City Council - Regular Meeting

The city council meeting for Thursday, June 11th, 2026. And can we all please stand for the invocation by Pastor Delbert Roberts from Champion Baptist Church and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we do pray that you will bless this meeting tonight. We pray you give the councilman, the mayor, wisdom from above. We pray that the decision made here would be beneficial to each and every one of us. Father, help us to support the people we elect. Now I pray your blessing upon the meeting. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen.

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Pastor Roberts, Rogers. Thank you, sir. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Mayor Robertson?

Here.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert? Here. Council Member Paul? Here. Council Member Urban? Here. Council Member Fletcher? Here.

All right. First up, we have a presentation for Employee of the Month. of June by Edward Swap. Well, I'm sorry, first, city manager, do you have any agenda updates?

No, I don't, thank you.

All right, thank you. And actually, before we do that, I would like to add two proclamations to the agenda. And let's find those on here. Stacey, do you have those? They're down there. I'll go ahead and, yeah, I need to call for a vote on them. All right, first up, Council, we have a proclamation for National Homeownership Month to be presented to the Osceola Council of Realtors, and the other one is for June Rent-A-Day here in the city of St. Cloud. Which will be read by Ken Gilbert, our deputy mayor. And can I get a motion on these?

Motion approved.

We have a motion approved from Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

Second.

Second from Council Member Paul. Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Fletcher.

Aye.

Council Member Paul.

Aye.

Council Member Urban.

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

Aye.

Mayor Robertson.

Aye.

Motion carries 5-0. All right.

Thank you. All right. I'd like to ask, do we have twist Liz, a Swain in the room from the realtors association and Joe. All right. This is a proclamation for national home ownership month. Whereas home ownership remains a cornerstone of the American dream and a vital foundation for strong, stable, and thriving communities. And whereas the City of St. Cloud recognizes that home ownership strengthens the local economy, encourages civic engagement, and fosters pride in our neighborhoods. And whereas owning a home provides individuals and families with stability, security, and the opportunity to build equity and a pathway toward long-term and generational wealth. And whereas the Osceola County Association of Realtors and its members have served as trusted pro-consumer advocates for more than 100 years, helping individuals and families navigate the home buying and selling process, promoting financial literacy, protecting property rights, and working to expand access to home ownership. And whereas realtors, along with lenders, nonprofit organizations, and local leaders play a vital role in advancing guidance, education, and resources that empower consumers, to make informed real estate decisions. And whereas National Home Ownership Month serves as an opportunity to recognize these collective efforts and to reinforce the importance of responsible and sustainable home ownership. Now therefore, I, Christian B. Robertson, Mayor of the City of St. Cloud, along with the City of Council, do hereby proclaim June 2026 as National Home Ownership Month.

Good evening, Mayor and council members. My name is Joe Johnson. I have the honor of currently serving as the chair for the Osceola Realtors Public Policy Committee. I am here on behalf of the Osceola Realtors Board of Directors and that Public Policy Committee. I want to thank the City of St. Cloud for recognizing June as Homeownership Month. As Mayor Robertson stated, homeownership is critical and plays a vital role in strengthening families, stabilizing neighborhoods, and building financial security. Yasuo Realtors really appreciates and continues to value our partnership with the City of St. Cloud in appreciating and fostering home ownership initiatives. So thank you so much for this recognition, appreciate it.

All right, next up we have a proclamation being presented by Deputy Mayor Ken Gilbert.

Thank you, Mayor. I don't know how many people know Drew Reddick, but... She was your swim teacher in what?

First grade, second grade? Second grade.

Right. So think about that. Think about service and duty. Her ex-husband was the mayor here in the 70s, Miss June? Was he the mayor in the 70s or 60s? I know you're only 20, but you married young. You married young. So the cool thing about the City of St. Cloud is that we honor people that dedicate their life to St. Cloud. As a teacher for 38 years, retired, and she still teaches now with the Place for Grace Ministries for GED as a volunteer. And we had, I think we had eight or nine graduates this last semester. The mayor came out and met with them. We give a hand up and a hand out. So if you can't recognize the citizens that actually do the work, don't brag about it, praise the Lord. She's never patted herself on the back. I'm kind of scared of her still. But what a wonderful, wonderful person. So I had asked the mayor, and the mayor told me, Definitely, we got to do this. And he recognized her, I recognized her. So we have to proclamize Miss June Reddick Day. And it's going to be every day, as long as I live. But that's what makes St. Cloud, St. Cloud. And it's Miss June Reddick that makes St. Cloud, St. Cloud. So I'll get off my horse, because I talk a lot in these council meetings. And Mayor kicks me and says, are you done? Talk about the proclamation, but if you love the Lord and love the faith and love the people and you do everything you can, follow her footsteps. We have these beautiful ladies here that we met with, and they have a mission. And that's the people that have a mission too. And I'm so proud of you guys. I'm so proud of Ms. Reddick, and I'm so proud of everything that we do here in St. Cloud. Don't mind go past the river, but we're okay here past the canal. St. Cloud is the best city to live in, the safest city in the state of Florida, the 34th safest city in the United States, and I continue to say that because it's not us, it's you. It's not this council which you elect. It's you that help us be who we are. So thank you very much, but I'm going to read the proclamation, and I hope not to cry, but I'm a big dude. I got emotions. I'll fight anybody, but I love everybody. So let me read the proclamation, if I may. Sorry. Sorry. Piss the cuffs were good one day. I know. I'm glad he's not. He always looks at me and goes, whoa, what are you saying this time? Is it recorded? But I certainly hope this is recorded, and I certainly hope that You citizens here in St. Cloud that are sitting here today and are watching on TV will recognize a 38-year teacher in the city of St. Cloud. 38 years. Swim teacher, still an advocate, still that. What's better than that? If you can tell me what's better than serving the Lord and serving the people, I'm going to be remiss to know. And if you can educate me, please, because I'm old, but I still learn. Whereas we proudly recognize and celebrate the life and service of an extraordinary woman who continues to exemplify compassion, faith, and dedication through her unwavering commitment to the voluntarism. And whereas her deep love for God, the devotion to family, the steadfastness of service, her community have touched countless lives. And when I say countless lives, And our mayor is a part of that countless life, and I'm sure people behind me are too, and served as an inspiring example of selfishness, kindness, and generation. And she has served for 14 years on the board of Place for Grace Ministry in the GDT mentoring program, swimming, sewing, and class instruction, voting, and supervising. Through the many years of faithful volunteer service in nonprofit organizations, she has enriched the lives of others, and when I say others, thousands, strengthened the community, bonds, and demonstrated the profound impact that one carries an individual that has the world around her. Whereas June is 61 today, well, I'm sorry, 38, she started young. You're a resident of the former first lady of the city of St. Cloud. She's a retired school teacher in the St. Cloud education system, mother, great grandmother, and an inspiration for so many. Whereas the city of St. Cloud recognizes Ms. June Reddick for the many years of steadfast service of this community. I, myself, Ken Gilbert, and the council, and the mayor in the city of St. Cloud, along with the city council do here proclaim June 11th, 2026 as my best buddy, June Riddick Day. She was very mad at me for saying we have to cancel the GED program today and the students. She goes, these people need me. I said, well, just one day, one day. So she's here. Do you have anything to say? Please. I know you're not in many words. Please.

I'm overwhelmed. I just can't believe it. But I wonder why all my friends and family, well, not my family, but my family, my church family, were here tonight. I am so honored and so humbled by this. And I just can't thank you enough for all being here and for supporting all these things. Thank you.

And you had no idea, right? They kind of tricked you into coming here. Yeah. And I was honored to, uh, over at the place for grace, they awarded how many GEDs that night? Five, eight? Eight.

Well, we had six there, but we had eight that graduated that night.

And Ms. Renick, she's there. She mentors them, helps them through the process every step of the way. And I received a tour of that facility. What an amazing organization, everything you do there. So thank you very much for that. Continuing to serve us here in this community. And you taught me to swim, so how cool is that? Thank you. I don't know. I'm going under water over here, but that's all right. We're doing good. No, back before when we were a small town, you know, what, 1985? What was that? We had maybe 8,000 people in our city, and we didn't have a city swimming pool, so the Polynesian Inn is where they took the kindergartners in first grade. I think it was you and Bob Callahan were the – wasn't Bob Callahan the PE coach back then with you? Jim DiGiacomo was the principal. Bev Parton was kindergarten, and Terry Dew was my – Terry Herbert back then. It's Harvard back then in Duke. See, I remember that stuff. Thank you. And that's it. You give us long-lasting memories, and we do appreciate everything you do for our community.

Thank you so much.

You never shut away from the camera. Never? You did me? You got to stand in the center, young lady. You guys are awesome. We'll stand around you.

Stand in the center. I'm going to get some more of you guys. Yeah. I couldn't tell you this, dude. I was afraid. I'll tell you why. Hi.

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Jones. We love you.

Thank you.

All right. Next up, we have Employee of the Month.

I don't know how I followed that one up. Mayor, council, citizens and staff, I'm Ed Swapp, the Natural Resources Superintendent, and I'm pleased to be back again in front of you all to recognize another amazing employee for the city. It is my privilege to recognize our employee of the month, Keith Sabish, from our beautification division in the Parks and Recreation Department. I nominated Keith for many reasons, but mostly because he is one of the most deserving employees to receive this type of recognition. Keith has been with the city for 29 years, and for the last five, he has been the city arborist. If you know Keith, and most of you do, It's not only because he likes to talk to trees, but he definitely shares his passion for trees as well. Over the past couple of years, Keith has taken it upon himself to repurpose trees to improve the urban canopy in a smart, sustainably focused approach that combines urban forestry, waste reduction, and climate resilience. What that means is in a nutshell is that he cares about what happens to this city. These trees are being moved from construction sites within the city limits and have been planted in places that ultimately would shorten their lives. Doing this provides savings for the city by not having to purchase trees. He has currently moved 50 trees to Dakota Avenue Park and a few other locations throughout the city to increase the park's usability and green space. The thing is, Keith was not instructed or asked to do any of this work. He saw the issue, came up with a great solution, that would benefit the citizens for future generations. Congratulations, Keith, and thank you.

Yeah, congratulations, Keith. How many years with the city? 20 years? 29 years, all right. So if y'all need a tree that gets trimmed, we're gonna give him his number and you can call him directly, right? He'll take care of that. All right. We're going to go ahead, and because we don't have our city attorney here yet, we're going to go ahead and move to the public comments section. This will be the citizens forum. So any person who desires to comment on any item not on this agenda is provided this opportunity to address the city council. Each person is requested to complete a sign-in form to be provided to the presiding officer prior to, or as soon as practical thereafter, the person addresses the council. And I don't see that we have anything under public comment here. So anyone in the audience like to speak during the citizens forum? All right, we have Ms. Camille Levy.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, City staff. I am Camille Levy, 515 Neptune Bay Circle, St. Cloud. We encourage our citizens to shop and buy local, yet we as a city don't do that. Yes, we have a bid process prescribed by law, but that doesn't mean that we have to accept the least expensive, cheapest bid. The bidders accepted should show responsibility and have a proven track record of being responsive. And what about giving priority to those businesses who are based here? And if they're not based here, How about taking a look at asking bidders to be based here? Maybe we can up our economic development and get some businesses here in town. So that concept might encourage some local development and local employment. It's time for all of us to shop, buy, and bid local. Thank you.

Thank you. City Manager, did you hit your lights?

Yes, thank you. I just wanted to address that the city had a policy for years. What we used to do was after we had gone through the process, local entities were able to come in at the end and see if they could match the bid. And we really, very few ever did that. Instead, it was just adding a lot of time onto our procurement process. Additionally, with several of the federal grants that we receive, we have to go with the lowest.

Mr. Levy, I've got a question really quick just to clarify. Is there a particular project that this was not taken into account?

No. I take a look at what's happening and particularly what we saw happen with the streets, with Pennsylvania Avenue. I think we do a disservice. I understand we try to go with the lowest bid. I know you are all fiscally responsible. But I also see that sometimes quality, maybe we need to take a look at not the cheapest bid. You get what you pay for. And if people take some pride in their work, and I understand city manager, the time involved, but we also are trying to build our local economy and we're not doing anything to encourage businesses to come into St. Cloud to be able to bid. I understand there's a whole process. However, I think we need to take a look at not just cost effectiveness, but responsiveness and being a responsible community partner with the city.

Who? Who be a responsible partner?

The, the bidder, the, whoever the contractor bidder is be a responsible partner with the city.

Oh, well we hope so. Especially when we hope so. Hold on ma'am. So, um, talk about the bricks. I don't know. Do we have any local bidders on the bricks on the roads?

We had a local engineering firm, but I don't believe we had a local bidder on the bricks. Okay.

And I think we use some of the local engineering firms for many of our projects.

Yes.

Okay. So we do use a lot of local businesses here for many of the projects. And, um, Yeah, I understand your concerns of what you would like to see, and I believe that we are already doing that. We do show preference. I know I love the businesses in our community.

And we want to attract more businesses to our community. It's growing.

So you want outside business coming to our community to do these jobs?

No, I would like to see outside businesses come into the community and base their business here so that we can provide employment for all of our citizens that are local.

Absolutely. We want more jobs. We agree. And we focus on that. Yeah, and that's where I understand because you were saying give the jobs to the people that are already here, but you want to bring the companies in from other places.

Well, we want to bring the companies here to be based here.

I understand. Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you.

All right, next up we have Mr. Jim Moore.

Jim Moore, 3855 San Ysidro Circle, St. Cloud, Florida. Good evening, Mayor and Council. As we approach the upcoming property tax reform ballot measure, I want to thank you each for the hard work you're doing to educate residents to prepare for potential impacts it could have on our city. I recognize the challenges you face. On one hand, residents are looking for relief from rising costs. On the other hand, the city must continue providing the services that make St. Cloud a safe and desirable place to live. My request tonight is simple. As you continue evaluating the potential impact of this measure, please keep public safety at the forefront of your list discussions. Our police officers, firefighters, and first responders are essential to the quality of life we enjoy in St. Cloud. As our city continues to grow, the demands on these departments continue to grow as well. Maintaining the staffing, equipment, training, and resources they need is critical to protect our residents and businesses. As Mr. Gilbert always says, St. Cloud has built a reputation as one of the safest communities in Florida. That reputation is the result of years of investment, planning, and support for public safety. I encourage you to continue making police and fire service a priority as you navigate the challenges and opportunities that may come from this ballot measure. Thank you for your leadership, for your service to our city, and a continued commitment to keeping St. Cloud a safe place to call home. Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Mr. Moore. Yeah. I understood everything of what you were saying there, Mr. Moore. Thank you. Anyone else in the audience like to speak? All right. With that, we'll go ahead and go back. Mr. Manzaris, sir, how are you?

I apologize for being late.

That's okay. All right. First we have the consent agenda. Uh, next portion of tonight's meeting is the consent agenda, which contains items that have been determined to be routine and noncontroversial. If anyone in the audience wish to address particular item on the consent agenda, now is the opportunity for you to do so. Additionally, if staff or members of the city council wish to speak on a consent item, they have the same opportunity. All right. When anyone in the audience like to speak on any item on the consent agenda, All right, Council Member Urban.

I would just like to pull item 8 and 13 and 14. City Manager? City Manager?

Yes, I'd like to ask to pull for additional clarification consent item number one. We had some changes made after the agenda was published and I'd like to ask for our planning director to explain those changes to the city council and also consent item 10 for Madison Grove. We were missing an exhibit and I'd like to ask Mr. Walker to explain what that exhibit was for the record.

Yes, ma'am. Any other council members like to pull any item to some extent?

Mayor, if I may have item nine, just for a comment, not a question, if that would be okay.

All right. Okay, we'll go ahead and start with item number one.

Thank you, Mayor, Council Members, Geoffrey Ball, Community Development Director. The changes that were made after the agreement was uploaded had to do with the exhibits not matching what was documented in the agreement itself. There was references to an e-exhibit that didn't match, so there was no formative changes that were made in the difference in the original agreement that was sent to you all to the one that's in your packet today. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Complete copies in front of them right now?

Yes, the complete copy is in front of you.

Any council comments on item one? I know we just pulled it for discussion, but do you all have any? All right. Thank you, sir. And we have item number eight.

Council Member Ehrman. Yeah, so I just, in light of the recent legislation that's come out, the overwhelming sentiment that I hear from residents is cities and counties need to be more careful about where we're spending our money. And there's a lot of wonderful organizations out there, and as Mr. Moore said, We need to support our police and fire departments. To me, that's non-negotiable. I think that's, you know, we need to remain the safest city in the state of Florida, like Deputy Mayor Gilbert always reminds us. And so while we're, you know, focusing on that, trying to rein in our spending, I just can't support sending money out to outside organizations right now in light of the legislation that's come out. So I'd like to vote separately on this one.

Yes, sir. I agree with you 100%. Uh, Dan, do you want, we have other ones to go through, but should we go ahead and take the motion on that one? I think council members asked for a separate vote, so you can either do it now. Let's go ahead and do it now so we can get that out of the way. Uh, you want to make a motion on that?

I would make a motion to deny it this time. All right.

We have a motion to deny from a council member urban and a second from council member Fletcher. Will the clerk please call the roll on item number eight council member, Paul name.

Council member Irvin.

Aye.

Deputy mayor Gilbert.

Aye.

Council member Fletcher. Aye. Mayor Robertson.

I want to clarify this to deny it, right? Yes. Okay. Okay. Can I, and that's where I wanted to make sure that because you made a motion to deny and your, what was your vote on that?

I'm going to go against. Aye.

Can I just supporting that?

I'm supporting the denial.

Oh, okay. Yeah. I just want to make sure. Cause I, I, I had to kind of go back and listen and, Go back through the motion. It was a motion to deny.

For clarification purposes, can we do it again? Yes. So we have a motion to deny. The motion on the floor is to deny Resolution 2026080. That is correct.

We have a motion from Council Member Urban and a second from Council Member Fletcher. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Paul?

Aye.

Council Member Urban?

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert?

Aye.

Council Member Fletcher?

Aye.

Mayor Robertson?

Aye.

Motion carries 5-0.

Thank you. All right, and we'll go ahead and move on to item number nine. Council Member, Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

I just want to recognize that Kisbeck has donated the property for the Wayfinder sign for the welcoming to the city of St. Cloud, and I believe that it's super important that we recognize the downtown historical area. And when we put a $10 issue to it, the reason why is because it can't be a gift. It has to be a product of purchase. And them giving us that corner of New York Avenue and 13th Street is going to be a great indicator. And I think, Mayor, we talked about doing a crossover. We've talked about doing a lot of things over there. But for that area, for Kisselbeck 4 to recognize the city of St. Cloud, we have to be thankful for them because we want to recognize the vendors and everything that's there. So I don't have a question on that. I just want to bring it to the attention of the council that this is a gift at $10 for an easement. And I think our business partners, as council members Urban always talks about business and what we do. I think this is a local business that really supports the City of St. Cloud and the St. Cloud Council and also the citizens of St. Cloud. So I'm excited to recognize this, but I also want to know that They need to be recognized that they've done this for the citizens of St. Cloud and also the business district of St. Cloud. I yield back to you, Mayor, but I think this is a great, great, great thing that happened, and I know you negotiated with the city manager, Mayor, on that, and I appreciate all you do for the city to recognize the city of St. Cloud. Right next to Soldier City Parks, I yield back.

Yeah, no, you're right. Mr. Kisselbeck has been amazing to our community. And I know every month the honors are our police officers over there with a luncheon, uh, firefighters involved in that. Do they go as well for lunch? Yeah. You see, you see chief, chief, chief, chief. No, Mr. Kisselbeck, he's been a great partner with our city. And, uh, and, and even prior to that, Mr. Poffenbaugh. So that, that dealership right there that they've really given back to our community and tenfold. So it's amazing that he offered up the space right in front of the dealership, the plot of land. So we can have some, some signage there to let everybody know where our downtown is. And with that across the street, there's going to be another one right on veterans park property. So both sides of the highway, I think kind of right across from the other, we're going to have some signage there. So it's really going to, Let everybody know where the downtown is and I think some current events or activities that go on in our community.

It will be a tall message board.

Very cool.

Both will be tall message boards, approved by the CRA and paid by the CRA.

All right, very cool. All right, next up we have item 10, city manager.

Mr. Walker.

Good evening, Jabari Walker, Assistant City Manager. So the piece that's missing the exhibit is the Florida Housing Finance Corporation's form. This will, if you guys move forward with this agenda item, this is the form in which you would author the city manager to sign as a part of Madison Grove's second or third attempt at trying to get these housing tax credits.

And it's in front of you right now.

Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert. I just want to qualify, if I may, Mayor, that this is a lottery bid process that we're allowing this. This is a loan, not a grant. This is payable back to the City of St. Cloud with an interest rate for that. And I think this is our third attempt in my four years being here in the City Council. It's a great It's not anything that we will know until it gets granted, but I believe, and please correct me if I'm wrong, that it's a lottery for a grant for this program.

I yield back to you, Mayor. Yes, it's a very competitive process by us offering up this loan that is supposed to help within that process above potential projects that don't have local support.

For senior elderly housing?

Yes.

Yeah, and that's why I fully support this. Last year, I know it came before us, this is the same loan because every year they reapply for this. And, of course, you know I'm big on supporting our seniors. I represent this council and the Osceola Council on Aging Board. I was on their housing board for many years, many years ago. And something to point out, because I asked the city manager, I wanted to see the numbers, and I know they showed them to me last year, which is why I supported last year as well. But the annual ad valorem in 2025, we received $30,169 from them. So that in itself, it provides a tax base where obviously we all know what's been going on in the world and in the state of Florida over the past few weeks, actually for the past year and a half. This is something that we need in our community to help operate our city. And so in 30 years, you know, it says we'll receive $330,000 in interest alone. plus our initial, you know, the 460. So I fully support this. I think it's a great product. I think we love our seniors, and we want to ensure that they're in some affordable housing there. And city manager, did you have something else to add to that?

No, thank you.

All right, thank you. And we have item number 13, Councilmember Urban.

Yeah, 13 and 14 are kind of related. I just have comments on them in my research in our agenda packet over the last week. These are just PSPs, but digging deeper. It's yet another dentist office and tire shop, and I know residents are tired of us having a duplicate of... the 50th tire shop, the 50th dentist office, and we talk about we need more commercial here in our city, but we need quality commercial. We need high-wage jobs, quality commercial, and things that make St. Cloud the best place to live, work, and play. So I just wanted to point out to the residents, these are just PSPs, so there's really nothing we can do about it at this point, but as we look in the future at... new commercial developments, this council has been pretty consistent about putting those conditional uses on it and prohibiting the less desirable commercial outcomes.

So that's my only comments on that. All right, Deputy Mayor. Just a clarification for anybody in the audience. PSP means the Preliminary Subdivision Plan.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I understand acronyms a lot, and I'm old, so I'm confused sometimes, too. PSP is a preliminary subdivision plan and I don't know about anybody here, but I need the dentist. I loved it. Whenever I get my teeth cleaned, it's like, it's the best feeling ever. So I yield back.

If I may, Mayor, just to clarify. I've got to keep looking for you. Usually you're right. I'm like, where's that voice? Yes. If I may, the preliminary subdivision plan that is before you, the 16 Latinolte, it is a dentist's office. However, the other lot is a Dutch Brothers. And so if you know Dutch Brothers... It's a very, very well-known coffee franchise. The other lot is undetermined right now. So just want to bring that to your attention. The other three lot subdivision on one 92, the tire shop is existing. So it's not a new tire shop. It's already existing.

Thank you. Yeah. And with that, I I'm along with the council member urban is that, and I think we've talked about that in the future. Well, it was in the past, but saying in the future, We want to try and either put a moratorium or try and exclude some of these uses in the highway business zoning. I know it's too late to do it on some of these. But, Dan, what's your take on that, on excluding? Does that violate Section 180?

Well, it could at this point moving forward. You really couldn't do anything to make it more restrictive until that Senate Bill 180 time period expires. And then, of course, one of the issues we got into in the past is that under the most land development codes in the state, They define zoning categories, basically retail, commercial, those things. And then you get within them and say, well, a tire store, I mean, I'm sorry, say, let's look at the one that everybody always complains about, mattresses, mattress stores, right? Those are retail establishments. So are you going to create a district that prohibits mattress store, which is essentially a retail operation but allows other similar retail things to just happen to sell a different product? So that's when it starts to get a little tricky and a little challenging to be able to get your code set up to not overly be too restrictive when it comes to commercial retail businesses.

And like I said, I don't. I'm not a huge fan of all these. Obviously, the dentist offices, it does seem like it's the same ones over and over and over again. But legally, it doesn't seem like there's anything. The market kind of determines what uses are going in there. And if it's an allowable use in our city, at this point, we can't restrict those uses.

Not without chasing away potentially other commercial uses that you might feel might be more beneficial.

Right. Yeah, and obviously we want the rest of the public to understand that, that we're not in the business up here, that we want tire shops or mattress stores or all of that across our whole highway. Unfortunately, that's what's been coming to the table the past few years. Deputy Mayor, did you have anything?

You answered it, Mayor. I think when you look at businesses, They look at needs, and that's why they come into specific areas. A dental office or a med, they're not going to come here unless they see there's a need, and they do their ROIs on this all the time. Return on investment, I'm sorry. Acronym something, but they're going to look at that, and they're going to look at how they make money, especially the national organizations. that say, okay, St. Cloud's grown this much. They may need 10 more mattress stores or 15 more oil stores or 15 more. I don't think economic development is important, and I think this council is so huge on that, and I think we're doing a great job with it and the firm we hired. But these are national companies that actually know what they're doing. they're looking at needs and wants, and they're not going to do it because most of them are publicly owned, and they're going to look at how much money they can make, and they see the growth of the city of St. Cloud, so they're jumping on board. So although we don't want to continue the Facebook outlet, whatever it is, I'm not even part of Facebook, but... That's what national companies do. They have a really good feeling, and I think this council here is really looking heavily on bringing more jobs here to the city. But our population is growing, so we do need dentists. We do need oil change people. And Wawa has been working real well, and that's how it happens. So the only thing I say is we can't constrict, and an attorney told me businesses that come in, if they follow the rules, the same as housing developments. With that, I yield back to you, Mayor, but for us at council to say we can't have an air dentist office, we can't do that. And I yield back. Thank you very much for understanding that, and thank you very much, Dan. If you have any input on what we can restrict or not restrict in the city of St. Cloud, let me know.

I certainly will. Council Member Paul.

And I also wanted to add that this subject property is part of the Nolte commercial subdivision, which was approved on nine 11, 2023. And I'm putting a date out there because a lot of times things come before us and they're automatically thinking we're approving 2,800 homes when a lot of this stuff has already been in work years before we come. So I just want to make that clear on record.

Yeah. Thank you. And I have requests from the city manager. She's provided me in great detail, a number of these projects, Everything that we've done over these past few years, this council, I know we've gone in a whole different direction over the past year and a half, and our focus has been economic development, commercial tax base. We have not really tried to not have the citizens feel the impact, and obviously our feet's getting held to the fire now. I think it's going to be a true test of how we can accomplish that in the coming months, so. Now that we're up here discussing, before we move on, I just wanted to point out, you talked about economic development, our downtown project here, and I could have saved this for later, but I'm going to say it now. The city manager, you sent me an email, and I don't have it up here, the tax base that that will provide to us.

It was a rough estimate, but it was approximately $250,000 a year. Right. Yeah. And I, look,

I really wish we could jump back in a time machine and go back to 1985, because I was here in 1985, as you all saw, with Ms. Renick. And it's unfortunate, but everybody discovered that we exist, and they love our community, and I love our community. And I wish we were back to the cattle ranches and the orange groves and the really, truly small-town feel. I think we still have an amazing community. and we need to continue to operate that amazing community. And our focus, as of lately, of course, has been with our public safety, and we've invested heavily in our public safety because we have to stay out in front of that. As our community continues to grow, that has to remain number one, and we are number one in the state, as Deputy Mayor does say over and over again, and we love that. With that, I'll go ahead, and I just wanted to point out that that project is going to be an amazing project in the city, and it is not Section 8. There are a lot of misconceptions out there, These are affordable units. As the mayor of St. Cloud, my paychecks, I receive about $32,000, $33,000 a year. Yeah, I would qualify in the low-income section there. So if y'all, you know, I don't know who believes that the mayor of the city of St. Cloud should not be able to live in there. I don't know who should. With that, Council Member Urban, you already talked about number 14, right?

Yep, I'm good.

All right, so there was only one that we wanted to pull out for a separate vote, so we'll go ahead and get a, anybody in the count and anyone in the audience like to speak on any of the consent items? Or have I said enough? Can we get a motion to approve all the items minus the one we already voted on? Motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion approved from Council Member Urban. Second. Second, Council Member Paul. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Urban.

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert. Aye. Council Member Fletcher. Aye. Council Member Paul. Aye. Mayor Robertson. Aye. Motion carries 5-0.

Thank you. We've done the citizens forum. And next up we have public hearings. Will the clerk please read public hearing number one.

Final public hearing for ordinance number 2026-26, an ordinance of the City Council of City of St. Cloud amending chapter 38, streets, sidewalks, and other public places to create new sections 38-6, permit required for using public property for compensation or consideration, providing for conflicts of ability, administrative corrections, codification, publication, effective date.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. Scott Davidoff, Deputy City Manager. standing in for our Parks and Recreation Director, Stephanie Holkamp, who's got on a well-deserved vacation this week. The item before you tonight is ordinance number 2026-26. It's the request to approve permit system for using public property for consideration and compensation. As you're well aware in discussions that have been had here before this council, Over the past several years, the city has experienced an increase in businesses and individuals who are looking to use public parks and city facilities to conduct commercial activities and provide services that they're being paid for. The city continues to find many businesses operating via social media. In fact, we just found another one just the other day who was advertising their program with their fees and their rates in a city facility. And this creates obvious liability concerns and city concerns, but it also presents conflicts with our existing programs and rentals where somebody may be out advertising a program that is not prohibited, and there could be a resident who's out there who actually has rented a facility and gone through that process. And this same process and policy already exists at the lakefront that the council had enacted in regards to the commercial watercraft that are out there. What this ordinance does is it amends Chapter 38 of the City Code, and it creates a new section regarding commercial use of city property. It protects public property and regulates the business activities, supports public health, safety, and welfare, and ensures facility space availability. The requirements for this are those businesses or individuals, they must obtain written authorization before conducting their commercial activity on city property. They would be required to provide proof of insurance and completed background screenings. And again, this is identical to everything that is already existing under our regular contractual providers throughout the city. And the activity must be scheduled through the Parks and Recreation Department. The activities that this covers would be those where someone is providing services where they're being paid for that. It also includes free programs that are scheduled utilizing city facilities, advertising and displaying of merchandise, soliciting businesses or conducting transactions for profit, posting or distributing advertisement circulars or handbills, recreational services, medical services, educational services. really two different options that we have for those businesses that are looking to do this generally everyone who is operating for profit where they're charging fees we have a standard 75 25 revenue split the same thing that the city has been doing for a number of years it's our existing city policy this includes those businesses there's an executed agreement with the city Payments are made directly to the city. There's a flyer and website and address that we can put on city websites to help advertise those businesses. The monthly payment is then issued by the city to the vendor. They have to provide the proof of liability insurance and indemnification, successful background checks, register business with the state. They have to have a current BTR. and ensure that they're in compliance with all park rules, scheduling their days and times, and then also recreation staff would make sure that the rooms or the facilities that they're looking for are available. Now there are also a number of free programs that are out there that offer free service to the community. Could be a yoga program, could be some sort of health program that's out there, and we also want to make sure that we're encouraging those. They go through the same process, except for those programs Obviously, there's not a 75-25% split, but they're still required to provide all that same information to the city. And again, it's the same process as it is for the paid businesses and paid programs. And this applies to all city-owned, leased, operated, or controlled properties, includes land, building, facilities, equipment, and projects. The exceptions for this, There are some separate agreements that city council has authorized. Little League is a great example. Those franchise agreements, concessionaire agreements, those fall outside of this process. And then business tax receipts or city county licenses alone do not authorize activity on city property, which is one thing that city staff and Casey out there at the park has heard many times. Enforcement and penalties, obviously, they would be subject to penalties under Section 1-15 and Article 6 of the City Code, and that may result in enforcement action. First offense, if someone were to see them out there, the vendor would be provided information on how to do their program the right way, give them the information, who to contact, how to do this. If they were out there a second time and they were caught, they would be required to stop the program that they were doing at that point. and then subsequent violations may result in up to being trespassed from city property. Hopefully somebody would understand the process from the beginning and look forward to doing it because there's a lot of benefits for these businesses to move forward with this type of agreement with the city. Outside of that, staff recommends approval of ordinance 2026-26. All right, thank you, sir.

Anyone in the audience like to speak on this item? All right, Deputy Mayor.

We're going to talk candidly about this because it's near and dear to my heart of youths in doing things and having activities. And I understand that when I was a kid, and probably you guys were a kid, you go to ball field and you play ball, and it's transformed. I have five children that have played AU basketball, football. I've coached for 26 years. Some of my children and over 1,000 kids I coach have granted scholarships because of these youth programs. But I look at, my lens is a little different now because we have insurance issues. We have an MPO, and I don't know if anybody knows this, but the CEO of Goodwill was, salary was $22 million last year. And Goodwill is a non-profit organization. So you've got to kind of, you know, see what an MPO is or an NGO is. I'm sorry. Nonprofit organization.

I'm sorry.

I had to go over to explain that. But we acronym them. And then we also have the insurance programs with that. And then we also have we want those parks open for anybody. And if youth organizations go into those parks, than the people that just want to toss a football around or sling a Frisbee around or shoot a basketball around. They're not allowed to do that during these times because these organizations come in and use their properties for no cost at all. And I'm going to ask our city attorney, our insurance is the biggest thing ever and it doesn't go down. If anybody here knows that has an insurance company that says your insurance is less next year than it is this year, tell me because I need to get that insurance. I don't know in amassing council to assist me on this, how do we provide these and protect our city to do those? I have a non-profit organization. By the way, zero salary on that non-profit organization. How do we do that and protect our city and allow everybody to be able to participate in Chisholm Park, in Hickory Tree, in Lakeshore. I'm baffled. We want to give this stuff to the citizens, but we don't want people profiting off of our parks, which is the greatest thing we have, but it's a lost leader. Seriously, our parks and recs is a lost leader. And what I mean by that, we don't make any money on that, and the citizens that don't use it, we're letting the 1% of the people that use it gain financially. So I ask the council today, because I don't get to talk to you very much, and we can't talk at all about this, help me find a resolution where it's good for the citizens and it's also good for the programs And it's also good for the city that our costs don't add up. With that, Mayor, I have to yield back. I wish I had the answer for this one. I wish I could tell you. Just open it up to anybody that wants to come in. But everything costs. You get a cup of ice and it's like $1.50. And that's why I just make ice in my house. But the simple thing is that I asked the council to help me with this because this is the only time I get to talk to you guys about it. How do we provide Because I want kids outside. I want kids playing. I want kids recreational. But you have so many organizationals now that said they're MPOs, but the director of that MPO is pulling down $100,000 a year in charging, but they don't want to pay for our costs. So I yield back to you, Mayor, but I would really like some reaction from the council of your thoughts on this. I yield back. Thank you.

All right.

Council Member Irvin. Um, I, I actually had the opportunity to go out on site at Chisholm park and meet with Casey out there. And it was an eyeopening, uh, experience. It was like a Tuesday afternoon and that place was just jam packed. Um, you know, I know all of us grew up here in St. Cloud and, and, uh, I remember Chisholm Park being a wide-open no-man's land when I was a kid, but it's not that way anymore. Our city has just grown too much where we can't, you know, we've got to have some guardrails. To Deputy Mayor's point, I think, you know, having agreements like this, that 75-25 agreement, is a great way to say, Hey, we're happy to have you here. We love to have you sports activities and everything going on, but, um, we got to make this equitable for, for everyone in our city. So I think this is a good step moving forward.

And I agree as well. Would there be like some kind of time slots of.

Everything would be done based on the actual use. Some of these programs want to be out two days a week, three days a week at certain different times. but there's already the programs that exist out there, and that's where some of the problems have already occurred, where somebody wants to come out the same time as there's an existing program or there's somebody who's out there. So that's why it's all scheduled through the Parks and Recreation Department, because they have that master calendar to see where those holes are and those time slots are available.

All right, thank you. City Attorney.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. So starting with Deputy Mayor Gilbert's comments, I think it's important to remember that this ordinance is not intended to be punitive, even though it has what you might look at as violations and trespass and other things. The intent of this was to provide these programs that are existing in the city and using the city's parks to basically be required to come to the city and say, hey, this is the program I want to put on for the kids in the community. So then we can address all the issues, staff can address all the issues that we're talking about, the liability issues, the insurance issues, how it's going to be regulated, parking, all those kind of things that happen in those events. So the idea is this will be the opportunity for the city to go back to individuals and say, yeah, we want you to use our parks subject to availability, but here's what you have to do to be able to use them. We want you to have all these kids out there playing and doing all the things, but this is the process that's in place.

Does that mean I can still set up a lemonade stand in Deputy Mayor's front yard and not have to pay a permit?

It's now 50 cents, not 10 cents.

No, I think that's the whole idea here. You can't just set up in a city park and use a city address to market a commercial business. I think we've had that problem in the past, and I think this clarifies that and addresses that issue. So thank you and staff for putting this together. All right, and can I get a motion on this item?

Motion to approve.

Motion to approve. Council Member Paul. Second. Second from Council Member Urban. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

Aye.

Council Member Fletcher. Aye. Council Member Paul.

Aye.

Council Member Urban.

Aye.

Mayor Robertson. Aye. Motion carries 5-0.

All right. Next up we have discussion and possible action regarding appointment to the vacancy for the Fire and Police Pension Board. Let me get my sheet. All right. First up, I believe that we have Mr. Vinnie Shepard who holds seat five, and he has reapplied. Is that how this, what I'm reading?

He was approved on consent, item number 15. The board ratified his placement.

He was already on there. Okay.

This is for the current vacancy. There's three applicants off the top of my head. There's Mr. Corey Targia, there's Mr. Matthew Chesler, and there was a citizen, Mark Moshella.

Okay. All right, and we have Corey Targia requesting reappointment. All right, and we have a motion.

Deputy Mayor Gill, may I just ask the council to assist me in this, please? We have a vacancy. Mr. Corey could be re-upped. We have, I think the board takes a citizen, and please tell me if I'm wrong, Dan, on that. And we have the folks that council appointed by fire, please get appointed. And the council has the vacancy. I met with Mr. Corey. I do believe he's doing a good job. I just don't know. I need council's assistance on this. I just would love your thoughts before we go ahead and vote on this. So if I could have any comments from the council, Mayor, I would appreciate that. Because I'm kind of torn. I think Corey does a good job. But this is going to sound real weird. We've got a lot of police, not so much fire, and an appointed board. I don't know if it needs to be a 2-2-1. I don't know what that means. I don't think that matters at all. But I just need counsel's opinion on that before I decide my vote, if I may, Mayor. I go back, and Dan, I know you're looking to speak on this.

Well, I was just going to point out, so these boards are unique boards. There are five seats. Two are appointed by the council. They are a direct council appointment. There's one each appointed by fire and police, and then the fifth seat is nominated by the four others. So the existing board nominates the fifth seat, which is ratified by the council.

Seat five is appointed by?

Seat five. The seat five is appointed by the... by the other board members and then ratified by the city, by the council. That's why I was on the consent agenda tonight.

I see.

Okay. So you're on, we just ratified it.

We just said, yeah, he's okay. So, uh, it's great.

We love any, but, but, but basically, uh, and if, if we look at it, uh, at a bird's eye view or Jones for you now, uh, is that it's kind of like our council here, We're elected to counsel the mayors appointed as the mayor, and the other four of us decide who the deputy mayor is and appoint that person as the next deputy mayor for a year's period of time. And I think that's what you're telling me that the board does for the fifth seat. Is that right, attorney? Yes.

So this is all set forth in the statute that created the police and fire pensions boards. So that's how the board was set up.

All right. Yeah, I'd like to say something. I truly believe in these types of boards, institutional knowledge is important. I know on our employee pension boards it's the same way. We've got people who have served there for many, many years, and I think those are the types of boards that it's volunteer, I believe, right? These are not part of their paid positions with the City of St. Cloud. I also have spoken with Mr. Targia, and I think he's done an amazing job on that. And I'll go ahead and make a motion to reappoint Corey Targia to that board. I'll second. All right, motion from the mayor, second from Councilmember Urban. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Fletcher?

Aye.

Councilmember Paul?

Aye.

Councilmember Urban?

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert?

Aye.

Mayor Robertson?

Aye.

Motion carries 5-0.

Thank you. All right, next up we have first readings and introduction. We'll keep losing our monitor. Next items on the agenda are ordinance for the council for first reading and introduction for the sole purpose of the council to authorize the publication of the ordinance for a final hearing. The council will not take final action on the item tonight. Full presentations and public input on the ordinance will occur at the final hearing at which the council will consider final action. All right, and will the clerk please read item number one.

First reading, introduction for ordinance number 2026-24. An ordinance of the City Council of City of St. Cloud, Florida, providing a zoning map of the land development code of the City of St. Cloud, Florida, specifically changing the zoning designation approximately plus minus 7.17 acres identified as Nova Road All parcels, Project ZMA 25-00022 from CCC Community Center Core County to CCC Community Center Core City. Generally located north of East Earl O'Bronson Memorial Highway, east of Nova Road, south of Wanderous Place, west of Bradley Drive, providing for entering the designation of the official zoning map, filing the Planning Commission's recommendations, proof of publications, availability, and effective date.

All right. Can I get a motion? Motion to approve. Motion to approve. Council Member Urban. Second. Second. Council Member Paul. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Paul?

Aye.

Council Member Urban?

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert?

Aye.

Council Member Fletcher?

Aye.

Mayor Robertson?

Aye.

Motion carries 5-0.

Will the clerk please read item number two?

First reading and introduction for ordinance number 2026-25. An ordinance of the City Council of the City of St. Cloud, Florida, providing a zoning amendment of the zoning map of the Land Development Code of the City of St. Cloud, Florida, specifically changes zoning designation approximately plus minus 27.26 acres identified as Stephanie Lee Rothstein Memorial Park, additional parcel to OR Open Space Recreational, generally located north of Barnier Street, east of Missouri Avenue, south of Sky Lake Drive, and west of South Indiana Avenue, providing for entering in the designation of the official zoning map, filing the Planning Commission's recommendations, proof of publication to a regularly ineffective date.

All right. Can we get a motion? Item number two.

Motion to approve.

Motion approved. Council Member Paul. Second. Second. Council Member Urban. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Urban.

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

Aye.

Council Member Fletcher. Aye. Council Member Paul?

Aye.

Mayor Robertson? Aye. Motion carries 4-0. All right.

Will the clerk please read item number three?

First reading and introduction for Ordinance Number 2026-28, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of St. Cloud amending Chapter 30, Parks and Recreations, Article 1, in General Sections 30-9, Smoking Prohibited, to further define smoking and add the lakefront as an area where smoking is defined and is prohibited, providing for conflicts of ability to administrative corrections, codification, publication, effective date.

All right. I know you all filled out a form, but we're not going to discuss it ourselves either tonight. We're just advertising it. So next meeting, right? All right. Just making sure you all knew that. All right. Can I get a motion on this?

Motion approved.

Motion approved. Deputy Mayor Gilbert. Second. Second. Council Member Paul. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Deputy Mayor Gilbert. Aye. Council Member Fletcher. Council Member Paul.

Aye.

Council Member Urban.

Aye.

Mayor Robertson.

Aye.

Motion carries 4-0.

All right. Will the clerk please read item number four?

First reading introduction for ordinance number 2026-29. An ordinance of the City Council of City of St. Cloud, Florida, amending a future land use designation to approximately plus minus 46.11 acres, identified a public safety complex, project CPA 26-00007, generally located north of Nelty Road, east of Buddinger Avenue, south of Juliana Court, and west of Canoe Creek Road. From mixed use to institutional, providing for amending of the official future land use map of the comprehensive plan. filing the Planning Commission's recommendation to proof of publication of the applicability effects of availability copies on file and effective date.

And can I get a motion? Motion to approve. Motion to approve. Council Member Urban. Second. Second. Council Member Paul. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Fletcher.

Aye.

Council Member Paul. Aye. Council Member Urban.

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert. Aye. Mayor Robertson. Aye. Motion carries 5-0.

Will the clerk please read? You need a breather?

No, I'm good.

Item number five.

First reading introduction for ordinance number 2026-30. An ordinance of the City Council of the City of St. Cloud, Florida, providing a zoning amendment of the zoning map of the land development code of the City of St. Cloud, Florida, specifically changing the zoning designation approximately plus minus 46.11 acres identified as public safety complex, project ZMA 26-00006, from mixed use to P professional, generally located north of Nolte Road, east of Budinger Avenue, south of Juliana Court, and west of Canoe Creek Road, providing for entering the designation official zoning map, filing the Planning Commission's recommendations, proof of publications, or ability to effect a date.

And a motion. Motion. Motion approved. To approve, right? Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir. Sorry. I jumped the gun on that. I'm sorry, sir. Yes, Mayor. Motion approved. Deputy Mayor Gilbert. Second. Council Member Urban. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Paul. Council Member Urban.

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

Aye.

Council Member Fletcher. Aye. Mayor Robertson. Aye. Motion carries 4-0.

I made the assumption it was to approve it. Will the clerk please read item number six.

First reading introduction for ordinance number 2026-32. An ordinance of the City Council of the City of St. Cloud, Florida, assigning a future land use designation approximately plus minus 27.26 acres, identified Stephanie Lee Rothstein Memorial Park. Project CPA 26-00005, generally located north of Brianna Street, east of Missouri Avenue, and south of Sky Lake Drive, and west of South Indiana Avenue, from employment institutional to park open spaces. providing for amending an official future land use map of the comprehensive plan, following the Planning Commission's recommendation, proof of publication, applicability, effects, availability, copies on file, and effective date.

Can I get a motion, please? Motion to approve. Motion to approve. Council Member Urban.

Second.

Second. Deputy Mayor Gilbert. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Urban?

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert?

Aye.

Council Member Fletcher?

Aye.

Council Member Paul?

Aye.

Mayor Robertson?

Aye.

Motion carries 5-0.

All right. That brings us to the city attorney section.

Thank you, Mayor. Again, I apologize for being late.

He's got something to add.

You want to add it now?

I would just like to invite you. I'm sorry. I would just like to invite you young ladies to the city council to look at the JPA and see what we do behind the scenes if you'd like to do that after me. You've been so great and being a part of government is huge. I didn't want you to leave before you sacrifice all this time to listen to our nonsense, but I'd like you to come over and just see how we work and what we do and let you meet each of the council people and ask any questions that you have. And I'm sorry that I stepped in there. I apologize, city manager. If you would, please, after the meeting, we'll go back in there and see how we hang out, if that's okay. I apologize.

That's good. He's very hospitable, Mr. Gilbert. Okay. City attorney, do you have anything else to add?

Well, no, not to that. Okay. Again, I do apologize for being late today.

By the way, he threatened to beat up people. I don't know earlier. He was going to fight. We'll tell you later.

That's hearsay. I know you're an attorney. That's hearsay. He said, I'll fight anybody.

Well, I did at the – I think the last workshop that we had and that I attended, we discussed the special magistrate's order on the code enforcement matter related to St. Cloud Hotel. And so I just wanted to bring it back up and have a little update and have some discussion and make sure that staff – the way staff is looking at it and our office is looking at this is consistent with the council's direction on this. As you know, back in February, the special magistrate ended an order saying that the that the owner of the hotel was in violation of the city code because it had not obtained the required, re-upped its permit that had expired several months before, also because there were some fire safety problems in the building that needed to be addressed. At that hearing in February, he gave the owner of the hotel until March 6th to obtain a permit and also some time to address to help the public safety issues related to the fire department. At the May meeting, we brought the item back. The item came back in front of the special magistrate because they had not obtained the permit and that a fine had accrued to about $74,000 at that time. At that hearing, the special magistrate heard from the respondent, heard from the city. We argued that the fines should stay in place because the hotel operator had not, or at least the owner of the hotel, had not obtained the permit by March 6th. As those of you who saw the hearing, there was a lot of discussion back and forth about it. The respondent made comments about how they were trying and trying to do that. and the city was kind of making them jump through hoops that they shouldn't have had to jump through. We obviously argued it contrary to that. We felt that the contractor admitted that it was basically his fault that they had not gotten the permit. But in spite of all that, the special magistrate entered an order, which was entered a couple days after that hearing, where he essentially said, find that they're not in compliance, so they didn't get the permit by March 6th. He gave them until June 1st to get the permit. If they got the permit by June 1st, then he would basically reduce the $74,000 fine to $5,000. And they did get the permit by June 1st. Now, the key component to that is to remember, going back to the February meeting, The February hearing and the February order, the Special Magistrate did two things. He said get the permit by March 6th, and then he also said you have to complete the construction of the hotel and get a certificate of occupancy by March 6th of 2027. So basically he gave them a year to do that. What's key is in the recent hearing, the Special Magistrate did not change that March 6th, 2027 date. So right now, they are obligated under that order, to get the certificate of occupancy for the hotel by March 6th of 2027 or to face additional fines. Now, city staff, as many of you know, has got a little bit of, I'll use the word, grief, because I feel like the city staff's been pushing hard on this. I've actually got some contact from folks that said that we were a little rough on the respondent at the hearing, but You know, we've been following the direction of the city council at the time that this thing needs to get motivated to the point of completion. So we intend to move forward with that. At this point, the city, as legal counsel, I have to advise you, the city could appeal this order that was entered at the May hearing in front of the special magistrate. Basically, what we would be appealing is that the special magistrate wrongfully reduced the $74,000 fine to $5,000. That would be the only issue that we'd be able to appeal because the March 2027 date is still in place. He hasn't changed that. So I don't see real value in the city appealing that part of it all. But I do see value in making sure that that March of 2027 day does not change and that if the hotel doesn't have a certificate of occupancy by that day, the city will be asking the special magistrate to impose additional fines. So that's kind of where we are with it all. And again, we want to make sure that we're on the same page with the city council moving forward with this. And so we'd appreciate any direction you might have on it.

Deputy Mary Gilbert. Well, thank you, attorney. I never thought, and I still don't think it's a monetary value. I think it's a beautification value to our downtown city of St. Cloud. I would strongly encourage the rest of the council to impose the deadline dates for completion. It defines all that. I don't think anybody here in council, and I'm only speaking for myself, was looking at a monetary thing. but sometimes when you hit people's pockets, they seem to move. Well, they haven't moved in 10 years. So I don't think it's a monetary thing, but I really strongly ask the council to support me in making sure this deadline does not go further, that there's no acceptance to that, and the deadline's a deadline. I can see if it's a year, I can see if it's two years, I can see if it's progress. but since this decision has been made three months ago, nothing, there's nothing, there's nothing that's happening over there. So, so, so what are we doing? You can't appease people that, that, that aren't working with you. And I think the city of St. Cloud and I've only been here for three and a half years is bent over backwards to support this organization and group to do this. But at one time you guys, you know, you can only, Mike Tyson says, great, you always have a plan until you get punched in the face. Well, the city of St. Cloud has been punched in the face 17 times by this organization, and we have to look at that and say, no, we're not budging from that deadline date. And you know how upset I am about the magistrate's decisions, but I think the magistrate, I would ask the council to support me in making sure the magistrate does not change that deadline date. With that, I yield back, but Enough's enough. Thank you, Mayor.

Yes, sir. Council Member Urban. First and foremost, Dan, you have my full support and staff has my full support on how they handled that. I don't think it was too harsh at all. In fact, it could have been even more harsh based on what we've been dealing with. And our citizens are sick and tired of seeing a permanent construction site in our downtown area. I agree with Deputy Mayor Gilbert's point about holding steady to the deadline. The problem is they had a deadline and they missed it, and the magistrate just gave them a little slap on the wrist and said, oh, that's fine, you can get on with it. That's the problem I have. I would like to appeal that decision and get the full amount of fines that should have been given to the city for the deadline that they missed in the first place, but absolutely that March deadline about having the CO, that's disgraceful. what they have put the city through and what they have put our downtown through to have to look at a permanent construction site.

That's all I have to say. Council Member Fletcher. I have a question for Dan. Because I've never seen a situation like this. If an order is entered in by the special magistrate, does he have the authority to reduce the fine? Yes, the fine he does.

So the fine... The lien runs in favor of the city, so under certain circumstances in St. Cloud, the special magistrate can reduce the lien. But when it's just a fine, and remember, this was at the fine stage. A lien hadn't been created on it yet. So he does have the ability to reduce the fine. Okay.

All right. Council Member Urban wants to move forward with an appeal on that. Is that correct, or...? Okay, how does that work, Dan?

And I understand the frustration in it. I would just have to be frank with you. I do not think there's going to be a lot of merit in trying to appeal this because of the fact that Mr. Fletcher just brought up the fine. It was at the fine stage, which under the statute is in the sole control of the special magistrate until a lien is created. I think it would be prudent to just monitor the project, see what happens, and come that March date, or if there is a permit in place, and that permit was issued in June, I think right at the end of May it may have been issued, So if that permit expires again because they haven't done what they're supposed to be, then we'd be back in the same boat we were then. So I think that's probably a more prudent way to address this because I don't think you get a lot of success in trying to appeal what he's done so far.

Deputy Mayor. One thing I know is what I don't know, and I want to take this magistrate into the council's decisions to make decisions on these permits. And I was informed by you that we can't, but I was informed also we can have a special citizens board that we can appoint to do these issues. I'd like the council to look at that, and I'd like you to address how we can change from a magistrate to a city board. board that makes those decisions because I feel the citizens are entitled to make those decisions versus a magistrate that doesn't live here, doesn't do there, and we just pay them. I would like the council to consider to, we can appoint a board that looks at the fines in situations like that, but we can't, from my understanding, and again, I'm not smart. I grew up to the school of Rockettes, you know, but I would like to find out how we can figure it.

Rockettes?

Rockettes. You know, I got hit in the head so much I did that. I'm with you. Yeah, yeah. You know, the scuffle butt stuff. But I would like the council, because I can't talk to you, how we can get a board of citizens to decide what we're talking about today because we have a magistrate that gets paid and doesn't live here, and goes home with his check and doesn't see that atrocity every day. But I don't know how to do that, so I'm asking counsel to help me with it, and I'm asking you as the attorney how we move forward to not have a dude that sits here or dudette that makes a decision that doesn't affect them whatsoever.

So process-wise under the code enforcement statute, a municipality or a county can either have a code enforcement board or a code enforcement special magistrate. St. Cloud used to have a code enforcement board 20-something years ago, and then transferred into a special magistrate. A lot of municipalities did that. There are pros and cons for both. If the council would like us to provide some more information on it and review it, we certainly can do that. Thank you, sir. A jury of their peers, right?

I agree with you on that. All right. Council Member Fletcher, you had comments.

I was, well, I mean, now that you brought up the discussion with the Code Enforcement Board, I was going to say that I would fully support an appeal as well. I would like to have discussion on the, I think it would be good for council to see the differences between the special magistrate and how the Code Enforcement Board operates. You know, in my previous life, I've had to stand in front of both of them, and there is a difference, and having a citizen... appointed board, I don't necessarily think we would be in the position that we are today if we would have had that in place.

Yeah, and I see a lot of comments, although, you know, it's social media is just a fraction of the citizens on there, but I do see a lot of citizens on there that say, well, what are they doing about the St. Claude Hotel? And I believe we have been addressing this issue for some time now and have it's like who said it uncharted waters or something that we, we haven't been down this path before with something like this. And I think it's, um, if it weren't such a big building and right there at the core intersection right there, I think that's why everybody takes notice of it. And I think getting something finished and across the finish line would really help out our downtown. So I support anything, um, to, to move forward with this. Uh, if Dan doesn't think that an appeal is the right action to take at this time, We just kind of move for the... And there's teeth with that, right?

Yes, there's a potential for additional fines if they don't get the CO by that date. All of the fines are... But then we would be asking to have all the fines reapplied when we cut to that point. And the special magistrate at the hearing, those of you who saw it, specifically told the respondent, all you've done by delaying what you've done to get the permit is basically cut your time short. That's what he basically said. He said, you had a year when we started this. Now you're basically, you've lost two months off of that by your delays.

All right. And if from now until, what did you say, March of 2027?

March of 2027.

If we switch it up to a code enforcement board, it would carry the same weight?

Yes, the order would stay in place and it would just be a different reviewer of it. But the order would still be enforceable. but we can bring back the analysis that we've done in the past, uh, for the board versus a special match.

Yeah. And the one thing that I will give credit to, to what deputy mayor is saying is the citizens, especially, I know ones that we'd appoint, we obviously would put people who truly care about this community. Um, they'll put that first. They'll say, look, this is something that's very important to us. It's our community. We want to see, we do want to see some changes in our downtown. So that's where I will definitely, uh, I do see some of the benefits. And I think with that, we would still have, Dan, you would still be present during those types of reports.

Oh, yeah, we would still, my office, we would still prosecute the cases and assist staff. The only difference is there would be seven folks sitting up here as opposed to one.

Okay.

Seven citizens. Seven citizens, yes. Citizens, yep.

All right, city attorney, anything else to add on that?

No, sir, thank you.

I am very glad we are moving forward with the St. Claude Hotel as we have been. City Manager.

to continue the discussion about code enforcement. On a more positive note, I just want to congratulate our Code Enforcement Division. They received the International Accreditation Society's accreditation. So we are the first city in Florida with both the building department and code enforcement to be accredited, to have both accredited. So I want to congratulate. There was a lot of work that went into that. So good work to our team. Also, we have an agreement with Main Street where they're supposed to do a minimum number of events per year. They're doing a new event this year that I just wanted to bring to the council's attention. We're working with them. They're doing a Stars and Stripes Summer Seafood Boil at the Beach, which will be at St. Cloud Lakefront on Sunday, July 5th. This is an extension of the America 250 celebration. It will be on July 5th from 5 to 8 p.m., and they'll have activities with musical entertainment, family-friendly beach games, recreational activities, and a seafood boiled dinner service available. So they're joining other Main Streets throughout the state of Florida to do a large event on July 5th to continue the celebration.

What is the cost to the taxpayers?

$315 application fee, $75 event trailer table and chairs, $90 trash can fee for a total of 480. But we haven't had the DRC meeting yet, so fees can change after the DRC meeting as things are worked out. We're not able to let them use our stage because July 4th is the day before. We also don't have staff available because all of our staff is going to be there on July 4th for the city's event. So we're not able to assist them as much as we would with other events.

Okay. Okay. You just let us know? Yes. All right.

Thank you. And then one last item. I just want to give thanks to State Representative Stark and State Senator Arrington. The budget that was approved recently has two projects for St. Cloud. Hopkins Park Community Center has $500,000, and the Safety Alert System, which is the lightning detectors for the city parks, has $116,270. So everyone pray, cross your fingers, cross your toes, that the governor doesn't veto us again. And that's all I have. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. And next we have Councilmember Paul.

So yes, last week I went out, I know we get concerns from residents all the time and I'm sure we all received the email from John Dorsey. And so I took the opportunity of going out to see his concern and there's a lot of litter that he picks up and does a great job with keeping that area up to par. And so I'm only bringing this up because I want people to know that we do listen to the concerns from the residents. I know we see it all the time where they don't listen to us. And for any elected official that can take the opportunity to go out with residents says a lie. And so therefore I wanted to just bring that up and share that. And on my time that I went out there, our public works director, um, Kevin went, was there as well too, to see the concern as well too. So I just wanted to bring that up. Secondly, um, I attended the, Institute elected municipal for elected officials and that was amazing. I do want to say thank you for that opportunity of attending. It was basically meeting with a lot of elected officials over the state of Florida learning, sitting in classes for two days straight, long hours, but well worth it to learn everything to be a good leader in our community. So I want to say thank you for that opportunity of going. And lastly, I wanted to bring up some misinformation that was shared regarding the proposed 150 apartments downtown relating to me as me bringing them to be in Section 8. I want to say that is untrue. They're not Section 8. It's a difference between affordable housing and Section 8. They're not the same. So I wanted to make that clear. And it's misinformation like this that get pit out that caused divisions in our community. And, you know, I just encourage people to, if you want to know the sources, reach out to one of us. The recap is put out on social media after our meetings on what is actually happening in these meetings. So I just want to put that out there and clear up that information. And I'm down for the night.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Council Member Urban.

Can I just say ditto what she said? That's all. I don't have anything.

Happy Fourth of July.

All right, thank you.

Council Member Fletcher.

I have nothing at this time. Thank you, Mayor.

Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

Thank you all for showing up, and thank you for staying. All the council people will walk with you back here. We'll show you our JPA map. We'll show you what we do. We've got some sodas and some waters. We'll answer any questions because you participating today means a lot to me. You being here means a lot.

All right, thank you. All right, I have a few items. As you all know, we had our U.S. Senator here last Friday. She had a press briefing at Matter Academy over off of North Tyson Road. And so her staff called me last week. Actually, yeah, beginning of the week, I guess it was. And they said, yeah, well, inviting me to the event. And they didn't have a venue. And they said, well, we were thinking about Valencia, Osceola Camp. And I said, no, come to St. Cloud. and uh so it ended up in saint cloud and so um it was amazing event and i was actually honored to introduce her and i just in my office i received a letter from senator moody dear mayor robertson did a great job at the press conference thank you for joining me i look forward to connecting again soon best ashley moody so how cool is it we're getting our u.s senators here um of course we got a great u.s senator rick scott as well i don't care what if they're republican or democrat those are our u.s senators if we can get Washington DC to pay attention to us. You know, we always welcome them to our community. And I do want to give a shout out to our police department, uh, Doug Durkee's team over there with our, our, our deputy chief, Denise Roberts, Garrett Stockdale, that whole group did an amazing job. Um, they, they ensured her safety throughout the city during the whole day she was here. So thank you, sir. Thank you for everything you guys do, your men and women over there. Um, next up, I've, The elephant in the room, obviously, the property tax reform, obviously we can't take a side one way or the other. It's going to end up on the ballot. No matter what people vote for, everybody has the right to pick whichever way they want to go. I'm not one to tell anybody how to vote. Our staff puts out facts to be 100% transparent. They put the information out there. And I've seen, they've gotten beaten up on this. And it's not fair when the staff puts out facts just to show the citizens, here's where your money's being spent. And like I said, I'm not going to take a side either way where I say, hey, citizens, you've got to vote this way or this is going to happen. This city will not use scare tactics. We're going to provide information. I believe our budget's on the website, correct?

Yes.

Any citizen in the city of St. Cloud can go on our website and review the budget. Any citizen. So to say we're misusing taxpayer dollars this way or that way, you know, it, yeah, it's the top of conversation right now, but, but rest assured this city, this council and our staff, we are going to be able to, to work through this no matter which way the citizens vote. All right. This is not a difficult thing. We're going to figure it out. There's going to be challenges, but we're going to figure it out. So we don't want people to be afraid. We also don't want people to show up and think that this city and this city council and this staff is not doing their job already because I know they are. We've got an amazing police force. We've got an amazing fire department. All of our departments are great. That's all I'll say. I really think one of the conversations was the previous year's fund balance. How many years Has the city been relying on that, city manager?

so the city has been using prior year fund balance to balance the budget for 31 years so since 2021 in 2021 we were using 9.7 million dollars to do that and with this city council we have been working hard to reduce the reliance on that while still adding public safety positions every year adding new fire stations all the stuff that we're doing And we brought it down this past year to, or I guess the current budget year, we brought it down to 4.8. And we were proposing to reduce it already, again, in this proposed next year's budget. Now, based on the current budget, discussions, we've gone back as staff and said, okay, so we're going to present for the first time in 31 years about a budget, a balanced budget, not using any prior year fund balance to balance the budget. So we're right now going through and redoing everything so that we can bring you the leanest budget and the first one balanced in 31 years.

Amazing. Thank you very much. And if you haven't been paying attention over the past year and a half or so, this council, This council is focused on commercial development. This council is focused on economic development. That is what we believe will be the future of our city and operating. And because we have to have these sources of revenue, we do not, I can tell you over the past year, it's been challenging because there are many people, um, that have encouraged us to, um, implement this fee or that fee to, to kind of make ends meet. And we're trying to do everything possible to not do that. Unfortunately, I don't know what tomorrow brings, especially with the tax reform. If that, if that passes, we're going to have to see what that looks like. But right now we know we're going to be able to work it out. We will find a solution. And, um, and that's all I'm gonna say on that topic. So, um, I'm, I really think I've got this, I know our staff can, can find a way to get through all this. Uh, one other thing I want to bring up, um, This morning I got a really cool email from Texas Roadhouse. Y'all know that just opened up the other day, a few weeks back. And I haven't responded to them yet, but it was from their, give me one second here.

I'm sure they wouldn't mind me calling them out.

I wanted to reach out because I greatly admire the city of St. Cloud's commitment to honoring veterans and preserving its proud identity as the friendly soldier city. St. Cloud's dedication to those who served aligns closely with the values we strive to uphold at Texas Roadhouse. I'm not gonna read the whole thing. Other than it says, Texas Roadhouse, our biggest priority is being fully invested in the communities we serve. We believe in success comes from building genuine relationships, showing up for our neighbors, supporting local organizations, being actively involved wherever we can make a positive impact. I've had the opportunity to attend St. Cloud's 4th of July celebration, Soldier City Market, the monthly markets. I mean, these are, this is from their local store marketer from Texas Roadhouse, the one that just opened up. And So everything we've been doing here, they've taken, they've taken notice. And so one of the things supporting veterans, especially important to us, and I would be honored to help support any initiatives that serve those who have sacrificed for our country. Um, my goal is simple. I want Texas roadhouse to become deeply connected with city of St. Cloud. I'd love to attend support, participate in as many city events as possible. That's what community is all about folks. And that's what we're trying to bring here is get these, These organizations, we've had Winn-Dixie Corporate step up to the table with our police department on some events. We have Orlando Health. I mean, heck, they kicked in $5,000 for the St. Cloud Veterans Council initiatives. And now we've got another large corporation. That's what we're trying to do here, folks. We want to bring these organizations in because if we have to cut back next year on some of our special events, we want these corporations to chip in. and sponsor these two so that we can still provide these services and these events to the citizens here in the city of St. Cloud. So thank you, Texas roadhouse. I will respond back, but it was this morning. So I've, I'm just still catching up on emails with that being said, we have, uh, since I've been the mayor, we have consistently talked about, um, soldier city, you know, w w with our soldier city market, we it's now rebranded with soldier city Sundays. our St. Cloud Veterans Council, and really steering back towards our true identity as a Soldier City. I want to now go ahead and have a stop date from using this center place slogan and going back to either Soldier City or the friendly Soldier City and make it official. And not where it will cost us money, but essentially what's the stop date of using the letterhead or whatever the physical documents that say center place for this or that and going back to soldier city. Um, and I want to go ahead and just do a stop date of July 3rd and that way kickoff independence day, July 4th is soldier city. What are y'all's thoughts on that? I mean, deputy mayor likes it. Uh, do you like soldier city or the friendly soldier city? What are y'all's thoughts?

Anytime you add more, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, more things. We're soldier city period. That's it. We've been soldier city since, What, 1911, Mayor? How long have we been Soldier City?

Yeah, and they've changed it. Obviously, we're celebrating small-town life.

I get it. This is Soldier City, and that's who we are, and we should wear it proud.

Time to make it official again?

I agree, because at the right pass on, I believe it's Progress Lane, they have a road called Soldier City Way, I believe it is. So it's an eye-catcher, and I love it, so...

Okay, city manager, how can we transition into that?

So I believe what you're saying is just the slogan under the city logo. So the city logo is fine to stay.

Yeah, for now, because obviously we're not trying to spend any money on this. To me, I believe that just on our website, when we go in anything else in the future, maybe it's on people's shirts, on the staff, but from here on out, the marketing is Soldier City. And that is our slogan.

So we would have to potentially work with a graphic design team to anywhere where it's at to remove it. I believe we've already ordered wayfinding signs that I believe it's already on them. So I guess I would need direction on that.

Let's try and stop that. You mean the center place? I don't remember seeing center place on any of those.

I thought it was. I could be wrong.

I remember seeing the St. Cloud sign.

We can look at it, but just to move forward from July 3rd on, all of our materials that way, and I agree with you, Mayor, no cost involved, but why... That makes me feel proud. I'm so proud to say we're Soldier City.

And when the time comes, Deputy Mayor has already volunteered to climb the water tower and repaint Soldier City.

You guys help me repaint the water tower? The ladder is a little – I'm going to have it strapped up. Where's the fire chief here? Because we've got to make sure it's safe. Our police chief. Our police chief will do it with us. Monday. That's for Monday. City Manager.

Can we discuss it Monday? Just so that we can go back and see if it's on the wayfinding signs, we can reach out.

Oh, on the wayfinding signs, yes. But right now, from here on out, I think we still have the stop date of July 3rd for anything else other than, and we'll discuss that as well. But do you need a motion from us, Dan? Do we need a vote on something like that?

You're not changing the logo for the city, so no, you're not establishing it as the logo. You're basically not at this point.

I think it was adopted by resolution.

With the language in there? I believe so. Okay, then we will...

I'll let you know Monday.

We'll go back to see... Just so you guys know, we have another meeting Monday, if you guys want to attend. It'll be like 17 hours and it'll be cool.

Mayor, if we can do this, there actually are two meetings on Monday.

Oh, I'm sorry.

You have a special meeting and then you have a workshop. Right. So if we feel like a form of motion has to be taken, we'll add it to the special meeting thing and just give me Give us time to look at how the original one was adopted. All right.

And I believe there's strength in that for our city, where when I went up to D.C. last year, that was on my own dime. That wasn't as the mayor. But I went up there, and I believe you were at the Museum of the Bible. You had a meeting there, but I had a meeting with Congressman Soto for lunch. And we discussed this, that there are federal dollars if we – If we move forward with the branding of our city as Soldier City and focus on our veterans, he sees some real financial opportunities there. And what we've been doing at Veterans Park, what we constantly talk about here is focusing on our veterans and our active military. And I got to, obviously, when I introduced Senator Moody, you know, I got to talk about, you know, here we are. She's visiting the Soldier City. And when we were in our, in the classroom. A round table?

We actually got to sit at, I think it was second grade, they had a round table. And I never felt more, I felt like, did you ever see Elf? I was sitting in there. I was going to say Billy Madison. I was sitting at a second grade table, and I'm 6'3", 250.

All right. And with that, I have nothing else to add other than I think I won't see y'all until July. Well, I guess we'll see you Monday, but everybody out there have a happy 4th of July. We'll see you out there, but hold on deputy mayor. We're not quite done.

I want to show my friends.

I want to show my friends the back room. There's some food there, mayor. This is the most interesting part, the information section. All right. We Friday, June 12th, 2026. We have veterans council meeting 1 PM here in city hall. Monday, June 15th, 2026, Special City Council Meeting, 2.30 p.m., City Hall, Council Chambers. Monday, June 15th, 2026, City Council Workshop, immediately following the Special Council Meeting, City Hall, Council Chambers. Friday, June 19th, 2026, City Offices will be closed in observance of Juneteenth. Friday, July 3rd, 2026, City Offices closed in observance of 4th of July. And Friday, July 10th, 2026, Veterans Council Meeting, 1 p.m., City Hall. Thursday, oh, we got one more. July 16th, 2026, City Council Meeting, 6.30, City Hall Council Chambers. We also have the Community Redevelopment Agency Minutes, February 5th, 2026, Community Redevelopment Agency Minutes, April 2nd, 2026, Economic Development Advisory Committee Minutes, April 7th, 2026, reports, warrant list, number eight, fiscal year 26. With that, this meeting is adjourned.