Council Agenda - Regular Meeting

16th, 2026 at 5.30. We're going to call this meeting into order. We don't have a mayor today, so I'm going to ask Councilman Lidell to lead us in the education.

Pray with me, please. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, Lord, and we thank you for this beautiful city that we live in. We ask that you bless all of those who serve and work in our city and those who reside here with us. Lord, I pray that you would bless this meeting, that you would give us the wisdom and the servant's heart that we need to make the decisions to govern this body. We ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen.

I pledge allegiance. Thank you, David. Mm-hmm. Kathy, could you call the roll?

Hsu? Bishop? Popchats? Here. Lydell? Here. Stewart? Here. Abrams?

Here. Thank you, Kathy. This is from the audience. If there's anything that anybody wants to talk about tonight that is not on the agenda, please see Clark Haley fill out a form, and later on in the meeting, we'll get to you, and we can talk about anything that you want to. Our mayor again is not here today, so in his place, Scott has a couple things to share.

Good evening, Council. I've got a couple proclamations to read. The first one's a proclamation on faith, family, and responsible fatherhood. Is Kaylee Bush in the audience? Okay. If that's all right, then I'll just read it from here. Whereas faith is not just a cornerstone, but the very foundation of many communities, providing a moral compass of strength, hope, and guidance for most of its residents, and whereas the Christian faith and Christian ethics played a vital role in defining and shaping the constitutional values of unconditional love, service, and unity that contribute to residents' well-being, And whereas the family unit became the initial God ordained earthly institution, providing the foundational model for a thriving society, fostering strong moral character, compassion and responsibly now and in the future generations and where whereas the month of June is also a time our nation honors fathers through the observation of Father's Day which acknowledges the father's role as pillars and the bedrock of strength wisdom and leadership for their family and to serve as a much needed societal influence throughout communities now therefore on behalf of mayor john shute city of sebring do hereby proclaim june 26 as faith family and responsible father hood month in the city of sebring florida and call upon all residents to unite celebrate and uplift our community's fundamental faith family and responsible fatherhood pillars by honoring these virtues we strengthen families honor fathers and mothers, and embrace the faith that calls us to serve one another with love and compassion. And witness thereof, on behalf of Mayor Shoup, I hereunto set my hand and cause the Great Seal of the City of Sebring, Florida, this 16th day of June, in the year of our Lord, 2026. Thank you. I have another proclamation here. This one celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Whereas July 4th, 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a historic milestone celebrating the birth of the United States of America and its enduring principles of liberty, equality, and self-governance. And whereas the semi-quincentennial anniversary offers a unique opportunity for citizens across our great nation to reflect on our shared history, honor the sacrifices of those who defended our freedom, and rededicate ourselves to the foundational ideals of our republic. And whereas the city of Sebring, Florida, the historic city on the circle founded in 1912, stands as a proud, vibrant community that embodies the American spirit of ingenuity, resilience, and fellowship, and whereas the residents, civic organizations, and local businesses of Sebring contribute daily to the rich cultural tapestry, agricultural heritage, and economic strength of Highlands County and the state of Florida, and whereas the sebring historical society is coordinating and hosting a local celebration of america's 250th anniversary on this july 4th at the jack stroop civic center and whereas in alignment with national initiatives the city of sebring encourages all community members to participate in local celebrations historical education programs and acts of community service that unite us in civic pride. Now, therefore, on behalf of Mayor John Shoup of the City of Sebring, Florida, by virtue of the authority vested in the Mayor, do hereby proclaim July 4th, 2026 as America 250 Day in the City of Sebring and urge all citizens to join together in celebrating this historic 250th anniversary, honoring our past and building a stronger, more unified future for the generations to come. On behalf of the Mayor, John Shoup, I have here unto set my hand and caused the great seal of the City of Sebring, Florida, this 16th day of June in the year of our Lord, 2026. Thank you, sir.

I don't know how the mayor does it.

I don't know either.

I was looking for some water about halfway through that. Well, thank you, Scott. Any other things to say on behalf of the mayor? So thank you for reading those. We're moving over to the council members' concerns, comments, and liaison reports starting to the left.

No report.

I got a few things. So first, we got a letter addressed to all of us with some complaints about lack of code enforcement on High Street or High Avenue. This is a repeat. We had one of these a few months ago. Whoever sent that letter was sent in anonymously. It's not in the city limits of Sebring, so we can't enforce anything over there. I understand. I believe that Police Chief Carl Hoagland has passed this on to county code enforcement. But if they happen to be watching tonight, you're not getting city code enforcement because you don't live in the city of Sebring. Next thing... I am the CRA liaison this cycle and I just want to report they had a meeting last Monday where they completed or voted to approve a disposition agreement for the old Bank of America building to Marmor Construction. My understanding is that the Hall of Fame Museum is still working to try and get some funding and go in after the fact. So that's good news. and then last one just wanted to give a compliment to public works i had a friend of mine call me and tell me that he was at a downtown business the last week or the week before maybe and one of the flags that was up had had started drooping or got tattered or something and he called the city and reported it and within 15 minutes public works was there and replaced it so that was awesome that's it

Um, the only thing I have is really the, uh, I'm the liaison this cycle for the fire department and they've had kind of a. Busy week here. Uh, you probably saw on the paper that on June 10th, they wrote, they had a structure fire in Avon park and our fire department responded as a mutual aid request to go to that. Uh, they had 9 off duty firefighters who responded to that. Spent about four hours or so, excuse me, up there assisting both Highlands County Fire and Rescue and the Avalon Park Fire Department. And then yesterday, of course, they responded as another mutual aid request out to the Istapoga boat ramp where they were. put two divers in the water in search of the victims who had drowned. The Sebring Fire Department did recover one of the victims, and they remained there until the Florida Fish and Wildlife got there to take over. So it's been, and then after that, they left and went to a structure fire that was going on downtown. So it's been a busy week for our fire department, and they've done a great job. So I want to say thank you to them.

I have no report. Thank you for sharing that. Moving on to the consent agenda. Any questions on the consent agenda?

I move we make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Motion and a second.

Second.

Motion and a second. Any comments from the audience? Council?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. No old business, new business. HGTV Hometown Takeover, we got two celebrities in the room. So if you guys want to come up and talk about everything that's going on. Thank you for being here.

evening for the record my name is casey hart tourism director for highlands county my name is shelley phelps with biggest fish consulting and i hang out in highlands county once a month and she's the celebrity i'm not here for moral support um i don't know

So we can see our slides? Go ahead. So thank you so much for allowing us a few minutes on your agenda. We wanted to share what we've been up to. We will first start with a shout out to our TDC liaison, Josh Stewart, who does an amazing job representing the city on the Tourist Development Council. This was something that we, this is a presentation that we were selected from throughout the state to share at Destinations Florida. It's a marketing summit. It takes place once a year. And different destinations are invited to come and present on unique things that they're doing within their destination. It could be marketing, advertising. Ours was obviously on community collaboration. So we wanted to share that with you, mainly because a lot of your team members are involved. So Josh is involved. Scott's involved. Hannah, Christy with the CRA. Mayor Shoup. Mayor Shoup, yep. um so thank you shelly so this is why we're a team so uh so we just want to kind of share what your team has been up to and what we've been doing um you can keep plugging you know that we are So really, this all happened when HGTV came about. They connected us with Shelly, who is from Wetumpka and was obviously an integral part of season one in Wetumpka, Alabama. And what we started, what we realized is that we had this big opportunity. We didn't really know what to do with it. You know, we thought, oh, thank you. You're the best. Yeah. That's so good. Yeah. Now we can see it. Thank you. So anyway, we knew we had this amazing opportunity within Sebring. We just didn't know quite how many legs it would have to go with it.

No, I'm good. Go ahead. What we wanted to figure out is how we could take six episodes of television, because we know from Wetumpka that it's only going to have legs under it for a little while, and turn that into sustainable tourism for 10 years or longer.

Oh, and just so a little, I will backtrack a little bit because I know we have people in the audience. So the tourism office is a county department, but we don't rely on county revenue. So we are funded by what we call a tourist development tax. So when you go to another county or another state and you stay in a hotel or Airbnb, you pay that tax. So that's the same with our visitors. And that is how our tax works as well. So for us, for our board, that Josh is a part of, the more people that come and stay, the better, the more money we make. Also, the better for our hotels, our restaurants, our golf courses, our businesses. So we knew we had this amazing opportunity, but we didn't want to just drive in and drive back out, right? We wanted to stay. We realized we had Lake Placid, we had Avon Park. We have three charming downtowns. Don't just come for Sebring, come for all of them. So as we were doing that, now as we're kind of working through all that, we realized that we have a lot of silos. You can see them up here. All towns have silos.

Yes. All that is all. Yeah, all towns have silos, and those are just some of the things that every time deals with. And so the thing is that we were trying to do through all of this is, how do we take Sebring was chosen and then create one big great destination? Because any town, any county has towns that operate like islands. So That's been our focus since the beginning. And then when they reached out to me, the one thing I said to them is, a TV show can't save a town. Like, a TV show cannot save a town. I love Ben and Erin. They're fantastic. They will never say they saved a town. But the people who live there have to do the work and work together. And what is that going to look like? And so what we wanted to do was create this powerful ripple effect that would go beyond Sebring throughout the entire county over time. And so these are the exact notes Casey took from the first time I came and spoke here, which I thought was really funny. And so it isn't about tourism dollars. It's about positively changing your community for future generations. And so that's really been our focus from this. It was never really about making television. It's been about making long-term positive generational change for your entire county.

And I think back to that, the visitors don't see city limits. So if you go to a destination, like I'm going to Oklahoma tomorrow. I can't tell you what county I'm going to. I can tell you what city and what I'm going to do when I'm there. But I can't tell you if I cross county lines. So I think a lot of those silos that we were dealing with is that people saw, oh, well, they're only coming to Sebring, or they're only coming to Boston. And really, the more we have bandwidth to show the destination, the more people are going to come and the longer they're going to stay.

Correct. so we did this strategic shift we didn't really focus on filming and publicity i was visiting with the team um often even coming here often but we didn't talk about television um we talked about how we could rebuild our regional tourism ecosystem and so that is completely different than what we did in wetemka because we learned a lot so our new focus was really about community alignment everyone that's been to our meetings knows that leadership engagement and stakeholder collaboration across the entire county. What if we could blur the city limit lines and get everyone to talk to each other and align that vision? And that's been our focus. Go ahead. Oh, and this is a Shelley-ism. Connect, communicate, collaborate. You have to do that or you're never gonna be able to create change. And we are doing that incredibly well here across Highlands.

we started so it was funny so we shelly was zooming with us and she came down a couple times and um she was still the full-time chamber director i would in watumka um but she was doing these side gigs and and public speaking and so i said shelly like what if you like want to come work for us full-time like are you ready to not be a chamber director so she was um so we were able to actually bring her in as a consultant we have a bunch of really amazing consultants And she's able to have these conversations with people because she doesn't live here. She can be honest. She can say some of the things that we can't say. She doesn't have to see them in publics like we do. So she can be very honest, but still tactful and give good feedback. So we started creating listing sessions, community stakeholder meetings. We do these city-specific ones, but then we also do interest-specific specific to so our eco tourism partners or golf partners or hotel and restaurant. We had those a couple of weeks ago, art and culture. So we look at the different niches that tourists would be interested in and talk to them and have conversations on how we can help.

it was so funny because everyone had so much to say because they hadn't been asked before and so i think that's really important especially in a small town because sometimes we just shut up and listen i don't know everything just ask questions get to know what people really want and that's how we align vision and so um like she said before tour you know tourists can't see our city limit line so long before the show aired all of these things happened there was so much prep work before the show aired and all that was done through the tdc and the cra and

So this is our visitor guide. We wanted to make sure, again, we leaned into the fact like we knew people were looking at Sebring because of HGTV with the charming downtown, but we have three downtowns, right? So come and stay longer and really realize what we have to offer as a county. Correct.

Now this is the big, this is the game changer. I know, there's some people laying out there. We created a regional leadership team and this was so fantastic. First time we met on Zoom, everyone just stared at me and it was so incredibly painful and awkward. And what I realized is not, people didn't really know each other, even though they lived in the same county. we started coming down meeting in person monthly and over the course of a year and a half we've created this amazing group of people that communicate and collaborate and we are doing such great work and we're moving forward i cannot wait to tell you what's going to be happening in the fall so uh this was really uh transformative for highlands county when when we created that leadership team and i don't know any other county and i work across the us there's not another county that does that

so we have i mentioned we have consultants so they really play a key role for us um it's a way we are a small town um so we need specific talents that we can't always find here um i'm not really a fan of like trying to cram someone into a role that they're not really designed for and a lot of our consultants too rely on uh relationships um tanya churchmudge with much pr she has amazing relationships with a lot of travel media. She lives in New York City. So that is what she does for a living. Alan with our sports tourism, that is what he does. So it wasn't that big of a reach because we could bring Shelly in who has all this background and these relationships with different people in rural counties to understand what we needed to be doing and how we could get more traction.

Absolutely. And by doing that, you don't have to hire full-time staff. So just it works a lot better, especially as a small town is growing. And so part of this, the one thing that we did in Wetumpka, where I live, is we were really needing to focus on hospitality because we had never been a tourism destination before. You were already a tourism destination, but we knew that we needed people to come back, like a blind date. We knew they were coming because of Ben and Erin, but we wanted them to fall in love with Highlands County and want to come back. And the only way that's gonna happen is if we are truly Florida's heart of hospitality. So we spent the summer, wrote a curriculum for Highlands County regarding hospitality, The TDC backs it. I facilitate it. And to make people learn about Highlands County, we created a game show trivia game with buzzers. If you've ever been in the class, it's very fun. So it's just groups of people come together, learning about hospitality, how to be better ambassadors, better servants, and to learn more about where they live and work.

And I think really, it's become it's evolved, we thought it was going to be for restaurant tours and hotel staff, right, that staff, it's really become tons of people come realtors, nonprofits, a carpet cleaning business, like it's really become more than what we thought, because really, everyone is a spokesperson for Highlands County, like everyone represents we are. I just tell the story. I was in Publix last week, and there's a group of guys checking out. They're clearly not from here. They're golfing, and they ask the person bagging their groceries, where can we get a good steak? So literally, it could be, I mean, Sally always says, the gas station attendant. It could be anybody. But the last thing we want is for someone to come here, and they ask their server or front desk person, what do we do here? what we don't want. So the more people that go through this and even people that have been through really high end hospitality training come to this and it's specific to Highlands County. So I think it means a little bit more.

It is great. And we started doing site specific and interest in industry specific. So now we have restaurants. Yesterday I went and hosted on site with the faded crew. I'm going to be doing Pinecrest next time I'm in town. So so we are we are branching out with that. So this is fantastic, too. We did a team retreat with everyone that's on our regional team. We got together and we talked about what are all the assets across the county? What assets do each town have and how can we connect those to create regional themed visits? And so we did it at Casey's family's ranch. It was super fun. I learned that I can't rope. But it was a really great day. It was very powerful. We had markers and big paper. It was fantastic energy. Yeah, it was a really good day. We've also hosted destination identity workshops. I teach a class at Auburn every year, and so we asked the towns if they would be interested, because it's very important that each of the communities understand who they are uniquely, and then as a whole under the county umbrella. And so in doing that, we just sort of made fun things, but I've done it in all three of the towns. It's been really, really fun, very interactive. So that's been fantastic.

The great thing about Shelly does is don't focus on what you're not, focus on what you are. So if A1 Park wants to be baseball, let's lean into baseball. Let's have a hot dog-themed restaurant or name things on your menu that are baseball-themed. Just lean into it. And by that, they're starting to elevate and not...

not be so upset on what they're on. White bread and mayonnaise and mimicking. So this way you just really create a unique destination that people can only find that flavor here. And those are just AI pictures. No, yeah, for sure. And because I would say what makes you different as a human being or if you're a town, what makes you different is actually your superpower. You just got to lean in. So go ahead.

Yeah, so now we're at the point where how do we turn what we've been doing, the collaboration, into actual products? One of the things not on here is actually something that's come up that we're very excited about. We met with the restaurants and hotels, and we're saying, for tourism development, right? So we're not trying to get more visitors here in March, but we are trying to help them any way we can. So they said we need help in August and September. They're very specific. The rest of the year they felt better, but August and September, they said, are always problems. So we started looking at what do we already have August and September? Spring has MotoSurf. And then also Classic Lighting in Amel Park has Open House that they've been doing for several years. They're a research base. They also have gardens. They have a facility. It's a pretty big open is a great need period for us and what if we lean into this gardening niche we have a state park we have people that do airboat rides we have different things that are already outdoorsy gardening robin's nursery the grove house collective like all these things so what we're doing we've been having meetings we did a virtual meeting and now we had an in-person meeting here yesterday um and people are excited about it they're excited uh whether it's susan roberts with the red easel to do garden themed art projects um phil hatfield you know can lend his garden say at 10 o'clock on Friday, they can come tour, walk the grounds and the lakes with their gardener. We're gonna nominate the mayor to do an HGTV tour. But all these things, so some of them can be scheduled, but some of them can be also things that are already happening, really. But lean into it, create a time period for it, create a website, a downloadable guide, and then have our marketing folks really push that out, our PR folks push that out, and really try to get people here when we need them here.

This, I was so excited, I was giddy after the first meeting, because this is the next step. We created a regional team, and now we're at collaboration. So we are doing a county-wide, week-long event. Again, I don't know anybody else that does that, so high five to Highlands County. it's really going to be great and so as i say that checks several multi-city video itinerary shoulder season solutions and then our cross promotion between the cities yeah it's checking a lot of boxes it's really it's really going to be magnificent and so we've really been taking our focus off not not necessarily promoting each town but focusing on promoting the region and i was so excited i don't know if anyone saw the post on social media when it said um like you've already been to the soda fest now go to the caladium festival so what we're seeing is that the towns are now promoting each other and these are just the kiosks and then the window claims that promote the entire county then those have been blanketed around so it's not just don't just go to lake classic don't just go to avon park So it's been a cultural shift and it's taken a year and a half. Rome wasn't built in a day. So, go ahead.

Yeah, so then we had a unity breakfast. This was one of Shelly's ideas too. We brought our regional leadership team members, some of our our digital media firm, they came down and we had a unity breakfast and it was a packed house, a lot of great feedback, but kind of served as a panel discussion for different people to bounce ideas off of. So we took that regional focus and that team and then made it a little bit bigger. And then this is just an example of some of the campaigns that we've been doing with Madden Media. Obviously, when HGTV launched, work was coming. We knew the circle was going to be a focus for people seeing it on TV. So how do we, again, lean into that, do our circle of friends, comfortable circle, showing all the different aspects that you can do within three cities, but then the versatility of what you can do while you're here.

so what we're seeing is we are seeing collaboration it can't you can let go of friday night lights you can see people that actually communicate and work together we're seeing people that continue to come to the meetings that speak freely and honestly we're seeing beautiful partnerships and we're seeing the mindset shift and that is a really great thing as we move into the future and for hatton's county that's it's really fantastic any community can do that

So yeah, so the lessons we've learned just from our short time with Shelly is to invest in outside facilitation. Again, I think it's important to have somebody who doesn't live here that's not tied to one specific community and focus on their identity. Like we are not competing, Sebring, Avon, Park and Lake Placid don't compete for the visitor dollar with each other. We're competing with Polk County, Lake County, Marion County, Orlando, like those are our competitors. So we're trying to really help people understand that the Friday night lights mentality doesn't happen with the visitor dollar. That's what we're after. And then create that leadership that sustains the momentum. So this is something we just actually met today. So Scott was with us today, meeting and having these conversations and collaborating. And really, I know we talk about tourism and a lot of people think, well, that doesn't really apply to me. But what tourism is doing is trying to create a place where people want to visit. We create a place they want to visit, that they want to live, and they want to work and they want to invest in. So it's a big cycle, and really it's all about how do we get visitor dollars, dollars that are not already here in our community, spent here to stay here so that we can return it back into economic development for our county.

For quality life. And so, you know, the model for destination leadership is changing for DMOs, it's true. We're not marketers and event promoters or visitor service centers anymore. We're telling stories and making, telling our unique story.

Go ahead.

So yeah, so what we learned is that television could spark attention and it was great. I mean, it was amazing what HGTV did and the changes they made in our downtown and how they put us on TV was great, but how do we sustain that? That transformation is almost a more important that gift that was given to us.

Culture, how do we change the culture? So the most powerful tourism asset that any destination has is not their marketing budget. It's the community that works together. that's it but and i want to tell you that casey and i went last we went last do you know how terrible that is when there is a conference at a conference and there is an open margarita bar on the other side of the door there is and i will tell you that the room was full and no one left because no one else is doing it and they were so excited to hear about highlands county so kudos to all of the leadership that has made this possible it's been really a blessing to work here that's it Any questions?

I've got a comment. One of the things that I'll say that being on the TDC board these last couple years has been rewarding and very eye-opening. And I think a lot of us, I didn't know to the extent of how impactful tourism is in Highlands County already until I was on that board. Mostly because I don't have a kid playing, you know, travel lacrosse. But there's a lot of them that come to Highlands County to do that and a lot of other sports. And it is a huge boon to our economy. And I think it will continue to do so. And thank you guys for your hard work.

I just want to echo what Josh said, too. It's nice to have a seat at the table and have the community come together for a common, shared purpose. It is phenomenal. I don't want to take that for granted. So thank you, Josh, Scott, and everybody who plays a part of it. I hope this can continue. I feel like I've heard not the same presentation, but… a lot of the same topics over the last couple of years, and you're raising awareness for everybody. And I think we're really starting to see the results. So just keep on doing what you're doing. Thankful, and thank you for everything that you're doing.

I did want to mention just one more thing. Kind of the next step, and it hasn't been official. Santiago Corrado is the CEO of Visit Tampa Bay. He is an amazing speaker, and he's an amazing community leader, really, because he takes tourism, and they look at housing. They look at education. I mean, they are infiltrated in every aspect of their community, like from working with the high schools to develop a hospitality training program to housing for a tourism workforce. He has agreed to come here on October 13th. We've reserved the Civic Center. We're really excited. So you'll hear more about that. We'll send out invitations. So that's kind of like our next step. Yeah, he's powerful.

He is a powerful, fantastic speaker. Yeah, he's really good. Thank you so much for your time.

We appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you for sharing. Alright, there is no old business. Going on to, oh sorry. Business from the audience, we have two. So I'd like to first off bring up Ms. Jillian Kogelschatz. She has some very exciting things to talk about. Hi.

Hi, I'm Jillian Kogoschatz. I live on 244 Milo Key Avenue and I want to talk about bike wrecks. I live near the circle and I ride my bike mostly to the circle and I have to lock my bike to a bench because I could never find bike wrecks.

so i was asking may you please um get some bike racks in the circle thank you thank you very much and she found i'll add to jillian um she found a zigzaggy one that she can present a picture for you that she would like to consider scott do you know if we have bike racks somewhere

Yeah. Bike rack's right out here. And we have a bike rack on the center. Jillian, do you want to come back up and tell about that bike wreck that you know of? I think we used to have one in SETICOM Park.

So tell her about the one bike wreck.

The one bike wreck, it makes me scared because that's the only way I could ride home, and it's in the middle of a parking space, and I do not want my bike to get hit by a car.

And it doesn't really look like a bike rack. It's decorative. It looks like a lollipop. So across from the orange. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We didn't know it was a bike rack until Hannah told me it was a bike rack. So I was wondering what that was in the spot. I just figured it was keeping people from parking in that spot.

Very good idea. We'll look into that, maybe see what CRE can do about that. See what they can do. Maybe we can talk to Steve, see if he has some ideas. Thank you very much for sharing. Mrs. Devereux? So we are next on the agenda with City Attorney Swains. We're going to go over that golf course lease too. So if you want to share anything after that, we'd be happy to. Okay. Robert, you want to talk about the proclamation?

I do.

You know, you got three minutes.

So I'm Robert Goodman, and I want to thank the mayor, the council members, and citizens. I'm the Southeast Regional Director for Citizens Defending Freedom. And I want to thank you for recognizing June as Faith, Family, and Responsible Fatherhood Month here in Sebring. Just last week, Governor Ron DeSantis issued a statewide proclamation recognizing Faith and Family Month. but you've done more than that. You've highlighted the importance of these values for the state of Florida. Strong families are the foundation of strong communities, but fathers play a unique and irreplaceable role in the lives of their children. When fathers are engaged, children are more likely to thrive, families are stronger, and communities are healthier. Faith communities also play a vital role by encouraging responsibility, service, and the values that help families flourish. I want to thank the mayor and everyone in this council for recognizing these important principles. In a culture that often focuses on what divides us, it's very encouraging to hear a city celebrate the values that strengthen families and help communities prosper. May God bless all the fathers, families, and faith communities of Sebring, all of you, And may God continue to bless this great city and the state of Florida. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

hello sorry i'm a little nervous how are you could you say your name for the record my name is nicola fernandez i am the general manager of proof fresh gerson and shannon had an emergency trip they had to make so they apologized for not coming in i did hear that we were already approved for the vivas you bring festival i'm also the vp of the committee as well so i just really more than anything wanted to say thank you and kind of just take the moment to invite everyone out to the event it is really just about bringing the community together not just the latino community as well as you know all colors all cultures all backgrounds everything because after being here for about four years i realized how much sebring is about the community i'm more from like a big town city miami so it's really nice to to get that feeling here that's one thing i will say i've learned from sebring so thank you just explain to you you know a little bit what it is that we hope our vision and goal for the festival which is to just really bring good tourism good publicity you know all for our local businesses for our local things such as thrift shops jewelry you know we are also going to be having a fashion show I am also a model I was just dubbed Miss Florida US nation for the year and So I'm able to use that as a part of, you know, my contract to just sponsor or to get, you know, more people out as well. So I just really wanted to thank you guys and introduce myself and just hope that we can do more events together in the future. We also did just get a disco ball over at Peru Fresh if anybody wants to come up for our disco party. So just thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Kaylee Bush.

okay good evening my name is kaylee bush and thank you for your patience and letting me still get a chance to come up here and speak to you guys so um chair council members and guests as we approach father's day it is especially fitting that we pause to recognize the vital role that fathers play in our communities in our lives in our society This connection between faith, family, and strong communities is not a new idea. Our founding fathers understood that the success of our constitutional republic depended not merely on laws and institutions, but on the character of the people and self-government. John Adams famously wrote that our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. The founders recognized that strong families cultivate the virtues of responsibility, integrity, self discipline, and citizenship that preserves liberty. These principles are also rooted in a timeless biblical truth. Scripture teaches that fathers are uniquely called to lead their families with love, sacrifice, wisdom and integrity. While many people step forward heroically when fathers are absent, no one can deny that the positive influence of a daddy is unlike any other. Strong fathers help build strong communities. Strong families help build stronger communities. And stronger communities help preserve a strong nation. This truth is supported by both research and experience. Children benefit from love, guidance, protection, and involvement of their fathers. Council members, proclamations do more than place words on a paper. They signal what a community values. By recognizing Faith, Family, and Responsible Fatherhood Month, you affirm the principles that have strengthened our nation since its founding. Faith that guides us, families that sustain us, and fathers who protect and help shape the next generation of responsible citizens. Thank you again for your leadership and for adopting this proclamation and for your service to the citizens of Sebring, Florida. I am so grateful for your support and honored to be here today. May God bless the fathers. May God bless our community. And may God continue to bless the United States of America. And happy Father's Day to everybody out there. Thank you.

Thank you very much. No more business from the audience. I'm going to turn it over to Attorney Swain for some of his agenda.

Item 12A is proposed. Ordinance 1574 on your agenda for second and final reading is entitled an ordinance amending section 2-421 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Searing to prohibit the obstruction or interference with the enforcement of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Searing and providing for an effective date.

Go ahead. Does anybody have any questions on this for the second time? No. Okay. Okay. Hearing none, do we have a motion?

We'll make a motion that we approve proposed Ordinance 1574 on second and final reading.

Do we have a motion?

Second.

Motion and a second. Any comments from the audience? Final comments here? Kathy, can you call the roll?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Thank you, Bob. And then can you fill us in on the golf course and the status on that? I think we need to talk about that as council as well, make our next action.

Yes, sir. So council approved a form of lease with the Blackman Group. We provided that to them. To date, there has been no substantive response about any provision, about any clarifications, just literally silence. So I think it is back for council to consider what it would like to do with the golf course next.

Any thoughts here?

I think that if you, if we approach them to have a conversation, we would have the ability to make some traction other than just asking.

I'm going to add, I've asked for it by email and then called separately to their lawyer's office asking for a time to get together. And again, not even a return call that says we can't meet.

Was that a call to get you and their attorney together or get city and the Blackman family together?

Probably all the above.

I don't I don't think that they got that.

You didn't shoot up dinner. They have a phone right after our last meeting.

I'm sorry.

You were at an event with him after our last meeting?

Yes.

So did you do you know anything that we don't officially?

I feel that if we specifically invited them to meet, and I think that they would probably want to meet with the council and with Bob, that they would come to the table to meet for that.

Could they not have been asked to be on the agenda then for discussion? They brought that back to us.

They've not been shy about reaching out before.

The silence is...

is the concern i mean if they didn't like it you know it feels like they should have made a statement of yeah we're not going to go for that let's try again so the silence is what i'm most concerned with because it's been a month since and i think it was pretty clear at the at the meeting when we discussed this that we were trying to get this wrapped up so that we could be done before our our fiscal budget takes effect i mean we've got to cut costs and this is only going to accelerate as property tax reform comes across our bow i'm of the opinion that we move on i mean we've had we've had these discussions ad nauseam um i know there were some sticking points they had on the lease you know unofficially because i've never heard it from them and some of those were things that we made clear when we when we voted in favor of their rfp originally that would not work for us like i mean i specifically um told mr blackman i wasn't in favor of the 99 year leaks and i asked him at that meeting will you work with the city on this and his response was something to the effect of yes this is an rfp i know if we don't then it's on to the next the next proposal and i think we're at that point i mean to to that part i mean if we have to you know for if the budgeting is the motivation it seems like it would be worthwhile to spend

15 days at most. I mean, trying to see if we couldn't get something put together before we started. And I guess it depends on where you figure the starting point is. I mean, I talked to Jim Blackman yesterday and They feel that the starting point was really after the RFP. Not because if it was the previous time, then why did we do the RFP, you know, type idea. And that's him, not me. You know, so is it worth trying to get one more conversation before we start over and move on to the next one because we might be able to salvage it and get something done and lengthen or shorten that amount of time that we would be on the hook for having to, you know, cover the cost before we transition it.

So truly, even if they came with a lease today and we approved by July 1st, they could still pull out September 30th. So the budgeting part, I mean, we could have been on a hope and a prayer that it went through, but still we have to budget for it. So we still need to budget for the possibility that we'll still own the golf course on October 1st. So that gives us some leeway. But my only concern is that they're, If they had a concern, why didn't they bring the concern? You know, that's my, as a business person, 30 days of no communication to me is we're done, we're out. So I don't understand why they just wouldn't say, this isn't good, let's try again. Because truly, if they're not happy with what we gave and we have these sticking points,

i don't know that 15 days 30 days is going to make a difference because we're going to have to agree at some point to disagree on certain things and my my perception of how we left this meeting as a council last time was this is our best and final offer as far as the contract this is what we're willing to do are you are you interested or not and it i think the lack of silence is not

i think that's where the problem kind of starts to come into that like is that a negotiation or are we dictating and if we're dictating it then it's well i would i would say the exact same thing on the reverse because we had well they are for all fairness i mean they're basically their response is well we gave you the lease and our response is and we gave you the lease but there's no more response then i'm done but i think that when you talk to them there's enough gray area in there that no, they're not going to agree to everything the way that we want it. And I think that there's probably stuff that we wouldn't wanna, where it is right now. you know, could you merge that together? Could you clarify some of the language? Because part of it is also, you know, confusion on some of the language. I mean, I talked to Jim Blackman and I get one story. I talked to Scott and it's like, well, that's not what we're trying to say. So I almost, you know, I mean, to me, I'd hate to see the thing fall apart if we could salvage it, but that's, you know, I just don't think 15 days, I don't think that's going to salvage it.

And I don't, I think we're ready. I'm ready to move forward with the next, the next best thing.

Like I said, I'm one vote.

I am too. I mean, in part, we can make things move quickly, but we have to have willing partners. You know, they've got my number. They've got my email. I haven't heard a word. They're not communicating with our attorney.

Let me just… The extended matters. Let me read to you what I sent to their lawyer on the 21st after the council's meeting. The city discussed the issues at the May 19 meeting and approved the attached version of the proposed lease. City council members appeared willing to consider potential revisions to the attached, especially clarifications to avoid misunderstandings to that end. Can we have a virtual meeting next week or the first week of June to discuss? On the city side, Mayor Shoup, Council President Havery, Scott Natelik, and myself would participate. The city is willing to negotiate to achieve language agreeable to both parties, but time is of the essence. Will the turnover to begin October 1 in your class to have the due diligence period? A request completed by then. We need a finalized version to be presented to city council in its June 16 meeting.

And there was no response to that? Correct. None whatsoever. That is a response to me.

And that clearly conveys the ability to negotiate or to clarify your email. So, I mean, if they didn't respond, then I could have a response of no would be okay, but there's just no response.

I agree with both of you. I'm ready to see what's next. I want to get everybody's temperature. How do you think the next… what's the next best thing as we move forward, too? So I've got a couple of ideas, too. I want to see what everybody thinks, but… I know Harry with H&L is interested in the lease to talk to him briefly, because I'm looking, honestly, we need to make a plan. So I know he would be agreeable to a contract and take an ownership over what we, on October 1st as well. I've heard that there's other people interested as well. So I think we could, if anybody is interested in going directly with Harry, or if we want to put this back out for a RFP at a shorter period of time, that still gives us the flexibility to change the management or the, really, the responsibility ought to reverse. I think there's still time if we could connect on that. So I think there's at least three interested parties at this point.

I spoke to the mayor today and he kind of echoed that, that he had heard some interest outside of Mr. Leonard as well from potentially some local operators. I'm interested in that. If we do an RFP, again, I'm assuming we could just basically reissue the one that was drafted last time. Is that correct?

So obviously we've got some different dates and times, but shorter due diligence period. Right, update the date, yeah.

Potentially. And I would say no more than 30 days at this point.

30 days for the RFP or the due diligence or what?

The RFP. I don't know. I don't know what due diligence time is appropriate to this.

I don't think we have that. Something you could build in if you were to do an RFP is give statements of things you'd like to see. One thing may be giving preference for a proposal that starts the lease October 1 or sooner, if that's an option. That way you can put in other things that you think you would like to see, but that may be something to consider, because I know that's a big-ticket item for council.

I would I would love to see that in there again the whole point of this and and even before we we voted to start negotiations with the black man's our rfp meeting when we talked about it budgeting for last year, the idea was we didn't want to be in the golf course business and. And that is only accelerating, right? So I think we need to move. I'm totally in favor of opening a very short window RFP with the same language, maybe adding preference to an operator who could take over October 1st.

I completely agree.

I think it's best to open to see if there's words of people interested. So we're just going to open and get the same ones then.

And I think that gives us justification to have a shorter period, at least for the opening of the RFP and then the due diligence period. I don't think we need that much time, just because if anybody's following this, they know what's going on, and I think they have ample opportunities to get with us. ask some of the questions, do their due diligence. So I still think that we can do this by October 1st. Okay. So Scott, what would you, or Bob, what would you need from us? Do you need any kind of motion to move forward with putting out a new RFP under these conditions?

Bob, what's the minimum period of time that would happen to the RFP? I'm not sure. minimum that we'd have to have, but we can certainly work on bringing something back to your July 7. That's your first, right? Yeah. Do you all want to see it again? Do you want just the same basic structure? I don't.

Do you want to see it again, or do you want us to just issue it? I want to issue it and maybe put in that statement of nothingness. Yeah, let's move.

I think as an initial matter, perhaps a motion to reject all proposals from the first RFP to make sure we're done with that one, then instruction to put a new one. Okay.

You ready for that motion right now?

Public comment, does anybody have any thoughts on this, on the golf course?

If you want to come up. We don't have a lot to add since last you were here, Deb. I know.

And I really thank you, Debbie McNall, member of the golf course. Just wanted to find an update on what was going on, because needless to say, the rumors abound. You are around the 40 golfers, and everybody's got an idea of what's going on. So thank you so much for the clarification.

Thank you. Anybody else who wishes to speak?

I'll be here for the next two months. I'll get a little bit of strength.

Yes, sir.

Council members, Chip Boring for the record. As a taxpayer in the city limits, also frequently the restaurant and the golf course for years, there's more than just, and I understand the budget. I've done it before as a county commissioner. I understand not wanting to be in the golf course business, but there's more than just the golf course. There's also an institution that has been here for many, many, many years that in addition to a business owner that is up in the air, am I gonna be here or am I not? So I would certainly encourage the council to make a decision as quickly as possible so it gives this individual, who runs a great business and a lot of people enjoy it, so he knows what his future's gonna be. Thank you.

Thank you.

And I think we're all in agreement, we would like to move quickly as well.

We had hoped to have a lease in place by now. We're one party short.

Anybody else want to speak on this?

Yes, I'm Warren Hall. And my question is, You've received requests in the RFP process before, and you graded them, correct? And what were there, three, four, five? I don't know. I mean, if they're already graded, and number one hasn't performed, why don't you just move right to number two? That's the fair thing to do.

Additional third parties that have expressed interest.

But they missed the first opportunity. They didn't express it then.

Well, there were some hesitations with others, and those hesitations are still there. So if we have the opportunity to look at other proposals, that's what I'm interested in.

The other thing is this. I mean, again, we talk about the restaurant out there. There are probably 80 people, not counting employees at the golf course, that are affected. Single moms out there that are working, they're probably not going to have a job for a while. So we're going to put 100 people on unemployment? I think that's bigger than anything. Thank you.

With that being said, is there any way to, same thing with the, to get a better ranking if we can do this by outcome reverse, if we can put the same wordage of keeping Caddyshack and keeping employees from the city?

You could include that as a preference, but the more things you add in as preferences, perhaps the less interest you get. I don't know that that would happen, but that's a concern.

Yeah, I'm happy with putting in a preference for the timeframe. I don't want to try and mandate a long-term operator to other things. I think that there's opportunity for them to work with Caddyshack, and that's probably the easiest way for a new operator going forward is to work with the restaurant that's already there, and probably work with the employees that are already there. So I think that's a natural course of events that we don't have to put our finger on the scale for.

Any other thoughts?

i will make a motion that we reject any previous respondents to our original rfp and reissue the same rfp with a 30-day window and adding in a preference to respondents who can take over operations of the golf course by october 1st 2026. i'll second motion second comments from the audience council um

Is the RFP — I'm sorry, is it going to come back before — you said July 7th.

We just issue immediately.

So when Bob and Jamie or whoever get that RFP, it's just going to go ahead and go out. It does not need to come back before Council. Okay. I just wanted that clarification. Thank you.

Motion to give a second.

I'm sorry, I missed the vote. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I have a motion to vote and a second.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

Yes.

Scott, any new business? Good evening, Council. On the project report, I'd just like to point out three or four changes to the project report. Relocation of public works, utilities, buildings. Staff is in the process of selecting an architect or engineering firm. The following bullet point, staff has met with an architectural firm in reference to 126 West Center. We're having discussions right now. And we're going to look at the proposals.

Very good.

I do want to talk about the Senergy proposal. Originally, we were shooting for July 7th date for Senergy to make a proposal to council or bring back their analysis, if you will. Councilman Stewart is the liaison to TDC. He was not able to make the July 7th meetings prior plan, but apparently those have gone through. Is that correct? yeah so um I have not passed this by um Jason Boudreau yet but if he's able to make the July 7th meeting is it something you'd want to entertain at that meeting um I have already spoken to him about July 21st so he is on board with that date preference I will not be at the July 7th meeting

I won't be at the July 21st meeting. So either way.

And my summer vacation is canceled, so I'll be at all the meetings.

It's fine, but if you want to do that first. Yeah, I can get rid of it.

Either way. Okay.

And then last item, I don't know that any of you have had the opportunity to go check out the Veterans Memorial, the mural that was painted by Keith Goodson, but it turned out very well.

I can't believe how quickly it was done. In the heat. In the heat. Under tent. He did have a tent. Yes, he did have a tent. Doesn't change that humidity factor.

I'd invite everybody to go out and check it out. As I understand from Keith, there's quite a few folks that have already been by. A lot of veterans have come by to watch him work.

That's it.

All right. Thank you, Scott. Kathy, you've got two things for us. Thank you.

So moved. Second.

Motion second. Comments from the audience? Comments from the audience? Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

The next thing is there was a recognition on our enforcement board. So there's now a vacancy to fill that unexpired term. The only requirement to be on this board is you must reside within the city limits of Sebring,

We are adjourned.