a a social event for our seniors in our community. And so each year, and Mayor Babb knows this as well, we always invite the cities to support the senior prom in some capacity. The last time that we had it here in Pahokee, City of Pahokee provided us with the use of the facility for the event. So this year we also are including, we started including Clewiston as part of this as well. So it's actually Quad City. But we've included And I sent a letter to Ms. Bryant asking her to share with you guys. We're asking all of the cities to provide us with support of $1,050 to offset the cost for the senior prom. And this will be coming from all four cities. What that will include is for the pay for the use of the facility, as well as other items regarding the DJ, the 360 machine, and other stuff. this event is at no cost to the seniors and this was um the original brainchild of miss lynette butts who started this years ago before i even became part of this and so um reverend lauren willie lawrence has been in communication with all of the cities um i know he's been in close communication with both mayor kyle's mayor i mean mayor wilson And I know they probably have gotten in contact with you, Mayor Babb, as well. So right now we finally got the logistics. The event is June six, which is next Saturday. Um, and they're at, we're asking everyone to contribute, uh, a thousand and $50. We've already gotten our checks from, um, Belgrade, uh, South Bay is getting ready to cut their check close. Then we'll begin theirs. Um, at the end of this weekend, we're just wanting to make sure that the hoker was aware of this as well with all the changes that have been happening with your, um, leadership with city manager.

I just want to be clarified on that, $1,050?

Yes, sir. Okay. Yes, sir.

Where is it at this year?

It's going to be at Lakeshore Civic, oh, excuse me, Lakeshore Middle School Cafeteria.

Lakeshore Middle.

Yeah, last year it was in Clewiston. This year it's in Belle Glade representing Lakeshore. I think next year, I want to say South Bay and then Pahokee is after. But I'll confirm that and let you guys know. And so we want to make sure that we encourage all of our seniors in the areas of Belle Glade, South Bay, Pahokee, Canal Point, and Clewiston areas to come out. It's a Mardi Gras theme, purple, green, and gold. So come on out and have a good time. And I can tell you, Mayor Baird can attest to this, when we had it in Pahokee, the seniors had a good time.

What time is that?

It's from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

And what is the latest date you're going to need the financial support if at the latest I know it's right around the corner so we got I know we have to pay for the space by Thursday and city manager and the clerk I'm gonna say this city tonight I don't want to be out of order I just want to make sure that a motion tonight could be at least made to authorize the city manager if funds are available to find a way to support this by donation of a hundred and fifty dollars

The way that, and that's one of the things I was going to bring into my report, dealing with just things that you all consider emergencies to be within the discretion of the city commission added language so that it's not something that you get tagged on by other entities if anybody just wanted to call the IG or something. Here it sounds like it doesn't really matter when you get the money, right? So if they had it on another agenda, the next agenda, you still get the check if they voted for that amount to be given to you. right as long yeah right so I'm thinking that you probably want to just put it on the next agenda if there's a consensus about the purchase of it and then put it on as a resolution and then you to prove it and then you send her the check as opposed to voting for it tonight because it's not you know at least considered under your what some people may look at your code and one of the things that I was going to suggest is that what happens the way it's written right now your code is It doesn't even allow for the commission. It just has words like for the protection of public health, safety, welfare. You could decide if you agree to change your code, but right now I'm suggesting that since it's not an emergency issue necessarily, you can just put it on the next agenda.

I thought in our budget, though, that the commission had a line item for the budget of a certain amount. Oh, okay. You do. So you want to go ahead if you have any. Contribution to communities, organizational services.

Yeah, maybe the, and even with that, you all have been bringing those back, but maybe the manager knows. I just didn't want to put her on the spot and say I don't know how much has been used already.

Yes, we do have that information available. The line item for the commission is $10,000, and there's $9,025 remaining in that line item.

So would the vote be for? authorizing the city manager to utilize $15,000 of the $1,500 of the I misspoke I knew what it was sorry give you a real gift I know $1,500 of the one thousand fifty dollars of the budget okay okay I appreciate it

And when is the event? I thought you said it was June 6th.

It's June 6th, yes. We've been working on this thing since March. But it's been some, you know, I know I had brought it before, I brought it to Tammy's attention. I haven't had a chance to, and then with all the changes that happened, I haven't had a chance to sit down and have a conversation with Ms. Brenda. I think Reverend Lawrence has been having conversations. So I wanted to make sure that I was here tonight so that you were aware of what was going on.

so if we wait until the next meeting to vote on it it's going to be after the event it will be after the fact correct but she's allowing us to utilize I mean according to the thing we can do it tonight because of she has a discretionary budget expression budget that's in our budget the Commission's budget to do it so we have to put a motion on the floor

Yes.

Mayor Babb, I move that we take $1,050 from the city commission's donation fund that's in the line item in the budget for the senior prom.

Second.

It has been moved and properly seconded. Call for questions. Hearing none, are you ready for a vote? Roll call, Madam Clerk.

Commissioner Cowan-Williams. Yes. Commissioner McPherson. Yes. Commissioner Scott. Yes. Vice Mayor McDonald. Yes. Mayor Bates.

Yes. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Thank you, Commission. Motion passed by unanimous vote.

And on behalf of the committee, I say thank you.

Thank you.

The next item on the list for me is the national food distribution, which is the next item in your package. We received information, and there's a flyer as well, from the Office of Community Revitalization, and they are presenting a food drive in about four or five different cities, and one of those is Pahokee. It will be held on June 5th at the United Missionary Baptist Church, which is at 225 Bacon Point Road. The food drive will begin at 10 o'clock a.m., and it will continue until all the food is distributed. So this is informational, so we've already posted the information as well, so the community will know, but we ask everyone else to also share the information. The next item we have down, which you usually do not have in your packet, is the National HIV Testing Day event, which will be held on Friday, June 26th, and it will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 o'clock p.m. at the People of Purpose office, which is in Belle Glade, Florida. It's 1079 Main Street in Belle Glade, Florida, and flyers also are created for that, so we will distribute those flyers, so this is informational. The next item on the list that I have is the cemetery bike hole purchase, which you have an invoice in your packet. of the information and it has it's a quote and it has all of the information pertaining to the bike hole as I presented I think at the last meeting the cemetery is in need of a bike hole um theirs is broken it's been broken since November of last year and so they've been renting um to have the hose dug for graves so we're in desperate need of a bike hole the um The staff has researched, along with Public Works, the backhoe in trying to get as much information as we can to get the equipment that is more feasible and economical for us as well. And so in looking at the information, the selection that was made, is this particular bike hole. And we meant to get a picture, and I forgot to include the picture in here for you. But it is a lease. And we found that the most economical way to produce this is to lease on the bike hole. It is a 2026. device it will be delivered in four to six weeks are sooner pushing them to get it sooner but they are committed to four to six weeks after the request it's made the longevity of the by call because we asked quite a few questions to make sure we're getting something that will last with us and that's why we chose a new the new equipment instead of used equipment because with the new one We know where we stand with the use. We don't know what the history is. And then it could break as soon as we get it shortly after. So the lifespan of this is 15 years. And what they said is longer if it's maintained properly. We are also looking at having the salesperson come out. He will do a training for the cemetery staff of how to use the backhoe to make sure that we are getting the best life out of it and we're using it properly. The cost itself With everything included, including extended warranty, which will be the BICO come with two years warranty. Extended warranty will give us up to two more years. So we included that as well. There is no taxes. We do have the state contract rate as well. The total cost is $72,491.69. And with the lease on that, the lease cost is $1,000. $72.54 a month. And that is acceptable to staff and to our budget that we can safely pay that cost. At the end, if we decide to purchase the bike hoe, the total cost will be $25,948.89. Or we could determine, based on where we are at that time, we can return it and lease a new bike hole our concern is making sure that we have equipment that will last with the city and that we're not in a situation like we are now and I presented that report to you all last month to show how much money we spent on a bike hole since November because there are funerals every weekend and so we're having to rent a bike hole to come out and they dig the holes for us so we don't want to be in that situation and this is what we are presenting

I have a question, Madam City Manager. So are you bringing this before us to bring back a resolution to approve this so that we can get the backhoe at the next meeting? Is that what you're bringing this before us so that we can get it approved?

If we need to. But right now, the dollar amount is over my limit for signing. And so if we need to bring back a resolution, we will do that as well. But we need the approval from the commission because it's over the $10,000 limit.

So that's what I'm saying. If you want to do that, is that what you're asking us to do tonight? Go ahead and come back at the next meeting with a resolution? Yes.

Yes, we will. That's what I'm going to clarify. But I need you all to see the information so you know what we're leaning towards and to make sure there are no questions from you as well.

So do we need a motion member for that?

No, we need to bring it back on another agenda. But it sounds like what you're saying, Ms. Bryant, is this will be a piggyback on a state contract. Is that what you're saying? You said you also have the prices from the state?

No, it is a state price that they're giving because we are municipalities. We were able to get the state rate, but we're not piggybacking on the state.

So what I mean by that is normally, because you're able to get the state rate, the state has already procured it somewhere, which would be a good thing, because otherwise you would have to procure it. And so if you found that there is a state contract and a state rate, it's probably because the state has procured maybe this service, and then that way it would be really easy and the city would then just piggyback on that, right?

And that could be because when we asked about the rate for municipalities, he told us there is a state rate and that we would receive the state rate. So that could be possibly in case we didn't even go that route to ask. That would be perfect. Yes. So we will return next month with a resolution so that we can move forward with the purchase.

this would just be a recommendation I would recommend that we at least have another staff maybe from public works or even recreation department set in on that training since it's not going to be a charge to us for taking the training I don't know how difficult Black Hole would be to operate but it certainly would be advisable to have at least one additional person to be able to use it in the event that two guys who are at the cemetery one of two may be out for some reason

so we will have three but we will get as many as we want they don't charge for that and there's no limit so we have the two that's at the cemetery as well as the supervisor will be doing the training as well but we can bring others over so that they will know how to operate but for the main part we have two operators but thank you yes we will I have a question did we sign up for procurement

Well, that's what she's suggesting about if we piggyback off of another, off of the state contract, then we don't have to put it out for procurement.

I have another question about the cemetery, because a lot of people are calling me about the cemetery. What are we doing about that? I mean, towards the halls and whatever.

I have that on my report as well. Oh, okay.

Thank you.

So the next item we have down in your packet is the budget versus actual report. We talked about that at the last meeting as well. And you all suggested that you only need it once a month. And we selected the first meeting of the month. But I wanted to make sure that you had a report so you could see what's here. And if there was any questions you had or any changes, then you would do that as well. So the way that the budget versus actual report is created, on the left column, it has the charge codes. And as you'll see, the charge code for it. And then it has the name, the city commissioner. And so you will have all of the line items that are under you. The next is the city manager with all the line items. So you can see the cost. And the first is the committed current month. This is how much that was spent in the current month for that line item. Then you have the committed year, the total amount that was spent during this year. The next two are pretty much the same amounts, but the current appropriation is what we want to use because if there was any updates, it would be in the current appropriations. So you would use that amount. And then the available appropriation is the amount that's remaining in that line item. So you would know at all times what's there, just as it was today. Your line item is here so you know how much money is remaining, how much funds is remaining in the contribution and sponsorship for the commission. So you would have that on a monthly basis. So you'll be making informed decisions when individuals are coming to ask for your donations. And in general, you'll be able to also see the other line items. So you'll know where the city stands overall. So I wanted you to have this for now so you can have time to review it later. Any questions, you can just give us a call, give them a call, and we can explain anything else that you may have. But you'll see each department, which is how the budget itself is created and organized. The next item you have is the credit card and the fuel report to give you an update of where that is. You have been asking for information. So you know where the credit cards stand each month, as well as where the fuel that the city vehicles are using. So you have that information. And we'll try to break it down even more if we need to. But this is where you have it. So on the fuel. the fuel is landscape so on the fuel it has by department that you have that's on the budget versus actual and then you have the amount that has been spent for the year and that for the year is starting September I'm sorry October so this is October 2025 to current until May 2026 and the same on the other is the credit card report so the credit card we have to you by month trying to make it useful for you and we'll see how we can break that down more as well but this is by month again starting from the beginning of our our year which is October 2025 through April 2026 could we be provided the department like we have the other ones so it could be a little more consistent yes we're trying to get that but in the system it wasn't like that now so we wanted to give you something that's what we will work on to see if you can get it by department I asked about that and by and we have by month but we're trying to work on the department but I wanted to put something in today I just have a one quick question city manager

as I look at the budget I notice I see a lot of negatives so when those I guess you'll come back and explain to us how where the money came from and how are you going to get it back in the positive because I think these are some questions I've had before because as I'm looking at this I'm seeing a lot of negatives on here that we're in the negative and so you'll come back I'll explain yes

Once you're in a negative unless you add more money There's no way to get it back in the positive But this will give us the tool to look at what's happening so we can correct those actions to make sure that in the future We don't get in the negative So we're able to drill through for each of the charge codes to see what was actually spent on that and so we'll see the invoices and everything that came through so we can better manage that process and The next item, which, again, we forgot to place a letter, is the city hall is right now infested with termites. And so within the code enforcement office, it is really bad. They couldn't even work in there for the last week. So we called out Terminex, and Terminex looked at the building. They did a complete overview of the building. and there are termites throughout the building. It's just really bad in that one office. So they provided a schedule for us and asked that we, the best resolution is the tent of the city hall so that we can fumigate the total city hall to get rid of those. So what we've looked at is the schedule as well and trying to get times that are less problematic for the staff. And so we found a holiday, which is Juneteenth, is the next coming holiday, June 19th. So we schedule it around that holiday. So the process that will occur, and I did the letters also in a letter to each of you, so you will have it in writing as well, is on Thursday, June 18th, The Terminex will arrive at 8 o'clock a.m. so that they can tent City Hall. That is on a Thursday, so that means that the staff at City Hall will work from home that day. Someone will be there with them to make sure that the City Hall is properly tented and secured. On June 19th, which is the holiday, around 12 noon, the Terminex staff will come back to remove the tent. On Saturday, they will come back around noon again, and then they will go inside the building to test the gas to make sure it is acceptable. The reason we had to schedule it that way is because Terminex does not do the gas testing on Sunday. Otherwise, we could have prevented the Thursday being off. And then on Monday, the staff will resume operations as normal in City Hall.

Any questions? How many staff will be affected?

Everybody in City Hall? Everyone in City Hall because they have to tent the entire building so those at City Hall will be affected by this so they will work from home that day.

Are they all able to have work done at home? I mean all of them going to have what computers and everyone except for the receptionist but we can give her other items but she is the only one the attendant everyone else does have laptops and I'm just asking have we looked at senior building and even parks and recreation for those who can be out and around and about say for instance code enforcement they drive around

So they will still do what they need to do when I say work from home. Let me correct that. So the code enforcement, they are out driving around and doing what they need to do. So they will. With the others, what we looked at is how would they be able to take everything they need for that day and would it be worth it taking what they need for that day to go to another location. And so that's what we looked at as far as the same.

That's the same question that would arise if they work from home.

It's the same. It's the same. But if they're working from home, instead of them trying to take everything that they have right now and go to another location, there isn't a lot of locations that we have to sustain them at this point, instead of moving everything around. Yes, they could have their laptop, but in reality, And that's what we're looking at now. This is not happening until June. So we planned a schedule with Terminex so that we'll have that schedule and would not miss that date. But we have time to work with it. So that was the resolution that came up from that point. We know that they cannot be at City Hall. So yes, we can look at other locations to see how feasible that is for them, but that was the thing. We can't not be in City Hall. So for that, we have time to plan it, but I wanted to let you all know what the schedule looked like and that what will have to happen at City Hall, it needs to be tented.

Is Terminex someone that we have a contract with?

Terminex, yes. Terminex comes out on a monthly basis for us to spray. So this is the person that we currently have contract with.

How many workers do we have at City Hall that it's going to affect?

It has, not counting the code enforcement, we have two for 10.

Because I'm thinking that, unlike, I guess, Mayor Babb, they can go over to the senior building or they can go over to Parks and Rec. And then I know, do we have a couple of offices here that's empty?

they have the big room that's empty but not the offices so a couple of them can get in there to get I mean I'm just thinking that maybe we can utilize the space that we have I'll see what they have because the rooms that they have I just toured the building and so for that room they have the students coming in at a certain time as well and so those rooms are used other than the space

No one is using the chamber during the day. And it's on a Thursday, too.

It's on a Thursday, and we're off on Friday. Yeah. So, yes, we can look at that as well. But I wanted to make you all aware that the City Hall will be tented. I didn't want you riding by and then you see a big tent on the City Hall and wondering. So that is the schedule because we had to complete the schedule with Terminex. Otherwise, they would not have it. They would not have it and we'll be pushed further back. And the termites are now flying in other rooms as well, other offices as well.

And I guess my concern would be we would have to put out some type of notice and everything when we're closed like that. That we will.

Correct.

Yeah. So and then with us going to be off that Friday and then close that Thursday if someone needs to take care of business. So I guess that would have been my concern as well. Yeah.

We would have to put notice out. Correct. So either way, we will still have to put notice out if they come over to the chamber. We still have to put a notice out so they know where the numbers are.

They can come over here over to them.

Yeah.

Mr. Mayor?

Yes, ma'am.

One of the things that I would suggest to the manager is that you put census asking for a flex schedule maybe, and it sounds like you're still kind of working that out, but to the extent that you are, like for them to be off or work from home, that will be a resolution. So it will be a resolution coming back to you all. The day-to-day operations and how you have them work, if they're still working but you have them working here as opposed to the City Hall, that's your decision. But if they're actually taking time off or working from home, that should be approved by the commission. And then you can put in that resolution the hours. And then that would be a part of the notice in addition to the website and whatever else you may decide to do.

So we will look to here, as you said, chamber will be available. So if the option would be, it will be here at chamber instead of going over to Parks and Rec because they will probably be moving quite a bit over there to accommodate the students. So as I said, the information has not been shared yet. I'm sharing it with you all first. So we have not distributed anything out to staff. The last item. And that is the last item. That is the last item on the list.

So I have a question. So are we going to bring that back as a resolution? Or is that just for discussion? Or it's happening in June. So I guess that's my question. What are we doing with that?

The attorney just stated we'll bring it back as a resolution and then we'll have a final on that resolution as to where staff will be on that day and what we will do as far as we still will have to close a city hall building itself. So we will still send the notices out to let everyone know where staff will be located on that particular day.

so for clarification what I understood her to say was that if they're going to work from home that a resolution would be needed is that correct yes ma'am okay so if we're going to just have an alternative location for them then we don't need the resolution then we don't need the resolution but we still need things in place to let everybody else that one yes and also would we not bring the

Commission building chamber or commission office is available too on that day. Could be used as two or three, at least two offices there that can use the space if needed. I just thought I'd share that.

We'll work out the logistics of everything and then let you know exactly what will occur.

and the last thing I want to ask about the state audit the report that I received as mayor it was copied on the finance director I'm just wondering what progress are we having on having a response to that and that mainly dealt with the three items on our regular audit that had three consecutive years was in the

So as I reported at the last meeting, the update to the OIG was presented. I did speak with someone in Tallahassee in that department. They called, and then when the report was received, they responded to say thank you for the report. They are reviewing it now. Their ask is that we give an update as to where we are and what has been. There has never been an official, you have to have whatever by certain dates. They're allowing us to get the information in place. So they were happy to see that they had a response. And we also updated what had been included and what had been completed. So I will get that report that was sent to the commission as well. So you all have a copy and you will know. But what was included in that is that the credit card policy and procedure were created.

no I'm not talking about the OIG report you're talking about the state audit report that indicated that for the last three years the city marina campground and cemetery has been in the red they want to know what was our steps of correcting that

That was part of that report, the one that I saw that you sent over and I got a copy of it as well. That was part of that report where they list out four or five different items that had concern about and that was to the OIG and it was from the accounting standpoint. That was the only one that I saw.

I'll just make sure I print it out and just make sure we're talking about the same report. I think it's a little different because the report I'm talking about had a specific date and due date and the event that it wasn't completed, it was indicating that funding could be helped up. so whatever we're receiving from the state on reimbursement of any form will be suspended until we can show some type of corrected action that we're taking to not continue to be in that predicament

So I'll see what report you have because that was the one. That was the one that I had. And then we have the audit from the state, which we had the initial meeting with them today. And so we scheduled another date because there are some other items that they need that we need to be able to make sure that they have in time. So it's not a stop and start. So we had that meeting with HCT today, Mr. Harvey, and so we will continue to work with them and they said that what they will do is look at the information that we have and so instead of starting today or tomorrow, they will push back a little and they have four, it takes them four, estimate about four weeks to get the audit completed. And if they if it cannot be completed in that time frame, what they will do is they will write a letter and get involved with the process to say this is what we're working on. This is what the estimated time frame will be. And so they said that they will be able to complete it within the window that's actually needed. That happens, but they will be there to support us as well to make sure we get through the audit.

So I'll look at the other. This year's audit. That's last year's audit.

2025 audit. Yes. This year's audit, not due yet. Correct, for 2025. Mayor, I'll look back and see as well because those were the only two that I saw. I'll look at that one and see the other. With the OIG, what they stated is that one of the penalties would be if it was not answered, if you will, is that we would have to report to the audit committee in Tallahassee to present in front of them. And so we've already sent the information in. So that should suffice them. But we're continuing to update and to implement their recommendations throughout City Hall, throughout the city.

Thank you.

Next, we'll have the report of the city attorney, if any.

Yes, Mr. Mayor. I want to let you all know that one of the things in terms of kind of tackling some things in the code and consistent with what was worked on before you for the special magistrate issues, There's also something that keeps coming up under emergency purchases, not once but like multiple times now, where you have some language in your code of ordinances that says at any time in any budget year, the city commission may make emergency purchases to meet its pressing need for the protection of public health, safety, or welfare. FAIR OTHER THAN FOR REGULAR OR RECURRING REQUIREMENTS UPON SIGNATURE OF THE CITY CLERK AND APPROVAL OF THE MAJORITY OF THE COMMISSION MEMBERS IN SESSION. NOW THE WAY THAT IT'S BEEN INTERPRETED BY OTHER ENTITIES LOOKING AT THIS IS THAT THEY WILL SEE IT AS THIS HAS TO BE LIKE SOME KIND OF A DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY OR SOMETHING THAT THE CITY COMMISSION WOULDN'T HAVE THE ABILITY TO DETERMINE IN ITS OWN RIGHT. like other cities. And so because that's been a multiple occurrence where this has happened, and most recently with the fireworks issue, I'm suggesting that that provision in the code be modified to also add at the end of that sentence something along the lines of the determination of whether this provision meets THE EMERGENCY REQUIREMENTS SHALL BE WITHIN THE SOLE DISCRETION OF THE CITY COMMISSION, SO THAT IT'S CLEAR THAT WHEN ANYBODY OR ANYBODY IS LOOKING AT THIS LANGUAGE, THAT THAT IS WITHIN YOU ALL'S DISCRETION. IF YOU BELIEVE, FOR INSTANCE, it meets the welfare of the city to have fireworks for the 250th anniversary of the country, then that's something that you all would decide without worrying about whether or not there would be a, you know, the IG or somebody else saying this wasn't an emergency. You follow me? So that's the intent, and I wanted to bring that back to you and let you know that I wanted to do that amendment as kind of a proactive measure and put it before you for the next commission meeting.

That's my report. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, I have one other I left off about the cemetery that Commissioner Scott asked about. So there was another call that was received on Sunday that the hogs had come back to the cemetery. And so what I did is spoke with the supervisor there to see just how bad it was. He was supposed to take pictures of it. but he took the crew out to correct the issue. We've talked about what we need to do to put a permanent solution in place and what that permanent solution would be. So they do call out the person that we have working with them that will trap the hogs and then take them away. So he has a trap. He puts the trap out whenever they call them to say we need to trap out. So we're looking at can the trap remain there and just how large is the trap so to see how many hogs it will catch because I don't know and they didn't know the answer to that because he comes out at night and then he comes back and get the next morning so the trap is gone. The other thing we're looking at is what are some of the solutions we can put in place so we're not dealing with this on an ongoing basis. So we're looking at different devices that we found that with the sound system mess up their equilibrium and so that keeps them away as well. The other is fencing in the cemetery, which will be extremely costly. and could continue to have repairs done. One of the other solutions that we've come up with so far is to build a ditch around the cemetery so that the hogs will not get to the cemetery and then the person that will come will come and take the hogs away once they fall into the ditch. So those are the three solutions that we have so far because this has been happening When I talk to them over 15 years, and what they do is they just keep coming at the public works, just keep coming and patching up and correcting it. So we need a permanent solution in place so we don't continue to have to deal with this. So we're researching those to see what the cost would be. the putting the device down that would put out the sideways is is a quick solution so we can go for that to see how well that will work while we're looking at the others and see what it would be in order to dig a ditch around as well and since we're getting the backhoe that will be another thing that we could use, a tool that we could use to build that, that we could possibly do that ourself. We would have to also look at permitting and everything else that's needed. So that's what we're looking at now to see what it will take. But we're trying to come up with permanent solutions to put in place.

One thing I would suggest too is we go with the sound wave I know that's a quicker solution but I don't know how effective it would be so we try to at least get some references of places and use them before or they'll sell them everywhere these will run off rodents everything and they ain't going to run off anything I'm not saying that won't work but there's a lot of misleading information out there on those.

But that one would not be as costly that we could try something to put in place to see if that worked while we're coming up with a regular or permanent solution because the others will take a little time to put in place.

That is it.

I just wanted to include that one because I left it off. The commissioner asked about it.

next we'll move to future agenda items of the commission if any and I'll start with commissioner Mike Fierce and see if you have anything you want to add to a future consideration for a future agenda item yes one of the things you brought up

the budget and stuff for it can we put on the agenda to maybe start preparing or to put it out for RFP for the marina and the restaurant and that would help generate some positive funds for

and we need to make a decision on are we putting out just for the restaurant now or try to do all three entities at one time restaurant, campground and marina one individual could get all three or it could be split up among three different vendors if we decide to go that route and just ask that we have that under consideration at least give the city manager some direction on how we need to go about doing it I think they all need to be out as quick as we can get them out could we do two separate ones one for the campground and one for the arena and then there's a possibility that people can put in for

for both, but if somebody else get the restaurant, then it won't hinder the restaurant from moving forward. Is that feasible, attorney?

You can do any number of things. You can do all three. You can do them individually. You can do one proposal and allow people to bid for whatever they want within that one proposal. But what you have to keep in mind is whatever you do, it should be sent to the state first so that they can approve it prior to.

and I think at the last is that clarified or do I need to elaborate on that one some more if you can clarify the motion for the okay well put out the restaurant I would say I would recommend do two separate ones for the campground and for the marina

So two RFPs, one for the restaurant and then one for the campground and marina?

Yes. So we're combining, or you're suggesting we combine the campground and marina? I feel like we just do three separate.

I said two separate ones. Two separate ones.

That's three. It's three different entities though. You got the campground, you got the marina, and you got the restaurant.

The marina and the campground can be together.

I'm just saying both of those are different.

We'll make it simple. We'll put out for all three. But we need to do it.

So three separate?

Yes.

Okay.

And I think at the last meeting, I think I had made a motion. I think we were looking at the Parks and Recreation had been meeting and they put on the discussion for the budget process, which we have a portion of the budget now before us. I would like to put it on there that we can start looking, put it on the next, maybe even for a discussion, if the city manager can do some research to see what it would take to get an engineer or somebody that's expert that could look at the park and see what needs to be done. I'm sorry.

Is it possible to vote on the first one so I can get that question? Okay.

the first one is to have an RFP for the three entities the marina the restaurant and the campground for discussion of the future agenda item second has been moved and second call for question hearing none all in favor roll call Commissioner McPherson yes Vice Mayor McDonald yes

Commissioner Calvin-Williams Yes Commissioner Scott Yes Mayor Babb Yes Motion passed by unanimous vote

And the second one was for the discussion of the budget, which we have a copy of the budget. The last meeting, I think we talked about the Parks and Recreation Board had met and they wanted to get some type of engineer to come out and look at the park to see what needs to be done. I don't know if there's a contract with the county, something that we can possibly

excuse me piggyback off of if not we can look at it for just do some research and then we can put it on the agenda for a discussion to see what it may cost through the mayor engineering is a CCNA service and so you all have you all have a document that I gave months ago I've given it. So if you do that, you can do a lot of different services, architecture, engineering, all of that. Or you could just procure engineering services alone. There may be other professions that may be even less costly that could do an analysis of parks that may be more appropriate than necessarily an engineer just for that. So that's a management issue, and so I guess the manager will look at it and bring back what she thinks is appropriate, and I'll review it.

Okay. Are you going to send her the information that you had sent to the previous? She hasn't. Okay.

and it's not her I've said it to like the last three or four managers Commissioner McDonough Commissioner Cowan

Yes, I'm just going to talk about the one item. With the lure coming tonight, if we can put on a June 9th meeting, the manager can look in the budget to see the $5,000 donation for lure for the feasibility and the marketability study. Second.

It has been moved to second. Call for questions. Hearing none, are you ready for a vote? Roll call, Madam Clerk.

Commissioner Calvin Williams yes Commissioner McPherson yes Commissioner Scott yes Vice Mayor McDonald yes Mayor Babb yes motion passed by unanimous vote Commissioner Scott yes I have one thing

let's just put on the agenda to help see when we don't start getting the agenda not day of we need to set a date when we expect it to receive that's my thing because I know one time other commissioners they said five days I don't know did they vote on it did it pass or whatever but we need to come up with a date because getting it the day of didn't make sense yeah

be honest previously it was passed for five days I know that was considered tight for staff but that was actually on record of being passed and we were requesting an agenda of five days prior to the next meeting I know we can always look at it but the day of is kind of tight

I mean the five days I think would be sufficient no I'm not saying nothing wrong with it I'm just saying we never received it in five days I never received it in five days and I understand that's what they voted but I'm just saying we never got that I'm not saying I do prefer to get invited but if we don't then I mean I wouldn't be pushing that but the day of that's too tight yeah I agree with you on that especially when you got a big packet you go through it and do your research

that was done with the previous city manager so we'll want to add that to the agenda and maybe get staff input a little for consideration I would say at least three days maybe in advance but between five and three but kind of give them a little breathing room but certainly not the day before or day of to have an agenda done we got to just set our goals a little better than that but we're going to put it on there just officially to have it voted upon in a resolution or whatever we need to have done to bring back and say this is a commission request from staff to have agendas presented to us at least by three days prior to the next meeting or whatever we come up with the exact dates between three to five I put it that way

I'm sorry I'm trying to catch the clear motion you guys want to do what again now

he said at least three to five days we just need some adherence is all certainly we need time to review what we're going to be looking at

So we're adding or we're not?

If it's on there we'll live with that knowing that that's our requirement is to have at least three days between three to five days at a minimum

I have a question. If there was a resolution, why are we putting another resolution? I think we just need to adhere to the resolution. That's what we're saying we're going to do. Yeah, we're not going to add another resolution.

You could amend that if you wanted to make it three, and then that will be a resolution amending that other resolution and making five days three days, if that's your motion. Or if it's just five days and that's what you all want to keep, that's already on your books.

I think we just keep five days and then, you know, we understand if it's three, it ain't no big deal, but just that it's there, right?

And I've been trying to find that resolution myself, and I couldn't find it. I remember it was voted on. I can send it to you.

We have it on file. Okay. I just couldn't find it.

okay so I'll just scratch this that's the pleasure of the Commission okay I do have a question because I know this has been an extensive conversation that we've had with every manager that come that we've been having difficulties getting these agendas Within the five days and meeting what was I would just like to if maybe I can get some clarity or understanding I mean so it has to be something what's causing it I know it may not be no one specific thing but maybe explain it to the Commission you know and yes we do need time to read the information definitely not the day of but you know the five days and why is it I guess it's so difficult because I know since I've been here each manager has had that concern if maybe we can get some clarity maybe more understanding on you know the difficulty with meeting the five days

it's a lot of moving parts you set an agenda you have to contact whoever going to be presenting get information from them on what they're going to be presenting on five days is a quick turnaround to be honest it's only a week that you have to work with to get this agenda in our hands means that every other week

twice a month is a short turnaround five days is a lot I mean it can be done but it's pressing it is my thing is it's not the responsibility of any one person yeah and so you got to have a deadline for those items that are going to be included in the agenda and stick to it you can't at the last minute present something to be added to the agenda and so if you have a deadline everything that is going on the agenda for a particular meeting then you work with those items that have been prevented presented rather before that deadline or by the deadline and then you don't add you know stresses to yourself or to whomever by trying to add something at the last minute I mean I just want to have to go on the next one

I don't know if Commissioner Scott is in agreement to it, but if we can amend the previous resolution to move it to four days in advance and put it on record to do the four days.

he's already stated that even if they give it to us up to three days that's gonna be fair and okay with him okay with three days there's a weekend so

we're talking about three business days so we're not talking about a weekend you will be getting it Thursday or Friday or whatever you will be getting it like you know Tuesday of the meeting the day of the meeting I just leave it like that leave it with five days and then whatever how it falls we understand well I totally agree with you no yeah we need you know but you write about it on the day to try to put everything on the agenda some days that they don't need the deadline then they don't you know you don't get on the agenda this is the emergency just there can't be no emergency if it's going on going going back to the vice mayor question

Even some of the bike up that we was asking required a lot of researching and putting together and that kind of helped to lay it. I'm just not making truths for staff, but I'm just showing you some of the reason that five days was pretty tight. It can be done, but it's a tight turnaround when you're doing it with staff.

And my reason for making my statement, I don't think we should have rules. We should have attainable goals. And if the rules are there, we should follow them. So if we feel like that is too strange or too light, let's amend it to make it attainable but still get the job done in a timely manner. Because if the rule, it shouldn't be, we can do it if we want to. If it's a rule, we need to follow what the rules say to. But I'm, you know, with the option of moving it up to four days. But it's... I just don't believe in having rules and you're not following them.

I think what the Vice Mayor said made more sense. He just said they got a cut off date.

Say what? They have a cut off date when you can ask them.

They don't make the agenda.

We're going to move to general public comments. what are we doing we say we're going to keep it as is already stated five days general republic comments city clerk do we have any public comments cards no sir thank you ma'am now we'll have commission comments for the good of the order and i'll start with uh commissioner scott and work myself this way to the left commission scott no i don't have anything thank you sir commissioner williams

I just want to say good evening to everyone and thank everyone that is listening that has come out tonight residents thank you for coming and we thank you for taking out of your busy schedules and didn't find a robbery to be here to see what's going on in your city so I want to say thank you for being here tonight but I want to report that on May 14th and 15th I went to a leadership conference and it was very very educational we learned a lot of tools that we can come back to our community and use and so we look forward to implementing a lot of them in a positive way and moving our city forward So that was the leadership training after we completed emo one and two. So it was a very good training. We really enjoyed it. We had dynamic speakers there. We had people there that have been city managers, that have been on the council. They are now consultants. And we really learned a lot of good information from them. And so it comes after Emo II training. So they had a treat for us. And also we got to see the new Florida League of Cities building that we purchased. So if all commissioners get an opportunity, they have a new building up in Orlando. And I think they said we were the... Were we the first or the second class there? The second class. And we have our own building now that we don't have to pay anyone to use our buildings for our trainings. And then they're doing some good things with the building next door that they have where we can have different events. They're going to be renting it out as well. And so... That also we really enjoy so whatever I'm learning and we'll bring it back and try to implement it in our community again I want to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you and I look forward to continue to serve you and have a good night One more. Don't forget about the criminal justice workshop that they're going to be having in Belle Glade at St. Paul. Commissioner McDonnell is going to be one of the guest speakers there. Commissioner McDonnell, my phone went out. Do you have the day? Is it June? June 13th. If we can, I would love to see the city of Pahokee be able to get their aftercare program students and take them there. They have a lot of good events set up for the students there as well. And so if we can, let's try to make sure we take our kids down to St. Paul on that day at 10 o'clock. And I'm going to be there as well volunteering, so I'm looking forward to it. The Sheriff Department, they have a lot of great programs seminars they're gonna have talking about our kids, talking to the kids about what are your foods are you get in jail, what your bed look like in jail. So I think this would be a good event for our youth, for our youth to go to and take advantage of it and see exactly what goes on in the jail. So if you're not doing anything that day, please let's take the kids to that event and I think it will be a great event.

Thanks Mayor MacDonald.

I have a question before I make my comments did we establish a contract with the UNCF does anyone know I know they petitioned that we contract with them with regards to the scholarship entity that they provide

Do we do anything with that?

I do not, but I can research it and see. I do not, but I can research it and see.

Okay. So, um, good evening to everyone. And again, um, thank you all for coming out. Um, I do continue to solicit your, your help as well as your support, uh, with regards to the job that we have before us, which is progress for Hokie. And, um, truly it is something I'm sure that we all desire to see, but, um, It's not just the commission's job. It's the community's job. It's everybody's job that we do what we need to do to progress Pahokee. So again, if you have a contribution that you would like to make, just come on out and join us as we do the work for the city of Pahokee and our citizens. Also, this time of year, there's been several homeowner's workshops being held, and I do believe that next month, I believe on June 9th, as well as, I want to say June, 23rd or thereabouts. There's a flyer possibly on the table back there with regards to those workshops and where they're going to be held. I think at the City of Belle Glade Municipal Library, those two are going to be held, but there's been several. And there's probably going to be more as the year goes on. So certainly if you're interested or you know someone else that might be interested, take a flyer and share that with them. Other than that, enjoy the rest of your evening.

Commissioner McPherson.

good evening citizen I just want to thank you all for giving me an opportunity to serve you and I'll continue to do my level best as to as far as moving our city forward and I want to ask that you help join us we have several boards that have vacancies on them bring your ideas and get on the board and volunteer and help to move our city forward we can't think of everything we need your input and on those boards you'll be able to provide your input and help to move our city forward. I myself also attended the leadership training on May 13, just piggybacking on a little bit of what Commissioner Cowan stated. It was very informative and gave us some, you know, a lot of positive tools to help bring back to our – help us to be better leaders, may I should say. Again, we can't do it by ourselves. We need your input. We need your ideas. We need everything that you can bring to the table to help us to move the city forward. We're much better when we're united, and we're much stronger. With that, I just, again, want to thank you all, even the ones that attended the meeting, and have a blessed night.

City Commissioners, having successfully taken care of all business brought before us, I'll entertain a motion for the adjournment of this meeting.

I move. Second.

It has been moved and seconded. Call for question. Hearing none. All in favor, roll call, Madam Clerk.

Yes.

Yes. Meeting adjourned at 8.24 p.m. Thank you.