City Council - Regular Meeting

of infrastructure at a reduced cost. To reduce waste, the city is piloting a pellet softening system at the water treatment plant, which could reduce lime use and save our community up to $800,000 per year. The city has also deployed a rapid sewer line assessment device that is transforming how we inspect more than 298 miles of gravity sewer lines. What once took hours now takes minutes. Inspections no longer require road closures or moving heavy equipment, a process that could take over four hours to inspect the line between two manholes. The new device is smaller and mobile and uses acoustics to quickly identify potential problem areas without disrupting traffic and keeping crews safe. We can now inspect hundreds of manholes in large neighborhoods such as W's Edge in a single day instead of several weeks. The city also added two dedicated positions to inspect and maintain our more than 3,000 fire hydrants. These new positions focused on fire hydrants help us ensure they are checked on a consistent schedule and can operate when needed most. Sidewalks and roads. With approximately 300 miles of sidewalks farther than the distance from Port Orange to Savannah, Georgia, our crews stayed busy. In 2025, they replaced over 19,500 feet of damaged sidewalk, more than double the previous year, and expect to exceed that in 2026. In 2025, we paved more than 3.5 miles of roads, including Meline Avenue, and restriped Yorktown Boulevard, Spruce Creek Road, and others to improve durability and safety. Police. Our police department relaunched the crime suppression team, which gathers intelligence and uses it in a proactive manner to do targeted patrols aimed at detecting and deterring crime. We added

five more officers, including school resource officers that now serve both middle schools, strengthening relationships with students and families. We also purchased a new SWAT van, renewed our contract with Axon, which allows us to receive the latest in body cam and taser technology, and will also be launching our first drone program. Fire rescue. Port Orange Fire Rescue created and developed a new EMS division to improve service efficiency and training. The department added new cardiac monitors, updated inspection software, and welcomed a new fire engine. investments that help us deliver smarter, faster emergency responses. We also purchased a new mini ambulance that further improves our emergency medical response by providing greater flexibility. This unit can quickly and safely access tight spaces, trails, and crowded areas, locations where full-size fire trucks or ambulances could not operate effectively. Financial responsibility. The city earned a clean audit and maintained one of the lowest tax rates in Valuchia County. Port Orange was recognized by AOL.com as the second best city in Florida for safety and affordability for retirees, reflecting our commitment to fiscal responsibility and quality of life. Improved benefits, strong engagement, and competitive pay packages have helped reduce turnover and resulted in a savings of around $200,000 to taxpayers. The city negotiated new three-year agreements with our fire and general employee unions to strengthen retention and support our workforce. Economic development. From new medical facilities to grocery stores, Port Orange welcomed 16 new businesses in 2025, including Aldi, Coastline Coffee, and Catfish Commons,

with eight more on the way. Our transition to a new online permitting system reduced average permit turnaround time by 80%, helping residents and developers alike. Looking ahead, in 2026, we'll begin construction on critical storm water projects in the Cambridge Basin and Sugar Forest. Parks Bond projects will take shape, including a larger playground, basketball court, and bicycle playground at Willow Run. upgraded ball fields at Karasi and storm ready boat ramps at Causeway Park. Preserving our history remains a priority with the Florida East Coast Railway Freight Depot project and its future museum. Transportation improvements continue with construction of new turn lanes planned for Dunlot Avenue and design work along Clyde Morris Boulevard, Meline Avenue, and Nova Road. Another three plus miles of paving are planned for next year, including portions of Spruce Creek Road and Charles Street. Our fire department will add a new road rescue ambulance, a high water vehicle, a brush truck, and another fire engine to strengthen emergency response. Along the riverfront, destinations like Tiki Docks, Coastline Coffee, and the growing food truck court at Riverwalk Social are laying the groundwork for a vibrant entertainment district. With economic conditions steadily improving and more key properties acquired, the next developer will be positioned to begin right away. The city has partnered with an international real estate marketing firm to reintroduce the Riverwalk site to the market, positioning the project to move forward and transform the riverfront into a dynamic mixeduse destination with shops, entertainment, and residential spaces that draw people from across the region. The Down Under project on the east side of the Halifax River is in the permitting process, which is expected to be completed in the fall of 2026, bringing new parking,

improved drainage, pedestrian access, landscaping, lighting, public art, and a community plaza to the riverfront. We will also be celebrating our country's 250th birthday with events and programs scheduled throughout the year culminating at our Fourth of July celebration. With a clear vision and dedicated community, Port Orange is moving confidently into 2026 and beyond, continuing to grow, improve, and shine as one of the gems of Valuchia County. Very good. Mike, you speaking? [cough] [laughter] [clears throat]

Very good. Very good. Well, first of all, um, thank you and well done to staff and everybody involved in putting that together. Uh, we appreciate everything you do and seeing that and and and seeing it in that respect is much better than us blundering through all those things that occur in the year and then and then having that now uh to memorialize in our in our archives. So, that's a good thing. Um, you know, I just just a couple brief comments for me and then I'm going to let each of the council members touch base. One of the things I talk to residents a lot of times about when they ask about doing this particular service is is that there's never a finish line. You might have a finish line on a project, but in in local government, there's never a finish line. There's always the next thing. Sometimes those things are trying to correct things that didn't work out so well. And sometimes those things are just trying to make things better than they already were. But there's never a finish line. And as a community here in the city of Port Orange and being somebody who's born and raised in East Valuchia County and lived most of my life in the city of Port Orange, that that has been a continual process and it will be a continual process long after all of us are done serving the residents of Port Orange. And and I I think that most of us would agree that if you look at the history of our city, we haven't done everything right, but we've done a lot right. And you hear some of the numbers and you hear some of the information about how high the city of Port Orange rates with independent groups that look at things like that and you realize there's 420 roughly 420 cities. 420 in the state of Florida and a lot of times you hear about Port Orange in in different aspects being ranked in the upper 10% the upper 5% of coming out ranked number two in the entire state as one of the best places for retirees to lead. And that doesn't happen by chance. There's a lot of thought and a lot of work and and it

really happens a lot by the community. It's not the council. It the council can be part of it, but it's it's the investors in our community. One of the one of the favorite things I used to hear from former mayor Alan Green, and he used to say it all the time is he didn't believe we have taxpayers in Port Orange. he would say we have investors and everybody every business every resident is a investor in this city in one way or the other and everybody contributes in a lot of different ways and that still holds true today and I believe will continue to hold true as you see and as a lot of you know you know our pri priorities shift all the time you have to be very flexible as a municipality right now flood mitigation and storm water concerns are a super super high priority that we didn't that didn't exist four or five years years ago at the same level of priority because we had not had those historic rainfall events. And that's something you hear us talk about all the time and people say, "Well, I lived here 40 years and have never seen flooding like that." Well, you never saw rain like that in 40 years. And that's not an opinion. Those are facts. But but things are changing and as things change and we identify, okay, our priorities need to shift and change. We will continue to do that. And but but you just can't be onedimensional. There's a lot of things going on that you see in that video in the city that that you have to be able to do all at the same time. You have to find a way to be attentive to all of those things because not everybody has those same sense of urgencies or priorities. Pickle ball courts for for example, I was joking with somebody the other day. I'm like, holy mackerel. Like when I when I ran for election to be on the city council, that didn't even exist. Now you don't go anywhere without somebody saying, "Hey, can we get more pickle ball courts when can we get more pickle ball courts? where the pickle ball courts like and I get it because you live in a very, you know, active community who who doesn't want to sit on the couch. They want to get out and about. They want to go and do things. They want bike trails and pickle ball courts and and upgraded parks and nice places for kids to play athletics and

even seniors to play athletics. So, they have to be able to do it all. And and again, that goes back to our staff. [cough and snorts] Um, you know, it it's it's not us. our our job is to try to set the policies and the budgets and get out of the way and let staff do what they do and they do a very good job. So, I want to I want to especially thank staff for everything that they do and uh for making the city of Port Orange what it is. We're going to start with Reed. Go right ahead.

Oh, there's there's nothing I could say that you didn't already say well or wasn't put in the video. I'll just add as well, thank you to staff for all the hard work year round uh to answer the call of serving our community. Um, it's awesome to see all the work you guys do. Appreciate the presentation. Um, but you know, great job by everyone involved. Great job, mayor. Everything was very well said.

I have to echo uh both of you on this one. Uh, what staff put out there is a quick nice reminder of everything that staff does for the city. And mayor's right. It's it's not us up here. We we get asked a lot of stuff and we give guidance. Um but ultimately the management and directors of all the departments do a phenomenal job. They present multiple things to us to review, but they have got it already set in place to a point of where we just kind of sit back on a couple of those things and look at it and and it's nice to be able to say that and and you're right. Uh, Port Orange has had uh, great leaders in the past that has laid phenomenal groundwork for the future. And I I have to thank everybody in their departments for allowing us to be part of your team because it took all of y'all to allow us to do our jobs, too. Um, so for that reason, I there's there's so much that you guys have done and uh I think that video captivates it in a very short period [clears throat and cough] showing everything that each department head and their team of individuals has done for the city. So, thank you. [clears throat] Sean.

Yeah, it was a very nice video and it's good to see uh how things progress throughout the year and looking forward over the next couple years, how we tighten up uh our infrastructure and and make improvements and uh of course looking forward to expanded ball fields for recreation and I love the coach. So, more opportunities for that. So, thank you staff and uh the leadership in from, you know, from the past and from what we have right now, providing them the tools so they can uh you know, keep us heading in the right direction. So, appreciate it all.

Well, that might have been one of one of my uh favorite sayings of your dad. The second one would probably be you don't want to be my friend because I'm going to find a way to abuse you. What he meant by that is if you're afraid of his, he's going to find a way to get you to serve the city of Port Orange in one aspect or another. So, absolutely. What do you got for us?

Again, I just uh I think basically everything's been covered here. And again, you know, um in in my business and and in any other business and in any other sport, you're only as good as your team. And you know, assembling assembling the team that we're assembling here in Port Orange to to do the things that we're looking to do is is exciting. Uh I'm excited to to see some of these projects get through and and and get to, you know, results. And um so I'm just uh you know just happy for the future of Port Orange residents. Very good. Very good. Okay. I'm actually going to give the city manager a shot. Did you have anything you wanted to add to this as far as the state of the city stuff goes?

No, I think you guys have covered it very clearly. So if you have any questions for me, I'd be happy to answer them, but I don't I can't add to what you've already. All right. Well, very good.

Thank you. And as if that couldn't have been a better segue, uh, speaking of shaping the city of Port Orange, let's move on to a proclamation tonight on the Freeman Day or Freemanville Day proclamation. Who is here to receive this tonight? Come on. Come on up here. Bring everybody with you everybody. [applause] This is a a a really awesome way every single year that we get to uh honor the history of of our city and and this is such a incredibly important part of who Port Orange started out as and who they have become. So, go ahead and introduce yourself and then I'm going to read your proclamation.

Sure. I am Carolyn Sanders James. Um I'm a a resident of Port Orange for the past 13 years. Go ahead. Did you look like you got some notes or some comments you want? I do. I do. Feel free. Go right ahead. Um, first I put my glasses on. Okay.

Thank you, Mayor Scott Skilner and the city council members and uh the the district manager, Mr. clock who has been very helpful in the past of so many things um over the years and the former uh mayor Green was very helpful when it came to uh Freemanville as well. Just recently um well I had a chance to meet um Mother Alberta Mloud about I would say 10 years ago. I had a chance to meet um a lot of her children and also her grandchildren. And after leaving my church, which I'm a member of Our Lady of Hope, I would always stop on Orange Street at Mount Mariah and take in service there with uh Pastor Trudy, who just recently passed um a couple of weeks ago. and my condolences to her uh to the family as well. She is greatly missed. But one of the things that we did was that we establish um a free food library and thanks to um the city council member as well and that's going extremely well. But Freemanville, located in the present day of Port Orange, Florida, was one of Valuchia County first all black settlements established around 1866 through 1867 following the Civil War founded by Union's surgeon Dr. John Milton Hawks and roughly 500 free families. It began as a self-sufficient community centered

around the Florida Land and Lumber Company. Despite the company failure, residents remain establishing a resident community with a school and churches. Now, in some of the areas where um where it's very grassy and a lot of trees, etc., I was told that also there were uh civil war soldiers uh there are tombstones etc was there and uh one person did a study uh not years ago a cedar tree now the cedar tree would probably show an indication of there have to be like a burial ground etc and um I'm just asking that with the council you just take a look and don't forget Freemanville because I'm always there visiting and talking to a lot of the neighbors and I do care a lot about that area and being a a a historian of looking up and getting information is what I am all about. Now the canal they talked about years ago which is opposite uh the the church itself used to be uh going from east to west and they talk about fishing during that particular time but now it's it's a lot of uh uh a lot of grass uh a breeze etc etc and the church need to be taken a second look at because uh you can't enter anymore more. It's just standing there etc. which uh family members um own the church etc. But uh it's not open

anymore um to the community uh for church service because uh before uh Mother Mloud um Alberta uh Mloud died, they uh indicate that she would always be the minister there. And when there were seem to be uh issues with the church itself of leaning etc that um no one can actually enter the building as well. Okay. All good there.

Okay. I'm going to read this proclamation and come down and present this to you. Whereas the beginning of Port Orange and the Freemanville settlement dates back to 1867 when Dr. John Milton Hawks, a Union Army surgeon, and his fellow Union Army officers officially established Port Orange soon after the Civil War. And whereas initially 500 former slaves settled near the shores of the Halifax River on public land secured with the help of the US Freedom Bureau in 1866. They came to work for the Florida Land and Lumber Company, which Dr. Hawks and his partners formed. And whereas an additional 1,000 freed slaves made Port Orange their home 6 months later. Then after falling on hard times, the settlement, the company, and the integrated school disbanded in 1869. A majority of the settlers returned to their home states and headed for areas uh like the citrus groves looking for work. And whereas over time, the few families and individuals who stayed made up the pioneering African-American neighborhood of Port Orange known as Freemanville. And whereas in 2003, the city of Port Orange unveiled the Freemanville historic marker, which is also listed in the state historic marker program. Now, therefore, I, Scott Stilner, mayor of the city of Port Orange, Florida, do hereby proclaim February 10th, 2026 as Freemanville Day in the city of Port Orange to recognize this small neighborhood and bring awareness to some of the history that surrounds the city of Port Orange. So, come down there. I would like to [applause] um I would like to thank a few people that are here in the audience with me.

Absolutely. My uh my sorority sisters, Sigma Gamaro. Okay. [applause] And uh my club, which is the Poor Democratic Club. We make a lot of noise, but you guys know us. You know us. and my my um co uh friend uh from uh Midtown Community Development Corporation where uh in Daytona which I'm on that board as well and uh each year we do banners and one of the members that from Freemanville was on it several years ago. We did the research on that.

Well, I tell you what, if you will get all of your representatives to come right over here, I'll get all my representatives to come down there and we'll take a picture real quick. Okay. Okay.

Okay. We do have kind of tight spaces, so we apologize for that. But we're all friendly. [laughter]

That's okay. I'm going to I'm going to put that right there. You guys hold that. I'm going to jump in the back. All right. You guys come on up there. I can't. [laughter]

Thank you guys very much. Well deserved. This might not go well, but I'm going to try anyway. All right, I'm going to invite the Atwoods to come on down for this next one. Thank you.

Hi guys, welcome. All right, let me read this proclamation. Then we're going to give you guys an opportunity to talk and I'm going to beg you to mention catwalk again. So all right whereas encphilitis is inflammation of the brain and whereas encphilitis can strike anyone anywhere at any time at any age resulting in a serious and sometimes life-threatening medical emergency. And whereas encphilitis impacts an estimated 20,000 people in the United States and 500,000 people globally each year. And whereas encphilitis leaves survivors with an acquired brain injury affecting not only the diagnosed individual but the entire family and community at large. And whereas the 501c3 organization encphilitis 411 strives to improve the quality of life for all those impacted by encphilitis. And whereas it is imperative that there be greater public awareness of this serious health issue. Now therefore, I, Scott Stilner, mayor of the city of Port Orange, do hereby proclaim February 22nd, 2026 as Encphilitis Day in the city of Port Orange and and urge all citizens to join me in this special observance. Welcome. And I'm going to have the rest of these folks come back down here one more time now that they got comfortable. So, we're going to give this mic to you first.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, distinguished council. Um, we're familiar with each other. So, um, let me explain this first. We over three years ago, you know, when I had my first seizure, um, there was a fracture to my back and

things that should have bothered me. Apparently, doctor was like, "Doesn't that hurt?" I'm like, "No, well, it should." So, it turns out I have three ruptured discs. So, now they've did this spinal thing, fusion thing. So, any So, here we are. Um, I just want to say thank you. you are the 10th of 16 cities now in Valuch County that are um partnering with us for this and it it's so hugely important. I want to share with you that when I was diagnosed um three and a half years ago I was reported medically documented to be less than one person in a million who has this disease. We have now a second person in Blush County. That is only because awareness is being raised and it takes partnerships like this to make that happen. Um we have first responders, the police officers, Ponlet's even given us a a personal um statement that they are now showing up when a call comes in if a patient is presenting in a seizure. It's not an automatic epilepsy u situation. So they are looking at alternatives and the medical hospitals are on board with us. Halifax has u even offered to give us a um national conference here next year that they're going to host for us and it's huge. It's huge because these things are are taking place as a result of Valia County's involvement last year um with raising awareness for encphilitis. Um we received recognition on the world network news world news network whatever um that's huge. That's huge. There's there are there's only one state in the United States that publicly declares February 22nd as World Encilitis Day. We're going to fix that next year. I've tried to get in to see a governor so many times. I'm going to get there. But um because it's Massachusetts, we don't need that. We need Florida to do it, you know. So, and then every year it'll be

in perpetuity that this is is recognized. So many people every time we've addressed somebody, we've never left where somebody hasn't stopped us on the way out and said, "My cousin, my brother, my sister, somebody is experiencing these things and we say, "Go see your doctor." And we've had like six people who don't have my specific disease, but are an encphilitis patient now. So, um, you definitely want to do that. As of last year's involvement with Valish County, Ken and I were able to deliver a check for more than $9,000 to Mayo Jacks that is specifically targeted for encphilitis research. They were so unbelievably grateful. So this year we want to double it of course you know and uh make it better by that would bring the catwalk. So, we are our first one. Um, you know, I used to be a runner and you think you have to have thousands of people show up, but that's not how the first one goes. We set for 200 people. We had 199. So, pretty good. Didn't meet my goal. We'll fix that.

I was supposed to be there. See, you you were the reason. [laughter] But because of all of that and it's just

said was him. Sorry. The um the catwalk for those of you who are unfamiliar is just a half mile distance. It's right here on the beautiful Port Orange Riverfront at Riverwalk Park. Um by next year I'm sure there'll be all the socials going on there and the food trucks. So that's going to be amazing. But and it's the catwalk is for everybody. Doesn't matter if you're push carried uh if you want to run or walk. It's just a half mile distance and it's just a matter of getting together with new friends and old to raise awareness and have people discuss what this disease is about. And um that like I said brought up more than $9,000 that we were able to donate and we got to stand there as proudians and proud Port Orange residents and say we started that right here in Port Orange and so next year the state of Florida. So as you guys go forward

beautiful weather.

It couldn't have been any better. Thank you very much mayor. Thank you. [laughter] So um did I get everything babe? Oh. Oh. So, Saturday, um, if the city lights something in red, Ken and I will be going across the county after sunset and taking all the pictures. That's what got us the worldwide, um, news network. Last year, uh, we submitted all the mayoral proclamations and the photos that we took of things that were illuminated and red, local landmarks. There only two in the United States right now. Last year, we had 14 in the city, I mean, in the county. So, two others in the United States. one is Niagara Falls and one is a a bridge somewhere. I can't remember which bridge. So, I mean, Valuch County is is leading the way. And um the other thing about Saturday and anytime between now and the end of February, if you your colleagues, your your community, whatever, get together and wear something red, dress your dog in red, whatever, tag me. I've got cards out on the podiums out there that tell us how to reach tell you how to reach us. And uh we submit those photos along to international, too. It's not even in the United States. We send those to the UK and um and that's where we got our our acknowledgement from. So that is where redforwed hash redfor and if you do that it'll tag me automatically on Facebook and the world and sephilitis association. So thank you very much for supporting us one more time. I appreciate it.

Did I forget anything? You know what this is?

Thank you guys. Cat, you're all in too. You're okay. And my girlfriend says he'll do [laughter] right. Okay, moving on to section E. Councilman Foley can let me know if I'm missing anything, but we're going to public participation. And first up is Sue Burns. Sue, come on up.

Welcome. Hi,

Sue. Burns 228 Chris Drive and a resident of the Lamplighter community. And um residents in Lamplighter, specifically those on our farthest west boundary um backing up to Atlantic High School are experiencing flooding in the big rain events, not just hurricanes. but only since the school regraded their sports area back there uh for months because we are so dry. We're not experiencing any issues right now. But the um in preparation for the rainy season, we ask that you um review the attachments. The first page is a rough draft of a response to Sun Community's letter they sent us and Sun's letter plus um some pictures of the flooding showing standing water on Atlantic High School property and a few pictures of where the water from that was standing there came onto the lamp water pro property causing the damage to multiple homeowners there. It's my understanding that some of this flooding is since Sun put in a 6- in uh French drain. Um and the water sits on top of that French drain and pools on top of it. Um they're tried, you know, I'm not cutting them for that. Um, I did a uh look on Google and was told Port Orange and the state has an ordinance protecting neighboring properties and wonder if it can be applied to this case. Give some relief to those homeowners because we're talking thousands of dollars and one trailer I think was 10,000 alone. Uh, Sun mentioned in their letter dated 121725 that you have there that they are waiting on a comprehensive storm water plan from the city of Port Orange and Val in Valuchia County. However, we thought it was already done. um and was referenced in your video. So I guess my question is is the comprehensive storm water flow study um is that the same thing as the comprehensive storm water master plan that was done in 2025. So they're waiting for something that's

already been done perhaps. Okay. I just want to make sure it wasn't two separate things. I do hope you take the time to look over those and help us with this issue. There was no issue prior to that being graded and now it's like I said it's thousands of dollars to these homeowners and it's each time there's a major rain event. Thank you. Thank you Rebecca. Hey Rebecca, how are you? How are you?

Uh good evening mayor and council members. I am Dr. Rebecca Gatton and I have the pleasure of serving Halifax Health Hospice as the executive director. I am also a resident of Port Orange and I'm here tonight representing the Port Orange South Daytona Chamber of Commerce. I wanted to thank you all for your support of our local businesses and remind you that we have some chamber events coming up this Thursday. We have a business after hours event from 5 to 7:00 at Honest One Autoare. And then wanted you to save the date. We have a tasteful affair coming up on Thursday, April 30th. So again, just want to thank you for your continued support. Awesome. Thank you. Great to see you.

Thanks for coming.

Um I believe is it Lee from Wman Street? Is it Lee? Come on up. Welcome. Wanted to pull up the city ordinance. Name's Lee live over off Wellman. Um right across the railroad tracks by the school women's center. Um, would like you guys to take a look at the community cat program that everybody here probably doesn't know about. I didn't volunteer to have 20 random cats running around. My truck was given to me by my grandpa. I've got scratches. It needs a new paint job. Who's paying for it? I didn't sign up for a cat program that some random lady got permission from the women's center to drop strays off and feed them. How is that fair? We don't do that for dogs. So, some kind of revision. Somebody that lives in my neighborhood. Yeah. If they want to do it, cool. Somebody that lives in Daytona Beach, that's not Port Orange. That's not my neighborhood. She ain't paying to fix by truck. How is that fair? Animal control already told me if she signs up, anybody from anywhere. I could live in Tennessee. If I have strays and get permission from one person, they can drive down, drop them off, problem solved. Why is that my responsibility? So, just wanted to bring it up because it needs addressed.

So, thank you guys. Appreciate it. Amanda, were there any others? No, that's it. Okay. All right. Moving on to to uh council comments. Lance, we'll start with you.

Okay. Um, wow. These last two things that come up before us are are are new to me and hopefully we can um look at these through through the staff. Especially uh a grading issue on the school property that would or could shed water into a Port Orange neighborhood definitely concerns me. Obviously, because you got different juris jurisdictions there, the school board thinks they can go out there and do what they want. That's not going to be the case here. So, um I hope that we can get uh get right on to this this situation because uh again this this is new to me, but when it comes to a flooding issue, I I definitely think we need to prioritize that. Um and then uh and then obviously the the CAT program is a little bit uh disturbing as well. So, if we could just again look into that. The only other issue I wanted to talk about and again just uh it's just for information uh on consent agenda item number 10 uh was um about removing a historic tree so that we can create the ballparks better out there. And um you know there was no way around getting the fields we way we want them with the historic tree and and it has to be sacrificed. But with that, I want the residents to know that we just don't go there and flatten a tree for nothing. We pay the mitigation fees and we are just as as uh held to held to the fire as any other customer within the city of Port Orange just because we are the city. So there is um you know there is mitigation for this tree coming down. There is donation to the tree bank etc etc. But uh just want the residents to know that we just you know just because we make the rules don't mean we don't have to adhere to the rules. So, thank you on that Wayne. That's all.

Sean, what do you got? [clears throat]

I'mma follow in line with Lance in reference to uh the lamp lighter issue and flooding. And I would hope that we could look into that with the school board and find out what's going on. If they're uh having some issues over there with their fields and they're making adjustments to it and it's flooding the neighborhood, I don't think that's right. So, we could just look into that. It's the first time I've heard it. No one's come to me and said anything about it. So, I'm glad you came up tonight, Sue, to to mention that. So, I think we need to have that looked at, see what's going on there. We don't want our partners with Le County Schools doing things to their property that's going to affect uh our our citizens in any way. And uh Lee, thank you. I guess he left in reference to the cats. You know, I I know the city's had a problem with stray cats and the feeding of stray cats and they do cause a lot of damage and they they cause a lot of uh heartache too when they get injured and I don't know what what we do to control that. Um I I just it's something I don't want us to ignore either. But outside of that, everything's good and looking forward to the spring,

warmer weather. Uh M. burns. I'll I'll get hold of you uh tomorrow to come out to Lamp Lighter and have a conversation. I'll give you a shout to let you know. It is concerning. Um so we'll we'll get hold of you as we get closer tomorrow. Thursday. I can't I can't have you. We can't I can't have you speak under the seat. So

yeah, we'll give you a shout. Um, one of the big things on uh, Sunday, if uh, you know, weren't following the news or even actually to the national news, Sunday afternoon, uh, we had a, uh, small fire on 95 that decided to grow rapidly and fast and and I can't thank the fire department for doing such an excellent job. Um, you guys uh, saved many, many homes. The fire started on southbound 95, crossed into the median, jumped the median into the north northbound side into the woods, and came within feet of homes over on Calter and Fame Road, which is uh if you travel and Hidden Lake where Horizon Elementary School is, you can go there and see the scorched earth right on the road. Um I don't want to say we got lucky. I want to say that uh the fire department did a phenomenal job. They did what they were trained for and the community got saved uh all the way down to aerial drops of water from helicopters. You know, it was a big to-do. Um Memorial Park sidewalks about 90% complete. If you haven't been down to Memorial Park, I'll tell you that whole area is shaping up huge and beautiful. Got the docks done. 90% of the parks uh intact. Um it is a huge walking area now and it's uh coming together with Oak Street and Jackson Street getting completed here in the next month or so too. So that whole area is getting revitalized. Um so it's beautiful thing to go down and and take your time on it. Um, then we have uh the Cross Creek subdivision. If you haven't seen a uh marshm barge, I

would say it is a superb thing to see. It was literally in the back of the lakes two houses away from me and citizens coming up to me going, "Have you seen what city put in the lake?" And it it was weird, but it's a barge that has a crane on it that goes around and it literally does complete lake restorations for drainage cleaning and making sure everything is done properly. Uh it's been a while since that's been done over there. To see that happen, it's it was beautiful thing. And having citizens come up and going, "This is amazing. Did you do this?" And I can absolutely tell you no. This is the departments coming together and doing the [clears throat] jobs and follow-ups on the task lists. It wasn't Councilman Grubs for his district. It was the community involvement of what these departments do. So, thank you for what you guys are doing. Um, the last thing uh was kind of a concern. Um, if you've been down to the boat docks, uh, you know, it's under construction now, but at the same time, the beautiful signage that we put by the bathrooms of showing where the other docks and mileage markers where the other docks are for them to take their boats to, it's down by the bathrooms. So, if you pull down the road to launch your boat that's closed, they'll never see that sign. There needs to be a duplicate sign, not saying take that sign that we have down there. It needs to stay there, too. Duplicate that sign, pull it back up onto the roadway. So, as they're pulling down with their boat, they know where their other opportunities are. If not, they're never going to see it. Um, I've talked to Wayne about this already and uh Susan, so something that uh if council needs to approve, it's something that we need to look at to make sure of it.

That man on the end of that table can absolutely do that on their own person. Okay. Yeah, that's because right now we're we're in winter time. There's not a lot of people doing boating in the winter time and that sign's not going to get seen until somebody brings their boat out in the springtime and we're still closed and then we're going to be fielding all the phone calls. So, I would just say jump in front of it. Okay. I I can say though on a positive side, we've had PD down there on the weekends and we haven't had any issues, problems or complaints at this point. So, it's it's going as well for something as big as that. I think it's going very well for sure. Okay, that's having some really [clears throat] significant cold fronts come through. Go ahead.

Uh piggyback a little bit on Tracy. I appreciate him shutting out our fire department. You know, we've sat on up on this council. It's not really a secret that we don't have a lot of fires, structure fires or in uh the area, but my goodness, when we do have one, they jump into action, do an awesome job. And so, that was fantastic protecting our uh our homes and things. So, shout out to all of those in that whole department. And I just want to clarify why I had to abstain. I didn't get a chance to say it and I know that I have to. Um the reason being is that for item 13 I have a um employment contract to work for them uh during that event and so it wouldn't be right for me to vote on that because I I stood to gain financially. So just want to make sure you guys know um make sure I made that clear.

That it that's it. All right. Well, I add I had on the top of my list as well to to compliment our fire department and all those not only our department but all of the partners throughout Valuchia County in the state that come together during these types of events. And and then when that wind was blowing, I'm like, goodness gracious, this is going to be ugly. Unfortunately, there was this big interstate in between the area there that kind of helped and and uh so they were able to respond really quickly and and maintain some control and little disruption for some folks on I95. Good thing that didn't happen like three hours later though when that race was

I'm sure everybody's hands [clears throat] were full anyhow. So, uh but we appreciate everything they do and that that is awesome. Also, I don't want to miss an opportunity uh to again note this. Uh Sue, thanks for your comments this evening. The city of Port Orange has an entire section on the website dedicated to storm water storm water mitigation. What's going on, what studies have been done, what projects we're working on, and who you can contact for information regarding storm water mitigation issues or projects or just general storm water drainage concerns throughout the entire city of Port Orange. Because the one thing I can assure you is the folks who sit up here on this dis with this council don't have the answers to all of those questions. It is a very complex infrastructure, very complex network. A significant amount doesn't belong to the city of Port Orange. A lot of it belongs to the county, the state, some of it's private, all those different kind of things. All that just to say that our city staff folks can get you the answers that you're looking for and get you information much more accurate and faster than the elected officials. So, by all means, we're certainly interested in hearing thoughts and comments and concerns and all that, but if you're looking for information expeditiously, you really want to go to our city staff and our storm water division with uh here at city hall. And that information is on our website. In fact, on the homepage, there's an ex there's a separate icon that allows you to go right to that information. So, hopefully that is helpful and folks can utilize that. Moving on to the regular agenda portion, item 19, the second.

Oh, number seven. I'm sorry. He spoke so he threw me off. Mr. Attorney, nothing to add tonight. Nothing to add. I feel like I should jump in.

So, Lee, when he was here, the the chief did go out and speak to him. So, we've already started following up on on his case. As far as the school district item, we don't have a lot of like power, but we have a very good relationship with their staff. The the superintendent has just recently shuffled a little bit at her executive level. The operations person that we used to work with is now I think chief of chief of staff, but the op that guy is now the operations manager. You know, if you remember Mimi, who used to work here at our admin, she works for him. So, we still have pretty good connections with them and work very well. So, I I I would believe that there's going to be a positive conversation. I don't think it's going to be the city's going to make you do something, but I think when we talk to them, they'll find ways to work with the residents. So, we'll be happy to to do that and make sure that you guys have that follow-up information when we do it. And then for the people who are interested in storm water in general, as you're mentioning, Robin, our assistant manager here, she's going to get up and do a little presentation ahead of the three acquisition items that are coming up later on the agenda. She leads our staff efforts in in talking to people, whether you want to just talk on the phone or have her go out in the field. And so if you need to see her, the the two capital projects that we just did the last week, the two smaller scale ones, both of those came out of field visits from these guys. So if you get to the point where website, you want more than the website and you want to talk to somebody, somebody needs to visit you, Robin coordinates all that.

Yeah. And just to comment further on that, one one of the things that has come out of uh these last few years of having these crazy historic storms is that a lot of relationships have been developed across agency and organizational lines and local government, state local uh state government as well as private entities and things like that. And a tremendous amount has been learned. Some of it is uh what what's the expression? forced through a fire hose, forced to drink through a fire hose. Yeah. Drink a fire hose kind of a thing. But nonetheless, uh that information and those relationships have been built and and one of the things that every agency in Valuchia County uh and when I say agency, I guess I mean local government entity has agreed in concept and it didn't take a vote. It didn't take anything else. It's don't do any harm to your neighbor. And what we mean by that is is we want to do the best we can to help, you know, improve resiliency in our city and improve a lot of these concerns, but do it in a way that doesn't harm other people, other cities, other communities and things like that. So, I know everybody strives to to do that and that part of that relationship that city manager is talking about. Item number can I go to 19 now?

Item number 19, second reading of ordinance number 2026-1. It's an ordinance of the city of Orange Bush County, Florida, amending 74-33 requiring a deposit for master meter installation establishing a new section 7434 requiring the installation of a master meter for a campground, recreational park, motel, hotel, mobile home, park, apartment complex, or other multif family residential units. And providing for the method of building for master meter accounts, amending section 7439 setting forth the responsibility of maintenance of private water systems, including emergency maintenance. providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances, severability, and an effective date. Can I get a motion to approve on second reading ordinance number 2026-1?

Go ahead to move to approve ordinance number 2026-1. A second. Second. Have a motion and a second. Any other comments from council on this one? Know we went through this pretty extensively. Okay. Anybody in the public wish to speak to this? [sighs] Welcome back. Thanks. I'm starting to turn into one of those. That's okay. Every night we res. It's weird when there's nobody here to talk to. So, go ahead.

Well, since the first reading um we went back in um in Lamplighter and we asked uh for more information from the city and some communities and did a little bit more research and our position has not changed. I and the other residents are asking you not to pass the ordinance at this time as it reads. In an effort to get a rough estimate of the cost to us, the homeowners, um I asked Sun to provide us the cost for another from another park that they had put in individual meters in and having a third party company um do the bills and so forth um oversee the transaction. They refused. They said they cannot share information. And once they finalize everything, then they will let us know what our costs will be. And I have copies of that correspondence if anybody wants to to look at it. Um, we have Sun telling us one thing and the city saying the opposite. For example, Sun is saying the meters we have are the city's meters and um have the city saying that it's the landowner's meters. We have the city saying it was up to Sun to keep the meters in working order. son says it's the city's meters. It was up to them. Um, we are your citizens, your customers. Um, please let us find a way to keep that direct link and not have these two for-profit companies in between us. Um, I mean, are you going to go to Pon Inlet or South Daytona and put in a master meter and have them build their own customers? We're just asking you respectfully. Please do not pass this ordinance at this time.

Thank you. Thank you. And if you [clears throat and cough] if you have those correspondents, you want to give them to the clerk, she can make sure that they're part of the record for you. Anybody else wish to speak to this item? Okay, back to council. Any other comments from the city council? Just because I wasn't here for first reading. Um Wayne, could you maybe answer a little bit of that um question about why who who owns the meters and why and how we got to this point? Um I I've watched the council meeting back but just because I'm here in person real quick between Matt and I if you want to hear it from the attorney too there they are private meters on private land. We don't have easements. We don't own them. Uh the master meter is where we end. Everything inside of there is private.

I'm speaking to her concern about Pon Inlet in South Dayton or uh yeah South Daytona. Um do we not basically charge them a price and they individually do their billing? Pon has a a billing that they do. We master meter that. We also master meter multiple commercial multif family projects. Hundreds of places where there's master. So it's so that's not an uncommon practice for us and and it sounds like we'd be at a liability not to pass. There's only there's only five that are not. These are

so it sounds like we from what I've understood and this is what I got from gathering watching this in the first meeting and you and I's conversations uh before this meeting is that we are basically making up a number and dividing it amongst these people and that's not the right thing to do and it puts us in jeopardy. And so I I to me this is a no-brainer. We have to pass this. So that's my opinion. So anybody else have any comments? Wayne, I'm just curious. And again, I know this is an old neighborhood. This is not a PUD, is it? Is that neighborhood a PUB? It's what is a mobile home? RMH been there before that. I know. I was saying. So what was that answer? I'm sorry.

It's owned RMH, a residential mobile home. Okay. So So again, the property is one plot. if I'm correct. And and the mobile home spaces are are just something that's within that grid, I guess. And it's it's not any of there's no city easements within any of that parks. Correct. We we do not and Tim can confirm if I'm wrong. We don't have any easements in that area. The property line is our edge of public to to private. Okay. It is private property, private infrastructure. I know. And I won't

This is a tough one. It's it's it's tough because, you know, things might have been going on over there for however long and and unfortunately, you know, um that the property owner needs to make this right and it's it's not the city's issue to try and make right, but it just sucks for our residents that, you know, that this could uh impact them negatively and it it really just shouldn't have ever been this way. It shouldn't have been this way. This is about making it the way it's really supposed to be fundamentally. Anyhow, any other comments?

I I was just going to say I do empathize with the residents. I I could totally understand where you guys are coming from and having a great deal concern because you you kind of get where you expect that things are going to work a certain way and all of a sudden someone moves the goalpost on you and that's what it feels like. but also from the city's standpoint and from sitting here thinking about not only our residents of this community but of our residents of the entire city is this is private property and private infrastructure and whether or not we helped to install it back in the day or whatever it may have been none of that matters today we have no right to be there checking those meters and I I can in good faith for the entirety of the city allow that to continue to do from my position although I have a great deal of sympathy for the residents are in there and I hope that it ends up being a very netneutral you got. It ends up being of no change to you. Um that that'll be my hope as we pass this tonight.

Clerk, call the role. Councilman Foley, yes. Councilman Gford, yes. Councilman Green, yes. Vice Mayor Drops, no. Mayor Stner, yes. 41. Item 20, flood mitigation projects.

We have a presenter this evening. Uh, I'm gonna So, um, council, this is a, uh, a unique opportunity for us to purchase some properties, uh, for the greater good benefit of our city as a whole and improve our resiliency and storm water uh, mitigation opportunities. Um, so I need a here's what I need. I need a motion for item 20 to be approved. Put on the floor or put this open, but we need to open A, B, and C all at the same time to be discussed. We will vote on A, B, and C purchases individually. Okay, clear as mud. Clear as mud. Let's do it. Make a motion for item 20 for A, B, and C for approval. Second.

We're going to we're going to do those individually. So, there'll be three votes. So, just start with 20 A. 20A. Oh. All right. Have a motion. So, is that your motion to approve 20A? Let's just have a And is that your second? Yes. Have a motion and a second to approve item 20. I have a motion and a second to approve 20B. 20B. Well, we got all three. Okay. I have a motion to approve 20B. Second. You have a motion and a second to approve 20. And motion for 20 C to approve. Second. We have a motion. You happy with that? We have a motion and a second for 20 [laughter] C. Robin, all three are open.

Perfect. Thank you so much for doing that. I know it sounds silly, but we got to follow the law. So, we ha Good evening, mayor and council. Robin Fenwick, assistant city manager. We have three items as we just mentioned um on your agenda tonight regarding flood mitigation. And while these are typically consent agenda items, we thought we'd take this opportunity to um provide some updates on on what we've got going on in the the storm water mitigation activities arena. So, we're going to cover those storm water mitigation efforts, some land acquisition program information, and then we'll we'll wrap it back to to those three uh property acquisition items.

This one takes a second to load. All right, it's a big file. So you can see I wanted to start with this uh map to to out that outlines the the maintenance responsibilities of ponds and canals throughout Port Orange. And you can see and as you guys already know um we we don't um have maintenance responsibilities for all every body of water in the city. Um you can see the orange that's represented on here is what Port Orange is respons responsible for. All that pink you see are those private private um systems that we were kind of just talking about on the private property. So, it's it's kind of interesting to see the the map all together like that where there's there's a lot that's private. But for those um those in orange, we're going to talk about those tonight. So, storm water maintenance continues to be a major focus for us. Over the past few years, we've we've cut our storm citywide maintenance cycle from about two years down to one. A big part of that progress is our use of specialized contractors for the most difficult areas. These are places that previously damaged our equipment and caused long down times. While contractors handle those challenging sections, our crews stay productive in other parts of the the system. This helps to keep everything moving forward and improves overall efficiency. And then on the project side, uh final permitting is complete with the Cambridge pump station and we expect construction to begin in late spring, which is great news. We love that. Um improvements at Jackson and Oak Streets are also near nearly finished. Uh we're also expanding our monitoring cap capabilities. The first new water level monitoring device has been installed at Taylor and Devon to track levels uh of the Cambridge Canal.

And that real-time data will help us respond faster and more efficiently during storm events. And then lastly, um it's been mentioned tonight that at your last meeting on February 3rd, you you approved those two smaller storm water projects that that did come from from our visits to residents. um it's it's great to to get out there and see what they have going on and literally get in their their backyard and and be able to sometimes come up with some sort of solution. So those projects are moving into the design phase now and then some land acquisition programs. So um there are multiple assistance programs available to residents um including FEMA which has the HMGP the hazard mitigation grant program. There's Elevate Florida that we've heard a lot about and of course transform 386. And this part of transform 8 386 is different than the almost 22 million that we've we've talked we saw in the state of the city um that was funding for our our larger projects. Um these are individual homeowner applications and these projects were initiated by the homeowners voluntarily whose homes were uh determined to be substantially damaged and located within the special flood hazard areas. Upon completion, these grant-f funed projects will reduce the number of repetitive loss properties within the city. Properties included in the acquisition portion of these programs, which are are some that we're talking about tonight, um are evaluated by city staff before a recommendation is made to the city council for acceptance. And during that evaluation process, city staff meets to review each property individually and determine the broader citywide benefit. We we consider whether the property provides new or better access to canals, ditches, pipes, or other stormwater infrastructure needed for maintenance. We also review the

flood history. Is it a repetitive loss property? Does it have multiple national flood insurance program claims? Is it potentially eligible for uh FEMA or state mitigation funding? And then we look at how how the property fits into our larger strategy. properties ad adjacent to prior uh city acquisitions and areas identified for public use um future public use may create opportunities to expand flood mitigation, storm water improvements, and even park space. Ultimately, we focus our pro our properties we focus the properties that strengthen the city's ability to implement long-term flood control and drainage projects, particularly those with repetitive flood damage, access to critical infrastructure, and proximity to um other p publiclyowned lands for properties acquired as open space. this which is what happens when we acquire them. They they remain public space forever and ever. Amen. Um and then the city has has the responsibility for ongoing maintenance. And so our approach for for this ongoing maintenance is is simple and cost-effective. Uh once existing structures and other imperous surfaces are removed, the disturbed area of each lot will be restored with Baja grass, which is durable, lowmaintenance, and does not require regular irrigation. Additionally, some of these properties provide access to city-owned and maintained canals and drainage ditches. So those particular properties uh may need to accommodate heavy equipment and trucks during routine maintenance activities and at times may be used to temporarily store equipment to support canal and ditch upkeep. All right, I told you I'd be quick.

Great. Can you go back about uh your slide here that had [clears throat] the four Keep going right there just for a moment. So uh first of all, great job. Um I I just think that uh this is really important to not only illustrate, you've done a great job with that, but for the elected officials to absorb this because this is something we get we hear and we we that get spoke about incorrectly in the community a lot. There's this this feel sometimes that municipalities are just going to go around buying up properties. That's not happening. It's not going to happen. It shouldn't happen. and and and there's I I doubt there's a city in Florida that could afford to do it just that simply. Um and these are the criterias that need to uh be met. And and the big one there is that if the city is going to do do this and try to acquire the support funding from federal government or state or wherever the additional funding comes from, it has to provide a greater benefit for more than just that property. So whether that's six homes on a street or 600 homes in a neighborhood or geographically speaking in the city, that is an incredibly important part of what this allows us to do. And I think, you know, we need to make sure that that as we're talking to residents with this particular top that comes up because it does a lot, but we're really, [clears throat] you know, hammering that part home. By the way, I'd love to see this presentation and in and a summation of what we do here tonight added to our storm water stuff on the city site to keep that up to date. Um the the one question I I did have was is there another property on Bears End that we're going to be looking at.

I'll get to that. Okay. Still in my started too early. Go ahead. Surprised you didn't reprimand me.

All right. So, back to tonight's the items on tonight's agenda. So these are the three the the three properties that that are up for your discussion that you have the motions on the table for. And so two of these the two on the on the left of your screen are are Trailwood Drive and Sugar House Drive. Those two are being acquire are proposed to for acquisition through the state's hazard mitigation grant program, the HMGP program. um following Hurricane Adalia of all hurricanes. Um and the agreement provides reimbursement for 75% of the cost to acquire and demolish these two properties plus a third property that you'll see on a future agenda. Hopefully, we're we're just finalizing some things with that property owner. Um and then once acquired and cleared, these sites will permanently remove be permanently removed. Uh, I'm sorry. These sites will permanently remove structures from areas subject to repetitive flooding and eliminate future flood risk to those properties and provide improved access to an adjacent any adjacent ditches and canals for storm water management. All right. So, that's those two on the left. The one the bears 842 Bears Trail is the one on the right. And then, um, you will actually have a a second Bears Trail on your next agenda. We just couldn't get timing down with that property owner to to go together.

But I'm gonna this property right here, if this mouse will work good for me all the way that that's the the second one that'll come at your your next agenda. Yeah.

Um and so this property is actually well both of these properties are being um purchased as part of the city's match for a larger stormwater project. Again, you'll see the 846 come up the next agenda. These two properties together will will provide approximately three acres for a stormwater pond and pump station at the Nixon for the Nixon Lane stormwater pond and pump station project. It's a mouthful. So this is what the Nixon Lane stormwater pond and pump station concept plan looks like. And so you can see from this graphic the the blue box is the Bears Trail properties and that's where a pond and and pump station will go. And then the it will right here and then this will feed to the the main force for the Meline Pepper Hill pond and pump station project. And then that that pumps all the way out to the Halif directly to the Halifax River instead of um coming through the Portona area and out further north. So, it's not going to have direct impacts to Portona, but it will it will keep some of that water from going through their area.

Great. So, I think one of the other things on this one to mention too is that the original concept plan for this project and the master plan started off with two pumps and so we just we didn't own enough land. So, to make in order to make it work, there were going to be two [cough] two smaller areas in a pump. So, this is we've talked about this once before. This actually saves money in the bigger I can't remember what the total was, but it's a substantial amount by putting one big pond here. And you can see the shorter length of pipe that connects into the other project. So, the cost of acquiring the land is going to be completely covered by the overall savings to do the project because this is a much more efficient design to complete that project. Good point. Thank you.

Yeah, this is probably a good place to just a quick comment. you know, when we went through uh the study and we looked at all the different projects, one of the things we we talked about as a council and a lot of residents would ask and talk about is just buy land and build a pond. And and and you know, while we do see this, I think it's important for us to note that with all of the studies and the engineers, ponds are not the solution. But we have to have these ponds in order to acquire the the water volume to be able to pump it because these pumps can move a lot of water super super fast. So you got to flow it to somewhere and then drive it all the way to the river. So if people hear, well, I thought you said ponds won't work. Well, they won't in and of themselves. Ponds are not helping the situation at all for us. Water has to get to the Halifax River, but we have to have a place to collect it. Did I say that kind of Okay. No, that's it. That's any questions? Happy to answer. Um if if Juno or Wayne obviously have anything to add, please jump in. Um otherwise, I'll just put it back here. These are the the properties again uh up for for your discussion and vote tonight.

The the only other comment that I would make um is that we hear from residents a lot. They say, "Well, this project doesn't help me. I live over here or I'm not in this highlighted area." I think it's important to realize that while we highlight certain areas or we illustrate certain areas and in some of the studying we saw some of that as well

everything we do helps the greater area of the city and it's very important to understand that because water doesn't stop at property lines we know that it's going to continue to flow on the natural topography of the city of the county of the state you know and it's ultimately all trying to go to ponent go out into the ocean. And so, you know, you do have places in the city where maybe the natural slope of the land is west to east or north to south. And we kind of say a lot of our city is at the bottom of the funnel for a lot of the the east Valuchia County. So things that are happening in in Daytona and South Daytona, that all impacts us and it all helps just as something that happens in the Meline and Pepper Hill area, if we can capture that water and drive it to the river, it doesn't continue to flow out of those neighborhoods and continue over farther going to the southeast. So, I think it's really important for people to understand that that while this might not occur directly in your neighborhood, we know and believe that there will be a lot of other impacts that are positive to being able to keep this water from flowing into your neighborhood, which we will which we have seen. So, uh just I think it's important to keep that in mind. Plans

is the property that's on trailwood, is that Mr. Ward's property? No. No. Oh, it's next door, Mr. Ward. I think it's across the street. Oh, across the street. So again, I guess the my my only comment to this in the negative side, again, we we this is things that we have to do. But on the on the negative side is here's [clears throat] three city investors that we're losing because, you know, we're buying their house and and knocking it down. It can never be built again. And that's the only downside to this. But on the upside, it has to be done. Yeah. So, thank you. Good job on that. Yeah. The upside is that we get to keep our neighbors and our citizens in the flood program. because when we don't take action then we don't qualify for it. So

when you look at the rules of FEMA and hey do you want your community to qualify for this flood program which is a subsidizing flood because you don't want the [clears throat] private flood program coming in here because it's way more expensive. We have to do things to to qualify to remain in it. And a lot of times it's acquisition of homes or they're going to have to rebuild them. There's actions that they have to take. actions that we have to take to remain in the flood program so people can have affordable flood insurance. It's just something we have to do.

Yeah. And I think in the long term too that it's going to bring the property values back. Uh so where some of these homes are in areas that have been flooded several times in a very short amount of time. And the argument there is now my property is not worth what it was. I think if we can get these projects done and demonstrate that they are effective, I think people will start to look at those properties with a lot of the same value that they once had. So, good point.

Say Robin, I'm glad you flipped it back to this slide because you got 18 acquisitions there and and we touched on this many meetings ago and I just want people to understand is because we acquire properties doesn't mean we're going to take that property and dig holes. We talked about this is ponds isn't always the big thing, but at the same time, the property might not be big enough. It's a single family home. The size of the property is small, so it becomes a green space. So, green spaces uh filter water into the ground just as good. Um, but it takes multiple properties side by side to actually give it a bigger project or meaning to it. I think that's one of the things that uh people need to understand is we have these 18 pieces, but that doesn't mean they're in the right location or big enough properties to do that. So, bea uh grass and seeding it and cutting it, that that is the process. Um I think one of the other big things on here is you got 29 homes going through the elevation uh program for the state and the federals. And I think that's pretty remarkable. Um, Lance, I I agree with you. Three three homes being taken off the docket. It's not a good thing. But here we have 29 homes that aren't going to be grass beds. They're they're they're coming in and staying in Port Orange and having their homes elevated. So, they are still in the tax base. And that that's the FEMA dollars and everybody else coming in to assist our community. So, that's that's a great thing.

Plus the other 42 that are demoing reconstruction. Correct. Yeah.

Yeah. Um I guess I want to take a minute to thank the property owners that decided to volunteer for this because it I I cannot be easy at all to be giving up property that [clears throat] you've probably had for 10, 20, 30 years, you know. Um some people probably thought they had their forever homes and and uh or or whatever it may be. Um, all three of these projects that are here tonight, I think are are specifically interesting because of the opportunity to take these three to hopefully help dozens if not maybe even hundreds more.

And and that's an incredible opportunity for us uh to invest back into our community. I also think we got to thank, you know, these programs. uh you know, we all get frustrated uh at different levels of government and um for them to have these programs available, especially the county council. I think uh some some thanks to them for transform 386 and things of that nature. But um you know, as someone who got flooded twice, this is pretty exciting to me. And this doesn't even affect my neighborhood, but it just shows the opportunities that are out there for the people who can't or don't want to sell and they don't want to do that. And um so, you know, I just have a great appreciation for these people coming forward and deciding to do this. And I hope that well, I have full confidence in staff and in our storm water plan and all the hard work that's gone into this that we're about to see results with the the money we're going to spend. And that's what being fiscally conservative and and good stewards is all about.

Wayne, did you want to add anything? It's okay.

I just wanted to to So about 2thirds of the homes that flooded in the two big storms were off the Nova Canal. It were related to the Nova Canal issues. And so the these areas and the projects that we talked about helped that area. And in addition to that, the the about the other third is out of Cambridge, which we mentioned is going to be under construction here in a couple months. There's physical construction to solve that problem. So, so progress is starting to be made where people can see it happening. Now, it is unfortunate that it is a two to threeyear cycle after the major storms. Uh if we could do it faster, we would. I don't know that anywhere else in America anyone is, but it is at least now that time has come where we're starting to see physical change. Another real big positive that happened around Christmas. So Daytona Beach has got the Army Corps of Engineers doing a study for them on their Midtown area and the core of engineers came back and did a a report to Daytona around Christmas time. I think I report 40 there's a really good newspaper article about it and and the the core guy came back and essentially said that they analyzed all these ideas buying holes you know buying land building holes in the ground looking at all the different options that were there uh demolishing properties and and his contention was after looking at all that what was feasible practical worth the effort to go do is the Nova Canal needed giant pumps at each one of its outfalls LPGA Reed canal and the one at the end of Port Arch and that was the most effective way was to find a way to pull that water and push it out. Whether there's a high tide, onshore winds, whatever is going on, the pump is going to beat that and push the water out and that will help. So, having the federal government come in and say Daytona's solution is including Port Orange's solution and South Daytona's and Orman's is to to deal with that Nova Canal issue by putting big pumps because it's going to take the federal government to pay for those projects. But that's at least for us, for our engineers, for the people who did our master plan. What we're seeing is the counties and the cities and the states and the federal

government are all kind of coming together on what the solutions are. So that's helpful that you don't have people tearing apart and running in different directions. We're all going in the right direction. So I thought that was very positive and that's what we we'll continue to highlight this. We'll continue to put it on our websites and keep reminding people there there is action coming. Things are being done. Uh I personally wish all of us do wish we could do it faster. Uh but we're doing everything we can. Little you just saw that tonight. M the maintenance is up. Uh couple of you mentioned the the the equipment that you see out there that's new and different. That has really helped quite a bit. You know, we put one of our machines in there and it breaks and we're we're stopped for two or three months waiting on it to get repaired. We put a consultant in there, they get take care of it. We go to the ones and our machine is up 85 90% of the year. So we're able to get most of the maintenance done. So maintenance is better now. Small projects are getting done, big projects are getting done, and bigger projects are moving forward. So, we'll just continue to talk about it until we get this done.

Wayne, just real quick about the timeline after tonight's vote. If if council approves all these to be purchased, how quickly does that get finalized and then how quickly do we get in there and clear the properties and and and see that the closings are all within what, a couple weeks of action, very No, about 60 to 90 days. for at least so sometime this summer they close one of the owners may some of them may stay in the house a little bit longer so we don't have to demolish that house right away so as soon as they close we will have them on the demolition schedule and set the lot okay we're looking at summertime

okay very good council any other questions comments Mr. Mr. Attorney, anything you wanted to add to it? No, sir. And the other two next week will because there's the other one of Bears Trail and then the other one in Sugar Forest. Probably those will be consent items. These are they don't require to be there. We just wanted to draw attention to it and present it, but the other two we'll we'll probably just put on consent next week. Okay. Anybody in the public wish to speak to items A, B, or C under item 20? No. All right. Back to council. Final comments. Okay. Court, I'll have you call the role on this three times for 20 A. Got it. Councilman Foley, yes. Councilman Gford, yes. Councilman Green, yes. Vice Mayor Krebs, yes. Mayor Stlerman,

yes. 5 and for 20 B. Councilman Foley, yes. Councilman Gford, yes. Councilman Green, yes. Vice Mayor Grubs, yes. Mayor Stner, yes. 50. And for 20 C. Councilman Foley, yes. Councilman Gford, yes. Councilman Green, yes. Vice Mayor Grubs, yes. Mayor, yes. 5. The attorney with that. All right. Moving on to council committee reports. Item 21 a firststep shelter. Councilman, this should only take me about an hour or two.

Firstep [clears throat] shelter. Uh I put on in front of you. I took yours because I need it for notes. Uh basically it's a a wrapup of what's happened out there since 2020. In the last five years they have served over 421,000 meals. They've filled 126,000 uh beds filled at night. They've received uh 1153 food stamps. They've had over 4,500 people stay in the Roseanne Tornator safe zone. They provided over 19,000 rides. Um they have housed 1153 people and uh 106 of them were veterans and uh 657 people have obtained employment and 1,252 obtained health insurance. So they're doing a tremendous service to citizens who fall on hard times. And the stories that come out of this particular shelter are really unique. It's not your typical pan handler on the corner of one of uh our famous entryways into our city. Um there are people that just come on hard times and it could be um cancer. It could be a loss of a job, a loss of a family member who supported someone. It's amazing the stories uh that come from Firstep Shelter. And uh we had a the the Daytona Beach mayor had a gala that sponsors the First Step Shelter. It's a fundraiser and they raised over uh $273,000 last week.

Wow.

To go towards the shelter. So this is supported by the community and the organizations that build businesses and employ people in this area. A lot of that's sponsorship money. So, I'm really proud to be uh representing Port Orange on their board. Um, not it's not perfect, but I'll tell you, they're really striving to be better every day and and to be a step for somebody uh that's willing to take it in the right direction. We know there's a lot of people that don't want to take that step and there's not much we can do about that. And there's a lot of um empathy to people that struggle on street corners, but there are a lot of people, as it shows in the numbers, that that need this, and I'm glad we support it. So, uh that's my report for Firstep Shelter. And then we have the Chamber of Commerce. Uh we had a representative from our board at the uh chamber today. Uh a couple key notes. They've uh increased membership over 40 in the last 30 days. 40 new businesses joining or existing businesses joining the chamber, which is very good. They have their uh golf league starting on Wednesday nights, March 11th, which is open to anybody who'd like to participate and share their talents playing golf. They scatter uh those uh events to all the members of the chamber, golf clubs that are members of the chamber. So, I think their kickoff one is at Cypress Head and they have a ribbon cutting for a business, uh, Bethl Products, which is a really unique business. They they help, um, take care of exterior, uh, AC units and condos along the beach. They got a really neat product that extends the life of a compressor. And they have a an opening. They have a ribbon cutting at the 975 Foster Way in South Daytona on Friday. And then as

mentioned, they have their business after hours at Honest One Auto in South Daytona Thursday night. So things are going really good at the chamber. They did a really good job recognizing our first responders uh at the mayor's breakfast and um that was a really nice um event that was sold out and they filled the room. So thank you all for attending that. And that's all we have for the chamber.

Great event. Great event. [clears throat] So, Art House, uh, holiday art camp, uh, coming out of the season, they actually ended up having, uh, 38 students between Christmas and New Year's that came in, uh, for their program. Uh, January 15th, Art House hosted the opening reception to a new program called Kindergarten We Create. uh had over 700 visitors come through for seeing the artwork that kindergartens um did which is just amazing. Um this week um something to keep a note uh this Thursday at 5:30 to 7:30 they're going to be showcasing the high school AP studio art exhibition. I will tell you if you if you haven't seen it, it is amazing what these kids are doing, but the AP high school stuff is just brilliantly done. Um, but that's this Thursday from 5:30 to 7:30. Uh, they also launched a new mural partnership uh with Pet Evolution in Port Orange. Um what's going to happen with this is with them partnering with them they're going to generate the funding to start uh the paint materials for the next phase for the down Dunl mirror projects for underneath the bridge. So that's still going and it's still coming. So funding is coming into that. And then lastly is uh not this Friday but next Friday at five o'clock uh Art House will host its annual meeting um and Art House Foundation. This is open to the general public. Um uh light refreshments everything starts as far as the meeting at 6:00. Uh this is also where the recognition ceremony

will be to honor uh the community uh members and donors. Um, we have a uh special guest being honoring this year that uh uh I'll I'll announce next time. Um, but uh I will tell you uh he donates to the arts. He's uh big insider community and also Valuchia community. So if y'all could please come out. Uh starts at 5. Main event starts at 6 next Friday. That's it. Sounds good.

All right. Anything else to come before us tonight? I do want to say I shared with you u the quarter 3 county economic development update. There's some really good information in here as well. All right, everybody. Have a good night.